Two years ago: What does my being an atheist have to do with anything at all?

Facebook reminded me of this post from January 8, 2018. It generated 130 comments, which I'm not going to repeat here. 

The content seems especially apropos given my current sabbatical from local political commentary, which I'm navigating with a calm sense of detachment and resignation when not kicking, screaming and contemplating an alias. 

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No flippancy in what I'm about to write; I'm genuinely curious.

To begin, I'm well aware that outspokenness has a tendency to make enemies, and as such, when I signed on to be a dissident, I figured I was going to have some. No complaints; eggs, omelettes, and all that.

This said, I was told something today that actually strikes me as surprising.

There's a prominent individual in town who loathes me (it isn't a mutual feeling; I just wish the Peter Principle wasn't so firmly entrenched in his line of work), and as I'm informed, one big piece of his dislike for me is that I'm an atheist, while he believes that our society rests on a foundation of "Christian values" (as it was relayed to me).

Judging by his job performance (not to mention political affiliation), this seems a tad hypocritical, although that's not my point.

But on second thought, maybe I have no point, and shouldn't be surprised at all. I've never had a beef with Christianity as a personal belief system; rather, it's the tendency of Christians to evangelize and assert theological primacy in an arena where there should be no winners -- but rather how you play whatever game you've chosen.

Never mind. An eyebrow is arched; after all, what does my being an atheist have to do with the fundamental basis for our disagreements?

However, I suppose it happens all the time. So it goes.

Dodgy Gahan doggie calendar tops NA Confidential's Top Ten list of most-viewed posts in December 2018.

Thanks for reading NA Confidential, where we enjoy reconnoitering the neglected periphery for uniquely local perspectives on life in New Albany.

Well, someone has to do it, or we can grow old waiting for the Jeffersonville News and Tribune to rediscover journalism.

December's list of most-viewed posts requires an explanation. At the end of October, users of the infamously shoddy Blogger platform started reporting a sudden drop in blog traffic. Blogger emitted its usual "we're investigating" noises, and while numerical ratios seem consistent, page view counts which have been sensible for years no longer are.

For those monetizing their blogs, this probably is infuriating. Since I'm a loss leader kind of fellow, it's merely an annoyance.

Once again this month, statistics are derived from an informal survey of Facebook numbers and a comparison to Blogger stats. In short, this looks about right, and I'm ranking posts by position.

The December most-viewed list begins with ten "honorable mention" posts, before concluding with the Top Ten, escalating to No. 1.

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DECEMBER HONORABLE MENTION (10)

#20

BEER WITH A SOCIALIST: "Upscale microbrew pub franchise" comes to Jeffersonville.

Whenever I hear the words "upscale microbrew pub franchise," I reach for Franchise Gator to learn how much it costs to buy into someone else's ideas.

It's not my preference in beer or life, and the older I get, the more often I shrug and yawn, BUT to each his or her own.

As an aside, when Growler USA's corporate HQ speaks of "certified brew specialists," are we to imagine they mean Cicerones? I googled the term, and the only hits I got were from Growler USA.

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#19

Big thanks to the New Albany Street Department for cleaning the P&u alley.

To repeat: Hearty thanks to the New Albany Street Department for giving the P&u alley a good cleaning.

Regular readers will recall that we had an unsightly dumping issue in this alley just before the Thanksgiving holiday.

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#18

Here's Jeff Speck to explain how speed kills -- and there's Team Gahan, ignoring him.

While many different factors influence the safety of humans in cities, none matters nearly so much as the speed at which vehicles are traveling. The relationship between vehicle speed and danger is, to put it mildly, exponential. (1/4)

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#17

GREEN MOUSE SAYS: Are NA's dwindling Democrats seeking to wrest control of city elections from the county? Lame, but at least they're not suggesting HWC Engineering do it.

"I keep saying that Gahanism can't possibly get any weirder, or the Floyd County Democrats any more panic-stricken, and I keep waking up in the middle of the night, drenched in sweat, hearing Rod Serling's voice."

"What's he saying to you, Mouse?"

"It goes something like this: 'New Albany is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man's fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call the Gahan Zone.' "

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#16

Christmas 2018: From Munich to New (and Old) Albania, with Vietnam Kitchen to follow.

Now it's Christmas Day, and it would be futile to attempt to deal with the jumble of emotions crowding my noggin. I may have to chip away at them over the coming days, knowing all the while that the year to come probably is going to be even more exhausting than the one about to pass.

But there are a few billion people out there who have it worse off than us, and I try never to forget it -- whether a holiday or any other day when we roll out of bed and seek yet again to finesse the rough edges of the existential dilemma.

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#15

In a unanimous decision, NAC's New Albany "Person of the Year" for 2018 is Jeff Gahan's Money Machine.

They're all connected to greater or lesser extent to the overarching theme of Gahan's seven years in office: the construction of a self-aggrandizing political patronage "pay to play" system unprecedented in the modern era of New Albanian political malfeasance.

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#14

Satire alert: Trump tells Gahan, "I can fix your Riverview Tower problem."

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#13

Queue the cattle cars, because Riverview Tower will be the next pawn in City Hall's luxury enhancement crusade.

If Riverview Tower is doomed owing to irreparable physical problems, then residents can be scattered for their own good (as Gauleiter Duggins ineptly signaled to the inattentive reporter, below). The building would come down, and then the property sold for for the sort of "luxury" high-rise development that's eternally more conducive to the engorged mayoral ego than any conceivable dose of Viagra.

It's "why he's here," forever fascinated by those bright shiny baubles capable of generating campaign funds, as opposed to actual human beings and their needs, which he simply cannot fathom in a month of Sundays.

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#12

Public restrooms are another beneficial project neither Jeff Gahan nor Develop New Albany is likely to pursue.

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#11

Silly me -- New Albany Municipal Utilities customers paid for the mayor's Christmas card to them last year, too.

The Green Mouse fixed this year's mayoral holiday card. Dear Leader's attachment to the usual donors has him looking like a NASCAR driver.

DECEMBER TOP 10

#10

Meme wars erupt as the Reisz Mahal tops the Tom May Content Multiplier's list of top five reasons not to vote for Jeff Gahan in 2019.

As a New Year's resolution for 2019, let's work together to ensure that every last elected official responsible for the Reisz Mahal luxury government center expenditure is defeated at the polls.

Now, roll those memes.

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#9

Lieber Führer visits NAHA, Eiffel Tower: "We're from the government and we're here to help ... ourselves."

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#8

Did the sewer rate increase pay for this campaign advertisement?

YOU paid for your Season's Greetings card from the permanent candidate.

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#7

In no known universe can this erection be a coincidence.

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#6

ON THE AVENUES: Another year older and deeper in debt, so let's doo-doo it all over again.

Fortunately, unlike the chaotic situation three decades ago in the People’s Republic if Romania, my fellow New Albanians will have the lawful opportunity next year to exercise their power of the ballot and remove our own under-educated, egotistical, image-replicating, cash-in-the-service-of-special-interests, bullying and personality cult curating Nicolae Ceausescu wannabe, along with the bootlicking clique of vapid lackeys drooling in his general vicinity.

We can get to Trump later. He’s minor league by comparison. First, it’s time to pluck the Genius of the Flood Plain from the comfy projected office chair in his palatial Reisz Mahal, and put him back into peddling veneer.

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#5

Doing it for Matt, because Jeff Gahan doesn't want to hear about pedestrians, bicyclists and skateboarders being killed on city streets. That's why Jeff Gahan MUST GO.

City Hall's response was, and remains, unconscionable, damning and sadly indicative of the ethical, moral, AND cash-driven rot that pervades the Gahan administration -- and, by extension, the hierarchy of the Democratic Party and its elected officials, who are this chicanery's enablers.

That's because there has not been, and likely never will be, any sort of human response to Matt's death at all on the part of officialdom, of the sort revealing qualities like sadness, empathy and resolve. Rather, we've been handed cowardly evasions and the sort of by-the-numbers word puree crafted by computers for androids.

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#4

The owners of SweetFrog Downtown explain their decision to close at the end of 2018.

We feel like every spare moment this whole year has been spent trying to find a funding solution for the store to be able to stay open. We are very sorry that we have to leave you New Albany.

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#3

PINTS & UNION PORTFOLIO: Edmund Fitzgerald? It's much, much more than a Porter.

I'll be buying a second keg of Edmund Fitzgerald to take us through until the expected arrival of Fuller's London Porter in January. What I'd ask of Pints&union customers is when you drink a pint of Edmund Fitzgerald, kindly spare a few seconds to reflect on the tragedy of these 29 men who died not so much because they were heroes pursuing some lofty, noble cause, but simply while doing their everyday jobs.

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#2

Chromatic Homes: "How the simple act of painting an ornate structure in bright or bold colors can inspire, empower, sustain and enlighten an entire community."

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#1

Cult of personality: Jeff Gahan's face appears on doggie calendars and in newspaper inserts. It's blatant electioneering at the taxpayer's expense.

When the face of Dear Leader is larger than the content his image purports to endorse, then it's no longer about the content. It's about Dear Leader. If you were to ask Jeff Gahan how many mistakes he has made since becoming mayor, he'd pause only briefly before answering: none.

Think about this for just a moment. He's a human, and humans are fallible. Do we need a mayor whose primary interest is self-deification, or do we need a mayor whose policies make a difference for ordinary citizens, like me and you?

And all that money from the same special interests, constantly flowing into Gahan's campaign account. How much money is enough for the mayor and his clique?

ON THE AVENUES: Another year older and deeper in debt, so let's doo-doo it all over again.

ON THE AVENUES: Another year older and deeper in debt, so let's doo-doo it all over again.

A weekly column by Roger A. Baylor.

Oh, I am heartily tired of hearing about what Lee is going to do. Some of you always seem to think he is suddenly going to turn a double somersault, and land in our rear and on both of our flanks at the same time. Go back to your command, and try to think what we are going to do ourselves, instead of what Lee is going to do.
-- Ulysses S. Grant

End-of-year compendiums taunt as much as they tempt. While at times an adequate teaching tool, the glibness of 20/20 hindsight usually gets in the way of instruction.

Apart from the planetary scourge known as Homo sapiens, there are no neatly printed numerical calendars, just natural cycles of life and death, recurrence and the dialectic. Nothing ever really ends on December 31, or begins the following day. All of it is a continuum, until the final pervasive darkness overtakes us all. After that, calendar pages no longer turn.

Encouraged yet?

Awesome, so let’s begin the year’s end housekeeping with thoughts pertaining to the life of ON THE AVENUES itself. In short, there’ll need to be a slight adjustment.

That’s because speaking personally, the single biggest story of 2018 was the official debut of Pints&union on August 1, which put an end to three and a half years of my semi-retired underemployment. As the pub's advent followed the long delayed final settlement of my NABC buyout, it became a judiciously considered exclamation mark affixed to what I view as a personal rebirth.

During my hiatus there were ups and downs, births and deaths, frustrations and exhilaration, but in the main it was a gratifyingly productive period. I’ll look back on those years as a cherished time to learn and grow. It was like earning a second undergraduate degree, or perhaps finishing a master’s program in creative synthesis.

Just as in an overall daily sense I’ve no idea where I’d be without my wife Diana, in professional terms this accolade now fully extends to my friend and employer Joe Phillips, to whom I’m grateful for the opportunity to reinvent a career in beer. We’ve had six-months to build a foundation, and in 2019, the beer program’s going to fly high.

It’s about time – and it’s all about time.

My work routine became established fairly quickly, but it has taken me a few months to sort through the scheduling implications for my sidelines of writing and blogging. Since the advent of ON THE AVENUES in 2011 it has been my weekly goal to publish the column on Thursday. However, my work week at Pints&union is front-loaded, falling largely at the beginning of the week (from Monday through Wednesday, and into Thursday).

Perhaps a better course in 2019 would be to publish ON THE AVENUES on Tuesday, giving myself the weekend to prepare -- and what better day to begin than Tuesday, January 1, New Year’s Day?

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Bernie Sanders tweeted on Friday.

The American people are tired of a president who is a liar, a fraud, a narcissist and a bully. They want leadership which unites us, not divides us. They want policies which work for all, not just the wealthy few.

I hastened to comment on this.

Welcome back to Nawbany, Bernie. We have one of those charlatans, too.

Because New Albany is similarly afflicted, it was another long, strange civic journey in 2018, and it’s going to be twice as annoying in 2019.

Fortunately, unlike the chaotic situation three decades ago in the People’s Republic if Romania, my fellow New Albanians will have the lawful opportunity next year to exercise their power of the ballot and remove our own under-educated, egotistical, image-replicating, cash-in-the-service-of-special-interests, bullying and personality cult curating Nicolae Ceausescu wannabe, along with the bootlicking clique of vapid lackeys drooling in his general vicinity.

We can get to Trump later. He’s minor league by comparison. First, it’s time to pluck the Genius of the Flood Plain from the comfy projected office chair in his palatial Reisz Mahal, and put him back into peddling veneer.

Wait …

Veneer: A thin decorative covering of fine wood applied to a coarser wood or other material.

That’s it: Potemkin veneer. Come to think of it, the ideal epitaph for eight long years of toxic Gahanism.

Bring out your brooms, citizens. Behind the bright shiny Disney images, this place is a mess. Granted, it won’t be easy beating a campaign-finance-engorged narcissist of the 19th-century Tammany Hall model who genuinely believes his face must adorn Kroger shopping carts right next to where consumers toss their Metamucil, condoms and Rice Krispies Treats, but working together, we can do it.

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Brevity may be the soul of wit, although it isn’t typically my specialty. Today I’ll play against type and keep it relatively short.

Returning to those pesky compendiums, a summary: It’s been a year, and next week there’ll be another one. Throughout the past year, I’ve struggled first to discover, and then maintain a balance between the varying public roles I’ve written for myself. Privately, I’ve confided in some of you why this has been the case.

Paranoia may be the big destroyer, but when you’ve no doubt the threat is real, there’s an obligation to calculate risks. That’s because bullies are cowards, and cowards often are disinclined to target the source of their rancor. Rather, they nibble maliciously at the periphery – family, friends, employers – rather than come straight to the source.

In this specific instance that source is me, and so kindly allow me to close the year by encouraging all those having something to say to me to cut out the middle man and come directly to … that’s right, me.

Mano a mano is the one thing they seem utterly terrified to try, preferring instead various chicaneries from afar to silence dissent rather than engage it through direct dialogue.

Yes, I can be a handful.

Yes: I say what I think, believe in what I say, and fight for what I believe. I care deeply about justice, fairness and equality of opportunity for all, not only those playing their big fish/little pond games. It’s not a switch or spigot capable of being turned on and off, although I’ve tried mightily to do so.

But you see, facts are the end game for me. My "side" has legions of them, and in the coming year, the facts will continue to be enabled to speak for themselves – with the necessary polemical assistance from the likes of me.

After all, that’s why I'm here.

Readers, thanks for another fine trip around the sun.

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Recent columns:

December 20: ON THE AVENUES: Truth, lies, music, and a trick of the Christmas tale (2018 Remix).

December 14: A joyful noise? The six most-read ON THE AVENUES columns of 2018.

December 6: ON THE AVENUES: Straight tickets, unsociable media and whether Democrats should rally around Gahan's gallows pole.

November 29: ON THE AVENUES: "That's why I voted no," explains Scott Stewart, pausing to duck rocks feebly lobbed by Team Gahan's propaganda pygmies.

What I read in 2018.

There's never enough time to read, although 2018 has been a good year by my usual annual standards.

I read 16 books in all in 2018, and managed to write a word or two about most of them (links below).

Here they are, by evenly balanced category.

Novels
Life: A User’s Manual, by Georges Perec
The Tin Drum, by Günter Grass
Earthly Powers, by Anthony Burgess
Act of the Damned, by António Lobo Antunes

Biography & Autobiography
Krazy: George Herriman, a Life in Black and White, by Michael Tisserand
Not Dead Yet: The Autobiography, by Phil Collins (audio book)
Grant, by Ron Chernow
Gabriele D'Annunzio – Poet, Seducer & Preacher of War, by Lucy Hughes-Hallett

Drink & Food
Great Beers of Belgium, by Michael Jackson
The Guinness Story, by Edward J. Bourke
Soul Food: The Surprising Story of an American Cuisine One Plate at a Time, by Adrian Miller
Ambitious Brew: The Story of American Beer, by Maureen Ogle

Travel, History and Geography
To Hell and Back: Europe, 1914-1949, by Ian Kershaw
Mani: Travels in the Southern Peloponnese, by Patrick Leigh Fermor
The House of Government: A Saga of the Russian Revolution, by Yuri Slezkine
Kosher Chinese: Living, Teaching, and Eating with China's Other Billion, by Mike Levy

Which one was best?

That's like being asked to choose a favorite child, but having issued the disclaimer, probably The House of Government and The Tin Drum were most memorable, followed closely by To Hell and Back and Life: A User's Manual.

The most unexpectedly affecting was Krazy, which came completely out of left field. Since childhood I'd been hearing about the Krazy Kat, and never bothered learning anything about the comic strip or its author. Michael Tisserand's biography of George Herriman has rectified this imbalance, and I'm grateful to Cary Stemle for making me aware.   

As for what comes next, the first selection of 2019 hasn't been chosen. However the second is queued and ready for late January: The Avignon Quintet, by Lawrence Durrell, to be read in tandem with my friend Jon. 

NA Confidential's Top Ten list of most-viewed November 2018 posts -- with an asterisk.

Top story when it came, and also when it went.

Thanks for reading NA Confidential, where we enjoy reconnoitering the neglected periphery for uniquely local perspectives on life in New Albany. November's list of most-viewed posts requires an explanation.

At the end of October, users of the Blogger platform started reporting a sudden drop in blog traffic. Blogger emitted its usual "we're investigating" noises, but perhaps the best explanation I've seen follows.

The reason why I know it's the best? Because I don't understand a single word. If you do, can you provide a translation?

The recent change to "HTTPS" has affected a few blogs. With your blog being accessed using "HTTPS", it has to be re indexed by the search engines.

https://blogging.nitecruzr.net/2018/09/https-migration-managing-traffic.html

While it's being re indexed, its search reputation is lower, and you see less search related traffic. You're not the only person experiencing the pain. I check my blog daily - and see disappointment 6 days out of 7 / week.

You're going to have to do this some time - as will every other blog owner. Everybody will experience this pain - either now, or later. Don't look for the option to publish "HTTP" much longer. Sometime soon, "HTTPS" won't be optional.

The November most-viewed list begins with ten "honorable mention" posts, before concluding with the Top Ten, escalating to No. 1. This month, the statistics are derived from an informal survey of Facebook numbers, which roughly correlate with the skewed Google readings. In short, this looks about right, and this time I'm ranking them by number.

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NOVEMBER HONORABLE MENTION (10)

#20

Following the money: HWC Engineering made city streets even safer for speeding cars. Now the company will oversee the Reisz Mahal. Can campaign donations be far behind?

It appears that municipal corporate attorney and chief sluice greaser Gibson was misquoted.

WAS: "They (HWC) will make sure what we bought is what we will get."

CORRECTED: "They (HWC) will make sure a percentage of what the city bought lands in the mayor's campaign finance account."

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#19

Junk? Big Wally makes it go away, just like David Copperfield. The result is angioplasty for our garage.

Accept no substitutes: Big Wally is THE MAN. Two years of collected junk from basement, home and garage, all gone in an hour. All I did is blow out the dust.

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#18

"Meet the Fatbergs: Digging into the science of three cities’ sewer-clogging blobs."

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#17

Come what may, I gotta be me.

During our time in Gdansk, the Confidentials spent much time talking about current events, whether they pertain to the planet, our country, this city or ourselves. Our inescapable conclusion is one of transition. Old realities always yield to new ones, but it seems the process is particularly acute at the moment. Maybe it's always been.

I've spent much time lately agonizing publicly about where this blog has been, and where it's going. There's no need to revisit these ruminations, apart from saying there's a tightrope I've been walking; where it leads is anyone's guess, and all I know for sure is I can't go backward.

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#16

Flight documentaries: An indispensable documentary about Mick Ronson, the under-appreciated guitarist and arranger for David Bowie.

I readily concede to being only a lukewarm aficionado of David Bowie, but an addiction to music magazines during the early 1970s has assured my lasting familiarity (and belated listening) with Bowie, Mick Ronson, the Spiders from Mars, Mott the Hoople, T. Rex, and the other "glam" period British acts that so influenced personal fave, Def Leppard.

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#15

GREEN MOUSE SAYS: The curious case of the speeding ticket, the honest cop, his fuming chief and the city's abject failure to calm downtown traffic.

Let's hope the officer in question, whose inadvertent honesty is appreciated in dissident circles, isn't cashiered. We're already short on police man (and woman) staffing, aren't we? It's a shame available officers are used at speed traps when properly implemented street design might have turned the trick.

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#14

What's a Parking Benefits District? DNA needs to pay more attention to matters that pertain to merchants.

"Several cities across the country have begun implementing alternative parking management strategies to ensure more convenient curbside on-street parking through better pricing. A Parking Benefit District (PBD) is an emerging strategy that uses better pricing to reduce the negative effects of parking and reinvests the increased revenue into improving the area streets and sidewalks."

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#13

ON THE AVENUES: A few thanks to give before we return to our regular anti-anchor resistance programming.

Legacies needn’t depend on wealth. They’re about doing what you can, while you can, as best you can, and producing a body of work impervious to calculations of interest, percentages and historical revisionism. Twenty years on, if someone smiles because they recall good times at the pub, then it’s the best return on my time and investment.

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#12

It's the design, stupid: Months too late, but now the city will deploy speed radar detector signs on Spring Street, so as to collect information fundamentally flawed by the mere presence of the detectors.

Back down here in the flood plain, City Hall's two-way grid design changed nothing apart from direction; the new street design continues to produce traffic speeds that are unsafe -- people actually die from it and not a soul employed by the city will address this fact -- and now we erect speed radar detector signs as some sort of compensation, presumably in the hope that the sight of these detectors will itself reduce speeds enough to declare victory ... or give another contract to HWC.

I'll repeat again: every bit of this is perfectly obvious to anyone who spends 15 minutes on foot or riding a bicycle in the vicinity of Spring Street. And yet something this simple continues to elude the professional monetization class in this city.

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#11

Facade improvement: New windows coming to 102 E. Market (Todd Coleman's Classic Home Furnishings).

NOVEMBER TOP 10

#10

New Albany has a pro basketball player right now: Braydon Hobbs, playing in Germany for FC Bayern München.

As it turns out, one of FC Bayern's players is 29-year-old Braydon Hobbs, a New Albanian basketballer made good, who enjoyed outstanding careers at New Albany High School and Bellarmine University before heading overseas in 2012 to begin playing pro ball.

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#9

No blue wave, but white flags aplenty as the GOP dominates Floyd County in mid-term elections. Time yet for heads to roll?

Dickey has presided over an escalating series of electoral disasters, and no human should be automatically gifted with ongoing tenure based on failure. Undoubtedly Dickey's resignation would be refused, because the party seems to believe it possesses no other subalterns capable of stepping into his shoes. However, we all might be surprised. They're actually there, just overshadowed by Dickey's staggering ineptitude.

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#8

The Urbanophile nails it: "Louisville Bridges Project Is the Biggest Transportation Boondoggle of the 21st Century."

"The end result was even worse than I anticipated. The project has proven to be a money waster of the highest order, and in fact by far the biggest American transportation boondoggle I can identify in the 21st century so far."

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#7

Anna Murray's amazing post-election statement.

"People are actively suppressing their ability to feel compassion- making fun of it by calling us snowflakes. Responding to expressions of genuine concern with hateful name-calling. Well what some perceive as our greatest weakness is actually our greatest strength. It's that thing that makes us human and differentiates us from machines. The ability to care and love and spread joy and to be able to acknowledge the suffering of others is what makes life worth living. We are more than consumers and there is more to life than just hoarding your wealth and buying new things. We are people and it's time for us to start living with respect for each other and respect for the planet."

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#6

Centenary adaptive reuse: "What about a homeless shelter?"

We must remember that City Hall as presently occupied will not publicly acknowledge the existence of unsightliness, whether homelessness, hunger or opioid addiction. The mayor believe irrefutable truth reflects badly on his hermetic "special interests first" kingdom, and so he stares resolutely in the opposite direction. Take the proposition to the city's top leaders, and boutique hotel wins in a landslide.

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#5

Dumping in alleys is another reason why we can't have nice things.

We've been open at Pints&union since August, and I've lost count of the number of times garbage has been dumped in the alley to the left of our front door. Kudos to the city's ordinance enforcement guys, who were there bright and early this morning to take a look. I'm no fan of surveillance cameras from a civil liberties perspective, but this ongoing issue suggests an exception might be due.

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#4

ON THE AVENUES: "That's why I voted no," explains Scott Stewart, pausing to duck rocks feebly lobbed by Team Gahan's propaganda pygmies.

Isn't shaming the Republican Stewart the sort of thing for the Floyd County Democratic Party's disinformation outlets, as opposed to the city's? Party chairman Dickey's already doing it regularly for the Democrats, isn't he -- even if it didn't avert a third consecutive electoral meltdown earlier this month?

Surely it's a coincidence that Dickey enjoys a lifetime sinecure at the Redevelopment Commission.

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#3

Centenary United Methodist Church, downtown -- it's half a city block, now up for sale.

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#2

Shawn and Ann Carruthers "foster unity and cohesiveness in Southern Indiana."

We get too few feel-good stories amid the local political scene. This is one of them.

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#1

Gospel Bird will close: "I've begun the process of an exit plan to start winding down Gospel Bird and set an exact closing date."

"I've decided it's in the best interest of my family in time of need, my children, my mental health, quality of life, and my staff, to simplify some things in my life. I've begun the process of an exit plan to start winding down Gospel Bird and set an exact closing date."

The Top Ten list of most-viewed October 2018 posts at NA Confidential.

Thanks for reading NA Confidential, where we enjoy reconnoitering the neglected periphery for uniquely local perspectives on life in New Albany.

The October most-viewed list begins with five "honorable mention" posts, before concluding with the Top Ten, escalating to No. 1. These statistics are derived from Google's internal accounting.

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OCTOBER HONORABLE MENTION (5)

438

Harvest Homecoming explains: "The Tribune sold the ad to the Democratic party. This is was completely out of our control."

"As current president of Harvest Homecoming, it is important for me to address the advertisement on the front of our annual HHC tabloid. The News and Tribune has full control over selling the advertisements and the front of the tabloid always has an advertisement. The ads make the circulation to the community possible. For many years that space has been purchased by a local car sales company. This year, they opted to not purchase the ad. With the space up for grabs, The Tribune sold the ad to the Democratic party. This is was completely out of our control and I was not aware of the advertisement until it was published."

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448

Fast fact about vehicular speeds that kill: "18 mph is the human tolerance of crash impacts."

I'll keep posting about speed because speed kills. If you wish to ignore all available evidence and retain a sense of automotive entitlement, which allows you to drive 40 mph on city streets that pass through neighborhoods, then I'd submit that your entitlement is anti-social -- and whatever the neighborhood must do to restore safety is justified.

If you can't understand any of what I'm writing here, that's not a deal-killer. But thinking of yourself as a "progressive"? That is.

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466

These stickers have been placed throughout downtown New Albany.

Don't worry. I fixed them.

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477

LET THE FACTS SPEAK: "Landlords refused to even consider voucher holders, some candidly citing the low subsidies and their desire to cash in on a hot market."

We'll be reinforcing this point again and again as the 2019 primary draws closer, because at a time when the federal housing voucher program is only minimally effective, our Mayor Jeff Gahan, David Duggins and their hand-chosen takeover administrators at the New Albany Housing Authority continue to insist their plan to half-size public housing in our city is viable because those slated for displacement will be handed vouchers.

The real-world evidence differs rather dramatically from bunker dogma.

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488

On the topic of the forthcoming Floyd County election.

Yes, this means refraining from voting for a few quality Democrats, ones I know to be competent; in some of these races, both candidates are quite worthy. It pains me, and rest assured it actually isn't "personal" in any of these races, but as Mark so presciently notes, their cognitive dissonance has grown tiresome.

It's long past time for the ones who actually "get it" to stand up, step forward, and challenge the local Democratic Party's catastrophically narrow orthodoxy.

If the rotten patronage structure can be torn down now, maybe it can be rebuilt into something genuinely useful, consistently ethical and worthy of a leftist's support for the future.

OCTOBER TOP TEN

599 (tie)

"State Representative Ed Clere will be a featured guest speaker at the Southern Indiana PRIDE Launch Event next Thursday October 11th, 2018."

Having Ed Clere as a featured guest speaker at Southern Indiana Pride's launch event strikes me as an ideal way to promote unity -- at least among those who wish to be unified.

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599 (tie)

It's all conceptual: Señor Iguana's New Albany location will be called La Catrina's Mexican Kitchen, not Señor Iguana's -- or something like that.

It looks as if Señor Iguana's will be debuting its New Albany location not as another Señor Iguana's, but as La Catrina Mexican Kitchen, presumably a new dining concept. It will be located on the corner of Elm and Bank in the former home of Dragon King's Daughter, which now operates a few blocks away on Market and W. 1st.

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694

City Hall says we have "sufficient" bike lanes to accommodate e-scooters. It's probably a good idea to follow the money before getting excited about the prospect.

Before we risk life and limb atop one of the Bird e-scooters to be turned loose to navigate New Albany's streets of screams, let's define the term.

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722

Hanson issues tepid apology for botched political ad on the cover of Harvest Homecoming's guide, but Democrats might think twice before tittering.

Shamed into public comment, Hanson couldn't even manage to pen a personal apology. Instead, Chris Morris was enlisted to "interview" his own boss (below), which tells you everything you need to know about the shambles overtaking this persistently misdirected enterprise.

Meanwhile, the social media response of most Democrats has been to defend the ad placement and deride Republicans who have complained about it.

Really?

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749

LET THE FACTS SPEAK: To be too busy or to not be too busy.

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803

How many bicyclists, skateboarders and pedestrians have to die before Jeff Gahan gives a flying fuck?

I'm trying really hard to be nice ... but another "accident," another "driver not to blame," another instance where we know all about the victim and nothing at all about the driver, and another prospective round of Jeff Gahan's political appointees aciting "decisively" only when ducking responsibility and blaming the victim.

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1,013

R.I.P. Dean Hammersmith, who got a whole lot done in 88 years.

Dean wasn't afraid to mix it up with the menfolk when it came to conversation. She was a doer, highly organized, and exuding a natural sense of being in command. Children can sense when an adult is bluffing. She wasn't and didn't, although at the same time remained loving toward the kids and listened to them. This always struck me as textbook parenting, honest and respectful on all sides.

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1,070

The willfully neglected Moser Tannery died so the Reisz Mahal luxury municipal HQ might live.

The final and damning cause of the fire was the city's willful neglect in the years since purchasing it in 2016. In effect, City Hall did rough triage and swapped the Moser's potential reclamation for a new city hall downtown, directing ever scarcer available resources toward a refuge for inhumanely treated government workers (CM Barksdale's famous words, not mine).

This is the result.

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1,291

Meet Joseph Albert “Trey” Hollingsworth III, the biggest goober in Washington.

This is a profile of Joseph Albert “Trey” Hollingsworth III, the biggest goober in Washington.

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1,326

At 114 E. Market, there's Pints & Union. At 424 E. Market, there's Pints & Duplication.

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6,695

Big Four Burgers has been sold and is under new management, and District 22 Pizza is no more, soon to become a "hot chicken" outlet.

The Green Mouse was told some months back that Matt McMahan was looking to sell both of his burger restaurants (New Albany and Jeffersonville) as well as District 22 Pizza, which has been attached to the New Albany Big Four for the past year.