Republicans ignoring the measles epidemic in Texas while RFKjr still talks about cod liver oil treatment!

Kennedy is already undermining vaccines” (April 13, Nation):

During his Senate confirmation hearings to be health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. presented himself as a supporter of vaccines. But in office, he and the agencies he leads have taken far-reaching, sometimes subtle steps to undermine confidence in vaccine efficacy and safety.

RFKjr is the Secretary of Health and Human Services. He is unqualified with no medical experience. Meanwhle, Texas is experiencing its largest measles ourbreak in 30 years. The virus has infeced more than 600 people and killled two school aged children, reports The Texas Tribune, Terri Langford and Yuriko Schumacher on April 22, 2025.

The National Institutes of Health halted funding for researchers who study vaccine hesitancy and hoped to find ways to overcome it. It also canceled programs intended to discover new vaccines to prevent future pandemics. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shelved an advertising campaign for the flu shot. Kennedy has said inaccurately that the scientists who advise the CDC on vaccines have “severe, severe conflicts of interest” in promoting the products and cannot be trusted. The Health and Human Services Department cut billions of dollars to state health agencies, including funds needed to modernize state programs for childhood immunization. 

RFK Jr.: ‘Faustian bargains’

The most telling part of this article was the quote by Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana. Cassidy complained that Kennedy was “pissing away money” by spending taxpayer dollars to reexamine the oft studied and discredited claim that vaccines cause autism.

Cassidy’s crocodile tears are the perfect example of the duplicity and indeed cowardice of Republican politicians (For example, Maine Writer identified Senator Susan Collins among the cowards❗). Cassidy, a physician, was instrumental in getting Kennedy confirmed as Secretary of Health and Human Services, although he surely knew about Kennedy’s crackpot theories and anti-vaccine rants. The Republican senator failed to honor his oath as a physician and in fact failed the American public when he embraced a toxic mixture of self-deception and sycophancy toward Donald Trump, in order to guarantee Kennedy’s nomination.

Cassidy’s support of an unqualified and dangerous candidate like Kennedy is emblematic of today’s Republican politicians and their penchant for Faustian bargains, in order to please the self-annointed stable genius.

From Larry Wechsler, in Edmonds Washington State

P.S. RFKjr continues to sell the snake oil lie about treatment for measles, but the most reliable cure for the virus is to prevent it with the MMR vaccine.  Cod liver oil and Vitamin A treatment is not a treatment for measles.  Vitamin A does help to minimize any eye involvement caused by the virus but does not treat the disease. 

Donald Trump spreading dangerous lies about America! Our veterans are heroes! Trump is fascist

What will happen to us❗ ❓Echo opinion letter to the edtior published in the Union Bulletin, a newspaper published in Walla Walla Washington. 

Dear editor:  I'm old and tired. I'm not as sharp as I use to be. But at age 78, I can still recognize when I'm being lied to.

Donald Trump calls heroes "suckers and losers."

I love our country and often think about all the women and men who have fought and died to save our democracy. Those brave souls who paid with their lives, the ones Donald Trump calls "suckers and losers." What I'm witnessing today is a large portion of the electorate which is willing to sacrifice our country to a snake oil salesman — a man who pretends to be a Christian but owns not one Christlike quality.

Trumpzi is a "snake oil" salesman!

It stands to reason that our founding fathers anticipated that this nation would, at the least, elect people who honored the laws of the land. They never anticipated the degenerate elected in 2016. During this year's primaries, only the state of Vermont had the courage to favor a decent human being.

Here is the truth: A vote for Trump is a vote for fascism. How did we get here?! I simply can't conceive of it.  I know I won't change anyone's mind. I just wonder what happened to us.

From Gerry Steinauer in Walla Walla Washington

Dr. Ben Carson must explain his weird beliefs

People who believe Dr. Ben Carson is somehow qualified to be President of the United States and therefore "leader of the free world" probably, also, think the concept of "snake oil" is a therapeutic cure for prostate cancer.  

Snake Oil - Dr. Ben Carson thinks Mannatech cured his cancer!

Incredulously, Dr. Ben Carson believes taking Mannatech products cured his prostate cancer. Therefore, it must have curative ingredients. Right? In fact, the Mannatech products Dr. Carson supports using includes ingredients referred to in pharmaceutical language as "plant sugar", in other words, "sugar pills".  

Here are the strange issues the voter must ask about Dr. Carson, who wants to be elected President of the United States:

1.  How did the Mannatech products cure his prostate cancer, when the ingredients have no therapeutic medicinal value?  

2.  Explain how going to prison for committing a crime creates homosexuals?

3.  How does a physician, who is a neurosurgeon, explain his beleif about the Egyptian pyramids being used for "grain storage"???

CNN reports how Dr. Carson is adding to his list of mystifying beliefs. As a physician, Dr. Carson studied medical science. His academic degrees certainly didn't include studies in archeology, criminal justice or pharmaceutical oncology.  In other words, Dr. Carson's medical degree does not qualify him to be an archeologist, a criminal justice expert or an oncologist.  

Certainly, Carson's education and experience disqualifies him from applying to be a politician, because he never ran for any political office whereby people were asked to vote for him. It's obvious he never took a political science class.

America certainly doesn't need a concrete thinker who engages in fanciful thinking, like Dr. Ben Carson, as our nation's next president. What American needs is inspiring leadership rather than fanciful thinking.

Instead, the leader of the free world must be a political thinker who can respond to complicated issues quickly, without causing controversy with every verbalized concept.

At the next Republican "debate", the moderators, or whatever the media names the "questioners", have an obligation to ask Dr. Ben Carson to explain his weird beliefs, because they are difficult to understand. Ask Carson to explain his belief about the Egyptian pyramids as places where grain was stored? How it is the Egyptians stored grain in their magnificent pyramids, when archeologists have found mummies inside the complicated labyrinths?  

Also, does Dr. Carson believe the earth was created in 7 days, as other Creationists?

Dr. Carson is clearly unqualified to be President of the United States. Rather he's better off going back to college to study anthropology and pharmaceutical science, with major in 'political science '.

Republicans can't answer debate questons they are incapble of leading the free world

Americans are tired of of the Republican's circus.  

Frankly, we're increasingly sickened by the line up of clown car Republican candiates who want to win the 2016 nomination to be president of the United States. We've been exposed to insults, intimidation of our friendly and hard working immigrant populations and heard about the preposterous claim from Dr. Carson about how snake oil cured his prostrate cancer, plus other outragious stuff. 

Nevertheless, there hasn't been even one inspiring idea between the band of wanna-bee presidential candidates. As a matter of fact, during the third GOP debate, the only information we learned was that Dr. Carson endosed products supported by Mannatech, a snake oil marketing firm that endorses sugar pills.

GOP debate moderators Carl Quintanilla (from left), Becky Quick and John Harwood appear during the CNBC Republican presidential debate Wednesday night

In other words, there's virtually no leadership among the GOP line up. They simply don't know what they're doing. It's like the GOP candidates are thriving on personal put downs and can't rise to defend anything other than their own egos.  

As President Obama noted, the GOP candidates like to pontificate about comparing themselves with world leaders who can negotiate with President Putin of Russia, but they can't even answer simple question from TV debate moderators!  

When the candidates couldn't answer questions at the third debate, they turned on the moderators!

The candidates deflected quesitons into attacks on each other; they spewed stump speeches rather than ideas and dumped on the debate moderators.  Moreover, now they've even taken their stupidity into a closed door meeting where they decided on a debate format only they find appropriate. But wait!  Not even the closed door meeting solved anything. Now, it turned out,what was agreed to behind closed doors has now been "unagreed" to. 

This isn't funny anymore, although it never was, even though we've laughed about all of them.   

Do American voters realize how these stupid line up of Republican wanna bees will govern our nation like they behave at the debates?

Their chaos will create disaster for our nation and make us the lauging stock of the world.  President Putin of Russia should already be laughing his ass off.  (Putin must be saying, in Russian of course, "Those jokers are going to negotiate with me? You're surely not serious hahahahah!)

Instead of fighting with each other and with debate moderators, the GOP candidates must find a leader. Right now, their collective egos could provide enough energy to sail a blimp to the moon but their leadership skills are as tragic as the Titanic.  In the absence of a leader, the GOP will continue their political food fight into the National Convention next summer, where supporters and detractors will act out their negative differences all the way to election day.  

Meanwhile, Mrs. Hillary Clinton has shown enormous leadership. Her experience has shown how to manage crises. Even the relentless journalist Kristen Welker can't find anything else to ask Mrs. Clinton. Welker has been hounding Mrs Clinton with negative questions, now there just aren't any more left for her to ask.  

Unfortunately, the Republican party's chaos has driven the party faithful into devotional corners of support for their preferred candidates. Consequently, Americans aren't likely to see a Republican leader emerge until somebody with the authority of a referee declares the cast of loosers down for the count.  

As they line up now, however, none of them are qualified to be elected the leader of the free world.

Atlantic reports on the Dr. Ben Carson Mannatech problem

As a neurosurgeon (physician), Dr. Ben Carson has no reason to advocate for any particular nutritional supplements, because most of them, quite frankly, are snake oil.  Dr. Carson knows this. Yet, Carson's relationship with Mannatech is lengthy and well-documented, which makes his denial of support bizarre.

In fact, Dr. Carson supported one particular brand of supplements and now he's being asked to be accountable for his involvement with the company. Rather than take the "Haliburton" approacch, used by Dick Cheney, when he was confronted with his position on that company's board, instead, Dr. Carson denied his involvement. Cheney admitted to his support for Haliburton. Yet, Carson flatly denied any affiliation with Mannatech, all the while, until recently, his picture was featured on the company's website.

Mannetech is a marketing firm that promotes plant generated sugars - ie "snake oil".

Mannatech, Incorporated, is a multinational multi-level marketing firm engaged in research, development, and distribution of "glyconutrients," the company's name for blends of plant-sourced saccharides. In other words, "snake oil". (What are "plant-sourced saccharides"?  These are plainly stated "sugars" derived from plants.  A a nurse, I have virtually no idea about the health benefits of taking sugar derived from plants.  In fact, "sugar" is a plant it's called "sugar cane" and it grows wild in countries. Nevertheless, without seeing a price list, I'm willing to bet Mannatech products are expensive and I doubt they produce curative results of anykind. It's likely they're as efficient as taking sugar pills.)

During Wednesday’s GOP presidential debate in Boulder, Colorado, CNBC moderator Carl Quintanilla asked Ben Carson, a leading GOP contender and an accomplished pediatric neurosurgeon, about his relationship with a controversial nutritional-supplement company named Mannatech.

Dr, Ben Carson is a neursurgeon and presidential candidate who should know better than to support nutritional s“There’s a company called Mannatech, a maker of nutritional supplements, with which you had a ten-year relationship,” Quintanilla asked. “They offered claims that they could cure autism and cancer. 

They paid $7 million to settle a deceptive-marketing lawsuit in Texas and yet your involvement continued. Why?”upplements that are plant sugars aka "snake oil".

An article in The Atlantic is reporting on this unlikely affiliation between Dr. Carson and Mannatech.  

Physicians should know better!

“Well, it’s easy to answer,” Carson quickly replied to Quintantilla. “I didn’t have an involvement with them. (Pinocchio!) That is total propaganda and this is what happens in our society. Total propaganda.” He then backtracked a little. “I did a couple of speeches for them. I did speeches for other people, they were paid speeches,” he told the crowd before switching back to a full denial. “It is absolutely absurd to say that I had any kind of relationship with them.” Then he again acknowledged a role. “Do I take the product? Yes, I think it’s a good product.”

Presidential candidates frequently stretch the truth. Some of them have made fantastical claims about President Obama’s birth certificate, for example, or their ability to construct a giant wall on the Mexican border that Mexico will pay for. 

But Carson's outright denial seems egregious even by that standard. His relationship with the company is lengthy and well-documented, which makes his response even more bizarre.

Carson first spoke out in favor of Mannatech products over a decade ago when he claimed that the Texas-based company’s “glyconutritional supplements,” which included larch-tree bark and aloe vera extract, helped him overcome prostate cancer.

As the Wall Street Journal reported earlier this month, Carson’s relationship with the company deepened over time, including “four paid speeches at Mannatech gatherings, most recently one in 2013 for which he was paid $42,000, according to the company.” 

The company disputes that Carson was a “paid endorser or spokesperson,” according to the Journal, and claims his financial compensation went to charity.

National Review also highlighted Carson’s connections to Mannatech in January and how Carson’s team went to great lengths to distance themselves from the company. Some of his video appearances have been removed from the Internet, but those that remain appear to show a deeper affiliation than Carson claimed during Wednesday’s debate.

In one video for Mannatech last year that remains online, Carson discusses his experiences with nutritional supplements while seated next to the company’s logo. “The wonderful thing about a company like Mannatech is that they recognize that when God made us, He gave us the right fuel,” Carson explained. “And that fuel was the right kind of healthy food … Basically what the company is doing is trying to find a way to restore natural diet as a medicine or as a mechanism for maintaining health.”

Carson stopped short of making substantive medical claims about Mannatech’s products. “You know, I can’t say that that’s the reason I feel so healthy,” he said. “But I can say it made me feel different and that’s why I continue to use it more than ten years later.” (Obviously Dr. Carson forgot his pharmaceutical studies about the placebo effect.)  

Apparently, seven years before Carson appeared in the promotional video, then-Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, a Republican who was elected governor of Texas last year, sued Mannatech for running an illegal marketing scheme under the state’s Deceptive Trade Practices Act. Abbott claimed that the Dallas-based company and its sales representatives repeatedly exaggerated the medical efficacy of their products.

Logically, Dr. Carson is unqualified to be president of the United States. He is a physician, trained in science, who was somehow lured to believe plant sugar was a miracle cure for some cancers. Nevertheless, he then goes on to deny that he had any involvement in supporting the snake oil he admited to taking.

How, in the world of possibilities, can he be qualified to be elected leader of the free world?  To put it simply, anybody who thinks Dr. Carson is qualified to be President of the United States should think about investing in Mannatech. As a matter of fact, I understand the company may be looking for another spokespersonn.