The re-emergence of former Mayor Willie Herenton as a candidate for Memphis mayor again in the city election of 2019 was a genuine surprise from the MLK50 week of events and — in Herenton’s telling, anyhow — was a direct outgrowth of the re-arousal of progressive hopes that came with the kindling of Dr. King’s […]
Posted inEditorial, Opinion
King’s Incomplete Mission
So MLK50 has come and gone, and the city, by and large, managed to acquit itself well with its advance preparations, its attention to the occasion, and the meaning of that occasion to history and the world at large, as well as with the welcome provided to the numerous visitors, distinguished and otherwise, who came […]
Posted inEditorial, Opinion
Jesse Jackson on MLK: “He Has Left This Place”
As the events and speeches and remembrances of this week have reminded us, it has been 50 years since the death of the great civil rights leader, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He came to Memphis on a mission of social justice and redemption, on behalf of sanitation workers who were striking not just for […]
Posted inPolitics, Politics Beat Blog
Calling B.S.
In the wake of the tragic shootings at Parkland, Fla., student Emma Gonzales famously called B.S. on some of the evasive pseudo-solutions to gun violence being talked about. So did this week’s Flyer editorial about the absence of serious proposals on the subject from a debate for GOP County Mayor candidates. Go here to read.
Posted inEditorial, Opinion
Calling B.S. on Fear of Gun Regulation
Surely even the most recalcitrant and reactionary of persons on the issue of gun violence had to be impressed by the energy and commitment of the young Americans involved in last weekend’s March for Our Lives. Hard as it might have been to imagine it in advance, the entire extravaganza — in Washington as well […]
Posted inEditorial, Opinion
Penny Hardaway Returns
Sports may be, as the late Howard Cosell used to say, the toy department of life. But it was still the basis for the caustic but candid lawyer-turned-sportswriter’s livelihood, and, for most people, sports may in fact be the vehicle for doing what art is alleged to do — i.e., hold a mirror up to […]
Posted inFood & Wine, Food & Drink
How ’Bout Them Apples?
Let’s just start with the meat-hook reality that anyone who starts a conversation with, “Hey gang, let’s drive out to the country and get some cider!” is going to sound a bit daft. However, if your aspiration is to out-hipster the craft beer crowd, it may be your only course. And cider is really old […]
Posted inLetter From The Editor, Opinion
Stormy Weather Ahead
Lord knows, it’s hard to keep up these days. There’s an information overload from our information overlords. So much distraction, so little time to process change before more change happens. Mostly forgotten in all the daily chaos coming out of Washington, D.C., is the mid-February repeal of net neutrality by Ajit Pai, the Trump-appointed head […]
Posted inPolitics, Politics Beat Blog
Tragedy in Nashville: Megan Barry’s Fall
A Flyer editorial concerns the case of Megan Barry, the Nashville Mayor with once-bright political prospects who was forced by a personal scandal to resign her office this week.
Posted inEditorial, Opinion
Political Drama in Nashville
For all the eternal mutual jealousies afflicting Tennessee’s two preeminent cities — Memphis and Nashville — there are very few here on our end of that dichotomy who are enjoying the state’s latest scandal, the one that this week ended in the resignation of the capital city’s mayor, Megan Barry. Nashville Mayor Megan Berry Barry […]
Posted inEditorial, Opinion
FedEx and the NRA
Proud as we have often been of being home base to FedEx, a company notable for its leadership in business affairs and consumer needs, we now confess to being embarrassed by the company’s refusal, in the wake of the latest gun massacre, to consider ending the favorable discounts it offers members of the National Rifle Association. […]
Posted inEditorial, Opinion
Memphis City Council Duplicity
Are they kidding? There can be several legitimate arguments adduced for and against the process of voting known as both Instant Runoff Voting and Ranked Choice Voting, but the Memphis City Council’s current campaign against the process has gone way out of bounds. It was strange enough that the council found it necessary late last […]