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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM

M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#280451: May 12th 2019 at 11:04:02 PM

The answer seems to be not just Mitch but "the entire Kentucky GOP". And every citizen of Kentucky who votes for them. They're all part of the problem. Every Kentucky citizen who wants to Kill the Poor as much as Mitch. Every Kentucky citizen who'd rather they and their kids starve than approve of anything that might also help black people. They're all responsible.

Edited by M84 on May 13th 2019 at 2:06:15 AM

Disgusted, but not surprised
CharlesPhipps Since: Jan, 2001
#280452: May 12th 2019 at 11:07:07 PM

It would be a different world in Kentucky if Alison Grimes had won. The fact she lost to Mitch isn't surprising but the fact she lost to him by 16%.

You'd think that's a lot.

It's not. In Kentucky that's insane numbers where usually Republican often candidates win by 30 points. Not the least because the counties are gerrymandered all to hell and they use every trick possible to suppress Democratic commercials, voting, or debates.

I also applaud the fact she ran as both Senator and Secretary of State (she won the latter).

Every Kentucky citizen who wants to Kill the Poor as much as Mitch. Every Kentucky citizen who'd rather they and their kids starve than approve of anything that might also help black people. They're all responsible.

I feel the need to also clarify that Kentucky's government makes a great effort to make sure that our democracy in the state is a joke. The polls close early, the votes are held on weekdays, the districts are designed to make it convenient for Republicans and inconvenient for Democrats. The networks all carry Republican propaganda, misuse state money (as well as Federal), and the rural working class are actually mostly excluded from voting.

In short, it's very much designed to get the votes of white and rich Kentuckians.

An old Kentucky trick is this:

  • Have a voting station next to evangelical Christian college
  • Have a voting station next to the country club
  • Have another vote at a tiny elementary school with no parking lot
  • Have no voting stations in the farming regions

Edit: Needed to clarify they weren't directly on the property of the first two.

Edited by CharlesPhipps on May 12th 2019 at 11:14:09 AM

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.
Silasw A procrastination in of itself from A handcart to hell (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: And they all lived happily ever after <3
A procrastination in of itself
#280453: May 12th 2019 at 11:39:17 PM

Charles you saw the table I posted a bit back right? There’s a real possibility of taking Mc Connell’s seat next year, remember Republicans won the popular vote by almost 6% in 2014, that’s half of Mc Connell’s margin gone from the get go, if Kentucky Dems can get high turnout they’ve got a real shot of the national environment also goes their way.

So volunteer, go knock on some doors, you’ve got a real chance.

“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran
CharlesPhipps Since: Jan, 2001
#280454: May 13th 2019 at 12:32:28 AM

It would be an immense change, I've got to say and a welcome one.

Unsurprisingly, Mitch breaks the law (or Screw the Rules, I Make Them!) as much in Kentucky as he does in the Senate.

We legalized weed for pain relief to fight the opioid epidemic and he arranged for it not to be officially voted on.

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.
SeptimusHeap from Switzerland (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Mu
#280455: May 13th 2019 at 12:36:34 AM

Don't forget Matt Bevin, incumbent governor who is just as much of a jerk as the Evil Turtle (adjusted for the fact that he's governor rather than Senate Majority Leader of course) and is up for re-election next November (that is, 2019). He's also quite unpopular.

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
Oruka Since: Dec, 2018
#280456: May 13th 2019 at 12:45:53 AM

Why are they okay with opioids but not cannabis? It seems backwards.

M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#280457: May 13th 2019 at 12:51:56 AM

[up]Blame the Sackler family. They're the ones behind Perdue, the maker of Oxycontin. They also happen to be big-time GOP donors.

Edited by M84 on May 14th 2019 at 3:52:36 AM

Disgusted, but not surprised
Kayeka (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#280458: May 13th 2019 at 12:52:08 AM

Cannabis doesn't require expensive trained staff and equipment to produce in marketable quantities.

Oruka Since: Dec, 2018
#280459: May 13th 2019 at 12:56:30 AM

They could market it aggressively and profit off volume and brand name, without getting the population highly addicted.

CharlesPhipps Since: Jan, 2001
#280460: May 13th 2019 at 12:59:40 AM

In simple terms, the Kentucky government has deliberately enlarged the opioid crisis.

  • The pharmaceutical companies have paid large amounts of cash to Mitch and his cronies to make sure that pot stays illegal and that they have unfettered access to the public.
  • The actual criminals in Kentucky have been putting up fake pharmacies by the hundreds to sell 10,000s of opioid pills to the public with quack doctor prescriptions. This increases the bottom line for the manufacturers as well.
  • Mitch and company have made it impossible to sue the companies for this.
  • Mitch and company keep pot outlawed because it would rapidly increase wealth and security of smaller farms that would otherwise go under and be bought up by his tobacco and corporate farm friends.
  • Mitch also receives kickbacks from the privatized prison system in Kentucky that needs lots and lots of drug users for cheap unpaid labor like groundskeeping, manufacturing, and so on.
  • He also is paid by prison unions and security.
  • Mitch has stripped all the money from treatment of opioids, public defense, government assistance, and free hospital care in hopes of actively killing the poor (and maybe saving money too but mostly killing them).
  • Mitch is also denying public schools money and trying to drive them out of business for charter schools so he can take money from them too. Also, leave the public uneducated as well as potentially even the food resources and care for children in regions ravaged by it.
  • He's also attempted to put down churches that are not of the megabox pro-Republican vein. This also denies the public their assistance.

He is, in a very real way, Kentucky's dictator and a mass murderer.

Blevin is every bit as bad as well, just not as charismatic (and that is an Insult to Rocks if I ever heard one)

I've often made jokes that people who want to see what cyberpunk dystopias without the tech would look like should come to Appalachia.

Edited by CharlesPhipps on May 13th 2019 at 1:07:21 AM

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.
Medinoc from France (Before Recorded History)
#280461: May 13th 2019 at 1:06:48 AM

[up]Once again, you used "Exaggerated" instead of "Exacerbated".

"And as long as a sack of shit is not a good thing to be, chivalry will never die."
CharlesPhipps Since: Jan, 2001
#280462: May 13th 2019 at 1:07:40 AM

my bad.

Edited by CharlesPhipps on May 13th 2019 at 4:08:21 AM

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.
speedyboris Since: Feb, 2010
#280463: May 13th 2019 at 6:33:56 AM

So apparently Trump is trying to hijack the annual 4th of July celebration in D.C., which is supposed to be a non-partisan event, to make it yet another rally. As if he doesn't do enough of those.

Just what we need on July 4th: Potshots, division, and conspiracy theories.

3of4 Just a harmless giant from a foreign land. from Five Seconds in the Future. Since: Jan, 2010 Relationship Status: GAR for Archer
Just a harmless giant from a foreign land.
#280464: May 13th 2019 at 6:41:55 AM

He is the United States!

He just shoots tanning spray instead of force lightning.

"You can reply to this Message!"
Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#280465: May 13th 2019 at 6:46:06 AM

Eh, the 4th has always been a bit of a dick-waving contest for the U.S. Not that I mind celebrating it, of course. Patriotism doesn't mean blindly ignoring your country's faults, unlike what Fox News wants us to believe.

Edited by Fighteer on May 13th 2019 at 9:46:30 AM

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
speedyboris Since: Feb, 2010
#280466: May 13th 2019 at 7:25:16 AM

[up] I don't mind July 4th being patriotic. That's to be expected.

What I do mind is turning it into a divisive rally where Trump does a "greatest hits" on his enemies. Do we really want a July 4th celebration to have rants about Crooked Hillary, Attempted Coup, Facebook banning conspiracy theorists and hate speech, Fake News, and "Democrats are very unhinged and just jealous"? I know some people do, but that's the whole point: The 4th of July should be a celebration for everyone, not just Trump's base.

Edited by speedyboris on May 13th 2019 at 9:26:24 AM

Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
GoldenKaos Captain of the Dead City from Cirith Ungol Since: Mar, 2014 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
Captain of the Dead City
#280468: May 13th 2019 at 7:34:11 AM

We over the pond will be celebrating that we got rid of you winkwinkwink

"...in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach."
wisewillow She/her Since: May, 2011
She/her
#280469: May 13th 2019 at 7:37:10 AM

...

.....

Now that’s some spin.

TobiasDrake (•̀⤙•́) (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
(•̀⤙•́)
#280470: May 13th 2019 at 7:37:59 AM

What I do mind is turning it into a divisive rally where Trump does a "greatest hits" on his enemies. Do we really want a July 4th celebration to have rants about Crooked Hillary, Attempted Coup, Facebook banning conspiracy theorists and hate speech, Fake News, and "Democrats are very unhinged and just jealous"? I know some people do, but that's the whole point: The 4th of July should be a celebration for everyone, not just Trump's base.

Don't forget crowd size. He'll definitely be crowing about the number of people who turned up to the 4th of July celebration as if they're here to celebrate him, personally.

Edited by TobiasDrake on May 13th 2019 at 8:38:31 AM

My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.
PhysicalStamina i'm tired, my friend (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Coming soon to theaters
i'm tired, my friend
#280471: May 13th 2019 at 7:41:45 AM

I remember when I could laugh at July 4th memes.

i'm tired, my friend
HailMuffins Since: May, 2016 Relationship Status: Shipping fictional characters
#280472: May 13th 2019 at 7:44:10 AM

Meanwhile, Canada will probably just complain about the noise in-between apologizing for complaining about the noise.

Edited by HailMuffins on May 13th 2019 at 11:44:23 AM

Medinoc from France (Before Recorded History)
#280473: May 13th 2019 at 7:55:52 AM

So in the end, will there or will there not be a military parade?

"And as long as a sack of shit is not a good thing to be, chivalry will never die."
Parable Since: Aug, 2009
#280474: May 13th 2019 at 7:57:15 AM

"We over the pond will be celebrating that we got rid of you."

I did read somewhere that Britain made more money from trade with the US after the Revolution than it did when they were colonies. So, hooray for unintended consequences?

HailMuffins Since: May, 2016 Relationship Status: Shipping fictional characters
#280475: May 13th 2019 at 8:06:43 AM

[up]Wasn't the US colonized by people that Britain kicked out of their country?


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