Columns

In the popular comedy movie “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby,” NASCAR racing teammate Cal Naughton Jr. decides at one point to give himself a new nickname: “Mr. Magic Man.”
“Now you see me; now you don’t,” Cal explains to Ricky.
“That is the stupidest nickname I’ve ever heard,” Ricky replies.
“Is it, Rick? ‘Cuz I think you wish you thought of it,” Cal responds.
“All right, you got me,” Ricky concedes. “That’s an awesome nickname.”

My family has always made it a weekend tradition to travel to Bojangles’ to eat breakfast and see other family and friendly acquaintances.
Now, I love my sweet little Annabelle more than anything. My wife and I lost our firstborn, Michaela, about six years ago.
My wife carried the child mostly full term within one week, then had to endure a stillborn birth. I find no fault in the wife I love, but having to endure that tragedy changed the both of us.
A little while later, our sweet daughter, Annabelle, was born. She is so precious to both of us.

The first question anyone would ask is “what in the heck is “Moral Monday” and why would it want to come to South Carolina?”
When I first heard about Moral Monday, I had no idea what it was and thought it must have something to do with a bunch of Bible-thumping TV evangelists who didn’t get enough of the thumping on Sunday and kept it all going till Monday.

The nation learned in May that the Justice Department secretly obtained the phone records of more than 100 Associated Press reporters and monitored Fox News reporter James Rosen’s personal email and cell phone records, branding him a “possible co-conspirator” in a classified leak case for asking questions of a government source.
These revelations sent shockwaves throughout newsrooms nationwide. Reporters can no longer assure their sources that interviews will remain confidential because there is no way to tell whether the government is listening.