Ned Pillersdorf Is Running Against Hal Rogers For Congress!

On Friday, July 4, 2025, in Rosenberg Square in Prestonsburg, Kentucky, attorney Ned Pillersdorf, the husband of former Kentucky Supreme Court Justice Janet Stumbo will announce his entry into the Democratic primary election in opposition to long time Congressman Hal Rogers, who at 89 is one of the longest serving members of congress, and perhaps one of those most likely to be unable to successfully complete another two year term. Kentucky's 5th district contains most of the ten poorest counties in the state, and has one of the highest percentages in the nation of recipients of both Medicaid and SNAP, commonly referred to as Food Stamps. The district is also the site where in 1964 President Lyndon Johnson launched the War On Poverty. The district is also sometimes the bearer of the brunt of the heartless jokes about how "we declared a War On Poverty and poverty won". It is also the disrict in which former Congressman Carl Perkins spent his career working tirelessly for the betterment of all Kentuckians. Ned Pillersdorf has also spent his entire legal career working tirelessly in the district for the betterment of all Kentuckians without having ever spent a day in public office. Pillersdorf is the attorney who put together the coalition of pro bono lawyers who won thousands of appeals of highly unjust deprivations of Social Security benefits to the former clients of jailed attorney Eric C. Conn. He is also the attorney who represented the dismissed employees of Blackjewel Coal in their battle to receive unpaid wages when the company folded without warning. No one in the last 40 years has done more for Eastern Kentucky and its people. Every person who has benefitted from the work of Ned Pillersdorf should be in Prestonsburg on July 4, 2025, to support the man who has supported you in your times of greatest need, always been there when injustice was running rampant, when the wrongly persecuted workers of Kentucky were facing the loss of everything they ever owned, when widows and orpans were in danger of losing pension benefits from their deceased fathers, and anytime injustice was continuing to preserve poverty in the 5th district of Kentucky. I look forward to the day when Ned Pillersdorf will be sworn in as Congressman Pillersdorf and the US House can once again have a Democratic majority.

"Oath and Honor: A Memoir and A Warning" by Liz Cheney, The One Book Every American Should Be Required To Read

 

  In the era of Trump, certain members of Congress and other Trump enablers...have preyed on the patriotism of millions of Americans.  They are working to return to office the man responsible for January 6.  We the people must stop them.  We are the only thing that can stop them.  This is more important than partisan politics.  Every one of us--Republican, Democrat, Independent--must work and vote together to ensure that Donald Trump and those who have appeased, enabled, and collaborated with him are defeated.  This is the cause of our time.  (Liz Cheney, "Oath and Honor" p. 368)

Liz Cheney used the words above to end her important and honest book "Oath and Honor: A Memoir and A Warning" and she is absolutely correct.  Donald Trump and every one of his thousands of enablers, co-conspirators, and cult members must be stopped in their efforts to return him to his illegal and illegitimate occupation of the White House.  They managed to nearly subvert the certification of an honest American presidential election on January 6, 2021, and they would not hesitate to commit any crime on the face of the earth to achieve that treasonous goal.  Liz Cheney has written the most important book in this 2024 election cycle.  No other book published before hers and none which will come after hers can more succinctly or more accurately can tell the tale of the political treason, insurrection, and domestic terrorism which they perpetrated against the United States of America on January 6, 2021, and which was rooted in the actions of Donald Trump and his co-conspirators in the White House in the weeks between the 2020 election and January 6.  Liz Cheney has honestly and forthrightly told the tale of that insurrection and was fully willing to sacrifice her political career in order to see that this virulent and treasonous conspiracy did not succeed.  She has also stepped forward to teach every citizen of the United States about the danger which this group of insurrectionists, domestic terrorists, and traitors present to America and American Democracy.  Her book is truly the one book every citizen of this country should read in this incredibly important election year.  Despite the fact that nearly a thousand of these criminals have been indicted for their crimes and several hundred have already been convicted and sentenced to federal prison, the conspiracy is still alive.  The would be dictator and his cult are still working every day to keep the treason alive, to return the traitor to the scene of his treason.  If you do not read another book for the rest of your life, read this one.  It is written in a simple, direct, easy to read prose which allows a fast read but you should read it slowly, thoughtfully, and with an open mind.  This is a book written by an American patriot who literally sacrificed a wonderful political future in order to confront these traitors and their treason, in particular to confront and hold the worst traitor in world history responsible for his treason.  Give it an honest, open minded read and then fully and without reservations of any kind commit yourself to do everything in your power to assist America and American Democracy in this fight for survival.  This is truly the cause of our time.   

A Belated Liberal Political Action Plan

 Author's Note: I wrote this about 3 years ago and never posted it to this blog at that time which I should have done. Needless to say, I stand by it, every word.  So should all of you who read it.  If you like it, feel free to share it anywhere you wish with one simple piece of cooperation: IF YOU SHARE IT PLEASE GIVE ME, ROGER D. HICKS, FULL AUTHOR CREDIT! 

A Liberal Political Action Plan

Introduction:

November 3, 2020, was a mixed day for liberal and Democratic political aficionados.  While we won the White House, the election is obviously under attack from TRAITOR Trump and his allies both in the US and in Russia.  While nearly every legitimate world leader has congratulated and consulted with Joe Biden, Vladimir Putin is still denying the winner any acknowledgement and, like his puppet in Washington is striving to hold onto their ability to damage America.  Democrats managed to retain control of the House of Representatives and had  a net gain in the senate but the two runoff races in Georgia leave the Senate in doubt.  In Kentucky, where most of us live or have roots, we have an excellent governor who is under attack from a slate of elected Republican officials and a solidly Republican state legislature.  They have extensive plans to further damage the governor’s ability to successfully manage the state in a time of steadily increasing crisis and they probably have the votes to override most of his potential vetoes of their damaging legislation.  The Kentucky Attorney General is joining in every Republican law suit he can in order to further damage the governor’s ability to succeed.  The one bright side to the Attorney General’s situation is that he has shot himself in the foot with his highly questionable actions in the Breonna Taylor grand jury and seriously damaged his standing with the African American base from both parties which had previously coalesced to elect him.  Kentucky and the nation are both under unrelenting attack by Right Wing Radical Republicans. 

In this writing, I am setting forth what I consider to be goals for each of us as individuals and all of us as a group for which we should be working on a daily basis just as we all did in the months preceding the November 2020 General Election.  I fully realize that all of you might not agree with all of my goals and recognize your right to do so.  But, we are small, hard working, intelligent, committed group of politically motivated women and men who have proven over the past several months what we are capable of as individuals.  We can prove over the next months and years that we can, as a cohesive group, achieve a great deal more.  I do not visualize this group of people becoming a major national force in politics but I also know that we can help promote rational, progressive values in our area and, to a lesser degree in the nation as a whole since each of us has some level of networks with other likeminded people all across the nation.  In my original communication to you about forming such a group, I mentioned the idea that, at some time in the future, we might consider meeting face to face at least once.  I would love to see that happen.  But, for the foreseeable future, that is not possible or advisable until the Covid Crisis is under control.  But the dangerous issues being debated in the nation require immediate actions and we have all proven that we are capable of engaging in those actions on an individual basis.  I am setting out below several important goals we can work on and I hope you agree with me and decide to take some actions to support those goals. 

Let me also say that I have absolutely no personal political goals other than being a continual force for good.  I do not intend to run for political office and I never will.  But I do want to put your mind at ease about the possibility that my intentions could be less than altruistic.  I am nearly seventy years old and my wife has been in a wheelchair for more than twenty years.  I am also working nearly daily on my career as a published Appalachian writer.  I have more than enough to occupy my mind and my time.  So let’s look at what I consider to be important actions we can take to help what I hope can become a changed and grateful nation.

Immediate Goals:

1)    Support President-elect Joe Biden and his administration to overcome the irrational and anti-American opposition to his election which is rooted in the both the legal smoke screens and the Stochastic Terrorism of TRAITOR Trump.  We can speak out on Joe Biden’s behalf.  We can support whatever actions it becomes necessary for him to take to legally occupy the White House on January 20, 2020, as mandated by the US Constitution.  We can write letters to newspapers and magazines on his behalf.  We can confront the supporters of TRAITOR Trump wherever and whenever we encounter them.  We can make telephone calls to radio and television stations to support him.  We can each make whatever monetary contributions to his transition team which we can afford. 

2)    We can also support the ongoing efforts in Georgia to elect Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock to the US Senate in Georgia.  As of this writing, the Republicans hold 50 seats in the US Senate without winning either seat in Georgia.  If Warnock and Ossoff both win, Vice-President Harris will hold the tie-breaking vote in the senate which would make President Biden’s work much easier.  We can each support these two important candidates in all the ways we sought to help Joe Biden, Amy McGrath and other candidates.  We can volunteer to make phone calls for them without ever leaving our homes.  We can write letters.  We can make whatever monetary contributions each of us is comfortable with. 

3)    For those of us who live in Kentucky, we must support Governor Andy Beshear in his work to save this state both medically and economically. In order to do that, we must actively oppose the efforts of the elected state officials to destroy the governor’s work.  We must publicly, in every medium possible, confront their attacks on the governor with telephone calls to their offices; telephone calls to our friends and random strangers; letters to newspapers and television and radio outlets; and continuing everything each of did to help elect the governor and to fight for those candidates who would help his cause. 

Intermediate Goals:

1)    In two years, one third of the US Senate and the entire House of Representatives will be up for reelection.  In 2022, Rand Paul will be up for reelection in Kentucky and we have several potentially good candidates to replace him such as Charles Booker, Andy Beshear, and others.  We must work to defeat Rand Paul just as hard as we tried to replace Mitch McConnell this year and, in this case, we must win. 

2)    We will also have an opportunity to replace many of the Republican state legislators in Kentucky including, especially, Goforth, Wheeler,  and the entire Republican state delegation.  We work to defeat them by assisting viable candidates, inducing candidates to run, and registering and turning out Democratic votes.  We must develop a plan to register a majority new eighteen year old potential voters, to educate those voters, and to keep them in the Democratic fold.  I have at least one good idea on that front which I will discuss later. 

3)    In 2023, we will be facing another statewide election in Kentucky and we must work in all the ways above to elect a statewide ticket of Democratic candidates including Governor Beshear if that is what he believes is his best option.  We should also do all we can to induce as many of his inner circle of cabinet members and key advisors to seek either lesser statewide offices, congressional offices, mayoral posts in our larger cities, or positions as county judge executives. 

In Conclusion:

This has been worked out in my head for several months although this is the first attempt I have made to put it into writing.  It is at best a rough draft, a preliminary plan, which I wanted to get to all of you before the fire in our bellies dies as we move away from the recent election.  But always remember that the next election always begins, at the latest, when the votes have been counted in the most recent one.  We must keep fighting as if our lives, our nation, and our state depends on it, which it definitely does.  Please send me your impressions of this set of idea along with your honest criticisms and your own ideas which may differ from mine.

A Basic Truth About The Right Wing Radical Repugnican Party

A relative of mine whose politics is very similar to my own recently sent out an e-mail to what is basically a family list about the recent escapade which got Lauren Boebert and her boyfriend thrown out of a public theater.  Shortly thereafter, his sister, who has consistently supported TRAITOR Trump and all of his TREASON and assorted other crimes against America, American Democracy, the entire free world, all our allies, the planet, and the entire human race, responded with a very brief e-mail on the list which said, in its entirety, "I agree with you."  

I responded to her e-mail with this message below which I also realized was perfect content for a blog post.  

"I am really pleased to see that you understand that Boebert is unfit to serve in the US Congress.  But what I am afraid is that you think she is some kind of exception or aberration in the Right Wing Radical Repugnican party.  She is not an exception or an aberration.  She is simply one more example of what they are all across the board from TRAITOR Trump right on down to the lowest level elected official in any part of America.  There are only  two Republicans in the entire country fit to hold any position of public trust at any level.  They are Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger and, because they had the intelligence, morals, ethics, and courage to stand up in the halls of congress and hold TRAITOR Trump responsible for his TREASON, they were driven out of the Right Wing Radical Repugnican party.  It is a party, from top to bottom, which is attempting to help the worst TRAITOR in the history of the world escape any punishment for his TREASON and his thousands of other lesser crimes against America, American Democracy, our allies around the world, the human race, and the entire planet.  They are a party of TRAITORS, criminals, liars, cheats, sex offenders, and idiots who will do literally anything to gain and hold onto any level of power they can attain.  Until we hold them all, from TRAITOR Trump down to his lowest co-conspirator, responsible for their crimes, this country, American Democracy, and the entire free world will be in danger." 

That pretty well says everything that needs to be said about both Lauren Boebert and the entire Right Wing Radical Repugnican party.  But what really needs to be said about the situation needs to be said in November 2024.  As a nation, we need to send every member of the Right Wing Radical Repugnican congress including, but by no means limited to Lauren Boebert, back to the slimy rocks they crawled out from under.  

Things In Kentucky Politics Which Make Me Puke!

 1) In Kentucky, registered Repugnicans now outnumber Democrats.  

2) All statewide elected officials in Kentucky other than the governor and lieutenant governor are Right Wing Radical Repugnicans. 

3) In Kentucky, we simultaneously have the best governor in America and one of the 3 or 4 worst state legislatures in America. 

4) In the past 8 to 10 years in Kentucky, we have seen more repressive, regressive, and repulsive laws passed than we had in the previous 231 years of our statehood.

5) In the last 6 presidential elections in Kentucky, the state has voted for the Right Wing Radical Repugnican in each of those elections.  In 13 of the last 15 presidential elections, Kentucky has voted for the Right Wing Radical Repugnican.  Bill Clinton is the last Democratic presidential candidate who won Kentucky.   

6) In Kentucky, 5 of our 6 congress members are Right Wing Radical Repugnicans and so are both of our US Senators.  

7) The Right Wing Radical Repugnican state legislature has been allowed to gerrymander congressional districts to the point that no reasonable, well qualified Democrat can be expected to win over even the worst Right Wing Radical Repugnican such as Thomas Massie.  The maps of the congressional districts in Kentucky make districts 1 and 4 appear as if they were laid out by a drunk. 

8) In Kentucky, most elections have voter turnouts of less than 50% of registered voters year after year.  

9) The current Secretary of State in Kentucky has promoted numerous laws intended to bring about extensive voter suppression with little or no public opposition from most of the groups the suppression is intended to harm such as minorities, the poor, the poorly educated, the elderly, the young, the medically fragile, and other at risk groups.