S09.E19: Monkeypox

[PrincessPurrsALot]

Main topic: Monkeypox 

Also: Alex Jones' libel trial; some thoughts from C-span's most frequent caller; Walter from Butler, IN, has some thoughts on mortality

Original air date 2022.08.07

[Annber03]

"You fucked with info, and this time, info fucking won!"

And thank goodness for that. I really feel for the judge in the Alex Jones trial - having to put up with his bullshit for five seconds would be more than enough. But I LOVE that she had absolutely zero patience or time for his insanity and openly called him out. And I especially love that he had an absolutely miserable week and that the jury is holding him to account, as they should. Couldn't happen to a more deserving scumbag. And since he committed perjury like the moron he is, that could lead to criminal charges down the line, which would be great to see as well. 

It's frustrating that he still gets to do his show, though. But I know that the company InfoWars is a part of just filed for bankruptcy, so hopefully that means a swift end to his show, too, and him fucking off somewhere where nobody ever has to hear or see from him ever again. Go away, you psychotic creep.

And speaking of obnoxious people...stuff it, Greene. 

As for monkeypox, can the U.S. please stop being #1 in stuff like this? Please? Can we be #1 for a good reason again? I just....I don't get how our country can't seem to get it together on this sort of thing. HOW DID WE NOT LEARN FROM THE COVID PANDEMIC?!?! We're literally still IN the pandemic, ffs. Poor Fauci - you ever think he feels sometimes like he's just yelling into the void? 

"The only thing fax machines should be used for nowadays is to end the sentence, 'Hey! Remember fax machines?'"

As someone who's had to deal with a lot of issues with faxes at where I work, all I can say to that is: A. Freaking. Men. 

Those people who work at C-SPAN are remarkably patient. Wow. 

[ahisma]

56 minutes ago, Annber03 said:

Those people who work at C-SPAN are remarkably patient. Wow. 

You could just see their smiles getting ever more fixed as they tried to figure out how to break in and stop his non-stop sentences.

Our public health system needs a complete overhaul from top to bottom. And, unfortunately, the CDC is not our savior. They are fantastic at studying; they are not great at doing. (Michael Lewis’s latest book Premonition contains excellent stories about how the public health infrastructure responded, or didn’t, to Covid. It’s frightening how many of the things that saved hundreds of thousands of lives came down to the sheer luck of somebody who knew somebody who knew somebody, and was persistent about needing to do something.) That we are blowing it with monkeypox this badly right after blowing it with Covid is a searing indictment.

[Spartan Girl]

Watching Alex Jones get screwed over by his own lawyer (who is also a scumbag) was the second best part of my week, the first being seeing my cousin’s new puppy. John was spot-on how his court behavior was a masterclass of stupidity. 

[purist]

That was a really great explainer of monkeypox and America's terrible response to it. I especially liked John bringing racism into the argument, in terms of strange new diseases only happening 'over there' and therefore the richest country in the world has no responsibility to do anything about it. As @Annber03 said in her post above, A. Freaking. Men.

My jaw was on the floor for the entire segment about that scumbag Alex Jones. How was he earning $800,000 per day? How does ANYONE earn $800,000 per day, let alone a disgusting charlatan such as him? Makes me want to vomit.

Edited August 8, 2022 by purist

[Annber03]

33 minutes ago, Spartan Girl said:

Watching Alex Jones get screwed over by his own lawyer (who is also a scumbag) was the second best part of my week, the first being seeing my cousin’s new puppy. John was spot-on how his court behavior was a masterclass of stupidity. 

I caught a segment about the trial on some show last week, and they showed a clip of Jones' lawyer actually flipping off the prosecutor at one point during a break in the trial.

I mean....just...why? How the hell do you not realize or care how bad that looks for you/your client/your case? 

[paigow]

The Alex Jones judge and the Johnny / Amber judge should be on the Supreme Court...

[andromeda331]

Laughing really hard about Alex Jones' lawyer making the biggest screw up and then doing nothing to fix it. Incompetent or did his lawyer hate him as much the rest of us? Being in court is probably his worse nightmare. Forced to tell the truth, confronted with evidence of his lies, no way weasel his way out of it or say whatever he wanted. I love that he's final facing consequences for his actions.

"You fucked with info and info just won"

His remark towards Marjorie Taylor Greene was hilarious but also very true.  Yeah, Marjorie if that really worked you wouldn't be in office. Along with many of your pals. 

I don't even know what to say about the mess that was the Monkeypox vaccines. Even when TPTB stocks up on vaccines to get ahead of an outbreak and still manage to fuck it up. Beause of course they did. I do like him addressing the worries that people won't take it serious like what happened with AIDs in the 80s. That was what's worried me since they said it was being spread between man to man contact. The good news is they didn't. The bad news is they managed to make it worse. 

Edited August 8, 2022 by andromeda331

[swanpride]

Yeah, the whole Monkey-pox issue in one segment was a nice thing to have. There are sometimes news about it, but I have a hard time to keep track of it. Though I am kind of confused...isn't Monkeypox a disease which can be transferred by air, too? 

[DoctorAtomic]

I would think the judge can hold Jones in contempt for acting up in court. Certainly if he's lying under questioning. At the point of the video clip, it seemed like this was one of many times she was warning him. 

[peeayebee]

17 minutes ago, swanpride said:

Yeah, the whole Monkey-pox issue in one segment was a nice thing to have. There are sometimes news about it, but I have a hard time to keep track of it. Though I am kind of confused...isn't Monkeypox a disease which can be transferred by air, too? 

I believe John said it can be transferred thru air droplets, like if an infected person's sneeze gets on you. And then in you, I suppose (thru mouth, nose, eyes...).

[swanpride]

Ah, must have missed that...

Also, random though: If Alex Jones really earns that much in a day...could it be that the tax office will take a closer look at this particular data? 

[SoMuchTV]

8 hours ago, purist said:

My jaw was on the floor for the entire segment about that scumbag Alex Jones. How was he earning $800,000 per day? How does ANYONE earn $800,000 per day, let alone a disgusting charlatan such as him? Makes me want to vomit.

5 hours ago, swanpride said:

Also, random though: If Alex Jones really earns that much in a day...could it be that the tax office will take a closer look at this particular data? 

I'm pretty sure they said his products made that much (per day) in revenue at some point (not sure if that's the total $$ taken in, or the profit).  But still.

Edited August 8, 2022 by SoMuchTV
clarifying that it's per day

[peeayebee]

(reposting)

Can Alex Jones sue his lawyer for incompetency? I had wondered if the lawyer was so disgusted by Jones's lying, with evidence in the texts, that he deliberately sent the prosecution everything. Or maybe a clerk did. 

But it's been wonderful to see Jones exposed, as if that was really needed. I haven't been following the trial in detail, but I didn't know about the "gauze chewing." And then putting it back in his mouth in his I'll-do-what-I-want way. There's nothing good to say about him. Nothing. Oh, except that reading about him and seeing this segment was a highlight of my week.

Walter is a lonely, lonely man. No one to talk to. 

Does anyone know how long ago the US's monkeypox vaccines expired? I wonder if anyone in the govt warned about this. It couldn't have happened unnoticed as it approached.

John was very informative about monkeypox. Honestly, I haven't been reading too much about it, and I thought it wasn't something to worry about because I heard we had vaccines and treatment. It's good to get the real story.

We recently moved to Colorado, and my sister is in love with prairie dogs. They're cute from a distance.

[shapeshifter]

1 hour ago, peeayebee said:

Can Alex Jones sue his lawyer for incompetency? I had wondered if the lawyer was so disgusted by Jones's lying, with evidence in the texts, that he deliberately sent the prosecution everything. Or maybe a clerk did. 

Thank you. I was beginning to wonder if maybe I was the only one worried about this. But I think we're all just keeping quiet, trying not to give him any ideas.😶

 

1 hour ago, peeayebee said:

Walter is a lonely, lonely man. No one to talk to. 

I have an elderly uncle like Walter, who, fortunately, for the last 20 years has been working from home, taking calls from people who use TV shopping channels. 

 

1 hour ago, peeayebee said:

We recently moved to Colorado, and my sister is in love with prairie dogs. They're cute from a distance.

Okay. The real reason I'm posting (and burying the lede):  In the 1960s my high school boyfriend confessed to me that he and his buddies used to wait for prairie dogs to pop their heads out of their holes and then shoot them with BB guns. I now think maybe it wasn't such a bad idea. 

[JustHereForFood]

I only watched the first part and skipped the main segment. With covid still at large, war, and climate change wreaking havoc accross Europe, I have reached my limit of apocalyptic news. Plus, all the news I've read about the pox so far have been accompanied by disgusting graphics and I can't take that stuff. Hopefully I haven't missed some crucial info.

The story about Jones is wild. Like, a functioning adult has to be told repeatedly not to lie to a judge and he still tries it? And chews a gum, or whatever that was, during the trial? It all looks like some episode of a courtroom sitcom, dialed up to 11. But if it was in fictional series, people would complain about it being too crazy and unreal. And when that lawyer could finally brag about having received all of those texts, I can totally understand that he was so smug about it, that was probably something he was looking forward to all that time. All of that was just so crazy and it's great that Jones has been brought down a notch. But I feel bad for those poor parents who had to sit there all that time. I hope they will get some of that money, not that it changes anything, but they deserve it after what he did. 

[peeayebee]

1 hour ago, JustHereForFood said:

Plus, all the news I've read about the pox so far have been accompanied by disgusting graphics and I can't take that stuff.

I wished I had missed the disgusting graphics in this segment. I don't even like seeing popup ads for toenail fungus treatment.

[andromeda331]

1 hour ago, peeayebee said:

I wished I had missed the disgusting graphics in this segment. I don't even like seeing popup ads for toenail fungus treatment.

I don't either.

[Lugal]

On 8/8/2022 at 5:00 AM, purist said:

My jaw was on the floor for the entire segment about that scumbag Alex Jones. How was he earning $800,000 per day? How does ANYONE earn $800,000 per day, let alone a disgusting charlatan such as him? Makes me want to vomit.

It's easy, just be a complete psychopath (also being a disgusting charlatan helps) and not care who gets hurt so long as you get the $$$.

[Welshman in Ca]

On 8/8/2022 at 5:00 AM, purist said:

My jaw was on the floor for the entire segment about that scumbag Alex Jones. How was he earning $800,000 per day? How does ANYONE earn $800,000 per day, let alone a disgusting charlatan such as him? Makes me want to vomit.

He wasn't, his companies were, mostly selling crap to doomsday preppers & the like that watch & listen to him for stupid prices because they are gullible & will buy anything that he recommends and most of what he recommends is sold by his companies. The people suing him should have been awarded so much that he really would be bankrupt and keep paying them forever until the day he dies.

Edited August 9, 2022 by Welshman in Ca

[DoctorAtomic]

He actually declared bankruptcy to get around these trials. 

21 hours ago, JustHereForFood said:

All of that was just so crazy and it's great that Jones has been brought down a notch.

Has he though? John showed that he's still allowed to do his 'program'; and, presumably, sell more snake oil. John also showed him slandering the judge. The $4M award is peanuts for him, and I unfortunately think the $45M is going to be litigated ad nauseum. He clearly looked like an idiot in court when the texts were dropped on him, but I haven't seen any contrition or embarrassment on his part. 

[swanpride]

That's why I hope for the tax office. The one thing which takes people like this down is when their money is targeted. 

[shapeshifter]

1 hour ago, swanpride said:

That's why I hope for the tax office. The one thing which takes people like this down is when their money is targeted. 

It's about time "Capone" becomes a verb.

[rwlevin]

On 8/9/2022 at 4:39 PM, DoctorAtomic said:

He actually declared bankruptcy to get around these trials.

But I thought they proved that he was funneling like $11k/day to a fake LLC so the bankruptcy couldn’t take.

[andromeda331]

11 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

It's about time "Capone" becomes a verb.

And why everyone's afraid of the IRS. If their not afraid to go after him for taxes. They're not afraid to go after anyone.

[purist]

4 hours ago, andromeda331 said:

They're not afraid to go after anyone.

Except the "Church" of $cientology! (See the Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath forum.)

[swanpride]

Nobody expects the Spanish inquisition IRS

[DoctorAtomic]

A quick search showed that Jones still has to go to bankruptcy court where a ruling will be made whether he can declare. I only heard he declared bankruptcy on NPR last week.

[ShadowKnight2]

23 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

It's about time "Capone" becomes a verb.

11 hours ago, andromeda331 said:

And why everyone's afraid of the IRS. If their not afraid to go after him for taxes. They're not afraid to go after anyone.

Not even the Joker wants to tangle with the IRS:

[peeayebee]

After repeatedly opening this Monkeypox thread and reading posts about Alex Jones, the two have become synonymous.

[Welshman in Ca]

9 hours ago, purist said:

Except the "Church" of $cientology! (See the Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath forum.)

You could just as easily have said any religious entity, I mean how are they not investigating these Gucci wearing pastors and the like?

[andromeda331]

7 hours ago, Welshman in Ca said:

You could just as easily have said any religious entity, I mean how are they not investigating these Gucci wearing pastors and the like?

That's true. I'd really love for them to take a good look at all religious under exemption. I'm religious but I have a deep distrust in when it comes to organizations and money. Scientology and the millionaire ministers are just the tipping point.  

[JustHereForFood]

14 hours ago, peeayebee said:

After repeatedly opening this Monkeypox thread and reading posts about Alex Jones, the two have become synonymous.

And my comment about the news being accompanied by disgusting graphics applies too!

[paigow]

Often quoted as "A pox on both your houses." This is a famous quote from Romeo and Juliet. As Mercutio dies, he utters this phrase three times,

If everybody says it three times, will Jones get Monkeypox? (Or get visited by Beetlejuice)?

[Lantern7]

Educational segment on Monkeypox. I should probably get a shot .  . . and then my mother tells me I should get a polio shot, since I wasn't inoculated because it wasn't even a thing when I was so young.

Prairie Dogs . . . . one of the few animals John does not like. He's good with other rodents, including capybaras. Who doesn't like capybaras? Look them up on YouTube . . . they're basically giant guinea pigs that are too chill for this world. And it's a crying shame that the response to the pending pandemic was lacking, especially since we already went (and are still going) through a prior pandemic. Also, the government let smallpox vaccine go to waste. Plus side: Young Dr. Fauci! And he looked like Current Dr. Fauci!

I can't add anything new about Alex Jones. Or MTG.

Edited August 14, 2022 by Lantern7

[shapeshifter]

6 hours ago, Lantern7 said:

Educational segment on Monkeypox. I should probably get a shot .  . . and then my mother tells me I should get a polio shot, since I wasn't inoculated because it wasn't even a thing when I was so young.

Moms might be confused (and worried). 
Try searching: did i get a polio vaccine

[heatherchandler]

On 8/8/2022 at 10:38 AM, DoctorAtomic said:

I would think the judge can hold Jones in contempt for acting up in court. Certainly if he's lying under questioning. At the point of the video clip, it seemed like this was one of many times she was warning him. 

I feel like the judge is being an asshole, calling him out for chewing on his gauze or whatever and calling him a liar, and I’m worried she’s basically handing him a reason to appeal.  Aren’t judged supposed to at least pretend to be impartial?  If he appeals and lucks out with a judge who favors him, it will destroy the work the parents have been doing.  Between her and his idiot lawyer I’m worried he’s going to walk away from this without having to pay anything.

[ShadowKnight2]

9 hours ago, heatherchandler said:

I feel like the judge is being an asshole, calling him out for chewing on his gauze or whatever and calling him a liar, and I’m worried she’s basically handing him a reason to appeal.  Aren’t judged supposed to at least pretend to be impartial?  If he appeals and lucks out with a judge who favors him, it will destroy the work the parents have been doing.  Between her and his idiot lawyer I’m worried he’s going to walk away from this without having to pay anything.

So it’s all the judge’s fault Alex Jones was behaving badly and obnoxiously in her court?

[heatherchandler]

37 minutes ago, ShadowKnight2 said:

So it’s all the judge’s fault Alex Jones was behaving badly and obnoxiously in her court?

I don't think she should be calling him a liar.  If she actually believes he is lying, she should have them charge him with perjury, right?  I am not a lawyer, but maybe someone who is can set me straight, but it seems like her just calling him a liar seems strange.  And ridiculing him for having gauze in his mouth, it seems to me to be un-judge like behavior.  I am concerned all of these things will give weight to a claim that the judge is biased and get him out of having to pay. 

And I know they were playing this for laughs but I don't want to laugh at any of this; any time I see any piece of the trial I am almost in tears, those parents have been through so much.  I just want this to be over for them.

[ShadowKnight2]

44 minutes ago, heatherchandler said:

I don't think she should be calling him a liar.  If she actually believes he is lying, she should have them charge him with perjury, right?  I am not a lawyer, but maybe someone who is can set me straight, but it seems like her just calling him a liar seems strange.  And ridiculing him for having gauze in his mouth, it seems to me to be un-judge like behavior.  I am concerned all of these things will give weight to a claim that the judge is biased and get him out of having to pay. 

And I know they were playing this for laughs but I don't want to laugh at any of this; any time I see any piece of the trial I am almost in tears, those parents have been through so much.  I just want this to be over for them.

A judge has complete authority in their courtroom. Bad behavior will NOT be tolerated. That judge was in her right to castrate Jones over his appalling behavior in her court. The only people, right now, who would have issue over this are Jones' fanbase, and they are not to be taken seriously.

And as for the laughs, it was good schadenfreude to see Jones being put in his place. What kind of a person would object to feeling good about what's coming to him?

[PrincessPurrsALot]

Talk about the show and the topic, not your fellow posters.