Issues
Revenge
A gunman wearing a ski mask, a pistol in his hand, kicked down the door, broke into his home. He was sixteen, home alone, with his younger brother. Pinning the brother to the floor, knee in the middle of his back, putting the gun to the brother’s ear, the gunman stared across the room at…
Read MoreTwo Presidents, Two Myths
Two myths told by two Presidents have defined American politics for 60 years. It’s time to retire both myths. Lyndon Johnson’s myth was that the federal government would give us the “Great Society” – banishing poverty, ensuring old-age security and giving every child a great education. Ronald Reagan’s myth was that “government isn’t the solution,…
Read MoreA Sign of Hope
Republican Congressmen were for releasing the Epstein files – until the White House told them, No. Don’t do that. The Republican men, seeing it as practical, quickly fell in line behind Trump. The women turned out to be a different story. Two congressmen introduced a discharge petition to release the files. Eight Epstein victims went…
Read More1A Americans
A podcaster described himself as “a proud 2A supporter” – 2A being the Second Amendment right to bear arms. America needs more “proud 1A supporters” – defending the First Amendment right to freedom of speech. Our 1A freedom is under attack from Trump and the MAGA Right. They’ve been silencing dissent and criticism from universities,…
Read MoreXi is Smiling
60 Minutes did a story about the ‘Mysterious Russian Death Syndrome’ – it works like this: A journalist, reporting from Chechnya, Anna Politkovskaya wrote stories about torture, kidnapping, murders by Putin’s soldiers. A colonel in Chechnya had locked her in prison, tortured her, led her outside, told her, “I’m going to shoot you.” In the…
Read MoreA Sign of Hope
‘What did you think of those students?’ Gary asked after we spent an hour at a forum at N. C. State University. The students weren’t anything like politicians you watch on TV these days –– no one ranted, strutted; voices calm, when they disagreed, politeness held. Gary saw that as a sign of better days…
Read MoreIgnoring the Past
The future’s a mystery. But it’s also true history repeats itself. So when we come to a fork in the road the past – by shedding light on old mistakes – can help us choose the road to take. At the end of ‘The Roaring Twenties’ my grandmother married – as a young girl she’d…
Read MoreA Reckoning
Hitler couldn’t destroy America. The Soviet Union couldn’t either. But Trump’s warning us one federal court has the power to destroy us. Of course, he was angry the court ruled against him. And he was posturing to get clicks on social media. But he left one question unanswered. Here’s what happened: Using what he calls…
Read MoreThe Times They Are a’ Changin’
The other day I read Big Tech Algorithms – by feeding us what we crave to see, hear, believe – are warping our character. There’s probably some truth in that but tale spinning goes all the way back to the Serpent tempting Eve in the Garden of Eden – it’s an old bone-deep sin. Parents…
Read MoreA Line in the Sand
After Watergate, puzzled, trying to figure out reams of new election laws, I started looking for a lawyer – but there wasn’t a single lawyer in North Carolina who practiced that kind of law. I called Stan Evans, head of the American Conservative Union in Washington, and he said one name: “John Bolton.” A week…
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