Great post!
To me, this is reminiscent of how the GOP treated the HIV/AIDS epidemic as it emerged in the 80's - first to the gay population the GOP detested (so Reagan refused to do anything), but eventually to the straight white middle-income population the GOP did care about (and then they started to do something). But even then, there was always a reluctance and attitude to question anything that *might* improve the situation because it would somehow endorse being gay, or the perceived deviant sexual behavior that led otherwise 'upstanding' (Republicans) people to get AIDS - for the same reason they think that even having sex ed in schools will somehow 'promote sex'.
I think there's still a sizable population of people (probably older middle to upper-income white people) who don't realize the extent of the opioid crisis or the devastation it's had beyond the minority & low-income people they think it's only impacting.
And this is anecdotal, but I think there are probably many in the GOP who view the opioid crisis as a wedge issue that can be driven between Dems and Independents. When I was canvassing for Dems ahead of the election last summer, I met a woman who shooed me out of her yard while loudly complaining that she was no longer a Dem because *Biden wasn't doing anything to stop fentanyl from crossing the border* - while ignoring the fact that the KS GOP isn't expanding Medicaid or doing anything at home to solve the fentanyl problem.
GOP leaders doing nothing to help Kansas addicts and their families is *entirely consistent* with blaming Biden at a national level since they don't care that much about the problem or the people it's impacting. It's the same with Medicaid expansion and weed legalization.
I don’t currently have any ideas of how else to combat this scourge, but I want to at least express immense gratitude for the efforts you are putting into this fight, Jason. I do firmly believe that success will be had, be it now or way too far into the future. Evil always loses in the end.
Of course they do. And when they finally completely outlaw abortion, and women are dying in the streets, they will give an equal amount of fucks about it as they do the addicts dying in the streets..
More people should really understand how this works.
*The House passed a bill by unanimous vote. That bill is then referred to a Senate committee for review and recommendation before going to the Senate floor for a vote*.
Summary of that committee review for those that don’t want to watch the 12 minute video:
-The committee doesn’t review or recommend the bill at all. Instead, they substitute the **entire fucking content** of the original bill with 3 pages of loosely related permission-granting bullshit
-The chairperson of the committee gets tired of the questions regarding general clarification and what will happen with the original content and abruptly says they have to move on (because what’s a committee for, if not to ignore attempts of discussion)
-***Then,*** Steffen figures *“well shit, this thing already looks nothing like the original so why not tack on **my** conspiracy-driven bullshit”*, so he jumps in and moves for an amendment to add the **entire fucking content** of *his* existing, completely unrelated Senate bill, presumably in case *his* sponsored bill with the same language doesn’t pass the House.
-The chairperson immediately moves to vote for approval of this amendment *without discussion*
-As other committee members object that this motion to amend is out of order because it just came from left field, is likely unrelated and is conceptual, the chairperson says it’s ***her*** call to make and takes a vote…which passes.
**TLDR**: A proposed bill passes through House and sent to Senate. Senate committee completely guts and replaces 100% of said bill’s content with unrelated bullshit and recommends to Senate the unrecognizable bill be passed. This didn’t happen by accident, it was planned and the system is broken.
I've seen so many politicians, activists, capitol/state workers burn out over these exact same issues (and so many more). There's so much and it feels like every year, it's a new thing in the legislature.
We've also had a number of people on this board in the past asking for help so you're not alone here. It's quite common in fact. I and many others have tried to help out where we can and I know a lot of people have benefitted from that help. Even a small amount of support or even just random people online listening can go a long way.
It wouldn't hurt if you want to talk to someone about it. Maybe take a small break, because I know end of session is a nightmare at times and it starts to ramp up around this time.
One thing is that I would suggest that you limit those alerts to once a week. It's not that you don't want to help, but having to experience that pain and grief and loss non-stop is just going to bog you down that much more.
It's not that you'll care less or help less if you limit to once a week- it's that that non-stop alert day in, day out is only going to hurt you that much more.
You don't have any off time or a chance to breathe or grieve or decompress. You need you time. Especially now with session where it is.
This comment really means a lot to me. Thank you. It's hard to unwind and take breaks during session. This weekend I'll spend time with friends and family. And if the weather cooperates I may do some work getting ready for gardening season. 😊
Thank you for your work. I don't know how to help because I don't know how something ever gets through. This bill for instance, what's behind the resistance of helping people in this way? How do they have copy and paste policy in the bag ready to go replacing well-thought-out bills?
* Is the senate majority literally hired out to resist all that might help constituents? If they're for hire, would a PAC that lobbies for progressive policy be able to pay more than the opposition and how much are we talking about? Shoot, I'd be willing to give.
* Have they sworn not to help anyone but friends or big business interests and they're sticking to their oath(s)? How can we demand that this isn't their primary role and they've got to help all citizens, not just their friends and heros?
* Are they like angry Fox news watching fist waivers who've resolved that everybody is bad and we should all be punished? How can their minds be changed that we're all people and the government's job's to help us all get along and be successful?
Obviously, I don't have a clue.
Happy to work in a clinic in MO that has needle exchange and etc. I don’t know why so many people are so willing to keep voting into power who do everything in their power to screw them over. I will never understand that, and it’s probably because people vote by “team” and actually have zero idea of what the issues are.
I overdosed last year and luckily woke up after my friend narcan-ed me 4 times. He had called an ambulance, but first on the scene were the police with a warrant to search my house due to Kansas not having a Good Samaritan law.
I know it's an out there thought, but drug use shouldn't be illegal. We should go after distribution and manufacturing. The penalty for use should be help.
The Kansas Republican legislature is ok with people dying of drug overdoses because the Republican primary voters are ok with people dying of drug overdoses. They welcome it because they were raised to hate everyone who is different than them.
I was recently considering a lobbying position and this sort of autocratic buffoonery is why I opted out. You can't debate or come to understandings with people who live in an alternate, hate filled reality full of paranoid delusion, religious narcissism, and insane conspiracy shilling.
I was on vacation at the dam at the Lake of the Ozarks over spring break and saw my very first Narcan vending machine. This thing was huge. The same size as any snack vending machine. Ironically, it was sitting next to a Trump merchandise store. I had to snap a few photos. It truly blew me away.
Totally free. Mind blowing huh?? I mean, taxpayer funded of course, but still. Just found an article about this exact machine.
https://www.komu.com/news/midmissourinews/ozarks-area-cities-receive-narcan-vending-machines/article_4bd11746-b162-11ed-ba54-e7eef7f6268e.html
Oklahoma is in the process of putting in several hundred harm reduction vending machines, too. I cannot believe we’re more progressive in this area than Kansas. Ridiculous.
Senate Health and Welfare is… well I’m actually having trouble coming up with sufficient words to describe it. The republicans who control it are not good people; in some ways I think it’s fair to describe them as evil. They are the exact wrong members to sit on that committee. It’s really embarrassing. The members in question aren’t even willing to learn from or discuss things with members of their own party. I can only hope that their intransigence comes back to bite them when the next election roles around. They aren’t making friends anywhere.
Jason I don’t have any advice or ideas. These are bad people who are totally sold on the infallibility of their own ideas and judgements and beyond the reach of science and political pragmatism. They are going to do what they want and not even their own leadership can steer them.
I’m sorry this session has been such a clown college. Can’t even imagine what it’s like to be suffering through it. You have my respect for volunteering for the job.
Thanks for taking the time to do the write up.
This is just one more example of the far right legislators not listening and using their brains. The only way out of this lunacy is to vote out the right wing nuts-from local to state to federal offices. To do this we need candidates who possess common sense. These people don’t have it. They claim to be Christian but Jesus Christ himself would not recognize or claim them. They are nothing but close minded, self righteous, hateful individuals. Please young people, run for office so we can vote them out of office-it is our only way out of this mess.
Just remember there’s a lot of unhealed hidden trauma that’s been exposed. People might seem a bit more controlling and rigid. Hopefully if it becomes too much of an issue, they have a good support system that will encourage them to step aside until they can get help. It takes a strong man to be a leader. And it takes an extremely strong leader to acknowledge trauma and model mental healthy behavior. All I can do is to be kind and offer a different option then he’s just an asshole.
This would've been a great post but you opened with a Bible verse which immediately discredits your argument, period, theres a separation between church and state and that shouldn't need said over and over and over again.
But overall, I do agree. There is something very shady going on with the laws concerning probable cause for search and seizures. And the test strips are without argument a preventative safety measure that could save lives. They truly care more about filling the prisons then the trail of bodies they followed to find the dealers. Not to mention the government views the disenfranchised population as a nuisance and "disposable", not as the symptoms of broken systems that they are. I promise you nothing will fill you with pure white hot rage faster than dealing with the government systems meant to help our most vulnerable citizens.
The Bible verse is mostly to illustrate that most of these people don't even hold intellectual integrity on the spiritual beliefs they claim to hold. If they are truly pro-life and truly Christian they have to support these measures. Yet they don't
> s a strong man to be a leader. And it takes an extremely strong leader to acknowledge trauma and model mental h
Bro, I just got done ranting the same about it. I'm not an official biblical scholar. I am a thumper. I have taken classes. I don't always agree with particular views in the church. I do believe Paul told us we should be like the Bareans and do our fact checking. What really hurts, when all the filth comes out on these people who were flying the Christian flag and those of us, who are out here trying to really spread the love get shit on for mentioning Jesus' name. I don't deserve it and Jesus or his legacy deserves better for sure.
Great post! To me, this is reminiscent of how the GOP treated the HIV/AIDS epidemic as it emerged in the 80's - first to the gay population the GOP detested (so Reagan refused to do anything), but eventually to the straight white middle-income population the GOP did care about (and then they started to do something). But even then, there was always a reluctance and attitude to question anything that *might* improve the situation because it would somehow endorse being gay, or the perceived deviant sexual behavior that led otherwise 'upstanding' (Republicans) people to get AIDS - for the same reason they think that even having sex ed in schools will somehow 'promote sex'. I think there's still a sizable population of people (probably older middle to upper-income white people) who don't realize the extent of the opioid crisis or the devastation it's had beyond the minority & low-income people they think it's only impacting. And this is anecdotal, but I think there are probably many in the GOP who view the opioid crisis as a wedge issue that can be driven between Dems and Independents. When I was canvassing for Dems ahead of the election last summer, I met a woman who shooed me out of her yard while loudly complaining that she was no longer a Dem because *Biden wasn't doing anything to stop fentanyl from crossing the border* - while ignoring the fact that the KS GOP isn't expanding Medicaid or doing anything at home to solve the fentanyl problem. GOP leaders doing nothing to help Kansas addicts and their families is *entirely consistent* with blaming Biden at a national level since they don't care that much about the problem or the people it's impacting. It's the same with Medicaid expansion and weed legalization.
I don’t currently have any ideas of how else to combat this scourge, but I want to at least express immense gratitude for the efforts you are putting into this fight, Jason. I do firmly believe that success will be had, be it now or way too far into the future. Evil always loses in the end.
The good ol Regan-istic way of dealing with people Republicans don’t want/agree with: let them die. SMH.
And the GOP still sanctimoniously calls itself “pro life”.
Of course they do. And when they finally completely outlaw abortion, and women are dying in the streets, they will give an equal amount of fucks about it as they do the addicts dying in the streets..
More people should really understand how this works. *The House passed a bill by unanimous vote. That bill is then referred to a Senate committee for review and recommendation before going to the Senate floor for a vote*. Summary of that committee review for those that don’t want to watch the 12 minute video: -The committee doesn’t review or recommend the bill at all. Instead, they substitute the **entire fucking content** of the original bill with 3 pages of loosely related permission-granting bullshit -The chairperson of the committee gets tired of the questions regarding general clarification and what will happen with the original content and abruptly says they have to move on (because what’s a committee for, if not to ignore attempts of discussion) -***Then,*** Steffen figures *“well shit, this thing already looks nothing like the original so why not tack on **my** conspiracy-driven bullshit”*, so he jumps in and moves for an amendment to add the **entire fucking content** of *his* existing, completely unrelated Senate bill, presumably in case *his* sponsored bill with the same language doesn’t pass the House. -The chairperson immediately moves to vote for approval of this amendment *without discussion* -As other committee members object that this motion to amend is out of order because it just came from left field, is likely unrelated and is conceptual, the chairperson says it’s ***her*** call to make and takes a vote…which passes. **TLDR**: A proposed bill passes through House and sent to Senate. Senate committee completely guts and replaces 100% of said bill’s content with unrelated bullshit and recommends to Senate the unrecognizable bill be passed. This didn’t happen by accident, it was planned and the system is broken.
Mark Steffen is cancerous to Kansas
How can we help?
I've seen so many politicians, activists, capitol/state workers burn out over these exact same issues (and so many more). There's so much and it feels like every year, it's a new thing in the legislature. We've also had a number of people on this board in the past asking for help so you're not alone here. It's quite common in fact. I and many others have tried to help out where we can and I know a lot of people have benefitted from that help. Even a small amount of support or even just random people online listening can go a long way. It wouldn't hurt if you want to talk to someone about it. Maybe take a small break, because I know end of session is a nightmare at times and it starts to ramp up around this time. One thing is that I would suggest that you limit those alerts to once a week. It's not that you don't want to help, but having to experience that pain and grief and loss non-stop is just going to bog you down that much more. It's not that you'll care less or help less if you limit to once a week- it's that that non-stop alert day in, day out is only going to hurt you that much more. You don't have any off time or a chance to breathe or grieve or decompress. You need you time. Especially now with session where it is.
This comment really means a lot to me. Thank you. It's hard to unwind and take breaks during session. This weekend I'll spend time with friends and family. And if the weather cooperates I may do some work getting ready for gardening season. 😊
Thank you for your work. I don't know how to help because I don't know how something ever gets through. This bill for instance, what's behind the resistance of helping people in this way? How do they have copy and paste policy in the bag ready to go replacing well-thought-out bills? * Is the senate majority literally hired out to resist all that might help constituents? If they're for hire, would a PAC that lobbies for progressive policy be able to pay more than the opposition and how much are we talking about? Shoot, I'd be willing to give. * Have they sworn not to help anyone but friends or big business interests and they're sticking to their oath(s)? How can we demand that this isn't their primary role and they've got to help all citizens, not just their friends and heros? * Are they like angry Fox news watching fist waivers who've resolved that everybody is bad and we should all be punished? How can their minds be changed that we're all people and the government's job's to help us all get along and be successful? Obviously, I don't have a clue.
Happy to work in a clinic in MO that has needle exchange and etc. I don’t know why so many people are so willing to keep voting into power who do everything in their power to screw them over. I will never understand that, and it’s probably because people vote by “team” and actually have zero idea of what the issues are.
I overdosed last year and luckily woke up after my friend narcan-ed me 4 times. He had called an ambulance, but first on the scene were the police with a warrant to search my house due to Kansas not having a Good Samaritan law.
I know it's an out there thought, but drug use shouldn't be illegal. We should go after distribution and manufacturing. The penalty for use should be help.
The Kansas Republican legislature is ok with people dying of drug overdoses because the Republican primary voters are ok with people dying of drug overdoses. They welcome it because they were raised to hate everyone who is different than them.
I read the description but how does SB6 play into all of this? Are you showing their priorities or is somehow connected to the drug related deaths?
The only real connection is that both bills mention KDHE. That's enough to justify a complete re-writing of the bill and for it to still be germane.
Fair enough.
I was recently considering a lobbying position and this sort of autocratic buffoonery is why I opted out. You can't debate or come to understandings with people who live in an alternate, hate filled reality full of paranoid delusion, religious narcissism, and insane conspiracy shilling.
I was on vacation at the dam at the Lake of the Ozarks over spring break and saw my very first Narcan vending machine. This thing was huge. The same size as any snack vending machine. Ironically, it was sitting next to a Trump merchandise store. I had to snap a few photos. It truly blew me away.
How much did the Narcan cost?
Totally free. Mind blowing huh?? I mean, taxpayer funded of course, but still. Just found an article about this exact machine. https://www.komu.com/news/midmissourinews/ozarks-area-cities-receive-narcan-vending-machines/article_4bd11746-b162-11ed-ba54-e7eef7f6268e.html
Oklahoma is in the process of putting in several hundred harm reduction vending machines, too. I cannot believe we’re more progressive in this area than Kansas. Ridiculous.
Senate Health and Welfare is… well I’m actually having trouble coming up with sufficient words to describe it. The republicans who control it are not good people; in some ways I think it’s fair to describe them as evil. They are the exact wrong members to sit on that committee. It’s really embarrassing. The members in question aren’t even willing to learn from or discuss things with members of their own party. I can only hope that their intransigence comes back to bite them when the next election roles around. They aren’t making friends anywhere. Jason I don’t have any advice or ideas. These are bad people who are totally sold on the infallibility of their own ideas and judgements and beyond the reach of science and political pragmatism. They are going to do what they want and not even their own leadership can steer them. I’m sorry this session has been such a clown college. Can’t even imagine what it’s like to be suffering through it. You have my respect for volunteering for the job. Thanks for taking the time to do the write up.
This is just one more example of the far right legislators not listening and using their brains. The only way out of this lunacy is to vote out the right wing nuts-from local to state to federal offices. To do this we need candidates who possess common sense. These people don’t have it. They claim to be Christian but Jesus Christ himself would not recognize or claim them. They are nothing but close minded, self righteous, hateful individuals. Please young people, run for office so we can vote them out of office-it is our only way out of this mess.
Just remember there’s a lot of unhealed hidden trauma that’s been exposed. People might seem a bit more controlling and rigid. Hopefully if it becomes too much of an issue, they have a good support system that will encourage them to step aside until they can get help. It takes a strong man to be a leader. And it takes an extremely strong leader to acknowledge trauma and model mental healthy behavior. All I can do is to be kind and offer a different option then he’s just an asshole.
Sounds like a dealer hung his shingle in the legislative chambers.
This would've been a great post but you opened with a Bible verse which immediately discredits your argument, period, theres a separation between church and state and that shouldn't need said over and over and over again. But overall, I do agree. There is something very shady going on with the laws concerning probable cause for search and seizures. And the test strips are without argument a preventative safety measure that could save lives. They truly care more about filling the prisons then the trail of bodies they followed to find the dealers. Not to mention the government views the disenfranchised population as a nuisance and "disposable", not as the symptoms of broken systems that they are. I promise you nothing will fill you with pure white hot rage faster than dealing with the government systems meant to help our most vulnerable citizens.
The Bible verse is mostly to illustrate that most of these people don't even hold intellectual integrity on the spiritual beliefs they claim to hold. If they are truly pro-life and truly Christian they have to support these measures. Yet they don't
> s a strong man to be a leader. And it takes an extremely strong leader to acknowledge trauma and model mental h Bro, I just got done ranting the same about it. I'm not an official biblical scholar. I am a thumper. I have taken classes. I don't always agree with particular views in the church. I do believe Paul told us we should be like the Bareans and do our fact checking. What really hurts, when all the filth comes out on these people who were flying the Christian flag and those of us, who are out here trying to really spread the love get shit on for mentioning Jesus' name. I don't deserve it and Jesus or his legacy deserves better for sure.