News Round-Up: RFK Jr. Sworn in as Secretary at HHS, French Far-Left Leader Calls for ‘Great Replacement’ and Anti-LGBT Lego Bricks at Science Museum
Every week, the editorial team of Freedom Research compiles a round-up of news that caught our eye, or what felt like under-reported aspects of news deserving more attention.
Over the past week, the following topics attracted our attention:
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. becomes the 26th Secretary of Health and Human Services.
French far-left leader Melenchon calls for ‘great replacement’ of the French people.
UK ‘Net Zero’ costs for rental home owners amounts to 21 billion.
Lego bricks are anti-LGBT according to Science Museum.
UK government supports AI surveillance in Thai: facial recognition to be used at tourist sites
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. becomes the 26th Secrtary of Health and Human Services
On Thursday, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was sworn in as the 26th US Secretary of Health and Human Services, following a vote in the Senate. His key pledges include tackling the epidemic of chronic diseases raging among America's children, bringing health authorities' decisions back in line with the best available science and ending corruption inside those authorities.
52 members of the US Senate voted in favour of Kennedy and 48 against. In other words, all the Democratic members of the Senate voted against Kennedy. On the Republican side, Mitch McConnell was the only one to vote against Kennedy.
Newly sworn in, Kennedy reiterated his key pledge to Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) “For 20 years, I got down every morning on my knees and prayed that God would put me in a position where I can end childhood chronic disease epidemic in this country,” he said after being sworn in at the White House. “On August 23 of last year, God sent me President Trump," he said. On that day, Kennedy announced that he would end his presidential bid and stand behind Donald Trump.
According to Kennedy, Trump's vision of a strong America with weak citizens is not possible. “60% of our people are sick,” he said. “77% of our children cannot qualify for military service,” Kennedy continued, referring to a 2022 Pentagon study.
As health secretary, Kennedy will take charge of 13 health-related government agencies, including the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). He will have control over a budget of around $1.7 trillion (€1.63 trillion).
Kennedy has said he wants to make these agencies transparent and bring their scientific standards back up to the 'gold standard'. Problems have emerged in recent years in particular in relation to the Covid crisis, when the agencies presumed responsible for public health failed to use the best available scientific information, concealed facts such as the dangerous side effects of Covid vaccines, or simply spread misinformation, for example by stating that the widely used drug ivermectin, which has a good safety profile in humans, is for horses.
A particular problem with the US health authorities has been their interlocking with drug companies, both through the 'revolving door' phenomenon (former agency executives moving to drug companies for high salaries) and through a system whereby the FDA budget is tied to how much they approve new drugs and other products for the market. “Ending the corruption, ending the corporate capture of those agencies, getting rid of the people on those panels that have conflicts of interest – we can do unadorned and unimpeded science rather than the kind of product that is coming out of those agencies,” Kennedy promised.
Kennedy's views have long been the target of Big Pharma and the lobbyists and politicians they fund. At Senate hearings, Democrats tried to portray him as a conspiracy theorist who spreads misinformation about vaccines and other health issues. Kennedy has been particularly critical of the widespread vaccination of children, and has long expressed concern that the steady expansion of vaccine programmes among children may have led to an autism outbreak. He has also called for an end to a range of other health-damaging practices, such as the removal of fluoride from drinking water and so on. If such concerns are justified, it is rather the Senate's questioning of Kennedy that raises a shadow of suspicion from questioners about the senators themselves – as it turns out, a large number of Democratic senators most critical of Kennedy have allowed their campaign to be supported by big drug companies and other companies in the medical sector. These contributions run into millions of dollars.
French far-left leader Melenchon calls for ‘great replacement’ of the french people
Jean-Luc Melenchon, the leader of the La France Insoumise (LFI), an influential far-left political party in France, openly called for the older French to be replaced by a “Creole” generation of mixed races and cultures, in his two speeches given in the French city of Toulouse this week. Melenchon used the term ‘great replacement’ that has been demonized as a conspiracy theory by the left for years.
“In our country, one person in four has a foreign grandparent. 40% of the population speaks at least two languages. We are destined to be a Creole nation and so much the better! May the young generation be the great replacement for the old generation,” said Mélenchon according to Remix News.
According to the dictionary, Creole is defined as a “a person of mixed European and black descent, especially in the Caribbean.”
Melenchon also went on to make a number of further statements, saying the new immigrants need “to heal France from the wounds of racism”, although France is among the five European countries with the least discrimination, according to Euronews.
Furthermore, Melenchon made inflammatory statements, calling for “torch-bearers” to bring about change, which has revolutionary undertones, although he stopped short of any calls for direct violence.
In another speech last week, Mélenchon reiterated his point: “There is a great replacement.” Mélenchon said this ‘great replacement’ that ‘of a generation that comes after the other and that will never resemble the previous one.’ He emphasized ‘the importance of this creolization that creates something new.’
Mélenchon also defended the settlement of foreigners into the French countryside, and it all appears to be part of a strategy by him to fuel his political support, both from France’s growing immigrant population as well as Whites who believe the old White France is a tired and racist cliché voting for the right wing National Rally, and one that must give way to new people.
UK ‘Net Zero’ costs for rental home owners amounts to 21 billion
The UK’s governing Labour party plans to introduce new environmental standards for rental homes that would cost property owners up to of £21.8 billion (€26.2 billion), GB News reports. Starting in 2028, all rental properties will need an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating of C before new tenancies can be agreed. Despite Chancellor Rachel Reeves' promise to reduce red tape and lower costs for businesses, energy secretary Ed Miliband is pushing ahead with the changes. He has also moved up the deadline for these reforms by two years, giving landlords less time to prepare.
This would force the owners to renovate the rental homes in order to make them more energy efficient but at the same time could lead to rent increases of up to £4,000 (€4800) per year by 2030. This means that the rents could rise by 5.1 per cent each year, reaching a 25.5 per cent increase by 2030.
Lego bricks are anti-LGBT according to Science Museum
Lego can be anti-gay because some people describe the bricks as having male or female parts which ‘mate’ with each other, according to London Science Museum staff, The Telegraph reports.
The Science Museum is running a self-guided tour called 'Seeing Things Queerly' which states the blocks can illustrate how heterosexuality is seen as the ‘norm’. The tour, which looks at 'stories of queer communities, experiences and identities' in the museum's collection, refers to Lego being ‘often described in a gendered way’. The guide – branded ‘completely bonkers’ by a campaign group – states: ‘Like other connectors and fasteners, Lego bricks are often described in a gendered way.’
The top of the brick with sticking out pins is male, the bottom of the brick with holes to receive the pins is female, and the process of the two sides being put together is called mating. It is claimed that this is an example of applying heteronormative language to topics unrelated to gender, sex and reproduction. It is also claimed that 'it illustrates how heteronormativity (the idea that heterosexuality and the male/female gender binary are the norm and everything that falls outside is unusual) shapes the way we speak about science, technology, and the world in general.'
The tour was devised by a 'gender and sexuality network' at the museum which is a group of 'staff and volunteers committed to creating more visibility and inclusion for the LGBTQ+ community in the Science Museum Group's museums and collection'.
While the guide was published on the museum's blog more than two years ago in December 2022, the notes about Lego only came to light now when the said newspaper wrote about it.
UK government supports AI surveillance in Thai: facial recognition to be used at tourist sites
This year Thailand expects to welcome 40 million tourists. Tourist security is to be achieved through a new AI security project. In addition, the country hopes that the AI security system will boost tourists' confidence in the country and improve Thailand's image as a tourist destination, as well as position them as a leader in ‘smart tourism’, reports Taiwan News.
At the heart of the initiative is the London-headquartered Gorilla Technology, an artificial intelligence-based system that provides real-time monitoring, intelligent threat detection and optimised resource management. The plan is to first develop seamless integration with international databases to provide facial recognition, tracking of wanted persons and number plates. Secondly, to develop smart resource management using thermal mapping and crowd density analysis, which the company estimates will reduce response time to a threat by 30%. Thirdly, the aim is to achieve a 98% accuracy rate for artificial intelligence. The company will need to upgrade its systems to process the huge volume of live feeds every day, linking real-time analysis with global databases to proactively identify and respond to threats.
The total cost of the project is estimated at between $50-60 million (€48-58 million). The project is currently in the development phase and the next step will be to test the solution at key tourist destinations. The aim is to install the system at all tourist attractions within five years. The project is supported by the UK government.
Melenchon wants a Creole nation??? As it’s been commented on before on other channels: this is the death of Western civilisation and the start of global anarchy. It’s the likes of people like the idiot Mélenchon who will not be around to witness the carnage they cause.
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