So this is the future issue, then. Do we break the cardinal rule for op-ed writers: Never try to predict the future?
We do that every week, with such an abysmal failure rate that we’d be soundly thrashed by someone chucking darts from a 50-foot oche. This is the only “creative” project I have ever had the misfortune to be involved in where I am in total agreement with the hate mail.
Come on though — what other project has resulted in you getting hate mail from Roger Stone? Wonder if he would still read LEO from prison. It can break a man, you know, even one with such a fragile grip on his masculinity that he has worn a syrup for the last 30 years.
Let’s hope he does. We need all the fans we can get, even ones who send hate mail from chokey. But, speaking of soundly thrashed, I noticed legislation proposing a ban on the paddle and flogging in schools. Flogging. In 2018. Whatever next? When do we find out that children can still be keelhauled here?
Not enough barnacles in the Ohio to make keelhauling an efficient method for teaching respect to young‘uns. I wonder if the cat o’nine tails is still available to Kentucky’s apparently bloodthirsty teachers?
Probably. The comments on the story in the Courier Journal were just as sickening as you’d expect. All toothless psychopaths and religious nutbags saying how “beating children never did me any harm, look how I’ve turned out.” Yeah, you’ve turned out to be someone who takes time out of your day to advocate publicly for child abuse.
Very weird how people seem to be totally OK with other adults, virtual strangers, hitting their own kids. The kids then grow up thinking it did them no harm. They deserved it, when the truth is that no child deserves to be hit for being childish. Can you imagine going around your office hitting everyone who did something you didn’t approve of? You’d go to jail or get beaten to a bloody pulp, or both.
Well, you would, certainly. I can handle myself a bit better than a private school poofter like you. But point taken. The message seems to be that it’s OK to start a fight so long as it’s with someone who has zero chance of defending themself on account of them being a small child. Fucking nuts that it’s even a subject for debate, but hey, this is Kentucky.
For better or worse. So. Predictions for 2019?
I think Bevin is in for a tougher re-election campaign than the open bar pleasure cruise he anticipates. Odds are still very much in his favor, but if Democrats aren’t dumb enough to pick Andy Beshear, at least not this time around, then it’d be a battle. I still like Rocky Adkins, but I’d take a Holland-Edelen ticket, too. If Trump is in major trouble nationally — like low 20s trouble — then Bevin’s going to be in trouble here. On top of Trump, his spite-filled policies are primarily making life worse for his own base, and the rubes are cottoning on to it.
Bold call. Must say, I did enjoy his hissy fit about ProPublica hooking up with the Courier Journal. Only someone with nothing to fear from investigative journalism would take to Facebook in order to shit their pants in public, right?
Right. The rule is: If you’ve got nothing to hide, you say bring it on, and if you’ve got lots to hide, you do what Bevin did. That rule has never been broken, ever. So predicting more corruption in Bevin’s future is not so bold a prediction.
Think McConnell lets go of the Trump balloon?
He’s wicked, not stupid, so, yes, I think he does. Already pretty secure of re-election once he gets industrial hemp legalized, and he is single-handedly giving Kentucky tobacco farmers something to look forward to, regardless of his undoubtedly-cynical motivations for doing so.
Throwing your hat into the Democratic 2020 ring?
I should, shouldn’t I, even though I am disqualified in myriad ways? On one hand, feels like a bunch of decent candidates think Trump is weak enough to have a crack at him. On the other, none of them are great, including Diamond Joe, and one of them is Bernie Sanders.
I feel like Kamala Harris is where I want to go. Important to acknowledge that women of color are the real base.
So long as they realize that supporting Medicare for all is crucial. Healthcare in general is clearly the way for Democrats to campaign. Whoever runs against Bevin and Trump needs to go hard at it, since their “reforms” are biting hard already, and will be biting even harder next year.
Hard sell though, Medicare for all. Taxes and all.
No it is not — it’s a fucking easy sell. How much do you spend on health insurance per month?
Quite a lot. Not much change out of a grand.
Right. So you are already paying the best part of 12 grand a year. It’s not a tax, but if you want to give your family adequate health insurance, it’s compulsory. So it’s as good as a tax. Medicare for all will likely cost significantly less in taxation. So, while you might pay a bit more in taxes — which you needn’t if we cut the insane defense budget — you will no longer be spending a grand a month on it in the open market. Plus, if you lose your job, you will not lose your coverage. If that’s not an easy sell I don’t know what is.
So that’s your big prediction for 2019. Medicare for all.
Yep. It’s the big momentum movement of the next year. Besides, we’re long overdue a glorious year of being right.
