Watchdog journalism that makes a difference, from John Cheves and then Herald-Leader. www.kentucky.com/news/politic...

The Center for Integrity in News Reporting has made its awards for work in 2025, ranging from The New York Times' White House coverage to a Kentucky weekly's revelations of secretive plans to build a data center. A marvelous constellation of public service. www.editorandpublisher.com/stories/cent...

Best story yet on Massie. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/colu... Salena Zito, who has had much mid-career success through interpreting Trump and his voters, does a solid for Ed Gallrein and a hit job on Thomas Massie. She’s on Trump’s team in this one, and they’re gaining ground on Massie.

Trump's influence faces a biggesr test May 19 in Kentucky's Fourth District than it did yesterday in Indiana. nkytribune.com/2026/05/opin...

This madness must stop. First they split Nashville three ways, and now Memphis is targeted to eliminate the delegation's only Democrat. KY GOPers didn't want to do that to Louisville; now Democrats should be glad they have the power to NOT call a special session. nashvillebanner.com/2026/05/01/t...

Trump likes credit for helping elect people, which in his mind creates an obligation to him. A "rubber stamp" label is unlikely to work well against any GOP nominee if Democrats choose an outright liberal, as seems likely. Look for another Emerson College poll soon. www.kentucky.com/news/politic...

Here's my annual Kentucky Derby Week rundown of the political races in Kentucky, from U.S. Senate and House (Donald Trump and Elon Musk play roles) to next year's race for governor, updated with a few recent developments. Happy Derby! nkytribune.com/2026/04/opin...

Starting an overtly political tour, Bruce Springsteen said, "The America I love, the America that I've written about for 50 years that has been a beacon of hope and liberty around the world is currently in the hands of a corrupt, incompetent, racist, reckless and treasonous administration. . . . "

If Kentucky had one of tehse license plates, I would get one. www.wvlt.tv/2026/04/16/e...

Max Boot: "It’s obvious what happened: Trump blundered into the war expecting a quick victory and was not prepared for Iran’s willingness and ability to target the Persian Gulf states and to close the Strait of Hormuz." wapo.st/4ml9MeU

nkytribune.com/2026/04/opin... The leading Democrats for the nomination for the U.S. Senate are both two-time losers. Charles Booker tops the polls but Amy McGrath has more general-election potential; she beat him in the ‘20 primary before losing to Sen. Mitch McConnell. He lost to Rand Paul in ‘22.

How we got into this mess. www.nytimes.com/2026/04/07/u...

Our government officials apparently want us to believe whatever they say is happening in Iran, which only makes us less likely to believe them. www.nytimes.com/live/2026/04...

Dem results reflect Booker’s energetic, inspiring campaign, which seems to dominate word of mouth and social media, and McGrath’s inability to shed the identity of two-time loser as party nominee (to Barr and McConnell). She and Booker deserve closer looks as they start TV ads, probably this month.

fox56news.com/news/kentuck... The Republican results reflect Barr’s constant emphasis on his support for Trump, expressed by him directly, speaking to camera. Morris has done less of that, and has relied more on the Musk-funded super PAC, which can’t legally coordinate with him.

Interesting admission by Gov. Andy Beshear: "Sometimes we believe that maybe we can get more agreement in the General Assembly between Democrats and Republicans if I am not there." wchstv.com/news/local/g...

Trump claimed today that he predicted 9/11. He's out of his mind. The media need to be writing about his mental unfitness every day until we get rid of him and save our country. (As I wrote last October.)

As someone who has been to Zambia twice, I know its government needs to clean up its act and be more transparent, but we should not threaten to stop supplying medicines that many Zambians with HIV need to stay alive. Our country is supposed to be better than that. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/16/h...

Slap! Pow! @RandPaul goes after fellow Sen. Markwayne Mullin at hearing on the latter's nomination to succeed Kristi Noem at DHS, and Mullin responds in kind. Rarely do we see such frank, blunt and challenging exchanges between senators of the same party. thehill.com/homenews/sen...

Wall St. Journal editorialists find fault with Beshear's veto of a bill putting Kentucky into the new federal tax-credit program for college scholarships, saying he's in thrall to "the teachers union." There's more than one; KY's main one is not as pugnacious as the AFT. www.wsj.com/opinion/andy...

Facts and common sense on immigration and our nation's needs. wapo.st/4ru9rYo

For weekend reading: "The future of our nation’s capital is being guided not by any legitimate system of architectural review but by sycophants who want only to please their leader. It’s just how things worked under Mussolini in Rome, until his power came to an end." www.nytimes.com/2026/03/13/o...

In case you were wondering: why it's a war. apnews.com/article/isra...

In my Christmas-gifts column I saluted Adams for standing up to the federal bullies whose motives and tactics seem suspicious and even dangerous. Now they’re taking him to court and he’s standing strong.

www.pbs.org/newshour/sho... Too nice? He recalls dealing with Matt Bevin: “I wouldn't mistake kindness for weakness. I have gone up against a Republican incumbent governor in Kentucky who was Donald Trump before Donald Trump. And I'm the one still standing.” Also more talk about faith than usual.

On #CNN @govandybeshear.bsky.social on partisan absences at "State of" speeches: When Republicans don't attend his formal addresses "It doesn't bother me because I'm there to speak to the American people." In this year's State of the Commonwealth he actually addressed "the American people." Hmmm.

Former Lexington Herald-Leader reporter Dan Desrochers, whose Politico beat is tariffs, breaks an important story about influence peddling in the Trump administration. www.politico.com/news/2026/02...

Kash Patel Follow my work and writing on Substack: nickanderson.substack.com

kentuckylantern.com/2026/02/19/r... Kentucky has no news outlet dedicated to covering our representatives in Washington, but we do have Kentucky Lantern, part of States Newsroom, which has a D.C. staff — from whence comes this story about our governor running (officially unannounced) for president.

www.notus.org/trump-white-... Fascism on display.

nkytribune.com/2026/02/xopi... Why is Andy Barr running that ad?

"This is a big deal back home, and it’s shaped the demographics of my support back home. The people who were upset that my entire family posed with machine guns are now voting for me. And the president has control over the people who get 100% of their news from Fox." www.politico.com/news/magazin...

washingtonmonthly.com/2026/01/22/p... To get a deal with Walmart, Pepsi agreed to raise prices it charged other retailers, according to a Federal Trade Commission lawsuit that the Trump administration dropped.

Some Republicans say Trump is his own worst enemy; Kristi Noem is running a close second. The parade of horrors she has wrought is so long they can't be summarized fairly in this short space. One author of this story, Josh Dawsey, is a refugee from The Washington Post. www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

This administration doesn't want you to know the truth, or to trust any sources of information other than the president or his minions. This is fascist and authoritarian. www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...

Emerson has not responded to my inquiry about how they determine likely voters. That’s important,especially for a poll taken via texts and online in a primary that’s likely to have low turnout.

nkytribune.com/2026/02/opin... Since I wrote this Tuesday, Emerson College and WDKY-56 released a poll showing Barr with 24 percent, Cameron with 21 percent and Morris with 14 percent, all subject to an error margin of 4.2 percentage points.

As he often does, Jonathan Martin finds an expert who knows both the policy and the politics of an issue and gives them a platform to speak some truths, such as Bovino is "a cowboy" and Noem is "out of her depth." But she also offers constructive suggestions. www.politico.com/news/magazin...

She’s been lying since she was in Congress open.substack.com/pub/arnoldga...

A former colleague has good advice, both for journalists and for citizens performing journalstic functions. Every American has the First Amendment right to commit journalism, but the active verb is a remidner that journalism has certain responsibilities to the public. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/27/i...

On social media, @RepThomasMassie continues to be on a hair trigger, claming @GovAndyBeshear was touring Europe while the big storm hit here, but he got back. Lawyer @tedcruz was more careful, posting a "thinking" emoji. Of course, he's been burned on such an occasion. www.yahoo.com/news/article...

A Frankfort church turned down a $200,000 FEMA flood-cleanup grant because it would have required the church to cooperate with immigration enforcement officers (including short-term detention) and to eliminate any DEI policies or "discriminatory equity ideology." state-journal.com/2026/01/22/c...

The latest Kentucky Press Association contest confirms that the Kentucky Lantern has become a major source of news in the state. Congrats to McKenna Horsley, Teri Carter and Sarah Ladd (below) and Editor Jamie Lucke. Judges were from South Carolina Press Assn. kentuckylantern.com/2026/01/23/l...

Reminder that a handful of Senators could have put a stop to all of this five years ago.

The Trump supplicant at the rear is Washington Post and Amazon owner Jeff Bezos, who did not join the objections of ofificals at his newspaper. He is no longer a good owner.

Gessen, who grew up in Russia and knows what autocracy and authoritarianism are, advises: "Claim all the room there still is for speaking, writing, publishing, protesting, voting. . . . It’s something each of us needs to do — right now, while we still can."(Gift link) www.nytimes.com/2026/01/18/o...

Nate Morris and JD Vance persuade Elon Musk to give a super PAC supporting Morris $10 million, the most Musk has ever given to support a Senate candidate. www.axios.com/2026/01/19/e...