Raleigh
Race, party and – yes, Trump and the Republican legislature – roil Raleigh politics
The Meeker-McFarlane Era of Good Feelings in Raleigh politics ended Tuesday. It had a good run for 16 years, but it’s over. Not since the days of Tom Fetzer and Paul Coble, who lost to Charles Meeker in 2001, has Raleigh politics been this hot and heavy. Why? First, race. The contest between Nancy McFarlane…
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 MoreDoggy Bag: Char-Grill
We need a break from politics. So today’s blog comes from our dog Ringo. It’s the first in a series of Doggy Bag restaurant reviews for dogs and their owners. Sometimes I go out to eat with my people. (Note to Gary: dogs, like divas and big-time CEOs, have “people.” Not “owners.”) This week, we…
Read MoreBad signs
For a brief moment, I thought my campaign against yard signs was gaining ground. One big-name candidate in Charlotte joined the cause. Her campaign manager said, “As part of our commitment to a more sustainable Charlotte, we’ve decided not to pollute Charlotte’s roads, our right-of-ways, and our green spaces with yard signs, and we’re calling…
Read MoreI (still) hate yard signs
They’re popping up in Raleigh, so here’s my perennial rant. There is no greater waste of time and money in a campaign than yard signs. No voter – ever – has said, “OMG, look at that sign! The colors! The design! The font! I must vote for this candidate!!” Campaigns are about getting information to…
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…
Read MoreClicking the N&O continued…
My post Clicking The N&O got as many likes, clicks and comments as anything lately. As I understand today’s journalism, that means do another post on it. Here we go. One TAP reader was struck by John Drescher’s explanation of Barry Saunders’ departure. John wrote: “We’ve let go of some features that had a limited…
Read MoreClean Hands
The General Assembly is redrawing State House and Senate Districts and it’s like the circus came back in town: Six years ago, last time they drew districts, Republican legislators used ‘race’ as one criteria and Democrats sued them. This time Republican legislators said they wouldn’t even look at or go near ‘race’ and the Democrats…
Read MoreTake ‘em down
Now that even the morally obtuse Trump has been forced to say white racist terrorism is wrong, we move on to a knottier issue: Should Confederate statues and memorials stay, or should they go? Here’s a case in point. If you drive down Hillsborough Street toward the State Capitol in Raleigh, you come to a…
Read MoreWhy does my newspaper tell me why my Facebook feed is full of clues about finding painted rocks?
Because this is journalism today. And The News & Observer’s owners are desperately searching for a way to survive. So the rumor is that a lot of big names are leaving the N&O. And a lot of big changes are coming. The biggest change: Reporters will be evaluated by their clicks. By how many online…
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