Archives for August 2019

Amid foreign policy chaos, remembering what’s important

OPINION — Master Sgt. Luis F. DeLeon-Figueroa and Master Sgt. Jose J. Gonzalez. Those names might not be that familiar to most. But their families, friends and fellow soldiers won’t forget them. The two Americans were killed in combat in Afghanistan last week, U.S. officials said, which brings the total killed this year to 14, one more than all of last year.

This is the news that disappears quickly from the headlines, as politicians and pundits try to make sense of just what happened at the G-7 meeting in France, for instance, and the latest chaos at the top. When the Amazon is burning, and the president of the United States skips the climate change meeting, as his buddy Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro takes time to insult the wife of the host country’s leader, it’s more distracting than usual.

But it is still astonishing how little attention the 18-year American engagement in Afghanistan seems to attract in the country’s consciousness and conversation.

Democrats Face Debate Cut-off Deadline

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Wednesday will determine who takes the stage in the chase to be the Democratic candidate for 2020. The DNC no doubt hopes the number stays at 10, which will mean one debate on one night, Sept. 12. So far, that’s the number who have qualified, by earning at least 2 percent in four approved polls, with 130,000 unique donors (including at least 400 individual donors in at least 20 states). But at least 20 candidates are still in the running

Criminal justice reform had a bipartisan minute. Then 2020 reared its head

For a while, it looked as though the distance between the parties had narrowed on the issue of criminal justice reform. Bipartisan cooperation passed the First Step Act, a small step indeed toward remedying America’s mass incarceration crisis that disproportionately, in a historically skewed system, burdens minorities and the poor in everything from arrests to sentencing. Increasingly, though, the rhetoric resembles a partisan return to form.

But is the public changing?

Signs of a Weakening Economy?

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Whether it’s a trade dispute with China or increasing consumer doubts, worry is increasing that America’s strong economy is slowing down.  Our political contributor Mary C. Curtis discusses the latest concerns.

A look at the growing disinformation wars

The right has long accused the media of bias, but now some on the left, including Bernie Sanders, are echoing accusations of media bias. New York Times media columnist Jim Rutenberg says the “Trump era forces us to be a little more aggressive” about the telling the truth because journalists are met with “so much disinformation.”But Roll Call columnist Mary C. Curtis adds that journalists have to be cognizant of their own biases, “every journalist frames their story, and we have to be honest about that.” Adam Serwer and Bari Weiss also join.

Charlotte Talks Local News Roundup: No Charges for CMPD Officer; Racist Letters to CLT Leaders

No charges will be filed for the Charlotte Mecklenburg Police officer who shot Danquirs Franklin at a Charlotte Burger King back in March. District Attorney Spencer Merriweather announced on Wednesday that Officer Wende Kerl will not face charges in connection with Franklin’s death.

Many black elected officials in Charlotte- including the mayor- received a racist letter this week that was addressed to city council, the county commission, police, fire and CMS School Board. The letter was directed to black Democrats and said that they should be “tarred and feathered and run out of town.” We’ll talk about reaction to the letter by several local leaders.

New CMS Superintendent Earnest Winston has a 3-year contract, which was announced earlier this month. But this week, school board members clarified that Winston could be fired with 60 days’ notice without giving a reason, making his job security not quite as strong as once thought. We’ll talk about what board chair Mary McCray said about it.

And an update on the push to pass a quarter-cent sales tax vote for the arts in Mecklenburg County.

Guests:

Mary C. Curtis, columnist for Rollcall.com and WCCB

Katie Peralta, reporter for Charlotte Agenda

David Boraks, reporter for WFAE 

Jonathan Lowe, reporter for Spectrum News 

Ken Cuccinelli wants to be a poet. First he needs a history lesson

OPINION — It happened like clockwork. Every few weeks, especially in the winter months, when snowbirds traveled to my then-home in Tucson, Arizona, from parts north that included Michigan and Wisconsin, Minnesota and Illinois, a letter to the editor would turn up at the paper where I worked. With slight changes, it would go something like: “I stopped in a store and overheard some people speaking Spanish. Why don’t they speak English?”

It took a little bit of time and a lot of convincing to explain that the families of many of these folks had been on the land the new arrivals so expansively and immediately claimed for generations, in the state since before it was a state, which Arizona didn’t become until 1912. It also has the greatest percentage of its acreage designated as Indian tribal land in the United States. And would it hurt you to know a word or two of Spanish?

Those are facts I was eager to learn — often from those long-timers — when I moved from the East Coast, many miles and a world away. Better late than never.

Will Jeffrey Epstein’s Victims Get Justice?

CHARLOTTE, NC —  There are many questions about how Jeffrey Epstein could take his own life at the federal prison in New York. The justice department is taking action against employees of the prison. The warden of the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York has been temporarily reassigned and two guards who were assigned to his unit at the time of his death are now on administrative leave. What happens next in the case and will his alleged victims get justice?

The lessons of Toni Morrison: Words matter, now more than ever

OPINION — “Language alone protects us from the scariness of things with no names.”

Of course, that language from Toni Morrison perfectly suits this time, when the names we give the things that scare us hardly seem enough.

It is fitting that in a week when America has been exposed to the words of a white nationalist screed shared before a man filled with hate murdered 22 human beings in El Paso, Texas, we can find some comfort in Morrison’s life and legacy, and in the power of words used masterfully by the first African American woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature.

America’s Way Forward After Mass Shootings

CHARLOTTE, NC — President Trump is heading to El PasoTexas, and DaytonOhio, after shootings left a total of 31 dead. His official message this week decried violence and white supremacy, but many also criticized his own divisive words. The division between politicians and parties continues on the best way forward and the reasons for the carnage. Is it guns, racism, mental illness, video games, or a combination?