Carter Wrenn
Gary Pearce
The legislature’s expansion of private-school vouchers fulfills a nearly 70-year-old dream of North Carolina’s far-right. Ever since the U.S. Supreme Court declared segregated schools unconstitutional in 1954, ultra-conservatives here have wanted to replace integrated public schools with all-white private schools. Leading the charge back then were avowed segregationists I. Beverly Lake (pictured) and Tom Ellis.…
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Opening a book I started reading: Brilliant, handsome, orphan, poor, Alexander Hamilton left St. Croix, landed in New York at fifteen, married a wealthy man’s daughter, joined the army in 1775, pursued glory, didn’t find it until he led a night charge in the last battle at Yorktown. George Washington made him Secretary of the…
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Near the end of a Zoom meeting this week with Anderson Clayton and other new leaders of the state Democratic Party (and about 100 other people), I messaged the group: “AC, y’all are the best thing to happen to the party in a long time.” Clayton, the new party chair, and vice chairs Jonah Garson…
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Nearly 4,000 children and teens are killed by guns every year in America. 15,000 more are shot and injured, according to Everytown Research & Policy. Guns are the leading cause of death for children and teens. In 2021–2022, there were 193 incidents of gunfire at preschools and K–12 schools. Over the last two decades, more…
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Politics is funny: Trump picked candidates, Trumpsters lost last election, Trump dropped in polls, DeSantis surged up, led Trump. Trump branded DeSantis ‘Ron DeSanctimonious,’ a ‘RINO,’ said ‘Romney lost. Ron reminds me of Mitt’ – DeSantis sat silent. Watching two boxers in a ring, one punching, one not, voters studied DeSantis surprised – he didn’t…
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Vicious partisanship. A vitriolic press. Fistfights, skirmishes and violent clashes. Foreign interference in domestic politics. A crackdown on immigrants. States defying federal law. A bitterly contested election. An unpopular one-term President ousted. That was the United States from 1792-1800. Our nation was small and weak then, a precarious vessel tossed about on stormy seas, steered…
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The Tricia Cotham soap opera doesn’t interest me. Were Democrats mean to her? I don’t care. Did PAC donations play a part? I don’t care. Will a once-pro-abortion progressive find peace, love and joy in the Republican caucus? I don’t care. Things I do care about: the public-school crisis, the behavioral-health crisis, the gun crisis,…
Read MoreIt’s odd. Trump’s facing a lawsuit and two investigations that could end in lawsuits but when he was indicted for paying a porn star hush money and covering it up the Republicans running against him like DeSantis and Pence didn’t murmur a critical word about Trump – they defended him. I guess that was politically…
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Years ago when Ronald Reagan ran for president against Gerald Ford most GOP party officials were unhappy – they didn’t like Reagan. That didn’t turn out to make much difference in the primary. Republican voters liked Reagan – so he beat Ford in NC’s primary. The other day I read an article in the newspaper…
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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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It was a time, Tom Hanks wrote describing the end of the Middle Ages, when dukes…
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Planned Parenthood’s spending a ton of money – $10 million – to elect pro-abortion candidates in…
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