mekka okereke 18h ago

They pay $34 for burgers. Should their fire department service be free? Opening a new fire department in one of NYC's richest neighborhoods has some of America's pettiest journalists asking silly questions in headlines again.🤡

The article acknowledges the fire department analogy, then blows past it.🤷🏿‍♂️

The solve for "Sometimes when a service like free childcare is available to all, marginalized communities get squeezed out," is "Address that racism."

It's not "Therefore waste incredible amounts of time and money trying to means test something that society should just make available to all.🤡"

Show threadLaura "Tegan" Gjovaag ⛈ 🐸14h ago

@mekkaokereke
When school lunch programs throw out the "who deserves to get free lunches?" and just provide for every child, the entire program is cheaper due to the lack of an enforcement layer, all children get fed, and children learn more and pay attention better.

Being overly concerned that someone might get something they don't "deserve" usually ends up screwing over the ones who need help most.

We're supposed to "promote the general welfare" of the public - not gate-keep who gets help.

Show threadBlaine Cross11h ago
@realtegan @mekkaokereke Free school lunches for all is what Democrats and Gov. Walz did in Minnesota.
Show threadLaura "Tegan" Gjovaag ⛈ 🐸10h ago
@blainecross @mekkaokereke
When I saw how well it works locally - the general health of students went up, as well as attendance, grades, and graduation rates - I was completely won over to the idea of free lunches (and breakfasts) for all school children. I cheered when I heard what Walz did in Minnesota.
Show threadPaul_IPv69h ago

@realtegan @blainecross @mekkaokereke

it's one of the cheapest and most humane ways to raise graduation rates & test scores, lower absenteeism.

if someone is all bent about "someone taking advantage of free school meals", that tells me more about that person than about problems with the program.

Show threadcanevecchio
@paul_ipv6 @realtegan @blainecross @mekkaokereke Is there really anything more important on earth than feeding and nurturing our children? Should anyone really care about what it costs? Aren't they all our children, and therefore our future as a species? Never mind whether they're genetically related to us or not, are they not still ours in the most fundamental sense imaginable? What is wrong with these people who only see in them something to constrain, deprive and punish?
11:08pmIvory for iOS
Show thread0xC0DEC0DE07EA5h ago
@Canevecchio this is why I marvel every year at the brass ones on the conservative asshole who managed to get “Education” as a separate line item on everybody’s property tax statement. Like, sure, that breakdown of where the town’s taxes go is public information, but calling out how much it costs to teach and care for children like that is such a transparently shitty thing.