Charleston Currents – Andy Brack

Andy Brack

BRACK: Legislators wasted two months of 2020 session

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | With Americans burning up Zoom to conduct business meetings online and keep up with what’s happening in this year of an invisible enemy, you’ve got to wonder why state lawmakers mostly wasted the 2020 legislative session.

By cutting class for two months due to the novel coronavirus, they missed big opportunities to deal with Santee Cooper’s future, state pension shortfalls, teacher pay, educational improvement, the problems of vaping, gun loopholes, opioids and tax reform. The list drags on.

by Andy Brack · 05/04/2020 · Comments are Disabled · Andy Brack, Views

BRACK: Politicians need to stop doubletalk, listen to scientists

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | The right mouth of government obviously has no idea what the left mouth is saying. And because government can’t get its message straight, we’re all confused.

On one hand, Gov. Henry McMaster says some businesses can now open in South Carolina, although it’s no clearer why a craft shop or a florist is “essential” in the curious way a gun shop has been for the last few weeks. Grocery stores we understand. But gun shops?

by Andy Brack · 04/27/2020 · Comments are Disabled · Andy Brack, Views

Snee Farm photo by Lauren Hurlock, Charleston City Paper.

BRACK: Intentional acts of kindness soothe during crisis

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | This coronavirus pandemic is causing a lot of misery with kids stuck at home with online school, parents missing work that puts food on the table, companies closing. And there’s nothing left to watch on television.

But amidst the gloom are bright spots of kindness. Neighbors you haven’t spoken with in months are saying hello. You let someone go ahead of you in line at the grocery store. Manners seem to be back everywhere except in Washington, D.C.

by Andy Brack · 04/20/2020 · Comments are Disabled · Andy Brack, Views

BRACK: We can do better for all

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | So what happens when Americans start getting their $1,200 federal coronavirus checks or small business owners start receiving tens of thousands of dollars of rescue money?

Will they finally wake up and realize government isn’t the enemy, despite four decades of self-serving GOP rhetoric dedicated to drowning it in a bathtub? Will they finally remove political blinders and realize an ideology devoted to personal wealth and greed has hoodwinked them and taken away countless opportunities?

by Andy Brack · 04/13/2020 · 2 comments · Andy Brack, Views

This artfully-painted cow in Georgia apparently has a sense of humor. Photo provided.

BRACK: We’ll get through this, but it’s going to be hard

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | We’ll get through this coronavirus crisis. But, Lord have mercy, it’s going to be fraught with pain, suffering, fear and sadness.

Too many people are going to die as our unprepared nation grapples with a microbial invader that is devastating lives, jobs, routines and the stability of our social, political and economic institutions.

Doctors, nurses and health care workers are understandably frightened, worried they’ll bring the virus from soon-to-be-overloaded hospitals into their homes.

by Andy Brack · 04/06/2020 · 1 comment · Andy Brack, Views

BRACK: Issue stay-at-home order now, governor

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | Gov. Henry McMaster must issue a tough stay-in-place order now to keep coronavirus from spreading more in South Carolina. He can’t wait any longer.

Such an order will cause huge economic ripples throughout the state’s economy. But school isn’t open for another month. More people are getting sick. If we don’t nip this mess in the bud as much as possible now, the damage will be far, far worse when he is forced to issue an order later.

by Andy Brack · 03/30/2020 · Comments are Disabled · Andy Brack, Views

BRACK: New normal involves shared sacrifice for common good

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | For the record, I didn’t like the old normal. Too much of substandard education, social injustice, unbalanced tax structure and vitriolic politics.

You can imagine what I think of this new normal, coronavirus. I dislike it more. People scared. Toilet paper hoarded. Businesses cratering. Politics, well that’s still vitriolic.

But let’s try to look for a silver lining.

by Andy Brack · 03/23/2020 · Comments are Disabled · Andy Brack, Views

A “colored” entrance to a Mississippi theater, 1939. Wikipedia

BRACK: Renew commitment to protecting civil rights of all Americans

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | The forced segregation that stained the American South isn’t as far in the past as you may think.

A century ago when your great grandparents were toddlers or were raising their own, lynchings were commonplace. It wasn’t until after World War II that an American president, Harry Truman, ended segregation in the armed forces.

by Andy Brack · 03/16/2020 · Comments are Disabled · Andy Brack, Views

BRACK: Keep calm and wash your hands

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | The flu that you prepare for every winter kills about 100 South Carolinians every year, according to state health data.

To make sure you don’t get it, you do common-sense things: Get a flu shot, wash your hands more, cover your mouth or nose when you cough or sneeze, and stay at home when you’re sick.

by Andy Brack · 03/09/2020 · Comments are Disabled · Andy Brack, Views

BRACK: Do something to reduce frenzy at presidential debates

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | Halfway through the nationally-aired South Carolina presidential debate on Feb. 25, the television got turned off. Too much bickering. Too little substance. Too much crosstalk.

There’s got to be a better way for voters to get information than big spectacles where candidates have 75 seconds to answer direct questions and challengers can pipe in for only a few seconds. More serious discussion is needed.

by Andy Brack · 03/02/2020 · 1 comment · Andy Brack, Views