Lack of canine COVID-19 data fuels persisting concerns over dog-human interactions – By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. — The SARS-CoV-2 virus that originated in a wet meat market outhouse in Wuhan, China, in 2019 from the mixture of human and animal RNA had infected more than 600 million people globally with what came to…
The Big Picture – By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. – So I woke up Sunday morning as I often do, listening to the show “On Being” on NPR. While spirituality is the subject of the show, it is a far cry from all the noisy preachers on radio and television pushing their denominational brand…
Editor’s Note: We are happy to report that the new Biden administration has begun to restore factual email announcements from federal agencies to allow news organizations to once again provide reliable information to readers. For four years under the previous administration, all the public relations functions of federal agencies had been coopted by Trump loyalists…
By Glynn Wilson – EDITOR’S NOTE – You may not see much of this in the mainstream media’s year in review stories, which quite frankly so far have made me gag, literally. And want to gouge out my own eyes like a scene from King Lear. Maybe jump out a third story window. Never fear.…
By Glynn Wilson – ‘Twas the night before Christmas 2020, when all through the American house The only creatures stirring were nurses trying to save people from dying of COVID. The stockings were hung on the mantle with care, In hopes of a big shipment of vaccine and a relief check from Santa. The children…
By Glynn Wilson – KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Monday, Dec. 14, 2020 may go down in history as a pivotal turning point from the darkness of 2020 to the light coming to America and the world in 2021. It would be hard to find anyone to argue with the statement that 2020 was the darkest, worst…
The Big Picture – By Glynn Wilson – KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — For a few minutes on Saturday night life in America seemed almost normal. The red, white, blue and yes orange Christmas lights blinked on and off downtown in this World’s Fair university town. The drinks flowed. Gumbo was served. And a live jazz band…
SATIRE – By Glynn Wilson – Yes, folks. It was a massive conspiracy, with the “deep state” dumping on Trump to “steal” the election, as the lame duck president said on Fox News over the Thanksgiving weekend, accusing Democrats of taking “massive dumps” on him to take the presidency away. That’s a big load of…
The Big Picture – By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. — It won’t be so long now. The excruciating wait will be over in a few days. Exacerbated by the stress, anxiety and existential dread of the coronavirus pandemic and economic uncertainty, it will all be over soon one way or another. We should know…
The Big Picture – By Glynn Wilson – As the clock ticks down in the final quarter of 2020, the year of the “converging crisis” as some experts are now calling it, for millions of people survival feels like a daily ordeal either physically, economically or psychologically. Of course I’m human. I feel it all…
By Glynn Wilson – Editor-in-Chief – For the past seven months, responsible Americans have endured the psychologically trying times created by the rampaging coronavirus pandemic, by staying at home as much as possible, abiding by the social distancing guidelines recommended by medical experts, staying at least six feet apart from other people, wearing masks when…
By Robert Reich – Trump education secretary Betsy DeVos is heading the administration’s effort to force schools to reopen in the fall for in-person instruction. What’s her plan to reopen safely? She doesn’t have one. Rather than seeking additional federal funds, she’s using this pandemic to further her ploy to privatize education — threatening to…
By Glynn Wilson – U.S. Senator Doug Jones of Alabama blasted President Donald Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in a statement Saturday night in the wake of the president’s signing of executive orders claiming to extend unemployment benefits, in the absence of action in the Senate to provide a second round of stimulus…
The Big Picture – By Glynn Wilson – What America needs is another Seabiscuit. What lifted the United States out of the Great Depression in the late 1930s? Was it government spending on the Civilian Conservation Corps that hired out of work laborers to build the national parks and other government programs? Was it a…
The Big Picture – By Glynn Wilson – It’s not clear whether the predominant view of the universe is that life imitates art, or if more people think art imitates life. There’s not been a Gallup poll on that, far as I know. Chances are it’s both anyway. But for the sake of argument on…
Editor’s Note: “If—” is a poem by English Nobel laureate Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936), written circa 1895 as a tribute to Leander Starr Jameson. It is a literary example of Victorian-era stoicism. The poem, first published in Rewards and Fairies (1910), ch. ‘Brother Square-Toes,’ is written in the form of paternal advice to the poet’s son,…
By Robert Reich – Donald Trump said last Thursday’s jobs report, which showed an uptick in June, proves the economy is “roaring backâ€. Rubbish. The Labor Department gathered the data during the week of June 12, when America was reporting 25,000 new cases of Covid-19 per day. By the time the report was issued last…
The Big Picture -Â By Glynn Wilson -Â In these times of heightened existential anxiety, when disasters and crises seem to be assaulting the planet, the country and the human psyche in end-times proportions, where are we to turn for solace? Many human beings will turn to their version of a god, prayer and worship.…
The Big Picture – By Glynn Wilson – BLUE RIDGE MOUNTAINS, N.C. — We don’t have much time. It’s addicting in our newly evolved human condition to stay focused on the fast breaking news of the moment, the sensational clickbait. From day to day, we bounce back and forth from one crisis story to another.…
By Glynn Wilson – For one of the fews times in Donald Trump’s presidency, his job approval rating has fallen below 40 percent, a harbinger of problems ahead in his drive for reelection in November that could make a second term “unlikely,” according to Gallup. Satisfaction with how things are going in the United States…
Camping, Hiking and Boating at Kymulga Grist Mill and Covered Bridge Park
