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Republicans not only are willing to let people die to maintain their political power; they are also willing to destroy the institutions that support a decent life. Facilities such as hospitals and schools are simply empty buildings if you destroy the professions that make those facilities worthwhile. I can’t imagine anyone wanting to practice medicine under those circumstances.
I have often thought that a good analogy for business was the goose that laid the golden egg. If you prioritize profits over workers, eventually the workers will be unable to purchase the goods they produce. Republicans pursuit of power over everything else will eventually result in the destruction of the support systems that made the power exist. They must think that they will still be able to access the health care and education that they need, but I don’t think those things will be available, even for the elites.Skilled providers of essential services are the goose. Republicans kill it at their peril.
Excellent article!
Interesting cognitive dissonance (emphasis mine)
“Montana is a very good example of a state that has seen consistent undervaccination, and as a result every third life could have been saved,” said the study’s co-author Stefanie Friedhoff, associate professor of health services, policy and practice at the Brown University School of Public Health.
Harkins, the St. Peter’s chief medical officer, is a lifelong Republican. She calls herself “MAGAfan” on Instagram. But she has seen divisions in her own family over the need for vaccines. It’s exhausting and heartbreaking. “It didn’t have to be like this,” she said. “Conservatives are on the wrong side of this.”
What happened in Montana is what happens when right wing media and politicians drive the story. Media hacks should know better than move actively to the side of misinformation and ignorance. Right wing politicians should be driven by a concern for their constituents and not what an uninformed media President says. The right wing media and right wing politicians turned Covid political and thousands upon thousands died. That is America’s eternal shame.
Don’t kid yourself the right wing politicians would have never had the impact they had if the media hadn’t encouraged them.
The GOP is toxic to Earth and everything that lives on it.
If you’re right wing media, being on the side of misinformation is deliberate. It’s where you and your bosses make your money. Some of them may know better, but they don’t care. The lies are a deliberate choice.
Beautiful cat. I’m sorry you lost your fur person.
If you haven’t read it, I highly The Fur Person by May Sarton.
Excellent article. It really hits hard to read about specific individuals making life-or-death care-rationing choices about specific individuals. People die who might have lived. Excellent.
But.
What the hell is going on with the art? Who could possibly imagine that that’s refreshing, innovative, imaginative? Absolutely terrible.
Small businesses complained they were suffocating, Montana’s economy was struggling and efforts to control the virus were colliding head-on with the state’s deeply ingrained belief in personal freedom.
Personal freedom made possible by society’s picking up the tab for individual’s bad choices.
Yesterday I was reading a thread on Twitter. It was about the extreme right wing in not just Montana but also Idaho, Wyoming and portions of Oregon and Washington that border with Idaho.
The thread is interesting but based on a hypothetical possibility. I have to admit that I was somewhat shocked by what is going on there. Think about who has moved to Montana and I don’t mean Frank Zappa. 
This isn’t a new idea. It is the region favored by survivalists for generations.
Thanks. He was almost 19, so he lived long and lived well. He started as a stray, and became a real fat cat.
I just shook my head as I read this article. What did they expect? Don’t get vaccinated, so more people get sick, more beds are used until you run out, you use up all your medicines, equipment, and supplies, and you suck dry all the energy in your medical staff. Then you demand more be done, help me and mine, it’s your job, what do you mean they died, it’s your fault! Every organization is perfectly designed for the results they get and Montana’s citizens and government designed a perfect system for excess deaths,
The cognitive dissonance in this woman is obvious. She’s wracked with guilt but can’t reconcile that with her Trump worship. I hope it consumes her.
If all the maga in my area packed off too Idaho no one would miss them. The US Govmn’t should have a resettlement program. The more I think about it, the more I like it. I wouldn’t even cut off the government assistance if they stay put and shut the hell up. Turn the whole thing into a territory with the same voting rights as Guam. Then while we are at it, give Guam, Puerto Rico and DC full statehood.
It’s very, very likely that this country, like the rest of the world, is going to be facing large scale natural disasters and other pandemics. Even countries more functional than ours are going to be severely tested in the coming years. With COVID we failed miserably. A lot of that was due to engrained thinking about freedom, self-reliance, governance, and expert (i.e. “elite”) opinion among Americans, even more from how the GOP exploited those notions. We’re in no shape to take on the challenges that are coming.
So would hospital workers be able to choose to not treat the unvaccinated who come in with Covid based on moral and religious beliefs and not be discriminated against by their employer or the state?
This is from the London Times on the Redoubt. It’s an hour long, but it’s excellent.
Only if the unvaccinated are LGBTQ
