Defend the Indefensible: Mississippi

you'll never catch me defending this place

― the presidential candidate inside me (WmC), Thursday, June 30, 2011 10:58 AM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark

I'd like for you to try.

Mark Twains!

that's missourah

Off to a good start.

I once parked the car outside an International House of Pancakes south of Jackson, went inside, and within five minutes, had a fully cooked ham steak with scrambled eggs, hashbrowns and fresh fruit. I'm still impressed with the service there.

Graceland, too!

No, that's Memphis.

The McDonalds salad bar in Tupelo had a stained glass sneeze guard with the king depicted on it.

Now this was 25 years ago, when McDonalds had salad bars.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U61JP4KkFKc

Welty and Faulkner:
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/62/202147139_15c8103723.jpg

Good literary tradition, great cost of living. That's all I got.

Lots of Mississippi musicians including Muddy Waters (born McKinley Morganfield) and RL Burnside

Jim Henson

Medgar Evers, civil rights leader was from Mississippi

Stoplight Cameras are banned in Mississippi for ticketing purposes.

PP, I think the Elvis McDonald's is closed now...I don't know if their memorabilia was moved to any of the other locations in Tupelo.

I'm sure they had quite the run.

http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01403/mississippi_1403900c.jpg

If it wasn't for Mississippi, then Arkansas would have to be last in everything.

Stoplight Cameras are banned in Mississippi for ticketing purposes.

man idg the logic behind a law like this, beyond "we want people to be able to break the law"

http://www.kohnmusicstore.com/peavey.jpg

x-post
Keeps police employed to give out tickets

you can have both!

there's the usual suspects - music and folk art traditions, some pretty decent writers, unhealthy but awesome food. low cost of living and some good folks here and there, but on balance i still say fuck it. these dicks have been tea-partying for 30 years and look where it gets them. idiots.

I've been to Clarksdale (before Morgan Freeman opened his place there,) visited the Delta Blues Museum, spent the night camping at the state park in Rosedale, and drove from there down to Vicksburg. I've also been to Tupelo. Good eats, friendly people and lots of photo ops along the way.

Being from the north, the southern way of letting things sit and slowly decay is interesting to me. (I guess the New Roxy theater in Clarksdale is undergoing some sort of renovation, but when I was there the ceilings and walls were open to the elements and vegetation.) And some of the most immaculate (and faux-colonial) roadside rests are in MS.

http://www.jimgroutphotography.com/Photography/Around-the-country/Roxy-Theatre/1059104120_26YwV-L-1.jpg
http://www.bfasblondeau.com/assets2/11_bitner/2011-03-17/works/disp/NewRoxy600.jpg

http://www.vikingmixer.net/Vike.jpg

these dicks have been tea-partying for 30 years

that's low balling it

Yeah but, except for Haley Barbour and one other, Mississippi has had Democratic governors for about a hundred years.

The Mississippi Legislature did finally vote to ratify the 13th Amendment of the Constitution.

In 1995.

FAT POSSUM

that's low balling it

true. i'm more or less talking about the modern era of modern era of conservative taking hold and choking the ever-living shit out of everything around it in such a despicable, all-encompassing fashion. people are still jacking it to Reagan kicking off his '80 campaign at the Neshoba County Fair.

http://www.presidentsrus.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/reagan-neshoba-wide.jpg

Yeah but, except for Haley Barbour and one other, Mississippi has had Democratic governors for about a hundred years.

Solid South Democrats is kind of a different animal though. Not exactly progressive.

Yeah, true.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TyzAAwJnIw

I am confident that somewhere in Mississippi I could get some damned good fried chicken. I'm not sure what else there is to recommend the place.

I was born in Columbus, MS, guys!

Columbus Air Force Base, to be exact.

wait is that for the pro or con column?

Alfred is a Southerner. I have to sit down for a spell on this one.

I too was born at Columbus AFB. Have lived in Columbus, Starkville, Noxapater, Jackson

well, my Cuban-American dad was stationed at that air force base for three years at the tail end of Vietnam.

same here, minus the Cuban-American part

Dad loves to joke that I cost $4

I already knew andrew m was a Southerner. He's got a reserved table at Rendezvous.

Replace Rendezvous with Neely's Interstate and you're right on. Charlie Virgo's been hit-or-miss for last coupla years and we grew apart.

any name can be better with Mississippi in front of it
ie.
"Mississippi Walter Mondale"

i cant spell missisipi without spell check and I dont give a shit

Like most Mississippians with some sense and moxie, alfred no longer lives there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qm6M7pj2tT4

I was born in heidelberg, germany on an army base. i cost something like a buck to be born. plus the doctor told my mother to drink two pints of beer a day while pregnant with me

multiple xposts

Hero.

No it wasnt that tough, all i had to do was kind of come out of her.

But thanks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1NdsBpK0rE&feature=related

"and he gave me a 12-side die that he begged me to roll seven times...but nevermind that"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZt5Q-u4crc

There are a lot of place-names in Mississippi that I love to just roll around in my mouth -- Noxapater...Splunge...Tombigbee...Itta Bena...

I guess I have no sense or moxie. ;_;

I said "most", not "all". ;-)

I was born in Bratwursterstizen, germany on an army base. i cost something like a dead seahorse in a jar to be born. plus the doctor told my mother to drink two pints of Octopus blood a day while pregnant with me

xp Itta Bena came up just the other day. Can't remember the context.

Re place names, also like Nanih Waiya. Noxapater's cross-county rival. Cool native American mound there too.

Itta Bena came up for me too. UAPB's traveling there to play against MVS this year.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_KY1Ez0TsjN8/TUF7MUKbYII/AAAAAAAAMPs/0Oof7S9XAMg/s1600/94156229.jpg
written in the Sargasso sea of Missisisipi

Last time I attended the King Biscuit Festival in Helena AR, sometime in the 90s, my buddy got to chatting up Junior Kimbrough pretty well. He invited us to see him play at his juke joint in Chulahoma, but that would have been a far drive for two drunk northerners. Still wish we could have pulled it off.

I was born in Bratwursterstizen, germany on an army base. i cost something like a dead seahorse in a jar to be born. plus the doctor told my mother to drink two pints of Octopus blood a day while pregnant with me

― coffeetripperspillerslyricmakeruppers (Latham Green), Thursday, June 30, 2011 12:38 PM (30 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I enjoyed nailing your mother. I didnt realize anything came from it, however. Nice to meet you.

...

You are King Mermaid!! At last give me your nectars!!

hahahahaha

i really enjoyed the two times i went to mississippi, kinda would like to go back.

plz describe said enjoyments, of what they consisted.

We should trade houses for a month. xpost

the one time I went to Mississippi was the first time I heard some use the word "jew" as a verb and the only time that the person saying it was being serious

on the same trip, after I told this one dude how nice his house and neighborhood was and how I'd like to live someplace like that someday, he told me that that was nice but they liked to make sure only the right kind of people moved into their neighborhood, after which he stared at me and asked, "Do you understand what I am saying?"

not too many positive impressions of Tupelo, MS

http://petcaretips.net/foghorn_henery.jpg

the one time I went to Mississippi was the first time I heard some use the word "jew" as a verb and the only time that the person saying it was being serious.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97nAvTVeR6o

I wasn't counting ppl I haven't actually met but that came afterward

xo Dan, good friend is currently great with Junior Kimbrough's grandbaby. Sometime ILXOR Ai Lien is busy planning a baby shower. Weird, eh?

that made sense, right?

uhhh...

http://hanlepedia.wikia.com/wiki/Mississippi

D4vid Kimbrough and my friend are having a kid. We're handling baby shower duties. That's what I meant.

Tupelo is The Worst. it's like the shittiest aspects of Mississippi distilled.

Don Wildmon territory IIRC

em-eye-ess-ess-eye-ess-ess-eye-pee-pee- eye <<fun to spell!

its most important use in life is helping with counting time

on the same trip, after I told this one dude how nice his house and neighborhood was and how I'd like to live someplace like that someday, he told me that that was nice but they liked to make sure only the right kind of people moved into their neighborhood, after which he stared at me and asked, "Do you understand what I am saying?"

― DJP, Thursday, June 30, 2011 2:23 PM (33 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

'i was just being nice, i would not actually like to live here at all'

M-I-crooked letter-crooked letter-I
Crooked letter-crooked letter-I
humpback-humpback-I

(xpost) Ah, "is currently great' -- I feel like I'm doing cryptic crosswords. That's very cool.

I still look back at that Junior Kimbrough show with such amazement. It wasn't on the main stage at King Biscuit, we sat along the levee at some farm implement dealership amongst backhoes and such, whilst Kimbrough droned psychedelicly. Bizarre and awesome.

lets face it, its a hot dump

Dr. Dirt used to be the cohost of a gardening/horticulture radio show on MS Public Broadcasting. The host is a southern-horticulture expert and a real dick. (I used to work with his brother at Ole Miss; unsurprisingly, he too was a dick.)

Will otm about Tupelo. But somebody has opened a new bar there with 20 taps and 100+ bottled beers, which is real progress for that John Birch Society Southeast Regional HQ.

srsly, visiting that town pretty much killed any vestigial desire I had to live someplace that wasn't a large, major city

wait I thought you lived in boston

parse the sentence, iatee...

oh come on at least we're SUBTLE about our racism up here in the mid-atlantic suburbs

oh wait, I see what you did there (maybe) xp

like, maybe I don't know 95% of my neighbors, but on the flipside they aren't organizing a mob to run me out of town so I'm basically all good

several xps: lol NYC, how ya doin'

yeah the drive dang perry out of somerville chapter i attempted to launch never really got off the ground :/

Mississippi is one of twelve states in which I've had sex.

D. Kimbrough used to come kick it in Oxford and jam with some of my musician friends. he was a good-looking, smooth-talking SOB (circa 95-96). used to bring us moonshine, too. saw Junior in his old juke joint Junior's Place before it burned.

Mississippi, the state where things like this still happen

I mean jeez at least in Oakland we make sure the racists murdering black guys wear uniforms

I bust out the same schtick every time there's an "I hate Texas!"/"I hate Florida!"/whatever thread so I'll just do the abbreviated version here: there are good, wonderful, creative people everywhere, and if it makes you feel awesome about yourself to go "well in [Texas, Florida, Mississippi, whatever] they're the EXCEPTION, most everybody there is horrible and you know it" etc., knock yrself out but I'd rather live in Mississippi than in a house full of people who puff themselves up by hating on places like Mississippi instead of finding some way to add to the available fund of good in the world

This thread is an invitation to Jonah Goldberg to whine about liberal east coast bias.

I mean jeez at least in Oakland we make sure the racists murdering black guys wear uniforms

you actually said this

referring to recent case where BART cop shot an unarmed, handcuffed black man in the back of the head, yes

also for the record I big upped Fat Possum already in this thread, and only posted the story here cuz it seems like the most recently active, relevant thread

there is lots of great stuff from Mississippi

also donated to available good fund earlier but am kinda in a bad mood at the moment

I bust out the same schtick every time there's an "I hate Texas!"/"I hate Florida!"/whatever thread

To be fair, this was fully intended as a thread for people to rise to Mississippi's defense. WMC lives there and was said it was indefensible and I called him on it.

A while back I was casting a critical eye at my own state of Maryland, a majority liberal, Democratic stalwart of a state and despite of that, there's still definitely a strong conservative presence and I've encountered plenty of racism, both first-hand and in the news. And in spite of a strong conservative, racist presence in Miss., the 2008 Presidential election went 56% McCain 42% Obama and so like, that's a huge lead obviously, but it's closer to an even split than you'd think, given all the horror stories that people tell about the state. And there are demographic and class considerations and all that shit to factor in, but whatever.

What's Mississippi's nature like? That's one of my main considerations when judging a state. Is there somewhere good to go there when the weather's nice?

It's a conservative Bible-belt state full of horrendously undereducated folks scared by their pastors and Fox News into voting against their own economic self-interest. As everywhere, there are generous, open-hearted people, and there are brutes.

xpost -- lots of hunting and fishing, lakes and state parks, a not-particularly-clean beach on our tiny strip of coastline. Oppressively hot and humid from May through mid-September, not cold enough to get much snow in the winter, wonderful for two months each in spring and fall. Not much variation in elevation until you get to the far northeast corner, so there aren't any dramatic nature formations.

Nice state for bird-watching.

Also, I didn't say the state was indefensible, I said I wasn't going to be the one doing the defending. (But of course I occasionally do anyway.)

hate to see the old roxy

not cold enough to get much snow in the winter

this speaks in favor of MS, snow is terrible & should be outlawed

Well, this is changing. Until the last couple of years, we'd have a measurable snowfall roughly once a decade. This past winter, we had 3", 5" and 6" school-letter-outters.

It's legal to drink alcohol while driving in Mississippi, as long as your BAC stays below .08%

And there are demographic and class considerations and all that shit to factor in, but whatever.

― walloginabox (kkvgz)

[Living in a redneck, white-trash, hillbilly neighborhood - Advice?

I just heard a story from old friends who spent one year in Jackson after law school. The week they moved in, my friend Jen answered a knock at the door to find two personable local women who greeted her and said "welcome to Jackson, we'd love to show you around." My friend immediately offered that she was both Catholic and a Democrat, and the two women simply turned around and walked away.

Anyway, most of Mississippi is the dud by which all other duds are judged, but boy is Oxford a lovely little town. Just 10 hours from Chicago!

a former boss was born and raised in Mississippi ... he's also gay and Catholic. tough little queen!

I was born in Bratwursterstizen, germany on an army base. i cost something like a dead seahorse in a jar to be born. plus the doctor told my mother to drink two pints of Octopus blood a day while pregnant with me

― coffeetripperspillerslyricmakeruppers (Latham Green), Thursday, June 30, 2011 12:38 PM (6 days ago) Bookmark

hanle y is back YAY

http://scrapetv.com/News/News%20Pages/Business/images-3/redneck-toilet.jpg

tbf that picture could've been taken at off-campus housing at my fancy NE alma mater

Off-campus. That could probably be take on campus at most big schools.

tru dat to the both of yas ... i may've seen such a thing back at Rutgers back in the day

I think the story Shakey Mo linked to upthread was about James Craig Anderson's murder. Anyway, the shitbag who ran him over changed his plea to guilty today.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/21/justice/mississippi-hate-crime/index.html

We're number one!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/10/teen-pregnancy-rates_n_1413820.html

The Little Big Store, Raymond, Miss.

Big World by Mary Miller
Cowboy Maloney's Electric City by Michael Bible

Two fantastic little books. The latter I picked up based on the title alone because, growing up in Jackson, Cowboy Maloney's was so ubiquitous. Should we get our new TV at Cowboy or REX?! Bible's definitely up on his Donald Barthelme and Letters to Wendy's. Good stuff. Mary Miller has the Fred Barthelme vibe, and in fact she thanks him in the book and I'm guessing she studied under him in Hattiesburg. So yeah.

/Big World/ by Mary Miller
/Cowboy Maloney's Electric City/ by Michael Bible

Two fantastic little books. The latter I picked up based on the title alone because, growing up in Jackson, Cowboy Maloney's was so ubiquitous. Should we get our new TV at Cowboy or REX?! Bible's definitely up on his Donald Barthelme and /Letters to Wendy's/. Good stuff. Mary Miller has the Fred Barthelme vibe, and in fact she thanks him in the book and I'm guessing she studied under him in Hattiesburg. So yeah.

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2013/02/mississippi-officially-abolishes-slavery-ratifies-13th-amendment/

Mississippi School Forces Students To Listen To Christian Lecture, Teachers Block Exits

I don't care what aero says, I hate this goddamn fucking state.

never been to mississippi, or the so-called "deep" south, but it has always had a sort of dark mystique for me, probably due to my teenage infatuation with faulkner. when i think of mississippi i think of spanish moss, humidity, and guilt. also like, a state full of people i have nothing in common with. glad i don't live there.

is this the easiest or hardest PR project ever?

http://mississippibelieveit.com/home/

No Black. No White. Just The Blues.

Some see the world in black and white. Others see varying shades of gray. But, Mississippi taught the world to see ... and hear ... the Blues. Charlie Patton, Robert Johnson, W.C. Handy, John Lee Hooker, Bo Diddly, Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Little Milton, B.B. King ... they all travelled the most revered blues highway in the world – Mississippi’s Highway 61. Mississippi. Birthplace of the Blues.

mississippi taught us all that color doesn't really matter

i've been to clarksdale just recently and yeah 'blues tourism' is pretty weird

Faulkner and the blues are enough to defend mississippi, which i always think of rightly or wrongly as our most "tragic" state.

What started on an airplane as a conversation between a 12-year-old boy from Connecticut and a Mississippi businessman led to the creation of Mississippi, Believe It!™ The boy asked Rick Looser, COO of The Cirlot Agency, if he, "still saw the KKK on the streets every day" ... and whether or not he "hates all black people." This stunning revelation was the catalyst to create the campaign, which combats the erroneous stereotypes that plague Mississippi. The Cirlot Agency designed Mississippi, Believe It!™, pro bono, to inform and educate the world about the accomplishments, wonderful people, aspects and facts associated with the state of Mississippi. The campaign takes common Mississippi stereotypes and twists them to reveal the truth about the state.

Wait i said basically the same thing at the last revive. Sorry all. State tourism PR campaigns are generally lol

No Black. No White. Just The Blues.

wow 2nd time i've read this quoted today. here was the first:

http://www.oxfordamerican.org/articles/2013/may/28/arterial-america-dispatch-jackson/

is this the easiest or hardest PR project ever?

http://mississippibelieveit.com/home/

― goole, Wednesday, May 29, 2013 4:20 PM (49 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

hasn't been updated in five years from what i can tell, so i guess they were successful!

Yes, we wear shoes.
A few of us even wear cleats.

Mississippi Could Soon Jail Women for Stillbirths, Miscarriages

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/05/buckhalter-mississippi-stillbirth-manslaughter

http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2013/06/lawsuit-mississippi-prison-mentally-ill

Mississippi based singer Ms. Jody though did a nice gig up my way in Maryland recently

So many relatives who live in DeSoto County I'll never visit. Sad, really.

basically memphis suburb now, right? as a kid, desoto county soccer teams were the ones to beat.

Aw, does that mean you'll never come visit me either, PP?

http://www.deepsouthprogressive.com/2013/09/bryant-defies-supreme-court-pentagon-federal-benefits-gay-service-members.html

"The governor don’t like same-sex marriage"

"...derp-derp," added the governor's spokesman.

Have no memory of my last post in this thread, btw.

the governor don't like subject-verb agreement. to same-y. like homo-sexual marriage.

DeSoto County

Mississippi judge ejects Sikh from court for refusing to remove ‘that rag’ from his head

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/09/27/mississppi-judge-ejects-sikh-from-court-for-refusing-to-remove-that-rag-from-his-head/

"Take the rag away from your head, now's not the time for your beard"

http://thedmonline.com/upd-investigating-discovery-of-noose-and-flag-on-meredith-statue/

http://wdam.images.worldnow.com/images/24843507_BG1.jpg

asshole sonofabitch

http://www.governorbryant.com/governor-bryant-signs-senate-bill-2681-mississippi-religious-freedom-restoration-act/

Lame. But Mississippi has a nice hiphop influenced dance company who are the subject of a reality show on the Lifetime channel that I stumbled upon:

Founded in 2001 by Dianna Williams, or "Miss D," the Dancing Dolls of Jackson, Mississippi, ages 7 to 17, are said to be one of the country's preeminent dance troupes, with over 15 Grand Champion titles and more than 100 trophies under their belt.

http://blogs.indiewire.com/shadowandact/lifetime-launches-new-series-set-in-elite-world-of-hip-hop-majorette-competitions-watch-preview

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-watch/wp/2014/05/15/new-case-again-demonstrates-duplicity-of-embattled-mississippi-medical-examiner/?hpid=z3

This stunning revelation was the catalyst to create the campaign, which combats the erroneous stereotypes that plague Mississippi

...and which the politicians of Mississippi choose to reinforce every day!

Ugh.

yeah that article was horrifying.

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal-a/2014_05/the_abandonment_meme_in_the_mi050483.php

criminal conspiracy charges against three people other than the original suspect, blogger “Constitutional Clayton” Kelly—to take photos of Rose Cochran in a Mississippi nursing facility:

I saw that today. What in the hell.

Defending Thad Cochran, didn't know it was possible in my mind.

This has been a crazy-ass story. I thought about voting in the Republican primary for McDaniel, in the spirit of "let's get all the crazy out in the open," but this whole thing is radioactive to me now. I'll vote for Childers in November, but he's going to get his head handed to him on a stick.

http://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/2014/05/23/madison-county-judge-accused-racial-abuse/9518717/

Can anyone school me on this guy and his movie doc? This is happening in D.C. this week at the Library of Congress

Thursday, June 5, 2014
12:00 Noon to 1:00 pm
West Dining Room, Sixth Floor, James Madison Building

Michael Ford.

Homeplace Mississippi: a Cultural Journey, presented by Documentarian Michael Ford, Yellow Cat Productions, Washington, DC

During the early 1970s, filmmaker Michael Ford lived in and documented traditional music, farming practices, blacksmithing, molasses-making, and other aspects of community life in La Fayette, Marshall, Tate, and Panola Counties, Mississippi. Portions of his material were published in his documentary film Homeplace (1975). Recently, Ford's important collection of films and photographs documenting grassroots community life in northern Mississippi was acquired by the American Folklife Center archive. To celebrate this recent acquisition and to discuss his experiences in the 1970s as well as talk about his on-going work documenting life and culture in contemporary Mississippi, Mr. Ford joins American Folklife Center archivist Todd Harvey for a program highlighting his work.

http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/03/05/michael-fords-homeplace-mississippi-in-the-1970s/

Found this

I had an appt with my primary care doctor this morning -- she's leaving this practice and the state and today's her last day. "We came here from Arkansas, and I thought Mississippi wouldn't be much different, but boy was I wrong -- it's very different here. My husband and I don't have kids and aren't really interested in having kids, and the nonstop judgement about that...ugh....My husband grew up in Detroit and then Minneapolis, and this was just not a good fit."
Me: "Congratulations on the escape."
Her: "Hahaha, thanks."

*judgment

"We came here from Arkansas, and I thought Mississippi wouldn't be much different, but boy was I wrong -- it's very different here."

Offended on multiple levels.

I def thought about you when she said that.

"My husband grew up in Detroit and then Minneapolis, and this was just not a good fit."

that'd be some fun culture shock, I am sure

I mean, take my home-state bias out of it.

"Gosh, it sure seems a bit backwards living here in Arkansas. Maybe we should try a different place... like Mississippi."

I guess I read that a little wrong. They moved from Arkansas and didn't think Mississippi would be much worse.

Still offended.

http://www.cinepremiere.com.mx/assets/images/galerias/2013/10-Octubre/11%20personas%20ficm/exclusivo.gif

Yeah, I gather my doc is from Arkansas or at least spent a long time there -- she has a bit of a southern accent but not a really heavy one. She was careful to say she didn't think MS would be "much different," not "much worse." This was basically them finding out that once population -- density as well as raw numbers -- drops below a certain point, there's just not a hell of a lot to do. Oh well, she only spent 2 years here.

A top aide to state Sen. Chris McDaniel is under investigation along with two others as to why they were locked in a Mississippi county courthouse hours after ballots were counted in a fierce Senate GOP primary on Wednesday morning.

Hinds County Sheriff's Department is trying to figure out how McDaniel’s campaign coalition director Scott Brewster, Central Mississippi Tea Party board member Janis Lane and consultant Rob Chambers gained access into the building, where they stayed until a police officer arrived at 3:45 a.m., spokesman Othor Cain said.

The McDaniel campaign told the The Clarion-Ledger that staffers entered the courthouse through an open building to observe ballot counts, until they were locked inside, and a close Cochran ally was called for assistance.

Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/senate-races/208328-miss-sheriff-investigates-mcdaniel-staffer#ixzz33mTMJMqG
Follow us: @thehill on Twitter | TheHill on Facebook

http://www.buzzfeed.com/wyattwilliams/chef-john-currence-wants-to-save-mississippi-from-itself

Very good piece imo.

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/college_guide/blog/in_mississippi_schools_access.php

Mississippi — the “least-wired” state in the country according to a 2011 Census survey. More than half of Mississippians have no Internet at home, and 41 percent have no access to the Internet at all.

Mississippi is so far behind on technology use in schools, it earned an “F” on a“digital report card” published this year byDigital Learning Now, a group that advocates for more online learning. The rankings examined whether schools have high-speed broadband, whether teachers and students have Internet-capable devices, and whether the states have metcertain benchmarks to ensure effective use of technology.

In Mississippi, this technology access gap only compounds the state’s most persistent educational problems. In the 2011-12 school year, only 75 percent of students graduated in four years, compared to the national average of 80 percent. After students graduate, they often struggle to find jobs. Nearly 20 percent of youth ages 16 to 24 are out of school and not working, the highest rate in the nation.

The Chris McDaniel fan-dance continues, with extra "Hey, Look! Nazis!"
http://www.clarionledger.com/story/politicalledger/2014/09/05/mcdaniel-appeal-lawsuit/15138543/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/govbeat/wp/2014/09/04/mississippi-and-west-virginia-are-the-most-obese-states/

The other standard Mississippi story

Hmm, yes, I wonder what the No. 3 state is ... ok, I really didn't have to wonder at all.

http://www.seattlepi.com/default/article/Miss-misses-out-again-on-federal-preschool-money-5947188.php

State Board of Education member Danny Spreitler of Amory, who runs a foundation active in expanding and improving child care in Monroe County, said the loss was "demoralizing."

Spreitler said he thought the state's proposal has suffered from "too much bureaucracy and not enough direct money to children" and said Mississippi needs to improve coordination among the groups that fund and regulate child care.

Mississippi is governed by the most aggressively stupid humans that this nation can generate.

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/mississippi-town-repeals-anti-discrimination-resolution-secret

On Tuesday, in a closed-door executive session, the Starkville alderman voted to repeal both the new anti-discrimination statement and the policy providing health benefits for same-sex couples. Mayor Parker Wiseman says the aldermen behind the repeal provided no notice that they intended to hold those votes or any explanation for doing so. A local paper, the Columbus Dispatch, can’t even be sure which alderman voted which way:

Well this illustrates one major way in which Arkansas ways is better than Missippi ways: We have a strong Freedom of Information Act in Arkansas. I don't know what Mississippi's is like, but this wouldn't happen here. It's very limited what can be done in an "executive session." We'd have to vote it down out in the open, like they did in Fayetteville in November when they repealed that city council's efforts.

Side note: that article mentions Starkville's city attorney. He was a buddy of mine when I was in school there, third-sixth grades.

Thank God for Mississippi.

provided no notice that they intended to hold those votes or any explanation for doing so.

this is how the republican government in wisconsin basically does everything now

I wonder if politicians and Oprah and others have followed up on this since 2008

On yesterday’s episode of Oprah, she and Bob Greene announced the kick off of the 2008 Best Life Challenge. To promote the weight loss campaign, she visited her home state of Mississippi because, what better place to launch a weight loss campaign than in the fattest state? After learning of the Just Lose It! Meridian campaign, Oprah chose that community to help with the launch.

http://www.dietsinreview.com/diet_column/01/meridian-ms-loses-it-with-oprah/#5XGmRUxx0QyhyDbu.99

Somewhat interesting story brewing about the firing of Dan Jones, the Ole Miss chancellor. Shit's hitting the fan from a lot of angles — Jim Barksdale (Netscape fortune), John Grisham, former chancellor Khayat, Charles Overby, Archie Manning, the Alumni Association, the Gertrude Ford Foundation, all are criticizing the move very loudly. The student rally on Jones' behalf tomorrow may move the story from local to national news.

http://www.deepsouthdaily.com/2015/03/was-ole-miss-chancellor-dan-jones-fired-over-obamacare.html

The IHL board are all Haley Barbour and Phil Bryant appointees, and as soon as Jones came back to work after a medical leave fighting lymphoma, they canned him. Word floating around is that Jones and the UMMC vice-chancellor he appointed were in favor of the Medicaid expansion and the ACA in general, so they stuck him full of holes on the steps of the Senate, as it were, close enough to the Ides of March. Bryant: "Hey, don't look at me, I didn't have anything to do with it."

http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/03/27/documenting-the-blues-in-the-mississippi-delta/?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=mini-moth®ion=top-stories-below&WT.nav=top-stories-below&_r=0

x-post

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/ap-newsbreak-trustees-offer-deal-ole-miss-chancellor-29938677

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/business/2015/10/17/poor-students/

Just another sad article about Mississippi schools, the state government's priorities , etc.

Saw that yesterday, hugely depressing.

The all-Republican state legislature refuses to fully fund K-12 education (nitpicking and hairsplitting about the definition of "adequate" funding), so there's a ballot initiative this year (MS's statewide elections are on odd-numbered years) that allows the citizens to sue to force full funding. Suits would be filed in Hinds County (where Jackson is; this venue for suits against the state was set up by the legislature quite a few years ago), so opponents to Initiative 42 have been playing the Activist Judges card, saying "a single judge will pick your pocket and give the money to school districts without knowing what they really need." Anyway, a state legislator named Bubba went Full Racist and decoded what "a single Hinds County judge" really means:

http://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/local/dailyledes/2015/10/18/rep-bubba-carpenter-black-judge-and-initiative-42/74196426/

Oh, and our state senator, one of the few Dems left in the legislature, is liable to lose this time around because the GOP has finally found a candidate willing to say "pssst, ever notice that my opponent is a lifelong bachelor...?"

But you are getting a B.B. King Museum...(a music critic colleague who is quoted in the below, lives in your state,and posted about this on FB awhile back)

http://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/2015/05/29/mississippians-pay-respect-king-blues/28177663/

ok

They should pay their respect to Nina Simone, too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVQjGGJVSXc

And right on schedule, Bubba is deeply sorry.
http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/news/2015/oct/19/rep-lester-bubba-carpenter-deeply-sorry-inappropri/

TGFM.

A rare (itt, anyway) positive take.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/expat/expatlife/11928516/Mississippi-madness-expat-life-in-Americas-weirdest-state.html

Posted by a fb friend of mine who travels to Pluto and loves it.

this state is fucking terrifying

‘There’s nothing more Delta than a Delta Walmart" x-post

A rare (itt, anyway) positive take.

A commenter accused the author of going to Mississippi to profit, being in white denial, and doing nothing to help in a positive way (implying that his upcoming book on living there would not generate anything positive). The commenter does not list any clinic or non-profit group or public school related organization down there that one could send money too. Perhaps the author is doing that in addition to buying food and such and being part of the local economy,

Perhaps I am feeling guilty too

I didn't read the entire article, but it was starting to make me feel a little nauseous.

"Hey, 'Y'all!' I'm down here in one of those Red States you always hear about, but guess what! Not everyone's hanging men from trees anymore! Come on down and sit on the front porch with some of these characters. Sip on some sweet tea, pat ol' Hugh the Hound Dog on the top of his head, and git set to hear some authentic Delta blues played by the great-grandnephew of Willy Faulkner."

<-- that is basically the entire ethos of the oxford american

seems to have a lot of extrapolation from the rural, delta area of Mississippi which is definitely kind of unique, even within that state

x-post

And that's in part kinda the ethos of any ilxor blues and soul and country fan including me. But we recognize that there's discrimination and awful stuff too, and give money to Doctors without Borders, is that it? Plus we balance our interests in that with uh German electronica and uh UK beer or something... So tell me how the Oxford American should do it more respectfully? Or are you saying in this internet age, that the Oxford American should just cover any music or art made by Southerners no matter the style? I can see that as an option. I mean it kinda bugs me that it currently covers in its music issue just safe indie-rock and Americana acts in addition to old-school blues and country ones, but does not cover rap or middle-aged southern soul. Or do you just dislike perpetuating any alleged clichéd Southern characteristics at the expense of the wide variety of traits that exist there, and think the magazine should just go away?

Above questions pertain to the author of that article as well as Oxford American

oxford american is basically just a literate tourist magazine, selling a particular iteration of the south to a particular demographic. the ads are almost entirely for

1) tourism -- mix of specific tourist destinations (biltmore etc.) and semi-impoverished southern mid-sized cities desperately hoping to drawn in some "cultural heritage tourism"

2) southern universities and colleges offering liberal-arts graduate degrees (esp. MFAs in creative writing, filmmaking, etc.)

3) record labels and book publishers

every now and then they have something that hints at the modern south, but usually they are selling a kind of rusticated fantasy.

what tends to be missing is any meaningful reflection on the politics of the contemporary south except for some token hand-wringing that occupies a few lines in an article about visiting some derelict old whiskey stills.

Pro-state-flag dude sets of explosive at Walmart: http://djournal.com/news/man-explodes-device-at-walmart/

TUPELO – A Tupelo man is behind bars after allegedly setting off an explosive at Walmart early Sunday morning.

Officers were called to the North Gloster Walmart where a man reportedly detonated an explosive device in the entrance of the store. Marshall W. Leonard, 61, of Tupelo, was seen leaving the area and was taken into custody by officers around 2 a.m.

No one was injured in the incident.

Leonard is a strong supporter of the Mississippi flag and railed against anyone who wanted it pulled because it contained the Confederate battle flag. In the past, he spoke out against Walmart when the retail giant decided to stop selling items in its stores that contained the Confederate battle flag.

Last Wednesday, Leonard posted threats on the Daily Journal Facebook page.

“Journal corporate, you are on final warning,” he wrote Oct. 28. “You are part of the problem. As a result of this, y’all are going down, along with Walmart, WTVA, Reeds department store, and all the rest of the anti-American crooks. I’m not kidding. No messing around anymore!”

*sets off explosive

Is there any hope at all that it's spelled "North Gloster" because at some point Mississippians gave up on trying to spell "North Gloucester?"

You like that one, you and any of the Westermass ILXors should come check out this charming burg:

http://i.imgur.com/rWE1xoL.png

Also, sorry about the walmart, wmc.

I can't front on that, we have a Wooster in Ohio, too. Ours has a college, though.

towns were named for Bertie Wooster then. very literary of them.

I'm sure the etymology derives from Gloucester at some point, but the street was named after a guy named Gloster when the town was incorporated. It's the main north-south drag in Tupelo; the east-west artery is the innovatively named Main Street. And there's a railroad crossing right at crosstown where the two intersect, which the city and BNSF have been trying to figure out a solution to for at least 30-40 years. xxps

I'll be interested to see how big an explosion this guy built.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gloster_Aircraft_Company

The Gloster Aircraft Company was a British aircraft manufacturer from 1917 to 1963.

Founded as The Gloucestershire Aircraft Company Limited during the First World War, with the aircraft construction activities of H H Martyn & Co Ltd of Cheltenham it produced fighters during the war. It was renamed as foreigners found 'Gloucestershire' difficult to pronounce. It later became part of the Hawker Siddeley group and the Gloster name disappeared in 1963.

Sounds like a likely scenario.

btw shoppers, just 25 more days til Black Friday!

This gets even better after an update.

It was the state flag that led to his arrest. An officer in the area spotted a small silver car with a huge Mississippi flag sticking up through the sun roof run the red light in front of Walmart.

“The officer pulled him over for the traffic violation, but when the calls started coming in, we quickly figured out we needed to hang on to this suspect,” said Aguirre. “We still have some more interviews to do and still need to search his car before we take him in front of a judge Tuesday.”

Officials are still waiting to get details of Leonard’s prior criminal history in Illinois and Wisconsin.

“A white male got out, lit the package and threw it in the vestibule,” said Aguirre. “There was an employee on break, and the suspect told him, ‘You better run.’

“The employee did run and was away from harm when the package went off. It wasn’t a large explosion. It didn’t cause a lot of damage to the store.”

So wait, what'd this guy do? Blow up one of those crane machines?

Because I hate those crane machines. Unlike the South, they rise up again too quickly.

Hoo. Boy.

http://i.imgur.com/iihhVGY.png

Committ Adultry

http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u120/kingkonggodzilla/leonard_zpswtmdlyy2.jpg

I mean, all fairness to the Lord, that house does need to be picked up a bit.

i stared at that photo waiting for the spooky ghost to pop out

No, the ghost got popped at the stoplight, read upthread.

The elections may not have gone well (with Attorney general Jim Hood being the last remaining Democrat) but at least this magazine is around now, digitally

http://www.clarionledger.com/story/life/2015/11/02/folklife-digital-magazine-highlights-unique-mississippi/74881810/

http://www.mississippifolklife.org/

No politics, just music and stuff

Better not be a bunch of sweet tea and kudzu, I'm warnin ya.

Ha ha. Nope, goat meat at the Otha Turner family blues fife picnic in the hill country

http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/news/2016/feb/13/big-freedia-calls-bullsht-plans-sue-hattiesburg-cl/
http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/news/2016/feb/13/hattiesburg-club-owner-accuses-mississippi-jim-cro/

http://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/local/dailyledes/2016/02/23/despicable-image-shows-why-mississippi-needs-new-flag/80795180/

people are SO MAD at the C-L for sponsoring the contest and giving racists a platform!

x-post -Big Freedia getting barred from Mississippi show getting attention everywhere

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/feb/21/mississippi-big-freedia-twerking-concert-shut-down-beyonce

Good.

The ACLU should get involved

http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/news/2016/feb/24/mississippi-governor-declares-april-confederate-hi/

April is Confederate Heritage Month in Mississippi proclaims the Governor

What better month to celebrate one's Confederate heritage than the month in which your forefathers gave up, surrendered and laid down their arms to Gen. Grant.

http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2016/03/30/3764798/mississippi-anti-lgbt-bill/

Many states have considered bills that enable discrimination against the LGBT community, but Mississippi’s proposed legislation is perhaps the most explicit in this regard. HB 1523 spells out in storied detail all of the different ways that a person should be able to mistreat people for being LGBT without consequences from the government.

The bill does not pretend to be neutral; it only protects people with anti-LGBT religious beliefs and nobody else:

The sincerely held religious beliefs or moral convictions protected by this act are the belief or conviction that:
(a) Marriage is or should be recognized as the union of one man and one woman;
(b) Sexual relations are properly reserved to such a marriage; and
(c) Male (man) or female (woman) refer to an individual’s immutable biological sex as objectively determined by anatomy and genetics at time of birth.

^^^^^ Approved 80-39 by the House last month, approved 31-17 by the Senate today. Governor has indicated he will sign it. Way to fucking go, Mississippi.

Super disappointing, and about as hateful a bill as the new law in NC.

First reported 2-3 days ago, starting to hit the national news.

http://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/2016/04/02/mississippi-rv-park-owner-evicts-interracial-couple/82469086/

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/03/mississippi-isnt-worried-about-boycotts.html

Unlike Georgia (or the more proximate Louisiana), Mississippi has not gone completely hog-wild for film and TV subsidies. Yes, it has a subsidy program, but one with outlays (per project and overall) that are limited by law. So its lawmakers are less subject to pressure from Hollywood moguls who threaten not to rip off its taxpayers anymore if the state champions discrimination.

Of perhaps even greater importance given the sports-mad nature of the Deep South, Mississippi is not going to be hosting any Super Bowls or any college-football national championships (or NCAA basketball Final Fours) in the near future. It also differs from Georgia, Louisiana, Alabama, Florida, Tennessee, and North Carolina in having no college-football bowl games being played within its boundaries.

...Perhaps more to the point, Bryant's a guy who seems to be comfortable living in the past, as evidenced by the fact that thanks to him Mississippi will begin celebrating Confederate Heritage Month

I wonder if the day will ever come when someone, anyone realizes the connection between Mississippi's politics and the fact that it is by any reasonable standards a third-world shithole. Second-highest teen pregnancy rate (after New Mexico), worst childhood literacy rate (tied with New Mexico!), second-highest murder rate (after Louisiana), and on and on.

The other people need to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps myth will never die

I spent about two years in Mississippi, living in Indianola and Greenville. That was about 20 years ago. In the time since then, almost any positive memories, impressions or beliefs have been washed away by shit like this.

I know someone who teaches at a University there and also does work setting up blues trail landmarks, and writing about Mississippi musicians. He's not happy with the politics there, of course.

"blues tourism" is such a strange and uh problematic phenomenon

i stayed here once

http://www.shackupinn.com/

the shacks provide comfort as well as authenticity.

Business-community disapproval not enough.
http://www.wtva.com/news/Governor_Bryant_signs_HB_1523_into_law.html

That's infuriating. My heart goes out to all the queer and trans people whose lives are going to be damaged by this ridiculous law.

"blues tourism" is such a strange and uh problematic phenomenon--Goole

My friend there has nothing to do with that. He's a University prof who has been into blues for decades and has been writing about the music and making little money doing so for the newspapers down there and for Living Blues Magazine. He also more recently got involved with writing the text for blues landmark signs. Yep "blues tourism" can be problematic when it is disrespectful such as those shacks, but when its historic landmarks that are publicized in a slightly more fair way it can also pay the bills of old blues performers themselves and others working there in the tourist biz.

http://wivb.com/2016/04/05/gov-cuomo-bans-government-travel-to-mississippi/

the shacks provide comfort as well as authenticity

i feel like an authentic shack would be mighty uncomfortable

"in our 'blues shacks,' you can sleep on an authentic pallet on the floor. also, if you ask room service for whiskey, then bring you gasoline."

http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/news/2016/apr/11/statement-mississippi-writers-opposing-hb-1523/

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/02/us/mississippi-law-protecting-opponents-of-gay-marriage-is-blocked.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=second-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news

A federal judge blocked — less than an hour before it was to go into effect at 12:01 a.m. Friday — a Mississippi law that would have given a wide range of special protections only to those who oppose same-sex marriage.

Carlton Reeves is one of this state's heroes.

case against this law seems p airtight

...and AG Jim Hood says "fukk u" to the governor and legislature, refuses to appeal Judge Reeves' decision. Woot!

http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/weblogs/jackblog/2016/jul/13/statement-attorney-general-jim-hood-hb-1523/

Yeah, that's seriously heartening!

But the governor is still appealing the case

http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/suburbs/desoto/mississippi-attorney-general-wont-join-appeal-of-religious-freedom-law-378977bc-becc-05dc-e053-01000-386703211.html

Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood said Wednesday he won't join Governor Phil Bryant in appealing the state's "Religious Freedom" law, saying he was convinced an appeal would be "divisive and expensive" and not in the best interest of the state or taxpayers.

The decision means Bryant will move forward without the backing of the state's top legal officer in attempting to enact the controversial measure, which supporters say is designed to protect strongly held religious beliefs

My alma mater, Mississippi State University, has taken the MS state flag down on campus. They join Alcorn State University, Jackson State University, Mississippi Valley State University, UMMC, University of Mississippi and University of Southern Mississippi. Not sure what the holdup is with MUW or Delta State.

I hate this goddamn place so much. If I breathe my last breath in Mississippi, I'm going to haunt some people for fucking eternity for trying to hold me here.

Officials Investigate Claim of Noose Put on Black Student

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/officials-investigate-claim-noose-put-black-student-43035507

business trip to Starkville tomorrow through Wednesday. anything to do there or to make me aware of?

mostly I plan to do nothing but work and sit in the hotel, but tomorrow mostly want a sports bar to watch my football game at since my flight gets in long before hotels open

Oby's for reasonably good po-boys, Restaurant Tyler for good gussied-up southern home cooking and a zillion ways to prepare a sweet potato. Beyond that, I can't help re: sports bars beyond what Yelp might have to say, or things to do. Been a few decades since I graduated.

lol, I just looked at Tyler's dinner menu and they don't have a heading for Vegetables, they have a heading for Starches.

Starchville .. sounds about right.

"white foods"

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/waiting-for-history-in-mississippi-a-state-with-the-worst-record-of-electing-women/2016/11/09/60f148b8-a20e-11e6-8d63-3e0a660f1f04_story.html?wpisrc=nl_daily202&wpmm=1

So last year Slater, a 60-year-old trial lawyer, decided to run for governor herself after years of trying to recruit other women to do it. She was widely seen as the favorite to win the Democratic Party’s nomination.

But she lost in the primary to a man, a long-haul truck driver who campaigned so little that his own mother didn’t know he was running. Stunned party officials said several factors were at play, including Slater’s gender. The Republican incumbent, Phil Bryant, easily won reelection.

“I am the woman from Mississippi who lost to the truck driver!” Slater told Clinton when she met her at a fundraiser in the spring.

“Don’t give up. Do not ever give up,” Clinton told her.

http://djournal.com/opinion/letters-editor-nov-22-2016/

Voters reject power in charge since 1960

In reference to the successful campaign of President-elect Donald Trump, listen up.

Attention, pointy headed liberals, secular progressives, fetus killers, twisters of history, sanctuary cities, illegal immigrants, dope dealers, lobbyists, bloated bureaucrats, biased news media including AP, ABC, CBS, NBC, MOB and their cable affiliates, ACLU, BLM newspaper columnists (including leftists opining within the Journal), the entertainment industry including its pampered and pompous “stars, ” work averse entitlement leeches, tenured university purveyors of leftist propaganda, and those administrators of our educational institutions who have usurped the purpose of education as to political for racial or sexual orientation correctness, etc, et al:

There’s a new sheriff in town and hard working, tax paying God fearing, family values, conservative Tea Party members and an army of patriotic Christian American citizens are coming to a location near you. We don’t care what sexual, social or gender identity you feel the need to display. Be quiet about it. There are two restrooms, male and female, so use the equipment you were born with. Life is not always fair. Get over it.

The corruptions, negligence and perversion of Hillary/Bill Clinton, their Ponzi scheme Clinton Foundation, the Democratic Party, their campaign minions, the POTUS including incompetent federal officials who, apparently, thought lying wasn’t precluded by their oaths, have all been repudiated. The mystery, however, remains as to how these people thought they could, with the aid and assistance of the leftist media, put this fraud over on the American voters. Their arrogance and hubris was apparent to many cognizant voters yet, and it’s a larger mystery, how or why anyone could vote for them.

The will of “we the people” shall once again dictate the future course of America. We now have the opportunity, duty and obligation to return the visions, hope and greatness that was this country to our children and their children. These long-held beliefs I opine not for myself, as I am in the twilight of life, but to address the fears I have long had, for my loved ones.

Our long national nightmare, beginning in 1960, with a reprieve of only eight years of the Reagan presidency, is nearing an end and we can give thanks to our God we will have our beloved country back. Free at last, etc.

David Horn
Houston

6 months before he laments the 'pussy' Trump (or whatever epithet he throws at him)

I was thinking the same thing. How was the Starkville trip?

lol not bad! it was a shit place to be the day after the election, but tbf any place would have been. but i was in the MSU area so it was pretty nice overall.

weirdest thing was trying to find a sports bar and seeing most of them closed on Sunday - managed to find a Buffalo Wild Wings and watched my game there.

the Golden Triangle regional airport tho, lol, that is small. only the second time I've deplaned on a tarmac. but I actually kinda liked it - much less busy than most airports.

sadly didn't get to eat much local fare as I was in the office late each day. the one place I did eat I later found out was a chain that we have in FL. lol...oh well.

rae sremmurd is from Tupelo

Mississippi city faces criticism for calling MLK Day 'Great Americans Day'

http://theweek.com/speedreads/673458/mississippi-city-faces-criticism-calling-mlk-day-great-americans-day

I mean, what the rest of the state calls Monday is even worse though.

http://www.rollingstone.com/country/news/charlie-worsham-blasts-mississippi-legislators-on-arts-defunding-w463900

Charlie Worsham expressed his opposition to Mississippi's HB-1325, a proposed bill that would, in part, abolish the Mississippi Arts Commission.

http://mississippitoday.org/2017/01/30/bryant-cites-lack-of-input-on-governors-arts-awards/

Gov. Phil Bryant on Monday spoke about his lack of input over distributing the Mississippi Arts Commission’s annual “Governor’s Arts Awards.”

The comments on The Gallo Radio Show provided context to the push by some lawmakers friendly to Bryant to fold the Mississippi Arts Commission into the state’s economic development office.

Each year, the Mississippi Arts Commission selects an independent panel of judges to award Governor’s Arts Awards to excelling Mississippi artists with close ties to the state.

The governor traditionally attends the awards ceremony each February, giving a short speech to the crowd, handing awards to recipients on stage and inviting honorees to the Governor’s Mansion for a reception afterward.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/13/us/ole-miss-liberal-agitators-education-university-mississippi.html

http://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/politics/2017/03/03/senator-feds-shut-down-more-than-100-bridges-miss/98684896/

You can't get there from here.

Sen. Willie Simmons, D-Cleveland, warned his colleagues Friday that they might get some calls over the weekend about the closures.

Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves responded: “Thank you, Sen. Simmons. Random timing, I’m sure.”

Pretty wild that the speaker figured out that the Democrat from Cleveland was in cahoots with the Trump administration, huh?

https://www.thenation.com/article/a-cruel-new-bill-is-about-to-become-law-in-mississippi/

"You people just aren't groveling enough for your scraps. Let's fix that."

https://mississippitoday.org/2017/05/21/rep-karl-oliver-those-removing-confederate-monuments-should-be-lynched/

“The destruction of these monuments, erected in the loving memory of our family and fellow Southern Americans, is both heinous and horrific. If the, and I use this term extremely loosely, “leadership” of Louisiana wishes to, in a Nazi-ish fashion, burn books or destroy historical monuments of OUR HISTORY, they should be LYNCHED! Let it be known, I will do all in my power to prevent this from happening in our State.”

I was just in Mississippi for the first time. Went to Clarksdale (after having been in Muscle Shoals, Al and Nashville, TN) for a day and a half. Enjoyed going to club Red's and the Blues museum and elsewhere. Sad to see the abandoned buildings on many streets, and the lack of opportunities job-wise. In addition, quickly saw Friar's Point, MS. Also went one night from Memphis down to the Otha Turner memorial Barbequed Goat Fest in Senatobia, MS. Small crowd-- but I love how the late Otha's granddaughter Sharde is keeping the blues fife and drum tradition alive.

Did not stay in those sharecropper Shack Up Inn "authentic" shacks, although I later noticed they were renting for $10 less than where we stayed! Blues tourism is not bringing in bucks the way country music does in Nashville.

"Dirt and Deeds in Mississippi"

http://www.rawstory.com/2017/04/a-new-documentary-about-mississippi-in-the-60s-seems-frighteningly-relevant-today/

http://highway61music.blogspot.com/

very nice concert calendar of Miss. & Memphis area music gigs by Scott Barretta

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/05/us/south-magazines-bitter-southerner-charlottesvile-garden-and-gun.html?mcubz=0

Scalawag looks more interesting than Bitter Southerner, of the websites/magazines discussed in this article. Both could use Barretta's help

Alabama has Roy Moore, but are y'all sure it's the worst state? HB 1523 is now in effect.

http://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/politics/2017/10/02/opponents-house-bill-1523-appealing-u-s-supreme-court/722725001/

The people of Mississippi have the right to ensure that all of our citizens are free to peacefully live and work without fear of being punished for their sincerely held religious beliefs teh gays.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/blues-brothers-don-jr-and-eric-trump-gamble-on-mississippi-tourism/2017/10/22/e906c8f0-aacc-11e7-b3aa-c0e2e1d41e38_story.html?utm_term=.faa5ea3a54df

“Have you all been out west of Cleveland?” he queried his audience. “To those that don’t know, get ready. Get ready, ’cause the blues is on the way.”

President Trump’s hotel company, the New York-based managers of luxury properties and golf courses around the globe, seems an unlikely presence in this struggling stretch of the Delta, where new businesses are hard to recruit and black residents are eight times more likely than whites to face unemployment.

But in June, the Trump Organization, now run by the president’s sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, bestowed a singular distinction upon Cleveland, population 12,000, and two nearby towns. It announced it would debut two new hotel brands here, beginning with a four-star, 100-room Scion hotel originally designed to replicate an antebellum plantation.
...Two are Comfort Inns, in Cleveland and Clarksdale, on the side of the highway and surrounded by strip malls and gas stations. The third is a Rodeway Inn in Greenville, across the street from the Trop Casino and separated by a levee where local residents take power walks. The area nearby is pockmarked with empty and boarded-up buildings.

“I don’t support [Trump]. I wouldn’t go to his hotel unless I had to. But I don’t blame other people if they do,” said Shanna Ray, 31, a medical lab technician on a stop during her walk.

Prospects for success

Skepticism remains that the hotels will succeed financially, particularly if blacks avoid them. Bolivar County is 64 percent black, and the railroad tracks that cut through the center of Cleveland, despite being out of use and mostly buried, still separate the more prosperous white areas from black neighborhoods.

https://thinkprogress.org/mississippi-proposes-license-to-harass-for-transphobic-teachers-70fdf6085b2c/?fbclid=IwAR2dQxgA_tPiPmon-HbBK2ad2bsV_REVDOQJHHsMYjuYXB8JXZAHO8FGmBc

Mississippi lawmakers propose ‘license to harass’ for transphobic teachers

Hosemann, Gunn: ‘Racial animus’ of Jim Crow no reason to change law designed to thwart African Americans being elected statewide

https://mississippitoday.org/2019/07/18/hosemann-gunn-say-racial-hostility-in-jim-crow-era-not-reason-to-throw-out-election-provision-today/

The response said, “neither the speaker nor the secretary wish to defend the motivations behind a law allegedly enacted with racial animus” But in reality, the Hosemann/Gunn response, said the lawsuit “is not about race…It’s about partisan politics.”

Get ready to hear similar arguments over and over again as the Supreme Court said it’s cool.

mississippi the state may be terrible but mississippi avenue in portland is quite nice

Obviously we all know this, but Mississippi is home to an enormous black population that doesn't want or care to leave, despite the racist bullshit of a majority of the white folks in the state. Dismissing the whole state is dismissing them, too, unless one provides caveats, so it's best to tread lightly imho

any statements i might make about the terribleness of the south are applicable only to the white people who run things unless i specifically state otherwise

Coincidentally, I woke up with “Living for the City” stuck in my head this morning.

https://www.propublica.org/article/ole-miss-students-pose-with-guns-in-front-of-shot-up-emmett-till-memorial

Who was the person the other day who naively aske on the politics thread "why do young people like Tr*mp?"

I hate people.

U.S. immigration officials raided numerous Mississippi food processing plants Wednesday, arresting 680 mostly Latino workers in what marked the largest workplace sting in at least a decade.

The raids, planned months ago, happened just hours before President Donald Trump was scheduled to visit El Paso, Texas, the majority-Latino city where a man linked to an online screed about a "Hispanic invasion" was charged in a shooting that left 22 people dead in the border city.

https://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/local/2019/08/07/immigration-ice-raids-hit-mississippi-food-processing-plants/1945057001/

Scott County Superintendent Tony McGee said on Wednesday he knew of at least six families within the district that had a parent caught up in the raids. The students range from kindergarten to high school. Bus drivers were asked to return the children to the school if there was no one at their home. He said the school district created a plan to care for students and all were released from school by 7 p.m.

On Thursday he said more than 150 students in his district remained absent from school Thursday, many kept at home out of fear after the immigration raids.

McGee told the Associated Press that some longtime teachers told him Wednesday was "by far the worst day they ever spent as an educator."
https://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/2019/08/07/ice-immigration-raids-mississippi-what-we-know-peco-koch-foods-poultry-plants-jackson-sanctuary-city/1949156001/

The next governor.

https://i.imgur.com/o6WjeXD.jpg

https://mississippitoday.org/2020/02/05/former-welfare-agency-head-others-arrested-for-embezzling-millions-intended-for-poor-mississippians/

https://mississippitoday.org/2020/04/08/black-mississippians-at-greater-risk-72-of-deaths-56-of-states-covid-19-cases/

the great thing about all this is how like 70% of white ppl in Mississippi will fully grasp that this is unmistakably embezzlement, but still maintain that it was actually a better use for that money


https://news.yahoo.com/94-million-mississippis-poor-spent-160358379.html

New state flag is kinda erotic.

I was partial to the Stennis flag but hey I’ll take it

Stennis flag was available as a custom license plate this year and we got that, but yeah, anything but the battle flag.

corruption corruption
https://mississippitoday.org/2021/10/04/new-audit-mississippi-welfare-misspending/
New audit shows ‘a tragic amount’ misspent, but can’t find what happened to $40 million in welfare funds

corruption corruption continued: in case you were wondering what Brett Favre's been up to lately -- he's been grifting with the ex-guv

https://mississippitoday.org/2022/04/04/phil-bryant-brett-favre-welfare-scandal-payout/
https://mississippitoday.org/2022/04/06/brett-favre-used-fame-favors-welfare-dollars/

Man

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2022/08/30/us/jackson-water-system-failing-tuesday/index.html