Louisville weakens housing regulations because Tea Party legislators told it to

Quick! Call the Unnatural History Museum! The Tea Party is still around!

Most cities have regulations on residential properties that are designed to protect residents. Louisville has regulations to fight lead hazards and to maintain a list of residential property owners. This isn't to pick on owners, but to help make sure they maintain safe properties. Everybody has to follow rules. I do too. That's part of living in a society.

But now city council - led by Democrats - has gutted most of the city's regulations, not because of any new laws, but because of a bill that hasn't even become law. A bill in the Kentucky legislature called H.B. 173 was introduced a couple months ago by a Tea Party Republican but has been languishing in committee ever since because it's so unpopular. This bill would ban local governments from creating such regulations.

Gee, what a big lesson in courage by Louisville Democrats!

The bill itself defies the principles of local control, but the main point here is that the so-called Democrats who run our cities cave at the snap of a finger. That's because they actually support the Republican bill and just won't admit it and care only about raising money off the issue. The Democrats are in power in Louisville and still do what the Republicans want. They can't say they don't have the power to do any better.

Someone on Twitter posted today, "The same Democrats who spent their Obama & Biden admin majorities crying about all the reasons why a majority isn't enough to pass legislation people want now want us to believe they're powerless to stop Republicans because they're out of power." But the Democrats still have a majority in Louisville and are using it to do what Tea Party Republicans want.

Both major parties use executive orders to enact bad ideas at the stroke of a pen, yet they always complain that they don't have the power to enact good ideas. The reality is that they don't want to enact good ideas. The parties have different priorities, but have become practically identical in their policy stances.

Have no fear, the March ish is here!

March into March with a brand new 16-page ish of The Last Word!

This edition discusses NBC's disinformation, our fight to reopen a local street, a school getting mad because I worked at the library, the FCC's UHF-only cities, making art out of broken glass, splicing a Pink Panther cartoon into an "educational" film, and more!

So point your pooper here...

https://www.scribd.com/document/833529373/The-Last-Word-3-2025

If that doesn't work, gallivant over here...

http://bunkerblast.info/lastword/lw2503.pdf

Newspaper ordered to remove critical editorial

We've just crossed yet another terrifying threshold.

Recently, the Clarksdale Press Register in Mississippi published an editorial that dared to criticize Clarksdale city government. The newspaper charged that the city hadn't properly notified the public about a meeting regarding a resolution sent to the state legislature.

The city sued the paper over this editorial. Even more unbelievably, a judge sided with city officials and ordered the paper to remove the editorial from its website.

You can't make this stuff up.

We live in an era of the most extreme censorship we've seen in our lifetimes. School boards yank books off the shelves. Some books aren't even allowed to be published at all anymore, even though they were considered inoffensive in my youth. Federal officials have been caught coercing social media sites into deleting true information - and the Supreme Court let them do it. But the latest incident is a whole new frontier for censorship.

The plague of democratic backsliding is very real.

This is exactly like if the Campbell County Schools sued me for all the true statements I've made. I know they wanted to, but their lawyer probably laughed in their face. But this case sets a bad precedent that could open the floodgates and silence all but the biggest news outlets.

Scholaring is back! Circus Vargas, Circus Vargas!

A couple weeks ago, I went Roads Scholaring for the first time since my recent heart surgery. This time, I went to the west side of Cincinnati and explored some small roads I hadn't covered yet.

This outing yielded 18 photos. So point your pooper here...

http://bunkerblast.info/roadpics/cinwest25.html

Have no fear, the February ish is here!

The month of Febrewery is getting under way!

That means it's time for the February edition of The Last Word! This ish talks about how I had to have heart surgery because of our totalitarian rulers, a public alley in Cincinnati being limited to wealthy residents, movers stealing items, Uncle Al chewing bubble gum, and more!

So slog on over here...

https://www.scribd.com/document/822434754/The-Last-Word-2-2025

If that doesn't work, float on over here...

http://bunkerblast.info/lastword/lw2502.pdf

I had a dream where someone farted at a bookstore

I had another funny dream last night.

In this dream, I visited some bookstore and buyed a book about Usenet from 1990. The store had an area in the back where people could sit down and have coffee, juice, and bagels. When I was back there, someone farted really loud. A bunch of very studious college students who were sitting at the tables burst out laughing.

Then, when the laughter was dying down, some older guy went, "It wasn't me," just like in the song.

What the critics are saying!

Say what you want about Twitter. Well, as long as it's bad.

I know the censorship isn't as bad as it was, but it's not completely gone. And the embedded timelines are now either broken completely or they don't show posts in order, which means some timelines start with posts from 10 years ago. I got a Bluesky account to use as my timeline instead, even though censorship on Bluesky is supposedly worse.

But there is something on Twitter I noticed that actually works. I accidentally clicked on some symbol on my Twitter page, and it actually came up with some coherent descriptions of my page, as if Twitter properly catalogs accounts somehow.

One of the descriptions reads...

"A vintage music enthusiast with a sharp political edge, lamenting the repackaging of political ideologies and celebrating the lost hits of yesteryears."

Another says...

"Bandit73's been skewering politicians left and right, from calling out Phil Gramm's gaffes to dubbing Andy Beshear 'Ant Farm Andy.'"

I don't quite agree with that though, because neither Phil nor Andy is on the left.

Biddle gibzz!

It's official: entire Senate more right-wing than the Tea Party

Yesterday, the Senate actually voted 99-0 to confirm Marco Rubio as Secretary of State.

You may remember that Rubio was a Tea Party favorite when he was first "elected" - but Tea Party members later abandoned him because he was too right-wing even for them. That was after he praised the Patriot Act and the NSA's illegal phone spying.

The most right-wing Senate in the country's history - by far.

Congress and Bush stole from Social Security

Presidents change, but their underwear never does.

Here's something we should talk about, even if we know it won't be remedied. Pundits say Social Security is facing a shortfall that will force more benefit cuts in the 2030s. Whether this is actually true remains to be seen, but it could just be right-wing propaganda to force cuts before then.

Or the shortfall could be real. If so, it's because of the actions of those who want cuts now. The fact is that Congress and the George W. Bush regime stole from Social Security to pay for their pet projects such as illegal wars. They did not borrow. They stole.

It is folly to say Social Security can't borrow to cover the shortfall because government agencies can't spend more than they have - though talking heads have said it. Have they been paying attention for the past 200 years? The government has been in debt for most of the time since it was founded. The Pentagon is always spending more than it has.

It's like having a Balanced Budget Amendment on steroids. It's as if there's an amendment that applies to everything except war spending. There actually was a version of the Balanced Budget Amendment that was proposed by some right-wing loudmouths that was like this.

Social Security costs money, but it doesn't lose money. Nobody dares to accuse the Pentagon of losing money, even though it has failed audits over and over again.

All of this is after steep Social Security cuts have already taken place. What the media calls the "third rail" of politics is always the first thing cut. Always. The retirement age was raised, and nobody has lifted a finger to restore it. It's also much harder to qualify for disability than it used to be. This is borne out by statistics that show that far fewer people collect Social Security disability benefits than they once did.

While anachronistic jizzumjaws like Phil Gramm continue to have op-eds published that laughably claim Social Security and Medicaid are forms of welfare, and that they should be cut further, the facts are swept under the rug.

This is why our brand of hard-hitting investigative journalism must be kept alive.

A Kroger elderbubbling

Today at Kroger at County Square in Cold Spring, some old woman bubbled.

Grandpa Walton goes Krogering

Today at Kroger (which was out of milk as usual), I saw a Will Geer look-alike.

Have no fear, the January ish is here!

As The Last Word slogs into 32 years of existence, we've put out our January issue!

This edition discusses a computer desk that kept caving in, austerity fascism on campuses, more illegal attempts to close public rights-of-way, the failure of "no pass, no drive", a person chewing bubble gum at the McKinley National Memorial, and more!

So beep your bipper here...

https://www.scribd.com/document/809672912/The-Last-Word-1-2025

If that doesn't work, slink on over here...

http://bunkerblast.info/lastword/lw2501.pdf

Listen to the roo gas cutting all around...Don't you love the sound of the farts coming down...

Today at Kroger, yet another LAP trouser sneeze was detected. This time, it originated from near the end of the pickle aisle.

Biden commutes kids-for-cash judge's sentence

This event establishes Joe Biden as perhaps one of the 5 worst Presidents in the country's history.

Five years ago, just before he left office after being voted out, Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin - a sociopath - pardoned several notorious criminals. Now Biden is doing almost the same thing.

Biden has now commuted the sentence of former Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, Judge Michael T. Conahan. Along with former Judge Mark A. Ciavarella Jr., Conahan was convicted in a scheme in which the judges sent juvenile defendants to a for-profit prison in exchange for over $2 million in kickbacks. Over 2,500 children had their lives destroyed by this scheme, and some committed suicide.

Conahan was sentenced to 17½ years in prison for racketeering. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Conahan applied for "compassionate release" because he was afraid of catching COVID in prison. He had locked down 2,500 kids, and everyone else was locked down during COVID, yet he demanded early release. He was allowed to continue his sentence at home in Florida, but that was before Biden commuted his sentence.

It gets worse. The Biden regime's excuse for commuting Conahan's punishment was that he was sentenced under "outdated laws."

Huh??? Biden thinks laws against a kickback scheme that resulted in the deaths of many children are "outdated"??? I know our society has really gone backwards in its attitudes toward child abuse over the past few years, but I didn't think it was that bad. We've essentially witnessed the de facto legalization of child abuse before our very eyes. In brief, fighting child abuse is "outdated", according to the President.

This is such an obvious abuse of power by the President that we almost wish we didn't look at our news feed today.

When the kickbacks involving Ciavarella and Conahan were first discovered, a class action suit was filed against the judges by hundreds of families. Amy Goodman wrote that the actions of the judges constituted "an unprecedented case of judicial corruption." Sadly, we weren't too surprised by this scandal, after seeing firsthand how abusive confinement facilities boast about having judges on their side. The bigger surprise is Biden mollycoddling the corrupt judges.

Cut a fart at Kroger

Today at the friendly neighborhood Krogie-Wogie, someone cracked an LAP bunker blast in the pharmacy section of the store.

Minnesota! Iowa! Wisconsin! It's a great place to start!

Back in the ba-de-ya month of September, I went on a fact-finding mission to Minnesota and nearby states. The event yielded 237 photos of a Roads Scholaring interest.

Because Flickr recently disabled remote linking, I'm revamping my road photo site so the pages on my personal site link to Flickr albums where my photos are all captioned the crazy cool people way. So read 'em and bip...

http://bunkerblast.info/roadpics/mn24a.html

Have no fear, the December ish is here!

It's another December to dismember at The Last Word!

The December issue of The Last Word is published! This ish talks about the destruction of an Atari BASIC Reference Manual, political moguls and commentators who sold us out, a kid reading a newspaper in class, a blanket ruined by bubble gum, hot chocolate getting spilled, the frustrated groan in a N'ice commercial, Donna Shalala starting a Twitter argument, and more!

So point your pooper here...

https://www.scribd.com/document/798577960/The-Last-Word-12-2024

If that doesn't work, gallivant on over here...

http://bunkerblast.info/lastword/lw2412.pdf

House Fascism Caucus blocks Social Security bill

The Tea Party lives, and it's called the House Freedom Caucus.

The misnamed House Freedom Caucus is a handful of federal legislators who are 10 years behind the rest of the nation and still ree about government spending while glossing over the wastefulness in programs they support. Yesterday, during the election, they were commiserating in D.C. - probably stewing that Nikki Haley and Paul Ryan weren't on the ballot. But mostly they were there to try to kill a popular Social Security bill.

This bill has overwhelming public support, and was sponsored by a huge bipartisan coalition in Congress. It would allow some public workers to finally receive Social Security benefits. As it is now, many workers such as public school teachers and firefighters can't get benefits, because the far right had earlier screeched that this would be a tax on states. The bill would remedy much of this.

The House Fascism Caucus used some strange procedural trick to block the bill. They whined that Social Security was losing money.

Government programs like Social Security do not lose money. They cost money, but they don't lose money. Social Security isn't supposed to be a for-profit business. Nobody ever dares to say the Pentagon loses money, or that bailouts for big banks lose money.

The bill was blocked even after it seemed like it was headed for quick passage.

Fortunately, Rep. Bob Good (R-Virginia), a self-described "biblical conservative" who organized the effort to kill the bill, had already lost the Republican primary and won't be back in January.

The bill might pass anyway. Congress could put forth a brand new bill that's identical to the blocked bill and vote on it.

The Tea Party is as discredited as the Democrats who sought support from Dick Cheney.

Have no fear, the November ish is here!

The November issue of The Last Word is pub-a-rooooooooooooooo!

This ish talks about my BASIC gerrymandering software, a substitute teacher's trash talk, getting worthless trinkets as a reward in 4th grade, a kid eating a candy bar in math class, an idiot who used a drone to harass homeless people, and more!

So point your pooper here...

https://www.scribd.com/document/785665158/The-Last-Word-11-2024

If that doesn't work, stink on over here...

http://bunkerblast.info/lastword/lw2411.pdf

Since when can corporations introduce bills?

We've crossed yet another threshold of fascism! Imagine that!

There's a right-wing effort afoot in Kentucky to limit cities from regulating short-term rentals like those offered through Airbnb. Some cities wisely prohibit owners from using properties they don't live in as short-term rentals - as it artificially drives up housing costs. Short-term rentals not only promote gentrification but also constipate neighborhoods by effectively turning them into commercial districts. Surrounding residents end up being forced to have their shit and eat it too. These existing neighbors end up paying more for a lower quality of life.

But it's not even known what legislators are behind the latest effort. Apparently, it isn't legislators at all. A new piece from WKYT-TV in Lexington says of Airbnb, "The short-term rental company introduced two bills."

Since when can corporations introduce bills? I don't remember ever voting for a corporation. At least not on purpose. I did vote a straight Democratic ticket when I was 18, but I didn't know yet that the party was actually a Fortune 500 company.

Meanwhile, in Berea, Airbnb was recently sued because only one of the 16 short-term rentals in the city was paying taxes like everyone else.

Some local cities will vote on medical cannabis

Starting on January 1, medical cannabis will finally be legal in Kentucky - after being hamstrung for decades. Each municipality will be responsible for zoning regulations governing cannabis-related businesses.

But counties in our area have decided to just ignore the new laws and ban medical cannabis anyway.

Yet some local cities are taking exception to that. A few have decided to remain dry, a few have opted to legalize medical cannabis despite what the county says, and a few have decided to bring the issue to the people by letting voters vote on it.

Bellevue is among the cities that will have a referendum on November 5 on whether to approve medical cannabis. One article says that other local cities where voters will vote on it include Alexandria, Crestview Hills, Elsmere, Florence, Independence, and Southgate.

It's about damn time our cities and the rest of our state legalize - which seems to have happened everywhere else by 2000.

3CDC costs local economy zillions with convention center closure

I've submitted a beautiful post to the "Greater Cincinnati Politics" group on Facebook that sums up the greed and incompetence of 3CDC, the unelected secret society that stage-manages policies governing much of Cincinnati. I don't expect the moderators to approve my post, because I'm making so much sense, but I'm reprinting it below.

(Begin post.)

Local political leaders should be doing something about 3CDC, which is taking 18 months to remodel the convention center - forcing the convention center to close all the while. This has forced the Cavalcade of Customs, the Cincinnati Auto Expo, and other events to cancel completely. This is costing the city and the whole area zillions of dollars in revenues from visitors to these events.

Who elected 3CDC? I don't know anyone who voted for them. 3CDC just decides to insert itself into every matter of public interest. They're as bad as the lockdown neocons at every level of government.

I'm a man of the people, and we shouldn't have to tolerate 3CDC's serial misrule and totalitarianism.

(End post.)

In short, 3CDC has launched an 18-month remodeling project for the convention center. How can a project like this take that long? This has forced annual events like the Cavalcade of Customs to cancel - costing the local economy dearly.

It's bad for recreation and jobs, and it encourages other economically costly projects in the future.

This was after the city already lost almost the entire early '20s to lockdown-related cancellations. But at least the Cavalcade of Customs was never canceled then, and in fact appeared practically normal (except for the 3 or so people who wore masks). Still, the city probably teetered on the brink of bankruptcy because of all the cancellations of events both inside and outside the convention center.

I fully expect my post to be rejected. If it is approved, I fully expect to be assailed by right-wing Republicans and right-wing Democrats equally. But it needed to be said. I've been in smaller rooms with bigger people, and I won't be bullied.

Amendment 2 a wolf in sheep's clothing

You might say this is a ballot measure where both sides deserve to lose, but we have to defend the country's principles, so we're voting no.

On November 5, something called Amendment 2 will be on the ballot in Kentucky. If it passes, it would amend the Kentucky Constitution to allow public money to be given to private schools.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was right when he said many of our public schools are "criminal enterprises." But the solution isn't to give money to private schools that may be just as bad - or in my experience, even worse. It's a fact that our so-called public schools and political "leaders" have abandoned the Kentucky Constitution's obligation to provide "common schools." In practice, common schools do not exist in Kentucky. It's clear our school and political officials care very little about education. They see private schools as more of a business competitor. But principles must come into play here.

One of the main principles we're standing on in opposing Amendment 2 is the fact that many private schools are religious institutions, and using taxpayer funds to sponsor them would run afoul of existing provisions in the federal and state constitutions against government sponsorship of religion. Furthermore, public money is for public schools. I know it's true that public schools refuse to do their job, but the solution is to find ways to make sure they do it. You might think that's asking too much, but we pay taxes, so we have a right to expect common schools to be operated and maintained.

Will Amendment 2 pass? Before 2020, measures like this almost always failed when put before voters. (It failed in California even after the Los Angeles Times ran a loopy op-ed supporting the measure that railed against "communist indoctrination.") But the past 4½ years have done more to destroy the reputation of our public schools than all the years before. Prussia originated common schools 250 years ago, but there has never been such a steep decline in our schools as we've seen since 2020. I didn't think our schools could possibly get any worse, but they managed to defy all expectations. There is no bottom.

I will vote against Amendment 2, but if it passes, our public schools are going to have to wallow in the consequences, after they refused to do their job.

Ah! Some local road photos! Ew!

To make August even more biptacular than it was, I went on a small local Roads Scholaring and amassed 14 photos, this time focusing on Covington.

They're ready to be pept, so point your pooper here...

http://bunkerblast.info/roadpics/cov24.html

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood

Back in August, I went on a fact-finding mission in Pittsburgh - paying particular attention to the amazingness in nearby McKeesport.

This event yielded 288 Roads Scholaring photos, and they're gonna fly around and bite your face off in public (as a wise man would say).

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

http://bunkerblast.info/roadpics/pit24a.html
http://bunkerblast.info/roadpics/pit24b.html
http://bunkerblast.info/roadpics/pit24c.html
http://bunkerblast.info/roadpics/pit24d.html
http://bunkerblast.info/roadpics/pit24e.html
http://bunkerblast.info/roadpics/pit24f.html
http://bunkerblast.info/roadpics/pit24g.html
http://bunkerblast.info/roadpics/pit24h.html
http://bunkerblast.info/roadpics/pit24i.html
http://bunkerblast.info/roadpics/pit24j.html
http://bunkerblast.info/roadpics/pit24k.html
http://bunkerblast.info/roadpics/pit24l.html

Three Mile Island owner wants bailout

It's bad enough that the company that owns the shuttered Three Mile Island nuclear plant is going to restart the plant. It's bad enough that locals won't be allowed to use the energy it generates, as the entire thing will be used to power Microsoft's artificial intelligence projects.

But now the company is demanding a $1.6 billion federal bailout - so the taxpayers will again be left holding the bag.

Meanwhile, families who were affected by Hurricane Helene will be receiving only a few hundred dollars each - much like those affected by the Maui wildfire. The government always has a bottomless vat of money for corporate bailouts and illegal foreign wars, but none for disaster relief or Social Security.

Have no fear, the October ish is here!

The approach of October means the October issue of The Last Word is here!

This scoopy edition discusses my Minnesota trip, gentrification of comic books, NKU violating confidentiality laws, helicopter governing, blowing bubble gum bubbles with game pieces inside, and more!

So point your pooper here...

https://www.scribd.com/document/773893365/The-Last-Word-10-2024

If that doesn't work, glide on over here...

http://bunkerblast.info/lastword/lw2410.pdf

Blueberries got wosted

Today, I received an important e-mail saying that a woman spilled an entire 2-pound container of blueberries all over the floor in the checkout lane at Kroger. They were wosted. Either that, or they were sent to the store in Bellevue.

The e-mail also said that several celebrity look-alikes were sighted on a cruise. They included Walter Cronkite, Jared Polis, and Rosemary Clooney.

Misadventures in gutting antitrust law

Hard to believe anyone thinks this might be politically advantageous or legally sound, but there's some strange people out there.

As Kroger attempts to merge with Albertsons, this anticompetitve move is cheered by the elitist media, but you'd think elected officials would be more politically savvy than to support it. Yet a group of 12 Republican state attorneys general - including Ohio's Dave Yost - have filed a court brief claiming the FTC's antitrust powers are unconstitutional.

As with other recent weird legal theories, the legal logic of this is completely incomprehensible. But if this brief succeeds in court, government antitrust powers - which are already used much too little - will be essentially gutted altogether.

Even some Republicans have supported antitrust efforts in the past few years. Sometimes it was for reasons you might think are questionable, but broadly speaking, I would have supported these breakups, because competition is vital. Yost himself has even overseen some antitrust suits. But the new brief by the Republican attorneys general would stymie all of these breakups.

The move to gut antitrust law is mirrored by Project 2025, a policy document that consists mostly of right-wing ideas that have bobbed along for the past 45 years. Project 2025 has one good idea, which is to abolish the Department of Homeland Security. The rest of it stinks.

This comes after a recent FTC report said Kroger, Walmart, and Amazon have been taking advantage of supply chain disruptions to jack up prices. It started during COVID-19 and has continued ever since. Grocery price gouging is real. It's gone on since before then and has only gotten worse. Grocery prices have increased 25% in 4 years.

Antitrust enforcement is one of the most basic charges of government. And it's in danger.

P...lop...plop!

Yesterday, I went to Ploptoberfest in Cincinnati, and it's not quite what it used to be.

The good news is that they had a new space for it this year along the riverfront, which is far bigger than past years. It's certainly better than the years when they crammed it onto 2nd Street, though that era did produce a highlight in 2021 when people beered on the streetcar. Unfortunately, beverage choices this year were horrendous if you wanted to skip the beer because you had to drive home. They were hard to find too. I was about ready to pass out because of it.

Also, I was grimacing in agony for a while because of a medical condition.

This may be the last festival for me. I've become too weak to walk around at events like this.

Now, the ploppings. I went into one of the portable restrooms and noticed there were two ploppables plopped. Not for the first time, a metal lid to a pickle jar had been plopped. That's gonna do a number on their cleaning equipment! In the same dumper, someone had plopped a plastic water bottle (like for bottled water from the store).

The only celebrity look-alikes I saw were Judy Graubart and Dan Hill. Must have been '70s day!