Commentary
OMG not DEI
Listen up, people. It’s time to get woke to the real victims. Untold Kentuckians are suffering from exposure to “concepts.” Not just any concepts. DIVISIVE concepts. Ideas that cause discomfort, guilt, anguish, psychological distress, deep dark depression, excessive misery and possibly premature hair loss in white males. What’s inflicting these horrors? DEI.? No, not do […]
‘Having a conversation is not an act of aggression.’ Especially when lives are at stake.
Kentucky’s 2024 regular session opened with lawmakers insisting leadership consider rules changes to make the legislative process more transparent. Rep. Savannah Maddox, R-Dry Ridge, was one of those lawmakers, saying, “Proposing rules changes, having a discussion in this body, having a conversation, is not an act of aggression.” She was right. And yet this is […]
‘Ghosts of a Lost Cause’ tells an unfinished story stretching beyond ‘friendliest small town’
Murray’s controversial court square Confederate monument “represents a distorted, bloody and awful past that we cannot forget but should not celebrate,” said Murray State University historian Brian Clardy. The 1917-vintage stone memorial topped by a 5?-foot statue of Robert E. Lee, the Confederacy’s most famous general, is the subject of a new film, “Ghosts of […]
The coming Democratic forfeit?
In politics, perception often becomes reality. Nowhere is that saying more appropriate than with legislative elections. Candidates viewed as likely to win attract volunteers, endorsements, and campaign contributions – and maybe extra news coverage – all of which increases the chance of victory. Once candidates start generating buzz, voters take them seriously. They’ll draw bigger […]
Kentucky has the money for once. Will the legislature have the vision?
Kentucky’s new Attorney General Russell Coleman is right when he says prevention is the weak link in the long-running war on drugs. Turning the tide will take a lot more than retreading D.A.R.E. or Nancy Reagan’s “Just Say No” campaign, though. If we’re serious about prevention, we’ll work to help more Kentuckians grow up in […]
Happy New Year. Don’t try this at home.
More than a few of our foolhardy forebears rang in the New Year with earth-trembling blasts that threatened — and sometimes claimed — lives and limbs. Called anvil-firing, the ear-splitting holiday custom was forsaken long ago, possibly because it proved so hazardous. (The custom is preserved — safely — at special events held annually around […]
‘White Christmas’ by Irving Berlin, Bing Crosby made Christmas a celebration for all Americans
Irving Berlin was a Jewish immigrant who loved America. As his 1938 song “God Bless America” suggests, he believed deeply in the nation’s potential for goodness, unity and global leadership. In 1940, he wrote another quintessential American song, “White Christmas,” which the popular entertainer Bing Crosby eventually made famous. But this was a profoundly sad […]
Callous abortion bans are fueling outrage
Kentucky abortion-rights advocates are caught in a difficult legal situation: Only pregnant women seeking abortions have the right to challenge abortion bans, the state Supreme Court has ruled.? The first effort at a class-action lawsuit was recently withdrawn when the 33-year-old Jane Doe discovered her fetus at eight weeks no longer had cardiac activity. Lawyers […]
Wrapping up ’23 with some fanciful gifts for Kentucky politicians
The notion of giving fanciful but pointed presents to public figures at Christmastime is an old one, established in Kentucky in 1981-82 by the late Ed Ryan when he was chief of The Courier-Journal’s Frankfort Bureau and institutionalized by his successors, Bob Garrett and Tom Loftus. I also inherited the enterprise, and at a time […]
Lessons from an electronic lynch mob
“Hey, I’ve got some news that might interest you.” The reporter’s voice was chipper, friendly, as though intending to tell me I’d won something. Except he’d called on a Sunday. When journalists are working that shift, it’s rarely a positive sign. He said, “You were plagiarized by the president of Harvard!” Or something to that […]
Why 14th Amendment bars Trump from office. A constitutional scholar explains Colorado ruling.
In 2024, former President Donald Trump will face some of his greatest challenges: Criminal court cases, primary opponents and constitutional challenges to his eligibility to hold the office of president again. The Colorado Supreme Court has pushed that latter piece to the forefront, ruling on Dec. 19, 2023, that Trump cannot appear on Colorado’s 2024 […]
Beshear must lead his party’s restructuring or be Kentucky’s last Democrat in statewide office
Kentucky Democrats are riding high on Gov. Andy Beshear’s reelection, and rightly so. It was a hard earned and well deserved victory. But now that the gubernatorial battle has been decided, it is time for Democrats to think about the future. The down-ticket races did not go so well for Democrats; as a matter of […]