Viral austerity

Texas is a pretty red state, but that doesn't mean it doesn't blow big bucks on all kinds of state-government fantasies when it's got the cash.  The talk now, however, is about "austerity," which I hope will mean serious thought about inducing the government to get back to tending to its knitting:

Just a few months ago, the Texas economy was growing at rates that outpaced those nationally. Lawmakers last session approved a quarter-trillion-dollar budget, and state income was projected to grow faster than previously expected. The comptroller’s office even estimated that lawmakers would have about $2.9 billion in hand upon their return to session. And that would be an important head start for lawmakers who would need to find new sources of state revenue to support the state’s increased commitment to funding public schools, among other things.

The virus, however, effectively wiped out that $2.9 billion surplus and then some. The choice now is pretty basic: Find new revenue or make significant cuts in basic state services. House Speaker Dennis Bonnen recently suggested that all state agencies cut their budgets by 5% now, rather than wait closer to the start of the next session when budget cuts could be draconian, less strategic and made under greater duress. This echoes Hegar, who has advised agencies to cut spending before lawmakers start deciding what will stay and what will go.

I find myself wondering about ERs, too. For a couple of months, we've gotten some data on what happens when people can't use ERs as the local free clinic for minor ailments. I'm looking forward to some analysis of the effects.

Greenshirting

The "dangerous" Michael Moore film "Planet of the Humans" has been retracted by its distributor.  The powers-that-be have declared that it contains misinformation, some of which contradicts the peer-reviewed consensus.

Maybe Moore can get to work now on a movie about censorship and herd mentality.

Taking a Piece of the Holy Land Home With You

If I ever make it to the Holy Land, I may have to get a tattoo.

It would be a fascinating memento of the journey, and, as of right now, would be a first for me.  It's apparently an old tradition, with deep and interesting roots going back centuries.  The only question would be which design?

Man People Hate Georgia

The most ironic aspect of this "Hitler responds to Georgia's reopening" is that they elected to adopt Hitler as being on their side. 

It's a festival of contempt that is probably by a northerner who moved to Atlanta, as they clearly know the state well (references to things like pollen, 'the same two colleges,' Waffle House, etc, are spot on).  It might be a native of Atlanta who has always hated most of the state, but they'd also have to be an introvert who hates the Southern way of greeting each other and talking to your neighbors.

The latter is hard on even slightly introverted people.  I raised my son to recognize when I was angling to exit a conversation, and never to say anything that would undermine the exit strategy I was employing.  Some of my neighbors will talk to you for hours if you don't find a way to duck out.

New Filing: Corrupt FBI Agents Committed Crimes to Frame Flynn

They’re going hard here.  I’m in danger of confirmation bias in this case, because I liked and admired Flynn for his work in Afghanistan. I never wanted to believe bad things about him, and may be too ready to believe good things.

On the other hand, it’s of a piece with many other revelations about the FBI and politics lately.

Blexit

Two stories today about black politicians leaving the plantation.

A Birthday

April 24th was my father's birthday. He died in 2016. He was killed by a cancer we didn't know he had until three days before it killed him; he died within hours of being transferred from the hospital to a hospice. I was at his right hand when he died, and alone marked his shuddering last breath; my mother and some of their old friends were too engaged in pleasant conversation and reminiscence to notice. I said nothing at all, for I think that the mind lingers a while even after the breathing stops, and I wanted his last moments to dwell on the peaceful sounds of voices, his wife's and her friends.

It's hard now that some people can't be with their fathers when they die, but it's hard being there too. The memory haunts me, knowing he was dying and taking no steps to save him. It was what he wanted, and I knew my duty, and I did it. He was a volunteer fire fighter who ran many, many medical calls to the homes of people who were dying. They could be revived with great pain and effort, and kept alive a little longer, suffering all the time. He knew that wasn't what he wanted, and he made his mind up early not to die that way. He told me that when he was hale, and often, so I knew that he meant it when he was not.

When his time came he decided. I was angry to see how much pain he was in, until suddenly it came over me that the pain was a great gift as from on high: because the pain took away all his fear. He did not experience the existential dread at the border of extinction, but set his course straight for death. I heard him say of his own death, refusing treatment and electing hospice care, "Let's get this show on the road."

He was the grandson of a farmer, and the son of a welder and body repairman who ended up owning a service station for long-haul truckers on I-75. I wrote about my grandfather, and my father, in one of my favorite pieces. My grandmother, his mother, had a good heart morally but a bad one physically; she took nitroglycerin and hard liquor from her 40s, in an age and a place when most women didn't drink. She outlived her husband by a decade or so all the same.

God love you, old man. I did too. I'd pray for him, and sometimes have, but I suspect his soul is in a far better case than mine.

Beware this Woman

Hear, O ye free, her hymn to Big Brother.

The Feast of St. George

If you’re looking for a reason to feel festive today, it’s the feast day of the famous dragonslayer.

UPDATE: By coincidence, since the date floats around due to the lunar calendar, today is also the first day of Ramadan. I’m not aware that any of the readers of the Hall are Muslim, but if you are, I wish you well. It was a strange Easter, and I imagine Passover, without family gatherings, and I suppose it will be a strange Ramadan too. Fate has given us all something in common.

Mainstream Constitutional notions provoke frenzy

Attorney General Barr is one of my favorite government officials.  He keeps giving interviews describing what sounds to me like straight-up common-sense Constitutional analysis.  I remain confused what his critics believe about how the law is supposed to work.

On the subject of the federal government's proper role in policing state governments, Barr states mildly that state governments have very broad police powers, but they are nevertheless subject to some federal Constitutional boundaries.  When citizens file suit in federal court to protest that a state government has trespassed those boundaries, the DOJ looks into it and, if it agrees, takes the citizens' side.

How this became either excessive federalism or a betrayal of federalist principles, I have no idea.  The only common thread seems to be abysmal ignorance of the Constitution.  Lately almost every day someone tries to argue to me that in a contest between state and federal governments and citizens, either the citizens always win, or the state always wins, or the federal government always wins.  None of those statements has ever been true.

Michael Moore pries one half of one eye open

Say, did you know that electric cars don't get their electricity from unicorns?

Yes, I know all of you did, but poor Michael Moore has just now noticed.  Apparently all that's left is to decimate and then impoverish humans, otherwise we're all going to die, which would be bad, or else good.

FAFO

That's a language warning too, if you look up the acronym. We're getting more of them these days. It's a function of the age.

Trump orders the Navy to sink Iranian gunboats that harass our warships.

Well past time, if you ask me. I'd have done that years ago.

A Punk Rock Interlude

I'm not convinced that Lars Frederiksen and the Bastards aren't the best punk rock band ever. Also, not Communists.



Lars also plays guitar for a much more famous punk/ska band, Rancid. There's even skateboarding in honor of our recent story.



Language warning on all this stuff. I mean, it's punk rock. You're all adults.

"And It's Ladies' Night, Tonight"

A classic rolls through town, bringing joy to those of us old enough to remember 1980.

Clear Rules

What's the problem people are having understanding this?

Georgia on my Mind

Harry O'Donoghue plays the piece at the beginning of his fifth quarantine podcast, "In Song and Story." If you like it, stick around because he sings a few more. Harry was a regular at Kevin Barry's Irish Pub, in the grand old days in Savannah.

Trump Says Georgia Should Not Re-Open

I'm curious to see if this will cause all my Georgia friends to switch sides on the question.  It's been completely tribal so far, with the Trump-supporters supporting re-opening a la Kemp, and Trump opponents supporting defying the governor by calling on everyone to remain inside until doomsday.

Until now Kemp has been in alignment with Trump, so you could signal your group allegiance cleanly. But now that the Orange Man has come out on the other side from Kemp, which loyalty prevails? Do you suddenly see the light on giving it a week or two more? Do you suddenly suggest that, you know, friends, we really could all use a good haircut right now?

Barr Defends Constitutional Liberties

He’s definitely saying the right things. We will have to watch for action.

Disobedience with Style

A city park in California built a facility for skateboarding. Skaters, not being famous for obeying authority, refused to stop coming in spite of orders. So, the city brought in tons of wet sand and filled the park.

So now they’ve got dirt bikes.

Civil disobedience

My county closed down the public beaches and boat ramps, not so much because they couldn't be used safely, as because the citizens vocally feared an influx of bored tourists fleeing quarantine in the teeming, scary, infected cities.  It surprised me:  I thought the voters would rebel, but instead a solid majority cheered the measure.

Several weeks have passed, however.  We have had only two confirmed COVID-19 cases, neither of which had to be hospitalized, and both are recovering, perhaps even past the presumed contagious phase.

Yesterday the local Navigation District commissioners met.  They are bound by the county's order, but most of the affected beaches and public boat ramps are in their geographical jurisdiction.  The Nav District voted to remove the barricades the county had asked them to place on the beaches and ramps, and announced their intention to ask the County Judge to modify his lockdown order.  In the meantime, everyone appears to acknowledge that the beaches and ramps technically still are closed, but no one from the Nav District or, apparently, the local police, intends to enforce the closure.  Part of the reasoning was that local short-term rentals are still prohibited, so we shouldn't face much of a tourist influx.

I foresee an upheaval in the next few weeks as counties begin to implement the governor's instructions to re-open businesses carefully, starting with curbside delivery.  A constituent called me earlier this week wanting to know whether the county was enforcing any requirement for take-out restaurant workers to wear masks.  There is no rule requiring food workers to wear masks, though I did encourage her not to patronize any restaurant whose safety practices didn't suit her.  She wanted to discuss her unhappiness with a particular restaurant.  I urged her not to eat there.  She wanted to talk about the special health needs of a live-in relative.  I suggested that, given that relative's special needs, she might want to consider not eating at any restaurants for the duration.  I mention her because I get the impression from social media that she's far from alone.  She wants to concentrate on limiting the freedom of others rather than on her own options for hunkering down in safety, at some minor inconvenience to herself, but at no serious cost.

As always, my concern is less with these inconveniences, and almost entirely with the people who are missing paychecks, and for whom the situation is getting critical.  Those of use who want or need to guard ourselves carefully are getting every opportunity to do so.  No one is making us go into any dangerous buildings.  The local hospitals are, if not exactly fine, at least no more inadequate than they ever were.  We're going to have to open the economy back up, carefully but soon.  Lots of masks and spacing, fine, but get those jobs back ASAP.  So I'm pleased to see at least one local government flex its muscles a bit, and I'm curious to see how the public reacts.