Latest / The Bluegrass Blues Podcast / The Bluegrass Blues Podcast: Episode 25

Transcript

The Bluegrass Blues Podcast: Episode 25 · The Bluegrass Blues Podcast

0:00
This is episode 25 of the Bluegrass Blues podcast.
0:03
I'm Jesse and I'm Amy I'd like to start off just
0:15
talking about how I feel about what's going on
0:21
in the world But it's also just how upsetting
0:25
everything is because I'm finding that when I
0:28
look at anything on the Internet, especially
0:31
in social media, I always end up getting angry.
0:34
And that's not good for anybody's health. It's
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not good for my health. You have blood pressure
0:41
issues. It's blood pressure issues and other
0:43
things, but it sort of exacerbates the problems,
0:47
physical problems that people have. But, you
0:51
know, it's just this idea of how do you cope
0:54
with things like this? And you were talking about...
0:57
There are certain issues involving this as well.
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Yeah. So, you know, I, for today and yesterday
1:05
and the day before, I am doing pretty well. And
1:08
I listened to this woman talk, Julia Hotz, H
1:14
-O -T -Z. She wrote a book called The Connection
1:17
Cure, The Prescriptive Power of Movement, Nature.
1:22
art, service, and belonging. And I started to
1:25
think, and she says, she describes these not
1:27
just as hobbies, but as social prescriptions
1:30
that doctors around the world are using to address
1:33
deep human needs and improve mental and physical
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health in tandem with traditional medicine. And
1:40
so I started to think about why, why am I doing
1:43
okay while the world just, you know, seems like
1:47
it's completely falling apart. You know, and
1:50
you and I have been out in nature. We've gone
1:53
to Bernheim. You have a place out there, actually,
1:57
in nature. And it lowers your cortisol to be
2:02
out in nature. And then movement, you're walking
2:05
seven miles a day, right? I used to walk five
2:10
miles a day. Now I'm trying to push it up to
2:12
walking seven miles under two hours. So that's
2:16
my exercise. Physically, I'm in better shape
2:23
than I was when I moved back to Kentucky because
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when I left San Francisco, I was weighing like
2:29
in the 200-pound range, and I measured myself
2:31
today, and I'm like 178. Wow. Yeah, you're looking
2:35
good, Jesse. Keep up the good work. And I hike.
2:39
and walk and garden. I've been in the salt pool
2:44
over at the Home of the Innocents, which has
2:46
been unbelievably helpful. What's the Home of
2:48
the Innocents? The Home of the Innocents houses
2:51
young people, children who are orphaned or have
2:57
certain kinds of developmental or physical disabilities,
3:01
and they do wonderful. wonderful job with the
3:05
young people and this salt pool that they have
3:08
the kids can go in and they've got like you can
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they've got like a wheelchair kind of thing that
3:14
goes in the pool and they're all these ways to
3:17
have kids with disabilities in in the water and
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you said a salt pool yeah it's a salt pool it's
3:23
very salty and so the buoyancy in there is unbelievable
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and it's warm and everything and it's very healing
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so people they they use that a lot for rehab
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and stuff and and i've been spending time in
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there and it's for someone with arthritis like
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i have you know my feet and my joints and everything
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it's like i get such a workout in this salt pool
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jesse it's just unbelievable and then i'm not
3:49
fighting gravity the way i am you know when we're
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pounding the pavement and stuff it's been awesome
3:53
so movement boosts serotonin and dopamine And,
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of course, we say when we're older, you move
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it or you lose it. You know, we've got to keep
4:04
moving. So nature, movement, and then service,
4:07
helping others or volunteering. And this increases
4:11
purpose and reduces isolation. And I am, you
4:17
know, I am on the board of Feed Louisville, which,
4:20
you know, is tackling food insecurity. And we're
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also, like, we are rescuing, like, hundreds of
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thousands of tons of food from farms, from all
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this, even like grocery stores, like Publix,
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when their stuff expires, we get it right after
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the expiration. Do they call you or you just
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go in and know where it is? We have a whole transportation
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network and we're totally plugged in with them
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and so we go and pick up stuff. And then we have
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chefs in the kitchen, and they're making over
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1 ,000 meals a day, very nutrient -dense meals.
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And we're getting those out not only to people
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living on the streets who are houseless, but
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also to more than 20 feeding partners. And these
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are nonprofits that might be working with, say,
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reentry programs for people that are leaving
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the justice system or drug addiction or whatever.
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And so the nonprofits can do what they primarily
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do, and then we take care of the food. food for
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their people so okay and you said this is free
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to the people you're giving it to yes well there
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are some um non -profit partners that we have
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that pay for the food but the food they give
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out to people is free yeah so service and then
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belonging engaging in community groups you know
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to combat loneliness and foster social connection
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And I am the president of my neighborhood association
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here in Old Louisville and, you know, fostering
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this sense of neighborhood and neighbors providing
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mutual aid for each other. And maybe somebody
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just, you know, an older person can't get out
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when it's yucky out and somebody's going to drive
6:06
to the grocery store for them or mow their lawn
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or, you know, weed for them and things like that.
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So the sense of belonging is really important.
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And lastly, the arts, participating in creative
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outlets. Of course, this reduces stress a great
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deal. I sing in a semi -professional choir that
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I've talked about, Voces Nove. When I came over
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to Jesse's to record the podcast today, he was
6:30
playing his guitar. He's a really good guitarist.
6:34
And you go to the arts. You go to the Speed Museum.
6:37
You go to shows. Right, and they're opening up
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that concert series on the Waterfront, aren't
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they? Yeah, Waterfront Wednesday is super fun.
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And if you're in the Louisville area, these are
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free concerts. And they go all through the summer.
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It's starting, actually, April 22nd. And it starts
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at 6 o 'clock and it's at the waterfront right
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by the Big Four Bridge. And it's every month,
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April 22nd, May 27th, June 24th, July 29th, which
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is my birthday, August 26th, and September 23rd.
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And there's really good bands. Over the Rhine
7:20
is coming, Old 97s, War and Treaty. uh modi small
7:25
time napoleon really fun and free and chill they
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are so much fun so hope to see a lot of you out
7:34
there well there also is uh i saw this week that
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they're doing like a regular series of concerts
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at paris town hall uh bluegrass related uh i
7:45
i'm not sure if they're free no they are free
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because it tells people like if you want to come
7:50
there bring a bring a blanket. So that's another
7:54
thing. And I don't think people take advantage
7:56
of all the free stuff you can do. No, there's
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a lot of free stuff in Louisville. Given the
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economic situation we're in these days, anything
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free is just, it works very well. The issue now
8:09
is if you're driving, you have to pay for gas,
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and the gas prices are really high, but at least
8:14
you don't have to pay for a ticket to go to whatever
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these events are. Right. And I haven't been to
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any of the concerts on the waterfront. Oh, they're
8:21
fun. I'll drag you out there. Yeah. This is like,
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there was also some story about, well, never
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mind. That was something else. So what else is
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on your list for concerts? Oh, well, I'm seeing
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Rhiannon Giddens, who's with the Carolina Chocolate
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Drops. She's coming to Paristown Point, and I'm
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going to see her Sunday. And that's going to
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be fun. And then Rompfest, which is a big bluegrass
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festival, I'm going to that in June. That's in
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Owensboro. And the Punch Brothers are going to
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be there. I'm with her, Sam Bush. And it's very
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inexpensive for a festival. It's less than $200
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for four days. And you can camp out there, which
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I'm going to do. But we also have Berber and
9:06
Beyond. Yeah, which is not cheap. Yeah, I know.
9:08
And Louder Than Life. Those are good festivals,
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though. But you've got to fork out some dough
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for those. And they are multiple -day festivals
9:16
as well. Good acts. The last multiple -day festival
9:20
I went to was in Belgium. And that was like three
9:23
days. at a certain point at my age you go to
9:29
like one of these festivals and it's all young
9:31
people and everybody's really having a good time
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and i'm thinking i'm too old to be here yeah
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but i like the music so i want to go there i
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remember uh years ago when i was in belgium um
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i went to um worked or rock worked or is the
9:47
big festival in belgium it's like they have the
9:49
glastonbury festival in england and all these
9:52
other things but that's sort of on that circuit
9:55
And I remember the last time and the last day
10:00
I was at one of these festivals, I was kind of
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wiped out and I saw this guy with two kids and
10:06
his shirt said, Never too old for rock and roll.
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I love that. My son was with me, and I told him,
10:13
if I ever wear a shirt like that, you can shoot
10:15
me. It just seems so weird. I like it. It was
10:20
fun. You don't age out. I went to Merlefest,
10:25
which is the Doc Watson and Merle Watson, his
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son's festival out at Wilkesboro, North Carolina.
10:32
I went to that for over 20 years. That's a fantastic
10:36
bluegrass festival. It's always at the end of
10:39
April. Sometimes it's the same weekend as Derby,
10:42
which is fine with me. I'm not a big Derby person.
10:44
And then last year I went to the Telluride Bluegrass
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Festival in Telluride, Colorado, which is absolutely
10:50
stunning. Oh, my God. So for me now, Headliners
10:56
has great shows and stuff, but I just think I
10:58
don't want to stand for concerts anymore. So
11:03
you're going to see a lot more young people at
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those venues. Well, young people are going to
11:06
stand. I remember seeing this week an Adele concert,
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and it was in a concert hall. I'm not sure where
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it was. But there was one guy who was a big fan.
11:16
He was standing and dancing, and people were
11:18
complaining that he was in the way. So the ushers
11:21
were about to... take him out and adele stops
11:25
the concert uh and says in the mic leave him
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alone and said that everybody should be dancing
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so that was that was uh that's one of the things
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you have to realize when you go to concerts these
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days you you're gonna have to stand if it's a
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not you don't stand in the orchestra when the
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orchestra plays but you stand when it's a rock
11:44
band or or some kind of um you know uh uh more
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I can't say it's more sociable music because
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all music is sociable. It's more youth -oriented.
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And youth -oriented is going to get more interesting
12:01
stuff. In my many walks around Louisville, I
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constantly walk around Louisville, and I see
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that at the... The theater on 4th Street. I forget
12:12
the name of it. The Palace. The Palace, right.
12:15
And the Mercury Ball. There's going to be things
12:16
like an Earth, Wind & Fire is going to show up.
12:19
The comedian Ali Wong is going to be here soon.
12:23
Who's the, John, what's his name? I forget his,
12:27
it's this young comedian. He's going to be there.
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Earth, Wind & Fire were there. They've had good
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concerts. You know what also I need to drag you
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I keep saying I need to drag you There's a really
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cool venue called The Monarch, and they have
12:45
members that support it, but you can go to shows.
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It's kind of like being in a big living room,
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and they bring lots of really good folk acts
12:55
and things like that, and it's very chill. It's
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on Bardstown Road in a former Bierno's Italian
12:59
restaurant building, The Monarch, and it's got
13:02
a big monarch butterfly. Speaking of monarchs...
13:05
Oh, so that's why you were having the monarch
13:07
butterfly at the demonstration? Well, that's
13:10
the connection, but no, that's not why I did
13:13
it. The only monarch I want is the monarch butterfly.
13:17
I don't want another orange monarch. So I want
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to tell everybody, April 20th is the deadline
13:25
to register to vote in Kentucky's May primary
13:28
election, and that's May 19th. So please be sure
13:32
to read up on these races. Some of them are more
13:36
difficult to get information about. You know,
13:40
we have some judge races. Of course, we have
13:43
primaries. The big, big race that people are
13:47
looking at is the Kentucky Senate race where
13:50
Mitch McConnell, who served in the Senate for
13:53
42 years. We have a fighter jet coming over.
13:57
A fighter jet. Oh, you know, Thunder. Thunder
13:59
over Louisville is tomorrow. Right, so they're
14:01
practicing. You're going to hear fighter jets
14:02
today. Woo -woo! That's our excitement. And the
14:05
fun thing about Thunder over Louisville is it's
14:07
going to rain all day. day so that should be
14:10
fun. I'm supposed to hike tomorrow like a long
14:12
wildflower hike and I'm wondering if they're
14:14
gonna it's in Lexington I wonder if they're gonna
14:16
cancel I'm not sure I really want to do a long
14:18
hike in the rain. No I would not want to do that
14:21
you just end up sick and you know it's there
14:24
are other things happening like my well since
14:28
we're talking about the rain coming tomorrow
14:29
I was going to go to my grandson's t -ball his
14:32
first t -ball game but It's in the morning, so
14:36
I don't know if it's going to happen because
14:37
it's going to rain. So that would be interesting.
14:40
So do you want to talk about the Senate race?
14:42
Yes, yeah, yeah. Let's do it. Okay, so right
14:46
now the candidates for the Republicans are Andy
14:50
Barr, Nate Morris, and Daniel Cameron. The candidates
14:55
for the Democrats that I know of are Charles
14:58
Booker and Amy McGrath. And Pamela Stevenson,
15:03
who has like 3%. Who's lieutenant governor? That's
15:07
not her. No, it's not her. But she is the head
15:10
of something in the House minority. She's great.
15:14
Also, we have a mayoral race coming up, so that's
15:17
going to be of interest. And... Shemeika Parrish,
15:22
right? Shemeika Parrish is running for mayor,
15:24
but she probably... Given Louisville. She's awesome,
15:29
by the way, everybody. I have her yard sign in
15:31
my front yard. She's a really dedicated public
15:34
servant. And, you know, she's been houseless.
15:37
She's been hungry. She knows the needs of the
15:40
people. She's for real. She's been an advocate
15:42
for decades. I would love to see her be. Craig
15:47
Greenberg. So out of touch with the average.
15:50
He's out of touch with what Louisville is. He's
15:53
out of touch with... He's a developer. Rich.
15:56
Yeah, that's why he's building a new hockey stadium.
15:59
But the other part of it, too, is that he sold
16:01
us out to the Trump administration by allowing
16:04
ICE to do whatever it wants to do here. And the
16:08
difference between here and other places is that
16:10
ICE is here. And people are demonstrating against
16:14
them, but it's not like Minneapolis or... Although
16:18
I'm on Signal Chats, and we are showing up at
16:22
the ICE app. It's an ICE office not far from
16:25
our house, Jesse. And people are going in just
16:28
for a regular immigration appointment, and they're
16:30
getting kidnapped. Taken away, yeah. So, yeah,
16:34
well, the election is coming up, and we've been
16:37
talking about this constantly for... our past
16:40
few podcasts and honestly it looks like it's
16:44
going to be Andy Barr against Charles Booker
16:46
when you when you get down to all of it and the
16:52
Andy Barr is Trump yeah Andy Barr no Andy Barr
16:56
is Trump light he's trying to be Trump but he's
16:58
not he's not doesn't have the balls to do it
17:01
so let's insult him for a while but you know
17:05
it's the idea that Anyone is running as a Republican,
17:11
as a Trump supporter. And all three of them are.
17:14
Yeah, but given the fact that Kentucky is probably
17:19
worse off than it was before Trump came into
17:23
power, there's nothing to the... For a state
17:30
that has as many poor people and sick people
17:32
as Kentucky has, the fact that they're still
17:36
going to vote for people like... Andy Barr or
17:39
Craig Greenberg. They're voting for millionaires.
17:43
And I was reading a story about Thomas Massey.
17:46
I didn't know he had like a 1 ,500 -acre farm
17:48
here. But, you know, for poor people in this
17:54
state, why don't they vote for someone who knows
17:57
what they're going through? Because rich people
17:59
don't know what they're going through. And Mitch
18:05
was the senator for 42 years. And my question
18:07
to you, Jesse, was, is Kentucky better off 42
18:11
years after Mitch's? And you even remember being
18:14
at the Courier -Journal when he first ran. Yeah,
18:16
let's talk about his first campaign. It was against
18:19
Dee Huddleston, who was the Democrat Dee Huddleston.
18:22
Huddleston had this issue where he wasn't always
18:25
showing up at congressional. meetings or congressional
18:30
hearings. And Mitch used that as his campaign.
18:36
Anyone who was here 42 years ago remembers these
18:40
ads because they were so distinctive. It was
18:42
essentially the voiceover saying, where's Dee
18:47
Huddleston? And this guy is running around with
18:49
bloodhounds trying to track him down and he's
18:52
not anywhere. And so this was like when I started
18:55
working at the Courier back in, wow. 1984. That's
19:03
when I met you. Yeah. Okay, so I graduated from
19:07
Columbia in 1984. Oh, it was before. Yes, you're
19:11
right. It was before that because I was in, after
19:14
I left grad school, I came to Louisville. And
19:21
I remember talking about I remember watching
19:24
the ads because when you're in the newsroom,
19:26
you're looking at what's going on on TV in case
19:29
anything major happens and there's a development
19:33
where you have to report on it. But the ads at
19:35
that time, I'm going to say something good about
19:39
Mitch, and I hate to say this, but his ads...
19:43
were so much more humane than the ads we're seeing
19:45
today. They're just, like, I could see... Even
19:48
though he was calling the bloodhounds out for
19:50
Dee Huddleston? Yeah. That was an attack ad back
19:52
then. It was an attack ad, but it wasn't like...
19:54
But so he opened the door for attack ads. Right,
19:57
he was... I don't think you should say anything
19:58
nice about Mitch. Okay, he was using... Well,
20:01
the ads that he were using are not... were not
20:04
as offensive as the ads we see today because
20:06
the ads he used made people laugh. It was just
20:10
a stupid ad, but it got the point across. Whereas
20:13
today, the ads are, hate your neighbor, let everybody
20:18
get a gun, and everything Trump does is right.
20:23
That's what the Republican Party is in Kentucky
20:26
these days, which, again, makes no sense to me
20:28
because we're only... The problems with elections,
20:34
not only Citizen United, which is the thing that
20:38
the Supreme Court approved that allowed corporations
20:41
to give as much money as they wanted. Because
20:45
corporations are people, Jesse. According to
20:47
Mitt Romney. But, you know, the fact that money
20:55
is so prevalent. would make you think that you
20:59
should vote for people who don't have a lot of
21:01
money. And I think that's why New Yorkers went
21:03
for Zoran Mondami, because he didn't come across
21:07
as... My moneyed friends there, even the Democrats,
21:11
moneyed friends, did not vote for him. They went
21:14
for Cuomo, because they're moneyed people. Democrats.
21:17
People with money don't care about people who
21:20
are poor. I won't go that far, because there
21:22
are people with money who do care. But there
21:25
are... billionaires who could be supporting if
21:29
they were really altruistic they would be giving
21:32
money to groups that encourage or improve the
21:36
lives of poor people as opposed to hoarding or
21:39
well and typically it seems like rich people
21:42
do vote for their best interests right but poor
21:45
people don't vote for their best interests well
21:48
because rich people have bought ads that are
21:51
essentially brainwashing mechanisms. There's
21:53
so much lying. Yeah, they just lie all the time.
21:56
And, you know, it's funded by billionaires and
22:00
multimillionaires. And, you know, that's who
22:05
the, that's who, they get the most coverage,
22:11
they have the most money, they have a better
22:13
chance of winning elections. So it funds Fox
22:15
News? Yeah, but, so, you know. Why not vote for
22:19
a person who, like, came from poverty or who
22:22
knows what it's like to be hungry or who knows
22:25
what it's like to not have enough money to buy
22:28
gas to get to a job? That's a concern that very
22:33
rich people don't have at all because they don't
22:37
deal with that. You know, groceries, what Trump
22:41
had this... trouble saying what uh what what
22:44
do you say is that something like uh yeah they
22:47
they have this thing called groceries it's like
22:49
what the i i was about to swear i'm sorry i controlled
22:52
myself but you know it's these kinds of things
22:56
where Rich people can get whatever they want,
23:00
anytime they want, and very rich people are essentially
23:06
buying politicians. And this actually showed
23:09
up last week, or it was early this week, when
23:13
there was a vote involving AIPAC in Congress,
23:19
and it failed. because these are people who need
23:24
the money of the AIPAC group, another rich group.
23:28
And it was interesting because I looked at the
23:32
names, and I think, I don't know if any Kentucky
23:36
legislators voted against it. Massey did. Okay,
23:40
Massey did. You guys are really in for a treat
23:44
today. Yeah, we have lots of fighter jets going
23:47
over the house and, you know, being paranoid.
23:49
It's like, okay, what if they drop something
23:51
accidentally? But anyway, there was a story in
23:57
the New York Times, either this week or last
23:59
week, on Jeff Bezos' wife. Mackenzie Scott. No,
24:07
it's not. It's his current wife, Laura, or whatever
24:11
her name is. And it was essentially, it was a
24:14
Marie Antoinette kind of story because it was
24:17
saying she's happy and she's rich and why shouldn't
24:20
she be? And I'm thinking, wow, this is really
24:23
bad. And if you want to talk about Mackenzie
24:25
Scott. I have good things to say about her because
24:28
she is a billionaire who's giving away her money.
24:30
I think she's given at least $23 to $25 billion
24:35
away so far since she got her... since he got
24:39
her divorce settlement. And, you know, that's
24:42
the way, that's a person who cares about the
24:45
plight of the poor and the needy. She's contributed
24:49
more money than Bezos and Musk and whoever the
24:54
third richest person is combined. And they have
24:58
tons more money than she does. And, you know,
25:01
we talked about the tax that Elizabeth Warren's
25:04
trying to impose on billionaires. The reality
25:08
is if you tax their holdings at 3%, it doesn't
25:15
matter. It doesn't matter to them because their
25:17
life is still, they have so much money that there's
25:20
no way it's going to hurt them. But it's like,
25:23
I think I saw a story recently where they were
25:29
saying that the refunds you're getting from income
25:34
taxes or your tax breaks. Like poor people get
25:40
maybe a couple hundred dollars back. Billionaires
25:43
or rich people get hundreds of thousands of dollars
25:46
back as a result of the tax breaks, the Trump
25:49
tax breaks. So, you know, there's no money going
25:53
into anything. We're cutting on services. We're
25:56
cutting on helping people. We're cutting on hospitals.
25:59
And you compare us to any European nation. Everywhere
26:05
else is better than we are. And we are under
26:07
this delusion that we've got the best of everything
26:10
in this country. And the sad part is we could
26:14
have the best of everything in this country if
26:17
capitalism wasn't the driving factor for everything.
26:22
You're right. And bringing that back to Kentucky,
26:24
our legislative session. has passed now and Andy
26:31
Beshear, our governor, decried what he characterized
26:34
as underfunding and unfunded mandates around
26:38
the budget. And he basic House Bill 504. He issued
26:44
line item vetoes so that the judicial branch
26:48
would have sufficient funding to maintain their
26:51
mandatory functions of the court of justice,
26:54
including current services and personnel. They're
26:57
going to have a deficit. Of course, we know that
27:00
there's a deficit around Medicaid. So health
27:04
care is definitely going to get a hit. And there
27:11
was another... Oh, pesticides don't have to be
27:15
labeled anymore so we can get poison. And then
27:18
data centers are not going to get it. But I don't
27:21
think you can sue. I think that's one of the
27:22
things. Right, you can't sue now. Which is horrendous.
27:25
And then the data center is not being regulated.
27:27
And we're hearing all kinds of testimonials from
27:30
people who are farmers and their water supply
27:35
is being poisoned by the nearby data centers.
27:38
And there's all kinds of terrible things going
27:41
on. they're using up all the water, plus your
27:46
utility rates go up as a result of them, and
27:49
plus... They're going for AI, which I'm really
27:54
concerned about all kinds of people losing their
27:56
jobs, including my daughter, who's a graphic
27:58
designer. I mean, I know people who now have
28:02
jobs to train AI to basically replace them. So
28:08
the data center and all of this is just done
28:11
for capitalism. It's not done for the people.
28:13
It's not supporting the people at all. We should
28:15
say what a data center is supposed to be doing
28:18
or what its function is. It's for AI, as you
28:24
said, which is also dangerous because we are,
28:28
well, AI is taking away jobs, which everybody
28:31
knew was going to happen, but it also does things
28:35
like lies. It just makes up shit. So there's
28:39
a danger there. And you were talking about the
28:41
data center. There was a Missouri town that actually
28:44
fired. it's whole town council because they approved
28:47
a data center and that was this week uh yeah
28:51
it was in uh politico that's where i saw it um
28:55
but it's city council and it's it voted out everybody
28:58
who was up for election uh they voted them all
29:03
out and they're trying to get a recall vote for
29:05
all the people who voted for it so People don't
29:09
want data centers, but it brings so much money
29:12
in and the politicians involved. But it's always
29:15
money for the already wealthy. There's no trickle
29:19
down. It doesn't happen. And that was a big thing
29:22
in the Reagan administration, the whole concept
29:23
of trickle down economics. And for people who
29:25
don't know what that means, it's essentially.
29:28
You give rich people all the money, and since
29:31
they're spending lots of money, the trickle -down
29:35
effect will be that others will be able to provide
29:39
them services, like build a yacht for Jeff Bezos
29:43
for a billion dollars, and that creates jobs,
29:47
or maybe a couple of jobs. But it's that idea,
29:49
that function of the trickle -down theory of
29:52
economics, is that give it to the rich, it'll
29:55
trickle down to the poor, which is... Totally
29:58
stupid, because as we see now, the rich don't
30:01
give their money up. No, they hoard. And the
30:04
biggest hoarder in this country is Elon Musk,
30:08
who has, I think, $800 billion now, which, you
30:12
know, that's just absurd. So let's text. Let's
30:15
say we text. Elon's holdings at 50%. He would
30:20
have $400 billion. Do you think he could live
30:22
on that? Yeah. Jesse, I've been watching a series
30:26
with Billy Bob Thornton called Land Man. Have
30:28
you watched it? I've seen some episodes. And
30:31
it's a very interesting expose of the gas and
30:36
oil industry out in Texas, right? And then John
30:39
Hamm's character is a billionaire. And these
30:43
wells are dangerous and people are dying all
30:46
the time. And then the billionaire has a company
30:49
where he has all these attorneys that make sure
30:54
that the people who lose their loved ones, you
30:57
know, get screwed and don't get a lot of money.
31:01
It's been a fascinating watch. Okay. The disparity.
31:06
Yeah, there's that disparity. But that sort of
31:08
brings us back to the idea of politics. Why do
31:12
we vote for people who allow this to happen?
31:15
Right. That makes no sense to me. Right. But
31:18
it's going to continue as long as money is in
31:21
politics. And as long as Rupert's in charge of
31:23
Fox News. Right. And there's all these social
31:25
media people now making so much money on the
31:28
right. yeah and you're just not you're not hearing
31:31
the truth like i look at fox news every three
31:34
days and it's not that i enjoy it but i want
31:37
to know what's going on it never tells you why
31:40
your gas price is going up or your grocery price
31:44
is going up oh yeah it's always trump is winning
31:48
the iran war and everything's fantastic yeah
31:52
and that's but Fox News has always been a propaganda
31:55
outlet for the right. It's been that way since
31:59
it first began with Roger Ailes. But it has this,
32:04
how do I say, it has this consistency in that
32:09
its commentators are always far right, with the
32:14
exception of maybe one person on the five. It
32:19
also has a history of sexual discrimination,
32:22
sexual harassment, racism. But it has a following.
32:28
It's built this huge following among the MAGA
32:31
cult. And it's a cult. It's not a political movement.
32:37
It's a cult. Speaking of the cult, though, let's
32:40
talk about Trump as God. Trump is Jesus. He wasn't.
32:48
A couple of podcasts ago, I said, doesn't anybody,
32:53
why are very religious people supporting Trump?
32:56
Because doesn't he fit the concept of the Antichrist?
32:59
And Tucker Carlson this week said, is Trump the
33:03
Antichrist? It's like when right -wing fanatics
33:07
are saying things that I've said in the past,
33:09
you know that something's going on that isn't
33:12
normal. For those who didn't see it, and I don't
33:17
know how you didn't see it because it was everywhere,
33:19
Trump posted on his Truth Social app or Truth
33:24
Social site a photo of him laying hands with
33:29
this, he's in robes, white robes, the sun or
33:33
those divine beams of light with like angels
33:35
in the background or above his head. And if you
33:38
look at that picture, the person it looks like
33:40
he's laying hands on looks like Jeffrey Epstein.
33:44
People haven't said that very much, but to me,
33:47
I thought, why is Trump laying hands on Jeffrey
33:51
Epstein looking like Jesus? So, of course, he
33:55
created this huge turmoil, and everybody freaked
33:57
out about it, including people on the right,
33:59
which was amazing. And bishops here, American
34:03
bishops, the Pope. Yeah, the Pope. And so he
34:07
says that, oh, no, I wasn't. I didn't think I
34:10
was posting that I was Jesus. I thought I was
34:12
posting that I was a doctor. Like how many doctors
34:14
have these beams and angels behind them with
34:17
people looking at him. So we all know that that
34:22
was a bullshit argument that he was giving. But
34:26
again, I think that's another sign that... Maybe
34:30
the MAGA fever is breaking. I don't know. And
34:33
then, of course, Pete Hegseth just quoted Pulp
34:36
Fiction. Right. We'll go through the whole religion
34:39
thing now. And J .D. Vance. Oh, yeah, J .D. Vance
34:43
changes religion. So first we have Trump as Jesus.
34:45
That freaked out everybody, including people
34:47
on the right. He was a pope, too. by the way.
34:50
Oh, right. That was in the past. People don't
34:52
remember that one. That's what I'm worried about
34:54
is that we have such a short -term memory and
34:56
they're not going to remember that he's Jesus
34:58
either. I think we'll remember this more because
35:00
the reaction was so visceral that people had
35:03
to this. And, you know, Trump was trying to get
35:06
away with, well, the other thing about Trump
35:09
is that he never takes responsibility for the
35:12
shit he does. It's like always someone else's
35:15
fault. If he could blame that on Biden, he would
35:18
blame it on Biden. I blame it on Biden. Biden
35:20
made me create this image of me as Jesus. But
35:23
anyway, so that didn't go over at all on the
35:27
right or the left. And as a result of it, that
35:31
later developed into, that was one issue in terms
35:35
of religion. The next issue was the whole war
35:37
in Iran with Israel bombing. Lebanon and the
35:44
Straits of Hormuz are closed. Their gas prices
35:47
are going up. Let's say your gas prices are going
35:49
up because of Donald Trump. Your food prices
35:52
are going up because of Donald Trump. Everything
35:54
that you pay for is going up because of Donald
35:57
Trump. He has inserted these tariffs. He's created
36:01
situations where oil doesn't flow. Making it
36:06
just so much more difficult for everyone. Farmers.
36:09
Farmers, yes, because they can't, they aren't
36:12
getting the exports. The export markets have
36:15
collapsed, essentially. And, you know, these
36:19
invasions, these war efforts, like he's invaded
36:23
Venezuela. He's invaded, well, not invaded, but
36:27
he's bombed Iran. He's helping Israel bomb the
36:31
Gaza, Gaza Strip. Trump is threatening to go
36:36
into Cuba now. He's like they're putting together
36:40
like a flotilla or whatever. Pete Hex, I can
36:44
never say his name right. But anyway, they're
36:46
making war plans to go into Cuba. They're still
36:50
talking about taking over Greenland. What else
36:54
is there to do? And so we become this horrific,
36:58
militaristic, fascist. A fascist dictatorship,
37:03
essentially, because I can't call it a dictatorship
37:07
until after the next election, because if people
37:11
vote for Republicans in the next election, things
37:14
aren't going to change. And they should know
37:16
that. If you vote for Republicans, they are going
37:18
to screw you over because they've screwed you
37:20
over for the past, since Nixon. Since Nixon,
37:24
let's go that far. Right. Again, we look at the
37:29
numbers, and I saw on CNN this week that Trump,
37:34
his clout is sort of slipping in Kentucky, although
37:38
he still is in the positive area. It's just declining
37:43
very... You said it wasn't solidly red. Right,
37:47
you're right. The latest from CNN is that for
37:50
the Senate election, the results are leaning
37:55
red. Which is kind of a big deal in Kentucky.
37:58
Yeah, yeah. It's been pretty solid. Yeah, but
38:00
you have to consider that Kentucky used to be
38:02
a blue state. Yeah, that's been a while. Yeah,
38:04
it's been a while. And Mitch McConnell, it's
38:07
his fault. Well, you mentioned J .D. Vance. I
38:11
want to go back to religion a sec. Okay, yeah,
38:13
well, let's see. We talked about Hegsbeth. Oh,
38:18
yeah, go back to that where he was quoting Pulp
38:20
Fiction. He was trying to justify the militaristic
38:26
aspect of American policy these days. And, you
38:30
know, he did the righteous anger and the thing
38:35
that Samuel L. Jackson did in Pulp Fiction, which
38:38
I will post with. the podcast on our site, and
38:42
he quoted that. And I don't know if he's stupid
38:46
or if he just didn't know that that wasn't the
38:49
real Bible quote, because people who've watched
38:51
Pulp Fiction and who know that quote also know
38:54
that that's not what the Bible says. Tarantino
38:59
made up that quote that he used. Yeah, and I'm
39:01
going to go with stupid. I'm not going to go
39:03
with like he's trying to make a point. He's just
39:05
a moron, a drunk moron. And so he did that. And
39:10
did you notice that Republicans are now siding
39:14
with this other Army official over Hegseth? So
39:19
maybe they're getting ready to give him the boot.
39:21
Right. It's interesting to see what's going on
39:23
in these hearings, especially because. In the
39:27
hearings, Trump has been trying to appoint judges
39:29
who are open racists and they're getting grilled
39:32
in these hearings. But the problem is that the
39:35
Republicans hold. the House and the Senate, and
39:38
if the vote happens before the next election.
39:40
You know, he just appointed a black woman, though,
39:43
to head up the CDC. I thought that was kind of
39:46
amazing. It's amazing, but didn't he fire her
39:49
before? I thought she was fired, and then they
39:52
brought her back. Oh, that's very possible. So
39:54
it's kind of interesting how these things are
39:58
happening. And the person that, speaking of the
40:02
CDC person that they are appointing, she's pro
40:06
- vaccine. So that's going to be interesting
40:08
how that goes with Robert Kennedy Jr. Let's emphasize
40:13
the junior because he is nothing like his father.
40:16
He doesn't care about poor people. He doesn't
40:18
care about people struggling. He's just making
40:21
up shit. And we're going with this. You know,
40:26
it's it. You look at the hearings, you look at
40:30
all the people who are doing things and it's
40:32
just. horrific what's going on in these hearings.
40:34
And if you want to, you know, people don't look
40:37
at these things. They just see what the results
40:39
are. So we're in trouble in that area because
40:43
the judiciary is changing to essentially white
40:46
nationalists. And the third one, what was it
40:50
after Hegseth? J .D. Vance. J .D. Vance. He wrote
40:53
a book about... uh his conversion to catholicism
40:58
now jd vance changes religions and names like
41:01
i change my underwear he's like had he's done
41:04
every religion i kind of love that metaphor okay
41:07
he's he's done maybe it's assembly yeah he's
41:11
uh he's done these I lost my track. Anyway, he
41:17
wrote the book and he puts this Protestant church
41:20
on the cover. They don't even know him. He's
41:23
never walked in that church. And he also has
41:26
changed his name many times. So I don't know
41:29
what name he's going to run under when he runs
41:32
for president. He'll probably change it to something
41:34
else. But, you know, these are these are the
41:37
people that. were voted for by Americans in the
41:42
last elections. And so, you know, we have to,
41:46
I don't know, I won't say blame Americans, but
41:49
people have to really start paying attention
41:51
to stuff because some of the quotes I'm seeing
41:54
from MAGA people who are like now going against
41:58
Trump, they know that they were deluded. They
42:06
know that they were played for suckers. And they
42:09
keep, at least they're changing their minds,
42:13
which gives us hope for, I think, the way things
42:16
are going, that the Democrats... will win the
42:19
Senate and the House in the next election, unless
42:22
Trump declares a national emergency because he's
42:25
going to start another one. Or somehow forces
42:27
the SAVE Act through and nobody can even show
42:30
up to vote. I don't think the SAVE Act is going
42:32
to go through before the next election. But I
42:34
do know that there's... Or there's military rule
42:37
and we can't go in and vote. I mean, I don't
42:40
know. Again, that's a question because is the
42:42
military behind Trump now because they hate Hegseth?
42:46
Right. He's been fired. he's firing women and
42:51
minorities from high -ranking positions and this
42:57
is this is not normal this is just it everything
43:01
has is just I just get the feeling it's bad,
43:03
which goes back to our first point. How do you
43:05
deal with... Well, I'm going to pivot to some
43:07
good things. And then if you want to bring up
43:10
more bad things, then go right along. So we have
43:13
some really fun news. The Olympic gymnastics
43:17
team trials in 2028 are coming to Louisville.
43:22
Right, that's our sports coverage today. Yeah,
43:24
and that's amazing. Yeah, it's supposed to bring
43:27
in a lot of money. Louisville has a lot of hotels
43:30
because in my walks around the city, I see like
43:34
hotels going up all over the place. And these
43:38
events bring in people from out of town. fills
43:45
the hotels it has the restaurants occupied it's
43:47
something where you can concentrate your interest
43:50
for uh of three days it's like i think this would
43:54
be like almost as big as um The Derby, in terms
43:59
of the number of people that would come in for
44:01
this. Not that, no, it's probably right. Because
44:05
you're coming in from all over the country. This
44:07
is a huge event that will determine who's going
44:09
to the Olympics, the next Olympics. And it's
44:12
going to be in Louisville, which is great. Also,
44:14
since we're talking sports, they're going to
44:16
build a hockey arena. Maybe. I haven't seen that
44:20
it's a done deal. Okay, so they are trying to
44:23
get a hockey arena near the new soccer stadium.
44:25
Which I think is a little weird, given that Kentucky
44:28
is one of the sparsest states for hockey involvement
44:33
in the country. And I also wonder why they just
44:36
don't do it in the Yonge Center, because arenas
44:39
are built to handle hockey as well as basketball.
44:43
Okay, we're going back into history now. The
44:47
NBA was created because hockey team owners, hockey
44:52
was before the NBA. The NHL was before the NBA.
44:55
And they had these like empty facilities at certain
45:00
parts of the year. And they wanted to figure
45:02
out how do we make money keeping these facilities
45:04
operating. They bought in basketball. That's
45:08
how the NBA started. Was Major League Baseball
45:10
before? Yes. Did it predate both of those? Yeah,
45:12
yeah, yeah. Major League Baseball goes back to
45:14
the 1800s. But the fact that he's talking about
45:20
building a new arena, when you have an arena
45:23
that's, you know, they say, well, a hockey arena
45:28
will hold 6 ,000 people. Well, the M Center can
45:30
hold like... double that number i i don't understand
45:34
why they just don't do a conversion of the yum
45:36
center instead of building something completely
45:37
well and the may you know it talks about the
45:40
mayor's priorities you know he also is going
45:43
to redevelop the belvedere the riverfront which
45:45
is going to be expensive so he's almost like
45:48
trump in that his His goal is to build because
45:52
he's a builder. Right, he's a builder. Meanwhile,
45:55
Louisville faces a severe housing shortage with
46:00
a deficit of over 36 ,000 affordable units for
46:05
its lowest income residents. So is it better
46:08
to - 36 ,000. So you have choices. These are
46:13
choices, right? you know, build a hockey stadium
46:17
arena where nobody's really supporting hockey
46:21
in Louisville, Kentucky, or build some freaking
46:24
housing that people can afford. But this is another
46:27
thing. This is why elections are important, because
46:30
this won't happen if Greenberg is voted out of
46:35
office in the next election. And the only hope...
46:38
that we have in this case is that a Democrat,
46:41
Shamika Parishwright, whom I love. She's awesome.
46:45
Get her yard signs, support her. She's the real
46:49
deal. Yeah, yeah. She's been through the issues
46:52
that we talked about. There's concern for the
46:54
people of her community. Whereas Greenberg really
46:57
is about developers and millionaires and rich
47:00
people. He mirrors what's happening on the national
47:03
front. Yeah. So a couple other things I wanted
47:08
to mention. LSURGE, which you know I'm on the
47:12
Community Defense Network because ICE is here
47:15
and we are doing all kinds of amazing things.
47:18
Like when people from Michigan are kidnapped
47:22
and put in a Kentucky... you know, or concentration
47:27
camp or whatever, right? And then they're released,
47:30
and, of course, they don't have a phone anymore.
47:32
There's no charge on it. There's no money. I'll
47:35
surge. We are picking people up, and then some
47:38
of us drive a couple hours from, say, southern
47:41
Kentucky to northern Kentucky, and then some
47:43
of us drive from northern Kentucky to Chicago
47:45
and even further, and we're getting people back
47:48
to their families who don't even know where they've
47:50
been. Anyway, I'll surge. And a group called
47:55
Care Not Cages is presenting a special training
47:58
called Making the Connections Between Immigrant
48:02
Detention, Jails, Prison, and Policing. And this
48:05
is Tuesday, May 12th from 6 to 8 p .m. Check
48:10
out LSURGE on Facebook or Louisville SURGE at
48:15
the URL and sign up for the training. And then
48:19
I also want to mention that Handmaids. Handmade
48:24
protesters are showing up all over the country.
48:27
You're going to have everybody dressed in those
48:29
red handmade tails costumes. For the listeners
48:33
who don't know what the Handmaid's Tale is, do
48:35
you want to explain it? Margaret Atwood. It's
48:37
Margaret Atwood's book, and it's essentially
48:41
about the Trump administration, if you want to
48:43
look at it that way. It's where right -wing Christian
48:47
nationalists take over the country, and they...
48:51
uh it's all you know men are in charge of everything
48:54
it's this christian national view that men are
48:56
in charge women should be subservient and in
49:00
the handmaid's tale women are not only subservient
49:03
they're used as breeding vessels that's correct
49:06
and it's rape it's just total rape uh and uh
49:09
you look at the um the if you watch the handmaid's
49:12
tale which was on amc i think uh but anyway it
49:18
it is this just nightmare of what's happening
49:21
what could happen in america and if you read
49:25
the handmaid's tale and look at what's happening
49:27
today we are like if it's 10 steps to get there
49:31
we're at step number eight I would say. There's
49:34
a house on Floral Terrace in our neighborhood
49:37
in Old Louisville. It's one of the pedestrian
49:39
walking courts, and they have a big Handmaid's
49:41
Tale costume hanging from their balcony. We'll
49:45
have to walk over there. Anyway, June 24th is
49:48
when these handmade protests happen. Now, they're
49:52
happening at capitals all across the country,
49:54
but our capital is closed. So ours is being held
49:58
at a government building, 500 Miro Street in
50:02
Frankfurt. So please show up for that and wear
50:06
your red dress. And let's make a point about
50:11
these. And Jesse, you had asked me whether you
50:13
whether I think the demonstrations are helping.
50:16
And I don't think they're hurting. And I also
50:19
think that that we are, as we've discussed, seeing
50:22
a wave of people being more and more disillusioned
50:26
with this regime. Right. And the demonstration,
50:29
I agree, the demonstrations are helping. The
50:33
economy, it goes back to James Carville's line,
50:37
it's the economy's stupid. Right, absolutely.
50:39
People are really feeling it. Yeah, but the thing,
50:41
I find it interesting, was that the economy wasn't
50:45
that bad under Joe Biden. It was actually doing
50:47
very well. You'd never know that. Yeah, but Trump
50:51
lied, and the billionaires paid for the ads to
50:55
go against Biden. The argument against Biden
51:01
was that he was in physical decay. Trump, meanwhile,
51:05
is like falling apart in front of us. And it's
51:09
like, why is the reaction from places like Fox
51:13
News the same? Because Fox News is a propaganda
51:15
outlet. As long as these billionaires are making
51:21
money, and believe me, they have profited. I
51:24
mean, just think about the Trump family, Jared
51:27
Kushner. Trump's net worth, I think, has gone
51:30
up billions of dollars. Yes. Yes. I was going
51:35
to say over 100 billion. I think it was like
51:38
60. That's the number that sticks in my mind.
51:40
But just the fact that... Just think about that,
51:42
friends. And let's go for the old, if Obama had
51:46
done this line or if Biden had done this, you
51:49
know, people would be... I'm going to use a very
51:53
vulgar term here, but people have been throwing
51:56
shit at the White House, like literally doing
51:58
it, which is what the J6 people did in the Capitol.
52:02
Yeah, and they're all getting pardoned. Every
52:04
single one of them. And the whole thing is being
52:06
rewritten. Right. But the thing is that the people
52:09
who are pardoned are now being convicted of things
52:11
like child molesting. But they're following their
52:14
child molester in chief because that's what Trump
52:17
is. Totally. Rapist in chief. Yeah. So these
52:20
are things that we're looking at. I actually
52:25
saw a clip recently where Obama said, you know,
52:30
if I had done some of this stuff. people would
52:33
be well obama had an anger management guy you
52:36
know keenan uh peel from can't peel you know
52:40
because he he he couldn't even well and hillary
52:45
like she was an uppity woman right or elizabeth
52:48
warren they they're not even allowed to show
52:50
any emotion meanwhile we have this rapist in
52:53
charge and and he signs all of his What do you
52:58
call these things that he writes in the middle
53:00
of the night? They're all in caps. Yeah, the
53:02
posts, the Truth Social posts. Yeah, and anyways.
53:06
But if Obama had created his own social media
53:09
company, people would have freaked out over that.
53:12
Exactly. So, you know, let's apply Obama's standards
53:16
to Trump. And if we did that, Trump would have
53:18
been out of office, like in his first term. But
53:21
we don't do that because Trump is a white nationalist.
53:24
And that goes down to... The issue of race. And
53:27
I'm going to go back to some journalism thing
53:33
involving race that I did years ago. I don't
53:39
know if people remember when the issue became,
53:42
should you uppercase the black when you're referring
53:44
to black people. And that was an issue that was
53:47
big when I was at the Washington Post. What did
53:51
you all determine? I determined that black should
53:55
be uppercase. And I always use it in uppercase.
53:57
But the question then is, should white be uppercase?
54:02
And I determined that white should be uppercase.
54:05
So if you look at the Washington Post, you'll
54:08
see that white, when referring to white people,
54:10
is uppercase, while black referring to black
54:12
people is uppercase as well. Other newspapers
54:14
don't do that. And the reason that they said
54:17
that black should be uppercase was because it's
54:20
almost like an identity. uh issue and my argument
54:26
is that well if that's the case then white is
54:29
an identity issue and even now even more so now
54:33
than before the the white privilege white um
54:38
white the white leaders say uh conspiracy that
54:45
dei is taking jobs away from white people and
54:47
all that um That shows that white should be uppercase,
54:51
but if you look at news organizations these days,
54:53
it's still black, brown are uppercase. People
54:59
from Asian countries are also, well, you don't
55:03
use that, but white remains lowercase in a lot
55:07
of news organizations, and it should be uppercase.
55:10
But I digress. It was a big issue. I think it's
55:14
still a big issue. If you read the Courier -Journal,
55:17
I'm sure you're going to see white as lowercase.
55:19
Interesting. And I'm on the Washington Post right
55:22
now. In the opinion pieces, it's much more variable.
55:25
It's not always capitalized. Because in the opinion
55:28
pieces, they're getting outsiders. Right. So
55:31
they're letting the writers use their voice on
55:35
those issues. But again, it should be uppercase
55:39
when you're making those references. But that's
55:43
not everywhere. But that's what we did at the
55:46
Washington Post. I hear that's a pretty good
55:49
paper, or at least it used to be. Before Bezos.
55:52
It was good when Marty Baron was there. It was
55:57
not good when they let the Wall Street Journal
56:00
people take over everything. So, again, that's
56:03
my bitterness because I left the Wall Street
56:05
Journal. And I left on good terms. I left every
56:09
one of my jobs on good terms. But there are reasons
56:13
I left. a lot of places. Jesse, why don't you
56:16
remind people where you are getting your news
56:20
from these days? I know certain podcasts you
56:23
really like. Yeah, I listen to the Professional
56:26
Left podcast. They do two episodes every week,
56:29
Drift Glass and Blue Gal. Every week? Yeah, they're
56:33
really good. And I've been listening to them
56:35
since I lived in Europe. And they're in Springfield,
56:38
Illinois. Yeah, and that's the main podcast when
56:42
they do something like the Brass. Brad Friedman's
56:45
podcast. I listen to that. They also do the podcast
56:48
with a guy in Australia. So that's interesting.
56:54
And they do a lot of podcasts. And I recommend
56:58
people listen to that because that helps me clarify
57:02
my thoughts in terms of what's going on. And
57:04
they are very good at using history and explaining.
57:09
why things are happening the way they're happening
57:11
so i i've recommended them before i still recommend
57:14
them today and what about substack who are you
57:17
reading uh i read uh heather cox richardson i
57:20
read paul krugman uh and i'm reading a lot of
57:24
the authors or a lot of the writers who used
57:27
to work for um mainstream media right and who
57:31
were they didn't leave because they wanted to
57:34
be podcasters a lot of them were just fired,
57:36
you know, their contracts weren't renewed or
57:39
something. So like Paul Krugman, for example,
57:42
the fact that the New York Times had a Nobel
57:45
Prize winning economist on their staff and they
57:49
wouldn't let him write about the economy or his
57:52
wording because it's New York and there are a
57:55
lot of rich people in New York and he was writing
57:57
bad things that did not appeal to rich people.
58:00
They got rid of him. Right. And now he's doing
58:04
daily... He's writing more than he did with the
58:07
Times because the Times limited him to maybe
58:10
twice a week. So he's writing almost... I think,
58:14
daily now. Yeah, Robert Reich is writing. Robert
58:17
Reich is writing daily. And then locally, I really,
58:20
I like Attica Scott's Substack. She got on recently,
58:24
but she's so good, you all. You really should
58:26
check out Attica Scott. She's so smart, and she
58:30
breaks down civics, and she breaks down Kentucky,
58:32
and black history. And she ran for office once,
58:37
right? She was a state representative, actually.
58:39
Yeah, so there are places. She primaried against
58:44
Morgan McGarvey, your favorite congressman. Yeah.
58:47
I hate to say this, but he actually did something
58:50
that I admired this week. I saw that. I saw that,
58:53
too. It was looking at the budget, and he was
58:57
just tearing up Trump's budget director in a
59:00
House hearing. And I was very impressed by his,
59:04
what's the word, his disgust. With this Trump
59:08
person. He also has very good staffers, Jesse.
59:12
They're very accessible. I have a lot of friends
59:15
that have contacted them about various things.
59:18
And we contact him a lot about ICE abductions
59:21
and things like that. And they're very responsive.
59:23
Given that Mitch McConnell, if you've ever reached
59:26
out to Mitch, you can't even leave a voicemail.
59:29
There's no email. I mean, there's no way to even
59:32
reach him. Let's talk about Mitch's legacy. Kentucky
59:39
House is planning or talking about putting a
59:42
statue of him in the house. So in these 42 years,
59:47
is Kentucky better off than it was 42 years ago?
59:51
That's a question. I don't know the answer because
59:53
I wasn't here. I think the economic divide is
59:58
far wider than when he started. I think there
1:00:02
are more poor people with chronic... I mean,
1:00:05
if you look at... Kentucky is first in so many
1:00:10
bad things. Adult toothlessness and lung cancers
1:00:14
and all kinds, you know. And it ranks very lowly
1:00:17
in education. That's correct. And maternity.
1:00:20
So if you were the Senate leader all this time,
1:00:25
do you not think that your state would benefit
1:00:30
economically and you'd have less? and you'd have
1:00:35
higher education standards, more housing, more
1:00:39
parks, clean air, clean water, all the things.
1:00:43
No. We have roads, we have bridges, you know.
1:00:47
And they're going to do this major construction
1:00:49
on I -65. Yeah, I know. They're going to close
1:00:52
off like multiple miles of it from almost the
1:00:55
Indiana border down to the... The Watterson.
1:00:59
Watterson, yeah, down to the Watterson Expressway.
1:01:01
It's going to be like... It's a shit show. For
1:01:04
six months. Yeah. It's good that you walk. Yeah,
1:01:07
because I don't have to deal with the car. But
1:01:10
if you're driving in Kentucky in a few months,
1:01:13
avoid it because there's no way. I'm really curious
1:01:16
to know how they're going to reroute all the
1:01:18
semis that go through that hospital. No, they're
1:01:20
going to have to go through the loop, the Waterston,
1:01:24
because that's a loop around the city. There
1:01:28
are traffic problems now. Well, Gene Snyder,
1:01:32
that's not another loop. It is another loop.
1:01:34
Okay, so there are two loops. And that's what
1:01:36
people are going to use for six months. But it's
1:01:39
going to be a nightmare just getting around.
1:01:41
And fortunately for me, I don't drive as much
1:01:44
as I used to. I don't like driving. Let's see,
1:01:48
what else is there? Spring is gorgeous, by the
1:01:51
way. Louisville is gorgeous in the springtime.
1:01:54
Kentucky is gorgeous. And if you haven't been
1:01:57
out to see the spring wildflowers, if the flowering
1:02:02
dogwoods and azaleas haven't just given your
1:02:05
heart just happiness, then go outside and pay
1:02:10
attention. This is really the peak. Time of year
1:02:15
for Kentucky. And it's a great time, going back
1:02:18
to the beginning, it's a great time to walk.
1:02:21
It is. I learned so much about the city just
1:02:25
by walking the neighborhoods. I find new routes
1:02:29
to get to places in the car because I've walked
1:02:31
the neighborhoods and know that, oh, I didn't
1:02:34
know that street existed. I didn't know there
1:02:35
was a way to get from here to there without going
1:02:38
the long way. There are, you know, it's spring
1:02:42
in a couple of, well, next month, not even the
1:02:47
next three weeks from now, we're going to have
1:02:48
the Derby. So that's going to be. Not a fan,
1:02:51
by the way. Yeah, we'll talk about the Derby
1:02:54
in the next episode. But I have Derby stories
1:02:58
and I have reasons why I will never go to the
1:03:01
Derby again. It's two weeks from now. Two weeks.
1:03:04
OK, so I'm glad I thought three weeks because
1:03:07
I would have missed it completely. Anyway, we
1:03:11
will have a podcast before that, won't we? Well,
1:03:16
let's talk about it after we're done here. Yeah,
1:03:17
okay. Thanks for joining us, everyone. Thanks,
1:03:20
everybody. We will be back. Bye. Bye. Our closing
1:03:27
music is by John Chamberlain.