Joe Sonka 😐
@joesonka
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I cover state government for Kentucky Public Radio. This is an archived account, I’m over @ the other app now, see link 👇
Louisville, KY
Joined March 2008
Won a Pulitzer and this little girl went pee on the potty. A big night of accomplishments in this household.
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.@KellyannePolls says that 2 Iraqi refugees "were the masterminds behind the Bowling Green massacre.".(There was no such massacre.)
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I won a Pulitzer Prize today, and I’m on my second week of unpaid furlough starting next Monday. Please subscribe to the @courierjournal to support our work:
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Jaw-dropper from the journalism students at @manualredeye: A Kentucky State Police training slideshow obtained via open records request quotes Hitler, advocates being ‘ruthless killer’
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Sen. Rand Paul, who built his career on resisting big government overreach, hasn’t tweeted in five days.
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JUST IN: Kentucky Supreme Court rules unanimously in favor of Gov. Andy Beshear on his COVID-19 emergency regulations. They stay in place.
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Charles Booker received 88,116 votes in Jefferson County, which is the most votes a primary candidate has ever received there. Previously it was Barack Obama in 2008 with 76,162. If Booker wants to run for mayor of Louisville in 2022, that ain't a bad springboard. #kysen.
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.@RepJohnYarmuth opposes nomination: ". it’s clear that this is part of some larger deal on judicial nominations between the president & McConnell. I strongly oppose this deal & Meredith being nominated for the position. That last thing we need is another extremist on the bench".
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NEW from me and @adwolfson: President Biden is poised to nominate an anti-abortion Republican attorney for federal judgeship in Kentucky, in apparent deal with Mitch McConnell: via @courierjournal.
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Sen. Berg, who lost her transgender son Henry to suicide earlier this year, is still crying at her seat after the SB 150 vote.
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I talked to former KY medical chief & child abuse expert Dr. George Nichols:. "Bevin clearly doesn’t know medicine and anatomy. I worked for six consecutive governors as chief medical examiner, and fortunately I didn’t have to report to that asshole.”
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Judge ruled that anyone on the pavement outside the door was in line and could vote.
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Can’t believe I really win the Noble Prize, a dream come true.
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People are screaming at the senators from the gallery. "You're all fucking pieces of shit!".
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Courier Journal wins Pulitzer Prize for coverage of former Kentucky governor's pardons via @courierjournal.
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Biden is announcing five new judicial nominations today, but Chad Meredith is not one of them.
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When Bevin called me in December he urged me to dig into the cases of his pardons, saying, "if it's done, right, I'm telling you, you could win a Pulitzer Prize. I don't know if you write well enough or do research well enough to do it, but if somebody had that ability. ".
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I guess they really don’t screen out their town hall participants
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Koenig added: “I would advise any male politician to eliminate the word hymen from their vocabulary.”.
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Jefferson County Attorney Mike O'Connell is dropping the felony charges from the 87 protesters arrested on the attorney general's law this week.
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Keturah Herron won her special election for state House tonight, becoming Kentucky’s first out LGBTQ state representative in history.
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Terry Bush, who hanged the effigy of Gov. Beshear, has been fired.
A statement from Neil Huffman Auto Group on May 26, 2020.
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@manualredeye The KSP spokesperson's statement explaining the presentation with three Hitler quotes is. wow.
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Just In from Gov. Andy Beshear, reacting time this @manualredeye story: “This is absolutely unacceptable. It is further unacceptable that I just learned about this through social media. We will collect all the facts and take immediate corrective action.”.
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Trump went after McConnell in his statement today by mentioning his wife’s ties to China. Usually any time a Democrat does this his allies go on the offensive calling them racists. Will McConnell’s allies call Trump racist?.
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Gun-toting anti-shutdown protesters hung Gov. Andy Beshear in effigy and then marched the short distance to his house, chanting for him to come out of his house. Don’t know if he and his wife and young children were home.
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The Iraqis in question not only didn't commit a massacre or kill anyone in Bowling Green, Ky, prosecutor says they didn't plot attack there.
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Some personal news.
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This is how the mother of the victim of Micah Schoettle, who raped her 9-year child, learned that @mattbevin had fully pardoned Schoettle after he had only served one year of his 23-year sentence.
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Sanders ripping AT&T for promising jobs because of the federal tax cut but instead slashing jobs and benefits.
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JUST IN: Kentucky federal judge to step down as senior status, opening up seat for Biden's anti-abortion GOP nominee via @courierjournal.
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The batch of votes that put Biden over the top in Georgia were from the county of the late John Lewis.
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Good thing coal reliant Kentucky didn’t have any notable power outages
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Kentucky secretary state just estimated that 1.1 million Kentuckians will cast a vote in this primary, smashing Kentucky's all-time primary record of 922,456 votes in 2008. That would be at roughly the same turnout rate of 32%.
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Federal judge requests investigation of McConnell for allegedly pressuring judges to retire via @courierjournal.
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Statement from White House spokesman: "In considering potential District Court nominees, the White House learned that Senator Rand Paul will not return a blue slip on Chad Meredith. Therefore, the White House will not nominate Mr. Meredith.”. Biden nomination now off.
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Rand Paul: ". the attempted bombing in Bowling Green, where I live.".(Prosecutor said there was no attempt or even plot to bomb in America)
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The Jefferson County Clerk's Office tells me they have received 185,811 absentee ballots in the mail as of this morning, and they're still coming in. Counting early and Tuesday in-person voting, that means Jefferson County has shattered its 2008 record of primary voters: 192.630.
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Clerk spox Nore Ghibaudy says they’re open until 6:30 now due to judge’s injunction.
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After confirming WH informed him Meredith would be nominated, Beshear added it his understanding right now that Biden has not yet submitted the nomination, “which I hope means in the very least it's on pause.”. “If the President makes that nomination, it is indefensible.”.
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Meiners: This is a really controversial pardon. Bevin: Which one?. Meiners: The child rapist. Bevin: Which one?.
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Be on the lookout.
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JUST IN: Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron (a Republican) asks FBI to investigate former Gov. Matt Bevin's pardons: via @courierjournal.
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So. this poll by @Civiqs commissioned by @DataProgress on the #kysen Democratic primary has it. Booker 44%.McGrath 36%. Um, wow?.
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AP calls it for Charles Booker. Booker will be the first Black statewide Democratic candidate for office in the general election in Kentucky history.
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If Facebook stays down we may be able to boost vaccinations enough to get to herd immunity.
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I’m trying to figure out what interest group or industry would benefit if the government bought a gun for 3 million public school teachers.
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I’m not going to fill your feed with my replies with this story to the BlueAnon “tHeRe ARe nO VAcaNcIes” crowd, so if you all can take care of that, that would be super.
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Anti-Trump Republican PAC @ProjectLincoln targets Mitch McConnell in new TV ad. Campaign responds to ad by calling group “grifters” and “thieves” via @courierjournal #kysen.
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Seamless transition from “Biden would never do this fake news fake news” to “this is masterful strategy from Biden”
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🚨 Metaphor Alert 🚨.
Seems like there might be an issue separating the statue from the base
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Voicemail: I read your article on Yahoo. You're wrong. 700 people (polled)? Everyone I know is voting for Amy McGrath. And Kentuckians don't like Trump, you must work for him.
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You have to click on this and see the look on Rubio's face and sound in his voice.
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Gov. Beshear: "It is indefensible.”. Rep. Yarmuth: "Why you would pick him. is beyond me.". Booker: "This is some bullshit.". Kentucky Democrats are sounding off against President Biden's WH indicating he will nominate an anti-abortion federal judge:
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Gov. Beshear pulls plug on Matt Bevin's plan to overhaul Kentucky Medicaid, add work rules via @courierjournal.
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After legislation declared dead, Gov. Beshear says he's considering an executive order to open access to medical marijuana in Kentucky:
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I'm on unpaid furlough for the next week and can't reply to messages about work stuff. Subscribe to your local newspaper.
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Here in the Expo Center in Louisville. A whole lot of space and short lines to vote.
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@Civiqs @DataProgress Favorables in the Civiqs poll among general election voters: #kysen . McConnell: 43/48.McGrath : 24/59.Booker: 33/29. Among Democrats:. McGrath: 47/27 (!).Booker: 74/4.
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Just In: Indictment connects prominent Kentucky GOP election attorney to Ohio House speaker’s bribery/racketeering scheme case via @courierjournal.
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Just In: While national voices claim 'voter suppression,' Kentucky & Louisville on pace for record voter turnout via @courierjournal.
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Actually, here's 60% in from Fayette County:. Biden 73% .Trump 25%. Remember, Clinton only won there 51-43%. That is. large.
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Beshear pleading with people to file for unemployment, said there should be no stigma for it. Don’t hear a governor say that every day.
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Gov. Beshear’s senior adviser Rocky Adkins stepped out of the governor’s office, picked up a guitar and joined in with the bluegrass band playing in the rotunda.
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Berg: "This is absolutely willful hate for a small group of people that are the weakest and most vulnerable".
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I’m not sure how the McGrath campaign will react to this poll, but another Dem official has apparently decided that insulting me in my DMs is the best course of action. 🤷♂️.
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Email in my inbox from Eric Deters, GOP candidate for governor in Kentucky:. "Suing you and your paper.You are a joke of a journalist.Fuck you and your rag paper and you can quote me". Consider yourself quoted.
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Ex-felons vote in first Kentucky election since Gov. Andy Beshear restored voting rights via @courierjournal @chris_kenning.
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I’m not one to brag, but it’s kind of impressive that I got Kentucky’s governor, both senators, the Senate judiciary chair and the president of the United States to all participate in my fake news hoax.
Rand: “This was a secret deal by McConnell”. There’s that word again.
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"Most people don't know that because it didn't get covered.".
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Independent pollsters out there. it is time to come to Kentucky and revisit this #kysen primary. The course of events in the last two weeks is a lot bigger than just electoral politics, but I think we’re all interested in just how much the numbers have changed in this race.
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UofL just needs to find a new AD with long ties to the athletics department and lots and lots of free time
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There are people on social media right now complaining about the type of jacket Gov. Beshear wore this morning for his briefing on potentially 70-100 Kentuckians killed in tornadoes last night.
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Gov. Andy Beshear was just asked what his definition of "woke" is (which I've never heard him use, unlike many here in Frankfort). He said woke is the "new name calling" that people use to describe anyone they disagree with.
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New @MorningConsult poll shows Mitch McConnell with large 53-36 lead over Amy McGrath in U.S. Senate race via @courierjournal #kysen.
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U.S. House just voted to decriminalize marijuana and clear felony records of nonviolent marijuana offenses. Yarmuth voted for it and all 5 Republicans in Kentucky delegation voted against it.
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Kentucky black faith and civil rights leaders just put out a statement supporting Gov. Beshear's COVID-19 actions and ripping AG Cameron for opposing them. Noted that Cameron held a press conference with Pastor Jeff Fugate, whose church hosted a blackface sketch.
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Gov. Beshear: 331 new cases in Kentucky, lowest day since mid-September.
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Via Zoom, we just had possibly the most awkward committee moment in Kentucky General Assembly history.
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Gov. Beshear giving his presser now, says the 60+ deaths announced yesterday and record hospital number would have been the "trigger" for him to enact a statewide mask mandate for Kentucky. if such power hadn't been stripped from him by the courts Saturday.
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I don't know about you, but the only company I would trust to handle by car's warranty is one that sends me 10 automated calls per day from 10 different spam risk numbers from 10 different cities around Kentucky.
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