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Columnists

BOB BROWN: When the Underdog Bites Has Rabies, and a Mean Owner

We have a strong human urge to identify with the “underdog.” There is nothing new about this tendency. The biblical story of David and Goliath, reported 3000 years ago,...

ROBERT L. MARONIC: Is Phase Two Of Trump‘s Peace Plan In The Gaza Strip Doomed To Fail? – Part II

Unfortunately, Trump’s present ceasefire as of October 9 is analogous to the armistice signed between...

ROBERT L. MARONIC: Is Phase Two Of Trump‘s Peace Plan In The Gaza Strip Doomed To Fail? – Part I

Phase one of Trump‘s twenty-point peace plan in the Gaza Strip, which began on October...

FRED FIRST: Approaching the Longest Night

Yes, you’re right—if you’ve even noticed—that this space has been neglected for some weeks now,...

A Life Well-Lived: Shirley Padgett Lester (1947-2025)

Shirley Padgett Lester of Vinton went to her heavenly reward October 4. Below is the...

DEVOTIONAL: Saint Valentines Day

Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.               --John 15:13 When we...

MIKE KEELER: Happy Lupercus . . . er, Valentines Day!

Remember the good old days, when we’d get drunk, slaughter wild animals, butcher them into strips, dip the thongs in blood and run through...

MELINDA MYERS: Raised Bed Gardening Provides Easy Access and Increased Productivity

Raise your garden to new heights for easier access and greater productivity. Raised beds allow you to overcome poor soil by creating the ideal...

SCOT BELLAVIA: On Death.

Death halts time. It makes everything else meaningless. Our daily tasks make zero sense to those who have gone on. Once, I was running along...

SCOTT DREYER: When “GoFundMe” Becomes “WeRobYou”

Canada has long been a bastion of freedom, supporting democracy overseas and welcoming immigrants seeking a better life. Of the five Allied beaches on...

SCOTT DREYER: Think You Had A Bad Day? Mark Zuckerberg Lost $31 Billion

Times are hard. When President Trump was in office, gas in Southwest Virginia hovered around $2 per gallon. Now it's around $3. My wife told me...