Sandy Springs, Inc.

Some of you may know that the fascist Tom Price's old U.S. House seat in Georgia is being seriously contested in a June runoff - and it may even be a likely Democratic pick-up. But there's no doubt that progress in this area north of Atlanta has been gunked up by the politics that gave it one of the strangest municipalities in America of any significant size.

In terms of administration, Sandy Springs, Georgia, has one of the most unusual features of any city: privatization of almost all public services. The now-defunct nearby city of Chattahoochee Plantation though was just as weird.

Usually, right-wingers try to block people from banding together for a positive purpose. For instance, they're militantly opposed to labor unions. Incorporating a city is sort of like the people's union. But right-wingers support incorporating cities as long as it's for unliberal purposes. Texas, for example, even specifically encourages cities to incorporate for such reasons. Georgia allowed Chattahoochee Plantation to incorporate back in 1961. The only reason was to block Atlanta from expanding into Cobb County.

Why were some people so fearful of being annexed by Atlanta? Let's be honest here. The Incorporation of Chattahoochee Plantation was motivated by racism. It's not the only city to incorporate to block annexation by another city because of racism - I believe a small suburb in my area incorporated for the same reason - but what's unusual in this case was the town's layout. The so-called city was 30 miles long - but only 10 feet wide. Hardly anyone actually lived within the city's limits, since it was too narrow for a house. The city wasn't formed by its own residents - since there were hardly any - but by other folks in Cobb County who just wanted to box Atlanta in.

Chattahoochee Plantation never actually formed a government. It was just a line on a map - though it was so narrow that I can't find it on USGS maps of that era.

This brings us to the story of Sandy Springs. By the 1980s, Sandy Springs - an unincorporated suburban area in Fulton County - was home to tens of thousands of people. This area was also hostile to annexation by Atlanta. So people there tried to be annexed by Chattahoochee Plantation instead.

That effort fell apart, and Chattahoochee Plantation was later forced to give up its incorporation. But lo! Sandy Springs was finally able to incorporate in 2005, when it had 90,000 people and its own skyscrapers. One of the reasons for this incorporation was so the rich could have their own city - for the county had been rightly using revenues from this area to fund poorer areas. Although incorporation would adversely affect the rest of the county, voters in those areas were not allowed to vote on the incorporation referendum.

What makes Sandy Springs so unusual is its failed model of privatizing pretty much everything. Some cities farm out certain services like garbage collection, but in Sandy Springs, practically the whole city government is privately run. In other words, it's not even a city. It's a corporation.

The City Hall is in an industrial park, and very few of its employees are on the public payroll. If you apply for a business license, you have to talk to people from a foreign company - not City Hall. The 911 dispatch center is run out of a private firm in New Jersey. Even the city's court is mostly privatized. Local officials call it "the model." Kind of like "the leader." It's not just a corporation, but a mind control program.

Sandy Springs has exported this greed-driven system to a few other places - such as Dana Plato's hometown of Maywood, California, which fired all municipal workers. One Maywood city official says this actually drove up the cost of running the city - and ruined the quality of public services.

But a lot of public officials just won't learn, I guess.

Meanwhile, Fulton County's poorest areas are being robbed to pad the coffers of businesses hired by Sandy Springs.

Air travel celeb look-alikes continue

After last month's discomforts, I don't intend on flying a commercial airliner ever again, but people e-mail me saying they see celebrity look-alikes on flights that they take.

I've just been informed that on an international flight from Detroit to Amsterdam, a flight attendant resembling Carlton Banks, the conservative Ivy Leaguer on The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air, was sighted.

On this same flight, someone wafted a foul SBD bunker blast.

Tim Nolan charged with human trafficking

Remember Tim Nolan?

Nolan is a former Campbell County judge who later disgraced himself by joining the Tea Party and becoming one of its most active members. He filed a frivolous lawsuit trying to close the Newport courthouse. This past November, he managed to get elected to the Campbell County school board - to the delight of those who long for the days when the school system was the area's laughingstock. GOPFacts.org accuses Nolan of being "one of Campbell County's most vehement racists" - resulting in Nolan suing the website. He also headed Donald Trump's Campbell County campaign.

Now Nolan has been charged with human trafficking and unlawful transaction with a minor. Authorities say Nolan, 70, induced a minor into illicit sexual activity and gave alcohol to the minor.

If the allegations are true, this continues a long string of serious crime by the local Tea Party, which also includes the Tea Party's drug dealing.

A person bunkerooed twice at Kroger

Today at the Kroger in Bellevue, I was waiting at the end of the checkout lane for our grocery order to be completed, and I detected the powerful scent of an SBD bunker blast. Twice! There are several possible suspects.

Campbell County Schools finally realize a mistake they made

I grew up on the mean streets of Highland Heights, Kentucky, and I know the '90s were the low point in the history of the Campbell County Schools. Among other problems, the school district engaged in a pattern of closing and consolidating schools - forcing most students to travel miles further each day to receive the education they were entitled to.

Now the school system finally realizes it was a mistake to merge its 2 middle schools back then. I knew firsthand that one of them was already too crowded. But school officials are finally admitting that the merged middle school is "aging" (as it occupies the old high school building).

Couldn't they see this coming 25 years ago?

Now the school system needs 2 new middle schools - which it already had before they gunked everything up. They want to build one of them in the northern end of the district - which has most of the population, but is now furthest from any schools.

At least the Campbell County Schools are finally coming to their senses about this. It's a shame they have such baggage left behind by the Footloosers.

1,000 XP in the bank

I went to the anti-Trump rally on Fountain Square today - which most of the right-wing media ignored even though it was bigger than Tea Party rallies that were held there.

It's already April, but for the first time this calendar year, I got in a confrontation in person with a Trumpthug. He verbally threatened me, and it almost erupted into a brawl.

In case you're the one other person out there who's paying attention to my game of Dungeons & Dragons & Donald, that's 1,000 experience points for me. I bet you're sorry you missed it! Didn't even have to melt stone or pick locks!

Next ish of The Last Word will discuss this event in greater detail. I may need a week or two to hone the wit that is necessary to regale you with today's rally.

Virginia court dismisses frivolous antigay lawsuit

See, this whole democracy thing isn't finished off after all.

In a blow against the Far Right, the Virginia Supreme Court has tossed a frivolous lawsuit filed against the Fairfax County school system by the fascist Traditional Values Coalition. A right-wing student there had sued the school system because he disagreed with its decision to add sexual orientation and gender identity to its nondiscrimination policy.

The student claimed that the nondiscrimination policy caused him "general distress." It's "distress" that his school district won't discriminate? That's his definition of "distress"? What a little crybaby.

The court needs to heavily fine the Traditional Values Coalition for bringing such a silly lawsuit. We also need a law that says lawyers who file suits like this can't collect fees. Suits like this gunk up the court system, and it's part of the reason I had such a hard time serving my largely successful suit against people who owed me money.

Mount Auburn! Corryville! It's a great place to start (and fart)!

Being the coolster I am, I have 15 brand bippus-bustin' new Roads Scholaring photos and videos from Cincinnati. Know what you're gonna do? Peep 'em...

http://www.bunkerblast.info/roadpics/cinnorth17.html

Alabama governor arrested

How often do governors actually get arrested?

I'm not saying there aren't a lot of governors who deserve it, but how often does it actually happen?

Today, Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley was arrested - and he resigned from office - because of charges resulting from an affair with an aide. The 74-year-old Republican was arrested on 2 misdemeanor charges regarding disclosure of campaign information. He promptly pleaded guilty to the charges. He was fined and sentenced to community service.

Bye.

I told Far Right to "get a job!"

For years, I've heard that some silly clods keep harassing Planned Parenthood in Cincinnati, but I don't think I've ever seen any people out there until today. Then again, I haven't been to Mount Auburn much in years.

Today, I went Roads Scholaring in Mount Auburn and Corryville. I happened to bike past the Planned Parenthood clinic, and there were people out there protesting it.

I can respect those who oppose abortion on human rights grounds. I personally do not endorse abortion. I am pro-choice, but I personally support life. On the other hand, I have zero reverence for people who loiter outside Planned Parenthood and call its clients "murderers" and "baby killers." That's exactly what the protesters were doing. They were blocking the sidewalk too.

So I yelled at them, "Get a job!" Twice.

The second time, one of them yelled back, "This is a job!"

My reply: "No it ain't! Get a real job!"

For these control freaks to be out there on a weekday during normal business hours proves they don't actually work - unless some Tea Party group is paying them to be out there, which doesn't exactly constitute real work.

America's biggest baby killers are usually control freaks like this. They're the ones who have shredded economic security programs for Americans from infancy to old age. These cutbacks have killed innocent people. You can't call yourself pro-life if you support right-wing economic policies.

On a less serious note, I later rested at a bench on Short Vine right after getting lunch at Kroger, and a middle-aged man who was jogging up the street ripped a loud-and-proud bunker blast. He was behind a sign while the LAP was released, so he thought I wouldn't notice.

Massachusetts wouldn't properly investigate abuse allegations

HEAL has been going after this scandal for years, but only now is it getting more coverage.

Massachusetts officials haven't been properly investigating claims of abuse in daycares and residential "treatment" centers. Regulators at the Department of Early Education and Care were phoning in investigations instead of visiting the facilities in person.

HEAL had been warning of the problem since 2014, but the department still didn't take action. In fact, the agency still conducts many of these probes by phone.

WFXT-TV in Boston is actually covering this story a little bit...

http://www.fox25boston.com/news/fox25-investigates-state-warned-years-ago-about-school-investigators-phoning-it-in/509534221

Senate confirms known fascist to Supreme Court

In the hopes that nobody will notice because of the illegal bombing of Syria, Senate Republicans have just confirmed Neil Gorsuch - founder of the Fascism Forever Club - to the Supreme Court.

At least Neil Garbage replaces another conservative Justice, instead of a more liberal Justice.

Trump tries to start war with Syria

Did Donald Trump really just do something stupid like firing 50 Tomahawk missiles at a Syrian air base without congressional approval?

Scholarin' in the air...Every sight and every sound...

Some of you know that I attended a human rights conference in Washington, D.C., last month. The photos I got from this trip count as March's Roads Scholaring.

Best all, a majority of these photos are aerial! That's because I was required to fly on a commercial airliner!

So peep, weep, and oggle-beep...

http://www.bunkerblast.info/roadpics/dc17a.html
http://www.bunkerblast.info/roadpics/dc17b.html

Judge rules Trump incited violence at Kentucky rally

Remember a year ago when Donald Trump's thugs assaulted protesters at a Louisville rally? And remember how 3 victims of these attacks sued the Donald personally for it?

Now a federal judge has ruled that the lawsuit may proceed. U.S. District Judge David Hale agreed with the plaintiffs' claim that Trump incited followers to assault them. Hale denied most of Trump's motion to dismiss the complaint, calling Trump's incitement "particularly reckless."

But the judge disagreed that Trump himself should be held "vicariously liable", because the assailants weren't actually employed by Trump's idiotic campaign.

(Source: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/trump-rally-violence-court-incitemet)

Have no fear, the April ish is here!

Have no fear! The April edition of The Last Word is here!

Much of this issue focuses on my trip to Washington, D.C., for a human rights conference in which we presented a legislative agenda to fight institutional abuse of youth.

But there's other interesting items in this ish too. As usual, people Chewed Gum And Thought It Was Funny. One of my readers reports that someone even chewed gum off the carpet! A video about strabismus used the magic word, a child intentionally ripped the arms off their own glasses, people blew bubbles with stuff that isn't gum, and I downvoted cosmetic dentistry and Dr. Phil videos on YouTube.

Read it and peep here...

https://www.scribd.com/document/343632039/The-Last-Word-4-2014

If that doesn't work, read it on my personal site...

http://bunkerblast.info/lastword/lw1704.pdf

Interview about my D.C. trip

As you know, I went on a trip to Washington, D.C., a couple weeks ago, and we met with congressional staffers about our legislative agenda to halt institutional abuse of young people. In this new video, I was interviewed about the event...



A couple years ago, I was also interviewed about my own experiences with abuse in a program.

University fires reporter because right-wing lawmakers told it to

If you're a journalist in Tennessee, be sure you never report things in a manner that right-wing public officials don't approve of. They'll get you.

After North Carolina passed its hated "bathroom bill", Tennessee is considering similar legislation. Jacqui Helbert - a reporter for WUTC-FM, owned by the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga - reported on the bill and met with a group of high school students as they met with legislators about it.

After the story aired, right-wing State Sen. Mike Bell and State Rep. Kevin Brooks complained about the story. They claimed Helbert didn't identify herself as a reporter - even though she clearly was a reporter, because she was lugging around recording equipment. Later, when university officials met with other Republican lawmakers, State Sen. Todd Gardenhire complained about the story and demanded Helbert's firing.

After Todd Garbagefire's complaint, the university promptly fired Helbert and removed her report from the station's website.

What's the point of even having news media if all they do is cave to public officials?

(Source: http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/local/story/2017/mar/24/utc-fires-reporter-over-bathroom-bill-reporting-after-local-lawmaker-complaints/419440)

A toast to success! Blublublublublub!

Last night, I got home from the human rights conference in Washington, D.C.! The big success story is that we met with congressional staffers from multiple states and both major parties about our legislative agenda to halt abuse of youth in confinement programs.

On a lighter note, this trip featured loads of celebrity look-alikes too. Yesterday, during my layover at JFK Airport in New York, I saw a man who strongly resembled Luis of Sesame Street.

Also at this airport, some old man bubbled. It was an elderbubbling!

People kept bubbling on Saturday

My trip to Washington, D.C., is strictly business - not vacation - but on Saturday, I kept seeing people who were in such a festive mood that they bubbled.

On the National Mall, down by the Washington Monument, a person bubbled. Later, a person bubbled at a Safeway on Connecticut Avenue in Northwest D.C. Not long after, a person bubbled at a bookstore down the street.

Congressional staffer resembles Blair from 'The Facts Of Life'

On Friday, when we visited various U.S. House members' offices to talk to them about our legislative agenda, one of the younger staffers resembled Lisa Whelchel, the right-wing has-been who played Blair on The Facts Of Life and later wrote a book advocating child abuse.

Where I've been the past few days

Long story short: For the past few days, I've been in Washington, D.C., for a human rights conference I was invited to. I was invited because of my activism in fighting against abuse of young people in residential "treatment" facilities.

This trip has been very productive. We've met with numerous congressional staffers to present our legislative agenda.

I know I have a sense of humor, but this is very serious business, folks.

Kidney stone probably won't ruin event

Keek! Ruin!

If you've followed my Twitter feed, you know that I had to fly out of town for a very serious event. I can't reveal the details until next week. But I can't help but laugh at some of the things that have happened today.

My only confirmed kidney stone was in 1999, but I strongly suspected one yesterday (the day before leaving) because I had a weak pee stream. Then I peed out a small speck of something, and the symptoms went away. The exact same thing happened the day before the big St. Louis roadmeet of 2014.

Today was marred by a series of fuck-ups by Delta Airlines. I plan to publish more details in the next ish. On the bright side, I did detect a silent-but-deadly bunker blast on the first flight, and another at the layover airport. I also saw my share of celebrity look-alikes. A Larry David look-alike was seen at the TSA checkpoint at the Cincinnati airport. A James Watt look-alike was on my first flight. An uproarious Judge Mills Lane look-alike was seen at my layover airport.

Also, I saw 3 people at 2 different airports who bubbled. This includes a woman who was about 30 who took selfies of herself bubbling with orange bubble gum and laughed maniacally about it. She Chewed Gum And Thought It Was Funny.

Best all - and get this - somebody stuck a wad of bubble gum that they had blown into a bubble on a urinal flushing mechanism at the layover airport.

A person bunkerooed at Target

LAP!!!

Today, we goed to Target in Newport. What should have been a quick trip to buy about 5 small items turned into an hour-long ordeal. I thought we'd never get out of there.

Anyway, I was in the school supplies aisle looking for tape, when I detected the unmistakable audio of a loud-and-proud bunker blast.

When 'Sesame Street' characters go bald ('Sesame Street' Wednesday)

Yes!

I finally found it!

This is a Snuffleupagus moment - even though it doesn't involve Mr. Snuffleupagus at all! For years - I'm talking decades upon decades - I've insisted there was a Sesame Street segment around 1978 in which they imagine what some of the characters would look like if they were bald. It showed Maria and Oscar the Grouch bald!

Everyone said I was just making it up. But now - for about the zillionth time - YouTube has saved the day...



I don't think this was a regular segment. I think it was just part of the storyline for a single episode, and that's why I saw it only once. It starts out with the characters lamenting how Gordon keeps shaving his head instead of letting his hair grow. Then they show Gordon with various hairstyles, before the other characters are seen bald.

Are people going to keep insisting I made it up?

Kentucky GOP would gut public school choice

The party of "local control" and "school choice" is about neither!

Louisville has one of the strongest school desegregation plans in the nation. As part of this program, parents of elementary school students can actually choose from several public schools. Wow! Choice!

But a Republican bill in the Kentucky legislature would gut this program by forcing children to attend a specific school. Not only does it erase real choice, but it would also pulverize local control.

The bill has already passed the fascist-dominated Kentucky House. Every Democrat opposed it, but almost every Republican supported it.

That's "choice" and "local control", GOP-style.

(Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/gop-bill-could-dismantle-one-of-nations-most-robust-school-desegregation-efforts)

Church paying members to create right-wing sockpuppets?

A phony Internet identity that's used to deceive is called a sockpuppet. We've all seen them, but we might not always detect them. They praise or criticize other Internetters - perhaps other people or organizations - while they pose under a false identity. I've never seen a sockpuppet last long before they disappear or are caught - but they succeed at stage-managing public opinion.

Here's a secret: A significant number of right-wing comments on news websites are from sockpuppets. It's been like this for years. But I've overheard things that are even more disturbing, and I'm pretty sure a local church is paying congregants to create right-wing sockpuppets to flood website comment pages with extremist vitriol and shout down dissenters.

I'm not 100% sure - and that's why I'm not naming the church - but I'm maybe 95% sure. I didn't hear anyone specifically state this, but I've put two and two together. I'm not stupid.

I can understand why someone might be eager to earn a little extra dough this way, but odds are, they'll get caught eventually. If the church keeps this up, it too will be caught - and it could get in some real trouble with the IRS. If the Trump regime refuses to enforce the IRS regulation on this, I will expose the church.

Why am I posting about this here? I just thought you might like to know what some of our checkbook clergy have been up to. And make no mistake, they are checkbook clergy. I don't care what anyone else says.

Kentucky House passes forced drug-testing bill

Despite Democrats in the Kentucky House raising constitutional, fiscal, and practical objections against a Republican bill that would require high school students to take a drug test to graduate, the House just voted 72 to 21 to pass the bill.

How long will it be before there's a lawsuit?

Shit got real on Facebook today

So AnnRK blogs...

http://annbugz1.blogspot.com/2017/03/facebook-sucks.html

Read that.

This is for real, my friends. Facebook has been censoring people for their political views, and it's gotten much worse lately.

Kentucky bill would require drug test for high school diploma

Wesley Morgan again.

If America still had a Bill of Rights that it felt like enforcing, this proposed legislation would be dead in the toilet. But we know we can't count on that.

A Republican bill in Kentucky would require high school students to submit to "regular, random drug tests" in order to graduate. Unconstitutional. End of story.

That's not the only bad thing in this bill. It would also require students to perform unpaid labor - though Kentucky wouldn't be the first state to do this. This has been an evergreen of America's corporatist educational establishment for a long time. The bill would also require a student's employer to verify "a work-based learning experience" - which means the student's diploma is based on how well they cater to their corporate masters.

But the drug-testing requirement stands alone in fascism.