LEO Weekly May 6, 2020

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ALLERGIES OR CORONA? | PAGE 3 PRESIDENT MCCONNELL | PAGE 5 DULLING DASTARDLY GOV. ANDY’S SPARKLE | PAGE 11 VIRTUALLY PLAN YOUR WEEK | PAGE 14 A TRIBUTE TO MUSICIAN MATT JAHA | PAGE 16 MOZZAPI FOR THE WIN | PAGE 18 1 LEOWEEKLY.COM // MAY 06, 2020

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REVISIT OUR ARCHIVES OF IN-STUDIO PERFORMANCES A spring in Louisville without live music is certainly strange, so while we wait for local venues to be able to safely reopen, revisit LEO Presents, our in-studio video series featuring local bands. GRLwood, Rmllw2llz, Wombo, Future Killer, 1200 and many more Louisville musicians have stopped by to perform. Go to leoweekly.com or check our Facebook page to access the archives.

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LEO Weekly welcomes letters, emails and tweets of no more than 350 words. Ad hominem attacks will be ignored. We may edit for length, grammar and clarity.

It’s both sad and ironic that at the bottom of the article is a letter to the editor that completely demonstrates the spreading of the conspiracy theories, crazy talk that the article discusses. —Ung Choi

WH app ON: DAN CANON, HOW COULD LIVING IN NEW AMAZONIA BE WORSE THAN LIVING IN THE U.S.? spr This was definitely a “Black Mirror” episode. —Tracy Slone Billing

suc ON: JOANNE SWEENY, FOR LAWYER ACCUSED OF at l THREATENING GOV. ANDY, CONTEXT IS EVERYTHING ailm CO ... If you can’t keep threats out of your humor, then you aren’t funny. You’re dangerous. —Jess George fat jus

ON: AL CROSS, GOV. ANDY IS SHOWING HE IS MADE OF STERNER STUFF

les eith zat He, like other Republicans and Democrats, has forgotten that he and is a civil servant. —Ted Darden to a lea Ted Darden, he has served this commonwealth with distincand tion. —Charlemagne White III fev “ra Charlemagne White III, he thinks he’s in charge. They all do, ing and he’s met with sycophancy. —Ted Darden He is handling this situation like a champ! —Steven Back

Beshear is now planning to phase open in May without testing in sho jus place, and cases are still being identified every day... why? hea —Brandon Stettenbenz the

LOUISVILLE ECCENTRIC OBSERVER

Volume 30 | Number 24

SNAIL MAIL

ON: NATIONAL LOCKDOWN AND 5G, WHY COVID-19 RUMORS SPREAD EASILY

Brandon Stettenbenz, the testing has ramped up significantly. Facts matter. —Derrick Pedolzky Brandon Stettenbenz, “increased significantly” against zero is not statistical significance. Facts do matter, when they are relevant. Until we are identifying and tracing, retesting everyone, then no one is safe. ... —Brandon Stettenbenz

ON: THIS DERBY NEIGHBORHOOD IS PREPARING FOR A SPRING WITHOUT DERBY I’ve lived in the neighborhood for a long time. It’s a weekend I look forward to every year. Strange days indeed.

—Dwayne L Davidson

ON: NO KENTUCKY DERBY THIS SPRING, CHECK BACK IN SEPTEMBER

Can you write an article next about the impact on horses from the completely pointless practice of horse racing? —David Pratt David Pratt, but if the horseys don’t run in the big circle, then where will the women wear their ridiculous hats? Why do you hate the silly hat industry, and also America, and Freedom, David?

—Jon Niccum

ON: THORNS AND ROSES, GOV. ANDY LEARNS A TUPAC DOES LIVE IN KENTUCKY He apologized. He should have verified it first, but no one is perfect! —Ali Rabin

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EDITOR’S NOTE

ALLERGIES OR CORONA?

By Aaron Yarmuth | ayarmuth@leoweekly.com WHAT KIND OF SICK, cosmic joke is the appearance of a respiratory virus during springtime in Kentucky?

Regardless of age, health history and our success in being “Healthy at Home,” we’re all at least a little more sensitive to any possible ailments that might seem like symptoms of COVID-19.

Cough, fever, breathlessness, headache, fatigue… Do I have the coronavirus, or is this just allergies?

Well, in the case of cough, fever, breathlessness, headache and fatigue, it could be either. According to the World Health Organization and federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, allergies “sometimes” lead to any of those symptoms, while COVID-19 leads to headaches and fatigue “sometimes,” and it “frequently” comes with a cough, fever and/or breathlessness. COVID-19 also “rarely” shows signs of runny nose and sneezing, so a dripping nose might mean you got it.

The WHO and CDC symptoms chart should also include a column for drinkers, just to twist the anxiety-knife a little deeper: headache, fatigue, body aches. Do I have the corona, or did I have too many Coronas?

(Fortunately, the worst symptoms associated with the hangover usually pass by 5 p.m. — just in time to do it again — making it easier to diagnose.)

Determining allergies vs. coronavirus, however, might mean days or weeks of confusion, uncertainty and fearfulness. Even once you are over the hump (thoughts and prayers), you could be left wondering whether you survived the deadly virus or just spring in Louisville.

One person on Twitter noted: “On today’s episode of ‘Seasonal Allergies or COVID-19’? I learned birch pollen allergies cause stomach aches and other GI problems. Guess what pollen is predominate today and who’s having a stomach ache?

As if the normal, low-grade fever and dry cough from allergies weren’t panic-inducing enough.”

So, was this a corona cough or allergies?

Since the first week of March, the week Gov. Andy Beshear declared the COVID-19 state of emergency, there have been only six days without high or moderate pollen levels in the Louisville area. Eleven of the last 18 days (as of May 1) have had high pollen counts,

according to The Weather Channel, which excludes weekends and holidays in its count.

The allergy vs. corona confusion has also made the busy season even busier for Dr. James Sublett, cofounder and chief medical officer of Family Allergy & Asthma.

“We’ve had a really nice spring, which makes it worse for people with allergies,” he said.

“We also have people who were trying to access care, and we’ve never seen them before at all, and a lot of times they didn’t really appear to have allergy symptoms … and the best thing we could do is advise them to see their primary care or talk to urgent care. So that’s been a challenge.”

It’s not just the allergies causing confusion.

The nice spring has lured people into more outdoor time and activities — for many, it’s the first real time spent outdoors in months.

Naturally, more people are going for runs, walks — anything to get outside. So, not only are we now out in the pollen, but we’re also going to be more tired from the physical activity — and fatigue is another COVID-19 symptom.

Is my face hot from a fever, or have I just not seen the sun in four months?

“We recommend people taking their antihistamine before they go outside,” Dr. Sublett said. “Take your allergy medicines before you get the exposure, not wait until you get symptomatic, because then you’re behind in getting things under control.”

Or just stay safe at home, right? Well, not so much.

Even the “Healthy at Home” directive could lead to more anxiety-inducing symptoms. For those with cats or dogs, staying home from work means more time than normal exposed to the fur and pet dandruff.

Maybe your air filters are past due to be changed. And, maybe you’re drinking more, earlier and more often because: Tomorrow isn’t a workday, I have nothing else to do, and I’m freaking out, man! Any of these new behaviors or unusually long exposures can cause allergy symptoms to flare up or become more severe.

“People are in their houses more, rather than being at work where maybe they have a workplace that doesn’t have as much allergen, they have longer exposure so that could be a factor.” Dr. Sublett said. “I would recommend people, because one of the signs of the COVID is a persistent headache, probably not a good idea to get yourself hungover every night.”

But, Dr. Sublett said, “Whether you do have allergies or don’t have allergies, those kinds of lifestyle things, getting enough sleep… all that can make it more confusing.”

One tip from Dr. Sublett: “Allergies can make you feel kind of draggy, but they won’t make you feel terrible.”

Not as terrible as if you get a bad case of COVID-19.” •

UNDERCOVER

MANOFMETTLE.COM LEOWEEKLY.COM // MAY 06, 2020

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MCCONNELL BANKRUPTCY, PENSION REMARKS RISK RILING PUBLIC EMPLOYEES

By Al Cross | leo@leoweekly.com first saying he opposed replacement of revEVER SINCE he became leader of Republienue they’re losing because of the pandemic cans in the U.S. Senate, Mitch McConnell recession, he’s left the door open. And he has used that post as his most consistent ardidn’t say Kentucky should declare bankgument to Kentucky voters that they should ruptcy; he said he favored a law allowing reelect him, because it lets the state “punch states to do so. And after some Republicans above our weight” to get federal favors. rebuked him, he turned tail.

It’s been an effective pitch in his two Asked Thursday on Fox News if he had reelection campaigns since, and it has the reversed course on bankruptcy, he tried to added advantage of being true: Among the make it sound like somebody else’s idea: states, Kentucky is the largest net recipi“Bankruptcy is obviously a decision, if it ent of money from the federal government, were legal, except Virginia (that) would and Maryland, be made at which surround Asked Thursday on Fox the state level. the national capital.

News if he had reversed I don’t think many states But as he course on bankruptcy, would choose seeks a seventh option.” six-year term, he tried to make it sound thatThat line McConnell didn’t make may be forgetlike somebody else’s McConnell’s ting about the idea: ‘Bankruptcy is press release finances and recent politics obviously a decision, if it about the interview. Its first of his own state. were legal, (that) would quote was his That showed next line: “The April 22 when be made at the state point is, we’re radio talker Hugh Hewitt level. I don’t think many not interested in borrowing went on a rant states would choose that money from about state future genpensions and option.’ erations to send asked McCondown to states nell if we need to help them a law allowing with bad decisions they’ve made in the past states to declare bankruptcy “so they could unrelated to the coronavirus.” discharge some of these liabilities.”

The release said McConnell spoke McConnell replied, “Yeah, I would certainly be in favor of allowing states to use about “ensuring state and local funding remains focused on COVID-19.” The word the bankruptcy route. It saves some cities. “focused” indicates his door is open to genAnd there’s no good reason for it not to be eral replacement of revenue lost because of available.” the pandemic recession. That backtracks on That remark “created a whirlwind in the municipal bond market,” making state bonds another April 22 interview in which he said, “We’re not interested in revenue replaceseem less secure, investment adviser Barnet ment for state governments.”

Sherman wrote on Forbes. And it may make McConnell issued a release about that McConnell’s reelection less secure. interview but not about the one where he His likely general election opponent, talked about bankruptcy. The release had Amy McGrath, started a TV attack on a bold subhead: “On preventing blue state McConnell that claimed, “He’s refused to bailouts,” introducing a passage that said in give more aid to Kentucky; said the state part, “We’re not interested in solving their should just declare bankruptcy.” pension problems for them; we’re not interThat’s not true. McConnell has conested in rescuing them from bad decisions sistently supported “coronavirus-related” they’ve made in the past.” assistance to states and localities and after

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I asked McConnell spokesman Robert Steurer to explain the subhead, noting that Kentucky is a red state with a big pension problem. He said his boss was responding to the interviewer’s reference to the $7.8 billion request from New York City. But before that reference, McConnell said this: “We’re not interested in solving their pension problems or all these other things they would like us to finance.”

That subhead is telling, I think.

McConnell surely knows that Kentucky has, by one measure, the nation’s worstfunded state pension funds. But in the two weeks before April 22, Hewitt and other conservative commentators, some funded by the McConnell-friendly Koch brothers network, warned about federal aid to states “morphing” into pension-fund bailouts, noted Michael Hiltzik of the Los Angeles Times.

Such warnings are a familiar refrain for those who decry the often disproportionate power of public employees in government.

That power is one reason Kentucky’s public pensions are woefully underfunded. The state’s teachers revived their power last year, to oust a governor who wanted to change their pensions.

Yes, Matt Bevin probably wouldn’t have lost November’s election if he hadn’t made some crazy claims about the effect of a teacher sickout. But the teachers and other public employees are feeling their oats after that victory, and any hint of action that would change their benefits rings the bell for another round at election time.

And as many risk their lives working in the pandemic, public employees’ standing has risen.

In calling for a state-bankruptcy law that would put public pensions at risk, McConnell may have been thinking about negotiating strategy for the next relief bill. But he wandered into dangerous territory and now he’s backed off. Maybe he realized he was punching below his weight. • Al Cross is a former Courier Journal political writer and is professor and director of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues at UK. He writes this column for the Kentucky Center for Public Service Journalism. On Twitter he is @ ruralj.

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PRESIDENT MCCONNELL?

HOW HE HAS GAINED POWER IN THE TRUMP ERA AND WHY THAT DOESN’T ENSURE HIS REELECTION

By Perry Bacon Jr. | leo@leoweekly.com WHEN U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell recently suggested he was resistant to providing federal money to states to make up for their coronavirus-related budget shortfalls, he was widely criticized, even by some Republican officials. And McConnell was also taking a position that is potentially detrimental to his chances of winning reelection in November.

Leaders in both urban and rural areas of Kentucky are desperate for money and seem likely to make big cutbacks in public employees and services without some federal help.

While we don’t have polling among Kentucky residents, a recent Morning Consult/ Politico survey showed that 74% of voters nationally, including 65% of Republicans, want the federal government to offer more aid to states amid the COVID-19 outbreak.

Based on those national numbers, I would assume at least a majority of Kentuckians want Congress to provide money to states.

And that’s not the only controversial position the senator is taking amid the virus outbreak.

He is pushing for legislation that would make it harder for workers to file lawsuits against their companies if they get COVID19 at work and feel their employers did not do enough to create a safe work environment.

The Senate majority leader also successfully pushed for senators to return to Washington this week for in-person sessions, despite concerns from at least one senator that this approach is unsafe and that McConnell should consider allowing some members to vote remotely. It’s expected that the Senate won’t focus on just COVID-19 and the mass unemployment that has resulted from it but also federal judicial appointments, including putting a McConnell favorite, Louisvillenative Justin Walker, on the powerful federal appeals court that oversees Washington, D.C. and the federal government. Walker was described as unqualified by the American Bar Association because of his lack of trial experience before he was appointed in October to a judgeship for the federal district that includes Louisville. The potential for Walker moving to an even more powerful post so quickly has angered Democrats.

So, what exactly is Mitch McConnell up to?

Basically the same things he has been throughout Trump’s presidency, if not before.

Mitch McConnell has a close alliance with the business community and conservativeleaning wealthy people and a pro-business approach that shapes his governing and electoral strategies. And while everyone and everything else seems to be changing amid COVID-19, McConnell is staying on that course.

On Capitol Hill, McConnell has been a key figure in pushing through a series of massive spending bills in response to the COVID-19 outbreak and its effects, with a total cost of around $2.7 trillion. He has backed off from his initial strong opposition to giving states federal dollars.

That’s not surprising.

Republicans often cast themselves as the small-government party, in opposition to increased spending or expansions of federal power. But that’s not really true of the party in general — and McConnell in particular.

He was supportive of then-President’s Bush No Child Left Behind Act, which substantially increased the federal government’s role in American education, and another Bush initiative that expanded government, adding a prescription drug benefit to Medicare.

McConnell has now been one of the leading figures in the passage of two, huge bipartisan federal efforts to pump money into businesses and corporations to prevent the collapse of the financial markets and potentially the American economy (the 2008 bailout and the provisions passed amid COVID-19).

So, McConnell isn’t someone who is antigovernment or anti-spending — at all.

But what links many of his policy decisions is a pro-business approach. Along with those bills to prevent market collapse, McConnell was an architect of a major tax bill adopted in 2017 that included a huge corporate tax cut, as well as the repeal of numerous regulations on businesses that were adopted by President Obama. The Kentucky senator has been very focused on pushing Trump to nominate more federal judges and then getting them through the Senate. Those nominees, such as Walker, are conservative on a wide spectrum of issues, and, in particular, they are expected to strike down government regulations on businesses.

Trump is a businessman — so it’s not as if he needed McConnell to talk him into

adopting pro-business policies. That said, it’s worth thinking carefully about the dynamic between the two Republican leaders. Many critics of the Kentucky senator suggest that McConnell, who had a somewhat tense relationship with the president in 2017, has simply surrendered to the president’s authority because Trump is so popular among Republican voters, particularly in Kentucky.

But is their dynamic really the other way around — namely that Trump has bent to McConnell’s will?

During his 2016 campaign, Trump ran as an economic populist, taking stands such as promising to oppose cuts to Medicaid and spend $1 trillion to improve America’s infrastructure. In office, Trump has abandoned much of his economic populism and focused on an agenda of cutting taxes, reducing regulations on businesses, appointing conservative judges and other things that a President Jeb Bush or Ted Cruz would have done. What if McConnell supports Trump so much, in part, because the president is implementing a McConnell style-agenda so completely that it’s as if the Kentucky senator effectively got to become president without running for the office?

Trump can’t admit this publicly (and look weak) but one of the reasons his more populist plans never move in Congress is because McConnell isn’t that supportive of them and never really tries to push them through.

“Their refusal to devote resources to anything but tax cuts and the military turned

‘Infrastructure Week’ from a popular Trump promise into a punchline,” political scientists Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson write in their soon-to-released book “Let Them Eat Tweets,” referring to McConnell and then-House Speaker Paul Ryan’s leadership of Congress in 2017-18. “Another of Trump’s pledges — to not cut Medicaid--did not stop Ryan and McConnell from trying to do just that.”

So, in terms of COVID-19, I expect McConnell to push any new legislation in a pro-business way — and succeed, in part, because Trump will get on board. McConnell will likely agree to federal aid to cities and states--perhaps even hundreds of billions of dollars. But he will fight really hard for any such provision to include some liability protections for businesses amid COVID-19.

He will frame aid to states as a Democratic demand and liability for businesses as GOP demand--and push for some kind of compromise position that includes both in a final bill.

Trump will likely sign such a bill and pretend it was his initiative — even if McConnell was the key driver.

You might think all of this is a bad electoral strategy for McConnell. After all, there are more voters in America and Kentucky who are employees than business owners.

Bailing out states is very popular, as I noted earlier. It’s not clear rank-and-file voters care that much about judicial appointments outside of the Supreme Court. Also, McConnell is the second-most unpopular senator in LEOWEEKLY.COM // MAY 06, 2020

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America, according to Morning Consult, so anything he does that isn’t popular would seem risky, with his reelection looming.

Sure, McConnell might lose this fall to Democrat Amy McGrath, who is running a strong campaign, at least in terms of fundraising. But I wouldn’t expect that.

The big, obvious reasons are that Kentucky leans toward Republicans and Trump is fairly popular here, so those broader dynamics will boost the senator, even if the state’s voters don’t particularly love him.

But McConnell also has a good chance of winning because his business-friendly strategy also has some electoral benefits. Republicans like McConnell have an informal playbook: 1. They adopt pro-business policies on Capitol Hill, 2. wealthy conservative activists and businesses give tens of millions of dollars to Republican super PACs and other election apparatuses, in part to reward Republican lawmakers for passing those policies and 3. Republicans spend that money on campaign commercials that emphasize those pro-business policies, but also issues like abortion and gun rights, since many voters, particularly in states like Kentucky, have some discomfort with the cultural liberalism of the Democratic Party.

The path to a McConnell victory in November is likely not that the senator will become super popular with Kentuckians.

Instead, it’s more likely that in the summer and the fall he will attack McGrath as too supportive of abortion, immigration and a Democratic Party that includes selfproclaimed democratic socialists like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, while arguing that McGrath is insufficiently supportive of gun rights and Trump. And that effort to attack McGrath likely will be very, very wellfunded, driving down McGrath’s favorability ratings and convincing voters that McConnell is essentially the lesser of two evils.

That’s how McConnell’s decisions on COVID-19 and throughout Trump’s presidency dovetail with a potentially-successful reelection strategy. I am not guaranteeing this will work — or that it’s necessarily the best strategy either for implementing a business-friendly agenda or ensuring that you are reelected. But at least, right now, this approach has left McConnell with a ton of power in shaping America’s legislation and judiciary — and with a decent chance of winning another six-year term and either maintaining that power or getting even more. • Perry Bacon Jr. is a national political writer based in Louisville. Reach him at perrylbaconjr@gmail.com

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THE LGBTQ+ COMMUNITY BEHIND BARS: MORE CARE AND EARLY RELEASE NEEDED

By Chris Hartman and Kate Miller | leo@leoweekly.com PRISONS AND JAILS are threatening and traumatic to anyone. They pose an even greater risk to the health and safety of LGBTQ+ people. This community is overrepresented in the criminal justice system due to generations of bias, profiling and discrimination. It is even worse for LGBTQ+ folks who are people of color, lower-income, transgender and gender nonconforming.

Transgender women of color are the worst affected, with an incarceration rate 10 times that of the general population.

As the novel coronavirus spreads, health disparities in our LGBTQ+ community are more visible. COVID-19 is a respiratory illness that is particularly harmful to smokers and people with weakened respiratory systems. LGBTQ+ people use tobacco products 50% more than do the general population and have higher rates of HIV and cancer. This leaves our broader LGBTQ+ community more vulnerable to infection and complications. Despite these increased health risks, many LGBTQ+ people are reluctant to seek medical care because of discrimination, unwelcoming attitudes and a lack of understanding from many providers.

The coronavirus has ripped through many jails and prisons, and Kentucky is rapidly heading down that same path. At least two incarcerated Kentuckians have died from COVID-19 already. Officials must release as many people as possible to safe environments, especially those most at risk.

LGBTQ+ do not face just increased health risks. Federal data shows transgender people are 10 times more likely to be sexually assaulted in prison, and people who identify as lesbian, gay or bisexual are three times more likely to report sexual abuse. Other forms of abuse include degradation, humiliation and solitary confinement. Fifty-five percent more LGBTQ+ people face long periods of solitary confinement than do their heterosexual peers. This abuse leads to post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, substance-use disorder, suicide and other negative physical and mental health outcomes.

Furthermore, transgender and gendernonconforming people are often placed in facilities that do not correspond to their gender identity, despite Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) regulations. They are often denied gender-appropriate clothing

and personal hygiene products and are often cannot be stopped when people are forced to punished and shamed for attempting to sleep three feet apart and share bathrooms, express their true selves. Officers also often dining facilities and common areas that are abuse, harass and humiliate transgender not sanitized frequently enough. This also people with forced strip searches. puts corrections employees and their comMoreover, it is especially difficult for munities in grave danger. We must reduce LGBTQ+ people to access adequate healthincarceration rates and offer support that care. Incarcerwill actually help ated transgender people — support people are often Officials must release that will help them denied hormone get a job and exit as many people as therapy and other poverty; that will gender-affirming possible to safe envi- help them earn a care. There aren’t degree; that will ronments, especially help them overeven adequate policies for helping come substancethose most at risk. transgender people use disorder. We experiencing must reform our LGBTQ+ do not face gender dysphoria, system to make just increased health our society whole. one of the most common and Common sense jusrisks. Federal data serious medical tice reforms make conditions. When us all safer, no shows transgender available, this care matter how far or people are 10 times is often denied, how close we may despite being be to the criminal more likely to be protected under the legal system.

Eighth AmendThe Fairness sexually assaulted ment. These critical Campaign seeks to in prison, and medical decisions dismantle oppresare made by prison sion and build an people who identify administrators, not inclusive commulicensed medical nity where all indias lesbian, gay or professionals. viduals are valued bisexual are three Additionand empowered ally, incarcerated to reach their full times more likely to LGBTQ+ people potential. are often denied The ACLU of report sexual abuse. work opportunities Kentucky is freeand access to other dom’s watchdog, programs for illegitimate reasons rooted in working daily in courts, the legislature and discrimination. These programs and visits communities to defend the individual rights with friends and family are often the most and liberties guaranteed to all people by the meaningful experiences for incarcerated Constitutions of the United States and the folks. This broken system ignores evidenceCommonwealth of Kentucky. • based practices and completely fails incarcerated LGBTQ+ people.

Statistics and information came from: The Eighth Amendment protects all National Center for Transgender Equalpeople from cruel and unusual punishity: “Transgender People Behind Bars” ment, but civil rights and liberties are Equality Federation: “Open Letter on often ignored when abusers target the most COVID-19 and LGBTQ+ Communities” marginalized. There are over 20,000 incarcerated Kentuckians. It is impossible for Chris Hartman is executive director of them to practice social distancing and other the Fairness Campaign, and Kate Miller is health safety measures. The coronavirus advocacy director for ACLU of Kentucky.

NEWS & ANALYSIS

TWO ARRESTED FOR ANTI-TRUMP, POLITICAL GRAFFITI

By Danielle Grady | dgrady@leoweekly.com TWO PEOPLE have been arrested in connection to anti-Trump political graffiti on Interstate 64 and 65, police said in a Facebook post last week.

Sonja de Vries and Robert Eiden have been charged with 34 incidents, which cost the city $43,000 to remove, police said. After their arrest, LMPD learned that the suspects may be responsible for another $25,000 worth of graffiti, according to the post.

“Your right to free speech is protected constitutionally however, spray-

painting on property that doesn’t belong to you is a crime,” the post said, adding, “It’s not the crime of the century but there are other ways to exercise your speech and beliefs…legally.”

Eiden and de Vries were part of the Heyburn 9, a group arrested for blocking access to an immigration court in 2018 in downtown Louisville. Eiden and de Vries were two of only three members who did not plead guilty for their act of protest. They chose to go to trial and were found guilty and fined

$150 each.

Eiden and de Vries did not return calls seeking comment.

Last May, LEO ran a story about two men behind a Resist 45 graffiti campaign who tagged both public and private property. The taggers said that they did not condone vandalizing private property, but they called it a “necessary evil” to get their message out about fighting for marginalized communities, the environment and other issues.

Read the story below:

THORNS & ROSES THE WORST, BEST & MOST ABSURD

ROSE: SOMETIMES GOOD GUYS WIN The Courier Journal gets a bouquet for winning its 11th Pulitzer, this one for relentless, well-planned and deeply reported coverage of the pardons and commutations that Gov.-reject Matt Bevin issued as he fled office. (We called the win in this very space months ago.)

ROSE: THEY CAN GET A WITNESS Nearly 100 Black pastors and civil rights leaders joined to criticize Attorney General Daniel Cameron, who is African American, for suing Gov. Andy over his order to ban all mass gatherings including in churches.

They noted that COVID-19 is sickening Black people disproportionately. “We find it alarming, reckless and counterproductive, that given these numbers and their impact on the Black community, that the Attorney General Daniel Cameron would state and take steps that align himself with actions which have been, will be and are detrimental to the Black community,” the group wrote, The CJ reported.

ROSE: A PATRIOT IN SCRUBS

Photos posted by the Louisville police upon announcing the arrests on Facebook.

MEET THE TWO MEN BEHIND ‘RESIST 45’ BILLBOARDS THE FIRST “RESIST” tag showed up on a billboard just a few days after Donald Trump became president.

Spelled out in white paint on a billboard, the message was inescapable to thousands of people as they whizzed by in the northbound lanes of Interstate 65.

Now lengthened to “Resist 45,”this anti-Trump message and many more have appeared throughout Louisville, not only on billboards but also on highway overpasses, water towers and other structures, all visible from the city’s busiest roads: Ban assault weapons No wall!

Stop the war on public schools Who is responsible for this stinging political graffiti?

The taggers are two local men who

spoke to LEO Weekly about their motives and how they do it.

Instead of using their real names, because what they’re doing is illegal, they asked to be referred to as Artist and Activist.

Activist said he painted the first message on his own, as a reaction to Trump’s election and inspired by a 70-by-35 foot “Resist” banner, dropped from a construction crane behind the White House by Greenpeace activists.“It was a way of venting my anger in a

A rose goes to the X-ray technician who counterprotested at an anti-common sense rally in Frankfort where Gov. Andy was called “Adolf Beshear” for asking people to wear masks and practice medically proven precautions to keep us alive. Wearing scrubs and a mask, she weathered insults from treason-flag waving, unmasked jagoffs. “This mask isn’t protecting me. It’s protecting you,” she told The CJ: “And their rights don’t include the right to kill their neighbors. I want the country to open up, too, but I want it to be safe.”

THORN: FINE, DON’T TAKE THE VACCINE The sharpest thorn goes to state Rep. Savannah Maddox, a Republican from Dry Ridge who said at the rally that the “Healthy at Home” order makes you “prisoners in your own homes” and she would not be “forced” to get vaccinated. Photos emerged of her with a woman dressed in military gear and flashing a “white pride” sign. Maddox tweeted that she denounces “ALL emblems of white supremacy” but did not know what the sign meant. The CJ reported that the Southern Poverty Law Center lists the woman as with the Florida Three Percenter Security Force, a far-right militia movement.

Off Interstate 264 West near Interstate 64.

way,” he said. “Doing something so I could sleep at night. In other words, it was something I had to do.”

When asked how they reconcile spreading their message with defacing

THORN: WHAT? NO 21 DICK SALUTE? So, whose bright idea was it for military planes to fly over Kentucky to, what — honor front-line workers?

Wouldn’t the money have been better spent on medical needs or helping pay rent or... any number of things unrelated to this phallic obsession with weapons?

LEOWEEKLY.COM // MAY 06, 2020

7

NEWS & ANALYSIS

private property, Artist said: “It’s not OK. Everything we do, you know, there’s some contradictions in life. I feel like it’s a necessary evil a little bit. We’re getting the message out.”

The two have a code of conduct.

“We definitely would not put this on the front of a house or a business or a church,” Artist said. “We would try to cause less damage, the least damage with the most message — if possible to walk that line.”

They said they don’t target specific companies, but they don’t feel as bad if they hit a billboard owned by a large one such as Outfront Media, which has many around town.

“It’s not a private citizen,” Artist said. “The cost to that company, they’re pretty profitable, whether or not we do this or not. The difference would be that if I spray painted your house, that could really hurt.”

Even for corporations, they have rules, they said.

“I always told friends of ours: ‘Look, we have a gentleman’s agreement with Outfront,’” Activist said. “We don’t hit their regular, paid billboards.”

Except, they have.

“As a rule, a lot of times we only hit the blank ones,” Artist said. “Unless it was something that we just couldn’t resist, you know?”

Calls to Outfront for comment were not returned. Louisville police also did not reply to requests for comment.

The strategy that the two explained to LEO is the same as those of the companies and organizations whose advertisements they sometimes obscure: They want to tell the world about their cause, and they want the world to buy into it, too.

The name of their movement is a reference to Trump, the 45th president, but he’s not the only source of their protest.

“He just happens to be on the wrong side of almost every issue we’re fighting for,” Artist said. “So, he’s a target and the namesake, sure, but I don’t think that’s actually our core message.”

That core message is “fighting for rights, the environment, just issues we feel strongly about,” Artist said.

“And immigrants,” Activist interjected. “The fate of the planet for sure. This is a pretty serious time. I mean, global warming.”

“Any marginalized community,” Artist continued.

“LGBTQ — everything.”

These are groups that wouldn’t normally get the exposure afforded to an expensive billboard, Activist said. “It’s trying to level the playing field, just a little bit, for the little guy.”

Soon after his first Resist tag, Activist was introduced to Artist, who was doing similar work. The two clicked, Artist said, snapping his fingers, and they have worked on Resist 45 together ever since. So far, they have tagged at least 30

surfaces with their messages, but they said there are others who are doing similar work locally.

Some of their tags are simple — their go-to phrase cheekily paired with an advertisement for the “Hunger Games” exhibit at the Frazier Museum. Others were more elaborate — 17 white crosses, representing each of the victims of the Parkland school shooting, swinging from an advertisement for a gun show.

Many have inspired strong reactions, particularly their stark message painted in white on a black billboard: “Kill the NRA.” That was Activist’s idea.

“He didn’t mean kill anybody,” Artist said. “He was talking about [killing] the idea of it and lobbying.”

The NRA posted an image of the tag along with a warning on its Facebook page: “To all American gun owners, this is a wake-up call,” the post read. “They’re coming after us.”

Artist and Activist said people responded with death threats. Luckily for them, they have managed to remain anonymous.

For the people who already hate the Resist 45 message, the graffiti just makes them angrier, Activist said. But, for those who are sympathetic, it’s encouraging.

“I know a lot of activists, a lot of people that say, ‘Man, I really appreciate that,’” he said. “That buoys my spirit. That encourages me. That makes me feel like —,” there was a sharp crack as Activist slammed his fist down, “someone’s fighting.”

When they’re not clandestinely scaling billboards, Artist and Activist said, they promote their causes in other ways by going to marches and protests and making donations.

They do most of their tagging with each other only. They know that police and billboard owners want to stop them, but, they said, they have had only a few scares — like when they heard a siren, so they decided to abandon what they were doing.

They work in the early hours of the morning in darkness.

It takes about 20 minutes to an hour to finish the pieces. In 24 hours, their work could be gone. One remained seven weeks, the longest so far.

Activist isn’t phased by the dangerous height of their targets, while Artist is, but he said that’s not going to stop him from spreading his message. Nothing will, they said, even if Trump is replaced with a liberal champion.

“We had this conversation last week about what if somebody amazing gets into office — what will we do?” Artist said. “And [Activist] said there’s probably always things we can find to spread our message.” •

An overpass on Interstate 64.

Off Interstate 264 West near Interstate 64.

8

LEOWEEKLY.COM // MAY 06, 2020

On Interstate 65 South.

An Interstate 64 East overpass.

At Mellwood Avenue and Spring Street.

In Valley Station in front LG&E’s Mill Creek Generation Station.

NEWS & ANALYSIS

RENT DUE

MASS EVICTIONS FEARED AFTER MORATORIUM LIFTS

By Danielle Grady | dgrady@leoweekly.com LEW FOX IS NOT PAYING her rent because she says she cannot afford to since being laid off, but a statewide ban on evictions has allowed her to stay in her Germantown home.

“If I got sick and had to pay rent and had to pay for food, I’d probably be on the streets within a couple of months,” said Fox. Now, tenants, landlords and advocates are looking ahead to when eviction protections are scheduled to be lifted in June.

“I am very concerned about a mass eviction event,” said attorney Ben Carter, senior litigation and advocacy council for the Kentucky Equal Justice Center.

Louisville landlords say that 25% to 30% of their tenants are not paying their rent, according to a survey from the Louisville Apartment Association of its members. And those numbers are expected to worsen this month.

In March, the Kentucky Supreme Court delayed eviction cases and Gov. Andy Beshear ordered all state and local law enforcement to stop evicting people from their homes, but this still allowed landlords to file for eviction. On April 1, the Kentucky Supreme Court issued an amended order that put a stop to this but not before 400 evictions had been filed in Jefferson County, according to the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting.

The pandemic has pressured tenants but also landlords, who have mortgages and bills to pay.

Fox’s landlord, Lynn Summerfield, owns 22 properties, and she said without her tenants paying rent, she can’t afford her mortgages.

“I do have fairly large loans for my properties,” she said.

“It’s a lot of hard work.”

JD Carey, president of the Louisville Apartment Association, said this is a common problem for smaller property owners. “Everybody is facing some type of financial crisis,” he said.

WHAT CAN BE DONE?

Fox, who lost her restaurant job in March, has received her stimulus check of $1,200 and her first week of unemployment, which is $350, plus an extra $600 from the federal government provided by the CARES Act. Her rent, which she splits with a roommate, is $780 per month.

But, Fox’s roommate has not received her unemployment yet, and it’s not just this month’s or next month’s rent that Fox is worried about. She wonders how long she can keep going if she spends a good chunk of her money on rent now.

“I do have some savings, but I don’t know how long any of this is going to last or how long it’s supposed to last me,” she said. “What if I can’t go back to work for a year?”

That’s why Fox is participating in a rent strike along with the Louisville Tenants Union, Broken Hearted Homes Renters Association and a coalition of other groups that want to bring attention to the struggle of some Kentuckians to pay rent. Their goal is for the government to adopt measures

to help out renters, including a rent freeze, which would prevent landlords from raising rent during the pandemic, as well as the more drastic measure of total rent forgiveness.

Princeton University’s Eviction Lab, which collects national data about evictions, says that to prevent mass evictions, state governments should take steps to reduce rental debt for tenants who can’t pay up. This could include a rent freeze and rental assistance programs.

The Louisville Apartment Association, an industry group for multifamily housing businesses, and a group of 13 Kentucky advocacy groups, including the Kentucky Equal Justice Center, support governmental rental assistance.

The housing advocacy groups wrote a letter to state officials in April asking for $50 million to be set aside for helping renters. Excusing late fees could also contribute to long-term relief for tenants, according to the Eviction Lab, so they don’t fall ever further behind on rent.

Shameaka Shaw, founder of Broken Hearted Homes, said the federal benefits under the CARES Act — extra unemployment and a stimulus check — are not enough for all Kentuckians to pay rent.

She works primarily with West End homeowners. For those who have lost their jobs, this time is particularly trying because they face extra costs, including the cost of more food for children who are at home all day, as well as laptops and other technology for their at-home school, she said.

ERASING RENT

Rent forgiveness would completely wipe out rental payments for tenants while the pandemic continues and would also halt mortgage responsibilities for property owners.

In a Courier Journal op-ed, the Kentucky Coalition to Cancel Rent, a group advocating for rent forgiveness that includes Broken Hearted Homes, wrote that the $50 million sought for rent assistance would not be enough. By their math, $50 million divided among 200,000 homes (a third of Kentucky’s renters — their estimation for how many households cannot pay rent) is only $250 for three months’

rent.

U.S.

Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minnesota, has introduced a bill to cancel rent and mortgage payments while the pandemic lasts. The Rent and Mortgage Cancellation Act would establish a relief fund for landlords and mortgage holders to compensate them for their canceled payments, and it would create another, optional fund for nonprofits and state and local governments to purchase private rental properties in order to expand affordable housing.

The bill from the progressive liberal Democrat would have to get through the GOP-controlled Senate.

The passage of rent forgiveness is unlikely, said Carter, although he’s advocated for it personally outside of his job at KEJC in a blog post on Medium titled “Just Print the Money.”

No state has offered full rent forgiveness to tenants, but several have gone further than Kentucky, which is ranked 16 out of 50 by Eviction Lab’s COVID-19 Housing Policy Scorecard. The organization gave Kentucky 2.65 stars out of five based on how many protections for renters the state has and how effective they are.

Delaware has halted foreclosures, is enforcing no late fees on rent and is providing $1,500 to renters who cannot afford payments.

Connecticut is preventing landlords from reporting unpaid debts to credit bureaus and Washington is not allowing landlords to raise rent until June 2.

WORKING WITH TENANTS

The most important thing for tenants to do right now, according to Carey with the Apartment Association, is to communicate with their landlords.

LEOWEEKLY.COM // MAY 06, 2020

9

NEWS & ANALYSIS

“Nobody in multifamily (housing) wants to evict somebody, OK,” he said. “For one, emotionally, it’s a hard thing to do. Two, it’s costly, and you don’t want to evict anybody.”

Even though late fees and other financial penalties are allowed under Kentucky’s eviction moratorium for non-federally subsidized housing, the landlords that Carey has heard from are willing to offer payment plans and to suspend late fees for their tenants if they know that they’re struggling financially, he said.

The Kentucky Equal Justice Center also advocates for tenants speaking with their landlords if they cannot pay rent. And, if they can pay rent, the organization recommends that tenants pay it.

Some landlords have done a better job of communicating with their tenants than others.

Cris Banaszynski was unable to pay his April rent in time after all of his revenue streams were cut off, including his job at the Toonerville Deli. On April 14, Broadway Management Group sent him a letter saying that he had been charged a $40 late fee and, if he didn’t pay his rent in seven days, the company would start eviction proceedings.

This was two weeks after the Kentucky Supreme Court stopped eviction filings in the state.

The letter also said that Banaszynski could contact an account manager if he could not pay his rent, but it was the same account manager who sent the letter that Banaszynski perceived as “threatening.” He said he felt pressured to pay his rent as soon as he got his unemployment check, even though it left him worried about affording food the next week.

“I think we’ve been programmed to feel fear or panic when we get a threatening letter like this. I think it’s a human response to feel that way,” he said. “It’s really dirty and underhanded.”

Broadway Management President Greg Popham said in an email to LEO that the company should not have sent letters saying that eviction proceedings were about to begin. The company’s letters now say that Broadway Management will pursue evictions once the courts allow it.

“As the Governor says daily on his broadcasts ‘that is on me,’” said Popham.

Broadway Management is helping residents get financial assistance from various groups in order to keep them in their homes, said Popham. The company will also waive late fees depending on the tenant’s circumstances.

“Certainly, we would waive charges for

10

LEOWEEKLY.COM // MAY 06, 2020

a resident that has filed for unemployment and has not yet had his claim processed,” Popham said.

LANDLORD WANTS ASSURANCES

For Fox, if she weren’t participating in the rent strike, talking with her landlord could be a solution or at least a Band-Aid for her struggle to pay rent.

After Fox’s roommate told their landlord, Summerfield, that they would not pay April rent, Summerfield said in a text that she would not charge late fees, but she would turn their rent “in for collections” at the end of the month. In the text and to LEO, she said that collections could be avoided if they could come up with a plan together.

“As long as I hear from them and they say, ‘Yes we filed unemployment, and we do plan on paying you,’ I’m just going to take their word for it and wait it out,” said Summerfield, who has four tenants who are not paying their rent at this time. “But if I don’t, it’s very disconcerting.”

Summerfield has a daughter who also lost her job. She paid her rent after receiving unemployment, Summerfield said.

Fox said she is not like Summerfield’s daughter. Her mother died a couple of years ago, and she has no safety net. She also has asthma, which could put her at higher risk of complications from COVID-19 and extend the amount of time she’s out of work.

“Not everybody has the same situation,” she said. •

The Kentucky Equal Justice Center also advocates for tenants speaking with their landlords if they cannot pay rent. And, if they can pay rent, the organization recommends that tenants pay it.

Some landlords have done a better job of communicating with their tenants than others.

The Louisville Tenants Union organized a car caravan in mid April to raise awareness about their rent strike, meant to push the government to cancel rent.

NEWS & ANALYSIS

AG CAMERON FINALLY DOES SOMETHING ABOUT WILDLY POPULAR GOV. ANDY… OR MCCONNELL’S MARIONETTE DANCES TO THE GOP’S TUNE

By Keith Stone | kstone@leoweekly.com OH, YOU CAN just imagine the fingers flying as emails and calls blew up the AOL inbox and clamshell phone of Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron.

“You are the attorney general! Just Do Something about him!”

“I put you in that office. I need you to step up and do something about him, like he… just like he used to go after Bevin!”

Elephantine, Republican pressure surely is being applied to Cameron to do something… anything… that will dull the sparkle that dastardly Democratic Gov. Andy has rightly earned for his handling of the pandemic.

After all, U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell had installed Cameron (his former legal counsel) as attorney general, one in a long line of unqualified lawyers the senior senator is pushing into office and onto benches around the nation. (We are looking at you Justin Walker, a judge for just over six months whom McConnell has nominated to the D.C. appeals court, what some call the second most powerful court in the country.)

So, how could McConnell allow Gov. Andy to restore credibility and civility in Kentucky’s state government after Gov.reject Matt Bevin’s insane reign and clown car administration destroyed it? How could McConnell allow the growing bipartisan support for Gov. Andy when he himself was running for re-election and may lose the Senate to Democrats?

It all suddenly became embarrassingly public (embarrassing for the Republicans) when a handful of protesters marched on Frankfort on Saturday, April 25, not to dun and harass Gov. Andy, at least not directly, but to exhort Cameron to stop Gov. Andy from trying to save lives.

“David Cameron is a coward,” one of the speakers yelled.

(Certainly, they were not referring to former British Prime Minister David Cameron. And we hope they were not thinking of David Cameron’s “Piggate,” which seemed to have informed the first episode of “Black Mirror.” The show’s creator denies being influenced.)

The protesters told The Courier Journal they had even considered protesting outside Cameron’s home and church.

Then, two days later, former McConnell advisor Scott Jennings, a Courier Journal columnist and PR pro, squeezed the vice tighter with his op-ed and revealed the GOP’s strategy: “In coronavirus fight, Beshear has crossed the line with questionable restrictions.”

“Two things are true,” he wrote. “When you give politicians more power and fawning media attention, it almost always goes to their heads. And the impulse to impose authoritarian policies is never higher than in an emergency, like the coronavirus pandemic.”

Finally, on April 28, Cameron leapt into action like a marionette! Huzzah!

Cameron took to the steps of the Capitol to threaten Gov. Andy with a lawsuit over “his order prohibiting churches from holding in-person services.” (He also is challenging the governor’s request that Kentuckians not travel out of state and to self-quarantine if they do so. A judge ruled against Gov. Andy this week, saying that the “restrictions infringe on the basic right of citizens to engage in interstate travel, and they carry with them criminal penalties.”)

Said Cameron about his churchgoing beef: “Specifically, the governor should allow churches to resume in-person services consistent with the Constitution and CDC guidelines, and if he doesn’t, we will be forced to file a lawsuit and allow a judge to determine whether his order as it pertains to religious views is constitutional.”

Now, the first thing you need to know is that Gov. Andy’s executive order bans mass gatherings. All mass gatherings. Including the Derby. Your friend’s wedding. Your porch party.

At a recent Wednesday Gov. Andy’s Can I Get A Witness Briefing and Saving Lives Session, he said in-person services would be allowed starting May 20 but at a reduced participation and with social distancing!

(And a judge denied the church’s request to block Gov. Andy’s restriction on mass gatherings, including those in churches.)

On that Tuesday, he patiently answered a question about Cameron’s assertions: “Today he said I have a specific order that bans,” he said with a furrowed brow, “church services. No, we ban all mass gatherings. No one is singled out at all there.

And my comment to it, in both cases we have had an early ruling by a judge, indicating they are likely to rule that everything we have is legal.”

That is true.

Here is Gov. Andy’s order, which says: “All mass gatherings are hereby prohibited. Mass gatherings include any event or convening that brings together groups of individuals, including, but not limited to, community, civic, public, leisure, faithbased, or sporting events; parades; concerts; festivals; conventions; fundraisers; and similar activities.

U.S. District Judge David Hale (an Obama appointee) agreed with Gov. Andy after a Maryville church filed suit, claiming Gov. Andy’s order was discriminatory.

But Cameron said he finds a contradiction. People are still allowed to shop but not worship, he said, so how is that fair?

“I am reminded of this every time I drive past a big box store and see dozens of cars,” he said.

Hale called such shopping “transitory” activities.

Certainly, Cameron has to see the difference between crowding into a room to sit elbow to elbow in front of a fire-breathing preacher… and shopping for nails, mulch and tomato plants, no?

Gov. Andy, who sprinkles his religiosity throughout his briefings, said he wants to assure Kentuckians that worshipping is alive and well here but just not together in a building: “Folks, I am not trying to set rules that are difficult. I am not trying to set rules that are controversial. I am just trying to set rules that save people’s lives. We have safe opportunities to worship. Right now they are virtual and they are drive-in services. Many states did not allow drive-in services, and that really is where the litigation is around the United States — something we worked with churches across Kentucky to make sure that we can do.”

Cameron next objected to Gov. Andy’s order that police take down license plate numbers so health departments can tell the corona-congregants they need to keep their LEOWEEKLY.COM // MAY 06, 2020

11

NEWS & ANALYSIS

contaminated selves to themselves.

“I am also reminded every time I read that the governor has ordered law enforcement to record the license plate numbers of people who simply want to worship and practice their faith. Friends, churches deserve equal treatment commensurate with their First Amendment rights,” Cameron said.

Right… here is the part of what he said that lets you know Cameron is grandstanding.

He said his threat to sue is really just over principle, not necessarily practice: “Lest there be any confusion, I am not here today to advocate that churches resume in-person services immediately. I believe the good Lord gives us wisdom and judgment. We should use it in such a way that we protect our fellow Kentuckians. I personally enjoy online services offered by my church and applaud all faith leaders for their creativity and adaptability over the past several weeks. I have faith that Kentucky’s religious leaders will listen to healthcare experts — when is the appropriate time to resume in-person services, and when they do so, I know they will be responsible.”

So, to recap: He doesn’t advocate for in-person services that could kill you, but he wants people to have the right to attend in-person services, even if it kills them. That way, when people start attending church and getting sick, he can say he never told them to do so.

As for Gov. Andy and how he is holding up against Republicans who are desperately trying to have an opinion that distinguishes them from Democrats, he said he can’t be doing that: “We just want to make sure we save as many people’s lives as possible, and I am not going to get into a back and forth with anyone. I am done with politics. I am not worried about any decisions that help or hurt me politically or help or hurt anybody else. I just want to get through this by losing as few people as possible.”

When Cameron was asked whether the David Cameron Protesters influenced his decision to issue his empty threat, he said only: “I want people to know that those remarks and comments and those emails and phone calls that we’ve received in this office have not gone on deaf ears,” The CJ reported.

Oh, you can just imagine the emails and phone calls blowing up his AOL inbox and clamshell phone.

“Just Do Something!” •

12

LEOWEEKLY.COM // MAY 06, 2020

MCCONNELL OFFICE EMAIL SHOWS SENATOR FAVORS BIG BUSINESS OVER KENTUCKY… OR, A SENATOR TRUMPS A GOVERNOR

By Keith Stone | kstone@leoweekly.com

THE TIMING OF THE EMAIL from U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell’s office was just too perfect for it to not seem like an intentional attack on Gov. Andy, designed to make him appear weak and ineffective.

It also underscored how our senior senator cares more about Big Business than his own state and is just as wedded to the quid pro quo as is Donald Trump.

Two weeks ago, McConnell endured withering criticism in Kentucky and elsewhere for his assertion that states should file for bankruptcy rather than expect federal aid as they collapse under coronavirus-maimed budgets.

He then appeared to soften his view.

“There’s no question all governors, regardless of party, would like to have more money, I’m open to discussing that,” McConnell said on Fox News Radio.

It did not come too soon, as Kentucky announced last Thursday that it faced as much as a $500 million shortfall.

Later that day, during the Sip Along with Gov. Andy Briefing, we all expected the governor to address the new projections for Kentucky’s Budget Blow Up and McConnell’s plan to deny his own state help.

At about 5:30 p.m., Gov. Andy seemed to offer hope — he said he had talked with McConnell about the need for federal aid.

Of course, he had!

After all, Gov. Andy is one of McConnell’s constituents and should have a direct line to him, no? The senator likes to compare himself to the Grim Reaper when it comes to Democrat proposals…but certainly he must want to help Kentucky, even if it were not an election year for him.

“This is not a political issue, even though it appears there is back and forth between parties in D.C. All state and local governments, I believe, are united. We have to do this if we are going to do what it takes to rebuild our economy. So I hope you will add your voice to

your U.S. representative or senator. Make sure you are heard,” he said.

As Gov. Andy explained, he said he was appreciative that the powerful senator had listened to him.

“I had a conversation with our Sen. McConnell, the majority leader, today where I was able to express this need and talk over some of the numbers. I appreciate him hearing me out, and now I hope he will be able to act in this next CARES Act to make sure that the type of relief that is needed is provided, just like I pushed to make sure that relief is out there for our citizens, for our businesses and others has been provided.”

It was a bad sign that Gov. Andy left out what McConnell had told him during the conversation. “Appreciate” is one of those powerful HR words that managers use when they don’t want to make a commitment to an employee’s request. As in: “I appreciate what you are saying.”

NEWS & ANALYSIS

So, had McConnell offered any hope or package, and we may, we need to take our time and do it right, and it needs to include made any promises? these liability protections so that all these At about 6 p.m., Gov. Andy answered the brave workers and brave businesses that will question: “He said he understood, but there be reopening are not subjected to the second were more discussions going on in Washingepidemic of litigation.” ton, D.C. But he heard me out. He understands the request. He understands why I believe it is Republicans hate lawsuits, because lawsuits so important. The numlet victims find recombers are the numbers.” pense for harm caused by the more powerful, McConnell’s office has to know that Gov. such as bad doctors and Andy puts on his show bad corporations.

So, at about the every day between 5 How many times in same time he p.m. and 6 p.m.-ish.

Kentucky have RepubSo, at about the same lican lawmakers pushed was explaining time he was explaining for what they call tort McConnell’s non-comMcConnell’s non- reform? mitment, the senator’s One of the last commitment, office sent out an email efforts was signed into blast with excerpts from law by Gov.-reject the senator’s his appearance that day Matt Bevin and had on a Fox (fake) News office sent out an been proposed by his show and a link to the future running mate, email blast with full interview.

Sen. Ralph Alvarado, a The excerpt conveexcerpts from his Winchester Republican and nursing home phyniently left out the part appearance that sician. It established about “bankruptcy,” but medical review panels here is the full quote. day on a Fox (fake) with the goal of weed“What I said is we ing out bad malpractice have already provided News show and $150 billion in previous lawsuits. Isn’t that what a link to the full bills in the past month a trial is supposed to to six weeks to send do? Fortunately, a judge interview. to local government. voided the law saying: Bankruptcy is obviously “The effect of the mediThe excerpt a decision, if it were cal review panel process conveniently left legal, (that) would be is not the reduction of made at the state level. negligence out the part about frivolous I don’t think many claims, but rather, the states would choose erection of barriers to ‘bankruptcy’ ... that option,” he said. the court system.”

“The point is we are not Now, McConnell is interested in borrowtelling congressional ing money from future Democrats that if they generations to send down to states to help them want to do the right thing — that is help out with bad decisions they’ve made in the past ailing states — then they need to guarantee unrelated to the coronavirus epidemic. We are that Big Business can do whatever it wants more than happy, and already have, sent $150 without fear of being sued. billion down to states and localities to deal House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was having with the pandemic.” none that nonsense: “Especially now, we have every reason to protect our workers and our Here is the quid pro quo. patients in all of this. So we would not be “I think any additional assistance that we inclined to be supporting any immunity from provide for state and local government also needs to include some things that are important liability,” Pelosi told reporters.

It sounds like it will be a messy fight. for everybody else. That is the doctors, the Gov. Andy said he knows this and wants nurses, the hospitals, the brave businesses no part: “I don’t want to be in the middle of a that will be reopening concerned about an Washington, D.C. negotiation or debate. That epidemic of lawsuits that will be brought by is not a place I don’t think many people want the plaintiffs all over America in the wake of to be. But I certainly hope it is going to move this pandemic. So, we don’t need an epidemic forward and happen.” of lawsuits in the wake of the pandemic,” We can appreciate that. • McConnell said. “So if we do another rescue

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Zoom | Search Facebook | Free | 2 p.m.

Socialist Night/Day School

Zoom | dsalouisville.org/events | Free | Times vary While some argue that preserving American capitalism > saving lives CRUSH CAPITALISM during a pandemic, Democratic Socialists see this time as an opportunity to say, to hell with your capitalism! The Louisville DSA is continuing its Socialist Night School series to tell you why its members think this way. This week, they discuss the media’s complicity in preserving capitalism with Naomi Klein’s “The Shock Doctrine,” as well as the concept of Disaster Capitalism. Make sure to catch up on your readings and videos beforehand if you can (found on the DSA’s website) and prepare for a lively Zoom discussion with like-minded people. You must register with the group to receive the Zoom link. —LEO

THURSDAY MAY 7-18

Theater In Quarantine

Stuck inside with nothing to do? Don’t be so dramatic. Louisville’s theater companies are acting up for you by streaming past and present productions.

VIRTUAL THEATER Kentucky Shakespeare has been on it since the beginning with weekly showings and other artistic groups have followed suit. Here are a couple of shows you can catch this week.

‘Romeo + Juliet’ (May 7-18) | commonwealththeatre.org | Free | Any time Commonwealth Theatre Company presents its 2015 youth Conservatory production of “Romeo and Juliet.” About the show, Director Julane Havens said, “The cast and crew spent much of rehearsal talking with each other about all kinds of relationships, being teenagers, feelings of depression, anxiety and infatuation, and what it means to be honest in the portrayal of characters who express themselves so eloquently, but fail to communicate what really needs to be said. For me, this was the true joy of working on this play with young artists.” The production becomes available on May 7 at 7 p.m. and you can register online to receive an email link until May 18.

‘Hershey Felder as Irving Berlin’ (May 10) | actorstheatre.org | $50 | 8 p.m.

Pianist, actor and playwright Hershey Felder portrays Irving Berlin, who created “White Christmas” and “Holiday Inn,” in this show about the famed composer’s life. The show came to Louisville last February, and, on Mother’s Day, it will be livestreamed from Italy to benefit Actors Theatre. Of it, LEO critic Alex Roma said, “The show is at times a comedy, at times a romance, at times a success story for the American Dream and at times a tragedy. In some ways, it’s an incredibly relevant story — addressing the life of an immigrant in America — while in other ways it feels devastatingly distant from the world we live in now.”

—Danielle Grady

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Lee Smart and Lindsay Leese.

Join a virtual workshop of expert improv performers and discover fundamental techniques used to unleash your creativity and improve your communication skills. Lee LAUGHS Smart and Lindsay Leese of SmartLeese (Get it? Smart and Leese…) don’t just teach or lecture in this webinar, they also need you to participate in a fun, interactive experience. It’s their style. For over two decades, SmartLeese has been creating TV shows, game shows, live comedy sketches and working with clients on an array of creative, teambuilding events and experiences. Recently, SmartLeese joined Second City Works, “the corporate education and entertainment arm of the world-renowned Second City comedy theater.” This program, hosted by Gilda’s Club Kentuckiana, could inspire the next step in your professional life, how you adapt to the post-coronavirus world, or just give you a give laugh and engaging entertainment. Follow the link on the Facebook event page to register and receive Zoom information. It’s for ages 16 and older. —LEO

THURSDAY, MAY 7

Creating Fictional Characters From Real Life

Zoom | redpintix.com | $20 | 7-8:30 p.m.

Ever find yourself thinking, “That would make a great book”? But WRITING you have no idea where to start. This is your chance to learn from awardwinning author and Louisvillian Katy Yocom, whose 2019 novel “Three Ways to Disappear” was awarded the Siskiyou Prize for New Environmental Literature. Yocom will guide you through the intricacies of drawing on real people and real life experiences to create full, complex fictional characters. Louisville Literary Arts hosts this webinar. —Aaron Yarmuth

STAFF PICKS

SUNDAY, MAY 10

I65 Live: A Free Streaming Fundraiser Variety Show i65live.com | Free | 7 p.m.

J.D. Shelburne will be on I65 Live.

Don’t think of it as coronavirus-era entertainment — think of this as a great, late-night variety show with comedy, music and artistic performances. This free, streaming show brings together a hell of a lineup of performers who either live in, origiVARIETY nated from, or perform regularly throughout America’s Midwest and South, along the Interstate 65 corridor. Outlaw poet Ron Whitehead hosts (from Louisville) with Missy Wolf (from Nashville) performances that include comedian Red Green, country music star J.D. Shelburne, Bryan Fox featuring Buffalo Stille and Ron Clutch of Nappy Roots and up-and-coming pop songwriter Will Muse. Mayor Greg Fischer is even scheduled to make an appearance. It’s a free show but donations will be accepted, with a portion of donations going to Sweet Relief Musicians fund. —LEO

Virtual Queer Yoga Sundays Zoom | Search Facebook | Free | 10 a.m.

As LEO has written about before, there’s a growing movement in Louisville to create more social events and places for the LGBTQ+ community that don’t involve NAMASTE partying. This is one of them. Every Sunday, a different teacher will lead an hour of yoga and meditation. Anyone can join, but its designed to cater to those who are queer. —LEO

PHOTO: J. TYLER FRANKLIN/LPM

EVERY SUNDAY

FRIDAYS AT 11AM

Hosted by Rick Howlett, “In Conversation” is an hour-long, thoughtful-but-lively discussion with a variety of guests about the biggest issues facing our city, state, and region.

WFPL.ORG LEOWEEKLY.COM // MAY 06, 2020

15

MUSIC

A TRIBUTE TO LOUISVILLE MUSICIAN MATT JAHA

BANDMATES AND FRIENDS RECALL HIS PROWESS AND PERSONALITY

By Scott Recker | srecker@leoweekly.com MATT JAHA, an incredibly talented and versatile local musician who played in numerous bands, passed away April 15 at the age of 37. Jaha, who played multiple instruments, was known for his work in punk and hardcore acts such as Coliseum, Black Cross and Nixon. He also volunteered and worked at The Healing Place. Below, several of his bandmates and friends pay tribute to him.

Ryan Patterson [cousin, bandmate in Coliseum and Black Cross] “I was 5 years old when Matt was born, my first cousin in our close-knit family, and just one year younger than my brother, Evan. All my memories of family birthdays and holidays involve Matt, along with end-

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less other times visiting and playing as kids.

Matt was not yet 21 when I asked him if he knew anyone that would be right to drum for a new band I was starting. Unbeknownst to me he was also an incredible drummer and volunteered to fill the position himself. I’m so glad he did. We called the band Coliseum and took off on a whirlwind of touring and recording, Matt’s energetic, tasteful-yetferocious drumming driving the band forward. He was the drummer on Coliseum’s first album and the Goddamage EP, the latter being an early-career high point for the band and it seems to have been an important record for people in Louisville and around the world. It’s been reissued many times and is still mentioned to me regularly, 15 years later. Music was in Matt’s DNA in a

way that these tributes can only touch upon.

His time in various bands was only part of the picture of a person who loved fiercely, dreamed intensely, felt acutely, hurt deeply, smiled brightly and burned with a radiant mix of passion, talent, wit, intelligence, pain and joy. I love him and mourn his loss immensely.”

Evan Patterson [cousin and bandmate in Black Cross] “Matt’s progressive ideas and creative thought patterns couldn’t keep up with his day-to-day life. At all times, he had a list of plans, or even better, a heart filled with dreams. His frustrations with the world are what inspired his gift, power and talent. When Matt contributed, we were all

Matt Jaha playing drums.

stunned.”

Bryce Shell [friend and bandmate in Five Hours] “Matt and I began playing music together when we were in sixth or seventh grade.

He was such a good lead guitar player and the most talented musician I’ve ever played with. Before Matt joined Five Hours there was really no structure in our songs.

We would spend many hours practicing in either his parents’ or my parents’ basement.

I remember going to ear X-tacy with Matt on a regular basis and he would buy 10 or 20 CDs, most of them bands that neither of us had ever heard. If I were to name bands that influenced Matt in the Five Hours days I would say The Police, Operation

MUSIC

Ivy, MU330, The Suicide Machines, Iron Maiden, Elvis Costello, Gwar. But if you were to look through his collection, you’d probably find a record store of diversity.

I have so many great memories of Matt.

There were many times that he made me laugh so hard that I couldn’t function. Matt taught me how to play a traditional ska beat on the drums. He taught me how to play barre chords on guitar. One of my favorite memories of Matt is how he would always sprint, with a huge grin on his face, to an instrument right before we were going to start practicing. The world is a better place because of his talent, creativity and enthusiasm. I’ll miss him a lot.”

Steven Sindoni [friend and bandmate in Pusher] “Matt and I have been through quite a few phases of life together. From carrying a swagger that can only come from being in young punk and hardcore bands in our 20s to both of us having to crawl out of our separate dark holes we had dug for ourselves in our 30s. All of which were done in a way only Jaha could manage — with a tireless desire to search and learn. Whether it be a riff, school of thought, music, love, friendship or just the desire to go get a coffee, it was all done with an urgency that only he could bring. I’ll miss both his smile and sneer that could change a room. I’ll miss never getting around to his book recommendations. I’ll miss him picking me up for meetings. I’ll miss his music.”

Matt Haas [friend, bandmate in Nixon, Garland Watts] “Jaha once picked up a guitar in my first apartment and played a classical arrangement of the ‘Wood Man Theme’ from ‘Mega Man 2’ and it’s still one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever heard. Matt knew how to be in phase with people musically in a way I could never figure out. Any band he touched was immediately better; every arrangement smoother, every song more interesting.

Every musician he played with — sometimes begrudgingly and with the gnashing of teeth — got measurably and undeniably better. Pushed people to their limits. Didn’t take excuses. Dealt with my tantrums when I couldn’t hear with my normal human ears what he could. His contributions to music make up a good portion of the vibrations in your bones, and is in more of your memories than you probably realize. From the things he was and was not credited on, he was literally everyone’s favorite band. Genre, instrument; doesn’t matter. Matthew Jaha is your favorite band.”

Tony Ash [friend, bandmate in Coliseum, Nixon] “I met Matt on the day I showed up at Ryan’s house for the very first Coliseum practice. I remember being blown away and kind of impressed that they had just gone on a road trip to Illinois to buy a drum kit specifically so that Matt, who was Ryan’s cousin, could be the band’s drummer. I also recall being a little skeptical. Looking this guy over and thinking, ‘OK, kid (me being the wise old age of 24 at the time), so drums aren’t your main instrument, but you bought a kit, so now you think you’re going to be the drummer? OK, sure, we’ll see.’ Well, this guy, who was barely old enough to legally be in a bar, got behind the drums and rocked the living shit out of them, effortlessly. That’s just what Matt Jaha would do. He could pick up any instrument in the world and immediately make anyone else who played that instrument look like a chump. I’m 100% positive he took some satisfaction in that ability, but he wasn’t ever malicious about it. He would challenge you to think outside of the box, to leave your comfort zone in the rearview mirror and force you to be better at what you did.

No musician in Louisville ever played in a band with Matt and didn’t improve, or at least broaden their horizons a little. Make no mistake, it could be totally maddening.

It could make you want to smash your bass into splinters and walk away from it all. It could cause you to see shades of red previously unknown to mankind. Trust me. But whatever cool song, riff or what-have-you ending up coming of it was always worth the sanity you sacrificed.”

Brendan Johnson [friend and bandmate in Aphids and Garland Watts] “Matt Jaha was a people watcher’s dream. Never have I seen someone be able to command a room with the fewest actions.

Whether that be with his way of spinning a tale, a feat of musical prowess or just that damn smile that will forever be etched in my brain, he just had it. But, he also used that to be a compassionate friend who was willing to stay behind that extra few minutes to check in. With a world becoming so used to cold interactions, he always preferred it warm with a shot of espresso. Thank you for the times you just called instead of texting.

Thank you for pushing my mind to bend words to your musical contortions. Thank you for that smile. Every room will seem more dim without it.” •

EVENT GOERS...

EVENT HOSTERS...

LEO DOES TICKETS. Amid the Covid-19 closures, local businesses are doing all they can to continue providng their services to faithful customers everywhere.

Support your community and the places you love by checking out the new ways they are getting their business to you through RedPinTix!

Go to LeoWeekly.com to safely, securely buy and sell your tickets.

For more information on selling tickets to your event, please contact mroeder@redpinmedia.com

LEOWEEKLY.COM // MAY 06, 2020

17

FOOD & DRINK

RECOMMENDED

MOZZAPI DELIVERS, TO YOUR TRUNK AND YOUR TASTE BUDS

By Robin Garr | LouisvilleHotBytes.com MozzaPie’s cheese pizza with roasted red peppers and mushrooms. | PHOTOS BY ROBIN GARR.

YOU’VE HEARD IT BEFORE, and you’ll be hearing it again: This pandemic is rough on business. It’s especially rough on small businesses, such as our favorite local restaurants.

Even the careful reopening of some sitdown dining options next month isn’t likely to restore full cash flow or anything like it.

As much as I love dining out, I know I’m going to be wary at first. How about you?

But there’s one thing I can do — and you can too: Order food for curbside pickup or delivery from your favorite locally owned and operated eateries as often as you can.

Every bit of business we can give them helps, so target your favorite locals as often as you can.

And once you have that delicious food safely home, spread the word! Head on to social media, post a picture and celebrate its deliciousness and how easy it was to acquire it.

That’s what I’m doing right now: I love MozzaPi so much! It’s kind of far out in the country for me, over the tracks on the far side of Anchorage, so to be honest I had

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put off a trip for a while. But too much is at stake now to hold back, so we put in an online order and headed out that way just the other day. The prize was a wonderful pizza, and I’m going to reheat and enjoy the rest of it just as soon as I get this written.

Ordering, by the way, is as simple as can be. Call up MozzaPi’s website, and you’ll see a button marked Order ToGo Online right there on the front page. Click it, and you’ll go straight to the Order for Pickup page where you can choose to order for now (head out, it’ll be ready in 15 or 20 minutes), or plan your pizza meal for another time soon. Fill in your credit card details, and your pizza is as good as on your table.

We got ours yesterday at midday, and the timing was so precise that when I rolled up and called in five minutes early, I learned that it was in the oven. “It’ll be ready in five minutes.” Right! And so it was. Owner Tom Edwards brought it out himself, waved and said howdy from a safe 10 feet or so and slid the box into the open hatch of our jalopy. He left, I got out and slammed the lid and away

we went, home before it had even cooled off enough to need reheating.

To be on the safe side, I followed a careful procedure: Brought in the box, slid the pizza onto a clean plate with a spatula, then hustled the box out to the recycling scow.

Came in, washed my hands for 20 seconds and sat down to enjoy.

It was every bit as good as I had hoped it would be.

Edwards makes his crust from a careful blend of Italian Tipo 00 flour and artisanal flour made from organic ancient grains grown by Kentucky farmers and milled in-house.

Yes, it’s that special. Pizzas are topped with quality ingredients and fired in a beautiful Le Panyol fired-clay wood oven from France wrapped in a shiny copper exterior. The wood fire turns the thin-

Ordering online is as simple as can be.

crust pizzas into crisp, chewy Italian bread dotted with deliciously charred leopard spots that look as good as they taste.

Ten pizzas, all dinner-plate size, range in price from $8 (for a cheese and tomato

FOOD & DRINK

We couldn’t resist a sneak peek, right there in the hatchback.

We rolled in five minutes early and flung up the hatch.

sauce pie) to $12 (for seven of the pizzas, including such goodies as a spinach-andmushroom vegan pizza or a Spanish chorizo pie made from sought-after Ibérico pork).

Traditional pepperoni or sausage can be yours for $9 or $10, respectively, and you can add toppings to any pie for an additional $2.50 for a meat item, $1.50 for veggie additions.

We summoned a cheese pie with roasted

red peppers and mushrooms added ($1.50 each) and got an excellent pizza, a thin, chewy base discreetly topped with good, sweet, textured homemade tomato sauce and creamy, molten mozzarella dotted with bits of grated yellow cheddar. Bite-size chunks of roasted pepper were sweet and tender; dark, shiitake-type mushrooms were meaty and loaded with umami. It all worked together beautifully, and it was hard not to eat it all in one sitting. Fortunately, I exercised willpower and now the rest of it awaits for my lunch. Yum! Our pizza, by the way, came to just $11 plus tax. I let the computer calculate a 25% tip, but in retrospect, on a tab that light, I should have forgotten percentages and just dropped a fiver or more. Next time! •

MOZZAPI PIZZA 12102 La Grange Road 890-4832 mozzapi.com

LEOWEEKLY.COM // MAY 06, 2020

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93 Kitchen gadgets 94 System of government 96 ____ dog 97 Loading areas 98 Championship 99 Texas A&M athlete 100 Lugs 101 Add oil and vinegar to, say 102 Bit of chemistry 103 Legal cover?

104 Plugging away 105 Testing stage 107 Ratchet (up) 108 Command to a dog 110 Buckeyes’ sch.

C R I B

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H A U L S

K O O L R A G E D

F I O B E I Z A

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42 Sullivan who taught Helen Keller 43 Temper 44 Enlist again 46 Early king of Athens, in Greek myth 48 Magical rides 49 No longer working: Abbr.

52 Sedate state 54 State 57 Gerontologist’s study 58 The driving force behind this puzzle?

63 Cheerfulness: Var. 65 Nonbinary pronoun 66 A dip, or a series of steps 67 Spanish girlfriend 68 Things once tossed in the Trevi Fountain 69 It stops at Union and Penn Stations 71 Understand 73 Agnus ____ (prayers) 74 Banned aid?

75 Lead-in to Aid 76‘ ‘Auld Lang ____’’ 78 Gambler’s alternative to Las Vegas, NV, or Atlantic City, NJ 79 One with special I.T. privileges 83 Throwing away 85 Pond critter 86 Latin version of the Bible 89 Doesn’t give a hoot, colloquially 92 Applebee’s competitor

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60 64

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LEOWEEKLY.COM // MAY 06, 2020

1 Bygone kings 2 Attended 3 Nail-polish brand 4 Who said: ‘‘No good movie is too long. No bad movie is short enough’’ 5 Dos más uno 6 Worth mentioning 7 Subsidiary of CVS Health 8 Races in place 9 Ken Griffey Jr. or Ichiro Suzuki 10 Short winter days?

11 Alan who directed ‘‘All the President’s Men’’ 12 Any nonzero number raised to the power of zero 13 Florida county named for a president 14 Los Angeles’s ____ College of Art and Design 15 Where talk is cheep?

16 This: Sp. 18 Way to run someone out of town, idiomatically 21 Heavy defeat 23 QB-protecting group, for short 25 Cousin of cream cheese 31 Not outstanding 32 Aware 33 German city on the Weser 34 Try to see if anyone is home, maybe 36 Adversary 37 Island famous for its nightlife 38 Was livid 39 Slowly disappear 40 Orgs. running drives for school supplies 41 Little piggy

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1 1969 hit for Neil Diamond 6 Big dipper?

9 Event at a convention center 13 Southern bread 17 Risk maker 19 What a plastic bag might come with, nowadays 20 Comics mutant 21 Specks of dust 22 Ad label in red and white 24 What Santa does before Christmas 26 They do dos 27 Tempe sch.

28 Invites out for 29 [Let it stand] 30 Pop singer Ora 31 Heats 33 Bête noire 34 Italian pal 35 Burning 40 Some of the American heartland 44 Belief in Buddhism and Hinduism 45 Certain make-your-own-entree station 47 With 86-Across, fixation problem suggested by this puzzle’s theme 48 One hanging around the yard 50 Statement that may precede ‘‘Wish me luck!’’

51 Per ____ 52 Arc on a musical score 53 Go back (on) 55 British ending 56 Conventional 59 Deal with 60 Suffix with block 61 China’s Zhou ____ 62 Hound 64 Some bolt holders 67 Arroz ____ cubana (Cuban-style rice) 70 Demerit 72 Once-ubiquitous electronics outlets 77 A hot one can burn you 78 Stars in western movies, e.g.

80 ‘‘That’s my foot!!!’’

81 Son of George and Jane Jetson 82 Verbal concession 84 Start to pay attention 86 See 47-Across 87 Sea that Jesus is said to have walked on 88 Beloved members of the family

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O A R F E E O N T V L O N S I T A N E P E R E F E E S L U R T Y P I A I N I N G D G E S N T U E P S C R E S H I R I C U O L E S S I R E U S S R

Across

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E T B R O E E N R S A T R B A I R I N E L U M R E O E N L D B A S I G I L E D O X L B I A E M P T S A

No. 0510

2

A T I T

BY ROYCE FERGUSON / EDITED BY WILL SHORTZ

1

R O B E

TURN, TURN, TURN

89 Having a fix 90 South American barbecue 91 Rather eccentric 94 D.C. types 95 It fits a big frame, for short 97 1990s Nickelodeon show about a preteen boy 98 Former Saudi king 102 Peninsula with seven countries 106 Hosp. area 107 What torcedores can skillfully do 109 Hierarchical systems, so to speak 111 It may spit venom 112 News items often written in advance 113 Beget 114 Nasdaq, e.g.: Abbr.

115 Things that can bounce 116 Bone connected to the wrist 117 Founding member of the U.N. Security Council, for short 118 Humanities dept.

119 Like the entire 290-page Georges Perec novel ‘‘A Void,’’ curiously enough

A T O M

The New York Times Magazine Crossword

PHOTO BY RACHEL ROBINSON

ETC.

SAVAGE LOVE

By Dan Savage | mail@savagelove.net @fakedansavage

AMAZED AND CONFUSED

Q: I’ve been with the same amazing man a dozen years. We’ve had our ups and our downs, same as any other couple, but these days life is better then it ever has been for us. Except in the bedroom. A few years ago, he started having fantasies about sucking dick. Specifically, he wanted to suck a small one because his is very big, and he wanted to “service” a guy who’s less hung than he is.

Which is fine, except it’s now the only thing that gets him off. We seldom have sex since now because his obsession with sucking off a guy with a small dick makes me feel unattractive, and, to be honest, I don’t share the fantasy. I even let him suck a dude off in front of me once, and I didn’t enjoy it at all. He tells me he still finds me attractive, but when we’re having sex the talk always goes to how he wants to take “warm and salty loads” down his throat. I’ve told him I’m not into it, but he enjoys talking about it so much he can’t help himself. I thought by allowing him to live out his fantasy would help him “get over it,” so to speak, but that didn’t happen.

So, now we just don’t have sex except once every few months. I’m not sure how to make him see that it’s just not my thing and to get the focus back on just the two of us.

Loves Obsesses About Dick Sucking If you can look at your husband and think, “Things are better than ever!”, despite the dismal state of your sex life, LOADS, I hate to think what life with him used to be like.

There’s not an easy fix here. If you’ve already told your husband the “warm and salty load” talk is a turn-off and made it clear it’s the reason your sex life has pretty much collapsed, and, nevertheless, he persists with the “warm and salty load” talk, well, then your husband is telling you would he would rather not have sex than have sex without talking about warm and salty loads.

Now, I’m assuming that you actually told him how you feel, LOADS, in clear and unambiguous terms, and that you said what you needed to say emphatically. And by “emphatically,” LOADS, I mean, “repeatedly and at the top of your lungs.” If not—if you’re doing that thing women are socialized to do, i.e. if you’re downplaying the severity of your displeasure in a misguided effort to spare your husband’s feelings—then you need to get emphatic. Sometimes it’s not enough to tell, LOADS, sometimes you have to yell.

You’re obviously GGG—you’re good, giving and game—but your husband has taken you for granted and been almost unbelievably inconsiderate. Because even if he needs to think about sucking dick to get

off, LOADS, he doesn’t need to verbalize that fantasy each and every time you fuck.

Even if you were into it, which you’re not, it would get tedious. And it wasn’t just selfish of him to ignore how you felt, LOADS, it was shortsighted. Because women who are willing let their husbands talk about wanting to suck a dick—much less suck a dick— aren’t exactly easy to come by.

I guess what I’m trying to say, LOADS, is that your husband really blew it. If he hadn’t allowed this obsession to completely dominate your sex life—if he’d made some small effort to control himself—you might’ve been willing to let him act on his fantasy more than once. But as things stand now, it’s hard to see how you come back from this, LOADS, because even if can manage to STFU about warm and salty loads long enough to fuck you, you’re going to know he’s thinking about warm and salty loads. So the most plausible solution here—assuming that you want to stay married to this guy— would be for him to go suck little dicks (once circumstances allow) while you get some decent sex elsewhere (ditto).

Finally, a lot of vanilla people think—erroneously—that acting on kink will somehow get it out a kinky person’s system. That’s not the way kinks work. Kinks are hard-wired and kinky people wanna act on their kinks again and again for the exact same reason vanilla people wanna do vanilla things again and again: because it turns them on.

Q: I have what most people would consider an amazing life. I have two healthy kids, financial security, a stable career and a husband who is the exact partner I could ever want. I really couldn’t ask for more. I just have one issue: My husband wants to be intimate more often than I do. We are both nearing 40, and his libido has not slowed down. I, on the other hand, due to a combination of being busy with work and us both taking care of the kids (especially during the lockdown), find myself with a decreased sexual drive. Because of all my (and our) obligations, I find myself alternating between a state of tiredness, anxiousness or distraction, none of which get me “in the mood.”

We’ve talked about the situation, and he is absolutely respectful when we do so, but he has made it clear he’s very frustrated. I think once a week is more than enough, and he could go multiple times a day. It’s to the point where he feels he’s begging just to fit some “us” time into our lives, which he says makes him feel undesirable and humiliated.

There isn’t anything wrong with him that leaves me not wanting to engage in physi-

cal intimacy, we just seem to have different physical intimacy schedules, and it’s putting a serious strain on our relationship. How can we work to find a comfortable middle ground, or at the absolute least, help me explain to him why I’m not as randy as he is?

Completely Lost In Tacoma You don’t need to craft an elaborate explanation, CLIT, as what’s going on here is pretty simple: Your husband has a high libido, and you have a low one.

What you need is a reasonable accommodation. Opening up your marriage obviously isn’t an option right now, CLIT, and it might not be an option you would’ve considered, even if it were possible for your husband to find an outlet (or inlet) elsewhere. But there is something you can do.

Your husband is doubtless jacking off a lot to relieve the pressure. If there’s something he enjoys that you don’t find physically taxing, and if he promises not to pressure you to upgrade to intercourse in the moment, then you could enhance his masturbatory routine. Does he like it when you sit on his face? Then sit on his face—you can even keep your clothes on—while he rubs one out.

Does he love your tits? Let him look at them while he beats off. Is he a little kinky? It doesn’t take that long to piss on someone in the tub, and it wouldn’t mean adding something to your already packed schedule, CLIT, as you have to find time to piss anyway.

It would be unreasonable of your husband to expect sex three times a day—that would be an irrational expectation even if you were childless and independently wealthy—but your husband isn’t asking you to fuck him three times a day. He wants a little more sexual activity, some erotic affirmation and more couple time. Giving him an assist while he masturbates ticks all those boxes. That said, this will only work if your husband solemnly vows never to initiate intercourse during an assisted masturbation session. If you catch a groove and start feeling horny and wanna upgrade to intercourse, you should. But he needs to let you lead because if he starts pressuring you for sex when you’re just there to assist then you’re going to be reluctant to help him out.

If he can follow that one rule, CLIT, you’ll feel more connected and you’ll probably wind up having more PIV/PIB/PIM sex—maybe twice a week instead of once a week—but it will be sex you both want.

On this week’s Savage Lovecast, yes it IS possible to be both horny and depressed.

Also, hear the tale of intrepid mountain climbers, and what they can do in their harnesses. www.savagelovecast.com. mail@savagelove.net Follow Dan on Twitter @FakeDanSavage. www.savagelovecast.com

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