crooksandliars--2020-05-04--Trump On Meatpacking Plant Covid Hotspots: 'It’s All Working Out'

Across the United States , meatpacking plants have been some of the worst hotspots for the coronavirus , with `` nearly 900 employees , or 40 percent of workers , at Tyson pork plant in Indiana '' testing positive for the virus , `` and over 370 workers at a pork plant in Missouri testing positive .
Plants have been forced to shut down due to the number of workers that have contracted the virus , and according to recent reporting , at least 20 workers have died from coronavirus and another 6500 have fallen ill .
Which , in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ swimmingly .
During their so-called `` townhall '' on Fox this Sunday , Trump got a question from a restaurant manager about the shortage of supplies due to the plant closures , and how they 're supposed to stay afloat given the slim profit margins they 're operating on .
Rather than actually address her concerns , Trump bragged about the executive order he signed the week before deeming the plants essential infrastructure that must stay open , but doing nothing to protect the health of the workers at those plants , claimed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be in great shape , '' and then started babbling about how many people stadiums will be able to hold and making false promises about when we 'll get a vaccine .
Host Martha MacCallum brought him back to the issue of the meatpacking plants , and Trump proceeded to give the Fox audience a lot of happy talk about how great things are going for the workers there : And some people there say that they have plastic between them but they ’ re too close together .
A lot of immigrants @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they can ’ t turn down a paycheck to go back there .
The Smithfield plant in Crete wanted to shut down for two weeks and then the executive order changed that .
So there ’ s some pushback on that decision by you .
What do you say to those people ?
Martha MacCallum : I want to go back to the meat processing plants because there ’ s some controversy surrounding that .
Danny Lemos who you saw before who had the Remdesivir , said it helped him survive .
His @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Nebraska , in the meat plants .
Donald Trump : The companies really wanted it and the employees have to want to work .
Now , if they don ’ t want to work , that ’ s one thing , but they are all working and they need the money .
And the companies are doing , the great companies , these are the biggest companies in the world in terms of delivery and in terms of all of the things they do to get it from literally the ranch or the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ consuming public .
But I think it ’ s all working out .
The numbers are heading in the right direction .
The biggest thing we can do to solve every problem is get rid of the plague .
I call it the plague .
If we get rid of the plague , all of these problems go away very quickly .
Martha MacCallum : Some of those meat processing areas are our hotspots right now .
Donald Trump : They are hotspots and they ’ re moving them and they did put @ @ @ @ @ @ @ re going to move them in some cases further away .
And certain plants don ’ t have any problem at all .
You have plants with no problem at all .
Then you have somewhere it was a hotspot .
Those people are tending to get better very quickly , I think Danny is an example .
I hope his father is going to be okay too , but it ’ s all working out .
It ’ s all working out .
It ’ s horrible that we have to go @ @ @ @ @ @ @ all working .
Here 's more from The New York Times ' and the AP 's fact-check on Trump ' litany of lies during this special on Fox : TRUMP , on his emergency order to reopen meat plants after many closed because workers were sickened by COVID-19 .
“ I think it ’ s all working out .
... Those people are tending to get better quickly.
” — Fox News , Sunday night .
THE FACTS : He offered no support for the contention that workforces at meat plants are rapidly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Friday , the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said more than 4,900 workers at meat and poultry processing facilities have been diagnosed with the coronavirus , 20 of whom have died .
The illnesses occurred among 130,000 workers at 115 facilities in 19 states , according to the CDC .
Some states didn ’ t provide data , so the actual count is believed to be higher .
The CDC said plant workers may be at risk for a number of reasons , such as difficulties with physical distancing and hygiene and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ researchers suggested that disinfection be enhanced and that workers get regular screening for the virus , more space from co-workers and training materials in their native languages .

Across the United States, meatpacking plants have been some of the worst hotspots for the coronavirus, with "nearly 900 employees, or 40 percent of workers, at Tyson pork plant in Indiana" testing positive for the virus, "and over 370 workers at a pork plant in Missouri testing positive. Plants have been forced to shut down due to the number of workers that have contracted the virus, and according to recent reporting, at least 20 workers have died from coronavirus and another 6500 have fallen ill.
Which, in Trump-land, means things are going just swimmingly. During their so-called "townhall" on Fox this Sunday, Trump got a question from a restaurant manager about the shortage of supplies due to the plant closures, and how they're supposed to stay afloat given the slim profit margins they're operating on. Rather than actually address her concerns, Trump bragged about the executive order he signed the week before deeming the plants essential infrastructure that must stay open, but doing nothing to protect the health of the workers at those plants, claimed the supply chains were "going to be in great shape," and then started babbling about how many people stadiums will be able to hold and making false promises about when we'll get a vaccine.
Host Martha MacCallum brought him back to the issue of the meatpacking plants, and Trump proceeded to give the Fox audience a lot of happy talk about how great things are going for the workers there:
And some people there say that they have plastic between them but they’re too close together. A lot of immigrants working there who are concerned, but they can’t turn down a paycheck to go back there. The Smithfield plant in Crete wanted to shut down for two weeks and then the executive order changed that. So there’s some pushback on that decision by you. What do you say to those people? Martha MacCallum: I want to go back to the meat processing plants because there’s some controversy surrounding that. Danny Lemos who you saw before who had the Remdesivir, said it helped him survive. His father worked in one of those in Nebraska, in the meat plants. Donald Trump: The companies really wanted it and the employees have to want to work. Now, if they don’t want to work, that’s one thing, but they are all working and they need the money. And the companies are doing, the great companies, these are the biggest companies in the world in terms of delivery and in terms of all of the things they do to get it from literally the ranch or the farm, into the hands of the consuming public. But I think it’s all working out. The numbers are heading in the right direction. The biggest thing we can do to solve every problem is get rid of the plague. I call it the plague. If we get rid of the plague, all of these problems go away very quickly. Martha MacCallum: Some of those meat processing areas are our hotspots right now. Donald Trump: They are hotspots and they’re moving them and they did put up plastic, but now they’re going to move them in some cases further away. And certain plants don’t have any problem at all. You have plants with no problem at all. Then you have somewhere it was a hotspot. Those people are tending to get better very quickly, I think Danny is an example. I hope his father is going to be okay too, but it’s all working out. It’s all working out. It’s horrible that we have to go through it, but it’s all working.
Here's more from The New York Times' and the AP's fact-check on Trump' litany of lies during this special on Fox:


crooksandliars--2020-05-04--Dallas County TX: Record New COVID-19 Cases Two Days After 'Re-Opening'

One of the most populous counties in Texas has set a new record for the most coronavirus cases in one day after Gov .
Greg Abbott ( R ) ordered the state to “ reopen.
” In a statement on Sunday , Dallas County officials said they had seen 234 additional positive cases in one day , the largest single day increase in COVID-19 cases in the county ’ s history .
Officials said that the county has a total of 4,133 cases .
In all , 111 people have died due to the coronavirus , according to county statistics @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the highest levels we ’ ve seen so far , ” Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins said .
“ I ’ m hopeful that the medical models will prove correct and we are nearing the peak .
Much of that will be determined by the choices each one of us makes.
” On Friday , Gov .
Abbott made the choice to “ reopen ” certain parts of the states economy .
Under his plan , all retail businesses , restaurants , movie theaters and malls are allowed to operate at reduced capacity @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reported having more than 30,000 COVID-19 cases for the first time .

One of the most populous counties in Texas has set a new record for the most coronavirus cases in one day after Gov. Greg Abbott (R) ordered the state to “reopen.”
In a statement on Sunday, Dallas County officials said they had seen 234 additional positive cases in one day, the largest single day increase in COVID-19 cases in the county’s history.
Officials said that the county has a total of 4,133 cases. In all, 111 people have died due to the coronavirus, according to county statistics.
“Today’s numbers are the highest levels we’ve seen so far,” Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins said. “I’m hopeful that the medical models will prove correct and we are nearing the peak. Much of that will be determined by the choices each one of us makes.”
On Friday, Gov. Abbott made the choice to “reopen” certain parts of the states economy. Under his plan, all retail businesses, restaurants, movie theaters and malls are allowed to operate at reduced capacity.
The state of Texas on Saturday reported having more than 30,000 COVID-19 cases for the first time.


crooksandliars--2020-05-04--Trump Makes Excuses For Hydroxychloroquine: 'Nothing To Lose'

During his Fox News `` town hall '' on Sunday , Trump said that he had `` nothing to lose '' by promoting the untested and unproved anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine , his phony solution for Coronavirus .
He did n't mention how his `` bleach injections , UV light and disinfectant '' approach was working out for him though .
In the most ridiculous looking set of any presidential town hall ever ... ... co-host Bret Baier brought up his never-ending promotions of hydroxychloroquine .
Trump jumped in and said energetically , `` I still do , '' as if @ @ @ @ @ @ @ treatment to COVID-19 .
Donald claimed he received three calls from people who took his snake oil and said they were doing very well because of it .
This is the Trump friend `` Manny Peeples '' that Trump quotes constantly .
As his monologue went on .
Trump 's addled brain switched midstream and he began attacking the Democrats .
It was an obvious and failed pivot away from his ludicrous promotion of an untested medication .
`` Democrats would rather see people , I 'm gon na be very nice -- @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ( he just said it ! )
I 'm going to say would rather see people not get well big because they think I 'm going to get credit if hydroxychloroquine works , '' he said .
This pompous man , as usual , is more concerned with his poll numbers than the health of the American people .
Doctors DO NOT prescribe medications that have n't been tested and approved , This holds true especially during a highly contagious virus outbreak , but not for Trump , who considers himself an expert @ @ @ @ @ @ @ no interest in the drug , does n't own it but , `` If it works it would be great . ''
Yes , it would be great , but it does n't work .
Trump then said other countries ( Turkey ? )
are using it and are bragging about it .
The Fox co-host then cut in to help Trump off his ledge of incompetence .
He filled in the blanks Donald was leaving behind , and interjected that `` The President '' is putting his real hopes and dreams on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ again demonstrated his unwillingness to listen to his experts and his unwillingness to spew his feelings over reality .
Trump said , `` Oh , I think we 're going to have a vaccine by the end of the ( year ) -- `` Now the doctors would say well you should n't say that .
I 'll say what I think , '' he said .
Saying `` what he thinks '' with no proof on unproven treatments during a pandemic is criminal .
He just f**king caused mass hysteria when went @ @ @ @ @ @ @ promoting the idea of injecting disinfectants into your body to kill the coronavirus .
And Trump had the nerve to say .
`` We do n't lose anything With hydroxy .
It 's been out there , Bret , '' To justify himself he said , `` It 's been out there for so many years then they start doing the false `` reports '' Trump continued his misinformation response with very little push back from the two Fox News hosts and even said doctors do n't want to see hydroxychloroquine work .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ defense of Hydroxychloroquine .
`` It 's been used for numerous things , '' he said ... .
People are n't dying from it.. '' Baier cut in and said , `` Obviously doctors were involved there and they -- `` Trump interrupted .
`` Yeah , and they do n't want to see a good result and that 's very sad . ''
Yeah , there 's a new conspiracy within our medical professionals who are trying to treat and cure a pandemic , but who much rather would lie to see @ @ @ @ @ @ @ thousands of US lives .

During his Fox News "town hall" on Sunday, Trump said that he had "nothing to lose" by promoting the untested and unproved anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine, his phony solution for Coronavirus.
He didn't mention how his "bleach injections, UV light and disinfectant" approach was working out for him though.
In the most ridiculous looking set of any presidential town hall ever...
I can't stop laughing. The forced perspective makes Trump look 30% smaller than Brett Baier and Martha MacCallum. It's like hobbit Biff. pic.twitter.com/3QElsMUdjK — Bob Cesca (@bobcesca_go) May 4, 2020
...co-host Bret Baier brought up his never-ending promotions of hydroxychloroquine.
Trump jumped in and said energetically, "I still do," as if this was the sanctioned United States official treatment to COVID-19.
Donald claimed he received three calls from people who took his snake oil and said they were doing very well because of it. This is the Trump friend "Manny Peeples" that Trump quotes constantly.
Manny Peeples is the greatest American who never existed. — driftglass (@Mr_Electrico) March 13, 2019
As his monologue went on. Trump's addled brain switched midstream and he began attacking the Democrats.
It was an obvious and failed pivot away from his ludicrous promotion of an untested medication.
"Democrats would rather see people, I'm gonna be very nice -- I'm not going to say die ( he just said it!) I'm going to say would rather see people not get well big because they think I'm going to get credit if hydroxychloroquine works," he said.
This pompous man, as usual, is more concerned with his poll numbers than the health of the American people.
Doctors DO NOT prescribe medications that haven't been tested and approved, This holds true especially during a highly contagious virus outbreak, but not for Trump, who considers himself an expert in everything.
He said he has no interest in the drug, doesn't own it but, "If it works it would be great."
Yes, it would be great, but it doesn't work.
Trump then said other countries (Turkey?) are using it and are bragging about it.
The Fox co-host then cut in to help Trump off his ledge of incompetence. He filled in the blanks Donald was leaving behind, and interjected that "The President" is putting his real hopes and dreams on the vaccine being developed fast.
Trump again demonstrated his unwillingness to listen to his experts and his unwillingness to spew his feelings over reality.
Trump said, "Oh, I think we're going to have a vaccine by the end of the (year) -- "Now the doctors would say well you shouldn't say that. I'll say what I think," he said.
Saying "what he thinks" with no proof on unproven treatments during a pandemic is criminal.
He just f**king caused mass hysteria when went off into the realm of madness by promoting the idea of injecting disinfectants into your body to kill the coronavirus.
And Trump had the nerve to say. "We don't lose anything With hydroxy. It's been out there, Bret,"
To justify himself he said, "It's been out there for so many years then they start doing the false "reports"
No f**king sh*t.
Trump continued his misinformation response with very little push back from the two Fox News hosts and even said doctors don't want to see hydroxychloroquine work.
Really he did.
Trump continued his defense of Hydroxychloroquine. "It's been used for numerous things," he said.... People aren't dying from it.."
Baier cut in and said, "Obviously doctors were involved there and they -- "
Trump interrupted. "Yeah, and they don't want to see a good result and that's very sad."
Yeah, there's a new conspiracy within our medical professionals who are trying to treat and cure a pandemic, but who much rather would lie to see Trump lose the election, than save thousands of US lives.


crooksandliars--2020-05-04--Stupid Things Trump Said: 'I'm Treated Worse Than Lincoln'

Donald Trump 's Fox News virtual `` town hall '' featured this gem , where a MAGA fan BEGGED Donald to please stop being a complete a-hole at his press conferences because it 's beneath the office .
Really .
Carolyn Perkins asked the following via remote call-in video : President Trump , my husband and I thank you , your family and your staff for your great dedication to our country .
We pray for you every day .
The question I have is about your manner of presentation .
Why do you use descriptive words that could be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ you not directly answer the questions asked by the press , but instead speak of past successes and generally ramble ?
The U.S.A. needs you .
Please let go of those behaviors that are turning people away from you .
Please hold onto your wonderful attributes that make you our great leader and let go of other characteristics that do not serve you .
Stable Genius took the praise and prayers , pivoted to whining about how he was treated worse than Lincoln , and then brain fart , started bragging about the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in Palm Beach ( of course ) .
STABLE GENIUS : Good .
I think I like that question .
I ’ m not sure , but I think I like that question .
I appreciate it .
I appreciate the prayers too very much .
Look , I am greeted with a hostile press , the likes of which no President has ever seen .
The closest would be that gentleman right up there .
( Points to statue of Lincoln . )
They always said , Lincoln , nobody had got @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I am treated worse .
You ’ re there , you see those press conferences .
They come at me with questions that are disgraceful , to be honest , disgraceful , their manner of presentation and their words .
And I feel that if I was kind to them , I ’ d be walked off the stage .
I mean , they come at you with the most horrible , horrendous biased questions and you see it .
94 or 95 % of the press is hostile .
And yet , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ we had hundreds and hundreds of boats going up and down the Intracoastal , Trump , Trump .
We have tremendous support , but the media , they might as well be in the Democrat party .
Fanatical Confederate Monument Defender Donald Trump [ sat ] with a couple of henchmen defiling the Lincoln Memorial .
I swear , before he is dragged from office , President Cornered Rat will lumber over to The National Archives and demand that they hand over the Bill of Rights so that he can Sharpie in a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with the part he does n't like .
For Freedumb !

Donald Trump's Fox News virtual "town hall" featured this gem, where a MAGA fan BEGGED Donald to please stop being a complete a-hole at his press conferences because it's beneath the office. Really.
Transcript via Rev.com:
Carolyn Perkins asked the following via remote call-in video:
President Trump, my husband and I thank you, your family and your staff for your great dedication to our country. We pray for you every day. The question I have is about your manner of presentation. Why do you use descriptive words that could be classified as bullying, and why do you not directly answer the questions asked by the press, but instead speak of past successes and generally ramble? The U.S.A. needs you. Please let go of those behaviors that are turning people away from you. Please hold onto your wonderful attributes that make you our great leader and let go of other characteristics that do not serve you.
Stable Genius took the praise and prayers, pivoted to whining about how he was treated worse than Lincoln, and then brain fart, started bragging about the Trump MAGA boat show going on yesterday in Palm Beach (of course).
STABLE GENIUS: Good. I think I like that question. I’m not sure, but I think I like that question. I appreciate it. I appreciate the prayers too very much. Look, I am greeted with a hostile press, the likes of which no President has ever seen. The closest would be that gentleman right up there. (Points to statue of Lincoln.) They always said, Lincoln, nobody had got treated worse than Lincoln. I believe I am treated worse. You’re there, you see those press conferences. They come at me with questions that are disgraceful, to be honest, disgraceful, their manner of presentation and their words. And I feel that if I was kind to them, I’d be walked off the stage. I mean, they come at you with the most horrible, horrendous biased questions and you see it. 94 or 95% of the press is hostile. And yet, if you look in Florida today, we had hundreds and hundreds of boats going up and down the Intracoastal, Trump, Trump. We have tremendous support, but the media, they might as well be in the Democrat party.
Driftglass described the town hall perfectly:
Fanatical Confederate Monument Defender Donald Trump [sat] with a couple of henchmen defiling the Lincoln Memorial. I swear, before he is dragged from office, President Cornered Rat will lumber over to The National Archives and demand that they hand over the Bill of Rights so that he can Sharpie in a few more amendments and wipe his ass with the part he doesn't like. For Freedumb!


crooksandliars--2020-05-04--Fifty Years Later, Gunfire At Kent State Still Echoes

Mary Ann Vecchio kneels over the body of the student Jeffrey Miller , who was killed by Ohio National Guard troops during an antiwar demonstration at Kent State University on May 4 , 1970 .
Michael Winship is the Schumann Senior Writing Fellow for Common Dreams .
Previously , he was the Emmy Award-winning senior writer for Moyers & Company and BillMoyers.com , a past senior writing fellow at the policy and advocacy group Demos , and former president of the Writers Guild of America East .
Follow him on Twitter : @ MichaelWinship There are certain events in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ there ’ s a significant anniversary .
The assassination of President Kennedy , 9/11 , the moon landing , even Woodstock—these are iconic milestones we think are worthy of remembrance and reflection—especially because so many of us experienced them together .
In 2025 , assuming the world is still around , we ’ ll be noting the fifth anniversary of COVID-19 in America , mourning the dead and recalling how so many of us pulled together in the face of adversity—despite the appalling and inhuman behavior of our pathetic president manqué .
Not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of ignorance and woeful governance , Trump has endorsed the defiant unthinking acts of those who would put the rest of us in jeopardy—all in the name of a twisted sense of freedom .
But this week , in the midst of a still burning pandemic and shrill demands for a return to normalcy , we mark the 50th anniversary of the killings at Kent State University in Ohio .
Some of what you ’ ll read below may seem familiar ; I ’ ve written about this before .
But in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and certainly something borrowed here and there , bear with me : I was a freshman at Georgetown University in Washington when it happened , half a century ago on May 4 .
Most of us did n't know what had taken place until late in the day .
We were in class or studying for finals , so hours went by until my friends and I heard the news .
On that warm spring Monday , the Ohio National Guard had opened fire on an anti-war demonstration at Kent State University .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ of ammo left four students dead and nine others wounded .
It took a while to sink in .
This was the sort of thing that happened in South American dictatorships—student protestors gunned down for speaking out against the government .
Not here .
Then I remembered that some of my high school classmates were at Kent State , a campus fewer than 250 miles from my upstate New York hometown .
But I had no phone numbers for them ; there was no immediate way to find out if they were safe @ @ @ @ @ @ @ faraway days before 24-hour cable news , Internet and social media , the details were hazy and slow in coming .
That night , friends huddled around the tiny TV I had in my room—one of those early Sony tummy tubes with a fuzzy , black and white picture the size of your hand .
With each sketchy report , anger and frustration grew but did n't start to boil over until , believe it or not , The Tonight Show came on after the 11 o'clock news .
Johnny Carson 's guest @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Hope , a staunch defender of the Vietnam war , launched into his standard routine those days—lots of jokes about long-haired hippies and smelly anti-war demonstrators—the half-dozen kids crowded into my tiny dorm space were furious .
On this of all nights , how could he be so heavy-handed and clueless to trot out those tired one-liners about , well , us ?
By the next morning , groups of students gathered around the campus taking about Kent State and the events leading up to the killings .
A few days before , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Cambodia , justifying the so-called `` incursion '' as necessary to protect our troops in Vietnam .
Kent State had been just one of many schools where protests had erupted after his announcement .
Now , after the deaths there , we wondered what would happen next .
A crowded meeting in the school 's main assembly hall that night lasted well into the next day , filled with the earnest bombast of callow youth and plans of action that ranged from Do Nothing 101 to Advanced Anarchy .
The bookstore 's stock @ @ @ @ @ @ @ scooped them up and stenciled defiant red fists on the backs .
By mid-week , two parallel strategies emerged : a national strike would shut down the country 's colleges and universities—as a protest and to give students the freedom to devote all their time to mobilizing against the war .
And there would be a massive rally in Washington , DC , on Saturday , May 9 .
As did approximately 450 American schools , the Georgetown administration yielded to the strike .
We were given the option to finish finals or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the semester .
We used the time going to Capitol Hill trying to see our hometown members of Congress to let our opposition to the war be known , then turned our attention to the big Saturday rally .
Because we were already in DC , much of the logistics fell to us and the other colleges in town .
I volunteered to be a rally marshal , directing crowds and hoping to prevent violence .
On the main campus lawn , we were given a crash medical course in how to cope @ @ @ @ @ @ @ broken bones and even gunshot wounds .
At breakfast early Saturday morning , with an overdose of macho-infected concern , we told our girlfriends to stay away from the rally .
There might be trouble , we warned , acting as if we were about to join the Underground in occupied France .
Instead , we suggested they go to the protest headquarters to help out .
As it turned out , they wound up in greater danger than we were—a small group of neo-Nazis attacked the rally offices .
Luckily , no @ @ @ @ @ @ @ me , I was issued a powder-blue cloth armband and stood with other marshals on the periphery of the 100,000-person rally , enjoying a lovely sunny day .
For its protection , the White House nearby had been ringed with DC Transit buses parked nose to tail .
Nothing happened until late in the day , when an army water truck came barreling toward us and we linked hands , as if somehow that would ward it off .
Luckily , the truck veered away just before it reached our paltry line of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reported that the vehicle had been hijacked by Yippies and was last seen barreling across a Potomac River bridge into the wilds of Virginia .
And then it was over .
That night , rumors spread that police were going to clear out groups of out-of-town demonstrators camped out in Potomac Park near the monuments .
We were told the protesters would flee to the college campuses .
We stayed up all night waiting to take them in , but it never happened .
The following Friday , May 15 , National Guardsmen @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at Jackson State University in Mississippi .
Two more students were killed and 12 wounded , but with nowhere near the attention Kent State received .
The kids at Jackson State were black .
Sadly , the mobilization that was supposed to continue with the close of school fizzled out .
Most Georgetown students took advantage of the early end of the semester to indulgently bask in the sun and play on the lawn , or simply go home .
A friend wrote an editorial in one of the campus newspapers headlined , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of us trying to keep the protests alive were annoyed by his words mocking the abandonment of commitment , but in the end he was more right than wrong .
Once the impetus of the big rally was over , motivation vanished except for those few who kept organizing and agitating .
The other kids went back to being kids .
The war retreated , out of sight , out of mind , especially for those with a draft lottery number sufficiently high to keep them from being shipped out to southeast Asia @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
There would be other rallies and marches , countless petitions , even more violence .
But the Vietnam war dragged on for another five bloody and futile years .
Now , as The Philadelphia Inquirer ’ s Will Bunch observes , “ [ I ] n many ways , the gunshots still echo in 2020 .
It ’ s no accident that in the months immediately after Kent State , business leaders and other conservatives began looking for ways to quash liberal thinking on campus and counteract it with the conservative web @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Fox News .
Right-wing pols cut funding for public universities like Kent State , helping to send tuition skyrocketing and making college more about careerism and less about such dangerous ideas .
And a dog-eat-dog economy forced young America to comply with that .
“ But the greatest impact was largely psychic—the shock and cynicism that the government was capable of gunning down its own youth .
And that no one—not the Guardsman or their higher-ups—would ever be held to account for the massacre.
” Because of the protests and student strike in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fewer college graduation ceremonies .
Now , five decades later , because of the pandemic , hardly any commencement exercises will take place except online .
The joyful ritual so sacred to the halls of ivy will have to be conveyed via YouTube and Zoom—unless you ’ re one of the thousand cadets being dragged back to West Point for a combined quarantine and commencement so Donald Trump can address you in person and boost his ego and reelection campaign .
Even a big concert and commemoration of the anniversary at Kent State @ @ @ @ @ @ @ new reality .
In fact , COVID-19 has forced the very nature of protest—which has exploded since Trump ’ s inauguration in 2017— to be reevaluated .
Yes , some rightwing knuckleheads , many with firearms , are taking to the streets demanding businesses be reopened and insisting on a restoration of creature comforts they ’ ve been denied—exposing themselves and the rest of us to further sickness and death .
But for the majority , marches and lobbying face-to-face for good causes just can not safely take place .
“ Traditional protests @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” David Weigel noted in The Washington Post .
“ Politicians are quarantined .
Legislative chambers are empty .
That has sent organizers searching for new tactics and temporarily has deprived activists of their most powerful , visible tools — right when state and federal governments are moving billions of dollars around.
” Micah L. Sifry writes in The New Republic , “ We are entering a new era , of politics without bodies , of empty auditoriums and virtual voting… Looking ahead , we need to think bigger about how we ‘ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ remapping old political functions onto digital formats.
” Meanwhile , despite it all , this weekend in my West Village neighborhood in downtown Manhattan , too many young , well-off and entitled thought about none of this and celebrated the first warm sunny weekend of May by refusing to wear masks , crowding the sidewalks and parks , ignoring social distancing .
Talk to anybody who has really been slammed by this virus , anyone who has survived the horrific fever , debilitating pain and exhaustion , and they will tell you : @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have this highly infectious disease .
Do whatever it takes to keep it from happening to you or anyone else .
Unfortunately , in my neighborhood , all too similar to those days not long after the tragedy of Kent State , self-indulgence once again reared its sleek and shiny head .
The Frisbees were flying .

Mary Ann Vecchio kneels over the body of the student Jeffrey Miller, who was killed by Ohio National Guard troops during an antiwar demonstration at Kent State University on May 4, 1970.
Michael Winship is the Schumann Senior Writing Fellow for Common Dreams. Previously, he was the Emmy Award-winning senior writer for Moyers & Company and BillMoyers.com, a past senior writing fellow at the policy and advocacy group Demos, and former president of the Writers Guild of America East. Follow him on Twitter: @MichaelWinship
There are certain events in the life of the nation we revisit whenever there’s a significant anniversary. The assassination of President Kennedy, 9/11, the moon landing, even Woodstock—these are iconic milestones we think are worthy of remembrance and reflection—especially because so many of us experienced them together.
In 2025, assuming the world is still around, we’ll be noting the fifth anniversary of COVID-19 in America, mourning the dead and recalling how so many of us pulled together in the face of adversity—despite the appalling and inhuman behavior of our pathetic president manqué. Not only has he displayed a stupefying degree of ignorance and woeful governance, Trump has endorsed the defiant unthinking acts of those who would put the rest of us in jeopardy—all in the name of a twisted sense of freedom.
But this week, in the midst of a still burning pandemic and shrill demands for a return to normalcy, we mark the 50th anniversary of the killings at Kent State University in Ohio. Some of what you’ll read below may seem familiar; I’ve written about this before. But in the spirit of something old, something new and certainly something borrowed here and there, bear with me:
I was a freshman at Georgetown University in Washington when it happened, half a century ago on May 4. Most of us didn't know what had taken place until late in the day. We were in class or studying for finals, so hours went by until my friends and I heard the news. On that warm spring Monday, the Ohio National Guard had opened fire on an anti-war demonstration at Kent State University. In just thirteen seconds, 67 rounds of ammo left four students dead and nine others wounded.
It took a while to sink in. This was the sort of thing that happened in South American dictatorships—student protestors gunned down for speaking out against the government. Not here.
Then I remembered that some of my high school classmates were at Kent State, a campus fewer than 250 miles from my upstate New York hometown. But I had no phone numbers for them; there was no immediate way to find out if they were safe (they were).
In those faraway days before 24-hour cable news, Internet and social media, the details were hazy and slow in coming. That night, friends huddled around the tiny TV I had in my room—one of those early Sony tummy tubes with a fuzzy, black and white picture the size of your hand. With each sketchy report, anger and frustration grew but didn't start to boil over until, believe it or not, The Tonight Show came on after the 11 o'clock news.
Johnny Carson's guest was comedian Bob Hope, and when Hope, a staunch defender of the Vietnam war, launched into his standard routine those days—lots of jokes about long-haired hippies and smelly anti-war demonstrators—the half-dozen kids crowded into my tiny dorm space were furious. On this of all nights, how could he be so heavy-handed and clueless to trot out those tired one-liners about, well, us?
By the next morning, groups of students gathered around the campus taking about Kent State and the events leading up to the killings. A few days before, President Nixon had revealed the invasion of Cambodia, justifying the so-called "incursion" as necessary to protect our troops in Vietnam. Kent State had been just one of many schools where protests had erupted after his announcement. Now, after the deaths there, we wondered what would happen next.
A crowded meeting in the school's main assembly hall that night lasted well into the next day, filled with the earnest bombast of callow youth and plans of action that ranged from Do Nothing 101 to Advanced Anarchy. The bookstore's stock of Georgetown t-shirts sold out as kids scooped them up and stenciled defiant red fists on the backs.
By mid-week, two parallel strategies emerged: a national strike would shut down the country's colleges and universities—as a protest and to give students the freedom to devote all their time to mobilizing against the war. And there would be a massive rally in Washington, DC, on Saturday, May 9.
As did approximately 450 American schools, the Georgetown administration yielded to the strike. We were given the option to finish finals or take the grades we already had for the semester. We used the time going to Capitol Hill trying to see our hometown members of Congress to let our opposition to the war be known, then turned our attention to the big Saturday rally. Because we were already in DC, much of the logistics fell to us and the other colleges in town.
I volunteered to be a rally marshal, directing crowds and hoping to prevent violence. On the main campus lawn, we were given a crash medical course in how to cope with dehydration, tear gas attacks, broken bones and even gunshot wounds.
At breakfast early Saturday morning, with an overdose of macho-infected concern, we told our girlfriends to stay away from the rally. There might be trouble, we warned, acting as if we were about to join the Underground in occupied France. Instead, we suggested they go to the protest headquarters to help out. As it turned out, they wound up in greater danger than we were—a small group of neo-Nazis attacked the rally offices. Luckily, no one was seriously hurt.
As for me, I was issued a powder-blue cloth armband and stood with other marshals on the periphery of the 100,000-person rally, enjoying a lovely sunny day. For its protection, the White House nearby had been ringed with DC Transit buses parked nose to tail.
Nothing happened until late in the day, when an army water truck came barreling toward us and we linked hands, as if somehow that would ward it off. Luckily, the truck veered away just before it reached our paltry line of defense. The next day's paper reported that the vehicle had been hijacked by Yippies and was last seen barreling across a Potomac River bridge into the wilds of Virginia.
And then it was over. That night, rumors spread that police were going to clear out groups of out-of-town demonstrators camped out in Potomac Park near the monuments. We were told the protesters would flee to the college campuses. We stayed up all night waiting to take them in, but it never happened.
The following Friday, May 15, National Guardsmen and police fired more than 460 shots at Jackson State University in Mississippi. Two more students were killed and 12 wounded, but with nowhere near the attention Kent State received. The kids at Jackson State were black.
Sadly, the mobilization that was supposed to continue with the close of school fizzled out. Most Georgetown students took advantage of the early end of the semester to indulgently bask in the sun and play on the lawn, or simply go home.
A friend wrote an editorial in one of the campus newspapers headlined, "The Frisbee Revolution." Those of us trying to keep the protests alive were annoyed by his words mocking the abandonment of commitment, but in the end he was more right than wrong. Once the impetus of the big rally was over, motivation vanished except for those few who kept organizing and agitating. The other kids went back to being kids. The war retreated, out of sight, out of mind, especially for those with a draft lottery number sufficiently high to keep them from being shipped out to southeast Asia, even after their student deferments ended.
There would be other rallies and marches, countless petitions, even more violence. But the Vietnam war dragged on for another five bloody and futile years.
Now, as The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Will Bunch observes, “[I]n many ways, the gunshots still echo in 2020. It’s no accident that in the months immediately after Kent State, business leaders and other conservatives began looking for ways to quash liberal thinking on campus and counteract it with the conservative web of noise that became talk radio and Fox News. Right-wing pols cut funding for public universities like Kent State, helping to send tuition skyrocketing and making college more about careerism and less about such dangerous ideas. And a dog-eat-dog economy forced young America to comply with that.
“But the greatest impact was largely psychic—the shock and cynicism that the government was capable of gunning down its own youth. And that no one—not the Guardsman or their higher-ups—would ever be held to account for the massacre.”
Because of the protests and student strike in 1970, that year there were far fewer college graduation ceremonies. Now, five decades later, because of the pandemic, hardly any commencement exercises will take place except online. The joyful ritual so sacred to the halls of ivy will have to be conveyed via YouTube and Zoom—unless you’re one of the thousand cadets being dragged back to West Point for a combined quarantine and commencement so Donald Trump can address you in person and boost his ego and reelection campaign. Even a big concert and commemoration of the anniversary at Kent State have had to be reshaped for the new reality.
In fact, COVID-19 has forced the very nature of protest—which has exploded since Trump’s inauguration in 2017— to be reevaluated. Yes, some rightwing knuckleheads, many with firearms, are taking to the streets demanding businesses be reopened and insisting on a restoration of creature comforts they’ve been denied—exposing themselves and the rest of us to further sickness and death. But for the majority, marches and lobbying face-to-face for good causes just cannot safely take place.
“Traditional protests are now violations of stay-at-home orders,” David Weigel noted in The Washington Post. “Politicians are quarantined. Legislative chambers are empty. That has sent organizers searching for new tactics and temporarily has deprived activists of their most powerful, visible tools — right when state and federal governments are moving billions of dollars around.”
Micah L. Sifry writes in The New Republic, “We are entering a new era, of politics without bodies, of empty auditoriums and virtual voting… Looking ahead, we need to think bigger about how we ‘do’ virtual politics together, beyond remapping old political functions onto digital formats.”
Meanwhile, despite it all, this weekend in my West Village neighborhood in downtown Manhattan, too many young, well-off and entitled thought about none of this and celebrated the first warm sunny weekend of May by refusing to wear masks, crowding the sidewalks and parks, ignoring social distancing.
Talk to anybody who has really been slammed by this virus, anyone who has survived the horrific fever, debilitating pain and exhaustion, and they will tell you: the last thing you want is to have this highly infectious disease. Do whatever it takes to keep it from happening to you or anyone else.
Unfortunately, in my neighborhood, all too similar to those days not long after the tragedy of Kent State, self-indulgence once again reared its sleek and shiny head. The Frisbees were flying.
Republished from Common Dreams under a Creative Commons License.


crooksandliars--2020-05-04--Reality Check On Pandemic Aid To States: Aren't Red States The Freeloaders?

John Avlon had a lot to say about Mitch McConnell 's shot across the bow to blue states .
`` In the last six weeks , more Americans have died of coronavirus than were killed in the Vietnam war .
While 30 million people have lost their jobs .
Talk about American carnage .
The president 's son-in-law thinks they all deserve a trophy , '' Avlon said .
JARED KUSHNER : This is a great success story and I think that that 's really what needs to be told .
`` But that was n't the worst idea in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ COVID deaths , decimated tax bases , skyrocketing unemployment , struggling to pay cops , firefighters , teachers , pensions and jobless claims , Mitch McConnell floated the idea of letting states go bankrupt . ''
McCONNELL : My guess is their first choice would be for the federal government to borrow money from future generations , that 's not something I 'm going to be in favor of .
`` But McConnell presided over massive growth in the deficit and the debt before the pandemic hit , courtesy of the Trump tax @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Now it 's much worse with the federal debt projected to exceed 100 % of GDP .
Then there 's this fact .
States ca n't declare bankruptcy under federal law .
It can only default .
It 's not like Trump and his businesses declaring bankruptcy after making bad bets in Atlantic City , which is probably why Governor Cuomo called it : He 's making it look like there 's some blue state/red state thing here .
Everybody is united in saying in order for us to survive , we @ @ @ @ @ @ @ will .
`` McConnell 's also pushing an old stereotype that happens to be completely wrong .
Let 's look at the facts .
New York state puts nearly $ 22 billion more each year into the federal government to terms of taxes than it takes out .
McConnell 's Kentucky gets $ 45 billion more from the federal government than it gives .
So no matter what McConnell says , could it be the red state are bigger freeloaders than the blue states when it comes to federal funds ?
`` While @ @ @ @ @ @ @ worst idea in Washington , Donald Trump said 'hold my beer , ' instead talking about tying state relief to amending so-called 'sanctuary city ' provisions .
`` Now , here 's the thing .
One of the reasons sanctuary city provisions exist is to help contain a public health crisis like the one we 're in now .
Follow the logic here .
If undocumented immigrants are afraid to go to the hospital , the disease outbreak in a city will get much worse because it would be identified much later .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ Trump train , he would n't have declared workers in meat-packing plants essential workers just a few short months after ICE raids to get many of those same workers deported .
But if your immigration policies are being engineered by a White House adviser who backs up his arguments with white supremacist websites , even pandemics provide an opportunity to push through a partisan agenda .
`` And that 's your reality check . ''

John Avlon had a lot to say about Mitch McConnell's shot across the bow to blue states.
"In the last six weeks, more Americans have died of coronavirus than were killed in the Vietnam war. While 30 million people have lost their jobs. Talk about American carnage. The president's son-in-law thinks they all deserve a trophy," Avlon said.
JARED KUSHNER: This is a great success story and I think that that's really what needs to be told.
"But that wasn't the worst idea in Washington recently. With states reeling from COVID deaths, decimated tax bases, skyrocketing unemployment, struggling to pay cops, firefighters, teachers, pensions and jobless claims, Mitch McConnell floated the idea of letting states go bankrupt."
McCONNELL: My guess is their first choice would be for the federal government to borrow money from future generations, that's not something I'm going to be in favor of.
"But McConnell presided over massive growth in the deficit and the debt before the pandemic hit, courtesy of the Trump tax cut to many businesses getting big bailouts. Now it's much worse with the federal debt projected to exceed 100% of GDP. Then there's this fact. States can't declare bankruptcy under federal law. It can only default. It's not like Trump and his businesses declaring bankruptcy after making bad bets in Atlantic City, which is probably why Governor Cuomo called it:
It's a really dumb idea.
"And Speaker Nancy Pelosi said :
He's making it look like there's some blue state/red state thing here. Everybody is united in saying in order for us to survive, we need to have these resources and they will.
"McConnell's also pushing an old stereotype that happens to be completely wrong. Let's look at the facts. New York state puts nearly $22 billion more each year into the federal government to terms of taxes than it takes out. McConnell's Kentucky gets $45 billion more from the federal government than it gives. So no matter what McConnell says, could it be the red state are bigger freeloaders than the blue states when it comes to federal funds?
"While McConnell's been trying to win the worst idea in Washington, Donald Trump said 'hold my beer,' instead talking about tying state relief to amending so-called 'sanctuary city' provisions.
"Now, here's the thing. One of the reasons sanctuary city provisions exist is to help contain a public health crisis like the one we're in now. Follow the logic here. If undocumented immigrants are afraid to go to the hospital, the disease outbreak in a city will get much worse because it would be identified much later.
"But if logic were driving the Trump train, he wouldn't have declared workers in meat-packing plants essential workers just a few short months after ICE raids to get many of those same workers deported. But if your immigration policies are being engineered by a White House adviser who backs up his arguments with white supremacist websites, even pandemics provide an opportunity to push through a partisan agenda.
"And that's your reality check."


crooksandliars--2020-05-04--Scarborough: 'You're Not Well,' Tells Trump He Should Let Pence Fill In For Him

Donald Trump started the day with this : Joe Scarborough responded by saying he understood that Trump did n't want to hear about the impending second wave of the pandemic .
`` Obviously , Donald , you did n't want to hear that again .
I know I 've been saying it a lot .
You actually tweeted something extraordinarily cruel .
I know you meant to be extraordinarily cruel to me by attacking me , by bringing up a conspiracy theory that has lived in the gutters of the internet for some time now .
`` But just like @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pushed by your allies , you do n't understand the pain you cause , you cause to families who have already lost a loved one .
Not me .
Not my children .
Not anybody that knows me or -- they know the truth .
You , once again , drag a family through this and make them relive it again , just like Seth Rich 's parents .
As if losing a loved one the first time is n't enough . ''
( An autopsy showed a former staffer collapsed due to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fatal blow to the head as she fell . )
`` But this weekend , my God , you were supposed to have a working weekend .
You got it wrong again .
You said 50,000 , 60,000 .
Now you said 100,000 deaths .
What did you do during your working weekend ? ''
He listed all the people Trump attacked this weekend , including former president George W. Bush .
`` You attacked George W. Bush for simply sending out a unifying message , to give Americans hope .
He said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ positive things about health care workers .
He said positive things about this country .
He said , 'We choose to rise . '
Even that offended you . ''
`` Mr. President , I ask that you get checked out .
I ask that you take a rest .
I ask that you take care of yourself .
Maybe let Mike Pence run things for the next week .
You 're not well .
Let Mike Pence work with Dr. Fauci , work with Dr. Birx , '' he said .
He @ @ @ @ @ @ @ country , and for the Republican party .
`` Mr. President , you 're getting worse every day .
You need to take a rest .
You need to let Mike Pence actually run things for the next couple of weeks .
Come back when you 're feeling a little better and when you can really actually focus on your job .
You just ca n't do that right now .
`` Americans are dying every day because of it . ''
Brilliant .
Trump 's blood pressure must be in the red @ @ @ @

Donald Trump started the day with this:
“Concast” should open up a long overdue Florida Cold Case against Psycho Joe Scarborough. I know him and Crazy Mika well, used them beautifully in the last Election, dumped them nicely, and will state on the record that he is “nuts”. Besides, bad ratings! #OPENJOECOLDCASE — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 4, 2020
Joe Scarborough responded by saying he understood that Trump didn't want to hear about the impending second wave of the pandemic.
"Obviously, Donald, you didn't want to hear that again. I know I've been saying it a lot. You actually tweeted something extraordinarily cruel. I know you meant to be extraordinarily cruel to me by attacking me, by bringing up a conspiracy theory that has lived in the gutters of the internet for some time now.
"But just like the Seth Rich conspiracy murder that was pushed by your allies, you don't understand the pain you cause, you cause to families who have already lost a loved one. Not me. Not my children. Not anybody that knows me or -- they know the truth. You, once again, drag a family through this and make them relive it again, just like Seth Rich's parents. As if losing a loved one the first time isn't enough." (An autopsy showed a former staffer collapsed due to an undiagnosed heart condition and suffered a fatal blow to the head as she fell.)
"But this weekend, my God, you were supposed to have a working weekend. You got it wrong again. You said 50,000, 60,000. Now you said 100,000 deaths. What did you do during your working weekend?"
He listed all the people Trump attacked this weekend, including former president George W. Bush.
"You attacked George W. Bush for simply sending out a unifying message, to give Americans hope. He said positive things about Americans. He said positive things about health care workers. He said positive things about this country. He said, 'We choose to rise.' Even that offended you."
He said Trump needed a break.
"Mr. President, I ask that you get checked out. I ask that you take a rest. I ask that you take care of yourself. Maybe let Mike Pence run things for the next week. You're not well. Let Mike Pence work with Dr. Fauci, work with Dr. Birx," he said. He said it would be best for the country, and for the Republican party.
He repeated his advice.
"Mr. President, you're getting worse every day. You need to take a rest. You need to let Mike Pence actually run things for the next couple of weeks. Come back when you're feeling a little better and when you can really actually focus on your job. You just can't do that right now.
"Americans are dying every day because of it."
Brilliant. Trump's blood pressure must be in the red zone right now.


crooksandliars--2020-05-04--The Good News: Treatments And Vaccines Are Coming That Really Could Turn The Tide In 2020

Donald Trump has repeatedly said that he saw a “ light at the end of the tunnel ” when it comes to COVID-19 .
Unfortunately , Trump has been doing a lot of trainspotting .
His “ game changing ” drug hydroxychloroquine has proven to be not just ineffective , but genuinely harmful when given to patients suffering from COVID-19 .
Though Trump ’ s weeks of relentless drug pushing surely did raise the value of his personal investment into a company that makes the malaria treatment .
But while Trump ’ s drug is a deadly dud , there @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
One of those is the anti-viral remdesivir , which has demonstrated an ability to shorten the recovery time for some patients in critical condition .
Those trials have gone well enough that rules have been altered to make the drug the new standard of care for some COVID-19 patients .
But remdesivir isn ’ t the only drug showing promise , and out there on a horizon that may be much less than 18 months away , vaccines are starting to take shape .
When it comes to remdesivir , Anthony Fauci @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a clear-cut , significant , positive effect in diminishing the time to recovery.
” And those results came in a genuine medium-scale , random trial — meaning they ’ re enormously more important than the kind of observational “ we gave it to someone and they got better ” anecdotal reports about many potential treatments .
Skies are not entirely blue for the anti-viral .
First of all , it ’ s not clear that remdesivir reduces the fatality of COVID-19 .
In the study cited by Fauci , 8 % of those @ @ @ @ @ @ @ there was no statistically significant improvement over those not taking remdesivir .
Also , shortly after Fauci stood up to praise the drug , British medical journal The Lancet published another study from China in which remdesivir “ was not associated with a difference in time to clinical improvement ” and the trial was stopped early because some patients reported adverse effects and researchers had difficulty getting additional volunteers ( Note : This is the same report which was accidentally released in pre-print form , then withdrawn , by the World Health Organization @ @ @ @ @ @ @ you may really have heard it before ) .
Why such a difference in the two studies ?
Well , to start with there was a different in scale .
The U.S. trial included giving remdesivir to over 1,000 patients , while the Chinese trial had 158 .
Also , the Chinese study had limited access to patients at different stages of the disease .
Finally , there were differences in how and when the drug was administered , age-ranges of patients … there were a lot of differences .
All of this @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a global study being conducted as part of the “ Solidarity ” trials for COVID-19 treatments arranged by the WHO .
But in the meantime , the U.S. results are encouraging enough that the drug , originally developed as a treatment for Ebola , is likely to be widely used , at least in the United States .
Behind remdesivir is another antiviral called leronlimab .
The developer of the drug , CytoDyn , has reported ‘ impressive results ’ in a small trial of COVID-19 patients .
Leronlamab is interesting for two @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the mechanism through which viruses are able to reproduce themselves in human cells .
Second , it can supposedly block the overwhelming immune response known as a “ cytokine storm ” that were thought to be responsible for most deaths during the 1918 flu epidemic and are known to be involved in some COVID-19 deaths .
Being able to both fight the virus directly , and fight a potential cytokine storm is a big deal .
However , there are reasons Anthony Fauci isn ’ t yet standing up to make leronamib standard @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is promoting came from small-scale phase 1/2 trials in which only a total of around 25 patients have actually received the drug .
Second , though the fact that leronamib was developed as an HIV treatment ( and is being studied for use against metastatic breast cancer ) rather than for Ebola may make it seem like it might be available in greater quantities , but in fact it is still in clinical trials for use against HIV .
Finally , there have so far been few published results from the initial trials @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
In any case , the results from early trials of leronamib have been exciting enough that researchers have already jumped into a number of larger trials .
And , in part because clinical trials for leronamib with HIV have shown limited side effects , it ’ s being used on patients with mild or moderate symptoms in addition to those with severe forms of COVID-19 .
In other words , loronamib might turn out to be a treatment that is given broadly to anyone showing symptoms , rather than just those on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ emphasis on might .
But there do seem to be indications that general antivirals , like remdesivir and leronamib , can have an impact on COVID-19 .
And that ’ s a very good thing .
The way in which viruses work , by hijacking the mechanisms of the cells they invade , means that fighting them can be extremely difficult .
There is a reason there are many , many more antibiotics and antivirals .
Not every antiviral has proven effective against COVID-19 .
Part of the WHO Soldarity trials includes testing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ so far not demonstrated any positive results .
The same appears to be true when this interferon is added to the treatment .
When the first case of H1N1 flu was uncovered in a California hospital in April 2009 , the CDC kicked into high gear .
It developed a test within two weeks .
It deployed 25 % of the nation ’ s stockpile of protective gear and antivirals to the states before the first death .
Two days after that first death , the FDA announced that it had already secured @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for a vaccine .
That same day , test kits were available in every state .
On October 14 , the first 11 million doses of the vaccine became available .
That , people , is what a sound response by a fact-driven White House looks like .
In any case , since Donald Trump spent January , February , and early March splitting his time between the critical actives of golf and rallies , the schedule for when we might see a COVID-19 vaccine has often included the phrase “ 12 to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a frightening number of articles , not all of them clickbait , indicating that such a vaccine may never be available ( though really … such articles are 98 % clickbait ) .
So the news that Oxford University researchers had completed animal trials of a potential vaccine and were moving on to a large scale trial in humans was very ( x10 ) exciting .
And when some of those researchers indicated that the vaccine might be ready as soon as September , it became an announcement that generated a worldwide sigh @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has a lead is that it was already involved in coronavirus research and had already done some preliminary testing on a delivery mechanism showing that it could make coronavirus vaccines safely .
By grabbing genetic components of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and plugging them into their existing vaccine , the Oxford team took advantage of that research lead and convinced the British government to begin a trial that will involve over 6,000 people by the end of May .
That ’ s a large enough group that it should be a good test of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ its safety .
In fact , the biggest obstacle to the test is that researchers are not allowed , for very good reasons , to expose people to the virus on purpose .
So they have to wait for their volunteers to go out there and mingle with the virus-laden public , in hopes that some of them should get sick , but don ’ t .
Some of the researchers have even expressed concern that social distancing in the U.K. may even be effective enough to interfere with the trial .
Which @ @ @ @ @ @ @ distancing is effective .
Please , yes .
But selfishly , please not effective enough that they can ’ t compile good results .
In any case , it seems that the U.K. government may launch into the kind of pre-results vaccine manufacturing that the U.S. did in 2009 , which could make the first round of doses available in September .
It ’ s unlikely that the first batch would wash up on this side of the Atlantic , but any effective vaccine is a win and , assuming everything goes well @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this study before year ’ s end .
The Oxford news was exciting , but it ’ s far from the only team making progress toward a COVID-19 vaccine .
Chinese company SinoVac has also reported that their vaccine generates a strong immune response in monkeys and protects them from COVID-19 infection .
And in case you ’ re wondering a number of sad monkeys in the control groups , both at SinoVac and Oxford , did develop symptoms of disease .
Monkeys have not developed the most severe symptoms of COVID-19 seen @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a factor of how many monkeys have been tested , which is still only in double digits .
In any case , the results would seem to put the Chinese company on par with the Oxford study … except that SinoVac doesn ’ t have the years of product safety research to leverage .
Also , the number of monkeys in their test ( < 10 ) really suggests that this team needs to do more animal research before moving on to human trials .
The name SinoVac may not generate the kind @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ Oxford.
” But they are an experienced manufacturer of vaccines for both animals and people .
That includes being one of the companies with vaccines against H5N1 “ bird flu.
” Even so , there is not yet the kind of large scale testing that the Oxford group is conducting and SinoVac has already raised warning flags about their ability to manufacture vaccines in the kind of quantities needed for COVID-19 .
But SinoVac isn ’ t the only game in town .
Or at least , not the only game in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ underway from CanSino .
If SinoVac wasn ’ t all that reassuring , the fact that CanSino is conducting its research in partnership with both the Beijing Institute of Biotechnology and the Chinese Academy of Military Medical Sciences makes this one seem a little concerning , even for those not prone to leaping at every Evil China Virus conspiracy theory .
And for folks outside the ranks of Chinese military medical researchers , the phase 1 trials of CanSino ’ s vaccine have been somewhat opaque .
However , they apparently began work @ @ @ @ @ @ @ plans in mid-March to proceed to phase 2 trials and to move forward rapidly .
Hopefully , more details to come .
Another vaccine that has recently gotten some positive attention is the one being developed by German firms Pfizer Pharmaceuticals and BioNTech .
The reason this vaccine is getting special attention , including from the White House podium , is because it ’ s about to enter Phase 2 trials in the United States .
It ’ s already had very limited human trials in Germany , with 12 patients receiving doses @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The next phase will look at 200 healthy adults in the U.S. , with testing focusing on safety and appropriate dosage .
To support these tests , the FDA has kicked out a quartet of Emergency Use Authorizations that allow the partners to bypass some of the safety stages usually included in vaccine trials .
And , as with the Oxford vaccine and that H1N1 vaccine back in 2009 , Pfizer—the big manufacturing part of this partnership—seems prepared to being manufacturing vaccine even before all the results are in .
They ’ re @ @ @ @ @ @ @ doses as early as the Oxford team has indicated , but they could have hundreds of millions of doses available by the end of the year .
Again , that requires every possible thing to go right .
There could be safety concerns .
There could be negative responses .
The vaccine may flat out be ineffective , or effective for only a subset of the population .
For most drugs , the idea of some small amount of problems may be acceptable , but with a vaccine going out to a large @ @ @ @ @ @ @ doesn ’ t take that high a percentage of problems to generate calls for a do-over .
In the best of all possible worlds , the BioNTech vaccine is available before the end of the year , and the Oxford vaccine is available .
Because with any vaccine , there are sure to be reasons why it isn ’ t appropriate for some group .
And then there ’ s the American upstart in this arena .
If you watch this March 2 White House roundtable on COVID-19 , in which Trump meets @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the moment in which he is profoundly uninterested in a whole line of big American pharmaceutical execs promising a vaccine in a year … maybe two .
Then the CEO of biotech firm Moderna declares that he ’ s not just working on a vaccine , he ’ s already sent it to Anthony Fauci at the NIH .
Game over .
Thank you everyone for playing .
Of course , CEO Stephane Bancel then backs away a little as he mentions that it will take some time to get into phase two @ @ @ @ @ @ @ phase three .
And … basically , he ’ s laying out the same thing that all the other CEOs were saying when they talked about a year .
But Bancel did it in a way that definitely caught Trump ’ s attention and turned Moderna into the go-to hope for a fast vaccine .
So , two months later , how is that going ?
Well , the vaccine did enter limited phase 1 human testing in late March , but since then very little has been released on how the trials @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is announcements by Bancel that Moderna could begin production on vaccine in July and announcements that it has already licensed the vaccine to a European manufacturing partner .
That July date makes it seem that Moderna , whose whole “ encapsulated mRNA ” vaccine represents a fundamentally different approach than some competitors , might even beat the Oxford crew to your local pharmacy , but the details are a little less exciting .
Limited phase 2 trials are beginning in May .
Moderna doesn ’ t expect to have large phase 3 trials—like @ @ @ @ @ @ @ unspecified date in the fall .
Moderna could still get in under the wire with a 2020 vaccine .
If they begin manufacturing in July , they could be ready to roll as soon as results are in on the Phase 3 trial , and considering the eagerness for an answer , it would not at all be surprising to see a big White House announcement that this U.S. firm was coming to market with the world ’ s salvation … say , sometime around Mid-October , a couple of weeks before the @ @

Donald Trump has repeatedly said that he saw a “light at the end of the tunnel” when it comes to COVID-19. Unfortunately, Trump has been doing a lot of trainspotting. His “game changing” drug hydroxychloroquine has proven to be not just ineffective, but genuinely harmful when given to patients suffering from COVID-19. Though Trump’s weeks of relentless drug pushing surely did raise the value of his personal investment into a company that makes the malaria treatment.
But while Trump’s drug is a deadly dud, there are some genuine hopes on the horizon. One of those is the anti-viral remdesivir, which has demonstrated an ability to shorten the recovery time for some patients in critical condition. Those trials have gone well enough that rules have been altered to make the drug the new standard of care for some COVID-19 patients. But remdesivir isn’t the only drug showing promise, and out there on a horizon that may be much less than 18 months away, vaccines are starting to take shape.
REMDESIVIR
When it comes to remdesivir, Anthony Fauci has described the drug as bringing “a clear-cut, significant, positive effect in diminishing the time to recovery.” And those results came in a genuine medium-scale, random trial — meaning they’re enormously more important than the kind of observational “we gave it to someone and they got better” anecdotal reports about many potential treatments.
Skies are not entirely blue for the anti-viral. First of all, it’s not clear that remdesivir reduces the fatality of COVID-19. In the study cited by Fauci, 8% of those taking the drug still died, meaning there was no statistically significant improvement over those not taking remdesivir. Also, shortly after Fauci stood up to praise the drug, British medical journal The Lancet published another study from China in which remdesivir “was not associated with a difference in time to clinical improvement” and the trial was stopped early because some patients reported adverse effects and researchers had difficulty getting additional volunteers (Note: This is the same report which was accidentally released in pre-print form, then withdrawn, by the World Health Organization, so if that detail sounds familiar you may really have heard it before).
Why such a difference in the two studies? Well, to start with there was a different in scale. The U.S. trial included giving remdesivir to over 1,000 patients, while the Chinese trial had 158. Also, the Chinese study had limited access to patients at different stages of the disease. Finally, there were differences in how and when the drug was administered, age-ranges of patients … there were a lot of differences. All of this could be settled by the results of a global study being conducted as part of the “Solidarity” trials for COVID-19 treatments arranged by the WHO. But in the meantime, the U.S. results are encouraging enough that the drug, originally developed as a treatment for Ebola, is likely to be widely used, at least in the United States.
LERONLIMAB
Behind remdesivir is another antiviral called leronlimab. The developer of the drug, CytoDyn, has reported ‘impressive results’ in a small trial of COVID-19 patients. Leronlamab is interesting for two big reasons. One, it attacks the mechanism through which viruses are able to reproduce themselves in human cells. Second, it can supposedly block the overwhelming immune response known as a “cytokine storm” that were thought to be responsible for most deaths during the 1918 flu epidemic and are known to be involved in some COVID-19 deaths. Being able to both fight the virus directly, and fight a potential cytokine storm is a big deal.
However, there are reasons Anthony Fauci isn’t yet standing up to make leronamib standard treatment. First, the results CytoDyn is promoting came from small-scale phase 1/2 trials in which only a total of around 25 patients have actually received the drug. Second, though the fact that leronamib was developed as an HIV treatment (and is being studied for use against metastatic breast cancer) rather than for Ebola may make it seem like it might be available in greater quantities, but in fact it is still in clinical trials for use against HIV. Finally, there have so far been few published results from the initial trials that allows objective review of the results.
In any case, the results from early trials of leronamib have been exciting enough that researchers have already jumped into a number of larger trials. And, in part because clinical trials for leronamib with HIV have shown limited side effects, it’s being used on patients with mild or moderate symptoms in addition to those with severe forms of COVID-19. In other words, loronamib might turn out to be a treatment that is given broadly to anyone showing symptoms, rather than just those on the border of critical conditions. Big emphasis on might.
But there do seem to be indications that general antivirals, like remdesivir and leronamib, can have an impact on COVID-19. And that’s a very good thing. The way in which viruses work, by hijacking the mechanisms of the cells they invade, means that fighting them can be extremely difficult. There is a reason there are many, many more antibiotics and antivirals.
Not every antiviral has proven effective against COVID-19. Part of the WHO Soldarity trials includes testing HIV treatment lopinavir—ritonavir. These trials have so far not demonstrated any positive results. The same appears to be true when this interferon is added to the treatment.
OXFORD VACCINE
When the first case of H1N1 flu was uncovered in a California hospital in April 2009, the CDC kicked into high gear. It developed a test within two weeks. It deployed 25% of the nation’s stockpile of protective gear and antivirals to the states before the first death. Two days after that first death, the FDA announced that it had already secured a facility to begin growing seed materials for a vaccine. That same day, test kits were available in every state. On October 14, the first 11 million doses of the vaccine became available.
That, people, is what a sound response by a fact-driven White House looks like.
In any case, since Donald Trump spent January, February, and early March splitting his time between the critical actives of golf and rallies, the schedule for when we might see a COVID-19 vaccine has often included the phrase “12 to 18 months.” And there have been a frightening number of articles, not all of them clickbait, indicating that such a vaccine may never be available (though really … such articles are 98% clickbait).
So the news that Oxford University researchers had completed animal trials of a potential vaccine and were moving on to a large scale trial in humans was very (x10) exciting. And when some of those researchers indicated that the vaccine might be ready as soon as September, it became an announcement that generated a worldwide sigh of enormous relief.
The reason Oxford has a lead is that it was already involved in coronavirus research and had already done some preliminary testing on a delivery mechanism showing that it could make coronavirus vaccines safely. By grabbing genetic components of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and plugging them into their existing vaccine, the Oxford team took advantage of that research lead and convinced the British government to begin a trial that will involve over 6,000 people by the end of May. That’s a large enough group that it should be a good test of both the vaccine’s effectiveness and its safety.
In fact, the biggest obstacle to the test is that researchers are not allowed, for very good reasons, to expose people to the virus on purpose. So they have to wait for their volunteers to go out there and mingle with the virus-laden public, in hopes that some of them should get sick, but don’t. Some of the researchers have even expressed concern that social distancing in the U.K. may even be effective enough to interfere with the trial. Which … yes, we should hope social distancing is effective. Please, yes. But selfishly, please not effective enough that they can’t compile good results.
In any case, it seems that the U.K. government may launch into the kind of pre-results vaccine manufacturing that the U.S. did in 2009, which could make the first round of doses available in September. It’s unlikely that the first batch would wash up on this side of the Atlantic, but any effective vaccine is a win and, assuming everything goes well, the U.S. could see benefits from this study before year’s end.
CHINESE VACCINES
The Oxford news was exciting, but it’s far from the only team making progress toward a COVID-19 vaccine. Chinese company SinoVac has also reported that their vaccine generates a strong immune response in monkeys and protects them from COVID-19 infection. And in case you’re wondering a number of sad monkeys in the control groups, both at SinoVac and Oxford, did develop symptoms of disease. Monkeys have not developed the most severe symptoms of COVID-19 seen in humans, but this may be a factor of how many monkeys have been tested, which is still only in double digits.
In any case, the results would seem to put the Chinese company on par with the Oxford study … except that SinoVac doesn’t have the years of product safety research to leverage. Also, the number of monkeys in their test (< 10) really suggests that this team needs to do more animal research before moving on to human trials.
The name SinoVac may not generate the kind of good vibes that come from hearing “Oxford.” But they are an experienced manufacturer of vaccines for both animals and people. That includes being one of the companies with vaccines against H5N1 “bird flu.” Even so, there is not yet the kind of large scale testing that the Oxford group is conducting and SinoVac has already raised warning flags about their ability to manufacture vaccines in the kind of quantities needed for COVID-19.
But SinoVac isn’t the only game in town. Or at least, not the only game in China.
There are also vaccine trials underway from CanSino. If SinoVac wasn’t all that reassuring, the fact that CanSino is conducting its research in partnership with both the Beijing Institute of Biotechnology and the Chinese Academy of Military Medical Sciences makes this one seem a little concerning, even for those not prone to leaping at every Evil China Virus conspiracy theory. And for folks outside the ranks of Chinese military medical researchers, the phase 1 trials of CanSino’s vaccine have been somewhat opaque. However, they apparently began work on this vaccine in January and announced plans in mid-March to proceed to phase 2 trials and to move forward rapidly. Hopefully, more details to come.
BIONTECH / PFIZER VACCINE
Another vaccine that has recently gotten some positive attention is the one being developed by German firms Pfizer Pharmaceuticals and BioNTech. The reason this vaccine is getting special attention, including from the White House podium, is because it’s about to enter Phase 2 trials in the United States.
It’s already had very limited human trials in Germany, with 12 patients receiving doses of the vaccine candidate last week. The next phase will look at 200 healthy adults in the U.S., with testing focusing on safety and appropriate dosage. To support these tests, the FDA has kicked out a quartet of Emergency Use Authorizations that allow the partners to bypass some of the safety stages usually included in vaccine trials.
And, as with the Oxford vaccine and that H1N1 vaccine back in 2009, Pfizer—the big manufacturing part of this partnership—seems prepared to being manufacturing vaccine even before all the results are in. They’re not promising that they’ll have doses as early as the Oxford team has indicated, but they could have hundreds of millions of doses available by the end of the year.
Again, that requires every possible thing to go right. There could be safety concerns. There could be negative responses. The vaccine may flat out be ineffective, or effective for only a subset of the population. For most drugs, the idea of some small amount of problems may be acceptable, but with a vaccine going out to a large part of the population, it really doesn’t take that high a percentage of problems to generate calls for a do-over.
In the best of all possible worlds, the BioNTech vaccine is available before the end of the year, and the Oxford vaccine is available. Because with any vaccine, there are sure to be reasons why it isn’t appropriate for some group.
MODERNA VACCINE
And then there’s the American upstart in this arena. If you watch this March 2 White House roundtable on COVID-19, in which Trump meets with pharmaceutical executives, you can spot the moment in which he is profoundly uninterested in a whole line of big American pharmaceutical execs promising a vaccine in a year … maybe two.
Then the CEO of biotech firm Moderna declares that he’s not just working on a vaccine, he’s already sent it to Anthony Fauci at the NIH. Game over. Thank you everyone for playing.
Of course, CEO Stephane Bancel then backs away a little as he mentions that it will take some time to get into phase two. And more time to get into phase three. And … basically, he’s laying out the same thing that all the other CEOs were saying when they talked about a year. But Bancel did it in a way that definitely caught Trump’s attention and turned Moderna into the go-to hope for a fast vaccine.
So, two months later, how is that going? Well, the vaccine did enter limited phase 1 human testing in late March, but since then very little has been released on how the trials are going. What has been released is announcements by Bancel that Moderna could begin production on vaccine in July and announcements that it has already licensed the vaccine to a European manufacturing partner.
That July date makes it seem that Moderna, whose whole “encapsulated mRNA” vaccine represents a fundamentally different approach than some competitors, might even beat the Oxford crew to your local pharmacy, but the details are a little less exciting. Limited phase 2 trials are beginning in May. Moderna doesn’t expect to have large phase 3 trials—like the one Oxford now has underway—until an unspecified date in the fall.
Moderna could still get in under the wire with a 2020 vaccine. If they begin manufacturing in July, they could be ready to roll as soon as results are in on the Phase 3 trial, and considering the eagerness for an answer, it would not at all be surprising to see a big White House announcement that this U.S. firm was coming to market with the world’s salvation … say, sometime around Mid-October, a couple of weeks before the election.
Posted with permission from Daily Kos.


crooksandliars--2020-05-04--Third Russian Doctor 'Falls' From Window After Complaining About Russia's PPE Shortages

Last week we brought you the story of Dr Yelena Nepomnyashchaya who fell 50 feet from a hospital window while in the act of complaining of PPE shortages .
Since then two more have fallen out of windows .
A third Russian doctor has plunged from a hospital window after complaining about medics facing intolerable coronavirus pressures .
Alexander Shulepov , 37 , is fighting for his life with head injuries after taking part in in a video which claimed he was ordered to work despite testing positive for Covid-19 .
He and colleagues also warned about PPE shortages in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a coronavirus hospital bed - Shulepov made a second video to retract the claims amid suspicions he was pressured to do so .
On Saturday , while being treated at Novousmanskaya district hospital , the experienced ambulance doctor plunged from a second floor window sustaining skull fractures .
He is now in a grave condition .
Two senior women doctors in Russia have died recently after falling from hospital windows amid reports they had challenged their superiors over a lack of PPE for coronavirus patients .
Shulepov was filmed with paramedic colleague Alexander @ @ @ @ @ @ @ had been summoned by police under suspicion of spreading fake news after complaining about PPE shortages .

Last week we brought you the story of Dr Yelena Nepomnyashchaya who fell 50 feet from a hospital window while in the act of complaining of PPE shortages. Since then two more have fallen out of windows.
Source: Daily Mail
A third Russian doctor has plunged from a hospital window after complaining about medics facing intolerable coronavirus pressures.
Alexander Shulepov, 37, is fighting for his life with head injuries after taking part in in a video which claimed he was ordered to work despite testing positive for Covid-19.
He and colleagues also warned about PPE shortages in Voronezh city. Later - lying in a coronavirus hospital bed - Shulepov made a second video to retract the claims amid suspicions he was pressured to do so.
On Saturday, while being treated at Novousmanskaya district hospital, the experienced ambulance doctor plunged from a second floor window sustaining skull fractures. He is now in a grave condition.
Two senior women doctors in Russia have died recently after falling from hospital windows amid reports they had challenged their superiors over a lack of PPE for coronavirus patients.
Shulepov was filmed with paramedic colleague Alexander Kosyakin who - a day earlier - had been summoned by police under suspicion of spreading fake news after complaining about PPE shortages.