Friday, March 26, 2021

 The last full business week in March comes to a close, so let’s do what we do. We’ll start with the weather. We here in the Magnolia State avoided the heavy storms they said were coming for the most part. Unfortunately, it wound up kicking Alabama and Georgia right square in the teeth. Over 15 tornados were spotted in the Southeast yesterday and they were boogers of the highest order.

 Eleven people died due to the storms at the latest count and the monetary damage is still being calculated. People whose houses were flat destroyed are saying these are the worst they’ve ever seen, and this is not an area unfamiliar with bastard tornados. The town of Newnan, Georgia, the birthplace of my own seminal influence Lewis Grizzard, got a ton of destruction which closed down the town today. Several Alabama school systems canceled classes today and several towns called for curfews at sundown.

 Speaking of messes in Georgia, Brian Kemp and the GOP have kicked up one for the Peach State. As Republicans across the country are still smarting from the country’s overwhelming rejection of Trump last November, a lot of the state legislatures across the country have been enacting laws to curb all this voting when they’re not banning trans students from high school athletics. A bone of contention is all the early and mail-in voting done last year due to changes made before and because of the COVID pandemic, most of which were okayed by the GOP-led legislatures at the time.

 Georgia is in today’s news because Governor Kemp signed a fairly restrictive bill that would further limit voting opportunities and, wouldn’t you know it, it mostly affects urban areas with heavy Black populations. Critics are comparing the new restrictions to the Jim Crow laws that infected the Deep South during the bulk of the 20th Century and the Georgia Powers That Be is doing nothing to discourage that perception. There’s some question if the bill will make it past the first Constitutional test, and perhaps the contentious aspect is that it is now illegal to supply food and water to people waiting in lines. I’m sure that won’t be an issue when it comes to attracting protestors and bringing bad press.

 President Joe Biden has condemned the state’s actions and Democrats in the House and Senate have introduced the For The People Act to address the situation. Overall, it’s an expansion of voting opportunities and, honestly, it’s easier to link to this CNN piece about what the GOP is lying about concerning it than going into great detail about what it does. This is also looking to be a key battleground in the ongoing war over the continued existence of the Senate filibuster.

 An interesting quirk came today and it’s one that’s putting conservatives on the defense. The Major League Baseball Players’ Association, basically the ballplayers’ union, has announced it’s considering moving its 2021 All-Star Game away from Atlanta if the bill isn’t dealt with. This is, of course, driving conservatives up the wall since it’s a business making a business decision but it’s a decision they don’t like, so it’s probably “cancel culture and it’s also been called “bullying.” I find that funny as hell, every time it happens.

 The announcement came this afternoon, well after Kemp and a bunch of White dudes signing the bill under the picture of a plantation because, fuck you, that’s why. The All-Star Game is a huge deal and brings a ton of money to not just the city that hosts it but the surrounding area, especially for a town like Atlanta. It’ll probably be a bigger deal this year as we’re all hoping to be out of the COVID hole by July. Y’all remember how fast the state of Mississippi got rid of the Confederate battle flag off of the state flag once the NCAA and SEC suggested they might pull events from the state otherwise.

 I wonder if Brian Kemp considered that at all.