Ferri Tales

This is an op-ed from the  Irish Times . It is behind a pay-wall, but worth posting for greater access. It is brutal and puts blame where it is deserved. Donald Trump has destroyed the country he promised to make great again By Fintan O’Toole April 25, 2020 THE WORLD HAS LOVED, HATED AND ENVIED THE U.S. NOW, FOR THE FIRST TIME, WE PITY IT Over more than two centuries, the United States has stirred a very wide range of feelings in the rest of the world: love and hatred, fear and hope, envy and contempt, awe and anger. But there is one emotion that has never been directed towards the US until now: pity. However bad things are for most other rich democracies, it is hard not to feel sorry for Americans. Most of them did not vote for Donald Trump in 2016. Yet they are locked down with a malignant narcissist who, instead of protecting his people from Covid-19, has amplified its lethality. The country Trump promised to make great again has never in its history seemed so pi

    Donald Trump and Republicans want to prematurely reopen the country during the COVID-19 pandemic while no cure [ 1 , 2 , 3 ] or vaccine yet exists for the disease. Thus far, the virus has infected over 2.2 million worldwide, and 0.7 million in the United States. Worldwide mortality is 6.5%, the U.S. is almost 4.5%. Mortality ranges from slightly under 1% to as high as 13% depending on the capacity and effectiveness of the medical facilities in the affected country, state, or locality.     Before physical distancing measures are relaxed, at least three measures must be in place to avoid a resurgence of COVID-19. First, expansive and rapid testing to identify and quarantine people who are infected and contagious. Second, once an infected person is identified, all contacts with that person must be found and tested, quarantined if infected, and their contacts located and tested. Third, abundant personal protective equipment must be available, not only for medial personnel, but

According to Wikepedia, Carl Zimmer is "a fellow at Yale University's Morse College and adjunct professor of Molecular biophysics and biochemistry at Yale University. Besides his popular science writing, Zimmer also gives frequent lectures, and has appeared on many radio shows, including National Public Radio's Radiolab, Fresh Air and This American Life." His books include: A Planet of Viruses  ; Evolution, Making Sense of Life  ; and The Descent of Man: A Concise Edition . On April 11, Donald Trump tweeted a response to Zimmer's article in the New York Times, Most New York Coronavirus Cases Came From Europe, Genomes Show , about the origins of the coronavirus infections in New York City. So now the Fake News @nytimes is tracing the CoronaVirus origins back to Europe, NOT China. This is a first! I wonder what the Failing New York Times got for this one? Are there any NAMED sources? They were recently thrown out of China like dogs, and obviously wan

Found on Facebook, the original source is unknown. THE 25 THINGS COVID-19 CLARIFIED FOR ME - The United States is no longer the world leader. - China won World War III without shooting a missile and no one noticed it. - Prevention saves more lives than acting at the last moment. - In a world currently obsessed with living online, somehow social distancing continues to be a concept people cannot understand. - Health care workers are worth more than a CEO with a starting bonus. - Even though we watched it happen, we still don't learn from each others mistakes. - Oil is worthless in a society without consumption. - My definition of ESSENTIAL WORKERS has completely changed. - Death does not distinguish race, color or social status. - Social media brings us closer, but it's also an easy way to create a panic. - We now know how animals feel in zoos. - We begin to appreciate the great gesture of confidence that means shaking hands. - The planet is rapid

For the latest predictions of coronavirus cases for the World and selected countries, go  here . For the latest plots of doubling time for the World, United States, and Russia, go  here .

The reality of the situation is that, in a few day, the United States will have a half-million total cases of COVID-19. Based on the mortality rate here, most will recover and most will presumably be immune to reinfection. However, with an estimated population of 328 million, this will leave well over 327 million who will not be immune and will be susceptible to infection. Trump and Republicans want to get the economy restarted for several reasons: to get people back to work, to save what's left of both large and small businesses, and to help Trump's re-election. But mainly to help Trump's re-election, regardless of the safety of their plan. To be very clear, there is no vaccine yet to protect from coronavirus. To be even more very clear, Trump's plan to reopen the economy will work only if the following are relentlessly and thoroughly followed: New infections are identified rapidly and confirmed by testing. Infected people are quarantined until they recover. Al

Trump wasn't distracted from the coming pandemic by impeachment. He didn't care. This political ad is from  The Lincoln Project, a group of Republican never-Trumpers, led by George Conway, Rick Wilson, and Steve Schmidt. John L Ferri jlferri@epix.net

Below are a series of Twitter posts on April 7, 2020 by Walter Shaub , the former director of the  United States Office of Government Ethics from January 9, 2013 to July 19, 2017. Shaub warns that Trump is removing everyone who can hold him accountable and replacing them with Trump loyalists. Trump's assault on Inspectors General is late-stage corruption. The canary in the coal mine was the government ethics program, which began engaging with the Trump team long before the election. The general public got it, but too many people in positions of influence missed it. Then, there was the open presidential profiteering and clues that hard-to-prove conflicts of interest were significantly influencing policy. But Republicans in Congress ensured that no one could dig too deeply into those, and they enabled it by refusing to conduct oversight. Next came Trump's tests of the enforceability of laws--a little push against the tent wall here and a big jab against it there,

Here is a series of April 6, 2020  Twitter posts  from  Gregg Gonsalves detailing the fraudulent claims being made by Donald Trump about hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for COVID-19 Dr. Gonsalves is an Assistant Professor in Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases as well as an Associate (Adjunct) Professor of Law and Research Scholar in Law at Yale Law School, co-director of the Yale Law School/Yale School of Public Health Global Health Justice Partnership and the Yale Law School/Yale School of Public Health/Yale Medical School Collaboration for Research Integrity and Transparency. His posts are shown below and are mostly verbatim with some editing to make reading easier. The author's opinion has not been altered. Here is latest data on  Hydroxychloroquine . Dr. Anthony Fauci is right, we have little data now to support its use. The idea that Peter Navarro thinks otherwise, and has the ear of Donald Trump should frighten you. It means science doesn't matter at the

This is a meme that found its way to me on Facebook with some clever additions made in the comments. Imagine if Donald Trump was captain of the Titanic : The iceberg is a hoax. We won't hit the iceberg. I knew it was an iceberg before anyone else knew. We barely touched the iceberg. Nobody could have seen the iceberg. These deaths mean my plan worked. I'm the best captain ever. I take no responsibility. We can't allow the iceberg to stop our ship. No one knows more about icebergs than me. I'm a business man. They don't need all those lifeboats hanging around. The crew was selling lifeboats out the back cargo door. The crew is spreading fake news about the iceberg. Life vests were recommended, but I won't wear one. Some of you will have to drown. Obama put the iceberg there. It came out of nowhere. I always knew about the iceberg but I was distracted by the mutiny. But her emails! After the mutiny trial, it was determined that Trump wa

Trump keeps claiming that the U.S. is behind at testing for COVID-19 because he inherited "obsolete" and "broken" tests from the Obama administration. If the Obama administration was attempting to test for the coronavirus, then they were absolutely brilliant and prescient because the virus was only discovered in December 2019 -- three years into the Trump administration. Trump is lying about everything and is attempting to divert blame from his total failure as president. The media should stop broadcasting his lies. Reporters should develop a pact that when Trump attacks one for asking a valid question that he refuses to answer, the next reported called on should ask the exact same question. Repeat as necessary. Trump's failures at protecting the nation from this pandemic are a result of his disdain for expertise. He disbanded the departments and people who could have organized an effective response to the unfolding disaster that Trump is exacerbating. He ig

On November 8, 2013, Donald Trump tweeted, "Leadership: Whatever happens, you're responsible. If it doesn't happen, you're responsible." He was criticizing Obama because Obama is black and Trump is racist. Trump has done everything he can to revoke many of Obama's initiatives including pandemic preparedness. Remember when the nation had to shut down because of an outbreak of H1N1 virus or Ebola during the Obama administration! Neither do I because Obama was prepared for the outbreaks, listened to science and medical advisors, and acted accordingly. South Korea and Taiwan, both densely populated, acted swiftly and decisively to contain COVID-19 outbreaks and to keep them contained. Here in the United States, Trump denied it was problem, then continued denying it was a problem until it turned into the current unfolding disaster and national emergency. He continues to lie to the nation about his actions to procure ventilators and protective equipment (PPE) for me