Because of faulty results in drug testing at state prisons, including Attica, prisoners were placed in solitary confinement, a report found.Credit…Steve Russell/Toronto Star, via Getty Images
New York’s prison system unjustly penalized more than 1,600 incarcerated people based on faulty drug tests, putting them in solitary confinement, delaying their parole hearings and denying them family visits, the New York State inspector general said in a damning report released on Tuesday.
The arbitrary penalties were meted out across the state over an eight-month period in 2019, while the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision relied on improperly administered drug tests made by the company Microgenics, the report found. The tests led to “rampant false positive” results for buprenorphine, an opioid used to treat addiction, as well as synthetic cannabinoids.
“This stands as a heartbreaking example of how the absence of transparency can undermine due process and basic human rights,” Lucy Lang, the inspector general, said at a news conference on Tuesday.
The department started using the tests in January 2019, the report found. The manufacturer’s directions specified that a positive result should be confirmed with a second, more sensitive test, but officials neglected to do so as a matter of policy. Instead, they simply carried out the same test a second time to confirm the results.
The rate of positive tests immediately spiked, but the department failed to address widespread concerns among prisoners, their families and advocates that many of the results were false positives, the report found.
The report cited several examples of the grave consequences the tests had for prisoners. One woman at Albion Correctional Facility, near Rochester, N.Y., who had never tested positive for drug use during her two years in jail, suddenly tested positive for synthetic cannabinoids.
As punishment, she was confined to her cell for 40 days and placed in solitary confinement for 45 days. She lost her prison job and privileges like recreation time, receipt of packages and phone use for months. She was also denied visits with her three children.
The report also accused Microgenics representatives of presenting false or misleading information to prison officials. A review of internal company documents revealed that even ingesting over-the-counter antacids and the sweetener Stevia could potentially lead to false positives, but the company failed to disclose those possibilities, the report said.
The report faulted department officials for deciding to forgo the second test and found that a sales representative from Microgenics had exerted undue influence over the process.
It also found that the contract with the company most likely violated procurement guidelines and that the department “did not perform due diligence when contracting with Microgenics for its drug testing systems, failing to understand that such tests were merely preliminary screening tests.”
During the eight-month period, more than 1,600 prisoners were punished over drug tests statewide, including 140 who were subjected to solitary confinement, leading to complaints across the state, Ms. Lang said.
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Prisoners’ Legal Services of New York, an advocacy group, brought the concerns of four incarcerated people who said they had been disciplined based on false positives to the department in June 2019. Later that summer, the department sent six positive test samples from other prisoners to another company for retesting, and five came back negative.
The department then brought its findings to the office of the inspector general. It later moved to expunge more than 2,500 disciplinary records that were based on the faulty drug tests.
Karen L. Murtagh, the executive director of Prisoners’ Legal Services of New York, said the impact of the penalties was difficult to overstate.
“The psychological and physical damage caused by solitary confinement, the loss of family visitation, the lack of proper programming, lost work-release and educational opportunities, all of which help combat recidivism, adds to the ledger for which we as a society need to take account,” she said.
Bianca Tylek, executive director of Worth Rises, an advocacy group that seeks to dismantle the prison industry, said the report illustrated the problems inherent in allowing private companies to profit from incarceration. She called for further review of prison contracts.
In a statement on Tuesday, the department noted that its staff had cooperated with the inspector general’s investigation and adopted all its recommendations, which included ending solitary confinement in response to drug tests and improving drug-test training and data collection.
Microgenics is a subsidiary of Thermo Fisher Scientific, a Massachusetts-based company. In a statement on Tuesday, Ron O’Brien, a spokesman for the company, said the instructions clearly state that the drug tests are only preliminary and that a more specific, alternative chemical method must be used to obtain a confirmed result.
“We have complete confidence in our product and, when it is used as directed, have no reason to believe there is any issue with its accuracy,” Mr. O’Brien said.
He added that the company had conducted its own investigation and did not believe that any Microgenics representatives provided “any intentionally false or misleading testimony” at disciplinary hearings, as alleged in the report.
The drug tests have spurred several lawsuits, including a federal class-action suit filed by Prisoners’ Legal Services and the law firm Emery Celli Brinckerhoff Abady Ward & Maazel in 2019. The following year, Letitia James, the New York attorney general, filed suit on behalf of the Department of Corrections against Microgenics in Albany, alleging breach of contract. The lawsuit is pending.
The department now uses a preliminary drug screening test known as the Premier Biotech Bio-Cup, and positive results are confirmed using a second method.
Ms. Lang, who was appointed inspector general in the fall, said that more than half the complaints her office receives involve the prison system.
“We are directing resources toward addressing those complaints as proactively as possible,” she said.
Karen Zraick is a breaking news and general assignment reporter. @karenzraick
The Fed has it backwards. Wage increases have not caused prices to rise. Price increases have caused real wages (what wages can actually purchase) to fall.
Prices are increasing at the rate of 6.8% annually but wages are growing only between 3-4%.https://t.co/Vk3TsAjN63
By the way, just four large conglomerates control most meat processing. Half of the recent rise in grocery prices is from meat products — beef, pork, and poultry.
The major draw of the Republican Party is never having to defend horrible behavior.
Complete hypocrisy? Cronyism? Corruption? Treason? Sexual assault? Obvious bad faith?
Not one problem.
Make no mistake: Trump's coup is still ongoing. The attacks on our democracy have only worsened since last year's attack.
The choice now is between saving our democracy or saving the filibuster. Whichever way it goes will be Joe Biden’s most enduring legacy. pic.twitter.com/fHNrKyyUo1
Conservatives want to break public schools and disrespect teachers, 75% of which are women. This is all on brand for their misanthropic fascist policies. They want corporate charter schools to take taxpayer dollars to make crony shareholders rich.
Pay teachers. Fund education. Protect schools.
For all the TERFs out there who keep telling me I don't look like a woman because I have a big forehead…
Most of the anti-trans you don’t look like a woman is based not on any science but on personal preferences of what individual people think is attractive or not attractive to them. I have posted pictures that are easy to find of trans people who you wouldn’t even think are trans because they look like what people have traditionally accepted as that gender. That is why letting young people use puberty blockers is so very important, other wise people are left with an adult body that is not representative what they are. Puberty blockers are not harmful, widely used for many conditions, and complete reversible.
Russia, Belarus, and other CSTO members send ‘peacekeeping forces’ and now we have orders to murder protestors without warning.
Henry Payne loves to make fun of anything having to do with public safety. The cartoonist openly shows contempt for: Public schools, people who attend public schools, teachers, and learning. With cases rising, everyone is home sick anyway. Might as well remote learn. Can only hope all the kids have the means to connect to the remote learning websites. Scottie
is this a conspiracy … or possibly the truth? How deep does thee greed go? Scottie
So incorrect, it is an out right lie that the misleading right wing media gets away with because they know their followers don’t check. How many Americans could find Kazakhstan on a map? I’m putting the over/under at 2%.
NEWS FLASH – The government of Kazakhstan has not “resigned!!” As a matter of fact, Kazak police and armed forces have been joined by Vladdy’s troops with orders to shoot – without warning!! As usual BADwyn gets his “facts” WRONG!!! I’m thinking Al is upset that Trump didn’t have Russia invade the USA to keep Trump in power.
Prices are determined on supply and demand….
U.S. gas price, December 2012: $3.310 / gallon.
U.S. gas price, December 2021: $3.307 / gallon.
Gas prices declined long term during Obama’s second term, but trended upward under Trump, who intervened in the market to protect his supporters (Texas and Russian oil companies). This trend was reinforced by the Biden economic recovery. Apparently Goodwin would prefer to throw 15-20 million Americans out of work than return to the normal gas prices of a decade ago. Because, you know, Biden must be blamed. Scottie
After lawmakers passed a law about how racism was to be taught in Texas schools, Essence Preparatory in San Antonio was sent back to the drawing board.
BY MATT BARNUM, CHALKBEAT
COPY LINK
Akeem Brown, the superintendent of Essence Preparatory Charter School in San Antonio. The school, which focuses on an anti-racist curriculum, has encountered pushback due to anti-CRT legislation in Texas. Credit: Anthony Francis for Chalkbeat
This story was originally published by Chalkbeat. Sign up for their newsletters at ckbe.at/newsletters.
A planned San Antonio charter school was on the verge of winning final approval from the Texas Education Agency last August when a final set of requests arrived.
Among them: The school needed to scrub its website and application of a quote by “How to Be an Antiracist” author Ibram X. Kendi.
In documents obtained by Chalkbeat, the agency indicated that the proposed school, Essence Preparatory, had included “statements, authors, or written works” violating a new Texas law that limits how race and slavery can be taught. But that law does not bar specific authors, and the quote does not appear to run afoul of any portion of the law, suggesting that Texas has gone beyond the text of the statute to keep schools from referencing an author whose work is controversial.
“This is more clear evidence of what anti-book-banning advocates have been warning for months now,” said James Tager, research director of PEN America, a group that opposes censorship. “It is going to be used — and, in fact, is being used in cases like this — to ban specific books or authors.”
Essence Prep’s experience sheds new light on how laws opposing “critical race theory” are being used and interpreted behind the scenes. Texas’ enforcement also had practical consequences for the school, costing it both money and time.
“That took almost three months away from us in prepping and setting the stage for the scholars that we will serve,” said founder Akeem Brown. “We’re playing catch-up.”
Brown, who is Black,had long dreamed of starting his own school. While working for a city council member in San Antonio, he saw the area’s anemic college-readiness rate and began talking to parents and students about what they wanted to see in a school.
“He spoke about empowering people through knowing their race and their lineage,” said Dre Daniels, a parent who met Brown at the barbershop where Daniels cuts hair. “When the parents and the school can be on the same level, the learning never stops.”
In early 2021, Brown submitted a nearly 500-page application to the state, promising high academic standards, culturally responsive teaching, and a focus on learning about public policy. Included in the application was this quote from Kendi: “The opposite of racist isn’t ‘not racist.’ It is antiracist.”
The plan won high marks from the Texas Education Agency, which recommended the school be granted a charter.
By June, when the Essence Prep leaders appeared before the State Board of Education for a final approval, the state had been consumed by a debate about critical race theory. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott had just signed a bill limiting discussions of race; he later approved a slightly revised statute, which is now state law.
Under that law, schools cannot award course credit for “political activism” or work for organizations focused on public policy advocacy. They also cannot teach that “slavery and racism are anything other than deviations from, betrayals of, or failures to live up to the authentic founding principles of the United States.”
“We are compelled to offer a culturally competent curriculum,” Brown told the state board members in June. “But I do want you to know that we will serve our students following the law of the state of Texas.”
Two days later, the board voted 11-3 to approve the charter.
Brown believed then that he could start focusing on making the school a reality. “When I walked out of that building to head back to San Antonio, that’s all I kept thinking in the car — that that part of the process was over,” he said.
It wasn’t. Days after the school was approved, the chief of staff for state Rep. Steve Toth emailed TEA Commissioner Mike Morath and his staff a draft of an op-ed sharply criticizing the agency’s approval of Essence Prep. Toth spearheaded the state’s first anti-critical race theory law, which he has said was prompted by parent concerns that curriculum choices were making white students feel guilty because of their race.
“Unlike other charter schools who focus solely on academics, Essence Prep’s goal is to promote Critical Race Theory and community activism,” wrote Toth in the op-ed, which was never published but was obtained by Chalkbeat through a public records request.
After changes to its website and charter application, Essence Prep was granted its charter in October 2021 and plans to open in August 2022. Credit: Anthony Francis for Chalkbeat
“Promoting ‘antiracism’ in the classroom would mean teaching that the system of government in Texas, designed to protect economic freedom, is racist,” Toth continued, noting that Essence Prep’s website quoted Kendi. “Instead of stopping critical race theory, the Texas Education Agency furthered it.”
Toth’s office did not make him available for an interview or answer questions about his involvement.
Soon, concern about the Kendi quote made its way to Essence Prep. In August, Brown received an email from a TEA official saying the school needed to make a series of changes in order to receive its final charter approval.
The website and application would have to remove certain “statements, authors, or written works.” That was apparently a reference to Kendi, as TEA cited a page in the application that quoted him and no other authors. Essence Prep would also have to define the word “anti-racist” on its website and clarify sections of its application that emphasized community action and engagement in public policy.
A spokesperson for TEA did not make Morath available for an interview or answer detailed questions about the handling of Essence Prep’s application.
“During the annual application process, TEA reviews all charter applications for alignment with state and federal laws,” the spokesperson wrote in a statement. “Any conflicts between the applications and law are required to be remedied.”
Brown says he doesn’t believe that the school’s citation of Kendi violated the statute. “I just think it offended those supporters of the law,” he said.
But Essence Prep ultimately removed all references to anti-racism from its website and application. The school was granted a charter in October and plans to open its doors in August 2022.
Publicly, TEA has shared little about how it is enforcing and interpreting the new law. In November, it released a document that quoted from the law but did not address some of its ambiguous aspects, like what it means to teach controversial topics “objectively.” Some educators in Texas and elsewhere have acknowledged self-censoring for fear of violating the statutes that have cropped up across the country.
In this case, by referring to “authors or written works in violation” of the law in its letter to Essence Prep, TEA appears to be suggesting that certain writers are out of bounds in the state’s public schools. The current law bars schools from “requir[ing] an understanding of the 1619 Project,” but otherwise does not single out authors or texts.
Joshua Weishart, an education law professor at the University of West Virginia, said Texas had overstepped. “TEA lacks a statutory basis for instructing Essence charter school to remove the quote in their application,” he said.
Tager of PEN described TEA’s move as striking. “This is a state body saying our interpretation of the bill means you cannot refer to specific authors when developing your educational vision,” he said. Schools could reasonably interpret this to mean that Kendi’s work is barred from curriculum too, Tager said.
For his part, Brown says he believes TEA required these changes to deflect political pressure and allow the school to open. “I don’t blame the good people of TEA,” he said. “The problem was the political climate.”
Still, Brown said, the delay meant that a bond deal to finance a permanent building fell through because the school lacked an approved charter. Essence Prep is still finalizing a bond and now expects to pay a higher interest rate. The school also racked up thousands of dollars in extra legal fees, according to a bill shared with Chalkbeat.
But the school is moving forward, and some parents have expressed continued support.
Alshanic Bledsoe, a home health nurse in San Antonio, is eager to send her 5-year-old daughter to Essence Prep once it opens. “Racism is definitely something that’s learned,” she said. “So anti-racism is something that has to be learned. It has to be taught.”
Don’t I wish. How I feel after going back and forth on right wing media. Scottie
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Rich people have every advantage given to them. If not given, they just avoid the rules.
This is no way to judge others who don’t have all those advantages and shameless greed.
Wanting your tax dollars to pay for your needs and the needs of your community is normal.
Don’t let the rich and spoiled fool you into thinking this is greedy. Their opinions are shit.
Their view is simple: Republican Presidents have unfettered power, Democratic Presidents have no power. See the eviction moratorium, which suddenly became illegal after Biden took office, and "Remain in Mexico," a discretionary Trump policy that they forced Biden to maintain. https://t.co/aUXuEYSx1D
Again, it's key to understand that formal instruments of power are used to the same end as informal intimidation. Bogus "election audits" are used to threaten election officials. In WI, a former Judge who declared the election was stolen is threatening to jail election officials. pic.twitter.com/nwg8Fqf7MC
I've been studying election administration on and off for almost two decades. The concerted attack we are seeing now on local election officials is new. 2/ pic.twitter.com/hib9pyHivq
The mob literally stabbed cops with Trump flags. Tried to murder Pence.
The Big Lie was made by morons for morons.
No surprise conservatives could not stop said morons from completely taking over the GOP.
This is where we are. Republicans give no respect, so they deserve no respect.
Just goes to show ‘law and order’ and BlueLivesMatter was always bad faith. A con
The GOP sure is pissed about Biden “politicizing” their attempt to destroy the Republic as we know it in an effort to placate their bloated orange Führer
Funny story. Mr. I am so important I don’t have to follow the vaccine rules above was given an OK by the event organizers to attend with out being vaccinated which was required by all other participants. How ever when he got to Australia the country said nope. No vaccine you quarantine as they have a strict vaccine to enter policy. They wouldn’t bend it for Mr. thinks he is more important than the rules. Last I knew he had been ordered to leave, but this morning I read he is bitching about the conditions at his quarantine quarters. Still I like the comeuppance. Scottie
The failure of the Biden admin to 1) anticipate the need for rapid tests and 2) procure them and make them freely available is their single biggest Covid screw up. https://t.co/4gCnu76run
The unvaccinated would rather stay on the Titanic. Why would they ever hurt the ego of the ship? Why would they get in a lifeboat if they don’t know where it was made? [Even though they had been using lifeboats their entire life]
Conservatives with Covid trying to eliminate preventative Covid policy
I can’t think of a more apt image to describe the climate situation than a gas powered leaf blower being used to clear snow from the sidewalk. pic.twitter.com/qneXDrFcqT
Such woke, which is a right wing word for being sensible, to not use state resources to ruin the lives of the poor and POC. Things that are crimes because of history and tradition like cannabis criminal laws used to arrest and destroy the lives of mostly black people. The DA’s are simply not prosecuting the breaking of laws on the books for what is legal in more and more places. Think of the laws still on the books in many right wing states like anti-sodomy laws that even though they could apply to both opposite gender sex and same gender sex was used to target gay people. Those laws are still on the books despite being unenforceable so DA’s wouldn’t prosecute anyone for breaking them. This is what the right is so angry about and trying to use to get their cut members enraged. Scottie
Bragg memo in. The Manhattan DA will no longer prosecute: ▫️selling more than 3 oz of weed ▫️turnstile hopping ▫️trespassing ▫️resisting arrest without an underlying charge for the arrest ▫️prostitution (can seek approval for solicitation) ▫️obscenity ▫️adultery pic.twitter.com/PonoybxqNm
This is what the right wing is so enraged over. I wonder if it is because less black people will be put in jail for things white people are mostly not arrested for? Racism? Scottie
Yes because inflation and Covid are just a problem in the US. Really the pandemic is just in the US. The right wing seems unable to understand the US is not the entire world, that the US is just another country among many. In case these people don’t get it, Biden doesn’t control the entire world and even in the US he is not a dictator, like tRump tried to be. Scottie
So, I guess it’s not okay for teachers to want to work in a situation where they’re unlikely to bring Covid-19 home to their families? Teachers are people also and they have the same needs as everyone else, despite the constant attempts to belittle them. Far too many people including those in government do not see teachers as educators but as child sitters so workers can park their kids with them so they can work to make profit for the businesses and wealthy. Scottie
I have resisted posting this one because the right is so over the top trying to insult this woman. I think she is correct, they are sexually obsessed with her. Yes she has criticized DeathSantis for the Covid polices in Florida. And yes she was in Florida not wearing a mask. Oh my gods and dogs, right? Wrong. She was out side eating and drinking, something that it is accepted that you would have your mask off. Get real people. Even inside she couldn’t eat or drink through the mask. The right is so scared of her, she is really smart and she is a women. That threatens them. Scottie
I saw a meme today pointing out that kids have been displaced… during a war… in the winter… and had to move to a foreign nation… with a new language to learn… and missed two YEARS of any kind of school at all. And come out just fine.
However, it’s not impossible to learn remotely. It’s done all over the world in places where it’s impractical to have school (the Australian Outback, for instance). Stanford University runs a very well respected online high school. Many working people take online classes for college degrees. It’s a question of training, expectations and attitude. Maybe we need to rethink what school is for. Scottie
“The vaccine passports, you know, this requirement to get tested to go to school or to get on a plane. I mean, it’s just ridiculous.
“This idea that, you know, that you could stop this with vaccines was unrealistic, but the policies are based on the idea that you can stop this with vaccines and mass testing and things like that.
“So, there’s a mismatch between the policies and reality. And, you know, more people need to wake up to that, I think, and stop participating in this really dystopian view of public health.” – Joseph Ladapo, last night on Fox News.
Florida Surgeon General Says It’s ‘Ridiculous’ to Require Covid Tests to Board Planes, Says Pandemic Can’t Be Stopped with Vaccineshttps://t.co/J1y51ZSNdC
FL Surgeon General Ladapo, who says he’s working to “unwind” the government’s COVID “testing psychology”:
“… running on this treadmill of test after test and restriction and vaccine passport and boosters and the 2nd booster and a 3rd booster. That’s someone’s dystopian vision.” pic.twitter.com/oBjHhhOf2Q
I had a lot of fun putting this one together today. Lots of topics and discussions with right wing cult members on right wing media cartoon sites. Even with the 5 day and growing plumbing problem disaster. Enjoy. Scottie
Labor value is stolen from workers and given to shareholders. Their record profits is your misery.
Corporations are private tyrannies. They expect your total subordination.
Workers must unite and demand better conditions and wages.
wait a second I was told there were labor shortages and supply chain issues that was causing prices to rise, but now corporations are seeing their biggest profit margins since the 50s? well I'll be darned! https://t.co/PqMlgIGuhC
It’s a special interest group that broadcasts predetermined narratives and coordinates with the Republican Party.
Just a casual reminder that Joe Biden won the popular vote by more than 7 million votes. That's roughly the population of the entire country of Bulgaria.
Btw, you're not the party of the working class if not a single member of your party voted for the expanded Child Tax Credit. pic.twitter.com/jMiKrCnouH
Trump destroys everything he touches. All who touch Trump die. The circular firing squad will continue. All to protect the ego of the most mediocre silver-spooned asshole in history.
People say the Jan 6 insurrection failed. But did it really?
—There have been no consequences for Trump or co-conspirators in Congress —71% of Republicans think Biden’s win was illegitimate —Voter suppression laws are sweeping the US
People need to know just how close this came and how many / who were involved in the prior planning to over throw valid election results because they did not like the will of the people! Scottie
If you’re still criticizing Garland after this speech — where he specifically lays out WHY the “big fish” haven’t been charged yet, I would have to question your motives.
Like I’ve said from the start: DOJ is doing their job, and they won’t stop until it’s done. https://t.co/0iTQhzZfrZ
“What is clear is the effect of protests. Locally-oriented demonstrations significantly reduce the number of Black and Latino deaths by police.” https://t.co/B49UTiZgjB
The media depends on narratives. They know negative news is clickbait. When something does not fit their narrative, something positive, they will refuse to report on the positive.
Just a reminder that Abbott destroyed inventory of their #COVID tests this past summer when sales dwindled. The company thought the tests were worth less than the space to store them 😞https://t.co/ZB2FepNAem
It depends on the environment and the emphasis put on the remote learning. Kids today spends hours online and can recite the minutia of every game they play, every tick tok they see, every music video, movie, and so on. They do learn online. It is just they are learning what they want. School work has to be given that priority and made to keep their interests, just like in schools. If kids are in an environment where they are not comfortable or have connection issues or they are just allowed not to view the lessons then they wont learn. Scottie
Is it any wonder that the number of cases, the number of hospitalizations and the number of Covid-related deaths are all proportionately higher in red states? Which also happen to have lower rates of vaccination… The smart people are taking precautions and abiding by health and safety regulations in order to do their part to help prevent the spread of the pandemic! Scottie
The filibuster rule has been modified many times over the years. In fact, the Senate started out with no filibuster rule at all. Moscow Mitch stole the goal post to pack the courts with unqualified judges and Supreme Court Justices. McConnell had no problem changing the rules so he could stack the judiciary. They had no problem changing the rules to raise the debt ceiling. Now, our democracy hangs on the vanity of one (expletive) Democratic senator. Meanwhile, where’s the line between being a “conservative” cartoonist and a supporter of those who would destroy our democracy and Putinize America? There’s a term for a professional whose services are enjoyed by criminals and traitors. Scottie
Most experts are expecting this wave of Covid cases to crest and recede in weeks (as opposed to months like other variants) and that cases will start dropping again within this coming February or so. Also, most of these cases thus far are either mild or asymptomatic (particularly if the patients are fully vaxxed) and the ones who are seriously ill from Covid aren’t vaxxed. Yes, that’s cold comfort to those who are pulling back because of the rise in cases. But this too shall pass. Hopefully, by mid-2022 or so, we can largely move on and then turn our attention to the midterms. I am hopeful that the Democrats can bounce back (if there’s a major turnaround in the case situation) and they can widen their majorities in both houses. History, though, is on the side of the party currently not in the White House gaining seats in both houses in midterms (the last time was 2002). But, even if that happens, the GOP could end up playing the foil to Biden the way earlier GOP majorities played the foil to Clinton and Obama. Both Clinton and Obama saw their parties lose control of the House and Senate in 1994 and 2010. But that didn’t stop either President from winning reelection in 1996 and 2012. Scottie
Please note that in the preamble to the constitution the reasons given to create the new country / constitution. One of those is to promote the public welfare. To take care of the people. That includes the health of the people. The government has the responsibility to create polices and rules that help people live together in a communal society. That is why we have things like traffic rules / laws for example. For society to work there has to be rules, not everyone can do what ever they like regardless of how it effects others. Scottie
“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of …
Conservatives want things to JUST STAY THE SAME… and for EVERYONE TO FOLLOW THE (my) RULES… and for (my) AUTHORITY TO BE HONORED. Qublican response to every problem all the time: TAX CUTS FOR THE RICH AND MORE CULTURE WAR! People should be given the opportunity to be what they are. It must be really unpleasant to have to live your life pretending to be something else. Scottie
A pack of KN95s that I got for $15 a month ago is now $50 on Amazon. Right before children are being forced back to school. During the covid peak. While hospitals are overflowing. What’s happening right now is a deeply immoral, profit driven humanitarian crisis.
There is something seriously wrong with an economy that enables the world's richest man to add $28 billion to his wealth in a single day while more than 50% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck.
A guilty conscience needs no accuser. These racists feel uncomfortable for a reason.
Yes, Noah, this is America. And so is every slave auction, every public lynching, every act of terror, every dispossession of indigenous Americans. All of American history is America. We can engage with that history or continue to cherry pick rosy episodes to make us feel better. https://t.co/ioN3PlbcF6
— Mark K. Gradoni is Striking (@_Snarkaeologist) January 5, 2022
This extremist Supreme Court has gutted the Voting Rights Act not once, but twice, in the last decade. We need to do two things: We need to eliminate the filibuster to restore voting rights, and we must rebalance the Supreme Court to defend our democracy.
Idiot anti-vaxxers add a massive burden to our health care system. They don’t care how abusive they are to nurses and doctors.
Funny how they believe in science/medicine when their rhetoric leaves them for dead.
Because so many are denying the virus and the public safety measures are sending their kids to school with the virus the situation changes daily, sometimes hour by hour. The disruption is hard on kids and families. If we are not going to increase the funding to have large areas where the kids can spread out and be together safely then we need to go back to full time remote learning. It can be done and needs to be done. We simply have to pay for caregivers to watch over their children or a group of children spaced out properly. It is all about the priorities the US has. Scottie
End their tax-free status!
Elon Musk will blame his failures on everyone except himself.
This is pure made up misinformation. This is the same party that blamed Biden for not getting more Afghans out when we left. The border is secure, the US is not being over run by brown people. The brown people are already here and they are collectively the majority of the country or will soon be. It is normal and OK. This country has whole towns dying because the people are moving away, but now this is the perfect time to reinvigorate these towns with new people. With work from home and other measures jobs can return. Kids will be stay instead of moving away. People this large country is not full. Scottie
Same response as the cartoon below. Scottie
Don’t you love right wing misinformation propagandist like Rivers? The Republicans are the ones who tried to scramble our Democracy on Jan 6th. The Republicans did the insurrection, the riot at the capital on Jan 6th. They did not succeed in getting their way and keeping power, this time. So they implemented more destruction to democracy by enacting voter restrictions and gerrymandering to keep the other party voters from using their right to vote. How anyone even the right can see the above cartoon and not realize how backwards it is confounds me. Scottie
Same response as below. Scottie
Oh the fickle right. Remember when they did not want testing. In Florida they still don’t. They don’t want anyone to know we have Coronavirus in Florida, so they can get those tourist to come here. They want cruise ships to stop testing and just go with sick people. Florida and those places with Republican governors want the system back to the way it was before Covid so the money flows for them. The wealthy donors are not getting as much profit and they want that. The Governors shut off unemployment to force poor workers to return to virus infected work places at the same time they passed laws giving companies immunity if a worker catch Covid working for them. The point is our lives and the money we would have to pay if hospitalized do not matter to the wealthy Republicans. To the Republican leaders like DeathSantis you are nothing but a clog, a gear to be used and when ground down too much then thrown away. Life doesn’t have to be this way. The people should expect more.
But to the tests and why we are having a shortage I already addressed this. People attended gatherings during the last two holidays. A lot of tests were used at the parties and even a lot more after as people tried to figure out if they were safe at these parties and after. Many found out they were positive when tested requiring more testing. The businesses that want to open at full capacity need tests to do so. They are buying a lot of the supply. Because the suppliers were not prepared for a huge increase it will take them a while to catch up but in the meanwhile they are loving the increased profit. Think of the toilet paper shortage, it was not that toilet paper was not being made, it was that people suddenly started hording car / truck loads of it. Some then tried to price gouge selling it. But Biden never gave a time frame for the tests, only that the government would pay for them and send them out. It is a gimmick anyway, one test is not helpful. Scottie
Complete bullshit and lies. Flat out lies. This is again the right wing attempt to deny reality and try to force the world / the US back to the way it use to be. Give it up, this is the normal now and should be. They really give their viewers deadly misinformation. Scottie
The state of education in this country is past ridiculous. Maybe it would help if administrators listened to the teachers and understood they were concerned about returning to a job where there is little protection for the teacher, and by proxy, the teacher’s family and loved ones. Once again, blame the union for trying to provide living wages and benefits for workers instead of the employers who use and abuse the employees. I’ve known teachers, and more and more of them are leaving the profession because the pay is low, the children do not get engaged, parents are hostile, and they need to teach to Bush the lesser’s no child left behind program, which enriches the pockets of giant test companies. Two of ours are our healthcare and school systems. Before the pandemic there were stories of teachers living in their cars because they were renting their apartment / house so they could make enough money to eat! Once the pandemic hit it got worse. Many schools are now limping along with numbers of teachers, security, food workers, custodians on health leave while they recover from COVID. And there are no substitutes for any of these people. Teachers in some districts are asking that their schools return to remote learning until the “viral tsunami” passes and quarantined staff return. In many places if their needs are not met they will quit. And then who will work in schools?
Whether or not they “like” teachers, they certainly vote for people who enact laws designed to destroy public education for profit. The path they want to tread is exactly the same path they forced the public hospital system down in the 70’s. I think we all know how that turned out. This is exactly the same. Privatize the schools to keep from raising property taxes is EXACTLY THE SAME TACTIC as privatize the hospitals to keep your county taxes low. We’ll wind up spending ten times as much for less. That’s where this road ends. Some of us are old enough to remember public hospitals in remote counties. And we even remember the tactics undertaken to ensure they’d be “unprofitable”.
When she was shot Babbitt was on video crawling through a window she had just helped break out to gain access to a hallway they were not allowed into that had members of congress in it. The right wants to make her a hero and has much in the way they made Rittenhouse a hero. Facts don’t matter to them. Babbitt was judged by the left on what she was doing, and she was an imminent threat of death or serious body injury to the congresspeople. Floyd was not committing a crime at the time he was killed, he was not a threat to anyone at the time he was murdered and what he was being detained for was not a death penalty offense which cops don’t have the authority to carry out. The cases are not equal in any manner. The funny thing it is the right that insists on judging everyone on their past, just like they did the people killed by their new hero Rittenhouse who had no way to know the past of those he killed. Scottie
If I thought for a moment that Ol’ Al was actually interested in resolving the conundrum of how to do best for kids while in the midst of a pandemic, I’d almost like this cartoon. Except for the idiocy of “allowed” a gender identity. Believe me or not, kids know their gender within months of becoming aware of themselves as being part of the family “pack”. They may not… probably won’t… be verbal about it, and they may very well play dress up to see how it works for them; the canonical example being the kid in a tutu and cowboy boots. Well. Anyway, I’m sure that Al isn’t at all interested in that. He’s on a mission to make liberals seem as stupid and wrongheaded as possible, in every way possible, always. Too bad it only works on people who are already convinced of that. Scottie
“What use would someone on the McDonald’s career track have for algebra 1?” — the GOP view of public schools. A+ @will_bunch column. https://t.co/GGUdwRWZcz
This was drawn by a right winger to slam Schumer. I put it here because it really is a slam against the Republicans. Republicans have become obstructionists. The only bill they worked with Democrats on are the two things their big donors wanted, in fact insisted on. The infrastructure bill that had massive benefits for corporations, and the debt ceiling raise which the wealthy had to have or they would lose a huge pile of money. Other than that the Republicans say no to everything. They did the same thing when Obama was president. The Republicans don’t want to govern they want to stop the government, destroy it so nothing can be done to help the people or benefit the public. So changing the filibuster is necessary to have a functioning government. Scottie
Folks who are telling me remote schooling is not good for mental health: 1) Neither is long COVID 2) Neither is getting sick or watching a relative get sick or die 3) Neither is going back, letting things fall apart because everyone gets sick, and then having to go remote anyway.
The right, the party that bills themself as the pro-life party, is very angered and upset that the idea that the death penalty is being done away with because it doesn’t work as a deterrent, is racially biased, and more costly along with tying up the courts. The other advanced developed countries already figured this out and learned that progressive sentencing and detainment works best for lowering recidivism. Again if the US would get over the idea that everything we do must be the best thing in the world and would look at what really works being done in other countries we would be much better off. Scottie
Really the right needs to catch up. First it was only one Democratic party member who said motherfucker during a campaign rally. Once. What was it tRump repeatedly said? He cursed all the time. But really the right not only thinks saying lets go Brandon triggers the left, they are desperate for it to be true. They are trolls, they are the school yard name callers, little kids giggling they are almost using a naughty word. Adults don’t care. Biden did not care. Most of us are not even thinking of it but the right is full time. This is what passes for serious legislators in the time of the Marge Greene, Gym Jordan, Matt Gaetz, Lauren Boebert, Madison Cawthorn, and the other failing loser kids hanging out in the halls of congress. Scottie
Same right wing cartoonist paid to try his best to make the Republicans look good and the Democrats look bad. He rarely even makes sense and his cartoons normal reverse the situation. But in this case he is right. Some Republicans have promised to impeach Biden as soon as they get control of the House. That is their great goal for the country, a revenge impeachment to sooth the ego of the former guy. Really they said this a few months into Biden’s term. They do not care that Biden has not violated any laws and that the former guy did, they just want to invalidate any Democratic election win. They are cheapening the meaning of impeachment again because it stings that their cult leader got impeached twice for breaking laws. But this is the lofty goals to help the people and country, make impeachment a joke. Scottie
Partially correct. The truth is that ICU’s are filling up with anti-vaxxers along with all the other hospital beds so that non-covid emergencies and non-emergency procedures are unable to be treated and proceed. We have seen the stories, verifiable stories of people dying because there were no beds available in the hospitals due to anti-vax Coronavirus who are really sick. I was not sure if this cartoon was mocking the idea that non-vaxxed people are getting really sick or if it was mocking the vaccinated. Scottie
I hate how the right likes to misrepresent the relationship between Biden and the progressives. The progressives are the ones that were fighting for Biden’s agenda. The build back better bill was Biden’s agenda, what he ran on, what he wanted. The full bill, not the stripped down version. Yet the media keeps trying to portray the progressives as the ones sabotaging Biden’s plans instead of the real villains killing it, Manchin and the other old corporate politicians right and left. The right wants to hide the truth and blame others for their actions. Sound familiar? Scottie
Rivers is on a roll for misleading anti-Biden cartoons. This one is just a general slam at Biden because he / the right hates what Biden is doing and wants the right to think Biden is a failure even though they never can show what he failed at. What policy is being addressed here? None, it is just hate Biden please. Scottie
There has been no wide scale defunding of the police, nor has any real police reform been enacted. The one place the police were radically changed in NJ it worked really well. The problem is the police have become the very monsters they are to protect the people from. The police are a gang of thugs who prey on the public like a military occupying force ruling over a prisoner population. That police believe they can get away with the worst actions against the public and if they do get caught no real punishments happen to them. At most they use to get fined, which the people had to pay not the cops. Now lately several cops have been found guilty of killing. But that is two out of … Heck one police department was found to have cops protecting a sex trafficking ring in exchange for sex. It seems it was rather widely known. This is their idea of serve and protect? Police reform is desperately needed. No more militarized cops on the streets. They want to be military, let them join the military and fight for the country, not against our own people. But to them it is a game with other peoples lives, theirs is never in danger. Scottie
The people wanting government to serve their needs rather than cater to the wealthy. It is about where taxpayers dollars going. To the public needs, or the wealthy wants. Will the government work for the people or only for the wealthy. History has shown the best economic times while being the most product the country had was during the period that corporations and wealthy paid a much higher tax which they could afford and still gain great wealth. Scottie
Notice the bait and switch here by the misleading right wing media. See the cartoon implies and wants the right to read that there is no consensus about vaccines. The reality is that there is complete consensus that the vaccines work and everyone who can should get them. The split in consensus is on the Republican side and is about if mandates for vaccines work. But the truth is it is only a Republican talking point used by Republican governors and media. The data shows that mandates / rules do increase compliance not only with vaccines but any enforced rule. It is common sense. But if you want data the police union in NY City was claiming that thousands of cops would quit if forced to vaccinate. But only 34 really were willing to quit. Enough said.
A day the Republicans want to forget entirely, and wipe it from history because it clearly was an insurrection attempt against the US government. The Republicans want people to forget what their supporters did that day so they can try it again and the next time have a successful coup against the peaceful transfer of power. Scottie
Oh yea the right has something to blame Biden for. I guess it was tRump’s fault there was a toilet paper shortage? There is an increased demand for testing due to everyone gathering for holidays and businesses want to test all their employees. This too will work itself out. Scottie
“U.S. financial markets are outperforming the world by the biggest margin in the 21st century,”“…Biden’s first year in the White House the standout among the seven previous presidents, based on 10 market and economic indicators given equal weight.” – https://www.bloomberg.com
Gross domestic product surged at an average annual rate of 5.03% in each of the first three quarters of 2021, and is poised to expand 5.6% for the year based on the average estimate of more than 80 economists surveyed Bloomberg.
LMAO so anti-vaxxers have decided to adopt "irreversible medical procedure" phrasing from anti-transers. Excited to see how increasingly associating the two positions with each other will turn out. https://t.co/i517eiBF6F
As someone who struggles to be active in the smallest degree I agree with this. I feel best when I can do things even through the pain. I have shots in a few weeks in my spine because right now I can not stand long enough to fry eggs at the stove.
The filibuster is not in the Constitution. But each house is allowed to make their own procedural rules. The Senate rules, unlike the House, trying to be a more “deliberative” body (and with fewer members in the early days) allowed unlimited debate on the floor and unlimited “yields” (handoffs to allies). During such speechifying, no other business could be conducted.
It took a 2/3 vote to stop a debate.
The filibuster arose when Southern conservative senators wanted to block bills, especially in the area of civil rights. Not having the votes, they simply stood and spoke under the rules allowing “unlimited debate” and kept on speaking, handing off (yielding) to accomplices as needed for breaks, and thus preventing any other business from going forward.
Finally, they made a compromise in the Senate rules: they would lower the cloture vote from 2/3 to 3/5 (60 votes in a 100-member senate) and not require senators to actually speak; just invoke filibuster by motion, and allow other business to still proceed on a “two track” basis.
Taking out the hard work of hours and hours of speaking made it easier to invoke and, once Obama became president and McConnell embarked on an unprecedented racist obstruction of the first African-American president, he made a 60-vote supermajority the de facto standard for passing any legislation, with more filibusters during the Obama years than the entire history of all prior administrations COMBINED and then, when he regained the majority, essentially did away with the filibuster for all confirmations and for budget bills (budget reconciliation).
McConnell’s unprecedented ABUSE of filibuster, coupled with the built-in (Constitutional) disproportionate allocation of senate representation, transformed it from a tool for the minority to have a voice in developing legislation, to utter tyranny of the majority, in which senators representing 16% of the population could overrule an overwhelming majority.
There are ways in which conservative Democrats could reduce the power of the filibuster to obstruct and still go on record as having saved the filibuster, and some of the Democrats who have opposed outright elimination of the filibuster (such as Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona) have indicated that they might be amenable to reforms such as:
a) amend the process; return to the requirement that they actually stand and hold the floor instead of just invoking by motion. When we had this in the past, filibuster was rarely used.
b) redefine filibuster; redefine what is eligible for inclusion in the budget reconciliation process which is exempt from filibuster
c) make voting rights and election security exempt from filibuster
d) limit the number of times filibuster can be invoked
e) require the speaker to remain on topic (no more reading phone books)
f) reverse the burden of invoking filibuster: right now they just make a motion to invoke filibuster and it takes a 60% vote to stop them. Reverse it. Instead of one person invoking filibuster and 60% having to agree to end it, require them to get 40% of the senate to vote to invoke filibuster — make them get the votes. Make them go on record as voting to obstruct something huge majorities of everyday people want (election reform, campaign finance reform, checks to individuals, a livable minimum wage, gun safety reform) and have to defend that in their next election.
None of these proposed reforms are mutually exclusive! You can do any or all or any combination. And there are likely other ways to reform and restructure filibuster without having to go on record as having actually eliminated it.
For those concerned about the “tyranny of the majority,” what we currently have is a “tyranny of the MINORITY.” We can protect minority interests and allow them to be heard without allowing senators who represent 16% of the population to tyrannize the rest of us.
Yesterday I posted Dr. Fauci’s qualifications to make public health suggestions, and to understand the data / science behind those recommendations. Let me make clear that the right wing media doesn’t have those qualifications at all. The people who claim they did their own research are only reading some one else’s summery and the opinions of people not qualified to understand or make those public health opinions. Scottie
What is the Build Back Better bill? What is it? It is the government doing things that benefit the public. That is it. Investing in the country in a way to benefit the people. The wealthy can not have that in any way. They feel the lower incomes are undeserving, the poor shouldn’t have anything or enjoy life. The wealthy feel the government must only do what they want, what they decide is good for businesses, which is a dependent people struggling to survive who will work for any low wage in any bad conditions. This is the truth hidden by claims of inflation and debt. Those things have been disproved. So the truth is the wealthy do not want the government to do things making life better for the public. Scottie
Yet Putin is the one asking for more talks. Putin has not made his invasion when it would have been better for him to do so. Reports are Putin has pulled some troops back from the border. Putin’s goal is defense while the western powers, with the US as part, is becoming more inclusive. Seems to me Biden’s checkers is beating Putin’s chess quite well. Scottie
The lack of tests and their increase in price is driven by demand. The businesses that are worried about a sick work force that wont vaccinate are demanding workers be tested. Need tests to do that. So be happy the economy is opening up and booming under Biden. Be upset with the lack of a vaccine mandate that would help businesses to operate safety. Scottie
Do you notice how low the bar is going? Be grateful for a library…. as billionaires in space have all our money?
Trump predicted to his cult the market would crash if he were not re-elected.
He lied. The scare tactic was obvious. The fear was the obvious message. The cult lives on fear.
Show the cult these market numbers and they will refuse to admit they got played.
The cult can’t admit Trump is a tremendous loser because then they would have to internalize they are tremendous losers.
The Fox News article doesn’t mention what DeSantis was doing the other 13 days when he failed to make any public appearances.
While Florida has been exploding with record COVID-19 cases six days in a row.
58,013 single day record in a 24-hour period.
He is either unwilling or unable to respond to his constituents during a Pandemic.
Either way Florida deserves better.
God forbid we give 3% less to the military and save humankind.
I take issue with the phrase “health-care system”. It’s misleading. In the 1st place, it’s not a system. A system is something that’s designed to achieve a particular end, in a coordinated way, usually as efficiently as possible. (Think computers or automobiles.) In the 2nd place, it’s not about care, it’s about capitalism.
What we have in lieu of a true health-care system (you know, the kind that every other industrialized democracy on the planet has and loves) is a haphazard scattering of profit centers concentrated in areas where the money is, with vast swaths of the nation under- or unserved. By contrast, the US Postal Service and the public schools are true systems that serve every square centimeter of the country. (And yes, the metric system too is a true system, well and intentionally designed, not like ACHU, the Accidental Collection of Heterogeneous Units that the US alone in the world still clings to.)
So I recommend using the phrase “health-insurance industry”, because it’s more accurate. Scottie
The re-using of N95 masks is key, and will be important in preventing N95 shortages, lessening burden on delivery services, & more. The package insert may say "single-use only, discard after using," but they have to say that. This rotation method is sound. https://t.co/tk8EqWbFi6
— Alan @GammaCounter@mastodon.social (@GammaCounter) January 1, 2022
Everyone realizes that even if Omicron stays “mild,” we’re probably talking about *billions* of cases of long COVID worldwide, right?
Somehow these simple rules are intangible for half of our country
Hey @JonHaidt, you wrote in 2009 that you believe advances in genomics will show genetic ethnic differences in moralized traits. You expected these discoveries between 2012 and 2017. The science hasn't supported your views or expectations. Care to retract?https://t.co/QcQDzmrrMKpic.twitter.com/A1ndAJHLNP
I had a hypothesis that some of these psychometric cognitive tests would exclude some questions where African-Americans scored higher than Euro-Americans. Turns out it's true.
A lot of things work certain ways by design. I wonder how frequent this is. (Kidder and Rosner, 2002) pic.twitter.com/Umvzjii7uC
I know an older highly devote Catholic lady that goes to church 4 times a week, sometimes more. She was telling me one day she knows there is a god. I corrected her that she feels there is a god, but she again stated as a fact she knows there is a god. I replied she thinks there is a god. Nope she knows, so I asked her to show me the proof of her god and she replied she feels her gods presence around her all the time and she thinks that she sees his work in everything around her. But of course she couldn’t show me the proof of what she knew. Scottie
The fact is the inflation we are seeing right now is profit taking price gouging. Watch CSNBC and see all the CEO’s and market people crowing about how much money they are making and bemoaning the fact the feds might be cutting off the faucet that gives them free money to prop up their stock values. Biden’s polices would help the people with out putting more unearned free money in the pockets of the wealthy. So of course corporate media, especially the right wing corporate media hates them. Scottie
So the right is now going to deny their favorite phrase and what they mean by it like a little kid who got caught saying a dirty word. Grow up. Scottie
The right wing media is desperate to paint Dr. Fauci as some incompetent out of his field like Paul Rand or Sean Hannity along with all the right wing opinion hosts. Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., was the NIH AIDS Coordinator before being appointed as the first Director of the Office of AIDS research when the office was established in 1988. A native of Brooklyn, New York, Dr. Fauci received his medical degree from Cornell University Medical College in 1966. He then completed an internship and residency at The New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center. In 1968, Dr. Fauci came to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as a clinical associate in the Laboratory of Clinical Investigation (LCI) at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). In 1974, he became Head of the Clinical Physiology Section, LCI, and in 1980 was appointed Chief of the Laboratory of Immunoregulation. In 1984, Dr. Fauci became Director of NIAID–a position that he still holds – where he oversees an extensive research portfolio of basic and applied research to prevent, diagnose, and treat infectious and immune-mediated illnesses, including HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases, illness from potential agents of bio-terrorism, tuberculosis, malaria, autoimmune disorders, asthma and allergies.
Dr. Fauci has kept up 16-hour workdays during most, if not all, of his career. That obviously leaves very little time for sleep and relaxing, but instead offers more time to be involved in the medical community. This includes being a member of:
National Academy of Sciences
National Academy of Medicine
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
American Philosophical Society
American College of Physicians
American Society for Clinical Investigation
Association of American Physicians
Infectious Diseases Society of America
American Association of Immunologists
American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology
Dr. Fauci also serves on the editorial boards of many scientific journals and was an editor of “Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine. To add to his incredible rap sheet, Fauci has authored, co-authored, and edited more than 1,300 scientific publications and textbooks.
Compare this to his detractors and the people who think a few hours on Facebook and YouTube equal his understanding of Covid public health measures. Scottie
You are correct Al, the country did elect Joe Biden as President, fair and square. The idiot trump lost and instigated an insurrection against the very nation he swore to protect. President Biden got to work to make life better for all citizens, not just those who overwhelmingly voted for him. Here are a few accomplishments under President Biden’s first-year watch:
The $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill.
$1.9 trillion Covid relief deal, cutting child poverty in half.
Getting 73percent of American adults vaccinated with at least one dose.
An economy where the unemployment rate has dropped to 4.2 percent.
The average number of Americans filing for unemployment over the last four weeks is the lowest since 1969. When President Biden took office, over 18 million were receiving unemployment benefits. Today, only 2 million are still receiving unemployment
Having competent federal judges appointed and confirmed.
When President Biden took office, “46% of schools were open. Today, 99% of schools are open.
The U.S. was the only G7 country [U.S., U.K., Canada, Japan, Germany, France, and Italy] to surpass pre-pandemic output by Q2 2021 and keep growing. No other G7 country had reached pre-pandemic output by end of 3Q 2021.
Of course, not everything President Biden wanted to do in the first year was accomplished. However, for a First-year President, inheriting a country in the middle of a pandemic, it’s not a bad record. And what have Republicans been focused on? Denying voting rights to minority citizens, lying about the 2020 election, and denying reproductive rights to women. Not a good look for Republicans, Al. Scottie
Why does trying to help people, cut child poverty, and mitigate a deadly pandemic pure anathema to Al Goodwyn and his little nihilist troll supporters? Oh yeah, that’s right, because it’s the Democrats doing it. The Trumpublican goal is, quite simply, total power achieved through hatred, fear, anger, ignorance, and cruelty. And nihilists like the previous poster is a perfect example of that.
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Scottie's Playtime 
U.S. gas price, December 2012: $3.310 / gallon.
U.S. gas price, December 2021: $3.307 / gallon.
Gas prices declined long term during Obama’s second term, but trended upward under Trump, who intervened in the market to protect his supporters (Texas and Russian oil companies). This trend was reinforced by the Biden economic recovery. Apparently Goodwin would prefer to throw 15-20 million Americans out of work than return to the normal gas prices of a decade ago. Because, you know, Biden must be blamed. Scottie