Entries by Neal Barkus

The Tick Timebomb

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Tick-borne disease is exploding in West Virginia. In the last five years, Lyme disease has quadrupled in the Mountain State. We are also beginning to see the rise of a poorly understood condition called alpha-gal syndrome spread by Lone Star ticks. Much of the increase in tick populations is the result of climate warming that lengthens the tick’s active season in both spring and fall. The pharmaceutical company Pfizer has just announced plans to seek approval for a Lyme disease vaccine, but don’t expect the Trump Administration to be receptive. HHS Secretary Kennedy once claimed Lyme disease was a bioweapon created by the U.S. government.

Delegate Bill Ridenour is Untethered to Reality

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The August 10, 2026 debate between candidates for Delegate for the 100th District was well attended and informative. The Democratic candidate, Jenny Thacker, got several tough, predictable questions from right-leaning members of the audience but held her own. The incumbent Republican, Del. Bill Ridenour, knew what was coming but still could not satisfy the audience over his vote on HB 2014 paving the way for data centers without any local control. But when he tried to explain a wacky bill he introduced allowing the West Virginia legislature to declare federal judicial decisions null and void, Ridenour showed he is untethered to law and history.

The Postal Service’s Proposed Rule on Mail Ballots – The Good, the Bad, and the Illegal

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As part of the Trump Administration’s meddling in elections, a recent Executive Order directs the Postal Service to adopt a rule regarding mail balloting. The Postal Service has responded with a rule that creates near insurmountable deadlines for states before the November mid-term elections, will chill voting among certain groups and threatens to refuse to carry mail ballots from states that don’t comply. The litigation has already begun, and it is not turning out well for the Trump Administration position, which one federal judge called unconstitutional and without legal authority. What’s next for mail and absentee balloting?

Trump’s Demand for State Voter Lists Has Hit a Wall – For Now

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In 2025, the Trump Administration began demanding that states turn over statewide voter lists containing sensitive personal identifiers. Many states, including West Virginia, declined to comply. That led the Department of Justice to sue West Virginia and other states. West Virginia’s case has not yet been decided but Trump’s position has lost in all ten cases that have been. Our personal information seems safe — for now. But the SAVE Act pending in Congress could change everything.

Will West Virginia Avert Its Eyes from Trump Administration Corruption?

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American political history is rife with examples of corruption. The period after the Civil War was known then as the Great Barbecue, when ethics broke down in public life. There were embezzling treasurers, bribe-giving lobbyists, purchased newspapermen, and swindlers at the public trough. But the Trump Administration has just tried to pull off a corrupt deal so brazen it would make Reconstruction-era crooks blush. Good people, including West Virginia’s Congressional delegation, cannot look the other way.

Moving a Sofa – or a Nation

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There is a long-running debate in America between those with a libertarian outlook, who believe it is every man for himself, and the rest of us. But we can cut through the debate about individual versus collective rights at a moment’s notice by asking ourselves how important our objective really is. Is it moving a sofa or moving a nation? If our objective is hugely important – maybe existential – we know the answer. We have demonstrated time and again that the collective approach is the only way. After all, we are in this together.

Why West Virginia is Right to Count Timely-Cast Absentee Ballots Received After Election Day

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West Virginia is one of thirty-one states that permit absentee ballots mailed on or before election day to be counted if received within a reasonable time after election day. West Virginia’s choice reflects a balance of the need for finality in elections with the particular needs of our citizens. This grace period ensures that the elderly, the disabled, overseas military personnel and others have their votes counted despite the difficulties with mail service. Our state is right to count these ballots, not as a partisan matter but as a matter of fairness and democracy.

Tending to Our Democracy

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Democracy in America has developed slowly but surely since 1789. It is now the principal attribute of our political life. But recently, the fiction that the integrity of our elections is under threat has driven one major political party to adopt measures that weaken democracy. These measures narrow who can vote and how we can cast our vote. Our democracy needs tending and election integrity should not be the tail that wags the dog.

ICE Has Violated America

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Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is the hammer of the Trump Administration’s immigration policy. Public opinion is mixed on the policy, but not supportive of ICE methods. Whatever you think of the policy, ICE agents have behaved like the dreaded secret police of totalitarian regimes, and disgraced America in so many ways it is hard to count them.

An Open Letter to Dante on the Great Man’s Place in Hell

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In 14th Century Italy, Dante evaluated the sinners of his time. In his great poem The Inferno, Dante placed them in the appropriate circle of hell. The worst sinners were closer to Satan and their punishments fit their crimes. But the political and other crimes of our Great Man could not have been imagined then. This letter explains all to Dante and asks for his opinion on where the Great Man might be found for the rest of eternity.