The people's voice of reason
The people's voice of reason
Sorted by date Results 9 - 33 of 1887
When you gut the protections of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, understand that Black Americans do not experience that as a political disagreement. We see it as war. DEAR WHITE PEOPLE, Before there was a Voting Rights Act, there were poll taxes. Before there were federal protections, there were literacy tests. Before there was representation, there was systematic exclusion. Before there was progress, there was blood in the streets and bodies hanging from trees. DEAR WHITE PEOPLE, Black Americans did...
"I've received a number of questions regarding the Special Session and election contingency legislation, and I want to address them directly. HB1 and SB1 are not about redrawing district lines or re-litigating maps currently before the courts. They are contingency measures designed to ensure Alabama can conduct fair, lawful, and orderly elections if ongoing federal litigation changes the legal status of the state's maps. During this Special Session, some of my Democrat colleagues have had a lot...
Well, here we are. By the time this edition of the Gazette hits the streets, we will already be in May. Time flies for sure. For me, it has been a slightly challenging 2026 thus far but I can definitely see light at the end of the tunnel and it does not appear to be a train headed in my direction. In my very first Robservation way back in 2010, I wrote an entire column on the potential of war with Iran. In all, this is my fourth Robservation on the topic. 16 years after my first, here we are; at...
I recently came across a quote that says, “The prettier the garden, the dirtier are the hands of the gardener.” It got me to thinking. Everyone admires a healthy marriage from the outside…the smiles, the connection, the stability. But what people don't see is the work that goes on behind it. You see, marriage is like the garden. And the people in it are like the gardeners. Love isn't automatic, it's maintained. Let's be honest, real love is messy. It means confronting your own flaws, your partn...
Who are we without our mothers? Our very basis for existence on this planet is ushered in by the person who probably receives the least amount of credit, the mother. Despite their foundational role, we formally celebrate them only one day out of the year. What we call Mother’s Day could just as easily be “Mother’s Month,” as a longer reflection on the people who quite literally shape our lives. While a single essay cannot capture a lifetime of impact, it can begin to explore how mothers profoundly influence both our health and society. From th...
Campaigns based on punishing public employees for their thoughts inevitably run up a tab taxpayers must bear. Coach Tommy (TuberGrubber) Tuberville built his post‐football fortune on an AU paycheck for not coaching. His social media feed is now busy building another paycheck for not teaching. Long time readers may recall Auburn's politburo does not pay these tabs; productive (non‐parasitic) Alabama taxpayers pay them. Little wonder why last year's $228 million in college coach buyouts is att...
Just in time for Mother's Day, Fathom entertainment is re-releasing the 1991 film, "Fried Green Tomatoes" in movie theaters nationwide on May 10th. It is the 35th anniversary of the motion picture that is based off of the novel by Fannie Flagg, "Fried Green tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café". With Flagg being a native of Birmingham, Alabama. Fannie Flagg helped adapt her novel into the script for the film for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for the best screenplay adaptation. The...
A feature-length animated interpretation of George Orwell's novella, "Animal Farm", is being released this weekend in movie theaters nationwide. Yet, the cartoon-like movie is receiving some criticism for being more of a modern day somewhat crassy spoof of Orwell's political satire rather than a serious take on the storyline. With George Orwell's novella typically interpreted as one that reveals how quickly absolute power rewrites what is considered by society to be the truth. The animated film...
April 29, 2026 - ALABAMA - Long before such groups existed, Terri LaPoint has been fighting for health freedom. She has now been endorsed for US Congressional District 3 by the national group Stand for Health Freedom as well as by Health Freedom Alabama. LaPoint served families as a labor doula and childbirth educator for many years before becoming an investigative journalist, primarily focused on stories of medical kidnapping -where state agencies have seized children from innocent families...
There is a campaign video circulating in our state right now. A candidate for one of the highest offices in the land takes a piece of paper with a corporation's name on it, throws it in the air, and shoots it with a gun. He calls it campaign content. He posts it for applause. I will not name him. This is not about one man. This is about a sickness in our politics that has gotten worse every year, and if we do not say something about it now, it is going to get someone killed. In December of...
There was a time when late-night television served as a pressure valve for the country, a place where Americans of all stripes could laugh at the absurdities of politics and culture without feeling like they were being lectured, divided, or openly mocked for who they are and what they believe. That time is long gone, and no better late night host represents that decline than Jimmy Kimmel. What once passed for humor has curdled into something far more corrosive, a steady drip of partisan...
I’ve been proud to represent Alabama in the United States Senate over the past five and a half years. Unfortunately, something I’ve noticed during my time in D.C. is that the swamp seems much more interested in preserving their own power than doing what’s right for the American people. In fact, too many politicians go on TV and say the right things, but behind the curtain, all they really care about is getting re-elected. Well, that’s not why the people of Alabama sent me to D.C. back in 2020...
Miles Dewey Davis III was born 100 years ago in Alton, Illinois. Alongside Louis Armstrong, he is remembered as one of the most influential figures in the history of jazz. Yet unlike Armstrong and, contrary to popular narratives about great artists overcoming extreme poverty, Davis had a starkly different upbringing. His early life was marked by relative comfort and privilege. This shaped both his confidence and his artistic trajectory in ways that would later distinguish him from his peers....
You don’t know what you don’t know, and for many in Alabama, generational poverty is driven by limited access, exposure, and opportunity over time. This reality makes it critical to connect people to real pathways toward stability and upward mobility. The good news is Alabama’s economy continues to grow. We have diverse industries. The challenge is ensuring that every Alabamian, from the high school student to the veteran, has a clear path to a good-paying job. That requires meeting people where...
THE ULTIMATE END GAME FOR THEM IS ALL RED, ALL 67 COUNTRIES, ALL 7 CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICTS FOR WHICH WE MUST ULTIMATELY BRACE FOR NOW OR IN 2030. Much has been said regarding the Supreme Court Ruling and outright gutting of the 1965 Voting Rights act, in particular, what will happen to our representation in the UNITED STATES CONGRESS WHETHER THIS STATE WILL ULTIMATELY BECOME BLOOD RED 7-0 or 6-1 with Terri Sewell being spared. I OFFER THIS COMMENTARY. They have never been like us, not even when...
April held 'back to back' Southern Preparatory Academy (https://southernprepacademy.org/about/) events I've written much about this Spring. Friday evening's [4-24-26] 6th Annual Board of Trustees Scholarship Banquet filled the Marriott Grand National Ballroom in Opelika, where Col. Corey Ramsby addressed SoPrep's progress through its 'Winter at Valley Forge' into a strengthened cohort for the 2026-27 academic year. Video premiered at the Banquet (viewable at https://youtu.be/FapslyvFOOoo) opens...
It is the time of year to pick out a lovely greeting card and order some pretty flowers, for Mother's Day is this Sunday, May 10th, 2026. It is a day that was first promoted by the West Virginia native, Anna Jarvis. With Jarvis campaigning for a day to commemorate all mothers after her own mother passed away. For her mother had frequently expressed a desire to have a day that commended mothers and the "matchless service" they render to humanity. President Woodrow Wilson agreed. With Wilson...
Legitimacy and credibility are required inputs for successful leadership; little worth to those who subjugate others in a kleptocracy. This explains much occurring at AU according to productive (non-parasitic) faculty who have contacted me after recent columns. AU's BoT installed Vini Nathan as provost in May 2023 after the original job posting stated the interim provost would be ineligible for the permanent position. Dr. Nathan was the interim provost. The Board gave her the job anyway. The...
High above hostile ground in the mountains of Iran, with enemy forces closing in and no margin for error, an American officer made a decision that defines not only his character, but the very essence of who we are as a nation. After ejecting from his aircraft into enemy territory, injured, isolated, and hunted, he did not wait for rescue to begin fighting for his survival; instead, he moved with purpose, climbing more than seven thousand feet through unforgiving terrain, knowing that every step...
There are moments in public life when the issue before us is so clear, so urgent, and so morally unambiguous that hesitation itself becomes a failure of leadership. House Bill 347 is one of those moments. The Alabama Legislature now stands at a crossroads, not between competing political ideologies, but between action and inaction in the face of a rapidly evolving threat to our children. The weaponization of artificial intelligence to produce and distribute sexually explicit imagery, including c...
April 2, 2026 - AUBURN, Ala. - Dismissal proceedings are underway at AU against a high-profile Professor who has publicly criticized and disciplined administrator malfeasance. The charge is reportedly "repeated acts of insubordination" - i.e., this professor voiced inconvenient things effectively enough to disturb power brokers [grubbers] enjoying substantive wealth redistributions. Proceedings were initiated by Vini (Interim-to-Permanent) Nathan, an illegitimately serving Provost whose installa...
"Defend the Guard" is proposed State-level legislation prohibiting overseas deployment of National Guardsmen to combat operations without formal congressional declaration of war. Authority to declare war is specifically assigned to Congress according to Article 1, Section 8, Clause 11 of the Constitution. Since unconstitutional creation of the National Guard (further decaying State sovereignty) the federal government has wrongfully mobilized National Guard personnel without war declarations....
I would like to say there are zero legal issues associated with Resurrection Sunday, popularly called Easter but unfortunately there are issues. Even with the innocent secular emblems of Christmas there are issues. It makes me think about a friend who is a local professional artist. He had painted several Santa Clause images which by the way were very good. But he needed them protected as intellectual property so that some other individual could not legally use his now copyrighted images in a...
Every now and again a ewe (a female sheep) will give birth to a baby lamb and immediately reject that lamb. In fact, she'll kick it away. Many times, the shepherd will try to reintroduce the lamb to her. If she continues to reject the little lamb, then the shepherd has to intervene. They call these baby lambs “bummer lambs’. If the shepherd doesn't intervene, that little one will die…not of hunger, but of a broken spirit. So the shepherd takes the lamb into his home. He'll keep it warm by the f...
There comes a moment in every Congress when talk has to end and governing has to begin. This is that moment. President Donald J. Trump has made the stakes unmistakably clear when it comes to election integrity: “We must have secure elections. Without secure elections, we don’t have a country.” That is not rhetoric. That is reality. Republicans were not elected to clutch their pearls and seat on their hands. They were not sent to Washington to complain about the filibuster, hold press confe...
