Wondering on Wednesday (v205)

Ready... Set... Wonder! 

So, what are we wondering about this Wednesday? Well, there's this very confusing exchange between the untruthful SecState Mike Pompeo and ABC's Martha Raddatz, who was trying to get to the bottom of conflicting statements from the Trump administration about the origins of the coronavirus.  I've added emphasis below.

First, Raddatz mentioned the statement from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence saying the virus did originate in China, but concurs with the wide scientific consensus that the COVID-19 virus was not man-made or genetically modified, and that they will continue to investigate if the outbreak started with animals at the wet market, or if it was a lab accident. (Emphasis added,)

And she showed a clip of the president saying he had seen information giveing him "a high degree of confidence that the Wuhan Institute of virology was the origin of the virus" but he was "not allowed to tell" the reporters what he had seen that gave him the confidence. 

And she asked Pompeo if he had seen anything that gives him high confidence that it started in the Wuhan lab.

Martha, there's enormous evidence that that's where this began. We've said from the beginning that this was a virus that originated in Wuhan, China. We took a lot of grief for that from the outset. But I think the whole world can see now. Remember, China has a history of infecting the world, and they have a history of running substandard laboratories. These are not the first times that we've had a world exposed to viruses as a result of failures in a Chinese lab. And so, while the intelligence community continues to do its work, they should continue to do that, and verify so that we are certain, I can tell you that there is a significant amount of evidence that this came from that laboratory in Wuhan.

And she asked if he believed it was man-made or genetically modified. Pompeo said "Look, the best experts so far seem to think it was man-made. I have no reason to disbelieve that at this point."

She pushed back on that, and it's a sight to behold, for sure.

MR: Your - your Office of the DNI says the consensus, the scientific consensus was not man-made or genetically modified.

MP: That's right. I agree with that. Yeah. I've seen their analysis. I've seen the summary that you saw that was released publicly. I have no reason to doubt that that is accurate...

MR:OK, so just to be clear, you do not think it was man-made or genetically modified?

MP: I've seen what the intelligence community has said. I have no reason to believe that they've got it wrong.

Now, what the heck does he agree with, you wonder?

I believe he finds the sound of his own voice agreeable, no matter how ridiculous those words are. I mean, he agrees that it's not man-made and he has high confidence that it started in the lab, but he agrees that they don't know and should continue trying to find out, but that experts think it was man-made, except the statement he agrees with says it wasn't and he has no reason. Sorry, he has no reason to believe that what he agrees with is either incorrect or not right. Or that it's wrong.

Good lord, I miss the days when he just blew a condescending gasket at reporters, don't you? And speaking of condescending and untruthful, there's the VP, who didn't wear a mask when he visited the Mayo Clinic.

First there was the look them in the eye explanation, and then there was Mother Pence saying that he didn't know he was supposed to wear one, and then there was the I've been tested and I know I'm not sick and finally, we have the I should have worn a mask response.

I didn't think it was necessary, but I should have worn a mask at the Mayo Clinic and I wore it when I visited the ventilator plant in Indiana. 

And, apparently referring to others, not himself, Pence said, 

It really is a statement about the American people, the way people have been willing to step forward, practice social distancing, wear masks in settings where they can’t do that...As we continue to practice those principles, all of us together, I know we’ll get through this.

Yes, but I wonder, again, whether he will being regularly following his own guidelines? I mean, now that we have confirmation that the White House Coronavirus Task is going to be continuing, just when we thought it wasn't going to be, I assume we'll still hear from him and those guidelines. And, I wonder, will we see more Jared now?

And finally, a fantastic good news story - I'll let the folks at Time tell you all about it; they're one of many that are covering this one.

In 1847, the Native American Choctaw nation sent $170 ($5000 today) of relief aid to the Irish people impacted by the great potato famine. Now, the Irish are reciprocating the act of goodwill by donating funds to the Navajo nation, which has been severely impacted by COVID-19, with at least 2373 cases and 73 death as of May 3...

 A GoFundMe campaign raising funds for bulk food and medical supplies has already reached $1,769,300, thanks in large part to Irish donors.

All I really wonder here is, how cool is that?