49 Comments

“Big Cashew”. Oh heavens I needed that laugh! Joe you have a marvelous streak of satire in your writing. I get the feeling that you try to control it, but I appreciate when you let ‘er rip!

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Came here to make sure someone appreciated this!

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If not Big Cashew, it must be some other conspiracy nut

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In a way RFK Jr is the perfect shield for Trump; he's not one of Trump's Republicans, just a political oddball pulled into orbit for sharing some of Trump's everything-you-know-is-wrong nonsense, with his views never really judged as a potential definition of Trump's movement and him being easily discarded whenever convenient.

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A collection of misfit toys. The voters demand entertainment, and they’re getting it. So are the rest of us, under the open category of “Dystopian”.

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It’s all part of the MAGA misinformation onslaught … a moment’s distraction while I play a round or two.

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No mention of the very credible accusation of sexual assault against Kennedy and his nauseatingly entitled response?

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Accusations of sexual assault are de rigeur for MAGA these days.

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I only hope a Democratic Senator invites that young woman to appear at Kennedy’s hearing. I want Collins and Murkowski to hear her story and to have her read the text Kennedy sent her into the record.

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Maybe even required.

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It's not a deal breaker for any member of the GOP. It's pretty much on brand.

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Which also accounts for the advocacy of widespread public posting the Ten Commandments, complete with its opposition to adultery.

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Is it just me or does it seem that all these wealthy and priveledged men in government who are over 40 seem to all have sexual predation in their past.

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It was quite common back in the 1970s and 80s when women were rejoining the work force, especially in male dominated industries. The stories I and other women

around my age could tell...

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If only the Ten Commandments had been posted in their schools back in the day, I'm sure they would have behaved better.

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I think they were where I went to school.

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I know that sounds right! Maybe they lack some kind of performance confidence.

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You need to mention Kennedy's part in the horrible 2019 outbreak of measles in Samoa. He already has blood on his hands.

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Wikipedia says:

"In June 2019, American anti-vaccination activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. visited Samoa to meet with local anti-vaccination activists including Taylor Winterstein and Edwin Tamanese, whom he called a "medical freedom hero". Kennedy also discussed vaccines with then-Prime Minister Tuilaʻepa Saʻilele Malielegaoi,[25][26] and campaigned against the vaccine on social media.[27][28]"

"After the measles outbreak started [in Samoa], anti-vaxxers (including Kennedy) credited the dozens of measles deaths to poverty and malnutrition or even to the vaccine itself, but there was no evidence for these claims, and clinicians reported that Vitamin A deficiency or immunodeficiency did not appear to be a substantial contributing factor to the outbreak.[8]"

What a disgrace to the human race.

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RFK Jr. may waver on his conspiracies … but one hopes he sticks to blaming Covid on the Ashkenazy Jews and Chinese —we Jews feel incomplete without being blamed for something catastrophic.

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This Jewish-American is perfectly complete _without_ being scapegoated for Covid — or anything else that's in the MAGAddled, Qanon'd, conspiracist, populist zeitgeist, thank you very much.

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David,

I’ve said tinks before. Jr. resembles his isolationist Nazi admiring Grandfather Joe far more than his martyred uncle Jack and brother Robert.

He is such a crackpot and ignoramus that I don’t even think the GOP MAGA Senate mullahs are going to vote to confirm him. It’s a good thing that some of them don’t have death wish and want to live to be reasonably old.

Kol Tuv,

David Hurwitz

Chicago, IL

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I have to wonder, after all the big talk and Project 2025 promises, whether all these plans will ever come to pass. Ban the polio vaccine? Vaccines cause autism. Deport millions. These seem impossible promises to keep … and indefensible in courts. MAGA means Republican stagnation as usual.

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It’s like they’re having a temper tantrum and being ignored by most (sane) adults.

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Exactly!! MAGA (my father was one) cult followers seem like a bunch of whiny kids whose parents forgot to teach them manners, & sexual responsibilty. Something lime that.

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Remember that Trump has a short attention span on some things (COVID), and some things he never forgets (The Wall), so it depends on which way the wind is blowing that day.

Stephen Miller is allegedly handling the deportation attempts, but I think once the cost and the publicity and the manpower required will end it. Unfortunately, a lot of people will be hurt in the meantime.

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They've committed to starting their deportation efforts in Chicago. I was like, seriously? Have they ever been to Chicago? Good luck finding anyone to start. And second, when the tanks roll in and traffic stops, be ready for lots of Chicagoans honking their horns and flipping off the military. It's going to be a shitshow.

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Kennedy will never shake his wacko conspiracy views and it seems the GOP Senate are too cowardly to speak up. No, Mitch McConnell will vote for Kennedy b/c Mitch isn't a good person.

There are zero opinions Kennedy holds that were developed from being educated on the subject; all were formed by his own stupidity.

Every Senator who votes for him are saying no to all vaccines, not matter how much they claim COVID is a factor. It's not. Made up bullshit that the media allows them to spew without challenge.

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Mitch wasn't standing up to RFK. Mitch was telling him how to lie in his confirmation hearings. Much like the MAGA Supreme Ct nominees all lied about upholding Roe v. Wade.

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Call/write your Senators and urge them to vote NO on RFK Jr and the other members of the Friggin Four (Gabbard, Patel, Hegseth, plus Kennedy). Something like 70+ Nobel Prize winning scientists have written a letter to the Senators condemning Kennedy’s nomination. Hammer away at it. Get your relatives and neighbors to do it. 📞✍️📞✍️

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There's another Gang of Four that needs to be firmly rejected by the Senate:

The Trump Law Firm of Bondi, Blanche, Bove and Sauer cannot be permitted to take the top four jobs at the DOJ.

By cashing Trump's checks and arguing his personal cases — including the infamous SEAL Team Six hypothetical at the Supreme Court — they have each demonstrated an insurmountable conflict of interest _and_ highly questionable legal judgment.

In addition to rejecting Kennedy at HHS, the Senate should also reject Mehmet Oz at the CMS and Bhattacharya at NIH. Oz is a quack with egregious commercial conflicts of interest; and Bhattacharya is anti-vax/AIDS-truther crackpot masquerading as a health economist. (Stanford should revoke his tenure and dismiss him for cause.)

Let's not allow the four billionaires nominated to take over the Departments of Commerce, Energy, the Interior, and NASA.

Nor the crypto-dude to take charge of the SEC, nor the other incompetents named for Education and EPA.

In all, I'd advocate for the Senate reject _at least_ seventeen of Trump's Cabinet and sub-Cabinet nominees.

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5dEdited

You’ll never get 17 nominees tanked. Concentrate on the worst of the worst and move on. Most of Trump’s cabinet members the first time got fired after a year. Whoever gets in this time won’t last very long, and God willing, the Dems will retake Congress in 2026. It’s just not politically feasible to stop more than a handful of these nominations. Focus on the worst of them.

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I’m a retired nurse & a survivor of measles (twice), contracted before the MMR vaccine. I have watched how polio has seemingly disappeared, in our country, yet there are pockets of resurgence in non-vaccinated children. Polio paralyzes muscles—like lungs. Take a look at historical photos of children living the remainder of their lives in the “iron lung” contraptions. Do you want that for the children of today? Your children? Do you want to watch your children suffer the high fevers & possible death from measles? Granted, no vaccine comes without potential for side effects—no medicine does. But science has PROVEN that the side effects occur less frequently than the risks of the diseases the vaccines are meant to prevent.I have daughters & they were vaccinated. My grandchildren, too. My husband, because of his military job received “world-wide” immunizations. It’s time to return to safe sensibility, folks. Ask yourself just why Robert Kennedy, Jr is anti-vaccine.

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I confess I only had current MSM and Social Media exposure to RFK Jr. so I just happened to look him up on Wikipedia this morning. I was very surprised to read about all his legal work for environmental protections against industry pollution. He felt more main stream Democrat. It became clear he used to feel more rational but something went wrong. Must be his brain worm as he told us! And even a cursory dive into some of his pet peeves show he is ignoring real scientific studies on them in favor of fringe views. Somebody who was so passionate about cleaning up the water in this country doesn't seem to want to really understand core concepts.

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I think his toxic brain poisoned the worm and killed it.

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makes one wonder who bought him & why…I don’t think Trump did (although I wouldn’t be surprised if he had)…

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RFK is a Democrat that whored himself to Trump. No surprise about his views on guns. What's the matter with Perticone. This should not be a surprise!

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Kennedy will say and do anything in order to be relevant.

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Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) is no relation to Bobby Kennedy, but I believe he’s quite possibly a close relative of Foghorn Leghorn.

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While Big Almond sneaks under the radar.

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We all know RFK Jr stand on vaccines and McConnell's stance on polio vaccines. Now that Jr has walked back his rhetoric on polio vaccine, what are the chances of McConnell again caving to Trump. I say it is very high.

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You would think that someone aspiring to lead a cabinet level department like NIH would spend at least a few minutes researching what they do, or don't do, and why. It's always easier to have opinions than to know what you are talking about. Unfortunately, our lives depend upon someone running NIH knowing what he is doing, and basing what he says on science and facts. A few hours spent finding out the facts and science upon which NIH bases its recommendations and Kennedy could throw out most of what he believes.

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I think Kennedy desperately wants to be relevant. He runs in the primary as a Democrat, then runs for President, then gives up his campaign and tries to get Biden to give him a position in his administration but no dice. Goes to Trump and begs him for a position as a Republican. Then he is against vaccines, now he is okay with vaccines. I feel there is 10 year old in his head jumping up and down saying pick me, pick me.

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And yet, people wanted to vote for him.

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