UK wastes $4M on locker room

I don't want to hear another word about how Kentucky universities can't have all the programs and facilities they want because of "budget cuts." Ever.

As Northern Kentucky University sells its radio station, and as the asswipe Matt Bevin slashes university budgets across the state, the University of Kentucky is planning to throw away $4 million renovating the locker room for its men's basketball team. The Republican legislature had actually approved $5 million - while other university programs have been cut for decades.

Also, even though Title IX requires parity of athletic programs, there are no similar plans to renovate the locker room for the women's basketball team.

Congratulations, Repubs, you fucked up at least 2 things today: You squandered millions of dollars and you violated Title IX. What is it with Republicans and failure?

The university also wants millions to replace the ceiling tiles in the arena - and a $21 million dining facility for athletes.

(Source: http://www.kentucky.com/news/local/education/article133334234.html)

People bubbled with spearmint Bubble Yum and thought it was funny (Bubble Gum Weekend)

It's spearmint!

It's spearmint gum!

It's spearmint bubble gum! Thus its mere existence is funny.

Remember when the Bubble Yum wrapper used big, bubbly lettering? Remember when they had a spearmint flavor? Remember when people bubbled big, green bubbles with it?

Back around 1978, Bubble Yum aired a memorable commercial for its spearmint flavor. People in the commersh bubbled and laughed uncontrollably about it...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIQwtZxPnxE

A brief synopsis in case you're afraid the bubbles in the ad will expand out of your screen and engulf you: The ad included a group of adults at a boring party. A woman sticks toothpicks into pieces of spearmint Bubble Yum and arranges them on a plate - like they're hors d'oeuvres. The woman's husband laments, "The party's dying and you're playing with Bubble Yum."

But all is well, because partygoers grab up all the beegee and blow bubbles that pop all over their faces.

Because I'm sure that's all you do when you go to parties with other mature, intelligent people.

Just think! 20 more Scholaring photos!

Tuesday's Roads Scholaring with the Road Ruiner was like an electric bunker blast wisping up US 22!

It yielded 20 photos, and you're gonna peep 'em until your peepers are all peeped out...

http://www.bunkerblast.info/roadpics/cinne17.html

Kasich has his most ridiculous idea yet?

Gosh, who voted for this clown?

Ohio's Tea Party Gov. John Kasich has just emitted what may be the worst idea yet of his reign. Under his budget plan, Kasich would require teachers to complete an "externship" at a business in order to renew their teaching license. This means teachers would have do extra work at a business or chamber of commerce. The reason for this is because Kasich wants Big Business to be involved more in education.

As if Big Business doesn't commandeer our schools enough?

Kasich also wants to pack each school board with 3 businesspeople. I'm not saying that being a businessperson should automatically disqualify someone from being on a school board. But if there are school board seats reserved for businesspeople, why not some reserved for labor reps too?

All the Far Right cares about is molding our young people into cheap, docile labor to be exploited as cogs in the wicked capitalist system.

WNKU sold to evangelical broadcaster

Yet another religious radio station in greater Cincinnati? You have got to be kidding me!

Nobody listens to radio anymore - unless it's WNKU, I've noticed. The station owned by Northern Kentucky University actually still has listeners.

But for the past year - ever since the scumbag Matt Bevin slashed funding to all state universities by 4.5% - WNKU has been on the chopping block. I truly believe Bevin pressured the university into making no attempt to ensure WNKU was sold to a responsible owner. I absolutely and honestly believe that. I think Bevin wanted it to be sold to someone that shares his ideology.

Of course, the university gave him what he wanted. After my experiences with NKU's suppression of dissent, that doesn't surprise me. The school is selling WNKU for $1.9 million to Bible Broadcasting Network - which already owns almost 50 stations nationwide and perhaps hundreds of low-power translators. BBN broadcasts what is described as "conservative evangelical" programming. NKU's Portsmouth simulcast is being sold to Educational Media Foundation, another religious broadcaster that already owns too many stations. The Middletown simulcast is awaiting a buyer too.

The FCC will of course rubber-stamp this purchase. They always do. It's easier for some checkbook clergy operation to buy a station in a major city than it is for the average person to buy a pack of bubble gum.

Since the FCC won't intervene, the city of Highland Heights should evict the station.

Congratulations, Matt Bevin and the FCC! Because of the FCC and Bevin not doing their jobs, about the only interesting thing we have now on local radio is American Top 40 reruns on WGRR. It's a shame I'll have to sit through all those commercials for cosmetic dentistry services I don't want, but I still enjoy hearing ol' Casey.

(Source: https://radioinsight.com/headlines/116522/bible-broadcasting-to-acquire-wnku-cincinnati)

Oregon may repeal Sudafed prescription law

The far-right drug warriors cheered back in 2006 when Oregon became the first state to pass a law requiring a prescription for over-the-counter cold and allergy medicine that contains pseudoephedrine. The lying sack of shit media was happy to help the failed drug war cause by falsely claiming that the Republican-backed law reduced the incidence of meth labs. (Oddly enough, the Portland media is so right-wing that it makes the Cincinnati media look like The Last Word in comparison.)

Of course, they clammed up the moment a real drug case fell right in their laps, but that's another matter entirely.

Now there's a bill in Oregon that would repeal the prescription requirement. If it's repealed, it would make Mississippi the last state that requires a prescription for allergy medicine.

(Source: http://koin.com/2017/02/13/or-may-drop-pseudoephedrine-prescription-requirement)

Indiana town continues classist land grab

Fascism is on the march in Charlestown, Indiana.

The town is home to a neighborhood called Pleasant Ridge - which has lots of low-income, working-class people. Some are families, and some are elderly or suffer from life-threatening illnesses. For over a year, right-wing city officials have been trying to demolish the neighborhood and replace it with luxury housing and upscale businesses.

Officials' language about Pleasant Ridge is openly classist. Officials called the neighborhood a "menace" to the rest of the town. They say Pleasant Ridge stands in the way of reshaping Charlestown as a more conservative high-end suburb. The city has fined Pleasant Ridge landlords - not because they did anything wrong, but because they want to encourage them to sell their property to developers.

Even the usually conservative Institute for Justice calls the case "the most outrageous property rights abuse in the U.S. right now." Pleasant Ridge residents have even filed a lawsuit accusing the city of being in cahoots with the developer. The lawsuit claims property owners can skip the fines by selling to the developer - as long as they sell all their properties in the neighborhood, not just those with the fines.

When city officials' campaign against Pleasant Ridge began, city council passed a resolution calling for a "permanent solution" to the neighborhood. A "permanent solution"????? Really????? Uh. That really sounds...bad. Very, very bad. The resolution also referred to Pleasant Ridge as "the projects" - which isn't even an official name for it, but was included just because of the images it evokes.

Of course, land grabs like this aren't limited to small towns. We've seen them in Cincinnati too, and elsewhere locally. I've discussed before that Over-the-Rhine has been slowly gnawed away at for some time by developers and the hated 3CDC. As idiotic as that land grab is, Charlestown officials aren't even pretending to be nice about theirs.

The Charlestown lawsuit may have slowed the city's campaign of econocide - but a lot of damage has already been done, and it's placed a lot of stress on ailing residents. Hopefully, what remains of Pleasant Ridge can be saved before it's too late.

(Source: http://www.courier-journal.com/longform/news/local/indiana/2017/02/08/residents-cling-homes-city-calls-menace/97402812)

Finally caught up on my Scholaring photos!

When will I be caught up on my recent Roads Scholaring photos? When the bubble gum busts.

The bustage must have taken place, because I'm finally caught up!

Best all, this is a new era in Scholaring, as now we have the Road Ruiner - an electric bicycle! You're gonna love it!

First off, we've got several items from a Road Ruiner outing on Waterworks Road in Newport...

http://www.bunkerblast.info/roadpics/waworks17.html

As a bonus, we've got a few photos from a very minor automotive Scholaring in Highland Heights...

http://www.bunkerblast.info/roadpics/hh17.html

It fails to stink.

Trump threatens Cincinnati over immigration rule

You don't threaten our cities like this, Donald. Ever.

After Cincinnati recently declared that it is a sanctuary city that will protect immigrants, so-called President Trump is now threatening to cut off federal funding for the city's roads, bridges, and other projects.

The Western Hills Viaduct is about to collapse, and Donald Trump is trying to cheaply manipulate the city like this.

22 more Scholaring photos!

Twenty-two in a bottle of poo!

Last year was a slow one for Roads Scholaring, but I've now got all of 2016's Scholaring photos up, and the final batch from last year includes 22 photos from Newport!

Nothing great, but this time, I focus primarily on the urban prairie where KY 9 is plowing through...

http://www.bunkerblast.info/roadpics/morenewp16.html

Missouri enacts Klan-backed "right-to-work" law

The state of Missouri has long had a self-destruct button that's been tightly guarded enough to not have a lying piece shit like so-called Gov. Eric Greitens touch it. But today he pulled the trigger, and yet another state's economy has been replaced by a cloud of sawdust.

Today, Greitens signed a Ku Klux Klan-backed "right-to-work" bill into law - ignoring an earlier referendum in which Missouri voters soundly rejected such a measure.

Hey, I know what we can do about it: Blow a bubble. That'll show them! No, seriously, I know what we can do about it: Blow a bubble inside a bubble. That'll really show 'em!

But seriously. Ever consider just ignoring the fucking law? I don't go around encouraging people to break the law. But this law is unconstitutional, so it's fair game.

I posted some Scholaring photos and thought it was funny

Nineteen! Nineteen! Nineteen!

I have 19 brand bippus bustin' new Roads Scholaring photos and videos from the Cincinnati area that will cause a 10-foot-tall Sesame Street sign to sprout forth from your noggin.

Our first set focuses on the river cities of Campbell County (the cool part)...

http://www.bunkerblast.info/roadpics/daynew16.html

The next set focuses on Cincinnati's East End neighborhood and even has a few bonus items from Silverton...

http://www.bunkerblast.info/roadpics/cineast16.html

Why not peep and weep?

Kentucky GOP praises racist legislator

When the openly racist Dan Johnson received the Republican nomination for a Kentucky House seat last year, the reason for it couldn't have reflected well on the Republicans. At first I thought it was because Republican voters voted for him (since Kentucky has a closed primary), but actually it was because party leaders selected him because they didn't have a candidate. (Why weren't Democratic leaders allowed to select a candidate in districts where they had none?)

This means leaders of the Republican Party of Kentucky put their stamp of approval on Johnson's racism. The Media tried to make it look like the GOP didn't actually support Johnson. Nothing can be further from the truth. They picked him.

Now that Johnson has taken office, Republican leaders in the Kentucky House are praising him. Republican Whip Kevin Bratcher said of Johnson, "He's making good votes. He seems like a fine fellow."

Meanwhile, State Rep. Wesley Morgan - a Dan Johnson-style bigot - has introduced bills to benefit his own liquor stores. It's a felony for legislators to take official actions that would "derive a direct monetary gain."

(Source: http://www.kentucky.com/latest-news/article130293554.html)

People Scholared in 1993

Remember the '90s? Remember helmet hair, Surge soda, and Roc?

People went Roads Scholaring in the decade of incoherence. Taking road photos and videos was tricky back then, and not as easy to do as it is now. But back in 1993, someone did so - right here in Campbell County! Best all, they started in my hometown of Highland Heights.

And now they've put their 1993 Scholaring video up on YouTube for the whole wide world to ogle (beep)...



Before anyone asks, I didn't make that video. In fact, there's a brief scene I couldn't watch, because it triggers traumatic memories I can't handle. But let me break this clip down for you: It starts in Highland Heights, and you see some boarded-up and dilapidated buildings there. Remember, 1993 was a sorry chapter in local history.

You'll also notice an already-stale Q-102 playing on the radio. If you're into Road Scholaring, there do appear to be at least a couple of very old traffic signs when they drive through downtown Alexandria late in the video.

Plus, 1993 was the year The Last Word was founded. I attended NKU and worked at the public library back then.

But nobody in this video bubbled.

America gets another major Interstate

If you're a Roads Scholar, you'll be interested to know about this story. Maybe not pleased, but interested.

America now has an Interstate 14. It's the little woocap that runs from Copperas Cove to Temple, Texas. That's only 25 miles, but Texas wants to expand I-14 from one end of the state to the other. Why, I don't know.

I'm pretty sure I was on this freeway during my 2015 Texas fact-finding mission.

Meanwhile, still no TANK service to Silver Grove.

Trump convoy belonged to SEAL unit

We gave military leaders the benefit of the doubt when they said a convoy sighted in Louisville carrying a blue Donald Trump flag didn't actually belong to the military. But now that claim has fallen to rack and ruin.

Now a Navy spokesperson admits that the convoy belonged to an out-of-town SEAL unit traveling between training locations. This means they violated regulations by flying a Trump flag. However, those who posted the flag might not have been SEAL's, for these units also carry support staff.

The Navy may initiate disciplinary action following this partisan display.

(Source: http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/article130287814.html)

Trump's Supreme Court pick started fascist club

As Donald Trump nominates Neil Gorsuch - a right-wing federal judge - to the Supreme Court, it's now been discovered that Gorsuch founded an openly fascist club at an elite prep school he attended.

Gorsuch called his organization the Fascism Forever Club, and he says it was designed to fight the "left-wing tendencies" of his high school teachers. He served as president of this club until he graduated.

Gee, Donald, nice job of vetting this guy before you nominated him. Of course, George W. Bush is just as guilty as Trump is, because it was the thug Bush who appointed Gorsuch to his current judgeship. Trump and Bush probably just don't care. Sometimes it's easy to forget that Bush was endorsed by the Ku Klux Klan.

Cincinnati congressman posts anti-Jewish material

Steve Chabot - the unpopular Cincinnati congressman - is a particularly nasty Tea Party loudmouth. Now he's been caught posting an item from an anti-Jewish website on his own political blog.

While arguing that the media is hostile to Donald Trump - a claim that is laughable on its face - Chabot posted a quote from Steve Bannon that used the triple parentheses "echo" commonly used as an anti-Jewish symbol. The image also included a link to an anti-Jewish website.

Chabot did this on purpose. He knew exactly what he was doing. He can't claim he didn't know.

Trump order kills elderly woman

Donald Trump has blood on his hands, and needs to be prosecuted.

Trump's travel ban against people from predominantly Muslim countries has killed a 75-year-old woman who had been a legal American resident for 22 years. The woman had flown to her native Iraq to visit family - but when she became ill, Trump's order prevented her from returning to the U.S., and she died. Her son - an American citizen - was allowed to return. The son - who had fled Iraq during the 1991 Gulf War and now owns a Detroit-area business - places the blame squarely on Trump.

Dictator Trump has been in power less than 2 weeks, and already this happens.

People have a right to count on their government to protect their families. It's one of government's most basic charges. Predictably, it has failed with Trump at the helm.

(Source: http://www.fox2detroit.com/news/local-news/232856168-story)

North Dakota! South Dakota! Nebraska! It's a great place to fart, I mean start!

Back in September, I embarked on my only out-of-town roadtrip of 2016! It focused primarily on Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota - a people's park!

These 173 photos and videos cover 7 states, and you're gonna peep every one of them until your face flies off in public...

http://www.bunkerblast.info/roadpics/tr16a.html
http://www.bunkerblast.info/roadpics/tr16b.html
http://www.bunkerblast.info/roadpics/tr16c.html
http://www.bunkerblast.info/roadpics/tr16d.html
http://www.bunkerblast.info/roadpics/tr16e.html
http://www.bunkerblast.info/roadpics/tr16f.html
http://www.bunkerblast.info/roadpics/tr16g.html

Mysterious Trump convoy sighted in Louisville

In America, you fly the American flag. Not the Trump flag.

On Sunday, folks in Louisville saw what appeared to be a military convoy speeding down Interstate 65 - carrying a large flag emblazoned with the name "TRUMP." (This occurred the day before pro-Trump thugs beat demonstrators in Louisville.) However, it probably wasn't actually any branch of the military.

I've seen government agencies display partisan items, circulate political e-mails, and improperly advocate political causes. But the Defense Department says the vehicles in the convoy do not appear to currently belong to any service branch. Nearby Fort Knox and the Kentucky National Guard also say the vehicles weren't theirs. It would of course violate military regulations to fly a flag like this on vehicles.

Some believe the convoy actually belonged to a military contractor - which wouldn't surprise me at all. I remember the Fletcher administration hiring a contractor for a state construction job that had one of their trucks with Republican bumper stickers parked along a local highway for years - which was an eyesore even without the partisan advocacy.

If it isn't the military or a contractor, what's going on here? How did some outside Trumper group get hold of so many military vehicles? And what other military equipment do they have?

(Source: http://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/local/2017/01/30/military-convoy-trump-flag-rolls-through/97255844)

Trump disobeys court order on Muslim ban

Here's another issue we can't just bubble away.

Dictator Trump's travel ban is un-American. This ban afflicts refugees and even legal U.S. residents who are from predominantly Muslim countries.

A federal judge blocked enforcement of the ban nationwide. But guess what? Trump is just ignoring this order outright. His Department of Homeland Security - designed as a Bush plaything - has announced it would continue to enforce the ban.

Yes, Donald Trump disobeyed a federal court order.

Repeat after me: DONALD TRUMP DISOBEYED A FEDERAL COURT ORDER.

That, my friends, is impeachable.

More media gaslighting against public education

I'm sick of hearing about "school choice" - when it robs us (the taxpayers) of the choice not to subsidize bad private schools.

As part of the far-right National School Choice Week, private schools are making students attend rallies at statehouses all over America to demand public subsidies of private schools. And the right-wing media is of course happy to help.

For one thing, it violates IRS regulations for religious schools to promote political activity. For another, it's unconstitutional for public money to fund these schools. But just as importantly, The Media is engaging in gaslighting with its one-sided coverage of each event. If there is one "alternative fact" that the right-wing media has been consistent on, it's their notion that private schools are superior to public schools. Anyone who dares to disagree is shouted down.

The Media's stance is a lie. I know public schools are superior, because I have experience to know. I'm not saying the ones I attended were good. I'm just saying they were better than the other option.

I know, man, it's just so frightening how oppressed private schools are. It's a total tragedy. Just joking! Seriously, the people yammering to support "school choice" are actually looking for a taxpayer-funded bailout for a failed system.

When a state unconstitutionally subsidizes private schools, it is the people's prerogative to seize property from these schools as collateral.

A Snuffleupagus moment with Dusty Lenscap

I just found this on YouTube when I wasn't even looking for it!

I stumbled upon a YouPube item featuring the audio of a 1988 newscast on WLW radio in Cincinnati. I listened to this expecting to hear whatever fake news against Michael Dukakis that was in circulation that day, but apparently WLW had higher standards than that in 1988. Instead I got Snuffleupagused.

For years, I've insisted there was a radio commercial for Kmart's photo processing center that featured Dusty Lenscap and a ridiculous jingle that sang, "As long as you're comin' to Kmart, don't forget the film!" The only station I remember hearing it on was the old WLAP-FM in Lexington. Kmart had such a miserable photo developing department that I always sang, "As long as you're comin' to Kmart, leave the film at home!" But everybody said I was just making the whole thing up.

Well, once again, YouTube saves the day!

This very commersh can be found at 1:15 in this WLW clip...



Believe me now? Or are we just going to keep living in denial?

Also notice that WLW played a little bit of music back in 1988. At the end of the clip, the station seamlessly segues into a Moody Blues record.

Trump full of shit about voter fraud (imagine that!)

Sore loser Donald Trump keeps whining that he lost the popular vote only because of voter fraud - and nobody believes him. Absolutely nobody.

Now the Donald has come up with a story to try to back up his claim that's bizarre even by his own standards. Trump claims that he knows there was voter fraud because German golf legend Bernhard Langer - who he describes as a friend - wasn't allowed to vote. With no basis whatsoever, Trump speculated that voters who were in line with Langer - and who were permitted to vote - must have come from various Latin American countries.

When Trump related this laughable story, the room fell silent in shock. Reince Priebus and John Cornyn urged Trump to change the subject immediately.

The reason Langer wasn't allowed to vote is because - even though he now lives in Florida - he's not a U.S. citizen. Plus, it turns out Langer isn't a Trump pal at all. Langer's daughter said of the golfer, "He is not a friend of President [sic] Trump's."

I guess Donald Trump is such an egotist and narcissist that he thinks all publicity is good publicity.

(Source: https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/01/25/us/politics/trump-bernhard-langer-voting-fraud.html)

Faster than a speeding celebrity look-alike...

I saw a celebrity look-alike today, and it was as funny as all the rest!

I goed Roads Scholaring with the Road Ruiner out on Waterworks Road, and on the way home, I stopped at the Jersey Mike's in Newport. While I was in there masticating a nice, chewy sandwich, I saw some guy who looked just like the late Superman actor Christopher Reeve! He resembled Reeve in his Clark Kent persona, with a suit and glasses.

Women's March comes to Pikeville

I didn't think the Women's March would be a very large event, but wow, was I ever wrong! Small towns in Appalachia drew hundreds to their local marches.

There was a march in Pikeville, Kentucky, on Saturday that drew 100, which is a remarkable number for such a small town...

http://www.ekbtv.com/news/womens-march-held-pikeville

This is especially significant because small towns and rural counties have become the Far Right's geographic base. I'm especially impressed by the sign at the Pikeville march that read, "FIGHT TRUMPISM WITH SOCIALISM."

In Pikeville, of all places!

These marches are the real deal.

I support the protesters

Before anyone asks, I fully support the women's march and satellite events that took place over the weekend all over America. The D.C. event was the biggest protest in America's history, and attendance dwarfed Trump's inauguration many times over.

I also fully support Friday's protests in D.C. against the inauguration itself. Those who are urging the Army to beat protesters are sowing bigotry and extremism.

I fully support efforts to fight Trump-inspired Nazi vandalism that has recently plagued local schools and institutions, and I am urging prosecution to the fullest extent against the assailant in the recent Trump-linked hate crime in Wilder (which The Media has yet to report).

Facebook founder suing landowners to force them to sell

Judging by the way Facebook deletes posts and yanks accounts for disagreeing with the Far Right, this story isn't much of a surprise.

Companies controlled by Facepoo founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg are suing hundreds of people on the Hawaiian island of Kauai in an effort to force them to sell him their land - totaling over 8 acres. The billionaire wants them to sell because his own beachfront land surrounds these parcels, and he's mad because these landowners have to use his land to access their land.

The landowners have had their land in their families for hundreds of years.

I bet Mark Fuckerberg wishes Hawaii had a feudalist governor like Matt Bevin.

(Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/facebook-s-zuckerberg-suing-hundreds-hawaiians-force-them-sell-property-n708951)

Have no fear, the February ish is here!

Sorry to disappoint you, but out of 19 articles in the latest ish of The Last Word, only 5 of them are primarily about gum.

But this 14-pager is one of the thickest editions in years, and it has so many nifty things for you to peep and weep. In this issue...

• I proudly break the law with my new electric bike.

• We were denied a youth center.

• People poop on stuff.

• Kroger sells Freedent nobody buys.

• Being cool.

• The Internet argues about bubble gum.

• A person rips out their braces because they didn't want or need them.

• Someone burned something at school.

• A person wiped boogers on stuff.

• A folder got ruined by gum.

• And more!

If you can still access The Last Word on Scribd, point your pooper here...

https://www.scribd.com/document/337170072/The-Last-Word-2-2017

Otherwise, you can find the latest ish here...

http://bunkerblast.info/lastword/lw1702.pdf