When Your First Move Is to Threaten Lynching, Maybe Something's Wrong

By Charles Pierce, Esquire

03 September 17

This week in Confederate monuments.

exas being its own category for the foreseeable future, let's begin in Missouri, where a state legislator is fed up with all this tearing down of the monuments to armed white supremacy, and he's got an Old South-themed solution for the whole danged business. From Fox2 in St. Louis:

Osceola Republican Rep. Warren Love said in a Facebook post Wednesday that he hopes whoever vandalized the monument is "hung from a tall tree with a long rope." He later told The Associated Press that he didn't really mean that and says he thinks it's terrible when someone vandalizes an object of remembrance. Love apologized in a later post he provided to AP.

When the first club out of the bag is lynching, you ought to rethink your club selection just a bit, I'm thinking. Maybe lay up and not try to clear the pond of Stupid in front of the green.

Then, of course, there's this delightful chap from Georgia, who was a bit more specific in his warnings than was Representative Love. From the AJC:

State Rep. Jason Spencer, a Woodbine Republican, also wrote former state Rep. LaDawn Jones that "people in South Georgia are people of action, not drama" and suggested some who don't understand that "will go missing in the Okefenokee…Too many necks they are red around here," he wrote. "Don't say I didn't warn you about 'em."

Spencer, of course, was only looking out for the well-being of his learned colleague, bless his heart.

"She is from Atlanta – and the rest of Georgia sees this issue very differently," said Spencer, who was elected in 2010 to represent the southeast Georgia district. "Just trying to keep her safe if she decided to come down and raise hell about the memorial in the back yards of folks who will see this as an unwelcome aggression from the left."

And this, which I just can't…naw, I got nothing.

Spencer also asked that we include a picture he provided of him standing in front of the Martin Luther King Jr. monument that was unveiled Monday on the Georgia Capitol grounds.

Jason Spencer ran unopposed in 2016. Just sayin'.

Let's move north to Iowa, where the skids were greased for the state to allow Apple to loot the treasury in exchange for at least several potential jobs, except that the citizens have gotten a whiff of profiteering in the air. From Bleeding Heartland:

The Iowa Economic Development Authority and the city of Waukee refused to release details about the deal with Apple until shortly before the authority's board rubber-stamped $20 million in state tax incentives, plus about $194 million from the suburb west of Des Moines. In return, Apple has promised its $1.375 billion data center will come online by 2020, with 50 full-time employees earning at least $29.12 per hour.

The editorial board of The Des Moines Register, which never has been confused with the Daily Worker, seems dubious about the process.

News of the project broke Wednesday, but documents spelling out the amount of incentives were released about 90 minutes before the state economic development board met Thursday. The meeting's agenda included a 10-minute public comment period before approval. The city of Waukee declined to provide the public any information before its council voted to give Apple more than $194 million in property tax abatement and water and sewer infrastructure improvements. Shouldn't residents have a say in a proposal that will affect city revenues for at least the next 20 years? "This isn't our project," said Waukee Mayor Bill Peard, who, like the rest of us, is just along for the ride. Can the rest of us afford to wait before the next giveaway comes along? Do we hope that in the next legislative session, lawmakers will get serious about rethinking a tax code riddled with worm holes? Reforming a system that favors out-of-state corporations over Iowa-based businesses? Will any state leader look beyond the hype and seriously examine what we've gained in jobs and economic growth from attracting data centers? A few warehouses full of servers do not make us a hotbed of innovation.

Clearly, the answer to all these question is…MAGA! A local cleric also wrote a letter to the Register, pointing out economic priorities that seemed…askew.

We also recently learned that visits to Iowa nursing homes to monitor them for safety and compliance with state regulations are being eliminated because of state budget cuts. Iowa, where are our priorities? When your loved one dies in an unmonitored nursing home, just send the funeral bill to Apple. It's the least they can do. When will we learn the difference between boon and boondoggle?

The universal answer to that question apparently is, "Never." I mean, Wisconsin still can't get its budget passed because it had to wrestle with its own mega-giveaway to a blow-in corporation. Meanwhile, the state's public schools are due to open and there's nobody home in Madison to pay the bills. Why? Because roads, that's why. From the AP, via WMTV:

The Joint Finance Committee is set to meet Monday to address Walker's plan to give public, voucher and charter schools an additional $649 million over the next two years. The budget is now eight weeks late thanks to Republican infighting over how to pay for road projects in the face of a nearly $1 billion shortfall in the state's transportation fund. Walker and Senate Republicans want to borrow more money and delay major projects. Assembly Republicans want to raise more revenue and have suggested raising the gas tax or vehicle registration, both nonstarters for the governor.

I have it on very good authority that the guys in the deer camps up around Lake Superior are in imminent danger of having to survive all winter on road kill rather than drive on roads where potholes could swallow a young SUV whole.

And we conclude, as is our wont, in the great state of Oklahoma, where Blog Official Petrochemical Mutant Inspector Friedman of the Plains brings us the story of how Sooners are coming together to help their fellow humans south of the Red River. From KFOR-TV:

Along with several Oklahoma teams are voluntary agencies who are also sending staff and volunteers to support relief efforts in Texas. Agencies such as the American Red Cross, Children's Disaster Services, Convoy of Hope, Mercy Chefs, Operation BBQ Relief, the Salvation Army and Southern Baptist Disaster Relief will be going to Texas.

Operation BBQ Relief?

Oh, hell yeah.

Operation BBQ Relief was founded in May 2011 in response to a need for relief efforts in tornado-stricken Joplin, Missouri, a community of about 50,000 residents. Volunteers from competition BBQ teams from eight states answered the need to help feed displaced families, police, fire, National Guard and emergency personnel. We were able to serve over 120,000 meals over 13 days. Food was delivered to shelters, hospitals, senior living communities and the Humane Society. Volunteers loaded food into vehicles and delivered directly to families in the impacted areas. The operation was made possible by all who contributed food and supplies and funding from across the country.

You may know it by its other name: Coleslaw Sans Frontieres.

God, I love my country.

This is your democracy, America. Cherish it.