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Political Shots Fired

By Gary Pearce April 28, 2026

The political sniping began even as chaos still reigned at the White House Correspondents Dinner. My Facebook page blew up with posts claiming the assassination attempt was “fake,” “fishy” and “staged.” Trump and his enablers, still in tuxes and evening gowns, wasted no time blaming Democrats and “left-wing extremists.” This is what 10 years of…

Obama 48-Trump 39

By Gary Pearce April 26, 2026

A new nationwide poll shows that, if they could run against each other in 2028, Barack Obama would beat Donald Trump by a resounding 48-39%. It’d be a whuppin’. A North Carolina poll done by the same firm two months ago showed that Obama would beat Trump here by 48-41%. It’s a clear sign of…

“Conservative Successes”?

By Gary Pearce April 23, 2026

Senator Phil Berger was out of touch with voters in his district – and suffered the most stunning defeat in North Carolina politics in modern times. His column this week – “Let’s Not Miss Our Chance to Continue North Carolina’s Conservative Successes” – shows he’s out of touch with voters across North Carolina. On the…

Rise and Fall

By Gary Pearce April 21, 2026

A reassuring lesson from our trip to Germany and Czechia is that dictators, despots and tyrants rise and fall. A scary lesson is that sometimes they take their countries and their people down with them. It’s increasingly clear that Trump’s fall is coming. Will we survive it? While we were in Czechia, two-thirds of voters…

Rolling Down the Elbe

By Gary Pearce April 19, 2026

Gwyn and I just returned from a 12-day journey through 1,000 years of history in Germany and Czechia (which they prefer over “Czech Republic”) – and a look at both countries’ Nazi and Communist pasts. Our Viking cruise took us from Berlin to Prague, along the not-very-mighty Elbe River, through medieval towns, rustic countryside, spectacular…

No Kings, No Violence

By Gary Pearce April 2, 2026

My daughter Maggie and I were in New York Saturday, so we braved the cold, hiked up to Central Park and joined tens of thousands of people in a No Kings protest. Like thousands of demonstrations by millions of people across the country, it was a peaceful, even joyful, event. Trump calls his opponents “domestic…

Berger Hurt Schools

By Gary Pearce March 26, 2026

In 15 years as boss of the Senate, Phil Berger has done incalculable damage to North Carolina’s public schools and to our state’s future. The day he conceded, Wake County’s school board was wrestling with – and rejecting – budget cuts that would have eliminated 130 special-education teachers. That’s just one consequence of Berger cutting…

Dethroning the King

By Gary Pearce March 25, 2026

Senator Thom Tillis told “wealthy potential donors” on a Zoom call last month that Phil Berger “had become too power hungry” and “had to go.” That scoop comes from Eduardo Medina, a Durham-based reporter for The New York Times, who has done some of the best reporting on Berger’s abrupt and stunning fall from power.…

Mueller – Not Trump

By Gary Pearce March 24, 2026

“Good, I’m glad he’s dead.” – Donald Trump on Robert Mueller A reader – a decorated Vietnam veteran – wrote me about meeting Robert Mueller once and spending “a delightful afternoon discussing our times in Vietnam. [His much more dangerous than mine.]” He said, “Trump’s insult to Mueller will go down as yet another pathetic…

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Does the Lottery Cause Amnesia?

By Carter Wrenn November 11, 2005

When the press asked Senate Majority Leader Tony Rand about his dealings with defrocked lottery commissioner…

Smelly?

By Carter Wrenn November 11, 2005

Filed under: General, North Carolina – Democrats — Carter Wrenn @ 12:34 pm Now that Kevin…

Common Sense in Politics: The Teapot Subsidy

By Carter Wrenn November 11, 2005

This one is too good to resist. The Winston-Salem Journal reports the Foundation/Pork-Barrel Fund that gives…