So Barbara brought me breakfast this morning.
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And here's one way to help defeat coronavirus:
www.newyorker.com
Experts Believe the Coronavirus Could Be Defeated with the Twenty-fifth Amendment
Although much about the coronavirus remains unknown, an expert said, “We’ve learned a lot about some of the conditions that enable it to thrive, like incompetence, laziness, and ignorance.”
I think this following report is ominous.
As the coronavirus swept over China, some experts were in denial
As the coronavirus swept over China, some experts were in denial
The President who won't read briefing reports, ignored news of the growing pandemic for months.
He can't blame China and WHO for that.
He can't blame China and WHO for that.
Trump is notorious for blaming others for his faults.
True, China hid details at first as to its efforts to coverup the severity of what went on.
WHO at first believed the Chinese even though there are CDC reps working in that organization.
But even after the truth was widely known to the proper authorities, Trump still engaged in a coverup:
www.nytimes.com
True, China hid details at first as to its efforts to coverup the severity of what went on.
WHO at first believed the Chinese even though there are CDC reps working in that organization.
But even after the truth was widely known to the proper authorities, Trump still engaged in a coverup:
Opinion | How Trump and His Team Covered Up the Coronavirus in Five Days (Published 2020)
The president and senior officials manipulated Americans and played down the severity of the pandemic.
Randall
J. Randall Murphy
No argument there, which is why I dismissed his blaming of China back at the start. On Jan. 29, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar told President Trump the coronavirus epidemic was under control. So why would he then need to escalate the warnings he had been getting in his daily briefings up to that point? He's not an epidemiologist. The situation seems to be a result of a chronic system failure, not just the current presidency, and simply getting rid of Trump won't automatically fix it.
Azar is an idiot.
But Trump was getting is daily intelligence briefings, which he refuses to read, which indicated a growing threat. That has been demonstrated with emails and such. He was fully warned all the way.
But Trump was getting is daily intelligence briefings, which he refuses to read, which indicated a growing threat. That has been demonstrated with emails and such. He was fully warned all the way.
Ezechiel
Paranormal Adept
I think we'll be tasting the real Covid-19 when Brazil, Russia, India.... and the entire African continent join the high infection club.
Most unnerving is watching Russia and Brazil ram through the Chinese relatively static count (84,000).
India is on an exponential curve and is especially vulnerable due to its very high population density and limited resources. I mean... do the math... 1.3 billion humans times penetration of 60% = 780 million times 8% mortality = 55 million deaths for India alone. Spanish flu back in 2018 was 50 million deaths (global).
(US current mortality rate is 6% 60,000/1,000,000)
Does Nigeria even have the resources to even measure it's infection rate ? (population of 200 million) ?
Most depressing sight this week: Mike Pence with no mask at the Mayo clinic. ?? wtf ??
Most unnerving is watching Russia and Brazil ram through the Chinese relatively static count (84,000).
India is on an exponential curve and is especially vulnerable due to its very high population density and limited resources. I mean... do the math... 1.3 billion humans times penetration of 60% = 780 million times 8% mortality = 55 million deaths for India alone. Spanish flu back in 2018 was 50 million deaths (global).
(US current mortality rate is 6% 60,000/1,000,000)
Does Nigeria even have the resources to even measure it's infection rate ? (population of 200 million) ?
Most depressing sight this week: Mike Pence with no mask at the Mayo clinic. ?? wtf ??
Randall
J. Randall Murphy
That is not valid counterpoint. Azar informed associates that he had alerted Trump on January 18, 2020, regarding the potential danger from COVID-19, but Trump thought he was being "alarmist". Despite Azar's warnings, four days later, Trump announced, "We have it totally under control. It’s one person coming in from China." So it's it's rather obvious that Azar was getting political blowback for his stance on the issue ( at least publicly ). Nevertheless, on January 28, 2020, Azar requested that the Chinese government allow a CDC expert team into their country to help them learn more about the virus.
How much more Azar could have done I don't know, but what does seem certain is that the political blowback was coming from the top down. So who else was giving the president advice not to act sooner ( if any )? Were there people acting sooner behind the scenes while Trump was trying to preserve calm? I don't know for sure. All these facts are still unraveling.
According to an ABC news story, the Defense Department provided a statement from Col. R. Shane Day, Director of the NCMI, which is the alleged source of the reports, He says: "As a matter of practice the National Center for Medical Intelligence does not comment publicly on specific intelligence matters. However, in the interest of transparency during this current public health crisis, we can confirm that media reporting about the existence/release of a National Center for Medical Intelligence Coronavirus-related product/assessment in November of 2019 is not correct. No such NCMI product exists," the statement said."
Do I believe that means there were no such briefings? Not for a second. Just like I don't believe the announcement that scientists have determined with any level of certainty, that SARS-CoV-2 had no help from a lab. So I guess we have a cover-up going on there in the USA as well. Of course that now makes us tinfoil hat wearing conspiracy theorists.
Another relevant story: The Spies Who Predicted COVID-19 | by Kent Harrington - Project Syndicate
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He got presidential daily briefings warning of a worsening situaiton, and he ignored them.
It is all about politics. Trump won't admit that all this happened under his witch, so he blames everybody else.
It is all about politics. Trump won't admit that all this happened under his witch, so he blames everybody else.
More:
Trump wants to boast we are number one.
With over one million infected, we are number one in the world.
WIth over 61,000 deaths, we are number one in the world.
With a chief executive who wants to ignore reality, we are number one in the world.
Trump wants to boast we are number one.
With over one million infected, we are number one in the world.
WIth over 61,000 deaths, we are number one in the world.
With a chief executive who wants to ignore reality, we are number one in the world.
And about whether it's man-made:
www.huffpost.com
U.S. Intelligence Agencies Conclude Coronavirus 'Not Manmade'
The Office of the DNI said it was still examining an as-yet-unproven theory that the outbreak may have resulted from "an accident at a laboratory in Wuhan.”
And about the White House's moronic Senior Advisor:
www.cnn.com
We can't forget all the wonderful things he did to resolve the Middle East conflicts — not!
Jared Kushner's tone-deaf coronavirus answer completely missed the mark
Presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner went on Fox News Wednesday to declare victory over coronavirus.
We can't forget all the wonderful things he did to resolve the Middle East conflicts — not!
Ezechiel
Paranormal Adept
And about the White House's moronic Senior Advisor:
We can't forget all the wonderful things he did to resolve the Middle East conflicts — not!Jared Kushner's tone-deaf coronavirus answer completely missed the mark
Presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner went on Fox News Wednesday to declare victory over coronavirus.
My questions of the day: 'What happens to Trump and his nepotistic cronies once they are kicked out of the White House' ? .... and especially all those goose stepping supporters that drank Lysol and stuck a UV lamp up their a$$es ?
Randall
J. Randall Murphy
Again, those reports have never been publicly released, and the office responsible for creating those reports denies that the report claiming to be from November 2019 was ever issued. But like I also said, I don't believe for a second that the sources who say they saw those reports are lying. Then again, maybe the sources actually are phony. Just because I want Trump to be guilty of negligence doesn't mean I should automatically believe unproven claims against him.
Randall
J. Randall Murphy
I read that article ( above ) that claims SARS-COv-2 isn't manmade, as well as others, plus watched videos in which other scientists have said the same thing, and compared them with the evidence that the virus is more likely to have had lab assistance. The latter comes out much further ahead. The non-lab proponents consistently parrot other non-lab proponents who back their claim with misleading proclamation and opinion.And about whether it's man-made:
U.S. Intelligence Agencies Conclude Coronavirus 'Not Manmade'
The Office of the DNI said it was still examining an as-yet-unproven theory that the outbreak may have resulted from "an accident at a laboratory in Wuhan.”
More specifically, the reasoning of the non-lab proponents is based on two very weak arguments. The first is that they assume a more suitable virus for a bioweapon would be very different, and the second is that such a virus would be "genetically engineered" or "manmade". The first claim is weak because studies that compare the effectiveness of a pathogen to spread against it's mortality rate put COVID-19 in a very favorable position for a bioweapon, and even if it's not a bioweapon, that doesn't rule out that SARS-COv-2 could have had lab help for other reasons.
The second claim is weak because the way that the detractors phrase their arguments always suggests that SARS-COv-2 came from nature and therefore wasn't created in a lab. In the case of SARS-COv-2, the origin has been traced back to bats. This is at best a red herring, because all the viruses worked on in labs ultimately came from nature, including SARS-COv-2. So what? That doesn't mean a lab had no involvement.
What they don't tell us is:
- The Wuhan lab collected the same bat virus the detractors talk about, and were studying its transmissibility to humans.
- The Wuhan lab found the key to human transmission and was capable of making it happen.
- To date, no such natural mutation has been found in animals outside the Wuhan lab.
- About a third of the cases in the initial outbreak had no connection to the Wuhan market.
- There was an intentional cover-up that includes the destruction of scientific evidence and "disappeared" people.
- The Wuhan lab was in relative proximity to the Whan market blamed for the outbreak.
- A Wuhan lab worker who came down with symptoms of the virus has since disappeared.
- The CCP has engaged in an active campaign of denial and suppression of any evidence of their responsibility.
Those who suggest I'm entertaining my own bias can replay the first time I commented about this on The Paracast where I reported that scientists had determined that the virus was entirely natural. Little did I know what other evidence would surface, or what little evidence the scientists who had made that statement were basing their opinion on.
I think we need to separate the two main issues.
Yes, the Chinese suppressed the existence and/or severity of the crisis, and they also influenced others, such as WHO, to be late to the game.
While it is possible that the virus came out of a lab, that doesn't mean it was necessarily deliberate. Yes, a screwup is certainly possible.
At the end of the day, it's most important that the pandemic be minimized as soon as possible and the world get back to work. After that, it's important that we find out what really happened and do what's necessary to make sure or at least reduce the possibility of it happening with yet another virus.
Yes, the Chinese suppressed the existence and/or severity of the crisis, and they also influenced others, such as WHO, to be late to the game.
While it is possible that the virus came out of a lab, that doesn't mean it was necessarily deliberate. Yes, a screwup is certainly possible.
At the end of the day, it's most important that the pandemic be minimized as soon as possible and the world get back to work. After that, it's important that we find out what really happened and do what's necessary to make sure or at least reduce the possibility of it happening with yet another virus.
Randall
J. Randall Murphy
This is where the fine edge of the wedge falls in favor of shadowy. The scores add up this way ( so far ):
- It is possible that the outbreak was deliberate? Yes. Score 1 point in favor of deliberate.
- It is possible that the outbreak was accidental? Yes. Score 1 point in favor of accidental.
- The score is now even, but either way it provides VERY convenient plausible deniability. No points but it looks bad.
- How likely is a leak from a high security virology lab? Extremely minimal. Again no points, but it also looks bad.
- There was an initial effort to cover-up the outbreak that cannot be seen as anything but deliberate. Score 1 point in favor of deliberate.
- The authorities knowingly let an estimated 5 million people out of Wuhan, many on international flights after the cover-up, knowing the outbreak was much worse than they were reporting. It is impossible for this to be anything but deliberate. Score another point in favor of deliberate.
- There is historical evidence that the use of bioweapons, drugs, and other tactics are part of the CCP's strategy to destabilize rival nations. This doesn't prove it was deliberate, but it deserves at least half a point because it is totally unreasonable to think that CCP military strategists aren't studying this pandemic from a strategic point of view, or that they had not already studied it prior to the outbreak, and therefore they must have had a really good idea about what would happen when they deliberately let the virus out of the country.
So even if the initial outbreak was accidental, it's like finding out your dog has rabies, covering it up, and then deliberately opening the gate so it can run around the neighborhood biting people. IMO it amounts to the same thing as a deliberate attack. There is no other way to look at it unless one believes that top CCP scientists, engineers, leaders, and military were totally inept.
- Accidental - 1
- Deliberate - 3½
Yes of course. We have more immediate concerns than who is to blame. That is unless this is part of a larger plan. We haven't been told the whole truth about this pandemic from the start, and we're still not getting it. But anyone who does a little digging can see the dark side of the force is at work here.
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New York Governor Andrew Cuomo brought up a very important matter that has been overlooked.
The strain of coronavirus that first infected New York State DID NOT come from China. It came from Europe, most likely Italy, which got infected from China before President Trump instituted the partial travel ban on China for which he takes credit.
That ban did pretty much nothing to stop it, just as most of the things Trump didn't do but claims he did.
The strain of coronavirus that first infected New York State DID NOT come from China. It came from Europe, most likely Italy, which got infected from China before President Trump instituted the partial travel ban on China for which he takes credit.
That ban did pretty much nothing to stop it, just as most of the things Trump didn't do but claims he did.
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