General
A Fading Memory
When a jobs report showed the economy lagging, he fired the woman who wrote the report. Rolled on. Calling a press conference in the White House he ordered the National Guard to patrol the streets in Washington, DC to stop crime. The Epstein files sailed away over the horizon. A fading memory. Tariffs erupted again,…
Read MoreCopydesk Days
My wife was chatting with a man as we waited for a table at a beachside restaurant. Suddenly she grabbed me, “You need to talk to him. He was a copy editor at The New York Times.” My first full-time job at The News & Observer was as a copy editor, so Andy and I…
Read MoreBlind
In the days before anyone ever turned on a light bulb, sitting in a candle-lit room, practical but with a skeptical streak, puzzled, Thomas stared across the dinner table at the man talking, asked, We don’t know where you’re going. How can we know the road to take to follow you? The answer he got?…
Read MoreOddities
In the old days a political party had to win an election to keep its majority in Congress. So it rolled up its sleeves and went to work to convince people it was right. Times have changed. These days politicians roll up their sleeves and go to work on redistricting. Take a look at what’s…
Read MoreA Blessing
The circus is back in town. Next year’s Senate campaign’s off and rolling. And it’s like watching the rerun of an old tv show. Full of shadows, dark music, Republican’s first ad whacked Roy Cooper, called him a ‘wreck’, told people when he mismanaged a hurricane 100 people died; on social media Republicans described Cooper…
Read MoreHarmony
I always thought of Trump and MAGA as one living breathing creature, like a chorus of voices singing one harmony, one song. But when Pam Bondi dropped a match on the Epstein fire something surprising happened: Harmony faded. Voices in the choir – like Tucker Carlson and Marjorie Taylor Greene – were singing a different…
Read MoreStrange Times
I was sitting in my sixth-grade classroom, surrounded by boys and girls I grew up with, when the principal walked through the door and, voice somber, told us President Kennedy had just been shot. One boy – whose parents disliked Kennedy – clapped, cheering. It was goofy. Everyone in the room stared at him shocked.…
Read MoreSitting in a Hard Place
Things are heating up here in North Carolina. Lara Trump’s out, not running for Senate. Michael Whatley’s in, with President Trump backing him. And it looks like Roy Cooper’s going to announce next week. With no real primary in either party the general election is probably going to heat up pretty quickly. Last week, in…
Read MoreWe’re Number 29!
Business and political leaders cheered when CNBC named North Carolina “America’s Top State for Business in 2025.” But look deeper, and there’s less to cheer. The network looked at 10 factors in ranking states. One was “Quality of Life.” Where does North Carolina rank among the states on that? We’re 29th. CNBC says “Quality of…
Read MoreWho’s Running Things?
The same day Hitler rolled tanks into Poland, starting World War II, Franklin Roosevelt chose a rare man – George Marshall – to lead the army. Fast forward, take a look at who’s leading our army today: Fox News host Pete Hegseth. Trump also made Fox News guest host Tulsi Gabbard leader of National Intelligence,…
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