Latest / The Bluegrass Blues Podcast / The Bluegrass Blues Podcast: Episode 29

Transcript

The Bluegrass Blues Podcast: Episode 29 · The Bluegrass Blues Podcast

0:00
Welcome to the 29th episode of the Bluegrass
0:03
Blues podcast. I'm Amy. And I'm Jesse. I think
0:14
we should start out with, well, it's big news
0:19
for one person, but we have the first trillionaire
0:24
in the world, and that's Elon Musk. As of June
0:28
12th, because of his public offering of SpaceX,
0:33
his personal net worth went up to more than $1
0:37
trillion. And if you look at it that way, he's
0:42
got more money than probably 3 .5 billion people.
0:48
in the world. Yes. It's just... And there are
0:50
8 billion people in the world, so almost half
0:54
the people of the world is what his net worth
0:57
is. Right. And this is one person who's, you
1:00
know, he who's taken advantage of every, well,
1:04
he's everything that the MAGA people are supposed
1:07
to hate. He's an immigrant, came in illegally,
1:10
was essentially taking American jobs. He is a
1:16
womanizer. I'm sure he was involved in the Epstein
1:19
file somehow. He's got, like, baby mamas all
1:24
over the place. And he's just, he's always on
1:29
drugs. And he's a complete racist. He's a racist.
1:31
White supremacist. Well, he was born and raised
1:34
in South Africa, so what else do you expect from
1:36
him? And this person, this one person, has more
1:39
money. than almost half of the world's population.
1:44
And so why we start by talking about this is
1:49
now we have to go and look at what's happening
1:51
in terms of things like what the Republicans
1:55
are doing in Kentucky to screw over the budget
1:58
process. It's just, you know, we have a state
2:01
budget. It's about $15 billion a year. Right.
2:06
The state budget is $15 .4 billion a year. And
2:10
it's this total exercise in how much less can
2:15
we do for the people of this state. Right. It's
2:18
taking away funding for hospitals. It takes away
2:21
funding for schools. Medicaid, TANF, foster care.
2:28
Right. Yeah, just the environment stuff. So,
2:33
you know, we have a trillionaire who's buying.
2:38
buying elections, buying politicians. I'm sure
2:41
he's contributing to the Andy Barr campaign,
2:44
because Andy Barr is the kind of politician that's
2:47
easy enough to buy, since he's a Republican candidate.
2:51
Not just a Republican candidate, because we had
2:54
some Republican candidates that were not supported
2:57
by Trump, and therefore Musk, and they lost.
3:00
Right, and that's also the interesting part about
3:03
this, that we are in the... stages where I think
3:08
everybody realizes that our government is purchased
3:11
by the highest bidder and the people of the state
3:16
or the people of a certain community don't have
3:19
enough money to be part of that bidding process.
3:22
So we, I'm sorry, I went off on a tangent here,
3:28
but what strikes me about this election that
3:31
we have coming up, especially for the Senate
3:33
in Kentucky, is it's probably the most racist
3:37
and bigoted campaign I've ever seen in my lifetime.
3:41
And it's just flat out, you know, we hate gay
3:45
people. We hate trans people. We hate black people.
3:49
We hate brown people. We hate women. We hate
3:54
people with disabilities. And this isn't like,
3:58
he's not secret about this. It used to be that
4:00
Republicans would be more discreet in their Evil
4:05
or the things that they do but and he's just
4:08
coming flat out You mean they'd hide under a
4:10
white a white hat a pointy hat a white pointy
4:13
hood Yeah, but it's it's amazing that we're going
4:18
through this campaign now and we see what's going
4:20
on in this election But let's talk about the
4:25
budget for one You know, what what are they doing
4:28
now? Well, and they've they've cut so much that
4:33
Our governor is now moving $30 million so that
4:37
he can ensure that temporary assistance for needy
4:40
families funds stay for 1 ,500 Kentuckians so
4:47
that they don't lose TANF benefits. And then
4:50
he wants to continue to financially support 8
4:53
,841 children in foster and residential care.
4:58
Those seem to be pretty important vulnerable
5:01
populations. that we should continue to support,
5:04
but not under this Republican legislature. These
5:08
are wants, not needs, right? Right. And it's
5:13
what does Kentucky want, or what we want just
5:18
to be treated fairly, but what does Kentucky
5:20
need? we're not addressing what our needs are.
5:24
We haven't for decades. And honestly, I think
5:28
that the state model is mirroring the national
5:32
model in that the concentration of wealth continues
5:35
to consolidate with wealthy white males in the
5:41
state, and the rest of us are just completely
5:44
screwed. But the thing, too, is that there is
5:48
a concentration of wealth, yes, but there's also
5:52
a tax structure that allows the wealth to be
5:54
accumulated this way and we as citizens are responsible
5:58
for that tax structure because we keep electing
6:01
people who are making more tax breaks for billionaires
6:05
than anything else and the thing is that the
6:09
the comments that the money isn't there to do
6:14
certain things is a lie. It's a flat -out lie
6:17
because I'm going to throw a comparison here.
6:21
Okay, we talked about the Kentucky budget. It
6:23
was $15 .4 billion. The annual budget is $15
6:25
.4 billion. New York City has a budget, too.
6:30
Kentucky has, what, like 5, 4 .5 million people.
6:35
New York City has about 8 .5 million people.
6:40
The budget for New York City, annual budget,
6:42
is $124 .7 billion. Compare that. It's almost
6:47
10 times more than what the whole state of Kentucky
6:50
has as a budget. And there is plenty of wealth
6:55
in New York where this is not, you know, it's
6:58
not all on the backs of the... property owners
7:02
in New York, which, you know, if you own property
7:06
in New York, you're in better shape than a lot
7:08
of people in Kentucky are because the value of
7:11
property is so high there. But it's not just
7:14
on, you know, property taxes. They're taxes on
7:17
billionaires. What they're doing is... making
7:22
rules for like if you have a luxury apartment
7:25
and don't live in it in New York which a lot
7:28
of rich people do you have to pay another tax
7:31
on that which doesn't exist and what they're
7:34
doing in New York are certain things like they're
7:37
starting daycare for like two -year -olds and
7:41
this is like just part of the budget process
7:43
and they're not really cutting services they're
7:46
talking about giving people free access to certain
7:49
transportation. They're doing things to make
7:53
sure that ICE isn't breaking down neighborhoods.
7:57
The money is there, and it's not that issue.
8:02
And if I'm going to pile on to Kentucky... New
8:05
Yorkers are paying taxes for Kentuckians. Kentucky
8:09
does not contribute the amount of money that
8:11
New Yorkers pay for federal projects. All blue
8:17
states are subsidizing. All blue states are subsidizing
8:19
red states like Kentucky, like West Virginia.
8:22
Kentucky and West Virginia, the Trump vote was
8:26
like... through the roof, at least 65 % in Kentucky,
8:29
at least 70 % in Virginia. West Virginia. West
8:33
Virginia, yeah. Meanwhile, the blue states, they
8:38
did not go for Trump in those numbers. So we're
8:41
funding, blue states are funding poorer red states.
8:47
Red states are getting less services because
8:49
they keep electing Republicans. who will take
8:52
more services away from them and take that money
8:56
and give it to rich people, and you will end
8:58
up with essentially more billionaires, more trillionaires.
9:04
And what was the other thing that we were talking
9:09
about, the gas tax? Yeah, so 37 municipalities
9:12
in Kentucky have requested that Beshear continue
9:17
a gas tax reduction. Because, you know, all of
9:22
us are, by the way, I just took a big road trip.
9:25
I'll talk about it more later. But there are
9:28
so many fewer people on the roads right now.
9:30
The hospitality industry is really suffering.
9:34
All the outfitters for whitewater rafting and
9:38
stuff that I went to are just saying it's been
9:40
an abysmal spring because people don't have the
9:43
money to drive anymore. requested a reduction
9:50
in the gasoline sales tax by 10 cents through
9:53
June 30. And then the governor wants to extend
9:57
that past July. But Republicans don't like it
10:02
in the Interim Transportation Committee and throughout
10:06
the legislature because they don't want the whole
10:11
state to suffer. And some of the rural representatives
10:15
say all the cities and counties across the city
10:18
The state should not suffer from what some cities
10:20
and counties decide to do. And in fact, it's
10:24
being reported that municipal officials that
10:27
did ask for the 10 cent reduction are getting
10:29
pressure by Republican state legislators to withdraw
10:34
that request. Which is interesting because they
10:37
were saying that the reason Andy Bashir was doing
10:43
it was because he was pandering to the voters.
10:47
And then Donald Trump said that we should reduce
10:50
the federal gas tax. And again, they say nothing
10:54
about that because it's just pure hypocrisy on
10:56
their parts. People are struggling. People are
11:00
struggling. And, you know, the other side of
11:03
this, too, is other states which have better
11:07
economies. We think Kentucky gas prices are high.
11:11
Go to California and look at the gas prices there
11:13
or go to New York outside of the. Holland tunnel
11:17
look at the gas prices there. It's like five
11:19
to six dollars a gallon. I was looking around
11:23
recently and I think it was With 350 here? Or
11:27
is that high now? But it was in the 350 range
11:30
when I saw it. It's around 440. Okay. Because,
11:35
again, I've been on the road a lot. And when
11:38
you get closer to Louisville, it goes up higher
11:40
to about 440. And some of the rural areas, you
11:44
might get it for 360, 370, 380 a gallon. But
11:49
it's rough. But, yeah, it's just another example
11:53
of. When you look at what the Republicans are
11:57
saying in these elections or what they say in
12:00
the course of things, I just can't believe anything
12:04
they say anymore. I just find it like there's
12:07
so much hypocrisy in what they're trying to offer
12:11
us. Not only hypocrisy, but cruelty. There's
12:15
another article that we wanted to lift up about
12:18
how... GOP leaders in the state want to prosecute
12:25
people unlawfully securing medical cannabis,
12:31
right? And basically it's just so inhumane because
12:35
in 2023 the legislature legalized medical marijuana
12:42
for several chronic illnesses, including cancers,
12:45
severe pain, epilepsy. seizure disorder, etc.
12:50
And then in early June, Bashir signed an executive
12:55
order to expand it. And here's what he wants
13:00
to expand it to. Terminal illness, sickle cell
13:04
anemia, ALS, Parkinson's disease, HIV, AIDS,
13:09
Huntington's disease, muscular dystrophy, wasting
13:13
syndrome. Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis,
13:17
neuropathies, severe arthritis, fibromyalgia,
13:21
and glaucoma. And they're having a fit about
13:25
this expansion. It's just so cruel. So you're
13:29
going to close 42 rural hospitals. People are
13:32
going to be in more pain. They're not going to
13:34
have treatment, and they won't even be able to
13:37
access medical marijuana. Right, but the other
13:41
side of this, too, is... Look at the donations,
13:43
and it's probably coming from the pharmaceutical
13:45
industry. So, you know, we'll have people not
13:50
being treated with marijuana, but we'll have
13:52
higher incidence of drug overdoses. And alcoholism.
13:57
Exactly. Oh, for sure. Because fentanyl hasn't
14:00
gone away. Right. The abuse of barbiturates hasn't
14:03
gone away. You know, all the antidepressants
14:08
and painkillers that were given during the...
14:11
The drug overdose phase in this country, that's
14:15
still there. But there's this denial of scientific
14:20
proof that's constant with the Republican Party.
14:25
And look at the other states that have legalized
14:28
marijuana. In Kentucky, medical marijuana, that's
14:34
a very narrow category. And you have to meet
14:37
certain qualifications in order to... go and
14:41
buy whatever you want to buy. Go to other states,
14:44
go to California, go to New York, go to Illinois.
14:47
You just walk in, give them your ID, and you
14:50
walk out with whatever you want. Is that the
14:53
right way to do it? Not necessarily, but it's
14:57
not as restrictive as what the government here
15:00
is giving us. And the thing, too, is that there's
15:05
always talk about what industries Kentucky can
15:07
benefit from. And everyone knows that this has
15:11
been a big grower of pot back in forever. You
15:17
know, the whole cornbread mafia thing. That was
15:21
all a big pot thing. And now they're, I don't
15:25
know if it's the same company, but there's now
15:27
a cornbread temp distributor. Yeah, that's Jim
15:32
Higdon. He wrote the book. So it's not like...
15:36
This is something that we aren't aware of in
15:39
this state because it's something that's been
15:41
in this state forever. It is something about,
15:44
I don't understand the blindness of the legislators
15:48
here because they're talking about generating
15:51
revenue. That's an easy revenue generator. Colorado
15:55
gets money from it, California does, all the
15:57
states that have legalized it. Yeah, Illinois,
15:59
Michigan. And I'm sure that when they legalized
16:02
it, they weren't thinking, oh, we're going to
16:03
legalize this because we want people to go out
16:05
and get high all the time. They are legalizing
16:08
it because they see this is a revenue source.
16:11
We can tax this. Well, and interestingly, as
16:15
I said, I was on a road trip all around, and
16:18
I'll tell you more about it, but Tennessee, North
16:20
Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia. And it
16:23
wasn't until I came back to my neighborhood in
16:27
old Louisville that I started smelling weed from
16:29
fellow drivers. It's everywhere here. So people
16:34
are getting it illegally. and driving with it
16:38
and you know the the data show that when you
16:42
legalize it you know the usage doesn't even go
16:44
up um and certainly the criminalization and all
16:49
that stuff doesn't happen well the criminalization
16:51
is another way to just fill up our prisons with
16:54
black people yeah essentially that's what that
16:57
is but you know the the the things that we can
17:02
do in the state to make people's lives better
17:06
are out there and you know you go and look what
17:09
what other states and what other cities are doing
17:11
and saying and you know as much as people in
17:15
kentucky hate new york new york city is you looked
17:19
at the reaction of people in new york city this
17:22
week because of just a basketball team and it
17:25
was just a city that was in rapture this whole
17:29
week and they've got a mayor that they really
17:33
are interested in, and he has the support of
17:37
everyone in the city. Not everyone. I mean, I
17:40
have friends that are affluent who are very frightened
17:44
of him because he's a socialist, you know. Well,
17:47
right, and because he's Arabic. And they don't
17:51
want to be taxed on their multiple properties.
17:54
But that's the thing. If you tax them on their
17:56
multiple properties, it... has no effect on their
18:00
quality of life. Because, honestly, if you're
18:05
a billionaire and someone's going to tax you
18:07
50%, if you can't live on half a billion dollars,
18:11
there's nothing you can say that even generates
18:17
any kind of sympathy. And let's not forget, we
18:21
started this podcast saying that there is now
18:23
a human on this planet who's worth a trillion
18:26
dollars. Right. And that's just absurd. You know,
18:32
we also saw an article, this is in the Kentucky
18:35
Lantern, about how Kentucky's open door on government
18:41
transparency is closing. House Bill 520 took
18:47
place that passed last year which fundamentally
18:50
restricts Kentuckians right to access records
18:54
in a criminal investigation and then in this
18:57
past April the Kentucky Supreme Court issued
19:00
a ruling narrowing the definition of what constitutes
19:03
a public record in ways that open a significant
19:07
loophole for officials who wish to conduct government
19:10
business out of public view. So you've got this
19:15
consolidation of money and power with very uber
19:19
-wealthy white men. And at the same time, you've
19:23
got this attack on our democracy, which here
19:26
in Kentucky and probably other states is a pattern,
19:30
right? It's important for a democracy to share
19:35
a commitment to the principle that government
19:36
must be transparent and accountable. And that
19:40
means that all levels of government needs to
19:43
be responsive to taxpayers who fund it, shining
19:47
light on corrupt contracts and illegal secret
19:50
meetings. But all of that is completely being
19:53
turned over in Kentucky. And I just want to say
19:58
that the public's right to know is not a mere
20:01
courtesy extended by government. It is a condition
20:04
of self -governance. And that condition is now
20:08
being renegotiated. And the public is not at
20:11
the table. Right. And the thing about these sunshine
20:16
laws or disclosure laws, they're called different
20:18
things in different states. not necessarily only
20:22
an effort to keep the records out of the hands
20:26
of the public. It's also mainly a way to keep
20:29
the records out of the hands of the media. Because,
20:32
you know, the individual can go in to look at
20:35
these records without a media platform to put
20:40
them on. The word doesn't extend. Whereas at
20:46
a news organization, and I've been through this
20:48
loads of times over the years, you can have someone
20:52
who's going to go to the county or to the city
20:56
or whatever government entity you're dealing
20:58
with, and they'll get the records, and they'll
21:01
painstakingly go through all these records to
21:05
see. what's actually happening. It's what happened
21:08
when the Spotlight team was in Boston and they
21:11
did the investigation of the Catholic Church
21:14
and the child pornography there, or the child
21:18
molesting that was taking place there. In San
21:21
Francisco, they did it this year by looking at
21:24
records on how insurance companies weren't paying
21:28
disaster victims after wildfires. These are the
21:34
kinds of records that the state of Kentucky is
21:37
now trying to hide from people. And if you don't
21:41
know why these things are happening, or if you
21:43
don't understand why certain things are happening
21:45
in your communities, and you don't have access
21:48
to public records, you're not going to find out
21:50
what the motivation was by the people who passed
21:53
these things. And, you know, we were talking
21:55
about... um the the data center issue um one
22:00
of the things about data centers is that what's
22:04
going on is that there are land purchases all
22:07
around these data center areas and let's say
22:11
there's a public official who decides i'm going
22:14
to buy a couple of hundred acres where this i
22:16
know this data center is going to be But I don't
22:19
want people to know this. The law that Amy just
22:23
described is exactly what this kind of politician
22:26
wants. Just the ability to do something, public
22:31
theft in essence, and to get away with it without
22:35
people being able to look through records. I
22:37
think I was watching a broadcast recently about
22:41
an Oklahoma board supervisor or something. There
22:49
was talk about a data center in that person's
22:51
area and turns out he had bought a couple of
22:54
hundred acres before the vote and then the vote
22:57
passes and all of a sudden these couple of hundred
23:00
acres he bought cheaply are now worth a lot of
23:02
money. So there are these things that we should
23:06
be tuned into and what Amy just described in
23:12
this hiding essentially of government records
23:15
is This is a way for corrupt politicians to make
23:20
more money without anyone ever knowing. So that's
23:24
why these kind of laws are bad for the public
23:28
and really just bad for decent government governance.
23:35
Right. And, you know, in terms of data centers,
23:38
I've been looking at this article again in the
23:41
Kentucky Lantern. This is by Catherine Hargraves
23:44
on June 5th. and a bunch of environmental organizations.
23:52
talk about having a long -term plan and having
23:55
local input. And some of the kinds of questions
23:58
in terms of environmental protection and energy
24:01
standards are, will there be enough water for
24:04
the county's projected development? Should cooling
24:07
water be recycled? Should utilities pass construction
24:11
costs along to ratepayers? Should data centers
24:15
be bonded to pay for dismantling them if they
24:18
go bust? And what about confidential business?
24:21
information and non -disclosure agreements so
24:24
all of this really affects us it affects our
24:27
pocketbooks it affects the water that we're drinking
24:30
it affects our you know just our pleasure of
24:35
one of the things about Kentucky that's so unique
24:38
is how beautiful it is the land the rolling hills
24:41
all the streams and these data centers I mean
24:44
it's just It's really bad. Right. Well, they're
24:47
going to be taking over land. And the thing is,
24:50
there is a lot of land in Kentucky that's untouched,
24:54
which, you know, it's a temptation for a lot
24:59
of corporations because if there's untouched
25:02
lands, that means that they can do whatever they
25:04
want, which also means that the people who live
25:07
in those areas are going to. Their voices aren't
25:11
going to be heard when someone takes over, when
25:13
a plant decides they're going to take over acres
25:17
and acres of space. So, you know, we have these
25:21
green areas like around Bernheim Forest. And
25:25
I've noticed that UPS has bought up a lot of
25:30
property and is building these huge, I don't
25:33
know, I guess they're like warehouses. I wouldn't
25:37
know a data center if I saw it driving by it,
25:40
but these are huge amounts of space being taken
25:44
up by various corporations. Again, the people
25:49
who live in these rural areas aren't going to
25:52
have their voices heard because, honestly, again,
25:57
they're voting for Republican legislators. The
26:00
Republican legislators don't necessarily serve
26:03
their interests. they're just going to be out
26:06
of luck when something bad happens. Right. You
26:11
know, I also was looking at Al Mohler, who is
26:15
the president of the Southern Baptist Theological
26:18
Seminary, which is headquartered here in Louisville.
26:21
And in an article in the Courier -Journal on
26:24
June 14th, this is an opinion piece by a woman.
26:31
pastor at Highland Baptist Church, which is very
26:34
affirming of all peoples, a lot of LGBTQIA folks
26:38
in there. Anyway, so just recently at the convention,
26:45
Al Mohler spoke out against female pastors and
26:49
led a measure inviting the Southern Baptist Convention
26:51
to go even further in condemning female pastors
26:54
and disfellowshipping churches led by them. So,
26:59
you know, is this a God thing, a Jesus thing,
27:02
or is this an Al Mohler thing? And what do you
27:05
think the motive is, Jesse? Well, it's, first
27:08
of all, if you look at evangelical Christians,
27:11
they don't believe in the teachings of Jesus.
27:13
Right. So there's just this hostility to their
27:21
fellow man. There's this sense of... It's almost
27:27
like an Old Testament kind of vengeance that
27:29
they talk about, although they say that they
27:31
follow the teachings of Jesus. And for the Southern
27:39
Baptist Seminary, to me it sounds like they just
27:41
want to reaffirm that the only ones who have
27:46
voices in this movement are... white christian
27:49
males right and you know if a woman dares to
27:53
speak up she should be ostracized and if anyone
27:57
follows her they should be banished as well so
28:01
they're they're creating this um this bubble
28:05
of intolerance uh that is very um scary and uh
28:12
it just doesn't There doesn't seem to be any
28:17
benefit for it other than let's keep our perception
28:22
of who should be in charge. Right. Just let's
28:25
reiterate that. And whoever disagrees with us,
28:29
we're going to banish. Right. And Mueller, you
28:32
know, he defines generals. gender roles, men
28:35
as God's leaders and women as men's subservient
28:39
helpers. And the problem, not only with respect
28:43
to going to a faith -based organization that
28:46
has female pastors and all the good that that
28:49
could do, but it also contributes to the ongoing
28:52
crisis of domestic abuse, sexual assault, and
28:55
sexual misconduct in churches, homes, seminaries,
28:59
and denominations. So, you know, it really is
29:03
anti. It's anti -Christ is really what it is.
29:07
Right. Anti -family. It's anti a lot of things.
29:11
But there is a reason why these denominations
29:17
are losing members. And they're losing members
29:20
because they're out of touch with what's going
29:23
on in reality or in humanity. It's unfortunate
29:30
that we're going through this phase in this country
29:33
where people's humanity is doubted just for being
29:39
different. But it's what people are being taught
29:44
in certain churches today. So there's no way
29:48
to feel good about what's going on. And it's
29:53
just another... step in how the church is losing
29:57
relevance for a lot of people. I think if you
30:00
look at the numbers, it's been a steady increase
30:05
in non -believers just across all religions.
30:09
And the splintering of churches into different
30:15
religions is also questionable because The Southern
30:21
Baptists will say that if you follow us, this
30:23
is your ticket to heaven or whatever. So in their
30:29
view, what Catholics are doing aren't going to
30:31
send them to heaven. So that's, you know, it's
30:34
like whose Jesus is the better Jesus or whose
30:38
religious figure is the better religious figure.
30:42
I just don't understand why the... Especially
30:48
a Christian church organization is so dedicated
30:51
to maintaining oppression. It just is very interesting.
30:56
Right. So, you know, I saw an article in Louisville
31:01
Public Media on June 11th that solar generated
31:05
more electricity than coal in May nationwide
31:08
amid Trump investment in coal plants. But for
31:12
now, coal is still the dominant fuel for electricity
31:15
in Kentucky. And then it said that solar generated
31:20
12 .8 % of the country's electricity last month,
31:23
while coal declined at 12 .2%. But earlier this
31:27
month, the U .S. Department of Energy awarded
31:30
$500 million to 13 coal plants nationwide to
31:35
keep them on the grid longer. So it's like even
31:38
the good stuff, like they're combating all the
31:41
good stuff and propping up. bad stuff. I just,
31:46
again, it's all about the money for the people
31:49
that own these corporations. It's certainly,
31:52
and I want to just say, again, I was in West
31:54
Virginia, in coal mining country, and... I am
31:59
telling you, there is such abject poverty continuing
32:03
in West Virginia. Yeah, the company stores are
32:06
closed, and I took some pictures of those, but
32:09
still, people are barely scraping by, and there
32:13
is so little economic development. The downtown
32:17
stores that used to be open, they're all vacant.
32:22
The housing is really substandard. It was depressing.
32:27
It's depressing, and 70 % of Virginia voted for
32:30
Trump in the last election. So it's another example
32:36
of people who are really suffering, making bad
32:41
choices in terms of their leadership. I'm not
32:46
going to say if you elect a Democrat, everything
32:48
turns to flowers and bouquets immediately. No,
32:54
there's going to be a lot of work involved, but
32:55
at least there is a sense of someone caring about
33:01
you that we're not seeing in this current government
33:05
or in current GOP delegations. There's this sense
33:11
of... We're going back to religion now, but there's
33:17
this, their golden rule is now seeming to be
33:21
do unto others before they do unto you. Yeah.
33:25
As opposed to do unto others as you would have
33:27
them do unto you. Yeah. It's just this. Get out
33:29
your shotgun to prevent anyone from doing anything
33:32
unto you. Right, yeah. So that's just more examples
33:39
of people making. uninformed choices and it's
33:46
again I keep saying this but the election there
33:51
was for anyone to say that there wasn't a clear
33:54
choice in the last presidential election is just
33:57
absurd that shows that there's an irresponsibility
34:01
on that person's part because they just were
34:03
too lazy to pay attention to what was going on
34:06
and every election is like that you Right now,
34:12
even if the last election was the worst of two
34:15
choices, if that was your sentiment about that,
34:19
I'm going to make the worst of two choices, how
34:23
can you make the worst of the worst choice? It
34:26
was pretty obvious what the choices were, but
34:29
there's this thing where a majority of Americans
34:34
didn't want a black woman as president, and that's
34:36
the only reason. Yeah, you know, and as we approach
34:40
this 250th, what is that, a sesquicentennial
34:44
of the country? No, sesquicentennial is 150.
34:49
Anyway, 250 years of this violent country, and
34:54
what are we doing? What do we have is this, what
34:57
is it called, MMA fighting on the front lawn
35:01
of the White House? And just, guys, you know
35:05
what it feels like to me? Ancient Rome. And the
35:08
Colosseum. And the Colosseum is right there on
35:10
the White House lawn. See, I wouldn't even go
35:13
that far because I think that's an insult to
35:16
ancient Rome. I think the best comparison would
35:20
be the movie Idiocracy. It was a Mike Judge movie.
35:23
And the theme was that the most mediocre person
35:29
in America is put in hibernation, accidentally
35:33
wakes up 300 years later. And it turns out he's
35:38
the smartest person on the planet. And the thing
35:43
about Idiocracy, which is really scary now, is
35:46
that there are certain scenes that remind me
35:49
of what is happening today. Like the president
35:53
in Idiocracy is an MMA fighter. And it's like
36:00
he rips off his shirt while he's giving speeches.
36:03
He's threatening to beat up people. There's scenes
36:07
of the White House where it just looks like a
36:09
wreck. It looks like some place out in a country
36:14
with cars that are disassembled and the windows
36:18
are broken. Post -apocalyptic. But then you take
36:22
an aerial view of the White House today and Trump
36:24
has knocked out a building. He's put up this
36:27
stupid octagon in the middle of the White House
36:33
lawn. He's already gotten rid of the Rose Garden
36:37
that the Kennedys made famous. He's already desecrated
36:42
buildings by putting his name on them, and fortunately
36:46
they took it off the Kennedy Center this weekend.
36:49
But the amount of stupidity coming out of this
36:59
White House is overwhelming. And it's bad enough
37:04
that they're stupid. They're stupid and they're
37:06
evil. And they're greedy. And they're greedy.
37:09
And we need to continue to be following the money.
37:12
I mean, who's paying? Well, I saw Mark Zuckerberg's
37:17
face in the crowd of the fights last night on
37:21
the front lawn. I don't know. Or things like,
37:25
what did Amazon do? Did the Melania documentary
37:29
for X millions of dollars? or what's CBS doing
37:33
by taking off Colbert and essentially screwing
37:38
over 60 Minutes and the whole CBS News division.
37:42
This is the example of this is what happens when
37:45
oligarchs take over a country. And, you know,
37:48
we are seeing him wanting to consolidate power
37:51
into military rule for sure. I really like ending
37:58
our podcast by talking about things that we can
38:00
do because it's really important that we don't
38:03
lose sight of what individuals can do, especially
38:07
when we organize and we're together. I do want
38:10
to mention that in Louisville, the next Community
38:13
Defense Network training is on Zoom June 25th
38:18
from 6 to 8 p .m. And there will be other Zoom
38:22
trainings August 27th and October 22nd. So if
38:28
coming in person was a barrier, now we're bringing
38:31
the training to you via Zoom. And I would encourage
38:35
you, if you're on social media, look up Louisville
38:37
SURJ. or just Google Louisville SURJ, and the
38:44
website will pop up for you. This is an organization
38:47
that is highly organized. You will not feel like
38:50
you are wasting time. And increasing numbers
38:53
of social service organizations, particularly
38:56
serving our Latinx population and other immigrants,
39:01
are asking for us to accompany them in their
39:05
work. So please check that out. I also wanted
39:12
to mention that, as I said, I took this road
39:16
trip and I started in the Smoky Mountains and
39:19
went hiking. And my biggest accomplishment on
39:22
the whole trip was hiking an eight mile. trail,
39:26
mostly uphill on the Appalachian Trail to a place
39:30
called Charlie's Bunion. And it has these fantastic
39:35
views of the Smoky Mountains. And I just felt
39:39
so accomplished to do that. And then we drove
39:44
up the Blue Ridge Parkway. And again, the Blue
39:46
Ridge Parkway a lot of times can be pretty congested,
39:49
which is bad, of course. But we really faced
39:53
very little traffic, very few tourists out and
39:56
about. And we ended in the New River Gorge, which
39:59
I think is the nation's newest national park,
40:02
and went hiking there, saw the largest arch.
40:07
steel span bridge in the western hemisphere that
40:10
is there in West Virginia in the New River Gorge.
40:14
It's really a beautiful bridge. The whole place
40:16
is gorgeous. I went whitewater rafting on Saturday.
40:21
It was really fun. But in staying in those, you
40:26
know, coal mining towns that are near the New
40:30
River Gorge there, I'm telling you, the poverty
40:33
was really... It just makes me so sad that there's
40:38
still no political will, especially in Appalachia,
40:42
where extraction has been the theme, right? Let's
40:47
abuse people, fight unions, kill people with
40:52
methane buildup in the coal mines. And this stuff
40:56
is not trickling down to the people, I assure
40:58
you. So anyway, it was a great trip. And I did
41:03
also want to mention, Jesse, that there's a really
41:05
fun bluegrass festival with fantastic talent
41:10
coming to Owensboro next week, June 24 through
41:15
27. And it's called the Romp Bluegrass Festival.
41:20
And if you like bluegrass, I am telling you,
41:22
I'm With Her is coming, which is a super group
41:26
of Sarah Watkins, Sarah DeRozan, Aoife O'Donovan.
41:30
They are unbelievable. I think they just got
41:32
a Grammy, too. And the Punch Brothers is coming.
41:35
That's Chris Thiele. You might know Chris from...
41:41
Garrison Keillor's show. What was that called?
41:44
Oh, my God. Prairie Home Companion. Prairie Home
41:45
Companion. He took over after Garrison Keillor.
41:49
Ricky Skaggs and the Kentucky Thunder. Del McCurry
41:53
Band. Dan Tominski Band. Dan Tominski is the
41:57
guy that sang the lead in Old Brother Where Art
42:01
Thou? And the big song that... made the charts
42:06
there so you might want to oh and local michael
42:09
cleveland is going to be there anyway the music's
42:12
going to be awesome and um i invite all of you
42:14
to join me there in owensboro next week yeah
42:17
according to its website they're going to be
42:19
more than 20 bands over the four day period yeah
42:23
so that's i'm pumped i have to look at what the
42:27
prices are they're not bad okay Yeah, I really
42:31
enjoy these festivals. I haven't been to one
42:34
in years, but those are fun. And, you know, you've
42:38
been hiking and all this other stuff. My hiking
42:41
is limited to the Louisville area, so I've been
42:45
doing my walks around town. And we mentioned
42:49
this last time, but the I -65 that goes through
42:52
downtown Louisville is now closed. I am constantly
42:57
walking by the entry ramps, and there's still
43:01
a great deal of confusion going on out there.
43:04
I have seen, like, these huge 18 -wheelers. I
43:09
know that they're going to try to make an entry
43:11
at a certain entrance, and then they see that
43:14
they can't get there. And it's just like watching
43:17
this. clumsy ballet of elephants trying to get
43:22
around because they don't know where they're
43:24
going. They have to back these 18 -wheelers up.
43:26
They're going in circles. It's a mess. There
43:29
were cops on the first day where all the exits
43:34
were blocked by one cop car. Now the cars are
43:37
gone. But one of the enjoyable things about walking
43:42
down is I can walk by the highway and not hear
43:45
all the crazy traffic, which means that I'm...
43:48
breathing cleaner air right now and i'm also
43:51
like walking past the places where i can see
43:55
where they've taken the bridge down like there's
43:58
just air where a bridge used to be so The work
44:03
is being done. It seems like they've been trying
44:07
to repair the road forever, and they've been
44:09
closing off side streets forever. Well, you know,
44:14
I'm noticing a lot of infrastructure improvements
44:18
happening on the roads, on that road trip, a
44:21
lot of the interstates. are under construction
44:25
and you know basically for me as someone who
44:29
has studied public finance you know that when
44:33
to get re -elected you don't look at long -term
44:38
infrastructure projects, right? And so we don't
44:42
have the proper tax infrastructure to pay for
44:47
the kind of maintenance that we need on these
44:50
roads, on public buildings, etc. And now we see
44:53
a lot of disrepair having to be fixed, which
44:57
is very expensive. And I think there could be
45:00
public will to tackle these infrastructure issues
45:05
and have a tax structure that supports them as
45:08
well as the families in those communities. Well,
45:12
I would say that there is a public will to do
45:14
this, but again, I'm going to blame the Republican
45:17
Party for this because, you know, whenever someone
45:23
talks about bringing on taxes, Tax isn't going
45:27
to like people who don't need it. Taxes are going
45:31
to make our lives better as residents of a certain
45:34
specific area. So if we're paying property taxes,
45:38
we should expect better schools than we have.
45:41
We shouldn't expect that our property taxes are
45:44
going to pay for someone's private school, which
45:47
is what they want to do. Everything the Republicans
45:53
seem to be saying are things that are aimed at
45:55
making people's lives worse. So I enjoy the fact
46:01
that I can walk around and see that they're rebuilding
46:04
the city. It's a huge inconvenience, but at least
46:08
I know that. These repairs are going to last
46:11
for decades, and people don't look in terms of
46:14
doing something for the public good today that's
46:17
going to benefit people for the next 20 or 30
46:19
years. But we're now, you know, again, we have
46:25
to go through this song and dance where Republicans
46:28
say that we can't afford this. And then other
46:31
cities or bigger cities, blue cities show that,
46:34
oh, yeah, you can afford it. And it's not hurting
46:37
anybody. And it's actually making people's lives
46:39
better instead of a couple of very rich people
46:41
who don't need the money anyway. So anyway, that's
46:46
my sort of rant there. And one thing I want to
46:51
bring up is the NBA championship. Yes. I am a
46:58
New Yorker. After all these years, my heart is
47:05
in New York. I was raised in Brooklyn, but I've
47:10
lived in Kentucky. I've lived in Louisville longer
47:12
than I've lived anywhere. But my first thought
47:16
process is, when someone asks where you're from,
47:19
I first think New York, because that's where
47:21
my formative years were. And so watching the
47:26
Knicks win the championship this year was just...
47:29
I really didn't realize it turned off on the
47:35
NBA for many years. And these are the only games
47:38
I've watched in a ton of years. And I remember
47:42
the old days of the Knicks back when they won
47:45
their last championship 53 years ago with Willis
47:50
Reed and Walt Frazier, Dave DeBuscher. Bradley,
48:00
Bill Bradley, and Phil Jackson was one of those
48:04
Knicks. So 53 years. I don't want to wait another
48:09
53 years to see the next championship, but it
48:13
was really an interesting championship, not in
48:19
the basketball sense of it, but in the sense
48:22
of how New Yorkers were actually civil. It's
48:26
like you think of New Yorkers as just bad people,
48:29
and they're not. And, you know, everybody was
48:32
really friendly. My brother was saying that he
48:36
was going to some watch party and just people
48:40
that he never met before asked him to take their
48:42
picture and to be in a picture with them because
48:45
they were all wearing Knicks jerseys. It was
48:47
one of these examples where... As far as New
48:51
Yorkers were concerned, there was no race. There
48:53
were no ethnic issues. You know, the worst it
48:59
got during the playoffs was when Trump showed
49:01
up in Madison Square Garden and screwed over
49:03
everybody. And, you know, he got the watch parties
49:08
canceled. He gets booed during the national anthem,
49:12
and then he falls asleep during the game. And
49:15
I just feel that if Trump hadn't been at the
49:17
game, the Knicks would have won it in four. But
49:20
he was there. He destroyed the happy mojo. He
49:25
destroys everything. Yeah, so Knicks in five.
49:28
So that was good. And if you had the choice between
49:32
watching the Knicks in the NBA Finals or watching
49:36
the octagon on the White House lawn with the
49:39
MMA fighters, you would have done really better
49:43
just watching the Knicks because that was a great
49:45
series. And also, the Louisville Kings, last
49:49
Saturday, won the United Football League Championship,
49:53
defeating the defending champion D .C. Defenders
49:57
27 -20 in the United Bowl. And this was their
50:00
inaugural season, and they're coached by Louisville
50:03
native Chris Redman. And that's a big deal. Right,
50:07
yeah, it is. Because, again, it's like we have
50:10
a professional sport. It's not quite the NFL,
50:14
but it shows that there's the... the desire to
50:18
have sports in Louisville. And, you know, this
50:20
is a really good town and really greatly located,
50:23
but the unfortunate reality is that there are
50:27
teams in Indianapolis and Cincinnati and Nashville,
50:30
and Louisville is like, the teams that are there
50:35
should be in Louisville because that's where
50:36
everyone can congregate, but we don't work that
50:39
way. And we're in Kentucky. Louisville's in Kentucky,
50:43
which is really hard for Louisville. Yeah, yeah.
50:48
Well, it's a beautiful day outside, Jesse. Did
50:51
you already take your multi -mile walk this morning?
50:54
I just did three and a half miles today. Just
50:57
three and a half. I'm probably going to go out
50:58
a little later. As I say, it's a beautiful day
51:02
in the neighborhood. It is. And what's going
51:05
on? Next podcast is going to be a little while
51:09
longer. I'm doing a bit more traveling. But when
51:12
we're back, it will be number 30. Right. I'm
51:16
excited. Me too. It's interesting to see the
51:20
numbers just keep piling up. Like, oh, this is
51:22
good. Yeah. Okay. Thanks for joining us. Until
51:25
next time. So long, people. Bye. Our closing
51:31
music is by John Chamberlain.