ADVERTISEMENT

DeSantis kicks Special Olympics ass

I think you are right, Special Olympics is a group voluntarily joined. They should be allowed to have their rules.

I think we are past the point of vaccines being game changers, the mutated versions are not being as effectively handled. I still think the vaccine is helpful, just not a game changer. But if a private group cannot set policy on this, what else can they not set policy on? I may not think a prayer is appropriate at school, but should the state have the right to tell the Indy 500 they cannot say the prayer before the race? I believe they have the right to say it, but if we are taking things to the individual rights level with vaccines, why not with prayer? I suspect there is an attendee somewhere who feels their religion is violated by that prayer.
I suspect there is an attendee somewhere who feels their religion is violated by that prayer. That’s an easy one. Don’t attend.
 
DeSantis isn't a douchebag as he is for individual choice not gov't deciding for people like you wanting a gov't to decide for individuals. He isn't against vaccines and they don't stop COVID transfer.
What exactly is "Government" about the Special Olympics? For someone who claims to be about the First Amendment, DeSantis sure does do a lot of throwing his governmental weight around when trying to regulate private businesses that express a viewpoint he's opposed to...

I worked in the field for the past 16 yrs, and no one involved in Special Olympics or working with people with disabilities consider the GOP as friends. Daniels cut the social services budget when he was Governor of Indiana which resulted in people losing some of their Medicaid allotments and programs being cut. Now here's DeSantis playing to the idiot fringe and further endangering people who are already far much vulnerable to infection than the population as a whole. Obviously based on your post, he's reached his target audience...
 
What exactly is "Government" about the Special Olympics? For someone who claims to be about the First Amendment, DeSantis sure does do a lot of throwing his governmental weight around when trying to regulate private businesses that express a viewpoint he's opposed to...

I worked in the field for the past 16 yrs, and no one involved in Special Olympics or working with people with disabilities consider the GOP as friends. Daniels cut the social services budget when he was Governor of Indiana which resulted in people losing some of their Medicaid allotments and programs being cut. Now here's DeSantis playing to the idiot fringe and further endangering people who are already far much vulnerable to infection than the population as a whole. Obviously based on your post, he's reached his target audience...
What would Trump do?
 
Never. And yes he’s a royal douchebag.
Covid is, on average, much more serious for individuals with developmental disabilities, yet the state of Florida doesn’t give a shit. On top of that, many of these individuals are not the ones deciding whether they get vaccinated.
Pretty much everything is much more serious for people with developmental disabilities. Sad but true.

Granted. DeSantis taking a victory lap in this particular case is…… strange. But it’s part of his broader 2024 platform, Covid is over idiots, we’re not doing that again.
 
T
Many Special Olympian’s have health issues which I’d imagine makes Covid more of a danger to them.
This really isn’t hard. At all.

The vaccine is not going to stop the spread. If an athlete is at risk, that athlete should be vaccinated at their own decision. Mandating others to be vaccinated is neuroses and fear porn. And no organization has a right to do that - morally - legally it’s ambiguous and state to state.
 
So you disagree with Noodle's post that Special Olympics kids are at risk? I seriously have not looked into the issue but assume Noodle would know.
That has nothing to do with my point. If a SO athlete wants be vaxxed they should be. Their teammates being vaxxed affords - at best - marginal spread stopping.

The liberal faith in the vaccine is a religion unto its own.

The last masker in my kids’ class just went down with COVID. He’s the unfortunate son of a neurotic mom who has tried to keep him in a bubble. He got it. Everyone is getting it. Period.
 
That has nothing to do with my point. If a SO athlete wants be vaxxed they should be. Their teammates being vaxxed affords - at best - marginal spread stopping.

The liberal faith in the vaccine is a religion unto its own.

The last masker in my kids’ class just went down with COVID. He’s the unfortunate son of a neurotic mom who has tried to keep him in a bubble. He got it. Everyone is getting it. Period.
Everyone has a religion, for some it’s Christianity, others Islam, still others Covid precautions. But the most destructive religion of all is that which believes in pronouns.
 
  • Like
  • Haha
Reactions: DANC and Bowlmania
That has nothing to do with my point. If a SO athlete wants be vaxxed they should be. Their teammates being vaxxed affords - at best - marginal spread stopping.

The liberal faith in the vaccine is a religion unto its own.

The last masker in my kids’ class just went down with COVID. Everyone is getting it. Period.

Everyone may well get it, it does not mean group 'xyz' wants to be the group that a mass outbreak happens within. Take a 100% free throw shooter and a 70% free throw shooter and see how many in a row they can hit. The 70% shooter probably will never get to 100. The 100% will always get to 100. 30% effective still has an impact with large numbers. So the odds of SO being in the headlines for a mass outbreak are higher the more unvaccinated attend. Simple math. I am in agreement with you to an extent, vaccines are not going to stop person A from getting infected. But put 10,000 people in a room though, 30% effectiveness in every person will block those long chains infecting everyone.

But the bigger point is, can not a group self govern? If the people inside Special Olympics want to demand this, and they have the votes, why can they not? Are we ceding to Florida to decide what private groups can and cannot do?

Are we making unvaccinated a protected class? And if we do for COVID, it will happen for all other vaccinations because I guarantee there is a huge crossover between general anti-vaxx and COVID anti-vaxx. All general anti-vaxx are members of the COVID anti-vaxx.
 
  • Like
Reactions: anon_mya1phvcpf5x4
Down Syndrome, for example . . .

Having seen first hand how heavily sequestered those with Down syndrome in my family had to be during the pandemic, I can attest, it is very tough. But society does not stop moving for the immunocompromised and the less fortunate. It can’t. Those types of people and their guardians must make difficult decisions on how/ when to re-enter society. Raising a child with special needs is literally nothing but a life of frustration and difficult decisions. It is work that these days is really only done by saints and Catholics (s/o Uncle Rick & ACB).

That article is also from 2020 btw, we’ll before omicron was the dominant strain. It is next to irrelevant now.
 
  • Like
Reactions: DANC
Next week, Gencon will announce it's COVID policy. I believe it will be masks and vaccination both required. I agree with the conservatives here that is not needed. But my options are to go or not go, not demand Governor Holcomb block those rules.
 
T

This really isn’t hard. At all.

The vaccine is not going to stop the spread. If an athlete is at risk, that athlete should be vaccinated at their own decision. Mandating others to be vaccinated is neuroses and fear porn. And no organization has a right to do that - morally - legally it’s ambiguous and state to state.
Didn’t comment on any of that, merely responded to you saying Covid isn’t dangerous to children.
 
  • Like
Reactions: anon_mya1phvcpf5x4
It is about following Florida law and letting individual parents decide that is why; besides not all kids in Special Olympics can take the shot due to health issues.
Which is why they had medical exemptions for individuals who could not be safely vaccinated. Also, the vast majority of participants at the USA Games in Florida are ADULTS, not kids. They typically make their own medical decisions - not their parents.
 
Last edited:
Everyone has a religion, for some it’s Christianity, others Islam, still others Covid precautions. But the most destructive religion of all is that which believes in pronouns.
Lol. I think that’s probably not the most destructive. Probably gun culture.
 
Having seen first hand how heavily sequestered those with Down syndrome in my family had to be during the pandemic, I can attest, it is very tough. But society does not stop moving for the immunocompromised and the less fortunate. It can’t. Those types of people and their guardians must make difficult decisions on how/ when to re-enter society. Raising a child with special needs is literally nothing but a life of frustration and difficult decisions. It is work that these days is really only done by saints and Catholics (s/o Uncle Rick & ACB).

That article is also from 2020 btw, we’ll before omicron was the dominant strain. It is next to irrelevant now.
Don't put words in my mouth. I never suggested society should "stop moving for the immunocompromised and the less fortunate." I was responding to another poster who correctly noted that Special Olympians have been - - and continue to be - - at greater risk of severe Covid than other people, and there's a rational basis for the organization's commitment to vaccination.

 
  • Like
  • Haha
Reactions: DANC and cosmickid
So you disagree with Noodle's post that Special Olympics kids are at risk? I seriously have not looked into the issue but assume Noodle would know.
As I mentioned in another reply, we are talking about adults not kids at the Special Olympics USA Games. Some teens participate (ages 16 or 17), but the overwhelming majority are adults - including many over the age of 50. I believe I have read that the Covid death rate among people with developmental disabilities is 6X greater.
 
Last edited:
That has nothing to do with my point. If a SO athlete wants be vaxxed they should be. Their teammates being vaxxed affords - at best - marginal spread stopping.

The liberal faith in the vaccine is a religion unto its own.

The last masker in my kids’ class just went down with COVID. He’s the unfortunate son of a neurotic mom who has tried to keep him in a bubble. He got it. Everyone is getting it. Period.
Most Special Olympics athletes are not "kids". Particularly people with Downs who often appear to be teenagers but can actually be into their 40s and 50s and to look at them you'd never guess. This is particularly true in a community like Bloomington where many of the people I worked with over the past 10 yrs and who attended the Olympics every year are now into their 50s and unfortunately are falling prey to one of the numerous medical conditions they are more susceptible to- dementia.

It makes no sense for DeSantis to adopt this position, because there is no element of people within the Special Needs community who would argue for the right to not be vaccinated. In his other culture war battles he at least represented people who agree with his viewpoint, but this is a community that does not need or want his interference. Most kids and young adults don't die of minor infections or something like constipation, but those can be very serious issues for people within the Special Needs community.

The agency I worked for required an annual TB test and hepatitis vaccine for it's workers- would you support DeSantis telling a company they couldn't mandate that as well? You decry the "liberal faith" in the vaccine and the "last masker" in your child's class, as if you think the people on the other side of the equation are the real medical experts? Meanwhile Bloomington Hospital still requires a mask prior to entering past the front desk and apparently you're siding with the group that would characterize that as "virtue signaling"?

Both Indiana and FL have governments dominated by Republicans. it just seems that the Indiana group (at least Holcomb) is more interested in acting reasonably than appealing to an increasingly wacky base and "owning the libs".
 
Everyone may well get it, it does not mean group 'xyz' wants to be the group that a mass outbreak happens within. Take a 100% free throw shooter and a 70% free throw shooter and see how many in a row they can hit. The 70% shooter probably will never get to 100. The 100% will always get to 100. 30% effective still has an impact with large numbers. So the odds of SO being in the headlines for a mass outbreak are higher the more unvaccinated attend. Simple math. I am in agreement with you to an extent, vaccines are not going to stop person A from getting infected. But put 10,000 people in a room though, 30% effectiveness in every person will block those long chains infecting everyone.

But the bigger point is, can not a group self govern? If the people inside Special Olympics want to demand this, and they have the votes, why can they not? Are we ceding to Florida to decide what private groups can and cannot do?

Are we making unvaccinated a protected class? And if we do for COVID, it will happen for all other vaccinations because I guarantee there is a huge crossover between general anti-vaxx and COVID anti-vaxx. All general anti-vaxx are members of the COVID anti-vaxx.
Is the special Olympics a private group? Are they not taxpayer funded? I honestly don’t know.
 
  • Like
Reactions: DANC
As I mentioned in another reply, we are talking about adults not kids at the Special Olympics USA Games. Some teens participate (ages 16 or 17), but the overwhelming majority are adults - including many over the age of 50. I believe I have read that the Covid death rate among people with developmental disabilities is 6X greater.
Of which none of them have the obligation to be there. This isn’t a basic human rights situation.
 
  • Like
Reactions: DANC
Is the special Olympics a private group? Are they not taxpayer funded? I honestly don’t know.
Here you go. They get about $18-20 million in federal grants (10% of annual spending) but it’s only used for a school-based program - not for its traditional sports programs:

The federal earmark supports work Special Olympics has been doing in schools for more than 10 years to make sports teams and other aspects of student life more inclusive to students with disabilities. That program is called Unified Champion Schools.​

 
Of which none of them have the obligation to be there. This isn’t a basic human rights situation.
I have no idea what your reply means. I was simply correcting the misconception that the USA Games in Florida are for kids.
 
  • Like
Reactions: cosmickid
And no organization has a right to do that - morally - legally it’s ambiguous and state to state.
Bullshit. Absolute bullshit. So you think a private sports league should not require physicals? My kid has to get a neck X-ray to swim butterfly in the SO? Is that morally wrong too? Just because you don’t believe in the science is no reason to force your bullshit on a private group.
 
Is the special Olympics a private group? Are they not taxpayer funded? I honestly don’t know.
They might be, probably are. But if a state that funds them wants vaccines and Florida does not,... .

And if they are taxpayer funded I suspect the feds are the biggest.
 
Bullshit. Absolute bullshit. So you think a private sports league should not require physicals? My kid has to get a neck X-ray to swim butterfly on the SO? Is that morally wrong too? Just because you don’t believe in the science is no reason to force your bullshit on a private group.
Hey guy it’s possible to believe in the “science” (or in your case, religion?) while trying to have government interfere as little as possible in my life. Endless COVID vaccinations have no long term studies and they have major pain in the ass side effects. If a special Olympics athlete doesn’t want to be injected more power to him/her. Having neuroses that having an unvaccinated teammate creates a significantly higher chance of a vaccinated teammate being infected is simply neuroses and COVID orthodoxy.

The lame “you don’t believe the science” is just that…lame. You’re smarter than that.

And requiring a non invasive physics isn’t in The same galaxy as nonstop COVID jabs. Spare me.
 
Hey guy it’s possible to believe in the “science” (or in your case, religion?) while trying to have government interfere as little as possible in my life. Endless COVID vaccinations have no long term studies and they have major pain in the ass side effects. If a special Olympics athlete doesn’t want to be injected more power to him/her. Having neuroses that having an unvaccinated teammate creates a significantly higher chance of a vaccinated teammate being infected is simply neuroses and COVID orthodoxy.

The lame “you don’t believe the science” is just that…lame. You’re smarter than that.

And requiring a non invasive physics isn’t in The same galaxy as nonstop COVID jabs. Spare me.
X-rays are not noninvasive and carry a non-zero risk
 
Hey guy it’s possible to believe in the “science” (or in your case, religion?) while trying to have government interfere as little as possible in my life. Endless COVID vaccinations have no long term studies and they have major pain in the ass side effects. If a special Olympics athlete doesn’t want to be injected more power to him/her. Having neuroses that having an unvaccinated teammate creates a significantly higher chance of a vaccinated teammate being infected is simply neuroses and COVID orthodoxy.

The lame “you don’t believe the science” is just that…lame. You’re smarter than that.

And requiring a non invasive physics isn’t in The same galaxy as nonstop COVID jabs. Spare me.
If an athlete doesn’t want to be vaccinated no one is forcing them to. No one. But if SO wants to prohibit them from participating in the USA Games why in the hell should they not be able to? There is no fundamental right to participate in the event. You’re talking out of both sides of your mouth. And yes, it is lame that you clearly don’t believe in the science.

oh, and an x-Ray is absolutely invasive.
 
  • Like
Reactions: anon_mya1phvcpf5x4
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest posts

ADVERTISEMENT