June 26, 2025
Iran Supreme Leader Speaks Publicly for First Time since U.S. Nuclear Site Attack
The Islamic Republic was victorious and, in retaliation, delivered a hand slap to America’s face.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei Thursday in his first public comments since Israel and Iran agreed to a U.S.-brokered ceasefire. The 10-minute speech warned against future U.S. and Israel attacks, calling the success of the past attacks exaggerated.
Learn More:
- Iran’s supreme leader warns against further American attacks in his first statement since ceasefire (The Associated Press)
- Deadly Israel-Iran conflict is now ‘over,’ Trump declares at NATO: Live updates (USA Today)
Sec. Kennedy’s Newly Appointed Committee Members Review Childhood Vaccine Schedule
Vaccines are not all good or bad.
The chair of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) and former epidemiologist at Harvard Medical School, Dr. Martin Kulldorff, in his opening statement Thursday before the panel revised the U.S. immunization schedule for children. Sec. Kennedy recently removed all 17 members of the panel appointed during the Biden administration and replaced them with a smaller group. The panel voted to continue to recommend the flu vaccine, with the caveat of eliminating any vaccine with the preservative thimerosal.
The risk from influenza is so much greater than the nonexistent, as far as we know, risk from thimerosal.
Dr. Cody Meissner, a professor of pediatrics at Dartmouth Geisel School of Medicine and member of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practice (ACIP), who split with other members on the vote to recommend flu vaccines without thimerosal, a preservative some have associated with conditions like autism. Dr. Meissner says, “There is no scientific evidence that thimerosal has caused a problem.”
Learn More:
- Click HERE for meeting information
- RFK Jr.’s vaccine panel to review childhood immunization schedule (The Washington Post Gift Link)
- RFK Jr.’s vaccine advisers raise disproven fears about the preservative thimerosal (NPR)
- First meeting of new CDC vaccine panel reveals policy chaos sown by RFK Jr (The Guardian)
Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez’s High-Profile Venice Wedding; City Prepares for Roughly 90 Private Jets as Celebrity Guests Arrive
Venice is everyone’s. Even Jeff Bezos’.
Luca Zaia, the president of the Veneto region in Italy, which includes Venice. The historic city on Italy’s coast will host the wedding of one of the world’s richest men, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, to Lauren Sánchez. The lavish event has received backlash for its impact on Venice, a microcosm of other protests in Europe against “over tourism.”
Learn More:
- With Bezos Wedding, Venice Braces for Love in the Time of Tech Billionaires (The New York Times Gift Link)
- Jeff Bezos, Lauren Sánchez arrive in Venice ahead of high-profile wedding (Good Morning America)
Bears Escape Enclosure in Conservation Park for Honey
It looks like we’ll have our hands full in the future.
Director General of Wildwood Trust Paul Whitfield, after two bears escaped their enclosure at a British conservation park. The 5-year-old siblings broke into the nearby food store and ate a week’s worth of honey. The escape caused a “code red” at the park, but the bears voluntarily returned to their enclosure and promptly took a nap.
Learn More: ‘Naughty’ bears escape, steal a week’s worth of honey and take long nap (The Washington Post Gift Link)
by Emily Hooker, based in Texas
