The GOP is so dumb about this they had to put one in a box.
Trump Is Guilty of Pandemicide
History will show the former U.S. president was staggeringly negligent during the pandemicās deadly third wave.
At long last, we see glimmers of hope. The COVID-19 epidemic in the United States has fallen below the numbers of daily new cases tallied on the eve of the presidential election, the point at which this viral nightmare soared. Using the New York Times ā coronavirus data tracker, on Nov. 1, 2020, there were 74,195 new cases counted in the country; by Feb. 16, new case reports came in at 64,376.
But in between those dates, a national horror unfolded, peaking on Jan. 8 with 300,619 new cases reported in just 24 hours. This staggering wave, one full year into the pandemic, was completely unnecessary for the worldās richest country. Achieving any sense of closure will require holding Donald Trump accountable for the failure.
There is vast evidence of Trumpās negligence during the pandemicās third wave. Had I been a member of the House of Representatives during the bodyās impeachment deliberations, I would have added to Trumpās indictment the crime of pandemicide, naming him as responsible for most of the COVID-19 deaths that transpired while he, the nationās leader, was preoccupied with damning Joe Bidenās election victory. Trumpās failure to, as he vowed in his oath of office, āfaithfully execute the office of president of the United Statesā promulgated a scale of lives lost exceeding anything experienced in the country since the Civil War, 160 years ago.
I do not accuse Trump of pandemicide in reference to mistakes made by his administration between January 2020āwhen it generally ignored the outbreak in Wuhan, Chinaāand the summer surge of cases and deaths across the United States. I do not charge pandemicide over Trumpās Feb. 26, 2020, dismissal of the COVID-19 threat as miniscule, claiming, āThe level that weāve had in our country is very low, and those people are getting better, or we think that in almost all cases theyāre better or getting. We have a total of 15.ā Nor do I charge pandemicide over his repeated insistence that COVID-19 cures were available in the forms of hydroxychloroquine, bleach, ultraviolet light, convalescent plasma therapy, the Regeneron cocktail, oleander extract, or simply warm weather.
And though there is striking evidence that the policies of the four-year Trump administration vastly worsened life expectancy and mortality rates in the United States, contributing to 461,000 excess deaths in 2018 alone, these are matters of callous, ill-considered policies and brutal budget cuts, preceding the virusās arrival to U.S. shores.
Pandemicide is not the outcome of ill-advised, ignorant, or outright stupid budget actions and health messages. I do not even level the charge over Trumpās denunciation of mask use and opposition to temporary business and school closures to halt the spread of SARS-CoV-2, encouraging people to āliberateā states that were implementing tough lockdown regulations.
Rather, the path of pandemicide was paved in pursuit of the presidentās reelection and his relentless, all-consuming post-election campaign to refute his opponentās victory, claiming election fraud and even theft. Despite the summer surge in COVID-19 infections nationwide, Trump abandoned virtual campaigning in favor of crowded, largely maskless gatherings of his supporters, knowingly risking that each rally would become a superspreader event. According to a study by Stanford University, 18 campaign rallies held between June 20 and Sept. 22, 2020, spawned in excess of 30,000 COVID-19 cases, likely leading to more than 700 deaths. During the same time period, half of Trumpās campaign rallies were followed by COVID-19 surges in the counties in which they took place. While Bidenās campaign rallies were largely virtual or held in parking areas with participants in their vehicles, Trumpās tightly packed, mostly mask-free throngs increased in both number and frequency, further spreading the virus and causing the U.S. governmentās top COVID-19 response expert, Anthony Fauci, to warn that the president was āasking for trouble.ā
Even after Trump and the first lady contracted COVID-19, compelling emergency treatment that included, in Trumpās case, hospitalization at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and round-the-clock treatment from an army of physicians and nurses, the president refused to regularly don a mask. On the day of his hospital admission, Oct. 2, the United States had cumulatively logged more than 200,000 deaths to COVID-19āan undercount, as are all U.S. COVID-19 numbers, but an official data point that would more than double by the Jan. 20 inauguration of Biden. According to a new Lancet Commission report compiled by an international team of august scientists and public health leaders, some 40 percent of Americaās COVID-19 death toll during the Trump administration was needless, meaning it could have been averted with available nonmedical interventions.
By the time the election took place, Trump had ignored the pandemic, not attending a single COVID-19 White House meeting for at least five months, since late May. Behind the scenes in the fall, the Trump administration lobbied Congress vigorously to block the movement of funds to states for vaccine rollout efforts, leaving them unable to efficiently execute mass immunizations.
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Unfortunately in our isolation, 1 in 5 may be more inclined towards extremism.
The Washington Post: Top Stories | Eroding trust, spreading fear: The historical ties between pandemics and extremism
Since ancient times, pandemics have spurred sharp turns in political beliefs, spawning extremist movements, waves of mistrust and wholesale rejection of authorities. A year into the coronavirus crisis, Americans are falling prey to the same phenomenon, historians, theologians and other experts say, exemplified by a recent NPR-Ipsos poll in which nearly 1 in 5 said they believe Satan-worshipping, child-enslaving elites seek to control the world.
This makes me crazy! I really want to believe that Iām an average person. And then I see how incredibly gullible 20% of the nation can be and Iām flummoxed. I try to think about how someone could get sucked into that kind of thinkingā¦I guess I donāt understand brainwashing.
I agree. It is really hard to get oneās head around.
Might fall into the āif you are told a lie long enough, then you start to believe itā¦ā which is autocracy 101. Read Tim Snyderās work āOn Tyranny.ā - people can be swayed, and they have their own belief system wrapped around their ālike/trust/loveā towards a leader. The lie does not have to be believable if you believe that others are trying to āhoodwinkā youā¦ie āThe Liberal Agenda,ā āFake News,ā and spend a lot of time in a Grievance mode.
Yes, it is agreed that any part of āThe Big Lieā is just that. But again, if you like that leader you will believe him.
More susceptible population - religious groups (Evangelicals) as they have already put their hat in for certain religious events will come to pass etc.
It is beyond crazy making.
Iāve read some of his articles but not the book, yet. Currently being depressed by Jane Mayerās āDark Moneyā. And, indeed, people will believe what they want to believeā¦but some of what they believe is unbelievable (sorry, I couldnāt resist).
yeahā¦I have that sitting here too. It is dark.
and unbelievably true.
After all the lies, the bravado, the gaslighting, it turns out Donald Trump and Melania got the vaccine before they left office and are now jumping on the bandwagon trying to give him credit for it. Incredible.
Drugmaker Merck & Co. will help produce rival Johnson & Johnsonās newly approved coronavirus vaccine in an effort to expand supply more quickly, a Biden administration official confirmed Tuesday.
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I just watched Dolly Parton sing āvaccineā to the tune of Jolene after getting her shot, to encourage others to get theirs. Awesome.
Gorillas are the first non-humans to be vaccinated for COVID-19. They have received an animal-based vaccine. Gorillas, tigers, and some other animals have caught the disease.
Democrats pulled their own trick last night; the GOP left, and when they did the Dems limited debate to only 3 hours to move the COVID relief bill forward swiftly.
Well done.
An Idaho man who āthought the virus would disappearā after the election now has ālong COVIDā and says heāll need oxygen for the rest of his life
- A man who thought the coronavirus would disappear after the election realized he was wrong.
- Paul Russell told the Idaho Statesman he was a āconspiracy theoristā until he was hospitalized.
- He said he could no longer work and would need oxygen for the rest of his life.
A man who thought the coronavirus would disappear was hospitalized for more than two weeks with the virus and said he would now need medical oxygen for the rest of his life.
Paul Russell, 63, from Boise, Idaho, told the Idaho Statesmanās Audrey Dutton: āBefore I came down with the virus, I was one of those jackasses who thought the virus would disappear the day after the election. I was one of those conspiracy theorists.ā
But he was in the hospital with the coronavirus a week after the election on November 3, Dutton reported.
Russell, a long-haul trucker, said he had been returning to Boise when he started to feel unwell. He quarantined himself at home, in a travel trailer he owns with his wife.
His COVID-19 test came back positive. A few days later he felt so unwell that he asked his wife to bring him to the hospital, where he received intensive care.
A nurse at one point put him on the phone with his wife. Russell said she told him how much she loved him, ābecause she didnāt know if I was gonna make it through the night.ā
In total, he spent 16 days in St. Lukeās Boise Medical Center, he told the Statesman. He also enrolled in a clinical trial to test the effects of an immunosuppressive drug on the virus.
He was able to go home on Thanksgiving Day and have dinner with his family. āIt was the best Thanksgiving Iāve ever had,ā he said.
But Russell said he was still living with the effects of the virus. He said he couldnāt work anymore.
āIām gonna be on oxygen the rest of my life, according to my doctor,ā he said.
āLife is no good right now,ā Russell added. āExcept for one thing: Iām alive.ā
Some people who were infected with the coronavirus continue to experience symptoms for weeks and months afterward, experiencing whatās been called ālong COVID.ā Symptoms can include fatigue, dizziness, pain, and problems with memory.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says some people can experience āmore serious long-term complicationsā including inflammation of the heart muscle and depression and anxiety.
One study, published in January, of about 1,700 people who had been hospitalized with COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, found that 76% reported having at least one symptom six months after they first got sick.
This can put additional pressure on healthcare systems already overwhelmed by treating people with COVID-19.
https://www.idahostatesman.com/news/coronavirus/article249663363.html
Trump Puts Out Sad Statement on Presidential Letterhead Pleading for Credit for COVID Vaccine
Former President Donald Trump issued a statement Wednesday on presidential letterhead that read less like an official missive and more like one of his old tweets: āStatement by Donald J. Trump, 45th President of the United States of America: I hope that everyone remembers when theyāre getting the COVID-19 (often referred to as the China Virus) Vaccine, that if I wasnāt president, you wouldnāt be getting that beautiful āshotā for 5 years, at best, and probably wouldnāt be getting it at all. I hope everyone remembers!ā Trump was banned from Twitter on Jan. 8 in the wake of the riot at the U.S. Capitol.
On Covid Relief, Democrats Deserve a Victory Lap
A giant aid package is what the country badly needed and what voters wanted.
The editorial board is a group of opinion journalists whose views are informed by expertise, research, debate and certain longstanding values. It is separate from the newsroom.
President Biden made it clear that he wanted to move fast and go big to deliver emergency aid to a nation reeling from the coronavirus pandemic. On Friday, he will realize this goal with the signing of the American Rescue Plan, a sweeping, $1.9 trillion aid package aimed at rescuing the nation from its pandemic slump.
This is an early and impressive political win for Mr. Biden: He pushed for a $1.9 trillion deal, and he got an approximately $1.9 trillion deal that largely follows the contours he proposed. Better still, the bill passed and will be signed before the expiration of the current enhanced unemployment aid on Sunday.
Far more important, this is a big win for the American public ā especially those of modest economic means. The legislation has the potential to cut poverty by a third and reduce child poverty by more than half, according to an analysis by Columbia Universityās Center on Poverty and Social Policy. Black and Hispanic Americans are expected to see the largest benefit. It is being characterized by fans and critics as among the most expansive and progressive legislative achievements in decades.
The package is ambitious. Directly tackling the pressing public health challenges, it provides billions for coronavirus tracing, testing and vaccination efforts.
It also includes another round of cash relief: People earning up to $75,000 a year will receive $1,400, plus an additional $1,400 for every dependent they claim on their taxes. Enhanced unemployment benefits of $300 will extend through Labor Day. The earned-income tax credit will be expanded. There is money for child care facilities, schools, transit systems and restaurants. There is rental and mortgage assistance, debt relief for minority farmers and funding for small-business loans.
One of the planās most notable measures is an expansion of the child tax credit. Parents up to a certain income level will receive $3,600 for each child younger than 6 and $3,000 for those ages 6 to 17. The credit is structured so that even those who donāt pay income taxes can receive the benefit as a cash refund. The program is set to expire after one year, but supporters hope it will prove popular enough that it can be made permanent, effectively establishing a guaranteed base income for parents.
The new law also provides for a two-year expansion of subsidies for purchasing health insurance under the Affordable Care Act, which fulfills another of Mr. Bidenās key campaign promises. The list goes on and on.
Not everyone is a fan of the plan. Not a single Republican in either chamber voted for it despite its broad public support. Republicans have denounced it as too expensive and too unfocused. They also complain that Democrats shut them out of the legislative process ā that, for all of his big talk about bipartisanship, Mr. Biden barreled ahead with only the support of his own congressional team.
The legislating was messy, as these things tend to be, with clashes both within and between the parties. Moderate Democrats demanded concessions from progressives, and Republicans sought to make the entire process as protracted and painful as possible.
Senator Ron Johnson, the Wisconsin Republican, demanded that the 628-page bill be read aloud on the floor. Senate Republicans en masse turned the consideration of amendments into a marathon exercise in political theater that went straight through Friday night and into midday Saturday. As the bill made its final pass through the House on Wednesday morning, Republicans there indulged in even more foot-dragging. So much for cross-party comity.
The Biden administration is betting that most Americans care less ā if at all ā about process than about product.
Itās not a perfect bill. There will be bloat and inefficiencies. But the presidentās unshakable position ā backed by recent history ā was that it was better to go too big than too small. No one on his team wanted to repeat the mistakes of the 2009 economic stimulus, now widely seen as having been too meager.
Mr. Biden learned another lesson from 2009: It is not enough to give Americans a win. You need to trumpet that win from the rooftops. So he is embarking on a combination victory tour and marketing blitz, aimed at driving home how the recovery plan will improve individualsā lives ā and the nation as a whole. He has scheduled a prime-time address, the first of his presidency, for Thursday evening. Soon, he will be hitting the road to sell the plan, as will the first lady and the vice president, among others. Friendly super PACs are planning related PR campaigns, and Mr. Biden has urged congressional Democrats to ācontinue to speak up and speak outā about it.
Big legislative wins are rare. Democrats have earned a victory lap for doing just what voters sent them to Washington to do.
Native American tribes are pulling off many of the most successful coronavirus vaccination campaigns in the U.S., bucking stereotypes about tribal governments.
The big picture: Despite severe technological barriers, some tribes are vaccinating their members so efficiently, and at such high rates, that theyāve been able to branch out and offer coronavirus vaccines to people outside of their tribes.
Why it matters: Native Americans are one of the most at-risk groups for contracting and dying from the coronavirus. But tribal nations have rallied to get members vaccinated and helped nearby communities while major cities have struggled with rollouts.
Details: Tribes, which are sovereign nations that can set their own eligibility criteria, immediately got doses and launched vigorous campaigns on vaccines.
- The White Earth Nation in Minnesota was so successful in early vaccinations that it immediately began vaccinating non-tribal members, Minnesota Public Radio reports.
- The Ute Mountain Ute Tribe in Colorado last week said after it has vaccinated 1,900 of its tribal members and staff it will offer 2,000 doses to the general public.
- Laguna Pueblo in New Mexico, the tribe of Interior Secretary nominee Deb Haaland, also started offering doses to nearby residents after tribal members received theirs. Several tribes in Oklahoma have, too.
- An AP analysis of federal data showed Native Americans were getting vaccinated at a rate higher than all but five states by Februaryās end.
What theyāre saying: " White Earth has done a phenomenal job, vaccinating nearly 90% of elders in Mahnomen County, extending eligibility to Native and non-Native adults in the community ā¦ I am proud to be a White Earth member," Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan tweeted after getting her vaccine.
- āThis shows when we state and federal governments trust tribal governments to take care of their communities, they go above and beyond for their members and neighbors,ā Flanagan, who lost her brother to the coronavirus, told Axios.
Between the lines: The early success is even more impressive when taking into account the dismal state of internet access on tribal lands.
- A 2019 FCC report shows that 36% of housing units on tribal land have no access to broadband ā compared to 8% on non-tribal land.
- In 2019, the American Indian Policy Institute found that 18% of tribal reservation residents have no internet access at home, wireless or land-based.
Three Indigenous principles have helped provide the impetus to get vaccinated, according to activist Allie Young, a citizen of the Navajo Nation:
- Recognize how Native Americansā actions will impact the next seven generations.
- Act in honor of ancestors who fought to ensure their survival and elders who carry on their traditions and cultures.
- Hold on to ancestral knowledge in the ongoing fight to protect Mother Earth.
The bottom line: The vaccination campaign worked largely through word of mouth and tribal outreach.
- But chronic underfunding, mismanagement at the federally run Indian Health Service and poor technological infrastructure still mean that Native Americans often canāt access telemedicine and other important services.
"We knew how to reach our population, despite these obstacles, because weāve been having to overcome these obstacles for some time already," said Abigail Echo-Hawk, Seattle Indian Health Boardās chief research officer and member of the Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma. āThat doesnāt mean you let it continue.ā
4.6 Million vaccines todayā¦
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