logo
Chris Pratt on family gatherings with RFK Jr.: ‘I'm not going to pick his brain'

Chris Pratt on family gatherings with RFK Jr.: ‘I'm not going to pick his brain'

The Hilla day ago
Chris Pratt, actor and husband to Katherine Schwarzenegger, said when he socializes with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at family functions, he doesn't 'pick his brain' about issues pertaining to his current position.
Speaking with Bill Maher on his 'Club Random' podcast, Pratt said he's 'spent a number of occasions hanging' with Kennedy.
'Just in a strictly you know family dinner kind of vibe and I really got along with him well.' said Pratt. 'I think he's great. I think he's funny. I like him. I love him.'
Schwarzenegger is a member of the Kennedy dynasty through her mother Maria Shriver, the daughter of Eunice Kennedy Shriver, who is also Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s aunt.
Quoting a bible verse, Pratt implied that the public perception of Kennedy is different from who he is due to his close association with President Trump.
'The person that you are can be sometimes in stark contrast to the person that your enemy is saying that you are. And in politics, you inherit enemies. And when you jump in on, you know, the bandwagon with who is, you know, the most divisive president ever, it makes sense that you're going to be made to look terrible,' said Pratt.
'I don't know what to believe 'cause it's not like I sit with Bobby and I go, 'So, hey, let's talk
about this. Let's talk.' It's like we're just playing cards or playing mafia or having fun or having dinner,' Pratt added. 'I'm not going to pick his brain to find out exactly which of those things are true. I just kind of assume that none of them are. And for the most part, I wish him well.'
Pratt expressed some support for Kennedy's goals, including 'getting terrible, toxic stuff out of our kids' food.'
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

MAGA, MAHA split on pesticides
MAGA, MAHA split on pesticides

The Hill

time4 hours ago

  • The Hill

MAGA, MAHA split on pesticides

MAHA, a movement aimed at tackling the nation's chronic disease epidemic through food, health and environmental reforms, has been deeply skeptical of Big Pharma, Big Agriculture, and Big Chemical. MAHA groups have been strongly aligned with the Trump administration's actions to date on vaccines and food. But cracks are beginning to form. MAHA-aligned groups and influencers are raising alarms about provisions in a House appropriations bill they say will shield pesticide and chemical manufacturers from accountability — and ultimately make Americans less healthy. Meanwhile, a draft of the administration's 'MAHA Report' on children's health reportedly omits any calls to prevent pesticide exposure, also disappointing advocates. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his disciples espouse stricter environmental protections, while also bucking mainstream science on vaccine safety. Conservatives have traditionally sided with big business, supporting fewer regulations on potentially toxic substances. So far, business interests appear to be winning. The industry-friendly draft of a report from a commission run by Kennedy shows just how much the White House has been able to rein him in. 'It's obvious that there are tensions within this newfound coalition between MAHA and MAGA, and there are some big issues there,' said Mary Holland, CEO of Children's Health Defense, an anti-vaccine group founded by Kennedy. While the pesticide issues have generated some sparks between MAHA and MAGA, the administration has taken a number of other actions to also reduce restrictions on the chemical industry more broadly. Trump himself exempted from environmental standards more than 100 polluters, including chemical manufacturers, oil refineries, coal plants and medical device sterilizers. The EPA, meanwhile, has put chemical industry alumni in leading roles and has said it wants to loosen restrictions on emissions of various cancer-linked chemicals. 'Those factions, if you will — more protective of corporate and more challenging to corporate — are both striving to get the president's ear, and I don't think they've come to a complete, sort of settlement agreement,' Holland said.

RFK Jr. Revealed Why He Wears Jeans To Work Out
RFK Jr. Revealed Why He Wears Jeans To Work Out

Buzz Feed

time7 hours ago

  • Buzz Feed

RFK Jr. Revealed Why He Wears Jeans To Work Out

Fox News' Jesse Watters hit Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. with what he described as 'the question that everybody is wondering about' on Tuesday. Namely, 'Why do you wear jeans when you work out?' Kennedy, known for exercising in his literal (denim) sweatpants, answered: 'Well, I just started doing that a long time ago because I would go hiking in the morning and then I'd go straight to the gym and I found it was convenient and now I'm used to it so I just do it.' 'OK,' the Fox News host replied to the vaccine skeptic that President Donald Trump has entrusted with his 'Make America Healthy Again' agenda. 'There were a lot of theories, but that makes perfect sense,' Watters claimed, without offering to explain the sense he claimed there was. Fox News / Via Watch here: Jesse Watters: "Why do you wear jeans when you work out." RFK Jr: "Well, I just started doing that a long time ago... I would go hiking in the morning and then i'd go straight to the gym." Robert F. Kennedy Jr. explains why he was wearing jeans during the "Pete and Bobby… — Fox News (@FoxNews) August 20, 2025 Fox News/X / Via

Mistrust in CDC shooting's wake
Mistrust in CDC shooting's wake

Politico

time8 hours ago

  • Politico

Mistrust in CDC shooting's wake

AROUND THE AGENCIES More than 750 Health and Human Services staffers signed a letter sent to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and members of Congress this morning, warning that he's 'endangering the nation's health by repeatedly spreading inaccurate health information.' A shooting at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Atlanta headquarters on Aug. 8 was not random, the letter says. The suspected shooter, who law enforcement said was motivated by his distrust of the Covid-19 vaccine, fired multiple rounds into four buildings on the CDC's Atlanta campus. No CDC employees were injured. The shooter died at the scene after shooting and killing a DeKalb County police officer. 'The attack came amid growing mistrust in public institutions, driven by politicized rhetoric that has turned public health professionals from trusted experts into targets of villainization — and now, violence,' the letter warns. Kennedy's actions endanger public health, they argue, pointing to Kennedy referring to the CDC as a 'cesspool of corruption,' saying mRNA vaccines failed to effectively protect against Covid-19 and the flu and then canceling $500 million in mRNA vaccine development projects, and disbanding the CDC's panel of vaccine experts and appointing replacements, some of whom have expressed skepticism about vaccines. 'These dangerous and deceitful statements and actions have contributed to the harassment and violence experienced by CDC staff,' the letter says. In addition to HHS staffers who signed anonymously or with their full names, former CDC officials joined the letter, including Dr. Anne Schuchat, a former top official' James Mercy, who directed the CDC's violence prevention division; Tom Simon, who led scientific programs for the violence prevention division; Jay Butler, former deputy director for infectious diseases; and Dr. Barbara Marston, who helped lead the agency's Ebola response. HHS did not respond to POLITICO's request for comment on the letter. Key context: The letter comes after hundreds of NIH staffers sent Director Jay Bhattacharya a letter in June, laying out their concerns about the delay and termination of grants, staff firings and a spending slowdown since President Donald Trump's inauguration. Nobel laureates, former NIH Institute and program directors and other leaders in the scientific community also signed the missive. Bhattacharya, who has said that free speech is among his policy priorities, met with a small group of staffers in July to hear their concerns. At the meeting, he pledged not to retaliate against those who signed the letter, which was modeled after the Great Barrington Declaration that Bhattacharya co-authored in 2020 to protest pandemic lockdowns. What's next: Staffers' request to Kennedy: Stop spreading misleading information about vaccines and affirm the CDC's scientific integrity. They also want Kennedy to guarantee the safety of the HHS workforce by ensuring HHS has fully functional emergency procedures and alerts. Kennedy should also take 'vigorous action to remove high-profile online material targeting the federal workforce, such as the widely seen 'DEI watchlists,'' they added, referring to a website run by the conservative nonprofit American Accountability Foundation, which posts names and photos of federal employees online. The foundation says the watchlist highlights the prevalence of diversity, equity and inclusion roles in government. Critics say it invites online harassment of private citizens. The HHS staffers asked their boss to take action by Sept. 2. WELCOME TO FUTURE PULSE This is where we explore the ideas and innovators shaping health care. AI scribe companies promise to help doctors bill more. The result will likely be higher health care costs that trickle down to patients, Stat News reports. Share any thoughts, news, tips and feedback Ruth Reader at rreader@ or Erin Schumaker at eschumaker@ Want to share a tip securely? Message us on Signal: RuthReader.02 or ErinSchumaker.01. FUTURE THREATS The artificial intelligence boom is ushering in chatbots that act — more and more — like people, our POLITICO colleague Aaron Mak reports. OpenAI's GPT-4.5 can ace the Turing Test, which evaluates whether a machine can fool a user into thinking it's human. The bots also serve as therapists, and, at least in one case, a bot got engaged to a human. Increasingly lifelike large language models are both a technological marvel and a conundrum for laws designed to regulate flesh-and-blood people. With growing worries about AI's harms, from emotional manipulation to addictiveness, how do you assign liability to something that seems to have so much autonomy? The anxieties were brought to a head last week when Reuters reported that Meta's internal policies permitted its AI to 'engage a child in conversations that are romantic or sensual.' Where Congress stands: The revelation triggered a bipartisan furor in Congress, POLITICO's Morning Tech reported this week. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) said Meta 'has failed miserably' to protect children, and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) accused the company of being 'morally and ethically off the rails.' Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) also launched an investigation into Meta on Friday. The company did not respond to POLITICO's request for comment. But all these calls for regulation raise the question: Who or what, exactly, do you regulate? It might not seem obvious that a company should be liable for its chatbots — each AI 'personality' adapts its responses based on interactions with a user, so they can act in unpredictable ways. But if you view chatbots as products instead of synthetic people, the regulatory problem becomes a bit more familiar. Even if a company doesn't have an explicit policy allowing chatbots to engage in unhealthy conversations with children, for example, you can still require safety features to proactively mitigate such behaviors. Ava Smithing, advocacy director at the Young People's Alliance, a youth advocacy group, told POLITICO, 'It's not about regulating a fake person, it's about regulating the real people who are deciding what that fake person can or cannot say.' Congress hasn't proposed any laws to regulate AI companions. In the meantime, advocates are trying to apply existing product liability laws to restrain these anthropomorphic chatbots. In the courts: In a landmark case that will set a major precedent in AI law, a Florida family is suing over a chatbot that allegedly formed a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old boy, leading to his suicide. Matthew Bergman, the family's attorney, is tackling AI by adapting product liability strategies he picked up representing asbestos victims. Bergman makes a novel argument in the suit that intentionally designed its chatbots to be so lifelike that they could emotionally exploit users to get hooked on its service. He's also contending that it was foreseeable that the bots would threaten young users' mental health. A federal judge in Florida rejected bid to dismiss the suit in May. The company declined to comment on the litigation but told POLITICO that it's implemented new safety measures for young users. The court held a discovery hearing in the case last week. In the states: Without a serious effort from Congress, states have been taking the lead on chatbot regulations. New York enacted a law in May requiring an AI companion to send regular reminders that it's not human and refer users to crisis centers if they're at risk of hurting themselves. California is considering a bill to prohibit companion chatbots from rewarding young users at unpredictable intervals, a trick that slot machines use to keep gamblers addicted. Lawmakers in Hawaii are also looking at legislation to restrict chatbots that mimic humans for advertising.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store