Bill Nye Asked RFK Jr. to Stop Texting Him: “Okay, No More”

The Science Guy™ is sick and tired of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his vaccine conspiracy theories.

Months before Kennedy was appointed to run America’s public health policy, he was harassing generational science educator Bill Nye, trying to convince Nye that there was merit to his unfounded beliefs that vaccines are tied to autism, according to a Men’s Health profile of Nye published Tuesday.

The two had been connected years ago by way of a mutual friend, Ed Begley Jr., when Kennedy was still focused on championing environmental causes.

Nye showed the magazine “miles and miles” of texts from RFK Jr. in an old exchange that only ended when Nye put his foot down with the virulent conspiracist: “Okay, no more texts,” he told Kennedy. Those texts included links to conspiratorial articles focused on vaccines, but the missives weren’t effective at changing Nye’s mind. Instead, they only convinced him that Kennedy is “not suited for this job.”

“Just no self-awareness,” Nye said. “And if you read these articles he sent, they’re all this speculation about autism and just cause-and-effect, and mercury in vaccines, that maybe there’s a connection.

“I wrote him back and said, ‘Okay, I’ll read your book. I think you’ve confused causation with correlation. Your friend, Bill.’ And he sent this,” Nye said, showcasing droves of more messages. “So I wrote, ‘Okay, no more texts.’ And he started again! So I cut him off. He does not have good judgment,” Nye said.

But revisiting their correspondence got Nye fired up again, sparking a rant about Kennedy’s disastrous approach to handling a historic measles outbreak in Texas, which, since January, has amounted to 744 confirmed cases and 96 hospitalizations, according to the state health department.

“It was a religious sect that has historically low vaccination rates. And the argument from the other side is: They have rights not to get vaccinated. No, you don’t!” Nye told Men’s Health. “And unvaccinated people can, and usually do, spread a disease. And that’s why we have these rules, for public health! It’s not arbitrary. It’s not about your rights. It’s about my rights, people.”

And that fed into a diatribe about the excessive amount of misinformation that has spread about the safety and efficacy of the jab thanks to high-flying personalities like Kennedy.

“So furthermore, there’s a real subtle problem: There is a certain tiny fraction of people who get polio from the vaccine, but that is so rare. And it’s not true of measles,” Nye continued.

Should it need repeating: Vaccines have proven to be one of the greatest accomplishments of modern medicine. They are so effective they have practically eradicated some of the worst diseases, from rabies to polio and smallpox, a fact that has possibly fooled some into believing that the viruses and their complications aren’t a significant threat for the average, health-conscious individual. But people from prior generations—like Nye—aren’t so quick to forget the radical developments in America’s public health sector.

“I’m of a certain age: You got measles, you got chicken pox, you got what used to be called German measles, now it’s called rubella. And you would go through that. You’d be sick and out of school, and everybody understood that’s what you were doing for five days, and your parents had to stay home from work.

“And by inventing these vaccines, you don’t have to do that. So let’s look at it this way: Now the parents can go to work and pay taxes! There you go! Isn’t that good? They don’t miss a day of work; they’re more productive,” Nye said. “It’s just an amazing time.”

The American embassy in Baghdad is preparing to evacuate in a troubling sign for nuclear talks between the U.S. and Iran, as well as greater regional unrest, according to Reuters.

Three U.S. and two Iraqi sources confirmed Wednesday that preparations for a departure were underway, but did not specify what security concerns had prompted the move.

It’s more than likely that the sudden withdrawal is related to Israel’s recent threat to target Iran’s nuclear facilities, despite ongoing nuclear talks between the United States and Iran.

Ahead of a sixth round of talks set to begin this week, Iranian Defense Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh warned in a press briefing Wednesday that if the negotiations failed, and “conflict is imposed” on Iran that “all U.S. bases are within our reach and we will boldly target them in host countries.”

In an interview on the Pod Force One podcast released Wednesday, Donald Trump spoke about the talks, saying that he was “less confident now than I would have been a couple of months ago.”

“Something happened to them, but I am much less confident of a deal being made,” he said.

The New York Times reported in April that Israel, which is not a participant in the ongoing nuclear talks, had made plans to Iranian nuclear sites that were waved off by Trump, who wanted to continue negotiating with Tehran. Still, Netanyahu has continued to push for military action against Iran, without assistance from the United States.

In a phone call Monday, Trump urged Netanyahu to stop talking about attacking Iran, and put an end to the leaks about his military’s plans, a source familiar with the conversation told CNN. Netanyahu told him that Iran wasn’t serious about the talks, and was simply using delaying tactics. He has some experience with that, after drawing out negotiations for a ceasefire deal in Gaza for months on end.

The exact details of the U.S. withdrawal from Baghdad are still unclear. An Iraqi foreign ministry official said that a “partial evacuation” had been confirmed due to “potential security concerns related to possible regional tensions.” A U.S. official told Reuters that the State Department was intending to execute the departure through “commercial means,” though the U.S. military was “standing by.”

In Bahrain, U.S. military dependents have been given the greenlight to temporarily evacuate due to escalating regional tensions, one U.S. official told Reuters.

President Trump continues to tout loose, verbal agreements as “deals” as he struggles to close negotiations with China. 

“OUR DEAL WITH CHINA IS DONE, SUBJECT TO FINAL APPROVAL WITH PRESIDENT XI AND ME. FULL MAGNETS, AND ANY NECESSARY RARE EARTHS, WILL BE SUPPLIED, UP FRONT, BY CHINA. LIKEWISE, WE WILL PROVIDE TO CHINA WHAT WAS AGREED TO, INCLUDING CHINESE STUDENTS USING OUR COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES (WHICH HAS ALWAYS BEEN GOOD WITH ME!),” the president wrote in all caps Wednesday on Truth Social. “WE ARE GETTING A TOTAL OF 55% TARIFFS, CHINA IS GETTING 10%. RELATIONSHIP IS EXCELLENT! THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER!”

While Trump claimed the deal was done, China referred to it as merely a “framework.” Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick went even further, calling it a “handshake for a framework,” that both Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping need to approve. 

“Once that’s done, we will be back on the phone together and we will begin to implement this agreement,” Lutnick said. “The two largest economies in the world have reached a handshake for framework.”

Furthermore, this “deal” only revives the agreement the countries made in Switzerland in May that rolled back tariffs for 90 days. And the “rare earths” that Trump claims he’ll be receiving “up front” here will only be available for six months, allowing China to maintain leverage.

“The US & Chinese trade negotiators have negotiated a handshake agreement to seek signoff to agree that a previously-agreed agreement is still their agreed upon agreement. (That agreement is not an agreement but a framework for seeking future agreements),” University of Michigan economics professor  Justin Wolfers wrote on X. “Notice that not only are we not getting a better deal, we’re not even getting back to where we were at the start of the Administration.” 

The president seems desperate to make this seem like a win. It’s a concept of a idea that, even if finished, will not leave Americans any better off. 

Donald Trump ordered 700 Marines to Los Angeles, and the defense secretary can’t explain what authority enabled him to do so.

In a terse exchange with Wisconsin Senator Tammy Baldwin Wednesday, Pete Hegseth couldn’t cite any portion of the Constitution that might allow the president to send troops to engage U.S. citizens.

“Just specifically, Mr. Secretary, what is the authority that the administration is using to deploy active-duty Marines to California neighborhoods? What authority?” Baldwin asked.

“Senator, the president has constitutional authority in order to support—” Hegseth began, before Baldwin interjected, asking for a specific “provision of the Constitution” that gave Trump such power.

But Hegseth wasn’t able to, instead asking Congress to offer their blind faith that the administration had pre-verified the constitutionality of such an action.

“I’d have to pull up the specific provision, but our Office of General Counsel, alongside our leadership, has reviewed and ensured in the order that we set out that it’s completely constitutional for the president to use federal troops to defend federal law enforcement,” Hegseth said.

“I’d like to know the specific constitutional statutory authority,” Baldwin pressed. “The president made it clear that he relied on Section 12406 of Title 10 with regard to the National Guard troops. I need to know the authority that he is relying upon in terms of active-duty Marines being deployed to California neighborhoods.”

Baldwin then asked Hegseth if he would follow up to provide the exact statute, to which he responded that there’s “plenty of precedent” in administering active duty troops to “support law enforcement.”

“I’m not disputing that,” Baldwin said. “I am just asking you to cite the authority under which the active duty Marines are being deployed to California.”

Hegseth insisted that the appropriate statute was cited in the executive order, and then promised to follow up with Baldwin’s office.

Trump’s decision to send hundreds of Marines to the City of Angels is expected to cost U.S. taxpayers $134 million, defense officials revealed Tuesday. Their presence—per the White House—is intended to support ICE agents as they conduct mass deportation raids of the city while thousands of locals protest the president’s agenda.

But the order itself appears to violate the Posse Comitatus Act, a federal law dating back to 1878 that forbids the government from using the military for law enforcement purposes. The White House could have bypassed the military doctrine by invoking the Insurrection Act, which allows the president to utilize the military during periods of rebellion or mass civil unrest, but had not done so by the time of the order. (Trump has openly discussed leveraging the nineteenth-century law to enact his agenda since his inauguration.)

Trump’s chaotic, spite-filled policies on trade and aid have led traditional allies to look elsewhere and form stronger ties among themselves.

The New York Times reports that traditional allies like Japan, Britain, Canada, France, and others are working more closely together as they look to build an alliance system without the United States. These new alliances are already yielding results. Canada, Britain, and the EU just made a $170 billion defense deal. Britain, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, and Norway just placed significant sanctions on two far-right Israeli Cabinet members. The deals made in recent weeks demonstrate the erosion of U.S. diplomatic legitimacy that Trump’s shirking of traditional Western order has caused—a troubling  message, as the G7 summit is just days away.

“These are countries that share the broad policy goal of predictable, rules-based international affairs—obviously a goal that is no longer shared by the Trump administration,” Peterson Institute for International Economics senior fellow Jacob Funk Kirkegaard, told the Times. “America first means America first,” he added, “even if it means America more alone.”

G7 organizers have planned various meetings without the United States, as Trump will arrive at the summit at odds on trade and tariffs with essentially every other leader there. “Should we, in some ways, talk about a G6-plus-one?” Kirkegaard said. 

In an instance of exceptional depravity, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested a pregnant U.S. citizen just days before her due date, NBC News reported Tuesday.

Cary López Alvarado was detained by masked ICE agents Sunday, who claimed that she was obstructing an arrest of her partner and his co-worker, two undocumented immigrants from Guatemala, during a raid in Hawthorne, a city in Los Angeles County.

López Alvarado and her cousin Alberto Sandoval, who is also a citizen, were opening a gate to allow their truck into the parking lot of a private building when ICE agents arrived.

“They had us all surrounded,” she told NBC News in an interview from a hospital bed, her voice breaking. After being released by ICE shortly after her arrest, López Alvarado experienced sharp pains in her stomach, and was admitted to the hospital.

“I had lost my balance,” she tearfully told NBC. “He was kind of shoving me away from the door, and uh, that’s when I kind of just like leaned forward because I was kind of trying to protect the stomach.”

In a video of the incident obtained by the outlet, neighbors could be heard shouting “Let her go,” and She’s pregnant!”

In one video, López Alvarado can be heard explaining to the agents that they could not enter private property. The agents told her that the parking wasn’t private property, and that she was impeding their arrest, she said. “I wasn’t resisting or anything,” she said. “I can’t fight back; I’m pregnant.”

When López Alvarado tried to tell the officers that she was due June 17, she said they responded, “‘OK, your baby is going to be born here, but you’re from Mexico, right?’ And I told them no.”

López Alvarado told Telemundo 52 in Spanish that she was born in Los Angeles.

As part of its inhumane crackdown on immigration, the Trump administration has readily arrested U.S. citizens, deported families, and endangered sick children, leaving hollow promises to target individuals with criminal records in the rearview.

In a statement to NBC News, Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said that López Alvarado had been detained because she allegedly “obstructed federal law enforcement by blocking access to a car that had two Guatemalan illegal aliens in it.”

The statement claimed that the ICE agents had been assaulted during the incident and that “rioters” had thrown wrenches and batteries at the agents.

Sandoval still faces assault charges, though his mother, María Alvarado, told Telemundo 52 that he was innocent, and there was proof. “My son didn’t attack. He was attacked. There are videos. There’s evidence,” she said in Spanish.

A recent series of ICE arrests in Los Angeles have sparked massive protests there, and the Trump administration has been quick to fan the flames of unrest by calling in the National Guard and U.S. Marines, in possible violation of the Posse Comitatus Act. California has already moved to sue Trump for overreaching his authority, and California Governor Gavin Newsom warned Wednesday that the president had placed democracy “under assault.”

The Trump administration is losing its ability to hide its pro-Russia affinities.

In a searing exchange with Senator Mitch McConnell Wednesday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth revealed the mental gymnastics at play as administration officials take a soft approach on Russia amid its ongoing war on Ukraine.

“Number one, who’s the aggressor and who’s the victim in the conflict?” asked McConnell.

“Russia is the aggressor,” Hegseth said, quietly.

“Which side do you want to win?” McConnell said.

But the defense secretary couldn’t provide a simple answer for that.

“As we’ve said time and time again, this president is committed to peace in that conflict. Ultimately, peace serves our national interests, and we think the interest of both parties, even if that outcome will not be preferable to many in this room and many in our country,” Hegseth said.

“Which side is President Xi pulling for?” continued McConnell.

That question tripped up the former Fox News anchor even more. After providing a complicated answer in which he pointed fingers at the Biden administration’s policies, Hegseth eventually conceded that China and its leadership would prefer Russia to win in the Ukrainian conflict.

“One thing I’m sure we agree on is that we don’t want a headline at the end of this conflict that says ‘Russia Wins and America Loses,’” McConnell said. “And given the fact that all of our adversaries are communicating with each other, that’s extremely important if we’re going to continue to play the role in the world that the vast majority of members of Congress think we should still play. Particularly now that our adversaries are more significant than they have been since the Berlin Wall came down.”

The White House has played a weaker and weaker hand in its game against Russia since Trump’s inauguration. On the campaign trail, Trump pledged to end the war within days of returning to power—but that hasn’t been the case.

Instead, Trump’s heavy hand on Ukraine and his repeated concessions toward Russia’s enduring violence have been interpreted by Kremlin propagandists as a massive win for Russian President Vladimir Putin, resulting in televised laughter on Russian programs at the downfall of American power. In the months since he took office, Trump has claimed that Russia has come ready and willing to reach a peace deal, even though many of its demands—such as staking a Russian flag in Crimea—reverse long-standing U.S. policy.

Following a deadly airstrike on Kyiv last month, European leaders urged Western countries to enact sanctions on Moscow as a way to reel Putin back to the negotiating table. But Trump responded by wringing his hands, claiming that applying pressure on Russia would “hurt” a deal.

Just about everyone in the U.S.—including Trump’s own party—wants the White House to act. By late May, Senate Republicans resorted to begging Trump to take a stand against Russia while they mulled over the possibility of going over his head to enact the internationally recommended sanctions. Senate Majority Leader John Thune announced last week that the upper chamber would begin work on a sanctions bill sometime this month.

More militant ICE raids are coming to a city near you.

The Trump administration is readying tactical ICE units known as “special response teams” to conduct large raids in five Democratic cities, according to MSNBC. They will be in New York City, Seattle, Chicago, Philadelphia and northern Virginia. While it’s unclear when exactly the raids will start, all ICE agents in those areas have been told to stand by.

This is going to be a mess. Trump’s crackdown in Los Angeles—with thousands of National Guardsmen and hundreds of Marines patrolling the streets—is the model for his larger deportation campaign: Have ICE pour into a community and make indiscriminate arrests, then when civilians predictably resist, use that to justify sending even more militant forces in to quell the chaos that ICE induced. New York City is already on edge, as 80 protestors were arrested in Lower Manhattan Tuesday night at an anti-ICE protest.

“’Look, this isn’t just about protests here in Los Angeles, when Donald Trump sought blanket authority to commandeer the National Guard. He made that order apply to every state in this nation. This is about all of us. This is about you,” said Governor Gavin Newsom. “California may be first, but it clearly will not end here. Other states are next. Democracy is next. Democracy is under assault before our eyes, this moment we have feared has arrived.’” He’s right. ICE is planning to expand its campaign of terror to blue cities across the country. If Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill”—which includes billions in funding for a mass deportation campaign—passes, it will get even worse.

Elon Musk has come crawling on his hands and knees back to Donald Trump.

The antagonistic technocrat gave a public apology for his harsh words directed at his ally in the White House, in a post on X at 3 a.m. on Wednesday.

“I regret some of my posts about President @realDonaldTrump last week. They went too far,” he wrote.

But Musk hadn’t simply criticized Trump’s policies during their messy public break.

Musk had implied that Trump was implicated in the crimes of Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted sex offender and alleged human trafficker, and that was why his administration was soft-footing the release of the so-called Epstein files. He’d even backed calls for Trump’s impeachment. In doing so, the billionaire set himself adrift from the MAGA crowd that had readily embraced him.

Obviously, the internet was more than a little curious about which posts Musk regretted and why he’d decided to walk back his hard turn away from Trump.

To some the answer seemed obvious: His feud had cost him too much money.

Others speculated that Musk had decided he’d drawn the public’s attention to his own close relationship to Epstein’s associates.

It’s clear that Musk has been trying to turn the ship on his departure from Trump’s good graces, cheerleading the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration protests in Los Angeles. In a podcast interview earlier this week, Musk declared that he had “no hard feelings” about Trump, and sources close to Musk told Reuters that his anger at the president had subsided and he may want to rekindle their connection.

Congressional Republicans aren’t sticking around to watch Donald Trump blow millions of taxpayer dollars on himself this weekend.

Just seven of 50 surveyed GOP lawmakers are planning to actually attend the president’s birthday festivities over the weekend, reported Politico.

Trump’s 79th birthday coincides with the Army’s 250th anniversary. To celebrate, the president is throwing himself—and the U.S. military—a parade and festival that Army officials estimate could cost up to $45 million, with millions in damages to the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

Those sticking around include some of Trump’s most stalwart MAGA supporters: Representatives Marjorie Taylor Greene (who told Politico “of course” she’d be there), Byron Donalds, and Elise Stefanik are all planning to celebrate. Representatives Cory Mills, Rich McCormick, John McGuire, and Lisa McClain are also expected to be in attendance.

But the list of those planning to skip is much longer. Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Majority Whip John Barrasso won’t be in town, nor will House Majority Leader Steve Scalise. Senator Tommy Tuberville excused himself to continue his campaign for Alabama’s gubernatorial race, while Senator Markwayne Mullin said the date coincides with his anniversary, reported Politico. Speaker Mike Johnson’s office wouldn’t comment.

Notable veterans are also planning to sit this one out. Senator Lindsey Graham said he’s not planning to attend, and Senators Todd Young, Rick Scott, and Tim Sheehy won’t be there either. House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Brian Mast told Politico that he hadn’t made up his mind as to whether he’ll be there.

And the chairs of the House and Senate Armed Services committees, Representative Mike Rogers and Senator Roger Wicker, won’t be around, either. Instead, they’re planning to be at another airshow scheduled for next week in Paris, where defense contractors will gather for an annual conference.

Trump has wanted a military parade for himself since at least 2018, but the idea was quickly shot down by local and military officials who cited enormous estimated damages to Pennsylvania Avenue, torching the hefty price tag involved in dragging heavy equipment through the U.S. capital. The president was reportedly inspired after watching a Bastille Day celebration in Paris in 2017.

“It was one of the greatest parades I’ve ever seen.… We’re gonna have to try and top it,” Trump said at the time, “but we had a lot of planes going over and a lot of military might, and it was really a beautiful thing to see.”

The parade will include 6,600 soldiers who will represent every era of the Army’s history. It will also showcase some 150 vehicles as 50 aircraft, including 26 M1A1 Abrams tanks, 27 Bradley Fighting Vehicles, two World War II Sherman tanks, a World War I–era Renault tank, eight CH-47 helicopters, 16 UH-60 Black Hawks, and four World War II–era P-51 aircraft, Army officials told CBS News.

The plan was not always to have a march that big. In February, the Army put out a press release indicating that it intended to celebrate its anniversary “with a series of commemorations, including leadership engagements, community outreach events and other events showcasing Army units, history, lineage and esprit de corps.” It did not make mention of a parade.