Monday Tabbing

January 13, 2025

Comments

Via CNN: Federal judge slams Rudy Giuliani as ‘outrageous and shameful’ as she holds him in contempt in 2020 election defamation case. That was twice in one week, BTW.
Via the AP: He gave his cats raw milk because he thought it was healthier. He says it tragically backfired.
Via NPR: Fox News headed for trial, again, over 2020 election fraud claims.
Via Politico: He Went to Syria With Tulsi Gabbard. He Has Some Big Concerns.
Paul Campos at LGM: Science v. Superstition.
Along those lines via the NYT: How Lagging Vaccination Could Lead to a Polio Resurgence.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime vaccine skeptic who may become the secretary of health and human services, has said the idea that vaccination has nearly eradicated polio is “a mythology.”

And yet, he might soon be Secretary of Health and Human Services.

10 responses to “Monday Tabbing”

Slugger

January 13, 2025 at 11:02 am

Look, the bird flu is just the flu! Those cats didn’t die of the flu, they died with the flu. Exposing cats to the bird flu virus will cost a few lives but will result in herd immunity. I do admit that herding cats is not easy.

10
Kathy

January 13, 2025 at 11:21 am

@Slugger:

Bird flu is a passing phenomenon. The epidemic in cattle will burn out, much as the trump disease did.

Past that, raw milk is fraught with concerns. Milk is a good growth medium for microorganisms. So much so, we make use of this property to produce dairy products by placing specific microorganisms in it, and maximizing the conditions they find favorable.

In elementary school, we were taught that milk pasteurization led to reduced disease in Europe and the Americas, once it was implemented on a wide scale.

This sounds a lot like what vaccines accomplished. There are two other developments in the field of public sanitation, too, that have helped reduce the incidence and prevalence of disease: sewage collection, and a clean water supply. I expect any day to hear why open sewers and untreated well water are better for you…

4
wr

January 13, 2025 at 11:27 am

@Kathy: ” I expect any day to hear why open sewers and untreated well water are better for you…”

Make Cholera Great Again!

3
Mister Bluster

January 13, 2025 at 11:39 am

Cow’s milk is for baby cows.

2
CSK

January 13, 2025 at 2:07 pm

Like Moustafa, I don’t trust Gabbard as DNI, either.
Rob1

January 13, 2025 at 2:43 pm

Re: Gabbard

The little girl said, “We were burned from head to toe, and our families were killed by the Assad regime in Russian airplanes.”

Gabbard’s response was shocking, appalling. She said, “How do you know it was Assad and Russia, not ISIS?” Which is ludicrous. We know ISIS doesn’t have airplanes. We know that these little girls have no reason to lie.

A record of extreme disingenuousness from Gabbard. The incoming administration has an agenda that will test the core of our established national security, and not for the better.

4
gVOR10

January 13, 2025 at 4:45 pm

@Kathy:

I expect any day to hear why open sewers and untreated well water are better for you…

Here’s a Slate article from some years ago on the “raw water movement”.

The Slate article blames it on silicon valley entrepreneurs. I wonder if it isn’t more marketers. “I’m so much smarter than the rubes I can sell them water for $5 a gallon.” And the infuriating thing is, they’re right.
rondo1342

January 13, 2025 at 6:17 pm

@Kathy:

I grew up on a farm in southwest Missouri, and drank untreated well water every day. Best tasting water I ever had, I still revel in it when I visit my mom. I filter the municipal water I currently drink (I now live in KCMO) to get rid of the chlorine; well water is awesome!

2
Monala

January 13, 2025 at 9:56 pm

I wrote this on the open thread:

It astounds me that anti-vaxxers, who claim that childhood diseases started declining in the 20th century not because of vaccines but thanks to better sanitation, also turn around and question the germ theory of disease. How do they not notice the contradiction?

3
Heisenberg

January 14, 2025 at 12:10 am

The CCP must be in awe of Trump: he picked a cabinet more suited to Chinese interests than they could possibly dream AND he’s made Elon Musk, who is totally in thrall to them, a major powerbroker!