Opinion (415)
I gather from my social-media feeds and hate mail that North Carolinians are supposed to be infuriated at the way things are going in our state. I have my frustrations with certain politicians, to be sure, but I’m not infuriated. Nor am I alone.
At this point in January, a lot of people have already given up on their New Year's resolutions. Those lofty goals and promises have gone by the wayside as people realize that the $10 they paid to join that popular gym in town that has pizza night could have been spent on the pizza alone and not brought any kind of physical fitness in to the mix.
LETTER: Thanks, Rockingham, for helping with Operation Christmas Child
Written by Letter to the Editor Contributor
Dear Editor,
I am writing to thank Rockingham residents for sharing the true meaning of Christmas with children in need this past holiday season.
COLUMN: A loophole for the lawless: 'Qualified immunity' must go
Written by Thomas L. Knapp
On Aug. 11, 2014, officers from the Caldwell, Idaho, Police Department asked for Shaniz West’s permission to enter and search her home. They were looking for her ex-boyfriend. West authorized the search and handed over her keys.
On Sunday, the New York Times endorsed both Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobuchar for president. Or at least to become the Democratic nominee. The endorsement comes at a time when Warren is trying to settle a high-profile dispute with Bernie Sanders and Klobuchar is struggling to gain enough momentum to stay in the race.
Everyone knows that North Carolina is a closely divided purple state. Everyone knows that in 2020, many statewide races and control of the state legislature will be hotly contested. And everyone knows that with Democrats increasingly dominant in urban areas and Republicans in rural areas, the only real battleground will be in the suburbs.
When you ask most people what things they are afraid of, there is a list of usual suspects most of the time. A lot of people are afraid of heights. I am, so I can understand that fear quite well. My wife is afraid of spiders. I am afraid of snakes. My wife doesn't mind snakes so much and I don't really have a concrete opinion of spiders, so it works out for both of us.
COLUMN: Politics is a pile of shared psychoses
Written by Thomas L. Knapp
Dr. Bandy Lee, a psychiatrist affiliated with Yale University, posits a "'shared psychosis' among just about all of Donald Trump's followers."
Last week, the Republicans in the Kansas legislature reached an agreement with the Democratic governor to expand Medicaid. Today, the North Carolina legislature goes back into session. Maybe we could see a similar agreement here.
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“Prudence,” wrote the British statesman Edmund Burke, “is not only the first in rank of the virtues political and moral, but she is the director, the regulator, the standard of them all.” Quite right. Unfortunately, prudence has been sadly lacking on the issue of voter identification. It’s roiled North Carolina politics for years. It needn’t have.
If I have already done a column on this particular topic, please forgive me. I try my best not to repeat anything, but it's inevitable that I repeat a phrase, a sentence, or possibly a whole topic. I used to be able to access the previous columns where I stored them on the laptop, but my trusty old laptop bit the dust and I cannot access my archives. That said, I ask your forgiveness if I have broached this subject before.
GUEST EDITORIAL: Banning hemp to fight pot is reefer madness
Written by Wilson Times
Eight decades after the anti-pot propaganda film “Reefer Madness” stirred a moral panic over marijuana, cops and prosecutors in North Carolina are bending the truth to bind hemp to its infamous cannabis cousin.
COLUMN: Trump versus Iran: Power doesn't just corrupt, it deludes
Written by Thomas L. Knapp
On Jan. 8, U.S. president Donald Trump addressed the American public concerning a casualty-free Iranian missile attack on U.S. bases in Iraq, where just last week Iranian general Qasem Soleimani was killed in a U.S. drone strike.
