Commentary
Amendment 2 would send tax dollars to church schools
Many Kentucky churches are losing members and money, but they’re hoping taxpayers will vote to bail them out of their financial problems. Church lobbyists pushed Amendment 2 onto the November ballot, and if their scheme passes, hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars will flow into questionable religious schools operated in church basements across the commonwealth.? […]
Kamala Harris takes up Oprah’s torch
Democrats have their opponents on the run now that Kamala Harris has become their party’s standard bearer. And they’re making no secret of it. How can you tell? Not because of the dollars pouring into the Harris campaign. Supporters will open their wallets for a lost cause if they get caught up in the moment. […]
It’s about access to health care
Meaningful reform on controversial issues takes time and hard work. Passions run high.? Sharp elbows get thrown. Nuance can contradict ideology, requiring compromise. Which brings me to Kentucky’s certificate of need (CON) laws. CON regulates investment in our state’s health care sector. Before opening certain types of facilities, an entrepreneur or health care provider must […]
A kinship promise — will we keep it?
At the second gubernatorial debate in October 2023, the governor acknowledged the plight of kinship. Later he said, “We must do everything we can to ensure their needs are met.” Kinship care is when a child is living with relatives or close family friends other than their parents. These children may be victims of abuse […]
Bullets in vending machines: That’s a trend Kentucky lawmakers should not follow
As if we needed more examples of our entrenched gun culture, here’s the latest:?Bullets, sold through vending machines — in grocery stores. The distributor,?American Rounds, recently began installing such machines in a few stores in Alabama, Texas and Oklahoma. Customer ID is scanned using facial-recognition software. Yet, there are no checks into criminal, mental-health or […]
You call that conservative?
FRANKFORT — Picture this: You pull an item off a store shelf that has no price tag. Do you assume it’s free? If you said yes, you might have a future in the Kentucky General Assembly, where some members seem astonished ?— offended, even —that actual money is needed to pay for new programs they […]
Early ‘sound bite’ helped Kentucky gain fame as ‘paradise for barbarous Yahoos’
The first sound bite in American political history was recorded more than two centuries ago in Western Kentucky. First District Congressman Matthew Lyon of Eddyville, a fierce Jeffersonian Democratic-Republican, used his teeth to detach a detractor’s digit. It was self-defense. The constituent was trying to pop the congressman’s eyeball out. Lyon was an Irish-born Revolutionary […]
Kentucky politicians audition on national and state stages
Gov. Andy Beshear’s big audition didn’t get him a new role, but the continuing tryouts of people who might succeed him or seek other statewide office began a new round. Republican hopefuls were on stage before and during the political speaking at the annual Fancy Farm Picnic, which Beshear skipped — apparently because he was […]
The double standard is laughable
In the hours after Vice President Kamala Harris became the de facto Democratic nominee for president and Gov. Andy Beshear was lauded as a potential pick for vice president, I received a text message about Beshear from a MAGA man in my family: Maybe he can control her. Words I do not recall hearing, in […]
This Supreme Court has redefined the meaning of corruption
The U.S. Supreme Court is deregulating corruption, with arguably grim consequences for American democracy. The latest example of this troubling trend was the case known as Snyder v. United States. At first glance, this may have seemed like a narrow, wonky case about whether a part of the U.S. criminal code that outlaws bribery also […]
Veepstakes have evolved from where you live to who you are
Vice presidential picks can’t help a presidential candidate, but they can hurt one, according to political scientists. Presidential campaigns still spend a fair amount of time thinking about running mates and the ways in which they might boost the ticket – or at least not hurt it. Who will Vice President Kamala Harris pick as […]
No need to further victimize children through legislative ineptitude or gubernatorial stubbornness
Gov. Andy Beshear and Auditor of Public Accounts Allison Ball squared off earlier this month in a legal dispute over the auditor’s access to iTWIST, a database maintained by the Cabinet for Health and Family Services that “track[s] the state’s efforts to assist its most vulnerable citizens” and that was available to the ombudsman attached […]