Opinion: Will 2018 Midterms Follow Scorched-Earth Playbook?

Featured at Roll Call

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – It was a nice little mayor’s race in the largest city in North Carolina, considering that Charlotte has gone through a lot of mayors (seven) in the past nine years. And that’s even taking into account Democratic incumbent Jennifer Roberts losing, in the primary, her chance to defend her spot because of her part in a “bathroom” bill that labeled the state in all the wrong ways and her handling of protests that turned violent after a police-involved shooting.

But all that aside, the scorched-earth campaign between two mild-mannered city council members competing to move into the mayor’s office was a bit unexpected. It reached a heated crescendo with a digital ad from the N.C. Values Coalition, which supported Republican Kenny Smith. The ad said Democrat Vi Lyles “is Jennifer Roberts” and featured an ominous voice-over, a man entering a bathroom to the frightened chagrin of a girl already claiming the space, scenes of rioting and the image of comedian Kathy Griffin holding a blurred severed head.

Read the rest atRoll Call
Nov092017 TAGS: , , , , ,

Opinion: Did Everyone in the White House Take a Nap During History Class?

Featured at Roll Call

In forward-looking America, history is sometimes regarded as a roadblock to progress, a nuisance. And that, as has been repeatedly proven, is a mistake.

Why look back when the future is so important? Well, because failure to do exactly that has consequences.

The latest to get caught up in “he must have dozed through class that day” is White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, who has been criticized for his reading of the Civil War.

 

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Nov022017 TAGS: , , , , ,

How Mueller’s Probe Affects GOP Agenda

Featured at WCCB Rising

CHARLOTTE, NC — While President Trump is preparing for a major Asia trip, plans to name a new Federal Reserve chair and tries to get a tax reform bill passed, along with Republican lawmakers, news coming out of Washington has derailed that plan.

Special counsel Robert Mueller has charged a former campaign manager and his deputy with a list of financial crimes and foreign connections – and a former foreign policy adviser has admitted lying to the FBI about trying to connect the campaign with the Russians to get dirt on Hillary Clinton.

What does that do to the GOP agenda? WCCB Political Contributor Mary C. Curtis weighs in.

Read the rest atWCCB Rising
Nov012017 TAGS: , , ,

Opinion: When the Price Is Too High to Be an American

Featured at Roll Call

If I had been in that briefing room when White House Chief of Staff and retired Gen. John Kelly stated that only journalists who had a personal connection to a fallen soldier were allowed to ask a question, I could have raised my hand. But that would have cheapened the memory of a Marine, my beloved nephew, treating his life and death as currency in an unholy transaction.

I get what Kelly was trying to pointedly point out — the disconnect between the folks in the room who may have been untouched by the costs of military service and the families who live with them every day. In truth, though, that gulf could have extended to the street and into most American homes — including the White House, whose occupant has the actual power to send men and women into war.

But to have used that ticket I wish I did not possess for advantage would have betrayed the values of the America my nephew served. That America is one where a journalist or any citizen is certainly allowed, even encouraged, to question a government official who is beholden to the U.S. Constitution — not the man sitting in the Oval Office.

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Oct262017 TAGS: , , ,

Opinion: Working Around Trump on Issues That Matter

Featured at Roll Call

The kiss-and-make-up press conference with President Donald Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was one of the most awkward dates in the history of, well, dates, as my Roll Call colleague Walter Shapiro pointed out. They need each other, sure, but will tax cuts be the glue to hold intermittent and shaky truces together for any length of time?

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Oct192017 TAGS: , , , , ,

Opinion: In a Culture War, American Values Lose

Featured at Roll Call

Over the weekend, a group of white nationalists returned to Charlottesville, Virginia, faces proudly uncovered and tiki torches in hand, with a message of division.

White supremacist leader Richard Spencer said to applause, “You are going to have to get used to white identity” — and warned of more to come.

The story barely lasted one news cycle, perhaps because, this time, no one drove a car into a crowd of anti-hate counterprotesters and killed a woman.

What you have heard plenty about, the story that has made ripples and had serious repercussions, is Vice President Mike Pence’s staged walkout at a Colts-49ers NFL game in Indianapolis — a political stunt that cost the taxpayers plenty — because he disrespected several players’ support of equality, justice and police accountability.

And no matter the spin, that’s what the pregame protests have been about since former San Francisco quarterback Colin Kaepernick consulted with military veteran Nate Boyer and decided to kneel silently (instead of sit) during the playing of the national anthem.

Read the rest atRoll Call
Oct122017 TAGS: , , , , , , , ,

Charlotte Talks Friday News Roundup: NC Legislature Update; Cam Newton Makes Sexist Comment; More

Featured at WFAE

On this edition of the local news roundup…

State lawmakers reconvened in Raleigh this week for another special legislative session. Overriding gubernatorial vetoesand a push to redraw judicial districts were topics that were tackled. We’ll talk about what, if anything, was accomplished.

The North Carolina Supreme Court dismissed a last-chance appeal to halt the I-77 toll lane project, ending the legal fight for the group Widen I-77. We’ll hear about the reaction from stakeholders.

Cam Newton’s comments about a female reporter went viral, causing widespread backlash and even talk that he’ll lose some of his sponsors. We’ll talk about what he said and the aftermath.

The homicide count in Charlotte for 2017 continues to rise, and this week officials changed the number from 2016 as well. We’ll discuss the change.

President Trump arrives in North Carolina this weekend for the first time since his election as president.

And we’ll bring you local politicians’ reactions to the mass shooting in Las Vegas and talk about the NRA and gun control with host Mike Collins and the roundup reporters on the Charlotte Talks Local News Roundup.

Guests:

Tom Bullock, WFAE Reporter.

Sarah Delia, WFAE Reporter.

Mary C.Curtis, columnist at Roll Call and a contributor to other publications including WCCB News Rising and NBCBLK.

Ann Doss Helms, Reporter for The Charlotte Observer

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Oct062017 TAGS: , , , ,

Opinion: When Silence Says Everything

Featured at Roll Call

The parable of the frog being boiled alive — with the poor creature jumping out immediately if the water is red hot, but, if the heat is cranked up slowly, not realizing its plight until it’s too late — may not be based on science (so don’t try this on little Croaky). But in politics, sweating officials are still doing the backstroke.

Americans are becoming used to abhorrent events, shocked, and wondering if anything can be done to make things better. After every man-made or natural disaster, or every statement from a leader that crosses the line, we wonder if the water will ever be hot enough to get a rise out of those in charge. So we do the best we can.

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Oct052017 TAGS: , , ,

Opinion: The Language of Diplomacy, Democracy — and Division

Featured at Roll Call

“He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured,” then long-shot candidate Donald Trump saidin 2015 of Sen. John McCain’s service and time as a prisoner after his plane was shot down by North Vietnamese troops in 1967. It was a quote that many thought would end Trump’s White House dreams.

That it did not slow the Trump train was a clear sign that something fundamental was broken in America’s definition of what it means to be a patriot.

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Sep282017 TAGS: , , , , , ,

Opinion: In Reaching for Deals, Will Parties Overlook Certain American Voices?

Featured at Roll Call

“He likes us,” Senate Democratic leader Charles Schumer said of his fellow New Yorker Donald Trump last week. This was after “Chuck” joined “Nancy” — House Democratic leader Pelosi from California — in a White House gathering that resulted in a deal on DACA reform, unless it didn’t.

Whatever the interpretation of what happened during that chummy get-together, and there was a different one for every person who attended or heard about it first, second or thirdhand, the president reportedly reveled in the relief of positive headlines that followed.

Read the rest atRoll Call
Sep212017 TAGS: ,
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