Thanks to General Assembly, Kentucky is No. 1 in stupidity | Opinion

Legislative benefits

Thanks to the state legislature, Kentucky is No. 1 in stupidity.

HB 500 sponsored by Rep. Phillip Pratt, R-Georgetown. This bill would make workers in agriculture, retail and any positioned paid for by the federal government ineligible for overtime. Joy. Citizens who work at McDonald’s, Dairy Queen, Wal-Mart and gas stations could be forced to not only eat poisoned food but forced to work 90 hours a week. Who paid you, Mr. Pratt?

HB 100 sponsored by Rep Wade Willliams of Erlanger and written by the “Opportunism Solution Project.” (A group that believes all social programs should be abolished.) This law would curtail qualifications for SNAP (Food Stamps) by eliminating all “able-bodied” humans. By “able-bodied,” they mean anyone breathing.

Sen. Damon Thayer, R-Georgetown, wants a raise for the legislators. How? Thayer screamed universal pre-K (which would benefit all 120 counties) would cost too much. It is strange that if it benefits him, Thayer always has the money. More examples of how little the citizens matter to Pratt, Williams, Thayer and the rest of the gang of idiots.

Damian Beach, Frankfort

Kentucky legislators

If you put somebody on a crack pipe and give them a Beretta 9 mm, you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure out what’s going to happen next.

If our Republican legislators continue to: take healthcare away from the sickest among us; turn down federal money to feed our children; force essential workers to work for a minimum wage that is HALF a LIVING wage; let Big Pharma flood the state with opioids and charge $300 for insulin that costs $10 to make; pass legislation to FORCE women to give birth and do NOTHING about Kentucky having the 2nd highest infant/maternal death rate in the US; pass gun legislation that allows anyone, even the mentally incompetent or domestic violence offender, to carry a gun without permit or training; vote against federal infrastructure money and bills giving women the right to BIRTH CONTROL; and destroy public education with charter schools and underfunding...then you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure out what will happen next in Kentucky.

If Kentuckians keep voting for legislators who continue shaving the dice on the side of those with money and power, then they deserve what they get.

Margaret Groves, Frankfort

Alabama embryos

Recently, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that “frozen embryos” are minor children.

In in vitro fertilization (IVF), an egg is removed from a woman, fertilized in a petri dish with sperm and can be re-implanted or frozen. The optimum time of freezing is Day 6 after fertilization, when there are about 50 embryonic cells present. Once frozen, these “children,” as Alabama now terms them, have all the protections of children who have been born. They cannot be destroyed - ever. Not after 50 years. Not if the contributing parents die. A strong protection for 50+/- cells.

For these “children” to ever develop and be born, they must be thawed and implanted in a womb. In order to “protect” these “children,” could Alabama mandate that they be implanted in non-consenting women’s wombs?

I care about children. I care that 250,000 “born” children (15.3 percent) in Alabama living below the poverty line. I care that in FY 2022, Alabama’s Department of Human Resources made 40,473 child abuse and neglect registry checks and handled 41,473 cases of child abuse and neglect. I care that in 2021 firearm deaths became the leading cause of death among Alabama children. There are Alabama children who need protection.

Marilyn S. Daniel, Versailles

Landowner rights

Kentucky State Sen. Stephen West, R-Paris, recently proposed extending a state-owned airport runway. This plan would have cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars and used eminent domain to force Bourbon County citizens to sell their farmland. Fortunately, West’s plan was rejected due to strong public opposition.

Now West has introduced another bill to deprive citizens of their right to control their farmland. His new bill will prohibit any solar facility that will “result in more than one percent of the total land area of any county where the proposed construction is to be located.”

This bill allows only one percent of the land to be used as the owner desires. If this bill passes, Kentucky will prevent owners of 99 percent of the land from adapting to new opportunities that conform with all the applicable governmental regulations. Those owners will be left with only memories of when tobacco and dairy farming was profitable.

Now is the time to state your opinion if you value landowner rights. West’s failed runway extension has proven the public can stop his bad ideas. Will you help stop this one?

Charles Marshall, Maysville

Rental responsibility

The recent column by LZ Granderson was a bit confusing. I thought she was distressed about evictions that were taking place, but it turns out this plight was being caused by wealthy! Evictions are no different than repossessing merchandise purchased on a payment plan where payment obligations were not maintained. Housing is expensive and, in Lexington, part of the problem is the cost real estate. Rent is also used to pay property taxes and overhead, like repair, employees, and insurance.

Granderson uses the word “greed” in describing capitalism. I certainly would not consider Warren Buffet greedy, nor many of other billionaires who have donated to bettering our society.

And while I would agree that more “affordable housing” is required, I would leave it up to local governments and their zoning boards to address.

Most businesses that use any type of equipment receive the same “depreciation” or tax breaks she speaks of. Automobiles that individuals use for work can be written off. No one wants to work it seems. The government has created subsidies supporting individuals who do not want to earn enough money to pay rent. Perhaps, if they worked, there would be sufficient money to not get evicted.

Ben C. Kaufmann, Lexington

MAGA rumors

Rumor is if Trump is re-elected, all Trump voters will get red MAGA hats and red sneakers. The term USA will be changed to UASA - United Apartheid States of America. The U.S. Capitol will be moved to Mar-A-Lago. Preposterous you say!!! Who would have thought something like January 6th would have ever happened in this county? Stay tuned.

Bob Sutton, Springfield

Trump evangelicals

It seems that Kentucky, which was a Democratic state until President Barack Obama was elected, has flipped 180 degrees to Republican. After four years of Trump I would think that the evangelical support he enjoys would be all but gone. I know there are preachers that vocally support him from the pulpit and I don’t see them as Christian individuals. Since he is the embodiment of the seven deadly sins, I wish an evangelical would write in an and explain how you support him while claiming to follow Jesus.

To me every step with Trump is a step away from the teachings of Jesus.

Jim Hamon, Winchester

Supreme Court

It is shameful that U.S. Supreme Court justices are failing to ensure justice in our country in allowing Justice Clarence Thomas, whose wife actively supported the election lies and insurrection efforts, to rule on any cases involving former President Donald Trump. The Feb. 28 Supreme Court decision to delay Trump’s election subversion trial, the most critical case in the history of this country, could not be more egregious. What could be more crucial and urgent in this election year? It seems that even the Supreme Court has succumbed to Donald Trump’s devious moves to escape accountability and return to power. So disheartening! So perilous! In the words of Martin Luther King, Jr., “Justice delayed is justice denied.” God, in your mercy, deliver our country from the potential devastation of this gross injustice!

Beverly Johnson-Miller, Lexington

Hax return

Let me add my voice to those calling for the return of columnist Carolyn Hax to the Lexington Herald-Leader. Her comments were always lively and perceptive, and her writing in general was some of the best in the paper.

Bring back Hax!

Mike Norris, Lexington

Israel invasions

Many in this country look with horror at the deaths of Palestinians in the Israeli invasion into Gaza and have very strongly criticized President Joe Biden exhorting him to speak more forcefully or even somehow change the course of this terrible situation. He has been accused of not caring about Palestinian lives.

I believe this not to be true; he cares but there is little he can do. Publicly he has spoken with restraint (but has spoken). Behind the lines I believe the United States has been much more forceful. But consider what he/we face. We face a political player (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu) who is not popular in his own country and who faces the real possibility of prison if he cannot hold off the prosecutions currently before him. Only by aligning with the most extreme right wing in the Knesset can he maintain a position shielding him from prison. The price of that alignment is the horror that we see Israel currently causing.

I am not here to defend Hamas but to point out a parallel with our country. What would former President Donald Trump do to avoid prison if given power?

George W Noe, Harrodsburg

Election morality

In 1988, presidential candidate Gary Hart dropped out of the race after being pictured on vacation with a young woman who was not his wife. In 2004, U.S. Sen. John Edwards exited the race for President after news broke of his extramarital affair.

Some 20 years later a presidential hopeful began his campaign under the cloud of the Access Hollywood tapes, bribes to a porn star, and accusations of sexual abuse. And he’s running again for president. He has convinced his followers that these allegations are “hit jobs” by his opponents. Has the American psyche been degraded to this extent ?

I have many friends that are among these believers although they don’t like discussing any of the facts. So we don’t talk about it. We let the elephant in the room grow larger by ignoring it. I choose to believe they are not amoral or clueless and have simply succumbed to the effectiveness of the consummate snake oil salesman.

In this age of commercials for erectile disfunction, have we also become accepting of a reduction of our moral standards? When Donald Trump self-destructs, can we return to some level of morality? It will be an interesting phenomena to watch.

Tom Padgett, Lexington

Compiled by Liz Carey