W. Niederhut

Chris, You, obviously, misinterpreted my comment, again. It's a bad habit of yours. I was talking about my training and many years of experience reading and analyzing medical papers. Do you and Cotter even know what p values are in medical research?

Newsflash, Ben. If 80,000 more votes had been counted for Hillary Clinton in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania in 2016, Brett Kavanaugh, Neil Gorsuch, and Amy Coney Barrett would not be sitting on the SCOTUS today, and Roe v. Wade would still be the law of the land. Worth thinking about. And if 5 Republicans on the Rehnquist court had not voted in Bush v. Gore to urgently shut down the Florida re-count in December of 2020, the multi-trillion dollar U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Iraq would probably never have happened-- and the 5-4 Citizens United ruling would never have happened. Ergo, flawed judicial appointments by Republican Presidents have been monumentally important in the 21st century.

I'm, frankly, surprised to read this strange story about Roger Stone. I thought that Steve Bannon and Stone were conspiring to promote RFK, Jr. in an effort to undermine the Democrats' prospects for holding onto the White House in 2024. As for Bill Barr and Matt Taibbi becoming disillusioned with their sociopathic former employers, the word, "schadenfreude," comes to mind. And hasn't everyone who ever got involved with Donald Trump regretted it?

I don't know about other people on this forum, but I've just about had it with these puerile, inaccurate, libelous commentaries by Chris Barnard and John Cotter. Lately, these two have taken to posting bogus, ad hominem attacks on my professional medical judgment, while repeatedly misquoting and misrepresenting what I have actually posted about vaccines. Basta, per Dio... And, meanwhile, Barnard and Cotter have actually complained to the administrators here about my recently pointing out (in response to their faux criticisms of President Biden) that they seem to be "embarrassingly ignorant" about American politics. Other forum members have posted similar, accurate observations about Barnard and Cotter. As for the subject of COVID vaccines, I have, on a few occasions, posted some CDC morbidity and mortality COVID data on this forum -- on our original Journal of the Plague Year thread and elsewhere-- which Barnard and Cotter have persistently ignored, even in response to some direct questions on the subject. You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink. You can lead a man to data, but you can't make him think. As for Cotter's Goldacre reference on "bad pharma," I will refer Barnard and Cotter to some New York Times articles in which I have been referenced as a critic of the pharmaceutical industry. Barnard and Cotter actually believe that they are "educating" me on the subject of Big Pharma and medical papers that I have been studying and analyzing for the past 40 years. https://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/12/washington/12psych.html https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/21/health/ketamine-depression-veterans.html

Oh, come on, mods... Geez... 🙄 How many more redundant threads is Ben Cole allowed to start here on the same subject of Biden pulling a Donald Trump by declining to release the JFK Records? Meanwhile, our original forum thread (from 2020) on the subject of Trump's historic 2017 decision to block the release of the JFK Records, when they were finally due for release, has been banished to another board.

That was quite the pivot, Ben, in the context of our discussion here (above) about RFK, Jr. and the relationship between the state and corporate capitalism. You completely dodged my multiple choice question about which political party has stacked the U.S. courts with pro-corporate judges-- including the five SCOTUS judges who wiped out a century of campaign finance reforms in the U.S. with their Citizens United ruling. Was it the Donks or the 'Phants that opened the floodgates for unlimited dark money advertising in U.S. elections-- facilitating further corporate plutocratic control of our state and Federal governments? Then, instead of answering the question, you reminded us, for possibly the 30th time in recent weeks, that Biden has pulled a Donald Trump by declining to release the JFK records.

Paul, If you think that a Republican POTUS is going to promote a progressive regulatory agenda for corporate capitalists you haven' been paying close enough attention to modern American history. Consider the process used by the Republicans to stack the U.S. courts with pro-corporate, anti-labor judges in modern history-- Scalia, Clarence Thomas, Alito, Brett Kavanaugh, Neil Gorsuch, et.al. And the GOP SCOTUS judges were the guys who voted 5-4 in critically important rulings like Bush v. Gore, Citizens United, and Shelby v. Holder. Citizens United abolished a century of campaign finance reforms in the U.S. Shelby v. Holder abolished enforcement of the Voting Rights Act. Republicans like George W. Bush and Trump are also the Presidents who repeatedly sabotaged environmental protections and other regulations on corporate polluters and fraudsters, while cutting taxes for billionaires and corporations (in Trump's case.) So, RFK, Jr. fans who are appropriately concerned about the vital role of government regulation of corporate capitalism in the public interest need to understand the facts about the GOP/Koch agenda to put "democracy in chains." They have done it through the courts, and through Congress-- in the teeth of Democratic opposition. They'll do it again, if they get the opportunity. Ben Cole is simply wrong about this issue regarding historic policy differences between Donks and 'Phants. Nor is RFK, Jr. saying anything that hasn't been said for years by experienced, progressive Democratic legislators like Elizabeth Waren and Bernie Sanders.

Reality check, Ben. I. Which political party stacked the courts with the pro-corporate judges who voted 5-4 in the Citizens United and Shelby v. Holder rulings? A. The "billionaire donor" Donks B. The 'Phants C. Both D. Not sure. Please post this question on another board.

Sure, Kellyanne, don't focus on revising these deeply flawed GOP policies. Instead, focus on public relations strategies to counteract the "leftist turnout machine." In other words, it's not a policy problem. It's merely a Republican sales and marketing problem. 🤥

Fox News, Ben Cole, and the Trumplicon media have repeatedly insisted that Brian Sicknick's death was unrelated to his physical and chemical assault by Trump's mob on January 6th. This trope is based on the suspiciously belated report of the coroner in the case-- sans public documentation-- that Sicknick died of a basilar artery thrombosis. As I have pointed out to Ben Cole more than once, I have some serious doubts about the coroner's conclusion in the Sicknick case. Where is the data? What sort of toxicology screening was done? In a private Email to me, Dr. Michael Chesser, a neurologist interviewed for the film JFK Revisted/Destiny Betrayed, told me that he also had questions about the coroner's report on Sicknick. The probability that Sicknick's untimely death shortly after the January 6th assault was unrelated to the attack on the Capitol seems extremely low to me. Yet, Tucker Carlson has continued to use the suspicious coroner's report in Sicknick's case to downplay the significance of Trump's J6 coup attempt.

Addendum: Also, how do you and Chris Barnard (and RFK, Jr.) explain the data indicating that COVID infections cause a higher risk of myocarditis in young people than vaccines?

John, Please stop posting erroneous comments about my posts, and repeating things that I have explained to you, as if you had formulated the thought yourself -- as in the case of my explanation to you that criticism of someone's arguments is not the same thing as an ad hominem argument. You seem to have a peculiar knack for that sort of thing. . You also neglected to mention that I only referenced my academic credentials in response to your repeated, inaccurate slurs on that subject. I was correcting your disinformation. As for the issue of corporate advertising and funding of medical research, it has long been a subject of interest to me. I have even been quoted in the New York Times on more than one occasion as a critic of advertising by Big Pharma. But medical journals are not monolithic. Some are highly reputable -- e.g., NEJM-- and some are heavily funded by pharmaceutical companies. I once had a conversation with the late Dr. Arnold Relman, editor of the NEJM, in which he told me that physicians should never own stock in pharmaceutical companies. Meanwhile, I'm still waiting for you to post a critique of the U.S. CDC COVID morbidity and mortality data that I have shared with you in recent weeks. How do you explain the 14-fold increased risk of COVID deaths in unvaccinated U.S. adults compared to adults who had received vaccinations and boosters? How do you explain the significantly increased COVID death rates in U.S. counties that voted for Donald Trump in 2020, compared to counties that voted for Joe Biden?

Ron, I agree with RFK, Jr., in the sense that only the state has the potential authority to regulate corporate capitalism in the public interest. And, let's face it, the corporate capitalists largely control our Federal and state governments-- a problem that has been compounded by the Citizens United SCOTUS ruling. The long-term Koch/GOP strategy to put "democracy in chains" in the U.S. has succeeded in stacking the courts with pro-corporate, anti-labor Republicans like Clarence Thomas, Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, et.al. Ergo, it's critically important for liberals to remain united enough to hold on to the White House in 2024.

John, Your sarcasm is simply ridiculous. Do you mistakenly imagine that I didn't study immunology and virology in college and medical school, or that I didn't study philosophical logic in college? (My years of psychiatric training occurred after college and medical school.) As for your article, what I have learned about "alternative" medical theories during the past 40+ years is that they sometimes have merit, and, when they do, they are eventually supported by peer-reviewed scientific analyses in the quality journals. And, as a college professor once told me, "Life is too short to waste on mediocre literature. Read the good stuff." So, to reiterate, I'll continue to base my medical opinions on the high quality, peer-reviewed scientific literature.

I never said it was ad hominem, John. You misquoted me again. I asked if it should be reported to the administrators as "abusive"-- in the same way that you (or someone else on the forum) accused me of being "abusive" for referring to your inaccurate post about President Biden as evidence of your "embarrassing ignorance about American politics." My comment was accurate. As for your comment about my "lack of credibility" on matters relating to immunology and virology-- it's ridiculous. I'm a graduate of the top-ranked medical school in the U.S. One of my old medical school classmates, Peg Hamburg, was Obama's FDA Director.

And why is this Mamet screenplay getting major M$M coverage as "the true story, at last," after JFK Revisited (the actual true story, at last) was either ignored or misrepresented by the M$M?

Ben, You're begging the question, repeatedly and annoyingly. To wit, is the M$M criticizing RFK, Jr. mainly for promoting vaccine disinformation, or is this actually a Deep State plot to suppress the JFK records, in the unlikely event that RFK, Jr. were elected POTUS? The bigger picture, IMO, is that the Republican dirty tricksters promoting RFK. Jr.'s candidacy-- Steve Bannon and Roger Stone-- are, apparently, hoping that RFK, Jr.'s anti-vax fan club will succeed in undermining the 2024 Democratic Party nominee. Bannon, Stone, and Robert Mercer want another Koch/Trump Republican in the White House-- someone who will keep taxes low for billionaires, hamstring the EPA, and Starve-the-Beast-ly working class.

John, Let's begin with your critique of the peer-reviewed, scientific CDC data that I have repeatedly posted for you about COVID mortality rates in vaccinated and unvaccinated adults in the U.S.-- in addition to the (above) scientific consensus debunking Wakefield's MMR/Autism fraudulence. Incidentally, should I report you to the administrators for "abusive" conduct for your above erroneous post about my lack of credibility? Evidently, either you, Chris Barnard, and/or Ben Cole complained to the administrators last night that I was "abusive" for criticizing your apparent ignorance about American politics-- in regard to not understanding the qualitative differences between the "piloting" skills of President Biden and America's worst POTUS, Donald Trump. I'll stand by the accuracy of my comment-- which was deleted by one of our administrators. I have also asked the administrators to kindly clarify what constitutes "abuse" in our debates here on the forum.

RFK, Jr. has done some admirable work on environmental protection-- one of the things I admire about him. But, for the record, one of RFK. Jr.'s long-time associates is the de-registered British physician, Andrew Wakefield, whose once popular claims about vaccines causing autism have been scientifically debunked. Even RFK, Jr.s own family members have criticized his involvement in the anti-vaccine movement. RFK, Jr. has also been one of the leading promoters anti-vaccine disinformation during the COVID pandemic. The Lancet MMR Autism Fraud Lancet MMR autism fraud - Wikipedia The Lancet MMR autism fraud centered on the publication in February 1998 of a fraudulent research paper titled "Ileal-lymphoid-nodular hyperplasia, non-specific colitis, and pervasive developmental disorder in children" in The Lancet.[1] The paper, authored by now discredited and deregistered Andrew Wakefield, and listing twelve coauthors, falsely claimed non-existent, causative links between the MMR vaccine, colitis, and autism. The fraud was exposed in a lengthy Sunday Times investigation[2][3][4][5] by reporter Brian Deer,[6][7][8] resulting in the paper's retraction in February 2010[9] and Wakefield being struck off the UK medical register three months later. Wakefield reportedly stood to earn up to $43 million per year selling diagnostic kits for a non-existent syndrome he claimed to have discovered.[10] He also held a patent to a rival vaccine at the time, and he had been employed by a lawyer representing parents in lawsuits against vaccine producers. The scientific consensus on vaccines and autism is that there is no causal connection between MMR, or any other vaccine, and autism. *** Vaccines are not associated with autism: An evidence-based meta-analysis of case-control and cohort studies Vaccines are not associated with autism: An evidence-based meta-analysis of case-control and cohort studies - ScienceDirect June 17, 2014

Interesting post, Bill, but I will point out that there are qualitative differences in the definition of "outsider." For example, as an "outsider" in 2016, Trump was also a candidate who had no experience as a legislator or government administrator-- no experience in public governance. Generally, "outsider" has been used to refer to candidates who run from outside of the Beltway-- typically as state governors (e.g., Jimmy Carter in 1976, Ronald Reagan in 1980, Bill Clinton in 1992, George W, Bush in 2000, etc.) Donald Trump was a different kind of "outsider," as is RFK, Jr.-- men who have had no experience as legislators or state governors. In Trump's case, it proved to be a disaster. Professors of business administration gave Trump an "F" as an administrator. He had difficulty appointing and retaining qualified, competent Cabinet officials, and a general inability to effectively delegate administrative tasks. In effect, he was a sales and marketing guy with experience as a reality television host. Has RFK, Jr. had any experience in governance?

Jim, Anyone left of right field seems to be smeared as "Far Left" by some conservatives nowadays. It would be a useful exercise to see where Education Forum members actually rate themselves on the Political Compass. The Political Compass I'm very close to the center on this Compass (just slightly left of center.)

In other words, you RFK, Jr. anti-vax enthusiasts would prefer another creature who has never flown an airplane to pilot the U.S. Boeing 757? How did that work out for the U.S. when Donald Trump was in the cockpit from 2017-21?

Steve, Speaking of Easter, the New York Times reports today that Pope Francis has been a favorite subject for AI-generated deep fake photos. IMO, Federico Fellini would have found these howlingly funny. (I'm thinking of the roller skating Cardinals in Fellini's film, Roma.)

Paul, As a general rule, I have always based my medical opinions and praxis on high-quality, peer-reviewed scientific data. What qualifications does RFK, Jr. have for giving us sound advice about infectious diseases, vaccines, obesity, diabetes, or any medical issue? I have far greater confidence in the New England Journal of Medicine. Great leaders, like JFK, have had the wisdom to consult with, and heed the advice, of knowledgeable experts-- while asking relevant questions where doubt exists. That is one of the many criticisms I have had of Donald Trump since 2017. His appointees were often poorly qualified, (e.g., Larry Kudlow and Peter Navarro as an economic advisors, Pompeo at State, etc.) and he rarely listened to sound advice about anything.

I agree, Paul. Ben Cole reminds me of the old saying, "To a man with a hammer, everything looks like a nail." He tends to attribute most Republican chicanery to "Deep State" ops -- Russiagate, Trump's J6 coup attempt, etc. Of course, we all know about Operation Mockingbird and the M$M's multi-decade cover up of the JFK assassination. (In fact, I started two threads on the subject in the summer of 2021 relating to the inaccurate M$M "reviews" of JFK Revisited.) But attributing the recent media criticisms of RFK's anti-vaccine disinformazia to a Deep State plot to prevent the release of the JFK records is a stretch.