Health Secretary Bobby Junior promotes bad medicine
Elisabeth Rosenthal
Donald Trump’s administrations have been notorious for an array of “alternative facts” — ranging from the relatively minor (the size of inaugural crowds) to threats to U.S. democracy, such as who really won the 2020 election.
And over the past six months, the stakes have been life or death: Trump’s health officials have been endorsing alternative facts in science to impose policies that contradict modern medical knowledge.
It is an undeniable fact — true science — that vaccines have been miraculous in preventing terrible diseases from polio to tetanus to measles. Numerous studies have shown they do not cause autism. That is accepted by the scientific community.
Yet Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has no medical background or scientific training, doesn’t believe all that. The consequences of such misinformation have already been deadly.
For decades, the vast majority Americans willingly got their shots — even if a significant slice of parents had misgivings. A 2015 survey found that 25% of parents believed that the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine could cause autism. (A 1998 study that suggested the connection has been thoroughly discredited.)
Despite that concern, just 2% of children entering kindergarten were exempted from vaccinations for religious or philosophical objections. Kids got their shots.
But more recently, poor government science communication and online purveyors of misinformation have tilled the soil for alternative facts to grow like weeds. In the 2024-25 school year, rates of full vaccination for those entering kindergarten dropped to just over 92%. In more than a dozen states, the rate was under 90%, and in Idaho it was under 80%. And now we have a stream of measles cases, more than 1,300 from a disease declared extinct in the U.S. a quarter-century ago.
It’s easy to see how both push and pull factors led to the acceptance of bad science on vaccines.
The number of recommended vaccines has ballooned this century, overwhelming patients and parents. That is, in large part, because the clinical science of vaccinology has boomed (that’s good). And in part because vaccines, which historically sold for pennies, now often sell for hundreds of dollars, becoming a source of big profits for drugmakers.
In 1986, a typical child was recommended to receive 11 vaccine doses — seven injections and four oral. Today, that number has risen to between 50 and 54 doses by age 18.
Mandatory polio vaccinations ended polio in the United States
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) reaffirmed its call for an end to nonmedical exemptions for routine childhood vaccinations.
In a revised policy statement published
July 28, the AAP said that it continues to support medical exemptions from
immunization when granted appropriately and believes such exemptions should be
available to children.
But it's concerned that the growth in nonmedical vaccine
exemptions, and the variation in how different states implement nonmedical
exemption policies, is leading to disparities in immunization coverage and
schools that are less safe.
The statement, which updates a 2016 policy that was
reaffirmed in 2022, comes amid rising rates of vaccine exemptions in the United
States and the worst year for measles the country has seen since the disease
was declared eliminated in 2000. Of the 1,319 confirmed US measles cases so far
this year, 92% have been in individuals (primarily children) who are
unvaccinated or have unknown vaccination status.
AAP argues that nonmedical vaccine exemptions "erode
the safety of school environments" and limit the public health value of
vaccine requirements for school attendance.
Since 1905, the Supreme Court has held that vaccine mandates are Constitutional because public health trumps individual choice
"Because medically recognized contraindications for
specific individuals from specific vaccines exist, there continues to be a
place for legitimate medical exemptions to immunization," the team of five
AAP-affiliated physicians wrote.
"However, exempting children for
nonmedical reasons from immunizations is problematic for medical, public
health, and ethical reasons and creates unnecessary risk to both individuals
and communities."
Forty-five states allow nonmedical exemptions
The AAP said requiring proof of immunization as a condition
for childcare and school attendance—as all 50 states, the District of Columbia,
and Puerto Rico currently do—is an effective means of protecting communities
from vaccine preventable diseases because it helps protect those who can't be
vaccinated for one reason or another.
An illustration from ‘The History of Witches and Wizards,’ published in 1720, depicting witches offering wax dolls to the devil. Wellcome Collection/Wikimedia Commons
Between 1400 and 1780, an estimated 100,000 people, mostly women, were prosecuted for witchcraft in Europe. About half that number were executed – killings motivated by a constellation of beliefs about women, truth, evil and magic.
But the witch hunts could not have had the reach they did without the media machinery that made them possible: an industry of printed manuals that taught readers how to find and exterminate witches.
Donald has been even more erratic than usual lately,
which is saying something, launching us into an illegal, unconstitutional, and
unauthorized conflict with Iran and leaving everyone, including his own allies,
waiting for his next move. But now he's invoking a new power in order to excuse
his behavior — a God he does not believe in. Donald shocked the world by
dropping bombs on Iran on Saturday after claiming two days earlier that he'd
take two weeks to think about how to proceed. In his speech after launching the
unprovoked attack, he invoked God multiple times:
“I want to just thank everybody, and in particular, God.
I want to just say we love you, God, and we love our great military. Protect
them. God bless the Middle East. God bless Israel. And God bless America. Thank
you very much. Thank you.”
The backlash was swift. First of all, invoking religion to
justify any bombing is offensive, but in the context of bombing a Middle
Eastern country it smacks of the Crusades.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth,
took it one step further when, at the end of his remarks, he said “We give
glory to God for His providence and continue to ask for His protection.”
Whether Hegseth is a genuinely religious person I do not know, and I would
prefer government officials not to speak in such terms about missile strikes. But
Donald, despite his occasional attempts to pretend otherwise, is not religious
at all.
Only $99 but if you want one with his signature on a label, it's $1,000!
When he was a kid in the 1950s, Norman Vincent Peale was
hugely popular. Peale was pastor of Marble Collegiate Church in midtown
Manhattan and his shallow message of self-sufficiency appealed enormously to my
grandfather, Fred. Peale was a charlatan, but he was a charlatan who headed up
a rich and powerful church in New York City and he had a message to sell.
My
grandfather was not a reader, but it was impossible not to know about Peale’s
bestseller, The Power of Positive Thinking. The title alone was
enough for Fred, and he decided to join Marble Collegiate Church. He and his
family rarely attended, but Fred already had a positive attitude and unbounded
faith in his abilities to succeed. He didn't really need to read “the power of
positive thinking” in order to co-opt, for his own purposes, the most
superficial and self-serving aspect of Peale’s message.
Peale anticipated the prosperity gospel and his doctrine
proclaimed that one need only have self-confidence in order to prosper in the
way God wants one to. He wrote, “Obstacles are simply not permitted to destroy
your happiness and well-being. You need to be defeated only if you are willing
to be.”
Peale’s view neatly confirmed what my grandfather already
thought: he was rich because he deserved to be.
All four groups share one basic aim: to degrade our
one-person-one-vote election system so a few billionaires and certain religious zealots can
consolidate their political power to eliminate free and fair elections to
become even more controlling and richer than they already are.
Here are brief descriptions of the four groups.
1: The MAGA Base: Who Are They?
The hardcore, mostly rural MAGA base can be understood as an
echo of the Confederacy. Philosophically, many of them are the same people who
tried to destroy the United States to preserve slavery via the Civil War
(1861-1865). In their view, the basic ideas that inspired the founding of the
U.S. (1776-1788) are wrong: All humans are not created equal
and should not have equal rights under law. In 2022, MAGA
believers included about 15% of
the U.S. adult population, or about 39 million out of 258 million adults.
DISCLOSURE: Peter is a valued old friend. We collaborated often when I was organizing director at the organization now known as the Center for Health and Environmental Justice especially on issues that involving fighting corporate crime.
On May 5, the Westerly Town Council issued
five proclamations, which are statements signed by the council members setting
aside days, weeks, and months in honor of various people and causes. The second
week of May was declared Lung Cancer Action Week, May 18 was
declared “Neighbor Day,” and May 8 was declared “Victory in Europe
Day.” Police were honored with a proclamation that wasn’t on the agenda,
and June was proclaimed Pride Month.
These are the ordinary actions of municipal governments
across the country, and arouse little pushback or debate. But I was alerted by
some Westerly residents that there was pushback against Pride Month in some
online forums. In response, over a dozen people filled the council chamber
supporting Pride Month. Only two or three people were in the room in
opposition.
Council President Christopher Duhamel explained
that the proclamation was introduced to him and Town Manager Shawn
Lacey by First Selectman Danielle Chesebrough in
neighboring Stonington, CT.
“I felt it was worth the Town of Westerly participating,”
said President Duhamel.
Councilmember Michael Niemeyer read the
proclamation into the record. It reads:
The Westerly Town Council proclaims June 2025 as Pride Month
In the Town of Westerly, a friendly and welcoming community
that celebrates and promotes diversity and inclusion and recognizes the
importance of equality and freedom for all residents.
Westerly recognizes the contributions of LGBTQIA+ residents,
students, employees, business owners, and visitors to the cultural and civic
fabric of the town and remains committed to protecting their civil rights in
our unified effort to forge a more open and just society.
Westerly joins many towns and cities across the United
States in recognizing and celebrating June as LGBTQIA+ Pride Month as a
commitment to standing in solidarity with all LGBTQIA+ Americans.
The Westerly Town Council hereby proclaims the month of June
2025 as Pride Month in support of the LGBTQIA+ community and encourages
everyone to reflect on ways we can all live and work together with commitment
to mutual respect and understanding.
In witness whereof, we have hereby set our hands and caused
the seal of the Town of Westerly to be hereunto affixed this 5th day of May
2025.
In witness whereof, we have hereby set our hands and caused
the Seal of the Town of Westerly to be here unto affixed this fifth day of May,
2025, signed by all counselors.
The council members received a standing ovation in response.
Prior to becoming pope, he was Jorge Mario Bergoglio, archbishop of Buenos Aires, and was the first person from the Americas to be elected to the papacy. He was also the first pope to choose Francis as his name, thus honoring St. Francis of Assisi, a 13th-century mystic whose love for nature and the poor have inspired Catholics and non-Catholics alike.
The Argentinian Jorge Mario Bergoglio, ordained for the Jesuits in 1969 at the Theological Faculty of San Miguel. Jesuit General Curia via Getty Images
Pope Francis chose not to wear the elaborate clothing, like red shoes or silk vestments, associated with other popes. As a scholar of global Catholicism, however, I would argue that the changes Francis brought to the papacy were more than skin deep. He opened the church to the outside world in ways none of his predecessors had done before.
Care for the marginalized
Pope Francis reached out personally to the poor. For example, he turned a Vatican plaza into a refuge for the homeless, whom he called “nobles of the street.”
While he maintained the church’s position that all priests should be male, he made far-reaching changes that opened various leadership roles to women. Francis was the first pope to appoint a woman to head an administrative office at the Vatican. Also for the first time, women were included in the 70-member body that selects bishops and the 15-member council that oversees Vatican finances. He appointed an Italian nun, Sister Raffaella Petrini, as President of the Vatican City.
Not shy of controversy
Some of Francis’ positions led to opposition in some Catholic circles.
One such issue was related to Francis’ embrace of religious diversity. Delivering an address at the Seventh Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions in Kazakhstan in 2022, he said that members of the world’s different religions were “children of the same heaven.”
While in Morocco, he spoke out against conversion as a mission, saying to the Catholic community that they should live “in brotherhood with other faiths.” To some of his critics, however, such statements undermined the unique truth of Christianity.
During his tenure, the pope called for “synodality,” a more democratic approach to decision making. For example, synod meetings in November 2023 included laypeople and women as voting members. But the synod was resisted by some bishops who feared it would lessen the importance of priests as teachers and leaders.
In a significant move that will influence the choosing of his successor, Pope Francis appointed more cardinals from the Global South. But not all Catholic leaders in the Global South followed his lead on doctrine. For example, African bishops publicly criticized Pope Francis’ December 2023 ruling that allowed blessings of individuals in same sex couples.
Traditionalists argued that the Latin Mass was an important – and beautiful – part of the Catholic tradition. But Francis believed that it had divided Catholics into separate groups who worshiped differently.
This concern for Catholic unity also led him to discipline two American critics of his reforms, Bishop Joseph Strickland of Tyler, Texas, and Cardinal Raymond Burke. Most significantly, Carlo Maria Viganò, the former Vatican ambassador, or nuncio, to the United States was excommunicated during Francis’ tenure for promoting “schism.”
Recently, Pope Francis also criticized the Trump administration’s efforts to deport migrants. In a letter to US Bishops, he recalled that Jesus, Mary and Joseph had been emigrants and refugees in Egypt. Pope Francis also argued that migrants who enter a country illegally should not be treated as criminals because they are in need and have dignity as human beings.
Writings on ‘the common good’
In his official papal letters, called encyclicals, Francis echoed his public actions by emphasizing the “common good,” or the rights and responsibilities necessary for human flourishing.
Pope Francis washes the foot of a man during the foot-washing ritual at a refugee center outside of Rome on March 24, 2016. L'Osservatore Romano/Pool Photo via AP
His first encyclical in 2013, Lumen Fidei, or “The Light of Faith,” sets out to show how faith can unite people everywhere.
In his next encyclical, Laudato Si’, or “Praise Be to You,” Francis addressed the environmental crisis, including pollution and climate change. He also called attention to unequal distribution of wealth and called for an “integral ecology” that respects both human beings and the environment.
His third encyclical in 2020, Fratelli Tutti, or “Brothers All,” criticized a “throwaway culture” that discards human beings, especially the poor, the unborn and the elderly. In a significant act for the head of the Catholic Church, Francis concluded by speaking of non-Catholics who have inspired him: Martin Luther King Jr., Desmond Tutu and Mahatma Gandhi.
In his last encyclical, Dilexit Nos, or “He Loved Us,” he reflected on God’s Love through meditating on the symbol of the Sacred Heart that depicts flames of love coming from Jesus’ wounded heart that was pierced during the crucifixion.
Francis’ papacy has been historic. He embraced the marginalized in ways that no pope had done before. He not only deepened the Catholic Church’s commitment to the poor in its religious life but also expanded who is included in its decision making.
The pope did have his critics who thought he went too far, too fast. And whether his reforms take root depends on his successor. Among many things, Francis will be remembered for how his pontificate represented a shift in power in the Catholic Church away from Western Europe to the Global South, where the majority of Catholics now live.
Allow me to stipulate that I do not wish to die. In fact,
had anyone consulted me about the construction of the universe, I would have
made my views on the subject quite clear: Mortality is a terrible idea.
I’m
opposed to it in general. (In wiser moments, I know that this is silly and that
all life feeds on life. There is no life without the death of other beings,
indeed, no planets without the death of stars.)
Nonetheless, I’m also opposed to mortality on a personal
level. I get too much pleasure out of being alive to want to give it up. And
I’m curious enough that I don’t want to die before I learn how it all comes out
(or, for that matter, ends). I don’t want to leave the theater when the movie’s
only partway over—or even after the credits have rolled.
In fact, my antipathy
to death is so extreme that I think it’s fair to say I’m a coward. That’s
probably why, in hopes of combatting that cowardice, I’ve occasionally done
silly things like running around in
a war zone, trying to stop a U.S. intervention. As Aristotle once wrote, we become brave by doing brave
things.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Trump's second term conduct only make sense if you remember he is a malignant narcissist. As such, he cannot conceive of a world beyond his lifespan. When Hitler realized he was about to die, he ordered all vital infrastructure destroyed (an order not obeyed). He blamed the German people for his impending doom and decided they did not deserve to live. Trump also has nothing but contempt for the world and no desire for it to go on after he is dead and buried on one of his golf courses. Thus, the destruction of Social Security, Medicare, health programs, foreign aid, the environment, the economy and world peace are required to appease his ego. Who knows? Maybe on his deathbed or the end of his term, whichever comes first, Trump will grab the nuclear football and press the button. - Will Collette
Pope Francis addressed the bishops of the United States about the country’s ongoing mass deportation of unauthorized
immigrants, urging Catholics to consider the justness of laws and policies in
light of the dignity and rights of people.
In a letter published Feb. 11, the pope — while supporting a
nation’s right to defend itself from people who have committed violent or
serious crimes — said a “rightly formed conscience” would disagree with
associating the illegal status of some migrants with criminality.
“The act of deporting people who in many cases have left
their own land for reasons of extreme poverty, insecurity, exploitation,
persecution, or serious deterioration of the environment damages the dignity of
many men and women, and of entire families, and places them in a state of
particular vulnerability and defenselessness,” he said.
“All the Christian faithful and people of goodwill,” the
pontiff continued, “are called upon to consider the legitimacy of norms and
public policies in the light of the dignity of the person and his or her
fundamental rights, not vice versa.”
‘Respectful of the dignity of all’
Pope Francis penned the letter to U.S. bishops amid changes
to U.S. immigration policy under Donald Trump’s administration,
including the increased deportation of migrants, which numerous bishops have
criticized.
Pastor David Aucoin is not a well-known figure in
Rhode Island, but his Christian Nationalist organizing, which has had
trouble gaining traction for years, is starting to bear fruit.
I wrote about
Pastor Aucoin and his Rhode Island Family Institute (RIFI) here when he announced that RIFI was
sending three Rhode Island Senate Republicans to a Family Policy Alliance (FPA)
“Statesman Academy” in Washington D.C. to “help train and equip legislators to
have a Christian Worldview as they carry out their legislative duties.” (One of them was Charlestown state senator Elaine Morgan).
RIFI is networked with a host of anti-LGBTQ extremist
groups, and on their site, they claim Robert Chiaradio as a board
member. Chiaradio last year conducted a tour of Rhode Island school committees
and school boards to testify against the life-saving Transgender, Gender
Diverse, and Transitioning Student Policies mandated by the Rhode
Island Department of Education and federal law.
Toward the end of Chiaradio’s year-long tour, he tapped into
national Trump agenda trends. He targeted Title IX policies that
allow transgender students to play sports on teams that reflected their gender
identity. The Republican-controlled United States House of Representatives
is currently targeting Title IX.
With Trump due to ascend once more to the Presidency, local
Christian Nationalist extremist groups are poised to push the Rhode Island
General Assembly to pass laws that target the rights of LGBTQ+ people (but
especially trans children) and women.
EDITOR'S NOTE: We're already seeing the culture war disrupt local school systems. Steve recently documented the struggle for power between the radical right and those with more mainstream views over LGBT rights in Westerly and over the composition of the Chariho School Committee. In summer 2023, it was a move to install MAGA Republican Clay Johnson to fill a Richmond vacancy over Jessica Purcell who had properly won the seat under the terms of Richmond's town charter.
Charlestown's erstwhile Narragansett Indian foe attorney Joe Larisa represented the radical right faction arguing that Clay Johnson was properly appointed since the Chariho Act trumps Richmond's town charter. He had his ass handed to him when the court ruled that Larisa's argument that the Chariho Act supercedes the Town Charter when the Act clearly yields to the laws of the member towns.
Now there's a dispute whether the Chariho Act mandates the naming of a chair at the first school committee meeting after an election. The far right wanted to delay that action until their newest member can take that chair. This time, Larisa argues in the Westerly Sun that the Chariho Act is "directory" meaning advisory. That's the opposite of the position he took in the Clay Johnson case where Larisa argued the Chariho Act was supreme and mandatory.
Charlestown still retains Larisa in case war breaks out with the Narragansetts. I think Charlestown should drop Larisa if for no other reason than he is a crap lawyer who changes his so-called "legal" views to fit his peculiar hard-right views. - Will Collette
I love New Orleans, and have been known to hit the jazz
clubs on Bourbon Street into the wee hours myself. So what happened there is a
gut punch, and I want to express my condolences to the families of the victims
and to the community there for its trauma.
U.S. President-elect Donald
Trump jumped to the conclusion that the New Orleans attacker,
who killed 15 people and wounded three dozen more was a career criminal and
recent immigrant. In fact, he was an African-American veteran, born and
bred in Beaumont, Texas. His conversion to Islam must have happened before
2004, when he tried to enlist in the Navy under that name. Instead, he ended up
in the army, and deployed for a year to Afghanistan (2009-2010), as well as
getting the training to become an IT specialist. He remained a reservist after
his honorable discharge.
He was, in short, a patriotic American who did his part in
fighting the war on terror. He was not an immigrant or a member of a foreign
criminal gang.
That Mr. Trump persists in deploying the politics of hate
and bigotry is a bad sign for the U.S.
Even if Jabbar had been a immigrant, his
actions would have said nothing about immigrants, who have low rates of criminality compared
to the native-born population and whose productivity has
been one key to American economic success. They don’t take jobs from the
native-born on the whole, but do jobs that the latter typically won’t do.
Nor is Jabbar’s religion a reason to engage in
Muslim-hatred. The NY Post‘s insidious and Islamophobic reporting ominously
says that one of his neighbors in the trailer park in which he ended up only
spoke Urdu. If that were true it would be because poor people live in trailer
parks, including immigrants with limited English. However, it sounds fishy to
me, since even poor Pakistanis of the sort who come to the United States tend
to know English. It was the colonial language and still an essential language,
like French in Tunisia. Then they say ominously that there was a mosque in the
area. So what? Mosques are houses of worship where people go for solace when
facing rough times.
Americans give about half a trillion dollars a year to charity. That money helps fund services for the homeless, fight diseases, run museums and other organizations doing worthwhile activities. Some donations, such as those supporting religious congregations, are expenditures that the U.S. government couldn’t legally make even if it wanted to.
That helps explain why the U.S. tax code encourages giving by offering some donors a tax break. When those taxpayers give, they get a discount on their tax bill through the charitable deduction.
Overall, this deduction lowers tax revenue by tens of billions of dollars every year. To be sure, since giving is socially valuable, the forgone tax dollars might be worth it.
Many taxpayers stopped taking advantage of this tax break after President Donald Trump signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act into law in late 2017.
This law greatly increased the standard deduction. As a result, many people stopped itemizing and started using the standard deduction instead because they could pay less in taxes without itemizing that way.
I am an economist who studies charitable activities and public policy. Working with two colleagues, Mark Ottoni-Wilhelm and Xiao Han, I co-authored a study looking at what happened to charitable giving after the Trump-era tax reforms were enacted.
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