Thanks to widespread vaccination, measles had been considered “eliminated” as a continually transmitting illness in the United States since 2000 – but not anymore.
An independent commission of experts that reports to the director of the Pan American Health Organization determined that the US no longer qualified as having eliminated measles, a source close to the process told CNN on Friday. The news was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.
The decision was widely expected after years of falling vaccination levels and surging case counts, but it’s still a black mark on the nation’s public health policy.
While I’m no fan of RFK, I don’t think you can give him ALL the credit. Our President deserves some credit as well. And then there is every single person who opted out. This was coming with or without RFK, he just hurried it along.
If the law in the US was just, so much of what’s happening there would be illegal, so many people would have to face consequences. I truly hope this will happen one day. Start from the top, and those two guys are certainly up there.
This is absolutely the crux of the issue. RFK Jr. likely, at least from a policy standpoint, hasn’t done anything illegal in this role. Our agencies and their administration were built with a level of trust that those appointed would work for the common good. It was believed that even if the president was insane that Congress would never approve an incompetent person to head a department. Yet here we are.
I’m sure he’s taking illegal bribes that could lead to some charges, but stuff like the constant food recalls and allowing these terrible diseases to come back likely isn’t illegal.
There’s also probably a lot of crimes in his personal life, but causing children to die of preventable disease is perfectly legal. Very messed up situation
hes also deep in the epstein files himself.
Germany needed one Third Reich to learn from that mistake, and its current legal apparatus is very focused on not relying on Trust Me Bro. It’s called Gewaltenteilung, which is sometimes translated as checks and balances, but I find the German term to be less ambiguous. It means Separation of powers.
I mean most other countries also have that but Germany’s goes a few steps further, and also served as a blueprint for others. And last but not least, Americans also had a hand in the post-war process there, so … America used to be better?
We also have checks and balances/seperation of powers, it was just assumed that all 3 branches would never be compromised at the same time.
Basically imagine the AFD controls every power in the government. If I recall Germany has some more rigidity in the constitution with certain provisions that can never be changed. Which helps a lot, but overall the German system is strikingly similar to the American one. It is a bit more refined though
Or that Congress would cede its power to the executive. The president is supposed to be a fairly weak position.
The longer this goes on, the more I think we should dump the current system and adopt a full parliamentary system. Proportional representation and ranked choice voting. Make the president ceremonial again.
Theoretically Congress still has the power to reclaim anything they gave to the executive branch, but it’s too much about party politics now. Congress isn’t interested in its own power.
I agree a parliamentary system would be significantly better though
Not so much
since the Patriot Act(if ruling by decree is possible)That’s pretty much what happened in 1933, and that’s why it’s “a bit more refined” now.
Large portions of the act expired in 2020 and it didn’t erase seperation of powers. It did allow the executive branch to do more but Congress still retained the ability to stop it with a 2/3rds vote or a simple majority if the executive branch agreed. The normal legislative process was still in effect.
While I disagree with the act in many ways, claiming it entirely removed seperation of powers is just demonstrably false.
OK however ruling by decree is still unthinkable in most “democratic” countries. I thought it had something to do with the Patriot Act.
Also this:
That’s pretty much what happened in 1933, and that’s why it’s “a bit more refined” now.
Oh no executive orders are rather old. They became a bigger deal in the 1920s with the creation of many of our government agencies.
However they’re still limited in scope. Trump has used them to do some things that no one ever thought the president would like renaming the fucking Gulf. Then there are things he’s doing that are flat out illegal, but the issue is every branch is controlled by his party that won’t stop him. Even the war in Iran was illegal from the start as the bill that empowers the president to act is supposed to only be used for imminent threats, but even if it was an imminent threat he has exceeded the legal length of its use without further congressional approval. The issue is still that his party controls all branches and will not stop him.
Even still some of his crazier executive orders have been swatted down by the courts like the time he tried to fire all the federal employees or tried to strip birthright citizenship.
Frankly we are in a very unprecedented situation that I do agree shows the need for more limits, but I have to question if these limits would even matter. If you control all the branches it really makes you free to do mostly whatever you want.
A good way to think of how the President’s power is supposed to work is that he gets to use his power to direct government agencies in carrying out their legally appointed mandates. Congress establishes the mission and sends funds. The president directs the agency. Some funds are earmarked to be spent on certain things other funds are more general. So the forest service for example the president can order they focus more on preservation within the scope of their agency. In Trump’s case he ordered they focus on resource permits, like mining and oil, which is part of the agencies scope/mission as well.
Anti-measles vaccine sentiment has been going on a long time. Well before Trump. Saw this frequently in South Orange County, CA.
rfk jr specifically resulted in 86 samoan deaths by convincing thier govt to become antivax
How can you possibly know this would’ve happened without RFK? But even if you’re right, hurried along isn’t really better. That’s like saying “he was going to die anyway, I just hurried that process along, it’s not murder!”
His job is literally the opposite of hurrying disease along. Hell even if it wasn’t his job and he was some other cabinet member who accidentally influenced people to not be vaccinated one time with one misstatement, in my mind even that still should mean prosecutable culpability.