Issues
Creating a Myth
One can’t help feeling Ned Barnett down at the News and Observer was a little relieved when he read the Duke professor’s report. ‘Only 1 in 4 of Trump’s voters were working class people,’ Ned wrote quoting the professor. ‘The claim that working class voters elected Trump is a myth.’ Unfortunately, there was a bit…
Read MoreContradictions
A frustrated Donald Trump called Jim Comey a no-good liar but, in the next breath said Comey’s testimony proved he hadn’t colluded with the Russians. The words of a liar proved he was innocent, Trump said. Next Trump’s lawyer said he was filing a legal complaint against Comey for leaking ‘privileged information.’ But Trump, himself,…
Read MoreBig Time College Sports
When an outspoken critic of UNC’s ‘athletic scandal’ decided he’d teach a course called ‘Big Time College Sports’ it was bound to rub some people the wrong way. Jay Smith, a professor of French and European History, wrote Athletic Director Bubba Cunningham about his new class and asked if he could bring his students over…
Read MoreWaiting to Know
Each looked into a camera and each said the other was a liar. Comey said Trump, sitting in the Oval Office, asked everyone to leave the room but him then, when the door closed behind the Attorney General, turned to face him and said, I hope you’ll let go of the investigation of Mike Flynn.…
Read MoreGeorgia 6: The Debate
Karen Handel stood in front of the cameras looking grumpy and, beside her, Jon Ossoff looked pleasant but far too young to be on that stage. He said, You’ve got Super PACs. You’re a politician. She said, You’ve got Super PACs too. You’re Nancy Pelosi’s pawn. He said, I’m Independent. She said, How can you…
Read MoreSvengali or Bumbler?
Was Michael Flynn Svengali? Donald Trump’s back door conduit to the Russians? To get them to help him defeat Hillary? And if Flynn was Svengali does he now know – as David Axelrod has hinted – Trump’s worst secret? Is he whispering to Trump, Protect me or I’ll tell all? Does that explain Trump’s stubborn…
Read MoreThe Grab’s Still On
It’s an incurable vice: Railroad tycoons did it in the Gilded Age and over a century later Wall Street bankers did it, reaching into the government treasury to bail out their bad loans (with other people’s money) and the ‘grabbers’ don’t always live on Wall Street. Take fringe benefits. For government employees. Right now a…
Read MoreAnother Election, Anyone?
Sometimes it takes a while but the chickens always come home to roost and, more often than not, they come home at the worst possible time. Six years ago, when Republican legislators drew the new state House and Senate districts, they had a simple theory: They believed the Voting Rights Act required them to create…
Read MoreA Novel Kind of Diplomacy
The President rapped the Germans, Angela Merkel rapped back, and the President unsheathed a new type of diplomacy – he tweeted. NATO’s the key to the West’s alliance against Russia, and Germany – after the United States – is the biggest nation in NATO and the President’s having a twitter spat with the Germans. It’s…
Read MoreA Story We May See Again
There’ve been two special elections for Congress and two more are on the way: Last fall, Trump won three of those districts easily but won one — in Georgia — by just two points. The Georgia district is Republican (31%); Democrat (27%); Independent (41%). That’s a four point Republican advantage. But a poll last week…
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