Joey Kennedy

Joey Kennedy, a Pulitzer Prize winner, writes a column each week for the Alabama Political Reporter. You can email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter.

Health

For the love of money, people will die

Just as Donald Trump is leaving it to individual states to set policies on the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey is refusing to issue a shelter-in-place order to try to curb the virus’ reach. So local mayors and governors in other states are proactively making decisions to protect citizens and to try … Continued

March 26, 2020

The tumbleweed effect

It’s a Wednesday in March, and I’m standing on a sidewalk between the Alys Stephens Performing Arts Center and Spencer Honors House at UAB. Nobody is in sight. Not one person. I almost expect a tumbleweed to bounce past my feet and head across the empty green toward the decrepit Humanities Building. Yes, it’s Spring … Continued

March 20, 2020

Let’s hope this isn’t the new normal

This is Friday the 13th, and bad luck is certainly on tap for Alabama, the United States, and the rest of the world. The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) is wreaking havoc. This may be overreaction, but a March without any madness? A stock market that loses big chunks of itself almost daily? No spring training for … Continued

March 13, 2020

No! To Ivey and the gang

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey lost in a landslide on Super Tuesday. So did Alabama Senate President Pro Tem Del Marsh. And most members of the Alabama House and Senate. You say they weren’t on Tuesday’s ballot? Well, yes, they were. They were the big sponsors of Amendment One, the proposed constitutional amendment that would have … Continued

March 5, 2020

GOP campaign ads are a hoot

The campaign advertisements for the top three candidates in the Republican Party primary for the U.S. Senate are a hoot. Former football coach Tommy Tuberville, U.S. Rep. Bradley Byrne, and former U.S. senator and disgraced former Attorney General Jeff Sessions are scrambling hard to get the nomination to run against Democratic Sen. Doug Jones in … Continued

February 28, 2020

Alabama close to allowing hot dogs to be rescued

Most readers know that we’ve had a grumble of pugs for years. We lost four in the grumble last year. All of our dogs are rescues, and most of them have some disability: unable to walk well, blindness, incontinence, a perpetually crooked head. And most of the pugs are elderly, so we expect to lose … Continued

February 20, 2020

Facts are stubborn things

I’m in my 20th year of teaching in the English Department at UAB. I’ve never taught my primary discipline, journalism, and I really don’t have much of a desire to, either. Yet, in 2017, the leadership of UAB’s University Honors Program asked me to be a part of their interdisciplinary faculty for the fall. UHP’s … Continued

February 13, 2020

Doug Jones: On the right side of history

As expected, most Republicans in the U.S. Senate found Donald Trump not guilty of two articles of impeachment. On the first charge, abuse of power, the vote was 52-48 not guilty. Utah Sen. Mitt Romney broke with his party on that one. The second charge, obstruction of Congress, Romney went back home so it was … Continued

February 6, 2020

More help on the way for Doug Jones

O.K. So, many of the voters I talk with believe that U.S. Sen. Doug Jones, D-Alabama, stands little chance of being re-elected this year to his seat. Former Sen. Jeff Sessions or U.S. Rep. Bradley Byrne or the former Auburn football coach or the twice-ousted chief justice who at one time stalked teenaged girls or … Continued

January 31, 2020

An optimist, or just naïve?

Give U.S. Sen. Doug Jones credit. He isn’t pandering for Alabama votes, and that’s just another reason to respect this public servant. I was stunned, but then not stunned, to see that Jones, a Democrat from Birmingham, is only polling at 41 percent approval. Alabama is, after all, solidly for Donald Trump, a now-impeached president. … Continued

January 23, 2020