In 2020, Charles Booker made history when he challenged incumbent Mitch McConnell for his seat in the U.S. Senate. Despite a loss, his campaign reached hundreds of thousands of people across the nation and once again brought a spotlight to Kentucky politics, but Booker didn’t stop there. Following
President Joe Biden’s proposed $2 trillion infrastructure bill “brings us one step closer to repairing, rebuilding and restoring our country,” AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said in a statement. “Repairing, rebuilding, and restoring” reminded me of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “three Rs” of the New Deal: “relief, reform, and
If you are a regular visitor to this site, you have no doubt noticed some changes. And you may have wondered, Just what is going on with Forward Kentucky? The simplest answer is: We are refocusing our work. For almost six years, we have worked to grow into the go-to
The following is from the newsletter Letters from an American by Heather Cox Richardson. You can sign up for the free version here. Since the Civil War, voter suppression in America has had a unique cast. The Civil War brought two great innovations to the United States that would mix
Some well-intentioned liberals are praising Kentucky Republican lawmakers for making it easier to vote in the Bluegrass State instead of passing laws aimed at suppressing minority votes, most of which go to Democrats. They’d never admit it, of course. But the Republicans approved voting “reform” legislation because it helps
“The more I hear Rand Paul talk about the coronavirus, the more I’m convinced his medical degree is written in crayon,” the Louisville Courier-Journal’s Joseph Gerth wrote of Kentucky’s junior U.S. senator. The columnist added: “He went head to head with Dr. Anthony Fauci, the leading
“He’s got more nerve than Dick Tracy,” my grandmother would say of a particularly shameless soul. (Okay, young folks, Tracy was a famous funny pages cop.) Kentucky Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell keeps reminding me of my grandmother’s observation. But the minority leader’s calculated Road to Damascus conversion
My entire life, I have heard that the free market and business competition work efficiently, foster creativity, lower costs through competition, can solve many of our problems – and that government just gets in the way of the market working its magic. Some of this may be true, at least in
On the show Morning Joe, economist Steven Rattner showed in one dramatic chart the difference between Donald Trump’s “rescue plan,” which was really a giant tax scam for the wealthy, and the Biden American Rescue Plan, which actually helps everyday people. As was pointed out over and over, the
Not everyone gets the chance to look death in the face and come out on the other side with an opportunity to make an impact and save lives. But on September 6, 2018, the opportunity found me when twelve bullets ripped through my body. Thanks to the bravery of the
No sooner did President Franklin D. Roosevelt sign the historic National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933 than United Mine Workers of America President John L. Lewis flashed the word to the coalfields: “The President wants you to join the union!” This week, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka lost no time in
The Senate’s decision to acquit former President Donald Trump in his second impeachment trial may have been a victory for Trump, but it is a clear sign that democracy in the U.S. is in poor health. As a constitutional scholar, I believe the United States – the world’s
Mitch McConnell and 42 fellow Republicans who acquitted Donald Trump Saturday earned their niche in history, right next to Georg Neithardt and his four fellow jurists. Georg who? Neithardt headed the five-judge panel that twisted the law into a Bavarian pretzel and all-but exonerated Adolf Hitler over the 1923 Beer
Vietnam vet Gene Nettles, 78, never dreamed somebody in a Russian army helmet would be part of a mob storming the U.S. Capitol. “When I saw that whole mess, I thought about my fraternity brother; I thought about a good friend — an African American gentleman from Alabama — and several
One of the many horrifying images from the Jan. 6 rampage on the U.S. Capitol shows a long-haired, long-bearded man wearing a black “Camp Auschwitz” T-shirt emblazoned with a skull and crossbones, and under it the phrase “work brings freedom” – an English translation of the Auschwitz concentration camp motto:
As senators plan for an impeachment trial in which former President Donald Trump is accused of inciting his supporters to mount a deadly insurrection at the Capitol, global concern is growing about threats of violent unrest in multiple countries, including the U.S. The United Nations reports the proliferation of
