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posted by martyb on Wednesday April 15 2020, @08:26PM   Printer-friendly
from the the-sordid-art-of-deflection dept.

BBC: Coronavirus: US to halt funding to WHO, says Trump

US President Donald Trump has said he is going to halt funding to the World Health Organization (WHO) because it has "failed in its basic duty" in its response to the coronavirus outbreak.

[...] Mr Trump has been under fire for his own handling of the pandemic.

He has sought to deflect persistent criticism that he acted too slowly to stop the virus's spread by pointing to his decision in late January to place restrictions on travel from China.

[...] The US is the global health body's largest single funder and gave it more than $400m in 2019.

A decision on whether the US resumes funding will be made after the review, which Mr Trump said would last 60 to 90 days.

[...] China gave about $86m in 2018-19; UK gives most of any country apart from the US

[...] The organisation launched an appeal in March for $675m to help fight the pandemic and is reported to be planning a fresh appeal for at least $1bn.

Reuters: Trump halts World Health Organization funding amid coronavirus pandemic

President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he would halt funding to the World Health Organization over its handling of the coronavirus pandemic while his administration reviews its response to the global crisis.

Trump told a White House news conference the WHO had “failed in its basic duty and it must be held accountable.” He said the group had promoted China’s “disinformation” about the virus that likely led to a wider outbreak of the virus than otherwise would have occurred.

[...] The hold on funding was expected. Trump has been increasingly critical of the organization as the global health crisis has continued, and he has reacted angrily to criticism of his administration’s response.

[...] U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Tuesday it was “not the time” to reduce resources for the body.

“Now is the time for unity and for the international community to work together in solidarity to stop this virus and its shattering consequences,” he said.

American Medical Association President Dr. Patrice Harris called it “a dangerous step in the wrong direction that will not make defeating COVID-19 easier” and urged Trump to reconsider.

[...] The Republican president recently accused the WHO of being too lenient with China in the earliest days of the crisis, despite having himself praised China in January for its response and transparency.

Trump has made frequent use of scapegoats during his short political career. He often lashes out at the media, Democrats, or others when he feels attacked or under pressure.

The Guardian: Trump turns against WHO to mask his own stark failings on Covid-19 crisis

Donald Trump’s declared suspension of funding of the World Health Organisation in the midst of a pandemic is confirmation – if any were needed – that he is in search of scapegoats for his administration’s much delayed and chaotic response to the crisis.

The US is the WHO’s biggest donor, with funding over $400m a year in both assessed contributions (membership fees) and donations – though it is actually $200m in arrears. [pdf]

Theoretically the White House cannot block funding of international institutions mandated by Congress. But the administration has found ways around such constitutional hurdles on other issues – by simply failing to disburse funds or apply sanctions, for example.

The funding could be formally rescinded, but that would require Senate approval, or “reprogrammed” by being diverted to another purpose that the White House could argue is consistent with the will of Congress.

[...] The WHO director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, had to fly to Beijing to meet Xi Jinping on 29 January to negotiate entry and information sharing. A WHO team was allowed to visit Wuhan on 22 February. Tedros has been criticised for his flattery of Xi and the Chinese response, in the face of Beijing’s obstructionism and cover-up attempts. His defenders said that such diplomacy was the price for entry.

Trump did more than his own fair share of Xi flattery. On 24 January, the president tweeted “China has been working very hard to contain the coronavirus … The United States greatly appreciates their efforts and transparency.”

The claim that the delay in the WHO acquiring samples crippled the international response is also false. Chinese scientists publicly released the genetic sequence of Covid-19 on 11 January.

[...] By early February the WHO was in a position to distribute a Covid-19 test worldwide, but the US government opted not to have it fast-tracked through approval. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) instead produced its own test at about the same time, but it was flawed and had to be recalled. US testing would be set back more than six weeks compared to the rest of the world.

While virtually no testing was under way in the US throughout February, Trump assumed the consequently low number of confirmed US cases meant that his country had somehow escaped. “The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA,” he boasted on 24 February, nearly a month after the WHO declaration of emergency. “We are in contact with everyone and all relevant countries. CDC & World Health [Organisation] have been working hard and very smart. Stock Market starting to look very good to me!”


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  • (Score: 1, Interesting) by fustakrakich on Wednesday April 15 2020, @08:33PM (63 children)

    by fustakrakich (6150) on Wednesday April 15 2020, @08:33PM (#983196) Journal

    Patient Zero for both the Spanish Flu and Swine Flu (the deadliest pandemics of their centuries), were Americans.

    Are we in for another surprise? [unz.com] And so much secrecy! You'd think the CDC is based in China!

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    La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
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  • (Score: 0, Troll) by Ethanol-fueled on Wednesday April 15 2020, @09:08PM (26 children)

    by Ethanol-fueled (2792) on Wednesday April 15 2020, @09:08PM (#983218) Homepage

    Swine Flu was a fucking nothingburger. And Bill Gates is a fucking Jew. The Wikipedia says that he's not a Jew, but he's pure Crypto: Those beady eyes, that hooknosed goblin look, that predatory shark-like grin you'd see on a hungry pitbull. His penchant for wearing Wal-Mart pullover sweaters despite being a gazillionaire. His father stood with Soros and he himself stood with Epstein after Epstein was released.

    Bill Gates' vaccines have crippled and killed a lot of people in developing nations, and now he wants America to have that experience wholesale.

    • (Score: 5, Touché) by DeathMonkey on Wednesday April 15 2020, @09:18PM (1 child)

      by DeathMonkey (1380) on Wednesday April 15 2020, @09:18PM (#983226) Journal

      Swine flu? Don't you mean the American Virus?

      Origin of H1N1 [cdc.gov]

    • (Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 15 2020, @09:33PM (6 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 15 2020, @09:33PM (#983238)

      Our most likely future:

      1) Everyone will need to take a mandatory vaccine. Even though the coronavirus has long been known to cause the common cold and they've never been able to vaccinate for that, this one is somehow different. It certainly is different in that it's a chimera built under Dr Fauci's guidance, but the vaccine will have nothing to do with the virus. It will, like many of Bill Gates earlier attempts at vaccines, include for many a sterilization agent. For others it will likely lead to death or severe illness. But with full indemnity built into the process for those developing and administering the vaccine, there will be no repercussions.

      2) Everyone will need to be chipped and tracked as a form of "contact tracing", which is the term du jour that Dr. Fauci has been throwing around so that everyone can become familiar with it and won't be completely frightened by the concept. What it means is that you'll be tracked everywhere, at all times, involuntarily, but only for your safety and protection. Anyone who is deemed to have come into contact with the virus will be quarantined, against their will, for 14 days.

      3) Many of those who Jared Kushner's tracking system identify as being infected with the virus will never return from quarantine. But this will only be because they succumbed to the virus and their bodies had to be incinerated, not because they were shot and dumped in a hole in the ground for being political dissidents.

      4) Anyone who thought we couldn't be turned into Nazis should at least have the hair on the back of their necks standing up at the remote prospect of this even being possible, because as of now nothing we're being told makes sense. Nothing adds up. But there's nothing to see here so please continue attacking the views of anyone who dares to challenge the prevailing dogmatic orthodoxy regarding this vaccine of totally natural origins and the benevolent case of characters putting into place the infrastructure of Fascism necessary to really clean house.

      • (Score: -1, Troll) by Ethanol-fueled on Wednesday April 15 2020, @09:43PM (2 children)

        by Ethanol-fueled (2792) on Wednesday April 15 2020, @09:43PM (#983247) Homepage

        Plot Twist: The Jews were the Nazis all-along!

        • (Score: 0, Flamebait) by Bot on Wednesday April 15 2020, @10:07PM (1 child)

          by Bot (3902) on Wednesday April 15 2020, @10:07PM (#983260) Journal

          Trivia: who is the actual, biological, father of the nation of Israel? A____f H____r.

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          Account abandoned.
          • (Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 15 2020, @11:23PM

            by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 15 2020, @11:23PM (#983304)

            Pretty much so, if Hitler hadn't persecuted the normal Jew, Israel would remain only as an experiment for the religious freaks. It still pretty much is, but even the non-religious are having it propped up in case they need it as their bug-out space.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 16 2020, @01:52PM (2 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 16 2020, @01:52PM (#983581)

        1) The common cold is a rhinovirus. This is coronavirus. The common cold does not kill one in a thousand who presents with symptoms. And do put your tinfoil hat back on. So much for your objection.

        2) Proof? Yeah, thought not. Contact tracing has been done for decades in this country in relation to public health and disease, in case you hadn't noticed.

        3) OK. Put your tinfoil hat back on.

        4) Yes. Fascism is entirely possible in this country at this point. But disease tracking is useful and necessary for certain diseases, and has already been implemented. Here's what CDC already tracks [medlineplus.gov]. And contact tracing has already been done, and is usually implemented at a county level. Which has always been inefficient and ineffective, but it's what has been done.

        • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday April 16 2020, @04:34PM (1 child)

          by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Thursday April 16 2020, @04:34PM (#983658) Homepage Journal

          Erm... the common cold is a bunch of different viruses all lumped together under a very unhelpful name. Yes, including some types of corona viruses.

          --
          My rights don't end where your fear begins.
          • (Score: 2) by hendrikboom on Thursday April 16 2020, @08:10PM

            by hendrikboom (1125) Subscriber Badge on Thursday April 16 2020, @08:10PM (#983769) Homepage Journal

            I seem to recall hearing that there are about a hundred viruses, any one of which could cause a common cold.
            So vaccinating against the cold wold require about a hundred vaccinations.

    • (Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Wednesday April 15 2020, @10:00PM (4 children)

      by PartTimeZombie (4827) on Wednesday April 15 2020, @10:00PM (#983255)

      Are you off your meds again?

      • (Score: 2, Touché) by Ethanol-fueled on Wednesday April 15 2020, @10:31PM (2 children)

        by Ethanol-fueled (2792) on Wednesday April 15 2020, @10:31PM (#983272) Homepage

        Ahh, I see that Bolshevik psychiatry is making a comeback beyond "take your meds, schizo." It's too late. The Goyim know and the Goyim knowing is now mainstream.

        • (Score: 3, Touché) by PartTimeZombie on Wednesday April 15 2020, @10:51PM (1 child)

          by PartTimeZombie (4827) on Wednesday April 15 2020, @10:51PM (#983294)

          Good lord. Bolshevik psychiatry.

          So, yes then.

          • (Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 16 2020, @03:31AM

            by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 16 2020, @03:31AM (#983432)

            I think you made a pretty big assumption that he was ever ON proper meds.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 15 2020, @11:43PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 15 2020, @11:43PM (#983313)

        EF is suffering from Swinehund Flu.

    • (Score: -1, Flamebait) by Bot on Wednesday April 15 2020, @10:05PM (11 children)

      by Bot (3902) on Wednesday April 15 2020, @10:05PM (#983258) Journal

      Jew is a state of mind, after all, it's a race because jews are more comfortable with that subdivision. In this regard, Gates's pedigree as a jew squared is called windows, and even if he develops actual viruses and kills people with vaccines, he has already peaked his damage to humanity with the humble PC. I think Soros keeps an autograph of Gates in his pocket and looks at it every evening for inspiration.

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      Account abandoned.
      • (Score: 5, Touché) by Azuma Hazuki on Thursday April 16 2020, @12:11AM (10 children)

        by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Thursday April 16 2020, @12:11AM (#983328) Journal

        Good thing Jesus wasn't a Jew then!

        --
        I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
        • (Score: 2, Troll) by Bot on Thursday April 16 2020, @12:28PM (9 children)

          by Bot (3902) on Thursday April 16 2020, @12:28PM (#983539) Journal

          How can the Messiah be among those who don't recognize Him as such? That would take a fair amount of lack of belief in yourself and hypocrisy.

          Jews are by definition those who don't believe him. Your rebuttal stems from having adopted the "jews were first then came christians" racist narrative. BOOOO.

          Logically, either Christ is an impostor, or is the Messiah. If he is the Messiah, then Abraham was a Christian, Moses was a Christian, John the baptist was quite the Christian well before 30AD, and jews were born as a schismatic sect right when king Herod became a bit jealous of a newborn. If he is an impostor, then the followers of the true God might be the dwindling number of Hebrews that are not sold on zionism (which essentially gave up waiting for any messiah).

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          • (Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday April 16 2020, @08:29PM (8 children)

            by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Thursday April 16 2020, @08:29PM (#983778) Journal

            Logically, either Christ is an impostor, or is the Messiah.

            Because there's no way for him to be both, amirite?

            • (Score: 2) by Bot on Friday April 17 2020, @03:58AM (7 children)

              by Bot (3902) on Friday April 17 2020, @03:58AM (#983952) Journal

              >Because there's no way for him to be both, amirite?

              there is maybe a way, but not in the context you are replying to.

              X says I am Y is either true or false, false DEFINES being impostor.

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              Account abandoned.
              • (Score: 1) by khallow on Friday April 17 2020, @04:02AM

                by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Friday April 17 2020, @04:02AM (#983954) Journal

                X is not a single entity.

              • (Score: 1) by khallow on Friday April 17 2020, @04:03AM (5 children)

                by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Friday April 17 2020, @04:03AM (#983956) Journal
                Sigh. Mangled last post. Trying again.

                X says I am Y is either true or false, false DEFINES being impostor.

                X is not a single entity.

                • (Score: 2) by Bot on Friday April 17 2020, @08:34PM (4 children)

                  by Bot (3902) on Friday April 17 2020, @08:34PM (#984303) Journal

                  and that would be relevant, how?

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                  • (Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday April 18 2020, @11:44AM (3 children)

                    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Saturday April 18 2020, @11:44AM (#984538) Journal
                    In that X doesn't have a single truth value.
                    • (Score: 2) by Bot on Saturday April 18 2020, @07:50PM (2 children)

                      by Bot (3902) on Saturday April 18 2020, @07:50PM (#984652) Journal

                      are you referring to the Trinity? Matt 3 17 says the Son, which BTW is the only entity you can apply logic to.

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                      • (Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday April 18 2020, @09:15PM (1 child)

                        by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Saturday April 18 2020, @09:15PM (#984683) Journal
                        There's also billions of people with opinions on the matter. They're part of X.
                        • (Score: 2) by Bot on Sunday April 19 2020, @12:07AM

                          by Bot (3902) on Sunday April 19 2020, @12:07AM (#984714) Journal

                          Your approach to binary logic is sure wasteful. Prove that any opinion on the matter, not metadata like dunno, not sure, provides a different value than T o F to the assertion, then you will have something.

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                          Account abandoned.
  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by HiThere on Thursday April 16 2020, @02:10AM (14 children)

    by HiThere (866) Subscriber Badge on Thursday April 16 2020, @02:10AM (#983377) Journal

    I doubt that "patient zero" of the US was singular. I suspect that several "patient zero"s crossed from China to the US during December,2019 before the disease was identified. Most of them probably had very mild cases, but even one with a serious, as in died in the hospital of pneumonia, case wouldn't have been recognized as anything special.

    --
    Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
    • (Score: 2, Interesting) by fustakrakich on Thursday April 16 2020, @02:30AM (10 children)

      by fustakrakich (6150) on Thursday April 16 2020, @02:30AM (#983394) Journal

      There is too much secrecy. Nobody can truthfully say it came from China. Everything over the last three years is awash in hearsay. We have achieved true postmodernism. I expected better

      --
      La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
      • (Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday April 16 2020, @04:24AM (9 children)

        by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Thursday April 16 2020, @04:24AM (#983457) Journal

        Nobody can truthfully say it came from China.

        Why not? Note that the underlying cause of the secrecy in question is China and that they have huge incentive to cast blame elsewhere given the misdeeds they committed in the early days of the infection.

        • (Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Thursday April 16 2020, @04:38AM (8 children)

          by fustakrakich (6150) on Thursday April 16 2020, @04:38AM (#983460) Journal

          There is just as much secrecy and just as much motivation to pass blame in the US. We hear it every time he opens his mouth. You're just reciting the yellow tabloids and Trump tweets

          --
          La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
          • (Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday April 16 2020, @11:11AM (7 children)

            by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Thursday April 16 2020, @11:11AM (#983522) Journal

            There is just as much secrecy and just as much motivation to pass blame in the US.

            Oh really? Then where is it?

            • (Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Thursday April 16 2020, @02:13PM (6 children)

              by fustakrakich (6150) on Thursday April 16 2020, @02:13PM (#983591) Journal

              Then where is it?

              With the CDC. You didn't read the link. The US government is simply projecting.

              --
              La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
              • (Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday April 16 2020, @04:57PM (5 children)

                by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Thursday April 16 2020, @04:57PM (#983676) Journal
                What secrecy with the CDC? The best you have is that there were secret US administration meetings to discuss COVID-19. That's it. The rest is garbage. This conspiracy theory isn't even half-baked.
                • (Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Thursday April 16 2020, @05:00PM (4 children)

                  by fustakrakich (6150) on Thursday April 16 2020, @05:00PM (#983680) Journal

                  Their "conspiracy theories" will kick your conspiracy theories' ass!

                  --
                  La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
                  • (Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday April 16 2020, @08:28PM (3 children)

                    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Thursday April 16 2020, @08:28PM (#983777) Journal
                    Unfortunately, the only conspiracy theory here is your conspiracy theory. And it's doing a fine job of kicking its own ass.
                    • (Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Thursday April 16 2020, @09:27PM (2 children)

                      by fustakrakich (6150) on Thursday April 16 2020, @09:27PM (#983793) Journal

                      frayed knot. You are parroting standard yellow journalism. Your conspiracy theories are based purely on the appeal to authority.

                      --
                      La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
                      • (Score: 1) by khallow on Friday April 17 2020, @03:35AM (1 child)

                        by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Friday April 17 2020, @03:35AM (#983942) Journal

                        You are parroting standard yellow journalism.

                        Again, what am I parroting? Be specific. Since I'm asking in multiple places, you can just reply once to this post [soylentnews.org].

                        • (Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Friday April 17 2020, @04:08AM

                          by fustakrakich (6150) on Friday April 17 2020, @04:08AM (#983960) Journal

                          Bla bla bla... You're just playing stupid again

                          --
                          La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
    • (Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 16 2020, @06:14AM (2 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 16 2020, @06:14AM (#983476)

      A week before Xmas, my brother-in-law in Oklahoma experienced a flu-like illness which landed him in the hospital and darn near shut down his lungs for good. The doctors were unable to associate the symptoms to any known illness, though they exactly match Covid-19. He survived (without intubation) after three weeks of care. He had been working as a camp counselor in another another state for a site that hosts retreats for international students.

      I live near Seattle - a few miles from the hospital where the first US death happened (Feb 28th), and I personally know about a dozen people who experienced Covid-19-like symptoms during the months of January and February.

      My suspicion is that the virus had been spreading through the USA nearly concurrently with the outbreak in Asia, and only came to light when it was contracted by victims with "underlying conditions" leading to hospitalization and death. Since many healthy folk experience only mild symptoms, the identification of a "patient zero" may prove impossible.

      • (Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday April 16 2020, @08:50PM

        by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Thursday April 16 2020, @08:50PM (#983784) Journal

        My suspicion is that the virus had been spreading through the USA nearly concurrently with the outbreak in Asia, and only came to light when it was contracted by victims with "underlying conditions" leading to hospitalization and death. Since many healthy folk experience only mild symptoms, the identification of a "patient zero" may prove impossible.

        Sorry, I don't buy that. If you look at March, the number of reported cases grew from 42 reported cases to 185k. If it had been kicking around in December, there would be hundreds of thousands of cases by March, maybe even millions of cases.

        A week before Xmas, my brother-in-law in Oklahoma experienced a flu-like illness which landed him in the hospital and darn near shut down his lungs for good. The doctors were unable to associate the symptoms to any known illness, though they exactly match Covid-19. He survived (without intubation) after three weeks of care. He had been working as a camp counselor in another another state for a site that hosts retreats for international students.

        So right there, we have symptoms matching the known illness, influenza by definition since the symptoms are flu-like. My workplace in northwest Wyoming also suffered from influenza cases during that time, mostly brought in from nearby communities in December. I think it was the first week or two of January before we stopped implementing quarantine procedures.

        Now, it is possible that your brother-in-law was suffering from some coronavirus (and a weakened immune system). The Wuhan strain is not the only strain of it in the world. But I'd look to the fires that are already burning rather than a new disease that somehow didn't infect enough people to be noticed.

      • (Score: 2) by Bot on Friday April 17 2020, @10:59AM

        by Bot (3902) on Friday April 17 2020, @10:59AM (#984066) Journal

        if two anecdotes are better than one anecdote, a family friend here in Italy was hospitalized for one month because of a flu this december. 50 year old no previous history of grave flu. Probably vaccinated too.

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        Account abandoned.
  • (Score: 2, Touché) by khallow on Thursday April 16 2020, @04:22AM (20 children)

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Thursday April 16 2020, @04:22AM (#983456) Journal
    Hmmm, that link is a huge exercise in the non sequitur fallacy. For example:

    [...]This is truly astonishing, since

    • Patient Zero for both the Spanish Flu and Swine Flu (the deadliest[2] pandemics of their centuries), were Americans.
    • Our public health system is so ineffectual that we now host endemic diseases like typhus, usually seen only in wartime.
    • Our public health system is so ineffectual that our healthy life expectancy at birth is lower than China’s.
    • The CDC is remarkably corrupt.
    • The CDC has often been slow to detect pandemic outbreaks and incurious about tracing them.
    • The CDC classifies discussions of Covid-19 Top Secret.
    • The CDC is led by a non-scientist military officer.
    • The CDC did nothing when the WHO issued its warning January 3.
    • The CDC blocked Covid-19 testing for months after thousands started dying.

    Even if all of that were true, every last bullet point is completely irrelevant to the subject of whether "patient zero" comes from outside of China or not. And the speculation is ludicrous:

    Chinese research shows that the virus was introduced into their country from elsewhere, Japanese and Taiwanese studies point to the US as its likely source, and Russian and Czech authorities share their suspicions.[9] Kristian Andersen, a Scripps Institute evolutionary biologist, said it is ‘entirely plausible’ that infected persons brought the virus into the seafood market from somewhere outside and dated their ‘most recent common ancestor’ as early as 1 October 2019, when US athletes participated in the 2019 Military World games in Wuhan. Daniel Lucey, an infectious disease expert at Georgetown University, said the first infection has been confirmed as occurring in November 2019, (not in Wuhan), suggesting the virus originated elsewhere. “One group put the origin of the outbreak as early as 18 September 2019. China must have realized the epidemic did not originate in that Wuhan Huanan seafood market.” Lucey also noted that MERS was originally believed to have come from a patient in Saudi Arabia in June of 2012 but later, more thorough studies traced it to an earlier hospital outbreak of unexplained pneumonia in Jordan in April of that year and Western media’s origin stories about SARS, MERS, and ZIKA have all later proven wrong.

    So now, irrelevant details are woven into yet another conspiracy plot which includes every novel disease the author read about in the papers, taking researchers out of context (like Lucey) and treating "Chinese research" as if it were real.

    • (Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Thursday April 16 2020, @04:42AM (19 children)

      by fustakrakich (6150) on Thursday April 16 2020, @04:42AM (#983461) Journal

      Of course your tabloid conspiracy theories are fact, right?

      --
      La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
      • (Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday April 16 2020, @11:11AM (18 children)

        by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Thursday April 16 2020, @11:11AM (#983521) Journal
        It's not my tabloid conspiracy theory here.
        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 16 2020, @02:08PM (17 children)

          by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 16 2020, @02:08PM (#983588)

          Never said you owned a tabloid. You're just spewing their war mongering garbage. You're just another lemming.

          • (Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Thursday April 16 2020, @02:11PM

            by fustakrakich (6150) on Thursday April 16 2020, @02:11PM (#983589) Journal

            hit the wrong button, that was me.

            --
            La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
          • (Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday April 16 2020, @04:54PM (15 children)

            by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Thursday April 16 2020, @04:54PM (#983674) Journal
            I never said I did either. Nor do I own the tabloid, you've buying your garbage from.
            • (Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Thursday April 16 2020, @09:32PM (14 children)

              by fustakrakich (6150) on Thursday April 16 2020, @09:32PM (#983795) Journal

              That made no sense. You are still passing tabloid conspiracy theories that are false. I'll assume you're just following orders, as usual.

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              La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
              • (Score: 1) by khallow on Friday April 17 2020, @03:33AM (13 children)

                by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Friday April 17 2020, @03:33AM (#983939) Journal

                You are still passing tabloid conspiracy theories that are false.

                Like what? Be specific.

                • (Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Friday April 17 2020, @04:06AM (12 children)

                  by fustakrakich (6150) on Friday April 17 2020, @04:06AM (#983959) Journal

                  Origin of the virus, for one

                  --
                  La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
                  • (Score: 1) by khallow on Friday April 17 2020, @09:25AM (11 children)

                    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Friday April 17 2020, @09:25AM (#984058) Journal

                    Origin of the virus, for one

                    Being specific, has there been any evidence for the virus in human hosts - much less US human hosts - before Wuhan? For example, the tabloid claim was

                    Chinese research shows that the virus was introduced into their country from elsewhere, Japanese and Taiwanese studies point to the US as its likely source, and Russian and Czech authorities share their suspicions.

                    And yet, no such coronavirus was seen in the US until after it was established in Wuhan and most early cases are associated with China. Nor did the tabloid point to any evidence in support of this claim (for example, a key claim that the US might have been the source, with no indication of how, comes from a second tabloid [tass.com] and an anonymous "diplomatic source" who spouts vague accusations "However, for a long time we have been watching with concerns the US military and biological activity carried out in direct proximity with our borders." which is completely bullshit - Russia can easily stop any such activity were it to be a genuine concern and what is "biological activity"?).

                    The facts are that there's no known cases outside of Wuhan until somewhere around the beginning of January when Taiwan started monitoring flights out of China. That COVID-19 is sufficiently infectious that if it did start somewhere else, say like the US, there would be massive numbers of cases there in early 2020, like the beginning of March. No such concentration of cases has ever been found. Further, such cases would have been detected by countries that were scanning passengers in early 2020.

                    If it's supposed to be the release of some biological agent, why are we supposed to suspect the US in a complete absence of evidence? Both China and Russia for obvious other candidates do bioweapons research too. And no reasons, much less evidence for those reasons, for why this would occur deliberately have been presented. Because presumably an accidental release of a US bioweapon in China is a ludicrous scenario, right?

                    Sorry, this is really stupid, even for you.

                    • (Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Friday April 17 2020, @02:51PM (10 children)

                      by fustakrakich (6150) on Friday April 17 2020, @02:51PM (#984127) Journal

                      The facts are...

                      that you are repeating propaganda, no more valid, and probably less so, that any of your other conspiracy theories.

                      --
                      La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
                      • (Score: 1) by khallow on Friday April 17 2020, @05:18PM (2 children)

                        by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Friday April 17 2020, @05:18PM (#984193) Journal

                        that you are repeating propaganda,

                        "But but but that's propaganda". Sorry, evidence or shut the fuck up. I'm tired of your idiotic bleating.


                        So I suppose we're left with deliberate infection by a bioweapon which somehow magically defaults to the US - which like everyone else isn't known for deploying bioweapons on someone else's soil. That's deep in make-up-shit territory - you know, propaganda? Nobody has evidence for that.

                        • (Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Friday April 17 2020, @05:29PM (1 child)

                          by fustakrakich (6150) on Friday April 17 2020, @05:29PM (#984201) Journal

                          Sorry, evidence or shut the fuck up.

                          Exactly what I have been telling you, but you simply appeal to authority, repeating their bullshit.

                          Evidence has no effect on you. You just wave your hands and say "propaganda". More projection, I guess.

                          Really, you can save your energy...

                          I'm tired of your idiotic bleating.

                          Do tell! Mr. bankers boy

                          --
                          La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
                          • (Score: 2, Funny) by khallow on Friday April 17 2020, @05:47PM

                            by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Friday April 17 2020, @05:47PM (#984210) Journal
                            Evidence or shut the fuck up.

                            Exactly what I have been telling you

                            No, you haven't. For a glaring example, you didn't tell me that in the above post.

                            You just wave your hands and say "propaganda".

                            Projection. You are only one doing that.

                      • (Score: 1) by khallow on Friday April 17 2020, @05:19PM (6 children)

                        by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Friday April 17 2020, @05:19PM (#984194) Journal

                        that you are repeating propaganda,

                        "But but but that's propaganda". Sorry, evidence or shut the fuck up. I'm tired of your idiotic bleating.

                        My "propaganda" has never been contested by you. Again, there's been massive testing throughout the world, for the first few weeks, all the cases were coming out of China. Then they started coming out of countries that had subsequently established infections, Iran, Italy, and South Korea. Then it became endemic in most of the rest. If the source had naturally come from the US, there would be massive infections coming out of the US. It could not be hidden.

                        So I suppose we're left with deliberate infection by a bioweapon which somehow magically defaults to the US - which like everyone else isn't known for deploying bioweapons on someone else's soil. That's deep in make-up-shit territory - you know, propaganda? Nobody has evidence for that.

                        • (Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Friday April 17 2020, @05:38PM (5 children)

                          by fustakrakich (6150) on Friday April 17 2020, @05:38PM (#984206) Journal

                          My "propaganda" has never been contested by you.

                          Of course that's not true. It's just not worth the effort after the first time. You just roboticly repeat banker bullshit regardless of the truth. You simply don't hear. Why would I waste time arguing with a recorded message that we all know to be false?

                          I'm tired of your idiotic bleating.

                          Cool. You know the routine then...

                          --
                          La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
                          • (Score: 2, Funny) by khallow on Friday April 17 2020, @05:51PM (4 children)

                            by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Friday April 17 2020, @05:51PM (#984213) Journal

                            It's just not worth the effort after the first time.

                            There was no first time. Evidence or shut the fuck up.

                            • (Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Friday April 17 2020, @06:12PM (3 children)

                              by fustakrakich (6150) on Friday April 17 2020, @06:12PM (#984224) Journal

                              Been there done that. More than once is redundant.

                              Toodles...

                              --
                              La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
                              • (Score: 1) by khallow on Friday April 17 2020, @06:32PM (2 children)

                                by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Friday April 17 2020, @06:32PM (#984239) Journal

                                Been there done that.

                                No you haven't. You're doing the same weaselly, evasive bullshit you've done multiple posts in this thread already.

                                Let us review. You post a link to some tabloid conspiracy theory. That's your "once".

                                I point out that they're so lazy they can't even be bothered to try to make it relevant (the list of non sequiturs about the CDC's failings) and they also quote other tabloid conspiracy theories as if they were fact (Russian anonymous sources claiming concern about US "biological activity"). It's tabloids all the way down. That's my once. A rational, honest person would have apologized and shut up at that point.

                                Ever since, you've done some weird DARVO [wikipedia.org] nonsense, accusing me of "propaganda" and "tabloid conspiracy" when you're the only one in the thread doing that. You're accusing me of your failure.

                                So will you for the first time present evidence supporting the assertion that the US is somehow responsible for COVID-19 in Wuhan? The CDC having problems is completely irrelevant. Russian anonymous sources pulled out of some tabloid writer's ass don't count. Alleged Chinese research that no one can find is not evidence. Out of context quotes from scientists in the news isn't evidence.

                                • (Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Friday April 17 2020, @06:46PM (1 child)

                                  by fustakrakich (6150) on Friday April 17 2020, @06:46PM (#984249) Journal

                                  Let us review.

                                  Knock yourself out

                                  --
                                  La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
                                  • (Score: 2, Funny) by khallow on Friday April 17 2020, @08:17PM

                                    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Friday April 17 2020, @08:17PM (#984297) Journal
                                    Already covered. I see you're still bullshitting. Evidence or STFU.