Kentucky malpractice law ruled unconstitutional

This was completely unexpected. Seriously.

For years, the beezlybozz Right has whined and cried over the supposed glut of medical malpractice lawsuits - even though there's far, far more lawsuits by hospitals and insurers against patients. So nobody cares what the Right thinks. Nobody.

But the Kentucky legislature has been fashing it up this year, and one of their first acts was to pass a law to require malpractice suits to go through a review panel stacked with political hacks. The law was sponsored by far-right State Sen. Ralph Alvarado, who sues everyone who disagrees with him.

Now a judge has rightly ruled this law unconstitutional and has permanently enjoined Kentucky from enforcing it. The court said the law "protects the economic interests of the health care industry at the expense of consumers, with no demonstrable benefit to the public at large." The ruling said the law builds unfair "barriers to the court system."

But don't break out the champagne and Skittles just yet. The Matt Bevin thugocracy is planning on wasting taxpayer money by appealing this ruling. Maybe Bevin's lawyers will fail to show up, like what happened for the Planned Parenthood case.

(Source: http://www.kentucky.com/news/politics-government/article181748186.html)

Chick-fil-A still funds right-wing extremism

Newport tore down a whole neighborhood for this?

It seems like every time a new Chick-fil-A opens in any community, the media there is absolutely over the moon about it, and the new Chick-fil-A receives what is in effect free advertising. Other restaurants usually don't receive this kind of fawning media attention. Several years ago, Chick-fil-A was exposed for donating to right-wing hate groups - and the chain's extremism continues today.

Recent IRS filings for the Chick-fil-A Foundation reveal that it gave over $200,000 to the far-right Paul Anderson Youth Home, a Georgia-based group that operates what they call a "Christian residential home for troubled youth" that uses discredited "ex-gay" therapy.

In other words, a confinement program - just like a phony "rehab" or psychiatric prison.

Have no fear, the November ish is here!

The November issue of The Last Word - that zine to end all zines - is now pub! You can't blow bubbles with it, because it's not gum, but the latest edition does regale you with lots of interesting items...

• My recent trip to Big Bend.

• A mole in the Occupy movement.

• Toilet lids.

• A jacket getting ruined by peach cobbler.

• People blowing bubbles with bubble gum and uploading it to YouTube.

• Some Monopoly lore!

• And more!

So point your pooper here...

https://www.scribd.com/document/362865225/The-Last-Word-11-2017

If Scribd fails to enchant you, you can find the latest Last Word here...

http://bunkerblast.info/lastword/lw1711.pdf

Right-wing bigots kill housing in Kentucky community

Prospect, Kentucky, is a rich suburb of Louisville - and they don't want you anywhere near, even if you're at least 55.

Usually, new developments are rubber-stamped. Most are rich subdivisions. But an exception is any time someone proposes housing that's relatively inexpensive. Then it's usually rejected. A Bowling Green company had planned a housing complex outside of Prospect for people 55 and older that offered housing at a below-market cost. Rich Tea Party activists in Prospect then circulated a petition to cancel the project - even though the development would be outside the city of Prospect. Prospect Mayor John Evans even threatened to sue if the project was approved. Prospect wasted $100,000 in legal fees fighting it.

The development's opponents didn't even try to hide their classism. Many of them admitted that their big worry was that it would draw low-income residents to the area.

Bowing to these caterwauling crybabies, Louisville Metro Council voted 14 to 11 to reject the development. They said it was because of fumes from a nearby gas station. But it was pointed out that fumes already plague other Louisville neighborhoods, and public officials aren't concerned about it.

It turns out that Prospect actually tried to build its own development on the site to block out the housing - even though, as I said earlier, the site is outside of Prospect. The Tea Party couldn't very well argue that they opposed the housing originally planned there because of traffic concerns, considering the project that Prospect wanted instead would've drawn just as much traffic.

Rich suburbs east of Louisville have a decades-long history of fighting inexpensive housing. Just last year, the Tea Party killed a different housing development there.

(Source: http://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/local/2017/10/27/prospect-kentucky-affordable-housing-killed-louisville-metro-council/806087001)

Trump may hike national park entrance fees

America's national parks are a treasure. Many cost nothing to enter, and some charge only a nominal fee. These parks belong to the people.

Now the Trump regime - in the form of so-called Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke - is proposing hiking many of these fees - which would make them unaffordable for many folks. Right now, for instance, the fee for a vehicle to enter some parks is $25 to $30. Trump wants to raise it to $70 for 5 months out of the year. Entering these parks on foot costs $10 to $15 now. The national manbaby would hike it to $30.

This after the Trump thugocracy has already proposed a deep cut to the National Park Service budget.

(Source: https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/news/national-park-service-proposes-dollar70-entrance-fee-into-some-parks)

Elder Bush accused of sexual assault

Can't believe my high school pretty much endorsed this guy for President. Actually, knowing my high school, I can believe it.

Former so-called President George H.W. Bush has now been accused of sexual assault by actress Heather Lind. Lind, 34, made a post on Instagram saying that the aging Bush groped her during a photo shoot while she was working on a TV show several years ago. After seeing a photo of former Presidents together, Lind wrote that "when I got the chance to meet George H. W. Bush four years ago to promote a historical television show I was working on, he sexually assaulted me while I was posing for a similar photo."

Lind said Bush "touched me from behind from his wheelchair with his wife Barbara Bush by his side. He told me a dirty joke. And then, all the while being photographed, touched me again. Barbara rolled her eyes as if to say 'not again.' His security guard told me I shouldn't have stood next to him for the photo."

The actress went on to say, "It seems to me a President's power is in his or her capacity to enact positive change, actually help people, and serve as a symbol of our democracy. He relinquished that power when he used it against me and, judging from the comments of those around him, countless other women before me."

Bush hasn't even denied the accusation.

What ever happened to the stories about Bush having an affair from years ago? If a Democrat had done something like that, it would've ended their political career lickety-split.

(Source: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/heather-lind-accuses-ex-prez-george-hw-bush-of-sexual-assault)

Facebook actually deletes hate propaganda!

Be still my beating heart! Facebook actually followed its own stated guidelines against posting hate propaganda!

As you know, Facepalm usually allows racist and classist propaganda to flow unabated - while deleting posts or accounts of folks who challenge it. Facebook's guidelines ostensibly disallow it, but this rule is almost never enforced.

Yesterday, I stumbled upon a right-wing Facebook page full of racist memes, so I reported it. I figured it was probably futile, but then again, I thought if Facepoo got enough complaints, maybe someday they'd turn over a new leaf.

Now Facebook has replied to me that they have deleted the offending content. They claim that they did not delete the whole page - even though hate propaganda is about all it consisted of. But at least some of the garbage is gone - I think.

I'm home, I'm home, I'm home!

As many of you know, I was on a trip to Big Bend National Park over the past few days. As a national park, it belongs to the people.

A bunker blast was detected at a gas station, and a Jack Nicholson look-alike was sighted. I plan to include more details about this trip in the next Last Word. But I could do hardly any hiking, because I don't have the energy. I also sprained my knee climbing into my tent, but I had no energy long before that.

Also, at a Pilot gas station in Sulphur Springs, Texas, some woman bubbled.

Fash! Aa-aah!

When I was in grade school, one of my classmates' favorite songs was "Flash" by Queen: "Flash! Aa-aah!" (Yet one of my favorites was a Christopher Cross song all because the rhythm of it was hilariously likened to the sound of bubble gum popping, and everyone knows bubble gum is cool.)

It would be nifty if "Weird Al" Yankovic made a parody of "Flash" called "Fash" to poke fun at fascists far and wide. I privately referred to one of my high school classmates as Fash because this student was a fascist (as quite a few were).

A video would also come in handy. I just discovered that some right-wing nutball has been infiltrating local progressive causes for years, and it would be cool to have a video of "Fash" to post on this person's Facebook timeline just to show they're busted.

Another gaslighter for the bozo bin

You can disagree with people without trotting out a classist canard.

There's been some discussion today on the Greater Cincinnati Politics page on Facebook about right-wing private schools trying to take over public school boards. Some of the usual suspects chimed in and said private schools are superior - but provided no evidence and didn't even expand on this statement.

I responded that private schools were inferior. I was met with a reply that this notion reflected "unsubstantiated rumors." "Unsubstantiated"??? It's not "unsubstantiated." I experienced it myself.

To deny what happened is gaslighting. And it is truly classist.

As a result, I blocked this commenter on Facebook.

She's actually not from greater Cincinnati. She moved to the area from hundreds of miles away. I'm not sure why the area was getting so many reactionary weirdoes to move in. This would have been a better location for Donald Trump's idiotic wall.

Support me, worry less

I've been forced to write a lot lately about my condition - PTSD - which took 26 years for me to be able to get any help for (because The Media would rather yell about how I should be treated for an eye disorder that doesn't cause me any problems).

Even with the fascist war against disability benefits that I already paid for when I worked at the library for years, you should probably worry less about me than about other working-class Americans. I'll probably be covered regardless - because I'm not getting any younger - but I need your support. This is a cause where we have to be united.

If you like this blog and my other works such as The Last Word and my books, I'm on PayPal. As I write this, this blog has a PayPal button on the upper right. Use it and peep!

Passports should be revoked for blocking human rights

As you know, because disgraced Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis hates gays, she defied the Supreme Court by refusing to sign marriage licenses of same-sex couples.

Now Davis - Kentucky's version of Roy Moore - is traveling to Romania to encourage the passage of an antigay constitutional amendment there. Davis is touring the eastern European country with some nobody from the misnamed Liberty Counsel, an Orlando-based right-wing hate group. The pair is meeting with right-wing activists in Romania. Some of the activists funding the trip have endorsed execution of gays.

Luckily, Romanian President Klaus Iohannis opposes the amendment, and the nation's biggest opposition party opposes it too.

The U.S. government should revoke passports of American citizens who travel abroad to violate human rights. This story shows why. Every time Republicans start a war, they claim to be spreading the cause of democracy and human rights. America can't claim to be a human rights leader when it exports hate.

Kentucky publishes right-wing report attacking Social Security

For the first time ever, a state has financed and published a report assailing Social Security disability benefits - even though it's a federal program.

The report by Kentucky's Disability Determination Services points out the growth in the number of Kentuckians receiving disability aid between 1980 and 2015. Some of the real reasons for this growth are an aging workforce, the fact that Americans are less healthy than in 1980, and psychiatric abuse. But the report instead blames "factors which are completely unrelated to the mitigation or treatment of hardship borne of genuine disability." The study whines that the Social Security Administration is just trying to pad its own budget by being too generous with benefits. That's a lie, and it's been discredited.

The report demands a host of "reforms", most of which would gut the Social Security disability program. Nice to know Kentucky is trying to tell the federal government how to run Social Security. Kentucky certainly can't make these changes itself, since Social Security is federal. The states have their own agencies for disability determination, but they're bound by federal law. Of course, Kentucky state government has become so incompetent lately that if you try to access the whole report online, your browser pops up a message that says, "The owner of cms.chfs.ky.gov has configured their website improperly." With that kind of incompetence, how can we trust them with Social Security?

Among the "reforms" demanded in the report are removing a host of conditions from eligibility for disability. The study also blames Social Security for causing the pandemic of opioid abuse, when the biggest causes are Big Pharma's greed and the Tea Party selling heroin. Yes, the same Tea Party that fueled this bogus report.

In my America, the assholes don't get to decide what conditions are severe and what conditions aren't. They're not the ones with the social work degree, so they're to zip their lip about it. Go to school and get your degree before you shoot your big mouth off about what you don't know.

It's also nice to know Kentucky wasted taxpayer money on a report that accuses other agencies of waste.

Support for single payer healthcare grows weekly, but Kentucky officials remain mired in debunked lies.

(Source: http://www.nkytribune.com/2017/10/new-report-shows-staggering-increase-in-number-of-kentucky-adults-children-receiving-disability-benefits)

Pence wasted $1M on NFL tantrum

Yesterday, so-called Vice-President Mike Pence had a public meltdown like the big crybaby he is.

Pence flew to Indianapolis for a football game between the Indianapolis Colts and the San Francisco 49ers. Players on the visiting team took a knee during the national anthem, as part of NFL players' ongoing protests against racial injustice. This caused Pence to storm out of the stadium and skip the game.

Pence's temper tantrum was actually a planned publicity stunt, and Donald Trump even takes credit for giving him the idea.

It turns out that Pence's self-serving display cost about $1 million. And guess who paid for it? U! That's who! Pence flies on Air Force Two. It's unknown exactly how much the aircraft's operating costs are, but Air Force One costs over $200,000 an hour. Pence flew from Las Vegas to Indianapolis for his brief appearance at the game - then out to Los Angeles for a Republican fundraiser. Each flight took over 4 hours.

Then there's the cost of idling Air Force Two on the ground in Indy while he threw his little fit. Plus, there's the cost of Secret Service, which had to arrive at the stadium early to make sure it was safe.

Do the math. This childish gimmick probably cost taxpayers well over $1 million. It was reported that flying Air Force Two from Las Vegas to Los Angeles - and skipping the Indy photo op - would have cost only $45,000.

This was such a staged story that the photo Pence released that purports to show him at the game was actually from a different game 2 years ago.

Because Pence's flight to L.A. was a for a political event, this is the latest in a series of scandals involving officials in the Trump regime wasting taxpayer money on flights for personal or political purposes.

A lot of real Colts fans were actually late to the game in Indianapolis because of the traffic jams Pence's appearance caused - yet Pence didn't even stay for the game!

NRA wants expanded police state

I support the Second Amendment as much as anyone - but you don't get to violate the rest of the Bill of Rights under the pretense of defending the right to keep and bear arms.

America is subjected to mass shootings almost daily - almost always by right-wing domestic terrorists like Stephen Paddock. My solution? In addition to making it illegal for members of hate groups to have guns, I believe we should crack down on devices that convert guns into automatic weapons. It's hard to imagine why any civilian would even want a device like that for any practical purpose. If you want to handle something like that, go fucking enlist! If I thought I really needed such a device, America would be beyond hope already, and acquiring this device would be the least of my worries.

You can't have nukes. That's because we pay attention to the "well-regulated" part of the Second Amendment. Why should regulation of devices to make automatic weapons be dismissed out of hand?

People should be able to own guns. People should be able to carry concealed weapons. But the line must be drawn when other rights are violated.

After the act of terrorism at Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, the Really Serious People are going face-deep into encouraging authorities to violate the Fourth Amendment - just to soothe the National Rifle Association's bogus claims to defend the Second. The Media's "experts" say hotels will now institute metal detectors and x-rays to inspect guests. Some inns already have.

How is this even practical at a hotel?

The NRA wants to expand an already bloated police state just because they don't want anyone telling them they should enlist if they want to handle automatic weapons.

What about the First Amendment's guarantee of freedom of assembly? People should have a right to gather without some right-wing maniac mowing them down.

It's amazing how The Media tries to gaslight everyone into accepting losing the rights guaranteed under 2 amendments in the Bill of Rights - just to make it look like they're protecting one other amendment.

Another Kroger bubbling

Today at Kroger, a bagger bubbled.

Trump wants Senate to investigate news outlets that report things accurately

Everyone whose brain hasn't turned to bizcream knows the American media has a strong right-wing bias. They helped put Donald Trump in power. They have yet to even report on Stephen Paddock's right-wing leanings.

Despite this, Trump wants the Senate Intelligence Committee to probe news organizations that don't support him enough. Today, Trump said online that the panel should investigate "why so much of our news is just made up." He didn't mention a specific network or story this time, but he has complained about NBC and about stories that expose his botched response to the active hurricane season or report on Russian interference in the American "election."

If Congress investigates anyone in the media, it should be Fox News and its ilk.

(Source: http://www.politico.com/story/2017/10/05/trump-fake-news-networks-senate-intelligence-committee-243480)

Anti-harassment bill introduced in Ohio

America has slipped a long way in 35 years.

School harassment was once taboo, but later it became taboo to even remember it was taboo. After some point, it didn't just go unpunished. It was also openly encouraged and normalized. The victims were even portrayed as the bad ones - and they were the ones punished.

Now a bill in Ohio would restore some sanity to that state's schools. A bill by State Sen. Sandra Williams (D-Cleveland) would let serial harassers face criminal charges - as they should. My experience was that the harassers broke numerous laws - they committed battery and theft regularly - so even if this bill passes, they'd still get off pretty easy. This bill would establish an offense of aggravated bullying, a third-degree misdemeanor, but only after 6 violations.

Despite the lenient penalties, this bill would still give Ohio some of the nation's toughest laws against school harassment.

Schools are always saying they can't prevent harassment - even though schools are where it happens the most. They refuse to take cues from organizations that have prevented it. So the law must get involved.

It's mind-boggling that it's easier for serial harassers to get a driver's license than it is for anyone else to buy a box of over-the-counter sinus medicine.

Another Michael McDonald look-alike sighted

I detected a Michael McDonald look-alike at Riverfest a few years ago - in fact, I think I saw him at the exact same spot 2 years in a row. But the former Doobie Brothers vocalist continues to be a common celebrity look-alike!

I've just been informed that a Michael McDonald look-alike was seen at Jungle Jim's, hunched over a cart in the bakery aisle.

Detroit photos posted!

One hundred twenty-two in a bottle of poo! That's how many new Roads Scholaring photos and videos I amassed on my August trip to Detroit! But this photo shoot has a bonus item too, and you're gonna love every bit of this fact-finding mission!

So point your pooper here...

http://www.bunkerblast.info/roadpics/det17a.html
http://www.bunkerblast.info/roadpics/det17b.html
http://www.bunkerblast.info/roadpics/det17c.html
http://www.bunkerblast.info/roadpics/det17d.html
http://www.bunkerblast.info/roadpics/det17e.html

Another Jack Black look-alike sighted

It's strange how people keep telling me they see Jack Black look-alikes everywhere. He's not a celebrity I ever think about otherwise, because I'm old. When I think of famous people, I usually think of old favorites such as John Ritter or Donna Summer who were popular back when we had a real President.

Today I was told that another Jack Black look-alike was seen, this time at an undisclosed location.

Vegas gunman had right-wing Facebook links

Big surprise.

Stephen Paddock - the Nevada man who carried out the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history - has "likes" for right-wing pages on Facebook. They consist primarily of dwindling Religious Right groups.

It took me 30 seconds to discover what the media hasn't uncovered in many hours. They post enticing headlines like "What we know about shooter", but the articles don't do anything except go on about how little they know about him - even though the information is in plain sight.