WASHINGTON – The Senate confirmed Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as the Health and Human Services secretary on Thursday, giving the longtime vaccine critic who has vowed to take on „big pharma“ and ultra-processed food the power to oversee the nationâs food and healthcare systems.
Archiv: enforced medical treatments / tests
Senate confirms RFK Jr. as HHS secretary in 52-48 vote
Kennedy, 71, is a longtime environmental lawyer and anti-vaccine activist whose family has mythic status in Democratic politics. The nephew of President John F. Kennedy and the son of Robert F. Kennedy launched his own White House bid in 2023. And although he initially sought the Democratic nomination, Kennedy changed his bid to independent, before dropping out to endorse President Trump in Augus
SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES: NATIONAL FEDERATION OF INDEPENDENT BUSINESS, ET AL., APPLICANTS 21A244 v. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR, OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH ADMINISTRATION, ET AL
(13.01.2022)
Administrative agencies are creatures of statute. They accordingly possess only the authority that Congress has provided. The Secretary has ordered 84 million Americans to either obtain a COVIDâ19 vaccine or undergo weekly medical testing at their own expense. This is no âeveryday exercise of federal power.â In re MCP No. 165, 20 F. 4th, at 272 (Sutton, C. J., dissenting). It is instead a significant encroachment into the livesâand healthâof a vast number of employees. âWe expect Congress to speak clearly when authorizing an agency to exercise powers of vast economic and political significance.â Alabama Assn. of Realtors v. Department of Health and Human Servs., 594
U. S. ___, ___ (2021) (per curiam) (slip op., at 6) (internal quotation marks omitted). There can be little doubt that OSHAâs mandate qualifies as an exercise of such authority. The question, then, is whether the Act plainly authorizes the Secretaryâs mandate. It does not. The Act empowers the Secretary to set workplace safety standards, not broad public health measures.
(…)
The Solicitor General does not dispute that OSHA is limited to regulating âwork-related dangers.â Response Brief for OSHA in No. 21A244 etc., p. 45 (OSHA Response). She instead argues that the risk of contracting COVIDâ19 qualifies as such a danger. We cannot agree. Although COVIDâ19 is a risk that occurs in many workplaces, it is not an occupational hazard in most. COVIDâ19 can and does spread at home, in schools, during sporting events, and everywhere else that people gather. That kind of universal risk is no different from the day-to-day dangers that all face from crime, air pollution, or any number of communicable diseases. Permitting OSHA to regulate the hazards of daily lifeâsimply because most Americans have jobs and face those same risks while on the clockâwould significantly expand OSHAâs regulatory authority without clear congressional authorization.
The Supreme Court blocked President Bidenâs OSHA mandate, which was blatantly and egregiously unconstitutional. The principle is simple: The president is not a king with the power to do whatever he wants regardless of the law and the facts.
(Jan 13, 2022)
The Real Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Among his many provocations: Kennedy claims that pandemic lockdowns were calamitous for working people and for children; that citizens should choose for themselves whether to receive vaccines; that corporate influences on government are pervasive and corrupting; and that censorship contrived by the state is intolerable. Worse even than these outrages, during the pandemic this man called into question the conduct and veracity of Anthony Fauci. And this offense â challenging Doctor Fauci! â is still regarded as the most shameful assault on science since the persecution of Galileo.
SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES: NATIONAL FEDERATION OF INDEPENDENT BUSINESS, ET AL., APPLICANTS 21A244 v. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR, OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH ADMINISTRATION, ET AL
(13.01.2022)
Administrative agencies are creatures of statute. They accordingly possess only the authority that Congress has provided. The Secretary has ordered 84 million Americans to either obtain a COVIDâ19 vaccine or undergo weekly medical testing at their own expense. This is no âeveryday exercise of federal power.â In re MCP No. 165, 20 F. 4th, at 272 (Sutton, C. J., dissenting). It is instead a significant encroachment into the livesâand healthâof a vast number of employees. âWe expect Congress to speak clearly when authorizing an agency to exercise powers of vast economic and political significance.â Alabama Assn. of Realtors v. Department of Health and Human Servs., 594
U. S. ___, ___ (2021) (per curiam) (slip op., at 6) (internal quotation marks omitted). There can be little doubt that OSHAâs mandate qualifies as an exercise of such authority. The question, then, is whether the Act plainly authorizes the Secretaryâs mandate. It does not. The Act empowers the Secretary to set workplace safety standards, not broad public health measures.
(…)
The Solicitor General does not dispute that OSHA is limited to regulating âwork-related dangers.â Response Brief for OSHA in No. 21A244 etc., p. 45 (OSHA Response). She instead argues that the risk of contracting COVIDâ19 qualifies as such a danger. We cannot agree. Although COVIDâ19 is a risk that occurs in many workplaces, it is not an occupational hazard in most. COVIDâ19 can and does spread at home, in schools, during sporting events, and everywhere else that people gather. That kind of universal risk is no different from the day-to-day dangers that all face from crime, air pollution, or any number of communicable diseases. Permitting OSHA to regulate the hazards of daily lifeâsimply because most Americans have jobs and face those same risks while on the clockâwould significantly expand OSHAâs regulatory authority without clear congressional authorization.
SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES: NATIONAL FEDERATION OF INDEPENDENT BUSINESS, ET AL., APPLICANTS 21A244 v. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR, OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH ADMINISTRATION, ET AL
(13.01.2022)
Administrative agencies are creatures of statute. They accordingly possess only the authority that Congress has provided. The Secretary has ordered 84 million Americans to either obtain a COVIDâ19 vaccine or undergo weekly medical testing at their own expense. This is no âeveryday exercise of federal power.â In re MCP No. 165, 20 F. 4th, at 272 (Sutton, C. J., dissenting). It is instead a significant encroachment into the livesâand healthâof a vast number of employees. âWe expect Congress to speak clearly when authorizing an agency to exercise powers of vast economic and political significance.â Alabama Assn. of Realtors v. Department of Health and Human Servs., 594
U. S. ___, ___ (2021) (per curiam) (slip op., at 6) (internal quotation marks omitted). There can be little doubt that OSHAâs mandate qualifies as an exercise of such authority. The question, then, is whether the Act plainly authorizes the Secretaryâs mandate. It does not. The Act empowers the Secretary to set workplace safety standards, not broad public health measures.
(…)
The Solicitor General does not dispute that OSHA is limited to regulating âwork-related dangers.â Response Brief for OSHA in No. 21A244 etc., p. 45 (OSHA Response). She instead argues that the risk of contracting COVIDâ19 qualifies as such a danger. We cannot agree. Although COVIDâ19 is a risk that occurs in many workplaces, it is not an occupational hazard in most. COVIDâ19 can and does spread at home, in schools, during sporting events, and everywhere else that people gather. That kind of universal risk is no different from the day-to-day dangers that all face from crime, air pollution, or any number of communicable diseases. Permitting OSHA to regulate the hazards of daily lifeâsimply because most Americans have jobs and face those same risks while on the clockâwould significantly expand OSHAâs regulatory authority without clear congressional authorization.
Supreme Court saves Americans from Biden COVID vaccine mandateâbut the fight is not over
(14.01.2022)
As we have stated for months, the federal government doesnât get to be your nanny, and it shouldnât get to be your doctor. It has used this COVID-19 emergency to commandeer too many liberties that are solely afforded to sovereign states and free Americans. History has taught us that once a government takes rights from its citizens, they are almost never recovered. States must be vigilant and always ready to challenge a federal government that is growing too fast and too powerful.
China scraps inbound quarantine rules in decisive break with zero-Covid regime
China will remove quarantine requirements for inbound travellers from January 8 as the country dismantles the remnants of a zero-Covid regime that closed it off from the rest of the world for almost three years.
The National Health Commission on Monday unveiled the move as part of a wider announcement that downgraded the countryâs management of Covid-19 and definitively abandoned a host of other preventive measures.
„JUST ONE MORE LOCKDOWN, MY KING… „
THREAD. A New York Times article on Eric Adams‘ fascist and illegal plan to arrest „homeless people“ who cops „deem“ to be „mentally ill“ is astonishing for what is missing
(…)
Nor does the article contain a single mention of universal access to preventative health care, of the massive divestment in our society from mental health care, or of the root causes of mental illness.
Amid homeless crisis, New York to step up forced hospitalization of mentally ill
(29.11.2022)
Adams, speaking from City Hall, said the city had a „moral obligation“ to help New Yorkers struggling to meet their own basic needs because of mental illness, even if those people resisted intervention.
The Democratic mayor has made addressing the city‘s homelessness crisis a top goal of his administration since taking office in January.
„Covid infection levels across China have broken previous records“. No, testing has broken records. It‘s amazingly disappeared in all countries that don‘t test all the time. Proof that the tests were always about control over people, not disease.
Surreal night in Beijing Protesters chanted „no to covid tests, yes to freedom“ for hours Some cheered for Xi Jinping to step down. After 2am, police presence ramped up. I asked one what they‘d do if people didn‘t leave. Would they use tear gas? He just said plz go home
(27.11.2022)
The lockdown abusers and their enablers now call for an AMNESTY, but without confessing the damage they‘ve done and asking for forgiveness. I don‘t want revenge, just justice at the fullest extent of the law! Do not vote into public offices any Freedom deniers and their parties!
Pandemic Amnesty? Not So Fast
It is simply wrong for people to publicly advocate for segregation and unemployment of a group of people because they donât want a medicine that is fifteen minutes old.
It is simply wrong to whip your children up into a frenzy about something you have only heard about on the mainstream news to the point where they are yelling at strangers less than two meters away.
It is simply wrong to uninvite family members from Christmas because they didnât take the same medicine you did.
It is simply wrong to close churchesâyou know, those places you go to when death is nearâbecause you think death is near!
It is simply wrong to close the borders for years on end and completely ruin businesses that rely on tourism.
It is simply wrong to demonize every dissenting opinion in the pursuit of scientific and medical answers. Something about the scientific method requiring dissenting opinions and contrary evidence to buttress claims comes to mindâŠ
I could go on and on.
Letâs Declare a Pandemic Amnesty
(31.10.2022)
We have to put these fights aside and declare a pandemic amnesty. We can leave out the willful purveyors of actual misinformation while forgiving the hard calls that people had no choice but to make with imperfect knowledge. Los Angeles County closed its beaches in summer 2020. Ex post facto, this makes no more sense than my familyâs masked hiking trips. But we need to learn from our mistakes and then let them go. We need to forgive the attacks, too. Because I thought schools should reopen and argued that kids as a group were not at high risk, I was called a âteacher killerâ and a âgĂ©nocidaire.â It wasnât pleasant, but feelings were high. And I certainly donât need to dissect and rehash that time for the rest of my days.
Moving on is crucial now, because the pandemic created many problems that we still need to solve.
The lockdown files: Rishi Sunak on what we werenât told
(27 August 2022)
Lockdown â closing schools and much of the economy while sending the police after people who sat on park benches â was the most draconian policy introduced in peacetime. No. 10 wanted to present it as âfollowing the scienceâ rather than a political decision, and this had implications for the wiring of government decision-making. It meant elevating Sage, a sprawling group of scientific advisers, into a committee that had the power to decide whether the country would lock down or not. There was no socioeconomic equivalent to Sage; no forum where other questions would be asked.
So whoever wrote the minutes for the Sage meetings â condensing its discussions into guidance for government â would set the policy of the nation. No one, not even cabinet members, would know how these decisions were reached.
Rishi Sunak is just the start. The great lockdown scandal is about to unravel
(25.08.2022)
For some time, Iâve been trying to persuade Rishi Sunak to go on the record about what really happened in lockdown. Only a handful of people really know what took place then, because most ministers â including members of the Cabinet â were kept in the dark. Government was often reduced to a âquadâ of ministers deciding on Britainâs future and the then chancellor of the exchequer was one of them. Iâd heard rumours that Sunak was horrified at much of what he saw, but was keeping quiet. In which case, lessons would never be learnt.
His speaking out now confirms much of what many suspected. That the culture of fear, seen in the Orwellian advertising campaign that sought to terrify the country, applied inside Government.
SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES: NATIONAL FEDERATION OF INDEPENDENT BUSINESS, ET AL., APPLICANTS 21A244 v. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR, OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH ADMINISTRATION, ET AL
(13.01.2022)
Administrative agencies are creatures of statute. They accordingly possess only the authority that Congress has provided. The Secretary has ordered 84 million Americans to either obtain a COVIDâ19 vaccine or undergo weekly medical testing at their own expense. This is no âeveryday exercise of federal power.â In re MCP No. 165, 20 F. 4th, at 272 (Sutton, C. J., dissenting). It is instead a significant encroachment into the livesâand healthâof a vast number of employees. âWe expect Congress to speak clearly when authorizing an agency to exercise powers of vast economic and political significance.â Alabama Assn. of Realtors v. Department of Health and Human Servs., 594
U. S. ___, ___ (2021) (per curiam) (slip op., at 6) (internal
quotation marks omitted). There can be little doubt that
OSHAâs mandate qualifies as an exercise of such authority.
The question, then, is whether the Act plainly authorizes
the Secretaryâs mandate. It does not. The Act empowers
the Secretary to set workplace safety standards, not broad public health measures.
(…)
The Solicitor General does not dispute that OSHA is lim-
ited to regulating âwork-related dangers.â Response Brief
for OSHA in No. 21A244 etc., p. 45 (OSHA Response). She
instead argues that the risk of contracting COVIDâ19 qual-
ifies as such a danger. We cannot agree. Although COVIDâ
19 is a risk that occurs in many workplaces, it is not an occupational hazard in most. COVIDâ19 can and does spread at home, in schools, during sporting events, and everywhere else that people gather. That kind of universal risk is no different from the day-to-day dangers that all face from
crime, air pollution, or any number of communicable diseases. Permitting OSHA to regulate the hazards of daily lifeâsimply because most Americans have jobs and face those same risks while on the clockâwould significantly expand OSHAâs regulatory authority without clear congressional authorization.
US supreme court blocks Bidenâs workplace vaccine-or-test rules
(13.01.2022)
The courtâs conservative majority concluded the administration overstepped its authority by seeking to impose the Occupational Safety and Health Administrationâs (Osha) vaccine-or-test rule on US businesses with at least 100 employees. More than 80 million people would have been affected.
âOsha has never before imposed such a mandate. Nor has Congress. Indeed, although Congress has enacted significant legislation addressing the Covid-19 pandemic, it has declined to enact any measure similar to what Osha has promulgated here,â the conservatives wrote in an unsigned opinion.
In dissent, the courtâs three liberals argued that it was the court that was overreaching by substituting its judgment for that of health experts.
President Joe Biden: The 2022 60 Minutes Interview
Scott Pelley: Mr. President, first Detroit Auto Show in three years. Is the pandemic over?
President Joe Biden: The pandemic is over. We still have a problem with COVID. We‘re still doing a lotta work on it. It‘s– but the pandemic is over. if you notice, no one‘s wearing masks. Everybody seems to be in pretty good shape. And so I think it‘s changing. And I think this is a perfect example of it.
The car show was a reminder that gasoline prices hit a historic high last Juneâin part because Russia cut fuel supplies in its war on Ukraine.
Biden: âThe pandemic is overâ
âThe pandemic is over. We still have a problem with Covid. Weâre still doing a lot of work on it. Itâs â but the pandemic is over,â Biden said.
The US government still designates Covid-19 a Public Health Emergency and the World Health Organization says it remains a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. But the Presidentâs comments follow other hopeful comments from global health leaders.
Is Liz Truss the British Trump?
If you are a right-wing MP or ambitious wonk on the Truss campaign âpivotâ is such a useful word. Far better to say âwe need to pivot from campaign mode to governing mode,â than to blurt out that ânow we have their votes we can forget the lies we told to win over Conservative membersâ. Far better for Truss herself to say, âI am pivoting from my previous position on tax cutsâ to âI admit that I was wrongâ.
Pivoting calls to mind the elegance of a ballerina turning on her points. Not the cynicism of a politician breaking promises she made only a few days before.