More states join suit against Nexstar/Tegna merger

Now we're actually getting somewhere.

The proposed merger between TV broadcasting giants Nexstar and Tegna had been the target of an antitrust suit by 8 states: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, and Virginia. We were worried we'd be stuck at 8, but now 5 more have joined the suit: Indiana, Kansas, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Vermont. The suit is officially a bipartisan effort, drawing Democratic and Republican attorneys general alike.

One thing that helps the states' case is the fact that when the FCC and the U.S. Justice Department approved the merger, they didn't even follow the lax regulations that already existed on paper. They granted a waiver for the merger just for the asking, even though the rules don't allow it. What's the point of regulations if they can be waived at will?

Can I go out and run a red light and then ask for a waiver? Can I start stealing from Kroger and ask for a waiver? That's what this merger is like.

Wake up, Kentucky! Wake up, Ohio!

Have no fear, the May ish is here!

Around here, April showers bring May showers. And more showers in the rest of the months. But it also means it's time for the May issue of The Last Word!

This ish talks about the passage of an anti-Flock bill in Kentucky, a school troublemaker who retired at 56, the destruction of priceless wine glasses and toy helicopters, dominionists whining about the lack of Medicaid copays, a gun-toting Trump follower who chewed bubble gum, and more!

So point your pooper here...

https://www.scribd.com/document/1032542650/The-Last-Word-5-2026

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

http://bunkerblast.info/lastword/lw2605.pdf

Piatt Park threatened over "radical views"

Fascism is on the march in Cincinnati.

A group of economic terrorists called 3CDC has long been responsible for pricing out residents and ruining public amenities just for the sheer hell of it. Now the city is giving this secret society control of Piatt Park.

This park was the home of Occupy Cincinnati in the early 2010s, and a settlement required the city to set aside part of the park for round-the-clock use. For years, the park has also been used to distribute food to homeless and other people who live in the area.

When 3CDC announced its takeover, it adamantly denied that the food events were a factor, and vowed that they would continue. But now that's turned out to be a lie - like everything else 3CDC says. It's now been revealed that the food events have been a topic in e-mails among 3CDC, city officials, and local nobodies since at least last year.

A representative of wealthy downtown residents complained that the organizations that provide the meals "all seem to have pretty radical views."

You mean radical views like thinking people should have food?

So they're not just being targeted because of what they do but also because of what they think. That's not very freedomy.

Nothing else can be more 2020s Cincinnati than that. The city will briefly make progress, only to roll things back to even worse than they were before, just because 3CDC, COAST, the Tea Party, or the media told it to.

3CDC also gave a presentation that included a photo of one of the food distribution events, which it labeled "persistent misuse of the park."

The only thing in this story that's a persistent misuse is 3CDC.

Connecticut bill would protect homeless from fascism

While Louisiana and Utah are gearing up antiquated, discredited policies to force the homeless to perform slave labor or send them to concentration camps, Connecticut may be a rare state that's moving in the opposite direction.

A bill pending in Connecticut would require cities to adopt policies that are more friendly to the homeless population. If passed, the bill would mandate that municipalities allow homeless people to "use or move freely in public places in the same manner as other persons" and "use any publicly accessible hygiene facility in the same manner as other persons."

In other words, it would actually protect the homeless from being discriminated against.

Why shouldn't a homeless person be able to move about as freely as anyone else? This is a simple matter of equal protection.

Naturally, the far right is pitching an absolute fit against this bill.

Louisiana bill would force homeless to do slave labor

As Salt Lake City plans to open a concentration camp for the homeless, a bill in Louisiana would take things at least as far.

The Louisiana House has approved a clearly unconstitutional bill that - like the Salt Lake plan - was cut-and-pasted from the far-right Cicero Institute. Like some other unconstitutional laws that have begun to dot America's landscape, this bill would outlaw the homeless by making it illegal to sleep on public property. But it goes further by imposing either a stiff prison term or letting violators avoid prison by being institutionalized for at least one year. Then the person would have to perform unpaid labor to cover the cost of their stay.

This is why we call it fascism.

What we need to do is implement more "housing first" strategies like those that some jurisdictions had success with in the 2010s. This includes Milwaukee and even Utah, though Utah abandoned this successful model because the Cicero Institute told it to.

Busybodies sue RFK Jr. over Medicare hemp program

Some people just don't know how to mind their own business.

It's been revealed that an assortment of anti-marijuana groups are suing Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. because his office implemented a program to allow $500 per year in hemp-derived products to be covered by Medicare. The prohibitionist groups who are suing include an organization called Smart Approaches to Marijuana. The suit's only individual plaintiff is some lawyer who claims he has standing to sue all because he's old enough that he's covered by Medicare.

The attorney says he is being injured by this program because his feelings are hurt by it. Seriously. According to the defense's brief in response to the suit, "That chain of contingencies is not Article III standing."

The plaintiffs also say they're being harmed because suing over this program takes away resources that they could use on something else. Then don't sue. It's that simple.

Last month, a federal judge rejected the plaintiffs' request for a restraining order against the program.

Hopefully, this suit will not only be thrown out, but the plaintiffs will be sanctioned for filing a frivolous suit.