Trump falsely blames Obama admin for hurting rollout of coronavirus test kits: Fact Check

http://sandhillsexpress.com/abc_politics/trump-falsely-blames-obama-admin-for-hurting-rollout-of-coronavirus-test-kits-fact-check-abcid36263642/

 President Donald Trump is falsely blaming the Obama administration for the slow rollout of U.S. tests for the new coronavirus, ignoring his administration’s own fumbles in responding to the health crisis and mischaracterizing Obama-era policies.

His comments, delivered to reporters at the White House on Wednesday, come as many Americans are asking how they can get tested for the dangerous virus to ensure it doesn’t spread unnecessarily through communities.

The Trump administration has faced sharp questions by state governors and Democratic lawmakers for the lack of tests available to doctors and hospitals. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has acknowledged that its initial test kits didn’t work as designed and that new tests were needed — delaying the government’s ability to detect and contain the spread of the virus.

At a briefing at the White House this week, Trump pointed the finger at the Obama administration, inaccurately suggesting that “a decision” made under President Barack Obama had tied the hands of his current administration.

“The Obama administration made a decision on testing that turned out to be very detrimental to what we’re doing,” Trump said Wednesday. “And we undid that decision a few days ago so that the testing can take place in a much more accurate and rapid fashion.”

Under Obama, the Food and Drug Administration exercised only some oversight of large commercial test kits shipped across state lines. But there was little to no check done on single medical labs, former officials said.

“The FDA has generally not enforced premarket review and other applicable FDA requirements for laboratory tests,” the agency confirmed in a statement.

In fact, the lack of regulation of medical tests was so concerning to Obama aides that the FDA proposed the idea – and found bipartisan support on Capitol Hill – of increasing oversight of medical testing to protect patients from being given tests they don’t need or from inaccurate results.

But the Obama administration ultimately never acted on the proposal and it never became a regulation. Instead, in January 2017, it issued a “discussion paper” as it left the matter up to Trump.

Last Saturday, the FDA invoked a 2004 law – passed well before Trump or Obama took office – to specifically authorize coronavirus tests to be developed in private laboratories like hospitals and given to patients without prior federal approval.

Worth noting though is that this power was something Health Secretary Alex Azar and the FDA have had since coronavirus became a global health crisis in late January.

Trump falsely blames Obama admin for hurting rollout of coronavirus test kits: Fact Check

The Obama administration "didn't do anything about” swine flu.

https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2020/mar/06/donald-trump/donald-trump-wrong-saying-barack-obama-did-nothing/

Trump said: "There were 60 million cases of swine flu" during the Obama administration "and they didn't do anything about it."

His assessment on the nation’s response is incorrect. The Obama administration issued two emergency declarations, triggering billions of dollars in spending toward vaccines and other public health response measures.

The statement is False.

 

President Obama declared H1N1 a public health emergency before anyone in the United States died

https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2020/mar/04/facebook-posts/president-obama-declared-h1n1-public-health-emerge/
 

Our ruling

The headline of an article shared on Facebook claimed: "Obama waited six months to call swine flu an emergency after thousands died."

In October 2009, after more than 1,000 people in the United States had died of swine flu, also known as H1N1, Obama declared a national emergency.

But six months earlier, his administration declared H1N1 a public health emergency. At that point, no deaths in the United States had occurred. 

We rate the statement False

Israel mulls quarantine for visitors to some US states

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/276976

Health Ministry Director-General Moshe Bar Siman-Tov said Saturday evening during a television news interview that Israel could require returning Israelis or visitors from some areas in the United States, where there are high rates of infection, to go into a 14-day quarantine. He said the decision would be made on a state-by-state basis, but specified New York, California and Washington. A final decision would be made late Saturday night or Sunday, he said.

'A Calculated Attempt to Influence Public Discourse.' Judge Sharply Rebukes Attorney General's 'Misleading' Handling of Mueller Report

https://time.com/5798380/william-barr-mueller-report-judge-criticism/

 A federal judge on Thursday sharply rebuked Attorney General William Barr‘s handling of the special counsel’s Russia report, saying Barr had made “misleading public statements” to spin the investigation’s findings in favor of President Donald Trump and had shown a “lack of candor.”

U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton delivered the criticism in a 23-page order in which he directed the Justice Department to provide him with an unredacted version of the report so that he could decide if any additional information from the document could be publicly disclosed.

Arabic paper in Canada claims Israelis bury Palestinians alive and steal their organs

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/276949

 An Arabic-language newspaper in the greater Toronto area published an article falsely accusing Israel of burying Palestinians alive and stealing their organs, a Jewish group said.

The Feb. 28 edition of al-Meshwar dedicates a half-page to “The Abuse of the Martyrs and the Manipulation of Their Bodies Are Jewish Commandments and Israeli Directives” by Mustafa Yusuf al-Lidawi, B’nai Brith Canada wrote in a statement Tuesday.

Trump’s coronavirus musings put scientists on edge

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/05/trump-coronavirus-scientists-on-edge-122121

 President Donald Trump is using his metaphorical black Sharpie to draw his own mental map of the spiraling coronavirus crisis — vastly complicating the work of public health officials scrambling to contain the spread of the deadly disease.

Trump himself has regularly dismissed scientific experts and once boasted to an interviewer he had “a natural instinct for science,” pointing out his uncle was an MIT professor. His own statements suggest otherwise: He’s blamed California wildfires on inadequate raking of forests, claimed noisy windmills cause cancer and enthusiastically described a stealth fighter jet as “invisible."

Perhaps more alarming to scientists, still, are the ways they say Trump’s administration has distorted or smothered their work, particularly on energy and climate change. For instance, his administration tried to relax car emissions rules using botched data that purported to show that pollution saves lives. It's also refused to publicize dozens of government-funded studies on how climate change could hurt crops and create new health risks.

urgent to organize Tefillos in NY,NJ

BS"D

10 Adar, 5780

Esteemed Rabbonim, Leaders, etc.

Sholom U'vrochoh,

As we know, Corona has arrived in NYC and Bergen County, NJ. Additionally, today, it was announced that Corona has arrived in Rockland County, NY. 

I humbly suggest that it's urgent to organize Teffillos in NY and NJ (see attached). I humbly add that it's even more crucial to find speakers who will not be reluctant to identify, without fear, some major problems truly needing rectification, rather than remaining politically correct. In regular times, the most important things often remain unstated publicly. These aren't regular times, and our conduct needs to reflect that.

It's important to emphasize that there are many examples of important issues to address in this context of Teshuva. 

For some thoughts, perhaps this article may be useful:

https://firstamendmentactivist.blogspot.com/2020/03/solitary-confinement.html

One example of a neglected but burning issue, one with which I happen to be familiar, is the Israeli government's persecution of females who refuse to succumb to the draft. One cannot miss the Mida Keneged Mida of the painful wave of mass quarantines, in the wake of our communal silence over the ruthless arrests, imprisonment, and, in particular, their brutal solitary confinement, in addition to other forms of antireligious persecution. This is all part of a policy, perperpetrated by the Israeli government against innocent girls and women refusing to be drafted, with the aim of terrorising others into submission to the military draft. These women - even those of them who made mistakes (e.g. lateness in paperwork) - are being persecuted over their resolve to preserve their purity, and, in many cases, their fidelity to the Torah prohibition against enlistment in the notoriously immoral military. Overall, we communally didn't heed their cries, heretofore. 

There may have been excuses for some people, who were honestly kept in the dark. But after a year of reportage on many specific Refuseniks, in Zionist forums like the Jewish Press and the Coalition for Jewish Values*, is it not a bit risky to expect that those excuses will work, at this juncture, to save one from escalating Midas HaDin?

There is still time to change course.

Again, there are other issues of similarly monumental importance. I raise this as one of many.

Gooe Shabbos, and a darhoibeneh Taanis Ester, and a freilichen and safe Purim.

Rabbi Noson Shmuel Leiter

TorahJewsForDecency@gmail.com

PS:

http://wlos.com/news/local/local-microbiologist-weighs-in-on-advice-from-longtime-corona-virus-expert 

»»»»»»»»»

* e.g.:

Delaying The Final Redemption -- One Girl At A Time:

https://daattorah.blogspot.com/2020/02/delaying-redemption-1-girl-time.html

(first posted Fri, Feb 14)

.....

https://savehischildren.blogspot.com/2020/01/bascohen-resists-hegmonist-draft.html

https://daattorah.blogspot.com/2020/01/righteous-outrage-goes-international.html

(Thu, Jan 23, 2020 at 3:06 PM ET)

photos:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1nTJT9255QwfrfYLMJ3_NaE8woQPF70MC

~~~
http://firstamendmentactivist.blogspot.com/2020/01/never-again.html
~~~
"When Criminal 'Justice' is Truly Criminal"

http://firstamendmentactivist.blogspot.com/2020/01/when-criminal-justice-is-truly-criminal.html

https://daattorah.blogspot.com/2019/10/making-racism-great-again.html

Hey, Trump supporters: He'd rather endanger your health than lose an election

https://www.salon.com/2020/02/27/hey-trump-supporters-hed-rather-endanger-your-health-than-lose-an-election/

Donald Trump lies, all the time, about everything. Right-wing media and congressional Republicans back him up on these lies. As many a liberal who has confronted Trump supporters over the relentless lying has found, a lot of his voters simply don't care if he lies. They view his lying as fair game, because it's all in service of sticking it to the hated liberals. If Trump lies, cheats and steals — as his base sees it — he's doing it for them, so they can claim big wins in the culture war. Therefore it's all justified. 

But this may be Trump's biggest deception of them all, because, in truth, he doesn't actually care for his own voters one single whit. The only person Donald Trump cares about is Donald Trump. While his supporters bray in glee over the way Trump's lies drive "the libs" nuts, they're falling for his biggest con of all — because he wouldn't hesitate to screw over every single one of his supporters, if he thought it would help him

Trump's ease with betraying even his most loyal followers has been evident in his response to the threat of coronavirus, the apparent viral epidemic that began started in China and has now spread to at least 47 countries, including the United States. For most leaders who don't have a crippling case of sociopathic narcissism, the threat of this disease turning into a global pandemic would cause concern for the well-being of the nation, and of humanity at large. The response of any normal president, of whichever party, would be guided by the principle that the most important thing is the health and safety of Americans.

For Trump, however, the main priority — in fact, the only significant one — is to make sure this viral outbreak doesn't harm his chances of getting re-elected in November. If that means lying to his loyal supporters, even in a way that puts their own lives in danger, he won't hesitate to do that.

‘Doomed from the Start.’ Experts Say the Trump Administration’s Coronavirus Response Was Never Going to Work

https://time.com/5797636/trump-botched-coronavirus-response/

“The current U.S. policy to deny visas to travelers from China and to quarantine returning Americans is not the right approach,” Jennifer Nuzzo, an epidemiologist and expert in disease outbreak detection and response at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, testified to Congress on February 5. “I am deeply concerned that these measures will make us less safe by diverting public health resources from higher priority disease mitigation approaches.”

Two days earlier, former FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb had warned “we have to assume it’s already here and circulating.”

When it finally became indisputable that an outbreak was underway in Washington state, the administration was slow to catch up. There were not enough COVID-19 testing kits, hotlines were overwhelmed, and hospitals and public health departments were hobbled by a lack of reliable statistics on the spread of the disease. Experts say the U.S. response is now likely weeks—if not months—behind schedule.

חרדים יצביעו לקונגרס הציוני? הרבנים נגד

https://www.kikar.co.il/349955.html

 קראת הכינוס הקרוב של הקונגרס הציוני העולמי הוציאו הגר"מ שטרנבוך וגיסו הגרמ"ד סולוויצ'יק מכתב: "אין להצטרף להסתדרות, מי שילך איתם יישאר איתם בעולם הבא"

Dr James Robb, expert, advice on Coronavirus עצות, מבקי על קורונה

Dear Colleagues, as some of you may recall, when I was a professor of
pathology at the University of California San Diego,
I was one of the first molecular virologists in the world to work on
coronaviruses (the 1970s). I was the first to
demonstrate the number of genes the virus contained. Since then, I have
kept up with the coronavirus field and its multiple
clinical transfers into the human population (e.g., SARS, MERS), from
different animal sources.

The current projections for its expansion in the US are only probable,
due to continued insufficient worldwide data, but it
is most likely to be widespread in the US by mid to late March and April.

Here is what I have done and the precautions that I take and will take.
These are the same precautions I currently use
during our influenza seasons, except for the mask and gloves.:

1) NO HANDSHAKING! Use a fist bump, slight bow, elbow bump, etc.

2) Use ONLY your knuckle to touch light switches. elevator buttons,
etc.. Lift the gasoline dispenser with a paper towel or
use a disposable glove.

3) Open doors with your closed fist or hip - do not grasp the handle
with your hand, unless there is no other way to open
the door. Especially important on bathroom and post office/commercial doors.

4) Use disinfectant wipes at the stores when they are available,
including wiping the handle and child seat in grocery
carts.

5) Wash your hands with soap for 10-20 seconds and/or use a greater than
60% alcohol-based hand sanitizer whenever you
return home from ANY activity that involves locations where other people
have been.

6) Keep a bottle of sanitizer available at each of your home's
entrances. AND in your car for use after getting gas or
touching other contaminated objects when you can't immediately wash your
hands.

7) If possible, cough or sneeze into a disposable tissue and discard.
Use your elbow only if you have to. The clothing on
your elbow will contain infectious virus that can be passed on for up to
a week or more!

What I have stocked in preparation for the pandemic spread to the US:

1) Latex or nitrile latex disposable gloves for use when going shopping,
using the gasoline pump, and all other outside
activity when you come in contact with contaminated areas.

Note: This virus is spread in large droplets by coughing and sneezing.
This means that the air will not infect you! BUT all
the surfaces where these droplets land are infectious for about a week
on average - everything that is associated with
infected people will be contaminated and potentially infectious. The
virus is on surfaces and you will not be infected
unless your unprotected face is directly coughed or sneezed upon. This
virus only has cell receptors for lung cells (it
only infects your lungs) The only way for the virus to infect you is
through your nose or mouth via your hands or an
infected cough or sneeze onto or into your nose or mouth.

2) Stock up now with disposable surgical masks and use them to prevent
you from touching your nose and/or mouth (We touch
our nose/mouth 90X/day without knowing it!). This is the only way this
virus can infect you - it is lung-specific. The mask
will not prevent the virus in a direct sneeze from getting into your
nose or mouth - it is only to keep you from touching
your nose or mouth.

3) Stock up now with hand sanitizers and latex/nitrile gloves (get the
appropriate sizes for your family). The hand
sanitizers must be alcohol-based and greater than 60% alcohol to be
effective.

4) Stock up now with zinc lozenges. These lozenges have been proven to
be effective in blocking coronavirus (and most other
viruses) from multiplying in your throat and nasopharynx. Use as
directed several times each day when you begin to feel ANY
"cold-like" symptoms beginning. It is best to lie down and let the
lozenge dissolve in the back of your throat and
nasopharynx. Cold-Eeze lozenges is one brand available, but there are
other brands available.

I, as many others do, hope that this pandemic will be reasonably
contained, BUT I personally do not think it will be.
Humans have never seen this snake-associated virus before and have no
internal defense against it. Tremendous worldwide
efforts are being made to understand the molecular and clinical virology
of this virus. Unbelievable molecular knowledge
about the genomics, structure, and virulence of this virus has already
been achieved. BUT, there will be NO drugs or
vaccines available this year to protect us or limit the infection within
us. Only symptomatic support is available.

I hope these personal thoughts will be helpful during this potentially
catastrophic pandemic. You are welcome to share this
email. Good luck to all of us! Jim

James Robb, MD FCAP

No Safe Place

http://www.msnbc.com/specials/migrant-crisis/sanctuary-cities

The ruling had a large-scale ripple effect across the country. All told, there are now 364 counties and 39 cities that refuse to cooperate with ICE, according to data collected by the Immigrant Legal Resource Center. Police chiefs and sheriffs decided that it was no longer worth opening up their departments to lawsuits in order to simply do ICE a favor.

“This is not a bunch of left-wing radicals. These are sheriffs and police chiefs,” Fife said.

The shift was seldom sold as offering immigrants “sanctuary,” but rather, as a bid for improving public safety. Local cops couldn’t effectively do their jobs if immigrant communities refused, out of fear, to talk to them.

The result is a patchwork of sanctuary-type policies that look nothing like the original religious movement, but have evolved as a way for individual regions to cope with a sprawling and deeply broken federal immigration system. The laws are far from uniform.