Trump has come to Chapel Hill. The federal Tax Cuts & Jobs Act, signed into law in December 2017, created an investment vehicle to allow the very wealthy to avoid paying taxes. The idea was presented to the public as a way to attract new development to high-poverty areas. A thousand such areas were identified […]
All posts in category Politics
Whose opportunity?
Posted by Nancy Oates on April 8, 2019
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2019/04/08/whose-opportunity/
R.I.P. DOLRT
If the Orange County commissioners vote at their April 2 meeting to discontinue pursuit of the Durham-Orange Light Rail Transit line, and Durham County commissioners do likewise (the agenda of their April 8 meeting is not yet online), the crushingly expensive light rail project will be packed away, perhaps for good. After GoTriangle spent $137 […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on April 1, 2019
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2019/04/01/r-i-p-dolrt/
Repairing the breach
Did you read the Rev. William J. Barber II’s recent editorial in The Washington Post? If not, take time to read it now — https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/how-ralph-northam-and-others-can-repent-of-americas-original-sin/2019/02/07/9aef18ec-2b0f-11e9-b011-d8500644dc98_story.html — and you can skip the rest of my blog post. I will simply add underscoring and exclamation points to some of the main points in Barber’s eloquent piece. Barber […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on February 11, 2019
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2019/02/11/repairing-the-breach/
Where are the Republicans?
When I turned 18, I registered to vote as a Democrat, and I haven’t wavered since. So why did I feel uneasy when I went to vote last week and saw a string of Democrats on the ballot running unopposed? Orange County, with the vast majority of its population residing in the southern part of […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on October 29, 2018
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2018/10/29/where-are-the-republicans/
Vote like it’s finals
After my first child was born, I considered making a career change that would involve going back to college for several classes. I lived in New York City at the time, and my babysitter was a student at a different college than the one I attended. All of us relied on public transit to get […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on October 22, 2018
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2018/10/22/vote-like-its-finals/
Taking a stand on Silent Sam
Chapel Hill has its own version of Colin Kaepernick in UNC Chancellor Carol Folt. Though instead of taking a knee, Folt took a stand — on whether Silent Sam should be allowed back on the pedestal in the university’s front yard. Up to this point, I’d been disappointed that Folt had been so tentative in […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on September 10, 2018
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2018/09/10/taking-a-stand-on-silent-sam/
ID’ing the Enemy
Faithful readers may have noticed that Chapel Hill Watch did not appear among the list of 350 news outlets that ran an editorial rejecting Donald Trump’s dissing of the media. No political agenda here. I totally agree with the editorial published by The Boston Globe. I simply went on vacation last week, a real vacation […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on August 20, 2018
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2018/08/20/iding-the-enemy/
One State Away
I took four flights last month, and from my vantage point of Zone 4 in the gate area, I watched all the high-mileage passengers board first. They were the dealmakers flown by their companies to move business forward and generate revenue. On all four flights, those in the privileged first-to-board line were almost exclusively white […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on August 13, 2018
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2018/08/13/one-state-away/
Affordable Leaves the Station
American philosopher Eric Hoffer would have celebrated his 120th birthday last week, had he not died just shy of 85. Among his memorable insights, he noted: “Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket.” His intuition came to mind as I read one sentence tucked neatly into […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on July 30, 2018
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2018/07/30/affordable-leaves-the-station/
ICE on Ice?
An email circulated recently asking elected officials to sign a letter in support of abolishing ICE, the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. I read it and sighed. Once again, pressure is on us to perform some gesture that maybe looks like we are doing something for a righteous cause but in reality would do […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on July 16, 2018
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2018/07/16/ice-on-ice/