On Sunday April 29, 2024, we sent out an Empire Posts representative to a local rally for Independent Presidential Candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Our media outlet had a goal of interviewing a presidential candidate in 2024 and interview one we did. Our representative reported that after about an hour long speech by Mr Kennedy he took to the photo line where with the press pass in hand he intented on completing Empire Post’s task at hand. Getting to ask Mr Kennedy at least one question. Our Empire Post representative was granted backstage access thanks to the press pass which allowed them to meet Mr Kennedy. Knowing his views on issues such as vaccines, we decided to ask him a question regarding vaccine mandates in our schools. Across the country, including New York, many families have decided to pull their children out of the school system because of the mandates. Our question for him went as follows “As a candidate for the presidency, what is your stance on vaccine mandates in our schools, something that has caused many parents to opt their children out of the school system” Mr Kennedy responded by saying the following “I think the whole thing with Covid, vaccine mandates and the closing of schools should never have happened. Parents should be able to make their own decisions on their children’s health. I am against the mandates, it is hurting our children and our education system and it is against our values.” Stay tuned for more interviews and articles on the Empire Posts website, with elections at the federal and local level kicking off we will have interviews coming soon with many of the candidates in these state and local elections. Our Empire Post representative was able to get an interview with Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Author: empireposts
One of the most important avenues to our wellbeing, which is medicine, is facing trouble in the United States with a report by the AAMC written as of March 21st 2024, showing continuing projected physician shortages in the U.S. In addition, the engineering and architectural sector is also facing challenges with the Bureau of Labor Statistics reporting that a third of new engineering roles are unfilled and architecture leaders face a resource shortage with 10 to 20 open positions for every available architect One may be asking, why are we bringing in all these seemingly foreign topics in an article regarding America’s educational system? The answer is simple, Engineering, Architecture, Computer Science, Medicine, it all goes back to core educational subjects including math and science! We’ve all seen the statistics, the United States ranks number 1 in education in the world, however while compared to other countries this may be true, these statistics fail to highlight the large cracks on the surface of a seemingly “high quality” educational system. Research sites that the United States has a number of students from more socio-economically advantaged backgrounds meaning that American students are generally better off compared to their counterparts in the average OECD country. However, the US has many educational problems including but not limited to the following : Standardized testing – “Critics argue that standardized testing is one of the biggest problems in American education, suggesting that the pressure to produce high test scores leads to a teach-to-the-test approach and reduced focus on non-tested subjects like art and music.” Unequal distribution of school funding – “property taxes are the primary source of funding for public schools but this method disproportionally benefits wealthier communities.” Other problems with our educational system include Overcrowding of classrooms Outdated textbooks and inadequate supplies School safety Disciplinary policies Common Core Teacher salaries Lack of proper funding technological challenges in education Violence in schools An often overlooked solution to some of the problems listed above which is often used in the special education system is a peer to peer teaching system where younger students excelling in their own class have the option to tutor students of their own age who may not be advancing at the required rate. As I close out this article I will leave you the reader with a few more overlooked solution that could be a step in the right direction for fixing our broken educational system. Homeschooling, an alternative that many choose voluntarily and others in some states, are forced to choose due to vaccine mandates would be a way to alleviate overcrowding and level out the teacher-student ratio. Addressing the lack of adequate funding in the educational system is key to solving our broken education system because higher wages should promote more competent teachers filling the void of vacancies due to low salaries, where would this money come from? We pay taxes on everything, so aside from our property taxes we should have a choice where our taxes go, in this case education.
On June 13th 2019, just a few months prior to the Coronavirus outbreak (that would go on to change the course of the world significantly), the religious exemption to the requirement that children be vaccinated against diseases to attend either public, private or parochial school (for students in pre-kindergarten through 12th grade) was removed. The removal of this exemption meant that children attending public, private or parochial school could no longer be exempt from being given vaccines for illnesses such as measles. With that exemption now null and void, a bill to shield the MEDICAL exemption from facing the same fate as the religious exemption has been put forward by New York State Senator Monica Martinez (D-Suffolk County).This bill, formally named (S7168), aims to protect the medical exemption from vaccine mandates by restoring the clear intention of the letter of law. As well as make sure that the medical judgement of a child’s physician prevails ensuring that their decision will not be overridden by school or public health authorities. It is important to note that New York has the lowest rate of medical exemptions of any state with roughly 1 in 1000 students recieving it according to the CDC. S7168 would take school administrators and the NYS and NYC departments of health out of the decision making process placing it wholly under the control of the attending physician. As this article is written, this bill is still active meaning a decision on the bill’s fate has not yet been made, with that in mind we at Empire Post urge anyone living in New York to contact their local State Senator and ask them to vote in favor of bill S7168.
On January 23, 2024, exactly five days from the writing of this article, a Bill will go to the New York State Senate proposing that children of any age could be administered drugs including psychiatric drugs, vaccines, dental procedures, hospitalization and even surgery without parental consent or even knowledge. Just simply reading the proposition raises eyebrows, luckily for you, the reader, we have it right here for you to see. The unauthorized procedures that would potentially be allowed in this bill include surgeries, vaccinations, and the administering of medicine . BILL A6761 PROPOSES A NEW PARAGRAPH FOR THE PUBLIC STATE HEALTH LAW SECTION 2504 “Any person, including a minor, who comprehends the need for, the nature of and the reasonably foreseeable risks and benefits involved in any contemplated medical, dental, health and/or hospital services and any alternatives thereto, may give effective consent to such services for themselves and the consent of no other person shall be necessary. The commissioner is authorized to promulgate rules and regulations necessary to effectuate the provisions of this subdivision”. In other words the amendment to the Public Health law Section aims to allow any person including a minor to consent to any sort of medical treatment or procedure should they feel the need to have such resources available to them. The amendment would clearly diminish the rights of the parent of said individual to make the best choice for them instead putting the hands of the decision into the government, something that strongly reminds us of the communist era. While many would argue that the decision is in the hands of the individual it’s the government that could entice the individual to make such decisions convincing them of the benefits that such procedures could have much less whether the information provided to such an individual is true or not, the danger is much greater if the individual is indeed a minor as their thought process contrasts starkly to that of a grown adult which may influence their decision significantly. I would like to make it clear with the title that I am not making an outlandish statement that is proposing the possibility of the reacurrence of communism in our very own state, but rather I am merely asking a question, a question left for you, the reader, to answer. If you reside in New York we strongly urge you to contact your Assembly Member and urge them to vote against A6761