Mississippi
‘Sounding alarm for 10 years’: Mississippi residents warn of Project 2025 ramifications
Project 2025, the conservative blueprint for a second Trump presidency, has been used as a warning by Democrats to highlight what would be in store for the country if he were to win the upcoming election. But for some Americans, much of Project 2025 isn’t a distant possible future – it is a current-day reality.
In several states across the country, there are already extreme abortion bans that have led to the deaths of multiple pregnant women and at least one teen; restrictive voting policies that make it difficult for citizens to cast their ballots; defunding of education and censorship of books; and other such policies that have also been proposed by the authors of Project 2025. If the plan is successfully implemented, many policies that are already reshaping some states would become federal laws.
Project 2025 is “a fascist blueprint for governance”, said Lea Campbell, the founding president of the Mississippi Rising Coalition, a grassroots organization that supports lower-income communities. But Mississippi, she said, which has an entrenched conservative majority, is already dealing with many of the proposed policies, specifically the policing and surveilling of marginalized people.
Families across Mississippi are still rebuilding after the largest immigration raid in the country, which happened five years ago. In 2019, on the first day of school, scores of children returned home to find that their parents were part of 680 people who were taken into custody, some of whom were subsequently deported, after US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents raided seven poultry plants. Under Project 2025, mass deportations would be expedited, further tearing families apart.
“We have been sounding the alarm for more than 10 years, just around the policies in this state, enacted by conservatives that target the most vulnerable among us,” Campbell said. “We’ve been saying about policies under this ultra-conservative legislature that we have here in Mississippi [that] the cruelty is the point, it seems, with a lot of this legislation that targets poor people and people of color, and women, and the queer and trans community.”
Even when voters have made it clear that they disagree with proposed conservative policies, lawmakers have found ways to maneuver around their wishes.
In 2011, 58% of Mississippians rejected a “personhood amendment”, which, had it passed, would have defined fertilized eggs as people. Opponents warned that because of the way the amendment defined life, it would ban all abortions with no exceptions for rape or incest, and it would have complicated in vitro fertilization.
Still, in 2013, the state, along with Kansas, Kentucky, Wyoming, Ohio and North Dakota attempted to pass so-called “fetal heartbeat” bills, in which abortion is banned after as early as six weeks once cardiac activity is detected. For several years, multiple states tried to pass similar bills and other restrictions. By 2019, 15 states introduced “fetal heartbeat” bills; six were successful in passing them.
Project 2025 aims to enforce the Comstock Act, a 151-year-old anti-obscenity law that prohibits the mailing of abortion-related materials. Doing so could lead to a de facto nationwide ban on abortion, as abortion clinics and advocates rely on the mail to send and receive abortion pills. The plan also indicates a goal of legally recognizing fetuses as people.
Currently in Mississippi, drug-sniffing dogs have been used to intercept abortion pills. And in nearby Louisiana, two common abortion pills that are also often used for miscarriage management, softening the cervix during labor and other procedures have been reclassified as “controlled substances”, despite doctors warning that doing so will harm women.
As it stands, organizers and activists in states that have proto-Project 2025 policies are able to push for change on a state and local level. If Project 2025 were implemented, however, many of those policies could become federally enshrined, drastically changing the way lawmakers and advocates can push to repeal such laws.
Nsombi Lambright-Haynes, the executive director of One Voice Mississippi, a civil rights organization, said that the non-profit has been encouraging people to vote by educating them about what Project 2025 would do to the public education system and to reproductive rights.
“We are pointing out what we already have and then pointing out the danger that can come if something like this is fully implemented,” she said. “It’s really like a wake-up call.”
A ‘beacon’ to get people ‘fervent in their racism’
Two years ago, Jackson, Mississippi’s capital and the Blackest city in the country, was without water for more than a month due to decades of the state refusing to invest in infrastructure. Danyelle Holmes, an organizer with the non-profit Poor People’s Campaign, said that implementing Project 2025 nationwide would worsen the rest of the country’s infrastructure woes.
“Project 2025 supports removing clean water protection,” she said. “That puts marginalized communities really at a very vulnerable place and position, as we’re feeling the impact of not having access to clean and safe drinking water.”
Project 2025 would downgrade per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) from being classified as “hazardous” to “contaminants”, and it would eliminate the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Toxic Substances Control Act, preventing the government from adequately monitoring the cumulative effect of toxins.
The plan could “erode the country’s system of checks and balances”, according to an analysis by Salon, increasing the president’s power over all of the federal government. But many states have already given such extreme powers to their state officials.
In Texas, for instance, the “Death Star” bill prevents cities and counties from passing measures that are stronger than those passed at the state level across a broad range of policy areas. While in Florida, Ron DeSantis, the governor, has augmented his own power by using the state’s republican supermajority to cement his ideas into law.
Project 2025 would eliminate Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers (FLETC), an interagency law enforcement training body, increase the use of the federal death penalty, eliminate the use of consent decrees and increase the use of mandatory minimum sentences, according to an analysis by the Thurgood Marshall Institute, the research arm of the Legal Defense Fund.
In Mississippi, police departments across the state have already been embroiled in controversy. Six law enforcement officers in Rankin county were convicted for torturing two Black men, while a federal investigation found that police in a majority-Black town elsewhere in the state have “created a system where officers can relentlessly violate the law”.
Project 2025 would make it so that the rest of the country experiences the restrictive, conservative lawmaking that many southerners have been organizing against for years, said Courtney Jones, a writer and researcher with ‘SippTalk Media, a digital media platform, said.
“There’s no part of this nation that is untouched by the harm that racism does. Project 2025 is more of a beacon to get people to be more fervent in their racism,” he said. “Instead of whispering about it or doing political loopholes, now they’re just directly saying, ‘We’re going to take these small things that we’ve been doing to these specific populations and now we’re just going to amplify them. And we’re going to make this happen across the entire country.’”
Jones noted that organizers in the state and region had long been trying to warn the rest of the country about what was happening and what might soon come for them. Their warnings were met with dismissal, he said, as people believed “that’s just Mississippi for you”.
“The people here that are doing the work have always been doing the work,” he said. “A lot of people in Mississippi recognize that because we’ve always been overlooked, that we have to kind of look within in order to save ourselves. There is no grand agency or political candidate that’s ever going to come here and suddenly fix things for us.”
How coaches salaries and the NIL bill affects college football
Dan Wolken breaks down the annual college football coaches compensation package to discuss salaries and how the NIL bill affects them.
Sports Pulse
Anyone pushing for Mississippi to be in the College Football Playoff at this point is either on the payroll of the Southeastern Conference or wants to be at some point in the future.
That’s the truth, as plain and simple as it can be after the Rebels choked away the best opportunity in the history of their program Saturday, losing 24-17 at Florida.
No SEC championship game.
No playoff.
No nothin’, other than a New Year’s trip to Orlando or some such place that will force everyone in the program to pretend they’re honored and happy to be there.
And given the vaunted name, image and likeness payroll Lane Kiffin had to work with this year, it’s nothing less than a massive program-wide choke job. You want to play with the big boys after all these years? Fine, go ahead.
But you better take care of business. Instead, Ole Miss messed around and put together one of the most disappointing and confounding seasons they’ve ever had.
With all the hype, all the talent, all the momentum behind Kiffin after they dominated Georgia two weeks ago, are you really going to tell me the Rebels couldn’t do better than 5-for-18 on third and fourth down against a Florida team left for dead weeks ago?
We can break down all the mistakes Ole Miss made in this game from Kiffin’s hard-headedness in handing the ball to defensive tackle JJ Pegues in short yardage to a missed 34-yard field goal to a muffed punt return that handed Florida three points to quarterback Jaxson Dart refusing to tighten his chin strap. There are a lot of things Kiffin will regret.
But the bottom line is pretty straightforward. No team with losses to Florida, LSU and Kentucky should be within a mile of the playoff. And the worst part for Kiffin is that it was so avoidable.
Yeah, the SEC is tough. So what? We’re in a new era here with the 12-team playoff. In a league like the SEC, you can survive losses, especially if you also have good wins.
There has to be a limit, though. Three is just too many.
Florida’s playing well toward the end of the season, but a real playoff team goes into Gainesville and handles a Florida team that just got its sixth win.
LSU is a big brand name with lots of talent, but the Tigers are 6-4 and just not very good.
Kentucky almost certainly isn’t going to a bowl game.
Had any of those three games gone the other way, it would have almost certainly put Ole Miss in the 12-team field. The Georgia win was that valuable, and beating South Carolina 27-3 is one of the more underrated great performances of the season given how good the Gamecocks have been otherwise.
And at some point, there will be a three-loss team in the expanded playoff. Maybe even this year.
But it shouldn’t be Ole Miss. It can’t be Ole Miss, not when those losses all occurred to average or worse opponents.
You have to point the finger at Kiffin. Yes, he’s elevated the Rebels’ program significantly. But for years, his record in the really important games that define seasons has been questionable. After the Georgia win, that narrative was starting to turn. If Ole Miss had simply beaten Florida and Mississippi State, it would have all but locked up its spot. And Kiffin would have been arguably the most important figure in the modern history of Ole Miss football.
Maybe he will be one day. But it’s not going to be this year.
For Ole Miss to implode and miss the playoff with such a stacked roster, and when most of the hard work had been done, is a crushing disappointment.
It’s also a gift to the likes of Indiana and Tennessee. The manner in which the Hoosiers were beaten 38-15 by Ohio State certainly frames their resurgence a bit differently. They didn’t look the part at all and will end the season without any standout wins. But assuming they beat 1-10 Purdue next week, there’s little chance the committee can drop them below Ole Miss.
The Vols also stand to benefit from the developments in Gainesville. The first team out this week, according to the committee, they are in much better position heading into next Saturday’s game against Vanderbilt.
SEC homers will undoubtedly argue that both the Vols and Rebels should be in. Already this week, commissioner Greg Sankey was on social media sharing some strength of schedule data as he begins his public lobbying effort to stack the bracket with SEC teams.
And while the SEC is probably the best and deepest conference, you’d have to do a lot of mental gymnastics to conclude that the parity we’ve seen is evidence that it’s stacked with great teams. What’s closer to the truth is that the SEC has several pretty good, but deeply flawed teams, whose inconsistencies tend to show up on the road.
The SEC will spend the next couple weeks claiming that the league’s depth means all of them should be in the playoff. The committee shouldn’t — and won’t — fall for it. Sorry, Ole Miss. But you’re out.
Mississippi
What channel is Mississippi State football vs Missouri on today? Time, TV schedule to watch Week 13 game
Mississippi State football comes off a bye week with a chance to earn a win over nationally-ranked Missouri on Saturday.
The Bulldogs (2-8, 0-6) last played on Nov. 9 in a loss at Tennessee and have two more games against SEC opponents this year.
The Tigers (7-3, 3-3) lost a back-and-forth game at South Carolina last weekend.
Here’s how to watch the Mississippi State football vs. Missouri game today, including time, TV schedule and streaming information:
Mississippi State vs. Missouri will broadcast nationally on SEC Network in Week 13 of the 2024 college football season. Taylor Zarzour and Matt Stinchcomb will call the game from the booth at Davis Wade Stadium, with Alyssa Lang reporting from the sidelines. Streaming options for the game include FUBO, which offers a free trial to new subscribers.
- Date: Saturday, Nov. 23
- Start time: 3:15 p.m. CT
The Mississippi State football vs. Missouri game starts at 3:15 p.m. CT Saturday from Davis Wade Stadium in Starkville.
Clarion Ledger reporter Sam Sklar’s prediction: Missouri 37, Mississippi State 20
The Bulldogs are allowing 41 points per game in SEC play, and it’s difficult to see Missouri not having the same level of success. Expect big days from Burden and/or Wease, plus running back Nate Noel as MSU loses another game by double digits.
Odds courtesy of BetMGM as of Friday, Nov. 22
- Odds: Missouri -7.5
- O/U: 61.5 points
- Money line: Missouri -300, Mississippi State +240
- Aug. 31: EKU, W 56-7
- Sept. 7: at Arizona State, L 30-23
- Sept. 14: Toledo, L 41-17
- Sept. 21: Florida, L 45-28
- Sept. 28: at Texas, L 35-13
- Oct. 5: OPEN DATE
- Oct. 12: at Georgia, L 41-31
- Oct. 19: Texas A&M, L 34-24
- Oct. 26: Arkansas, L 58-25
- Nov. 2: UMass, W 45-20
- Nov. 9: at Tennessee, L 33-14
- Nov. 16: OPEN DATE
- Nov. 23: Missouri, 3:15 p.m. on SEC Network
- Nov. 29: at Ole Miss, 2:30 p.m. on ABC and ESPN+
Record: 2-8 (0-6 SEC)
- Aug. 29: Murray State, W 51-0
- Sept. 7: Buffalo, W 38-0
- Sept. 14: Boston College, W 27-21
- Sept. 21: Vanderbilt, W 30-27 2OT
- Sept. 28: OPEN DATE
- Oct. 5: at Texas A&M, L 41-10
- Oct. 12: at UMass, W 45-3
- Oct. 19: Auburn, W 21-17
- Oct. 26: at Alabama, L 34-0
- Nov. 2: OPEN DATE
- Nov. 9: Oklahoma, W 30-23
- Nov. 16: at South Carolina, L 34-30
- Nov. 23: at Mississippi State, 4:15 p.m. on SEC Network
- Nov. 30: Arkansas, TBD
Record: 7-3, 3-3 SEC
We occasionally recommend interesting products and services. If you make a purchase by clicking one of the links, we may earn an affiliate fee. USA TODAY Network newsrooms operate independently, and this doesn’t influence our coverage.
Reserve KeShawn Murphy scored 16 points and led a quartet of Mississippi State bench players in double-digit scoring and the Bulldogs beat SMU 84-79 on Friday night.
Reserves RJ Melendez scored 15 points, Riley Kugel 13 and Claudell Harris Jr. 10. Josh Hubbard was the lone Mississippi State (5-0) starter in double figures with 14 points on just 4-for-18 shooting. The Bulldogs’ starters went 10 for 33 from the floor compared to the 18-for-35 effort from the bench.
Cameron Matthews made a layup with 5:13 remaining to break a tie at 66. Murphy made a 3-pointer and Kanye Clary made 1 of 2 free throws and Mississippi State led for the remainder.
Reserve Kario Oquendo scored 13 points for the Mustangs (4-2), Matt Cross, Boopie Miller and Samet Yigitoglu all had 12 points and B.J. Edwards scored 10.
Mississippi State will get almost a full week off before returning to action on Thanksgiving night at the Arizona Tipoff in Tempe. The Bulldogs play their first game of the event against UNLV.
The Mustangs will head to Palm Springs, California, for the Acrisure Holiday Invitational, where they face Cal Baptist on Tuesday.
Find more SMU coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.
Boston College Football Coach, Players Talk Impact of 1984 Team on 40th Anniversary of Hail Flutie
NBA Legend Proposes Cam Thomas-Denver Nuggets Deal
Seattle Sounders vs. Los Angeles FC LIVE STREAM (10/28/24): Watch MLS Playoffs online | Time, TV, channel for soccer game
Brush fire breaks out near Otay Mesa
Milwaukee man killed, family heartbroken before the holidays: 'He didn’t deserve this'
Colorado Rockies game no. 116 thread: Zac Gallen vs José Ureña
See it: Tesla crashes into Columbus convention center at 70 mph
Fox News Politics: Georgia the whole day through
Why Marjorie Taylor Greene was ‘kicked out’ of the Freedom Caucus according to Rep. Buck
Death of missing Oregon girl found in stream ruled homicide
Ric Grenell under consideration to be Trump's point man on Ukraine: report
More than 100 Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza in 48 hours
Winter storms sweep across the U.S. while a new system is expected for Thanksgiving
Who is Pam Bondi, Trump's new pick for attorney general?
At least 11 killed and dozens injured in Israeli strikes on Beirut
-
Business7 days agoColumn: Molly White's message for journalists going freelance — be ready for the pitfalls
-
Science4 days agoTrump nominates Dr. Oz to head Medicare and Medicaid and help take on 'illness industrial complex'
-
Politics6 days agoTrump taps FCC member Brendan Carr to lead agency: 'Warrior for Free Speech'
-
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25739950/247386_Elon_Musk_Open_AI_CVirginia.jpg "Inside Elon Musk’s messy breakup with OpenAI")
Technology5 days agoInside Elon Musk’s messy breakup with OpenAI
-
Lifestyle6 days agoSome in the U.S. farm industry are alarmed by Trump's embrace of RFK Jr. and tariffs
-
World6 days agoProtesters in Slovakia rally against Robert Fico’s populist government
-
News6 days agoThey disagree about a lot, but these singers figure out how to stay in harmony
-
News6 days agoGaetz-gate: Navigating the President-elect's most baffling Cabinet pick