too hot to work for this pay
I wrote this 45 second melody. It’s a little jazzy.
If we were being served by the best and brightest, they’d want local innovation to guide the way.
But we’re not. We’re dealing with bullies.
The state of Florida, under Governor DeSantis (Yale ‘01, Harvard Law ‘05) has forbidden communities to set their own heat protections for workers.
Such local innovations as “water breaks” and “access to shade” would complicate business at the state level only if you refuse to let the best educated and wealthiest communities set the competitive bar.*
Instead, the party that consistently creates poverty will engineer a race to the bottom.
How workers today are treated during climate catastrophes (a lot more coming!) is a clear indication of what lies ahead.
Do we want a thriving state that is capable of securing a free and vibrant economy or a failed state that protects only a shrinking base of nihilists?
Speaking of Florida:
This video, which delighted me to tears of laughter, requires some unpacking.
Man: For us, this is more than a provocation, it’s also an indignation… The Cuban exile community is offended by this lack of humanity, this lack of respect by those who paid for this billboard, and those who accepted payment, because it’s not the first time that things like this occur.
Woman: And this is a mockery of the Cubans who are here, for the American citizens… for everyone, it’s a mockery because all Cubans are Trumpists, in the majority and in the totality…My name is [too Cuban for your humble translator to decipher] and I am an American citizen. If that billboard is not removed within 24 hours, we will close down this highway. Because the Cubans, the Americans, the Cubans who favor the US annexation of Cuba, we are in favor of Donald Trump.
If that’s not the perfectest example of fascism – “this impugns the character of my preferred leader, so take it down or I will break the economy” – well, IDK what could be better!
Alas, if only they’d done this on a college campus so our liberal elites would notice, let alone care.
The kids watched Pan's Labyrinth two days ago and gave it 11 out of ten stars.
It really is a perfect movie in every way.
And essential.
You may think you have better things to do than study the people who intend to dominate you, but they don’t share your sloth.
It’s literally their animating principle.
On a lighter ecclesiastical note:
A few weeks ago I snuck through this ditty about the pope being “gay coded” (he is!) which was mostly an excuse to share the original skit by the Italian-American comedian Britty Migs.
Having a sense of humor is how we stay sane.
Even if it’s occasionally gallows humor.
I hope you’re well.
footnote
*The data on education, median wealth and electoral preferences are crystal clear.