Georgia’s
Gun Tantrum
Politicians and little children in big box stores like Walmart are
legendary for throwing embarrassing temper tantrums. The kind of embarrassing tantrums that make
you want to smack the parents for wanting to breed these hell-monsters. (And, yes, that includes
the parents of the politicians.)
Worse yet, many of these tantrums are deliberate. They’re done to embarrass the world so they
can get their way. (And, yes, we’re still
including the politicians.)
Following the brutal
massacre in Parkland Florida, and the subsequent
jihadist cries of “persecution” from the National Rifle Association at the
Conservative Political Action Conference the following weekend, many businesses
decided wisely to cut
their ties with the NRA. This included
perks for NRA members, branded credit cards, insurance deals, and streaming
access to online NRA programming.
Everything so far falls into typical cause-and-effect in the business
world. You embarrass yourself to the
world, and the business community decides they don’t want to do business with
you.
Enter Georgia’s jihadist-conservative politicians.
Casey Cagle is Georgia’s current lieutenant governor and heir apparent
come this November’s election (as of this column’s
posting) to be the next governor.
As the legislature is still in session, Cagle has political power over
bills up for consideration. Cagle decided
to punish Delta Air Lines, Atlanta’s dominant hometown airline, for
“daring” to end their discount program with the NRA.
"I will kill any tax
legislation that benefits @Delta unless the company changes its position and
fully reinstates its relationship with @NRA," said
Crybaby Cagle. "Corporations cannot attack
conservatives and expect us not to fight back."
Now
think about that for a moment. Delta did
not “attack” conservatives. They made a
business move against a political action committee that is notorious for influencing
politicians. But Crybaby Cagle, through
his temper tantrum, now infers that he and his legislative buddies are in bed
with said notorious political action committee.
No wonder why nobody is upset about the President sleeping around with
porn stars and centerfold models!
So
Crybaby Cagle decided to punish Delta by
stripping out a $40 million tax break for airline fuel purchases
from a huge tax reform bill that was still being discussed during this
tantrum. Then they rush the bill over to
the desk of Governor Nathan “Raw” Deal for him to sign after giving his own
stern rebuke at Crybaby Cagle and the other Georgia conservatives who are
sleeping with the NRA.
“Ours is a welcoming state, the epitome of Southern hospitality,”
said “Raw” Deal. “We were not elected to give the late-night
talk show hosts further fodder for their monologues, or to act with the type of
immaturity that has caused so many in our society to be skeptical about
politics.”
This
commentator agrees about the former, Governor, but, seriously, did you even pay
attention to the 2016 Farce and the type of people that got elected?
So...
tantrum made, state is embarrassed, the Governor scolds his partisan whores, signs
the fruit of said tantrum, and Delta is now screwed out of a potential $40 million
surplus off what they currently pay in taxes for fuel. Delta then issues a statement saying that
their own values were
not “for sale”, unlike the whores of
the Georgia legislature who were caught in bed with the NRA. So... that’s that.
And
then this commentator did something that nobody wants us to do... I took a look
at what was being screwed.
And
I realize that what Crybaby Cagle did was actually a good thing for the State
of Georgia.
Think
for a minute about the target of Crybaby Cagle’s tantrum. It was about the elimination of the taxes
paid for purchasing airline fuel. The
tax money generated from airline fuel purchases goes to supplement county
education systems.
Now
prior to the Parkland massacre, “nobody knew how” this tax break got included
in the overall state tax reform bill and “nobody really wanted” this tax break
to be put in, except, of course, for too-big-too-fail airlines like Delta. This was one of those “good ol’ boy” arrangements
that get worked in. You know, give the
working people penny breaks while quietly giving the huge breaks to big
corporations. And, believe me, forty million
dollars is nothing to sneeze at!
In
early February, students and teachers held various
protests against the proposed tax
break. This tax break was going to strip
needed money from local education here in Georgia! In fact, the day before the Parkland
massacre, Delta officials were
working with Clayton County to try to find some
way to keep the county education system funded while getting that tax break
that they and only they seemed to want.
But
now, thanks to Crybaby Cagle and his political tantrum, Clayton County and the
other counties in Georgia will continue to get that tax money.
And
I have to wonder… was that tantrum staged?
Remember
that “nobody really wanted” that tax break for Delta. It was just a typical example of “good ol’ boy”
politics. And who wants to take money
away from local education? That’s a
political sacred cow that you don’t dare threaten! It was an embarrassment just to have that tax
cut exposed in the local media.
And
you’ll notice that only Delta was singled out in Crybaby Cagle’s tantrum. Not Bank of America or Dick’s Sporting Goods
or any of the other corporations that distanced themselves from the NRA. No.
Only one company whose special tax cut that “nobody wanted” and “nobody
knew” how it got there was just up for a vote.
How convenient!
Let’s
get brutally honest here… I don’t know for certain that this was deliberate,
but, if it was, then Crybaby Casey Cagle staged a masterful political
maneuver. Counties still get their tax
money for schools. The NRA and their
whores in the GOP legislature get their perverse sense of satisfaction. And Delta is still reaping in obscene
profits, so they’re not going to be hurt continuing to pay for the tax. So… nobody loses in this!
But
that’s not to say “no harm, no foul”, because Crybaby Cagle’s tantrum still embarrasses
the state. It still reduces the state
legislature into being petty and outright fascistic, not to mention deep in bed
with a seemingly unstable jihadist lobbying group. And with Georgia still betting the farm on
being the “second headquarters” to Amazon, that is not a good image to project
to a West Coast corporation with tens of thousands of jobs on the line.
Even
if we didn’t have to worry about Amazon, Crybaby Cagle’s tantrum – even with
the best intentions behind it – still sends the wrong message to other
companies. It tells the business
community that Georgia’s dominant and domineering political faction is unstable
and petty and narcissistic. That we’re
not really as “modern” as we pretend to be.
The
film and TV industry have already made it clear numerous times that their continued
operation in the state is only for as long as they feel welcomed there. The fascistic GOP have tested that with
certain bills that have ultimately failed.
Do you think that this growing industry in the state will continue to operate
with an unstable political faction making it clear that they are not welcomed? How about the companies that have been here
for years? How many of those executives
are now considering options elsewhere after Crybaby Cagle’s tantrum?
The
problem with dealing with temperamental spoiled brats is that you can’t really
deal with them, especially if they’re not yours. And that’s true with the grown-up
versions. You can’t punish the parents, and
you can’t punish the brats. You can only
put up with them until hopefully they go away.
But with the grown-up version, I’ll add this little addendum: if you
voted for them, if they’re in your district, then you need to be the
responsible ones. If the state is embarrassed
because of them, if the state loses businesses because of them, then that’s on
us as voters. That’s our brat throwing the
tantrum. It is high time we own up to it
and do to them what we can’t do to the Walmart ones.
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