“In many cases we were requiring 72 jabs for our beautiful, healthy, lovely, delicate little children“ — DT, 10 Aug. 2026
“[Autism] is many, many times what it used to be years ago, and it gets progressively worse. And we had progressively more and more vaccines” — DT, 10 Aug. 2026
“A vaccination looks like the size of the bottle of soda poured into a little child’s body“ — DT, 10 Aug. 2026
“Decades ago, children received only a small fraction of the vaccines required today. In those times, people were much [healthier], and of course, the high rates of autism now observed did not exist” — DT, 10 Aug. 2026
“When you and I were kids, everybody got measles, and measles gave you … lifetime protection against measles infection. The vaccine doesn’t do that. The vaccine is effective for some people for life, but for many people, it wanes” — Robert F Kennedy, March 2026
“Those agencies are going to do everything in their power to make the Amish vaccinate. Because they cannot stand the fact that you are healthy.” — Robert F Kennedy, 10 Aug. 2021
“The communities that are suffering from measles are almost all religious communities that just don’t vaccinate” — Robert F Kennedy, 2 Aug. 2026
Archive for BBC
and it is getting worse… [verbatim]
Posted in Books, Kids, pictures with tags Agent Orange, Amish communities, antivaxers, autism, baby Trump, BBC, cliffs, Derailed Trump, Donald Trump, measles, populism, quotes, religious communities, US politics, vaccines, WHO on August 19, 2026 by xi'an
and it is getting worse… [verbatim]
Posted in Books, Kids, pictures, Travel with tags Agent Orange, autoritarian, baby Trump, Bahrain, BBC, cliffs, Derailed Trump, designators, Donald Trump, European Union, humanism, Iran, Israel, Kuwait, nationalism, populism, Qatar, quotes, Saudi Arabia, The Guardian, The New York Times, theocracy, UAE, US elections 2024, US politics, war crimes on April 3, 2026 by xi'an
“It’s a very simple message. They will never have a nuclear weapon.“ — DT, 28 Feb. 2026
“I might have forced [Israel’s] hand. If we didn’t do it, [Iran] were going to attack first.“ — DT, 03 March 2026
“We’ve already won in many ways, but we haven’t won enough“ — DT, 08 March 2026
“There will be no deal with Iran except unconditional surrender.“ — DT, 06 March 2026
“I think there’s a very good chance we’re going to end up in a deal. And so we’re giving it five days and then we’re going to see where that takes it.” — DT, 23 March 2026
“I don’t want to do a ceasefire. You know you don’t do a ceasefire when you’re literally obliterating the other side” — DT, 20 March 2026
“[The Iranian Government] want very much to make a deal. We’d like to make a deal, too.”— DT, 20 March 2026
“This is not a so-called regime change war, but the regime sure did change, and the world is better off for it.” — Pete Hegseth, 02 March 2026
“So they hit Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait. Nobody expected that. We were shocked.“ — DT, 16 March 2026
“[NATO countries] don’t want to help open the Strait of Hormuz, a simple military maneuver that is the single reason for the high oil prices. So easy for them to do, with so little risk. COWARDS, and we will REMEMBER!” — DT, 20 March 2026
and it is getting worse… [verbatim]
Posted in Books, Kids, pictures, Travel with tags Agent Orange, America, autoritarian, baby Trump, BBC, cliffs, Denmark, Derailed Trump, Donald Trump, European Union, global warming, Greenland, humanism, Kyiv, nationalism, NATO, Nobel Peace Prize, Norway, populism, quotes, snowstorm, The Guardian, The New York Times, theocracy, truth social, US elections 2024, US politics, war crimes, xenophobia on February 1, 2026 by xi'an
“The United States [of America] needs Greenland for the purpose of National Security. (…) NATO should be leading the way for us to get it (…) [and] becomes far more formidable and effective with Greenland in the hands of the United States [of America]. Anything less than that is unacceptable” — DT, 14 Jan. 2026
“Yeah, there is one [limit to my ability to use American military might]. My own morality. My own mind. It’s the only thing that can stop me. I don’t need international law.” — DT, 08 Jan. 2026
“We have subsidized Denmark, and all of the Countries of the European Union, and others, for many years by not charging them Tariffs, or any other forms of remuneration. Now, after Centuries [sic], it is time for Denmark to give back — World Peace is at stake!” — DT, 17 Jan. 2026
“Considering your Country decided [sic] not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars PLUS [sic bis], I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace, although it will always be predominant, but can now think about what is good and proper for the US. Denmark cannot protect that land from Russia or China, and why do they have a “right of ownership” anyway? There are no written documents, it’s only that a boat landed there hundreds of years ago, but we had boats landing there, also. I have done more for NATO than any other person since its founding, and now, NATO should do something for the United States. The World is not secure unless we have Complete and Total Control of Greenland” — DT, 19 Jan. 2026
“Record Cold Wave expected to hit 40 States. Rarely seen anything like it before. Could the Environmental Insurrectionists please explain – whatever happened to global warming?” – DT, 23 Jan 2026
“I personally asked President Putin not to fire into Kyiv and the various towns for a week, and he agreed to do that. It was very nice. A lot of people almost didn’t believe it, but they were very happy about it because they are struggling badly.” – DT, 29 Jan 2026
supporting public broadcasting
Posted in Books, Kids, Travel with tags anti-wokism, BBC, DOM, EU, European Commission, European Media Freedom Act, far-right ideology, France Inter, france.tv, freedom of press, French politics, media, national public radio, overseas, regions on December 30, 2025 by xi'an
a journal of the chaos and hail year
Posted in Books, Kids, Mountains, pictures, Travel, Wines with tags Aomori, BBC, Black Plague, book reviews, Brandon Sanderson, buckwheat, COVID-19, Daniel Defoe, Edward Tufte, France Inter, green peas, hail, Jorge Luis Borges, Journal of the Plague Year, JR East, Paris, Roger Caillois, Russian invasion, Shinkansen, Stand Up To Trump, The Wheel of Time, Three Versions of Judas, Tokyo, Ukraine, USA, Venezia on May 27, 2025 by xi'an 
Read Ponce Pilate, a 1961 (!) short novel by the French writer Roger Caillois, that got (very positively) reviewed by Le Monde at the time. This is an uchrony that follows Pontius Pilate’s train (chariot?!) of thoughts as he considers the request by the Sanhedrin to crucify Jesus. Thanks to the book being mentioned with a morning press survey on France Inter, I went through this alternative history where Pilate dismiss the request and let Jesus free, who then dies of old age, with obvious consequences on the long-term future of Christian sects. The style is very pleasant and the revamping of Pilate as a weak stoic philosopher who eventually shows some (heavy) mettle most enjoyable. The reflection is mostly anachronic in the humanism, religious scepticism, and rationality of the character. There is also very little historical support for this vision of the man (whose end is unknown), but I did enjoy this celebration of free will and the refusal to commit a crime for the “greater good”. Some passages reminded me of Jorge Luis Borgès, whose Three Versions of Judas, published in 1944, presumably inspired Caillois, who also wrote a book on him. Maybe the essay was the final shove that made me give up on Stormlight Archives, by Brandon Sanderson, midway of the 1264 pages of Oathbringer, after I realised the trilogy was in fact a pentalogy! But also because finding myself more and more perturbed by a form of glorification of mass murder in the name of the “greater good”…
Made more “basic” salads with the growing offer from the local market. As well as stir fries of green peas while they last. And planted tomatoes and peppers, just before an hail storm tores through Paris (as shown by the huge volume of green leaves on the bike paths the next day). Fortunately, the storm skipped town and garden. Further dangers may still come to fruition before the plantations deliver, though. Same worry for the 20m² of buckwheat that have started to grow. (Just like last year, when they did not survive my fortnight in Venezia.)
Watched a silly movie around the Shinkansen, The Bullet Train Explosion, on a ride from Shin-Aomori to Tokyo, with a bomb threat that must be handled before arrival. Unrelentingly implausible, with the only appeal being the reproduction of the (antiquated?) General Control Center room. And the equally antiquated (but Tuftesque) timetables.
