Notes from Bruce
Hello! A few updates:
- I’ve added the Most Read and Most Shared symbols to the list of stories, so you can see what other readers thought were stories worth spending time on.
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Here are the stories since the last newsletter. Hope you find something good that you missed, and can go back and read it now. Take care!
Bruce Maples

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KY Dems playing politics … against other Dems
June 17, 2021 by Bruce Maples
People play politics all the time, and usually against the other party. But when a party starts doing it against its own members, and eating its own, it’s time to do things differently.
Is America “back”? Nope – not all the way
June 17, 2021 by Bruce Maples
But are we “back” as a democracy? Are we back to even the America of 2015? In a word – no. Here is a short list of just some of the ways that the United States is still not “back.”
Kentucky has critical needs. Here’s how KY Repubs plan on addressing them.
June 17, 2021 by Bruce Maples
Our state has many, many critical needs. Since they control the legislature, the Republicans’ agenda for the 2022 session should address those needs. Here’s their top four items for next year.
Raise the minimum wage, and stop giving out corporate welfare
June 16, 2021 by Tracy Bentley
If you are one of those businesses that wants to make your profits off low-wage employees while shifting the burden to the taxpayer, you will say that raising the minimum wage will drive you out of business. And to that we say: good riddance.
★ Paul uses the vinegar bottle. Can a Dem (like Booker) beat him with honey?
June 16, 2021 by Berry Craig
“You catch more flies with honey than vinegar.” Rand Paul regularly uses the vinegar bottle in public. Can a Dem use the honey jar to beat him?
“Enough is enough!” – the March Against Gun Violence
June 15, 2021 by Del Ramey
On June 5, multiple groups came together for a march against gun violence. They demanded action, and said Enough is Enough! Del Ramey was at the event, and shared this photo gallery.
Texas yells the quiet parts out loud
June 14, 2021 by Ivonne Rovira
Texas really is great about one thing: They yell the quiet parts out loud, making it much harder for the genteel insurrectionists to try to explain it all away. Thus it is with their “1836 Project.”
Presser announcing filing of LGBTQ bills – a photo gallery
June 14, 2021 by Del Ramey
To kick off Pride Month, state Representative Lisa Willner announced plans to pre-file bills to make Kentucky “much more welcoming for LGBTQ Kentuckians and a better place for us all.”
If your county voted heavily for Trump, you’re probably not vaccinated.
June 14, 2021 by Bruce Maples
It’s crazy to think about, but apparently saving your life by getting vaccinated is something Republicans just don’t want to do.
Never-Trumpers, we got it from you
June 13, 2021 by Ivonne Rovira
When some never-Trumpers decry the current state of the GOP, it’s important to remember that it’s THEIR party, that they helped build.
Our democracy needs saving – a clarion call
June 9, 2021 by Guest Author
More than 100 authorities on democracy tell us that the Republicans’ war on elections “call into question whether the United States will remain a democracy.” We must take this warning seriously.
No Man’s Land
June 8, 2021 by Marshall Ward
“No man’s land” – the treeless stretch of land that separated German and Allied trenches during WWI, a very dangerous place that offered little or no protection. That is where Democrats find themselves in Congress.
★ KY should continue the Federal unemployment benefits – an open letter to our electeds
June 8, 2021 by Guest Author
Multiple organizations are calling on our elected leaders to stay in the Federal UI benefit program until it ends in the fall. Here are the reasons why.
Mulligan on McConnell: “There are none so blind as those who will not see.”
June 8, 2021 by Berry Craig
“McConnell wants to preserve his power, and is prepared to sell the country to those who believe in a mythic, wonderful America of a white, hetero-, pseudo-Christian patriarchy. That it never existed does not matter.”
Lawsuit filed to stop scholarship tax credits and private school vouchers; KEA applauds the filing
June 7, 2021 by Forward Kentucky
On Friday, a coalition of school systems said they were going to file a lawsuit to stop the scholarship tax credit program passed in this year’s legislative session. Today, they filed that lawsuit.
No, Marjorie, Democrats aren’t Nazis
June 7, 2021 by Berry Craig
Marjorie Taylor Greene’s latest thought bubble has already been burst. “We suggest Greene brush up on her history of the Nazi Party.”
An American Idyll
June 7, 2021 by Guest Author
It all began about a half-century ago. The scene was set for the largest swap of political parties in the history of the United States of America, and the gradual decline of the American experiment.
Turning pandemic lemons into legislative lemonade
June 7, 2021 by Guest Author
When Kentucky had to hold elections in the midst of a pandemic, SOS Michael Adams and Governor Andy Beshear created a bipartisan solution that resulted in more voters than ever before.
★ White Repubs say we can’t talk about racism with our school children
June 6, 2021 by Bruce Maples
When it became obvious that the country was finally starting to face up to its racist past, it was only a matter of time before Republicans decided that Something Has To Be Done To Stop This Before It Goes Too Far.
The Right’s quarrel with free-market capitalism
June 6, 2021 by Ivonne Rovira
Guess what? Free market capitalism has looked at what the Republican party has become, and companies are taking their money elsewhere.
‘Voting Rights Texting Campaign’ starts on Monday
June 6, 2021 by Berry Craig
Hood to the Holler, KFTC, League of Women Votes, and other groups are joining together to use text messages to help people register to vote. Sign up using the link in the story.