Ricochet is the best place on the internet to discuss the issues of the day, either through commenting on posts or writing your own for our active and dynamic community in a fully moderated environment. In addition, the Ricochet Audio Network offers over 50 original podcasts with new episodes released every day.
RFK Jr. Defames Dr. Fauci (But Truth Is an Absolute Defense)
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., has published a new book, The Real Anthony Fauci, that is clearly actionable defamation if untrue. And Kennedy must be angling for a fight. He has published the book which if untrue is libel and is orally stating the same information in as many interviews as he can obtain which is slander. Just this past week he was featured on Tucker Carlson’s evening show as an excerpt from Carlson’s long-form interview in an episode of Tucker Carlson Today. Progressive media are spinning the interview as conspiracy theories and anti-vaxx propaganda, effectively republishing a defamation to Kennedy’s real target audience albeit with their own spin.
It is this last point that I want to emphasize: Robert Kennedy’s targets are the Karens in the progressive movement that have lionized Fauci and are supporting the destruction of liberty. Kennedy’s rhetoric on liberty is refreshing and hopeful for conservatives, libertarians, and classical liberals. His jeremiad is an important tool in persuading or defeating the Karens. Why? Because he accepts the frame of progressivism and demonstrates by statistics (often flawed in my view, but ones routinely relied upon by progressives in policy arguments) that Dr. Fauci is ineffective at best and corrupt at worst. And most importantly, Fauci’s ineffectiveness and/or corruption is not a new phenomenon. It has been a feature of his leadership at the National Institute for Allergies and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) since 1984.
In one book, RFK Jr does multiple things: (1) debunk the efficacy of the COVID-19 strategy promoted by Fauci, (2) highlights the problem of regulatory capture and expands the definition of Deep State to include big corporations, (3) draws a line under why a Deep State is an existential threat to the Republic, and (4) defines a rallying point for people who agree on a problem while disagreeing on a solution.
Kennedy is in the fight. Naomi Wolf is in the fight. Glenn Greenwald is in the fight. Bill Maher is in the fight. There is help for the Republic. It is in as many people as possible seeing the current alliance of media, academia, corporations, federal employees, and politicians functioning as a Deep State and to understand that centralizing power in this way will enslave us all.
This aggregation of citizens who see the Deep State as the principal problem to be solved opens up some opportunities. The problem with the Tea Party and MAGA is that it was anchored in one political party. Yes, Reagan and Trump were able to pull Democrats in ways that Republicans rarely did, but GOPe is as much a part of the Deep State as Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer. The focus has to be on putting people into office who oppose the Deep State regardless of their political affiliation.
When we try to enforce political purity we use the strategy of “primarying” an incumbent. But if we expand the strategy to encompass both parties — not focusing solely on getting voters to shift affiliations — we get two bites at the apple. You work for candidates on both sides of the ballot to pledge to fight the Deep State. We need a new “Contract with America” that is not focused on putting one or the other party in charge of the House and/or Senate. Putting both chambers into the loving embrace of GOPe will not save the Republic. We have seen time and time again that GOPe will respond to the forces forming and guiding the Deep State and will abandon the grassroots once they have regained power.
We need a revolution. And whether Kennedy completely understands the revolution we need, his attack on Fauci and the cabal of unelected actors is exactly the kind of thing that we need to gain numbers in fighting the corruption of the Deep State. We need to set aside some of our disagreements for the duration while we attack the structure that is steadily enslaving us. For example, even if we eliminated all abortions in this country we will have them born into slavery if we do not dismantle the Deep State.
The Bill of Rights is our rallying point. We need to rediscover the outlook of our Founders who saw George III as the despot and demanded liberty. “Either we must hang together or all hang separately.” “Give me Liberty, or Give me Death!” Let us refresh the slogans and create a new Purple revolution that overwhelms the Deep State. Either we do it now, or do it generations in the future after terrible suffering.
Published in General
Is this a recycled comment, or have I come unsynchronized?
I made one guy here insanely mad by saying this but I will say it again. We were at risk of running out of medical resources. (People that think you can create medical labor fast enough by invoking the word “liberty” are idiots). Protecting the vulnerable was incredibly difficult.
Then, when all of that ended they should have backed off.
Since the vaccine doesn’t stop transmission either at all, or very much, there is no point in getting more people vaccinated. (The data coming out of highly vaccinated states during their outdoor seasons is absolutely laughable.) There is no public policy interest in this anymore. The vulnerable have made their choices. Of course they don’t talk like that even though they have admitted that it’s really bad at preventing transmission.
I was talking to some vaccine Nazis on Twitter and I realized something. The government’s position since August 1 is that the vaccine is bad at stopping transmission. That is still their position. They told us it would work in this sense and now they have admitted it doesn’t.
I think what is actually going on is, the rate of spread, the natural coefficient of spread of this thing is 9. The flu is basically 2. With the flu, fewer than 50% get the flu shot, but this really interdicts the spread. What this damn thing does is, it cuts that number from 9 to 5 or something, which mathematically is a lot, but as a practical matter it might as well be nothing. Then the vaccine Nazis tell you it does something for the spread.
I think it’s Orwellian, but you guys are all smarter than me.
There is no public interest in getting more people vaccinated because it won’t do a damn thing as a top down policy at this point.
Interesting sidenote. The Minnesota authorities are freaking out about our case rate and we are actually running out of medical resources in the St. Cloud area. These idiots got $4 billion from the feds last year and actually shrunk our hospital beds and ICU units the state. It’s unbelievable.
Also, masks don’t do anything as a top down policy. Zero.
Maybe they could, you know, not fire hospital workers who won’t get the jab?
From “frontline hero!” to “societal pariah!” in just a few months.
I forget which thread I said this on. I have to get a simple blood test that I could normally get with 12 hours notice. It’s nine days now. lol