Unfortunately, the ‘Apocalypse’ is one of our own making.
~
Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas, a Republican who has remade himself in the Trumpist mold, made a big public noise about how his state’s reopening — in the face of all reasonable advice — would accomplish the twin goals of being safe and restarting the economy.
✁
Twenty days later, Abbott was singing a much different tune, going on KBTX-TV and begging people to stay home.
Because the spread is so rampant right now, there’s never a reason for you to have to leave your home," Abbott told the people he had just promised a rapid return to normal life. “Unless you do need to go out, the safest place for you is at your home.”
To say the messaging is incoherent is a drastic understatement. The economic theory behind reopening was that because the lockdown had shuttered so many businesses and caused a huge recession, then surely ending the lockdown would mean those businesses and all the economic activity they generate would come roaring back to life.
The problem is that restaurants and stores don’t magically make money by opening their doors. They need actual customers to come in and spend money. ✁
Yeah, there are plenty of photos and videos on social media showing people returning to bars and restaurants, in reality those businesses are only seeing a fraction of the customers they were before, and certainly well below the numbers they need to turn a profit and survive over the long term.
By telling Texans to stay at home — which is necessary, since coronavirus infections are spiking dramatically in the state, following its hasty reopening —
Abbott revealed that this was pretty much a Potemkin reopen, meant to create the illusion of an economy on the mend without taking any of the steps needed to return to normal life, still less a normal economy.
The National Institutes of Health abruptly cut off funding to a long-standing, well-regarded research project on bat coronaviruses only after the White House specifically told it to do so, according to Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
Fauci made the revelation Tuesday at a Congressional hearing on the federal response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which is caused by a coronavirus that is genetically linked to those found in bats.
Rep. Marc Veasey (D-Texas) asked Fauci why the NIH abruptly canceled funding for the project, which specifically worked to understand the risk of bat coronaviruses jumping to humans and causing devastating disease.
Fauci responded to Veasey saying: “It was cancelled because the NIH was told to cancel it.”
“And why were they told to cancel it?” Veasey pressed.
“I don’t know the reason, but we were told to cancel it,” Fauci said.
After the hearing, Fauci clarified to Politico that it was the White House that told the NIH to cancel the funding.
An unnamed White House official told Politico that the White House did encourage the funding cut, but ultimately it was the Department of Health and Human Services—of which the NIH is a part—that made the final decision.
An HHS spokesperson said only that the funding was cut because “the grantee was not in compliance with NIH’s grant policy.”
There absolutely will be a vaccine by the end of the year.
Absolutely.
.
The announcement will be made in early October and you can count on that.
The announcement will contain the schedule which will call for shipment of tens of thousands of doses in early January with only a couple minor issue to be worked out.
One or two of the people working on the vaccine and who are familiar with all the data and issues may be reported missing, but that will be fake news and there could be minor delays in the shipping schedule due to unforeseen events.
The priorities for Trump’s second term — or Second Coming:
===
“Well, one of the things that will be really great — you know, the word experience is still good. I always say talent is more important than experience, I’ve always said that. But the word experience is a very important word. It’s a very important meaning. I never did this before. I never slept over in Washington. I was in Washington, I think, 17 times, all of a sudden, I’m president of the United States. You know the story, I’m riding down Pennsylvania Avenue with our first lady and I say, this is great. But I didn’t know very many people in Washington. It wasn’t my thing. I was from Manhattan, from New York. Now, I know everybody and I have great people in the administration. You make some mistakes like, you know, an idiot like Bolton. All he wanted to do was drop bombs on everybody. You don’t have to drop bombs on everybody. You don’t have to kill people.”
kaffekup over 4 years ago
“GIANT METEOR 2020!”
jmworacle over 4 years ago
At last something to take our minds off of Corona-virus, and the public discourse.
RobinHood over 4 years ago
Dirty little secrets
Dirty little lies
We got our dirty little fingers in everybody’s pie
We love to cut you down to size
We love dirty laundry
Silly Season over 4 years ago
Unfortunately, the ‘Apocalypse’ is one of our own making.
~
Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas, a Republican who has remade himself in the Trumpist mold, made a big public noise about how his state’s reopening — in the face of all reasonable advice — would accomplish the twin goals of being safe and restarting the economy.
✁
Twenty days later, Abbott was singing a much different tune, going on KBTX-TV and begging people to stay home.
Because the spread is so rampant right now, there’s never a reason for you to have to leave your home," Abbott told the people he had just promised a rapid return to normal life. “Unless you do need to go out, the safest place for you is at your home.”
To say the messaging is incoherent is a drastic understatement. The economic theory behind reopening was that because the lockdown had shuttered so many businesses and caused a huge recession, then surely ending the lockdown would mean those businesses and all the economic activity they generate would come roaring back to life.
The problem is that restaurants and stores don’t magically make money by opening their doors. They need actual customers to come in and spend money. ✁
Yeah, there are plenty of photos and videos on social media showing people returning to bars and restaurants, in reality those businesses are only seeing a fraction of the customers they were before, and certainly well below the numbers they need to turn a profit and survive over the long term.
By telling Texans to stay at home — which is necessary, since coronavirus infections are spiking dramatically in the state, following its hasty reopening —
Abbott revealed that this was pretty much a Potemkin reopen, meant to create the illusion of an economy on the mend without taking any of the steps needed to return to normal life, still less a normal economy.
~
https://www.salon.com/2020/06/24/red-state-reopening-has-been-a-disaster—and-republican-hopes-for-a-comeback-are-collapsing/
Silly Season over 4 years ago
More ‘self-inflicted’ wounds…
~
The National Institutes of Health abruptly cut off funding to a long-standing, well-regarded research project on bat coronaviruses only after the White House specifically told it to do so, according to Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
Fauci made the revelation Tuesday at a Congressional hearing on the federal response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which is caused by a coronavirus that is genetically linked to those found in bats.
Rep. Marc Veasey (D-Texas) asked Fauci why the NIH abruptly canceled funding for the project, which specifically worked to understand the risk of bat coronaviruses jumping to humans and causing devastating disease.
Fauci responded to Veasey saying: “It was cancelled because the NIH was told to cancel it.”
“And why were they told to cancel it?” Veasey pressed.
“I don’t know the reason, but we were told to cancel it,” Fauci said.
After the hearing, Fauci clarified to Politico that it was the White House that told the NIH to cancel the funding.
An unnamed White House official told Politico that the White House did encourage the funding cut, but ultimately it was the Department of Health and Human Services—of which the NIH is a part—that made the final decision.
An HHS spokesperson said only that the funding was cut because “the grantee was not in compliance with NIH’s grant policy.”
~
https://arstechnica.com/science/2020/06/white-house-ordered-nih-to-cancel-coronavirus-research-funding-fauci-says/
Bruce1253 over 4 years ago
We can change this anytime we want. . . . .
walden878 over 4 years ago
revolution is next
braindead Premium Member over 4 years ago
Not to worry.
There absolutely will be a vaccine by the end of the year.
Absolutely.
.
The announcement will be made in early October and you can count on that.
The announcement will contain the schedule which will call for shipment of tens of thousands of doses in early January with only a couple minor issue to be worked out.
One or two of the people working on the vaccine and who are familiar with all the data and issues may be reported missing, but that will be fake news and there could be minor delays in the shipping schedule due to unforeseen events.
Ricky Bennett over 4 years ago
I don’t want to hear about the impact of this news item…
braindead Premium Member over 4 years ago
For The Disciples:
The priorities for Trump’s second term — or Second Coming:
===
“Well, one of the things that will be really great — you know, the word experience is still good. I always say talent is more important than experience, I’ve always said that. But the word experience is a very important word. It’s a very important meaning. I never did this before. I never slept over in Washington. I was in Washington, I think, 17 times, all of a sudden, I’m president of the United States. You know the story, I’m riding down Pennsylvania Avenue with our first lady and I say, this is great. But I didn’t know very many people in Washington. It wasn’t my thing. I was from Manhattan, from New York. Now, I know everybody and I have great people in the administration. You make some mistakes like, you know, an idiot like Bolton. All he wanted to do was drop bombs on everybody. You don’t have to drop bombs on everybody. You don’t have to kill people.”