Even as candidates are sorting themselves out for next year’s elections to the Shelby County Commission and the office of county mayor, the current version of the commission is still involved in what has been an extended power struggle with outgoing Mayor Mark Luttrell. That conflict has now entered an intense new phase, prompted by […]
Posted inEditorial, Opinion
Should Shelby County Raise Officials’ Salaries?
The old bugaboo of pay raises for public officials rose again at Monday’s regular meeting of the Shelby County Commission, and, perhaps because of the proximity in time to Halloween, enough members of the commission were spooked by the prospect of raising their own salaries and those of several other elected county officials that the […]
Posted inFood & Wine, Food & Drink
Holiday Eats
Family, friends, and valued coworkers. Voluminous laughter. A toast and the clink of glassware. Expertly done hors d’oeuvres and a splendid spread. Such are the elements of a great holiday party. For some ideas to push your party over the top, read on … India Palace 1720 Poplar (278-1199) indiapalacememphis.com Neighborhood: Midtown Attire: Casual Open […]
Posted inEditorial, Opinion
Trump’s “Achievements”
We have now reached the final quarter of the calendar year, and one of the modish political commentaries of the season is a lament, usually delivered with utmost solemnity by a talking head on cable TV, that President Trump has failed to deliver on his legislative agenda — the idea being that is a seriously […]
Posted inEditorial, Opinion
Marsha Blackburn’s “Unintended Consequences”
Sometimes in this trade, the act of choosing a headline can be a difficult matter. Not so in this case. The headline of this editorial happens to be the phrase used by 7th District U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn to describe the ill effects of a 2016 law she sponsored that loosened regulations on the prescription […]
Posted inEditorial, Opinion
Taking the Knee
This whole flag thing is arguably getting to be a serious over-reach — on both sides of the matter. Is it the National Anthem thing? Or patriotism in general? Or just what? The issue has certainly been muddled and became more so, not less so, after the intervention of Donald Trump last week. To recall: […]
Posted inEditorial, Opinion
SNAP Program Needs Scalpel, Not Ax
Back in 2008, the administration of Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen, a Democrat, asked for and got a waiver on enforcement of the strict work requirements imposed on recipients of federal food assistance under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). It was a sensible decision; the state, like much of the nation, was hard hit by […]
Posted inEditorial, Opinion
Harvey, Irma, and Trump
Wonder of wonders, a poll surfaced this week essentially indicating that, for the first time since his inauguration, Donald Trump’s favorability ratings, which have consistently hovered at record lows for any given point in his presidency, have taken a modest bump upward. It does not take an Einstein to figure out the reason why. Hurricanes […]
Posted inEditorial, Opinion
Restore the DREAM Act
To say the least, President Trump is not renowned for either finesse or a judicious sense of timing. A case in point was the fact that, when North Korea last week was wagging its nuclear weaponry and making reckless threats against both the United States and staunch American ally South Korea, the president chose to unjustly […]
Posted inEditorial, Opinion
Monumental Democracy
Enormous amounts of rhetoric have been loosed, both locally and nationwide, regarding the monuments to confederate figures and confederate causes that were erected in years past, and action of some sort is sure to follow. Even before the unsettling recent disturbances involving a statue of Robert E. Lee in Charlottesville, Virginia, a circumstance that saw […]
Posted inEditorial, Opinion
Cometh the Change
Who, until weekend before last and Charlottesville, could have imagined a large contingent of neo-Nazis and their sympathizers marching en masse in public and claiming to speak on a subject of major national importance. That a gathering of progressive citizens rose up to resist them is only to be welcomed — even if those counter-demonstrators, […]
Posted inEditorial, Opinion
Defining and Defending the First Amendment
Amendment I. Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances. The foregoing words are those of the First […]