The Big Picture – By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. — This country and the world seemed to be perched on the edge of a precipice, a double edged sword. While the world has appeared to be lurching toward autocracy in recent years, it appears quite possible that there is actually a way, a chance,…
The Big Picture – By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. – If Donald Trump and his so-called “conservative” Republican followers — especially police officers and members of the military — really want to do away with any semblance of American democracy and install a white nationalist dictatorship here in the United States, I really wish…
By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. – Thanksgiving turkey break time is over for members of Congress, who return to work in the Capitol this week and now have only a few weeks before the Christmas-New Years recess to find a way to fund the United States government and pass some key bills to show…
“Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.” – Thomas Jefferson By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. — When Thomas Jefferson said that, newspapers were the only means of communicating with citizens about…
This Will Not Stand – The Big Picture – By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. – Since October 15, 1957, I’ve been fortunate to live on this amazing planet Earth as a citizen of the great country of the United States of America. When I first came out kicking and screaming in that little hospital…
“The flood of money that gushes into politics today is a pollution of democracy.” – Theodore H. White By Glynn Wilson – “Politics and money go together like whiskey and cocaine,” a Republican friend of mine used to say. “You can do one without the other, but it’s not quite the same.” I could get…
By Glynn Wilson – Former President Barack Obama chose Independence Hall in Philadelphia to frame his video address to the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday, with the United States Constitution as the backdrop. This speaks volumes, which will largely be ignored by the talking heads on TeeVee, because they simply don’t get it, and brushed…
By Glynn Wilson with Trace Thompson – LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN, Ala. — One month ago, the president of the United States declared a national emergency because of the coronavirus pandemic, setting off an economic panic. On Easter Weekend, the number of cases and deaths in the U.S. surpassed Italy, with 528,735 confirmed cases and more than…
Editor’s Note: This is the third in a three part series on how to create a functioning communications system to save democracy and the planet. We face an existential crisis in this world and no one seems to know what to do about it. We are just beginning to explore solutions while others seem willing…
Part II: How Existential Anxiety Leads to Authoritarianism – Case Studies: Donald Trump and George Wallace By Glynn Wilson – Introduction Donald Trump has fired all the scientists in the White House. He’s made working conditions in the federal agencies so intolerable that many smart, educated people have simply quit. That seems to be by…
The Big Picture – By Glynn Wilson – MOBILE, Ala. — By some miracle we swerved along on the mountain backroads south of Washington, D.C. and dodged the pipe bombs and bullets, making it back to the Gulf Coast this week to find fall weather in the air with highs in the ’70s and lows…
By Glynn Wilson — WASHINGTON, D.C. — If President Donald J. Trump was actually as smart as he likes to say he is and actually had a plan to make America great, he would have shut down his Twitter account on Inauguration Day and ordered his cabinet to come up with real plans to address…
By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. — Since the early days of science and later objective journalism, we have known that reaching breakthroughs in knowledge is gained over time in fits and starts. A scientist, or a journalist for that matter, practicing the American invention of objective journalism, becomes immersed in the literature of a…
By Bernie Sanders – MEDIA SHAPES OUR VERY LIVES. It tells us what products we need to buy and, by the quantity and nature of coverage, what is “important†and what is “unimportant.†Media informs us as to the scope of what is “realistic†and “possible.†When we see constant coverage of murders and brutality…
Why the social-media honeymoon may be over for some activists. By Sarah Jaffe – Around the country, thousands have returned to the streets again to protest the deaths of black people at the hands of the police. One of those deaths, the shooting of 32-year-old Philando Castile in Falcon Heights, Minnesota, was broadcast on Facebook…
“The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.†— William Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part 2 – The Big Picture – By Glynn Wilson – MOBILE, Ala. — It’s Joe Cain Day, the Sunday before Fat Tuesday or Mardi Gras Day, when some people on the Gulf Coast feast before some Christians observe a…
The Big Picture – By Glynn Wilson – MOBILE, Ala. — Let’s see. Do you want the good news or the bad news first? I know. It’s painfully obvious that people hate the government — and the media. Nothing works right anymore. The world is going to hell in a hand-basket. Insert your favorite cliche…
By Robert Reich – Americans are sick of politics. Only 13 percent approve of the job Congress is doing, a near record low. The President’s approval ratings are also in the basement. A large portion of the public doesn’t even bother voting. Only 57.5 percent of eligible voters cast their ballots in the 2012 presidential…
How Increasing Ideological Uniformity and Partisan Antipathy Affect Politics, Compromise and Everyday LifeANALYSIS – By Glynn Wilson – Republicans and Democrats are more divided along ideological lines – and partisan antipathy is deeper and more extensive – than at any point in the last two decades, according to a new research study from the Pew…
Bruce Hamilton, deputy director of the Sierra Club, talks about how to fix our democracy – By Glynn Wilson – CAMP BECKWITH, Ala. — The Sierra Club is working on a five point plan for the future and the national staff and political committee will be discussing it this weekend. But Sierra Club Deputy Director…
