Thank you!

  The Capital City Free Press has ceased publication as of August 8, 2025. We would like to thank everyone for 24 extraordinary years! We deeply appreciate your support and hope you have enjoyed this adventure with us. 

Teaching our children to be better than us

  Do parents have moral standing to impose standards on their children that they themselves did not follow when they were kids? Is it ever ethical for parents to lie to a child about their youthful experiences?

Yosemite embodies the long war over US national park privatization

  The Trump administration’s cuts to the National Park Service’s budget and staffing have raised concerns among park advocates and the public that the administration is aiming to further privatize the national parks.

  The nation has a long history of similar efforts, including a wildly unpopular 1980 attempt by Reagan administration Interior Secretary James Watt to promote development and expand private concessions in the parks. But debate over using public national park land for private profit dates back more than a century before that.

Can AI think – and should it? What it means to think, from Plato to ChatGPT

  In my writing and rhetoric courses, students have plenty of opinions on whether AI is intelligent: how well it can assess, analyze, evaluate, and communicate information.

  When I ask whether artificial intelligence can “think,” however, I often look upon a sea of blank faces. What is “thinking,” and how is it the same or different from “intelligence?”

Idi Amin made himself out to be the ‘liberator’ of an oppressed majority – a demagogic trick that endures today

  Fifty years ago, Ugandan President Idi Amin wrote to the governments of the British Commonwealth with a bold suggestion: Allow him to take over as head of the organization, replacing Queen Elizabeth II.

  After all, Amin reasoned, a collapsing economy had made the U.K. unable to maintain its leadership. Moreover the “British empire does not now exist following the complete decolonization of Britain’s former overseas territories.”

  It wasn’t Amin’s only attempt to reshape the international order. Around the same time, he called for the United Nations headquarters to be moved to Uganda’s capital, Kampala, touting its location at “the heart of the world between the continents of America, Asia, Australia and the North and South Poles.”

PBS and NPR are generally unbiased, independent of government propaganda and provide key benefits to US democracy

  Champions of the almost entirely party-line vote in the U.S. Senate to erase US$1.1 billion in already approved funds for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting called their action a refusal to subsidize liberal media.

  “Public broadcasting has long been overtaken by partisan activists,” said U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, insisting there is no need for government to fund what he regards as biased media. “If you want to watch the left-wing propaganda, turn on MSNBC,” Cruz said.

  Accusing the media of liberal bias has been a consistent conservative complaint since the civil rights era, when white Southerners insisted news outlets were slanting their stories against segregation. During his presidential campaign in 1964, U.S. Sen. Barry Goldwater of Arizona complained that the media was against him, an accusation that has been repeated by every Republican presidential candidate since.

President Donald Trump sues The Wall Street Journal: First Amendment analysis

  President Donald Trump is suing The Wall Street Journal owner Rupert Murdoch and publisher Dow Jones & Co., as well as two reporters, after the paper published an article stating that Trump sent a letter to financier Jeffrey Epstein in 2003 that included a lewd drawing and birthday wishes containing sexual innuendo. Two years later, in 2005, police began investigating Epstein, who in 2008 pleaded guilty to prostitution-related charges involving underage girls. He was arrested again in 2019 on sex-trafficking charges involving allegations that dated back to the early 2000s. He died in prison later that same year.

This is how you solve a major Alabama problem. This is why Alabama won’t do it.

  Our governor likes to say Alabama is “open for business.” Our leaders insist we are the most “pro-business” state in the nation.

  This is, of course, situational. Private solar panel companies are effectively shut out of Alabama, thanks to a rooftop solar tax supported by Alabama Power and maintained by the Public Service Commission.

  And the love of free markets and enterprise doesn’t extend to workers who take the initiative and try to get the best deal for their labor. That’s when celebrations of entrepreneurship turn into demands for obedience. (Nothing seems to enrage an Alabama politician more than the thought of an employee talking back.)

Loopholes and slippery slopes

  As a former law professor, I know all about loopholes.

  I trained students to find omissions and ambiguities in wording — a perfectly legal way to evade the clear intent of laws and agreements. After all, that’s what lawyers are paid to do. And, despite commonly expressed disdain when lawyers do this, that’s precisely what most clients want and expect when they hire a lawyer.

Attacks on the U.S. innovation ecosystem are an attack on a wellspring of American prosperity

  Fifty-six years ago, on July 20, 1969, the United States landed a man on the moon, culminating a decade-long race that showcased the ingenuity of America’s public sector, its universities, and its thriving private industry. The moon landing was a singular accomplishment in the history of humanity and a triumph of the U.S. innovation ecosystem. The United States’ unparalleled science and technology advantage, developed in large part through federally funded research and development (R&D); world-class colleges and universities; and its openness to the best and brightest from anywhere created not just the technologies that define the modern world but also many of the world’s most successful companies. Now, the Trump administration is dismantling America’s science and innovation lead. The impacts will be felt for decades.

The Trump administration is endangering women’s reproductive health

  The Trump administration has made drastic cuts to federal programs that protect the health of Americans, putting women’s health at particular risk. Job cuts described as a “bloodbath,” along with restructuring within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), will dismantle programs that support women’s health, including those that focus on chronic and infectious disease, injuries, mental health, genetic disorders, substance use, and health disparities. These cuts will scale back efforts to prevent, treat, and discover cures for illnesses and diseases, including many that affect women’s reproductive health.

Why do so many American workers feel guilty about taking the vacation they’ve earned?

  “My dedication was questioned.”

  “Managers or upper management have looked down upon taking time off.”

  “People think that maybe you’re not as invested in the job, that you’re shirking your duties or something.”

Data can show if government programs work or not, but the Trump administration is suppressing the necessary information

  The U.S. has the highest rate of maternal mortality among developed nations. Since 1987, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has administered the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System to better understand when, where, and why maternal deaths occur.

  In April 2025, the Trump administration put the department in charge of collecting and tracking this data on leave.

  It’s just one example of how the administration is deleting and disrupting American data of all kinds.

How the ‘big, beautiful bill’ will deepen the racial wealth gap – a law scholar explains how it reduces poor families’ ability to afford food and health care

  President Donald Trump has said the “big, beautiful bill” he signed into law on July 4, 2025, will stimulate the economy and foster financial security.

  But a close look at the legislation reveals a different story, particularly for low-income people and racial and ethnic minorities.

  As a legal scholar who studies how taxes increase the gap in wealth and income between Black and white Americans, I believe the law’s provisions make existing wealth inequalities worse through broad tax cuts that disproportionately favor wealthy families while forcing its costs on low- and middle-income Americans.

Why on Earth is an Alabama PAC acting as a private lender?

  Money has a gravitational effect on politics. A little can tilt campaigns and policy. A lot warps the democratic process like a bowling ball dropped on a bed.

  So campaign finance laws show how much our leaders care about a level playing field. Strong ones reveal the flow of money and restrict the ability of the richest 1% to dominate the conversation. They keep the public in mind.

  And weak ones?  Let’s take a look at last week’s political headlines in Alabama.

Three years after Alabama’s abortion ban, many must make tiring trips for care

  About every other day in Alabama, a woman suspecting she is pregnant seeks abortion counseling at an Alabama clinic without knowing how far into the pregnancy she is. She may be a mother with three young children at home. She might be in an abusive relationship. Or perhaps she is a student who someday wants children — just not now.

  Once a clinic nurse determines the approximate stage of the pregnancy, she will refer the patient to an out-of-state abortion facility where the procedure is still legal. Meanwhile, staff at the Birmingham-based Yellowhammer Fund would work to guarantee a financial contribution for her travel, hotel, and child care costs, if necessary, and cobble together funding for the abortion care from additional funding sources. Yellowhammer’s work is a lifeline for pregnant people in Alabama, providing grassroots support and resources when they need it most.

Steve Flowers: Inside the Statehouse - The races are on

  Those of us who follow Alabama politics had been awaiting late May like kids waiting for Santa Claus at Christmas.

  We knew May 19 would be the golden opening date for candidates to begin making their announcements for governor and other statewide constitutional offices. Why? Because the law stipulates that candidates can begin raising campaign dollars exactly one year prior to the primary elections, which are set for May 19, 2026.

Capitalism and democracy are weakening – reviving the idea of ‘calling’ can help to repair them

  Ask someone what a calling is, and they’ll probably say something like “doing work you love.” But as a management professor who has spent two decades researching the history and impact of calling, I’ve found it’s much more than personal fulfillment.

  The concept of calling has deep roots. In the 1500s, theologian Martin Luther asserted that any legitimate work – not just work in ministry – could have sacred significance and social value, and could therefore be considered a calling. In this early form, calling wasn’t merely a vocation or passion; it was a way of living and working that built character, competence, and social trust.

Misinformation lends itself to social contagion – here’s how to recognize and combat it

  In 2019, a rare and shocking event in the Malaysian peninsula town of Ketereh grabbed international headlines. Nearly 40 girls age 12 to 18 from a religious school had been screaming inconsolably, claiming to have seen a “face of pure evil,” complete with images of blood and gore.

  Experts believe that the girls suffered what is known as a mass psychogenic illness, a psychological condition that results in physical symptoms and spreads socially – much like a virus.

Your data privacy is slipping away – here’s why, and what you can do about it

  Cybersecurity and data privacy are constantly in the news. Governments are passing new cybersecurity laws. Companies are investing in cybersecurity controls such as firewalls, encryption, and awareness training at record levels.

  And yet, people are losing ground on data privacy.

  In 2024, the Identity Theft Resource Center reported that companies sent out 1.3 billion notifications to the victims of data breaches. That’s more than triple the notices sent out the year before. It’s clear that despite growing efforts, personal data breaches are not only continuing, but accelerating.

President Trump’s tug-of-war with the courts, explained

  The Supreme Court handed President Donald Trump a big win on June 27, 2025 by limiting the ability of judges to block Trump administration policies across the nation.

  But Trump has not fared nearly as well in the lower courts, where he has lost a series of cases through different levels of the federal court system. On June 5, a single judge temporarily stopped the administration from preventing Harvard University from enrolling international students.

Public safety and parole aren’t mutually exclusive

  There are two elements critical to a functioning prison system. Security and hope.

  Alabama doesn’t do well on either.

  Start with security. At the most basic level, a prison needs doors that lock. This was a problem in at least one state correctional facility in recent memory. But security also means that staff and inmates don’t have to live under a constant threat of physical harm.

Employers are failing to insure the working class – Medicaid cuts will leave them even more vulnerable

  The Congressional Budget Office estimates that 7.8 million Americans across the U.S. will lose their coverage through Medicaid – the public program that provides health insurance to low-income families and individuals – under the multitrillion-dollar domestic policy package that President Donald Trump signed into law on July 4, 2025.

  That includes 247,000 to 412,000 of my fellow residents of Michigan.

  Many of these people are working Americans who will lose Medicaid because of the onerous paperwork involved with the proposed work requirements.

What is the ‘Seven Mountains Mandate’ and how is it linked to political extremism in the US?

  Vance Boelter, who allegedly shot Melissa Hortman, a Democratic Minnesota state representative, and her husband, Mark Hortman, on June 14, 2025, studied at Christ for the Nations Institute in Dallas. The group is a Bible school linked to the New Apostolic Reformation, or NAR.

  The NAR is a loosely organized but influential charismatic Christian movement that shares similarities with Pentecostalism, especially in its belief that God actively communicates with believers through the Holy Spirit. Unlike traditional Pentecostalism, however, the organization emphasizes modern-day apostles and prophets as authoritative leaders tasked with transforming society and ushering in God’s kingdom on Earth. Prayer, prophecy, and worship are defined not only as acts of devotion but as strategic tools for advancing believers’ vision of government and society.

The treasure of old friends

  In my lifetime, I’ve had the good fortune of having a handful of good friends.

  Each of my four teenage daughters has many hundreds. At least that’s what they call every Facebook connection they collect like trophies. The list of those kinds of friends includes people they barely know, some they don’t know at all, and even some people they don’t like.

‘Big Beautiful Bill’ will have Americans paying higher prices for dirtier energy

  When congressional Republicans decided to cut some Biden-era energy subsidies to help fund their One Big Beautiful Bill Act, they could have pruned wasteful subsidies while sparing the rest. Instead, they did the reverse. Americans will pay the price with higher costs for dirtier energy.

  The nearly 900-page bill that President Donald Trump signed on July 4, 2025 slashes incentives for wind and solar energy, batteries, electric cars, and home efficiency while expanding subsidies for fossil fuels and biofuels. That will leave Americans burning more fossil fuels despite strong public and scientific support for shifting to renewable energy.

What freedom of speech?

  In a totalitarian or authoritarian dictatorship, government officials do not need the support of the citizenry to exterminate freedom of speech. That’s because there are no elections to worry about. The regime simply starts having its military and paramilitary goons start arresting critics, disappearing them in terrorist confinement facilities, torturing them, and then killing them. Everyone else understands. No more criticism of the regime.

  In a democratic system, suppressing criticism is much more difficult owing to the problem of elections. If the goons of some democratically elected president begin rounding up critics, incarcerating them, torturing them, and killing them, the ruler runs the risk of being kicked out of office in the next election. There is also the risk of impeachment.

10 egregious things you may not know about the One Big Beautiful Bill Act

  Congressional Republicans passed a radical budget and tax bill—the One Big Beautiful Bill Act—on a party-line vote. Many of the plan’s key elements will increase families’ costs for health care, food, and utilities—such as historic cuts to Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) as well as terminating tax credits to produce more American-made energy—and are deeply unpopular according to recent survey data. Several provisions, however, remain less understood because they’ve received less media attention or were added during rushed negotiations that took place overnight and behind closed doors.

  This article details several lesser-known provisions of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) that will increase costs and limit Americans’ ability to meet their basic needs; create a slush fund for Trump administration overreach; and waste taxpayer money.

The ‘freedom’ that’s killing Alabama

  Imagine three out of every 10 Americans owned a grizzly bear.

  Not as pets. As protection.

  We’d share sidewalks with grim-faced men leading their bears by a leash. Stores would have signs reminding patrons not to bring bears inside. Those that didn’t would have many frightened customers trying to evade the enormous beast blocking the aisles.

The dangers of obeying: 4 risks for organizations bowing to the Trump administration

  A key element in the authoritarian playbook is the targeting of perceived enemies who can stand as a bulwark against political leaders amassing unchecked power. The second administration of President Donald Trump, since Inauguration Day, has been aggressively targeting a wide range of key civil society organizations—such as universities, law firms, media companies, nonprofits, and business leaders—in attempts to have them comply with a long list of demands that arguably undermine their constitutional rights. Organizations under threat have some reason to submit to the administration, especially as they face intimidating investigations into their free speech, restricted access to government spaces, and cancellation of federal grants based on their use of certain disfavored words, among others. However, huge risks accompany submission. And ultimately, too many civil society organizations failing to stand up to the administration’s unreasonable, coercive demands could hasten the degradation of U.S. democracy.

1 in 4 Americans reject evolution, a century after the Scopes monkey trial spotlighted the clash between science and religion

  The 1925 Scopes trial, in which a Dayton, Tennessee teacher was charged with violating state law by teaching biological evolution, was one of the earliest and most iconic conflicts in America’s ongoing culture war.

  Charles Darwin’s “Origin of Species,” published in 1859, and subsequent scientific research made the case that humans and other animals evolved from earlier species over millions of years. Many late-19th-century American Protestants had little problem accommodating Darwin’s ideas – which became mainstream biology – with their religious commitments.

Keeping brain-dead pregnant women on life support raises ethical issues that go beyond abortion politics

  Adriana Smith, a 30-year-old woman from Georgia who had been declared brain-dead in February 2025, spent 16 weeks on life support while doctors worked to keep her body functioning well enough to support her developing fetus. On June 13, 2025, her premature baby, named Chance, was born via cesarean section at 25 weeks.

  Smith was nine weeks pregnant when she suffered multiple blood clots in her brain. Her story gained public attention when her mother criticized doctors’ decision to keep her on a ventilator without the family’s consent. Smith’s mother has said that doctors told the family the decision was made to align with Georgia’s LIFE Act, which bans abortion after six weeks of pregnancy and bolsters the legal standing of fetal personhood. A statement released by the hospital also cites Georgia’s abortion law.

It's not easy

  Let’s be honest. Ethics is not for wimps.

  It’s not easy being a good person.

  It’s not easy to be honest when it might be costly, to play fair when others cheat, or to keep inconvenient promises.

Your brain learns from rejection − here’s how it becomes your compass for connection

  Imagine finding out your friends hosted a dinner party and didn’t invite you or that you were passed over for a job you were excited about. These moments hurt, and people often describe rejection in the language of physical pain.

  While rejection can be emotionally painful, it can also teach us something.

I’m a physician who has looked at hundreds of studies of vaccine safety, and here’s some of what RFK Jr. gets wrong

  In the four months since he began serving as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has made many public statements about vaccines that have cast doubt on their safety and on the objectivity of long-standing processes established to evaluate them.

  Many of these statements are factually incorrect. For example, in a newscast aired on June 12, 2025, Kennedy told Fox News viewers that 97% of federal vaccine advisers are on the take. In the same interview, he also claimed that children receive 92 mandatory shots. He has also widely claimed that only COVID-19 vaccines, not other vaccines in use by both children and adults, were ever tested against placebos and that “nobody has any idea” how safe routine immunizations are.

The Declaration of Independence wasn’t really complaining about King George, and 5 other surprising facts for July 4th

 Editor’s note: Americans may think they know a lot about the Declaration of Independence, but many of those ideas are elitist and wrong, as historian Woody Holton explains.

  His book, “Liberty is Sweet: The Hidden History of the American Revolution,” shows how independence and the Revolutionary War were influenced by women, Indigenous and enslaved people, religious dissenters, and other once-overlooked Americans.

  In celebration of the United States’ birthday, Holton offers six surprising facts about the nation’s founding document – including that it failed to achieve its most immediate goal and that its meaning has changed from the founding to today.

What the Supreme Court ruling against ‘universal injunctions’ means for court challenges to presidential actions

  When presidents have tried to make big changes through executive orders, they have often hit a roadblock: A single federal judge, whether located in Seattle or Miami or anywhere in between, could stop these policies across the entire country.

  But on June 27, 2025, the Supreme Court significantly limited this judicial power. In Trump v. CASA Inc., a 6-3 majority ruled that federal courts likely lack the authority to issue “universal injunctions” that block government policies nationwide. The ruling means that going forward, federal judges can generally only block policies from being enforced against the specific plaintiffs who filed the lawsuit, not against everyone in the country.

3 years after abortion rights were overturned, contraception access is at risk

  On June 24, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization eliminated a nearly 50-year constitutional right to abortion and returned the authority to regulate abortion to the states.

  The Dobbs ruling, which overturned Roe v. Wade, has vastly reshaped the national abortion landscape. Three years on, many states have severely restricted access to abortion care. But the decision has also had a less well-recognized outcome: It is increasingly jeopardizing access to contraception.

Britt and Tuberville enter Trump’s fantasy world at Alabama’s expense

  I have no inside sources in the White House.

  I do not have access to military intelligence. Or any expert knowledge of the Middle East.

  But I’ve spent my adult life watching American presidents try to bomb the region into peace. It never works.

  Which leaves me wondering how Alabama’s senators, who on paper have better sources than us Goat Hill wretches, think that President Donald Trump’s decision to attack Iranian nuclear facilities solved anything.

Rules about trust

  I’ve talked about it lots of times before: The high cost of lying and deception — by politicians and police, corporate executives, and clergy, even journalists, accountants, and educators — has been to weaken every major social institution.

  As each of these institutions wages its separate battle to remove the cloud of suspicion and cynicism that hovers over it, there are certain truths about trust that must be understood and dealt with.

Despite Musk’s departure, Trump’s war against unions and workers will continue

  President Donald Trump’s second administration has been defined by its assault on the federal workforce. With Elon Musk at the helm of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the Trump administration fired tens of thousands of federal workers, jeopardizing services that working families across the country rely on. Yet the attacks on workers have gone beyond firing public sector workers and will not end just because Musk has left the government.

Bomb, Bomb, Bomb Iran(q)

  President Trump says it was necessary for him to order U.S. pilots to bomb Iran to prevent that nation’s government from building a nuclear bomb.

  Wait a minute. Something is coming to me. Just give me a moment. It’s coming into my mind. Oh, yes, I remember:

  “WMDs! WMDs, Jacob! We have to invade Iran, I mean Iraq, because Saddam Hussein is coming to get us with his WMDs! We have to invade now! Tomorrow will be too late. WMDs! WMDs!”

Maybe it’s not American greatness that brings immigrants here

  My mother left a small village in western Ireland when she was 17.

  She had good reason. Her public education ended at age 14. At the time, public high schools did not exist in Ireland. The fifth child of a Irish farmer’s 10 children could only get a secondary education with a scholarship to a private school. And she did not get that. Many people in her village in County Mayo were migrant workers, traveling to Scotland to pick potatoes.

  She didn’t want that life. So she left. So did most of her sisters.

  And decades later, she’s still angry.

Energy Star, on the Trump administration’s target list, has a long history of helping consumers’ wallets and the planet

  Since the early 1990s, the small blue Energy Star label has appeared on millions of household appliances, electronics, and even buildings across the United States. But as the Trump administration considers terminating some or all of the program, it is worth a look at what exactly this government-backed label means, and why it has become one of the most recognizable environmental certifications in the country.

  Energy Star was launched by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 1992 and later expanded in partnership with the Department of Energy with a simple goal: making it easier for consumers and businesses to choose energy-efficient products, helping them reduce energy use and save money, without sacrificing quality or performance.

Violent extremists like the Minnesota shooter are not lone wolves

  After a two-day manhunt, Minnesota authorities arrested and charged 57-year-old Vance Boelter on June 15, 2025 after he allegedly shot and killed Minnesota House Democratic leader Melissa Hortman and her husband in their home and seriously injured another state senator and his wife.

  Boelter, disguised as a police officer, went to other Minnesota politicians’ homes late in the evening on June 13. In his parked car, he left behind a list of names and addresses of other Minnesota state and federal elected officials, as well as community leaders and Planned Parenthood locations.

  This incident is the latest to demonstrate how political and often hate-based violence is becoming a more common part of American politics.

The Israeli government makes life unsafe for Jews

  A man named Mohamed Soliman is charged with multiple crimes relating to a brutal Molotov cocktail attack on people in Boulder, Colorado, who were demonstrating in favor of Israeli hostages in Gaza. Some of the victims suffered second- and third-degree burns, but all of them are expected to survive. Soliman yelled “Free Palestine” as he lobbed his firebombs into the crowd.

  It goes without saying that Soliman is being accused of antisemitism. But the discomforting fact is that the Israeli government bears responsibility for much of the antisemitism here in the United States and the rest of the world.

Listening: A vital dimension of respect

  We demonstrate the virtue of respect for others by being courteous and civil and treating everyone in a manner that acknowledges and honors basic human dignity.

  An important but often neglected aspect of respect is listening to what others say. Respectful listening is more than hearing. It requires us to consider what’s being said. That’s hard when we’ve heard it before, aren’t interested, or don’t think much of the person talking. It’s even worse when we act like we’re listening but are just waiting for our turn to speak.

Golden Dome dangers: An arms control expert explains how Trump’s missile defense threatens to make the US less safe

  President Donald Trump’s idea of a “Golden Dome” missile defense system carries a range of potential strategic dangers for the United States.

  Golden Dome is meant to protect the U.S. from ballistic, cruise, and hypersonic missiles, and missiles launched from space. Trump has called for the missile defense to be fully operational before the end of his term in three years.

Trump’s justifications for the latest travel ban aren’t supported by the data on immigration and terrorism

  The Trump administration, on June 4, announced travel restrictions targeting 19 countries in Africa and Asia, including many of the world’s poorest nations. All travel is banned from 12 of these countries, with partial restrictions on travel from the rest.

  The presidential proclamation, entitled “Restricting the Entry of Foreign Nationals to Protect the United States from Foreign Terrorists and Other National Security and Public Safety Threats,” is aimed at “countries throughout the world for which vetting and screening information is so deficient as to warrant a full or partial suspension on the entry or admission of nationals from those countries.”

The Alabama Democratic Party can’t afford to write off 2026

  Tommy Tuberville, our reputed gubernatorial inevitability, should not have a clear path to the governor’s mansion.

  His Senate career is almost all cable news hits, conspiracy thinking, and attacks on transgender youth. His platform is the same reward-the-wealthy, punish-the-marginalized, Trump-is-all pitch we’ve heard from state Republicans for a decade.

  Call me naive, but Alabama needs something more than this. We deserve officials whose priorities are public matters and not the private goals of the state’s many wealthy cliques. A gubernatorial campaign that could be waged in its entirety from a beach house won’t provide any of that.

Hank Sanders: Sketches #1671 - The end of slavery was monumental

  The end of slavery. The end of slavery. The end of slavery. The end of slavery was one of the most impactful events in the history of the United States of America. It changed so much. But we don’t celebrate the end of slavery. It’s a fateful failure. There are many reasons for this great failure. The end of slavery was monumental.

  To understand the huge importance of the end of slavery, we have to understand the profound dimensions of slavery. We have deliberately blocked out such knowledge. Slavery was so terrible that we don’t want to remember it. We don’t want to talk or read or see movies or television programs about slavery. It is too painful. We act the way many respond to truly traumatic events such as brutal rapes. We often refuse to remember. Even when we don’t remember slavery, its impact is still deep and manifests itself in many ways. We cannot celebrate the end of slavery if we refuse to remember slavery.

The disease of low expectations

  The serious damage done to our economy, social institutions, and personal relationships by widespread cheating and dishonesty is bad enough. But widespread acceptance of such behavior as inevitable threatens to make our future a lot worse. In effect, our culture is being infected by a disease: the disease of low expectations.

US health care is rife with high costs and deep inequities, and that’s no accident – a public health historian explains how the system was shaped to serve profit and politicians

  A few years ago, a student in my history of public health course asked why her mother couldn’t afford insulin without insurance, despite having a full-time job. I told her what I’ve come to believe: The U.S. health care system was deliberately built this way.

  People often hear that health care in America is dysfunctional – too expensive, too complex, and too inequitable. But dysfunction implies failure. What if the real problem is that the system is functioning exactly as it was designed to? Understanding this legacy is key to explaining not only why reform has failed repeatedly, but why change remains so difficult.

AmeriCorps is on the chopping block – despite research showing that the national service agency is making a difference in local communities

  Hundreds of thousands of U.S. nonprofits provide vital services, such as running food banks and youth programs, supporting public health initiatives, and helping unemployed people find new jobs. Although this work helps sustain local communities, obtaining the money and staff they require is a constant struggle for many of these groups.

  That’s where AmeriCorps often comes in. The independent federal agency for national service and volunteerism has facilitated the work of approximately 200,000 people a year, placing them through partnerships with thousands of nonprofits that provide tutoring, disaster relief, and many other important services.

How Trump’s ‘gold standard’ politicizes federal science

  The first time Donald Trump was president, the head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency developed a regulation known as the “science transparency” rule. The administration liked to call it the “secret science” rule.

  “Transparency” sounds positive, but this rule instead prevented the EPA from using some of the best available science to protect human health.

Suitability versus capability

  A critical maxim of management is: “Suitability is as important as capability.” Capability asks, “Can they do the job?” Suitability asks, “Are they right for the job?”

  If the job isn’t a good fit, it’s not a good job.

On Friday the 13th, leave the superstitions at home

  Of all the days to stay in bed, Friday the 13th is surely the best. It’s the title of a popular (if increasingly corny) horror movie series; it’s associated with bad luck, and it’s generally thought to be a good time not to take any serious risks.

  Even if you try to escape it, you might fail, as happened to New Yorker Daz Baxter. On Friday 13th in 1976, he decided to just stay in bed for the day, only to be killed when the floor of his apartment block collapsed under him. There’s even a term for the terror the day evokes: Paraskevidekatriaphobia was coined by the psychotherapist Donald Dossey, a specialist in phobias, to describe an intense and irrational fear of the date.

The path not taken

  My wife and I spent the Sunday afternoon of Memorial Day weekend hiking near Lake Martin in Dadeville.

  From a stunning view of the lake, we walked through a canopied forest with all kinds of rocks, ridges, and flora. The trail took us to the lake shore, where we took in the vistas and the $1 million homes all around them.

  It’s a reminder of how many natural jewels we have in Alabama. And it’s free. All you have to do is drive there and start walking. No painful real estate investment required.

Who would trade liberty for security?

  Benjamin Franklin famously stated, “Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.”

  Who would do that? Who would be willing to give up a life of freedom in exchange for being kept “safe,” even temporarily or permanently?

  What if every American citizen today were confronted directly with this question: Are you willing to sacrifice your freedom in exchange for temporary safety?

Steve Flowers: Inside the Statehouse - ACCS is just what the doctor ordered for Alabama jobs

  The recently completed 2025 Alabama Legislative Regular Session has concluded successfully. Any time you record solid balanced budgets, you have succeeded.

  Both the Education Budget and General Fund Budget are sound, thanks to the good work of the budget chairmen. Sen. Arthur Orr (R-Decatur), Rep. Danny Garrett (R-Trussville), Sen. Greg Albritton (R-Escambia), and Rep. Rex Reynolds (R-Huntsville) have done yeoman work. Legislative leaders, like Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter (R-Rainsville) and Senate President Pro Tem Garlan Gudger (R-Cullman), have provided outstanding leadership.

12 LGBTQ+ activists who used the power of the First Amendment

  Throughout U.S. history, LGBTQ+ activists have used their First Amendment rights to advocate for their cause. These freedoms — particularly speech, press, assembly, and petition — have helped LGBTQ+ leaders push for awareness and laws to protect their communities such as the 2015 U.S. Supreme Court case protecting gay marriage; state and federal laws prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in workplaces and in health care; and others.

  These activists have made an impact by using their rights to speak out and take action.

Being alone has its benefits − a psychologist flips the script on the ‘loneliness epidemic’

  Over the past few years, experts have been sounding the alarm over how much time Americans spend alone.

  Statistics show that we’re choosing to be solitary for more of our waking hours than ever before, tucked away at home rather than mingling in public. Increasing numbers of us are dining alone and traveling solo, and rates of living alone have nearly doubled in the past 50 years.

See them while you can: Trump’s policies threaten America’s national parks and public lands

  With the summer travel season just around the corner, American families will soon embark on long-awaited vacations to some of the world’s great travel destinations: America’s parks and public lands. Places like the Grand Canyon and Great Smoky Mountains draw millions of visitors annually from across the globe and help fuel our country’s growing outdoor recreation economy, which accounted for $1.2 trillion in economic activity in 2023. Yet a concerted effort by the Trump administration to sell off and sell out America’s public lands to the highest bidder puts these special places, local economies, and future travel plans in jeopardy.

Money is the icing, not the cake

  Despite the advice of preachers and philosophers warning us of the shortcomings of money, it’s hard to argue with Gertrude Stein’s observation: “I’ve been rich and I’ve been poor. Rich is better.”

  Although money is better at reducing suffering caused by poverty and relieving anxiety caused by debt than it is at making us happy, it can buy lots of things that make us feel good and important.

Goodbye to Twinkle Cavanaugh, the regulator who did little regulating

  Twinkle Andress Cavanaugh is a political pioneer of sorts.

  In her campaigns for the Alabama Power Rubber Stamp Squad — excuse me, the Public Service Commission — Cavanaugh had one message: Being a conservative Republican is the only qualification for office.

  She trumpeted her opposition to abortion rights, even snagging Mike Huckabee to back her up on that. Later on, she campaigned for re-election in part on her opposition to “socialism and liberal ‘woke’ ideas.”

Disappearing people

  One of the ways that brutal right-wing Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet would terrorize the Chilean people into patriotic submission to his authority was by disappearing people. This was different from simply torturing and executing them. He and his goons certainly did that too. But disappearing people was different. With executions and bodies, families at least had certainty with respect to what had happened to their loved one. With disappearances, they never could be certain that their loved one really was dead. There was always a small part of people that retained some amount of hope that maybe — just maybe — their loved one would show up after being released from years or decades in some prison. It was a brutal way to psychologically torture the family members of the person who had been disappeared and everyone else in society.

Empathy can take a toll – but 2 philosophers explain why we should see it as a strength

  In an interview with podcaster Joe Rogan, billionaire and Trump megadonor Elon Musk offered his thoughts about what motivates political progressives to support immigration. In his view, the culprit was empathy, which he called “the fundamental weakness of Western civilization.”

  As shocking as Musk’s views are, however, they are far from unique. On the one hand, there is the familiar and widespread conservative critique of “bleeding heart” liberals as naive or overly emotional. But there is also a broader philosophical critique that raises worries about empathy on quite different and less political grounds, including findings in social science.

Like many populist leaders, Trump accuses judges of being illegitimate obstacles to safety and democracy

  Federal judges and at times Supreme Court justices have repeatedly challenged – and blocked – President Donald Trump’s attempts to reshape fundamental aspects of American government.

  Many of Trump’s more than 150 executive orders, including one aimed at eliminating the Department of Education, have been blocked by injunctions and lawsuits.

  When a majority of Supreme Court justices ruled on May 16, 2025 that the Trump administration could not deport a group of Venezuelan immigrants without first giving them the right to due process in court, Trump attacked the court.

How to succeed by failing forward

  The best way to teach our children to succeed is to teach them to fail.

  After all, if getting everything you want on the first try is success, and everything else is failure, we all fail much more often than we succeed.

The first Pride was a riot

  Police raids were frequent and expected among the gay bars in Greenwich Village in the late 1960s.

  In every state except Illinois, simply being gay was a crime. At the time, New York City was seen as a relatively safe haven for LGBTQ+ folks across the nation. But law enforcement routinely seized on state laws authorizing the arrest of anyone for “crimes against nature” or not wearing at least three articles of gender-appropriate clothing.

Authentic apologies

  “I’m sorry.”

  These are powerful words. Authentic apologies can work like a healing ointment on old wounds, dissolve bitter grudges, and repair damaged relationships. They encourage both parties to let go of toxic emotions like anger and guilt and provide a fresh foundation of mutual respect.

  But authentic apologies involve much more than words expressing sorrow; they require accountability, remorse, and repentance.

Queer country: LGBTQ+ musicians are outside the spotlight as Grand Ole Opry turns 100

  On March 15, 1974, the Grand Ole Opry country music radio show closed its run at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee, with Johnny and June Carter Cash leading the song “Will the Circle Be Unbroken.” After that final show, a six-foot circle of wood was cut from the Ryman stage and moved to the new Grand Ole Opry House.

  The next night, Roy Acuff opened the first show at the new venue. A video of Acuff singing in the 1940s played before the screen lifted to reveal Acuff himself, singing live in the same spot. The message was clear: Though the stage had changed, the story continued. The circle had not been broken.

Mayhem, violence and death — but not “corrections”

  We need prisons. They should confine violent felons and people who steal, whether from a convenience store or a pension fund.

  But by every legal, financial, and humanitarian standard, the Alabama Department of Corrections is a failure. By the most basic measure of prison operations, Corrections isn’t doing its job.

  Before any other consideration, prisons must be safe for staff and inmates.  And they ought to offer those in the cells an opportunity to reform, even if the incarcerated never step outside the barbed wire again.

Steve Flowers: Inside the Statehouse - Attorney general’s race will be a good one in 2026

  Folks, 2026 is shaping up as one of the best political years in memory in Alabama.

  The governor’s, lieutenant governor’s, and attorney general’s offices - and maybe one of our U.S. Senate seats - are up for grabs with no incumbent. The jockeying has begun in earnest for all these posts.

Science requires ethical oversight – without federal dollars, society’s health and safety are at risk

  As the Trump administration continues to make significant cuts to NIH budgets and personnel and to freeze billions of dollars of funding to major research universities – citing ideological concerns – there’s more being threatened than just progress in science and medicine. Something valuable but often overlooked is also being hit hard: preventing research abuse.

  The National Institutes of Health has been the world’s largest public funder of biomedical research. Its support helps translate basic science into biomedical therapies and technologies, providing funding for nearly all treatments approved by the Food and Drug Administration from 2010 to 2019. This enables the U.S. to lead global research while maintaining transparency and preventing research misconduct.

Memorial Day, a day of remembrance

  It’s not just an excuse for a three-day weekend or a day for barbecue and beer.

  Memorial Day is a time for Americans to connect with our national history and core values by honoring those who gave their lives fighting for this country.

The forgotten history of Memorial Day

  In the years following the bitter Civil War, a former Union general took a holiday originated by former Confederates and helped spread it across the entire country.

  The holiday was Memorial Day, and today's commemoration marks the 158th anniversary of its official nationwide observance. The annual commemoration was born in the former Confederate States in 1866 and adopted by the United States in 1868. It is a holiday in which the nation honors its military dead.

Too poor to give

  When Teresa, a widow with four young children, saw a notice that members of her church would gather to deliver presents and food to a needy family, she took $10 out of her savings jar and bought the ingredients to make three dozen cookies. She got to the church parking lot just in time to join a convoy going to the home that was to receive the congregation’s help.

Welcome to the University of Alabama! Hope some of you have an attorney

  This is what happened to a University of Alabama student targeted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and how the university reacted.

  (Alireza) Doroudi, an Iranian national pursuing a PhD in mechanical engineering (at the University of Alabama), was taken into custody by ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) unit on Tuesday around 3 a.m… The University of Alabama has not provided further details about the situation. Spokesperson Alex House did not respond to messages Friday after initially stating that the university was cooperating with immigration authorities. House did not address whether the university was offering Doroudi any assistance. — Alabama Reflector, March 28, 2025

‘Agreeing to disagree’ is hurting your relationships – here’s what to do instead

  As Americans become more polarized, even family dinners can feel fraught, surfacing differences that could spark out-and-out conflict. Tense conversations often end with a familiar refrain: “Let’s just drop it.”

  As a communications educator and trainer, I am frequently asked how to handle these conversations, especially when they involve social and political issues. One piece of advice I give is that “agree to disagree,” or any other phrase that politely stands in for “stop talking,” will not restore harmony. Not only that, but it could also do permanent harm to those important family bonds.

As US doubles down on fossil fuels, communities will have to adapt to the consequences − yet climate adaptation funding is on the chopping block

  It’s no secret that warming temperatures, wildfires, and flash floods are increasingly affecting lives across the United States. With the U.S. government now planning to ramp up fossil fuel use, the risks of these events are likely to become even more pronounced.

  That leaves a big question: Is the nation prepared to adapt to the consequences?

The Trump administration’s trade wars are crushing U.S. small businesses

  The great American historian Barbara Tuchman once described folly in government as the pursuit of policies contrary to a country’s own interests and despite the availability of feasible alternatives. Folly, as Tuchman noted, is more than just a one-off bad decision; rather, it is the consistent implementation of a policy that achieves the opposite of what is intended. The Trump administration’s unprecedented trade war rises to this level of mismanagement.

  President Donald Trump’s embrace of tariffs to a level not seen in more than a century, supposedly to foster the redevelopment of the country’s industrial base, will do the opposite of what he intends it to do. It will crush U.S. small businesses, particularly those engaged in manufacturing, decimating the backbone of American industry and of countless communities across the country. Already, corporate bankruptcies are up 7.38 percent year over year, commercial freight contracts have plummeted, ports are empty, and hiring has been frozen across several different industries.

Measles could again become widespread as cases surge worldwide

  Globally, measles is on the rise across the U.S., Canada, Mexico, South America, and parts of Europe. In 2025, North and South America saw 11 times more cases than during the same period last year. In Europe, measles rates are at their highest point in 25 years.

  In the United States., as of May 2, 2025, health authorities have confirmed 935 cases of measles affecting 30 states. This is a huge surge compared with the 285 cases reported in 2024. A large measles outbreak is happening in Canada, too, with over 1,000 cases.

  The Conversation asked Rebecca Schein, a specialist in pediatric infectious diseases, to explain what this spike at home and abroad might mean for a disease that was declared eliminated from the U.S. in 2000.

How to manage financial stress in uncertain times

  American families are struggling to keep up with their bills.

  The cost of food soared by more than 23% from 2020 to 2024. Other price increases, which are especially steep for vehicles, insurance, child care, and housing, come as nearly 40% more people are behind on their credit card payments than in 2022.

  Now, uncertainty arising from zigzagging tariffs, firing of tens of thousands of federal workers and contractors, and massive cuts and freezes to federally funded programs means that more people are increasingly pessimistic about the economy.

How Trump promotes a radical, unscientific theory about sex and gender in the name of opposing ‘gender ideology extremism’

  The Trump administration claims to be rooting out “gender ideology extremism” and “restoring biological truth” in the United States.

  In a January 2025 executive order, President Donald Trump decreed that there are only two genders – male and female – and that anyone who believes differently denies “the biological reality of sex.”

  Yet as a gender studies scholar, I know what the science really says about gender and sex.

The real scandal in Alabama’s transgender youth care ban

  This much we know: Alabama’s gender-affirming care ban will be law for the foreseeable future.

  Attorneys for transgender young people and their families sued to overturn it. But after a three-year battle, the plaintiffs and the state moved to dismiss the lawsuit. The attorneys for the families said their clients had “to make heart-wrenching decisions that no family should ever have to make, and they are each making the decisions that are right for them.”

  To be sure, the broader legal landscape looks threatening. The U.S. Supreme Court seems poised to uphold a similar ban on gender-affirming care in Tennessee. One can hardly blame parents for giving up on an unjust legal system.

Refuse to be afraid

  Tim Wrightman, a former All-American UCLA football player, tells a story about how as a rookie lineman in the National Football League, he was up against the legendary pass rusher Lawrence Taylor. Taylor was not only physically powerful and uncommonly quick but a master at verbal intimidation.

  Looking young Tim in the eye, he said, “Sonny, get ready. I’m going to the left and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

U.S. officials are responsible for more immigrant deaths

  According to an article in the Los Angeles Times, after federal immigration-control officials charged five Mexican citizens with the deaths of four illegal immigrants from drowning, including two children, Shawn Gibson, special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations in San Diego, stated, “Smugglers often treat people as disposable commodities. Yesterday’s heartbreaking events are a stark reminder of the urgent need to dismantle these criminal networks driven by greed.”

  Gibson has it partly right and partly wrong.

The MMR vaccine doesn’t contain ‘aborted fetus debris,’ as RFK Jr has claimed. Here’s the science

  Robert F. Kennedy Jr, the United States’ top public health official, recently claimed some religious groups avoid the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine because it contains “aborted fetus debris” and “DNA particles.”

  The United States is facing its worst measles outbreaks in years with nearly 900 cases across the country and active outbreaks in several states.

  At the same time, Kennedy, secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, continues to erode trust in vaccines.

Does Tommy Tuberville know what he’s getting into?

  The biographer Robert Caro says that power reveals. Power lets you do what you want. And your desires show who you are.

  After four years in the U.S. Senate, we have few doubts about what Tommy Tuberville wants.

  A man sent to Washington to represent Alabama spends a lot of time on television talking about President Donald Trump or his enemies. Alabama is a peripheral concern. In some cases, Tuberville takes positions that are demonstrably bad for the people here.

  When he’s not ignoring Alabamians, he’s embarrassing them. Tuberville in 2022 made an overtly racist assertion that Black Americans are criminals at a rally in Nevada. He also took a very long time to acknowledge that white nationalists are racists.

Michael Josephson: For Mother’s Day: The best quotes ever about mothers

   All that I am or ever hope to be, I owe to my angel Mother.  ~Abraham Lincoln

  The formative period for building character for eternity is in the nursery. The mother is queen of that realm and sways a scepter more potent than that of kings or priests. ~Author Unknown

  An ounce of mother is worth a pound of clergy.  ~Spanish Proverb

Congress’ tax bill is selling out America’s public lands and waters

  Congress is moving forward with President Donald Trump’s bill to provide tax cuts for billionaires while ripping social services away from millions of Americans. In particular, the natural resources section of this massive bill reveals how congressional Republicans are trying to sell out public lands to the highest bidder to fund those insider tax breaks, while Big Oil campaign donors and other Wall Street insiders stand to see financial gain.

  If passed, this bill would be the largest successful attack by Congress on U.S. lands and waters in modern American history. It would give the oil industry free rein over more than 293 million acres of public lands and waters—an area larger than Texas and California combined—for drilling through its first rounds of mandated lease sales alone.* Factoring in expected tax cuts and other legal changes that would benefit fossil fuel CEOs, the tax bill would be a massive win for Big Oil and a massive loss for the American public.

Trump targets NPR and PBS as public and nonprofit media account for a growing share of local news coverage

  Republicans in Washington have their sights – once again – on defunding public media.

  On May 1, 2025, President Donald Trump issued an executive order calling for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the nonprofit that helps fund American public media stations of all sizes, to terminate support for NPR and PBS. His administration is also proposing to defund the Corporation for Public Broadcasting entirely, threatening the funding of smaller outlets like WBHM in Birmingham, Alabama, and KGOU in Norman, Oklahoma.

  Many Republicans have denounced public media programming as biased, outdated, or simply unnecessary.

A poisoned cause, a pointless sacrifice

  There’s an old cemetery a few miles from my home. Several weeks ago, flags with three bars and seven stars sprouted over some of the graves.

  It’s my annual reminder that we still have Confederate Memorial Day, one of three state holidays honoring men who killed American soldiers in defense of white supremacy.

  That’s what the Confederacy was about, and it’s never been a secret. Ulysses S. Grant wrote in his memoirs that the Southern cause was “one of the worst for which a people ever fought, and one for which there was the least excuse.”

The commencement curse

  Millions of teenagers across the land are about to leave the womb of high school for a world full of new freedoms and responsibilities. Although many have been waiting for this event for a long time, eager to get on with their lives as liberated adults, the thought of leaving behind friends and familiar places can be scary.

I appreciate teachers!

  I appreciate teachers. I struggled with teachers, but I appreciate teachers. I even fought with teachers, but I appreciate teachers. This week includes National Teachers’ Day and it is National Teacher Appreciation Week. It gives me a ready-made opportunity to express my profound appreciation for teachers.

  Teaching is one of the most important vocations in our society. In fact, it is a special calling. It is a calling that touches, shapes, and molds young minds for better or for worse. No other vocation provides such an opportunity to touch young, growing minds. Teachers often spend more time with our children than we do. Teaching is a precious gift.

Steve Flowers: Inside the Statehouse - Bibb Graves, the education governor

  Most states have one General Fund Budget. We are only one of five states that have two.

  Some of you have asked why we have two budgets – one for the General Fund and one for Education. Here is why.

  During the era of the Great Depression and even afterward, education in Alabama was woefully underfunded, and that is really being generous to simply say underfunded. Our schools were similar to those of a third-world country. We had two separate systems, one for white students and one for black students. Many rural schools were one-room shanties like folks used in the 1800s, like "blab" schools - no air conditioning and wood-burning stoves for heat. There were no buses to transport children, so they really did walk to school - barefoot - many times miles to and from. This was for the white schools. You can only imagine what an abysmal education was afforded to black kids. Many times teachers were not even being paid. They were given script notes in hopes of getting paid in the future.

The one-minute graduation speech

  I’ve given my share of commencement addresses, and I confess it’s a head-swelling experience to tell a captive crowd how you think they ought to live their lives while wearing an academic robe and a very silly hat. After all, didn’t they come primarily to hear what you have to say? Actually, they didn’t. In fact, graduation speakers are impediments to the real goal of the day – celebration, not reflection.

How to avoid food-borne illness – a nutritionist explains

  Summer means cookouts, picnics, and backyard barbecues. But a generous spread of food eaten outside raises some serious health questions. Nobody wants food poisoning – or to make their guests sick. But how do you know when you’ve kept the potato salad or fruit medley out too long?

  As a professor and chair of the Food Science and Human Nutrition program at Iowa State University, I’ll answer those questions by starting with the basics of food safety.

Steve Flowers: Inside the Statehouse - George Wallace stories

  I became acquainted with Governor George Wallace when I was a young page in the Alabama Legislature.  

  I was elected to the legislature in 1982. Ironically, my district was comprised of my home county of Pike and also the portion of Barbour County that was Wallace’s home, including Clayton and Clio.

The exercise pill: How exercise keeps your brain healthy and protects it against depression and anxiety

  As with many other physicians, recommending physical activity to patients was just a doctor chore for me – until a few years ago. That was because I myself was not very active. Over the years, as I picked up boxing and became more active, I got firsthand experience of positive impacts on my mind. I also started researching the effects of dance and movement therapies on trauma and anxiety in refugee children, and I learned a lot more about the neurobiology of exercise.

Curing 'victimitis'

  Watch your thoughts; they lead to attitudes.

  Watch your attitudes; they lead to words.

  Watch your words; they lead to actions.

  Watch your actions; they lead to habits.

  Watch your habits; they form your character.

  Watch your character; it determines your destiny.

Chivalry is not about opening doors, but protecting society’s most vulnerable from attack

  Modern society is in dispute over the value of chivalry. Chivalry originally referred to the medieval knight’s code of honor but today references a range of – usually male – behaviors, from courtesy to overprotectiveness. Some see it as the mindset of elite warriors, glorifying violence and demeaning women. Others see it as necessary and desirable to protect groups under attack.

Getting out of jury duty

  Last week, I dyed my hair orange - not red, not the subtle hue of a delicate tiger lily bloom, but bright, shiny traffic cone orange. This is actually not an unusual occurrence. I've dyed my hair various less-than-conservative shades on the color wheel, and invariably I have received contrasting responses that have ranged from "Hey, cool!" to genuine concern from those who believe that I am yet another victim of the devil's crack rock.

Is lying necessary to success?

  What do you think? In today’s society, does a person have to lie or cheat at least occasionally to succeed?

  The question isn’t whether occasional liars and cheats sometimes get away with dishonesty; we all have to agree with this. The question is whether you believe people can succeed if they're not willing to lie or cheat.

Trump’s attacks on central bank threaten its independence − and that isn’t good news for sound economic stewardship (or battling inflation)

  Nearly every country in the world has a central bank – a public institution that manages a country’s currency and its monetary policy. And these banks have an extraordinary amount of power. By controlling the flow of money and credit in a country, they can affect economic growth, inflation, employment, and financial stability.

  These are powers that many politicians – including, currently, U.S. President Donald Trump – would seemingly like to control or at least manipulate. That’s because monetary policy can provide governments with economic boosts at key times, such as around elections or during periods of falling popularity.

A giveaway to the rich, disguised as school choice

  Our leaders call Alabama’s effective voucher program the CHOOSE Act. There’s some grim irony in that.

  Of course, you can choose to pay for private school tuition, whatever your reasons may be.

  But it’s not my choice. Or what the families of 730,000 Alabama students want. We pay taxes to support the teachers educating our children in public schools. And we want teachers and staff to have the resources they need to help students thrive.

  Yet our leaders plan to divert that money from classrooms into the pockets of wealthy families, in the form of $7,000 tax breaks. More if they have more than one kid enrolled in a private school.

Why remembering matters for healing

  Today marks Holocaust Remembrance Day. Each year, communities and schools plan various events such as reading the names of Holocaust victims and survivors, forums of Holocaust survivor speakers, or panel discussions with historians. These events run through an entire week of remembrance.

  Such formal days of remembrance are important. As a sociologist who studies grief and justice, I have seen how these events and permanent memorials can be both healing and inspirational. I will share four reasons why remembrance activities are important.

American liberators of Nazi camps got ‘a lifelong vaccine against extremism’ − their wartime experiences are a warning for today

  When American soldiers liberated the Mauthausen Nazi concentration camp in Austria 80 years ago this May, Spanish prisoners welcomed them with a message of antifascist solidarity.

  The Spaniards hung a banner made from stolen bed sheets over one of Mauthausen’s gates. In English, Spanish, and Russian, it read: “The Spanish Antifascists Greet the Liberating Forces.”

  Both American servicemen and Spanish survivors remember the camp’s liberation as a win in their shared fight against extremism, my research on the Spanish prisoners in Mauthausen finds. They all understood the authoritarian governments of Nazi Germany, Italy, and Spain as fascist regimes that used extremist views rooted in intolerance and nationalism to persecute millions of people and imperil democracy across Europe.

A need for chaos powers some Americans’ support for Elon Musk taking a chainsaw to the US government

  A video of a Las Vegas Tesla dealership that had been set on fire by anti-Elon Musk protesters was posted on March 18, 2025, by an account on X called EndWokeness.

  The next day Musk replied to the post, “Some people just want to watch the world burn,” an iconic line from the 2008 Batman film “The Dark Knight.” Alfred, the Wayne family’s faithful butler, says the line to Bruce Wayne – Batman – to describe the motivations behind the Joker’s chaotic acts of violence.

  Musk – and Alfred – was right. Some people do, in fact, say they think that society should be burned to the ground. It’s part of a psychological measure political psychologists created called the “need for chaos.”

Francis − a pope who cared deeply for the poor and opened up the Catholic Church

  Pope Francis, the Catholic Church’s first Latin American pontiff, 
has died, the Vatican announced on April 21, 2025. He was 88. Francis had served as pope for 12 eventful years, after being elected on March 13, 2013 after the surprise resignation of Benedict XVI.

  Prior to becoming pope, he was Jorge Mario Bergoglio, archbishop of Buenos Aires, and was the first person from the Americas to be elected to the papacy. He was also the first pope to choose Francis as his name, thus honoring St. Francis of Assisi, a 13th-century mystic whose love for nature and the poor have inspired Catholics and non-Catholics alike.

Why Easter is called Easter, and other little-known facts about the holiday

  Today, Christians are celebrating Easter, the day on which the resurrection of Jesus is said to have taken place. The date of the celebration changes from year to year.

  The reason for this variation is that Easter always falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the spring equinox.