RUSH: Los Angeles teachers union, in exchange for going back to in-person classes, is demanding the defunding of police, Medicaid for all, and a ban on new charter schools. The LA teachers union has announced that before they’re gonna go back to in-person classes the police have to be defunded, there must be Medicare for All, and there must be a wealth tax on the rich to pay for at least $500 billion in additional aid to the schools. That is outright blackmail, and it’s never gonna happen.
New York Times — this is from a couple of days ago – “‘I Don’t Want to Go Back’: Many Teachers Are Fearful and Angry Over Pressure to Return — Many of the nation’s 3.5 million teachers found themselves feeling under siege this week as pressure from the White House, pediatricians and some parents to get back to physical classrooms intensified — even as the coronavirus rages across much of the country.”
All right. Then let’s do this. If you don’t want to go back to work, then you don’t get paid. Why should you get paid? Why should people’s tax dollars be used to pay you when you are not teaching anybody and when you don’t have the guts to go back to the classroom? I think almost all public schoolteachers have been paid as usual since all of this started, despite schools being shut down from day one. And I’m sure that good old desperation will magically solve some of these problems if they’re not being paid.
In fact, Kathryn and I were watching Fox News on Sunday night, Steve Hilton’s show, the next, the new, the greatest revolution, whatever it is. I guess he’s got a campaign that he started. He’s calling for education tax refunds to parents whose schools don’t reopen. Why should you pay for a service you are not getting? If your child’s school will not open in the fall, demand your money back so you can find an alternative.
The teachers are working very hard not to go to work. Some of them are. I know that the predisposition is to be grateful and thankful for teachers. I know that even I, El Rushbo, go back to the early nineties. I can remember talking about inspirational things, motivational things. And I remember saying to people that if you think back to a time in your life, there is probably somebody in your life that taught you, that showed you that you’re capable of more than you thought you were. Somebody was able to find a way to get more out of you than you thought you had. And I said the odds are it’s gonna be a teacher.
It’s gonna be a teacher you may not have even liked. But the odds are it’s going to be a teacher who inspired you somehow. And people called in and agreed, gave examples. I was able to give one. And I don’t know if this is still the case. You would hope that it is. But I thought Hilton’s idea was good. He said it’s time to use your power over this school fiasco. If your child’s school will not open this fall, then demand your tax dollars back so that you can find an alternative. It’s your child and your tax dollars. Why should you pay for a service you’re not getting? And it’s an eminently sensible question.
Now, is to whether or not it’s safe, grab audio sound bite number 1. Sunday night NBC Nightly News, Dr. John Torres spoke with a panel of doctors about how COVID-19 affects the children and if they should their kids go back to school in the fall. And we have a portion here of Dr. Torres’ report. And this just stunned everybody at NBC. There’s a bunch of people on this sound bite who are agreeing with premise, but here it is.
TORRES: NBC News reached out to five top pediatricians across the country, a random sampling of doctors to find out how just how dangerous the coronavirus is for kids. Our experts agree, most children don’t get as sick as adults and that serious complications are rare. The five doctors we spoke to agreed the benefits of being in the classroom far outweigh the risk of disease, but the key is to reopen safely. (on camera) “Would you let your kids go back to school?”
DR. SHEILA PATEL: (webcam) “I will. My kids are looking forward to it.”
DR. WILLIAM RASZKA: (webcam) “Yes, period, absolutely.”
DR. JENNIFER LIGHTER: (webcam) “Absolutely, as much as I can.”
(laughs)
TORRES: (webcam) “Without hesitation?”
LIGHTER: “Without a hesitation, yes.”
DR. BUDDY CREECH: (webcam) “I have no concerns about sending my child to school in the fall.”
DR. YVONNE MALDONADO: (webcam) “I would let my kids go back to school.”
RUSH: So here are the names of the doctors you heard there. Vanderbilt professor Dr. Buddy Creech. Pediatric infectious diseases physician Dr. Jennifer Lighter. University of Vermont Children’s Hospital director of pediatric infectious diseases, Dr. William Raszka. Stanford University professor Dr. Yvonne Maldonado and pediatrician Dr. Sheila Patel.
All five said, yep, sending my kids back. I’m looking forward to it, they’re looking forward to it. There’s no reason not to. The NBC people could not believe this. I’m surprised they aired it, but they could not believe it. In New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo is detailing guidance on the reopening of New York schools. He says, “We’re not gonna use our children as guinea pigs.” Never mind he was willing to use the seasoned citizens in New York as guinea pigs, 7,000 of them are late guinea pigs.
Cuomo said that schools will be allowed to reopen if the region is in phase 4 and the daily infectious rate stays below 5%. Well, guess what? New York City schools are not in phase 4, so they will not be able to reopen at this rate. On top of that, Cuomo is demanding the schools present him with their reopening plans by July 31st.
And a companion story in the New York Post. “New York City Sees 15 Shootings in 15-hour Span as Gun Violence Surge Continues.” Wait a minute. They painted the street. How can this happen? They went out and they painted Black Lives Matter right in front of Trump Tower. How in the world could these 15 shootings have happened? Painting that street in front of Trump Tower was supposed to stop all this, was it not?
Don’t give me that. These people believe in this symbolism over substance crap. How long did it take ’em to paint that stupid mural? Can you imagine if they’d spent just one half of that time trying to clean up some bad neighborhoods? What the hell are they doing painting a street in front of Trump Tower if nothing but to goad Trump who’s never there anyway?
And they’re being led by the mayor, Bill de Blasio painting Black Lives Matter all across Fifth Avenue in front of Trump Tower to embarrass Trump or some such thing. In the meantime, 15 shootings in 15 hours. If I had to guess I would say that most of the victims are black and most of the perps are black, which is very upsetting, ’cause de Blasio painted the street in front of Trump Tower last week and everybody should be happy now.
They should be happy Black Lives Matter is right in front of Trump Tower. Nobody should have been wanting to shoot anybody. How can this happen? Because Black Lives Matter. How can this happen? Remember when we renamed a bunch of streets Martin Luther King Boulevard, Martin Luther King Avenue, Martin Luther King Square, Martin Luther King Circle. Did that make anybody happy? Did it end up solving any problems?
“New York City’s plague of gun crime continued this weekend,” and they try to tell us that they can’t open the schools because the schools are too dangerous because of COVID-19? Meanwhile, reopening schools in Denmark did not worsen the outbreak, according to data. This story goes all the way back to May 28. The Washington Post admits that schools around the world have been able to reopen without any significant spread of the virus.
Reopened schools in Europe and Asia have largely avoided coronavirus outbreaks. Switzerland, Sweden, you name it, Denmark. But then they say, “Well, that’s different. The United States is much different.”
A study finds the Oklahoma Trump rally did not lead to the COVID spike in Oklahoma. The study conducted by the National Bureau of Economic Research analyzed Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data on coronavirus cases and the synthetic control design finding no evidence. This is the CDC. No evidence that COVID-19 case growth grew more rapidly in Tulsa County or in the state of Oklahoma than each’s estimated counterfactual in the weeks following the rally. In other words, it had no impact on the number of cases in nearby Tulsa or the state of Oklahoma.
We’ve talked about Scott Atlas, the Hoover institute think tank star and analyst. He keeps telling us that keeping schools closed is contrary to all the science, that this is something like out of a Kafka novel. He was on Fox last night. The question: “Nancy Pelosi says that if the kids go back in September that is the biggest risk to the spread of the virus.”
ATLAS: That’s just completely wrong and contrary to all the science. I’m not sure how many times it has to be said, but the risk to children from this disease for fatality is nearly zero. This is a level of hysteria, like this is something I feel like I’m living in a Kafka novel here. I mean, I get thousands of e-mails a week from all over the world, from professors, teachers, mothers in the United States and elsewhere, they are stunned that we are willing to just simply destroy our children out of some bizarre notion that is completely contrary to the science.
RUSH: Mr. Atlas, we are willing to destroy our children if doing that will destroy Donald Trump.
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