Yesterday Trump's director of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention resigned after it was revealed she bought stock in tobacco companies while serving in that position.

Courtesy of Buzzfeed:  

Brenda Fitzgerald, the director of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, resigned from her role at the agency this week. 

Fitzgerald's departure was announced by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services in a statement on Wednesday morning, citing financial conflicts of interest. 

"Dr. Fitzgerald owns certain complex financial interests that have imposed a broad recusal limiting her ability to complete all of her duties as the CDC Director. Due to the nature of these financial interests, Dr. Fitzgerald could not divest from them in a definitive time period," HHS spokesperson Matt Lloyd wrote in the statement statement. 

On Tuesday, Politico reported that Fitzgerald had traded tobacco stock, including shares in an international tobacco giant Japan Tobacco, after assuming the lead role at the public health agency in July.

What a good idea for the person in charge of helping to protect Americans from preventable disease to attempt to benefit financially by purchasing stock in companies whose product causes the death of millions of people a year.

Seriously, what a great message that sends.


Is ANYBODY that Trump puts in charge of these agencies, actually qualified to be in charge of these agencies?

Okay sorry, I realize that is a stupid question.

And now for something completely different. The History of the World: Every Year.

This is why I now say that we are all Africans.

Because that is literally where we ALL came from.

I just watched this and let it wash over me.

My only complaint is that it all moves so fast after we get into the CE, though I appreciate how it all fades to black after 2016.

You know, when the Anti-Christ was elected.

Donald Trump believes that exercising uses up the body's finite energy. Well that explains a lot. Update!

Courtesy of WaPo: 

President Trump reportedly eschews exercise because he believes it drains the body’s “finite” energy resources, but experts say this argument is flawed because the human body actually becomes stronger with exercise. 

Trump’s views on exercise were mentioned in a New Yorker article this month and in “Trump Revealed,” The Washington Post’s 2016 biography of the president, which noted that Trump mostly gave up athletics after college because he “believed the human body was like a battery, with a finite amount of energy, which exercise only depleted.”

Okay well I am sure that I do not have to explain how wrong Trump is on this, but let's just do it anyhow.

Rather than deplete the body's energy, exercise actually re-energizes the body and allows us to increases our endurance, our physical strength, and makes the whole thing run more efficiently.

What's more exercise can help to stave off all sorts of ailments, such as heart disease, osteoporosis, type 2 diabetes, mental health issues, and certain types of cancer.

It also helps to keep your weight manageable, and can even prolong your life expectancy.

In other words there is every reason to exercise.

But perhaps the best one is so that you don't end up looking like this fat fuck.

I swear it is almost like the Russians chose the stupidest, unhealthiest, and most mock-able American they could find to be our president. Almost as if they were trying to destroy our credibility complet......Ahhh.

Update: Here is a Time Magazine article saying that exercise even makes you younger on a cellular level. 

Apparently that is why Donald Trump has old, pudgy, Cheeto stained cells unlike the rest of us.

President Obama, the living breathing antidote to the Republican fear mongering over Ebola.

Courtesy of USA Today: 

"The best way to protect Americans from Ebola is to stop the outbreak at its source," Obama said in an East Room ceremony honoring doctors and nurses who have been or are going to West Africa. 

"If we are not dealing with this problem there, it will come here," Obama said. 

The president lauded his guests for their "sense of duty," and of "serving a cause greater than themselves." He called them "shock troops" who should be applauded. 

"And when they come home," Obama said. "they deserve to be treated properly. They deserve to be treated like the heroes that they are." 

Obama and aides have criticized New Jersey, New York and Illinois over quarantine policies for returning workers. 

These doctors and nurses can help explain the challenge of Ebola to Americans, and how to beat it. "We respond with common sense and skill and courage," he said, and not "fear," "hysteria" or "misinformation." 

Obama seemed to nearly choke up as he discussed his frustration with state officials who have called for quarantines of health care workers from Africa. 

"I put those on notice who think that we should hide from these problems," Obama said. "That's not who we are, that's not who I am, that's not who these folks are. This is America, and we do things differently."

I listened to this speech live earlier today during the Alex Wagner show, and I was incredibly proud of my President for standing up to the  Right Wing over this issue.

I especially loved this part:  

"The reason I am so proud of this country is because when there are times when we need to step up and do the right thing, we do the right thing. That's who we are. That's what we do. No other nation is doing as much to help in West Africa as the United States of America. When I hear people talking about American leadership...and then are promoting policies that would avoid leadership...and have us running in the opposite direction...and hiding under the covers, it makes me a little frustrated."

That must be the very definition of an understatement.

His cool, calm, and intellectual response to this issue stands in stark contrast to the fear mongering, the sky is falling, hysterics of those on the Right.

Dr. Sarah Palin once again weighs in on the Ebola non-crisis. Prepare to have the crap bugged out of you.

Courtesy of the Facebook page for a woman whose icy disposition kills viruses on contact:

I enjoyed talking On the Record with Greta Van Susteren, and you can catch the replay of it later tonight. In discussing the response to Ebola, I made the point that every crisis will be capitalized on by a liberal federal government as an excuse to expand government authority. (Does she mean like the Bush administration did in response to terrorism? The Right Wing has predicted that Obama would do this since his inauguration, so far nothing.) The Obama administration made clear early on that they abide by the Alinsky tactic to “never let a crisis go to waste.” (Once again, a false allegation.) The latest crisis has been drummed up by their incompetent reaction to the spread of Ebola. The purpose of any crisis for them is to ultimately exert more control over people as more Americans become fearful; the "solution" they'll offer will be another false big government promise: "Hey, little people, just give up more freedom in exchange for our promise of a little security!" Obviously with this Washington liberal M.O. we are losing both. (She does realize that what she is describing above is EXACTLY what Chris Christie did to a nurse,  even though she does NOT fall into the high risk group requiring quarantine, right?)

We do need to keep each level of government accountable. I agree with state governors who are filling this Obama leadership void and setting rules to tackle Ebola because the leader of the country cannot do it (Does she not know that we only have one confirmed case of Ebola in this country? How much better could this be handled?), and the 10th Amendment protects states rights in a case like this. But beware of allowing any level of government (especially the federal government) even an inch more power over the people. Liberals can turn that inch into the LAST mile toward statism. That's why politics must be excised from the Ebola issue, and the medical and scientific community must be listened to by the Obama Administration. They MUST put Americans first, and we must not buy into any hysteria as we calmly yet aggressively keep the Ebola virus out of our country.

 - Sarah Palin

Okay once again the main group of individuals using the Ebola virus for political purposes are the conservatives. 

The CDC has very definite guidelines on how to handle this disease and the reason such a federal agency exists is to fight panic, and to keep local politicians from using fear to manipulate their constituents. Which is exactly what we see some politicians, and Fox News, doing right now.

Besides Palin knows less about this than she does foreign relations, economics, or even parenting. And that is REALLY saying something.

She is simply being used as one more yapping mongrel attempting to fill the air with white noise to keep Americans from hearing any truth which might quiet their fears.

Remember unafraid people are less likely to vote Republican.

Well it looks as if Ebola refuses to be the media's boogeyman this Halloween season.

Despite attempts by virtually ALL of the cable news outlets Ebola is simply not living up to the hype.

Courtesy of WFAA:  

Louise Troh, whose fiance Thomas Eric Duncan,became the first person in the U.S. to be diagnosed with Ebola, says she and her family are showing no signs of the deadly disease after a 21-day quarantine. 

Duncan died on October 8. 

Since then, two nurses who had cared for him at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas have contracted the Ebola virus and are being treated at hospitals in Maryland and Atlanta.

The two nurses of course came into contact with Duncan at his MOST infectious and at least one of them is "doing quite well."

So the fact that nobody on the plane arriving in America with Duncan, nor the family members who spent two days with him while he became increasingly ill, have contracted the disease speaks to the fact that it was never the "ISIS of biological agents" that some less than responsible news outlets painted it to be.

And in fact in some of the places where the disease DID get a real toehold there is already vast improvement. Such as Nigeria: 

The World Health Organization declared Nigeria Ebola free on Monday after a 42 day period with no new cases, a success story with lessons for countries still struggling to contain the deadly virus. "Nigeria is now free of Ebola," WHO representative Rui Gama Vaz told a news conference in the capital Abuja, prompting a round of applause from other officials. "This is a spectacular success story ... But we must be clear that we have only won a battle, the war will only end when West Africa is also declared free of Ebola. 

The first case in Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation, was imported from Liberia, when a Liberian-American diplomat called Patrick Sawyer collapsed at the main international airport in Lagos on July 20. Because the country was ill prepared and had no screening procedures in place, Sawyer was able to infect several people, including several health workers in the hospital where he was taken. 

Ebola has killed 4,546 people across Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone, the three worst-affected countries. Nigeria had 20 cases in total, of which eight died.

Gee with this now downgraded from world ending viral infection, to manageable health concern, I wonder what the media will use next to attack the President and terrify the American people?

Well I guess we still have ISIS right?

Boo, everybody, boo.

Finally some level headed reporting on Ebola from....Fox News?

Courtesy of Raw Story:  

“We don’t have an outbreak,” Smith said. “We have two sick people from one dying man. And the rest of this should stop, because it’s not productive. And it’s not worth ratings, and it’s not worth politics, and we all need to stop it.” 

You know I recently slammed Shep Smith for his histrionics over ISIS and claims that the other Muslim countries would not work with the US to fight them.

However on this topic he is by far the voice of reason.

I usually watch MSNBC, and not only is Chris Matthews constantly pulling his hair out over this, I also watched a clip during Chris Hayes show where they followed an ambulance containing an Ebola victim with a helicopter. 

Shades of OJ Batman, that is ridiculous!

We have been documenting Ebola outbreaks since 1976, and yes this might be the biggest one so far, but there are still far fewer deaths than can be attributed to the common flu each year.

Remember when the AIDS epidemic had some suggesting the rounding up of homosexuals, testing them for HIV and then isolating them from the rest of the population?

Same out of control hysteria this time around. And of course it is driven in no small way by the politics of fear.

And we all know which political party that favors.

Phil Robertson claims that diseases, such as AIDS, are God's punishment for sin. Holy crap is it 1981 again?

Courtesy of Buzzfeed:  

While promoting his new book unPHILtered: The Way I See It, Robertson spoke at length about what he called the “physiological downside to immorality” in an interview with Family Research Council president Tony Perkins’ radio program Washington Watch last week. 

“I mean, a great question to ask is ‘Why is it that all of these just—is this coincidental that viewing all of the immoral conduct that America now is participating in, I’ve asked a lot of people, Do you think it’s a coincidence that all of these debilitating — and literally, it can cause death — diseases follow that kind of conduct?” Robertson said. 

“God says, ‘One woman, one man,’ and everybody says, ‘Oh, that’s old hat, that’s that old Bible stuff’ and I’m thinking well, let’s see now. A clean guy, a disease-free guy, and a disease-free woman, they marry and they keep their sex between the two of ‘em, uh, they’re not gonna get chlamydia and gonorrhea and syphilis and AIDS. It’s, it’s safe.” 

Robertson concluded that such diseases from such behaviors are punishment from God. 

“Now to me either it’s the wildest coincidence ever that horrible diseases follow immoral conduct,” he said, “or it’s God saying, ‘There’s a penalty for that kind of conduct.’ I’m leanin’ toward there’s a penalty toward it.” 

“So, you read in the Bible, you say well let’s see, ‘Well, it’s one man, one woman,’” he said. “Any logical person would say, what the guy is sayin’ is, that’d be me, is that if you wanna be safe from a lot of debilitating diseases, that’s the route to go. And it agrees with what God says so it’s just one argument after another, Tony, but what can I say all you can do is just show ‘em that and say, ‘Man, we ought to think about this Jesus stuff.’”

You know it occurs to me that if a man and another man, or a woman and another woman,  were to enter into an exclusive relationship that they too would be safe from the diseases that Robertson listed above.

So it seems that the problem is NOT that certain behaviors are deemed sinful in the minds of the narrow minded, and therefore punishable by God.  But instead that those engaging in careless promiscuity, or not practicing safe sex, might infect a partner with a sexually transmitted disease, whether gay or straight.

As for other diseases like cancer, or heart disease, or even Ebola, those seem to care little how moral or immoral a person might be.

And the reason for that is because sickness and death are both a biological inevitability that only the ridiculously superstitious would consider the result of human immorality.

Phil Robertson is an imbecile who insists upon seeing the world through a prism which identifies everything in terms of good vs evil.

And anybody who buys his book looking for wisdom is barking up the wrong fake hillbilly.

God uses Ebola to kill over a thousand Africans. But it's okay, because he cured this one white guy.

Courtesy of The Guardian:  

Lucky Dr Kent Brantly, the American doctor who has recovered from Ebola, having been given a dose of the experimental antibody serum Zmapp, whizzed home to the US, and given another dose. He is now thanking God for saving his life. Through the medical team and drugs, he admits, but ultimately, it seems, God was in charge. And he chose Brantly, not the other 1,200 mainly west African people who have died horribly, which seems a bit picky.

So it was NOT the experimental treatment created by scientists and administered by trained physicians that saved this man's life? 

It was God?

So using that line of "logic," one would assume that God also made Dr. Brantly sick in the first place, and then cured him so that he could be thanked publicly.

It also must mean that God murdered all of those innocent African people after also cursing them with the disease and then refusing to answer their prayers for a cure.

Apparently God is a racist.

You know you would think that a doctor might know better than to say something so ridiculous and superstitious. But apparently you would think wrong.

Quite possibly the greatest dad of all time.

Courtesy of WTVR:  

McKenzie Michelle Carey was born weighing just over eight pounds, 12 years ago on April 20, 2002. 

Eighteen months later she was diagnosed with a life-threatening disease identified as Mitochondrial disease. Mitochondria are considered the cell’s power producers, and the work they do helps generate fuel for the cell’s activities. But McKenzie’s mitochondria can’t do what they are needed to do; sustain life and support growth. 

The disease damages cells of the brain, heart, liver, skeletal muscles, kidney and the endocrine and respiratory systems. 

McKenzie isn’t paralyzed, but she can’t walk and she is non-verabal — though her mother says she understand everything said to her. 

But her condition didn’t keep her off the stage for the summer pageant, thanks to her awesome dad, Mike Carey.

Let me honest and admit that I saw this video two days ago but was so overcome with emotion I could not type up a post. 

I'm doing better today, but still struggling to see the keys.

However if this man can do this for his little girl, I think I can manage to power through and help him share it with the world.