By: Alistair Begg, Magnolia Tribune Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things, and said to him, “Are we also blind?” – John 9:40 The great, and tragic, irony of the episode John recounts in chapter 9 of his Gospel is that while a blind man receives his sight, many of those who began with two working eyes reveal themselves to be utterly spiritually blind. John included this event because it is one of the signs that has been “written so that you may believe that Jesus i

By Bob Garver “The Housemaid” has unofficially sold itself based on how crazy it gets in its second half. This is slightly less annoying than when movies sell themselves based on their twist endings – at least here, the twist gets a chance to breathe, and maybe there will be other twists after the initial shock – but it still creates the problem of forcing the audience to wait for something crazy to happen. As “The Housemaid” went along in a direction that made sense, the mov

Send responses to: andybowman839@gmail.com Maybe it truly has been horrible all this time, maybe God did pick you out of all humanity to suffer badly your entire life. Maybe, just maybe, you were selected to show the world how a life of pure misery looks. No way out, impossible to change your destiny. You are designated to be the poster child for ‘ Life Without Hope or Happiness .’ But maybe, there is hope for you. Perhaps what you really need is a change of attitude, or a ch

By: Alistair Begg, Magnolia Tribune I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols … But to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching … to you I say, I do not lay on you any other burden. Only hold fast what you have until I come. The one who conquers and keeps my works until the end, to him I will give auth

By: Kara Kimbrough My carry-on suitcase was filled with delicacies from Barber Orchards and Bakery in Waynesville, NC. Back home, I created the perfect brunch that included, clockwise from bottom left: apple cider doughnuts, apple tarts, Barber’s strawberry preserves (and my homemade biscuits), apples I picked myself from a Waynesville apple orchard and hot apple cider.  (Photo courtesy of Kara Kimbrough) I can’t enter 2026 without sharing the best food and travel finds that

By Ron Powers In 1979, Bob Seger unleashed one of the most enduring feel-good anthems in rock history with “Old Time Rock & Roll,” a track that would become a cultural fixture far beyond its initial release. Written by George Jackson and Thomas Jones and reshaped by Seger’s unmistakable vocal grit, the song found its way onto the album Stranger in Town  and quickly became a fan favorite. Though Seger initially saw it as a simple, straight-ahead rocker, audiences connected ins

By Ron Powers

By Bob Garver Poster credit IMDB Back in 2019, brothers Benny and Josh Safdie delivered one of the best films of the year, and possibly the decade, with “Uncut Gems.” The film was, as I wrote in a review earlier this year, “a 135-minute anxiety attack.” And I mean that in the best possible way – I have enormous amounts of respect for movies and filmmakers that know just how to push my buttons. Now in 2025, the Safdie brothers have graduated to solo projects. Benny didn’t fare

Send responses to: andybowman839@gmail.com If you are anything like me and a lot of other people in this country, you are sick. Sick and tired of so much around you. Things like, not being able to walk safely to your car in a public parking lot, traffic tie-ups that can keep you trapped on the interstate for hours, and constant scams being foisted on you to separate you from your money. Cons from ‘companies’ (and I use that term very loosely) that are worried about your car m

By Bob Garver    Poster credit IMDB All the way back in 2009, director James Cameron introduced the world to the planet Pandora and the Na’vi race in “Avatar.” The film soon set the record for all-time highest grossing movie at both the domestic and international box offices (it still holds the record for the latter). Sequel “Avatar: The Way of Water” came out in 2022 and made its way onto the top 10 on both lists. Can three years’ worth of inflation help third installment “F

The 100 Men Hall is hosting  Thacker Mountain Radio Hour,  which   kicks off this year’s HOMEGROWN event with a live show at historic 100 Men Hall on Thursday, January 29, 2026 beginning at 6PM. The event features Thacker Mountain host Jim Dees, the Yalobushwackers Band, blues musician Corky Siegel, and author Ralph Eubanks. The event is free to the public courtesy of the Hancock County Library, please RSVP. There will be a cash/credit bar.    Thacker Mountain Radio   - Based

Dr. James Watson, State Veterinarian, issues a certificate of veterinary inspection to Santa Claus, permitting his reindeer to enter and exit the state of Mississippi on Christmas Eve, December 24. The Mississippi Board of Animal Health (MBAH) has approved a certificate of veterinary inspection for Santa Claus of the North Pole, authorizing his famous reindeer to enter Mississippi on Christmas Eve, December 24, 2025, for a holiday delivery run. "I am happy to announce that Sa

By: Kelley Williams, Chair Bigger Pie Forum Cliff Notes began as short plot summaries of classic novels and stories. Now they are cribs about complex topics and spin. Corps Speak is the US Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) clever spin that evades responsibility for higher and longer Mississippi River floods (a complex topic). This story began when Congress put the Corps in charge of flood control (1928 Flood Control Act) to prevent another 1927 flood disaster. The Corps develop

Recently, the Mississippi Department of Education (MDE) presented results of the 2025-26 Educator Shortage Survey and the 2024-25 Teacher Recruitment and Retention Survey to the State Board of Education. Educator Shortage Survey The Educator Shortage Survey was conducted from Aug. 13 to Nov. 1, 2025, with 100% of Mississippi's traditional public school districts completing the survey. Results show there were 6,907 vacancies among teachers, administrators and school support st

By Bob Garver   Poster credit IMDB   Since this weekend’s highest-grossing as-yet-unreviewed theatrical film, 205-minute Indian actioner “Dhurandhar,” is playing on only 377 screens in the entire country, I thought I’d take this opportunity to review something a little more accessible. “Wake Up Dead Man” is the third installment of Rian Johnson’s “Knives Out” mystery franchise. Like its predecessor “Glass Onion,” “Wake Up Dead Man” is treating fans to a brief theatrical run t

Send responses to: andybowman839@gmail.com People are just people, everywhere you go. Everyone has their favorite hobbies and if given the chance, they would spend hours doing just that. And most of us also have heavy responsibilities that we avoid like the plague for as long as possible. As long as possible without wrecking our finances, or letting the house fall down around our ears. But only doing the great stuff? A truly adult life doesn’t work like that. Not unless you w

By: Kelley Williams, Chair Bigger Pie Forum   Hans Einstein   Not Albert, his son Hans. As far as we know, Albert was right about his General Theory of Relativity and other natural laws. Hans was not as famous as his father. But he was the world expert on river sediments. He advised the Corps of Engineers (Corps) on the design of the Old River Control Complex (ORCC) in the 1950s. He thought the Corps would take his advice. He was wrong. The Corps built the ORCC to keep the Mi

By Misty Strieff Prine “May I never forget on my best day that I still need God as desperately as I did on my worst day.” – May ALL of us have this mindset!!                  This is something that I pray not one single one of us ever loses sight of. We need God JUST as much on our good days as we do on our bad ones. Why? Because we are nor will we EVER be exempt from our need for grace. No matter what good place or bad place we are in our lives, we need God every second of e

By Bob Garver   Poster credit IMDB               From its ridiculous opening scene, there is little denying that “Five Nights at Freddy’s 2” is one of the stupidest movies of 2025. Its only real competition comes from Disney’s live-action “Snow White” remake thinking that its Dwarfs were fit for human eyesight. And it’s not even the fun kind of stupid horror movie. It was never really on the table for this to be a “good” horror movie like “Sinners,” but it could have at least

Send responses to:  andybowman839@gmail.com    Simply kick and scream and pout until God makes everything good for you again. Maybe that way of dealing with your problems seems like a good idea to you. After all, you have been told repeatedly all your life that He is a good and loving God, who always wants the best for you. So, it must stand to reason that if you let Him know in clear unmistakable terms that you are unhappy, He will have to fix what’s wrong. Right? You can’t