State Senator Aaron Reed wants to look like a man of the people, boots, cowboy hat, and all, but his political playbook is pure MAGA cosplay. Beneath the costume lies a calculated career built on culture war posturing, military fetishism, and barely concealed far-right sympathies. With ambitions for higher office and a business that caters to gun culture, Reed isn’t just another right-wing state senator. He’s a walking billboard for Kentucky’s hard-right undercurrent. From Combat Boots to Cowboy Boots: Building a Brand on Macho Mythology Aaron Reed wears his military background like armor. Not just on his campaign materials, but in nearly every public appearance, policy pitch, and photo op. He leans hard into a narrative of discipline, duty, and strength, presenting himself as the hard-nosed patriot Kentucky needs. But scratch beneath the surface of this tactical persona, and what emerges is less a servant-leader and more a man obsessed with performance. Reed’s public image is carefull...

Josh Calloway doesn’t just want to legislate his beliefs. He wants to embed them into the very foundations of Kentucky’s public education system. Through a calculated mix of religious fundamentalism, state-sponsored surveillance, and a fetish for authoritarian control, Calloway is helping to lead the charge in transforming schools from places of learning into instruments of ideological enforcement. Faith-Based Counseling Without Accountability It begins with the deceptively soft pitch of “pastoral counselors” in schools. On the surface, this might seem like a compassionate gesture toward addressing student trauma and mental health. But these counselors aren’t licensed professionals. They’re faith-based actors, selected not for their credentials in psychology or therapy, but for their alignment with a narrow, sectarian worldview. And under current proposals, they would be embedded directly into public institutions, paid with public funds, and granted access to vulnerable students, witho...

 In Kentucky and across the country, public education is under attack. But the threat isn’t just budget cuts or teacher shortages. It’s a coordinated effort to gut public schools by funneling public dollars into private, often religious, institutions. At the center of this push in Kentucky is Rep. Josh Calloway , a lawmaker who blends far-right ideology with evangelical zeal, all while cloaking his agenda in the language of “parental rights” and “school choice.” Calloway’s legislative record reads like a blueprint from national dark-money think tanks. He backed House Bill 208 , a bill that opens the door for Kentucky tax dollars to subsidize private religious schools. Though marketed as a way to give families more “freedom,” the real agenda is clear: defund and destabilize public education while using the state to prop up a narrow, sectarian vision of schooling. The Hope Academy Connection: Religious Rehab as Public Policy One of the clearest windows into Representative Josh Callow...

  From Pulpit to Power The Rise of a Kentucky Culture Warrior Rep. Josh Calloway isn’t just another small-town lawmaker. He’s the spearpoint of a growing movement to fuse Christian fundamentalism with state power, and Frankfort is his pulpit. If you’ve never heard of Rep. Josh Calloway, that’s by design. He doesn’t showboat like some of his far-right colleagues. He doesn’t need to. While others chase cable news hits, Calloway quietly builds a theocratic infrastructure, one bill, one board appointment, one fire-and-brimstone soundbite at a time. Calloway’s rise from pulpit to power reflects a broader strategy playing out across red states: reshape public life to reflect a narrow, often authoritarian brand of Christianity. The stakes for Kentucky? Public schools, LGBTQ+ rights, reproductive freedom, and the very idea of secular government. Who Is Josh Calloway? To understand Rep. Josh Calloway, you have to understand his mission: this is a man who didn’t run for office to govern. He ...

While most Kentuckians are working hard just to make ends meet, Senate President Robert Stivers is hard at work consolidating power, cutting deals, and rewriting the rules to benefit his political allies. Behind the polished podium speeches and empty talk of “good governance” lies a record of insider favoritism, partisan purges, and backroom influence that’s left everyday Kentuckians behind. It’s time to shine a light on the man running the Senate like it’s his personal fiefdom.  Weaponizing Power Over Commissions In early 2025, Stivers pushed Senate Bill 8 to stack the Public Service Commission —adding partisan seats and forcing out members appointed by a Democratic governor . He claims it's about "expertise," but this is a blatant attempt to install his cronies and sideline independent regulators. Later, he quietly stalled the bill. J ust enough to avoid blowback . Strategy, not principle. Fundraising for Judges: Deep Conflicts Stivers publicly shrugged off conce...

Curtis Yarvin, once a struggling tech entrepreneur turned self-styled political philosopher, has carved out a troubling niche as a dark guru for a new breed of Silicon Valley elites craving authoritarianism. Under the alias “Mencius Moldbug,” Yarvin champions a vision of society where democracy is discarded in favor of an all-powerful CEO-king. A monarch who rules not by consent but by command, promising “efficiency” and “order” over messy human freedom. But this is no radical innovation. It’s fascism dressed in the language of startups and coding. A dangerous fantasy nurtured in the sterile world of blogs, podcasts, and venture capital boardrooms, far removed from the realities of real communities and human struggle. Behind the polished rhetoric lies a deeply flawed ideology, one that misunderstands governance, ignores history, and devalues the very people democracy is meant to serve. More than that, it empowers a tech-bro cult of entitlement, privileged men who believe their intellec...

James Comer wants you to think he’s a crusader for truth. A no-nonsense, God-fearing Kentuckian holding corrupt elites accountable from his seat atop the House Oversight Committee. But here’s the reality: James Comer isn’t investigating corruption. He’s part of it. This Substack is reader-supported. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. A Committee Chair Who Can't Chair a Meeting Since taking over the House Oversight Committee, Comer’s performance has been less "watchdog" and more wannabe Fox News host with a gavel . His so-called investigations have turned into embarrassments, filled with half-baked accusations, missing evidence, and made-for-TV soundbites that fizzle under real scrutiny. Instead of focusing on things that actually matter to Kentuckians, like healthcare access, rural infrastructure, or economic survival, Comer has wasted taxpayer time and money chasing political boogeymen . And when the heat’s on him? He d...