Wednesday, August 12, 2020

Last Call For Getting Sick Of Massie

My own (unfortunately) Congressman, Rep. Thomas Massie, tells Glenn Beck that he tested positive for COVID-19 in January recovered fully, and is now openly questioning why America is worried about something he considers no more dangerous than the common cold.

U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie has tested positive for coronavirus antibodies, he recently said on right-leaning political commentator Glenn Beck's radio show.

Massie, a Republican representing Kentucky's Fourth Congressional District, told Beck that he took both a coronavirus test and antibodies test at the end of July, and he received a positive result for the latter at the end of last week.

"I've had the 'rona, and I have recovered from it," Massie said on Friday.

Massie said he is "convinced" he had it in January "before we knew what 'rona was" while Congress was still adjourned for the holidays. During that time, Massie said he laid out on his couch for four days with a fever, sore throat and low energy — all symptoms of COVID-19.

"I went to the doctor — I hadn't been to the doctor for sickness in like 10 or 15 years. That's how sick I have to be to go to the doctor," Massie said, "and I said, 'look, I gotta go back to Congress, give me whatever you got,' and they gave me a strong antibiotic, shot in an antihistamine and I was feeling better within a day." 

I don't believe Massie for a second. But in grand Trumpian fashion, he's making COVID-19 all about him, about how he's donating his plasma, rather than the sick and unemployed here in KY-4.

Granted, this area is better off than most of the country. Kentucky's unemployment rate is under five percent, but that's because the number of people looking for active work dropped like a rock in the last few months.

The state is still suffering thanks to Republicans like Massie and Mitch, and Massie is babbling about plasma rather than helping people here in NKY.

About five months after Kentucky reported its first loss of life from covid-19, its economy continues to sputter amid the coronavirus pandemic. Many unemployed workers say their benefit checks aren’t enough to afford their bills, and some here simply have stopped looking for jobs. Businesses say they’re also hemorrhaging cash, and local governments fear they’re on the precipice of financial ruin, too.

The economic tumult in Kentucky is vast, and it has added new urgency to the political standoff on Capitol Hill, where the prospect of a prolonged deadlock could worsen the financial woes in a state that was hurting long before the pandemic arrived. Caught in the middle is McConnell, 78, who some critics say has struggled to navigate the priorities of the president, the political desires of a fractious Republican conference and the economic needs in his own backyard.

McConnell declined to be interviewed for this story. His spokesman, Robert Steurer, said in a statement that the Senate majority leader’s efforts have directed approximately $12 billion to Kentucky. The aid originates in large part from previous coronavirus relief legislation, which Steurer said would help “address urgent housing, transportation, health care, education and economic development priorities” in the state.

For Kenny Saylor, the money was good before the pandemic began this spring. The 42-year-old in Corbin, Ky., once a bustling railroad shipping hub in the southeast part of the Bluegrass State, had been driving his own truck, hauling returns six days a week for Amazon to the pallet stores that sell off consumers’ unwanted purchases.

But business began to slow around April, “and that’s when everything went south for me,” Saylor said. Unemployment payments helped fill the gap, but the reprieve proved short-lived after lawmakers in Washington failed to authorize additional coronavirus stimulus aid. A self-described “die-hard Republican” his entire life, Saylor said he has now found himself angry with some of the GOP leaders who had long represented him, including McConnell.

“I’m scared to death of losing everything,” he said.

The country’s economic unraveling — the worst in a generation — has spared no community from severe hardship. But in a state like Kentucky, where some communities already had been grappling with joblessness, poverty and stagnation, the coronavirus often has made matters worse. About half of all adult residents have seen some reduction in their employment income. Meanwhile, about a quarter of a million residents say they do not get enough food to eat, and nearly one-third of households are struggling to pay their rents and mortgages, federal data show.

“We’re seeing huge numbers of people needing help,” said Jason Bailey, the executive director of the left-leaning Kentucky Center for Economic Policy, who added: “I can’t imagine a state that needs additional relief more than Kentucky does.”

Sure wish Republicans gave a damn.

Orange Meltdown, Con't

Trump is not handling the Biden-Harris ticket news well.


He wanted to run against Liz Warren so very, very badly.

Do note however that Trump is now openly accusing Barack Obama and Joe Biden of committing treason, and that he basically believes both men should be executed.

Trump will not go quietly.

We will have to rip him out like cancer come January.

Hannity made the exact same mispronunciation of Harris's name multiple times on his White Power Hour last night, too.  The attacks are that Harris isn't Desi enough, and that Harris isn't black enough, and will drive both Black and Asian-American voters to stay home.

This is being done on purpose.


If this is the right's strangest stuff against Kamala, Biden might actually win 40 states.


Russian To A Vaccine

Vladimir Putin made his move yesterday to help Donald Trump by announcing a "vaccine" for COVID-19, despite the fact that it hasn't been rigorously or thoroughly tested yet. We're supposed to trust him, and the one person we know who will take Putin at his word 100% of the time, even when he's lying, is Donald Trump.

Russia on Tuesday became the first country to approve a coronavirus vaccine, a move that was met with international skepticism and unease because the shots have only been studied in dozens of people.

President Vladimir Putin announced the Health Ministry’s approval and said one of his two adult daughters already was inoculated. He said the vaccine underwent the necessary tests and was shown to provide lasting immunity to the coronavirus, although Russian authorities have offered no proof to back up claims of safety or effectiveness.

“I know it has proven efficient and forms a stable immunity,” Putin said. “We must be grateful to those who made that first step very important for our country and the entire world.”

However, scientists in Russia and other countries sounded an alarm, saying that rushing to offer the vaccine before final-stage testing could backfire. What’s called a Phase 3 trial — which involves tens of thousands of people and can take months — is the only way to prove if an experimental vaccine is safe and really works.

By comparison, vaccines entering final-stage testing in the U.S. require studies of 30,000 people each. Two vaccine candidates already have begun those huge studies, with three more set to get underway by fall.

“Fast-tracked approval will not make Russia the leader in the race, it will just expose consumers of the vaccine to unnecessary danger,” said Russia’s Association of Clinical Trials Organizations, in urging government officials to postpone approving the vaccine without completed advanced trials.

While Russian officials have said large-scale production of the vaccine wasn’t scheduled until September, Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova said vaccination of doctors could start as early as this month. Officials say they will be closely monitored after the injections. Mass vaccination may begin as early as October.

Trump of course will ask Putin to share his "miracle vaccine" with the American people, and his MAGA faithful will line up, some of them. (Some will never take a vaccine if offered, but they will if Trump's cult tells them to.)  Look very soon for an announcement from Trump that the Putin vaccine will be readily available before the election, and that it will have "solved" the COVID-19 problem here in the US just in time to reelect Dear Leader Donald.

Watch the space on the "Russian vaccine" closely.  It's definitely Putin's play for four more Trump years...at the minimum.

StupidiNews!