RFK Jr Will Be Confirmed as Secretary of Health and Human Services

I replied to GP's broad statement with another broad statement.

The supporting evidence is the economy and world state of affairs.

Turns out printing a fuck ton of money, handicapping energy and massive amounts of fraud lead to inflation, who woulda guessed.

Not to mention the millions dead while Biden sit back and watched conflicts. All of which can now have peace talks.

Then there's the disastrous Afghanistan withdraw.

Want anything else?

Where to begin? I'll just mention a number of foreign policy failures since, not being an American, those failures of the 'Biden regime' (between quotes because it is highly unlikely that it was actually Biden who called the shots and way more likely for someone like Blinken to have been the ringleader here) are the ones which have caused most problems for non-Americans.

- the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan. Biden pulled out troops before getting out civilians, green card holders and allies. Not everyone was evacuated and billions of dollars worth of equipment was left behind for the Taliban to take over

- the way the Biden regime botched the burgeoning Abraham accords by turning their backs to the Saudis while opening up to the Iranians - why? All this achieved was the intensification of smouldering conflicts which begot the world the rise of the Houthi's, the 6th of Octoboer incursion by Hamas and the resulting carnage and more

- the way the Biden regime botched the situation around Ukraine with him hinting at a 'minor incursion' not being taken seriously. With the disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal and this weak-kneed response from the USA Putin deemed the time ripe for invasion

On the domestic side I can mention the 'border crisis' caused by the intentional import of millions of illegal immigrants, the failed energy policies, the mis-named 'inflation reduction act' and similar financial boondoggles which caused rampant inflation, the weaponisation of the justice department and the FBI which has led to trust in the judiciary sinking to a record low level, the similar weaponisation of the IRS, the authoritarian push around the SARS2 unpleasantness with the whole web of lies around both the origin of the antigen as well as the efficacy of the only allowed treatment regimes, the mishandling of the military which has seen record low recruitment levels since the regime has tried to push the military towards 'progressive' political goals, the endless parade of lies around just about any subject which cropped up from the 'laptop from hell' through the 'summer of love', the clear examples of corruption where Biden pardoned his family for their influence peddling, etcetera. There is far more to mention but this is enough for starters.

If you want evidence I'd invite you to do a cursory search on the 'net, you'll find tons of it. Be aware of the political bias of whatever source you refer to but even the most biased sources will be unable to hide the last regime's failures since they are so blatant and visible.

And conservatives famously skewered Michelle Obama for promoting good exercise and good diet from an early age onwards. They think I have a short attention span.

These two things are orthogonal.

You can not be pro DEI and still find competent people. Just by the numbers, it’s possible.

To be “most unqualified” you can select from DEI or not, as any group will have horribly qualified people.

There are many in the medical field that aren’t DEI that care deeply about, and are knowledgeable about the major health issues in this country - vaccines, obesity, malnutrition, mental health, fertility, cancer, food supply (and its poor quality), environmental, activity, elder care, dementia, early childhood health care, just to name a few.

I am unaware of his qualifications to lead such an org, but at that level, he’s mostly a political talking head anyway. Still, I agree it’s quite bad. We’ll know in a few years the outcome.

All that said, “could not be more embarrassed for humanity and my country” - really? You think this is worse than the Great Depression when security forces were paid to guard piles of rotting fruit so the starving couldn’t eat them? The rise of the KKK? The horrors of the civil war?

Inflationary language might feel good, but its effect is it encourages the forgetting of worse things, increases internal conflict, and makes reconciliation and course correction even harder. So the next time you read how someone is “the worst” or a Nazi, ask yourself if you are truly aiming for the erasure of Nazi crimes and further fracturing of society or simply exaggerating to highlight a point. One person’s exaggeration becomes someone else’s truth.

mRNA vaccines. As someone who suffers from permanent heart damage after my first (and only) dose of Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine I have some sympathy for this course of action.

< And the cutting of ongoing AIDS treatment in South Africa

South Africa has largely decided to align itself with countries who act against the US interest and there is also a not insignificant sentiment against American intervention / involvement in other countries ("empire").

This is what withdrawal looks like. Assistance often comes with strings attached.

In my view, the withdrawal by America of intervention and support of liberal democracy around the world would be a detriment all around, but this is apparently what the American voter and many people from other countries prefer. That means in many cases throwing out the baby with the bathwater, so to speak.

Exactly. It's a choice to de-prioritize ethics by mechanical application of policies rather than choosing the greater good with critical thinking skills and integrity. It becomes foot-gunning in the long term since history won't be kind to the [insert future pejorative label] sympathizers. More broadly, I hope SV cleans up its act and rejects the MAANG megacorp surrender to the current ideological faction because it didn't align to the other side the same way previously when the winds went the other way. (I don't have a horse in this fight but I can see what is happening now is objectively bad. I think we can choose to step back from the red vs. blue team sports nonsense and have objective discussions of what's likely to lead to more failure or more success for a given polity.)