Tracker

Because one is blind ignorance and the other is malevolence,

More Than 3,100 Dead From COVID-19 In U.S. In Grim Single-Day Record. The United States is on track to surpass 300,000 deaths from the coronavirus by the end of the year. At least 3,124 people in the United States died from COVID-19 on Wednesday, a grim new record as the country grapples with the worst phase of the pandemic thus far. Johns Hopkins University reported the figure late Wednesday amid a surge in infections around the nation following the Thanksgiving Day holiday period. More than 220,000 people tested positive for the coronavirus on Wednesday alone, and U.S. hospitals have already begun reporting a frightening limit in intensive care beds.

Trump voters don't really believe Biden stole the election — but they do want a coup. Conservatives aren't entirely delusional — they're trolls arguing in bad faith to delegitimize Democratic voters By AMANDA MARCOTTE DECEMBER 9, 2020 6:22PM Do Republican voters really believe that Joe Biden stole the election from Donald Trump? Do they sincerely see Trump's efforts to overturn the election as the legitimate actions of a wronged man trying to defend democracy? When they declare "stop the steal," are they truly unaware that they are the ones trying to steal this election from the rightful winners? Or are millions of Americans arguing in bad faith, merely claiming to believe Trump is the true winner? Is this all just a disingenuous song-and-dance, meant to put a morally justifiable gloss on what is actually widespread support among Trump voters for a coup? The answer to this question of "delusion or bad faith?" matters quite a bit, as Trump continues to prosecute his futile campaign to steal the 2020 election. Polls show that a hefty majority of Republican voters — 68%, according to Reuters/Ipsos — say they believe the 2020 election was "rigged" in Biden's favor. Since the election, more than $200 million has flowed into Trump's coffers from Republican donors responding to emails promising to "stop the steal." Are these donors innocent lambs who sincerely believe that Trump is a good man done wrong? Or are they people who are actively seeking to finance a coup, employing the flimsiest of excuses? Well, as the author of a book called "Troll Nation," it's clear where I stand: By and large, Republican voters who claim that Biden stole the election are arguing from bad faith, not delusion. This distinction is important because it shows that the intentions of Republican voters (and too many of their elected leaders) are sinister, and need to be taken seriously as an overt assault on democracy. Understanding modern politics means understanding one crucial reality about the current landscape: Conservatives don't hold beliefs, they only have rationalizations. https://www.salon.com/2020/12/09/trump-voters-dont-really-believe-biden-stole-the-election---but-they-do-want-a-coup/

FYI: the research for a vaccine that prevents all of the SARS variants (including all the COVID mutations) is going on with intially promising results, although it will probably take several years to determine if it will be possible,

Cornyn has seen fit to remain silent and therefore supportive of Trump through much worse. He would seem to be trying to save his bacon now that the USS Trump has scuttled itself. The rodents are abandoning the vessel.

Coronavirus vaccines weren't tested on pregnant women — here's why that's a problem "Pregnant immune systems are a little different … we don't have any direct data on whether it's safe," one doc said. The Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine is breaking some healthcare barriers, but not all. In less than one year, the vaccine has passed through three required phases of a clinical trial and is currently ready to be mass-produced across the world. Great Britain became the first Western Nation to vaccinate its citizens this week. As soon as this weekend, hospitals across the United States will be able to start vaccinating frontline workers, pending approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). However, there's one peculiar caveat to the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine— and to other major vaccine trials, too: none included pregnant women in their clinical trials. Indeed, not one of the vaccines expected to be approved by the FDA in the next couple weeks, including the Pfizer/BioNTech one, have been tested on pregnant women directly, leaving a cohort of people who are vulnerable to COVID-19 with no direct information on how the vaccine will affect them or their fetuses. "We don't know anything directly about the safety of the vaccine in pregnant or in lactating persons because they were all excluded from the vaccine trials," Dr. Melissa Simon, Director of the Center for Health Equity Transformation at Northwestern's Center at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine, told Salon in a phone interview. "The only thing that could have possibly happened, which we won't know until the data are unblinded, is if any of the participants in the vaccine trials got pregnant during the course of participating in the trial." https://www.salon.com/2020/12/09/coronavirus-vaccines-werent-tested-on-pregnant-womenheres-why-thats-a-problem/

Donald Trump’s Newest Lawyer Is a Kamala Harris Birther: John Eastman is listed as the attorney repping the president on the latest suit seeking to overturn the results of the 2020 elections. Getty News President Donald Trump is once more seeking to overturn the results of the 2020 elections. And this time, he’s enlisting the help of a lawyer best known for questioning Sen. Kamala Harris’s citizenship and eligibility to serve as Joe Biden’s running mate and VP. In a Wednesday court filing, Trump asked the U.S. Supreme Court to allow him to intervene in a Texas lawsuit seeking to nullify President-elect Biden’s clear victory over the sitting president in the 2020 election. The suit, which was announced Tuesday by Texas’s GOP attorney general Ken Paxton, zeros in on the results in four key states that Biden won. Donald Trump’s Newest Lawyer Is John Eastman, a Kamala Harris Birther (thedailybeast.com)

Florida Megachurch Pastor Tells Evangelical Congregants Not To Take COVID-19 Vaccine. “Believe in the blood of Jesus. Believe in divine immunity,” King Jesus International Ministry's Guillermo Maldonado said in a sermon. A prominent Florida megachurch pastor has advised his congregants not to receive a COVID-19vaccine, urging them to “believe in divine immunity” instead. Guillermo Maldonado, founding pastor of the Miami-based King Jesus International Ministry and a loyal supporter of President Donald Trump, shared already debunked claims from the pulpit on Sunday about the vaccine altering DNA and being used to track people down. The Pentecostal preacher imbued those conspiracy theories with religious significance by connecting them to his beliefs about the end of the world. Pointing to verses from the Bible’s Book of Revelation, Maldonado suggested that the coronavirus vaccine would help lay the groundwork for the coming of the Antichrist. “Do not [take] the vaccine. Believe in the blood of Jesus. Believe in divine immunity,” Maldonado said in a bilingual sermon that was translated live and streamed on Facebook. Florida Megachurch Pastor Tells Evangelical Congregants Not To Take COVID-19 Vaccine | HuffPost Canada (huffingtonpost.ca)

Russian Media Wants Moscow to Grant Asylum to Trump. Russian media and lawmakers are concerned about the future of the Kremlin’s favorite U.S. president. Getty News Russian state media—a reliable barometer of the mood at the Kremlin—remains fixated on election-related events in America. Affectionately referring to Donald Trump as “our Donald,” “Trumpusha” and “Comrade Trump,” Russian lawmakers, experts and pundits repeatedly have expressed their concerns about the future of Moscow’s all-time favorite U.S. president. Co-host of Russian state TV news talk show 60 Minutes Olga Skabeeva brought up the possibility that President Trump would end up seeking asylum in Russia to escape any prosecutions in the United States following the conclusion of his sole presidential term. Skabeeva emphasized that this was by no means a joking matter: “It’s all very serious,” she said, as she pondered out loud about the nature of criminal charges Trump might soon be facing.

Trump has a point. A country stupid enough to elect Trump can righfully be questioned as to their intelligence,

Darwin's hypothesis in action.

This was to be expected, as Trump has installed his weasels in much of the DOJ and other departments and is trying to smear as much of the incoming administration as possible. People tend to remember the charges, not the exonerations, and then Trump can squeal that the DOJ is now biased against him. Trump, through his glove puppet Barr, has started an investigation of the Biden victory. When this inevitably comes up empty, there will be more quealing, and if the incoming Attorney General stops the investigation, there will be more, if lightly different, squealing.

Trump will try to avail himself of this option if he is advised by his lawyers that he is likely to be charged and convicted. Will do him no good on state charges, however.

Agreed, but those who attack a benign system are also subject to scrutiny as to their goals. Dr, Orient and Dr. Alpha have histories that place them in the "not credible" camps.

So long as their idiotic followers keep shelling out money to prolong this farce that enriches Trump and the GOP, it will go on and on and on. All to salve Trump's fragile ego to maintain the lie that he did not loose the election.

Here's how Trump undermined Texas' Hail Mary election lawsuit with a single tweet: law professor Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton this week sued four key battleground states lost by President Donald Trump in the hopes of overturning the 2020 presidential election. Legal experts have picked apart the lawsuit and have said it stands little chance of even being heard by the United States Supreme Court, let alone succeeding. And according to University of Texas School of Law professor Stephen Vladeck, Trump may have further undermined an already-shaky case with a tweet that he posted on Wednesday morning. Specifically, Trump tweeted that "we will be INTERVENING in the Texas case," while also hyping up the Paxton lawsuit as "the big one." According to Vladeck, however, Trump intervening would harm the case's chances of success. "The central purpose of SCOTUS's 'original' jurisdiction is for disputes between states that can't be resolved elsewhere," he explained. "Successful intervention by another party would prove that the dispute *could* be resolved elsewhere — and that there's nothing unique about Texas's claims." https://www.alternet.org/2020/12/trump-election-2649429282/

I have some background in the healthcare system, and I can tell you that every medication/supplement has the potential for abreactions- even aspirin and dental freezing can be fatal under certain circumstances. In all cases, the benefits are weighed against the urgency of need and the potential for iatriogenic harm. What is harmful is the knee-jerk reactions against the products of systems that have produced drugs and procedures that have saved the lives of tens of millions. When multiple, independent oversights of drugs result in consistent approval, the default position is that there is a very high likelihood (not zero) that the drug will be esstially harmless.

The US and even Canadian media are reluctant to call Trump's BS lies even when it is blindingly obvious that he is lying.

PA GOP Senate Leader: ‘I’d Get My House Bombed’ if I Defied Trump’s Election Schemes EXPLOSIVE ALLEGATIONS Getty The Republican leader of the Pennsylvania State Senate said she feared she’d “get my house bombed” if she didn’t go along with President Trump’s scheme to overturn presidential election results in the state, according to The New York Times. Kim Ward made the comments in reference to a letter sent by 64 Republicans in Pennsylvania’s state legislature to its congressional delegation, urging them to prevent the state’s Electoral College votes from going to Joe Biden. “If I would say to you, ‘I don’t want to do it,’” Ward said about the letter. “I’d get my house bombed tonight.” Ward did not sign the letter, as she told the Times she wasn’t shown it before it was sent. The Electoral College votes on Monday, as nearly every state—including Pennsylvania—has certified their results from November’s election.

Arizona GOP Asks If Supporters Willing To Die For Trump's Election Fraud Lies The Republican group later tweeted a scene from "Rambo" in which the titular character calls on his comrades to "die for something." The Arizona Republican Party ignited backlash on Tuesday after firing off a pair of tweets that appeared to encourage President Donald Trump’s supporters to give their lives as part of an effort to overturn the election results. The controversy started late Monday when the group retweeted Ali Alexander, a leader of “Stop the Steal” ― a movement that embraces the debunked conspiracy theory that there was widespread election fraud and that Trump, not Democrat Joe Biden, actually won the contest. “I am willing to give my life for this fight,” Alexander wrote in the tweet, which the Arizona GOP shared with its more than 61,000 Twitter followers. “He is,” Arizona GOP added in their retweet. “Are you?” Arizona GOP Asks If Supporters Willing To Die For Trump's Election Fraud Lies | HuffPost Canada (huffingtonpost.ca)

You were expecting..........?

Read the article. She is the head of a medical association that opposes mandatory vaccination and government involvement in healthcare. Draw your own conclusions.

Any doctor who opposes mass, even mandatory vaccination for pandemics or realisticly potential pandemic prevention is serving their own political biases, not the health and wellbeing of their patients. Mass, mandatory vaccinations have stopped smallpox , polio and many other diseases and any doctor who denies the efficacy of that is an idealogue.

Correct. The theoretical basis for one state suing another over the selection of Electors is bizarre, to say the least.

New York Times: Anti-Vaccine Doctor Has Been Invited to Testify Before Senate Committee The selection of Dr. Jane M. Orient as federal health officials are trying to promote a vaccine to end the coronavirus pandemic prompted harsh criticism from Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York. WASHINGTON — A doctor who is skeptical of coronavirus vaccines and promotes the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine as a Covid-19 treatment will be the lead witness at a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing on Tuesday, prompting criticism from Democrats who say Republicans should not give a platform to someone who spreads conspiracy theories. Dr. Jane M. Orient is the executive director of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, a group that opposes government involvement in medicine and views federal vaccine mandates as a violation of human rights.