John Oliver excoriates RFK Jr.


In a detailed analysis, Oliver looks at RFK Jr.’s history and reveals a very unpleasant, dishonest man who has spread dangerous misinformation about AIDS, autism, vaccines, and other topics throughout the world. He says that he did good work on environmental issues earlier in his career that he has exploited to get the support by many young people who may not be aware of the dark anti-science turn he took later and how damaging his ideas became, and that he might be able to sway enough voters to swing the election on creepy Donald Trump’s favor.

Meanwhile, the RFK Jr. dead bear story keeps on giving. I had taken at face value his claim that a vehicle ahead of him had hit the bear and that he decided to collect the carcass as roadkill to skin and eat later, because he knew that you can get a legal permit in the state of New York to keep a bear that is roadkill. It seemed a little suspicious that he knew about this specific and esoteric law because how often does one encounter a bear by the side of the road that has just been killed by a vehicle? Or indeed, any dead animal at all? But he is a lawyer who likes to go falconing, so I gave him the benefit of the doubt for knowing weird trivia.

But then I read this article that aroused my suspicions.

On Wednesday a spokesperson, Stephanie Spear, told the Associated Press that Kennedy, a longtime falconer who also trains ravens, used roadkill to feed his birds.

She also said Kennedy once had a 21-cubic-foot refrigerator, used for roadkill, at his New York home.

Wait, he has a freezer dedicated to just roadkill? How much fresh roadkill does he encounter in his daily life? I can understand that people who spend a lot of time on the highways (truck drivers, highway patrol officers, highway maintenance people) can see a lot of roadkill. But ordinary people? I have seen dead animals by the side of the highway but not often. And you should never go near it because you do not know how long it has been rotting there.

But apparently this weird guy has a preternatural sense that enables him to be frequently in the vicinity of fresh roadkill.

Comments

  1. Matt G says

    How is it not painfully obvious that something is very, very wrong with this man? This train passed “weird” several stations ago, and has entered “needs professional help” territory.

  2. garnetstar says

    I think that he evil, not only because he’s obviously crazy, but because he *eats* (rotting) roadkill instead of mourning it. Doesn’t he have any feeling for the poor little dead bear cub, and the other animals?

    I want there to be only my desired amount of roadkill, which is zero. Yeah, then RFK would starve to death, but that’s a *good* thing.

  3. larpar says

    Mano, you need to get out of the city. I’m in semi-rural Iowa and see roadkill almost every day. Even in town there is usually a dead squirrel or two.

  4. birgerjohansson says

    “A very unpleasant, dishonest man” makes a career in the Republican party. I don’t get it, what is your issue?

  5. Alan G. Humphrey says

    You know that Vance vs, couch joke? We need something like that for him, too. I propose something like this:
    “RFK, Jr. used beaters to flush out game for his SUV to run over. Details recounted in his 2004 book, Crimes Against Nature.”

  6. Jörg says

    Mano:

    Wait, he has a freezer dedicated to just roadkill? How much fresh roadkill does he encounter in his daily life?

    I would not be surprised to learn that the bear and other roadkill by accident ran into bullets emanating from RFK Jr.’s car.

  7. birgerjohansson says

    First Dog On The Moon comments on Republicans objecting to being called weird
    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/picture/2024/aug/05/democrats-have-begun-belittling-republicans-with-a-cruel-mocking-epithet-and-they-dont-like-it-ntwnfb

    When Republicans use slurs: “You snowflakes are all blue-haired childless antifa communist cat ladies drinking fentanyl flavored soy milk in the bath”
    Democrat: “You say that as if it is a bad thing”.

    Democrat: “you are weird”
    Republican: (panics)

  8. Matt G says

    Alan@6- I just came up with a joke for RFK, Jr. Once he found a dead bear cub on the side of the road, drove it to NYC, and planted it in Central Park with a bicycle so people would think there was an accident. Oh, forget it -- good jokes should be believable.

  9. John Morales says

    There are examples of actual sportsmanship, of course.

    https://www.fairplayinternational.org/honesty-of-the-long-distance-runner

    Is winning all that counts? Are you absolutely sure about that?

    Two weeks ago, on December 2, Spanish athlete Iván Fernández Anaya was competing in a cross-country race in Burlada, Navarre. He was running second, some distance behind race leader Abel Mutai -- bronze medalist in the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the London Olympics. As they entered the finishing straight, he saw the Kenyan runner -- the certain winner of the race -- mistakenly pull up about 10 meters before the finish, thinking he had already crossed the line.

    Fernández Anaya quickly caught up with him, but instead of exploiting Mutai’s mistake to speed past and claim an unlikely victory, he stayed behind and, using gestures, guided the Kenyan to the line and let him cross first.

    He was the rightful winner. He created a gap that I couldn’t have closed”

    “I didn’t deserve to win it,” says 24-year-old Fernández Anaya. “I did what I had to do. He was the rightful winner. He created a gap that I couldn’t have closed if he hadn’t made a mistake. As soon as I saw he was stopping, I knew I wasn’t going to pass him.”

    Again: I genuinely believe this person cared whether or not he won, but he wanted to win fairly, and so though he could have won due to the circumstances, he chose to be fair. That’s true sportsmanship.

  10. file thirteen says

    @Bekenstein #13

    I get “The uploader has not made the video available in your country.”, which I often get (country = New Zealand)

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