CDC officials were asked an obvious question...

THURSDAY, MARCH 12, 2020

...and "Who's On First" broke out:
Has the United States, at long last, finally become the "pitiful, helpless giant" to which Richard Nixon once referred?

Also this:

Is the newly-designated global pandemic actually the global conflagration we've heard described, by despondent future experts, though only as "Mister Trump's War?"

We're trying to get you answers to these inevitable questions. For today, we thought it was worth recording what happened when two CDC officials were asked an obvious question last Friday afternoon.

We return to Donald J. Trump's visit to the CDC. During the visit, he held a long press conference, accompanied by two CDC officials—Director Robert Redfield and Associate Director for Laboratory Science and Safety Steve Monroe.

At one point, a journalist prefaced a rambling question in the manner shown:
QUESTION (3/6/20): I have a question for Dr. Monroe, please. Would you admit that the CDC did have problems with the tests?
For the full transcript, click here.

Did the CDC have problems with the tests? It seems like a fairly obvious question.

The full question which followed was somewhat unclear. That said, Monroe answered like this:
MONROE: So we did learn shortly after we distributed the first batch of our tests to some of the state health labs that there was an issue with one component of the test. And so we quickly put together a team to try to figure out what that issue was and we suggested that people not test until we could sort that out. But what we—what we have are three different signatures that we test for. And we—in working with FDA colleagues, we identified that two of those were sufficient to have a positive conclusive test.

And so we’ve moved forward now with testing with just the two signatures. And this is something that could easily happen where we’re, we’re just, again, starting from scratch with sequence information, building a test rather rapidly. We did small-scale testing here before rolling it out because our—our goal was to get it out to the public health labs as quickly as possible.
According to Monroe, the CDC discovered a problem with their test. As a result, they were just again starting from scratch.

A journalist then offered an obvious follow-up question. We thought it might be worth recording what happened next.

The follow-up question went like this:
QUESTION (continuing directly): But you didn’t have to start from scratch. You could’ve just used the WHO’s test. Why did you choose to start from scratch when it would be a longer process?
Why didn't you use the WHO test? Again, it seems like the obvious question.

To our eye and ear, sheer chaos followed. Is this exchange, or is it not, a version of "Who's On First?"
MONROE (continuing directly): But we started with our test probably the same time the Germans and the other—Italians and the other groups that have worked with WHO were developing their own test.

Nobody could start with test development until the sequence information was made available by the Chinese.

QUESTION: Right. But theirs didn’t have any faults—the WHO's. So why didn't we use that?

REDFIELD: I would like—I’d like to make one thing clear.

QUESTION: Please.

REDFIELD: When this test was developed in, in really very rapid time, it was first offered here at CDC. So all the public health labs in this nation could use CDC as we do when any new disease comes, and we can help them understand if this new pathogen is in that individual. That was available as soon as our test was approved by the FDA—not a faulty test, a very accurate test.

But the challenge was you had to send the sample here to CDC. That’s the same test we use today. So no, state labs never had no access. They always had the ability to send it here.

QUESTION: But they had to send it here because there were false reads?

REDFIELD: No, they had to send it here because that’s how we started it. Then we developed the test to expand, and in the manufacturing, there wasn’t—then, after that, we sent it out to the states to see if they could verify that it worked.

We found that, in some of the states, it didn’t work. We figured out why. I don’t consider that a fault. I consider that doing quality control. I consider that success, making sure this test was going to perform out there with the same proficiency that it performed here.

TRUMP: And now it’s all performing perfectly, right?

REDFIELD: Yes, sir.
We started with an obvious question—why didn't the CDC use the WHO test?

We ended up with that. We can't see where the obvious question got answered. Instead, the exchange strikes us as a masterpiece of confusion, as a first cousin to Who's On First..

Eventually, Trump jumped in to say everything's perfect. Director Redfield agreed.

Have we become that "pitiful, helpless giant?" We report, then we let you decide.

17 comments:

  1. Dear Bob, your "obvious" questions are only "obvious" in your imaginary zombie universe.

    And in fact "don't worry, everything is perfect now" is a perfect (should I say: "perfectly prefect"?) answer to these utterly idiotic questions.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Good day to all viewer online am so happy sharing this great testimony on how i was checking for solution in the internet then miraculously i came Across Dr.LOSA the powerful herbalist that Cure Numerous individuals Herpes Simplex Virus,so I contacted him base on the testimonies I?m seeing about him on the internet, I was cured too by him, kindly contact him actoday through his email he can help you email ; dr.losaherbalhome@gmail.com and so he can cure types of diseases like,HEPATITIS B,DIABETICS,CANCER,HPV,LOW SPERM CAM HIV/STDS FIBROSIS LOST OF WEIGHT .. all thank to you Dr LOSA for your kindly help in my life his Mobile number +2349056464736

      He cure listed diseases
      CANCER
      HEPATITIS A AND B
      DIABETIC.
      HERPES




































      Good day to all viewer online am so happy sharing this great testimony on how i was checking for solution in the internet then miraculously i came Across Dr.LOSA the powerful herbalist that Cure Numerous individuals Herpes Simplex Virus,so I contacted him base on the testimonies I?m seeing about him on the internet, I was cured too by him, kindly contact him actoday through his email he can help you email ; dr.losaherbalhome@gmail.com and so he can cure types of diseases like,HEPATITIS B,DIABETICS,CANCER,HPV,LOW SPERM CAM HIV/STDS FIBROSIS LOST OF WEIGHT .. all thank to you Dr LOSA for your kindly help in my life his Mobile number +2349056464736

      He cure listed diseases
      CANCER
      HEPATITIS A AND B
      DIABETIC.
      HERPES

      Delete
    2. Herbal Penis Enlargement product is 100% guarantee to Enlarge and get a better ERECTION ,
      the reason why most people are finding it difficult
      to enlarge Penis is because they bedlieve on medical
      report, drugs and medical treatment which is not
      helpful for Penis Enlargement . Natural roots/herbs are the best remedy which can easily Enlarge your Penis permanently
      Contact Dr Olu via Email : Drolusolutionhome@gmail.com or via WhatsApp : +2348140654426 for Natural root and herbal remedies put together to help you get Enlarge and Erect healthy.
      Thank you.
































      Herbal Penis Enlargement product is 100% guarantee to Enlarge and get a better ERECTION ,
      the reason why most people are finding it difficult
      to enlarge Penis is because they bedlieve on medical
      report, drugs and medical treatment which is not
      helpful for Penis Enlargement . Natural roots/herbs are the best remedy which can easily Enlarge your Penis permanently
      Contact Dr Olu via Email : Drolusolutionhome@gmail.com or via WhatsApp : +2348140654426 for Natural root and herbal remedies put together to help you get Enlarge and Erect healthy.
      Thank you.

      Delete
    3. I am writing this comment with tears of joy. My marriage fell apart after 6 months because my mother In-law asked my husband to divorce me and marriage the woman she betroth to him as his wife. All this drama started happening in our marriage and my husband left me and our one month baby just so he could do as his mom wants him to.
      I was in tears and shattered for 6 months because I could not imagine my whole life crumbling in front of me. I could not continue with work and baby responsibilities so I quit working. Things became more difficult until my best friend advised me to meet a love doctor that fixed her marriage with a RETURN LOVER SPELL that works as fast as 12 hours after casting the spell. I concord and decided to contact this spell doctor and guess what. My husband came to my mom house with his family in less than 12 hours after casting the spell. Even his mom came back asking me for forgiveness and also to reconcile with my husband who left me. They have been coming for the past 3 days and now everyone is asking me to take him back. I am so grateful for what this love spell doctor has done for me. I am thinking of accepting his apologize and move on as family just as my mom advised.
      Anyone who wants their lover back should write to love doctor on Love Spell doctor on lovespelldoctor0@gmail. com
      God bless you as you find your happiness through this testimony.

      Delete

    4. I want to give a big thanks to a great spell caster commonly known as DR TAKUTA for the great spiritual prayers he did in my life by bringing my ex-lover back to me after many months of breakup and loneliness. With this, I am convinced that you are sent to this word to rescue people from heartbreaks and also to help us get the solution to every relationship problem. for those of you out there who have one relationship problem or the other why not contact DR TAKUTA. that is the best place you can solve all your problems, including a lack of jobs and promotions, binding and marriage spells, divorce and attraction spells, good luck and lotto spells, fertility, and pregnancy spells, and also the business success and customer increase, winning court cases and many more. contact him at takutaspellalter@gmail.com or contact mobile contact +27788634102
















































































      I want to give a big thanks to a great spell caster commonly known as DR TAKUTA for the great spiritual prayers he did in my life by bringing my ex-lover back to me after many months of breakup and loneliness. With this, I am convinced that you are sent to this word to rescue people from heartbreaks and also to help us get the solution to every relationship problem. for those of you out there who have one relationship problem or the other why not contact DR TAKUTA. that is the best place you can solve all your problems, including a lack of jobs and promotions, binding and marriage spells, divorce and attraction spells, good luck and lotto spells, fertility, and pregnancy spells, and also the business success and customer increase, winning court cases and many more. contact him at takutaspellalter@gmail.com or contact mobile contact +27788634102

































































      I want to give a big thanks to a great spell caster commonly known as DR TAKUTA for the great spiritual prayers he did in my life by bringing my ex-lover back to me after many months of breakup and loneliness. With this, I am convinced that you are sent to this word to rescue people from heartbreaks and also to help us get the solution to every relationship problem. for those of you out there who have one relationship problem or the other why not contact DR TAKUTA. that is the best place you can solve all your problems, including a lack of jobs and promotions, binding and marriage spells, divorce and attraction spells, good luck and lotto spells, fertility, and pregnancy spells, and also the business success and customer increase, winning court cases and many more. contact him at takutaspellalter@gmail.com or contact mobile contact +27788634102

      Delete
  2. This is not a "Who's on First" exchange. There was nothing inherently confusing or mistaken in the original comedy routine. It simply showed what would happen if players had names that consisted of words that serve other purposes in language, dual meanings. Somerby is right that Abbott & Costello were not communicating well, but the reason inherent in that exchange was not present in the press briefing he quotes here.

    I also get the feeling that Somerby created this entire complaint just so that he could make this not-quite-correct allusion to "Who's on First."

    I also found myself wondering whether the reporter was as confused as Somerby pretends to be. The question of why not use the WHO test WAS answered. The CDC said it wanted to use and/or distribute its own test, as it has previously done. Whether this was a good idea is a different question, one that Somerby didn't bother exploring.

    Somerby tends to complain whenever he doesn't understand something technical, as if it is other people's fault, not his own lack of expertise. And again he doesn't blame Trump and he considers the reporter at fault for not holding the CDC accountable, but the CDC works at the direction of political appointees, and was starved of staff and resources by Trump's administration, which meant they didn't have anyone leading it who had been through prior outbreaks. That is on Trump, not some hapless reporter or the CDC head who is scrambling to cope with this situation.

    ReplyDelete
  3. "TRUMP: And now it’s all performing perfectly, right?

    REDFIELD: Yes, sir."

    Somerby says that Trump is saying here that everything is working perfectly. From the context of the conversation, this sentence refers to the test itself, after problems were corrected. It does not refer to distribution of tests or how many people are being tested or any of the other concerns that have been raised about the virus response.

    Redfield agrees that the test is now working. He is not saying anything else is, because that isn't what Trump said either.

    But Somerby portrays him as Trump's yes man. Maybe he is, but not on the basis of this more limited exchange.

    ReplyDelete
  4. "Is the newly-designated global pandemic actually the global conflagration we've heard described, by despondent future experts, though only as "Mister Trump's War?""

    No. Future experts can choose whatever words they want, because they have already experienced the conflagration and know what happened. They can be specific about it and use the most descriptive term.

    Only Somerby, who is trying to hint at and predict some future disaster, doesn't know what to call it. That's because it hasn't yet happened. So he calls it a war and now wishes to label this virus pandemic as Trump's disaster instead, but he is kind of stuck with the word "war".

    But this is how fortune telling works among grifters. You say something vague. Stretch current events to fit it. Then claim, "see, I was right!" even when the circumstances don't exactly fit what was predicted.

    Somerby might as well have said "Trump is going to cause something bad to happen." Then he would be more accurate than calling a pandemic a war. It is an entirely different apocalyptic horseman. The Amazing Randy would never let him claim accuracy for such a prediction.

    Hey, I predict Trump will say something stupid tomorrow. Future anthropologists in caves all agree with me. Note the date.

    ReplyDelete
  5. This is what "liberal" Bob Somerby reads and quotes:

    https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/pitiful-helpless-giant-michael-walsh/

    Walsh uses more allusions than Dennis Miller, but the result is a mish-mash that conveys tone without meaning. Somerby has descended to this same technique lately. Maybe I should call it creeping Walshism. But his references just don't work and the more you think about then, the more time you waste on something that turns out to be just negativity without sufficient parallels to make any sense.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nixon said:

      "If, when the chips are down, the world's most powerful nation, the United States of America, acts like a pitiful, helpless giant, the forces of totalitarianism and anarchy will threaten free nations and free institutions throughout the world."

      Somerby asks if we have become that pitiful giant, but Nixon intended his reference to say that we cannot be that giant. It was to excuse his incursion into Cambodia. Nixon's use is the opposite of Somerby's.

      Somerby's use is like Walsh's, not Nixon's. That's because Somerby is not careful in his use of these allusions. He pulls them out of context without any care for retaining the original intent.

      Delete
  6. We can't close the schools because that's where children who won't get fed at home because of Democrats who destroyed society are fed.

    ReplyDelete
  7. From the Palmer Report, discussing Lindsay Graham's self-quarantine:

    "Guess who did have direct contact with the Brazilian official? Donald Trump and Mike Pence. There’s photographic proof of it. So let’s be real here. Lindsey Graham isn’t afraid that he may have caught the coronavirus from some guy he didn’t even come into contact with. Graham is afraid that the guy may have given it to Trump and Pence, who in turn may have given it to him."

    ReplyDelete
  8. I am writing this comment with tears of joy. My marriage fell apart after 6 months because my mother In-law asked my husband to divorce me and marriage the woman she betroth to him as his wife. All this drama started happening in our marriage and my husband left me and our one month baby just so he could do as his mom wants him to.
    I was in tears and shattered for 6 months because I could not imagine my whole life crumbling in front of me. I could not continue with work and baby responsibilities so I quit working. Things became more difficult until my best friend advised me to meet a love doctor that fixed her marriage with a RETURN LOVER SPELL that works as fast as 12 hours after casting the spell. I concord and decided to contact this spell doctor and guess what. My husband came to my mom house with his family in less than 12 hours after casting the spell. Even his mom came back asking me for forgiveness and also to reconcile with my husband who left me. They have been coming for the past 3 days and now everyone is asking me to take him back. I am so grateful for what this love spell doctor has done for me. I am thinking of accepting his apologize and move on as family just as my mom advised.
    Anyone who wants their lover back should write to love doctor on Love Spell doctor on lovespelldoctor0@gmail. com
    God bless you as you find your happiness through this testimony.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Some ladies are just so heartless and wicked, Gratitude to Priest Aziba who broke the black magic spell that was placed on my man over 5 months ago, my Man started acting so arrogant,rude and shows no more love and care to neither me nor the kids, so i took to the internet to get a review of what went wrong and how i could put an end to all the dramas with him and i saw a review about a Love Dr who is specific in FAMILY REUNIONS by name PRIEST AZIBA who then discovered that my Man was placed under a black magic spell (VOODOO) by his Ex so PRIEST AZIBA broke the black magic spell (VOODOO) out from him within 48Hours and made a love spell for us to Restore the lost love we once had and over some few days ago he did the spell all has been so cool and lovely like it was from the beginning so i know lots of women has lost there home or losing it already, seat up its not too late get that divorced Marriage or broken relationship back again, fight for your home and take the step i took and i will equally write down his direct contacts so y'all who's having same issues in your home or Relationship can do like i did to fight for what's yours.
    CONTACT PRIEST AZIBA ON
    Email: priestazibasolutioncenter@gmail.com
    WhatsApp : +2348100368288

    ReplyDelete
  10. i want to tell the world about the great and mighty spell caster called Dr .osofo my husband was cheating on me and no longer committed to me and our kids when i asked him what the problem was he told me he has fell out of love for me and wanted a divorce i was so heart broken i cried all day and night but he left home i was looking for something online when i saw an article how the great and powerful Dr osofo have helped so many in similar situation like mine he email address was there so i sent him an email telling him about my problem he told me he shall return back to me within 48hrs i did everything he asked me to do the nest day to my greatest surprise my husband came back home and was crying and begging for me to forgive and accept him back he can also help you contact him on Email ( osofo.48hoursolutioncenter@gmail.com ) whasAPP him +2349065749952

    ReplyDelete
  11. I want to thank of great Dr. Todd he brought my boyfriend back to me. i had seen many people to get him back but nothing, Dr. Todd gave me a consultation and told me all truth, and I trusted Dr. Todd and had him do the spells for me. it took awhile because it was very very messy between us. i had to wait for each spell to do its work. but once the last spell finally was working and the other spells had worked, that is when he called. we met. then it took many more meetings. but now we are back together and i can only thank Dr.Todd, he is the greatest, i will come to Dr. Todd for life. Todd took care of me like family. contact; manifestspellcast @ gmail. com manifestspellcast.wordpress.com
    WhatsApp:+1 604 901 9747

    ReplyDelete