Politics Will RFK Kibosh Ozempic? The potential HHS secretary has sent mixed messages about popular new weight-loss drugs. Credit: image via Shutterstock When Donald Trump nominated Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services on Thursday, pharmaceutical and processed food companies’ stock tanked. The environmentalist and pharma skeptic suspended his presidential campaign to be considered for a health czar position in the Trump administration, capitalizing on his long-standing skepticism of the connections between Big Pharma, Big Food, and Big Government. At his October 27 Madison Square Garden rally, Trump said Kennedy should “go wild” on reforming the largest department by budget in the federal government. Now he’s ready for the shiny prize—the top spot at HHS. That is, if he can survive the hazing from the Trump team: he was photographed over the weekend grimacing over a Big Mac in the boss’s private plane. Kennedy’s “make America healthy again” plan starts “tomorrow,” said Donald Trump, Jr. Should he make it through the nomination process, Kennedy plans to follow Trump’s mandate to remove “corruption” from HHS-led regulatory agencies such as the FDA and “end the chronic disease epidemic,” in large part by removing the highly processed foods that he believes lead to many Americans’ poor state of health. One highly popular drug is at the confluence of these mandates for deregulation and healthy alternatives: Ozempic. It and its class of sister drugs prescribed for weight loss are being sold as a magic pill (or shot) for lowering America’s rates of obesity, a condition that is said to increase the risk for many of the diseases Kennedy wants to eradicate. But would Kennedy’s “Make America Healthy Again” program take the drug-skeptical, food-as-medicine approach to weight loss mainstream, or turn it into another conspiracy theory? On the one hand, Kennedy’s line on health care seems to follow the libertarian-populist, anti-establishment approach of the second Trump administration. He has supported abortion access throughout pregnancy and wants the FDA to stop its “aggressive suppression of psychedelics, peptides, stem cells, raw milk, hyperbaric therapies, chelating compounds, ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine, vitamins, clean foods, sunshine, exercise, nutraceuticals and anything else that advances human health and can’t be patented by Pharma,” as he tweeted last month. He also said that he would purge “entire departments” of the FDA to get drugs approved faster and allow more experimental treatments.  He intends to “level the playing field” on the price of drugs, citing Germany’s much lower prices for Ozempic because of the country’s system for drug price negotiation. “While Berlin negotiates prices on behalf of all Germans, Washington can’t do the same,” he wrote an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal. “Legislators should cap drug prices so that companies can’t charge Americans substantially more than Europeans pay.”  Questions remain about the actual effects of lowering drug costs: Novo Nordisk, the maker of Ozempic and Wegovy, has argued that lowering list prices actually fails to increase access and lower costs for consumers (a claim that Bernie Sanders and the Senate HELP Committee dispute). There’s also a large off-label market of versions of the drugs with varying levels of reliability. The FDA allows pharmacies and online providers such as Hims & Hers to produce compounded or “copy” versions during drug shortages like the one declared for semaglutide (the medication in many of the new weight-loss drugs). A black market for even wilder concoctions flourishes on social media and by word of mouth. How Kennedy-style price caps would affect these operations remains to be seen, but—barring a major change in supply from the main producers—one could expect even more competition for the drugs and the possibility of more scarcity, and thus more under-the-table dealing. While weight-loss drug companies don’t seem in much danger of losing interest from consumers, then, Kennedy’s plans for downsizing the FDA do seem to be making Novo Nordisk and friends nervous about future approvals, prices, and access. “There is concern on agency resources, commentary on [weight loss drugs] and also vaccines,” Michael Yee, an analyst at Jefferies, told the Financial Times after the nomination. Kennedy isn’t going to take down Ozempic. But he’s no cheerleader like Bernie Sanders, who preaches the “human right” to health care and argues that Novo Nordisk should lower its prices so Americans can access the drugs “they need to lead healthy, happy and productive lives.” In fact, Kennedy said last month that Novo Nordisk is “counting on selling it to Americans because we’re so stupid and so addicted to drugs.” Sanders’s moral duty is Kennedy’s health hazard.  This belief that obesity is a bigger problem than a lack of the right drug prescription is why much of the MAHA program is about not drugs but food. “Most people with diabetes or pre-diabetic can be cured with good food,” Kennedy said in an October interview on Fox News. “The first thing I’d do [is] tell the cereal companies to take all of the dyes out of their food.” To some, this plan may seem to come from out of the blue. But it echoes an argument among whole-food advocates and nutrition scientists that the existence of additives and prevalence of processing in Americans’ food lead to conditions and diseases such as hypertension, heart disease, and cancer—the same things for which obesity itself is often blamed. Kennedy, to take one recent example, has accused American Froot Loops of being less healthy than the Canadian version because of dyes that he says have been shown to cause hyperactivity in children (something the FDA disputes). On food as opposed to drugs, then, Kennedy wants more regulation, not less. In his September Wall Street Journal op-ed, he proposed following the European Union in banning more pesticides, removing soda and highly processed foods from the SNAP program (and school lunches), and reforming crop subsidies to “get off of seed oils” and fight “artificially cheap” prices on products such as high-fructose corn syrup and refined flour. He would also forbid direct-to-consumer drug advertising—something those familiar with the “O-o-o-ozempic” jingle know would affect Novo Nordisk and friends significantly. One obvious obstacle for MAHA is that many of these proposals will look too EU for many Americans and will risk triggering an outcry similar to Michael Bloomberg’s legendary big-soda ban backlash. And there will be political headwinds as well: Ultra-processed foods will be defended by anti-poverty advocates as essential for those who live in food deserts or otherwise lack the means to purchase and prepare healthy foods. Americans’ right to “free choice” in their food supply will be invoked. Then there’s the FDA itself, which has gone all in on weight-loss drugs for children as young as 12 years old for perpetual use, on the assumption that since previous interventions haven’t worked, preventing a lifetime of obesity is worth a lifetime of medical dependency. Many question whether these sweeping changes are within the HHS secretary’s power to enact. But Robert Califf, the current FDA commissioner, told cancer researchers recently that it’s “totally within the law for the president or the HHS secretary to overrule the entire FDA.”  Beyond the legality of his efforts, then, a man who acknowledges that he’s taking on Big Pharma, Big Food, and Big Government at the same time should already be aware that he is the David to three Goliaths. But there’s a fourth: public perception. And that might be the determining factor for whether natural foods or Novo Nordisk wins out as the preferred method for fighting obesity in America. There’s some evidence that Kennedy won over a number of wellness influencers on social media by acknowledging “how sick our country is,” as Mary Margaret Olohan reported in the Daily Caller. Yet some commentators in prominent publications have gone wild against Kennedy’s vaccine skepticism, his position on the causes of AIDS, his backing of hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin as Covid-19 treatments, and his support for raw milk. How one responded to Covid may well start mapping onto how one sees Ozempic—and Oreos. If Americans take a potential Secretary Kennedy’s guidance with a grain of salt, they may end up skipping the weight-loss shot. The two options aren’t mutually exclusive: Weight-loss drug users have been shown to be far more successful when they change their eating habits in addition to taking the medications. But with millions using the new weight-loss treatments on- and off-label and a projected 13 percent of the population expected to be taking them in the next five years, Americans seem to be in the market for a stronger—if not necessarily better—drug. The post Will RFK Kibosh Ozempic? appeared first on The American Conservative.

Politics What Has Changed? Things don’t usually happen overnight, but the Trump re-election is a watershed moment. (Twitter) Things don’t often change overnight. Change tends to happen slowly, then fast, in small increments and then big jumps—but rarely does one night matter that much. So it is with the election; America did not change overnight as it reelected Donald Trump president, but the election of Donald Trump did mark a significant milestone of change in America. There are some quick and easy changes to note. Most polling shops should just close up: They are worthless. The election the polls told us would be down to a skin-of-our-teeth tie ended up a solid blowout, with Republicans taking the presidency, the Senate, and the House. Polls are seemingly unable, after three presidential elections, to dig into the thoughts of Republicans in general and shy Trump voters in the specific. Whatever it is, whatever methodology is challenged by these voters, the polls are of little value. It’s a joke now seven swing states later to remember CNN the night before the election touting some “solid gold” poll showing Trump would lose Iowa. Identity politics seems to have run its course. Harris did not run heavily on her multiple identities as a black and Asian woman until near the end, where she switched to her Sunday church accent. (It was ripe for an Saturday Night Live parody, except SNL was fully onboard the Harris campaign bus and not willing to risk insulting anyone with an “edgy” parody.) The campaign dragged out a tired-looking Barack and a boyish-looking Michelle to chew out black dudes for not voting for Kamala (as if being chewed out was a good election strategy.) There was barely a flamboyant gay or trans person in sight on Harris’s team, unlike the showpiece drag queens Biden attached to himself—remember the guy in the red dress with the bright red lipstick and shaved head? In the end America elected an old, wealthy, white, Republican, (semi-)Macho Man. Read the room, Dems. There’ll be changes in the bureaucracy of Washington, either via Elon Musk, RFK Jr., or the use of Schedule F. Trump will again fill any Supreme Court vacancies, this time with a Republican Senate unlikely to challenge his choice in confirmation hearings. As in Term One, this may prove to be one of Trump’s most transformational accomplishments. It’s doubtful the mainstream media learned anything from its work on the 2024 election, given that it did not learn much from its failures in 2016 and 2020. Change there is unlikely. Across the mini-spectrum from CNN to the Atlantic, the MSM unabashedly promoted Harris at every chance, and bashed Trump whenever possible. All pretext was discarded, right down to dear SNL, who gave Kamala free, puffy air time the weekend before the election, a move so grotesquely out of line that parent network NBC was forced by FCC pressure to hand over two minutes of expensive commercial time to Trump. Even as they were reporting Trump’s victory, CNN and MSNBC kept injecting little digs about him being a fascist and all that. In its obituary for the 2024 campaign, the New York Times wrote, “For the first time in history, Americans have elected a convicted criminal as president. They handed power back to a leader who tried to overturn a previous election, called for the ‘termination’ of the Constitution to reclaim his office, aspired to be a dictator on Day 1 and vowed to exact ‘retribution’ against his adversaries.” They still don’t get it. The media and Democrats face a forced change of view about January 6. The events of that day never mattered much, despite efforts by the media and the Democratic establishment to replay things in every format possible. “The real America becomes Trump’s America,” said Timothy Naftali, a presidential historian at New York University. “Frankly, the world will say if this man wasn’t disqualified by Jan. 6, which was incredibly influential around the world, then this is not the America that we knew.” Indeed, it was not the America they knew; it was an America more concerned about food prices and interest rates than settling political mud fights. The results of November 5 should be seen, among other things, as a referendum on events like January 6. They never mattered except to some elites and their media. Can we hope never to speak of them again? The election should hopefully change the view of those elites toward the more than half of America who voted for Trump. The election vindicates Trump’s argument that Washington has grown out of touch, that America is a country weary of war, crazed immigration, and political correctness. Can we as a nation now stop being offended so readily and stop calling everything in turn racist or, the other magic word no one understands, fascist? Does every discussion need to include a clause, “but what about the trans people?” Maybe they can take care of themselves for a while.  “The Trump presidency speaks to the depth of the marginalization felt by those who believe they have been in the cultural wilderness for too long and their faith in the one person who has given voice to their frustration and his ability to center them in American life,” said Melody Barnes, the executive director of the Karsh Institute of Democracy. Elections do indeed matter. The Democrats tried to defeat Donald Trump in every way possible—by any means necessary—before the election. They impeached him twice, indicted him 88 times, and attempted to murder him twice. Despite efforts to force him off the ballot in multiple states, he stayed on the ballots, aided by a judicial system that had not fully drunk the Kool Aid. One of the most significant things to have changed, or that we now acknowledge as changed, having had the MRI of an election with a clear outcome, is the permanence of Trumpism. There’ll be books and dissertations defining it, but it is clear whatever it is that Trump is, it is a large part of the American body politic now. Not only did Trump capture the usual red states; he flipped some blues and even in urban areas where he did not win, racked up high scores, 40 percent or more. The polls obviously missed all this, but the reality is there are a lot of Trump supporters—a mandate for change—and it even looks like he won the popular vote. Trump is indeed about divisions in America, but more about understanding, acknowledging, and profiting from them than creating them himself. He is unlikely to know how to heal them; it is something it is time to learn to live with and govern over, not simply wipe away half the electorate as garbage or deplorables. They are us. There is little need to worry about Trump seeking retribution or misusing the military; much of that was theater, off-the-cuff remarks or attempts to rile up the crowds. Look to his first term and past the crying around January 6, and you’ll see how he’ll govern in round two. And get used to it, because Trumpism is now the Republican party platform. The half-assed attempts to seize control of the party by the Never Trumpers and the neocons failed completely. With J.D. Vance as the candidate in 2028, the Trump legacy will dominate modern American politics well beyond that of Reagan. The 2016 election wasn’t a fluke; 2020 was. The post What Has Changed? appeared first on The American Conservative.

On CNN: Trump Is A ‘Conquering Republican Caesar’ Entering The Coliseum With Gladiators [WATCH]

It’s a compressing of an earlier phrase that also yielded variations like ‘nilling, willing’ and ‘william-nilliam.’

CANCER SECRETS revealed in new docu-series airing on Brighteon University – interview with Jonathan Otto Register free at https://brightu.com to watch the full Cancer Secrets stream - Introduction and Purpose of the Interview (0:00) - Jonathan Otto's Background and Mission (1:14) - The Role of Knowledge and Fear in Cancer (2:37) - The Importance of Practical Steps and Ownership (5:50) - Environmental and Lifestyle Factors in Cancer (11:12) - Effective Therapies and Combining Protocols (14:15) - The Role of Light and Nutrition in Healing (17:17) - The Power of Chlorine Dioxide and Red Light Therapy (21:19) - The Importance of Clean Water and Sweating (29:56) - The Role of Stem Cells and Urine Therapy (31:34) - Conclusion and Call to Action (54:06) For more updates, visit: http://www.brighteon.com/channel/hrreport NaturalNews videos would not be possible without you, as always we remain passionately dedicated to our mission of educating people all over the world on the subject of natural healing remedies and personal liberty (food freedom, medical freedom, the freedom of speech, etc.). Together, we’re helping create a better world, with more honest food labeling, reduced chemical contamination, the avoidance of toxic heavy metals and vastly increased scientific transparency. ▶️ Every dollar you spend at the Health Ranger Store goes toward helping us achieve important science and content goals for humanity: https://www.healthrangerstore.com/ ▶️ Sign Up For Our Newsletter: https://www.naturalnews.com/Readerregistration.html ▶️ Brighteon: https://www.brighteon.com/channels/hrreport ▶️ Join Our Social Network: https://brighteon.social/@HealthRanger ▶️ Check In Stock Products at: https://PrepWithMike.com ? Brighteon.io: Brighteon.io/HealthRanger ? Brighteon.Social: https://brighteon.social/@HealthRanger ? Gettr: https://gettr.com/user/naturalnews ? Gab: https://gab.com/NaturalNews ? Bitchute: https://www.bitchute.com/channel/naturalnews ? Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/HealthRangerReport ? Mewe: https://mewe.com/p/naturalnews ? Spreely: https://social.spreely.com/NaturalNews ? Telegram: https://t.me/naturalnewsofficial ? Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/realhealthrangerstore/

From the Center Nelson Mandela once said, “I never lose. I either win or I learn.” So let’s agree that the Democratic Party is about to enter a learning phase. But the lessons they learn, and ultimately the path they choose moving forward, will be determined by what they see in their rearview mirror. Right now, any number of their party leaders are prescribing markedly different strategies for regaining their lost political standing. Not surprisingly, their competing recommendations are...

Might AI yet prove a useful ally? We unpick how it’s aiding conservation efforts for forests and food, and in conservation on land and at sea Source: Could AI help save the planet? Four ways it’s already making a world of difference Some fascinating stuff here. (And they do address the power usage connundrum.)

A poignant statement. The post Seen in Sound: The Bob Dylan song inspired Pauline Black first appeared on Far Out Magazine.

The great punk swindle. The post Sex Pistols vs Ramones: The greatest tour that never happened first appeared on Far Out Magazine.