Pop some popcorn

In the almost unimaginable case that you haven't seen it, check out the latest edition of Wonk's Work, the AFSC WV Economic Justice Project's irreverent look at the WV legislature. This week: education deform, SNAP, xenophobia, preemption, and a really cute cat picture. Click here to bliss out.

Leftovers

Well, the legislative session is finally over. Some bad stuff happened. We didn't get all we wanted and got a good bit of what we didn't. On the other hand, we had a huge successful nonviolent uprising. I guess you can't have everything.

Speaking of which, we discussed the lessons of the teachers' strike on the latest edition of The Front Porch. It's great to watch the ripples spread out around the country.

I had trouble getting published in the Gazette this year, with only one op-ed on the dangers of oligarchy getting printed.

Here's the last edition of Wonk's World, which we produced on the day before the session ended.

Speaking of the Gazette, we got the good news that the paper was bought by HD Media, a non-evil locally owned newspaper group. For a long while it looked like it would be bought by Ogden, which seems to specialize in producing not-too-readable reactionary stuff. That would have been for WV what Bedford Falls would have been if Mr. Potter took over in the movie It's a Wonderful Life.

Last word (for now) goes to Gazette-Mail political columnist Phil Kabler (who just dodged a likely bullet, as the above paragraph explains), who summed up the session pretty well here.

Four for the weekend

Two interesting reports have come out this week, both of which are worth a look. "Stumbling Blocks or Stepping Stones" looks at the impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) on West Virginia. It was put out by the WV ACEs Coalition.

The more I learn about ACEs and their impact over the life course, not to mention the human and other costs, the more I realize that this is a big deal with lots of implications. Things would be a lot better if we became more trauma-informed as a society.

Speaking of huge deals, WVU just released "The Economic Impact of Medicaid on West Virginia's Economy."  Condensed version (in the parlance of our time): YUGE. More on that another day.

Also, in case you missed them, here are the links to the latest episode of Wonk's World, our irreverent take on the WV legislature, and the latest Front Porch, in which we discuss the costs of the state's opioid crisis.

Two for the weekend

In case you missed it, and are really bored, here's the latest of our weekly Wonk's World Facebook Live episodes on what's going on at the WV legislature, complete with props. Topics include teacher pay vs. tax cuts for business and the "noodling" of catfish. Really.

Then there's the latest Front Porch podcast about the bankruptcy of the Gazette...and, yes, noodling catfish.

Rounding out the week

Hannah Arendt, 1906-1975.

I just came across this quote by Hannah Arendt. Somehow it doesn't give me a good feeling:

"The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the convinced Communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction... and the distinction between true and false... no longer exist.”

SPEAKING OF THE DISTINCTION BETWEEN FACT AND FICTION, check out AFSC's weekly update on the WV legislature. We call it Wonk's World, as in Wayne's World for policy wonks. Our goal is to be silly but mostly truthful and snarky but not mean.  Here's this week's and here's the first one.  

 WHILE WE'RE AT IT, here's a great op-ed by my friend Dan Kurland on WV's version of the hunger games.