
The secret U.S. stockpile meant to save us all in a bioterror attack - belltaco
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2018/04/24/inside-the-secret-u-s-stockpile-meant-to-save-us-all-in-a-bioterror-attack/
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34679
There were stockpiles of supplies in Puerto Rico, too, but that didn't mean it
was successfully distributed to the people who needed it.[1] Is there a secret
plan for disbursing this stockpile to 300+ million Americans? If so, why
wasn't that plan utilized in PR?

[1][https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/puerto-rico-fires-
em...](https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/puerto-rico-fires-emergency-
director-after-finding-warehouse-full-of-wasted-hurricane-maria-aid)

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zappo2938
Who was in charge at the time delegating responsibility?

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34679
At the federal level, republicans, and at the local level, democrats. There's
plenty of blame to go around without being partisan.

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mwilliaams
Aid was delivered to the island. Local officials failed to distribute it,
apparently willfully. Abandoned/hidden aid is still being discovered in
warehouses and other locations [1].

[1] [https://www.npr.org/2020/01/20/797996503/political-unrest-
in...](https://www.npr.org/2020/01/20/797996503/political-unrest-in-puerto-
rico-after-discovery-of-unused-hurricane-aid)

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skinnymuch
That’s insane. Do you know the reasoning for wastefully leaving supplies to
rot? Is it laziness? It’s one thing to keep supplies or money for yourself.
But this isn’t the case here.

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mwilliaams
I have heard speculation that it was to make the federal government look bad.
Or perhaps the local government benefits from maintaining a crisis situation.
I’m not Puerto Rican.

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Mountain_Skies
Probably some of both with the added bonus that the supplies could be sold
slowly over time as the demand never collapsed.

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CameronBanga
This story is really interesting to me.

Clearly, it’s to give people a sense of security and calmness given a
potential virus outbreak. But also feels like government PR to other
governments, with a message of “If you’re trying something, watch yourself.”

Not trying to insinuate propaganda or elevate conspiracy. But anyone with a
security background or who worked in disaster preparedness have any insight as
to why an article like this would basically reveal a bunch about our national
security? Seems to break most of my understood “Rules of Operational
Security”.

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whatshisface
Everyone knows where the fire stations are. Civilian protection isn't usually
secret. What's secret is the US bioweapons program.

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lez
Agree. While the government keeps citizens safe on one side, it is also
actively involved in unlawful act of weaponizing pathogens. The first article
in this magazine about mycoplasma gives us a briefing on this topic:
[http://www.betterhealthguy.com/images/stories/PDF/PHA/2009_0...](http://www.betterhealthguy.com/images/stories/PDF/PHA/2009_07.pdf)

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chatmasta
Note the article is from April 2018.

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reaperducer
There are lots of government emergency stockpiles around the country. Some
secret. Some not.

If you go to Grand Canyon Caverns, just east of the Hualapai reservation, and
take the tour, you can see the old stockpile from the 1940's. According to the
tour guide, in the last five or ten years, the government has started adding
to it again.

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morninglight
Democracy dies at paywalls.

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godelmachine
Would someone please post the paywall bypass link?

Edit - [https://outline.com/KDNvtL](https://outline.com/KDNvtL)

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SubiculumCode
Ublock, select block Java script, reload.

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v4dok
Why do we still have paywalled articles on the first page?

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34679
You can open it in a private tab.

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dukoid
I think I'd switch to the browser that allows a per-site setting "always open
in a private tab"

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vanniv
Color me shocked that an article that's supposed to be about some topic
manages to find a way to convert itself into another "Trump Bad" story halfway
through.

Is WaPo actually capable of writing an article that doesn't have a "Trump Bad"
angle?

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belltaco
The article had specific criticisms about the actions of a new administration.
Do you have any specific issues with those criticisms or do you think
administrations should be immune from criticism? Every new admin has it's own
priorities.

~~~
vanniv
The entire analysis starts from the assumption that any administration goal is
inherently either a fabrication or misguided.

"efficiencies" is clearly just code word for destroying all things good,
obviously, and totally not worth even considering whether there is any meaning
to the idea. I mean, if Trump wants it, it must be bad amirite?

Occasionally, they quote folks, like Irwin Redlener, director of the National
Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University in support of Trump.
But every time, they carefully treat the quote and the person as obviously
either stupid or corrupted, surrounding the quote with statements like "But
critics say it will allow biotech companies to lobby for more of their
specialized, and often more expensive, drugs to be included[...]"

Direct quote from an expert, treated as obviously worthless, followed by a
weasel-words "some critics" which is treated as the clearly superior
refutation of the idea from the actual knowledgeable person.

It's almost like they started with a narrative of "Trump is trying to kill us
all by destroying our disease preparedness" and then sat down to write an
article that looked like journalism but actually just told that story.

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belltaco
Trump's budget proposals always include big cuts to CDC's budget. After recent
criticism of this, the administration said it is just a negotiation opening
tactic.

i.e Basically, "Hey democrats, if you want more funds to fight pandemics to
stop us all from dying, you gotta give us something else, like even bigger
increases to the military budget and Space Force, or even more tax cuts to
companies".

There used to be a pandemic specialist on the National Security Council, that
position has been cut. Not to mention other positions.

[https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-fire-pandemic-
team/](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-fire-pandemic-team/)

Can you address these facts from Trump's perspective instead of just taking
cheap shots at the media?

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vanniv
Wasting karma trying to respond to every Orange Man Bad that someone can dream
up is not a particularly good use of my energy.

Go on believing he is the most evil man in all of human history of you like.

