Dreaded anti-vaxxers still resist the truth

They did and social media lied

Robert Reich doesn't didn't think it was much fun. Oh sure, we got to stay home from school and mom gave you pretty much anything you wanted, within reason. But it was a disease that none of your friends wanted so they stayed away from you like the plague; as they should have. And then along came measles vaccinations in 1963 and soon after the same for mumps (1967) and rubella (1969). By 2000, all were basically eradicated.

Anti-vaxxers should be required to read the history of measles (a short version here) and then decide if they want to go through the pain of having to expunge the disease again. There was a resurgence of measles in the United States between 1989 and 1991, then it quietly went away in the early 1990s. At that point we worked hard on ridding the country of the illness, which became official in 2,000.

But wait, along came the dreaded anti-vaxxers, resisting vaccinations for their children, when many of these same parents had been vaccinated as a child, and turned the infected kids loose on society. Others came down with the disease and passed it around the country to over 23 states with the outbreak now totaling at least 764. There is also an outbreak in Europe where they have 34,000 cases. All because a gang of mentally depraved parents made some very bad decisions.

With New York's new law they have cited 84 individuals for not getting their kids vaccinated, resulting in a fine of $1,000. The NIH says Anti-vaxxers threaten U.S. workplace, economy, The UK's health secretary Matt Hancock claims anti-vaxxers have blood on their hands. And one of my latest posts, Vaccine exemption bills on rise despite measles outbreak. Popular Science says
"This is already the worst year for measles since 1994."

Based on the unvaccinated given us by anti-vaxxers, PS provides the following stats...

"we're still accumulating new outbreaks, some of them in places that researchers predicted were at risk due to low vaccination rates. Portland, Houston, and Kansas City all had small outbreaks and were identified as risky areas in a 2018 PLoS Medicine study. The outbreak in Clark County, Washington, just across the state border from Portland, Oregon, has been the most widely covered. Now the Detroit area is also experiencing a substantial one in precisely the county the paper predicted.

Predicted because these are the areas in which the dreaded anti-vaxxers work their madness. 

Wanna know why Donald Trump won't release his taxes?

Show of disgust for Donald Trump

Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin has told Richard Neal, D-Massachusetts, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman, that he won't be getting President Donald Trump's tax returns. CNN says this will result in the form of a subpoena, a contempt vote or a lawsuit. Because of the Oval Office lunatic, the Democrats are spending most of their time lately with threats and subpoenas. The question, of course, is will this all result in exposing the deceit of T-rump's administration?

On the other hand, New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) on Monday filed a lawsuit against the Treasury Department and IRS because the Trump organization hasn't responded to her request for tax information. T-rump loves lawsuits, but he prefers being on the complainant side rather than the receiving side. With recent loses in the Trump businesses of $1 billion over the past 10-years, you'd think he'd be running out of money. Hell, he'll just borrow more.

Mnuchin's actual statement...

"In reliance on the advice of the Department of Justice, I have determined that the Committee's request lacks a legitimate legislative purpose, and ... the Department is therefore not authorized to disclose the requested returns and return information."

Another typical Donald Trump move, but CNN's Chris Cillizza thinks he knows why the Oval Office lunatic won't release his taxes...

1) Trump is not as rich as he says; 2) He has Russia ties; 3) He didn't pay many (or any) taxes; 4) He donates no (or very little) money to charity

Each of these could be embarrassing to all but the loyal Trump supporters who are ill-informed and mentally challenged. Trump actually said during the 2016 campaign that he would release his tax returns, but this, along with most things he says, turned out to be a lie. And the 'I'm under audit' excuse isn't valid since "there is no law that forbids a president -- or any citizen -- from releasing their taxes while under audit."

We just have to assume that Donald Trump has so much to hide as far as his taxes are concerned, that it could ruin his reputation and shame him for life. But not sure he has the mental capacity to actually understand that.

The disgraceful Mitch McConnell lies to Congress

Who the hell does Mitch McConnell think he is by assuming that he has the right to close the Mueller probe with a quick statement and a wave of the hand? This arrogant and obnoxious oaf is described in an Esquire article by Charles P. Pierce as a person who...

So he thinks

"Will Not Act in Good Faith, Even When the Security of the Country Is at Stake."

That's heavy but not unexpected. The Senate dictator has performed feats of unbelievable proportions solely for the sake of his ego and the Republican Party in the past, while completely ignoring the good of the country. But getting back to the headline and the fact that McConnell lied on the Senate floor, ThinkProgress says...

"Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) spoke from the floor Tuesday and lied about several aspects of special counsel Robert Mueller’s final report on Russian interference in the 2016 election."

He stated emphatically that the investigation (Mueller probe) was finally over so the Democrats should accept that fact and move on. He then rambled on...

“What we’ve seen is a meltdown, an absolute meltdown. An absolute inability to accept the bottom-line conclusion from the special counsel’s report, which said the investigation did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities. That’s the conclusion.”

A bare-faced lie since Robert Mueller's report did not draw any conclusions, and over 450 ex-prosecutors have stated "special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s findings would have produced obstruction charges against President Trump — if not for the office he holds." The maniac continues...

“Two years of exhaustive investigation and nothing to establish the fanciful conspiracy theory that Democratic politicians and TV talking heads had treated like a foregone conclusion. They told everyone there had been a conspiracy between Russia and the Trump campaign. Yet … the special counsel’s finding is clear. Case closed.”

Well, it isn't, and nothing this moron can say will change the fact that it is pretty much universal that Donald Trump is guilty of obstruction of justice, protected only by the chair he sits in. Now "the Democratic controlled-House Judiciary Committee has requested Mueller testify as early as next week to discuss the report and investigation," according to CNN. Schumer rebuked McConnell...

"Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer responded to McConnell, saying 'it's not done' and accused the majority leader of 'whitewashing' Trump's conduct and attempting to protect the President from accountability." 

"The leader says, 'Let's move on. It's sort of like Richard Nixon saying let's move on at the height of the investigation of his wrongdoing."

The comparison with Nixon is highly appropriate, but just wish Chuck Schumer had been more critical of his mentally challenged colleague.

Vaccine exemption bills on rise despite measles outbreak

It is hard to believe the number of lawmakers, federal, state and local, that have the mentality of a goose egg. In spite of the fact that we now have 764 cases of measles in Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Texas, and Washington, legislation to exempt is on the rise. However, bills that fine people who fail to vaccinate are gaining attention

It is hard to comprehend this stupid reasoning of exemptions when these people should be working together to pass bills that would require parents to vaccinate their children. This is not a matter of free choice when parents send their unvaccinated kid to school to infect fellow students and teachers, who then go out and infect the rest of the population. The actual "rights" that exist here are those of the individuals who do not want to be exposed to the disease.

The Business Insider reports...

"On Sunday, Germany's health minister proposed fining parents of school-age children who haven't received a measles inoculation up to $2,790."

"On the heels of a historic outbreak of measles in New York City last month, officials ordered people in four affected zip codes to get vaccines, with anyone failing to do so facing fines of up to $1,000."

I would think fines actually imposed and not just promised would be an excellent means of telling these halfwit anti-vaxxers that a sane public means business. 72% of the public says that parents should be required to vaccinate their children. The NBC/WSJ poll also found that, "There is also variation between different age groups, with Americans ages 35-49 least likely to support required vaccinations." This is interesting in that this is the group most likely to have children.

The Washington Post has actually mapped out measles cases showing where the current outbreaks are with comparisons of years in the past. The report also includes documentation of exemptions...

"Parents in 17 states can opt out of vaccinating their children if they cite personal or philosophical objections. All states have medical exemption laws since some people cannot be vaccinated because of health issues, such as weakened immune systems. Almost all states grant religious exemptions for people who have religious beliefs against immunization."

An epidemic is defined as a widespread occurrence of an infectious disease in a community at a particular time. Not only is the measles outbreak widespread within communities (like New York state) it is widespread across the country, as illustrated on the Washington Post map. I know the Mueller Report is important but at least people aren't dying from it, at least not yet and as far as I know. 

BREAKING: Trump uses executive privilege to block Mueller Report

More Trump obstruction daily

Well, it happened, the Oval Office lunatic has exerted executive privilege to block the Mueller Report from being released to the public. Nancy Pelosi said...

“Every single day the president is making a case — he's becoming self-impeachable, in terms of some of the things he's doing.”

The Hill reported House Judiciary Committee chairman, Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), said...

“This decision represents a clear escalation in the Trump administration’s blanket defiance of Congress’s constitutionally mandated duties. I hope that the department will think better of this last minute outburst and return to negotiations.”

The grueling question is, will all this flak the Democrats are giving Donald Trump come back to haunt them in an increase in his favorability rating, and will it prove helpful to the GOP in 2020? T-rump also continues to refuse to turn over his tax records from past years and there is a fight to obtain these by the Dems. Nadler accused the Trump administration of...

“unprecedented obstruction” in his opening remarks and argued that Trump had already waived executive privilege “long ago” in the course of the Mueller investigation.

There seems no end to what this maniac will do to protect the information that over 450 ex-prosecutors have said clearly stated in writing that he has obstructed justice. There can't really be a winner in all this.

Trump would be in jail if he wasn't president?

This is a huge question that looms in Washington and around the country today, 'Would Trump be in jail if he wasn't president?' If more than 450 former prosecutors are correct, he would be. These legal professionals...

"have signed on to a statement asserting special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s findings would have produced obstruction charges against President Trump — if not for the office he holds."

No doubt a precedent for a sitting president but certainly a disgrace for most of the American people, and certainly around the world. Matt Zapotosky of The Washington Post says that statement...

"offers a rebuttal to Attorney General William P. Barr’s determination that the evidence Mueller uncovered was “not sufficient” to establish that Trump committed a crime."

Although Mueller didn't commit on whether Donald Trump should be charged, "citing a Justice Department legal opinion that sitting presidents cannot be indicted, as well as concerns about the fairness of accusing someone for whom there can be no court proceeding," he pretty much left it up to Congress to decide. But the cowards they are, led by the lowlife Senate head, Mitch McConnell, have done nothing.

Rudy Giulani's ex-assistant was even among the former prosecutors protesting, signing a statement Monday that Trump would have been charged with obstruction saying...

“Each of us believes that the conduct of President Trump described in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report would, in the case of any other person not covered by the Office of Legal Counsel policy against indicting a sitting President, result in multiple felony charges for obstruction of justice.”

Jeffrey Harris was deputy associate to the attorney general and an assistant to Giulani as Donald Trump's lawyer. The statement in question "seeks to refute Attorney General William Barr’s decision that special counsel Robert Mueller presented evidence that was insufficient to conclude that Trump committed a crime," according to Jessica Kwong of Newsweek. The group also made the following statement...

“There are potential defenses or arguments that could be raised in response to an indictment of the nature we describe here. But, to look at these facts and say that a prosecutor could not probably sustain a conviction for obstruction of justice—the standard set out in Principles of Federal Prosecution—runs counter to logic and our experience.”

BINGO!

But Trump hasn't given up. On Tuesday, "the White House ordered former counsel Donald McGahn not to hand over documents related to special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe that House Democrats are demanding to examine." This all boils down to the fact that the magnitude of what Donald Trump must hide from is so magnanimous that he will go to any length to keep it from becoming public. And that folks, is the 45th president of the United States.

Amid all the gun violence we're shown how to build an AR-15

Most AR-15s come with blood stains

I could not believe it when I read the headline: "EXPLAINED: How to Build an AR-15 Assault Rifle," courtesy of the Gun [nut] News daily from The National Interest. The sub-head is: "Yes, this can be done. We will explain." Keep this thought while we look at some of the deadliest gun violence events in history...

58 killed - October 1, 2017 - In Las Vegas at the Mandalay Bay Resort and  Casino by Stephen Paddock from his hotel room lasting 10 to 15 minutes; 49 killed June 12, 2016 by Omar Saddiqui Mateen, 29, at the Pulse, a gay nightclub, in Orlando; 25 and an unborn child killed November 5, 2017 when a gunman opens fire on a small church in Sutherland Springs, Texas; 17 killed February 14, 2018 when a former student unleashes a hail of gunfire at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida

There are many more you can see at the above site, but the most important factor to be considered is the fact that in most all cases an assault rifle was used, some of which were AR-15s, the very one this nut case magazine above is literally showing us how to make. So some off-the-spool gun nut can go out and buy the parts, come home and secretly put the weapon together, then go out and shoot all his friends and relatives or his fellow students.

The article even tells readers that if they are on a limited budget, "I’ve got you covered." And then it exclaims just how simple it is "to build a dependable AR-15 at home for hundreds less than what you would spend on a pre-built model." I cannot believe the specifics this piece goes into in the detailed explanation of constructing one's own AR-15 killing machine. And finally, the writer boasts of being able "to create a ready-to-shoot AR-15 in just under 90 minutes."

But, if you don't want to build your own gun, the same people have a list of five guns they claim are better than the Glock. Since I have no idea how good a Glock is and really don't care, I just focused on the fact that this clearly illustrates the fact that the United States has one of the sickest gun cultures in the world. This country has 120.5 firearms per 100 persons, a monstrous imbalance.

And there are more than 393 million civilian-owned firearms in the United States, or enough for every man, woman and child to own one and still have 67 million guns left over. I don't understand why anyone would want to take the time to make their own gun...just go out on the street and you'll find them everywhere.

Please give me your comments on this issue.