ASK THE BIRD: What's with all these special sessions of the state Legislature?
Got a question? Ask Miss Mingo. She's got answers. Some may even be true. She writes every Saturday for Tropic Press.
Editor’s Note: We take a break from hard news every Saturday morning to let Hermina Hermelinda Obregon, a.k.a. Miss Mingo, share her insights with readers. She’s a recovering newspaper reporter living in a bungalow off Duval Street in Key West, where she answers the pressing questions of the day about life, the news, and the best happy hour prices. You can support her bar tab by becoming a paid subscriber.
DEAR MISS MINGO:
I’m a little confused.
I know Florida has a very short (two months, is it?) annual legislative session, so it’s not a big surprise that our representatives don’t get much done other than serving the interests of their lobbyist and special-interest masters.
So, sure, there have to be special sessions, which I guess the governor gets to call, when they don’t finish their required business, like drafting the state’s annual budget.
But now (Gov. Ron) DeSantis has delayed the special session because nobody was ready, and added another one to take up, among other things, his obsession about eliminating vaccination requirements for school children? And another topic will be redrawing congressional districts so his buddy, Donald Trump, won’t lose control of Congress?
While there’s still no budget?
This is causing me to lose faith in our government. Help!
Crestfallen in Crestview
Dear Crestfallen:
And they didn’t name the flamingo the state bird, either, and where’s the special session for that?
But, seriously, yeah, this is a clown fiesta of the first order.
They say they want to eliminate property taxes, but have no clear plan on how to replace the money those taxes raise for essential services.
They want to eliminate vaccinations in the middle of a measles outbreak—measles being the “canary in the coal mine” of infectious diseases, meaning the more we cut back on vaccinations, the more infectious diseases we will be exposed to.
And even though the state’s congressional districts already overwhelmingly favor Republicans (20 out of 28 seats), that’s not enough?
It is crazy.
But don’t lose hope.
Democracy is designed to be self-correcting. And assuming the would-be monarch in the White House doesn’t declare a national emergency or some other bit of hockeypock, we’ll have the opportunity in November to fix this.
But it does require us to actually get out of our easy chairs, and VOTE!
The Washington Post has a motto that so far has survived Jeff Bezos. It reads: “Democracy Dies in Darkness.” True that. But, more to the point, democracy dies from complacency.
We can’t afford to be complacent this year of all years.
Sorry if this isn’t particularly amusing, but we are in the middle of an existential crisis.
God, I need another drink.
DEAR MISS MINGO:
Marks Brothers is a siding manufacturer in Oregon and some kind of musical group in Pennsylvania. So, last week, when you wrote Marks Brothers Central Casting, I assume you meant Marx Brothers, right?
Thank you for letting me pretend for a moment that the world's not on fire and small-time typos in the news are still worth correcting.
Hope life in the Keys is still more Jimmy Buffett than bullshit,
Alice
Dear Alice:
Ooops!
Good catch. While I was writing that column last week, I was also corresponding with a guy whose last name is Marks. Honestly, I wouldn’t lie about a thing like that. And I assume that’s how I got those mixed up.
Or maybe it was the martini?
Who knows?
Got a question for Miss Mingo? About life, the news, or clever ways to avoid paying bar tabs? Write to her at MissMingo@Tropic.Press
Hermina Hermelinda Obregon—a.k.a. Miss Mingo—was an award-winning newspaper reporter before she involuntarily joined the diaspora of journalists leaving the newspaper profession. She now lives with her two cats—Deadline and Dateline—and her pet iguana Skippy. If you wander the streets (and bars) of Key West, you’ll doubtless run into her. She’ll be the woman wearing the ridiculous flamingo hat. If you want an autograph, you’ll have to buy her a Cuba Libre. There’s more about her here.
Time to take back our state
The upcoming midterm elections provide a generational opportunity to change the complexion of Florida’s political makeup. But for that to happen, Republican incumbents in the Legislature must face Democrats on the ballot. Currently, there are far too many seats where Republicans stand to run unopposed. Here’s how we can fix that:
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