Carter Wrenn
Gary Pearce
Watching Trump’s rambling, raging Mar-a-Lago speech Tuesday night, I was reminded at first of another Republican President whose hair had an unnatural tint. But Trump is no Ronald Reagan. I didn’t care much for Reagan, but I liked one thing: He had a sunny, optimistic vision of America. In his farewell address, he called it…
Read MoreBoarding ships the British army fled Boston. The siege ended. Leading soldiers strung out in long lines on dirt roads across Connecticut, George Washington raced south expecting the British to attack New York. The British landed in Staten Island – Washington blundered, thought they’d attack Manhattan. They attacked Long Island. Rushing soldiers across the East…
Read MorePoliticians howl to get likes on Facebook, applause on Twitter. The press howls too. Tucker Carlson said on TV ‘The January 6th riot was incited by federal agents – undercover agents.’ That wasn’t true. But his audience cheered. And the next night he was back on the air grinning. On Fresh Air on NPR a…
Read MoreNC Rep. Tricia Cotham managed to make big news the same day Donald Trump was hauled into a criminal courtroom. She joined a list of prominent, if not distinguished, North Carolina Democrats who switched parties – or loyalties. They all say it’s about principle, but it’s always more about pique, personal ambition and a power…
Read MoreThe News & Observer ran a story headlined “Trump case recalls John Edwards’ scandal in NC.” Edwards’s prosecutor was a Republican, then-US Attorney George Holding. Holding later resigned to run for Congress, was elected and served four terms. In 2012, Politico reported, “Holding conceded that the facts in Edwards’s case—payments made by political backers to…
Read MoreTrump’s porn star/hush money/fraud indictment brings hope and fear. Hope that the law finally will catch up with him, that Republican primary voters finally will turn against him and that, even if he wins the nomination, he’ll lose the election so badly he’ll lead the GOP to its worst shellacking since the post-Watergate election of…
Read MoreAwake in the wee hours after midnight Trump posted on Truth Social he was wonderful, he was popular, he was winning, then threatened ‘death and destruction’ could follow the Manhattan District Attorney indicting him for a felony – in the next breath he called the D. A. ‘A degenerate psychopath that truly hates the USA!’.…
Read MoreThe Galifianakis most North Carolinians know today is actor-comedian Zach. For politicos of a certain age, Galifianakis is Nick, Zach’s uncle and a former congressman from Durham who lost a Senate race to Jesse Helms in 1972. Nick died this week, at age 94. Rob Christensen, long-time political reporter for The News & Observer, wrote…
Read MoreA Raleigh mother said, “my 13-year-old just asked if she could lie in bed with me tonight for a while because she is scared about the school shootings and drills they have to practice.” A teacher told me she and her colleagues are ready to put themselves in front of their students if a shooter…
Read MoreThe tumult and the shouting dies; The Captains and the Kings depart: Still stands Thine ancient…
Read MoreBert Bennett of Winston-Salem, the legendary political godfather to Terry Sanford and Jim Hunt, had a…
Read MoreThis is bad. Bad for America and for the world. Bad for women, for immigrants, for…
Read More