The recent Post and Courier editorial appearing in the Aiken Standard opines on education choice again. Oh dear, that’s the worst news since Andy Taylor learned that Aunt Bea was headed back to the kitchen to make a double batch of her “kerosene cucumbers.”
Change is difficult, but it’s often the key to survival.
The political class in Columbia is all atwitter about Supreme Court justices and whether the nominee up for election Wednesday was properly vetted: Did lawmakers ask the right questions about judicial philosophy? Did lawmakers on the nominating commission pick the right candidates? Are these…
Those of us who grew up in the ’50s watching live television (on the handful of channels then available) will surely remember "To Tell the Truth." Each week, a panel of four celebrities would interrogate three contestants, all three of whom claimed to be the person who had had accomplished s…
A mulligan, in golf parlance, is a chance to hit a better shot.
You’ll hear plenty in the next few months about the really dumb ideas legislators took to the Statehouse this year, because legislators who have dumb proposals tend to be the most vocal. And you’ll hear a lot about the good and bad ideas legislative leaders have made their priorities, from c…
Does truth have any place in American politics? In American society?
I love my gas stove – almost as much as I love my Weber gas grill.
S.C. Rep. Neal Collins has a school reform proposal for everybody to hate. For school board members, there’s a bill to, in his words, neuter the boards — taking away their authority over everything except student discipline hearings.
My streak is over.
S.C. Associate Justice John Few’s abortion opinion deserves a lot more attention than it’s gotten so far — which, based on how the court’s decision has been characterized, seems to be none.
The new year has just begun. It could be a time to rethink things and act differently – especially if what we tried in the past didn't work. Can our politicians start thinking outside the box? As someone once said, “The definition of insanity is to keep doing the same thing but expecting a d…
A squeaker in the House
“Character.”
It’s easy to get pigeonholed in the S.C. House, where lawmakers are expected to become experts in one field, or at most one field at a time.
Barbara Walters might never have become a powerful force in broadcast journalism had she lacked the chutzpah to extract a promise from her bosses at NBC News in 1973.
Happy New Year!
Deon Jackson didn’t have nearly so generous a contract as Charleston County’s Gerrita Postlewait, who was paid half a million dollars to go away, but it seems pretty clear that the Berkeley County School District still owes its deposed superintendent a six-figure payout.
It was late December of 2020. COVID cabin fever was hitting me hard.
Thanks to monumental efforts by site employees, Department of Energy officials, local elected leaders and the entire CSRA community – work to complete the vital plutonium pit production mission at the Savannah River Site is in full swing.
Merry Christmas!
When writing advertising copy, I sometimes find myself desperately searching for a zinger of a tag line – and settling for trite admonitions such as “Make this the best hunting season ever” or “Make this the best summer vacation ever.”
As this year comes to a close, it is a time to reflect on past achievements as well as to consider new goals for the future. Readers have been informed of the many accomplishments of Keep Aiken County Beautiful in previous articles. Today’s article will describe the achievements of the last …
One of my fondest childhood memories of Christmas in the 1970’s was riding around in the family station wagon, “Bessie,” to look at Christmas lights while I whined to my parents about needing a snack – again. There was something magical about a familiar evening landscape transformed to a rad…
The 2021 letter to a local TV station said the Berkeley County School District couldn't provide a copy of the personnel file for a recently demoted principal because “records exempt from disclosure such as private, personal, and confidential employment records may not be made public under FOIA.”
I wonder if the public a century ago realized that Henry Ford was not just making cars – and money – he was building an industry that would employ millions and underpin the nation’s economy for decades.
Where were you when you heard the news about Brittney Griner?
In one sense, there was nothing extraordinary about what happened on Tuesday, when Speaker Murrell Smith pledged that the largest House Republican majority in South Carolina history wouldn’t turn into a dysfunctional congressional clone.
December is a holy season for Christians and Jews, as well as for some people of other religions and people of good will. This is – or should be – a time of joy and hope. We should take off our old clothes of fear, anger, hate and violence, and replace them with new clothes made of peace, ju…
It’s an avalanche – violence of every kind, in every place, over and over. Surely, we’ve all noticed – but we seem to be looking the other way, not facing up to it.
The practice of reading has significant benefits for the young and the old. Reading the daily papers (as one example) can effectively stimulate brain cells, slowing down – or even stopping – mental decline.
Coffee. I needed coffee. And sleep. And food.
They say every result or outcome makes someone happy.
You've probably heard it said that elections have consequences. But what are the consequences of the 2022 midterm elections? First, let's look at what happened. The Democrats retained a one- or two-vote majority in the U.S. Senate, and the Republicans gained a six- to nine-vote majority in t…
On July 1, 1776, America’s future was very much in doubt. After months of deliberation, the Second Constitutional Congress was deadlocked on the crucial decision to sign and promulgate their Declaration of Independence. That night, delegate Caesar Rodney rode all night on horseback from Dove…
Is the glass half empty or half full?
Please pardon me, but I am always overcome by mawkish sentimentality at this time of year.
What a whirlwind two months since my arrival here in Aiken. I have been so impressed with the kindness and welcoming nature of so many.
When it comes to sappy holiday movies, you either scorn them as you would another pair of reindeer-themed socks, or you eagerly binge on offerings such as “My Southern Family Christmas,” produced by Hallmark and described thusly:
Black Friday may be the longest day of the year. Used to, it was just the Friday after Thanksgiving. This year, the pre-Black Friday sales started well before Halloween.
Thanksgiving Day is almost here, and it’s traditionally the busiest time of the year for us in the newspaper industry.
I usually write about instant-runoff voting during the primary season, because the idea of letting voters rank their choices, thereby avoiding the return trip to the polls two weeks later to vote in a runoff, has traditionally been used in primary elections.
Republicans, reckoning with the wreckage from last week’s midterm elections, probably feel like South Floridians walking around the morning after Hurricane Ian, eyes like saucers. Did that really happen?
Last week we had to make important decisions.
I’m not sure what I was expecting when my colleagues and I kept urging the Legislature to let the state inspector general take a look under the hoods of South Carolina's school districts, but it wasn’t what we got from the first such investigation.
This is a big week – mid-term elections on Tuesday, and then Veterans Day on Friday. Both have real bearing on American democracy, a topic very much on Americans’ minds these days.
This week half the country will be upset by the midterm election results and half will be elated.
Murphy’s Law being what it is, whether you’re talking about a surprise party, a romantic getaway or visiting an acquaintance in the hospital, good intentions don’t always pan out.
Almost three quarters of Americans think that the health and viability of our more than 200-year-old democracy is seriously threatened.
S.C. Education Superintendent Molly Spearman wasn’t dreaming up hypothetical problems when she went to the Statehouse in 2019 to ask for authority to remove school boards in districts the state has to take over.
I was piddling around Thursday when I received a text from a friend in Augusta.
While nothing is certain (I’m writing this column one week before the mid-term election finale), it seems highly likely that the GOP will regain majority control of the U.S. House of Representatives and quite possibly the Senate as well. If so, how will they handle their resounding victory?
Editor’s Note: Long-time syndicated humor columnist Tom Purcell has just launched a new, second weekly column, called Thurber’s Tail. It features pet advice, humorous pet videos and stories about his beloved pup, Thurber the yellow Lab.
Schools in the future must be multi-faceted, effective at a number of student-focused educational endeavors.
