Issues
Gays, Skinheads and a Photographer
There’s a photographer in Minnesota who happens to believe gay marriage runs counter to his religion so when a gay couple asked him to take pictures at their wedding he declined. And landed in court. At his trial he argued he had a right – a religious freedom – to say no but the federal…
Read MoreLooking for Something to Believe In?
It didn’t make good sense but, at least, if you tried to look at it through the eyes of a Black Lives Matter protestor, it had a kind of logic behind it when protestors started tearing down Confederate statues. But then, next, protestors went after statues of Columbus and Francis Scott Key – which wasn’t…
Read MorePictures
I opened the newspaper, saw the headline, and thought, Oh, Lord – in black and white right in front of me the New York Times headline roared: Trump threatens to ‘totally destroy’ North Korea. Then, a moment later, further down into the article I read exactly what Donald Trump had said to the United Nations:…
Read MoreWho’s to Blame?
The headline read ‘Independents Pass Republicans’ meaning there are now, for the first time, more Independents than Republicans in North Carolina – which sounded dismal. But there’s a missing piece. When Ronald Reagan was elected President in 1980 voter registration in North Carolina was Democratic 71%, Republican 25%, Independent 4%. In the last 37 years…
Read MoreThe Cure For Bluster?
Trump called Kim Jong Un ‘Rocket Man on a suicide mission.’ Kim called Trump ‘a dotard’ and ‘mentally deranged.’ Trump called Kim ‘a madman’ and Kim called Trump ‘a frightened dog.’ The Chinese stepped in and said everybody ought to take a deep breath and calm down and, of all people, the Russians said the…
Read MoreA Chess Game
When a politician takes a poll most folks figure he means to figure out how he can bamboozle people and there’s truth in that but a poll’s also a picture of the powers – like fear, revenge, blindness and rage – shaking the political world and even through a poll won’t show you angels and…
Read MoreTrump Versus the Base?
Down in Alabama there’s an election – a Republican runoff – today and the Washington Republicans led by Mitch McConnell have moved heaven and earth to elect Luther Strange (who was appointed to Jeff Session’s Senate seat) while the Anti-Establishment-Trump-Populist Republicans (from Steve Bannon to Sean Hannity) want to elect Judge Roy Moore but there’s…
Read MoreReading Signs
If you’re a Republican with an eye on the next election you’re searching for signs and reading tea leaves, wondering, What are the chances we’ll lose? The signs that measure President Trump’s strength – his Favorable rating and his Job Approval – are all troubling: Swing voters dislike the President by two to one. Compounding…
Read MoreNoble Tale or Fiction?
The News and Observer has published a dozen stories and editorials and letters by people extolling the virtues of the UNC Center for Civil Rights – all saying roughly the same thing: The professors leading the Center are warriors battling for the poor and the oppressed and the least among us. It’s a noble picture.…
Read MoreOne Question
Listening to him as he stood on the floor of the State Senate speaking, I wondered whether he believed what he was saying or whether he’d simply decided to spin a tale. He sounded like a history professor giving a lecture, talking about the new Senate maps, explaining meticulously why those maps were not a…
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