It's all about deflecting blame from himself in a way maximally helpful to his filthy, lying campaign.
Trump administration draws up plans to punish China over coronavirus outbreak
The Duce is publicly insisting, contrary to expert and intelligence opinion (and by the way he has coerced the DNI into reversing course on this in less than a day), that the virus came from a lab in Wuhan and was released to the whole world either by accident (and hence by horrific incompetence, he says) or by intention.
He is really cranking it up even as others in the campaign and elsewhere do their best to stick China to Joe Biden's forehead with more bullshit about his kid.
Thursday, April 30, 2020
Not one satisfies official government criteria for readiness to open
Most US states will begin reopening within days
At least 31 states will partially reopen over the next few days as a patchwork of coronavirus response plans that vary from one state to the next goes into effect.
At least 31 states will partially reopen over the next few days as a patchwork of coronavirus response plans that vary from one state to the next goes into effect.
A moment in a day
Called Norma, this morning, so each of us would know the other was OK. We both live alone, now.
Wrote checks for bills and made sure to write some for my wife, Judy's, favorites charities.
Drove off to the post office, to the gas station to fill up, to the distributor for some beer, to the bank, and then to the grocery store.
Four trips from the car to the house to unload.
On the last trip I noticed, dark and rainy day though it was, that the ornamental pear tree in the front yard is just beginning to bloom.
I thought I would tell Judy, who would smile; she always took pleasure in the small beauties of life.
But before even completing the thought, which of course made me smile, too, I recalled she passed in late February, on the 21st, a week to the day after coming home.
There were so many things we shared, so many things we told each other of to be happy together, that things like this are always happening.
On the drive up to the bank, for example, since it's the same road, I though of driving out to the SNF she was at to see her as I did before she came home on Valentine's Day.
I would drive out every day and park in the lot and walk in to find her in her wheelchair somewhere, or at the therapists', or waiting for me in the dining room or in her own room, where we would smile and say hi, and hug and tell each other we loved each other.
And at the traffic signal, waiting to make a left to head for the bank and not the SNF, my eves got all wet and I told her in my heart I missed her desperately.
As I am telling her, wet eyed, right now.
Wrote checks for bills and made sure to write some for my wife, Judy's, favorites charities.
Drove off to the post office, to the gas station to fill up, to the distributor for some beer, to the bank, and then to the grocery store.
Four trips from the car to the house to unload.
On the last trip I noticed, dark and rainy day though it was, that the ornamental pear tree in the front yard is just beginning to bloom.
I thought I would tell Judy, who would smile; she always took pleasure in the small beauties of life.
But before even completing the thought, which of course made me smile, too, I recalled she passed in late February, on the 21st, a week to the day after coming home.
There were so many things we shared, so many things we told each other of to be happy together, that things like this are always happening.
On the drive up to the bank, for example, since it's the same road, I though of driving out to the SNF she was at to see her as I did before she came home on Valentine's Day.
I would drive out every day and park in the lot and walk in to find her in her wheelchair somewhere, or at the therapists', or waiting for me in the dining room or in her own room, where we would smile and say hi, and hug and tell each other we loved each other.
And at the traffic signal, waiting to make a left to head for the bank and not the SNF, my eves got all wet and I told her in my heart I missed her desperately.
As I am telling her, wet eyed, right now.
Pressured to get the desired answer instead of the one they actually got
US intelligence agencies under pressure to link coronavirus to Chinese labs
I am forced to recall that GW and his White House gang pressured intelligence services to publicly support baseless claims contrary to best evidence that Saddam Hussein was making and stockpiling WMD.
And then they used that idea to justify invading Iraq to get rid of the government Bush pere had had the good sense to leave in power.
Is it only Republicans who thus corrupt the intelligence apparatus?
Well, no.
Bay of Tonkin.
Update.
The office of the director of national intelligence has released an unusual statement saying officials do not believe coronavirus was manmade, echoing many health experts.
“The Intelligence Community also concurs with the wide scientific consensus that the COVID-19 virus was not manmade or genetically modified,” the statement reads.
The statement added, “The IC will continue to rigorously examine emerging information and intelligence to determine whether the outbreak began through contact with infected animals or if it was the result of an accident at a laboratory in Wuhan.”
I am forced to recall that GW and his White House gang pressured intelligence services to publicly support baseless claims contrary to best evidence that Saddam Hussein was making and stockpiling WMD.
And then they used that idea to justify invading Iraq to get rid of the government Bush pere had had the good sense to leave in power.
Is it only Republicans who thus corrupt the intelligence apparatus?
Well, no.
Bay of Tonkin.
Update.
The office of the director of national intelligence has released an unusual statement saying officials do not believe coronavirus was manmade, echoing many health experts.
“The Intelligence Community also concurs with the wide scientific consensus that the COVID-19 virus was not manmade or genetically modified,” the statement reads.
The statement added, “The IC will continue to rigorously examine emerging information and intelligence to determine whether the outbreak began through contact with infected animals or if it was the result of an accident at a laboratory in Wuhan.”
The Duce still doesn't get it
The jobless and GDP numbers the other day filled him with rage at those who released them as well as those who reported them.
He remains obsessed with economic numbers and as indifferent as he is allowed to be by aides and others to the pandemic numbers.
He continues to see the virus as bad mostly if not only because it has prevented glowing economic numbers that he continues to believe are the unique determining factor for his reelection, and his reelection remains his highest goal.
He continues to refuse the be the virus Czar and to refuse to truly allow that role to Pence or anyone else.
His unique response to the virus is denial, push it away, reject blame, reject responsibility, blame it on China and Joe Biden.
He can certainly blame the economic bad news on the impact of the virus and the steps needed to cope with it,
But instead with nearly every word he delegitimates those steps and the work of his own public health and medical experts, so that leaves those steps a valid basis for blame that has to be directed to someone other than him.
So instead of taking credit for a national effort he blames almost everything that's been done of a serious and legitimate nature to deal with the virus on the deep state, on Democrats, on fake news, and on his media enemies.
He is far, far worse than useless.
Lately he and his White House team are telling America it will all be over soon and America will be entirely back to normal by the end of June.
Claims that have no basis in fact and no credibility at all.
He remains obsessed with economic numbers and as indifferent as he is allowed to be by aides and others to the pandemic numbers.
He continues to see the virus as bad mostly if not only because it has prevented glowing economic numbers that he continues to believe are the unique determining factor for his reelection, and his reelection remains his highest goal.
He continues to refuse the be the virus Czar and to refuse to truly allow that role to Pence or anyone else.
His unique response to the virus is denial, push it away, reject blame, reject responsibility, blame it on China and Joe Biden.
He can certainly blame the economic bad news on the impact of the virus and the steps needed to cope with it,
But instead with nearly every word he delegitimates those steps and the work of his own public health and medical experts, so that leaves those steps a valid basis for blame that has to be directed to someone other than him.
So instead of taking credit for a national effort he blames almost everything that's been done of a serious and legitimate nature to deal with the virus on the deep state, on Democrats, on fake news, and on his media enemies.
He is far, far worse than useless.
Lately he and his White House team are telling America it will all be over soon and America will be entirely back to normal by the end of June.
Claims that have no basis in fact and no credibility at all.
The briefings America deserves but has never had
On MSNBC a medical expert was on explaining what real daily medical briefings on the virus would be like.
They would be like fresh air.
Trump has never allowed them and now what he's doing is worse.
Johns Hopkins or some other authoritative non-governmental source has to host the real thing with the best people, and cable news needs to give them, not Trump, live full coverage.
We know we need this.
The medical establishment and the news organizations know we need this.
So will they do it?
They would be like fresh air.
Trump has never allowed them and now what he's doing is worse.
Johns Hopkins or some other authoritative non-governmental source has to host the real thing with the best people, and cable news needs to give them, not Trump, live full coverage.
We know we need this.
The medical establishment and the news organizations know we need this.
So will they do it?
Wednesday, April 29, 2020
Shifting nightmares
For weeks after she passed in February I had nightmares about my late wife's long hospitalization and death.
But in recent weeks it has shifted.
Nightmares now are sometimes about getting Covid-19 but more often about a virus apocalypse, about the virus unraveling civilization all around the world.
About the food chain and all supply chains breaking down and, most frighteningly, about the Internet going down and even the power going out.
And staying out.
But in recent weeks it has shifted.
Nightmares now are sometimes about getting Covid-19 but more often about a virus apocalypse, about the virus unraveling civilization all around the world.
About the food chain and all supply chains breaking down and, most frighteningly, about the Internet going down and even the power going out.
And staying out.
Tuesday, April 28, 2020
The fourth season of Money Heist is excellent
Also good are the most recent Bosch and The Expanse.
You wouldn't believe how much TV I have watched and how much weight I have gained this spring.
You wouldn't believe how much TV I have watched and how much weight I have gained this spring.
Why take medical advice from the guy who suggested injecting Lysol into the lungs of patients?
Bozo the stable genius knows so much better than trained epidemiologists.
Just saw a clip on MSNBC.
He suggests because the disease hits kids less hard we should open schools soon.
But schools are cesspools of infection.
Kids go to school and get sick and take it home to the whole family, including the dog.
And including Pappy and Grammy.
Want to skyrocket contagion and the death count?
Send the kids back to school too soon and with the Duce's own Alfred E. Newman insouciance.
Just saw a clip on MSNBC.
He suggests because the disease hits kids less hard we should open schools soon.
But schools are cesspools of infection.
Kids go to school and get sick and take it home to the whole family, including the dog.
And including Pappy and Grammy.
Want to skyrocket contagion and the death count?
Send the kids back to school too soon and with the Duce's own Alfred E. Newman insouciance.
Why we can't cope
America is so far from being Number 1 that we are the worst at coping with the coronavirus of all the world's richer countries.
The worst at testing, the worst at limiting contagion, the worst at keeping down deaths, the worst at limiting damage to our economy, the worst at delivering every from of relief except loot for giant corporations and Republican donors, and all for the same reason.
Republicans in office don't want any of this to work, and so they engage in manifold forms of sabotage from deliberate ineptitude to endless delay to refusal to act at all.
And the worst offender is Bozo.
The worst at testing, the worst at limiting contagion, the worst at keeping down deaths, the worst at limiting damage to our economy, the worst at delivering every from of relief except loot for giant corporations and Republican donors, and all for the same reason.
Republicans in office don't want any of this to work, and so they engage in manifold forms of sabotage from deliberate ineptitude to endless delay to refusal to act at all.
And the worst offender is Bozo.
Monday, April 27, 2020
So why is he Blondie?
Eastwood in The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.
His hair and beard are medium brown.
What's coming, per MSNBC at about 5:30 pm.
Trump pressers without doctors, who will be henceforth mostly invisible.
Not briefings by the docs with their sound advice and factual info without Trump and his deadly bad advice, lies, and bullshit, as we were led even this morning to expect, but the exact opposite.
Business leaders and economists and the like as guest speakers, even when the topics are testing and provision of PPE and ventilators and the like.
Bragging about what a great job they are doing and will do.
None of those whiny doctors bitching about what is missing, what is needed but not available, what is still, after two months, not happening, and how many people all those delays and shortfalls are killing.
I can't imagine anyone told him this would be a good idea because I can't imagine anyone would have believed it would be a good idea.
So far today (5:54 pm) it's been one punk corporate asshole after another - about 10 so far, from Rite Aide, Walgreen's, and various producers and retailers - praising his own employees and what a great job they are doing and will be doing and gee we're swell and it's all going to be swell and great.
Enormous pressure and governors yielding rollbacks without testing, since Trump's administration still insists they are not going to enable national testing at levels the medicos say are necessary for the rollback to be safe.
So, he's going to do what I said he would weeks ago.
The docs have been pushed off stage and he's going to do everything he can to force the governors to open up completely blind so neither the public health officials nor anyone else will see the immediate, huge, deadly impact of going along with the stupid.
Up to now, networks have resisted calls to deny live coverage to Trump's daily Coronavirus briefings that were really almost entirely campaign events and propaganda fests for Bozo's endless irate bullshit on the plea that America needed to hear from the medicos.
And so now?
When it's just brag, lie, and blame?
He kept Birx, growing ever more fully into her medical cheerleader role!
Not briefings by the docs with their sound advice and factual info without Trump and his deadly bad advice, lies, and bullshit, as we were led even this morning to expect, but the exact opposite.
Business leaders and economists and the like as guest speakers, even when the topics are testing and provision of PPE and ventilators and the like.
Bragging about what a great job they are doing and will do.
None of those whiny doctors bitching about what is missing, what is needed but not available, what is still, after two months, not happening, and how many people all those delays and shortfalls are killing.
I can't imagine anyone told him this would be a good idea because I can't imagine anyone would have believed it would be a good idea.
So far today (5:54 pm) it's been one punk corporate asshole after another - about 10 so far, from Rite Aide, Walgreen's, and various producers and retailers - praising his own employees and what a great job they are doing and will be doing and gee we're swell and it's all going to be swell and great.
Enormous pressure and governors yielding rollbacks without testing, since Trump's administration still insists they are not going to enable national testing at levels the medicos say are necessary for the rollback to be safe.
So, he's going to do what I said he would weeks ago.
The docs have been pushed off stage and he's going to do everything he can to force the governors to open up completely blind so neither the public health officials nor anyone else will see the immediate, huge, deadly impact of going along with the stupid.
Up to now, networks have resisted calls to deny live coverage to Trump's daily Coronavirus briefings that were really almost entirely campaign events and propaganda fests for Bozo's endless irate bullshit on the plea that America needed to hear from the medicos.
And so now?
When it's just brag, lie, and blame?
He kept Birx, growing ever more fully into her medical cheerleader role!
What do we actually face? What about that rollback?
Even leaving aside the fact that in the fall we will have the flu to contend with.
Recently we have read of studies indicating our estimates of how many have or have had the disease are drastically wrong, and that the true number of infections, looking at several reports, could be from 20 to 85 times the official numbers, at least in the US.
And if that's true then, even if the virus dead, as some recent studies suggest, are half again more numerous than has been thought - so make the numerator half again more - the number of infected could be at least 20 times greater than thought - so make the denominator 20 times greater.
So multiply the currently accepted lethality guesstimate by 1.5/20 = 0.075 and you get not 5% or 10 % but 0.375 % to 0.75 %.
I don't really believe the numbers are truly that low, but if we're looking at studies of mortality we have to look at studies of the extent of infection, too.
We are really still way in the dark both about how many are and have been sick and about how many have been killed by this bug, and we can all thank Bozo and the idiotic Republican Party for not giving the US the vast testing program we needed two months ago and have needed every day since.
And still, given we have no vaccine and no natural immunity at least among the uninfected, we could end up with a very high rate of infection in our population if we rollback our precautions too quickly or too soon.
Infections might eventually run as high as 50 % or more.
And that would be 320,000,000 people X 0.5 (infection rate) X 0.005 (maybe the rate of lethality) = 800,000 dead Americans.
Not a great outcome.
And if the WHO is right and there turns out to be little or no natural immunity so the same virus in the same season gets to try to kill you again and again?
So that figure of 800,000 dead is actually too low to a completely unknown degree?
And what would that say about the ultimate possibility and efficacy of a vaccine?
Jeez.
None of which at all diminishes the urgency of getting rid of the dangerously stupid man in the White House and the malignantly stupid party that supports him.
Recently we have read of studies indicating our estimates of how many have or have had the disease are drastically wrong, and that the true number of infections, looking at several reports, could be from 20 to 85 times the official numbers, at least in the US.
And if that's true then, even if the virus dead, as some recent studies suggest, are half again more numerous than has been thought - so make the numerator half again more - the number of infected could be at least 20 times greater than thought - so make the denominator 20 times greater.
So multiply the currently accepted lethality guesstimate by 1.5/20 = 0.075 and you get not 5% or 10 % but 0.375 % to 0.75 %.
I don't really believe the numbers are truly that low, but if we're looking at studies of mortality we have to look at studies of the extent of infection, too.
We are really still way in the dark both about how many are and have been sick and about how many have been killed by this bug, and we can all thank Bozo and the idiotic Republican Party for not giving the US the vast testing program we needed two months ago and have needed every day since.
And still, given we have no vaccine and no natural immunity at least among the uninfected, we could end up with a very high rate of infection in our population if we rollback our precautions too quickly or too soon.
Infections might eventually run as high as 50 % or more.
And that would be 320,000,000 people X 0.5 (infection rate) X 0.005 (maybe the rate of lethality) = 800,000 dead Americans.
Not a great outcome.
And if the WHO is right and there turns out to be little or no natural immunity so the same virus in the same season gets to try to kill you again and again?
So that figure of 800,000 dead is actually too low to a completely unknown degree?
And what would that say about the ultimate possibility and efficacy of a vaccine?
Jeez.
None of which at all diminishes the urgency of getting rid of the dangerously stupid man in the White House and the malignantly stupid party that supports him.
Better he should play golf or cut out paper dolls
Instead he'll be trying to push for quick rollback.
White House Wants Trump To Pivot From Coronavirus To The Economy
After two months of frantic response to the coronavirus, the White House is planning to shift President Donald Trump’s public focus to the burgeoning efforts aimed at easing the economic devastation caused by the pandemic.
. . . .
[N]ew Republican Party polling shows Trump’s path to a second term depends on the public’s perception of how quickly the economic rebounds from the state-by-state shutdowns meant to slow the spread of the virus.
White House Wants Trump To Pivot From Coronavirus To The Economy
After two months of frantic response to the coronavirus, the White House is planning to shift President Donald Trump’s public focus to the burgeoning efforts aimed at easing the economic devastation caused by the pandemic.
. . . .
[N]ew Republican Party polling shows Trump’s path to a second term depends on the public’s perception of how quickly the economic rebounds from the state-by-state shutdowns meant to slow the spread of the virus.
Brit Populist leader seems to have learned from personal experience
Boris Johnson Gives Lockdown Warning In First Speech Since Recovering From COVID-19
Has it been a while since Trump said anything good about him?
Since he said anything good about Trump?
I think.
Look how few have been the infections and deaths in the UK.
And still Boris is trying to put the brakes on the movement to rollback precautions and physical isolation.
Compare that with our own populist leader's position.
Boris Johnson has used his first public appearance since recovering from COVID-19 to warn that lifting the coronavirus lockdown too soon would risk “a new wave of death and disease.”
Speaking in Downing Street on Monday morning hours after his return to work, the prime minister said the UK was “beginning to turn the tide” against the virus.
But he said this was “the moment of maximum risk” and not the time “to go easy” on social distancing as it would “throw away all the effort and sacrifice of the British people” and risk a second peak.
Drawing on his own battle with the virus, which put him in intensive care, he said: “If this virus were a physical assailant, an unexpected and invisible mugger – which I can tell you from personal experience, it is – then this is the moment when we have begun together to wrestle it to the floor.
“And so it follows that this is the moment of opportunity, this is the moment when we can press home our advantage. It is also the moment of maximum risk.
. . . .
Sientists advising the government have warned any relaxation risks a renewed flare up just as the number of patients in hospital with the disease is beginning to fall.
Over the weekend, ministers highlighted a warning by Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey about the economic devastation a second wave of the disease would cause.
Johnson has less than a fortnight before the next major decision point comes up, with a three-week review of the lockdown restrictions due on May 7.
The UK has seen more than 154,000 confirmed coronavirus cases, with more than 20,000 deaths.
Has it been a while since Trump said anything good about him?
Since he said anything good about Trump?
I think.
Look how few have been the infections and deaths in the UK.
And still Boris is trying to put the brakes on the movement to rollback precautions and physical isolation.
Compare that with our own populist leader's position.
Boris Johnson has used his first public appearance since recovering from COVID-19 to warn that lifting the coronavirus lockdown too soon would risk “a new wave of death and disease.”
Speaking in Downing Street on Monday morning hours after his return to work, the prime minister said the UK was “beginning to turn the tide” against the virus.
But he said this was “the moment of maximum risk” and not the time “to go easy” on social distancing as it would “throw away all the effort and sacrifice of the British people” and risk a second peak.
Drawing on his own battle with the virus, which put him in intensive care, he said: “If this virus were a physical assailant, an unexpected and invisible mugger – which I can tell you from personal experience, it is – then this is the moment when we have begun together to wrestle it to the floor.
“And so it follows that this is the moment of opportunity, this is the moment when we can press home our advantage. It is also the moment of maximum risk.
. . . .
Sientists advising the government have warned any relaxation risks a renewed flare up just as the number of patients in hospital with the disease is beginning to fall.
Over the weekend, ministers highlighted a warning by Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey about the economic devastation a second wave of the disease would cause.
Johnson has less than a fortnight before the next major decision point comes up, with a three-week review of the lockdown restrictions due on May 7.
The UK has seen more than 154,000 confirmed coronavirus cases, with more than 20,000 deaths.
Sunday, April 26, 2020
Please. It's for their good and his, not ours.
White House officials reportedly have been trying for some time to get Bozo to drop the daily Coronavirus briefings and go play golf, build model airplanes, or maybe cut out paper dolls.
They say that's to cut down on the media obscuring the valuable medical messages with distracting attacks on Bozo's dangerous stupidity, megalomania, and delusions of omnicompetence.
See? Sterling motives of public service.
But no.
The point is to hide the dangerous stupidity, megalomania, and delusions of omnicompetence.
That the media may instead focus on actual good medical information and advice is a nice side-effect.
They say that's to cut down on the media obscuring the valuable medical messages with distracting attacks on Bozo's dangerous stupidity, megalomania, and delusions of omnicompetence.
See? Sterling motives of public service.
But no.
The point is to hide the dangerous stupidity, megalomania, and delusions of omnicompetence.
That the media may instead focus on actual good medical information and advice is a nice side-effect.
Seen on a clip from Spain
Unmasked children turned loose to run and play with large numbers of other unmasked children.
And what will that lead to?
The kids will catch the virus, spread it among themselves, and take it home to all their parents and grandparents.
No?
And what will that lead to?
The kids will catch the virus, spread it among themselves, and take it home to all their parents and grandparents.
No?
Is the food supply safe?
Food processing plants and butcheries are closing all over the place because their employees have a high rate of infection.
Not that the government of China is great, but . . . .
This is about making as much of the China bogey as possible, and that's about the propaganda against Joe Biden.
Tom Cotton Wants To Ban Science For Chinese Students So They Can't 'Steal' COVID-19 Vaccine
Tom Cotton Wants To Ban Science For Chinese Students So They Can't 'Steal' COVID-19 Vaccine
Happy St Patty's Day!
I missed it so I'm doing it late.
Just the beef, potatoes, and cabbage boiled together with the seasonings supplied in a little packet with the brisket by Giant Eagle.
Having nobody over and I live alone, now.
So plenty of leftover meals for me, and even so I plan to give away about a quarter of the cooked result to a friend of my late wife's who has become a friend of mine.
She can do a drive by to pick it up in a container for consumption at home.
Just the beef, potatoes, and cabbage boiled together with the seasonings supplied in a little packet with the brisket by Giant Eagle.
Having nobody over and I live alone, now.
So plenty of leftover meals for me, and even so I plan to give away about a quarter of the cooked result to a friend of my late wife's who has become a friend of mine.
She can do a drive by to pick it up in a container for consumption at home.
Watching CBS Sunday Morning.
Why would anyone watch MSNBC on a Sunday?
Just saw Jim Gaffigan's brief bit.
And then a story about Hart Island under pressure, burying five times as many as in normal times.
Not a big island.
CBS Sunday Morning always did have a special, New York City flavor to it.
All cop shows and some others set in the city make it seem a giant trash heap inhabited only by brutal police, repulsive low-lifes, and dangerous criminals.
But some shows made and make it seem a very human and livable and special city, the cultural capital of America (and I mean that in a good sense).
(The 9/11 terrorists didn't understand America or the America Americans love. They hit the World Trade Center. They ignored the Statue of Liberty. Thank God. Or Grid, at your preference.)
CBS Sunday Morning among them.
Jane Pauley oddly reminds me of Charles Osgood.
And, oddly, White Collar.
Just saw Jim Gaffigan's brief bit.
And then a story about Hart Island under pressure, burying five times as many as in normal times.
Not a big island.
CBS Sunday Morning always did have a special, New York City flavor to it.
All cop shows and some others set in the city make it seem a giant trash heap inhabited only by brutal police, repulsive low-lifes, and dangerous criminals.
But some shows made and make it seem a very human and livable and special city, the cultural capital of America (and I mean that in a good sense).
(The 9/11 terrorists didn't understand America or the America Americans love. They hit the World Trade Center. They ignored the Statue of Liberty. Thank God. Or Grid, at your preference.)
CBS Sunday Morning among them.
Jane Pauley oddly reminds me of Charles Osgood.
And, oddly, White Collar.
More about Birx and my demand that she resign
Update:
It's not just me and a few medicos on TV irate that she defends and covers for Bozo, any more.
Fauci is soft on Trump in the briefings but more (but not entirely) frank when interviewed elsewhere, and that's quite bad enough, thanks.
But Birx is on his team, committed to covering for him and making apologies for his idiocies.
Tapper was actually too easy on her and understated the damage she is doing, and note how she pushed back, attempting to discredit his pointing to the dangerous idiocy of the president and her dangerous covering for him by subtly blaming him for distracting from what, according to her, was clearly his real job and moral responsibility, passing on good medical information to the American people.
White House spokespeople or Fox apologists couldn't have done it better, and certainly would not have seemed to be so authoritative and deserving of deference as she did.
A little more of this and maybe everyone will see she's a White House collaborator hiding in the role of responsible adult in the room.
/Update.
Anyway, Piers Morgan, straw in the wind?
I posted these remarks at Steve M.'s.
Me to Steve.
It's not just me and a few medicos on TV irate that she defends and covers for Bozo, any more.
Fauci is soft on Trump in the briefings but more (but not entirely) frank when interviewed elsewhere, and that's quite bad enough, thanks.
But Birx is on his team, committed to covering for him and making apologies for his idiocies.
Tapper was actually too easy on her and understated the damage she is doing, and note how she pushed back, attempting to discredit his pointing to the dangerous idiocy of the president and her dangerous covering for him by subtly blaming him for distracting from what, according to her, was clearly his real job and moral responsibility, passing on good medical information to the American people.
White House spokespeople or Fox apologists couldn't have done it better, and certainly would not have seemed to be so authoritative and deserving of deference as she did.
A little more of this and maybe everyone will see she's a White House collaborator hiding in the role of responsible adult in the room.
/Update.
Anyway, Piers Morgan, straw in the wind?
I posted these remarks at Steve M.'s.
Me to Steve.
Dr Birx needs to resign and this is why.
She has joined the Trump team in the effort to hide his terrifying stupidity that, combined with his lunatic megalomania and delusions of omnicompetence, are killing Americans by the tens of thousands.Steve to me.
She's more actively engaged in defending Trump than Fauci is. That's not admirable. But it's not as if her departure would suddenly make the scales fall from Trump voters' eyes -- "Dr. Birx said he was a thoughtful man who's very interested in science, but now I see he's nothing but a fraud!" That will never happen -- if it's not happening after Disinfectantgate, then it can't happen under any circumstances. But at least we have reason to believe that Birx, like Fauci, is giving Trump good information, which he absorbs to a limited extent. It got him to take the virus somewhat seriously, eventually, at least for a couple of weeks. It kept him from insisting on a reopening on Easter Sunday. It persuaded him to reject Brian Kemp's reopening of Georgia (although by then the damage was already done). If Birx goes, she'll be replaced by Dr. Oz, or by some other quack Trump saw on Fox, or by some college poker buddy of Jared's. Her replacement will know absolutely nothing relevant to the crisis. The little Birx is able to do is better than the alternative.Me to Steve
Thank you for engaging.
If Birx goes and Bozo replaces her with that corrupt airhead and fraud, Oz, or someone else of that ilk, the country will see things more transparently stupid and frightening than even the Duce's Lysol moment.
And the adversarial press will become much more frank and harsh, and will give stories like the waste of resources and fatal mistreatment of patients that resulted from the Orange Moron's delusions concerning chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine more and harsher coverage.
And they will hammer home that at least half the virus deaths in the US up to now are completely and only Trump's fault.
Many of Bozo's GOP supporters in positions of power and influence on GOP public opinion will freak.
That will certainly include GOP federal office holders, White House staff, and cabinet members, none of whom can even now have the tiniest jot of respect for this insane and stupid brat.
Their loyalty to him is thin and entirely opportunist, anyway, based on the fact that vile person and idiot though he is he will sign their legislation, appoint their juges, and give the hard right what they want.
And we need them to freak, especially if you and others are right that there is a real danger he will postpone or cancel the elections or ignore their results as "fake news".
We have to ensure that public support, and support among the classe politique, for any of that would be as close to nil as possible, and public opposition would be as fierce as possible.
So at least half his base has to freak, to go all weak in the knees, if not to desert him outright as soon as possible.
They haven't and won't abandon him for any other reason.
They need to see he puts everyone, and themselves and people like them in particular, in deadly danger.
If Birx and others stay on, shielding him and his public image and pretending his utterly stupid suggestions and actual orders to the medical establishment are not wasting time and resources and causing extra deaths, that will not happen.
And if his base stays true blue, given the way things are going, our goose is cooked and that terrifying fathead will be reelected in November.
Anyway I fear this is true.
And "fear" is exactly the right word.
Sorry to go on so long.
This has got to stop!
I've gained twenty pounds in the last month and a half.
Not enough exercise.
But mostly, living all day and all night way too close to the kitchen.
Not enough exercise.
But mostly, living all day and all night way too close to the kitchen.
She says he sexually assaulted her 27 years ago
What are we supposed to do about it?
What is Biden supposed to do?
People came forward against Kavanaugh and Bork to stop them getting the jobs they sought.
So now?
Republicans and Libertarians and likely some Bernie or Green Party supporters seem to be pushing this story, demanding but not yet getting it a role as the dominant story.
Tara Reade says Joe Biden sexually assaulted her in 1993
What is Biden supposed to do?
People came forward against Kavanaugh and Bork to stop them getting the jobs they sought.
So now?
Republicans and Libertarians and likely some Bernie or Green Party supporters seem to be pushing this story, demanding but not yet getting it a role as the dominant story.
Tara Reade says Joe Biden sexually assaulted her in 1993
Saturday, April 25, 2020
Oh, swell
'No Evidence' Yet That Recovered COVID-19 Patients Are Immune, WHO Says
The World Health Organization has pushed back against the theory that individuals can only catch the coronavirus once, as well as proposals for reopening society that are based on this supposed immunity.
In a scientific brief dated Friday, the United Nations agency said the idea that one-time infection can lead to immunity remains unproven and is thus unreliable as a foundation for the next phase of the world's response to the pandemic.
"Some governments have suggested that the detection of antibodies to the SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, could serve as the basis for an 'immunity passport' or 'risk-free certificate' that would enable individuals to travel or to return to work assuming that they are protected against re-infection," the WHO wrote.
"There is currently no evidence that people who have recovered from COVID-19 and have antibodies are protected from a second infection."
If the recovered really have no immunity there is no population immunity.
And what does that say about the possibility of a vaccine?
If one is even possible, how effective might it be?
If we have a vaccine but no natural immunity can we ever get all the way out of lockdown?
Or is this really the new normal?
And why is there no evidence?
No one interested enough to look for it, or devise a scheme of testing?
The World Health Organization has pushed back against the theory that individuals can only catch the coronavirus once, as well as proposals for reopening society that are based on this supposed immunity.
In a scientific brief dated Friday, the United Nations agency said the idea that one-time infection can lead to immunity remains unproven and is thus unreliable as a foundation for the next phase of the world's response to the pandemic.
"Some governments have suggested that the detection of antibodies to the SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, could serve as the basis for an 'immunity passport' or 'risk-free certificate' that would enable individuals to travel or to return to work assuming that they are protected against re-infection," the WHO wrote.
"There is currently no evidence that people who have recovered from COVID-19 and have antibodies are protected from a second infection."
If the recovered really have no immunity there is no population immunity.
And what does that say about the possibility of a vaccine?
If one is even possible, how effective might it be?
If we have a vaccine but no natural immunity can we ever get all the way out of lockdown?
Or is this really the new normal?
And why is there no evidence?
No one interested enough to look for it, or devise a scheme of testing?
She needs to quit and this is why
A perfectly good defense of that remark if it came from a five year old.
It didn't.
Followed with ridiculous flattery.
Both together intended to get between Americans and what they are seeing with their own eyes, Trump's terrifying combination of stupidity, megalomania, and delusions of omnicompetence.
She has joined the Trump White House team.
She's on board.
But she is not the only medical professional who needs to quit.
Reportedly, 40,000 health professionals have prescribed chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine for the first time ever since Bozo ordered it made available for Coronavirus patients.
Birx says Trump meant no harm
"You didn't believe the president was putting anybody in danger, did you?" Watters asked Birx.
"No, when [he] gets new information, he likes to talk that through out loud and really have that dialogue," Birx said.
"And so that's what dialogue he was having."
. . . .
Birx on Saturday suggested Trump may have just received the information before the press conference Thursday, saying "he was still digesting that information."
"The president has always put health and safety first," Birx said.
"I think you can see that in the way that he was supportive of slowing the spread guidelines, knew the impact that would have on the economy."
"Yet he realized that the health and safety of Americans was his number one interest and responsibility," Birx added.
"And that's what he did first and continues to do as we begin to open up."
It didn't.
Followed with ridiculous flattery.
Both together intended to get between Americans and what they are seeing with their own eyes, Trump's terrifying combination of stupidity, megalomania, and delusions of omnicompetence.
She has joined the Trump White House team.
She's on board.
But she is not the only medical professional who needs to quit.
Reportedly, 40,000 health professionals have prescribed chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine for the first time ever since Bozo ordered it made available for Coronavirus patients.
Birx says Trump meant no harm
"You didn't believe the president was putting anybody in danger, did you?" Watters asked Birx.
"No, when [he] gets new information, he likes to talk that through out loud and really have that dialogue," Birx said.
"And so that's what dialogue he was having."
. . . .
Birx on Saturday suggested Trump may have just received the information before the press conference Thursday, saying "he was still digesting that information."
"The president has always put health and safety first," Birx said.
"I think you can see that in the way that he was supportive of slowing the spread guidelines, knew the impact that would have on the economy."
"Yet he realized that the health and safety of Americans was his number one interest and responsibility," Birx added.
"And that's what he did first and continues to do as we begin to open up."
Trump has already killed tens of thousands of Americans, and will keep on killing Americans just as long as he stays in the White House
Our 320 million people are 4 % of the world's 7.8 billion.
We account for 51,000 of the world's 200,000 Coronavirus dead.
That's 26 %.
How did that happen?
Donald Trump.
Time for Amendment 25.
We account for 51,000 of the world's 200,000 Coronavirus dead.
That's 26 %.
How did that happen?
Donald Trump.
Time for Amendment 25.
America's wet markets?
No idea what to make of Bill Maher's attacks on factory farming as a source of disease as deadly as wet markets.
True? Nonsense?
True? Nonsense?
They're so on top of it
I still don't have my relief payment.
I don't even have my tax refund, and H&R Block thought I'd have it two weeks ago.
I don't even have my tax refund, and H&R Block thought I'd have it two weeks ago.
That anyone still wants him . . . .
is shocking, disheartening, and enraging.
Even after his Lysol moment? Really?
Michigan conservatives hail protest success – and set sights on Trump's re-election
Even after his Lysol moment? Really?
Michigan conservatives hail protest success – and set sights on Trump's re-election
Only one tipping point matters
And this isn't it.
Debacle of Trump's coronavirus disinfectant comments could be tipping point
They mean a tipping point at which he stops holding the daily Donald Asshole show.
That may be, but it's not the tipping point that matters, although we may have got to that, as well, thanks to Bozo's oh so public and undeniable, undeniably stupid Lysol moment.
The tipping point that matters comes when the media stop treating Bozo with any lingering respect, at all.
When they start treating him as a far too stupid to be regarded as anything but a menace to the United States and the world.
When they dis him with every mention and push him aside and start running detailed specials and stories of how his stupidity has bungled the handling of the virus and killed thousands from the very beginning.
And his public support falls by at least half, with deserters at last realizing with proper horror and outrage that he is a wrecking ball costing lives and wasting billions, who has to go.
When that tipping point comes, if we are close to the election it will seal his fate and that of his stupid party of enablers.
If it comes earlier than that public demands that his cabinet and Pence get rid of him will come from ever more, and ever more well-paced and responsible and influential, people and will resonate very very well with the American people.
He needs to be stopped right now, or as soon as possible.
We cannot wait for the election.
Update.
His supporters will desert him for one reason only: they come to see him truly and it scares the hell out of them.
The Lysol moment was a step along the way and had the right effect on Piers Morgan, anyway.
Debacle of Trump's coronavirus disinfectant comments could be tipping point
They mean a tipping point at which he stops holding the daily Donald Asshole show.
That may be, but it's not the tipping point that matters, although we may have got to that, as well, thanks to Bozo's oh so public and undeniable, undeniably stupid Lysol moment.
The tipping point that matters comes when the media stop treating Bozo with any lingering respect, at all.
When they start treating him as a far too stupid to be regarded as anything but a menace to the United States and the world.
When they dis him with every mention and push him aside and start running detailed specials and stories of how his stupidity has bungled the handling of the virus and killed thousands from the very beginning.
And his public support falls by at least half, with deserters at last realizing with proper horror and outrage that he is a wrecking ball costing lives and wasting billions, who has to go.
When that tipping point comes, if we are close to the election it will seal his fate and that of his stupid party of enablers.
If it comes earlier than that public demands that his cabinet and Pence get rid of him will come from ever more, and ever more well-paced and responsible and influential, people and will resonate very very well with the American people.
He needs to be stopped right now, or as soon as possible.
We cannot wait for the election.
Update.
His supporters will desert him for one reason only: they come to see him truly and it scares the hell out of them.
The Lysol moment was a step along the way and had the right effect on Piers Morgan, anyway.
The Republican Plan
Trillions without a murmur for corporations and not enough for the little guy.
And nothing at all for states and locales.
And nothing at all for states and locales.
Every dollar wasted on this and every extra death is down to Bozo
So many deaths are down to Bozo, and so many will be as the crisis goes on.
FDA issues warnings on chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine after deaths and poisonings reported
The peer-reviewed Journal of the American Medical Association released a new study Friday that said researchers cut short a study testing chloroquine as a potential treatment for Covid-19 over safety concerns, citing a “primary outcome” of death.
Nearly two dozen patients died and some developed irregular heart rates after taking doses of the drug daily.
Several other studies here, in France, in China, and else where have shown the thing does no good and causes extra deaths.
Nobody should be still testing this.
Nobody would have even begun testing this at all were it not for the boobie in the White House ordering them to waste valuable time and money on a quack cure only a little less stupid than injecting Lysol into a patient's lungs.
FDA issues warnings on chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine after deaths and poisonings reported
The peer-reviewed Journal of the American Medical Association released a new study Friday that said researchers cut short a study testing chloroquine as a potential treatment for Covid-19 over safety concerns, citing a “primary outcome” of death.
Nearly two dozen patients died and some developed irregular heart rates after taking doses of the drug daily.
Several other studies here, in France, in China, and else where have shown the thing does no good and causes extra deaths.
Nobody should be still testing this.
Nobody would have even begun testing this at all were it not for the boobie in the White House ordering them to waste valuable time and money on a quack cure only a little less stupid than injecting Lysol into a patient's lungs.
Every death caused by this drug in these trials is down to him, since doctors would not be doing this were it not for Bozo.
How many ways is Trump killing people and has he killed people since this started?
Well, before this started he began to kill with his stripping away of the US capacity for a quick adequate response to a pandemic.
Then there was his and his administration's denial throughout December, followed by ignoring his own advisors freaking out privately in January in favor of more denial and more refusal to do anything, followed by widespread and continuing shortfalls in PPF and ventilators, followed by an ongoing testing shortfall of by now hundreds of millions that should have been done all across the country but have not.
Then there was his and his administration's denial throughout December, followed by ignoring his own advisors freaking out privately in January in favor of more denial and more refusal to do anything, followed by widespread and continuing shortfalls in PPF and ventilators, followed by an ongoing testing shortfall of by now hundreds of millions that should have been done all across the country but have not.
Remember his administration's refusal to share unused equipment because federal stockpiles were not for use by the states and locales and to use presidential authority to order and nationally coordinate production and distribution of tests and PPE and other medical necessities?
Remember his refusals in word and deed to accept responsibility for America's public health response to the virus, a responsibility he repeatedly dumped on governors whose efforts he obstructed and ignored, providing mostly high-visibility and not especially useful help like sending one hospital ship to New York and one to California?
Add in the constant flow of weeks of lies understating the danger and promising it would all go away soon to Americans and refusals to follow expert public health advice on immediate and serious efforts to slow infections.
And then add in his constant and utterly stupid interference with decisions what therapies to employ on the sick and what drugs to test for use in treating the sick that have diverted huge sums from useful research that he has wasted on worse than useless quack remedies, resources that otherwise would have been used speeding the day when we would have useful antivirals and other useful therapeutic options.
Finish with the threats to refuse to provide emergency relief to the states and locales.
And the continuing and deliberate shortfalls in various forms of testing aimed intentionally at preventing Americans from knowing the true progress of this disease to date, the true number infected and the true number killed by the bug, for various ugly political purposes including hiding the adverse impact of too early rollback of lockdown and other measures of mitigation.
Did I miss anything?
Other than the actual numbers, I mean, which I don't have and many of which nobody has, thanks to Bozo and his running dogs.
Friday, April 24, 2020
Gad. Missed this, just yesterday.
Shakespeare Day 2020: Dame Judi Dench reads from Richard II
This week marks William Shakespeare's birthday and one month since the UK entered into lockdown to help fight the spread of coronavirus.
Shakespeare, who was born in 1564, endured a life chequered by outbreaks of plague.
It is believed Shakespeare wrote some of his most well known plays, including King Lear, during a period of lockdown when his theatre was closed.
To mark the playwright's birthday, which is also Shakespeare Day, some of Britain’s most famous Shakespearean actors, including Dame Judi Dench, read from an excerpt of Richard II.
This week marks William Shakespeare's birthday and one month since the UK entered into lockdown to help fight the spread of coronavirus.
Shakespeare, who was born in 1564, endured a life chequered by outbreaks of plague.
It is believed Shakespeare wrote some of his most well known plays, including King Lear, during a period of lockdown when his theatre was closed.
To mark the playwright's birthday, which is also Shakespeare Day, some of Britain’s most famous Shakespearean actors, including Dame Judi Dench, read from an excerpt of Richard II.
Looks like substantive due process rather than equal protection. Interesting either way.
Detroit students have the right to an education, federal appeals court rules
No hint of the basis for this call in the story but there is a link to a pdf of the opinion, Gary B. vs. Gretchen Whitmer.
No hint of the basis for this call in the story but there is a link to a pdf of the opinion, Gary B. vs. Gretchen Whitmer.
Adding two and two
There is no safe way out - altogether out - of lockdown without a vaccine.
There may be no vaccine for between a year and a half and two years. Maybe more.
There may be no vaccine for between a year and a half and two years. Maybe more.
Trump wasted lots of money and resources to please a big money donor, says Steve M.
Steve M on the Duce's motives.
Nah. He did it because he's genuinely and honestly stupid.
About which see his latest brilliant medical suggestion, injecting disinfectant into patients' lungs.
I warned weeks ago that Fauci and Birx should have publicly denounced the notion that valuable research time and resources should be wasted on medically baseless - not to mention blatantly stupid - suggestions, and they did not.
I also warned they should have denounced the idea of forcing or even allowing doctors to use anything as a curative therapy not proven according to normal protocols and criteria of medical science to be safe and useful, and they did not.
So Trump ordered researchers to waste time and money on researching the curative value of hydroxychloroquine, which has turned out to be both useless and harmful for Coronavirus patients.
And he ordered that doctors actually use that drug therapeutically in such cases, which some actually did despite their Hippocratic Oath on some patients.
Just maybe it's time for Fauci and Birx to grow a pair and tell Boobie to his face that his ideas are childish and silly and he should just stop talking about serious matters to actual adults.
Update, MSNBC Dr. Kavita Patel agrees Birx should have boldly and frankly shut down the nonsense right then and there, as it came out of the president's mouth.
She says the medical profession is furious resources have been wasted and are still being wasted proving Trump's crackpot remedies are useless and even harmful.
They are not happy Fauci and Birx have not be much braver in resisting his idiocies, as they happen, in public.
The two should be as brave and principled as Dr. Bright, who refused to indulge the Duce's harmful nonsense even at the cost of his job.
The public needs to see how seriously this stupid president is letting them down, how unwilling and unable he is to actually understand and not foolishly sabotage real science.
Update. It is really so odd that he thinks he is entitled to a seat at a table where relevantly trained and expert docs are seriously discussing possible treatments, what might deserve researching, etc.
That he is qualified to offer ideas and even to urge upon them entire research projects devoted to his off-the-cuff thoughts what might work.
How does he not know that he, like the rest of us who are not relevantly prepared researchers, would not have the least idea where to start finding therapeutically effective drugs, what might be a cure, or how to make an effective vaccine?
How does he not know, as we know of ourselves, that he has no place at that table?
Steve Schmidt, on a YouTube clip of Joe S, suggested reconsideration of the 25th Amendment because of exactly this contretemps, though Willie and Joe immediately ran away from that.
Nah. He did it because he's genuinely and honestly stupid.
About which see his latest brilliant medical suggestion, injecting disinfectant into patients' lungs.
I warned weeks ago that Fauci and Birx should have publicly denounced the notion that valuable research time and resources should be wasted on medically baseless - not to mention blatantly stupid - suggestions, and they did not.
I also warned they should have denounced the idea of forcing or even allowing doctors to use anything as a curative therapy not proven according to normal protocols and criteria of medical science to be safe and useful, and they did not.
So Trump ordered researchers to waste time and money on researching the curative value of hydroxychloroquine, which has turned out to be both useless and harmful for Coronavirus patients.
And he ordered that doctors actually use that drug therapeutically in such cases, which some actually did despite their Hippocratic Oath on some patients.
Just maybe it's time for Fauci and Birx to grow a pair and tell Boobie to his face that his ideas are childish and silly and he should just stop talking about serious matters to actual adults.
Update, MSNBC Dr. Kavita Patel agrees Birx should have boldly and frankly shut down the nonsense right then and there, as it came out of the president's mouth.
She says the medical profession is furious resources have been wasted and are still being wasted proving Trump's crackpot remedies are useless and even harmful.
They are not happy Fauci and Birx have not be much braver in resisting his idiocies, as they happen, in public.
The two should be as brave and principled as Dr. Bright, who refused to indulge the Duce's harmful nonsense even at the cost of his job.
The public needs to see how seriously this stupid president is letting them down, how unwilling and unable he is to actually understand and not foolishly sabotage real science.
Update. It is really so odd that he thinks he is entitled to a seat at a table where relevantly trained and expert docs are seriously discussing possible treatments, what might deserve researching, etc.
That he is qualified to offer ideas and even to urge upon them entire research projects devoted to his off-the-cuff thoughts what might work.
How does he not know that he, like the rest of us who are not relevantly prepared researchers, would not have the least idea where to start finding therapeutically effective drugs, what might be a cure, or how to make an effective vaccine?
How does he not know, as we know of ourselves, that he has no place at that table?
Steve Schmidt, on a YouTube clip of Joe S, suggested reconsideration of the 25th Amendment because of exactly this contretemps, though Willie and Joe immediately ran away from that.
If Democrats actually want Americans to die why aren't they supporting early rollback of the lockdowns?
And why aren't the Republicans heroically trying to stop the rollbacks?
The stupid lies never end. Because they are always believed. Or at least echoed.
See the Caputo tweet of 28 February.
HHS Spox Michael Caputo Deletes Slew of Tweets Featuring Coronavirus Denial, Conspiracy Theories, Racist Comments About China
Scroll down.
The stupid lies never end. Because they are always believed. Or at least echoed.
See the Caputo tweet of 28 February.
HHS Spox Michael Caputo Deletes Slew of Tweets Featuring Coronavirus Denial, Conspiracy Theories, Racist Comments About China
Scroll down.
President personally lies about his own Lysol moment.
He is on tape yesterday turning away from the reporters and towards Dr Birx and someone else to one side of the podium to suggest injection of disinfectants, perhaps into the lungs.
That was his Lysol moment, so far the definitive moment of his presidency.
On another camera she is visibly shriveling into her chair as he makes the suggestion, evidently fearing he will ask her to speak to the idea.
Today the Duce told reporters (I saw and heard the entire clip on MSNBC) the egregious lie that what he had actually done was ask the reporters the other day a sarcastic question about using disinfectant.
Nope.
CNN’s Anderson Cooper Eviscerates Trump for ‘Lying’ About Public Comments on Disinfectant: ‘Soviet’-Like Spin
After President Trump told a reporter that he was “asking the question sarcastically to reporters” just “to see what would happen,” Cooper commented, “What you just heard is the President of the United States just lying right there.”
“It’s fascinating because he’s lying about something we all witnessed just yesterday. Of him talking to his own Coronavirus Task Force about doing research into injecting bleach disinfectants into people, somehow cleaning them from the inside, because disinfectant works on table tops and things like that,” he continued.
“Now the president is claiming he was speaking sarcastically to reporters, sarcastically suggesting that.”
“There was no sarcasm,” Cooper declared, before adding, “Now he’s in like Soviet fashion trying to rewrite what we all know and saw as though we are all morons.”
That was his Lysol moment, so far the definitive moment of his presidency.
On another camera she is visibly shriveling into her chair as he makes the suggestion, evidently fearing he will ask her to speak to the idea.
Today the Duce told reporters (I saw and heard the entire clip on MSNBC) the egregious lie that what he had actually done was ask the reporters the other day a sarcastic question about using disinfectant.
Nope.
CNN’s Anderson Cooper Eviscerates Trump for ‘Lying’ About Public Comments on Disinfectant: ‘Soviet’-Like Spin
After President Trump told a reporter that he was “asking the question sarcastically to reporters” just “to see what would happen,” Cooper commented, “What you just heard is the President of the United States just lying right there.”
“It’s fascinating because he’s lying about something we all witnessed just yesterday. Of him talking to his own Coronavirus Task Force about doing research into injecting bleach disinfectants into people, somehow cleaning them from the inside, because disinfectant works on table tops and things like that,” he continued.
“Now the president is claiming he was speaking sarcastically to reporters, sarcastically suggesting that.”
“There was no sarcasm,” Cooper declared, before adding, “Now he’s in like Soviet fashion trying to rewrite what we all know and saw as though we are all morons.”
"Mississippi Burning"
Watched it for the nth time on Amazon streaming video last night.
The same battle being fought then against white supremacist, nationalist, racist terrorists who enjoyed widespread community support and political cover is still with us, today.
Even down to the denunciations of the press for printing lies, distortions, and "fake news" about the poor maligned South, Southerners, and especially organized racist killers and their official enablers and collaborators.
All of those almost-Nazi bastards ("almost" because the Klan and its sympathizers were never officially sympathetic, much less than committed, to the fascist theory of government or the tenet of government the Germans called the Führerprinzip) were soi-disant defenders of traditional white Christian Protestant Anglo-Saxon civilization against nonwhites, papists, and Jews, especially alarmed and angered by the prospect of mongrelization and pollution of the white race through miscegenation.
The Duce notably defended the white anti-American racists at Charlottesville as "good people".
The same battle being fought then against white supremacist, nationalist, racist terrorists who enjoyed widespread community support and political cover is still with us, today.
Even down to the denunciations of the press for printing lies, distortions, and "fake news" about the poor maligned South, Southerners, and especially organized racist killers and their official enablers and collaborators.
All of those almost-Nazi bastards ("almost" because the Klan and its sympathizers were never officially sympathetic, much less than committed, to the fascist theory of government or the tenet of government the Germans called the Führerprinzip) were soi-disant defenders of traditional white Christian Protestant Anglo-Saxon civilization against nonwhites, papists, and Jews, especially alarmed and angered by the prospect of mongrelization and pollution of the white race through miscegenation.
The Duce notably defended the white anti-American racists at Charlottesville as "good people".
New York is the number one donor state. Kentucky the number three taker.
Cuomo to McConnell on MSNBC just now, New York every year is the number one donor state to the federal pot. Kentucky every year is a taker state. New York is a giver. Kentucky is a taker. The number three taker in the whole country.
New York bails out Kentucky every year, and has been doing it for decades. Every year, New York bails out the taker, Kentucky. Every year.
He keeps returning to McConnell's remark that money for the states for Coronavirus would be a repugnant thing, a blue state bailout, and states should just declare bankruptcy.
He says he advised New York state's two federal senators not to pass this most recent relief bill unless it included money for states and locales.
He says they passed it on a verbal assurance from Republicans that money for states and locales would be in a future bill.
And he says that as soon as the bill passed McConnell went public telling the states they should declare bankruptcy, there have been giant and plentiful federal bailouts of giant and rich corporations but there will be none for states and locales.
New York bails out Kentucky every year, and has been doing it for decades. Every year, New York bails out the taker, Kentucky. Every year.
He keeps returning to McConnell's remark that money for the states for Coronavirus would be a repugnant thing, a blue state bailout, and states should just declare bankruptcy.
He says he advised New York state's two federal senators not to pass this most recent relief bill unless it included money for states and locales.
He says they passed it on a verbal assurance from Republicans that money for states and locales would be in a future bill.
And he says that as soon as the bill passed McConnell went public telling the states they should declare bankruptcy, there have been giant and plentiful federal bailouts of giant and rich corporations but there will be none for states and locales.
Mail in ballots in New York
For legal and state constitutional reasons, Cuomo can't just mail all registered voters in New York state a mail in ballot.
But he can mail them all applications for a mail in ballot, postage prepaid. So he has done that.
But he can mail them all applications for a mail in ballot, postage prepaid. So he has done that.
Cuomo to McConnell: Pass that bill. I dare you.
Noting it would require passage of a federal law to allow states to declare bankruptcy, that no such thing had ever happened in American history, and that it would be a clear signal to the markets and to the world that the US is in absolutely awful trouble, Cuomo dared McConnell to put such a bill on The Boob's desk and tell him to sign it.
He repeatedly dared him to do it.
Yesterday he pointed out that states taking this advice would wreak havoc with bond markets and leave hell to pay for future state efforts to borrow.
MSNBC just now.
He repeatedly dared him to do it.
Yesterday he pointed out that states taking this advice would wreak havoc with bond markets and leave hell to pay for future state efforts to borrow.
MSNBC just now.
More valuable medical advice from The Stable Genius in the White House
Remember hydroxychloroquine?
Another presidential hot flash?
After wasting researchers' time interfering stupidly with medical treatment of actual patients it has been found that the drug does no good and leads to additional patient deaths.
Trump suggests 'injection' of disinfectant to beat coronavirus and 'clean' the lungs
President Donald Trump suggested the possibility of an "injection" of disinfectant into a person infected with the coronavirus as a deterrent to the virus during his daily briefing Thursday.
Trump made the remark after Bill Bryan, who leads the Department of Homeland Security's science and technology division, gave a presentation on research his team has conducted that shows that the virus doesn't live as long in warmer and more humid temperatures.
Bryan said, "The virus dies quickest in sunlight," leaving Trump to wonder whether you could bring the light "inside the body."
"So supposing we hit the body with a tremendous — whether it's ultraviolet or just a very powerful light — and I think you said that hasn't been checked because of the testing," Trump said, speaking to Bryan during the briefing.
"And then I said, supposing you brought the light inside the body, which you can do either through the skin or some other way, and I think you said you're going to test that, too."
He added: "I see the disinfectant that knocks it out in a minute, one minute. And is there a way we can do something like that by injection inside or almost a cleaning? As you see, it gets in the lungs, it does a tremendous number on the lungs, so it would be interesting to check that."
He didn't specify the kind of disinfectant.
I like to think of this as his Lysol moment.
Medical professionals, including Dr. Vin Gupta, a pulmonologist, global health policy expert and an NBC News and MSNBC contributor. were quick to challenge the president's "improper health messaging."
“This notion of injecting or ingesting any type of cleansing product into the body is irresponsible and it’s dangerous," said Gupta.
"It’s a common method that people utilize when they want to kill themselves."
The maker of Lysol also issued a statement warning against any internal use of the cleaning product.
The president has repeatedly touted unproven treatments during the daily briefings on COVID-19, the disease associated with the coronavirus.
For instance, he has touted hydroxychloroquine as a potential "game changer," but health officials have strongly cautioned against it.
Reports indicate no money is being wasted following up on the president's incredibly stupid suggestions.
Yet.
This abysmally ignorant man persists in wasting our time and even valuable research time and money on utter idiocies.
And his voters love him and remain true blue to this utter nullity.
Chauncey Gardner was better qualified, and apparently underwent exactly the same educational preparation for the job.
Another presidential hot flash?
After wasting researchers' time interfering stupidly with medical treatment of actual patients it has been found that the drug does no good and leads to additional patient deaths.
Trump suggests 'injection' of disinfectant to beat coronavirus and 'clean' the lungs
President Donald Trump suggested the possibility of an "injection" of disinfectant into a person infected with the coronavirus as a deterrent to the virus during his daily briefing Thursday.
Trump made the remark after Bill Bryan, who leads the Department of Homeland Security's science and technology division, gave a presentation on research his team has conducted that shows that the virus doesn't live as long in warmer and more humid temperatures.
Bryan said, "The virus dies quickest in sunlight," leaving Trump to wonder whether you could bring the light "inside the body."
"So supposing we hit the body with a tremendous — whether it's ultraviolet or just a very powerful light — and I think you said that hasn't been checked because of the testing," Trump said, speaking to Bryan during the briefing.
"And then I said, supposing you brought the light inside the body, which you can do either through the skin or some other way, and I think you said you're going to test that, too."
He added: "I see the disinfectant that knocks it out in a minute, one minute. And is there a way we can do something like that by injection inside or almost a cleaning? As you see, it gets in the lungs, it does a tremendous number on the lungs, so it would be interesting to check that."
He didn't specify the kind of disinfectant.
I like to think of this as his Lysol moment.
Medical professionals, including Dr. Vin Gupta, a pulmonologist, global health policy expert and an NBC News and MSNBC contributor. were quick to challenge the president's "improper health messaging."
“This notion of injecting or ingesting any type of cleansing product into the body is irresponsible and it’s dangerous," said Gupta.
"It’s a common method that people utilize when they want to kill themselves."
The maker of Lysol also issued a statement warning against any internal use of the cleaning product.
The president has repeatedly touted unproven treatments during the daily briefings on COVID-19, the disease associated with the coronavirus.
For instance, he has touted hydroxychloroquine as a potential "game changer," but health officials have strongly cautioned against it.
Reports indicate no money is being wasted following up on the president's incredibly stupid suggestions.
Yet.
This abysmally ignorant man persists in wasting our time and even valuable research time and money on utter idiocies.
And his voters love him and remain true blue to this utter nullity.
Chauncey Gardner was better qualified, and apparently underwent exactly the same educational preparation for the job.
Thursday, April 23, 2020
Planet of the Humans
Yes, the movie now free on You Tube and, actually, other places.
Nobody's fixing this.
There is no clean source of energy to replace fossil fuels.
(No, nukes are not at all clean.)
There is no happy ending.
The idea of Mr. Gibbs that the corruption of the environmental movement is down to capitalism - as though socialism or communism or something would not have been capable of such - is silly.
Their idea that humanity just has to "get itself under control" to somehow manage a soft landing for a human population far too large to survive the coming energy famine and somehow wind down the good times of the fossil fuel age is also silly.
We're going to crash and burn.
And maybe a mad virus that spreads like Covid-19 and kills like Ebola will do it after two or three consecutive runs round the globe.
And, anyway, quite apart from all that, neither humanity nor planet Earth nor our solar system nor the milky way nor indeed the universe as a whole is forever.
Humans will eventually go extinct in the face of some challenge they cannot overcome and may not even understand.
This is a fact sensible, educated people have lived with for a couple of centuries, and most pre-scientific cultures did not envision humanity living continuously over the future forever, either.
Why does anybody think not only that people will freak at that idea but that they should?
Oddly it seems like lots and lots of people think that.
Why are they right - not that people should freak but that they will?
Nobody's fixing this.
There is no clean source of energy to replace fossil fuels.
(No, nukes are not at all clean.)
There is no happy ending.
The idea of Mr. Gibbs that the corruption of the environmental movement is down to capitalism - as though socialism or communism or something would not have been capable of such - is silly.
Their idea that humanity just has to "get itself under control" to somehow manage a soft landing for a human population far too large to survive the coming energy famine and somehow wind down the good times of the fossil fuel age is also silly.
We're going to crash and burn.
And maybe a mad virus that spreads like Covid-19 and kills like Ebola will do it after two or three consecutive runs round the globe.
And, anyway, quite apart from all that, neither humanity nor planet Earth nor our solar system nor the milky way nor indeed the universe as a whole is forever.
Humans will eventually go extinct in the face of some challenge they cannot overcome and may not even understand.
This is a fact sensible, educated people have lived with for a couple of centuries, and most pre-scientific cultures did not envision humanity living continuously over the future forever, either.
Why does anybody think not only that people will freak at that idea but that they should?
Oddly it seems like lots and lots of people think that.
Why are they right - not that people should freak but that they will?
Death is no respecter of persons
Elizabeth Warren's oldest brother dies of coronavirus
The Massachusetts senator and former presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren made public the news on Thursday that one of her brothers died of coronavirus earlier this week.
Warren made the announcement on Twitter, saying: “My oldest brother, Don Reed, died from coronavirus on Tuesday evening.
"He joined the Air Force at 19 and spent his career in the military, including five and a half years off and on in combat in Vietnam.
"He was charming and funny, a natural leader.”
She posted family pictures and a shot of him serving in the air force.
. . . .
Warren had not previously disclosed her brother had tested positive for the virus.
According to the Boston Globe, he was hospitalized for pneumonia in February and then moved to a rehabilitation center, which had seen other cases of coronavirus.
He was later brought to the intensive care unit of a nearby hospital, where he died.
The Massachusetts senator and former presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren made public the news on Thursday that one of her brothers died of coronavirus earlier this week.
Warren made the announcement on Twitter, saying: “My oldest brother, Don Reed, died from coronavirus on Tuesday evening.
"He joined the Air Force at 19 and spent his career in the military, including five and a half years off and on in combat in Vietnam.
"He was charming and funny, a natural leader.”
She posted family pictures and a shot of him serving in the air force.
. . . .
Warren had not previously disclosed her brother had tested positive for the virus.
According to the Boston Globe, he was hospitalized for pneumonia in February and then moved to a rehabilitation center, which had seen other cases of coronavirus.
He was later brought to the intensive care unit of a nearby hospital, where he died.
Reality based politics?
How can anybody who has witnessed these last decades of increasingly ferocious partisanship by Republicans ever more crazed with hate talk about a return to political civility, cooperation, and mutual respect that have been utterly destroyed over that same period?
How can anybody who understands how the right really feels about America, today, about nonwhites, non-Christians, non-heteros, working class Americans, and the homeless and desperate not react with horror and anger?
How can anyone who sees how far they are willing to go, even attacking the foundations of democracy and the basic structures of the republic, to make the legal environment as bitterly inhospitable to consumers, borrowers, workers, nonwhites, the poor, and the elderly and as empowering as possible for the 1%, for corporations, for the moneyed elites as they can not loathe them utterly?
Silly questions, I know.
In politics as in all else, we are who we are, we feel what we feel.
Some of us, paid or not, with or against the grain of our interests, publicly and unashamedly side with the most powerful in their most unscrupulous and damaging assaults on the less.
Casting the rest of us into the more or less radical, or more or less moderate, but in any case more or less self-conscious and committed resistance.
Even in the event much to be hoped for, a Biden victory, the Democrats will be able to mitigate and undo the damage done so far by these bastards only if they can override the most bitter opposition from the now constantly enraged and mouth-frothing right.
Is Biden up for that?
Are the likely Democratic leaders in the house and the senate?
Will they pack the Supreme Court, as they must to secure the future of a century of progressive achievements of all kinds and not only those based on the right to privacy?
Will they trample to dust all remnants of the senate filibuster, a change without which what needs to be done in that body will certainly not be done?
Both those moves would be entirely constitutional and yet furiously protested in the right wing media as revolutionary, a coup d’état, dictatorship, and so on in their usual, hoarse-throat shouting style.
Could our Dems withstand all that pressure?
Or are they, figuratively speaking, just so many hapless Social Democrats or other republican losers in Germany or Italy between the wars?
How can anybody who understands how the right really feels about America, today, about nonwhites, non-Christians, non-heteros, working class Americans, and the homeless and desperate not react with horror and anger?
How can anyone who sees how far they are willing to go, even attacking the foundations of democracy and the basic structures of the republic, to make the legal environment as bitterly inhospitable to consumers, borrowers, workers, nonwhites, the poor, and the elderly and as empowering as possible for the 1%, for corporations, for the moneyed elites as they can not loathe them utterly?
Silly questions, I know.
In politics as in all else, we are who we are, we feel what we feel.
Some of us, paid or not, with or against the grain of our interests, publicly and unashamedly side with the most powerful in their most unscrupulous and damaging assaults on the less.
Casting the rest of us into the more or less radical, or more or less moderate, but in any case more or less self-conscious and committed resistance.
Even in the event much to be hoped for, a Biden victory, the Democrats will be able to mitigate and undo the damage done so far by these bastards only if they can override the most bitter opposition from the now constantly enraged and mouth-frothing right.
Is Biden up for that?
Are the likely Democratic leaders in the house and the senate?
Will they pack the Supreme Court, as they must to secure the future of a century of progressive achievements of all kinds and not only those based on the right to privacy?
Will they trample to dust all remnants of the senate filibuster, a change without which what needs to be done in that body will certainly not be done?
Both those moves would be entirely constitutional and yet furiously protested in the right wing media as revolutionary, a coup d’état, dictatorship, and so on in their usual, hoarse-throat shouting style.
Could our Dems withstand all that pressure?
Or are they, figuratively speaking, just so many hapless Social Democrats or other republican losers in Germany or Italy between the wars?
Dr. Bright was the hero, and Trump tossed him aside like a dirty rag.
'Convinced': Fauci says there will be coronavirus in the fall after Trump says 'it may not come back'
Bozo: We have fifteen cases and it will go to zero. And it will all go away in warm weather. And that malaria drug will save us all. And we'll have a vaccine this year.
Fauci: No
Risky business for Fauci, even telling that much truth to power.
Trump fires docs who contradict him with facts and actual best medical judgement, though he also lies about it.
I faulted Fauci for not doing exactly this in early April, though I agreed it might cost him his job.
Trump Berates CBS News’ Weijia Jiang for Calling Whistleblower Dr. Rick Bright Gifted
President Donald Trump insisted he didn’t know anything about whistleblowing vaccine expert Dr. Rick Bright, but then berated CBS News White House correspondent Weijia Jiang for asking about Bright’s “gifts” in his field of expertise.
On Wednesday, Dr. Bright released a blockbuster statement in which he said he’d been demoted from his position leading the agency tasked with vaccine development because he had pushed back against funding unproven coronavirus treatments that Trump has relentlessly promoted — and suggested that political connections and cronyism were behind Trump’s promotion of them.
Despite the implications of Bright’s accusations, it wasn’t until nearly an hour into the briefing that a reporter asked about it.
“Mr. President, I wanted to ask you about Rick Bright,” ABC News’ Jonathan Karl said.
“He’s the head of the federal agency in charge of getting a vaccine out to — to Americans once it’s ready. He says he has been pushed out of his job because he raised questions about hydroxychloroquine and some of your directives on that. Was he pushed out of that job?”
“I’ve never heard of him. You just mentioned the name. I never heard of him,” Trump claimed, then asked “When did this happen?”
Director of key federal vaccine agency says his departure was retaliation
The director of the office involved in developing a coronavirus vaccine says he was abruptly dismissed from his post in part because he resisted efforts to widen the availability of a coronavirus treatment pushed by President Donald Trump.
Dr. Rick Bright had led BARDA, the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, since 2016 until Tuesday, when was reassigned to a narrower position.
He also announced he will file a whistleblower complaint with the Department of Health and Human Services' inspector general.
"I believe this transfer was in response to my insistence that the government invest the billions of dollars allocated by Congress to address the Covid-19 pandemic into safe and scientifically vetted solutions, and not in drugs, vaccines and other technologies that lack scientific merit," Bright said in a lengthy statement issued Wednesday.
"I am speaking out because to combat this deadly virus, science -- not politics or cronyism -- has to lead the way."
He cited "clashes with political leadership" as a reason for his sidelining, as well as his resistance to "efforts to fund potentially dangerous drugs promoted by those with political connections."
Bozo: We have fifteen cases and it will go to zero. And it will all go away in warm weather. And that malaria drug will save us all. And we'll have a vaccine this year.
Fauci: No
Risky business for Fauci, even telling that much truth to power.
Trump fires docs who contradict him with facts and actual best medical judgement, though he also lies about it.
I faulted Fauci for not doing exactly this in early April, though I agreed it might cost him his job.
Trump Berates CBS News’ Weijia Jiang for Calling Whistleblower Dr. Rick Bright Gifted
President Donald Trump insisted he didn’t know anything about whistleblowing vaccine expert Dr. Rick Bright, but then berated CBS News White House correspondent Weijia Jiang for asking about Bright’s “gifts” in his field of expertise.
On Wednesday, Dr. Bright released a blockbuster statement in which he said he’d been demoted from his position leading the agency tasked with vaccine development because he had pushed back against funding unproven coronavirus treatments that Trump has relentlessly promoted — and suggested that political connections and cronyism were behind Trump’s promotion of them.
Despite the implications of Bright’s accusations, it wasn’t until nearly an hour into the briefing that a reporter asked about it.
“Mr. President, I wanted to ask you about Rick Bright,” ABC News’ Jonathan Karl said.
“He’s the head of the federal agency in charge of getting a vaccine out to — to Americans once it’s ready. He says he has been pushed out of his job because he raised questions about hydroxychloroquine and some of your directives on that. Was he pushed out of that job?”
“I’ve never heard of him. You just mentioned the name. I never heard of him,” Trump claimed, then asked “When did this happen?”
Director of key federal vaccine agency says his departure was retaliation
The director of the office involved in developing a coronavirus vaccine says he was abruptly dismissed from his post in part because he resisted efforts to widen the availability of a coronavirus treatment pushed by President Donald Trump.
Dr. Rick Bright had led BARDA, the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, since 2016 until Tuesday, when was reassigned to a narrower position.
He also announced he will file a whistleblower complaint with the Department of Health and Human Services' inspector general.
"I believe this transfer was in response to my insistence that the government invest the billions of dollars allocated by Congress to address the Covid-19 pandemic into safe and scientifically vetted solutions, and not in drugs, vaccines and other technologies that lack scientific merit," Bright said in a lengthy statement issued Wednesday.
"I am speaking out because to combat this deadly virus, science -- not politics or cronyism -- has to lead the way."
He cited "clashes with political leadership" as a reason for his sidelining, as well as his resistance to "efforts to fund potentially dangerous drugs promoted by those with political connections."
McConnell to blue states: Fuck you and your Democrat voters and Democrat virus dead
McConnell says states should declare bankruptcy because federal funding for states that went in deep dealing with the virus would be a "blue state bailout".
Why he thinks it better that the state's creditors - mostly banks and funds, at a guess - should get stuck by surprise paying for New York's public services in this crisis than federal taxpayers, who would hardly be surprised, is a mystery.
Well, not much of a mystery, given his own words on the matter.
Blowing giant holes in the bond market with harmful echoes all the way down to depositors and wrecking New York's credit for a good while are better than adding a few tens of billions to the long term federal tax bill?
Well, sure.
McConnell is just seing this as an opportunity to crush unions, especially public employee unions, and their pension funds in New York, while forcing the state to lower taxes and services and regulatory restrictions on businesses and individuals, down closer to the levels found in red states.
And think of California. What luck! We can force California to reduce regulations on cars sold there, affecting the rules for cars sold in many other states across the country!
And that's just for openers!
Cuomo furiously just now on MSNBC denounced McConnell's remarks, pointing out that Kentucky gets more in federal money than it pays to the federal government, while New York for decades has paid more to the feds than it has gotten back.
Kentucky, he said, has been on permanent federal bailout for many, many years.
And not New York.
'The Marie Antoinette of the Senate': GOP Rep. King slams McConnell for suggesting states go bankrupt
Meanwhile Republicans stall and stall in order to delay and stave off further legislative relief efforts in DC.
Pelosi sidelines plan for proxy voting amid coronavirus, after GOP backlash
Why he thinks it better that the state's creditors - mostly banks and funds, at a guess - should get stuck by surprise paying for New York's public services in this crisis than federal taxpayers, who would hardly be surprised, is a mystery.
Well, not much of a mystery, given his own words on the matter.
Blowing giant holes in the bond market with harmful echoes all the way down to depositors and wrecking New York's credit for a good while are better than adding a few tens of billions to the long term federal tax bill?
Well, sure.
McConnell is just seing this as an opportunity to crush unions, especially public employee unions, and their pension funds in New York, while forcing the state to lower taxes and services and regulatory restrictions on businesses and individuals, down closer to the levels found in red states.
And think of California. What luck! We can force California to reduce regulations on cars sold there, affecting the rules for cars sold in many other states across the country!
And that's just for openers!
Cuomo furiously just now on MSNBC denounced McConnell's remarks, pointing out that Kentucky gets more in federal money than it pays to the federal government, while New York for decades has paid more to the feds than it has gotten back.
Kentucky, he said, has been on permanent federal bailout for many, many years.
And not New York.
'The Marie Antoinette of the Senate': GOP Rep. King slams McConnell for suggesting states go bankrupt
Meanwhile Republicans stall and stall in order to delay and stave off further legislative relief efforts in DC.
Pelosi sidelines plan for proxy voting amid coronavirus, after GOP backlash
What about infection rates?
More populous counties could have far more infections without having higher rates of infection.
Allegheny County lowers death count from COVID-19 due to 'duplicates'
Allegheny County lowers death count from COVID-19 due to 'duplicates'
If it's me I say roll the dice
Nearly all COVID-19 patients put on ventilators in New York's largest health system died, study finds
Bozo and his favorite cable network think desperation justifies hospitals and docs in paying for and using anything Alex Jones, or anyway Sean Hannity, has heard "some people are saying" might be a cure, or anyway help in treatment of Covid-19.
Like, you know, a malaria drug.
If in this hospital some 12 percent of people put on ventilators survived how many would have survived if no ventilators had been used?
So long as use of the gadget really adds in some notable way to the chances of survival and doesn't otherwise do worse harm I would want to roll the dice.
Bozo and his favorite cable network think desperation justifies hospitals and docs in paying for and using anything Alex Jones, or anyway Sean Hannity, has heard "some people are saying" might be a cure, or anyway help in treatment of Covid-19.
Like, you know, a malaria drug.
If in this hospital some 12 percent of people put on ventilators survived how many would have survived if no ventilators had been used?
So long as use of the gadget really adds in some notable way to the chances of survival and doesn't otherwise do worse harm I would want to roll the dice.
More office space per office worker will be needed and become the norm for quite a while
Thanks to tech and meds, Pittsburgh office market may bounce back quickly from COVID-19 turbulence, report finds
The need for physical distancing will persist as people return to the office.
Wolf's people are working things out.
Gov. Wolf outlines color-coded plan to begin reopening businesses
The need for physical distancing will persist as people return to the office.
Wolf's people are working things out.
Gov. Wolf outlines color-coded plan to begin reopening businesses
Wednesday, April 22, 2020
Will they start the lawsuits sooner rather than later?
Despite the part of the president's rollback plan that says no state should unlock until it has met various medical criteria, and the fact that no state has so far done that?
Barr calls stay-at-home orders 'disturbingly close to house arrest'
He may attack restrictions as unnecessary or unhelpful, undermining their legitimacy as an exercise of police power.
Or he may use a different avenue of attack, state infringement on federal prerogative under the commerce clause.
Attorney General William Barr said Tuesday that the need for strong restrictions to stop the spread of the coronavirus may be passing and that the Justice Department might consider taking legal action against states that go too far.
"There are very, very burdensome impingements on liberty," he told radio talk show host Hugh Hewitt, "and we adopted them for the limited purpose of slowing down the spread.
"We didn't adopt them as the comprehensive way of dealing with this disease.
"We are now seeing that these are bending the curve, and we have to come up with more targeted approaches."
Barr said the restrictions, such as shutting down businesses and requiring people to stay home, are intrusions on civil liberties that may be justified under the broad police powers states have to protect public health.
But he said governors may go too far and interfere with interstate commerce, which is the domain of the federal government.
Barr calls stay-at-home orders 'disturbingly close to house arrest'
He may attack restrictions as unnecessary or unhelpful, undermining their legitimacy as an exercise of police power.
Or he may use a different avenue of attack, state infringement on federal prerogative under the commerce clause.
Attorney General William Barr said Tuesday that the need for strong restrictions to stop the spread of the coronavirus may be passing and that the Justice Department might consider taking legal action against states that go too far.
"There are very, very burdensome impingements on liberty," he told radio talk show host Hugh Hewitt, "and we adopted them for the limited purpose of slowing down the spread.
"We didn't adopt them as the comprehensive way of dealing with this disease.
"We are now seeing that these are bending the curve, and we have to come up with more targeted approaches."
Barr said the restrictions, such as shutting down businesses and requiring people to stay home, are intrusions on civil liberties that may be justified under the broad police powers states have to protect public health.
But he said governors may go too far and interfere with interstate commerce, which is the domain of the federal government.
Good news, but not great, for the Dems
Trump trails Biden by 8 points despite record high approval: poll
President Trump trails former Vice President Joe Biden by 8 percentage points in a new national survey, despite the president’s approval-rating matching an all-time high.
The Harvard CAPS/Harris Poll found Trump’s job approval rating at 49 percent, the highest since March 2017.
The survey also found that 56 percent of voters approved of Trump’s handling of the economy and 51 percent supported his handling of the coronavirus — the top two issues on the minds of voters.
However, 55 percent said they dislike Trump personally. Thirty-three percent of respondents said they like the president, and only 25 percent of independents had a favorable view of him.
President Trump trails former Vice President Joe Biden by 8 percentage points in a new national survey, despite the president’s approval-rating matching an all-time high.
The Harvard CAPS/Harris Poll found Trump’s job approval rating at 49 percent, the highest since March 2017.
The survey also found that 56 percent of voters approved of Trump’s handling of the economy and 51 percent supported his handling of the coronavirus — the top two issues on the minds of voters.
However, 55 percent said they dislike Trump personally. Thirty-three percent of respondents said they like the president, and only 25 percent of independents had a favorable view of him.
Not as bad as dirt in the veins, maybe
Study finds no benefit, higher death rate in patients taking hydroxychloroquine for Covid-19
Coronavirus patients taking hydroxychloroquine, a treatment touted by President Trump, were no less likely to need mechanical ventilation and had higher deaths rates compared to those who did not take the drug, according to a study of hundreds of patients at US Veterans Health Administration medical centers.
The study, which reviewed veterans' medical charts, was posted Tuesday on medrxiv.org, a pre-print server, meaning it was not peer reviewed or published in a medical journal.
The research was funded by the National Institutes of Health and the University of Virginia.
In the study of 368 patients, 97 patients who took hydroxychloroquine had a 27.8% death rate. The 158 patients who did not take the drug had an 11.4% death rate.
French study finds hydroxychloroquine doesn't help patients with coronavirus
A drug that's been touted by President Donald Trump as a "game changer" didn't help hospitalized patients with coronavirus and was associated with heart complications, according to a new study.
"This provides evidence that hydroxychloroquine does not apparently treat patients with Covid 19," said Dr. Paul Offit, an infectious disease specialist at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
"Even worse, there were side effects caused by the drug -- heart toxicities that required it be discontinued."
Coronavirus patients taking hydroxychloroquine, a treatment touted by President Trump, were no less likely to need mechanical ventilation and had higher deaths rates compared to those who did not take the drug, according to a study of hundreds of patients at US Veterans Health Administration medical centers.
The study, which reviewed veterans' medical charts, was posted Tuesday on medrxiv.org, a pre-print server, meaning it was not peer reviewed or published in a medical journal.
The research was funded by the National Institutes of Health and the University of Virginia.
In the study of 368 patients, 97 patients who took hydroxychloroquine had a 27.8% death rate. The 158 patients who did not take the drug had an 11.4% death rate.
French study finds hydroxychloroquine doesn't help patients with coronavirus
A drug that's been touted by President Donald Trump as a "game changer" didn't help hospitalized patients with coronavirus and was associated with heart complications, according to a new study.
"This provides evidence that hydroxychloroquine does not apparently treat patients with Covid 19," said Dr. Paul Offit, an infectious disease specialist at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
"Even worse, there were side effects caused by the drug -- heart toxicities that required it be discontinued."
Tuesday, April 21, 2020
Trump stops all immigration
Trump claims he will temporarily suspend immigration into US due to coronavirus fears
He has used Coronavirus fears to attack the WHO and even the WTO, and to further restrict border crossings from Mexico.
Democrats have used the virus to advance social democratic measures.
This is Trump playing his neo-isolationist, America First card.
He has used Coronavirus fears to attack the WHO and even the WTO, and to further restrict border crossings from Mexico.
Democrats have used the virus to advance social democratic measures.
This is Trump playing his neo-isolationist, America First card.
Update.
No, he didn't, he just tweeted he would.
No, he didn't, he just tweeted he would.
What price, your liberty to violate physical distancing?
'I believe in our freedoms'
Nobody defends it by saying, though it's true, that people who would recklessly refuse physical distancing, and self-isolation if the old and chronically ill, are too stupid for their own good.
Of course, the refusal isn't reckless if the costs of prevention are worse than the likely results of infection, discounted by how likely infection is.
But never mind.
The argument has always been that the stupidity of the stupid puts others at greater risk of infection, serious illness, and even death.
And you have no right to do that; government has the right and the duty to prevent you doing that.
That's the argument.
But really it's always about balancing, and whether the cure is worse, or at any rate more annoying, than the disease depends in large part on things that are still unknown.
Just like life, forcing us to choose in the dark in a life or death situation.
Don't we do that every day?
In the case of South Dakota, people are already living more isolated from each other than many New Yorkers who are doing their best to become isolated.
And the governor was right about that meat packing plant.
And danger inadvertently posed to others does not absolutely cancel your right to act, even if the increased risks are foreseeable and foreseen.
Think Double Effect, proportionality, and collateral damage.
Everybody who drives, rides a train, rides a bus, or rides a plane contributes toward increased risks for others, whether riding with them or not.
Think crashes, explosions, or air pollution, for a few examples.
But not too much increased risk, eh?
She could be right that it's not worth it in South Dakota, to South Dakotans.
Barr: Justice department may join lawsuits against lockdowns
Told you to expect this.
Update.
If the idea is to stop or slow the spread the idea is to protect the uninfected from becoming infected.
But they are the vast majority of those whose liberty is being so trampled on, clearly for their own good, whether they like it or not.
So, yes, mostly paternalism.
Nobody defends it by saying, though it's true, that people who would recklessly refuse physical distancing, and self-isolation if the old and chronically ill, are too stupid for their own good.
Of course, the refusal isn't reckless if the costs of prevention are worse than the likely results of infection, discounted by how likely infection is.
But never mind.
The argument has always been that the stupidity of the stupid puts others at greater risk of infection, serious illness, and even death.
And you have no right to do that; government has the right and the duty to prevent you doing that.
That's the argument.
But really it's always about balancing, and whether the cure is worse, or at any rate more annoying, than the disease depends in large part on things that are still unknown.
Just like life, forcing us to choose in the dark in a life or death situation.
Don't we do that every day?
In the case of South Dakota, people are already living more isolated from each other than many New Yorkers who are doing their best to become isolated.
And the governor was right about that meat packing plant.
And danger inadvertently posed to others does not absolutely cancel your right to act, even if the increased risks are foreseeable and foreseen.
Think Double Effect, proportionality, and collateral damage.
Everybody who drives, rides a train, rides a bus, or rides a plane contributes toward increased risks for others, whether riding with them or not.
Think crashes, explosions, or air pollution, for a few examples.
But not too much increased risk, eh?
She could be right that it's not worth it in South Dakota, to South Dakotans.
Barr: Justice department may join lawsuits against lockdowns
Told you to expect this.
Update.
If the idea is to stop or slow the spread the idea is to protect the uninfected from becoming infected.
But they are the vast majority of those whose liberty is being so trampled on, clearly for their own good, whether they like it or not.
So, yes, mostly paternalism.
A true spring of the lockdown/rollback fight
Andrew Cuomo today for the umpteenth time told his viewers he dreads the day in the future when people blame him for not protecting them well enough, demanding why he didn't do more.
I gather Republicans dread the opposite.
I gather Republicans dread the opposite.
Republicans aren't the only pander bears
Joe Biden Says He’d Pick Michelle Obama As Running Mate ‘In A Heartbeat’
Because the presidency itself is an entry level federal job.
Trump proved that, right?
Despite Joe's endless emphasis on the critical importance of experience?
Because the presidency itself is an entry level federal job.
Trump proved that, right?
Despite Joe's endless emphasis on the critical importance of experience?
How do early rollbacks play out?
Early rollbacks will result in higher rates of infection and death.
But thanks to persistent stalling by Trump and his eventual complete failure to come through with the needed supply of tests, public horror resulting in damage to the GOP at the polls and strong public pressure to return to lockdown will be headed off or at least much diminished, even if the bug is as deadly as has been feared.
So likely there will be no significant national return to lockdown until and unless we are on the way to that dreaded result, something very close to universal infection in the USA and deaths in the millions.
The GOP is charging ahead toward perhaps that result.
All of us have to hope the true lethality of this bug has been much overestimated because the lack of contact tracing and the dearth of testing have hidden the true number of Americans infected, perhaps 50 to 85 times as high as the number identified by individual testing.
[Update, 4/23. Subsequent studies in other parts of the country indicate the undercount of cases, while still large, is very, very much less than the Stanford study indicated, sometimes suggesting a true number of infected not more than twice the number found by individual testing.]
If that is not right we will lose maybe 2 to 5 % of those infected, which could be some 6 to 16 million dead Americans, assuming 320 million actually infected.
Or maybe a little less, or maybe a little more.
But of course if that Stanford result is right and at any rate we've got the number killed by the virus right (admittedly questionable if we've totally missed so many of the infected) then the true lethality of this bug is maybe 1/70th part of the rate based on infections identified by individual positive tests, the rate currently feared to be right or close to right.
[ 4/23. Or maybe it's 1/2 the currently feared rate.]
It could be 0.029 % to 0.071 %, far less than the usual annual flu, resulting in maybe 93,000 to 227,000 dead, again assuming 320 million actually infected.
[4/23. Or maybe the true lethality is about half what's now thought, and so maybe from 1 to 2.5 % yielding maybe 3 to 8 million dead nationally, on the assumption infection in the end is arbitrarily close to 100 % of the population.]
And that's plenty low enough for the GOP/Trump line that the threat has been wildly exaggerated by global panic and in fake news from the Dems and their media sympathizers to be vindicated in public opinion.
Right along with the most important and persistent of Trump's hunches, feelings, and intuitions.
And that will have exactly the dreadful political consequences for coming decades we Democrats fear.
Including even less pandemic preparedness.
None at all for the virus that spreads like this one but kills like Ebola.
[But lethality of 1 to 2.5 % and 3 to 8 million dead does not, I think, vindicate the Boob in the White House or those who agree with him.]
But thanks to persistent stalling by Trump and his eventual complete failure to come through with the needed supply of tests, public horror resulting in damage to the GOP at the polls and strong public pressure to return to lockdown will be headed off or at least much diminished, even if the bug is as deadly as has been feared.
So likely there will be no significant national return to lockdown until and unless we are on the way to that dreaded result, something very close to universal infection in the USA and deaths in the millions.
The GOP is charging ahead toward perhaps that result.
All of us have to hope the true lethality of this bug has been much overestimated because the lack of contact tracing and the dearth of testing have hidden the true number of Americans infected, perhaps 50 to 85 times as high as the number identified by individual testing.
[Update, 4/23. Subsequent studies in other parts of the country indicate the undercount of cases, while still large, is very, very much less than the Stanford study indicated, sometimes suggesting a true number of infected not more than twice the number found by individual testing.]
If that is not right we will lose maybe 2 to 5 % of those infected, which could be some 6 to 16 million dead Americans, assuming 320 million actually infected.
Or maybe a little less, or maybe a little more.
But of course if that Stanford result is right and at any rate we've got the number killed by the virus right (admittedly questionable if we've totally missed so many of the infected) then the true lethality of this bug is maybe 1/70th part of the rate based on infections identified by individual positive tests, the rate currently feared to be right or close to right.
[ 4/23. Or maybe it's 1/2 the currently feared rate.]
It could be 0.029 % to 0.071 %, far less than the usual annual flu, resulting in maybe 93,000 to 227,000 dead, again assuming 320 million actually infected.
[4/23. Or maybe the true lethality is about half what's now thought, and so maybe from 1 to 2.5 % yielding maybe 3 to 8 million dead nationally, on the assumption infection in the end is arbitrarily close to 100 % of the population.]
And that's plenty low enough for the GOP/Trump line that the threat has been wildly exaggerated by global panic and in fake news from the Dems and their media sympathizers to be vindicated in public opinion.
Right along with the most important and persistent of Trump's hunches, feelings, and intuitions.
And that will have exactly the dreadful political consequences for coming decades we Democrats fear.
Including even less pandemic preparedness.
None at all for the virus that spreads like this one but kills like Ebola.
[But lethality of 1 to 2.5 % and 3 to 8 million dead does not, I think, vindicate the Boob in the White House or those who agree with him.]
Hundreds of millions for big corporations, chump change and "drop dead" for the little guys and workers
For the GOP, a matter of principle and a matter of deliberately creating pressure among the desperate classes for quick rollbacks.
Early rollbacks
4 red states begin rollbacks, none qualified to do so by the test in the president's own plan.
The Georgia governor even denied mayors authority to control their own towns.
Of course, the adults on his team forced that plan on manchild Trump, and he effectively repudiated it the same day with a flurry of tweets demanding "liberation" of several states under lockdown.
All part of making America number one in all the world for Coronavirus infections and deaths.
All part of escaping the pressure for expensive relief measures of social democracy hated by the party of the 1 percenters.
Monday, April 20, 2020
The most successful Coronavirus late night guy
Bill Maher.
The suit in the back yard and the laugh track are better than anything the others have.
Why Trump won't give us testing
You know why.
He will force rollback without adequate testing so that the horrific results will not leap to the eye.
Or ever be known.
Can't do, don't know how
Trump's America in the time of pandemic
The biggest fuck-up ever to get near the White House is in charge.
No wonder we have the most cases and the most deaths in all the world, the worst testing processes, and the least useful information about the spread of infection in our own country.
And our right wing politicians are world leaders for lies and stupidities.
The biggest fuck-up ever to get near the White House is in charge.
No wonder we have the most cases and the most deaths in all the world, the worst testing processes, and the least useful information about the spread of infection in our own country.
And our right wing politicians are world leaders for lies and stupidities.
Blah, blah
Hundreds of protesters line Harrisburg streets in rowdy protest against stay-at-home order
Fox says "hundreds". Is that like one or two hundred? Probably not nine.
Update, turned out about a thousand.
ONE thousand.
So, who doesn't think he's got it? Bolsonaro coughing his head off at a rally against anti-virus measures
Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro denounced for joining pro-dictatorship rally
Not exaggeration, not hyperbole, not figurative rather than literal language.
They mean it outright, and it's true.
Former presidents, politicians and newspaper editorial boards have lined up to denounce the “moronic” and “anti-democratic” behaviour of Brazil’s far-right leader after he hit the streets to egg on protesters demanding a return to military dictatorship.
As the number of deaths caused by Covid-19 rose to nearly 2,500 on Sunday, Jair Bolsonaro left his presidential palace in Brazil’s capital, BrasÃlia, to fraternize with flag-waving radicals.
Among the demands their banners listed were an end to the social distancing measures opposed by Bolsonaro, the closure of Brazil’s congress and supreme court, and a re-run of a dictatorship-era decree used by military rulers in the late 1960s to suffocate their political opponents.
. . . .
“The era of roguery is over. Now it’s the people who are in power,” Bolsonaro proclaimed outside the Brazilian army headquarters, coughing repeatedly as he spoke.
“Everyone in Brazil must understand that they must yield to the will of the Brazilian people.”
. . . .
On Monday morning Bolsonaro denied he had been attacking Brazilian democracy but told reporters: “I am actually the Constitution”.
Bolsonaro is a longstanding fan of the military men who ruled Brazil from 1964 until 1985, and autocrats including Chile’s Augusto Pinochet.
Not exaggeration, not hyperbole, not figurative rather than literal language.
They mean it outright, and it's true.
Former presidents, politicians and newspaper editorial boards have lined up to denounce the “moronic” and “anti-democratic” behaviour of Brazil’s far-right leader after he hit the streets to egg on protesters demanding a return to military dictatorship.
As the number of deaths caused by Covid-19 rose to nearly 2,500 on Sunday, Jair Bolsonaro left his presidential palace in Brazil’s capital, BrasÃlia, to fraternize with flag-waving radicals.
Among the demands their banners listed were an end to the social distancing measures opposed by Bolsonaro, the closure of Brazil’s congress and supreme court, and a re-run of a dictatorship-era decree used by military rulers in the late 1960s to suffocate their political opponents.
. . . .
“The era of roguery is over. Now it’s the people who are in power,” Bolsonaro proclaimed outside the Brazilian army headquarters, coughing repeatedly as he spoke.
“Everyone in Brazil must understand that they must yield to the will of the Brazilian people.”
. . . .
On Monday morning Bolsonaro denied he had been attacking Brazilian democracy but told reporters: “I am actually the Constitution”.
Bolsonaro is a longstanding fan of the military men who ruled Brazil from 1964 until 1985, and autocrats including Chile’s Augusto Pinochet.
Fake news! Booze in PA still not really available.
"Your call is NOT important to us.
"Nor is your custom at the LCB website for online business."
A message to Pennsylvanians from your governor, Tom Wolf.
State Stores offering curbside pickup orders starting Monday at certain locations
Fine Wine & Good Spirits is offering curbside pickup to customers starting Monday at a limited number of locations.
Each store will take orders by phone from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., or until the store reaches the maximum number of orders it can fulfill that day, Monday through Saturday.
The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board said customers will be allowed to place one order of up to six bottles.
I tried a few of the local stores. Phone lines were busy both before and after 9 am, at every story I tried. Did they just leave them off the hook?
Same result for various spot checks during the day.
They probably did nothing to increase call capacity, just as the online site did nothing to increase its capacity when the governor closed all the stores and decided all the buyers in the state could just go to the website.
PPG said about a week ago that 1 try in a thousand actually succeeds in reaching the site to make an order.
I can think of a Democratic governor who may never win another election.
"Nor is your custom at the LCB website for online business."
A message to Pennsylvanians from your governor, Tom Wolf.
State Stores offering curbside pickup orders starting Monday at certain locations
Fine Wine & Good Spirits is offering curbside pickup to customers starting Monday at a limited number of locations.
Each store will take orders by phone from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., or until the store reaches the maximum number of orders it can fulfill that day, Monday through Saturday.
The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board said customers will be allowed to place one order of up to six bottles.
I tried a few of the local stores. Phone lines were busy both before and after 9 am, at every story I tried. Did they just leave them off the hook?
Same result for various spot checks during the day.
They probably did nothing to increase call capacity, just as the online site did nothing to increase its capacity when the governor closed all the stores and decided all the buyers in the state could just go to the website.
PPG said about a week ago that 1 try in a thousand actually succeeds in reaching the site to make an order.
I can think of a Democratic governor who may never win another election.
Sunday, April 19, 2020
Fake News! Bozo, the most well-known, unashamed, and skilled compulsive and habitual liar on the planet, scapegoats China.
Trump suggests China may be ‘knowingly responsible’ for virus
“Our relationship with China was good until they did this,” Mr. Trump said Saturday.
“The question was asked, ‘Would you be angry at China?’ Well, the answer might very well be a very resounding yes, but it depends: Was it a mistake that got out of control, or was it done deliberately?”
“There’s a big difference between those two,” he said.
The current scientific, intelligence, and public health consensus is that the cause of the outbreak was neither an accident nor a choice.
The outbreak was not from a lab and the virus is not a human creation.
It's a natural virus that jumped from some animal or other, probably from bats to humans, and probably at a wet market in Wuhan.
As so often, Trump is just shoveling bullshit, as are his lying Republican supporters, and the usual fools believe him but even more liars pretend to believe him.
When his intelligence agencies unanimously said Russia interfered extensively in the 2016 elections he lied he didn't believe them and Russia was innocent.
When everybody with an ounce of relevant expertise including his intelligence agencies says it's a natural virus that got to humans neither in a lab accident nor in a deliberate poisoning of humanity he again lies he doesn't believe them and China screwed up or deliberately poisoned the world.
But look at this about 77% of Americans blaming China for the virus and more than half agreeing China should be forced to pay some sort of reparations for its impact.
He and the GOP are taking advantage of this for campaign purposes and to avoid their own fair share of blame.
“Our relationship with China was good until they did this,” Mr. Trump said Saturday.
“The question was asked, ‘Would you be angry at China?’ Well, the answer might very well be a very resounding yes, but it depends: Was it a mistake that got out of control, or was it done deliberately?”
“There’s a big difference between those two,” he said.
The current scientific, intelligence, and public health consensus is that the cause of the outbreak was neither an accident nor a choice.
The outbreak was not from a lab and the virus is not a human creation.
It's a natural virus that jumped from some animal or other, probably from bats to humans, and probably at a wet market in Wuhan.
As so often, Trump is just shoveling bullshit, as are his lying Republican supporters, and the usual fools believe him but even more liars pretend to believe him.
When his intelligence agencies unanimously said Russia interfered extensively in the 2016 elections he lied he didn't believe them and Russia was innocent.
When everybody with an ounce of relevant expertise including his intelligence agencies says it's a natural virus that got to humans neither in a lab accident nor in a deliberate poisoning of humanity he again lies he doesn't believe them and China screwed up or deliberately poisoned the world.
But look at this about 77% of Americans blaming China for the virus and more than half agreeing China should be forced to pay some sort of reparations for its impact.
He and the GOP are taking advantage of this for campaign purposes and to avoid their own fair share of blame.
Cases and deaths. PA is not NY.
Statewide:
Cases: 31,068Allegheny County:
Nursing home cases: 4,647 (residents and staff), 15% of the total cases
Deaths: 836
Nursing home deaths: 459, 55% of the total dead
Cases: 1,035
Nursing home cases: 207 (residents and staff), 20% of the total cases
Deaths: 50
Nursing home deaths: 34, 68% of the total dead
An entire story about anti-lockdown demonstrations in various cities does not ONCE mention crowd size
Not one picture of a crowd, either.
So, a dozen or two in each city, then?
So, NBC wants to stir the pot? Or push the anti-lockdown line and agenda?
Protesters in Texas, other states demand end to lockdowns day after Trump's 'LIBERATE' tweets
So, a dozen or two in each city, then?
So, NBC wants to stir the pot? Or push the anti-lockdown line and agenda?
Protesters in Texas, other states demand end to lockdowns day after Trump's 'LIBERATE' tweets
Saturday, April 18, 2020
What does Biden have to do to get elected?
Not die.
Not have a major stroke.
Not plunge into sudden dementia.
He's the only real alternative to Trump.
The only thing that can stop him will be the electoral consequences of Republican vs Democratic levels of participation and Republican efforts to suppress the vote among groups more Democratic than Republican leaning.
Not have a major stroke.
Not plunge into sudden dementia.
He's the only real alternative to Trump.
The only thing that can stop him will be the electoral consequences of Republican vs Democratic levels of participation and Republican efforts to suppress the vote among groups more Democratic than Republican leaning.
Deference to tradition is often stupid and more common than you think
Ukraine in flames: Chernobyl wildfire highlights a dangerous tradition
Whaling by native Americans and Japanese.
Farming practices in Ukraine and ranching practices in the American west.
Overfishing, overgrazing.
Faith healing and folk medicines and shamanic healings rather than recourse to actual medical science.
Whaling by native Americans and Japanese.
Farming practices in Ukraine and ranching practices in the American west.
Overfishing, overgrazing.
Faith healing and folk medicines and shamanic healings rather than recourse to actual medical science.
The brass of that man!
Trump, more responsible for American deaths than any other person, group, or factor, fires the WHO for causing virus deaths.
Talk about fake news.
The virus and boats, again
France finds more than 1,000 virus cases on aircraft carrier
The French navy is investigating how the coronavirus infected more than 1,000 sailors aboard the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, amid growing pressure on government leaders to explain how it could have happened.
The ship, France's biggest carrier and the flagship of its navy, is undergoing a lengthy disinfection process since returning to its home base in Toulon five days ago.
One person remains in intensive care and some 20 others hospitalized, navy spokesman Cmdr. Eric Lavault told The Associated Press.
Two of four U.S. sailors serving aboard the Charles de Gaulle as part of an exchange program also tested positive, according to a U.S. Navy statement. A British sailor was aboard another vessel, Lavault said, refusing to reveal the sailor’s health status.
Lavault insisted that the aircraft carrier's commander sought to increase the physical distance among the crew on the vessel, where there was no testing equipment and for most of its three months on operations, no masks.
It is “very difficult to apply social distancing measures … on a combat vessel,” Lavault said. But “security of the crew is the first concern. A combat ship, especially an aircraft carrier, is nothing without its crew.”
A similar outbreak on the USS Theodore Roosevelt and a dispute about how the at-sea health crisis was handled led to the firing of its captain and the resignation this month of the acting U.S. Navy secretary.
The French navy is investigating how the coronavirus infected more than 1,000 sailors aboard the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, amid growing pressure on government leaders to explain how it could have happened.
The ship, France's biggest carrier and the flagship of its navy, is undergoing a lengthy disinfection process since returning to its home base in Toulon five days ago.
One person remains in intensive care and some 20 others hospitalized, navy spokesman Cmdr. Eric Lavault told The Associated Press.
Two of four U.S. sailors serving aboard the Charles de Gaulle as part of an exchange program also tested positive, according to a U.S. Navy statement. A British sailor was aboard another vessel, Lavault said, refusing to reveal the sailor’s health status.
Lavault insisted that the aircraft carrier's commander sought to increase the physical distance among the crew on the vessel, where there was no testing equipment and for most of its three months on operations, no masks.
It is “very difficult to apply social distancing measures … on a combat vessel,” Lavault said. But “security of the crew is the first concern. A combat ship, especially an aircraft carrier, is nothing without its crew.”
A similar outbreak on the USS Theodore Roosevelt and a dispute about how the at-sea health crisis was handled led to the firing of its captain and the resignation this month of the acting U.S. Navy secretary.
The bad news and the good news is the same news
Antibody study suggests coronavirus is far more widespread than previously thought
At the time of the study, Santa Clara county had 1,094 confirmed cases of Covid-19, resulting in 50 deaths.
At the time of the study, Santa Clara county had 1,094 confirmed cases of Covid-19, resulting in 50 deaths.
But based on the rate of people who have antibodies, it is likely that between 48,000 and 81,000 people had been infected in Santa Clara county by early April – a number approximately 50 to 80 times higher.
That also means coronavirus is potentially much less deadly to the overall population than initially thought.
That also means coronavirus is potentially much less deadly to the overall population than initially thought.
As of Tuesday, the US’s coronavirus death rate was 4.1% and Stanford researchers said their findings show a death rate of just 0.12% to 0.2%.
The study has been interpreted by some to mean we are closer to herd immunity – the concept that if enough people in a population have developed antibodies to a disease that population becomes immune – than expected.
The study has been interpreted by some to mean we are closer to herd immunity – the concept that if enough people in a population have developed antibodies to a disease that population becomes immune – than expected.
This would allow some to more quickly get back to work, a strategy currently being deployed in Sweden.
But researchers behind the study said not to jump to conclusions or make policy choices until more research has been done.
The study confirms the widely-held belief that far more people than originally thought have been infected with the coronavirus, said Arthur Reingold, an epidemiology professor at UC Berkeley who was not involved in the study, but it doesn’t mean the shelter-in-place order will be lifted any time soon.
“The idea this would be a passport to going safely back to work and getting us up and running has two constraints: we do not know if antibodies protect you and for how long, and a very small percentage of the population even has antibodies,” he said.
Even with the adjusted rate of infection as found by the study, only 3% of the population has coronavirus – that means 97% does not.
The study confirms the widely-held belief that far more people than originally thought have been infected with the coronavirus, said Arthur Reingold, an epidemiology professor at UC Berkeley who was not involved in the study, but it doesn’t mean the shelter-in-place order will be lifted any time soon.
“The idea this would be a passport to going safely back to work and getting us up and running has two constraints: we do not know if antibodies protect you and for how long, and a very small percentage of the population even has antibodies,” he said.
Even with the adjusted rate of infection as found by the study, only 3% of the population has coronavirus – that means 97% does not.
To reach herd immunity 50% or more of the population would have to be infected and recovered from coronavirus.
It is also unclear if the study, conducted exclusively on residents of Santa Clara county, is representative of the rest of the United States, researchers said.
. . . .
Other large-scale sample studies are currently underway. The National Institute of Health is testing 10,000 people.
It is also unclear if the study, conducted exclusively on residents of Santa Clara county, is representative of the rest of the United States, researchers said.
. . . .
Other large-scale sample studies are currently underway. The National Institute of Health is testing 10,000 people.
UC Berkeley is going to test 5,000 healthy volunteers to see if they have, or have ever had, the coronavirus.
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