Charleston Currents

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A grave marker at a Kinsler family cemetery.

BRACK: Dealing with Southern ghosts of the past

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher, part 1 of 2 | This is the story of three cousins. Well, they’re pretty sure they’re all cousins because they think they are linked genetically to the same man. But they’re not 100 percent sure because some of the records are lost.

They do know, however, that they’re linked by circumstance and family to that man, a South Carolina plantation owner who moved his family and 14 slaves to Florida before the Civil War. Later he moved back to the Palmetto State, signed the state’s Ordinance of Secession, fought and served in the state Senate.

by Andy Brack · 06/17/2019 · 1 comment · Andy Brack, Views

A classroom at Francis Marion University. Photo provided.

BRACK: When something named “liberal” really isn’t

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | Millions of American students attending college for a classic liberal arts education don’t sit around watching MSNBC, attending Democratic Party meetings or reading The New York Times.

Unfortunately, the word “liberal” in the three-word educational phrase has morphed into a pejorative term, often leading to misunderstandings for what’s intended to describe a broad-based education that expands how students understand and relate to the world.

by Andy Brack · 06/09/2019 · Comments are Disabled · Andy Brack, Views

BRACK: A hotter South Carolina has some steamy policy impacts

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | Regardless of whether you are a climate change denier or someone who believes that science shows the globe is warming, there’s one thing we can all agree on: It’s been hot. Real hot.

Summer’s annual blast furnace of high heat and humidity came earlier than expected this year as the middle of the country dealt with lots of flooding and a whole bunch of freaky tornadoes.

by Andy Brack · 06/03/2019 · Comments are Disabled · Andy Brack, Views

BRACK: State budget shows legislators’ values

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | There’s a lot that goes on in a legislative session: Thousands of bills are filed. Hundreds of news stories are written about those bills. Scores of committee meetings underscore why making laws is as unsightly as making sausage.

Through it all after several months of work, much hot air was expended. Tempers flared. Filibusterers filibustered. Lobbyists lobbied. Visitors gawked. And a few laws got passed.

In 2019, legislators agreed enough to pass 113 measures – everything from the $9 billion budget to rejiggering voting precincts in Anderson, Greenwood, Dorchester, Pickens, Abbeville and Dillon counties. In fact, they seemed to like fiddling so much with Greenwood County’s precinct maps that they did it twice, first in March and later as the session was coming to a close.

by Andy Brack · 05/27/2019 · Comments are Disabled · Andy Brack, Views

BRACK: Nerf candidates for mayor up to it again

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | The Nerf candidates of Charleston’s mayoral race are up to no good again.

Instead of working to make Charleston more livable and better, as exemplified by what Mayor John Tecklenburg is trying to do, these nimrods are spewing slimy spitballs during council meetings and generally wasting time.

And perhaps, they’re showing their intelligence and leadership, or lack thereof. Or maybe they’re just taking attack bait supplied by the Tweedle Twins, West Ashley council members Bill Moody and Keith Waring, who have spent three years plotting against Tecklenburg.

by Andy Brack · 05/20/2019 · 1 comment · Andy Brack, Views

BRACK: Not hard to connect the dots on CHE finalist

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | An ultra-conservative culture warrior is not the right person to lead the state Commission on Higher Education (CHE).

But hey, this is red South Carolina where some folks apparently think that a past editor of a neo-Confederate journal who got a Ph.D. in government and international studies is a good choice to be a finalist to lead the state agency with oversight for new college programs.Hmmm. Wonder if this means someone wants more God in public liberal arts education?

by Andy Brack · 05/13/2019 · 1 comment · Andy Brack, Views

State Sen. Larry Grooms, R-Berkeley, discussed the future of Santee Cooper last week in the state Senate.

BRACK: State Senate has changed a lot over two decades

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | Anyone who doesn’t believe government doesn’t change needs to look to the South Carolina Senate. Compared to what it was 20 years ago, it’s almost a hot mess today.

Two of the differences are easy to see. First, some once familiar names that dominated headlines – Drummond, Fair, Courson, Ford, McConnell, Hayes, Leventis, Martin, McGill, Ravenel, Washington, Wilson, Thomas – are no longer there. Of the states 46 senators, only 11 serving today were in the chamber 20 years ago.

by Andy Brack · 05/06/2019 · Comments are Disabled · Andy Brack, Views

BRACK: While I breathe, I wish and I hope

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | I wish there were ways to scare the living daylights drivers riding on my tail without them causing problems for or harm to other drivers.

I wish one could gain the benefits of exercise without actually having to exercise.

I wish it were possible to eat a lot of chocolate without ingesting any calories, fat or sugar.

by Andy Brack · 04/29/2019 · 2 comments · Andy Brack, Views

BRACK: Dems might screw up chance to beat tower of jelly

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | Democrats better watch it or they will screw up a huge opportunity to retake the White House in 2020.

With all of the toils and troubles of incumbent President Donald Triump — the lies, the mobster culture, the scandals, the Mueller investigation, the misogyny, the drama, the incessant twittering, the blatant corruption, the continuing attacks on the foundation of our democracy — one might think he would be easy political pickings. But with a solid electoral base of about 40 percent, all that Trump has to do to win in 2020 is prey on fear to pick up 10 percent and fuel dissent about Democrats. Scary.

by Andy Brack · 04/25/2019 · Comments are Disabled · Andy Brack, Views

BRACK: Yes, senator, the ox is in the ditch still

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | “The ox is in the ditch.”

That’s an adage frequently offered by Fritz Hollings, South Carolina’s larger-than-life former governor and United States senator who passed away April 6 at age 97.But what did it mean?

Meet the Press host Tim Russert once asked Hollings with a twinkle in his eye.Hollings, who often used colloquial sayings to make a point, explained that when an ox hauling a wagon went into a ditch in the olden days, it took more than the ox to pull the wagon out of the ditch. It took several people working as a team to make things right.

So when Hollings, who retired in 2005 after a 38-year Senate career, talked about oxen and ditches and national budgetary, trade or jobs problems, he was saying the country needed to pull together and work as a team to get us out of a particular ditch.

by Andy Brack · 04/15/2019 · Comments are Disabled · Andy Brack, Views