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🇺🇸 CDC: Our Bad

🇺🇸 CDC: Our Bad

Plus, rain rods shot into the Chinese sky.

The Flag America's Newsletter
August 19, 2022

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Good morning and happy Friday! What’s your personal philosophy on life? Some say the key to happiness is “good enough”...

Plus, this is the modern, technological version of a rain dance…

Also, this Flag Find means you can have fresh herbs all winter long.

FLAG POLLS

🐴 Michigan Governor - Dixon vs. Whitmer: Whitmer 51, Dixon 46 (Fabrizio/Anzalone)

📉 President Biden Job Approval: Approve 43, Disapprove 55 (Rasmussen Reports)

🐴 Generic Congressional Vote: Democrats 46, Republicans 42 (Politico/Morning Con.)

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QUICK CLICKS

China on Chips, Affidavit Anticipation, Cattle Crisis

World: China opposes US chip act, to take measures to safeguard rights (Reuters)

US: Classified Docs and Mar-a-Lago Affidavit: What We Do Know, What We Don't (Newsweek)

US: DRIED UP: Texas cattle industry faces existential crisis from historic drought (The Hill)

World: China is testing live fish for Covid (Bangkok Post)

US: 22 million Americans on high alert as deadly bacteria spreads across states (Fox News)

World: US and Taiwan to hold formal talks to boost trade ties amid China tensions (The Guardian)

Sports: Cleveland Browns QB Deshaun Watson suspended 11 games, fined $5 million after settlement between NFL, NFLPA (ESPN)

World: Is the World Getting 'Wormier'? (Real Clear Science)

US: Brian Stelter sought to hold US far right accountable. He made some powerful enemies (The Independent)

US: Fire at Catskills resort that inspired "Dirty Dancing" (CBS)

Sports: Legendary College Hoops Announcer Dick Vitale Announces He's Cancer Free (TMZ)

PANDEMIC

CDC: Our Bad

On Wednesday CDC Director Rochelle Walensky admitted the agency she has led since 2021 largely botched the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. She said the CDC did not “reliably” meet its mission and must change going forward.

News Coverage from the Right: Top Doctor Blasts CDC For Failing to Research Heart Injuries in Children (Townhall)

News Coverage from the Left: Review finds CDC mishandled COVID-19 pandemic response (ABC News)

From The Flag: As subvariants of the coronavirus continue to spread worldwide, the US has recorded over one million deaths, with around 400 per day on average. Here’s the latest from both sides concerning the CDC.

LEFT-LEANING SENTIMENT

It’s the American People Who Suffer Amid the CDC’s Failures

For years the CDC has been accused of being “out of touch” and overly academic, which ultimately proved true throughout the pandemic.
The CDC is still making errors in its approach to COVID-19, specifically by easing restrictions and failing to protect the most vulnerable.
While the CDC decides it’s time for the country to “move on,” poor, immunocompromised, underinsured, and otherwise marginalized people will suffer.

“Walensky, Citing Botched Pandemic Response, Calls for C.D.C. Reorganization” Sharon LaFraniere and Noah Weiland, New York Times : “Her admission of the agency’s failings came after she received the findings of an examination she ordered in April amid scathing criticism of the C.D.C.’s performance. The report itself was not released; an agency official said it was not yet finished but would be made public soon. Dr. Walensky laid out her basic conclusion from the review in candid terms: The C.D.C. must refocus itself on public health needs, respond much faster to emergencies and outbreaks of disease, and provide information in a way that ordinary people and state and local health authorities can understand and put to use. … The C.D.C. has been criticized for years as being too academic and insular. The coronavirus pandemic brought those failings into public view, with even some of the agency’s staunchest defenders criticizing its response as inept.”

“Covid isn’t done with us, whatever the CDC says” Brian Castrucci, NBC News Op-ed: “The CDC still recommends indoor masking in counties with high community transmission — where about 60% of the US population lives. However, it no longer recommends testing in most cases and ends ‘test-to-stay’ programs in schools, which allowed students exposed to a known infected person to avoid quarantine as long as they were asymptomatic and continued to test negative. This relegates important public health tools to the sidelines. Encouraging masking on the one hand while relaxing guidance on the other will leave many school administrators, elected leaders and members of the public scratching their heads. The bottom line is that this new guidance is another example of confusing and opaque communication surrounding Covid. Instead of emphasizing the continued dangers of the ongoing pandemic and the policies needed to protect the most amount of people, the message being emphasized is that restrictions are easing up.”

One more opinion piece from the Left: The Pandemic’s Soft Closing Katherine J. Wu, The Atlantic

RIGHT-LEANING SENTIMENT

The CDC: How To Destroy Your Credibility in Just Two Years

Politicians and the media conveniently used the CDC for cover even when studies debunked their positions, harming the agency’s credibility.
The CDC pushed COVID-19 shots for kids and in the process made parents hesitant regarding other safe and truly effective vaccines.
It’s time to completely disband the CDC after they abandoned kids in favor of a special interest group – the teacher’s unions.

“These Days It’s News When the CDC Does Something Right” Allysia Finley, Wall Street Journal Opinion: “... recall the CDC’s widely cited studies last fall that purportedly found vaccines provide better protection than natural immunity from infection. The CDC studies were at odds with other research. Yet the Biden administration used them to support its vaccine mandates, and the media represented them as the scientific consensus. … But a new study… in the New England Journal of Medicine, finds that natural immunity provides more-durable and stronger protection than vaccines. If you didn’t hear about the study, it’s because mainstream media ignored it, just like others that don’t jibe with their political views. … Many people don’t trust the CDC, and for good reason. The CDC could regain some credibility it has lost during the pandemic by sticking to its core competencies like investigating pediatric hepatitis. It may get less media coverage, but that could be a good thing.”

“The CDC Is Breaking Trust in Childhood Vaccination” Dr. Tracy Beth Høeg and Leslie Bienen, Tablet Magazine: “Even in the already troubled context of the last two years, the CDC’s unqualified recommendation to vaccinate every young child against COVID may further contribute to the profound chasm of trust between US citizens and their public health agencies. … The general trust deficit is more troubling than skepticism toward this particular vaccine, because it could conceivably drive down uptake of other childhood vaccines that we know are more important to children’s health, such as those against measles, mumps, rubella, diphtheria, polio, and Haemophilus influenza type b (Hib). … It is therefore worth our attention when, for example, a recent letter in the New England Journal of Medicine noted that flu shot uptake has decreased over the pandemic, which the authors suspect may be due to growing vaccine hesitancy in general.”

One more opinion piece from the Right: Too little, too late: Disband the CDC now Karol Markowicz, New York Post Opinion

FLAG THIS

In the CDC We May or May Not Trust

Polling released earlier this year showed Americans seem to be losing confidence in the CDC. As of this January, 44% said they trust what the CDC says about COVID-19, while 43 said they do not.

Back in April of 2020 the same survey found 69% trusted in what the CDC said about the pandemic, while just 13% did not (NBC News).

Flag Poll: Do you trust the CDC?

FLAG FINDS

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WATERCOOLER

Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Stop Ghosting, Dear John

On August 19, 1909, the first race was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, now the home of the world’s most famous motor racing competition, the Indianapolis 500. Above is an artist's rendering of the speedway.

Harvard Business Review: Stop Ghosting and Start Saying No

The New Yorker: The Door Opened by “Gangnam Style”

The Drive: How To Clean Car Windows

Today I Learned during World War I, up to 12 million letters a week were delivered to soldiers, many on the front line.

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