this post was submitted on 31 Jan 2025
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Summary

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. accused Bernie Sanders of taking millions from Big Pharma during a heated exchange, but Sanders refuted the claim, stating his donations came from workers, not corporate PACs.

Kennedy repeatedly insisted Sanders was the top recipient of pharmaceutical money in 2020, but financial data shows no corporate PAC contributions to Sanders.

Meanwhile, Kennedy has profited from anti-vaccine activism, earning millions from lawsuits and speaking fees.

The debate ended without Kennedy answering whether he would guarantee health care for all as HHS secretary.

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[–] dohpaz42@lemmy.world 314 points 2 days ago (3 children)

Questioning Sanders’ integrity would be the last thing I’d want to do; especially if I were as ill-advised as RFK.

[–] Boddhisatva@lemmy.world 136 points 2 days ago (5 children)

We're talking about a guy who, I shit you not. picked up roadkill -- specifically a dead bear -- and kept it in his car all day. He was planning on eating it but got busy. Eventually, it ceased to be fresh enough even for his palate so he decided to dump it in central park. He staged it with an old bike he had in his car so that it looked like a bicyclist rode into it and killed it. This is the quality of decision making we're talking about here.

[–] jve@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago

The video that he released where he’s telling the story to Rosanne Barr of all people, is absolutely unhinged.

https://twitter.com/RobertKennedyJr/status/1820132549798347109

(Sorry for twitter link… is there a way to post to mirror site for twitter?)

[–] notsoshaihulud@lemmy.world 10 points 1 day ago

...and kids, that's how you get worms in your brain. (undercooked wild meat)

[–] Eatspancakes84@lemmy.world 20 points 2 days ago (2 children)

One thing I really do not understand. How can a bear be roadkill? What does your car look like after you hit a bear?

[–] Kite@sh.itjust.works 22 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Lots of bears where I am. If you hit them head on, your car is usually totaled.

[–] Ajen@sh.itjust.works 7 points 2 days ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

This is why bullbars are somewhat common in rural areas. More for deer than bears, though. And you're more likely to crack your radiator than have a total loss, unless you keep driving with a leaking radiator of course...

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullbar

[–] daltotron@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I dunno, I tend to see that shit way more often on lifted pavement princess f-150's and dodge rams than on, say, your classic rural 1990's nissan shitbox truck, or your classic ford ranger. Though the lines do become blurred, when your private ranchers are naturally also multi-millionaires. In any case, bullbars are somewhat sensible maybe for encountering, say, a bull, or if you're a police vehicle with a specific application, but more generally they're horrible for ensuring pedestrian safety, ensuring crash safety when met with a stationary barrier like a bollard or a tree or a concrete barricade, or a storefront, and they're obviously much worse in a crash with any other car. There are bullbars which try to get around these issues with more thoughtful integration with the frame of the car or the choice of material, but the vast majority I've seen are just tube steel.

[–] Ajen@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Huh? I said they're somewhat common in rural areas. Pavement princesses are also common in rural areas. But I also see bull bars on Jeeps, SUVs, etc. so I wouldn't automatically associate them with the pavement princess crowd.

You mention ranchers and police, but didn't mention anything about large wildlife which is what this thread is about. Not sure what pedestrian safety has to do with it, but it think it's obvious from looking at them that a plastic bumper would hurt less.

[–] daltotron@lemmy.ml 1 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

My point is only that bull bars sort of, have a different cultural association and collective cost-benefit than, say, cowcatchers on rural freight rail, and my only point in pointing that out, is really just to sort of, educate people about a series of fun facts, or things they may not have previously considered very much. i.e. if you live in suburbia, or if you find yourself driving to walmart once or twice a week, you should maybe not have bull bars on your car. Sort of also plays into the idea of like, larger cars, or even lifted cars, being overly tall in their hood height, meaning they'll dump most pedestrians face flat onto the ground and potentially under the car, rather than tipping them onto the hood of the vehicle, and bull bars can serve to potentially exacerbate that problem. Which also ties into the jeeps and SUVs thing. I dunno.

Ranchers were sort of who I was thinking of when I was thinking of someone who would be extremely rural, and who on occasion will commute into a probably very small town with only one or two big box stores, gas stations, maybe a motel 6, and other highway-exit popups. There's not much out in the boonies outside of agriculture, and like, maybe forestry or things of that nature.

There's sort of, a weird kind of stereotyping around rurality on the internet, where it's all seen as being sort of, extreme poverty, or, people living entirely disconnected from society, maybe working occasionally for some soulless big corporate farm that has no local upper management, and so everything there is sort of, supposed to be put upon, but also be noble in poverty, and be authentic, agreeable, and agree with me in all the ways that matter, especially politically. That's the sort of like, idiot stereotype of rurality. That wealth gap is real, sure, you'll drive through and see a bunch of millionaire plots of land flanked by like, random trailers that haven't really been updated or maintained since the 70's, that part is true enough. But basically, the idea that small trucks are the true sign of the working class ranchhand, and the large truck is always, always, some sort of like, pavement princess owned by an IT worker in san-francisco, that's obviously false, and people don't think about it at all. Obviously things aren't as clear cut, plenty of people working what are otherwise blue collar jobs have big trucks, live in actual rurality, and have an at least somewhat justified reason for owning the kinds of vehicles they own.

I dunno, I'm just, making a lot of conversation, you know? I saw bull bars brought up and I decided to bring up more shit about them. Cultural context, pedestrian safety, shit like that.

[–] Ajen@sh.itjust.works 1 points 20 hours ago

That's fair. Sorry I was being confrontational, I've been a little stressed out lately.

[–] Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

One of the companies that makes bullbars is called Ranch Hand.

This is massively off topic, but the subject never comes up. I wonder if I could trouble you for independent confirmation that their logo looks like a Ferengi.

[–] Ajen@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Heh yeah I can see the resemblance

[–] Boddhisatva@lemmy.world 8 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Depends on the kind of bear. A black bear cub like this would be like hitting a dog, I suspect. An adult would fuck your car up good.

[–] MothmanDelorian@lemmy.world 12 points 2 days ago

Depending on the car as an 18 wheel semi will liquidate anything it runs into.

[–] teft@lemmy.world 8 points 2 days ago

Black bears in general aren't very big bears. They weigh about 100 kilos on average and are about the height of a person if they are standing but only a meter tall on all fours. I've ran across them a few times while out hunting deer and it always surprises me how small they are.

[–] rottingleaf@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago

so that it looked like a bicyclist rode into it and killed it

That's how the Internet still helps my mental health sometimes.

[–] lightnsfw@reddthat.com 3 points 2 days ago (4 children)

Honestly out of the things he's said I don't even care about this. Other than the eating roadkill part this is the kind of shit me and my friends got up to when we were younger.

[–] bstix@feddit.dk 11 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Sure it's just kids being kids. He was only 61 years old at the time.

[–] lightnsfw@reddthat.com -1 points 2 days ago

Eh, weird but still pretty harmless imo.

[–] Quadhammer@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Just casually driving by myself on a tuesday oh look a bear carcass. Better put that in my vehicle for later. To eat.

3 days later... fuck thats right theres a rotting bear in my car. Better get rid of it in a funny way im going to be making health decisions for the entire country soon

[–] derGottesknecht@feddit.org 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

I doubt you were up to the kind of shit JFK was up to unless you spend your youth on a carcass pit feeding your pet hawk and had your own gang. Behind the Bastards had an episode on RFK Jr and it's wild.

[–] echolalia@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

yea honestly? it's funny as fuck, legendary prank. Oh no a dead bear in central park oh noooooo

Hear me out: what actually troubles me is his opinions about vaccines. Strange take, I know.

[–] lightnsfw@reddthat.com 2 points 2 days ago

Yea, far more concerning things about him to focus on.

[–] YtA4QCam2A9j7EfTgHrH@infosec.pub 149 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (3 children)

RFK believes that he is above reproach. He is the delusional you get when you are born into massive wealth and privilege and think that you personally hit a home run. Completely surrounded by yes men his entire life. Trumpesk even.

[–] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 51 points 2 days ago (1 children)
[–] dohpaz42@lemmy.world 31 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Yes, and in my personal experience, I’ve found people who feel they are never wrong to be the most uninformed and unintelligent of all people. It’s so sad that these people also are the ones that somehow rise to power and influence.

[–] MutilationWave@lemmy.world 11 points 2 days ago (1 children)

It's all about confidence. If you think you are infallible you will have perfect confidence no matter how wrong you are.

Conman is a shortened version of confidence man.

[–] KnightontheSun@lemmy.world 6 points 2 days ago

I encounter lots of people that are confidently incorrect.

[–] MothmanDelorian@lemmy.world 12 points 2 days ago (2 children)

We really need to stop thinking the Kennedy family are in any way special other than Joe who IRL is a nice guy who tries to stop people from freezing to death.

We really need to stop thinking of anyone as special and treat everyone with dignity and respect (excluding Nazis).

[–] Eldritch@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

Yep one should never generalize anything that broad. Joe and maybe caroline. She at least sees the writing on the wall and has no desire to get involved with politics. Just living her own life

[–] MothmanDelorian@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I never met her. I have met Joe a few dozen times campaigning for candidates and gay marriage in MA decades ago.

[–] Eldritch@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago

I can't say I know a ton about her either. But I seem to remember in the early aughts there were some pushing for her to get involved in politics. And I know she's come out against Robert Jr etc. And that's at least two decent decisions. But Joe definitely sounds like a pretty stand-up guy.

[–] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Ill-advised? You fucking what? You think this will make a difference?

[–] dohpaz42@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago

Don’t get angry at me. Im not your enemy. Focus that rage where it belongs: the rich.

[–] floquant@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 day ago

Nothing will ever make a difference if no one expects it to make a difference. I hate this defeatism