“We can’t be divided by race, religion, by tribe. We’re defined by those enduring principles in the Constitution, even though we don’t necessarily all know them.”

Is it just one more small-town business that has closed its doors?

Federal prosecutors have charged more than 50 people involved in cheating and bribery in order to get their children admitted to some of the nation’s most prestigious colleges and universities such as Georgetown, Yale, Stanford, University of Texas, University of Southern California and UCLA…

“America is addicted to political contempt.”

In the twilight of his political career, Ronald Reagan made the media rounds to discuss his administration, legacy and unfinished business. During several of these interviews, Reagan went out of his way to criticize the longtime practice of gerrymandering electoral districts for partisan advantage.

“I didn’t leave the Democratic Party, it left me.”

Some Americans have much higher income and wealth than others. Former President Barack Obama explained, “I do think at a certain point you’ve made enough money.” An adviser to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez who has a Twitter account called “Every Billionaire Is A Policy Failure” tweeted, “My …

“Michael was born after an 11-hour labor. ...” The foster mother described Michael as a good baby who enjoyed being talked to and who smiled and cooed.

In its lead editorial Wednesday, The New York Times called upon Congress to amend the National Emergency Act to “erect a wall against any President, not just Mr. Trump, who insists on creating emergencies where none exist.”

If you own it, you control it. That’s what it means to enjoy a property right, in a nutshell. It is a right safeguarded by North Carolina’s constitution as well as the 14th amendment to the federal constitution, among other provisions.

“Politics stops at the water’s edge” was a tradition that, not so long ago, was observed by both parties, particularly when a president was abroad, speaking for the nation.

How did a close election in the Ninth Congressional District of North Carolina lead to this column?

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez claims that “the world is going to end in 12 years if we don’t address climate change.” The people at the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change agree, saying that to avoid some of the most devastating impacts of climate change, the world must slash carbon em…

“We are living in perilous times, when the hearts and souls of men are sorely tried. Never before has the future been so utterly unpredictable; we are not so much in a period of transition with belief in progress to push us on, rather we seem to be entering the realm of the unknown, joylessl…

Jussie Smollett, “Empire” actor, claimed that on Jan. 29, two masked men identifying themselves as Donald Trump supporters and using racial and homophobic insults attacked him. Smollett said the assailants yelled “This is MAGA country,” bashed his face, crushed his ribs, splashed him with bl…

In the Venezuelan crisis, said President Donald Trump in Florida, “All options are on the table.” And if Venezuela’s generals persist in their refusal to break with Nicolas Maduro, they could “lose everything.”

Arguing that GOP-tiled districts had rendered elected lawmakers “usurpers” who “did not represent the people of North Carolina,” Wake County Superior Court Judge Bryan Collins has struck down two constitutional amendments approved by state voters last fall: one requiring a photo ID to vote a…

Do you remember the important North Carolina connection to “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn,” one of America’s most loved novels?

“Apparently you have a superhuman marriage,” actress Margaret Colin (“Independence Day”), said to Abby Johnson after an early screening of the movie “Unplanned,” which tells Johnson’s conversion story. Abby was a clinic director of a Planned Parenthood in Texas, and through a series of event…

Driving on North Carolina's mountain roads can be frightening for a newcomer. With much of my adult life spent in the open spaces of West Texas, the lack of wide shoulders is unnerving; unless you count the three inches past the white line as a wide shoulder. A small comfort was gained by hu…

Both of America’s great national parties are coalitions.

Why would anybody want to spend months walking from the South Carolina coast, up through the Piedmont to present-day Charlotte and then back east to the North Carolina tidewater?

Frederic Bastiat, a French economist and member of the French National Assembly, lived from 1801 to 1850. He had great admiration for our country, except for our two faults — slavery and tariffs. He said: “Look at the United States. There is no country in the world where the law is kept more…

It’s hard to be a native New Yorker and be stunned by much of anything that you see on the city’s streets. But the other day I was in for quite a surprise.

If the pollsters at CNN and CBS are correct, Donald Trump may have found the formula for winning a second term in 2020.

If the pollsters at CNN and CBS are correct, Donald Trump may have found the formula for winning a second term in 2020.

Would you like to know why U.S. sanctions against companies owned by Russian billionaire and businessman Oleg Deripaska are being lifted?

Ten states and Washington, D.C., have legalized the recreational use of marijuana. Twenty-two other states, along with U.S. territories Puerto Rico and Guam, allow marijuana to be used for medical purposes. Let’s examine some hidden issues about marijuana use.

On Bleecker Street in Manhattan, you can find both a Planned Parenthood clinic and a boutique for pregnant women. According to Vogue, the store, Hatch, “is arguably the first of its kind, in that it was designed specifically for pregnant shoppers: Changing rooms have a size chart to help you…

If the most important factor determining the welfare of workers is the growth rate of the economy, that has policy implications that free-market conservatives, among others, will welcome.

To manifest his opposition to President Donald Trump’s decision to pull all 2,000 U.S. troops out of Syria, and half of the 14,000 in Afghanistan, Gen. James Mattis went public and resigned as secretary of defense.

North Carolina’s most important emergency is not the next federal government shutdown. Nor is it a fake national emergency on the nation’s southern border.

Suppose I declare that I am a king. Should you be required to address me as “Your Majesty”? You say, “Williams, that’s lunacy! You can’t prove such nonsense.” You’re wrong. It’s proved by my declaration. It’s no different from a person born with XY chromosomes declaring that he is a woman. T…

Not everything is about Donald Trump, the next presidential election or politics in general. Not everything has to do with right and left and Republicans and Democrats.

I am a fiscal conservative. I recognize that government at all levels has important tasks to do, tasks that make us all better off if done at a reasonable cost. I think the list of such defensible tasks is necessarily short, however, for both constitutional and practical reasons, and that Am…

The single most important issue during every legislative session is the approval or revision of North Carolina’s state budget. For the 2019-20 session about to get underway, the political implications of the budget debate are going to be nearly as important as the policy implications.

Rush Limbaugh's December 2018 Limbaugh Letter has an article titled "Demonizing White Men." It highlights — with actual quotations from people in the media, academia and the political and entertainment arenas — the attack on white men as a class. You can decide whether these statements are d…

There is a secret about North Carolina’s early colonial days, something even more disturbing and horrifying than traditional slavery.

I’ve been going to the March for Life since I was in college. After a few years of getting lost in the crowd, my new tradition is to run or Uber ahead to the Supreme Court, spend some time with the demonstrators outside and then meet the march as it comes up the hill. And, oh my goodness — i…

“Pay the soldiers. The rest do not matter.”

Seventy-one years ago this month — in January 1948 — a black, 17-year-old high school dropout left home. The last grade he had completed was the 9th grade. He had no skills, little experience and not a lot of maturity. Yet he was able to find jobs to support himself, to a far greater extent …