Slammed
The Maundy Monday Newsletter - This Week in History August 25 - 31.
On August 16, 2025, South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster announced he was deploying 200 National Guard troops to support Fascist President Trump’s claim of an emergency in Washington, DC. The Palmetto state joins Ohio, West Virginia, and Mississippi in sending troops.
While it’s challenging to maintain a sense of humor in this farcical charade of authoritarianism, it blows my mind that South Carolina, of all places, feels the need to assist with the federal takeover of any place. South Carolina, the birthplace of nullification, of secession, of Nancy Mace and her bathroom obsessions, sent 200 of its citizens to roam the platforms of the Metro train system, fiddle with their phones on the National Mall, and walk around like a giant sandwich board telling natives and tourists alike, “Please Panic.”
Meanwhile, it’s hurricane season, and Charleston, South Carolina, was hit with the bands from Hurricane Erin as she barreled up the East Coast. Yet the 200 South Carolians remain in the nation’s capital city.
This week, we remember one of the most devastating hurricanes in American history. On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina slammed into New Orleans, Louisiana, and areas of the Gulf Coast, including Alabama and Mississippi.
Ten days earlier, Katrina formed in the Lesser Antilles of the South Atlantic Ocean as a Tropical Depression. But on August 24, Katrina strengthened and became a Tropical Storm. It then headed west to Florida, where it hit landfall on the morning of August 25.
When Katrina landed in the Gulf of Mexico, it continued to gain strength and double in size.
It would go from a Category 3 hurricane to a Category 5 hurricane in the same amount of time it takes to put in a workday. It was 400 miles wide and sustained wind gusts of 125 miles per hour.
It would make a right turn and make history.
Katrina would dissipate on August 31, 2005, but the destruction it caused would be one of the worst in history – over 1,300 people killed and over 650 missing. An estimated $125 billion in damages was the highest for a hurricane until Hurricane Harvey came in 2017.
New Orleans bore the brunt of the losses, with the Superdome as the center of the natural disaster. Used as a shelter for those who had not evacuated, it sustained massive damage. There were three confirmed deaths, but reports spread rumors of horrible conditions inside, where assaults, drug dealing, and violence broke out throughout the building, which hosts major sporting events like the Super Bowl.
When Katrina hit land, President George W. Bush was just west of it, having spent the prior 27 days on holiday at Prairie Chapel Ranch in Crawford, Texas. He was roundly criticized for his response to Katrina, primarily because he spent little time preparing for it. Who can forget the iconic picture of the president aboard Air Force One, peering out of a window to assess the damage below as he flew back to Washington to lead the recovery effort. I’ll never understand why the White House released it to the public. He looked distant and out of touch. Bush conceded as much in a 2011 interview.
Okay, let's highlight what else happened this week. As a reminder, these events celebrate their anniversary, ending in 5 or 0. Here's what I got:
1. US Troops land in Japan on August 27, 1945. This was the beginning of the Japanese occupation after their surrender to the US in World War II. Supreme Commander for the Allied Forces General Douglas MacArthur led the US delegation to assess the situation and provide stability. The US would occupy Japan for the next seven years. Holy Moly, seven years?
2. Emmett Till was abducted and lynched on August 28, 1955. The 14-year-old boy was accused of offending a white woman in her family's grocery store. The woman’s husband and his half-brother went to Till’s great-uncle’s house, where Till stayed while vacationing with his family from Chicago. They took Emmett, beat him, mutilated his body, shot him in the head, and dumped his body in the local river. A white jury acquitted both men. In 2022, the United States finally passed a federal anti-lynching law. Eight years after his death, Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered the “I Have a Dream” speech in Washington, DC.
3. Warren Buffett was born on August 30, 1930. The investor and philanthropist is the fifth-richest person in the world, due to his ability to be really, really good at investing. He is a native Nebraskan, where he currently resides, after being educated at Ivy League institutions such as the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia. He still eats at Dairy Queen, and if you are going to like billioniares, like the ones who eat at Dairy Queen.
Here’s an extra celebration this week!
One of my favorite comedic actresses is celebrating her 55th birthday this week. Melissa McCarthy was born on August 26, 1970, in Plainfield, Illinois, northwest of Chicago.
McCarthy is a comedic genius, most likely due to her Midwest Irish Catholic upbringing. She honed her skills as a stand-up comedian and then with the improvisational and sketch comedy troupe The Groundlings.
From there, she worked in television, first with her cousin, model Jenny McCarthy, then in guest-starring roles on a bunch of shows I had never heard of.
I was introduced to McCarthy in the 2011 hit movie Bridesmaids, where she played Megan Price, the off-putting, foul-mouthed sister of the groom. From there, she skyrocketed to success. The Heat, the cop comedy in which she plays Boston police Detective Shannon Mullins opposite straight-laced FBI agent Sandra Bullock, is a must-watch whenever it is on.
She also has starred in many underappreciated works of art – such as Tammy, where McCarthy plays the lead role, a woman down on her luck, only to turn around and have a Thelma & Louise experience with her grandmother, who actually played Louise.
McCarthy is a treasure. Her hosting of Saturday Night Live, an overall terrible show, was a special moment where it wasn’t, and they gave her an Emmy for it. For six years, she played Molly Flynn on the CBS hit sitcom, Mike & Molly, and they gave her an Emmy for that. The New York Times ranked her #22 on the list of the top 25 greatest actors of the 21st century, just ahead of Mahershala Ali, who has two Academy Awards.
If I’m ever asked who I could have dinner with, I would list Melissa McCarthy. If you know her, please let her know that she’s okay.
Instead of an essay on Friday, I’ll send around a survey I hope you won’t mind filling out and responding to. I’ll be working on finalizing it all week. Thanks for the feedback!
If you enjoyed this essay and the Maundy Monday Newsletter series, please click the ❤️to help it stand out. I’d also appreciate it if you would subscribe - free or paid – to support my work.
You can also help reach new readers by sharing it on social media.
Okay, have a great week – appreciate you!
Okay,
Chris
