The Right Side of the News

Your biggest problem is not knowing what you do not know, causing you to continually step in it. You may now begin your endless insistence of how correct you are.--Percy

That would require a little intuitive feel for math. If you provide some hypothetical numbers for illustration it will only provide a focal point for confusion. Percentages, ratios, slopes, exponentials, it all may as well not exist. If required even addition will be denied. "24,000 more tested positive today? Those are just hypotheticals. No one really knows. It's just the evil left trying to stir up hysteria. They turn my stomach."--Percy

The opening of ABC's This Week had a good summary of Trump's ever changing pronouncements:

• Tuesday: The country will be reopened and raring to go by Easter.
• Wednesday: Reopening by Easter is just a recommendation.
• Thursday: Reopening the country will take place county by county according to infection count.
• Friday: Considering a quarantine for the tri-state metropolitan area affecting portions of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.
• Saturday: No quarantine, just a travel advisory from the CDC.

These inconstant and constantly moving stances stem from Trump letting himself be driven by what his social media and poll numbers are telling him. Whatever the numbers were yesterday drives what he says today. There's no behind-the-scenes discussion and consensus to deliver a consistent message and strategy, just Trump acting as his own Chief of Staff, health adviser, economic adviser, etc. His cabinet and array of advisory committees are not there to render advice and expertise but merely to echo and support the president's ever changing positions and try to figure out what to do to implement the ever changing story of the day.--Percy

Chuck Todd's first guest on today's Meet the Press is Doctor Deborah Birx of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, a new addition to the task force just a week or so ago. Birx built a reputation for directness, forthrightness and honesty while working on HIV. Has she contracted the Trump virus and become overtaken by lies and misrepresentations? I don't know, I haven't watched yet, I'm going to hit "play" right now. I will type here what I see and hear.She was a little confusing at the very beginning. She made a strong and obviously accurate statement that all states and especially all metropolitan areas will be affected, but left Todd confused because she seemed to end in mid-point by referring to a website and then just stopping.But she just said that we have "full capacity for full diagnosis." That's just a flat out lie. We do not have enough tests to test everyone, or even a statistical sample of everyone.And tests are slow, taking anywhere from a few days to a week. We keep hearing in the news about very fast tests, but the only first person reports I've seen of people who have taken the test is that it is difficult to be considered serious enough to get the test, and that it takes more than a few days for the results to come back.She next describes the necessity for going out to low infection rate areas to conduct full diagnosis so that they have a handle on the problem. She is correct, this is very important.After describing the problem of the states bidding against other states and the federal government for ventilators and PPE, Todd asked a very specific question: "Is the federal government going to take over all procurement and disbursement of medical equipment or not?" Birx did not answer the question. By her non-answer the real answer is clear: The states are on their own and it's a free-for-all out there. The federal government will not be providing any central coordination.Todd gave her another chance, politely repeating the question: "You sort of overlooked the question about, is the federal government going to take over at least the procurement and the distribution of things going forward?"Again sidestepping the question, Birx said the federal government is looking at the problem, but that the states should be looking at where all equipment is (such as ventilators) so that they can get maximum use from them. The message to the states is obvious: What you got is likely all you're gonna get, the federal government is unlikely to help in the time available, you'll have to deal with it.The interview is probably going to continue for a few more minutes, but it is already clear: Birx has caught the Trump virus.Birx dares not come out and say the states are on their own because Trump would move her off the daily briefing podium and start badmouthing her. He'd start calling her the horrible woman who screwed up HIV programs around the world (her previous job).Thoreau said that the place for an honest man under an unjust government was in prison, and analogously the proper place for people like Dr. Birx, if they are truly honest, is outside of government. Dr. Fauci, when asked about being on the podium while Trump spreads medical misinformation, rhetorically responds, "What would you have me do?" The answer is, "Resign." That's what honest people do. Do not help this man spread his lies and misinformation. He has figured out that the pandemic is a wonderful presidential campaign opportunity for him, amplifying his megaphone and virtually silencing the Democratic candidates. By standing behind him on the podium you are lending him credibility he should not have because his information is false or misleading. Walk away. Better yet, run.Birx requested that when the virus arrives in their metropolitan area that people stay in place instead of going elsewhere because that just spreads the virus around the country.She describes her job as preparing data so that she can make the most informed recommendations possible to the president. She doesn't yet understand that he only cares about his social media and poll numbers.--Percy

An objective person should be able to listen to any report, be it from the right, left or middle, and measure it against the facts while refraining from contriving your own facts a la Trump and Kellyanne Conway, Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson, Alex Jones, Trish Reagan, Jeanine Pirro, Mark Levine, OAN, etc.Your critical assessment consists of a fact-free regiment of "right true, left false," followed by an endless and also fact-free defense of the ridiculous and absurd.Trump's words are on video. Their meaning is clear (usually, when his syntax doesn't get in the way). There's no point in straining credulity with ludicrous reinterpretations.--Percy

While you're only issuing baseless accusations there's nothing to reply to. You've said nothing of substance, so nothing need be said in reply. The only fact that comes across clearly is your extreme bias while being duped, admittedly by a conman extraordinaire, but duped nonetheless.Your "Disagrees with Trump == leftist" is a false equivalence. Many on the right also disagree with Trump. I wonder if Trump will change his mind about wearing a mask now that his soulmate Boris Johnson is in a British ICU.--Percy

Thomas Modly resigns after calling ousted aircraft carrier captain 'stupid' - CNNPolitics, reports CNN. Naval Secretary Thomas Modly gave a speech to the men of the USS Theodore Roosevelt accusing their fired commander of stupidity for writing a memo that he should have known would be leaked, and then found himself in the awkward position of having his own speech leaked. It didn't help that his criticism of the Theodore Roosevelt's fired commander was profane, inappropriate and unprofessional, and the firing itself questionable.Since this fits under the category of Trump administration turnover, the White House has a new press secretary: Who Is Kayleigh McEnany? President Trump's New Press Secretary - The New York Times. Former press secretary Stephanie Grisham will return to her role on the staff of Melania Trump.--Percy

You're just parroting points you've picked up from your phalanx of right-wing talk show liars. Please go out and find some actual facts before posting.--Percy

Same with New York, which has a much higher infection rate of .9%, nearly 20 times higher than California's .05%. And of course all states will eventually face the same issue of trying to return those with antibodies back to work as quickly as possible.This means that each of the 50 states should start up their own individual research program to develop a fast and accurate antibody test. The federal government could take up that task, but of course Trump says it only serves a backup role.But it's comforting to know that if the states make insufficient progress on this by, say, July or so, that the federal government will probably step in and begin the process of starting the paperwork for requesting the submission of bids. They'll do a comprehensive evaluation process so as to choose the one from whom Trump stands to profit the most, and the test should become available sometime next year when it's no longer relevant, just like Ford and GM will begin churning out ventilators well after the period of peek need has passed.--Percy

It's appropriate that you put "experts" in quotes, because for you the experts are Trump, Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson, Judge Jeannine Pirro, One Network, Jerome Adams (Surgeon General and Trump toady), and so forth. These "experts" are all on video doing a 180 on the coronavirus during the month of March while true scientists like Dr. Fauci and Dr. Birx have been very consistent in their message.--Percy

No, there is not too much quarantine, and why has been explained to you many times. The real question is why you are still getting your information from a right wing propagandist, conspiracy theorist talk show host. His goal is ratings, not accurate information. He's sure got you coming back time after time. This has been explained before, but it bears repeating. The coronavirus mortality rate is thought to be in the neighborhood of 2%. Let's lowball it and call it 1%. If we let the coronavirus roll through the country and infect everyone that would be 3.25 million deaths, and there would be millions more collateral deaths from other causes due to the unavailability of health resources sucked up by coronavirus cases. Please stop propagating this myth. Young people are also dying from coronavirus, just at a lower rate than older people (from The Pandemic's First Wave): Current health has nothing to do with it. The most important factor is the viral load acquired (how much virus infects a person at one time, e.g., a big droplet of thousands of virus passed directly through the air to someone else's passageways rather than a few hundred virus on a packaging container that someone happens to touch) and whether it can outrace the immune system's efforts to mount a robust defense.The Washington Post website is blocking me from directly presenting the images of some of those who died, a number of them relatively young. You can see them in the article.Here's an example of what happens when you relax social distancing and PPE too soon. This is Italy. Their daily new cases was trending downward, then they relaxed, and now they're trending upward again: Until there's a vaccine, everyone with no previous exposure is vulnerable, which is, given the low penetration rate into the population of 0.2%, almost everybody. Drop the mitigation efforts and the rate of infection will increase rapidly.How do we reopen the country? Massive testing, something Trump has declared we don't need, combined with social distancing, masks and gloves where widespread testing isn't yet implemented. Without this our choices are depression or a conflagration of death. Travel from places with high infection rates to places of low infection rates should be prohibited except for those tested.--Percy

A response has been posted in Message 561 in the appropriate thread, Coronavirus and Pandemics.--Percy

In GOP victories from Tuesday's special election races largely ignored by media | Fox News Fox News reports about GOP victories in special elections in California and takes this slap at the major news networks:

quote:

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However, there was little to zero mention of Garcia and Tiffany's victories on any of the major news networks.

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Yet the Washington Post, New York Times and CNN all reported it in full articles, as I'm sure did all the other major news outlets:

• Republicans win Democratic-held House seat in California in a boost for GOP
  
• Republican Mike Garcia Wins California 25 in Special Election - The New York Times
• Republicans win back California House seat they lost in 2018 after Democrat concedes - CNNPolitics

I hope Fox News consumers realize that Fox is as inconstant as the wind. They pivoted on a dime when the seriousness of the pandemic became clear, switching from ridiculing those convinced of its seriousness to professing that they'd always taken the virus seriously. When Trump finally leaves office and the breadth and depth and his malfeasance becomes clear, whether in six months or four years six months, Fox will again pivot and say they'd always known the corruption and venality of the 45^th president.--Percy