Science
You'll NEVER GUESS What The Anti-Abortion & Stem Cells Crowd Thinks Of The President's Stem Cell Smoothie!
How do they like them apples? They like 'em GREAT!
October 13, 2020 03:27 PM
Oh, so baby parts risotto is a perfect entree when it's the GOP hosting the dinner party. Duly noted!
With the president out touting the wonders of an antibody cocktail developed using kidney cells from an aborted fetus, the forced birthers are contorting themselves into pretzels to explain why this is perfectly fine and totally consistent with their previous opposition to stem cell research which "destroys human life."
Just last year the Trump administration announced an almost complete ban on the use of fetal stem cells in government funded projects, installing a 14-member Human Fetal Research Ethics Advisory Board to review applications for just the kind of research used to develop the Regeneron cocktail Trump touts as a "cure" which made him "immune" to COVID. The board, appointed by Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, must contain a lawyer, and ethicist, and a theologian, and currently counts among its members representatives from the Catholic Medical Association and the National Catholic Bioethics Center.
When HHS announced the policy, Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the Susan B. Anthony List, called it "a major pro-life victory and we thank President Trump for taking decisive action. It is outrageous and disgusting that we have been complicit, through our taxpayer dollars, in the experimentation using baby body parts." But she and her compatriots seem less upset now that it's Donald Trump using taxpayer dollars to "cure" himself using drugs derived from "baby body parts."
<p>Vice has a <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/4ayk5p/qanon-fans-try-to-explain-why-trump-took-a-drug-developed-with-fetal-tissue" target="_blank">fun flipbook</a> of reaction shots from the No Choice For You Crew. </p><p>At Breitbart, they're simply <a href="https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/10/08/fact-check-left-falsely-claims-trumps-coronavirus-treatments-developed-using-fetal-tissue/" target="_blank">denying realit</a>y, relying on a wildly disingenuous <a href="https://lozierinstitute.org/cli-responds-to-misinformation-regarding-president-trumps-covid-19-treatment/" target="_blank">statement</a> from the Charlotte Lozier Institute, an outcrop of the SBA List, which states that the drug was tested on mice, and <em>ipso facto propter hoc</em>, "<strong>No</strong> human embryonic stem cells or human fetal tissue were used to produce the treatments President Trump received–period." Which conveniently elides the fact that cloned cells from the electively aborted fetus were used to develop particles which mimic the virus, and those particles were then injected into the mice to test the efficacy of Regeneron's antibody cocktail.</p><p>Over in Wingnuttistan, in the Province of Q, where it is dogma that Democrats are sustaining themselves with chemicals derived from murdered babies, there seems to be tension between those calling this an eleventy-dimensional chess move to beat the Deep State at their own game — if Trump got cured without the virus, than it doesn't matter that Fauci is blocking release of the vaccine to throw the election! — and <a href="https://boards.4chan.org/pol/thread/281655120/trump-acts-now-as-a-shill-for-big-pharma-they-got" target="_blank">those</a> who are sure Trump is now an adrenochrome swilling demon.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDUxMjc5Mi9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYwNjEyNjA1MX0.2_0YiBB_rAJDvFC8HWhZMq80Kzi4qT5SvhAeKgG5q3s/img.png?width=980" id="b43e3" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="c2e242b2444fa3ae48639ece2899e208" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
</p><p>(This person is allowed to walk freely among us!)</p><p>Business Insider got <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/anti-abortion-groups-dont-mind-trump-drug-tested-fetal-tissue-2020-10?utmSource=twitter&utmContent=referral&utmTerm=topbar&referrer=twitter" target="_blank">the skinny</a> from the loons in suits. Most declined to comment on the record, although they pointed out that these particular fetal cells were grandfathered in because they came from an abortion performed in 1972. The Lozier Institute stuck to its line that the drug itself was acceptable because it didn't contain any baby parts, while Texas Alliance for Life's Joe Pojman said it was totes cool because GORSUCH (and Kegstand and Barrett).</p><p>"We continue to be very enthusiastic about endorsing president Donald Trump for reelection. He has been sensational on the life issues, and we're very grateful to him for that," he told <em>Insider</em>.</p><p>Only one forced-birth doofus was willing to take the bait. But he was <em>very, very willing.</em></p><p>"In the case of President Trump, the doctors who are providing those medicines to him, those treatments to him, they were not involved with that abortion that took place decades ago," Eric Scheidler, the executive director of Chicago's Pro-Life Action League said. "They didn't assist in it. They didn't choose for it to happen. They may even wish that it had never happened, even if they're benefiting from something that came from that injustice."</p><p>It is fine to use cells from an abortion as long as Donald Trump didn't actually perform the abortion with his own tiny hands. </p><p>In summary and in conclusion, it is totally fine for Republicans to use drugs derived from fetal stem cells. But Democrats are baby killers who hate marriage and children and apple pie and America and probably kill children in the basement of a one-story pizza parlor and use their body parts to make risotto. The end.</p><p>[<a href="https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/06/trump-administration-restricts-fetal-tissue-research" target="_blank">Science</a> / <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/4ayk5p/qanon-fans-try-to-explain-why-trump-took-a-drug-developed-with-fetal-tissue" target="_blank">Vice</a> / <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/anti-abortion-groups-dont-mind-trump-drug-tested-fetal-tissue-2020-10?utmSource=twitter&utmContent=referral&utmTerm=topbar&referrer=twitter" target="_blank">Insider</a>]</p><p><strong>Follow Liz Dye on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/5DollarFeminist" target="_blank">RIGHT HERE!</a></strong><br></p><p><strong>Please click here to support your Wonkette. And if you're ordering your quarantine goods on Amazon, <a href="https://amzn.to/2wbH77j" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">this is the link to do it.</a></strong></p><p></p><form name="donation" method="post" class="donation-form"><p class="subheadline">How often would you like to donate?</p><div class="form-row row--plan"><label class="plan-type__label"><input type="radio" name="plan_type" value="once" class="plan-type" required="" checked> Just once
</label><label class="plan-type__label"><input type="radio" name="plan_type" value="monthly" class="plan-type" required=""> Monthly
</label></div><div class="form-row row--amount"><p class="subheadline">Select an amount (USD)</p><label class="amount__label"><input type="radio" name="amount" class="amount" value="200" data-value="2.00" data-amount="Two Dollars">$2</label><label class="amount__label"><input type="radio" name="amount" class="amount" value="2500" data-value="25.00" data-amount="Twenty Five Dollars">$25</label><label class="amount__label"><input type="radio" name="amount" class="amount" value="500" data-value="5.00" data-amount="Five Dollars">$5</label><label class="amount__label"><input type="radio" name="amount" class="amount" value="5000" data-value="50.00" data-amount="Fifty Dollars">$50</label><label class="amount__label"><input type="radio" name="amount" class="amount" value="1000" data-value="10.00" data-amount="Ten Dollars" checked>$10</label><label class="amount__label"><input type="radio" name="amount" class="amount" value="10000" data-value="100.00" data-amount="One Hundred Dollars">$100</label><label class="amount__label"><input type="radio" name="amount" class="amount" value="1500" data-value="15.00" data-amount="Fifteen Dollars">$15</label><label class="amount__label"><input type="radio" name="amount" class="amount" value="50000" data-value="500.00" data-amount="Five Hundred Dollars">$500</label><label class="amount__label"><input type="radio" name="amount" class="amount" value="2000" data-value="20.00" data-amount="Twenty Dollars">$20</label><label class="amount__label"><input type="radio" name="amount" class="amount" value="100000" data-value="1000.00" data-amount="One Thousand Dollars">$1000</label></div><div class="row--buttons"><button type="submit" class="donate-button" data-payment="strip"><img src="https://assets.rbl.ms/18208879/2000x.png" alt="Credit cards" class="donate-button__img"></button><button type="submit" class="donate-button" data-payment="paypal"><img src="https://assets.rbl.ms/18208880/2000x.png" alt="PayPal" class="donate-button__img"></button></div></form><p></p>
Keep reading...
Show less
coronavirus
Alex Azar Chats Up 'Herd Immunity' Advocates, Insists Coronavirus Policy Not 'Let God Sort 'Em Out'
They're gonna have to answer to the Coca-Cola company.
October 08, 2020 12:34 PM
Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar held a meeting Monday with three scientists who advocate "herd immunity" as a means of controlling the coronavirus pandemic, Politico reports. Big surprise — the meeting was arranged by Donald Trump's very own pandemic whisperer, Scott Atlas, who has talked up "increasing natural immunity" on Fox News, although he denies advocating the strategy to Trump, or that the government is pursuing herd immunity. Just inviting three of its biggest fans to talk to the head of HHS, why would anyone find that worrisome? No big! As Politico notes, it's simply
the latest example of administration officials — including the president himself — seeking out scientists whose contrarian views justify the government's handling of a pandemic that has killed 210,000 people and infected nearly 7.5 million so far in the U.S.
Following the meeting, Azar tweeted that it was simply a terrific discussion with some top experts who see things the right way:
In the conversation with Martin Kulldorff, PhD (Harvard), Jay Bhattacharya, MD, PhD (Stanford), and Sunetra Gupta,… https://t.co/S3J1zjcEqo— Secretary Alex Azar (@Secretary Alex Azar)1601937371.0
And then in the replies, people pointed out that Scott Atlas is a neuroradiologist with no expertise in public health, infectious disease, or epidemiology, not that a lack of credentials ever stopped an ambitious sycophant from finding power in this administration.
<p>In a nutshell, the three scientists Azar met with — "Harvard medical professor Martin Kulldorff, Stanford medical professor Jay Bhattacharya and Oxford epidemiologist Sunetra Gupta" — suggest the best way to deal with the coronavirus pandemic might be to lock down all the elderly and medically vulnerable people, then get as many healthy folks infected with the virus as possible in hopes that they'll then no longer be able to catch or spread it. </p><p>That's the concept of "herd immunity," which generally results when a high percentage of people have been vaccinated against an infectious disease. But since there's no vaccine yet, these folks say, let's make it happen "naturally" by getting some necessary portion of the population infected, effectively immunizing them. </p><p>The only downside, mainstream medical and public health experts say, is that since the coronavirus can have terrible effects on many otherwise-healthy people, widespread transmission of the disease could result in death or permanent disability for thousands or even millions of people who didn't have any obvious risk factors. Also, we don't yet know whether the antibodies resulting from the disease result in permanent immunity, but let's hope so! </p><p>The folks Azar and Atlas met with sure have a positive attitude about more positive cases of COVID-19! On Laura Ingraham's Fox News program, Gupta predicted, "Three months, maybe six is sufficient time for enough immunity to accumulate … that the vulnerable could resume normal lives" — depending on the breaks, and then Nana and Peepaw can come out of the mineshaft, probably. </p><p>And talk about scientific respectability! </p><blockquote>Bhattacharya co-authored a study with colleagues at Stanford that suggested the coronavirus infection rate was up to 85 percent higher in Silicon Valley than previously estimated, suggesting that the virus was not nearly deadly enough to justify continued lockdowns.</blockquote><p>Except, oops, it wasn't peer reviewed, and other researchers pointed out huge problems with the methodology, and when Bhattacharya et al. revised and republished their findings (<a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.04.14.20062463v2.article-info" target="_blank">still not peer-reviewed</a>) two weeks later, they came up with one-third fewer infected people. </p><p>Gupta, for her part, <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/10/06/trump-herd-immunity-scientists-426911" target="_blank">opposed </a>lockdown orders in the UK after Boris Johnson's initial flirtation with doing nothing, in the name of building herd immunity, led to huge outbreaks and large numbers of deaths (42,000 so far). In March, she and her colleagues argued that "the death rate or the likelihood of dying from infection was very low." She also told Ingraham we shouldn't bother testing healthy populations for outbreaks, since almost everyone will probably be fine. </p><blockquote><span></span></blockquote><p>And Kulldorff worried in an <a href="https://www.jacobinmag.com/2020/09/covid-19-pandemic-economy-us-response-inequality" target="_blank">interview </a>with Jacobin magazine that "Somehow, herd immunity has become a toxic phrase, which is strange, since it is a scientifically proven phenomenon just like gravity," and explained that the only tricky part is </p><blockquote>how to get there with the minimum number of casualties. We do not know what percent immunity to the coronavirus is needed to achieve herd immunity, but we do know that if there are many older people in the group that is infected, there will be many deaths. On the other hand, if mostly young people are infected, there will be very few deaths.</blockquote><p>Honestly, if people could just be more rational about an acceptable rate of death and permanent lung scarring among young, healthy people, we could get on with our lives. </p><p>And yet, there are naysayers, if you can believe like that, like the so-called <em>overwhelming majority of medical and public health experts</em>. Jeremy Konyndyk, who oversaw disaster response in the Obama administration, <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/10/06/trump-herd-immunity-scientists-426911" target="_blank">said </a>the meeting between Azar and the herd immunity herd was an attempt to "cherry pick credentialed people who happen to agree with the administration's political instincts or political inclinations" in advance of the election, which doesn't<em> at all</em> sound like the sort of thing the highly principled folks in the Trump administration would do. Like, where are the profits to skim? He also noted that since the trio's arguments focus only on deaths from the pandemic, their emphasis is badly skewed and ignores the long-term health effects of the virus on survivors.</p><p>Worse, the assumption that we really could just lock away all the most vulnerable people while letting the disease run rampant is, to say the least, questionable:</p><blockquote>"If we are just truly trying to obtain herd immunity naturally, I don't think [it] would be possible," said Michael Mina, an epidemiologist at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. "We would have too many cases, it would sneak in. The <strong>biggest predictor of cases entering into a nursing home for example is what's happening at the community level.</strong>" [<em>Emphasis added — Dok</em>]</blockquote><p>For instance, how tightly would we have to lock down an obese 74-year-old man with heart issues and a propensity to ignore medical advice? </p><p>Happily, Azar <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/10/06/trump-herd-immunity-scientists-426911" target="_blank">insists</a> the administration is so totally <em>not </em>pursuing herd immunity, no matter how many herd immunity fans start running things, mostly because they're not going to call it that. In congressional testimony, Azar explained, "Herd immunity is not the strategy of the US government with regard to coronavirus." </p><p>Rather, he said, "We may get there, we may get herd slowing-of-transmission as we perhaps have seen in the New York area and other concentrated areas," which is a totally different thing, although as Politico unhelpfully <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/10/06/trump-herd-immunity-scientists-426911" target="_blank">points out, </a>the CDC estimates that in New York City, where the virus had its largest concentrated outbreak so far (keep trying, Florida!), "only about 22 percent of the population has antibodies against the coronavirus." </p><p>In general, herd immunity is believed to result when at least 60 to 70 percent of a population has antibodies, and that level is usually achievable only through vaccination — as public health expert William Foege <a href="https://www.wonkette.com/william-foege-urges-robert-redfield-to-protest-trump-coronavirus-mess" target="_blank">reminded </a>CDC Director Robert Redfield, smallpox was only eradicated in India after the government was persuaded to abandon its strategy of pursuing "natural" herd immunity. </p><p>So it sure is a relief the administration isn't trying to make us all sick with a virus that could leave us with permanent health effects, particularly as they pursue a strategy of eliminating Obamacare's protections for people with pre-existing conditions. It sure would be cynical to think they might be trying to boost insurance company profits by making a huge chunk of the population ineligible for coverage! That's just crazy talk, isn't it? </p><p>[<a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/10/06/trump-herd-immunity-scientists-426911" target="_blank">Politico</a>] </p><p>Yr Wonkette is supported entirely by reader donations. If you can afford to give, please help us keep you up to date on the latest science fuckery and dick jokes! </p><p></p><p><a href="https://amzn.to/33mKzZe" target="_blank">Do your Amazon shopping through this link, because reasons</a>.</p><p></p><p></p><form name="donation" method="post" class="donation-form"><p class="subheadline">How often would you like to donate?</p><div class="form-row row--plan"><label class="plan-type__label"><input type="radio" name="plan_type" value="once" class="plan-type" required="" checked> Just once
</label><label class="plan-type__label"><input type="radio" name="plan_type" value="monthly" class="plan-type" required=""> Monthly
</label></div><div class="form-row row--amount"><p class="subheadline">Select an amount (USD)</p><label class="amount__label"><input type="radio" name="amount" class="amount" value="200" data-value="2.00" data-amount="Two Dollars">$2</label><label class="amount__label"><input type="radio" name="amount" class="amount" value="2500" data-value="25.00" data-amount="Twenty Five Dollars">$25</label><label class="amount__label"><input type="radio" name="amount" class="amount" value="500" data-value="5.00" data-amount="Five Dollars">$5</label><label class="amount__label"><input type="radio" name="amount" class="amount" value="5000" data-value="50.00" data-amount="Fifty Dollars">$50</label><label class="amount__label"><input type="radio" name="amount" class="amount" value="1000" data-value="10.00" data-amount="Ten Dollars" checked>$10</label><label class="amount__label"><input type="radio" name="amount" class="amount" value="10000" data-value="100.00" data-amount="One Hundred Dollars">$100</label><label class="amount__label"><input type="radio" name="amount" class="amount" value="1500" data-value="15.00" data-amount="Fifteen Dollars">$15</label><label class="amount__label"><input type="radio" name="amount" class="amount" value="50000" data-value="500.00" data-amount="Five Hundred Dollars">$500</label><label class="amount__label"><input type="radio" name="amount" class="amount" value="2000" data-value="20.00" data-amount="Twenty Dollars">$20</label><label class="amount__label"><input type="radio" name="amount" class="amount" value="100000" data-value="1000.00" data-amount="One Thousand Dollars">$1000</label></div><div class="row--buttons"><button type="submit" class="donate-button" data-payment="strip"><img src="https://assets.rbl.ms/18208879/2000x.png" alt="Credit cards" class="donate-button__img"></button><button type="submit" class="donate-button" data-payment="paypal"><img src="https://assets.rbl.ms/18208880/2000x.png" alt="PayPal" class="donate-button__img"></button></div></form><p></p>
Keep reading...
Show less
coronavirus
Former CDC Chief Would Like Current CDC Chief To FIX HIS SH*T
FIX IT!
October 08, 2020 09:36 AM
It's amazing how you can go through life and not be aware at all of some pretty well-known person, and then suddenly you learn they exist and then you know about them. Like for instance how I got yelled at by character actor Nick Searcy yesterday on Twitter, and I'd never heard of him before, but then I found out he was in "Justified" and directed a rightwing propaganda movie about unlicensed abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell.
Or, in perhaps a far better instance, how I had somehow never been aware of public health expert Dr. William Foege until the news broke this week that he had written a letter to CDC Director Robert Redfield urging him to publicly condemn the Trump administration's mishandling of the coronavirus pandemic. It's an astonishing letter, but to understand how significant it is, you need to know a bit more about Foege, who isn't just the former CDC director under Presidents Carter and Reagan, but a genuine giant in the field of public health. Foege played a key role in wiping out smallpox in Africa and India, and has since gone on to serve with the Carter Center, where he's led initiatives to eradicate other horrible diseases like river blindness and Guinea worm disease. Here's Barack Obama awarding him the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012, although Foege kind of towers over the shrimpy little 6-foot-1 president:
Donald Trump, on the other hand, gave the Medal of Freedom to Rush Limbaugh
So when William Foege wrote a letter to Redfield urging him to take a stand for science, and to do it in such a way that he would surely be fired, it's a pretty big deal.
<p>Foege's anguish over the toll the pandemic has taken, both on the American people and the CDC, an institution he plainly loves, is palpable. He argues it's time for Redfield to "face the truth" and acknowledge the administration has completely failed, because of its "incompetence and illogic," to handle the crisis:</p><blockquote>This will go down as a colossal failure of the public health system of this country. The biggest challenge in a century and we let the country down. The public health texts of the future will use this as a lesson on how not to handle an infectious disease pandemic.</blockquote><p>He goes on to outline exactly where the White House's approach to — or more accurately, its retreat from — the pandemic has gone off the rails, from treating a global pandemic with an "America First" attitude to its rejection of basic principles of both "good health and good management."</p><p>Foege singles out as one example the<a href="https://www.wonkette.com/trump-adviser-pushes-smart-new-pandemic-strategy-let-god-sort-em-out" target="_blank"> appointment of Dr. Scott Atlas to a top role</a> on the coronavirus task force, even though he has no experience in immunology or public health. Atlas on Fox News has called for letting as many non-elderly Americans as possible get infected, in hopes of creating "herd immunity." While Atlas denies he's pushed that as policy to Trump, the "president" nonetheless <a href="https://www.wonkette.com/we-need-to-talk-about-how-trump-is-trying-to-kill-us-with-herd-mentality" target="_blank">keeps talking it up,</a> even if he thinks it's called "herd mentality" (which more accurately describes Trump's death cult). </p><p><em>USA Today,</em> which obtained a copy of the letter and published it Tuesday, <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/investigations/2020/10/06/expert-cdcs-redfield-should-expose-trump-covid-failures-leave-post/5899724002/" target="_blank">notes </a>that Foege hasn't publicly aired his opinions on the Trump coronavirus response; in the letter, he explains that he had hoped the White House would "see how disastrous their approach was and finally turn the job over to professionals. Now I know that won't happen." And so, he says, it's time for Redfield to take action that might genuinely shake things up — and not simply to resign in protest, which might get five minutes of coverage in the daily news flood. Instead, Foege calls for Redfield to send a letter to all CDC employees in which he would apologize for letting the White House push politics over science, and to make clear that has to stop: </p><blockquote>You could upfront, acknowledge the tragedy of responding poorly, apologize for what has happened and your role in acquiescing, set a course for how CDC would now lead the country if there was no political interference, give them the ability to report such interference to a neutral ombudsman, and assure them that you will defend their attempts to save this country. Don't shy away from the fact this has been an unacceptable toll on our country. It is a slaughter and not just a political dispute. <br><br>You don't want to be seen, in the future. as forsaking your role as servant to the public in order to become a servant to a corrupt president. </blockquote><p>He correctly assumes the White House would react "with fury" and fire him, which would give Redfield the chance to say, in the words of Martin Luther, "Here I stand, I cannot do otherwise." And that, Foege, says, would likely be a multi-week story, possibly enough to force the administration to pay attention to science and let competent people run the response. Foege urges Redfield to "revisit your religious beliefs and ask yourself what is right."</p><p>We fear Foege may be too much of an optimist about the power of truth and a principled stand to change things in this administration, but we admire his call for Redfield to take that stand. For whatever good it would do against the tide of bullshit coming from the White House — <em>USA Today</em> <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/investigations/2020/10/06/expert-cdcs-redfield-should-expose-trump-covid-failures-leave-post/5899724002/" target="_blank">reports </a>that White House spox Judd Deere didn't comment on the specifics of the letter, but did bravely suggest that Foege might be a filthy Democrat, saying in a statement that "This dishonest narrative that the media and Democrats have created that politics is influencing decisions is not only false but is a danger to the American public." That's not a political statement at all. </p><p>And <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/investigations/2020/10/06/expert-cdcs-redfield-should-expose-trump-covid-failures-leave-post/5899724002/" target="_blank">this </a>is just heartbreaking: </p><blockquote>"So much of this is the deaths. It's the deaths," Foege told USA TODAY, noting that he did not want the letter to become public for fear that it might create a political sideshow and add to Redfield's burden.<br><br>"Going public can only embarrass him, and it doesn't allow him to redeem himself," Foege said. "By doing this privately, he has a chance to do the right thing."</blockquote><p>Here's hoping that the letter's becoming public will instead push Redfield to try to save the CDC from Trump. It's desperately needed. </p><p>Here's a copy of the full letter: </p><p><br></p><div class="rm-embed embed-media"><iframe class="scribd_iframe_embed" data-aspect-ratio="0.7729220222793488" data-auto-height="true" frameborder="0" height="600" scrolling="no" src="https://www.scribd.com/embeds/479125719/content?start_page=1&view_mode=scroll&access_key=key-7b6d21MsaJDHiBnNjy2H" title="Foege Letter" width="100%"></iframe><p style=" margin: 12px auto 6px auto; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,Sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; -x-system-font: none; display: block;"><a href="https://www.scribd.com/document/479125719/Foege-Letter#from_embed" style="text-decoration: underline;" title="View Foege Letter on Scribd">Foege Letter</a> by <a href="https://www.scribd.com/user/242347386/wonkette666#from_embed" style="text-decoration: underline;" title="View wonkette666's profile on Scribd">wonkette666</a></p></div><p>[<a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/investigations/2020/10/06/expert-cdcs-redfield-should-expose-trump-covid-failures-leave-post/5899724002/" target="_blank">USA Today</a> / <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/a-public-health-giant-gives-a-scathing-indictment-of-trumps-pandemic-response/2020/10/07/d90524dc-08c6-11eb-a166-dc429b380d10_story.html" target="_blank">WaPo</a> / <a href="https://www.cartercenter.org/health/river_blindness/index.html" target="_blank">Carter Center</a>]</p><p>Yr Wonkette is supported entirely by reader donations. Please help us keep this site up and running — we can't do it without you.</p><p></p><p><a href="https://amzn.to/33mKzZe" target="_blank">Do your Amazon shopping through this link, because reasons</a>.</p><p></p><p></p><form name="donation" method="post" class="donation-form"><p class="subheadline">How often would you like to donate?</p><div class="form-row row--plan"><label class="plan-type__label"><input type="radio" name="plan_type" value="once" class="plan-type" required="" checked> Just once
</label><label class="plan-type__label"><input type="radio" name="plan_type" value="monthly" class="plan-type" required=""> Monthly
</label></div><div class="form-row row--amount"><p class="subheadline">Select an amount (USD)</p><label class="amount__label"><input type="radio" name="amount" class="amount" value="200" data-value="2.00" data-amount="Two Dollars">$2</label><label class="amount__label"><input type="radio" name="amount" class="amount" value="2500" data-value="25.00" data-amount="Twenty Five Dollars">$25</label><label class="amount__label"><input type="radio" name="amount" class="amount" value="500" data-value="5.00" data-amount="Five Dollars">$5</label><label class="amount__label"><input type="radio" name="amount" class="amount" value="5000" data-value="50.00" data-amount="Fifty Dollars">$50</label><label class="amount__label"><input type="radio" name="amount" class="amount" value="1000" data-value="10.00" data-amount="Ten Dollars" checked>$10</label><label class="amount__label"><input type="radio" name="amount" class="amount" value="10000" data-value="100.00" data-amount="One Hundred Dollars">$100</label><label class="amount__label"><input type="radio" name="amount" class="amount" value="1500" data-value="15.00" data-amount="Fifteen Dollars">$15</label><label class="amount__label"><input type="radio" name="amount" class="amount" value="50000" data-value="500.00" data-amount="Five Hundred Dollars">$500</label><label class="amount__label"><input type="radio" name="amount" class="amount" value="2000" data-value="20.00" data-amount="Twenty Dollars">$20</label><label class="amount__label"><input type="radio" name="amount" class="amount" value="100000" data-value="1000.00" data-amount="One Thousand Dollars">$1000</label></div><div class="row--buttons"><button type="submit" class="donate-button" data-payment="strip"><img src="https://assets.rbl.ms/18208879/2000x.png" alt="Credit cards" class="donate-button__img"></button><button type="submit" class="donate-button" data-payment="paypal"><img src="https://assets.rbl.ms/18208880/2000x.png" alt="PayPal" class="donate-button__img"></button></div></form><p></p>
Keep reading...
Show less
2020 presidential election
Old Commie Joe Gets To Hear Himself Think At Donald Trump-Less Town Hall
'Wear a mask for God's sake!'
October 06, 2020 11:19 AM
Shortly after Donald Trump hurried back from Walter Reed hospital so he could dominate the news cycle by telling America to stop fearing the reaper, Joe Biden appeared in a town hall event in Florida, broadcast by NBC News. In contrast to the guy posturing like Mussolini on a balcony, Biden emphasized again and again that this is a medical emergency, and so we should do science at it, not pretend that everything's fine so we should party down. When Lester Holt asked, early on, whether Donald Trump should be considered partially responsible for getting infected with the coronavirus, Biden replied that people who play with flamethrowers inside the house probably shouldn't be too shocked when the furniture gets scorched.
Anybody who contracts the virus by essentially saying masks don't matter, social distancing doesn't matter, I think is responsible for what happens to them.
While he was glad to see that Trump says he's feeling better, Biden also said "Quite frankly, I wasn't surprised," and added that it sure would be nice if Trump took some kind of lesson from his experience:
I would hope that the president having gone through what he went through, and I'm glad he seems to be coming along pretty well, would communicate the right lesson to the American people: Masks matter. These masks, they matter. It matters. It saves lives. It prevents the spread of the disease.
Trump had already, by that point, put out his bizarre video explaining that all great leaders rush out and get potentially deadly diseases because "As your leader, I had to do that. I knew there's danger to it but I had to do it." Fact check: Leaders are not obligated to hold superspreader events. Though if he's pursuing a strategy of infecting as many Americans as possible to create "herd Immunity," maybe he figured he needed to get sick, so we won't mind the 2.1 million deaths that would result.
Here's the full town hall video for you to watch; we like the parts where Biden actually follows a train of thought and doesn't veer off into conspiracy theories, which is all of it. Also the part where he explains his strategy would not be "Infect 'em all, let God sort 'em out."
<p>
Biden said that while it was nice to see Trump "tweeting campaign messages" again, he would offer a bit of advice to the Great Man: "I would ask him to do this: Listen to the scientists. Support masks. Support a — mask mandates nationwide."
</p><p>
But since that's not what Trump was doing, Biden cautioned that he hopes most Americans won't be misled. Noting that more than 205,000 Americans have died and that 50,000 people are still being infected daily, he said:</p><blockquote>There's a lot to be concerned about. [...] I hope no one walks away with the message, thinking that it is not a problem. It's a serious problem. It's an international pandemic and we have four percent of the [world] population, and 20 percent of the deaths.</blockquote><p>
This morning, to drive home the point that he leads a death cult, Trump <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1313449844413992961" target="_blank">tweeted </a>that the flu kills people too, and heck, that's fine, so we shouldn't be worried about a few more hundred thousand deaths:
</p><div id="20f07" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="8a743b5bab77f5def13da0c14f8c2c6f"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1313449844413992961" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Flu season is coming up! Many people every year, sometimes over 100,000, and despite the Vaccine, die from the Flu.… https://t.co/Kjyu75dfnr</div> — Donald J. Trump (@Donald J. Trump)<a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/statuses/1313449844413992961">1601985820.0</a></blockquote></div><p>
Biden took questions from "undecided" voters (which how is that even a thing?) on other issues, too, like whether or not he is a socialist, which gave him the chance to point out that he hasn't once called for workers to seize the means of production.
</p><blockquote>
Do I look like a socialist? [...] I'm the guy that ran against the socialist, remember? I got in trouble through the whole campaign, twenty-some candidates — "Joe Biden was too centrist, too moderate, too straightforward." That was Joe Biden.
</blockquote><p>However, he did not address the important question of whether he would secretly be run by socialists who will impose full communism in his first 100 days. But he did point out that, unlike a certain wannabe oligarch he's running against, he would stand up to dictators, not cozy up to them. </p><p>There was also a weird moment where a questioner asked Biden whether his debate with Donald Trump last week signaled he could be bullied: If Trump was able to throw him off message, then how would he hold his own with foreign leaders? Biden rejected the premise of the question, noting that he has met with plenty of foreign leaders and not been pushed around by them, though we sort of wish he'd added that with few exceptions, no other countries have leaders as irrational as Donald Trump either. </p><p>That was followed by a very stupid follow-up by moderator Lester Holt, who wondered if Biden regretted having been so rude to Trump when he called him a clown. Then Holt ripped off his David Brooks mask and demanded Biden commit to being more damn civil. Biden shunted that aside and noted that while it was frustrating, Trump refused to actually answer any of the questions, and if anything, Trump's behavior was "embarrassing to the nation." </p><p>Fortunately, wingnut media focused on the important stuff. The <em>New York Post</em><a href="https://nypost.com/2020/10/05/biden-stumbles-by-claiming-210-million-died-from-coronavirus/" target="_blank"><em> </em>devoted an entire article </a>to the half-second when Biden immediately corrected himself on how many Americans have died from COVID-19 ("two hundred ten million — two hundred ten thousand have died"), which is surely far more damning than Donald Trump telling people hey, coronavirus is like a fountain of youth and a really good time! </p><p>The end.</p><p>[<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/05/us/politics/biden-florida-covid.html" target="_blank">NYT </a>/ <a href="https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/trump-covid-19-updates-monday/h_d2cc463535fb71bb3b480be6b07690a5" target="_blank">CNN </a>/ <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/10/05/joe-biden-says-trump-bears-responsibility-for-covid-19-infection.html" target="_blank">CNBC</a> / <a href="https://nypost.com/2020/10/05/biden-stumbles-by-claiming-210-million-died-from-coronavirus/" target="_blank">NYP</a>]<br></p><p>Yr Wonkette is supported entirely by reader donations. Please send us money if you can, and remember our theme song is not "Don't Fear the Reaper." </p><p></p><p><a href="https://amzn.to/33mKzZe" target="_blank">Do your Amazon shopping through this link, because reasons</a>.</p><p></p><p></p><form name="donation" method="post" class="donation-form"><p class="subheadline">How often would you like to donate?</p><div class="form-row row--plan"><label class="plan-type__label"><input type="radio" name="plan_type" value="once" class="plan-type" required="" checked> Just once
</label><label class="plan-type__label"><input type="radio" name="plan_type" value="monthly" class="plan-type" required=""> Monthly
</label></div><div class="form-row row--amount"><p class="subheadline">Select an amount (USD)</p><label class="amount__label"><input type="radio" name="amount" class="amount" value="200" data-value="2.00" data-amount="Two Dollars">$2</label><label class="amount__label"><input type="radio" name="amount" class="amount" value="2500" data-value="25.00" data-amount="Twenty Five Dollars">$25</label><label class="amount__label"><input type="radio" name="amount" class="amount" value="500" data-value="5.00" data-amount="Five Dollars">$5</label><label class="amount__label"><input type="radio" name="amount" class="amount" value="5000" data-value="50.00" data-amount="Fifty Dollars">$50</label><label class="amount__label"><input type="radio" name="amount" class="amount" value="1000" data-value="10.00" data-amount="Ten Dollars" checked>$10</label><label class="amount__label"><input type="radio" name="amount" class="amount" value="10000" data-value="100.00" data-amount="One Hundred Dollars">$100</label><label class="amount__label"><input type="radio" name="amount" class="amount" value="1500" data-value="15.00" data-amount="Fifteen Dollars">$15</label><label class="amount__label"><input type="radio" name="amount" class="amount" value="50000" data-value="500.00" data-amount="Five Hundred Dollars">$500</label><label class="amount__label"><input type="radio" name="amount" class="amount" value="2000" data-value="20.00" data-amount="Twenty Dollars">$20</label><label class="amount__label"><input type="radio" name="amount" class="amount" value="100000" data-value="1000.00" data-amount="One Thousand Dollars">$1000</label></div><div class="row--buttons"><button type="submit" class="donate-button" data-payment="strip"><img src="https://assets.rbl.ms/18208879/2000x.png" alt="Credit cards" class="donate-button__img"></button><button type="submit" class="donate-button" data-payment="paypal"><img src="https://assets.rbl.ms/18208880/2000x.png" alt="PayPal" class="donate-button__img"></button></div></form><p></p>
Keep reading...
Show less
Newsletter
©2018 by Commie Girl Industries, Inc
