Operation Warp Speed demonstrated that vaccine development need not occur on a decadal time scale. Americans got vaccines in less than 12 months because the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was pushed out of the way. The FDA has returned to business as usual, privileging bureaucratic rules over the well-being of Americans. Consider some recent […]

I found former Congressman John Boehner’s new book at our library and finished it a few weeks ago. It was interesting to learn more about his governing philosophy. He came to Congress from Ohio as a Reagan conservative, and immediately took the lead in ethics reform. We remember the U.S. House of Representatives post office […]

The Alabama Legislature will remain super majority Republican for the next quadrennium. As the dust settles from the May/June party primaries, there have been negligible if any party changes. There has been some shuffling on the deck of the GOP boat, but it has all been intraparty struggles. By and large, both the House of […]

One of the images that stick out in my mind when I reflect on the World Games is how welcoming our city was to athletes, coaches and fans from all over the world. From the standing ovation and message of solidarity that was given to the Ukrainian athletes, to stories of local volunteers driving to […]

Last week, Democrats refused to consider any legislation to lower gas prices, reign in inflation, or address any of the serious domestic problems facing this country. Instead, they worked around the clock to pass a bill to legalize abortion for all nine months of pregnancy. This bill, the so-called “Women’s Health Protection Act,” is radical […]

I’m naïve, but I’d like to think people on both sides of the abortion issue would like for there to never need to be another one – ever! We could agree that prevention is better than abortion. I would hope so. Yet there’s a doctor in California who wants to establish a $20 million floating […]

Major League Baseball’s moving the 2021 All-Star Game from Atlanta over Georgia’s new voting law symbolizes businesses’ new willingness to take sides on political issues, typically the progressive side. Businesses previously avoided offending potential customers or employees. Selling to both Republicans and Democrats maximizes profit! Vivek Ramaswamy explores the causes and consequences of “woke” business […]

A college student applied for the music position in our church. She was a good musician and had a pleasant personality. One Sunday she dressed very casually. The next week I discussed this with her, explaining that the pastor and congregation thought worship leaders should dress more formally on Sunday. She took this as a […]

In my observations of Alabama politics, every election year brings an underlying election year surprise or two. The underlying prevailing theme emerging from the Alabama political arena this year is that women have arrived politically in the Heart of Dixie. Governor Kay Ivey is only the second female elected Governor of Alabama, Lurleen Wallace being […]

Ninety years ago, Portugal was the poster child for instability. New governments came and went roughly every six months. Change seemed the only constant, which created a vacuum of leadership tailor made for military intervention. Out of the confusion and the void of effective leadership emerged one Antonio Salazar; he would govern Portugal for 36 […]

Every year, the president lays out a budget proposal for the upcoming fiscal year. I wrote earlier this year how disappointed I was in President Biden’s budget proposal for the upcoming year because it increased all types of social spending, while allowing our defense budget to fall well behind the rate of inflation. While the […]

In one of the final decisions of a momentous term, the Supreme Court halted the replacement of coal-fired power plants in West Virginia v. EPA. The decision constitutes a major victory for representative government. Several states and power companies challenged the EPA’s 2015 Clean Power Plan (CPP), which was forcing the early retirement of coal-fired […]

Singer Tony Orlando recorded “Tie A Yellow Ribbon” in 1973, the story of a man after release from prison. He tells his sweetheart to tie a yellow ribbon to the oak tree if she’ll welcome him, but if he doesn’t see the ribbon, he’ll stay on the bus and travel on. When he drew nearer […]

Katie Britt won the Republican Senate primary the old fashioned way. She got out and worked for it and earned it and, folks, she won big. She beat Mo Brooks 63% to 37% in the GOP runoff. Katie carried an amazing 66 out of 67 counties. Katie Boyd Britt was born to win this Senate […]

Recently, the implementation of the newly drawn state legislative district lines has become a point of conversation in large part due to a lack of required performance by a very small number of county registrars in four Alabama counties. I want every Alabamian to know that while these mistakes were human errors, and everyone makes […]

Last year as we entered Independence Day Weekend, the Biden White House bragged that the cost of an average family’s 4th of July cookout was down 16 cents compared to 2020. Wow, did that age poorly. This year’s Independence Day celebration will cost the most it has ever cost for the average family as prices […]

As each of those brave souls lifted the quill and placed his signature upon the document known as the Declaration of Independence, our Founding Fathers had set a course into the unchartered waters of democracy with a government directed by and for the people. Now our nation stands 246 years on this side of that […]

We celebrate America on the Fourth of July. But do Americans today still respect each other enough to constitute a functioning country? Responses to the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade illustrate this animosity and the challenge we face maintaining liberal democracy. The Supreme Court did not outlaw abortion in Dobbs v. Jackson, […]

Simon and Garfunkel recorded “The Sound Of Silence” in 1964, later popularized in the 1967 film, “The Graduate.” Simon explained that he retreated to his bathroom and turned off the lights to write the song, and this explains the line, “Hello darkness, my old friend.” However, the sound of silence is often not heard. We […]

The 1970 governor’s race between George Wallace and Albert Brewer overshadowed every other political race in the state that year. However, one of Alabama’s legendary political figures burst on the scene in 1970, when Bill Baxley was elected Attorney General of Alabama. The attorney general’s race was below the radar screen of the titanic war […]

Every year, Americans – often youngsters – suffer serious eye injuries from fireworks on the Fourth of July. People like teenager Jameson Lamb, robbed of his vision in his right eye at age 16 when a Roman candle he thought was extinguished hit him in the face. Or Erika Rodriguez-Loza, 14, who was permanently blinded […]

Like many of you, I was thrilled last week to see the Supreme Court’s decision on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned the terrible Roe v. Wade decision. The Supreme Court decided in this case that “The Constitution does not confer a right to abortion; Roe and Casey are overruled; and the authority […]

“The world is run by those who show up.” This quote has been used to motivate everyone from athletes to business leaders, but it’s never been truer than when it comes to elections — especially elections with a low voter turnout. When only 13% of Alabamians turned out to vote in the June 21 runoff […]

It was a last minute and very fluid situation when our son determined to make a job-related move to Denver. He flew and asked us to drive his car. Since the moving van was delayed a bit, we took three days rather than the two we’d originally thought. We spent the second night in Dodge […]