Thread by @StephTaitWrites

Just a reminder amid all this unbreathable air that when most states had large amounts of unspent Covid relief funds, the Biden admin told them that instead of investing in upgraded air filtration or n95s to pass out to citizens, to give it to police departments instead.

Folks out here trying to rewrite history telling you it's simply not feasible to have safe air in schools or shared buildings because "where would that much money even come from?"

We literally gave states the money, and Biden told them to spend it on the police instead.

Wow. Some of y’all are up in my mentions just so SURE this is a lie made up to make Biden/the left look bad.

Like even the most basic of googles will provide you a link from almost any news source you can name, from CNN to PBS to even Fox News, all saying the same thing.

And most states did EXACTLY as Biden directed and gave large portions of these funds to police, jails, etc.

**In fact, less than 10% of the American Rescue Plan funds went to anything related to public health.**

So just how much went to cops? Well…

themarshallproject.org/2022/09/07/how…

“The majority of all current ARPA obligations, $52.6 billion, were categorized as ‘Revenue Replacement.’ […] Nearly half of this $52.6 billion went to projects that mentioned police, law enforcement, courts, jails and prisons, The Marshall Project found.”

But that’s not all…

The piece goes on to explain that was just the $ that was clearly labeled as specifically going to law enforcement/jails/etc, but that much of the money wasn’t labeled for ANYTHING or was labeled for broad slush funds that most likely included law enforcement within them.

The article also gives detailed info on just HOW the $ given to law enforcement was spent. They have graphics & examples throughout the piece that show specific purchases made by specific locales - things like armored vehicles, body scanners, “premium pay” & hiring bonuses, etc

Don’t miss that last bit here, that “Colorado’s Department of Corrections allocated $1.3 million in “Private Prison Retention Bonuses” to employees who work at the private CoreCivic facility.”

They spent 1.3 MILLION in PUBLIC funds on bonuses for employees of PRIVATE company.

The piece ends with this tidbit where a county debated using 25 MILLION in PUBLIC funds to transfer incarcerated ppl 8 hrs away to a PRIVATE prison. County officials testified that they desperately needed those funds for other important things & none supported the plan. And yet?

“Despite the misgivings and criticism, the commission unanimously approved the spending.”

Of course they did. 😒

The piece is more than worth the read & includes way more details and examples than the ones I included here. But the TL/DR is that less than 10% of these federal Covid relief funds went to anything public health related & LOTS went to law enforcement.

themarshallproject.org/2022/09/07/how…

And Biden not only *allowed* it, he specially told them to do it. He WANTED them to do it. In fact, he specifically pointed to using these Covid relief funds for police as a win in his State of the Union address that year, while directly criticizing the #DefundThePolice movement.

This is who Biden is.

No, that’s not “fake news” or misinformation designed to make him look bad.

He has ALWAYS been extremely pro-law enforcement. Anyone who took so much as 5 minutes to look at his voting record new that BEFORE he was elected President. 🤷🏼‍♀️

I would think I’ve give enough receipts here that simply calling me a liar or a right wing operative is just lazy at this point. Facts are facts, and if you don’t like how this makes Biden look to voters? Seems like you have questions about the strength of his candidacy then. 🤷🏼‍♀️

Y’ALL. The folks sometimes referred to as “blue MAGA” are certainly making themselves known today, & they’re proving that when it comes to trolling they’re virtually indistinguishable from the far right in terms of their level of vitriol, aggression, and unhinged behavior. Yikes.

I can’t help myself though in sharing a laugh at the expense of the individual who tweeted THIS screed at someone in my replies, & then approximately 60 secs later (with over a dozen appearances in my notifications in the last hr)… proceeded to do that exact thing to me. 🤣

It’s truly WILD to me how hard people will cape for Joe Biden against ANY sort of criticism.

“Blue MAGA” really is a fitting description honestly. It’s the exact same cult like “dear leader” behavior and “it’s only bad when the other team does it” beliefs.

It’s bewildering.