#this is about trump testing positive for covid

[odinsblog]

are you disappointed that bree newsome wants trump reclected?

Bree Newsome is a prolific tweeter and I’ve looked, but I haven’t seen anywhere where she said that she wants Trump to be re-elected. Please send me the link to the specific tweet if I’m wrong.

I understand and agree with much of what Bree has been saying on Twitter though. I mean, I dO get it. I think her major concern is that 1) in some important ways, the difference between Trump’s policies and some of Biden’s policies has not been all that great, and 2) if Biden should win (definitely not a guarantee) liberals will go right back to brunch and act as if the problem is gone and everything is “okay” again.

As far as the first point goes, you don’t need to look any further than Biden’s Title 42; or how the Biden administration literally sued to keep using Trump’s previous racist immigration policies. Not a good look. And now, you’ve got Democrats trying to out-Republican Republicans by showing how tough cruel they can be to refugees who are legally seeking asylum at the Southern border. Bottom line, the immigration policies are white supremacy-lite, and some of the changes Biden is proposing—like forcing asylum seekers to wait in another country while the government takes its sweet time with endless immigration red tape—these changes will fundamentally change America’s immigration system, for the worse.

And that’s without me even touching on how badly Biden is fucking up with Palestine.

And as for the second point, conservative Democrats have gone back to brunch once orange man gone. Remember how hard Democrats came down on the Trump administration for their poor Coronavirus response? Yet now we have the CDC basically telling people to stay their asses at work even if they’ve tested positive for COVID. WTF?? Did I mention that measles are making a comeback?? And Biden isn’t saying anything, and neither are his surrogates. And so it is perhaps this tendency towards inaction(?) that is the most significantly damaging and damning aspect that creates disaffected voters who should be motivated to get rid of Trump and Republicans writ large —in a lot of ways that matter, disaffected voters don’t see any significant differences. Sure, the stock market is doing great, but people are getting their asses kicked on a lot of day-to-day, kitchen table issues. Unemployment is down, but a lot of people still have to work multiple jobs to make ends meet.

So yeah, I won’t be dismissive or derisive about Bree Newsome. She’s making some really valid points for anyone who is willing to actually listen.

Now that all said, I think that there is something fundamentally wrong that people are missing when they say misguided things like, “We survived one Trump administration, and we can survive another one.” A lot of marginalized groups and oppressed people won’t survive a second Trump administration. They just won’t.

Because if you thought it was bad the last time, I promise you the next Trump administration won’t be anything like the last one. Last time Trump was unprepared and didn’t even expect to win, so they made rookie mistakes. That won’t happen next time. The next Trump administration will be stacked from top to bottom with diehard Trump loyalists who will ruthlessly execute his most racist policies, foreign and domestic. (See also: Project 2025).

And yes, Biden is 100% for shit on his policy of standing by Israel no matter what. People who agree with Bree think that we will, more or less, have the same kind of problems under Trump that we’re having under Biden now. Those people are what I like to call deadass wrong.

Literally EVERYTHING will become exponentially worse in a second Trump term. For everyone who isn’t a wealthy, cisgender heterosexual white male.

Just imagine America with a Republican controlled House and Senate. Goodbye Medicare and Social Security. Goodbye labor laws. So long minimum wages. See ya, state local and federal courts not totally stacked with Federalist Society judges. It was nice knowing you, “shithole” countries full of people who I love and care about.

Look, I finally figured out something that used to bother me when I first became politically aware: it bugged tf out of me whenever I heard someone say, “THIS is the most important election everrrr!! Because THIS time, democracy itself is on the line!” Pfft. I was like a lot of people I see now, saying “But that’s what you said about the last election.” The truth is, every election is pretty much life or death. Every single one. Because elections aren’t like something you do once, and then afterwards everything is all good forever and ever. Maybe it should be, but you got assholes like Mitch McConnell and Ron DeSantis and Trump and whoever comes after them, you got people who will always be trying their hardest to constantly make shit worse for everyone who isn’t wealthy and white. They aren’t going away. So we can’t go away either. Because the moment we checkout and go back to brunch, they get right back to working on their usual transphobic, homophobic, misogynistic, racist, bullshit culture wars.

So as long as Republicans, Libertarians and conservative “Democrats” keep punching in, we gotta punch in too.

I wanna be really clear about something here: Joe Biden has done some very good things (like capping the cost of insulin), but he has also been, in many ways (not all), a terrible “Democratic” president. Biden is far too enamored of “bipartisanship,” and reaching across the aisle (to people who do not want to compromise), and Biden is far far too enamored of the non-existent good old days™ when Republicans weren’t the evil pieces of shit that they are now, and he takes far too long to change his position on important issues. Like Palestine.

But yeah, (can’t believe I’M saying this) he’s definitely better than a second Trump term will be. And even if he’s slow to change positions, at least he can be persuaded. Trump can’t.

I’m not white and I’m not rich. I am terrified of a second Trump term. I’m basically a single issue voter now, and my issue is keeping Trump out of office and HOPEFULLY making him pay for every single law he’s broken.

#anon #ask #answered #politics #bree newsome

[tomorrowusa]

Too many liberals in bubbles have this peculiar view of US politics that it's supposed to be like the Oxford Debating Society where the person with the soundest argument wins.

Such people need to quit watching reruns of "The West Wing" on auto-repeat. 😆🤣😃

Whether you like it or not, if you are personally attacked by your opponent then the most effective thing is to hit back in kind twice as hard. That's what needs to happen to Trump.

And nobody is as vulnerable to personal attacks as Donald Trump. Late night comics and political cartoonists did more to defeat Donald Trump's re-election bid than all the terabytes of position papers and political analyses combined.

As I argued last time around, the best hope may lie in messages that Win It Back hasn't been as eager to test. They must strip him of the strongman persona he tries so hard to create: Use ads that portray him as a laughingstock and paint his supporters as chumps. Make it embarrassing to support Trump—so that wearing a MAGA hat in public feels like wearing an advertisement for your favorite hemorrhoid cream. Trump's been walking right into that potential trap in recent weeks by delivering rally speeches that sound like complete gibberish, peppered with verbal flubs that Fox News would base entire news cycles around if it were a Democrat making the gaffe. Any ad campaign looking to prove Trump to be a bumbling clown clinging only tenuously to his own persona would have ample material to work with. Republican primary voters don't mind that Trump tried to overthrow the government, because Republican primary voters think that, well, maybe they ought to be able to do that if Black Americans keep insisting on their rights or if Fox News throws up another B-reel of migrants wading across the southern border to ask for asylum. But Republican primary voters do care—a lot—that so much of the rest of the country considers them to be muleheaded saps.

You might think that all the voters have seen all the derisive stuff about Trump. But not everybody has the same media menu that we do.

Of course the hardcore MAGA cultists will stick with Trump even if he personally poops the digested remnants of well-done steak with ketchup on them. But there are some squishy backers who are just going along for the ride. And there are also low information voters who don't pay a lot of attention to politics who need to know that Trump is an unstable crackpot who kept classified nuclear secrets in boxes next to his toilet.

The more personal, the better – though such interjections probably need to have at least a small grain of truth in them so they can't be completely refuted.

With numerous elections in states that are decided by less than two percent of the vote, every little bit helps. Just referring to Trump as a "nut" may go a lot further with some people than a long-winded explanation of how his poor response to the COVID-19 emergency led to hundreds of thousands of deaths and a terrible hit on the US economy.

Nobody wants to be associated with a loser. Making personal fun of Trump in various ways will go far if done propitiously.

#donald trump #make fun of trump #mock trump mercilessly #personal attacks #republicans #election 2024

[yourtoradorasextendedwarranty]

Que?

So fun thing about being a libertarian and talking about politics with anyone that's not. There's a 98% chance you encounter a person, when you have more proof then you know what to do with, where they will go, "Oh well a democrat/republican agrees with that or wants it so clearly the intent is evil". And it irks me.

Politicians? They lie. And while there are times when I 100% think that most Democrats are evil scumbags, it's because they have shown it. Gavin Newsom? Partying during Covid while sending his private state military *exaggerating* to go fine and jail people over breaking his lockdowns. When he would not abide by them. Andrew Mark Cuomo sending Covid positive people into old folks homes rather than to the facilities that Trump sent to NY. Witmer going to go get her hair done while in DEEP lockdown in her state. Did we catch Republicans doing this? A few probably, but not with the degree of lockdowns in their states that the Dems had.

I hate both political parties because neither represent me. Hell, technically the libertarian party doesn't either. But in general, the only politicians I have ever HONESTLY respected are Ron and Rand Paul. Because they ARE libertarians. Ron was very against any policy that would take agency away from Americans. I can state that most Reps I don't like because they are either RINOs or they are just bad people.

But if you say, "Oh well I don't trust this inquiry because it has a D or R in front of who said it", you don't deserve to be a part of the argument. Because either you take it that neither side is lying, or that both sides are lying. You don't start from, "only one side is lying and it's the side I don't like" because then you won't care about the truth. Only things that confirm your bias. My BIAS as it were, is that Politicians in general are scumbags, Dems are Liars and Cheats, Reps are Morons and Liars, and that we'd be better off without a party system at all.

What sparked this? Well someone told me this was "False" because the first .gov source I found on this was a government page with an (R) in front of they guys name.

For short context, Dr. Faucci and his cronies tested drugs on dogs, "Supposedly" where they gave them ticks and shoved their faces in nets filled with flesh eating sand flies. Oh and cut their vocal cords. And then I showed him a few other places that reported on it, including this and he responded with, "That makes no sense why dogs. But also anyone that has an R in front of their name is probably lying".

I was thinking to myself, "DUDE! You literally just admitted that Nancy Pelosi does insider trading and that Dems lie too and YET you only care about deeper research when it comes from Rep sources or sources that might align more rep"? To which I found a LOCAL outlet just to prove my point. I hate arguing with people like that because they don't care. It's "Us vs them" to people like that. And People like that view me as an enemy because I'm on neither side. Frankly speaking? I hate it.

(edited for grammar)

#discourse

[oysters-aint-for-me]

a month ago today, december 19, my dad got a positive covid test.

he got paxlovid and got better within three days.

then he had a paxlovid rebound.

then i got covid.

then i got better about a week and a half later. (i got pretty sick but i did not get paxlovid because i’m too young and not at risk for severe illness)

then my mom got covid.

she got paxlovid then she got better about five days later. she hasn’t had a rebound yet but she’s still in the masking phase so we’ll see.

that bring us to today, january 19, when my 95-year-old grandmother got a positive covid test.

all of us are 4x vaxxed/boosted. i tried to follow the rules. it’s just so hard to do that perfectly. and also hard when your family thinks you’re overreacting when you remind them to follow the rules. i’m so fucking tired of this. i’m tired of being a frustration to others when i want to follow the rules. i’m tired of always fighting with myself about whether or not i should insist on following rules because for so much of my life, the end result has proven my anxiety wrong, and nothing bad happens when i don’t follow the rules. i’m tired of not allowing myself to trust my instincts because i’ve been raised to believe that my anxiety disorder makes all my instincts suspect. and—if you’ll allow me to go wide with it—i’m tired of everyone saying that “no one predicted covid would get this bad!”, “no one thought that covid would shut down the world for any longer than two weeks maximum!”, “no one could have foreseen that the pandemic would fundamentally alter the basic infrastructure of almost every aspect of society for more than three years!”, “no one could have possibly known that donald trump would win the 2016 US presidential election!” because i absolutely predicted all of those things, knew them deep in my soul, but statistics and professionals were not generally on my side and so i was labeled a worrier, and although i feel vindicated it’s hard to live in a world in which it’s clear that your worst nightmares CAN come true, partly because most people don’t even have those nightmares and thus aren’t even worried. oh god. ok. this is quickly turning into an irrational magical thinking/OCD spiral so i’m going to stop but oh my god. oh my god i’m tired of covid.

#i don’t have ocd to be clear at least not diagnosed #but i definitely have episodes especially relating to Thought Crimes #and Hopes and Expectations etc

[xoxoemynn]

Blanket fort day (cw: death)

Yesterday I was feeling mopey for no reason.

Last night I found out someone I was friends with in college died. Unclear what happened, but it was sudden. We were never super close but he worked at a bar by me and I'd often see him there and it just feels like the rug got pulled out from under me. He was a nice guy and he was so young. :(

This morning both of my (high risk) parents tested positive for COVID after getting it from my nephew who was visiting from another country. His parents are of the "COVID isn't that bad, it's all a conspiracy to make Trump look bad, just take some Ivermectin" variety so I've got some Feels about this.

And today I'm bracing myself for a temper tantrum from our biggest pain in the ass client.

Pleaseeeeee just let me stay in the blanket fort today pleaseeeee.

#personal #tbd

[bllsbailey]

The Latest Development on 'Long COVID' Is Going to Make You Angry

So, what the hell did we go through all of this for? I expected another wave of either anger or hilarity regarding the new guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued earlier this month about COVID: we can pretty much treat this viral infection like the flu. Remember, it was not long ago that even uttering such a thing could land you in social media jail or be branded a science denier. The footnote for the COVID pandemic will be that the people were right, and the experts were wrong. 

Masking is grossly ineffective. The vaccine is no more effective than the seasonal flu shot. You can still get infected, but it might save someone a trip to the ICU. That’s fine, but the cocktail was marketed as a bulletproof vest against infection.  Ivermectin was long dismissed as an effective therapeutic—but it works. What’s the next shoe to drop? Long COVID—it’s a myth. Or at least a new Australian study strongly urges we ditch talking about it (via NYT): 

Follow the science — right out the door.  The term “long COVID” should be tossed aside like a stack of expired N95 masks — that’s according to health experts in one country, who found that symptoms of those reportedly suffering a year on weren’t any different than your typical virus, such as the flu.  Government-backed medical researchers in Australia say it’s time to stop using the fear-inducing phrase, which became popular after high volumes of people testing positive for COVID-19 led to a surge in generally non-severe “virus fatigue symptoms” that would normally have gone unnoticed, South West News Service reported.  “We believe it is time to stop using terms like ‘Long COVID’,” said Dr. John Gerrard, Queensland’s Chief Health Officer, who oversaw the newly-released study.  “They wrongly imply there is something unique and exceptional about longer term symptoms associated with this virus,” he explained.  […]  Researchers at Queensland Health surveyed 5,112 symptom sufferers aged 18 years and older to reach their conclusion.  Symptoms reported included fatigue, brain fog, cough, shortness of breath, change to smell and taste, dizziness, and rapid or irregular heartbeat. Researchers pulled their subjects from a pool of sick Australians who’d taken COVID-19 tests — testing both positive and negative — in late spring of 2022, quizzing them a year later on their symptoms and quality of life.  […]  No evidence was found that adults who tested positive in 2022 were experiencing this increased level of impairment at a higher rate than those who tested negative, or those who simply had the flu. 

Recommended

So, please explain why we should listen to these people ever again. I got conned into getting the COVID vaccine despite being more than adequately protected through natural immunity stemming from my past infection in December of 2020. And it so happens that the science later determined that anyone who had survived initial infection didn’t need the shot. These experts destroyed their credibility with the public to ensure that Biden beat Trump. Medical experts are now viewed as being no better than the talking heads from the Democratic National Committee, and rightfully so. 

Recommended

Trending on Townhall Videos

[william-r-melich]

In My Opinion - 01/30/2024

I think our response to the three military heroes who were killed at a U.S. base overseas last weekend should be strategic air strikes into Iran, but mainly to hit them with stricter sanctions. Stop sending them money!

Nikkie Haley is still in the primary race, she needs to get out so Trump can focus on beating Biden.

Texas is remaining strong on securing their border, good for them. I'm with Texas on that one.

Climate change is a total farce, industry and technology does not harm the environment. Increasing CO2 is actually good for the climate. Please leave the farmers alone, they're not hurting the environment. I want to be able to eat. But I don't want to eat bugs. Really, cow farts? Animals, trees, and plants have human rights? What are we supposed to eat? Using that logic we can't even eat bugs, because don't they have the same rights as the trees and people? How about allowing us humans to be human with our natural human rights?

Covid is not real, it doesn't exist. You cannot get the same virus twice, and if you do then your immune system isn't working, and you'll die from that. The Covid tests are no good, proven by the fact that often times people who test positive have tested negative when retaken within minutes. The whole Covid thing was about power, the global elitists trying to establish global tyranny. There's a book by Charles Schwab called Covid 19, The Great Reset. The war on cash and the Central Bank Digital Currency is about government gaining more control. The electrical vehicle is about control, they will be able to cut off your electricity so you can't drive your car if they determine that you have used up your allotment of carbon credits. So too is climate change and the green agenda about control. It's a socialist agenda which I believe is destined to fail because people are waking up to it. The multiple social networks, various media platforms and outlets are allowing people to access the information that the powers that be used to be able to keep hidden. It's all coming out and it's all coming to a head.

We are dangerously close to a world war as more proxy wars break out, but I believe that Trump will be re-elected and such a war will be averted, I hope.

No matter what happens, the truth will always prevail.

#freedom #trump #Covid 19 #CBDC #the great reset #agenda 2030 #climate change #Nikki Haley #primary #election #government #war on cash #media

[beardedmrbean]

Finland is buzzing following comments made by a foreign policy specialist about the need for reservists to be "physically and mentally fit."

Charly Salonius-Pasternak, a senior researcher at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs (FIIA), made the comments on Monday in regard to how a second Donald Trump presidency could change Russia's attitude towards Finland.

The Finnish Reservists' Association (FRA) told Helsingin Sanomat that their phone started ringing shortly after these comments, with people curious to decipher Salonius-Pasternak's message.

Salonius-Pasternak, however, said he did not consider it likely that Finland will face a military threat, just that it was possible.

Minna Nenonen, who heads the FRA, said keeping fit is always good idea.

"Moving more is not bad advice for anyone…I wouldn't be concerned at this point about Salonius-Pasternak's comment, as we all know from Trump's previous presidential term that unexpected things can happen," she said, noting that a second Trump presidency wouldn't necessarily be "too positive from a European or Finnish perspective."

Drinking the “Green Poison”

Grocery store chain, the S-group, has strengthened its number one market position in the grocery trade, leaving competitor K-market further behind.

Heikki Peltola, who compiled the Kaupan huiput 2022 (roughly translated as 'top shops') review, told Kauppalehti, "the S–group has had continued growth for a long time and last year was a historically good year."

The S-group is a customer-owned Finnish network of companies, comprising S-markets and Prisma in the food sector.

Back in 2000, K-Citymarkets, K-Supermarkets and K-Markets were the clear market leader, but S-stores have overtaken K-group stores, primarily due to Prisma's strong sales. In 2022, the S-markets and Prisma grabbed a total of 39.4 percent of market share, while the K-group saw 34.8 percent.

Historian Anitra Komulainen suggested the S-group's success is due to the bonuses offered to customers.

"The S card, which K-traders call green poison, attracted large families, who concentrate their purchases in cooperative stores in the hope of large bonuses."

The two chains, K and S, control around 80 percent of the Finnish grocery sector.

All I want for Christmas

Will this be another festive season of sticking a swab up your nose before sitting down to dinner? Ilta-Sanomat says no.

Markku Broas, an infectious diseases specialist at the Lapland hospital district, told the paper that it was not necessary to pre-emptively test unless getting together with unvaccinated elderly family members.

"If symptoms occur, testing is certainly recommended," he added, noting that Covid cases are especially hitting the elderly now, with the median age for Covid deaths being 85 in Finland.

"You can celebrate Christmas at home with your family, even if you have contracted an infection. But if there are unvaccinated individuals who are high-risk, then it's not sensible to be in the same household," Broas told IS.

#nunyas news #updates from up north

[todaybirthday-blog]

Mike Pence Biography, Age, Weight, Height, Friend, Like, Affairs, Favourite, Birthdate & Other

This Biography is about one of the best Political Leader Mike Pence including his Height, weight,Age & Other Detail… Biography Of Mike Pence Real Name Mike Pence Profession Political Leaders Famous as Vice Presidential Running Mate of Donald Trump Nationality American Personal Life of Mike Pence Born on 07 June 1959 Birthday 7th June Age 64 Years Sun Sign Gemini Height 1.80 m Born in Columbus, Indiana, United States Personality Type ISFJ City Indiana Ideology Republicans Spouse/Partner Karen Pence (m. 1985) Children Audrey Pence, Michael Pence, Charlotte Pence Net worth $4 Million Personal Fact of Mike Pence Mike Pence is an American politician, serving as the 50th governor of Indiana since 2013. A conservative and a supporter of the Tea Party movement, he had previously represented Indiana's 2nd congressional district and Indiana's 6th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 2001 to 2013. In July 2016, Pence was named the Republican Party nominee for Vice President of the United States in the 2016 election. Born into a Catholic family with political leanings, he became interested in politics at an early age due to the influence of his family. As a young man, he idolized former President John F. Kennedy and was later inspired by Ronald Reagan. He went on to graduate from Hanover College and earned his J.D. from Indiana University School of Law following which he ventured into a legal career. He began a career in radio talk in the 1990s even as he tried to enter politics. After years of unsuccessful attempts, he finally was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in Indiana's 2nd Congressional District in 2000. From there his political career has been on a rise and he went on to become the Governor of Indiana in 2013. Mike Pence is an American politician, lawyer, and former broadcaster who began serving as the 48th Vice President of the United States in 2017. His term ended in January 2021. He has more than 10 million followers on Twitter, more than 1.8 million followers on Instagram, and more than 2 million followers on Facebook.

Girlfriend / Spouse

Mike has dated – Karen Pence (1985-Present) – Mike married a divorcée named Karen Batten on June 8, 1985. They are parents to son Michael Pence Jr. and daughters Charlotte Pence and Audrey Pence.   New Yorker writer Jane Mayer describes his vice president as “the connective thread” between Trump and the affluent backers of the Republican party. In 2020, Pence had to perform a double role in the reelection campaign as President Trump tested positive for COVID-19 those days, and Eric Trump handled the press. However, at the declaration of results, Mike Pence and Trump were defeated by their Democratic competitors Kamala Harris and Joe Biden. Trump contested the election results and began accusing voters of voter fraud. These statements, however, were not backed up by evidence. Trump then put pressure on Pence to prevent the election from being certified by Congress. That same day, Pence released a letter that contained Mike Pence’s statement not to overturn the results, and Congress began the certification procedure later soon.   Read the full article

[pscottm]

Trump and Meadows joked about Covid on plane after Biden debate, book says | Books | The Guardian

[newsaljazeera]

[dan6085]

Here's a timeline of major events from February 2020 to Dec 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic:

- February 2020:

- February 11: The World Health Organization (WHO) names the disease "COVID-19."

- February 21: Italy reports a significant outbreak, becoming a hotspot in Europe.

- March 2020:

- March 11: WHO declares COVID-19 a global pandemic.

- March 13: President Trump declares a national emergency in the United States.

- March 16: Many countries impose lockdowns and travel restrictions.

- March 26: The United States surpasses China in reported COVID-19 cases.

- April 2020:

- April 2: Global COVID-19 cases reach 1 million.

- April 15: WHO launches the "Solidarity Trial" for COVID-19 treatments.

- April 24: UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson returns to work after recovering from COVID-19.

- May 2020:

- May 27: The United States surpasses 100,000 COVID-19 deaths.

- May 30: Protests erupt in the United States following the death of George Floyd.

- June 2020:

- June 8: The WHO reports the largest single-day increase in COVID-19 cases.

- June 18: China announces a new outbreak in Beijing.

- June 26: The European Union announces plans to reopen its borders.

- July 2020:

- July 6: Moderna begins phase 3 clinical trials for its COVID-19 vaccine.

- July 14: The European Union and China hold a summit to discuss cooperation.

- July 31: Global COVID-19 cases surpass 17 million.

- August 2020:

- August 11: Russia becomes the first country to approve a COVID-19 vaccine, Sputnik V, despite concerns about its safety and efficacy.

- August 24: The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorizes the emergency use of convalescent plasma as a COVID-19 treatment.

- September 2020:

- September 2: India surpasses Brazil to become the country with the second-highest number of COVID-19 cases.

- September 21: The United States surpasses 200,000 COVID-19 deaths.

- October 2020:

- October 2: President Donald Trump announces he has tested positive for COVID-19.

- October 22: The WHO reports a record high in daily global COVID-19 cases.

- October 30: The United Kingdom announces a second national lockdown.

- November 2020:

- November 9: Pfizer and BioNTech announce promising results for their COVID-19 vaccine candidate.

- November 16: Moderna announces positive results for its COVID-19 vaccine candidate.

- November 23: The first doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine are administered in the United Kingdom.

- December 2020:

- December 8: The United Kingdom begins mass vaccination with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

- December 11: The FDA grants emergency use authorization to the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in the United States.

- December 21: The European Union starts its COVID-19 vaccination campaign.

These are some of the key events during the latter part of 2020 as the world continued to grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic, with vaccines starting to become available and distributed in various countries.

Please note that this timeline provides a snapshot of major events during the pandemic and is not exhaustive. The situation evolved rapidly, and various countries implemented their own measures and faced unique challenges during this period.

[mariacallous]

Private school choice is having quite a moment. Whether structured as traditional school vouchers paying direct appropriations for private tuition, scholarships funded by redirected state income tax liabilities, or as new education savings accounts (ESAs), the use of public funds for private schooling has never been more prominent. In 2023 alone, seven states passed new programs and nine expanded existing plans. This push is largely a red state phenomenon. Of the new or expanded private choice states, all but two went for Donald Trump in the 2020 election.

ESAs are vouchers-plus

Most of the new programs are technically structured as ESAs. ESAs are simply a vouchers-plus design: similar in nearly every respect; “plus” in the sense that allowable expenses include not only private tuition but other education-related items. What’s allowed ranges from a broad list like Arizona’s (tuition, backpacks, school uniforms, laptops/computers, and gym memberships) to Iowa’s, where simply tuition, fees, and expenses related to private attendance are covered.

Typically, if a student is in public school, they must disenroll to receive the ESA. Like traditional vouchers, ESAs are spending vehicles for non-public costs. And, notably, new reporting on ESA implementation shows almost real-time confirmation of what existing academic research on traditional vouchers has predicted.

Studies indicate that after traditional voucher expansions, the private school market floods with new pop-up providers. That’s exactly what is happening with the ESA-style expansions in Arizona now. Many new schools are nearly or entirely funded by the ESA payments—just as the average private school in older voucher programs was. Many of these schools will quickly close. There’s also existing academic evidence predicting that traditional voucher programs incentivize existing private schools to raise tuition, using the new dollars as something of a public subsidy. And that is exactly what recent reports are showing with ESA passage, with existing private schools raising their tuition.

Because these ESA implementation patterns were predicted by academic research on traditional vouchers, we should take stock of what else the research literature on vouchers might teach us about ESAs.

Tax-funded private tuition programs reduce student achievement

Part of the push for ESA vouchers comes from the lingering frustration over the pandemic-era school closures and concern over learning loss as measured by standardized tests. But on that question, the last decade of research on traditional vouchers strongly suggests they actually lower academic achievement. In Louisiana, for example, two separate research teams found negative academic impacts as high as -0.4 standard deviations—extremely large by education policy standards—with declines that persisted for years. Those results were published across top journals for empirical public and education policy. Similar results in Indiana found impacts closer to -0.15 standard deviations. To put these negative impacts in perspective: Current estimates of COVID-19’s impact on academic trajectories hover around -0.25 standard deviations.

Effects Extend Beyond Test Scores

Beyond those alarming test score impacts, research on traditional vouchers has implications for other outcomes from ESA programs in the future.

Mixed Attainment Results and High Student Exit Rates

There is mixed evidence on whether traditional vouchers improve educational attainment (high school graduation or college enrollment). Studies range from large positive impacts to none whatsoever. And these indicate whatever advantage may exist is driven by those who remain in a private high school all four years. That’s a huge caveat: In research on Milwaukee’s program, my team found not only rates of student exit approaching 20% annually, but also that those former voucher students saw academic improvements once returning to public schools. Other work in Florida and Indiana found exit rates similarly high.

Parents Still Want Academic Success

Most schools receiving traditional vouchers as payment are religious schools, and there’s evidence that parents using those programs are often seeking a particular religious program such as Catholic education. But those parents also have some expectation of basic academic quality. Studies on actual school application data provide insight into how parents make priorities. These show that although parents consider school features like demographics, safety, size, and distance to home, the academic performance of the school remains a determining factor. Similar results have been found in Washington, D.C. as well. Unfortunately, the voucher research literature suggests that even with new schools opening, there simply are not enough effective private schools to go around. This might explain the dismal academic results over the last decade—and suggests a very real risk in today’s ESA initiatives if they produce large increases in private school enrollment.

Oversight Matters

A major concern with today’s ESAs is accountability or oversight on both spending and academic outcomes. On the one hand, when the dismal Louisiana and Indiana voucher results came out, a major talking point among voucher advocates attributed that academic harm to “over-regulation.” On the other, the only empirical evidence of the effects of accountability on a voucher program found that once voucher schools were required to use the same testing and reporting requirements as their public counterparts, voucher performance improved substantially. The lack of accountability is already raising problems in newer programs. In Arizona, for example, families had a number of questionable expenses approved, and in North Carolina, some private schools are claiming more vouchers than students actually enrolled.

Districts Threatened With Funding Loss May Show Academic Gains

Finally, there is modest evidence that traditional vouchers may compel small improvements in the achievement levels of at-risk public schools. Such results have been found in Louisiana and Florida in multiple versions of that state’s voucher program. In these papers, competitive impacts are most apparent in low-income communities that stand to lose substantial funding to voucher programs. However, if the goal is to simply improve public school outcomes, studies showing the impact of directly funding public schools are far more prevalent.

A New Unknown: Universal Expansions

Despite these research-based indications of what to expect from ESAs, based on the school vouchers literature, the universal nature of these new programs remains a big unknown. Many of the new ESA expansions have little or no income restrictions, while traditional vouchers have largely been limited to lower-income students.

How these new, expanded programs will function is perhaps the key open question for research moving forward. Data from traditional voucher programs has indicated that the larger the program, the worse the results tend to be. In the best case, that’s because there are too few effective private schools to serve expanded voucher programs; in the worst case, there are inherent limits to the choices parents can make when vouchers allow private schools to choose their students as well. And new reports indicate that most users of expanded voucher programs were never in public school to begin with, either because they were in private school already, homeschooling, or beginning as kindergartners.

So, it remains to be seen how the new expansion of private school choice programs will ultimately affect educational opportunity. But research on traditional vouchers suggests extreme caution when expecting new, favorable results simply because parents of children outside of public school can now spend public dollars on costs beyond tuition.

[buttercupjosh]

could i ask what questionable things carter hart and quinn hughes have done? i haven’t heard anything negative about either of them so i’m curious!

Hi anon. I’ve answered about Quinn before but it’s been a while so I’ll answer it for you again.

1. For Quinn: The questionable things that Quinn did were he went traveling with Jack and some of their other friends during the height of the pandemic in 2020, he liked (and then unliked hours later after so much discourse about him doing that) a pro-trump post from one of his friends in 2020. He also didn't use Pride tape on his stick during the Canucks Pride Night in 2021 (The main reason to why he didn't use pride tape that year was because he was late to the rink and didn't have time to do it (but if he informed the staff, maybe they could of pre-taped the stick for him). I understand that Pride Tape can be seen as a form of performative activism but I'm not going to dive into that because it's not my place to. However, he did use Pride Tape for 2022 Canucks Pride Night and he did make a pro-Pride comment in 2023). Quinn has put in some sort of work so I allowed him back on my blog and started liking him again.

2. For Carter: Carter posted a strange pro-Conservative thing on his insta story back in October 2020 (which was peak-US election time) and immediately took it down. He did follow some conservative accounts. He also made a comment about being against some of the COVID measures that were in place for the league during either the 2020-21 or 2021-22 season (I can’t remember which one it was off-hand). (at the time, this was when COVID was running rampant throughout the league and his comment to me, was kinda rude, considering the constant testing was in place to help people like his former teammate, Oskar Lindblom, who experienced a weakened immune system since he had cancer). There’s also the lack of commentary from him in regards to the 2018 World Juniors Team (yes, his agent did release a statement on behalf of his clients but some of the other teammates who were represented by the same agent, made their own individual statements). To me, Carter not even making a simple statement of even wanting to cooperate with the investigation or a “I wasn’t involved at all” comment like some of the other guys from that team did is extremely suspicious to me (I’m not saying he was involved though, his actions are just off to me).

These players are not canceled in my eyes, they’re just more held accountable for their actions. I still keep them on my list because they do benefit the teams that I love in terms of their talent but that doesn’t mean they’re going to be scot-free to me. I keep these things in the back of my mind whenever I see these players or start to spiral back into them too obsessively.

Sometimes, I think people forget that because a player is really good at what they do, that underneath it all, they’re not that great people that we should be putting on pedestal and be blindly praising them/assuming that they’re good people who can do no wrong. I think the reason why you don’t see negative commentary for Quinn is because Quinn has done some things to help make himself look better and to come across as a better person. The reason why you don’t for Carter is because people don’t talk about him that much and the ones who do talk about him positively are either actively denying the things he’s done because he’s talented or cute, or they simply have no idea what he did.

#anon #inbox

[caleebw]

President DONALD TRUMP from CALEEB A WATSON on Vimeo.

Check out My VIMEO site { LINK BELOW } vimeo.com/752085347 Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.

Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania with a bachelor's degree in 1968. He became president of his father Fred Trump's real estate business in 1971 and renamed it The Trump Organization. Trump expanded the company's operations to building and renovating skyscrapers, hotels, casinos, and golf courses. He later started side ventures, mostly by licensing his name. From 2004 to 2015, he co-produced and hosted the reality television series The Apprentice. Trump and his businesses have been involved in more than 4,000 state and federal legal actions, including six bankruptcies.

Trump's political positions have been described as populist, protectionist, isolationist, and nationalist. He won the 2016 United States presidential election as the Republican nominee against Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton but lost the popular vote,[a] becoming the first U.S. president with no prior military or government service. His election and policies sparked numerous protests. The 2017–2019 special counsel investigation led by Robert Mueller established that Russia interfered in the 2016 election to benefit the Trump campaign, but did not establish that members of the Trump campaign "conspired" or "coordinated" with Russia. Trump promoted conspiracy theories and made many false and misleading statements during his campaigns and presidency, to a degree unprecedented in American politics. Many of his comments and actions have been characterized as racially charged or racist, and many as misogynistic.

Trump ordered a travel ban on citizens from several Muslim-majority countries, diverted military funding towards building a wall on the U.S.–Mexico border, and implemented a policy of family separations for apprehended migrants. He signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, which cut taxes for individuals and businesses and rescinded the individual health insurance mandate penalty of the Affordable Care Act. He appointed 54 federal appellate judges and three United States Supreme Court justices. In foreign policy, Trump withdrew the U.S. from the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement, the Paris Agreement on climate change, and the Iran nuclear deal, and he initiated a trade war with China. Trump met with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un three times, but made no progress on denuclearization. He reacted slowly to the COVID-19 pandemic, ignored or contradicted many recommendations from health officials in his messaging, and promoted misinformation about unproven treatments and the need for testing.

Trump lost the 2020 United States presidential election to Joe Biden but refused to concede defeat, falsely claiming widespread electoral fraud and attempting to overturn the results by pressuring government officials, mounting scores of unsuccessful legal challenges, and obstructing the presidential transition. On January 6, 2021, Trump urged his supporters to march to the Capitol, which many of them then attacked, resulting in multiple deaths and interrupting the electoral vote count.

Trump is the only federal officeholder in American history to have been impeached twice. After he pressured Ukraine to investigate Biden in 2019, he was impeached by the House of Representatives for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress in December. The Senate acquitted him of both charges in February 2020. The House of Representatives impeached Trump a second time in January 2021, for incitement of insurrection. The Senate acquitted him in February, after he had already left office. Scholars and historians rank Trump as one of the worst presidents in American history.[1][2] Following his presidency, Trump has remained heavily involved in the Republican Party, including through fundraisers and by making over 140 political endorsements.