Latest / The Bluegrass Blues Podcast / The Bluegrass Blues Podcast: Episode 6

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The Bluegrass Blues Podcast: Episode 6 · The Bluegrass Blues Podcast

0:00
Welcome to the sixth episode of the Bluegrass
0:03
Blues podcast. I'm Amy. And I'm Jesse. I think,
0:15
Amy, this week let's talk about the idea of community.
0:19
We've seen a lot of things in the news recently
0:22
where people are gathering in protest, particularly
0:25
against things like ICE and the seizure of...
0:29
um you know immigrants because of a certain administration
0:33
but there's this is also showing that people
0:37
have to stick together in these times and i think
0:40
you know a lot about the community here and you
0:44
can probably direct us on what we should be looking
0:47
for and how we should be reacting these days.
0:50
Well, to me, community is such an antidote to
0:54
all the shit that's being flung at us by this
0:58
authoritarian regime. And it's so life -affirming
1:05
because we can't do this alone. And, you know,
1:09
I have chosen this as my community. I could live
1:12
probably anywhere I want to live, at least in
1:15
the States, maybe abroad. But I am really rooted
1:20
here in Louisville, Kentucky. And that has to
1:23
do with the fact that there are people here who
1:26
share my values. You know, we don't get the national
1:29
news. We're a flyover state, you know, and you
1:32
hear about the coast, you hear about progressives
1:34
and, you know, New York or Seattle or San Francisco.
1:38
But we're here, too. We're everywhere. In fact.
1:42
It was so heartening to see what was happening
1:44
across the state for the No Kings Day rallies.
1:49
There were rallies in over 12 towns and cities
1:54
across the state. A lot of those towns are very
1:57
red. I mean, Madisonville, Hopkinsville, Franklin,
2:00
Kentucky, just all kinds of places. People showed
2:04
up to say No Kings in America. Yeah, go ahead.
2:10
I'm sorry, where are these counties? Are they
2:12
like in northern Kentucky? No, I mean they were
2:14
everywhere. Madisonville is... towards the West.
2:18
Paducah, of course, is Western Kentucky. Hopkinsville
2:21
is South Central Kentucky. There were protests
2:24
in Eastern Kentucky. They were all over the state.
2:27
Of course, they were completely under -reported
2:30
on by the corporate -owned mainstream media again.
2:33
Right. And I agree with you on that because I
2:35
was looking at the numbers. And again, it's one
2:38
of these things where you see the New York Times
2:40
was saying things like thousands of people. And,
2:43
you know, it's a matter of simple math. If there
2:45
are 2 ,000 rallies and 2 ,000 people show up
2:49
in Louisville, that's 4 million people just extrapolating,
2:53
if you're just taking Louisville as the average.
2:55
But, you know, you'd have hundreds of thousands
2:57
in New York. Philadelphia was huge. And you have
3:00
1 ,000 in small towns. So just the idea that
3:05
the mainstream media has been saying... Thousands
3:09
of people showed up for this rally and they would
3:12
carry that on into the next day of their coverage.
3:15
But go on. Well, let me let's go on. I want to
3:18
talk a little more about that, too, because as
3:20
you know, that day was also a certain person's
3:22
birthday and a certain person spent, you know.
3:26
tens of millions of dollars on this military
3:28
parade that no one showed up at. I think they
3:31
were hoping for, what, a quarter of a million
3:33
people and fewer than 20 ,000 showed up. Yeah,
3:36
and I've lived in Washington. I know what rallies
3:38
are in D .C., and I saw the pictures, and I've
3:42
been to bigger rallies in D .C. with... you know,
3:45
not the themes or not the pomp and circumstance
3:49
that they tried to deliver on this thing, this
3:52
sort of abomination they were running through
3:55
downtown Washington. So that parade was a total
4:01
failure and it wasn't reported that way. And
4:04
I agree with you on that point in that they tried
4:07
to equate. the no kings rally with this military
4:10
parade and probably gave the same amount of coverage
4:13
to both even though it's like millions of people
4:16
are protesting essentially what this uh military
4:21
parade was supposed to be and no one was showing
4:24
up for the military parade which is a big deal
4:27
in itself but in the end it becomes something
4:30
like well On this hand, this happened. On this
4:33
hand, that happened. It all balances out, and
4:35
we've covered what we're supposed to cover. And
4:37
that's been problematic in journalism for years.
4:40
So I want to go back to the positive, though.
4:45
Between 5 and 13 million people showed up on
4:49
No King's Day protests against this acting president.
4:53
Nothing like this has ever happened at this scale
4:55
in the history of the United States. And I had
4:59
just landed in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I was
5:03
going on a trip out west. And I went with three
5:06
friends, one of whom had never been to a rally
5:08
before and was a little nervous about it. So
5:11
we went into Albuquerque. and he's a bit of a
5:14
contrarian and he was like why is this important
5:18
what does this really do. So, first of all, he went
5:21
and he saw some of the things that I was so amazed
5:25
by and so heartened by was here in Louisville
5:27
you know we got a lot of older white people showing
5:30
up and that's great white people have to show
5:33
up it's it's our job to be showing up and doing
5:36
the work But in Albuquerque, I saw a lot of young
5:41
Latinx people. I saw a lot of young Native American
5:47
people, indigenous peoples. And they were out
5:52
there and they were riled up and they had signs
5:55
and messages to share. And it, of course, was
5:59
extraordinarily peaceful. There was music. There
6:02
were great speeches. But the thing is that young
6:07
people of color showed up at that rally. And
6:10
that just makes me realize that in a lot of communities
6:14
all over the country, this thing is growing.
6:17
And again, I don't think that it's on the shoulders
6:22
of people of color to be showing up. I think
6:25
the white folks absolutely have to take a stand.
6:28
make themselves uncomfortable and show up. But
6:31
it was so cool to be in Albuquerque and see this
6:34
really diverse crowd. And my friend was like,
6:37
He started to get why this was important. But
6:40
I think the point that I made that really got
6:42
him convinced was I said, OK, so maybe right
6:47
now we're not affecting policy and maybe right
6:50
now the media isn't covering us. But I will tell
6:52
you that our showing up is really important for
6:56
all of the trans kids, for all of the people
6:59
that are disappearing and their families, for
7:02
immigrants, for, you know, students from other
7:05
countries. When they see the millions of people
7:09
showing up, they see their neighbors showing
7:11
up, they see people honking their horns at these
7:14
things, they feel safer. They feel like, wow,
7:18
we're not alone. People care about us. And just
7:21
for that reason, I think it's incredibly important.
7:24
Well, it is. The fact that people are showing
7:29
up means that at least the message is getting
7:32
out there. Because I think a lot of people just
7:35
sit around and think, well, what can I do? I'm
7:38
just one person and no one's going to listen
7:41
to me. But it is a collective effort where everyone
7:45
has to participate and has to make their voices
7:50
known and heard. Because if you don't make your
7:53
voice heard, you'll just be ignored. powers that
7:57
be will continue to do what they want to do as
8:00
opposed to listening to the voices. of the people
8:03
right so you know the other thing i'm really
8:06
heartened by by my community here in Louisville
8:08
is there are a lot of ways to plug in and be
8:11
of service to this resistance one of the groups
8:15
that i'm really impressed with is LSURJ, L-S
8:19
-U -R -J, Louisville Showing Up for Racial Justice.
8:23
It's basically a bunch of white people getting
8:25
more white people involved and they're doing
8:29
really interesting work deep canvas. They're going
8:32
door to door in neighborhoods and just listening
8:35
to people and how they're feeling about their
8:37
neighbors disappearing and just... you know,
8:41
engaging in conversations and making bonds with
8:45
people. And then they have signs that show immigrant
8:49
neighbors that they're welcome here. And when
8:51
you see your neighbor with the sign, you know
8:53
that this is probably a safe place. And these
8:56
are people that you might be able to turn to
8:58
if you're in trouble. They're also training people
9:01
to show up at all kinds of events, say La Casita
9:05
or other immigrant serving places, Kentucky Refugee
9:09
Ministries. Catholic charities, you know, the
9:12
Somali community and people, white people are
9:15
showing up with yellow vests and they're on the
9:19
lookout for ICE everywhere they go. And they
9:22
have a very good training about whom to call
9:25
if they see anything ICE related. And then. They're
9:30
passing out all of these great things in Spanish
9:33
and other languages, but particularly Spanish
9:36
about know your rights. And they're passing that
9:39
out so the immigrant community understands what
9:41
their rights are. So anything that we can do
9:44
to help our neighbors, our American neighbors.
9:51
living on this soil, working really hard, oftentimes
9:56
sending money back to their families in places
9:58
where there is no economy and there is no way
10:01
to support themselves. Anything that we can do
10:04
to show them that we've got their backs, that
10:08
if they go to work, if they send their kids to
10:12
school, if they go to the hospital, that there
10:14
are going to be people there watching out for
10:16
them and making sure that ice doesn't disappear
10:18
them. that's it's incredible there are other
10:22
organizations indivisible is one to check out
10:26
50501 Kentucky has a very active chapter. Of
10:31
course, the Democratic Party is involved, and
10:35
I think it's been a bit tepid. There was something
10:39
really interesting posted by Robert Reich that
10:42
you sent me, Jesse, about what the Democratic
10:45
Party should be doing instead of just asking
10:47
us all for money. And right after you sent me
10:50
that, I just got a request from Elizabeth Warren
10:53
for money. kind of made me laugh yeah and the
10:56
thing the ironic thing about that message i sent
10:58
you was it was from Liz Cheney who you know is
11:01
like one who was one of the worst people in the
11:05
world. She was the one who was saying that democrats
11:07
were baby killers and all that other stuff and
11:10
now that she's out of favor with Republicans
11:13
she seems to have realized that her stance has
11:17
been wrong all these years in that we are in
11:20
a crisis, a political crisis, where we have a
11:24
country that's run by an authoritarian. And she's,
11:28
just some of the things she's said were amazing.
11:31
And she did point out that, you know, what we
11:35
seem to be getting from the Democratic Party
11:37
these days are a lot of emails saying, send $15
11:40
for, you know, whatever. And it's... Yeah, it's
11:46
good to fund these efforts, but we should be
11:49
seeing a return on our investment from the Democratic
11:52
Party. And I'm going to like sort of go off on
11:57
our congressman here, our Democratic congressman,
12:00
who I keep forgetting his name. I keep calling
12:02
him Morgan McGreevy and like Morgan McDonald.
12:05
I mean, Morgan McMuffin. OK, McGarvey. Anyway,
12:10
like. He should be out in the state, in the red
12:14
districts, doing the town halls that the Republicans
12:18
refuse to do. And I've seen that other Democratic
12:21
congressmen are in the country. They're going
12:23
into red districts. And when they go into these
12:26
districts, they're getting standing ovations
12:27
because people want to be heard. i i really don't
12:32
know what our guy is doing these days um i saw
12:35
his message when um the uh iran bombing happened
12:40
and it was i have to look it up but it was very
12:44
to me it was very tepid it just seemed like there
12:48
wasn't anything that he was really going out
12:51
on a limb for and then i have to say this but
12:56
Thomas Massey, who I completely disagree with
12:59
on just about everything, he's better at pointing
13:02
out that, no, this is unconstitutional. He just
13:05
says, this is unconstitutional. He sent a Twitter
13:10
message to the Speaker of the House saying, if
13:12
this was such a big deal, why didn't you call
13:14
us back from our recess? Because Congress is
13:18
supposed to vote on things like that. And McGarvey,
13:21
it just was like, oh, this is, you know, like.
13:25
war is bad okay yeah that's that's like really
13:29
going out on the limb for that one. I want to
13:31
jump in for a second I Robert Reich updated that
13:35
message from so -called from Liz Cheney and he
13:39
did say that it purported to be from Liz Cheney,
13:44
but it wasn't. She didn't send it. But it's an
13:46
excellent and important message. Nonetheless,
13:48
several of you say it originated with Dr. Pru
13:51
Lee. So he amended that statement about that
13:56
coming from Liz Cheney. But it's definitely worth
13:58
reading. It's by Robert Reich. I got it on Substack
14:03
June 23rd at 6 .30 p .m. It starts with a little
14:06
cartoon that he drew of her. Okay. Anyway, McGreevy,
14:11
McGarvey. Whatever. So community is really important.
14:16
And, you know, we can't do this alone. And we
14:19
should not expect our immigrant neighbors, our
14:22
trans neighbors, our LGBTQIA community, our women
14:27
who are seeking an abortion. Like, none of us
14:30
should be in this alone. And we're not. And so
14:33
the more that we coalesce. and we show up for
14:37
each other, the better we're going to weather
14:39
this and turn this around. I would just add one
14:42
more thing. I've been noticing that in the California
14:44
demonstrations, the local police are actually
14:48
backing the demonstrators against the ICE raids.
14:53
They're actually, like, escorting the ICE people
14:57
out of the area. And, you know, it's something
15:01
where if... The local police are really members
15:05
of this community. They should be doing things
15:07
to stop people who are showing up in masks. just
15:11
essentially seizing people off the streets for
15:14
no reason just completely unconstitutional actions
15:17
and you know the police are here to protect and
15:21
serve and this is where they have to step up
15:24
as well they're members of the community they
15:27
know the people who are being taken away and
15:30
they know that there are good people who are
15:31
being taken away and if they're not willing to
15:33
back us up on this then what's their function
15:37
here? And I know the Louisville police have had
15:40
a bad reputation for a long time, but it's times
15:44
like this when everyone has to step up and even
15:48
the police have to step up and protect us from.
15:52
kidnappers. Exactly and you know we've seen with
15:57
the Supreme Court you know we cannot that some
16:00
of the courts are doing a good job but we cannot
16:03
rely on these branches of government right now
16:08
I mean the complete the entire Republican Party
16:11
is enabling this tyrant and undermining our democracy
16:15
every day we can't rely on those people the supreme
16:18
court just ruled that it was okay to disappear
16:22
people to a third country that they have absolutely
16:26
no roots in you know and these countries some
16:29
of these countries are already in a civil war
16:32
themselves you know just terribly dangerous places
16:35
so it really is us and and you know i take heart
16:40
in the fact that i'm seeing a lot of leadership
16:42
a lot of grassroots leadership growing um and
16:46
my friends and neighbors with whom i share my
16:48
values um you know are speaking out more and
16:52
we'll go into some other issues later but uh
16:55
where do we go now well just one more point i
16:59
want to make on that in terms of you know people
17:01
who are expressing their values There are a lot
17:05
of people who have relatives who supported the
17:08
orange monster and It's up to them to also like
17:12
talk to those relatives because you know people
17:15
are saying oh, what can I do? I'm not a congressman
17:17
or whatever well you have family members who
17:20
have been misled and maybe you can direct them
17:24
to reality again because That's People are more
17:30
likely to listen to family members than they
17:32
are to listen to, you know, people making speeches
17:35
or politicians making another speech. But if
17:38
you're sitting there with your relative and saying,
17:41
you know, you see what's going on, you see that
17:43
it's as bad and you see that this isn't the values
17:46
that we were raised in as a family. Maybe that
17:50
even is a step that people can start taking on
17:52
this. Yeah, I like that a lot. I mean, there
17:56
are. people close to me that have not shared
18:00
my political values and you know things are now
18:06
starting to happen to them personally that are
18:09
going to affect their health insurance that are
18:11
going to affect their benefits that they're expecting
18:15
from the federal government and you know I want
18:19
to love them and also engage in a conversation
18:23
that can just allow them to not just see this
18:28
as something that has to happen to them to be
18:32
bad, but that things that happen to their neighbors
18:35
and their community members and their colleagues
18:37
and their friends, that that's something also
18:41
that's bad and that we should all be fighting
18:43
against. Right. And another thing, turn off Fox
18:46
News. what everyone should do because they're
18:49
just going to lie to you the whole time. And
18:51
they've always lied. And actually, I look at
18:54
Fox News probably every third day or so. I think
18:58
it's important for people on the left or central
19:01
left to be looking at what the right wing media
19:05
and frankly, all the media is disappointing.
19:08
All the mainstream media is disappointing. But
19:10
look at Fox News every once in a while, you know,
19:12
take a deep breath first. It's really illuminating
19:16
what is reported and what is not reported. Right,
19:19
yeah. And they've always done that. I think that's
19:24
their M .O. And the issue with Fox News is it's
19:27
a company owned by Rupert Murdoch, who I will
19:31
have to admit I used to work for when I was at
19:33
the Wall Street Journal. And you left. Yeah,
19:35
and I left as soon as I could. And, you know,
19:39
he also ran the New York Post. uh his accolades
19:45
are now running the Washington Post so he's taken
19:49
over there even though they will say he hasn't
19:52
but Jeff Bezos is essentially following the doctrines
19:55
of Rupert Murdoch and the New York Times really
19:58
doesn't do much in terms of you know the New
20:02
York Times is run by very rich people so you're
20:05
looking at all these media outlets that are either
20:08
in it for profit or for personal advancement
20:11
and I mean, what messages, where can we find
20:16
information? That's the other thing that I have
20:18
to start thinking of. I've been reading a lot
20:20
of Substack. In Substack, you find a lot of columnists
20:24
who have left these major news organizations
20:26
because they've been completely frustrated by
20:30
the direction they've taken. You know, like Paul
20:34
Krugman, a Nobel Prize winning economist who
20:39
worked for the New York Times is now no longer
20:42
at the Times because... they wouldn't publish
20:44
what he was writing because it didn't fit into
20:46
their narrative of what he was supposed to say,
20:50
or they would limit what he would say. Censorship.
20:53
Yeah, censorship. Jennifer Rubin, who was a conservative
20:56
and a very staunch anti -Obama person at the
21:00
Washington Post, she's left the Washington Post
21:04
because they were censoring what she had to say.
21:07
And these are very... These were huge voices
21:10
and still are huge voices. But in addition to
21:13
that, there are a lot of people who are on Substack.
21:17
Robert Reich is now on Substack. Mark Jacobs,
21:21
who does media coverage, he's also on Substack.
21:24
And he's put together a list of what the media
21:27
shouldn't be doing in terms of this attack on
21:32
Iran. And I guess, I don't know if we have more.
21:35
point out what you were saying, but we should
21:38
start talking about Iran because that does have
21:41
a huge impact on people in Kentucky. I'll just
21:44
start off just the fact that if we go to war
21:48
with Iran, the first unit that's going to be
21:51
there is the 101st Airborne, which is based in
21:54
Fort Campbell, Kentucky. This is a very important
21:58
issue in this state, although people don't seem
22:01
to realize that, that any military action that
22:05
takes place in the world, the 101st Airborne
22:07
is pretty much called on as the first line to
22:10
deal with the issues. This whole Iranian situation,
22:18
I have a hard time figuring out why we are there
22:22
in the first place. You know, the message we're
22:26
getting from the administration is that weapons
22:31
of mass destruction. And, you know, some of us
22:34
were alive during the Bush administration. And
22:36
we remember the whole weapons of mass destruction
22:38
argument and how it was all in Iraq. Yeah. And
22:44
it was all it was all bullshit. It was. an effort
22:48
to get oil, an effort to secure the oil fields
22:52
of the Middle East. And this Iran situation,
22:57
I think there's an oil interest in this as well,
23:02
but there's also, you have two... established
23:06
corrupt leaders of countries. You have Netanyahu
23:09
who's under on trial for corruption because he
23:12
was doing things like trying to get media coverage
23:16
against his enemies and getting essentially paid
23:21
off for that in exchange for passing laws that
23:25
would affect other media companies. And you've
23:28
got Donald Trump who's just got a rap sheet longer
23:30
than some convict in New York. And Iran is completely
23:35
corrupt. We don't love Iraq. No, no. We have
23:40
corrupt leaders in all these countries, and what
23:43
they've decided to do is, in order to distract
23:45
from their corruption, they're putting people's
23:48
lives in jeopardy because they will maintain
23:51
power. They will still be in power when this
23:53
is all over. There will be a lot of dead people.
23:57
when everything's ironed out. they'll still be
24:00
in charge. So, you know. And we saw that Iran,
24:04
you know, that the bases in the Middle East where
24:07
we have tens of thousands of service members,
24:09
you know, the base in Qatar and in Iraq were
24:13
targeted. So, you know, again, if we get into
24:16
this war, you think that this draft is going
24:20
to have Barron Trump and J .D. Vance's kids and
24:24
the billionaire kids? Absolutely not. You know
24:27
who it's going to be? poor people, immigrants,
24:32
people of color. Right, which is what they do
24:35
in wartime. You better not disappear all these
24:38
people. You're going to need them to fight your
24:39
corrupt, bloody wars. Yeah, which brings us back
24:44
to our local congressman and how McGarvey has
24:50
been kind of mute on all, well, I won't say he's
24:52
been mute on it, but his energy doesn't seem
24:56
to be there. Massey, again, I disagree with practically
25:01
everything he does, but Massey seems to be the
25:04
only Republican in the U .S. House who's actually
25:08
talked against Donald Trump. And Donald Trump
25:11
is like now doing his little, whatever his social
25:16
media network is, you know, writing these anti
25:19
-Massey messages. So, you know, we have to...
25:23
hope that more Republicans will finally come
25:26
to their senses, but the rest of the Kentucky
25:28
delegation isn't doing that. Well, and I want
25:31
to go back to my community comment. You know,
25:35
I'm a Jewish person here where there aren't a
25:37
lot of Jewish people. But the National Jewish
25:43
Federation basically came out with a statement
25:45
after this unconstitutional bombing of Iran by
25:51
our country, which didn't even inform any Democratic
25:54
lawmaker. And maybe a few of the Republican wusses
25:59
knew about it, but not many. and you know so
26:03
the the local federation the local Jewish federation
26:06
um which ironically is called the jewish community
26:09
of louisville it does not represent the entire
26:12
jewish community of louisville but basically
26:15
they say we extend our gratitude to the president
26:18
and to the courageous women and men of the u
26:20
.s armed forces for carrying out this operation
26:23
you know the action targeting key iranian nuclear
26:26
sites and to all who work to uphold global in
26:31
the face of escalating threats. So, you know,
26:35
basically lifting up a man who, you know, said,
26:39
you know, Nazis, you know, basically, oh, those
26:41
Nazis are okay. You know, the people in Charlottesville
26:44
and, you know, he enables Nazis. There were good
26:48
people on both sides. There were good people
26:49
on both sides. And so I helped form a group called
26:54
Jewish Louisvillians for Peace. And that happened
26:59
as a result of October 7th, which was horrible
27:01
and devastating, the attack on Israelis, and
27:06
should be condemned with every breath that's
27:09
ever taken as it regards Hamas and what's happening
27:14
in the Middle East. We put out a statement basically
27:18
saying that we categorically reject the local
27:21
Jewish Federation's expression of gratitude for
27:24
President Trump's decision to join Israel in
27:26
military action against Iran. This escalation
27:30
bypassed constitutional checks and increased
27:32
the risk to civilians across the region. It is
27:35
an act of aggression that undermines both safety
27:38
and Jewish values. And we go on. This is important.
27:43
Yeah, we're in the minority. I mean, I'm a southern
27:46
Jewish person. I'm already in the minority. But,
27:51
you know, this conflation of anti... you know,
27:55
anti -Bibi, anti -Zionism as it relates to the
27:59
occupation and oppression of Palestinians and
28:03
anti -Semitism. There is a complete conflation.
28:06
I've talked about it at local churches. But this
28:09
is not good for Jews around the world, bombing
28:13
Iran like this without the checks and balances
28:17
that we're supposed to have. And the Gaza war
28:21
continues, right? The complete obliteration.
28:24
of Gaza continues and people are starving and
28:28
dying. So, I don't know. I have a friend who
28:33
is a Trumper and we go hiking every once in a
28:36
while, although I can't be around him too often
28:38
these days. And he just assumes, because I'm
28:42
a Jewish person, every time something like this
28:44
happens, every time Bibi does something or Trump
28:48
does something for the people of Israel, I get
28:52
a call from him. And he's assuming that because
28:55
I'm a Jewish person that I'm in sync with all
28:58
of these actions. And I absolutely am not in
29:00
sync with all of these actions. I think they're
29:02
terribly anti -Jewish. I think they're anti -human.
29:07
And we have diplomats, we have diplomacy for
29:10
a reason. And I just keep thinking about these
29:12
guys. I wish they'd just get out of the way and
29:16
let other people come together and have conversations.
29:19
Is that naive? I don't think so. It's a lot less
29:23
costly of human lives and dollars, and it's not
29:29
working. This is not working. And then I have
29:32
some Jewish friends that just say, oh, you know,
29:35
from the river to the sea, they just they never
29:38
have recognized Israel. And my point to them
29:41
is this isn't working. These statements are not
29:45
working. And it's time to try something new.
29:48
And I think it's time for us to really show our
29:52
opposition to these terrible, corrupt leaders.
29:55
who are inciting war. And, you know, they're
29:58
not going to be the ones that suffer any of the
30:00
consequences. thoughts and why they're actually
30:06
inciting wars because it's the distraction from
30:08
the corruption that they're doing in general.
30:11
Meanwhile, I mean, how much has Trump enriched
30:13
himself since becoming president? You know, he's
30:16
got the Trump phones out now. He's got all these
30:19
deals with, he got a free plane from Qatar. Yeah.
30:23
I mean, tens of billions of dollars. Yeah. And
30:26
it's not only him, it's his family. And I think
30:30
in the recent congressional hearings, they had
30:34
Pam Bondi on the stand and they're saying well
30:37
you made all these deals and you made all this
30:39
money and you know isn't this like corruption
30:43
and you know she's she and the Trump people are
30:46
going just write it off as oh you're just being
30:48
liberals attacking our American values and all
30:52
this other stuff but there is just an amazing
30:56
amount of corruption in the government right
30:58
now that unfortunately is not being covered the
31:02
way it should be covered and it's all being put
31:06
in these smoke screens of I hate to say that
31:10
they're making these really life -and -death
31:14
threatening actions in order to just cover their
31:18
tracks they don't really care about like who's
31:22
going to die or who's getting hurt they just
31:24
want to cover their their money trails in order
31:27
to get more money which is what trump is doing
31:30
constantly so there's There's a huge amount of
31:35
corruption going on. Again, this is a failure
31:38
of the media which keeps doing it as a, oh, this
31:43
side is saying this, this side is saying that.
31:45
How are we supposed to know what's real? Well,
31:47
that's your job. You're supposed to, like, when
31:50
I was studying journalism, it was the idea that
31:54
you were supposed to get to the truth. There's
31:56
no, like, there can be truths on both sides,
32:02
but if... One side is lying. You have to say
32:06
it's a lie. And I think I've talked about this
32:09
on previous podcasts where we would have arguments
32:13
in the newsroom about when can we use the word
32:15
lie. And it shouldn't have been an argument at
32:19
all. It wasn't a lie. It's just that simple.
32:24
I remember when the January 6th attack on the
32:28
Capitol happened and we had a discussion on whether
32:31
we should call it a riot. And it's like, it's
32:35
a riot. Can't you see? This is like what it is.
32:38
And we, of course, we went with the statement
32:40
that it was a riot. But the fact that we had
32:43
to discuss it, to me, was just absurd. It just
32:47
didn't make any sense at all. And again, I think
32:53
the Iran bombing was a distraction because it
32:57
was, for one, I think it was Trump showing that
33:02
He was embarrassed by his parade and he wanted
33:04
to show that he was a military leader. And I
33:08
also think that in Israel or in international
33:13
coverage that Netanyahu is getting a lot of credit
33:16
for bombing Iran in the first place. And Trump
33:19
thought, oh, I'm going to get on this action.
33:22
That's what he does. And everything with him
33:25
is... I think one of the things he knows better
33:29
than most is that the American media has this
33:32
two -week attention span because everything he
33:35
says that he's going to do is going to happen
33:37
in two weeks. And what happens in those two weeks
33:41
is the media forgets what happened because some
33:45
new Trump distraction occurs. So he's going to
33:48
just keep creating distractions. giving us this
33:51
two -week time frame for everything. And then
33:54
when the two weeks are up, we're going to be
33:56
distracted by something else. And meanwhile,
33:58
Project 2025 keeps... And I'm glad you raised
34:02
that because I've been thinking, and I'm sure
34:05
other people must have been thinking this by
34:07
now, but why aren't Democrats working on a Project
34:10
2028? yeah yeah this is like three six yeah 20
34:15
20 26 20 28 we know what we want we know what
34:20
we want to see happen and the republicans had
34:23
their project 2025 out or 2024 out way before
34:29
the election everyone got a chance to read it
34:32
everyone who's now complaining that they didn't
34:34
know what was going to happen has to be a fool
34:37
because it was there it was in print so Why not
34:41
have a Democratic Project 2026, Project 2028?
34:45
This is what we're going to do because this is
34:48
what they did and this is how much damage they've
34:51
created. Again, this is something that our local
34:54
congressman as a Democrat should be pushing or
34:57
calling for. I don't know what the Democratic
35:01
think tanks are. I don't know whether they, you
35:05
know, what they're forming. But it goes back
35:08
to this idea of if we're getting like these constant
35:10
emails from the Democratic Party saying send
35:13
$15 because see what Trump did just now? Send
35:16
money. We're going to do something about it.
35:18
And we don't see what the results of the money
35:22
we're sending is producing. Right. So these are...
35:28
Again, these are times when people have to start
35:30
paying attention. We were fooled once. It goes
35:36
back to that George Bush line, you fool me once,
35:39
shame on you, fool me twice, we won't get fooled
35:42
again, which is completely... absurd but Jesse
35:45
you mentioned i i did this friend of mine that
35:48
was you know the contrarian about the rallies
35:50
who who went with me to uh the Albuquerque no
35:53
kings rally he asked because i talked to you
35:55
about you to him and i talked about the mainstream
35:58
media and he wanted to know where should he be
36:00
getting his information from you know from so
36:04
we talked about substack and you know a lot of
36:06
people read Heather Cox Richardson, Robert Reich
36:10
Paul Krugman any other sources that you're going
36:13
to right now that seem, you know? Yeah, I raised
36:19
Marc Jacobs. He covers media. I do have a couple
36:23
of other things here. Let me just do a quick
36:25
look. Who's the guy who you sent me to who's
36:33
very, Jeff Tiedrich, who's, you know, his language
36:38
is really offensive. It would be offensive to
36:41
a lot of people, but. When you read his stuff,
36:44
it's like he just points out that Trump is incompetent
36:48
and Trump is corrupt. And it's just like really
36:54
vicious language he uses, but I read him constantly
36:56
because if you look in between the lines, everything
37:00
he says is true. I agree with the Heather Cox Richardson
37:05
approach. And, you know, you can look at the
37:10
mainstream media just for headlines because you
37:14
just want to know what's going on or what the
37:16
talking points are nationally. I've been very
37:20
frustrated with television news for a long time.
37:23
I just don't, I think they're all geared toward
37:26
ratings as opposed to actually giving real information.
37:30
I'm frustrated with the local newspaper because,
37:33
again, they... want to play both sides of the
37:37
issue when they're like if you're trying to play
37:41
both sides when one side is right and one side
37:44
is wrong then you're not serving any function
37:48
at all because you have to be on the side of
37:51
what's right and a lot of mainstream media coverage
37:57
is well, we don't know what we should do. The
38:01
issues are supposed to be so complicated that
38:05
we're not going to solve them here. So we're
38:07
just going to throw out all this information
38:08
for you to look at and you pick whatever side
38:11
you want. And that's the wrong approach because
38:13
in the last election, which still bothers me,
38:17
one of the most frustrating things I remember
38:21
listening to were the people who were undecided.
38:25
Right. Because... All the way up to the election
38:28
day. All the way up to election day. And I'm
38:30
just thinking, how could they be undecided in
38:35
that last election? Because everyone who voted
38:38
in the last election was alive when Donald Trump
38:40
was president. And do they not remember everything
38:44
that happened in those first four years? And
38:47
the other frustrating thing, these things just
38:50
keep popping into my head, so I seem to be rambling.
38:53
But we had... two women who were the best presidential
38:59
candidates we've had this century. Probably for
39:04
the past, since 1900, maybe. Maybe, forever.
39:09
Since Roosevelt, at least since Franklin Roosevelt.
39:11
But these women were exemplary at what their
39:17
knowledge base was, on their compassion. and
39:21
on just their ability to lead because they got
39:26
so far against so many hurdles. And in the end,
39:30
they were undermined by this totally corrupt
39:33
rapist thief. Convicted felon. Yeah, who's still
39:39
in the White House, who said he was going to
39:41
be a dictator on day one. And people are saying,
39:45
oh, I didn't think he really meant that. Or that
39:47
people who support him are saying things like,
39:49
well, I voted for this, but I didn't expect him
39:53
to do this. When he had done these things in
39:55
his first administration, like, you know, farmers
39:58
are saying, well, we're going to vote for Trump,
40:01
even though he screwed them over in his first
40:02
administration. Or ethnic groups had voted for
40:07
Trump, even though he said he was going to get
40:08
them. And one of the amazing things I've seen
40:14
in recent coverage is that a lot of immigrants
40:18
voted for Trump because they thought that black
40:22
people were immigrants, black Americans were
40:24
immigrants, and they thought that he was going
40:25
for them first, which just, there's this level
40:32
of stupidity in the country. I have to say, it's
40:37
a Republican -inspired stupidity because that's
40:40
why they take the money away from schools. That's
40:43
why they don't want you to learn anything in
40:45
terms of American history unless it's a sanitized
40:48
version of what the Daughters of the Confederacy
40:51
had pushed for years and years in our textbooks.
40:55
And so there's this just this dumbing down of
41:00
the American populace. And, you know, the rest
41:03
of the world looks at us like we're a bunch of
41:05
idiots. So it's just really, we have to start
41:12
thinking in terms of there's nothing wrong with
41:15
being intelligent. There's nothing wrong with
41:17
knowledge. There's nothing wrong with teaching
41:19
people what the past was because the past will...
41:23
History repeats itself. Yeah, and the past will,
41:25
knowledge of the past will prevent you from doing
41:27
the mistakes of the past. And we just keep making
41:31
mistakes. We do. And can I segue into the arts?
41:35
Yes, definitely. So I got to take a really fun
41:39
trip, and I went to Chicago, and I went to the
41:45
Chicago Art Institute, which is such a world
41:48
-class art museum. Oh, my God. It's a great museum,
41:50
yeah. i also did a boat tour there an architectural
41:53
boat tour on the Chicago River and it was just
41:56
fascinating i heard i heard i learned all about
41:59
these architectural styles in Chicago um and
42:03
you know the Chicago art style and and bow house
42:07
and and the brutalists and modernists and postmodernists
42:12
it was just it was so great it was so fun and
42:15
then I went to Albuquerque Santa Fe Taos and
42:19
then went to the Telluride Bluegrass Festival
42:22
and one thing I want to share about the Telluride
42:25
Bluegrass Festival is I've been going to bluegrass
42:28
festivals for the last 33 -34 years and I've
42:33
been to Telluride previously. but usually these
42:37
bluegrass festivals are a bunch of white people
42:40
playing you know Appalachian string music for
42:43
a bunch of white people um and what happened
42:47
at the Telluride bluegrass this year was on the
42:50
first day on Thursday there was um a person named
42:55
Olive Klug. Olive Klug is from Portland and they
43:00
go by they them pronouns and they're charting
43:05
a unique neurodivergent free -spirited queer
43:09
path through the contemporary folk scene and
43:13
Not only was their set amazing, olive club, but
43:17
they had something to say about this administration.
43:21
And they used their platform on the stage in
43:25
front of, you know, thousands of people and,
43:28
you know, privileged white people primarily to
43:31
say this is bullshit. And we we need to, you
43:34
know, be standing up and doing everything we
43:36
can to to throw down this government. So that
43:40
was really impressive. And then. There was another
43:44
band that was so impressive. They were called
43:47
New Dangerfield. And New Dangerfield basically
43:52
is an all -star band who assembled in 2023 to
43:56
restore an awareness of black string bands and
44:00
to reclaim that heritage. And the band is named
44:04
after Dangerfield Newbie, a former slave who
44:07
died fighting at Harper's Ferry. They just lifted
44:13
up so much black music history. Their artisanship,
44:18
their musicianship was impeccable. They were
44:21
human. I mean, you really formed a connection
44:24
with them, and they're making great music. So
44:26
check out New Dangerfield. And another artist
44:29
that I was so impressed by, never had heard of,
44:32
is named Ken Pomeroy. And Ken is a young, native
44:38
Oklahoma Cherokee woman. who writes amazing songs.
44:44
And she actually has gotten a song on Hulu series,
44:48
Reservation Dogs, and in the 2024 movie, Twisters.
44:53
She is an excellent songwriter. She is incredibly
44:57
gifted, very young. So, you know, we had Cherokee,
45:01
we had black, we had neurodivergent queer, so
45:07
much diversity at this Bluegrass Festival. when
45:11
i was in Santa Fe i learned that Santa Fe is
45:14
the third largest art market in the country and
45:18
you know Santa Fe that is not a large city at
45:21
by any stretch of the imagination maybe 7 500
45:24
000 people um but you know third behind um New
45:30
York and LA is what i'm assuming and we just
45:33
saw so much gorgeous work by indigenous peoples,
45:38
by women, by queer artists. And it was just everywhere.
45:43
Just an explosive art market. I got to go to
45:46
the Georgia O 'Keeffe Museum and they had a free
45:50
audio tour in the Georgia O 'Keeffe Museum. And
45:53
it just, I was so inspired by the art and the
45:57
music. So I was really grateful that I got to
46:00
take a little bit of a respite from. fighting
46:03
the man, you know, fighting tyranny and all the
46:05
good things. And, you know, enjoying art, but
46:09
also plugging into the resistance in an artistic
46:13
way. And just for people in the Louisville area,
46:18
for those of us or for those of you who can't
46:22
get out of the state to enjoy the arts, we have
46:24
an art community here as well. uh the Speed Museum
46:27
is consistently offering really impressive exhibits
46:32
um I went last week and I took my grandchildren
46:37
there and if you go into the basement of the
46:39
Speed Museum there's just this area that supports
46:42
children and toys puppets uh chalkboards they
46:47
have these interactive um events that you can
46:52
go into a room and wave your arms and this magic
46:57
lights appear on screen. And my five -year -old
47:02
grandson was just running crazy in it because
47:05
it was just so impressive. And there's a cultural
47:09
pass every summer. And so for those of us who
47:13
raise kids on lower incomes, too, there's this
47:16
cultural pass. And you can go to a number of
47:19
institutions for free all summer long. My grandson
47:22
is in like a space camp. at the Louisville Science
47:28
Museum downtown. So there are plenty of things
47:32
to do there. And also, in terms of just the theater
47:38
arts, we're in the middle of Shakespeare in the
47:41
Park in Louisville. It's in Central Park. um
47:46
many shows through the week I've been to two
47:48
productions so far the first was much of it Much
47:52
Ado About Nothing the Shakespearean comedy um
47:55
with a very diverse staff or very diverse cast
47:58
of the uh like uh half the cast was black and
48:03
uh it was just you know it's Shakespeare with
48:07
a multicultural cast which is very impressive
48:10
and uh last week i went to see Hamlet and Hamlet
48:14
was played by a woman, as a woman, and as a lesbian
48:19
woman. So, you know, it's... I've been going
48:22
to a lot of drag daddy productions. They're amazing.
48:25
Yeah, but this is like just straight Shakespeare,
48:28
redoing the cast. And I have to say that when
48:32
I saw this production of Hamlet... I finally
48:35
understood what the play was about because I
48:38
read Hamlet years ago. I've seen Hamlet performed
48:42
on in movies and on stage and I just never got
48:45
it and I don't know what it was about having
48:48
a woman doing the role but I was focused more
48:51
on what she was saying and what the what was
48:54
happening there and I understood the play and
48:56
there were things that I hadn't realized before
48:59
like You know, the character Polonius, this father
49:03
who gives his son advice. He's a pompous ass.
49:07
And I didn't know that until I saw this play.
49:10
Or the fact that Ophelia was driven mad by, you
49:15
know, by Hamlet's madness. And you look at Hamlet
49:20
now and you see that he's, I can see him now
49:24
as a crazy teenager. which I didn't think of
49:28
before. I thought Hamlet was this older guy who
49:30
knew what he was doing. But it's a teenager who
49:33
essentially has a psychopathic episode where
49:39
he's seeing these visions, which is kind of common
49:42
in Shakespearean plays where ghosts and witches
49:45
are around. But he was essentially having a mental
49:48
breakdown. And his breakdown happened to coincide
49:52
with something that really happened. Now I understood
49:56
it better and there are more, I think this is
50:00
going through July or into August. Yeah, and
50:04
there are more plays coming. They're going to
50:06
be redo, they went through the Much Ado About
50:08
Nothing, but they're going to be doing it every
50:10
now and then. Hamlet's going to go out throughout
50:13
the summer. They're going to have like a musical
50:15
ballet production of one of the Shakespeare plays
50:18
and they have this thing called uh i don't think
50:22
it's like late night Shakespeare where they just
50:24
do improv uh at after 10 o 'clock and like this
50:29
audience will shout out things to do as Shakespearean
50:32
characters so it's it's free and it's it's downtown
50:37
and the amphitheater is nice they serve food
50:40
they serve um wine and and alcohol uh and the
50:47
nights I've gone were the nights of the first
50:49
production which were like sort of like the last
50:53
dress rehearsal and it really is very impressive
50:57
and it was packed on both occasions so if you
51:01
get a chance it's a good thing to take the children
51:03
to it's if you're a high school student and you
51:05
want to know what Shakespeare is about or if
51:08
you're in a class this is where you go to watch
51:10
it actually being performed and Again, Louisville
51:16
has a lot to offer in terms of just the arts
51:19
and entertainment. And I wanted to tell you,
51:22
you may not know this, Jesse, but... Shakespeare
51:25
Behind Bars is a program that brings Shakespeare
51:29
to incarcerated individuals in Kentucky. And
51:32
it was founded by the folks at Kentucky Shakespeare
51:34
in 1995. And it started at Luther Luckett Correctional
51:38
Complex. But they basically work with inmates
51:42
to take on all these roles. So they play the
51:45
women, you know, etc. And then you get to have
51:49
a conversation with the actors at the end of
51:53
the play. And the recidivism rate for these actors
51:59
that are incarcerated is so much lower than the
52:03
recidivism rate for other incarcerated individuals.
52:09
what happens as a result of being in Shakespeare
52:12
behind bars is that they build community there
52:15
at the prison um they get vulnerable and they
52:20
start to i mean they're playing women and some
52:22
of them you know are sexual offenders and they
52:25
talk about like learning things a new way by
52:29
playing these roles and being in the you know
52:31
being the woman and It is so mind blowing and
52:35
it not only is so helpful to have these kinds
52:40
of programs in our prisons, but it's really good
52:45
for the people that get to experience the plays
52:48
because it breaks down your stereotypes and prejudices
52:52
about these people who did make. a terrible decision.
52:57
Many of them were young, but terrible decisions.
53:01
And it humanizes them. And then you connect with
53:04
them on a human level. And this is an innovation
53:07
that came right and has national recognition.
53:10
That's fascinating because just the fact that
53:13
you said that the men are playing women, that's
53:16
what they did in Elizabethan times. Exactly.
53:18
Where women weren't allowed on stage and so the
53:21
men were doing women's parts. so it's almost
53:25
like you're going back in history in in presenting
53:29
what Shakespeare was in its original form. Exactly.
53:33
It's fascinating. There's, you know, again, there's
53:35
so much to do here. And it goes back to this,
53:38
what we started with, this idea of community.
53:41
There's so many things that are happening in
53:43
this area that are representative of what community
53:48
really is. And it's, community is education,
53:51
community is compassion, and community is just...
53:56
being decent neighbors and watching out for neighbors.
54:00
It's a very almost religious value where you're
54:04
supposed to watch out for your neighbor and you're
54:06
supposed to take care of others. That's why we're
54:10
here. Yeah. Right? Yeah. So this is just things
54:15
for people to think about. I also wanted to mention
54:17
one other thing I'm doing. So I work a 12 -step
54:22
program, and I have for, gosh, 16 years or so.
54:27
There are other people in this program that share
54:31
my political values, but in a 12 -step program,
54:33
you don't talk about outside issues. You're just
54:36
focused on the recovery process. So we have formed
54:40
a grief group, and we're studying a text on grief
54:44
through our recovery program, but it's an outside...
54:50
meeting we meet monthly and there's like a dozen
54:53
of us and we are applying the principles of this
54:58
uh grief recovery book to how we're processing
55:02
this administration and what's happening to our
55:05
country and you know talk about community so
55:09
now you know there are people that you see in
55:11
these meetings right and you know that they share
55:14
these political values and you're you're building
55:17
community um outside of the meetings um so that
55:22
we can all coalesce and There are people who've
55:25
never been to a political rally, a march, have
55:28
never used the Five Calls app, called their senators,
55:31
congresspeople, et cetera, that are now really
55:35
engaged. And there's a ripple effect happening
55:37
because now that they're engaged, they're telling
55:40
their friends and they're telling their family
55:42
members, et cetera. You know, I go back to community.
55:46
I'm the president of my neighborhood association
55:48
in Louisville. And I have never lived in such
55:53
a kind, caring community. And my next door neighbor
55:56
is a Trumper who packs heat constantly and wears
56:00
an NRA hat. And he has been the loveliest neighbor.
56:05
He looks out for us. He bought us pizza the first
56:08
night we moved into the house. He knows I'm Jewish.
56:12
goes to a very kind of evangelical fundamentalist
56:16
Christian church, and we have a bond. And you
56:19
know what that bond is? We care about each other
56:22
as human beings and as neighbors. So it's just
56:26
absolutely profound what can happen when we coalesce
56:30
and band together and find common ground. You
56:33
made a reference to a Five Calls app. What's
56:36
that? Yeah, the Five Calls app is really cool.
56:40
I've got it. Let me pull it up. What little bucket
56:45
on my phone did I put it in? Hang on one sec.
56:51
Five calls. It sounds like something where people
56:54
are just keeping in touch with others. Yeah,
56:58
it's an amazing app, and it's used so that we...
57:03
I mean, it like populates the issues, the current
57:07
issues, and it populates who our congresspeople
57:10
and senators and whatnot are. Here it is, five
57:13
calls. So if you look at your app store, I have
57:17
an iPhone. The logo has five blue stars or five
57:22
white stars on a blue background. And right now,
57:26
what pops up for me is my location is, and it
57:29
has my location. What's important to you? It
57:31
asks you a question. What's important to you?
57:34
So the top things on mine are oppose Trump attorney
57:40
email Beau for federal court judge. Call your
57:43
senators. Stop U .S. involvement in the Israel
57:46
-Iran conflict. Call senators and house rep.
57:51
hr1 the one big beautiful bill act call senators
57:54
oppose the sale of public lands in the one big
57:58
beautiful bill act call senators etc i mean obviously
58:02
you have a lot of choices but you know you pick
58:05
five that are important to you and it takes like
58:08
five minutes to use this app to call the senators
58:12
to send an email etc it is so brilliant so uh
58:16
if you want an easy uh way to participate in
58:20
saving our democracy, download the Five Calls
58:24
app and, you know, make a few calls every day,
58:27
every other day. You'll feel so good about it.
58:31
I'll have to do that. Just one thing I wanted
58:34
to raise and just a correction from our last
58:37
podcast. had misplaced where Massey was representing,
58:43
I fixed that earlier in this podcast. So I'm
58:48
glad that I got to do that. And what else do
58:53
we have to talk about? Are we going to wrap it
58:55
up? I think we're good. Yeah. Thanks, Jesse.
58:58
Yeah, and everybody, we have our website. Go
59:01
to the website where you can hear this podcast.
59:04
This is our number six. We have posts on other
59:08
things as well. Let us know what you want to
59:13
hear too. And take a look at the sub stacks we
59:15
recommended because that will keep you informed.
59:17
So thanks everybody. Hope to hear from you soon.
59:21
Take care. Our closing music is by John Chamberlain.
59:31
Thank you.