Carter Wrenn
Gary Pearce
You’ve hit bottom when Donald Trump Jr. accuses you of “shady back room deals.” He tweeted about North Carolina legislators’ machinations on casinos: “What’s going on in NC? Outrageous. Shady back room deals and crony capitalism are not the path to #MAGA!” One thing the Trumps surely know is The Art of the Shady Deal.…
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Powers beyond our control, breeding crises no one saw coming, have changed politics in the blink of an eye: Pearl Harbor did that. So did 9/11. And Covid. The ‘unexpected’ makes predicting the outcome of an election a year away risky business. For all we know Putin may invade Poland next. Or Kim Jong Un…
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A video landed from a friend in my inbox – Reverend R.C. Sproul talking about ‘worshiptainment,’ – a blight sowed in churches by preachers turning services into concerts, stage shows. I wrote back, agreed, added I felt the same way about ‘politainment.’ Vivek Ramaswamy’s the new Republican politainer. We’ve also got entertainer Mark Robinson off…
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An aging President faces questions about his fitness for a second term. His poll numbers are discouraging. Americans are down on the economy. The opposing party smells blood. Joe Biden in 2023? Maybe. But also, Ronald Reagan in 1983, 40 years ago. Then, things changed. In 1984, a Reagan-Republican rout reshaped politics for decades to…
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At the debate Mike Pence told Vivek Ramaswamy he was ‘wrong’ three times. After the debate, while campaigning in Iowa, Pence called Ramaswamy wrong two more times. Mike Pence is a good man but his campaign’s headed in an odd direction: He trails Donald Trump by 40 points but hammers Vivek Ramaswamy – but even…
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A veteran who fought in the Iraqi war wrote in an op-ed: “Civic ignorance is a very old American problem…as far back as 1943, 77 percent of Americans knew essentially nothing about the Bill of Rights, and in 1952 only 19 percent could name the three branches of government.” He went on to say ‘civil…
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My lawyer and judge friends may rule me out of order, but I believe Democratic candidates for the state Supreme Court should tell voters where they stand on fundamental constitutional issues. They should say that women have a constitutional right to abortion, that gerrymandering and voter suppression are unconstitutional, and that the legislature hasn’t met…
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The instantly iconic front page of The Daily Tar Heel tells you three things about their generation: They’re fed up with gun violence and school lockdowns They’re fed up with politicians who protect guns, not people They’re so fed up they printed the text “GUYS I’M SO FUCKING SCARED” in big, bold red type. That…
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I certainly don’t begrudge the Raleigh consultants who took PPP relief during the pandemic. If they’d gone under, the economic consequences could have been devastating for certain Capital City watering holes, fine dining establishments and upscale clothing stores. Danielle Battaglia revealed the deals in The News & Observer (“How US allowed pandemic relief to go…
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Fifty-four years ago this week, on May 8, 1970, 4,500 students from nearly a dozen colleges…
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A peasant’s son Martin Luther never knew the year he was born. Believing children were wicked…
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After Rodrigo Borgia died, soft-spoken but cunning Leo de Medici became pope, after bribing cardinals ended…
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