Sweet Home Alabama

There are two major historical principles about Alabama that grow from our distant history. One is, 'We dare defend our rights,' which is the state motto, and it's sort of a bunker mentality where you think the world is against you. Everybody hates you. Everybody makes fun of you. And so, understandably, what you end up with is a bunker mentality.

And the other characteristic was that blacks need to know what their place is, and they need to stay in their place. And so it was about not allowing Yankees to put you down and not allowing blacks to participate in the political process. ... Alabama politics begins and pretty much ends with race.

Listen to the rest of the story.

'WHATABOUTISM': The President & Pocahontas

Yesterday President Trump made a joke about 'Pocahontas' while supposedly honoring a group of Navajo Code Talker WWII heroes.  Many, including his guests, took to it as a racial slur.

Pocahontas was immortalized in the Disney animated tale of romance between a young American Indian woman named Pocahontas (Irene Bedard) and Capt. John Smith (Mel Gibson), who journeyed to the New World with other settlers to begin fresh lives. Her powerful father, Chief Powhatan, disapproves of their relationship and wants her to marry a native warrior. Meanwhile, Smith's fellow Englishmen hope to rob the Native Americans of their gold.

Can Pocahontas' love for Smith save the day?

Should she have?  How would the Indians be treated in the wake of Colonization? Westward Expansion?

Why is it IRONIC that Native Americans would once again help the United States in WWII?

How did White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders struggle to Defend Trump’s ‘Pocahontas’ Jab?

This tactic is called "whataboutism," a fallacy with roots in old Soviet propaganda that shifts any given topic to another, potentially irrelevant one. It implies that all actions regardless of context share a moral equivalency, And since nobody is perfect, all criticism is hypocritical and everyone should do whatever they want ... It doesn't solve a problem or win an argument. The point is just to muddy the waters, which just makes the other side mad.

The most famous recent example was Trump's reaction to the alt-right rally in Charlottesville. When a neo-Nazi intentionally drove a car into a mass of people and killed protestor Heather Heyer, Trump responded by looking for equal fault on the other side.

Take a look at these other examples.

Do two 'wrongs' make a 'right?'  What do two 'Wrights make?'

Ernie Pyle

Ernest Taylor Pyle (August 3, 1900 – April 18, 1945) was a Pulitzer Prize–winning American journalist. As a roving correspondent for the Scripps-Howard newspaper chain, he earned wide acclaim for his accounts of ordinary people in rural America, and later, of ordinary American soldiers during World War II. His syndicated column ran in more than 300 newspapers nationwide.

At the time of his death he was among the best-known American war correspondents. He won the Pulitzer Prize in 1944 for his spare, poignant accounts of "dogface" infantry soldiers from a first-person perspective. "No man in this war has so well told the story of the American fighting man as American fighting men wanted it told", wrote Harry Truman. "He deserves the gratitude of all his countrymen."

Listen to Jon Voigt read Ernie Pyle

How did John Hersey differ from Ernie Pyle?

Why is the book Hiroshima still so important today?

Star Spangled Hypocrisy?!

President Donald Trump on Monday dug in on his feud with professional athletes, declaring on Twitter that “many people” booed the NFL players who kneeled during the national anthem, and denying that he’s stoking racial tensions with his attacks.

How did Dallas Cowboy's owner Jerry Jones reach a compromise?

Trump first stoked the issue on Friday at a rally in Alabama, where he told the crowd “wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, ‘get that son of a b?#@ off the field right now — he’s fired.’” Trump’s Twitter account was peppered with similar sentiments throughout the weekend, including one post in which he suggested that NFL ratings and attendance had dipped in part because “many stay away because they love our country.

Colin Kaepernick now no longer in the NFL, thanked the public for making his jersey the NFL's top seller last season after his national anthem protest.  He vowed to donate all the proceeds he receives "back into the communities."  The San Francisco 49ers quarterback made his pledge in an Instagram post.

Why IS it important to show respect for the flag/ national anthem?

Have other athletes joined Colin Kaepernick in support?

Should we care if someone decides to not stand for the national anthem?

When human nature surmounts Mother Nature

This past week we saw what trillions of gallons of water can cover when Hurricane Harvey struck southeast Texas. But more importantly, we saw what it can uncover, as volunteers helped rescue stranded neighbors, and thoughts of division were set aside in a collective effort that united a nation. Steve Hartman looks at how, when Mother Nature is at its worst, human nature is at its best. Watch the rest of the story...
Best intentions: When disaster relief brings anything but relief.

What is the BEST way we can help?

Syria-ous-ly

How is the war in Syria different from wars in the past?

What is going on in Syria and why? This animation explains the events that have led to the ongoing civil war in the Middle Eastern country, which is reported to have claimed over 100,000 lives. It's a complicated issue, but this explainer should serve as a good starting point for understanding it all.

What does the President think we should do?

Room for Debate:  How to end the Chaos in Syria (or at least contain it)

Battle for Iraq/ Hunting Isis

"Guardian" reporter Ghaith Abdul-Ahad goes inside the battle for Mosul to examine the fight and its toll, speaking with civilians, soldiers and ISIS suspects -- and surviving a suicide bomb. Also in this two-part hour: a dramatic report on an Iraqi unit at the center of the fight.

Discussion Questions

Checks and Balances

President Donald Trump today attacked those challenging his travel ban, saying even a "bad high school student" would understand the law that confers on the president the power to restrict immigration. Trump defended his immigration executive order, and he insisted the country is "at risk" because of the temporary halt on the order, and he called the ban a "weapon" necessary for the security of the nation.

But even a 'bad high school student' knows that our government is divided into three branches for a reason:  so no one branch becomes more powerful than the other.  Executive Orders from the President do not carry the power of laws passed by Congress and the power of Judicial Review allows the court to declare them unconstitutional.

The President would not go so far as to call the court biased, but did question the decision of the 'so called judge' who ruled against him.   Complicating matters worse is the anticipated stalemate if the case makes it to the Supreme Court and the comments of the President's choice to fill the Supreme Court vacancy.

Words Matter

Click here to watch President Trump's Inauguration speech.

"From this day forward, a new vision will govern our land. From this moment on, it's going to be America first." 

Donald Trump’s inaugural address: will likely go down in history as the infamous, hyper-nationalist, chest-thumping “America First” speech.

Study these word clouds of the first inaugural addresses by Presidents Trump, Obama, Bush 43, Clinton, Bush 41, Reagan and Carter. To the extent word clouds are useful, can you see some interesting similarities and differences between the speeches?  What do their words say about each President?  What words didn't each President say?  Why?

Did Donald Trump really quote the Bee Movie?

Perhaps he was channeling Bane from Batman: The Dark Knight?

Was Trump the first celebrity spokesman for 'America First?'

Do our words really matter?

Death of the Daily

What does the future look like for America's Newspapers?

Find Out Here...

What does the sale of the Washington Post mean for the Newspaper Industry?

Is the New Orleans Times Picayune the next to go?

Join the 'movement' to save the Daily! Make a Newspaper Hat