Dr. Lucky Tran 

I know there's a lot going on, but the Senate just passed a reckless amendment that would prohibit the enforcement of mask mandates on public transportation at the federal level for the next fiscal year.

Shamefully, 10 Democrats voted in favor of a ban:
Baldwin (D-WI)
Bennet (D-CO
Brown (D-OH)
Kaine (D-VA)
Kelly (D-AZ)
Klobuchar (D-MN)
Manchin (D-WV)
Rosen (D-NV)
Shaheen (D-NH)
Tester (D-MT)

Oct 26, 2023 at 8:02pmWeb
Show threadDr. Lucky Tran Oct 26, 2023
Sources:
https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_votes/vote1181/vote_118_1_00266.htm
https://www.newsweek.com/democrats-vote-ban-mask-mandate-jd-vance-1838224
U.S. Senate: U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 118th Congress - 1st Session

Show threadDr. Lucky Tran Oct 26, 2023
Note that the amendment would mean that the federal government would not be able to enforce a mask requirement on public transport. In theory states, cities, and local governments could still enforce mask requirements themselves. Though in practice, most usually defer to federal rules.
Show threadProfessor Charles HaasOct 26, 2023
@luckytran Makes sense since we all know that infectious disease scrupulously obey's local and state borders.
Show threadjhall251Oct 26, 2023
@luckytran
I think at least 5 of those are up for reelection in 2024 in reddish states. They need to be careful.
Show threadThwaitesAwaitsOct 26, 2023

@jhall251 @luckytran

Right, we need to keep the people who think germs are a conspiracy theory happy at all costs. Even, if that means letting a pandemic continue to fester. If Grandma dies after catching covid at Thanksgiving then so be it.

Show threadjhall251Oct 26, 2023
@thwaites_awaits @luckytran
You're welcome to all the purity you want. Meanwhile in the real world a lot of ppl will suffer and likely die - maybe many ppl - if the Republicans take the Senate. I am glad that at risk candidates are careful.
Show threadSuperTwaddleOct 27, 2023
@jhall251 @thwaites_awaits @luckytran One might argue they are already suffering & dying. From #Covid.
Show threadHat. AuDHD cat 😷🌺🍉🌻🔻Oct 27, 2023

@jhall251 @thwaites_awaits @luckytran "die quietly so it doesn't impact the election"

That isn't a message calculated to make people vote

Show threadjhall251Oct 27, 2023
@CatHat @thwaites_awaits @luckytran
You refuse to see or address my actual point.
Show threadHat. AuDHD cat 😷🌺🍉🌻🔻Oct 27, 2023
@jhall251 @thwaites_awaits @luckytran my point is that democrats are screwing over a MAJOR PERCENTAGE OF THEIR VOTER BASE
INACCESSIBLE VOTING IS SUPPRESSING THEIR OWN BASE.
And it almost certainly is why democrats lost a seat in the house.
500 people who don't have access to voting without covid precautions
Show threadLightning Bjornsson*  Oct 27, 2023
@jhall251 @thwaites_awaits @luckytran They're not being careful at all. They're sadistic.
Show threadjhall251Oct 27, 2023
@lightning @luckytran @thwaites_awaits
You're wrong. But whatever floats your boat.
Show threadLightning Bjornsson*  Oct 27, 2023
@jhall251 @luckytran @thwaites_awaits Am I, though? People are more likely to vote for the demagogue than the coward who sees an opportunity to protect them and refuses.
Show threadSuperTwaddleOct 27, 2023

@lightning @jhall251 @luckytran @thwaites_awaits What a thread.

On twitter, I had (maybe all, haha) BNMW cultists blocked. So it's been a while since I've seen similar fervid certainty of righteousness in the face of a mountain of ignored facts like this display.

In a way, it's enviable - the comforting psychological crutch of having a good team and a boogieman, instead of clear realization that the US govt is corrupt and authoritarian from top to bottom.

Viewing US pols as Good VS Evil seems considerably more emotionally snug & cozy than acknowledging it's just a narrow gradient strip of shades of self serving, massive-scale harm doers. Or if you have a terse internal editor, "evil."

Supporting perpetrators of massive-scale harm is participating and assuming culpability, albeit infinitesimally, in massive-scale harm. I can see why BNMW cultists resist exiting Denialville.

I don't respect it, but I can understand it.

Show threadSARS2PAOct 27, 2023

@jhall251 @thwaites_awaits @luckytran

Just stop.

Republicans are supposed to be the party that wants to legislatively kill us all/let us die while they enjoy top tier health care and 100 year old wine.

Your reasoning is why people know traditional Democrats suck, too.

Show threadjhall251Oct 27, 2023

@SARS2PA @thwaites_awaits @luckytran

Grow up. I'm done here. Have fun indulging yourself.

Show threadSARS2PAOct 27, 2023

@jhall251 @thwaites_awaits @luckytran

Wow. Expecting the absolutely last legislative firewall between this country and utter cancerous insane political terrorism to hold and choose the rational good of public health is "indulging myself".

Wow.

(EDIT: hmmmmmmmmm. this account seems set up for the purpose of trolling with the worst possible opinion in any conversation.)

Show threadnedhamsonOct 26, 2023
@luckytran ten cowards
Show threadBill HookerOct 26, 2023
@luckytran WTF is WRONG with these people?!
Show threadazteclady has movedOct 26, 2023

@luckytran it is criminal.

We need to get rid of all these 'centrists' who are barely better than rabid Republicans, and elect people who won't flip the moment they've been elected (looking at NC and Sinema and Manchin)

Show threadAmadi LovelaceOct 27, 2023
@herhandsmyhands Sinema is being primaried from the left and is in real jeopardy, but Joe Manchin is done, and he knows it. And Manchin is going to be replaced by a Republican and West Virginia is going to be a Republican stronghold for years to come. It is the only state where the majority of 18 to 25-year-olds voted for Trump twice.
Show threadSteve's PlaceOct 26, 2023
@luckytran The #Republican party stands for death. Nothing else. Just death. They want us dead. They don't care how.
Show threadAnthonyJK-AdminOct 27, 2023

@steter @luckytran

It takes real rose-colored blindness to view a toot specifically marking Democrats who crossed over to back a regressive bill overturning mask mandates, and riff solely about how the Republicans are the sole "death party".

No accountability. NONE.

You can't crack on the Republicans while allowing Democrats to cross the aisle and enact the same policies.

Show threadSarahOct 26, 2023
@luckytran I bet it was just enough Democrats to pass it, it wasn't just these 10... as our current situation demonstrates, all democrats are onboard with anti-masking.
Show threadGregOct 26, 2023
@luckytran fucking klobuchar
Show threadJason Perseus has movedOct 26, 2023

@luckytran

Senator Baldwin has been pissing me off lately. First age-verification for children for online sites with abhorrent privacy and First Amendment violations, now this.

Must mean she’s up for re-election soon…

Show threadArtemisOct 26, 2023

@JasonPerseus
@luckytran

Seriously. She is getting on my last nerve. If I wanted to elect a Republican, I would have voted for one.

Show threadCondalmo.Oct 26, 2023
@luckytran Why? What's the reason?
Show threadArtemisOct 26, 2023

@luckytran
@design_law

Ugh. Well, I hate this. Guess I need to complain at my Senator now. Again. 🙄

Show threadLady Homealot 🖖 not going backOct 26, 2023
@luckytran JFC WTH is wrong with those people?
Show threadsavaranOct 26, 2023
@luckytran FFS Bennet. Of all the people who should know better
Show threadx- Ollie, check pinned #fortieOct 26, 2023
@luckytran holy fuck this is horrible. Fuck eugenics and necropolitica
Show threadTheTimeKnifeOct 26, 2023
@luckytran This is such a fucking stupid decision. Mass transit is insanely important to the chronically ill and elderly. If anything, mass transit is the last place that should remove mandates, and they should be brought back when necessary. I see an endless stream of the old and very sick on the bus route that goes by my place. These people can't afford medical transport or other options that are safer for them.
Show threadDoomsdaysCWOct 26, 2023
@luckytran Frakkin' Tim and Coal King Jim hardly count as Democrats. Disappointed in some of the others (who should know better).
Show threadkalmnOct 26, 2023
@luckytran Is there a similar thing in the House, and if so, what’s the status? Anyone know?
Show threadCavyherdOct 26, 2023

@luckytran

Not that it'll do any good, but just left voicemail with my senator's local office, basically "WTAF?? What are you THINKING??"

Show threadCavyherdOct 26, 2023

@luckytran

Especially upsetting just after getting news of a neighbor whose elderly father brought covid home from the hospital ("he's just feeling fatigued") which then infected their whole family. "I'm feeling brain fog. Lack of sleep, yeah, that must be it."

Show threadPatOct 26, 2023

@luckytran I'm surprised at least by Brown, Klobuchar and Tester's votes here. Have they stated their reasons for voting 'no' ?

I see this pull quote from Brown here:

Brown, who along with Vance represents Ohio, told Cleveland.com that he supported the amendment because "the pandemic's over."

"I've got no problems with it," Brown said. "I don't think there should be mask mandates."

https://www.newsweek.com/democrats-vote-ban-mask-mandate-jd-vance-1838224

Full List of Democrats Who Voted to Ban Mask Mandates

A Senate amendment introduced by J.D. Vance blocks federal funding from going towards mask enforcement on multiple forms of public transportation.

Newsweek
Show threadEcmadtownOct 27, 2023
@luckytran Prohibits using federal funds for enforcement. Ok.
Show threadsandywb14Oct 27, 2023
@luckytran 😡😡😡😷
Show threadSuperTwaddleOct 27, 2023
@luckytran Kaine. WOW. That wretched, loathsome POS HAS #LongCovid, to boot https://solvecfs.org/sen-tim-kaine-shares-his-long-covid-experience-at-solve-event-calls-for-more-research-and-equitable-care/
Sen. Tim Kaine Shares His Long Covid Experience at Solve Event, Calls for More Research and Equitable Care - Solve ME/CFS Initiative

Kaine spoke candidly about his three-year Long Covid journey, and what's needed to make real progress for the millions who suffer.

Solve ME/CFS Initiative
Show threadAnthonyJK-AdminOct 27, 2023

@luckytran

Conservative Democrats will do what conservative Democrats do; with the full and complicit nod of the head from the "liberal" leadership".

Also: "Independents" Sinema and King also voted for this as well.

It's all Kabuki theatre.

Show threadKevin Karhan Oct 27, 2023
@luckytran it's not enough to let individual companies decide it, but they literally make.it illegal for said companies to act in the self-defense and self-care of their personnel to the point that it's basically impossible to even work for them or use their services if one.doesn't want to gamble with their health.
Show threadikuoOct 27, 2023

@luckytran This is so upsetting.

For most issues, I can think, "At least the Democrats are working on this, there are people in power who will do the right thing."

But when it comes to the pandemic, it's hard not to feel hopeless. I'm so thankful for scientists and doctors and regular people who are still speaking up to actually try to prevent mass illness and death, but when it comes to political leaders, covid denial is bipartisan. I'm so disappointed in Dems for not doing better. 😫😠😭

Show thread@pineywoozle ‘s #3WordNoteOct 27, 2023
@luckytran What the holy fuck is wrong with these people? #USPol #CovidIsNotOver #Covid #LongCovid
Show threadvolkrisOct 27, 2023

@luckytran I mean, it’s a reflection of the way government agencies lost the faith of the public through their actions during the pandemic and in the aftermath after reporting uncovered a whole bunch of sketchy stuff.

If they wanted to maintain their credibility and power they probably should have conducted themselves in more transparent, more science-based, more objective -based ways. But they didn’t.

Authoritarians misbehaved and now the public is increasingly skeptical of authority. It’s so completely predictable. Yay democracy.

Show threadKeepingMySanityOct 27, 2023
@luckytran omg Tim Kaine has long COVID!!! This is unreal. #maskup #COVIDisAirborne
Show threadHulk Smash COVIDOct 27, 2023

@GeorgiaOnMyMind @luckytran

These guys are worse than FAFO... these guys are FEE-FAFO-FUM
F Everyone Else
F Around Find Out
F Up Mercilesslessly

... I think it's time to go Jack on these guys

Show threadHulk Smash COVIDOct 27, 2023
@luckytran unacceptable
Show threadLibertyForward1Oct 27, 2023
@luckytran oh for fucking fuck's sake
Show thread2¢Oct 27, 2023
@luckytran But why don't they prohibit requirements to wear pants?
Show threadSARS2PAOct 27, 2023

@luckytran

These people have 100% top tier socialized health care.

There are lots of awful people on here, but TIM KAINE??

TIM KAINE HAS LONG COVID.

This is the equivalent of the GOP getting shot by their own buddies and still wanting everyone to have 500 guns with no background checks or consequences.

Democrats WERE our last firewall between sensibile politics and national insanity. We have no more firewall to keep this level of nationa insanity out.

This guy was Hillary's co-runner.

Show threadJBOct 27, 2023
@luckytran I'm supporting Sherrod Brown anyway because the alternative of another GOP senator loyal to Leonard Leo, the Kochs, and McConnell is too awful for civilization to bear. (Besides, laws can be changed.)
Show threadColin SimpsonOct 27, 2023
@luckytran
DINOs
@design_law
Show threadRD HallOct 27, 2023
@luckytran ,
Perhaps these Democrats are as jaded as I am. Smart people will wear masks to protect themselves on public transport, unintelligent people who refuse to wear masks will find out that COVID can still be a deadly disease.