Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.

When do the post office & the dmv weigh in on the wuhan virus?

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

Fuck the extremist election deniers. What’s money for if not for keeping them out of office?

It’s the corruption, stupid.

Following reporting rules is only for the little people, apparently.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

I’m pretty sure there’s only one Jack Smith.

Spilling the end game before they can coat it in frankl luntz-approved dogwhistles.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

You are here: Home / Healthcare / COVID-19 Coronavirus / Not Just America’s Monster; The World’s Monster

Not Just America’s Monster; The World’s Monster

by | 182 Comments

This post is in: , , , ,

Dear everyone,

We’re so sorry.

(signed)

Every even vaguely moral American.

The above became necessary after this report:

German government sources told Reuters on Sunday that the U.S. administration was looking into how it could gain access to a potential [coronavirus] vaccine being developed by a German firm, CureVac.

Earlier, the Welt am Sonntag German newspaper reported that U.S. President Donald Trump had offered funds to lure CureVac to the United States, and the German government was making counter-offers to tempt it to stay.

…

Welt am Sonntag also quoted an unidentified German government source as saying Trump was trying to secure the scientists’ work exclusively, and would do anything to get a vaccine for the United States, “but only for the United States.”

Read that last sentence again:

Welt am Sonntag also quoted an unidentified German government source as saying Trump was trying to secure the scientists’ work exclusively, and would do anything to get a vaccine for the United States, “but only for the United States.”

Not Just America's Monster; The World's Monster

Fuck me.

I got nothing.

I suppose I could hope that the anonymous German source is making stuff up, but recent history gives me no confidence that this is the case.

 

And if it’s not, then this is the pure distillate of modern Republicanism. It takes IGMFY to its logical endpoint. I Got Mine
Go Die (Or Pay Everything You’ve Got). It’s disaster capitalism honed to its sharpest point, to be stuck between the ribs of most of humanity.

I wish–I REALLY would hope–to be surprised.

I’m not at all.

This isn’t just Trump, of course. It’s the Republican Party playbook down to the last jot and tittle. The party, and not just this president, needs to be wrecked, its fields salted, its monuments pulled down until history has no memory that such wretched people ever walked the earth.

Open thread.

Image: The Silent Highwayman, a cartoon in Punch, 10 July 1858. (Description: Death rows on the Thames, claiming the lives of victims who have not paid to have the river cleaned up, during the Great Stink.)

Reader Interactions

182Comments

  2. 2.

    dmsilev

    Does Trump have _any_ redeeming qualities? I mean, famously, Hitler was fond of his dogs (and, of course, was the one who killed Hitler).

  3. 3.

    Baud

    Trump is scum, but a German firm is going to be wary about pissing off the German government.

  4. 4.

    WereBear

    As this point if someone told me the orange makeup was part of hiding the fact tRump is really one of the aliens from V: the mini-series, I would say, “It explains so much!”

  7. 7.

    Frankensteinbeck

    I’ll leave this here, too:  In Israel, Gantz is forming a coalition government.  It does not include Likud.  Netenyahu is out of power.  I guess it’s possible the coalition will fall apart while assigning positions, but that’s unlikely.

  8. 8.

    hueyplong

    Interesting that Trump would be this way about a common cold virus being inflated into a hoax by Democrats.

    Oh shit, wrong week.

  9. 9.

    ziggy

    Also the logical conclusion of capitalism. The virus is making socialism look a lot more appealing.

  12. 12.

    Jerzy Russian

    Welt am Sonntag also quoted an unidentified German government source as saying Trump was trying to secure the scientists’ work exclusively, and would do anything to get a vaccine for the United States, “but only for the United States.”

    So the virus is not a hoax? Otherwise why would one need a vaccine? Step 1 in problem solving is to admit you have a problem, so there is progress, I suppose.

  14. 14.

    p.a.

    Not convincing.   Once we have it, he’ll share it with the world, for a price.

    When he’s gone, the nation will need a fumigation.

  16. 16.

    BobS

    Maybe the rest of the world should collectively outbid the United States and tell the United States to ‘get fucked, develop your own’.

  18. 18.

    BBA

    Cue the playbook: a denial from White House staff, followed by an admission by Trump, followed by fervent efforts to explain it away, and then something even dumber will come up to distract us from the distractions.

  20. 20.

    Sab

    @WereBear: That’s brutal for you. You and Connie Schultz are letting us see your dark sides.

    My favorite cat is already pissed at me because he is clingy and I am touchy about that. Don’t get near me when I get home with road rage.

    Working out trust issues (not hard with him. He is so so naive and trusting at age 11).

    I love my job and the people I work with, but I would really like to not have to drive to work every day for an hour with rural Ohio drivers. Slugs are brighter.

  21. 21.

    HumboldtBlue

    I’ve reached out to the Senior Center, Food For People and the Jefferson Community Center to offer my services. I’m a free agent — single man, no dependents (and no fucking job) — so I may be able to help those who need it and fill in form those who have families at home.

    Eureka is the county seat so each weekday the city expands by 20K people or so and traffic is heavy and on the weekend it empties out and traffic settles a bit but there’s ALWAYS traffic thru downtown because US 101 runs right thru the city.

    No traffic, it’s deathly quiet. No sirens, no one driving. Mood has changed to caution and wariness.

    Cat still won’t get a fucking job to help out but will demand a lap for three hours (an entirely new development, always a play kitty but only snuggles during sleeping).

    And seeing as though we deal with a fact-based reality there is this

  22. 22.

    Jerzy Russian

    I like to think of myself as a life-long learner.  Part of that is expanding vocabulary.  There are two phrases that I often use:

    1.  Fuck me ____________
    2.  [Jesus H.] Christ in/on a _______

    For the first, my go-to completions are “naked”, “Agnus”, and “to tears”.  For the second, I usually use “crutch” or “crosswalk”.  I would love to hear other people’s thoughts on these matters.

  24. 24.

    WereBear

    @Jerzy Russian: Not quite, I was thinking.

    Trump’s assholery, on full display in both press conferences, did not fool the market, which freaked out.

    Only those of us discussing the erosion of government, you know, Jackals and the like; had a clue it wasn’t business as usual going on.

    Apparently, everyone else thought someone actually was in charge.

  25. 25.

    WhatsMyNym

    Somebody is trying get more money out of the German government, and it ain’t Trump.
    This is the country and leader (Merkel) who kept Deutsche Bank AG alive because of self interest.

  26. 26.

    BBA

    Part of me honest to God suspects Trump is immune to Coronavirus and will casually infect the entire US government while tweeting about his superior genes or whatever.

    I think it was Karl Sharro who noted that the man has the stench of destiny about him

    — Starfish Who Is Frankly Freaking Out Right Now (@IRHotTakes) March 14, 2020

  27. 27.

    WereBear

    @Sab: That’s brutal for you. You and Connie Schultz are letting us see your dark sides.

     
    Well, it freaks me out a little, too. But right now, it seems like the only humane response.

  32. 32.

    Calouste

    Uhm, I doubt that German company is the only place in the world that is working on a corona virus vaccine. So the shitgibbon is willing to pay gobs of money for something that might be freely available anyway, and maybe even quicker. And of course his idiot minions would be messing up the whole process (testing, production, you name it) with their interference, so in the end it might not even work.

  35. 35.

    WereBear

    @HumboldtBlue:

    Cat still won’t get a fucking job to help out but will demand a lap for three hours (an entirely new development, always a play kitty but only snuggles during sleeping).

     
    They pick up on our emotions. They are extending the Paw of Compassion.

    If anyone is looking for something to listen to, the link is to my limited run podcast, In a PurrFect World. 21 fantastic episodes!

  37. 37.

    Cheryl Rofer

    It’s a solid story, Tom. I was just thinking of doing a post on it. Thanks for beating me to it!

    Marc-Michael Blum, former head of the laboratory at the Organisation for Prohibition of Chemical Warfare, responded to my tweet on the story:

    Looks like that’s part of it too.

  38. 38.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    meanwhile

    Donald J. Trump
    @realDonaldTrump
    · 14m
    So now it is reported that, after destroying his life & the life of his wonderful family (and many others also), the FBI, working in conjunction with the Justice Department, has “lost” the records of General Michael Flynn. How convenient. I am strongly considering a Full Pardon!

  40. 40.

    Uncle Cosmo

    Sometime in the Sixties I recall reading an SF novel set in a defeated USA where the victors controlled the people by means of a bioweapon deployed late in the war. The organism was 100% fatal unless treated by means of an injection, and even after treatment would linger in the body, whereas the injection had to be repeated every year, and no one who wasn’t registered in good standing with the occupying authorities could get it.

    This is the kind of con that Agolf Twitler would love – so long as he controlled the “treatment” & profited from every dose administered. Would any of you put it past the sonofabitch?

    (FTR The big plot twist, IIRC, was the discovery by resistance-minded Americans that the organism itself died out in the body after a year – and that the main purpose of the “treatment” was to inject a new dose of it so that resistance was fatal. At which point the people rise up–)

  42. 42.

    scav

    From The Guardian, interesting timing details, for multiple reasons,

    On 11 March, CureVac released a statement that its CEO, the US citizen Daniel Menichella, was unexpectedly leaving the firm and would be replaced by the company’s founder, Ingmar Hoerr.

    At the start of the month, Menichella was invited to the White House in Washington to discuss strategy for the rapid development and production of a coronavirus vaccine with Trump, the vice-president, Mike Pence, and members of the White House coronavirus task force.

  44. 44.

    BBA

    @WhatsMyNym: Very plausible that the vaccine maker is making it up to shake down the German government. Also very plausible that the German government is making it up to spite Trump. And it’s only slightly less plausible that it’s true. Trump is certainly cruel and dumb enough to do it, but may not be clever enough to come up with the idea to begin with.

  47. 47.

    Sab

    So I googled mike dewine, and now the ad blocking the direction buttons is “Adam Schiff resign.” I miss the BBB and Africa Smiles.

  49. 49.

    Ohio Mom

    There are Germans making progress on saving the world from catastrophe and the US government is the villain — how ironic. Just before my lifetime began, the roles were reversed.

    I’ve said this before: my Red neighbors who voted for Hillary are not absolved, they also voted for the Republicans in Congress who are letting this madman continue on.

  51. 51.

    JPL

    @Calouste:  After reading the article earlier, I sent it on with a message that he really is a monster.   I also said I can see him imagining an election victory after this stunt.

  53. 53.

    James E Powell

    Trump was trying to secure the scientists’ work exclusively, and would do anything to get a vaccine for the United States, “but only for the United States.”

    When you were in line at Costco or your local grocery store or wherever, you were in line with people who completely agree with Trump on this.

  54. 54.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Jerzy Russian: My dad was always fond of “Jesus tapdancing Christ on a fucking pogo stick”.

    I don’t know WHY at all, but it’s always made me smile.

  56. 56.

    Mr. Kite

    @BBA: WTF is this conspiracy shit? The company is trying to shake down the German gov? You think the EU and Gates Foundation got scammed by them too?

    You are nuts.

  58. 58.

    Roger Moore

    @dmsilev:

    Does Trump have _any_ redeeming qualities?

    Only history will tell.  If he succeeds in completely destroying the Republican party as an electoral power, that would be a good thing, kind of like crediting Hitler for killing himself.

  59. 59.

    ziggy

    Someone please develop a vaccine, but with a genetic twist that makes it completely ineffective for Trump and all his spawn.

  62. 62.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @WhatsMyNym: While not excusing the rapaciousness of German finance, I have to say that, in this particular situation, Merkel and the Germans are not my go-to as an assumption of who is the bad actor here.

  63. 63.

    Jay

    Thousands are still displaced in Delhi, India, almost three weeks after the worst religious violence the city has seen in decades.

    Mosques, schools, homes and businesses were torched and looted by violent mobs, mostly targeting Muslims. Bodies were still being recovered from sewer drains more than a week after the violence, and officials say more than 50 are dead and more than 200 people were injured. The violence took place over three days starting on Feb. 23, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi was hosting U.S. President Donald Trump for a two-day visit.

    https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/india-delhi-violence-people-displaced-1.5486639

  64. 64.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @JPL: yup, he’s a moron about many, many things, but that animal instinct is always there

  68. 68.

    Jerzy Russian

    @MisterForkbeard:

    My dad was always fond of “Jesus tapdancing Christ on a fucking pogo stick”.

    My junior high school science teacher often said “well dip me in shit and call me a Baby Ruth bar”. I often shorten this to “well dip me in shit”.

  75. 75.

    WaterGirl

    @Sab: You guys, if those ads are still blocking the navigation buttons, it means that you haven’t convinced Cole that that is annoying enough for him to ask the ad guy for a change.

    I have added a third option under the Site Feedback form – Report an ad, and John and I both receive those forms.

    So if the ads are still blocking navigation buttons, PLEASE go to the site feedback form under Calling All Jackals (and in the hamburger on mobile) and submit a form.

    This is something every single person who has this issue should do, if the ads covering the navigation buttons annoy you.

    That’s the only way that will get fixed.

  76. 76.

    Anya

    @Calouste: what are the chances the  Canadian scientists who have successfully isolated and grown copies of the novel coronavirus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic will get the vaccine before this German company’s scientists?

  77. 77.

    Amir Khalid

    So Trump wants this Geman company to develop, for the US only, a Covid-19 vaccine.  He’s asking them to forego selling the vaccine to the rest of the world. I don’t know what kind of people are running this company. But I’ll assume they can count and are not complete monsters. I very much doubt Trump can wave enough of your money under their noses to compensate for the sacrifice of the non-US market. I also think there’s an obvious ethical issue with them restricting a life-saving vaccine needed around the world to only one country, that would make the offer not easy to accept

  78. 78.

    scav

    Lying to the people while negotiating an exclusive business deal. Running the government like a corporation indeed — The Chosen Leader of a Beneficent God!

  82. 82.

    Jay

    @Amir Khalid:

    The German Company responded to “The Offer” by firing the American CEO, bringing back the German CEO, and going public about “The Offer”, with confirmation from the German Ministry of Health.

  83. 83.

    Anya

    @Cheryl Rofer: so, they fired the American CEO?

    Before this is all over (Trump’s presidency), US’s reputation would reach a place we cannot recover from.

  86. 86.

    debbie

    @Jerzy Russian:

    I try not to say them out loud, but for #1, “with a rusty chainsaw” or “and the horse I rode in on.” I’m thinking I got these from Dexter, but I’m not sure.

  88. 88.

    Wapiti

    And if the Administration was making offers at the beginning of the month, they knew Covid-19 wasn’t just like the flu.

  90. 90.

    trollhattan

    @Anya: Before this is all over (Trump’s presidency), US’s reputation would reach a place we cannot recover from.

    IMO the Paris Accord and Iran nuclear deal demolitions have demonstrated to the world that the US’s word and inked signature are meaningless. I don’t know how anybody trusts us again, regardless of who’s in charge that day. A Trump will come after and blow it all up with the Supreme Court holding his beer.

  98. 98.

    Kent

    So, there are pharmaceutical companies all over the world with the capacity to make vaccines.

    If some American or German company happens to develop the process to make a vaccine and tries to patent it for profit, how long is it going to take until Chinese or Indian or Korean copies start becoming available?

    Trump already killed off the WTO.  So he (or his cronies) would have to actually go to Chinese or Korean or Indian courts to demand cease and desist orders for vaccine production in the teeth of pandemic.  And if those governments are distributing it free then there aren’t even any profits to seize.

    Yeah….not going to happen.  This doesn’t even seem well thought out.  What is their end game?  To only treat Americans?   Are we then going to close the US borders to the rest of the planet until the end of time?  Or are we going to sell it to the rest of the world for profit?

    Can someone explain some rational way any of this makes sense?   The normal way that corporate cronies would make massive profits over stuff like this would be in the sole source contracts for manufacturing and distribution of pandemic-related items.  In other words, get as much of that $8.5 billion as you can, plus all the other money being spent out of other budgets.

  99. 99.

    hilts

    On 11 March, CureVac released a statement that its CEO, the US citizen Daniel Menichella, was unexpectedly leaving the firm and would be replaced by the company’s founder, Ingmar Hoerr.

    At the start of the month, Menichella was invited to the White House in Washington to discuss strategy for the rapid development and production of a coronavirus vaccine with Trump, the vice-president, Mike Pence, and members of the White House coronavirus task force.

    The White House has been contacted for comment.

     

    h/t https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/mar/15/trump-offers-large-sums-for-exclusive-access-to-coronavirus-vaccine

  100. 100.

    Just Chuck

    @WaterGirl: As long as ads continue to be able to insert arbitrary Javascript into the page, I will continue to block them everywhere.  It’s basic malware protection really, not just annoyance reduction.  There are several technologies already in place that could make ad delivery much more secure, but the advertisers just don’t fucking care.

    Yes, I flip JC a few bucks every so often by paypal.  He’s literally the only one I do this for.

  101. 101.

    noncarborundum

    @WereBear: Nah.  IIRC they ate their meat not only raw but still alive and kicking.  Well-done steak with ketchup would have turned their stomachs.

  103. 103.

    Jay

    When @GovPritzker tweeted critically at the White House last night about the O'Hare mess and demanded federal action, "Here’s what I got," Pritzker told Chuck Todd. "I got a call at 11 last night from a White House staffer who yelled at me about the tweet. That’s what I got."— Dave McKinney (@davemckinney) March 15, 2020

  106. 106.

    Jay

    @Kent:

    you are expecting sanity from a B Movie Villian heading a Transnational Crime Syndicate masquerading as a Government?

  109. 109.

    WereBear

    @Roger Moore:

    kind of like crediting Hitler for killing himself.

     
    Which is not an unlikely scenario for Trump himself.

    The bunker suicide scenario was given a high probability by the team of psychiatrists asked to study Hitler before the war began. And they were correct.

    Just sayin’

  111. 111.

    Kent

    @Jay:you are expecting sanity from a B Movie Villian heading a Transnational Crime Syndicate masquerading as a Government?

    Sanity?  No, but the man has a lizard brain talent for finding avenues for profit and grift.  I think we are only days or weeks away from various struggling Trump resort properties being “repurposed” as temporary quarantine facilities.  Because no one is golfing now anyway.  So Trump Doral Miami will start taking in “only the best” quarantine patients at say $10,000/day per person?  That would be a cool $1 million/day for every 100 people they pack in there.

  115. 115.

    Ksmiami

    @WereBear: everyone told me to be respectful of the GOP and it’s members but I’ve been pretty consistent in my beliefs that they will lead the country to ruin

  116. 116.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Kent:

    Can someone explain some rational way any of this makes sense?

    This is about ego, cruelty, and what Trump thinks makes him look good.  If that doesn’t count as ‘rational’ to you, well, people often are not rational.  Usually, even.

  118. 118.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @trollhattan:

    IMO the Paris Accord and Iran nuclear deal demolitions have demonstrated to the world that the US’s word and inked signature are meaningless.

    Um, Bolsonaro in Brazil, Bibi in Israel, Johnson in the UK, the “Liberals” in Australia, the list kinda goes on. The US isn’t the only nation in the world to go off the rails. Right wing authoritarianism is on the rise worldwide

  119. 119.

    Noskilz

    That  extra “but only for the United States” is really something extra, and makes me a bit dubious.

    The current administration is run by and for absolute trash – but that has the feel of someone empurpling a tale into the ultra-violet.

    Unfortunately,  Trump and his minions have absolutely no credibility outside the trumpling community – it certainly sounds very on brand – so even if it turns out to be untrue or only fragmentarily true, it will have legs. Even more unfortunately, it’s not as if anyone can safely assume this gang of idiots wouldn’t try it if they thought they could get away with it, but that extra exclusivity wrinkle just sounds like a detail added explicitly to wind up an audience.

  123. 123.

    artem1s

    @BBA:

    Trump is certainly cruel and dumb enough to do it, but may not be clever enough to come up with the idea to begin with.

    actually it’s sounds exactly like someone who doesn’t understand science and how vaccines work.  Could be the Conman in Chief or Dence trying to hedge against The Rapture.

  124. 124.

    catclub

    @Jay: So has China really stopped the exponential spread in its tracks?

    That is amazing if true.

     

    I am worried they might still be lying.

  125. 125.

    Sab

    My bedroom door was closed but not latched.

    Any competent cat could have figured out how to open it. Cocker spaniel not so much. What a stupid dog. Sweetest moron ever. Jeez he is not bright.

  126. 126.

    Noskilz

    @Noskilz: Missed an earlier commenter’s link to the CNBC story, so sorry about that. And that every time one thinks the bottom of the barrel has been hit, this administration manages to dig just a little bit deeper.

  128. 128.

    way2blue

    Trump is thrashing around looking for a way to *play the hero*.  Thinking all his blatant failures will wash away…

  129. 129.

    Tdjr

    @Sab: My cocker spaniel was the same. Sweet as could be but dumb as a post. I have a Clumber spaniel mix now and he is almost smarter than I am. ?

  131. 131.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @catclub:

    Them too. And Orban in Hungary. And it’s very disappointing that Le Pen was even in the running in France. Or that Germany’s neo-Nazi “Alternative for Germany” is as powerful as it is.

    I think all this talk of “America’s credibility” is 1. going to be the least of our worries and 2. is tiresome because it acts as if the US is the world’s only bad actor or unique. It’s a variant of American exceptionalism: America is exceptionally untrustworthy

  132. 132.

    Sab

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): So now you get to consider your career choice. My dad was a pathologist in the height of the AIDS crisis.

    This is part of the job. I am guessing you will makke the right choice. Medicine is a risky field. That’s why there are jobs there.

  133. 133.

    Jay

    @Kent:

    You are making the assumption that Dumph and his Administration have some very basic, rudimentary knowledge about how vaccines, ( drugs) are created, tested, distributed, patented and genericized.

    As was made readily apparent early on in the Dolt 45 Administration, Dumph and his crew, along with some 40% of Americans, do not have any of the basic knowlege of how The World Actually Works that one would expect a reasonably well educated 5th Grader would posess,

    and Covid19 is making abundantly clear.

    The US has become a kaikestocracy with the most evil, venal and stupid people running the Government, Corporations and Media.

  135. 135.

    Jay

    @catclub:

    they might be, they might not be.

    more worrysome is Japan has a case of a woman who was infected, survived, tested clear of the virus for a month, who is now reinfected.

  136. 136.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Sab: I have a friend who was a nurse during the Ebola scare a few years back and whose Texas hospital had 2-3 patients.

    She decided it wasn’t for her and gave her notice, moved to California, and became an administrative assistant.

    My brother is also a nurse. He called me a week ago to say he wouldn’t be meeting any of us for a long time, because he WILL catch COVID-19 at some point.

    This is a good time for people to discover if medicine is what they want to do.

  137. 137.

    Jay

    The patient’s symptom pattern — illness, followed by a brief period of improvement/recovery, then a rapid reappearance of symptoms — has been reported recently in some #coronavirus patients in Italy, too, including relatively young patients like this one. So that’s concerning.— Caroline Orr (@RVAwonk) March 14, 2020

  138. 138.

    Jay

    @catclub:

    Because of how a bunch of Governments have treated information, and disparities in heath care, age, health, knowledge, we will as a Global Society, know everything we need to know about Covid19 in about two years or so.

  139. 139.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Sab:

    Yeah. It’s scary. I’m probably going to get it just from working in a supermarket

  141. 141.

    Jay

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    most of us are going to “get it”. Some of us will be fine, no big deal. Some of us will get sick, like a normal flu or cold. Some of us will get very sick, like a flu or cold on steroids. Some of us will get very, very sick that will require major medical intervention. Some of us will die. Some of us will suffer life long repercussions ranging from not being able to run triathlons anymore, to being permanently crippled.

    That’s how a Global Pandemic works.

  142. 142.

    Brachiator

    Welt am Sonntag also quoted an unidentified German government source as saying Trump was trying to secure the scientists’ work exclusively, and would do anything to get a vaccine for the United States, “but only for the United States.”

    I am disgusted in every way that a thinking, feeling, human being could be disgusted by this.

    The United States is not perfect. But I can remember when the US would work to develop cures for diseases and eagerly share them with them world. And yeah, you can even throw in the corporate interests.

    The mind numbing insanity to all this is that Trump’s selfishness is not only craven, it is stupid and counter-productive.

    But this is who he is, and who he always will be. He represents the worst instincts of humanity. And yet he has been put in charge and is the supposed “leader of the free world.” I guess he would happily change that to “leader of the ain’t nothing free here world.”

  143. 143.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @HumboldtBlue:

    ’ve reached out to the Senior Center, Food For People and the Jefferson Community Center to offer my services. I’m a free agent — single man, no dependents (and no fucking job) — so I may be able to help those who need it and fill in form those who have families at home.

    That’s a nice idea. I’m in somewhat similar circumstances, so I might just make some calls tomorrow to see where I could be useful.

  145. 145.

    Brachiator

    @Noskilz:

    Missed an earlier commenter’s link to the CNBC story, so sorry about that. And that every time one thinks the bottom of the barrel has been hit, this administration manages to dig just a little bit deeper.

    The Trump Administration is also ordering more barrels.

  146. 146.

    Mike in NC

    By the time this report hits the 6:00 news tonight, we’ll have learned that (1) Fat Bastard wants to restrict giving the vaccine only to dues-paying members of his shitty Mar-a-Lago resort, and (2) the dues for Mar-a-Lago have just tripled.

  147. 147.

    Ksmiami

    @WereBear: We need to give the GOP the Kronos treatment and literally destroy them and bury the party in the deepest trenches in the center of the earth

  148. 148.

    WaterGirl

    @Just Chuck: I use an ad blocker, too.  i hate all the ads.  But for people who don’t, if they will just submit the forms, Cole will likely take action.

    Cole feels the anyone can bitch in the comments, but if they take the time to post a complain about the ad through Site Feedback, then it’s important enough to them that he will pay attention.

  150. 150.

    JR

    Sorry guys this doesn’t make sense. I wouldn’t put anything past Trump et al…but:

    Developing a vaccine isn’t rocket science for most diseases. Not at all. There are literally hundreds if not thousands of people working on a vaccine right now at Merck and Pfizer and numerous smaller companies. This small German company has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING that is particularly desirable over and above what US-based companies can supply in terms of R&D and manufacturing.

    Thus, I really strongly doubt that this is anything more than disinformation, potentially from parties interested in sowing international discord. Hmm who could that be?

    (just a note, I’m a molecular biologist, published in virology, and I have worked on vaccines)

  151. 151.

    MattF

    My guess is that Trump got played by the American CEO of the German pharma company. ‘Just give us $xx billions, and you’ll be a hero’. Trump is desperately looking for that miracle cure. The fact that it will take at least a year to develop a safe and effective vaccine is simply not in his field of view. And the conman is the easiest to con. Stupid, incompetent, evil. Checks all the boxes.

    I have to admit that the ‘Americans only’ twist is pretty brilliant, it guaranteed that Trump would bite, hard.

  152. 152.

    Brachiator

    @Jay:

    BREAKING: 1st official admission that Kremlin may have distorted UK elections:UK ministers will no longer claim ‘no successful examples’ of Russian interference

    And Boris Johnson continues to play Trump’s mini-me by refusing to release a report on Russian influence in the British elections.

  153. 153.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @WaterGirl:

    So if the ads are still blocking navigation buttons, PLEASE go to the site feedback form under Calling All Jackals (and in the hamburger on mobile) and submit a form.

    Bu- bu- but the ads are blocking the feedback form and the hamberder!!!

    // snark, I can get to it

  155. 155.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @WaterGirl:

    So if the ads are still blocking navigation buttons, PLEASE go to the site feedback form under Calling All Jackals (and in the hamburger on mobile) and submit a form.

    Bu- bu- but the ads are blocking the feedback form and the hamberder!!!

    // snark, I can get to it

  157. 157.

    JR

    @MattF: Yes that is probably a good explanation — the CEO was playing Trump.

    Just one other note in support of what I just said: there are no less than 50 clinical trials ongoing right now for the treatment of COVID-19, and vaccine trials are coming shortly in record time.

    https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/results?cond=COVID&term=&cntry=&state=&city=&dist=

    There is literally nothing that the German company can offer over and above what is already being done by US-based companies.

  158. 158.

    Robert Sneddon

    Everyone and their dog in the international pharmaceutical business is working on a vaccine. It’s likely there will be multiple independently created candidate vaccines undergoing accelerated trials and eventual limited deployment (a hundred million doses of whatever) by the autumn and screw the existing extended licencing and reviewing procedures, it’s time to throw everything up against the wall and see what sticks.

     

    Some of these candidate vaccines won’t work very well but be better than no vaccine at all. Others may be detrimental to specific sub-groups of people like, for example, pregnant women. Some people will die from being vaccinated because essential tests were abbreviated or skipped entirely. Three years from now there will be a more effective, safer, better vaccine. Today is not three years from now.

  159. 159.

    Jay

    @JR:

    Thus, I really strongly doubt that this is anything more than disinformation, potentially from parties interested in sowing international discord. Hmm who could that be?

    The German Ministry of Health is not known for their disinfo ops.

    It’s a hard thing to accept, but the ugly reality is the US is in the hands of people so stupid and evil that they wouldn’t even make a good Bond Villain or Lighthouse Keeper on Scoobydoo.

  161. 161.

    MagdaInBlack

    @Jay:

    I noticed that yesterday.

    Those companies with under 50 or over 500 employees,  are exempt ?

  162. 162.

    joel hanes

    @JR:

    There is literally nothing that the German company can offer over and above what is already being done by US-based companies.

    Trump is uniquely incapable of grasping that fact.

  163. 163.

    Suzy

    @Jay: It must be total chaos within the WH right now. With Trump yelling at his staffers even more than usual.

  165. 165.

    J R in WV

    @WhatsMyNym:

    Somebody is trying get more money out of the German government, and it ain’t Trump.

    This is the country and leader (Merkel) who kept Deutsche Bank AG alive because of self interest.

    I can’t help but notice that you provide no source, no information, nothing to back up this naked assertion. Maybe that’s because Deutsche Bank isn’t actually controlled by the German government?

    Maybe because Deutsche Bank had a division run by the son of former Sup. Justice Kennedy, the division that loaned Mr. Trump a large fraction of a billion dollars after he defaulted on other loans to Deutch Bank?

    Maybe because you are a Russian troll working out of a GRU office in St Petersburg?

    Maybe… Certainly resident in the Pie Safe now !!!

  167. 167.

    robmassing

    Senior white dudes in MAGA hats at this diner in Western PA fully support this effort to get a vaccine for AMURKANS only. Except for some Amurkans.

  168. 168.

    J R in WV

    @Kent:

    Kent, I’m pretty sure the World Trade Organization is still operating normally. Trump may ignore them, but I believe the rest of the world’s economy doesn’t give a rat’s ass what Trump does or does not.

    So saying “Trump aready killed off the WTO” is pretty wildly wrong.

  169. 169.

    BobS

    @J R in WV: Merkel’s role in trying to forge a merger between Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank was pretty well reported (and criticized by many). I don’t really know (or care) enough about it to be anything but agnostic.

    I’m not necessarily a fan of Merkel (except to the extent she pisses in Trump’s cereal), but would certainly welcome her as an alternative to what we have here, however what does get annoying is the reflexive “Russian troll” that gets tossed at people who have different opinions or spins on things. It’s kind of the mirror image of “fake news”.

  170. 170.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @J R in WV: Why don’t you just pie everyone?  Just to be safe.  Any of us might be a troll – even the ones who have been commenting for years.  They might be trying to build up your trust so that they can more easily fuck with you later.  You can’t be too careful.

  171. 171.

    J R in WV

    @BobS:

    Don’t know what a merger between two German banks has to do with anything. And Merkel’s role in a potential merger between two German banks seems to have little to do with American politics and even less to do with Trump and his minions trying to co-opt a Pharma research company in Germany.

    When people make shit up and post it, I’m thinking there’s a reason. Maybe that reason is they’re just stupid — but I continue to think people who sound like Bob in Portland are professional trolls. You be you, though.

  173. 173.

    Jay

    @J R in WV:

    Maybe that reason is they’re just stupid —

    Occam’s Razor?

    Besided, St. Petersburg has outsourced much of the trolling to Nigeria and Ghana.

  174. 174.

    NotMax

    @joel hanes

    Trump’s Razor says that Jared Googled “coronavirus vaccine” and that German company was the first to come up on the lists.

  176. 176.

    Mr. Mack

    @BobS: Yes.  It’s a lazy habit that too many of us fall into.  We need to hear all points of view, as long as they are polite/respectful of the group.  YMMV.

  178. 178.

    low-tech cyclist

    Welt am Sonntag also quoted an unidentified German government source as saying Trump was trying to secure the scientists’ work exclusively, and would do anything to get a vaccine for the United States, “but only for the United States.”

    Impeach the ratbastard.  (Yeah, I know we’ve done it once.  Do it again.)  And then lock him up in Gitmo for the rest of his days.

    Death’s too good for him.

  180. 180.

    J R in WV

    @BobS:

    March 15, 2020 at 4:29 pm

    @J R in WV: Stay away from Fox- you seem to be susceptible to stupid.

    Perhaps — here I am, talking to you… but no worries regarding Faux News, we have no access to cable, so I’m stuck with Balloon Juice and LGM for my news analysis and companionship. I will say, way fewer trolls at LGM, but less friendship too.

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