Newsom (an idiot) wants Supreme Court to let cities criminalize homeless

Gruesome Newsom is at it again!

California Gov. Gavin Newsom wants the U.S. Supreme Court to allow cities to criminalize the homeless by letting these cities have ordinances banning the homeless from camping on public property. This comes after federal courts rightly invalidated such a law in Grants Pass, Oregon.

In fact, Newsom has spent several years criticizing judges who nullify such laws. Newsom complained that these rulings have hamstrung California cities that have tried criminalizing the homeless.

Officials in San Francisco and San Diego also want the Supreme Court to intervene and let them step up their war against the homeless. This undercuts the progressive reputation that San Francisco once had. But this is far from the first time it's been undercut, as the city has been beset by right-wing authoritarian policies for decades now. This not only includes its attacks on the homeless and its refusal to remedy high housing costs but also its penchant for COVID totalitarianism that exceeds ostensibly more conservative locales. It's not an exaggeration to say that - in terms of public policies that are actually being carried out - San Francisco is to the right of much of rural Iowa or Montana. How is San Francisco much better today than what we had here at our worst?

If anyone is improperly squatting on land, it's gentrificationists who have marauded into our cities. Why aren't there any laws on this?

Plop-Tarts

The magic continued at Ploptoberfest yesterday!

This time, I noticed somebody plopped an empty brown sugar cinnamon Pop-Tarts box. The restrooms grew to be such a hilarious mess as the day wore on that an entire row of them was closed. I even overheard a man saying, "It's bad," as he exited a portable lav.

Celebrity look-alikes included "Weird Al" Yankovic and Lyle Alzado.

Also, some woman was in such a festive mood that she bubbled.

Ploptoberfest is better with Blue Bonnet on it!

Ploptoberfest may be starting to lurch back to life! This weekend is the first Ploptoberfest held on 5th Street since 2015. The fest has returned to its rightful location after being confined to 2nd Street for years (when it took place at all).

Yesterday, I noticed someone plopped the lid of a tub of Blue Bonnet margarine. When I went into a portable restroom, I noticed Miss Blue Bonnet staring up at the world from the abysmal depths of the poopot. She looked as hilarious as you might imagine. Later, I noticed someone plopped a plastic cup.

Celebrity look-alikes included Oliver Anthony, James Garner, and Suzi Quatro.

And that's only Friday. Think of the promise that Saturday holds if I go down there again!

Homeless camp exists only in far right's mind

The only place the homeless get to live rent-free is in the far right's heads.

And when I talk about the far right, I'm using the historic definition of the term. Lately, the Democrats have been branding all challenges from the left as right-wing. But I'm using the real definition, not the shitlib definition. The Democrats these days support actual far right stances more and more.

Recently, some neighborhood "leader" in Cincinnati drafted a letter demanding removal of a homeless camp in Burnet Woods, a city park. The letter demanded police close the park at 10 PM every night to expel the homeless and discard their belongings. The letter pointed fingers at the homeless over assorted ills that plague the city.

A big problem with this letter - besides its general meanness - is that there is no homeless camp in Burnet Woods. A few homeless people might gather there, but there is no camp. The camp exists only in somebody's minuscule mind. Park employees and visitors confirmed to the media that there is no camp.

The letter prompted some folks to post a flyer around the area charging that a neighborhood committee aims to "displace and throw out the property of local homeless people." The flyer pointed out that these raids cause the homeless to lose medications and personal documents.

The main location of concern in Burnet Woods seems to be the corner of Ludlow and Clifton avenues. It just so happens that I had lunch at this corner on Saturday on the way home from Zinecinnati. There were folks gathered around, but none of them said a word to me or did anything illegal. Bees were a bigger threat than homeless people were.

I bet the writer of the letter is actually mad because he saw homeless people not wearing masks.

New Mexico governor flunks basic civics

Remember when we had 3 branches of government that provided checks and balances on each other? That was cool.

One issue we go back and forth on is gun control. There are many events that shape how the matter should be handled. Concealed carry is generally a right. We've never denied it. But you don't get to stomp into a crowd like a weirdo and brandish assault rifles at random people.

Now something strange is happening in New Mexico, where embattled Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has just issued an executive order suspending the right to concealed carry in Albuquerque's Bernalillo County.

One thing is for sure: This order is illegal. The right to concealed carry is backed up by statute in New Mexico, as it is almost everywhere else in America. That's the law. Governors aren't supposed to be able to just bark down orders suspending laws on a whim.

Lujan Grisham can't very well claim she cares about protecting children, after she supported child abuse in the name of fighting COVID. America might be the only country in the world with such a severe gun violence epidemic, but it's also one of the few modern nations with such a deep history of economic inequality and where schools were closed over COVID for as long as they were. Since long before COVID, our political "leaders" have maliciously refused to address our bad schools, choosing instead to punish students who were forced out of school. And community improvement projects disproportionately benefit rich areas and the wealthy, while the poor languish in despair. Gun violence has root causes - which are never addressed.

If a governor can unilaterally declare an emergency and use it to suspend legally protected rights, then you really don't have legally protected rights.

Much of this is basic middle school civics. The governor's main job is to execute the law - not write her own laws. She is not part of the legislative branch. If you want to change the law, write to lawmakers.

Even some politicians and activists who favor more gun control say Lujan Grisham is overreaching. They point out that constitutional liberties have no exceptions for emergencies declared by governors. On the other hand, what have we been experiencing for the past 3½ years? The sequence of events in this story is very similar to that of the COVID lockdowns - which established a bad precedent that governors can suspend rights at will.

This could get out of hand in a way far worse than it appears now. Recently, for the first time in my life, I began to seriously believe that America could end up under widespread martial law that far exceeds even what we saw during COVID. What folks in New Mexico are seeing could be just the start. Considering the past lies and abuse by our "leaders", it could be a deliberate step to completely disempower the public in the face of unimaginable totalitarianism.

Va-voom! ('Sesame Street' Wednesday)

Since I was about 5, I've had this melody in my head that I've insisted appeared on 'Sesame Street'. Eventually I concluded that I was only imagining it, and it was never really on the show.

But now I've stumbled on a website that listed a few lost 'Sesame Street' segments. One of the entries is about a segment on lowercase 'v'. It says that while the Spanish-language version can't be found, the English-language version is still out there...

Now that I've found this, I do remember the Spanish and English versions, but most importantly, it confirms that the melody that I had in my head did indeed appear on 'Sesame Street'. What I'm talking about here is the melody sung by the animated mouth.

In other words, this is yet another Snuffleupagus moment confirmed by YouTube - like the Big Boy commercial and the PBS show where the kid asks French-speaking Quebec residents if they speak English. If I say I saw something 40 to 45 years ago on TV, you should probably assume it's real.

Another right-wing Macron power grab

Some people deny that any postwar Western country can be a dictatorship. Yet Francisco Franco ruled Spain in my lifetime. And Ronald Reagan expressed admiration for Franco.

Under right-wing President Emmanuel Macron, France is essentially a dictatorship. Now Macron is digging in his jackboots further by saying he is open to "experimenting" with mandatory uniforms in public schools. According to the AP, Macron's plan to "experiment" on France's schoolchildren came after right-wing politicians expressed support for school uniforms. Right-wing politicians? You mean like Macron?

This is only the latest in a series of affronts to civil liberties plaguing the country. Macron isn't the only culprit, as other top French officials have also attempted to fan the flames of fascism, often pointing fingers at political foes.

Hulk Hogan look-alike spotted at Kroger

Today at the Kro, I saw a Hulk Hogan look-alike walking around in front of the store.

More talk but no action from Kentucky Democrats

Democrats in the Kentucky legislature have announced new labor bills for the 2024 session. But you know damn well they won't seriously do a thing to pass them. The Democratic Party of today is not the Democratic Party we grew up with.

For one thing, the legislature has become overwhelmingly Republican - in part because the Democrats wouldn't do enough to pass some of these bills before. So these bills have little chance of becoming law at the state level. If they do, it will be because more Republicans begin supporting what were once Democratic ideas. For another thing, the Democrats can already pass laws like these in cities and counties that they already control - yet they refuse to.

Perhaps 5 or 10 years ago, the Democrats actually were passing some decent laws at the local level in Kentucky. But no more. Nowadays when you read about good local laws passing, it's usually in the Republican-led small towns, not the Democratic-led larger cities. These are usually laws the Democrats used to support but now won't make any serious efforts to enact - if they express support for these laws at all.

Democrats today are the Republicans of 20 years ago. I've had to give up on my once-great Democratic Party.

Also, who do you think is responsible for the brutal, classist war against the homeless in Louisville lately? Louisville isn't one of these Republican small towns. That's another example of the Democrats being taken over by Bush-era Republicans.

People beered at Rip-off-fest

Earlier tonight, I went to Riverfest - or as I call it, Rip-off-fest.

Allowed Clouds were violated fluently. To defy the festival's ban on outside beverages, musical instruments, and tools, I smuggled in Pepsi, a kazoo, and a screwdriver. I also read that hula hoops are banned now too, but I can't very well sneak in a hula hoop in my pants pocket. Even funnier, people brang in beer - at a festival that has long been dry. Another Allowed Cloud was violated by someone setting off their own fireworks. People smoked pot too!

In addition to all these Allowed Cloud violations, I saw 2 - count 'em, 2 - people who were in such a festive mood that they bubbled.

New York City to use drones to spy on cookouts

Is it fascism yet?

New York City has announced plans to fly police drones over backyard barbecues this Labor Day weekend to spy on private gatherings. It's not even entirely clear why.

Privacy advocates are rightly outraged.

Incompetent Mayor Eric Adams boasts of his support for expanded use of police drones to monitor New Yorkers' private behavior.

If someone sees a surveillance drone hovering over their backyard, I hope they shoot it right out of the sky.