By Debra Houston, contributing columnist | My husband called from work. “Get tickets for Alan Jackson. He’s playing the Infinite Energy Arena in Duluth on the 28th.” He’s our favorite country musician.
He grew up in Newnan south of Atlanta, with loving, decent parents, a family of four daughters and a son. His dad turned a toolshed into a house. Alan slept in the hall.
By Jack Bass, Charleston, S.C. | Oregon’s system of Vote By Mail offers a model that for South Carolina would save millions of dollars to buy new voting machines, avoid long lines for voting, and insure total security for elections results.
It is used for all elections: federal, state, and local, whether primary, general or special, and has been in operation for roughly 25 years. One result is increased voter participation by working parents and senior citizens. The system makes voter fraud virtually impossible, and research has shown that the system favors neither party.
By George Wilson, contributing columnist | Major countries voting in the United Nations condemned Israel’s construction of settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem as a “flagrant violation under international law” and an obstacle to peace in the region. The United States chose to abstain rather than use its veto, as it has done in the past to quash resolutions it considered anti-Israel. The arrogant right-wing Netanyahu then announced plans to increase illegal settlements.
By George Wilson, contributing columnist | We all know about the decline of newspapers, big box stores, long-distance telephone service, bookstores, traditional stockbrokers, record companies, travel agents, pay phones, and movie rental stores. Some declines haven’t been good and even detrimental to the country such as the consolidation of media companies. The reduction in the number of journalists and editors at newspapers has caused news coverage to suffer. Is this the reason for the decline in the trust for the media? Now we have the advent of “fake news” flooding the internet.
By Debra Houston, contributing columnist | What did we learn from the election?
1. Trump earned the white guy vote. They didn’t organize, demonstrate, or riot, but they voted. The Midwestern guy thought in accord with the Southern one: “I’m tired of being blamed for all the ills of the world.” Unemployment is a big issue for these guys, especially after manufacturing went overseas. Trump addressed their concerns.
By George Wilson, contributing columnist | Like a former Toronto Mayor Rob Ford and the Brexit crowd, Donald Trump tapped into a large number of people who are legitimately upset over the failure of status quo governments to deal with the economic fallout from the loss of jobs to the second and third world countries.
By Debra Houston, contributing columnist | Let’s start this by defending Mrs. Clinton a bit. Her year to run for president was 2008. She was younger and prettier, less caustic and healthier. Her record as New York senator was positive. She didn’t have the baggage that serving as secretary of state brought her. The Dems decided they didn’t want her so they threw her out like old bathwater. Not unlike the way they threw out Bernie Sanders this time.
“The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts.”
–British Philosopher Bertrand Russell (1872 – 1970).
Gwinnett Forum publisher Elliott Brack suggests that Gwinnett County needs a long-range list of continuing objectives for improving the county. His list:
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