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U.S. funding freeze blows hole in WHO budget

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By Robin MILLARD

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Trump claimed the COVID-19 outbreak could have been contained "with very little death" if

IF - in the US he would have been able to understand and had paid attention earlier to reports he and his admin had received from US intelligence agencies and medical experts.

Trump did not start the virus, but his delays in confronting it, his gunslinging, 'I have no metric, it's all inside my head' approach to dealing with it has resulted in unnecessary losses of life and a gutted economy.

8 ( +11 / -3 )

U.S. funding freeze blows hole in WHO budget

Perhaps China can step up and plug that hole.

Trump did not start the virus, but his delays in confronting it blah blah blah

Ahem...

January 29: US coronavirus taskforce created

The White House starts its coronavirus response taskforce, headed by Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar. 

January 31: Trump blocks travel from China

Trump issues an executive order blocking entry to the US from anyone who has been in China in the last 14 days.

-11 ( +2 / -13 )

That WHO president and most of his management are in China’s pocket. First thing he did was to go pick up a suitcase of cash at the start of the outbreak. Trump is correct. Let China pay for them and change them into CHO. Taiwan warned the WHO very early on of a new worrying disease and did not even get an answer from WHO.

investigate the top of WHO at least on corruption charges, that President is one of the main responsible people for tens of thousands of deaths.

0 ( +6 / -6 )

Trump can make a deal with the WHO. Suspension would be lifted on the condition of

1) kicking out Tedros and other pro-Beijing executive members.

2) inviting Taiwan to the organisation as an official member.

That's a minimal requirement, no inch compromised.

1 ( +5 / -4 )

The real problem for the U.S. has much less to do with any shortcomings of China or the WHO and much more to do with Donald Trump's willful negligence and ineptitude. There's no point in amplifying Trump's critique of WHO when it's nothing but a bad-faith attempt to deflect from his own abysmal failure.

Trump's current claims are just hypocritical butt-covering. Trump made the pandemic exponentially worse in this country because of his negligence and incompetence. Don't let him re-write the history of his failure.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

It's amazing how quickly the GOP talking points went from the sick heads of the party think-tanks to their mouthpieces at Fox News, now dripping down to right-wing internet users everywhere, like this site here. It's an amazing and scary power.

Can't blame Obama, can't blame the press, can't blame democrats, so... The WHO is to blame for everything now? Like you all care of have ever cared about the sovereignty of Taiwan and value it more than everything al of sudden.

Also, might I remind you all that Trump praised China for their response to the crisis on Juanuary 24th, and thanked president Xi on behalf of all American people:

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1220818115354923009

4 ( +6 / -2 )

January 31: Trump blocks travel from China

and then promptly begins to downplay the seriousness of the issue and contradict the experts.

Let’s tell the entire story instead of cherry-picking the parts that support your incorrect narrative.

2 ( +5 / -3 )

Trump made the pandemic exponentially worse in this country because of his negligence and incompetence

Nonsense. The Democrats are the ones who have been blocking aid to those who need it in their efforts to get funding for the Green New Deal, Planned Parenthood, etc. etc.

-5 ( +2 / -7 )

Trump did not start the virus, but his delays in confronting it, his gunslinging, 'I have no metric, it's all inside my head' approach to dealing with it has resulted in unnecessary losses of life and a gutted economy

Naw, let the Chinese fund them, they’re in their pocket anyway.

-3 ( +4 / -7 )

Nonsense. The Democrats are the ones who have been blocking aid to those who need it in their efforts to get funding for the Green New Deal, Planned Parenthood, etc. etc.

And not just once, twice and idiots like Ezekiel Emanuel want the country to remain on lockdown for 18 months at least, the man that was the architect thinks the entire country should just stay at home for a year and a half? Now who would that benefit? The Democrats of course, but the people are already revolting, pushing back and wanting to go to work now that the infection rate is starting to slow down. The people want to get back to normal, Trump is trying to do that and the liberals, msm want to stop that. It’s unsustainable, re-opening the country helps Trump and the Dems know it, so they’re doing their best to make sure we stay closed and as we all know Trump is stubborn and he will unleash the working might of the US.

-6 ( +1 / -7 )

Nonsense. The Democrats are the ones who have been blocking aid to those who need it in their efforts to get funding for the Green New Deal, Planned Parenthood, etc. etc.

Except that's not exactly what happened.

https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/04/09/830733212/senate-democrats-block-gop-effort-to-boost-small-business-aid

"Congressional Republicans and the White House want to increase the total amount of loans available through the Paycheck Protection Program from $350 billion to $600 billion.

Democrats do not object to the increase in funding, but they are calling for half of the new money to be targeted to "community-based financial institutions" which they say help businesses owned by minorities, veterans and rural Americans across the country.

Democrats offered an amendment to add $100 billion for hospitals and $150 billion for state and local government in addition to the small-business spending, along with the restrictions. Republicans blocked that effort.

There you go. That's what you get when you actually look for the information. Democrats wanting to proactively help minorities, veterans and rural Americans, and the GOP blocking the amendment that tried to give more money to hospitals.

3 ( +5 / -2 )

If Trump had acted a bit sooner and not been in denial about the whole thing, then there would not have been such a crisis now. He dragged his feet and now looks for someone else to blame. He ignored the warnings and now applies perfect hindsight to others - to others that he ignored when they were warning of a pandemic.

When will his sicophants realise that he doesn't have their best interests at heart?

4 ( +6 / -2 )

If Trump had acted a bit sooner and not been in denial about the whole thing, then there would not have been such a crisis now. He dragged his feet and now looks for someone else to blame. He ignored the warnings and now applies perfect hindsight to others - to others that he ignored when they were warning of a pandemic. 

When will his sicophants realise that he doesn't have their best interests at heart?

Yeah, uh-huh...Dr. Fauci debunked that and the left tried to do a gotcha moment on him and he caught on to that.

-1 ( +5 / -6 )

One of the very few things our Genius in chief has done that I fully agree with.

"Hearing the World Health Organization (WHO) repeat and praise the Party line while giving short thrift to health advice until quite recently has alarmed many. "

https://thediplomat.com/2020/04/did-xi-jinping-deliberately-sicken-the-world/

2 ( +5 / -3 )

If Trump had acted a bit sooner blah blah blah

The WHO complained about his Jan. 31 decision blocking travel from those who had been in China.

What's up with that?

-3 ( +4 / -7 )

the entire country should just stay at home for a year and a half?

Except that's not really what he's saying though. He, and the vast majority of other experts, are simply explaining that the virus will not have magically dissapeared once this lockdown ends, and that people must be prepared to live very different lives until a vaccine is ready (which usually takes 18 months at worst). That doesn't mean shutting down the economy completely, it means everyone thinking about and finding ways to work and live while maintaining social distancing and hygiene regulations. And that's actually what the governement should be focused on right now, instead of trying to find people to blame for the mess. How do we slowly restart the country while protecting all its citizens.

But it's, of course, much easier to simply paint him as a crazy man and exaggerate his ideas to make yourself seems like the rational party.

Do you think the virus cares about the economy or Trump's reelection? It really doesn't. It only thinks about replicating itself in as many people as possible.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

The WHO complained about his Jan. 31 decision blocking travel from those who had been in China.

What's up with that?

They didn't "complain", the WHO simply has the position that travel restrictions are not that effective once a disease has already spread, and that it would "hamper global trabel and trade" (that means the economy you all so dearly want to save).

You can read all about that point of view here:

http://www9.who.int/bulletin/volumes/92/12/14-135590/en/

It's from 2014 but very much still relevant for COVID.

And I'm sure you will read it all before formulating your next opinion, right? That would be the proper, honest thing to do.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Nonsense. The Democrats are the ones who have been blocking aid to those who need it i

B y ensuring money goes to the average person instead of allowing the repubs to shovel more cash into their friends’ pockets? That’s a weird definition of blocking aid to those who need it.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Bass:. Trump is trying to do that and the liberals, msm want to stop that. It’s unsustainable, re-opening the country helps Trump and the Dems know it, so they’re doing their best to make sure we stay closed

You think Democrats want to keep the country closed to hurt Trump?

5 ( +6 / -1 )

January 31: Trump blocks travel from China

China is already doing better with the CV then the US under Trump and TrumpCare. And one good thing about China is they don't have a healthcare system as bad as TrumpCare. China (now) should ban travel FROM the US. It's so sad that Trump can't even beat China (and that's where the disease started). Then he blames Hillary and the WHO. But TrumpCare is so bad that no one wants to go to the hospital. This is all on Trump.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

Bill Gates or China can pay the difference if it bothers them so much.

-6 ( +1 / -7 )

If the WHO are controlled by China, which I doubt, then that is just another example of the US losing influence and importance in international affairs and organizations under the Trump watch.

Which is the exact reason Putin expended so many resources and so much effort to get him elected.

Insult allies and friends, pull out of treaties, cozy up to dictators, and by all means, never offend Russia...

The Trump/Putin playbook...

1 ( +3 / -2 )

Great move by Donny. Why would we want everyone working together on a novel coronavirus for which we have no proven treatment of vaccine?! It’s not as if more experts on the case will result if quicker answers. That’s just silly to assume.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

So tell me this please.

Why did Trump tweet on Feb 25 that "Coronavirus is under control. World Health is working hard and smart...Stockmarket is looking great to me".

Are we now supposed to simply forget he made this statement? Just because he wants to blame World Health for crashing his stock prices? How can anybody possibly support this guy? Just how bad is he going to be allowed to get?

We are witnessing the total meltdown of the USA.

4 ( +6 / -2 )

Bill Gates...

Is a Science person and can do a better job than Trump. Also, he is richer than Trump. Trump is so bad that China is beating CV Trump and TrumpCare. Remember although CV started in China, China is now beating the US in this pandemic war. That is how sorry Trump leadership is...especially with TrumpCare.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

It does seem ridiculous (& unfair) that the #1 economy is paying $400M & the #2 economy is only paying $40M

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Doesn't WHO also have something to say about the obesity pandemic?

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Sometimes I find the exchanges here tiresome. Don't get me wrong, I love all of you. And recognize that everyone has different political viewpoints.

But sometimes those viewpoints can confuse what should, otherwise, be straightforward issues.

Case in point: the WHO's actions in relation to COVID-19. There is absolutely NO question they dropped the ball in terms of how they handled this. Whether it was because they were naive or complicit, they essentially parroted the Chinese assertions. The virus could not be communicated person-to-person / was not airborne, there was no reason to restrict travel, etc.

You can love Trump or hate him. You can accuse him of gross negligence in the U.S. or praise him for his handling. That does NOT change what the WHO did / did not do or what it did / did not say.

What frustrates me is that intelligent people cannot walk and chew gum at the same time. For example, agreeing that the WHO mishandled this does not mean that you have to agree that Trump handled this correctly in the U.S. The two are not mutually exclusively.

I followed this from late last year. The WHO's strident attempts to exclude Taiwan from any discussions, including blocking anyone that questioned their approach to Taiwan is telling. Taiwan pointed out their concerns to the WHO IN DECEMBER!! And what did the WHO do with that??? Ignored it.

THAT has NOTHING to do with Trump. Whether you love him or hate him.

So, we need to be smart. Rational. And be able to acknowledge that multiple things can be true at the same time!!

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Classic example of the pot calling the kettle black.

Trump sat on his fanny and said everything was alright while he praised Xi and the WHO. What a difference a couple weeks make! Trump's still too kind to Xi but he's found his whipping boy in the WHO.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

because he believed the lies Xi and the WHO told him. thats his fault for not doubting the truth of what they said. But how could he have proven they were lying, they had all the information and werent sharing it.

Liberals had already gone crazy with the xenophobe and racst attacks when he did the China ban when the WHO claimed it wasnt necessary.

said everything was alright while he praised Xi and the WHO.

-6 ( +0 / -6 )

U.S. funding freeze blows hole in WHO budget

That is a good thing. Why exactly should the US subsidize the Chinese Party and their agenda?

-7 ( +0 / -7 )

blacklabel:

Liberals had already gone crazy with the xenophobe and racst attacks when he did the China ban when the WHO claimed it wasnt necessary.

Exactly. But short and selective memory seems to be par for the course.

-7 ( +0 / -7 )

https://thediplomat.com/2020/04/did-xi-jinping-deliberately-sicken-the-world/

@Ossan

Everybody knows money to the WHO is 'political' money hiding behind a facade of humanitarian endeavours. BUT, lift the veil, and there's only plush Geneva offices, luxury villas, posh private schools, business and first class travel, and a bit of African cronyism thrown in.

Look right here in Japan, despite small businesses crying out for assistance - the response is nothing, ¥0, but Suga has quickly gone on the record to say Japan remains a supporter if the WHO. It's political! The WHO is political.

-5 ( +0 / -5 )

The UK almost pays the same as the USA

LOL, you can always twist, cook the book to make stats say anything you want. UK is so schreibened, and Huawei is already embedded in UK politics, there's even a Bond movie showing how it's done hahaha.

-5 ( +0 / -5 )

But how could he have proven they were lying, they had all the information and werent sharing it.

The WHO had exactly the same information the US had at the time, meaning the same incomplete information China gave to them. Don't try to make this look like the WHO hid things when only China did.

The real issue here and what most people don't understand is that if the WHO had stopped cajoling China, Xi would have, like the immature child that he is, stopped sharing the little info it was willing to give on the disease, closed the country to the WHO doctors and we all would have ended up in a much worse situation, with nothing to work on about Covid-19. That's the problem when you have a deranged wannabe dictator as the head of your country. The minute you do something that he doesn't like, he makes it bad for everyone around him (I'm talking about Xi here, but make any parallels you see fit).

3 ( +3 / -0 )

No, the WHO had what Taiwan told them the end of December. That human to human transmission was possible, among other things. They put out a public statement mid Jan that this was NOT possible.

The WHO had exactly the same information the US had at the time,

-5 ( +0 / -5 )

Why did Trump tweet on Feb 25 that "Coronavirus is under control. World Health is working hard and smart...Stockmarket is looking great to me". 

Are we now supposed to simply forget he made this statement? 

His supporters evidently have.

This is a time when world leaders have been sorted into the wheat and the chaff.

Trump hasn’t got what it takes. He’s not alone.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

No, the WHO had what Taiwan told them the end of December. That human to human transmission was possible, among other things. They put out a public statement mid Jan that this was NOT possible.

Evidence?

2 ( +3 / -1 )

But short and selective memory seems to be par for the course.

Yup:

Trump tweet on Feb 25 that "Coronavirus is under control. World Health is working hard and smart...Stockmarket is looking great to me". 

3 ( +4 / -1 )

They put out a public statement mid Jan that this was NOT possible.

No, thats not what happened.

https://www.who.int/news-room/detail/23-01-2020-statement-on-the-meeting-of-the-international-health-regulations-(2005)-emergency-committee-regarding-the-outbreak-of-novel-coronavirus-(2019-ncov)

"Human-to-human transmission is occurring and a preliminary R0 estimate of 1.4-2.5 was presented. Amplification has occurred in one health care facility. Of confirmed cases, 25% are reported to be severe. The source is still unknown (most likely an animal reservoir) and the extent of human-to-human transmission is still not clear."

The WHO itself had a debate on the possibility human-to-human transmission, based on the information that was given to them. They never denied it.

But this part is what you should pay attention to:

"To other countries

It is expected that further international exportation of cases may appear in any country. Thus, all countries should be prepared for containment, including active surveillance, early detection, isolation and case management, contact tracing and prevention of onward spread of 2019-nCoV infection, and to share full data with WHO."

This was January 23, a day before Trump praised XI for his handling of the crisis. He spent the following month assuring everyone that nothing bad would ever happened, even though everyone (WHO included) warned the world that this would spread to other countries.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

B y ensuring money goes to the average person instead of allowing the repubs to shovel more cash into their friends’ pockets? That’s a weird definition of blocking aid to those who need it.

Unprecedented collective bargaining powers for unions

Increased fuel emissions standards for airlines

Expansion of wind and solar tax credits

Canceling student debt

Restricts colleges from providing information about illegal aliens

Money for Planned Parenthood

Same-day voter registration

Online voter registration

Wind and Solar credits

Reduction in Airline emissions 

Increased leverage for labor unions

Illuminate US Postal Service debt

Same day voter registration

$35 million to the Kennedy Center

Yeah, wonder why the Republicans blocked Dems proposals. Lol

You think Democrats want to keep the country closed to hurt Trump?

Oh, most definitely!

-4 ( +1 / -5 )

I said mid January, no human to human transmission

From the WHO Jan 14, (which is mid January).

"Preliminary investigations conducted by the Chinese authorities have found no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission of the novel #coronavirus (2019-nCoV) identified in #Wuhan, #China"

-4 ( +0 / -4 )

Yeah, wonder why the Republicans blocked Dems proposals. Lol

Glad to see you’re admitting it was repubs holding up the legislation.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

No, I am seeing the viewpoint change back and forth between the two views based on the predetermined "Trump attack of the day".

Who has done that? Please give examples.

That the virus escaped from a lab into the wet markets was conspiracy theory and everyone who mentioned it was mocked.

what is it now? kinda true?

Until there is solid proof that it did escape from a lab, it is still a conspiracy theory, yes.

https://www.businessinsider.com/theory-coronavirus-accidentally-leaked-chinese-lab-2020-4

"Scientists at the Wuhan Institute of Virology have also been considered as possible culprits in a lab leak.

Wuhan's BSL-4 lab, which opened in 2017, studied the Ebola and HIV viruses before tackling the new coronavirus. Some of its researchers, including the virologist Shi Zhengli, also collected, sampled, and studied other coronaviruses from Chinese bats. In 2013, Shi and her collaborators pinpointed the bat population most likely responsible for spreading SARS, in the Shitou Cave near Kunming. They sampled coronaviruses from those bats and others around China.

After her team sequenced the COVID-19 virus, Shi told Scientific American that she quickly checked her laboratory's record from the past few years to check for accidents, especially during disposal. Then she cross-referenced the new coronavirus' genome with the genetic information of other bat coronaviruses her team had collected. They didn't match."

For now, the science says it's not from that lab. Not excluding it could never be (that's not the scientific method), but the evidence point to the contrary.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Blaming the WHO is just another deflection by Trump. This what he ALWAYS does and has for decades even before he was president.

Everybody's fault but his.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Preliminary investigations conducted by the Chinese authorities have found no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission of the novel #coronavirus (2019-nCoV)

The first part of the sentence is kinda important there, don't you think?

"Preliminary investigations conducted by the Chinese authorities". Meaning the WHO waw working with what China gave them. 10 days later, they were (as the scientists they are) checking evidence and starting to challenge what the Chinese authorities had said.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Trump was praising Xi, China, and the WHO while he was consistently ignoring and downplaying the virus.

He sure did until Xi stabbed him in the back and lied about this virus and blamed the US for something they caused.

Glad to see you’re admitting it was repubs holding up the legislation

Because of the crap the Democrats loaded in, all additives and preservatives, should be free from that.

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

You mean Xi played Trump for a sucker and a fool? OK, that will work too...

@bassss4fAs well as the world, now Trump got him back.

XI continues to play Trump for a sucker. How are US farmers doing? Will Trump and the GOP provide even more subsidies to corporate agriculture? Maybe only to those who support them?

https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/money/agriculture/2020/04/14/farmers-estimated-to-lose-billions-in-2020/2994377001/

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Well, this is a pretty successful day, we get a Trump supporter to admit that;

Trump was played for a sucker and a fool (obvious to everyone else)...

Trump consistently ignored and downplayed the virus...

The tide is turning...

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Because of the crap the Democrats loaded in, all additives and preservatives, should be free from that.

And repubs didn’t throw in any additives or preservatives, right? Wrong:

A windfall for real estate investors allowing them “to use losses generated by real estate to minimize their taxes on profits from things like investments in the stock market. The estimated cost of the change over 10 years is $170 billion,” according to the New York Times.

$17 billion in loans for “businesses critical to maintaining national security,” a provision seemingly targeted solely at Boeing.

$25 billion in grants and $25 billion in loans for the airline industry.

A series of regulatory changessought by the banking industry.

A tweak to the tax code, retroactive to 2018, allowing certain retailers to more quickly write off expenses they incurred upgrading their properties.

A series of other tax changesthat in many cases take concessions business made in exchange for lower tax rates in Trump’s 2017 tax cut and eliminate them for a period of years. As one budget expert said to me, “corporations and pass-through owners are having their cake from [the 2017 tax cut] and eating it too.”

A gift to for-profit colleges: They’ll be able to keep loan money for students who drop out due to the coronavirus.

Help for manufacturers of “innovative” sunscreen technology.

A six-month extension of funding for abstinence-only education.

An expansion of the services that health savings accounts, which mostly benefit wealthier people, can pay for.

A provision allowing many hotel chains to access the $350 billion in loans intended for small businesses if their individual hotels employ fewer than 500 workers each. Unlike the loans in the fund intended for large businesses, many of these loans will not have to be repaid if the money is used mostly to keep workers on the payroll. This could allow large firms with the ability to successfully navigate the program to scoop up a significant portion of this fund, potentially pushing aside actual small businesses.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

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