If you were disappointed in the voter turnout in the March 5th primary election, wait until the May 14th runoff. The nonpartisan organization FairVote says turnouts in second primaries are 40 percent or less of the original primary vote. If so, 10 percent or fewer of our registered voters would cast ballots. Senator Ralph Hise recently estimated it could be no more than 2 percent of our 7.4 million - 148,000 voters.   The May vote will be the most expensive election ever held in our state. Trying to find out the exact amount it costs to conduct a statewide election in North Carolina is as ..read more

Homelessness is a national emergency. In January 2022, it was estimated there were 582,462 homeless people. That number has certainly increased. That’s 18 out of every ten-thousand people. 28 percent of the homeless population are families. 30 percent live in California.   Homelessness has been on the rise since 2017. 22% are chronically homeless. Mental illness, disabilities, addictions are some of the problems for this group. 6% of homeless people are veterans. PTSD and other trauma accompanied by physical and mental pain permeate this group. 5% of homeless people are children. Teens ru ..read more

Over the past decade, the General Assembly has pursued a tax-reform strategy designed to foster growth and expand freedom in the Tar Heel State. North Carolina now has a flat-rate income tax. State taxes on both personal income and retail sales apply lower rates to broader bases. And lawmakers are in the process of phasing out state taxes on corporate income. I support most of the tax policies enacted by the state legislature to date. But on one matter, I part company with some lawmakers. They seem to believe North Carolina can phase out not only corporate taxes but all income taxes while cont ..read more

For those of you who have gotten used to my incisive, hard-hitting political commentary that spares no one the rod - Republican nor Democrat, conservative nor liberal, vegetable nor mineral, let me warn you that this week, my piece is more praising Florence Nightingale than bashing Donald Trump. Why? Because next week is National Nurses Week, May 6th - May 12th. According to the American Nurses Association, “Nurses Make the Difference,” which is this year’s theme. Trust me, given my tattered health history, I couldn’t agree more. And I certainly thank my lovely wife for inspiring me to write t ..read more

Which major urban area in America experienced the largest decline in homelessness last year? According to a recent analysis by the Brookings Institution, it was Wake County — North Carolina’s most-populous. It had a rate of 78 homeless residents per 100,000 population, down 40% from 2022. If you live in or near the state’s capital city, however, this finding may surprise you. Over the past year, homeless encampments in parks, vacant lots, and forested lands along highway interchanges in Wake County have generated major stories for local media and major headaches for local officials. Just a few ..read more

Planned Parenthood’s spending a ton of money – $10 million – to elect pro-abortion candidates in North Carolina. Eyes locked on white suburban women it’s running digital ads, knocking on a million doors to elect Joe Biden, the Democrat candidate for governor, and break the Republican super-majority in the state House and Senate. The first time George Holding ran for Congress, before the general election, sitting in my office Arthur Finkelstein laid a poll on the table, pointed to one number: That’s the key, he said, white suburban women – swing voters. Most were married, raising children, work ..read more

Thanks to a polarized electorate and increasingly nationalized politics, the 2024 election outcomes in most American states are all but predetermined. Before a single vote is cast, we can safely count Joe Biden the winner in Massachusetts and Donald Trump the victor in Wyoming. Republican incumbent Greg Gianforte will win re-election to Montana’s governorship and whoever emerges from the Democratic gubernatorial primary in Delaware will almost certainly win the November General Election. Polarization aided by strategic gerrymandering also means that fewer than 10 percent of congressional elec ..read more

Show of hands…Who thought the “Golden Bachelor” couple would be getting a divorce just THREE MONTHS after their splashy televised wedding ceremony? Whoa. That many. OK, that’s a little surprising to this natural born cynic. After watching every episode even I assumed they would probably stay together. He’s 72, she’s 70 and they seemed happy. I fought it hard, of course. I deducted points (as I do in real life) every time either one of them said the “soulmate” word to the other. Blech. But, as someone in the “golden” demographic myself, I honestly thought they were, if not in love, very much in ..read more

On April 9, 2024, the Arizona Supreme Court reinstated a statute criminalizing those who perform abortions, except to preserve the life of the mother. The blogosphere and the networks were aghast that this statute was originally adopted in 1864. Is a statute better because its origins are of old, or is it worse? Liberals can’t make up their collective mind on this point. The year 1864 is not surprising. The entire nation was in the middle of, not only a civil war, but also a national legal reform to protect the lives of preborn children. In 1859, the American Medical Association unanimously a ..read more

Yes, in response to atrocities committed by the militant group Hamas, Israelis have engaged in quite literal overkill among Palestinians in Gaza. And yes, Palestinian supporters have a constitutionally protected right in this country to protest what they see as genocide. But when they broke through barriers, took down the American flag on UNC-Chapel Hill’s campus and replaced it with another, they crossed a line. Too many people have died for that flag, have died for the right of these very protesters to speak out, for the protesters to desecrate it. Such actions might well also provoke an ove ..read more