Archive for April 2018
Good ol’ Pat
A recent death moved Gene Upchurch, a retired Progress Energy executive, to write this tribute: When I read the N&O’s obituary of Pat Taylor, the former lieutenant governor who died Sunday at the age of 94, it occurred to me that I might be the only person in the state who was actually hypnotized by…
Read MoreI renewed The N&O. Digital only
No blog I’ve ever done got more reaction than “Should I renew The N&O?” in February. A lot of readers told me how to get out of paying $600 a year. Threaten to cancel, they said, and you can negotiate a lower rate. Several people, one an old N&O hand, said they did cancel –…
Read MoreImpeachable sources
You don’t have to be a Junior G-Man to be wary of James Comey. After all, he was the American League MVP in Trump’s election, thanks to his late hit on Hillary Clinton. (Vladimir Putin and Cambridge Analytica tied for Foreign League MVP.) Still, Comey is right about two things: (1) Trump is “morally unfit”…
Read MoreThe week that was
This is how fast things move in Trump Times. On Monday federal agents raided the office, home and hotel room of Trump’s lawyer. Then Trump ranted that it’s an attack on America. He might shut down the investigations and fire everybody. That raised the threat grew of a constitutional and political bloodbath. Somewhere in there…
Read MoreSilent Sam and Senator Sam
Two thoughtful readers with differing views on Confederate memorials passed along dueling viewpoints – one from the late Senator Sam Ervin and the other about Silent Sam at UNC-Chapel Hill. Reading both suggests where Confederal memorials should be and where they shouldn’t be. Senator Sam Senator Ervin spoke in August 1965 at the dedication of…
Read MoreOut-Foxed
Trump doesn’t just get his news from Fox, he’s getting his advisors from there. It’s worth reading, then, what one now-former Fox commentator says about Fox Fake News. Ralph Peters, a retired Army lieutenant colonel who commented on military affairs, quit Fox. He fired a parting salvo calling Fox “a mere propaganda machine for a…
Read MoreWhat is the Democratic message?
State Rep. Graig Meyer posed that question to Governor Roy Cooper – and posted a video of the Governor’s response. Below is a lightly edited transcript. Meyer began by asking, “What are the values that make you a Democrat?” Cooper: “Well, I got my values growing up in eastern North Carolina. I’m a person of…
Read MoreGive now – before it’s too late!
If you ever gave a politician money – or your email address – your Inbox was flooded this weekend with desperate, pleading messages. Midnight Saturday was the end of the first-quarter fundraising period, and apparently there’s nothing like a deadline to motivate donors. Here are a few of the weekend pitches: “Big Deadline Looming: My…
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