America is free again. So is Dr. Anthony Fauci, who had his first opportunity of this pandemic to speak as part of a White House that takes science seriously:
“Obviously I don’t want to be going back over history, but it was very clear that there were things that were said — be it regarding things like hydroxychloroquine and other things like that — that really was uncomfortable because they were not based on scientific fact,” Fauci said Thursday at a White House press briefing.
…”I can tell you, I take no pleasure at all in being in a situation of contradicting the president, so it was really something that you didn’t feel that you could actually say something and there wouldn’t be any repercussions about it,” Fauci said. “The idea that you can get up here and talk about what you know, what the evidence, what the science is, and know that’s it — let the science speak. It is somewhat of a liberating feeling” [Alana Wise, “After Sparring with Trump, Fauci Says Biden Administration Feels ‘Liberating’,” NPR, 2021.01.21].
We know the feeling. We have spent far too much of the past four years arguing about simple, obvious facts and not enough time figuring out solutions to the really complicated problems that face us all. Welcome back, Dr. Fauci… now get back to work helping President Biden demonstrate how the United States federal government really can respond to a national crisis.
Na na na ,hey hey, good-bye https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aQd4Kz-Vpg&feature=youtu.be
Hopefully we will soon see a national, rational, honest science-based approach to COVID. Please, no more whining from the uneducated, selfish, divisive anti-maskers. Only an apolitical, nationwide front can fight this scourge.
Fauci ain’t so great. He could have gone directly to the media they would have reprinted his every word instead he is nothing more than a cautious bureaucrat rather than a man of science. Education was a complete disaster, simple things like how to wear and care for your mask. His words were free but he chose to stifle and hang on his exalted position rather than speak truth which carried an expense more than he was willing to bear.
Fauci is 80 years old. He could have said and done anything he wanted, but for his own reasons chose not to. He’s no hero, in fact quite a disappointment.
Now, let us not beat up on the gentleman because he’s 80 years old, but Mr. camper is righter than right about Mr. Fauci being more bureaucratic than scientific.
Fauci is a professional devoted to humanity’s health. Trump has never been devoted to anyone or anything but himself and his fortunes. Fauci is a pro. Trump never was.
When you work for the fed in the interest of the people, it doesn’t matter how old you are, you don’t get in the face of the president when he blubbers like an idiot at a press conference, and doesn’t know what he’s talking about, not even when the president is a bozo.
But Fauci is on the job and free to do his job now, and he’s doing it.
4142 moar bodies for the count fell by the way January 21.
A happy camper and gruds don’t like Fauci. Anyone surprised?
Cory: Thank goodness Fauci is back on the job after being shut out by Trump. And thanks to all of us who succeeded in retiring Trump out of our lives.
I’ve thought about my words. Science means you speak truth. He made numerous blunders the “mainstream media” would not report, supposedly in “our best interest.” His age and possible decline is up for discussion, no different from Feinstein, but my point at 80 he still couldn’t simply speak truth over concerns of personal repercussions. He could have saved countless thousands of lives by directly disagreeing with Trump, instead, keeping his position was more important to him.
Like what, hc, you have any documentation for this “he made numerous blunders the ‘mainstream media’ would not report, or are you just making it all up from right-wing media or in your mind? So Trump covered up and silenced the truth for months, and then when he could not cover any longer, he lied and denied and dragged the nation’s feet on combating the virus. But according to you, that’s all Fauci’s fault?
In the diplomacy ring, the US and China should team up to administer and supply world vaccine inoculations, pronto.
Dr. Fauci being very open and transparent on Rachel Maddow, says (paraphrased) you’re not going to see the kind of blocking of information from the new administration, that’s not going to happen. Rachel and Fauci were both blocked by the White HOuse because the administration and its senior advisers wouldn’t allow either of them to talk to the other on camera. “Just BLOCKED” they said. It is Friday, so hoping transcript available Tuesday. Excellent interview.
In case I haven’t made my own position clear, it’s this: human beings are not useless, nor are they expendable, because they’re 80 years old.
Robin, your positions are quite clear to most sensible people, but no one’s sensible position will penetrate the frontal lobes of certain trolls. Like the sloped foreheads of early neanderthals, sane ideas merely ricochet into oblivion.
trump catch and release Medical fraudsters, trumpian republicans
“At the last minute, President Donald Trump granted pardons to several individuals convicted in huge Medicare swindles that prosecutors alleged often harmed or endangered elderly and infirm patients while fleecing taxpayers.
“These aren’t just technical financial crimes. These were major, major crimes,” said Louis Saccoccio, chief executive officer of the National Health Care Anti-Fraud Association, an advocacy group.”https://khn.org/news/article/trumps-pardons-included-health-care-execs-behind-massive-frauds/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=getresponse&utm_content=Trump%E2%80%99s+Pardons+Included+Health+Care+Execs+Behind+Massive+Frauds&utm_campaign=
LOL, thank you, cibvet.
“Masks don’t help.” Oops, I guess they do. One among many. The establishment bowed down to Trump, including Dr. Birx, now they want to blame Trump for their cowardice, but that’s what bureaucrats do. They figure out just to wiggle here and there so they can keep standing next to people of power. Both of them could have done what was best for the American people, been honest, and spoke their minds. They chose not to. Somewhere I remember giving credit to Liz Cheney. She may lose her position, but she put the country before ambition and personal standing. We can’t say that about Fauci.
happy camper YOU can say what you want, that doesn’t mean WE have to say anything about Fauci other than he did the best he could working under a dictator.
Jerry, that’s the argument people gave for working within Vichy France. This however is still the USA and Fauci could have told us the truth. He didn’t. That’s on him, not Trump.
Fauci’s concern early in this pandemic was reserving a critically short supply of masks for health care professional priority use. If anyone thinks that is the same as saying “masks don’t work,” such individuals don’t have their head on straight: why reserve masks for health care professionals if those masks don’t work?
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/fauci-says-he-doesnt-regret-telling-americans-not-to-wear-masks-at-the-beginning-of-the-pandemic/ar-BB16P84e
His quote: “There’s no reason to be walking around with a mask. When you’re in the middle of an outbreak, wearing a mask might make people feel a little bit better and it might even block a droplet, but it’s not providing the perfect protection that people think that it is. And, often, there are unintended consequences — people keep fiddling with the mask and they keep touching their face.”
So he lied to us, or he was wrong. Take your pick.
At least Fauci evolved regarding masks. gnome has not. Many people said may things in this long year. At least he never advised sticking a light bulb up your arse or ingesting Clorox. Or have Sanford inject people with an anti malarial drug for a huge fee. Take your pick.
Death threats makes you wonder, what is it about masks? https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2021/1/24/2011611/-In-interview-Dr-Fauci-discusses-death-threats-and-the-letter-he-opened-that-splashed-powder-on-him
Jerry– you can’t use facts on people with sloped foreheads. (ricochet factor)
In October 2020 Reuters provided an interesting analysis of the circumstances surrounding the Fauci statement quoted by Happy to support a claim that Fauci made the statement because “that’s what bureaucrats do. They figure out just to wiggle here and there so they can keep standing next to people of power.” Not only is it ludicrous to assert that “bureaucrats” as a category uniformly engage in unethical conduct , it is a red flag that there is likely more to the story than has been presented to support the claim. Here are a couple excerpts from the Reuter’s fact check:
Fact check: Outdated video of Fauci saying “there’s no reason to be walking around with a mask”
As always, claims made on social media may be misleading and can too often create a false impression. In my view, Fauci was certainly not lying, although his statement was a mistake promulgated by the CDC. He corrected the mistake when additional information became available, even though the same “people of power” remained in the adminstration.
Over and over Fauci misleads or shows incompetence, but still you praise him. I’m struggling to understand why. Noem is a political problem too, but South Dakota is having one of the most successful rollouts. It appears you are blinded by hatred for Trump, solely blame him for everything, and hold no one else accountable for their roles and responsibilities. That’s a mistake.
– Jan 21st, 2020 Covid “is not something the citizens of the United States should be worried about.”
– Jan 28th, 2020 Fauci is against travel restrictions saying they don’t work.
– March 2020 “Right now in the United States, people should not be walking around with masks,” he told “60 Minutes.”
– June 2020 “Masks work . . . to prevent you from infecting someone else . . . but also, it can protect you to a certain degree.”
– December 2020 Fauci admits he was “slowly but deliberately been moving the goal posts” on herd immunity. “When polls said only about half of all Americans would take a vaccine, I was saying herd immunity would take 70 to 75 percent. Then, when newer surveys said 60 percent or more would take it, I thought, ‘I can nudge this up a bit,’ so I went to 80, 85,” he said.
https://nypost.com/2021/01/24/dr-fauci-needs-to-be-held-responsible-for-mistakes-devine/
Over and over people who don’t want to listen to good scientific advice keep claiming that Dr. Fauci has lied to America or is an incompetent, yet none of those claims stick. Dr. Fauci is an eminently qualified scientist who helped fight AIDS and has ably served his country for decades.
Dr. Fauci has also never told us to inject ourselves with bleach. He has never told us coronavirus is a hoax. He has never lied to us. He was oppressed by an anti-scientific administration that didn’t want America to hear his good advice. Dr. Fauci is not the enemy here; he’s one of the best public servants we have available to save lives.
Listen to science; wear your mask.
The confusion Happy displays about Fauci vs. Trump is a common problem for people who have a misapprehension of the scientific method. What matters is the direction of the relationship between evidence and conclusions. Trump concluded, to the American people, that COVID was not a big deal and attacked anyone who said different. He called it a “democratic hoax.” For Trump, the conclusion came first and he dealt with incoming evidence on that basis. Fauci adjusted his recommendations on the basis of the scientific findings of the medical community and the CDC. The evidence came in, and he adjusted recommendations. If you really can’t discern the difference between the two, well, I don’t know what to tell you.
Fauci thought he was above giving us the science. He wouldn’t tell the public masks work because he thought the medical community wouldn’t have enough. How many lives did he kill? He moved the goalposts and thought he could “nudge this up a bit.” That’s deceit, not the scientific method. Certainly, you can see that, unless something is getting in the way of your thinking logically.
I feel like you completely ignored BCB’s article in order to keep making the points you started this conversation with. Certainly you can see that, unless something is getting in the way of you thinking logically. (See how tired that is as a tactic?)
Quoted material: He also acknowledged that masks were initially not recommended to the general public so that first responders wouldn’t feel the strain of a shortage of PPE.
He explained that public health experts “were concerned the public health community, and many people were saying this, were concerned that it was at a time when personal protective equipment, including the N95 masks and the surgical masks, were in very short supply.”
He very clearly admits lying to the American public. His public policy statements were untruthful. My points are irrefutable by his own words. He should have been 100% honest. His dishonesty led many people to no longer believe in him and made it easier for conspiracy theories to take root. This country deserves better.
Sorry, I forgot to include the link: https://thehill.com/changing-america/well-being/prevention-cures/502890-fauci-why-the-public-wasnt-told-to-wear-masks
Doctors used to recommend smoking publicly https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnKLpO9qhOE
Since Happy’s statements “but still you praise him. I’m struggling to understand why” and “It appears you are blinded by hatred for Trump, solely blame him for everything, and hold no one else accountable for their roles and responsibilities” were posted immediately after my comment with the Reuter’s fact check there is a slight possibility Happy was responding to my comment. If so, perhaps it might help Happy “to undertand why” if he simply re-reads the comment as I recall neither express or implied praise for Fauci nor criticism of Trump. The statement simply referenced a credible source with more accurate factual information about Happy’s comments about Fauci, and revealed that Happy took Fauci’s comment out of context and was misleading at best. Hence, if any praise or criticism can be discerned from my comment and/or the information from the Reuter’s fact check, the praise would be for Reuters and criticism for Happy.
Regardless of who Happy intended to accuse of being anti-Trump and pro-Fauci, my comments generally are offered to provide accurate factual information and respond to objectively false or misleading factual claims I often see asserted by some DFP commenters. I note that some DFP commenters have repeatedly posted so many off topic, distracting, projecting, nonsensical or false and misleading statements that any response may simply end up “feeding a troll.”
‘Don’t feed the trolls’ really is good advice – here’s the evidence
Thus, I reject Happy’s new assertions implying my response was the result of blind praise or hatred. Instead, I continue to challenge the factual accuracy of Happy’s pejorative statements about both Fauci and bureaucrats, and will stand by my prior conclusion:
I just noticed that my earlier link to the Reuter’s fact check article was incorrect and did not work. Sorry about that! Here is the correct link:
links: Fact check: Outdated video of Fauci saying “there’s no reason to be walking around with a mask”
Very good bcb, that should clear all up…except for happy camper, you’re links should convince every one of the context of what Dr. Fauci said as well as the time frame of when he said it…. 10, 9, 8…
Anything that was said in January was said before anything was known about this brand-new virus and is therefore immaterial. To keep pounding on something that was said about something science knew nothing of at the time is only revealing how few the trashing-of-science-and-scientists arguments are and how weak, spurious and contrived they are.
Being verbose BCB does not make your arguments valid you play cute word games half the time mean nothing. The thing is Robin, you asked for some specifics. Every one of those points stands. Even if what you say was true (which it isn’t), that it was brand new, to tell the American public at that point Covid was not anything to worry about would have been pure conjecture and show lack of judgment, but by January it was clear from observing China it was a concern. They got angry about the travel restrictions, then quickly placed their own after they spread it around the world. Obviously world travel would do that, so slowing it down would have been helpful. Fauci is the highest-paid employee in the federal government at over $417,000 a year. That salary and important role will attract someone with a more modern approach to health care policy, like don’t lie to us, we’re not your children. It was discouraging to see the media talk about him like he was our grandfather, or worse romanticize him. Many of our problems were born from his mishandling. I’m not giving a pass to Trump or Noem, but you should ask yourselves why you’re so unwilling to hold Fauci accountable. You’re protecting him like he’s diety, or maybe that grandfather figure you needed, but he’s just a man who made many stumbles and should be replaced with the best we can get, and moving forward congress should revisit how health care emergencies are handled. Having a vice-president in charge was a mistake from the beginning. There should be a more formalized mechanism away from the politicians, because bureaucrats, as a whole, are not a brave bunch.
sorry, hc, Dr. Fauci’s comment regarding masks was made in March, not January. My mistake. Still, those who have no arguments based on science drone on attacking the messenger. The rest stands.
happy camper drives down the road and argues with signs, typical trumper.
You switch from blaming China to blaming Fauci without even a brief stopover for blaming Trump’s grabbing of the task force and PPE and overall dictatorial mishandling of the whole pandemic, over 400K USA deaths now, and counting. Do I blame China? Of course I blame China. They tried to cover it up just like dictatorial nations always do, and USA under Trump did the same, no better than China.
We (USA) HAD a plan for combating a pandemic before it began. Trump disbanded/fired a pandemic plan office, and all personnel as soon as he took office. Intelligence tried to talk to him about pandemics in general, how to be prepared, how to get ahead of it, and this pandemic in particular. The Trump transition team and the Trump administration told them all to get lost. THAT is how we ended up where we are.
Now it’s time to look forward, not go backward and try to rewrite history to suit our own views.
trump said that China was doing a great job and then, the Diamond Princess full of covid, was not allowed to dock because it would raise alarm. Americans left to fend for themselves on a damn cruise ship, how trumpian. China let the world know, and we ignored them. Besides, Italy had a case in November, so how do we know for sure it originated in Wuhan in late December? Wherever or whatever, we here in the US ignored it, just like the UK did. Look what’s happening in both.
I am only thinking about how we could better have responded to this crisis. We saw it coming. It was obvious it could not be contained. So let’s think of better solutions moving forward. Clearly, a Biden administration would have handled it better, but as a structural form of government, we must accept another Trump administration might occur (from the left or the right), so there should be a more logical separation from the bureaucrats and the politics of the day. A separation of power but still with checks and balances between the two. Both Fauci and Birx would have done a much better job with a supportive administration, but that’s not what should be in dispute. More critically, can the structure be changed so this does not occur again?