@snoopydawg

He admits that it will make people 'feel better' and it Might block a drop of spewed virus, but all in all do not wear a mask. They are not needed.

He lied. People died. But he's been put on a pedestal because he seemed to be going against Trump. He allowed the lies and dereliction possible. He needs to be held to account.

Krystal does a great job breaking down the horrid response. And so what if the virus came from China? We had plenty of warning that it was bad, but we did as little as possible. Massive crime against humanity and then add on closing people's business, but not compensating them for it is another. It is theft and it will be complete when those businesses have been gobbled up by some big corporation.

OT'

This is the most Russia phobic thing I have read in awhile. They have no idea what they're talking about, but oh they sure sound tuff.

- Throughout their history Russia has motivated to a strong man. It is just part of their nature.

- One thing Russians are used to is death, illness, uncaring government, that’s been the history of Russia.

Throw in some homophobia:

- Trump and Putin sitting in a tree, kiss i n g

A few years ago Russia cut their defense budget 10% so it can address poverty. This year they spent $200 BILLION on it. What is our country doing? Watching as more people are pushed into it.

Throughout their history Israel has motivated.......... It is just part of their nature. Actually Brennan did say something just like that on national TV. Propaganda works.

Only republicans lie, but not Adam Schiff who lied for 4 years on Russia Gate, Mueller, ect and told us that he had PROOF that Trump had been naughty. We never saw it, but we did see his lie about Crowdstrike get blown out of the water. Gawd this tribalism is old.

to downplay COVID-19 and maybe lots of people would still be alive. Think about that. Not one person tried to warn us about what government was doing. I bet lots of little people knew about not just the ones who decided to do it.

@vtcc73

This thing is too long as it is....

Nah. It's not.

Maybe I'll pop up again later.

Hopefully sooner rather than later. Many appreciate your insight. The analogy of the flight squadron of which you wrote was appropriate and well considered.

here I go again. RR, you've once again spent a lot of effort in writing a very good essay. You've thoroughly explained and supported the reasons for how you see Fauci and how he's handled the pandemic. I disagree with most of it for reasons I'll explain. But first let me digress with a personal story about leadership from some time ago.

It's summer 1980 in Lubbock, TX, and I was standing in line in DMV to pick up my new TX driver's license. Someone behind me says there's been a T-37 crash out at Reese AFB. I was an IP (Instructor Pilot) at Reese. That's my squadron. I had only left the squadron 45-60 minutes before after 10 hours on the flight line. I know it's not my flight, B, but I probably know the people involved.

This is before cellphones so I had to go home to get any info. I find out it was a solo student coming off the auxiliary field in Terry Co that augered in. He's dead, airplane's burned up. Over the next couple weeks we learn he's the son of a 2 star general whose sponsor is the 4 star commanding Air Training Command that I belong to. The kid, E Flight across the hall, was a very weak student but nobody has a clue what could have happened. A couple weeks into the investigation the wing commander, a colonel, held an all IP squadron meeting with an update. They knew there wasn't anything obviously wrong with the airplane or medically with the student. All of the training records for the student look tight and nothing stands out as a possible cause to the AIB, Accident Investigation Board. Col. Monte D. Montgomery was the wing king. Best one I ever served under. At the end of his update he said something extraordinary. He says that he knows we all know that these things can become some sort of a witch hunt but that from what he knows now, we had all done our jobs. He promised that he would have to be fired before any of us to be disciplined as long as the board doesn't find that we had failed in our duty. He followed up with his confidence in how well we were doing our job of training future USAF pilots and to keep the operation tight, fly safe, and lets see where the investigation goes from here.

About a month or so later I received a call from the squadron operations officer on a Saturday evening. He says that he can't completely explain but that the flight commander, his assistant, and the student's IP have been fired and transferred immediately. I've been chosen to be the new assistant flight commander in E Flight under the previous flight commander, Frank, who is returning to the job from a higher squadron position. He tells me to call Frank who can fill me in some more and tell me what he needs from me. Frank and I spent a lot of Sunday doing just that.

We started out Monday morning with pilots' meeting with the squadron commander for the 3 early week flights before the sun was up. He explained a little bit of what the accident board had discovered. The student was given a 90-95% probability to have committed suicide in the jet because he was about to wash out and couldn't face his father. A lot of people had failed to do their jobs. The student's IP was carrying him through the program and had permitted him to progress when he shouldn't have. The signs of the student's mental and physical state were obvious when all of the data was in. The squadron chain of command from the IP up though the wing operations officer and the flight surgeons had missed signs. There was no system to properly manage week student pilots that would have prevented this accident. We as an organization had failed in our responsibilities. That would be fixed in short order but everyone wanted to know who was going to be the new wing commander. The squadron was seething to find out that Monty wasn't going anywhere.

Our flying day was cut short for an all officers meeting with the wing commander at the end of our day when the 3 late week flights came to work. The man had courage to walk into that briefing room. He began by going through the accident report findings. They were justifiably harsh. The management and leadership failures were significant. In addition to the three IPs who were now long gone everyone in the chain of command up through and including the wing king himself had at least a letter of reprimand from the 4 star himself.

Before he opened the floor to questions he dismissed all of the officers above captain from the room. When the doors to the briefing room were closed he unpinned his eagles and put them on the table in front of him. He then said that anything said in the room for the next hour was fair game and completely off the record. Fight's on. Monty took a real beating from several IPs. He also explained his reasoning very well. I know that not everyone agreed but I don't know anybody who didn't respect him and was willing to follow his leadership.

So what did he say? The big one was that he had no problem falling on his sword for injustice but that the firings and non-judicial discipline were justified. He went on that he was the leader who allowed this event to happen and he was also the best person to clean up the mess. He had failed in his responsibility but the 4 star still had confidence that he could fix the problems. One choice was fall on his sword for no good reason, losing the best man available to move forward, but that would not change any of the disciplinary actions. Or he could man up and put it all together better than before. He said that he knew he wouldn't convince everyone that he was right to not take the bullet but then people had not done their jobs either which was a requirement of the promise.

When I left the squadron two years later it was the best flying organization in the whole command. We had a bullet proof marginal student program that became the model for all of the UPT (Undergraduate Pilot Training) wings. Monty was right. There were still some who thought Monty was a liar and not a man of his word but nobody could disagree with what we, together, built. Very little of it came from on high either. The wing provided guidance and support but let us build and run the programs. I don't have any idea what would have happened with a new wing commander. But I do know that Col. Montgomery was the best wing king I served under.

So, Fauci. The only thing I know about the man is what my internist/infectious disease friend has said. He respects him and thinks he was as good a doctor for his position as he could think of. I haven't followed Fauci. I can very much appreciate the situation he found himself in.

His mask position early on was odd but it also wasn't without support in the medical community. It was also a mistake that he's acknowledged. He corrected it recommending masks when the data suggested it. This showed up today: Covid-19 pandemic shows that scientists had it all wrong about how viruses are transmitted. There was and still is a lot not known. Add the scientific gaps, medical uncertainties, a toxic political climate, a whackadoodle president, and all the crazy fuckers there's little doubt this pandemic would be a flustercluck.

Personally, I think the man deserves a lot of slack. He didn't create the virus or the political climate in the US. He only had to deal with what was, not what he wanted. What to some is a lie is to others the best path through a dense minefield. I have a hard time thinking of anyone who knew the landscape and the issues better who could have negotiated all of it any better. I'll also guarantee that any tard trump put in the position would have been far worse. He/she would have been nothing but a toady trump mouthpiece. Would we be better off?

As far as the demand for truth is concerned give me a break. No, Americans can't deal with truth. Half will scream "false news" and many of the others will take anything as gospel if their team says it. The rest fervently believe everything is a conspiracy to fuck them over personally. That's what happens when belief and faith are substituted for evidence/data and when total certainty based on nothing but opinion is the standard. In other words, Fauci dealt with the pandemic in the real world and not in the black and white one of ideals.

This thing is too long as it is so I'll leave out another observation I've been thinking about for some time. Right now I'm going back to what I like to call "morbid curiosity mode." It's one reason I've been sitting in the shadows here lately. Maybe I'll pop up again later.

@vtcc73 Ecuador if you lay low?
I think your disagreement with RR's premise is about as gentlemanly as it gets.
I appreciate what your superior officer did.
I do think there is enough solid information now to draw a conclusion that Dr. Fauci occasionally focuses too much on supply of devices and medicines, and not on the immediate health needs of the public.
He did lie.
He didn't have to.

here I go again. RR, you've once again spent a lot of effort in writing a very good essay. You've thoroughly explained and supported the reasons for how you see Fauci and how he's handled the pandemic. I disagree with most of it for reasons I'll explain. But first let me digress with a personal story about leadership from some time ago.

It's summer 1980 in Lubbock, TX, and I was standing in line in DMV to pick up my new TX driver's license. Someone behind me says there's been a T-37 crash out at Reese AFB. I was an IP (Instructor Pilot) at Reese. That's my squadron. I had only left the squadron 45-60 minutes before after 10 hours on the flight line. I know it's not my flight, B, but I probably know the people involved.

This is before cellphones so I had to go home to get any info. I find out it was a solo student coming off the auxiliary field in Terry Co that augered in. He's dead, airplane's burned up. Over the next couple weeks we learn he's the son of a 2 star general whose sponsor is the 4 star commanding Air Training Command that I belong to. The kid, E Flight across the hall, was a very weak student but nobody has a clue what could have happened. A couple weeks into the investigation the wing commander, a colonel, held an all IP squadron meeting with an update. They knew there wasn't anything obviously wrong with the airplane or medically with the student. All of the training records for the student look tight and nothing stands out as a possible cause to the AIB, Accident Investigation Board. Col. Monte D. Montgomery was the wing king. Best one I ever served under. At the end of his update he said something extraordinary. He says that he knows we all know that these things can become some sort of a witch hunt but that from what he knows now, we had all done our jobs. He promised that he would have to be fired before any of us to be disciplined as long as the board doesn't find that we had failed in our duty. He followed up with his confidence in how well we were doing our job of training future USAF pilots and to keep the operation tight, fly safe, and lets see where the investigation goes from here.

About a month or so later I received a call from the squadron operations officer on a Saturday evening. He says that he can't completely explain but that the flight commander, his assistant, and the student's IP have been fired and transferred immediately. I've been chosen to be the new assistant flight commander in E Flight under the previous flight commander, Frank, who is returning to the job from a higher squadron position. He tells me to call Frank who can fill me in some more and tell me what he needs from me. Frank and I spent a lot of Sunday doing just that.

We started out Monday morning with pilots' meeting with the squadron commander for the 3 early week flights before the sun was up. He explained a little bit of what the accident board had discovered. The student was given a 90-95% probability to have committed suicide in the jet because he was about to wash out and couldn't face his father. A lot of people had failed to do their jobs. The student's IP was carrying him through the program and had permitted him to progress when he shouldn't have. The signs of the student's mental and physical state were obvious when all of the data was in. The squadron chain of command from the IP up though the wing operations officer and the flight surgeons had missed signs. There was no system to properly manage week student pilots that would have prevented this accident. We as an organization had failed in our responsibilities. That would be fixed in short order but everyone wanted to know who was going to be the new wing commander. The squadron was seething to find out that Monty wasn't going anywhere.

Our flying day was cut short for an all officers meeting with the wing commander at the end of our day when the 3 late week flights came to work. The man had courage to walk into that briefing room. He began by going through the accident report findings. They were justifiably harsh. The management and leadership failures were significant. In addition to the three IPs who were now long gone everyone in the chain of command up through and including the wing king himself had at least a letter of reprimand from the 4 star himself.

Before he opened the floor to questions he dismissed all of the officers above captain from the room. When the doors to the briefing room were closed he unpinned his eagles and put them on the table in front of him. He then said that anything said in the room for the next hour was fair game and completely off the record. Fight's on. Monty took a real beating from several IPs. He also explained his reasoning very well. I know that not everyone agreed but I don't know anybody who didn't respect him and was willing to follow his leadership.

So what did he say? The big one was that he had no problem falling on his sword for injustice but that the firings and non-judicial discipline were justified. He went on that he was the leader who allowed this event to happen and he was also the best person to clean up the mess. He had failed in his responsibility but the 4 star still had confidence that he could fix the problems. One choice was fall on his sword for no good reason, losing the best man available to move forward, but that would not change any of the disciplinary actions. Or he could man up and put it all together better than before. He said that he knew he wouldn't convince everyone that he was right to not take the bullet but then people had not done their jobs either which was a requirement of the promise.

When I left the squadron two years later it was the best flying organization in the whole command. We had a bullet proof marginal student program that became the model for all of the UPT (Undergraduate Pilot Training) wings. Monty was right. There were still some who thought Monty was a liar and not a man of his word but nobody could disagree with what we, together, built. Very little of it came from on high either. The wing provided guidance and support but let us build and run the programs. I don't have any idea what would have happened with a new wing commander. But I do know that Col. Montgomery was the best wing king I served under.

So, Fauci. The only thing I know about the man is what my internist/infectious disease friend has said. He respects him and thinks he was as good a doctor for his position as he could think of. I haven't followed Fauci. I can very much appreciate the situation he found himself in.

His mask position early on was odd but it also wasn't without support in the medical community. It was also a mistake that he's acknowledged. He corrected it recommending masks when the data suggested it. This showed up today: Covid-19 pandemic shows that scientists had it all wrong about how viruses are transmitted. There was and still is a lot not known. Add the scientific gaps, medical uncertainties, a toxic political climate, a whackadoodle president, and all the crazy fuckers there's little doubt this pandemic would be a flustercluck.

Personally, I think the man deserves a lot of slack. He didn't create the virus or the political climate in the US. He only had to deal with what was, not what he wanted. What to some is a lie is to others the best path through a dense minefield. I have a hard time thinking of anyone who knew the landscape and the issues better who could have negotiated all of it any better. I'll also guarantee that any tard trump put in the position would have been far worse. He/she would have been nothing but a toady trump mouthpiece. Would we be better off?

As far as the demand for truth is concerned give me a break. No, Americans can't deal with truth. Half will scream "false news" and many of the others will take anything as gospel if their team says it. The rest fervently believe everything is a conspiracy to fuck them over personally. That's what happens when belief and faith are substituted for evidence/data and when total certainty based on nothing but opinion is the standard. In other words, Fauci dealt with the pandemic in the real world and not in the black and white one of ideals.

This thing is too long as it is so I'll leave out another observation I've been thinking about for some time. Right now I'm going back to what I like to call "morbid curiosity mode." It's one reason I've been sitting in the shadows here lately. Maybe I'll pop up again later.

@vtcc73

related through your experience as a student and instructor in a field that is conventionally unknown; and for highlighting how relevant it is to make an effort to perceive things in the ‘bigger picture’.

I had not heard Dr. Fauci speak before this recent interview I caught on RNZ. I tuned in at 14 minutes, and listened to the end at 25 minutes. I was pleased to get a sense of his expertise in the area of disease and immunology.

here I go again. RR, you've once again spent a lot of effort in writing a very good essay. You've thoroughly explained and supported the reasons for how you see Fauci and how he's handled the pandemic. I disagree with most of it for reasons I'll explain. But first let me digress with a personal story about leadership from some time ago.

It's summer 1980 in Lubbock, TX, and I was standing in line in DMV to pick up my new TX driver's license. Someone behind me says there's been a T-37 crash out at Reese AFB. I was an IP (Instructor Pilot) at Reese. That's my squadron. I had only left the squadron 45-60 minutes before after 10 hours on the flight line. I know it's not my flight, B, but I probably know the people involved.

This is before cellphones so I had to go home to get any info. I find out it was a solo student coming off the auxiliary field in Terry Co that augered in. He's dead, airplane's burned up. Over the next couple weeks we learn he's the son of a 2 star general whose sponsor is the 4 star commanding Air Training Command that I belong to. The kid, E Flight across the hall, was a very weak student but nobody has a clue what could have happened. A couple weeks into the investigation the wing commander, a colonel, held an all IP squadron meeting with an update. They knew there wasn't anything obviously wrong with the airplane or medically with the student. All of the training records for the student look tight and nothing stands out as a possible cause to the AIB, Accident Investigation Board. Col. Monte D. Montgomery was the wing king. Best one I ever served under. At the end of his update he said something extraordinary. He says that he knows we all know that these things can become some sort of a witch hunt but that from what he knows now, we had all done our jobs. He promised that he would have to be fired before any of us to be disciplined as long as the board doesn't find that we had failed in our duty. He followed up with his confidence in how well we were doing our job of training future USAF pilots and to keep the operation tight, fly safe, and lets see where the investigation goes from here.

About a month or so later I received a call from the squadron operations officer on a Saturday evening. He says that he can't completely explain but that the flight commander, his assistant, and the student's IP have been fired and transferred immediately. I've been chosen to be the new assistant flight commander in E Flight under the previous flight commander, Frank, who is returning to the job from a higher squadron position. He tells me to call Frank who can fill me in some more and tell me what he needs from me. Frank and I spent a lot of Sunday doing just that.

We started out Monday morning with pilots' meeting with the squadron commander for the 3 early week flights before the sun was up. He explained a little bit of what the accident board had discovered. The student was given a 90-95% probability to have committed suicide in the jet because he was about to wash out and couldn't face his father. A lot of people had failed to do their jobs. The student's IP was carrying him through the program and had permitted him to progress when he shouldn't have. The signs of the student's mental and physical state were obvious when all of the data was in. The squadron chain of command from the IP up though the wing operations officer and the flight surgeons had missed signs. There was no system to properly manage week student pilots that would have prevented this accident. We as an organization had failed in our responsibilities. That would be fixed in short order but everyone wanted to know who was going to be the new wing commander. The squadron was seething to find out that Monty wasn't going anywhere.

Our flying day was cut short for an all officers meeting with the wing commander at the end of our day when the 3 late week flights came to work. The man had courage to walk into that briefing room. He began by going through the accident report findings. They were justifiably harsh. The management and leadership failures were significant. In addition to the three IPs who were now long gone everyone in the chain of command up through and including the wing king himself had at least a letter of reprimand from the 4 star himself.

Before he opened the floor to questions he dismissed all of the officers above captain from the room. When the doors to the briefing room were closed he unpinned his eagles and put them on the table in front of him. He then said that anything said in the room for the next hour was fair game and completely off the record. Fight's on. Monty took a real beating from several IPs. He also explained his reasoning very well. I know that not everyone agreed but I don't know anybody who didn't respect him and was willing to follow his leadership.

So what did he say? The big one was that he had no problem falling on his sword for injustice but that the firings and non-judicial discipline were justified. He went on that he was the leader who allowed this event to happen and he was also the best person to clean up the mess. He had failed in his responsibility but the 4 star still had confidence that he could fix the problems. One choice was fall on his sword for no good reason, losing the best man available to move forward, but that would not change any of the disciplinary actions. Or he could man up and put it all together better than before. He said that he knew he wouldn't convince everyone that he was right to not take the bullet but then people had not done their jobs either which was a requirement of the promise.

When I left the squadron two years later it was the best flying organization in the whole command. We had a bullet proof marginal student program that became the model for all of the UPT (Undergraduate Pilot Training) wings. Monty was right. There were still some who thought Monty was a liar and not a man of his word but nobody could disagree with what we, together, built. Very little of it came from on high either. The wing provided guidance and support but let us build and run the programs. I don't have any idea what would have happened with a new wing commander. But I do know that Col. Montgomery was the best wing king I served under.

So, Fauci. The only thing I know about the man is what my internist/infectious disease friend has said. He respects him and thinks he was as good a doctor for his position as he could think of. I haven't followed Fauci. I can very much appreciate the situation he found himself in.

His mask position early on was odd but it also wasn't without support in the medical community. It was also a mistake that he's acknowledged. He corrected it recommending masks when the data suggested it. This showed up today: Covid-19 pandemic shows that scientists had it all wrong about how viruses are transmitted. There was and still is a lot not known. Add the scientific gaps, medical uncertainties, a toxic political climate, a whackadoodle president, and all the crazy fuckers there's little doubt this pandemic would be a flustercluck.

Personally, I think the man deserves a lot of slack. He didn't create the virus or the political climate in the US. He only had to deal with what was, not what he wanted. What to some is a lie is to others the best path through a dense minefield. I have a hard time thinking of anyone who knew the landscape and the issues better who could have negotiated all of it any better. I'll also guarantee that any tard trump put in the position would have been far worse. He/she would have been nothing but a toady trump mouthpiece. Would we be better off?

As far as the demand for truth is concerned give me a break. No, Americans can't deal with truth. Half will scream "false news" and many of the others will take anything as gospel if their team says it. The rest fervently believe everything is a conspiracy to fuck them over personally. That's what happens when belief and faith are substituted for evidence/data and when total certainty based on nothing but opinion is the standard. In other words, Fauci dealt with the pandemic in the real world and not in the black and white one of ideals.

This thing is too long as it is so I'll leave out another observation I've been thinking about for some time. Right now I'm going back to what I like to call "morbid curiosity mode." It's one reason I've been sitting in the shadows here lately. Maybe I'll pop up again later.

@vtcc73

As I said previously he could have told us the truth about what Trump/government was doing by disregarding how serious the virus was, but instead he went along with it.

In the video above listen to what he says about not wearing masks. That he later admits that he lied to us because he was saving masks for the health care workers doesn't matter to me. He lied. People died between what he said and when he fessed up. If he hadn't said that masks don't work would more people be wearing them now?

And he has once again admitted that he is moving the goalposts on the vaccine and herd immunity. And the WHO has deleted people getting infected as one way to achieve it. Now it is 100% through a vaccine that has not been long term tested, being okayed to be given to pregnant women with no idea how that affects the baby on board.

What else has he lied about? Will we know? He is supposed to be the ONE person who is looking out for us. Sorry, I am not impressed. He should have spilled back in Feb when Trump said to downplay the virus. People died. Many others have long term health issues. Maybe wearing a mask.........?

here I go again. RR, you've once again spent a lot of effort in writing a very good essay. You've thoroughly explained and supported the reasons for how you see Fauci and how he's handled the pandemic. I disagree with most of it for reasons I'll explain. But first let me digress with a personal story about leadership from some time ago.

It's summer 1980 in Lubbock, TX, and I was standing in line in DMV to pick up my new TX driver's license. Someone behind me says there's been a T-37 crash out at Reese AFB. I was an IP (Instructor Pilot) at Reese. That's my squadron. I had only left the squadron 45-60 minutes before after 10 hours on the flight line. I know it's not my flight, B, but I probably know the people involved.

This is before cellphones so I had to go home to get any info. I find out it was a solo student coming off the auxiliary field in Terry Co that augered in. He's dead, airplane's burned up. Over the next couple weeks we learn he's the son of a 2 star general whose sponsor is the 4 star commanding Air Training Command that I belong to. The kid, E Flight across the hall, was a very weak student but nobody has a clue what could have happened. A couple weeks into the investigation the wing commander, a colonel, held an all IP squadron meeting with an update. They knew there wasn't anything obviously wrong with the airplane or medically with the student. All of the training records for the student look tight and nothing stands out as a possible cause to the AIB, Accident Investigation Board. Col. Monte D. Montgomery was the wing king. Best one I ever served under. At the end of his update he said something extraordinary. He says that he knows we all know that these things can become some sort of a witch hunt but that from what he knows now, we had all done our jobs. He promised that he would have to be fired before any of us to be disciplined as long as the board doesn't find that we had failed in our duty. He followed up with his confidence in how well we were doing our job of training future USAF pilots and to keep the operation tight, fly safe, and lets see where the investigation goes from here.

About a month or so later I received a call from the squadron operations officer on a Saturday evening. He says that he can't completely explain but that the flight commander, his assistant, and the student's IP have been fired and transferred immediately. I've been chosen to be the new assistant flight commander in E Flight under the previous flight commander, Frank, who is returning to the job from a higher squadron position. He tells me to call Frank who can fill me in some more and tell me what he needs from me. Frank and I spent a lot of Sunday doing just that.

We started out Monday morning with pilots' meeting with the squadron commander for the 3 early week flights before the sun was up. He explained a little bit of what the accident board had discovered. The student was given a 90-95% probability to have committed suicide in the jet because he was about to wash out and couldn't face his father. A lot of people had failed to do their jobs. The student's IP was carrying him through the program and had permitted him to progress when he shouldn't have. The signs of the student's mental and physical state were obvious when all of the data was in. The squadron chain of command from the IP up though the wing operations officer and the flight surgeons had missed signs. There was no system to properly manage week student pilots that would have prevented this accident. We as an organization had failed in our responsibilities. That would be fixed in short order but everyone wanted to know who was going to be the new wing commander. The squadron was seething to find out that Monty wasn't going anywhere.

Our flying day was cut short for an all officers meeting with the wing commander at the end of our day when the 3 late week flights came to work. The man had courage to walk into that briefing room. He began by going through the accident report findings. They were justifiably harsh. The management and leadership failures were significant. In addition to the three IPs who were now long gone everyone in the chain of command up through and including the wing king himself had at least a letter of reprimand from the 4 star himself.

Before he opened the floor to questions he dismissed all of the officers above captain from the room. When the doors to the briefing room were closed he unpinned his eagles and put them on the table in front of him. He then said that anything said in the room for the next hour was fair game and completely off the record. Fight's on. Monty took a real beating from several IPs. He also explained his reasoning very well. I know that not everyone agreed but I don't know anybody who didn't respect him and was willing to follow his leadership.

So what did he say? The big one was that he had no problem falling on his sword for injustice but that the firings and non-judicial discipline were justified. He went on that he was the leader who allowed this event to happen and he was also the best person to clean up the mess. He had failed in his responsibility but the 4 star still had confidence that he could fix the problems. One choice was fall on his sword for no good reason, losing the best man available to move forward, but that would not change any of the disciplinary actions. Or he could man up and put it all together better than before. He said that he knew he wouldn't convince everyone that he was right to not take the bullet but then people had not done their jobs either which was a requirement of the promise.

When I left the squadron two years later it was the best flying organization in the whole command. We had a bullet proof marginal student program that became the model for all of the UPT (Undergraduate Pilot Training) wings. Monty was right. There were still some who thought Monty was a liar and not a man of his word but nobody could disagree with what we, together, built. Very little of it came from on high either. The wing provided guidance and support but let us build and run the programs. I don't have any idea what would have happened with a new wing commander. But I do know that Col. Montgomery was the best wing king I served under.

So, Fauci. The only thing I know about the man is what my internist/infectious disease friend has said. He respects him and thinks he was as good a doctor for his position as he could think of. I haven't followed Fauci. I can very much appreciate the situation he found himself in.

His mask position early on was odd but it also wasn't without support in the medical community. It was also a mistake that he's acknowledged. He corrected it recommending masks when the data suggested it. This showed up today: Covid-19 pandemic shows that scientists had it all wrong about how viruses are transmitted. There was and still is a lot not known. Add the scientific gaps, medical uncertainties, a toxic political climate, a whackadoodle president, and all the crazy fuckers there's little doubt this pandemic would be a flustercluck.

Personally, I think the man deserves a lot of slack. He didn't create the virus or the political climate in the US. He only had to deal with what was, not what he wanted. What to some is a lie is to others the best path through a dense minefield. I have a hard time thinking of anyone who knew the landscape and the issues better who could have negotiated all of it any better. I'll also guarantee that any tard trump put in the position would have been far worse. He/she would have been nothing but a toady trump mouthpiece. Would we be better off?

As far as the demand for truth is concerned give me a break. No, Americans can't deal with truth. Half will scream "false news" and many of the others will take anything as gospel if their team says it. The rest fervently believe everything is a conspiracy to fuck them over personally. That's what happens when belief and faith are substituted for evidence/data and when total certainty based on nothing but opinion is the standard. In other words, Fauci dealt with the pandemic in the real world and not in the black and white one of ideals.

This thing is too long as it is so I'll leave out another observation I've been thinking about for some time. Right now I'm going back to what I like to call "morbid curiosity mode." It's one reason I've been sitting in the shadows here lately. Maybe I'll pop up again later.

@ovals49 I think he has earned our trust in his decision making while managing the pandemic. There may be a lot of things we disagree with, may not like the man personally, or question his connections, motives, or his decisions. We should do all of those things. Blind trust is not in line for consideration.

My willingness to give him slack is based on how he's navigated the trump administration's malfeasance and obstruction without completely losing the fight with the virus. Conditions have been very bad, world leading bad. USA!! USA!! USA!! Without people like Fauci to stand up to our idiot leaders there's little doubt this pandemic would be far more out of control with a trump toady in his position.

I don't see any value in not working with the Chinese or the Russians on fighting this virus. This isn't a nationality, political, or ideological issue but is a great threat to all humans and our societies. Investigating possible improprieties is essential. I expect a thorough analysis at some time in the future. I'm highly suspicious of unnamed intelligence sources' claims however. Just because we don't trust Fauci is no reason to trust unknown sources without full attribution. In almost any other essay on these pages intel claims would be suspect if not outright dismissed. That a claim seems to support our other bias doesn't suggest anything about validity of the claim. It's a data point.

We're all extremely susceptible to confirmation bias. It's tripped on carelessly by the lazy and unaware and used intentionally to shape our thinking for fun and profit all the time. Those of us who can't sort out "truth" from BS should learn to first look to our own vulnerability to confirmation bias. Recognizing our own BS reduces our confusion and stress. To me this is a data point, no more. It's a low quality piece of data looking for higher quality confirmation. Lack of solid attribution is a huge flashing red light for me. Being consistent in our skepticism is important. We can't not trust the intel community one moment and take them at their word the next. The same goes for Fauci. The problem is looking for trust rather than evaluating each piece of information on it's own merit.

Lets go back to Chinese and Russian work on a vaccine. From this morning: Ecuadorians join Chinese vaccine trial; Some say Chinese and Russian vaccines may be first to arrive.

I fully expect to see the Chinese and/or Russian vaccines be the most available here the soonest. We were supposed to have 7.5 million doses of the two big dollar ones available here in January. That was being pushed back since the news was released. Some sources say maybe not until March now. They will supply the world while the most talked about "name label" vaccines will go to those who can pay the most. Yet, to anyone who can think it's not a matter of label as much as it is a matter of efficacy and safety. Who made it is only one consideration and one that is very susceptible to our biases.

Dr. Wodarg and Dr. Yeadon request a stop of all corona vaccination studies and call for co-signing the petition

On December 1, 2020, the ex-Pfizer head of respiratory research Dr. Michael Yeadon and the lung specialist and former head of the public health department Dr. Wolfgang Wodarg filed an application with the EMA, the European Medicine Agency responsible for EU-wide drug approval, for the immediate suspension of all SARS CoV 2 vaccine studies, in particular the BioNtech/Pfizer study on BNT162b (EudraCT number 2020-002641-42).

Dr. Fauci Backed Controversial Wuhan Lab with U.S. Dollars for Risky Coronavirus Research

In 2019, with the backing of NIAID, the National Institutes of Health committed $3.7 million over six years for research that included some gain-of-function work. The program followed another $3.7 million, 5-year project for collecting and studying bat coronaviruses, which ended in 2019, bringing the total to $7.4 million.

Many scientists have criticized gain of function research, which involves manipulating viruses in the lab to explore their potential for infecting humans, because it creates a risk of starting a pandemic from accidental release.

SARS-CoV-2 , the virus now causing a global pandemic, is believed to have originated in bats. U.S. intelligence, after originally asserting that the coronavirus had occurred naturally, conceded last month that the pandemic may have originated in a leak from the Wuhan lab. (At this point most scientists say it's possible—but not likely—that the pandemic virus was engineered or manipulated.)

Dr. Fauci did not respond to Newsweek's requests for comment.

@out of left field

can you excerpt some of ?

Dr. Mercola does a good job of summarizing the case against universal mask wearing by the public:

https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2020/12/28/face-mask...