Stealing From the Poor to Help the Rich
The Maundy Morning Newsletter - This Week in History October 10 - 16.
Happy Maundy Morning, friends! I hope you had a lovely weekend, and for those who have today off, I hope you make it count!
As always, thanks for continuing to support Okay History.
Happy 52nd birthday to you, Brett Favre. You horrible person.
Favre is a Hall of Fame quarterback who played for the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League. He has made millions on his unique ability to throw a football all over the field, better than most. When he stopped playing, Favre led the league in most offensive categories.
Since retiring in 2010, Brett has continued being offensive.
Never mind that he endorsed Donald Trump for reelection in 2020, a year later, Brett got himself involved in a bit of fraud action back in his home state of Mississippi.
Look, I’m a big proponent of participating in government. The point of OKH is to help you understand our history, and in the end, perhaps you help make our government a little better because you are at least a little more intelligent. I have always enjoyed the idea of a small government. As a kid, I used to promote the concept, like some Alex P. Keating, telling my friends that a small government is what we need because a big government is bad.
As I have gotten older, I’ve come to learn that it’s not the size of the government that matters. It’s how you use your government that matters.
Like most states facing enormous poverty challenges, Mississippi receives grants from the Federal government called Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) with the idea that it would combat poverty in the state.
I have worked on TANF grants in a previous job, and they are complicated processes, but in the end, it just boils down to the simple idea – give money to programs that help poor people.
How does this relate to Brett Favre?
Well, TANF grants in Mississippi were used partly to help Brett Favre and others get richer and do nothing to help poor people. Good work, everyone!
Favre was paid about $1 million for talks he never gave. I guess Brett has the ability to talk poor people out of poverty. Favre then asked if the state wouldn’t mind funneling a few extra million to his alma mater, the University of Southern Mississippi, to build a new volleyball court because Brett’s daughter plays there. Oh, he also would like a new practice facility for the football team too. No food for you, poor people; sports need help!
This dude texted the governor to ask if there was any way he could slide these millions on over without the media finding out. Sure, Brett! Stuff like this never comes out!
The case is ongoing, but some small government advocates have already pleaded guilty. I hope that Brett has a fantastic 52nd birthday thinking about where he might be when year 53 rolls around.
Okay, let's highlight what else happened this week. Here's what I got:
John Denver died of blunt force trauma on October 12, 1997. The Thank God I’m a Country Boy singer crashed his plane into Monterey Bay. Denver was a licensed pilot and was the only occupant of the aircraft. I think this plane was made from a Lego kit.
Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier on October 14, 1947. The former combat fighter was a test pilot to see how fast we go. Yeager’s accomplishment was revealed another nine months later. Yeager died in 2020 at the age of Awesome.
Bing Crosby died on October 14, 1977. The American icon is considered the first multimedia star for his singing and acting abilities. He appeared in over 70 movies and recorded over 1,600 songs. Crosby did it all. This guy even owned the Pittsburgh Pirates baseball team when the Pirates were winning World Series.
The Wild Card round of the baseball playoff is complete. Your Cleveland Guardians won a best-of-three series in two games. The first game lasted just over two hours and was considered the fastest playoff game in quite some time.
The second game was the complete opposite. It lasted 15 innings, taking more than five hours to complete. Baseball is the only professional sport without a clock, which is great, except for the fact that our attention spans are much shorter. A five-hour baseball game can feel like an eternity, even when the season is on the line.
Anonymous’ patience was running out, but when the Guardians won on a home run in the bottom of the 15th inning:
I hope you have a great week. If you wouldn’t mind liking this post, assuming that you do, in fact, like it, that would be great. I enjoy getting emails from you, but I would be grateful if we could wear out the like button at the bottom.
See you on Friday!
Okay,
Chris
Maybe the state government in MS and elsewhere should not be in both the TANF and college volleyball / football businesses. TANF is the more defensible public good; a smaller MS government would likely have been able to prioritize it properly.
Jerry Ford told us that a government big enough to give us everything we want is big enough to take away everything we have.
Just saying.