All things political. Coronavirus Edition. (2 Viewers)

[Maxp]

I fear we are really going to be in a bad place due to the obvious cuts to the federal agencies that deal with infectious disease, but also the negative effect the Affordable Care act has had on non urban hospitals. Our front line defenses are ineffectual and our ability to treat the populous is probably at an all time low. Factor in the cost of healthcare and I can see our system crashing. What do you think about the politics of this virus?

 

[Farb]

Because Americans and America are much more than privileged Christian white men?

What does MAGA have to do with privilege Christian White men? Those are the only group that supports MAGA? There are some counties in southern Texas that would disagree with you.

 

[zztop]

this explains a lot

Justice Thomas cites claim that Covid vaccines are made with cells from 'aborted children'

Thomas cited the claim in a dissent to the Supreme Court’s refusal to take up a challenge by health care workers who opposed New York's vaccine mandate on religious grounds.

www.nbcnews.com

 

[Farb]

How has this been debunked, this same article contridicts itself, well, I guess the DR is agreeing with the wording for big Pharma.

https://www.nebraskamed.com/COVID/y...covid-19-vaccines-contain-aborted-fetal-cells

Question ​

Do the COVID-19 vaccines contain aborted fetal cells?

Answer from infectious disease expert and practicing Catholic James Lawler, MD ​

No, the COVID-19 vaccines do not contain any aborted fetal cells. However, fetal cell lines – cells grown in a laboratory based on aborted fetal cells collected generations ago – were used in testing during research and development of the mRNA vaccines, and during production of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

For the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, fetal cell lines were used in the production and manufacturing stage. To make the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, scientists infect PER.C6 fetal cell lines to grow the adenovirus vector. (Learn more about how viral vector vaccines work.) All PER.C6 cells used to manufacture the Johnson & Johnson vaccine are descended from tissue taken from a 1985 abortion that took place in the Netherlands. This cell line is used because it is a well-studied industry standard for safe and reliable production of viral vector vaccines.

 

[MT15]

it says that the mRNA vaccines were tested against fetal cell lines. But then again, so is every drug, so if you have a problem with that you need to stop all medicines immediately. The mRNA vaccines do not contain any fetal cells or use fetal cells in their manufacture.

Johnson & Johnson is a different type of vaccine. So don’t take that one if it’s a problem. That one had more side effects anyway and wasn’t as effective.

Thomas is a forking moron who doesn’t understand anything.

 

[SaulGoodmanEsq]

Ok, so what about putting America and Americans first is not a good political strategy?

It meaningless in its simplicity. But that's why its so attractive to Trump's base. Is it a good political strategy? Sure. It is a good governing strategy? Nope.

 

[CoolBrees]

Republicans don’t put the country first. That is laughable. Nothing about 1/6 was for the country.

That is like saying the Confederate losers seceded for the good of the country.

They put themselves first. And second. And third.

 

[Farb]

It meaningless in its simplicity. But that's why its so attractive to Trump's base. Is it a good political strategy? Sure. It is a good governing strategy? Nope.

Kind of like BLM. The meaning is simplified for the base but the actual meaning is completely different. I got you.

 

[Farb]

it says that the mRNA vaccines were tested against fetal cell lines. But then again, so is every drug, so if you have a problem with that you need to stop all medicines immediately. The mRNA vaccines do not contain any fetal cells or use fetal cells in their manufacture.

Johnson & Johnson is a different type of vaccine. So don’t take that one if it’s a problem. That one had more side effects anyway and wasn’t as effective.

Thomas is a forking moron who doesn’t understand anything.

So it was tested using aborted fetuses from the 70s? So he is not entirely wrong or the theory was not 'debunked'?

 

[MT15]

So it was tested using aborted fetuses from the 70s? So he is not entirely wrong or the theory was not 'debunked'?

The theory is that the vaccines contain fetal cells, good lord how obtuse can you be? They do not nor do they use fetal cells in the manufacture. All medicines are tested against human cells derived from fetal remains that are lab propagated. So you need to get off all medicines if you object to this. Even over the counter stuff was tested against fetal cells during development.

 

[cuddlemonkey]

So it was tested using aborted fetuses from the 70s? So he is not entirely wrong or the theory was not 'debunked'?

If I build a chainsaw and test it against a tree, is my chainsaw made from tree?

 

[CoolBrees]

Cars are made from test dummies!!!

 

[SaulGoodmanEsq]

Kind of like BLM. The meaning is simplified for the base but the actual meaning is completely different. I got you.

I don't disagree but I get the feeling you disagree with my point and merely answered it with a comeback to deflect. Otherwise, we can agree both are overly-simplistic and neither represent a serious attempt at policy. That's the difference between us -- I can be objective and am actually a true independent.

So I'll say again: "America First" is shallow and meaningless drivel for the right-wing to unthinkingly parrot.

 

[MT15]

Good! There should be consequences for peddling lies and conspiracy theories when you hold a position of public trust.

 

[Optimus Prime]

Dr Anthony Fauci, the veteran infectious disease researcher who has led the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Disease for over three decades, will retire before President Joe Biden’s four-year term expires in January 2025.

“We’re in a pattern now. If somebody says, ‘You’ll leave when we don’t have Covid anymore,’ then I will be 105. I think we’re going to be living with this,” he said in an interview with Politico, during which he denied that his retirement plans are meant to coincide with a likely GOP takeover of at least one half of the US Congress……

Dr Anthony Fauci says he’ll retire by the end of Biden’s first term

‘We’re in a pattern now. If somebody says, ‘You’ll leave when we don’t have Covid anymore,’ then I will be 105. I think we’re going to be living with this’

www.independent.co.uk

 

[MT15]

Really large study involving scientists from four continents says the origin of Covid is far more likely to be the market rather than the lab leak theory. It appears this is a comprehensive study, peer reviewed, ASAIK. But I’m sure the conspiracy theorists on the right and the left will keep selling their schtick, clicks are clicks after all.

Studies Throw Cold Water on COVID 'Lab Leak' Theory

Researchers say new analyses point to Wuhan market as early epicenter

www.medpagetoday.com

 

[Optimus Prime]

Posted on EE too
==============

ORINDA, Calif. — They waved signs that read “Defeat the mandates” and “No vaccines.” They chanted “Protect our kids” and “Our kids, our choice.”

Almost everyone in the crowd of more than three dozen was a parent. And as they protested on a recent Friday in the Bay Area suburb of Orinda, Calif., they had the same refrain: They were there for their children.

Most had never been to a political rally before. But after seeing their children isolated and despondent early in the coronavirus pandemic, they despaired, they said. On Facebook, they found other worried parents who sympathized with them. They shared notes and online articles — many of them misleading — about the reopening of schools and the efficacy of vaccines and masks. Soon, those issues crowded out other concerns.

“I wish I’d woken up to this cause sooner,” said one protester, Lisa Longnecker, 54, who has a 17-year-old son. “But I can’t think of a single more important issue. It’s going to decide how I vote.”

Ms. Longnecker and her fellow objectors are part of a potentially destabilizing new movement: parents who joined the anti-vaccine and anti-mask cause during the pandemic, narrowing their political beliefs to a single-minded obsession over those issues. Their thinking hardened even as Covid-19 restrictions and mandates were eased and lifted, cementing in some cases into a skepticism of all vaccines.

Nearly half of Americans oppose masking and a similar share is against vaccine mandates for schoolchildren, polls show. But what is obscured in those numbers is the intensity with which some parents have embraced these views. While they once described themselves as Republicans or Democrats, they now identify as independents who plan to vote based solely on vaccine policies.

Their transformation injects an unpredictable element into November’s midterm elections. Fueled by a sense of righteousness after Covid vaccine and mask mandates ended, many of these parents have become increasingly dogmatic, convinced that unless they act, new mandates will be passed after the midterms.

To back up their beliefs, some have organized rallies and disrupted local school board meetings. Others are raising money for anti-mask and anti-vaccine candidates like J.D. Vance, the Republican nominee for Senate in Ohio; Reinette Senum, an independent running for governor in California; and Rob Astorino, a Republican gubernatorial candidate in New York.

In interviews, 27 parents who called themselves anti-vaccine and anti-mask voters described strikingly similar paths to their new views. They said they had experienced alarm about their children during pandemic quarantines. They pushed to reopen schools and craved normalcy. They became angry, blaming lawmakers for the disruption to their children’s lives...........

How Some Parents Changed Their Politics in the Pandemic

 

[Optimus Prime]

From same article
=================
..........Their emergence has confounded Republican and Democratic strategists, who worried they were losing voters to candidates willing to take absolute positions on vaccines and masks.

“A lot of Democrats might think these voters are now unreachable, even if they voted for the party recently,” said Dan Pfeiffer, a Democratic political adviser to former President Barack Obama.

Nathan Leamer, who worked at the Federal Communications Commission during the Trump administration and is now vice president of public affairs at the firm Targeted Victory, said Republican candidates — some of whom have publicly been against Covid vaccine mandates — were better positioned to attract these voters. He pointed to last year’s surprise win in Virginia of Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, after he gained the support of young parents by invoking their frustration over Covid-driven school closures.

Even so, Mr. Leamer said, these parents were a wild card in November. “The truth is that we don’t really know what these voters will do,” he said.

Natalya Murakhver, 50, once considered herself a Democrat who prioritized environmental and food sustainability issues. Sam James, 41, said he was a Democrat who worried about climate change. Sarah Levy, 37, was an independent who believed in social justice causes.

That was before the pandemic. In 2020, when the coronavirus swept in and led to lockdowns, Ms. Murakhver’s two daughters — Violet, 5, and Clementine, 9 — climbed the walls of the family’s Manhattan apartment, complaining of boredom and crying that they missed their friends.

In Chicago, Mr. James’s two toddlers developed social anxiety after their preschool shuttered, he said. Ms. Levy said her autistic 7-year-old son watched TV for hours and stopped speaking in full sentences.

“We were seeing real trauma happening because programs for children were shut down,” said Ms. Levy, a stay-at-home mother in Miami.

But when they posted about the fears for their children on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter, they were told to stop complaining, they said. Other parents called them “selfish” and “whiny.” Alienated, they sought other like-minded parents online.

Many found a community on Facebook. New groups, mostly started by parents, were rapidly appearing on the social network, with people pushing for schools to reopen. In California, 62 Facebook groups dedicated to reopening or keeping elementary schools open popped up late last year, according to a review by The Times. There were 21 such groups in Ohio and 37 in New York. Most ranged in size from under 100 members to more than 150,000.

Facebook, which is owned by Meta, declined to comment.The company has removed groups that spread misinformation about Covid-19 and vaccines...........

 

[Optimus Prime]

A man who sent death threats to Dr Anthony Fauci has been sentenced to three years in prison.

The Snowshoe, West Virginia, resident sent threatening emails to the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases(NIAID), with one stating that his family would be beaten to death and set aflame, prosecutors revealed, according to The New York Times.

In May, Thomas Patrick Connally Jr, 56, pleaded guilty to making threats against a federal official.

The US Attorney’s Office in Maryland has said that he also acknowledged sending threats to other public health leaders such as Dr Francis Collins, who led the National Institutes of Health from 2009 until December of last year.

Dr Collins is the acting science adviser to the president while Dr Fauci is the chief medical adviser.


Maryland US District Court Judge Paula Xinis sentenced the 56-year-old on Thursday to 37 months in prison and three years of supervised release.

In the plea agreement, Connally admitted to sending the emails to Dr Fauci between 28 December 2020 and 25 July last year from an anonymous and encrypted email address, according to a statement by federal prosecutors.

On 21 July last year, Connally wrote to Dr Fauci, “I will slaughter your entire family. You will pay with your children’s blood for your crimes”, according to court filings…….

Man who sent death threats to Fauci sentenced to three years in prison

‘Smart and technologically sophisticated, the defendant intended to heighten the terror he sought to instill by using a foreign encrypted email provider’, prosecutors say

www.independent.co.uk