The Battle of New Orleans

 The Crescent City, home to Mardi Gras and jazz, faces a double-barrelled threat now--the destruction caused by Hurricane Ida and the continuing surge in COVID cases. It is not being aided--nor is the rest of Louisiana--by the recalcitrance of the state's Republican-dominated legislature, which fights Gov. John Bel Edwards (a Democrat) on every measure he puts in place to combat the pandemic. Though they have not rescinded his mask mandate, they readily support those of their constituents who suggest nonsense such as "masks don't work" and proposals to prevent hospital over-crowding by promoting "healthier living".

Of course, now, with the power grid destroyed in New Orleans, those hospitals still operating are doing so on generators...and they can only continue as long as fuel for the generators holds out. Given the conditions of the roads, there's no new fuel being delivered, either.

While there's little any politician could do to prevent the devestation of a Cat 4 hurricane, there's much they could have done in the past year to have put the state's hospitals in a better position to deal with the aftermath of a natural disaster...and you would think anyone living Louisiana would realize the likelihood of such a disaster occurring.