Some @POTUS@JoeBiden quips at last night's @WhiteHouse Correspondents Dinner:
"Like I often say, don’t compare me to the Almighty, compare me to the alternative.
We added 12 million jobs, and that's just counting the lawyers -- who defended the president." (Laughter.)
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2/ "I had a lot of #RonDeSantis jokes ready, but Mickey Mouse beat the hell out of me & got there first. (Laughter & applause)
Now, look, can’t be too rough on the guy. After his reelection as governor, he was asked if he had a mandate. He said, 'Hell no, I’m straight'.”
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3/ "Look, it’s great the cable news networks are here tonight. @MSNBC owned by NBC Universal. @FoxNews owned by #Dominion Voting Systems. (Laughter)
Last year, your favorite Fox News reporters were able to attend because they were fully vaccinated & boosted.
This year.."
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4/ "This year, with that $787 million settlement, they’re here because they couldn’t say no to a free meal. (Laughter)
And hell, I’d call Fox honest, fair & truthful, but then I could be sued for defamation. (Laughter)
It ain’t nothing compared to what they do to me. (Laughs)"
5/ "Look, I hope the @FoxNews team finds this funny. My goal is to make them laugh as hard as @CNN did when they read the settlement. (Laughter) But then again, CNN was like, 'Wow, they actually have $787 million?' (Laughter)
I go where the people are --"
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6/ "'The Daily Show.' (Applause)
Roy [Wood, Jr] is a great guy. He once dubbed me the Jay-Z of Delaware. (Laughter)
Tonight he asked me to keep it short. He even offered me 10 bucks if I’d keep it under 10 mins. That’s a switch: a President being offered hush money."
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Boy, I goofed. I confused in my memory banks two different original outbreaks -- Lassa and Marburg, mis-recalling things I wrote nearly 30 years ago.
I apologize. And here, I will quote a section of THE COMING PLAGUE referring to #Marburg in a thread.
2/"In August 1967 three factory workers in #Marburg, German, reported in sick, suffering from muscle aches & mild fevers. The three men were employed at Behringwerke AG, the vaccine-producing subsidiary of pharmaceutical giant Hoechst AG, and though their ailments looked.."
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3/ "...like nothing more than flu, it was quite unusual for influenza to appear during Germany's hot summer months. The men were referred to #Marburg University Hospital.
The following day the three became nauseated, their spleens enlarged and were tender to the touch..."
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The #MarburgVirus is a cousin of #Ebola & there are outbreaks now in Equatorial Guinea, on the borders of Gabon & Cameroon & on other side of Africa, in Tanzania, all on the heels of Ghana outbreak last year. @WHOAFRO@WHO & African CDC are mobilized.
MORE who.int/emergencies/di…
There are 6 major subtypes of #Marburg which is a bat-carried hemorrhagic RNA virus. The subtypes seem to have different fatality rates in humans -- up to 100%. The current strains have not yet been genotyped, so it is unclear what is going on, @WHO says.
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It's possible these are coincident events.
It's also possible something is going on w/bat populations across equatorial Africa, which would be worrying. @WHO 's Dr. Abdi Rahman Mahamoud just said in presser there are "more questions than answers."
MORE who.int/news-room/fact…
On March 11, 2020, @pahowho characterized #COVID19 as a “pandemic,” stating, “We have rung the alarm bell loud and clear.”
Here @KFF lists 10 key data points that illuminate the challenges, and progress, made to date.
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NEW -- 2023 ANNUAL THREAT ASSESSMENT OF THE U.S. INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY
Some highlights:
"#China will persist w/efforts to acquire foreign science & technology information & expertise,
making extensive use of foreign scientific collaborations & partnerships, investments..."
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Intel/2
"...and acquisitions, talent recruitment, economic espionage, & cyber theft to acquire & transfer technologies & technical knowledge."
"China’s dominance in the mining & processing of several strategic materials, including rare-earth
elements, presents a major..."
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Intel/3
"...vulnerability to the U.S."
"China produces 40% of the world’s active pharmaceutical ingredients; and China’s global share across all the manufacturing stages of solar panels now exceeds 80% and is set to rise to more than 95%."
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Today @DrTedros@WHO on #COVID19 origins:
"#WHO continues to call for #China to be transparent in sharing data, and to conduct the necessary investigations and share the results. To that effect, I have written to, and spoken with, high-level Chinese leaders..."
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2/"...on multiple occasions, as recently as just a few weeks ago.
Until then, all hypotheses on the origins of the virus remain on the table.
At the same time, the continued politicization of the origins research has turned what should be a purely scientific process into..."
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3/"...a geopolitical football, which only makes the task of id'ing the origins more difficult, & that makes the world less safe.
Understanding the origins of the #COVID19#pandemic remains a scientific imperative, to inform measures to prevent future epidemics & pandemics.."
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