I have a conspiracy theory I want to run by you guys. HHS (Health and Human Services) helped the re-entry of the evacuated Princess Cruise ship Americans to the US. HHS workers were not given much protection (masks and gear) although the CDC workers were covered properly. No one told the HHS workers the protocol for dealing with a quarantine situation. A whistle-blower exposed this to the news.
HHS also works with the amnesty seekers at the border. If an undocumented worker/ amnesty seeker/ immigrant comes down with the coronavirus via the unprotected HHS workers, this would work to Trump's advantage. He would be able to proclaim that the immigrants were bringing diseases over the border and we can blame them for almost causing a pandemic. Only Trump and his marvelous wonderful uge bigly wall has saved us. (/s obviously)
They've apparently decided that the birth control pill causes abortions (which it most clearly does not). (Hat tip to SteveAudio).
Christina Page at RH Reality Check: (my bold)
In a spectacular act of complicity with the religious right, the Department of Health and Human Services Monday released a proposal that allows any federal grant recipient to obstruct a woman's access to contraception. In order to do this, the Department is attempting to redefine many forms of contraception, the birth control 40% of Americans use, as abortion. Doing so protects extremists under the Weldon and Church amendments. Those laws prohibit federal grant recipients from requiring employees to help provide or refer for abortion services.
[snip] The definitions are explained. Page goes on:
Up until now, the federal government followed the definition of pregnancy accepted by the American Medical Association and our nation's pregnancy experts, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, which is: pregnancy begins at implantation. With this proposal, however, HHS is dismissing medical experts and opting instead to accept a definition of pregnancy based on polling data. It now claims that pregnancy begins at some biologically unknowable moment (there's no test to determine if a woman's egg has been fertilized). Under these new standards there would be no way for a woman to prove she's not pregnant. Thus, any woman could be denied contraception under HHS' new science.
The other rarely discussed issue here is whether hormonal contraception even does what the religious right claims. There is no scientific evidence that hormonal methods of birth control can prevent a fertilized egg from implanting in the womb. This argument is the basis upon which the religious right hopes to include the 40% of the birth control methods Americans use, such as the pill, the patch, the shot, the ring, the IUD, and emergency contraception, under the classification "abortion." Even the "pro-life" movement's most respected physicians cautioned the movement about making these claims. In 1999, the physicians--who, like the movement at large, define pregnancy as beginning at fertilization-- released an open letter to community stating: "Recently, some special interest groups have claimed, without providing any scientific rationale, that some methods of contraception may have an abortifacient effect...The 'hormonal contraception is abortifacient' theory is not established fact. It is speculation, and the discussion presented here suggests it is error...if a family, weighing all the factors affecting their own circumstances, decides to use this modality, we are confident that they are not using an abortifacient."
So... in the end it comes down to someone else deciding whether or not I or any other woman can use a particular kind of birth control because they find it offensive to their religion? What does their religion have to do with me?
Because they have decided to use fuzzy logic and inaccurate 'science', does that exclude me using clear logic and real science to make my decisions? Even their own 'doctors' have told them birth control pills don't cause abortions. Why are they ignoring this? Why is the anti-abortion movement trying to stop the prevention of pregnancies... which PREVENTS abortions?
So... what is it exactly that they want to accomplish by taking away the woman's right to control her own body? Could it possibly be more about the sex and less about the fetus?
They want to take away sex education and offer idiotic abstinence programs which offers no way to .. grapple with the onslaught of normal human biology. They want to take away birth control pills, condoms, anything that prevents pregnancy. They also want to take away the woman's right to choose whether or not to carry the pregnancy to term. It's almost as if they want to bring back the scarlet letter and use the baby as punishment.
They are disturbed that somewhere someone is having fun while having sex. They obsess about sex, premarital sex, gay sex, pleasurable wanton lustful hedonistic sweaty... *ahem*... yet proclaim that sex is only for married people. They are horrified at gay marriage, but have yet to explain exactly how it would threaten or harm anyone. (And the elected officials who yell the loudest about legislating sexual morality are so often the ones caught in bathroom stalls, with a boy page or a prostitute, wearing diapers or offering blow jobs.) They frown on childless couples, calling them selfish and negligent in their duty. They offer no help to the single mother (the slut!) nor the impoverished family that can afford neither birth control nor another child. No free childcare. No welfare. No education. No sex education....
All because their religion said so? That's one weird loving God if I may say so. Not the God I know.
So, in this happy future world, would they want to dictate what sexual positions were sinful, too? Maybe only the missionary position is the 'correct' one? Maybe the woman would need to cover herself modestly, to show how obedient and submissive she was? Maybe she should not show too much skin or laugh too loud because it would be indecent? She should defer to men at all times with all important decisions? Is this where they want to go?
Because this religious society has existed in the past (like the Puritans who burned uppity women) and exists now (the Wahabists in Saudi Arabia, the weird Mormon sect out in Texas) and has been suggested for the future (A Handmaid's Tale).
If this is the kind of society they want to have, let them have at it, if they can find a country to do it in. Just don't force anyone who doesn't want to, to participate.
I sure won't and I don't know anyone anywhere who would.
Update 7/20: Slightly to the subject, John McCain:
Until the customers get distracted. Then it will be business as usual.
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- China has agreed to certify the safety of exported food, drugs and medical devices, creating tracking systems and sharing more information about companies with the United States, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said Tuesday.
Items targeted in the start of the new program include farm-raised fish, such as shrimp and catfish, pet foods and materials used to make food, such as wheat gluten. Several drugs covered include oseltamivir, an antiviral to treat flu, some antibiotics and atorvastatin, a cholesterol-lowering drug.
The agreements, which call for goods from China to meet U.S. standards for safety, follow American anxiety over the list of tainted imports used by consumers and their pets. Mike Leavitt, Health and Human Services secretary, said America's import-safety system is not adequate for the future and the new agreements with China will "enhance the safety" of household items.
"To keep up with the pace of global commerce, we need a fundamental shift, from trying to catch unsafe products as they come in, to building quality and safety into products before they reach our borders," Leavitt said.
[snip]
"Chinese authorities have pledged to provide timely notification to U.S. regulators under a wide range of circumstances, including the failure of a facility to meet inspection requirements and the suspension or revocation of a manufacturer's certification status," Leavitt said.
U.S. food and drug inspectors will also gain broader access to Chinese production facilities and on an expedited basis, according to HHS.
Within 120 days, a working group with U.S. and Chinese officials will meet to develop a plan to implement the drug and medical devices agreement. Within 60 days, another group with representatives from both countries will meet to develop an implementation plan for the food agreement.
Earlier this year, China's product-safety agency said it would start immediately to work on eliminating lead paint from toys shipped to the United States. That move, announced in September, came in the wake of a series of recalls involving toys contaminated with lead. See full story.
The list of lead-related recalls in 2007 has eclipsed prior years, with the most recent, announced Friday, touching about 260,000 China-made children's sunglasses.
China has learned well at the knee of the neocons, corporations rule, greed is good, and the consumer needs to be parted quickly from his money. Nothing else matters.
