Since November 8, the idea of a Trump presidency has seemed to me almost surreal, like a Black Mirror episode, not an actual thing that would actually happen. It was too far-fetched that the world’s superpower would cede control to an insecure, vainglorious game-show host who has surrounded himself with white nationalists, conspiracy mongers, and […]
Jeffrey C. Billman
Posted inSoapboxer
When Exactly Did America Stop Being Great?
On Friday afternoon, in the midst of a Twitter back-and-forth on subjects ranging from Russia’s alleged interference in the U.S. elections to Hillary Clinton’s popular-vote margin, I asked former state representative Mike Hageruntil last year, the House majority leadersince he wanted Donald Trump to, as the saying goes, Make America Great Again, when he thought […]
Posted inNews
Should Auld Acquaintance Be Forgot? (Yes): Welcome to the INDY’s Year in Review
So that was quite the year. There was the Pulse massacre and countless other atrocities, so many that we became numb to them. More chaos in Syria and nuclear saber-rattling from North Korea. Refugee crises and terrorism in Europe. Brexit. Fake news. The alt-right. HB 2. Governor McCrory and the coal ash scandal. Rising global […]
Posted inSoapboxer
The Politics of Nihilism: How Last Week’s Special Session Foreshadows Politics in the Trump Era
What happened last week in Raleigh wasn’t exactly a surprise. After all, for weeks, rumors spread that the General Assembly, in response to Democrat Mike Morgan’s election to the N.C. Supreme Court, was considering packing the courtrumors fueled by top Republicans’ refusal to deny them. In the endafter N.C. Republican Party executive director Dallas Woodhouse […]
Posted inNews
The Morning Roundup: This Is How Democracy Dies
Happy Friday/Rogue One day, everyone. In case you haven’t noticed, it’s pretty cold out there. We’ll begin at the legislature, where there are shenanigans afoot. Here’s a quick recap, courtesy of our own Paul Blest, who’s spent the last couple of days down at the legislature and posted some thoughts earlier this morning. On Thursday, […]
Posted inNews
The Morning Roundup: Godspeed, John Glenn
Happy Friday, everyone. It’s cold out there, so pour yourself a cup of Joe and join us for your morning primer. 1. John Glenn, American hero, RIP. The first man to orbit the Earth—not to mentioned a Marine Corps combat vet, U.S. senator from Ohio, and 1984 presidential candidate—died yesterday at the age of ninety-five. […]
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Fare Thee Well, Pat McCrory. You Won’t Be Missed.
On Monday afternoonafter nearly a month of recount demands and baseless challenges to voters’ eligibilityGovernor McCrory finally gave in to the inevitable and conceded his loss to Roy Cooper, who will become North Carolina’s seventy-fifth governor. (Soon afterward, Republican attorney general candidate Buck Newton, trailing by more than twenty-three thousand votes, also conceded to Democrat […]
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Breaking: Police-Involved Shooting at Durham’s McDougald Terrace
At 1:02 p.m., the Durham Police Department confirmed an officer-involved shooting that happened in McDougald Terrace at twelve thirty. While the police haven’t yet released any details, the INDY’s Ken Fine, who is on the scene, has been told by eyewitnesses that the perpetrator—believed to be a thirty-three- or thirty-four-year-old African-American man (whose identity has […]
Posted inNews
The Morning Roundup: Trump’s Making Stuff Up Again, Must Be a Day That Ends in Y
1. Last night, the president-elect, having nothing better to do with his time, took to Twitter to announce that he had personally intervened to dissuade Ford from relocating a plant from Kentucky to Mexico. One problem with that: Ford, however, said it neither planned to close the Louisville plant nor reduce jobs there. The company […]
Posted inNews
What I Got Wrong: How I Misread an American Election
I underestimated Donald Trump. Actually, scratch that. I didn’t underestimate the man, who remains every bit the racist narcissist he’s shown himself to be over the years. I did, however, underestimate the tidal wave of white resentment that propelled him into the Oval Office, the burning desire to blow up the system, consequences be damned. […]
