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They call themselves "concerned mothers and grandparents." Others are now calling them the Ghost Battalion of West Kentucky. Old time political observers are starting to question that they may become the best chance, in the far West Kentucky, to defeat Senator Mitch McConnell in 2020.

"From 1866 to 1868 Columbus served as our regional center for the Freedmen's Bureau which had been formed to help the former slaves. Schools were set up for both children and adults, marriages were formally recognized, legal advice offered, courses and a savings bank established, labor contracts were negotiated and enforced, medical and food aid supplied, and disabled former soldiers were helped to obtain their pensions. The Union Army garrison at Columbus provided protection for both the Bureau's employees and for the former slaves from the hostility of most local whites.

But this proved to be only temporary..."

(Paducah KY) - On Thursday, Western Kentucky union leader Jeff Wiggins went to Senator Mitch McConnell's Paducah office to deliver a letter.

The Majority Leader was still in Washington working on a sorely needed compromise with the House on legislation. But Wiggins wanted to put his concerns about passage of the HEROES Act in writing in hopes staff would share with the Senator.

views of the American condition from a small town front porch

The air was cool. The day was new.

Routines of the morning hours began to set in. Black coffee from combustion of Vanilla bean and Forgers roast, teased me into thinking that life was ready to proceed into, yet another day.

As the darkness of late night receded, from the dimension of the front porch, being replaced at a snail's speed, with a subdued light, reflecting through the prisms of thousands of new raindrops, life moved forward into place. Another day was being sculptured into position.

When the Cairo bridge closes Aug. 1, a normal 5-mile drive between Wickliffe, Kentucky, and Cairo, Illinois, will become an 80-mile detour via the Interstate 24 Ohio River Bridge at Paducah. Motorists who adjust their route prior to reaching the bridge can greatly reduce the detour mileage. Portable message boards are set up at key locations to alert travelers and truckers to the closure before they reach the bridge.

Middlesboro residents are pouring out their hearts to the Public Service Commission in handwritten letters, letters typed on letterhead stationary, in form letters and emails. At this writing over fifty letters are shown on the Public Service Commission website.

They are expressing their dismay at Water Services Corp of Kentucky's (WSCKY) latest request for a rate increase.

Their plea over and over again "Please listen to the public cry of the people of Middlesboro."

It took less than 72 hours for vandals to damage Leslie McColgin's signs.

But it only took a few hours for her neighbors to repair them.

As expected, the Kentucky State AFL-CIO endorsed Democrat Amy McGrath for the U.S. Senate on Thursday.

"She has pledged her support for working people and unions and her opponent has spent his entire career in Washington trying to destroy the labor movement," said Bill Londrigan, state AFL-CIO president.

...Millions of citizen's health care is on the line, and despite the pandemic and resulting major recession, the Trump Administration and 18 Republican state attorneys general filed briefs late one night last week asking the Supreme Court to strike down the entire Affordable Care Act (ACA) also known as Obamacare...

A massive dust cloud from the Sahara Desert will reach the southern U.S. within a few days

FRANKFORT, Ky. (June 26, 2020) - On Friday, the Kentucky Department for Public Health (KDPH) Commissioner Dr. Steven Stack warned Kentuckians that air quality in the state may be poor this weekend and into next week. An enormous cloud of dry and dusty air that originated over the Sahara Desert will move across the southern United States over the next three to seven days

Fancy Farm Picnic is the latest in a series of iconic events changed, cancelled or postponed because of Covid-19.

There will be barbecue on the first weekend of August. There will be no political speaking.

One hundred seventy nine years ago on the day after Independence Day, an auction was held on the Hickman County Courthouse steps in the county seat of Clinton. It wasn't that unusual an event, debtor properties were sold regularly to pay off creditors.

This auction was different - the property being sold was not a farm or a horse or a crop. The property was a human being.

And her name was Hanna.

Charles Booker campaign for US Senate Democratic Primary hit Paducah, KY. Sunday, June 13,

with the force of a full political storm. Within 30 minutes of speaking to a crowd of over 200, Booker

had "captured political lightning in a bottle" when his and 200 clenched fists were raised at the same time.

The United States Post Service is once again in the cross-hairs of the government that most of us persist in thinking it is a part of. It is. And it isn't. It depends on who you ask. And why you're asking.

The Postal Service suffers intermittently at the hands of elected officials that don't seem to want to ever understand or acknowledge that mail delivery is a government service. Unlike other government agencies, the VA, Health and Human Services, Transportation, the USPS is required to be profitable.

It's a "quasi-governmental" agency. That equates the USPS status to a factory floor temp - all the work of permanent employees, but few of the benefits.

(Clinton KY April 14, 2020) The story that follows are 12 of my fears for what may happen if President Trump is successful in "auctioning off" the assets and operations of the Postal System into very private corporate hands.

Many of these points have already been discussed within the past five years.

"The men and women of the United States Postal Service provide an essential public service and bind the nation together as a part of the country's critical infrastructure. At least six days per week, and in some instances seven, Postal Service employees accept, process, transport, and deliver vital mail and packages like medicine, products that sustain us, benefits checks, and important information, in every community, to every home and residence, and we will continue to do so. As Americans are urged to stay home, the importance of the mail will only grow as people, including those in rural areas and senior citizens, will need access to vital communications, essential packages and other necessities.

We are at a critical juncture in the life of the Postal Service. ..

The Good: People and Tradition at Their Best

....And then there was Marie. I saw her, a lone figure in uniform, walking up and down the street.

She is our mail lady. Each day somewhere between 9:30 am and 10:15 am, she makes the rounds of our part of the universe... No matter the weather, rain, snow, and extreme heat or like today, perfect 50 degrees with bright sunshine, she always has a kind word for you and a warm felt smile...

The Bad: Failure of Command, a Modern Day Fable

...The post office, like an aging battleship, is seeking a safe port in the storm. Of course the era of great battleships is long gone. But in their day, they ruled the oceans with their power and national pride. Progress and technical innovation (aircraft carriers) did them in.

Much of the same problem confronts the modern day post office...

New economy is a buzzword describing new, high-growth industries that are on the cutting edge of technology and are the driving force of economic growth. The new economy is commonly believed to have started in the late 1990s, as high tech tools, particularly the internet and increasingly powerful computers, made their way into the consumer and business marketplace.

In the most recent example of the Republican controlled Kentucky Senate truly having nothing to do, Senator Wil Schoder wants to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot that will take out language in the Kentucky Constitution not cited since the 1940s.

Meanwhile the overachieving busy busy House is defunding libraries and destroying local newspapers.

***

1792 language targeted by proposed amendment - LRC press release

(Paducah, Ky.) March 10, 2020 -- Baptist Health is closely monitoring the evolving novel coronavirus (COVID-19) updates. In an abundance of caution, Baptist Health has activated the appropriate infection control protocols at each hospital until further notice to protect patients, as well as the staff and community.

Maternity and NICU: Only parents and grandparents will be allowed to visit the NICU. On the Mother-Baby and Labor and Delivery units, parents, grandparents, and siblings without a fever or runny nose will be allowed to visit. Please keep the number of visitors to two at a time.

All Other Adult Units (non-maternity): Patients in Intensive Care Units (ICU), Telemetry, and Medical/Surgical patients, and anyone having outpatient surgery or other procedures, will be allowed up to two visitors at a time from immediate family.

Clergy: We respectfully welcome clergy for Palliative Care, Emergent and Hospice Care patient family support, along with immediate family members only...

Word has reached me that the Republican controlled House Budget Committee, under the control of First District Representative Steven Rudy, has declared war on local rural libraries. Rudy sees fit to cut 2.5 million dollars from the Governor's requested state library fund of $7.8 million goal.

Why?

It's all about having access to books, to learning, to crafting knowledge, to seeking the world beyond rural West Kentucky...

Memories permeate our lives,

Our adaptive brains the optic lens,

Remembering the good, minimizing the bad...

(Paducah, Ky.) Feb. 24, 2020 - During Heart Month, Baptist Health Paducah wants to remind the public that knowing your blood pressure numbers is the first step to improving your heart health and protecting your vital organs.

Uncontrolled high blood pressure can lead to heart attack, stroke, heart failure, kidney disease, vision loss, and other problems. High blood pressure, called hypertension, can cause damage in your body for years before symptoms develop...

Blood pressure chart and warning signs follow.

...Americans were asked, "What is the most important Amendment to the US Constitution", that may thwart totalitarianism?

The YouGov, a UK global public opinion firm, latest research shows that 41% of Americans say that the First Amendment which guarantees freedom of religion, free speech, assemble, press, and petition is most important...

Interestingly, last week in the Kentucky legislature, experts were called to testify about House Bill 67, and many voices were silenced. So much for the freedom of speech in Frankfort.

The Bill amends the state constitution to remove protections and funding for a women's right to choose. You would think that such a serious change would be fully vetted with lots of expert witness testimony on all sides of the issue. Unconstitutional?

Also, in KY Senate Bill 90, health care employees would get legal protections for those who declined to participate in actions contrary to "religious, moral, ethical, or philosophical beliefs." If passed, this would be the most extreme law like this in the country...