Killing American kids

I mentioned last week that I tried to see the movie, I Carry You With Me, but didn’t because of a power failure. On Tuesday I did see it and went to a theater in Ann Arbor to do so. The story centers around Iván. He grew up and began his adult life in Mexico. He finds his choices there too limited and crosses the border into the US. In New York City he moves up from delivery boy to line cook to chef to restaurant owner. But because he is undocumented, if he returns to Mexico to see his son he cannot return to America, where he has 50 employees dependent on him. This immigrant story is a bit different. Iván is gay and falls in love with Geraldo. So another part of the story is trying to navigate Mexican homophobia. He must remain carefully closeted otherwise his ex wife will deny visitation to his son. The creation of this film is unusual. From what I’ve read, director Heidi Ewing started making a documentary of Iván and Geraldo and their lives in New York. Then she realized she could expand on their story by hiring actors to play Iván and Geraldo of 20 years earlier and when they were boys. The result plays more like a story than a documentary. I recommend this one. Mark Sumner of Daily Kos began a report with:

On Tuesday, Dr. Michelle Fiscus warned that she had been fired after properly answering a question about whether teenagers are eligible for vaccinations without their parents’ consent (that answer is “yes”). The way in which Tennessee Republicans bullied Dr. Fiscus from her position for the act of telling kids the truth is emblematic of the way in which public health officials across the nation are being harassed by the lie-spreading anti-vaxx machine that is now the Republican Party and right-wing media. But as it turns out, getting rid of the head of vaccinations for the state health department was only the tip of what could be the nation’s sickest iceberg. Because in the wake of Dr. Fiscus’ removal, Tennessee health officials have dropped all vaccine outreach, and ending vaccination events that were planned at public schools. That’s all vaccines. That doesn’t just mean that kids are getting an opportunity to be vaccinated against COVID-19. That’s measles. That’s diphtheria and tetanus. That’s polio. ... It’s clear they’ve allowed themselves to be bullied into the Middle Ages because they’re more concerned about offending Republicans in the state legislature than genuinely safeguarding the health of the state.

In another post Sumner titled it People who are unvaccinated by choice are engaged in biological warfare against their own nation. He reminds us that while 90% of those dying are unvaccinated, there are 10% who got their jabs. Also, the more not vaccinated the more chance for a new variant. Already there are four variants of interest and 14 newer variants and one of those could be vaccine evasive. Five of those were identified in the last month. And there are 12 children in Mississippi, too young for the vaccines, who are in ICUs. It’s not the case where we don’t have enough vaccine doses. Sumner concluded:

Every time Tucker Carlson plays up false fear of the vaccine on his program, he is killing American children. Every time Marjorie Taylor Greene makes false analogies to “experimental drugs,” she is killing American kids. Lauren Boebert and Ted Cruz are killing American kids. Every damn bastard in the nation who tries to create doubts about the vaccines for political purposes is killing American kids. That’s you, Tennessee legislature. And you, Missouri governor. That’s you, every single person at CPAC.

Leah McElrath linked to an article on Media Matters about Jeanine Pirro of Fox News claiming door-to-door vaccine outreach is about confiscating guns. Then McElrath quoted a Jason Campbell linking to a Media Matters article (I didn’t check if the same one). Campbell tweeted:

Newsmax host suggests vaccines are “against nature,” and some diseases are “supposed to wipe out a certain amount of people.”

McElrath wrote that half the unvaccinated Americans live in households that make less than $50K a year. Medical care is a lower priority than simple survival. And not everyone knows the vaccine is free.

One reason the right-wing outrage machine is focused on attacking Biden’s plan for door-to door outreach isn’t because they actually fear confiscation of guns or Bibles. It’s because they don’t want poor people to have access to life-saving vaccinations. Passive eugenics—which is what is being openly promoted by the Trump-supporting right-wing outlet Newsmax—has a long history in the US as a tool for consolidating political power. Not to put too fine a point on it, but some people WANT poor people to die.

Gwen Snyder quoted McElrath and added.

The less money you have, the more barriers there are to medical care, even if that care is free.

Obstacles include bus fare, missing hours (and pay) from work to get to a vaccine site, and arranging child care. Back to Tennessee. Marissa Higgins of Kos reported Gov. Bill Lee signed a bill that attacks from the other direction transgender people using the restroom matching their identity. It requires businesses and government offices to display signs at restrooms.

First, the language of the signs in question: “This facility maintains a policy of allowing the use of restrooms by either biological sex, regardless of the designation on the restroom.” Obviously, the tone here is considerably different than displaying, say, a Rainbow flag or simply labeling bathrooms as “unisex” or “open for all.” It also categorizes people as their biological sex rather than gender identity; one could say, for example, that a restroom is available for all women, including trans women, instead of saying for all women, including those assigned male at birth. Some may consider this distinction to be simple semantics, but words have serious power and implications. Plaintiffs also homed in on the language, expressing concern that the sign may offend trans and intersex folks because of the “term ‘biological sex’ because of the political controversy and anti-transgender animus surrounding that phrase.”

Thankfully a federal judge blocked the implementation of the law until it can be brought before the court.