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NCblue1

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NCblue1 last won the day on November 17 2022

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  1. I'm not sure NC is that unique. Edwards term as a senator was over when his sex scandal came out. If you look at recent politicians with sex scandals how about NY with Trump, Guliani, Elliot Spitzer, and throw in Andrew Cuomo (if you want to define it more broadly) over roughly the same time span. For an amusing but relevant take on why pols have sex scandals I recommend "King of the Mountain: The nature of political leadership" by Arnold M Ludwig. He compares the traits of politicians to traits observed among primate leaders.
  2. In 2020 Cal Cunningham, like John Edwards, had a sex scandal that probably cost him the election. In 2022 Cheri Beasley was on the defensive for much of the campaign, as I believe OrangeP47 was alluding to, over charges from Tedd Budd that she was lenient on sentencing sexual predators as a state judge. Her commercials weren't quite as bad as Christine O'Donnell's "I'm not a witch" ads but she could have done much better.
  3. Done. Good luck on the assignment.
  4. Most by genre, some by the dimensions of the book fitting on a particular shelf.
  5. I have a few ideas that I might actually write about, but there is one story that I wish I could write, but know that I cannot. I'd love to read it though if any of you are interested in writing it. It's a story about race, opportunity, history, international travel, natural disaster, war, and the circus. It starts out as a true story. When I was in grad school, I researched the events that led up to the building of the Panama Canal, and so I read the diplomatic correspondence from Latin America from the 1890s. There is a cable to Washington included in the foreign correspondence of an odd case. A consul reported a visit by a young black man who was being drafted into the army of a South American country who didn't have any papers but claimed to be an American. The man said that he was from AL or MS (I forget which) but joined a traveling circus taking care of some of the animals. You can well imagine in the deep south there were probably few opportunities for a young black man to advance or see the world. After a while the circus decided to tour South America until they were scattered by an earthquake. Most of the animals escaped, the performers drifted away, the young man tried to care for an elephant for a few days or weeks but couldn't manage by himself. It's unclear if he knew much Spanish, he likely didn't much money (if any), and his identification papers were lost. The country he was stranded in decided to go to war and drafted him. That's when he visited the American consulate. As it happened the consul had traveled through the deep South and recognized the young man's unique accent and cabled to Washington that he was able to identify him as American because of the accent. I tried to locate the man in later censuses to find out the ending of the story, but without success. Did he return to the US to the North, or perhaps back to a new circus, or did he decide to stay in Latin America in a country that wasn't at war and where there was more equality? The big difficulty would be in accurately writing the accent.
  6. @vcczarMadison is very low, I'm curious to know why?
  7. The property value question is a lot more subjective than generally stated. I am a property owner and if I were relocating and had the choice between equal 2 properties 1 next to a walmart and one not, I'd choose the one next to Walmart. Perhaps traffic would be worse, but wouldn't it be much more convenient to walk to walmart to get your groceries than get in a car, spend time driving, pay gas money, and hope your car doesn't get hit in the parking lot by a runaway carriage? Homeowner's associates also make dubious claims about protecting property values. I have a neighbor who put solar panels on the front of his house. He is a MAGA Trumper who believes climate change is a hoax, but for economic reasons thought solar panels would benefit him. He has a lot of trees in his backyard so the front yard is better for the panels. The Homeowner's Association claimed it would be an eyesore and hurt property values. I totally support his right to have panels and if I had a choice of equal properties I'd choose to live in a neighborhood with many solar panels over one that didn't allow any. In any event, property values haven't seemed to have diminished in our neighborhood since the solar panels were installed.
  8. Most Right wing - libertarian: Most zoning laws should be eliminated. If you own property, you should be able to do with it as you please. Most old school right wing - Everyone age 18 should serve a year in the military, although not necessarily combat roles. The armed forces need scientists, computer hackers and cooks too. Most left wing: a UK style universal health care system.
  9. DeSantis will have plenty of money, but I've heard he is a poor retail politician. That matters a lot in IA and NH. Phil Graham and John Connally had large war chests but didn't win anything. At this point DeSantis's seen as the candidate who can run both to the right of Trump on vaccines and anti-Disney bravado but can also consolidate establishment support as the not Trump candidate and hold Fox News, but this balancing act will be tricky to maintain in debates, and he didn't seem very nimble in the FL gubernatorial debate. If DeSantis and Trump both stumble, perhaps Nikki Haley can channel a Maggie Thatcher image. I could see her beating Biden, but if Trump runs 3rd party -and he may just to try to stay out of jail and continue fund raising - then Biden wins.
  10. I'd propose automatic immediate citizenship for any non-citizen and their family if they have served or are currently serving in the US military (that is if they wish to become citizens).
  11. I chose Washington and Hancock for Question #3 because if I had been alive then I would have been comfortable with Hancock's resume. With modern hindsight I would have chosen Adams among the choices you listed, but had I been an elector in 1788 and free to vote for anyone I would have voted for Washington and Franklin.
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