I could write a book about the information I’m about to share. If you’re a parent with an adult child, this is for you. Before I go too far, let me say this. I know you love your child. I know you want them to do well. And when they’re struggling, you want to help. But, this is the thing. Wh…
Mississippi House members upped the ante last week on their Senate colleagues when they overwhelmingly voted to provide public school teachers a sizable $4,000 pay raise over two years.
On Feb. 12, Joaquin Guzman Loera, aka “El Chapo,” was convicted of multiple crimes related to running the Sinaloa drug cartel, Mexico’s largest. Thirteen days before his conviction, authorities seized enough of the synthetic opioid called fentanyl for 100 million lethal doses. It was hidden …
Artificial Intelligence is one thing. Artificial morality is another. It may sound something like this:
Neither rain, sleet, snow nor dark of night should keep any fellow time traveler from visiting their favorite, local award-winning museum.
Some Americans have much higher income and wealth than others. Former President Barack Obama explained, “I do think at a certain point you’ve made enough money.” An adviser to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez who has a Twitter account called “Every Billionaire Is A Policy Failure” tweeted, “My …
The 2019 Mississippi Republican primary for attorney general will pit three veteran GOP politicians against each other for the right to become Mississippi’s first GOP attorney general since George Emrick Harris in 1878.
I read articles about candidates who are ghosting employers. They’re not showing up to interviews. They’re not showing up on their first day. They’re disappearing. And, employers are frustrated. On top of the ghosting phenomenon, employers can’t seem to find enough qualified candidates. It’s…
For 24 years, the speaker of the Mississippi House hailed from a district that included a portion of rural Prentiss County in northeast Mississippi ‘?’ first Tim Ford for 16 years and then Billy McCoy for eight years.
A four-word phrase common on late-night television, exclaimed by announcers giddy about their offers: “Buy this kitchen knife that is so sharp it can slice and dice diamonds, and we’ll throw in a nonstick frying pan that can double as a satellite dish. BUT WAIT! THERE’S MORE! If you call imm…
Writing in The Wall Street Journal, Princeton economist Alan Blinder calls it “The Obama-Trump Economic Boom.” This may be the best bad label for what may soon become the longest economic expansion in American history. Anyone who regularly reads this column knows that I am a great skeptic in…
Many stately, old beautiful homes abound in DeSoto County with stories and legends that have been passed down to folks living in the 21st century.
There have been many memorable — and eventually consequential — Supreme Court dissents that affirmed principles that, in time, commanded a court majority. It is, however, rare that a justice’s opinion concurring in a unanimous ruling is more intellectually scintillating and potentially porte…
One of the more interesting political eleventh-hour developments as the 2019 March 1 qualifying deadline approached came in the Mississippi Secretary of State’s race with the surprising entry of incumbent Republican Southern District Public Service Commissioner Sam Britton into that GOP prim…
Job searching is one of the most personal impersonal experiences there is. As a job seeker, you pour your heart into your cover letter. You customize your resume. You sit in agony at each step of the process, which can drag out for many months. Along the way, you may encounter many tests of …
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez claims that “the world is going to end in 12 years if we don’t address climate change.” The people at the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change agree, saying that to avoid some of the most devastating impacts of climate change, the world must slash carbon em…
In many ways, the 2003 gubernatorial campaign was the birth of the modern, powerhouse Mississippi Republican Party.
On Tuesday evening, Feb. 27, 2019, I attended a beautiful, yet painful, event, entitled, “Vigil in Remembrance of Those Affected by Gun Violence.” The event, sponsored by Moms Demand Action, was at a local church, in my hometown, in the northwest suburbs of Chicago. Names of those who have b…
The Time Traveler most recently landed the time machine in front of a small cinderblock schoolhouse east of Hernando known as the Morgan Grove School.
I hear from job seekers every day. You’re tired. You’re worn out. You’re disappointed. You didn’t get the job you really wanted. You were a great candidate and you cannot figure out what went wrong.
Some of my best friends are colored. All of them are, actually.
Got milk? DeSoto County was once known as the “Dairy Capital of the Mid-South.”
Over a lifetime in politics, I’ve met a lot of interesting, impressive politicians. But those I truly admired were men and women who were adept at the arts both of politics and legislating, a rarer combination of talents than you’d hope for in our representative democracy. They’re a reminder…
As noted last fall in a previous column, the 2003 election cycle saw Mississippi voters make some interesting choices in terms of the 2019 election cycle in our state.
Frederic Bastiat, a French economist and member of the French National Assembly, lived from 1801 to 1850. He had great admiration for our country, except for our two faults — slavery and tariffs. He said: “Look at the United States. There is no country in the world where the law is kept more…
Legislators, at least those in Mississippi, normally take up controversial legislation in the second and third years of their four-year terms.
Legislators, at least those in Mississippi, normally take up controversial legislation in the second and third years of their four-year terms.
I could write a book about the information I’m about to share. If you’re a parent with an adult child, this is for you. Before I go too far, let me say this. I know you love your child. I know you want them to do well. And when they’re struggling, you want to help. But, this is the thing. Wh…
In 1994, the Clinton administration decreed a bright shining future for education. Its Goals 2000 legislation proclaimed that by that year America’s high school graduation rate would be 90 percent and American students would lead the world in math and science achievements. Sen. Daniel Patric…
Two of the newest exhibits at the DeSoto County Museum are set just a few feet from each other but they are worlds and genres apart. That’s what makes your award-winning county museum so interesting and entertaining. Priceless Native American and Civil War artifacts, authentic, original lett…
It’s the month of love! Happy Valentine’s Day! Every year, I write a column about why it’s important to love your job. This year, let’s look at it another way. If you don’t love your job, it’s time to break it off. It’s time to end that toxic eight hour a day relationship. You wouldn’t put u…
American mythology posits a narrative for our foundation which rests upon an ideology of values and self-evident truths which separate the United States from the rest of the world. When I teach this I try to sell the “all are created equal” as hard as I can. Including “the pursuit of happine…
Change. In terms of Mississippi government, change isn’t merely coming – and we’re talking major changes – it’s in great measure already here and identifiable.
Ten states and Washington, D.C., have legalized the recreational use of marijuana. Twenty-two other states, along with U.S. territories Puerto Rico and Guam, allow marijuana to be used for medical purposes. Let’s examine some hidden issues about marijuana use. Before we start, permit me to s…
The amount of money appropriated to pay for state government for the last fiscal year – 2018 – is $260 million less than what was spent in fiscal year 2008 in inflationary dollars.
His tractor is so noisy that, when driving it, the man who calls himself “just a farmer from Butler County” puts his cellphone under his cap, set on vibrate. Charles Grassley, 85, who has served in the Senate longer than all but 11 of the 1,983 other senators — and who still runs three miles…
For a Chinese family who came to America and then Mississippi during the mid 20th century, the old Fong Brothers Grocery, now an apparel store, is a storehouse of memories.
Why isn’t the American public as agitated about China as are the Trump administration, the mainstream media, and even many China specialists? In a recent article, Daniel Drezner, a political scientist at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, raises this question, noting…
Almost 40 years of covering Mississippi government and politics suggests to me that an election year isn’t the best time to enact something as controversial as legalizing medical marijuana.
Democratic Attorney General Jim Hood could win the most votes on Nov. 5 for the office of governor and never get to spend one night in the Governor’s Mansion thanks to a Republican-controlled Mississippi House of Representatives.
Suppose I declare that I am a king. Should you be required to address me as “Your Majesty”? You say, “Williams, that’s lunacy! You can’t prove such nonsense.” You’re wrong. It’s proved by my declaration. It’s no different from a person born with XY chromosomes declaring that he is a woman. T…
There’s this thing that happens when you see something unexpected. You just can’t unsee it. Once you know, there’s no turning back. That happened for me one year ago. I’ve tried to push it out of my mind, but I just can’t any longer.
Religion and politics often intersect or even travel the same road in Mississippi.
One of the many enjoyable past-times the Time-Traveler experiences are the late-night trips made to the fictional town of Mayberry, North Carolina for an episode of “The Andy Griffith Show.”
Mississippi Second District U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson has been an unapologetic liberal on social issues for the whole of his long congressional career and that stance has certainly applied to issues surrounding immigration.
The Massachusetts senator has strong convictions.
The Roman satirist Juvenal, in a famous passage, asked, “Who will watch the watchmen?”
You’ve decided 2019 is the year. You’re going to find a new job. You’ve been waiting for the right time, and it’s finally here. After years and years of hating your job, you’ve heard the market has finally turned around. You’re ready for something new.
The old Time Traveler’s journeys these past few weeks have proven to be fascinating, if for nothing else, to continually discover how this historically rich and fast-growing county has impacted Mississippi and the Mid-South, and how its legacy continues to impact the state, nation and world.
Back in the day, small rural airports had textile windsocks, simple and empty things that indicated which way the wind was blowing. The ubiquitous Sen. Lindsey Graham has become a political windsock, and as such he — more than the sturdy, substantial elephant — is emblematic of his party today.
State Rep. Felix Edwin “Stump” Perry was one of the most effective legislators in the long history of the Mississippi House, but it was the style with which Ed carried out his legislative duties that made Ed’s passing last week at age 76 statewide news.
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