Posts by Carter Wrenn
Forgotten Stories from our Past: Franklin Roosevelt’s Prayer
After twenty-four hours in labor his mother was given an overdose of chloroform – Franklin Roosevelt was born blue, limp, lifeless. A doctor gave him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Prey to illness as a child, he suffered diseases throughout his life. He married a shy awkward girl, his cousin Eleanor, who saw sex “an ordeal devoid of…
Read MoreTrading Bad for Worse
A born showman running for Lt. Governor Mark Robinson boasted, ‘I am North Carolina…’ After he got elected, rolling on, he slammed foes, got cheers, but also stepped on land mines. Robinson started running for governor, changing directions posted bromides on Facebook: ‘I love the police…I love our veterans…My mother’s my hero…’. The showman vanished.…
Read MoreMy Memoir
Back during coronavirus shutdowns my office telephone rang – a friend asked: ‘You’re not locked down?’ ‘I’m here alone.’ ‘I just read Jesse Helms’ pollster was Arthur Finkelstein.’ I told him about Arthur’s first poll for Jesse, about the first time I heard Jesse make a speech. He asked, ‘Why did Reagan lose to Gerald…
Read MoreAbandoning Faith
A Gothic church built in the 19th century turned into a skateboard park in the 21st century. Every year thousands of churches shut down, end up being apartments, parks, demolished. At the end of the 20th century 62% of Americans said religion was very important to them – twenty three years later, in the 21st…
Read MoreA New Era
Waking up in the morning, opening the newspaper, a headline leaped out: America has 1,550 nuclear weapons. So does Russia. China has less but it’s catching up – and China just got 25 tons of enriched uranium from Russia. Which the Pentagon says means China and Russia could end up with combined nuclear arsenals that…
Read MoreThe World They Lived In
She was nineteen. He was twenty-nine. Dark-haired she was pretty not beautiful. He was short, frumpy, had a farmer’s calloused hands. They both had simple names: Abigail Smith, John Adams. Married in 1764 they started down the road to happiness and by Christmas she was pregnant – before their child was born the first blow…
Read MoreAbortion
When the Supreme Court made abortion legal – five decades ago – liberals thought, It’s a woman’s body – she has a right to decide whether to have an abortion. Conservatives, grimacing, saw abortion as taking an innocent life. To them, it was a choice between right and wrong. And protecting an innocent life was…
Read MoreE. Jean Carroll
E. Jean Carroll sued Trump. Trump said she wasn’t his type, claimed he didn’t know her…the jury met, every juror believed Carroll not Trump. Trump lost, tweeted, It’s a witch hunt. Republicans cheered. Just like they cheered when Trump said, The election was stolen. It used to be honesty mattered more than politics. Republican voters…
Read MoreTrump’s Iron Grip
Liz Cheney stood up to Trump. Trump beat her in her primary. So she’s out of office – in exile. But can she throw Trump one last curveball? A block of the Republican voters shake their heads when they hear Trump rant, don’t want him back in the White House. But they won’t vote for…
Read MoreA Mess
In a hearing House Republicans pummeled Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas – Democrat Eric Swalwell ripped into Marjorie Taylor Greene – Greene shot back Swalwell ‘had sex with a Chinese spy,’ told Mayorkas, ‘You’re a liar.’ Democrat Bennie Thompson said Greene crossed the line, moved to strike her words from the record. Earlier in the…
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