Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has made himself the face of the anti-vaccination movement, embarrassing his family. His book attacking Dr. Fauci is at the top of the Amazon nonfiction bestseller list, and his foundation has raised millions of dollars. Even before the pandemic, prominent members of his family wrote a public letter criticizing his anti-vaccine views, which were spreading “dangerous misinformation.” How much worse they must feel now!
But when he threw a party, Politico reported, the guests were required to be vaccinated.
Kennedy blamed it on his wife, a likely story. This is akin to “the dog ate my homework.”
What a shame to see this man sullying his family name, although some might say there were plenty of others sullying it before him. But their private peccadillos fade in comparison to a man who urges the public not to protect themselves against a deadly virus.
TALES OF AN ANTI-VAXXER — Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is one of the most prominent anti-vaxxers in the country. So it came as a surprise when an invitation to a holiday party at his home in California last week urged attendees to be tested or vaccinated beforehand, two people familiar with the matter told Daniel Lippman.
When we called up Kennedy for comment, he pinned it on his better half, actress Cheryl Hines of “Curb Your Enthusiasm” fame. Kennedy said the party was for her entertainment industry friends and cast members, and he was unaware of what the e-vite invitation said before the day of the party.
“I guess I’m not always the boss at my own house,” Kennedy told Lippman. There was also no effort to verify vaccination or testing status of the attendees before entering, he said. (Hines didn’t respond to a request for comment.)
Just this week, Kennedy was the subject of a major AP profile titled “How a Kennedy built an anti-vaccine juggernaut amid COVID-19.” The article reported that the revenue of his charity, Children’s Health Defense, more than doubled in 2020 to $6.4 million. Last month, he released his new book, “The Real Anthony Fauci: Bill Gates, Big Pharma, and the Global War on Democracy and Public Health,” which continues to be a best-seller on Amazon.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
But when he threw a party, Politico reported, the guests were required to be vaccinated.
Kennedy blamed it on his wife”
Kennedy’s wife is obviously a lot smarter than he is (which ain’t saying much).
But not smart enough to divorce him.
But unfortunately, while it helps, even mandating vaccinations and pre-attendance testing for partygoers is little assurance that no one will be infected.
Many people don’t realize that being vaccinated does not mean you can’t get and/or pass on covid.
Nor do they realize how INaccurate the rapid antigen tests can be.
Nor the fact that if you have a party with a lot of people (say 20 or more) all of whom have tested negative, the probability that NO one at the party is infected is actually pretty low and decreases as the number of partygoers increases.
Those probabilities are illustrated by the old birthday “paradox” of school classrooms: What is the probability that two students in a classroom will have the same birthday? If there are 23 students, the probability is 50%. When the group size reaches 75, the probability is 99.9%
Is he so desperate for attention and money from the fringe conspiracy/anti-vaccine crowd that he feels compelled to throw in with them? Many citizens have big problems with Gates and Fauci but both are easy media targets. Criticizing them seems to pass for “activism” these days but really is nothing more than superficial grandstanding on Kennedy’s part.
Maybe RFK Jr. could buckle down and do some serious scholarship on the USA 🦠 pathogenic bio weapons industry, now decades old. It certainly brought us to this Pandemic Precipice. But that would require real work and would probably earn him a few very powerful enemies. Uncomfortable for someone who is simply out for glamor and glitz.
Many citizens have big problems with Gates and Fauci
but both are easy targets. Criticizing them seems to
pass for “activism”…
Socrates:
Strong minds discuss ideas, average minds
discuss events, weak minds discuss people…
yes.
Sound like a bunch of book burners.
I read ages ago that Hines favors vaccines. She won’t discuss this difference of opinion with the press.
There’s a meme going ’round the Net right now, as follows:
From now own, any zombie movie that doesn’t have hordes of people running TOWARD the zombies because they are convinced that being bitten by them is a liberal hoax is going to seem pretty unrealistic.
I saw a wonderful work of public art last summer. Drawing of a zombie saying: “I wanted zombies, not a stupid virus!”
JFK, Jr., covers the miraculous efficacy of hydroxychloroquine and horse de-wormer but totally misses injecting disinfectant and shining light into your orifices! Quite the oversight!
But it’s certainly a good thing that we have geniuses like this guy and Donald Trump to set those ignorant virologists straight about how these things work!
I assume you meant RFK Jr.
“Politico and other news outlets have written near-identical stories regarding a recent holiday party at my home. The angle of these stories is that I required guests to be vaccinated in order to attend. I did not. Children’s Health Defense and I believe that every person has the right to make health decisions free from coercion, threats or force by governments, employers, and fellow citizens. I don’t always agree with the decisions of others, of course, but I always support their liberty to decide for themselves. I extend this respect to everyone including colleagues, friends, and family members.”
–Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
Meanwhile, judge follows the law and puts a stop to 16+ mandates in SDUSD. He wonders why the state legislature hasn’t bothered to act and says the law is clear – Independent Study is the parents choice, not the schools.
https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/todays-the-day-sdusd-covid-19-vaccine-deadline-for-students-arrives/2821019/
Clarity,
Trump admitted he is vaccinated and got the booster. The entire FOX news team is or soon will be vaccinated.
Do they know something you don’t know?
As for RFK Jr.: if I were married to a famous anti-vaxxer, no way would I throw a big Xmas party and require everyone to be vaxxed. If you think his wife didn’t tell him, I have a bridge to sell you, less than a mile from where I sit right now.
Diane,
Why should I care about Trump or Fox News? You’re continual suggestions that they are my people is bizarre.
I never said his wife didn’t tell him what she was planning. I have no doubt that she did. Still, they co-exist.
I understand this blog appears to have no interest in long term studies to verify the safety of investigational drugs but what is the point of hating the people who do?
You can be a democrat and still ask questions.
You can be a democrat and still demand answers.
A statement from Bobby:
“Politico and other news outlets have written near-identical stories regarding a recent holiday party at my home. The angle of these stories is that I required guests to be vaccinated in order to attend. I did not. Children’s Health Defense and I believe that every person has the right to make health decisions free from coercion, threats or force by governments, employers, and fellow citizens. I don’t always agree with the decisions of others, of course, but I always support their liberty to decide for themselves. I extend this respect to everyone including colleagues, friends, and family members.”
–Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
Meanwhile, SDUSD’s vaxine mandate for 16+ just lost in court. The judge can be heard here wondering aloud about why the CA Legislature still hasn’t acted. And he made it clear that only parents can choose Independent Study for their kids. Schools don’t have the right to choose that for them.
https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/todays-the-day-sdusd-covid-19-vaccine-deadline-for-students-arrives/2821019/
Anything that gives people license to avoid getting protected undermines public health.
Are you vaccinated for measles?
Polio?
Smallpox?
If yes, why?
“Anything”? Like process? Law?
How much protection and for how long?
Comparing temporary protection of an mRNA investigational drug to the old school protections of measles, polio and smallpox vaccines isn’t the right argument.
Clarity
In another post’s comment thread , you and I have had a dialog. You seem like a good person. You and I may have some things in common. We both believe there are people at the blog who have formed wrong conclusions about us.
At Christmas, it can be hard to hear difficult stories. The following one, I hope has a happy ending but, I’ll advise that the story about Ethan also has tough parts. My son-in-law’s nephew is 18. If you met him a couple of years ago, you would have thought he was like any other high schooler, a likable guy, had a new girlfriend, loved cars (even built one with his Dad). The heart defect Ethan had at birth wasn’t a problem except sports were limited especially as he grew older. A pacemaker was put in his chest and that presented a blip for his plans. He had the modest goal of being a car mechanic like his Dad.The doctors told him the electric currents in the auto engines, possible spark, could interrupt the pacemaker’s function.
Ethan’s parents were told that, at young adulthood, he’d need a heart transplant. Unfortunately, the timing was during Covid. The family was told that a Covid diagnosis for Ethan would be fatal. All family functions had to be cancelled while he waited for a heart. A sad statistic about the state of New York but, good news for Ethan, a relatively high number of young men’s hearts become available due to accidents like 4-wheelers, ATV’s.
I wrote to an area newspaper (upstate N.Y.) and a reporter did a nice interview with Ethan’s family. Friends set up a GoFundMe page. Ethan and his Mother had to get an apartment in NYC to await the heart (had to be within an hour of the hospital). Insurance chose the hospital location. The timing was during the worst part of the Covid infections in NYC. He spent 4 times longer in the hospital than predicted. He had a stroke but, extensive rehabilitation led to a full recovery. Ethan was born with only one kidney which was only diagnosed when kidney function showed a problem after the heart transplant. The heart problem or the anti-rejection drugs had weakened his kidney. Insurance forced him to get dialysis in N.J. so, there was a lot of time spent away from his home. The dialysis was very fatiguing for him. His mother decided to give him one of her kidneys. Ethan and his mother are currently in NYC, for a month, recovering from the surgeries. The doctors are monitoring before they release them. At this point, both are doing well. When the person with kidney failure gets a new kidney, they immediately feel better. The person giving the kidney takes longer to feel o.k.
I’m telling the story because the one break Ethan and his family could have caught, one that was within the grasp of our everyday lives, was for all of us to get vaccinated. Ethan was lucky hospital beds were
available and his surgeries weren’t postponed by Covid-full hospitals and he was lucky that he avoided getting Covid.
My neighbor who you and I have discussed, would feel badly if Ethan died of Covid. She would have felt bad if her dog had killed our dog.
I just think she doesn’t try to walk in the other person’s shoes, not when she didn’t want to put her dog on a leash while she walked by our house and not the shoes of a person who needs a hospital bed and minimal exposure to Covid.
Regards, Linda
Linda,
Thanks for sharing. I’m glad to hear Ethan’s heart surgery and subsequent kidney surgery he and his mom had went well. Kind of crazy to hear they didn’t discover his missing kidney until now!
There are probably a million people who’ve delayed needed surgery because of Covid. This includes my own family. I don’t know what the loss of life estimate is due to delays but those stats are out there.
I also don’t know how many hospital stays and deaths could have been prevented in this country if protocol hadn’t been – do nothing unless admitted to the hospital. IDK if doctors in other countries had lower death rates because more doctors made attempts to treat their covid patients as soon as they were diagnosed.
Yesterday I read an article about patients contracting Covid while in the hospital. I believe this speaks to our government’s failure to provide quality health funding but that is another topic.
What I do know is that America has the second highest death rate of all wealth countries and it doesn’t appear, based on vaccination rates, that this is is the reason for such poor outcomes.
As we all now know, these ‘vaccines’ don’t prevent people from contracting or transmitting the disease. Immunity wanes over time. The vaccination program was rolled out over time and not all at once. I wish someone could explain how anyone could and/or still can believe that an end to this disease would have been possible based on this fact alone. Did the FDA/CDC know these drugs were’t going to go the distance? Even more reason for them to advise doctors to treat their covid positive patients before their conditions got worse. Fear of not knowing what to do and having no one to tell these people what to do may have created a perfect storm that led some to occupy those hospital beds.