It was downright ironic that on the 53rd anniversary of the premiere of three iconic daytime game shows (THE JOKER’S WILD, GAMBIT and the still-airing PRICE IS RIGHT) daytime television yesterday was dominated by a show that was about as far from comfort food and entertainment as that fondly remembered lineup once offered. At the center of it was a clearly agitated Senate Finance Committee and the current Health and Human Services secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Junior. And both sides seemed to grow increasingly agitated and politically polarized as the day wore on–and it appears neither was willing to concede even an inch to the other.
While Kennedy has been the subject of controversy practically from the moment he became a willing stooge in the relentless Republican playbook to reclaim their kingdom in the name of Fat Orange Jesus based largely on his name recognition and the fact that he somehow convinced a measurable sliver of Americans that his, to put it mildly, alternative views on what constitutes health were worth believing, what prompted yesterday’s sh-tstorm was the recent activities surrounding his cleaning out of virtually his entire staff of senior officials and advisors and declarations that have sent a goodly number of politicians and their constituents into a frenzy of panic not seen since, well, the spring of 2020.
The ASSOCIATED PRESS’ Matthew Perrone and Ali Swenson did their best to recap it:
A contentious three-hour hearing between U.S. senators and Robert Kennedy Jr. devolved into multiple screaming matches on Thursday as the nation’s health secretary fended off accusations about sweeping changes he’s made to vaccines, health care policy and leadership.
The oversight hearing in the Senate Finance Committee was a chance for senators to seek answers from Kennedy on recent high-profile departures at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the appointment of vaccine critics to an influential federal advisory committee and changes to COVID-19 vaccine recommendations that will make it harder for many Americans to get the shots . Here are some key takeaways from the hearing:
Kennedy repeatedly disputed the account of fired CDC director Susan Monarez, who was abruptly removed from her post last week after less than a month on the job. Monarez was nominated by President Donald Trump, endorsed for the job by Kennedy and confirmed by a Senate vote in July.
Throughout the hearing, a resolute Kennedy accused senators of lying, misrepresenting his agency and making little sense. As a result, questioning from Democratic senators repeatedly turned into yelling matches.
“You’re just making stuff up,” Kennedy told Sen. Tina Smith, a Democrat from Minnesota, after she accused him of “blaming school shootings on antidepressants.” The health secretary said on Fox News after the recent Minnesota shooting that antidepressants could potentially contribute to violence, and said his agency was investigating. While critics of antidepressants have long alleged they may increase homicidal behavior, the link is not supported by multiple, large clinical trials of the drugs.
Democratic senators pressed Kennedy on recent changes narrowing the approval of annual COVID-19 shots. He repeatedly disputed or denied their accusations.
“Why have you acted behind closed doors to overrule scientists and limit the freedom of parents to choose the COVID vaccine for their children?” Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire asked.
“This is crazy talk,” Kennedy responded. Later, he acknowledged that access to vaccines at pharmacies “depends on the state.”
And this daytime drama was playing amidst a week where the United States drew ideological Maginot lines not seen since the Civil War, literally creating a geographic Left and a Right when it comes to vaccines. In Florida, as yet three more APers–
(D)eep concern is spreading among doctors, parents and public health workers for the safety of children and others who might be vulnerable in a disease outbreak.
They fear that dreaded diseases, held in check for decades by vaccines, could flare up again if too many people in Florida aren’t immunized. Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo announced Wednesday that the Health Department would take steps to eliminate these mandates, calling them “immoral” intrusions that hamper parents’ ability to make health decisions for their children. 
While closer to my ‘hood, we saw an alliance that evoked memories of the lamented Pac 8 conference being created, as OPB’s Amelia Templeton and Michelle Wiley shared:
The democratic governors of Oregon, Washington and California are forming a new public health partnership aimed at preserving access to vaccines.
The partnership, called the Western Health Alliance, will develop its own immunization guidelines “informed by respected national medical organizations,” according to a press release Wednesday from Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek, Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson and California Gov. Gavin Newsom.
“The CDC has become a political tool that increasingly peddles ideology instead of science, ideology that will lead to severe health consequences. California, Oregon, and Washington will not allow the people of our states to be put at risk,” the governors said in a joint prepared statement.
And all of this has resurrected our old friend Rong-Gong and the Hyphenates to once again clog the few pages of the struggling Los Angeles TIMES–ya know, the daily owned by a billionaire biotech genius–to once again supply regular stories that anecdotally reflect the mood that he sees, more often than not from the comfort of his home computer. Here’s this morning’s contribution:
Every year around this time, like clockwork, Marty Lazniarz would plan to get his regular COVID-19 vaccine — essential protection before heading out on a trip. But this year, trying to get his routine shot has been anything but.
The 70-year-old retiree from Long Beach said it has been frustratingly difficult to get a COVID vaccine on time this year because of how the Trump administration has effectively postponed delivery of the shots, and made it harder for people to get them. The amount of confusion surrounding availability of the new vaccine has been maddening,” said Lazniarz, who lost his best friend to COVID a year and a half ago.
Frankly, I don’t need to watch or read any of this, and for a change I’m actually glad I was out and about yesterday while all of this noise erupted in my inboxes. In the “crowded indoor environments” that I operate in, there’s a lot more masking going on lately than in recent months, clearly a response to the so-called rising levels of reported cases that inevitably are followed with the grudging admission that they are still nowhere near what we experienced in 2020 and 2021. As I frequently have cited to the consternation of way too many, as someone who by all statistical accounts should have had the virus multiple times and arguably should be at death’s door considering I have rarely worn a mask for more than four years and yet am still a NOVID I have more than a healthy amount of skepticism of my own about the life-saving efficacy of a face covering–although, to their credit, those that seem to sporting them these days are doing a far better job of covering up than they have in the past. 
But I’m also not so much of an idiot that I would buy for a second the horsesh-t that Kennedy and his zealots are spewing about vaccines. I have seven of them for COVID alone, and I’m fortunate that I came into this world at a time when a world still marveling from the rollout of a smalpox vaccine was far more vigilant about immunizing children than the one we now live in. And because my travels yesterday took me to my local CVS, which confirmed that the latest COVID booster will be available within days, I can confidently assert my eighth is imminent. And that at least on the point of availability Kennedy wasn’t as evasive as those relying upon second-hand knowledge seemed to insist.
And for as defensive as Kennedy became as representatives from both parties laid into him, willing to personally lash out at them at the drop of a hat in a style that no doubt pleased his boss, somehow he failed to actually ask the question that was on so many minds–how much of their campaigns were paid for by donations from Big Pharma, which clearly has a vested interest in keeping all of us as inoculation-obsessed as we have become?
He might have also chosen to break the fourth wall and asked the same question of the media outlets that issued real-time fact checks throughout the day. How much of their daytime advertising comes from pharmaceutical advertisers who aren’t as demanding about the age, income and engagement levels than other categories’ are?
But instead, what we got was performance politics at its nadir, with Kennedy seeming to revel in the firestorm his “beliefs” have caused–among a group that in many cases was still willing to give him the opportunity to infect us with his viewpoints in the first place.
And I just can’t help but wonder–what if he actually had had some consequences for his behavior before this that might have sidetracked him from this religious quest he is on? Like, for example, accountability for being a horrible husband?
ATLANTA BLACK STAR’s reported last month on how even his personal failings are somehoe enabled by people who talk out of both sides of their mouth–far more clearly than he can at this point:
The wife of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has shared her thoughts on the gossip connected to the Donald Trump administration official. Kennedy, 71, was reportedly involved in an extramarital entanglement with political reporter Olivia Nuzzi during his 11-year marriage to “Curb Your Enthusiasm” actress Cheryl Hines. In September 2024, New York Magazine parted ways with Nuzzi, 32, after news of her romantic text messages and video conversations with RFK Jr. were uncovered.
Hines, 59, spoke about her marriage to the member of the Kennedy dynasty in an interview with the Wall Street Journal. “I don’t think there’s any point to going through every rumor and headline to try to defend or explain it,” Hines said without directly mentioning the speculation of infidelity that has plagued their relationship.
Hines and Kennedy’s quotes from their WSJ profile generated a lot of online reactions as commenters shared varying takes on the “Make America Healthy Again” movement leader and his wife.
“Burying your head in the sand, and even if you skirt the issues, the elephant is still in the room,” one People reader commented, referring to Hines claiming they have moved past any previous problems in their marriage. A second individual posted, “It takes a special kind of person to be married to him! Good luck!” Yet another critic of RFK Jr. and Hines exclaimed, “She is as clueless as her husband!!”
Hines just happens to be a fiftysomething beauty from Florida, and I know plenty of them. She’s far from the only one who has made questionable decisions about what she allows into her body, starting with her choice of man. Is it then so surprising when someone like Ladopo throws up his arms in faux exasperation and exclaims “Who am I to tell you what your should allow into your body?” that sort of view actually has gained traction among his constituents?
Maybe if she had dumped his worm-infested carcass and at least given him something else to think about he might have been distracted enough to not go through the exhausting process of confirmation, or perhaps had enough self-doubt as to not zealotically believe his quack beliefs should be mainstream? Or at least perhaps allowed that mind to be focused enough on calling out his detractors on their actual hypocrisies and not those that merely just don’t agree with his “views”?
It’s clear we’ve gotten to the point of what went down yesterday because of multiple complicities and, in hindsight, regrettable decisions. Ones that continue to evolve and manifest with little hope of compromise any time soon. It is nay impossible to lay all of it off on any one participant, not even Kennedy.
So why not lay at least some of it at the delicate feet of someone who, when scripted, was strong enough to walk away from an obsessive older whack job but in real life can’t seem to muster the courage to do so?
At least I know what actually makes me sick these days. And at the top of the list are enablers for people who are far from deserving of such treatment.
Until next time…