Month: August 2026

Measles is disappointed in you, Robert

RFK Jr tells US families to vaccinate children against measles amid outbreak

Robert F Kennedy Jr, the US health secretary, on Sunday told American parents that they should get their children vaccinated against measles, as the surge in infections has reached numbers not seen in the past 35 years.
Kennedy, a leading vaccination skeptic who has spent years amplifying misinformation about vaccines, including the shot that protects against measles, mumps and rubella (MMR), made his call in the course of a contentious interview with CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday morning.
His remark came as the incidence of measles crossed a milestone – the US has now officially recorded 2,371 confirmed infections so far this year, surpassing the total tally in 2025 of 2,289.
Taken together, the past two years have seen more measles infections in the US than the rest of the 21st century combined. The last time a greater number of measles cases were recorded in a single year was in 1991. […]
Kennedy continues to shrug off criticism that his work as a prominent vaccine skeptic, both before and after he entered the Trump administration, has exacerbated the problem. Asked whether he took any responsibility for the measles surge, he said: “Absolutely not.”

Of course not, and after he’d grudgingly said this pro-vaccine thing, he then reverted to form:

Kennedy used the CNN exchange to spread further misinformation about other aspects of public health. He claimed that both respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) that is a major cause of infant mortality and Lyme disease were caused by manipulation of germs in laboratories.
The suggestion has been contradicted by decades of scientific evidence that suggest they both have natural roots. RSV was initially identified in the 1950s, two decades before such experimentation, known as “gain-of-function” research, started.
During the interview, Kennedy repeated unfounded claims that there was a link between Tylenol use during pregnancy and autism, and poured doubt on the efficacy of vaccines to protect children against Covid-19.

In other words, lying as per usual. But he’s been caught on video saying that parents should in fact get their kids jabbed, and that’s a weapon the Democrats need to hammer him with the next time he goes off on a lying spree like this.

The Guardian saves cinema!

OK, not quite as much as they did with their 100 novels thing, but at any rate these are the 25 films I should see by the age of 25, apparently. That’s a problem for me cos I’m actually 51 now so it’s a bit late for me… anyway, out of this lot I’ve only seen Fantasia, Chicken Run, Wizard of Oz, Run Lola Run, and Trainspotting, and had not even heard of The Snowman, The Amazing Mr Blunden (either version) or The Girl Chewing Gum. This is probably why my cinematic tastes now encompass the likes of Jess Franco and Jean Rollin and Hammer horror and that sort of thing, I didn’t have the Guardian’s arbiters of good taste in my early 20s to guide me…

Or maybe he shouldn’t?

It’s probably a good thing for Sam Altman that he only has one kid, unlike Edolf and his… however many he has, cos all of the latter are going to grow up to despise their sperm donor, while Sam’s only going to have to worry about one. But OH that one child’s going to eventually hate him with the strength of a dozen kids. Honestly, just talking to that poor little bastard is probably the worst thing Sam could do to him, cos he wouldn’t be able to do without his software telling him what to say…

Grey Room #9

In memoriam Bill Oddie.

1. The Goodies – Changed (1971)
2. The Byrds – Artificial Energy (1968)
3. Funkadelic – Can You Get to That (1971)
4. Nick Drake – Clothes of Sand (1968)
5. Gary Higgins – Telegraph Towers (1973)
6. Thunder & Roses – Moon Child (1969)
7. Grateful Dead – Cream Puff War (1967)
8. Slade – Gudbuy T’Jane (1972)
9. The Outcasts – I’m in Pittsburgh (And It’s Raining) (1966)
10. The Temptations – Superstar (1971)
11. The Secrets – I Think I Need the Cash (1967)
12. The Beatles – I Don’t Want to Spoil the Party (1964)
13. Status Quo – Someone’s Learning (1971)
14. Fleetwood Mac – Before the Beginning (1969)
15. Syd Barrett – Bob Dylan Blues (1970)
16. Love – Your Mind and We Belong Together (1968)
17. The Monkees – Randy Scouse Git (1967)

Judge not lest ye be judged, dickhead

I mean… yeah, atheism will be a bit redundant if that Christ fellow reappears and unambiguously proves his existence. Indeed, I suspect most non-believers will actually be quite pleased to know he is in fact real, cos we’ll finally have a definitive answer to that question, at least, and we’ll finally have good reason to believe in him (though whether that’s also good reason to worship him too or not is something he’d have to demonstrate separately, of course). And we’ll probably look quite foolish. Personally, though, I think it’s the chuds like OP who really shouldn’t be too “gangster” about Jesus; he might not wind up being what you expected, and you might just look even more foolish than all of us who hadn’t believed in him until now…