It makes sense that young people, who will have to live with the consequences of decisions made by their elders, are becoming increasingly passionate about climate change and global warming. Once an afterthought on the list of issues at the top of voters’ concerns, the future of the environment is now the topic of candidate […]
By writing off climate change, are Republicans writing off young voters? Read More »
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Though Republicans tried to downplay the importance of an off-year special House election in North Carolina, President Donald Trump certainly thought differently. Why else would he have held an election eve rally alongside Dan Bishop, the GOP nominee in the state’s 9th District? And if that was not enough to belie the seeming lack
What a close Republican win in a North Carolina House race means (maybe) for 2020 Read More »
OPINION — It was a difference in styles and generations. In a Carolinas swing, first there was Beto O’Rourke with a town hall at a brewery in Charlotte, North Carolina — more like an informal gathering among many new friends. The next day there was Joe Biden with a large crowd at a historically black college in Rock Hill,
Biden and Beto are like night and day — except when they’re potato-potahto Read More »
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,
Amid foreign policy chaos, remembering what’s important Read More »
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.
Criminal justice reform had a bipartisan minute. Then 2020 reared its head Read More »
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
Ken Cuccinelli wants to be a poet. First he needs a history lesson Read More »
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
The lessons of Toni Morrison: Words matter, now more than ever Read More »
OPINION — It was one of those Baltimore row houses that have come to define the city, three stories high, with a set of white marble steps out front. I will never forget those steps, the ones I had to scrub weekly, brush in one hand, Bon Ami cleanser in the other. And when I
The Baltimore that raised me is America too Read More »
OPINION — CHARLOTTE, N.C. — When the Democratic National Convention hit town in 2012, the dancing traffic cop made headlines for his smooth moves and entertaining approach to law enforcement. The officer captured the party atmosphere of that event, leading up to the renomination of no-drama President Barack Obama for a second term. City leaders and residents now look back at that time with
Is a blue city in a purple state having second thoughts about hosting a red convention? Read More »
OPINION — It’s an inside joke I’ve told the last couple of years. My ancestors on both sides have been in America for generations — men, women and children whose blood, sweat and grit drenched the Maryland soil they cultivated and farmed and lived on. Originally brought by force, they claimed their place proudly and
Will America ‘go back’ to where it came from? Read More »
