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With the longest ever shutdown of the federal government, some people are amused, some are enraged, and many are completely unaware. A few may be wondering how did we get here and what is really going on? Sadly, the press is no help; modern media is so biased and tainted, they don’t even know what objective reporting is anymore – journalism is dead. So Americans are left to fend for themselves to try and make sense of all the vitriolic intrigue spewing out of Washington like a broken sewer. The boisterous bickering to assign blame for the gov...
If you read between the lines, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey announced she will serve her next four years as governor and retire into the sunset. In my book, she will go down as either a great politician or a great leader who surrounded herself with great people as she marched to the governor's mansion. Ivey mounted a gubernatorial campaign several years ago only to abandon that campaign when polling numbers showed she couldn't win. She didn't totally jump ship, she just shifted directions. She decided...
We applaud the Flomaton Town Council for taking the first step toward boosting a law enforcement presence in the town and within the police jurisdiction. Monday night was the first step in what we hope is a long-term plan to make sure we have at least two police officers on duty at all times, especially at night. Currently, Flomaton has six full time active police officers. You can't provide 24-7 service with those numbers. Capt. Chance Thompson presented the town council with some interesting facts Monday night but the few that stood out the...
With 2018 behind us, it is time to start looking at what you can expect from Washington in 2019. Under Republican leadership, we in Congress aimed to make America better off, and thanks to our many victories through conservative policies, we accomplished that goal. Under Democrat control, there is no telling what craziness will come out of the House of Representatives. We have already seen this past week the extent House Democrats will go to in undermining our President, with one going as far as to use profanity at an event in describing her...
Recently I came across a copy of an old congressional directory from 1942. It is always fun for me to read about this era in American political history. Franklin Delano Roosevelt had been first elected in 1932 in the depths of the Great Depression. He would go on to be reelected in 1936, 1940 and 1944 and would have been reelected into perpetuity. However, he died in Warm Springs, Georgia in April of 1945, only four months into his fourth term. He was the closest thing we Americans have ever had to having a king. Nobody has or ever will serve...
The standoff in Washington, D.C., isn't so much about money, national security or humanitarian efforts; it's about politics, plain and simple. President Trump and the Republicans want $5.7 billion to build 'The Wall' to separate the United States from Mexico and stop the influx of illegal immigrants. The Democrats don't want to give him the money because if they do it's likely to be a feather in his cap as we grow closer to the 2020 elections. I didn't listen to much of Trump's speech Tuesday...
Progress sometimes hurts. When the state or county has to shut down roads to make repairs it can cause hardships for people who use those roads on a daily basis, whether going to school, work or simply to the grocery store. But those repairs are necessary for the safety of those traveling those roads. People will be inconvenienced the rest of this week and until Tuesday with the closure of the Escambia County (Ala.) Circuit Clerk's office due to repairs and renovations. Progress hurts sometimes. Circuit Clerk John Robert Fountain will be...
Watching Democrats wrestle with presidential losers who just won’t go away has been amusing, but to the consternation of most Republicans, they have one now too. Failed 2012 Republican Presidential candidate, Mitt Romney, is trying to stage some kind of awkward comeback to the national scene by maligning his party’s president. Apparently since John McCain is gone, the job was open. But first an aside, where did this garbage concept of American aristocracy come from where our self-anointed nobility scour the nation for open royal titles? Until n...
I was talking to somebody the other day who asked me why I was constantly condemning social media. He basically accused me of not liking social media since it was basically real time and I didn't publish a newspaper but once a week. In other words, I was getting left behind by social media. We had a 'discussion'. I don't think I 'bash' social media, I 'bash' the people who take what they see on social media as the gospel without considering the source. If I told you the world was flat, the sun...
The Alabama Department of Education recently released its annual 'Report Card' for school systems and schools across the state and our personal feeling is those scores released are as worthless as the paper they are written on. We'll admit that we don't know all the factors that go into the mathematical equation that determines whether a school or a system receives an A, B, C, D or F. Our bet is the majority of the score comes from some standardized tests that determine students' learning. We agree with Escambia County School Superintendent...
11 was a landmark year in many ways for Alabama and the United States. From defense funding to town halls, agriculture to Red Snapper, there was much to celebrate this year and much to anticipate in the next. Join me as we take a look back at the past year. I kicked things off in January by celebrating my 100th Town Hall Meeting in Grove Hill. I always enjoy meeting the folks in our area and hearing about the issues that matter most to them. This year, I hosted 25 town hall meetings throughout Southwest Alabama. We made real strides in 2018...
As we begin this New Year of 2019, Alabama begins a new quadrennium in state government. All of our Constitutional state officeholders begin their new four-year terms this month. Governor Kay Ivey will be sworn in for a four-year term on January 14. Also, being sworn in on Inauguration Day will be Will Ainsworth as Lt. Governor, John Merrill as Secretary of State, John McMillan as State Treasurer, Rick Pate as Agriculture Commissioner, Steve Marshall as Attorney General and Jim Ziegler will be sworn in for a second term as State Auditor. By the...
Illegal immigration has been a political football for decades. Kicked around by one side wanting cheap labor and the other seeking votes, the dirty secret is neither side particularly wanted to score a solution. Those interests still exist, but the dangers of almost nonexistent border security are overshadowing both. The practically free flow of drugs and criminal elements across our southern border has reached epidemic proportions. Americans are fed up with the chaos; they want this whole mess solved! For years, we have witnessed a steady...
It’s the beginning of a new year. Lately, all over social media, different memes and posts have been shared hundreds of times pointing out that the beginning of a new year is a lot like having a new book to write. 365 blank pages to try and make into a new special year filled with goodness and not repeating the mistakes of our pasts. What I want to point out, is that it is wonderful to have lofty goals to be a better person and to hope to have a better year than the previous one, but we c...
Depending on which mouth or should I say the color of the mouth its comes out of, the 'N' word is very offensive to many people. The wrong person uttering the 'N' word will lose their job and if they are higher enough up the social ladder the reason they were fired will be broadcast over the television, written in newspapers and distorted on social media. You know what 'N' word I'm talking about. Uttered by a black man, the 'N' word is not offensive; uttered by a white man and he needs to hunt...
U.S. Sen. Doug Jones is now reaching out to have officials take a close look and see if crimes were committed during his race against Roy Moore saying information has surfaced that fellow Democrats used a social media 'experiment' to help him win his Senate campaign. We applaud him because if those allegations are true, the so-called interference helped him. It's like a winning football coach complaining about the referees; they get more credibility than the losing coach who complains about officiating. But we are back to what we've said...
I was recently asked what my favorite Christmas tradition is and found that a surprisingly hard question to answer. It seems that nearly every moment is a tradition with my family, and that makes it hard to pick just one. From making gumbo Christmas Eve morning to wrapping presents to gathering on Christmas Day, there are so many individual moments that add up to make the season special. This year, we have added new traditions to our family’s celebration with our grandchildren, MacGuire and Ann-Roberts. There was no greater scene of pure joy t...
As is my custom at the close of the year, I like to memorialize great Alabamians who have appeared and lived legendary lives upon the stage of political history in the Heart of Dixie. This year we have had some real legends. I have expanded the geographical limits to outside of Alabama to include two of the greatest men in American history. America’s greatest preacher and one of the nation’s great presidents passed away. Most of these fellows lived a long time. One of my favorite men I ever had the privilege to know, Mr. John “Bubba” Trotman...
All aboard the polarization express! Fueled by an unscrupulous media, this is a runaway train driving a wedge into the American electorate. Whatever you are experiencing or witnessing, there are experts to deny it. Whatever events have occurred, there are propagandists pretending to be journalists ready to spin and twist it. Whatever you believe, there are commentators and politicians to deride you and your values. The dichotomy of 2018 was primarily unbiased objectivity verses “fake news.” There are certainly different perspectives with var...
Most folks look forward to the holidays. It’s supposed be a festive time for family and friends, but with each passing year there seems to be growing levels of angst, consternation, or even disdain. Pretty much everyone in America celebrates Christmas because it’s a few days off work and even people with little knowledge of the origins of Christmas or even those that reject the whole premise of Christmas still indulge all the gifts and shopping. People have probably always had to remind themselves each year about the reason for the season. We...
The Republican tidal wave that swept Alabama’s statewide office holders to landslide victories filtered down to legislative races. Even though our legislature really didn’t need to become any more conservative or Republican, it did anyway. We had a super majority Republican State House and Senate. We now have a super, super GOP majority. Republicans picked up five more Alabama House seats and added another state Senate seat. That gives the GOP a 27 to 8 advantage in the Senate and a 77 to 28 edge in the House. If you make a trip to the Cap...
There was much to celebrate this past week in Washington. That sentence may surprise you if you just go off what you hear from the national news media, but the reality is we continue to get work done here in the People’s House. To be clear, there is still work to be done, and that starts with passing funding necessary to secure the border and protect the American people. That said, I think it is worth pausing for a moment and reviewing the wins from this past week. One of the biggest wins last week was passage of the 2018 Farm Bill. As I h...
The late 1800s into the mid-1900s was an era when traveling salesmen and others roamed the railroads and back roads of America making a living off their wits or sometimes by the generosity of others. Old historic accounts tell of traveling salesmen coming from Pensacola by railroad to Pollard, Alabama. The men would take the dirt roads and streets plying their wares to any who were interested in the transaction. Some would go door to door asking if they could sharpen a house-wife's scissors,...
This being the season to celebrate Christmas I decided to write my Chistmas memories all this month. My earlist memory of Christmas must have been when I was almost five years old. It had to be 1945. We had just moved into our new house here at Barnett Crossroads community during Thanksgiving weekend. Our house was not finished inside. Daddy called it "dried in", meaning we had a solid roof, walls all around and floors. The rooms were outlined with 2x4 studs. Everybody had bedrooms to share with views into every room inside. We could run from t...
People with small children love this time of year for many reasons as we inch closer and closer to Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. One of the things they love about this time of year is that it's a time those children tend to be on their best behavior. All it takes is saying 'Santa Claus of watching you' and for some reason those children's attitudes change quickly. They don't want to get moved to Santa's naughty list right before Christmas Eve. Well Santa Claus doesn't just watch small...
