Southern Politics

Alabama Amendment 1 on Tuesday’s Ballot Creates Confusion

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By Glynn Wilson – MOBILE, Ala. — When voters go to the polls in Alabama on Super Tuesday, not only will they be voting either Republican or Democrat for their favorite candidate, Bernie Sanders or Donald Trump or one of the others. There is an amendment to the state constitution on the ballot which is…

Unforced Errors, Miscalculations End Jeb Bush’s White House Hopes

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By Steve Holland – CHARLESTON, S.C. (Reuters) – Before Donald Trump’s put-downs and the stumbles in presidential debates, and before the profound frustration of voters became so unmistakably apparent, Jeb Bush appeared to be best positioned to win back the White House for Republicans in 2016. He amassed a $150 million war chest in 2015,…

State Sponsor of Terrorism Iran Orders 114 Planes From Airbus

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Will they build them in Mobile? How will state and local officials and the local media respond? – By Glynn Wilson – MOBILE, Ala. — When Alabama officials celebrated the news that Airbus would open a plant to build planes and provide jobs here, little did they know one of the biggest customers would turn…

Bernie Sanders Campaigns for President in Birmingham, Alabama

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By Walter Simon – BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The last time I was in the vicinity of the Boutwell Auditorium in Birmingham was in the winter of 2012 at the occupy camp we set up, wrapping around the corner sidewalk of 20th and 5th avenue north in front of the entrance to Regions bank. The bus…

Alabama Governor Robert Bentley Responds to Investigation into Racist Closure of Driver License Offices in Poor Counties

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By Glynn Wilson – MONTGOMERY. Ala. – Governor Robert Bentley issued a statement on Wednesday in response to the Obama administration’s announcement of an investigation by the U.S. Department of Transportation into the proposed closure of state driver license offices in mostly poor counties populated by minorities. Bentley claimed there were no offices closed and…

Media Controversy Rages in Mobile Alabama Over Oil Storage Tanks

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By Glynn Wilson – MOBIlE, Ala. – While the national news is rife with stories about the death of the Keystone XL Pipeline out west, the ongoing climate talks in Paris and the low price of oil internationally, a local petroleum industry front group and the politicians and media they are trying to buy seem…

Two Old Stories Resurface: I Must Weigh In on Bush AWOL

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The Big Picture – By Glynn Wilson – It seems old stories never die. They just keep going round and around, circling further from the truth as time goes by. I just got off the phone with a producer in New York who wants to interview me, again, about the political prosecution of former Alabama…

Escape the City, Summer Heat and Bad News: Visit Shenandoah

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The Big Picture – By Glynn Wilson – SHENANDOAH NATIONAL PARK, Va. – It’s cool in the mountains this Sunday morning at first light. The birds are singing and the does and fawns are starting to move around. A few drops of water are still dripping down on the canopy from the trees, remnants of…

The Alabama Legislature’s Strange Idea of a ‘Lean’ Budget

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Education Matters – By Larry Lee – It was just a little snippet of news. Just a few hundred words. And while few Alabamians probably saw it, it should have made headlines on the front page of every state newspaper and been the lead story on every TV news cast. Because it was another glaring…

Don’t Eat the Corrupt Sausage Served Up by the Alabama Legislature

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Education Matters – By Larry Lee – We have all been told that one should never watch either legislation or sausage being made. Having grown up long ago on a south Alabama farm, I took part in more than a few “hog killins” and know all about making sausage. I’ve also witnessed legislation being birthed…

Charter School Bill Passes: Follow the Money

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Education Matters – By Larry Lee – Even an amateur swami with a cloudy crystal ball could have told us how the recent vote to approve charter schools in Alabama would play out. In fact, he didn’t even have to look at his ball, they could have looked at 2014 campaign financial disclosures instead. There…