I think I know what is going on but not sure how to stop it.
In system setup /auto start / startup - shut down there is a script that starts pre-KDE start-up. It is a script that starts setlocale.sh
There are three options available for it to run
1. Pre-KDE startup
2. Startup
3. Shut down
I tried number 2 - startup. When I logged in the desktop started, in the taskbar you could see that Kate was started but once Kate stopped --- the desktop was dead. No applications would start. I had to attempt to get into system setup / startup - shut down and change the option back to Pre-KDE startup. It took a while because I had to have it accomplished before Kate started and stopped. If I were late nothing would run. It was almost impossible and I thought I would need to re-install Kubuntu desktop.
I'm not even going to try the shutdown option.
The big question is why this script exists and how to do away with it.