🇺🇸 Monkey Business

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📉 President Biden Job Approval: Approve 39, Disapprove 59 (Rasmussen Reports)

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🐘 2022 Generic Congressional Vote: Republicans 45, Democrats 44 (Emerson)

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Left: Trump V. DeSantis: Young Conservatives Debate GOP's Future (AP)

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Left: What the Critics Get Incredibly Wrong about the Colins-Manchin Election Bill (Slate)

Right: Energy group unveils six-figure ad buy ripping Biden for similarities to Carter (Fox Business)

Right: House Staffers Arrested For Protesting Climate Change In Schumer’s Office (Daily Wire)

Right: China made huge land purchase just minutes from top secret US military drone base (Washington Examiner)

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Biden Feeling Great, Pope Apologizes, Sick Days Surge

US: Biden now nearly free of COVID symptoms, doctor says (Yahoo)

US: Pope apologizes for ‘catastrophic’ school policy in Canada (AP)

US: Woman Shot After Opening Fire Inside Dallas Love Field Airport (NBC)

World: Volcano erupts in Japan, sending large rocks and ash into the sky (CBS)

US: Paul Sorvino, 'Goodfellas' and 'Law & Order' star, dead at 83 (CNN)

US: Most Americans Think Government Is Corrupt, a Third Say Armed Revolution 'May Be Necessary' Soon (Reason)

US: Ticketmaster Responds To Fans Irate About $5K Bruce Springsteen Tickets (Daily Wire)

US: Sick days and vacations hit businesses this summer (Axios)

US: Massachusetts happy hour ban could be over soon (Time Out)

HEALTH

Monkey Business

On Saturday the World Health Organization declared the Monkeypox outbreak a global health emergency. The viral disease spreads through close contact and data has determined gay and bisexual men are at higher risk.

News Coverage from the Right: Monkeypox has 'variety of mechanisms for spread': Expert (Fox News)

News Coverage from the Left: Monkeypox explained – How to protect yourself and what to watch out for (NPR)

From The Flag: Meanwhile, the world is still dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, including President Biden’s recent diagnosis. It’s also unclear how likely Monkeypox is to affect the larger population or if the virus is more akin to an STD. Here’s commentary from both sides.

LEFT-LEANING SENTIMENT

Don’t Call It a Gay Disease: We Need to Prepare for Wider Spread

• This is not a “gay” disease but rather one that is spreading within the community, and efforts should be made to stop it from impacting the broader population.

• Former Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams says Monkeypox testing and vaccination efforts need to be ramped up.

• The health community has known about Monkeypox for decades and yet little was done to prepare for an outbreak in the US.

“The monkeypox outbreak is still growing. It demands an urgent response.” Editorial Board, Washington Post: “While monkeypox has sometimes caused serious illness in humans, the virus is not as transmissible or deadly as the coronavirus. … Most reported cases so far have involved men who have reported recent sex with one or multiple male partners, although not exclusively, according to the World Health Organization. … All efforts must be made to fight the virus where it is. This is not a gay disease but a disease circulating in the gay community, a vital but difficult distinction confronting public health officials. The HIV/AIDS pandemic showed the disastrous impact of stigmatization, which dissuaded people from obtaining services. Public health officials must be careful to avoid discrimination and stigma while aggressively monitoring for the disease. Waiting for patients to come into health clinics is not sufficient. Public health agencies should partner with LGBTQ and AIDS organizations to bring testing and tracing into the community.”

“Monkeypox now a 'global emergency.' US needs to step up, says former surgeon general.” Austin Bogues, Steven Porter, and Dr. Jerome Adams, USA Today Opinion: “We are seeing an exponential spread of cases, but we're seeing those cases right now focused on the MSM community, or men who have sex with men. … There are many different reasons for this… including the types of activities that are occurring. Personal contact, direct contact is traditionally how monkeypox is spread. So we need to focus on education, testing and resources for those communities so that we can control the spread right now. But we also need to be aware that it's not ‘if,’ it's ‘when’ we start to see spread beyond the MSM community in the United States. … we're running into many of the same problems with testing that we ran into with COVID-19 testing … By the time you get a test result back, you've already spread it to other people.”

One more opinion piece from the Left: This monkeypox outbreak didn't have to happen Syra Madad, CNN Opinion

RIGHT-LEANING SENTIMENT

The Monkeypox Truth Is Plain to See, But Media Covers Their Eyes

• In a sad potential repeat of the AIDS crisis, no one is talking about the fact that risky promiscuous sex is leading to the spread of Monkeypox.

• Politicians, authorities, and people in the media attempted to shame and blame certain people for spreading COVID, but the same hasn’t happened in response to Monkeypox.

• It is neither compassionate nor good medical practice to deny the plain truth that Monkeypox is spreading among gay and bisexual men.

“Pox The Monkey” Rod Dreher, The American Conservative: “This is something I will never understand: how promiscuity is so much a part of anyone's life. Remember when we were told that gay male promiscuity had to do with the fact that society wouldn't let them partner and marry? It was always absurd. It had to do with the fact that men have a high sex drive, and without the restraints of religious taboos or having to negotiate the complexities of female desire, many will act like rutting apes. Do you want to know what monkeypox can do to you? … It's breathtakingly horrible. … We will never talk frankly about risky gay male sex networks, or do anything else like that. We have been vaccinated against common sense by wokeness. … monkeypox… thank God, is not nearly as severe as AIDS, but it's bad enough. And yet, here we are. Nobody is talking bluntly about any of this. Nobody is talking about shutting down bathhouses and sex clubs.”

“Unlike COVID, There’s No Behavior-Shaming to Halt Monkeypox Spread” John Nolte, Breitbart: “Gee, I wonder why? During the China Flu pandemic, we were shamed for leaving our homes, going to the beach, opening schools, gathering to worship God, standing together, hugging, attending funerals, visiting nursing homes, allowing a mask to slip under our nose, and showing up at a political rally that didn’t involve burning and looting … During the coronavirus pandemic, and for two whole years, every facet of normal life was condemned as the equivalent of committing mass murder. … But there’s no behavior-shaming… Even though, according to what we now know… Gay sex is the chief spreader of monkeypox. … I don’t care what gay men do. They can do whatever they want. This is about… living in a country where if you are not among the protected class, you are treated as a second-class citizen by the fascist left.”

One more opinion piece from the Right: From oil to monkeypox, truth is elusive to mainstream media Robert Knight, Washington Times Opinion

FLAG THIS

Factoring in Stigma, Past Lessons, and Vaccines

A study from the New England Journal of Medicine looked at over 525 cases of Monkeypox and determined 95% were transmitted during sex between men. In declaring the disease a global health emergency, the WHO cautioned stigma and discrimination can be as dangerous as any virus.

Some experts have called for Monnkeypox vaccination efforts to be focused within the gay community.

FLAG FINDS

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