Saturday was a postcard day in January, and at the Oak City Outreach Center in downtown Raleigh, it felt like a block party. Inside and outside, folks were bouncing on their toes, an amplified street preacher was going strong in the parking lot and, when he took a break, a guy with a guitar jumped […]
Bob Geary
Posted inNews
When work is done by robots, what will happen to workers?
Last week, I wrote about hard times in West Virginia and that state’s turn to the Republicans. The challenge for Democrats in 2016, I concluded, is persuading white votersas well as minoritiesthat progressive policies mean good jobs for them. Because, like West Virginia, most states and congressional districts are predominantly white. And while a Democrat […]
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White people problem: To succeed, progressives need to convince poor whites to vote in their own self-interest
Over the holidays, my wife and I visited family in Huntington, West Virginia. It’s a small city in obvious distress. I bring it up because, with the 2016 primary elections just around the corner, it’s home to a lot of angry white voters. Huntington, not long ago, was a thriving railroad and river hub for […]
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Prediction: Gov. McCrory is toast
It’s now or never to make that year-ahead prediction: Will Gov. Pat McCrory be re-elected in 2016? Or will he be the first North Carolina governor ever to seek re-election and fail? So much is riding on the outcome. Republicans have cemented their hold on the General Assembly via gerrymandered election districts and on the […]
Posted inHousing
Maybe 2015 wasn’t so terrible after all
For purposes of this column, Raleigh is the center of the universe, which is as it should be. Is there a trendier city or state capital? In a bigger swing state than North Carolina? In the greatest nation on earthexcept if you’re listening to The Donald, who tells us we’re stupid. But I digress. Looking […]
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Southeast Raleigh teenagers help out special-needs kids, and it makes us feel all warm inside
I was so far from feeling the spirit of the holidays. Then the note came from Nate Barilich. It led me to Learning Together, a wonderful preschool in Southeast Raleigh where, for an hour, I was Mr. Bob to the children. It also led me to Enloe High School’s charity ball, a showcase for the […]
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Donald Trump’s Raleigh rally got ugly (and violent)
Jes Holland Cronmiller is the Raleigh woman who got whacked in the jaw Friday night at the Donald Trump rally in Dorton Arena. A total sucker punch, she says, landed by an as-yet-unidentified Trump supporter who went ballistic when Cronmiller and other protesters dared to disrupt the Dear Leader. On Sunday, Jes said her face […]
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Wake leaders hatch a plan to keep the county’s schools from resegregating
This falls in the category of “not news,” I suppose. The Wake County Board of Education is not fighting with the Wake County Board of Commissioners. I know. This isn’t normal. Normally, these boards push and pull like whiny kids and their parentsthe school board wants a bigger budget, the commissioners cut it. But these […]
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Why climate change is more perilous to our national security than Syrian refugees
Is it any surprise that Gov. Pat McCrory wants to halt the flow of Syrian refugees to North Carolina following the Paris attacks? There’s not actually a flow, of course, just a trickle, amounting to two refugees a month. But McCrory’s understanding of the issue consists of Republican talking points. His ability to think for […]
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If Raleigh wants to be a world-class city, it needs planning, personality and architects.
It’s a little embarrassing. Here we are in Raleigh, wearing our “world-class” buttons and boasting a College of Design at N.C. State that’s among the nation’s best. So why is there such a “disconnect”as Robin Abrams, the head of the college’s architecture program, put it delicately”between the aspirations of Raleigh residents and the reality of […]