Occam's Razor

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is busy “owning the libs” by sending about fifty of them by plane recently to Martha’s Vineyard, here in Massachusetts.

It turned out though that he didn’t have any ready “illegal immigrants” in his state, given it’s kind of hard for them to take a boat to Florida, so he imported some from San Antonio, Texas. Using two chartered planes, he eventually deposited them on the tarmac of the airport on Martha’s Vineyard. All those fancy pants liberals would turn up their noses at the “illegals” and (ha! ha!) it would be a riot to watch! In the process he got to further cement his credentials as the cruelest Republican governor. This enhances his prospects for winning the Republican presidential nomination because, as we all know, the more merciless you are, the higher you rank in the eyes of Republican voters.

There’s no doubt that the residents of Martha’s Vineyard were surprised because no one told them they were coming. As for the fancy pants rich liberals on the island, well, it’s after Labor Day. They were mostly gone, leaving the island off Cape Cod to the locals, most of whom have a hard time finding even a room to rent on the island.

It sure would help if people like DeSantis actually visited places where they deposit “illegals”. I’ve been to Martha’s Vineyard in the summer and made a day of it, but chose to sleep off the island in Falmouth to save some money. We took a bus around the island and gave it a good once over. There are certainly some nice estates, but it’s mostly a pretty pedestrian place, just kind of pricey. Everything comes in by air or sea. Fortunately, it’s a fairly short ferry ride from Woods Hole. DeSantis probably should have sent his planes to Nantucket. I was there last November and I can confirm it’s the wealthier and more exclusive island, and much harder to get to.

It turned out though that no one owned the libs, who were surprised but quickly found accommodations and food for their surprised guests. This is more than you can say for DeSantis, as some of these migrants had not eaten in more than a day. He couldn’t be bothered to feed them, but he did have his representatives lie to them that there were jobs awaiting them. After about a day, the migrants were moved to a military base on the actual Cape that would better accommodate them and has been used for this purpose before. Our Republican governor Charlie Baker was happy to put state resources to work to help them out.

It’s clear that DeSantis and likely the vast majority of the Republican Party thinks that migrants are somewhat less than human. Anyhow, they aren’t white and they’re not American citizens, so if they can be mean to anyone, it should be them. DeSantis is supposedly Catholic, but if he is a Christian Nationalist, well, you can cross off the Christian part.

Who would Jesus hate? I’ve likely read more of the Bible than DeSantis, but I can find only two quotes from Jesus on who he hated and it wasn’t poor people. Jesus hated Satan and the money changers at the temple. When it came to love though, Jesus was pretty clear:

But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

Matthew 5:44

How think ye? if a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray? And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of the ninety and nine which went not astray. Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.

Matthew 18:12

In truth, if Jesus were to come back today, DeSantis would try to bar the door because Jesus was a Jew and a Semite, and thus a man of color.

The people of Massachusetts treated these migrants with care, love and respect, as Jesus would have done. DeSantis just used them because he believes there are more cruel Americans than kind ones.

Maybe in Florida. But happily, that’s not the case here in Massachusetts.