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A LETTER TO THE COMMUNITY
LIKE LEO? HERE’S HOW TO HELP. BY LEO WEEKLY We at LEO offer our sincerest congratulations to The Courier Journal for winning its 11th Pulitzer Prize, this one for studiously and unrelentingly chronicling the avalanche of last-minute pardons and commutations handed out by the corrupt, craven and mercenary Gov.-reject Matt Bevin. We are fortunate as a city to have it as our paper. In a poignant tribute and plea, former CJ reporter Howard Fineman wrote in The Washington Post that the paper’s latest plaudit “should remind us (and surely was meant to remind us), that what we call ‘local’ journalism is profoundly essential to self-government as the Founders designed it, and to the American way of life.” He cited a study that found nearly 1,800 newspapers have closed since 2004, and he said, “Virtually all of the remaining 7,000 are thinner and weaker than ever.” He implored you to subscribe to the paper because, as the op-ed’s headline said: “My former newspaper is struggling — and is more important than ever.” This is all true, but there is more. What Fineman’s op-ed neglected to underscore is that the news media landscape extends far beyond daily newspapers and must include alternative weeklies. Alt-weeklies also provide “local journalism” and are “profoundly essential.” They are critically important because they work in the margins and areas where newspapers do not or cannot. They provide free-to-read accounts of a community’s culture, ethos and priorities. Good ones are not substitutes for daily newspapers, although their coverage and stories may overlap. At LEO, our goal since John Yarmuth founded it in 1990 has been to dive deeply into areas that The CJ and other mainstream news media have neglected, dismissed or overlooked. Accordingly, LEO is the authority on local music, theater and visual arts. We publish A&E guides twice a year. Every issue of LEO has (or had) at least two food and drink stories, including reviews, a beer column and insiders’ views on the service industry. We offer a range of commentary, which, admittedly, skews left but also has included conservative and right-leaning views (such as a column from, gasp — Mitch McConnell). We print op-eds that The CJ would not, such as from Black Lives Matter. We champion equality and provide a voice to the LGBTQ+ community. Our printed and online lists celebrate the best things to do in the region to help you plan your week and weekends. We also publish news stories that are written differently (we’d like to say, more interestingly) than a newspaper would run. They include primary source stories (first-person) and stories told through alternative (there is that word again) formats. Our core topics include those that the daily paper rarely touches, such as urban planning, race relations, labor and the environment (since The CJ’s ace enviro reporter moved on). And, they include media criticism (we are looking at you CJ, but we have given ourselves thorns) because who else is going to do it? In short, Louisville has at least six ways you can get your news, counting TV and radio. We try to not be like any of them. We try not to tell the same story. We try to be more interesting and less predictable. And the hundreds of thousands of people who read us and click on our stories tell us we are doing something right. Alas, LEO, as you might imagine, also has been crippled by this virus, as have alt-weeklies across the nation. LEO is free to pick up and relies almost entirely on advertising. No subscriptions. No grants. No membership drive for donations twice a year. The backbone of our advertising is entertainment (think: music, ballet, theater and visual art) and food and drink. Similarly, we distribute to places where people enjoy those activities and relax (think: bars, coffee shops, restaurants, etc.), and those have been closed. LEO already runs lean and has not had to furlough any editorial staff — yet — but our editorial budget has been cut by three-quarters. LEO has been online-only mostly since the epidemic began. Starting with this issue, our goal is to publish a print edition every other week. Fortunately, we have been an outlier among alt-weeklies, so far. A story from NiemanLab listed more than 40 alt-weeklies that had taken steps to survive within just days of us all realizing this pandemic was real. Many suspended print publication, others furloughed staff and, still, others asked for donations. They included Pittsburgh City Paper, which launched a membership program: “in order to help fight some of these losses, with the hope that readers who depend on our daily coverage of local news, arts, music, food, and entertainment recognize the importance in the work we do to keep the city informed and want us to continue.” We like that idea! Won’t you please consider helping to fund LEO’s mission by underwriting a reporter or providing financial support for more stories? You could sponsor a reporter to cover a specific topic or issue, such as visual arts or theater or labor… or poverty… or the environment or… you name it. Perhaps you want to sponsor a weekly column on dance or jazz, or you want to underwrite a series of stories on land use in The West End. You would not have a say in exactly what we write and what gets printed, but you would see more coverage in the area you have selected. If you are interested, please contact us at: leoweekly.com And, please, if you value LEO and want us to continue to survive and thrive, continue picking up the papers, continue sharing stories on social media and consider advertising if you do not already. As always but particularly now, thank you for reading LEO, and thanks to all of you who have emailed and called to ask when you would see another printed edition on the news stands.
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ON: EDITOR’S NOTE, DON’T CANCEL DERBY —USE IT!
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A SIGNIFICANT MILESTONE Last Friday marked the 100th day of protests in Louisville which have been seeking justice for Breonna Taylor, who was shot and killed by the LMPD earlier this year. Go to leoweekly.com/web to see LEO photographer Kathryn Harrington’s photos from the 100th day, when protesters marched from Jefferson Square Park, through Fourth Street Live and on to the Kentucky Derby Festival’s headquarters.
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I watch the Derby every year. Not this year. #NoJusticeNoDerby #JusticeForBreonnaTaylor — Susan Cilone @SusanCilone I’ve joined the local protests on a number of occasions since Mr. Floyd’s murder. Every one has been peaceful and marked by courtesy. It’s only when LMPD shows up that things get tense. —David Jackman
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Protesters on megaphones led several chants before the start of the march on Friday. | PHOTO BY KATHRYN HARRINGTON.
ON: WHY ACTIVISTS WANTED DERBY CANCELED AND PROTESTED IT
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Or, permanently retire the Ky Derby because it is a money-making industry based on the exploitation (and hidden abuse) of innocent animals. —Melanie Walker
ON: THORNS AND ROSES, MCGRATH SHOULD HAVE CALLED OUT KFB’S HOMOPHOBIA
The KFB is homophobic? I must be missing something. —Jennifer Medley [Yes, you are. The Kentucky Farm Bureau’s legislator handbook routinely proclaims marriage is between only men and women.]
ON: HANNAH L. DRAKE, A CHALLENGE TO CHURCHILL’S CEO
Thank you, Hannah Drake for deciding to write that letter/article in LEO. It was so well written! Full of thoughts new to me. I’ve shared it with friends and family who are having maybe watereddown versions of Derby parties. Awareness! —kywalden @kywalden2 Bill [Carstanjen] has to look no further than the death and destruction brought to the neighborhood surrounding CD. All the life has been sucked out of this area by gluttons hellbent on destroying it for what? More asphalt? CD closed streets, widened Central into a needless highway, tore out all the very affordable housing, and has continued this rampage for decades. What’s left sets empty or in such substandard condition of course Urban Renewal by horse racing is the new solution. One year’s salary would fix one hell of a lot of housing. Or we can have two minutes of silence and consider all forgiven. —Debra Richards Harlan
ON: DAN CANON, ‘FACHIN PARTE SOON’... HOPE I DID NOT MISS IT
Way to go, Dan. I’m weeping. This tugged at my heartstrings, which are quite unraveled these days. —Marilee Mundy Burnside
ON: LOU BREW SCENE GROWS DESPITE COVID-19 Looks like breweries are alive and well in Louisville. Nice to hear that some things are! —Judy Staten
ON: UNDERCOVER COMMENTARY These are unrelated things. How about no reform no peace? Reform is the whole point after all. Why won’t Pelosi bring the End Qualified Immunity Act to the floor? Why does that bill sit there doing nothing when it’s exactly what we need. —Daniel Joseph
LEOWEEKLY.COM //SEPTEMBER 9, 2020
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EDITOR’S NOTE
#JUSTICEFORBREONNA, NOT POLITICS By Aaron Yarmuth | ayarmuth@leoweekly.com YOU MAY HAVE NEVER heard of Thomas Mann, the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate, but you probably have heard his most-famous quote: “Everything is politics.” Sure, eventually, everything can be traced back to politics, but that doesn’t mean it should. For instance, the killing of Breonna Taylor in her own home shouldn’t be politicized. The investigation into the police who killed her and the process that ensures equal justice is blindly served should be apolitical. Yet, Republicans must agree with Mann: Nothing is off limits when it comes to gaining a political advantage. Taylor’s killing, the investigation and the nationwide protests against racial injustice and violent policing of Black communities are what Republicans are betting their 2020 election fortunes on. Last week, Kentucky Senate Republicans joined the campaign to exploit images of racial unrest and fears of Kentucky’s white, rural and suburban voters ahead of the 2020 election. I wouldn’t be so cynical if Trump and
UNDERCOVER
MANOFMETTLE.COM
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others hadn’t said the private part aloud: The Republican Party is the party of “law and order.” Several state Senate Republicans held a press conference at which they criticized Louisville Mayor Fischer for “failed leadership,” and called on Gov. Beshear to do… something. Senate President Robert Stivers’ actual words were, “We are looking to the governor now … to tell us what the plan is to restore hope and the economy of the city of Louisville.” Stivers also suggested that Beshear consider sending the National Guard into downtown Louisville — the exact failedpeacekeeping strategy that led to the killing of local BBQ restaurateur David McAtee. (And, I don’t know about Stivers’ hometown of Manchester, in rural, Southeast Kentucky, but armed military patrols are not how to convince Louisvillians to travel downtown for dinner and a night out.) Other than that, none of the Republican senators offered any ideas or proposals. Instead, they described Louisville as reflecting Trump’s “American carnage,” citing rises
in homicides and carjackings and damaged, boarded-up properties. Sen. Julie Raque Adams, whose district partially includes East Louisville, suggested Beshear call a special legislative session to address police reforms, without offering any legislative ideas or proposals of her own or on behalf of the Republican caucus. What makes their outrage so clearly disingenuous — in addition to not presenting a single idea — is that Stivers and Raque Adams both admitted they had not spoken to Fischer about their concerns. If they were serious about doing something, they would have reached out months ago. So why voice their concerns now? It’s two months until the election! Need further evidence that they view what’s happening in Louisville as nothing more than political opportunism? They’re quick to call Fischer a failure and declare they’re willing to work in a bipartisan manner on helping Louisville now. “What is the state going to do to help us, and you know what, the state needs to step in not only from a resources standpoint but I think from a policy standpoint,” Raque Adams said. Where was she and Stivers in 2016, when the local optional sales tax that Fischer supported died in the Senate after passing the state House with bipartisan support? Where were they in 2016, when Fischer called for
state legislation that would allow cities, like Louisville, to enact local gun control measures within city limits? Why didn’t any of them mention their support for Breonna’s Law, a bill pre-filed by Louisville Democratic Rep. Attica Scott? My point is, for years, Republican lawmakers in Frankfort have stood in the way of Fischer, the council and anything the city has tried to do to improve, socially or economically. And now they’re calling him a failure? Now they want to help? I’m not suggesting that any one of the bills supported by Fischer would have saved Breonna Taylor or any of the other victims of racist policing. I am, however, calling attention to the hypocrisy of Stivers, Raque Adams and others who have obstructed Louisville’s calls for action in the past but are happy to jump on the bandwagon to help when it serves their political purposes. If all of this sounds familiar, that’s probably because Republicans on the Metro Council held their own bash-Fischer press conference just a few weeks ago. Perhaps it is just a coincidence, not a part of Republicancalculated political campaign leading up to an election. Nah, for a party without a platform, everything is politics. After all, as FDR said, “In politics, nothing happens by accident. If it happens, you can bet it was planned that way.” •
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A MESSAGE TO SENATE REPUBLICANS: ‘DO NOT BLAME PROTESTERS FOR FAILED DOWNTOWN BUSINESSES’ THE LEADERSHIP of the state Senate’s Republican majority called last week on Gov. Andy Beshear for help in addressing what it called Mayor Greg Fischer’s failure to “restore order” in the city. Sen. Julie Raque Adams, R-Louisville, delivered a letter to the governor that says senators were “prepared to restore order and security to our neighbors, our property, and our businesses. Governor, the time for partnership is now.” She suggested calling a special session to address police reform. Senate President Robert Stivers suggested Beshear could send the National Guard to Louisville. Below is Louisville Urban League CEO Sadiqa Reynolds’ reply to the Republicans.
land that leads to violence. It is the failure to invest in education that leads to violence. It is generational poverty that leads to violence. It is racism that allows, promotes and sustains all of these things. So, I salute the demand for a special session on police reform, but if you want to be a hero, make it about reforming a budget that abandons us on the matter of affordable housing and education. “Interesting. I’m concerned. I’ve never Do not blame protesters for failed heard Julie Raque Adams or Stivers advodowntown businesses. I’ve been protesting cate for more money or a special session pretty regularly and am willing to bet I’ve to invest in jobs, closing the achievement spent more money in downtown Louisville gap or affordable housing. You can’t be businesses than anyone in Frankfort and frustrated with a boarded-up downtown most in Louisville. I live downtown. When while allowing The West End to sit boarded I call Osaka for my to-go, they know how to and abandoned. That will make the people spell my name. I walked into Sunergos the think that legislators don’t mind boards in other day, and they told me I looked like I Black communities, just in the business needed coffee. I’m trying to stay away from district. That’s not about our safety, that’s Ms. Ada’s, but I give in every few weeks. about money. I’m at the Mayan Cafe so much that I have a I woke up early this morning to go table outside and a through The West tab — for nights I End donor log, Do not blame prohave no wallet. So, and Frankfort protesters spend legislators cared testers for failed money. Plus, let’s so much about downtown businesses. be honest, there investing that they are plenty of cities provided $0 (zero I’ve been protesting across the Comdollars) on a $52 pretty regularly and monwealth with million project zero protesters and [the Louisville am willing to bet I’ve shuttered busiUrban League’s spent more money in nesses. We are in a Sports and Learnpandemic. People ing Complex], the downtown Louisville are getting sick largest economic businesses than from breathing development in on each other, so The West End. anyone in Frankfort we are en masse, And when Louisand most in Louisville. generally, staying ville tried to raise home and rightits own capital, the fully so. Frankfort powers Now, I won’t dismiss the looting that that be couldn’t close the deal on the local took place in downtown months ago. That options sales tax, in order for us to decide was not helpful for any business, and the for ourselves. fear it caused is responsible for the boards It is the living in a boarded community we see. However, most of those boarded with vacant, abandoned and contaminated
businesses are not protecting broken glass — they are anticipating riots that have repeatedly been predicted by law enforcement. And before anyone considers sending the National Guard back into our city, review the [New York Times] video of them shooting citizens at 26th and Broadway with pepper bullets for curfew violation. The next legislator to vote to send them in ought to be sued. Louisville is and has been arresting peaceful protesters. I don’t know why. That costs money we do not have. Money we should be investing in job training, business creation and closing the achievement gap. These are the things that reduce violence. That being said, if we want to be all “law and order” bring home funds for expungements or anything that would allow a person who has paid their debt to society to return as a full citizen, so we can stop the cycle. We are too smart to be so one-sided in the response to increased violence. Get the police off the protest duty and focused on violent crimes. Spend the money on the things that prevent crime. Protests are being planned for Saturday [Derby day] by groups that have no history of violence. I will be there with them, raising my voice to demand change, not just in policing but in jobs, housing and education. Also, the National Urban League has made it clear that we should add two other things... we object to ending the Census count early, because that is one way our community keeps getting cheated out of funding, and Postmaster General [Louis] DeJoy needs to stop impeding the timely delivery of mail. We shouldn’t lose another life to senseless violence or to delayed mailing of medication because of petty politicians. We see you.” •
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LEOWEEKLY.COM //SEPTEMBER 9, 2020
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RUMORS CAUSED CITY HAVOC, NOT THE PROTESTS By Dan Delaney | leo@leoweekly.com ON TUESDAY, Aug. 25, 2020, Louisville, cover their yards with fake tombstones and cemetery-themed decor.” Kentucky was supposed to have been shut At a press conference, Gregory was down by 600 cars and destroyed by thouasked about the report, and he replied, “So, sands of Black militia. I knew that was coming, so it got my name It didn’t happen, of course. Amid the protests for the unjust killing of on it. The NCIC communication is confiBreonna Taylor by police, Louisville became dential” and “I can neither confirm nor deny if that statement is the victim of a accurate or correct.” runaway reaction to Anyone remotely Earlier in the pernicious disinforpress conference, mation and rumors familiar with the he said: “Some of spread and exagthe information we gerated by social history of racism have received, some media. Fear swelled in the U.S. should of those rumors, do to such a pitch that include traffic shutcity and state police recognize the sigdowns, ‘peaceful made special plans, sit-ins,’ if you will, businesses and nificance of those on the roadways, schools shut their words. The myth and we are prepared buildings and people to respond to that.” avoided the streets. of the Black man Peaceful sit-ins What occurred in on the roadways is Louisville that day out to rape white a far cry from 600 should be a lesson women has been cars shutting down to cities throughout the interstates. the country about long been used to The report did the consequences of rouse intense fear not mention a date, allowing disinforonly that the attack mation and rumors within the white might “occur in mid to dictate action. to late August.” But On Thursday, population. This is on Aug. 18, LouisAug. 17, an image the kind of extreme ville police Chief began circulating Robert Schroeder on Facebook of fear that drove released a memowhat appeared to randum designating be a report from people to hang Tuesday, Aug. 25 the FBI’s National Black men from as an “All WorkCrime InformaDay,” meaning all tion Center, or trees while others officers would be on NCIC, although its duty. Aug. 25 was authenticity has not gathered to watch the date of a highly been established. and cheer. publicized protest Ascribed to Loumarch by “Until isville police Maj. Freedom,” a New Aubrey Gregory, the York-based social report stated that “a justice group that local group of indihad come to Louisville earlier to help supviduals” intended to “shut down” the city by port the protests. By the weekend of Aug. rather unusual means: 19, the NCIC report had somehow been con“The plan is for part of the group to use flated with Until Freedom’s “Good Trouble approx 600 vehicles to block interstates.… Tuesday,” and rumors swept through social Once the interstates are blocked, particimedia. pants will hold mock funeral processions They included that “up to 2,000 people along the interstates. While law enforcement and 700 cars” from “Black militia” groups responds to the blocked interstates, other were “coming to shut down our interstate group members will ‘caravan’ to the homes system.” One claimed that they plan to “use of [the mayor and attorney general] and will
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stolen cars to block streets and highways.” Another declared that “these aren’t kids but thugs with connections to organized crime.” Others said of the imagined villains that “they are domestic terrorists,” and that they “have a history in other cities of looting, carjacking and accosting women.” Finally, paranoia took hold and some regressed to a disturbing, hysterical expression of fear: “Do not let your kids around St Matthews or go out in Louisville alone.” “Do not go out by yourself or with a group of women/girls.” “They intend to target women out shopping.” “Look out single women drivers you are a target!” “They WILL be carjacking looking for females by themselves” “A black militia is out to get as many white women and carjackings as they can” “THEY WILL BE TARGETING WHITE FEMALES!” Anyone remotely familiar with the history of racism in the U.S. should recognize the significance of those words. The myth of the Black man out to rape white women has long been used to rouse intense fear within the white population. This is the kind of extreme fear that drove people to hang Black men from trees while others gathered to watch and cheer. We have no way of knowing how many of those statements were just written by trolls or bots or people in other countries, nor how many people have actually reached that extreme. But if we ignore that people are being pushed toward such extremes, it will only spread further and grow stronger. These kinds of rumors typically circulate only within small conspiracy theory groups. But most of the quotes above were also shared by individuals on Facebook and NextDoor. Unfortunately, the police and other leaders helped to spread fear across the city by posting on social media and speaking directly to citizens and businesses, warning of imminent danger coming on Aug. 25 and advising them to stay home and close their businesses that day. St. Matthews residents said police sent a warning to local businesses claiming that “busloads are expected to arrive…from all nearby major cities” and that “the purpose of this event is to DISRUPT travel [and] commerce.”
Tracie Texas Shifflett, executive director of Louisville Metro Police Foundation, warned on social media of “several out of town groups that will be converging on Louisville” and that “approximately 600-700 cars will be blocking the expressways.” She ended with, “My advice would be if you or your family can stay home that day, I would.” On his Facebook page, state Rep. Thomas Huff, a Republican from Shepherdsville, wrote that he had “received word that THREE groups (associated with NFAC) are either in or coming to Louisville this week to block roadways and streets” and added the ludicrous claim that “They are threatening to stop white motorists and pedestrians demanding Reparation Money for Slavery!” People were afraid. Humana closed offices. TARC canceled buses. Some private schools switched to NTI for the day. Paddock Shops restaurants pulled all of their outdoor furniture inside. Though not completely to blame, the Louisville police should at least admit some responsibility for stirring that fear. After the march had ended and the protesters dispersed, interim-Chief Schroeder delivered a “protest update” to the press, in which he gave a brief and mundane rundown of the basic facts of the day. A few hundred protesters had gathered at a small park in the middle of the city and walked down the street in a peaceful march. Then, 60 to 70 protesters sat in the street to get arrested. Schroeder conspicuously avoided talking about the elephant in the room: the fact that nothing had happened. During the time of the march, I drove back and forth along the interstates. I encountered no cars blocking ramps nor any evidence of traffic congestion. A few days later, I received the following text message from an executive at James Graham Brown Cancer Center: “I was at the JGBCC last Tuesday. It was a totally normal day and everyone was in as normal. The highways weren’t blocked. I drove there and we were open like normal.” What happened on Tuesday, Aug. 25 in Louisville was the equivalent of a school bomb threat on the scale of an entire city, and the reaction was equally severe. Police mobilized their forces while thousands of citizens stayed in their homes for fear that the roads would be too dangerous. That reaction cannot be allowed to set the prec-
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edent for similar outbreaks of disinformation The police reacted exactly as intended. and rumors that are sure to come. They mobilized against a phantom, partially An attempted shutdown of the city of their own making. To avoid such overreshould be considered a serious crime. Yet no actions in the future, they must devise a way one seemed inclined to treat that day with to neutralize pernicious rumors and diffuse the seriousness it deserved. The police and disinformation bombs before they explode. FBI should investigate this with all the rigor At the press conference mentioned with which they would investigate a false above, Maj. Gregory said: “We hear lots of bomb threat. If the police know who fed rumors about things that might happen. We them such flawed intelligence, they should take those rumors seriously, and we always hold those sources accountable. If they do prepare a response to that. Some of it hapnot know who fed them the disinformation, pens, and some of it doesn’t.” they should work to find the perpetrators. And therein lies the problem. Anyone can say anything in the anonymity of social Many people inevitably blamed the media, no matter how false or how dangerprotesters for the disruption that day. As ous the potential consequences. The police one person commented, “More waste of tax are in a precarious position. They can’t payer dollars thanks to ‘protesters’.” Yet ignore legitimate warnings, but if they take the disruption of the city had nothing to do every rumor seriously they’ll be continuwith the protesters. They merely did exactly ously chasing after illusory threats. They what they had announced: a simple, benign must figure out a better way to recognize protest march. disinformation. Three points about this incident must be There are no easy answers. Disinformaclearly understood: tion is incredibly difficult to distinguish 1. The protesters did not cause a “disruption” or “destruction” of the city. from genuine information. A dedicated team 2. All of the rumors were untrue. trained in skeptical critical thinking and the 3. The rumors themselves were the cause social psychology of cognitive biases, conof the disruption. spiracy theories, and mass hysteria would The protesters And what about the be a good start. were not a danger to the city that day. And what about rest of us? How do But a new form of the rest of us? How danger was revealed do we guard against we guard against that we have yet to being taken in by being taken in by reckon with: people disinformation and who relentlessly rumors? We should disinformation and create and spread strive to develop a disinformation and mental habit of critirumors? rumors designed cal skepticism. Read to foment irratiobooks such as “How nal and unwarranted fear throughout the We Know What Isn’t So” by Thomas Gilovcommunity. ich or Carl Sagan’s “The Demon Haunted World.” Listen to podcasts such as “InquirThink of what happened as a “disinforing Minds” or “Point of Inquiry.” Before mation bomb” that exploded in Louisville spreading a meme or rumor, take a moment on Aug. 25. Disinformation was created to consider its plausibility and check on the and injected into the population through veracity of its claim. social media. From the seeds of that The Aug. 25 disinformation bomb in disinformation, rumors spawned. As those Louisville demonstrated how easily a city rumors propagated, new exaggerations and can be riled into a state of panic. I fear that fabrications mutated them at a rapid pace what happened that day was like a test trial toward ever-increasing levels of vilification of the bomb, and that future iterations will and demonization. Finally, fear and panic from social media erupted into an overreaconly be larger and more dangerous. The way tion in the real world. The disinformation the police handled this one must be fully bomb is a sophisticated, “information age” analyzed so we can learn from our mistakes, adaptation of old-school propaganda. The for Louisville and every other city at risk of explosion of a disinformation bomb is not this new threat. Protesters sitting down on a the sudden, rapid spread of its contents upon street or standing around in a park at night impact. Rather, the explosion is the reaction are the least of our worries. • to the disinformation and rumors once they have reached a critical mass throughout the Dan Delaney lives in Louisville and has population. a master’s degree in sociology.
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Meet our resident good girl, Sadie May! Sadie May is a nine-year-old Bullmastiff/ Great Pyrenees mix who came to the Kentucky Humane Society when her family could no longer care for her. Now she’s looking for a true forever home! Sadie May has quickly stolen the hearts of all of our shelter staff. She’s 84 lbs of pure sunshine and smiles! In her former home, Sadie May lived with other dogs and did quite well. She did have a habit of chasing cats and would do best without kitty friends. Sadie May’s former family says she is house-trained, well behaved, knows lots of commands and loves to cuddle. Being an older gal, Sadie May is a relaxed girl who’s ready to enjoy the finer things in life. She likes movie nights with the family, walks around the park to explore and just being with her people. Could you be the one for her? Schedule an appointment to come meet Sadie May at our East Campus, 1000 Lyndon Lane, by visiting kyhumane.org/ dogs today! Sadie May is spayed, micro-chipped and up-to-date on vaccinations.
Sunkist -
Looking for a friendly kitty to keep you company? Meet our beloved Sunkist! Sunkist is a one-year-old orange tabby cat who came to the Kentucky Humane Society looking for a second chance at happiness. When Sunkist arrived at KHS, he tested positive for FIV or Feline immunodeficiency virus. While this may sound intimidating, it’s really not! With regular veterinary visits and proper care, FIV positive kitties can live long, healthy lives like any other cat. FIV is very hard to spread to other cats too! Sunkist is such a sweet guy and has quickly stolen all of our hearts at KHS. He loves to snoop out a space before settling in to make sure there’s enough space to nap and observe. After he’s determined he’s in the right location, he relaxes and observes his kingdom! Could you be the one for this affectionate guy? If so, schedule an appointment to come meet him at our East Campus, 1000 Lyndon Lane, by visiting kyhumane.org/cats today! Sunkist is neutered, micro-chipped and up-to-date on vaccinations. LEOWEEKLY.COM //SEPTEMBER 9, 2020
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NEWS & ANALYSIS
STATE GOP SAYS CITY IN CHAOS,
REP. SCOTT: UNREST STEMS FROM ‘US BEING SICK AND TIRED OF POLICE MURDERING US’ By Danielle Grady | dgrady@leoweekly.com KENTUCKY Republican leaders followed the lead of their national party last Tuesday by accusing Democrats of responding inappropriately to civil unrest and, in Louisville’s case, a rise in some violent crimes. State Sen. Julie Raque Adams, R-Louisville, wrote a letter signed by Senate Majority Leadership to Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear, asking him to help quell “violence and unrest” in the city. She cited an increase in homicides and carjackings in the city, as well as racial tensions and what she characterized as “chaos” in Louisville neighborhoods and streets, specifically downtown. Downtown is where the majority of protests in Louisville have taken place, calling for justice for Breonna Taylor, who was killed by Louisville police in a botched raid on March 13. “Louisville was once a high energy city,” Raque Adams wrote. “Now, it’s a boarded-up mess, and people who live here are so afraid to go downtown that economic recovery cannot even begin.” At a press conference, Senate President Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, blamed Mayor Greg Fischer. “It is clear to many of us that the mayor has failed to do his job, and we are looking to the governor now,” he said. Senate Majority Floor Leader Damon Thayer, R-Georgetown, criticized Beshear for not speaking out against violence in Louisville. “It’s almost as if by his silence that he’s condoning this type of behavior,” Thayer said. On the national stage, U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell has accused elected leaders of major cities for failing to enforce the law against protesters, and President Donald Trump has targeted “far-left politicians” for encouraging violence by criticizing law enforcement. At last Tuesday’s press conference in Kentucky, Raque Adams called for a special legislative session to address policing reform. Stivers suggested that the governor call the National Guard to Louisville again.
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But later, Raque Adams said on Twitter that she is working on a “new narrative” about justice in Louisville after meeting with Louisville activist-poet Hannah L. Drake and walking around downtown. “And I encourage everyone to find their Hannah,” wrote Raque Adams. “Opening your mind, opens your heart and opens the door to change.” We talked to state Rep. Attica Scott, D-Louisville, about what she thought of the Senate majority’s characterization of what’s happening in Louisville, as well as what she would do to change policing and violent crime in the city and across the state. “We’ve been crying out for Frankfort to address common sense gun reform,” she said. “We’ve been crying out for Frankfort to raise the minimum wage. We’ve been crying out. So now, just weeks before an election, all of a sudden you want to have something to say?” Read the rest of her interview below. (Raque Adams and Stivers both declined a request for an interview through a Kentucky Senate Majority Caucus communications employee). LEO: I wanted to ask you what you thought of the letter and the press conference from Kentucky Republicans saying Louisville is this hot spot of violence and unrest, and they’re asking the governor to step in and help. Attica Scott: Well, you know, it’s very clear to me that they don’t actually have any interest in racial justice. I’ve not spoken to any of the people in Republican leadership about the actual protest, and I’m on the front lines. And all the leadership is white, and so there was absolutely no representation of people who are being deeply impacted by police violence. And it also was very disrespectful on so many levels, including wanting the National Guard to come back after they murdered David McAtee. ... It was clear to me that there was absolutely no intent to involve members of the Kentucky Legislative Black caucus in this press conference.
There was no attempt to the best of my knowledge at least to the members of the House, to reach out to any of us to engage in conversation about the protests that are happening, and that was brought up repeatedly. And so that was just very clear to me. So, I think there’s been a narrative from National Republicans: Democratic-run cities and states are experiencing unrest because of poor leadership. But what do you think the unrest is really stemming from? The unrest is stemming from us being sick and tired of police murdering us. With impunity. Literally, we’ve got, it just seems like every week there’s another atrocious murder of a Black person by police, and we’re not going to sit back and twiddle our thumbs and wait for the next person that we love to be murdered. Of course, we’re going to rise up. Do you think that the state Republicans are following the national narrative at all? I have no idea what they’re following, but what I do know is that from everything that they have shown me, their narrative is disingenuous, because they’re trying to connect the movement for Black lives and the protests for racial justice and police accountability to all of the other kinds of violence we’ve seen in Louisville — it’s misdirected and inappropriate. I wanted to ask you about the other violence in Louisville, because they did bring up in the letter, it mentioned that Louisville’s on track to break a homicide record and I know there are some violent crimes, like carjackings that are up. But what do you think is the cause of that, of those? Well, I definitely don’t know all the causes because, you know, I haven’t spoken to anyone who’s been involved, and so, you know I would be out of line to try to speak for people. But what I do know from people who either I’ve
THORNS & ROSES THE WORST, BEST & MOST ABSURD ROSE: LISTEN TO BLACK WOMEN (CHIEFS)
Roses for Yvette Gentry, who becomes the city’s first Black woman police chief. She will hold that job until a permanent chief is replaced (a job she told The Courier Journal she does not want). But she’s poised to do much in the next months, as evidenced by her remarks: “I’m not here just to help you unboard your beautiful buildings downtown,” she said. “I’m here to work with you to unboard the community that I served with all my heart in West Louisville, that was boarded for 20 or 30 years.” And: “I will just say: That is just a glimpse of how a lot of people have been feeling for a long time, and we can’t go back,” she said. “I think our city is at a point of reckoning that only truth can bring us out of.”
THORN: CHURCHILL BIG ON WORDS, NOT DEEDS
After poet-activist Hannah L. Drake wrote a letter to the CEO of Churchill Downs (published in LEO last week) regarding the protests and the Kentucky Derby, the track issued a statement, which said, in part: “We recognize that people in our community and across our nation are hurting right now. The atmosphere of the Kentucky Derby will be different this year as we respond to those calls for change.” So what does Churchill do? It plays “My Old Kentucky Home” at the race (with a moment of silence beforehand). Not enough. Here are Drake’s words about the song: “‘My Old Kentucky Home’ is not a ballad about the love of Kentucky. It is a song about a slave anticipating being sold down the river where slaves have heard the life in the Deep South is even worse than being a slave in Kentucky, as if there are degrees to being in bondage, and this is our state song?” How easy and impactful would it have been for Churchill to nix the song? Maybe it doesn’t want to upset its East End benefactors.
THORN: COPS WERE SCARED OF PROXY PENISES? A thorn goes to Louisville police for failing to separate protesters seeking #JusticeForBreonna and the knuckle-draggers armed with proxy penises. Fortunately, no one was hurt. Here is their excuse: “Due to the size of the crowd, we determined it was not safe to go in, and we did not want to escalate the situation with police presence,” police spokesman Lamont Washington said.
ROSE + ABSURD: UK BALLERS STAND UP
Some of us are not fans of sportsball and the tribalism that distracts from the core purpose of a college — education — but UK men’s basketball Coach John Calipari and his players get a rose for their video in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. And speaking of tribalism, an absurd goes to whoever protested the video by posting a photo of their UK team swag on fire.
NEWS & ANALYSIS
known personally or because of my role, is that people are hungry, people need affordable housing, people don’t have jobs right now, they’re not getting their unemployment insurance benefits. Folks are stressed out and terrified that allergies might actually be COVID. So, you know, folks are just all over the place his year. And you know, what’s so interesting to me is, that I served on Louisville Metro Council. And every year for the past several years, we’ve heard this language about Louisville being on track for a recordbreaking year of shootings or homicides or criminal activity. This is every year, and so now, why does Republican leadership want to say something about it or do something about it? We’ve been crying out for Frankfort to address common-sense gun reform, we’ve been crying out for Frankfort to raise the minimum wage. We’ve been crying out. So now, just weeks before an election, all of a sudden you want to have something to say? … What do you think of what the mayor and council are doing currently to address violent crime? Is it enough or are they addressing it all really? I’m not sure exactly what the council is doing. I haven’t seen a lot of public language from the council and the mayor around what they’re doing. I’m sure that they are working on something, that they probably have some plans that they’re working on that they just haven’t shared publicly yet. Well, going back to the message that Senate leadership has been putting out there. Raque Adams’ letter characterized policing in Louisville as in disarray, she mentioned officers resigning and retiring, and she said this could harm public safety. But I was wondering, how would you characterize policing in Louisville currently? Well, officers who are retiring — if you’re leaving because people are demanding justice from your department, if you’re leaving because people are demanding accountability, then you’re the problem, then you should go. The people who stay may very well be the people who actually want to do a much better job, who actually want a different kind of community to live in, who actually welcome accountability. As an elected official, I welcome accountability, so why shouldn’t other people who are serving in these public spaces? And, you know, looking at policing as a whole in Louisville and Kentucky, how should that change at this moment? Or how should it be changing, if at all? Well, we definitely have to start asking
ourselves the questions around, do we want to continue to maintain a system that grew out of slave patrols, and why would you think that many of us who are Black people, would want us to maintain that system? Why shouldn’t we be visionary and look at what community safety looks like when people in the community are focusing on restorative justice, are looking out for one another more increasingly, that we’re supporting and strengthening and building up neighborhood associations. We need to do all of those things while we’re talking about how policing can look differently. Do you think that police in Louisville should still exist at all? I truly want to see us be visionary. I don’t see where this system is working; I just don’t. And if we do like some other communities have done… And employers have done this oftentimes over decades — we need everyone to reapply for their position because this is not going to be the same organization moving forward. So some of you will not want to be part of what we’re building moving forward, and that’s fine. But for those of you who do want to be a part of building something different, then you need to reapply and will go through the vetting process. And that vetting process needs to change, it needs to have some added layers to it, like, you know, checking people’s bodies for tattoos that show they are part of white nationalist groups. So, what are the roles of the legislature in that process? Should that just be happening on the city level, or is there anything you can do to help that along as a legislator? Well, as legislators, we can also look at our responsibility as it relates to state police, because the state police are not innocent of violence either. We know because they came into Louisville during the early days of the protest. But, I do believe that the legislature, we do have some policy responsibility, and that’s why I filed Breonna’s Law for Kentucky, and I’m actually the only legislator who has actually filed a bill related to Breonna’ Law. So ending no-knock warrants, that keeps police and communities safe. Officers are safer when they announce themselves if they don’t face injury or harm. And making sure that officers have alcohol and drug testing done after a shooting or a deadly incident, that all makes sense. And demanding that body cameras are used, that they are worn, and that they are turned on before and after serving a warrant, that all makes sense. And it’s all also protecting officers. They
should want to have evidence to share with the police if they were not involved in any wrongdoing. Would you be supportive of calling a special legislative session to discuss matters of criminal justice reform like your Breonna’s Law? I’m in conversations with the chair of the Kentucky Legislative Black Caucus. And I want our caucus to have a conversation about that first, because we also know that we’re part of a legislative body that will use that special session for whatever their supermajority in the Senate want to do and have happen. And I know good and well that it will not be about centering Black voices in racial justice. So I want to have a conversation with my colleagues who are a part of the Black caucus, so that we can be really honest in our feedback about whether or not we truly believe that a special session is going to get justice for Breonna Taylor for example. As far as you know, do you think that Republican leadership would support Breonna’s Law? I know they’ve talked about ending no-knock warrants, but what do you think — as written, your law, do you think they would support that? Well, I would hope that they would support the law, because it’s what the people are demanding. I mean, if you want the protests to end, then answer the call for justice. Locally, they’ve been calling for the officers involved in her murder to be fired, arrested and charged, and at the state level, they’re calling for Breonna’s Law. Answer those calls for justice. Stop treating us as if our voices don’t matter, as if our lives don’t matter. As if we don’t have agency to speak up for ourselves. What do you think of the way the governor has been handling what’s happening in Louisville? Well, I have been very clear from the beginning that I was horrified that he sent in the state troopers and the National Guard and the fact that they went to West Louisville and murdered David McAtee. That was unbelievable and unnecessary. They never should have been called in… They definitely weren’t in Frankfort when I was in the session and gun toting white people were taking over the Capitol grounds and inside the Capitol building. There was no National Guard presence. I also saw that Julie Raque Adams has posted to social media, saying she has talked to the local activist Hannah Drake. And she [implied] that her opinion has
changed from what was in the letter. What do you think of this claim of a new outlook and can you see it leading to anything? Well, I certainly have not heard from Senator Raque Adams. She has not reached out to me as someone who’s been on the lines of protests, someone who’s filed Breonna’s Law in response to the people. So I don’t, I don’t know. I don’t know what she’s thinking or where she’s going with her narrative. And, you know, as someone who’s been at the protests, what have you seen at the protests? It seems like there’s maybe some insinuation that they’ve been violent in some way. But what have you seen as someone who’s been involved at the protests? My experience has been that LMPD has incited violence every single time from tear gassing us, to shooting people in the face with pepper balls, we’ve seen LRADs [long-range acoustic device]. They have been assaulting the people. They have been harassing the people. That’s where the violence has come from. But I’m at Injustice Square Park [formally, Jefferson Square Park]. What I see are people feeding one another. What I see are people befriending one another. What I see are people who are homeless getting a warm meal, giving them clothing, getting water. What I see is love and community and support for one another. I see people contributing to the memorial for Breonna. People from all around the state and the country and around the globe come to Injustice Square Park and leave tributes in honor of Breonna’s memory at the memorial. So, that’s what I see. I see mental health professionals who set up tables to provide mental health support for folks who are about to come up on 100 days of protests at Injustice Square Park. I see marches from people who are LGBTQIAplus are marching. There’s kids marches, there are moms marches… All these folks are showing up to say we want justice for Breonna Taylor. That’s what I see. And what do you think of what the mayor has been doing in reaction to the protests in Louisville — what do you think of the job that he’s done? Well, I have not seen or heard much from him in the past month. In the early days, he would come out to the square and actually talk to people, he hasn’t done that in months. He hasn’t fired, arrested or charged all of the officers who were involved with Breonna Taylor’s murder. So I can’t say that I see much from him by way of action. •
LEOWEEKLY.COM //SEPTEMBER 9, 2020
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U.S. SENATE RACE 2020:
MCCONNELL NOW ADMITS HUMAN-CAUSED GLOBAL WARMING EXISTS,
BUT HAS NO CLIMATE PLAN
By James Bruggers | InsideClimate News
AS THE NATION decides which party will control the Senate this November, the race in Kentucky stands out for one big reason: It features Mitch McConnell. Loathed by Democrats across the country as a cynical power broker but praised by Republicans as a shrewd political tactician, the GOP’s longest-serving Senate majority leader faces a challenge from a well-funded retired Marine lieutenant colonel and fighter pilot who flew in 89 combat missions, including bombings of al-Qaeda and the Taliban. Climate change is not likely to be a key voting issue in the race. But the candidates have contrasting views and approaches toward global warming in a state with a historic — but drastically shrinking — dependence on mining coal, a leading contributor to climate change. Kentucky coal production in the second quarter of 2020 was down 83% from the same period a decade earlier; coal mining jobs dropped from 17,111 to 3,760. In Kentucky, temperatures are already rising. Growing seasons are changing, and there are concerns that heavier
rains are causing more flooding. Scientists have warned that it will get worse down the road, with decreasing crop yields and dangerous landslides on strip-mined mountain landscapes. McGrath has been surprisingly frank in identifying the threats posed by global warming. McConnell, for his part, has moved a smidgen from his past statements: He now acknowledges that human-caused climate change exists. For years, McConnell would not accept climate science, telling journalists that he did not know whether humans burning fossil fuels was contributing to global warming. “I’m not a scientist,” he would say, adding that his priority was Kentucky coal communities, even though their economic decline accelerated under his watch, and some critics have said he should have done more to promote a transition away from coal. Still, McConnell has sent millions of dollars to the state’s coal mining counties over the years and has promised to stay “committed to helping coal communities plan for the future
AT A GLANCE:
with training and employment services as well as economic development,” according to a statement his office provided in response to an interview request. He opposed the global Paris climate agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions — a campaign spokeswoman called it “disastrous” — while McGrath thinks the Trump administration should not have withdrawn from the accord. McConnell is also against the Green New Deal, the Congressional resolution backed by some Democrats — though not McGrath — that proposes a massive shift in federal spending to create jobs and hasten a transition to clean energy by 2050. In March 2019, in discussing a “show vote” — engineered as a political trap for Democrats — on his own version of the Green New Deal, McConnell told reporters he believed in human-caused climate change. “I do,” the six-term Kentucky senator said. “The question is how do you address it? The way to do this consistent with American values and American capitalism is through
• Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who led the congressional resistance to what he’s called “President Obama’s war on coal,” has been in lock step with the Trump administration’s agenda to promote fossil fuels and relax environmental regulations.
does, as a national and international security threat. She likes the Biden climate plan, the most aggressive put forward by any Democratic or Republican Party presidential nominee in history, but says she still has questions about it.
• Amy McGrath, a retired Marine fighter pilot and McConnell’s challenger in November, views climate change through the lens of her military background, seeing it much as the Pentagon
• McGrath has raised tens of millions of dollars, giving her an opportunity to compete against McConnell, who has also raised tens of millions of dollars.
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technology and innovation. And there is no question that is the way to get results, not to shut down your economy, throw people out of work, make people reconstruct their homes, get out of their cars … this is nonsense.”
CARBON CAPTURE AND ENERGY EFFICIENCY
McConnell tends to play defense on climate change. He has not put forward his own climate plan, nor have Republicans in the Senate under his leadership. After the House of Representatives passed cap-and-trade legislation in 2009, McConnell referred to the bill as the national energy tax and said he was glad to see its demise in the Senate, which did not even put it up for a vote. Now, McConnell is touting his support for carbon capture and storage — a technology embraced by many Republicans as a way to keep burning coal in a carbon-constrained world — and for budgets that include energy efficiency. He favors, he says, “common sense and actually attainable solutions to protect our environment.” The League of Conservation Voters gives McConnell a 14% 2019 score and a 7% lifetime score for his votes on environmental legislation. McConnell has defended his overall environmental record, mentioning his funding of local conservation efforts in Kentucky and his backing of this year’s bipartisan Great American Outdoor Act. The Act, signed into law by President Trump, provides $900 million in annual funding for public land protection and up to $1.9 billion a year for five years to fund a maintenance backlog at national parks, forests and wildlife refuges.
‘WE HAVE TO PLAN FOR THIS’
Both McConnell and McGrath have shown an ability to raise large amounts of money, with McGrath surprisingly in the lead as of the end of June, tapping into the pool of political contributors who want to see McConnell retired. In an interview, McGrath spoke more forcefully about climate change than is typical for a major party nominee in Kentucky. She said she sees climate change through the lens of her military training, “This is a national security issue,” she said. “This is an international security issue.” She added, “We are already seeing weather patterns like we have never seen before. Wildfires we’ve never seen, desertification. We are going to see mass migrations.” Low-lying military bases are being flooded from sea level rise, McGrath said. “We have to plan for this. McConnell
Amy McGrath. | PHOTO BY JAMES BRUGGERS.
does not have a plan.” When asked at a campaign stop in Louisville this summer what her plan for global warming would be, McGrath signaled support for Democratic Presidential Candidate Joe Biden’s climate plan, giving it a tentative endorsement. “There’s a lot of what I have seen about it that is good,” she said about the plan, adding that she understands it to be an aggressive proposal. Biden in July announced a $2 trillion clean economy jobs program he calls Build Back Better, with jobs-creation and environmental justice as its pillars. Biden also wants Congress to pass emissions limits with “an enforcement mechanism ... based on the principles that polluters must bear the full cost of the carbon pollution they are emitting.” McGrath said putting a price on carbon appears to be an effective tool to combat climate change and has bipartisan appeal, but she said she would want to make sure it didn’t hurt “middle-class and working-class families.” She likes the jobs and infrastructure aspects of Biden’s plan, she said, but believes that coal is still essential and that Biden should focus more on helping fossil-fuel dependent communities make an economic transition. “We have a debt to pay to our coal communities and legislation needs to account for that directly,” McGrath said.
A NEW APPROACH
Talking about climate change from the perspective of military experience is a new approach for a politician in Kentucky, a state that has a history of supporting candidates who are sympathetic to coal, even outside of Kentucky’s coalfields, said D. Stephen Voss, associate professor of political science at UK. One example, he said, is how U.S. Rep. Andy Barr, R-Lexington, made former Democratic U.S. Rep. Ben Chan-
U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell.
dler pay a price in 2012 for his 2009 vote for the cap-andtrade bill. Barr’s campaign was able to paint Chandler, who served four terms representing the state’s second-largest city and the horse country surrounding it, as anti-coal. “What Amy McGrath is doing with environmental policy fits with how she handles many of the issues that bring down Democrats in a state like Kentucky,” Voss said. “She has been willing to offer a fairly typical Democratic Party issue platform, but she is experimenting with defending it and promoting it using language and attitudes that are more comfortable and familiar with places that tend to vote more Republican.” Whether it will work, Voss said, he’s not predicting. But he does not believe climate policy will play much of a role, if any, in the outcome of the McConnell-McGrath race. It is not an issue that moves the people in the middle of the political spectrum who are so important to the outcome, he said. A handful of polls have shown the race to be tight, according to the FiveThirtyEight website. Environmental advocates had put their hopes behind state Rep. Charles Booker, a progressive whose “hood to holler” message had sought to connect the needs of voters in Black neighborhoods in Louisville with rural Appalachian voters and whose surging Democratic primary campaign against McGrath came up short by 3 percentage points. Some also felt resentful that McGrath, the moderate, was LEOWEEKLY.COM //SEPTEMBER 9, 2020
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given a big advantage by the support of national Democrats climate change — in stark contrast to McConnell — “no one early on. is fired up or excited,” about her, said Wallace McMullen, a longtime clean energy and environmental advocate from “We built a movement across the state in support of Louisville, who is a Sierra Club leader in the state. a Green New Deal with the most progressive candidate McGrath has not been endorsed by the Sierra Club in Kentucky has ever seen,” said Lily Gardner, a high school Kentucky, but then senior in Lexington she has also kept her who is active with distance from the the Sunrise Movegroup, said McMulment. “We are left One or two election cycles ago, a len and Tom Morris, with a Democratic candidate with McGrath’s underwho chairs the candidate who is Kentucky chapter’s completely unwillstanding of the climate crisis political committee. ing to champion the “The sad fact solutions to the cliwould have been enough to elate is that sometimes mate crisis that both the state’s environmental comstatewide candiscience and perhaps dates don’t want more importantly, munity. That some are now saying our endorsement in justice demand.” Kentucky,” Morris She said the “meh” is an indication of the said. “We have not youth climate movegrowing sense of urgency among been able to get a ment will work to response from her.” get out the vote this climate voters and represents a As an alternafall and support protive, the state gressive candidates threat to her campaign. chapter has issued for local elections, a non-endorsement, but “in no way of sorts, against will we be publicly McConnell. “It basically says vote for anybody but Mitch,” endorsing McGrath or supporting her unless she makes a Morris said. radical left turn.” Morris, of Bowling Green, said he plans to vote for McGrath. He said he’s pleased she recognizes that climate change is a problem and he was equally pleased to hear she SOME ENVIROS SAY ‘MEH’ has said good things about Biden’s climate plans. Despite McGrath’s clear recognition of the problems of
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“McConnell’s record speaks for itself,” he added. “He has blocked any kind of meaningful climate legislation. He supports Donald Trump and enabled Donald Trump and that in itself has been sufficient reason to oppose him.”
THE TAKEAWAY
McConnell is not popular in Kentucky, but Kentucky voters have shown repeatedly they prefer his clout to whatever competition he might have. He has been favored in a state that hasn’t voted for a Democratic president since the election of Bill Clinton, 24 years ago and that gave Trump a 30-point victory in 2016. One or two election cycles ago, a candidate with McGrath’s understanding of the climate crisis would have been enough to elate the state’s environmental community. That some are now saying “meh” is an indication of the growing sense of urgency among climate voters and represents a threat to her campaign. Money is an equalizing influence in politics and McGrath has been able to raise a lot of it. As more Republicans nationally endorse Biden amid questions about Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic and his character, there is a chance this could turn into a wave election against the president. If that happens, all bets are off. One thing, though, is for sure, if McGrath does win, it would be an upset of historical proportions. • InsideClimate News is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news outlet that covers climate, energy and the environment.
PHOTO ESSAY
#JUSTICEFORBREONNA
THE DERBY WENT ON, AND SO DID THE PROTEST By Kathryn Harrington | leo@leoweekly.com IT WAS a Derby not even close to another. No fans attended, but a heavy police presence and protesters from roughly three groups were there — those demanding justice for Breonna Taylor, a Black militia and counterprotesters who also were armed. The 146th running of the Kentucky Derby still occurred after being rescheduled from May to Sept. 5.
The protesters began the day at South Central Park before marching toward Churchill Downs. The property already surrounded by gates had extra barricades in place as well as a large presence of law enforcement. Protesters made their way around the perimeter of Churchill Downs while chanting and honking car horns before arriving at the front entrance where they continued to protest. Here are photos. •
Many residents along the marchers route came out to watch the protest and show support. | PHOTOS BY KATHRYN HARRINGTON.
Law enforcement waited behind the gates at Churchill Downs as protesters approached.
LEOWEEKLY.COM //SEPTEMBER 9, 2020
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PHOTO ESSAY Protesters chanted ‘No justice no peace’ and other calls as they made their way toward Churchill Downs on Saturday.
Protesters marched around the outer perimeter of Churchill Downs on the 146th Kentucky Derby on Saturday.
Lines of protesters stood in front of a fence surrounding Churchill Downs with their fists raised as law enforcement with armored vehicles sat on the other side.
A truck with Louisville police officers drove around the inner perimeter as protesters made their way around to the front of Churchill Downs.
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PHOTO ESSAY
Chris Rashad led several chants as protesters marched toward the front of Churchill Downs.
Law enforcement in riot gear and with armored vehicles stood inside the fences surrounding Churchill Downs on Saturday.
Protesters were separated from Churchill Downs by barricades that surrounded the property.
LEOWEEKLY.COM //SEPTEMBER 9, 2020
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STAFF PICKS THURSDAY, SEPT. 10
Turnip For Change
Virtual | Facebook Live | foodliteracyproject.org/turnip-for-change Donation suggested | 7 p.m. The Food Literacy Project is hosting a virtual event for foodies and “farm-minded folks” in support of APRON, a nonprofit supporting local food and beverage service SUPPORT workers who work at locally owned establishments, and its own fresh food programs. Despite not being able to eat and drink all of the deliciousness at this event, the lineup of expert hosts should provide ample guidance to enjoy several mouthwatering indulgences. Fashion a “farm-fresh blistered bourbon cocktail” with Maker’s Mark and watch the team from Anoosh Bistro cook up a seasonal dish in celebration of harvest season. You can also host your own virtual house party using some of the materials available on the event website, including The Wine Rack drink recommendations and recipes using fresh food. Email rebecca@foodliteracyproject.org to get started. Remember, this event supports food education for Louisvillians and our local, hardworking service industry professionals who have been among the first to suffer under COVID-19 restrictions. —LEO
THURSDAY, SEPT. 10
Restoration Of Voting Rights — Get Out The Vote Part 1 Zoom | Search Facebook | Free | 6-7 p.m.
Gov. Andy Beshear took a historic act when he took office last year — restoring the right to vote for 140,000 Kentuckians with past VOTE felony convictions. In this webinar, you can find out whether you were one of those people and how to vote in this upcoming election. Also, if you’re just interested in spreading the word — this event is for you, too! Maybe, together, we can elect some more leaders who will tackle the criminal justice system’s problems. —LEO
SATURDAY, SEPT. 12, 13
Save The Doges
We know you cry at those ASPCA Sarah McLachlan commercials. Quit that blubbering and actually PUPS support the dogs of Louisville at these two events for local rescues. MisPits Barking Lot Boutique (Sept. 12) | 6203 Bardstown Road | Search Facebook | No cover | 8 a.m.-1 p.m. Dog fans have united to put together a sale of name brand Meatball will be at the Arrow clothing, bicycles, jewelry, purses, electronics, tools, holiday Fund’s Dawg Days of Summer. He decor and pet items — all benefiting medical funds for has had trouble walking and is MisPits and Friends Rescue, which saves all dogs no matter being rehabilitated. the age, size or breed. Find brands like Michael Kors, Calvin Klein, Coach, Athleta, Lululemon, Express, Sperry, Sorrel and Victoria Secret. Masks are required for this outdoor event.
THURSDAY, SEPT.10
Internment Book Discussion
Online | carmichaelsbookstore.com | Free | 7 p.m. “It is a confusion,” says one of Nancy Jensen’s characters, “how people we had known for many years, and thought our friends, could turn away so easily … ” Conversation READ from today’s polarized America? No, Jensen’s novel “In Our Midst” is historical fiction. She’s casting light onto a dark corner: the internment of Germans who were U.S. residents when World War II broke out. The author, who teaches at EKU, imagines a family restaurant in Indiana, where the aroma of baking brötchen typifies the warmth they bring to the community — until the FBI knocks on the door. Jensen’s as scrupulous with her research as she is determined to reveal emotional depth of the family’s travails through years of thinning hopes and accumulating heartbreak. Local literary legend Sena Jeter Naslund leads the virtual author event (go to “Events” on Carmichael’s website and they’ll hook you up with the Crowdcast app). —T.E. Lyons
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Dawg Days of Summer! (Sept. 13) | Eclipse Bank | 3827 Shelbyville Road | Search Facebook | No cover | 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Grab a HurriKanes Gourmet hot “dawg” and a New Orleans Snowball in support of The Arrow Fund, a Louisville rescue tending to animals that are victims of “extreme torture, abuse, or neglect.” One of its rescues will be on the scene, Meatball, whose mobility has improved “from only being able to walk a few crouched steps before collapsing to being able to walk and play!” The Arrow Fund T-shirts, candles, masks, magnets and Kentucky Proud treats will also be available for purchase. —Danielle Grady
TUESDAY, SEPT. 15
Fall Trail Series
Iroquois Park | Iroquois Park and Palatka roads | Search Facebook | Free | 6-7 p.m. Get some evening exercise in and explore some of Louisville’s beautiful parks each Tuesday evening through Nov. 3. WALK OR RUN Each week, Swag’s Sport Shoes hosts a run for anyone to join, alternating between Iroquois and Cherokee parks. —LEO
STAFF PICKS
SATURDAY, SEPT. 12
MONDAY, SEPT. 14
Apocalypse Brew Works | 1612 Mellwood Ave. | Search Facebook No cover | 4-7 p.m.
Facebook Live | paulwesslund.com | Free | 5:30-6:30 p.m.
Plants And Pints
Spend Saturday evening doing home improvement or go for a beer? Or, are you unsure whether or not you can safely socialize at a bar? Well,
THE GREAT OUTDOORS
Apocalypse Brew Works has you covered on all fronts. First, Apocalypse offers one of the best outdoor patio/parking lot spaces in town, so you can get your craft beer outside, in accordance with the best safety practices. But, this Saturday is also the grand opening of the Dancing Deer Botanicals’ mobile store, Louisville’s first mobile plant shop, they say. This event will require cooperation from the weather, but organizers say it will take a monsoon to stop this event. —LEO
Virtual Book Launch For ‘Small Business, Big Heart’ “Small Business, Big Heart” by former KenLOCAL RESTAURANT tucky Living editor Paul Wesslund is a new book about a Louisville restaurant whose success is not defined by its bottom line but rather its tradition of hiring employees with complicated pasts: those fleeing addiction, troubled countries and more. Sal and Cindy Rubino opened The Café, now located in Paristown, in 1996. They’re on the panel for this virtual book launch, as well as Wesslund. Jason Crosby, the co-pastor of Crescent Hill Bapstist Church, who is featured in the book, will moderate the discussion. Attend, ask a question and enter to win prizes including a free copy of the book and a Café gift card. —LEO
THROUGH OCT. 31 SATURDAY, SEPT. 12
NuLu Sidewalk Sashay
NuLu | East Market Street | Search Facebook | Free | Noon-6 p.m. Outdoor sipping and shopping is the best and safest way to socialize in this pandemic. The plethora of eateries, stores and galleries will be open for EAT, DRINK & BE MERRY safe patronage, each requiring masks, social distancing and appropriate capacity restrictions. In case you’ve forgotten, expect to find BBQ, burgers, pizza, fried chicken and all manner of cuisine, plus coffee and chocolate chip cookies, ice cream and macaroons… and that’s before the adults get to the drinks and shops. —LEO
‘Form, Not Function: Quilt Art At The Carnegie’ Carnegie Center for Art & History | 201 E. Spring St., New Albany carnegiecenter.org | Free
“Form, Not Function” ART is an annual exhibition for the Carnegie Center, and I’m glad even a pandemic couldn’t stop it. This is the 17th year for the show that features contemporary art quilts. The jurors selected 19 works from the 265 quilts submitted from artists across the nation. One textile artist from Louisville made the cut: MJ Kinman. “When people ask me what I do, I like to tell them I make the biggest diamonds in the world,” she said. “But ‘Between River and Sky (Bourbon Diamond Series)’ by MJ Kinman. Handpainted cotton sateen, rayon thread, machine quilting. instead of using the hardest substance on earth, I use the softest — cloth.” —Jo Anne Triplett
LEOWEEKLY.COM //SEPTEMBER 9, 2020
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MUSIC
RECENTLY RELEASED
SEVEN NEW SONGS (PLUS A MUSIC VIDEO) FROM LOUISVILLE ARTISTS By Scott Recker | srecker@leoweekly.com
Matt Sweeney and Will Oldham of Superwolf.
I’M PRETTY SURE I’ve typed some variation of this sentence several times, but it’s always true: The volume and variety of new music coming out of this city always amazes me. Even in a pandemic, there’s been quite a bit of output, coming from locations all over the genre map. I’ve been trying to compile a local playlist about once a month to keep up, and this one includes songs of protest, a supergroup folk band and the latest from Girls Rock Louisville. BONNIE ‘PRINCE’ BILLY & MATT SWEENEY AS SUPERWOLF —
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‘YOU’LL GET EATEN, TOO’ Bonnie “Prince” Billy — aka singersongwriter Will Oldham — and the extremely versatile Matt Sweeney have teamed up once again as Superwolf, this time releasing a single for charity. Fifteen years after the duo dropped their cult-classic full-length comes “You’ll Get Eaten, Too,” a big, ambiguous, thought-provoking rock song, with proceeds going to the label Drag City and the NYC vegetarian restaurant Superiority Burger. It’s about consumption, the cycle of life, unpredictable outcomes, fear and acceptance, all balled up into a bar
rock anthem complete with guitar heroics. UNSTABLE CABLE — ‘CONSTRUCTION SITE’ Every year, Girls Rock Louisville holds a rock-and-roll summer camp for girls and gender-nonconforming youth. At the end of the camp, its organizers usually hold a live showcase at a local venue and record an album at an area studio. COVID-19 made it a little different this year, as they utilized technology for a virtual camp, but Girls Rock still managed to release an album, a three-song EP that you can own via Band-
camp for a $3 donation. One of the tracks, Unstable Cable’s “Construction Site,” leans into a stormy indie vibe, with a jagged structure, powerful lyrics and an experimental, atmospheric tone — a song that brings to mind Helium’s The Dirt Of Luck. KALI MALIA — ‘BLACK QUOTA’ Kali Malia’s soulful, poignant single “Black Quota” is also the title track for a 16-song compilation by Black Louisville artists. The album was made in response to the police killing George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, with proceeds going to the civil
MUSIC
Dawn Landes.
rights group Color of Change. Malia’s song reaches back to her childhood, when a school representative denied her entry, telling her family that they’ve “already reached the Black quota.” Malia not only applies dynamic, robust vocal work, but her singing also carries emotions with a compelling punch, which matches her thoughtful lyrics that paint an evocative scene of injustice and racism.
ground, recognizing that he has talent and purpose, while also coming to terms with the ramifications of bad decisions, the complicated realities of everyday life and trying not to let society beat him down. Veevo ends the song hoping for — and possibly promising — a better tomorrow. Not many people can break down their past, present and future in a concise and direct way, but Veevo does it perfectly here.
ANNA CURREEN — ‘AFFIRMATION’ One genre we don’t see a whole lot of in Louisville is pop, but newcomer Anna Curreen takes on the genre with precision and intelligence on “Affirmation,” a song that paints an honest picture of the acceptance, support and validation we all crave, in one way or another, from the people around us. The song’s not in a rush, never trying to be overly flash, instead relying on slow-burn melodies and crystal-clear statements that have a heavy impact. So many pop songs swing and miss on an enormous chorus, while Curreen hits a home run with patience and depth.
DAWN LANDES — ‘OH AMELIA’ Dawn Landes is currently working out of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, but her latest album, Row, has Louisville’s fingerprints all over it. Landes is a Louisville native, and Row is a concept album about another local, Tori Murden, who, in 1999, was the first woman to row solo across the Atlantic Ocean. Plus, several Louisville musicians appear on the record, including Brigid Kaelin (guest vocals) and Rachel Grimes (piano) on “Oh Amelia,” a bright, sweeping song about how two months into Murden’s journey she hallucinated a visit from kindred spirit Amelia Earhart. The album is also the score to a musical theater show of the same name, and Landes and company nailed that task with “Oh Amelia”— it’s catchy, vivid, smart and a roller coaster ride.
DRONEROOM — ‘THE MOON AND OTHER AMBIENT LIGHT SOURCES (FOR PETE FOSCO)’ It wouldn’t be a Louisville playlist without a melancholy instrumental song that twists and pulls sounds from unique directions, melting into the listener’s brain with a seemingly impossible mixture of ominous and calming noises. This week, that’s “The Moon and Other Ambient Light Sources (for Pete Fosco)” by Droneroom, an eerie, but relaxing 13-minute piece of music that’s meditative in its own Lynchian way. It pulls you into a trance, drifting you away from stress and worries, a nice companion in times like these. JOE VEEVO — ‘ALWAYS’ Joe Veevo’s “Always” is a striking, refreshingly-honest self-reflection that dives into the nuances of being human. It’s wildly self-aware and clearheaded — realizing his peaks and valleys, the gifts he’s nourished and the problems he’s caused. In 3:37, he covers so much
VIDEO BONUS BELUSHI SPEED BALL — ‘THE SPINELLI’S SLAM’ “The Spinelli’s Slam” isn’t a brand new song — it came out in March — but there’s a recently-released music video for it, and, as you would assume with Belushi Speed Ball, it’s a walk on the wild side. The video features a mixture of live show footage and hilarious animated hyperbole of the legendary (and sadly now defunct) all-ages venue Spinelli’s downtown, a place known for its punk and hardcore shows. There are mosh pits, a cartoon pizza squaring off with a cartoon pizza oven... standard Belushi things like that. But, essentially, it’s a reminder of how fun and important that Spinelli’s was. RIP. • LEOWEEKLY.COM //SEPTEMBER 9, 2020
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FOOD & DRINK
Morels hospitably set up a shelter for socialdistanced waiting on a showery evening.
RECOMMENDED
MORELS SMOKES SERIOUS ‘QUE … WITHOUT MEAT By Robin Garr | LouisvilleHotBytes.com Four tasty vegan side dishes at Morels: Clockwise from upper right, smoked baked beans, mac & cheese, coleslaw, and loaded potato salad. | PHOTOS BY ROBIN GARR.
FOLLOWING on his success with vegan takes on popular fast-food dishes such as the Farby, an Arby’s knockoff made without a molecule of meat, Morels Cafe’s proprietor Stanley Chase has now turned his attention to a seemingly even more impossible task. Behold, Morels Vegan BBQ Smokehouse, where Chase is creating vegetarian, barbecued, pulled “pork” and meat-free sausages that one could easily mistake for the real thing. Chase says vegetarian barbecue is a new concept, with similar restaurants in only two other places in the U.S. that he knows of, both popular on their home ground: Homegrown Smoker in Portland, Oregon and Monk’s Vegan Smokehouse in Brooklyn. Just over one year ago Chase closed Morels Cafe (except for occasional pop-ups) to focus on his Louisville Vegan Jerky Co. Now that the jerky endeavor has grown into a product with worldwide distribution in Whole Foods and other specialty grocers, its growing staff and production facility have allowed him to devote time to this new concept that he clearly loves. Chase and Trevor DeCuir, manager at Morels, are serving dinners Wednesday through Saturday. It’s takeout only, through the front door of Morels’ tiny storefront on Baxter Avenue. Orders are taken online from the Morels web page using an app that allows choices
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LEOWEEKLY.COM // SEPTEMBER 9, 2020
and credit card payment. Choose your pickup time and come and get it. Knock on the door, give your name and wait for one of the crew to hustle out your bag. On rainy evenings, they set up a portable shelter out front for socially distanced comfort. As you’d expect of a barbecue menu, the selection is brief and familiar, with choice of pulled pork ($10) or a bratwurst ($6), plus four sides, a nightly special and a cookie. We tried just about everything on the menu except the $3 double-chocolate s’mores cookie, and let me tell you, the barbecue was as good as the carnivore’s version and difficult to discern from smoked animal flesh. How do Chase and DeCuir manage to make soybean and pea protein products taste so much like something that just came from an old-school pitmaster’s smoker? Probably it’s because they do come from an old-school, offset barbecue smoker, which bathes the vegan meat alternatives in cool, gentle smoke from applewood and charcoal chunks burning in a chamber on the side. An order of vegan pulled pork ($10) is a full pound, enough to fill a circular foil container the size of a dinner plate up to the top. If you want barbecue buns, they are a dollar apiece, vegan and regular or glutenfree. The vegan pork is made from a pale product called soy curls, Cheetos-shaped
Soy-protein-based soy curls. marinated, smoked for 24 hours, then grilled, make a persuasive meat-free alternative to barbecued pulled pork.
FOOD & DRINK
GET YOUR
PICK-UP LOCATIONS Morels uses Beyond Sausage’s plant-based bratwurst for its sausage with sauteed green peppers and onions.
twists produced from non-GMO, pesticidefree soy protein that serves as a protein-rich palette for whatever flavors it’s cooked with. Morels turns these curls into alternative pulled pork by marinating, then smoking them for a full 24 hours, then moving each individual order to a searing-hot flattop grill to achieve a textured mix of sweet char on the edges and toothsome interior. Smother them in Morels’ sweet and hot house-made, Kansas City-style barbecue sauce, and they’re ready to go, with more sauce on the side. I found them a little more chewy than well-smoked pulled pig meat, but that’s a minor concern. The finished flavor was just right. The smoked vegan brat ($6), using Beyond Sausage’s plant-based bratwurst, is an even closer match for the animal-based alternative. Beyond, like its competitor Impossible, has come startlingly close to emulating animal meat, and Morels does it right. Smoked at low temperature all day, they’re then braised in apple cider and held in a cider bath until service to keep them juicy. It was delicious, with a good, smoky flavor and a touch of hot spice, and it came with freshly grilled onions and green peppers alongside. We sampled all four sides and were impressed with them all. Smoked baked beans ($5 for a pint, $10 for a quart) were amazing. I got a pint and could have eaten a pint all by myself. They’re made from dried beans cooked in
the smoker with chopped onions, bits of vegan pork and barbecue sauce for four hours, stirring frequently as the liquid cooks down and flavor builds. The coleslaw ($4 and $8) is creamy style, but the cream, of course, is vegan mayo. It’s a Louisiana-style slaw with strips of red bell peppers and carrots and a little spice added to the crunchy chopped cabbage. Mac & Cheese ($5 and $10) is made from scratch, using elbow macaroni, of course, cloaked in a vegan cream made from ground, raw cashews and white cannellini beans plus a little yellow mustard. The loaded potato salad ($6 and $12) was a real winner. Big chunks of tender, red-skinned new potatoes were generously dressed with a golden mix of vegan mayo, yellow mustard, chopped onions, snipped green onions and tiny, smoky vegan bacon bits. The mustard-mayo combination conferred a haunting tangy flavor that made the dish memorable. A massive meal came to $30.74, plus a 25% tax that the ordering system calculated on the pre-tax amount. •
MORELS VEGAN BBQ SMOKEHOUSE 276-1398 619 Baxter Ave. morelscafe.com
Third Street Dive • 442 S 3rd St
Boone Shell • 2912 Brownsboro Rd
Jeffersonville Public Library • 211 E Court Ave
Ntaba Coffee Haus • 2407 Brownsboro Rd
TAJ Louisville • 807 E Market St
Beverage World • 2332 Brownsboro Rd
Climb Nulu • 1000 E Market St
Kremer’s Smoke Shoppe • 1839 Brownsboro Rd
Come Back Inn • 909 Swan St
Big Al’s Beeritaville • 1743, 1715 Mellwood Ave
Stopline Bar • 991 Logan St
Mellwood Arts Center • 1860 Mellwood Ave
Logan Street Market • 1001 Logan St
KingFish - River Rd Carry Out • 3021 River Rd
Metro Station Adult Store • 4948 Poplar Level Rd
Party Mart - Rudy Ln • 4808 Brownsboro Center
Liquor Barn - Okolona • 3420 W Fern Valley Rd
Shiraz - Holiday Manor • 2226 Holiday Manor Center #1
ClassAct FCU - Fern Valley • 3620 Fern Valley Rd
Crossroads IGA • 13124 W Highway 42
Hi-View Discount Liquors & Wines • 7916 Fegenbush Ln
Party Center - Prospect • 9521 US-42
Happy Liquors • 7813 Beulah Church Rd #104
Captains Quarter’s • 5700 Captains Quarters Rd
Bungalow Joe’s • 7813 Beulah Church Rd
Fitness 19 • 2400 Lime Kiln Ln
Republic Bank Bus Stop • 10100 Brookridge Village Blvd
Bungalow Joe’s • 7813 Beulah Church Rd
Party Center - Fern Creek • 5623 Bardstown Rd
Street Box @ Republic Bank Bus Stop • 10100 Brookridge Village Blvd
Street Box @ Piccadilly Square • 5318 Bardstown Rd
Party Center - Fern Creek • 5623 Bardstown Rd
Jay “Lucky” Food Mart #1 • 5050 Billtown Rd
Street Box @ Piccadilly Square • 5318 Bardstown Rd
Cox’s - J-Town • 3920 Ruckriegel Pkwy
Jay “Lucky” Food Mart #1 • 5050 Billtown Rd
Bearno’s Pizza - Taylorsville • 10212 Taylorsville Rd
Cox’s - J-Town • 3920 Ruckriegel Pkwy
Louisville Athletic Club - J-Town • 9565 Taylorsville Rd
Bearno’s Pizza - Taylorsville • 10212 Taylorsville Rd
Cox’s - Patti Ln • 2803 Patti Ln
Louisville Athletic Club - J-Town • 9565 Taylorsville Rd
L.A. Fitness • 4620 Taylorsville Rd
Cox’s - Patti Ln • 2803 Patti Ln
Habitat ReStore - Taylorsville • 4044 Taylorsville Rd
L.A. Fitness • 4620 Taylorsville Rd
Feeders Supply - Hikes Point • 3079 Breckenridge Ln
Habitat ReStore - Taylorsville • 4044 Taylorsville Rd
Street Box @ Heine Bros • 3965 Taylorsville Rd
Feeders Supply - Hikes Point • 3079 Breckenridge Ln
Paul’s Fruit Market - Bon Air • 3704 Taylorsville Rd
Street Box @ Heine Bros • 3965 Taylorsville Rd
Jewish Community Center • 3600 Dutchmans Ln
Paul’s Fruit Market - Bon Air • 3704 Taylorsville Rd
Street Box @ Marathon Frankfort Ave • 3320 Frankfort Ave
Full list at LEOWEEKLY.COM/DISTRIBUTION LEOWEEKLY.COM //SEPTEMBER 9, 2020
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A R B L V E A S S M T O F F O R S I T T E B E N A R D O T N E H A E R
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39 Rabbit in a red dress 41 Noted 1836 battle site 42 They’re parked at national parks 43 Mate for life? 45 Cereal that changes the color of the milk 46 Director DuVernay 47 Clear a path for 49 Bleeps 52 Toy on a grooved track 53 Help to settle 57 Another name for Cupid 58 The last of the Pillars of Islam 61 Seeing red? 65 Not on time for 68 Temporarily adopt, as a pet 70 Pot 73 Tulsa sch. 76 Canceling key 82 Timetable abbr. 83 Traditional Valentine’s Day gift 84 Croft of Tomb Raider 85 Tiny terriers 86 N.Y.C. summer hrs. 87 Black suit 88 Does really well 89 Going rate? 94 Return to a theme, as in a symphony 95 Vine support 96 Bring down
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1 Wild guess 2 One of 42 on a Connect Four board 3 Start of a definition of the 81-Across 4 Baker’s container 5 Creature that can lick its own eyes 6 Half of O.H.M.S. 7 After-dinner offering 8 Like ‘‘Waiting for Godot’’ 9 Convinced 10 Blue 11 Dupes, in a way 12 Stand-up comic Margaret 13 Wyatt, Morgan and Virgil of the Wild West 14 Rolls-____ 15 Some college assignments 16 Middle of the definition 17 Comics dog who walks on two feet 18 N.B.A. team with black-and-white uniforms 25 ‘‘I’m listening ... ’’ 28 Wild Asian equines 31 Break out 35 1957 Broadway hit starring Robert Preston, with ‘‘The’’ 38 Twitch.tv user
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1 Selling point? 5 ‘‘____ Catch ’Em All’’ (Pokémon theme song) 10 Gastric malady 15 Word aptly found in ‘‘price control’’ 19 Nobel laureate Morrison 20 Longtime daily TV show about the rich and famous 21 Mandarin greeting 22 One-named singer with Grammys in 1985 and 2010 23 Protected, in a way 24 Mathematical field that includes the 81-Across 26 Irritated mood 27 Custom-made, as a suit 29 Psychic energy fields 30 The Sims and others 32 Regal home 33 Remains here? 34 ‘‘Ciao!’’ 35 Magical resource in Magic: The Gathering 36 Pianist’s pace 37 Sounds of disapproval 39 7/ 40 Duds 44 Actress Susan of ‘‘The Partridge Family’’ 45 Soleus muscle locale 48 ‘‘ … you get the idea’’ 50 Course for a non-Anglophone, for short 51 Keebler crew 53 Worker who might check all the boxes? 54 What may come after you 55 Invitation from a host 56 Scrap, slangily 58 Goddess of witchcraft 59 Hall-of-Fame QB Dawson 60 Split 62 A.L. East team … or, using the shaded square, what a little movement by this puzzle’s subject might cause 63 Kerfuffle 64 ‘‘Pitch Perfect’’ a cappella group, with ‘‘the’’ 66 ‘‘Let’s do this!’’ 67 Bound for 69 Log 71 Prefix with -sphere 72 ‘‘You got it!’’ 74 Goblinlike creatures 75 Practical joke 76 Anesthetic of old 77 Tick off
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P I E P O A N N A G E R I S N D O E R B U T B A Y F E L A T
No. 0913
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A I R F A R E
BY OLIVIA MITRA FRAMKE / EDITED BY WILL SHORTZ
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ALL AFLUTTER
78 Pop singer known for wearing face-covering wigs 79 When ‘‘Laverne and Shirley’’ ran for most of its run: Abbr. 80 Visionaries 81 Subject of this puzzle, as suggested visually by its central black squares 87 Sports figure 90 First name in the freezer aisle 91 Southeast Asian language 92 Flowed into 93 Table scraps 97 21st Greek letter 98 Famous literary nickname, with ‘‘The’’ 99 ‘‘Catch-22’’ pilot 100 Spanish title: Abbr. 102 Period 103 Computer data structure 105 Up 107 Ready to crash 109 & 113 End of the definition 117 Assessment: Abbr. 118 ‘‘Doe, ____ … ’’ 119 Exchanges words, say 120 Bit of cunning 121 Repeated word in a Doris Day song 122 They have pointy teeth 123 Ish 124 Words of clarification when spelling 125 Math grouping seen in curly brackets 126 Tolkien race 127 Handles, as an account, in brief 128 Eight-bit gaming console, for short
S P A D E S
The New York Times Magazine Crossword
PHOTO BY RACHEL ROBINSON
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SAVAGE LOVE
By Dan Savage | mail@savagelove.net @fakedansavage
NO CHOKE.
Q: I’m a 29-year-old, straight woman in Pennsylvania. My question is to do with choking and consent. I’ve had two experiences in the past six months or so where someone has tried to choke me without my consent. The first time this happened, I coughed immediately, but he tried multiple times during sex. I was caught so off-guard that I didn’t say anything until the next morning. I told him I wasn’t OK with that and that it was too much. The second time, I shook my head as soon as he put his hand on my throat, and he stopped immediately. I told him, “That scared the shit out of me.” He apologized for startling me and said he wouldn’t do it again. My question is: Why is this a thing? The fact that this has happened to me more than once in a short period of time kind of shocked me. And what is the appropriate thing to do when this happens? What should I do with the person who does this? Concerned Hetero Over Kinky Entitled Dumbasses A: “I would also love to know why choking has become a thing,” said Dr. Debby Herbenick. “And it is a thing, especially among young adults.” Dr. Herbenick is a professor at the Indiana University School of Public Health and the author of numerous books on sexuality and sexual pleasure. She’s also the lead author of a study published earlier this year in the Journal of Sexual Medicine, CHOKED, a study that looked at the sort of behavior you’ve been encountering recently: people engaging in spanking, choking, face fucking, etc.. Though some of this is no doubt consensual, much of it is not. “We found that 21% of women had been choked during sex as had 11% of men,” said Dr. Herbenick. “We also found that 20% of men and 12% of women had choked a partner. But choking during sex was much more common among 18 to 29 year olds — almost 40% of whom had choked or been choked —l eading us to believe that choking has really changed in the US, over probably the last 10 to 20 years.” Men who choked women were the biggest single group of chokers, CHOKED, followed by men choking men, women choking women, and trans and gender nonbinary individuals choking and being choked. Straight cisgender men, perhaps unsurprisingly, were the least likely to report that partners choked them during sex. Trans and gender nonbinary participants in Dr. Herbenick’s research more often reported that their partners established consent prior to choking, but across the board there was still a great deal of nonconsensual choking going on. How did we get here? “Probably porn,” said Dr. Herbenick. “We found that many people into choking remember growing up and watching porn with choking in it
— and in a country where porn stands in for sex education and family conversations about sex, some young people do what they see in porn.” And some people — mostly male people — do it because they think the other person wants or expects it. This was dramatized in an episode of “Euphoria,” the terrific HBO show about a group of high school students, when a boy suddenly starts choking a girl during their first hookup at a party. The girl is scared and confused — she thought the boy liked her — and the boy tells her he does like her; he grabbed her throat because he thought she would like it, not to harm or scare her. Although shaken, she makes it clear she expects him to ask first. It is scary to be suddenly choked by a sex partner. When asked if something scary had ever happened to them during sex, numerous women Herbenick surveyed for a different study cited someone choking them without asking. Even if you were into being choked, CHOKED, which you’re not, suddenly being choked by a new sex partner would still be scary. Because if someone chokes you without asking first, they’re essentially saying—they’re clearly saying — that they have extremely shitty judgement (and didn’t think to obtain your consent) or that they’re an extremely shitty person (and didn’t care to obtain your consent). “Now I’m not one of those people who says explicit verbal consent is needed for every hug or kiss or breast/chest touch,” said Dr. Herbenick. “I’m well aware that sex often involves verbal, non-verbal, and other shades of asking for something. But no one should choke another person without their explicit verbal consent.” That goes double/triple/infinity for aggressive and/or high-risk kinks, not just choking. “And choking is really risky,” added Dr. Herbenick. “Even though people call it choking, external pressure on the neck—like from hands or a cord or necktie—is technically strangulation. In rare cases, choking/strangulation causes people to pass out, leading to probable mild traumatic brain injury. And choking/strangulation sometimes kills people. Even if the person who was choked consented to it, even if they asked to be choked, the person who did the choking is often legally responsible in the event of injury or death.” I’ve interviewed professional Dominants who will literally stick needles through men’s testicles—sterilized needles, consenting testicles— but who refuse to choke clients or engage in other forms of breath play. These professionals aren’t refusing to choke clients because it’s too extreme (remember the needles?), but because it’s too dangerous. “There is truly no safe way to choke someone,” said Dr. Herbenick. “As part of my research, I’ve sought advice from several kinkpositive physician colleagues, none of whom feels confident in a ‘safe’ way of choking as there is
too much that can go wrong—from seizures to neck injury to death.” So what do you do the next time some dude grabs your throat? (And there will, sadly, most likely be a next time.) You immediately tell them to stop. Don’t cough, don’t deflect, don’t prioritize their feelings in the moment or worry about ruining the mood and derailing the sex. Use your words: “Don’t choke me, I don’t like that, it’s not sexy to me and it’s not safe, and you should’ve asked.” If they apologize and don’t try it again, great. Maybe you can keep fucking. But if they pout or act annoyed or insist you might like it after you’ve just finished telling them you definitely don’t like it, get up and leave. And if someone tried to choke you during sex and you shut it down and they pivoted to mutually enjoyable sex acts, CHOKED, be sure to raise the subject up after sex. Make sure they understand you don’t want that to happen again and that you expect them to be more conscientious about consent the next time—if there is a next time. And considering that this has happened to you twice recently, CHOKED, and considering how popular busting this particular move seems to have become, you might wanna consider saying something about choking to a new sex partner before you have sex for the first time. “I would be very up front about it from the get-go,” said Dr. Herbenick. “When you’re first talking with someone or moving things forward, say something like, ‘I’m not into choking, so don’t try it,’ or, ‘Whatever you do, don’t choke me.’ If you can both share your hard limits, you’ll be better prepped for good, fun, exciting, pleasurable sex—not scary stuff like non-consensual choking. “And for everyone reading this, seriously: stop choking people without first talking or asking about it. Just stop.” Follow Dr. Debby Herbenick on Twitter @DebbyHerbenick. Q: I hope you’re getting a lot of mail from people uncomfortable with your response to DISCORD, the woman whose cheating husband blew up when a man she was merely chatting with forwarded their correspondence to her husband. My first question was whether the sadistic creep who baited her into telling him she had an affair wasn’t actually her POS husband playing some sick game. I mean, 30 minutes is awfully quick turnaround from her messages being forwarded to his blow-up. And seeing as DISCORD’s husband has already established that she will put up with his tantrums, withholding of sexual intimacy, strangulation, lying, and affairs, it’s also possible that he’s engineered her fi nancial dependence. I would advise her to at least talk to a professional who could paint an objective picture of her fi nancial options. She might also benefit from the advice of an advocate for domestic violence survivors. Strangulation is usually not an isolated violent act. Rarely Disappointed Reader A: Thank you for writing, RDR—thank to everyone who wrote. I’ve reached out to DISCORD privately and will forward your emails on to her. I
should’ve pushed back when DISCORD ruled out divorce as an option. Here’s hoping DISCORD takes your advice over mine. mail@savagelove.net Follow Dan on Twitter @FakeDanSavage. Meet the author of The Vagina Bible on this week’s Savage Lovecast. www.savagelovecast.com
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