And we’re back!!
I returned from my international explorations yesterday afternoon to a balmy 12° Chicago, having enjoyed my lukewarm Christmas dinner somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean. Upon arriving at the airport, the no-nonsense customs official told me, “You think this is bad, check out the news in Buffalo”, and readers, that man was not joking.
The winter storm that swept across the country this week has resulted in dozens of deaths, with New York suffering the worst damage. The footage out of Buffalo and upstate New York could be ripped straight from the cinematic classic “The Day After Tomorrow”, (starring Dennis Quaid as Jake Gyllenhaal’s father). Reports are still emerging of people stranded in their cars for days on frozen roads, with emergency services overwhelmed and the National Guard being called in.
Ironically, the budget recently passed by this great nation’s government allots more money for military and police than everything else combined ($858 BILLION for military/policing and $772.5 billion for everything else). At a time when more than a million are without power, with tens of thousands lacking housing and dozens of people literally freezing to death on the streets, those in power have made clear that the plan is to police us through the collapse of society, rather than try and prevent it. Merry Christmas indeed.
Side Items
Icy Welcome: In yet another PR stunt by Texas governor Greg “Hot Wheels” Abbott, three buses carrying more than 100 migrants were dropped off outside vice president Kamala Harris’s home this weekend, in freezing temperatures and without any guidance on where to go. Abbott abandoned men, women and children on the side of the road in below-freezing temperatures on Christmas Eve without coordinating with any federal or local authorities, and for what? On the bright side, that man will probably not be rolling his way through the pearly gates
Villainous Obama: Instead of contributing to society in any measurable or meaningful way, former leader of the free world Barack Obama released his annual “favorite musical playlist that no one asked for”, including in it one of the last songs featuring the inimitable rapper MF DOOM. The willful ignorance on display here is layered considering DOOM was prevented from returning to the US by the Obama administration due to his immigration status, although he grew up in New York. He left on an international tour in 2012 and died abroad in 2020, unable to return to the country he called home. The song knocks though
Don’t Mess With Texas: Last week, miniature rapper Tory Lanez was found guilty of three felony counts relating to shooting Megan Thee Stallion in 2020. That undersized man will be spending a great deal of time in federal custody, but even as an abolitionist I don’t feel too sorry for him, considering his unapologetic and baffling behavior leading up to the jury’s decision