billsfan1959

This is a much more reasonable take than your first question. IMO, the constant criticism and blame that has been directed at Trump, an almost complete shutdown of the economy, some questionable restrictions of individual rights/freedoms, and the vast disparity between projected and actual numbers all feed into the overreactions, in responses, from some of these "top surrogates" and others. But, I believe the vast majority of people, regardless of political leaning, believe this is a serious issue. You are going to have extremes at both ends; however, as usual, they don't represent any majority. I don't know a single person who doesn't understand this is serious (some feel it is more serious than others), that people are dying, and that some measures had to be taken. Yet, I think it is also reasonable to think an almost complete shutdown of the economy and a unilateral lockdown of people for any extended period of time are not good ideas - and that, yes, the cure could be worse than the disease. I am someone who believes that panic, criticism, and blame during a crisis only makes things worse. With that said, I do think there are some very legitimate questions that need to be asked when the time is right. Unfortunately, I hold absolutely no hope that those questions can be asked in a bipartisan way Cheers

If I were you, I would be more concerned about how you arrived at the conclusion that this is a serious question...

After getting accused of sexual assault thousands and thousands of times for so many years, the Democrats developed some kind of antibodies against the allegations. Researchers are taking blood samples to isolate the antibodies to see if a vaccine can be developed for other groups. "It's amazing -- the entire Democrat demographic is entirely immune," said one researcher as he took blood samples from Joe Biden. "After conspiring with the media to squash any accusations that pop up, it seems, over time, Democrats have been able to develop a kind of herd immunity to any allegations." Biden has been an important case study for medical experts' work, as he can publicly sniff people's hair and inappropriately touch many people on camera and still be entirely protected from any accusation whatsoever. His DNA is being studied for a possible breakthrough for other politicians.

Maybe they should give all those empty beds at the Javits Center to the homeless....

Well, I'm sure, at some point, the NYT will explain to us that those beds are empty now because the people that would have needed them are all dead because Trump refused to give Cuomo the 30,000 ventilators he was screaming for....

My take on Fauci, FWIW, is that he is a very smart guy in the medical field; however, he is not terribly skilled in navigating politically motivated interviews and gets trapped very easily. As an example, look at this exchange In the interview with Al Sharpton: Fauci: “You know it occurred, well there was always this thought that there was some danger. But when we got to the point where it was clear that some of the misinformation that we initially got from China–because remember, their first cases were reported at the very end of December, December 31st. They said it was something like 24 cases in this wet market where these exotic animals are sold and there’s a human-animal interface. And, and The proposal that was made by the authorities in China where this was just jumping from an animal to a human, and it wasn’t spread from human-to-human. Then it became clear when you look back that it was likely in China that there was human-to-human spread. By the time we got that information and we started getting cases here, it was, ‘well, it’s not efficiently spread from human-to-human.’ But as soon as it became clear that there was community spread, which means that it isn’t just a travel-related case, that there are cases that are in the community under the radar screen, then it became clear that we were in real trouble.” Sharpton: “When was that? Around when was that?” Fauci: “Well, that was probably towards the middle to end of January.” Sharpton: “Okay. And, and what did you begin advising the administration and those authorities that we were in fact seeing something different here and this could be a major problem at that time?” Fauci: “You bet. And then, then that’s when it became clear that there are a couple of ways of addressing that. You could either prevent or try to block the influx of new cases from out of the country, and already cases had come in from China, to try and say, ‘That’s it, we got to stop that because now we already have cases here.’ And then it switched to Europe. And when Italy had their outbreak, it became clear that that became a danger. So that’s when cases were cut off from coming in from Europe and then ultimately the U.K. But by that time we had enough cases in our own country that the ability to do the containment slipped then into the need for mitigation and we saw what happened in New York.” --------------- In the interview above, Fauci states he advised Trump in mid to late January about the seriousness of the virus; however he is conflating events that took place from late January until early March. The WHO declared the virus a global emergency on Jan 31st. That is when Trump banned foreign nationals from entering the US if they were in China within the prior two weeks. I'm sure Fauci advised Trump on the potential seriousness of the virus at that time - as evidenced by the travel ban. However, the rest of the information Fauci stated took place in February and March. The WHO was still sticking to their "no human to human transmissions outside of China all through January and released a statement to that effect on January 23rd. It wasn't until February 6th when the first human to human transmission outside of China was reported. There wasn't a community spread case identified in the US until February 28th. The European travel ban occurred on March 11. I like Fauci and I don't think he is contradicting the president at all. I think he is a bit naive in these interviews and I think the media takes every advantage to misconstrue what he is saying. It is clear, when Fauci states above, "as soon as it became clear that there was community spread, which means that it isn’t just a travel-related case, that there are cases that are in the community under the radar screen, then it became clear that we were in real trouble,” he is talking about mid to late February as it isn't until mid to late february that the "community spread" he is referring to took place.

You giving advice on how people should behave is like R Kelly giving advice on dating...

Well said. There is plenty of accurate information regarding the timeline of how all this unfolded since the first statement from the WHO on December 31st. The question is, "When would an objective, reasonable person have acted, and to what degree, given the information available to him/her at that time?" The fact that no country outside of South Korea acted any quicker or with any stronger actions should tell you how people around the world, outside of China and South Korea were actually viewing COVID-19. People can dissect it any way they want now, looking at the behavior of the world reveals what they believed at the time. Hindsight is always 20/20 to the reasonable - and tunnel vision to those with an agenda.

I watched the interview as well. That headline was absolutely about creating a tone that didn't exist in the interview. Typically intentional, misleading, and irresponsible.

Then don't ******* ask him for his opinion. Don't you ever tire of being a tool?

Such intellectually weak fall back positions: We all think Trump is infallible and we ignore the things he says. 1) I would venture to say rare is the person defending Trump that believes he is perfect. I will speak for myself. I have never liked Trump, long before he ran for President and I didn't even vote for him in 2016. You can bet I will vote for him this year. 2) If you understand anything about human behavior, you should recognize that, if you truly want to understand someone, observe what they DO, not what they SAY. But, hey, go on reconciling in your mind how in one moment he is a moron who can barely put a coherent sentence together and, in the next moment, accuse him of essentially being so much smarter than anyone else in the world that he should have seen what was coming.....

1. They criticized Trump for not listening to the doctors and the scientists. Of course, they don't bother to accuse every other leader of not listening to the doctors and scientists when their responses, pretty much outside of South Korea and Germany, seems to be much worse than Trump's. And then people like Fauci and Birx say he has listened to them every step of the way, and they all relied on the WHO, which is supposed to be the world's voice for the medical and science communities. 2. They criticized Trump for ignoring intelligence information. Of course, they don't bother to explain how every government around the world, including countries with some pretty good intelligence agencies, must have ignored theirs as well, or didn't bother to share it. Then we find out that intelligence information being peddled by the media never actually existed. 3. They criticized Trump for firing the entire Pandemic Response Team. Of course, they fail to demonstrate for us how pandemic response teams and experts around the world led their countries to better responses to the virus than seen here. Then we find out that Trump didn't actually fire the team. The team was disbanded but some of the members were subsumed under a broader directorate, where their expertise could be comingled with the expertise of others in related areas of arms control and nonproliferation, weapons of mass destruction terrorism, and global health and biodefense. 4. They criticized Trump for ignoring warnings of a pandemic of this nature and not restocking a bare cupboard of PPE and medical equipment / supplies. Of course, they don't bother to explain how or why previous administrations, those politicians at the state levels, and governments all around the world somehow ignored those warnings and left all their cupbords bare. The list goes on and on. They will tell us that they mention some of these other things in their posts, and they do from time to time. However, their obsessive vitriol is always aimed at Trump. They cling to the idea that Trump should have seen what was coming when nobody else did... ....And they barely give China a passing interest.....

I hope, in the end, they prosecute every single Agent that willingly participated in that operation - with any deals still requiring, at minimum, termination of employment. Then, If it were me, I would dismantle the entire management structure of the Bureau, decentralize it, and turn it back into an investigative agency - instead of a "domestic CIA" created and shaped by Mueller. That is exactly what Louis Freeh did, and it is no coincidence that the best years of the Bureau were under Freeh, who actually spent some time as an Agent. I am not a fan of Wray as he is cut from the same cloth as Mueller and Comey, and I haven't seen any real changes under him. The Bureau has a long history of weak leadership. Most of the time, the Bureau is successful in spite of management. Other times, management drags the rest of the Bureau, and its reputation, down with it. It is time for a complete overhaul.

Yep, he just needs it to be in the tank through the election and, oh yeah, enough people to die to say, "See, Trump didn't know what he was doing and was directly responsible for all these deaths."

Happy Easter! I hope everyone on here, and their families, have a safe and wonderful day.

I wonder if she will attack Bill Maher now....

Enjoy. I have no use for the Times.

Maybe they can share some more information from additional intelligence reports that don't exist....

Are you trying to say that government programs that not only promote the elimination of the need for a father, a bread winner, a nuclear family unit, home ownership, a job, or faith, - but normalize it, are unhealthy? Color me shocked

Agree 100%. I have watched Caruso-Cabrera in a few interviews. Very bright and very articulate. It really shouldn't even be close call.

We would have much better numbers by now if Trump would have started testing last summer