No not that kind of trust and openness
Yikes. The Lancet on Bad Kennedy’s war on HHS:
10 days after his speech about trust and openness, HHS rescinded a 54-year-old policy of soliciting public comments for new rules and regulations, silencing the voices of many of the stakeholders he pledged to serve. Kennedy has summarily dismissed advisers and experts, communicated policy changes on pay-walled media, fired a whistleblower, and overseen the revisions of guidelines and recommendations, contradicting decades of established science, often to the benefit of industries he formerly condemned. Under Kennedy’s leadership, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) shuttered programmes studying the health effects of air pollution, HHS withheld a report linking alcohol consumption to cancer, and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) withdrew warnings of potential harm from consuming products (such as raw milk and chlorine dioxide) falsely marketed as treatments for autism. His changes at CDC have driven 26 states to reject official guidance on vaccine policy, and in December the CDC awarded an unsolicited $1·6 million grant to conduct a vaccine study in Guinea-Bissau that raised so many ethical concerns—the design would have risked exposing thousands of unvaccinated children to hepatitis B—that it has been compared to the infamous Untreated Syphilis Study at Tuskegee.
Holy shit. I did not know that. How fascinating that the study is (was) in Guinea-Bissau and not, say, Massachusetts.
HHS under Kennedy has made a habit of throwing good money after bad science. Amid the Trump administration’s cuts to research funding and personnel there has been a harmful shift in priorities. Cutting-edge discoveries and clinical investigations—on subjects ranging from mRNA vaccines to diabetes and dementia—are denied crucial resources while junk science and fringe beliefs are elevated without justifiable explanation.
I wonder how much of that stems from the fact that Kennedy is in no way a medical or scientific professional. As far as the science of medicine goes he’s just some shlub off the street. We shlubs are not equipped to lay down the law on medical matters, because it’s not a subject for amateurs. I wonder if Kennedy is kicking out the knowledge-based stuff in favor of amateur hour because he is himself an amateur. If the sheep hides among all the other sheep the wolf will likely never find that one sheep.
If the sheep hides among all the other sheep the wolf will likely never find that one sheep.
Isn’t RFK Jr the wolf here?
Yeah, well, when it comes to public health, I am a schlub off the street — but if I were somehow thrust into RKF’s position I would seek out the best science-based, expert opinion to inform my actions. Because, as a schlub, I would at least be aware of my limitations, and I would want to do the most good and the least harm. Kennedy isn’t just acting like a schlub, he’s acting like a lunatic.
Would you though? Wouldn’t you instead say thank you very much but I think you have me confused with someone else? In other words wouldn’t you politely decline the position on the grounds that you’re not remotely qualified and it’s the kind of job that really really should be performed by someone who is qualified?
Well yes of course I would — but I did say, “if I were somehow thrust into RKF’s position”. Hypothetical, dontcha know.
I do know, but I wanted to underline the multiple layers of Kennedy’s arrogance and entitlement. A normal person, a decent person, would back away in horror from the offer of an important technical job that said person had zero training or education for. “Would you like to be in charge of the Space Station? Starting tomorrow?” “Godalmighty no I would not!”