It's the Cincinnati Reds playin' basteball again!

Today, I went to the Opening Day parade.

It was so tame and poorly attended that it made the New Year's event on Fountain Square look like a late '90s Hineygate in comparison.

Still waiting for my check from the Kremlin

The Associated Press is completely off its rocker.

The recent train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, caused an untold amount of environmental damage. There will be cancers and mass deaths of wildlife resulting from it for decades to come. State officials are lying and covering it up.

But the AP just ran a piece saying this is just "anti-American propaganda" spread by Vladimir Putin, and those who make the above claims are being paid off.

Then where's my check from the Kremlin?

Usually, people who accuse foes of being paid off by Russia are themselves being paid off by China.

Louisville relaxes odor rules

Living in modern America means more stifling statism for individuals but almost total deregulation for big corporations. This bipartisan scourge is the very essence of fascism, and lately it's been modeled fluently in Louisville.

For years, a pork plant on the west side of Louisville has had a history of noncompliance with the city's regulations on odors. Residents have complained of nausea and other symptoms. In addition, nearby neighborhoods have been plagued by odors from other sources, including smells of chemicals and sewage.

But now - instead of enforcing the rules - the city's Air Pollution Control District board has unanimously voted to loosen the rules. Much of this change came at the urging of the Jefferson County Attorney's office. But an environmental lawyer says this change gives more power to polluters.

Being a corporation means never having to follow rules like everyone else. In the past few years, public bodies in America's major cities have enthusiastically regimented individual behavior and lied about the reasons for it, yet corporate polluters can operate with no limits whatsoever.

Another funny dream

Last night, I had a dream I went up to NKU and some guy kept walking through the halls and farting really loud. A professor then called the police.

Lindsey Graham wants to start a war with Mexico

For over 30 years, the U.S. has been in war after war after war almost continuously.

Now Lindsey Graham says he plans to introduce a bill authorizing a war with Mexico, of all places. "I would tell the Mexican government if you don't clean up your act, we're going to clean it up for you," the far-right Republican senator from South Carolina said.

Authorization for war would still need to pass Congress and be signed by the President. You can bet your bottom dollar the media is salivating at that prospect.

Old U.S. 50 is nifty

Last Wednesday, I goed Roads Scholaring on the east side of Cincinnati, and it turns out that most of my route followed the old path of U.S. 50!

But, whatever the weather, this outing yielded 12 photos, and last night, I posted them for you to beep of the oggle variety. So point your pooper here...

http://bunkerblast.info/roadpics/cineast23.html

Ah! More photos! Ew!

You may know that last October, I goed on a little camping trip to Athens, Ohio. This event yielded 113 Roads Scholaring photos, so bip your beeper here...

http://bunkerblast.info/roadpics/ath22a.html
http://bunkerblast.info/roadpics/ath22b.html
http://bunkerblast.info/roadpics/ath22c.html
http://bunkerblast.info/roadpics/ath22d.html
http://bunkerblast.info/roadpics/ath22e.html

Have no fear, the March ish is here!

Time to march into March - with the March ish of The Last Word!

This installment talks about the pros and cons of artificial intelligence, my latest kidney stone, the embarrassment of 'Today' stores in airports, a bad smell in a movie theater, the weird wrinkled pages in encyclopedias, and more!

So bip your beeper here...

https://www.scribd.com/document/628360502/The-Last-Word-3-2023

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

http://bunkerblast.info/lastword/lw2303.pdf

Pelosi praises Bush

This recent quote from Nancy Pelosi about George W. Bush is all you need to know about the Democrats' expanding Gestapoism: "The Bush family, it's because of their humanity, their faith, their generosity of spirit, their compassion. Once again, it's an honor to be associated with President Bush in this."

Well, there ya have it, folks. The country's leading Democrat just praised the worst so-called President in the country's history.

Beshear signs Republican tax bill

Well, at least his first 3 months in office were good. They were certainly better than the last 3 years.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear - a so-called Democrat - has signed a regressive Republican tax bill into law. This bill cuts the state income tax from 4.5% to 4% as part of a long-term effort to eliminate the income tax completely and replace it with a higher sales tax to hit working families harder. This comes several years after Republicans gutted the graduated income tax system. The old system levied a higher tax on those with higher incomes, but Kentucky now punishes the working poor by imposing a flat tax.

This is also while some states - under both Democrats and Republicans - are finally looking into lowering sales taxes. So Kentucky is becoming an outlier on the right.

Let me guess. I bet Beshear signed this bill to appease the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce. That's his excuse for everything.

We'd like to see stronger constitutional protections of a progressive tax structure and against regressive taxation. The newly signed law is actually a form of taxation without representation, for the rich aren't exactly underrepresented in government.

More proof we no longer have a country

This is the top story in the Lexington Herald-Leader this morning: "How often, why does Fayette County use pepper spray on students? What we know."

Whaa, what???

Pepper spray???

Can read...Can read...

Hi there! Long time no pee!

I mean that last sentence literally, given the topic of this entry.

For the past 10 days or so - since Saturday, January 28 - I've felt as if I've begun to recover from several years of cognitive impairment and extreme fatigue. I have a theory that I was suffering from uremic poisoning and that it began to clear up when I passed a kidney stone that morning. This condition would have eventually led to kidney failure had it not apparently cleared.

This apparent recovery means I'll finally be able to catch up on my reading.

Unfortunately, I flushed the kidney stone before I could mail it.

Oregon! Idaho! Nevada! Game day bucket go boom!

Time to blow bubbles in your beer!

The first 201 photos and videos from September's trip to the Western U.S. were already released in the last photo shoot. But for months, you've probably been dancing around your den, chanting, "The rest of it! The rest of it!" You wanted the other 258 items without delay!

But now the second and final photo shoot from that trip is up, and you can roll around in its splendor! So point your pooper here...

http://bunkerblast.info/roadpics/oril22a.html
http://bunkerblast.info/roadpics/oril22b.html
http://bunkerblast.info/roadpics/oril22c.html
http://bunkerblast.info/roadpics/oril22d.html
http://bunkerblast.info/roadpics/oril22e.html
http://bunkerblast.info/roadpics/oril22f.html
http://bunkerblast.info/roadpics/oril22g.html
http://bunkerblast.info/roadpics/oril22h.html
http://bunkerblast.info/roadpics/oril22i.html
http://bunkerblast.info/roadpics/oril22j.html

Have no fear, the February ish is here!

An ish. An ish. An ish, an ish, an ish, an ish, an iiiiiiiish! (To the tune of the 'Pink Panther' theme.)

The February edition of The Last Word is now pub, and you can read it and bip! This ish discusses a man stealing coffee from Kroger, people ruining board games (usually with beer or vomit), the decline of chemistry sets, and more!

So blast on over here...

https://www.scribd.com/document/622478759/The-Last-Word-2-2023

If that doesn't work, slink over yonder...

http://bunkerblast.info/lastword/lw2302.pdf

America is fast becoming a police state

There's no hope for this country.

I just read on one of my Reddit forums that an adult was carded at a grocery store just to buy glue.

That's right. Glue. That stuff we used in kindergarten.

Lexington schools lose school board application

In America, school board applications lose schools. In Kentucky, schools lose school board applications!

Kentucky - the state with one of the most perennially authoritarian and generally broken school systems - strikes again! Fayette County Schools (Lexington) has lost an application to fill a vacant school board seat. This seat became vacant because of a resignation in November, and the board must now take applications to fill it. An application was dropped off at the school board building, but the superintendent said that "we have been unable to locate their paperwork anywhere in the building." The superintendent admitted that this candidate "would have been eligible if not for the error by our administrative team."

After my experiences with the Campbell County Schools - and with the abusive behavior of schools nationwide in the past few years - it's hard to know whether the school district's stupidity is accidental or deliberate.

Every few years, we read about some school suspiciously losing students' completed standardized tests and forcing them to waste time retaking the test. In 2018, schools in Bessemer, Alabama, lost the grades of numerous 8th grade students and forced them to repeat the year. The students weren't told they were held back until a week before the start of the next school year. There is no limit on what school districts can get away with, and they always hire the best attorneys to shield them from accountability. So what's a mere mortal to do? Stink?

AAP wants kids to have weight loss surgery

The American Academy of Pediatrics has already forfeited the privilege of being taken seriously, as it has been one of the leading voices for forcing 2-year-olds to wear masks. Forced masking of anyone would have been considered a human rights violation before 2020, and this principle should still stand. If it doesn't stand, it's not a principle. Principles don't change just because of a pandemic.

The AAP's credibility continues to swirl down the crapper, as now it is advocating that children have weight loss surgery to treat obesity. Just a few years ago, this surgery was considered radical - even dangerous - even for adults. I have known people who sadly have died from it. Yet the AAP now wants it used for children.

New AAP guidelines recommend aggressive drug therapy to treat obesity in kids as young as 12. This guidance suggests the surgery for kids as young as 13.

The drug recommendation shows the disproportionate influence that Big Pharma has in the AAP. This story also displays the AAP's lack of common sense. Instead of drugs and radical surgery, we should instead be trying to make sure children receive the right kinds of food and the right amount of exercise. Yet the AAP is allied with COVID disastrists who promoted lockdowns, which discouraged exercise by forcing children into their homes.

The AAP's new guidance represents the further Ritalinization of medicine.

However, obesity drugs that the AAP loves so much have been in short supply because of videos on TikTok - which is owned largely by the Chinese Communist Party - promoting them.

At this rate, it wouldn't be surprising if weight loss surgery is mandatory 20 years from now.

What is the meaning of this? ('Sesame Street' Wednesday)

There are still some enjoyable 'Sesame Street' segments out there that I recall fondly but have never found online or on a DVD. However, here's one we can finally cross off that list now that it's surfaced...

That skit featuring Maria, David, and Bob reportedly first aired in 1975. Bob and David portray waiters at a fine restaurant, and Maria is their beleaguered supervisor. This is one of few segments where Bob had a mustache. I was really hoping this sketch was the one in which Maria spoke a famous line that was repeated for the rest of my childhood. Well, I got my wish.

That famous line: "What is the meaning of this?"

I remember many times when I was growing up, somebody would ask, "What is the meaning of this?" Inevitably, somebody would always follow with, "As Maria would say."

I also remember being somewhat frightened by this segment. The characters kept dropping trays and dishes and falling onto the ground, leading me to fear that they might be injured.

But good for David for quitting his waiter job! Now the world knows you can't walk all over David!

People smiled their asses off on Fountain Square

Last night, I went to the New Year's celebration on Fountain Square. And when I say it was tame, man, do I mean it was tame! I mean it like a dictionary! A big ol' Webster's!

But the TV networks have forfeited the privilege of me staying home to watch their garbledy-goop, because of their totalitarianism of the past couple years.

At least when I was on Fountain Square, I did detect the airy vapors of a certain herb. Also, before midnight, I saw 2 - count 'em, 2 - people who were in a festive enough mood that they bubbled.

Have no fear, the January ish is here!

An ish is pub. Pub, pub. An ish is pub. Pub, pub. An ish is pub. Pub, pub. An ish is pub. Pub, pub. An ish is pub. A doggone ish is pub!

The January edition of The Last Word has now materialized, and it chugs along as ever. This ish talks about censorship of auditing videos, my successful effort to remove a noisy plate from a city street, handing in school reports full of gibberish and funny sayings, people peeing on the toilet seat at a Senate office building, and more!

So scoot on over here...

https://www.scribd.com/document/616966064/The-Last-Word-1-2023

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

http://bunkerblast.info/lastword/lw2301.pdf

Lawyer barred from Rockettes show after being caught by facial recognition tech

This is fascism.

I don't care what anybody says. It's fascism, end of story.

A woman was barred from a Rockettes show at Radio City Music Hall in New York because facial recognition technology in the lobby discovered that she happens to be a lawyer who works at a firm that filed a personal injury suit against a restaurant owned by the venue's parent company.

After being detected by this technology, guards approached her and ejected her instantly. She was with a Girl Scouts troop with her daughter. The rest of the group was allowed in.

A spokesperson for MSG Entertainment, which owns the venue, said the company's policy is to ban attorneys from firms involved in litigation against the company from attending events.

This policy is now resulting in a challenge to MSG's liquor license - because the license bars the venue from arbitrarily banning patrons.

What a mess America has become. What a mess.

It was a long bubbling season, Charlie Brown!

Today at Kroger, some woman was in such a Krogery mood that she bubbled.

Another Beshear screw-up

Kentucky has had a system of unemployment insurance that has served workers well since 1938 – offering 26 weeks of insurance.

But starting next month, unemployment insurance in Kentucky is being slashed so it will last only 12 to 24 weeks – depending on the recent unemployment rate. With unemployment as bad as it is lately, you might think that it will be 24 weeks when this change takes place. But who are we kidding? It's 12 weeks. Of course.

Much like how our rulers deliberately used a botched model for COVID deaths as an excuse for stay-at-home orders and other police state measures, they've been using made-up employment figures for years – almost always vastly undercounting the unemployment rate. Their penchant for disinformation isn't limited to science and law, but also economics.

The Beshear administration is making this change to appease the governor's friends at the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce – much as how some of Beshear's COVID measures also pleased this elite secret society.

Andy Beshear's legacy will be not just a botched COVID response but also gutting a successful worker insurance system that has lasted 84 years.

A person bubbled at Target too!

Today at Target in Newport, some woman bubbled.

A person bubbled at Kroger

Today at Kroger, some woman bubbled a green bub.

Disabled man threatened with guns by Delta

Here's another story that's been mostly ignored by the pop-up media.

Recently, a travel blogger flew from Santiago to Atlanta using Delta Airlines – and was threatened with guns by the airline. The man uses a wheelchair because of spinal muscular atrophy. The Air Carrier Access Act gave him the legal right to stay on the flight when it landed until he was given access to his own wheelchair.

Delta disrespected this right – and threatened the man. A video caught a flight attendant telling the man that the TSA would make him "get off the aircraft with all their guns and stuff."

The Air Carrier Access Act is based on a sound premise. One of the things it was designed to do is fight actions such as airlines abandoning disabled passengers for hours.

Cue the laptop bullies who will inevitably defend the airline.

Have no fear, the December ish is here!

It's another December to dismember at The Last Word, as our December issue is now pub!

This ish talks about more bad Domino Rally reviews, people throwing pizza on the floor during high school outings, the battle of the bubble gum dyes, a student buying pot at school (which used shredded Ranger Rick magazines for cut), med school students getting expelled for abusing cadavers, and more!

So read it now before it reads you...

https://www.scribd.com/document/610883864/The-Last-Word-12-2022

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

http://bunkerblast.info/lastword/lw2212.pdf

New York City to lock up "mentally ill" without trial

Since 2020, the bigger the city, the more of a fascist stronghold it is.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams – already on record as supporting child abuse, getting a city worker fired for speaking out against it, and running an administration that lied in court in a related case – is at it again. Adams has now announced the city will involuntarily commit the so-called "mentally ill" without any sort of trial or hearing, even if they pose no threat to anyone.

Why? Because Eric Adams is a hateful, hateful man, that's why. In a city with a long string of incompetent mayors, that shouldn't be too surprising, but Adams's totalitarianism has few rivals.

Today's Democratic "leaders" hate America, and they hate freedom. It shows every time their traps flip open.

New York's latest directive would unambiguously violate the Supreme Court's 1975 O'Connor v. Donaldson ruling. This unanimous landmark decision says people may not be indefinitely committed against their will.

Wait! There's more! The city is also urging passage of a state law to bolster the city's stance.

The Coalition for Homeless rightly blasted the city's new directive, but the city is sure to dig in.

In the 2000s and 2010s, America's cities were the home of modern pioneers and innovators. Now our cities are the home of gentrified goosesteppers.

Colleges should pay to have student debt canceled

One of the issues Occupy took up was student debt. Occupy Cincinnati once had a march about this issue, and we were actually attacked during it.

These days, I don't expect anything productive to be done on this or any other matter, given the sorry state of our political system. To give you an idea of how bad things are, in one recent local election, the supposedly most progressive of the 3 candidates wanted to bring back the draft. Today's so-called progressives have become the war hawks that real progressives have long fought against.

I've long supported canceling student debt, but not long ago, some folks actually raised a good argument against it. While debt would be canceled for people who went to college, what about those who never had the chance to go to college? What do they get from canceling student debt?

That's a fair point, but it doesn't make college debt any less burdensome. Another drawback of canceling student debt is that all of us taxpayers would be on the hook for it. So here's my solution: Make colleges pay for it. This would apply to public and private colleges alike, so not all of it would be shouldered by taxpayers.

Think of this as a warranty. For decades, I've said that schools should be subject to warranties that guarantee the quality of the education they offer. If a school doesn't provide an education that allows one to make enough money to pay off their debt, whose fault is that? Is it my fault we have such shitty schools?

Many of our schools are run by some bad, bad people, and there's new evidence emerging all the time they'd rather teach hatred of the Bill of Rights than useful academic material. Our colleges bash the principles America is supposed to be run on, and they ought to pay a price just for that. I hope that with the decline of our colleges just in this decade, society can lift the violent taboo against not attending college.

Republicans win U.S. House

Oh no!

Anyway...