🇺🇸 President Tests Positive

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Plus, the patient complained of stomach pain. His surgeons were shocked to find this inside his body…

Also, today’s Flag Find is a highly patriotic pair of shoes.

FLAG POLLS

📉 President Biden Job Approval: Approve 37, Disapprove 61 (Rasmussen Reports)

🐘 2022 Generic Congressional Vote: Republicans 48, Democrats 40 (Trafalgar Group-R)

🐘2022 Generic Congressional Vote: Republicans 45, Democrats 44 (Emerson)

TRENDING

Left: The Jan. 6 Committee’s Season Finale Went All In on Showing Trump’s Complicity (Slate)

Left: GOP Insiders Reportedly Sounding ‘Code Red’ Over JD Vance Blowing Ohio Senate Race: ‘Worst Campaign’ You Could Possibly Run (Mediaite)

Left: On the campaign trail, many Republicans talk of violence (Washington Post)

Right: Mike Pence Secret Service agents feared for their lives, said goodbyes to family: Jan. 6 committee (Fox News)

Right: Jill Biden Gives Snarky Response When Heckled About Gas Prices, Biden Performance (Daily Wire)

Right: Donald Trump Plots Purging Administrative State Employees if Reelected (Breitbart)

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QUICK CLICKS

Biden's BA.5, China's Warning, Musk's Affair

World: China Issues Private Warnings to US on Pelosi’s Taiwan Trip (Bloomberg)

US: WH doctor says Biden likely has contagious Omicron BA.5 variant (Insider)

US: Fed to Inflict More Pain on Economy as It Readies Big Rate Hike (Bloomberg)

US: Musk begged Google's Brin for forgiveness over alleged affair with wife: report (NY Post)

US: Bannon unrepentant after Congress contempt conviction: ‘​​I am not backing off 1 inch’ (Yahoo)

World: US says strike on Odesa 'casts serious doubt' on Moscow's credibility (DW)

World: EXPLAINER: US Energy Sector Dispute With Mexico (US News)

World: Feds might declare monkeypox a national emergency (New York Daily News)

US: Pete Buttigieg faces crisis and opportunity as airline cancellations mount (NBC)

PANDEMIC

President Tests Positive

Last Thursday the White House announced that President Joe Biden had tested positive for COVID-19. The president later released a video saying he was “doing well” and keeping busy, while the White House said the president's symptoms are improving as of yesterday.

News Coverage from the Left: Even if you're the president, it's hard to avoid a breakthrough COVID infection (NPR)

News Coverage from the Right: Biden's two-year COVID-19 bubble finally bursts (Washington Examiner)

From The Flag: Amid the spread of a new variant there’s an additional concern for Biden because his age (79) puts him at additional risk from the coronavirus. Earlier in the week, Biden said he has cancer, which a spokesman later clarified was in reference to a previously-disclosed bout with skin cancer. Here’s the reaction from both sides.

RIGHT-LEANING SENTIMENT

Shaky Vaccines, Fake News, and a Wishy-Washy Video

• President Biden declared you couldn’t get COVID-19 once you were vaccinated, ushering in a series of draconian rules and mandates that proved pointless.

• The media insists people aren’t taking COVID-19 seriously enough, but the truth is Americans have learned to live with it.

• Biden sent out a video from the White House asserting “it’s gonna be ok,” but Americans are worried about inflation, crime, and immigration — not COVID-19.

“A Pandemic of the Vaccinated: President Biden tests positive for COVID-19” Technofog, The Reactionary (Substack): “President Biden has tested positive for COVID-19, despite being fully vaccinated and double boosted. … In July of 2021 he said this was impossible, lying to the American public about the effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccines. … After that statement, there was a multi-pronged effort to scapegoat the continuation of the ‘pandemic’ on the unvaccinated. Dr. Fauci blamed the unvaccinated for ‘propagating’ the latest outbreak, saying we need to ‘do something to get them to be vaccinated.’ … State governments and cities began issuing their own vaccination requirements. … The media called for more extreme measures, demanding Biden institute a ‘no-fly list for unvaccinated adults.’ … They begged for the federal government to raise ‘the costs of remaining unvaccinated.’ Thankfully, they didn’t get much of what they asked for. COVID-19 cases are rising in many of the most vaccinated states, including California. The mandates and the vaccines haven’t stopped the spread.”

“President Biden Gets Covid” Editorial Board, Wall Street Journal: “Some in the press are using Mr. Biden’s infection to lecture that Americans aren’t taking Covid seriously enough. But by now they and the public-health clerisy have lost much of their credibility. Americans have learned to live with the virus despite continuing risks because they have concluded that the costs of mandates, school closures and business shutdowns are too great. … Covid has been a painful lesson in the costs of media and elite conformity, though we wish we could say the conformists have learned much from it. … The biggest Biden Administration mistake has been putting too much stock in masking and mandates, while not devoting more resources from its March 2021 spending bill to developing treatments. But science continues to advance, and last week the Food and Drug Administration authorized a new more conventional vaccine from Novavax. If Democrats don’t put price controls on drug innovation, we will continue to see more anti-Covid progress.”

One more opinion piece from the Right: Double-vaxxed, double-boosted Biden...you guessed it...tests positive for COVID Ethel C. Fenig, American Thinker

LEFT-LEANING SENTIMENT

Biden Plows Forward Toward Recovery as COVID Isn’t Done Yet

• Biden has shown both leadership and transparency in regards to his testing positive, which differs from former President Trump's approach.

• This is a stark reminder that the pandemic isn’t over and precautions need to be taken including masking in high-risk settings.

• While the media is highly interested in covering Biden’s condition, presidents are notoriously guarded about their health.

“Biden’s covid diagnosis is a teaching moment for the country” Leana S. Wen, Washington Post Op-ed: “What if Biden’s illness progresses to become more serious? It’s possible that he starts experiencing fever and body aches, and he could develop a lingering cough and other longer-term symptoms. It’s unlikely — though also not impossible — that he could even become ill enough to require hospitalization. These are still opportunities for him to showcase his leadership and values by being honest and transparent with the American people. Already, the straightforward announcement of Biden’s illness has been a stark contrast from the obfuscation and deliberate flouting of precautions when President Donald Trump had covid-19. For now, Biden is back at work and carrying out all the duties of his office. That’s exactly as it should be. Thanks in large part to Biden’s leadership over the past two years, the United States has had so much success with vaccines and treatments that even when the president gets the virus, it’s business as usual.”

“Biden's COVID is note of caution” Editorial Board, Star Tribune: “We don't get to decide when the COVID-19 pandemic is over. Instead, nature and an ever-evolving virus dictate when that endpoint will finally arrive. … Fortunately, Biden is fully vaccinated and boosted twice. He's also taking Paxlovid, an antiviral drug that can be close to 90% effective in preventing severe illness if given within five days of symptom onset. … The pathogen even eluded the White House's defenses, as it did when Donald Trump was in office. While this is discouraging, perspective is essential. Unlike during the pandemic's early months, we're now in a much better position to protect family, friends and our communities. By now, everyone should understand COVID's airborne spread. N95 masks, which provide robust protection against breathing in the virus, are widely available. And while they're no longer required in most places, putting one on voluntarily, particularly in high-risk settings such as crowded indoor spaces, makes a lot of sense.”

One more opinion piece from the Left: Get Well, Mr. President! And Don’t Lie About Your Health. Jack Shafer, POLITICO Opinion

FLAG THIS

Biden’s COVID Approval Rating

Americans’ opinion regarding President Biden’s approach to COVID-19 has fallen over time. When he first took office 69% approved, while 31% disapproved.

Around July of 2021, opinion started trending toward disapproval. As of last Wednesday, 48% approved and 42% disapproved (FiveThirtyEight).

FLAG FINDS

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WATERCOOLER

Nixon Doctrine, Magical Thinking, A Kilometer Drop

On July 25, 1969, President Richard Nixon announced that henceforth the United States will expect its Asian allies to tend to their own military defense. The Nixon Doctrine, as the president’s statement came to be known, clearly indicated his determination to “Vietnamize” the Vietnam War. Above is a photograph of Nixon shaking hands with American armed forces in South Vietnam, on July 30, 1969.

The MIT Press Reader: The Powerful Role of Magical Beliefs in Our Everyday Thinking

BBC: How our brains cope with speaking more than one language

Scientific American: How Gut Bacteria Tell Their Hosts What to Eat

Today I Learned Mount Thor in Canada has the world's longest vertical drop. If you fell off it, you would fall for over a kilometer before you hit anything.