(SPOILER ALERT) I fell sound asleep for about ten minutes during the most recent installment in the Star Wars franchise, The Last Jedi. This was not only because the narrative had wandered down a very tedious alleyway, but because Star Wars in general has lost its way. What began as a thrilling exploration […]

    My recent columns have focused on the extremely poor educational outcomes for black students. There’s enough blame for all involved to have their fair share. That includes students who are hostile and alien to the educational process and have derelict, uninterested home environments. After all, if there is not someone in the home […]

  After one of the most hotly contested U.S. Senate races in recent memory, don’t expect the governor’s race to heat up for a few months, says one state political science expert. “I think it’s good to have a respite from campaigning right now since we had so much of it during the Senate rate,” […]

  Registration for the next Alabama Becoming an Outdoors-Woman (BOW) workshop opens on January 3 for first-time attendees and January 8 for both first-timers and those who have previously attended. The Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (ADCNR) sponsored event takes place at the 4-H Center near Columbiana, Ala., on March 2-4, 2018. BOW is a three-day workshop designed […]

    People often lament that in our celebration of Christmas, we tend to lose sight of its true meaning. Not to be a contrarian, but I don’t think the two are mutually exclusive. At Christmastime, we celebrate family, giving, tradition, friendship, community, love, goodwill and so much else that is great and good about […]

  Last night, with Christmas nearly here, my wife, Polly, and I found ourselves explaining to our sons (now 18 and 15) what people in Houston, South Florida, and Puerto Rico are actually experiencing. They were shocked and a bit skeptical. “This is happening right now?” they asked. “Yes,” we assured them. “Right now.” “Dad…” […]

    President Trump, every Republican senator, and the GOP majority in Speaker Paul Ryan’s House just put the future of their party on the line. By enacting the largest tax cut since the Reagan administration, the heart of which is cutting the corporate rate from 35 to 21 percent, Republicans have boldly bet the […]

Birmingham Bowl The South Florida Bulls take on the Texas Tech Red Raiders at Legion Field Saturday, Dec. 23 at 11 a.m. Click for tickets. Coastal Christmas Have yourself a Coastal Christmas in Gulf Shores. Enjoy a variety of festivities from ice skating to photos with Santa. Click here for the complete schedule. Visit the website for more information. Christmas Lights […]

  We are Alabama. We celebrate the success of our industry, businesses and of course our football. However, there are thousands of disadvantaged kids that, despite having big dreams and capabilities, will be excluded from these opportunities. How many more children do we lose from under-education, dropping out, and even bullying? Too many high school […]

  Gov. Kay Ivey’s office revealed data today from the Alabama Department of Labor showing that the preliminary, seasonally adjusted November unemployment rate hit 3.5 percent, a record low according to Ivey. The number, down slightly from October’s 3.6 percent rate, showed 75,807 unemployed, compared to 77,231 in October and 136,135 in November 2016. “It […]

  Gov. Kay Ivey reacted to the passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act earlier today by calling it “historic” and declaring it a “boon” for the Alabama economy. “American families know best how to spend their hard-earned dollars, not politicians in Washington,” she said in a statement issued Wednesday. “I am thankful both […]

  Late Tuesday after the U.S. Senate passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, Sens. Richard Shelby and Luther Strange offered remarks praising its passage and touted the stimulative effect it would have the economy. Shelby called the legislation, which passed along party line 51-48, “historic” and declared it would simplify the tax […]

  In both his National Security Strategy released yesterday and the speech he delivered at the Ronald Reagan Building explaining it, President Donald Trump said the United States will build a wall along the southern border as part of the first pillar of his plan, which focuses on protecting the American homeland and way of […]

  Tuesday, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to pass the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act by a 227-203 vote along party lines. That was reflected within Alabama’s congressional delegation with Republican Reps. Robert Aderholt, Gary Palmer, Mike Rogers, Mo Brooks and Bradley Bryne all voting for the bill, with Rep. Terri Sewell, the state’s […]

  (SPOILER ALERT) Greta Gerwig’s new film, Lady Bird, has taken the critics by storm. It is the most-reviewed movie in the history of the website Rotten Tomatoes to have sustained a 100% positive rating, and it is receiving serious Oscar buzz for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actress. Having seen the coming attractions, I knew […]

    Before the question, how about a few statistics? The 20th century was mankind’s most brutal century. Roughly 16 million people lost their lives during World War I; about 60 million died during World War II. Wars during the 20th century cost an estimated 71 million to 116 million lives. The number of war […]

  Monday in an appearance on Birmingham’s Talk 99.5 “Matt & Aunie Show,” Rep. Mo Brooks offered listeners an update on his status following the prostate cancer surgery he underwent last week. Brooks seemed upbeat about his progress. He was asked by hosts Matt Murphy and Andrea Lindenberg about how difficult 2017 had been given […]

    Nature abhors a vacuum, or as the case might have been in some parts of Alabama, a vacant news rack. The fact is, three of the state’s major newspapers (all under the AL.com umbrella) have simply become dead-tree versions of BuzzFeed, with an Alabama twist. Without a traditional news source, residents of small-to-medium-sized […]

  U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell (D-Birmingham), one of the key allies of Sen.-elect Doug Jones during this year’s U.S. Senate special election campaign, discussed her get-out-the-vote effort in Alabama’s African-American community NPR’s “Weekend Edition Saturday.” Sewell acknowledged she was “partially excited” about African-American turnout in that election. However, she also said she believed the African-American […]

  Alabama officials announced that the existing Hexcel Corp. production site in Decatur has been selected by the company for its first integrated U.S. carbon fiber and PAN production facility. When completed and fully operational, the expansion will add about 90 jobs to Hexcel’s existing workforce in Decatur. The expansion was announced at a ceremony […]

  On this weekend’s broadcast of “CBS Sunday Morning,” Sen.-elect Doug Jones discussed his unlikely special election victory. Jones reminded viewers that before Alabama had transitioned to a majority Republican state, it was once a reliable Democrat state for well over a century. “People forget – a Republican didn’t send anybody to the Senate for […]

    The Second Amendment is clear: “the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.” Despite what some may try to argue, the Second Amendment makes clear that the federal government cannot prevent individuals from owning firearms.  The vast majority of gun owners point out that their top reason […]

  Local talk radio is a strong force in Alabama. The Senate Leadership Fund—a Mitch McConnell-backed super PAC—learned this lesson during the GOP primary process when it that supported Luther Strange against Roy Moore. An SLF memo leaked to The New York Times immediately after the election described “the power of talk radio” as a […]

  Even interventionists are regretting some of the wars into which they helped plunge the United States in this century. Among those wars are Afghanistan and Iraq, the longest in our history; Libya, which was left without a stable government; Syria’s civil war, a six-year human rights disaster we helped kick off by arming rebels […]