The appalling inhumanity of Florida Gov. Ron Desantis
Ol' Hobbs' Tuesday Talking Points!
With a nod to Peter Abelard's "Sic et Non," if it's Tuesday, then it's time for the Hobbservation Point's "Yes" or "No" analysis of the hottest headlines.
1. Does Florida Gov. Ron Desantis's anti-mask mandate help his future political choices?
Yes and No!
Gov. Ron Desantis is taking a calculated risk that places the health and welfare of Florida children, public school educators, and staff in great peril. Namely, Desantis is figuring that the surge that has Florida leading the world in new Coronavirus cases will eventually flatten out without the massive loss of life that prognosticators are projecting.
Desantis figures that if the death toll doesn't spiral out of control, particularly with the child demographic that is filling juvenile pediatric units across Florida, that he will ride into the 2022 gubernatorial season and boast that he kept his state open for business, mask-free at school, and that "he" beat back the virus. More crucially, with the world already knowing that Desantis has his eyes on the Republican presidential nomination in 2024, the sad reality is that many Republicans across America still are not taking the Coronavirus seriously and are hostile towards science, scientists, and any measures designed to protect the populace from this plague.
Conversely, Desantis has staked out a position that shows his inhumane lack of compassion and complete commitment to placing pecuniary profits over the people in his state. The fact that his own school age child does not attend public school renders his opinions highly suspect, and the legal premises within which he is meddling in local school board decisions on masking, and his toddler temper tantrum in suggesting that funds for school officials that defy his anti-mask mandate be withheld, are legally suspect and very likely to be enjoined in a courtroom real soon.
But again, Desantis is playing tough guy for the court of public opinion so that when (not if) he loses in a court of law, he will still claim victory in his advocacy for the "freedom" of those who do not wish to mask up. Which, ostensibly, is true to his pejorative nickname, Ron "DeathSantis," the Florida Man who is willing to watch his people die if it satisfies his and his sycophantic followers' twisted interpretation of "liberty."
2. Are there options for anti-maskers whose children attend public schools?
Yes!
Unlike the patrician Desantis and his ilk whose kids will attend pricey private schools or have tutors this year, most rank-and-file Republicans avail themselves of Florida's public schools. To those Republicans who have convinced themselves that the Coronavirus is a hoax and that vaccines are ineffective, despite the fact that their beloved former President, Donald Trump, was gravely ill with it and worked to accelerate the development of Covid vaccines, the options that they have are to home-school their children; send their kids to Florida Virtual school; apply for financial aid vouchers so that their kids can rub elbows with the kids of the Republican elite at tony Tallahassee Maclay, Jacksonville Bolles, and Plantation American Heritage schools across our state.
3. Does Republican hypocrisy during the Pandemic surprise Ol' Hobbs?
No!
For the majority of my 49 years on Earth (and 40-plus years of watching politics at rapt attention), the Republican Party has claimed to be pro-life, pro-police, and in favor of local control of educational issues.
In 2021, we have witnessed Republicans across America show that their pro-life positions are really more about controlling a woman's right to have an abortion than the lives of sentient beings as they show a reckless indifference to the health and welfare of others, including children, during the Pandemic. We have witnessed the same so-called "Back the Blue," pro-police Republicans turn a blind eye to the violence at the Capitol Complex in Washington, D.C. during the MAGA Mob riot on January 6th; the same Republicans who always note when officers are killed in the line of duty have not mourned the six officers who have died from physical/mental wounds of the January 6th attack. Last, the same Republicans, like Florida's Ronald Desantis, who LOVE to preach about local control of school boards, are now trying to control local school boards from their bureaucratic perches in Tallahassee.
As such, we should continue to pillory these inconsistent politicos and hang a virtual scarlet "H" for "hypocrite" about their necks to remind the public why their collective switching out is dangerous.
4. Was Ol' Hobbs surprised by Ole Miss football Coach Layne Kiffin's leadership on Covid-19 vaccinations?
Yes!
Like Florida and most states in Dixieland, Mississippi ranks among the lowest with regards to Covid-19 vaccine inoculations. Thus, my surprise (and delight) that Layne Kiffin, Head Coach of the Ole Miss Rebels football team, has reported that 100 percent of his players and staff are fully vaccinated! I was also surprised to learn that the football programs at the Universities of Alabama, Georgia, and LSU are all over 90 percent vaxxed!
When news of this noteworthy achievement broke, I was running errands with my mother yesterday and she made me literally burst out laughing when she said, "Chuckie, white coaches have always been able to get those Black boys to do what they are told." I laughed because there is a harsh reality to the words she spoke, which leads me to wonder what the vaccination rates are looking like for HBCU football and other sports teams as we head into the Fall?
I don't know the answer, but methinks that we must encourage our coaches and student athletes to use Kiffin as an example on this life and death matter!
5. Will the trillion dollar infrastructure Bill pass in the U.S. Senate?
Yes!
Later today, the Senate very likely will pass a $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package, one that will ameliorate conditions in America’s aging public works system. Yes, you read correctly, "bipartisan" is the term of the day and upon passage in both chambers, this Bill, while imperfect, will be a signature victory for President Joe Biden early in his administration.
Yesterday, I had a chance to discuss this (and other topics) with Andrew Gillum, the former Tallahassee Mayor and Florida Democratic Gubernatorial nominee who hosts "Real Talk" thrice weekly on Quake Media. Be sure to click on the link below and check out my short sound-byte today!
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The Scarlet H. The hypocrites should wear it so we never forget. But they would turn it into a badge of honor because that's how they are.