The Flannel Fist
@theflannelfist.bsky.social
Ordinary People, Loud Ideas brings a working-class, leftist perspective to the front lines of policy, power, and protest. From country roads to Capitol halls.
https://open.substack.com/pub/ordinarypeopleloudideas
https://open.substack.com/pub/ordinarypeopleloudideas
ICE detained a man in Bowling Green this week while he was doing something every Kentuckian does without thinking: stopping at a gas station.
It wasn’t a raid. It wasn’t an operation. It was a roadside snatch-and-grab with badges.
#ProtectOurNeighbors #PeopleOverPower #StopTheRaids
It wasn’t a raid. It wasn’t an operation. It was a roadside snatch-and-grab with badges.
#ProtectOurNeighbors #PeopleOverPower #StopTheRaids
November 10, 2025 at 5:04 PM
ICE detained a man in Bowling Green this week while he was doing something every Kentuckian does without thinking: stopping at a gas station.
It wasn’t a raid. It wasn’t an operation. It was a roadside snatch-and-grab with badges.
#ProtectOurNeighbors #PeopleOverPower #StopTheRaids
It wasn’t a raid. It wasn’t an operation. It was a roadside snatch-and-grab with badges.
#ProtectOurNeighbors #PeopleOverPower #StopTheRaids
Kentucky just lost three lives in a Louisville cargo plane crash. What we call “accidents” are often policy failures.
Here’s what Kentucky can do to prevent the next one — from inspections to zoning to corporate accountability.
🔗 open.substack.com/pub/ordinary...
Here’s what Kentucky can do to prevent the next one — from inspections to zoning to corporate accountability.
🔗 open.substack.com/pub/ordinary...
When the Sky Falls on Louisville: What Kentucky Can Actually Do to Prevent the Next Crash
The UPS crash revealed a system built for speed, not safety. Kentucky can’t wait on DC. Stronger inspections, real buffer zones, transparency, and accountability can prevent the next tragedy.
open.substack.com
November 9, 2025 at 3:45 PM
Kentucky just lost three lives in a Louisville cargo plane crash. What we call “accidents” are often policy failures.
Here’s what Kentucky can do to prevent the next one — from inspections to zoning to corporate accountability.
🔗 open.substack.com/pub/ordinary...
Here’s what Kentucky can do to prevent the next one — from inspections to zoning to corporate accountability.
🔗 open.substack.com/pub/ordinary...
Eminent domain and “renewal” shaped the growth of Kentucky’s public universities — often at the expense of Black communities.
New article. 🔗 open.substack.com/pub/ordinary...
#KentuckyHistory #BlackHistory #WKU #UofL #UKY #KSU #UrbanRenewal #EminentDomain
New article. 🔗 open.substack.com/pub/ordinary...
#KentuckyHistory #BlackHistory #WKU #UofL #UKY #KSU #UrbanRenewal #EminentDomain
Universities and Urban Renewal in Kentucky
The same institutions that now brand themselves as “anchor partners” in West End redevelopment are the descendants of that destruction. Louisville’s universities didn’t just grow with the city — they…
open.substack.com
November 8, 2025 at 12:24 AM
Eminent domain and “renewal” shaped the growth of Kentucky’s public universities — often at the expense of Black communities.
New article. 🔗 open.substack.com/pub/ordinary...
#KentuckyHistory #BlackHistory #WKU #UofL #UKY #KSU #UrbanRenewal #EminentDomain
New article. 🔗 open.substack.com/pub/ordinary...
#KentuckyHistory #BlackHistory #WKU #UofL #UKY #KSU #UrbanRenewal #EminentDomain
Kentucky just approved nearly $3 billion in new gas plants — not for your home, not for local jobs, but for data centers that don’t even exist yet. LG&E and KU just got a blank check for Big Tech’s maybe-future.
#KentuckyPolitics #ClimateJustice #LGandE #BigTech #Energy #Kentucky #WorkingClass
#KentuckyPolitics #ClimateJustice #LGandE #BigTech #Energy #Kentucky #WorkingClass
November 6, 2025 at 6:45 PM
Kentucky just approved nearly $3 billion in new gas plants — not for your home, not for local jobs, but for data centers that don’t even exist yet. LG&E and KU just got a blank check for Big Tech’s maybe-future.
#KentuckyPolitics #ClimateJustice #LGandE #BigTech #Energy #Kentucky #WorkingClass
#KentuckyPolitics #ClimateJustice #LGandE #BigTech #Energy #Kentucky #WorkingClass
Kentucky lost a trailblazer this week. Martha Layne Collins — the first and only woman ever elected governor of Kentucky — has died at 88.
A teacher who became governor. A woman who beat the old boys’ club. A leader who changed the map. 🧵
A teacher who became governor. A woman who beat the old boys’ club. A leader who changed the map. 🧵
November 6, 2025 at 6:20 PM
Kentucky lost a trailblazer this week. Martha Layne Collins — the first and only woman ever elected governor of Kentucky — has died at 88.
A teacher who became governor. A woman who beat the old boys’ club. A leader who changed the map. 🧵
A teacher who became governor. A woman who beat the old boys’ club. A leader who changed the map. 🧵
After the Red Scare, the old money class realized coups are messy. So they built something better: a permanent infrastructure of power.
The story of how the Business Plot of 1933 became the Heritage Foundation and Federalist Society.
🧵
The story of how the Business Plot of 1933 became the Heritage Foundation and Federalist Society.
🧵
November 3, 2025 at 3:45 PM
After the Red Scare, the old money class realized coups are messy. So they built something better: a permanent infrastructure of power.
The story of how the Business Plot of 1933 became the Heritage Foundation and Federalist Society.
🧵
The story of how the Business Plot of 1933 became the Heritage Foundation and Federalist Society.
🧵
🧵 A Kentucky GOP county chair just posted an AI video depicting Barack and Michelle Obama as apes.
She “apologized.” The party shrugged.
This isn’t a scandal — it’s a symptom. Let’s talk about the rot underneath.
open.substack.com/pub/ordinary... 👇
#kygop #kentuckypolitics
She “apologized.” The party shrugged.
This isn’t a scandal — it’s a symptom. Let’s talk about the rot underneath.
open.substack.com/pub/ordinary... 👇
#kygop #kentuckypolitics
Kentucky GOP county chair posts racist AI video and the system just shrugs
In Hardin County, Kentucky, the local Republican Party chair posted an AI video of Barack and Michelle Obama turned into grinning apes.
open.substack.com
November 2, 2025 at 3:30 PM
🧵 A Kentucky GOP county chair just posted an AI video depicting Barack and Michelle Obama as apes.
She “apologized.” The party shrugged.
This isn’t a scandal — it’s a symptom. Let’s talk about the rot underneath.
open.substack.com/pub/ordinary... 👇
#kygop #kentuckypolitics
She “apologized.” The party shrugged.
This isn’t a scandal — it’s a symptom. Let’s talk about the rot underneath.
open.substack.com/pub/ordinary... 👇
#kygop #kentuckypolitics
Kentucky’s GOP Senate hopefuls just pledged loyalty to Trump’s tariff chaos.
They call it “America First.” It’s really “Kentucky Last.”
🧵 Tariff Talk & Snake Oil — a thread:
They call it “America First.” It’s really “Kentucky Last.”
🧵 Tariff Talk & Snake Oil — a thread:
November 1, 2025 at 10:01 PM
Kentucky’s GOP Senate hopefuls just pledged loyalty to Trump’s tariff chaos.
They call it “America First.” It’s really “Kentucky Last.”
🧵 Tariff Talk & Snake Oil — a thread:
They call it “America First.” It’s really “Kentucky Last.”
🧵 Tariff Talk & Snake Oil — a thread:
Hunger isn’t a policy debate — it’s reality. Thousands of Kentuckians are going without food because Congress can’t get its act together. #SNAP #KYPolitics #Shutdown
November 1, 2025 at 10:01 PM
Hunger isn’t a policy debate — it’s reality. Thousands of Kentuckians are going without food because Congress can’t get its act together. #SNAP #KYPolitics #Shutdown
After the Business Plot failed in 1933, the ruling class learned a lesson: violent coups are messy. Influence is permanent. How corporate elites rebranded fascism as patriotism and built a long-term strategy. 🧵
#LongCoup #JohnBirchSociety #AmericaFirst #CorporatePower #RedScare #ColdWarAmerica
#LongCoup #JohnBirchSociety #AmericaFirst #CorporatePower #RedScare #ColdWarAmerica
October 31, 2025 at 3:31 PM
After the Business Plot failed in 1933, the ruling class learned a lesson: violent coups are messy. Influence is permanent. How corporate elites rebranded fascism as patriotism and built a long-term strategy. 🧵
#LongCoup #JohnBirchSociety #AmericaFirst #CorporatePower #RedScare #ColdWarAmerica
#LongCoup #JohnBirchSociety #AmericaFirst #CorporatePower #RedScare #ColdWarAmerica
NEW: Kentucky’s being wired into a national surveillance web.
Flock cameras. ShotSpotter mics. Fusion centers.
All feeding federal databases — and nobody voted for it.
🧵 A map of how the Commonwealth got caught in the net ↓
Flock cameras. ShotSpotter mics. Fusion centers.
All feeding federal databases — and nobody voted for it.
🧵 A map of how the Commonwealth got caught in the net ↓
October 30, 2025 at 2:45 AM
NEW: Kentucky’s being wired into a national surveillance web.
Flock cameras. ShotSpotter mics. Fusion centers.
All feeding federal databases — and nobody voted for it.
🧵 A map of how the Commonwealth got caught in the net ↓
Flock cameras. ShotSpotter mics. Fusion centers.
All feeding federal databases — and nobody voted for it.
🧵 A map of how the Commonwealth got caught in the net ↓
1933. America in the depths of the Great Depression. Wall Street billionaires hatch a plan: a private army to overthrow FDR. It almost worked—and no one went to jail. Here’s the story of the Business Plot, and why it matters today. 🧵
#LongCoup #FDR #CorporateAmerica #DemocracyUnderThreat
#LongCoup #FDR #CorporateAmerica #DemocracyUnderThreat
October 28, 2025 at 3:31 PM
1933. America in the depths of the Great Depression. Wall Street billionaires hatch a plan: a private army to overthrow FDR. It almost worked—and no one went to jail. Here’s the story of the Business Plot, and why it matters today. 🧵
#LongCoup #FDR #CorporateAmerica #DemocracyUnderThreat
#LongCoup #FDR #CorporateAmerica #DemocracyUnderThreat
Peter Thiel doesn’t need to run for office. His people already run the government.
Here’s how the billionaire who hates democracy quietly built a shadow state from Silicon Valley to D.C. 👇
open.substack.com/pub/ordinary...
Here’s how the billionaire who hates democracy quietly built a shadow state from Silicon Valley to D.C. 👇
open.substack.com/pub/ordinary...
The Thiel State: How One Tech Billionaire Wired Himself Into the Government
Peter Thiel doesn’t need to run for office. His people already run the government. Here’s how the billionaire who hates democracy quietly built a shadow state from Silicon Valley to D.C.
open.substack.com
October 27, 2025 at 4:06 PM
Peter Thiel doesn’t need to run for office. His people already run the government.
Here’s how the billionaire who hates democracy quietly built a shadow state from Silicon Valley to D.C. 👇
open.substack.com/pub/ordinary...
Here’s how the billionaire who hates democracy quietly built a shadow state from Silicon Valley to D.C. 👇
open.substack.com/pub/ordinary...
Bulldozers are chewing into the East Wing.
Trump’s building a 90,000-sq-ft ballroom onto the White House — privately funded by donors and totally unreviewed by preservation boards.
The People’s House is becoming a wedding venue.
🧱 Read: open.substack.com/pub/ordinary...
Trump’s building a 90,000-sq-ft ballroom onto the White House — privately funded by donors and totally unreviewed by preservation boards.
The People’s House is becoming a wedding venue.
🧱 Read: open.substack.com/pub/ordinary...
The Trump Ballroom: Turning the People’s House into a Wedding Venue
If that sounds absurd, it’s because it is. The White House was designed to be a working home, not a billionaire’s showroom. Every previous renovation, from Truman’s post-war overhaul to Obama’s quiet
open.substack.com
October 25, 2025 at 4:30 PM
Bulldozers are chewing into the East Wing.
Trump’s building a 90,000-sq-ft ballroom onto the White House — privately funded by donors and totally unreviewed by preservation boards.
The People’s House is becoming a wedding venue.
🧱 Read: open.substack.com/pub/ordinary...
Trump’s building a 90,000-sq-ft ballroom onto the White House — privately funded by donors and totally unreviewed by preservation boards.
The People’s House is becoming a wedding venue.
🧱 Read: open.substack.com/pub/ordinary...
James Comer says his “investigation” found no evidence tying Trump to Jeffrey Epstein.
Right.
Because the evidence got erased first.
This wasn’t an investigation. It was a cleanup crew.
🔗 open.substack.com/pub/ordinary...
Right.
Because the evidence got erased first.
This wasn’t an investigation. It was a cleanup crew.
🔗 open.substack.com/pub/ordinary...
The Investigation That Never Was
You don’t party with a predator, praise his “taste in women,” and then play dumb when the spotlight turns on.
open.substack.com
October 24, 2025 at 7:24 PM
James Comer says his “investigation” found no evidence tying Trump to Jeffrey Epstein.
Right.
Because the evidence got erased first.
This wasn’t an investigation. It was a cleanup crew.
🔗 open.substack.com/pub/ordinary...
Right.
Because the evidence got erased first.
This wasn’t an investigation. It was a cleanup crew.
🔗 open.substack.com/pub/ordinary...
When a Kentucky congressman helps whitewash the record for a sex trafficker’s best friend, that’s not oversight—that’s complicity.
Comer didn’t investigate Epstein. He protected Trump.
open.substack.com/pub/ordinary...
Comer didn’t investigate Epstein. He protected Trump.
open.substack.com/pub/ordinary...
The Investigation That Never Was
You don’t party with a predator, praise his “taste in women,” and then play dumb when the spotlight turns on.
open.substack.com
October 24, 2025 at 2:45 PM
When a Kentucky congressman helps whitewash the record for a sex trafficker’s best friend, that’s not oversight—that’s complicity.
Comer didn’t investigate Epstein. He protected Trump.
open.substack.com/pub/ordinary...
Comer didn’t investigate Epstein. He protected Trump.
open.substack.com/pub/ordinary...
McConnell’s latest “public servant” isn’t serving the public.
Chad Meredith, Kentucky’s new federal judge, is a right-wing activist in a robe.
🧵👇
Chad Meredith, Kentucky’s new federal judge, is a right-wing activist in a robe.
🧵👇
October 23, 2025 at 9:12 PM
McConnell’s latest “public servant” isn’t serving the public.
Chad Meredith, Kentucky’s new federal judge, is a right-wing activist in a robe.
🧵👇
Chad Meredith, Kentucky’s new federal judge, is a right-wing activist in a robe.
🧵👇
McConnell calls him “thoughtful.” We call him dangerous.
Chad Meredith built a career defending cruelty in a suit and tie. Now he’s got a robe for life.
Kentucky deserves judges who serve people. Not power.
open.substack.com/pub/ordinary...
Chad Meredith built a career defending cruelty in a suit and tie. Now he’s got a robe for life.
Kentucky deserves judges who serve people. Not power.
open.substack.com/pub/ordinary...
McConnell’s Judge: Chad Meredith, the Right’s Activist in a Robe
Mitch McConnell got his man. Chad Meredith — a Federalist Society soldier who’s defended abortion bans, union-busting, and teacher crackdowns — is now a federal judge.
open.substack.com
October 23, 2025 at 9:01 PM
McConnell calls him “thoughtful.” We call him dangerous.
Chad Meredith built a career defending cruelty in a suit and tie. Now he’s got a robe for life.
Kentucky deserves judges who serve people. Not power.
open.substack.com/pub/ordinary...
Chad Meredith built a career defending cruelty in a suit and tie. Now he’s got a robe for life.
Kentucky deserves judges who serve people. Not power.
open.substack.com/pub/ordinary...
Every time they shut down the government, they tell you it’s about “fiscal responsibility.”
Every time, it’s really about power — who has it, who doesn’t, and who they’re willing to hurt to keep it.
open.substack.com/pub/ordinary...
#GovernmentShutdown #PowerPlay
Every time, it’s really about power — who has it, who doesn’t, and who they’re willing to hurt to keep it.
open.substack.com/pub/ordinary...
#GovernmentShutdown #PowerPlay
This Government Shutdown
Every time they shut down the government, they tell you it’s about “fiscal responsibility.” Every time, it’s really about power — who has it, who doesn’t, and who they’re willing to hurt to keep it.
open.substack.com
October 23, 2025 at 2:45 PM
Every time they shut down the government, they tell you it’s about “fiscal responsibility.”
Every time, it’s really about power — who has it, who doesn’t, and who they’re willing to hurt to keep it.
open.substack.com/pub/ordinary...
#GovernmentShutdown #PowerPlay
Every time, it’s really about power — who has it, who doesn’t, and who they’re willing to hurt to keep it.
open.substack.com/pub/ordinary...
#GovernmentShutdown #PowerPlay
They just wrote “anti-capitalism” into a counterterrorism memo.
Then called Democrats “Hamas.”
NSPM-7 is how they’ll disappear the opposition — legally.
Read The New Enemies List before it becomes prophecy.→ open.substack.com/pub/ordinary...
Then called Democrats “Hamas.”
NSPM-7 is how they’ll disappear the opposition — legally.
Read The New Enemies List before it becomes prophecy.→ open.substack.com/pub/ordinary...
The New Enemies List
When National Security Presidential Memorandum Number 7 dropped in late September, it read like the Patriot Act in a MAGA trucker hat. Wrapped in the language of “countering domestic terrorism,” it…
open.substack.com
October 22, 2025 at 3:45 PM
They just wrote “anti-capitalism” into a counterterrorism memo.
Then called Democrats “Hamas.”
NSPM-7 is how they’ll disappear the opposition — legally.
Read The New Enemies List before it becomes prophecy.→ open.substack.com/pub/ordinary...
Then called Democrats “Hamas.”
NSPM-7 is how they’ll disappear the opposition — legally.
Read The New Enemies List before it becomes prophecy.→ open.substack.com/pub/ordinary...
The government is now officially defining opposition to capitalism, or even frustration with America’s so-called “traditional values”, as warning signs of terrorism. You don’t have to build a bomb. You just have to question the system.
open.substack.com/pub/ordinary...
open.substack.com/pub/ordinary...
When Dissent Becomes Terrorism
We’ve seen this movie before. When the FBI’s COINTELPRO ran in the ’50s and ’60s, they claimed to be protecting America from “subversives.” What they really did was infiltrate unions, civil rights gro...
open.substack.com
October 21, 2025 at 9:18 PM
The government is now officially defining opposition to capitalism, or even frustration with America’s so-called “traditional values”, as warning signs of terrorism. You don’t have to build a bomb. You just have to question the system.
open.substack.com/pub/ordinary...
open.substack.com/pub/ordinary...
Kentucky showed up for #NoKingsDay. Thousands in Louisville, thousands in Lexington, and hundreds more from Morehead to Bowling Green. Not bad for a state that supposedly “doesn’t protest.”
👑 No Kings here. No crowns. No masters.
open.substack.com/pub/ordinary...
👑 No Kings here. No crowns. No masters.
open.substack.com/pub/ordinary...
No Kings, No Excuses
Yesterday’s nationwide day of protest
open.substack.com
October 19, 2025 at 11:22 PM
Kentucky showed up for #NoKingsDay. Thousands in Louisville, thousands in Lexington, and hundreds more from Morehead to Bowling Green. Not bad for a state that supposedly “doesn’t protest.”
👑 No Kings here. No crowns. No masters.
open.substack.com/pub/ordinary...
👑 No Kings here. No crowns. No masters.
open.substack.com/pub/ordinary...
Miller’s flair for weaponized rhetoric was on full display at the memorial service for Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk. What should have been a solemn event turned into a rallying cry for vengeance, with Miller, almost verbatim, mirroring Joseph Goebbels.
open.substack.com/pub/ordinary...
open.substack.com/pub/ordinary...
Stephen Miller: The Unqualified Henchman Rewriting National Security
Miller’s flair for weaponized rhetoric was on full display at the memorial service for Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk. What should have been a solemn event turned into a rallying cry for venge...
open.substack.com
September 23, 2025 at 5:30 PM
Miller’s flair for weaponized rhetoric was on full display at the memorial service for Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk. What should have been a solemn event turned into a rallying cry for vengeance, with Miller, almost verbatim, mirroring Joseph Goebbels.
open.substack.com/pub/ordinary...
open.substack.com/pub/ordinary...
Reposted by The Flannel Fist
This year’s congressional defense spending bill would further entrench the military’s role at the US border and, for the first time, allow the Department of Defense to outsource border security work to private contractors.
The New Defense Bill Could Further Privatize Border Control
This year’s congressional defense spending bill would further entrench the military’s role at the US border and, for the first time, allow the Department of Defense to outsource border security work to private contractors.
jacobin.com
September 18, 2025 at 4:29 PM
This year’s congressional defense spending bill would further entrench the military’s role at the US border and, for the first time, allow the Department of Defense to outsource border security work to private contractors.
Free speech doesn’t die with one big ban.
It dies by a thousand choke points:
❌ Fired comedians
❌ Algorithmic throttling
❌ Corporate extortion
❌ State threats
We’re watching the First Amendment unravel.
open.substack.com/pub/ordinary...
It dies by a thousand choke points:
❌ Fired comedians
❌ Algorithmic throttling
❌ Corporate extortion
❌ State threats
We’re watching the First Amendment unravel.
open.substack.com/pub/ordinary...
The Dismantling of the First Amendment Has Already Begun
The First Amendment isn’t a museum piece. It’s being dismantled in real time—by billionaires, media monopolies, and politicians who fear dissent.
open.substack.com
September 18, 2025 at 4:16 PM
Free speech doesn’t die with one big ban.
It dies by a thousand choke points:
❌ Fired comedians
❌ Algorithmic throttling
❌ Corporate extortion
❌ State threats
We’re watching the First Amendment unravel.
open.substack.com/pub/ordinary...
It dies by a thousand choke points:
❌ Fired comedians
❌ Algorithmic throttling
❌ Corporate extortion
❌ State threats
We’re watching the First Amendment unravel.
open.substack.com/pub/ordinary...