The people's voice of reason
The people's voice of reason
Sorted by date Results 955 - 979 of 1605
With it being a presidential election year and an election for one of our United States Senate Seats and all of the interest that goes along with those high-profile contests, it has gone under the radar that most of our cities in the state had elections for mayor and city council last month. Mayors serve four-year terms and to most Alabamians they are the most important vote they will cast this year. The job of mayor of a city is a difficult and intricate fulltime, 24 hours a day dedication to...
What should have happened by the time you read this is that President Trump will have named a very capable, conservative female judge to replace Justice Ginsburg who died in September. The political wrangling will be on as the Republicans attempt to place another conservative leaning justice. I would have personally disagreed with Justice Ginsburg on several legal decisions, but the fact is she was one of the most incredible legal minds of the 20th and 21st centuries. During the pandemic the...
We are down to the wire here. The election of 2020; billed as a make or break for our republic. As if this year has not been enough of mental meltdown. Now on top of all this, Ruth Bader Ginsburg has passed on. Could things get any uglier? Uhhhh, yeah. They are going to. This is going to be a rather short Robservation since I am sitting here typing with a broken hand. I took the splint off and am typing for the first time in a while, and I feel like I have 400 uncontrollable fingers slapping awa...
Each September, National Suicide Prevention Month is recognized as we draw attention to the causes, warning signs, and treatment options for those affected by this tragedy. You may think to yourself that this annual campaign is certainly important, but how does it impact you? The truth is, we can all help to reduce and prevent suicide. As you know, the Second District is home to thousands of veterans. According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, an average of 20 veterans die by suicide...
By now, most of us have heard about Governor Kay Ivey’s September 3 proposal to build three new mega-prisons, ostensibly to solve Alabama’s long-standing prison overcrowding problem once and for all. The new prisons are planned for Bibb, Escambia, and Elmore Counties, with construction beginning in 2021. Their total capacity will be 10,000 male inmates. For a minimum of 30 years thereafter, the state will be obligated to shell out $88,000,000 of our tax revenue to lease them. Before we bui...
Two COVID-19 vaccines are in large-scale trials in the United States. Federal bureaucrats have thus far rejected human challenge trials (HCT), which would intentionally expose volunteers to the virus and speed testing. HCT should be part of our vaccine approval process. Vaccine testing employs randomized control trials with subjects assigned to either a trial group receiving the vaccine or a control group receiving a placebo. Neither subjects nor trial personnel should know who receives the...
“...one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us. But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss.” Luke 23:39-41 KJV Many contacted me after receiving news convicted felon Michael Gregory Hubbard finally reported for the prison sentences he indeed justly earned. I ask for...
Individuals who have recently attended school or worked in the business world are aware of "diversity." During my Russell Corporation career, one company leader was nearly fanatical about it; it often seemed to be more important than making quality products and providing good customer service. Some claim the term itself is classic "Orwellian double-speak" – a word having two opposing meanings. Others reference Kurt Vonnegut's "Harrison Bergeron" short story about a dystopian society that p...
The Historic “Abraham Accords” Peace Deal was signed at the White House on Tuesday September 15th, 2020 between Israel, The United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. The Middle East will never be the same. President Trump signed the documents as the official witness. This is only the second such deal in the history of Israel in which Arab countries formally recognized Israel’s right to exist. The Deal would not have been possible without the intervention and negotiation skills of President Trump. The P...
The temperature in my quiet kitchen early in the morning has felt a few degrees cooler this week. I am still drinking coffee out of a cup with a pink flamingo on it, but summer is being ushered out by fall. Before long, a flurry of leaves will be followed by the first frost. I am from people who did not believe in eating certain foods until after the first frost – like cabbage and collards. Turnips, carrots…root vegetables. These were people who collected cookbooks but didn’t use recipes. I am...
Happy Fall Y’all! (as we say in the South) The leaves are beginning to turn, and there’s a crisp chill in the air. What is it about a simple change in weather that can bring out the best in people? It's almost like each new season is a new beginning of sorts. It's a very representation of newness that stirs up changes in our souls. Autumn visions of our favorite warm cozy sweater, rich hot cocoa, and steaming hot apple cider spring into action in our hearts. The Bible also references new changes...
Labor Day is upcoming on Monday. In bygone days it was the benchmark day for campaign season to start. Historically, Labor Day barbeques were events where political campaigns had their roots. Camp stew and barbequed pork were devoured while folks listened to politicians promise how they were going to bring home the pork. The most legendary political Labor Day Barbeques have been held in the Northwest corner of the state. There were two monumental, legendary, barbeque events in that neck of the w...
There are several facets to your question so the answer will be a bit broad. There are ways to transfer assets now such as those financial accounts in your name. Your new spouse probably doesn’t want to add your child if he runs a risk of losing assets. You can add your kids with right of survivorship. Of course that gives them the same rights and liability regarding your accounts. You can also set up a POD (Payable on Death) for bank accounts or TOD (Transfer on Death) for investment accounts o...
1. For the past several years, during our wedding anniversary week, my wife and I like to go down to Destin, Florida and stay at the Henderson-Salamander Resort and Spa for four to five days. We love it down there. From their private beach to the other plentiful amenities, we will likely continue going there every year for the foreseeable future. We have even gone there in December just to see how they decorate for Christmas. I highly recommend the Henderson and no I do not have any stock or...
History is filled with conspiracies and conspiracy theories. I would like to look at a genuine conspiracy from the 1800s. As a teen, I worked in construction and encountered some interesting individuals. One was an older black gentleman who frequently used the expression: “I’ll be John Brown.” I did not know if that was the equivalent of “I’ll be a ‘sob’” or something similar in the entertaining vernacular of the construction world. As I learned more history, it became clear that my assumption w...
One of the best things about living in Alabama is that its taxes are among the lowest in the nation. Of particular importance, the property tax is THE lowest in the nation—by a wide margin. The property tax is one of the most oppressive taxes there is. In essence, it requires a person to pay “rent” to the state to occupy and use his own private property. It can also be arbitrary. A so-called “appraiser” can set, within certain limits, whatever value he chooses on anyone’s property. The owner h...
Part one opened with Apostle Paul’s caveat in Ephesians to not be faint in tribulation and his cause/reason for kneeling to God in Truth and Love. Part two opened with excerpts provided by fellow Alabama Gazette columnist John Taylor from his book Union at All Costs to help illustrate ‘Judas rhetoric’ cloaking the avarice of ‘America’s deadliest president.’ My third and final part is a plea to rise above this rhetoric which has put far too great a burden on Black lives these past several sco...
Knowledge is the basis of economic prosperity, and the knowledge contained in a COVID-19 vaccine or cure would be enormously valuable. We have traditionally relied on patents to reward innovation, but an alternative exists that could be appropriate for vaccines during pandemics. Patents reward knowledge creators with a temporary monopoly. Monopolists generally charge high prices, so patents let inventors recover the costs of research and development plus earn a profit. Patents helped spur the...
After 40 plus years of public service Joe Biden has found a new set of friends and policy advisors, the most radical members of the Democratic Party. This is a terrible sign for all freedom loving Americans. Their overwhelming desire is to transform the United Sates into a socialist nightmare. He clinched victory in the Democrat Party primary with the help of the “old guard”, the establishment wing of the Democrat Party. Once his nomination became inevitable, the former Vice President immediatel...
Personally, I started thinking things were getting out of balance in the pet department when they put refrigerators at the end of the pet food aisle to keep the latest dog food cold. I mean, I am all for feeding the animals fresh food, but where does it stop? Or does it? People love their pets. I am no exception. My dog, Buddy Rogers, is a fine dog…although I am not exactly sure what kind of dog he is. It seems pretty obvious that he has a fair amount of pit in him. I say that mainly because o...
When I was a young child, one of my favorite things was my parent’s old record player. I can remember looking through the dusty, old vinyl records. Then, playing and dancing to the “oldie but goodies” for hours. Occasionally, one of the vinyl records “got stuck.” You know….this is when the record player plays the same 6 notes over and over until the needle is adjusted. If you think about it, playing the same 6 notes over and over is not a problem that only happens with old records. I’ve been k...
Special Guest Contributor - Beth Thomas I had a moment the other day in which everything just became real. The realization hit me rather suddenly, and I had to take a few minutes to process it. I applied to graduate last week, and even though I’ve known that this year of school would be my senior year, it hadn’t really occurred to me until I clicked the “submit” button. I was sent an email telling me someone would be in touch with me in the next few weeks about things I needed to know or do before I could graduate in the spring. It really...
A couple of Robservations ago, I wrote how aggressive I have noticed drivers becoming in Montgomery. Nothing has changed since then. Every single day, I see idiot drivers on the road doing the most idiotic things. The other day, I was talking to my sister up in New Jersey and made the comment that within Montgomery, about 75% of the time, someone is going to run the red light. I picked this number out of thin air, but it’s based on what I believed I have witnessed. So that day as I drove a...
There are and one that I am reviewing almost parallels the other regarding the facts of the case. The case that I am writing about is Hernandez, et al. v Mesa, No. 17-1678 decided on 25 February 2020 in the United States Supreme Court. In 2010, Sergio Adrián Hernández Güereca, a 15-year-old Mexican national, was said to be playing with other friends running up and down a mostly-dry culvert that extends between El Paso, Texas and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. The culvert center is the border between Me...
The American stage is now set and ripe for a new leader to emerge in the black community, but it will not be the likes of Al, Jessie, Elijah or Maxine. Their tactics flamed out decades ago, but there is fertile soil now for a MLK 2.0 to lead the black community into the Promise Land, ascribed by the late Martin Luther King (MLK). King emphasized the importance for whites in the 60’s to look at the content of character of the black man, not the color of his skin. Right here my friends, is the e...
