Darrio Melton: This isn’t about an affair—It’s about trust

  As news of Gov. Robert Bentley’s inappropriate relationship with a senior advisor rocked Montgomery last week, it seemed that the major issues in this story took a back seat to gossip about recordings and scandals.

  This entire story hinges around one major point: the governor has not been honest with the people of Alabama.

Steve Flowers: Inside the Statehouse: Primary rewind

  This has been an exciting election year when it comes to presidential politics. It has been an extraordinarily unusual and unpredictable presidential contest to say the least, especially on the Republican side.

  The GOP race began with an extraordinarily large field. There were 17 candidates as the race began, all with exceptional credentials. The one with the least experience and shortest political resume is the one left standing. One Donald J. Trump has been the story of the year.

Sanam Malik: When public figures normalize hate

  In the wake of the tragic attacks in Brussels last week, innocent American Muslims faced increased Islamophobic sentiments even before the Islamic State claimed responsibility. Conservative public figures—both in media and government—used the terrorist attacks as an opportunity to express anti-Muslim bigotry and fears, even asking for surveillance and torture of Muslims. Racism is and has always been an ugly reality of American history with enduring and damaging effects for us all. But when public figures in influential positions appeal to hate, something particularly pernicious occurs: They legitimize socially unacceptable behavior and normalize hate, thereby encouraging violence.

Katherine Green Robertson: A sad state of affairs

  Alabama is, once again, making national news for all the wrong reasons. In the modern political era, our state has seen two governors face criminal convictions, one of whom remains in prison. Now, our governor has been caught on tape confirming year-long rumors that he was unfaithful to his wife of fifty years. One headline read, “Alabama’s ‘family values’ governor mired in sex scandal.” The Office of the Governor of Alabama has become a laughingstock to the rest of the country.

Gene Policinski: Terror, disgust should not prompt quick limits on freedoms

  Apple might become irrelevant, for the moment, in the FBI’s attempts to pry data from a terrorist’s iPhone, but not so the privacy issues raised by the legal collision involved.

  A $140 million verdict in the Hulk Hogan sex tape case may be reduced, but not so the warning signals it sends to more than the largely unrestrained world of online gossip mongers — perhaps to all who dish and comment critically across the Web.

  And as news of terror attacks in Brussels zipped instantly around the world in our 24/7, interconnected age, controversial political proposals implicating religious liberty and free speech arose even before the smoke had cleared from the targeted airport hall and subway stop.

Hank Sanders: Senate Sketches #1502: It was a bad week for Alabama

  It was a bad week for Alabama. It was a bad week for education. It was a bad week for health. It was a bad week for criminal justice. It was a bad week for workers. It was just a bad week in the Alabama Legislature.

  It was a bad week for education in Alabama. Senate Bill 229 passed the Alabama Senate. Those of us who questioned the bill were clotured – our right to debate the bill was cut off. I got in only several minutes before debate was cut off. The cloture petition was adopted by a 25-9 vote. The bill was passed by a 19 to 8 vote. It was a bad week for education in the Alabama Legislature.

How the House budget sides with the wealthy over everyone else—even Republican voters

  The fiscal year 2017 House budget introduced by Republican leaders in March 2016 calls for massive spending cuts that would devastate working families while protecting the wealthiest Americans and big corporations from any tax increases. This approach is deeply unpopular with the American people—including a majority of Republican voters—but it is popular among wealthy Republican donors.

  Large majorities of voters across party lines reject the cuts that Congress would have to make in order to address long-term fiscal challenges without any tax increases—particularly with regard to Social Security and Medicare. The wealthiest Americans, however, support these cuts. While the House budget attempts to avoid this tension by proposing a combination of unspecified and extreme cuts to other programs designed to benefit low-income Americans, Republican leaders in Congress have made clear that they are ultimately willing to side with the wealthy in cutting programs that otherwise enjoy broad public support.

Richard Cohen: Your iPhone and J. Edgar Hoover

  Following the Watergate scandal in the mid-1970s, the U.S. Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities – popularly known as the Church Committee – issued reports revealing that federal agencies had spied on U.S. citizens for years.

  In one of the most notorious episodes, J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI targeted Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as part of its infamous counter intelligence program – COINTELPRO in the Bureau’s lingo – all in the name of “national security.”

  Today, in the digital age, our surveillance tools are much more powerful than they were in the days when the FBI tapped King’s phone and bugged his hotel rooms. That’s why the legal dispute between Apple and the FBI is so important.

Steve Flowers: Inside the Statehouse: State lawmakers wield more power than you might think

  In the literary classic, “The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,” the author draws parallels to a nation that was on top of the world and because of perverse, grandiose and pompous behavior that dynasty destroyed itself. It was from reading this documentary that the Russian premier Khrushchev believed that we, the United States, would destroy ourselves, thus causing him to brashly declare, “We will bury you.”

Darrio Melton: What's really busting our budget?

  Last week, a bill came through the Alabama Legislature that I thought had to be a mistake. Republican leadership was attempting to change the requirements for hardship assistance so that you can no longer qualify for short-term assistance programs if you have "assets." And by "assets," they mean frivolous luxuries like a car.

  Because in a state like Alabama, where public transportation is unhelpful at its best and non-existent at its worst, people surely don't need cars.