"Within Days I Was Able To Breathe": NYC Democratic Councilman Says Hydroxychloroquine Saved His Life Tyler Durden
Sat, 08/08/2020 – 15:00
An immunocompromised New York City Councilman who underplayed the severity of his COVID-19 diagnosis in April now says that it was actually much worse, and hydroxychloroquine saved his life.
Paul Vallone, a Democrat who represents Queens, says he took the drug along with a ‘Z-pack’ antibiotic and drastically improved within days.
"I couldn’t breathe, very weak, couldn’t get out of bed. My doctor prescribed it. My pharmacy had it. Took it that day and within two to three days I was able to breathe," Vallone told the New York Post, adding "Within a week I was back on my feet."
Though Vallone went public with his coronavirus diagnosis in an April 1 Twitter post, saying he was experiencing “mild symptoms,” his actual condition was considerably more severe. Vallone’s initial prognosis was particularly grim, as he also suffers from sarcoidosis, an auto-immune disease that attacks his lungs.
“We were in panic mode when I went down because I didn’t have a lot of immune response,” he said. “I needed something to stay alive.” –New York Post
Vallone’s brother, former City Councilman Peter who currently serves as a civil court judge in Queens, is now a believer in the drug.
"I guess all those doctors who are prescribing it are right. This drug is already on the market and the patent is up so it’s cheap. A new drug won’t be. So big money does not want this drug to be used. Always follow the money," Peter said in a May 12 Facebook post.
Paul, responding in the comments section, said "[It] saved my life."
Hydroxychloroquine, or HCQ, is a commonly used anti-malaria drug also used for decades to treat lupus and arthritis. It became covid-19 treatment non-grata, however, after President Trump touted the inexpensive drug earlier this year – admitting to taking a course as a prophylactic against the disease.
"You’d be surprised at how many people are taking it, especially the frontline workers before you catch it. The frontline workers — many, many are taking it," Trump said in May.
Studies on the drug have been mixed but mostly positive, with recent evidence pointing to significant results against COVID-19 when used earlyin the disease’s progression.
Paul Vallone reflected on his April diagnosis, saying "At that time, there was only fear and panic, he offered hope in a possible treatment when there was none. With my sarcoidosis and then my COVID symptoms, It basically saved me. For that my family will always be thankful."
President Donald Trump signed an executive order for a payroll tax holiday at his club in Bedminster, New Jersey on Saturday.
“The very important thing is that people want it and the people needed, actually,” Trump said, noting that Republicans and Democrats in Congress could not reach a deal.
The president said that the payroll tax holiday would apply to Americans earning less than $100,000 a year.
“If I am victorious on November 3rd, I plan to forgive these taxes and make permanent cuts to the payroll tax,” he said.
Trump added that he might even “terminate” the tax or make permanent changes. A group of supporters joined the president at his press conference announcing the news and cheered as the president signed the orders.
“Biden probably won’t be doing that. You’ll have to ask him. I don’t think he knows what he’s doing,” he said, as his supporters chuckled.
The president also said he would provide a federal unemployment enhancement of $400 per week, but that states would pay for 25 percent of the cost. He also signed a moratorium on evictions and student loan payment deferments.
“The Democrats have obstructed people from getting desperately needed help,” Trump said.
The president said he would find ways to use existing funds already passed by Congress for coronavirus relief to help Americans fight the virus and the economic struggles from the lockdowns.
“We have the money to do a lot of things, money that was unspent, and we would do a lot of things with the money that was unspent,” he said.
Denmark boasts one of the lowest COVID-19 death rates in the world. As of August 4, the Danes have suffered 616 COVID-19 deaths, according to figures from Johns Hopkins University.
Despite this success, Danish leaders recently found themselves on the defensive. The reason is that Danes aren’t wearing face masks, and local authorities for the most part aren’t even recommending them.
This prompted Berlingske, the country’s oldest newspaper, to complain that Danes had positioned themselves “to the right of Trump.”
“The whole world is wearing face masks, even Donald Trump,” Berlingske pointed out.
This apparently did not sit well with Danish health officials.
From left to right: Professor Henning Bundgaard, Tamara van Ark, Anders Tegnell | Composite image by FEE (Rigshospitalet, Wikimedia Commons)
They responded by noting there is little conclusive evidence that face masks are an effective way to limit the spread of respiratory viruses.
“All these countries recommending face masks haven’t made their decisions based on new studies,” said Henning Bundgaard, chief physician at Denmark’s Rigshospitale, according toBloomberg News.
Denmark is not alone.
Despite a global stampede of mask-wearing, data show that 80-90 percent of people in Finland and Holland say they “never” wear masks when they go out, a sharp contrast to the 80-90 percent of people in Spain and Italy who say they “always” wear masks when they go out.
Dutch public health officials recently explained why they’re not recommending masks.
"From a medical point of view, there is no evidence of a medical effect of wearing face masks, so we decided not to impose a national obligation," said Medical Care Minister Tamara van Ark.
Others, echoing statements similar to the US Surgeon General from early March, said masks could make individuals sicker and exacerbate the spread of the virus.
“Face masks in public places are not necessary, based on all the current evidence,” said Coen Berends, spokesman for the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment.
“There is no benefit and there may even be negative impact.”
In Sweden, where COVID-19 deaths have slowed to a crawl, public health officials say they see “no point” in requiring individuals to wear masks.
“With numbers diminishing very quickly in Sweden, we see no point in wearing a face mask in Sweden, not even on public transport,”said Anders Tegnell, Sweden’s top infectious disease expert.
What’s Going on With Masks?
The top immunologists and epidemiologists in the world can’t decide if masks are helpful in reducing the spread of COVID-19. Indeed, we’ve seen organizations like the World Health Organization…
CDC does not currently recommend the use of facemasks to help prevent novel #coronavirus. Take everyday preventive actions, like staying home when you are sick and washing hands with soap and water, to help slow the spread of respiratory illness. #COVID19https://t.co/uArGZTJhXjpic.twitter.com/yzWTSgt2IV
For the average person, it’s confusing and frustrating. It’s also a bit frightening, considering that we’ve seen people denounced in public for not wearing a mask while picking up a bag of groceries.
Opening day at Trader Joe’s in North Hollywood, Ca.
The truth is masks have become the new wedge issue, the latest phase of the culture war. Mask opponents tend to see mask wearers as “fraidy cats” or virtue-signalling “sheeple” who willfully ignore basic science. Mask supporters, on the other hand, often see people who refuse to wear masks as selfish Trumpkins … who willfully ignore basic science.
There’s not a lot of middle ground to be found and there’s no easy way to sit this one out. We all have to go outside, so at some we all are required to don the mask or not.
It’s clear from the data that despite the impression of Americans as selfish rebel cowboys who won’t wear a mask to protect others, Americans are wearing masks far more than many people in European countries.
Polls show Americans are wearing masks at record levels, though a political divide remains: 98 percent of Democrats report wearing masks in public compared to 66 percent of Republicans and 85 percent of Independents. (These numbers, no doubt, are to some extent the product of mask requirements in cities and states.)
Whether one is pro-mask or anti-mask, the fact of the matter is that face coverings have become politicized to an unhealthy degree, which stands to only further pollute the science.
Last month, for example, researchers at Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy responded to demands they remove an article that found mask requirements were “not based on sound data.”
The school, to its credit, did not remove the article, but instead opted to address the objections critics of their research had raised.
There is a similar principle in the realm of public health: the Principle of Effectiveness.
Public health officials say the idea makes it clear that public health organizations have a responsibility to not harm the people they are assigned to protect.
“If a community is at risk, the government may have a duty to recommend interventions, as long as those interventions will cause no harm, or are the least harmful option,” wrote Claire J. Horwell Professor of Geohealth at Durham University and Fiona McDonald, Co-Director of the Australian Centre for Health Law Research at Queensland University of Technology.
“If an agency follows the principle of effectiveness, it will only recommend an intervention that they know to be effective.”
The problem with mask mandates is that public health officials are not merely recommending a precaution that may or may not be effective.
They are using force to make people submit to a state order that could ultimately make individuals or entire populations sicker, according to world-leading public health officials.
That is not just a violation of the Effectiveness Principle. It’s a violation of a basic personal freedom.
Mask advocates might mean well, but they overlook a basic reality: humans spontaneously alter behavior during pandemics. Scientific evidence shows that American workplaces and consumers changed the patterns of their travel before lockdown orders were issued.
As I’ve previously noted, this should come as no surprise: Humans are intelligent, instinctive, and self-preserving mammals who generally seek to avoid high-risk behavior. The natural law of spontaneous order shows that people naturally take actions of self-protection by constantly analyzing risk.
Instead of ordering people to “mask-up” under penalty of fines or jail time, scientists and public health officials should get back to playing their most important role: developing sound research on which people can freely make informed decisions.
See the World Health Organization’s Latest Guidelines on Masks and COVID-19…
Today, Wednesday, marks 90 days before the presidential election, a date in the calendar that is supposed to be of special note to the Justice Department. That’s because of two department guidelines, one a written policy that no action be influenced in any way by politics. Another, unwritten norm urges officials to defer publicly charging or taking any other overt investigative steps or disclosures that could affect a coming election.
Attorney General William Barr appears poised to trample on both. At least two developing investigations could be fodder for pre-election political machinations. The first is an apparently sprawling investigation by John Durham, the U.S. attorney in Connecticut, that began as an examination of the origins of the F.B.I. investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election. The other, led by John Bash, the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Texas, is about the so-called unmasking of Trump associates by Obama administration officials. Mr. Barr personally unleashed both investigations and handpicked the attorneys to run them.
The Atlantic also released an op-ed by Weissmann yesterday. Crooked Weissmann says much of the same:
What is the American public to make of Attorney General Bill Barr’s congressional testimony defending his actions in the Trump ally Roger Stone’s case? During Barr’s appearance before the House Judiciary Committee last week, Barr claimed the mantle of fairness and compassion, arguing that the career prosecutors were out of line in seeking a nine-year sentence for this first-time offender, who is a nonviolent criminal and 67 years old. Back in February, Barr had withdrawn the submission of career professionals for a seven-to-nine-year sentence and instead sought a sentence of at most three to four years. Two weeks later, a district judge sentenced Stone to 40 months of jail time, which Barr testified was a vindication in full.
Sound reasonable? Not in the slightest. As every experienced federal prosecutor would immediately understand, Barr’s position violates Department of Justice lawyers’ training, their obligations to the court, their duty under the U.S. sentencing guidelines, and the equal application of the law to all. I know—I was a federal prosecutor for two decades and a senior member of the special counsel’s office under Robert Mueller. Barr’s testimony amounted to an argument that the ends justified the means; it was fine to submit the revised sentencing recommendation so long as a court ultimately selected a sentence within that range.
What does this tell us?
1. Weissmann and the Deep State are extremely scared of what is coming out in the Durham investigation. Their crimes are finally under review. President Trump knows that the crimes are devastating and, based on what we know, the Deep State doesn’t know what specific crimes they will be charged with. This alone is scaring them to death because the Deep State knows what they have done and it is bad.
President Trump has pinned the following tweet in Twitter:
2. The New York Times and the Atlantic are digging in again. They will not concede their errors in reporting totally dishonest messages from the Obama Deep State over the past four years especially. These two entities are at the bottom of the bucket as far as fake news goes.
What we do know –
We know Andrew Weissmann is a crook. He never should have been allowed inside the DOJ. We reported on five of his actions back in March 2019 that cost tens of thousands of jobs and untold suffering by those in Weissmann’s way:
1 Audit firm Arthur Andersen and its 80,000 plus employees –
Sydney Powell was with Mark Levin on his show on FOX News and she described the actions taken by former FBI Head Robert Mueller during the Enron case in the early 2000s. Powell wrote LICENSED TO LIE: Exposing Corruption in the Department of Justice after seeing a core group of federal prosecutors break all the rules, make up crimes, hide evidence, and send innocent people to prison in the Enron case. When she saw them promoted to the top of the US legal system at the DOJ and FBI she had had enough.
Powell discusses how Mueller hand picked Weissmann wanting this corrupt attorney on his team –
Mueller and Weissmann made up a crime that resulted in the complete destruction of Arthur Andersen and the loss of more than 80,000 jobs for those employed by this corporation. This crime was eventually overturned by the US Supreme Court unanimously but it was far too late for all involved because the company was totally destroyed years before the Supreme Court decision.
2. Four Merrill Lynch employees –
Next, according to Powell, Mueller and Weissmann created crimes to indict four Americans at Merrill Lynch. They put these four individuals through ten years of “unmitigated hell”. Putting at least one of the four in solitary confinement.
3. General Mike Flynn and his lies that never occurred –
Move forward more than a decade and Mueller and Weissmann joined hands again but this time in the corrupt and unconstitutional Mueller Special Counsel team. Because of this, none of the crimes or corrupt actions taken against the President and those closest to him are legal or just.
This is of no concern to Mueller and Weissmann however. The first person they targeted was President Trump’s former National Security Advisor. Flynn was set up by former FBI Agent Peter Strzok and another corrupt agent in the White House. The notes they took as a result of their interview with the General were altered and the final notes (form 302’s) have not yet been uncovered. General Flynn was set up.
4. Paul Manafort’s crimes that the FBI earlier claimed were not crimes –
Paul Manafort was indicted on a number of crimes by corrupt Mueller and his gang. The problem with their initial indictment was that the actions under indictment were reviewed by the FBI previously and not considered crimes. The FBI interviewed Manafort in 2014 for the same crimes they indicted him on a few years later but neglected to press charges then because Obama gang members were involved.
Currently corrupt Obama appointed Judge Amy Berman Jackson has Manafort in solitary confinement for months now after putting a gag order on Manafort and then throwing him in jail. It’s a wonder what Manafort knows because Judge Jackson and the Mueller team want him dead.
5. Made up crime against numerous Russians and Russian companies –
Four out of five of the made up indictments in the Mueller investigation are Russians. As of mid-October 2018, the total number of individuals indicted was 37 individuals and three companies. We really don’t know and doubt that the Russians are even real. The individuals were indicted for posting stories on Facebook in Russian that Mueller says swayed the 2016 election towards Trump. The number of posts in Russian were less than a percent of a percent of posts recorded on Facebook during the period stated, part of which was after the 2016 election.
In the one case with Russians that has come to trial, with Russian Company Concord Management, is under indictment for a crime that the judge had to ask the Mueller team to define, because the so called crime is again made up.
In December 2019 in the Concord Management case it was uncovered that Mueller has a nude selfie on someone – we don’t know who, and his gang won’t tell how they got it, while running along with a special investigation created on a made up crime, where the individuals prosecuted aren’t even real.
These are only 5 incidences of the fake crimes and indictments by Weissmann and the Mueller team.
There are more (i.e. Roger Stone). It’s a shock that so many people believe that this thug Weissmann and his gang are legit. These people are crooks and hopefully their fears will soon materialize in indictments and prison sentences for all involved.
San Francisco police officers made two arrests after the discovery of a meth lab inside a hotel designated as a pandemic shelter.
San Francisco law enforcement arrived at the Civic Center Motor Inn around 2:30 p.m. on Saturday after receiving a call about a “strong chemical odor” coming from a room on the upper floor. Both police and residents were forced to wait for the arrival of a hazmat team.
“I was just, like, shocked,” said one guest, who told local Fox affiliate KTVU that a police officer knocked on her hotel door. “He’s like, there’s a meth lab right above your room, so we need you to evacuate, cause it could explode at any time.”
“Officers conducted an investigation and discovered chemicals in the room known to make narcotics,” said San Francisco Police Department spokesman Robert Rueca. “We believe this was isolated only to one guest room and two adults were taken into custody.”
A local business employee, identified only as “Sami,” expressed concern for the safety of these designated shelters. “I would like for the government to have a bit more of monitoring of the space,” he said.
“I do see that a place like this can be abused to be used for those kind of activities,” said Sami, “If you are housing people that are not there with a security deposit or anything that makes them liable, liability is key.”
The rooms were made available as part of an effort to house thousands of displaced or homeless people during the city’s coronavirus quarantine. San Francisco made more than 2,500 hotel rooms, 120 RVs, and 1,000 other shelter beds available for this purpose. Unfortunately, it has not been particularly effective in keeping the vulnerable population safe.
San Francisco Sheriff Paul Miyamoto responded to the concerns, explaining that the patrols had to end at the beginning of July:
The Sheriff’s Office provided patrol and response to calls for service at established SIP sites from March through June as part of our Safer Streets Program during the COVID shelter in place. Deputies responded to domestic disputes, overdoses, and persons in crisis and checked in on all sites every few hours. Patrols ended in July as we prepared for the lifting of health restrictions and the opening of the courts and regular services
Both suspects arrested on Saturday were registered guests at the hotel. They remain unidentified as of press time.
We are witnessing a vicious assault by enemies of all that is good, and our president is having to act in ways unprecedented in decades, maybe centuries.
The biblical nature of good versus evil cannot be discounted as we examine what is happening on the streets of America.
It’s Marxism in the form of antifa and the Black Lives Matter movement versus our very capable and very underappreciated law enforcement professionals, the vast majority of whom are fighting to provide us safe and secure homes, streets and communities.
When the destiny of the United States is at stake, and it is, the very future of the entire world is threatened.
As Christians, shouldn’t we act? We recognize that divine Providence is the ultimate judge of our destiny. Achieving our destiny as a freedom-loving nation, Providence compels us to do our part in our communities.
It encourages us in this battle against the forces of evil to face our fears head-on. No enemy on earth is stronger than the united forces of God-fearing, freedom-loving people.
We can no longer pretend that these dark forces are going to go away by mere prayer alone. Prayers matter, but action is required.
This action is needed at the local, state and federal levels. Action is also required in the economic, media, clerical and ecclesiastical realms.
Decide how you can act within your abilities. Stand up and state your beliefs. Be proud of who you are and what you stand for. And face, head-on, those community “leaders” who are willing to allow dark forces to go beyond peaceful protests and destroy and violate your safety and security.
Churches and houses of worship must return to normal. We invite everyone of goodwill to not shirk their responsibilities and instead act in a fraternal fashion. If for no other reason or with no other ability, act in a spirit of charity.
We cannot disrespect or disregard natural law along with our own religious liberties and freedoms.
I am witnessing elderly people lose their connection to all that is good in their lives: connections to their faith, their families and their individual freedoms, especially the simple act of attending church, something they’ve been doing for decades.
Let us not be intimidated or fear those who cry out that we are in the minority; we are not.
Good is always more powerful and will prevail over evil.
However, evil will succeed for a time when good people are divided from each other and their personal lives — children away from their teachers, preachers from their congregations, customers from their local businesses.
America will never give in to evil. Americans work together to solve problems.
We do not and should not ever allow anarchy and the evil forces behind it to operate on any street in our nation.
No one should have to fear for their very life because some dark, disturbed force is challenged by the very essence of what America stands for.
We are “one nation under God” and it is our individual liberties that make us strong, not liberties given to our government. Our government has no liberty unless and until “we the people” say so.
God bless America and let’s stand by everything that was and is good in our lives, in our communities and in our country.
Otherwise, America as the true North Star for humanity will cease to exist as we know it.
Another day, another Joe Biden gaffe that journalists will have to hide. During a round of interviews with Hispanic and African American journalists, the presumptive Democratic nominee on Tuesday essentially said that all Blacks are alike. And while the latest gaffe has been covered on Fox News and (briefly) on CNN, where is the rest of the media? Where are the networks?
During the convention of Black and Hispanic journalists, Lulu Garcia-Navarro of NPR asked Biden if he would “re-engage with Cuba.” Here is Biden’s cringe-inducing answer: “The answer is yes. And by the way, what you all know, but most people don’t know, unlike the African American community, with notable exceptions, the Latino community is incredibly diverse community with incredibly different attitudes about different things.”
So, according to Biden, Hispanics, unlike African Americans, have “different attitudes about certain things.” The obvious point here is: What if Donald Trump had said this? CNN briefly covered the shocking statement on Thursday, but anchor John King awkwardly tried to clean up Biden’s mess:
Did Joe Biden insult the black community? Trying to make the point, and maybe he didn’t make it as articulately as he would have liked, that I believe the point he was trying to make is that most African-Americans overwhelmingly support Democrats.
CBS This Morning on Thursday deliberately avoided the comments. We know they were aware of the remark because Ed O’Keefe played the very next question spoken after Biden’s “diversity of thought” answer. It was this far-left query from Garcia-Navarro:
LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO: Sir. President Obama was known as the deporter in chief, removing more than three million people during the Biden Obama administration. Trump campaigned on “build that wall.”… Are you willing to tear that wall down?
BIDEN: No — I’m — There will not be another foot of wall constructed in my administration.
On Wednesday, only CBS This Morning covered Biden asking a Black journalist is he was a cocaine "junkie." ABC and NBC skipped it.
The attempt to cover for Biden’s gaffe on CNN was sponsored by Select Quote. Click on the link to contact them and offer your thoughts.
A transcript of the Biden’s gaffe is below:
NABJ-NAHJ Virtual convention
8/4/2020
LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO: (NPR) Are you going to re engage with Cuba, though? I mean, I’m specifically wondering about you know, the Florida communities —
JOE BIDEN: Yes.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: that are, you know, incredibly interested —
BIDEN: Yes.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: in the Cuba issue and see ah, status given to Venezuelans while Cubans were being deported. The question is —
BIDEN: The answer is yes. And by the way, what you all know, but most people don’t know, unlike the African American community, with notable exceptions, the Latino community is incredibly diverse community with incredibly different attitudes about different things. You go to Florida, you find a very different attitude about immigration in certain places than you do in your when you’re in Arizona. So it’s a very different, very diverse community
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Sir. President Obama was known as the deporter in chief, removing more than three million people during the Biden Obama administration. Trump campaigned on “build that wall.” I did. No, the Obama Biden administration. Trump campaigned on “build that wall.” Are you willing to tear that wall down?
BIDEN: No — I’m — There will not be another foot of wall constructed in my administration.
New York City opened new traveler checkpoints on Thursday to register visitors and residents returning from nearly three dozen states who are required to quarantine for 14 days — an initiative that drew swift criticism from privacy advocates. The checkpoints target busy entry points like Penn Station and are intended to reduce the city’s COVID-19…
Vice President Mike Pence criticized Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, who was appointed by former President George W. Bush, as a “disappointment” to conservatives. “We have great respect for the institution of the Supreme Court of the United States, but Chief Justice Roberts has been a disappointment to conservatives,” Pence told Christian Broadcasting Network’s…
Until recently, Robert Lewis had never heard of Karen Bass, the California congresswoman in contention to be Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden’s running mate. But the recent college graduate had long heard stories from his grandfather recounting the days of oppression in Cuba under Fidel Castro. When he learned that Bass had called Castro’s death…
