Hundreds Of HHS Staff Sign Letter Begging RFK Jr. To Stop Making Them Targets With Misinformation
from the least-he-could-do dept
As you will recall, a single gunmen opened fire on a CDC campus in Atlanta earlier this month, claiming to have been injured by COVID vaccines. The rhetoric he had used prior to the shooting closely aligned with what RFK Jr. had been spouting for years. While Kennedy took nearly a day to even publicly comment on the shooting, more local CDC leadership was fielding questions from the Atlanta team that amounted to how the organization was going to ensure that misinformation stopped flowing from Kennedy’s mouth such that they had become targets for this gunman in the first place. They got their answer when Kennedy commented publicly the next week, reiterating all that same rhetoric that caused them to be targeted.
It’s perhaps not surprising then that hundreds of CDC staff signed an open letter essentially begging Kennedy to stop putting them in potential crosshairs.
More than 750 employees across the Department of Health and Human Services sent a signed letter to members of Congress and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Wednesday morning, calling on the secretary to stop spreading misinformation.
The letter states the deadly shooting that occurred at the Atlanta headquarters of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Aug. 8 was “not random” and was driven by “politicized rhetoric.”
The signatories are accusing Kennedy of endangering the lives of HHS employees by spreading misinformation.
It’s a cry for help coming from within the organization that Kennedy is responsible for. These are people worried that their lives are being put at risk by Kennedy and his ilk, all due to the irresponsible claims he’s made for years, and continues to make to this day.
But if you were expecting empathy from the leadership of HHS, you’ll be sorely disappointed. Instead of that empathy, a statement from HHS apparently accuses signatories to that letter of “politicizing” the mass shooting that targeted them.
In a statement to ABC News, HHS said, “Secretary Kennedy is standing firmly with CDC employees — both on the ground and across every center — ensuring their safety and well-being remain a top priority. In the wake of this heartbreaking shooting, he traveled to Atlanta to offer his support and reaffirm his deep respect, calling the CDC ‘a shining star among global health agencies.'”
“For the first time in its 70-year history, the mission of HHS is truly resonating with the American people — driven by President Trump and Secretary Kennedy’s bold commitment to Make America Healthy Again,” the statement continued. “Any attempt to conflate widely supported public health reforms with the violence of a suicidal mass shooter is an attempt to politicize a tragedy.”
This is bullshit. CDC staff are not politicizing the shooting; they’re begging to not be made targets. That statement is so far afield from the actual request in the letter that I don’t even know how to respond to it, other than to say that it’s quite obvious Kennedy is refusing to moderate or alter his rhetoric. Conspiracy theories appear to be more important to him than the lives of those under his employ.
This is governmental malpractice. It needs to stop. It won’t stop unless someone in a position of power does something about it.
Filed Under: cdc, conspiracy theories, disinformation, health and human services, misinformation, rfk jr.
Comments on “Hundreds Of HHS Staff Sign Letter Begging RFK Jr. To Stop Making Them Targets With Misinformation”
But I do.
Re: Thank goodness
I was afraid that link was going to go to g**tse, as that would seem the proper response to RFKJ (in almost all occasions, to be fair).
Can habitual liars ever stop lying? …doesn’t look like it. Especially now since it’s a primary requisite for working for Trump (or Fox News).
At this point, I’m wondering if the covid vaccine is coincidentally also deadly to brain worms, so Junior’s vermiculus cranial puppeteer is making sure fewer people are vaccinated against its kind.
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I actually think the brain worm is dead, but it may have left lingering effects (cognitive problems, confusion, etc).
It’s likely that rfk is still suffering from cognitive problems, and I’m sure it’s not the brain worm controlling him.
But ehh, your opinion. 🤷
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I actually think I was being sarcastic for the purposes of mocking RFK Jr. The brain worm was dead when the doctors found it. That also leads to the next obvious joke that it starved to death due to lack of food…
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Even if RFK Jr.’s brain had been rendered entirely non-functional through lack of use, there still would have been plenty for a worm to eat in it. It’s more likely, therefore, that RFK Jr.’s beliefs are so toxic they acted like an anthelmintic drug, directly killing the worm.
As if the issue weren’t already a political one.
And as with everything else the Trump admin is doing: fat chance.
So you are ok with ice wearing masks to protect their identity so that they aren’t targeted?
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You probably think you said something intelligent there.
You didn’t.
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So much projection on this site
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From you.
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No. You
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Do you often talk into your bathroom mirror, or is this just you practising?
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Law enforcement officers are entrusted with the authority to take lives and dole out state-sponsored violence. Anything that gives them less accountability such as the ability to remain anonymous is a violation of their oaths and the human rights of anyone they encounter. Why would you advocate for an unaccountable force of government agents empowered to brutalize and arrest anyone (include proven American citizens)? Were you born a few decades too late to enjoy being a brownshirt or something? Oh right, you’re on their side so you don’t imagine these leopards would ever eat your face…
HHS employees being subject to real threats from fake conspiracy theories perpetuated by the administration is oddly the same basic scenario as masked ICE thugs beating people up. Both scenarios involve innocent people getting brutalized due to decisions by the administration to pursue false ideas instead of protecting vulnerable people.
An office, controlled by a political power, having an issue with how political leaders don’t bother trying to keep people safe, and he feels they are being too political?
I fear that dead worm in his head died of starvation shortly after birth.
It’s working as intended. Why would he stop?
Hundreds of HHS staff fired in 3, 2, 1, …
Maybe every single person at the HHS should resign. Except RFK. Then he can spew his bullshit alone and not endanger anyone else. Well, anyone else who worked formerly at the HHS, anyway… Not really sure what else can be done since Congress isn’t going to do anything.
Kennedy is standing with HHS employees on the ground, making sure they’re pinned in place so they can’t excape the next dangerous lunatic who comes along.
Insane man has insane response
I’m not sure why his response is in any way surprising. He lied his way through his confirmation hearing and he’s happily lying now. I hope people working there find many creative ways to subvert his will.
As always, every accusation a confession...
The only ones politicizing a tragedy are the ones who decided to take medicine and health from science-based to conspiracy-delusion based and flat out ignore that the shooter was very clear as to why they did what they did and that it was because of the pro-plague rhetoric the RFK Jr and others like him have and continue to spread.
People who politicize everything accuse someone of politicizing something. Haha, no shit.