Every now and then, I am asked this question regarding the Frederick Douglass Republican (FDR) Engagement Strategy. Based on real-world experiences, the FDR Engagement Strategy has been test-marketed thoroughly with mind-blowing positive results. There are hundreds, if not thousands of success stories and testimonials I could share with you. However, for the sake of brevity, here are a couple of success stories and a testimonial:
Birmingham hosted the World Games this summer on the heels of the revived United States Football League’s inaugural season. The World Games had a projected quarter billion-dollar impact and brought thousands to Birmingham. Can sports drive prosperity for Birmingham and Alabama?
I asked about the teachers. She said they don't, or won't, say anything to the furries. A furry? Meaning, a kid who identifies as an animal and can dress like it, too? Yes. A furry. At a school near you.
Listen to 1819 News Editor-in-Chief Ray Melick on The Jeff Poor Show as they discuss SEC Media Days, political races with their fundraising and potential seniority factors, and medical marijuana and its lack of transparency in the process.
As I drive through my boyhood neighborhood to visit my grandfather, I can’t help but notice the many American flags twisting in the wind here in the Heart of Dixie. Some of the flags truly exemplify the name “Old Glory,” worn down and weathered by time and the elements. Others, flags so new you can still see their packing creases, burst ever so bright and bold — glaring red, white, and blue in the Alabama sun.
"The old canard says, ‘You can’t legislate morality.’ The truth is you can’t avoid legislating morality. Every law says, ‘It’s not okay to do this thing’ or ‘You must do this thing.’ Every law legislates morality. Morality will be legislated. The only question is, whose morality?” (God, Caesar, and Idols, by Rick D. Boyer)
Recently I saw a picture on social media that caught my attention. It was one of thousands that were in my feed that day, but it stuck with me more than most. It was just a picture of a normal looking guy holding up a sign. I’ll get back to the reasons why that picture was such a draw in a minute.
Starting this upcoming school year, families in Tennessee will be able to enroll in a school choice program that allows eligible students to use taxpayer dollars to attend private schools. On Wednesday, a Tennessee court lifted its injunction against the Education Savings Account program, which was originally signed into law in 2019. As a result, Governor Bill Lee announced that the program would be active starting this fall.
I am discovering that many men suffer silently from shame. Shame has so much to do with the way you see yourself. Your sense of value and worth as a person. Shame generally is a result of perceived failure — whether it be business failure, financial failure, athletic failure, academic failure, relational failure or moral failure.
Jack was laid to rest today at 12 p.m. sharp. It was a small service in the Peterson’s backyard. There were folding chairs. Jack’s pinewood box was decorated with white flowers and his favorite chew toys.
This week, I have good news: Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall will enforce the law, even if local prosecutors don’t.
According to ancient Greek philosopher Plato, it is the great philosophers who are best suited to govern society. Known as “philosopher kings,” they use wisdom, Plato says, to determine how society should operate. Ours is not a country governed by philosopher kings. The Founding Fathers, instead, predicated our government as one of the people. And it is Congress, the gathering of popularly elected representatives, which is given that weighty law-writing authority.
Listen to 1819 News Editor-in-Chief Ray Melick on Midday Mobile with Sean Sullivan as they discuss the irrational domestic and foreign U.S. energy policy, Ukraine, adoption in post-Roe Alabama, and lowering the qualifications for teachers.
Listen to 1819 News Editor-in-Chief Ray Melick on News & Views with Joey Clark as they discuss The World Games, the U.S. Space Command's move to Huntsville, the USS Alabama's deck renovation, the spendthrift Alabama legislature, and the apparent upcoming recession.
Last week, retired three-star general Gary Volesky, working as a civilian contractor with the U.S. Army as a mentor to officers, was suspended after he responded to First Lady Jill Biden’s remark about the recent Supreme Court decision. She tweeted, “The right of women to have abortions had been ‘stolen’.” General Volesky responded to Jill Biden’s tweet by writing that he was glad she finally knows what a woman is. As a result, the government suspended General Volesky’s $92 an hour contract to mentor active-duty officers for speaking his mind.
There is no doubt that inflation is hurting many Alabamians right now, whether they be public or private sector employees or business owners. In June, inflation rose to 9.1 percent year over year, with record high gas prices being the underlying cause. But no one expects that trend to last. The Congressional Budget Office projects that inflationary pressures will begin to ease later this year and fall to 3.1 percent in 2023. From 1960 to 2021 the average annual inflation rate in the United States was 3.7 percent.
Even though Isaiah warned us, did we ever think we’d have leaders who did this?
Listen to 1819 News Editor-in-Chief Ray Melick on The Jeff Poor Show as they discuss breakfast tacos, the California-doctor-proposed floating abortion clinic in Gulf federal waters, attendance at The World Games, the apparent Birmingham desire to be a sporting event destination and historic stadiums like Legion Field.
Last week, the National Education Association’s (NEA) Representative Assembly met in Chicago. Kim Anderson, NEA Executive Director, made the claim that, “If we don’t achieve racial justice in our schools, we cannot expect to achieve it in our society. It begins with us.” In a speech to the assembly, she stated that, “students are organizing, marching, posting, and speaking up for the progress we must continue to make if the United States is to be a more perfect union.”
Politicians like to make everything about them, but to avoid the appearance of outright ambition, they cloak themselves in the symbols of the nation, especially that most revered symbol of any democracy — the people.
Having a benevolent dictator who could act immediately and unilaterally, without the niceties of a parliament, plebiscite, or consent seems on the surface to be a good thing. But finding that one individual who possessed the necessary qualifications to consistently act unselfishly and only in the national interest was a challenge.
One day when I was speaking to a group of students, one of them asked me point blank what was my most favorite thing; the MOST favorite of all. I knew what it was, and it may surprise you: Senate Bill 280 that amended section 22 of the Alabama Code during the 2012 Regular Session.
Lake Martin is one of the top five cleanest and clearest lakes in the United States. It is like looking into glass. It is a lake so clear you can see all the Natural Light cans on the bottom. I stared across the lake and I was thinking about my old man.
Back in 1987, Alcoa hired Paul O’Neil as its new CEO. Alcoa, which had been in business for over 100 years, was struggling and needed new leadership. O’Neil was a former government bureaucrat that no one had ever heard of.
Listen to 1819 News Editor-in-Chief Ray Melick on Midday Mobile with Sean Sullivan as they discuss The World Games and voting irregularities in the recent primary runoffs.
On the last day of its term, the Supreme Court struck a major blow against the EPA (and the administrative state generally) in its 6-3 decision in West Virginia v. EPA.
The reality that so many pro Medicaid expansion advocates seem to ignore is that Alabama already expanded Medicaid coverage for new mothers and their children, before the Roe decision.