Opinion (1025)
When a major media source tells you to lower expectations, one can easily surmise that interference is being run for President Biden. Please ignore all those political promises like reducing the cost of prescription drugs by 60% or an even more utopian pledge to “unify the country.” Clearly, campaign season is over. It’s time to settle in for some 1970s style malaise — only don’t complain so much this time.
OPINION: Only the comedian can speak truth to power and combat cancel culture
Written by Brittany Hunter
Comedians have always played a unique role in western society. Armed with humor and wit, it is their job to push the envelope, holding a mirror up to society and speaking truth to power.
I’m really over the redistricting stuff. I don’t want to see any more proposed maps. I don’t want any more speculation. I don’t want any more polls showing what people want or don’t want. I don’t want any more public hearings. I just want to see the maps.
The Biden administration is embracing the same flawed “fair trade” mantra that previous administrations used to sanctify protectionist policies. Biden’s team has “largely dispensed with the idea of free trade as a goal in and of itself,” the New York Times reported. U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai recently touted the Biden administration’s plans to “shape the rules for fair trade in the 21st century.” What could possibly go wrong from such a lofty aspiration?
OPINION: Congressman David Price’s retirement highlights the conundrum of public service in the modern era
Written by Rob Schofield
Veteran Triangle-area Congressman David Price called it a career yesterday and revealed that he will not seek re-election in 2022.
OPINION: Legacy Social Media: Free as in beer, not as in speech
Written by Thomas L. Knapp
On Oct. 5, former Facebook product manager Frances Haugen testified before the U.S. Senate, decrying her former employer's "destructive impact" and warning that "without action, divisive and extremist behaviors we see today are only the beginning."
A few weeks ago, the Associated Press and a nonprofit journalism outfit called The Markup released a dataset and news stories purporting to prove the existence of pervasive discrimination against racial minorities by mortgage lenders. The McClatchy newspapers in North Carolina (The Charlotte Observer, The News & Observer in Raleigh, and the Herald-Sun in Durham) splashed the Markup/AP findings across their front pages and contributed additional reporting about the North Carolina-specific data.
OPINION: Tyrants of the Nanny State: When the government thinks it knows best
Written by John Whitehead and Nisha Whitehead
We labor today under the weight of countless tyrannies, large and small, carried out in the so-called name of the national good by an elite class of governmental and corporate officials who are largely insulated from the ill effects of their actions.
OPINION: Efforts to cancel Mark Robinson won’t be easy
Written by Ray Nothstine
Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson saying controversial things could be a reality show. There’s easily enough content for multiple seasons. After all, his ascendency in North Carolina politics emerged from his confrontational speaking style. His mouth is what makes him so popular and disliked at the same time. Robinson even dares to weigh in on specific social issues where only one opinion is allowed now in the public square.
More...
Closing down school buildings for many months last year — and offering poorly planned and executed virtual schooling as an inadequate substitute — proved to be a disaster for North Carolina children, families, and the education system itself.
OPINION: Mark Robinson’s enablers and the actual filth that he and they ignore
Written by Rob Schofield
Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson is officially the highest-ranking Republican official in state government. It’s expected that he will run for governor in 2024.
OPINION: Hearing over liquor shortage reveals the obvious: N.C. ABC system is a mess
Written by John Trump - Carolina Journal News Service
Lawmakers held a hearing recently focused on the N.C. Alcoholic Beverage Control system. Their goal was to learn why ABC store shelves are empty and why bars and restaurants are scratching and scraping for typically ubiquitous brands such as Jameson’s and Titos.
OPINION: As far as N.C. is concerned, David Shor is probably right
Written by Thomas Mills
There’s a debate raging on social media this weekend about the direction of the Democratic Party. It started with an article written by Ezra Klein about a young data analyst name David Shor. Shor has been arguing that Democrats are heading for a long-term disaster if they don’t refocus their message onto more bread-and-butter issues and talk less about social justice issues. The activist wing of the party disagrees vehemently, but I think Shor is largely right.
