Apparently, under Facebook's "Community Standards," it is perfectly acceptable for far-right, antigovernment extremists to call for the lynching of the Vice President and the Speaker of the House during an attempted coup.
But calling for the arrest and conviction of the Senate Minority Leader "promotes violence."
I have a pretty good idea who reported it, and that person will be blocked.
The Detroit Fire Department has had two DUI crashes involving on-duty personnel in one one week. In the first incident, an intoxicated firefighter drove his rescue truck into a parked car. In the second, a command officer was found in his FD Suburban, hanging off an overpass.
The driver of the rescue truck, by the way, had been to a retirement "dinner party" where alcohol was being served. And we know what fire department retirement parties are like.
The city has announced plans to address the issue (and, surprisingly, it wasn't "well, then, let's get started").
They're going to bolster their Employee Assistance Program, which they scaled back in response to Covid-19, believing, apparently, that a deadly pandemic, isolation, travel restrictions, and reduced staffing due to illness, wouldn't put any additional strain on firefighters.
Oops.
Here's another suggestion: the first time sometime is caught OUI on duty, immediate enrollment in an in-patient drug or alcohol rehab program, OR six-month unpaid suspension, no outside work authorization, no benefits.
Second offense, fire the person. No ifs, ands, or buts.
I see no reason why my tax dollars should pay for $600,000 vehicles so these IDIOTS can act like idiots. Every firefighter I know has responded to drunk-driving crashes. Why do they feel THEY are exempt, from their law and/or from the consequences of their actions?
Texas and Mi'sippi both lifted all Covid-related restrictions yesterday. The two governors, both slack-jawed drooling idiot trumpers, took their actions "to show America that we don't need smart people tellin' us what to do. Us goobers kin make up our own minds." The dynamic had a second factor, though, in Texas: distracting the gullible morons from realizing that the state's refusal to join the national power grid, or upgrade their generation and distribution infrastructure, are the main reason last week's storm devastated the Lone Tooth Star Republic.
In about three weeks, of course, we'll see huge spikes in Covid rates in both states. And it would be karma beyond karma if one or both governors died of Covid contracted after they lift restrictions.
Texas' refusal to accept the fact that it is but ONE state among fifty doesn't sit well with the local mindset. They continue to think that because they effectively choose school books for the entire country -- which is a scandal all it's own, considering the choices they're forced on the rest of us -- they should rule all other aspects of society as well.
I believe that, back in December, they passed a non-binding referendum allowing the state to secede from the Union.
Fine. Go. We can do without the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders. Now that Molly Ivins is dead, I don't see that Texas really brings anything to the table anyway. Like EVERY OTHER red state, Texas receives more money from the Federal government than they send in, meaning that blue states are effectively subsidizing their disdain for us.
At least Mi'sippi is smart enough -- barely -- to recognize that without huge infusions of Northern cash, their ante-bellum paradise would wither and die in about,,, oh, six months.
And if they DO secede, I don't see any need to send them any foreign aid, since they oppose it for others. And they can develop their own currency. And every piece of movable infrastructure down there should be moved north immediately. Build a giant wall along the border, which is what they've been begging for for the past five years anyway.
Ya wanna go? Fine. Go.
While doing some research on the issues involved with voluntary and involuntary isolation and quarantine, I ran across the case of Robert Daniels, a Russian who had been admitted into the US despite having a rare and highly drug-resistant form of tuberculosis (TB). As a condition of entry, he agreed not to go out in public without a mask (sound familiar?), but got caught at a Maricopa County (AZ) convenience store without one. He was promptly tossed in the hoosegow, for NINE MONTHS.
"Like jailed inmates accused of crimes, Daniels is subjected to intrusive strip searches and he is unable to receive any visits from family and friends. He isn’t permitted to exercise or walk outside, and has no access to social or recreational activities like the Internet. He has been outside only once in the past nine months, and was shackled hand and foot. The lights in his cell are required to be kept on at night, and video cameras record his every move. He can’t see through the frosted windows in his room and wasn’t able to shower or call anyone until a few weeks ago." (1)
Bear in mind, Roberts wasn't being accused of being a mass murderer, or anything... he was a guy with a contagious disease.
"In its complaint, the ACLU argues that the county has failed to implement procedures on how to humanely quarantine sick patients for lengthy periods of time, and in an effort to cut costs deliberately failed to explore alternative locations in which to quarantine Daniels. Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio(2) publicly stated that in the interest of security he would treat any person housed in the jail ward in the same manner as all other jail inmates."(3)
The ACLU went on to describe the compassionate medical treatment Roberts received:
" Like jailed inmates accused of crimes, Daniels is subjected to intrusive strip searches and he is unable to receive any visits from family and friends. He isn’t permitted to exercise or walk outside, and has no access to social or recreational activities like the Internet. He has been outside only once in the past nine months, and was shackled hand and foot. The lights in his cell are required to be kept on at night, and video cameras record his every move. He can’t see through the frosted windows in his room and wasn’t able to shower or call anyone until a few weeks ago."(4)
We ran into a similar situation here in Maine a few years, during the last Ebola scare here in the states. Kaci Hickox, a nurse who had worked with "Doctors Without Borders" in West Africa, was locked up, initially in New Jersey, on the orders of Governor Chris Christie (another trump supporter), and subsequently in Maine, on orders from Governor Paul LePage (yet another trumper... are you starting to see a pattern here?). Hickox sued in both cases, and won. Christie, by the way, claimed Hickox was positive for Ebola; she was not. (5)
"I never had symptoms of Ebola. I tested negative for Ebola the first night I stayed in New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s private prison," Hickox said in a statement released through the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey, which is representing her in the lawsuit.
"My liberty, my interests and consequently my civil rights were ignored because some ambitious governors saw an opportunity to use an age-old political tactic: fear," she said.(6)
This, of course, is standard operating procedure for the GOP: use fear if you don't have facts on your side.
__________
1. https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/aclu-arizona-sues-county-officials-over-inhumane-confinement-tb-patient, retrieved Mar 2, 2021
2. You remember Joe "Feed Them Green Bologna" Arpaio: he was pardoned by his good buddy trump after pissing off the Federal Courts by ignoring orders that his *COUNTY* deputies not engage in *FEDERAL* immigration enforcement.
3. Ibid
4. Ibid
5. https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/ebola-virus-outbreak/kaci-hickox-maine-nurse-quarantined-ebola-scare-sues-new-jersey-n449491, retrieved Mar 2, 2021
6. Ibid
Texas governor Greg "Free-dumb" Abbott is lifting most of the orders he himself instituted to try to control Covid-19 in the Texas Republic, apparently because: Free-dumb. Abbott obviously succumbed to the prevalent Texas theory that thinking about others is being a "pussy" and a "libtard." Noted political writer Jim Wright ascribes this to the Texan mania for macho manly-man manliness, saying:
I'm not changing MY life! I'm not lettin' the gubmint control ME! I'm not gonna to wear a mask! I'm not getting the vaccine! Stay home if you're afraid of everything!
Fear is what defines you. It's your religion -- literally. It's baked right in: fear your god. Right? FEAR him.You're afraid of everything.
