Why or why not? – The Big Picture – By Glynn Wilson – To find the roots of this most basic of questions in American politics, go back 40 years. Georgia peanut farmer Jimmy Carter was president, and while he was a good man and turned out to be the best of ex-presidents, he had…
Donald Trump, His Followers and These Times Through the Lens of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby – The Big Picture – By Glynn Wilson – How many of you have read F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic 1925 novel The Great Gatsby and watched one or more versions of the movie adaptations of the story? This…
By Robert Reich – This November, we have an opportunity to harness your energy and momentum into political power and not just defeat Trump, but also flip the Senate. Here are six key races you should be paying attention to. 1. The first is North Carolina Republican senator Thom Tillis, notable for his “olympic gold”…
By Robert Reich – People in public life tend to fall into one of two broad categories – those who are motivated by principle, and those motivated by power. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died Friday night at the age of 87, exemplified the first. When he nominated her in 1993, Bill Clinton called her…
“War is the continuation of politics by other means.” – Carl von Clausewitz “All warfare is based on deception. Hence, when able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must seem inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must…
“A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.” — Mark Twain The Big Picture – By Glynn Wilson – Cool air in the wake of the wind and rain from Hurricane Sally has now cleared the smoke from wildfires out west mostly out of the Blue…
By Robert Reich – The air outside my window is yellow today. It was orange yesterday. The Air Quality Index is over 200. The Environmental Protection Agency defines this as a “health alert” in which “everyone may experience more serious health effects if they are exposed for 24 hours.” Unfortunately, the index has been over…
Letter to the Editor MOBILE, Ala. — We dodged a bullet from Hurricane Laura. Hurricane Sally is headed this way, expected to be a Category 2 Hurricane when it makes landfall on Tuesday. Once again, we will be on the wet side. Meteorologists are predicting catastrophic and life-threatening rain and resultant flooding. Is this the…
The Big Picture – By Glynn Wilson – The view of Mount Mitchell is obscured by rain clouds and fog on this Saturday afternoon in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Ken Burns is talking about Hank Williams as “the epitome of country music” on “Live From Here” on National Public Radio out of Ashville, North Carolina.…
The Big Picture – By Glynn Wilson – Anxiety and stress in people trying to resolve inconsistent thoughts has been around since the dawn of time. In the throes of a global pandemic and economic uncertainty with confusing mixed signals coming from officials on high is sending the psychological problem soaring. Our world is now…
If Donald Trump is So Dumb, Why is He Still in the White House with a Chance to Win Again in 2020? – “We are a race of tit-men, and soar but little higher in our intellectual flights than the columns of the daily paper … Consider how little this village does for its own…
“Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public.” – H. L. Mencken The Big Picture – By Glynn Wilson – Time is running short. There’s only a couple of months left in the campaign to see who will emerge as the winner in the presidential election of 2020. No pressure. At stake…
By Robert Reich – My wife and I have been warned that we may need to evacuate because of fires ravaging the Bay Area. The climate crisis is to blame for these fires, which are growing in number and intensity every year. It’s also to blame for the increasing number and virulence of hurricanes now…
On the Road Again – By Glynn Wilson – CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Everyone thought the Republican National Convention had moved from here to Jacksonville, Florida and was then canceled and moved to Washington, D.C., so no one was quite prepared for what happened Monday. We got word over the weekend that some Republican delegates were…
Will the Right Wing Militia Let Him Get Away With It? – The Big Picture – By Glynn Wilson – It was December 6, 2017, and we were breaking news from Mobile, Alabama, when we found out tea party hero Steve Bannon was coming to Fairhope across the bay to campaign for the Ten Commandments…
The Big Picture – By Glynn Wilson – Sitting here in the Appalachian mountains watching the sunset, thinking about our modern communications dilemma, I feel like I’m surrounded by people who are so uninformed about reality that they resemble the chained up prisoners in Plato’s cave. If you’ve never heard the story, watch the video…
By Robert Reich – Trump education secretary Betsy DeVos is heading the administration’s effort to force schools to reopen in the fall for in-person instruction. What’s her plan to reopen safely? She doesn’t have one. Rather than seeking additional federal funds, she’s using this pandemic to further her ploy to privatize education — threatening to…
A House Divided Against Itself Cannot Stand – “We came out here to find the American Dream, and now that we’re right in the vortex you want to quit … You must realize that we’ve found the main nerve.” I know,” he said. “That’s what gives me the Fear.” – Hunter S. Thompson “By disgracing…
By Robert Reich – Senate Republicans’ shameful priorities are on full display as the nation continues to grapple with an unprecedented health and economic crisis. Mitch McConnell and the GOP refuse to take up the HEROES Act, passed by the House in early May to help Americans survive the pandemic and fortify the upcoming election.…
The Big Picture – By Glynn Wilson – What America needs is another Seabiscuit. What lifted the United States out of the Great Depression in the late 1930s? Was it government spending on the Civilian Conservation Corps that hired out of work laborers to build the national parks and other government programs? Was it a…
