August 17, 2022

"For 75 years, C.D.C. and public health have been preparing for Covid-19, and in our big moment, our performance did not reliably meet expectations."

Said Dr. Rochelle P. Walensky, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, quoted in "Walensky, Citing Botched Pandemic Response, Calls for C.D.C. Reorganization/Among other flaws, the public guidance during the coronavirus pandemic was 'confusing and overwhelming,' the agency said" (NYT).

"Her plan... was short on specifics...."

95 comments:

Achilles said...

"Her plan... was short on specifics...."

The plan of any bureaucracy:

1. Ask for more money.
2. ...
3. Profits!

What's emanating from your penumbra said...

Any plan that doesn't jettison her is window dressing.

Joe Smith said...

...did not reliably meet expectations.'

The Hindenburg landing was sub-optimal...

Meade said...

What?!!! Is there an election coming up or something?

Beasts of England said...

Sounds like the CDC needs to add some training modules. In Maui, I’m sure.

Enigma said...

Heads are starting to roll before the election. Trying to earn some credibility. Also in the news today: Biden climate official ejected from the National Academy of Sciences:

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2022/aug/17/biden-climate-official-jane-lubchenco-temporarily-/


They can't blame Trump in any fashion so the long knives came out.

Static Ping said...

Well, duh. Arguably, the organization undermined its very reason to exist. You have one job, and you are awful at it.

I'm sure the solution will be to quadruple the budget, triple the personnel, and hire an armed SWAT team.

Earnest Prole said...

It’s not clear we’ve learned a thing since 1918.

Robert Marshall said...

What has happened to the honorable though old-fashioned tradition of "falling on your sword," resigning to atone for your failure to lead to success? Wouldn't that be a bit more convincing?

mongo said...

I’m very surprised there was not one word of blame for Orange Man Bad, either from the CDC, the report, or the NYT writer.

Jersey Fled said...

Start by cutting staff by a third. Then continue from there.

Temujin said...

Believe in the science. Just not those telling you the are the science.

TreeJoe said...

I didn't realize a plan needed specifics. Here I was calling my pie-in-the-sky wishes a "plan" all along....

wendybar said...

They lied and they lied and they lied. They will continue to lie and unfortunately there are people dumb enough to believe their lies.

Howard said...

It went exactly like every other pandemic in history.

Aggie said...

I hope she was looking in the mirror while reciting those words. Now let's move on to the FDA.

Lucien said...

She could start with a policy stating that no teachers union will have veto power over CDCguidance.

TheOne Who Is Not Obeyed said...

The public guidance was "confusing and overwhelming"? Holy crap, a shit-ton of it was WRONG. Let's start with that and work our way into the delivery problems.

Ann Althouse said...

You would think that tight pants would cause more problems for men, but when do they ever seek out surgical diminishment?

wendybar said...

Ann Althouse said...
You would think that tight pants would cause more problems for men, but when do they ever seek out surgical diminishment?

8/17/22, 1:04 PM

THAT is a problem for the CDC, isn't it?? Haha!!

PB said...

Maybe she should have just told the truth based on what she knew, not on aligning with the political narrative.

Dave Begley said...

When does Fauci get fired?

Bailey Yankee said...

Her plan...was politicized for leftist ends.

There. fixed it.

Gusty Winds said...

Blogger Ann Althouse said...
You would think that tight pants would cause more problems for men, but when do they ever seek out surgical diminishment?

This was actually part of the CDC's pandemic response plan that was successful. They neutered half of the country.

Michael K said...

Blogger Earnest Prole said...

It’s not clear we’ve learned a thing since 1918.


To remedy that failure, the crazies in virology are recreating the 1918 flu virus. What could go wrong? Somebody is funding this.

Ampersand said...

They have failed to consider the social/cultural/economic matrix in which their decisions were being implemented, and to forecast the readily foreseeable adverse health effects of focusing on only one medical problem. They are specialists, and we needed generalists. They have been both credulous and disingenuous in their uses of data to support their decisions. They have simultaneously been Machiavellian and Orwellian in their control of the media.

They are lucky that I'm not in charge. I am not inclined to be forgiving.

Ambrose said...

It was more fun for CDC to worry about systemic racism and guns, to name two items on their agenda, rather than infectious diseases.

Tina Trent said...

I don't care what this comment thread is about.

I have been demanded by my health insurance company to define my gender as I identify it, not as I was born, or there will be consequences including losing the insurance.

And so it begins. Or ends.

Cut the rest of this grotesque fey bullshit out.

I have suffered as a woman. I have been brutally violated as a woman.

I have been endangered daily as a woman.

Stop snarking. Those of us who lack your protections find it appalling.


Rory said...

How many died by emphasizing masks over handwashing?

Original Mike said...

There was a point, I think it was last fall, that it became known that vaccinated individuals still spread the virus to others. Big, well done study published in, I believe The Lancet (but perhaps it was one of the other big-time journals). Any CDC official who, after that date, still advocated for vaccination mandates should be fired.

Gusty Winds said...

Leave the Teachers Unions out of it next time. Fauci and Birx too.

And maybe stop Democrat Governors from contaminating nursing homes early on to pad the numbers for political gain.

Oh...and the next time you promote a vaccine, make it a real one.

n.n said...

Follow the science, not the cargo cult, not the empathetic appeal and social contagion... and, yes, there were precedents that would have returned the route to a rational response. That said, to health care, not medical care, is your choice more often than not, and Covid-19/20/21/22 were not the exceptions.

quadruple the budget, triple the personnel, and hire an armed SWAT team.

Ides of April

Terry Ott said...

Static Ping surmises:
"I'm sure the solution will be to quadruple the budget, triple the personnel, and hire an armed SWAT team.”

That would be an excellent start. But some new outsider must be installed at the top of CDC as “Super Director”, ideally someone who has published a book on the subject of leadership in pandemics. The former Governor of New York might just be available, or is he now heading up some alliance of nursing home health and safety executives?

PM said...

"Today, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) announced that Dr. Jane Lubchenco has joined the Biden-Harris Administration as Deputy Director for Climate and Environment. A Distinguished Professor at Oregon State University, Lubchenco previously served as Under Secretary of Commerce and Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in the Obama-Biden Administration."

That was last year. My question: They still calling it the Biden-Harris Administration?

Mary Beth said...

Like the evacuation of New Orleans before Katrina, our government keeps confusine intentions with plans.

Jeff Weimer said...

Because the CDC *threw out the plan* they had been developing for just such a situation to mollify the loudest idiots (and destroy a Presidency).

John Borell said...

Typical government response. “We’re unqualified and bad at our jobs, so let’s do a reorg.”

Jim at said...

Did not reliably meet expectations?

You made everything worse.

walter said...

Howard said...
It went exactly like every other pandemic in history.
--
Yah. Except for yuge mortality increase curiously tracking jabsurrection.
Then there's 40% "spontaneous abortion" increase among the jabbed in Scotland.
Great Scot!
Nothing new here...

cfs said...

Is this all they are going to say? "Oops, our bad. We will do better next time (just give us more money)".

Their "trust the science" mantra destroyed people's livelihoods and education plans. They caused people to miss the chance to say good bye to their loved ones in hospitals. It would take several pages to list the harm their recommendations caused to millions of people.

And now it's just "oops, we will try to do better"?

walter said...

Blogger Rory said...
How many died by emphasizing masks over handwashing?
--
Bah. Dentists have known about antiviral nasal and oral rinse for a long time.
Cheap, safe Povidone Iodine could have protected millions.

Breezy said...

She was the one who early on said something to the effect that we’re all doomed, right? Or maybe she had a deep sense of dread wrt the pandemic…. In any case, she failed then and there and should have been cast out. Next!

Earnest Prole said...

You would think that tight pants would cause more problems for men, but when do they ever seek out surgical diminishment?

It's reassuring to see I'm not the only one here who comments on the wrong post from time to time.

alanc709 said...

Depends on whose expectations they were expected to meet. Certainly, the CDC missed the public concern of keeping people healthy and promoting positive outcomes, but they certainly fulfilled the left's agenda of encouraging bad science, distorted outcomes and population reduction, so there's that...

zipity said...



"For 75 years, C.D.C. and public health have been preparing for Covid-19, and in our big moment, our performance did not reliably meet expectations."

A strong contender for understatement of the century.

Josephbleau said...

“Ann Althouse said...
You would think that tight pants would cause more problems for men, but when do they ever seek out surgical diminishment?”

I remember the case of a man with a stutter who went to the doctor and was told it was caused by his large manhood weighting down his vocal cords, so it was shortened and the stutter eliminated. A week later he returned and said he wanted his size restored and he would gladly go back to stuttering.

The doc said, n n n n no, y y you c c can’t have it back!

tim in vermont said...

They had conflicting goals, the nation’s health, and to oust Donald Trump, the latter had top priority. A third was to cover up the responsibility of the boss in concocting the virus.

Critter said...

They don't need reorganization so much as to change CDC leadership to scientists/medical professionals who are honest and trustworthy. The recent crew have singlehandedly destroyed the reputation of the CDC. Does anyone believe what they say anymore? Virtually everything they pushed in response to COVID has been proven to be false, from the effectiveness of masks, touching surfaces, the vaccines, social distancing, transmission from children to adults (especially teachers), the death rate of COVID, etc. I am hard pressed to name one thing where they were right.

Frankly, it would be addition by subtraction to shed Fauci and Wallensky.

Why not let a team of the straight shooters like Atlas review and propose new leaders and org structural changes? I definitely do not want the current politicized leadership to have a say in the future of the CDC.

tim in vermont said...

"but when do they ever seek out surgical diminishment?"

Easier to just learn karate. (You have to remember the '60s to get that reference)

JK Brown said...

Interesting. There's been little research into environmental transmission control of influenza since the 1950s. Vaccines, which produce profits, have been emphasized. Review the studies and you'll see transmission control was not funded well at all. It took a year for the official "experts" to come around to the idea of aerosol transmission. Remember all the surface and droplet transmission talk. And we know measles is an airborne transmission (acts at a far distance). But the "experts" denied localized aerosol transmission, i.e., in a room but by aerosolized virus not droplet.

How many experts "came up with the idea" of UV to kill the virus? Well, UV was known in the 1880s and proven for air disinfection in the 1930s. Ironically, the 1930s UVC for air disinfection study also proved that viruses could be airborne. But the professors and doctors had a "new" idea. Even though systems were already in hospitals and used by WHO in remote clinics during disease response.

But the CDC, NIH went all in for vaccines and had little research for ventilation and transmission controls 60 years ago.

Jess said...

They can start by firing the failures that were promoted because it was easier than firing them. That, and she can resign.

William said...

About three months into the pandemic — ≈July of 2020 — I was driving in the car when an HIV and AIDS Anti-Stigma PSA came on the radio. It was paid for by the CDC.

I asked myself what in the h_ll the CDC was doing talking about HIV/Aids stigma in the middle of a pandemic. Stigma? Stigma? Disease control?

Once when I was working as a corporate planner, I worked with a crusty old guy from McKinsey & Company. His name was Bert, and Bert said time and time again, "Makes sure everyone is working on the RIGHT stuff."

The CDC doesn't work on the right stuff; they've self expanded their role like guvmnt bureaucrats always do. Don't believe me? Use you search engine and look for "CDC" "gun violence" Last time I cheked, gun violence wasn't a freakin' disease.

Static Ping said...

Critter: They don't need reorganization so much as to change CDC leadership to scientists/medical professionals who are honest and trustworthy.

True, but probably ineffective. The problem of any organization that can provide some significant benefit, especially money and power, is that it will get infested with those that want the benefits and do not care about the organization's goals. The good scenario is a crisis hits, the empty suits fail and are replaced, the organization works better until the crisis passes, at which point it fills back up with parasites. The bad scenario is the entire organization collapses. Perhaps the worst scenario is the organization makes things worse but manages to survive intact, and experiences no reform at all, a process that will continue until it really fails, possibly taking everything else around down with it. With the current regime, I would expect that any CDC reform, assuming it occurs at all, will just fill the organization with political cronies who have the same level of incompetence combined with even more political bias that the current crop.

There's a reason why many kings were removed by force in decadent dynasties. The CDC needs to be disbanded and replaced.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

If you substitute for top down, you presume you and your people (CDC and Big Pharma) have all the answers. With covid, even the most rudimentary information, like how did it come to be, was subverted on behalf of interests other than the welfare of the public.

Jupiter said...

"You would think that tight pants would cause more problems for men, but when do they ever seek out surgical diminishment?"

The Teachers' Unions are working on that.

Mason G said...

"For 75 years, C.D.C. and public health have been preparing for Covid-19, and in our big moment, our performance did not reliably meet expectations."

I don't know... anybody who's had any experience with political organizations could have predicted the CDC's performance pretty reliably.

Sebastian said...

"confusing and overwhelming"

Not at all. They were very clearly wrong from the outset. They were consistently underwhelming in their folly and bad faith.

Caligula said...

How about, don't imply certainty when what you're offering is at best an evidence-free educated guess?

How about, tell the truth (yes, all of it or whatever you possess) instead of saying whatever you think will get people to behave as you want them to?

The loss of the CDC's prestige (not to mention overall trust in the organization) is incalculable. And, always, so much easier to lose than to ever regain once lost.

exhelodrvr1 said...

It's a bureaucracy. The only way to fix it is to make it as small as possible, and transfer it's power and money to the states.

Balfegor said...

There's a lot of CDC problems that are basically intractable short of firing all the staff and starting over. But I think one possible reform is that once a public health emergency has been declared, states, local public health authorities, hospitals, etc. must be allowed to develop and deploy their own tests and apply their own testing criteria without having to defer to guidance from the CDC. There should be an FDA fasttrack for testing approvals automatically triggered by any declared national health emergency, so that they can't bottleneck either.

Will there be some failures there? Sure! But it would at least save us from the comprehensive failure of the CDC, which simultaneously bottlenecked early testing and pushed out a broken test when they finally allowed other entities to do testing. Broken or overly restrictive testing criteria in one city or state is better than a centralised failure impacting the entire country. Data should all be reported to the CDC (which will, of course, fuck it up, just as they have done throughout the pandemic) but at least we would have a better chance of seeing what is going on in the early stages of a pandemic.

Howard said...

The answer to our trivia question: Sticky Fingers

Alexisa said...

It wasn't just COVID

The CDC misled the public about Ebola. People we're concerned about using public transportation and asked: "is Ebola airborne?"

Technically, no it's not, as the droplets are too large to aerosolize. Which is how the CDC replied.

But that's not what people meant. And the CDC, an agency who's mission is to translate scientific findings into laymen's terms for the non-scientific general public knew it.

What people were really asking was "can I catch ebola from the guy coughing on the bus next to me?". The answer is: yes you can

And the CDC knowingly lied. Probably for the Greater Good, to prevent a panic. Problem with that? Ever since then, whenever the CDC makes an announcement, my first thought is "what's their angle this time?"

To CDC lurkers: You had one job - to be a trustworthy expert authority in the midst of a contagion. How many millions will die next time because they no longer believe you?

"...in certain older civilized cultures, when men failed as entirely as you have, they would throw themselves on their swords" - Serenity

MadTownGuy said...

"For 75 years, C.D.C. and public health have been preparing for Covid-19, and in our big moment, our performance did not reliably meet expectations."

Sure it did. Lockdowns, absentee/mail-in/harvested voting, supply chain damage, many other draconian restrictions...the beat goes on. Mission accomplished.

Shoeless Joe said...

Makes perfect sense. The CDC spent the last 2+ years lying to the American people in coordination with the Democratic Party and teachers unions. Mid August it’s time to change the narrative to protect the Dems from the righteous wrath of the people come the November elections. That’s all that matters.

walter said...

Re-assign them to promote math contributions of Muslims.
NASA really dropped that ball.

cassandra lite said...

She's the last one to know this.

All romantics eventually become cynics, and all bureaucracies eventually become Skynet.

Yancey Ward said...

Fuck me. If Wallensky's plan doesn't include her immediate resignation, then it isn't worth anything.

Michael K said...

The CDC/FDA were captured by the drug companies as surely as the Pentagon has been captured by arms manufacturers. Now, the drop in recruitment due to CRT and vaccination mandates is being used as a source for more spending on weapons, especially as so many are being sent to Ukraine.

Moondawggie said...

"For 75 years, C.D.C. and public health have been preparing for Covid-19, and in our big moment, our performance did not reliably meet expectations."

Talk about understating failure with a wishy-washy apology.

I nominate Otter from Animal House to take over as CDC spokesperson; he wouldn't blame the bureaucracy, he'd blame the American People for believing these incompetents.

"Hey! You screwed up! You trusted us!"

hpudding said...

We should replace CDC with blog commenters! Especially blog commenters who pledge to not use any science or medicine in their work. This is the internet era, after all. An era of instant, opinionated knowledge that guarantees that science, medicine and researchers are obsolete. Or at least less profitable than Joe Rogan. How can they hope to compete with instant uninformed opinion! So arrogant.

JPS said...

Wow. Just last week GEN (ret.) Petraeus wrote, "...we underachieved in Afghanistan." Now Dr. Walensky, with "our performance did not reliably meet expectations," manages to see him his massive understatement and raise him.

Depending on the details, reorganization may or may not help. I'd like to see some honest self-criticism on the testing fiasco early on. I understand that testing never was going to be a magic wand. But it would have helped more, earlier, had the CDC not intervened and planted itself solidly in the way. The fact that I can make a good-faith case for why they thought all testing should run through them doesn't mean it wasn't a deeply wrong call, with national consequences.

Their lab research includes some world-class scientists. Their public health mission was corrupted early on by the need to follow party lines. If I saw them take steps to ensure that doesn't happen again, I'd be encouraged. I won't bet on it, certainly not under this director.

Howard:

"It went exactly like every other pandemic in history."

We spend over a billion dollars on the CDC each year in large part to make sure the next one doesn't. If your statement is true then they failed.

Joe Smith said...

Never mind...

walter said...

hpudding cheering appeal to authority when the authority has admitted failure.
Nice.

BUMBLE BEE said...

Every aspect of our government does not function as planned and advertised and promoted.

Drago said...

hpudding: "We should replace CDC with blog commenters! Especially blog commenters who pledge to not use any science or medicine in their work."

Current examples of lefty "science":
A) There are no differences between men and women
B) Men can become women and women can become men simply by wishing it so
C) Tony Fauci IS "Science"
D) You have to be a biologist to tell the difference between men and women (See A) for apparent conflict)
E) Viruses do not behave like viruses if leftists are "protesting" (burning/looting)
F) Churches must be shut down to stop the spread of viruses, but casino's and gay sex orgies are perfectly okay


Shall I go on?

Not Sure said...

"Institutional reform" in Washington? Uh oh.

Warming up in the bullpen getting ready for a relief appearance at the CDC, JAAAAAmie GORELICK!

Maynard said...

About two years ago, I explained to my wife that the health "experts" did not know what to do about the WuFlu. They had to do something. So they tried to lock us down, force social distancing and masks and fake vaccines on us.

Younger people who have been indoctrinated at college buy into this expertise crap.

We are truly doomed as a nation. Luckily for me, I am old and will likely not live long enough to see the Sovietization of America.

Lewis Wetzel said...

The data that the CDC had in 2020 was crap. CFR and r0 had huge error bars. But the CDC acted as though their conjectures -- the data supplied by the imaginations of epidemiologists -- was actually 'data.'

The age of the universe is some ((integer < 20) * 10^9) years old. Science tells us that most stars are light weight red dwarfs, but it is conjecture that tells us that they will exist, as red dwarfs, for about 10^60th years before they burn up their supply of hydrogen and become cool white dwarfs that can no longer sustain nuclear fusion.
But it has never happened. 10^60th years is unimaginably far in the future, Trillions and trillions of years beyond all the time that has ever existed, What's more, there is no image of a red dwarf red in existence. All the information we have about red dwarfs in based on examining one dimensional points of light with telescopes equipped with spectrometers that precisely measure the intensity of light at a range of its wavelengths.
The people who believe that the world is only material do not understand that their idea of the material world is 99% immaterial. It is imagination.

Dan from Madison said...

That's real leadership. Rather than admit failure, take personal responsibility, and try to do better, call for a reorg and blame others. Well done.

gilbar said...

Lewis Wetzel said...
All the information we have about red dwarfs in based on examining one dimensional points of light with telescopes equipped with spectrometers that precisely measure the intensity of light at a range of its wavelengths.
The people who believe that the world is only material do not understand that their idea of the material world is 99% immaterial. It is imagination.

now do electrons!
Then do Schrodinger's cat!
https://www.openculture.com/2019/05/meanwhile-inside-the-box-schrodingers-cat-plans-its-revenge.html

Michael K said...

We are truly doomed as a nation. Luckily for me, I am old and will likely not live long enough to see the Sovietization of America.

I feel the same way but worry about my grandchildren. Nothing I can do about it.

Michael K said...

Or at least less profitable than Joe Rogan. How can they hope to compete with instant uninformed opinion! So arrogant.

We have replaced real experts with politicians. You seem OK with that.

traditionalguy said...

Weaponized pandemics are CDC’s territory. But the big loot that causes corruption is raked in by Dems holding patents on everything and Big Pharma that collects the loot.

hpudding said...

Current example of right-wing “science”:

“So, supposing we hit the body with a tremendous - whether it’s ultraviolet or just very powerful light - and I think you said that that hasn’t been checked, but you’re going to test it. And then I said, supposing you brought the light inside the body, which you can do either through the skin or in some other way, and I think you said you’re going to test that, too. It sounds interesting. And then I see the disinfectant, where it knocks it out in a minute. One minute. And is there a way we can do something like that, by injection inside or almost a cleaning. Because you see it gets in the lungs, and it does a tremendous number on the lungs. So it would be interesting to check that.”

— Real estate speculator, game show host, tax cheat and far-right admiration object, former prez Don J Trump. Caught in the process of prematurely and spontaneously adding “microbiologist” to his great and wonderful resume. Before watching a half million Americans die while convincing millions of others that shopping was more important - to his presidency, at least.

Talk about replacing real experts with politicians. You seem ok with that.

hpudding said...

My favorite spoof of DJT’s “let the light and the disinfectant into your body” moment was when they circulated the abstract of the New England Journal of Medicine article detailing “methods” for testing his hypothesis as: We read the labels on the bottles of bleach we found in the janitor’s closet.” And a conclusion that said, “This will kill you. Don’t do it.”

They then graciously followed up that spoof with their first political endorsement in 208 years - or rather, lack of endorsement - for the “dangerously incompetent” man who had “taken a crisis and turned it into a tragedy.” Scientific American followed suit.

Duck Dynasty’s Phil Robertson was too busy decrying efforts to provide any healthcare to Americans, pandemic or not, by advising instead that they should just turn to Jesus for “eternal healthcare.” Neil Cavuto interjected with, “But people get sick on Earth in human form.” But to no avail. Another great practical scientific insight from the right had been released. And there was no way its glory would be diminished by an appeal to the facts of how people’s lives are impacted “on earth.”

;-)

Bruce Hayden said...

“There was a point, I think it was last fall, that it became known that vaccinated individuals still spread the virus to others. Big, well done study published in, I believe The Lancet (but perhaps it was one of the other big-time journals). Any CDC official who, after that date, still advocated for vaccination mandates should be fired.”

Actually, for most of us, not working for the CDC or esp the FDA, it was actually 13 months ago, in early July, 2021, after the P Town Gay Fest Superspreader event. A bunch of fully vaccinated gay guys, after tongue kissing strangers, came down with the virus.

The reality is that the masking for adults was mostly innocuous, somewhat harmful for kids, and really bad for young kids in their development. Lockdowns were similarly not so bad for adults, but bad for kids, esp for their development. And the vaccines might have helped some people, and esp older people, who had multiple comorbidities, but very likely killed or permanently disabled more people without those comorbidities, than they saved, under, say, 50 or so. And the ratio got rapidly worse, the younger the people involved. Under say 25, without comorbidities, mandating vaccines is tantamount to murder (or at least criminally negligent homicide), and child abuse for those under 18. And well studied drugs, repurposed as COVID-19 prophylaxis, such as Ivermectin, really do work, and were only banned in order to legally sell the vaccines under EUAs. ‘

Because of the CDC’s and FDA’s intentional and grossly negligent dis and misinformation, and their idiotic mandates, a lot of people died or were permanently disabled. This is esp true for young adults, adolescents, and children. Their blood is on the hands of the bureaucrats running these agencies. Seppuku is too good for them. Probably more applicable would be tar and feathering, followed by hanging, then drawing and quartering. Maybe geld the men and rape the women first.

Lance said...

I read the CNBC article about Walensky's reorganization, which one point says...

The central objectives of the reorganization are focused on sharing scientific data faster and making it easier for the public to understand health guidance, according to the briefing document.

It's the same old crap we've been hearing since President Obama. "It's not our fault that government sucks, it's just the people don't understand and we need to explain more clearly, then they'll fall in line." When the people largely understood the pandemic very well, and responded accordingly.

Tina Trent said...

The CDC yielded to AIDS activists in ways that destroyed their objectivity. There was good leadership before, and they were fighting hard for AIDS patients -- Dr. Curran and others. But the activists took over; Fauci was in Washington politicizing medicine for his own self aggrandizement; and that was when and how the institution was hopelessly politicized. I was working off a CDC prevention program that was pure bullshit then. Anyone with one eye could see the writing on the wall. It wasn't Reagan. It was Act Up and other gay activists demanding special treatment, including: resources slated for other diseases; special status to prevent recommendations that gay men change their shocking levels of anonymous sex; special status to prevent contact tracing; lies to the public about their culpability, abetted by the media; demands to continue selling blood to blood banks that the Red Cross caved to, and pressure to place their people in CDC leadership positions.

Gay men brought this on themselves and innocent spouses and children and people needing transfusions. And in the process, they destroyed the scientific objectivity of the CDC. Why? Because their leaders grew rich, wanted everything, and deeply resented straight society.

And now the Chi-Com come have their foot well in the door too. The feeder universities to the CDC are about 10% Chi-Com. Wonder why?

Unknown said...

Just the other day in my neighborhood, I drove by what appeared to be a relatively young woman who was wearing a hat, long sleeve shirt and long pants both in dark colors…and a MASK while walking her dog. The temperature outside was 94. I contemplated driving around the block to check on her to make sure she had not collapsed from heat stroke. No people anywhere near. Why?

wendybar said...

And YET...Nobody will be fired...they will all get raises and told they are doing a great job. Government is forever.

boatbuilder said...

hpudding--imagine the ridicule if he had suggested that people DRINK the disinfectant!

The idea of putting chlorine in drinking water...what an idiot!

Drago said...

Trump: “So, supposing we hit the body with a tremendous - whether it’s ultraviolet or just very powerful light - and I think you said that that hasn’t been checked, but you’re going to test it. And then I said, supposing you brought the light inside the body, which you can do either through the skin or in some other way, and I think you said you’re going to test that, too. It sounds interesting. And then I see the disinfectant, where it knocks it out in a minute. One minute. And is there a way we can do something like that, by injection inside or almost a cleaning. Because you see it gets in the lungs, and it does a tremendous number on the lungs. So it would be interesting to check that.”

This is completely correct, as described at the time by the CEO of Aytu Biosciences who had just received permission to proceed with testing this UV light as "disinfectant" technology with Cedars Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles. Trump had just spoken with the CEO and as part of a general answer as to what technologies/treatments might be on the way to help combat viruses this was mentioned.

By the way, this technology which "inject" "disinfecting" light....works.

Naturally, a stupid reporter uses the word "bleach" in a follow up question because the reporter had no idea what was going on because: "journalism".

Even more naturally, the lefties ran with this reporters ignorance as the Trump Said To Drink Bleach hoax. Just another in a long line of hoaxes.

And, as always, even though its been debunked a thousand times, hpudding does what all lefties do: he/she/xe resurrects the Drink Bleach hoax to deflect from the CDC's admitted failures and political posturing devoid of any scientific basis.

hpudding: "— Real estate speculator, game show host, tax cheat and far-right admiration object, former prez Don J Trump. Caught in the process of prematurely and spontaneously adding “microbiologist” to his great and wonderful resume. Before watching a half million Americans die while convincing millions of others that shopping was more important - to his presidency, at least."

Again, we see the several lefty lying/hoax tactics: repeat the debunked hoax lies, layer the lies so there are 3 or 4 or 5 all in a short burst, and do it all in service to obfuscating the actual truth of what the lefties preferred organizations are up to.

You will also recall the CEO of Aytu Biosciences complained that company videos demonstrating and explaining the technology of using light "injections" into the body to "disinfect" and destroy viruses was removed by the powers that be at Youtube and Twitter.

Gee, what a shock. Our "independent" social media platforms taking directives from the lefties as to which content to remove to assist in the New Soviet Democratical narratives of the day.

I. Did. Not. See. That. Coming...........

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

The problem is that political actors like Wollensky were in charge and decided to use COVID as an opportunity instead of an epidemic. Every epidemiologist knew what we should do but government thuggery silenced and censored them. Trump was very poorly served by his C19 task force and should have stuck with his instincts to reject “two weeks to flatten the curve.” The great shutdown was the most damaging event in history and it was inflicted on the USA by “experts” with motives miles away from the the Public Health they claim without evidence to serve.

minnesota farm guy said...

Commenters are getting lazy about making links. To learn how to create a link in Ann's comments, touch here. Simple and makes your links work without copying and pasting.

hpudding said...

Is one of the Republicans advocating drinking chlorine *before* it is massively diluted by the huge amount of water it’s used to disinfect?

Well damn. Trump really had his audience cut out for him.

4 ppm vs. 1,000,000 ppm. Not much of a difference to the science-haters, it sounds like.