Eric Schmitt, the Republican attorney general for Missouri, is suing the Chinese government. In his official statement he says "The Chinese government lied to the world about the danger and contagious nature of Covid-19, silenced whistleblowers, and did little to stop the spread of the disease. They must be held accountable for their actions."
Time to get out the old irony meter.
This just in: VP Pence delivers empty boxes of Personal Protection Equipment.
https://twitter.com/LeeHolly81/status/1258755220034785280
Breaking news. Trump now says that having so many Covid-19 cases (and I suppose Covid-19 deaths) is a good thing because it means they are doing more testing.
So... Winning?
For the record, the US ranks a poor 38th when it comes to testing.
The entire media has been going bat-shit over Trump's claim that he is taking hydroxychloroquine. There is no proof that he actually is, and ample reasons to believe he isn't.
First of all, we should know by now that this is just another distraction intended to drive the libs crazy.
Second of all, Trump lies about everything, why not about this as well? After all, he gets the same effect from taking it as he does from not taking it but claiming he is. Plus he gets to avoid all the nasty potential side effects. The very carefully worded White House press release never actually claims he is taking it.
In other breaking news, Georgia governor Kemp says that it is now safe to go to restaurants or get a haircut, but the risk of spreading Covid-19 is far too great to allow an election for a state supreme court justice. Instead he'll just appoint another Republican for the next two years.
Safe enough for Denny's but not safe enough for democracy.
Georgia is also a leader in data scientists it seems. See their graph:
Yes, they did publish a new one. This one however will live on as a fine example of how to show bad data in a good light(?)
That image is a tad blurry but I couldn't figure out what it was saying. Incidentally, Georgia has been caught three times fudging their data. And it seems Florida keeps their deaths low by recording/reporting only the deaths of aFlorida residents. If you are only visiting you don't count. Literally.
This just in: Zero Deaths from Coronavirus in the USA.
https://twitter.com/TheDailyShow/status/1263229202645635074/photo/1
As I recall, that image was from the beginning of the outbreak in the US when Faux News was screaming that since nobody there had died yet it was a fake problem.
Just a thought...
A number of big-pharma companies are currently working on a vaccine. Knowing how much that industry values profits over all else, what do you suppose is their primary focus:
Call me cynical, but from their point of view a treatment is much more profitable than a cure.
Do you really believe that a one-time cure for HIV does exist, but instead they are selling something that just keeps AIDS at bay? Just curious :)
rproffitt, why sell them before the pandemic is over?
Hi Dani. That's a great question.
It has to do with investing, game theory and more. I've had a few times that the planets aligned (markets, events) that I went in on a speculative investment. But what some do is to buy in and ride it up but didn't think about their exit plan. For me that's when I get two and more times return. For others they may feel they need more but overall this investment returned in two waves. I researched which companies to invest in and narrowed down to three. One had already taken off so I split the investment (gamble) on those two. In ten days the gain on one was 3.21 times the investment so I sold. The second one took longer but 2 months later and over 2X gain it was time to sell. Why?
Remember those exit plans? The rules were:
The names in play were Inovio, Vaxart, Moderna and Gilead. Gilead didn't get on my list as its priced out already and then heavily pushed by Goldman Sachs. Moderna as noted had already jumped 50% the day before I thought to invest so that left me with the last two. Invovio also has an investment by Bill Gates which may turn some off but I judge not here.
This also lead to me learning a lot about RNA medicines. A very interesting topic on its own.
Hope this answers your question.
Do you really believe that a one-time cure for HIV does exist, but instead they are selling something that just keeps AIDS at bay? Just curious :)
I'm not saying that a cure exists. I'm saying that it is in the long term financial interest of big pharma (BP) to focus on managing HIV rather than curing it. In the last few years we have seen BP jack up the price of epi-pens (auto-injectors) simply because they can. Insulin is priced significantly higher than needed to cover manufacture, distribution, and a reasonable profit. A common drug used on cattle was found to have uses in treating certain forms of cancer. The price of that went from $ to $$$$$. They make changes to drugs (often just in the binding agent) in order to extend their patents, and they successfully lobby the government to increase patent periods and block any attempt of Medicare/Medicaid to negotiate bulk drug prices. Plus a lot of the basic research that they claim they must recoup is actually government funded.
And they spend considerably more on marketing than they do on R&D.
On a related note (not intended to derail this thread), a while back the US government gutted consumer protection laws. It used to be that financial planners were legally required to operate in the best interest of the client (I believe that is called fiduciary duty). That is no longer the case. If you want to be safe make sure you go to an explicitly stated fiduciary financial planner. At least for now, with that designation they are required to put the customer first.
But in general the rule is rofits are first. Everything else comes after.
Yes, they did publish a new one.
Doh! I just noticed that the dates were out of order. Still blurry though.
On topic. As far as I'm concerned and many others, there are NO N95 masks available. Also there are no KN95 masks. There are no painting masks at Home Deport (typo international) and (get) Lowes.
I placed 5 orders for the masks you see all over, two delivered and the other three cancelled by the seller.
So we eeked by with 3 masks obtained by sheer luck and now with 100 that did come in we are set for a while. Hand sanitizer was slow to come by but I lucked out by having a bottle of alcohol for wound cleansing that is 95% so with a little Aloe Vera oil we have refilled what we have and are set for the next few months.
An uncle in the extended family (adopted brother) has died of COVID-19. He had gone to the ER with symptoms and issues but they told him to go home and come back later. He was found two weeks later dead. Let's just say that the human body makes quite the mess unattended after that much time. As to why no one checked on him from the family that's an adopted brother long after we left home and they have substance abuse problems galore in that tree. I didn't know of him before this.
In the news...
Six-foot distance and masks are pagan rituals of satanic worshipers. Where does 6 feet come from, people? Why is not 3? Why is it not 5? Why is it not 10? Why is it not 30? Why is it 6? We are Christians. Our children do not practice Satanic worship. We don’t have them stand six feet apart from each other with facial coverings.
I'd add a comment but I think you pretty much know what I'd say.
Q. Why didn't you get vaccinated?
A. Because I makes liberals mad.
https://amgreatness.com/2021/04/26/i-wont-take-the-vaccine-because-it-makes-liberals-mad/
I'm not mad but concerned that you could create a new viral strain. Between ant-maskers and anti-vaxxers this may be with us for a very long time.
This just in and they want to write/say fake news: "99% of hosptilations and deaths by COVID-19 are now composed or the unvaccinated."
Still don't want vaccines? I think Gareth put it so well:
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