The Clock is Ticking on the GOP's Aging Grasp on Power

The only way for this to end would be for Biden to be elected, and lead a decisively moderate/centrist administration. Biden would have to say, "I'm old and I'm here for four years; I won't be running in 2024 so I have nothing to lose and I have one and only one mission: national reconciliation. I do not want to sign into law ANY bill coming out of Congress that doesn't have ample bi-partisan support. I do not want any extremist legislation - be it leftist or rightist - that the vast majority of the American people don't support and both major parties don't support. Polarization and over-adversarial politics are killing our country and this stops right here, right now.

So if anybody in Congress wants to get anything done in my administration, it will have to be something bipartisan - truly so, not with one or two DINOS or RINOS crossing the aisle, but truly a hundred people from the other party supporting it too - and also supported by the majority of the American people. I won't sign into law anything that doesn't have, say, 75% of Congress support so that regardless of what party controls the House or the Senate, legislation will need to be supported by both sides. For example: if there is a SC vacancy during my term, I'll submit names to the Senate in a preliminary consultation, and will not nominate anyone that doesn't get the support of 75 senators. If a person I propose fails that, I will propose another one, and another one, until someone gets the consensus of both parties, then I'll officially nominate the person.

You all, politicians and the people, learn how to act like adults, learn to compromise, learn to work together for the good of the country and not for the good of a party, or to stick it to liberals, or to stick it to conservatives. That is silly and our country is paralyzed while other countries continue to advance, consequently we're falling behind. So, let's get to work.

You guys want immigration reform? We can do that if you all come up with a truly bipartisan bill that not only secures the border as the right wants, but is fair to legal immigrants and DACA kids like the left wants, with some concessions to existing illegal aliens. For example, the left wants amnesty to illegal aliens? No, that's going too far and it's not supported by the majority of Americans. But we can do something intermediate like extending to all illegal aliens who have been here for, say, more than five years with no criminal background, who are demonstrably good family-oriented hard workers, a non-immigrant lawful work permit with no path to citizenship but so that they can stay indefinitely here legally and out in the open, paying taxes and all, but they won't be eligible for naturalization because they got here illegally. But in order to get that passed which would please the left, maybe the right will want to actually build a wall along the southern border, and if the right is willing to accept the lawful work permit provision rather than deportation of those aliens, then the left will have to agree with building a wall. I will only sign an immigration reform law if provisions that are dear to both the left and the right are there.

You want to look at energy? We need a balance between energy needs and the interests of the fossil fuel industry and their employees on one hand, and a project to progressively enhance clean energy on the other hand. You want healthcare? We'll need a hybrid program where private health insurance and employer-sponsored health insurance continue to thrive, but with a minimum of regulations to protect pre-existing conditions, some expansion of Medicaid for the truly poor, and a basic public option for those who want to purchase that or can't afford the more sophisticated plans. You want to defund the police? No can do, that's absurd; but we can have something intermediate: we can actually increase funding for the police but use some of this extra funding for retraining and monitoring so that policing is fair and uses force appropriately. And so on and so forth.

Do you know what negotiation means? It's like this: both sides come to a table and one side says "I want you to concede this aspect to me, for this bill, which is essential to my constituents" and then the other side says "I can do it as long as you give me something in exchange, that is, this other aspect is dear to me and my constituents and also needs to be included" and then the first side says "deal."

In certain issues, we need to figure out what our people want and need. Let's put some of the main issues to a referendum. We can consult the American people on certain issues and let's use the same standard: if the American people support a policy at a rate of 75%, then we'll pass it into law. Anything extreme that doesn't get to that threshold? Nah, we won't do it. Instead, we'll have a deep and intensive national conversation to figure out what we can do that will feel reasonable to both sides of the political spectrum.

You don't want to compromise? Then we'll just sit down for 4 years and watch paint dry, because I won't be signing anything into law that doesn't achieve this bipartisan and popular consensus. We'll just be paralyzed, allowing other countries to continue to leave us behind, until you guys tire of watching paint dry and come back to the table.

So, in my administration, we'll look into all the main issues that are bothering us and destroying our country, and will address one by one, by chunks of 3 months. My role will be to supervise and encourage the process and move things along. Let's do immigration reform and border security? In up to three months we'll consult the people, we'll negotiate in congress, we'll write up a comprehensive bill with 75% congressional support, and I'll sign it. Then we'll move to healthcare. 3 more months, and we get it done. Then to energy, 3 more months and we get it done. Then to criminal law reform / policing. Another 3 months and we get that solved. Tax code reform for reasonable taxation that doesn't suffocate businesses but is also fair to the middle class and the lower class and doesn't bankrupt the country? 3 months. And so on. In 4 years we can solve 16 major issues and achieve national reconciliation. We'll all be better off in 4 years than we are now, and we'll remember again that above all we're Americans and there is more that can unite us, than there is that can separate us. We should remember that our country is named the UNITED States of America. If there are unsolved issues after 16 get addressed, we'll hope for the next president to continue the effort."

If Biden achieved that, he'd be remembered as one of the greatest American presidents.

Why Biden and not Trump? Biden did demonstrate willingness to collaborate across the aisle when he was in Congress, and he is basically a moderate/centrist. Trump has been too divisive, too hateful, too right wing, so he will never succeed in achieving national reconciliation.

 

My own personal experience is that immigrants work harder and are more appreciative of the benefits of our nation than far too many of those who are born Americans and fallaciously ASSUME that they are ENTITLED to all of these benefits WITHOUT having to contribute anything at all to our nation.

 

One thing that I have observed about supporters of the wannabe Fascist-in-Chief is that NONE of his vocal in-your-face supporters even know the meaning of the term shy or are UNWILLING to express their loyalty to him.

Whether or not they LIE to pollsters is another matter but I doubt that skews the results significantly. Why lie to an anonymous person on the phone or on an internet survey?

The numbers have been CONSISTENT remaining in the 41%-43% throughout the term with only a few minor variations that QUICKLY dissipated. For example the nation initially rallied behind him at the beginning of the Pandemic but as soon as it became apparent that he had NOTHING in the way of LEADERSHIP to offer he lost that OPPORTUNITY to UNITE We the People.

So these "shy" supporters of the wannabe Fascist-in-Chief would have had to have been doing this for the past 4 years and what is worth noting is that they FAILED to turn up to VOTE in 2018.

They didn't vote back then because they do NOT exist and they will not vote NOW for the same reason.

I have serious doubts that anyone employed by the shale gas industry was ever a Biden supporter to begin with. Just having the temerity to run AGAINST their "god-emperor" pisses off the supporters of the wannabe Fascist-in-Chief. Biden hasn't lost something he never had in the first place.

Furthermore the riots are NOT a major factor when it comes to MOTIVATING those OPPOSED to the wannabe Fascist-in-Chief. They MIGHT provide motivation for those who were already going to vote FOR him but it is NOT high on the list even for the paltry few who are still UNDECIDED. Nobody will vote for Captain Chaos on the basis that he is capable of restoring law and order.

 

Good points, and I'm more reassured after reading your post.

 

I can understand your outrage at Trump's slights and insults aimed at doctors and other healthcare professionals... but (and you knew there would be a "but" in my reply), in a frustrating series of instances, the medical science 'community' made sweeping pronouncements about this virus and its behaviors -- only to have to supersede them every few weeks or months with "new-and-improved" information which was often quite different from the original statements....

In the last nine months, we've been told that masks were protective, nitrile gloves were necessary, and that six feet of 'social-distancing' was essential! Then that was all modified to say that masks may not be so protective after all because all they 'catch' are droplets (and viruses, as you know, are FAR smaller), and only if they fully cover the nose, mouth, and EYES.

The gloves? We were told that the virus can't survive long on most surfaces... but then we were told that the virus can survive for weeks on some surfaces -- and even longer if the temperature and humidity is right. (Disclaimer: I wear a mask and nitrile gloves everywhere I go in public -- without fail!)

And the "six-feet social distancing" rule is laughable! Even as far back as May, it was proven that sneeze-cough droplets can routinely be propelled distances of 10 - 15 feet or more, and, that the virus can actually remain suspended in the air for hours, all by itself....

It's not a blanket-defense of Trump, but he received all this conflicting, constantly-changing information (along with all the rest of us), plus he's had Democrats screaming at him that he's a "racist" for saying -- accurately -- that this virus was irresponsibly and recklessly set loose by CHINA! On January 31st, he put the travel ban with China into effect, while Democrats screamed "racist" at him....

Anyway, you get the point, and I'm sure you feel that his occasional coarse, blunt, and sometimes unfounded accusations against the WHO, the CDC, and various doctors warrants throwing him out of office. But I'll stop right there and ask you this -- what would Joe Biden have done to achieve any better overall result in stopping the virus' spread, marshaling cooperative corporate resources to develop a vaccine, and, keeping the economy from crashing?

Ol' Joe will be the beneficiary of Trump's rather impressive work in getting all the big pharmaceutical/research corporations to work at "warp speed" to develop a vaccine, which will probably be announced sometime in Q1, '21 -- but apart from being lucky enough to inherit a 'vetted' vaccine, what will Joe do...? I'm terribly afraid that beginning at noon, January 20, 2021, we're going to find out....

. Well... first, I'd suggest that Joe learns to put a mask on properly....

 

I agree, wholeheartedly, because I have loathed and despised censorship all my long life.

We should all remember that 'Big Brother's' primary means of control over society in Orwell's masterpiece, "1984", was exercised through propaganda, censorship, thought-control, manipulation of LANGUAGE, and suffocating 'political-correctness'....

Go back and re-read the part in the book entitled, "The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism" by Emmanuel Goldstein -- and see how close we are already coming to preparing the way for 'Insider' shadow-government to take over our minds, and then our country!

Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Theory_and_Practice_of_Oligarchical_Collectivism

 

So you like to exploit the brown man for cheap ass vegetables.

And this post comes from an uneducated drunk conservative redneck

 

You have to give a discount to the medico-scientific community in five ways.

One, it's a novel virus, and the speed of reckoning and coming up with more and more accurate information was actually QUITE REMARKABLE.

Two, science does proceed by contradictory information then you have to pull it all up together in large meta-analyses to see the big picture and the predominant truth. So, some papers may suggest that masks don't work but then if most papers suggest that they do, the meta-analysis (and I posted one here with 29 papers) will show that they do work. And so on and so forth in many other aspects.

Tree, you need to understand that the MEDIA and POLITICIANS have distorted what the medico-scientific community said, in many ways. One of these days a poster here posted a lay-press article saying that a paper showed that remdesivir doesn't work for moderate cases, when the paper quoted by the article says the very opposite and was used by the FDA to actually approve remdesivir for moderate cases. The article was hard to comprehend in its conclusion, when the reader is someone who is not used to the scientific language and the nuances of the statistical treatment. I immediately reacted to the poster's and the lay press journalist's assertion by saying "uh, no, that's not what this study is showing" and was mocked and accused by the poster of not understanding the science (LOL, I've been doing it professionally for 40 years) to such an irritating point that I placed him on Ignore... and then a few days later the FDA proved me right by quoting this very paper in their extension of remdesivir indication to moderate cases, LOL.

Four, often, without knowing the method in number two above, both the media and politicians will quote what seems like solid conclusions by quoting ONE paper... when it's not the complete picture. And that's not the fault of science. There IS value in publishing a paper with, say, 200 subjects, showing a predominant lack of effectiveness in masks... because it IS relevant information, given that rarely a single research group can gather enough number of subjects to reach a definitive conclusion. Then you get 300 more subjects from another study... 500 from another... 2,000 from another... 200 from another... and at one point you can get 11,000 subjects together, homogenize the finding, and conclude that oops, masks do work, despite that study there with 200 subjects that suggested that they don't.

Five, when the WHO and the CDC and the FDA issue boneheaded statements, you need to understand that often they don't come from the career scientists diligently working there to get the truth to be found, but rather, by political appointees who lead the agencies... you need to understand that these agencies ARE political and do reflect someone's agenda. A CLEAR example was the FDA commissioner's saying that convalescent plasma saved 30% of patients to support what Trump was saying in a joint press briefing with Trump and himself present.. when the paper out of the Mayo clinic only said that the tiny percentage of patients that seemed to benefit, got 30% more benefit when convalescent plasma with higher antibiotic titer was used... which is in no way, shape, or form, the same as 30% of all patients were helped!!! Then the scientific community castigated the FDA commissioner for blatantly misleading the public just to agree with the president... and he at least got ashamed enough to confess that what he said was wrong, and apparently he remained shamed enough to seek more independence from the White House.

Another clear example is Fauci and the CDC saying that masks do not protect the wearer, and later Fauci confessed in all words in a TV interview that he lied, because he didn't want a run to masks, was afraid they would be sold out and massive numbers of healthcare professionals would contract the virus, knocking them out of the workforce in a moment when there was a risk of peaks and of overwhelming the health system.

See above. Yes, goggles and face shields are advisable. Yes, masks are still protective even from far smaller aerosol particles. This is often misunderstood because it is paradoxical, but blown melt unwoven fabric catches particles of 0.1 micron (the size of the coronavirus) BETTER than 0.3 micron particulates, thanks to something called Brownian Motion. There is a reason why NIOSH standards are tested at 0.3 micron. It's because 0.3 micron is called the MPP, or maximum penetrating particle, because they do not suffer Brownian Motion and go through the mask pores MORE EASILY than 0.1 micron particulates. So, tests show (including a still to be published testing project that I know of, at the Perelman School of Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania, that masks that catch 95% of 0.3 micron particulates (therefore passing the N95 NIOSH standard) tend to catch 98% of 0.1 micron particulates. Also, do consider that even in aerosol particles that are much smaller than droplets, the virus is not naked. Actually these aerosol particulates are larger than 0.3 micron, thus again being better filtered than the 0.3 micron ones (remember, the 0.3 are the MPP).

Now, the thing is, NOT ALL MASKS DO THIS. They need to have a layer of blown melt unwoven nanofibers, and they need to have a good seal. And obviously they needed to be worn the right way. Obviously they need to cover the nose and mouth and be tight around these facial structures. Obviously you cant touch them with dirty hands and readjust them all the time and remove them to speak clearer or to breath better or leave them hanging below your chin or under your nose. Cloth masks have a filtration of these viral particulates as low as 7.25%. Bandanas, 2%. Neck gaiters, 0%. Regular flimsy surgical masks, about 48%. But hear this: ASTM level 3 surgical masks with enhanced seal achieved with three interlaced rubber bands or even better, a neoprene rubber brace, get 98% of the coronaviruses including in aerosol, European Union certified FFP2 respirators with good seal catch 94% at least, NIOSH-certified N95s catch 98%, and NIOSH-certified N100's catch 99.7%.

Now, can you still get sick? Yes, you can, because not even N100s achieve 100% so some virus will still get in, and most people don't achieve the best of seals or end up defeating the seal to scratch a nose, etc. BUT THE RIGHT KIND OF MASK, AND PROPERLY USED, does significantly decrease the relative risks and the odds ratio, and this has been demonstrated over and over by multiple papers (despite a few papers saying the opposite; see #2 and #4 above). Also, viral load matters. If you still catch the virus but significantly reduces the number of particles you inhale, you are more likely to have a mild case that will actually get you to the realm of the (at least temporarily) immune, as opposed to a severe case that will kill you or make you survive but with permanent organ damage.

How many people wear the kind of masks I'm talking about, and the right way, including, with the enhanced rubber band seal or neoprene brace seal? Almost nobody... I know. But my posting here has been focusing repeatedly on teaching people how to do it. I teach my patients and colleagues... I show them how to get the right masks which are now back on sale and relatively widely available... I teach them including with video clips how to achieve and enhance the seal. How many listen? Not many...

I've never been a great fan of gloves, for various reasons. One, fomite transmission has been suggested to be only 2% of all transmissions. Two, gloves lose integrity in as little as two hours. Three, it's harder to sanitize a glove and people often forget about it, feel over-confident, and touch a contaminated surface then touch with the contaminated glove, a surface that they will later touch without the glove (like a knob). Gloves are useful if you wear them in a very precise way: Go to the grocery store, handle your purchases, your money or credit card, punch numbers on the electronic check-out screen, etc., then REMOVE PROPERLY AND DISCARD YOUR GLOVES before you get back to your car. Otherwise you do more harm than good, and a 2oz pocket bottle of Purell often used will do as much good or better than gloves.

The rule is not laughable. It avoids most infections. But as you correctly said, it is not perfect, and LATER the scientific community realized the aerosol part. There is nothing wrong with updating a conclusion based on new science, otherwise we'd be still believing that the Earth is flat.

Trump never banned travel from China. He merely implemented a travel RESTRICTION (not a ban) with a page-long list of exceptions. Look it up. A true ban is what Uruguay did. And no, I don't support the Dems calling it racist. The Dems made mistakes, too.

I doubt that Biden would be undermining the efforts, mocking them, minimizing the virus, accusing the scientists and doctors like Trump has been constantly and persistently doing. The words of a president matter and part of the problem of more than half of the population not following precautions has partially something to do with the president ridiculing and undermining these precautions at all times, as recently as yesterday in rallies.

Warp Speed was good and I've extensively praised the president for it, but actually the most advanced vaccine with the best results so far in terms of safety, stability, and efficacy, the CoronaVac made by Sinofarm and the Instituto Butantan... had absolutely nothing to do with the Warp Speed initiative, and is beating all the ones that did, in terms of concluding phase 3 and being poised for regulatory approval. There were other initiatives similar to Warp Speed in other countries. It's hardly unique. But again, sure, it was good.

It happens even to me, that some slips happen from time to time. But Biden has consistently been seen with properly positioned masks... unlike Trump who 98% of the time has none.

 

@Pollycy and @Adfundum debating with you guys is a pleasure; you are both intelligent and civil, and able to put together good arguments. Some others here are like that, too; this is a non-inclusive list of two, but I'd say there are at least a couple dozen of high quality posters here. We do have a fair number of ignorant trolls too... but I've been placing most on Ignore.

 

Sorry, but there will be NO reconciliation if Sleazy and the Skank manage to slither into the WH. I will personally encourage all common sense REAL (see also: Conservative) Americans to contact their GOP reps and oppose anything and everything even thought of by the DemocraPs.

 

I am feasting on the expertise and information you are bringing to this discussion, and I feel certain that you will be a very valuable source of information not commonly disseminated, going forward.

I don't share your great dislike of Donald Trump for the reasons I've already mentioned, but I do understand how and why those in the healthcare profession find him to be incorrigible and unnecessarily abrasive.

My overall assessment amounts to that old aphorism about 'the lesser of two evils' -- and, with all his many faults, I view Trump as that person. But Biden? He might be more 'polite' and agreeable to many in the medical community, but that doesn't make up for his shallow, senile mentality, or his corrupt cupidity... in my somewhat less-than-humble opinion. Why, oh why couldn't Democrats have considered a younger, brighter, far more intelligent person with TONS less 'baggage' to be their standard-bearer, like Andrew Yang...?

Again, thank you for opening up new perspectives on the uses of preventive measures we can use against this virus, and, for explaining a number of the specifics for them.

P. S., I always spray my 'garden-variety', paper face mask with Lysol (or a knock-off) after each wearing. I have several masks, and I rotate them.

 

The decline of the US started in the 80s, or late 70s.
When WWII ended it was the only industrialized country untouched by war and were the king of the world. US industrial products and industries ruled the world. Flooded the world with its products.
But they missed a few things, happens when your nose is up the air. The Asian countries rebuilt, the European countries rebuilt and to compete against the dominating US industry they had to be more innovative, smarter, flexible. The US depended on being the big boy, its so called exceptionalism, its gigantic military machine.
We are the greatest.

It missed the importance of the Steal and Coal contract and what became of. A very small flame in the late 50s, became a economically powerhouse.
Same for the folks in Asia, they rebuilt their countries and kept on going, relentless and flooded the US with their products.
We are the Greatest, Ever, had no answer and still has none.
The decline of a empty empire and the failure of a democracy, enshrined in 1700, without reform.

 

Thanks for your kind words.

Yes, Andrew Yang and Tulsi Gabbard were better candidates, in my opinion. But Biden is what we got, and while I respect your opinion, in mine, he is the lesser of two evils as compared to Trump. I just hope, if he wins, that he picks a good cabinet and let people do their jobs without interfering too much.

If you have 7 masks, you can place them in 7 paper bags with the day of the week marked on them, and by the time you get to back to the first one, seven days have passed and any coronavirus on the mask surface is gone. No need to spray them with Lysol. Actually I wouldn't do that.

But I'd recommend the purchase of a box with 50 units of ASTM level 3 masks. They cost about $40 on Amazon. They are sturdy, comfortable, soft, and wetness-resistant, and they do have blown melt unwoven nanofibers inside. I can recommend a good brand by PM if you want. Then, buy a box of rubber bands #34, they cost $6. Then, do this, and you'll be very protected:

 

@Pollycy See, it's infuriating. That idiot, that moron, that quack I wouldn't even call doctor, one Scott Atlas, Trump's favorite Covid-19 Pandemic "expert" despite the fact that he knows absolutely nothing about it (he is a freaking radiologist) gave a crazy, bizarre interview to... RUSSIAN STATE TV!!!! And he repeated Trump's lie that doctors profit from calling a death by other reasons, a death by Covid-19.

I mean, this is freakish because any doctor knows that compensation and billing are done by procedure and severity of disease and degree of involvement needed, NOT by diagnosis. I've explained this in detail in other posts (whoever wants to learn about it, do an advanced search using the keyword billing and with me as the poster, and you'll find a recent post of mine in which I detailed how billing happens, how the CARES act compensated hospitals, and how a physician falsifying a diagnosis would risk severe punishment).

So, how in the hell does this nincompoop call himself a doctor and he ignores that??? Is he completely incompetent, or just malicious? He is repeating to Russian TV of all places, the conspiracy theories that Russian trolls and bots love to diffuse. Sleeping with the enemy...

That's one of the reasons why Trump needs to go: so that we can kick this dunce out of the White House.

 

I have a couple of 'sidebar' questions, please, about the nature of the COVID-19 virus itself.

From the very beginning, we've been told that this "novel" virus just kind of 'popped-up' out of the 'wild', possibly originating in populations of everything from bats and snakes, to the 'Pangolin' ant-eater creature.

Speculation that COVID-19 was actually a rigorously-crafted bio-weapon, developed at the foremost Chinese virus research laboratory, in Wuhan, just a short distance away from the 'meat market' where the virus was said to have spread among customers, was rapidly brushed aside by nearly everyone, or, simply ignored.

Certainly, chemical and biological weapons research is nothing new, with many varied research efforts active in the military forces of many different countries (including the U. S.) for over the past 100 years.

My question to you is in two parts -- first, in your opinion, is COVID-19 (as originally detected) someone's bio-weapon? Next, is the reason that the virus has been so hard for medical researchers/doctors to 'figure out' the likelihood that if it is a bio-weapon, it was intelligently-crafted to be 'hard to figure out' and to counteract...?

Clarification: I don't necessarily think, as some do, that the virus was deliberately released by the Chinese on the world, but I knew something was remarkably different about this disease because of the urgent notification that came from Chinese President, Xi Jinping, himself in January. Xi told senior officials in the Chinese government that, "'The country is facing a "grave situation'". Link: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-51249208 . The leadership of totalitarian countries simply does NOT make statements like that, or even use language like that unless something is very, very seriously and unusually wrong....

Now here we are in November.... I've read that the original virus has likely undergone a hundred or more mutations since it appeared about a year ago, no doubt further complicating a comprehensive, accurate understanding of what researchers and physicians are dealing with -- let alone developing an effective vaccine for it. I'd be very interested on your thoughts about all this. Thank you.

 

Recklessly spending more than they take in will eventually come to an end. Of course, it would be better to make changes before it hits the wall, but good luck getting reelected after turning off the spigot.

 

Both parties are spending money they don't have. It is just a matter of time. As long as Americans fight among each other, they will keep going until they run out. Raising taxes and printing money only delays the inevitable.

 

What is the inevitable?
In the history of the world, no country has been in power forever.

Enjoy it while it lasts.

 

I will add my non professional 2Cents to this.

This is a flu not unlike those in the past. Spanish flu, SARS, MERS, and a whole host of others.
Could it be labratory created? Sure, anything is possible.
Is the Wuhan factory, so close to a large population really a center for creating war type infectious diseases? Seems a horrible place to put something like that. It China that stupid? Doubtful. China is one of the oldest civilizations on earth.

So, IMO, this covid virus is similar in power to the Spanish flu of 102 yrs ago.
I would bet humanity sees this type of virus events with this kind of power about every 100 yrs or so.

 

No, Pollycy, as tempting as it is to attribute the virus to the Wuhan Virology Lab, this one is 100% natural. See, the sequencing of the virus' genetic material was entirely done and there is no indication whatsoever that it is man-made, and not even that it's been manipulated. The sequences match entirely the natural ones occurring in bats, with the small differences from pre-existing bat coronaviruses that are expected in natural selection. There is a reason why this conspiracy theory was dismissed very fast: because of the fact that we sequenced the virus genes very early.

And then, just think of it; who would craft as a bio-weapon, a virus that only kills about 0.65% of those infected??? Pretty poor choice for a weapon... There are other coronaviruses much more lethal, such as the SARS-1 and the MERS. And then, who would be crazy enough to start unleashing it... in one's own country???

I don't give any weight to the language used by Xi. First of all, things get lost in translation. Second, yes, they were faciing a grave situation. Third, they frantically tried to secure PPE for themselves over 3 weeks; if they were planning for such event they'd have to have stockpiled for months, not three weeks.

Early on, I read an interview with an American virologist who used to work at the Wuhan Virology Lab. He said something to the effect that "the lab is a level 4 security lab with multiple layers of precautions and people manipulate the viruses in full-blown hazmat suits... and some conspiracy theory idiots think the virus came from there while literally millions of tourists enter those bat caves in the region 100% unprotected..."

And then, who says that "the virus has been so hard for medical researchers/doctors to 'figure out'? It's been around for 1 year and we have a HUGE amount of info on it. We probably know more about it now than the about the influenza virus... and the latter has been around for 16,000 years. There is nothing puzzling or unusual about this virus. Actually like I said the SARS-1 and MERS were worse in lethality although not as infectious. We've "figured out" a lot about it, already, which is why critical cases are dying less often, given early use of enoxaparin, dexamethasone or methylprednisolone, antibody drugs, remdesivir, and the boosting of the defenses with Vitamin C, zinc, quercetin, melatonin, famotidine, and ivermectin.

We know a lot about this virus... the problem is, people don't listen to us. They prefer to listen to idiots like Scott Atlas or politicians like Trump.

My friend, the problem doesn't reside with the medical and/or scientific community...

Mutations: no mutation so far has significantly altered the S-protein that is targeted by the vaccines to the point of countering the effect of antibodies stimulated by the current experimental vaccines. So far, these mutations are not changing the likelihood that vaccines will work. It's not impossible that this will change, but as of now, the different strains are very similar one to the other and differ a bit in infectiousness but not in mechanism of cell infection, which is what is being targeted by neutralizing antibodies (the virus needs the S-protein - S stands for spike - to enter the human cells, so if neutralizing antibodies attach to the proteins, the virus can't infect a cell).

I do hope that we get a highly efficacious and safe vaccine soon AND that most of the population accepts it, to put a halt on the chain of transmission BEFORE mutations drift too far from the strains used in the current vaccines.

Which is why the current lack of credibility of the current administration (lies after lies after lies) and the political divisiveness that this situation has generated, is so damaging, because I actually have little hopes that the population will accept the vaccines in sufficient numbers.

 

I'll add my professional 2 cents to yours.

No. The only one you mentioned that is a flu, is the H1N1 Spanish Flu of 1018-19. The others are not flus. I can't believe how people still refer to this as a flu. This is a different disease, and one that has more affinity for the endothelium and the myocardial fibers than the influenza virus. Coronaviruses and influenza viruses belong to different families. They have some similarities but also several differences.

No. It couldn't. The genetic sequencing shows that it wasn't. No, it's not possible.

There is no "factory" there. It's a safe, level 4 virology research lab. China is very populous and in whatever city they built the lab, there would be a large population nearby anyway. There is absolutely zero evidence that this virus escaped the Wuhan Virology Lab. None. The idea to the contrary is just a conspiracy theory. This is a natural virus that jumped species like so many others have done in the past.

True. Different disease, but similar consequences, to a certain degree, at least as far as the death toll.

True. But that doesn't mean we should dismiss it as something trivial. It isn't. It is very dangerous. The fact that we get from time to time some very serious viral outbreak should make us MORE prepared and MORE able to combat the outbreaks energetically, not dismissive.

 

Thx for the response. Flu was a mistake on my part. I know it's a virus.

I wasn't attempting to dismiss anything. Merely point out, this wasn't on purpose and certainly not for the purpose many supporters of tRUMP would think the purpose is.