Category: Economics / Economy / Income / Financial

Christian teacher wins $95,000 settlement after misgendering student for “religious” reasons

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2022/09/christian-teacher-wins-95000-settlement-misgendering-student-religious-reasons/

Can anyone show me where in the bible Jesus said don’t be respectful or don’t be kind to others and never use the name / pronouns they prefer.   Where in the bible did their god write only use male pronouns for beings with swing penises, something I highly doubt God the father he himself has?  Really the supreme being in your religion who is super magical, has a penis?   If not then you are using a preferred pronoun!   Did god ever write be an asshole over changing someone’s name, or did he himself command it several times?   This is just hate packaged as religion to get permission from the government to be an asshole and a jerk.   How much more superior that teacher must feel after treating a kid so crudely.    I hope everyone learns that they do not want to ever be like her.   Somehow for the good of the students we must get teachers like her out of teaching.   When did the rules of a job just not apply to those who claim religion?   Are we a theocracy or a democracy?   Again what is the big issue religiously with calling someone by a name they prefer, we use nick names for people all the time.   I think this is part of the stereotype gender role that must be enforced by the fanatically religious.    Woman’s clothes, men’s clothes, woman’s job, men’s job, woman’s names, men’s names, and so on.   I don’t think clothing, jobs, names and so on really need to have a gender assignment.   Is Kim a male or female name?  Depends where you are.  What about Sandy?    Hugs

She insisted that calling a trans boy “Miss” was a “compromise” between respecting him and following her religious beliefs.
 
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Education doodles against teacher shouting at boy in classroom (Stock)
Photo: Shutterstock
 

A teacher in Kansas was awarded $95,000 Wednesday to settle a lawsuit after she misgendered a student but claimed that she should be allowed to because of her religious beliefs.

The former math teacher at Fort Riley Middle School, Pamela Ricard, claimed it was a violation of her religious beliefs to use the preferred pronouns of a trans boy student and insisted on addressing him as “miss.”

She was reprimanded and suspended for three days for violating the bullying, diversity, and inclusion policies. She sued the school district.

The lawsuit alleged the Geary County School District denied Ricard’s request for a religious exemption to its policy that school staff use students’ preferred pronouns. The district also directed teachers to use a student’s legal name when communicating with parents, concealing the student’s pronoun preference, according to the suit.

“No school district should ever force teachers to willfully deceive parents or engage in any speech that violates their deeply held religious beliefs,” Tyson Langhofer, Ricard’s lawyer, told the AP.

The anti-LGBTQ hate group Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) and the Kriegshauser Ney Law Group filed the case on Ricard’s behalf.

Addressing the student as “miss” was Ricard’s attempted workaround to the school’s insistence she address him by his preferred name.

According to the lawsuit, Ricard believed using “Miss (legal/enrolled last name)” respected the student while also upholding Ricard’s religious convictions, despite the fact that that was deliberately misgendering the boy and also singling him out for differing treatment from his classmates.

Ricard said she believes God assigns gender at birth, according to the lawsuit. The school’s policy requiring her to use language that doesn’t conform to a student’s biological sex “actively violates Ms. Ricard’s religious beliefs.”

The settlement came about after a federal judge ruled the lawsuit could proceed, citing its likely success based on her free exercise of religion claim. The judge also granted Ricard’s motion to halt the district’s parental communication policy. Soon after, the district school board formally revoked the guidance.

The judge also ruled, incongruously, that Picard could avoid using students’ preferred pronouns but should address them by their preferred names.

Picard retired in May. Along with the $95,000 award, she won a statement from the school district that she was in good standing without any disciplinary actions against her.

Greg Abbott’s anti-trans order has helped destroy Texas’ child abuse agency

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2022/09/greg-abbotts-anti-trans-order-helped-destroy-texas-child-abuse-agency/

 

Abbott’s order to investigate trans-supportive families for “child abuse” was so bad that state employees were told never to discuss it in writing.
 
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Texas Governor Greg Abbott speaks to the media before the 2016 Republican National Committee debate.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott speaks to the media before the 2016 Republican National Committee debate. Photo: Shutterstock
 

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) has helped destroy his state’s child abuse agency by forcing its workers to investigate the parents of transgender children. Its workers are now speaking out about the unethical secrecy, internal strife, and staff resignations caused by his order — and how it has interfered with the department’s ability to help victims of actual abuse.

In February, Abbott ordered the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) to investigate for child abuse any parents who allow their trans children to access gender-affirming medical care prescribed by their doctors. Abbott’s order was based on a non-binding opinion issued by the state’s Attorney General Ken Paxton earlier in the month calling gender-affirming health care a form of child abuse.

Paxton’s opinions and Abbott’s order both went against the best practices of pediatrics outlined by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association, and the American Psychological Association. These organizations consider gender-affirming medical care as necessary in many cases, noting it reduces mental anguish and suicide risk among trans youth.

Soon after issuing his order, several DFPS employees quit and some state attorneys refused to enforce it. The Texas Supreme Court ruled that neither Abbott nor Paxton had the authority to issue the order. Several families with trans children also filed a lawsuit against Abbott. The presiding district judge in the lawsuit issued a temporary restraining order, effectively stopping DFPS’s investigations while the court prepares to consider the order’s legality in December.

Department officials were told to hide their transphobic investigations from the public

In an August 25 amicus brief, 16 current and former DFPS workers spoke against Abbott’s order and in support of the suing parents.

The employees said that Abbott’s order represented a “radical departure” from the state’s legal definition of abuse, forcing DFPS employees to interfere with family medical decisions. In the past, DFPS workers had been taught to trust that medical professionals’ advised care — when given in good faith with fully informed consent — was in “the best interest of the child.” Not anymore.

DFPS employees were told that they had to investigate any trans-related cases, whether they thought there was reason to or not. Workers were also instructed not to comment on Abbott’s order on social media in order to appear neutral, the Texas Tribune reported.

“Everyone you need to stay off social media with any opinions,” one worker instructed employees. “We will be investigating these cases. This will get messy.”

Abbott issued his order without following the requirements for creating new departmental rules, as outlined in the state’s Administrative Procedure Act, the brief added. If allowed to go into effect, the order would “irreparably harm morale and effectiveness at DFPS, which are already in crisis,” the brief said.

Furthermore, DFPS employees were instructed “not to discuss these cases in emails, text messages, or any other form of writing that could provide a record of the investigation or ‘be pulled by media if requested,’” the brief added. This order essentially directed the DFPS to hide any paper trail of their persecution of trans-supportive families. As a result, the press, other government agencies, and even the families being investigated couldn’t examine the department’s work.

According to Randa Mulanax, an investigations supervisor who resigned over Abbott’s order, the instructions were an “unprecedented level of secrecy” that she’d never seen in her six years of working there. The instructions were particularly bizarre because department investigators regularly depend on other such documented notes to aid in their work.

The secrecy “shows consciousness of guilt by DFPS leadership that their actions are controversial, political, and based on a tenuous and novel interpretation of the law,” the brief stated.

Experienced DFPS workers quit over Abbott’s directive

In response to Abbott’s order, DFPS employee Emma Menchaca, expressed her disbelief in an email, writing, “This is Texas now? Because this is BS. Sorry not sorry. Really???”

Shaun Santiago, another DFPS employee, expressed outrage that workers would be forced to follow Abbott’s order. “We have trans workers here at DFPS, what kind of message are we sending to them?” he wrote in one email. In other emails, he said he’d resign rather than ever investigate a family over gender-affirming care, the Tribune reported.

The amicus brief also noted that nearly 2,300 DFPS employees have left the department this year alone, including ones who have departed over their disagreement with Abbott’s order. The departures have included a transgender investigator of child abuse as well as other “passionate workers who carry decades of experience and knowledge,” the Houston Chronicle noted. These resignations have made it hard for DFPS to perform its basic functions.

DFPS already had a high turnover rate with employees quitting over “safety concerns, lack of communication, low pay, problems with their bosses,” the Chronicle added. Many employees are required to oversee unhoused foster children despite having no training to do so. Others are assigned too many cases and pressured to close them before they’re properly investigated.

Shelby McCowen, a former DFPS child abuse investigator, said Abbott’s order was the “last straw” for many employees.

“There are a ton of social workers who do already identify with the LGBTQ community, me being one myself,” McCowen told the Chronicle. “It kind of feels like we’re turning on family members at this point.”

Child abuse in Texas is getting harder to investigate, thanks to Abbott

In the amicus brief, DFPS workers condemned Abbott’s order, saying, “[We] did not enter the child protection profession to remove children from loving homes with parents or guardians merely because they follow medical advice and a doctor’s care, only to place them in a foster care system that is riddled with actual abuse, sexual assault, and even sex trafficking.”

“The public statements of the Governor’s staff have made clear that the February 22 Directive was not motivated by any concern for the welfare of Texas’s vulnerable children but by the desire to create a political ‘wedge issue’ for electoral purposes,” the brief continued.

“DFPS [is] an agency that is already ‘failing children,’” the brief concluded. “[The department] cannot withstand the division, attrition, and harm to children and families wrought [by Abbott’s order].”

GOP Wisconsin governor candidate donated $250K to anti-LGBTQ & anti-abortion groups

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2022/09/gop-wisconsin-governor-candidate-donated-250k-anti-lgbtq-anti-abortion-groups/

When they tell you who they are believe them the first time!   We need to understand how anti-democracy these republicans are.  We need to understand how badly they crave the power to rule over everyone to force their Christian doctrine on to the public at large.   We must defeat them at all costs if we want to have civil rights, a secular society, and a democracy of the people for the people.   Hugs

The donations to anti-LGBTQ churches provide a preview of how Michels may handle LGBTQ issues as governor.
 
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GOP Wisconsin governor candidate donated $250K to anti-LGBTQ & anti-abortion groups
Tim Michels Photo: Screenshot
 

Tim Michels, the Republican candidate running for Wisconsin governor, donated $250,000 in 2020 to groups opposing abortion and all forms of contraception, and to anti-LGBTQ churches. The donations, made along with Michels’s wife Barbara through their foundation, The Timothy and Barbara Michels Family Foundation, represent 15 percent of the candidate’s total donations in 2020, according to a report by The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Along with donations totaling $175,000 to radical anti-abortion organizations in Wisconsin and New York, the Michels gave $10,000 to Miami’s Christ Fellowship, whose parishioners include former Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio. Christ Fellowship’s pastor, Omar Giritli, delivered an anti-transgender sermon in May, in which he attacked Caitlyn Jenner and preached that God believes transgender people are an “abomination” and a “rebellion to their creator.” A 2015 Huffington Post report detailed the church’s consistent anti-LGBTQ message.

Spring Creek Church in Pewaukee, Wisconsin also received a $50,000 donation from the couple. The church’s pastor, Chip Bernhard, has reportedly suggested that allowing transgender children to use bathrooms that correspond to their gender identity is “awful.”

“While the media is desperate to find lines of attack, their generosity helps support causes they believe in and funds cancer research and other Christian causes,” Michels’s campaign spokesperson Anna Kelly told The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Michels, meanwhile, has tried to downplay social issues on the campaign trail. “The people who feel the Democratic party has left them for social issues, you are now going to have a governor that’s going to stand up for the hard-working, tax-paying, law-abiding citizens of Wisconsin,” he said early last month after winning the Republican primary.

Michels is running to unseat incumbent Governor Tony Evers (D).

“Tim Michels will stop at nothing to push his radical agenda in order to limit the rights of LGBTQ Wisconsinites and those seeking an abortion,” Democratic Party spokesperson Hannah Menchhoff said. “If elected, Tim Michels will implement radical policies that are out of touch with the majority of Wisconsinites.”

 

Colombia’s leftwing government unveils tax-the-rich plan to tackle poverty

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/aug/26/colombia-tax-the-rich-plan-poverty-gustavo-petro

See how easy it could be.    Tax the wealthy as they have all the money and use that tax to let the government help the public who need it.     Do this here.   Tax the wealthy and channel the taxes raised into anti-poverty efforts, free public universities and other social welfare programs.   Everything written in this article about Colombia is the same in the US.   All of it is happening here as it is there.    If they can do we can do it.    We need to do it.    Hugs

President Gustavo Petro’s proposed legislation could raise $11.5bn a year with measures including wealth tax and levy on oil exports

President Gustavo Petro aims to channel the taxes raised in anti-poverty efforts, free public university and other social welfare programs.
President Gustavo Petro aims to channel the taxes raised in anti-poverty efforts, free public university and other social welfare programs. Photograph: Luisa González/Reuters
 

Colombia’s new leftist government has proposed an ambitious plan to tax the rich in an effort to combat poverty in one of the most unequal countries in the Americas.

If implemented, the Piketty-esque legislation proposed by President Gustavo Petro could raise more than $11.5bn annually to fund anti-poverty efforts, free public university and other social welfare programs.

 

Petro, a former urban guerrilla who became the country’s first leftist leader, rose to power on a raft of promises centered around social progress at a time when the South American country is still plagued by pandemic-fueled economic turmoil.

If passed, the plan would raise taxes on the country’s highest earners – approximately 2% of Colombia’s population – cut tax benefits for the richest and fight tax evasion.

The tax hikes would progressively increase as income increases. It would add an annual wealth tax on savings and property above $630,000, and would add a 10% tax on some of Colombia’s biggest exports – oil, coal and gold – after prices rise above a certain threshold.

“This should not be viewed as a punishment or a sacrifice,” said Petro. “It is simply a solidarity payment that someone fortunate makes to a society that has enabled them to generate wealth.”

The wealth tax was among Petro’s chief promises during his campaign and would mark a significant step toward achieving his bold policy agenda, which has inspired hope in some and skepticism in others.

It is also part of a larger debate playing out around the world at a time of deepening global inequalities.

“This is not just Colombia,” said economist Álvaro Pardo. “This is a large conversation in any country – the ideas of equity and progress, the idea that those who have the most have to pay more. These are universal concepts we’re drawing upon.”

Petro’s proposal has prompted alarm in the country’s private sector and political elite who argue the tax will dampen investment, push job creators out of the country and – according to the arch-conservative former president Álvaro Uribe – potentially deepen poverty.

“We support all these efforts for the country to overcome poverty,” Uribe said following a meeting with Petro this summer. “But not at the cost of withering away the private sector.”

But at the height of the country’s decades-long armed conflict, Uribe imposed a similar temporary tax in order to fund his war with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) guerrilla group.

Last year, amid stewing resentment for Petro’s predecessor, Iván Duque, another tax reform proposal ignited months of anti-government protests, which became symbolic of deeper social unrest and endemic inequalities.

“It was sort of a perfect storm from political opposition to the government, post-pandemic economic hardship and the government’s response,” said Sergio Guzmán, director of Colombia Risk Analysis. “Under this government, things are different.”

A supporter displays a banner saying ‘Don’t let us down’ at the inauguration of President Gustavo Petro in Bogotá on 7 August.
A supporter displays a banner saying ‘Don’t let us down’ at the inauguration of President Gustavo Petro in Bogotá on 7 August. Photograph: Mauricio Dueñas Castañeda/EPA

This bill, he said, “is more progressive in nature”, doing away with key exemptions that he and economists say have allowed richer individuals to pay lower taxes than the average Colombian.

It’s also more permanent than other wealth taxes. The measure will now have to go through congress, where it is likely to pass.

The proposal was a welcome move for many Colombians who have felt like they have been on the outside looking in.

Marlon Mendoza, an Afro-Colombian entrepreneur on the Caribbean coast, was one of 1.6 million Colombians who, during the pandemic, were knocked out of the middle class and back into poverty.

“The poor got poorer, and the rich got richer,” he said.

 

He went from having an office and a home in the city of Cartagena to returning to the unpaved streets of his town of birth on the outskirts of the city, struggling paycheck to paycheck.

Some observers warn that the tax plan will only address the tip of the iceberg.

Pardo said: “The challenge is gigantic because it means breaking a structure that has been in place for decades, a structure that favors rich sectors and big companies. It’s going to be very difficult.”

But it’s that painful growth that needs to happen, says Mendoza.

“This is a new idea. Human beings, not just Colombians, we’ve gotten used to the status quo. Down the line, if that thing is hurting us, it’s hard to branch away from what we’re used to.” he said. “But if we don’t do that, there will never be change.”

Right-wing Troll Causes Bomb Threat at Children’s Hospital

Authorities are investigating a bomb threat on Boston Children’s Hospital, which has faced a harassment campaign from Libs of TikTok for providing gender-affirming care to trans youth. Ana Kasparian discusses on The Young Turks.

Read more HERE: https://www.mediamatters.org/libs-tik…

“Libs of TikTok’s Chaya Raichik pledged to redouble her attacks on hospitals providing trans people with health care, she wrote in a rant on her Substack in which she called gender-affirming care “mutilating the body.”

Raichik’s recent efforts against Boston Children’s Hospital, Children’s National Hospital in D.C., and others have led to violent threats against health care providers and at least one request for help from law enforcement. Libs of TikTok has fallen silent on Twitter for the first time in weeks as a result of a suspension for violation of the platform’s rules against hateful conduct.

The Washington Post’s Taylor Lorenz reported on Sunday that Libs of Tik Tok had earned a seven-day suspension. A Twitter spokesperson confirmed the suspension in a statement to Media Matters, saying that “we took enforcement action against the account … for violating our hateful conduct policy. The account was placed in read-only mode for seven days.”

GLOVES OFF: Fed up Biden finally DEMOLISHES Republicans in viral takedown on stage

Herschel Walker Thinks Inflation Sucks for Women Because ‘They Gotta Buy Groceries’

https://www.thedailybeast.com/georgia-senate-hopeful-herschel-walker-thinks-inflation-affects-women-more-because-they-gotta-buy-groceries?ref=home

This guy is not fit to be in the US Senate.   Hell he is not fit to handle a credit card or check book.   Hugs

Herschel Walker, the former NFL running back hoping to become a senator for Georgia this fall, has put his foot in it… again. At a town hall and lunch for women on August 19 in Wrightsville, he said that inflation affects women more than men because “they gotta buy groceries.” In a clip from the event that re-surfaced this week, he listed crime, the economy, and gas prices as what he thought were the key issues for women. According to 13WMAZ’s coverage of the town hall last month, Walker also called “defund the police” a “dumb idea” and said about trans athletes, “You guys want your daughters to compete against me? I don’t even know why we’re discussing this.” He also told a 13WMAZ reporter that he was glad to see abortion rights being left to the states.

 

Let’s talk about Ted Cruz, education, slackers, and risk….

Ron DeSantis’ Latest Political Stunt Blows Up In His Face

Citizens of Florida who were arrested as part of Ron DeSantis’ “crackdown” on voter fraud thought they were eligible to cast ballots. Ana Kasparian and Cenk Uygur discuss on The Young Turks.

Read more HERE: https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2…

“Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis made a spectacle out of the round of arrests made by his election police force earlier this month, jailing 20 people on charges of voter fraud and promising more prosecutions to come. At least one target was dragged to jail in his underwear by a SWAT team at 6 a.m. But it turns out that the individuals ensnared in DeSantis’ dragnet had no idea that they could not lawfully vote. The governor’s own appointees flubbed their legal duty to stop them from registering. And because of their sloppy errors, all 20 defendants may well be acquitted of crimes they did not intend to commit.

DeSantis’ misadventure traces back to Amendment 4, the ballot initiative that was supposed to restore voting rights to most people who had completed sentences for felony convictions. (Those convicted of murder and sex offenses were excluded.) Floridians overwhelmingly approved the constitutional amendment in 2018. Yet DeSantis and his fellow Republicans promptly sabotaged the amendment by enacting an unnavigable, incomprehensible system for individuals who wished to regain their right to vote. The state refused to establish a coherent process for people convicted of felonies to learn they are eligible to cast a ballot. Many Floridians with disqualifying convictions, including the defendants arrested this month, are therefore unaware that amendment 4 does not apply to them.

MS Gov Declares Capital City’s Water Unsafe To Drink – from JMG

MS Gov Declares Capital City’s Water Unsafe To Drink

The Build Back Better plan that Biden tried to get passed had money for these types of projects to fix many of the utilities that people depend on, but the republicans and Manchin couldn’t stand the idea of the government doing something that helped the public, the people.   The republicans and Manchin only want the government to help the wealthy corporations gain more money like in the latest bill Manchin negotiated that required the offering of 2000 acers of public land to oil companies before one renewable project like a wind turban can be built on any public lands.   This is called the wealthiest nation on earth, but we cannot provide drinkable water to our people.   But we instead give all the money in the country to the wealthy, we fail to tax them while giving them rebates and tax breaks.    Back when the wealthy and corporations paid the largest amount of taxes it took to run the country, because they had the most money, this country did wondrous things building huge infrastructure projects that raised the living standards of everyone.   Now that the tax burden has shifted to the lower incomes that cannot afford the burden, the system is falling apart as there is no money for repairs.    I wonder if this is going to be used by republicans to privatize the water systems costing the people more and losing them the rights over the water resources.    Hugs

The Mississippi Free Press reports:

Jackson’s water system is failing and water across the city is entirely unsafe to drink, officials said at an emergency briefing Monday night. State leadership have warned all residents of Mississippi’s capital city to boil water before drinking or even brushing their teeth.

“We need to provide water for up to 180,000 people for an unknown period of time,” Reeves said tonight.

“Please stay safe,” Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves said at the evening briefing. “Do not drink the water. In too many cases, it is raw water from the reservoir being pushed through the pipes. Be smart, protect yourself, protect your family, preserve water, look out for your fellow man and look out for your neighbors.”

NPR reports:

Reeves said Monday night that he is declaring a state of emergency after excessive rainfall exacerbated problems in one of Jackson’s water-treatment plants and caused low water pressure through much of the capital city.

The low pressure raised concerns about firefighting and about people’s ability to take showers or flush toilets.

Reeves said that on Tuesday, the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency will start distributing both drinking water and non-potable water in the city of 150,000 residents, and the National Guard will be called in to help.

Mississippi Today reports:

Jackson residents already have no or little water pressure, and officials cannot say when adequate, reliable service will be restored. The city water system has been plagued with problems for years, including tens of thousands of residents losing water between one and three weeks during a 2021 winter storm.

Jackson’s antiquated, poorly maintained water and sewerage system has seen recurring failures — including loss of water for much of the city for a month after winter storms in 2021. Federal authorities have issued warnings the system is at risk of failure and of harmful contaminant levels.

In a press conference on Monday to announce the Pearl River crested lower than expected and likely won’t bring widespread flooding of homes and businesses, Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba announced the city had to reduce pressure for the entire city water system because of infiltration of floodwater.

Stultus  an hour ago

Fine GQP management of State resources. Indiana just gave tax payers a rebate rather than put it to the infrastructure or schools, or any number of things.

Ninja0980  an hour ago

It’s been this way for a couple of weeks but since it’s a majority Black city, the racist asshats in MS government don’t care.

DevilDog • an hour ago • edited

Republicans: “There’s no such thing as climate change.”
Also Republicans: “Financial assistance from the Feds would be socialism.”
And Republican President Ronald Reagan: “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.’”

But now? “No one could have seen this coming. Help!”

Gustav2 DevilDog • an hour ago

Also Republicans: “Financial assistance from the Feds would be socialism. (But we will take the money anyway, Republicans in Congress will make sure we can spend it on what we please.)”

margaretpoa Gustav2 • an hour ago

We need money for a world class water system so we can upgrade our infrastructure and make it safe and reliable for years to come so we can apply a bandaid and then spend the rest on our richest residents.

HopeLeft margaretpoa • 20 minutes ago

Hey now, there’s the real chance that schoolteachers could see some of that money – in the form of handgun vouchers.

margaretpoa • an hour ago

Come on, what’s more important, a safe, reliable water source for poor and working class people or tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires? I think we know the answer every Republican, including Tate Reeves would give.

mikeiver Longpole • an hour ago

Oh yes it will be. Only spun to place the problem in the lap of the black mayor. The reality is simple and it was easy to see coming. They spent the last few decades differing maintaining and upgrading the systems while also under funding the water and waste systems. After the last 10 years they now know where the weak poi ts are in their infrastructure in both winter and summer seasons. They, being a red state, are so cash poor and under funded that they will only put a bandaid on this one and only with federal funds with their source in the blue states.

Oh, Parker • an hour ago

They’ll get handouts of government money like they always do, the vast majority of which comes from prosperous blue states And they’ll still sit back and smugly bitch about homeless people in California while taking that money.

Makoto • 2 hours ago

Extreme heat dries out the ground. Which pushes water into the air, which then comes down even harder than normal when conditions hit right. Which then can’t soak into the too-dry ground, so it flows into systems for getting water to people while mixing with sewage treatment and whatever else along the way.

Combine climate change with crumbling infrastructure, and what do people expect?

TexasBoy • an hour ago • edited

Mississippi received just $429 million for water repairs across the *entire state* from President Biden’s infrastructure bill.

And, uh, how much did they receive under the Trump administration after he promised super de duper infrastruture repairs?

Only a small fraction of that went to improving Jackson’s water system.

And how is it Biden’s fault that the rest likely went into the pocket of a prominant Mississippy Republican grifter?

Gustav2 • 2 hours ago

If only the Republicans they always support would have supported Infrastructure Week years ago.

Chris Baker Gustav2 • 2 hours ago • edited

Cut to the part where the R gov and legislature beg for federal financial aid, and meanwhile complain about federal spending and the deficit.

I would love to see, as a condition of getting financial aid, the Gov and State Legislature leaders had to accept one of those giant checks from Biden for a great photo op.

Longpole • an hour ago • edited

Brought to you by the guy who started the abortion bans.
Don’t the mothers carrying Fetuses need clean water?

unsavedheathen Longpole • 36 minutes ago

Not the ones living in Jackson, apparently, since its population is 83% African-american.

Card #ProChoice Stultus • an hour ago

Meanwhile, Tennessee is covering the state portion of car registrations for a year.

And the GQP rubes continue to fall for the paltry one-time handouts.