John Archibald

John Archibald

@johnarchibald.bsky.social

Journalist. Author. Podcaster. Pulitzer x 2. Granddad.

2,625 Followers 118 Following 292 Posts Joined Jun 2023
1 day ago

The cynic in me says, 'In Alabama it takes a lame duck to do the right thing.'

But perhaps today a simple thank you will do.

www.al.com/news/2026/03...

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1 week ago

Who's a good boy?

The Legislature, with about a month left to go in the session, has superbly done its job. It has rolled over to its big business masters, fetched political sticks and buried the bones. It has fed on so much red meat it will inevitably soil itself.

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1 month ago

This is really good stuff by @crowejam.bsky.social, documenting the deportation of Fonzie Andrade in graphic novel form. You won't see this just anywhere.

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1 month ago

Alabama has never cared about protecting its air or water. Or its people, for that matter.

It’s why the state has a sniveling, equivocating, kowtowing, toothless Alabama Department of Environmental Management instead of an environmental protection agency.

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1 month ago

did I just explain that on the wrong thread? Lord

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1 month ago
Post image

Click document stats and run it and this will come up. All of the fields are helpful but I pay particular attention to the Flesch-Kincaid grade level.
Keep it under 6.

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1 month ago
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Go to Review>Spelling and grammar
And this will come up:

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1 month ago
Preview
'Deported for that?': Football referee forced to leave Alabama for Mexico Fonzie had to leave behind his fiancée and 18-month-old son in rural Alabama.

Fonzie thought he was an Alabamian. He lived for football and his fiancee and a little too much fun. I followed him to Mexico when he was deported to a place he did not know or understand. This is his story. As it is with any deportation, it is not his story alone.

www.al.com/news/2026/01...

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1 month ago
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Why do Alabama schools need Commandments our politicians don’t follow? Blessed are the hypocrites, for they shall inherit the Education Policy Committee.

This place is a lot.

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1 month ago

He doesn't. Which is why I gave him his "due" respect.

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1 month ago
Preview
Archibald: Oh yeah, white people have been ‘very badly treated’ The Civil Rights Act – the Movement itself – didn’t just make life better for Black people. It made life better for poor whites too, no matter what the anger mongers might say.

With all due respect, Mr. President, you've got a lot of damn nerve.

www.al.com/news/2026/01...

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2 months ago
Preview
Which Jan. 6 rioter would you invite to a dinner party? Pelts, horns, Molotov cocktails or feet on the furniture?

You know the answer.

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2 months ago
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Archibald: Did Alabama’s pricey prison lawyers just use AI to file motions? The judge wants answers A lawyer paid $42 million by the state is among those facing the wrath of a federal judge.

As the threat of AI looms over us all, @johnarchibald.bsky.social's multi-part story for
@al.com highlights just how quickly (and quietly) the technology is creeping into the criminal legal system, almost always in ways that will make the lives of incarcerated people and their loved ones worse:

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2 months ago

Thanks so much!

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2 months ago
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Tommy Tuberville wants a war; he could learn from this GOP governor “I believe that instead of resisting change, Alabama should embrace change, hold it tight, and never let it go,” the GOP governor said.

You know Tommy Tuberville is bad. If you want see just how far we have fallen, take a look at the words of this former Alabama GOP governor. Not so long ago.

www.al.com/news/2025/12...

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3 months ago
YouTube
This Land Is Our Land YouTube video by Todd Snider - Topic

Just because

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3 months ago
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Archibald: Trump’s environmental triple whammy threatens lifeblood of Alabama Are we parasites or stewards of this place?

I find myself thinking of water often.

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3 months ago

Fascinating book. Come talk about it.

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3 months ago
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Would-be Alabama Gov. Doug Jones: ‘We are going to be OK” "I recognize that this is an uphill battle, that we’re the underdog. But there is a lane." -- Doug Jones

Can Doug Jones do it again?

www.al.com/news/2025/12...

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3 months ago

Amen to that. :)

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3 months ago

It's kind of life changing, isn't it.

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3 months ago

I love that, and I feel that.

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3 months ago
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Archibald: Loss of beloved folk singer feels like a death in the family He was a storyteller, a poet, a philosopher who gave voice to those who “didn’t want to throw a fishing line in that old mainstream.”

I'm so very sad over the death of Todd Snider. This is why.

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4 months ago

Sim left Alabama to protect his family. He has since written a book “And the Dragons Do Come: Raising a Transgender Kid in Rural America.” Give it a read.
thenewpress.org/books/and-th...

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4 months ago
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He fled Alabama to protect his family, and now he warns the world “The weight of living in Alabama, of living in fight or flight every day, was something I didn’t realize I was carrying until I got out of there."

We live in a world where it's hip to be mean.

Mean is the point, whether we’re talking SNAP benefits or immigration or prison or economics. Human rights, civil rights and common decency are 20th century concepts. Like retirement. Or conversation.

Consider the case of Sim Butler and his family.

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4 months ago
Preview
Defeating the Far-Right “Blob Man” The story of Eric Rudolph, the Atlanta Olympics bomber, offers lessons about the persistence of violent extremism, and how to combat it.

The Atlanta Olympics bomber Eric Rudolph may not be a household name these days, but he is talked about reverently by extremists on online forums, where the phrase “do a Rudolph” is used as a shorthand for terrorist attacks.

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4 months ago
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Defeating the Far-Right “Blob Man” The story of Eric Rudolph, the Atlanta Olympics bomber, offers lessons about the persistence of violent extremism, and how to combat it.

Check one off the bucket list.

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4 months ago
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Fonzie lost in immigration court. Now Alabama father will move to a country he knows nothing about “There’s nothing about this kid that’s not American,” said a former Blountsville Town Council member.

Perhaps we should go ahead and rip that plaque off the Statue of Liberty and stop pretending to be something we are not. Kiss those huddled asses goodbye and claim it is all in the name of liberty and justice for all.

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4 months ago

Thanks!

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4 months ago
Preview
Archibald: What happened when I Googled myself AI created a phony national controversy, a fake Miss Alabama and a life in hiding.

We have to take our stories back.

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