Bronchitis detritus

My bizbud says it's bronchitis, so it's bronchitis.

December 26 to 30 was dashed to smithereens by another case of bronchitis. Will this bout with bronchitis worsen today or in the future? If poo. And if it does, I'll be sure to keep you posted!

Most think Franken shouldn't resign

Even after Sen. Al Franken (D-Minnesota) announced he'd resign following sexual harassment allegations (that he denies), most folks in his home state still approve of his job as senator and don't want him to resign.

A new PPP poll says 50% think he should not resign - compared to 42% who think he should. Franken still has a 53% approval rating in his state - which means he's still one of the most popular senators. His approval numbers beat those of Donald Trump hands-down.

Sounds like Trump is the one who should resign.

Campbell County sues Big Pharma over opioid pandemic

WCPO-TV in Cincinnati reports that there are now at least 65 counties in Kentucky and Ohio suing big drug companies for their role in the local pandemic of opioid overdoses. Campbell County is now among those in Kentucky joining the effort. The city of Cincinnati is suing too.

The lawsuits target 3 major drug makers and demand reimbursement for the costs incurred in curbing this crisis.

I hope the judge throws the book at Big Pharma.

(Source: https://www.wcpo.com/news/local-news/hamilton-county/cincinnati/65-ohio-kentucky-counties-sue-drug-distributors-in-2017-over-opioid-damage)

AT&T to lay off over 1,000

Remember about a week ago when the right-wing media was crediting Trump's new tax law with AT&T giving some of its employees a pay bonus? Notice how they shut up about that right quick. Here's why.

In a true holiday spirit, the monopolistic telcom giant has also announced it's going to fire over 1,000 workers next year. AT&T tried justifying it by putting out a statement full of corporate mumbo-jumbo.

All this while AT&T plans to take over Time Warner.

(Source: http://www.newsweek.com/christmas-att-layoffs-midwest-bonuses-trump-758391)

Have no fear, the January ish is here!

The first issue of The Last Word dated 2018 was published early, and you're gonna bip until your face falls off!

This ish talks about Donald Trump's possible gum chewage, a ruined Jimmy the Greek cutout, people blaming bubble gum for crooked teeth, broken disco-era eyeglasses, an egg fart in church, an old video about the consequences of a bad conduct discharge, and more!

So point your pooper here...

https://www.scribd.com/document/367631812/The-Last-Word-1-2018

If you can't read it on Scribd, read it here...

http://bunkerblast.info/lastword/lw1801.pdf

People keep bunkerooing

Christmastime flatulence is always a storyline rife with laughter!

Thursday was a big day! But before the fun could begin, I had to walk down the street to run some errands. While I was doing so, a UPS delivery man who was bringing a package to a nearby house cracked an LAP bunker blast!

Yesterday, I left for a Christmas family gathering in Port Huron, Michigan, and got home today. I'm quite certain that last night, I detected the audio of another LAP.

Also, during this family event, I must have heard bubble gum mentioned at least 500 times.

Identify a lost '90s hit!

Go!

Occasionally, someone will comment here that they want to identify a lost song that used to be played on the radio, and sometimes I identify it right away (like the Peach Union song).

Now I've thought of a lost hit I need to identify. The song was a Smithereens sound-alike that was all over the radio at the end of 1999 and the start of 2000. It was a rock song but was played by pop stations. I'd forgotten about this song for years until tonight.

I'm not in the mood to buy a download of every song in the Hot 100 from New Year's 2000 just to find it. Odds are it was on the chart at the time though.

Right-wing federal judge resigns over sexual misconduct

Alex Kozinski is the far, far right-wing chief judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. He was appointed to that court by Reagan and elevated to chief judge by the thug George W. Bush. Kozinski was one of few judges to side with schools that performed illegal strip searches. Kozinski has also claimed that he was once a staunch communist but chewing bubble gum caused him to abandon communism. I swear I'm not making this up.

In 2008, Kozinski was involved in a bit of a scandal when it was revealed that he posted scat porn on his personal website.

Now Kozinski is resigning in disgrace because of numerous allegations of sexual misconduct. He was already facing a probe over claims that he subjected 15 women to improper sexual behavior. Four of the women say he touched them inappropriately.

What a disgrace.

Kentucky's fight against corporate dope pushers hamstrung by Bevin

The Republican Right doesn't care that people are dying from opioids. They never did care.

Kentucky Attorney General Andy Beshear, a Democrat, says Republican so-called Gov. Matt Bevin has been gunking up Kentucky's efforts to sue big companies that make addictive painkillers. Beshear's office has awarded a contract to 4 law firms to help file the suits, but the Bevin administration still hasn't approved the contract 3 months later.

Beshear has already sued Endo Pharmaceuticals, claiming the company has helped cause over 190 overdose deaths statewide.

Meanwhile, Beshear has also sued the embattled and unpopular Bevin 4 times because of his illegal abuse of executive orders.

(Source: http://www.kentucky.com/living/health-and-medicine/article189628194.html)

'Net vandal throws pee on people in dream

I had another weird dream last night.

I dreamed that some guy who kept harassing people on the Internet years ago showed up at a party and kept throwing urine at people. Police were called but failed to show up.

Even though he lived hundreds of miles away, the party in this dream took place in Highland Heights.

Kentucky to join suit to save 'Net neutrality

After the FCC's unconstitutional gutting of 'Net neutrality protections, Kentucky Attorney General Andy Beshear says the state will join a host of other states in a lawsuit challenging this move.

Beshear was also among 18 attorneys general who sent a letter to the FCC asking for a delay in its 'Net neutrality vote - based on the fact that most of the Internet comments favoring the gutting of 'Net neutrality were from fake accounts using real people's names.

(Source: http://www.nkytribune.com/2017/12/18-ags-including-beshear-asked-fcc-to-delay-net-neutrality-vote-over-fraudulent-pro-repeal-signatures)

Dan Johnson commits suicide

Embattled Kentucky State Rep. Dan Johnson - who made racist Facebook posts and has been accused of sexually abusing a teenage girl - has committed suicide by shooting himself on a bridge in Mount Washington, Kentucky:

http://www.wdrb.com/story/37062873/kentucky-state-rep-dan-johnson-commits-suicide-on-bridge-in-mt-washington

No more Moore

Democrat Doug Jones has just won the Senate election in Alabama.

You blew this one, Repubs. Blew it in a big way.

The fact that something like this just happened in Alabama - of all places - is truly a sight to behold. Today is the first time in 25 years that the GOP has lost a Senate election in Alabama.

Regardless of who had won, it's mind-blowing that the Republican National Committee actually gave money to Roy Moore. We need to remind people of this from tonight until the end of time.

Looks like the mall won't be unbanning you anytime soon, Roy.

School uniforms ruled unconstitutional again!

I have a vague memory of this case, which has been bouncing through the courts since 2011, but I had no recollection of what became of it. But now it's finally been decided in favor of the forces of good!

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that requiring students in public schools to wear uniforms is unconstitutional. The case arose from a right-wing uniform policy at Roy Gomm Elementary School in Reno, Nevada.

So there's that.

(Source: https://www.nevadaappeal.com/news/local/reno-school-uniforms-policy-ruled-unconstitutional)

Racist lawmaker exposed in scathing report

We've talked about Kentucky State Rep. Dan Johnson before. The Tea Party legislator from Bullitt County made explicitly racist Facebook posts and was a sponsor of fascist legislation such as the unconstitutional "right-to-work" law. The Republicans chose him as their candidate in 2016 despite knowing about his racist posts.

For years, Johnson has also been a pastor of a right-wing Louisville church, where he has declared himself pope. Now the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting has produced a detailed report on the sordid history of this preacher-turned-lawmaker...

http://longcon.kycir.org

Here's some key information in the report: Johnson lies about having a divinity degree from an Iowa seminary. He claims to have served as White House chaplain - though no such office exists. He says he set up the morgue for 9/11 victims - though people who were at 9/11 say that's also a lie. Johnson even falsely claimed during his political campaign to have been an ambassador to the UN.

Johnson's church has violated laws prohibiting tax-exempt nonprofits from endorsing candidates. A former member of Johnson's church, who tried to run for what is now Johnson's House seat, accuses him of delivering racist sermons.

Johnson was once indicted for setting his Cadillac on fire to collect the insurance money. Later, he was a suspect in a fire that destroyed his own church.

A young woman reported feeling uncomfortable when a drunken Johnson allegedly kissed her at a church party. The pastor has even been accused of sexually abusing a 17-year-old girl. Through it all, the Louisville media has been engaged in a cover-up of Johnson's activities.

Why do we put up with clowns like Dan Johnson in public office?

Trump regime ends housing program for homeless vets

The Trump thugocracy has just hit a new low - and not just in its approval numbers.

The Department of Veterans Affairs is slashing funding for a program that helps provide housing for homeless veterans. In fact, the VA says the program will end.

Veterans' advocates and state and city officials are livid.

If Trump treats homeless veterans this way, nobody is safe.

(Source: http://thehill.com/homenews/news/363681-va-slashes-program-that-helps-homeless-veterans-obtain-housing-report)

Former Colorado GOP head charged with election fraud

Steve Curtis is a former head of the Republican Party of Colorado who also ran a right-wing talk show on Denver radio.

Shortly before last year's "election", he said on his show, "Virtually every case of voter fraud that I can remember in my lifetime was committed by Democrats or do I not have the facts?" But now he's the one being charged with election fraud and forgery. Curtis stands accused of forging his former wife Kelly Curtis's signature on her mail-in ballot after they divorced. Kelly Curtis discovered the fraud when she called the county clerk's office to see how to cast her ballot and was told she had already voted.

Do you really expect anything less from the party of fraud?

(Source: http://kdvr.com/2017/12/04/voter-fraud-trial-underway-for-former-gop-chairman)

Motortrike assailant praises Trump on Facebook

Every community has its own cast of characters, and our part of town is no exception. We're a regular Sesame Street!

Several months ago, a man driving a motortrike on the sidewalk was charged with assault for shooting pepper spray at people gathering outside a Newport social services agency. The Dayton, Kentucky, resident had also been accused of scratching cars in his own city about a year earlier. Folks also say he would ride around in a convertible and randomly shoot pepper spray. He was also accused of a stabbing a few years ago.

When I saw his mugshot, I noticed he strongly resembled a man I'd seen at a local Subway restaurant who gave a brief speech praising Donald Trump and spread a shredded newspaper around the eating area. I concluded it was probably the same guy.

Until recently, I couldn't find any political material on the motortrike assailant's several Facebook pages, but now he's changed his cover photo to a picture of Trump smiling his ass off. He also changed his intro text to: "President Donald J. Trump is #1 & he rules."

It gets weirder. On his timeline, he posted a copy of the Channel 19 report of the motortrike incident. Below it, he bragged about spraying one of the victims. He's also started a YouTube channel where he boasts about the episode. He's even taken to calling himself "The Dayton, KY Mace Clown."

What a beezweezer.

Trump admits to obstruction of justice

Look at what Donald Trump just said on his idiot-like Twitter feed...

"I had to fire General Flynn because he lied to the Vice President and the FBI. He has pled guilty to those lies. It is a shame because his actions during the transition were lawful. There was nothing to hide!"

In other words, Trump just admitted he knew Flynn lied to the FBI before he asked James Comey to get off Flynn's case. Trump kept Flynn on knowing full well he had lied. That's obstruction of justice. That's all you need to charge Trump.

It may seem like Robert Mueller's job just got a lot easier, but there's a good chance he already had Trump but we just don't know it yet.

Passing illegible tax bill proves Republicans have lost their minds

How many decades have I been warning people that the Republicans would someday do something like this that proves they've lost their damn minds?

The GOP-led Senate has just passed an overwhelmingly unpopular tax bill that not only gives free money to corporations and the 1%, but isn't even legible. The 497-page bill is made up largely of scribbled handwritten notes in the margin of the pages that nobody can read. It's like when you give a Magic Slate to a child who isn't old enough to read and tell them to write a story.

Imagine handing in a term paper full of scribbled additions in the margins. I knew by 5th grade that this would never be accepted in school.

The more economists and congressional budget accountants said the bill would add to the deficit, the more the Republicans doubled down in supporting the bill!

Inevitably, the GOP will try to use the budget shortfalls caused by this bill as an excuse to slash Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and other programs. They've even admitted as much. This despite the fact that Social Security doesn't add to the national debt. It's paid for from separate trust funds. Then again, the bill is such a political liability for Republicans that by the time many of these cuts would take effect, adults may be in charge of the government again, and they'll reverse them. That of course assumes The Media doesn't let the GOP get away with all of this - like they usually do. (Remember the 2013 government shutdown?)

In addition to that, the bill raises taxes on America's poorest. One writer called it "nothing short of a hate crime against the economically disadvantaged" that aims to strip everyone except the 1% of the rights of citizenship.

One thing is for sure: As the Obama economic recovery is already being snuffed out, this bill will hasten the process. This is a guarantee.

This ends now

This ends now.

There was an altercation today. I was afraid this would start happening again with Donald Trump encouraging it, but he was The Media's choice, not mine.

I went to the doctor today, and when I got to the waiting room, I walked past a middle-aged man and young woman who were sitting there. The male was probably about 45 and looked vaguely familiar. The female - who I assume was his relationship partner - was about half his age.

I sat down across the room from them, and immediately, the man started popping off at me. I was about ready to get up and deck him, but then his girlfriend tugged on his arm to get him to shut up.

They lingered around in the waiting room a few more minutes before they were gone.

This went on today. In 2017. In Bellevue. At a doctor's office.

After the appointment, I frantically texted my friend about it from Kroger. We agreed that this has to end. Right now.

Many negative feelings have been floating around since this happened today. Frankly, we're tired of it. Maybe someone is just mad because Cincinnati Bell is no longer able to leak my new phone number to them every time I change it.

How was society permitted to sink like this?

More Scholaring photos kablammo everywhere

To help fight the Evil Empire, I've been catching up on Roads Scholaring photos from August and September that I owed!

First on the agenda is a few items from when we saw the eclipse in western Kentucky. These photos don't have the eclipse itself, but instead focus on things roadly...

http://bunkerblast.info/roadpics/wky17.html

The next batch covers some biperoony back in northern Kentucky...

http://bunkerblast.info/roadpics/morecamnorth17.html

It fails to stink!

Trump makes racist remark at Navajo event

Donald Trump has a history of making racist comments about Sen. Elizabeth Warren's Native American ancestry - but this time he did it at an event for Navajo veterans.

At the White House event for Navajo code talkers who served during World War II, Trump referred to the Massachusetts Democrat as "Pocahontas."

Then Trump condescendingly put his hand on a code talker's shoulder and declared, "But you know what, I like you. You are special people."

Attendees of the event fell silent in shock.

Warren later said, "It is deeply unfortunate that the President of the United States cannot even make it through a ceremony honoring these heroes without having to throw out a racial slur. Donald Trump does this over and over thinking somehow he is going to shut me up with it. It hasn't worked out in the past, it isn't going to work out in the future." The National Congress of American Indians had previously condemned Trump's ongoing remarks on Warren.

(Source: http://www.cnn.com/2017/11/27/politics/trump-pocahontas-navajo-code-talkers/index.html)

Reagan and Gorbachev puppets liked gum (Bubble Gum Weekend)

Because it's Thanksgiving weekend, you're gonna gum. You always do.

In light of this, we've found another hilarious old gum commersh...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pn9tUMRCxxo

That ad is for Chiclets. I haven't seen Chiclets in stores in years, but apparently they still make it, which is why I don't embed the video directly.

According to YouTube, the commercial is from 1985. It features puppets of Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev arguing about what makes Chiclets so great. It's sort of like the "less filling, tastes great" beer ads. They each chomp a slab in an attempt to determine what makes the product so wonderful.

But they didn't bubble.

Have no fear, the December ish is here!

These are such momentous times that the December issue of The Last Word was published early!

Don't be fooled by Scribd misclassifying it under "Republican Party." Quite the contrary. That's like classifying Investor's Business Daily under "Newspapers." Though The Last Word gained fame as a bulwark against the Far Right, the latest ish covers a host of topics including these and more...

• Spectrum Internet being a ripoff.

• A failed treatment for an eye disorder.

• Linus from 'Peanuts' farting.

• A 70-year video retrospective of school flatulence.

• People cheating at Monopoly.

• Dogs being afraid of bubble gum.

So - if you can ignore Scribd thinking we're Republican - point your pooper here to read our latest edition...

https://www.scribd.com/document/365209064/The-Last-Word-12-2017

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

http://bunkerblast.info/lastword/lw1712.pdf

Ending 'Net neutrality would be unconstitutional

With an FCC stacked by Trump-appointed hacks preparing to gut 'Net neutrality regulations passed 2 years ago, it's hard to see how doing so would even pass First Amendment muster - not to mention the fact that the FCC lacks legislative approval to do so.

Didn't the First Amendment used to protect free speech? Nowhere does it give utility companies the right to censor speech they disapprove of. If the phone company had listened in on calls and cut them off, there's no way it would be legal. (Not like it didn't happen.) So how would it be legal to abolish 'Net neutrality?

Odds are there are going to be some court challenges to the FCC's upcoming ukase. I just don't see any way it can stand.

Barbershop quartet sings about gum

To celebrate the holidays, I've composed a little song, recorded it to sound like a Christmas carol, and uploaded it to YouTube!

What's this song about, dare you ask? Bubble gum, that's what. It's this stuff that you chew and blow big bubbles with. You chomp it daily.

Every month, I get a gafillion requests for Last Word articles about gum. So why not harmonize about this zesty goo?

Kentucky congressman issues articles of impeachment against Trump

"Butbutbut Kentucky red state lolololol."

Today, 6 House Democrats introduced articles of impeachment against dictator Trump. And one of the lawmakers is from Kentucky!

Rep. John Yarmuth (D-Kentucky) is joining Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-New York), Rep. Luis Gutiérrez (D-Illinois), Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio), Rep. Al Green (D-Texas), and Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tennessee) in this effort. This includes 5 new articles outlining how Trump endangers the whole country. Cohen even called Trump's regime a "constitutional crisis."

One of the articles centers on Trump obstructing justice by firing James Comey. Another rightly charges that Trump violated the Constitution's emoluments clauses.

Still, some Democrats oppose the effort, since they want Robert Mueller's probe of Russian election interference to finish up first. But Cohen said he was encouraged to go ahead with impeachment because of the Charlottesville terrorist attacks.

Bubblin' in Dublin

Bubbling isn't just an American pastime. It's worldwide!

I've just been informed that in recent days, 3 people have been seen bubbling in public in Dublin - yes, Ireland. This includes a woman in an airport and a man in a car!

Celebrity look-alikes have been sighted too! Even though it's Ireland, those seen resemble American celebrities. A Paul Ryan look-alike was seen riding a bike. A man who resembled Louis Edmonds - actor who played Langley Wallingford of All My Children - was seen walking down the street.

I've also been told that a restroom at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris had pee everywhere.

Elder Bush accused of groping 16-year-old

What idiotic excuses will the right-wing brain trust come up with this time?

In recent weeks, 6 women have publicly accused George H.W. Bush of groping them. The latest accuser says she was groped by the former leader of the free (?) world back in 2003, when she was only 16.

The accuser says the incident took place at a photo op at a CIA office in Texas where her dad worked. She says Bush grabbed her buttocks. "My initial action was absolute horror. I was really, really confused," she told Time magazine.

It's been clear for a long time now that the scoundrels who make up the modern GOP are about abusing people as much as possible. Only the right-wing media keeps the Republican Party alive.

GOP wants tariff on Puerto Rico

Oh the stupid! It burns!

The Trump regime and Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee want to impose a tariff of 20% on all products "imported" from Puerto Rico. The committee has already approved this tariff by a vote of 24 to 16.

Uh, Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory, geniuses.

The Republicans are the party that wouldn't do shit about foreign trade partners that cheated on trade agreements or broke American or international laws. Yet they want a tariff on an American territory?

The Republican Party gets stranger by the day. After all, the Greens aren't the ones defending Roy Moore after his latest scandal.

Roy Moore accused of sexual encounter with under-age girl

Well, this ought to settle it...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/investigations/woman-says-roy-moore-initiated-sexual-encounter-when-she-was-14-he-was-32/2017/11/09/1f495878-c293-11e7-afe9-4f60b5a6c4a0_story.html

Another Jack Nicholson look-alike?

I've just been informed that yet another Jack Nicholson look-alike was sighted.

The same letter said a person was seen bubbling in a car.

Private school handout derailed in Colorado

Here's another great result from yesterday's elections - this one from Douglas County, Colorado!

The right-wing school board there had implemented a clearly unconstitutional program to spend taxpayer money on handouts for private school tuition. One wonders why people who are opposed to the very concept of public education are allowed to serve on a public school board, but that's a whole other matter. The school board also replaced teachers' salary agreement with a greed-driven "market-based" system that cut their pay.

Yesterday, a slate of candidates who oppose the illegal voucher scheme was swept into office - which is expected to end these handouts.

When the Far Right has lost Douglas County, they've lost, period. Then again, voucher referendums have been rejected in every place I know that's ever had one - even some of the most right-wing places in America. Still, the deplorapile is whining about yesterday's Douglas County results, saying that private school parents shouldn't have to pay taxes for public schools. Uh, of course they should. That's what public means.

Maine voters approve Medicaid expansion

Maine voters just blew a huge bubble and popped it all over Paul LePage's stupid face.

The far-right Maine governor has vetoed Obamacare's Medicaid expansion no fewer than 5 times, but today, voters there set him straight: A referendum to expand Medicaid in Maine is passing by a wide margin.

This should also wipe away the smug smirks of the talking heads who absurdly insist that the public opposes Medicaid expansion. If nothing else, the Affordable Care Act affirmed that public health care is a right, and once that happens, there's no turning back.

Democrats sweep governor elections

America only had 2 governor elections today - in New Jersey and Virginia - but the Republicans were waxed in both. New Jersey wasn't even close, and it's a Democratic pick-up. Some expected Virginia to be a Republican pick-up, but it was called for Democrat Ralph Northam less than an hour after the polls closed. Actually, no credible pollster showed race-baiting Republican Ed Gillespie ahead, but this was a bit like the Senate election in Connecticut in 2010, when everybody kept insisting the Republican would pull ahead (which didn't happen).

As a bonus for the Democrats, the incumbent Democratic Mayor of St. Petersburg, Florida, was re-elected when many didn't expect him to be.

Although this is an off year, this is actually the worst election for the GOP in 5 years. In the past few years, we've usually stayed up almost all night only to be outraged in the end. This time, the most important races were called before we even had dinner.

Col. Klink quits speaker job and cries about it

In the midst of an ongoing sexual harassment cover-up, Jeff "Col. Klink" Hoover announced today he is resigning his post as Kentucky House Speaker. He bawled like a big baby.

Unfortunately, however, he's remaining as a member of the Kentucky House, so the voters are going to have to retire him from that.

Lawmakers in harassment scandal named

In addition to Jeff "Col. Klink" Hoover, the 3 other Republican members of the Kentucky House involved in the ongoing sexual harassment scandal have now been named, and one of them is from northern Kentucky. The 3 are...

Rep. Brian Linder (R-Dry Ridge)
Rep. Michael Meredith (R-Oakland)
Rep. Jim DeCesare (R-Bowling Green)

Now watch the Democrats refuse to run an opponent against any of them, because reasons.

Another Bellevue bubbling

Earlier, I had to go down the street to run some errands, and a young woman in a car that drove up the street bubbled.

Kentucky GOP harassment scandal expands

After right-wing Kentucky House Speaker Jeff "Col. Klink" Hoover was caught in a sexual harassment scandal, the scandal continues to grow.

Republican State Rep. C. Wesley Morgan is now accusing Kentucky GOP leaders of conspiring to cover up information about the settlement. Morgan says there's also sexual harassment allegations against 3 other powerful Republican lawmakers, who serve as committee chairs. He did not name the legislators.

When the Republicans have lost even the embattled Morgan, they've just about lost, period.

Let this civil war within the Kentucky GOP entertain you.

(Source: http://www.kentucky.com/news/politics-government/article182770501.html)

Kentucky may lose an electoral vote in next census

Happy now, Forehead?

There's some very real speculation now that Kentucky may lose a U.S. House seat - and an electoral vote - in the 2020 census. After the rise of Matt Bevin, population growth in the Bluegrass State has slowed to a crawl - and lags far behind most other states. If so, Kentucky would be reduced to 5 House seats or 7 electoral votes.

And for those who think Kentucky can't lose 2 because it's a small state to begin with, Oklahoma lost 2 in 1950. At the rate things are going, this is actually a possibility.

The party that loses from this should be the Republicans. Most of the state's most Republican areas are actually losing population, so the Democrats should keep their seat around Louisville and have an easier time winning the one around Lexington. But don't bet on it, because of illegal gerrymandering. In fact, even if the Democrats retake the Kentucky legislature, they'll probably do their best to preserve Republican seats - as the 1990 debacle proved.

Kentucky House Speaker caught up in sexual harassment scandal

The party that The Media thinks is entitled to control all of Kentucky politics strikes again.

Far-right Kentucky House Speaker Jeff "Col. Klink" Hoover has just reached a settlement regarding sexual harassment allegations by a woman on his legislative staff. The agreement was reached following a letter regarding the allegations that date back to March 2016. The accusations weren't even known until just this week when they surfaced on an anonymous Twitter account.

As part of the scandal, an account that appears to belong to Hoover sent the woman suggestive text messages asking to send photos of herself. The woman was told by staffers that she needed to keep Hoover happy to protect her career. One of the texts that appears to come from Hoover declares, "My phone was in seat between my legs. You texted and it vibrated."

Meanwhile, Hoover says in his Twitter profile that he is a "sinner saved by God's grace."

Nobody abuses quite like the Republican Party of Kentucky.

(Source: http://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/2017/11/01/jeff-hoover-sexual-harassment-claim/821468001)

Boehner says there's Nazis in Congress

Nobody knows the House of Representatives better than Republican former Speaker of the House John Boehner.

So when the former Ohio congressman says there's members of Congress who are Nazis, you should pay attention.

In a groundbreaking interview, Boehner said this about Congress: "We have some of the nicest people you'd ever want to meet, and some that are Nazis." Yes, literally Nazis. I don't think this statement is hyperbole.

Let this sink in. One of the most powerful Republicans in Congress in modern times says Congress has members who are actual, live Nazis.

All the assholes who used to yell out "GODWIN'S LAW!!!!!" every 5 seconds are looking mighty silly now.

Kentucky malpractice law ruled unconstitutional

This was completely unexpected. Seriously.

For years, the beezlybozz Right has whined and cried over the supposed glut of medical malpractice lawsuits - even though there's far, far more lawsuits by hospitals and insurers against patients. So nobody cares what the Right thinks. Nobody.

But the Kentucky legislature has been fashing it up this year, and one of their first acts was to pass a law to require malpractice suits to go through a review panel stacked with political hacks. The law was sponsored by far-right State Sen. Ralph Alvarado, who sues everyone who disagrees with him.

Now a judge has rightly ruled this law unconstitutional and has permanently enjoined Kentucky from enforcing it. The court said the law "protects the economic interests of the health care industry at the expense of consumers, with no demonstrable benefit to the public at large." The ruling said the law builds unfair "barriers to the court system."

But don't break out the champagne and Skittles just yet. The Matt Bevin thugocracy is planning on wasting taxpayer money by appealing this ruling. Maybe Bevin's lawyers will fail to show up, like what happened for the Planned Parenthood case.

(Source: http://www.kentucky.com/news/politics-government/article181748186.html)

Chick-fil-A still funds right-wing extremism

Newport tore down a whole neighborhood for this?

It seems like every time a new Chick-fil-A opens in any community, the media there is absolutely over the moon about it, and the new Chick-fil-A receives what is in effect free advertising. Other restaurants usually don't receive this kind of fawning media attention. Several years ago, Chick-fil-A was exposed for donating to right-wing hate groups - and the chain's extremism continues today.

Recent IRS filings for the Chick-fil-A Foundation reveal that it gave over $200,000 to the far-right Paul Anderson Youth Home, a Georgia-based group that operates what they call a "Christian residential home for troubled youth" that uses discredited "ex-gay" therapy.

In other words, a confinement program - just like a phony "rehab" or psychiatric prison.

Have no fear, the November ish is here!

The November issue of The Last Word - that zine to end all zines - is now pub! You can't blow bubbles with it, because it's not gum, but the latest edition does regale you with lots of interesting items...

• My recent trip to Big Bend.

• A mole in the Occupy movement.

• Toilet lids.

• A jacket getting ruined by peach cobbler.

• People blowing bubbles with bubble gum and uploading it to YouTube.

• Some Monopoly lore!

• And more!

So point your pooper here...

https://www.scribd.com/document/362865225/The-Last-Word-11-2017

If Scribd fails to enchant you, you can find the latest Last Word here...

http://bunkerblast.info/lastword/lw1711.pdf

Right-wing bigots kill housing in Kentucky community

Prospect, Kentucky, is a rich suburb of Louisville - and they don't want you anywhere near, even if you're at least 55.

Usually, new developments are rubber-stamped. Most are rich subdivisions. But an exception is any time someone proposes housing that's relatively inexpensive. Then it's usually rejected. A Bowling Green company had planned a housing complex outside of Prospect for people 55 and older that offered housing at a below-market cost. Rich Tea Party activists in Prospect then circulated a petition to cancel the project - even though the development would be outside the city of Prospect. Prospect Mayor John Evans even threatened to sue if the project was approved. Prospect wasted $100,000 in legal fees fighting it.

The development's opponents didn't even try to hide their classism. Many of them admitted that their big worry was that it would draw low-income residents to the area.

Bowing to these caterwauling crybabies, Louisville Metro Council voted 14 to 11 to reject the development. They said it was because of fumes from a nearby gas station. But it was pointed out that fumes already plague other Louisville neighborhoods, and public officials aren't concerned about it.

It turns out that Prospect actually tried to build its own development on the site to block out the housing - even though, as I said earlier, the site is outside of Prospect. The Tea Party couldn't very well argue that they opposed the housing originally planned there because of traffic concerns, considering the project that Prospect wanted instead would've drawn just as much traffic.

Rich suburbs east of Louisville have a decades-long history of fighting inexpensive housing. Just last year, the Tea Party killed a different housing development there.

(Source: http://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/local/2017/10/27/prospect-kentucky-affordable-housing-killed-louisville-metro-council/806087001)

Trump may hike national park entrance fees

America's national parks are a treasure. Many cost nothing to enter, and some charge only a nominal fee. These parks belong to the people.

Now the Trump regime - in the form of so-called Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke - is proposing hiking many of these fees - which would make them unaffordable for many folks. Right now, for instance, the fee for a vehicle to enter some parks is $25 to $30. Trump wants to raise it to $70 for 5 months out of the year. Entering these parks on foot costs $10 to $15 now. The national manbaby would hike it to $30.

This after the Trump thugocracy has already proposed a deep cut to the National Park Service budget.

(Source: https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/news/national-park-service-proposes-dollar70-entrance-fee-into-some-parks)

Elder Bush accused of sexual assault

Can't believe my high school pretty much endorsed this guy for President. Actually, knowing my high school, I can believe it.

Former so-called President George H.W. Bush has now been accused of sexual assault by actress Heather Lind. Lind, 34, made a post on Instagram saying that the aging Bush groped her during a photo shoot while she was working on a TV show several years ago. After seeing a photo of former Presidents together, Lind wrote that "when I got the chance to meet George H. W. Bush four years ago to promote a historical television show I was working on, he sexually assaulted me while I was posing for a similar photo."

Lind said Bush "touched me from behind from his wheelchair with his wife Barbara Bush by his side. He told me a dirty joke. And then, all the while being photographed, touched me again. Barbara rolled her eyes as if to say 'not again.' His security guard told me I shouldn't have stood next to him for the photo."

The actress went on to say, "It seems to me a President's power is in his or her capacity to enact positive change, actually help people, and serve as a symbol of our democracy. He relinquished that power when he used it against me and, judging from the comments of those around him, countless other women before me."

Bush hasn't even denied the accusation.

What ever happened to the stories about Bush having an affair from years ago? If a Democrat had done something like that, it would've ended their political career lickety-split.

(Source: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/heather-lind-accuses-ex-prez-george-hw-bush-of-sexual-assault)

Facebook actually deletes hate propaganda!

Be still my beating heart! Facebook actually followed its own stated guidelines against posting hate propaganda!

As you know, Facepalm usually allows racist and classist propaganda to flow unabated - while deleting posts or accounts of folks who challenge it. Facebook's guidelines ostensibly disallow it, but this rule is almost never enforced.

Yesterday, I stumbled upon a right-wing Facebook page full of racist memes, so I reported it. I figured it was probably futile, but then again, I thought if Facepoo got enough complaints, maybe someday they'd turn over a new leaf.

Now Facebook has replied to me that they have deleted the offending content. They claim that they did not delete the whole page - even though hate propaganda is about all it consisted of. But at least some of the garbage is gone - I think.

I'm home, I'm home, I'm home!

As many of you know, I was on a trip to Big Bend National Park over the past few days. As a national park, it belongs to the people.

A bunker blast was detected at a gas station, and a Jack Nicholson look-alike was sighted. I plan to include more details about this trip in the next Last Word. But I could do hardly any hiking, because I don't have the energy. I also sprained my knee climbing into my tent, but I had no energy long before that.

Also, at a Pilot gas station in Sulphur Springs, Texas, some woman bubbled.

Fash! Aa-aah!

When I was in grade school, one of my classmates' favorite songs was "Flash" by Queen: "Flash! Aa-aah!" (Yet one of my favorites was a Christopher Cross song all because the rhythm of it was hilariously likened to the sound of bubble gum popping, and everyone knows bubble gum is cool.)

It would be nifty if "Weird Al" Yankovic made a parody of "Flash" called "Fash" to poke fun at fascists far and wide. I privately referred to one of my high school classmates as Fash because this student was a fascist (as quite a few were).

A video would also come in handy. I just discovered that some right-wing nutball has been infiltrating local progressive causes for years, and it would be cool to have a video of "Fash" to post on this person's Facebook timeline just to show they're busted.

Another gaslighter for the bozo bin

You can disagree with people without trotting out a classist canard.

There's been some discussion today on the Greater Cincinnati Politics page on Facebook about right-wing private schools trying to take over public school boards. Some of the usual suspects chimed in and said private schools are superior - but provided no evidence and didn't even expand on this statement.

I responded that private schools were inferior. I was met with a reply that this notion reflected "unsubstantiated rumors." "Unsubstantiated"??? It's not "unsubstantiated." I experienced it myself.

To deny what happened is gaslighting. And it is truly classist.

As a result, I blocked this commenter on Facebook.

She's actually not from greater Cincinnati. She moved to the area from hundreds of miles away. I'm not sure why the area was getting so many reactionary weirdoes to move in. This would have been a better location for Donald Trump's idiotic wall.

Support me, worry less

I've been forced to write a lot lately about my condition - PTSD - which took 26 years for me to be able to get any help for (because The Media would rather yell about how I should be treated for an eye disorder that doesn't cause me any problems).

Even with the fascist war against disability benefits that I already paid for when I worked at the library for years, you should probably worry less about me than about other working-class Americans. I'll probably be covered regardless - because I'm not getting any younger - but I need your support. This is a cause where we have to be united.

If you like this blog and my other works such as The Last Word and my books, I'm on PayPal. As I write this, this blog has a PayPal button on the upper right. Use it and peep!

Passports should be revoked for blocking human rights

As you know, because disgraced Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis hates gays, she defied the Supreme Court by refusing to sign marriage licenses of same-sex couples.

Now Davis - Kentucky's version of Roy Moore - is traveling to Romania to encourage the passage of an antigay constitutional amendment there. Davis is touring the eastern European country with some nobody from the misnamed Liberty Counsel, an Orlando-based right-wing hate group. The pair is meeting with right-wing activists in Romania. Some of the activists funding the trip have endorsed execution of gays.

Luckily, Romanian President Klaus Iohannis opposes the amendment, and the nation's biggest opposition party opposes it too.

The U.S. government should revoke passports of American citizens who travel abroad to violate human rights. This story shows why. Every time Republicans start a war, they claim to be spreading the cause of democracy and human rights. America can't claim to be a human rights leader when it exports hate.

Kentucky publishes right-wing report attacking Social Security

For the first time ever, a state has financed and published a report assailing Social Security disability benefits - even though it's a federal program.

The report by Kentucky's Disability Determination Services points out the growth in the number of Kentuckians receiving disability aid between 1980 and 2015. Some of the real reasons for this growth are an aging workforce, the fact that Americans are less healthy than in 1980, and psychiatric abuse. But the report instead blames "factors which are completely unrelated to the mitigation or treatment of hardship borne of genuine disability." The study whines that the Social Security Administration is just trying to pad its own budget by being too generous with benefits. That's a lie, and it's been discredited.

The report demands a host of "reforms", most of which would gut the Social Security disability program. Nice to know Kentucky is trying to tell the federal government how to run Social Security. Kentucky certainly can't make these changes itself, since Social Security is federal. The states have their own agencies for disability determination, but they're bound by federal law. Of course, Kentucky state government has become so incompetent lately that if you try to access the whole report online, your browser pops up a message that says, "The owner of cms.chfs.ky.gov has configured their website improperly." With that kind of incompetence, how can we trust them with Social Security?

Among the "reforms" demanded in the report are removing a host of conditions from eligibility for disability. The study also blames Social Security for causing the pandemic of opioid abuse, when the biggest causes are Big Pharma's greed and the Tea Party selling heroin. Yes, the same Tea Party that fueled this bogus report.

In my America, the assholes don't get to decide what conditions are severe and what conditions aren't. They're not the ones with the social work degree, so they're to zip their lip about it. Go to school and get your degree before you shoot your big mouth off about what you don't know.

It's also nice to know Kentucky wasted taxpayer money on a report that accuses other agencies of waste.

Support for single payer healthcare grows weekly, but Kentucky officials remain mired in debunked lies.

(Source: http://www.nkytribune.com/2017/10/new-report-shows-staggering-increase-in-number-of-kentucky-adults-children-receiving-disability-benefits)

Pence wasted $1M on NFL tantrum

Yesterday, so-called Vice-President Mike Pence had a public meltdown like the big crybaby he is.

Pence flew to Indianapolis for a football game between the Indianapolis Colts and the San Francisco 49ers. Players on the visiting team took a knee during the national anthem, as part of NFL players' ongoing protests against racial injustice. This caused Pence to storm out of the stadium and skip the game.

Pence's temper tantrum was actually a planned publicity stunt, and Donald Trump even takes credit for giving him the idea.

It turns out that Pence's self-serving display cost about $1 million. And guess who paid for it? U! That's who! Pence flies on Air Force Two. It's unknown exactly how much the aircraft's operating costs are, but Air Force One costs over $200,000 an hour. Pence flew from Las Vegas to Indianapolis for his brief appearance at the game - then out to Los Angeles for a Republican fundraiser. Each flight took over 4 hours.

Then there's the cost of idling Air Force Two on the ground in Indy while he threw his little fit. Plus, there's the cost of Secret Service, which had to arrive at the stadium early to make sure it was safe.

Do the math. This childish gimmick probably cost taxpayers well over $1 million. It was reported that flying Air Force Two from Las Vegas to Los Angeles - and skipping the Indy photo op - would have cost only $45,000.

This was such a staged story that the photo Pence released that purports to show him at the game was actually from a different game 2 years ago.

Because Pence's flight to L.A. was a for a political event, this is the latest in a series of scandals involving officials in the Trump regime wasting taxpayer money on flights for personal or political purposes.

A lot of real Colts fans were actually late to the game in Indianapolis because of the traffic jams Pence's appearance caused - yet Pence didn't even stay for the game!

NRA wants expanded police state

I support the Second Amendment as much as anyone - but you don't get to violate the rest of the Bill of Rights under the pretense of defending the right to keep and bear arms.

America is subjected to mass shootings almost daily - almost always by right-wing domestic terrorists like Stephen Paddock. My solution? In addition to making it illegal for members of hate groups to have guns, I believe we should crack down on devices that convert guns into automatic weapons. It's hard to imagine why any civilian would even want a device like that for any practical purpose. If you want to handle something like that, go fucking enlist! If I thought I really needed such a device, America would be beyond hope already, and acquiring this device would be the least of my worries.

You can't have nukes. That's because we pay attention to the "well-regulated" part of the Second Amendment. Why should regulation of devices to make automatic weapons be dismissed out of hand?

People should be able to own guns. People should be able to carry concealed weapons. But the line must be drawn when other rights are violated.

After the act of terrorism at Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, the Really Serious People are going face-deep into encouraging authorities to violate the Fourth Amendment - just to soothe the National Rifle Association's bogus claims to defend the Second. The Media's "experts" say hotels will now institute metal detectors and x-rays to inspect guests. Some inns already have.

How is this even practical at a hotel?

The NRA wants to expand an already bloated police state just because they don't want anyone telling them they should enlist if they want to handle automatic weapons.

What about the First Amendment's guarantee of freedom of assembly? People should have a right to gather without some right-wing maniac mowing them down.

It's amazing how The Media tries to gaslight everyone into accepting losing the rights guaranteed under 2 amendments in the Bill of Rights - just to make it look like they're protecting one other amendment.

Another Kroger bubbling

Today at Kroger, a bagger bubbled.

Trump wants Senate to investigate news outlets that report things accurately

Everyone whose brain hasn't turned to bizcream knows the American media has a strong right-wing bias. They helped put Donald Trump in power. They have yet to even report on Stephen Paddock's right-wing leanings.

Despite this, Trump wants the Senate Intelligence Committee to probe news organizations that don't support him enough. Today, Trump said online that the panel should investigate "why so much of our news is just made up." He didn't mention a specific network or story this time, but he has complained about NBC and about stories that expose his botched response to the active hurricane season or report on Russian interference in the American "election."

If Congress investigates anyone in the media, it should be Fox News and its ilk.

(Source: http://www.politico.com/story/2017/10/05/trump-fake-news-networks-senate-intelligence-committee-243480)

Anti-harassment bill introduced in Ohio

America has slipped a long way in 35 years.

School harassment was once taboo, but later it became taboo to even remember it was taboo. After some point, it didn't just go unpunished. It was also openly encouraged and normalized. The victims were even portrayed as the bad ones - and they were the ones punished.

Now a bill in Ohio would restore some sanity to that state's schools. A bill by State Sen. Sandra Williams (D-Cleveland) would let serial harassers face criminal charges - as they should. My experience was that the harassers broke numerous laws - they committed battery and theft regularly - so even if this bill passes, they'd still get off pretty easy. This bill would establish an offense of aggravated bullying, a third-degree misdemeanor, but only after 6 violations.

Despite the lenient penalties, this bill would still give Ohio some of the nation's toughest laws against school harassment.

Schools are always saying they can't prevent harassment - even though schools are where it happens the most. They refuse to take cues from organizations that have prevented it. So the law must get involved.

It's mind-boggling that it's easier for serial harassers to get a driver's license than it is for anyone else to buy a box of over-the-counter sinus medicine.

Another Michael McDonald look-alike sighted

I detected a Michael McDonald look-alike at Riverfest a few years ago - in fact, I think I saw him at the exact same spot 2 years in a row. But the former Doobie Brothers vocalist continues to be a common celebrity look-alike!

I've just been informed that a Michael McDonald look-alike was seen at Jungle Jim's, hunched over a cart in the bakery aisle.

Detroit photos posted!

One hundred twenty-two in a bottle of poo! That's how many new Roads Scholaring photos and videos I amassed on my August trip to Detroit! But this photo shoot has a bonus item too, and you're gonna love every bit of this fact-finding mission!

So point your pooper here...

http://www.bunkerblast.info/roadpics/det17a.html
http://www.bunkerblast.info/roadpics/det17b.html
http://www.bunkerblast.info/roadpics/det17c.html
http://www.bunkerblast.info/roadpics/det17d.html
http://www.bunkerblast.info/roadpics/det17e.html

Another Jack Black look-alike sighted

It's strange how people keep telling me they see Jack Black look-alikes everywhere. He's not a celebrity I ever think about otherwise, because I'm old. When I think of famous people, I usually think of old favorites such as John Ritter or Donna Summer who were popular back when we had a real President.

Today I was told that another Jack Black look-alike was seen, this time at an undisclosed location.

Vegas gunman had right-wing Facebook links

Big surprise.

Stephen Paddock - the Nevada man who carried out the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history - has "likes" for right-wing pages on Facebook. They consist primarily of dwindling Religious Right groups.

It took me 30 seconds to discover what the media hasn't uncovered in many hours. They post enticing headlines like "What we know about shooter", but the articles don't do anything except go on about how little they know about him - even though the information is in plain sight.

Khomeini goes Meijering

I've just been informed that an Ayatollah Khomeini look-alike was sighted at Meijer.

Have no fear, the October ish is here!

A big ol' Last Word bunkeroo wafts your way, as we've published our October edition!

This ish talks about all sorts of neet poo: the destruction of mugs at a yard sale, right-wing Facebook sockpuppets, shooting out saliva in an arc, a forked tongue making one unable to blow a bubble, plagiarizing the Knack, and more! It's not sold in any store!

So point your pooper here for this monthly jaunt into the coolster world...

https://www.scribd.com/document/359898932/The-Last-Word-10-2017

If you can't read it on Scribd, read it here...

http://bunkerblast.info/lastword/lw1710.pdf

Ploptoberfest goes Krogering

I went to Ploptoberfest in Newport today, and it was pretty much completely dead.

I did notice a plopping though. I went into the portable restroom and noticed someone had put a plastic grocery bag in the toilet. I assume it was from Kroger, because it was beige.

People need to be more creative with ploppings like they used to be. On the other hand, we should be thankful for every plopping, since toilets aren't designed to accept plastic bags.

Enquirer says "farted"

It's always a barrel of baste when a regular newspaper like the Cincinnati Enquirer says "farted."

I read with interest an Enquirer piece about how a Cincinnati high school keeps suspending students for just about any minor infraction imaginable. I've covered the failures of "zero tolerance" and the school-to-prison pipeline for years. You already know America's schools have become a police state.

What caught my eye was this sentence in the article: "In another case, a senior at West was suspended for five days for overreacting when another student farted." The Enquirer didn't say the student "passed gas" or "broke wind." The newspaper said the student "farted."

Here's the article...

http://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/education/2017/09/19/why-does-west-high-kick-out-so-many-kids/676319001

Moe Howard goes Krogering

Today I saw one of the funniest celebrity look-alikes I've seen in a long time!

I went to Kroger in Bellevue, and I saw a Moe Howard look-alike! I was in the canned foods aisle and couldn't stop snickering as Moe pushed his cart up the back aisle!

Cute idea for a law protecting disability benefits

I just came up with a great idea for a law to protect Americans who need disability benefits.

Like Medicaid, disability programs like Supplemental Security Income and Social Security Disability Insurance are earned benefits - not welfare. Even if they were welfare, the government has no right to deny these benefits to those who qualify. Every so often, you'll read an article about how the government's backlog for approving disability claims keeps expanding. What used to take weeks can now take years. It's not because more people are applying. It's because Congress intentionally creates a logjam to try to deny people the benefits they've earned.

I can almost guarantee that one way to make sure this backlog is relieved is to pass a law that says if claims aren't approved within a certain amount of time, the claim is automatically approved. To ensure that no claims are rejected at the last minute, rejected claims would be automatically appealed.

If there's already a law like this, the government sure as hell isn't obeying it.

Such a policy would not only break the logjam but also make sure more people get the benefits they've worked for that they otherwise might not get.

I don't give a damn what the right-wing intelligentsia thinks. If you want to live in a society that won't take care of its most downtrodden people, m-o-v-e MOVE!!!

Kojak look-alike buys Elvis calendar

As a pre-bubbling to Ploptoberfest, I helped my mom with her humongous yard sale both Friday and yesterday. There were actually a couple of celebrity look-alikes at the sale!

On Friday, a Telly Savalas look-alike buyed an antique Elvis calendar. And yesterday, some kid who resembled Barron Trump showed up.

There was a noteworthy mug-smashing incident too, but maybe I'll discuss that in further detail in the next ish.

Cheez-It box plopped at Ploptoberfest

Last night - after a Scholaring - I goed to Oktoberfest in Covington. As you should know by now, I stopped going to the one in Cincinnati because they moved the event and gave it a smaller space and lied about it being smaller.

I call it Ploptoberfest because it has a noble tradition of people putting things in the toilet. I noticed last night that somebody put an apparently empty Cheez-It box in the toilet at the event. As in past years when other relatively large items like phone books were plopped, it leads me to wonder how someone accomplished this, since it would seem suspicious for someone to walk around carrying a Cheez-It box all day before the ploppage occurred.

Other than that, the festival was boring, so I didn't stay very late.

Wisconsin TV station runs right-wing uniform story

Madison, Wisconsin, may be one of the most liberal major cities in America, but - like San Francisco or Portland - the media there sounds like they've just been copying the Tea Party propaganda playbook.

One of the worst offenders in Madison is WMTV-TV. It's bad enough that WMTV wasted time on an idiotic puff piece about cosmetic dentistry in which the most common word was um. Now WMTV has run a one-sided piece praising public school uniforms. The segment made no mention of the fact that it's unconstitutional for public schools to require uniforms.

Shame on you, WMTV.

Unfortunately, the FCC would rather shut down real stations like Tantrum 95.7 than go after propaganda outlets like WMTV.

Miami threatens to institutionalize homeless

Because Florida has a history of giving Constitution-hating fucks free rein, officials in Miami are trying to use the unconstitutional Baker Act to illegally institutionalize an estimated 1,100 homeless.

As the hurricane threatens the state, residents are being ordered to leave - now. But most aren't being threatened with being institutionalized. Only the homeless are facing that amount of oppression, as the city is threatening to hold them against their will for a mental health evaluation.

Some nobody with the city boasted, "We're going out and every single homeless person who is unwilling to come off the street, we are likely going to involuntarily Baker Act them." At least 6 people have already been detained under this policy.

And people wonder why we say America has become a police state.

(Source: http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/storm/ap-exclusive-miami-homeless-removed-against-their-will)

Another successful Pepsi smuggling

I will smuggle soda into Riverfest because I'm an American.

We went down to see the Riverfest fireworks last night. As I do year after year, I smuggled a soft drink into the fest. I wore pants with big pockets so a Pepsi bottle would fit therein. This is a Really Big Deal because - since the stunning police state expansion of the mid-'90s - bringing beverages to the festival has been a no-no, because they want people to pay inflated prices to vendors there. Bringing in soft drinks used to be allowed. Not anymore.

I've never seen authorities hassle people as much about it as I did last night. We saw them stopping a young woman who tried bringing in a soda from Frisch's Big Boy. A greed-driven, nonsensical rule from over 20 years ago is being enforced with unprecedented gusto.

Is that ridiculous or what?

But nobody bubbled (unlike last year, when a person did a Wright brothers).

Duke to increase rates by 17.4%

Duke Energy - the electric utility monopoly for most of the area - has asked Kentucky regulators for yet another rate increase. This one will increase rates for residential customers by a whopping 17.4%.

It's almost a foregone conclusion that the rate hike will be rubber-stamped. When are rate increases ever not rubber-stamped?

Duke itself is lying about the increase. The company claims this is the first rate hike in 11 years. Wrong. They raised rates after the Blackout of 2008 to cover lost revenues from people not having electricity for days. In other words, they forced customers to pay for a product they didn't receive. Duke also claims that even with the latest rate hike, Duke's rates are still cheaper than the national average. That's another outright lie. Duke is one of the most expensive electric providers in America.

Maybe if the power didn't mysteriously go out all the time even in fine weather, more folks might be willing to tolerate paying such exorbitant electric rates.

There ought to be a law. In addition to the usual regulatory process, there should be a law that requires two-thirds approval of each house of the state legislature before electric utilities may raise rates. This would be a good law, but an even better plan would be - because most electric providers are monopolies - making these utilities publicly owned entities, as they already are in some American communities.

Bevin wasted $1.2M on pension study

Wasted!

Matt Bevin and the rest of Kentucky's Republican town criers have been whining for years about pensions for public employees costing the taxpayers too much. Now that the right-wing plan to slash workers' pensions has been unveiled, it turns out this study cost taxpayers some $1.2 million.

The Bevin thugocracy hired an out-of-state firm to devise the plan. Originally, the company was to be paid $556,300 in taxpayer funds. Now the cost of the study has doubled in only 10 months. It may yet increase even more.

Now, Bevin is squandering taxpayer money hiring a law firm to develop tax "reform" plans.

This is supposed to be the party of fiscal responsibility? Bevin has spent more of your money than he's saved. You don't get to complain that state workers make too much money and then spend many times as much trying to prevent it.

All that taxpayer money, wastage bastage! It's utterly wosted.

(Source: http://www.kentucky.com/news/politics-government/article170419437.html)

Have no fear, the September ish is here!

Have no fear! The September issue of The Last Word is here!

It's the Back-to-School edition, folks! This ish talks about my Detroit trip, the perils of putting your dirty butt on the bed, bubble gum vodka, mailing food scraps to retaliate for junk mail, how Newt Gingrich ruined the honorable sport of bubble gum blowing, and more!

So point your pooper here...

https://www.scribd.com/document/357730536/The-Last-Word-9-2017

If Scribd doesn't work, you can find the latest ish here...

http://bunkerblast.info/lastword/lw1709.pdf

When voluntary drug-free clubs become mandatory

A new trend is sweeping public and private schools in northern Kentucky, and it was suspect almost from the giddy-up.

A growing list of local middle and high schools are starting their own Drug Free Clubs of America chapters. This alone might not sound suspicious. But a red flag came up when it was reported that one of the guidelines for students to join these clubs is that they must submit to occasional drug testing.

This indicated that the purpose of the club is to make pariahs out of students who don't want to take a drug test and therefore won't join.

My suspicion has now been confirmed. The superintendent of Dayton schools has now told the press that colleges and employers will someday ask today's students if they were members of this club.

Busted!

In other words, membership in an ostensibly voluntary club that requires drug testing is in fact mandatory if you want to get into a better college or find a better job. This is just another way the system has of persecuting dissidents.

What we may need to do is pass a law making it illegal for prospective employers to discriminate against those who did not join this club.

Bevin whimpers and cries

The Forehead is mad!

Matt Bevin made a video in which he complains about an e-mail he received. Evidently, Bevin spammed state employees with some self-serving hogwash. One of the workers reportedly replied, "Do not ever fucking email me again."

Bevin goes on and on about it here...



As Bevin reads the e-mail, his voice trails, reminding me of Casey Kasem's reluctance to announce the title of a "dirty" George Michael song.

Also, notice how Bevin has been trimming his eyebrows to avoid the comparisons with Bert of 'Sesame Street' that have plagued him.

CBS exec sends threatening e-mail to Kathy Griffin

Remember a few months ago when the lunatic Right tried to destroy comedian Kathy Griffin's career because she dared to criticize Donald Trump?

CBS has become a carbon copy of Fox News, and it's because of right-wingers like filmmaker Arnold Kopelson who sit on CBS's board. CBS has been blacklisted as a source by this blog for years - probably since even before the CBS-owned TV station in Pittsburgh falsified footage to attack Occupy. The right-wing bias of CBS continued with its one-sided 60 Minutes story attacking the Social Security disability program.

Turns out Kopelson sent Griffin a threatening e-mail in the wake of the recent controversy. Kopelson told the comic she has "one chance left" to send a tearful apology letter to Trump and release it to Fox but no other media outlets. Kopelson's e-mail told Griffin, "IF YOU DON'T DO EXACTLY WHAT I HAVE WRITTEN, YOUR CAREER IS OVER."

CBS should lose all of its broadcasting licenses over this. But after the way the FCC rubber-stamped the sale of WNKU to a right-wing ministry, it's clear we can't trust the FCC.

Bevin plans to rob workers of their pensions

It's been obvious for a long time now that Kentucky's pension "crisis" is a hoax whipped up by the Far Right as an excuse to rob state workers of their pension money.

Now an "independent" firm hired by the scandal-tainted Matt Bevin administration has recommended broad changes to Kentucky's pension system to do just that. The PFM Group recommends that pensions be abolished for future government workers and be replaced with a 401(k) plan that lets investors gamble with their money. PFM also recommended increasing the retirement age for state employees and taking back all cost-of-living increases from 1996 to 2012 for retired workers. Even retired teachers would see all cost-of-living raises frozen.

This is commonly known as theft.

In Bevin's America, a promise made is a promise broken.

(Source: http://www.kentucky.com/news/politics-government/article169821392.html)

Lexington still fighting back!

We're talking Kentucky here, folks!

As the Republican Party gets more violent and extreme, the people of Lexington continue to fight back! You may recall that someone threw a dumbbell through the window of the headquarters of the Republican Party of Fayette County back in November after Donald Trump stole the "election." Now someone has painted the words "NAZI SCUM" on the building.

No truer words were ever painted. If the jackboot fits, wear it - and if it feels good, put it on. (Now that's a lost '80s hit!)

Don't like the vandalism, Repubs? Tough toilets. The GOP has earned it. It's not the Green Party that's been trying to kill America's neediest people. It's not the Libertarians who have started pointless wars just for the hell of it. Look at the evil, hateful things the Republicans have done lately. This is not Gerald Ford's GOP anymore. We are at war.

For the record, Trump lost Lexington 51% to 42%.

(Source: http://www.kentucky.com/news/politics-government/article169594292.html)

Time for an amendment to limit pardons?

Nobody abused their presidential pardon powers quite like the Bushes. George H.W. Bush pardoned traitors involved in the Iran-Contra scandal, and his son pardoned political cronies.

Donald Trump continued this Republican tradition yesterday - Fascism Friday - by pardoning Joe Arpaio after the disgraced Arizona sheriff was busted for illegal racial profiling.

The Constitution's provision that grants the President unlimited pardon privileges was modeled after the British monarch's power to do the same. But ongoing abuses of this power means it should be reined in.

In 1974, in the wake of the Watergate scandal, Democratic Sen. Walter Mondale introduced a constitutional amendment that said pardons could be overturned within 180 days if two-thirds of each house of Congress agrees. In 2001, after Bill Clinton issued a pardon that Republicans didn't like, Republicans revived the idea. But today...crickets.

On most things, Congress has too much power. I'd rather see an amendment that puts the power to overturn pardons in the hands of the judicial branch. But sometimes Presidents abuse their privileges too.

A person bubbled at Kroger

Today, I went to Kroger, and some woman bubbled.

A person bunkerooed in Michigan

Some of you may know that I've been on a fact-finding mission in Detroit for the past couple days. This evening, an LAP bunker blast was detected at a park in a nearby town.

Latest celebrity look-alike news

I've just been informed that a Katy Perry look-alike was sighted at a brewery in Louisville yesterday.

Charlottesville terrorist has local connection

This is another example of the minds full of shit that the Republican Party in northern Kentucky is raising.

The white supremacist who plowed his car into a crowd in Charlottesville, Virginia, yesterday - killing one person and injuring 19 - has been identified as James Alex Fields Jr., 20, of Maumee, Ohio. It turns out that Fields went to high school in Union, Kentucky - before his family moved out of town.

Of course, Fields is a registered Republican and Donald Trump supporter.

Butbutbutbut both sides do it!

...says Nazi apologists everywhere.

Armed men distribute anti-worker propaganda

America is sliding harum-scarum into becoming the command state the Far Right has always dreamed of.

In St. Joseph, Missouri, a group of 4 men armed with guns have been confronting folks outside the Buchanan County Courthouse and shoving anti-worker propaganda brochures in their faces. The leaflets support Missouri's hated "right-to-work" law that infringes on the right of workers to enter into a union security agreement. A referendum may be coming soon to repeal the law. In fact, Missourians voted this law down at least once before.

One of the armed men purported to be a notary.

The right-to-scab thought police doesn't have facts on their side, so they have to resort to marching around the courthouse with guns.

It's no wonder the NAACP recently issued a travel advisory for the Show Me State - the only time the NAACP has ever issued such an advisory for any state.

(Source: http://www.newspressnow.com/news/local_news/armed-men-at-courthouse/article_0af8390c-f329-54ee-9403-4e88d08f3c77.html)

Right-wing church parks in Park Hills

This is breathtakingly bad news for the people of Park Hills.

The government of this Kenton County suburb is being taken over by what's described as a "traditional Catholic" church. It's not a mainstream Catholic congregation, and this flock doesn't seem satisfied with minding their own business.

My business partner blogged about it this morning with more details...

http://annbugz1.blogspot.com/2017/08/republican-jesus-church-taking-over.html

My jaw hit the floor when I read that entry.

This church preaches against Neopagans, and its congregants have sported antigay bumper stickers. There's already a lot of intolerant churches like that all over America, but this one seems joined at the face with some Park Hills city officials - who apparently don't understand separation of church and state.

Then - of course - congregants had the nerve to complain that they were the ones being persecuted.

It reminds me of a line in a Stevie Wonder song: "You cry, 'Why am I the victim?'...When the culprit's Y-O-U."

Surprise! ('Sesame Street' Wednesday)

Although Snuffy is absent from this innovative classic 'Sesame Street' sketch, this is a Snuffleupagus moment! That's what I call it when I'm proven right about something after everyone insisted for years I was wrong - like when Big Bird finally introduced Snuffy to the rest of the 'Sesame Street' kick-ass crew, who had long denied his existence.

For decades, I've insisted there was a 'Sesame Street' segment in which the main premise was "surprise!" This cry was accompanied by the human cast members having pies smashed in their faces.

People didn't believe me that 'Sesame Street' characters would dare throw pies at each other. But pie they did, and now YouTube has once again saved the day...



According to the YouPube page, that segment dates from 1975, though some argue it was slightly later. The sound effect of the pie splat was the same one regularly used on 'The Electric Company'. We all know people who mimic this sound regarding occurrences that have absolutely nothing to do with pies.

While "surprise!" is the main idea of this segment, imagine my surprise when I finally found it on YouTube!

More Scholaring photos to terrify the Far Right

It was a rough week for the forces of evil, as the Road Ruiner and I went Roads Scholaring in Cincinnati again!

This event yielded bunches of new photos and videos, and you're gonna peep 'em all...

http://www.bunkerblast.info/roadpics/cinwcen17.html

Professor fired for criticizing Bevin for ruining Medicaid

The suppression of dissent in Kentucky's universities continues.

You may know that so-called Gov. Matt Bevin has a proposal to gut Medicaid - especially for those who were newly qualified under the Affordable Care Act. This despite the fact that a state law requires Kentucky to accept all Medicaid that the feds offer. Bevin's proposal might not immediately affect most who would have received Medicaid even without the ACA, but the Forehead's ultimate goal is to eliminate Medicaid altogether.

Now a faculty member at the University of Kentucky College of Dentistry has filed a federal lawsuit because he was fired for criticizing Bevin's plan. Dr. Raynor Mullins was let go after officials in the Bevin regime pressured the university into firing him. The suit names university officials Mark Birdwhistell and Stephanos Kyrkanides and a "John Doe" in Bevin's corrupt administration.

There are witnesses to Mullins's claims.

Surprised? Right-wing political retaliation has been ongoing in the Bevin administration - and in Kentucky's education system and business establishment for decades prior. Remember what happened to me at NKU?

Amanda Stamper - some nobody in the Bevin thugocracy - accused the professor of playing politics. Stamper first said that nobody in Bevin's office knows who Mullins is - then she immediately contradicted herself by saying they know Mullins has supported Democratic politicians.

That highlights how Kentucky Republicans not only have a history of political retaliation but also of childish lying.

(Source: http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/article164966162.html)

Have no fear, the August ish is here!

Have no fear. The beer is here. And so is the August edition of The Last Word, that fanzine of freedom!

This ish talks about all sorts of poopheaded things! We discuss how a right-wing rally was canceled because they were outnumbered by counterprotesters. We also discuss how a broken TV was returned to Sears, and a company picnic at Coney Island that went awry. We talk about the difficulty in finding antique gum and how you blow better bubbles with crooked teeth. Plus, we introduce you to Dorito Woman!

So point your pooper here...

https://www.scribd.com/document/355197009/The-Last-Word-8-2017

If that doesn't work, peep this page...

http://bunkerblast.info/lastword/lw1708.pdf

Did Subway Trumper shoot pepper spray into crowd?

Because you love me so much, you may remember back in May when I blogged here about a drunken Donald Trump supporter at the Subway restaurant in Bellevue. He littered the place with a shredded newspaper as he spewed some vague pro-Trump hogwash.

Well, a day or two ago, there were reports of a man on a red motortrike shooting pepper spray into a crowd that was gathering outside a Newport social services agency. A local Facebook page identified the man by name. They said he lives in Dayton, Kentucky, and he's known in Dayton for his creepy behavior. It didn't appear to be a bias crime, because he seems to attack at random. People say he used to drive around in a convertible and shoot pepper spray at victims indiscriminately - and that he bragged that his pepper spray was the same kind police use. He was also caught randomly scratching up more than 30 cars about a year ago. They also say his creepy behavior has caused neighbors to move away. Plus, they say he once locked a woman in a shed for days and once stabbed a man.

They posted an old mugshot too, in which the man is smiling his ass off. When I saw the photo, I knew I'd seen him somewhere, but I just couldn't figure out where.

Today, it hit me. I'm pretty sure he's the same guy I saw drunkenly praising Trump at Subway. I'm not 100% sure, but it looks like him. Balding on top, and longer hair in the back. Same mullet, but I don't remember if the guy in Subway wore glasses like the man in the mugshot did. Still, I think it's the same guy.

As for the man in the mugshot, I haven't found anything political on his several Facebook pages. He seems to be obsessed with Paul McCartney and often uses his photo as his profile picture - though one of his Facebook pages says Justin Bieber is among his favorite singers. He claims on Facebook that he is married, but the Facebook page of his supposed wife appears to be one of those phony accounts that falsely purports to be for an attractive young woman.

Even if this man isn't the same dude I saw at Subway, northern Campbell County is being terrorized by a random troublemaker, yet a few people still insist the biggest problem in our community is that the poor don't pay enough taxes. Then again, the man who says that is from Indiana, so I don't know why he keeps inserting himself into northern Kentucky's business.

A person bunkerooed at Family Dollar

I despise Family Dollar with a passion, but Family Dullard stores are everywhere, and I was forced to shop there earlier because I couldn't find WD-40 anywhere else.

While I was in the checkout aisle, I detected the unmistakable scent of an SBD bunker blast. It was a stinker, that SBD was.

Kentucky GOPer exposes himself at Belk

Because this is a day ending in y, that means there's another humiliating scandal within the omnipotent Republican Party of Kentucky.

David Narramore, 54, of Whitesburg is one of the leaders of the Kentucky GOP. He heads the county Republicans in Letcher County and sits on the executive committee of the statewide GOP. But on Saturday, he was arrested for exposing himself in a restroom at a Belk department store in Tennessee. Narramore is also accused of resisting arrest.

A Belk worker notified police when Narramore rubbed his foot and exposed his dick.

Another Kentucky GOPer disgraced for life. This is the party that we let run things?

(Source: http://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/crime/2017/07/19/ky-gop-official-accused-indecent-exposure-tennessee-department-store/491185001)

Another celebrity look-alike!

Celebrity look-alikes are hilarious!

I've just been informed that a Taylor Swift look-alike works at the airport in Bangor, Maine.

Idaho passes law making it harder to switch jobs

Need to find a better job? Don't you dare do it in Idaho!

Idaho was already becoming an economic basket case because of oppressive right-wing laws like "right-to-work", but now it's believed to be the hardest place in America to find a better job, thanks to a recently passed state law. This new law makes it much easier for companies to enforce noncompete agreements against people who no longer work for these companies. These agreements prevent employees from leaving a company to work for a competitor.

How is this even constitutional? How can a business enforce its will on a worker who no longer works for them? Noncompete agreements are illegal in California - contributing to that state's growing economic dynamism. Why do judges in other states allow them?

Idaho's new law even shifts the burden of proof to workers to show their new jobs won't infringe on past employers' unlimited "right" to Make Money. A state official says the law makes it so hard for workers to show this that it may actually be impossible.

Noncompete agreements must be banned nationwide. In addition, judges must annul these clauses whenever litigation arises from them. Businesses do not own their workers - especially when they no longer work for them! Anyone with even an ounce of common sense can see this.

(Source: http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/quit-your-job-for-a-better-one-not-if-you-live-in-idaho)

Colorado joins Climate Alliance

What if I told you that Colorado has finally joined the United States Climate Alliance?

A record-breaking dream!

Last night, I had a weird dream that I ate a rare record at a record shop.

Connecticut anti-Trump graffiti a hoax

Well, surprise, surprise!

Last month, someone spraypainted graffiti assailing Donald Trump and supporting Bernie Sanders all over Morley Elementary School in Hartford, Connecticut. Anyone with more than 2 atoms of cerebral tissue firing in their noggin should have known it was a hoax by someone who wanted to frame liberals. Now The Hill - which usually cheers everything Trump does - confirms these suspicions.

Stephen Marks, 32, of West Hartford - a Trump supporter - admitted he wrote the graffiti himself to try to set up Trump opponents. He says that's because he considers them "disrespectful towards our government." Now he's been charged with criminal mischief and breach of peace.

What a beezweezer.

(Source: http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/340806-trump-supporter-admits-writing-anti-trump-graffiti-at-elementary)

A person bunkerooed and thought it was funny

Earlier this evening, I goed to an important family gathering, and guess what happened?

An LAP bunker blast, that's what!

Laughter followed.

Dayton! Fort Thomas! Highland Heights! It's a great place to fart, I mean start!

To keep your face from flying off in public, I did a bonus Scholaring this week covering northern Campbell County. It wasn't great, but it was better than expected, and it yielded 16 photos and videos...

http://www.bunkerblast.info/roadpics/camnorth17.html

Have no fear, the July ish is here!

There's a fanzine of fun called The Last Word, and there's a month called July.

This leads me to deduce that the July edition of The Last Word is now published, and you can peep it all!

In this ish...

• My prized Speak & Spell gets its third life.

• A person popped popcorn in a movie theater and ruined an 8th grade outing.

• An idiot doesn't understand chess.

• People blow bubbles with slime.

• And more!

So point your pooper here, if you dare...

https://www.scribd.com/document/352633684/The-Last-Word-7-2017

If that doesn't work, bip this link instead...

http://bunkerblast.info/lastword/lw1707.pdf

Williamstown not caving to ark park tax break

So the ark park - which has already fleeced Kentucky taxpayers - wants a tax break. But the city of Williamstown doesn't seem to be fooled.

The Ark Encounter theme park has failed to bring visitors to the area, despite laughable promises of an economic bonanza. Now the park wants an exemption to the town's recently implemented safety assessment tax, which levies 50 cents per ticket. The park argues that they should be exempt because they're a religious organization.

If they're a ministry, why did they get a taxpayer handout before? You can't argue that you're entitled to a government handout and later use an opposite argument to say you're entitled to a tax exemption. You're either a ministry or you're not. You can't have it both ways.

Indeedity-doodledy, Williamstown Mayor Rick Skinner even said of the ark park, "Everything that we have found is that they are a for-profit company." Other municipal officials say the same thing.

Kind of like my high school.

But I wouldn't be surprised if the ark park goes crying to some right-wing judge to make Williamstown comply with their demands. Taxpayers pay for everything they do.

(Source: http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/article158790694.html)

Tea Party big shot apparently got 15 years for drug trafficking

Remember last year when John Paul Roth Jr. - one of the leaders of the Campbell County Tea Party - got busted for selling opiates?

Well, apparently, he's been convicted and sentenced - and the right-wing media has completely ignored the story. I just checked the Campbell County Detention Center website, and it says Roth was booked today after being sentenced to 5 years and 10 years on 2 counts of selling opiates.

Maybe I'm just misreading it, but it looks like a BTPer is finally going away for awhile.

Behold, your professor!

I don't want to turn this into a personal attack, but this shows just how determined Northern Kentucky University - a state institution - is to advance right-wing causes.

A retired NKU professor just posted this on Facebook...

"The establishment clause says nothing about separation of church and state."

Wrong. It does. That's the whole point of the establishment clause. I don't even need to tell my readers this.

I repeat, the man who posted that was a professor there.

Ridiculous dream about Speak & Spell

Last night, I had a dream that my Speak & Spell (a favorite childhood toy that has recently endured a cycle of death and revival) gained the ability to show old films of Major League Baseball games on its small display.

Mount Adams! Hyde Park! Oakley! It's a great place to fart, I mean start!

Monday's Scholaring with the Road Ruiner yielded 21 brand bippus bustin' new photos and videos for you to peep, weep, and oggle-beep. So point your pooper here...

http://www.bunkerblast.info/roadpics/cinneb17.html

More celeb look-alikes and bunker blasts, because why the hell not?

I've just been informed of a whole series of celebrity look-alikes at Kroger - and a bunker blast too!

According to legend, a jaunt to Krogie-Wogie yielded a Charlton Heston look-alike and an Erik Estrada look-alike. A previous visit produced a Jeb Bush look-alike.

I've also been told that an LAP bunkeroo was detected at a swimming pool. A group of young adults were lounging around and drinking beer, and when this air biscuit was released, cries of accusation sprang up, but no suspects could be indicted for this crime against humanity.

Puerto Rico votes to become 51st state

This is happening - but only if Congress approves it.

In a referendum yesterday, voters in Puerto Rico voted 97% to 3% to become the 51st state. What does this mean? It was a nonbinding vote, and Congress will still have the final say. Even if Congress approves statehood, the process may take a few years. There actually isn't much chance that the current Congress will approve it.

One can hope that if statehood comes, it brings Puerto Rico's public policies in line with the Constitution. Then again, we don't require California to clean up Pete Wilson's many messes. I'm also under no illusions that Congress would make the Tea Party's laughable proposed state of North Colorado follow the Constitution.

Another weird dream

Last night, I had a dream that Wendy's founder Dave Thomas came back to life.

A person ruined a Jennifer Hudson CD

Today, I found a smashed Jennifer Hudson CD on the sidewalk. Shattered in many shards it was.

Study ranks Kentucky dead last for economic environment

Don't be fooled by the Richmond Register headline that says Kentucky is only 3rd-worst for jobs. The article reveals that a new study by WalletHub says the Bluegrass State now ranks dead last of all 50 states for economic development.

Kentucky's new #50 ranking is fueled by the state now having the highest tax burden for people of low or middle income levels. This is because of liar Matt Bevin's serial mismanagement and suppression of workers.

Gee, thanks a billion, Matt.

(Source: http://www.richmondregister.com/news/study-kentucky-is-s-rd-worst-state-for-jobs/article_9605bcf4-47dc-11e7-8f5c-3b6b8c86caee.html)

Climate Alliance just added gobs of new territory

Yesterday, the United States Climate Alliance was joined by Delaware, Minnesota, and Virginia - and the territory of Puerto Rico.

Plus, foreign countries plan to negotiate climate matters with the states - so they don't have to deal with the Trump thugocracy.

Thirteen states and territories - and growing. Where's Kentucky? Pooing?

European alt-right turns to piracy

Europe's alt-right is now raising money to target boats that rescue refugees in the Mediterranean Sea.

As aid groups in the Mediterranean have saved some 6,000 refugees so far this year, right-wing extremists are financing boats to hunt them down. They've already disrupted a rescue mission as part of what was described as a trial run.

Isn't this piracy? Aren't there very strict laws against bankrolling thuggery like this? Who in the American alt-right is also financing this effort?

Meanwhile, the European alt-right has hosted pro-Trump events in Europe.

(Source: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jun/03/far-right-raises-50000-target-refugee-rescue-boats-med)