Be sure to catch us on this afternoon at 3 p.m. on WIBC’s Facebook page for some interesting perspective on state and local politics.

You can also find us in a few other places as well.

“Indiana Issues”

• Network Indiana (Click Here for a list of stations in your area)
• XRB Radio, 1610 AM, Brownsburg, Saturday, 9 a.m.
• WBAT, 1400 AM, Marion, Saturday 11 a.m. & 7 p.m., Sunday at 7 p.m.
• WGCL, 1370 AM & 95.9 FM, Bloomington, Saturday, 7 a.m.

“Inside Indiana Business”

• Click Here for Listings

And as always you can hear us Saturdays on WIBC-FM, “Abdul at Large” from 1-3 p.m.

And don’t forget to look for our regular columns in the Indy Star, Indianapolis Recorder, IBJ Forefront or The Statehouse File.

If you’re at the grocery store this Sunday and you pick up a six-pack of beer, a bottle of wine or spirits, you need to thank convenience store owner Jay Ricker. Had it not been for Ricker’s, there would likely be no Sunday retail alcohol sales.

Allow me to explain.

Using a little creativity and some brilliant lawyers, Rickers figured out how to comply with Indiana law and sell cold beer at their places in Columbus and Sheridan. We broke the story last March, and it sent the Indiana political universe into a tailspin.

Some lawmakers yelled and screamed. Some lawmakers cheered. The Statehouse leadership was livid at the Alcohol Tobacco Commission for allowing Ricker’s to get the permit. The Governor stood by his agency, saying they followed the law. But despite all that, everyone agreed that it was time to rewrite Indiana’s Byzantine (once again, my apologies to Byzantines everywhere) alcohol laws.

A commission was formed, and after hours of testimony, it reached the very easy conclusion that the 85-year old prohibition on Sunday retail alcohol sales needed to go away. And had a couple more members showed up for another commission hearing, we might have lifted restrictions on who cold beer also, but that’s another blog post for next year at this time.

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Because of the commission’s recommendation, a cease-fire between liquor and grocery stores, and discipline amongst statehouse leaders and not allowing the Sunday Sales legislation to get bogged down with amendments as it has in the past, Indiana’s alcohol laws have taken another step toward looking like something from the latter half of the 20th century.

And you owe it all to Jay Ricker. Had it not been for them, none of this would have ever have happened. Unfortunately, Rickers won’t be allowed to sell cold beer, despite early compliance with the statute, even though there are several other outlets in Indiana, that are in the same boat as Rickers but they are allowed to continue their cold beer sales, because they were grandfathered in to the statutory change that eliminated Rickers ability to sell cold beer.

Ricker issued the following statement upon the Governor’s signing of the law lifting the ban on Sunday Sales, “Today’s bill signing represents a small step towards reforming Indiana’s archaic alcohol code, but it doesn’t address the number one reform demanded by Hoosiers—the ability to purchase cold beer at convenience stores. Ricker’s is proud to have played a role in highlighting the need for reform to the General Assembly, but this half-measure doesn’t represent the overhaul of our liquor laws demanded by the public. Legislators have never explained why their legislation didn’t include cold beer, but we won’t stop fighting until they end the liquor store monopoly.”

I’ll drink to that. And I’ll do it this Sunday at 12:10 p.m.

As someone whose wife as described him as a 40-something 12-year old, I was really interested in seeing Black Panther over the weekend.

I’ve followed the character since I was old enough to read comic books.  And somewhere in a storage unit in Springfield, IL is a copy of Avengers #52 when the Black Panther joined the group.     And believe it or not, the Panther’s original character’s name was the “Coal Tiger”, no I am not making that up.   However, his creators, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, thankfully, decided to go a different route.

Over the years I have watched the Black Panther assume the identity of a school teacher.  I’ve seen the Black Panther get married (in the comic to Storm of the X-Men and later have the marriage annulled) and basically lose his throne and powers and his sister take over.  So I think I can speak with some authority on the film and the character.

There’s been a lot of talk about the film and what it means from a social and cultural perspective.  I can appreciate African-American kids flocking to a film where they can see heroes that look like them.  I do believe it does have an impact.  In addition, the folks who say they wanted more positive images of how blacks are portrayed on the big screen can cheer too.

However, what I really appreciated about the film, is that the Black Panther shows just how much African-Americans are just like everyone else.

Without spoiling the film for you, one of the big debates the Wakandans (the place where the Panther comes from) is whether they should use their riches and technology to help the outside world, particularly other impoverished and oppressed nations.

There is an early scene where T’Challa, the Black Panther, talks with one of the tribal chiefs about allowing refugees into their country.  The chief basically says it’s a bad idea because if you bring in the refugees, you bring all their problems.

Any of this sound familiar?

The Black Panther also has relationship issues and he finds out his father, King T’Chaka hid a major secret from him that impacted the entire nation.

But perhaps what drove this point home the most was the Panther’s arch enemy, Erik Killmonger who thinks Wakanda should not only use its wealth and power to help “liberate” other nations, but Wakanda should also be the one running show.   (Sounds like something Captain America would have to deal with).

Of course, there is only so much you can do in a 2 hour and 15-minute film, but I thought that part of the underlying story was most interesting.   That despite the technology and culture of these proud warriors of this hidden country that is helping drive thousands of people to the box office and millions of dollars to Marvel and Disney, at the end of the day, the Wakandans are just like everybody else.

Now go see the film and don’t forget to stay through the credits.

A new poll shows Hoosiers are nearly split down the middle when it comes to President Donald Trump.

According to a new poll of all 50 states by Morning Consult, 48 percent of Hoosiers surveyed approved of the President’s job while 47 percent disapprove.

At the start of his term, Trump had a 55 percent approval rating.

Trump’s highest approval ratings are in Alabama at 63 percent.  His lowest is the District of Columbia where the poll showed him at 16 percent.

You can see a complete listing of the poll here.

When I look at the Indianapolis City-County Council these days, all I can think of is a third-world banana Republic, run by an out of touch dictator who rose to power via a coup and now after a short reign of virtual tyranny, the people have risen up and are getting ready to depose him. And then I remember, that analogy is unfair to third-world banana republics.

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Just a quick FYI, we were sworn to the Indiana bar this past Friday, so your favorite broadcaster, political writer and  Indy Politics editor and publisher can practice law here in the Hoosier state.

We’ll be based out of the firm of Lewis and Wilkins LLP.

I’ve always been licensed to practice in Illinois since 2003, now we’re finally adding Indiana to the list, which means we can be legally annoying in two states.   (Smile)

Photo:  Indiana Supreme Court

A few years ago, I was having a conversation with then Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels.  We were chatting about politics, and he made a very salient point that’s stuck with me.  He said, “Abdul in politics, purity tests are only good for Nazis and suicide bombers.”   Truer words were never spoken, especially when you look what attempts to pass for political discourse in this country.  Hell, skip that, right here in Indiana.

The most recent example that comes to mind took place at last week’s Women’s  March in downtown Indianapolis. On the far, make that fringe left, there were two speakers at the Women’s March at the Statehouse from the Black Lives Matters Movement.   In case you need a refresher, that’s the organization that usually goes off the chain when a white police officer shoots and kills an unarmed black man, however, if an armed black man shoots and kills an unarmed black man, then that just becomes another day at the office.  But I digress.

During the Women’s March, two members of the local group, Indy 10/Black Lives matter members  Kyra Harvey and Leah Humphrey addressed the crowd.  What started out as the usual rhetoric, turned into an Oswald Bates skit from the old “In Living Color” television show.  I tried to paraphrase it but my brain is incapable of stringing together such incoherent, babbling nonsense, but the folks who write the blog Black Indy Live had no such trouble.  They wrote the two women, “addressed systematic white supremacy enabled  by the “traditional” feminist movement, apathy to Black Women’s social causes, and also called Hillary Clinton a “violent and racist candidate” while distancing themselves from the Democratic Party.”   Did you get all that?

A colleague of mine, Sheila Kennedy, who attended the march, took issue with what Harvey and Humphrey had to say, and in a column wrote that she didn’t see how such rhetoric was helpful to the overall cause and people from all ethnic backgrounds needed to work together and not alienate each other.  You know the adage, “politics is about addition, not subtraction.”    And Kennedy committed the cardinal sin by closing with the famous quote from Ben Franklin, “we must hang together or hang separately.”

And that was the point where the dragon stood up on the shore and the beast came out of the sea with ten horns and seven heads. Kennedy’s message was totally lost, like most things, on the BLM crowd and their extremist allies, and by their reaction, he may as well have shown up in a white sheet with fried chicken and watermelon in one hand and a bottle of Old English 800 malt liquor in the other.

Kennedy was basically accused of embodying “white supremacy and privilege” because she not only referred to a founding father who they labelled “a racist  and by using the term hang”  she may as well have been the grand architect of the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Medgar Evers, Nat Turner, MC Hammer’s musical career and the cancellation of the New Odd Couple show back in the 1980s with Demond Wilson and Ron Glass. The social media reaction read like an early, bad Spike Lee film.  I’d reprint some of it, but I am doing dry January and retyping it would only make me drink.

Those people would not find a stronger ally for the cause than Kennedy.   Her experience, political, governmental and educational would be invaluable for their cause.  Frankly, I would think the fact that Kennedy and I don’t agree on a lot would be reason enough that they would welcome her into the club.   But that’s the problem with ideological purists; if you’re not with them 125 percent of the time, then you’re against them.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but I thought the point of political movements were for people of like minds, but perhaps different backgrounds, to come together and achieve shared objectives.  They may not always agree, but the 80-percent of the time you’re together should outweigh the 20-percent of the time that you disagree. (Remembe Ronald Reagan)   But when you’re dealing with zealots whether it’s the local Black Lives Matters chapter or Hoosiers for Life, there’s no reasoning with these people.  Which I guess in a way does distinguish them from Nazis and suicide bombers, because you can actually negotiate with Nazis and you can shoot suicide bombers.

Photo: Facebook

Last year,  I did an interview with a local community activist who has an Internet-based television show.   We taped at a studio at 38th and High School Road. If you’ve ever been there, and odds are if you’re reading this you haven’t,  the studio was located in a strip mall that was full of places that most of us would likely never go.  I stopped by there recently, and not much had changed,  the inside was half finished, there were still bars protecting shops.  I would never shop there, but as I was reminded of a lot of those folks, that “mall” was and still is their livelihood.  I would not buy clothes there, get a haircut, or anything else from there.  It has not, nor will it be my world, but it is there’s, and they are entitled to be as happy in their world as we are in ours.

That is why I think lawmakers this week should give HB 1319 a fair hearing.  HB 1319 would allow for small installment loans for these folks of limited means who don’t use banks and credit unions the way we do.   Now save your “payday loan” outrage, because I’m not a fan of them either, but I do think there needs to be a way for these folks to get access to credit because I doubt if you’re going to see them at the drive-thru window of the credit union.

HB 1319 would allow low-income Hoosiers to borrow between $605 and $1500.  It limits fees and interest charged,  20% on the first $605 and 7.5% on the amount greater than $605 and an interest charge of 45% applied to the declining balance of the loan.  There are no balloon payments or prepayment penalties.  Payments are amortized.   And it helps those Hoosiers build credit by supporting financial literacy programs offered through the Secretary of State’s Office.  This isn’t the old “payday loan” scam where you’re basically mortgaging everything but your first and second born, but they can be used as collateral.

As I have said in the past,  It’s easy to see the “outrage” from folks like us who live in a world where we have easy access to banks, credit unions, and other financial institutions.  Or to go further, most of us keep a few grand the bank or a few bucks around the house in case of emergency, but that’s the world we live in.  We don’t live in the world where people genuinely are living paycheck to paycheck and need access to capital when real life throws them an inside curveball.   They deserve a chance, just like the rest of us.

How’s this for irony?   On the same day a State Senate panel overwhelmingly voted to keep the prohibition against the sale of cold beer in grocery and liquor stores, a House panel unanimously voted to create a summer study committee to look at legalizing marijuana for medicinal purposes.  And this all happened within a few hours of each other.

This is what makes government so interesting and entertaining at times.   The beautiful thing about what I do for a living is to get a front row seat of the significant issues of the day, which a lot of times seem contradictory.

On the one hand, there is talk of local control, but lawmakers are moving legislation that would allow Ball State University to take over the financial disaster that is Muncie schools.    Lawmakers efforts to deal with the opioid crisis means you will have a little less privacy when it comes to getting prescriptions filled.

But a the end of the day, while it might seem like a political hodgepodge, it’s how governments work.   You have 150 men and women who represent the interests of more than 6.2 million people, and since human beings by their very nature are contradictory creatures, it only fits that the laws we pass and rules we make seem inconsistent at times.

So how does an average person with a job and family follow and navigate this stuff, to be honest, you don’t.   That’s what people like me are for;  you read our work, watch us on TV, listen to our radio broadcasts and podcasts.  And don’t just follow one of us, try to read and follow as many of us as you can.  By doing so, you can get a complete picture of how your state government works.

And while there are some “sexy” issues such as Sunday retail alcohol sales and medical marijuana, there are a lot of what I call “broccoli and brussel sprout” issues.  These are the ones that really impact the lives of day to day Hoosiers, so the more you know, the better equipped you are to make an informed decision.

And if I may engage in a shameless plug here, one easy way to do it is to sign up for my daily email, “The Statewide Summary.”  I compile a list of about a dozen or so of the big political and government stories of the day.  It’s easy to read and tells you everything you need to know in under 10 minutes.  Give a try, because the more you know, the more you can appreciate the irony.

Here’s a quick early rundown on what’s we’re keeping an eye on this week in Indiana government and politics…

Monday, January 15

• MLK Day, Government closed

• Senate Corrections and Criminal Law hearing on CBD Oil (9:30 a.m.)
• House Government and Regulatory Reform Committee on Township Government Reform (10:30 a.m.)
• Hate Crime advocates rally at the Statehouse (11:30 a.m.)

Wednesday, January 17