Law Enforcement

Johnny Bell Hypocrisy Beams On High!

Check this out and pitch in if you can. If you’ve ever gotten something out of this, now’s the time to throw in. [Page One]

Here’s Matt Bevin wasting your taxpayer dollars again. Leave it to halfwit Republicans to create a redundant, politically-motivated system. [H-L]

A gunman opened fire on a congressional baseball practice in Virginia on Wednesday morning, wounding at least five people, including Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.), a Republican staffer and a pair of Capitol Hill police officers. The shooter was reportedly killed during the incident. [HuffPo]

Rick Pitino is just gross and needs to go away. He and the rest of the University of Louisville are circling the toilet bowl. [C-J/AKN]

A wealthy Republican donor and fundraiser has been selected as ambassador to Canada. [Toronto Star]

Kelly Craft, a prominent Republican fundraiser, wife of coal company owner Joe Craft and former Glasgow resident, is President Donald Trump’s choice for the next ambassador to Canada. [Ronnie Ellis]

Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.) was joking with Rep. Trent Kelly (R-Miss.) near third base when he heard a loud bang ring out across the baseball field Wednesday. [The Hill]

Morehead State University has been awarded a $497,305 Appalachian Regional Commission grant for the next phase of Shaping Our Appalachian Region Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics project. [Ashland Independent]

A UPS driver opened fire with a handgun inside a United Parcel Service Inc delivery center in San Francisco on Wednesday, killing three co-workers before fatally shooting himself as police closed in, authorities and company officials said. [Reuters]

Greg Stumbo and Jody Richards ought to be dragged through the streets and publicly shamed for their Johnny Bell bullshit. Those two enabled him and all of his havoc. For years and years. [More Ronnie Ellis]

Paul Ryan Says ‘Death Tax’ Hurts Wisconsin Small Businesses. IRS Data Shows Otherwise. [ProPublica]

The Glasgow Independent Schools Board of Education held its final meeting with GIS Interim Superintendent Larry Hammond on Monday at the district’s central office. [Glasgow Daily Times]

The special counsel overseeing the investigation into Russia’s role in the 2016 election is interviewing senior intelligence officials as part of a widening probe that now includes an examination of whether President Trump attempted to obstruct justice. [WaPo]

The former sheriff of Harlan County pleaded guilty to stealing at least $10,000 through various means, including by writing checks to himself from a fund that was supposed to be used to finance undercover drug buys. [H-L]

North Korea has blasted “selfish” Donald Trump for pulling America out of the Paris climate agreement. [HuffPo]

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Matt Bevin Continues To Embarrass KY

Nearly two years after rejecting requests to remove a controversial statue of Confederate President Jefferson Davis in Kentucky’s Capitol Rotunda, a state panel that promised to produce educational materials to help put the statue in historical context is only now beginning its work. [H-L]

Donald Trump, apparently confirming his disregard for the risks of global climate change, reportedly told the mayor of a small Chesapeake Bay island that could soon disappear to erosion and rising seas that there’s no cause for concern. Trump phoned James “Ooker” Eskridge, the mayor of Tangier, Virginia, on Monday, a few days after CNN aired a story about the impacts of climate change on the island in the middle of the bay, The Daily Times in Salisbury, Maryland, reports. Trump “said not to worry about sea-level rise,” Eskridge told the newspaper. “He said, ‘Your island has been there for hundreds of years, and I believe your island will be there for hundreds more.’” [HuffPo]

Dan Johnson is just gross. Metro Councilwoman Jessica Green told council leadership that fellow Democrat Dan Johnson groped her and then laughed about it last week. [C-J/AKN]

U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has recommended to President Donald Trump reducing the size of the Bears Ears National Monument in Utah, according to a copy of the recommendation seen by Reuters on Monday. [Reuters]

Matt Bevin is right that we’re mocking him and that we hate god. We hate HIS god – a hateful, vengeful, racist, homophobic, hates-the-poor god. He’s so out-of-touch that he has no idea law enforcement, religious leaders, Republicans, Democrats and even members of his own staff are criticizing his idiocy. [WFPL]

At a meeting in March, a lead analyst in the VA’s compensation service was critical of the media, scientists and the VA’s own administrative tribunal for taking positions that differ from his. The VA said his comments “did not fully or accurately reflect VA’s position” but also said his quotes were being taken out of context. [ProPublica]

While heroin and other opioids continue to draw headlines and the attention of political figures, methamphetamine has made a comeback in Madison County. [Richmond Register]

In a new legal challenge to Trump, Maryland and the District of Columbia filed a lawsuit Monday alleging that his failure to shed his private businesses has undermined public trust and violated constitutional bans against self-dealing. [NY Times]

Children in Boyd County are being fed this summer through meal programs at several sites. [Ashland Independent]

Seems like a good time to revisit this. The lawyer gave Donald Trump a note, written in Trump’s own handwriting. He asked Trump to read it aloud. Trump may not have realized it yet, but he had walked into a trap. [WaPo]

State revenues were up in May over last year but probably not enough to head off a likely budget shortfall for the fiscal year which ends June 30. [Ronnie Ellis]

Rand Paul was in the cage waiting for one more turn at the plate when shots rand down on the field, hitting Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) and at least four other people. [The Hill]

A Pikeville psychologist was convicted Monday of taking part in a massive disability fraud scheme in Eastern Kentucky. [H-L]

Donald Trump has given Defense Secretary Jim Mattis the authority to set troop levels in Afghanistan, a U.S. official told Reuters on Tuesday, opening the door for future troop increases requested by the U.S. commander. [HuffPo]

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Trumpublican Machine Continues To Crumble

***Care about the future of Kentucky? Help us cover FOIA and open records request fees relating to Matt Bevin and Jamie Comer.*** [CLICK HERE]

Surprise! Matt Bevin’s friend is eligible for monstrous tax breaks for selling that mansion to the halfwit governor at a loss. [H-L]

Donald Trump’s eldest son seemed to confirm fired FBI director James Comey’s testimony that the president requested Comey end the FBI investigation into former national security adviser Mike Flynn’s contacts with Russian officials, contradicting his father’s repeated denials. [HuffPo]

Told ya so (about the Ramsey crew) a decade ago. Oh, huge note: If you can afford to hire Ann Oldfather and need to hire her? Well, you know what they say about smoke… In a devastating portrait of mismanagement and deceit, a long-awaited forensic audit of the once free-wheeling University of Louisville Foundation said it wasted money on worthless real estate investments and startups as well as football tickets and bowl games. [C-J/AKN]

It wasn’t just what ex-FBI director James Comey told senators about the lead-up to Donald Trump firing him over his Russia investigation. It was what he intimated, suggested, winked, and implied about possible ties between Team Trump and the Kremlin. [TDB]

The Madison County Health Board approved policies Wednesday that will govern the syringe exchange program for intravenous drug users, clearing the way for the health department to begin exchanges by early July. [Richmond Register]

Before he became Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen worked on behalf of a company controlled by another wealthy and well-connected man: Viktor Topolov, a politician whose associates are members of the Russian and Ukrainian underworld. [BuzzFeed]

The Ashland commission approved over $300,000 in payments, established a list of ethics principles, finalized a committee to re-design Judd Plaza and heard from local residents concerned about the local bus system and deer population in a brief Thursday meeting. [Ashland Independent]

We’re looking at you, ignorant, delusional Republican Party of Kentucky members. Kansas’ collapsed tax-cut plan will provide political fodder for Democrats for decades. [WaPo]

The Glasgow-Barren County Industrial Development and Economic Authority board of directors decided Friday to offer a $30,000 incentive package to a company that is considering locating a new business in Barren County – not within an incorporated city. [Glasgow Daily Times]

Donald Trump, who often says he only likes winners, tells one grand tale of loss: In 1990, he nearly went bankrupt and was forced to ask dozens of banks to whom he owed money to change the terms on their loans and forgive some of his debts. [Reuters]

Morehead State University’s Board of Regents approved a $152.2 million operating budget during its quarterly meeting held Thursday, June 8. The budget is an increase of $1.3 million or 0.9 percent for the 2017-18 academic year. The budget also includes a 4.92 percent tuition increase for undergraduate and graduate students along with a 6.2 percent increase in student housing. [The Morehead News]

NPR journalists David Gilkey and Zabihullah Tamanna died a year ago this week, ambushed on a remote road in southern Afghanistan while on a reporting assignment traveling with the Afghan National Army. Since their deaths, NPR has been investigating what happened, and today we are sharing new information about what we learned. It’s a very different story from what we originally understood. [NPR]

If VHS put in some effort, crap like this wouldn’t occur because sunlight would kill it. But she won’t. So don’t hold your breath. [H-L]

The Trump Justice Department is banning federal attorneys from reaching settlements in criminal and civil cases that direct defendants to give money to third-party organizations, a practice that Republicans criticized during the Obama administration. [HuffPo]

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Maybe Hypocrite Matt Bevin Should Spend A Bit More Time Praying Than He Does Casting Aspersions

Now Matt Bevin is threatening the media and individuals filing ethics complaints. This idiot should tread lightly when threatening others. A united media front will be his worst nightmare. If he doesn’t think the media will find what it needs to prove him corrupt? He’s more delusional than Donald Trump. The Bevin crew are so inept that they don’t know how to hide their footprints. Additionally, Amanda Stamper may be one of the dumbest spokespeople in the history of Frankfort. [H-L]

Mitch McConnell has had EIGHT YEARS to come up with a health care solution and he’s done jack shit. If you trust him with your health care at this point, you deserve whatever nightmare comes your way. Republican senators appear closer to ultimately passing a bill that would repeal the Affordable Care Act and replace it with legislation that would dramatically reduce health insurance coverage for low-income people, only in a less severe fashion than the House measure. [HuffPo]

The 64th annual WHAS Crusade for Children telethon raised $5.4 million for special needs children, the charity announced Sunday. [C-J/AKN]

The top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee told USA TODAY on Tuesday that Russian attacks on election systems were broader and targeted more states than those detailed in an explosive intelligence report leaked to the website The Intercept. [USA Today]

Welp, the time has come. Jamie Comer has finally publicly (instead of just privately) decided to speak out against Ryan Quarles. Likely won’t end well for either of their camps. [State Journal]

Russian military intelligence executed a cyberattack on at least one U.S. voting software supplier and sent spear-phishing emails to more than 100 local election officials just days before last November’s presidential election, according to a highly classified intelligence report obtained by The Intercept. [The Intercept]

As Richmond’s city commission reviewed the proposed 2017-18 budget Tuesday morning, few changes were suggested in departmental funding. However, several explanations were requested. [Richmond Register]

The FBI arrested a Georgia-based federal government contractor at her home this weekend, and on Monday announced she is being charged with “removing classified material from a government facility and mailing it to a news outlet.” The leaker is identified in the criminal complaint as 25-year-old Reality Leigh Winner, an employee of the contractor Pluribus International Corporation who held a top secret clearance. The Justice Department alleged that Winner admitted taking the classified intelligence document and mailing it to a news outlet. [TPM]

The City of Ashland would turn $400,000 in public funds into business incentives over the next two years through a new program pitched by Community and Economic Development Director Chris Pullem. [Ashland Independent]

The day after Donald Trump asked James B. Comey, the F.B.I. director, to end an investigation into his former national security adviser, Mr. Comey confronted Attorney General Jeff Sessions and said he did not want to be left alone again with the president, according to current and former law enforcement officials. [NY Times]

Matt Bevin can’t repeal a 1 percent tax he said was one reason to dismantle the state health insurance exchange before he was elected in 2015. So he’s planning to work with the legislature next session to remove the tax, which funded the now-defunct Kynect. [WFPL]

The nation’s top intelligence official told associates in March that Donald Trump asked him if he could intervene with then-FBI Director James B. Comey to get the bureau to back off its focus on former national security adviser Michael Flynn in its Russia probe, according to officials. [WaPo]

Tread lightly, “conservatives”, cause you’ll get your fat, white asses handed to you. Conservative radio hosts mock a physical assault on a reporter. A GOP governor blasts a reporter on Twitter as “a sick man.” The president accuses the media of being an “enemy of the state.” [H-L]

Donald Trump will nominate Christopher A. Wray to be the next director of the FBI, he announced on Wednesday. [HuffPo]

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The Trump-Bevin Brand Of New Republicanism Is Turning Deadly In Kentucky

Just check out the comments left by the dumbest mouth-breathers the Commonwealth has to offer. You’ll note they’re the kind of garbage people who don’t have the guts to show their faces – ever – for fear if getting their asses handed to them. Several windows were shattered at the main office of the Lexington Herald-Leader in downtown Lexington, amid suspected signs of small-caliber bullet damage to the building. [H-L]

Just a reminder of the nasty, ignorant, dangerous environment the New Republicans and Matt Bevin have created in Kentucky. The Lexington Herald-Leader is staying “vigilant” after several of its windows were shattered Sunday morning, Editor Peter Baniak said Monday. [HuffPo]

When a bunch of shitty, Republican bigots launch a 501(c)4 focused on pensions, you know they’re up to no good. [C-J/AKN]

Russian government officials discussed having potentially “derogatory” information about then-presidential candidate Donald Trump and some of his top aides in conversations intercepted by US intelligence during the 2016 election, according to two former intelligence officials and a congressional source. [CNN]

Before daylight fell on White Hall State Park, several men strapped on rucksacks and began a 22-mile journey to the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post in Winchester. [Richmond Register]

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Responsible for the state of health care in this country) is tempering expectations that the Senate will pass an overhaul of the nation’s healthcare system, promising his colleagues a vote but not success. [The Hill]

As national Democrats eye the 2018 mid-term elections amid the missteps of the Trump administration, several central Kentucky Democrats are considering a race against Sixth District Republican U.S. Congressman Andy Barr. [Ronnie Ellis]

Of course there are a bunch of backward-ass people gung ho for this racist shit. A small Kentucky town gave a formal welcome on Monday to a monument to the Confederate soldiers of the American Civil War, rededicating the controversial structure after the University of Louisville removed it as an unwelcome symbol of slavery. [Reuters]

The U.S. Army is planning to grant an exclusive license to the French pharmaceutical company Sanofi Pasteur, Inc. to manufacture and sell a Zika vaccine the Army developed last year. [WFPL]

Mike Dubke, Donald Trump’s communications director, has resigned as Trump considers a larger personnel shakeup to confront the growing scandals weighing down his administration. [Politico]

Eric Sexton, a Metcalfe County native, has been chosen to lead the Barren River Area Development District. BRADD’s executive council unanimously approved the decision to hire Sexton on Wednesday. [Glasgow Daily Times]

New Republicanism has reached yet another low with this latest stunt involving law enforcement. [WaPo]

Matt Bevin answered questions from the media about his new house last week, but his responses weren’t enough to satisfy Attorney General Andy Beshear. “This is pretty simple: a governor can’t buy a mansion from a state contractor for half off and he can’t create a brand new $250,000 job for his best friend,” Beshear said Tuesday. “Those are the types of things that aren’t Democrat or Republican, they’re just right or wrong. So there is and continues to be a lot of smoke here.” [H-L]

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos said Wednesday that states should have the flexibility to decide whether schools can discriminate against LGBTQ students ― even if those schools get federal money. [HuffPo]

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Bevin & His New Republican Party Are Bad News For Jobs In Kentucky

Matt Bevin and his fellow New Republican con-artists are so incompetent that unemployment is rising again. Unemployment rates rose in 83 Kentucky counties between April 2016 and April 2017, fell in 28 and stayed the same in nine counties, according to the Kentucky Office of Employment and Training. [H-L]

Former President Barack Obama subtly knocked his successor, Donald Trump on Thursday, while explaining the importance of taking in refugees and immigrants in need. “In the eyes of God, a child on the other side of the border is no less worthy of love and compassion than my own child,” he said in Berlin during a conversation with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. [HuffPo]

Steve Beshear is a lying motherfucker trying to claim he supported gay marriage. He not only fought against gay marriage with your taxpayer dollars, he refused to say the word “gay” during his two terms as governor. Steve Beshear fought against gay marriage so hard that JACK CONWAY had to stand up against him. Beshear fought gay marriage so hard that Dan Canon and crew took the issue to the Supreme Court. Sure, his position may have changed but he partook in extreme homophobic acts. Of course Yetter is giving him cover as he attempts to whitewash history. She’ll likely whine for being called out about it. And a handful of heterosexual white males will defend the bullshit. [C-J/AKN]

The U.S. has the worst rate of maternal deaths in the developed world, and 60 percent are preventable. Tell us more, shitty, racist, bigoted, backward Republican Party of Kentucky, how great this anti-health care mentality is going to save us all. [ProPublica]

This reeks of being unethical and potentially illegal. It’s only a matter of time until Bevin’s hit with another massive lawsuit. [Ronnie Ellis]

When German Chancellor Angela Merkel visited President Donald Trump at the White House in March, she brought a visual aid to help Trump understand the menace posed by his would-be friend, Russian President Vladimir Putin. Merkel brought a 1980s map of the former Soviet Union and noted the way its borders stretched for hundreds of miles to the west of Russia’s current boundary, according to a source who was briefed on the meeting. [Politico]

The fat white guys (I said it, you bigots. Leave McDonald’s once in a while.) of the Morehead Police Department think they need Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles. Just in case you needed yet more evidence that some of these small town folks live in a delusional, paranoid Faux News world. [The Morehead News]

Trump’s 2018 budget request to Congress seeks massive cuts in spending on health programs, including medical research, disease prevention programs and health insurance for children of the working poor. It’s the New Republican way. [WaPo]

A bomb threat that included a demand for $25,000 to prevent blowing up a newspaper printing plant in this southern Kentucky city Saturday evening turned out to be false, company officials said. [Richmond Register]

Of course, your shitsack president and most Kentucky Republicans can’t be bothered to honor these dead heroes. [Reuters]

In some areas, residents worry about violent crime – in others, property crime. Could more neighborhood watches be the answer? [WFPL]

One aspect of national security would be shortchanged in the president’s budget proposal: protecting against deadly pathogens, man-made or natural. [NY Times]

Here’s the Jack Brammer participation in the whitewashing of Steve Beshear’s history. He’s the older male version of Yetter. [H-L]

Angered that U.S. intelligence officials appeared to be leaking information about the Manchester terror attack, British authorities have stopped sharing details about the case, the BBC reports. Sources confirmed the report to the Associated Press. [HuffPo]

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Bevin Gets Back Into Bed With For-Profit Prisons, Proving His New Naz… Republican Feathers Are Coming In Strong

Mitch McConnell has known Trump-Russia specifics since August but has continued to lie to Kentuckians and the American people. He’s also publicly attempted to quash investigations and prevent the appointment of a special prosecutor. He’s a treasonous old fucker and he’s only in power because the Kentucky Democratic Party is ineffective garbage. So it’s time to sack the KDP as it currently exists so you can sack McConnell. [Mother Jones]

Leave it to shitty Republicans like Matt Bevin to further harm Kentucky with private prisons. Matt Bevin’s administration is preparing to place state inmates in a private prison in Lee County four years after former Gov. Steve Beshear decided to end Kentucky’s use of for-profit lockup. On Tuesday, the state formally awarded a contract to the Louisville law firm of Wyatt Tarrant and Combs to “assist in drafting and finalizing a complex contract for operation of a private prison in Lee County, to accommodate prisoners in state custody due to serious overcrowding problems at existing state correctional facilities.” [John Cheves]

So of course Mitch McConnell is in love with the plan. He and his fellow delusional self-promotors love the idea of killing thousands of Kentuckians. Twenty-three million fewer Americans would have insurance under legislation that House Republicans narrowly passed last month, the Congressional Budget Office reported on Wednesday. [HuffPo]

Just before taking office, President Donald Trump promised to donate all profits earned from foreign governments back to the U.S. Treasury. But MSNBC has learned the Trump Organization is not tracking all possible payments it receives from foreign governments, according to new admissions by Trump representatives. By failing to track foreign payments it receives, the company will be hard-pressed to meet Trump’s pledge to donate foreign profits and could even increase its legal exposure. [NBC News]

Finally, a Pitino-related sex scandal nightmare that he and UofL didn’t get to manipulate and win. [C-J/AKN]

Trump asked two of the nation’s top intelligence officials in March to help him push back against an FBI investigation into possible coordination between his campaign and the Russian government, according to current and former officials. [WaPo]

The Madison Fiscal Court heard first reading of its 2017-18 budget Tuesday morning, with only minor adjustments from the draft it reviewed a week earlier. [Richmond Register]

The Chinese government systematically dismantled C.I.A. spying operations in the country starting in 2010, killing or imprisoning more than a dozen sources over two years and crippling intelligence gathering there for years afterward. [NY Times]

Eastern Kentucky towns always bog themselves down with the dumbest shit possible while their community gets lost in the dark. If skateboarders in Russell want to practice kickflips and ollies, or simply spin their wheels on pavement, they’ll have to do it on private property. [Ashland Independent]

An escalating feud between the White House and the Office of Government Ethics (OGE) has boiled over, with the Trump administration refusing to produce waivers it has granted to lobbyists that allow them to work in government agencies. [The Hill]

The Rowan County Board of Education voted Tuesday to approve a 1 percent raise for all district employees. [The Morehead News]

A federal appeals court on Tuesday revived a Wikipedia lawsuit that challenges a U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) program of mass online surveillance, and claims that the government unconstitutionally invades people’s privacy rights. [Reuters]

A consulting firm tasked with analyzing Kentucky’s unfunded public pension fund crisis says the state could address the problem more quickly if it committed to a fixed-dollar annual contribution similar to a 30-year mortgage. [Ronnie Ellis]

Sam Clovis likely to be named undersecretary of the USDA department that manages research on everything from climate change to nutrition. [ProPublica]

The AFL-CIO and Teamsters Union filed a lawsuit in Franklin Circuit Court Thursday challenging the constitutionality of a new law that prohibits unions from requiring employees to pay dues in a unionized workplace. [H-L]

Antarctica, the desolate southernmost continent boasting the coldest climate on Earth, usually brings to mind visions of ice, snow and penguins. But global warming is transforming Antarctica’s icy expanses, new research from the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom shows. Parts of the continent are “greening,” researchers say — and fast. [HuffPo]

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