Sunday, February 16, 2025

Steve Flowers: Inside the Statehouse - The Big Blue Bully

  A bit of country wisdom came to mind, recently, as I watched the news about a high-roller insurance giant. The old saying goes, “Pigs get fat, and hogs get slaughtered.” This adage, of course, speaks to the consequences of excessive greed.

  In recent news, which most of you might have missed, likely because it was suppressed, is that Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama was part of a $2.8 billion settlement in a lawsuit brought by the insurance company’s customers. That settlement is the largest health-related antitrust case in history. Of course, Big Blue never admitted to any bad behavior, which is par for the course when a case settles, but $2.8 billion is a lot to pay if you are innocent.

Saturday, February 15, 2025

The story of Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield, America’s first black pop star

  In 1851, a concert soprano named Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield embarked on a national tour that upended America’s music scene.

  In antebellum America, operatic and concert songs were very popular forms of entertainment. European concert sopranos, such as Jenny Lind and Catherine Hayes, drew huge crowds and rave reviews during their U.S. tours. Lind was so popular that baby cribs still bear her name, and you can now visit an unincorporated community called Jenny Lind, California.

Friday, February 14, 2025

Thursday, February 13, 2025

The mask comes off Alabama’s immigration bills

  Pity the poor state lawmaker.

  They work hard on a law to punish Alabamians showing kindness to the vulnerable — normal, everyday stuff in the Alabama Legislature — and inadvertently revive the Fugitive Slave Act.

  Wednesdays, am I right?

  Republican Sen. Wes Kitchens of Arab said he didn’t intend SB 53 to reflect the language of that infamous antebellum law, which authorized kidnapping and threatened fines and imprisonment to those who helped enslaved people flee to freedom.

Wednesday, February 12, 2025

A tribute to Lincoln

  I wish we still celebrated Lincoln’s birthday. I’m an Abraham Lincoln groupie. By sheer good fortune, my son Justin was born on his birthday, my daughter Abrielle was named after him, and one of our dogs is named Lincoln. My favorite place in Washington D.C. is the Lincoln Memorial where I stand in awe of the magnificent eloquence of this self-educated, self-made man.

Tuesday, February 11, 2025

How populist leaders like Trump use ‘common sense’ as an ideological weapon to undermine facts

  It’s “the revolution of common sense,” President Donald Trump announced in his second inaugural address.

  And so it is. The latest installment of that assertion came in his Jan. 30, 2025 press conference about the Potomac plane crash. When asked how he had concluded that diversity policies were responsible for a crash that was still under investigation, Trump responded, “Because I have common sense, OK?”

Monday, February 10, 2025

The SAVE Act would disenfranchise millions of citizens

  The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act has been reintroduced in the U.S. House of Representatives. This legislation would require all Americans to prove their citizenship status by presenting documentation—in person—when registering to vote or updating their voter registration information. Specifically, the legislation would require the vast majority of Americans to rely on a passport or birth certificate to prove their citizenship. While this may sound easy for many Americans, the reality is that more than 140 million American citizens do not possess a passport and as many as 69 million women who have taken their spouse’s name do not have a birth certificate matching their legal name.

Sunday, February 9, 2025

Why is it wrong to teach students about diversity, equity and inclusion?

  The college where I teach had always been very progressive. It encouraged faculty and staff to exercise freedom of speech and welcomed inclusive speakers, lessons and events.

  Texas Senate Bill 17 was passed in May 2023, and almost overnight things changed. This law, similar to ones in two of the Southern Poverty Law Center’s focus states of Florida and Alabama, bans diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives in public colleges and universities. Colleges that do not comply can lose millions in state funding. Administrators explained to us what speech was prohibited, such as requiring attendance for certain speakers.

  I wondered how I could teach without violating the law and how it would affect events for students.

Saturday, February 8, 2025

Why Trump’s meme coin is a cash grab

  Three days before his presidential inauguration, Donald Trump launched a meme coin, a type of cryptocurrency whose value is buoyed by social media and internet culture rather than any sort of functionality or intrinsic value.

  The coin – officially called $Trump – briefly ascended into the top 15 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization and attracted over a half-million buyers.

Friday, February 7, 2025

Character is an essential part of competence

  If you were hiring a new CEO, what are the most important qualities you’d look for?

  Surely you’d want a high level of demonstrated competence – knowledge, experience, intelligence, vision, communication, and relationship skills and the ability to motivate, manage, and solve problems. But what about qualities such as honesty, moral courage, accountability, and fairness?