#77

I’m so excited about this. Time to clean up all the corruption. The future has never looked brighter

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#78

This is why we need RFK or someone else willing to go up against a corrupt bureaucracy. Whoever gets the job won’t be alone. With the huge budget of HHS I’m sure Vivek and Elon will be involved.

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#79

Fantastic! As a strong proponent of democracy, I am happy to see democracy exercised. The people voted. There is no excuse. Whatever happens from here on, is the consequence of a free and fair vote. I’m with Mencken here: “Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.” No pity, no excuse and no regrets. I am very happy and I approve.

That said, every empire eventually declines, and that can happen with the blessing of the populace as a democratic majority vote. Great Britain was the largest empire (certainly geographically), in history, and declined due to both historical forces, and also mismanagement by democratically elected governments who were unequal to the task of meeting the monumental challenge. Recently we’ve seen, again in the same country, the wonder of Brexit, where the population democratically voted to carefully aim a shotgun at their own two feet and pull the trigger, and the unravelling is not so much a tragedy as a fabulous farce. I approve! It’s ok. We are so great and powerful a country, that it’s an unyielding truth, already foreseen by one of the wisest leaders our nation had ever seen, Abraham Lincoln, who understood that America can only be destroyed by ourselves, not by external enemies. The epitaph will read, as so often happens in the history of empires, “they did it to themselves”. AND THAT IS OK. There is no exceptionalism here. We too, will inevitably “decline and fall”. It happens to everyone.

Why is it completely OK, and nobody’s fault? Because we could not have done better. This is the best possible outcome we had any right to expect. After all, there are literally no better alternatives, as already observed by Churchill: Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others.

The voters chose, freely and democratically, and as citizens we should proudly celebrate that result. And so do I, as I look forward to the great entertainment that awaits us, in the well trod footsteps with a rich history - bread and circuses. A clear promise was made, and we should have no complaint. I am certainly not complaining - my allotted bread is being toasted, I cannot wait for all the excitement, and RFKjr seems like a fine gladiator entering the ring, let the games begin!

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#80

Across history, it appears the decline and fall portion of the empire cycle has sped up dramatically. RFK appears relatively sane against the nominations of Hegsef, Gabbard & Gaetz. I await MTG for weather control.

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#81

All you said is true with couple caveats:

  1. For one to fall another one must rise. As China is/was believed to be replacing USA soon, I for one, don’t see it happening. Reasons are many, but I’ll just mention one. China’s median population age in 1970 stood at 20 years old, today is at 40, and by 2050 is expected to be 61. No 61-year-old will be able to go in the ring and win a fight with a 35-year-old especially if the 35-year-old is already the holding champion (unless of course they are taking RAPA HAHA)

  2. As you rightly point out many empires have risen and fallen/died yet their average lifespan (without even RAPA) is somewhere in the 300-600 years. By those standards USA is still an infant or at best in its preteen years.

Yes, history does repeat itself (unless maybe one day it doesn’t) and yes empires rise and fall, but this ONE will most likely stand long after me and you are no more (even accounting for the effects of RAPA LOL).

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#82

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It’s joever pharma bros

#83

"The RFK Jr. pick for HHS secretary
Katelyn Jetelina and Kristen Panthagani, MD, PhD
Nov 15

Yesterday, President-elect Trump announced that RFK Jr. would be his pick to lead the Health and Human Services. If Congress confirms his position, someone with an established track record of ignoring reality will lead our nation’s health agencies, including the FDA, CDC, and NIH.

For many of us who have devoted our lives to public health, science, and medicine—driven by an unwavering commitment to improving the health and well-being of Americans—this strikes deep. A mix of profound sadness, anger, exhaustion, and disbelief because the playing field has now completely shifted: Instead of pushing forward toward a healthier society, it’s now about keeping us from moving backward.

Yesterday, I tried—over and over—to find the right words for a YLE post, struggling to convey what feels like an assault on our work and our mission.

How do you express, in a few lines, the unsettling reality that someone with a catalog of lies so long is now tapped to be in charge of the public’s health? From his false claims that vaccines cause autism (they don’t), or that HIV does not cause AIDS (it does), or antidepressants are linked to mass shootings (they aren’t), or chemicals in water making kids trans (they don’t), or to Wi-Fi causing cancer (it doesn’t). The list of falsehoods feels endless.

How do you effectively warn about the oncoming hurricane of confusion and anxiety? Or, worse, the heartbreak because people will make ill-informed decisions when they really are just trying to do what they think is best? The dread because I know damn well that a “lie can go around the world before the truth gets its pants on.”

How do you capture the gravity of the moment as public health workers and scientists brace for the undermining of critical health programs and resources—built over decades—to be dismantled or misdirected?"

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#84

Lies presumes he knows they are false but still say them. RFK Jr. is probably a true believer.

The only question I think we have to ask is if we can measure the effects of what he does? No other question really matters, because reality and causality will speak for itself. If it’s a decrease in vaccine coverage, we will have outbreaks, for example.

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On another note the problem with personal health and longevity things take so long to happen, for better or worse. That’s why people can deny the negative effects cholesterol have, or vaccines associated with decrease risk of dementia. And we can’t think about it properly.

Part of the reason why we can’t think about it can be that the selection pressure has just been make it to childbearing age and reproduce. That means our brains have not been wired for anything on long time horizons to find true relationships in reality unless we really try hard, especially non-intuitive compounding effects.

So in that sense it makes sense to find these videos or posts with false claims, bullshit ones, gathering millions of views, with all of the comments agreeing on it, and the same thing happening everywhere for all of time forever. Their (and our) brains were not wired for it to begin with.

I don’t even think it’s possible to do a software update, it seems to be against the odds. I don’t even know how a hardware update would look like, as all of the smart people believe false things too.

#85

The problem is corruption. Look at LVareilles post with pictures of former FDA commissioner’s now working for big Pharma. More than half of the FDA’s budget comes from “user fees” paid for by big Pharma and big food. The user fees system started in the early 90’s in response to pressure to approve Aids drugs faster. The FDA negotiates with big Pharma on timelines and other things in exchange for money. It’s basically a bribe system. And huge numbers of FDA officials get high paying jobs with big Pharma/big food. Also part of the bribe system.

When I was in high school in the mid 60’s, I was in an economics class. I read a paragraph about lobbyists in Washington DC. I said to the teacher, “You mean there is an entire class of people whose job it is to bribe public officials on behalf of their clients?” The teacher looked at me and smiled while nodding yes!

Anyone that wants too put an end to that stuff is not too extreme. They are on the right track.

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#86

Our nations health agencies are mostly corrupt. If they were pushing for a healthier society why is our national health on the decline? Life expectancy on the decline. Whatever our “health agencies” have been up to for decades isn’t working out very well. The Covid mess shined a light on the corruption. Vaccines rushed to market. Fauci and other healthcare officials lying to us on TV nearly every day. Wear masks, covid absolutely didn’t start in Wuhan Lab, etc.

At least with Bobby Kennedy there is a chance weeding out the corruption, or at least diluting it. bClearly the status quo doesn’t work out for us. It only works out for the corrupt officials. I’d like to see that change.

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#87

Again, it would be great to improve the healthcare system, but it’s not just about change for the worse. Worse is always possible. If you don’t believe, look around the world… healthcare in Russia anyone? How about Somalia? And don’t you think for one second that the journey down is less likely than a journey toward the light.

Now, no matter how I see the odds, I always maintain an open mind. If RFKjr. can shock us all by cleaning up some of the corruption, I’ll be the first to stand up and applaud loudly. I’m just realistic. I expect a lot of chaos, turnover and bizarre schemes, grifters cycling through and womp, womp. I’d love to be proven wrong.

And speaking of corruption, you really need to start with step 101. The insane scandal of a corrupt scientific establishment. Because it all starts with science. Get that wrong, and you have literally nothing. We - and the world - spend countless billions on science, including medical science. Why is it, that a huge and growing percentage of the research is outright fraud and paper mills? Why don’t we have some very basic rules, such as, you get caught ONE time engaged in fraud, paper mills, AI chat garbage and such, and you are banned FOR LIFE from any lab or grants. Period. Where else are you allowed to perpetrate outright fraud for years and at worst bounce from one institution to the next? Can you imagine if in some other profession, a lawyer or accountant steals money from clients for years if not decades, and when caught, is not punished and at worst moves to a different company? But this is what happens with public funds and government grants for research. Fraudulent research is the theft of financial resources, and undermines faith in the integrity of results. I gotta be honest, these days, it is not enough to avoid papers from large parts of the world, but right here at the highest level and most prestigeous institutions, I frequently wonder if the paper I’m hanging my medical decisions on, will not one day transpire to be fraudulent - or worse never exposed, but still fraudulent, just never found out. We’re not talking about a crooked car mechanic, it’s your very life and health at stake.

Now, if RFKjr can clean up that mess, realign the publishing and research incentives, at least at the government level, so it eventually trickles into the rest of the scientific establisment here and abroad, so that integrity is prized again and a given, I’ll not only praise him at the top of my lungs, I’ll erect a shrine to him in my study. But I’m not holding my breath.

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#88

Lifespan isn’t declining because of pharmaceuticals. It’s because 80% of America is overweight, 40% obese, and very few people get any exercise of any sort. This has been getting worse every year since about 1975.

The argument could be made that pharma is not counteracting our terrible lifestyles fast enough and it’s true that the only time the obesity line did anything but go straight up was the introduction of semaglutide… but pharma isn’t the reason for the decline in lifespan.

But I could definitely get behind the idea that maybe the only real way out of this is even more technology. We’ve structured the USA around cars and suburbia and processed food. Unless we’re willing to bulldoze cities to start over with walkable ones and ban processed foods… we need pharma to try to find other ways to help.

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#89

I assume you are just posting this in fun, but I just have to have this woman’s back. I don’t know anything about her skill level, but someone’s looks or the shape they are in have nothing to do with the knowledge they can impart. I’d rather have a brilliant cardiologist who smokes and eats at McDonald’s than a moron cardiologist who runs marathons and eats a perfect diet.

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#90

And one of the reasons I’m not holding my breath. is because RFKjr himself is featured on retraction watch:

Now, how confident am I supposed to be that RFKjr is not going to actually promote dodgy papers that support his dodgy claims?

Oh, great, a “disruptor” as head of medical establishments, surely a saving angel. Then again, a fox in charge of the chicken coop. You pick the odds of which is more likely.

Put foxes in charge of all the chicken coops, like a criminal as head of the DOJ, and you’ve got comedy gold, banana republic style. A thoroughly expected farce, but so “disruptive”, lol!

Friends, while we sing happy songs of everlasting hope, I think a focus on practical personal medical choices are our only realistic path forward. We have no impact on whatever is going to come down the pike, so I for one intend to expend no energy speculating on what this or that appointment means.

Most immediately I’d love to know if importing from Indian pharmacies is going to change going forward. I got a package possibly stuck in customs, you see, and that petty fact is more important to me than anything connected to RFKjr’s grand announcements. YMMV.

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#91

Is this true:

Aging is not a disease (FDA);

Therefore, artificial drugs and clinical trials in that area is PROHIBITED.

If so, why has no one mentioned that this debate also is related to if longevity / healthspan drugs can even be researched?

#92

This.

There is so much corruption going on and he wants it all to be investigated so we can get to the bottom of it. His statements on seed oils and additives really shouldn’t be the focus here as much as investigating the criminals responsible for all the corruption.

Shouldn’t federal health agencies like the FDA, CDC, and NIH be transparent and free from corporate influence? These institutions are meant to protect public health, yet they often seem more aligned with corporate interests than with the people they serve. Wouldn’t we all benefit from an overhaul to restore integrity and accountability?

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#93

Many of these things are matters of detail which require detailed attention and subtle judgments. I don’t see any evidence from the new administration of attention to detail apart from perhaps in Musk’s area.

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#94

The point is not that she is an out of shape woman, but rather that she is a man who thinks she is a woman. Clearly not based in science.

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#95

Mark my words – RFK will be fired within months of being confirmed. Remember the revolving door of the first Trump administration? He’ll be out the door as soon as he pisses off enough wealthy corporate campaign donors, which won’t take long. This will all be irrelevant.

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#96

I don’t know anything about her personally, but it’s clear she was picked because it checked off a bunch of diversity boxes. When you appoint an obese transgender woman to be in charge of health, the jokes write themselves.

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