All Posts

The Wall Street Journal (5/3/26) reports that almost everyone loses on prediction markets. Only 0.1% of accounts on Polymarket get 67% of the profits and unprofitable users outnumber profitable users 2.9:1 on Kalshi. It's time for federal regulation!

The Daily Yonder (L. Carey, 5/05/26) reports that ‘deaths of despair’ are still higher in Appalachia than in the rest of the country; mortality rate for ages 25-44 was 39% higher in Appalachia than the rest of the country. We need to expand programs like the ARC’s successful ‘Investments Supporting Partnerships in Recovery Ecosystems’, not zero them out as Trump’s FY2027 budget would do!

Art by Leah Jo Camine. It's time to elect leaders who will fight for the policies and programs that will make this May Day vision possible.

As reported in The Daily Yonder (Tyler Dedrick, April 27), an analysis (Chatterjee et al., JAMA, 2026) of a 5 year, 50 billion federal initiative to fund rural healthcare systems found funds are not being distributed equally according to need: KY, second only to MS in age-adjusted rural mortality (1140/100,000), received just $95 per rural resident, far below the average $391.

Giant THANK YOU! to all who signed my ballot petition. Submitted with > 500 signatures from folks across the 5th district.

Mikel's candidate survey answers are now posted on Ballotpedia. !

A recent article in the Guardian reports "Super Pacs have already spent nearly a quarter of a billion dollars, fueled by donors in the artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency industries demanding policy favors from Washington."

A recent study published by the Federal reserve found that " tariff changes through November 2025 raised core goods PCE prices cumulatively by 3.1% through February 2026, explaining the entirety of excess inflation in the core goods category relative to pre-pandemic inflation rates." In other words, without tariffs, inflation likely would not have been above pre-pandemic levels in 2025.

Stephen Prager, writer for Common Dreams, reports that an analysis by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy found 88 large companies, including Tesla, Palantir, and Citigroup, collectively brought in $105 billion in pretax income, but paid no federal income tax in 2025.

This video about Power Companies Bankrupting Small Towns discusses West Virginia but it's just as true of eastern Kentucky

11 counties, over 400 signatures, and of course it happened. Dogbite at house in Letcher County with no signs, no visible dog, and no locked gate.

Hope I convinced folks here that their votes can help bring the future we all deserve.

Had a great time talking with folks at the April 9 nonpartisan meet & greet!

Two opportunities to meet Mikel this Thursday, April 9: Hemphill Community Center, 3-4pm; Bipartisan Meet & Greet, Hazard National Guard Armory, 6-8 pm.

Watch the video on YouTube: https://youtu.be/fGbISt2M4Wk

According to Axios, the GOP is considering more cuts to healthcare to pay for the Iran war. Enough said.

Wonderful day at the Prestonsburg No Kings protest. Great to be with so many raising their voices against authoritarianism.

Lynch exemplifies the potential for a federal Resilient Community Corps office to fix their aging sewer system and make the water safe again.

A 3/23 article by Alex Brown in the Kentucky Lantern reports that..." According to a 2025 analysis by the financial advisory firm Lazard, electricity from coal-fired power plants costs an average of $122 per megawatt-hour. That same amount of power can be produced for $78 from natural gas plants, $61 from onshore wind and $58 from utility-scale solar."

False debate and misinformation about Section 230 is widespread and worrisome. Americans should be as educated on this topic as they can. The video below debunks some of the lies: https://youtu.be/tF_Q_Z9GUEg?si=O49RPLxfLKgVie-3