Black Women Democrats Are Pushing Joe Biden to Cancel $50,000 of Loan Debt per Borrower, Citing Increasing Racial Inequality

Anne Branigin

Fri, December 18, 2020, 9:30 AM EST

As the nation waits for congressional lawmakers to reach a resolution on a second stimulus bill—nine months after the coronavirus pandemic began disrupting the lives of Americans around the country—a group of Black female House Democrats is challenging President-elect Joe Biden to offer more substantial relief to student loan borrowers.

The charge comes in the form of a resolution, introduced by Reps. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Alma Adams (D-NC) and Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), reports Vox. The resolution calls for the incoming Biden administration to take a more aggressive stance on cutting student loan debt by forgiving up to $50,000 in federal debt for student borrowers. A companion piece to a Senate resolution put forward by Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) earlier this year, the resolution makes the case that student debt forgiveness is a critical tool in tackling racial inequality.

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“The student debt crisis is a racial and economic justice issue and we must finally begin to address it as such,” Pressley said in a statement. “Broad-based student debt cancellation is precisely the kind of bold, high-impact policy that the broad and diverse coalition that elected Joe Biden and Kamala Harris expect them to deliver.”

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Pressley argued that canceling student debt is “one of the most effective ways to provide direct relief to millions, help reduce the racial wealth gap, stimulate our economy, and begin to deliver an equitable and just recovery.”

Waters, chairwoman of the House Finance Committee, echoed the need for debt forgiveness amid a pandemic and a lagging economy that has seen massive job losses.

“I cannot overstate the importance of this resolution and the need for the Biden Administration to take bold action and deliver on this mandate from the people on day one,” said Waters.

As The Root has reported over the years, student loan debt disproportionately affects African American borrowers. The reasons are myriad: A 2016 Atlantic article found Black grads had less debt compared to their non-Black peers shortly after receiving their undergraduate diplomas. However, their debt ballooned in the years after. Four years after graduating, Black grads saw nearly double the amount of debt of white, Asian and Latinx students.

This is in part because more Black graduates continue their studies after receiving their bachelor’s degree, and because they have a higher rate of attending predatory for-profit institutions, which put them further in debt without actually advancing their employment options. Graduates of historically Black colleges and universities have also been found to accrue higher debt burdens than those who do not attend HBCUs.

Undergirding all of this is an increasingly disparate racial wealth gap, made possible in part by what National Employment Law Project Director Rebecca Dixon describes to The Root as a “Jim Crow job market,” in which Black workers disproportionately work lower-wage jobs than their white counterparts and—particularly for Black women—are paid less than their peers in those professions.

“Student debt cancellation would be a massive economic stimulus at a time when people desperately need it. It’s also a racial equity issue. Students of color are more likely to take out federal student loans, and face higher rates of default,” pointed out Rep. Omar, who worked with Pressley earlier this on a plan to drastically reduce student debt.

“Over 90 percent of student debt is held by the federal government, which President-elect Joe Biden can cancel with the stroke of a pen,” said Omar.

As Vox notes, Biden has supported legislation to cancel $10,000 in federal student loan debt, but lawmakers and activists who helped put him in office are urging the president-elect to forgive greater amounts of student debt—if not canceling it entirely.

Those who oppose student debt forgiveness say such a policy wouldn’t actually help the people who most need it, citing that much of America’s student loan debt is held by households with graduate degrees, as the Brookings Institution found. Policy experts also note that student loan forgiveness alone cannot fix wealth and educational inequity, but must be coupled with larger changes to higher education in order to prevent upcoming graduates from sliding back into debt again.

But those reasons are not enough to deny debt relief to millions of Americans who desperately need it, say proponents of student debt forgiveness. Rep. Adams pointed out that this debt has stymied the purchasing power and mobility of many Americans.

“These loans are holding American families back from buying houses, cars, and opening small businesses,” she continued. “Student loan debt prevents young families from building and creating wealth that they can pass down to their children and grandchildren—a freedom that historically has been denied to Black Americans in this country.”

 

Man arrested in fatal shooting of Nashville nurse Caitlyn Kaufman (the low life sob will probably get off.... I'm sure he will say that the police made him to it or something stupid like that)

 

 

 

Man arrested in fatal shooting of Nashville nurse Caitlyn Kaufman

Natalie Neysa Alund Rachel Wegner

Nashville Tennes

A tip from a concerned citizen provided a pivotal break in a homicide case Friday that unnerved Nashville for nine days.

At dawn, members of Metro Nashville Police Department’s SWAT team descended on an East Nashville apartment complex and made an arrest in the fatal shooting of a Nashville nurse who was driving to work when police say someone opened fire on her SUV.

Devaunte Lewis Hill, 21, was taken into custody at 6:15 a.m. in the Dec. 3 slaying of 26-year-old nurse Caitlyn Kaufman, who worked in the intensive care unit at Saint Thomas West Hospital.

Nashville police Chief John Drake said Hill, a Nashville native, was arrested without incident at his Porter Road home in Berkshire Place Apartments. Hill was charged with criminal homicide in Kaufman's evening slaying along Interstate 440 west in Nashville.

According to an arrest affidavit, on Thursday a concerned citizen told police they had information about the killing and identified Hill as the person who shot Kaufman. It goes on to state the person also told police about the possible whereabouts of the gun used in the shooting.

No other suspects have been named in the case. Homicide Detective Christopher Dickerson told reporters Friday morning that investigators had not ruled out the possibility of more suspects or arrests.

"I have a gamut of emotions right now, but I’m so relieved," Kaufman's mother, Diane Kaufman, told The Tennessean by phone late Friday morning. "A part of me is so relieved they got him. I just get chills every time I think about it."

FAMILY:Nursing came natural to daughter with Music City dream

Dickerson said he swore out an arrest warrant early Friday morning after getting the tip from the concerned citizen. The unidentified person also provided information about a gun that police later matched to three 9 mm shell casings found at the crime scene.

Investigators said data from Hill's cell phone provider placed his phone in the I-440 area at the time of the shooting. 

Dickerson said Hill consented to an interview after he was taken into custody and implicated himself in the slaying. He did not elaborate on what Hill told police.

The detective said Hill was a stranger to Kaufman.

"I can confirm they did not know each other," Dickerson told reporters during a news conference at MNPD headquarters.

As of Friday, a motive in the killing had not been released publicly.

"While it was a relief to be able to sign the arrest warrant, it was an exceptional relief to be able to call Diane Kaufman, who is back in Pennsylvania right now," Dickerson said. "She said that she was able to get some closure before the funeral. I’m glad to be in the position we are this morning."

Drake said a reward for information that grew to over $65,000 after the shooting may have helped encourage people to report tips.

“I understand many of the persons involved in the rewards are dads who have families in Nashville and love Nashville deeply, and I thank them for their contribution," Drake said.

'My family will forever be grateful'

"If it weren’t for the generosity of the Nashville community I fear it wouldn't have ever happened this quickly," Diane Kaufman told The Tennessean. "My family will forever be grateful to them, and Detective Dickerson, Chief Drake and Don Aaron. I think I’m still in shock. I was in shock with the shooting, but now I’m in shock with the arrest. I’m just so thankful."

After the slaying, Kaufman's mother traveled to Nashville from the family's hometown in Western Pennsylvania to meet with detectives and plead with the public for help in finding her daughter's killer.

"Please help me find out who did this to my daughter," she said Monday afternoon. "I need closure. Caitlyn was selfless.... She had a contagious laugh. She had beautiful blue eyes, a heart of gold."

Kaufman, who lived in Lebanon at the time of her death, was hired in 2018 at Saint Thomas West Hospital, where most recently her mother said she worked the midnight shift. 

Police spokesman Don Aaron said homicide detectives have been working the case relentlessly since Kaufman died.

Detectives believe the shooting happened sometime between 6:05 and 6:10 p.m. while Kaufman was on her way to work for a shift that began at 7 p.m. Police say the person who killed her fired at least six shots fired into her Mazda CX-5 SUV.

Just before 9 p.m., a Metro Parks officer said he saw her SUV on the right shoulder of I-440 in between the West End Avenue and Hillsboro Road exits. The vehicle was against the guard rail so police said he stopped, thinking he'd come upon a single-car crash. 

A medical examiner determined a single bullet that struck her shoulder and that she died within seconds of being hit.

Online records show Hill was booked into the Davidson County Jail just before 9:30 a.m. and was being held without bond. Police said Hill has a criminal history but would not elaborate.

Saint Thomas West Hospital released a statement after learning of Hill being charged.

"We are hopeful that justice for Caitlyn's family will be served following the announcement that a suspect has been arrested as part of the ongoing investigation," the statement reads. "Those who knew Caitlyn Kaufman witnessed the overwhelming compassion and kindness she showed for each person she cared for and worked alongside."

A memorial service for Kaufman is set in her hometown for 7 p.m. Saturday.

Natalie Neysa Alund is based in Nashville at The Tennessean and covers breaking news across the south for the USA TODAY Network. Reach her at nalund@tennessean.com and follow her on Twitter @nataliealund.

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21-year-old arrested in Nashville nurse slaying: Police

EMILY SHAPIRO

Fri, December 11, 2020, 11:35 AM EST

A 21-year-old man was arrested Friday morning in the slaying of Nashville nurse Caitlyn Kaufman, who was shot dead while driving to work, police said.

Devaunte Hill was arrested at his East Nashville apartment and is being charged with criminal homicide, Nashville Police Chief John Drake said at a Friday news conference.

MORE: Nashville ICU nurse shot dead in car while driving to work

"Hill gave a statement implicating himself in Caitlyn's murder," Drake said.

Hill did not know Kaufman, Drake said.

Kaufman, 26, was shot and killed on Dec. 3 while driving her gray Mazda SUV on I-440, the Metro Nashville police said. Kaufman was on the way to St. Thomas West Hospital for a 7 p.m. shift, police said.

Drake said the "major break" came after Nashville business owners offered a reward and a "concerned citizen" came forward Thursday afternoon identifying Hill as a suspect.

The concerned citizen gave information about the weapon and the gun was recovered Thursday night, Drake said. Ballistics experts found it to be a match to the scene, Drake said.

The investigation is ongoing and police said they are not ruling out the possibility of additional arrests.

St. Thomas Hospital West said Kaufman "was a dedicated and much loved member of our MICU [medical intensive care unit] team and a courageous healthcare hero who was graciously called to serve our patients with compassion and kindness."

21-year-old arrested in Nashville nurse slaying: Police originally appeared on abcnews.go.com

 

Stand up for yourself now..... because the future is going to be all about being BULLIED.

 

 

Stand up for yourself and don't let anyone push you around.

 

STAND YOUR GROUND !!

 

 

 

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Politics

Black Farmers, Civil Groups ‘Enraged’ After Joe Biden Selects Tom Vilsack Over Rep. Marcia Fudge to Head USDA

Anne Branigin

Thu, December 10, 2020, 3:00 PM EST

Black farming and civil rights groups are giving President-elect Joe Biden an earful about his decision to bring former Iowa governor Tom Vilsack back to head up the U.S. Department of Agriculture, a job he held for eight years under former President Barack Obama. According to Politico, leaders of farming and civil rights organizations say Vilsack’s inconsistent record on civil rights have disqualified him for the role, which is charged with overseeing programs supporting the nation’s farmers, providing crucial food assistance programs, and managing the agency’s $146 billion budget. The outlet writes that the decision has “enraged many farmers of color.”

“Vilsack is not good for the agriculture industry, period,” Michael Stovall, founder of Independent Black Farmers told Politico. IBF is a coalition of Black growers and producers from Southern states that works to raise awareness on the issues Black farmers face. “When it comes to civil rights, the rights of people, he’s not for that. It’s very disappointing they even want to consider him coming back after what he has done to limited resource farmers and what he continues to do to destroy lives.”

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Vilsack’s selection was announced this week, after Ohio Congresswoman Marcia Fudge and high profile members of the Congressional Black Caucus spent weeks publicly lobbying for Fudge to be the first Black woman to head the USDA. Fudge leads the House Agriculture Committee and reportedly wanted to shift the focus of the department from farming to addressing hunger, including in non-rural areas. While the USDA is most associated with its work supporting farmers, the agency has a substantial impact in providing assistance to millions of Americans dealing with food insecurity, including through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and school meals.

Some of the criticism against Vilsack is rooted in the USDA’s history. As Politico notes, it has historically been led by white men, and the agency has actively contributed to massive land loss sustained by Black farmers.

Vilsack’s supporters suggest that the former USDA secretary brings a lot of “deep knowledge” at a crucial time. From Politico:

Biden chose Vilsack because he wanted someone at USDA with deep knowledge of the department’s operations and who can immediately address the problems facing rural communities, farmers and low-income families in need of food assistance during the pandemic, according to a person familiar with Biden’s thinking. The person also pointed to Vilsack’s work at USDA establishing the department’s first Minority Farmers Advisory Committee and creating the Office of Advocacy and Outreach to serve small, beginning and socially disadvantaged farmers.

NAACP President Derrick Johnson, on a previously scheduled call with Biden, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, warned Biden and his transition team that the Vilsack pick may work against Democrats in the crucial Georgia Senate races. More from Politico:

Black voters, and particularly rural Black voters, there have not forgotten that Shirley Sherrod, the former head of USDA rural development in Georgia and a well-respected civil rights leader, was wrongfully forced out of her job under Vilsack’s leadership after a deceptively edited video featured on Breitbart falsely suggested she was racist.

...Biden listened to the concerns, quietly taking notes throughout the roughly 90-min Zoom meeting, but when Johnson specifically suggested the president-elect owed Sherrod a call to discuss selecting Vilsack, Biden looked up and appeared to be taken aback, the source said, perhaps suggesting the former vice president began to understand just how upset the Black community remains about the episode a decade later.

The USDA is best known for its role in supporting the nation’s farmers, though that protection has rarely applied to Black farmers in the same way it has to white ones. As Mother Jones reports, in the 1910s, approximately 200,000 Black farmers owned 20 million acres of land, with most of that farmland being in the South. Only 2 percent of that number remains, the result of systemic barriers and outright land theft, aided and abetted by federal agencies.

This history has prompted a Senate bill, the Justice for Black Farmers act, that aims to redress this massive land loss and support Black farmers, including devoting an $8 billion fund within the USDA that would buy farmland and grant it to new and existing farmers.

John Boyd, president of the National Black Farmers Association, told Politico he was disappointed about Vilsack’s nomination, particularly after he had “spent months working with Biden’s campaign and his transition team,” the outlet writes. Boyd said he has contacted Vilsack to learn how he plans to reach out to and support Black and non-white farmers, including improving access to land and credit.

“I am hopeful he comes with a different attitude for the next four years than he had his first eight years he was at USDA and solves the issues facing Black, other minorities and small farmers,” said Boyd. “There has to be some real initiative and focus that has to come from him. The agency is not going to do anything if it is not coming from him.”

 

 

 

 

 

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World

Australia abandons COVID-19 vaccine due to false HIV positives

Ben Farmer

Fri, December 11, 2020, 2:21 AM EST

Morrison says his government won't rush approval of Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine after a homegrown version was abandoned

Australia has cancelled the production of a locally made Covid-19 vaccine after trial volunteers falsely tested positive for HIV,  meaning the drug could interfere with diagnosis of that virus.

Antibodies generated by the jabs developed by the University of Queensland (UQ) and biotech firm CSL led to trial subjects wrongly testing positive for the virus that causes AIDS. Further trials have been stopped.

Scientists said the results were a blow to Australia's vaccine development and was likely to force the country to buy more doses of imported shots.

"While this is a tough decision to take, the urgent need for a vaccine has to be everyone's priority," said UQ professor Paul Young.

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Australia has ordered a total of 140 million shots from different suppliers, to inoculate its 25 million people, making it one of the most highly stocked countries in the world.

"We want to ensure that Australians ... have full confidence, absolute full confidence that when it gets the tick, they can get the jab, and they can make that decision for themselves and for their families, confidently,” said Scott Morrison, prime minister.

Prof Sarah Palmer, from the faculty of medicine at the University of Sydney, said: “Sadly, this is a set-back for the development of Covid-19 vaccines. Generating a false positive for HIV is entirely unexpected for this vaccine, but underscores the critical necessity of testing the safety of newly-developed vaccines in large numbers of volunteers.”

She said the Australian government, which was a major backer of the UQ vaccine effort, would have to consider funding other alternatives, including imported vaccine from firms such as Pfizer and Moderna.”

Australia's strict quarantine regime has seen the country quash earlier outbreaks  and its tally of 28,000 infections is far fewer than in many other developed countries

Its success in keeping a lid on infections has meant the country is not racing to start vaccinations like countries in Europe and jabs are not scheduled to begin until March.

CSL, had been under a contract to produce 51 million doses of the UQ vaccine, and will instead produce an extra 20 million doses of the Oxford vaccine being developed with Britain's AstraZeneca.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Health

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on the inequities of the health-care system: ‘Black lives are at risk. Serious risk'

Wed, December 9, 2020, 1:32 PM EST

Los Angeles Lakers great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, seen attending the Los Angeles Lakers and Memphis Grizzlies basketball game in LA, in February, is speaking out about health disparities. (Photo: Kevork S. Djansezian/Getty Images)

“Our lives are at risk. The health-care system — and everyday individuals —have to do a better job to protect us,” writes NBA legend, activist, writer and UCLA Health Ambassador Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in a compelling account of his unique experience as a Black American man living with serious health risks who happens to be a celebrity — speaking, most saliently, to how his experience compares with that of the Black American community at large.

In the Wednesday piece, “Black Lives Matter,” for WebMD’s social justice magazine series, Abdul-Jabbar begins by recounting his own health battles: “My life is at risk. Not just because I’m 73 with the usual annoying aches and pains that accompany age, but because I’m tall and I’m Black. At 7 feet, 2 inches, I’m statistically more prone to blood clots, lower back and hip problems, higher risk of cancer, especially prostate cancer, atrial fibrillation (a heart rhythm disorder), and a shorter life span in general. Being Black means I’m more likely to suffer from diabetes, heart problems, obesity, cancer, and a shorter life in general. Yup, tall people and Black people have shorter life expectancies. So far, in keeping with these statistical risks, I’ve had prostate cancer, leukemia, and heart-bypass surgery.”

Still, he notes, “I’ve been fortunate because my celebrity has brought me enough financial security to receive excellent medical attention. No one wants an NBA legend dying on their watch. Imagine the Yelp reviews.”

Kareen Abdul-Jabbar wrote a compelling essay this week for WebMD. (Photo: WebMD)

Further, Abdul-Jabbar says he’s lucky that one of his sons is an orthopedic surgeon while another is a hospital administrator, affording him with free, at-will medical advice. But while he’s grateful for his advantages, he writes, “I’m acutely aware that many others in the Black community do not have the same options and that it is my responsibility to join with those fighting to change that. Because Black lives are at risk. Serious risk.”

Abdul-Jabbar goes on to draw connections between the nation’s state of racial affairs and health outcomes in Black communities, pointing to “a wide spectrum of health threats built into the foundation of American society as solidly as steel girders holding up a bridge.”

He explains, “Most people know this is true, though some will deny it because they fear removing those rusty girders will cause the whole bridge to collapse. The truth is that those girders are already malignant with rust and will eventually collapse if we don’t address the underlying rot of systemic racism. San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge has 200 ironworkers, electricians, and painters who daily maintain the bridge’s integrity. If we want America to maintain its cultural integrity, we need to fix its structural flaws —and we need to do so on a daily basis.”

Kareem Abdul Jabbar playing in the Harlem Globetrotters v Kareem Allstars in 1995. (Photo: Action Images)

Abdul-Jabbar highlighted organizations like the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), National Urban League and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), which, he says, are doing the work to address these longstanding issues — while also recognizing one of the most widely known, Black Lives Matter (BLM), a “less a traditional organization and more a movement of loosely affiliated activists across the country united by the credo that is their name,” he says.

“BLM started organizing in 2013 … But by 2020, after a series of police killings of unarmed Blacks that culminated with the suffocation of George Floyd, BLM had grown into the largest protest movement in the history of the United States. … But police brutality is merely the most dramatic and violent attack on the lives of African Americans. … The more insidious and damaging threat to the health, lives, and economic well-being of Black Americans is a health-care system that ignores the fact that, though they are most in need of medical services, they actually receive the lowest level,” writes Abdul-Jabbar.

As he connects the dots between COVID-19 disparities, higher health risks and a lack of job opportunities — what he calls “threads” in a “giant quilt that smothers the Black community” — he argues that the complications of pulling on any of them is that “one thread leads to another, to another, to another — each forming an interlinking pattern that seems impenetrable and unassailable.”

Leaving readers — and all of the U.S. — with a word of advice, Abdul-Jabbar compares what it’s like to be Black in this country to the 1993 Bill Murray classic, Groundhog Day.

“It’s as if the Black community is trapped in Groundhog Day in which every day we fight racism, prove it exists, see gains, and then wake up the next day to all the same obstacles. In the movie, Bill Murray escaped the cycle by becoming selfless, caring more about others’ needs than his greedy desires,” Abdul-Jabbar writes. “That’s how America will escape this self-destructive behavior.”

 

African americans complain that they are getting virus more often......(well do you see masks or social distancing? If this behavior goes on here it will go on other places that they ALL go to....... this is just a sample)

 

 

 

 

Sports

James Harden is making a mess of his forced exit from Rockets

www.yahoo.com

Mon, December 7, 2020, 8:03 PM EST

James Harden attended Lil Baby's birthday bash on Dec. 3 in Atlanta. (Photo by Prince Williams/Wireimage)

James Harden is effectively practicing social distancing protocols from the Houston Rockets, leaving his coach and teammates to answer for his truancy.

It doesn’t seem like he’s exercising the same discipline elsewhere, being recorded at well-attended events and parties thrown by folks who, at the very least, aren’t exercising social discretion.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s clear what he’s doing, something nearly confirmed as much on social media by his mother, Monja Willis, who also serves as his agent.

“He is doing what is best for his career. Please pay attention and understand,” Willis said in response to a fan criticizing Harden’s behavior on Instagram. “He has worked hard every time he suited up for his job, giving 210 percent. He ask[ed] for a chance to get a ring, that’s it. Anyone in their right mind in this bus[iness] would want that.”

Not showing up at a place where he’s scheduled to make over $40 million in each of the next three years, though, is too much to ask.

Will pressing to join Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving work?

Never mind the pandemic and all the hoops the NBA is going through to put on this ambitious enterprise.

Never mind the inherent responsibility NBA superstars have to grow the game, to make it a better league than the one they entered.

Nope, just something as simple as professional courtesy on the front end, or discretion on the back end as a new front office and new head coach have to deal with the carnage of a fractured relationship between a star player and a franchise.

He hasn’t shown up to Rockets camp as the preseason will begin at the end of this week, and the real games to follow in the next two weeks.

Harden wants to join Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving in Brooklyn, and his actions illustrate nothing more than that.

The Rockets are hoping Harden comes to his senses, looks around at the new roster to see John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins along with the other familiar faces and changes his mind.

Then again, some poor saps from Houston are hoping Beyonce Knowles and Kelly Rowland will come back to rekindle some old high-school puppy love, too.

Trying to force a trade isn’t new, especially in this day of player empowerment. But there has to be a recognition of what’s been done to accommodate the star leading to this point, as well as the practicality of leverage Harden doesn’t possess.

There’s a line between empowerment and insubordination, and Harden currently has a first-year coach like Stephen Silas taking the public bullets, gritting his teeth and sounding like a stepfather waiting on a rebellious child to come home. That sounds more like insubordination than empowerment.

If going out and partying with Lil Baby, potentially putting himself at risk for a deadly virus that can damage organs, gets him the desired result, so be it.

Harden doesn’t have leverage of LeBron, Anthony Davis

More power to him in what appears to be a final power play, after nudging the likes of Dwight Howard, Chris Paul and Russell Westbrook out of town because none of them could play nice.

But the Rockets don’t have to bow down this time. Three years is an eternity in today’s NBA, especially at max prices.

There’s no power without leverage, hence where Harden either miscalculated these latest public stunts or didn’t factor it in.

Say what you will about Rich Paul, and plenty already have. When it came to Anthony Davis’ impending free agency, it looked like a fait accompli he would wind up a Laker. Paul, though, made himself the bad guy as opposed to Davis, with the public statement his client wanted out of New Orleans before his contract expired. Davis said little, played on and perhaps, played up the notion of being the naive pawn in a bigger game to prevent mass criticism.

It's unclear if James Harden can engineer a move to join Kevin Durant in Brooklyn. (Photo by Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images)

It was ugly, and messy, but the devilish details didn’t matter once many saw the manifestation of the vision: Davis with LeBron James, celebrating a title.

Those pesky wrinkles in the middle, hurt feelings, tarnished seasons and temporarily stained reputations got lost in the wash.

If that was ugly, this is messy, as the kids like to say.

Harden, though, hasn’t approached this with sophistication or foresight, perhaps only leaning into the player empowerment tone of the day. But that day was birthed by players who spent a few years too long for organizations that didn’t prioritize winning, or didn’t supplement it with competence.

Kevin Garnett gave the best of his body to the Minnesota Timberwolves before finally getting out after 12 seasons, a one-way ticket to Boston. Charles Barkley never made the conference finals as a headliner and MVP runner-up in Philadelphia, getting shipped to Phoenix after nine years in what could’ve been two years too late.

In a sense, that paved the way for James and Durant and the like to exercise agency and take the hits in the immediate aftermath for sake of freedom and winning. But James and Durant kept the pressure on the respective organizations by signing shorter deals, wielding the ultimate leverage.

Only recently has James cashed in those chips, with an extension for a Lakers franchise that bends to his will and has been rewarded.

It’s hard to argue the Rockets didn’t do plenty for Harden, acquiring players who wouldn’t get in his way or need the ball — and we know what happened to the ones who couldn’t get with the program.

New Brooklyn Nets coach Steve Nash can barely begin his program, being asked to address “the elephant in the room” following the revelation Harden didn’t make it into the Rockets’ camp.

“I guess we let the elephant be,” Nash said, the only answer he could give.

Harden is more than entitled to want out of Houston, and to try it a different way elsewhere. Perhaps the Rockets should’ve tried building a champion a different way as opposed to hoping Harden would elevate his game in the playoffs where he often didn’t.

But he could certainly make life easier on all involved by showing up and being professional because truth be told, it’s likely the Rockets don’t want a disgruntled employee around while trying to build something new and sustainable.

If a dream without a plan is just a wish, then empowerment without leverage is foolish.

And nobody likes playing the fool.