Apparently I’m more uninformed than informed on numerous issues of the day. For example, I cannot for the life of me, understand why one of the main issues in the Mississippi gubernatorial campaign has become whether or not Brandon Presley is in favor of, or opposed to, sex change operations for minors.
Constant television commercials for Governor Tate Reeves say Presley is in favor of such surgeries. Constant television commercials for his opponent, Presley, says nope, absolutely not, never have been, never will be in favor of such surgeries.
I had no idea such surgeries were that big of a problem in Mississippi. I just did not know.
At the same time though, an elderly neighbor of mine at our weekend house at the Ross Barnett Reservoir fell ill last week and was rushed to a Jackson hospital by ambulance. Her daughter, a nurse, hoped that if she were taken in by ambulance to the emergency room she would have a better chance of being evaluated more quickly.
After four hours on a gurney in the hallway of the hospital she finally saw a doctor. Four hours! Sounds like the COVID-19 pandemic all over again.
Now, again, I may be very uninformed, but I have not seen a whole lot of commercials from either side about what the two candidates plan to do to help out the hospital situation in this state. Especially in the rural Delta areas of this state.
Gov. Reeves, the Republican, has said over and over gain no, nope, nadda, never, to Medicaid expansion, and Presley, as a Democrat, obviously is in favor of expansion.
That is not, however, the issue they are touting on the commercials that are aired during morning and evening news. Granted, we only get a couple of television channels with our antenna and they are spotty at their best, but still all we’ve seen lately are the spots about sex change operations for minors.
Has that ever even happened in Mississippi?
Then on Monday the governor’s campaign sent out a press release concerning mask mandates. COVID-19 type mask mandates.
That is another topic I did not realize was being tossed around as an option. Perhaps it is that spotty television reception.
This is what the governor said:
“Mississippians will not and should not submit to fear again. In the early days of COVID, there was understandable uncertainty. We did not yet know what we were facing. As the months unfolded, it became clear that there were two pandemics. A disease that was easy to spread and that was deadly for many vulnerable people. And a pandemic of fear stoked by ‘the expert class’ that demanded total subjugation of the American people.
“In the first days of national unity, it seemed ridiculous to assume that bureaucrats and ‘experts’ were trying to seize power. Now, it seems ridiculous to assume they wouldn’t try it again.
“The simple answer to the question being posed by ‘experts’ is: no. We will not return to widespread masking or COVID rules.
“If you want to take extraordinary measures to protect yourself from getting sick, God bless you. That is your right and you should do what you think is best. Maybe you’re the smartest of all of us. But we are never going back to 2020.
“People have a right to make their own decisions. To decide how much risk they tolerate. And no matter what pronouncements come down from the Biden/Fauci administration: we will go to school, we will go to church, we will go to work, and we will play sports. We will live in self-determination, not top-down fear.”
Now, from what I’ve seen there are lots of folks that have made mask-wearing part of their every day life — not an “extraordinary measure” — in 2023. It doesn’t bother me if a store clerk has on a mask or not. Currently I don’t wear a mask — don’t even know where one is at my house right now. I’m sure if I thought it an issue I could find one pretty quickly.
But my question, again, is when did that become an issue in the current gubernatorial campaign. Maybe it isn’t and this was just some random press release. As of this writing I had not seen a response from the Presley campaign. Personally I just don’t see it as a huge campaign issue at all, but that’s just me.
I suppose, right now, today, I might consider COVID-19 masking more pressing than banning sex change operations for minors but that is only because I’ve seen COVID kill, I have not seen any boys become girls, or girls become boys for that matter. Especially not here in Scott County.
I guess the best thing to do might be just go sit on the front porch and turn off the television all together. Like I said, I’m already feeling like I am pretty much uninformed, and that is “with” watching the news — morning and night! That is when the antenna is working, of course!
