The Grand Comeuppance: For Lack of a Mask He Lost His Job

I was going to post today about how Melania’s talk about doing Christmas decoration and the  kids being taken from their folks was shocking but because of her illness I will refrain from doing that. Rather in light of the drastic change in conditions I do want to talk about wearing masks something I have advocated for months against the Trumper skeptics. It brings me to say that it is hard to feel any sympathy for Trump who has used an anti-mask strategy to divide the nation. Did not he receive his grand comeuppance when he found himself  reduced to wearing a mask coming out of the White House as he headed for the Walter Reed Hospital.

Where was his talk about infringing on his freedom? Did you notice no one about him insisted on being free to wear a mask or not? Did you see the Secret Service people driving his vehicles with their masks? Had Trump insisted that he need not wear a mask it is fair to say he might have had to walk to the hospital.

How is it that Trump who took every precaution to avoid catching the virus did catch it? It does show the virus is more fiendish than thought as it finds its way through the most prepared defenses. Right now Trump has to be thinking “I lost my presidency, my presidency, for a want of a mask.” Truly,  his arrogance and his febrile fear of appearing unmanly by wearing a mask landed him in the hospital. If only he had listened to the clear  medical advice he had received he would be enjoying himself in the White House at this moment.  If only he did not enjoy looking at and preaching to the unmasked folk crowded in together thinking how they were his people unlike those cowardly liberals who were hiding behind their masks and social distancing he would not find himself in his present pickle.

Can one feel sorry for a man who has led the country is such a poor manner who catches an illness that it has taken the lives of over 200,000 people? It is not that he did not know the danger of the virus that was spreading over the land killing people of every age and walk of life, mostly old like himself. Now he will find out that old people want to continue living as much as young people and do not want their lives cut short by something that could have been prevented.

Is one supposed to feel bad for a person who plunges his hand in a pot of boiling water who ends up with a crippled hand and severe burns? Is not that what Trump did with his urging of his people to disdain those who tried to act in a responsible manner? Where did the idea that it is a free country where one can do what he or she wants to do without restriction come? Even today  we hear people at the White House say it is an individual decision whether one working in the White House wears a mask.

It is not a mark of freedom to let people act in a way that is harmful to others. We do not let people drive at 60mph on crowded city streets; we do not let people decide whether to stop at a stop sign or not; we did not let people with tuberculosis or Ebola walk through our neighborhoods. No one has the freedom to bring harm to another; no one  should have the freedom to decide whether to wear a mask or not when it is clear that wearing one can help prevent the transmission of the virus.

I would like to think Trump would come out of this a better man. He won’t. My greatest fear is that when he recovers, if he does, he will again urge people to avoid wearing masks, will mock those who do, and will embrace the theory of the son of Charles Atlas that the best way forward is for everyone to suffer the way he has had to suffer.

17 Comments

  1. ‘This is insanity’: Walter Reed physician among critics of Trump drive-by visit

    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/oct/04/trump-walter-reed-drive-by-visit-criticism

  2. Wa-llahi! We are like Rome at the end of the republic. Somewhere between Marius and Sulla, and, Caesar and Pompey. Minuchan is our Crassus. Spartacus, call home, bro.

  3. News and nouns at noon…..hold the scapulas

    https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/breaking/ct-cook-county-judge-resigns-sexual-harassment-20201002-ikjkfyfiwfdenpeloq5gvnanjy-story.html

    Chicago judge accused of trying to kiss cop, propositioning court reporter in elevator, making sexually suggestive comments to assistant state’s attorney resigns

    https://www.thedailybeast.com/mexican-military-and-federal-investigators-accused-of-covering-up-lost-student-massacre-in-iguala

    Mexican Military and Federal Investigators Accused of Covering Up Lost Student
    Massacre

    https://www.businessinsider.in/international/news/us-contractors-are-dropping-heaps-of-taxpayer-funded-border-wall-in-mexico-where-its-being-sold-as-scrap-metal/articleshow/78466973.cms

    US contractors are dropping heaps of taxpayer-funded border wall in Mexico where it’s being sold as scrap metal
    HAVEN ORECCHIO-EGRESITZOCT 3, 2020, 21:53 IST

    President Donald Trump waves as he tours a section of new US-Mexico border wall built in San Luis, Arizona, June 23, 2020
    Contractors based in the United States are replacing old barriers along the Arizona-Mexico border.

    https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/11/right-wing-militias-civil-war/616473/

    A Pro-Trump Militant Group Has Recruited Thousands of Police, Soldiers, and Veterans
    An Atlantic investigation reveals who they are and what they might do on Election Day.

  4. wa-llahi! Is there anybody on this blog, beside, Matt , and, I, who remembers the death of Franco. I’m thinking they are keeping Trump on ice. The succession is up for grabs . The same circus happened with Peron. Argentine doctors kept the dictator’s corpse as a neo-mort, until, the transfer of power was decided. Everyone who’s watched, “The Death of Staslin” knows what’s going on, now. All praise to the virus. All power to the dialectic.

  5. Hydroxychloroquine, evidence of efficacy

  6. Saturday, October 3, 2020
    Useless FDA and CDC admit Covid antibody tests are worthless. Why have they approved them? Why are we paying for them?
    I have been meaning to update the information on Covid-19 testing, since it has been such a confusing subject. This post will only cover antibody (aka serology) tests. And most of the post will be direct quotes from the FDA and CDC websites, because you would probably not believe me if I simply paraphrased the information. So here is my synthesis, followed by direct quotes from the agencies.

    Boiled down, what FDA and CDC say is:
    1. The presence of antibodies does not mean you have had Covid.
    2. The test might be positive due to a cross reaction with antibodies from a cold you had.
    3. Even if you have antibodies and did have Covid, they don’t tell us whether or not you are immune.
    4. Even if you are immune today, you may not be immune tomorrow–who knows?
    5. You may have had Covid and have no antibodies
    6. Antibody tests are meaningless for individuals, but might give us useful information at the population level.
    7. Regardless of the result, you still need to wear masks and socially distance.
    8. In a population where less than 5% have had Covid, over 50% of positive results will be false positives.

    Yet CDC admits that reinfection is rare. There are only 3 documented cases of reinfection in the US, so there must be good immunity after infection for most people.

    Bottom line: why are we doing these tests? Why hasn’t FDA rescinded its emergency approval, since in the majority of the US, most positive results are false positives? And why don’t we have better tests? T-cell immunity is probably more accurate, but there are no commercially available T-cell tests for the public. Why are we still measuring antibodies that cross-react with those for the common cold? Is this another way the federal government is keeping us confused and locked down?

    Here are the direct quotes:

    FDA:
    “…COVID-19 antibody tests can help identify people who may have been infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus or have recovered from the COVID-19 infection.”

    At this time, researchers do not know whether the presence of antibodies means that you are immune to the coronavirus in the future; or if you are immune, how long it will last.”

    CDC:
    “…additional data are needed before modifying public health recommendations based on serologic [antibody] test results, including decisions on discontinuing physical distancing and using personal protective equipment.

    …Although serologic tests should not be used at this time to determine if an individual is immune, these tests can help determine the proportion of a population previously infected with SARS-CoV-2

    …Recurrence of COVID-19 illness appears to be very uncommon

    …However, it remains uncertain to what degree and for how long individuals with antibodies (neutralizing or total) are protected against reinfection with SARS-CoV-2

    …FDA now requires commercially marketed serologic tests to receive Emergency Use Authorization (EUA)external icon
    …in a population where the prevalence is 5%, a test with 90% sensitivity and 95% specificity will yield a positive predictive value of 49%. In other words, less than half of those testing positive will truly have antibodies.

    …pending additional data, the presence of antibodies cannot be equated with an individual’s immunity from SARS-CoV-2 infection.

    …Some tests may exhibit cross-reactivity with other coronaviruses, such as those that cause the common cold. This could result in false-positive test results. Some persons may not develop detectable antibodies after coronavirus infection.

    …Serologic testing by itself should not be used to establish the presence or absence of SARS-CoV-2 infection or reinfection.”

    Posted by Meryl Nass, M.D. at 9:54 PM
    1 comment:

    John F. McGowan, Ph.D. said…
    There have been a number of detailed critiques of the antibody and RT-PCR tests for Sars-Cov-2 from the start. See these from David Crowe, a long time critic of mainstream HIV/AIDS theory who passed away from cancer in July:

    https://www.theinfectiousmyth.com/index2.php

    This is his critique of the antibody tests from May 13: https://theinfectiousmyth.com/coronavirus/AntibodyTestingForCOVID.pdf

    Andrew Kaufman has made similar critiques in various videos including some interviews by the super-controversial David Icke: https://www.andrewkaufmanmd.com/

    A more mainstream source Michael Yeadon, formerly with Pfizer, has raised similar issues regarding the RT-PCR tests in the UK: https://lockdownsceptics.org/lies-damned-lies-and-health-statistics-the-deadly-danger-of-false-positives/

    The most generous interpretation of the astonishing contradictory claims and numbers put out by the CDC and its sister agencies, which have been obvious on their pneumonia and influenza web site for years, is that they don’t know what they are doing and, for some reason, perhaps vanity and foolish pride, don’t realize it. I fear something more sinister is involved at least at the top level.

    It is critical to somehow communicate this to the general public, to highly educated people who simply can’t believe the CDC and other sister agencies are so incompetent or corrupt, that they would put out obviously contradictory claims and numbers, perform such obviously poor work. The world view that these are the experts and they know what they are doing, backed up by the mass media, is protecting them. In some respects, it resembles the Emperor’s New Clothes folktale.

    October 3, 2020 at 11:51 PM

  7. Dick Gregory – “There Are Two Donald Trumps”

  8. Matt

    We just printed our first batch of campaign posters

    PEDOPHILES FOR TRUMP

    with endorsements from Jeffrey Epstein and Roy Cohn…..

    Thursday, October 1, 2020
    Emergent BioSolutions will be paid even if the Astra-Zeneca (Oxford) vaccine flops
    From Fierce Pharma:

    AstraZeneca was humming right along with its partnered COVID-19 vaccine with the University of Oxford before a sudden trial hold threw its plans into disarray. So what does that uncertainty mean for AstraZeneca’s expectant manufacturing partners on the shot? For at least one, it could be no issue at all.

    Despite a major commitment from AstraZeneca to help produce bulk drug substance for the University of Oxford’s adenovirus-based COVID-19 shot, Maryland’s Emergent BioSolutions isn’t likely to feel a financial pinch if the British drugmaker’s candidate doesn’t make it across the finish line, Cantor analysts wrote in a note to investors Wednesday.

    On the heels of AstraZeneca’s troubling phase 3 trial hold, Emergent’s share price dropped 5% in early Wednesday trading to $100.22 as investors appeared to show concern that AstraZeneca’s setback would hit the CDMO’s bottom line.

    But according to Cantor, Emergent wouldn’t likely come out worse for wear if AstraZeneca’s candidate flops, as the partners’ contract includes protections for Emergent that will see it rake in most of the $174 million owed to it in year one of the deal.

    Part of that deal, signed in July, is an $87 million portion for tech transfer and preparation that is underway, Cantor said. That money has already come Emergent’s way, and further contract protections will see Emergent made whole on most of the rest, analysts argued.

    The only unknowns in the event of AstraZeneca’s failure would be the second and third years of the proposed contract, which could be waived, according to Cantor. However, given Emergent’s close relationship with the Department of Health and Human Services’ Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), another vaccine maker could easily step into AstraZeneca’s place to continue driving revenues for Emergent.

    Moreover, that alternate partner could secure an even longer-term CDMO contract with Emergent at its Baltimore Bayview facility, largely taking the manufacturer’s risk off the table.

    RELATED: J&J sews up 5 years of coronavirus vaccine supply in $480M-plus deal with Emergent

    Despite the uncertainty of AstraZeneca’s fate in the COVID-19 vaccine hunt, Emergent can rest easy knowing it has at least one other major player in the field on its side. In early July, Johnson & Johnson and Emergent inked a five-year work order worth at least $480 million to help produce the New Jersey-based drugmaker’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate.

    Emergent will provide “large-scale” drug substance manufacturing for J&J’s recombinant DNA shot beginning in 2021, starting with a $480 million order for the first two years of the deal. For the final three years, the partners will use a “flexible capacity deployment model” to provide annual batches as needed, Emergent said.
    Posted by Meryl Nass, M.D. at 3:08 PM 0 comments

    In other news

    https://www.nytimes.com/1976/06/09/archives/hearing-weighs-rosenstiel-will-doctors-say-financier-could-not.html

    HEARING WEIGHS ROSENSTIEL WILL
    June 9, 1976

    https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Grifter_s_Club.html?id=n_fNDwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=kp_read_button

    Jeffrey Epstein WAS a member at Mar-a-Lago despite White House denial

    Aug 4, 2020 · A new book called The Grifter’s Club: Trump, Mar-a-Lago and the Selling of the Presidency, opens the lid on Donald Trump’s exclusive Palm Beach, Florida, resort where the authors claim those …

    The Secret File on J Edgar Hoover Frontline 1993

  9. I read a broad spectrum of sources and have a university degree. The consensus appears to be masks have no effect, or a negative effect (dirty masks accumulating other germs & issues). I wear masks as required, FYI.

    The ignorance of the like-minded CNN viewers isn’t helpful, and our medical leaders haven’t helped. Dr. John Campbell out of the UK provides daily YouTube updates, and he and other scientists have mentioned Vitamin D deficiency and obesity as two major issues affecting Covid. (Vitamin D deficiency is especially important for individuals with dark pigmentation.) Reportedly only 6% of deaths are Covid-only – most have multiple comorbidities, including obesity.

    Diligence is important, not paranoia. A friend who works in a hospital & Emergency Rooms says suicide attempts have spiked 300-500%, with teenagers being a big component. Doctors in Walnut Creek, CA, several months ago noted the same horrible side effects. “We’re seeing people we’ve never seen before. And these are not ‘cries for help, these are serious attempts’. The cure may be worse than the virus.

    When the Spanish Flu was raging, politicians choose to play college football as an important way to keep the nation’s spirits up. Sweden has never had a full lockdown, they don’t wear masks, and are back to normal w herd immunity.

    Pot shots at the First Lady are low class & ignorant. The “cages” and policies were set in place by President Obama. The full audio clip puts her in a reasonable, good light. No matter what she does, the Liberal MSM will savage her. Our media is truly sick, and has a lower approval rating than Congress. This is the same media which ignores or buries the spying and coup attempt on candidate & President Trump by the CIA, FBI, State Department and DOJ. 100x worse than Watergate. Big factual revelations the past week, including veteran FBI agent Barnett saying the investigation was a joke.

    Let’s hope John Durham and Bill Barr bring justice, not more good-old-boy bury the felonies. Its Democrats & Republicans. Money, greed, power. POTUS is the Outsider, even if he’s a Vulgarian. A Vulgarian who’s confronting China and bringing manufacturing and military home.

  10. When Donald Trump stands in the middle of a group
    of Saints all he sees is their wallets

    Old Maine Proverb

    Matt

    The real question we should be asking ourselves
    is

    “should we start the beatification process now ? “

    In other newes……

    Body of Carlo Acutis On Display for Veneration Ahead of Beatification

    https://www.ncregister.com/news/body-of-carlo-acutis-on-display-for-veneration-ahead-of-beatification

  11. william m. connolly

    I agree with NC. The Democrats evinced bigotry and hatred towards conservative jurists nominated for the Supreme Court, including Thomas and Kavanaugh et alia. Already Schumer and Pelosi are evincing antipathy toward justice Amy Barret, a Catholic.

    Matt, is a good man, but like all men has some character defects. One character defect, most share, is throwing mud at others, demeaning others Some slurs are mild (he’s a clown); some slurs (she’s a witch) have been mild or led to burnings at the stake. Some slurs are motivated by simple dislike (he’s not my cup of tea, I disagree with liberals). Some slurs are motivated by obsessive deep-seated disdain. Some slurs are motivated by hate. (Trump is Hitler.)

    Trump formed a Covid Task Force, under Drs. Birx and Fauci and Pence, and initially recommended social distancing, washing hands, etc. It was not until about April 3, that universal mask wearing outdoors was recommended. “Dr. Deborah Birx, of the White House task force, (advocated masks) and warned that Americans shouldn’t let the masks give them a false sense of security–washing hands and staying 6 feet apart are still the best ways to be protected against the virus.”

    Some have no sympathy for alcoholics, drug addicts, anti-socials. Some find it “hard to sympathy” with those who have not acted perfectively precautionary.

    We weigh risks. Economic shutdown, joblessness, isolation leads to disease, depression, increase rates of suicide, alcoholism, drug abuse, spousal abuse, shootings, killings, violence. Shutdowns lead to fewer visits to doctors to get treatment, preventive medicine, cancer tests, e.g. routine pap smears, colonoscopies.
    We have to balance risks. The public health solution is not a total lockdown, everyone isolating at homes. We recommend reasonable precautions, social distancing, washing hands, wearing masks within six feet of each other. The risk of not wearing a mask outdoors over six feet distance is negligible. Wear masks inside stores or walking closely down crowded streets. No need to wear a mask at distances down the beach at the park or walking alone outside down empty sidewalks. Have not excessive fear. Phobia itself causes illnesses.

    2. Matt begins his blog today demeaning Melania Trump. Matt says he will refrain from posting about his disdainful “shocking” at “how Melania’s talk about doing Christmas decoration and the kids being taken from their folks was shocking.” So, after Matt throws mud at Melania, he then gallantly writes that he will refrain from throwing mud at Melania, after he has already thrown mud at her.

    3. Oh, well. Even Rachel Maddow, the far left liberal, expresses sympathy for Trump and Melania,, but Matt finds it “hard” to express sympathy. Maybe some have no sympathy for cigarette smokers or overeaters. Maybe we should have sympathy only for those who have lived perfectly precautioning public health lifestyles.

    4. Matt never mentions that Trump formed a Covid Task Force under Pence, Birsk, Fauci, Adams, in February and advocated social distancing in March. Trump’s Task Force advocated masks for all by April 3. Not until middle March did the WHO declare a Pandemic. Matt advocated masks after WHO declared a pandemic.

    From Wikipedia: “The White House Coronavirus Task Force is a United States Department of State task force that “coordinates and oversees the administration’s efforts to monitor, prevent, contain, and mitigate the spread” of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).[1] Also referred to as the President’s Coronavirus Task Force, it was established on January 29, 2020.[2] On February 26, 2020, U.S. vice president Mike Pence was named to chair the task force, and Deborah Birx was named the response coordinator.” Dr. Fauci et alia were put on that Task Force. Trump did not ignore the Task Force recommendations. Trump advocated to follow the Task Force recommendations and to gradually re-open the economy.

    There are risks to re-opening the economy and there are risks to locking down the economy. Trump’s Task Force has issued Guidelines. Governors have implemented guidelines, some more leniently, some more vigorously. Time will tell the best way. Fauci has praised New York for its recent approach to re-opening the economy. Fauci also criticized New York for its early mistakes that led to New York having the highest rates in the world of covid deaths (now about 1,800 New York Covid Deaths per million.)

    • Trump substitutes his expert opinion for the CDC of when and what vaccine will be distributed. His figleaf is he got the opinion of private companies. A lie. (Head of Pfeizer didn’t know what he was talking about.) These lies are dangerous and infect doubt in the system, but the Trumpies just nod and wink and sail on. There is no lie, no abomination this man conducts that they will criticize. Not even denounce his atrocious acts and say they do not care because he’s not a socialist about to plunge the country into the nether regions—–like Roosevelt.

  12. Not a good post. Not a generous post. Not a Christian post. Reminds one of Dukakis failing to say anything good about H W Bush when asked at a debate. Most Americans are praying for a full recovery for the Trump family and all others afflicted with the Chinese virus. 2. The Democrats ran a smear campaign against Judge Thomas, a Black Catholic. They ran a smear campaign against Kavanaugh, a Catholic. Will they run a smear campaign against Judge Barret another Catholic? If they do will that indicate anti Catholic and anti Christian bias in the Democrat party? Have the Republicans run any smear campaigns?

  13. Pompeo and Manuchin are the fascist threat, now. There’ll be a scramble to see who’ll replace Trump at the head of the fascist movement. Glorious Leader is cooked. He’s out of the mix.

  14. Agree. Fine post.