The Right-Cheek Ass Clown for September, 2021

As I sat down to consider potential recipients for September's first Ass Clown Award, I was prepared for the usual agonizing internal debate over the selection. This time, though, it seemed to me that there wasn't the least question about the winner. Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Readers, the award for 

The Right-Cheek Ass Clown for September, 2021

is presented - without the least shred of doubt or bit of competition - to joint winners

Texas Governor Greg Abbott

and

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis

The people of each state elect a governor to run their state governments. Each state has a constitution which underpins the state's laws, and each state's constitution reflects its history and society. You can read the Texas Constitution (all 252 pages of it) here, and the Florida Constitution (a mere 81 pages) here. Of note, the US Constitution establishes a government to "provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare*, and secure the Blessings of Liberty," but you may notice that neither Texas's nor Florida's constitution makes any mention of "promoting the general welfare." Neither does either constitution establish the maintenance of public health as a goal. In this regard, neither governor is violating their state's constitution when they enact laws and policies which clearly and obviously threaten the health and well-being of their citizens. 

However ...

Because both men have ignored and, indeed, made illegal the most basic measures which can protect their citizens from the ravages of Covid-19, I believe a case could be made that both men are guilty at worst of negligent homicide or, at the least, of depraved indifference. Both men are, for cheap political advantage, playing to the most insanely radical advocates of totally unrestricted freedom by imposing policies which expose their citizens to a deadly disease that has killed - as of this writing - more than six hundred fifty thousand people in this country. 

But the deliberate endangerment of their citizens' health in the midst of a pandemic is not all ...

In Texas, Governor Abbott has proudly signed a new law that, without specifically doing so, effectively ends the ability of women in that state to abort an unwanted pregnancy, even when that pregnancy results from rape or incest. The law does not make abortion (which - at the moment - is a right guaranteed under the US Constitution) illegal; in a case of diabolical quasi-legal ingenuity, it rewards citizens who turn in anyone who helps a woman obtain an otherwise legal abortion. Moreover, the law is specifically written so as to avoid any judicial review by ensuring that no government official or agency is involved in its enforcement. And if that weren't enough, Governor Abbot has also signed a new law which permits the open carry of firearms anywhere in the state, without any permit or training ... a law which Texas police note will make it more difficult and dangerous to perform their duties. What could possibly go wrong?

In Florida, Governor DeSantis has withheld the salaries of local school officials who tried to protect their students by mandating the wearing of masks in defiance of DeSantis's law forbidding mask mandates in schools ... a law he characterizes as protecting the rights of parents to make decisions about their childrens' health, at a time when Covid infection rates for Florida children are soaring.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Readers, the award for the Right-Cheek Ass Clown for September, 2021 is presented jointly to Texas Governor Greg Abbott and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, each of whom also rates a score of 3,000,000 on the Gohmert Stupidity Scale. They are terrible and proudly self-confident threats to public health and welfare, and the award is more than they deserve.

Have a good day. Come back tomorrow for Cartoon Saturday. More thoughts then.

Bilbo

* The italics are mine.