There is a great deal happening in American politics, both at the federal level and at the state level. I’m not sure about other writers, but my spirit is exhausted, and most of the time I can’t pull it together to address all of the shit that’s happening around me. Someone has to say something, but I’m not arrogant enough to believe that anything I say will make a difference. However, the other voice in my head, as a journalist, says to me, “You have a duty,” and then here I am, trying to make sense of nonsense.
Instead of picking one topic, I’m just going to give you a roundup of three and try to condense my thoughts into small, digestible pieces. My question this week is “Does the Carpet Match the Drapes,” or to keep it plain, do the pieces add up to make logical sense?
Before I jump in, I just want to remind everyone that there are a lot of journalists, like me, who are doing their best to keep writing stories and examining the business of living in their communities. Not only that, there are many of us who are doing it for free or as freelance writers, so when we ask for your support, it’s so we can eat, pay our bills, and have the resources to increase our reach. Those things are important, just as the information is integral to a safe society. With that said, like these stories, share them, and if you are committed to community news, buy us a coffee. One of my goals with Louisville Independent is to create a print annual of works from the year for a small run.
Kim Davis’ Got Her Grifter Mitts Out Again
Kim Davis, remember her? A “devout” Christian can’t honor the single marriage of a queer couple because of said Christianity, and yet, thinks all of her marriages are sanctified by the Lord. And yes, her history is relevant. The theme here is “Does The Carpet Match The Drapes?” Well, she’s back in the news because she wants to appeal the $100,000 verdict against her, and she wants someone to refund her $260,000 in attorney fees. In addition to that, she would like for the United States Supreme Court to overturn the decision in Obergefell v Hodges that legalized same-sex marriage. Davis was propped up as a poster girl for morality by charlatans like Mike Huckabee and philanderer and child-abandoner Matt Bevin.
Now, forgive my vulgarity, but I’m sick of this shit. Davis can bounce her twat over all the men in Rowan County, Kentucky, but because she married four times to three men, she’s morally in the clear and justified in using her religion as a veil to deny services and duties of her employment. What her situation, in 2015 and now, boils down to is that Kim Davis wants another paycheck for not doing her job.
I’m sure both Republicans and Democrats can agree that if you don’t want to do the job that you’re hired to perform, it’s probably best to move on and not live under the delusion that an employer needs to pay you for not performing the duties required by the position. Not a wild thought.
Do the carpets match the drapes here? No, they never have, and that should always be a clue about who we put our energy and votes behind. Kim Davis is simply another entitled Republican who, now that fame and attention have left her, needs a paycheck and so wrangles her phony morality to get a payout from the government. Bullshit meter is hot red on this one. Kim Davis is one piece of dirt that needs to be swept out of her pretend fundamentalist closet forever. She’s a grifter like the rest.
Greenberg Seeking Republican Sanctuary
Sigh, I wish I could stop writing about Greenberg already. Can his term just end, please?
Greenberg is your garden-variety Libertarian. They want the cool points of listening to cool music, hanging out at the fun places, but desire the regressive policies of destroying environmental protections and letting police and immigration loose on local citizens. It also smells a lot like approval-seeking by trying to play the middle instead of having fucking principles and being firm about them.
Greenberg asked the Trump administration for permission to exit the Environmental Protection Agency program that created a reformulated gas requirement that he says is costing Louisvillians more at the fuel pump. He wants out to supposedly lower gas prices, but perhaps he doesn’t remember the air quality of Louisville in the ‘70s and ‘80s. It was not okay. But that’s mild. To exit the program, the city has to have a plan in place to protect the gains made from being in the program. Greenberg claims the city has that plan and has submitted it.
But, Greenberg, who’s been touting a new roller rink, changes to Champions Park, and bragging on local arts, though he’s cut funding for many arts groups so that police could get a raise, is back on his bullshit by tucking tail to the DOJ, removing Louisville from the Sanctuary cities list, and assisting ICE with detaining immigrants. To be fair, the designation means little when regimes like Trump’s want to snatch people from the streets for deportation, or worse. It does remind us that Greenberg doesn’t stand for anything, so he certainly won’t stand up for our city. He speaks in platitudes and offers little. Greenberg will be a forgotten blip in the mayoral legacy of our city. A big nothing between something, hopefully something that matters.
The ACLU released a statement about Greenberg’s new ICE detainer rule one which puts other incarcerated persons and detainees at risk of harm.
“Mayor Greenberg’s administration’s ICE detainer collaboration with the Trump Administration is now in effect,” said Amber Duke, ACLU-KY Executive Director, in a release. “According to the jail population dashboard at 7 a.m. today, Louisville Metro Corrections’ Main Jail Complex population was 1,501 people in a facility with a maximum capacity of 1,373 people. LMDC, which remains dangerously understaffed, has been trying to improve conditions and health care in the wake of 22 deaths in the facility over the last three years. Now, the staff of LMDC, at the direction of Mayor Greenberg, will be forced to keep people in the facility up to an additional 48 hours beyond their release date for ICE. That’s 48 hours of additional monitoring LMDC Corrections staff will have to provide; 48 hours of additional healthcare YesCare will have to provide; 48 additional hours an individual will have to spend in overcrowded conditions. At the end of the 48 hours, individuals will be turned over to ICE, an agency currently flouting due process rights and detaining people in conditions that have been reported as inhumane.
The Greenberg Administration was bullied into this collaboration with the Trump Administration and chose to bend the knee rather than stand up to threats of withholding of federal funding. Other municipalities and states have fought back against similar threats and withholding of funds and have been successful in defeating this illegal activity. It is unconscionable that the city of Louisville is now a “victory” and model for the Trump Administration to use to threaten and bully other municipalities into compliance.”
Do the carpets match the drapes? No. There’s a GIF of actress Viola Davis picking up her purse and walking out of a room. That’s pretty much my feeling about Greenberg as Louisville’s “Democratic” mayor. He claimed to be a Democrat to get elected, but other than photo ops, he quickly morphed into a mini-Republican. I’m over it. Can we get a new one?
Trump Is Just Doing Shit
He’s taking over D.C. with military on the street and his curfew tryouts, and a warning for the rest of the nation’s cities. He wants a police state, and the events in D.C. will let him know how far he can get with his model for “safe” streets. It’s not about safety, it’s about control. He wants to control how Americans move, what Americans can afford, how Americans work, and yet some people still believe he’s doing any of this for the good of Americans. All of the programs that serve people have been cut for increases in tax cuts to people who store money in offshore accounts and hoard instead of spending it back into our economy.
I’m convinced that, other than Project 2025 and the whisperings of that bald goblin Stephen Miller, Trump simply makes things up as he watches Fox News and responds to the critics that hate him. His decisions are reactionary rather than revolutionary for our nation. We have opened the White House to an out-of-control Id and watch daily in horror, waiting for it to self-destruct.
The contradictions are so prevalent with this man that neither his supporters nor those in opposition can keep up with the level of utter chaos he brings to the office of the President daily. There is a Wikipedia page dedicated to the very subject of his false and misleading statement, which they measure in the tens of thousands.
Do the carpets match the drapes? That depends on which side you’re on. If you’re a Republican Trump supporter, sometimes, but more often than not, he’s changed policies he promised his voters on the campaign trail. If you didn’t vote for Trump and he’s fulfilling the worst policies you disagree with, and diving headfirst into Project 2025 despite blatantly lying about it then his contradictions have matched the mess you expected from him. I guess if being remembered is his plan, he’s definitely achieved that. He’s a cautionary tale that I hope this nation never forgets.
This season of America is tiring, and it feels like a pressure cooker, the old, explodey kind. America is ripe for some real ugly times, and though I hate to think of what they might be. I guess that we are due, and probably will be better off for some of it. Maybe Americans will stop accepting crumbs when our government, which we fund, is supposed to provide well, and do something for its people, and that isn’t give rich folks checks, and kill old folks, poor folks, and babies by snatching their healthcare. It shouldn’t take Americans traveling overseas to discover that some governments, even through their own brand of corruption, still provide a stable foundation for their people, including healthcare, staying out of the bedrooms of adults, and working hard to protect the environment.
