Far Right politicizes Alfie Evans case

Some of the most hateful, arrogant people around are those who politicize the Alfie Evans case by citing it as a failure of public healthcare.

Nobody can possibly be dumb enough to think public healthcare killed Alfie Evans. So when they politicize it, it's malice - not ignorance that they can't help.

The right-wing thought police says the boy died because he was being treated by a hospital governed by Britain's National Health Service. They say his parents should have been allowed to take him to Italy, and that he wouldn't have been taken off life support there.

However, Italy - like Britain - also has national healthcare. If he had been taken there and not taken off life support, would they say this was a sign of public healthcare's success? Plus, it was British courts - not just the hospital - that ordered him off life support.

The Terri Schiavo case occurred in the United States at a time when corporate health care was at its nadir. Why isn't this case being used as a basis for criticizing capitalist healthcare, since public healthcare is criticized for the same thing?

National healthcare didn't kill Alfie Evans. He already had a fatal neurodegenerative disorder, and could not recover.

The Far Right doesn't care at all about him. All they care about is exploiting his death for political gain. It's just like how they swoop into every American city or town that suffers a major tragedy - and exploit it.

More folks would catch on to this right-wing demagoguery if the media would engage in more journalism and less preening hackery. The Republican Party is sinking into the peat bog - but our political media has been dragged along with it.

Pence attends racist fundraiser

Mike Pence is attending a fundraiser today for a pro-Trump "nonprofit" called America First Policies. As it turns out, the director of advocacy of this organization is one Carl Higbie, who has a rather, uh, interesting history himself.

Higbie - a Republican former congressional candidate in Connecticut - hosts a radio show with a history of bigoted remarks. He once claimed on his show that black women "think that breeding is a form of employment." Higbie has also claimed that PTSD was made up by veterans as a way to collect benefits.

Pence can't claim he doesn't know about Higbie's views - because Higbie had already been forced to resign a government post because of these revelations. Yet the Trump regime continues to embrace him.

Because, after all, this is the Republican Party we're talking about.

(Source: https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/01/politics/kfile-carl-higbie-says-comments-out-of-context)

Illinois school district abolishes uniforms

A victory for the forces of good!

The Proviso Township school district in Illinois is abolishing its right-wing mandatory uniform policy. Students complained that the uniforms promoted "racism, classism, and sexism." Because of the community's almost universal opposition to uniforms, the school board unanimously voted to do away with the requirement.

The right-wing website comments supporting uniforms are already approaching a howl.

(Source: http://www.forestparkreview.com/News/Articles/5-1-2018/After-students-rise-up,-D209-ditches-uniforms)

Have no fear, the May ish is here!

Aw, how cute! Scribd thinks The Last Word is a Republican zine!

The Last Word is the epitome of coolness, and thus cannot be a Republican zine - even though Scribd keeps classifying it as one. The May ish is now pub, and it talks about an assortment of interesting things. In this edition, a person chewed gum and Bob Barker thought it was funny, someone called me a communist, people got kicked out of amusement parks, a quest for a forgotten cereal commercial was launched, and a congressman chewed bubble gum off the floor.

So point your pooper here...

https://www.scribd.com/document/377709739/The-Last-Word-5-2018

If you can't access it on Scribd, you can find it here...

http://bunkerblast.info/lastword/lw1805.pdf

Fast food restaurant unionizes

It took this long for America to get its first unionized fast food restaurant?

If I was forced to work at a fast food place - like the Tea Party wants everyone to do (when the Tea Party won't work there themselves) - the first thing I'd do is join the union. But it took until now - probably 60 years after fast food became a major industry - before any such establishment in the United States unionized!

Burgerville is a fast food chain in the Northwest. This week, workers at a Burgerville location in Portland, Oregon, voted overwhelmingly to unionize. The vote was a smashing 18 to 4. This makes this location the first fast food restaurant in America with a federally recognized labor union.

The Burgerville Workers Union is part of the Portland chapter of the Industrial Workers of the World, but the unionization effort was led entirely by the restaurant's employees. The Burgerville union already had members at other locations, but this is the first time the union was officially recognized.

We can hear society's self-anointed economic whizzes whining, "Butbutbutbut fast food isn't supposed to be union! Talk to the hand, junior! <g>"

Hopefully, Burgerville's unionization will inspire efforts elsewhere - even in states with an unconstitutional right-to-scab law.

(Source: https://pdx.eater.com/2018/4/24/17275346/burgerville-workers-unionize-vote-fast-food)

Quebec mosque killer a Ben Shapiro fan

Right-wing terrorism isn't limited to the U.S. Our Canadian friends are forced to deal with it sometimes too.

Last year, Alexandre Bissonnette shot up a mosque in Quebec City - killing 6 worshipers and wounding 19 more. Though this was in Canada, Bissonnette often espoused support for Donald Trump.

It turns out Bissonnette is a fan of - and may have been inspired by - far-right commentator Ben Shapiro, one of the most hateful assholes of all. Shapiro has never held a real job in his whole life and was given his own column when he was only 17. At Bissonnette's trial, it was revealed that Shapiro is Bissonnette's favorite commentator.

Shapiro is a serial liar who has claimed falsely that there are 500,000 "radical Muslims" in the U.S. - a claim that likely inspired Bissonnette.

This goes to show the dangers of the right-wing propaganda that defines much of our media. And the next time someone repeats Ben Shapiro's lies, I'm going to be in their face about it.

Bipartisan resolutions blast Bevin tirade

Yesterday, Matt Bevin said this about the teacher protests: "I guarantee you somewhere in Kentucky today a child was sexually assaulted that was left at home because there was nobody there to watch them."

This harangue was so over-the-top that the Kentucky House has passed resolutions by both major parties condemning it. The Democratic resolution said Bevin's remarks were "so far beyond the pale they are unworthy of repetition in this honorable chamber."

One school superintendent even said of Bevin, "This is reprehensible and his own party needs to tell him enough is enough."

The Courier-Journal is looking pretty stupid right about now for promoting Matt Bevin as a presidential candidate.

(Source: http://www.kentucky.com/news/politics-government/article208905119.html)

Duke rate hike rubber-stamped

Don't be fooled by those who want you to breathe a sigh of relief because Kentucky regulators approved an electric rate increase that was less than what monopolistic energy behemoth Duke Energy requested. A rubber stamp is a rubber stamp.

The GOP-stacked Kentucky Public Service Commission is allowing Duke to more than double the monthly residential service charge. And the PSC has approved part of the rate adjustment Duke demanded.

Now Duke has the nerve to go around telling people that Trump's tax giveaway to the rich is saving everyone money on their electric bill. Uh, if the tax law was saving money, there wouldn't be a rate hike at all. This just goes to show that big corporations don't pass tax savings onto their customers - despite right-wing lies to the contrary.

What we need to do is pass a law requiring approval from two-thirds of each house of the legislature before a utility can increase its rates - or a public takeover of these monopolies.

Legislature overrides Bevin tax veto; Bevin blames everyone but himself

The right-wing tax bill that Kentucky lawmakers passed - and which was vetoed by Matt Bevin because it wasn't right-wing enough - will become law anyway, as the legislature has voted to override the New Hampshire Forehead's veto.

This heightens the ego-driven civil war within the Kentucky GOP - but of course we're still deprived of the progressive tax system we have a right to have.

Paul Ryan won't run again, but he was gonna lose anyway

Bye.

Donald Trump picked a good time for his threats to carpet-bomb Syria and to put out more propaganda saying unemployment is at a record low - since everyone is paying attention to Paul Ryan's retirement instead.

Since Paul Ryan is only 48 and likes to accuse everyone else of being lazy, now he needs to get a real job like everyone else. He'll have to, since he damn sure won't be President.

I'm so good at what I do that I get nothing else done

I have a lot of books, records, road photos, and housecleaning to catch up on, but the reason I haven't done so is because of the quality of my own work.

In late 2016, The Last Word suddenly improved so much in quality and quantity that I now spend most of my free time reading my own product and admiring it. The Last Word had some editions roughly a year ago where you could just feel the energy pulsating through it. I hadn't enjoyed writing The Last Word so much ever before - and you could tell.

I had some spring back in my step!

All of this belies the fact that I'm not a dynamo of energy. The Last Word has become fun and energetic - but I'm not. I have to take several naps throughout each day.

Perhaps I should make The Last Word shitty, so I won't read it constantly, and I'll have time to do other things again.

Bevin vetoes tax bill because it doesn't go far enough

Damn, this guy is pitiful.

Remember last week when Kentucky became the subject of a nationwide laughfest because the "low tax" legislature passed a tax bill that raised taxes so they could give a handout to the rich? Pepperidge Farm remembers.

Now so-called Gov. Matt Bevin has vetoed the bill - because it doesn't go far enough. The bill fails to include his plan to expand the sales tax to all food.

In Kentucky, the legislature may override a governor's veto with a simple majority of each house - but that'll be tough to do because it's late in the session.

California GOPer wants to institutionalize homeless

The Far Right thinks that when all else fails, just start throwing people in mental institutions. It's worked before to silence dissidents, so why not?

Travis Allen, a Republican legislator and candidate for Governor of California, says he'll build state mental institutions and force homeless people there against their will. "You will no longer be allowed to sleep out on our sidewalks, under our bridges, or on the side of our freeways in California," he gloated.

This is just about all Allen talks about - as he blames Democratic opponents for growing homelessness. That's not to say the major cities' political "leaders" are completely blameless, because the "liberal" San Francisco area seems to enact every policy the Tea Party tells them to, including laws that drive up housing costs or are aimed at punishing the homeless. The Bay Area has some of the most expensive housing in America, but politicians sit on their asses and won't do anything about it.

The Sacramento Bee reports that Travis Allen's illegal plan is "an unusual position for a Republican running on smaller government." Nah. It's not unusual. Republicans only support smaller government when it suits their purpose.

Allen's platform is so brutal to the poor that it's been likened to old English feudalism. England used to enforce a maximum wage for workers who were not business owners or landowners. It was only relatively recently that anyone other than nobility was allowed to own land. Modern America isn't much different.

(Source: http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article207220764.html)

Kentucky approves another handout for the rich

It's another day of fascism in Kentucky - courtesy of the Republican Party of Kentucky, even as it's embroiled in scandal after scandal.

The Kentucky legislature has just approved a tax bill that would give free money to the rich by changing the state income tax to a flat rate - replacing the progressive income tax. This runs afoul of the constitutional mandate for progressive taxation.

The bill also expands the 6% sales tax to a variety of services. Luckily, proposals to increase the sales tax to 8% and to apply it to all food items were scrapped at the last minute - probably because of the potential political backlash. (Expanding the sales tax to cover food is a longtime dream of "low tax" Kentucky conservatives.)

Lawmakers approved this bill before the text of it was even made public.

This bill will also worsen the state's budget, because revenues from consumption-based taxes grow much slower than from income taxes.

All this is going down after lawmakers passed a bill to gut teachers' pensions - in an attempt to solve the state's pension crisis that itself was completely made up by Republicans for political reasons.

The fascist thievery continues.

Schools go full fascist after Parkland shooting

Is it fascism yet? Yes.

We could see this coming from miles away: Legislators won't limit assault rifles because that might violate someone's "rights", but they'll let schools infringe on the constitutional right to privacy by forcing students to use clear backpacks.

At Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida - where February's deadly shooting took place - officials have turned the school into a prison by requiring clear bookbags and instituting bag check lines. Students have protested the move by placing orange price tags on their bags - to symbolize lawmakers accepting money from the NRA, which advocates prison-like schools but won't allow reasonable restrictions on assault rifles.

The police state grows all because we don't want to hurt the NRA's feelings.

Have no fear, the April ish is here!

Let's all celebrate and have a good time!

The latest issue of The Last Word marks 25 years for this fanzine of fun! Even as stale as the past month was, this edition comes through, as we discuss TV shows that say funny stuff, ridicule a certain 1980s band, and talk about other useful things.

So point your pooper here...

https://www.scribd.com/document/375235984/The-Last-Word-4-2018

If that link doesn't work, point it here...

http://bunkerblast.info/lastword/lw1804.pdf

Conan O'Brien look-alike sighted

Today at Kroger, I saw a Conan O'Brien look-alike.

Bush's spiritual adviser indicted

Sometimes it's easy to forget how corrupt the George W. Bush regime was, but we had to suffer through 8 years of his incompetent dictatorship.

Kirbyjon Caldwell is a Houston megachurch pastor and spiritual adviser to Bush. Now Caldwell - along with Gregory Alan Smith, a Louisiana financial planner - has been indicted on 13 federal counts of conspiracy, wire fraud, and money laundering. The pair is accused of selling millions of dollars in worthless Chinese bonds to 29 vulnerable investors, many of them elderly.

The bonds were issued by the old Republic of China before the Communist Party's 1949 takeover and aren't recognized by the current Chinese government.

Caldwell is widely blamed for helping to create Bush's Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives - which was of highly questionable constitutionality.

(Source: https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Kirbyjon-Caldwell-Houston-megachurch-pastor-and-12792523.php)

More celebrity look-alike funniness

You know it's a big day when you get an e-mail from someone saying they saw a Barack Obama look-alike.

Also, a man threatened to rip a bunker blast on a bus so he could be dropped off before everyone else.

Celebrity look-alikes still an international phenomenon

I still receive urgent e-mails informing me that people who strongly resemble American celebrities are sighted abroad.

I've just been informed that a Jerry Seinfeld look-alike was seen at an adventure park in Costa Rica. But someone else pointed him out first.

GOP nominates Holocaust denier for Congress

Can the country finally end its Republican protection agenda now?

The Republicans have just nominated a Holocaust denier and former American Nazi Party leader for a U.S. House seat in Illinois. Arthur Jones has officially clinched the GOP nomination in Illinois's 3rd District.

Jones is an avowed white supremacist who has protested the opening of a Holocaust museum. His campaign website has a section titled "Holocaust Racket."

You picked him, Repubs.

Austin bomber was right-wing activist

The city of Austin, Texas, has been on edge in recent weeks because of a series of bombings - which have killed 2 and injured at least 5 more.

Now the bomber has been identified as Mark Anthony Conditt, 23. The terrorist blew himself up in his car this morning as police tried to arrest him.

It turns out that Conditt was a right-wing activist and blogger. The self-described conservative made blog posts attacking gay marriage and other things.

When are authorities going to start dropping the hammer on far-right hate groups? I've been an eyewitness to their terrorism for 30 years, but nobody else has figured it out yet?

GOP official retires over porn scandal?

The Online Lunchpail wants to know if the rumor is true that the reason a local far-right Republican elected official isn't running again is that he was caught using government computers to download porn.

Another Kentucky GOPer accused of sexual harassment

The sexual harassment scandal that plagues the Republican Party of Kentucky grows.

State Rep. Jim Stewart III (R-Flat Lick) was accused of sexually harassing a legislative staffer back in 2015. The Legislative Research Commission has covered it up until now.

This came to light after Stewart denied knowing anything about such a complaint. The complaint accuses Stewart of making advances towards a staffer over an extended period of time. Stewart was also accused of calling her at all hours of the day.

Such is the current state of what has been America's ruling party for most of the past 40 years.

I'd like to say...We'll do OK...Forever in Kroger...

Today, after my dentist appointment, I saw a Neil Diamond look-alike at Kroger.

The funny thing is that I was just thinking about "Forever In Blue Jeans" last night!

GOP loses House election in Pennsylvania in upset

In one of the biggest electoral upsets against the Republicans since Donald Trump seized power, the Democrats picked up a U.S. House seat in Pennsylvania by 0.3% in a special election yesterday. This seat went vacant when Republican Rep. Tim Murphy resigned in disgrace. Of course, Murphy hadn't been truly elected to his last 2 terms, because - in Soviet fashion - he was unopposed.

On the other hand, the Democrat elected to that seat yesterday was described as a "moderate" in media reports - which means he's more conservative than at least 80% of people, with the exception of the malcontents who constantly post right-wing memes on Facebook.

When did Kentucky ban strikes?

With the possibility of a teachers' strike looming in Kentucky, several media sources have said that strikes are illegal in this state.

When did this happen? Evidently, this provision is included in the unconstitutional "right-to-work" law that passed last year. Why was this swept under the rug?

It should be a moot point, since the right to strike is of course constitutionally protected. The U.S. Constitution outweighs some Matt Bevin diktat any day.

So Trump said he wants to grab guns

Here's what Donald Trump said recently about confiscating guns from people: "I like taking the guns early. ... Go through due process second."

Imagine if you can what the reaction would be if Barack Obama had said that. But Trump said it, and the response has been total silence from the right-wing media.

There's a reason I said that even if an assault weapon ban was enacted, it would be hard to seize guns from law-abiding people who already have them. It's because we're supposed to have a system built on due process.

A federal court recently ruled that assault weapons are not protected as arms under the Second Amendment, because they are strictly instruments of war. Nowhere did the ruling say that due process didn't apply. The whole point of due process is that it applies. Due process wouldn't be due process if it didn't.

Have no fear, the March ish is here!

The March ish of The Last Word has now appeared as if it was magically placed at your doorstep by the Bee Gees, and it discusses all sorts of nifty things...

• Ridiculous commercials for pizza insurance, tissues, and other items.

• Pink throwing bubble gum onto the field at the Super Bowl.

• A hilarious prank involving a scarecrow coated with whipped cream.

• Economic class pride!

• Inspector 12 is gonna be mad!

• An idea for a brand new kind of bubble gum.

• Struggles with finding a turntable stylus.

So point your pooper here...

https://www.scribd.com/document/372753547/The-Last-Word-3-2018

If that doesn't work, you can find it here...

http://bunkerblast.info/lastword/lw1803.pdf

Washington to become first state to restore 'Net neutrality

The state of Washington is poised to become the first state to restore 'Net neutrality since the scuzzo Trump regime unconstitutionally gutted it.

State lawmakers have approved a 'Net neutrality bill that would apply to all ISP's - not just those with a state contract. Gov. Jay Inslee - who has promised to continue to enforce 'Net neutrality despite Trump's idiotic babblings - is expected to sign the bill into law. The Washington House approved it 93 to 5, and the Senate approved it 35 to 14.

The state may face lawsuits by telcom monopolies, who cry that state law is preempted by the FCC. Wrong. The Tenth Amendment gives this power to the states.

If the FCC does try to enforce its will in Washington state, its agents should be arrested and detained.

(Source: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/02/fccs-attempt-to-kill-net-neutrality-challenged-by-new-washington-state-law)