Manchin privately raised concerns that parents would use child tax credit checks on drugs

Source: NBC

WASHINGTON — Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., had privately raised concerns in recent months that parents would use their Child Tax Credit payments — a key piece of the Build Back Better legislation — to buy drugs, three sources familiar with the comments said.

Manchin relayed these concerns in private conversations to his fellow Democratic senators, the sources said.

Manchin also raised private concerns to Congressional colleagues that Americans, specifically West Virginians, would abuse paid leave time and use it to go hunting during deer season, two sources familiar with his comments tell NBC News.



Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/manchin-privately-raised-concerns-parents-would-use-child-tax-credit-n1286321

Ron DeSantis wants to spend $5.2 million on new election crimes office based on 'Big Lie'

Source: Raw Story

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) wants the state to invest in a massive new effort to investigate Donald Trump's debunked claims of massive election fraud.

"The new Office of Election Crime and Security, likely the first of its kind in any state, would give DeSantis and future governors unprecedented authority over election-related investigations," the Miami Herald reports. "It would employ 45 investigators, a $5.7 million budget and a broad mandate to look into violations of state election law and election 'irregularities.'"

The newspaper explains the new proposal came after DeSantis faced "accusations from the GOP base that he still isn't doing enough to support former President Donald Trump's baseless claims of voter fraud."

DeSantis asked legislators to address his proposal at the 2022 legislative session when it begins in January.

Read more: https://www.rawstory.com/ron-desantis-election/

I'm old enough to remember when sarah palin was the dumbest fucking person in politics. *nostalgic*

Warning: COVID-Fueled Mental Health Crisis Will Be a Costly Second Pandemic

Devastating conditions like major depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and obsessive-compulsive disorder are among the leading causes of disability in established market economies, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine. In the U.S., more than one in four adults was suffering from a diagnosable mental disorder even before the pandemic.

For too long, cost and access barriers to mental health care have caused incalculable suffering.

Covid has now blown the lid off a crisis building for decades. So why isn’t there a plan to deal with it?


The Lancet reports that cases of mental disorders have skyrocketed during the pandemic, including 53 million new cases of major depressive disorder and 76 million new cases of anxiety disorders. In the U.S., since spring of 2020, the National Center for Health Statistics has partnered with the Census Bureau on a new, rapid-turnaround data system to monitor depression and anxiety, finding that just over half of adults between the ages of 18 and 44 surveyed have reported symptoms, as have 38% of adults living with children.

https://www.ineteconomics.org/perspectives/blog/warning-covid-fueled-mental-health-crisis-will-be-a-costly-second-pandemic