KELO Radio mis-headlines a story on Congressman Dusty Johnson’s commentary on school reopening plans. He doesn’t “weigh in”; he just waves his feathers:
“Remember, these are just humans. They’re doing the best than can and a lot of them are going to make mistakes even doing the best they can. We don’t make anything better by yelling at them, or growling at them,” Johnson tells Kelo Radio’s It’s Your Business Show with Bill Zortman.
…”All of those decisions are really, really highly likely to irritate a huge proportion of the stakeholders who care about that school,” says Johnson [Mark Russo, “Dusty Johnson Weighs in on Back-to-School Debate,” KELO Radio, 2020.07.28].
Weighing in means enunciating a position that could tilt the balance of a debate. Weighing in means saying something like, “Aberdeen’s and Sioux Falls’s plans for regular-schedule in-person classes are not sustainable and should be replaced with plans for hybrid split-shift learning backed with increased funding from the state and Congress for hiring more teachers and tutors, building additional more spacious classrooms, and supplying PPE for everyone.”
Congressman Johnson isn’t weighing in on back-to-school plans. He’s avoiding taking a position on policy and, in with feigned image-conscious equanimity, trying discourage the public from debating the best public health and education policies for their kids with a milquetoasty, Oh, everyone’s trying their best, so don’t criticize them for their mistakes.
Hogwash. Amidst a pandemic and a recession, we need leaders, not panderers. We need policymakers who fix mistakes, not excuse them. We need well-informed public officials who use their office to inform the public, not coddle and shush them.
He’s really not even very good at giving NON-answers, is he? He’s got to step up his game if he wants to be like Thune and Rounds, who are excellent at not giving anything but talking points.
538 has a nice article on the small state imbalance of the Senate, both historically and future possibilities.
is.gd/Lko9dd
The following commenters’ deep-dive analysis suggests positive leadership stances Dusty should consider during this pandemic with all its related strife.
1. Trump campaigned for the 2016 presidency proposing violent resistance against protests in the audiences. Fights were common as posted on Youtube.
2. Trump violently condemned players kneeling at NFL games in protest against police violence against black lives over the last few years.
3. Trump walked across the street for a staged photo op of himself holding up a bible in front of a church in June where peaceful protestors stood against the violent murder of hand-cuffed George Floyd, as unidentifiable militarized police violently cleared the street with tear-gas as ordered by AG Wm Barr.
4. Trump went “Rambo” against Seattle protesters and Moms standing up to police violence against black lives in July, mobilizing mysterious militarized Border Patrol shock troops under Homeland Security, the largest Federal police force in the nation as led by the longest “acting official” (450+ days) exposing lack of leadership, arrests without probable cause, and brutalization of citizens despite Oregon Governor and Mayor’s calls for Federal police de-escalation.
5. Barr testified today in Congress that “peaceful resistance” of police is not possible, and that he is forced to mobilize mysterious militarized Federal police to defend Federal property in Seattle from assaults on militarized police by sling shots, laser pointers, leaf blowers, fireworks, kerosene, and chanting protester’s spray graffiti (a misdemeanor crime), because “Democrat” mayors are not adequately preventing damage to such properties during BLM on-going protests, giving Trump “law enforcement” photo-op film footage for his 2020 campaign. A fake emergency.
National Security Law podcast eps. 174 (7.21.20), 175 (7.2_.20)
Lawfare podcast, Expanded Intel Activity of Homeland Security (7.21.20)
6. Meanwhile Koch Industries has taken over the popular PBS Nova series brain-washing America to ignore industrialization despite global warming, but fear earthquakes and tsunamis, as Americans are busy in the streets, avoiding Covid-19 and beaten up by militarized Federal law enforcement forces for protesting domestic police violence.
No back-bone, no personal strong convictions for the good of all-just be a voice for the GOP and fall in line to back a wanna-be king of ego. That’s Dusty, and seems to be the most of the rest of GOP representatives in Congress. Now Trump is advocating delaying the vote in November cuz he says with mail voting it will be so unfair to (him)….