Kentucky Basketball, Brought to You by Coal

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The guardrails protecting democracy may have buckled, but they are not broken. Autocratic forces are ascendant in America, but the story isn’t fully written. Truth-telling independent media is one remaining bulwark against Trump’s unrestrained exercise of power. He rails against the press as the “enemy of the people,” because he hates the scrutiny that comes from fearless investigative reporting. Our nonprofit newsroom is built for the chaos ahead. Please stand with us.

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The University of Kentucky’s men’s basketball team will soon be sleeping in Coal.

No, you read that right. A group led by Alliance Coal CEO Joseph Craft recently agreed to donate $7 million for a new dorm for the Wildcats—if the school agreed to name it after his favorite thing, coal.

Craft has asked that it be named the “Wildcat Coal Lodge.” I can’t cover this better than Rachel Maddow did last night, so here’s the video: