Viral Lies 😱✡️🌻✡️🌻✡️😱

Viral Musings:  In 2000, the US declared that it had eliminated measles but that was before the anti-vaccine movement succeeded in stoking fears about vaccines, falsely linking the MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccine to autism and cancer so now we have measles again.  Yesterday, an unvaccinated child in Texas died from measles, but according to Health Secretary RFK Jr, the author, or more likely the front man, for the anti-vaccine “The Measles Book” published by the misleadingly named Children’s Health Defense organization, that’s not a problem, it’s just something that happens. RFK was so blasé about the death that he actually raised the death toll to two even though so far, “only” one child has died. During yesterday’s televised and somewhat demented Trump cabinet meeting hosted by guest attendee Elon Musk, RFK went on to say that the twenty or more children hospitalized in Texas are just there to be quarantined. That’s another lie, measles patients aren’t quarantined in hospitals, the patients are hospitalized because they are suffering from severe respiratory issues like pneumonia. It’s also a lie to say that measles outbreaks and related deaths are just inevitable facts of life. It’s been at least a decade since the last measles death in the US. The outbreaks, severe illnesses and death are happening now because in response to anti-vaxx lies, fewer children are getting vaccinated and since measles is so contagious, vaccination rates above 95% are needed to achieve the herd immunity that protects those who are too immune compromised or too young to get vaccinated.  Unfortunately, in lots of communities around the US vaccination levels have fallen below the 95% threshold. Keeping with the lying theme, Elon Musk also told more than a few of his own. He admitted that he and his DOGE 🐀s had made a few mistakes here and there cutting off funding for essential and lifesaving programs, like Ebola prevention but he said not to worry because he’s reinstituted that funding.  That’s another lie, like the funding spigot for the anti-AIDs PEPFAR program, the money designated to detect and fight Ebola has not been switched back on and even if it is turned on, the staff that previously worked on those projects have mostly been fired or put on unpaid leave.  For those America first types who think that helping Africa contain Ebola isn’t a US responsibility, think again because even if you don’t care about Africans it takes only one Ebola infected person on a plane landing in the US to cause an outbreak here.  On the subject of money, the cost of administering an MMR vaccine is miniscule, far cheaper than the cost of treating a child for pneumonia in a hospital, not that the Republicans in Congress who’ve just voted to make cuts in Medicaid funding appreciate that avoiding hospitalizations through preventive care is an effective way of controlling health care costs because hospitals are legally mandated to treat sick kids regardless of the expense or their insurance status, at least for now.

Flu For All?  In other virus news, bird flu is still gaining ground but yesterday Bloomberg reported that the administration, presumably RFK and his team of anti-vaxxers, are “reevaluating” a $590 million contract for bird flu shots that the Biden administration awarded to Moderna because why would we want a vaccine for bird flu anyway, especially, one of those “evil” mRNA vaccines?  Also, the FDA has cancelled a scheduled meeting to choose the flu strains to be included in next year’s flu shot because with more people dying this year from flu than from COVID, maybe as many as 65,000 according to the high range of a CDC estimate, why would we want to make sure that the country is protected from next year’s flu?  Just a reminder that flu disproportionately impacts the very young and the elderly, two groups who rely on Medicaid for some or all of the health care coverage, a reason that nursing homes push for all their patients and staff to be vaccinated. So maybe let’s kill the old and the young is part of the MAGA philosophy.  It certainly feels as though it is. By the way, if you haven’t gotten your flu shot yet this year, it’s not too late.  While it might not prevent you from getting the flu, the shot will make it less likely that you’ll end up in the hospital or worse.        

And More:  The White House warns that mass firings are on their way which is scary because it feels like they are already here. Eric Prince, the founder of the Blackwater private military company and brother of Trump’s last Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, who you may remember from Trump 1.0 has proposed to Trump that he be hired to help with mass deportations. His plan includes using military processing camps, a fleet of 100 private planes and a 10,000 strong private police force to forcibly remove 12 million immigrants by the November 2026 midterms. Maybe he can hire some of those pardoned January 6 thugs including the one who just got off again because the grenades and other weaponry found in his home were discovered when he was being prosecuted for breaking into the Capitol building and his pardon covers all that.  Or maybe one of Elon Musk’s recently deputized armed security guards would like a side job. Lastly, last night Chief John Roberts paused an appeals court-imposed midnight deadline that would have required the administration to release $2 billion in frozen foreign aid.  Roberts’ order does not resolve the underlying questions raised by the case but gives SCOTUS a few days to review written arguments.

Fog:  The bodies of four more Israeli hostages, Tsachi Idan, Itzhak Elgarat, Ohad Yahalomi and Shlomo Mantzur, all of whom were taken on October 7, were returned to Israel yesterday.  Their return marks the end of phase one of the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas. According to the AP, a total of 59 hostages are still in Hamas custody, sadly, Israel believes that only 27 of the remaining hostages are still alive.

#BringThemAllHomeNow