Folks like @JamesSurowiecki spent time blaming states and municipal governments for not doling out the vaccines quickly enough. Yet forgot that the federal government is in charge of vaccine distribution - and didn't buy enough vaccines to start.
By the way: We knew that the feds, under the Trump regime, would mess this up. It was reported back in December that the Trump regime didn't buy enough of the Pfizer vaccine, even after the pharma offered to supply more. cnbc.com/2020/12/14/cov…
But none of the blame laid at the feet of states and municipalities is shocking, either. Folks have been blaming school systems for not having the resources to reopen school buildings - and for not being able to reopen in the midst of high community spread.
Sure, a few places have managed to reopen buildings amid low spread. A few cities have managed to bring down infection rates for a time.
But when the federal government chooses to be AWOL in a national crisis, efforts among states and municipalities will inevitably fail.
School systems, by the way, are still feeding kid and providing kids education virtually, the latter through low speed broadband that is also the responsibility of the federal government. As is feeding those in need. brookings.edu/blog/up-front/…
When the federal government fails to do its job in crisis, few states and municipalities can stand in the breach in their locals. Because they are focused on their parts of the nation, their efforts won't help everyone else. Which is what the federal government is supposed to do.
Again, though, it's not just about Trump. Senate Republicans and even House Democrats went along with one of the initiatives that ensure that less money went to pandemic relief and vaccine distribution: War machines!
Thing is, many of those folks, like Miller and Bannon, were never really 'fringe'. Or, to paraphrase @tressiemcphd, elite White folks have always believed in race scientism and phrenology.
What Trump did was bring to light the wide acceptance among White folks of explicit and blatant White Supremacy - as well as weaponize such bigotry for the goal of gaining and keeping power.
Center-Whites may have wanted to believe that such bigotry was limited to militia group members. But anyone who watched the conservative reaction to Waco and Ruby Ridge (as well as the sparring over control of Sierra Club) knew full well the extent bigotry was accepted.
Except that @AOC asked for the $2,000 after the $600 payout was negotiated by House Democrats, Senate Republicans and the Trump regime. Which was never enough to start. Now Biden is still not providing the $2,000 when folks need the money.
You can argue that AOC shouldn't have taken to media to make her case. But she's a Member of Congress and can use any of the tools at her disposal to do so. In any case, she is correct that what Biden is proposing isn't nearly good enough. Also, Biden only responds to pressure.
It is only B.S. to you because you are more-aligned with Biden and his wing of the Democratic Party than with AOC's wing.
Should we really be surprised that D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, who hates Mambo Sauce and is trying to get Black kids killed by reopening school buildings in the midst of a pandemic, also seems uninterested in making it easier for Black residents in her city to get vaccinated?
I try not to beat up on other Black people because we can have the same goals and yet disagree on the means. But Bowser's public health czar, LaQuandra Nesbitt, is being real tone deaf in this case.
Now let's note that Nesbitt also has a point: Vaccine distribution is hard enough when you prioritize based on age, pre-existing conditions and type of employment (which is what's happening everywhere). Adding zip code to the mix can make this even harder.
From my experience, there are a lot of White Supremacists in newsrooms. They're often just the polite kind who would never say the N word, but use other terms and stereotypes that are just as pejorative.
This happens a lot. Often, this highly-connected editor is a straight-up bigot and incompetent to boot. But because he is well-connected, falsely claims Indigenous ancestry, and the hiring manager doesn't want to admit error, that guy oversees 'diversity'.
Eventually, after blowing up spots throughout the newsroom, he gets moved around to other jobs. Such as editorial page editor. Where he creates more havoc and the staff mutinies (knowing full well that this will cost them dearly).