No Andrew Wakefield  Ha.  Wakefield finally gets all the respect he’s due.  Which is none.

ht: Kavin Senapathy:

“Disgraced former gastroenterologist and researcher Andrew Wakefield, known for a fraudulent 1998 paper linking the Measles, Mumps and Rubella (MMR) vaccine with autism, directs the movie” [Vaxxed]

After initially inviting a showing of the anti-vax propaganda, Robert de Niro and the Tribeca Film Festival team decided to drop the quacks from the schedule.

Not surprisingly, Wakefield – whose livelihood depends solely on speaking fees and book sales to the anti-vax community – is quick to whine about “totalitarian censorship”.  He cries, “We were denied due process”. 

As Senapathy responds:

“Due process? Due process clauses in the 5th and 14th amendments to the United States Constitution only apply when government is involved. This isn’t a court of law, and Andrew Wakefield doesn’t deserve such considerations for his anti-vaccine propaganda film. He doesn’t deserve a platform to spread anti-vaccine disinformation, after widespread panic in the wake of his fraudulent paper led to a sharp drop in vaccination rates and thousands of preventable deaths and counting from vaccine preventable disease.

In the meantime, there have been a whopping zero casesof autism caused by vaccines.”

And for those who don’t celebrate this particular holiday, happy November 26th, happy-almost December, happy almost-solstice, and/or happy whatever makes you happy — which I trust is something humane both for theists and non-theists among us).

Catch ya on the flip side.

http://ntlive.nationaltheatre.org.uk/productions/ntlout10-hamlet

Filmed live, on stage, from the Barbican, London

Go see it.  It’s an unsurpassed theatrical experience, which you get to see (for a lot less than stage tickets) at the cinema.

There’s probably an encore performance at a big-city art cinema near almost everyone who is reading this – it will be in a dozen countries, a few hundred cities and university towns. Each venue shows no more than twice, and the site listed will give you the dates and locations nearest you.

It’s worth driving more than an hour to get to, and absolutely worth the price of admission.  Yeah, I know I’m crazy; I saw it live today, and I’m going to see it at least four times at a couple different theaters.

This has been a “public service announcement” — I know, not our typical subject of discussion, sorry.  Enjoy it while you can!

Seems like there is substantial interest in discussing the existence and/or extent of Noah’s flood.

“Safe and sane” fireworks nearly continuous explosions since sunset here … at least I’m not hearing any gunfire.

Happy birthday to a nation conceived in liberty.

Same sex marriage is a constitutional right for all USAians, regardless of the homophobic, religiously-motivated bigotry in 14 state legislatures.

Chief Justice Kennedy writing the 5-4 decision:

Continue reading →

Governor Shumlin (reluctantly) signs legislation to remove philosophical or “personal belief” exemptions from vaccination law.

A 2012 version had allowed parents to claim a philosophical or so-called “personal belief” exemption for their children but required the parents to review “educational materials” before claiming it.  There was no way to enforce the educational mandate. There is no doubt that strategy did not work: areas of the state remain below 80% immunization rates necessary to protect the vulnerable population, those with compromised immune systems or too young to be vaccinated.  Meanwhile the rate of philosophical exemptions filed by parents of kindergartners climbed from 5.1% to 5.9% in 2014, and dense pockets of vaccine non-compliance in some communities provide the ideal environment for an epidemic to take hold.

Vermont was one of the three worst states for cases of whooping cough.  The record number of cases in 2012 should have been enough to get the 2012 bill turned around, but it wasn’t until the recent US outbreak of  measles that the Vermont legislature took a stand for public health.

It’s important to note that Vermont still retains a “religious” exemption from vaccination, as do 46 other states, and medical exemptions as do all 50 US states.    It doesn’t seem possible to predict parental response to vaccination requirements with regards to “personal” versus “religous” exemptions, but the data are certainly clear that allowing only medical exemptions gets vaccination rates up to 99.7%.

It’s nice not having measles in Mississippi.  Now, maybe it can be nice not having measles in Vermont, either.

,

…Church Was On the Wrong Side, As Usual

http://www.theguardian.com/global/live/2015/may/23/counting-underway-for-irelands-referendum-on-marriage-equality

Ireland becomes first country to legalise same-sex marriage by popular vote

[title shortened by Lizzie]

to recent discussions here at TSZ:

---

Physics says: go to sleep. Of course
you’re tired. Every atom in you
has been dancing the shimmy in silver shoes
nonstop from mitosis to now.
Quit tapping your feet. They’ll dance
inside themselves without you. Go to sleep.

Geology says: it will be all right. Slow inch
by inch America is giving itself
to the ocean. Go to sleep. Let darkness
lap at your sides. Give darkness an inch.
You aren’t alone. All of the continents used to be
one body. You aren’t alone. Go to sleep.

Astronomy says: the sun will rise tomorrow,
Zoology says: on rainbow-fish and lithe gazelle,
Psychology says: but first it has to be night, so
Biology says: the body-clocks are stopped all over town
and
History says: here are the blankets, layer on layer, down and down.

Because no Christian organization  has spoken out against Matt McLaughlin’s hate-filled initiative proposal “The Sodomite Suppression Act”.

It’s better known as the Kill the Gays Act. It begins with:

“The People of California wisely command, in the fear of God, that any person who willingly touches another person of the same gender for purposes of sexual gratification be put to death by bullets to the head or by any other convenient method.”

Look, anyone with the $200 filing fee and access to a typewriter or computer can submit an initiative proposal, so it’s not surprising that some dangerously deranged people start the process.

What’s surprising is that no christian leader, no christian-oriented news source, no official church spokesperson that I’ve heard, has repudiated McLaughlin’s despicable proposal.

Nor can they claim that they haven’t responded to it merely because it’s too minor to make the news.  Kill the Gays has made all the major papers in the state.  It is significant enough that it might trigger the CA state legislature to overhaul (finally!) the corruptible voter-initiative system.  Also, it’s already involved in a court case with the state AG tying to pre-empt placing this clearly-unconstitutional initiative on the state ballot.

So,  Christians, why are you silent?  What would your beloved Jesus say if he witnessed you silently accepting MM’s murderous desire?