US Politics Mega-thread - Page 3254

On June 25 2021 01:15 Biff The Understudy wrote:
Mc Afee has killed himself in a spanish prison. Seems to have been a complete sociopath and a narcissist, but I would lie if I said that reading about his life didn’t make me smile a bit.

On a side note, another libertarian that turns out to be a egomaniac psycho. There is a pattern here.

On June 24 2021 22:42 brian wrote:


worth noting too that DeSantis is often highlighted as the poster child of conservative politics and a hopeful for president. even in this thread. I would appreciate some feedback from those supporters on how this isn’t blatantly unconstitutional and how that fits into ones idea of a hopeful presidential candidate.

On June 25 2021 03:09 Introvert wrote:


I mean if I were to be sarcastic I'd say that proposing unconstitutional things actually fits right into what many people want from a candidate!

As for this, I haven't looked into it. I don't agree with or support everything DeSantis has done but he's miles above anyone else in the GOP at the moment, and considering where Democrats stand with (no respect) to the Constitution I'm not going to lose sleep over it. Just this week we have Democrats continuing to try and federalize elections and Biden trying to go after the second amendment. Although I think both endeavors are almost certain to fail, thankfully.

On June 25 2021 13:24 NewSunshine wrote:
It ends up being a swing state when the more educated, progressive areas are accounted for, but to act like Florida doesn't also reflect attitudes of the deep south is just wrong. Look up "Florida Man" and have yourself a ball. It's not exactly like the rest of the southern states, but mostly because it's even more absurd.

Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar’s phone rang with an urgent request: Could he help someone at the White House obtain an experimental coronavirus treatment, known as a monoclonal antibody?

If Azar could get the drug, what would the White House need to do to make that happen? Azar thought for a moment. It was Oct. 1, 2020, and the drug was still in clinical trials. The Food and Drug Administration would have to make a “compassionate use” exception for its use since it was not yet available to the public. Only about 10 people so far had used it outside of those trials. Azar said of course he would help.

Azar wasn’t told who the drug was for but would later connect the dots. The patient was one of President Donald Trump’s closest advisers: Hope Hicks.

A short time later, FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn received a request from a top White House official for a separate case, this time with even greater urgency: Could he get the FDA to sign off on a compassionate-use authorization for a monoclonal antibody right away? There is a standard process that doctors use to apply to the FDA for unapproved drugs on behalf of patients dealing with life-threatening illnesses who have exhausted all other options, and agency scientists review it. The difference was that most people don’t call the commissioner directly.

The White House wanted Hahn to say yes within hours. Hahn, who still did not know who the application was for, consulted career officials. The FDA needs to go by the book, the officials insisted. Hahn relayed the message back to the White House. They kept pressing him to effectively cut corners. No, we can’t do that, Hahn told them several times. We’re talking about someone’s life. We have to actually examine the application to make sure we’re doing it safely.

When Hahn later learned the effort was on behalf of the president, he was stunned. For God’s sake, he thought, it’s the president who’s sick, and you want us to bend the rules? Trump was in the highest-risk category for severe disease from covid-19 — at 74, he rarely exercised and was considered medically obese. He was the type of patient with whom you would want to take every possible precaution. As it did with all compassionate-use applications, the FDA made a decision within 24 hours. Agency officials scrambled to figure out which company’s monoclonal antibody would be most appropriate given the clinical information they had, and selected the one from Regeneron, known simply as Regen-Cov.

The day after the Supreme Court celebration, Trump had also hosted military families at the White House. At Trump’s insistence, few were wearing masks, but they were packed in a little too tight for his comfort. He wasn’t worried about others getting sick, but he did fret about his own vulnerability and complained to his staff afterward. Why were they letting people get so close to him? Meeting with the Gold Star families was sad and moving, he said, but added, “If these guys had covid, I’m going to get it because they were all over me.” He told his staff that they needed to do a better job of protecting him.

Two days after that, he flew to Cleveland for the first presidential debate against his Democratic challenger, Joe Biden. Trump was erratic that whole evening, and he seemed to deteriorate as the night went on. The pundits’ verdicts were brutal.

Almost 48 hours later, Trump became terribly ill. Hours after his tweet announcing he and first lady Melania Trump had coronavirus infections, the president began a rapid spiral downward. His fever spiked, and his blood oxygen level fell below 94 percent, at one point dipping into the 80s. Sean Conley, the White House physician, attended the president at his bedside. Trump was given oxygen in an effort to stabilize him.

The doctors gave Trump an eight-gram dose of two monoclonal antibodies through an intravenous tube. That experimental treatment was what had required the FDA’s sign-off. He was also given a first dose of the antiviral drug remdesivir, also by IV. That drug was authorized for use but still hard to get for many patients because it was in short supply.

On June 25 2021 21:32 JimmiC wrote:
I think when the Republicans pick a presidential candidate it is not about attracting new voters, it is about keeping the ones they have had long term AND keeping the new Trump ones. The hope of winning is that the Dem voters won't be as energized without running against Trump. Attracting any new group is impossible while keeping the new Trump/Q voters as I don't think they mix with anyone. They barely can mix with long term Republicans. So someone like Desantis might make sense if he can just keep both satisfied.