Politics
There are 1,056 posts filed in Politics (this is page 40 of 106).
Speaking of the N&O, I’m perplexed at the N&O’s portrayal of Russ Stephenson in recent stories, all written by municipal reporter Colin Campbell.
I like Colin. He and I both volunteer for Little Raleigh Radio, bringing an LPFM station to downtown Raleigh. He’s also interviewed me on occasion on Parks board matters and does a good job in his reporting. Still, his reporting on Russ has raised some questions.
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The News and Observer has gotten me talking about it, which in my view of the media is usually a good thing.
The criticism
Earlier this week, N&O Executive Editor John Drescher defended T. Keung Hui’s reporting on the Wake school superintendent search, a story on which he extensively quoted former board member Ron Margiotta. Margiotta must have been in on confidential board discussions, and some allege boardmember John Tedesco was the source. Says John:
Margiotta’s comments angered some board members, including chairman Keith Sutton. The board members didn’t dispute the accuracy of Margiotta’s comments. But they were upset because they believed a board member must have told Margiotta, who left the board at the end of 2011, about the vote for Merrill.
I am a staunch supporter of our “Sunshine laws” and the First Amendment. Anyone doing public business need to answer to the public for their actions. That said, the most important decision a public board can make is the hire of the administrator who will actually carry out its decisions. The law provides an exception to the Open Meetings law for these personnel decisions and rightfully so. Job candidates take a huge risk in interviewing for these positions because the likelihood is high that word will get back to their current employer.
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CASL synthetic field dedication
Sunday’s event was the dedication of new synthetic fields at CASL’s WRAL Soccer Complex. There were more staff, friends, and family there (including Kelly, the kids, and my parents) than there were members of the public but that was fine. I was glad that my parents could get a chance to see me speak while I was still chair.
Someone who’s heard my speeches before told me he liked my speeches because I usually have some numbers in them. My kids said they like how I include some humor. I think including some facts and jokes can help make a speech memorable.
The Board chair election is next month, so September will be the last official meeting I’ll lead. I’ve got one more year left to serve on the board but I’ll do so as a regular member. After that, who knows that the future will bring? It’s sure been fun being chair, though, and I appreciate the tremendous opportunity it’s provided to lead.
This is an astonishing development in the U.S., a nation that, until recently, carefully restricted the power of its domestic spying agencies by forcing them to submit narrow requests for spying authority to a court, which would issue a warrant if the government showed probable cause to believe that the surveillance target was engaged in some sort of wrongdoing. At this point, it’s clear those limits are gone. The United States is now a mass surveillance state.
I didn’t know about Lavabit until they pulled their own plug yesterday, but I deeply respect its owners’ refusal to play along to the NSA’s excessive and unconstitutional spying.
A Texas-based encrypted email service recently revealed to be used by Edward Snowden – Lavabit – announced yesterday it was shutting itself down in order to avoid complying with what it perceives as unjust secret US court orders to provide government access to its users’ content. “After significant soul searching, I have decided to suspend operations,” the company’s founder, Ladar Levinson, wrote in a statement to users posted on the front page of its website. He said the US directive forced on his company “a difficult decision: to become complicit in crimes against the American people or walk away from nearly ten years of hard work by shutting down Lavabit.” He chose the latter.
Techdirt points out the obvious: how can the entire legislative branch be crowing about detecting an imminent terrorist threat through intercepted emails and not be divulging sources and methods? Snowden pointed out that the NSA is spying on millions of innocent Americans but government leaders can tell Al Qaeda and the world that we’re reading their emails and it’s somehow okay?
Anyone else get the idea that the American public is being played for fools here?
The intercepted conversations last week between Ayman al-Zawahri, who succeeded Osama bin Laden as the head of the global terrorist group, and Nasser al-Wuhayshi, the head of the Yemen-based Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, revealed one of the most serious plots against American and other Western interests since the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, American intelligence officials and lawmakers have said.
So… revealing that we collect data on everyone somehow turns Snowden into a traitor, while having officials in the government tell the NY Times that we directly intercepted emails between Al Qaeda’s top leaders is somehow perfectly fine? How does that work?
David Cooke is retiring as Wake County Manager after a 17 year career there. I couldn’t help but think what Cooke might do after he retires, since I happen to know of a local opening for city manager.
Hmm … I wonder if Cooke has any plans?
Wake County Manager David Cooke announced Thursday that he plans to retire at the end of November.Cooke has worked for the county for 17 years, the last 13 as county manager."The past 13 years have been truly wonderful and gratifying," Cooke said in a statement. "I have been very fortunate to work with very capable and dedicated elected officials, smart and talented county employees and an innovative management team. Our collective efforts are what make Wake County a great place to live, work and play."
Let me preface this post to say that I support all the rights we Americans enjoy through the Constitution’s Bill of Rights. I put on a uniform and faced down America’s enemies in order to uphold those rights, so I take them very seriously.
Thus my support of our rights includes Americans’ right to bear arms. I’ve fired weapons many times during my military service and stood countless watches as my ship’s roving patrol, armed with a .45. Like it or not, guns are a reality in our country and I fully support the right to protect oneself and one’s property with whatever means are necessary.
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Helen Thomas, legendary White House reporter, died today.
Helen Thomas, whose keen curiosity, unquenchable drive and celebrated constancy made her a trailblazing White House correspondent in a press corps dominated by men and later the dean of the White House briefing room, died Saturday at home in Washington. She was 92.
Ms. Thomas covered every president from John F. Kennedy to Barack Obama for United Press International and, later, Hearst Newspapers. To her colleagues, she was the unofficial but undisputed head of the press corps — her status ratified by her signature line at the end of every White House news conference, “Thank you, Mr. President.”
I loved Helen Thomas. She was a reporter who wasn’t afraid to ask the tough questions – and to keep on asking them if she didn’t get a straight answer.
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Sen. Neal Hunt sponsored a bill stripping the Wake County Board of Education’s responsibility for school construction and giving it to the Wake County Commissioners.
In the Senate debate on the bill, Sen. Hunt claimed it was a “common sense bill” that would save taxpayers money. He cited an offer to purchase a school site that was twice the property’s appraised value.
The only problem is that the purchase was vetted first by a committee consisting of citizens jointly appointed by the school board and the Wake Commissioners. It wasn’t just the school board’s responsibility.
And do you think the inflated price had anything to do with the fact that the committee co-chair Billie Redmond’s Trademark Properties real estate firm stood to make $250,000 on the sale? Certainly not.
Ultimately, both boards rejected the offer and, in any case, the Wake Commissioners always have the last say in land purchases. So why the need for a separate bill? It’s just another example of the state butting into the business of local governments. These supposedly small-government Republicans are anything but.
