Two days ago we lost Dolly Parton. I will be doing a tribute post on Sunday for her…but yesterday we lost Tim Curry, yet another icon.
Also in the news:
Cartoons via Cagle:
This is an open thread.
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The Sky Dancing banner headline uses a snippet from a work by artist Tashi Mannox called 'Rainbow Study'. The work is described as a" study of typical Tibetan rainbow clouds, that feature in Thanka painting, temple decoration and silk brocades". dakinikat was immediately drawn to the image when trying to find stylized Tibetan Clouds to represent Sky Dancing. It is probably because Tashi's practice is similar to her own. His updated take on the clouds that fill the collection of traditional thankas is quite special.
You can find his work at his website by clicking on his logo below. He is also a calligraphy artist that uses important vajrayana syllables. We encourage you to visit his on line studio.
RFK Jr lied in Senate confirmation hearings, newly revealed documents indicate
Letters obtained by Guardian and AP contradict testimony that 2019 visit to Samoa had ‘nothing to do with vaccines’
Michelle R SmithThu 27 Aug 2026 08.00 EDTShare
Prefer the Guardian on Google
Newly obtained documents indicate that the US health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, lied during two congressional hearings last year, when he told lawmakers who held the key to his confirmation that a 2019 visit to Samoa had “nothing to do with vaccines”.
Letters obtained by the Guardian and the Associated Press contradict that testimony. In one he wrote to the Samoan prime minister before the trip, Kennedy explicitly said he wanted to study the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine in the Pacific island nation. In it, he used the words “vaccine” or “vaccination” eight times.
“I am writing this letter to you in the hope that we might be helpful to the people of your great nation,” he wrote, adding that he believed the deaths of two children there after an MMR vaccine could have resulted from manufacturing issues.
“I would propose my team conduct detailed health informatics assessment in Samoa of what happened with your MMR vaccines,” Kennedy wrote.
Kennedy’s Samoa visit – just months before a measles outbreak swept through the island, killing 83 people – has become one of the most controversial events in his career. At the time, he was leading a non-profit known for its anti-vaccine activism. The visit was seen by critics as having emboldened anti-vaccine activists in Samoa.
Beyond shedding light on the intent of Kennedy’s visit, the letter raises questions about the health secretary’s integrity and how truthful he was in testimony before Congress. During the confirmation process, Kennedy also pledged to maintain vaccine policies that, once in office, he moved to change.
I am horrified by this.
Judge rules alleged rape of US Navy civilian engineer by ship’s captain was ‘within her duties’, should be treated as a ‘work injury’
A lawsuit brought by a civilian engineer working on a US Navy ship alleging she was raped by the ship’s captain has been halted by a New Jersey judge. As per Stars and Stripes, her report of Captain Yamil Sanchez Padilla entering her locked room at night to rape her must be treated as a workers’ comp claim.
Elsie Dominguez, a US Merchant Marine Academy graduate, filed her lawsuit against the U.S. Government in November 2025. She alleges that she was working on the expeditionary transport vessel the USNS Carson City in December 2021 when it stopped in Brindisi, Italy.
Dominguez says she left the ship and felt overly intoxicated after one beer and a shot of liquor, and now suspects that her drink was spiked. She says she returned to her room on board and locked the door. However, while she was sleeping, she says that Captain Padilla used his master code to enter her room in the middle of the night and that she awoke to find him raping her.
Her claim is backed up by a text she says the captain sent to her the next day: “I am so embarrassed by what I did to you that I do not even have the strength to see you face to face … I hope that someday you can forgive me. You have a very special place in my heart and I appreciate you very much. Perhaps more than I should. I wish you the best.”
it’s disgusting