By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | The other day after a church meeting, someone commented, “We need a free press now, more than ever.” Let that sink in.
Why would someone say that? Is it because he doesn’t like the bombast of President Trump or she doesn’t like the preening of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi? Is it because they’re worried about the legitimacy of what they read on Facebook, Twitter or the Internet?
By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | The first Thanksgiving in South Carolina probably was in French. Or Spanish.
More than 100 years before the English settled in Charleston in 1670, the French built a small wooden fort on what is now Parris Island. Known as Charlesfort in honor of the French king, it was abandoned after a couple of years.
By Joy Campbell, special to Charleston Currents | In fiscal year 2020-21, the state of South Carolina expects to have a $2 billion surplus and our policymakers face political challenges in determining priorities for the use of those funds. Unfortunately, some issues and agencies often have a tough time gaining their attention.
RELATED: Editor and Publisher Andy Brack’s latest commentary is on a related subject: How to spend the state’s $1.8 billion tax windfall.
Campbell
The agencies that serve children don’t get what they need because they lack the powerful lobbying interests that others enjoy. Children don’t contribute to political coffers or go to the polls. Therefore advocates and social services agencies voices are drowned and children’s needs are subverted by the voices of well-funded special interest groups with powerful constituencies and capital to expend.
By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | South Carolina is just one of four states without a law that punishes people who violently lash out against others or property because of hate. Rep. Beth Bernstein, D-Columbia, is working to build a coalition of lawmakers to change the status quo — and soon.
“Tragic events like the Mother Emanuel church shooting [in Charleston] and the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting highlight the need for hate crimes legislation in our state,” she told Statehouse Report. “Those incidents represent some of the most heinous crimes, and they were committed based solely on who the victim is as a person.”
By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | State legislators might have a little extra incentive to do something about nameless groups that pour dark money into elections to affect their outcomes: their own political hides.
If elections set for Tuesday in the Charleston area are a hint of the political future, state House and Senate candidates in 2020 should get ready to be hammered by nasty direct mail pieces. The way out? Rein in dark money.
By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | “Lynching” is a word that should be discarded from political discourse, especially throughout the South where thousands died from racial terror after the Civil War.
President Trump, now under intense scrutiny in a growing impeachment inquiry by the U.S. House of Representatives, tweeted in a diatribe in the wee hours of Oct. 22 that “All Republicans must remember what they are witnessing here – a lynching.”
No, Mr. President. You’re wrong. You are not being lynched. You are not being physically ripped from the White House, bundled up ropes and taken by a mob for execution by shooting, hanging, burning or something as horrible.
What is happening, sir, is that you are facing the very process you deny is happening – due process required by the Constitution to investigate whether you and your administration violated the law in discussions with a foreign country. For the U.S. House – Democrats and Republicans – to do less is for them to abrogate their sworn duty.
By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | It’s been two weeks since Tom Steyer came over for supper.
On a campaign swing through Charleston, the billionaire presidential candidate sat down with a few people to eat Rodney Scott’s awesome barbecue and ribs and have a beer. Well, he actually had one glass of wine. He is, after all, from California. I didn’t intend to write about this visit because I didn’t want it to seem like an ad for a guy running for the Democratic nomination. (I still don’t know who I’ll vote for in the February primary; there is no GOP primary, so I won’t be voting in that one.)
By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | A weekend family trip to New York City was simply delightful, an adjective we never thought of using to describe the Big Apple.
The weather was moderate. People were relatively friendly. The bagels and pizza were awesome. And two attractions provided a “wow” that still lingers.
By Fred Palm, contributing editor | The role of a government inspector general is much in the news lately. The position has evolved from military tradition to ensure that government-funded entities use taxpayer money in careful, frugal and legal manners. We don’t want, for example, our hard-earned tax dollars wasted, ripped-off, squandered, thieved or frauded.
The inspector general was first used here during our Revolutionary War. General George Washington smartly recognized that his militia leaders and those that reported to them sometimes distorted, exaggerated and plain lied about their fitness and capabilities.
Washington appointed an inspector general modeling a practice of the Prussian Army, then the world’s elite war-fighting army. Back then, one of the practices of the Prussian Army was to require field inspections for war-fighting fitness to be conducted by knowledgeable staff who were independent and outside the reporting chain of command. They were intentionally free from the obligation to follow orders.
Washington and his command staff used an inspector general to provide a potential pathway for the truth. The obligation of Washington’s inspectional forces was to objectively determine capability and to accurately report on the conditions …
By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | John Tecklenburg is Charleston’s only viable and reasonable choice for mayor Nov. 5 if the city wants to remain on the path to deal with flooding, traffic and more.
Over the last four years, he’s provided critical leadership to move us forward with dozens of infrastructure projects from stormwater and flooding improvements to new fire stations, improved and new parks, road improvements, affordable housing and community centers.
We Can Do Better, South Carolina! (2019) by editor and publisher Andy Brack offers incisive commentaries on the American South, politics, the common good and interesting South Carolina leaders. Available exclusively for Kindle for $7.99. A paperback version will be ready soon. Learn more.
Charleston Currents is brought to you free of charge thanks to the generosity of our underwriters:
Charleston City Paper, an alt-weekly seen by more than 100,000 people, offers the latest on news, views, arts, dining and music. Sign up for newsletters that will keep you up-to-date all week.
Statehouse Report is a renowned statewide policy and politics forecast published every Friday that informs South Carolina’s opinion leaders with key insights and news.
Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
Use our feed
Send us your comments
Recent Comments