Raleigh Mayor Nancy McFarlane, and her family, clearly need and deserve a break from the petty, polarized politics of the City Council. The question now is whether Raleigh will get the new mayor it needs and deserves. McFarlane has been a great mayor for a great city. Her 12 years on the Council, including eight…
Read MoreIt’s one of the great all-time political ironies. Years of Republican legislators’ efforts to pick and pack North Carolina’s judiciary have led to a (wait for it) 6-1 Democratic majority and one of the most progressive Supreme Courts in our history. No wonder Senate Boss Phil Berger was in such a lather about the courts…
Read MoreSome OBXers don’t like naming the new Oregon Inlet bridge for Marc Basnight. As a part-time resident and lifelong lover of OBX, I say they’re wrong, DOT is right and no one is more deserving of the naming honor than the long-time Senate leader, OBX advocate and education champion. One objection you hear: Basnight was…
Read MoreI’ve had the good fortune in life to meet some extraordinary people. I never met anyone quite like Andrew Payne. Andrew, who was only 40, died last week. Friends said the cause was an aortic aneurysm. A heart issue would be fitting, because he had one of the biggest hearts you can imagine. WRAL said…
Read MoreMaybe The News & Observer can cut its way to survival, but the hemorrhage of great journalistic talent is disheartening to readers and probably demoralizing to the newsroom. The latest losses include familiar reporters and a photographer and lesser-known editors who have kept the place together and the quality high against all odds: Jane Stancill,…
Read MoreIf the State of the State was the Oscars, Governor Cooper won Best Performance, Democratic women legislators won Best Costume and Phil Berger was hands-down Best Villain. Once derided as dry and wooden, Cooper has transformed himself into an animated, engaging speaker. He’s got a bit of Andy Griffith in him. Berger was more like…
Read MoreOver and over, Trump demonstrates why Democrats must – and should – win in 2020. And Democrats demonstrate how they can blow it, by blowing up each other over identity and ideology. The identity question is stark: Must the nominee be female or nonwhite? Are white men – Biden, Beto, Delaney, Brown, et al –…
Read MoreDebt’s piling up. Congress just voted for an ‘Omnibus’ Bill spending more. Cries –Trump’s a racist, Steve King’s a white supremacist, Representative Ilhan Omar’s anti-Semitic – echo through Congress but at the mention of spending cuts the room falls silent. Welcome to the Swamp.
Read MoreThe first story I read said Democrats in Congress struck ‘so help me God’ from a key House Committee oath. The second story told how a legislator ended a prayer in the State House by saying, ‘In the name of Jesus Christ’ – and asked, Will more diverse members change who they pray to? A…
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America inters a decent, honest President and inaugurates a dishonest, indecent President. Jimmy Carter called on…
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