buzzfeed--2020-08-18--USPS Delays Are Causing People To Get Their Prescriptions Late

Lisa Adametz has been waiting for her cholesterol medication since July 29 .
The Postal Service picked it up from a Veteran ’ s Administration hospital weeks ago , but according to the tracking number it still has n't been shipped , or even processed .
“ I don ’ t know what ’ s going on , it ’ s just sitting there , ” Adametz said , who lives in Nevada , about an hour outside of Las Vegas .
Americans all across the country are waiting for the mail .
While that can be annoying if you @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Amazon , for people like Adametz , who are awaiting medication shipments , delays can pose a danger to their health .
Although retail pharmacies still dispense a significant majority of all prescriptions nationwide in person , mail-order — fueled in part by insurers and providers that require it — represents an important segment of the $ 500 billion market for prescription drugs .
The US Postal Service shipped 1.2 billion prescriptions last year alone , according to the National Association of Letter Carriers .
People dependent on the mail to receive their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ kind of disruptions that the USPS has been experiencing in recent weeks .
CVS , Walgreens , Rite Aid , and ExpressScripts , which are all among the nation ’ s largest pharmacies in terms of volume , told BuzzFeed News they have not been impacted by the problems at USPS .
OptumRx , which fills some 500 million mail-order prescriptions a year , most of them shipped by the Postal Service , said it is monitoring the situation and will change carriers as needed .
Humana , which relies heavily on the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ more than 13 million customers , recently posted on Facebook , `` Some prescription orders may take a bit longer than expected , but it 's nothing that ca n't be fixed ; ” the company did not respond to multiple requests for comment .
PillPack , a service of Amazon which uses a variety of carriers — including USPS — to deliver prescriptions , also said that it was monitoring any delays .
In emergency cases , it uses UPS to overnight shipments to patients .
The Veteran ’ s Administration said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ still getting prescriptions on time .
Still , reports of medication delays are widespread and many people across the country are already clearly experiencing delays receiving critical medications .
In interviews with nearly a dozen people , patients described waiting anywhere from three days to two weeks longer than usual for their medications to arrive .
Some said they feel trapped by mail order , as their insurance plans either oblige them to only use mail-order or require them to pay more ( sometimes significantly more ) out of pocket to use a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in rural areas , there simply is no local pharmacy to visit .
The delays come after Louis DeJoy , who became Postmaster General in June , overhauled the USPS — reducing or eliminating overtime , removing mail-sorting machines , and reorganizing the agency leadership .
Even before DeJoy , the USPS has long been a target for President Trump , who recently said he would block emergency funding to the financially gutted agency .
While this may thwart the agency ’ s ability to quickly deliver millions of ballots sent by in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ mail service for countless Americans — many of whose lives literally depend on timely delivery .
After serving in the first Gulf War , Adametz started having seizures .
She also suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and had her gallbladder removed when doctors found severe blockages while trying to treat a bout of painful kidney stones .
Because of the seizures , she also doesn ’ t drive .
Although the VA delivers upwards of 80 % of all its prescriptions by mail , it does allow local pickups , but Adametz lives @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , so she relies instead on the US Postal Service to get her medications .
Without her cholesterol medication that she ran out of at the end of July , she makes sure to watch her diet , and stay hydrated while living in Nevada where temperatures have recently topped 115 degrees .
“ I ’ m at really high risk of kidney stones ” without that medication , she said .
She has enough supply of her asthma medication for now , but her antidepressants are running low now too .
Still @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s getting by .
“ I worry about the people who need heart medication .
There are people who are in worse situations than I am , ” Adametz said .
“ You can ’ t play Monopoly with people ’ s lives , ” she added .
According to the Veteran ’ s Administration , prescriptions are taking an average of about three days to ship and 95 % of prescriptions are getting to their patients on time , said Christina Noel , a spokeswoman for the department .
( Noel did @ @ @ @ @ @ @ previous years . )
“ The VA always encourages Veterans to order routine prescriptions in advance .
When it comes to emergent prescriptions , VA either fills them onsite or uses commercial carriers to ensure timely delivery , ” added Noel .
Still , for veterans like Herbert Arce — who has been ordering his prescriptions a week in advance from the Veteran ’ s Administration for the last 15 years — that alone wasn ’ t enough to get his blood pressure medication and antidepressants on time .
It took three weeks @ @ @ @ @ @ @ leaving him without medications for two full weeks .
“ I was getting headaches from not having my blood pressure medication , ” said Arce , and added that he just tried to take more Vitamin D to replace his antidepressants in the meantime .
The 54-year-old is three hours from his nearest Veteran ’ s Administration Hospital , in a rural town of 1,200 people in northern Maine .
On Aug. 6 , Senator Gary Peters of Michigan posted a call for people experiencing problems with their mail delivery to share their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has received more than 7,000 responses ( mostly from his state ) — 650 of them , roughly 9 % , mention problems with delivery of their medication , according to an analysis by his office .
“ It ’ s clear that the new policies directed by Postmaster General DeJoy are hurting people who use the Postal Service as a lifeline for everyday needs , including Michiganders who rely on life-saving prescriptions they receive in the mail , ” said Peters , ranking member of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
While the need for on-time delivery of medication is urgent compared to many other kinds of mail , USPS told BuzzFeed News it does not have a separate method to process and deliver prescription medications .
“ These items are handled based on the class in which they are sent , Priority Mail , Priority Mail Express , or First-Class Mail , and the choice is decided by the sender , ” according to their statement .

Lisa Adametz has been waiting for her cholesterol medication since July 29. The Postal Service picked it up from a Veterans Affairs hospital weeks ago, but according to the tracking number, it still hasn't been shipped, or even processed.
“I don’t know what’s going on, it’s just sitting there,” said Adametz, who lives in Nevada about an hour outside of Las Vegas.
Americans all across the country are waiting for the mail. While that can be annoying if you’re waiting on a package from Amazon, for people like Adametz, who are awaiting medication shipments, delays can pose a danger to their health.
Although retail pharmacies still dispense a significant majority of all prescriptions nationwide in person, mail-order — fueled in part by insurers and providers that require it — represents an important segment of the $500 billion market for prescription drugs. The US Postal Service shipped 1.2 billion prescriptions last year alone, according to the National Association of Letter Carriers. People dependent on the mail to receive their medications are left extremely vulnerable to the kind of disruptions that the USPS has been experiencing in recent weeks.
CVS, Walgreens, Rite Aid, and ExpressScripts, which are all among the nation’s largest pharmacies in terms of volume, told BuzzFeed News they have not been impacted by the problems at USPS. OptumRx, which fills some 500 million mail-order prescriptions a year, most of them shipped by the Postal Service, said it is monitoring the situation and will change carriers as needed. Humana, which relies heavily on the Postal Service to deliver prescriptions to its more than 13 million customers, recently posted on Facebook, "Some prescription orders may take a bit longer than expected, but it's nothing that can't be fixed”; the company did not respond to multiple requests for comment. PillPack, a service of Amazon which uses a variety of carriers — including USPS — to deliver prescriptions, also said that it was monitoring any delays. In emergency cases, it uses UPS to overnight shipments to patients. The Department of Veterans Affairs said the vast majority of its patients are still getting prescriptions on time.
Still, reports of medication delays are widespread and many people across the country are already clearly experiencing delays receiving critical medications. In interviews with nearly a dozen people, patients described waiting anywhere from three days to two weeks longer than usual for their medications to arrive. Some said they feel trapped by mail order, as their insurance plans either oblige them to only use mail order or require them to pay more (sometimes significantly more) out of pocket to use a retail pharmacy. For others, particularly in rural areas, there simply is no local pharmacy to visit.
The delays come after Louis DeJoy, who became postmaster general in June, overhauled the USPS — reducing or eliminating overtime, removing mail-sorting machines, and reorganizing the agency leadership. Even before DeJoy, the USPS had long been a target for President Trump, who recently said he would block emergency funding to the financially gutted agency. While this may thwart the agency’s ability to quickly deliver millions of ballots sent by in November, it is already affecting regular mail service for countless Americans — many of whose lives literally depend on timely delivery.
After serving in the first Gulf War, Adametz started having seizures. She also has post-traumatic stress disorder and had her gallbladder removed when doctors found severe blockages while trying to treat a bout of painful kidney stones. Because of the seizures, she also doesn’t drive. Although the VA delivers upwards of 80% of all its prescriptions by mail, it does allow local pickups, but Adametz lives an hour from the local VA hospital, so she relies instead on the US Postal Service to get her medications.
Without her cholesterol medication that she ran out of at the end of July, she makes sure to watch her diet and stay hydrated — temperatures in Nevada have recently topped 115 degrees. “I’m at really high risk of kidney stones” without that medication, she said.
She has enough of her asthma medication for now, but her antidepressants are running low now, too. Still, she said, at least she’s getting by. “I worry about the people who need heart medication. There are people who are in worse situations than I am,” Adametz said. “You can’t play Monopoly with people’s lives,” she added.
According to Veterans Affairs, prescriptions are taking an average of about three days to ship and 95% of prescriptions are getting to their patients on time, said Christina Noel, a spokesperson for the department. (Noel did not specify how this had changed from previous years.)
“The VA always encourages Veterans to order routine prescriptions in advance. When it comes to emergent prescriptions, VA either fills them onsite or uses commercial carriers to ensure timely delivery,” added Noel.
Still, for veterans like Herbert Arce — who has been ordering his prescriptions a week in advance from the VA for at last 15 years — that alone wasn’t enough to get his blood pressure medication and antidepressants on time. It took three weeks for his July prescriptions to arrive — leaving him without medications for two full weeks.
“I was getting headaches from not having my blood pressure medication,” said Arce, and added that he just tried to take more vitamin D to replace his antidepressants in the meantime.
The 54-year-old is three hours from his nearest VA hospital, in a rural town of 1,200 people in northern Maine.
On Aug. 6, Senator Gary Peters of Michigan posted a call for people experiencing problems with their mail delivery to share their stories. So far, the survey has received more than 7,000 responses (mostly from his state) — 650 of them, roughly 9%, mention problems with delivery of their medication, according to an analysis by his office.
“It’s clear that the new policies directed by Postmaster General DeJoy are hurting people who use the Postal Service as a lifeline for everyday needs, including Michiganders who rely on life-saving prescriptions they receive in the mail,” said Peters, ranking member of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, in a statement to BuzzFeed News.
While the need for on-time delivery of medication is urgent compared to many other kinds of mail, USPS told BuzzFeed News it does not have a separate method to process and deliver prescription medications. “These items are handled based on the class in which they are sent, Priority Mail, Priority Mail Express, or First-Class Mail, and the choice is decided by the sender,” according to their statement.


buzzfeed--2020-08-17--As A 32-Year-Old Woman Who Might Want Another Kid, I Took An At-Home Reproductive Health Test And He

As A 32-Year-Old Woman Who Might Want Another Kid, I Took An At-Home Reproductive Health Test And Here's What I Learned

What exactly does the Modern Fertility hormone test show ?
1 .
It tells you if you may have more @ @ @ @ @ for your age .
2 .
It predicts if you may hit menopause earlier or @ @ @ @ @ .
It helps you understand egg freezing and what probable IVF outcomes would be like @ @ @ @ @ It gives you an overview of how your general health is related to your hormones @ @ @ @ @ different factors that may affect your fertility , like your thyroid .
6 .
It @ @ @ @ @ if you have PCOS ( a hormone condition that affects your body ’ s ability @ @ @ @ @ month ) .

1. It tells you if you may have more or less eggs than average for your age.
2. It predicts if you may hit menopause earlier or later than average.
3. It helps you understand egg freezing and what probable IVF outcomes would be like for you.
4. It gives you an overview of how your general health is related to your hormones.
5. It tests different factors that may affect your fertility, like your thyroid.
6. It may also help you discover if you have PCOS (a hormone condition that affects your body’s ability to release an egg every month).


buzzfeed--2020-08-17--The Right Wing Has A New Theory For Why The Pandemic Will End Soon: T Cells

How the immune system responds to the coronavirus is a mystery that scientists are working furiously to unravel — but their findings are being weaponized to make unfounded claims that the pandemic isn ’ t a big threat .
That became clear this week , when President Donald Trump unveiled his newest science adviser on the coronavirus task force , neuroradiologist Scott Atlas .
A senior fellow at Stanford University ’ s Hoover Institution , he has steadily promoted unscientific views about the virus on Fox News and elsewhere , and has said there is “ zero excuse to not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ On Monday , Rush Limbaugh said Atlas was “ countering Fauci ” and cited the new adviser ’ s baseless theory that “ we could well be burned out of COVID ” by October .
The reason : “ prior immunities.
” Also on Monday , an unlicensed ophthalmologist and cryptocurrency investor , James Todaro , went viral on Twitter with a similarly misleading screed .
Todaro , who was in the viral “ America ’ s Frontline Doctors ” video shared by Trump and removed from social media platforms for spreading misinformation @ @ @ @ @ @ @ T cell immunity ” meant many regions were already safe from infection and that lockdowns and mask-wearing were likely useless .
But infectious disease experts say these claims grossly distort the underlying science and what it means for public health guidelines — which , right now , is nothing .
If you have tips related to this story , you can reach this reporter at stephanie.lee @ buzzfeed.com or stephaniemlee @ protonmail.com .
The apparent basis for these statements : a slew of recent studies finding that , in some places , 20 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ immune cells that unexpectedly recognize the coronavirus .
The newest of these studies suggests that these cells exist because they have responded in the past to similar viruses that can cause colds .
But the significance of this finding remains an open question , as it ’ s unclear what role , if any , these cells play in the body ’ s overall response to the coronavirus .
And there is still no evidence that having these cells from a past cold will save you from getting COVID-19 .
As T cells @ @ @ @ @ @ @ say the bottom line is that none of these findings make COVID-19 any less of a threat .
The research should not be used , they warn , to argue against shutdowns and masks or for reopening workplaces and schools in a developed nation that has uniquely failed to control the virus .
Most of all , they reject the leap of logic that the research means society is close to herd immunity — the point at which enough people are immune to a virus that it stops circulating .
“ We ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the country , ” Shane Crotty , an immunologist at the La Jolla Institute for Immunology who has worked on several of the recent T cell studies , told BuzzFeed News .
“ There ’ s no change in what the virus is doing based on what I find out or anybody else finds out .
The virus is doing its thing and we ’ re doing our best to understand it.
” The claim that T cells could mean the pandemic will end in two months , he said , is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” Since the outset of the pandemic , Crotty and scientists around the world have been racing to untangle how the virus wreaks havoc on the body and how the body fights back .
The immune system employs different mechanisms to recognize and attack intruders .
Perhaps the best-known of the bunch are antibodies , the proteins that latch onto and neutralize viruses and other invading substances .
But in people who recover from the coronavirus , antibodies may only protect against reinfection for three months , recent research suggests .
Another weapon @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is T cells , which come in an assortment of types and functions and are increasingly garnering scientific attention .
In the Netherlands , Germany , Singapore , the United Kingdom , and the US , researchers have discovered that in some people , a specific subset of T cells recognized the new coronavirus , SARS-CoV-2 , when exposed to it .
This was surprising , because these kinds of T cells , by definition , were not expected to recognize a virus they had never encountered before .
In their paper published @ @ @ @ @ @ @ his team reported an explanation for why these cells reacted .
Using human blood samples collected prior to the pandemic , they found cells that reacted to both SARS-CoV-2 and to four other coronaviruses that cause common colds .
These coronaviruses , the researchers said , were apparently similar enough to the new one to make the T cells “ cross-reactive.
” ( Crotty likened SARS-CoV-2 to “ a pretty distantly related evil cousin.
” ) The finding has led scientists to speculate that these cross-reactive T cells could be behind one of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ why the virus causes severe illness in some people but mild or no symptoms in others .
The latter patients might be better equipped to handle an infection , having fought off related viruses before .
Children ’ s immune systems have to fight off a lot of colds , so maybe this is why they seem to be relatively spared by the new virus .
For now , however , this theory is just that : a theory .
“ It could explain everything and it could explain nothing , ” Crotty @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cells may have no impact on the disease at all.
” And even if this theory were borne out , it would have significant limits : As he noted , colds are caused by hundreds of viruses , not just the four identified in the study .
Either way , these cells are still just one piece of the immune system , a highly intricate machine with all kinds of T cells and antibodies working independently and together to stamp out pathogens .
The big , yet-to-be answered questions are which of these @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and for how long .
“ While T cells may offer some protection — and that ’ s not really known — T cells would probably not just prevent a person from being infected altogether , ” said Angie Rasmussen , a virologist at Columbia University who is not involved with this research .
But uncertainty hasn ’ t stopped pundits from twisting the research to make a point .
On July 23 , before he was appointed to the White House ’ s coronavirus task force , Scott Atlas declared on Laura @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not eradicate the virus , that the US outbreak was “ not out of control , ” and that “ there is absolutely no reason to panic , ” arguments he ’ d been making since the spring .
That day , the nation ’ s case count passed 4 million .
“ There ’ s a lot of great data coming out about immunity , ” Atlas went on to say .
“ It ’ s probably not known to the public , but there is a lot of data that shows @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that didn ’ t get the infection.
” He added , “ That ’ s probably due to this T cell immunity , ” and concluded , “ So I think people should be much more optimistic here.
” The Fox News host responded enthusiastically , saying she ’ d been discussing T cells and what they could mean for herd immunity on the show for “ well over six weeks.
” This week , Limbaugh cited Atlas ’ s theory to tell listeners that the pandemic was almost over .
“ We @ @ @ @ @ @ @ inert or dormant largely due to some underappreciated T cell , prior immunities from exposure to coronavirus , meaning colds and so forth , ” the conservative radio host explained .
“ Some people who have come down with a cold over the course of the summer miraculously end up less likely to get COVID-19 , according to Scott Atlas .
And people that get colds , that ’ s a large portion of the population.
” Atlas directed a request for comment to White House spokesperson Judd Deere , who said in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ world renowned physician and scholar of advanced medical care and health care policy ” who , “ like all of the medical experts in the Administration , is working to carry out the President ’ s number one priority : protecting the health and safety of the American people.
” Deere added , “ We are all in this fight together , and only the media would distort and diminish Dr. Atlas ’ highly acclaimed career simply because he has come to serve the President.
” Around the same time Limbaugh was praising @ @ @ @ @ @ @ claim was gaining traction on James Todaro ’ s Twitter account .
Todaro , an early and avid proponent of hydroxychloroquine , is an ophthalmologist who earned his medical degree at Columbia University .
He has not practiced since 2018 , according to his LinkedIn profile , and his Michigan medical license expired last year .
He did not respond to a request for comment .
In his thread , Todaro claimed that Crotty ’ s studies and others were growing evidence of “ T-cell immunity.
” “ All those runny noses from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to fight COVID-19 , ” he proclaimed .
He calculated that if about “ 50 % of people had T cell immunity prior to SARS-CoV-2 , ” and an additional 10 % to 20 % of people were newly infected , then 60 % to 70 % of the population would be immune — a threshold that he said reached “ herd immunity.
” “ It is likely that many of the hardest hit regions of the world ( e.g .
Lombardy , NYC , Madrid , London , Stockholm ) are now @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
“ Lockdowns & mask ordinances ( mostly coming after the peak ) likely had little effect , with the exception of perhaps prolonging the spread.
” That ’ s not at all what the T cell research suggests , however .
Having these cells still means you can get infected , only maybe — maybe — not as badly as if you didn ’ t have them .
“ Herd immunity implies immunity , not just fewer people getting severe disease , ” said Gideon Meyerowitz-Katz , an epidemiologist at the University @ @ @ @ @ @ @ means they do not catch it , do not spread it , they have this immunity that stops them from getting it in the first place.
” Even if 50 % of the population really were somehow immune to the virus , that wouldn ’ t change the number of people who have been hospitalized and killed by the pandemic .
As of Friday , the death toll in the US had exceeded 167,000 .
“ It doesn ’ t change anything from the public health side of things , ” Meyerowitz-Katz said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ thread has been retweeted more than 48,000 times .
It has circulated among figures on the right , from a Minnesota state senator to an editor at the Conservative Review to an ex-lawyer who has been retweeted by Trump .
Other retweeters included the World Health Organization ’ s director of epidemic and pandemic diseases , and a Scottish historian who shared it with his more than 1 million followers : “ Interesting thread .
And hopeful if true.
” Crotty is not a heavy Twitter user — he checks it about once @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to respond once he saw how far the misinformation was spreading .
“ It was just not understanding the science , ” he said .
He banged out a series of counterpoints , explaining why Todaro ’ s claims were “ dangerous ” and unfounded .
Nothing about his findings , he stressed , should change what the public should already be doing to stem transmission .
“ Wearing a mask is much more effective than hoping you and the people around you have pre-existing T cell memory .
Wearing a mask stops @ @ @ @ @ @ @ than 3,700 times , a mere fraction of Todaro ’ s reach .
Rasmussen , the Columbia virologist , worried that most people watching Fox News or coming across Todaro ’ s tweets would never see Crotty ’ s attempt to correct the record .
As she put it : “ They ’ re just going to look at , ‘ Oh , here ’ s this big thread on T cell immunity .
This sounds great .
We don ’ t even need to worry about waiting for a vaccine.
’ ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ t the first time during the pandemic that seemingly credible sources have injected misinformation into the mainstream .
“ We ’ ve seen this a few times : People essentially using the clout of their credentials or their affiliations with a prestigious university to get them onto TV basically and amplify these messages , ” Rasmussen said .
The overarching message , as she saw it , is “ the standard Trump administration downplaying of the severity of the pandemic , saying that ‘ this is not as a big of a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be.
’ Which , of course , the epidemiological evidence of over 160,000 deaths suggests otherwise.
” During an interview on Wednesday , it was still dawning on Crotty that his research had suddenly , unwittingly , become another political flashpoint .
“ 2020 , ” the immunologist said .
“ The year when all kinds of unexpected things happen .
”

On July 23, before he was appointed to the White House’s coronavirus task force, Scott Atlas declared on Laura Ingraham’s show that lockdowns would not eradicate the virus, that the US outbreak was “not out of control,” and that “there is absolutely no reason to panic,” arguments he’d been making since the spring. That day, the nation’s case count passed 4 million.
“There’s a lot of great data coming out about immunity,” Atlas went on to say. “It’s probably not known to the public, but there is a lot of data that shows that people have immunity — even people that didn’t get the infection.” He added, “That’s probably due to this T cell immunity,” and concluded, “So I think people should be much more optimistic here.” The Fox News host responded enthusiastically, saying she’d been discussing T cells and what they could mean for herd immunity on the show for “well over six weeks.”
This week, Limbaugh cited Atlas’s theory to tell listeners that the pandemic was almost over. “We could see by early October COVID-19 turn inert or dormant largely due to some underappreciated T cell, prior immunities from exposure to coronavirus, meaning colds and so forth,” the conservative radio host explained. “Some people who have come down with a cold over the course of the summer miraculously end up less likely to get COVID-19, according to Scott Atlas. And people that get colds, that’s a large portion of the population.”
Atlas directed a request for comment to White House spokesperson Judd Deere, who said in a statement that Atlas is “a world renowned physician and scholar of advanced medical care and health care policy” who, “like all of the medical experts in the Administration, is working to carry out the President’s number one priority: protecting the health and safety of the American people.”
Deere added, “We are all in this fight together, and only the media would distort and diminish Dr. Atlas’ highly acclaimed career simply because he has come to serve the President.”
Around the same time Limbaugh was praising Atlas’s theory, a similar claim was gaining traction on James Todaro’s Twitter account. Todaro, an early and avid proponent of hydroxychloroquine, is an ophthalmologist who earned his medical degree at Columbia University. He has not practiced since 2018, according to his LinkedIn profile, and his Michigan medical license expired last year. He did not respond to a request for comment.
In his thread, Todaro claimed that Crotty’s studies and others were growing evidence of “T-cell immunity.” “All those runny noses from the common cold prepared our T cells to fight COVID-19,” he proclaimed. He calculated that if about “50% of people had T cell immunity prior to SARS-CoV-2,” and an additional 10% to 20% of people were newly infected, then 60% to 70% of the population would be immune — a threshold that he said reached “herd immunity.”
“It is likely that many of the hardest hit regions of the world (e.g. Lombardy, NYC, Madrid, London, Stockholm) are now at herd immunity,” he wrote. “Lockdowns & mask ordinances (mostly coming after the peak) likely had little effect, with the exception of perhaps prolonging the spread.”
That’s not at all what the T cell research suggests, however. Having these cells still means you can get infected, only maybe — maybe — not as badly as if you didn’t have them.
“Herd immunity implies immunity, not just fewer people getting severe disease,” said Gideon Meyerowitz-Katz, an epidemiologist at the University of Wollongong in Australia. “That means they do not catch it, do not spread it, they have this immunity that stops them from getting it in the first place.”
Even if 50% of the population really were somehow immune to the virus, that wouldn’t change the number of people who have been hospitalized and killed by the pandemic. As of Friday, the death toll in the US had exceeded 167,000. “It doesn’t change anything from the public health side of things,” Meyerowitz-Katz said.
Nevertheless, Todaro’s 19-part thread has been retweeted more than 48,000 times. It has circulated among figures on the right, from a Minnesota state senator to an editor at the Conservative Review to an ex-lawyer who has been retweeted by Trump. Other retweeters included the World Health Organization’s director of epidemic and pandemic diseases, and a Scottish historian who shared it with his more than 1 million followers: “Interesting thread. And hopeful if true.”
Crotty is not a heavy Twitter user — he checks it about once a week — but he felt compelled to respond once he saw how far the misinformation was spreading. “It was just not understanding the science,” he said.
He banged out a series of counterpoints, explaining why Todaro’s claims were “dangerous” and unfounded. Nothing about his findings, he stressed, should change what the public should already be doing to stem transmission. “Wearing a mask is much more effective than hoping you and the people around you have pre-existing T cell memory. Wearing a mask stops infections.”
His debunk was retweeted more than 3,700 times, a mere fraction of Todaro’s reach.
Rasmussen, the Columbia virologist, worried that most people watching Fox News or coming across Todaro’s tweets would never see Crotty’s attempt to correct the record. As she put it: “They’re just going to look at, ‘Oh, here’s this big thread on T cell immunity. This sounds great. We don’t even need to worry about waiting for a vaccine.’”
And she pointed out that this isn’t the first time during the pandemic that seemingly credible sources have injected misinformation into the mainstream.
“We’ve seen this a few times: People essentially using the clout of their credentials or their affiliations with a prestigious university to get them onto TV basically and amplify these messages,” Rasmussen said. The overarching message, as she saw it, is “the standard Trump administration downplaying of the severity of the pandemic, saying that ‘this is not as a big of a deal as everybody makes it out to be.’ Which, of course, the epidemiological evidence of over 160,000 deaths suggests otherwise.”
During an interview on Wednesday, it was still dawning on Crotty that his research had suddenly, unwittingly, become another political flashpoint.
“2020,” the immunologist said. “The year when all kinds of unexpected things happen.”


buzzfeed--2020-08-18--This Woman With Down Syndrome Went Viral For Explaining Things About Her Life That Don't Make Sense

Another inequality people with Down syndrome face is their employment wages .
Ashley explained , `` The US Department of @ @ @ @ @ that allow them to pay people with disabilities below minimum wage .
The way it @ @ @ @ @ up is the employers will have an employee without a disability perform a task and @ @ @ @ @ the disability perform the same task .
They will both be timed .
However long @ @ @ @ @ the disability to perform the task is the time that holds minimum wage .
Then @ @ @ @ @ takes the person with the disability to do it , they deduct from minimum wage @ @ @ @ @ .
I would hope that we , as a society , have moved passed that @ @ @ @ @ we have not . ''

Another inequality people with Down syndrome face is their employment wages. Ashley explained, "The US Department of Labor provides employers with certificates that allow them to pay people with disabilities below minimum wage. The way it's supposed to be set up is the employers will have an employee without a disability perform a task and then have the person with the disability perform the same task. They will both be timed. However long it takes the person without the disability to perform the task is the time that holds minimum wage. Then, however much longer it takes the person with the disability to do it, they deduct from minimum wage. It's pretty ridiculous. I would hope that we, as a society, have moved passed that, but, unfortunately, we have not."


buzzfeed--2020-08-17--What My Mother Didn't Talk About

What My Mother Didn't Talk About

My mother and I were very close , but when she died last year there was still so much I didn ’ t know about her .
Twenty-eight years is a long time to be sick .
The recurrences were such that each time made me think that my mother had made a deal with the devil and was therefore invincible .
I ’ d say , “ You ’ ll outlive us all.
” Or at least some of us .
But she didn ’ t .
When I came home to take care of her in September 2019 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
I told myself things like , I ’ m not in denial .
But by then I really was .
When she said , “ I want you to come home and take care of me so I don ’ t have to go to hospice.
” I said , “ What are you talking about ?
I thought you were getting better.
” She weighed 99.6 pounds when she died .
I had watched as her weight inched down to 100 over the course of a year .
Last summer , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and watched her writhe in pain in the aftermath and so I went and bought her a new mattress and 10 new pillows .
I wanted to make her comfortable .
I massaged her back with moisturizer as she sat against me and my father talked to us .
She moaned in pain and I could see the outline of each bone as I did it .
I was worried I was hurting her but she told me to keep going .
I knew she wasn ’ t getting better .
That fall @ @ @ @ @ @ @ she drained the fluids that had collected from my mother ’ s leaking lungs three times a week .
Even then , I knew she wasn ’ t getting better .
I sat across from them both as my mother looked at me , a placid expression on her face , and asked me , “ Why are you crying ?
” Weeks after her death I was rummaging through her email , looking for some evidence that she had lied to me .
That she had conveyed hope about a hopeless condition @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was worse than I imagined .
As if a chart could explain what I had seen for myself but still chose to deny .
My mother was born in a small village in postwar Poland in a house with no indoor toilet .
I pointed this out to people from time to time because I was so proud of how far she had come as an immigrant .
She was a person who was born into poverty , along with my father , and together they came to America and did well for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the story .
It was supposed to illustrate the poverty .
“ Everyone had an outhouse , ” she ’ d say .
“ I wasn ’ t special.
” In fact , years later , when we visited the country , retracing our flight from Communist Poland in 1981 , we stopped at my great-aunt ’ s farm in the Polish countryside and she still had an outhouse .
We marveled at it until we had to use it .
My mother said that on winter nights she would hold a rope @ @ @ @ @ @ @ wouldn ’ t lose her way in the dark .
This was the reality of Poland in the 1960s .
She went to school in the morning and watched the young women from the overnight shift at the factory coming home and swore she wouldn ’ t end up like them .
My grandfather , who was captured as a POW and forced into a German labor camp when serving in the Polish army during World War II , told my mother he didn ’ t see the point in her going to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ She passed the entrance exams and went anyway .
She was one of a handful of women in her polytechnic in Łódź .
Later , she was only one of a handful of women who had a professional engineering license in Connecticut .
She ran her own successful consulting firm and she yelled at bullying male building contractors all day .
She never called herself a feminist .
Poland was full of stories of woe .
For my parents , it was a place from which to escape .
Once , when I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ about , they said being back in Poland on vacation and the borders closing .
Being trapped .
They looked at each other as they admitted their fears to me .
They had no idea they had been having the same nightmare for decades .
We did not visit Poland often .
Only when someone died .
I have not been able to bring part of my mother ’ s ashes to Poland yet because of the pandemic .
They sit in my living room , waiting to join my other dead relatives @ @ @ @ @ @ @ live in California , 3,000 miles away from where I grew up , and when my mother couldn ’ t sleep she ’ d call me .
I always picked up .
“ I think I know how I got sick , ” she said once .
My mother had an aversion to being sick and to anyone knowing about it .
Her father had tuberculosis and had to be sent to a sanatorium to recover .
My mother , her brother , and my grandmother would visit him as he was quarantined @ @ @ @ @ @ @ play with her or her brother afterward .
They would taunt them that they were sick too .
To be sick , my mother learned , was a humiliation .
When she became sick this final time , she isolated herself so much that she stopped seeing or talking to her friends , except for a handful of emails I found .
Her business associates didn ’ t even know she was sick .
I had to tell them she was dead and listen to their shock and grief .
She had worked @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 99.6 pounds .
On the phone , late that night , she recounted how her father was vigilant against things like bedbugs .
She whispered to me that he would come into her room and spray everything down with DDT .
She said he ’ d even spray down her pillows and sheets .
She recounted , with wonder , how the spray looked in the morning light .
“ Or maybe I got sick because they made us get X-rays when I was in puberty .
To make sure I didn ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ mother countered .
How would I know for sure ?
Now that she 's gone , I would never know anything at all .
There was no finding the truth .
There were just stories .
When I asked my mother why my grandfather was orphaned she told me his mother had died when he was young and his father had remarried a woman who didn ’ t want him or his two sisters .
They were shipped off to different orphanages .
Later , in his early twenties , he reunited with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a relationship with his father .
My mother told me that my grandfather had said that at a wedding for his half-sibling after the war , the entire family was poisoned by black market vodka , which my grandfather had taken only a few sips of .
They all died except my grandfather .
He was left with no one again .
These were the stories of Poland that I grew up with .
Fantastical , breathtaking .
When I asked my mother why she was so tough — really , a hard-ass @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the family had a car .
There were maybe only a few other families with cars ; they only had one thanks to my grandfather ’ s job as a mechanic .
But the village boys thought my mother , just in elementary school then , was putting on airs .
They were all poor but my mother didn ’ t want to be .
So each day they followed her home and harassed her .
She learned to run , to take different streets .
And she balled up her fists and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ever get anything over her , she said .
She glared at me .
As if I made her remember something painful that she had been intent on forgetting .
But I wanted more .
I ’ ll never get to hear more now , at least from her .
My mother hated dwelling on the past : “ There was too much sadness there.
” And so she concentrated on the future .
Except , in the years before her death , she ’ d started calling me to say things like @ @ @ @ @ @ @ we should have left Poland after all.
” This was a shocking admission from a woman who loved America more than anyone I knew .
Who believed it was the one country you could build yourself into whoever you wanted to be .
A place that accepted a family who had no money , no recognizable name , no understanding of the language , and allowed them to work to be someone else .
That didn ’ t mean it wasn ’ t difficult or that , in her waning days , my @ @ @ @ @ @ @ quite worth it .
“ If I had known that Communism would fall 10 years after we left , I would not have left , ” she said .
“ We just believed it would go on forever.
” My parents were graduate students when they decided to leave .
Or rather , the situation had become so untenable that they had to leave .
They felt like the country would always be one of food rations and lack of opportunity .
So they sewed our birth certificates , their school diplomas , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of their suitcases and we left .
They only told their parents the night before for fear of someone turning them in .
Twenty-five years after we left Poland as political refugees , we returned , to bury my grandfather , and retrace our steps of leaving the country .
My parents , my sister , my brother , and I went through a border crossing in Chałupki , Poland .
As my father handed over our American passports , I saw him become more and more agitated , as if he had @ @ @ @ @ @ @ time before , when my parents pretended to be going on vacation in order to leave and beg for political asylum in Vienna .
The tension and fear was still present in his muscle memory .
He only spoke English to the border guard , who insulted him by saying my brother , who had been born in the US , was the only real American of any of us as he returned our passports 30 minutes later .
We crossed into the Czech Republic and then , with ease , into Austria @ @ @ @ @ @ @ between the landscape of formerly Communist countries and the verdant hills of this one .
The difference felt like a cliché .
Bright flowers bloomed outside gingerbread houses , a stark contrast to the gray Eastern bloc apartments that had ruined the landscape of where we had just been .
The kind of industrial apartments where I ’ d been born .
Our destination was the town of Traiskirchen , and the refugee camp that we had been sent to after my father had followed the instructions he was given by people who @ @ @ @ @ @ @ asylum at a police station in Vienna .
My family and I stood outside the walls of the refugee camp and I couldn ’ t believe it was still operational .
I looked at the armed guards at the gates , at the razor wire lining the top of the redbrick fence .
I looked at the long underwear drying outside a window as my parents wept .
“ You chased a boy for bread , ” my mother said .
“ You were always hungry.
” We left those memories behind and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ small village where my parents had taken us when we were allowed out of the refugee camp and where we had lived for a few months in a family-run bed and breakfast , paid for by the Austrian government and the United Nations Refugee Agency .
The owner remembered my parents .
He was their age , and recalled how his father had let us stay there years before .
I used to stare at old photos of my sister and I looking at the sky in similarly patterned dresses , or the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the ground with our hands cupped , hoping for what ?
I don ’ t know .
My parents walked us to the parking lot where those pictures were taken .
They took us to other markers from photos I ’ d spent my life since staring at , trying to piece together where I came from .
I wonder if other children of refugees feel permanently displaced .
If we are always looking for a home .
I have lived in Poland , Texas , Connecticut , California , New York , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ felt a sense of home anywhere I am .
In fact , all I feel is a sense of longing for another place .
A place I can not name .
That sense of longing now extends to feeling outside of my body .
Someone recently told me that losing your mother is primal .
It is the deepest loss .
I felt validated in my feelings of being absolutely adrift .
I no longer had a planet to orient myself around .
Who was I if I could not call my mother @ @ @ @ @ @ @ work ?
Who was I if I could not text her every day ?
Or ask for her help and advice as I navigated the world ?
She hadn ’ t given me enough advice , wisdom , knowledge to make it through the rest of my life .
I hadn ’ t stored any of it away .
I didn ’ t even really know who she was .
My mother came from a hard place where to be vulnerable or to share your feelings could leave you open to threats .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ That was a lesson I internalized and one that I still struggle with today .
Her fear of seeming weak made her miss out on spending time with people who loved her and who could ease some of her suffering .
When I came home to take care of her after her final surgery last fall , we tangled like mother and daughter who were too similar .
During the surgery her heart had stopped on the operating table .
There was some discrepancy between the doctors over whether it had stopped for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ truth — something else I will never know — it had altered her personality .
She became angry and aggressive .
The more acerbic parts of the mother I knew were now more pronounced .
I could also feel the desperation .
When I sat across from her in her bedroom , looking at her newly shorn hair , I cried .
Again , with that placid look on her face , she asked , “ Why are you crying ?
” I just shook my head because I couldn ’ t say @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ” she said .
But I knew I couldn ’ t .
That night , in bed , as we lay next to each other , I asked her something it had taken me hours to muster up the courage to ask : “ Are you dying ?
” She inhaled and said , sounding surprised , “ I don ’ t know .
Do you think I ’ m dying ?
” I knew the answer but to say it out loud meant that I had given up on her .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ was strong enough to make it through .
“ I don ’ t know , ” I said instead .
I ’ m ashamed that I couldn ’ t tell the truth .
And from there I believed the lie .
I believed it as we went to doctors and I explained symptoms that she had withheld from them .
I believed it even as I saw their alarmed looks or when her lung doctor said she was actually doing well .
That she just needed to walk more and work out her @ @ @ @ @ @ @ when she stood on the scale and I saw 99.6 flash on .
I took that lie and went to New York to work for a week , leaving her behind in Connecticut .
Something I find it hard to forgive myself for .
When I returned to Connecticut on the day before she died , my father and I went to the Polish store to buy her favorite meats and sausages and she called me on my cellphone .
She was having trouble speaking but barked , “ When are you coming @ @ @ @ @ @ @ away , I told her .
When I came home , I was alarmed .
Her pupils were huge .
She could not get out of bed .
I wanted to hug her but I didn ’ t want to crush her .
She was as small as a bird .
Still , I told her I had to go back to the store .
I wanted to buy her blueberries for oatmeal in the morning .
To resume our routine .
She looked scared .
I had been sleeping with her at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fear came and with me by her side she was less afraid .
I held her hand and said , “ I ’ ll be back and we ’ ll sleep together again and it will be OK. ” When she smiled at me , the first smile I had seen in weeks , she already looked like a skeleton .
She had hardly been eating and yet I wanted to get her blueberries .
I drove to the market with the windows open , blasting music and crying .
What I don @ @ @ @ @ @ @ now feels infinite .
I can ask my father certain things , but her innermost thoughts and who she was as a person beyond what she was willing to tell me are out of my reach for good .
“ Why did you think it would have been better to stay in Poland ?
” I asked her during one of our late-night phone calls .
“ Because if we did , you would be married with three children by now , ” she said .
I didn ’ t like her answer @ @ @ @ @ @ @ say no matter who it wounded .
I lay beside her all night as she was dying .
We were both scared and even then she tried to protect me from what was happening .
She tried to comfort me by hiding the truth of what was happening even as things took a turn for the worse .
It was just the two of us .
She had brought me into this world and I was helping her out of it .
I stroked her back .
I told her not to be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fell asleep .
Now I wonder , How could I ?
I woke up to her calling my father on her cellphone and not saying a word .
He ran downstairs and she asked him to help her take a shower .
He helped her to the bathroom and then she collapsed .
And still , I felt shock .
She had called me home to help take care of her as she was dying and I knew what was happening but I could not believe it .
She had called me home @ @ @ @ @ @ @ my grandfather as he was dying .
He had died in the morning too .
I remember lying on the couch in the living room as he was dying in the next room .
I didn ’ t want to leave him and only fell asleep after feeling as though someone had put a blanket over me .
In the morning , I rushed to his room and found him cold .
I had not been vigilant on either occasion and I had missed something .
I had missed everything .
How do @ @ @ @ @ @ @ you are ?
Your history and where you came from when the people who made you are gone ?
I ’ m left behind looking for clues .
Clues of who my mother was as much as who she wanted me to be .
She was proud of me .
She , after all , worked extra hours so I could take writing classes .
She sent me places she could never go herself because she knew the thing you needed to make it in America was access .
She fought for her @ @ @ @ @ @ @ then in America .
And yet she wasn ’ t sure if it was worth it .
What had the struggle been for then ?
Her admission felt like a betrayal of everything we had grown up believing .
Or was it just the offhand remark of a woman who was looking back at her life — all the pleasures and pain — and trying to make sense of it ?
I had 28 extra years with my mother .
When she was first diagnosed I was only 12 .
The landscape of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ if I ’ d lost her then .
I would not be who I am without the pieces of her that I have .
The stories she did tell me .
There is a photo of her and me that I ’ ve kept .
We are in Texas and I am about 6 years old .
She was probably 35 then .
I am clutching onto her and my mouth is open in a scream .
She ’ s wearing a khaki top and matching shorts .
She has a slight smile @ @ @ @ @ @ @ my screams .
What is she thinking about ?
I never thought to ask her about the photo or what she was staring at .
It feels like a tidy visual of how I felt about her both when she was alive and now that she is dead .
A rageful desire to keep every piece of a woman I obsessed over .
She gave me all of herself and it still wasn ’ t — will never be — enough .
I now know she was depressed and anxious .
She missed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ would rarely see until she died at nearly the same age my mother had been when she passed on too .
In the small village of Bedoń where my mother was born , there is a cemetery , much like the cemeteries you find in village centers all over Poland .
My grandmother is buried there .
We buried my grandfather there too .
My mother is interred in Texas and we buried some of her ashes under a mesquite tree on our property .
I stare at the cross made of rocks @ @ @ @ @ @ @ assembled to mark it .
My parents had begun splitting their time between Connecticut and Texas , hoping to spend their retirement in Texas .
Perhaps they also hoped to find some semblance of home as memories of Poland became more and more remote .
In mourning , I have learned that every version of myself must grieve her loss .
Sometimes I find myself walking on the street hearing the refrain “ Where is my mother ?
” playing on a loop in my head as if I am a small child @ @ @ @ @ @ @ about what will happen as my memories of my mother become more remote too .
I worry I will forget her altogether , and will just have pictures to rely on , as I try to understand what she was thinking and feeling as she stared off or looked directly at the camera .
Where do I put the memories I do have and want to forget ?
Her anguished last hours .
The guilt I feel at leaving her in her final days , knowing she was waiting for me to return @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with her as she died ?
When I close my eyes I see her collapsing and opening and closing her mouth searching for air .
Those memories are as true as the ones she told me about her life before me and the memories I ’ ve searched for in photographs I have of her .
In me they are forced to coexist .
And yet , writing about her at all feels like a betrayal .
Writing about her most vulnerable moments goes against everything she believed in .
I can imagine @ @ @ @ @ @ @ remark in her accented English .
And all I can think is that I can ’ t get the truth right , her spirit right , anyway .
Have I reduced her to a simple immigration story ?
I feel like I don ’ t have enough to go on , to know her as much as I wanted to , even though she wasn ’ t as opaque as I might make her out to be .
My mother ’ s favorite childhood memory , as she told it to me , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cherry tree in their yard .
She would climb up in the branches and eat cherries and watch the yard , the street .
She said it ’ s where she felt safe : “ No one could reach me up there.
” She wasn ’ t a person who dwelled on the past , though .
She only wanted to look forward .
“ The past is too painful , ” she said .
“ It doesn ’ t help you to look back.
” But looking back is all I want @ @ @ @

We did not visit Poland often. Only when someone died. I have not been able to bring part of my mother’s ashes to Poland yet because of the pandemic. They sit in my living room, waiting to join my other dead relatives in her village of Bedoń.
I live in California, 3,000 miles away from where I grew up, and when my mother couldn’t sleep she’d call me. I always picked up.
“I think I know how I got sick,” she said once.
My mother had an aversion to being sick and to anyone knowing about it. Her father had tuberculosis and had to be sent to a sanatorium to recover. My mother, her brother, and my grandmother would visit him as he was quarantined. No one in her village would play with her or her brother afterward. They would taunt them that they were sick too. To be sick, my mother learned, was a humiliation. When she became sick this final time, she isolated herself so much that she stopped seeing or talking to her friends, except for a handful of emails I found. Her business associates didn’t even know she was sick. I had to tell them she was dead and listen to their shock and grief. She had worked until a week before she died. 99.6 pounds.
On the phone, late that night, she recounted how her father was vigilant against things like bedbugs. She whispered to me that he would come into her room and spray everything down with DDT. She said he’d even spray down her pillows and sheets. She recounted, with wonder, how the spray looked in the morning light.
“Or maybe I got sick because they made us get X-rays when I was in puberty. To make sure I didn’t have tuberculosis too,” my mother countered.
How would I know for sure? Now that she's gone, I would never know anything at all. There was no finding the truth. There were just stories.
When I asked my mother why my grandfather was orphaned she told me his mother had died when he was young and his father had remarried a woman who didn’t want him or his two sisters. They were shipped off to different orphanages. Later, in his early twenties, he reunited with one of his sisters and even rekindled a relationship with his father. My mother told me that my grandfather had said that at a wedding for his half-sibling after the war, the entire family was poisoned by black market vodka, which my grandfather had taken only a few sips of. They all died except my grandfather. He was left with no one again.
These were the stories of Poland that I grew up with. Fantastical, breathtaking. When I asked my mother why she was so tough — really, a hard-ass — she said that it was because the family had a car. There were maybe only a few other families with cars; they only had one thanks to my grandfather’s job as a mechanic. But the village boys thought my mother, just in elementary school then, was putting on airs. They were all poor but my mother didn’t want to be. So each day they followed her home and harassed her. She learned to run, to take different streets. And she balled up her fists and learned to fight. No one would ever get anything over her, she said. She glared at me. As if I made her remember something painful that she had been intent on forgetting. But I wanted more. I’ll never get to hear more now, at least from her.
My mother hated dwelling on the past: “There was too much sadness there.” And so she concentrated on the future. Except, in the years before her death, she’d started calling me to say things like: “I don’t think we should have left Poland after all.”
This was a shocking admission from a woman who loved America more than anyone I knew. Who believed it was the one country you could build yourself into whoever you wanted to be. A place that accepted a family who had no money, no recognizable name, no understanding of the language, and allowed them to work to be someone else. That didn’t mean it wasn’t difficult or that, in her waning days, my mother perhaps thought it wasn’t quite worth it.
“If I had known that Communism would fall 10 years after we left, I would not have left,” she said. “We just believed it would go on forever.”
My parents were graduate students when they decided to leave. Or rather, the situation had become so untenable that they had to leave. They felt like the country would always be one of food rations and lack of opportunity. So they sewed our birth certificates, their school diplomas, and other important papers into the lining of their suitcases and we left. They only told their parents the night before for fear of someone turning them in.
Twenty-five years after we left Poland as political refugees, we returned, to bury my grandfather, and retrace our steps of leaving the country. My parents, my sister, my brother, and I went through a border crossing in Chałupki, Poland. As my father handed over our American passports, I saw him become more and more agitated, as if he had been plunged into the memory of the time before, when my parents pretended to be going on vacation in order to leave and beg for political asylum in Vienna. The tension and fear was still present in his muscle memory. He only spoke English to the border guard, who insulted him by saying my brother, who had been born in the US, was the only real American of any of us as he returned our passports 30 minutes later.
We crossed into the Czech Republic and then, with ease, into Austria, where I noted the marked difference between the landscape of formerly Communist countries and the verdant hills of this one. The difference felt like a cliché. Bright flowers bloomed outside gingerbread houses, a stark contrast to the gray Eastern bloc apartments that had ruined the landscape of where we had just been. The kind of industrial apartments where I’d been born.
Our destination was the town of Traiskirchen, and the refugee camp that we had been sent to after my father had followed the instructions he was given by people who had previously fled and asked for political asylum at a police station in Vienna. My family and I stood outside the walls of the refugee camp and I couldn’t believe it was still operational. I looked at the armed guards at the gates, at the razor wire lining the top of the redbrick fence. I looked at the long underwear drying outside a window as my parents wept.
“You chased a boy for bread,” my mother said. “You were always hungry.”
We left those memories behind and went to Klam, Austria, a small village where my parents had taken us when we were allowed out of the refugee camp and where we had lived for a few months in a family-run bed and breakfast, paid for by the Austrian government and the United Nations Refugee Agency. The owner remembered my parents. He was their age, and recalled how his father had let us stay there years before. I used to stare at old photos of my sister and I looking at the sky in similarly patterned dresses, or the two of us naked and staring at the ground with our hands cupped, hoping for what? I don’t know.
My parents walked us to the parking lot where those pictures were taken. They took us to other markers from photos I’d spent my life since staring at, trying to piece together where I came from.


buzzfeed--2020-08-18--A Judge Blocked The Trump Administration's Effort To Roll Back Transgender Healthcare Protections

WASHINGTON — A federal judge on Monday blocked a Trump administration rule that would allow healthcare providers to discriminate against transgender individuals , one day before the rule was set to take effect .
US District Judge Frederic Block found that the landmark US Supreme Court ruling earlier this summer expanding workplace protections for LGBTQ individuals applied in a legal fight over anti-discrimination provisions of the Affordable Care Act .
It 's one of the first cases to apply the Supreme Court 's decision to other areas of federal law — in this case , healthcare .
The Supreme Court @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sex '' included discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity .
Block , who sits in the federal district court in Brooklyn , found that the administration 's plan to remove gender identity from the ACA 's anti-discrimination provisions could not stand in light of the Supreme Court 's decision in Bostock v. Clayton County .
`` The Court reiterates the same practical concern it raised at oral argument : When the Supreme Court announces a major decision , it seems a sensible thing to pause and reflect on the decision ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ `` Since HHS has been unwilling to take that path voluntarily , the Court now imposes it . ''
The case before Block involves Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act , which prohibits discrimination in health programs that receive federal funding .
Under the Obama administration , the Department of Health and Human Services adopted rules in 2016 that made clear that Section 1557 applied to discrimination based on gender identity .
A federal judge previously blocked the Obama-era rules from being enforced and sent the matter back to the Department of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ administration moved to get rid of the gender identity protections altogether .
On June 12 , the administration announced a final rule that would strip away the gender identity language .
But three days later , the Supreme Court issued its landmark decision in Bostock protecting LGBTQ individuals from discrimination in the workplace .
In a 6–3 ruling , a majority of the justices concluded that the federal law that prohibits employment discrimination based on `` sex '' ( Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ) applied in cases involving @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and gender identity .
The Section 1557 case before Block is one of several pending legal fights — and more are expected to come — that will test how lower courts apply the Bostock decision in other areas where federal law prohibits sex-based discrimination , including healthcare , education , and housing .
The transgender plaintiffs who sued in the New York case alleged that they were subjected to discrimination when they tried to access healthcare , including misgendering , physical abuse , and some providers ' refusal of care .
Block found @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the gender identity protections failed on two fronts .
He concluded that the rule was rooted in an interpretation of sex discrimination that the Supreme Court rejected in the Title VII case .
`` Had the agency correctly predicted the outcome in Bostock , it may well have taken a different path .
Instead , it continued on the same path even after Bostock was decided , '' Block wrote .
`` This satisfies the Court that the premise of the repeal was a disagreement with a concept of sex discrimination later embraced @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the repeal was contrary to law . ''
The judge also found that the rule violated the federal Administrative Procedure Act because the administration failed to address the effects of the Supreme Court case when it finalized the rule in the aftermath of the justices ' decision .
`` Instead , it did nothing .
The timing might even suggest to a cynic that the agency pushed ahead specifically to avoid having to address an adverse decision , '' Block wrote .
Human Rights Campaign President Alphonso David released a statement calling Block @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for our plaintiffs , Tanya and Cecilia , and for the entire LGBTQ community , particularly those who are multiply marginalized and suffering disproportionality from the impacts of the twin pandemics of COVID-19 and racialized violence . ''
The organization brought the lawsuit along with the law firm BakerHostetler .
`` We are pleased the Court recognized this irrational rule for what it is : discrimination , plain and simple , '' David said .
A Justice Department spokesperson did not immediately return a request for comment .

WASHINGTON — A federal judge on Monday blocked a Trump administration rule that would allow healthcare providers to discriminate against transgender individuals, one day before the rule was set to take effect.
US District Judge Frederic Block found that the landmark US Supreme Court ruling earlier this summer expanding workplace protections for LGBTQ individuals applied in a legal fight over anti-discrimination provisions of the Affordable Care Act. It's one of the first cases to apply the Supreme Court's decision to other areas of federal law — in this case, healthcare.
The Supreme Court ruled that workplace discrimination based on "sex" included discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Block, who sits in the federal district court in Brooklyn, found that the administration's plan to remove gender identity from the ACA's anti-discrimination provisions could not stand in light of the Supreme Court's decision in Bostock v. Clayton County.
"The Court reiterates the same practical concern it raised at oral argument: When the Supreme Court announces a major decision, it seems a sensible thing to pause and reflect on the decision’s impact," Block wrote. "Since HHS has been unwilling to take that path voluntarily, the Court now imposes it."
The case before Block involves Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act, which prohibits discrimination in health programs that receive federal funding. Under the Obama administration, the Department of Health and Human Services adopted rules in 2016 that made clear that Section 1557 applied to discrimination based on gender identity.
A federal judge previously blocked the Obama-era rules from being enforced and sent the matter back to the Department of Health and Human Services. The Trump administration moved to get rid of the gender identity protections altogether. On June 12, the administration announced a final rule that would strip away the gender identity language.
But three days later, the Supreme Court issued its landmark decision in Bostock protecting LGBTQ individuals from discrimination in the workplace. In a 6–3 ruling, a majority of the justices concluded that the federal law that prohibits employment discrimination based on "sex" (Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964) applied in cases involving allegations of discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
The Section 1557 case before Block is one of several pending legal fights — and more are expected to come — that will test how lower courts apply the Bostock decision in other areas where federal law prohibits sex-based discrimination, including healthcare, education, and housing.
The transgender plaintiffs who sued in the New York case alleged that they were subjected to discrimination when they tried to access healthcare, including misgendering, physical abuse, and some providers' refusal of care.
Block found that the administration's rule stripping away the gender identity protections failed on two fronts. He concluded that the rule was rooted in an interpretation of sex discrimination that the Supreme Court rejected in the Title VII case.
"Had the agency correctly predicted the outcome in Bostock, it may well have taken a different path. Instead, it continued on the same path even after Bostock was decided," Block wrote. "This satisfies the Court that the premise of the repeal was a disagreement with a concept of sex discrimination later embraced by the Supreme Court. Therefore, the repeal was contrary to law."
The judge also found that the rule violated the federal Administrative Procedure Act because the administration failed to address the effects of the Supreme Court case when it finalized the rule in the aftermath of the justices' decision.
"Instead, it did nothing. The timing might even suggest to a cynic that the
agency pushed ahead specifically to avoid having to address an adverse decision," Block wrote.
Human Rights Campaign President Alphonso David released a statement calling Block's decision "a crucial early victory for our plaintiffs, Tanya and Cecilia, and for the entire LGBTQ community, particularly those who are multiply marginalized and suffering disproportionality from the impacts of the twin pandemics of COVID-19 and racialized violence." The organization brought the lawsuit along with the law firm BakerHostetler.
"We are pleased the Court recognized this irrational rule for what it is: discrimination, plain and simple," David said.
A Justice Department spokesperson did not immediately return a request for comment.


buzzfeed--2020-08-17--The Post Office Has Always Been Political

Donald Trump 's opposition is nothing new .
From the founding , the mail has knitted the country together .
The president was furious .
He feared that his political opponents were using the United States mail to rally opposition in the South in advance of the presidential election .
His postmaster general called the activists `` most flagitious , '' and promised to stop them with `` as little noise and difficulty as possible , '' though he tactfully ignored the president 's threat that they `` ought to be made to atone for this wicked attempt with their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and the president was Andrew Jackson , a portrait of whom President Donald Trump keeps in the Oval Office .
And while Trump 's attempt to undermine the United States Post Office to restrict mail-in voting may be unprecedented , the US post office — and the values it embodies — has frequently been in the political crosshairs .
The post office has always been the public network by which the United States built its common political culture — and fought over just what that culture would be .
`` The mail @ @ @ @ @ @ @ national level , '' historian David Henkin , author of The Postal Age , told BuzzFeed News .
`` From the start , the mail system was supposed to bring the country together . ''
And from the start , that institution has been under threat .
President Trump 's attack on the Postal Service may be new for him — sounding the alarm about voter fraud — a claim without any proof to support it , while Postmaster General Louis DeJoy has ended overtime pay and removed some sorting machines just months @ @ @ @ @ @ @ million Americans are expected to use the USPS to cast their ballots .
The crisis may look unique , but throughout the history of the United States , politicians have tried to use the power of the postal network to shape the country — because the mail is never just the mail .
On July 26 , 1775 , the Second Continental Congress appointed Benjamin Franklin as postmaster general .
He had some experience , having previously been named postmaster of Philadelphia in 1737 and joint postmaster of the colonies in 1753 .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ 's job was not so much delivering personal letters , but rather information in the form of newspapers .
And Franklin mandated that it be a neutral carrier , requiring local postmasters to deliver all of them , regardless of their politics .
In 1774 , the British government dismissed him , correctly fearing that he would be too sympathetic to the brewing rebellion .
After the revolution , said Henkin , the post office was intended to continue to function as that kind of information clearinghouse , allowing a diffuse population of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The post office was really set up as a news broadcast service in the 1790s .
They envisioned a dispersed nation where people could still participate . ''
In 1835 , abolitionists tested the post office 's neutrality — and found that its practice fell far short of its legal mandate .
That year , in what has been called `` America 's first direct-mail campaign , '' the American Anti-Slavery Society , led by William Lloyd Garrison , mailed thousands of copies of their newspapers and magazines to white people in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ emancipation .
Drawing on what was then the height of technology — the steam-powered printing presses — they sent what one estimate put at 175,000 separate pieces of mail , roughly equal to the entire output of Southern periodicals during the same time , to 20,000 Southerners .
The campaign provoked a backlash , most notably in Charleston , where the postmaster , a federal employee , was legally bound to distribute the mail .
But a South Carolina law required him to turn over material that might incite a rebellion by enslaved @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Sherman Savage , the penalties for Black people caught with the newspapers would be severe : a $ 1,000 fine for the first offense , 50 lashes for the second , and for the third , death .
And the backlash from the white power structure was equally severe .
`` On Wednesday , July 29 , 1835 , at some point between 10:00 and 11:00 P.M. , a small group of men broke into the post office in Charleston , South Carolina , by forcing open a window with a crowbar , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
`` The intruders belonged to a Charleston vigilante society known as the 'Lynch Men , ' and the purpose of their assault was to destroy the bundle of several thousand abolitionist periodicals that the steamboat Columbia had brought to the Charleston post office earlier that day . ''
On Thursday night , the Lynch Men burned those newspapers and magazines in a bonfire that `` was watched by a loud and enthusiastic crowd of 2,000 , roughly one-seventh of the entire white population of the city , '' John wrote , on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 's military college , the Citadel .
Deepening the crisis , the New York postmaster declared himself bound by South Carolina 's laws , refusing to distribute the abolitionist mail .
His legal grounds were weak , but he later said he felt vindicated because Garrison and his allies never sued him .
That solution satisfied Postmaster General Amos Kendall , who informed both postmasters to ignore federal law : `` We owe an obligation to the law but a higher one to the communities in which we live and if the former @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it is patriotism to disregard them , '' he wrote to the Charleston postmaster .
While that informal censorship of abolitionism continued until the Civil War , it was never enshrined in law — quite the opposite : Congress debated changing the law to either outlaw mailing abolitionist publications or to reinforce states ' rights to prevent them from circulation .
But Congress did neither , instead passing a bill — that President Jackson signed into law — that reaffirmed that the mail should circulate without impediment , a commitment as honored in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Civil War , in which he fought as a Union soldier , Anthony Comstock became the United States postal inspector .
An anti-vice crusader ( and chronic masturbator ) , he spent his life battling alcohol consumption , fake medicine , gambling , women 's suffrage , and sexually explicit material — using the power of the post office to carry out his agenda .
In 1873 , he persuaded Congress to pass the Comstock Act , which defined contraceptives as “ obscene and illicit ” and made it a federal offense to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ across state lines .
Comstock took his task , which included the suppression of pornography , fanatically .
According to one history , `` within a year of the Comstock law ’ s enactment , he made 55 arrests under the new law , and he had a scar on his face from an encounter with a knife-wielding pornographer in Newark , New Jersey , whom he still managed to subdue . ''
He also attempted to use his power over the mail to stifle reproductive freedom .
Near the end of his @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Margaret Sanger to flee to Canada over violations of the Comstock law , which was not overturned until the 1960s in a pair of Supreme Court cases .
Only two years after the second of those rulings , the head of the post office was removed from the presidential cabinet , and the system reorganized into the United States Postal Service , which from then on would be expected to make a profit , unlike any other arm of the government .
From there it 's just a hop and a jump to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a touch overstated to put , as a Salon headline did , that `` neoliberalism is crushing your mailman , '' but the post office was on the leading edge of the wave of government privatization .
And that 's proved a difficult task , not only because of competition from Amazon , UPS , and electronic communications , but also because of a 2006 law in which Congress mandated that USPS pay in advance for future retirement benefits .
The system has not turned a profit since then .
`` Government has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Henkin .
`` When one of the two parties is railing against every public function that isn ’ t related to crime or national security , you can see how the post office could become a partisan symbol , notwithstanding its long association with the commons . ''
It 's that retreat from the commons that Democrats have charged is at the heart of Postmaster General Louis DeJoy 's changes at the agency .
Former president Barack Obama called them an attempt to `` kneecap '' the postal service to lower voting rates @ @ @ @ @ @ @ executive who retains a seat on the board of XPO Logistics , a USPS contractor , and has a multimillion-dollar stake in the firm .
He is said to have been easily convinced to have taken the job as postmaster general , vowing to run the organization like a business .
So when DeJoy testifies in front of the House Oversight Committee on Aug. 24 , he wo n't be doing it as a business executive , but as a politician running a political agency .

On July 26, 1775, the Second Continental Congress appointed Benjamin Franklin as postmaster general. He had some experience, having previously been named postmaster of Philadelphia in 1737 and joint postmaster of the colonies in 1753. At the time, the post office's job was not so much delivering personal letters, but rather information in the form of newspapers. And Franklin mandated that it be a neutral carrier, requiring local postmasters to deliver all of them, regardless of their politics. In 1774, the British government dismissed him, correctly fearing that he would be too sympathetic to the brewing rebellion.
After the revolution, said Henkin, the post office was intended to continue to function as that kind of information clearinghouse, allowing a diffuse population of white landholders access to information: "The post office was really set up as a news broadcast service in the 1790s. They envisioned a dispersed nation where people could still participate."
In 1835, abolitionists tested the post office's neutrality — and found that its practice fell far short of its legal mandate. That year, in what has been called "America's first direct-mail campaign," the American Anti-Slavery Society, led by William Lloyd Garrison, mailed thousands of copies of their newspapers and magazines to white people in the South, hoping to build support for emancipation.
Drawing on what was then the height of technology — the steam-powered printing presses — they sent what one estimate put at 175,000 separate pieces of mail, roughly equal to the entire output of Southern periodicals during the same time, to 20,000 Southerners.
The campaign provoked a backlash, most notably in Charleston, where the postmaster, a federal employee, was legally bound to distribute the mail. But a South Carolina law required him to turn over material that might incite a rebellion by enslaved people. According to the historian W. Sherman Savage, the penalties for Black people caught with the newspapers would be severe: a $1,000 fine for the first offense, 50 lashes for the second, and for the third, death.
And the backlash from the white power structure was equally severe.
"On Wednesday, July 29, 1835, at some point between 10:00 and 11:00 P.M., a small group of men broke into the post office in Charleston, South Carolina, by forcing open a window with a crowbar," wrote the historian Richard R. John. "The intruders belonged to a Charleston vigilante society known as the 'Lynch Men,' and the purpose of their assault was to destroy the bundle of several thousand abolitionist periodicals that the steamboat Columbia had brought to the Charleston post office earlier that day."
On Thursday night, the Lynch Men burned those newspapers and magazines in a bonfire that "was watched by a loud and enthusiastic crowd of 2,000, roughly one-seventh of the entire white population of the city," John wrote, on the parade grounds next to the state's military college, the Citadel.
Deepening the crisis, the New York postmaster declared himself bound by South Carolina's laws, refusing to distribute the abolitionist mail. His legal grounds were weak, but he later said he felt vindicated because Garrison and his allies never sued him.
That solution satisfied Postmaster General Amos Kendall, who informed both postmasters to ignore federal law: "We owe an obligation to the law but a higher one to the communities in which we live and if the former be prevented to destroy the latter, it is patriotism to disregard them," he wrote to the Charleston postmaster.
While that informal censorship of abolitionism continued until the Civil War, it was never enshrined in law — quite the opposite: Congress debated changing the law to either outlaw mailing abolitionist publications or to reinforce states' rights to prevent them from circulation. But Congress did neither, instead passing a bill — that President Jackson signed into law — that reaffirmed that the mail should circulate without impediment, a commitment as honored in the breach as observed.


buzzfeed--2020-08-18--Cardi B Encouraged AOC To Run For President, And She Responded With Her Own Definition Of "WAP"

`` In other words , I got a bag and fixed my teeth .
EXCEPT YOU SHOULD N'T NEED A @ @ @ @ @ , GET INSULIN , GET HEALTHCARE , '' she wrote .

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buzzfeed--2020-08-17--Why John Kasich, A Lifelong Republican, Is Helping Launch Joe Biden’s Democratic Party

The former Republican presidential candidate will be featured at this week ’ s Democratic National Convention .
He sees his inclusion as a testament to Biden ’ s vision .
John Kasich spent decades trying to shape and reshape his beloved Republican Party .
Now the former Ohio governor — an unrelenting critic of President Donald Trump — is offering his services to Democrats , who will use them this week to make the case for Joe Biden .
Kasich will be featured in primetime during the opening night of the Democratic National Convention on Monday .
When word of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ t lost on faithful Democrats that a onetime tea party conservative and Fox News host had scored one of the precious few speaking assignments during an event that has been scaled down heavily for television because of the coronavirus pandemic .
`` Maybe , ” one veteran Democratic operative who has experience in Ohio reacted upon hearing the news , “ we shouldn ’ t have guys who tried to break unions and put gag orders on rape crisis counselors speak at our convention ? ''
In an interview , Kasich told @ @ @ @ @ @ @ approached him to speak — an assertion Biden ’ s presidential campaign did not dispute .
“ This was not something that I instigated , ” Kasich said by phone last week .
“ And when they came and asked , ‘ Do you want to do it ?
’ I had to think about it , right ?
I had to think about it .
And it 's not like I 'm gon na be turning around .
I ’ m a Republican .
But I just think that at this point @ @ @ @ @ @ @ outweighed by my concern about the direction of the country.
” Kasich ’ s welcome endorsement and the overall programming of the convention say a lot about Biden ’ s vision for the Democratic Party he now leads .
Viewers may get a minute of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez , the young New York lawmaker who excites progressives , but they ’ ll also hear from John Kerry , an elder of the establishment .
And Kasich is sharing a night with Sen. Bernie Sanders — a democratic socialist and the runner-up for this @ @ @ @ @ @ @ scheduling move intended to demonstrate Biden ’ s ideology-spanning support .
“ I think both parties have to have new ideas , and I think this country is moderate , ” said Kasich , winding up to a gentle criticism of Ocasio-Cortez .
“ People on the extreme , whether they 're on the left or on the right , they get outsized publicity that tends to define their party .
You know , I listen to people all the time make these statements , and because AOC gets outsized publicity does n't @ @ @ @ @ @ @ She 's just a part , just some member of it .
And it 's on both sides , whether it 's the Republicans or whether it 's the Democrats.
” Kasich ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016 as a pragmatic conservative , the kind of leader who balanced budgets in Congress , expanded Medicaid as governor , and won overwhelmingly Democratic counties during his 2014 reelection campaign .
His message was drowned out by Trump ’ s far-right populism and appeal to tribalism .
Biden ran as a pragmatic progressive @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was criticized for emphasizing his bipartisan sensibilities .
His message , though , prevailed .
Many Democrats remember a more right-wing Kasich .
He chaired the House Budget Committee during the Gingrich Revolution of the 1990s , and even some of his bipartisan milestones of that era — welfare overhaul , for example — aged poorly .
( Biden has experienced a similar dynamic with the crime bills that he championed as a senator . )
After he left Congress in 2000 , following his first unsuccessful presidential run , Kasich had his @ @ @ @ @ @ @ filled in for Bill O ’ Reilly .
He worked for Lehman Brothers ahead of the 2008 banking meltdown .
And when he ran for governor in Ohio in 2010 , he did so as a tea party warrior .
His first major act stripped public employees of their collective bargaining power — a measure that voters overturned at the ballot box by a margin embarrassing to Kasich .
Even so , Republicans gave Kasich a primetime slot at their 2012 convention , featuring him along with a crop of other governors who @ @ @ @ @ @ @ future of the party .
After Mitt Romney lost to Barack Obama that year , Kasich was among the Republicans who internalized the concerns that the party had become too mean and too doctrinaire .
As he prepared for a reelection bid that he and his close advisers saw as a catapult for a 2016 presidential campaign , he pushed for Medicaid expansion ( under the Obama healthcare program he and other Republicans had strenuously opposed ) and suggested a fracking tax .
“ You know , I have a right to lead @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 2014 , when asked about his political shift .
“ I have a right to shape what conservative philosophy means .
You know , I have a right to move forward with programs that I think maybe in the short term may not be that popular but in the long term may yield an awful lot of good .
Why not ?
Why would I not do that ?
” Known for being brusque , Kasich branded himself anew as “ the prince of light and hope ” during the 2016 primaries — @ @ @ @ @ @ @ politics of antagonism , fear , and grievance .
He lasted longer in the race than most expected , serving to the end as a contrast to what his party was becoming .
He refused to appear at Trump ’ s coronation that summer in Cleveland , even though as governor he had lobbied hard for Ohio to host the convention .
Had most Republicans not so completely and uncompromisingly aligned themselves with Trump , Kasich might have challenged him in 2020 .
He kept his team intact , wrote books and op-eds @ @ @ @ @ @ @ made several trips to New Hampshire , the first primary state .
But the party stitched things up early for the incumbent .
The Republican National Committee voted to scrap primary debates , and several state parties went as far as canceling their primaries .
The few Republicans who did try to challenge Trump earned some media attention but failed to gain any traction .
Kasich was left , as he was four years ago , as a man without a party .
“ There 's no mystery here , but people should @ @ @ @ @ @ @ what it means , ” Kasich said last week about his invitation to be a prominent part of this year ’ s Democratic convention .
“ I do n't care if people agree or disagree with my speaking there .
Whatever .
We ’ ve got to settle things down .
We 're not in two warring camps , Republicans and Democrats.
” Anger about Kasich ’ s involvement in the convention persists , though — especially among progressives on social media or pro-Trump conservatives who see it as the latest in a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ released Sunday by CBS found that just 38 % of Democrats would like to hear from Kasich at the convention , compared to 63 % who said the same of Ocasio-Cortez .
You can also count on Kasich ’ s name being invoked when someone is upset about their favorite Democrats being left off the prime time schedule or with limited speaking time .
But party leaders believe Kasich can help reach independents and moderate Republicans .
“ I won ’ t get into the convention speakers lineup , ” said David Pepper @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who sidestepped a question about Kasich ’ s role specifically .
“ To have a high-profile Republican saying , ‘ vote Biden , not Trump ’ — I think those voices do matter.
” Sen. Sherrod Brown , another Democrat from Kasich ’ s state , was more generous .
“ Kasich is an example of a Republican with some spine , ” Brown told BuzzFeed News in a telephone interview .
“ I hope that other Republicans follow his principled leadership.
” Nancy Patton Mills , the Democratic chair in Pennsylvania , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Pittsburgh area .
( Kasich in 2016 constantly introduced himself as the “ son of a mailman , ” a tidbit that might have new relevance at a time when Trump is undermining the United States Postal Service during a pandemic election that ’ s expected to see a surge in mail-in ballots . )
“ Hillary Clinton did not perform well in the red counties around Pittsburgh and southwestern Pennsylvania , ” Mills said .
“ So when Kasich says that he is going to support Biden , some people of course @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , but it 's kind of important here because Kasich 's from a suburb of Pittsburgh and thousands of people remember him.
” What comes next for Kasich is an open question .
He lost control of the Ohio Republican Party in early 2017 , his closest allies pushed out of power in favor of operatives willing to disavow the governor and pledge loyalty to Trump .
Later that year , Kasich joined Biden for a forum on civility at the University of Delaware .
The way Kasich saw it , a mutual @ @ @ @ @ @ @ there were things we agreed upon , things we did n't agree upon , but it was very , very pleasant , ” Kasich recalled .
“ And so I believe that he 's the kind of person that will , you know , he 's gon na be able to let other people have a say .
I do n't think he 's gon na just bully people.
” Kasich describes his alliance with Biden and the Democrats as a “ team of rivals ” — a phrase borrowed from the historian @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Abraham Lincoln ’ s Cabinet .
Kasich acknowledged that his convention speech , which he prerecorded from Westerville , Ohio , will raise speculation that he might be in line for a post in Biden ’ s Cabinet .
“ People say , ‘ Well , he must have been promised something or he must have received something.
’ I have n't been promised anything , nor have I received anything , ” he said .
“ I 'd be more than glad to advise , but I 'm not going back to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Could you imagine my being Secretary of Commerce ?
I mean , I would n't survive .
I 'll try to keep my voice out there .
And look , you know , we 'll just see how it goes .
Let 's just see how it goes .
”

John Kasich spent decades trying to shape and reshape his beloved Republican Party.
Now the former Ohio governor — an unrelenting critic of President Donald Trump — is offering his services to Democrats, who will use them this week to make the case for Joe Biden.
Kasich will be featured in primetime during the opening night of the Democratic National Convention on Monday. When word of his appearance first spread, it wasn’t lost on faithful Democrats that a onetime tea party conservative and Fox News host had scored one of the precious few speaking assignments during an event that has been scaled down heavily for television because of the coronavirus pandemic. "Maybe,” one veteran Democratic operative who has experience in Ohio reacted upon hearing the news, “we shouldn’t have guys who tried to break unions and put gag orders on rape crisis counselors speak at our convention?"
In an interview, Kasich told BuzzFeed News that it was Democrats who approached him to speak — an assertion Biden’s presidential campaign did not dispute.
“This was not something that I instigated,” Kasich said by phone last week. “And when they came and asked, ‘Do you want to do it?’ I had to think about it, right? I had to think about it. And it's not like I'm gonna be turning around. I’m a Republican. But I just think that at this point in time, my Republican affiliation is outweighed by my concern about the direction of the country.”
Kasich’s welcome endorsement and the overall programming of the convention say a lot about Biden’s vision for the Democratic Party he now leads. Viewers may get a minute of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the young New York lawmaker who excites progressives, but they’ll also hear from John Kerry, an elder of the establishment. And Kasich is sharing a night with Sen. Bernie Sanders — a democratic socialist and the runner-up for this year’s nomination — in a scheduling move intended to demonstrate Biden’s ideology-spanning support.
“I think both parties have to have new ideas, and I think this country is moderate,” said Kasich, winding up to a gentle criticism of Ocasio-Cortez. “People on the extreme, whether they're on the left or on the right, they get outsized publicity that tends to define their party. You know, I listen to people all the time make these statements, and because AOC gets outsized publicity doesn't mean she represents the Democratic Party. She's just a part, just some member of it. And it's on both sides, whether it's the Republicans or whether it's the Democrats.”
Kasich ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016 as a pragmatic conservative, the kind of leader who balanced budgets in Congress, expanded Medicaid as governor, and won overwhelmingly Democratic counties during his 2014 reelection campaign. His message was drowned out by Trump’s far-right populism and appeal to tribalism. Biden ran as a pragmatic progressive in this year’s primaries and was criticized for emphasizing his bipartisan sensibilities. His message, though, prevailed.
Many Democrats remember a more right-wing Kasich. He chaired the House Budget Committee during the Gingrich Revolution of the 1990s, and even some of his bipartisan milestones of that era — welfare overhaul, for example — aged poorly. (Biden has experienced a similar dynamic with the crime bills that he championed as a senator.) After he left Congress in 2000, following his first unsuccessful presidential run, Kasich had his own show on Fox News and occasionally filled in for Bill O’Reilly. He worked for Lehman Brothers ahead of the 2008 banking meltdown. And when he ran for governor in Ohio in 2010, he did so as a tea party warrior. His first major act stripped public employees of their collective bargaining power — a measure that voters overturned at the ballot box by a margin embarrassing to Kasich.