Usually the people in charge of regimes like this are often sadistic hypocrites and absolutely know that what they spout is bullshit. RFK jr. here on the other hand, is apparently actually a fucking idiot.

Wouldn't it be an absolute riot of a "leopards ate my face" situation if he ends up croaking because of this?

To clarify: I don't wish any harm on his grandchildren, but this man's level of willful ignorance and sheer recklessness makes it hard for me to sympathize with any negative outcome he may suffer personally.

the creek's bacterial counts—particularly E. coli counts—were dangerously high all the time.

Sorry for those children.

How can the onion ever hope to compete with reality

...maybe this problem will solve itself?

Like most con men, RFK is using people's ignorance of what odds mean. If the chance of getting sick from swimming in that water is only say one percent, he knows the odds are extremely good that he won't individually get sick, and then he will palm this off as "evidence" that it's all a big fuss over nothing. The park service might know maybe 100,000 people will swim in that water this season, so they'll probably save about a thousand from getting sick by closing the place. Even if somebody who does get sick manages to get the attention of a news outlet, they can be scoffed at as an anomaly. "How do you even know the water was responsible? Where else have you been? You're just looking for attention!"

The water is now less clean for having him in it

Hope natural selection does its thing.

go go power Darwin!

Stuff like this isn't a problem, until it is.

What was in that sewage? Anybody with typhoid? Diphtheria? Probably not because vaccination and treatment is still over herd immunity levels. Then, of course, there were the kids who used to get vaccinated for Polio naturally by exposure to untreated sewage, and us rich countries having terrible cases of polio survival in older people because we didn't bathe in toilet outflows.

Thing is, it's a numbers game. The first hundred people might not get sick, immediately, but if you form two lines, one bathing in the sewage pool and the other bathing in a treated sanitary pool, run 100 people a day through each one and track them for two weeks, you'll see the differences. That's why we have scientific publications, so we can read about these kinds of past experiments and don't have to repeat them.

During similar conditions in the past it has had around 100x the EPA standard of bacterial colonies.

And he's hypocritical enough that I bet he started an antibiotic cocktail before he went there.

Can someone arrest him for child endangerment?

Wow this is next level stupid, i really thought it was the onion. I'd say i'm even shocked at this demonstration of stupidity, but the fact his grand children are led into this is beyond sad.

Seems like they should fix that sewage leak.

The fact that people have any thought that this guy is smart or a good person makes me hate humanity.

I love that we're literally going back in time. They thought we'd have flying cars and end world hunger, but instead we have to watch our politicians swim in shit water.

Edit: HE TOOK HIS GRANDCHILDREN!?

I'm rooting for chlorea here tbh.

That little girl looks like she's even sick of grandpa's shit. Hair is bone dry in every photo and the only one of her actually in contact with the water, she's kicking it in his face. She honestly looks visibly upset when he's dangling her brother over it.

Hopefully C Diff will catch a RFK Jr.

If ever someone truly deserved a Herman Cain award, it's this man right here!

What a shitty grandpa.

RFK Jr entered into a tontine with himself. He's the only member.

That man deserves dysentery

Go Darwin! 🎉

Let him swim in the Seine!!!

ROFL What is this worm driven host doing?! Doesn't the worm know that E. Coli infections can be deadly for the elderly? (Yes, I am being super facetious because reading about a Germ Theory Skeptic in the modern age has effectively broken my brain. The evidence that proves microorganisms like bacteria, parasites, and viruses are real is truly a massive amount. That's a lot of knowledge that this dumb, incompetent human being is simply ignoring). Ugh, this wasn't on my bingo card for this month. A small part of me hopes that E. Coli proves to him that germ theory isn't something that can be dismissed, and he dies from his foolishness.