New York Magazine Swings Hatchet Low-Blow Into RFK Jr. (And JFK Records?)

[Benjamin Cole]

Mark Knight has written in a cousin thread that RFK Jr.'s PR staff is not doing the job.

But RFK Jr. sure gets a ton of publicity. All of it vitriolic, hateful, bilious, vicious. 

The New York magazine is another entry in the Niagara of Calumny poured over RFK Jr., ostensibly as he has concerns about vaccines. 

"RFK Jr. Wants to Make America Unvaccinated Again

On Wednesday, RFK Jr. filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission to run for president as a Democrat in 2024. The founder of an anti-vaccine organization called Children’s Health Defense, Kennedy Jr. has promoted the disproven claim that vaccines cause autism in children — and nearly led a presidential commission on the nonexistent connection in the early Trump years. When the pandemic hit, RFK Jr. hit the useless COVID treatments hard, promoting horse dewormers and anti-malarial pills that don’t work. In 2021, he wrote a book called The Real Anthony Fauci, claiming that the former NIAID head pulled off “a historic coup d’état against Western democracy.” At an anti-vaccine rally in Washington, D.C., last year, he compared the COVID-vaccine push — tied together with 5G and satellite surveillance — to the Holocaust. “Even in Hitler’s Germany, you could hide in the attic like Anne Frank did,” he said. Aside from vaccine conspiracy theories, he also promoted a baseless conspiracy theory that George W. Bush stole the 2004 election."

---30---

Where to start in this...but the "baseless conspiracy theory" was in regards to absentee ballots cast in Ohio, which swung the state to Bush Jr., and which were the topic of a compelling long-form Rolling Stone article. See here: 

https://people.csail.mit.edu/rivest/voting/press/WasThe2004ElectionStolen.pdf

BTW, not to get too sidetracked,  but the "horse dewormers" this hit piece cites refers to the drug ivermectin, a WHO-approved drug to treat parasites in humans. Some studies say it works against C19, some do not. Lots of drugs are used in animals, and humans too. 

Again, I can hardly believe that RFK Jr., a long-time liberal, with the Kennedy name, is set upon by callow media-hyenas solely because he opposes some vaccines. 

Something is not right here. 

Could it be that RFK Jr. would open up the JFK Records? It is a possibility. 

President Biden, and AG Merrick Garland, have buried the records in perpetuity--or so the CIA plans. With zero press scrutiny and objection. 

Maybe MFF and Schnapf can exhume the records, but they will likely have to work through the DC Court of Appeal, a kangaroo venue. 

But..."Then Came RFK Jr."? (apols to Michael Parks, and anyone old enough to get the joke). 

The NY piece:

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2023/04/rfk-jr-is-running-in-the-democratic-president-primary-2024.html

Granted, the media marketplace has become less and less civil for decades. But this type of abundant feculent invective levied against RFK Jr., for his position of vaccines...seems to be a cover for something else. Like keeping the JFK Records buried. 

[Michael Griffith]

23 minutes ago, Benjamin Cole said:

Mark Knight has written in a cousin thread that RFK Jr.'s PR staff is not doing the job.

But RFK Jr. sure gets a ton of publicity. All of it vitriolic, hateful, bilious, vicious. 

The New York magazine is another entry in the Niagara of Calumny poured over RFK Jr., ostensibly as he has concerns about vaccines. 

"RFK Jr. Wants to Make America Unvaccinated Again

On Wednesday, RFK Jr. filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission to run for president as a Democrat in 2024. The founder of an anti-vaccine organization called Children’s Health Defense, Kennedy Jr. has promoted the disproven claim that vaccines cause autism in children — and nearly led a presidential commission on the nonexistent connection in the early Trump years. When the pandemic hit, RFK Jr. hit the useless COVID treatments hard, promoting horse dewormers and anti-malarial pills that don’t work. In 2021, he wrote a book called The Real Anthony Fauci, claiming that the former NIAID head pulled off “a historic coup d’état against Western democracy.” At an anti-vaccine rally in Washington, D.C., last year, he compared the COVID-vaccine push — tied together with 5G and satellite surveillance — to the Holocaust. “Even in Hitler’s Germany, you could hide in the attic like Anne Frank did,” he said. Aside from vaccine conspiracy theories, he also promoted a baseless conspiracy theory that George W. Bush stole the 2004 election."

---30---

Where to start in this...but the "baseless conspiracy theory" was in regards to absentee ballots cast in Ohio, which swung the state to Bush Jr., and which were the topic of a compelling long-form Rolling Stone article. See here: 

https://people.csail.mit.edu/rivest/voting/press/WasThe2004ElectionStolen.pdf

BTW, not to get too sidetracked,  but the "horse dewormers" this hit piece cites refers to the drug ivermectin, a WHO-approved drug to treat parasites in humans. Some studies say it works against C19, some do not. Lots of drugs are used in animals, and humans too. 

Again, I can hardly believe that RFK Jr., a long-time liberal, with the Kennedy name, is set upon by callow media-hyenas solely because he opposes some vaccines. 

Something is not right here. 

Could it be that RFK Jr. would open up the JFK Records? It is a possibility. 

President Biden, and AG Merrick Garland, have buried the records in perpetuity--or so the CIA plans. With zero press scrutiny and objection. 

Maybe MFF and Schnapf can exhume the records, but they will likely have to work through the DC Court of Appeal, a kangaroo venue. 

But..."Then Came RFK Jr."? (apols to Michael Parks, and anyone old enough to get the joke). 

The NY piece:

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2023/04/rfk-jr-is-running-in-the-democratic-president-primary-2024.html

Granted, the media marketplace has become less and less civil for decades. But this type of abundant feculent invective levied against RFK Jr., for his position of vaccines...seems to be a cover for something else. Like keeping the JFK Records buried. 

Well, as I've said, RFK Jr. needs to explain his current view on vaccination and explain his previous statements on the subject, and he needs to do it quickly, or else hit pieces like this one will continue. He is very vulnerable on this issue right now.

As for the 2004 election, the Rolling Stone article is interesting. When I saw you reference it, my first thought was that it was probably a bunch of far-fetched speculation with little or no supporting evidence. But, on its face, it seems to present some disturbing evidence of substantial election fraud. 

Just FYI, there is far more evidence of election fraud in the 2020 election, much of it along the same lines as those covered in the Rolling Stone article.

I'm one who happens to believe that the U.S. Supreme Court's 2000 Bush v. Gore ruling, though absolutely correct on the facts, was an unjustified and unnecessary judicial intervention. The FL legislature was fully prepared to overrule any cherry-picked recount and had the full legal right under the Constitution to do so. There was no need for the U.S. Supreme Court to get involved. 

[Benjamin Cole]

7 hours ago, Michael Griffith said:

 

Well, as I've said, RFK Jr. needs to explain his current view on vaccination and explain his previous statements on the subject, and he needs to do it quickly, or else hit pieces like this one will continue. He is very vulnerable on this issue right now.

As for the 2004 election, the Rolling Stone article is interesting. When I saw you reference it, my first thought was that it was probably a bunch of far-fetched speculation with little or no supporting evidence. But, on its face, it seems to present some disturbing evidence of substantial election fraud. 

Just FYI, there is far more evidence of election fraud in the 2020 election, much of it along the same lines as those covered in the Rolling Stone article.

I'm one who happens to believe that the U.S. Supreme Court's 2000 Bush v. Gore ruling, though absolutely correct on the facts, was an unjustified and unnecessary judicial intervention. The FL legislature was fully prepared to overrule any cherry-picked recount and had the full legal right under the Constitution to do so. There was no need for the U.S. Supreme Court to get involved. 

 

MG--

Thank you for your on-target and thoughtful commentary, although I disagree somewhat with your premise. 

The reason RFK Jr. is being viciously targeted is not his stance on vaccines, it is what he would do on the JFK Records. 

If the media-hyenas did not savage RFK Jr. on vaccines, they would find something else. 

I agree with you, both the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections were dubious. I have always thought the Rolling Stone article on the use of absentee ballots to steal the 2004 election was at the pinnacle of that publication's output. Later Rolling Stone became a CIA-minion, says JFKA researcher Dick Russell. 

MG, we disagree on some issues (Vietnam), but you always present your arguments in a civil manner. That should be something we can take for granted, but sadly cannot. 

 

 

[W. Niederhut]

49 minutes ago, Benjamin Cole said:

MG--

Thank you for your on-target and thoughtful commentary, although I disagree somewhat with your premise. 

The reason RFK Jr. is being viciously targeted is not his stance on vaccines, it is what he would do on the JFK Records.

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.

Edited April 11, 2023 by W. Niederhut

[Benjamin Cole]

1 hour ago, W. Niederhut said:

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.

i cannot comment on your comment, as that might result in this thread being transferred elsewhere. 

I maintain elements within the media are targeting RFK Jr., even before he becomes the possible front-runner for the D-Party nomination, as RFK Jr. would open up the JFK Records, and other records regarding his own father. 

The recent RFK Jr. hatchet-jobs (which seem written from the same script) remind me of what DiEugenio noted about the first Oliver Stone JFK film: way, way before the film was released, the "critics" were savaging the film from seven different directions. No other movie in history had such early and hostile reviews. The reviews, in short, looked planted. 

These hatchet-jobs on RFK Jr. look planted to me.  And due to RFK Jr.'s likely role in opening up the JFK Records. 

Does RFK Jr. deserve such feculent invective based on his stance on a single issue? Perhaps RFK Jr. is "wrong" on the vaccine issue. 

Would you not expect "liberal" publications to print something like this: "We embrace RFK Jr.'s entry into the D-Party race, as voters desperately need new blood and options, but not those offered by misleading GOP populists. We implore RFK Jr. to re-evaluate his positions on vaccines, and broaden his exposure to experts in the field. But bravo on RFK Jr." 

 

 

[Ron Bulman]

 "If I run, my top priority will be to end the corrupt merger between state and corporate power that has ruined our economy, shattered the middle class, polluted our landscapes and waters, poisoned our children, and robbed us of our values and freedoms."

I think This is why he's being attacked by the media.  They are part of the corrupt merger between state and corporate power.  95-98% of media owned by the 1 or 1 or 5% whatever it is.  They have to do the bidding of their owners.  Heaven forbid he try to reduce their tax breaks.

[Michaleen Kilroy]

I don’t agree with RFK Jr.’s position on vaccines for the most part but my god the former prez thought you could kill the Covid virus by shining a light up your arse and got barely half the shyte that they’re dishing out for RFK Jr.

[Benjamin Cole]

11 minutes ago, Michaleen Kilroy said:

I don’t agree with RFK Jr.’s position on vaccines for the most part but my god the former prez thought you could kill the Covid virus by shining a light up your arse and got barely half the shyte that they’re dishing out for RFK Jr.

I tried that with a flashlight and I got C19 anyway. 

Seriously, thanks for your comment.

Man, you would think someone would ask RFK Jr. about the JFK Records. Even one reporter, somewhere? 

[Michaleen Kilroy]

15 minutes ago, Benjamin Cole said:

Man, you would think someone would ask RFK Jr. about the JFK Records. Even one reporter, somewhere?

Seems like it would be a normal part of the coverage of his candidacy but nothing is ever normal when it concerns JFKA.

[W. Niederhut]

2 hours ago, Ron Bulman said:

 "If I run, my top priority will be to end the corrupt merger between state and corporate power that has ruined our economy, shattered the middle class, polluted our landscapes and waters, poisoned our children, and robbed us of our values and freedoms."

I think This is why he's being attacked by the media.  They are part of the corrupt merger between state and corporate power.  95-98% of media owned by the 1 or 1 or 5% whatever it is.  They have to do the bidding of their owners.  Heaven forbid he try to reduce their tax breaks.

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.

[Benjamin Cole]

3 hours ago, Ron Bulman said:

 "If I run, my top priority will be to end the corrupt merger between state and corporate power that has ruined our economy, shattered the middle class, polluted our landscapes and waters, poisoned our children, and robbed us of our values and freedoms."

I think This is why he's being attacked by the media.  They are part of the corrupt merger between state and corporate power.  95-98% of media owned by the 1 or 1 or 5% whatever it is.  They have to do the bidding of their owners.  Heaven forbid he try to reduce their tax breaks.

Well, then bravo for RFK Jr. 

Can RFK Jr. wrest the D-Party away from the billionaire donor class? From Silicon Valley, defense, Wall Street, the globalists and media?

More likely, will RFK Jr. open up the JFK Records? 

Only one way to find out. 

[W. Niederhut]

10 hours ago, Benjamin Cole said:

Well, then bravo for RFK Jr. 

Can RFK Jr. wrest the D-Party away from the billionaire donor class? From Silicon Valley, defense, Wall Street, the globalists and media?

More likely, will RFK Jr. open up the JFK Records? 

Only one way to find out. 

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.

[Paul Brancato]

I guess the central question is if RFK’s political analysis is correct how do we reverse this? I agree with Ron that he is being attacked for his anti-corporate agenda. I disagree with William that having a Democrat in the WH is the only way to fight this trend. In 1964 the Republicans ran Goldwater, knowing he would lose. In the fullness of time that looks like a bold move that yielded results. Many of us agreed more with Bernie Sanders political stance, but we’re not supportive of his candidacy. Democrats need to grow some balls. We’ve been playing defense since at least 1980. It hasn’t worked. I’d rather live in an openly fascist declining empire and be part of a liberal loyal opposition than try to incrementally stem the tide by staying in power with Corporate Democrats. 

[W. Niederhut]

1 hour ago, Paul Brancato said:

I guess the central question is if RFK’s political analysis is correct how do we reverse this? I agree with Ron that he is being attacked for his anti-corporate agenda. I disagree with William that having a Democrat in the WH is the only way to fight this trend.

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.

    

Edited April 11, 2023 by W. Niederhut

[Matt Allison]

2 hours ago, Paul Brancato said:

I guess the central question is if RFK’s political analysis is correct how do we reverse this? I agree with Ron that he is being attacked for his anti-corporate agenda. I disagree with William that having a Democrat in the WH is the only way to fight this trend.

The U.S. currently has a progressive IN the White House; I don't understand why this keeps getting overlooked...

But this is not a monarchy, and Biden faces a GOP House, a GOP Supreme Court and a GOP with Senate veto power.

What he has managed to get done is quite remarkable under this scenario.

Most of America doesn't know RFK Jr is running and those that do, likely don't care. It isn't a serious Presidential run, it's a political calculation made in the context of something else, likely nefarious.