General
It Wouldn’t Be the First Time…
Last fall on Sunday before election day political ads ran back-to-back on TV – one snarled, Cheri Beasley’s for rapists, another snapped, Ted Budd hates democracy, ads rolled on and on but with one odd twist: Full of razzmatazz, dark voices, snarls, growls, they all looked, sounded, alike. Like they’d been made by the same…
Read MoreRepublicans Will Overreach … Again
Two issues that pundits pooh-poohed – abortion and the threat to democracy – helped President Biden post the best mid-term in 2022 since FDR in 1934. Both issues rose from Republican overreach: the Supreme Court ruling on abortion and the Trump-MAGA attack on legal elections and the Capitol. Have no doubt. Kevin McCarthy’s House Republicans…
Read MoreHe’d Kill Us, Too
The newspaper story had dozens of photographs – working men holding shovels, digging up mass graves: One photo showed broken white bone fragments lying in black dirt, another a severed hand, another a mound of skulls with single bullet holes in the back, shot execution style by Putin’s soldiers. Workers dug up bodies of 245…
Read MoreThe Price You Pay
Two years ago, not long after Biden whipped Trump, sitting in a restaurant, voice incredulous, staring at me across the table, blinking, a Republican laughed: “What – are you blind? You can’t see Biden stole the election?” Heads nodded. I remembered election night (in 1980) when John East trailed, led, trailed again, at five o’clock…
Read MoreWho Won? Kevin? Matt?
Over and over CNN called it a fight between normal Conservatives and Ultra-Far-Right-Conservatives. But the fight wasn’t about ideology – or issues – it was about power. For years Washington Politicians – not starting with but including Speaker Nancy Pelosi – tilted House rules, grasping for power. Rules gave them the power to decide who…
Read MoreI’m Back
Start the presses. I’m blogging again. I took a break in August 2021 to work on a book about my life and my experiences in politics and newspapers. I’ve written 200+ pages, and there’s more to come. One day I’ll get around to publishing it. Some parts will have to wait until I’m gone. For…
Read More“We’re Back”
There was ice in the room the day I met Gary – sitting in a law office staring across the table I saw a devil; staring back Gary saw a devil. We worked out the four Helms-Hunt debates back in 1984. Left. Sitting in another office years later Gary told doctors in a fight with…
Read MoreGary Hahn’s Bad Call on “Illegal Aliens”
NC State sports announcer Gary Hahn got suspended when he called migrants in El Paso “illegal aliens.” Some of my fellow Wolfpack fans jumped to his defense: “What’s wrong with that?” And, “They are illegal aliens.” Here’s what’s wrong. “Illegal aliens” is a dehumanizing term. No human being is “illegal.” They may do something illegal…
Read MoreZelensky and Trump
One is a man of profound moral courage. The other is an arrested adolescent of profound moral cowardice. One is a patriot. The other, a traitor. One proudly unfurled his country’s flag. The other dishonors his country’s flag. One stands for democracy, freedom and the rule of law. The other, for one-man authoritarianism. One stood…
Read MoreNational Relief, But NC Disappointment
The election left me feeling better about our country than I have for six years. But worse about North Carolina. 2022 showed that Americans are tired of the Trump Show, which has been running nonstop at full volume for seven and a half years since he rode down the golden escalator on June 16, 2015.…
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