The people's voice of reason
The people's voice of reason
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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...
Term Limits One of the most popular ideas is term limits. I have heard quite a few people propose a limit of twelve years for anybody in our congress—two terms for senators and six terms for representatives. In many respects, it sounds like a good idea when we see examples of career politicians like Ted Kennedy (even with Chappaquiddick), Nancy Pelosi, Charles Schumer, Dianne Feinstein, and many others who don’t seem to ever go away. The problem with term limits is they also weed out the good pe...
Author John Taylor [fellow Alabama Gazette columnist introduced last edition] provided some quotes from his Union at All Costs book to help illustrate ‘Judas rhetoric’ to cloak avarice for revenue: Lincoln delivered his First Inaugural Address on March 4, 1861. He made several interesting comments regarding slavery: “I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no in...
Besides appreciating where I came from, my love for the South and its traditions originated with my late mother, Mary Alford Taylor. She was very easy going; however, if anybody talked badly about the South, she would become instantly defiant. It was ingrained in me from day one that Southern people are special and have been wrongly ridiculed by outsiders. As a youth in the 1960s, I remember listening to WBAM (The Big Bam 740 in Montgomery) and WVOK (The Mighty 690 in Birmingham). Living in Alexander City, I could pick up both stations...
Experts in public health and epidemiology have driven policy making during the COVID-19 pandemic. How much should we trust experts? Critics dismiss Republicans who voice distrust of experts as anti-science. Yet even experts know very little about complex economies and societies. Frustration with experts does cross party lines. New York’s Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo recently remarked of experts’ forecasts of hospital usage, “They were all wrong.” The “Wisdom of Crowds” argument, wonderfully...
A police officer has the often-thankless job of seeing to it that we all abide by the law. From armed robbery to running a stop sign, it’s all against the law. This job is not high paying, requires long hours, is personally challenging, and very frustrating. However, unlike must jobs, it is a calling. Most police officers love their job and bend over backwards to do it right, even under the worst circumstances. Chief Finley and Sheriff Cunningham and their officers do an outstanding job here i...
There are two types of writers in the world: those who can write…and those who want to be able to write. Proofreading is just part of the process. If the deadline allows, it is best to have a little space between finishing writing and proofing, but I don’t do that so much anymore…even as Southern as I am. That is no longer the point of proofing. People who can’t write seem to find great joy in pointing out simple sins in the words of those who can. But it is easy to use the wrong form of a wo...
Uncertainty. Just that word can make our stomachs churn, our hearts pound faster, and our minds race. Everyone is dealing with uncertainty right now due to the upheaval of the Coronavirus … your travel, work, schedule, group meetings, church, school, childcare, etc. It all boils down to our plan becoming uncertain. We are used to booking our schedules weeks or months in advance, always having what we need (or want) in the stores, and rarely inconvenienced in a way that technology or a little w...
Not only can the State of Alabama, through the Attorney General, sue the city of Birmingham, but also they have. The 2017 Alabama Preservation Memorial Act was used when its former mayor had plywood sheets placed around the monument. The mayor said that the $25,000 fine was less than the price of civil unrest. But now with the killing of George Floyd, splinter groups of ANTIFA and anarchists have wrongfully attached themselves to disrupt the rightful and peaceful protestors that want their voice...
Hard times create strong men Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men Weak men create hard times. – Unknown How true. And by the way, we are currently cruising full speed in the fourth zone right now; a world run by weak, self-serving, socialist/communist/fascist charlatans hell-bent on dismantling our great republic. Anybody who thinks ANTIFA is actually “anti-fascist,” go take a history class at your local college and get back to me. By now, everybody reading this Robse...
My father, W.O. Giles, Sr., taught my brothers, sister and I a famous slogan we can all recite, even today. He would say: "There is your side, their side, find what is right and do not move." This notion has served me well over the years, because I can hear my father's voice when he would say, "Don't Move," which enables one to face turbulent winds when standing alone. It is my motivation in this article to help you find what is right, and "Don't Move." Coach Tuberville has gained some momentum...
One of America’s greatest tragedies was what many of us call the “Civil War,” also known as “The War Between the States,” “The Great Rebellion,” “The War of Northern Oppression,” and “The War for Southern Independence.” It was the bloodiest war ever fought on American soil by more than an order of magnitude. We suffered an estimated 620,000 to 750,000 (revised) casualties from combat, starvation, disease, and injuries. In many ways, this war was like the American Revolution—a war of independence...
In his prayer for the Ephesians, Paul doesn’t want them to be afraid, deterred or faint by the tribulations he is enduring. My paternal grandmother lived in Ephesus until forcibly removed at the Burning of Smyrna; tribulation is a common happenstance in our human, yet not so humane travails through history. The cause/reason (two most used words I’ve found) Paul knelt unto the Heavenly Father of his Lord, Jesus Christ, was to be strengthened by the Holy Spirit, which is anchored in God’s Truth...
The killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin ignited nationwide protests. While we advise jurors to withhold judgment until presentation of all the evidence, video of the incident seems definitive. Mr. Floyd joins a much-too-long list of minority victims of police violence. Justice may be served in Minneapolis. The four officers involved were fired the next day, and Mr. Chauvin charged with second-degree murder. Does this render the protests moot? Not necessarily. Mr....
