Issues
Character Hardly Matters
We’ve never seen an election like this one. There was a time, long ago, when a candidate had to pass a ‘smell test’ – a character test – to get elected. If he flunked the test even people who agreed with him, shaking their heads, wouldn’t vote for him. We’re in an era now where…
Read MoreProtestors and Tents
I had no idea there were pro-Hamas groups on UNC’s campus – so when protests erupted in Chapel Hill I wondered: Students? Or outside agitators? I read articles about the protests at Columbia, UCLA – the New York Times interviewed a dozen protestors: Every one was a student. A second article was different. As protestors…
Read MoreTrust Flies Out the Window
Planned Parenthood’s spending a ton of money – $10 million – to elect pro-abortion candidates in North Carolina. Eyes locked on white suburban women it’s running digital ads, knocking on a million doors to elect Joe Biden, the Democrat candidate for governor, and break the Republican super-majority in the state House and Senate. The first…
Read MoreA Hard Fight to Win
Grinning Trump said he would make a deal on abortion that would make both sides happy. This week he put his deal on the table, said he’d leave limits on abortion up to the states. Both sides erupted. Angry. Unless you have faith in the wisdom of Washington politicians, leaving abortion in the hands of…
Read MoreIgnore that…
Hitler rose to power; across the Atlantic Ocean in America banks shuttered, out of work fathers stood in bread lines, the Great Depression deepened. German stormtroopers marched into the Rhineland, Austria, Sudetenland, Czechoslovakia – standing in bread lines people shook their heads, Hitler doesn’t matter to us. Hitler rolled tanks into Poland, Belgium, Holland, France,…
Read MoreIran
Back when the Shah ruled Iran Ali Khamenei was arrested six times, exiled. The Shah fell, Khamenei returned home, became president of Iran. An assassin set a tape recorder with a bomb inside in front of him – the bomb exploded, mutilated his arm. After Iran’s first Ayatollah died, Khamenei became the Supreme Leader. His…
Read MoreThe New Era
Ukraine. Israel. Two wars that look different but have a lot in common. In both wars China, Russia, and Iran are on one side – while we’re on the other. China, Russia, and Iran are all dictatorships – while we’re a democracy. Three decades of peace followed the end of the Cold War – a…
Read MoreAn Old Problem
Years ago sitting in a Republican convention I stared at a stranger standing at a microphone – I had no idea who he was but we were on opposite sides and when he finished speaking I had no doubt he’d handed us a problem. Back then Bob Orr was what I called a Mountain Republican.…
Read MoreBiden’s Pause
Twenty-nine hundred Americans died on 9/11. Twelve hundred Israelis died on October 7. A week ago White House spokesman John Kirby voice purring told Meet the Press about Biden’s “intense effort” to get Israel to “pause” its war with Hamas. “We are still working it really hard, hour by hour, to see if we can…
Read MorePolitics Takes Control
After Roe vs. Wade for decades Republicans said, ‘Taking an innocent life is wrong. A fetus is alive. We can’t do that.’ After the Supreme Court overturned Roe vs. Wade, Republicans lost elections in 2022 and 2023 – eyes locked on the next election Republican political gurus started telling candidates: Voters don’t like banning abortions…
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