The Right-Cheek Ass Clown for September, 2023

It's that time again - a new month has dawned and with it the need to consider our next Ass Clown award winner. As always in this bizarre year, there are plenty of "worthy" candidates, but as I look at the field today, a winner seems clear. Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Readers, I am presenting the award for 

The Right-Cheek Ass Clown for September, 2023

to

Florida

We've all enjoyed the songs of the late Jimmy Buffett and the novels of Carl Hiaasen that tell stories of the funny, crazy, free-spirited denizens of the Sunshine State, and we've laughed at the misadventures of the archetypal "Florida Man," but the truth of today's Florida is far more dispiriting and less entertaining than we might wish.

While a strong argument could be made also for awards to Texas, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, or other deep red states, the degree of Florida's ass clownery currently stands out for many reasons, particularly given the leadership of its angry would-be tsar of a governor, Ron "Don't Say Gay" DeSantis*. 

Mr DeSantis is proud of thundering that "Florida is where woke goes to die," and if one accepts the general definition of "woke" as "aware of and actively attentive to important societal facts and issues (especially issues of racial and social justice)," this is certainly true. Florida has been in the forefront of often-petty restrictions on the personal freedoms of LGBTQ citizens, draconian abortion restrictions, the banning of books considered undesirable by conservative activists, and the hounding and degradation of immigrants (whether legal, illegal, or suspected-possibly-to-be-illegal). 

Florida has also become a caring and nurturing environment for unrepentant Nazis who, encouraged by the governor, a deeply conservative and aging population, and the angry and vituperative presence of Der Furor, parade shamelessly, threateningly, and without fear of arrest.

At one time, this cartoon might have been funny. Today, it's shockingly real ...

Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Readers, the place once known as The Sunshine State is designated as the Right-Cheek Ass Clown for September, 2023. It may be a while before the sunshine returns; for now, it's where rational behavior and simple human decency go to die.

Have a good day. Stay cool. More thoughts tomorrow, when Cartoon Saturday takes a look at what happens when you get the rain you've hoped for. A year's worth. All at once. See you then.

Bilbo

* Himself a three-time Ass Clown awardee: September 2021 Right-Cheek (Shared with Texas Governor Greg Abbott), April 1922 Left-Cheek, and May 2023 Left-Cheek.