In defending his network’s recently televised town hall with Donald Trump, CNN CEO Chris Licht said that the event made “a lot of news.” Unfortunately, the big news about CNN’s town hall is that it was an unmitigated disaster. Moderator Kaitlin Collins, a seasoned Washington correspondent, d…

Philo Farnsworth is widely considered to be the principal inventor of television. He was not only a genius, he was also a visionary, and he shared that vision with his wife Pam one afternoon in 1926 while the couple was driving up the California coast from Los Angeles to San Francisco. In hi…

Kathy Manning is currently serving her second term in Congress representing the 6th district of North Carolina, and Ted Budd has switched chambers and is now our State’s freshman Senator. 

So far this year there have been over 130 mass shootings and dozens of children injured or killed while at school, yet federal and state legislators are frozen in their tracks, and incapable of enacting reforms that would prevent such carnage. Republicans refuse to ban assault weapons, and D…

Some people just never learn. In a recent column I warned Democrats that if they persisted in condoning, promoting, or flaunting far-left-wing agendas, they would push moderates and independents to vote for far-right-wing candidates in next year’s elections. But no sooner had the ink dried o…

Once upon a time, about 60 years ago, there was a 6th-grade teacher at Brunson Elementary school who kept order in the classroom by tossing chalk-dust-filled erasers at students who weren’t paying attention. Kids who were downright disruptive faced a different punishment: they were made to g…

If the Earps and Clantons were alive today, they wouldn’t hold their gunfight at the OK Corral. They’d just meet up at Hanes Mall. After all, the mall is conveniently located, it’s spacious, and you can have your unencumbered confrontation night or day, inside or outside. I don’t mean to mak…

If you lie to the police, you end up in jail. If you lie to your spouse, you end up in divorce court. And, if you lie to the IRS, you end up broke. Yet according to a recent ruling by the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, you can lie and get away with it if you’re running for public office. I’ll…

Once upon a time, there were only three TV channels to watch, and in the late 1970s, no show was bigger than “Laverne & Shirley,” a sitcom starring Cindy Williams and Penny Marshall as roommates who worked at a Milwaukee beer factory. The series was a spin-off from a “Happy Days” episode…

If you were a kid growing up in Winston-Salem during the late 1950s and early 1960s, you knew who Billy Packer was. At first, he was the fearless guard who, in 1962, led Wake Forest to its only Final Four appearance. The team was ranked as high as #3 in the nation that season, and Billy ende…

In 1999 Columbine was an anomaly, but a decade later, school shootings were becoming almost commonplace. Gun-toting students and former students acted out their rage in places like Sandy Hook, Parkland, and Uvalde. But while school massacres continued to grab headlines, single-victim shootin…

On November 14 of last year, a Texas woman loaded her four children into the car and went for a drive. The children ranged in age from 8 months to 6 years. None were wearing seat belts and the baby was not in a car seat. Suddenly one of the unlocked doors flew open, hurling the 8-month-old i…

This past weekend we celebrated the life and legacy of Civil Rights Icon Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 

Jamestown Town Council Members,

There are several worries about today’s labor market.

In 1994 liberal Democrat Congressman Stephen Neal decided not to run for re-election in the 5th district. That opened the door for Richard Burr, a lawn equipment salesman from Winston-Salem, to run for and win Neal’s seat. Burr, a moderate Republican, had all the makings of a southern states…

I hate to start the New Year out on a sour note, but it’s hard to ignore the fact that our Governor just released another murderer from prison. I used to refer to Cooper as the man who, as Attorney General, courageously waged war on innocent allergy sufferers, but now he has a new title: Roy…

“It feels so much like ‘How the Grinch Stole Christmas,’ and we are the Whos from Whoville.” One small neighborhood — only 24 homes — has just witnessed a twisted “Christmas Miracle”: four of its small, single-family homes are being transformed into a dense, 80-unit housing development. 

“It feels so much like ‘How the Grinch Stole Christmas,’ and we are the Whos from Whoville.” One small neighborhood – only 24 homes – has just witnessed a twisted “Christmas Miracle”: four of its small, single-family homes are being transformed into a dense, 80-unit housing development. 

As we celebrate this holiday season, let’s not forget that there are people beyond our immediate circle of family and friends who are suffering, and could benefit from our love and generosity. Over the past decade, I’ve been able to showcase scores of community organizations on my “Triad Tod…

Over the past year, I had the unenviable task of writing a number of obituary columns about celebrity friends of mine who had passed away. Now, during this season of celebration, it is only fitting that we celebrate their remarkable lives and careers. What follows are excerpts from those columns. 

My wife Pam says that I complain all the time about a host of random things. I tell her that I’m not complaining, rather, I’m just reporting to her what I observe. She then usually tells me what I can do with my observations. And so, after spending the past week telling everyone what I’m tha…

Presidents are only human, so they make mistakes. No, I’m not talking about Bill Clinton hooking up with Monica Lewinski, or Joe Biden introducing Kamala Harris as “the President.” I’m talking about John Kennedy, and how he misread history, unintentionally insulted the State of Virginia, and…

The State of Georgia is in the spotlight these days because neither Senate candidate garnered enough votes to avoid a run-off, which will take place next month. No matter who wins, though, the contest itself has been significant because both candidates are Black. In a sense it is a victory f…

Colleges and universities across North Carolina and the nation are encountering stiff headwinds. 

As an animal lover, I am still trying to wrap my brain around the ludicrous sentence handed down to Caleb Dewald last month. Dewald, as you might recall, was found guilty of 10 counts of felony animal cruelty, then got off with a slap on the wrist. I’ll go into more detail about sentencing i…

Once upon a time, we could always count on nurses, firefighters, policemen, and doctors showing up for work, no matter what. That’s because they are life-savers, and life-savers are supposed to be there for us 24/7. Alas, though, times have changed. The Pandemic has created shortages among t…

Eight years ago, Queen Elizabeth bestowed upon Angela Lansbury the title of Dame Commander, the equivalent of Knighthood for men. Accordingly, from that time forward, I included Angela’s new title on the envelope of every Christmas card I mailed to her. Of course, I knew Angela before she wa…

You may not have heard of him, but John Selden made a lot of very profound statements. Selden was an English scholar who lived from 1584 until 1654, and among his many sayings is, “Ignorance of the law excuses no man.” Over the centuries, highway patrolmen, judges, and others in positions of…

Biden releases drug dealers and smugglers under guise of federal release of marijuana convicts

Someone asked me the other day what was to blame for the ills of society, and I answered, “social media.” For one thing, not since the American Civil War has there been such divisiveness in this country, and most of it stems from the free flow of vitriolic misinformation and the charlatans w…