Cartoon
Opinion
Washington’s divided stalemate continues, but there is good news
Overall, Republicans excelled in Florida and did quite well in North Carolina. The state will soon be free from hyped-up judicial activism that paralyzes the people’s will and plagues our separation-of-powers principles. I wrote a column in August saying that Republicans in the state would outperform the GOP nationally. That assessment turned out to be accurate, but,...
Opinion
Crime issue lifts NC Republican candidates
Voters across North Carolina turned to Republican candidates in races where crime was the top issue in the race.
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Warnings
Opinion
Camp Lejeune Justice Act is a milestone for North Carolina and federal law
In August 2022, President Biden signed the Honoring our PACT Act into law, a historic piece of legislation that included the Camp Lejeune Justice Act. The passage of this legislation marks a milestone for federal law. The Camp Lejeune Justice Act (CJLA) is the culmination of a more than two-decade fight that allows victims of Marine Corps...
Opinion
National GOP fell short of expectations
The victors are crowing. The vanquished are moaning, or spinning, or deflecting blame. Pundits and campaign professionals are scouring the precinct-level results or exit polls for evidence that validates their strategies or proves their favorite theories. That’s all fine with me. I’ve long been fascinated with the art and science of campaigns myself, though as...
Opinion
One nation, super-duper divisible
In high school, I was assigned The Atlantic reading “One Nation, Slightly Divisible” by David Brooks, where he describes adventuring from his home in Montgomery County, Maryland, to Franklin County, Pennsylvania. After crossing what he terms “the Meatloaf Line” from blue America to red America, Brooks details countless comparisons between the two—the “sophisticated and cosmopolitan” center...
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Ride the wave
Opinion
Leandro decision prompts questions about justices’ ability to read
Three Democratic N.C. Supreme Court justices have flip-flopped on the state constitution's clear language about control of state government spending.
Opinion
Two tragedies for Ukraine and Russia
THE TRAGEDY OF THIS WAR For the last year, the world has been flooded with news of the impending and now the actual war of Russia against Ukraine. While numbers are incomplete, I estimate there have been at least 100,000 soldiers and civilians killed and many times that wounded and sickened. Then there are the...
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Grasping
Opinion
Powerful ideas drive growth debate
The science fiction pioneer H.G. Wells once observed that “human history is, in essence, a history of ideas.” This is a wise observation — and it speaks to the political debates we’ve been having here in North Carolina. Wells himself was an influential purveyor of ideas. Some were praiseworthy, such as his exploration of the...
