TRUMP AND DISEASE? TWEET!

It is instructive to see what Trump tweeted about Ebola back in 2014. As an indication of the mindset he will show dealing with the Wuhan Corona Virus.

In short, he was fearmongering, and he used nonsense tweets about Ebola as part of his election campaign. The public in the red states lapped it up; not surprising, seeing as his entire campaign was xenophobic.

From VOX: Trump, corona virus threat; Aaron Rupar@atrupar


What a difference five years and winning a presidential election makes.

In the summer and fall of 2014 — less than a year before he officially launched his presidential bid — Donald Trump posted about 100 mostly panicked tweets about the Ebola virus. Many of them attacked then-President Obama for his handling of the outbreak, and some of them went as far as to accuse the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) of lying about what was going on.

America is now confronting the possibility — or even likelihood — of a coronavirus outbreak within its borders. The novel virus and Covid-19, the disease it causes, could quickly become President Trump’s problem, and it’s instructive to look back at what had to say about Ebola and Obama’s response to it.

Spoiler alert: None of it is reassuring.

Trump used Ebola to make a bunch of reckless attacks against Democrats in the lead up to the 2014 midterms, then promptly dropped the whole thing.

Trump’s first tweet about Ebola came on July 31, 2014 — the day before a State Department flying ambulance brought two American health workers back to Emory University, home of the CDC, from Monrovia, where they had contracted the virus.

“Ebola patient will be brought to the U.S. in a few days - now I know for sure that our leaders are incompetent. KEEP THEM OUT OF HERE!” Trump wrote.


@realDonaldTrump 
Ebola patient will be brought to the U.S. in a few days - now I know for sure that our leaders are incompetent. KEEP THEM OUT OF HERE!

The next day, Trump demanded that the health workers not be brought back to the US — “Stop the EBOLA patients from entering the U.S. Treat them, at the highest level, over there. THE UNITED STATES HAS ENOUGH PROBLEMS!” he wrote — and followed that up by insisting that they “must suffer the consequences” for going to Africa in the first place.

@realDonaldTrump 
The U.S. cannot allow EBOLA infected people back. People that go to far away places to help out are great-but must suffer the consequences!

In the days that followed, Trump said the US government “must immediately stop all flights from EBOLA infected countries or the plague will start and spread inside our ‘borders,’” and started attacking the CDC, whose leadership at the time was calling for calm and arguing that closing the borders in the manner Trump suggested would only make things harder to manage.

@realDonaldTrump 
Same CDC which is bringing Ebola to US misplaced samples of anthrax earlier this year http://www.cnn.com/2014/07/15/health/cdc-anthrax-ziploc-bags/ … Be careful.

In September and October, Trump turned his fire to President Obama, calling him “dumb,” saying his refusal to stop flights from Africa was “almost like saying F-you to U.S. public,” and claiming in an Instagram video that “he should be ashamed.”

Trump even accused the CDC of intentionally spreading misinformation.

@realDonaldTrump
Ebola is much easier to transmit than the CDC and government representatives are admitting. Spreading all over Africa-and fast. Stop flights

In comments that previewed the nativism of his presidential campaign, Trump attacked a Liberian man named Thomas Eric Duncan who traveled to the US with Ebola but only became symptomatic once he arrived. Trump suggested Duncan had sinister motives and called him to be prosecuted just four days before he died in a hospital.


@realDonaldTrump
This Ebola patient Thomas Duncan, who fraudulently entered the U.S. by signing false papers, is causing havoc. If he lives, prosecute!

Beyond attacking Obama for not banning flights from Africa, Trump also blasted him for appointing Ron Klain to coordinate the government’s response to Ebola.

”It’s the wrong person,” Trump said during an October 2014 appearance in Iowa to stump for Rep. Steve King (R-IA). “Do we need more people? Do we need more bureaucracy?”

In late October, Trump went as far as to call for Obama’s resignation after Craig Spencer, a doctor who had treated Ebola patients in Guinea, became symptomatic in New York City and was diagnosed with the disease. Spencer promptly isolated himself and made a full recovery — but Trump wouldn’t let that get in the way of his narrative.

@realDonaldTrump
If this doctor, who so recklessly flew into New York from West Africa,has Ebola,then Obama should apologize to the American people & resign!

By the end of the month, Trump had explicitly turned Ebola into a campaign issue.

@realDonaldTrump
John Foust is a liberal who supports ObamaCare and opposes Ebola travel ban. Send Conservative @BarbaraComstock to Congress!

Even though Trump was a private gadfly at the time, all of this had an impact. His unhinged tweets were covered both by right-wing and mainstream media, and Trump pushed the same talking points during Fox News appearances. As Dr. Steven Hatch detailed for Mother Jones back in 2017, Republicans running for office that year ended up taking cues from Trump’s talking points:

Trump’s social-media outbursts were among the earliest shots fired in the political war over Ebola. The timing of the Ebola outbreak could not have been more propitious for Republicans, many of whom echoed Trump’s calls for a temporary travel ban. In the run-up to the 2014 midterm elections, the specter of a lethal African virus being spread through the United States by migrants stoked fears not only among the GOP base, but also among many voters who leaned Democratic. By October, two-thirds of respondents to a Washington Post/ABC News poll said they favored restricting travel from Ebola-affected countries.

But after the midterms came and went on November 4 — elections in which Republicans gained nine Senate seats and 13 House seats — Trump lost interest in the issue. He only posted two tweets about Ebola after the midterms, with his last one coming on November 10.

@realDonaldTrump
A single Ebola carrier infects 2 others at a minimum. STOP THE FLIGHTS! NO VISAS FROM EBOLA STRICKEN COUNTRIES!

Trump’s hysteria about Ebola was overblown. The virus did not spread in the United States. There were only two deaths from the disease in the country, and both of them were people who contracted it in Africa. It’s hard to argue that the Obama administration’s response was anything but competent and effective. But, reality aside, fear-mongering about Ebola served as a useful political cudgel for Trump, who at the time was publicly mulling whether to run for president.



[CUT]


— Trump’s first budget proposal contained proposed cuts to the CDC that former Director Tom Frieden warned were “unsafe at any level of enactment.”

— Congress mercifully didn’t agree to any such cuts, but as recently as February 11 — in the midst of the outbreak — Trump proposed huge cuts to both the CDC and the National Institutes of Health.

— Perhaps because his budget officials were in the middle of proposing cuts to disease response, it’s only over this past weekend that they pivoted and started getting ready to ask for the additional money that coping with Covid-19 is clearly going to cost. But experts say they’re still lowballing it.

— In early 2018, my colleague Julia Belluz argued that Trump was “setting up the US to botch a pandemic response” by, for example, forcing US government agencies to retreat from 39 of the 49 low-income countries they were working in on tasks like training disease detectives and building emergency operations centers.

— Instead of taking such warnings to heart, later that year, “the Trump administration fired the government’s entire pandemic response chain of command, including the White House management infrastructure,” according to Laurie Garrett, a journalist and former senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations.


[SOURCE: VOX.]

The article from Vox illuminates a problem.

Of course, there are still dumb hosebags who get their moral compass from Trump, and believe he's been sent by the almighty. Bless their hearts.




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MODERATE PROGRESS

The following dates from 1911, when the Strana Mírného Pokroku v Mezích Zákona (SMPVMZ) published it's Party Manifesto in the run-up to the elections of that year, in Czech, but also in German, the language of the Hapsburg Empire; Manifest der Partei des maßvollen Fortschritts in den Grenzen der Gesetze.


The platform of the candidate for the Vinorhady election district, Jaroslav Hašek, consisted of seven well-considered points.


SEVEN POINTS

• The reintroduction of slavery.
• The nationalization of janitors, precisely like in Russia, where every janitor is simultaneously a police informer.
• The rehabilitation of animals.
• The institutionalization of feeble-minded Members of Parliament.
• The reintroduction of the Inquisition.
• Judicial immunity for priests and the Church ("In cases where a schoolgirl is deflowered by a priest").
• The mandatory introduction of alcoholism.

Source document: PMPWBL.

Almost everywhere on the globe, the fourth point has already been put into practice. The fifth and sixth points are largely in effect too, with minor variations, all over the developed world.

Jaroslav Hašek, were he still alive, would love it.


Ich sage, weil wie alle vernünftigen menschen, ich fest davon überzeugt bin, dass es in Cisleithanien nur mäßiger fortschritte im rahmen des gesetzes muss sein.

FRANCES HUI: I AM FROM HONG KONG, NOT CHINA

April 21, 2019
From the Berkeley Beacon, Emerson College Student Newspaper.
Opinion, by Frances Hui.


I am from a city owned by a country that I don’t belong to.

Britain colonized Hong Kong as a consequence of the Opium War in 1842. While China gave up part of Hong Kong permanently to Britain—the New Territories, which makes up 86 percent of Hong Kong, was also under British control in a 99-year lease. In 1997, when the lease ended, the British government decided to give all of Hong Kong back to the People’s Republic of China, known just as China today, as a “special administrative region” subordinated by China’s government.

To eliminate panic caused by the change, China promised to practice “one country, two systems,” which guaranteed that everything in Hong Kong would stay the same and operated on a separate political system from other cities in China for 50 years.

China appoints a chief executive every five years after a conditional election among the election committee. Hong Kong’s legal system is embedded within a supreme law called the Basic Law, while citizens elect their legislators in the Legislative Council every four years.

I grew up learning that my city’s core values were rooted in the freedoms granted by the Basic Law, including freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, and freedom of press and publication. Myself and many people from Hong Kong take pride in being somewhat politically separated from China, which is governed by the Chinese Communist Party that notoriously censors the internet and imprisons dissident people in China. Many citizens even call themselves “Hongkonger” which the Oxford Dictionary later adopted in 2014.

The outbreak of the Umbrella Revolution, a 79-day occupying movement in 2014 when people asked for universal suffrage in electing the chief executive, put a spotlight on people’s ethnic identification. According to a poll by the University of Hong Kong, as of December 2018, 40 percent of citizens identify themselves as Hongkongers, as opposed to 15 percent who define themselves as Chinese. Less than 4 percent of the young generation ages 18 through 29 identified as Chinese in 2017, according to HK01.

Hongkongers ally with Taiwan, officially known as the Republic of China, which lost control of mainland China to the communist party in the Chinese Civil War in 1949. Unlike Hong Kong, Taiwan has almost no governmental connection with China. Taiwanese citizens even possess the right to elect their president, governors, and legislators democratically. However, people from Taiwan face the same identity crisis as Hongkongers.

One of my Taiwanese friends at Emerson adopted the “Chinese” identity, even though she told me she loves Taiwan. She said she does not feel strong enough to fight over her identity with her Chinese friends. Last semester, after my friend and I presented a final project about China’s “re-education camps,” where they hold more than a million Muslims in China for genocide, a Chinese student discredited our presentation for being too political.

International students from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Tibet and other places in relation to China face backlash for not identifying as Chinese. Chemi Lhamo, the newly elected student union president of the University of Toronto Scarborough, received hateful comments on her social media because of her Tibetan identity. An online petition gathered more than 10,000 signatures calling for Lhamo to step down because of her pro-independence statements regarding Tibet and Taiwan.

“We strongly disagree with Lhamo’s political statements and her participation in political campaigns that were clearly against Chinese history, Chinese laws, and Chinese students’ rights,” wrote a student who started the petition online after Lhamo was elected in March.

Chinese international students have become a prominent group at most U.S. schools in recent years. They made up nearly 60 percent of Emerson’s undergraduate international student population in fall 2018, according to the college’s Impact Report on Internationalization.

While it is globally agreed that Hong Kong and Taiwan are different entities from China politically, socially, and financially, it is important for colleges to be politically correct by educating themselves on international politics.

During my orientation in last fall, the School of Communication’s presentation about international exchange programs listed my hometown as “Hong Kong, China.” This move might flatter most of the Chinese students at Emerson, yet it upsets me to see how unaware the college is to this topic.

If the college promotes their education abroad programs to broaden students’ global vision, they must be more cognizant and knowledgeable of the places they accept students from and send students to.

I have never felt so desperate to find other people from Hong Kong and advocate for my culture. I recognize the absence of that voice on campus for Taiwanese, Hongkongers and other Chinese minority groups.

At my previous college in Seattle, faculty members hosted a panel that I spoke on alongside other students from Hong Kong, China, and Taiwan. Throughout the event, we touched on similarities and differences between the three cultures and educated the audience on controversial advocacy in Hong Kong and Taiwan. At the end of the panel, everyone seemed to leave with lingering curiosity to continue the conversation and an understanding of differences between us.

Instead of avoiding sensitive political topics to stay away from conflict, there should be more discussions on these issues to provide different students with an inclusive platform to voice their opinions. Everyone, including students from China or Hong Kong, should keep their minds open for new information and perspectives so as to learn from others.

It’s easy to exclude dissidents, but that only reinforces the problem and enlarges the gap between different nationalities. People should acknowledge the differences and participate in those conversations, despite all of the political tension within these places. This is important to provide a comfortable environment for people to identify themselves as who they want to be.

Although it was difficult facing judgment and disdain as one of the few Hongkongers at Emerson, I will strongly hold onto that identity because I am proud and I want to tell people where my actual home is.



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SOURCE: http://berkeleybeacon.com/person-of-color-column-i-am-from-hong-kong-not-china/
Article above cited in its entirety, for dissemination purposes.
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TOBACCO PIPE REPAIR - STEMS ETCETERA

Recommended by fellow pipe smokers, because in a way we're all anal-retentive and detail oriented, and after recent experiences with the guy on the East-Coast (I had to spend several hours doing "corrections" on stems he did for my own pipes, dammit), I finally decided enough is enough.


MIKE MYERS
Walker Pipe Repair, LLC
1210 Franklin Boulevard
Ann Arbor, MI 48103
Tel.: 734-945-1691
http://www.walkerpiperepair.com/


RICH LEWIS
Lewis Pipe & Tobacco
825 Nicollet Mall Suite 165
Minneapolis Mn 55402
Tel.: 612-332-9129
http://www.lewispipe.com/repair.htm


As of this writing, I haven't yet had stems done at either of these establishments. But when I do, I will report back. Both were recommended by people who have a keen eye, regard for quality work, huge experience with prize pipes, and extremely high standards.

PIGS AND PAUL DONOVAN: 中國豬

Everything you need to know about Paul Donovan, USB, his comment, hideously offended Chinese internet users, and forced apologies, right here in one tasty package: DENSE
.

Synonyms for 'dense' are: thick, heavy, opaque, soupy, murky, smoggy, impenetrable; concentrated, condensed. Also: stupid, unintelligent, ignorant, brainless, mindless, foolish, slow, slow-witted, dull-witted, witless, doltish, blockish, dunce-like, simpleminded, empty-headed, vacuous, vapid, halfwitted, idiotic, moronic, imbecilic, obtuse, bovine, lumpish; gullible, naive; informalthick, dim, dumb, dopey, dippy, dozy, cretinous, as thick as two short planks, thickheaded, chuckleheaded, dunderheaded, wooden-headed, fat-headed, thick-skulled, muttonheaded, boneheaded, lamebrained, birdbrained, peabrained.


Obtuse. I like that word. Obtuse. In common parlance it usually means deliberately blockheaded.


Again: Paul Donovan, Chinese pigs, and "It matters if you are a Chinese pig. It matters if you like eating pork in China."

中国猪，中国的猪

Pig is good.

BENADERET'S PIPE SHOP

Parked here for future reference:

Benaderet's Cigarette, Pipe and Tobacco Shop
215 Sutter Street
[Formerly at 566 California Street]
San Francisco.

Owners: Robert and Edith Rashaw
Robert Rashaw: born 1916.
Edith Edna Rashaw: born 1916.

Store still extant in the late seventies. No longer there by the eighties.
At one point, they had Egyptian cigarettes made for them.
Their house pipes were usually by Comoys.
There are also Benaderet Sasienis.
More research required.


Quote: "Benaderet's Inc., was California's oldest pipe and tobacco store when it went out of business in 1980. Sam Benaderet was a tobacconist from New York City who came to San Francisco in 1915 to work at the Panama Pacific International Exposition. An immigrant to the United States from Turkey, Mr. Benaderet decided that he liked the West Coast's Mediterranean like climate. After the Exposition closed, he stayed to open his own tobacco business. This new firm produced custom private-label cigarettes for men's clubs. A lavish retail store was opened in the late 1920's that quickly became a mecca for tobacco connoisseurs."
Source: https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/benaderets-cigarette-pipe-tobacco-288283709


Note: I often bought tobacco there when I was in college.

PUTTING HONEST MERCHANTS OUT OF BUSINESS

On September 11, the Marin County Board of Supervisors (BOS) will introduce an ordinance to prohibit the sale of all flavored tobacco products in the unincorporated areas of the county.  The ban includes menthol, mint and wintergreen.  There are no exceptions for adult only retail tobacco stores. 

In addition, the draft ordinance does not specify a penalty regime, leaving the development and adoption of rules and regulations to the Director of the Department of Health and Human Services.  Of note, in the findings clauses on page 3, please see the highlighted language regarding mint and wintergreen. 

Marin County BOS Meeting Details:

--date / September 11

--time / 9:30 A.M.

--location / Board of Supervisors Chambers, Room 330, Civic Center, 3501 Civic Center Drive, San Rafael, CA  94903

Retailers and industry stakeholders should contact county supervisors to express opposition the flavor ban.

Marin County Board of Supervisors

Damon Connolly
District 1
dconnolly@marincounty.org
(415) 473-7354

Katie Rice
District 2
krice@marincounty.org
(415) 473-7331

Kate Sears
District 3
ksears@marincounty.org
(415) 473-7331

Dennis Rodoni
District 4
drodoni@marincounty.org
(415) 473-7331

Judy Arnold
District 5
JArnold@marincounty.org
(415) 473-7331