Charleston Currents – Andy Brack

Andy Brack

BRACK: Here’s to two good friends who will be just a click away

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | Friends make our lives richer. They open new worlds and ideas. But they’re so familiar and comfortable that you kind of want them to never change and always be there.

Two longtime friends, cookbook author and foodie rock star Nathalie Dupree and historian husband Jack Bass, are leaving Charleston soon to live closer to family in North Carolina. I don’t want them to go, but at the same time, I’m happy they are embracing a change.

by Andy Brack · 11/30/2020 · Comments are Disabled · Andy Brack, Views

BRACK: S.C. should take virus more seriously and act

Unfortunately, our state’s leader, Gov. Henry McMaster, has taken a course in denial about the threats from coronavirus from his crony, President Trump. The GOP-run legislature is no better at protecting life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Instead, it twiddles as more people die and get the virus.

“We really don’t have any leadership,” said state Sen. Brad Hutto, an Orangeburg Democrat who is the new Senate minority leader. “The governor is in line with Trump. There’s no leadership at DHEC [the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control] and the legislature has abandoned the field.

by Andy Brack · 11/23/2020 · Comments are Disabled · Andy Brack, Views

BRACK: S.C., Democrats have keys, but need to turn on engine

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | Just look at what happened in neighboring Georgia and you can see that Democrats have the keys to win big elections. But in South Carolina, they haven’t turned on the engine.

Instead, they lost a U.S. Senate race as well as down-ballot contests for Statehouse and municipal positions in what was supposed to be the year of the blue wave. It was, at best, a ripple as state and local elections were nationalized so much that you’d think House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate leader Chuck Schumer lived in the Palmetto State.

by Andy Brack · 11/16/2020 · Comments are Disabled · Andy Brack, Views

Williams, right, with U.S. Sen. Tim Scott in a 2016 photo.

BRACK: Meet the Hartsville man who can make you laugh

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | There’s a guy over in Hartsville who you can bet on to give you a good laugh, particularly if you like politics. The good news: His humor works for Republicans, Democrats and anybody who loves Dollar General, lard and Bea Arthur as Maude.

Just about every day, he’ll bring a smile to your face on Facebook through some wry observation, witticism or old-school joke that evokes the clean humor and one-liners of Jack Benny, Bob Hope, Steven Wright and Bob Newhart.

by Andy Brack · 11/09/2020 · Comments are Disabled · Andy Brack, Views

BRACK; Newspapers have responsibility to publish opinions, endorsements

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | Social media and personality-driven television shows that comment constantly on news blur the traditional firewall between news and opinion. As a result, some newspapers are abrogating a traditional role of endorsing candidates during election season.

This, we think, is wrong. And kind of lazy.

by Andy Brack · 11/02/2020 · 1 comment · Andy Brack, Views

BRACK: Country shifting back toward center

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | The first referendum on Donald Trump’s presidency was in the 2018 midterm elections, which found him losing control of the U.S. House of Representatives. The second will be Nov. 3 when voters decide whether to continue with lackluster leadership marked by rants, raves, scandals and corruption.

by Andy Brack · 10/26/2020 · 1 comment · Andy Brack, Views

BRACK: GOP missed opportunity by neglecting health care policy

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | Health care is a sleeper issue that just might bite the Republican Party in the butt in 2020, just like it did at the midterm elections of 2018.

Imagine if the GOP had come up with some kind of inviting national proposal to provide affordable health care that was an alternative to Obamacare, instead of standing in the way and saying no, just like it has done for years.

by Andy Brack · 10/19/2020 · 1 comment · Andy Brack, Views

BRACK: Activist high court keeps S.C. election barrier in place

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | So the now-conservative U.S. Supreme Court, whose justices rail about judicial activism, now has butted into South Carolina politics with, you guessed it, activism.

At issue: How to cast ballots safely in November in the Palmetto State. The S.C. General Assembly recently voted to make it a little easier for state voters to cast ballots early in this coronavirus pandemic year by allowing anyone to vote absentee, thus dropping a list of reasons voters usually have to turn to if they want to vote early.

by Andy Brack · 10/12/2020 · Comments are Disabled · Andy Brack, Views

BRACK: Charleston key in Revolutionary, Civil wars

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | Bring up past American wars and it’s pretty certain you’ll soon get into a disagreement about something. Example: Which was more important — the Revolutionary War or the Civil War?

Some people focus mostly on the Revolutionary War, saying without the success of patriots in South Carolina and other colonies that we may not have been able to test our unique experiment with democracy.

Others intently study the complexities of the Civil War, its strategies, its inventions, its terrible tool and its enduring impact being felt in society today in everything from polarized bickering about the Confederate flag to racially-motivated killings and violence.

Part of the newly-released 350 Facts About Charleston highlights the influential roles of people and events in the Holy City during these two deadly conflicts. Here’s a preview:

by Andy Brack · 10/05/2020 · Comments are Disabled · Andy Brack, Views

A Trump balloon in London. Via Unsplash.

BRACK: It’s time for Trump to go

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | Donald Trump is not a Boy Scout. In fact, he represents just about everything scouts are not supposed to be.

While the reputation of the scouting movement has been tarnished by scandal in recent years — far less scandal than that in Trump’s Washington — scouts are taught to aspire to be trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent. These values are the tenets of the Boy Scout Law. More than 40 years after being a scout, these teachings remain ingrained.

by Andy Brack · 09/28/2020 · Comments are Disabled · Andy Brack, Views