Leonard Pitts: Republicans are architects of their present misfortune
So it has come to this: Trump 2016.
Kathleen Parker: Farewell, Grand Old Party
It wasn’t precisely an act of moral courage, but House Speaker Paul D. Ryan’s (Wis.) comment that he’s not ready to support presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump was at least . . . something.
Roses and thorns 5/8/16
A rose to organizers, volunteers, vendors, city workers (police/fire/public works) and festival-goers, who combined to make this weekend’s Market Street Festival perhaps the best ever.
Voice of the people: Venice Bishop
Disappointed with supervisors
Slimantics: How to ruin a state without really trying
Each January, the Mississippi Legislature convenes in Jackson and collectively loses its mind for a few months. The session ends in April – and not a nanosecond too soon – giving Mississippians a couple of months to contemplate the impending carnage that will ensue on July 1, when the new laws go into effect.
Leonard Pitts: Sometimes, race is more distraction than explanation
Dear white people:
As you no doubt know, the water crisis in Flint, Mich., returned to the headlines last week with news that the state attorney general is charging three government officials for their alleged roles in the debacle. It makes this a convenient moment to deal with something that has irked me about the way this disaster is framed.
Kathleen Parker: Dear Bernie Sanders: Black votes matter
African Americans in the South can’t get a break when it comes to voting, as history can’t deny.
After all they’ve endured through slavery, Jim Crow and the fight for civil rights, their voices are still treated dismissively by tone-deaf politicians who would ask for their votes.
Roses and thorns 4/24/16
A rose to business owners and their patrons, especially in Columbus.
Voice of the people: Elizabeth Simpson
HB 1523 not compatible with American or Christian values
Partial to Home: Persimmons
About four years ago a friend visiting from the North rode with me to a rural church outside of Caledonia to photograph the tombstone for a woman’s leg. The woman had the leg removed for medical reasons, and, perhaps thinking it would be useful later, had it buried next to the spot her remains would eventually (and now) inhabit. Her husband’s grave neighbored her on the other side.
Patrick Buchanan: Can the GOP get together in Cleveland?
After winning only six delegates in Wisconsin, and with Ted Cruz poaching delegates in states he has won, like Louisiana, Donald Trump either wins on the first ballot at Cleveland, or Trump does not win.
Jamie Stiehm: Notes on a Wisconsin political season
The Wisconsin primary was a moment for all candidates concerned. It delivered a jolt to brash Donald Trump, who lost to smarmy Ted Cruz.
Leonard Pitts: Doesn’t Mississippi have more pressing concerns?
A portrait of Mississippi.
Wyatt Emmerich: State should be more competitive on solar
Mississippi has some of the worst laws in the nation on solar energy. That’s too bad because solar is becoming competitive and Mississippi has lots of sunshine.
Roses and thorns
A rose to everyone involved in making the 76th Columbus Spring Pilgrimage, which ended Saturday, a success.
Rheta Johnson: Events in black and white
The civil-rights movement wasn’t just “Rosa sat down, Martin stood up and the white folks came down to save the day,” the photographer Matt Herron quips.
Jamie Stiehm: Garland appointment now in Senate’s court
Washington — Here comes a great courtroom drama, pitting the president against the Senate, which will act as judge and jury. The stakes are supremely high, even higher than the presidential race. Filling the empty seat on the Supreme Court amounts to changing the balance of power on the aggressively conservative Court.
Birney Imes: Fossil hunting on the Luxapalila
Eighty-five million years ago, sharks swam where Gardner Boulevard is now. Carnivorous raptors roamed nearby beaches. Ten-foot-long crocodiles thrashed about.
Bill Crawford: Tax cuts the solution to budget deficit? Crazy.
Mississippi tax revenues are running short, so obviously it’s time for a big tax cut.
Roses and thorns
A rose to Columbus Ward 1 Councilman Gene Taylor, whose persistence has paid off in repairs at 13 railroad crossing on the Southside.