Narrative over facts. It’s how “journalism” is done these days. The latest example is the New York Times three by-line dump on Georgia’s elections, that seemed to pick and choose observations that supported their narrative over objective facts. Other “facts” were just flat made up or wrong. Doesn’t matter. They’re the New York Times. No
In 1965, John Lewis tried to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma Alabama in a march for civil rights. Less than a decade later, Calvin Smyre was elected to represent the citizens of Columbus Georgia. Today, Smyre is the longest serving member of the Georgia House. He honored Congressman Lewis as he lies in
This week’s Courier Herald column: We’re now closer to the November election than we are to the moment when it became clear that the Covid-19 pandemic was not just an overseas problem but a domestic crisis. While there will undoubtedly be revisionist history on the government response to protect our public health and economy, a
This week’s Courier Herald column: A couple of weeks ago I wrote a column suggesting that the best way we could deal with the great problems and challenges we’re facing was to adopt the 11th commandment and love thy neighbor. It was quite figurative, complete with references to the parable of The Good Samaritan and
This week’s Courier Herald column: The mantra has been the same around my family’s tables as with many Georgia families for years. “If you don’t keep your grades up, you’re not going to get HOPE.” Next month, a niece and nephew join another niece and thousands of other Georgia students who have received help attending
This week’s Courier Herald column: A year ago about this time I wrote a column called “America The Beautiful”, in which I described an 8,000-mile road trip. The overriding point of that piece was that the real beauty of our country is in its people. This is best experienced and appreciated in person, and I
This week’s Courier Herald column: The Georgia General Assembly gaveled Sine Die late Friday night, ending an unusual 2020 meeting of the legislature. It was a session interrupted by a pandemic, one that gave legislators an up close and personal look at both peaceful protests and civil unrest, and sent budget writers back to the
It’s a most unusual budget during a most unusual session of the Georgia General Assembly. The Conference Committee report on the FY 2021 Georgia state budget has been signed, and for state employees and local school systems, it’s better than expected. Given that much of the tax generating engines of the state were closed for
This week’s Courier Herald column: When part of a governing majority, members of the political party in charge get both credit and blame for the state of current events. Georgia’s Republicans have run for re-election several times sharing the success stories of economic transformation in the aftermath of the great recession. Many that have taken
Email in-box reminds us that we’re still in session, but still also in a pandemic: While we’re all trying to work and re-establish normalcy as much as possible, it’s also time to remember that we each have some personal responsibility to keep Covid-19 from spreading.
