Thorns & Roses: The Worst, Best And Most Absurd (1/20)

Absurd: No room for McConnell in KY GOP

Over 30 Republican Party county chairs and vice chairs in Kentucky are calling for a special meeting to discuss a resolution calling on Sen. Mitch McConnell — who has recently been downgraded from the Majority Leader Grim Reaper to a sad little turtle man with significantly less power — to “fully support Pres. Trump and condemn the superfluous and divisive second impeachment of Pres. Trump.” No date has been set for the meeting, but this is the type of nonsense that drove a mob of traitors and terrorists to subvert American democracy on Jan. 6. Now, not only must Mitch vote to convict an impeached Republican president, he needs to repudiate the Kentucky Republican Party. 

Rose: Top Card

UofL is ranked number one in the latest women’s college basketball rankings for the first time in the program’s history. Congrats and keep it up. 

Rose: Revisiting Your Own History 

Late last year, the congregation of All Peoples — formerly Thomas Jefferson Unitarian Church — voted to change its name. In a release, All Peoples said that, “although Jefferson’s contributions to our country were historic, his ethics and morals were abhorrently racist…We could not continue to allow our white privilege to ignore the obvious offense to the Black community by retaining this name.” As Karen Cox wrote in the Washington Post, “[Confederate] statues, which have represented only one point of view (a revisionist narrative of the Confederacy) throughout their existence, have never taught the first history lesson, although they have been used to reemphasize the racial status quo.” Likewise, changing the name of the church doesn’t change history, but it shows we have the power to change the racial status quo. 

Rose, Absurd: Insurrection Consequences

At least five Kentuckians will be charged with a crime connected to their role in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol. One of them — a UK student facing charges of knowingly entering or remaining in a restricted building or grounds, engaging in disorderly conduct in a restricted building, violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds and theft of government property under $1,000 — even posted on social media: “can’t wait to tell my grandkids I was here!” That post included a picture of her. Well, grandchild story-time will have to wait, but it seems like the FBI is interested! A rose goes to consequences being delivered, an absurd to how many people used their phones to help incriminate themselves. 

This article appears in January 20, 2021.