The Progressive Midwesterner

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) may not have to face Kentucky voters himself until two years from now, although he recently proposed cutting the budgets of three core programs that are part of America's social safety net, Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid : McConnell said it was “very disturbing,” and driven by Medicare, Social Security, and Medicaid spending. The solution to cutting the deficit, he concluded, is making “entitlement changes.” Asked about the federal debt reaching $21 trillion and the deficit projected to top $1 trillion next year, McConnell did not mention tax cuts at all. “It’s very disturbing, and it’s driven by the three big entitlement programs that are very popular,” he said. “Medicare, Social Security, and Medicaid. That’s 70 percent of what we spend every year. The subject we were just discussing, the funding of the government, is about 30 percent of what we spend. There’s been a bipartisan reluctance to tackle entitlement changes bec...

Sinclair Broadcasting Group, which is the largest owner and operator of local, over-the-air television stations in the United States and also owns and operates the Ring of Honor professional wrestling promotion and Tennis Channel, has come under heavy criticism in recent days for forcing their local news anchors to read a far-right screed attacking the news media on air . While pretty much all local news in the United States has a right-wing bias to it to some degree, Sinclair's efforts to inject far-right propaganda into the local newscasts of the stations is a threat to American democracy. Jimmy Kimmel, the host of ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live! , publicly criticized Sinclair , which owns many ABC affiliates, over the scripted, Sinclair-ordered screed against the news media. Some political activists are even calling for Sinclair employees to go on strike on May 15 , even though Sinclair employees lack union representation. Sinclair's far-right propaganda machine has even prom...

A far-right organization called Family Foundation of Kentucky successfully lobbied Republicans who control the Kentucky State Senate to block passage of a proposed Kentucky state law that would ban child marriage in that state: A bill outlawing child marriage in Kentucky had been expected to receive a vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday, but that vote has been delayed due to last-minute opposition by the conservative Family Foundation of Kentucky, according to the bill’s lead sponsor. Sen. Julie Raque Adams, R-Louisville, filed Senate Bill 48 on the first day of this year’s session of the Kentucky General Assembly, which would prohibit anyone under the age of 17 from marrying and only allow 17-year-olds to marry with a judge’s approval. Under the current law in Kentucky, 16 and 17-year-olds can marry with their parents’ permission, and a girl of any age under 16 can marry as long as they are pregnant and marrying the expectant father. Likewise, a boy of ...