Free Republic

WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump prefaced the revival of his campaign rallies with days of self-congratulation, a familiar pattern that has not been disturbed by the traumas of this time. ... A look at claims and the reality from the past week: TRUMP: “Biden got failing grades and polls on his clueless handling of the Swine Flu H1N1. It was a total disaster, they had no idea what they were doing.” - tweet Thursday. THE FACTS: This is a distorted history of a pandemic in 2009 that killed far fewer people in the United States than the coronavirus is killing...

Barack Obama would beat Donald Trump if he could run for president again by more than 10 per cent if an election were held today, a poll revealed Wednesday, as tensions between the former president and successor spiked this month. The survey, taken May 18-19, shows that there is still significant public support for the former president over the current White House resident by a margin of 54 per cent to 43 per cent. Progressive public relations consultant, Eric Schmeltzer, took $4,500 out of his own pocket to personally commission the poll with Public Policy Polling to see who would...

Former President Barack Obama on Saturday criticized U.S. leaders overseeing the nation’s response to the coronavirus, telling college graduates in an online commencement address that the pandemic shows many officials “aren’t even pretending to be in charge.” Obama spoke on “Show Me Your Walk, HBCU Edition,” a two-hour event for students graduating from historically black colleges and universities broadcast on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. His remarks were unexpectedly political, given the venue, and touched on current events beyond the virus and its social and economic impacts. “More than anything, this pandemic has fully, finally torn back the curtain on the...

We are currently living through possibly the worst medical treatment plan in modern history. In 2009 the Swine Flu or H1N1 influenza swept across the United States. There were at least 12,469 deaths across the US and up to 575,000 deaths worldwide. 80% of H1N1 victims were age 65 or UNDER. These are the prime years and most productive years in one’s lifetime. In 2020 the Wuhan Virus or novel coronavirus swept across the United States. So far 50,000 Americans have died and 890,000 have tested positive for the disease. In study after study the vast majority of the deaths...

The COVID-19 outbreak has made a lot of things uncertain. Americans don't know the next time they'll see toilet paper in a grocery store, let alone whether or not they'll stay healthy or have a job in a week. But even amid the chaos, Americans don't have to worry about fueling their vehicles or powering their homes. The U.S. energy industry has what it takes to weather a crisis of this magnitude, and has already taken steps to secure the nation's energy supply during the pandemic. Unlike other major industries, the energy sector always prepares for disaster. It has no...

Joe Biden said Thursday he advised his family to stay off airplanes and subways because of the new swine flu, a remark that forced the vice president's office to backtrack and prompted one airline official to complain about "fear-mongering." (April 30)

When reports of a new virus circulating in China’s Hubei province first began to emerge, I was cautious about overreacting. I’ve reported on health long enough to know that just because a pathogen is new doesn’t necessarily mean there’s a crisis. Of course, I quickly realized this isn’t just any virus. We’re currently battling a global pandemic unlike any we’ve seen in over a century. But it’s also not the first modern virus we’ve faced. In the past two decades, the world battled Ebola, SARS and more than one major flu outbreak. Those left tragedies in their wake but didn’t...

The Obama administration withdrew updated quarantine regulations in 2010, prompting questions about how the policy change may have impacted the current Ebola situation. In April 2010, Politico reported the administration “quietly dumped quarantine rules that would have required air passengers to submit more information to airlines and strengthened the government’s authority to detain travelers suspected of carrying disease.” Politico initially reported in August of 2009 that the Obama administration examined Bush administration 2005 quarantine regulations, which were criticized by civil liberty advocates. “The proposals to limit liberty represent a dangerous precedent to constitutional theory, particularly when there’s almost no evidence...

The stockpile's 100 million supply of N95 respirator masks was never fully replenished after 2009 swine flu pandemic, experts say. The Strategic National Stockpile, America’s giant medical storage closet for a terrorist or biological crisis, once boasted more than 100 million respirator masks to protect doctors, nurses and other frontline health care workers in case of a contagion. But when the COVID-19 pandemic started a few months ago, the supply had dwindled down to just 12 million fitted masks, known as N95 respirators, and 30 million surgical masks, a supply deemed to be less than 2 percent of what the...

On Tuesday morning, Barack Obama criticized Trump's rollback of fuel standards in a tweet that made what appears to be a backhanded critique of Trump's response to the coronavirus. "We've seen all too terribly the consequences of those who denied warnings of a pandemic," Obama said. Who exactly was Obama talking about there? Now, it's quite possible he was actually talking about himself, seeing as how even after the H1N1 pandemic that claimed as many as 18,000 American lives, according to CDC estimates, Obama's response to the Ebola pandemic later in his presidency was similarly wrought with problems--so much so...

As everyone should know, the world is currently experiencing a global pandemic of SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19. As of March 17, 2020, 194,873 people have been confirmed to have been infected with 7,869 deaths. The majority of both are in China, with 81,058 confirmed cases, which was where this epidemic originated. There have been more than 3,111 deaths in China from the disease. Currently, Italy is struggling with the disease, with 31,506 confirmed cases and 2,503 deaths. The U.S. has 5,702 confirmed cases and 93 deaths. It may be instructional to look at the last major pandemic,...

As health care workers around the country labor under shortages of personal protective equipment, all eyes are on the Strategic National Stockpile - the country's largest repository of drugs and medical equipment for use in a public health crisis. But the U.S. strategic stockpile isn't intended to be the solution to a crisis. It's designed to be used as a stopgap during emergencies. The stockpile has limited resources, government officials and public health experts say, which weren't at full capacity even before the coronavirus was on the horizon. "The Strategic National Stockpile is not designed to be the sole solution...

To reflect on what happened in 2009 regarding the H1N1 (swine flu) pandemic, it is difficult to understand how the government response isn't an overreaction by comparison.  A review of the data reveals some vital distinctions: Not as many elderly were at risk or affected (only 20% of H1N1 deaths over 65) by the swine flu. COVID-19 is seemingly being tracked much more definitively, while the swine flu appears to have been almost casually traced, considering the wide and broad data ranges produced by the CDC.The "confirmed" cases of swine flu reflect a much less precise mid-range average of affected...

Food for thought. Throwback to 2009. Watch and listen to this carefully. Swine Flue Outbreak Joe Biden 2009 No flight cancellations, no borders closed, no schools closed. "We are told" he says at 2:12 minutes. Yet...

WASHINGTON (SBG) - As the coronavirus spread to all fifty states over the last two months, the Trump administration faced mounting criticism for the lack of reliable, widely accessible test kits. Now, a former senior federal health official nominated to his post by President Trump, alleges that the delays in testing occurred because leaders at the Centers for Disease Control “lied” to the president, and to Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, about the center’s ability to produce the kits. CDC has acknowledged that its initial stab at mass production of the test kits encountered “a problem,” and that...

It seems some viral infection pandemics are more equal than others. At least when it comes to burning a vibrant Trump economy to the ground. In September 2009, after millions had become infected with the H1N1 influenza and thousands had died, some of whom were young people and children, a relaxed and unalarmed Dr. Anthony Fauci told an interviewer that people just need "to use good judgment." "Parents should not send their kids to school if they're sick, if you're sick don't go to work ... avoid places where there are people who are sick and coughing, now that's a...

I know I’ll get flamed for this but I’ll go ahead and make these points anyway. I think Trump’s decision to make Fauci a visible part of his task force was a stroke of genius. If you read Fauci’s background he took his position under Reagan and is undoubtedly one of the world’s foremost experts on infectious diseases. He brings significant credibility to The Presidents efforts. The media recognizes this and is trying to drive a wedge between Trump and Fauci. DON’T fall for it. He has given significant support to the President particularly regarding the decision to stop travel...

It seems some viral infection pandemics are more equal than others. At least when it comes to burning a vibrant Trump economy to the ground. In September 2009, after millions had become infected with the H1N1 influenza and thousands had died, some of whom were young people and children, a relaxed and unalarmed Dr. Anthony Fauci told an interviewer that people just need "to use good judgment." "Parents should not send their kids to school if they're sick, if you're sick don't go to work ... avoid places where there are people who are sick and coughing, now that's a...

Anthony Fauci, M.D., the 79-year old head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), has become the #1 point man on the government's role in the coronavirus crisis. Fauci has worked for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) his entire professional life. In the past, for more than two decades starting in the mid-1980s, he was the medical establishment's face of HIV-AIDS — omnipresent on television when AIDS was hot and ever present at international AIDS conferences well into the 21st century. Always, he was an enthusiastic advocate of throwing more federal money at the problem of...

Anthony Fauci, M.D., the 79-year old head of the National Institute of Allegy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), has become the #1 point man on the government’s role in the coronavirus crisis. Fauci has worked for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) his entire professional life. In the past, for more than two decades starting in the mid-1980s, he was the medical establishment’s face of HIV-AIDS – omnipresent on television when AIDS was hot and ever present at international AIDS conferences well into the 21st century. Always, he was an enthusiastic advocate of throwing more federal money at the problem...