Our country has entered the dark ages and I am furious!

[Dustlawyer]

Most everyone here knows how bad COVID is in Texas. Our governor mandated not telling parents if their kid is exposed, no masks, just treat COVID as if it were a cold.

My daughter is a special needs teacher with a special needs son too young for the vaccine. She spent the last two weeks teaching teachers in prep for the first day of school today. Half the teachers did not wear masks. Two of the maskless teachers had COVID. They kept showing up but were now wearing masks. After a year and a half of COVID and we are still ignoring how viruses work!

The District did away with free COVID testing for teachers. Required them to work with COVID unless they had a fever. The only concession was a few extra days off before having to use their PTO time to stay home, which they were not required to do if no fever.

My daughter got sick Sunday and went to the ER to be tested (her expense) and she has COVID. So do almost all of the teachers in her class. The District was forced to change the rule to keep them home for 10 days. The parents have no clue that this is going on!

The disaster has begun!

[jmbar2]

1. Someone needs to take this to the press immediately

People will die because of this. I don't blame you for being infuriated.

[ruet]

41. Yeah, This Sounds Criminally Negligent. ...at Best. -NT-

[OldBaldy1701E]

81. The powers that be

In these red areas do not want to know what the press or anyone says about it. They want to keep making money and they want their wage slaves to get back to doing just that. They will get the vaccine and stay in their mansions and demand that the rest of the population go out and die in the name of their wallets. It is beyond disgusting and beyond stupid. The only hope now is that those who are in favor of this insanity will get it and croak before those who took this seriously do. Which is a terrifying thought, but when you are faced with survive or die. I hope the person mentioned in the article sues the ever-living fuck out of the school, the district, the state, and every single person who had Covid and still showed up to work.

[PortTack]

2. Sorry to hear about your daughter! They won't be able to stay open long..just as with your

Daughter, there will be too many quarantined or sick and will be forced to go virtual

[Larissa]

24. True that

Delta is so contagious that there is never just a one off incident of infection. It'll be a wrap -- classes will shut down -- quickly. I wish the best for your daughter. It's an effing shame. The governor should be charged for deliberately placing people's lives in harm's way.

[wnylib]

33. This is effin' barbaric! I would love

to see a class action suit against the governor.

These governors, Texas and Florida, are guilty of crimes against humanity.

[zuul]

3. Horrible!

[Atticus]

4. If you do anything that requires bail, let us know! nt

[Dustlawyer]

5. Appreciate it!

I just don’t know what they thought would happen. Now I have a 10 year old grandson with Downs Syndrome who is too young to vaccinate who has many other health problems. This should be criminal!

[GPV]

6. I'm so sorry. In many ways, I dread going back to school next month.

[MLAA]

7. I am so sorry and thinking of you.

I had to make an emergency trip from AZ (not a hot spot yet) to Florida to be with my dad in the hospital and now rehab center. I am vaccinated (as is he) and wear my mask when I have to go out. Nearly nobody else is wearing a mask in public except the caregivers at rehab, the employees of hotel and Walgreens that I had to go to. The Grocery store I visited once to load up on groceries so I didn’t have to go to a restaurant had employees wearing mask but about half were wearing them under their nose and chin.

So I share your fear for our loved ones and am sorry you have the extra heavy burden of woeful ignorance causing your daughter to be ill and your grandson put at risk.

[Warpy]

8. I'm so sorry. I'm next door in NM, and no, we don't feel smug

about our relatively high vax rate and relatively low case rate. We know damned full well there will be spillover, and the counties along much of the border with Texas are already hit hardest.

This is a disease, it spreads quickly and doesn't give a damn who you pray to or what your politics are. That's something a dogma addled idiot like Abbott will never understand, it's a waste of effort trying to get through to him.

Only pressure on the school board has a chance of working. My guess is that the county health department is already trying. Parents need to join the effort.

[keopeli]

10. God bless our governor and our relatively blue state. You're right, Delta is coming. I don't get it.

I don't get it at all.

I live in Valencia County with a bunch of Trumpers and it's so worrisome. I go nowhere without my mask, but even my Democratic friends have foregone wearing their masks. It's so depressing. I'm considering a self-imposed lockdown.

I left my job working as a middle school teacher last month. They wanted me to do unsafe things to maintain my credentials. I said no, so they let me go. I actually feel safer knowing I won't be around all those kids this year. Maybe next year I'll try to get back in the classroom.

I hope you stay safe and well.

[Warpy]

16. Delta is HERE. It's just not sticking around long

in the counties with decent vax rates.

I had the disease in the early days and didn't want it again, so I've got both vax doeses on board. I'm not bulletproof, but I should be OK. Vax rates stayed around 60% for too long a time. Now they're at 67% and going up.

Lujan--Grisham has been a great governor.

I live in the big city and people are compliant indoors but unmasked outdoors and that's OK.

Maks are really uncomfortable, especially to civilians and especially in this soggy, smoky heat we've been enduring. I sympathize with people who unmask outdoors. I'm old, so they need to keep their distance, thanks. Most do.

[keopeli]

48. I'm right there with you, Warpy.

I'm not young and appreciate others respecting distance as well. I was in CA for a while this summer. They are much more considerate there. I miss that type of community respect.

Last week I was at the Valencia County Fair in Belen, helping with the Democratic booth and parade float. The booth was indoors (it was a barn, so it had good ventilation). I was the ONLY person there wearing my mask, including the Democrats, even though we agreed we would all wear masks inside. It was very disconcerting, though no one seemed to mind that I, alone, was wearing my mask.

OTOH, we did get a good reception from the crowd and our booth was much busier and more active than the Repuke booth. I felt like we were successful in getting out message and visibility in the community.

[duhneece]

50. I'm in Otero County with Yvette Herrell, Couy Griffin, low vaccine rate

And a school board ready to buck mask mandate. I’ve had to take a break from my efforts to recall Couy to recruit school board candidates who have to file by August 24. Republicans already have a candidate announcing they oppose mask mandate, CRT and Restorative Justice.

[keopeli]

53. Ugh! So sorry! Thank you for the work you do to help with that School Board.

I'm in Herrell's district, too. She's so cravenly corrupt and cowardly. We've had a school board issue here, but right now almost every office is held by Repugs. We are working hard to change that in 2022.

[NJCher]

78. I backed out of many teaching assignments, too

I miss the classroom so much and was so looking forward to going back. I also have had a plum teaching job in the summer that I’ve held for years and this will be the second year I couldn’t do it. I miss the students and my colleagues terribly.

One good thing, though, is I have several outdoor classes, so at least I will get a taste of the fall semester.

I really feel for dust lawyer’s situation. These situations are difficult anyway, let alone when there’s a maniac like Abbott making everyone’s life difficult so he can shore up his standing with the moron segment of the party.

[IronLionZion]

14. The Amarillo cluster is the largest unvaccinated area in the US

Delta is for sure coming for them. Spillover is likely to neighboring states.

[Warpy]

21. Dang, you're right, they're at 38% vax rate. Mobile AL was the worst a week ago

but they've been frightened enough to get up to 45%. It's still not enough and they're losing the race against Delta.

The number of cases/100.000 isn't terrible in Amarillo--yet. They're definitely going to get there with that low a vax rate and an idiot governor who won't allow mitigation strategies because he loves Dumdum.

[IronLionZion]

67. Is this the way to Amarillo?

COVID is on it's way

When the day is dawning
On a Texas Sunday Morning
How I long to be there
With Marie who's waiting for me there

Every lonely city
Where I hang my hat
Ain't as half as pretty
As where my baby's at

Is this the way to Amarillo?
Every night I've been hugging my pillow
Dreaming dreams of Amarillo
And sweet Marie who waits for me
Show me the way to Amarillo
I've been weeping like a willow
Crying over Amarillo
And sweet Marie who waits for me

[Warpy]

74. I just hope my favorite fajita joint on I-40 stays in business

You could smell the garlic for miles, which is why I stopped. It's definitely a joint, not a restaurant, but the fajitas are fabulous.

[patphil]

19. My daughter lives in Albuquerque, and she feels the state is doing a good job.

Using Worldometer data for covid cases:
New Mexico's 7day rolling average is 515 new cases per day. Texas is 10,673.
If New Mexico had the same population as Texas, they're rolling average would be about 7,100. About 2/3 of where Texas currently is.

Using NPR's vaccine data:
New Mexico is at 57.9% fully vaccinated. Texas is at 44.6%. Over 13% lower.

It's all about the numbers and the attitude of the state governments.
New Mexico's government policies and attitude is helping contain the Delta variant.
Texas' government policies and attitude is to throwing fire on a raging virus inferno.

People like Abbot and Cruz are essentially causing a massive, and unnecessary, amount of pain, suffering, and death in their state.

New Mexico is a much better place to be right now than Texas, or for that matter Florida or Georgia.

[Warpy]

26. More up to date information is here

https://covidactnow.org/?s=21581084

It's updated at least daily, sometimes several times when things are moving quickly.

[Lasher]

69. Good resource.

Thanks, Warpy.

[pioche4]

84. Thank you for the link

[fwvinson]

73. I feel that Abbot and Cruz's goals are aiming for herd immunity.

[wnylib]

36. I think Abbott DOES understand.

He just doesn't give a damn. Like his fellow murderer, DeSantis, he is willing to kill people for the sake of his politics.

[Warpy]

58. He certainly seems blithely unconcerned about winterizing the power grid

while he loves Dumdum's stupid vanity wall at the border. I just hope Texans are finally noticing how crappy the Republicans are.

If not, I hope that wall gets extended up the NM border.

[wnylib]

59. Now there's a wall that I could support

I would donate to a wall that closed off Texas from the rest of the US. Same for a wall across northern Florida

And a no fly zone ban on planes leaving either state.

Dems who want to escape can disperse elsewhere before the final wall panel or bricks go into place.

Impose a quarantine on the whole state.

[area51]

60. +1 n/t

[triron]

9. Send this to Rachel Maddow. Bet she will cover it.

[Tadpole Raisin]

13. Great idea!

[liberalla]

17. I agree! What a good idea!

[leighbythesea2]

43. Agree yes

Good idea!

[salin]

57. 100X this

The District did away with free COVID testing for teachers. Required them to work with COVID unless they had a fever. The only concession was a few extra days off before having to use their PTO time to stay home, which they were not required to do if no fever.

Absolutely chilling. Get the word out.

[KS Toronado]

11. All these anti-mask & antivaxer reQublicOns

are going to pay a heavy price in the 2022 midterms. Independent voters who tend to vote for the person
regardless of party will be well aware of who's responsible for not defeating covid in this country. I
believe they'll vote overwhelmingly with Democrats this time to teach them a lesson because of their and
their loved one's experiences with covid.

[wnylib]

37. I sure hope that you are right.

[3catwoman3]

12. What is this BULLSHIT about not telling parents...

Last edited Tue Aug 10, 2021, 02:28 PM - Edit history (1)

…if their child has been exposed? Who the hell do these people think they are?

[Skittles]

23. THIS is who they are

Link to tweet

/photo/1

[wnylib]

40. So, maybe teachers can take it

on themselves to speak to parents, not indiviually about each student, but publicly to the community.

They need to stop this effin' insanity.

[Tadpole Raisin]

15. So sorry this happened to you Dustlawyer!

They keep saying this and its true this doesn’t have to happen.

The callous disregard is no longer a surprise but it is unconscionable and unless we return to understanding what it means to live in a community we are lost.

I hope your daughter recovers quickly and your grandson stays healthy!

[waterwatcher123]

18. Sorry to Hear About Your Daughter - Maybe Join Forces With Parents and Sue Abbott.

[wnylib]

42. Yesss!! It might even save his life before

some angry parent who loses a child takes on a vigilante solution.

[NJCher]

79. A distinct possibility

In gun toting TX.

[liberalla]

20. Whose decision was it to NOT tell the parents???

The district? the county? The state? ABBOTT???

That information needs to come out!

Even repug parents would be pissed, right?

This is so frustrating, and so wrong. I'm sorry you and your daughter and your grandson have to endure and live with the results of this messed up policy.

[Ohioboy]

22. How can a governor mandate not telling parents if their kid is exposed?????????????

That's like mandating against "bridge out" signs on roads where bridges are out.

[Dustlawyer]

28. Gov Abbott just wants to let it run wild and cover up the resulting deaths and devastation.

He has an election to win down the road so what if people, including children die! Somehow not getting vaccinated or wearing a mask trumps the lives of those who understand science and don’t want themselves or their family, friends and co-workers to die!

[Ohioboy]

29. In other words, he's making a political bet with other people's lives

He is evil.

[Dustlawyer]

31. Yes, this is what happens when so called news networks are allowed to spew lies and

propaganda. Their advertisers use their ad dollars as leverage to brainwash the viewers to vote against their own interests. Add to that the Big Donor class (also those same big advertisers) giving legal bribes (campaign donations) to control our representatives.

This has to stop! We must go after these root causes of most of our problems or we will never get the problems solved. They have us chasing our tails on a myriad of issues that will never get solved, such as immigration, environment/climate change, gun control, criminal justice reform…, as long as the Donor Class controls the media and the politicians.

[Rustyeye77]

25. Texas...Where we welcome stupidity.

[certainot]

27. dems anywhere can go on the offensive - get the uni of texas to stop supporting rw radio

all republican politicians benefit from free help from RW radio at least 260 xlimbaugh stations, many of the loudest in the country, depend on 87 universities to keep broadcasting sports on them.

all it would take is one university to stop supporting racism and covid and global warming denial and start looking for apolitical alternatives - many more would follow. advertisers would head for the hills and and the ad industry would have to break up the monopoly to prevent an all out exodus.

asshole idiots like abbot and desantis could not survive without those radio stations, they are a huge free advantage

protestors converged on austin and could have gone to the university of texas to protest its use of black athletes to help republicans sell voter suppression.

here are a few major offenders, including texas:


TEXAS 16 Texas A&M 9, Texas Tech 4, Texas 1, Texas Christian 1, Baylor 1

ALABAMA 8 Auburn 3, Alabama 2, Southern Alabama 2, Troy 1

ARIZONA 1 Arizona St. 1

CALIFORNIA 5 San Jose State 2, USC 2, Fresno St. 1

FLORIDA 20 Florida 10, Florida St. 4 Miami 2, South Florida 2, Central Florida 2

GEORGIA 14 Georgia 7, Georgia Tech 5, Georgia Southern 2

ILLINOIS 7 Illinois 7

INDIANA 11 Notre Dame 6, Purdue 4, Indiana 1

LOUSIANA 3 LSU 2, La.-Monroe 1

MICHIGAN 19 Michigan St. 11, Michigan 7, Western Michigan 1

MINNESOTA 4 Minnesota 4

MISSOURI 6 Missouri 6

NEW YORK 7 Syracuse 6, Army 1

NORTH CAROLINA 16 North Carolina 8, North Carolina State 3, Duke 3, East Carolina 2

OHIO 10 Ohio St. 6, Toledo 1, Dayton 1, Bowling Green 1, Xavier 1

VIRGINIA 6 Virginia Tech 5, Virginia 1

WASHINGTON 6 Washington 5, Washington St. 1

WISCONSIN 3 Wisconsin 3

[Evolve Dammit]

35. I notice the northeast is not participating

[wnylib]

46. As a NY resident, I wish to point out

that I am a northeasterner. NY is on that list.

NY is a traditionally blue state, but we have large pockets of blood red magat communities. Knuckle dragging thugs.

[certainot]

55. syracuse supporting 6....

NEW YORK 7 Syracuse 6, Army 1

[Evolve Dammit]

63. The basket of deplorables are everywhere. The albatross around America's neck. nt

[certainot]

56. that's why they're more blue! but that's not the complete list and it's only xlimbaugh stations

there are also many schoolss not on that list that do the same with stations that didn't headline limbaugh but that might headline other racist dittohead dumbshits like hannity - there's a whole stable of them and they all used to follow the limbaugh spin - the dittohead effect

rw radio hass been dominating rural states with large areas that have no free easy political alternatives - harder in high population areas.

the real problem is most all the media and political 'experts' and analysts live in cities and read and might monitor fox for their rw perspective or hear each other attack facebook and have no fucking clue what's been kicking dem/left ass for 30- years - they've been studying fish without water

[Evolve Dammit]

64. you are absolutely correct.

[Tommymac]

61. Don't expect The University of North Carolina to comply with this. The Koch Family bought it.

Many years ago.

I no longer bleed Carolina Blue.

[certainot]

71. i'm not sure it's up to them though, or the republican booster and management. those stations

need the advertisers the school association/logos/brand attract. student protests at the school, for instance, and maybe action by UNC athletes there or in the pros pointing out the racism, voter suppression, and global warming denial, for instance, could scare off advertisers.

having talked to rw radio advertisers before it is clear a lot of them are not going to want to be publicly associated directly with republican/trump shit. it wouldn't take many advertisers to drop off to scare the ad industry and station management and ownership

[pioche4]

86. Totally, its the economics of it all....

Affect the money sources, the advertisers will go.

[certainot]

88. i suspect the radio ad industry will break up the RW talk monopoly before it loses a major chunk

of advertisers to other media

[NQAS]

30. I half expect to hear people in streets...

Announcing “bring out your dead” - for the full medieval effect.

[Dustlawyer]

32. Bingo! That is what made me put "dark ages" in the title.

[appalachiablue]

52. Ultimate dark humor!

[Evolve Dammit]

34. That is sheer insanity. Best to your family.

[Liberty Belle]

38. Sue them! Your daughter should sue the district and the teachers who came to work with COVID.

Sue the Governor, too.

Make the courts way in and hopefully protect the rights of us all.

I hope your daughter will recover fully - has she been vaccinated?

[FakeNoose]

39. Oh no! I'm sorry for your daughter and grandson

This is getting so bad that people should consider moving to another state. Maybe write a letter to the editor of your local paper?

[Dustlawyer]

45. That is the next step, the Houston Chronicle editorial page.

The school district and Abbott have immunity.

[wnylib]

49. So many vaccinated and mask wearing people

are fed up with this magat BS that it's time we take a public stand together.

A million mask march, perhaps, on the capitals in Texas and Florida first. Then on Washinton for national attention. We are mad as hell and are not going to take it any more.

[herding cats]

54. This is what I was going to suggest.

The Maddow suggestion was also a good one which I didn't think of.

Do you have any local TV stations which do investigative reporting? That's another idea.

Also, there are links on the Washington Post and NYT front pages to report leads. I'm thinking Abbott's lunatic Covid orders and the consequences would be of some interest to them also.

Edit to add: The Texas Tribune also as a place to submit story tips.

[femmedem]

72. Yes! A sit-down with the editorial board or a local reporter is better than a letter to the editor.

That would also give you a chance to speak off the record and let the reporters dig without making your name public, if that is a concern. When you are speaking to the press and don't want anything to be directly attributed to you, say at the very beginning, "This is off the record unless I specify otherwise." That way there would be no possibility of retaliation against your daughter.

Another route would be to organize parents, tell them, form a group, speak out at BOD meetings or at a rally and make sure the press is there when you do.

[Lithos]

44. What school district

I live in Austin - at least they are gonna push back on this. But I do understand what you are going thru as there are several teachers which I have seen which are avoiding masks as much as possible.

[Dustlawyer]

83. Klein ISD. My daughter doesn't want to do media for fear of RW nut jobs and her own job.

I understand so there will not be a story. My son teaches for Austin ISD and has not been happy how they handled things last year but at least his district is not letting sick teachers teach.

[Lithos]

87. Understand her concern

I live in Austin and have kids in Austin ISD. They really messed with teachers and lost many excellent experienced teachers over their horrible policies. The only exceptions they seemed to have made were for teachers over 65 years old. Teachers with Diabetes, or other medical issues as well as teachers whose spouses/family had medical issues were made to choose between work and their family - many left.

L-

[NoMoreRepugs]

47. Elected republicans ONLY care about staying in POWER - people do not matter to them.

Like Fascist's EVERYWHERE they are going to do whatever is necessary to stay in power - question is - are we willing to do WHATEVER is necessary to stop them??

[hadEnuf]

51. That's it, right there.

I think more people need to understand this.

[lpbk2713]

62. It's amazing how teachers can be that stupid.

And nurses too for that matter.

(Not talking about your daughter of course.)

[femmedem]

65. Oh no! I agree with the first reply: this should be a national story.

Rachel would make a big deal about this story, as would the Washington Post or NYTimes. And that's the kind of pressure it might take to make the governor walk back this awful mandate.

I hope that your daughter and grandson will be ok, and that you will keep us posted.

[NickB79]

68. Even a Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, Instagram or Facebook rant could be good

Spread that shit far and wide. Post it here for all of us to share.

Fuck, I'd even just make up a sign and go protest in front of the school.

[spanone]

70. K&R...

[BigmanPigman]

75. There must be at least one parent who

works with the teachers and will get the word out to the rest of the parents. That is how it worked at my school. The districts care about $$$, not teachers. When I got sick from the mold in my classroom the district did nothing while the kids and I were all showing each other how to use our new inhalers. The district gave me a can of Lysol. After I got the union involved and after the parents in my classroom went to the principal and then the district the classroom, along with 7 other rooms were demolished since fixing them would have cost more than getting pre-fab new ones.

[NJCher]

80. Amazing

Eom

[thenelm1]

76. Flatten the damn tires on his wheel chair already.

And then give him his fiddle.

(It's unfortunate that the tires are likely not pneumatic, in which case just cut out a big chunk of a tire on one side.)

[SunSeeker]

77. Wow, the shit is hitting the fan in Texas!

And without early testing, they won't catch the infection early, which is the only time our best treatment for covid, namely monoclonal antibodies or Regeneron, is useful. That's why Trump got better so quickly. He got Regeneron right away. But once you've got covid pneumonia, Regeneron is not as effective.

A lot of people are going to die in Texas. Needlessly.

[colsohlibgal]

82. Concerning

I wonder where this Nation is headed. Millions have had there brains saturated and changed after 30 + years of incessant Right Wing Media.....again, enabled by Reagan when he did away with the long standing Fairness Doctrine. Add the Wild West of Social Media and here we are.

What world will my children, grandchildren, etc find down the road?

Democracy lasting is no sure thing as history tells us.

I hope Biden, Harris, et al understand this totally.

[AnnetteChaffee]

85. I understand your fury

I'm in Florida (Gawd help me), so we are dealing with much of the same. All I can say is, that it is always darkest right before the light.

I believe that we are in a - well, call it spiritual, call it evolutionary, call it moral war between light and dark - love versus fear. I have faith that love will always win and that we are absolutely on the right side of history, even the history of our soul's evolution. We are in a world now that is so instant that we look for instant solutions to problems that have been brewing on the back burner for decades. What we need to do is to get involved in the solution. Make those calls to representatives, get involved in community democratic meetings and be part of the march toward the future. Every single person is needed because the other side has honed their message (fear) and instilled that negativity deep into the minds of those who are most happy when they are angry or miserable.

Its a very strange world we live in. and i'm so very sorry your child is sick with this awful disease. Perhaps this has to happen to make them wake up, but I'm sorry your child and your family have to worry and suffer because of it.

Namaste,
Annette