Posted on 01/30/2020 2:49:16 AM PST by Kaslin
I have always lived my life around a simple principle, “Don’t eat weird stuff.” And see? I was right. The Coronavirus ripping through the Wuhan region of Red China – and that has now spread here – may well have crossed over to our species because some people in China eat bats. Yeah, on purpose. How the hell did they ever get the idea that dining on Dracula birds was a good plan?
It doesn’t matter – what does is our response, and right now the Administration is behind the power curve. With attention fixed on the circle of self-abuse that is the impeachment, it’s difficult to get a grip on this extremely dangerous situation. But the White House must do so, and fast.
I am not qualified to talk in detail about the proper strategies and tactics of responding to the virus’s spread into our country – I did nuclear, chemical, and biological stuff in the Army, but this is outside my skill set. Luckily, we have scientists who know how. What I do know is a little bit about communicating and leading, and a lot about disaster response, including commanding in the midst of civil crises. And the Administration risks dropping the ball.
This could be Trump’s Katrina, as Hugh Hewitt, who was way ahead of everyone else in the media on this potential nightmare, has pointed out. Understand this, and you probably don’t know because our media is garbage and most media people know nothing, but the federal disaster response to Katrina was amazing. Huge numbers of personnel and vast quantities of supplies poured into the stricken area in an incredibly short time. The incompetence came from – shocker – the Democrat leadership locally, but the media hung it around George W. Bush’s gentlemanly neck. And because he was too gentlemanly to cry “Bull Schiff!,” most everyone thinks what was a logistical miracle was a clusterfark.
The media is aching, yearning, begging for the chance to do the same thing to Trump.
And the stage is being set to do that. China is going nuts. The numbers of cases coming into the U.S. are growing. People are confused. The stock market is pitching and heaving. And the impeachment circus is going to end with the Democrats’ humiliation soon, meaning suddenly the media will soon need a new shiny object to chase.
Coronavirus is that shiny object. The media will not be honest or accurate or fair. It will lie, cheat, and give voice to leftist leakers with agendas. That’s why Trump needs to go around the media, straight to us.
Trump needs to go on the air, to the American people, and lay out the situation. Then Team Trump needs to step up the game by arm-twisting the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) into talking to us, at length, in detail. Get those science nerds in their lab coats out there, in front of the camera, every day, bombarding us with info. Talk our ears off.
The current lack of information is an invitation for the void to be filled with nonsense and lies designed to undermine the presidency – sadly, the media cares nothing about the infection risk and everything about its weird obsession with undoing the 2016 election. There is already a plan – the CDC is on this – but that plan has not been communicated to the people. The people are worried – they’ll be very, very worried when the media pumps up the threat.
If the president assures the citizenry that he understands this is a priority and that he is vectoring in America’s best scientists to respond, that not only foils the cheesy partisan political attack that is coming. It helps the actual defeat of this potential epidemic. Instead of inspiring panic, the presentation of the Administration as having this crisis well in hand will serve to calm fears as well as tell people what to do.
Do you know what you should do? I’m not sure I do. And the information has been so sketchy that right now most of us don’t know the Coronavirus from the Dos Equis virus, the most interesting flu in the world.
Pummel the people with information. Make those eggheads do briefings every day. Get a soothing one who can communicate to be the face of the CDC. And Hugh Hewitt has another good point – no one is telling us how the disease got here, what flights, what airports. Get that out there. People want to know if a carrier was in their mall or school or whatever. And explain why the hell you can still gobble a bat, jump on a plane, and fly to America? Why haven’t we limited or banned flights? Are we screening passengers? How? We need to know.
Trust us with the information and we will trust the Administration.
This is not just a public health crisis – it’s a political fight too. Sorry, but that’s the truth, and Trump is under no obligation to allow himself to be lied about as W. was. Luckily, though, Trump is a master communicator – plus, he’ll fight back.
And stop eating bats, people.
Many other countries have shut off the inflow of Chinese nationals.
We continue to let them in by the thousands.
Having watched the State Department, FBI and CIA try to remove a duly elected sitting president, why do you think any OTHER government agency isn’t chomping at the bit to do the same?
China is shut down for business until the middle/end of February (likely much longer, projections show this hitting peak infections in Beijing/etc sometime in March/April). So it isn’t like we’re doing business with China right now. China isn’t DOING business right now.
You are behind and not up to speed on facts.
#80 above.
Read it.
You’re welcome.
Article is “bull-schiff”. Media coverage of the arrival of evacuees from China shows the full measures taken for containment, including use of military facilities.
Hey, let’s throw around guana and see if it sticks!
(See what I did there, yep I did that!)
At least you DID read the article. I think he makes excellent points, too.
Alert me when that task force actually DOES something.
Like shut off the spigot of Chicoms currently flying in to this country by the thousands.
Like most OTHER countries are doing.
Russia just sealed its border with China. That’s a $110B/yr decision right there.
Fruit eaters? Do they disproportionately bite Sodomites?
We aren’t containing the chicoms at all.
We ‘temperature check’ them at the airport, then they are free go to. On public transportation, to the grocery store, to the mall, to walmart, send their kids to your kids school...
Many of the infected NEVER run a temperature.
This disease can be spread for almost a WEEK BEFORE symptoms show up.
And that flight that landed at March AFB is only going to keep those people there for 3 days. Incubation for this is 14d.
> “Alert me”
Oh my, bossy are we? How many times now have you been divorced?
> “... when that task force actually DOES something.”
Nah, it just for show. Right? Right Boss?
First off, how does he even know what President Trump is doing with regards to this issue? A few cases, both confirmed and unconfirmed, does not a pandemic make. So why would he overreact at this point in time? Does he have the CDC on top of it? I think the answer is yes, and they are the ones who should be out in front of this. They know more than he does, and as you alluded Kurt, you yourself don't know. For both of you this is not exactly your wheelhouse, so you have to trust those who supposedly do.
Sorry Kurt, but this will not be President Trump's Katrina.
As I said, alert me when the task force DOES something.
Like nearly every OTHER country is doing, shut off the chicoms.
Yes of course let’s shut it all down just because you’re hysterical.
Yep that’s the ticket.
Every other nation is shutting them off.
Are they all hysterical too?
Do you think Russia is ‘hysterically’ shutting down a $110B/yr border over a sniffle?
Russia is irrelevant. They talk a good game but seldom deliver. A small bribe to one of their border monkeys is par for the course.
Advice, don’t use Russia as a standard for measurement.
Yeah, Trumps fault as the socialist morons take up valuable
time with this freak show that they are pushing.
Kurt called Trump out for for awful handling of this manner and warned him .
The truth hurts sometimes .
The Task Force will further delay real action on this serious matter .
When Hong Kong shut off the mainland yesterday why
are we still letting these potential infected Chinese fly here ?
It isn’t just Russia.
I’m curious why you seem to think allowing Chicoms in is a good idea.
China is currently shut down till mid/end Feb at a minimum.
It’s not like we’re doing business with China.
CHINA isn’t doing business right now.
Who pays for the sick chicoms who earn a month long ICU trip? That’s a million bux at least. Per.
We’ve wondered why our thread kept getting put in chat.
Now we know who.
The first American kid who gets this (and God forbid dies) will be drug on media for months. And Trump blamed for inaction.
I sincerely hope we have small molecule wide spectrum antivirals that work on this. That CDC knows about. We still haven’t gotten updated info on the WA case.
I expect the task force might do something tomorrow.
We can hope.
I fear it will be Monday, at least.
By then it will be much too late. The cake may be baked at that point.
I sincerely hope to be proven wrong.
I’d love to be wrong. I have things to do this spring that don’t involve experiencing the 1918 flu and subsequent economy shutdown that will entail.
I’ll give you a friendly piece of advice.
Even if we never suffer an American born case of this...
If you take any meds regularly, call your doctor and get a scrip for 90 days (or more if you can). Most of our meds are made in china or elsewhere with ingredients from china. China is currently shut down, thus their supply chains are shut down. Those manufacturing plants might not run again before May. Everything is JIT, Just In Time, so there might not be vast stockpiles of what you take lying around to fill the gap before then.
-friendly advice.
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