Pence has to authorize all COVID-19 Statements

[sonrisa]

Health Officials and researchers have to clear all statements on COVID-19 with Pence.  

This is way beyond "just" the coronavirus thread. This is straight up authoritarian dictator bullshit.

www.nytimes.com/2020/02/27/us/politics/us-coronavirus-pence.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage

[pixy0stix]

Oh.

[ohgillian]

I was just reading that article. It's so unsettling. I wonder what the punishments will be for violating the censorship.

[basilosaurus]

Can he get raptured now? I'd like our planet be rid of people like him.

[Ashley&Scott]

This is terrifying.

[underwaterrhymes]

Honestly, this scares me more than any of the news so far, especially since the Chinese government refusing to be honest with the public is partly why things spiraled out of their control so quickly.

[sonrisa]

Feb 27, 2020 13:08:29 GMT -5 underwaterrhymes said:

Honestly, this scares me more than any of the news so far, especially since the Chinese government refusing to be honest with the public is partly why things spiraled out of their control so quickly.

And Iran has similar issues.

This combined with the CDC testing policy that limits our ability to discover cases is terrifying. I don't think it's chance that this announcement came right after the first case that got past the CDC test limits was reported. Censorship and obfuscation all the way down the line.

[waverly]

F that noise.

[winecat]

Nothing to worry about, I'm sure. Everything is fine.

JFC. I want a God damn scientist/doctor telling us what is going on.

[mbcdefg]

I’m out of NYT reads ... didn’t he royally fuck up Indiana’s response to HIV or something like that? Or had to be forced into actually fighting it?

I saw Nikki Haley trending on Twitter yesterday following Trump’s news conference - it was because a lot of people are theorizing that Trump dumped the coronavirus responsibility onto Pence so that he can blame Pence if/when it all goes wrong, and replace him on the ticket with Haley. *shrug*

[goldengirlz]

Tinfoil hat time but I am completely convinced that the reason the CDC refused to expand its guidelines for testing beyond anyone who had been to China in the past 14 days was because Trump does not want his precious stock market to crash. And they are now going to stall on any large scale quarantine for the same reason.

I do not trust a single word coming out of any federal agency on this virus. I get all my info from the WHO at this point.

[sparrowsong]

Feb 27, 2020 13:33:51 GMT -5 mbcdefg said:

I saw Nikki Haley trending on Twitter yesterday following Trump’s news conference - it was because a lot of people are theorizing that Trump dumped the coronavirus responsibility onto Pence so that he can blame Pence if/when it all goes wrong, and replace him on the ticket with Haley. *shrug*

Totally what I thought when I first heard it. He has no idea how to handle it so he’s passing the problem to Pence and then can just claim everything that happens is his fault and fire him.

[mbcdefg]

Feb 27, 2020 13:39:57 GMT -5 sparrowsong said:

Feb 27, 2020 13:33:51 GMT -5 mbcdefg said:

I saw Nikki Haley trending on Twitter yesterday following Trump’s news conference - it was because a lot of people are theorizing that Trump dumped the coronavirus responsibility onto Pence so that he can blame Pence if/when it all goes wrong, and replace him on the ticket with Haley. *shrug*

Totally what I thought when I first heard it. He has no idea how to handle it so he’s passing the problem to Pence and then can just claim everything that happens is his fault and fire him.

Right? So weird to have Pence do it. Except for throwing fits and storming out of football games, sometimes I forget Pence is even there.

At least Ben Carson is a doctor, he could’ve brought Carson in if he wanted one of his close loyal people to handle it.

[sparrowsong]

Feb 27, 2020 13:41:55 GMT -5 mbcdefg said:

Feb 27, 2020 13:39:57 GMT -5 sparrowsong said:

Totally what I thought when I first heard it. He has no idea how to handle it so he’s passing the problem to Pence and then can just claim everything that happens is his fault and fire him.

Right? So weird to have Pence do it. Except for throwing fits and storming out of football games, sometimes I forget Pence is even there.

At least Ben Carson is a doctor, he could’ve brought Carson in if he wanted one of his close loyal people to handle it.

I think EVERYONE has forgotten Carson is part of the admin, including Carson.

[heyjude]

Totally normal.

[heat40]

The markets were going to crash regardless. But I do believe the US response to this is solely based on protecting trump. The day we find out exactly what’s happening internally, we will be absolutely horrified.

I don’t trust anything.

[nessness]

Feb 27, 2020 13:33:51 GMT -5 mbcdefg said:

I’m out of NYT reads ... didn’t he royally fuck up Indiana’s response to HIV or something like that? Or had to be forced into actually fighting it?

Yep.

slate.com/technology/2020/02/mike-pence-coronavirus-czar-public-health-record.html

[seeyalater52]

Do not like.

[mbcdefg]

Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar did not learn of the decision to make Mike Pence the lead on the coronavirus task force until just before Trump announced it publicly, three sources told ABC News.

abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-pence-manage-coronavirus-response-amid-fears-spread/story?id=69255477

[leshoequeen]

Holy shit. Terrifying. Godspeed to the doctors and scientists who will have to go head-to-head with him.

[muffin0]

Jesus fuck this is terrifying.

But hey we can just pray it all away.

[bcv513]

Good thing he cut all that funding from the CDC and the NIH to build that damn wall.

[lilibet]

So they've clearly been taking notes during their love affair with NK.

And my friends in Indiana were having a field day referring to how bad he messed up the hiv outbreak.

[WOT?*]

Oh, please. It's just because he's the Chair of the COVID response and they have to have a unified response so there's not a lot of chatter or Alternative Twitter feeds spewing "misinformation." We're all just being paranoid because it's Trump/Pence. If it was Obama we wouldn't be saying this. /s

Said with all snark and sarcasm because otherwise I'll be on the floor in the fetal position.

[WOT?*]

Feb 27, 2020 13:47:32 GMT -5 mbcdefg said:

Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar did not learn of the decision to make Mike Pence the lead on the coronavirus task force until just before Trump announced it publicly, three sources told ABC News.

abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-pence-manage-coronavirus-response-amid-fears-spread/story?id=69255477

On Cuomo last night, when they were discussing after this was announced. "Someone told Trump 'We don't need a Czar.'" and he misunderstood. "Well, we'll just make him a Chairman."
Couldn't resist. It was so bad I actually chuckled before I groaned. Total Bad Dad joke.

[abs]

Ah what??

Ok now I’m scared. JFC.

[litebright]

They aren't worried about Alex Azar saying something out of line. They're worried about the pesky scientists.

I also guaranfuckingtee (as I mentioned in the other thread) this is is partly because of one of the CDC highest-up people on respiratory disease, and the one who contradicted Trump that people should be prepared for disruption and that it could be bad, is Rod Rosenstein's sister. Guarantee. When a certain Medal of Honor recipient starts spewing, a certain sheep president is the first to listen and take his cue from it.

[cattledogkisses]

Feb 27, 2020 13:36:58 GMT -5 goldengirlz said:

Tinfoil hat time but I am completely convinced that the reason the CDC refused to expand its guidelines for testing beyond anyone who had been to China in the past 14 days was because Trump does not want his precious stock market to crash. And they are now going to stall on any large scale quarantine for the same reason.

I do not trust a single word coming out of any federal agency on this virus. I get all my info from the WHO at this point.

Yep.  It's an election year and he loves to tout the economy and stock market.  He's going to do everything he can to keep the stock market up so it makes him look good heading into the election.

[rubytue]

Yet another terrifying development. Fuck.

Anecdote unrelated to covid. But I work for a public health type agency on the technical side. Our trump appointee head implemented a policy that she had to review everything we said. First it was “see it only” “for awareness purposes.” Of course it became approve and change wording. It was everything we feared. But the added delay was one big issue. She is gone now, that policy is gone. And life is moving better. But at one point, things were taking 3 weeks to get out. Things that could have been a 45 second email.

[bookqueen15]

This is even more terrifying than the virus. Pretty sure the answer is no but is there any precedent for this?