THE WEIRD ROBERT F. KENNEDY, JR.

This is Day 33 of our cruise on the Norwegian Encore. Before writing about this trip, first, one comment about Donald Trump's expected, yet medically irrational selection of Robert F. Kennedy Jr as director of the Department of Health and Human Services. Why? From the New York Times this morning:

Trump picked Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. Kennedy has spread conspiracy theories and falsehoods about vaccines causing autism.
Kennedy, an environmental lawyer with no training in medicine or public health, would oversee the F.D.A., C.D.C., Medicare and Medicaid.

All these perplexing and historically outrageous selections by Trump

mean two things. He has total

control over the U.S. Senate, and

similarly, will have a heavy hand

on what they do in office.

Day 32 on the Norwegian Encore. Pre-dinner scotch at Mixx, then to Taste.

Corn soup with jalapeno and Country Fried Chicken.

Then to see the Beatles in their Sgt. Pepper performance in The Cavern Club.

Adda Band in the Atrium.

2266 steps on Day 32.

View of Zeebrugge from our veranda on Day 33.

Lunch.

Ice cream cone.

I will tomorrow report on the final stops of the Norwegian Encore.

Oh, why is RFK Jr weird? According to Forbes, it has to do with his fringe conspiracy theories.

From 2006 promoted the theory that the preservative thimerosal, which has largely been phased out of modern vaccine formulas, is responsible for a rise in autism diagnosis. Worse, the government knowlingly allowed the pharmaceutical industry to poison an entire generation of American children.

Claimed that Anthony Fauci and Bill Gates exaggerated the pandemic to promote vaccines. Further, the government spent hundreds of millions of dollars to ethnically target people in Russia and China.
Says that the FDA suppresses advancements in health.
Maybe this is where Trump got his notion, but Kennedy also promotes ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID-19. And the CDC will now report to him.

Says wireless technology like WiFi, and particularly 5G cellular networks, can cause cancer. and other illnesses. Has been disproven.
Believes that AIDS does not cause HIV.
Will stop including fluoride in U.S. public water systems. Fluoride, he says, causes, arthritis, bone fractures, bone cancer, IQ loss, neurodevelopmental disorders and thyroid disease. The only medical reality is that fluoride in water should reduce dental decay.

Indicates that mass shootings are linked to prescription drugs like Prozac. Not so, says science.
Convinced that in 2004, President G.W. Bush used voter fraud to steal the victory from John Kerry.
Convinced that the CIA was involved in the assassination of John F. Kennedy.
Has been married for a decade to Cheryl Hines, Curb star. Well, actually, nothing so weird about that.

Typhoon Man-Yi is strengthening. First formed as a tropical storm on November 9 to the east of the Philippines. Reached typhoon strength yesterday, November 14, and has zoomed up to 115 MPH today. Could reach 130 MPH tomorrow, which is a Category 4, making landfall later in the day over the middle of the country.

Two days ago, Typhoon Usagi was up to 150 MPH, brushed northern Philippines, headed for Taiwan, weakened to a bare typhoon today at 70 MPH, and will tomorrow become a tropical storm and make landfall south of Kaohsiung.

Tropical Storm Sara formed in the Caribbean Sea, brushed Honduras today at 50 MPH, and will make landfall over Belize tomorrow. Not expected to strengthen.

A NEXT COVID SUBVARIANT?

By now most know that the Omicron BA.5 subvariant has become the dominant infectious agent, now accounting for more than 80% of all COVID-19 cases. Very few are aware that a new one, BA.4.6, is sneaking in and steadily rising, now accounting for 13% of sequenced samples . However, as BA.4.6 has emerged from BA.4, while there is uncertainty, the scientific sense is that the latest bivalent booster targeting BA.4 and BA.5 should also be effective for this next threat. One concern is that Evusheld--the only monoclonal antibody authorized for COVID prevention in immunocompromised individuals--is not effective against BA.4.6. Here is a reference as to what this means. A series of two injections is involved. Evusheld was developed by British-Swedish company AstraZeneca, and is a t ixagevimab co-packaged with cilgavimab . More recently, Los Angeles County reported on subvariant BA.2.75.2 . which Tony Fauci termed suspicio...

Part 3: OUR NEXT AROUND THE WORLD ODYSSEY

Before I get into my third, and final, part of this cruise series, let me start with some more newsworthy topics. Thursday was my pandemic day for years. Thus, every so often I return to bring you up to date on the latest developments. All these subvariants derived from that Omicron variant, and each quickly became dominant, with slightly different symptoms. One of these will shock you. There has been a significant decline in the lost of taste and smell. From two-thirds of early patients to now only 10-20% show these symptoms. JN.1, now the dominant subvariant, results in mostly mild symptoms. However, once JN.1 infects some, there seem to be longer-lasting symptoms. Clearly, the latest booster helps prevent contracting Covid. A competing subvariant, BA.2.86, also known as Pirola , a month ago made a run, but JN.1 prevailed. No variant in particular, but research has shown that some of you will begin to lose hair for...

HONOLULU TO SEATTLE

The story of the day is Hurricane Milton, now a Category 4 at 145 MPH, with a track that has moved further south and the eye projected to make landfall just south of Sarasota. Good news for Tampa, which is 73 miles north. Milton will crash into Florida as a Category 4, and is huge, so a lot of problems can still be expected in Tampa Bay with storm surge. If the eye had crossed into the state just north of Tampa, the damage would have been catastrophic. Milton is a fast-moving storm, currently at 17 MPH, so as bad as the rainfall will be over Florida, again, a blessing. The eye will make landfall around 10PM EDT today, and will move into the Atlantic Ocean north of Palm Bay Thursday morning. My first trip to Seattle was in June of 1962 just after I graduated from Stanford University. Caught a bus. Was called the Century 21 Exposition . Also the Seattle World's Fair. 10 million joined me on a six-month run. My first. These a...

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