They’re cooperating!!

The Raleigh political world is abuzz and agog! The legislature and the Governor are cooperating! Democrats and Republicans are working together on hurricane relief!! Oh, happy day!!! Has a new age dawned? Have we entered an era of bipartisanship, brotherly love and dogs and cats living together? Not so fast, my friend. Pardon my cynicism,…

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Legislative wrecking crew

There’s nothing this legislature can’t screw up. The Constitution, redistricting, congressional elections, judicial elections – and that’s just this week. A TAPster noted, “If you had to return to your auto mechanic to correct his screwups as often as our legislators return to fix theirs, you’d get a new mechanic.” Congressional elections are in chaos,…

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Teacher pay politics

“If teachers were motivated by money, they wouldn’t be teachers.” – A motivated teacher Republican legislators brag about their pay raises for teachers. Governor Cooper says teachers deserve more. But what do teachers want? It’s more than more pay. If you talk with concerned, motivated teachers, they care more about: too much testing arbitrary standards…

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Storm warnings

The weather forecast this weekend is the Universe’s way of preparing North Carolina for the next four years: Big storms are coming, nobody can predict what will happen and there is maximum risk to life, limb and political futures. And, just to squeeze the last drops from this metaphor, any slip-ups can be fatal, only…

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McCroryCare

In their rush to strip power from Roy Cooper, Republican legislative bosses talked about a going-away present for Pat McCrory: free health-care coverage for life. That perk fell by the wayside, however. Which just proves that karma is real. Maybe now McCrory feels the pain of the hundreds of thousands of North Carolinians who didn’t…

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