Forrest Tanaka

An article about Brian Deer’s investigation into Andrew Wakefield’s claim that the MMR vaccine caused autism. Included were his discoveries that Wakefield had not disclosed that:

• he was paid £435,000 from lawyers suing vaccine manufacturers
• he had patented plans for a rival vaccine (this vaccine never amounted to anything)
• he had recruited of children through litigation networks
• he had misrepresented clinical timelines in patient records

I do wonder how many tens of thousands of people Wakefield has killed.

#antivax #AndrewWakefield #mmrvaccine

https://briandeer.com/mmr/lancet-summary.htm

Here at the Spruce Goose at the Evergreen #Aviation Museum

Sign at the real farm where they filmed The Ring.

“When faced with such claims, a skeptic stops….really pauses….and says, ‘Wait, what? How do we know if that’s true?’”

#skepticism

https://thinkingispower.com/how-skepticism-can-protect-you-from-being-fooled/

I visited the Japanese American Museum of Oregon in Portland yesterday. I was also there to acknowledge and add a stamp to my grandfather's and father's names in a large book that lists nearly all the names of those held in all Japanese American internment camps during World War II.

My dad's family's camp was in Tule Lake just south of the Oregon/California border. I've visited the site twice where a single building remains as well as foundations of buildings long gone.

On the latest episode of the Skeptics’ Guide to the Universe podcast, they mentioned asking an AI engine an interesting query, which I tried in #ChatGPT which gave a poor response but ended with an interesting (though non-sensical in context) nuance.

I tried Gemini, which just errors out on this same query.

#aviation #Cessna #CivilAirPatrol

Steven Novella has done a first look at the idea that 11 scientists have died in the past four years. My first thought when I first heard this is, “You could only find 11 scientists who’ve died in the past four years?” and it seemed like to be included on the list, you had to have some association with science in some way. I would have expected easily orders of magnitude more than 11.

Bottom line as of now: this sounds like a pattern someone noticed and made a big deal about it without thinking about the expected number. Maybe something’s there and people might figure something out, or maybe there’s nothing there and we’ll all just forget this was ever a story.

https://theness.com/neurologicablog/whats-with-the-dead-or-missing-scientists/

I put up the #hummingbird feeder for the season yesterday evening. They already found it today. The video starts normal speed, then goes into slo-mo.

Was watching the Jim Cameron movie The Abyss and a couple times they mention that we breathe amniotic fluid before we’re born. I saw a couple discussions about this movie where people also mentioned that.

I’m very surprised that so many people think we as fetuses breathe amniotic fluid. What do they think the umbilical is for?

Doing some heavy Microsoft Word work this afternoon. I take back anything I ever complained about in any other UI ever.

Trying to make a named paragraph style, which I used to do with much earlier versions of Word. Must be in Layout, right? No, it’s in Home — Styles are in Home. So I can make a new style in Styles, right? No, I have to go to the Mac menu bar and choose Styles. So the modal will reflect my selected paragraph’s style, right? No, I have to create a new style to see my selected paragraph’s styles.

Yeah, that's how I’d like my child to react if they do poorly on a test: make excuses and celebrate mediocrity.

This Baptist Republican congressman wants to make a new law where only women can be executed.

People still keep telling me Christianity is all about love, not hate.

I hope you’ll excuse me if I remain unconvinced.

#abortion

https://people.com/tenn-gop-state-rep-proposes-law-making-women-who-get-abortions-eligible-for-death-penalty-11914285

Yes, I’ve been watching #ThePitt. One character mentioned that health-care workers are five times more likely to be the victim of violence than workers in other industries.

I was curious about that, and it seems that’s quite an accurate statistic.

There are myriad reasons, inappropriate reactions to COVID restrictions being one. For all the whining I saw on NextDoor about masking, I would have rather told a classroom full of second graders that Christmas is canceled.

https://www.facs.org/for-medical-professionals/news-publications/news-and-articles/bulletin/2024/october-2024-volume-109-issue-9/violence-escalates-against-surgeons-and-other-healthcare-workers/

Planespotting at LVK between February and April. This included a day with a ramp filled with private jets for Super Bowl LX. #aviation

https://youtu.be/E8CEvezjqW8

“Investigating any communicable disease is time-intensive and expensive. The first three measles cases reported in L.A. County this year cost an estimated $231,000, according to a health department analysis.”

During The Blitz everyone had to cover their windows and turn off their lights to make German night bombing more difficult. Not getting vaccinated, to me, is like being that one family that decides their personal freedom is more important, and gets their neighborhood killed.

#measles #antivax

https://abc7news.com/post/california-measles-outbreaks-linked-pockets-unvaccinated-residents-local-health-departments-face-funding-cuts/18668648/

“When the arrogant person, like #RFKjr — when his opinion is different from expert option, he concludes, “I and right, and they're part of a conspiracy” where as I conclude “I’m missing something.”

This is 2½ hours of Dr. Mike interviewing Dr. Steven Novella discussing what skepticism really is, and health #ConspiracyTheories.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nv1ZaJ9mL1k

“Most notably, but perhaps unsurprising, is just how uniformed the two DOGE employees appear to be. The two admit to being inexperienced, having zero experience in government before joining #DOGE. Clips from the deposition uploaded by 404 Media have already gone viral on the internet showcasing how Fox struggles for some time in trying to define what #DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) is yet they were tasked with defunding any programs that they deemed to be DEI.”

https://mashable.com/article/former-doge-employees-deposition-inside-look-elon-musk-agency

I’m glad someone wrote about The Lancet’s own responsibility in powering anti-vax marketers. David Gorski at Science-Based Medicine also wrote about it (that’s how I got this article).

“The Lancet actually knew about all the problems with Wakefield’s study, and they published it anyway. Problems that were spelled out in a commentary, *Vaccine adverse events: causal or coincidental?*, that was published in the same issue.”

#antivax #AndrewWakefield

https://stopantivaxpropaganda.substack.com/p/a-reminder-that-the-lancet-is-partly

The investigation into the #EColi outbreak continues. You would think a company tied to an outbreak would recall their products out of an abundance of caution, but RAW FARM has refused.

#RawMilk #RawFarm #FDA

https://apnews.com/article/raw-farm-ecoli-sick-milk-cheddar-cheese-0dade23b618cc66e15cc3725fed1f946

“‘You have compelled me to testify, fully aware that I have no knowledge that would assist your investigation, in order to distract attention from President Trump’s actions and to cover them up despite legitimate calls for answers,’ she said, according to remarks she shared during the closed-door testimony.” — #HillaryClinton

#Epstein #TrumpEpstein

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/26/clintons-testify-epstein-files-house

I’ve been hearing the saying lately, “There is no hate like Christian love.”

“‘Snap the rod of the oppressor,’ #Hegseth continued in his appeal to God. ‘Break the teeth of the ungodly’ so that ‘wicked souls’ are ‘delivered to the eternal damnation prepared for them.’”

https://newrepublic.com/article/208322/pete-hegseth-religion-war-iran-sadism-rage

This scene from #ThePitt reminds me of one of the many reasons I couldn’t be a public-facing physician. I’d grab a scalpel and do something to end my career, as well as my free life.

#antivax #measles

@user3599915492509@www.tiktok.com

“US rapper Flavor Flav and Alaska Airlines are organizing a Las Vegas celebration for the United States women's hockey team after its gold-medal win at the Winter Olympics in Italy.”

https://simpleflying.com/alaska-airlines-help-celebrate-usa-womens-hockey-team-las-vegas/

“I think anyone who follows politics right now can tell there are no principles left in my party. Even for people who agree with some of the stuff the president’s doing, if you’re really honest with yourself you know it’s not based on principle. [Trump] wakes up every morning and tries to figure out what is the best thing for him to do in his self interest that day, and that day only.”

— Former New Jersey governor and US Attorney #ChrisChristie

https://www.youtube.com/live/_9cFkfIVYLM?t=1180s

The quotes in this article come close, but to their credit they didn’t *quite* descend into, “They’re not *real* Christians.”

To those who like to say, “They’re not *real* Christians”:

* Those “fake” Christians think the same thing about you, and they might have more of a scriptural standing than you do.

* You are not the sole arbiter of who a real Christian is.

In one interaction I had with a “They’re not *real* Christians” interlocutor, when I said, “They think the same thing about you,” her reply was, “Well thank God I’m in the majority.”

Yeah, majority. That’s where atrocities can come from.

“Far-right MAGA fundamentalist draws scathing rebuke from Christian pastors”:

https://www.alternet.org/doug-wilson-cnn/

I tried to find evidence that this article is a joke, but wasn’t able to. As far as I can tell, with a large possibility of being wrong, is the Vatican is threatened by relatively harmless practices, and possibly even practicing discrimination against certain communities (The Vatican treating other communities unfairly? Where have we heard that happening before?).

I don’t know; this is just confusing to me why they spend any time on this.

#PopeLeo

https://lamag.com/news/the-pope-took-a-meeting-with-catholic-exorcists-at-vatican/

Today marks the 81st anniversary of the death of #AdolfHitler.

I had heard as a child that he might have escaped to Argentina with the help of Catholic priests’ ratlines. Given that his jaw is held in an archive in Moscow, going to Argentina without his jaw seems a bit of a stretch.

https://www.annefrank.org/en/timeline/167/hitler-dies/

“A 2020 study published in the Journal of Homosexuality found that youth whose parents attempted to change their sexual orientation at home and through therapists or religious leaders reported three times greater likelihood of high levels of depression, suicide attempts, lower educational attainment, lower income levels, and reduced life satisfaction in young adulthood.”

#ConversionTherapy #torture

https://www.apa.org/topics/lgbtq/evidence-against-conversion-therapy

“The model shows that #measles could kill about 290,000 people over 25 years.”

If you support #MAHA, you are:

1. Slitting your own kids’ throats.
2. Making nothing for yourself.
3. Enriching a lawyer who doesn’t give a shit about you nor your kids.

#RFKjr

https://projects.propublica.org/childhood-vaccines-deaths-modeling/

It’s like watching Adolf Hitler fighting Joseph Stalin. Whom do I despise less?

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/04/13/trump-epstein-murdoch-wsj-lawsuit-dismissed.html

RE: @arstechnica@mastodon.social

“Yet, until now, the United States never installed an outspoken vaccine critic like Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as a top health official with the power to upend federal childhood vaccine recommendations. Health and Human Services Secretary Kennedy and other top officials in the Trump administration have waged an ‘unprecedented attack on the nation’s evidence-based childhood immunization schedule,’ a lawsuit, filed by 15 states, charged on Tuesday.”

#RFKjr #antivaxxers #grift

“The Constitution vests the power of declaring War with Congress, therefore no offensive expedition of importance can be undertaken until after they shall have deliberated upon the subject, and authorised such a measure,” — George Washington, who was a general, not a draft dodger

https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/5771923-constitution-trump-abusing-power/

People are nothing but a disappointment…

#antivax #AntiScience #ChildKillerParents

https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/more-people-requesting-unvaccinated-blood-themselves-or-their-children

“During Trump’s first term in the Oval Office, Morris served on an evangelical advisory board. Trump also attended a roundtable at Gateway church in June 2020.”

#RobertMorris #GatewayChurch

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/31/robert-morris-jail-release-child-sexual-abuse-gateway-church

A licensed, practicing OB/GYN evaluates #CaseyMeans background and hearing.

“Can somebody write something like this [Casey Means’ About page on her website] about me, please? Like, I think I could make myself sound so good if I was this uninterested in being completely honest.”

“I’m just trying to find something nice to say. She has pretty hair.”

https://youtu.be/bYJ6RdBGKUI?si=A97gFnnAX4Dcv05j

Now I want to try to get ChatGPT to write “JAyyyyZUHS!”

https://www.ctvnews.ca/lifestyle/article/pope-leo-xiv-tells-priests-to-avoid-ai-for-sermon-writing/

“I don’t often talk about trans women in sports, because I don’t think there’s usually much to say besides ‘this is a stupid wedge issue involving a handful of trans people playing a game and literally no one should care about it.’” — Rebecca Watson

https://skepchick.org/2026/03/olympics-committee-punishes-trans-cis-women/

Health through magic potions.

Well, my chiropractor brother sells health through magic, so who am I to talk? I’m related to idiots.

#MAHA #RFKjr

https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a70843789/rfk-jr-cdc-new-york-times-magazine-report/

RFKjr has now twice been accused of saying that black kids should be re-parented and put into “wellness farms,” and twice he denied ever saying anything like that.

He said it on VIDEO, right here.

And to me, it sounds like these wellness farms could easily turn into internment camps. We've already had cases of privately run camps like this turn out to be physical and mental abuse houses.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=se6rf8UxuVM&t=5075s

#CaseyMeans is out as #SurgeonGeneral nominee. In now is #NicoleSaphier, another conspiracy theorist and liar.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2022/10/19/covid-vaccines-children-cdc-disinformation/

Today is the 93rd anniversary of the #ReichstagFire that Hitler used as an excuse to suspend civil liberties. It’s unknown if it was a false flag, though most mainstream historians today lean towards a solo communist who set the fire, potentially with German help though that's been difficult to prove.

“History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes.” — often credited to Mark Twain, though that’s unlikely

#nazis #WW2 #ReichstagFire

https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/the-reichstag-fire

#CharlieKirk’s group:

“Logs of the WhatsApp chat, obtained by the Herald and verified by two people in the group, showed that participants had used variations of the n-word more than 400 times, described women as ‘whores,’ used slurs to talk about gay and Jewish people and discussed Hitler’s politics, the newspaper said.”

#TurningPointUSA

https://www.newsweek.com/erika-kirk-turning-point-usa-chapter-president-quits-racist-group-chat-11650936

“Unpasteurized dairy products thus cause 840 […] times more illnesses and 45 […] times more hospitalizations than pasteurized products.

https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/23/6/15-1603_article

“Dairy product consumption accounts for about 1% of reported foodborne illness in the U.S., and approximately 70% of those reported cases are attributed to raw milk.”

https://asm.org/articles/2025/may/raw-milk-microbiology-unfiltered-and-unfriendly

#RawMilk

I think this is another that makes me think of people who, during The Blitz, would have let their neighborhoods get destroyed by the Germans so that they can persist their delusion of, “personal freedom.”

https://youtu.be/1kFz-71dT7s?si=t5ROZcU3tLvSsQ-7&t=31

#RFKjr statements about autism:

"They'll never pay taxes, they'll never hold a job, they'll never play baseball, they'll never write a poem, they'll never go out on a date. Many of them will never use a toilet unassisted."

"Autism destroys families, and more importantly, it destroys our greatest resource, which is our children.”

You know what actually destroys families, especially children? Gun violence, and what he says about gun violence depends on who he’s talking to.

https://abcnews.com/GMA/Wellness/parents-experts-react-rfk-jrs-autism-claims/story?id=120911306

About a quarter of the way done with this Coby (Lego compatible) model. The real ship had a swastika, not an iron cross. My allies models are done, so this is the first model for the axis.

“[…] clarified that when she previously said TRUMP struck her after she bit him on the penis, she provided further details that he, ‘pulled [her] hair and punched [her] on the side of [her] head.’”

#EpsteinFiles #Trump

https://assets.newsweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/EFTA02858491.pdf

“10 days after his speech about trust and openness, HHS rescinded a 54-year-old policy of soliciting public comments for new rules and regulations, silencing the voices of many of the stakeholders he pledged to serve. Kennedy has summarily dismissed advisers and experts, communicated policy changes on pay-walled media, fired a whistleblower, and overseen the revisions of guidelines and recommendations, contradicting decades of established science, often to the benefit of industries he formerly condemned.”

#RFKjr lied during his confirmation hearings, just as I said he did. And that's how he generates income — spreading lies and having scientifically illiterate people do his marketing for free. #HHS

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(26)00414-9/fulltext