Today at a Hearing, where Sally Yates was invited to testify, Republican questioners pulled a typical ‘power play.’ That is, they would ask her a question, then not allow her to provide an answer. Clearly, and Sen. Leahy (R-VT), brilliantly called this out, she was ‘overridden’ because she is a Woman. Women STILL do not engender respect in the ‘Old Boys Club.’ Vote those out who have no regard and respect.
Representative Jimmy Gomez (D – CA), with the backing of the Trump administration, introduced legislation earlier this year to push back the deadline for completion of the 2020 census. Now the administration, in an attempt to manipulate the outcome for political reasons, has determined data collection online, by phone, and by door-to-door activities will end September 30th, and the Census Bureau will submit the population count to the president by December 31.
Democrats and civil rights organizations were quick to criticize this latest effort by Trump to manipulate the outcome of the census. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) urged Congress to extend the deadline because of the coronavirus pandemic. “This is another deliberative attempt to undercount communities of color, immigrants, Native Americans, and other hard –to –reach groups,” he said. “It is clear that the Trump Administration doesn’t want an accurate and full account. They want to deprive these communities of both political power and federal dollars for partisan gain.”
While it was reported that, as of Monday, about 93 million households, or nearly 63% of the country, have responded to the census, it is critical for everyone to make sure they are counted. The outcome of arguments regarding the deadline dates may be uncertain , so it is necessary to make sure you are counted as soon as possible.
The following website contains all the information you need for making sure you are counted.
https://2020census.gov/en/ways-to-respond.html
You may do so on the Internet, by phone or by mail. All the necessary details for each method are listed there. If you know someone who has not been counted and does not have access to the Internet, please help by providing the appropriate information to them.
#womensvoicesmedia
photo by engin akyurt
When you see me wearing a mask when I’m out in public, or at the supermarkets, or working, or going to the doctors I want you to know that...
If we can be anything during this pandemic, let’s choose to be kind, thoughtful, mask wearing people!
Nancie Barnett
This has easily been the longest 2 months of my career, and, for that matter, my life. COVID-19 has changed everything. The way we live, the way our kids learn, the way we work. It has trashed the economy, exploded unemployment, and harmed businesses, many of them, sadly, beyond repair. But here’s the deal: it’s real and it’s here and it’s still spreading.
As a healthcare worker, I’m exhausted. Physically, mentally, and emotionally. As a manager in the the healthcare industry, it’s been one of the longest, most stressful things I’ve tackled.
First off, the truthers and the conspiracy people and the protesters, you’re not helping. The people bitching CONSTANTLY about the governor’s or whatever level of government’s handling of things, it’s not constructive.
Do you want to know why medical people, real medical people, not some crackpot quacks and kooks with a YouTube account or Facebook page, are taking this seriously? Because it’s serious. And we’re serious people when it comes to people’s health and their lives. Yes, it mostly kills at-risk populations (the elderly and those with underlying medical conditions) but it also kills perfectly healthy people with no prior diagnoses and we don’t know why. I’m so tired of people acting like there’s information that’s being cooked up or withheld. You know why there’s lots of gaps in the information? Because we’re still learning about this virus every day. It’s new. It’s never been seen. How it acts, how it spreads, why it does the things it does is all new and we’re learning on the fly. Stop mistaking genuine lack of information for misinformation or withheld information.
The numbers: this one sticks in my craw like no other. “I heard they didn’t die from COVID-19, they died from a heart attack but they were positive so they called it COVID-19 to boost the numbers and scare people.” Stop. It. You know how many people died specifically from AIDS? Zero. AIDS patients die from pneumonia or some other illness normal, healthy people fight off because the AIDS virus destroyed their immune system and they couldn’t fight off the infection. But at the heart of it, they died because of AIDS. The coronavirus attacks the respiratory system. The respiratory system is, in case you didn’t know, pretty important to sustaining life. It also has a huge impact on how other organ systems, like the heart, work. Guess what, when your lungs don’t work because they’ve basically filled with brick mortar because the virus is attacking them, that puts a bit of a strain on your ticker and very well can cause it to fail. So unless you have a basic understanding of or want to understand how interconnected organ systems are and how the body fundamentally functions: stop.
I think I can speak for a lot of medical professionals when I say, we don’t mean to be arrogant, we don’t mean to be jerks, but damn it, this bullshit is frustrating and yes, we’re going to clap back to ignorance. Ignorance is not something to be flaunted and there is a difference between ignorance and stupidity. Ignorance is being uninformed. Stop being willfully ignorant and even reveling in it because it doesn’t fit your preconceived narrative or opinion. Even worse, stop pretending you’re not ignorant because you watched some damn YouTube video or read some op-ed piece. That’s someone’s opinion, normally based on nothing. NOTHING. No research. That’s not information. That’s not factual. That’s not based in science. It’s click-bait with the sole intention of riling you up and getting you to let your guard down. And instead of being pissed at the virus that’s causing all this, it’s to direct your anger at the government or doctors or anywhere else their agenda wants it directed.
Medical people are fired up for a couple reasons. 1 month ago, we were all heroes and putting our lives on the line because this was dangerous stuff. Well, I think I can speak for most of us when I say we aren’t heroic, we’re just doing our job. But guess what, we’re still doing the same damn thing we were doing a month ago and this crap still hasn’t gone away but now we’re “just trying to scare people” because “it’s really no big deal.” We aren’t looking for a pat on the back or even a thank you, we just want you to do what we all need to do to stop this thing and avoid the spread. Listen, if you think that my big fat ass enjoys sweating like a whore in church in an isolation gown, walking around like Mr Magoo because my glasses are fogged up because of my mask, and wearing goggles that dig into the backs of my ears because I’m “just a sheep,” you are mistaken. It’s because I don’t want this virus and I don’t want to take it home to my family and I don’t want to infect my co-workers and other patients. We’re fired up because we’ve seen and even performed intubations. We don’t intubate for funsies. Outside of the surgical setting, an intubation is basically throwing a Hail Mary to save someone’s life. And when the mortality rate once that plastic tube slides between your vocal cords with COVID-19 is 85-89%, yeah, that’s terrifying. This virus is dangerous.
Lastly, stop being spoiled children about public health advisories. Stop bitching about wearing a mask when you’re in public places. Stop pretending that that is somehow infringing on your rights. Get over yourself. I wish all businesses would grow a pair and refuse service to people who refuse to wear a mask “out of principle.” Police aren’t inclined to enforce it and that’s fine but, spoiler alert, private businesses have and reserve the right to refuse service to anyone. Don’t tell me it’s ok for a bakery to refuse service to a gay couple for a wedding cake on religious grounds but not ok for a convenience store to refuse service because they don’t want the outbreak monkey strolling through their place coughing all over other patrons and their staff. Stay outside the 6ft bubble, wear a damn mask, and wash your hands. It’s that easy. Stop pretending they’re asking for a kidney. It’s as much to protect yourself as it is everyone else. People wonder why we have things like stay-at-home orders and closing of non-essential businesses. It’s because of you, jackass, you’re the problem. It’s your lack of ability to exercise common sense and your refusal to follow simple, insanely simple advice that forces the government to exercise it for you. And even then, you still thumb your nose at it in all your ignorant glory. Sorry that you feel like they’re infringing on your right to be an irresponsible child.
Look, all I’m saying is I get that it’s frustrating and I get that it’s irritating, and inconvenient and all the other bad things that it is, but please, continue to take this seriously, continue to do the little things that make a big difference. Stop denying facts, science, and the advice from people who have spent a lifetime doing what they do in the medical and research fields to ultimately make everyone’s lives healthier, safer, and better.
Joshua Ross
#washyourhands #wearamask
An open letter to the “ other ones”
By: Debbie Moore-Black, RN
Hi Mary and Susan and Heather and Ashley and Cathy and anyone else I’m sure I missed.
I was twenty something when I met him. He was smart and funny and different. And I desperately wanted something “different.”
I wanted to be set free from my strict Catholic upbringing. From my domineering mother and IBM executive father turned alcoholic. I wanted to shed the confessionals on Thursday, the mass on Friday and then church again on Sunday. The screams and haunts that failed to escape me of being told over and over again that I was dumb and stupid and fat. I wanted to explore and dance and sing.
And there you were.
The strangest man. 1978. With your Afro hair and long beard and beady blue eyes and a thin body as you smoked cigarette after cigarette.
We listened to the Doors and Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd as we stared into each other’s eyes.
You told me I was beautiful and smart and talented. I desperately grabbed on to this... those breadcrumbs of love.
You became my everything.
My heart and soul.
Can you imagine being this beautiful porcelain doll, and someone comes and smashes you with a hammer? Smashes you to shreds?
That was me.
I loved you. You were my everything. We had three beautiful children. I loved them even more; as I had to learn to build my life around them, and not you.
I preached to others “Women’s liberation.” Unchain yourself, I even hyphenated my last name. Strange thing though, was that I was really trapped. I didn’t know how to escape.
You were my “magic man” until I found out the truth.
And then the hammer that came down on me, also came down on my spirit.
Our children loved you. We all played fairly well... except for the screaming fights of me begging you to get a second job or a better job as I worked my 60 hours a week as a nurse. I was exhausted but I knew someone had to do it. Or of that “next time” you were unfaithful to me. Many various affairs with other women. The marriage counseling, the therapy sessions never made you stop. I was a wounded soldier, craving for this man to love me. And finally realizing it would never happen.
Breadcrumbs of love.
Everyone loved you, your folks at work, the community, even the church. You also loved their adulation towards you.
Narcissism is a strange disease. It’s a self-serving one. And you get wrapped up into yourself. And I was left behind. Forgotten.
And after 34 years of marriage, I was finally ready for a divorce.... because you had one more. One more woman to love other than me.
And I didn’t divorce because he received his death notice. Liver and pancreatic and lung cancer ravaged his body. And I just couldn’t make my children take care of him. I knew it would be hard, but I just couldn’t make them deal with this pain.
So, Mary and Susan and Heather and Ashley and Cathy and all the rest.... where were you when he lost over 40 lbs, stopped eating, skeletal and jaundiced? Where were you when he climbed out of bed, only sometimes falling to the floor or urinating on the floor? Where were you when he accidentally had a bowel movement in the bed? Where were you when he tried to flush towels down the toilet?
And even at the end, the funeral. Where were you? Did you forget to come and pay this man homage?
So whether you’re a man or woman and you’re in it for the thrill. Or in it for fun.. you all, including him, played havoc on my life. My psyche.
His ashes were scattered across the mountain top. And I swore to myself.... never again.
I trust few. But every day I heal, I hug and cuddle my dogs. I laugh with my children and grand-babies... and I carry on.
IF you are in a domestic abusive, cruel, negative, demoralizing partnership, get out! I plead with you loud and clear. Get out. No one deserves this life.
It’s never too late.
The Center for relationship abuse awareness
800.799.7233
(800.799.SAFE)
National Domestic Violence Hotline
800.799.7233
If you are in immediate danger call: 911