Regarding Senator Bill Cassidy’s statement regarding maternal deaths where you received disagreement that it was racist, I beg to differ with those who feel it was just a statistical point. It comes across as racist to this white woman. The United States has the highest rate of maternal mortality than any other developed country, & it is the only country where mortality rate has been rising. This speaks to the fact that healthcare in this country is considered a privilege of the wealthy & not a right. To excuse the death rate as “not so bad” by excluding black women from the numbers is inexcusable in my eyes. What is the point of dividing results by the color of skin if not racist?
Though I get that Cassidy, rightly or wrongly, felt justified treating race as a co-variate to control for the proportionally high number of black women who reside in Louisiana, what I don’t get is a seeming dismissal of the increasing numbers of women, largely women of color, who die each year, in a country as wealthy as ours, from preventable reproductive health problems.
Note that Cassidy didn’t say that Louisiana has more poor people who suffer maternal mortality. Or more people without healthcare. Or more Christians. If you don’t think he was talking about race, please call me. I have some waterfront land in Plaquemines Parish that I’ll sell you at a great price.
Having spent much my youth as a resident of Louisiana, I would add that if a white man in a government position starts talking about Black women - in any capacity - he is talking about race. He's just doing it without his hood covering his face. And I am not stereotyping - Cassidy is exactly the racist that Louisianians elect BECAUSE they are racist.
Under Rick Scott’s plan, it’s possible we may not be able to determine maternal mortality rates for black women. Many receive care at government funded clinics and/or Medicaid.
“Ban the Box. Government will not ask American citizens to disclose their race, ethnicity, or skin color on any government form”
Rick Scott wants to be President & will not hesitate to do or say anything that he thinks might better his chances, including spend his personal ill-gained monies to achieve his goal.
No Republican Governor has expanded Medicaid in Florida. They are about money & power & don’t care about Florida residents.
I have lived in this glorious/awful state for 50 years. What you say about money and power is quite true . . but isn't that usually the Republican way? Right now it is just so very pronounced with a true "Tallahassee Takeover."
Jean, spot on! I have a question though perhaps you could clarify for me about your last sentence. Doesn’t it help to have the maternal mortality death data by different categories, including by race, to understand how to correct the issue?
Hi, Vivian. Louisiana (and all states) collect that information stratified by race. I included a link to Louisiana's report in the newsletter. What that report shows is that Louisiana ranks 48th in terms of the RATE (not the number) of maternal deaths of Black women. So, Cassidy's statistical point is wrong. The rate of maternal deaths among Black women is the rate, and it doesn't matter how much you "correct" for the Black population in Louisiana.
Senator Cassidy was not making the statistical point on order to improve the outcome for black women, but in order to make maternal deaths in Louisiana appear more in line with other states.
Thank you, Robert. I humbly suggest that the riposte re: Hunter Biden's laptop be rephrased to something shorter and stickier. Instead of "“We’ll trade Hunter’s laptop for Kushner’s encrypted texts with Mohammed bin Salman soliciting investments in Kushner’s private equity fund while Kushner was on government payroll," how about "Hunter Biden's laptop is nothing compared to Jared Kushner's laptop. That one holds a lot of evidence about Kushner's corrupt relationship with Mohammed Bone Saw."
yeah, my tagline was too long. But a bumper sticker would be good. But is should focus on Jared and $2 billion investment. "Investigate Jared's $2 billion bribe" or something like that.
Great message and add a few to the list regarding :protection from polluted air and water, mitigation of climate change and compensations for climate catastrophes, occupational safety, and most important of all...a safe future for your children!
Agree 100%. I thought about including those, but wanted to keep the list manageable. But if we do run a campaign about "The Big Steal," climate, worker safety, and children's future should be on the list.
You left out from your excellent list: right of privacy will be lost, the right to have the government out of your bedroom and your doctor's office come to mind.
One tweak: Democrats should adopt the Stop the Steal refrain. In terms of election laws being passed, it’s actually valid. And it would sow so much chaos that hopelessly confused Trump supporters might vote for Democrats.
This is actually a tactic used by GOP also - adopt a term being effectively used by the opposition, assign a different meaning to it, and render it useless by out- repeating the opposition. They have altered the meaning of perfectly neutral words that way, and shanghaied symbols otherwise owned by every American like the flag. Try wearing a big flag on your tee shirt or hat today and nine out of ten people will assume you are a MAGA nut. Which brings up another tactic - We need to choose and embrace an emotion laden visual symbol as well because not all people are primarily verbal. It is hard for me to imagine this, but some research suggests that almost half of all people do not think in words. Whether that is part of the reason or not, we need at least one or a few powerful visual symbols to evoke "Democrat" instantly upon sighting.
As to those that see Senator Cassidy's statement excluding Black women from maternal deaths in La., as a mere statistical correction, they should note that he missed an opportunity to show perfection in La. by excluding all women from the statistics and arguing that no adult men had died in childbirth in his state.
I posted the following last night in response to yesterday's newsletter on the "death" of outrage. Someone suggested that I re-post earlier today so that Robert and others might actually see it. :-) So here goes:
I'd respectfully like to suggest a different way to deal with outrage. It's time we all consider investing in Democracy rather than making one-time donations to a single candidate's campaigns. Campaign donations are not the most effective way to fight voter suppression and disinformation and turn the tide the way we must right now.
First, realize that most of the money donated to candidates' campaigns is used for TV or digital ads and flyers -- outreach designed to change swing voters minds with soundbites and slogans --usually an impossible task. (See this from Vox: Experiments Show that this is the best way to win campaigns. But is anyone actually doing it? https://www.vox.com/2014/11/13/7214339/campaign-ground-game)
Also make sure you are donating to a winnable race. In the days following Ruth Bader Ginsburg's death, Americans donated over $70 million to Amy McGrath's campaign or the Get Mitch or Die Trying Fund. At one point ActBlue was logging $100K a minute. Amy McGrath ended up with a war chest of $90+ million but Mitch McConnell still won his Senate seat resoundingly with his "paltry" $60 million war chest.
Another more impactful way to donate is to support grassroots organizations working to register and activate voters in critical districts of swing states. Remember that even though Biden won the popular vote by more than 7 million, he eeked out his razor-thin electoral college victory with 43,809 votes across Wisconsin, Georgia and Arizona. Grassroots organizations are THE most effective at GOTV because they practice relational voter turnout. They have multiple conversations about the election and spend more time educating new voters (who are their own neighbors) on local, state and national issues, what sorts of documents they will need to vote, how to get a mail-in ballot or even provide PPE. They never close shop after elections, they work year round holding listening sessions, building political power and turning out the vote in local and state elections. Here are some great articles if you're interested in learning more about how grassroots organizations are so successful:
This inspirational op-ed from LUCHA in Arizona explains beautifully the important role grassroots organizations play in relational GOTV and the long game of building enough power to swing a state like Arizona to the left.
Here are two organizations that offer very impactful ways to invest in grassroots organizations.
Flip the Vote 2022 - They provide a slate of vetted BIPOC-led grassroots orgs in 7 critical Swing States. You can easily donate through FTV’s platform - 100% of your donations go directly to the orgs. You can also host an in-person or Zoom house party with FTV which is a very effective way to get people engaged and invested in the elections. Read FTV's strategy here: https://www.flipthevote.org/strategy.
Blueprint by Swing Left offers a portfolio “investing” strategy that is also targeted and data driven. It also encourages “giving circles” for people who want to invest together. Read more about that here:
Gather your friends and see how you can maximize your investment in Democracy! You will feel more hopeful and have a much bigger impact on the midterms and the 2024 election.
Hi, Cindy. Do you have a website or URL that I can cite to? Otherwise, i will cite to your Comment, which is viewable only by paying subscribers. I would like to find a way to get this message to all readers. Can you please email your response to Rhubbell@outlook.com? Thanks!
I believe that Senator Cassidy was being racist. Why should women of color be removed from the total number of maternal deaths? He should have been asked why women of color should not be counted in the total number of maternal deaths. Is it because some of them are below the poverty line? There are also white women who are below the poverty line. Is it because women of color might be more likely to be uninsured and therefore can not receive prenatal medical care? There are plenty of white women in that situation as well.
All pregnant women in this country should be receiving good pre and post natal care. All babies born should have regular medical check ups. The problem is that Republicans do not want to subsidize medical care for the poor. Yet they are taking away a woman’s right to choose whether to continue the pregnancy to term or terminate the pregnancy, all in the name of protecting human life. They need to understand that life goes on after birth and those children and their mothers need good medical care.
30% of Black women in Louisiana live in poverty, compared to 12% of white women. Start there, and it explains a lot. And, BTW, Cassidy wants to eliminate Medicaid in Louisiana (at least in the past; don't know his current position.) He also tried to end the ACA (Obamacare). The fact that the man is a physician makes it all worse, in my view.
I think that the fact that he is a physician makes a terrible statement on what type of person he is. So he wants to eliminate the only source of insured healthcare that 42% of women of childbearing age get! He is not going to lower mortality rates in childbirth that way!
In the state of Michigan, all healthcare providers, including doctors and nurses, are required to complete 3 hours of "implicit bias" continuing education for license renewal. Research has shown that misperceptions of those from other races can have ontoward, even deadly effects, contributing to increases, for example, in maternal and infant mortlity rates.
"Implicit attitudes were more often significantly related to patient–provider interactions and health outcomes than treatment processes.
Conclusions. Most health care providers appear to have implicit bias in terms of positive attitudes toward Whites and negative attitudes toward people of color."
I do not agree with your assessment of President Biden's remarks regarding Taiwan. I'm glad the President was clear on our position. We need more of that.
You could be right, and it could be that Biden is flexing his power as president. My point is that doing so in response to a reporter's question is not the optimal way to do so. If he has a policy change to announce, he should announce it. As I said, Fox News loved the sentiment. Why not get credit for "standing up to China", instead of raising questions of whether Biden really meant to say what he said?
I feel like it is his staff trying to moderate his words that is the problem, and would not characterize this or several other statements as gaffs. People are herd animals and to some extent if everyone stands around and applauds they applaud, if enough people "in the know" gasp in horror and try to cover "the mess" it's seen as a mess. If, as it has seemed to me at times, his staff is actually trying to correct misinterpretations of the intent of his words, then they need to say so more clearly: "You are misinterpreting what he said. It was an expression of horror at the present Russian leadership, which surely cannot continue in this vein. Nothing he said called for regime change by any agency less legitimate than the will of the Russian people" or something of the sort.
Regarding whether a "statistical" argument is free of racist underpinnings, consider the "statistical" argument the NFL made (through its lawyers at one of the big and wealthy New York law firms) that the cognitive damages resulting from concussive football injuries should allow for a reduced award of damages for Black, compared to white, players because Black men have a lower cognitive functioning in their normal state compared to white men. This argument, which the NFL was shamed to retract when different lawyers filed suit alleging unlawful discrimination in the legal position, was based on evidence and argument. The statistics were shown to be the result of racist bias in the studies that gave rise to the statistics, and thank goodness for the legal team that exposed the NFL's racist position and got them to withdraw it. Can you imagine being a Black lawyer (or staff person) working at the law firm that argued that position for the NFL? Law firms don't have to argue positions like that. Lawyers are permitted to honor their own morals when representing clients in civil matters.
Good analogy. And as I noted above, 30% of Black women in Louisiana live in poverty, while only 12% of white women do. Start there, and it is not difficult to explain the differences. BTW, Cassidy wants to make the situation worse by eliminating Medicaid in Louisiana.
What is especially pernicious about the prospect of disallowing "ineffective assistance of counsel" as a basis for reversing a criminal conviction is the likelihood that ineffective assistance of counsel is the cause of the conviction. What this majority of SCOTUS is really doing is eliminating a likely basis for appeal because they want to reduce the taking of appeals--in this situation with full awareness that many criminal defense lawyers are, indeed, incompetent. Often they are new lawyers in a legal system that found, in a comprehensive October 2020, report by the Institute for the Advancement of the Legal System, that our law schools are graduating students that lack many of the basic, minimum competencies required for the practice of law. Moreover, the study established that notwithstanding the failure (i.e., inability) of law schools to instruct on those basic competencies, these graduates are passing bar exams across the United States (because our licensing authorities can't really test for them). Sad. Sad for the incarcerated persons, the lawyers who lost their trials, and the people in this country who know our overcrowded prisons house many innocent men and women, with families who grieve their imprisonment.
Thanks for the data, and the more complete explanation of the pernicious effect of the decision. Agree with you 100%. The Supreme Court decided to engage in "docket management" by severely curtailing a right explicitly guaranteed by the Constitution.
But why would they do something so egregious to make their life easier?? Yes Democrats need messaging and no surprise that Jared Kushner is sleazy; but of all the things you wrote about today, this SCOTUS decision seems the most wrong! Is there no check on the SC? What about the Judiciary Committee? What about the DOJ? Can this not be appealed?
Judges uniformly complain that their dockets are overcrowded. One solution has been the favoring of forcing injured consumers to be pushed into arbitration, which is costly and removes the right to a jury trial or an appeal. This SCOTUS decision shows the hostility towards criminal defendants who are too poor to hire effective counsel. The truth is the currently positioned SCOTUS cares nothing for poor people.
Yes-there is a strong reason to emphasize the "Big Steal" or whatever moniker is used.
The bigger question is what type of country do we want.A Democracy or an Autocratiic Dictatorship?
If you want to save our country it should be phrased as DEMOCRACY vs.FASCISM.
Fascism-a governmental system led by a dictator having complete power,forcibly suppressing opposition and criticism,regimenting all industry,commerce,etc. and emphasizing an aggressive nationalism and racism.Sound familiar?Hitler-Stalin-Mussolini-Putin-What about Trump-isn't this his mantra?
This is the fight that we must engage in.
This election should be phrased in that manner.
Democrats need to be as vindictive as the opposition and spin it in a extremely strong manner.
If we don't stop this move towards autocracy now,it may be too late.
While open debate is good, trial by public opinion is rarely useful. President Biden has had more hours speaking one-on-one with China's President Xi Jinping than any one else in the US or most political leaders in the world. I would take his word for how to deal with China over just about anyone else in the US and I believe President Biden is talking to those people as well. One thing about Taiwan I would want the US to import is its vTaiwan social media consensus building software which is a model for direct democracy. Here's an article on it in MIT's Technology review https://www.technologyreview.com/2018/08/21/240284/the-simple-but-ingenious-system-taiwan-uses-to-crowdsource-its-laws/
It may very well be that President Biden is flexing his presidential prerogative to change course in foreign policy. My point is that momentous decisions should not be announced in response to reporters questions. If Biden wants to "stand up to China" he should hold a press conference and announce that we will intervene militarily if China invades Taiwan. I think that would resonate with many Americans. As I noted in yesterday's newsletter, Fox News was supportive of President Biden's comment. But that comment has raised as much confusion as clarity, as the article in the Guardian notes.
As in all things political, jumping to conclusions which supports your party's bifurcated view of the world is the ongoing game ... a destructive rather than constructive one at that. As you well know, things are much more nuanced and not easily put into a three or even one word sound bites in diplomacy. Is it better to have a press meeting to announce a major change in US policy on one China or is it better to give President Xi a strong but personal message which the public could construe as a gaff. Do we really want to have Taiwan, one of the best models of direct democracy in the world, be smothered by China's autocracy like they're doing with Hong Kong. I was in Hong Kong a year or so before it went back to China. Talk about feeling history happening around you! Is it time for it to be Taiwan's choice just like Ukraine? Perhaps President Biden was just preparing the ground for a future press meeting announcement on US - China policy.
Watching President Biden quietly pull NATO back together is one indicator that President Biden is taking the role of statesman doing the right thing for the country rather than a politician only concerned with getting reelected. He's a person of character and morals unlike most of our elected and appointed officials now. I believe the Founding Fathers would respect him.
Regarding Senator Bill Cassidy’s statement regarding maternal deaths where you received disagreement that it was racist, I beg to differ with those who feel it was just a statistical point. It comes across as racist to this white woman. The United States has the highest rate of maternal mortality than any other developed country, & it is the only country where mortality rate has been rising. This speaks to the fact that healthcare in this country is considered a privilege of the wealthy & not a right. To excuse the death rate as “not so bad” by excluding black women from the numbers is inexcusable in my eyes. What is the point of dividing results by the color of skin if not racist?
Though I get that Cassidy, rightly or wrongly, felt justified treating race as a co-variate to control for the proportionally high number of black women who reside in Louisiana, what I don’t get is a seeming dismissal of the increasing numbers of women, largely women of color, who die each year, in a country as wealthy as ours, from preventable reproductive health problems.
Note that Cassidy didn’t say that Louisiana has more poor people who suffer maternal mortality. Or more people without healthcare. Or more Christians. If you don’t think he was talking about race, please call me. I have some waterfront land in Plaquemines Parish that I’ll sell you at a great price.
Having spent much my youth as a resident of Louisiana, I would add that if a white man in a government position starts talking about Black women - in any capacity - he is talking about race. He's just doing it without his hood covering his face. And I am not stereotyping - Cassidy is exactly the racist that Louisianians elect BECAUSE they are racist.
Attempted like
Excellent response
Under Rick Scott’s plan, it’s possible we may not be able to determine maternal mortality rates for black women. Many receive care at government funded clinics and/or Medicaid.
“Ban the Box. Government will not ask American citizens to disclose their race, ethnicity, or skin color on any government form”
https://rescueamerica.com/steps/2-color-blind-equality/
Thanks for raising this point and for including the link. I will check out the reference.
Scott exemplifies the Republican motto: Ignorant, and proud of it!
Rick Scott wants to be President & will not hesitate to do or say anything that he thinks might better his chances, including spend his personal ill-gained monies to achieve his goal.
No Republican Governor has expanded Medicaid in Florida. They are about money & power & don’t care about Florida residents.
I have lived in this glorious/awful state for 50 years. What you say about money and power is quite true . . but isn't that usually the Republican way? Right now it is just so very pronounced with a true "Tallahassee Takeover."
Jean, spot on! I have a question though perhaps you could clarify for me about your last sentence. Doesn’t it help to have the maternal mortality death data by different categories, including by race, to understand how to correct the issue?
Hi, Vivian. Louisiana (and all states) collect that information stratified by race. I included a link to Louisiana's report in the newsletter. What that report shows is that Louisiana ranks 48th in terms of the RATE (not the number) of maternal deaths of Black women. So, Cassidy's statistical point is wrong. The rate of maternal deaths among Black women is the rate, and it doesn't matter how much you "correct" for the Black population in Louisiana.
Senator Cassidy was not making the statistical point on order to improve the outcome for black women, but in order to make maternal deaths in Louisiana appear more in line with other states.
Completely agree! It was blatantly racist!
I agree wholeheartedly!
It works from my perspective. GOP - a Group of Pirates looking to steal you blind. They will steal your....
Yes, they certainly will steal our rights and benefits, all while enriching themselves.
👆🏼That’s the bumper sticker! 👆🏼
Thank you, Robert. I humbly suggest that the riposte re: Hunter Biden's laptop be rephrased to something shorter and stickier. Instead of "“We’ll trade Hunter’s laptop for Kushner’s encrypted texts with Mohammed bin Salman soliciting investments in Kushner’s private equity fund while Kushner was on government payroll," how about "Hunter Biden's laptop is nothing compared to Jared Kushner's laptop. That one holds a lot of evidence about Kushner's corrupt relationship with Mohammed Bone Saw."
yeah, my tagline was too long. But a bumper sticker would be good. But is should focus on Jared and $2 billion investment. "Investigate Jared's $2 billion bribe" or something like that.
Love the moniker for MBS.
Great message and add a few to the list regarding :protection from polluted air and water, mitigation of climate change and compensations for climate catastrophes, occupational safety, and most important of all...a safe future for your children!
Agree 100%. I thought about including those, but wanted to keep the list manageable. But if we do run a campaign about "The Big Steal," climate, worker safety, and children's future should be on the list.
A video showing polluted water, an arid earth, fires, etc. “Picture worth a Thousand Words”
As they are reading the list of all the steals.
You left out from your excellent list: right of privacy will be lost, the right to have the government out of your bedroom and your doctor's office come to mind.
One tweak: Democrats should adopt the Stop the Steal refrain. In terms of election laws being passed, it’s actually valid. And it would sow so much chaos that hopelessly confused Trump supporters might vote for Democrats.
This is actually a tactic used by GOP also - adopt a term being effectively used by the opposition, assign a different meaning to it, and render it useless by out- repeating the opposition. They have altered the meaning of perfectly neutral words that way, and shanghaied symbols otherwise owned by every American like the flag. Try wearing a big flag on your tee shirt or hat today and nine out of ten people will assume you are a MAGA nut. Which brings up another tactic - We need to choose and embrace an emotion laden visual symbol as well because not all people are primarily verbal. It is hard for me to imagine this, but some research suggests that almost half of all people do not think in words. Whether that is part of the reason or not, we need at least one or a few powerful visual symbols to evoke "Democrat" instantly upon sighting.
Love this think it is just simple enough to be remembered and talked about. Has opportunities for expansion and dumps on Donnie.
Here! Here!
From the New Deal to the Big Steal.
Seven words.
As to those that see Senator Cassidy's statement excluding Black women from maternal deaths in La., as a mere statistical correction, they should note that he missed an opportunity to show perfection in La. by excluding all women from the statistics and arguing that no adult men had died in childbirth in his state.
Well said!
Take each stop the steal point, one at a time, back up with supporting evidence and hammer in each one over and over.
I posted the following last night in response to yesterday's newsletter on the "death" of outrage. Someone suggested that I re-post earlier today so that Robert and others might actually see it. :-) So here goes:
I'd respectfully like to suggest a different way to deal with outrage. It's time we all consider investing in Democracy rather than making one-time donations to a single candidate's campaigns. Campaign donations are not the most effective way to fight voter suppression and disinformation and turn the tide the way we must right now.
First, realize that most of the money donated to candidates' campaigns is used for TV or digital ads and flyers -- outreach designed to change swing voters minds with soundbites and slogans --usually an impossible task. (See this from Vox: Experiments Show that this is the best way to win campaigns. But is anyone actually doing it? https://www.vox.com/2014/11/13/7214339/campaign-ground-game)
Also make sure you are donating to a winnable race. In the days following Ruth Bader Ginsburg's death, Americans donated over $70 million to Amy McGrath's campaign or the Get Mitch or Die Trying Fund. At one point ActBlue was logging $100K a minute. Amy McGrath ended up with a war chest of $90+ million but Mitch McConnell still won his Senate seat resoundingly with his "paltry" $60 million war chest.
Another more impactful way to donate is to support grassroots organizations working to register and activate voters in critical districts of swing states. Remember that even though Biden won the popular vote by more than 7 million, he eeked out his razor-thin electoral college victory with 43,809 votes across Wisconsin, Georgia and Arizona. Grassroots organizations are THE most effective at GOTV because they practice relational voter turnout. They have multiple conversations about the election and spend more time educating new voters (who are their own neighbors) on local, state and national issues, what sorts of documents they will need to vote, how to get a mail-in ballot or even provide PPE. They never close shop after elections, they work year round holding listening sessions, building political power and turning out the vote in local and state elections. Here are some great articles if you're interested in learning more about how grassroots organizations are so successful:
This inspirational op-ed from LUCHA in Arizona explains beautifully the important role grassroots organizations play in relational GOTV and the long game of building enough power to swing a state like Arizona to the left.
How to Turn Fear and Anger into Political Power.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/21/opinion/sunday/latinos-arizona-battleground.html
This article from Mother Jones explains relational organizing:
The Secret to Beating Trump Lies with You and Your Friends
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2020/10/relational-organizing/
Here are two organizations that offer very impactful ways to invest in grassroots organizations.
Flip the Vote 2022 - They provide a slate of vetted BIPOC-led grassroots orgs in 7 critical Swing States. You can easily donate through FTV’s platform - 100% of your donations go directly to the orgs. You can also host an in-person or Zoom house party with FTV which is a very effective way to get people engaged and invested in the elections. Read FTV's strategy here: https://www.flipthevote.org/strategy.
Blueprint by Swing Left offers a portfolio “investing” strategy that is also targeted and data driven. It also encourages “giving circles” for people who want to invest together. Read more about that here:
https://blueprint.swingleft.org/
Gather your friends and see how you can maximize your investment in Democracy! You will feel more hopeful and have a much bigger impact on the midterms and the 2024 election.
Hi, Cindy. Do you have a website or URL that I can cite to? Otherwise, i will cite to your Comment, which is viewable only by paying subscribers. I would like to find a way to get this message to all readers. Can you please email your response to Rhubbell@outlook.com? Thanks!
done!
I believe that Senator Cassidy was being racist. Why should women of color be removed from the total number of maternal deaths? He should have been asked why women of color should not be counted in the total number of maternal deaths. Is it because some of them are below the poverty line? There are also white women who are below the poverty line. Is it because women of color might be more likely to be uninsured and therefore can not receive prenatal medical care? There are plenty of white women in that situation as well.
All pregnant women in this country should be receiving good pre and post natal care. All babies born should have regular medical check ups. The problem is that Republicans do not want to subsidize medical care for the poor. Yet they are taking away a woman’s right to choose whether to continue the pregnancy to term or terminate the pregnancy, all in the name of protecting human life. They need to understand that life goes on after birth and those children and their mothers need good medical care.
30% of Black women in Louisiana live in poverty, compared to 12% of white women. Start there, and it explains a lot. And, BTW, Cassidy wants to eliminate Medicaid in Louisiana (at least in the past; don't know his current position.) He also tried to end the ACA (Obamacare). The fact that the man is a physician makes it all worse, in my view.
I think that the fact that he is a physician makes a terrible statement on what type of person he is. So he wants to eliminate the only source of insured healthcare that 42% of women of childbearing age get! He is not going to lower mortality rates in childbirth that way!
In the state of Michigan, all healthcare providers, including doctors and nurses, are required to complete 3 hours of "implicit bias" continuing education for license renewal. Research has shown that misperceptions of those from other races can have ontoward, even deadly effects, contributing to increases, for example, in maternal and infant mortlity rates.
"Implicit attitudes were more often significantly related to patient–provider interactions and health outcomes than treatment processes.
Conclusions. Most health care providers appear to have implicit bias in terms of positive attitudes toward Whites and negative attitudes toward people of color."
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4638275/#:~:text=Implicit%20attitudes%20were%20more%20often,attitudes%20toward%20people%20of%20color.
Excellent! All 50 states and territories should adopt this program for continuing education and license renewal.
P.S. I am a retired RN.
I do not agree with your assessment of President Biden's remarks regarding Taiwan. I'm glad the President was clear on our position. We need more of that.
You could be right, and it could be that Biden is flexing his power as president. My point is that doing so in response to a reporter's question is not the optimal way to do so. If he has a policy change to announce, he should announce it. As I said, Fox News loved the sentiment. Why not get credit for "standing up to China", instead of raising questions of whether Biden really meant to say what he said?
I feel like it is his staff trying to moderate his words that is the problem, and would not characterize this or several other statements as gaffs. People are herd animals and to some extent if everyone stands around and applauds they applaud, if enough people "in the know" gasp in horror and try to cover "the mess" it's seen as a mess. If, as it has seemed to me at times, his staff is actually trying to correct misinterpretations of the intent of his words, then they need to say so more clearly: "You are misinterpreting what he said. It was an expression of horror at the present Russian leadership, which surely cannot continue in this vein. Nothing he said called for regime change by any agency less legitimate than the will of the Russian people" or something of the sort.
From that perspective I can agree. I just don’t like giving the hypocritical lying Republicans or Fox ‘news’ any ammunition.
Regarding whether a "statistical" argument is free of racist underpinnings, consider the "statistical" argument the NFL made (through its lawyers at one of the big and wealthy New York law firms) that the cognitive damages resulting from concussive football injuries should allow for a reduced award of damages for Black, compared to white, players because Black men have a lower cognitive functioning in their normal state compared to white men. This argument, which the NFL was shamed to retract when different lawyers filed suit alleging unlawful discrimination in the legal position, was based on evidence and argument. The statistics were shown to be the result of racist bias in the studies that gave rise to the statistics, and thank goodness for the legal team that exposed the NFL's racist position and got them to withdraw it. Can you imagine being a Black lawyer (or staff person) working at the law firm that argued that position for the NFL? Law firms don't have to argue positions like that. Lawyers are permitted to honor their own morals when representing clients in civil matters.
Good analogy. And as I noted above, 30% of Black women in Louisiana live in poverty, while only 12% of white women do. Start there, and it is not difficult to explain the differences. BTW, Cassidy wants to make the situation worse by eliminating Medicaid in Louisiana.
What is especially pernicious about the prospect of disallowing "ineffective assistance of counsel" as a basis for reversing a criminal conviction is the likelihood that ineffective assistance of counsel is the cause of the conviction. What this majority of SCOTUS is really doing is eliminating a likely basis for appeal because they want to reduce the taking of appeals--in this situation with full awareness that many criminal defense lawyers are, indeed, incompetent. Often they are new lawyers in a legal system that found, in a comprehensive October 2020, report by the Institute for the Advancement of the Legal System, that our law schools are graduating students that lack many of the basic, minimum competencies required for the practice of law. Moreover, the study established that notwithstanding the failure (i.e., inability) of law schools to instruct on those basic competencies, these graduates are passing bar exams across the United States (because our licensing authorities can't really test for them). Sad. Sad for the incarcerated persons, the lawyers who lost their trials, and the people in this country who know our overcrowded prisons house many innocent men and women, with families who grieve their imprisonment.
Thanks for the data, and the more complete explanation of the pernicious effect of the decision. Agree with you 100%. The Supreme Court decided to engage in "docket management" by severely curtailing a right explicitly guaranteed by the Constitution.
But why would they do something so egregious to make their life easier?? Yes Democrats need messaging and no surprise that Jared Kushner is sleazy; but of all the things you wrote about today, this SCOTUS decision seems the most wrong! Is there no check on the SC? What about the Judiciary Committee? What about the DOJ? Can this not be appealed?
Judges uniformly complain that their dockets are overcrowded. One solution has been the favoring of forcing injured consumers to be pushed into arbitration, which is costly and removes the right to a jury trial or an appeal. This SCOTUS decision shows the hostility towards criminal defendants who are too poor to hire effective counsel. The truth is the currently positioned SCOTUS cares nothing for poor people.
Yes-there is a strong reason to emphasize the "Big Steal" or whatever moniker is used.
The bigger question is what type of country do we want.A Democracy or an Autocratiic Dictatorship?
If you want to save our country it should be phrased as DEMOCRACY vs.FASCISM.
Fascism-a governmental system led by a dictator having complete power,forcibly suppressing opposition and criticism,regimenting all industry,commerce,etc. and emphasizing an aggressive nationalism and racism.Sound familiar?Hitler-Stalin-Mussolini-Putin-What about Trump-isn't this his mantra?
This is the fight that we must engage in.
This election should be phrased in that manner.
Democrats need to be as vindictive as the opposition and spin it in a extremely strong manner.
If we don't stop this move towards autocracy now,it may be too late.
Let's get on board.
DEMOCRACY vs.FASCISM
While open debate is good, trial by public opinion is rarely useful. President Biden has had more hours speaking one-on-one with China's President Xi Jinping than any one else in the US or most political leaders in the world. I would take his word for how to deal with China over just about anyone else in the US and I believe President Biden is talking to those people as well. One thing about Taiwan I would want the US to import is its vTaiwan social media consensus building software which is a model for direct democracy. Here's an article on it in MIT's Technology review https://www.technologyreview.com/2018/08/21/240284/the-simple-but-ingenious-system-taiwan-uses-to-crowdsource-its-laws/
It may very well be that President Biden is flexing his presidential prerogative to change course in foreign policy. My point is that momentous decisions should not be announced in response to reporters questions. If Biden wants to "stand up to China" he should hold a press conference and announce that we will intervene militarily if China invades Taiwan. I think that would resonate with many Americans. As I noted in yesterday's newsletter, Fox News was supportive of President Biden's comment. But that comment has raised as much confusion as clarity, as the article in the Guardian notes.
As in all things political, jumping to conclusions which supports your party's bifurcated view of the world is the ongoing game ... a destructive rather than constructive one at that. As you well know, things are much more nuanced and not easily put into a three or even one word sound bites in diplomacy. Is it better to have a press meeting to announce a major change in US policy on one China or is it better to give President Xi a strong but personal message which the public could construe as a gaff. Do we really want to have Taiwan, one of the best models of direct democracy in the world, be smothered by China's autocracy like they're doing with Hong Kong. I was in Hong Kong a year or so before it went back to China. Talk about feeling history happening around you! Is it time for it to be Taiwan's choice just like Ukraine? Perhaps President Biden was just preparing the ground for a future press meeting announcement on US - China policy.
I trust your instincts Cathy.
Watching President Biden quietly pull NATO back together is one indicator that President Biden is taking the role of statesman doing the right thing for the country rather than a politician only concerned with getting reelected. He's a person of character and morals unlike most of our elected and appointed officials now. I believe the Founding Fathers would respect him.
YES!