It happened twice lately, and on the same day, when I was innocently identified as a preacher. I walked into a funeral home and the director asked, “Are you the minister?” I said I was a minister but not the minister that day for that funeral. She said, “Oh, I knew you were a preacher.” […]

Our iconic senior United States Senator Richard Shelby turns 88 this week. Shelby is in the waning months of his monumental career in the Senate. He will end his tenure at the end of this year after 36 years in the U.S. Senate. Shelby is one of the most influential senators in Washington. His prowess […]

May is an interesting month for our neighbors to the South. This year, Mexico commemorates the 200th anniversary of the coronation of Emperor Agustín I, and the 160th anniversary of the Battle of Puebla. These seemingly obscure events are vital to a complete understanding of the Mexican experience. As a colony of Spain, the internal […]

Now that it’s the end of April, the federal government will soon release the latest numbers from the Consumer Price Index to officially tell us exactly how much inflation has risen in the past year. Some people will probably call “BS” on whatever number is generated by the CPI, though, because they believe it’s either […]

In Alabama, it is illegal for any individual to return or mail another individual’s absentee ballot application or their absentee ballot. This practice, known as ballot trafficking or ballot harvesting, is a dangerous practice that often leads to ballot traffickers stealing the votes of well-meaning and unsuspecting voters. Alabama law requires that the chain of […]

Early last year, I joined my friend Rep. Kat Cammack and several colleagues in asking our constituents to submit nominations for hometown heroes who had made an impact in their community over the course of the previous year. The past two years have been tough on millions of Americans across the country who have battled […]

We’ve just completed the month designated by U.S. lawmakers as Financial Literacy Month. It would appear many of them aren’t financially literate, and it shows. But we are fortunate here in Alabama to have government leaders who are. Alabama just passed historic budgets, and our state has the lowest unemployment rates ever. Financially speaking, things […]

Rapidly rising house prices are contributing to inflation but may also signal a housing market bubble. Overpriced real estate contributed to the financial crisis of 2008 and the Great Recession. Do we need to fear another housing crash in addition to inflation? How much have prices gone up? The Case-Shiller index has jumped 35% since […]

My 10-year-old grandson asked me to join in an Easter egg hunt. “I’ll versus you,” he said. I was puzzled until my daughter explained this means “challenge.” “It’s slang,” his 12-year-old brother added. He did “versus” me, and miraculously, he won, and claimed the five-dollar prize! Every generation has slang, defined as a shorthand understood by […]

As a first-time candidate, I came in with a set of expectations about the challenges I might face running to serve Alabama in the United States Senate. With a month to go before the primary, much of what I thought about this process was true, but there were some revelations that revolted even an optimist […]

We knew it was coming. When Florida’s Parental Rights in Education bill became law-keeping teachers from discussing age-inappropriate sexual material with students in kindergarten through third grade – the media pounced. They dubbed it “Don’t Say Gay,” which is hardly an accurate depiction of what’s contained in the law. Disney, one of the state’s largest […]

I’ve had the honor of serving in law enforcement for 36 years, including the past 15 years as sheriff in Baldwin County. I am a past president of the Alabama Sheriffs Association. Needless to say, the safety, well-being and support of law enforcement officers is deeply personal for me. Not only is that why I’m […]

With increasing threats around the globe – specifically from China and Russia – it is more important now than ever for the Department of the Navy to develop and implement a serious plan to ensure we have a fully-funded, strategic shipbuilding plan. Russia’s aggression in Ukraine and China’s growing naval power should serve as a […]

Alabama’s Caleb Hicks was invited to the White House earlier this month to participate in the president’s annual Easter Egg Roll. Hicks was not just invited to participate but was given a leadership role (no pun intended) in helping manage the egg hunt section of this event. He and his fiancé, Katie Phillips, both worked […]

In 2020, the federal government started sending checks to many Americans in response to COVID-19. The presumption was that Uncle Sam’s checks would make us better off. But government transfers cannot make a nation wealthier and have contributed to inflation. To understand this, we must distinguish money and currency. Money is a medium of exchange, […]

I’ve been chief of the Florence Police Department for 10 years this summer. Needless to say, the safety, wellbeing and support of law enforcement officers is deeply personally for me. Not only is that why I’m proudly endorsing Christian conservative Katie Britt to serve as Alabama’s next U.S. senator, but it’s also why I find […]

It was unique in the history of telephone calls. She asked the ministry assistant if she could talk with the pastor and we connected. “I won’t give my name,” she said, so I conversed with this unknown person for some time. She explained she was married to an area pastor, and her husband thought he […]

Alabama has lots of money. The general fund budget and education trust fund budget saw investments of almost $11 billion in spending for 2023. Since we have it, why not spend it is the mentality. And that’s what has been planned – including pay raises for state employees and educators. There were a number of […]

One of President Biden’s first actions when he took office was banning new oil and gas lease sales on federal lands and waters. This moratorium on new leases in federal waters has been particularly devastating to south Alabama and the Gulf Coast region. These actions resulted in the cancellation of scheduled lease sales under the […]

Cities across America own golf courses, but analysis from the Reason Foundation shows that many lose money on them.  Is subsidizing golf a proper function of government? The Reason study found over cities reporting finances for their golf courses.  Seventy percent of cities lost money in 2020, which may have been unrepresentative due to state […]

American society, and human civilization for that matter, rests on a constantly shifting balance between those who wish to preserve the past and those who seek to build the future, between those who value order and those who desire to unleash freedom, and between those who accept the world as it is and those who […]

The wind in my face was bitterly cold in downtown Dallas a few years ago since the winter weather was yet lingering. My continuing education classes had ended at the seminary in nearby Ft. Worth, so the afternoon was free for some sightseeing. A chill came over me independent of the temperature when I walked […]

For several years leading up to the 20[20] Census count, the national projections were that Alabama would lose one of our seven congressional districts and drop to six. When the count was taken, we surprised ourselves and the nation and kept our seven seats in the United States Congress. Therefore, the legislature’s task in drawing […]

Our country faces an unprecedented mental health crisis. Two out of five adults report suffering from symptoms of anxiety and depression. More than half of those age 18-24 report these same symptoms and roughly one out of five say they have suicidal thoughts. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, rates of anxiety, depression and suicide in […]