Staff Report – WASHINGTON, D.C. – The National Park Service has added 16 new listings to the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom across 11 states, joining 700 sites, facilities and programs already in the network. They all provide insight into the diverse experiences of freedom seekers who bravely escaped slavery and those who assisted…
Staff Report – WASHINGTON, D.C. — A majority of registered voters in the United States, 56 percent, believe President Donald Trump does not deserve to be reelected, while just 43 percent say he does, according to the latest Gallup poll on the subject. The percentage of voters who say Trump deserves reelection to a second…
By Glynn Wilson – America will be celebrating independence in a few weeks on July 4 and holding an election in a few months on Nov. 3, so this seems like a good time to assess where we are psychologically after three and a half months of dealing with the coronavirus pandemic and economic recession,…
By Doug Jones – U.S. Senator – This is a difficult day for all of us. New unemployment numbers released this morning, some of the worst in our nation’s history, paint a grim picture of the economic devastation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The official U.S. unemployment rate hit 14.7 percent, and the Labor Department…
By Glynn Wilson – PENSACOLA, Fla. — As the coronavirus pandemic spreads across the landscape, bringing devastation to economies around the world, the state of Florida has established transportation checkpoints and neighboring Alabama is ordering all non-essential businesses to close by Saturday at 5 p.m. According to the latest numbers available as of this writing,…
The Big Picture – By Glynn Wilson – The dark cloud threatening democracy around the world is spreading like the evil cloud coming out of Mordor hovered over Middle Earth in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings series, and the current occupant of the White House in the United States is a big part…
By Glynn Wilson – Like many a fellow traveler before him inspired by the American landscape, Missouri country boy turned middle-aged Alabama forester Mark J. Hainds grew impatient with his life of teaching, raising a family, and conducting research to conserve and propagate the return of the longleaf pine forest in the South, long ago…
By Glynn Wilson – MOBILE, Ala. — When Republican Congressman Bradley Byrne announced his candidacy for the U.S. Senate here Wednesday night and mentioned “Alabama values,” it made me stop to ponder what he was talking about. Republican Congressman Bradley Byrne Announces Run for U.S. Senate Against Democrat Doug Jones In his extemporaneous speech at…
The Big Picture – By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. – A fragile nation, beacon to the world, is on the verge of cracking like a giant arctic ice sheet splitting in half due to warming seas. Meanwhile the lack of informed political leadership in America keeps us distracted by the high school beer drinking…
By Ken Levy – Many commentators are suggesting that both right and left are equally to blame for all the polarization between them. They’re wrong. The reason for all the bitterness between left and right is entirely the right’s fault. Right-wingers who suggest otherwise are self-deluded – and usually projecting. Exhibit A: Newt Gingrich. On…
Editor’s Note: While the United States is calling for sanctions against Russia for accusations of interference in the 2016 US elections, it is being exceptionally hypocritical. The US has a sad and long history of interfering in the elections of many other countries in the world. As noted in the LA Times article below “One…
Nuclear weapons, climate change, and the prospects for survival. – By Noam Chomsky – In January 2015, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists advanced its famous Doomsday Clock to three minutes before midnight, a threat level that had not been reached for 30 years. The Bulletin’s statement explaining this advance toward catastrophe invoked the two…
By James Rhodes – Special to the New American Journal – HANOI, Vietnam — Political pundit Bill Maher frequents laments over the stupidity and ignorance of the voting electorate in the United States. What amazes me is how grossly understated this phenomena actually happens to be. The most recent case in point is President Obama’s…
By David Underhill – MOBILE, Ala – “He was his slave.†The man was casually describing the connection between a relative and “an old black man†who worked on an extended-family tract outside the city. They rode around together in the relative’s truck doing chores, he said, and the “slave†was allowed to live in…
A leaf, a flower, a stone – the simple beauty of nature filled John Muir with joy. Born April 21, 1838, Muir has become America’s most famous naturalist and conservationist. He shared his love of the outdoors through writing and inspired people to protect our country’s wild places like Yosemite, Grand Canyon and Sequoia and…
By Frank Newport and Glynn Wilson – The terrorist attacks in Paris that killed more than 120 people and wounded more than 400 put the issue of “terrorism” back at the top of the news agenda in the U.S. and moved the issue more into the consciousness of the American people, according to the latest…
By Robert Reich – Almost lost by the wave of responses to the Supreme Court’s decisions last week upholding the Affordable Care Act and allowing gays and lesbians to marry was the significance of the Court’s third decision – on housing discrimination. In a 5-4 ruling, the Court found that the Fair Housing Act of…
By Nicholas Sheppard – If Hillary Clinton’s bid for the presidency is successful, would it make her the most powerful woman in history? The proposition is a tricky one, because of all the historical relativism. Making sense of it involves looking at power both in absolute, and global terms. Unlike other powerful women in history,…
So Why Do They Keep Geting Reelected? – By Jeffrey M. Jones – PRINCETON, N.J. — Americans’ confidence in most major U.S. institutions remains well below the historical average, especially the Republican Congress, according to the latest Gallup poll on the subject. “Congress is the institution in which Americans express the least confidence this year,”…
By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Obama administration’s Environmental Protection Agency issued a mixed report Thursday on the impacts of hydraulic fracturing or “fracking” for methane gas on drinking water. The agency’s draft assessment, put together at the behest of Congress, shows that while hydraulic fracturing activities in the U.S. are carried out…
