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During the COVID epidemic Washington State has tried to follow science and encouraged mask utilization, social isolation and vaccination. In Texas on the other hand the governor ignored science and undermined all disease control efforts.

WASHINGTON

Washington State population: 7,170,00

Covid Cases: 695,999

% fully vaccinated 10/2021: 72%

Covid deaths in Washington: 8,234

Expected deaths in Washington at Texas rate: 16,581

Texas

Texas Population. 29,145,000

Texas Covid Cases: 4,156,000

% fully vacccinated Oct 15, 2021: 52%

Covid deaths in Texas: 67,400

Expected deaths in Texas at Washington State rate= 33,470

Medicynical Note: In Texas if precautions had been taken and vaccination encouraged to the extent of Washington, the number of deaths in Texas could have been halved.

In Texas thousands of people died from the state government’s poor judgment and politicization of a life threatening medical problem

And………..thousands died.

For the first time in history a sitting president attempted to undermine the U.S. Government in what can only be described as an coup by judicial fiat.

The Republican Party previously used the Supreme Court to undermine the majority of voters in the 2000 presidential election by not allowing a complete count of votes in Florida. Depending on one’s point of view this was perhaps a misuse of the judiciary but not quite a coup.

So perhaps having more or less succeeded in subverting an election once, Trump, having lost the election, with the support of some in his party, considered overturning the will of a several million voter majority. He circulated false accusations of massive vote fraud, accusations disproved by courts every place the issue was raise. In spite of this he schemed with partisan lawyers in his Department of Justice to find a way to overturn the valid election results.

Fortunately his attempts failed. Make no mistake it was the first attempted Coup d’Etat in U.S. history.

And Yes it was a Coup attempt.…..

From the Nobel site about the 2015 award for Medicine: “William C. Campbell and Satoshi Ōmura discovered a new drug, Avermectin, the derivatives of which have radically lowered the incidence of River Blindness and Lymphatic Filariasis, as well as showing efficacy against an expanding number of other parasitic diseases. Tu Youyou discovered Artemisinin, a drug that has significantly reduced the mortality rates for patients suffering from Malaria.”

“These two discoveries have provided humankind with powerful new means to combat these debilitating diseases that affect hundreds of millions of people. annually. The consequences in terms of improved human health and reduced suffering are immeasurable.”

The drug was a major advance in the treatment of parasitic diseases not viral illnesses.

While there has been some activity in lab experiments, studies in humans show no convincing anti-viral disease activity.

Unfortunately many of the human studies have been plagued with poor design and evidence of manipulation of results.

“Campaigners for the drug point to a number of scientific studies and often claim this evidence is being ignored or covered up. But a review by a group of independent scientists has cast serious doubt on that body of research.”
“The BBC can reveal that more than a third of 26 major trials of the drug for use on Covid have serious errors or signs of potential fraud. None of the rest show convincing evidence of ivermectin’s effectiveness.”
“Dr Kyle Sheldrick, one of the group investigating the studies, said they had not found “a single clinical trial” claiming to show that ivermectin prevented Covid deaths that did not contain “either obvious signs of fabrication or errors so critical they invalidate the study”.”

In a country that values capital accrual before all else we should not be too surprised when business types try to leverage their relationship with power into……….you guessed it……..revenue.

In this case Mar-a-Lago cronies of former president Trump tried to gain access to VA patients confidential medical records to help big Pharma and other so-called health care related companies sell their products to injured and sick veterans. Everyone makes money at the expense of the U.S. government and in many cases the veteran’s themselves.

Medicynical Note: In the U.S. there is no healthcare system, rather there is a very well developed revenue generating system. It’s goal is revenue generation not improved health care outcomes. It’s the money stupid.

“U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell lashed out at corporate America on Monday, warning CEOs to stay out of the debate over a new voting law in Georgia that has been criticized as restricting votes among minorities and the poor. “

The grotesque pseudo-democracy of the United States was again on full display this week as republicans did their utmost to “fix” future elections in their favor. Given the go ahead by the see-no-evil Supreme Court they gerrymander wherever possible and make voting more time consuming and difficult for their political opponents. And now, threaten corporations who oppose their efforts.

Medicynical note: After losing the popular vote again, Republicans try to fix their unpopularity problem by disenfranchising their political opposition. Cynical, dishonest and corrupt.

FYI. “The pandemic is a prisoner’s dilemma game played out repeatedly,” Dr. Bauch said. In lectures, he invokes a comparison between Ayn Rand, who made a virtue of selfishness, and the “Star Trek” character Spock, who said, “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.”

And

“”Some people might play a ‘wait-and-see game,’” Dr. Bauch said. People who choose not to be vaccinated effectively get a free ride, reaping the benefits of reduced virus transmission generated by the people who do opt for vaccination. But the free rides generate a collective threat.”

“That is the prisoner’s dilemma,” Dr. Bauch said. When infection levels are low, people feel less at risk, let down their guard, and then infection levels again rise; the ebb and flow between our behavior and the virus causes the pandemic waves. “We end up in this unhappy medium,” he said.”

Medicynical notes: the prisoner’s dilemma describes the horrid mindset of almost half of America. The “oh, it’s no problem for me…….until it is folks. 330,000 dead and rising describes the consequence…….unless you are one of the going away like magic people who still think that the dead folk are of little consequence.

The midwest states followed Trump’s lead and doubted the seriousness of the COVID pandemic. They are now facing the consequences of their ignorance. This is a terrifying graphic.

Yesterday over 1900 people died of the COVID infection……that’s the equivalent of six 747’s crashing with no survivors. And Trump continus his denial, his lies and his misinformation.

Click on the graph to follow the changes since June.

Medicynical Note: Trump and Pence mismanaged the response to the pandemic. It didn’t go away like magic. It wasn’t under control in February, March, April, May or anytime. It didn’t stop during the warm months. The strategy of “herd immunity” is killing people.

Thousands of American Citizen deaths are a direct result of republican leaders, at every level of government, ignoring science. It’s the worst civilian disaster in modern U.S. history. Nothing else compares.

“Ms. Sussman, 51, took her whole family to get tested, and the results came back negative.”

“Then the paperwork came: $6,816 had been charged to insurance for four coronavirus tests. Ms. Sussman’s fees alone were $1,944.”

Medicynical note: a once honorable profession.

“McCarrick, 90, was defrocked by Francis last year after a Vatican investigation confirmed decades of allegations that the globe-trotting envoy and successful church fundraiser had sexually molested adults as well as children. The Vatican had reports from authoritative figures dating back to 1999 that McCarrick’s behavior was problematic, yet he continued to rise to become an influential cardinal, kingmaker and emissary of the Holy See’s “soft diplomacy.””

Medicynical note: Yes, I know we’re supposed to defer to religiosity no matter how flawed. But The Catholic Church is a special case. Yes the ritual can be view as timeless and moving but the church itself is a rotting hulk. After all, for centuries, apparently even our current one, it has condoned and hidden abusive behavior of clergy towards women and children on every continent even elevating deniers and abusers to “sainthood.” In the U.S. it wields absurd power considering that five Supreme Court justices (a majority of the court) and the attorney general are conservative true believer members of this archaic relic of the Middle Ages.

Supporting their candidate to the bitter end.

Medicynical note: Loyalty goes both ways