Do you think felons should lose their right to vote? If so, do you think they should be able to regain that right after getting out of prison or should they have to wait until they complete any probation or parole requirement that follows prison? Or do you think a felony conviction should forever block someone from participating in elections?
During each election cycle, we are treated to an endless parade of politicians extolling freedom. Given how many of them subsequently vote to restrict our freedom in myriad ways, we have ample reason to be skeptical about politicians.
Every two years, exit pollsters attempt to survey voters who’ve just cast ballots. They post interviewers at hundreds of voting sites across the country. They call and email voters who cast ballots by mail. The resulting exit polls are often roundly criticized and improperly reported (such as when journalists circulate and comment on raw exit-poll totals on Election Night that have not been weighted based on actual election returns.
From July 2020 to July 2021, there was a net inflow of 637,729 Americans into these top-five destination states: Florida, Texas, Arizona, North Carolina, and South Carolina. During the same period, there was a net outflow of 918,443 Americans from these top-five exporter states: California, New York, Illinois, Massachusetts, and Louisiana.
When I set out a couple of years ago to write my first novel, a historical fantasy called Mountain Folk, I decided to set most the action during the American Revolution. It’s my favorite period in American history. After all, I’m a native North Carolinian — which means I grew up surrounded by reminders of our nation’s founding era.
When the news broke on January 3 that one of North Carolina’s largest school districts, Cumberland County, was considering a shift to virtual instruction in response to rising case counts of the Omicron variant, I felt my stomach lurch.
On a recent road trip through Western North Carolina and North Georgia, I had occasion to stop at service stations, restaurants, hotels, and small businesses. Each establishment had a sign on the door conveying the same message: help needed.
With the recent announcements of a new Toyota battery plant in Randolph County, a new Fujifilm Diosynth drug plant in Wake County, a large MasterBrand cabinet facility in Kinston, and a big White River Marine operation in New Bern for making saltwater boats, among other projects, North Carolina’s manufacturing sector appears to be thriving.
On this matter, I’m inclined to believe the company (now called Meta by its CEO and nearly a dozen other human beings). That doesn’t make my latest encounter with the social-media giant any less frustrating, however.
’Tis the season to reference a different Charles Dickens classic, I know, but I happen to have Oliver Twist on the brain. You may recall that Fagin is the rogue who takes in orphans and runaways, trains them to pick pockets and swindle marks, and then distributes the proceeds between himself and street tough Bill Sikes.
Is the purpose of a university education to prepare graduates to get jobs? I’ve never thought so. But then again, I’ve never thought that going to college should be a near-universal experience.
On September 15, I wrote a column responding to President Joe Biden’s announcement of a new federal mandate that large employers, federal contractors, and certain other business establishments require their employees either to be vaccinated or to undergo frequent COVID-19 testing.
