08/30/23
Good morning! It’s Wednesday, August 30th.
National Toasted Marshmallow Day
Great, now I want to go camping.
And now, the news.
Hurricane Idalia
-via CNN
Let’s start with Hurricane Idalia, a topic I am able to talk about with a high level of experience because last weekend I drive through a tropical storm. So, I’m basically Helen Hunt in Twister. Which is about a different weather disaster, yes. But that’s how much of an expert I am now. It’s bled over into other natural disasters.
Anyway… ahead of today’s predicted landfall, the hurricane strengthened to a Category 2 and is expected to become a Category 3 as it hits Florida’s Golf Coast, with a storm surge that could climb as high as 10 to 15 feet in the Big Bend region.
At a press conference on Tuesday, DeSantis noted that you’d have to go back to the 1800s to find another storm of the magnitude that will hit today.
After which he said, “the 1800s. Aka the good old days.”
No no, he didn’t say that. I mean, his campaign and general governorship, gives that vibe but he didn’t say that exact quote. Out loud.
Anyway, if you’re in Florida, please be safe friends.
UNC-Chapel Hill Shooting and Tennessee State House Update
-via CNN and Tennessee Holler
We’ve got an update on Monday’s University of North Carolina Chapel Hill shooting, that left one faculty member dead.
The shooter was a grad student, and the victim was his faculty advisor. The gun and motive have yet to be found.
According to a CNN tally, including Monday’s shooting, there have been forty-nine school shootings this year, 34 on K-12 campuses and 15 on university and college campuses.
Given those numbers, it’s disappointingly not a surprise that a special session of Tennessee’s state legislature has come to a close in absolute chaos.
The special session was supposed to be focused on gun control, which Republicans in the state, and also country, do not want to make any changes on. The less control the better, they say.
After he was voted into silence on Monday, causing all democrats to leave the state House in protest, state House rep Justin Jones attempted to bring a vote of No Confidence for Speaker Sexton.
Instead of allowing the vote to go forward, Republicans rushed to adjorn before Jones had a chance to bring it to the floor.
After spending the time and money on the special session, zero movement was made on the very clearly, desperately, needed gun control reform the Democrats are looking for.
On the floor, multiple Democrats held signs of protest. Justin Pearson, another member of the Tennessee Three, was also holding up a sign. As Speaker Sexton passed him, he shoulder-checked Pearson and had to be separated by security.
Meanwhile, the parents and family members of those killed in the Covenant School shooting were left crying in the state house.
And that’s… how democracy is going in Tennessee.
Conservative Groups Plan for Trump’s Win
-via AP News
Led by the Heritage Foundation, a well-known, and well-funded, conservative think tank, an almost 1000-page handbook called “Project 2025” is being used to recruit thousands of Americans to go to D.C. and dismantle our current idea of democracy and replace it with Trump’s, should he win the presidency again.
It includes firing as many as 50,000 federal workers who they believe would stand in the way of what Trump is hoping to accomplish in a second term. And by the by, this isn’t just if Trump wins a second term. Because in case the four-time indicted former president and current 6’3” and 215lb loser can’t get a second term, this handbook would apply to anyone who is like-minded.
To accomplish this, they would reinstate what they call Schedule F, a Trump-era executive order that would reclassify tens of thousands of federal employees as at-will workers who can be easily replaced.
Additionally, the handbook talks about ending the FBI’s efforts to stop the spread of misinformation, stepping up the prosecution of anyone providing the abortion pill by mail, abolishing the Pentagon’s recent diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, and redeploying Homeland Security’s office personnel with law enforcement ability into the field “to maximize law enforcement capacity.”
And lest you think that winning the House and Senate would be enough to protect democracy from this handbook, it includes a section about leaning into a unitary view of executive power that suggests the president has the authority to act alone.
This handbook would go into effect the instant Trump, or a Trump-like Republican president is sworn into office. Ahead of that, the Heritage Foundation is recruiting across the country right now. At the Iowa State Fair this month, they signed up hundreds of people, inviting them to be trained.
A terrifying picture of what the future of democracy, or lack thereof, looks like without a Democrat winning the House, Senate, and White House next year.
Be worried – and then double-check that voter registration. It’s going to take all of us.
And that’s… how democracy’s going in America.
And that’s it. That’s the news.
I’m proud of toasted marshmallows. And Peeps! Not toasted Peeps, just like… Peeps in general. I guess that’s not really a part of this, then, but still. Always nice to point it out.
But more than that… more than a marshmallow on fire and then it’s got that burnt coat on it and therefore makes for the perfect s’more… because you are also perfectly layered and great in the summer or winter… I’m proud of you.