#bigtree

[natureaestheticdreams]

@natureaestheticdreams for more 🌳

[bonguri]

20240127 Atsuta ward 3 by BONGURI 少し移動して白鳥庭園。名古屋はまず大雪は降らないんだけど、冬の風物詩の雪吊りが施されています。 @Shirotori garden, Atsuta ward, Nagoya city, Aichi pref.（愛知県名古屋市熱田区 白鳥庭園）

[aerialfitness]

🌴BE LIKE A TREE🌴 🌳Stay Grounded. 🌳Connect with your roots. 🌳Turn over a new leaf. 🌳Bend before you break. 🌳Enjoy your unique beauty. 🌳Keep growing. #muirwoods #redwoodtrees #oldtrees #trees #tree #bigtree #treeoflife #treesofinstagram #explore #travel #splits #qotd #belikeatree #caifornia #sausalito #livelife (at Muir Woods National Monument) https://www.instagram.com/p/CoYIBYKyxgn/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[soulofearth]

WOAH!! Big one <3

[betti-manson]

Anna

[luckyh3art]

first snow. getting better at saying no.

[brilho-design]

Árvore na Curva por João Otavio Dobre Ferreira

[theodoreangelos]

CHOUBAGUAI yellow leather pointed toe 8.5cm (3.35") high heel stiletto office shoes with insole branded BIGTREE 丑八怪 (Chǒubāguài) is an Chinese clothing brand and retailer. In addition to clothing for women, Chǒubāguài markets other fashion accessories such as watches, jewellery, glasses and shoes.

[projectbougou]

#bigtree #tree #nature #greekvillage #greekislands #amateurphotography Coordinates: 35.053786,25.409203 (at Ano Viannos) https://www.instagram.com/p/CjyjOxQKbpb/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[brucethomasart]

#drawingsketch #artistsoninstagram #ninthgrandchild #amqui #rurallife #matinapp #nails #bigtree https://www.instagram.com/p/CpzxqLmgfa_/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[natureaestheticdreams]

Follow @natureaestheticdreams for more🌲

[bonguri]

20240127 Atsuta ward 2 by BONGURI 宝物館横のソテツは冬仕様。 @Atsuta Jingu shrine, Atsuta ward, Nagoya city, Aichi pref.（愛知県名古屋市熱田区 熱田神宮）

[fabricerehel-collectif]

#Insulated #island #surf #single #singlefin #house #bigtree #dreamy #watercolor #drawing #design #gooddowgs #surfinglife #ilesdebretagne #illustration (à Côte d’ Emeraude) https://www.instagram.com/p/CosFfXioaK3/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[bigovens]

Beautiful afternoon stroll around the trails #canyongrizl7al #canyonbikes #bigtree #ibikemargaretriver #dropbarsnotbombs #outsideisfree #makeyourbikeworldbigger #gravel #gravelgrind #bikeporn #bikepacking #ridewa #margaretriver #weride #forrest #downsouth #mtbtourguide #ridestrong #rockbros (at The Pines MTB Trails - Margaret River) https://www.instagram.com/p/CnYy5mlvg4C/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Jay Kuo at The Status Kuo:

During his interview with Time Magazine, which once again named him “Person of the Year,” Donald Trump unsurprisingly said many startling things between his usual ramblings. Today I want to focus on one of them in particular: vaccines. Trump declared he is “going to do what’s good for the country.” When asked whether that includes getting rid of some vaccinations, Trump responded, “It could if I think it’s dangerous, if I think they are not beneficial,” but then added, “I don’t think it’s going to be very controversial in the end.” This is a stark departure from earlier assurances by anti-vax nut job RFK, Jr., who promised earlier that he would not take vaccines away from anyone who wants them. Now it seems the team he hopes to gather at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will propose a review of vaccine safety and, depending on the results, could possibly pull some critical ones from the market.

But could and would they really do something so crazy as ban life-saving shots like the Hepatitis B, measles mumps and rubella, and polio vaccines? Trump’s interview set off alarms among health experts, especially epidemiologists. And it raises many questions, not the least of which is exactly how vaccines might be reviewed by the government to confirm if they are “dangerous” or “not beneficial,” if and when RFK, Jr. is confirmed as head of HHS. Adding fuel to this dumpster fire is a report out this morning by the New York Times that RFK, Jr.’s lawyer, Aaron Siri, is an anti-vax crusader who has previously petitioned the FDA to revoke approval for polio and other vaccines. Trump’s statements imply that he really meant what he said on the campaign trail about letting RFK, Jr. go “wild on health.” And with zealots like Siri helping to shape national health policy, we are dangerously close to returning to an era where childhood diseases, once considered largely eradicated, could make a deadly comeback.

[...]

Anyone familiar with the way anti-vax groups regularly challenge FDA approvals, Covid mandates, scientists and drug manufacturers likely feels a rock in their gut reading this. First, it appears that Trump has taken up a dangerous and false claim that purports to link childhood vaccinations to autism. That theory has been widely debunked, but it has managed to produce mass hysteria for two decades. And now it has the bully pulpit of the Oval Office behind it. The fact that the president-elect agrees with this discredited theory, and is appointing someone to head HHS who actively pushes it, is troubling in the extreme.

[...]

An anti-vax zealot gets his shot

Aaron Siri probably can’t believe his good fortune. He has made his legal career out of representing anti-vax clients, including a group called the Informed Consent Action Network, an organization whose founder is also a close Kennedy ally. In that capacity, as the Times reports, as recently as 2022 Siri petitioned the FDA to revoke approval of the polio vaccine. That’s right, he wants to see the polio vaccine withdrawn, even though it has saved countless children from death or lifetime disability. Siri has gone after 13 other vaccines, too, including the Hepatitis B vaccine, and has crusaded around the country to lift Covid mandates. His tactic is to impugn the integrity of the scientists responsible for developing the vaccines and poke as many holes as he can into their product development, safety studies and approvals. He does this by playing on the preconceptions and fears of the conspiracy-minded, making otherwise harmless errors or oversights appear as massive and even intentional frauds upon the public. One critic of Siri’s crusades is Dr. Stanley Plotkin, the inventor of the vaccine that eliminated rubella in the 1960s. Before the vaccine, it was a disease that killed thousands of newborns. Siri deposed Plotkin in a lawsuit Siri had brought. After spending nine hours being grilled by Siri, Dr. Plotkin believes that putting Siri in any position of influence “would be a disaster.” Dr. Plotkin added, “I find him laughable in many ways — except, of course, that he’s a danger to public health.”

Siri still managed to put a target on Dr. Plotkin, however, by publishing snippets of that deposition online, along with those of one Dr. Kathryn Edwards, another noted inventor of vaccines. Siri had the help of an anti-vax documentary maker and podcaster, Del Bigtree—who is also RFK, Jr.’s former campaign communications director and founder of the Informed Consent Action Network. As a result, Drs. Plotkin and Edwards have been vilified by anti-vaxxers instead of celebrated for their stunning accomplishments.

“You’re taking the leaders in vaccinology,” Dr. Edwards told the Times, “the people that have spent their whole lives studying these vaccines and seeing their impact, you’re marginalizing and making them look like they are prostitutes of pharma.” Of great concern is how Siri is now working with RFK, Jr. to actively vet candidates for top positions at HHS. According to the Times, Siri has asked candidates about their view on vaccines, potentially setting up HHS to have a uniformly anti-vax agenda. RFK, Jr. and his advisors, like Siri and Bigtree, could succeed in having vaccines actually pulled from the market based on the “studies” they are demanding, the conclusions of which we can assume are pre-ordained. But even short of actually yanking important vaccines, the platforming of anti-vax conspiracies and disinformation will create widespread vaccine hesitancy, which could result in serious and deadly outbreaks.

History could repeat on a huge scale

We need only look at what RFK, Jr. did in Samoa to understand the extent of the damage and even death his views can cause. In 2019, the small island nation experienced a deadly outbreak of measles, with 5,700 infections out of a population of 200,000. Hospitals were full, and the country was in a state of emergency. In the end, 83 people died, most of them young children. But what had caused this outbreak? Childhood measles vaccinations rates plummeted from 90 percent in 2013 to just a third of all infants by 2019 due to a health scandal where nurses had improperly mixed the measles vaccine with the wrong liquid, resulting in two deaths. That incident opened the floodgates for vaccine misinformation driven by RFK, Jr. and his anti-vaccine non-profit, the Children’s Health Defense. At one point RFK, Jr. even sent the Samoan prime minister a letter suggesting the measles vaccine itself may have caused the outbreak. He falsely asserted that it had “failed to produce antibodies” in mothers sufficient to provide infants with immunity, that it perhaps provoked “the evolution of more virulent measles strains” and even that children who received the vaccine may have inadvertently spread the virus to other children.

[...]

There is still an opportunity to stop RFK’s confirmation, if the GOP-controlled Senate finds enough backbone and common sense. But time is running out to change minds and stand up to Trump. Meanwhile, RFK Jr.’s allies in the anti-vax movement, like Siri and Bigtree, are gearing up to unleash a true nightmare upon our health system.

This is very disturbing: the anti-vaxxer extremist movement is on the prowl, as both Donald Trump and RFK Jr. are making moves to potentially yank some vaccines off the market-- including the polio-- and champion the debunked lie that vaccines “cause” autism.

See Also:

Daily Kos: We got rid of polio with vaccines. RFK's lawyer wants to bring it back

[reality-detective]

This came out awhile ago, but still applies 🤔