Issues
A Plague on Both Their Houses
The devil never sleeps; for four years the Republican powers-that-be in Raleigh worked and strained to have Pat McCrory appoint their sons, cousins, friends and contributors to patronage jobs – then Roy Cooper defeated Pat and, a moment later, temptation whispered, Protect your friends. And loved ones. If you don’t they’ll lose their jobs. Only…
Read MoreTrump truths
The Founding Fathers, in their wisdom, gave us the Electoral College. Now the Electoral College has given us President Trump. We know he lost the popular vote by almost 3 million votes, and we know most Americans believe he isn’t fit for the Oval Office. But in the six weeks since the election we’ve learned…
Read MoreThe Christmas Coup D’état
My old boss Governor Hunt should be proud. Forty years after he first took office and 16 years after he last left, he still drives Republicans nuts. Governor-elect Roy Cooper should be proud. He hasn’t even taken office and he’s driving them nuts. All Democrats should grab the Christmas gift the GOP has given us.…
Read MoreNot Enough Glory
There were a lot of folks patting themselves on the back in the newspaper the other morning: The head of the LGBT Human Rights Committee sat down with the editors of the News and Observer and told them, ‘HB2 doomed McCrory.’ However, the Reverend William Barber, head of the NAACP, didn’t see it the same…
Read MoreLearning from Clinton’s loss
Masochist that I am, I’ve read a lot of second-guessing and score-settling about why the extraordinarily well-qualified Hillary Clinton lost to one of the most loathsome and unprincipled men ever in politics (and that covers a lot of scoundrels). A fair, thoughtful and balanced analysis – one that is brutally honest, but also constructive rather…
Read MoreHelms and Trump
Rob Christensen recently noted “a number of parallels” between Donald Trump and Jesse Helms. (“Trump, like Helms, rode populist streak as outsider”). But another parallel deserves attention. Read on. Rob wrote: “Both Helms and Trump were plain-spoken populists who gained much of their support from blue-collar workers and from people living in rural areas. “Both…
Read MoreTwo Americans
Two Page One stories. Two men. Two very different Americans. John Glenn was my hero when I was 12. He still is 55 years later. Everything shut down at Martin Junior High School in Raleigh so we could watch Glenn’s flight, from launch to splashdown, including the anxiety about reentry. All of us boys wanted…
Read MoreWarning: Rumors Ahead
On Election Day Republicans lost their majority on the State Supreme Court, but this morning the newspaper reported – when the General Assembly returns to town next week – Republicans may try to ‘pack’ the State Supreme Court by adding two new Republican Justices. Since the election there’s been a story – more of a…
Read MoreTrump(no)care
Today’s paper reports that, if Republicans repeal Obamacare, some 30 million Americans will lose health insurance. Another 10 million will lose subsidies and have to pay more for insurance. Give Donald Trump credit. He may do something President Obama never could do: get Americans to understand and appreciate Obamacare. How’s that Make America Great Again…
Read MoreMissiles
Last week Congress passed legislation to make our ‘missile defenses’ stronger and immediately a hue and cry went up from ‘arms control activists:’ Strengthening our missile defenses, Union of Concerned Scientists declared, would frighten Russia and China which would lead to instability. So what do we do? Wait and hope no rogue nation like North…
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