Augustus was pulling off coups long before Lisa Phelps came on the scene. Educated citizens will understand the reference. The chairman of Spotsylvania County’s school board, however, surely won’t. That would require reading – and given her desire to ban and burn books with “pornography,” we assume anything from, or about, the Roman Empire is […]
Can freedom long survive in Spotsylvania County? This is something that voters – knowingly or not – are flowing to the polls to decide. That challenge was squarely before those who attended early voting on Friday. For some time, before police were called, Nick Ignacio (candidate for Clerk of Court) and Steve Maxwell (candidate for […]
Let me be straight – math and I never enjoyed an intimate relationship. Two tumbles with Algebra (once in high school and once in college), I learned, were enough for me. Math was simply out of my league. Praise the Lord I was too dumb to venture deeper into the mysterious world of numbers. Who […]
The terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C., and the failed attack (presumably on the U.S. Capitol) that led to a downed plane in Pennsylvania, were horrible. What they were not, is unique. America has faced foreign aggression before on its soil. We will certainly face it again as technology brings far-flung places […]
Jimmy Buffett – who passed away Thursday – made us laugh at ourselves and at others. And he no doubt triggered the moralists in the world. Yes – we’re talking about the self-righteous zealots of Spotsylvania County and across the country who find things like human sexuality dirty, drinking an abomination, and religious satire an unforgiveable sin. […]
“It is only when the people become ignorant and corrupt, when they degenerate into a populace, that they are incapable of exercising their sovereignty. Usurpation is then an easy attainment, and an usurper soon found. The people themselves become the willing instruments of their own debasement and ruin.” — President James Monroe, First Inaugural Address […]
In recent years, the cry for “nonpartisan” news has reached a fever pitch. Yet to careful observers of media, there is little to admire in nonpartisan journalism, especially in the face of people, groups, and politicians who argue fair and balanced news tells “both sides” impartially to advance positions that are both immoral and dehumanizing. […]
It’s a season of goodbyes and hellos at the FXBG Advance, and in these goings and comings we also get a glimpse of our future. First the goodbyes and hellos. Our intern Savannah Dunn has returned to school at Christopher Newport University and is resuming her studies. In her brief tenure with us, Savannah proved […]
Corruption’s closest ally is silence. And in Spotsylvania’s schools, silence is everywhere. The big-ticket items draw the headlines, and during my time at the Free Lance-Star and now as editor of the Advance I haven’t been immune from reporting them. Kirk Twigg’s allegedly changing a contract without proper approval and now facing felony charges. Kirk […]
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