https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/09/donald-trump-masks-usps
The essence of this somewhat snarky presentation is that the “deep state” bureaucrats at the Department of Health and Human Services conspired with the Post Office to distribute 650 million face masks to Americans starting with very hard hit areas in Louisiana, Washington state, New York and Michigan. This was in April when flooding the zone with masks would have done a lot of good according to those pesky scientists. A press release from the Post Office was ready to go when the White House stepped in to kill the effort.
Tidewater News and Opinion Forum 
Seriously? The disease could have been ERADICATED in April by distributing masks through the postal service instead of through existing health care and community organizations. Well, Vanity Fair isn’t serious news anyway, but this puts them on par with the National Enquirer.
You did read that the masks were sent out to be distributed through existing organizations to people who actually wanted them, right? How many of those masks would have gone directly into the trash if they had just showed up in the mail unasked to people who already had their own sources or otherwise just wouldn’t trust a mask that showed up in the mail? I would guess that a lot more masks actually got used by distributing them in demand.
This is getting pretty desperate.
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My words were that the proposed distribution “would have done a lot of good.” I stand by that. Masks showing up in the mailbox of every American combined with a serious warning from the President to use them might not have eradicated the virus – I grant you that the author of the headline was somewhat hyperbolic – but it would have made a huge difference in the death toll down the line since the disease spreads exponentially if we let it.
Some countries where there is far more cultural acceptance of wearing masks just about eradicated the virus early on by requiring them. South Korea, for example, has suffered a total of 377 deaths compared to our 198,259. Japan is similar. China too. The head of the CDC said the other day that mask wearing is more important than a vaccine. In other words, universal mask wearing works. Americans might find that a “foreign” idea but it is the job of a leader to lead. Our leader didn’t. Even when the ground for this avenue of attack on the virus was prepared by his own administration.
The “desperation” in evidence is your failure to accept the evidence of failure and negligence that could not be more plain.
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I fully support mask wearing, and have doe so publicly from early on. See the April 25th LTEs
And yes, other cultures have used masks to great benefit. But they have been doing so for decades every flu season, because of culture, not mandates.
I still think persuasion is a better tool than mandates.
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I still think persuasion is a better tool than mandates.
Why not both?
At any rate, even though we know that mask wearing is the best available way to stem the spread of the virus, your Dear Leader did NOT try persuasion. He did his best to discourage mask wearing, ridiculed people who wore them and tweeted support for gun-toting “protesters” threatening the governor of Michigan over social distancing. He punted on a national response and then tweeted “LIBERATE” with regard to states that tried to implement the best measures.
You can try all you want, but you do not get the high ground on ANY aspect of the pandemic.
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Babble, babble, babble, and you accuse Russia of disinformation campaigns in our politics? Russia ain’t got squat on you…yawn….
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Vanity Fair??? How about Teen Magazine for a reference next time.
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The story of this malfeasance was in many other papers including WAPO and NYT. I linked to this one at Vanity Fair in the hope that those whose minds are closed to the best sources of information might read it.
I challenge you to cite ANY “disinformation” posted by me. I could give you a list of 20,000+ lies and distortions spread by Dear Leader.
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That list, of course, is disinformation.
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“That list, of course, is disinformation.”
Nonsense, but very interesting that you would make such a claim.
Without quibbling over the count and whether the same lie told 100 times is one lie or a hundred, Trump is a liar. A pathological liar. He even lies when the truth would serve him better. You people have been very creative with the euphemisms – “alternative facts”, “jokes”, “misspoke”, “not serious”, “talks loosely”, etc., etc. But lies are lies and the only people who are still fooled are those who – for reasons best known to them or their doctors – want to be fooled.
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Differing from prevailing opinion is not a lie.
Making an error is not a lie.
That said, certainly there have been times when President Trump has knowingly said something he knew to be false. sometimes with good reason and other times out of personal vanity, but not all that many, and the 20,000 figure is ludicrous.
I would suspect that the most common kind of ‘lie’ on that list is hyperbole, but then the list is a lie in the same way.
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“Making an error is not a lie.”
When the error is committed on purpose, it IS a lie.
My 5 year old granddaughter saw Trump on the news the other day while my wife was watching her. She turned to my wife after listening to him and said “Grandma, he’s lying”. Out of the mouths of babes? (And like when raising my children, my daughter and son-in-law do NOT discuss things like this in front of their children.)
The lie here is that you twist turn and spin more than a windmill in a tornado to defend the indefensible. You seem to have lost ANY moral compass in the name of justices and regulatory reform that you desire and believe in.
I ask you what was asked of Senator McCarthy: Have you no shame, sir?
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And just for fun here is a list of 889 atrocities committed by YOUR dear leader that takes a while to read, but it is well documented TRUTH. And it doesn’t even cover the last 18 days.
https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/the-complete-listing-so-far-atrocities-1-889
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“ Making an error is not a lie.”
Oh, I feel so much better that our president has made at least 20 “errors” every day since taking office.
I think I would brag about his lies since that at least shows some signs of higher intelligent life.
Dogs make errors, but people lie.
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The list of false or misleading claims is very well-documented. Many of the lies documented on the list are simply silly and obviously laughable. Some are deadly. Especially his 1200 lies so far about the virus.
The Presidency is not analogous to selling Oxyclean on TV. The President does not get to lie, mislead and stretch the truth with impunity. You seemed to know that when you jumped on every slip of the tongue committed by President Obama. Why is Trump not to be held to the same standard of honesty?
But, leave honesty out of it. As a lifelong hustler, con man and chiseler the bald-faced lie – along with the threat of law suits – is just about the only tool in Trump’s shed. He is prone to attack every problem with the only tool he has. But he goes beyond that. He is pathological. And obviously so. As noted earlier, there are none so blind as those who will not see.
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Mister Murphy (Paul)?
I valued your posts in The Virginia Pilot in high regard…but now view your posts on this site at the same level of Alex Jones, Giorgio Tsoukalos, Rachel Maddow and/or Lawrence O’Donnell.
What happened, sir?
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Just curious, where are Paul’s posts in factual error?
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Craig,
I am sorry you no longer value my posts. It may be that we simply have a different set of personal values. Mine haven’t changed. Maybe yours have?
Of course I think comparing what I share with the lunacy of Alex Jones is laughably wrong, but I am honored to be compared to Rachel Maddow or Lawrence O’Donnell. With that said, you should make the effort to watch Rachel’s show from time to time. She goes in depth on important issues and you WILL learn things that you will never learn inside the Trump propaganda bubble – things that you can trust and verify. Very few – if any – “alternative facts.”
Paul
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