The power’s already flickered off a couple of times, so this might turn out to be more trouble than it’s worth. Even so, the week’s barely gotten started and it’s already pretty stupid. I mean, depressingly stupid, but this is the Age of the Dumb so it’s to be expected. So let’s start off with some news that may not be good, but is better than it could be.
Hurricane Beta – the twenty-third named storm of the 2020 hurricane season – should make landfall along the East Texas coastline sometime today. Luckily for the folks down there, it’s downgraded into a tropical storm and a fairly disorganized one at that. Something to do with dry air, but the wind speeds have dropped down to around 40 mph and the whole circular motion is coming undone. There’s still plenty of danger of flooding in Texas and Louisiana, y’all, so don’t sleep on it. Keep an eye on the news and don’t go anywhere unless you have to.
Here in Mississippi, Senate hopeful Mike Espy raised over $300,000 over the weekend to aid in his bid to unseat Cindy Hyde-Smith, setting a record. Indeed, he raised more this weekend than he has from April to June. A lot of this is, of course, due to fears that popped up in the wake of Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s passing Friday night. Even more encouraging, a recent state poll shows Espy within one percentage point of Hyde-Smith.
Interestingly, that poll showed 18% of voters as undecided. Mississippi is, of course, an extremely conservative state and definitely Trump County. That said, the rest of the Republican party really isn’t all that popular. Gov. Tate Reeves is held in almost universal contempt and Hyde-Smith doesn’t really sit anyone on fire. I doubt the Undecided Mississippian will shift that much to electing the first black senator from the state, but if they stay home, that might just be good enough to make the nut. Still, this state has changed a whole lot in the past 25 years, so you never know.
Now, on to the Dumb and I really don’t know where to start. In his ongoing efforts to prove he’s both the most loyal and the most awful Trump lackey in a governor’s seat, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has proposed state legislation that would make protesting punishable by felony convictions. I exaggerate but not much. It would make pulling down statues illegal. It would also make everyone in a group guilty of a felony if one person in the group – or just in the same vicinity as the group – does something that damages property.
It would also make it legal for motorists to run down people who block roads if they feel threatened. Also, it will withhold state funds to counties or municipalities that vote to cut funding to police departments. This is getting some pushback by civil rights groups and in the state Congress, even from a few Republicans. Law enforcement, however, hasn’t been this hard in years even though the Sunshine State hasn’t seen near the ruckus places like Portland have. DeSantis’ poll numbers are in the toilet, so this is obviously an attempt to agitate the fascist element down there. You’d think he’d have more important things to worry about, given Florida’s third in cases and deaths due to COVID-19.
Speaking of cheap fascist bullshit, loathsome toad and U.S. Attorney General Bill “The Pope” Barr today declared New York City, Seattle, and Portland “anarchist cities” and threatened to withhold funding from them. The most intense protesting this year has occurred in those three cities but they’re also perennial bête noirs for conservatives, so if this isn’t just politics then I’ll kiss your ass. “Anarchy” is one of those words like “socialist” and “patriot” and “Christian” that really doesn’t mean what it used to mean.
It should be noted that Portland’s mayor is the heir to a lumber fortune, which doesn’t exactly scream anarchy. Our people on the ground in these cities note that not only are none of them burning to the ground as lawless hellholes, but life is also actually fairly pleasant apart from the smoke from the Pacific Northwest fires that Trump actually doesn’t give a shit about. Just something to note.
Of course, this comes on the heels of Trump making a crack at his most recent Reichsparteitag that he’d issue an executive order preventing Joe Biden from running for president. Perhaps his thinking is since the whole mail-in voter thing is giving him such fits, we might as well do away with presidential elections altogether. People take this guy seriously. Go figure.
Of course, “he’s just joking to own the libs,” the Base says, but Trump has “regularly” joked about getting a third term even though he says he doesn’t joke. Perhaps, perhaps not, but you’re not going to convince me the Truly Faithful wouldn’t unleash holy terror on the unbelievers if he decided to do it. They’ve been waiting for a president like this.
There are a couple more late-breaking items but they need a bit more time to marinate, I think. For now, keep an eye on Beta, don’t believe the bullshit about the fires, and keep your helmet on. This week’s just going to get weirder and dumber.
Dear Y'all 