Figures, another WHO basher.

Playing catch-up and must have missed this one... so allow me to state for the record: I am most certainly not a WHO "basher." There's a huge difference between noting some room for improvement in the WHO and bashing them.

Trump would be proud.

As far as Trump, he'd be jealous that my fingers are substantially longer than his; he would obviously not fail to notice this fact because the middle one would be hovering in front of his bloated rotisserie-chicken colored face.

How is Trump doing in Texas, these days?

About like he's doing in Wisconsin. :)

Precisely!

Well, I'm not going to be commenting on Wisconsin, so see ya tomorrow, hopefully.

Kick, you're gonna drive me to drink, you know that. Geez.

You've no self-control, then? So drink 'em if you got 'em.

You'll be fine, EM; the itty bitty words won't hurt you... unless you bang your head on the keyboard or screen or something or start drinking over it. ;)

The whole point of [20] was to highlight the fact that had Trump and his science advisors listened to Dr. Tedros, on 18 February they might have acted in a more intelligent way instead of sitting back thinking the country was well protected by an ineffective travel ban.

Forget the WHO (figure of speech, of course); if Trump had simply listened to his own CDC science advisers alone... insert the rest of what you said here and more.

I mean the China and European travel bans worked so well, didn't they. Good God.

There are no bans "in effect" when American citizens are allowed back into the United States from China and Europe and SARS-CoV-2 virus and viral loads don't know the citizenship of its hosts... I know you know.

Is it possible to have a discussion with you without you missing the point and nitpicking everything?

It's not exactly "nitpicking" when claims are factually incorrect and numbers are off by multiple thousands and thousands. Also: I cannot always read minds to decide what the point is supposed to be... unless you become like Don Harris and just dither away your time repeating the same thing over and over like a _________ {choose your own expletive}

Glad we could talk, Elizabeth Miller, but Elizabeth Miller informs me there is a new column up... so I regret to inform you I can no longer participate here. ;)

You really are missing out, Kick, by not listening to the daily WHO briefings - whether it's Mike or Maria or Dr. Tedros, it's always good information.

You remind me of Donald Trump telling everyone he was eating "the most beautiful piece of chocolate cake you've ever seen" with Xi Jinping at Mar-a-Lago.

Meaning: Donald Trump has no idea what chocolate cake any of us has seen in the same way you have no idea what I'm missing out on, Elizabeth.

Have you suited up in full gear and gone into a COVID-19 hospital room? No? If you haven't, you're really missing out. Getting the picture yet, Liz?

I'll try to remember that. :)

The whole point of [20] was to highlight the fact that had Trump and his science advisors listened to Dr. Tedros, on 18 February they might have acted in a more intelligent way instead of sitting back thinking the country was well protected by an ineffective travel ban.

I mean the China and European travel bans worked so well, didn't they. Good God.

Is it possible to have a discussion with you without you missing the point and nitpicking everything?

Okay, my dear Kick, I see the problem. I left something out that is very important.

You don't say! *facepalm*

I must have been typing while you were posting... so: Jinx.

But, Dr. Tedros was very clear about it. Moral of the story, always listen to the doctor speak in the link I provided instead of read what I write. :)

Better "Moral of the story":

Best get your story straight, my dear Elizabeth Miller, because many of us follow the oft repeated Elizabeth Miller mantra of "not clicking that link"... particularly when the data provided is so totally outrageously incorrect that it's off by thousands and thousands and therefore ridiculous on its face.

No, I think my numbers are pretty spot on, give or take a handful.

*facepalm*

No... not unless your left hand can hold about a "handful" of 74,000+ "worldwide" COVID-19 cases and your right hand can hold a "handful" of about 2,000+ deaths because -- like I said -- you are off by thousands and thousands.

I got them directly from Dr. Tedros, after all. Didn't you listen to him?

Why would I want to listen to anyone who claimed something so ridiculous on its face:

In this WHO daily briefing on 18 February, when there were 800 confirmed COVID-19 cases worldwide and 3 deaths, Dr. Tedros emphasized the need for countries to seize the opportunity now to put in place measures to contain the virus. Within four weeks, it was already too late for that. ~ Elizabeth Miller

The only way in which you or Dr. Tedros or anyone else could possibly arrive at "800 confirmed COVID-19 cases worldwide and 3 deaths" is to exclude every bit of the data reported by China, but last time I checked, China is still indeed part of the wide world... you know, as in "worldwide."

So to recap: By 18 February, there were already over 75,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases worldwide and over 2,000 deaths. Just saying. :)

https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2020/health/coronavirus-maps-and-cases/

In this WHO daily briefing on 18 February, when there were 800 confirmed COVID-19 cases worldwide and 3 deaths, outside China in the rest of the world, Dr. Tedros emphasized the need for countries to seize the opportunity now to put in place measures to contain the virus. Within four weeks, it was already too late for that.

But, Dr. Tedros was very clear about it. Moral of the story, always listen to the doctor speak in the link I provided instead of read what I write. :)

This!

Not only did they get shown as the party so desperate that they would put voters lives in danger in the hopes of staying in power, but then they lost the election!

Next up: Honey Badger takes out the one with the dead fox on his head. :)

In this WHO daily briefing on 18 February, when there were 800 confirmed COVID-19 cases worldwide and 3 deaths, Dr. Tedros emphasized the need for countries to seize the opportunity now to put in place measures to contain the virus. Within four weeks, it was already too late for that.

Wait, what!? By 18 February, there were already over 75,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases worldwide and over 2,000 deaths. Just saying. :)

although biden has never publicly come out in favor of pie, i've always had the sense that he privately had some very pronounced pro-pie leanings.

Fun Trivia

On Super Tuesday 2020, Joe Biden visited "ButterCuP Diner" in the Bay Area and ate what dessert they are known for?

Hint: The Capital P is for ___

https://www.buttercupdiner.com/dessert

Bonus points if you know what kind he ordered. :P

DH
6

Shut up. Shut up. Shut up.
Dead spiel.

AMEN!

Shut up. Shut up. Shut up.
Dead spiel.

I know, right!

*laughs*
*asymptomatic, yet maybe transmits SARS-CoV-2 throughout room*

Their refusal to move the election came back to bite the Republicans in the ass in a big way.

Big asses necessitate big bites.

Conservative Republican incumbent Dan Kelly, who was appointed by former Republican Gov. Scott Walker and endorsed by President Donald Trump, LOST to Liberal Democrat Jill Karofsky, for a seat on the state Supreme Court.

Honey Badger just takes what it wants:

* First: Walker
* Now: Kelly
* Next: She'll "trump" them both.

https://youtu.be/b4lpFjHsGLo?t=35

I think a number of the Democratic candidates other than Biden, might have ended up as the nominee. But, they would have lost to Trump. Which is why voters ended up choosing Biden.

I have long ago learned not to underestimate the intelligence of the American voter. More often than not, they do the right thing. (I learned that from Biden, by the way)

I think if Iowa and New Hampshire weren't the first states to vote in the Democratic primary, Biden would never have been counted out the way he was.

So, it looks like president Obama is going to make his much anticipated if belated endorsement of Senator Biden.

You do understand why it was best for Obama to withhold his support until we knew who the Democratic nominee was going to be, correct? How great for Trump would it have been for Obama to have given his endorsement of Biden months ago and then Andrew Yang had pulled an upset and became our nominee? Even if Obama then endorsed Yang, it would have hurt the Democrats chances of winning the election by causing doubts on the candidate!

Obama was putting the country before the individual by not publicly endorsing Biden until now...something I think Joe knew had to be done!

Think about it: the way the media presented the story, the GOP’s victory almost seemed like a foregone conclusion. The Democrats were already explaining how this had cost them the seat — trying to highlight that the Republicans put winning above the health of voters in that state. Cut to yesterday and the announcement that the GOP’s forced primary plan did not work out for them the way they had hoped!

Not only did they get shown as the party so desperate that they would put voters lives in danger in the hopes of staying in power, but then they lost the election!

That had to hurt!

Now, there was some good news.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xm8n3_8r-2g

I think it's time to look a bit further afield of the oval office when determining why the US was so slow in responding to its developing epidemic during the aptly called lost month of February.

I am sure that Drs. Fauci and Birx were following the guidance put out by the WHO if the president wasn't. Why didn't they recommend serious public health, containment and mitigation measures across the country sooner?

In this WHO daily briefing on 18 February, when there were 800 confirmed COVID-19 cases worldwide and 3 deaths, Dr. Tedros emphasized the need for countries to seize the opportunity now to put in place measures to contain the virus. Within four weeks, it was already too late for that.

hopefully the more dispersed and naturally isolated population will counter some of the effects of being poorly informed.

JL

We are already having that very interesting social and medical experiment. Recall that the Republican Governors that believed Trump's earlier downplaying of CV-19 either waited to issue statewide "stay at home" orders or haven't done so at all (Arkansas, Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota.) These are relatively lower population states so while they aren't yet producing headline grabbing cases/deaths as, say, New York, they also don't have the medical infrastructure to handle the patients they're going to get. Throw in the fact that rural folk tend to be older, poorer and less healthy (especially in the South) and we're going to have a serious toll.

It should be no surprise that taking CV-19 seriously or not correlates with taking climate change seriously or not. What remains to be seen is does being a rube who believed Trump correlate with a higher infection rate/death toll? That is, how much will people pay for their gullibility?

I think this is a fascinating "Political Darwinism" natural selection process.

And, that goes double for ice cream pie!

Whenever I think of these two men, I'm often reminded of one of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearings chaired by Biden and attended by newly elected Senator Obama.

Biden was going on … and on about some issue or other, doing his part to educate - the public and fellow senators - and Obama, while quasi-listening, wrote a short note and passed it to one of his aids. It said something to the effect of 'When will he stop talking?'

Personally, I loved Biden's verbose explanations of things that always provided critical and colourful context. The more Biden talked, the more I learned. I think Obama came to appreciate this as well, as he found his legs on that SFRC.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JA9TLGryLcM

This is an interesting look at what the WHO Health Emergencies Programme is dealing with on a daily basis as presented by its executive director, Dr. Michael Ryan.

Hopefully, the Trump administration won't carry through on its threat to pull funding from this critical international organization.

Up-wing leadership, indeed!

Gerald O. Glenn, a Virginia bishop who defied his state’s social distancing recommendations and boasted about his church’s packed pews amid the coronavirus pandemic, died over the weekend of complications from the virus, his church announced on Facebook on Sunday.

Glenn’s wife has also tested positive for the disease, known as COVID-19. The couple’s daughter has since urged the public to “understand the severity and the seriousness” of the virus.

"Americans can be thankful, in this era of Trump, that Governors appear to have a really good grasp of what needs to be done before the stay-at-home orders can begin to be safely unlocked by way of a calibrated step-by-step approach that takes into account the epidemiology of each area of the lockdown."

EXACTLY!

More evidence of UP-WING leadership:

Democratic governors in the Northeast and along the West Coast on Monday announced separate state compacts to coordinate one of their biggest challenges in the weeks to come: How to begin reopening society amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The Democratic governors of New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware, New York, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island formed one such coalition.

While the Democratic governors of California, Oregon and Washington announced similar plans and formed another separate coalition on Monday.

"Can't wait to hear Don the Con's rewrite of his failed endorsement."

I know, right!

Their refusal to move the election came back to bite the Republicans in the ass in a big way.

Conservative Republican incumbent Dan Kelly, who was appointed by former Republican Gov. Scott Walker and endorsed by President Donald Trump, LOST to Liberal Democrat Jill Karofsky, for a seat on the state Supreme Court.

I know, right!? Trump flails frantically to rewrite near everything having to do with the pandemic. Example:

Of course they were right. Yeah. Look, the Supreme Court — well, of course they were right, because what the Democrats wanted — and you know why this happened. I supported a man named Justice Kelly, who’s — Daniel Kelly, highly respected justice. And I supported him just the other day — social media. I know of him. He’s a — just a, you know, fantastic judge, justice. And I endorsed him.

And as soon as I endorsed him, they wanted to move the election. They didn’t want to move the election. As soon as I endorsed him, the Wisconsin Democrats say, “Oh, let’s move the election to two months later.” They didn’t mind having the election until I endorsed him, which is very interesting.

Now they talk about, “Oh, safety, safety.” Well, it was 15 minutes after I put out an endorsement that they said, “We have to move the election.” They didn’t want to move the election before that. ~ Donald Trump, April 7, 2020

The above is a rewritten script because, in point of fact, Trump had already endorsed Kelly at a rally in Milwaukee, Wisconsin:

Last spring, Wisconsin voters, as you know, elected a great judge to your State Supreme Court, and this spring you have a chance to re-elect another terrific judge, Justice Daniel Kelly. Go vote for Justice Daniel Kelly to defend the rule of law in Wisconsin. ~ Donald Trump, January 14, 2020

This Milwaukee rally is but one of the many rallies Trump attended -- when he wasn't busy playing golf multiple times -- proving without any doubt whatsoever that Trump wasn't too busy being impeached (in perpetuity) to pay attention to the coronavirus.

Fast forward to last week when many of Wisconsin's voters went out into the pandemic regardless and stood in long lines in order to vote. Honey Badger don't give a shit who Trump endorses; it just takes what it wants.

Can't wait to hear Don the Con's rewrite of his failed endorsement.

my best abridged explanation is that whatever his faults and foibles, biden's strength is that he's always tried his best to be on the right side of history.

That is lovely. Very nicely put. I couldn't have said it better myself.

We can all be thankful, actually.