By John J. Duncan Jr. One thing I saw thousands of times during my years in office was that you could never satisfy government’s appetite for money and land. They always wanted more. Yet the least economical, least efficient way to spend any money was to turn it over to government, at any level. Thus, […]
By John J Duncan Jr. I have been blessed throughout my life to have been surrounded by strong women, and certainly one of the strongest is my wife, Lynn. No man has ever had a more loyal wife than she has been to me. This is our 44th year together. When I first met her, […]
By John J. Duncan Jr. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) should host a dinner in Washington in honor of Shane Hazel. The dinner would be in appreciation for Mr. Hazel giving the Democrats control of the U.S. Senate. Mr. Hazel, for the 99% plus of people who have no idea who he is, was the libertarian […]
By John J. Duncan Jr. Last week’s column about Richard Nixon brought back the memory of an interesting Knoxville connection Nixon had. Erma Greenwood attended Duke University Law School with him in the late 1930s. Ms. Greenwood was for many years the only woman lawyer in Knoxville. For the last several years, women have […]
By John J. Duncan Jr. Richard Nixon was probably the most hated man in American politics until Donald Trump was elected president. Yet, like Trump, Nixon was also loved by millions, and the last time he ran for election, in 1972, he won Tennessee overwhelmingly, 813,000 to 357,000. And because Nixon’s life had so many […]
By John J. Duncan Jr. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s most famous quote is one in which he said “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” Yet […]
By John J. Duncan Jr. I have just finished reading a great book called “When Cuba Conquered Kentucky,” which the cover describes as “the triumphant basketball story of a tiny high school that achieved the American Dream.” The book was recommended and loaned to me by one of our Bean Station neighbors, Anna Sue Watson, […]
By John J. Duncan Jr. One day at Litton’s Restaurant, Mike Edwards, a former UT basketball star, told me that when his grandchildren teased him about his white hair he told them it was not white, it was “Arctic Blonde.” Well, I suppose my hair is arctic blonde too. This caused Pete Rose, the famous […]
By John J. Duncan Jr. The late Chancellor Fred McDonald told me he had lost almost 40 pounds in three months simply by stopping eating in front of the television. He said he had figured out that every time he watched television, he seemed to want popcorn, ice cream, or some type of snack. I […]
By John J. Duncan Jr. Americans are the kindest, most generous people in the world. No other nation even comes close to the U.S. in doing things for other countries. But it is ridiculous for the federal government to spend $86.9 million to house illegal immigrants in name-brand hotels and motels. Can you imagine the […]
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