Tracker

Like that's gonna happen. Trump needs all the toadies he can get but this might start to turn the 25% of hard-core Trump supporters in the military against him.

He absolutely was. He appeared at Nazi rallies with the Nazi salute and all. He campaigned long and hard for the US to remain out of the war in Europe.

BBC website confirms that Johnson has been moved into and remains in an ICU ward.

Reporter Robert Costa revealed that Jared Kushner has been coordinating the distribution of medical supplies with Republican donors. The Washington Post national political reporter said President Donald Trump's son-in-law has sparked confusion in those efforts by placing himself in the chain of command, and both Kushner and trade adviser Peter Navarro were contradicting advice from White House medical experts. "When you ask about the inner circle, it is clear to me," Costa told MSNBC's "Morning Joe," "based on my reporting, that Peter Navarro, more than anyone now, whether it's on urging the president to take a position that's different than Dr. [Anthony] Fauci, or when it comes to the Defense Production Act, nudging corporations, sometimes pushing corporations to do what the White House wants, that Navarro is at the center." "Jared Kushner is there and he's really being a liaison to different donors, to different corporate allies of this administration, which has created confusion about the chain of command, about whether corporations should work through Jared, whether they should work through Vice President [Mike] Pence and the task force," he added. Navarro and other Trump advisers, including Rudy Giuliani, have been overriding medical experts on the effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine against the coronavirus, and Costa said the president's confidence in that unproven drug was not matched by science.

And not doing well.

Better to ask Dr. Teeth. Lets see if anyone knows who this is.

You're asking the same people who thought Trump would be a good president to vote on this?

Trump's personality cannot conceive that he can be wrong about any concept he has , no matter how obviously flawed it is. His self-concept is based on his infallibility and if that is proven false, he would have to admit being mortal, and his ego cannot tolerate that. Therefore, he will continue to propose that he is an expert at everything, and defend it to the end.

Of course, medical authorities and local leaders have also been begging for widespread testing for the coronavirus. As the New York Times reported last week, months were lost while the president drifted along in denial about the crisis, to the point where testing became almost irrelevant, since the virus had spread so far and wide that the only recourse was to lock down most of society and keep our fingers crossed. Similarly, a blockbuster Washington Post story published on Sunday details how the Trump administration "often seemed weeks behind the curve in reacting to the viral spread, closing doors that were already contaminated ... infighting, turf wars and abrupt leadership changes hobbled the work of the coronavirus task force." There are many other reports that outline the administration's monumental response fiasco. It may seem as though all this White House does all day is create chaos and confusion. But in fact the Trump's administration is still busily "deconstructing the administrative state" one department at a time, even in the midst of an unprecedented public health crisis. For instance, even as people are dying in vast numbers, gasping for breath, Trump's EPA decided it was a good time to create more air pollution and roll back America's best attempt to combat climate change by weakening fuel efficiency rules for automobiles. As Carl Pope observes in a Salon commentary published on Monday, even the auto industry doesn't want this regulatory rollback, which seems to be an attempt to rewrite federal law. According to the Guardian, "the changes will allow vehicles to emit about a billion more tons of heat-trapping carbon dioxide — equivalent to roughly a fifth of annual U.S. emissions." In other news, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Secretary of Defense Mark Esper have recently decided that the U.S. will withdraw from the "Open Skies" treaty with Russia, which was intended to reduce the risk of an accidental war. Our allies are unanimously opposed to abandoning the treaty, which is probably why this administration is doing it.

TRUMP'S EGO STRIKES AGAIN During a press briefing Sunday night purportedly aimed at providing the U.S. public with crucial information amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, President Donald Trump refused to allow the nation’s top infectious disease expert to answer a reporter’s question about the efficacy of an anti-malaria drug that the president has recklessly touted as a possible COVID-19 treatment despite warnings from medical professionals. Before Dr. Anthony Fauci could respond to the question about hydroxychloroquine, Trump—who was standing back and off to the side of the podium—complained that Fauci had already spoken about the drug “15 times.” “You don’t have to ask the question again,” said Trump, stepping forward and moving closer to Fauci as another reporter began asking a separate question.

Coronavirus: Tech firms summoned over 'crackpot' 5G conspiracies By Leo KelionTechnology desk editor 5 April 2020 Share this with Facebook Share this with Messenger Share this with Twitter Share this with Email Share TTY IMAGES The culture secretary is to order social media companies to be more aggressive in their response to conspiracy theories linking 5G networks to the coronavirus pandemic. Oliver Dowden plans to hold virtual meetings with representatives from several tech firms next week to discuss the matter. It follows a number of 5G masts apparently being set on fire. The issue will test the companies' commitments to free speech. Earlier in the week, blazes were reported at masts in Birmingham, Liverpool and Melling in Merseyside. A spokesman for Vodafone's mobile network told the BBC there had been a total of four further incidents over the past 24 hours at both its own sites and those shared with O2, but did not identify the locations. "We have received several reports of criminal damage to phone masts and abuse of telecoms engineers apparently inspired by crackpot conspiracy theories circulating online," a spokeswoman for the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport told the BBC. "Those responsible for criminal acts will face the full force of the law. We must also see social media companies acting responsibly and taking much swifter action to stop nonsense spreading on their platforms which encourages such acts." DCMS has yet to confirm which tech companies are being summoned. 'Complete rubbish' False theories are being spread on smaller platforms such as Nextdoor, Pinterest and the petitions site Change.org as well as larger ones including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and TikTok. Scientists have said the idea of a connection between Covid-19 and 5G is "complete rubbish" and biologically impossible. Several of the platforms have already taken steps to address the problem but have not banned discussion of the subject outright.

FWIW: ANTI-PARASITIC DRUG KILLS CORONAVIRUS CELL CULTURES IN 48 HOURS "WE NEED TO FIGURE OUT NOW WHETHER THE DOSAGE YOU CAN USE IT AT IN HUMANS WILL BE EFFECTIVE — THAT'S THE NEXT STEP." BY VICTOR TANGERMANN / APRIL 03 2020 A team of Australian researchers at Monash University in Melbourne have found that Ivermectin — an FDA-approved anti-parasitic drug that has been used to effectively fight viruses including HIV, Influenza, and Zika — was able to stop the SARS-CoV-2 virus from growing in cell cultures. While promising, the drug has yet to be shown to have the same effect inside the human body, because the Australian research was conducted “in vitro,” meaning it was in a Petri dish at a lab. The researchers are still trying to nail down funding for pre-clinical testing and clinical trials, after which they’d have to start the long approval process for the trials themselves. The results, though, are promising. In just 48 hours, the scientists say, all genetic material of the virus was eradicated. “We found that even a single dose could essentially remove all viral RNA by 48 hours and that even at 24 hours there was a really significant reduction in it,” Kylie Wagstaff, lead researcher and co-author of the study published today in Antiviral Research, said in a statement. “Ivermectin is very widely used and seen as a safe drug,” Wagstaff said. “We need to figure out now whether the dosage you can use it at in humans will be effective — that’s the next step.” “As the virologist who was part of the team who were first to isolate and share SARS-COV2 outside of China in January 2020, I am excited about the prospect of Ivermectin being used as a potential drug against COVID-19,” Leon Caly, senior medical scientist at the Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory (VIDRL) at the Doherty Institute, said. A vaccine for COVID-19 is likely still at least a year out, despite research teams across the world fast tracking work on potential vaccines. But that doesn’t mean we’re doomed. “In times when we’re having a global pandemic and there isn’t an approved treatment, if we had a compound that was already available around the world then that might help people sooner,” Wagstaff said in the statement. “Realistically it’s going to be a while before a vaccine is broadly available.”

In the mid-70's, the Bomber d-line was so inept that Jack Matheson named them "four on the floor". Loved it.

Well, he can promise that everyone who follows his dictates will absolutely go to heaven on the express escalator and no one has yet come back to demand a refund.

I always thought that referred to the bottom half of a skimpy bathing suit.

He should be arrested and forced to work without PPE in a COVID ward for all long as it takes for the pandemic to pass.

My faith and ethics state that I ought not to wish ill for any person, but Boris Johnson and Donald Trump are ones I would consider making exceptions for.

This was first stated by Jared Kushner and this is probably an echo designed to take heat off Kushner. We need to keep in mind that there is no depth to which Trump and his cronies are willing to sink to and they are governing like an army of occupation. There is every indication that Trump wants to rule as a dictator and what he is doing now will pale in comparison to what he will do if re-relected.

President Donald Trump on Saturday spent much of his daily press briefing on the coronavirus raging against perceived enemies, from the media, to the Ukraine whistleblower, to the recently ousted commander of a Navy aircraft carrier. On the same day the U.S. death toll from the COVID-19 pandemic surpassed 8,000, Trump opened the briefing with a slam at the media, which he accused of “spreading false rumors.” “Get this over with, then go back to your fake news,” Trump said. While acknowledging that the nation will likely see “a lot of death” in the coming weeks, the president repeatedly reiterated his calls for the country to “get back to work” and ease up on protective restrictions. And then he let loose on critics. Asked about his Friday night firing of intelligence community inspector general Michael Atkinson, who notified Congress of the whistleblower complaint that ultimately led to his impeachment, Trump slammed both Atkinson and the whistleblower. “Frankly, somebody oughta sue his ass off,” the president said of the anonymous intelligence whistleblower, adding that Atkinson, a Trump appointee, “did a terrible job.” Trump also slammed Captain Brett Crozier, who was relieved of his duty commanding the USS Theodore Roosevelt after writing a letter warning about the spread of the coronavirus on his ship. While Crozier’s warnings were dismissed and his pleas for help to Navy leadership were met with punishment, more men on his ship wound up testing positive for the virus, with 137 cases as of Saturday.