They need their heads examined for a variety of purposes, but this is beyond belief. Foreman Corey Comperatore was killed by Crooks in the Butler assassination attempt, two other men were badly wounded, and Trump would have been killed if he hadn't turned his head and gotten hit in the ear. Is this murder and these woundings "staged" and faked as well?
I don't remember ever hearing anyone say that the 1981 assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan was staged, That bullet hit his limo and then hit Reagan in the armpit, piercing a lung. Was that faked too, and was James Brady's near-fatal head wound also staged?
The difference is that Democrats were normal back in the 80s, and Democrats and Republicans were able to get along.
Today's Democrats are hateful, threatening inciters who wish Trump were dead. You can't reason with such people.
"A DEMOCRATIC FANTASY WORLD. A new poll suggests that a sizable number of Democrats — more than 40% in some cases — believe the attempts on President Donald Trump’s life were fake.
"The poll, which surveyed 1,000 Americans over the
age of 18, was conducted by NewsGuard and YouGov. It asked people to
respond to three statements:
“The assassination attempt against Donald Trump at a Trump
presidential campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania in July 2024 was
staged.”
“The assassination attempt against Donald Trump at Trump International Golf Club in September 2024 was staged.”
"The pollsters found that 34% of Democrats said the
correspondents’ dinner attempt was staged; 42% of Democrats said the
Butler shooting was staged; and 26% said the Trump golf club incident
was staged.
"By way of contrast, 13% of Republicans said the
correspondents’ dinner attempt was staged; 7% of Republicans said the
Butler shooting was staged; and 7% said the Trump golf club incident was
staged.
"The Republican numbers are bad enough, reflecting an
information system and troubled culture in which fewer and fewer people
believe what they read and watch. But the Democratic numbers are off
the scale, reflecting something far beyond that — a political atmosphere
in which some people will believe anything about their hated opponent,
that he is a fascist, a dictator, and a man who would stage elaborate
phony assassination attempts for political gain.
"One striking aspect of the poll’s findings was that
the assassination attempt that seemed most undeniably real — the Butler
incident — was the event that the largest number of Democrats
characterized as fake. On that day, Trump was shot and was visibly
bleeding, while one man was killed and two others were seriously
wounded, all of it captured on video and still pictures by several press
photographers. And now many people, most of them Democrats, cannot
accept that it happened.
"The NewsGuard analysis notes that, “Minutes after
Secret Service escorted a bleeding Trump off the stage, social media lit
up with claims that the shooting was staged, arguing, for example, that
Trump faked the shooting with a ‘blood pill’ and that photojournalists
at the scene had been tipped off. Nearly two years later, that narrative
continues to gain traction, with claims by some social media users that
an actual Russian plot to stage an assassination in Hungary that never
came to fruition is proof that the Pennsylvania rally shooting was also
staged.”
"The poll questions gave respondents the option of
saying they were “not sure” whether each of the assassination attempts
was staged or not. When you combine the number of people who said that a
particular event was definitely staged with those who said they were
not sure whether it was staged, you get a majority of Americans who
question the reality of the Trump assassination attempts.
For the Butler shooting, a combined 53% said it was staged or they were
not sure; for the correspondents’ dinner, 56% said it was staged or
they were not sure; and for the Palm Beach golf course incident, 52%
said it was staged or they were not sure. Again, these figures were
dominated by Democratic respondents
"These are huge numbers of people who believe the
assassination attempts are massive lies or might be lies. The numbers
are so striking that NewsGuard included an editorial note: “After we
received these results from YouGov, we were so surprised by the survey
findings that we asked YouGov to go back and recheck the data. They did
so and confirmed their findings.”
"For Democrats, the results are reminiscent of
earlier polls that measured credulity about the most sensational
allegations in the Trump-Russia controversy of the president’s first
term. In late 2018, the Economist and YouGov asked respondents about this statement
concerning the 2016 election: “Russia tampered with vote tallies in
order to get Donald Trump elected president.” Was it true or false?
"First of all, the statement was clearly false; there
has never been any evidence that Russia tampered with vote tallies in
the 2016 U.S. presidential election. But 31% of Democrats told pollsters
the statement was “definitely” true, and another 36% of Democrats said
it was “probably” true. That was a total of 67% of Democrats —
two-thirds of the party — who believed Russia definitely or probably
tampered with 2016 vote tallies.
"Of course, at that time, experiencing fantasies about
Trump and Russia was an everyday experience for many Democrats and
their allies in the press. Indeed, watching some news coverage from the
time, who wouldn’t believe the wildest stories about Trump? Now, the
phenomenon has been updated with new material — the assassination
attempts — but the willingness to believe anything is the same"
This week, the hantavirus outbreak continues in a climate of distrust
toward each other and authorities. We also answer a reader question:
Are cruise ships really floating petri dishes?
There’s also all
the normal stuff going around: Peak tick and allergy season, norovirus
surges on another cruise ship, and scientific wins worth celebrating.
Here’s The Dose: what’s going on in the world of health and what it means for you.
Spotlight: 4 updates on the hantavirus outbreak
The
risk to the general public remains exceptionally low, but the situation
continues to march forward for the high-risk cruise passengers.
Note: If you missed it, this post builds on last Friday’s. You can catch up here.
And big thanks to the entire YLE team, from virologists to physicians
to epidemiologists, helping keep track of this rapidly moving situation.
1. Touchdown in Nebraska
Yesterday, 18 Americans landed safely in Nebraska by private transport after disembarking from the cruise ship in Spain.
Why Nebraska? In
2019, your federal tax dollars paid to build the only national
quarantine facility in the U.S. specifically designed to safely monitor
individuals exposed to high-consequence disease. This facility has a
college-dorm feel, complete with TVs and exercise machines (see picture
below), but people are completely separated. They don’t share air and
don’t mingle. This facility was built for situations just like this.
Jake Rosmarin, who is currently in one of the rooms at the National Quarantine Unit in Nebraska. Source: Jake Rosmarin Instagram
Down
the street, there is also a biocontainment unit, similar to a hospital
room but with many more precautions to safely treat someone who becomes
ill. Importantly, Nebraska isn’t the only biocontainment unit. The U.S.
has a network to help distribute people in situations like this. All of
these systems are activated.
So, out of the 18 people:
Fifteen are in the Nebraska quarantine center:
They are resting, being screened, and participating in detailed
interviews to establish underlying health, exposure timelines
(quarantine clocks start at the last exposure, so the interview
matters), and their home situations to determine whether they can safely
quarantine at home (distance from a hospital, home situations, etc.).
None have symptoms.
One person is in the Nebraska biocontainment unit.
They tested positive for hantavirus without symptoms. Hantavirus can
turn positive on PCR testing before symptoms arise and before it becomes
contagious.
Two passengers went to the Atlanta biocontainment unit.
This is a couple: one person has mild symptoms, and the other has no
symptoms. Importantly, symptoms of a cold or stomach bug at this stage
may warrant a visit to this unit. (Remember, there was a flight
attendant who was presumed to have hanta, based on her symptoms, and she
ended up testing negative and recovered.)
In addition, there are seven Americans in quarantine at home
across five states who were on the ship after the initial case died,
but before public health authorities knew this was an outbreak. There
are also ~11 people exposed to these cruise passengers while flying. None have symptoms, and all are in close contact with local public health departments.
Figure by Your Local Epidemiologist team
2. The debate on whether to send passengers home intensified
After
the home assessment, if they remain symptom-free, CDC will give those
in the Nebraska quarantine facility a choice: stay or return home on a
charter flight (not commercial) and stay in close, daily contact with
local health departments. Either way, a full 42-day quarantine is
expected.
A lot of people disagree with this move. After all,
requiring people to stay in Nebraska reduces the risk to everyone else
to zero. And, we are living in a very low-trust environment. Offering
this option is asking communities to trust that those people will remain
in quarantine and cooperate.
But, as with any public health
decision, there are real trade-offs to consider. This is both a public
health and humanitarian response:
Public health goal:
Reduce risk to the passenger and the community. To do this, the most
important thing is not necessarily where they are, but that they are
monitored daily, remain quarantined (meaning they do not mix with other
people), and have access to an appropriate hospital if they get sick.
Humanitarian goal:
Allow passengers to quarantine where they prefer, such as at home. They
were in international waters and living in a nightmare for more than a
month. There’s a real psychological toll to that.
It
doesn’t seem any individual has made a decision yet. And there is a
possibility that pressure is enough to prompt the administration to
change course. But I think the best option is the least restrictive
approach that still keeps communities safe.
3. Transmission: How close is a close contact?
I know people are worried about this one, so let’s talk about what we do and don’t know.
We do
know that there are two primary ways Andes hantavirus spreads: through
contact with infected rodents and through “close contact” with people
who are both infected and symptomatic.
We also know
that the first passengers to be infected with the Andes virus were
exposed in the most typical way: through contact with infected rodents
off the boat. The next two cases also contracted the virus in a typical
way: through close contact with infected people. (Close contact is defined by CDC as 6 feet for more than 15 minutes.) Cruise ships are notorious for putting people into close contact.
But, during a 2018 Argentina outbreak,
a symptomatic patient infected 5 people while sitting close at a
birthday party. One case may have involved only a brief, passing
interaction. That said, 94 other partygoers didn’t contract the virus,
and 82 healthcare workers who cared for the resulting patients remained
healthy, many without PPE. (See a deeper dive from Ed Nirenberg here.)
Getting
the transmission pathways matters a lot for contact tracing to ensure
everyone who needs to be monitored is monitored (like on a flight). It
also matters that scientists collect the right specimens on the ship so
we can learn more.
In general, though, the overall risk of a
pandemic remains very, very small, especially when added to a few other
things we know:
We’ve successfully stopped Andes outbreaks in the past through standard contact and droplet precautions.
This does not appear to be a highly contagious virus between people.
Variants don't appear to be a concern here. Scientists
confirmed this week that passenger samples were almost identical to one
another and to samples from 1997 and 2018. This virus is behaving as
scientists expect.
I will start worrying if we
start seeing new infections among people who were not on this ship and
had no contact with a positive case. (We haven’t seen this yet.)
4. HHS communications finally woke up
Over the weekend, physicians received a HAN (a routine alert about what to watch for), and the CDC website
was finally updated, followed by a press briefing yesterday morning.
Better late than never, but the drip of information has made all of this
genuinely difficult to track. WHO remains stellar in communications.
What this means for you
The
risk to you remains extremely low, and, thankfully, we have systems in
place to address this rare disease. There is no need to cancel trips and
this is not another Covid-19. The most important thing you can do is
help spread accurate information. Triple-check sources, don’t spread
unverified rumors, but DO share reputable and verified information. This
includes information from the WHO, local health departments, and
reputable public health leaders.
Disease weather report
While
this small but deadly hantavirus outbreak plays out, there are four
other pathogens that are more likely to affect your health right now.
Ticks: Are they slowing down?
Tick bites
are certainly earlier this year than in previous years, but it’s not
clear whether this will translate to a more severe season. After some
exponential growth, the rate has come to a slow crawl. Regardless, we
are in peak tick season.
Source: CDC. Annotated by Your Local Epidemiologist.
What this means for you:Prevention
goes a long way. Most pathogens can only be transmitted after a tick
feeds for some time, so call your physician if one has been attached for
36 hours. Use tweezers for removal (the only recommended method). And
remember: nymphs are the size of a poppy seed.
Feeling crummy? It’s likely the common cold and/or allergies
Common colds are
approaching their spring peak while other respiratory viruses become
dormant. If you’re feeling crummy right now, it’s probably a cold.
Percent of positive tests for respiratory viruses. Source: NREVSS; Annotated by Your Local Epidemiologist
Or
it may not be a virus at all. This week is going to be another bad one
for people with allergies, particularly in the North and Midwest.
Allergy
season is getting longer and more intense. Plants are releasing pollen
about 40 days earlier than they used to and stopping about two weeks
later, thanks to rising temperatures. Higher CO2 levels mean more pollen
per plant.
Source: Pollen.com
What this means for you:Check
the pollen forecast, rinse your nose with saline (use distilled water),
and shower before bed to wash pollen off. For medication, go with
second-generation antihistamines like Zyrtec over Benadryl. (Benadryl
has been around since the 1940s but carries more side effects.) Always
check with your doctor. Also, here is a great room-by-room guide you may find useful.
Another cruise, another outbreak: Norovirus
Another cruise ship made headlines last week due to a major norovirus outbreak with more than 115 cases. Norovirus—think nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea—is also midseason but on its way down.
Norovirus is very infectious. On average, one infected person will infect two to seven other people, and the virus can live on surfaces for weeks.
And while cruise ship outbreaks usually make the news (like this one), they only account for 1% of outbreaks. Three out of four norovirus outbreaks occur in nursing homes. Restaurants and schools are the next most common settings.
What this means for you:
Norovirus is extremely contagious. If you have the stomach bug
(assuming you’re not reading from the cruise ship), use a separate
bathroom in your house. Hand sanitizer doesn’t kill this bugger, either.
Soap and water are your best bet after touching hotel door knobs or
elevator buttons, for example. If you’re second guessing your cruise
plans, read on for our take.
Good news
Wastewater is here to help with measles. A new study
found that wastewater monitoring enabled officials to detect a measles
outbreak in New Mexico five days earlier than clinical testing. Given
this is such a contagious virus, this could really help get on top of
outbreaks before they get out of control.
Suppressing HIV could become more successful and more manageable. HIV requires lifelong treatment, which currently means daily medication for most patients. Scientists found that one infusion of immune cells
that recognize HIV reduced the virus to undetectable levels. Only a
couple of patients have received this treatment so far, but its
success—for one patient, HIV remained undetectable for two years after
that one infusion —is a milestone for treatment options.
Question grab bag
These outbreaks have me reconsidering my cruise plans. Are cruise ships really floating petri dishes compared to other settings?
Cruise ships have a reputation as floating petri dishes.
Some of this is a monitoring artifact. The CDC's Vessel Sanitation Program requires
cruise ships to report outbreaks and maintains a public database of all
reported cases, which doesn’t exist for hotels, resorts, college
dormitories, or restaurants, where the same viruses spread just as
readily but without mandatory public reporting. So public health is looking for outbreaks, like norovirus.
That said, the environment does matter. Dr. Adam Kucharski shared his interesting research on
social mixing, which found that cruise passengers have nearly twice as
many close contacts per day as people on land (20 versus 10). This means
more opportunity to catch something.
In 2020, the Diamond Princess became one of the most studied natural experiments in infectious disease history. One study
found that Covid-19 airborne transmission likely accounted for more
than half of disease spread on the ship, a finding that reshaped
thinking about ventilation in enclosed spaces well beyond cruising.
If
you do cruise, the single best thing you can do is wash your hands
before and after every meal, every time. And stay behind if you’re sick.
Bottom line
Public
health is never dull, but beneath the alarming headlines, there are
systems, scientists, and dedicated people quietly doing their jobs to
keep you safe and largely succeeding.
Love, YLE
Your Local Epidemiologist
(YLE) is founded by Dr. Katelyn Jetelina, MPH PhD—an epidemiologist,
wife, and mom of two little girls. YLE comprises a team of experts,
ranging from physicians to immunologists to epidemiologists to
nutritionists, working together with one goal: to “Translate”
ever-evolving public health science so that people are well-equipped to
make evidence-based decisions. YLE reaches over 425,000 people across
more than 132 countries.
Here's more proof that liberalism and political correctness contribute to make crime even worse worse. This sounds like Dr. Gad Saad's new book, "Suicidal Empathy".
It's a shame that woke fools like this woman can't be charged somehow for enabling this maniac to push Ross Falzone to his death. There also ought to be additional punishment for criminals who target senior citizens.
Posted at Legal Insurrection by Stacey Matthews Sunday, May 10, 2026
"What makes stories about violent attacks that leave victims seriously
injured or dead especially infuriating is finding out after the fact
that if someone had spoken out sooner about the suspects, then maybe it
wouldn’t have happened.
"Last Thursday, a 76-year-old man was trying to take the subway in New
York City when he was pushed down a flight of stairs, allegedly by a
32-year-old repeat offender who is well known to the NYPD. The retired
teacher later died from injuries sustained in the attack:
Moments before the deadly attack, [suspect Rhamell] Burke
trailed about 30 yards behind [victim Ross] Falzone as he walked north
on Seventh Avenue, authorities said.
As the men approached the train station at that intersection, the
suspect allegedly sped up and violently shoved the innocent senior down
the steps into the station before fleeing the scene, according to
police.
Falzone landed on his head about halfway down the stairs and suffered
a traumatic brain injury, right rib fracture and spinal fracture, cops
said.
"According to authorities, Burke “mysteriously walked free from
Bellevue Hospital about an hour after cops cuffed him and checked him in
as an ’emotionally disturbed person’ around 3:30 p.m. Thursday.” A few
hours after Burke’s release, Falzone was murdered.
A 76-year-old man was fatally assaulted in Chelsea.
The incident happened Thursday, with officers responding to a 911 call about an assault at W. 18th St. and 7th Ave.
At the scene, officers found Ross Falzone, unconscious, with injuries to his head.
Horrific: 76-year-old retired NY teacher Ross
Falzone was kiIIed after being shoved down subway stairs by a career
criminal who was released from a psych ward just HOURS earlier — the
suspect also had 4 arrests in the last 4 months alone
"We have been reliably informed
that soft-on-crime Mayor Zohran “Defund the Police” Mamdani, who
proclaimed that he was “horrified by the killing of Ross Falzone and the
circumstances that led to it,” is going to get to the bottom of why the
psych ward released Burke:
Mamdani orders probe of Bellevue over its quick release of suspect in Chelsea killing https://t.co/Ow0hDuFV5M
"The New York Post interviewed another alleged victim of Burke’s on Friday, and discovered that she opted not to cooperate with prosecutors in part because she didn’t “want to put another black man in jail”:
The horrified [23-year-old] victim told The Post she and a
friend were on a subway in Manhattan on April 2 when Rhamell Burke
approached them and began a conversation they quickly shut down before
frantically trying to switch cars to get away from him.
She said the crazed suspect stalked them closely and allegedly yanked
her by the back of her head in an attempt to slam her to the ground and
booted her friend in the back.
[…]
She said the attack left her and her friend “in shock,” but they ultimately chose not to cooperate with prosecutors …
[…]
“I regret it 100% and I actually feel really bad that a man lost his life,” the woman said.
[…]
“Maybe a part of me was just like, I don’t want to put another black
man in jail, but, you know, at some point, if you are a criminal, you’re
a criminal, and he was scary, he was a scary guy.”
Burke was hit with an assault charge for the April attack and granted supervised release at arraignment.
Liberal woman who refused to cooperate with
prosecutors after maniac attacked her on subway weeks before he pushed
retired NYC teacher to death has regrets: "Maybe a part of me was just
like, I don’t want to put another black man in jail." https://t.co/QihuYD552f
Next time someone asks you for an example of “Suicidal
Empathy” or “Toxic Empathy,” remember this leftist woman who didn’t
press charges against her attacker for fear of being “racist” and
regretted it when he went on to murder someone.
Suicidal Empathy makes criminals out of victims and victims out of
criminals. It’s upside down empathy, where those who are victimized are
ignored in favor of pouring out “empathy” for offenders. It harms. It
doesn’t help.
Next time someone asks you for an example of
“Suicidal Empathy” or “Toxic Empathy,” remember this leftist woman who
didn’t press charges against her attacker for fear of being “racist” and
regretted it when he went on to murder someone.
Phil Lane MSW, LCSW - Psychology Today, May 10, 2026
Key points
Public health threats can have a long-lasting effect but can be managed in an emotionally healthy way.
Individuals may experience a spike in anxiety and unpleasant memories of the previous pandemic.
Lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic can help us navigate Hantavirus while maintaining our mental health.
"You likely remember where you were in March 2020 when lockdowns began and the reality of the COVID-19
pandemic set in. Since then, although we have returned to a state of
relative normalcy, you may have unpleasant memories or even traumatic
memories which can be triggered by specific stimuli such as disturbing
images of the pandemic or news related to new or potential viruses.
Recently, news has come out about Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome, a virus
that, though different from COVID-19, poses a similarly serious risk to
those infected. Psychologically, this news can bring on traumatic
memories and spike anxiety.
Understanding the psychology of disaster-related anxiety and trauma is
vital as we face a new public health threat. We need to clarify that,
according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Hantavirus
infections are uncommon and are linked to specific environmental
exposures whereas COVID-19 quickly became a global pandemic because of
its fast spread from person to person. So, while these two viruses are
different and the Hantavirus is unlikely to be as catastrophic as
COVID-19, the traumatic memories and the anxiety they trigger do not
differentiate.
"In my book, Understanding and Coping with Illness Anxiety, I
discuss the idea of “societal anxiety,” which can affect entire regions
or countries—or in the case of the COVID-19 pandemic, large parts of
the world. This type of widespread anxiety can overtake large swaths of
the population in the face of large-scale disastrous events such as
viruses or, as a historical precedent, the threat of nuclear
annihilation as was experienced during the Cold War. These events can
leave a long-lasting effect on global mental health. The scholarly
literature on how anxiety and PTSD
have increased during and following the COVID-19 pandemic is so robust,
I could not possibly adequately summarize it here, but just for
context: 76 million new cases of anxiety disorders were reported during
the first year of the pandemic (Delpino and others, 2022), there was
higher PTSD prevalence throughout the pandemic (Abdalla and others,
2024), and 2025 research concludes that a return to pre-pandemic mental
health levels is unlikely (Al-Otaibi and others, 2025). The acute and
emergent phase of the pandemic may have passed, but the traumatic
memories and the resultant anxiety remain.
"So, when a new threat—in this case, Hantavirus—presents itself and
takes over the now ever-present and difficult to silence news cycle, it
stands to reason that many individuals may experience a spike in anxiety
and the triggering of unpleasant memories of the previous pandemic.
This is understandable, and it can cause significant disturbances to
daily life, exacerbate anxiety and panic, and cause us to live in a
state of stress
and worry. While we cannot completely avoid or eradicate these
feelings, there are measures we can take to keep them from becoming
debilitating or paralyzing.
Prior experience is not predictive
"The nature of anxiety is such that we tend to incorrectly connect
events to draw a single conclusion. For example, I might hear about this
new virus and automatically conclude that it is going to be just like
COVID-19. If I see it this way, I am bound to experience significant
anxiety, stress, and worry as I will assume similar outcomes to what
occurred before. Anxiety, as powerful as it can feel, does not have any
predictive ability. So, though two events might feel emotionally
similar, they are not necessarily the same. We already know that there
are significant differences between Hantavirus and COVID-19, and it can
help our anxiety to keep these in mind, rather than to assume both will
play out the same way.
Hypervigilance can increase anxiety
"When faced with a public health threat, vigilance and awareness are
positive and healthy ways to stay safe and protected. But, when driven
by anxiety or catastrophic thinking,
vigilance can shift to hypervigilance—an unhealthy fixation that
actually increases emotional discomfort and makes us more worried. So,
while being aware of the latest information on a new public health issue
is important, being fixated on it can increase discomfort and worsen
anxiety.
Sources are important
"None of us is safe from the incessant rush of information, as social media
platforms have become news and information sources, for better or
worse. As you navigate the deluge of information about the Hantavirus,
consider your sources, pay attention
to who is saying what (is the Instagram reel you are watching from an
epidemiologist or an unqualified influencer?), and think critically as
you consume information.
"As devastating and catastrophic as the COVID-19 pandemic was, we
learned some important psychological lessons from it that can help us
navigate a new public-health issue in an emotionally healthy way.
Remembering that what has occurred in the past does not predict what
will happen next, being vigilant but not allowing ourselves to become
fixated, and being cautious with our sources of information can help
keep societal anxiety at bay and reduce disturbance to our daily lives."
You would think that Americans who remember the 1979 Iran hostage crisis would already know that Iran is a terrorist state that cannot ever be trusted, and that murderous terrorists like Hezbollah and Hamas are backed by Iran. I'd like to see them completely destroyed, not negotiated with.
* Any agreement that would allow Iran a multi-year "moratorium" towards
enriching uranium again would erase everything that President Donald J.
Trump has so brilliantly and historically accomplished. Any "moratorium"
is essentially no different from the catastrophic "sunset clauses" in
President Barack H. Obama's 2015 JCPOA "nuclear deal" – a short delay
that will correctly be taken as a green light inviting Iran to resume
enriching uranium for nuclear weapons.
# Politically, such a policy would be devastating for Trump. He would
immediately be seen as the negotiating partner who desperately wanted a
deal -- any deal -- just to declare victory and announce that he had
"won." If there is a "moratorium" even for 100 years, it is Iran that
will have won.
* Inside Iran, there are still reports of repression, restrictions on
internet access, and crackdowns on dissent complete with torture, forced
confessions and executions. Why would a government that brutalizes its
own citizens treat anyone else any better?
"The Iranian regime's core is still rooted in anti-Americanism,
anti-Semitism, and systematically controlling and destabilizing the
region. None of its defining pillars have changed. Any deal with such a
system will not transform it — just offer it enough relief to allow it
to rearm before returning with renewed strength.
"Although U.S. and Israeli strikes in June 2025 significantly degraded Iran's military capabilities, the nature
of Iran's regime itself -- deeply hostile toward its neighbors, Western
civilization, the United States, Israel, other Muslims and even its own
population — continues to guide its actions. As the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) executes more people and consolidates even greater power in the aftermath of its setbacks, it has become even more ruthless.
"The regime – what is left of it -- is not seeking peace. It is
seeking continued rule, breathing room and money. Economically strained
and increasingly concerned about internal unrest, Iran's leadership views negotiations merely as a tactical pause.
"Any agreement that would allow Iran a multi-year "moratorium" towards
enriching uranium again would erase everything that President Donald J.
Trump has so brilliantly and historically accomplished. Any
"moratorium" is essentially no different from the catastrophic "sunset
clauses" in President Barack H. Obama's 2015 JCPOA "nuclear deal" – a
short delay that will correctly be taken as a green light inviting Iran
to resume enriching uranium for nuclear weapons.
"Politically, such a policy would be devastating for Trump. He would
immediately be seen as the negotiating partner who desperately wanted a
deal -- any deal -- just to declare victory and announce that he had
"won." If there is a "moratorium" even for 100 years, it is Iran that
will have won.
"Equally, any agreement that would lift sanctions or allow oil
revenues to flow again would provide the regime with precisely what it
needs: time to recover, rebuild militarily, and resume brutalizing its
citizens, its neighbors, the region and the United States
"As long as Iran's foundational policies — rooted in anti-Americanism
and hostility toward the West — remain intact, no deal has proven
capable of transforming its conduct. On the contrary,
previous deals have enabled the regime to strengthen its position,
channel more funding and weapons to its proxy networks, and deepen its
regional influence rather than moderate it.
"The regime, in addition, understands political cycles in the United
States. It can agree to terms temporarily — two or three years, if
necessary — while quietly waiting for a shift in leadership in
Washington. Once that shift occurs, it has usually felt free to abandon
commitments and resume its previous trajectory. Agreements are treated
as tools of convenience, not binding obligations.
"At the same time, the regime's support for militant proxies remains intact, and its posture toward neighboring countries is aggressive and interventionist.
"Inside Iran, there are still reports
of repression, restrictions on internet access, and crackdowns on
dissent complete with torture, forced confessions and executions (here, here and here). Why would a government that brutalizes its own citizens treat anyone else any better?
"The regime also has been successfully deploying "good cop-bad cop"
tactics to buy time and keep the US at bay. The so-called moderates
signal conciliation, while hardliners resist. In reality, these factions
operate within the same system and share the same ultimate objective:
the survival of the regime. The differences are tactical, not
ideological. Falling for this dynamic risks misreading the entire
structure of power in Tehran.
"Meanwhile, the Iranian regime's core ideology — anti-Americanism,
anti-Semitism, and hostility toward own people as well as most others —
remains unchanged. Its military capabilities may have been weakened, but
its identity and intentions are intact. The regime is therefore likely
to pursue agreements not as steps toward peace, but as temporary,
stopgap measures to regain strength, continue enriching uranium, and
outlast political pressures from the current US leadership. In any deal,
under these conditions, that risks repeating a familiar cycle, trust is
misplaced, and the regime's most valuable weapon is time."
Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is a political scientist, Harvard-educated analyst, and board member of Harvard International Review. He hasauthored several books on the US foreign policy. He can be reached atdr.rafizadeh@post.harvard.edu
Here we go again! This is from AFP in the Canadian newspaper National Post, 5-8-26. The conspiracy theorists this time are the same ones from the start of the COVID pandemic, and they are even blaming the same people and companies (Bill Gates and Pfizer, anyone?) while pushing ivermectin. Buckle your seat belts -- it's going to be crazy.
Claims
include allegations of sinister plots to force vaccines on people or
sway America's November elections by justifying expanded use of mail-in
ballots
An
outbreak of the deadly hantavirus on a Dutch-flagged cruise ship is
reviving conspiracy theories about vaccines, alleged depopulation
campaigns and miracle cures that flourished during the COVID pandemic.
The
multilingual misinformation, which dominated online discourse and
disrupted public health responses to the coronavirus, resurged even as
the World Health Organization insisted Friday that there remained
minimal risk to the general public from passengers of the MV Hondius.
“LOCKDOWN ALERT: Globalists Launch COVID 2.0 As Hantavirus Spreads
Worldwide,” InfoWars founder Alex Jones said on X. “Just Like A Light
Switch.”
A
flurry of similar posts declared the outbreak a “plandemic” — borrowing
from the title of a widely discredited pseudo-documentary from 2020
that pushed falsehoods about COVID.
A
passenger is believed to have contracted the rare respiratory disease
before boarding the ship in Argentina and infecting others on board.
Yet,
an AFP analysis found widespread claims alleging a sinister plot to
force vaccines on the masses, coerce people into lockdown, or sway
America’s November elections by justifying expanded use of mail-in
ballots — a voting method that election deniers have insisted without
evidence is rife with fraud.
“The
almost-immediate resurrection of COVID-19 era conspiracy theories is a
reminder that misinformation doesn’t simply disappear once the crisis
that yielded them is over,” said Yotam Ophir, head of the University at
Buffalo’s Media Effects, Misinformation and Extremism lab.
During
the COVID pandemic, health misinformation became more entwined with
political identity, he said, so the election-rigging narrative “primes
existing beliefs.”
Other posts pointed to past coverage of potential vaccines for
hantavirus, COVID-era comments from billionaire Bill Gates and a
fictional 1990s television show as evidence the hantavirus was
intentionally released to reduce the population or make money for
vaccine manufacturers.
Some
further claimed the hantavirus was a side effect of Pfizer’s COVID-19
vaccines, misrepresenting a document that showed only that it was one of
many “adverse events of special interest” subjected to monitoring, not
something caused by the shot.
Ophir
said many of the conspiracy theories now resurfacing have a long
history, tracing to centuries-old fears that diseases were manufactured
by elites.
But
they spread faster now, boosted by social media algorithms and
sometimes entertained by anti-vaccine voices installed in high-ranking
offices by President Donald Trump.
Unproven cures
There
are no approved vaccines or known cures for the hantavirus, which is
usually spread from infected rodents and can cause respiratory and
cardiac distress as well as hemorrhagic fever.
But
online, anti-establishment physicians and some politicians immediately
touted the anti-parasitic drug ivermectin and other medications as
cures.
Former
U.S. representative Marjorie Taylor Greene — who posted that the virus
was a “bioweapon” unleashed so pharmaceutical companies could profit off
“poison” vaccines — amplified ivermectin claims from Texas
otolaryngologist Mary Talley Bowden, whom AFP has fact-checked for
spreading misinformation.
Bowden
later posted an offer to sell ivermectin, while Florida Governor Ron
DeSantis reupped support for failed legislation aimed at making
ivermectin available without a prescription.
“There
is extreme misinformation about ivermectin,” John Lednicky, a
virologist at the University of Florida College of Public Health and
Health Professions, told AFP.
“Outside of laboratory tests, ivermectin has not proven effective in treating infections.”
Ophir,
from Buffalo, said the promotion of COVID-era conspiracy theories could
be an effort to curry political favour — and may also be financially
motivated.
Amid
anxiety and confusion over the outbreak, he told AFP that “online
influencers, social media groups, or AI-operated users, may seize the
chance to make some money.”
This excellent article is from the UK Guardian on 5-8-26. The response from Americans is typical -- I've seen comments from people about refusing to wear masks again, refusing to engage in social distancing, etc. They've already made their minds up and decided they won't comply with any instructions. They also think that this hantavirus outbreak is a hoax just in time for elections. Sound familiar?
But just because the CDC says nothing about hantavirus, and just because some Americans think it's another hoax, it doesn't mean they can't use their own brain and read up about the virus on reputable websites!
It's the same ignorant way they reacted to COVID, and it proves that they haven't learned a thing over the past six years
The US’s withdrawal from the WHO – and cuts to the country’s health system – stymie officials’ response
"The outbreak of hantavirus on the Dutch cruise ship MV Hondius
illuminates major gaps in the US public health system – a worrying sign
for stopping this outbreak quickly and preparing for a potential
pandemic of a more widespread pathogen in coming years, experts say.
"Passengers and their close contacts are at risk of hantavirus
and need to follow public health guidance, but the danger for most
people is near zero, officials and scientists say. Experts expect more
cases in this outbreak to be identified, but they are emphatic that a
hantavirus pandemic is highly unlikely.
“This is not Covid,
this is not influenza. It spreads very, very differently,” Maria Van
Kerkhove, director of epidemic and pandemic management at the World
Health Organization (WHO), said at a briefing on Thursday. “This is not
the same situation we were in six years ago … It’s very different.”
"The WHO has been coordinating a response with several countries. But Trump pulled out of the organization soon after taking office, and US leadership has been conspicuously absent in the global hantavirus response, experts say.
"While
not a virus with pandemic potential, hantavirus is a warning sign that
reveals how cuts to US capacity have severely limited the ability of
officials and scientists to track and understand pathogens like these,
with troubling implications for rare outbreaks and for pandemic
preparedness writ large.
"There are now three
suspected and five confirmed cases of Andes virus, a type of hantavirus
that can sometimes spread with close, intimate contact but is typically
spread by rodents. Three people have died, and three have been
hospitalized, including in intensive care – though those patients are
showing signs of improving, officials said on Thursday. One of the
patients, a Dutch flight attendant, has tested negative for Andes virus,
according to Inside Medicine.
The risk to global health
“My personal worry is essentially zero,” said Bill Hanage, professor of epidemiology at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health.
“The vast majority of the world has absolutely no worry at all … What
they should be doing is paying attention to public health officials and
acting appropriately if they are told their risk happens to be higher.”
"Hanage
is concerned that health leadership cuts, growing misinformation, and
distrust of public health measures could complicate that process and
contribute to some onward transmission.
"In
the absence of trusted information, misinformation about the outbreak
is swirling – including fears of another pandemic. The “radio silence”
from officials is one of the most concerning parts of the outbreak for
Boghuma Titanji, an infectious disease physician and assistant professor
at the Emory School of Medicine, because “it just fuels the public
anxiety”, she said. “People are still reeling from the trauma that was
Covid-19, and a lot of people who experienced that still have a degree
of PTSD. So it’s very hard to not spiral.”
"The
US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has not held a
briefing or created a resource page for the public concerning the
hantavirus; top officials haven’t gone on TV shows and held interviews
about the risk to the American public. That is a significant departure
from how the US typically communicates about an outbreak like this,
Titanji said. Two Dutch physicians and an infectious disease expert were
deployed by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control to
provide medical and psychosocial support on the cruise ship.
“A [US] CDC crew would have been with them, or at least been offered. Now they’re nowhere to be found,” Titanji said.
"On Friday afternoon, CNN
reported that the CDC was dispatching staffers to meet the ship in the
Canary Islands and had made “plans to escort its American passengers
back to the US aboard a charter flight”. The network also reported that a
separate CDC team was sent to Nebraska, where passengers are expected
to be placed into quarantine to ensure that the virus doesn’t spread.
"The US Department of State is now leading the US response, according to the first and only CDC press release
on the issue, sent on Wednesday evening after days of no guidance.
State officials are engaged in “direct contact” with passengers,
diplomacy, and coordination with domestic and global health officials,
the short announcement said. That move is highly unusual, Titanji said.
Typically the CDC, with decades of experience responding to Andes virus
outbreaks, would take the lead on health coordination.
“CDC
is aware of the reports of hantavirus on a cruise ship and is providing
technical input and guidance as requested,” a CDC official said. The
CDC did not grant the Guardian’s request to speak with an agency
hantavirus expert and did not respond to questions about whether the
agency has testing and laboratory capacity for hantavirus, what
precautions passengers have been advised to take upon their return, and
how the agency plans to support local health providers and officials if
they encounter hantavirus patients.
"When it
comes to rare diseases that a physician might only encounter once or
twice in their career, the first step is usually to call the CDC for
advice on how to test and diagnose and how to contain further
transmission, Titanji said. “We’re losing that type of support.”
Public health in the US under Trump
"US
health agencies have suffered body blows under Trump. Agencies are
hollowed out after staff were laid off and fired, with some driven to
quit; key posts are left vacant. All of the full-time cruise ship
inspectors with the CDC were unexpectedly laid off
last year while the teams were actively investigating two outbreaks.
Research, especially the kind of virological work that might illuminate
hantavirus transmission, has been heavily politicized and slashed.
Funding for the rapid development of new vaccines has been halted while
misinformation about vaccines flourishes.
"Laboratory
staff have been gutted, and it’s not clear if the US has tests and
laboratory capacity for hantaviruses. States cannot send samples to the
CDC for orthopoxvirus testing – like mpox – because that division has
been temporarily paused, and labs can no longer test to see which
parasite is causing leishmaniasis, Titanji said. In April, rabies
testing at the CDC was also temporarily halted.
"Research on virology itself has come under intensely politicized scrutiny and limitations. The White House issued an executive order to curb research on viruses in May, and the National Institutes of Health made sweeping cuts
to this work. Lawmakers have also introduced bills to cut what they
have loosely termed “gain of function” research. The scientific
consensus on the origins of Sars-CoV-2 points strongly to a spillover
from animals into people, yet officials continue investigating a lab
leak scenario, which means scientists are facing subpoenas, arrests and prosecution.
“We
should be investing in doing more to understand how these spillover
events take place – and that’s actually the very opposite of what’s
going on at the moment,” Hanage said.
"The
damage isn’t only at the federal level. More than half of US states
passed laws to restrict health officials’ ability to require quarantine
and isolation or recommend masks; some schools are being prevented from
requiring some vaccines for attendance and are forbidden from shutting
down during another health crisis.
"Seeing the
response to an outbreak of hantavirus, which is not considered a
high-consequence virus, is disconcerting, Titanji said. “If we had a
significant outbreak of a high-consequence pathogen, it would be very,
very concerning to see what the response and the leadership of that
response would be.”
"The WHO is narrowing in on
human-to-human transmission in this outbreak, but the spread is still
very limited to those who had very close contact with patients. In late
2018 and early 2019, there was a similar outbreak
in Argentina, when 34 people ultimately tested positive and 11 died.
“We believe that’s happening” in this case as well, with transmission
from the first two patients to close contacts, including the doctor who
treated them on the cruise ship, Van Kerkhove said.
“If
we follow public health measures and the lesson we learned from
Argentina now is shared across all countries – what needs to happen in
contact tracing, isolation – we can break this chain of transmission,”
said Abdirahman Mahamud, infection prevention control specialist at WHO.
"That
kind of outbreak investigation is how the patient in Switzerland was
identified, Van Kerkhove said, adding that this was actually public
health action at work
"Passengers from 12
countries, including the US, disembarked from the ship before the
outbreak was discovered and have now returned home. Following up with
these individuals – and, if they were ill while they traveled, others
they may have encountered – is critical work, Hanage said. “It’s very
important to be doing some extremely aggressive contact tracing of
everybody who left the boat, and they should be quarantined,” he said.
It may be more complicated than the measures that worked in Argentina,
he said, because “we have multiple authorities and multiple
jurisdictions, which means that it may take more time to coordinate an
adequate response”.
"Given misinformation and
mistrust in officials in the US, “it remains to be seen” how closely
people will follow health guidance – and how willing authorities will be
to implement it following the Covid backlash, Hanage said. “Everything
that we know about both this outbreak and previous ones indicates that
this is controllable, and I expect that it will be controlled. How long
it will take to be controlled is another question. The appetite for that
control will be a major part in deciding how easily it’s done and how
long it ultimately takes.”
"While the US is
withdrawn from the WHO, it has not yet withdrawn from the International
Health Regulations (IHR), which means officials are still receiving all
the latest technical information. “In terms of collaboration with US and
US institutions, it has been going very well,” Mahamud said. “The
information flow is there, transparent and frank.” But, he added, “this
outbreak has seen why the world needs a global entity that coordinates”
the response.
“This is what makes a platform
like WHO very, very important,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus,
director-general of the WHO, who expressed hope that the US and
Argentina would “reconsider” decisions to leave the organization. “Any
vacuum, any space which is not covered, actually gives advantage to the
virus. And the best immunity we have is solidarity.”
Well, this was a week in global public
health. The Andes hantavirus outbreak has been evolving quickly, and
there is a lot of information swirling on social and mass media. I
figured it may be helpful to take you along for the scientific ride.
Here’s the latest.
Note: If you missed it, this post builds on the live briefing from Wednesday. You can find it here.
Situation report
Case count has remained stable. There
are still three deaths and five cases. I hope it stays this way, but
there is a chance (and I expect) it will increase over the next six
weeks. This virus has a long incubation period, up to 45 days (median 18
days), during which it can enter the body, latch on, and wreak havoc.
Unfortunately, we are at the mercy of time and biology.
Risk to the general public remains low, per the WHO.
I agree with this assessment. Risk is probabilistic: what’s possible
isn’t what’s probable. The odds of this escalating are low for several
reasons:
This isn’t a novel virus. We’ve known
about Andes hantavirus since the 1990s. We have prior data about how it
spreads, where it’s located, and how it acts. That’s different from
Covid-19.
Past Andes hantavirus outbreaks typically
involve close-contact settings, such as caring for a sick person or
sleeping in the same bed. To our knowledge, this isn’t spread
asymptotically. Some research shows spread through more casual contact,
but all prior outbreaks have been contained successfully. In this
outbreak, all cases so far are linked to close contact. This helps with
containment.
Like many viruses, Andes can mutate
randomly or reassert, but it doesn’t have a track record of rapid
mutation, making it hard to change the circumstances quickly. WHO has
confirmed that this holds here—the sample in South Africa is nearly
identical to the version seen in Argentina.
Off the boat, there is extensive contact tracing. Thirty
people got off the boat after the first death (and before officials
knew this was an outbreak). They are now being contact-traced by
epidemiologists. This means alerting those passengers, monitoring for
any symptoms, tracing their steps (such as boarding a plane), and
alerting those who are near them for an extended period. None of these
passengers has symptoms so far. Six are Americans and live in
California, Georgia, Virginia, and Arizona.
Note:
Because there is a lot of contact tracing, you may start hearing rumors
about more positive cases, like a flight attendant. These may turn out
to be truly positive, but importantly, having symptoms does not mean
it’s hantavirus. Epidemiologists discern correlation from causation by
understanding risk (like where contacts are relative to the patient) and
by sending the test to confirm. This takes time.
On the boat, people will get relief soon. Three
sick passengers were evacuated from the ship to a hospital yesterday,
which is excellent news. Hospitals have specialized airborne isolation
units designed exactly for situations like this. The ship is now heading
toward islands near Spain, which have agreed to allow it to dock. It
should reach there by Monday. It’s still unclear what the long-term plan
is, but I hope passengers will be able to safely isolate closer to home
and near their families.
Hantavirus
cluster linked to MV Hondius cruise travel. Track the ship movements,
case counts, and countries of exposed individuals. Source: GenomicEpi.com
The international response has been fantastic so far.
I continue to be impressed by WHO’s coordination across multiple
countries, their public briefings, the swiftness of contact tracing and
testing, and their success in negotiating with Spain to allow the boat
to dock.
This is an evolving situation,
and we will learn more in the days ahead. It’s possible that some early
information may be inaccurate, and we will learn new things about this
virus that we didn’t know before. That uncertainty is uncomfortable, but
it’s also a normal part of the scientific process.
There’s understandably a lot of fear around this outbreak. This
is a really scary virus, like one you would expect to see in a movie.
We are also on the heels of the pandemic, and there are some similar
vibes (e.g., cruise ships, quarantining, WHO briefings, scientists
speaking out). And we’re living in an incredibly low-trust environment,
both with our government and amongst ourselves.
Is our government responding appropriately?
Public
health scientists are on it. CDC scientists are actively involved
behind the scenes, including standing up an Emergency Operations Center
and coordinating with the WHO. (They are allowed
to talk to WHO for this situation.) States are also activated and have
initiated contact tracing and coordination. This is exactly what we
train for, and these guys are working incredibly hard under difficult
circumstances: significant funding cuts, a workforce that’s lost roughly
a third of its people, research on Hantavirus halted, and institutions
under enormous strain for the past 14 months.
That said, I do have some major questions for CDC leadership and the administration. I want to know:
Why haven’t they deployed a team to help with the international response?
Why haven’t physicians been alerted through the Health Alert Network (HAN) as they typically would?
Why is there zero communication with the public or updates to the website?
This is abnormal. The muffling of scientists and the lack of transparency are unacceptable for Americans’ safety and security.
What this means for you
To the general population, your risk is close to zero. I loved this graphic that my friend Dr. Caitlin Rivers put together in the New York Times.
What is the risk from hantavirus? Red = “high risk”. Green = “very low risk”. Source: New York Times
Right
now, people are focused on this outbreak and want to take action. This
is an understandable response. The most important thing you can do is
help spread accurate information. This means:
Triple-check sources, and don’t spread unverified rumors. There
are a lot of rumors and speculation right now, but often they turn out
not to be true. (The flight attendant is a great example; many assumed
she had already tested positive, which wasn’t true.) Not sharing or
spreading something until it’s verified helps prevent the spread of
inaccurate information and keeps our stress levels down.
DO share reputable and verified information. This includes information from the WHO, local health departments, and reputable public health leaders.
This
is also a reminder that a type of hantavirus does live in the U.S. It’s
also very rare and does not spread person to person, but we can take action in rodent-infested areas, like barns.
Bottom line
This
is a serious, unique international outbreak. Things are moving quickly,
but this virus is behaving as we expect so far, and it’s a low-risk
situation for the general public.
This is public health in
action. Let it be a reminder of why we need these systems in place, from
local to state to global health.
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