General
ISIS – Atrocity of the Day
Yesterday in Mosul, the New York Times reports, a man and woman were handcuffed then stoned by ISIS for adultery. Later in the day ISIS took three young men from their uncle’s home and beheaded then in a public street after hearing a rumor the uncle had met with a Kurdish leader.
Read MoreLooking for a Voice
With the Irish Prime Minister sitting beside him, Obama said Republicans are against education. Infrastructure. Research. The things needed to create jobs. National defense. And the middle class. Then having thrown down the gauntlet, and concisely summed up how he felt about the Republican budget, the President rolled out the welcome mat for the…
Read MoreHoldering On
Ex-Congressman Barney Frank suggests this slogan for Democrats: “We’re not perfect, but they’re nuts.” Take the GOP’s hard-line opposition to Loretta Lynch’s nomination as Attorney General. On one of Sunday’s talk shows, a Republican said the Senate shouldn’t even vote on her nomination. Why? Because, he said, she’ll continue the policies of current AG…
Read MorePat and Phil
Pat and Phil don’t gee and haw. Awhile back, after the Coal Ash Spill, Pat went to work cleaning up the mess, then Phil passed a bill to have a Commission take over the job – which got Pat’s hackles up. Pat said the Constitution was written in black and white and no…
Read MoreThe Future is Now
Going back to the days of Terry Sanford and Jim Hunt, Young Democrats were a breeding ground for extraordinary leaders. But the current crop may become the best ever. I spent several hours in Chapel Hill Saturday morning at the annual state convention of YDs, College Dems and Teen Dems. They are just as…
Read MoreJustice for Jamie
Off and on the last month I’ve been uncharacteristically uninterested in blogging or even talking about politics. It generally happened after I sat in on the trial of the man who murdered Jamie Kirk Hahn, tried to murder Nation Hahn and in a real sense took the lives of many people in their families. …
Read MoreWaking Up
Yes, the Republicans’ Wake County power grab is raw, cynical politics. But it could help Democrats win legislative seats, the Governor’s Office, the U.S. Senate race and even a U.S. Senate majority and the Presidency next year. Wake is the biggest-voting county and the biggest swing-vote county in a big state that could decide…
Read MoreDeceiving Ourselves?
Back when Navy Seals evened the score with Osama bin Laden, the Secretary of Defense proclaimed “defeating al-Qaeda” was within our grasp. Victory was at hand. Then the wheel came off the cart. And now up in Washington the Director of National Intelligence is telling Congress the threat of ‘terrorism is worse than…
Read MoreApril Fool
A TAPster alerts us to another potential April surprise for taxpayers: Republicans in the legislature left a little bag of stink on the doorsteps of millions of self-employed North Carolinians who’ll step in it when they calculate their state taxes in the next month. The Repubs proudly boast of reducing state tax rates.…
Read MoreClaude Sitton
Claude Sitton was, indeed, forceful and fearless. But not without flaws, flaws that show what is great and what can be dangerous about journalism. Sitton’s forcefulness shaped a controversy that rages more than two decades later: Did the N&O unfairly railroad Jim Valvano? Many State fans neither forgive nor forget. One said this week,…
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