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The drug war wins again
Mayor McFarlane made some good points in her State of the City address yesterday. Raleigh has come together after Officer Twiddy shot Akiel Denkins last week, but the city is not better yet. A mother has lost her son. Two children have lost their father. A cop has taken a life, which is certainly traumatic […]
Cooper’s…sigh…copycat statement on Syrian refugees
Dear Roy, I don’t want to leave you out of the party. I kind of counted on you staying out, more fool me. Sigh. What’s with you talking smack about Syrians? Don’t you even read this blog?! I have to ask, how could you? I notice that you sent your cockamamie statement on Syrian refugees […]
Hey Guv, if you’re really serious about excluding potential terrorists…
Dear Pat, Regarding your recent pronouncement that we will no longer accept Syrian refugees, all I can say is, WOOOH! Yeah! Sing it, girl! Speaking truth to the powerless, that’s my guv! I mean, I don’t think it sounds terribly legal, but you were so brave and forthright, telling traumatized families to continue to wander […]
A Mother’s Plea for Its Child(ren)
Truth: I stole that from Tina Fey, my college classmate and friend. Further truth: I did not know her at all, which has only occasionally stopped me from telling people we were friends. She’s so funny! Can’t I wish we were friends and convince myself that it’s true? That sort of thing works at the […]
Is it disgusting or mind-boggling? Or both?
How can it possibly be that on the same day the NC House votes overwhelmingly to institute roadblocks to voting a House committee approves a bill to expand gun rights? I mean it, how can that be? The Second Amendment to the US Constitution is the only amendment that includes the words “well regulated” and […]
An Open Letter to the Glorious NC Senate
Dear NC Senate, I am writing to thank you for your courageous vote to punish the poor. I think believers from all major world religions would agree that people who can’t get what’s theirs should have millstones tied around their necks until they can. Just like Jesus said. Your vote forcing needy people to pay […]
It’s Shakespearean, but not heroic
What are the scariest words in the English language? For me, they’re, “Here’s a new one from the Stones.” For some wags, they are: “I’m from the government and I’m here to help.” Chortle, chortle. For Sen. Tom Apodaca, the most frightening phrase is “I’m Jim Goodmon. I work at Capitol Broadcasting. I’m a member […]
If I say it’s about Dan Forest, will you read the whole thing?
This is about sexual assault. It’s in the news – unlike Dan Forest – and I want people to pay attention. Sexual assault in the military, to the tune of as many as 19,000 cases a year, is an important topic in North Carolina because of the large military presence in our state. Sexual assault […]
Which one says: We won’t stop until it’s the 1950s again?
Here I was, all ready to give Gov. McCrory a thumb’s up for his refusal to give state money to Jerry Richardson for his Taj Mahal-dium, when, before the words can leave my fingertips, he comes out with this: “‘I think voter ID is what you need to get Sudafed in the stores right now. […]
Going to Maricopa in my mind
Our great state is poised to become the only state in the union – we’re still in that, right? – to provide all non-citizen drivers with licenses that clearly mark them as such, even those with green cards and visas. Why would the Department of Transportation want to make business executives and academics and permanent […]
Breasts aren’t obscene, but kicking the poor while rewarding the rich certainly is
The legislature is not working today – could we call the last couple of weeks “working” though, really? – so I want to catch up on some of the hijinks they’ve been up to while the rest of us stand aghast at their attack on the working poor as well as the poor poor. It’s […]
FIRE!
Under laws established by precedent, we accept limits on our constitutional right to free speech. I am not allowed to shout “Fire!” in a crowded theater because of the very real possibility that someone would be injured in the ensuing melee. Safety is a value that competes with the right to speak freely, and, in […]