Setting The Record Straight
Our national media is filled with slanted reporting, misleading analysis and false conclusions. Some of it is quite blatant but some of it requires a bit of looking into to expose the duplicity. And some current narratives really “cry out” to have someone set the record straight. A few examples:
First, consider the Hydroxycholoquine controversy. Because President Trump was enthusiastic about the drug’s use in the treatment of COVID-19 patients, OF COURSE it HAD to be bad. A headline in the New York Times read: Health Department Official Says Doubts On Hydroxycholoquine Led to his Ouster. The official was Rick Bright, a PhD. in immunology, who was on record saying that there was insufficient evidence to prove hydroxycholoquine’s effectiveness in COVID-19 . While this statement is true, what he DIDN’T say was, at that point, there was insufficient evidence to prove the effectiveness of ANY drug in the pandemic, and many drugs were being used in critical clinical settings without proven science, in many cases, out of desperation. Some medicines worked, some didn’t, but this was NOT the time to stand on ceremony and insist that prospective double blind clinical science guide all treatment protocols, simply because there WASN’T any. Dr. Bright was fired for this reason. This whole episode was used, however, to imply that the President was foisting pseudo science on the nation. Not mentioned, however, was that the American Thoracic Society, on April 8, 2020, RECOMMENDED that hydroxycholoquine be used in clinically monitored trials (source: nurse.org). Further, on April 28, 2020, the American Association Of Physicians And Surgeons reported a NINETY PERCENT chance of hydroxycholoquine helping COVID-19 patients. (Source: aapsonline.org). The initial skepticism of the drug’s usefulness in this setting arose from the fact that hydroxychloroquine is an ANTI-MALARIAL drug that has never been used to treat viruses. But this way of looking at it was overly simplistic. It turns out that severe cases of COVID-19 often involve a massive HYPERIMMUNE response, and Hydroxycholoquine (Plaquenil) is a STRONG anti inflammatory medication that has a proven track record in severe inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and lupus. Turns out, hydroxycholoquine IS valid COVID-19 treatment, after all! Record straightened.
Next, consider the current narrative promulgated mostly by blue state governors. Several have claimed, loudly, that President Trump (and Washington’s legislators too!) are “heartless” for not sending even more money to the states than they already have sent. Our governors and our media seem completely unaware that ultimately ALL the money sent from Washington to the states comes from… TAX PAYERS! All the spending will, eventually, be payed for by America’s workers. Letting the states themselves pay for the majority of their COVID-19 expenses will result in the tax increases that will eventually ensue, being carried by the citizens of that state. This, in turn, is likely to prevent profligate spending states from using the pandemic to “balance their books.” That’s not “heartless” but smart. Record straightened.
Next, consider blue state gubernatorial demands for federal taxation equipoise. One hears accusatory rhetoric from the likes of New York State’s Governor Andrew Cuomo that New York State “sends more money to Washington than it gets back”, whereas, Kentucky (Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s State) “gets more money from Washington then it sends.” Not mentioned, of course, is the fact that New York State is VERY WEALTHY, whereas Kentucky is not. Isn’t that one of the CORE VALUES of the Democrat Party, Governor Cuomo, to “take from the rich and give to the poor?” Why all the indignation??? Record straightened, again.