Re: Deborah Birx. According to Scott Atlas, it was she who was calling (or relaying) the shots at the White House/Federal gov’t. And the origin of Birx’s rise to that position is murky and dubious—officials say she just kinda appeared on the scene despite not having a strong background in public health, virology, or epidemiology. And her most recent background was linked to….the security state.

The one why that cannot be answered by any of these is: why did they stuff covid positive patients into nursing homes? That just seems murderous.

I concur 100%. And not just for the medical aspects, but also to cover the legal pros and cons of the state and federal level police powers. If something much more serious than Covid comes our way, those powers may need to legitimately be more pronounced than is usual, but subject to frequent review and countervailing controls.

Chases Eagles on April 5, 2024 at 12:41 am said:
“I don’t know about the future use part. I don’t think we will ever cooperate with a shutdown again.”
We will hopefully be much more critical of the rules and forces being arrayed against us “for our own good”, but we can hope this past experience will lead to better and wiser counsel and enforcements if/when something more severe does appear.
But 20 years from now those lessons may well be forgotten.
Plus the comments here about Bird flu are not encouraging, either.

BrooklynBoy on April 5, 2024 at 11:03 am
“… instead of pressing with their thumb the button to the floor that they want to get to they were pressing it with their key, elbow, or knee cap!” At least they did not try to use their tongue!!

If we are to believe Rand Paul, then Fauci and Collins were both neck deep in funding gain of function research, essentially “sourcing” Covid with US $? It seems somehow Collins, who had a solid scientific reputation, is still relatively free of any stain from this connection.
People never seem to learn that honest mistakes can and will be forgiven, but trying to cover up the mistake is what leads to their eventual downfall, in reputation, wealth, criminality, etc.

That jumped out at me immediately from the video (probably inserted for exactly that reason), but still – Pence’s response to Birx should have been, “Let’s both go see the President and get his instructions.”
I also wondered if Pence was ever included in Trump’s conversations with Atlas and the other “outliers” (IOW actual scientists), and if not, why not?

“The sequel should address why the President tried to outvoice them rather than relieve them.”

Indeed.

Efforts continue to move to MRNA vaccinations. For example, Moderna just announced 3 new MRNA shots for Epstein-Barr, Varicella-Zoster and Norovirus. In addition, NIH began clinical trials of a MRNA universal flu vaccine last May. A bird flu pandemic, if there is to be one, would provide an ideal opportunity to brew one up and rapidly produce and roll it out since this year’s flu shot is already in production. Let’s hope neither happens.

https://www.cdc.gov/flu/avianflu/hpai/hpai-interim-recommendations.html#recommendations-farmers

https://pjmedia.com/benbartee/2024/04/05/moderna-announces-mrna-injections-to-prevent-potential-side-effects-of-covid-mrna-injections-n4927932

https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/clinical-trial-mrna-universal-influenza-vaccine-candidate-begins

The book also included the guidelines that leading epidemiologists had devised for when such an outbreak happened. Protect the vulnerable. Don’t mask. Don’t close schools. Let it pass through.

And then they threw all of those out the door and went into panic mode.

Osterholm thought his big chance for the brass ring (head of CDC) was at hand. He signed on to Biden’s campaign. His well-earned reputation for being non-political was gone. Sadly for him, he was the wrong color and sex.

Now he’s back in Minnesota and has another book coming out. It will be interesting to see if he issues a mea culpa for abandoning his principles.

Some want to blame Pence for all the COVID problems, but I suspect he was just an empty suit who went along with what Fauci, Birx, Collins and others were telling him. He wasn’t going to intentionally doom Trump’s campaign — and his own career.

It certainly appears that using the pandemic for political gain was in the minds of many Democrat politicians. But what about the scientists? I think that their opinions weren’t necessarily political. Why they wouldn’t consider the opinions of Scott Atlas and others who had excellent scientific backgrounds is puzzling. Birx and Fauci as closet Marxists? Or anarchists. Or was it primarily TDS? Or just an honest difference of opinion? Only an investigation will reveal the answers.

I’m hoping that if Trump is elected, he will appoint a group to study this, and create a game plan for dealing with future pandemics. It’s the practical, smart thing to do. If Birx and Fauci’s reputations suffer, so be it.