Monday, August 2, 2021

Welcome to the first week in August. I know I’m running late, but you’re just going to have to deal with it. I have had a day.

Just as a reminder to everyone. Today’s the day when the initiative that won almost three-fourths of the population last November legalizing medical marijuana for Mississippians should have gone into effect. Unfortunately, the mayor of Madison, Mississippi – a white-flight suburb of Jackson historically full of bastards – was miffed she wouldn’t be getting her piece of the action and filed suit three days before the election. Due to an issue with the initiative process that’s been known for almost two decades with nothing substantial done about it, the conservative members of the state supreme court nullified the sole voice of the voting public.

So, yeah, I’m just not inclined today. However, Gov. Tate Reeves has said he’ll call a special session of the legislature to get things in gear whenever said legislature gets all on board with a workable plan. Apparently, just “doing what the voters wanted in the first place” isn’t good enough. Again, I’m not sanguine that Gov. Reeves will expend much political capital on this one. Entrepreneurs who actively want to bring jobs to Mississippi are still moving ahead, God bless ’em.

I talked a bit about this yesterday, but if you haven’t gotten your COVID-19 vaccination, well, you’ve got no one to blame but yourself. Numbers have spiked, particularly in the South, thanks to the Delta variant. For example, Florida broke records this weekend when it comes to cases of COVID hospitalization. All over the country, states are putting non-emergency hospital stays on hold – including for things like cancer – because intensive care units are full of COVID patients, most of whom weren’t previously vaccinated.

And as much shit as I give the Mississippi Legislature – deservedly so, I’d think – at least they’re not actively trying to kill us like Texas and Florida. Tennessee wants to, as well, so I’d prepare for that. Several school systems in the state, from Tupelo to Biloxi, have reversed their stance on masking up as the school year looms. While we were all looking forward to getting rid of them, school systems are re-upping mask mandates in response to the Delta spike, at least for the foreseeable future. Some schools are making the move back to virtual learning. However, Texas and Florida (and soon to be in Tennessee, probably) are seeing the governors have signed executive orders forbidding mask mandates because fuck them kids, that’s why. It should be noted that both Governors Ron DeSantis and Greg Abbott are figured to be making runs for the 2024 Republican nomination for president if Trump doesn’t run, so expect it to get worst.

Finally, in the interest of equal time, the moratorium on evictions that ran most of the year because COVID found a bunch of folks out of work and unable to pay rent has run out and the bills are due, son. Something like 11 million renters are in danger of being tossed into the street for being behind on their rent. Now, to be fair, as this Forbes piece says, it’s not as cut-and-dried as Snidely Whiplash evicting the poor widow and foreclosing on the farm. It’s going to be a legal process a lot of folks won’t have the resources to fight with, which makes it not as bad somehow.

One of the biggest problems is money the government sent to states hasn’t been spent by those states, to the tune of less than 30% nationally. For example, Mississippi got over $186 million but only $10 million has been distributed. Unfortunately, the Biden Administration announced today that, legally speaking, there was Sweet Fanny Adams they could do about it. For some reason, which they assured us was really good reasons, you guys.

This is one of those “you had one job,” and while I understand President Joe Biden’s plate is full, this does not bode well for any facet of the economy. In any event, this link offers information to help those of y’all who do need it. Better than a kick in the teeth, I guess.