Bigger Fatter Politics is a fact based news source for all things fat and political. We present news and presidential politics from a fat centric and food centric perspective.
Everyone involved with modern conservatism is a stone-cold idiot and the COVID-19 pandemic is nature's latest brute-force effort to scrape them into mass graves so that everyone else can get on with their lives without coal-rolling and misspelled signs.
What? We're supposed to give details? Still? Fine. In the latest version, The Washington Postbrings us the story of Donald Trump-aligned Fox News shoutparrot Laura Ingraham—last seen strolling into the Oval Office with TV doctors in tow to convince Trump to double down on a theory that giving COVID-19 patients malaria medication might be the secret cure Doctors Don't Want You To Know—and John Solomon, ex-Hillopinionhead recently disgraced for wrapping up crackpot mobster-adjacent Rudy Giuliani conspiracy theories and setting them afire on America's front porch. They’re touting their new “discovery” that actually the gubbermint has been inflating the number of pandemic deaths all along in a way that only They, and their collection of assorted Random Internet Idiots, have been skilled enough to uncover. But alas, they’re just incomprehensibly dumb.
As reported by the Post's Aaron Blake, Ingraham and Solomon pushed the discovery that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had a webpage up that was tracking COVID-19 deaths and, as Solomon marketed it, that webpage showed "deaths fall for a second straight week." The Ingraham version was that the page cut the pandemic death toll "Nearly In HALF."
Because you see, while the unofficial count of novel coronavirus-related deaths in the United States is currently somewhere below or above 70,000 depending on what precise moment you are reading this, the CDC page in question tallied only (at the time) 37,000 or so. And look at the table! Look at the last two weeks! The death totals per week are falling dramatically!
Reading any other part of the page, however, should immediately reveal the problem. The page tallies "provisional death counts based on death certificate data received." It's counting based on death certificates.
The reason the death totals from the last two weeks are very dramatically lower than previous weeks is because they don't have death certificates for those weeks yet.
"It is important to note that it can take several weeks for death records to be submitted," says the word part of the page, with its strange symbols and combinations of letters and punctuation symbols and other hieroglyphics indecipherable to the most influential and high-brained people in all of pundit conservatism.
Yes, kids, they don't have a full count of the last "several weeks," because "several weeks" is how long it takes for the records to get there.
Are we done here? Can we go now? No doubt Laura Ingraham is off to the White House again, this time to show off a captured Norway rat that she claims can cure the coronavirus by spitting in your mouth, and all involved are long past caring that they grotesquely misled their followers with yet another conspiracy theory pulled from whatever brick-stupid jackass last scrolled by in their Twitter feeds.
That is the first rule of hucksterism, after all. Always be one stagecoach ahead of anyone who might know what the hell they’re talking about, and always leave town again before the citizens figure out how they've been played. Never, ever stay in the same spot.
From May 16 2:40 pm to May 16 7:50 pm 1167 Americans have died from COVID-19. That is over 1000 people every 5 hours who have died from COVID-19. That's over 5000 Americans per day who are killed by COVID-19
Sorry Trump and sorry MAGAts, COVID 19 is not a hoax so shut your filthy lie holes!
Sioux tribe rejects governor's request to remove checkpoints
The Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe rejected South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem's illegal demand/request that the tribe remove coronavirus traffic checkpoints from state and U.S. highways. Noem on Friday sent letters to both the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe and the Oglala Sioux Tribe demanding the checkpoints be taken down within 48 hours or they would face legal action.
"We are strongest when we work together; this includes our battle against COVID-19," Noem said Friday. "I request that the tribes immediately cease interfering with or regulating traffic on U.S. and State Highways and remove all travel checkpoints."
The letters sent to the tribes claimed they had violated the terms of a memo sent by the Bureau of Indian Affairs on April 8, which said the tribes could close roads, "after the Tribe has consulted and reached an agreement addressing the parameters of the temporary road closure or restrictions."
"At a minimum, this should include identifying points of contact for each road owner, who is allowed in, as well as ensuring that emergency and other essential services can access affected areas," the memo continued.
Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Chairman Harold Frazier responded to the governor with a statement, saying, "The English definition of consultation is "a meeting with an expert or professional, such as a medical doctor, in order to seek advice." In the Lakota language, wóglakA means "to speak about something." In meeting with county commissioners, municipal, South Dakota Department of Transportation, Public schools and Federal agencies we have met the definition of consultation in both of our languages."
"We have not stopped any state or commercial functions as you claim in your request," Frazier added in the statement.
"I absolutely agree that we need to work together during this time of crisis, however you continuing to interfere in our efforts to do what science and facts dictate seriously undermine our ability to protect everyone on the reservation," the statement said. "Ignorant statements and fiery rhetoric encourage individuals already under stress from this situation to carry out irrational actions."
"The purpose of our actions is to, 'save lives rather than save face,'" Frazier concluded.
My Op Ed: Governor Kristi Noem is a filthy Republican whore so what else would you expect.
Three members of the White House coronavirus task force, including Dr Anthony Fauci, have placed themselves in quarantine after coming into contact with someone who tested positive for Covid-19.
Dr Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a leading member of the task force, has become nationally known for his simple and direct explanations to the public about the coronavirus.
Dr Fauci’s institute said that he has tested negative for Covid-19 and will continue to be tested regularly.
It added that he is considered at “relatively low risk” based on the degree of his exposure, and that he would be “taking appropriate precautions” to mitigate the risk to personal contacts while still carrying out his duties.
Dr Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), will be “teleworking for the next two weeks” after it was determined he had a “low risk exposure” to a person at the White House, the CDC said in a statement on Saturday.
The statement said he felt fine and has no symptoms.
Just a few hours earlier, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) confirmed that FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn had come into contact with someone who tested positive and was in self-quarantine for the next two weeks. He tested negative for the virus.
Both men were scheduled to testify before a Senate committee on Tuesday, along with infectious disease expert Dr Anthony Fauci, also a task force member.
Panel chairman senator Lamar Alexander said the White House will allow the two men to testify by videoconference.
Vice President Mike Pence’s press secretary tested positive for the coronavirus on Friday, making her the second person who works at the White House known to test positive for the virus this week.
White House officials had confirmed on Thursday that a member of the military serving as one of President Trump’s valets had tested positive for Covid-19 on Wednesday.
President Donald Trump, who publicly identified the affected aide as spokeswoman Katie Miller, said he was “not worried” about the virus spreading in the White House.
Global coronavirus cases and deaths. (PA Graphics)
Nonetheless, officials said they were stepping up safety protocols for the complex.
Mrs Miller had been in recent contact with Mr Pence but not with the president and had tested negative a day earlier.
Mr Pence, who is tested on a regular basis, was tested on Friday while Mrs Miller tweeted she was “doing well” and looked forward to getting back to work.
White House chief of staff Mark Meadows said the administration was stepping up mitigation efforts already recommended by public health experts and taking other unspecified precautions to ensure the safety of the president.
He said the White House was “probably the safest place that you can come”, but that he was reviewing further steps to keep Mr Trump and Mr Pence safe.
The White House requires daily temperature checks of anyone who enters the complex and has encouraged social distancing among those working in the building.
The administration has also directed regular deep cleaning of all work spaces. Anyone who comes in close proximity to the president and vice president is also tested daily.
Mr Pence told reporters on Thursday that both he and president Trump would now be tested daily as well.
Mr Trump’s valet’s case marked the first known instance where a person who has come in close proximity to the president has tested positive since several people present at his private Florida club were diagnosed with Covid-19 in early March.
COVID 19 Statistics
United States cases
Updated May 16 at 2:40 PM local
Confirmed
1,473,415
+13,256
Deaths
88,237
+1,019
Recovered
260,146
+5,159
Coronavirus (COVID-19) statistics
United States cases
Updated May 16 at 7:50 PM local
Confirmed
1,496,632
+24,206
Deaths
89,404
+1,260
Recovered
272,386
+13,348
From May 16 2:40 pm to May 16 7:50 pm 1167 Americans have died from COVID-19. That is over 1000 people every 5 hours who have died from COVID-19. That's over 5000 Americans per day who are killed by COVID-19!
Sorry Trump and sorry MAGAts, COVID 19 is not a hoax so shut your filthy lie holes!
'What are we doing this for?': Doctors are fed up with conspiracies ravaging ERs
At the end of another long shift treating coronavirus patients, Dr. Hadi Halazun opened his Facebook page to find a man insisting to him that "no one's dying" and that the coronavirus is "fake news" drummed up by the news media.
Hadi tried to engage and explain his firsthand experience with the virus. In reply, another user insinuated that he wasn't a real doctor, saying pictures from his profile showing him at concerts and music festivals proved it.
"I told them: 'I am a real doctor. There are 200 people in my hospital's ICU,'" said Halazun, a cardiologist in New York. "And they said, 'Give me your credentials.' I engaged with them, and they kicked me off their wall."
"I left work and I felt so deflated. I let it get to me."
Halazun, like many other health care professionals, is dealing with a bombardment of misinformation and harassment from conspiracy theorists, some of whom have moved beyond posting online to pressing doctors for proof of the severity of the pandemic.
And it's taking a toll. Halazun said dealing with conspiracy theorists is the "second most painful thing I've had to deal with, other than separation of families from their loved one."
Several other doctors shared similar experiences, saying that they regularly had to treat patients who had sought care too late because of conspiracy theories spread on social media and that social media companies have to do more to counteract the forces that spread lies for profit.
Coronavirus (COVID-19) statistics
United States cases
Updated May 16 at 2:20 PM local
Confirmed
1,473,415
+13,256
Deaths
88,237
+1,019
Recovered
260,146
+5,159
Image: Anti-stay-at-home protesters in Oregon (Terray Sylvester / Getty Images)
Dr. Duncan Maru, a physician and epidemiologist in Queens, New York, said he had heard from colleagues that a young patient had come into the emergency room last week with damage to his intestinal tract after having ingested bleach. The incident occurred just days after President Donald Trump suggested that "injection" of disinfectants should be researched as a potential coronavirus treatment.
"Folks delaying seeking care or, taking the most extreme case, somebody drinking bleach as a result of structural factors just underlines the fact that we have not protected the public from disinformation," Maru said.
The structural factors in this case include Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, which have struggled to contain the spread of misinformation, some of it coming from positions of authority.
Social networks have taken a variety of steps in recent weeks to thwart misinformation, such as providing dedicated portals for vetted information from public health officials and banning content related to conspiracy theories around 5G wireless technology.
Despite the efforts, the distribution networks built up in recent years by fringe media personalities and activists on tech platforms and through websites have proven resilient.
Whitney Phillips, a assistant professor of communications who studies the spread of disinformation at Syracuse University, said the coronavirus outbreak offers a look at how conspiracy thinking is now, in some ways, more organized.
"With conspiracy theories, the reason they're impervious to fact-checking is that they have become a way of being in the world for believers," Phillips said. "It isn't just one narrative that you can debunk. It is a holistic way of being in the world that has been reinforced by all the other bulls--- that these platforms have allowed people to consume for years."
'It scares me more than anything'
Organized harassment campaigns, lies and urban legends targeting doctors are a real-life symptom of what the World Health Organization dubbed the "infodemic" as the coronavirus started to spread throughout the world earlier this year.
Halazun has since stopped engaging with the trolls on Facebook, some of whom claimed that "the hospitals are empty" and that the virus was part of a plot to vaccinate or microchip U.S. citizens — just two of the many conspiracy theories that have swirled around the coronavirus.
But he was still left with big questions: How can people believe this stuff? And do they understand the algorithms and opportunistic extremists that led them to believe it?
"It scares me more than anything that there are people who are basically controlled — and in the same way they feel they're fighting against that control," he said. "They go to YouTube, where they're really being controlled, and they don't realize it. That's what's scary."
Maru also said he felt that tech platforms need to do more to deal with disinformation, but he acknowledged that there is no easy fix.
Facebook ads, conspiracy theorists push harmful bleach consumption and UV ray cures
NBC News reporter Ben Collins joins Brian Williams to talk about his latest: Unfounded and harmful coronavirus treatments, including those that were floated by President Donald Trump, continue to spread online, evading efforts to crack down on misinformation. Collins says, “The idea of ingesting bleach is not a new thing on the internet, especially on the fringes of the internet."
"I do think it's a monumental task to hold these companies to account, but in the COVID case, they truly have blood on their hands," Maru said.
Beyond emergency rooms and internet platforms, there are hints of how far some coronavirus misinformation has spread. Dr. Rajeev Fernando said that when he takes questions about the coronavirus on radio shows, one out of every two callers refers to 5G towers or conspiracy theories about labs in Wuhan, China.
On the phone, sometimes they'll listen to reality, said Fernando, an infectious diseases specialist at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital in New York.
"Some people have an agenda, and you can't help that," Fernando said. "But for other people, I say, 'Let me try to answer your questions and see why you think this way and why I think this is an appropriate answer.'"
Still, Fernando believes social media networks need watchdogs, including physicians, to identify disinformation before it once again becomes a public health crisis.
"We have to understand these [conspiracy theorists] are criminal organizations which really stop at nothing to get disinformation out," Fernando said.
Bill Gates and 5G
Well-organized, professional disinformation peddlers in the QAnon and anti-vaccination movements have gained new audiences during the coronavirus pandemic by coalescing around two primary boogeymen: Bill Gates and 5G towers.
Halazun heard it all firsthand. He didn't know where it all began or how to stop it.
"These anti-vaccination people were telling me I'm a sheep," Halazun said. "Dr. Fauci this, Bill Gates that. And I don't really care what you think about Bill Gates. It doesn't affect me. But it does affect me when they tell me what we're doing is not real and that the hospitals are really empty. It hurts."
In January, a well-known promoter of QAnon, the baseless conspiracy theory that Trump is secretly dismantling a pedophile-cannibal cabal that runs the U.S. government, pushed a conspiracy theory that Gates "patented" the coronavirus based on a mischaracterized public patent search.
The patent was created by a Gates-aligned research institute to research a vaccine, a common practice among researchers, and it covered a previous coronavirus, not the one that causes COVID-19.
Still, the tweet helped spark a focus on Gates that has permeated the various conspiracy theory networks that have developed on the internet in recent years.
The same QAnon promoter later promoted a diluted form of bleach called "Miracle Mineral Solution" as a possible way to kill the coronavirus.
Similarly, the anti-vaccination movement has pushed a false conspiracy theory that 5G towers are weakening immune systems throughout the world and that COVID-19 is a cover story for the colossal death tolls around the world.
After a prominent anti-vaccination figure posted a video on Instagram of a man alongside a destroyed 5G tower, several arson fires were set on towers across Europe and Canada.
Brian Keeley, a professor of philosophy at Pitzer College in California who studies why people believe in conspiracy theories, said some people in times of crisis look to far-fetched ideas with simple answers for complex problems.
Providing a straightforward, extinguishable enemy — whether it's a well-known celebrity like Gates or a mysterious concept like the illuminati — gives conspiracy theorists hope, agency and power in a time of chaos. In reality, those recognizable, often mortal figures are simply scapegoats for an act of God.
"People are looking for these kinds of explanations to control something in their lives," Keeley said.
Keeley, who's been researching conspiracy theories for over 20 years, said he has abandoned using Facebook because of the "depression that comes from looking at that."
"It's sort of an informational quarantine," he said. "You don't want to be exposing yourself to a different kind of virus."
Quitting Facebook
After researching why people believe in the conspiracy theories, Halazun has come to the same conclusion: Right now, it's not worth it for a doctor to spend any time on Facebook.
"We're limited in our emotional capacity. I'm not going to spend whatever I have left after a long day of work trying to convince a conspiracy theorist," Halazun said. "They're immune to any evidence. You're not going to change their mind."
As Halazun stepped outside after his Facebook experience, he heard the bang of pots and pans and whoops and hollers. It was 7 p.m., and New York City residents were participating in their nightly salute to health care workers on the front lines of fighting the coronavirus pandemic.
"I just started crying," Halazun said. "I thought, 'What do I believe here?' It almost made me question myself. Some people are out there who are sitting in their homes, going on these videos and then telling us it's fake while we're saving lives.
"I felt like 'What are we doing this for?'"
My Op Ed: Trumpers aka MAGAts are immune to facts, truth and logic and that makes them very very dangerous. Keep those assholes believing COVID 19 is a hoax. While it puts the rest of us in danger COVID 19 will most certainly kill a lot of MAGAts and the more it kills the better for America and the world. I would be willing to stay quarantined to as long as it takes if doing so will help the MAGAts to commit suicide and cause the deaths of their genetically contaminated offspring. We're in a fucking war and the MAGAts would gladly kill you and your family. It's in their DNA same as it is for any other Nazi type.
Trump's disciples can be described in many ways -- ignorant, foolish, dishonest, toxic, traitorous, asshole, racists, pigs, malevolent, xenophobic or just plain evil and know damn good. Don't even try to analyze them and don't underestimate them the way the Jews underestimated the Nazis of their time. Don't go thinking the government will protect you from them or that they will listen to reason because they can't, won't and don't. PROOF FROM A BIBLICAL PERSPECTIVE
If you are Christian and tend believe all people are redeemable, think again and learn about what the Bible says about predestination and you will learn that according to the Bible, some people are no damn good and you don't have to be religious to know that. Christians and Muslims believe that evil scumbags receive divine justice and burn in hell for all eternity. That bullshit was used to control the masses so that wouldn't go after the evil filthy rich. Ya know what? fuck that! Don't waste your breath on those bastards. They cannot be saved from themselves. In fact help them spread their bullshit so that more of them will get sick and die. If you care about the next generation you should do what you lawfully can to cleanse the gene pool of their decadent DNA. Help lead these evil lemmings off the cliff. Saving them, even it you could will cause more people to die.
