Farewell, Scott Atlas and Mike Pence! Amateur hour is over.
President-Elect Joe Biden announced his coronavirus task force.
James Hohmann of the Washington Post reports:
WILMINGTON, Del. – In his first act as president-elect, Joe Biden announced Monday the 13 members of his transition team’s covid-19 advisory board.
Biden advisers say this speedy rollout is intended to signal that the incoming administration will elevate the voices of public health experts and scientists, who have found themselves marginalized and debased by President Trump as the coronavirus continues to course through the country.
The United States will surpass 10 million confirmed infections today. The seven-day average for new cases is more than 100,000 per day for the first time. In five of the past seven days, covid-19 has killed more than 1,000 Americans.
The new advisory group will brief Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris here later today, and Biden will deliver remarks on his plan to control the contagion. Vice President Pence will host a meeting at 3 p.m.of the White House coronavirus task force in the Situation Room. This is the first meeting Pence has convened since Oct. 20, despite the rapidly deteriorating situation.
Two members of the new panel worked inside the Trump administration: Luciana Borio was director for medical and biodefense preparedness on Trump’s National Security Council until she left last year before the pandemic. She is now vice president of the technical staff at In-Q-Tel, the Central Intelligence Agency’s investment arm, and a senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations. She previously served as assistant commissioner for counterterrorism policy and the acting chief scientist at the Food and Drug Administration.
There’s also Rick Bright, an immunologist and vaccine researcher, who was ousted by Trump political appointees in April as the director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority. Bright, a civil servant who had led the agency since 2016, alleged in a whistleblower complaint and testified under oath before Congress that he was pushed aside after he strongly objected to Trump’s insistence that his agency support widespread access to chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine, two potentially dangerous drugs that the president spent weeks peddling in the spring as a potential cure for covid-19.
Bright was demoted to a lesser role at the National Institutes of Health, from which he resigned on Oct. 6 because he said that he was being given no work to do. “Public health and safety have been jeopardized by the administration’s hostility to the truth and by its politicization of the pandemic response, undoubtedly leading to tens of thousands of preventable deaths,” Bright wrote in an op-ed for The Washington Post the day after his resignation.
He has been warning that the Trump administration still has no coordinated national testing strategy and criticized the White House for expressing resistance to testing people who might have asymptomatic infections. “Federal agencies, staffed with some of the best scientists in the world, continue to be politicized, manipulated and ignored,” Bright wrote in the op-ed. “The country is flying blind into what could be the darkest winter in modern history.”
Bright also previously served as an adviser to the World Health Organization. In July, the Trump administration began the process of formally withdrawing the United States from the U.N. agency. One of the first actions Biden plans to take after being inaugurated on Jan. 20 is to reverse that.
Trump’s political people at the top of Health and Human Services have claimed they got rid of Bright because he was confrontational and ineffective, but his whistleblower complaint included emails and other documentation that supported his allegations.
The spotlight is also back on the Trump White House’s handling of the coronavirus within its own walls. News leaked out late Friday that White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and five other Trump aides in the West Wing – plus a senior campaign official – tested positive for the virus around Election Day. Meadows, who tested positive Wednesday but told others not to disclose his condition, said on Oct. 25 that Trump was pushing to reopen schools and send people back to work because “we’re not going to control the pandemic.”
Biden has attacked the Trump team for waving the white flag of surrender, and he promised during his victory speech on Saturday nightthat trying to get the pandemic under control will be his top priority as president.
“We cannot repair the economy, restore our vitality or relish life’s most precious moments — hugging a grandchild, birthdays, weddings, graduations, all the moments that matter most to us — until we get this virus under control,” Biden said. “That plan will be built on a bedrock of science. It will be constructed out of compassion, empathy and concern. I will spare no effort — or commitment — to turn this pandemic around.”
Who else is on the Biden task force:
The effort will be co-chaired by David Kessler, a professor at the University of California, San Francisco, who served as commissioner of the FDA from 1990 to 1997, under Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton; Vivek Murthy, who as surgeon general during the final three years of Barack Obama’s administration commanded 6,600 public health officers during the Ebola and Zika outbreaks; and Marcella Nunez-Smith, the associate dean for Health Equity Research at Yale medical school. Murthy and Kessler have been regularly advising Biden for months.
Zeke Emanuel, an oncologist, chairs the medical ethics department and health policy at the University of Pennsylvania, where he’s also vice provost. During the first two years of the Obama administration, he was served a special adviser for health policy at the Office of Management and Budget. (His brother Rahm was White House chief of staff.) Emanuel has also chaired the bioethics department at The Clinical Center of the National Institutes of Health since 1997.
Atul Gawande, a surgeonatBrigham and Women’s Hospital, teaches at Harvard’s medical school. The prolific author founded Ariadne Labs, a health systems innovation center between the hospital where he practices and Harvard’s School of Public Health. He was a senior advisor in HHS during the Clinton administration.
Celine Gounder cares for patients at Bellevue Hospital Center and teaches at New York University’s medical school. While on the faculty at Johns Hopkins, she directed delivery efforts for the Gates Foundation-funded Consortium to Respond Effectively to the AIDS/TB Epidemic.
Julie Morita, who served as the city of Chicago’s health commissioner for two decades, is executive vice president of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. She is a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics, sat on the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and is a member of the National Academy of Sciences’ Committee on Community Based Solutions to Promote Health Equity in the United States.
Michael Osterholm directs the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, where he chairs the Department of Public Health. He was previously a science envoy for health security on behalf of the State Department and worked for 24 years in the Minnesota Department of Health, including 15 years as the state’s epidemiologist.
Loyce Pace is executive director and president of the Global Health Council. She has worked with Physicians for Human Rights and Catholic Relief Services, and she previously held leadership positions at the Livestrong Foundation and the American Cancer Society.
Robert Rodriguez is a professor of emergency medicine at UCSF medical school, where he practices in the emergency department and intensive care unit of two major trauma centers in the Bay Area. The Harvard medical school graduate has authored papers on the impact of the covid-19 pandemic on the mental health of frontline providers. In July, he volunteered to help with a critical surge of coronavirus patients in the ICU in his hometown of Brownsville, Tex.
Eric Goosby, also a professor at UCSF medical school, was the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator during the Obama administration. Later, he was appointed by the United Nations Secretary General as a special envoy for TB.During the Clinton administration, he was founding director of the Ryan White CARE Act, the largest federally funded HIV-AIDS program, and the interim Director of the White House’s Office of National AIDS Policy.
Rebecca Katz, the director of the Center for Global Health Science and Security at Georgetown University Medical Center, and Beth Cameron, director for global health security and biodefense on the White House National Security Council during the Obama administration, are serving as advisers to the transition task force.
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This new advisory group offers a stark contrast with Trump, who suggested last week during one of his final rallies before Election Day that he plans to fire Anthony Fauci, the top expert on infectious diseases in the government since 1984, after the election. Fauci and others have clashed with Scott Atlas, a radiologist at a conservative think tank who does not have a background in public health but who has had Trump’s ear since advocating for a more relaxed approach to the virus during appearances on Fox News.
What are the odds that everyone on that task force will start to get death threats from Trump’s base?
Covid-19 infections are growing exponentially. This third wave is huge and higher than ever. It’s a tsunami.
Pretty soon, like in a few days, there will be over 1 million infections per day.
Lest we forget, this one belongs in that murderous dump’s lap.
Since so many people are largely disregarding the cautions of epidemiologists, probably the only thing that will save us is a vaccine.
Either that or appointing Sweden’s chief epidemiologist to head up the task force (just kidding)
So glad to see people like Robert Rodriguez on the task force — someone who has actually spent time as a doctor in an ER taking care of COVID patients. It’s like putting an experienced classroom teacher on an education task force.
And the many Trump supporters will KNOW that Scott Atlas, a radiologist at a conservative think tank, is much smarter than all of these experts.
They will rebel against the thought of giving up their freedom to not wear a mask and to not have the pews of churches crowded together with ‘Christians’ praising whatever their pastor says. I watched a video sent to me by a Trump lover. This pastor showed a film in which Biden was saying he’d have Muslims in his administration. The pastor warned against having other religions taking over our government…SO, he admonished them to vote for Trump.
They probably would put Jesus in jail if he actually came down to earth and started preaching today. After all, it is socialism to care for the hungry, heal the sick or help the homeless.
Christ would be too liberal for the far right
Ellen Klock: Can you imagine Trump selling what he has and giving it to the poor? “Only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of God”. This is a comeback to the Evangelicals who say Trump is the Chosen One. The prosperity gospel is a pile of_______. Of course, Trump isn’t as wealthy as he says he is, but I’m sure he has more than the average person.
The Rich Young Man
21Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” 22When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
23And Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly, I say to you, only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven. 24Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” 25When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished, saying, “Who then can be saved?”26But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” 27Then Peter said in reply, “See, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?” 28Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, in the new world,b when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfoldc and will inherit eternal life. 30But many who are first will be last, and the last first.
It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for Trump to admit that he lost the election.
Threading camel through the eye
Of the needle, can’t deny
Easier than getting Trump
To just admit he hasn’t won
Forget camels, which most people can’t relate to these days anyway.
Easier for Donald Trump to pass through the eye of a needle with a Whopper in his mouth than for him to admit that he lost the election.
With a Whopper in his mouth, an large order of fries in one hand a large Coke in the other
With all that AND riding in his golf cart, still easier for Trump to pass through the eye of the needle than to admit he lost.
Threading Donald through the eye
Of the needle, can’t deny
Easier than getting him
To just admit he didn’t win
Scott Atlas should go over to Sweden where he can get some respect for his kooky ideas.
Imagine that. Relying on people who know what they’re talking about. What a concept.
In the spirit arrogance and opposition Trump refuses to release funds to Biden’s transition team.
View in browser | nytimes.com
The New York Times
BREAKING NEWS
Senator Mitch McConnell threw his support behind President Trump’s refusal to concede the election, declining to recognize Joe Biden’s victory.
Monday, November 9, 2020 4:37 PM EST
Even as he celebrated the success of incumbent Republican senators who won re-election and the winnowing of Democrats’ House majority, Mr. McConnell, the majority leader, treated the outcome of the presidential election as uncertain, and hammered Democrats for calling on Mr. Trump to accept the results.
WaPo:
Some Democratic voters are nervous — and a number of Republican voters, alongside the president, are hopeful — that the results of the presidential election aren’t really the results and that somehow court challenges to the vote count will make President Trump the winner.
The likelihood of that is almost nil. Here’s why:
The Trump campaign is running out of time to stop ballots from being counted and so far hasn’t succeeded in any court case to do so. Even if they did stop counting, it’s not clear what they’d get out of it. Even without the four outstanding states, Biden has already won the 270 electoral votes needed.
The Trump campaign has yet to provide evidence of fraud to overturn results. And they have shared no evidence of the kind of widespread fraud that would overturn an election by tens of thousands of votes in several states. That’s what they’d need to prove to win, and proving it would mean they’ve uncovered a historic, unprecedented level of corruption in America.
A recount is expected in at least Georgia, possibly the closest state of all, where Biden is leading by almost 10,700 votes. There could be other recounts. But recounts typically change hundreds of votes, not thousands.
Trump’s hardcore allies in Congress are telling him to fight on, but Republican leaders had been conspicuously silent over the weekend. The longer this drags on, the more pressure they will probably put on Trump to concede. But maybe not anytime soon. The top Senate Republican actually backed Trump on Monday. “President Trump is 100 percent in his right to look into allegations of irregularities,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said.
Thus far, every legal challenge to the vote has been rejected by the courts.
Read this story in the Washington Post: it is not behind a pay wall:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-election-irregularities-claims/2020/11/08/8f704e6c-2141-11eb-ba21-f2f001f0554b_story.html
If it’s possible, I think I despise and loathe McConnell more than I do Trump. What a toxic brew, McConnell + Trump! Off the charts horrible.
Don’t forget that Lady G is serving up that cocktail.
H-m-m-m. The same ballots that elected Republicans to the Senate might be invalid because…?
I keep wondering: if the Democrats “rigged” the election for Biden, why didn’t they rig it for Democratic candidates for the Senate?
Brilliantly observed, Diane!
And speduktr!
You silly fools. It’s all part of the neoliberals plan. Their ultimate goal is to have Russia and China blamed for their nefariousness. And Hillary is pulling the strings! You’re playing checkers, and they’re playing multi-dimensional chess.
Democrats didn’t want to be too obvious. Rigging everything would have raised alarm bells.
Any other questions?
SomeDAM Poet: Whoop! Whoop! 180 ballots mean a lot to Republicans.
………………………….
Trump’s Challenge to Vote in Arizona, Where Biden Leads by 14,000, Involves Just 180 Votes
Jamie Ross
Reporter
Published Nov. 10, 2020 5:40AM ET
Reuters/Jim Urquhart
Republican officials behind a lawsuit alleging poll workers incorrectly rejected votes cast in person in Arizona on Election Day are reportedly only challenging 180 votes—despite Joe Biden leading Donald Trump by more than 14,000 ballots in the state. On Saturday, Trump’s re-election campaign announced that it had filed a lawsuit in Maricopa County alleging that poll workers didn’t tell in-person voters when electronic ballot tabulation machines rejected their votes. GOP lawyers will make their case in front of a Maricopa County Superior Court judge this week, according to AZ Central, but a county lawyer said that just 180 votes are under question, so it’s very unlikely to have any effect on the overall result. In a Monday hearing, Roopali Desai, an attorney for the Secretary of State’s Office, said the suit is “an effort to find a problem when one does not exist.”
Read it at AZ Central
Sort of related: Pence tried to co-opt today’s announcement of the Pfizer vaccine, although “Operation Warp Speed” had absolutely nothing do with it whatsoever. Pfizer worked with a small biotech company in Mainz, Germany, which is headed by Ugur Sahin, an immigrant who came to Cologne, Germany with his parents when he was four years old. So many storylines here that don’t fit with the narrative the Idiot and his cult want so desperately to believe.
I heard that Pfizer didn’t take any federal money. Also heard they reported their findings to Biden, who informed Trump.
It’s more that not taking, they never sought it. They focused on European labs and global health…not some country “first.”
I wonder if Trump will try to screw them (and us for not electing him) and their vaccine because he can’t claim credit. That’s okay. I’m sure the rest of the world is a big enough market.
I’ve been doing a lot of reading on Sahin this evening. What an impressive person! Here’s a good one in English:
https://www.lifescienceleader.com/doc/how-one-professor-built-two-billion-dollar-biotechs-0001
Thank you for the link, Greg.
Good evening, and welcome to the news with our anchor, Bob Shepherd
SHEPHERD: Our lead story tonight, Trump fires Secretary of Defense Mark Esper for refusing to use armed forces against Moms in yellow shirts carrying toddlers.
In other news, Trump blasts “crazy Biden” for “ridiculous” suggestion that a pandemic response should involve science.
Stay tuned for reactions from top medical experts at My Pillow.
I’ll take that with a side order of Goya Black Beans
I used to buy a lot of Goya products. I no longer use them at all.
If I bought them it was very rare.
I do not know all of the particulars, but the firing of Mark Esper seem ominous to me. Hopefully this is just a personal vendetta by a man who is starting to realize his options are dwindling. But what if it presages an attempted Coup?
This was the first thing I thought as well, Roy. But then I had just listened to Bannon’s show. Frightening. There were stories today saying that he also planned to fire FBI Director Christopher Wray and CIA Director Gina Haspel. He already has Trump loyalist John Ratcliffe in the position of Director of National Intelligence.
Are Trump and the morons around him really stupid enough to think that simply replacing the guys at the top is sufficient to pull off a coup? I don’t know. Trump is, after all, the fellow so dumb that he thought that stealth planes were actually invisible and that we could send astronauts to the sun.
the guy who thought that a dementia diagnostic was an IQ test and that Covid-19 was “just going to disappear, like magic.”
De MENTIA?
Isn’t that the high IQ club?
Trump obviously believes that firing Fauci will make the pandemic go away, donut would not be at all surprising if he actually believes firing everyone else will make Biden go away.
SDP, you missed the main point.
If we stopped testing, there would be no COVID.
And BTW, stealth planes actually are invisible when you are not looking.
Politico (sorry, I am not good at posting links) seems to tell a narrative of friction between Esper and Trump going back into the summer and beyond. Maybe it was just a personal thing.
From the Guardian:
In a final interview Esper predicted that he would be followed by a “yes man”, adding “And then God help us.”
Mr. Esper he spoke against use of active-duty U.S. troops to quell civil unrest and adhered to guidelines from CDC to wear a mask when unable to keep social distancing.
Trump was infuriated.
He is like a spoiled toddler at an adult dinner party. He refuses to go to bed and screeches continuously, “Look at me!” There is no thinking involved, just more screeching.
Pence only knew how to bleach his hair with flour and call his wife “mom”. ☹️
I have wondered what artificial whitener Pence uses on his hair. In the close-ups, it appears to be some sort of white pancake-type makeup.l What is it with these guys and the clown makeup?
They’re clowns. 😁
I think Pence puts flour on his hair. That’s what attracted the fly when he debated Kamala.
Perhaps that’s why there was a fly on his head.
Did I tell you what the fly really had to say?
Fly: Carol, I AM that fly. I was circling his head and I knew full well that he was the Vice President of the United States. I circled and then finally decided to land on his head. I listened to him speak and knew that the media would notice me.
Now I am just an ordinary fly but now I am famous. I didn’t like the messages that Pence was sending out to the world. He is almost as big a liar as is Trump. Trump brags about having been cured from COVID-19 and thinks that catching it was a blessing sent from God. I am but a fly but that is pure nonsense. EVEN I KNOW THAT.
Trump is not well. He put on too much makeup and looked sort of freaky. His makeup artist must have done a terrible job because Twitter is alive with comments about how horrible he was made up. Deep dark orange makeup cannot hide Trump’s illness anymore than it can hide his tremendous amount of lies that spew forth with unending, non-stop regularity.
I flew away into fly obscurity. Now, I’d like to meet up with the fly that is on the wall in Obama’s magnificent home. Now, THAT would be a fly with some interesting comments that are spoken inside the Obama household in secrecy. Ohhhh. That would really be yummy stuff to contemplate.
I’m a fly but look at how fantastic I looked on Pence’s head. I am the dark black spot and I am intelligent, even if nobody who was viewing this debate would ever guess.
Thank you, Carol Ring, for letting me, a tiny black fly, tell what I wanted to say to the rolling cameras. I would have countered Pence’s talking but unless you have the abilities of Carol Ring, you wouldn’t have heard what I wanted to say.
Goodbye. I don’t think I’m in the fifth dimension but I certainly know that for a few brief moments, the world turned its attention to ME!! I am a fly and now I’m stopping my beautiful thoughts because I have other work to do…you know, fly work.
Goodbye, now I’m finished with the longest speech that I’ve ever given to humans. Actually, it is the ONLY speech I’ve been able to say and I’m very glad to give my opinions. Oh, and by the way, the Green New Deal is needed because humans are destroying the planet. Pence knows that but he is too intimidated by Trump to ever speak what he thinks. Yes, he knows his fame and glory depend upon supporting Trump and that is what he continues to do.
NOW, I’m finished speaking.
The fly on Pence’s head was actually a tiny little speaker feeding him answers.
The white in Pence’s hair is meant to send a sign to white supremicists (also white flour supremicists who don’t believe in unbleached flour)
SomeDAM Poet: If you read what the fly said, you will have to agree that it is MUCH smarter than Pence.
Quote: “I didn’t like the messages that Pence was sending out to the world. He is almost as big a liar as is Trump.”
Don’t know why.
I am stuck with this here fly.
Stormy weather,
snce Trump and I got together.
it’s raining all the time.
Is it from hell?
Like me answer the Master’s bell?
Stormy weather,
dince Trump and I got together,
I’m grovelin’ all the time.
Since becoming his pup
The blues have never left me.
The truth and news are up and always out to get me.
His s— I sup, and Donald will never let me
have an idea of my own.
Like this fly that Satan owns.
Like Satan’s fly,
I’m completed owned, and I’m
to Donald tethered,
since Trump and I got together,
I am lower than the fly.
Yes, but that was only a distraction meant to fool people after the fact into believing that the fly did not actually have the neflylious purpose of feeding Pence answers.
But you could be right that the fly was actually smarter than Pence.
Was actually an AI fly [A(fl)I] and not just simply a speaker
I don’t trust Zeke Emanuel. Sorry. ☹️
Me neither.
Something about his name rahms me the wrong way.
!!!!! You never fail, SomeDAM!
Is he the guy who predicted 100 million infections within 4 weeks back in March?
Lol, it is him.
Here what he actually said, according a report from Real Clear Politics (emphasis added):
“The front lines actually tell you what’s happening at the front lines, and politicians and people in Washington don’t want the country to panic. What you’re seeing is major rationing in the country. Rationing is a word that they have used to beat up Democrats, but the fact is we are seeing rationing in parts of the country, and you have mentioned some of them.
“Primarily in New York, but it’s not going to be exclusively New York. This is not a virus that is just going to stay confined to New York.
“Right now, if you look at the numbers, we probably have a million COVID-19 cases in the country. And if this is doubling every three to four days, that means that we’ll have 100 million people who have COVID-19 in about four weeks, and that’s a frightening thought.”
Let’s remember where we were on March 27, 2020. There was great uncertainty, there still is, about what was happening with the virus. Information about the effectiveness of masks was just becoming available. He did say there would be 100 million infections, he speculated that if there was a doubling every few days, it was a frightening thought,/b>. Mathematically, his speculation would have been correct if, and if is the key word here, but experience proved that judgment to be incorrect. We’ve only had, as of right now, 10,110,552 and only238,251 deaths.
Perhaps had we acted with the sense of urgency he was trying, unsuccessfully to convey, we’d be in different situation right now.
Well, I could have done a simple doubling calculation, too, if anyone asked. Then I could have added that at that rate, in another week or two, 400 billion people would have the virus.
On another note, are there any other Emanual brothers I need to be aware of? This is like the Wayans.
There are three Emanuel brothers: Rahm; Ari, a leading talent agent; Emanuel, a respected doctor.
100 million infections in just 4 weeks does not pass the bullshit test.
This is actually freshman level biology. Growing populations that are subject to some limiting factor (food for example) may experience exponential growth early on but typically slow down rather quickly and follow a logistic growth curve overall (and the number of new infections can even drop precipitously if a critical resource — in this case people available for new infections — runs out entirely)
Viral infections might start out doubling exponentially every few days in one area with a relatively high population density– a large city, for example (especially when there are no measures in place to check the spread) but this fairly quickly bumps up against a limiting factor (decreased numbers of people within the city available for new infections, for example) and the rate of increase becomes subexponential.
FLERP is right in this case. It’s actually nonsensical to just assume the infections will keep doubling at the early rate ad infinitum because it leads to clearly nonsensical results if you extend it far enough.
And you don’t have to extend it very far in this case to get clearly BS results.
In fact, if you extended 4 more days in the case in question, it would mean 256 million people in the US would be infected and just 4 more days beyond that would yield a number that is about 1.5 times the total population of the US. In other words, quite clearly BS
A doubling time of 4 days means 7 doublings within 4 weeks, which actually would mean 128 million infections after just 4 weeks. Another 4 days would yield 256 million total infections and just 4 more days beyond that would yield 512 million infections.
It’s really not helpful for people who don’t understand this very basic sort of stuff to be weighing in on it.
Zeke is the brother of Rahm. I don’t trust Rahm either. ☹️
So right, Eddie! I think I commented on a recent post that Biden had BETTER not have Rahm anywhere near. Mayor “16 Shots & a Cover Up” (police murder of LaQuan McDonald that R.E. did, indeed, try to bury–y’know, that he had NO knowledge of this, until a dogged journalist uncovered the truth). That would be the penultimate slap in the face to the BLM movement & to ALL Blacks, to whom Biden thanked effusively–“You had my back, & I’ll always have yours.”
The blurb says he’s an oncologist and bioethicist.
In other words, infectious diseases are not his area of expertise.
So, of all the people in the country who are experts, why was HE appointed to a coronavirus task force?
The man behind the Pfizer vaccine is an oncologist. It actually makes great sense to have oncologists on this panel. The most exciting, emerging field of cancer treatment is in immunology/immunotherapy. Many of these studies make use of viruses to transmit chemotherapeutic drugs directly to the cause of cancer growth (rather than flooding the body with poison) and genetically targeted cells to inhibit certain chromosomal abnormalities from causing damage. These viruses, measles for example, have the infectious part taken out and vector that causes them to attach to RNA is used as a transport vehicle if you will. Other disease viruses are also being used, because each one has a propensity to attack different biological systems. I would be concerned if there were no oncologists on this panel.
And the brother of Ari.
Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel from theatlanticdotcom, Oct 2014: Quote
seventy-five.
That’s how long I want to live: 75 years.
This preference drives my daughters crazy. It drives my brothers crazy. My loving friends think I am crazy. They think that I can’t mean what I say; that I haven’t thought clearly about this, because there is so much in the world to see and do. To convince me of my errors, they enumerate the myriad people I know who are over 75 and doing quite well. They are certain that as I get closer to 75, I will push the desired age back to 80, then 85, maybe even 90.
end quote
He’s currently 63.
Oh, I did so dislike that when I first heard it.
Maybe he can get Rahm to agree to the same game plan and they can have Dr. Kevorkian 2 over on their 76th birthdays
I know over a decade is a long time for the rest of us to wait, but you take what you can get, right?
Zeke said something about not wanting seniors living past age 75.
☹️
Rahm was congressperson of a district he never resided in. ☹️
What Does a Biden Presidency Mean to America?
Thom Hartmann Administrator’s picture
Nov. 9, 2020 4:01 pm
By Thom Hartmann
We’re coming out of one of the darkest times in American history, certainly the darkest time in the memory of most living Americans.
Fear and hate have been the dominant national emotions during the last two Republican presidencies. They were used to lie us into a war in Iraq, and to tear us apart from each other for the last four years.
Joe Biden becoming president means that we can focus on making life better for American citizens, rather than trying to demonize each other.
A Biden presidency means we can begin rebuilding our country and infrastructure, rather than continuing to let it deteriorate and fall apart.
A Biden presidency means we can begin to heal our environment rather than keep lobbyists for the oil and coal industry in charge.
With Trump gone, the grifters and opportunists in his cabinet will be gone, too.
The Education Department can once again focus on building a strong public school system.
The Environmental Protection Agency can go back to protecting our environment.
The State Department can work on rebuilding our international alliances and stop coddling dictators and autocrats.
The Internal Revenue Service can aggressively audit rich people again, and the Federal Election Commission can hold fatcat cheaters to account again.
As Trump goes on his “Death and Destruction Goodbye Tour,” we can go back to thinking about friends, family, country and the future, rather than obsessively checking the news every 10 minutes to see what new fresh hell Trump has unleashed.
It will take some time for America to recover from four years of continuous assault by a psychotic president. Most Americans are experiencing some form of political PTSD. But we will heal from this and a brighter future is coming.
-Thom
Close to You (Donnie’s Song)
Why do toadies
suddenly appear
to take your part
and kiss your rear?
Putin has the dirt
to ensure they don’t desert
and stay close to you.
Why does Mitch,
like Pence’s fly,
stick like glue to
your every lie?
To please his base, the rubes,
he’ll sell the country down the tubes
to be close to you.
On the day that you were born
the demons got together
and they larded you with vanity and vice,
And now no matter how extreme the cost,
you won’t accept you’ve really lost.
You’re lice
on rice.
Why should once sane Lady Lindsay
froth like Ghouliani in a frenzy?
Something’s very strange
that he’s acting so deranged
and staying close to you.
[music fades here through end of song]
Though you’ve lied and conned and gimmicked
And you’ve failed with the pandemic,
they’ll stay close to you.
Just to follow you around,
Democracy they’d drown
to stay close to you.
Here, the slightly revised version: https://bobshepherdonline.wordpress.com/2020/11/10/close-to-you-donnies-song-bob-shepherd/
How in the world can anyone be so mean as to take away health insurance during a pandemic? ACA wasn’t perfect but it is all that millions of people have. The fact that we as a nation are worried speak a lot for the Republican party and its unspeakable horror. They couldn’t get rid of it through Congress and are now depending upon the Supreme Court. May the lives of millions of people dead and alive hang on their heads.
………………………………………
AP:
Biden will be actively championing the Obama administration’s signature health law as it goes before the Supreme Court in a case that could overturn it. The president-elect will deliver an Affordable Care Act speech today, the same day the high court will hear arguments on its merits.
The high court ruled eight years ago to leave intact the essential components of the law, but is now controlled 6-3 by a conservative majority. The speech reflects the importance Biden is putting on health care as he prepares to take office in January amid the worst pandemic in more than a century, Will Weissert reports.
Supreme Court: A week after the election, Republican elected officials and the Trump administration are advancing their latest arguments to get rid of the Affordable Care Act, a long-held Republican goal that has repeatedly failed in Congress and the courts. Arguments are scheduled today in the Supreme Court’s third major case over the 10-year-old law, popularly known as “Obamacare,” Mark Sherman reports.
Much at stake as Supreme Court weighs future of ‘Obamacare.’ Whether the Affordable Care Act stays, goes, or is significantly changed, will affect the way life is lived in the U.S. From protections for people with pre-existing conditions, to insurance subsidies, to free birth control —” Obamacare” deals with it all.
My disgust for Trump cannot be measured.
……………………………………….
How Trump’s Refusal to Concede Affects Biden’s National Security Transition
President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. has yet to receive a presidential daily briefing, and it was unclear whether his team would have access to classified information.
Nov. 9, 2020
President Trump’s refusal to concede the election to President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. has already affected Mr. Biden’s transition, particularly on national security issues.
Mr. Biden has yet to receive a presidential daily briefing, and it was unclear whether his team would have access to classified information, the most important pipeline for them to learn about the threats facing the United States…
Classified Information
Along with the presidential daily briefing, transition team officials need to have access to classified information at intelligence agencies, like the C.I.A., to make staffing decisions and begin planning for the administration.
On this front, Mr. Trump can make it much more difficult for the Biden team to gain access to those materials. Under law, the Trump administration must formally recognize Mr. Biden as the president-elect to share classified information with his team. That decision is typically made by the head of the General Services Administration, a little-known government agency that oversees the transition. The head of that agency, Emily W. Murphy, is a Trump political appointee who so far has declined to designate Mr. Biden as the president-elect. As long as the G.S.A. refuses to recognize Mr. Biden, the team cannot legally view the materials…
Some (some) of the people on the task force sound promising (like they might actually know something about the subject) but I don’t think we should get too Hopey Changey before Biden even gets in office.
This Orange Menace has to be stopped. “LOCK HIM UP!” Can you imagine the damage he would do with his own version of Faux?
………………………….
Quartz:
In 2016, Donald Trump considered launching his own TV network if he lost the US presidential election. His unexpected win squashed that possibility four years ago, but now he’ll finally get the chance.
With Joe Biden’s victory, Trump will soon be out of a job. Attention will now turn to what the outgoing president will do with his time next—other than dealing with an ongoing New York state investigation into his business. And once again, he is reportedly exploring how to start his own media empire.
Trump’s senior advisor and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, is “talking up” the idea of a Trump-branded media company, Business Insider reported last month.
Locking him up won’t prevent him from starting a media empire.
In fact, it would probably help it.
It will make him a martyr to the 71+ million who voted for him.
People need to get used to the fact that even when (if?) Trump leaves the White House, he is still going to be “out there” for some time (probably until the cheeseburgers and fries do him in)
71+ million is a lot of people.
Virtual learning has become the default instruction method because of the coronavirus. I am a free special education advocate. I help and teach parents to fight for their children’s rights to a Free Appropriate Public Education(FAPE). I ask and insist parents have their children learn how to touch type. I require looking up “Free Touch Typing” on the internet pick a program. Then have their child and all family members do at least 15 minutes a day for 30 days. By the end of 30 days children as young as 4 are able to copy at least 10 words per minute. I have children/adults with Autism, ADD/ADHD, Cerebral Palsy, Dyslexia, Muscular Dystrophy, Dysgraphia and persons with the use of one hand learn how to touch type. The results is within 30 days reading, writing skills, communication skills, spelling and vocabulary improve. If you have any questions call me 352-282-2539 Linda Montalbano urania32@hotmail.com
________________________________
It will be SO great when the whole lot of them are GONE. Trump may never disappear until hamberders, french fries, chocolate cake, Diet Coke, KFC and Doritos do him in. [Thank you to SomeDAM Poet for that lovely thought.]
…………………………….
Tuesday, November 10
BARR BACKS TRUMP As top Republicans refuse to speak against President Donald Trump’s false claims of mass voter fraud, Attorney General William Barr sent a memo to U.S. attorneys authorizing them to “pursue substantial allegations of voting and vote tabulation irregularities prior to the certification of elections in your jurisdictions in certain cases.” The Justice Department’s top official overseeing voter fraud investigations resigned hours later. Meanwhile, 30 Republican former members of Congress called on Trump to recognize Joe Biden as the election winner, saying Trump’s allegations of fraud “undermine the legitimacy of the election and are unacceptable.” [HuffPost]
Always glad to be of help with my analysis of complex issues.
Don’t tell me Fox is becoming somewhat decent!! Better late than never.
………………………………………
Fox News cuts away from Kayleigh McEnany news conference after she alleges vote fraud with no evidence
Nov. 9, 2020
Fox News cut away from White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany’s remarks at a news conference Monday evening because she claimed without evidence that Democrats were inviting fraud and illegal voting.
“There is only one party in America trying to keep observers out of the count room, and that party, my friends, is the Democrat Party,” she said, adding, “You don’t oppose an audit of the vote because you want an accurate count. … You take these positions because you are welcoming fraud and you are welcoming illegal voting.”
From the Fox News studio, anchor Neil Cavuto cut in to end Fox’s broadcast of the video feed from the Republican National Committee headquarters. “Whoa, whoa, whoa,” he said. “I just think we have to be very clear that she’s charging the other side as welcoming fraud and welcoming illegal voting. Unless she has more details to back that up, I can’t in good countenance continue showing you this.”…
https://www.washingtonpost.com/media/2020/11/09/fox-news-kayleigh-mcenany-cut-away-fraud/
I was sorry to see that the career official in charge of election fraud at DOJ resigned to protest Barr’s politically motivated fraud investigation. He should have stayed and led the investigation.
Not at all an easy call.
Do you stay and risk the chance of becoming part of a fraud to cover up a fraud?
Or do you resign in hopes of highlighting the fraud?
Sometimes it’s more effective to resign, especially when you see that everyone above you is simply playing the game.
I’d say it’s only worth staying if you know that you won’t be alone.
Neither Republican nor Democratic administrations have a particularly good record when it comes to whistleblowers, who are often treated as pariahs at best and sometimes as criminals.
I’m sure he considered his decision very carefully.
You are doubtless right, Diane. But it must have been difficult to resist telling Barr where to stuff it. Sends a pretty clear message.
Should Rick Piltz have stayed?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_S._Piltz
How about William Binney at NSA?
Or Thomas Drake?
Or Edward Snowden?
Or how about Chelsea Manning?
Or Reality Winner?
The decision these people were forced to make was exceedingly difficult.
And not just Bush and Trump, but Obama went after several of them not just to destroy their careers but destroy their lives and imprison them for decades.
And Obama the “Constitutional Scholar” actually weighed in publicly that Manning was guilty before she had even gone to trial.
Not a particularly glowing reflection upon Harvard law school, in my opinion.
And Harvard Constitutional scholar Lawrence Tribe has said that Obama was the best student he ever had.
I guess “guilty until proven innocent” must be in the Harvard copy of the US Constitution.
Here’s the video of Obama stating quite categorically that Manning “broke the law” before Manning was even tried.
Innocent until proven guilty is at the very core of our legal system.
Sad to say, Obama has about as much understanding of our laws and Constitution as Donald Trump — and that ain’t much.
I disagree. Obama is a lawyer and he taught constitutional law. You may disagree with him but don’t insult him by saying he knows as much (or little) about the law as Trump, whose specialty is breaking the law.
Did you watch the video.
Obama, as President of the United States declared that Chelsea Manning “broke the law” before Manning had ever been tried and convicted.
Innocent until proven guilty is the foundation of Western law.
Everything else is details.
Obama quite obviously does not understand that.
Regardless of whether Manning was subsequently convicted, at the time of Obama’s statement it had not even been established in a court of law that Manning had even been the source of the leak of the classified material.
I just sincerely hope that if I ever face a court trial, the jury does not subscribe to “guilty until proven innocent”. Luckily, I think that even most jurors who know very little about the law are wiser than that.
Sturm-y Weather (for Mike Dense)
to the tune of “Stormy Weather”
Don’t know why
I am stuck with this here fly.
Sturmy weather,
since Trump and I got together.
it’s raining all the time.
Is it from hell?
Like me answer the Master’s bell?
Sturm-y weather,
since Trump and I got together,
I’m grovelin’ all the time.
Since becoming his pup
The blues have never left me.
Satirists are up and always out to get me.
His s— I sup, and Donald will never let me
have an idea of my own.
Truth my whole life pwns.
Like Satan’s fly,
I’m completed owned, and I
to Donald tethered,
will doubtless be this way forever.
I’m lower than that fly.
Grammar alert: improper referent for modifying phrase at the beginning of stanza 3! Is the Moronavirus Trumpinski orangii contagious?
I’m sure that Fauci will be welcomed with open arms as soon as he is free of the orang menace.