Weekly Round Up: Strange Bills, Serious Consequences, and a Smart Plan for Kenton

In this week's episode of the Blue Dot podcast, hosts Natalie MacDonald and Brian Koehl tackle the latest political absurdities emerging from Kentucky. With a focus on the attempts to cut vital programs and the introduction niche legislation that doesn't focus on the people, they highlight how these issues affect everyday citizens. Join us as we unpack these topics and explore the larger implications for healthcare, education, and community well-being.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to the Blue Dot, Northern Kentucky's premier political podcast. Brought to you by the Kent County Democratic Executive Committee. Welcome back to the Blue Dot Podcast for our weekly roundup where we bring you all the news you need to know in ten minutes or less. Thanks for joining. I'm Natalie McDonald.

SPEAKER_01 0:17

And I'm Brian Cale. Well, Natalie, we are in the second week of Trump's war with Iran. The price of oil is skyrocketing, and Trump and his minions have yet to explain their reasoning for preemptively striking this Middle Eastern adversary. One thing is for certain it's going to get a lot worse before it gets better. But hey, before we touch on that disaster, let's look at some homegrown Republican-fueled insanity that is taking place right down the road in Frankfurt.

SPEAKER_00 0:44

All right, we can do that. And I know we've been talking about, all right? We've been talking a lot about bills, and we've been focusing on the big ones, but I wanted to talk about a couple that caught my attention this week that are just a little beyond ridiculous.

SPEAKER_01 0:59

Goody. Can't wait to hear what I missed.

SPEAKER_00 1:01

Yes. Well, the first one is one that I think almost everyone in Kentucky can agree on, is a bit absurd. First off, it involves Dolly Purton, and she is a national treasure. That's for sure. Secondly, it involves her Imagination Library, which provides free books to children under the age of five. Kentucky has participated in the Imagination Library program for over 20 years. It started as a limited program, but has since expanded to a statewide initiative as of 2024, now covering every zip code and delivering over six million books to Kentucky's children. So it's it's a good program.

SPEAKER_01 1:40

I mean, gee, I don't think anyone could argue against that program, could they?

SPEAKER_00 1:44

Well, Republicans can. And they did on Children's Advocacy Day. So, yes, on Children's Advocated Advocacy Day, Senator Nemes from Shepherdsville introduced an amendment to the Senate Joint Resolution 54 that would strip funding from the Imagination Library in Kentucky. Just want to take it away.

SPEAKER_01 2:06

Are you kidding me? I mean, health care, food, and now books for kids. I mean, where is the line in the sand for the Republican Party of Kentucky?

SPEAKER_00 2:15

Well, there is no line. I don't even think they're in that sandbox, Brian. They're not even there.

SPEAKER_01 2:19

Okay. So what is the quote unquote reason behind this one?

SPEAKER_00 2:24

Well, he said he's very concerned that some of the books may be made in China. And then he went on this kind of unsubstantiated concern that if the books were being produced in China, that maybe they might be in languages other than English. So in his defense, though, he did rescind the amendment after immense backlash, but he didn't go down quietly. He is said he still has very strong reservations against the program. So there's that.

SPEAKER_01 2:55

I mean, if our priority is to eliminate items uh made in China, seems like we wouldn't start with children's books. For instance, uh maybe the senator better throw away his iPhone.

SPEAKER_00 3:05

Exactly, right?

SPEAKER_01 3:07

Yeah. But believe it or not, Natalie, I think I have one that is even more ridiculous. U.S. Congressman Thomas Massey, who represents our district and who has not sponsored one bill that has become law in his 14 years in Congress, has introduced the Interstate Milk Freedom Act.

SPEAKER_00 3:24

Thank God I was just thinking about milk freedom this week when I was at the grocery store spending a couple hundred dollars, and why always paying my Duke bill that was a little shy of my mortgage payment. I was just, gosh, I just wish we had more milk freedom.

SPEAKER_01 3:39

Yes, he is really focused on the things that matter, right? It's like uh, let's see, affordability, health care, milk freedom, national security. I mean, those are my top four kitchen table issues. The goal of Massey's bill is to prevent the federal government from interfering with the interstate traffic of raw milk products between states where distribution of sale of such products is already legal.

SPEAKER_00 4:01

I mean, they do love their milk. I remember RFK and Kid Rug drinking milk in the bathhouse hot tub in the video that the DHS released.

SPEAKER_01 4:09

Please, please don't remind me. Talk about a creepy scene. Okay, don't get me wrong. I'm all in for policies that help small businesses and independent farmers. But they focus on limited bills like this instead of doing the big things that would really help all farmers and consumers. For instance, removing all of Trump's tariffs and working to reopen markets for soybeans and other agricultural products, limited scope niche bills like the Milk Freedom Act would be funnier if people weren't hurting so badly by policies like tariffs and others that Republicans actually have passed.

SPEAKER_00 4:42

Yeah, exactly. And we've already seen the effects on the tariffs on our farmers, and we've been warning about the negative changes that are still yet to come. You know, we sp recently spoke about the World Birthing Center that was closed down in Sanford, Kentucky. And we're seeing more instances like this as the Republican health care policies are costing Kentuckians jobs and clinics are closing and limiting access to life-saving care. So, in addition to that Sanford Birthing Center, we also lost a rural dialysis center in Molenberg County. We lost a recovery center in Lexington and a planned birthing center in Louisville. And there's just there's just more to come. This is just the tip of the iceberg.

SPEAKER_01 5:22

You're right. This looks just like the beginning of the loss of services. Kentucky Hospital Association president and CEO Nancy Galvani sounded the alarm, acknowledging that the cuts officially start in 2028, but the effects will be felt much sooner as Kentucky is set to lose billions in federal dollars used to prop up health care access and employment, as these hospitals and healthcare facilities are already operating on razor thin margins.

SPEAKER_00 5:48

Yeah, I mean, it's just it is so sad and so unnecessary. And she also stated that some hospitals might not be able to continue their cancer treatment because that is a subsidized service. So those sick patients are gonna have to travel hours to get to get their treatment.

SPEAKER_01 6:02

I mean, we can't figure out health insurance in the U.S. yet, but Trump announced this week, hey, he found a way overnight to ensure losses up to twenty billion dollars on a rolling basis for global oil tankers and other maritime vessels moving through the Strait of Hormuz.

SPEAKER_00 6:18

Yeah, but he's tapping a little known U.S. government agency, the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation or the DFC to ensure ships sailing through the Persian Gulf, as all the other insurers have backed away from underwriting this trade activity in the Gulf because there's clearly concerns that they'll become collateral damage and Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 6:40

Either mines or drones, you know, they're it's very, very risky. And that newfound$20 billion. Plus, the administration just announced that the first six days of their war of choice in Iran has cost American taxpayers eleven point three billion dollars. Senator Adam Schiff said a few days ago on one of the talk shows that the Iran excursion, not a war, is costing U.S. taxpayers one billion dollars per day. He put it like this assume a new hospital can be built for a hundred million. We are spending ten hospitals worth of money each day to bomb Iran for no legitimate purpose that the Trump administration can provide.

SPEAKER_00 7:20

And he's just showing disrespect on every single occasion. I don't know if you saw him wearing that ball cap during the dignified dignified transfer.

SPEAKER_01 7:30

I did.

SPEAKER_00 7:30

You know, I mean you you could buy that on his well, like propaganda website. You could buy that on his website for like 40 bucks, and he's wearing that like a clueless, you know, self-indulgent fool. Like it's it's so maddening. It's sad.

SPEAKER_01 7:44

Yeah. And you you know that it's bad when he uh his wearing that hat uh was so bad that even Fox News wouldn't air it. They substituted some old footage from a dignified transfer Trump attended in December 2025 for this current one, you know, always lying.

SPEAKER_00 7:59

Absolutely. And I you know, did you see the whole Tomahawk missile? His how he's changing his stance on that. You know, he was asked about the Tomahawk missile that hit the girls' school in Iran. First of all, he denied it. Then he said he didn't know much about it. Now he is the commander-in-chief. He should know a lot about it. First of all, that's the first problem. But, you know, it's obvious it was it was ours. We made a mistake, it's plain and simple, and he he just can't admit that wrong.

SPEAKER_01 8:24

I know, I know. But you know, hang in there as painful and tragic as this last year plus has been, each Trump and Republican misstep is another nail in their coffin come to 2026 midterms. That's the way we have to look at it. The way we stop this madness and begin to claw our way back to decency and the rule of law is to show up at the polls this November in force and vote against those who enable this wannabe king.

SPEAKER_00 8:49

That's absolutely right. And we have the power, right? The power of the people for sure. But um, I did want to wrap it up with some positive, interesting Kenton County news that we learned about this week. Yes. Apparently, Kenton County residents are getting old. We're getting old, Brian.

SPEAKER_01 9:03

Wait, hang on a second, you're telling me.

SPEAKER_00 9:05

Yes, we're experiencing a significant demographic changes as our population is living longer. So uh the county put together a really great plan called the Aging Readiness Plan.

SPEAKER_01 9:16

I mean, that's it's kind of cool. It's a a five-year roadmap designed to help communities prepare so residents can be comfortable and healthy so they stay rooted right here. It's a really good idea.

SPEAKER_00 9:26

Yeah, exactly. And a lot of people were part of this. Over 400 members of Kenton County participated in this to help create the report. It covers four main areas. It covers community life, transportation, long-term care, and housing. So obviously, very important things to keep people here in the community.

SPEAKER_01 9:42

Yep, yep. They looked at the uh current resources we have in these areas and did a comprehensive overview of what will be needed in the future and how to support those initiatives.

SPEAKER_00 9:51

Yeah, and it has a lot of really great geeky stats in there. You know, I love my geeky stats and fun facts. He has everything from detailed demographics of the county to estimated cost of long-term care and housing, how many social clubs are available. You name it. It's in there. That's great. So if you get a chance, yeah, go out there and take a look at it. Just Google Kenton County Age Well Initiative. And it's a really great example of community research and planning. So I love it.

SPEAKER_01 10:16

Oh, that's great. Well, hey, I just wanted to say one thing. If you weren't like so geeky, it wouldn't be so much fun to hang out with you on the pod. So, you know.

SPEAKER_00 10:23

That's right.

SPEAKER_01 10:23

Stay geeky. Stay a nerd.

SPEAKER_00 10:26

Yes. Nerd roll. Well, I wish we could cover more, but our time is up. And so that is it for the weekly roundup where the news is fast and the facts are free. Until next time, stay curious. Keep the facts in focus. Never stop fighting for what matters. Peace out, everybody.