We'll be fighting in the street
With our children at our feet
And the morals that they worship will be gone
And the men who spurred us on
Sit in judgment of all wrong
They decide and the shotgun sings the song
I'll tip my hat to the new constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I'll get on my knees and pray
We don't get fooled again
Don't get fooled again
The Who (1971)
It's been a while since I've written about covid. A long time, actually. We now have a Democratic administration, a Democratic Senate, and a Democratic House. Let's compare the striking differences between early Covid 2022 and the waning weeks of the Trump administration a year ago.
1) Despite all warnings and indications of how the virus would evolve, the United States finds itself woefully lacking in testing. Tests are difficult to find; testing sites can feature hours-long waiting. That's a check under Trump and a check under Biden.
2) An administration pushing largely ineffectual mitigation strategies to rein in the variants while declaring there is no need to panic. Carry on with your Christmas shopping and go see a ball game (or bowl game). It doesn't matter if there's a highly contagious disease and a stadium crammed with 50,000 people. Buy some tickets and take a chance! That's a check under Trump and a check under Biden.
3) Hospitals filling to the brink while the administration declares the dangers of children not attending school in person, despite no real data regarding long-term covid consequences in children (or adults for that matter). That's a check for Trump and a check for Biden.
4) Questions arise about the utility of testing and keeping infection counts. The CDC giving contradictory advice that appears to be slanted to maintaining economic normalcy as a top priority. That's a check for Trump and a check for Biden.
5) Trump's Dr. Scott Atlas not knowing what he's talking about while promoting government actions that will grease the skids towards herd immunity. Biden's Dr. Anthony Fauci, while absolutely knowing what he's doing, refusing to argue against government actions that push Americans into the same herd immunity cattle-auction chute. Check for Trump on herd immunity. Check for Biden on herd immunity hiding under no name.
6) A soaring economy with stock market gains and one-percenters padding their lives on pandemic outcomes. Check for Trump. Check for Biden.
7) Pushing the narrative that soon to be available or currently available vaccines are the answer to solving the covid crisis, even as Professor Andrew Pollard, developer of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, says, "We can't vaccinate the planet every six months." Check for Trump. Check for Biden.
8) Major American news networks almost completely ignoring covid numbers in other countries whose mitigation efforts have been radically different and superior to the United States. Check under Trump. Check under Biden.
As many Americans died of covid in 2021 as died in 2020. Somehow that has become lost in the vaccination rhetoric. CNN no longer does a daily Covid death tracking chart. Why not? Instead, it features a chart showing vaccinations. Why? And not a story bubbles to the CNN surface highlighting vaccine-related deaths or the dearth of knowledge regarding long-term covid consequences.
Propaganda in 2020. Propaganda in 2021, albeit with the widespread and blatantly manipulative use of the word "science" as an adjective or noun.
Yeah!
Meet the new boss
Same as the old boss
The Who ("Won't Be Fooled Again") 1971
Bob Dietz
January 5, 2022
