I should so not publish this

[bill_schubert]

Conservative think tank leader says schools should reopen since most Texans dying from COVID-19 are elderly or Hispanic.

Vance Ginn is the chief economist for the Texas Public Policy Foundation and clearly a Dan Patrick acolyte.  

He was bragging on the newly corrected Texas death data which shows "Mostly elderly & Hispanics dying"  "Very few kids die".

"Why not #openschools, end universal mandates"  

In other words, we've finally figured out what beats this covid into submission.  We have actually stopped this state from becoming a massive graveyard, are finally on the road to controlling the epidemic here.  Why not stop doing it?

His reasoning appears to be that the population most effected is hispanic and old people and they are expendable.  

OK, that part is predictably self serving and expected of the conservatives in this state.  I hardly even paid it any heed and had I not read the next line, would have not thought much of it.  But, he went on:

“I believe strongly based on my deep faith that every life is precious,” he wrote.

The two most contemptible groups of people in my experience are those who invoke the flag and those who invoke religion.  Every life is precious but for the hispanics and elderly who we don't need (other than my gardener and my maid and the people gathering my food and cleaning my bathrooms and manning my polling stations and redistributing food and clothing for those who need it and volunteering to support abused children .... ).

And, of course, we took him out of context.  Not his fault.  He was just joking.

Will someone please resurrect Molly Ivins?  We so need her outrage.

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Comments

[wildcelticrose2.livejournal.com]

Disgusting

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

I so share your contempt!!!! I lived in Texas from 1966 to 2009 with frequent double addresses outside the state, but it was my home base. I've seen so many huge changes, but since 1994 and the emergence of theTea Party, Texas has been badly governed by the worst mix of the two contemptible groups. Thank you for sharing this info.

[texasts.livejournal.com]

Yeah. That ol’ boy, like most of the rest of his ilk, is full of bullshit.

[msconduct.livejournal.com]

I thought I'd moved from horror to taking it for granted too when it comes to Republicans talking about older people, but the casual addition of an entire race jolted me right back again.

[sleepybadger.livejournal.com]

It's always "oh you took it out of context". Seriously, what context can possibly justify 'nah, man, it's all good if elderly and hispanic people die!'

[zoefruitcake.livejournal.com]

Can he not hear himself?

[bill-schubert.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure he's deafened by Rush Limbaugh who begat Sean Hannity who begat Tucker Carlson all of whom are related to Qanon and the evangelicals.

The problem for both sides is the echo chamber. I've taken what might be a permanent sabbatical from Twitter (I never got on FB or any of the rest) much for that reason. There is enough noise around me as it is.

People like him get caught up in the moment and in the anonymous and semi-anonymous rhetoric until one day they yell out something stupid and all of the sudden everyone is repeating what they said and pointing fingers. The recognizable symptom of that is deleting their online Tweet, an action both pointless and gutless.