- Men Are Just Happy People
- Silent Night in the trenches -Celtic Thunder - 'Christmas 1915
- Either You Own Property, or You Are Property
- An Open Letter to Vladimir Putin and the Russian People - Revisited
- We Need to Talk about Forever Chemicals
- SC Upstate Political Leader’s Repeated Use of Lawfare Backfires
- Benton Blount Announces Candidacy for Chairman of Greenville County Council
- Run Toward the Battle
- South Carolina Poised to Oppose RFK Jr’s Health Policy with New Appointment
- Has the Bethlehem Star Mystery Been Unveiled?
- Celebrate with Greenville County Republican Women
- Oreshnik Hypersonic Russian Missile Strikes Ukraine
- Greenville’s Role in 2024’s U.S. Migration
- Blessed Is The Nation Whose God Is The LORD!
- Greenville County Council Ushers in a New Era of Conservative Leadership
Study Proves U.S. (Un)Educational System Is Destroying Economy
- Details
- By Jeff West
The U.S. (un)educational system has become increasingly secular in recent decades. Many Christian education experts warned of this but were largely ignored while our schools continued to deteriorate. Sadly, we are reaping what we sowed, having condemned children to our dysfunctional educational system. While Christian criticism is rejected, mainstream analysis documents this dysfunction. A January 2015 report, AMERICA’S SKILLS CHALLENGE: Millennials and the Future, by Educational Testing Service (ETS) (see: https://www.ets.org/s/research/29836/), delivers shocking proof of the inadequate education students receive at all levels. ETS is a non-profit organization that tests over 50 million students worldwide, including the GRE graduate school entrance exam in America.
This educational deterioration has been ongoing for decades. The ETS report states: “In 1983, the National Commission on Excellence in Education...declared that the state of America’s education made it ‘a nation at risk.’...’[T]he educational foundations of our society are presently being eroded by a rising tide of mediocrity that threatens our very future as a Nation and a people.’” Furthermore, adult scores have declined in literacy since 1994 and in numeracy since 2003.
Chad Connelly Joins Race to Replace Mulvaney
- Details
- By Staff Report
Additional Announced Candidates: Rep. Tommy Pope, Rep. Ralph Norman, Tom Mullikin, Sheri Few and Kris Wampler
Chad Connelly has been a controversial figure in an issue of great importance to SC Republicans.
The smooth-talking politician who scuttled the efforts by the Greenville County Republican Party Executive Committee that had financed a lawsuit to bring about closed party primaries in South Carolina has thrown his proverbial hat into the already crowded Fifth Congressional District Primary Race.
The congressional seat is being vacated by Rep. Mick Mulvaney who is awaiting Senate confirmation as director of the Office of Management and Budget of the Trump Administration.
Greenville County Planning Fee Increases
- Details
- By Bob Dill, Publisher
Greenville County Council Finance Committee voted three to two to approve two fee increases to fund improved communications and road maintenance.
The new ordinance would add a fee to each real estate parcel of $14.95 annually to lease, purchase, lease-purchase, or maintain county-wide public safety telecommunications network infrastructure.
In addition, the road maintenance fee would be amended to increase the fee to $25 per vehicle annually.
Voting in favor of the fee increase were Butch Kirven, Bob Taylor and Xanthene Norris. Voting in opposition, Sid Cates and Willis Meadows.
The ordinance will go to the full council for consideration at the next scheduled meeting which is Tuesday, February 21 at 6 p.m. at County Square.
The Biggest Mistakes of the Vietnam War (and others)
- Details
- By Mike Scruggs
Demonstrating Lack of Resolve, Misguided Negotiation Expectations, and Limited Strategic Outlook - Part 8 (Mistakes 9, 10, and 11 of 13)
From early 1965 through early 1968, there were six major confrontations between Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara and the Pacific Area Commander (CINCPAC) and the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS). These involved a number of Johnson-McNamara policies and strategies that CINCPAC Admiral U.S. Grant Sharp and the JCS believed severely hindered the defeat of Communist aggression in Southeast Asia. After the war and his retirement, Admiral Sharp even wrote a book titled Strategies for Defeat: Vietnam in Perspective, first published in 1978. It was Sharp who characterized Johnson’s Operation Rolling Thunder as “powder-puff air warfare.” A major issue with Sharp and the JCS was the Johnson-McNamara policy of highly restricted bombing of strategic targets in North Vietnam, leaving huge enemy sanctuaries around the most strategic North Vietnamese military and logistical targets critical to their invasion of South Vietnam. President Nixon eventually reversed this costly and absurd policy.
The Early Returns Are Promising
- Details
- By David Thompson
Donald John Trump (DJT) is now the 45th President of the United States (POTUS). Since many people apparently won’t accept that the campaign is over, I allude to election results by calling this column, “The Early Returns are Promising.” We can now make the clear distinction between what DJT said, and what he now does as POTUS.
As I write this, DJT is finishing his first week in office. In a flurry of actions, that included 12 Executive Orders (EO’s), he has rescinded the ACA, approved the XL Pipeline, stopped funding abortions done abroad, rescinded NAFTA and announced there will be an honest DOJ investigation of voter fraud in California.
Many people did not realize that Obama had rescinded a Reagan EO stopping the practice of taxpayer money being used to pay for abortions outside the US…Trump put Reagan’s EO back in place. The North American Free Trade Act (NAFTA), involves Mexico, Canada and the USA. Trump and private sector unions agree it caused American jobs to leave the country. Trump articulated his goal throughout the campaign; he wants to renegotiate a new NAFTA, one that puts “America first.”
Taking the Wrecking-Ball to Greenville County Square
- Details
- By Bob Dill, Publisher
Greenville County Square, the seat of county government offices, formerly University Ridge, the one-time campus of Furman University, is located on the most desirable piece of real estate in the city of Greenville. For more than a decade Mayor Knox White and favored developers have attempted to design ways to acquire the property for development. The County Administrator has long been an advocate for such a plan.
Commercial development of the property would greatly increase the tax base of the city and provide lucrative business deals for local insider business interests.
Greenville County has announced that they will accept proposals for redevelopment of the County property in the near future. The use of “proposals” for procurement purposes is a legal, but unethical method of selecting contractors to receive County contracts. Using this method, it is possible that the County Administrator and other individuals may have already decided on a contractor and a plan, and will go through the procedures to create the illusion of appropriateness for the public.
Ashley Landess Challenged Women to Get Involved in Local Government
- Details
- By Bob Dill, Publisher
Ashley Landess, President of the South Carolina Policy Council, was the featured guest speaker at the January luncheon meeting of the Greenville County Republican Women’s Club at the Poinsett Club.
Landess and her non-profit organization have become known for their exposure of fraud and corruption in state government, as well as shortcomings in the public education system.
The Policy Council accepts no government funds, is nonpartisan and is totally dependent on private donations to fund their research and daily operations.
Landess, a native of the Upstate, has earned a reputation for being one of the most knowledgeable individuals regarding the operations of state government and the abuse of power by key individuals.
Vietnam Veterans Celebrate New Year With Vietnamese-Americans
- Details
- By Bob Dill, Publisher
A group of Vietnam War veterans were the honored guests of Greenville area Vietnamese-Americans as they celebrated their traditional Lunar New Year in native dress. Hundreds of Vietnamese-American families reside in the Greenville area. Many of the older generation were members of the South-Vietnam Armed Forces who served as much as five years in Communist reeducation labor camps after the United States abandoned the war effort and Communist forces occupied the former democratic republic.
Before escaping and eventually arriving in the United States, the now proud Americans learned firsthand what it was like to live in a Communist dictatorship.
The Biggest Mistakes of the Vietnam War (and others)
- Details
- By Mike Scruggs
Failure to Mobilize the Support and Will of the People - Part 7
Prussian General and military theorist Carl von Clausewitz (1780-1831) insisted that any successful theory of warfare had to balance what he called “the trinity of war.” This concerned the motivation and morale affecting the people, the government, and the Army. The support and will of all three had to be mobilized to accomplish strategic objectives and victory. Moreover, successful military strategies should undermine the morale of the enemy’s people, government, and Army.
The French did not withdraw from Indo-China solely because of their defeat at the battle of Dien Bien Phu in 1954. They withdrew because the French people were war weary from World War II and Algeria, and the Communists had been relentless in exploiting this war weariness by undermining the morale of the French people and Parliament. It is a significant footnote in history that Marx, Engels, and Lenin had studied Clausewitz’s 1831 unfinished work: On War, and incorporated many of his principles, including “the trinity of war” in Communist political and military doctrine. Mao also studied Clausewitz.
The Biggest Mistakes of the Vietnam War
- Details
- By Mike Scruggs
Not Knowing the True Nature of the Enemy - Part 6 (An Even Bigger Problem Today)
The most famous quote of Sun Tzu, the Chinese general and philosopher (circa 544 to 496 BC) and author of The Art of War, is:
“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the results of a hundred battles.”
Sun Tzu (Master Sun), whose birth name was Sun Wu, must have considered this vitally important , because he said it at least four different times with slight variations.
He also emphasized the importance of the intelligence function in warfare. This seems to include a much broader outlook than simply the military strength, weapons, and positions of the enemy. It is of utmost importance to know what motivates the enemy and what our own motivations are. We must be honest about our own motivations and predispositions to believe what is most comfortable to us rather than the hard facts of reality. Alexander Solzhenitsyn once wrote: “We do not err because truth is difficult to see. It is visible at a glance. We err because this is more comfortable.” Military Intelligence is most useful, when as far as humanly possible; it conforms to the reality of the enemy’s strength, morale, ideology, and motivation. It is useless, when it conforms to wishful thinking, political pressures, self-deception, or humanist fantasies about human nature.
Major Mistakes in the Vietnam War
- Details
- By Mike Scruggs
Micromanaging and Ignoring Military Chiefs - Part 5
A sixth prominent mistake in the Vietnam War was that President Johnson and Secretary of Defense McNamara continually refused to listen to the experience and accumulated wisdom of military chiefs and micromanaged military operations. This was an exacerbating factor in the first five mistakes covered in this series: appeasement, allowing enemy sanctuaries, a U.S. media-driven South Vietnamese regime change, the disastrous military doctrine of “gradualism,”and failure to utilize our strategic supremacy in Air and Naval power. Not listening to military experience and advice was also an important debilitating factor in providing effective political leadership in war. Some crucial leadership mistakes will be covered in another article in this series.
Leading from Behind
- Details
- By David Thompson
Barack Obama will forever be remembered not just in America, but all over the world. When trying to nail down a single word to describe Obama’s foreign policies, the sure winner is: feckless. It is defined as being “weak; ineffective.” By golly, that is perfect.
Obama himself defined his leadership style as “leading from behind.” That is stunning because it articulates in his own words that he had no clue what it is to be a leader. He certainly didn’t provide any leadership either at home or abroad. Let’s review a few of the more memorable failures in leadership of Barack Obama as President of the United States (POTUS).
Recently Obama put the capstone on his tenure as POTUS by betraying Israel at the United Nations. There is little doubt that Obama sees the resolution he pushed through the UN Security Council denouncing Jewish settlements as a demonstration of his leadership. As his former Professor at Harvard Law Alan Dershowitz said, “Obama deceived me, he said he would have Israel’s back and instead he stuck a knife in it.” The US abstained from the vote that Obama engineered, thus allowing it to pass.
Rewriting Clemson History – Again
- Details
- By Bob Dill, Publisher
The origin and history of Clemson University is closely intertwined with the history of South Carolina and the nation, encompassing the good, the bad, and the ugly. That is the nature of true history; an accurate record of the way it was, not the way we wish it had been, Unfortunately, over the past four to five decades, staff or faculty or both of the University have attempted to “tailor” the history of the University to harmonize with politically correct positions of times and situations. Historical references to slavery or the Confederacy have been removed. Mention of black employees of the earlier days of the college have been minimized, and traditions of the school and its corps of cadets have been banned from the campus. The college marching band has been banned from playing Dixie and the cadet corps are no longer allowed to display historical images including former state flags.
NGU Bids Farewell to Two Longtime English Professors
- Details
- By Press Release
Tigerville – North Greenville University has announced the retirement of two longtime English professors – Cathy Sepko and Julia Drummond – at the end of the Fall 2016 semester.
Sepko, who has served as a professor of English at NGU since 1996, served as the keynote speaker for the fall commencement held on Friday, Dec. 9. She has held various faculty positions, including dean of the College of Humanities, faculty chair, and faculty marshal, during her time at NGU.
Sepko has also been directly involved in the creation of a number of degree programs, academic departments, and several courses, such as Advanced Grammar and Style, American Folklore, Literature Theory, Appalachian Literature, and Honors Program seminars.
Blue Ridge Farmer, Merchant, Historian Passes at 103
- Details
- By Bob Dill, Publisher
Leon Few: Walking Encyclopedia of Northern Greenville County History since Nov. 11, 1913
Greenville County Council declared his 100th Birthday Leon Few Day in Greenville County back in 2013. The framed Proclamation was presented by Councilman Joe Dill who knew Few from Dill’s childhood and attended Blue Ridge High School with his sons Benjamin and Neves Few.
A few hours with Leon Few became a living history lesson. This writer spent a memorable Saturday morning with Few and former Travelers Rest Mayor Mann Batson searching for the ruins of the home of the man who founded and operated the first textile plant in Greenville County. Few had visited the home when it was occupied. We found the chimneys and foundation in some deep woods not far from what is now Berry’s Mill on SC Highway 14 north of Greer.
The Few family has a proud history and Mr. Leon knew all about it.
Action Track Chair Given to Marietta Substitute Teacher
- Details
- By Press Release
Family and friends of local resident Chad Foster gathered for a ribbon cutting ceremony to present Chad with his Action Track Chair. The event took place in the Spinx parking lot in Marietta, South Carolina. After five months of fundraising efforts, Chad was able to purchase his chair. The Action Track Chair will enable Chad to travel over sandy beaches, hike rough terrain with his family and ride in the snow. Chad is 40 and is a substitute teacher living in Marietta, SC. He is beloved by all who know him and is very active in his community and abroad in spite of the loss of mobility due to a spinal cord injury at birth.
American Legion SC Dept. and Post 214 Awards
- Details
- By Stuart McClure
Bill Pray receives a Certificate and Medal of Merit Award from American Legion SC Dept. Commander Bob Schere.
Major U.S. Mistakes in the Vietnam War
- Details
- By Mike Scruggs
Failure to Fully Utilize Air and Naval Superiority - Part 4
The fifth big mistake in Vietnam was failure to utilize our most powerful military assets—our overwhelming superiority in Air and Naval Power—early in the conflict. Pacific Area Commander (CinCPAC), Admiral Grant Sharp, believed this was the greatest mistake in the war. This mistake was closely related to and overlapped the fourth big mistake, which was the Johnson-McNamara doctrine of gradualism discussed in part 4 of this series.
On April 20, 1965, U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara held a conference in Honolulu to inform General Wheeler, the Chairman of the JCS and his top commanders in the Pacific of the Johnson-McNamara strategy to prevent the fall of South Vietnam to the Communist regime in Hanoi. Also attending this meeting were Admiral Sharp; General Westmoreland, Commander of the Military Advisory Command in Vietnam (MACV); and retired General Maxwell Taylor, the U.S. Ambassador in Saigon. McNamara brought with him his most influential advisor, Assistant Secretary of Defense, John McNaughton, and National Security Advisor Walt Rostow. This was a mere seven weeks following the commencement of Operation “Rolling Thunder,” Johnson’s plan to bring Hanoi to the negotiating table by a gradually escalating campaign of bombing targets in North Vietnam.
The Biggest Mistakes of the Vietnam War
- Details
- By Mike Scruggs
Still Popular in the Liberal Democrat Playbook - Part 3
In Parts 1 and 2 of this series, we identified three of the biggest mistakes of the Vietnam War:
President Kennedy’s failure to challenge North Vietnam’s glaring and extensive violation of the 1962 Geneva Treaty on the neutrality of Laos, President Johnson’s compounding of this error by allowing Laos and Cambodia to become sanctuaries for North Vietnamese troops and supplies, and Kennedy’s regime change call that encouraged a South Vietnamese military junta to replace elected South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem. The junta unfortunately murdered Diem and his brother, Ngo Dinh Nhu. This threw South Vietnamese civil government and military leadership into chaos for over two years, which the Communists exploited to the fullest, forcing a huge expansion of American commitment and troops. This regime change was the greatest mistake of the war. President Carter’s failure to support the Shah of Iran, long-time U.S. ally, in the Iranian Islamic Revolution of 1979, and the Obama/Hillary Clinton backed Arab Spring involving Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, and Syria in 2011 were repeats of this media-pleasing liberal ideological error.
BJU Displays Nativity Scene
- Details
- By Press Release
The star spotlight directs all of Greenville to the Bob Jones University Creche which was unveiled on December 2, 2011. This work includes seven pieces for the Christmas season. The larger-than-life figures (some are 7 feet tall) were carved from solid blocks of polystyrene. The stable is about 14 feet high. The homes and storefronts tower about 21 feet at the highest point. Doug Young has been sculpting for almost thirty years. He’s best known for sculpting Shoeless Joe Jackson, Gethsemane and The Patriot, Della Gillette. He currently resides in Taylors, SC.
Major U.S. Mistakes in the Vietnam War
- Details
- By Mike Scruggs
Mistake #3 – the Biggest Mistake of the War - Part 2
On November 1, 1963, the Kennedy Administration encouraged and abetted a military overthrow of South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem. As a consequence, Diem and his brother and chief political advisor, Ngo Dinh Nhu, were killed the next day. This led to more than two years of unstable government and military leadership in South Vietnam, which was fully exploited by North Vietnam’s Communist leaders and led to more extensive commitments of American manpower to save South Vietnam. President Johnson, who succeeded to the presidency after Kennedy’s own assassination on November 22, later called the overthrow of Diem the biggest mistake of the Vietnam War. President Nixon, writing in 1985, agreed that it was one of the three greatest mistakes of the war.
Nathan Ellenwood Named PlanFIRST Player of the Game
- Details
- By Press Release
Nathan Ellenwood was named the PlanFIRST Player of the Game for the Bob Jones University Bruins men’s basketball team on Friday, Dec. 9.
Ellenwood is a freshman business administration major from Greenville. Ellenwood had 17 points, 10 rebounds, and 5 assists as the Bruins fell to Piedmont College 95-91.
PlanFIRST is an asset management and financial services company located in Greenville, South Carolina.
Harry Reid’s Gift to Trump
- Details
- By David Thompson
Sen. Harry Reid is retiring effective this January. So along with the celebration that Barack Obama’s term as POTUS is over, we can be thankful that the grandson of a horse thief is also gone from public life.
Harry Reid was a pauper when elected to Congress and retires as a multi-millionaire. His financial improvement was not due to his sparkling personality, even in Washington, Harry Reid had a well-deserved reputation as being prickly. But he was a formidable foe, and both his financial upgrade and his power in DC was owing to his ability to be obstinate. Harry Reid usually got his way, and that tells you at least as much about the other Senators as it does him. Suffice it to say, SC’s Lindsey Graham did not have the backbone to defy Harry Reid.
The rules of the Senate are what governs their procedures; they don’t conduct business under Mason’s Rules of Order. The Senate of the US has its own rules, and that is what most folks do not understand. We hear how the Senate blocked some measure by the filibuster, which always required 60 votes to overcome. It is rare when the Senate can get 60 members to agree on something, so that was a high bar, and Harry Reid used it to obstruct all manner of policy. Their hidebound ways were often criticized as counter-productive, few measures cleared the Senate. But there was always an ace in the hole, so draconian they called it the “nuclear option.” The fact is nobody from either party was willing to invoke a change in the rules to make it easier to approve a bill.
Christmas in Dixie
- Details
- By Bob Dill, Publisher
If you have a free Friday evening during the Month of December and would like to go alone or take the entire family to an event that is interesting, entertaining and suitable for the family, there is such an event available in Greenville, South Carolina. It is convenient and you can determine the time you want to spend there from a few minutes to three hours. There is no cost or parking fee. There is entertainment for children, live music and refreshments for all and interesting historical displays from Southern History.
The annual event is called Christmas in Dixie and is sponsored by the Museum and Library of Confederate History located at 15 Boyce Avenue in the Pettigru Historic District of Greenville.
The Museum and Library of Confederate History is owned and operated by the 16th Regiment, Sons of Confederate Veterans. Members of the organization are descendents of men who served in the armed services of the Confederacy. The Sons of Confederate Veterans organization was founded by the aging confederate veterans who charged the “Sons” with the task of “preserving the “true history of the South for future generations.”
Jeff Duncan Releases Statement on Passing of John Glenn
- Details
- By Press Release
Washington, D.C. – Congressman Jeff Duncan responded to the news of the passing of John Glenn today in a statement:
John Glenn is a giant in American history and truly is one of those rare authentic heroes we all revere. It is with a heavy heart to hear the news of his passing. He was a trailblazer for America’s space program during the Cold War as he became the first American to orbit the Earth in 1962 and, 36 years later, became the oldest man in space in 1998 at the age of 77. He also found the time to serve his country in the United States Senate, thereby capping a remarkable career of service to his nation. I was fortunate to have met the man in November 2011—he was larger than life. I pray for him and his family, but as America works to navigate the rough seas of the future, I also pray that our nation is graced with more men and women like John Glenn.
GHS Children’s Hospital Receives Subway Cares for Kids Day Contribution
- Details
- By Press Release
Local SUBWAY® owner Jill McGee, left, presented a check for $6,717.34 to Burgess Scott of the Children’s Hospital of Greenville Health System on behalf of SUBWAY® restaurants in the Upstate. The contribution represents proceeds from “SUBWAY® Cares for Kids Day” held on Nov. 17 and will help fill the Dream Gap, an array of services for patients and families. Participating SUBWAY® restaurants in the Carolinas and Georgia collectively contributed $30,134.73 from the one-day campaign to six Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals® that serve sick and injured children in their local communities.
- Christmas Stories and Songs at Confederate Museum
- Travelers Rest Hosts Annual Christmas Parade
- Major U.S. Mistakes in the Vietnam War
- Christmas in Dixie Special Friday Celebration
- Major U.S. Mistakes in the Vietnam War
- Gary Varvel Cartoons
- Growing Old Gracefully
- Trump Picks Winners To Head Defense, Justice
- I Fixed Your Carrier ...
- American Legion SC Dept. and Post 214 Awards
Page 340 of 411
Browse by the Top Tags ...
