Tag Archives: #Kentucky

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No, this isn’t about government controlling people at all!

Governor Andy Beshear (D-KY), about whom I have had to write far too frequently, ignores the evidence. His minions tweeted for him:[1]Tweets on that account which are written personally by the Governor are signed are signed ^AB

“”Double down on public health measures,” and “masking up,” huh?

Governor Greg Abbott (R-TX) eliminated the mandatory mask order in the Lone Star State, effective on March 10th; on that date, Texas’ seven-day moving average of daily new cases stood at 4,909. As of April 5th, that number was down to 3,007. The New York Times noted that while the moving average was down by 19% over the past fourteen days, the number of daily tests had increased by 8%. More tests, yet far fewer cases; how about that. Hospitalizations were also down, by 18%, and COVID-19 fatalities were down 38%.

Empirical data do not show that mask mandates have reduced COVID-19

So, why does Governor Beshear want us to “double down” on restrictions on our lives, why does he want us to continue to wear face masks, when ditching the mask mandate — which doesn’t stop people from wearing masks; it just makes them optional — not only didn’t result in an increase of cases, but Texas has seen a 38.7% decline in average daily cases four weeks after the mask mandate ended?

In Andy Weir’s book, The Martian, the nerds on earth are discussing why the “Hab,” the living quarters for the astronauts on Mars, didn’t have redundant communications systems capable to contacting earth. The comm systems were instead mounted on the MAV, the Mars Ascent Vehicle, and one of the nerds says, “(It) Never occurred to us. We never thought someone would be on Mars without a MAV. I mean, what are the odds?”

To which another nerd replied, “One in three, based on empirical data. That’s pretty bad if you think about it.”

And so it is. Regardless of what the heavily politicized Centers for Disease Control tell us, the empirical data have shown that dropping the restrictions on people’s lives hasn’t led to the Chicken Little ‘The Sky is Falling’ scenario we’ve been being told. Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL) was dropping mask mandates last December, and while cases continued to increase into January, just like they did everywhere else, cases then started falling rapidly.

In the Bluegrass State, on March 10, the average seven day moving average was 790 new cases per day; on April 5, it was down to 574. That’s a 27.3% reduction, a smaller percentage reduction than was seen in Texas, despite Governor Beshear keeping the mask mandate in place.

And while the number of tests being performed in Texas have increased by 18% over the past 14 days, in Kentucky they have decreased by 9%, which means that more cases may have been missed.

If the empirical data do not show that the mask mandates have reduced COVID-19, then why do Democratic Governors like Mr Beshear keep imposing them? There’s really only one answer: they love authoritarian control!

References

References
↑1 Tweets on that account which are written personally by the Governor are signed are signed ^AB
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Do the mandatory face mask orders really protect us from #COVID19? Empirically, that's not the case in one Kentucky county

Search and rescue volunteer, Nate Lair, drives a boat through downtown Beattyville after heavy rains led to the Kentucky River flooding the town and breaking records last set in 1957. March 1, 2021
Alton Strupp / Louisville Courier-Journal

Remember this picture? This is my nephew, Nate Lair, a volunteer fireman in Lee County, who was doing rescue work in Beattyville following the flooding earlier this month. Mr Lair is a trained Emergency Medical Technician as well as a fireman — and no, I don’t use the politically correct term “fire fighter” just because some women work as firemen — so he’s not exactly ignorant when it comes to medicine.

I was teasing him yesterday about killing everyone he rescued, because he wasn’t wearing a mask, something not only shown in the photo, but something I know he just does not do. He’s a fiercely independent sort.

Then he told me that, despite nobody wearing masks during the rescues, Lee County was one of two counties in the Bluegrass State that were in the “green” for COVID positive tests!

Well, he was off a bit, but not by much. The most recent statistics, as indicated by the map at the left from the state website (which you can click to enlarge) has Lee County in the yellow, “Community Spread,” between 1 to 10 average daily cases per 100,000 population, at 3.7.

But Lee County has a population of only 6,881 people! That means just 6.881% of 100,000 people. Doing the math, multiplying the 3.7 per 100,000 rate by 0.06881, I come up with 0.254597, or one confirmed COVID case over the last four days.

Which raises the obvious question: if masks are somehow saving us all from doom from COVID-19, but in less-than-healthy conditions during and after one of the hardest hit areas in the state by the flooding, in which people were more concerned with saving themselves, their jobs, and cleaning up their property, than they were with wearing face masks, why isn’t Lee County in the “red“? Why aren’t the people in and around Beattyville, the “poorest white town in America” from 2008 to 2012 according to CNN, dropping like flies due to the novel coronavirus?

Could it possibly, just possibly, be that these face masks really don’t do much of anything when it comes to the reduction of COVID-19?

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This is what happens when criminals are treated leniently At least no one was killed this time

It was the headline on this Lexington Herald-Leader story that caught my eye!

Lexington man gets more prison time for gun possession than he did for reckless homicide

By Jeremy Chisenhall | March 17, 2021 10:38 AM | Updated March 17, 2021 03:20 PM

A Lexington man is set to spend more time in prison for gun possession than he did after pleading guilty to reckless homicide years ago.

Darryl W. Stewart Jr., 32, was sentenced Tuesday to nearly seven years in federal prison for possessing a gun as a convicted felon after admitting that he had one when detectives searched his car on Sept. 3, 2019. In contrast, he was sentenced to a three-year suspended prison sentence when he pleaded guilty to a previous Lexington killing.

Stewart was charged after detectives encountered him on Sept. 3, 2019, while trying to arrest Tavis Chenault, a relative of Stewart’s who had outstanding warrants, according to court records. Chenault was riding in the front passenger seat of a Lexus Stewart was driving, according to court records.

There’s more at the original.

Mr Stewart must ser5ve a minimum of 85% of his sentence before he is eligible for parole, and will have three years of probation following his incarceration. That’s typical enough. But what shouldn’t be typical, what shouldn’t have ever happened, was his lenient sentence, in Kentucky state courts, for the 2013 killing of Jered Taylor in what was described as a narcotics deal which went bad.

Taylor, 26, was shot four times in the upper body, according to police testimony.

Police also found duct tape on Taylor’s pants, his head and on one wrist — indications that he had been bound before he was shot, a detective testified at a hearing for Stewart.

Stewart was originally charged with murder, but the charge was amended down. He entered an Alford plea, meaning that he didn’t admit guilt but acknowledged there was enough evidence to convict him. He was facing a three-year prison sentence, but his prison time was suspended, and he was given five years of probation, according to court records.

The obvious question arises: if Mr Stewart “acknowledged there was enough evidence to convict him,” why did prosecutors let him off so lightly? Four shots to the torso isn’t reckless homicide; it’s murder, and the Lexington Police, prosecutors and judges allowed him to walk free.

A bad guy, one who carried guns, and one who dealt drugs, and he was let off with probation!

Who knows, perhaps the prosecution believed that the evidence was weak enough that Mr Stewart would have been acquitted had the case gone to trial, in which event he would have walked out a free man. But, with the acceptance of the plea agreement, he walked out a free man anyway!

Oh, there were some consequences, but not many:

Stewart’s probation order was modified in 2018, and he was ordered to serve 90 days in custody, minus 19 days credited to him for time served, according to court records.

In February 2019, his probation was completely revoked after he tested positive for cocaine and fentanyl, according to court records. He was ordered to serve his full three-year prison sentence at the state penitentiary, with credit for time served while his case was being heard.

Must’ve been a lot of time already served, I suppose:

Stewart was released from custody just months later on May 1, 2019, according to records from the state Department of Corrections.

Fortunately, Mr Stewart didn’t kill anyone, or at least we don’t know that he killed anyone, since he was let out of the hoosegow. But when he was arrested again, his relative, Tavis Chenault, a known narcotics dealer, and he were traveling with multiple weapons and cell phones, along with $1,642 in cash. A shyster might argue that such is not proof beyond a reasonable doubt, but we all know what was happening: Messrs Chenault and Stewart were involved in the same ‘business’ Mr Stewart was involved in when he murdered ‘recklessly homicided’ Mr Taylor.

How many crimes did Mr Stewart commit when he was out, when he should have been in prison for murder? We don’t know, but he at the very least bought cocaine and Fentanyl, or he wouldn’t have tested positive for their use. He obtained firearms he was, as a convicted felon, legally barred from having. All of this, because Fayette County prosecutors didn’t do their jobs when it came to the murder reckless homicide of Mr Taylor.

I note that Mr Stewart is going to prison for federal offenses related to gun possession, for crimes committed back when Donald Trump was still President. Perhaps President Biden’s appointment, Carlton S. Shier, IV, as Acting United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky, isn’t quite as soft on crime as one would expect from the ‘Social Justice’ Department, or perhaps he’s just tough on people owning firearms, as the President would like. But at least the Feds in Lexington seem to be doing their jobs more diligently than then-Commonwealth’s Attorney Ray Larson, who retired in 2016. The current Commonwealth’s Attorney, Lou Anna Red Corn, was Mr Larson’s first deputy at the time of Mr Stewart’s 2013 murder reckless homicide of Mr Taylor.

The Herald-Leader said, at the time of Mr Larson’s retirement:

In nearly 32 years as chief prosecutor, Larson said he has been guided by three principles: “Every person should be treated fairly and the same under the same facts; every person should be held responsible for their conduct; and every person should suffer consequences for violating our laws.”

At the same time, Larson said, he has tried to keep politics out of the office.

“No prosecutorial decision should ever be based on political motives,” Larson said in a statement. “The safety of the public is one of the primary responsibilities of any government, and we at the Fayette commonwealth’s attorney’s office have endeavored to do all that we could to carry out that responsibility and ensure better treatment of crime victims by our court system.”

That was obviously untrue when it came to Mr Stewart. If “the safety of the public” were truly one of his primary responsibilities, his office and he would never have agreed to a plea deal which let a cold-blooded murderer ‘reckless homicider’ walk out of court a free man. Probation does not keep a cold-blooded murderer ‘reckless homicider’ and drug dealer off the streets, does not keep him from continuing to commit crimes, and Mr Stewart is living proof of that.

Perhaps Mr Larson and Miss Red Corn would have lost in an actual criminal trial of Mr Stewart; no one can be certain how a jury will decide things. But what they got by agreeing to the plea agreement was little better than actually losing in court: Mr Stewart was still out on the streets, when he could have been serving a very long sentence, perhaps even life, in Eddyville.

A true concern for “the safety of the public” means taking every effort to get thugs like Mr Stewart off the streets, and into prison for as long as the law allows. It does not mean being soft on criminals, it does not mean taking the easier way out with plea bargains, and it does not mean letting killers walk out free men if there is any way to prevent it.

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Nate to the rescue!

From what I used to call the Curious-Journal:

Beattyville one of many cities hit by flooding in Kentucky

35 Photos | March 2, 2021 | 3:14 PM EST

Search and rescue volunteer, Nate Lair, drives a boat through downtown Beattyville after heavy rains led to the Kentucky River flooding the town and breaking records last set in 1957. March 1, 2021
Alton Strupp / Louisville Courier-Journal

Note that Mr Lair is piloting that boat down one of the main streets in Beattyville. Last I knew, there wasn’t supposed to be deep water in the middle of the street.

My good friend — OK, OK, I’ve never actually met her! — Heather Long wrote a series about Beattyville, Kentucky, when she was still with CNN, a place called the “poorest white town in America” from 2008 to 2012. These floods are the last thing the people of Lee County and Beattyville need.

It’s been a few years now, but Beattyville is still poor . . . and the next county over from where I live. The Kentucky River has flooded my property as well, with water into the crawlspace, and, sadly, 3½ feet into my shop/garage, but it stayed in the concrete block foundation area, and didn’t get into the wooden sills, beams and floor joists of the house. I’m sure that my furnace, which is in the crawl space, is shot, but it was 20 to 25 years old. I may have to rip out and replace some of the insulation between the joists, but I can do that work myself. The main thing is: we didn’t lose our home, something too many people around here — and one is too many — can’t say. My thanks to William Teach for contributing articles to this site, because I wasn’t sure that I’d have sparktricity through all of this.

The river gauge closest to my house, in Ravenna, got stuck, and the last reading was from 5:30 PM yesterday. The water definitely got higher than the 38.11 feet registered then, cresting at my house at sometime around 10:00 this morning. It’s starting to recede now.

And it’s been neighbors helping neighbors. Steve, a guy as poor as a church mouse, brought me two electric heaters to use to warm the place up. Chad, a volunteer fireman, brought two kerosene heaters, one for my (only) neighbor and one for me. Since I now have the two electric heaters, I told David, the neighbor, to keep them both for now. Tomorrow, I’ll (probably) be helping David set his propane tank right.

Main Street in the city of Beattyville sits underwater following heavy rains which caused the Kentucky River to flood, Tuesday, March 3, 2021. Alex Slitz / Lexington Herald-Leader

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Way to promote that “unity,” Lexington Herald-Leader!

I have previously noted how the Associated Press surrendered to political correctness on language, saying that, when referring to race, it will capitalize “black” but leave “white” in lower-case.[1]Note that while the Associated Press and many media outlets will capitalize “black” but not “white”, The First Street Journal maintains its own published Stylebook, and does … Continue reading

After changing its usage rules last month to capitalize the word “Black” when used in the context of race and culture, The Associated Press on Monday said it would not do the same for “white.” The AP said white people in general have much less shared history and culture, and don’t have the experience of being discriminated against because of skin color. Protests following the death of George Floyd, which led to discussions of policing and Confederate symbols, also prompted many news organizations to examine their own practices and staffing. The Associated Press, whose Stylebook is widely influential in the industry, announced June 19 it would make Black uppercase. In some ways, the decision over “white” has been more ticklish. The National Association of Black Journalists and some Black scholars have said white should be capitalized, too. “We agree that white people’s skin color plays into systemic inequalities and injustices, and we want our journalism to robustly explore these problems,” Daniszewski said. “But capitalizing the term white, as is done by white supremacists, risks subtly conveying legitimacy to such beliefs.”

I found the whole thing not only obviously silly, but poor grammar. The use of “white” or “black” is simply shorthand for large racial groups, Caucasian and Negro, which are properly capitalized. Irish or French should be capitalized, as they refer to the inhabitants of countries as well as ethnic groups, while white should not be. Similarly, I would capitalize Kenyan or African, but not black. That the Associated Press would treat the words differently is just not very bright.

So now we come to the Lexington Herald-Leader, a McClatchy publication, and this sentence in a story about extending the COVID-19 vaccinations to Tier 1C:

Seventy-seven percent of people vaccinated are white, 6 percent are Black, and only 2.3 percent are Hispanic.

“Black” is capitalized, and “Hispanic” is (properly) capitalized, but “white” is left in lower-case. Yeah, I know: that’s the Associated Press Stylebook in action, but I cannot be the only person who noticed how the Herald-Leader has treated races differently. I have no idea how many readers of the paper will be familiar with, or even heard of, the AP Stylebook, but if the readers match the city’s demographics, 75.7% of them are white, and I would guess that some of them will have felt that they were slighted. Given just how out-of-touch the editors of the Herald-Leader are with their readership, perhaps those readers who feel slighted by that one sentence will have been right about how the editors feel about them.

Then again, anyone who notes that 77% + 6% + 2.3% = 85.3% might be wondering more about the math of the Beth Musgrave, the article author, and whichever editor checked her story before publication! 🙂

The newspaper does still have editors, right?[2]Well, maybe not, given that McClatchy filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection a year ago, and Chatham Asset Management now owns the McClatchy newspapers. The Herald-Leader’s Contact page … Continue reading

The left have spent the last five years decrying Donald Trump, claiming that he is very divisive and a racist, the editors of the Herald-Leader among them. But in going along with the Associated Press Stylebook in the manner they have, they are promoting the same “racial . . . intolerance” about which they complained concerning Mr Trump.

References

References
↑1 Note that while the Associated Press and many media outlets will capitalize “black” but not “white”, The First Street Journal maintains its own published Stylebook, and does not go along with such divisive foolishness.
↑2 Well, maybe not, given that McClatchy filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection a year ago, and Chatham Asset Management now owns the McClatchy newspapers. The Herald-Leader’s Contact page lists 15 non-sports reporters, deputy editors for digital, presentation and accountability, an executive editor and general manager, an editorial assistant and a news assistant. From those titles, I’m not sure that anyone actually reads and corrects reporters’ news stories. The days of the blue pencil are long gone, and there are times I think that editing itself has departed as well.
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The editors of the Lexington Herald-Leader and their one-sided OpEd pages

In a short letter to the editor of the Lexington Herald-Leader, Jeffrey Bradford of Nashville, Tennessee, said:

I’m a Lexington native who moved to Nashville many years ago. Recently, while visiting family in Lexington, I read the opinion section of your paper and was astounded by how completely one-sided it is (Jan. 31, 2021 edition). Entirely from the left. Yours is the only newspaper I’ve read in recent years — with the possible exception of the New York Times and Washington Post — that completely excludes views from the right. This is odd on two levels: 1. I’m sure your readership is not so monolithic in its political views. 2. You lose all credibility by only publishing one side of the story. That is, your views carry no weight.

I encourage you to strive for a more balanced approach in the future, as I used to read in my hometown paper when growing up here. Not only would it be more intellectually honest, but you might sell more papers.

Reading just one print edition isn’t much of a sample, but a perusal of what my, sadly late, best friend used to call the Herald-Liberal’s website doesn’t show much diversity of opinion. There is a real question of how in touch the editors are with their readership. I would point out here the Editorial Board’s recent political endorsements:

  • 2020: Joe Biden for President, Amy McGrath Henderson for Senate, and Josh Hicks for 6th District Representative;[1]Notably, the editors endorsed Charles Booker over Mrs Henderson in the Democratic primary, saying that he was the more progressive candidate. Mrs Henderson once said, “I am further left, I am … Continue reading
  • 2018: Amy McGrath Henderson for 6th District Representative
  • 2016: Hillary Clinton for President, Jim Gray for Senate, and Nancy Jo Kemper for 6th District Representative
  • 2014: Alison Lundergan Grimes for Senate, and Elisabeth Jensen for 6th District Representative

All Democrats, and all defeated in Kentucky and in the 6th District. It seems that the Herald-Leader Editorial Board isn’t exactly in tune with the voters of the Commonwealth. Note that the 2016 and 2014 Democratic nominees for the 6th congressional district were political novices, and the editors struggled to find much good reason to endorse them. Representative Andy Barr (R-KY 6th District) beat them both by landslide margins.[2]Dr Malcolm Jewell, one of my political science professors at the University of Kentucky during medieval times, defined a landslide margin as 10% or greater.

In fact, with the exception of the 6th district race in 2018, the editors’ endorsed candidates lost by landslide margins. Even in 2018, with Mrs Henderson outspending Mr Barr $8,274,396 to $5,580,477, she lost 51.0% to 47.8%.

In her Senate campaign, Mrs Henderson raised $94,120,557 and spent $90,775,744 compared to Senator Mitch McConnell’s $71,351,350 and $64,787,889, only to lose 38.2% to 57.8%. As it happens, Mrs Henderson had the lowest percentage total against Mr McConnell of any of his opponents save sacrificial lamb candidate Lois Combs Weinberg in 2002.

Simply put, the editors are completely out-of-touch with their readership. Voters in Lexington are closer to the editors’ views, but once you get outside Fayette County, nope, nowhere close, and the Herald-Leader is a regional newspaper for most of eastern Kentucky.[3]I delivered both the morning Lexington Herald and afternoon Lexington Leader in Mt Sterling, just a few years after the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock.

I do not expect the editors to change their views. But perhaps, just perhaps, they might consider that their readers are not all from the city, and provide a bit more content for them.

References

References
↑1 Notably, the editors endorsed Charles Booker over Mrs Henderson in the Democratic primary, saying that he was the more progressive candidate. Mrs Henderson once said, “I am further left, I am more progressive, than anyone in the state of Kentucky,” while at a fund raiser in Massachusetts.
↑2 Dr Malcolm Jewell, one of my political science professors at the University of Kentucky during medieval times, defined a landslide margin as 10% or greater.
↑3 I delivered both the morning Lexington Herald and afternoon Lexington Leader in Mt Sterling, just a few years after the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock.
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Thank the Lord for fossil fuels!

During our first winter back in the Bluegrass State, we had only electric heat. When what the Weather Channel called Winter Storm Hunter hit, we lost sparktricity . . . for 4½ days. My wife went to stay with our daughter, in Lexington, but I had to stay on the farm to take care of the critters.

The coldest it got in the house was 38º F!

But it sure wasn’t pleasant. While the water was still on, there was no hot water. There was just enough warm water that first morning to take a quick, sort-of OK shower, but that was it.

Our house is an eastern Kentucky fixer-upper, and the kitchen was the first thing to be redone. Mrs Pico wanted a gas range, and that was planned all along. We knew our electric water heater was near the end of its service life, so we planned on replacing that with gas as well. Then, remembering the unheated house, we decided to add a gas fireplace as well. The fan won’t work without electricity, and while the range top will work, the oven will not.

So, will we lose power again?

It’s a little hard to see the county lines, in the red area, but that’s where we are, kind of in between the Berea and Jackson city names.

At any rate, what my, sadly, late, best friend used to call the Lexington Herald-Liberal is telling me that we’re due for another ice storm. The forecast is a bit iffy: we could get snow as well as freezing rain, probably light tomorrow morning but getting worst Wednesday afternoon.

Alas! Mrs Pico has to work Thursday and Friday, and as a hospital nurse there’s no ‘work from home’ for her. My F-150 does have four-wheel drive, but four-wheel drive works far better in snow than it does on ice; nothing works well on ice. The county has pretreated the road, and while we live in relatively flat river-bottom farmland, there are a couple of not-nice places on the way to the hospital.

At any rate, I have asked William Teach of The Pirate’s Cove to watch this site, in case I’m out of communication for a few days.

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Guilt by Association Trumps Freedom of Speech and the Right of Peaceable Assembly Kentucky State Police Captain "reassigned" after attending Capitol Kerfuffle, even though he broke no laws himself

It’s not just those who stormed and entered the Capitol building itself who are being punished; some of those who attended the rally but broke no laws are being hammered as well.

Kentucky State Police’s Top Recruiter Reassigned For Attending D.C. Trump Rally

By Eleanor Klibanoff | February 5, 2021

Kentucky State Police Captain Michael Webb, from the KSP website.

The Kentucky State Police trooper who was reassigned after attending the Jan. 6 Trump rally in Washington, D.C., was the agency’s top recruiter.Capt. Michael Webb was reassigned on Jan. 8 from his position in the recruitment branch to the Inspections and Evaluations Branch, his personnel file shows.

A week after the rally, KSP issued a statement saying one trooper, who was not named, had been temporarily reassigned after attending on personal time with his family. When asked about Capt. Michael Webb’s assignment status, an agency spokesperson pointed back to that statement.

“KSP is reviewing the employee’s participation. It is the right thing to do to protect our nation, democracy, agency and all KSP employees,” said acting KSP commissioner Phillip Burnett Jr. in the statement. “This is the same review process our agency follows any time there is questionable activity involving any law enforcement personnel within our agency.”

Several people with ties to the agency who declined to be named confirmed Webb was reassigned for his attendance at the rally.

KSP’s statement said the trooper attended the rally but did not enter the U.S. Capitol, where rioters stormed the building while a joint session of Congress met to certify the election of President Joe Biden. Five people died, including a woman shot and killed by Capitol police and a Capitol police officer beaten by the mob. Documents and lecterns were stolen and dozens have been charged, including at least nine from Kentucky. Former President Donald Trump was impeached, for a second time, over his role in inciting the riot.

Note that: Captain Webb attended the rally, but even the Kentucky State Police say he did not enter the Capitol. He was, therefore, exercising his freedom of speech and freedom of assembly, but he’s being punished anyway.

Further down:

Brian Higgins, a professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice and former police chief of Bergen County, New Jersey, said law enforcement agencies are grappling with how to proceed.

He said officers have a right to participate in the political process, but any actions an officer takes, even off-duty, reflects on the agency.

“Law enforcement has really been under the microscope,” he said. “So if there was ever a time for a police officer to be cautious in his or her actions, now’s the time, because everybody’s watching.”

Let’s tell the truth here: had he been attending a #BlackLivesMatter rally while off-duty, one which turned violent and destructive but he was not a participant in the vandalism, nothing would have happened to him.

But Professor Higgins told the truth in one regard: “everybody’s watching.” The left are using every means at their disposal to find out who has political positions with which they disagree, and try to get back at them. As we noted yesterday, the left get upset even when Trump supporters do something nice for them.

Vida Johnson, a professor at Georgetown Law School and expert on white supremacy in policing, said it would be a mistake for law enforcement agencies to dismiss the rally at the Capitol as routine political activism. Even before the rally turned violent, she said, the goal was to challenge the validity of legally cast ballots and stop Congress from certifying the election. Many attendees wore white supremacist or Nazi regalia and carried Confederate flags.

You know that, when you cite someone as an “expert on white supremacy in policing,” you are telling us that she is hugely biased against the police. She stated that “many attendees” wore or carried symbols the left find offensive, but there is no indication, anywhere in the article, that Captain Webb “wore white supremacist or Nazi regalia” or “carried (a) Confederate flag.” There are no claims that he wore his KSP uniform or identified himself as a KSP officer. Apparently guilt by association trumps freedom of speech and the right of peaceable assembly.

The left claimed that President Trump was a horrible, horrible fascist, but it is the left who are censoring people and stomping on their rights.

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A Futile and Stupid Gesture

One of the great lines from the movie Animal House was Eric “Otter” Stratton’s, after all of the fraternity Delta Tau Chi members had been expelled, and their draft boards notified that they were all now 1-A and eligible for conscription, “I think that this situation absolutely requires a really futile and stupid gesture be done on somebody’s part.”

And so we come to my alma mater, the University of Kentucky, and Sigma Alpha Epsilon. ΣΑΕ was already in trouble with the University for violating COVID-19 protocols and, Heaven forfend! drinking alcohol.

Double Secret Probation . . . .

From the Kentucky Kernel:

Fraternity suspension linked to burglary investigation, parties

Natalie Parks | January 31, 2021 | Updated: February 1, 2021

Documents from Sigma Alpha Epsilon’s student conduct hearing reveal new details in the fraternity’s suspension, including members’ involvement in a burglary case and violations of COVID-19 protocol that the hearing committee said showed “an extreme disregard for human life.”

SAE’s student organization status was revoked in December following a student conduct hearing and appeals process.

According to an initial incident report, fraternity members broke into a Lexington house in September and were confronted by police. In emails obtained by the Kernel through an open records request, University of Kentucky administrators called the incident “pretty severe.”

UK police said the conflict began over a rental dispute. The house involved was owned by the mother of an SAE member and rented by a redacted individual.

“SAE members claimed that [redacted] told the landlord that they were SAE so that they could rent the house, and upon finding this out, SAE members told the landlord. [Redacted] claimed that SAE was upset that they attempted to rent the house when SAE’s lease was in limbo,” said the incident report, submitted to the acting director of the Office of Student Conduct on Sept. 25, 2020.

The report describes the following conflict as a “large physical altercation involving UK [redacted].”

At 2:30 a.m. on Sept. 25, 30 – 40 SAE members entered the house by breaking a window and knocking down a door while “allegedly armed with golf clubs and other dangerous instruments.” Blood would be found inside, and various items damaged.

8 – 10 residents were inside and cornered by SAE members.

“SAE members broke a TV, threw beer bottles, and cornered [redacted] in the house, making threats and pushing/shoving,” the report reads. When Lexington police arrived, SAE members fled to another house where they barricaded themselves inside and refused to open the door.

My younger daughter, an Army veteran and IT professional, told me about this one, so I just had to share it!

Looks like it’s time to watch Animal House again!