Only .02%? Oh, I Guess That's Okay Then

Betsy DeVos is cold-blooded. That much we can say. She's also no smarter than she was when she was misnamed to her position.

She was quoted the other day as justifying the re-opening of schools, post-virus, as noting that only .02% of the students are going to die. That's 14,000 or so.

Okay, which 14,000? Is she going to choose them? How cold is it that someone can actually justify exposing kids to a virus that might kill them, but shrugging it off because you won't be able to tell until some of them really are dead?

This loss is acceptable somehow? Don't you want to shake her and yell, What's the matter with you?

Besides, how can she be so sure? Do we need to accept that number? How can she be so confident that that will be just that number? Kids that close to each other will be incredibly exposed. They'll be cooped up with each other, breathing each other's air, for the whole day, five days a week. What actuarial did she consult?

And what about the teachers? Aren't they even more susceptible to the virus? They're supposed to just report without complaining? When they get sick, will there be enough substitute teachers--remember, not under contract--who will be willing to step in and expose themselves? I'm guessing not. Then what?

And the bus drivers? If not under contract, would you be the martyr and drive a bus every single day? If not, where will they get the subs to do that? And barring that, how do the kids get to school?

Now let's talk about lunchtime, where the kids all sit together in the lunchroom with a perfect right to sit with their friends and go from table to table. What a breeding ground. With six feet of spacing, how does anybody expect the kids to eat? Do they take the food back to classrooms to which they're assigned?

We're all aware of DeVos's stupidity and simple-mindedness. In her confirmation hearings for the job of Secretary of Education, DeVos couldn't tell the difference between student testing for competency or for growth; she didn't know the background or the effects of the Individuals with Disability in Education Act (IDEA); and she made some useless crack about having guns in Wyoming schools to defend against grizzly bears.

DeVos was obviously put in her position because 45 knew that with Republicans in control of the Senate, he'd get away with a plan to ruin public schools--which is well underway and will destroy them if 45 gets another term. She's a rich placeholder to execute a pathetic, destructive plan.

She has the Republican mentality. It's the same one that the Lieutenant Governor of Texas, the totally crazed Dan Patrick, had when he said that the elderly should consider exposing themselves to Covid-19 and dying so there are fewer of us to re-start the economy. (In Texas, presently, age has nothing do do with the extra thousands who have been exposed to terrible leadership as well as the virus.)

To Republicans, people are merely things. Unless they're related or are good friends, they are not to be considered seriously as having lives that are worth much, except for the richest of them to make money off of. People are just statistics.

She dodged a reporter on CNN who tried to ask her about the risk factor. All she did was repeat herself: Go back to school. Go back to school. Go back to school.

We have the worst possible president at the worst possible time, and supported by the worst possible Secretary of Education: Cold-blooded and clueless. It's a nightmare, an embarrassment, and a tragedy.

There are a number of templates out there, but I have just one: No state should open its public school doors until and unless it has accomplished the goal of getting the spread of virus below 1.0%. That means that eventually, it will disappear.

Don't worry, the kids want to go back to school. They want to dive back into school life. They want to see their friends. The parents see that and want it for them. The parents also want to go back to work--the not-so-hidden agenda behind all this, all for lowering the unemployment numbers so 45 can brag about it--but not at the price listed.

What will happen, and quickly, is that they will be called to come pick up their kid because (s)he's been tested positive for the virus. Then their brief sojourn back at work will end, and everybody loses because the parents, who themselves didn't have the virus, will get it from their kids.

But nobody wants to intentionally expose kids to this virus. Nobody but Republicans and others who don't get it. As we get closer to the opening date, we'll see how many Republican parents--or Republicans who hear from parents--really want to send their kids to school. We'll see what kind of backwards tap dance they do. It's big macho stuff in mid-July. But in another month, we'll see who's serious and who just talks a good game.

Fourteen thousand. At least. That doesn't include teachers and administrators and support staff. They will be exposed as much, if not more. Already written off. Think about that. All for caring about education.

Disgusting. Valueless. Despicable. But at least the advocates can't talk about abortion anymore. Or, they will, but the hypocrisy will be obvious and ridiculously easy to call out.

Be well. Be careful. Wear a mask outside. With some luck, I'll see you down the road.


Mister Mark