If you’re anything like me and most of the rest of the world, you keep up with the news on a regular basis. If you have a phone, are on social media, or own a TV, it’s hard to miss. So you may have seen a few headlines in regards to Trump’s new pick for healthcare advisor, Katy Talento.

At first glance, Katy Talento seems promising. She holds a Master’s in Science from Harvard University, and has spent a lot of time in the field in the US and Africa working on disease control programs. She volunteers at the Leadership Institute as a faculty member and previously worked as senate staff for Senator Thom Tillis and the Health, Education, Labors and Pensions Committee. She sounds like a ray of hope in the dreary days of Trump, right? Someone that may have a bit of common sense. Wrong.

However hopeful we may have been, this woman is just as nutty as the rest of them. Talento fought to have HIV/AIDS funding cut by millions because she is under the belief that the funds are being used to profit Russian prostitution rings. As far back as 2003, during her time on the Senate health committee, she was part of a group pushing to defund and blacklist more than 150 HIV/AIDS research grants; grants that were set to be used for anything ranging from educational programs to transmission rate studies among sex workers and IV drug users.

If passed, this would have shut off over $100 million in grant funds. This group claimed that the funds were being used to promote legalized prostitution and to print materials that would be distributed to schools, orphanages, and institutes to encourage young girls to pursue prostitution as a viable career choice.

This uproar forced Russian officials to spend months researching grants and funding, and produce tons of paperwork to disprove the bogus claim. The truth was that the grants were being used exactly the way they were supposed to be; funding educational programs, studying infection and transmission rates, and developing curriculum used to teach young people ways to avoid contracting the diseases.

The bill was blocked, but not without a serious shaking to the science community. They were left feeling as though their research, hard work, and dedication would be overshadowed by senseless investigations to push them into a right-winged agenda.

The scientific community are not the only toes that Talento has stepped on. She’s also ruffled the feathers of women’s healthcare groups by stating, on more than one occasion, that oral contraceptives cause abortions—even though this has been thoroughly research and has been found to be completely untrue. As if women as a whole aren’t already facing serious disturbances in their access to affordable and effective birth control, we now have to deal with a pro-life, right-winged health advisor that swears up and down that birth control kills babies. Not that they care at all what happens to that baby after you give birth to it. Don’t ask for healthcare, food, or assistance for that kid, because it’s not their problem. But you damn well better give birth to it anyway. But that’s another story for another day.

The fact of the matter is, the women’s healthcare community is up against enough as it is. We’re looking at losing basic rights to our own bodies and losing access to affordable basic care. The last thing we need is a woman pushing a right-wing agenda down our throats, because she doesn’t understand how science works.

If all of the above isn’t enough to make you shiver yet, this is the same woman who has pushed less than effective recommendations for avoiding the Zika virus. Zika is a mosquito borne virus that is transmitted through a mosquito bite or sexual contact with an infected individual. For a generally healthy adult it will cause flu-like symptoms, such as fever, headache, and joint pain, but is mostly harmless. However, if contracted by a pregnant woman, it poses a serious risk for birth defects in the unborn child, including microcephaly, severe brain defects, and an increased risk of Guillain-Barr Syndrome.

This past January, Talento published a list of recommendations to help avoid contracting the growing disease. A lot of her tips are standard, such as avoiding travel to high risk areas and using bug repellents. But she also suggested that women sleep with their husbands, with the woman snug tight under the blankets and the husband sleeping on top of the covers so that the infected mosquitos will hopefully go for the “easier target.”

Basically, you’re supposed to cocoon yourself under tons of blankets while your husband lies uncovered and offers himself up as some kind of human mosquito sacrifice. There’s no mention of what you’re supposed to do with your vulnerable, uncovered face (because you HAVE to breathe), what to do if you don’t have a husband to offer as a sacrifice, or the fact that Zika is sexually transmitted. She also doesn’t say what you’re supposed to do to avoid transmission once your husband has succumbed to the Zika mosquito gods.

Healthcare is in the middle of facing a serious shit-storm. Millions of people are facing the loss of their healthcare and access to life-saving treatments. A slew of ridiculous crap is about to be considered “pre-existing” conditions, and funding cuts are being proposed left and right. To say the least, a lot of people are already on edge. The very last thing we need is a healthcare advisor spouting inaccurate bullshit at every corner. Unfortunately, education doesn’t always fix stupid.

 

 

 

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Andrea is a freelance writer based out of Kentucky. She is the mother to a 3 year old little girl and step-mother to a 6 year old boy. She’s been married to her husband and best friend for 5 years. She enjoys fishing, camping, hiking and the occasional glass of wine by a bonfire.

Everyone knows that the south is pretty much synonymous with the Republican Party. Most folks south of the Mason Dixon are proud supporters of God, guns, and Donald Trump. Racism is still rampant, and LGBTQ rights are something no one wants to talk about. People hold tight to their rifles and their “freedom.”

The southern states have pretty much voted Republican since the late 1960’s, and virtually everywhere south of Indiana voted for Trump. The same Trump that’s determined to cut funding for everything from Medicaid and food stamps to Meals on Wheels. To say the least, southerners hold tight to their Republican beliefs. They holler and fuss about folks “working the system,” and bitch and moan about their tax dollars going to Medicaid. Yet, these are the same people that rely the most on assistance.

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I come from a small town in Kentucky, and in a lot of ways I fit the stereotype of a typical Kentuckian. I love to fish, camp, and ride through the mud on a 4-wheeler. I’m also a force to be reckoned with in an old, fast car. I like bonfires and love beer, and at least a quarter of my wardrobe is camo. I’m far more comfortable in coveralls and Muck boots than I’ll ever be in a pair of heels. I’m also a liberal.

I’ve never really had the urge to up and move away. The south is my home, and for many reasons I love it here. It’s beautiful and quiet and can be a great place to find peace. My family is here and you just can’t find this type of close-knit community in a big city. I live for a warm Kentucky summer. Saturday nights at the drag strip is where my heart belongs. I grew up like most kids around here. Surrounded by farms and taught the value of hard work.

I don’t have a big, spectacular story about how I came to be a liberal. No epiphany, no awe-inspiring moments, no sudden trauma that made me realize the error of my ways. I’ve always been like this. Even before I understood politics I knew that I wasn’t like most people around here. At 12 years old my opinions were starkly different than those around me.

For most of my childhood I was raised in the Baptist church. I would sit and listen to the conversations as the congregation would disperse and wonder what brought these people to think this way. I was often surprised at the hatefulness they harbored. I knew that I never wanted to be that way. It wasn’t even a decision for me; it was far simpler than that. The liberal way of life was the only thing that ever made sense to me. The rest is history.

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Generally speaking, we think of poor people as unhappy. Isn’t it natural that poverty coincides with a lesser quality of life? How can you be happy and lead a fulfilled life if you’re not even certain you can pay your rent this month?

The truth is, 14.5% of all Americans are living below the poverty level. I’m just not convinced that all 45 million of those people are living an unhappy life.

I have personally lived below the poverty level. And I did so with two children. We were BROKE. Not like, glamorously broke – where you have all your bills paid comfortably but you don’t have vacation money. I mean broke broke. Broke as in, we lived in Section 8 housing, drew food stamps and Medicaid, and still didn’t know how we were going to make it from month to month. It didn’t last forever. And we always did manage to make it somehow, but it was certainly one of the “lowest” points of my life.

Obviously, I worried a lot, and I can certainly say my stress level was much higher than it is now. But I wouldn’t say that I was ever truly unhappy. I knew this was a temporary moment in our lives, and I knew that we were working towards a better situation. It would take some time, but while my situation was less than ideal, there was always someone who had it worse. So, instead of being angry at the world for the crap cards I was handed, I was thankful for the things I did have and did what I could to improve things.

While we couldn’t afford a vacation or even a trip to the zoo at the time, I still made sure that my kiddos had the best quality of life I could give them. We couldn’t afford the expensive childrens museum a few towns over, but I still filled their days with fun and a touch of education. We would take walks to the park in town. Instead of going out and buying ice cream, we would make our own in my grandma’s old hand cranked machine. (They had more fun that way anyway.)

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The usual stereotype goes; if you live in the south, you’re a racist. If you happen to spend your days in a South Atlantic state, then it’s automatically assumed that you love rebel flags, the KKK, and Donald Trump. If you don’t love these things, why are you here? How could a person possibly be proud of where they come from if where they come from is known for racism and hate group sightings? Why not pack your bags and move to Cali, where there’s a liberal on every corner and the population as a whole is “enlightened”?

I am from the south and I’m proud of it. Now, before you grab your pitch forks and torches, give me a chance. There’s a difference between southern heritage and confederate heritage. I’ll say it again for those in the back; southern pride and confederate pride are not the same thing.

I’m proud of where I come from. The south is a beautiful place, full of blooming wildflower fields and cool creeks to dip your toes in through the hot summer. I’ve spent more days than I can count, snapping green beans on my mamaw’s back porch. And believe me, I’ve seen my fair share of tobacco fields.

I was raised to understand the value of hard work, and was taught at a very young age that you only get out of life what you put into it. You want something? Work for it. I live within 15 minutes of virtually all of my close family. My child has the opportunity to grow up much the same way I did; close to those that love her and learning the worth of what she has around her.

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How many times have you done it? You’re running through the McDonald’s drive-thru, grabbing something quick to feed yourself and your kids after a long day at work. You’re tired, you’re hungry, and you’re ready to go home. As you approach the window and see the cashier, you think, “God, I’m glad I’m not him. How do people end up working such a dead end job? Surely he can do better than that.”

Or, maybe you’re having a conversation with an acquaintance, and they mention how much they’re struggling. They’re living that paycheck to paycheck grind. They had to buy the cheap work shoes. The ones that will inevitably be worn out within the next few months at best. So, trying to be helpful, you suggest that they start saving money to get out of the situation they’re in. You kindly mention that had they bought the more expensive pair of work shoes, they would have lasted longer and saved them money in the end. You’ll go home and wonder why they bought that cheap pair of shoes. You’ll wonder why they’re stuck in this situation. Why don’t they just work harder and better their situation instead of “Free-loading” off the government and barely getting by.

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