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The Bluegrass Blues Podcast · The Bluegrass Blues Podcast

0:00
This is episode 13 of the Bluegrass Blues podcast.
0:04
I'm Jesse. And I'm Amy. Okay, we're in the middle
0:15
of a government shutdown. It doesn't seem to
0:17
be ending anytime soon. And there are many reasons
0:23
that this is happening. I was looking through
0:25
the BBC's... announcement on this or a story
0:29
they're doing on this and they say that the Republicans
0:32
are controlling both chambers of Congress and
0:35
they want to see an extension of expiring tax
0:38
I'm sorry the Democrats want to see the extension
0:41
of expiring tax credits and it's trying to reverse
0:45
Trump's cuts to Medicaid and the government health
0:48
care program Democrats are opposing spending
0:53
cuts to government health agencies And one of
0:57
the big problems is that Republicans are saying
0:59
that the reason that they want to cut these Medicaid
1:05
funding is because they claim that immigrants
1:09
are the ones who are taking advantage of it.
1:12
Illegals. Illegal aliens. But it's not true.
1:16
And Republicans know this. The Democrats keep
1:20
pointing it out, but then we have units like
1:22
Fox News that continue to say this. And the dangers
1:28
of this shutdown are that government workers
1:32
aren't getting paid, which means government workers
1:35
are either furloughed while this is going on,
1:38
or they are forced to work without pay. And there
1:42
are certain jobs that you have to have constantly
1:45
going on. air traffic control which is a big
1:50
deal i'm going to be flying in a week or so and
1:54
i'm not too thrilled about going in the air when
1:56
we don't know who's in the air towers and um
2:00
or who's not in the air towers right that's even
2:04
more important there's about 23 000 federal civilian
2:08
workers in kentucky right now not getting paid
2:11
it's terrible for the economy people can't spend
2:14
money Right. People can't spend money, which
2:18
means businesses are suffering because of it.
2:20
And the other thing about these shutdowns is
2:24
that they don't pay people, but Congress still
2:27
gets its pay. Oh, of course, and their health
2:29
insurance. Yeah, so if they were to suffer like
2:32
the rest of us do, then they would look at this
2:35
differently. And you pointed out that Marjorie
2:38
Taylor Greene, who is like the... Bat chick crazy?
2:41
Yeah, the epitome of craziness on the right.
2:46
She's leaning toward going with the Democrats
2:49
on this because the results of this shutdown
2:53
are going to affect her children. Right. She
2:56
has two adult children whose premiums would go
2:59
up. And now she basically says, I'm going to
3:03
go with the Democrats on this. And by the way,
3:05
I wasn't in. office when Obamacare was approved
3:10
so like she she doesn't see it as flip -flopping
3:13
because she she never was there at the beginning
3:16
yeah it's plausible deniability but you know
3:20
even with that it's always good to get a vote
3:23
no matter where it comes from and so yeah this
3:27
is this is The last shutdown, if I remember correctly,
3:31
the longest shutdown in US history, I'm going
3:34
to look this up quickly, was 35 days. And can
3:38
you guess who was president when that happened?
3:40
Trump. Trump was president. And there were three
3:43
shutdowns during his first administration. So,
3:47
you know, this is like... If Trump's in office,
3:50
the government's going to close because the Republicans
3:53
keep asking for really insane stuff that really
3:57
hurts people. And we're going into this new phase
4:01
where... They want to not only hurt people, they
4:04
want to kill people by taking away their health
4:06
care. Well, but not only that. I look at Fox
4:09
News almost every day. I know. Call me a masochist.
4:12
But, you know, if you look at, for example, if
4:15
you look at the cover, the homepage of the U
4:18
.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development,
4:20
HUD, right? The radical left in Congress shut
4:23
down the government. The radical left in Congress
4:28
shut down the government. This is on... federal
4:32
agency's website which is supposed to be nonpartisan
4:35
and that's what Fox News reports so Jesse you
4:39
know my question is okay so you've got this shutdown
4:42
and maybe some people are getting wind that like
4:45
their health care premiums are gonna go up or
4:48
that they're gonna not be able to afford health
4:51
care at all it what did we see the average Kentuckian
4:55
we'll probably see about a $1 ,200 increase in
4:59
their premiums on Connect. And let's talk a little
5:02
bit about Kynect, which is Obamacare. But you
5:07
wouldn't know that if you were reading mainstream
5:08
newspapers like the Courier -Journal. lexington
5:13
herald leader or even the mainstream news media
5:16
on at night yeah because we did have a story
5:19
there was a story last week when there was a
5:22
demonstration outside the federal building in
5:24
louisville on on uh the corner of sixth and broadway
5:28
right and in the course of it people were protesting
5:32
the fact that there was the reason for the shutdown
5:35
is because republicans want to take away health
5:38
care from americans and The story that the Courier
5:43
-Journal wrote was, I think, really badly done
5:46
because it said people were out protesting because
5:49
they didn't want cuts to the Affordable Care
5:51
Act, which is known as Obamacare. But the Courier
5:55
never put the word Kynect in the story because...
5:59
I don't know why they didn't, but that's what
6:01
people in Kentucky know in terms of health care.
6:04
It's Kynect. And it was one of the scams that
6:07
Mitch McConnell ran in one of his elections where
6:11
he said that he was going to get rid of Obamacare,
6:14
but he was going to save Kynect. And, you know,
6:18
he won the election. People fell for it. But
6:21
we can't, or our media cannot keep doing this
6:26
where they just... refuse to include basic information
6:31
on certain things that affect the people in our
6:34
state. Yeah, and as someone who has been on the
6:38
exchange, you know, you go to kynect.gov, you
6:43
know. Kynect.gov so you would never know that
6:47
it was the Affordable Care Act or Obamacare to
6:50
get you know getting your health insurance on
6:53
the exchange and the reason they did that is
6:55
because they're well let's face it there was
6:58
racism in the term Obamacare which isn't what
7:02
Obama called it he called it the Affordable Care
7:05
Act but Republicans in Congress decided to call
7:08
it Obamacare because that was their racist dog
7:11
whistle. They knew that that was going to turn
7:13
on their supporters and make them think, oh no,
7:17
the evil Kenyan is going to take away our healthcare.
7:22
That was the whole era of the, what's kill grandmother?
7:27
You kill your grandma? Right, right. By the way,
7:30
it's connect, it's K -Y -N -E -C -T dot K -Y.
7:36
And for all of you who are going to be needing
7:39
the qualified health plans or Medicaid or through
7:44
Kynect, the open enrollment period starts November
7:47
1st and lasts through January 15th. So kynect
7:52
.ky .gov. And it's crucial that people know how
7:57
to do this. And the other side of this, too,
7:59
is what's going to happen with this shutdown.
8:04
This seems to be a thing that, for everyone's
8:08
sake, the Democrats can't lose this. We have
8:11
to preserve this. The Democrats have to win on
8:15
this because, well, we also have to get Republican
8:19
votes. And there are lots of counties in this
8:23
state that are, most of the counties in this
8:26
state are represented by Republicans. Right.
8:29
And, I don't know, what are... and these are
8:34
the poorer counties and these are the people
8:37
who really who didn't have health care before
8:39
obamacare right we have 120 counties in kentucky
8:43
one has a democratic congressman jefferson 119
8:49
counties right republican representation and
8:53
you know the democrat is going to vote for giving
8:56
people health care, which I sort of like, I'm
9:01
going off on a tangent here, but one of the things
9:04
about the health care system in the United States
9:06
is that it really is insufficient compared to
9:11
the health care systems in other countries. Now,
9:14
we just bought some land out in the country,
9:17
and we bought it from a former British citizen.
9:21
Well, actually, he's still a UK citizen. And
9:25
he had been in the United States for about three
9:29
decades. But he's in his 80s now, and he decided
9:34
that he had to go back to the UK. not out of
9:38
any great love for it, but because the health
9:40
care system was better in the UK than it is here.
9:45
My former husband's parents are from South Korea,
9:48
and they lived in Orange County, which has like
9:52
a million Koreans, and they had to move back
9:56
in their 80s to South Korea because they weren't
9:58
going to have sufficient health care here. And
10:00
I have experience with the health care system
10:03
in other countries because I lived in Belgium
10:06
for six years, and one year we had some visitors
10:10
coming from the States, a relative of my wife.
10:13
And she developed a severe back pain while she
10:17
was visiting us in Brussels. And so I took her
10:20
to the emergency room and they treated her and
10:24
we never got a bill. She offered to give them
10:27
like whatever they needed to pay for it. But
10:30
we were guests in their country and we didn't
10:34
have to pay a bill for like being treated for
10:37
this major back pain. For us in this country
10:42
to actually complain about the issue of giving
10:46
health care to illegal aliens, I hate using that
10:52
term, but the illegal aliens who actually are
10:56
working in this country and paying taxes and
10:59
not getting any benefits from the tax system,
11:02
they deserve health care. But the Republicans
11:05
don't want to give it to them, and they've managed
11:08
to manipulate racist ideas in this country where
11:12
we shouldn't give money to foreigners. That is
11:15
just ridiculous. That contradicts what other
11:19
countries do. Other countries treat Americans
11:21
with respect in terms of the health care system.
11:24
We don't treat anybody with any respect. we are
11:28
making that sort of like a rallying cry that
11:31
we don't want to treat you well and frankly I
11:34
think it's really difficult for people to know
11:37
the truth because on Fox News today, a big story
11:41
says White House slams Schumer's disgusting statement
11:45
on shutdown as political standoff continues.
11:49
And basically the quote they put right under
11:51
the headline is Americans struggling is not good
11:55
and the Democrats must stop inflicting this pain
11:59
on them. This is from the White House deputy
12:02
spokesperson, Abigail. Jackson, right? So again,
12:06
if you're on Fox News, it's the Democrats' fault
12:10
that you may be losing your health insurance
12:13
or that your premiums may go up if you're on
12:16
the exchange. But the other part of this too
12:19
is that if you look at any of the messaging coming
12:21
out of the White House, the White House is full
12:24
of former Fox News employees. You know, the Secretary
12:27
of Defense, I refuse to call it the Secretary
12:30
of War. he's a former fox news person and you
12:35
know the idea that some like i don't know was
12:39
he a major in the national guard can like yell
12:42
at uh generals in this country for being fat
12:45
and then bring on this like overly corpulent
12:49
president who like waddles wherever he goes this
12:53
is you know this is like Fox News has taken over
12:56
the government, and Fox News is also the big
12:58
propaganda outlet in this country. And Fox News,
13:03
I keep have to reminding people about this, Fox
13:07
News is run by an immigrant. Rupert Murdoch is
13:11
not an American citizen, or he is. filed to become
13:15
an American citizen. But Rupert Murdoch was not
13:17
born and raised in the USA. Rupert Murdoch was
13:21
born and raised in Australia. White man. Right.
13:24
And not only that. He didn't come to the USA
13:27
directly. He went to Britain, where he managed
13:30
to screw up their news media. And the reason
13:34
he took American citizenship wasn't because he
13:37
actually cared about being in America. He wanted
13:40
American citizenship because foreigners couldn't
13:42
control American networks. Right. And Jesse,
13:46
I want to read something else from this terrible
13:49
article, and then I want to ask you how. do Democrats
13:53
win the framing? The Democrats should be winning
13:58
the framing on this shutdown right now. So let
14:01
me share one more statement that Levitt wrote,
14:05
the White House press secretary, okay? While
14:07
federal workers stress over missed paychecks,
14:12
military families turn to food pantries, and
14:16
airports around the country face delays, Chuck
14:19
Schumer and the Democrats are bragging that every
14:23
day gets better for them. That's what Levitt
14:26
wrote on X. What a disgusting and revealing statement.
14:31
Democrats are gleeful about inflicting pain on
14:35
the American people. Well, first of all, Levitt's
14:39
a liar. You know, that's the essence of being
14:43
a success in the Trump administration. If you
14:45
lie and you lie convincingly, you're always going
14:49
to be at an advantage. The other problem is...
14:54
Look at what the major media outlets are and
14:57
look who owns them, and it's all billionaires.
14:59
The Times is run by a billionaire family. Fox
15:04
News is run by a billionaire whose net worth
15:07
is something like $20 billion. CBS was just bought
15:13
by a billionaire, Larry Ellison and his son.
15:16
Larry Ellison is the second richest person in
15:19
the world. Twitter. Twitter. Twitter. It's Elon
15:24
Musk, the richest person in the world, who has
15:27
a fortune that's like, what, $450 billion. And
15:32
then you go to Bezos at the Washington Post,
15:35
who has a $200 billion fortune. You go to Facebook,
15:40
Instagram, that's Mark Zuckerberg. That's another
15:43
multi -billionaire. If all the media outlets
15:47
are owned by billionaires, what interest do they
15:50
have in actually talking to real people? They
15:53
don't care. And we have, what's the word, idealized
15:59
these billionaires who, you know, they could
16:02
care less what happens to anyone because they're
16:06
not affected by any of this. You know, if the
16:09
air traffic isn't working. they have their ways
16:12
of getting around they have their own planes
16:14
and they have their own guidance systems i'm
16:16
sure um the um if uh if people don't get health
16:21
care what do they care because they have they
16:25
can buy the best doctors not only in the united
16:28
states but anywhere in the world if they want
16:31
the best physician and that physician happens
16:34
to be in singapore they're not going to go to
16:36
the the doctor in Louisville they're going to
16:40
go to Singapore because they can just hop on
16:42
their planes and jets and go there and in the
16:45
meantime destroy the environment by like putting
16:48
pollution in the air so we have this this issue
16:53
with a media coverage in general and media is
16:56
run by very rich people and what I've seen unfortunately
17:02
in recent times is that the media is also getting
17:07
less diverse than it was in the past. When I
17:10
was working, we weren't only looking for diversity
17:12
in terms of race. We were looking for diversity
17:15
in terms of gender. We were looking for diversity
17:20
in terms of age. I would hire older workers as
17:26
well as younger workers because they can learn
17:28
from each other. and we were hiring people based
17:32
on their economic background so you know there's
17:35
all kinds that's that's what dei is it's not
17:40
something that's specifically just for black
17:42
people or people of color as i've said before
17:46
the biggest beneficiaries of dei were white women
17:49
right so I will say, I do want to say about media
17:54
that I think that's why it's so important for
17:57
us to be supporting our public media stations.
18:00
And thank you to everybody who supports Louisville
18:04
Public Media and PBS here in Kentucky. Also,
18:09
Jesse and I both made donations to the Kentucky
18:12
Lantern. If you don't know them, a lot of the
18:15
news that we get is from the Kentucky Lantern,
18:19
and they're nonpartisan. and their reporting
18:22
is really good, and check them out. Right. So
18:27
there are media outlets. They're a non -profit.
18:32
Right. If you're looking for something from corporate
18:36
media, you're not going to find it. And the other
18:39
part of this argument is that... there is no
18:43
such thing as a liberal media. And that's one
18:46
of the farces that Fox News has pawned off on
18:50
a lot of American viewers. Everyone thinks that
18:54
there's like this liberal cabal that runs the
18:57
media, and that's not true. The media is run
19:00
by rich conservatives. So, anyway, back to the
19:05
shutdown. We also are dealing with things like,
19:09
it's not only the air traffic and it's not only
19:13
the uh effects on health care but it's also things
19:19
like national parks right you can't get into
19:22
a national park because that is a government
19:24
function right and you know what there's something
19:27
going on with the kentucky caverns well it's
19:31
mammoth cave so mammoth cave you know obviously
19:34
is not operational because it's a national park
19:37
so the the counties around there have formed
19:41
an alliance and they can redirect people who
19:45
want cave tours to go to like private private
19:48
caves and private tour operators and private
19:51
lodgings and things like that but again think
19:53
of all the people around the country you know
19:56
that this is a gorgeous time of year i was just
19:58
in in michigan at sleeping bear dunes national
20:01
park which is absolutely gorgeous and you know
20:05
the leaves are turning and apples are being picked
20:08
and cider is being pressed and i went to get
20:11
my park pass because i'm 62 now and now i can
20:15
get a park pass for the rest of my life and go
20:18
to all the parks and of course the office was
20:20
closed and actually my friend whom i was staying
20:23
with her son works for the national park there
20:27
and he is not allowed to come in and and work
20:31
even without pay he's actually forbidden to come
20:35
into work right now so all these people are furloughed
20:38
all over the country people have made vacation
20:42
plans that are now dashed and it's because of
20:47
this shutdown and again the blame really you
20:51
know if you want health care you should be speaking
20:53
up right now to have them end this shutdown Right.
20:56
And one of the things in terms of what the economic
20:59
impact of the shutdown is going to be, that I'm
21:03
going to quote from a BBC article here, it's
21:05
estimated that the 2018 -2019 shutdown, which
21:09
happened during Trump's first term, reduced economic
21:12
output by about $11 billion, including $3 billion
21:16
was never regained. But these shutdowns are...
21:22
They only seem to happen in the United States.
21:25
I can't think of... With Republican presidents.
21:29
Well, it happens with Democratic and Republican
21:33
presidents, but if you look at the statistic
21:36
and if you look at what people are feeling...
21:41
Everybody blames shutdowns on Republicans. All
21:43
the shutdowns of the past, if you look at whose
21:47
response before them, the blame has always gone
21:50
to the Republican Party because that's where
21:52
the blame rests. When the government shut down
21:56
during Trump's first administration, it wasn't
21:58
because of health care and it wasn't because
22:00
of DEI. It was because of the border wall. And
22:05
they shut the government down for about 30 days
22:07
or for about a month. because people didn't want
22:12
to waste money on a border wall. But again, this
22:17
is what Republicans do. They create these, well,
22:21
they create these environments in which people
22:25
are pitted against other people because they're
22:30
unable to lead by unifying the government. They
22:32
lead by separating people. So we're going to...
22:38
We don't know how long the shutdown is going
22:39
to last. We just know that it's happening now
22:42
and it's affecting everybody. And we're not going
22:49
to recover from this. Except, just one more point
22:51
I want to make in terms of the shutdown. It hasn't
22:55
affected Wall Street. If you look at the Dow
22:58
Jones Industrial Average or you look at the stock
23:00
market, it's at record levels, which should tell
23:04
you what... this means in terms of wealth. The
23:08
rich are getting richer. The billionaires who
23:12
have these multi -billion dollar fortunes, day
23:15
to day, their fortunes increase by billions of
23:18
dollars. I keep making these references to if
23:26
certain billionaires gave away 99 % of their
23:30
wealth, they would still have more than a billion
23:32
dollars. Can you imagine what that 99 % of wealth
23:37
would do for the rest of the country? How much
23:40
more we can improve the quality of our schools,
23:44
improve the quality of our neighborhoods, make
23:48
things better in terms of our healthcare system.
23:51
But instead, Republicans are cutting things.
23:55
from budgets and they're cutting things in terms
23:58
of medical care because they want to give tax
24:01
cuts to billionaires as if billionaires don't
24:04
have enough already so And I just want to say
24:07
that in terms of this economic situation and
24:11
the fact that the stock market just keeps going
24:13
up, you know, the Bureau of Labor Statistics
24:16
is shut down as part of the shutdown, right?
24:19
And so all their website updates have ceased.
24:23
All the key economic reports are delayed, like
24:26
monthly jobs reports, right? Jobless claims,
24:30
the consumer price index, all of it has been
24:33
suspended. So data collection is important. So
24:37
now economists are relying on alternative data,
24:41
alternative private sector data sources. So all
24:47
those billionaires now are doing the work that
24:50
the federal government used to do. I don't know.
24:53
How do you know what to believe anymore? It's
24:57
really, really difficult to figure it out because
24:59
there are special interests. And when you talk
25:04
about special interests, like the Republicans
25:06
will say it's leftist or whatever, but the special
25:10
interest in Congress is the billionaire. That's
25:13
the billionaire interest. They can buy Supreme
25:17
Court justices. And speaking of justices or speaking
25:21
of the justice system, you know, we have this
25:24
effort to put more people in jail or to put people
25:28
in concentration camps, as I've been calling
25:30
it. And I was looking at Louisville public media
25:34
recently, and they have a story about the number
25:36
of detainees in Kentucky County jails. The number
25:40
has increased by almost 700 % between January
25:44
and August of this year. And there's a detention
25:48
center in Boone County that was the full -time
25:51
ICE center in the state. And it was holding about
25:55
120 detainees. But in August, nine county jails
25:59
were contracted with ICE to hold more detainees.
26:03
That's about 900 people being held in what are
26:08
essentially concentration camps. And these are,
26:11
you know, this is like... imprisonment for profit
26:14
this is just billionaires being spawned every
26:21
day right at least the same billionaires just
26:23
getting richer it just seems like a degradation
26:25
of everything we stand for in terms of you know
26:29
being of justice where what was it Brett Kavanaugh
26:33
made it legal again to to profile people just
26:41
by what they look like. He decided, okay, if
26:45
you look like you're not from this country, you
26:48
can be stopped by ICE. And so now ICE is in places
26:51
like Chicago, and they're in Portland, and they're
26:57
detaining people with no due process. So I guess
27:03
I should get off this. threat because there are
27:06
other things happening like there's a lot of
27:09
stuff going on in Kentucky politics now. I saw
27:13
recently that Amy McGrath is going to run again
27:15
for Senate. She's probably the biggest Democratic
27:20
name now in consideration and I have mixed feelings
27:26
about it because she got trashed by McConnell
27:28
in her election. And she lost to Andy Barr when
27:33
she was running for Congress. And where's she
27:36
been? I don't know. I mean, like Heather French
27:39
Henry, that's a name that I think people could
27:42
get behind. She's someone that people like. She's
27:46
out in the public. She does good things, public
27:49
service, et cetera. But, like, where's McGrath
27:53
been? Nowhere that I know of. Yeah, I don't know.
27:58
You know, Democratic politics in Kentucky, they
28:01
just really kind of suck, Jesse. I don't know
28:04
who constantly is getting paid to be the consultant,
28:09
to give the advice to so many of the candidates,
28:15
because this just seems... It seems like we're
28:19
in a lost cause with the Democrats in this state.
28:23
I have no idea why they keep losing because this
28:29
used to be a Democratic state. I guess, well,
28:32
20, 50 years ago, Democrats were Republican -lite.
28:38
And Democrats are still Republican -lite in many
28:43
cases. But the issue is that Republicans have
28:46
gone from... Republican to fascist in some cases.
28:51
Yeah, and what we've been talking about with
28:53
the media I think has a big part. And Fox News.
28:56
We got back to Fox News again, where they have
28:59
completely corrupted the system. And now they
29:03
run the government. So McGrath. And then we also
29:08
saw that Andy Beshear's been traveling around
29:10
the country. He was up east in New Hampshire.
29:14
Is that right? Yeah. And any time a politician
29:17
goes to New Hampshire. years before the next
29:22
presidential election, that's a sign that that
29:25
person is running for president. Right. And,
29:28
you know, the New Hampshire primary might not
29:31
mean as much as it used to mean in the past,
29:33
but it's still symbolically something that the
29:36
media covers because they see who's going to
29:39
certain states. You know, if Andy, like, goes
29:42
from New Hampshire to Iowa... Well, he's going
29:45
to Nebraska with Joe Biden. Close to it. Very
29:47
close. So, you know, it's these, you're making,
29:51
how do I say this? You're doing the politics
29:54
greatest hits in terms of visiting certain places
29:57
that you have to visit in order to be considered
30:01
a legitimate candidate for the future. So that's
30:05
where we are now. Right. I do want to lift up
30:09
Morgan McGarvey. I know that he could do better
30:15
and he could get across the state more, but I
30:18
do want to commend him and we should all be calling
30:20
his office and thanking him for co -sponsoring
30:24
H .R. 3045. It's called West Bank Violence Prevention
30:28
Act of 2025. It's really the block the bombs
30:33
bill so that the U .S. doesn't send... bombs
30:37
to Israel with the express purpose of, you know,
30:41
committing a genocide in Palestine. I mean, the
30:44
good news is now we're seeing that possibly there's
30:47
a ceasefire brokered by Trump. And, you know,
30:50
you see these things and then you're like, okay,
30:52
what's the next day going to bring? But for now,
30:55
it looks like maybe we have a ceasefire in the
30:59
works. And I really do think that the pressure
31:04
that has been brought to the Americans in charge
31:10
about what's happening in Gaza has been real,
31:14
both from Palestinians and as well from Jews
31:18
in Israel and all around the world, as well as
31:21
other people of conscience like Greta Thunberg,
31:25
who couldn't get over there with her aid. Anyway,
31:30
hopefully the ceasefire will hold. And thank
31:32
you, Morgan, for co -sponsoring the Block the
31:34
Bombs Act. I thought that was really good. Yeah,
31:36
that is good. And just one thing you said, the
31:40
ceasefire brokered by Trump. I think he brokered
31:42
it. You know, he's going to take credit for everything
31:46
that happens. And he's so desperate to get the
31:49
Nobel Peace Prize, which I think should be announced
31:52
this week. They've been announcing the prize
31:55
recently. He's not going to get it. If he does,
32:00
then it's a farce. I think they officially removed
32:03
him, actually, from the... As a candidate? Uh
32:06
-huh. Yeah, because... But he's, you know, he...
32:09
How many things has he said? How many peace,
32:12
I think, has he said? He's brokered. Like, there's
32:15
something between... He's the best president
32:17
ever in the history of Canada. He made up something,
32:19
like, between Indonesia and Azerbaijan. It's
32:22
like... They aren't even near each other. You
32:25
know, we haven't sent Epstein files yet. Oh,
32:28
right. Epstein files. Right, and that's another
32:31
thing that we have to put everything we've said
32:34
in context because the shutdown is a diversion.
32:39
The shutdown is a way to get the focus away from
32:43
the Epstein files. And everything that's happening...
32:48
whatever Republicans do, it's a diversion from
32:52
the Epstein files. Mike Johnson is not naming
32:58
or not installing a Democratic representative
33:05
from Arizona who's just waiting to be sworn in,
33:10
but Mike Johnson won't do it because she's a
33:12
vote to release the Epstein files. Every diversion
33:17
that you see coming out of the White House or
33:21
every complaint you see about every time they
33:26
send troops into another city, every time they
33:29
make arrests, every time they announce that the
33:33
Democrats are shutting down the government, which
33:36
is not the case. They've shut down the government.
33:39
Everything they say. is a diversion from the
33:42
epstein files and it's it's going to keep being
33:47
this way and we have to keep every fox news announcement
33:50
is another diversion from the epstein files right
33:53
so and so we we need to keep up the pressure
33:56
i i really see cracks now and if you if you read
34:00
reich if you read krugman if you read you know
34:03
a lot of these pundits that have been really
34:06
critical of trump and fascism they're seeing
34:10
cracks now Can I start to talk about some good...
34:15
Oh, you wanted to talk about the St. James Art
34:19
Show. I was going to talk about arts in general,
34:22
and we had the St. James Art Show last weekend.
34:26
That's a massive art fair, essentially. Sure,
34:31
it's a show. Don't say fair. Okay, yeah, right.
34:34
Oh, my God, I got so... We get yelled at for
34:37
that. ...girl -splained. Yeah, okay, at the art
34:40
show. We have had about 600 exhibitors.
34:45
It had a couple of hundred thousand people visit
34:47
and it took up like at least four square blocks
34:51
of old Louisville. And it happens outside of
34:57
my house. I help sometimes with getting artists
35:01
set up. I didn't help as much this year because
35:04
I had visitors from out of town and I had grandchildren
35:07
that I was occupied with. It has gotten bigger
35:13
and bigger ever since we moved here. We've been
35:16
here for almost 18 years now. Nope, 13 or 15
35:19
maybe. 15 years? Yeah, it's not 18. Okay, but
35:23
the art show will be 70 years old next year,
35:26
and it's just expanded. One of the things that
35:31
I've noticed about it is that the... It's stretching.
35:35
It seems like the artists are more condensed.
35:38
They're taking up less space, but there are more
35:42
artists than there were in the past. They sell
35:47
everything, and the price ranges. You can get
35:51
something very cheap, or you can get something
35:54
very expensive. You can get huge sculptures.
35:57
You can get these matchbook -sized pieces of
36:01
art. Everything is here. I bought custom guitar
36:07
picks in some of these art shows. They have these
36:11
custom little stereos that you can put your iPhone
36:16
in and it'll play your music. Amplify it. Yeah,
36:19
amplify it. Jesse, it's consistently ranked,
36:22
well, it received the number two spot in the
36:27
country for best fine art and design show in
36:30
America. by sunshine artist magazine in 2025
36:34
and also that ranking is largely based too on
36:39
artist sales so the artists you know when they
36:43
have profitable art shows they rank them and
36:45
and we're we're at the top of the top And they
36:49
said hundreds of thousands of visitors annually
36:52
come to Old Louisville. Right. And they were
36:55
there because they closed off. It's really impossible
36:58
to drive around. You have to park blocks away
37:01
from the area of the main art show because the
37:05
streets were all closed off. The day before the
37:09
art show, I was awakened because there was a
37:12
police siren and they were saying something over
37:15
a megaphone. And it turned out that they were
37:18
telling people to move their cars because they
37:21
had to clear the area for the art show setup.
37:25
And it's not only art, there's entertainment
37:29
because in Central Park they had live performances.
37:34
There were Shakespeare performances, there were
37:37
music performances, there was a dance group out
37:41
there. There was a lion dance by some Asian performers.
37:48
It just went on and on. Lots of picnic tables.
37:52
And there was just tons of food and booze. And
37:58
one of the disappointments for me was that the
38:03
food was very expensive. You had to pay like
38:07
$25 for a meal and a drink. and you know i'd
38:12
rather be in a sit -down restaurant doing that
38:14
but When you're on the go, it's convenient, but
38:18
it's just mass -produced food. And the unfortunate
38:23
thing is I wanted to buy the food as well. Right.
38:25
My neighborhood, the Auerbecker Court neighborhood,
38:29
the neighbors get together, and we take bourbon
38:32
bottles and cool liquor bottles, and we saw them
38:36
off. I think I've said this in another show,
38:38
podcast. And we sand them as neighbors, and then
38:42
we wick them, and then we pour. beautifully scented
38:45
wax in them. And we sold hundreds of these candles
38:50
at our booth. Our booth is always on 4th Street
38:53
between Hill and Magnolia. And we make about
38:58
$6 ,000 a year selling candles that the neighbors
39:01
in the neighborhood make. And that basically
39:03
pays for tree maintenance and gate maintenance
39:07
and decorations for holidays and things like
39:10
that. Check out our candle booth next year. Was
39:14
this part of the art show? Yeah, it's in the
39:16
art show. We have a booth on 4th Street. Oh,
39:19
see, I didn't notice that. There's so much going
39:22
on because I also saw a booth by one of the local
39:25
high schools. They were selling student art for
39:28
like $25. I saw a booth for... the ghost tours
39:34
of Louisville. I'm going to do one of those with
39:38
my daughter in a couple of weeks. Spooky, Victorian,
39:42
haunted Victorian houses in old Louisville. I'm
39:45
so excited. Well, our house was one of the houses
39:48
on the tour a few years ago because we have this...
39:51
this ghost story in our house as well. But what
39:54
they did was we have a balcony and they had some
39:57
performers on our balcony telling a ghost story
40:00
as people walked by. So it's, you know, there's
40:03
so much going on in this neighborhood. The art
40:07
show is part of it. The ghost tour is part of
40:08
it. They're going to have a tour of the various
40:11
homes. People in the homes. That's part of the
40:14
tour. Winter tour. It's really nice. There's
40:17
so much going on. To put it mildly, the art show
40:22
was a success. We spent a lot of money at this
40:27
art show. There's a very significant piece now
40:31
in our house. A mobile. that it's really nice,
40:36
but it was really expensive. And it was, I think
40:39
it was, the birth story has something to do with
40:42
Alice Walker's quilts in her novels. And the
40:47
mobile has these little squares of glass, and
40:51
it looks like a quilt. It's really pretty. Good
40:54
job. Yeah, that's my wife. Good job, Terry. We
40:59
love you. She's the artist. Yes. And there's
41:03
one other art story that I wanted to make mention
41:06
of, and that's the Speed Museum. I was at the
41:10
Speed Museum last week, and they made the announcement
41:15
that they were opening up this new art garden.
41:17
It's called the Art Park. a three -acre landscape
41:24
that surrounds the museum. It's got like new
41:28
trees, they did major landscaping, they put sculptures
41:32
out there, and they had the announcement with,
41:37
it was a pretty big announcement when they, I
41:42
guess it was a dedication ceremony, and the First
41:47
Lady of Kentucky, Brittany Brashear, spoke. and
41:51
the mayor of Louisville, Craig Greenberg, also
41:54
spoke. So it's a really elaborate thing that
42:01
people came to, and the art park is free. It's
42:05
outside the museum, so you can just walk by the
42:09
campus and just look at it whenever you want
42:11
to. But I'm sure they spent a lot of money putting
42:15
it together. but a couple of days later they
42:18
made another announcement involving the arts
42:20
and that was that they were going to lay off
42:24
people because the budget just they couldn't
42:29
make the budget and so nine jobs are being cut
42:32
from the speed museum people got a severance
42:38
agreement the museum grew quickly during the
42:44
covet era but And the employees, they increased
42:49
by probably two -thirds. But the program they
42:55
cut was an education program. So it's this sort
42:59
of mixed feeling about this, that there was this
43:04
great joy about this new art park, but now they
43:09
don't have people to teach you about the art.
43:12
So I don't know if that's... It's just, we're
43:17
in this very bizarre time where whatever we have
43:21
good happening, something bad happens that sort
43:24
of takes away the thunder of the excitement.
43:28
So, you know, like I said, we had an art fair.
43:32
Art show. Whatever. The art show, we have this
43:39
dedication of a new art park, but then we have
43:42
to cut the arts because of budgetary concerns,
43:46
which is also happening on the national level
43:49
where the Trump administration is cutting funding
43:52
for the arts. They're cutting... They're trying
43:56
to change the atmosphere of what the museums
43:59
in Washington are going to show. There's a conscious
44:03
effort to erase history in this weird obsession
44:11
with DEI, which is, it's just pure racism. Yeah,
44:18
America is for white Christians. Right, and they're
44:21
like... denying all of the history that's taken
44:24
place, all the advancements that people have
44:26
made. You know, this blatant racism. No, it's
44:33
not blatant racism. It's blatant racism. It's
44:35
blatant. It just reminds me of when Trump was
44:38
running and he was talking about how immigrants
44:43
were going to take black jobs. And, you know,
44:46
what struck me about that was I knew what he
44:49
meant, and I'm sure other people... knew what
44:53
he meant because what he was saying is that the
44:55
black jobs were working the fields and it's just
44:58
the guys are racist and I loved when Michelle
45:02
Obama like or Barack even said, what about my
45:06
black job? It was so great. Yeah, and Trump,
45:11
the son of immigrants, took Obama's black job.
45:14
Yeah, exactly. Anyway, oh, and there's... Screw
45:18
him. So I want to just be sure that everyone
45:21
knows about the No Kings rallies happening on
45:25
October 18th across Kentucky. So October 18th,
45:29
save that date. I know here in Louisville, it's
45:32
from 2 to 5 p .m. at the Belvedere and make a
45:36
fun sign and come on out you're gonna feel really
45:38
good about it so far in Kentucky I've seen that
45:43
we're having protests in Louisville Shelbyville
45:46
Lexington Richmond Berea Morehead, Greenup County,
45:52
Franklin, Hopkinsville, Paducah, and Owensboro.
45:56
And I'll bet there are more since I looked. And
45:58
you can go to nokings .org to find a protest
46:02
near you or start a protest near you. That would
46:04
be awesome. And then I also wanted to tell you
46:07
one of the things that we've been noticing about
46:09
these protests is that they're not being... covered
46:13
properly by the media that is run by billionaires.
46:17
They don't want the nation really seeing what
46:20
it's doing to fight fascism. So there's a new,
46:24
there's a project. It's called the We Count Project,
46:28
wecountproject .com. And they are, they have
46:32
a grassroots team that's counting. the protests
46:37
and counting the people at the protests, and
46:40
they need volunteers for marketing, graphic design,
46:43
PR and press, outreach writers, and campaign
46:46
managers. So if you've got, you know, say three
46:50
hours a week or whatever you have, you might
46:53
want to consider joining the WeCountProject .com
46:57
so that we can really start making an impact
47:00
and getting out, getting across the numbers that
47:03
are really showing up at these projects. protests?
47:06
Well, I'm not going to be able to make the protest
47:09
here because I'm going to be in Denver. Hopefully,
47:12
if your flight takes off. We'll get there. I'm
47:16
going to be positive on that. And we will probably
47:19
take part in the No Kings protests that are going
47:22
to take place in Denver. Yeah. So we are looking
47:26
forward to that. And just in terms of the No
47:30
Kings protest, and this goes back to the art
47:32
show. We have two posters up on our house that
47:36
say, No Kings, since 1776. And one's like, they're
47:42
things that you see if you're walking down the
47:45
street and looking up at our house. And there's
47:47
also one on our front porch. And during the art
47:51
show, many people passed by and they gave us
47:55
thumbs up. And one guy actually came up to me
47:59
and said, thank you for putting that sign up.
48:03
I don't get encouraged much because I don't know
48:07
what people are really thinking, but that was
48:08
really encouraging that people really care about
48:11
this and that the voices are out there and people
48:15
want to see these kinds of things. People really
48:18
believe that this country is better than what
48:23
Donald Trump and his minions are trying to make
48:26
it. If you can get out to the No Kings protest,
48:31
please do. It's worth doing. I will probably
48:35
be at the protest in Denver. But anyway, that's,
48:39
I guess, my little pitch for that. Yeah. Well,
48:45
I think that's our spiel for this week. Do we
48:48
have anything else? No, I think that's it. I'm
48:53
not sure when the next podcast is going to be
48:55
because I'm going to be back from probably, it
49:00
will be probably a little after the next two,
49:04
probably a day or two after two weeks from now
49:08
because we should be back from our trips. We're
49:13
going to Denver and then we're going to Phoenix
49:15
to see family in various parts of the country.
49:20
Until then, thanks everybody for listening. If
49:23
you have friends, have them listen. We have this
49:26
at our link on the Bluegrass Blues Podcast website,
49:31
so send the link to people. And Jesse is writing
49:33
all kinds of blog posts, like almost one every
49:36
day. So take a look at our blog post at thebluegrassbluespodcast
49:42
.com. Okay, and thanks everybody for listening.
49:46
See ya. Our closing music is by John Chamberlain.