S22.E13: Robert Kennedy Jr, Scott Galloway, Don Lemon

[aghst]

Apparently Bill knows RFK Jr. socially and he's also against covid vaccines so he went soft against RFKJ's BS.

He brings up RFKJ promising not to be a spoiler but the polling and the fact that he's only on the ballots of 3 states so far shows he's nothing but a spoiler candidate.  But Bill doesn't push it too much.

 

The panel goes in strong against student protests, which really spread all over the country this past week.  So Lemon says these college students only learn Israel history from TikTok.  Really?  Students at these elite universities are so lazy they're only watching some TikTok videos to learn the history of the ME?  I can see that's true for many young people in their teens and early 20s but students at the best universities?

Not one of them mentions over 30,000 civilians dead.  In fact I don't think Bill or any guest has mentioned the casualty estimates in the 6 months of the Israel-Gaza war.  Or the fact that Israel has cut off power and most food and health aid efforts into Gaza.

Instead, they try to characterize all protesters as anti-semitic, anti-Israel.  Bill does note that some of the protesters are Jewish, doesn't try to admit there's more to the protests than pro-Hamas, anti-semitic ideology.

In fact, the protesters are asking for cease fires and for universities to divest from investments in anything to do with Israel.  Bill says companies make money from wars, because someone is selling those bombs.  He never tries to defend a military bombing civilians at all.

He briefly denies it's genocide and says there's no apartheid because they can vote.  I think that may be true of some Israeli Arabs living within Israel proper.  That is NOT true of Palestinians living in the West Bank or Gaza, who currently are being lynched by settler mobs in the WB or being bombed and shot up by the IDF in Gaza.

Of course he's not going to reference that there are international organizations citing war crimes and genocide in the current Israeli actions.

I believe Scott Galloway called for the National Guard?  Does he mean like Kent State?  Right now the only ones consistently calling for severe crackdown on student protests are Republicans.  Mike Johnson did a photo op at Columbia and said Biden should call in the national guard.  Then you had POS people like Tom Cotton and Josh Hawley calling in for the national guard, going harsh against protesters.  Cotton said that if protesters block your roads, people should take matters into their own hands.

 

But Bill has been consistently characterizing college students as being ignorant, not knowing better.  It goes back to his war on woke, which he attributes in large part to college students, their supposed intolerance of some jokes he and other comedians tried which elicited groans.

This week he suggested they're under the influence of bad professors and he quoted a couple of Arab ones.  Galloway said professors who protest Israel's war should be fired.  Then he went back to, younger generations are not having enough sex and children.  If they had good relationships, they would have "guard rails" which would keep them from doing things like protesting.

 

[Hanahope]

Tbh I did not watch much of RFK Jr because it became clear he was going to be anti-vax and complain about being cancelled for misinformation.

the panel was better imo.  A lot of discussion about the protests on college campuses and why young people are upset with the status quo.  The opinions were that the young adults had good basics but went a little too far with the protests, that being pro cease fire is one thing, anti-semetic is another, and administration encouragement went too far.  

[Soapy Goddess]

I didn't watch RFK jr because I couldn't understand a word he said. Anyone know what's up with his voice?

[Hanahope]

he has a medical condition that causes the problem.  he is difficult to understand sometimes because of it, but even when i do understand the words, i don't like the content, which gives me another reason not to listen to him.

[Soapy Goddess]

18 hours ago, Hanahope said:

he has a medical condition that causes the problem.

One would think with his celebrity he'd seek some type of treatment to be better understood. Even Jon Bon Jovi had surgery and he's a singer!

[heatherchandler]

On 4/28/2024 at 1:53 PM, Hanahope said:

Tbh I did not watch much of RFK Jr because it became clear he was going to be anti-vax and complain about being cancelled for misinformation.

He specifically said that he’s not anti-vax.

[Hanahope]

8 hours ago, heatherchandler said:

He specifically said that he’s not anti-vax.

well, that's quite a 180 degree turn from his prior statements, and of course Bill did not push back on it.

Notably RFK chairs the Children’s Health Defense, a nonprofit organization that focuses on anti-vaccine messaging.

He also continues to support claims that covid-19 vaccines caused deaths and that vaccines cause autism.  

Edited April 30 by Hanahope

[sistermagpie]

9 hours ago, heatherchandler said:

He specifically said that he’s not anti-vax.

He always says that. It's presumably supposed to give him credibility before he explains how whatever vax is under discussion is dangerous.

[AuntieDiane6]

On 4/29/2024 at 8:44 AM, Hanahope said:

he has a medical condition that causes the problem.  he is difficult to understand sometimes because of it, but even when i do understand the words, i don't like the content, which gives me another reason not to listen to him.

That's his claim.  But remember that he has had a lifetime of heroin addiction and potentially other drug use... There's no doubt in my mind that persistent drug use affected his vocal cords.  

[Chalby]

On 4/30/2024 at 8:19 AM, Hanahope said:

He also continues to support claims that covid-19 vaccines caused deaths and that vaccines cause autism.  

It boggles me that the two misinformed "faux facts" you discuss are STILL being accepted as true. Why do regular people even want to believe this when there's no evidence other than anecdotal memories? Sometimes I think I'm losing brain cells every time a new (ridiculous) theory is published.

Edited May 12 by Chalby