“I’m not upset that you lied to me…” Corcoran on CNN
“I’m not upset that you lied to me, I’m upset that from now on I can’t believe you.” ― Friedrich Nietzsche
On August 21, 2020, Florida’s Commissioner of Education, Richard Corcoran appeared on CNN’s The Lead with Jake Tapper. He was there to discuss reopening Florida’s schools and a current lawsuit, where Florida’s teachers union (and others) are asking to postpone in-person learning until they can do so safely. The lawsuit is a direct challenge to Commissioner Corcoran’s July 6, 2020 Emergency Order (2020-EO-06) calling for all schools to reopen with in-person learning before the end of August, in exchange for some funding security.
Jake Tapper began with:
So, let me just put it this way: Florida has more than 10,000 Covid deaths. Today marks the 3rd straight day of more than 4,000 cases being reported in your state. Of the 28 Florida school districts that have opened, 4 districts already are reporting covid cases and the number of covid cases in Florida in children has more than doubled in the last month. All the data suggests that while children may suffer less than older Americans from this disease, reopening in-person education will cause the virus to spread more. Why are you mandating that all schools have to reopen in-person classes?
https://www.cnn.com/videos/tv/2020/08/21/lead-corcoran-live-jake-tapper.cnn
Commissioner Corcoran replied:
Well, you’ve said a lot Jake, but let me break it down. Number one is there are two paradigms. There’s the paradigm of sending kids back and the risk of Covid which we know, for a fact, is less than seasonal flu for this population. The other risk, and we just had Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, from Stanford, one of the preeminent epidemiologists in the world, let alone the country, and the risks that are known, are certain, are profound, on not sending kids back: child abuse cases, suicide deaths, drug overdoses, achievement gap exacerbation, food insecurities, those are on this side… it’s far greater than the low, low risk of less than seasonal flu. Then you look at the facts…”
Let’s stop right there. Dr. Jay Bhattacharya was one of the State’s expert witnesses in the reopening lawsuit. You can watch his testimony here and here. Dr. Bhattacharya is NOT one of the preeminent epidemiologists in the world or even the country. In fact he isn’t even one of the preeminent epidemiologists at Stanford, because he isn’t an epidemiologist.
Dr. Jay Bhattacharya is a Health Economist. He has a PhD in Economics. According to his Curriculum Vitae, Dr. Bhattacharya’s research interests are “Health economics and outcomes research.” He directs the Stanford Center on the Demography of Health and Aging. He is a professor of Medicine at Stanford and a senior Fellow at Stanford’s Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR). He graduated medical school, yes, but never did an internship or residency. He has a courtesy appointment but is not listed as part of the faculty of Stanford’s Department of Epidemiology and Population Health.
Why did Commissioner Corcoran feel the need to name-drop Dr. Bhattacharya to support his case and then completely misrepresent the doctor’s area of expertise? As for the rest of the “facts” Corcoran suggests Tapper consider, feel free to watch the interview but we are skeptical of their veracity because, as Nietzsche reminded us:
“I’m not upset that you lied to me, I’m upset that from now on I can’t believe you.”
Closing arguments for the lawsuit were held on Friday (you can watch them here). The judge’s ruling is expected next week.
Addendum: To be clear, during his testimony, Dr. Bhattacharya clearly identified himself as a Health Economist, not an epidemiologist.
Oh my, he’s not one of the most honorable and exalted epidemiologists! He must not know anything about medicine, science, or economics—the three areas one would need to have a solid grasp to create informed public policy on a virus.
You leftists worship experts and their degrees as if they were the Greek pantheon. If you had it your way, we’d all return to the Middle Ages where only the elite, anointed experts were allowed to make decisions for the masses. Why not let the merit of the evidence and the arguments stand on their own, recognizing that Dr. Battacharya is qualified to speak on these matters from a position of high comprehension? He has been more right about this virus than President femboy Fauci has ever been. Fauci literally got every possible thing wrong, but he’s an “epidemiologist,” so he must be obeyed. Pathetic.
Wow. Sorry. Seems like we struck a nerve. No one suggested Dr. Battacharya’s opinion should be disregarded and Dr. Bhattacharya clearly identified himself as an economist, not an epidemiologist. It was Commissioner Corcoran who felt the need to celebrate him as the preeminent epidemiologist in the world and that is what was pathetic. Thanks for reading our blog!
Ha, yeah right. Isn’t it you leftists who get so triggered that you won’t allow debate over literally anything that challenges you? Hence, saying it must have “struck a nerve” at the mere presence of pushback. That’s funny.
Maybe you ignored the section on his Curriculum Vitae that states he is a medical doctor. But that contradicts the “he’s an economist” narrative to discredit him. He has precisely the blend of training one would want to balance medicine and broader societal concerns. He’s skilled in the type of disciplines that can make wise public policy, unlike a Fauci, CNN, or Joe Biden who literally hit the panic button and were willing to sacrifice as many human lives as it took to bludgeon the American people into submission. Based on all the data we have to date, every single measure we’ve taken has done literally nothing to stop the virus and has instead led to massive increases in suicide, drug-related deaths, domestic violence, and deaths and acute symptoms due to delayed medical screenings and treatments as well as reduced quality of health from inactivity, worsening air quality (masks and increased time at home), and vitamin D deficiencies. Not to mention that the measures we’ve taken have worked to actually spread the virus more aggressively (from reduced quality of health) and among our most vulnerable (i.e., the nursing homes into which Cuomo ordered infected patients to be admitted, causing the virus to spread in a contained environment. . . I don’t know if Cuomo did this intentionally, but if he didn’t, he committed an unparalleled act of incompetence).
Remember that Dr. Battacharya is echoed by Dr. John Ionnidis, who is not only a medical doctor but has practiced as one and has much experience in the realms of infectious diseases and epidemiology, and many other eminently qualified medical professionals. But they have all been ignored, and only CNN, MSNBC, New York Times, Washington Post, and so forth are allowed to inform public policy under the pretext of medical science as their puppet Fauci prescribes whatever appears most politically expedient for the left in their attempt to defeat Trump.
I’m just amazed that no one on the left will break ranks and say what is utterly and abundantly obvious—”COVID-19 is not remotely as serious as the left has portrayed it.” I guess there’s no one honest on your side.
Again, sorry we have triggered you so. Perhaps you didn’t read the blog at all. We have no beef with Dr. Bhattacharya or his insights on managing the economy and health care system during this global pandemic. There does need to be a balance, of course. Like we said “No one suggested Dr. Battacharya’s opinion should be disregarded and Dr. Bhattacharya clearly identified himself as an economist, not an epidemiologist.” We don’t know why Commissioner Corcoran felt the need to describe Dr. Bhattacharya’s credentials as something they are not. It is as simple as that.
The current death toll in the U.S. is over 185,000. In Florida over 11,000 have died (that is more than 3X the number of people who died on 9/11). Florida’s numbers are improving (thankfully), but yesterday 68 Floridians died – that is 4 times the number who died in Parkland. We are going to have to agree to disagree on the seriousness of COVID-19. It is a global pandemic and ignoring it and politicizing it doesn’t seem to be helping. Wishing you and your family well today. Wear a mask. Practice social distancing. Wash your hands.
You’re funny. You keep forgetting that your side are the fascists who silence all dissent. Remember cancel culture? 🙂
Anyway, you’re way overstating Corcoran’s statement. Oh no, he accidentally called him an epidemiologist. This is all sleight of hand to avoid the real issues. Corcoran must be wrong about everything since he was wrong about one thing, right? I hope you see what a logical fallacy that is. I mean by that standard (i.e., “I’m upset that from now on I can’t believe you”), you’d have to distrust every democrat in leadership since they’ve not only been so wrong, they’ve intentionally deceived you. For example, didn’t Jerry Nadler repeatedly claim that Antifa’s violence in Portland was a myth? Now, you have all the news networks doing an about-face to try to pin the violence on Trump after one of Trump’s supporters was executed in cold blood on the streets of Portland. That’s merely one example among a myriad.
Now, regarding COVID-19, the CDC has reported that only 6% of all COVID-19 deaths are solely from COVID-19. In fact, by the standards we used to count deaths during the SARS pandemic, we’d only have roughly 30,000 deaths to date from COVID-19 and that’s from at least as late as February 1 (nearly twice the length of an average flu season). In 1957 there were 116,000 deaths from the flu (about 532 deaths per million) and in 1967 more than 100,000. We did not lock down, and we made it through realizing that far more people would have died if we shut down our economy than if we allowed the virus to run its course and treated those hospitalized with the best medical treatments available. So what’s the difference now?
Politics.
You accuse me of politicizing this when that is 100 percent what your side has done since day one. The left always projects their own evils onto their opponents. You and the left don’t care about a single death. You simply see this as a political opportunity to ram through progressive agendas. Want to know how I know?
If you cared about human lives, you wouldn’t advocate for shutting down the economy and stagnating its recovery. Far more people’s lives have been lost and harmed by the lockdowns and economic downturn than from the virus. If you care about human life, you would be more alarmed by the damage we’ve done by overreacting. Yet, it seems the only lives you care about are those which are represented by Johns Hopkins’ and the CDC’s death counts. It’s because it’s only political for you and the democrats.
If you cared, your side wouldn’t have given endorsements for the massive crowds of BLM and Antifa protestors packed into small areas, shoulder to shoulder, during the height of this supposedly Armaggedon-like plague. Yet, medical doctors and news anchors made up some make-believe theory that the virus somehow knows not to attack progressive leftists when they are protesting. If the virus were as deadly as suggested, why would nationwide protests not lead to huge spikes in COVID-19 deaths?
This is all a farce. Is there a virus? Yes. Can it lead to severe health complications? Yes, almost exclusively for those who would already be vulnerable to the cold and flu. Is it something I should be concerned about? No, at least not any more than a normal flu season.
And do I honestly have to correct you on the error of comparing deaths from a mass shooting to a virus? You could do that with anything. . . in New York City there have been more than 10,000 deaths from pneumonia this year—that’s more than three times the number of deaths in the September 11 terror attacks. That was the deadliest terror attack in history and pneumonia has more than tripled the death toll. Pneumonia, then, must be an existential threat, and we must do everything in our power to prevent it, including outlawing leaving the house during rain, forcing all homes to have dehumidifiers, creating a department to conduct regular inspections of people’s homes for fungal infestations, and permanently social distancing and locking down our economy to prevent transmissible diseases. I could go on, but I hope you can figure out how absurd your arguments are.
Remember that the director for the Illinois department of health admitted in a press conference that they were counting all deaths of patients who tested positive for COVID-19 as COVID-19 deaths, regardless of whether COVID-19 had any impact on the person’s death. Dr. Deborah Birx said the same thing on several occasions, saying that she no longer trusted the CDC’s numbers and that she believed they were inflated by as much as 25 percent. It has been well established by coroners across the country that health departments have been inflating the counts (e.g., a 60-year-old man who died from a gunshot wound to the head, a 90-year-old man who fell and died from complications of a hip fracture, and a 77-year-old woman who died of Parkinson’s disease were all counted as COVID-19 deaths). As well, the US Department of Health and Human Services has publicly confirmed that hospitals receive an extra 20 percent in Medicare reimbursements for COVID-19 cases, and some have received as much as $50,000 in federal aid for each eligible patient. There’s no doubt there is a financial incentive to inflate the severity and extent of the virus.
All of this (and more) shows that the democrats, and people such as yourself, have ignored important evidence and data and forced a strategy that is so flawed it will probably be looked back upon as the most embarrassing overreaction in our nation’s history. You don’t care about human lives, otherwise you wouldn’t be willing to sacrifice as many as possible to continue promoting this obviously false narrative.
So, just as you think you can tell others how to live their lives based on your political games, I’d like to return the favor. Go outside. Go to stores and restaurants. Spend time with friends, family, and neighbors. Give people hugs and handshakes. Don’t wear a mask, being muzzled as a genuflecting sycophant. Be happy and enjoy life. Read the Bible. Go to church and learn how to live according to healthy and productive values. Have a traditional family and raise your kids to be hard-working, respectful, and decent. On and on I could go.
You leftists never get a taste of your own medicine (i.e, thinking you know how to live other people’s lives better than they do). Why not simply let each person be responsible for their own actions, avoiding the things they find risky, and not interfering with other’s rights to take on risk and conduct their own affairs? Because it’s all political and you won’t be happy until each person is humiliated or pummeled into submission and your leftist agendas are forced onto others.
Just try to be honest for a moment and understand what I’m saying.
Again, thanks for reading our blog. I am sorry it has rattled you so. Humiliating and pummeling people into submission was never our intent. Find peace in the understanding that we have not accused you of anything (unless you are, in fact, Richard Corcoran undercover, in which case we accused you of exaggerating Dr. Battacharya’s credentials, which you clearly did).
If following basic public health measures is not your thing then so be it. Please move on and be well.
As usual, the left can’t debate substance. Continue to deny reality.
We’re not going to debate you because there is nothing to debate. Dr. Bhattacharya is a medical economist not the world’s preeminent epidemiologist. Our blog is about education issues in Florida not a place to debate the U.S.’s failed response to the Covid pandemic and who is responsible for that. You might find that debate on another WordPress blog, but not here.