I saw This Tweet capped and posted elsewhere, and had to verify if it was true because it's some extra special crazy.
Originally Posted by Donald Trump's Twitter
Pompeo is saying the virus came from a lab
i wont trust him til i see the evidence
but i want to ask if the virus did leak from a lab, is there any real political implication except "trump is great and theres nothing wrong he did?"
i mean in terms of actual geopolitical strategy, we already have tariffs, you could sanction them i guess, but trump also threw out TPP our trade agreement with outher asian countries, Leaving the UN and who will only INCREASE chinas influence over the world ( belt and road)
we wont go to war with them due to M.A.D
unless you think trump is actually crazy enough to default on our bond debt and crash the global economy ( he might be)
But the Flynn Case isn't a travesty. The morons at National Review, and their readers that believe the bullshit think's its a travesty. Multiple other investigators have said they have done the same fucking thing that was shown in the notes. If he wasn't guilty, why did he plead guilty? Oh, right, because he is FUCKING GUILTY. He stated it multiple times, on Twitter, to the judge of the case, and several other times. This is bullshit, and I hope that traitor enjoys prison.
“You're not to be so blind with patriotism that you can't face reality. Wrong is wrong, no matter who does it or says it.”― Malcolm X
I watch them fight and die in the name of freedom. They speak of liberty and justice, but for whom? -Ratonhnhaké:ton (Connor Kenway)
Trump might try it to paint him as a disgruntled ex-employee without security clearance, or to assert Executive Time Privilege while denying him a WH lawyer, or to say "the Senate has no reason to question someone who's not part of the team, right, Mitch, right? Right? Wink wink."
Whether or not it's likely or effective doesn't really come into play here. We're talking about predicting Trump's actions. Logic left that gate ages ago.
DHS report: China hid virus’ severity to hoard supplies
In a related story, DHS is has reported a 1,300% increase in broken glass houses from all the stones they're throwing. Not that I'm defending this accused but unproven action, if China did what is claimed that's unethical and dangerous. But nobody in Team Trump gets to play the "someone else downplayed the virus and that's bad" card.U.S. officials believe China covered up the extent of the coronavirus outbreak — and how contagious the disease is — to stock up on medical supplies needed to respond to it, intelligence documents show.
Chinese leaders “intentionally concealed the severity” of the pandemic from the world in early January, according to a four-page Department of Homeland Security intelligence report dated May 1 and obtained by The Associated Press. The revelation comes as the Trump administration has intensified its criticism of China, with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo saying Sunday that that country was responsible for the spread of disease and must be held accountable.
And also, if anyone else wants to take a shot at China, please make sure you bookmark that post, because if someone in the House, or the Senate, or the White House turns out to have also hoarded medical supplies, or more likely purchased shares in a medical company, while downplaying the virus, you'll be forced to condemn them, too. Just a heads-up.
That sounds like "I admit that they warned me, but it's their fault I didn't act. They should have warned me harder".In a tweet on Sunday, the president appeared to blame U.S. intelligence officials for not making clearer sooner just how dangerous a potential coronavirus outbreak could be. Trump has been defensive over whether he failed to act after receiving early warnings from intelligence officials and others about the coronavirus and its potential impact.
“Intelligence has just reported to me that I was correct, and that they did NOT bring up the CoronaVirus subject matter until late into January, just prior to my banning China from the U.S.,” Trump wrote without citing specifics. “Also, they only spoke of the Virus in a very non-threatening, or matter of fact, manner.”
In any event, it looks like Pompeo and the rest of Team Trump are doing everything in their power to paint China as the sole reason things are bad in the US, as opposed to China lying but also Trump failing to act.
That was Jan 22.We have it totally under control. It's one person coming in from China, and we have it under control. It's going to be just fine.
That was the WHO, Jan 24.The whole world needs to be on alert now. The whole world needs to take action and be ready for any cases that come from the epicenter or other epicenter that becomes established.
The WHO, Jan 29[COVID-19 is]public health emergency of international concern over the global outbreak of novel coronavirus
That was Trump, at a rally, the same day.We only have five people. Hopefully, everything's going to be great. They have somewhat of a problem, but hopefully, it's all going to be great. But we're working with China, just so you know, and other countries very, very closely. So it doesn't get out of hand.
That was Trump, to Hannity, the day he also put into place a travel restriction that he calls a ban, but didn't affect 40,000 American citizens.We pretty much shut it down coming in from China
Trump, Feb 10, to another rallyLooks like by April, you know, in theory, when it gets a little warmer, it miraculously goes away. I hope that's true. But we're doing great in our country. China, I spoke with President Xi, and they're working very, very hard. And I think it's going to all work out fine
The WHO, Feb 11To be honest, a virus is more powerful in creating political, economic and social upheaval than any terrorist attack. A virus can have more powerful consequences than any terrorist action, and that's true. If the world doesn't want to wake up and consider this enemy virus as Public Enemy Number 1, I don't think we will learn our lessons
The timeline continues, "stock market looks good to me", "pretty close to zero", etc etc you all know what Trump said. The WHO had been warning the world publicly at the same time Trump was receiving specific, direct reports from his own intelligence agencies. He chose to ignore them both, and now, he's whining that someone didn't tell him using exaggerated hand movements OR ALL CAPS so that he knew a deadly virus was a deadly virus.
Trump has always told his rabid fanbase he was two things at the same time: the man in charge when everything went well, and the victim of a yuge bigly rigged hoax witch hunt by someone who somehow had control over everything when things when wrong. This is a prime example: Trump was flat-out told what he needed to do and chose not to do it. Now he's blaming China for his failure to act.
Unrelated add-ons: as we see the Flu Klux Klan out in force, they are now being denounced by Trump's own Dr. Birx for choosing to get into densely-packed crowds without PPE. Meanwhile, the governor of Michigan had to go on live TV to apologize for the protestors and their blatant deep-seeded racism.
"Wait, protesting is racist?"
It is if you bring Confederate flags.
"I mean, maybe a lit--"
And swastikas.
"...these are the very fine people Trump is backing, right?"
Heil yes, they are.
The over the top Trump supporter on my Facebook, has officially jumped the shark... we are in the Bill Gates conspiracy.
lol just got a Fox News alert about an article, where it’s an exclusive from Trump, on when the vaccine will be ready. Is it April 9th 2020? Is it? Oh... by the end of the year... that doesn’t seem right...
Folly and fakery have always been with us... but it has never before been as dangerous as it is now, never in history have we been able to afford it less. - Isaac Asimov
Every damn thing you do in this life, you pay for. - Edith Piaf
The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command. - Orwell
No amount of belief makes something a fact. - James Randi
The qualified medical professionals that have spoken on the issue has said 12 to 18 months. But there's a ton of money being thrown at this. I suppose it's possible that we could see something earlier, but even if it's developed and done testing by, say, Oct 1, I don't see how it can be mass-produced and distributed before Election Day.
This is going to dominate the news for some time. I mean, here's a story about the Pentagon warning the Taliban to stop murdering and killing people instead of following the political path -- which of course, is the definition of terrorism. Yes, the same Taliban that Trump invited to the White House lawn and then just handed them Afghanistan. Is the Pentagon shaking a stern finger basically in sarcasm, as everyone knows the US won't do anything about it? Or is the Pentagon sincere, and we're about to see the completion of Trump's failure to negotiate with terrorists as the US heads right back in there? I mean, neither trait is redeeming.
"You're leaving out the option that the Taliban take heed of this warning and stop."
Yes, because I don't think that's in character or otherwise backed by history. I think the Taliban know Trump can't come back in with military action without admitting he made a mistake (he won't say the words, it'll just be obvious to everyone). I think they don't believe he'll do it, and I think they'll continue being terrorists with effectively Trump's blessing. If Trump orders military action to stop terrorism, effectively ending his deal and being worse than square one, he loses. If he doesn't, the Taliban win.
In most news cycles, this would be a bigger deal.
- - - Updated - - -
And now, a tweet from Vice President Biden.
Incidentally, it's worth a look at how the rabid fanbase tries to respond to that. It's adorable.
So apparently Trump is now stating that he didn't have his first coronavirus briefing until January 23rd.
To which I'm claiming "bullshit" because the first case of coronavirus was reported on January 19th. And on January 22nd, Trump made @Breccia's favorite quote:
So we have a few options."It’s one person coming in from China. We have it under control. It’s going to be just fine."
- Trump stated that everything is going to be "just fine", despite never having been briefed on the subject. Making declarations without information, that sure sounds presidential.
- The Trump administration is thoroughly incompetent, and couldn't even put together a briefing on the subject until four days after the first coronavirus patient in the US was announced.
- Trump is lying about when his first briefing was.
Now, I know what you're going to say: "Number 1 and number 2 aren't mutually exclusive!". And you'd be absolutely right.
But I don't think number 3 is a more palatable choice for Trump defenders.
"The difference between stupidity
and genius is that genius has its limits."
--Alexandre Dumas-fils
It's that time again.
We're up to 68,598 total deaths with the expected weekend low daily total at 1,154. I was hoping for a number below 1k as a sign that things are calming down. Tomorrow will probably also be on the low side and we can expect another peak on Tuesday as the tallies get caught up. 27,348 new cases which is right in the average it's been for the past month. Until that number starts coming down regularly I don't expect the daily death toll to drop off much. Bear in mind that's also just those who have been TESTED. Testing has expanded in some areas, but not many. As a reminder, we're still only up to 7.2 million tests TOTAL through the whole of the pandemic in the US and it's recommended there are 5 million conducted DAILY to ensure a safe "reopening".
Numbers are also being reported differently in a number of areas, so you might want to compare with other sites like JH to get an average/ballpark. On the plus side, some changes mean worldometers has been able to give SOME states separate pages. Here's Texas. You'll note they had no more than 3 days of decreasing cases at any point during the pandemic with the past week being the worst yet, but they're now open for business. Sorry, Texans.
New York, New Jersey and Illinois continue to have the most new cases per day, but Florida and Texas have both been in the top 5 at one point or another and continue hovering at the tail end of the top 10. California is still way up there as well.
Stay safe, folks.