RFK was once human, ScoMo’s ugly food, Pilates on AusTender
The more things change…
Anyone following US politics over the past few years could be forgiven for thinking a figure like Robert F. Kennedy Jr — who just faced a fractious confirmation hearing as Donald Trump’s health secretary –emerged fully formed from the expression of brain-worm politics that Trump ushered in.
Kennedy parlayed his inherited wealth, power and various conspiracy beliefs — such as that wi-fi causes “leaky brain”, anti-depressants cause school shootings, and there are chemicals in the water supply that could turn children transgender — into a spot on the proposed cabinet of the second Trump administration. But, of course, as a product of the Kennedy dynasty, he’s been in the public eye for decades for a variety of reasons.
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For example, when our friends at Renew Economy spoke to him for a 2013 piece we came across, they introduced him not as a high-profile weirdo but as a “veteran environmental activist, lawyer, and renewable energy advocate”.
The interview makes for an interesting contrast with his current persona. “Thomas Jefferson, who was the iconic figure in American democracy, he warned against large aggregations of wealth,” Kennedy says admiringly. “He opposed industrialisation, because he thought it would create concentrations of wealth and power that would be inconsistent with democracy.” One wonders if Kennedy still shares those worries as he attempts to join an openly oligarchical cabinet, the richest in American history.
But some things always stay the same. The interview also reveals that RFK Jr’s penchant for bizarre and faintly horrific anecdotes about animals goes all the way back to his childhood. He told Renew Economy his interest in environmental issues began when he was very young:
When I was eight years old, I wrote my uncle [John F. Kennedy], who was in the White House. I wanted to talk to him about pollution and he invited me into the Oval Office. I spent part of the morning with him — I brought him a salamander as a present, which actually died, and we spent a lot of the meeting talking about the salamander’s health, with him saying it doesn’t look well, and me insisting he was just sleeping.
Plans for your good *God*
He may no longer grace Parliament with his presence, but former prime minister Scott Morrison is still contributing to the much-loved national pastime of fuck-ugly food photography. The man who gave us a perfectly spiced salmonella just had to share wife Jen’s Australia Day exploits:
The image has gotten a fair bit of, shall we say… feedback, with nearly 300 quote-posts, broadly falling into one of three categories: 1) “This looks *awful*”, 2) “I refuse to believe this isn’t a parody account”, and 3) “Am I the only one who can’t unsee a certain troubling symbol in the blueberries?” (To be fair, a handful of people seem to sincerely like it). Our favourite response described the image as “If AUKUS was baked goods”.
A tipster got in contact to show how badly Facebook is riddled with scams. The account of a US indie rock group — which hasn’t posted for two years — started posting images of Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong with a black eye, purporting to link to a Nine article about “shocking news”:
As the tipster points out, the “article” linked is a news website with no front page and hidden ownership details. Plus, the account — for a North Carolina-based band — is primarily being operated out of Vietnam:
Despite the fluttering of these obvious crimson flags, the ads stayed up for nearly two weeks earlier this month, in that time morphing into a similar scammy post concerning what appears to be a Cypriot politician. It doesn’t suggest a massive amount of diligence in the newly fact-check-free Facebook, our tipster pointed out. The ads have now been taken down.
Pontius Pilates
Meanwhile, if instructing some of the world’s most rigid and inflexible people appeals, there’s an approach to market for a Pilates instructor for the Department of Parliamentary Services on AusTender right now:
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