Follow-Up

There are 521 posts filed in Follow-Up (this is page 24 of 53).

Bibi’s Chutzpah | Foreign Affairs

Speaking of Foreign Affairs, I was delighted to see a writer make the same point about Israel as I did.

Israel is an ally, true, but Netanyahu needs to shut his piehole.

But it is Americans who ought to be incensed with Netanyahu. By insisting on red lines and threatening to launch a unilateral strike on Iran’s nuclear infrastructure, Netanyahu is trying to commit the United States to fighting a preventive war on Israel’s behalf. In effect, he is demanding that the United States do far more to protect Israel’s security than it does for any of its other allies. Netanyahu is also inserting himself into a U.S. presidential campaign to a degree unprecedented for the leader of a close American ally, implicitly echoing the Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s charge that the Obama administration is “throwing Israel under the bus.”

via Bibi's Chutzpah | Foreign Affairs.

N&O’s Steve Ford gets it right

I took a swipe at the N&O for its coverage of the firing of Tony Tata the other day and I stand by my criticism. If I’m going to point out the bad, though, it’s only fair that I should also praise the good.

Editorial page editor Steve Ford took up the issue in his column today and does so with a fairer, far more deft touch than most anything else I’ve read in the paper. Ford’s sober consideration of the issue was what I’d been looking for from the newspaper.

That I can say this even while not necessarily buying into every point he makes shows Ford struck the right balance. More of this, please.

Campaign consultant Perry Woods, who often pops up to assist Democratic candidates hereabouts, does his best to rebut the notion that the firing of Wake County school superintendent Tony Tata was an exercise in partisanship.

In a letter that we ran yesterday, Woods – noting he had advised all five of the Democrats who won seats on the school board last fall and who now have told Tata to make himself scarce – said that from a partisan political standpoint, the timing was wrong.

via Ford: The battle Tata couldn't win – Ford – NewsObserver.com.

Another unknowing Romney Facebook fan


A Facebook user posted this account in Facebook’s forums earlier today:

I was scrolling my feed two nights ago when I saw that my husband ‘liked’ Mitt Romney’s page. I whacked him in the head. He said, “I didn’t do that.” So we went immediately to his account and ‘unliked’ the page.

How can they do this? I know why they are doing it, though: media pundits are talking about social media ratings and how “everybody” is talking about Romney! No doubt they want lots & lots & lots of “likes” to his page, and it ain’t happening on its own.

See? He’s all about “APPEARANCES” and nothing about SUBSTANCE! These phony “likes” will not equate into votes, Mittens. Don’t count on it.

Apparently the Romney Facebook hacking continues.

Car thieves targeting transponder keys

Here’s a video from the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) showing (in general terms) how thieves are stealing cars protected with high-tech transponder keys.

Incidentally, the NICB is one of the agencies investigating last week’s discovery of a “chop shop” in Durham. Many of these high-end vehicles get shipped to Middle Eastern countries, which makes me wonder if this is what the man arrested in the Durham case, Samer Othman, had in mind.

N&O school coverage fails again to provide perspective

I was reading this N&O story about Wake school board members Kevin Hill and Keith Sutton providing background on Tata’s firing. The story by Thomas Goldsmith inexplicably ended with a quote from some random guy and included no context as to why what we think he says actually matters:

“I think the man got a raw deal,” said Arvin F. Dixon, 76, who lives just outside of Rolesville. “I think the school board should have been working together and taking care of our tax money like they ought to be.”

Who is this guy, Arvin Dixon? He’s not mentioned anywhere else in the article. Nowhere does it state whether he was one of many who called or emailed the board. At the age of 76, it’s safe to say that Mr. Dixon has no kids currently in school. Voting records show he is a white male and registered Republican who only sporadically votes in local elections.
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Chatham bunker served Cameron Village bunker

“Big Hole” bunker in Chatham County


Remember when I wrote about the secret AT&T tropospheric bunker in Chatham County, and how N&O reporter Jay Price knew it pointed to downtown Raleigh but didn’t know where? My blogging friend John Morris discovered that the other end of this Chatham bunker’s communications link was in the basement of the 401 Oberlin building in Cameron Village:

Two years after this testimony, one of the new buildings within Cameron Village housed a top secret facility with communications equipment and provisions to survive a nuclear disaster. There were many other similar installations across the country built at the same time.

John says Jay Price wrote about 401 Oberlin in a follow-up to his Chatham bunker story but the article doesn’t appear to be online.

Interesting spot for a top-secret communications facility, and a shame it’s no longer around.

Partisan? Where do we start?

“With this partisan decision, the board has now guaranteed that there will be far fewer great schools in Wake County,” board member Debra Goldman said. “I grieve for our children, our teachers and our staff. There will certainly not be the security and stability that the citizens of Wake County want.”

Yeah, Goldman grieves sooooo much that she’s canceling her political bid for State Auditor to focus on the Wake County school chirren.

What’s that? You say Goldman is only using the Wake Board of Education as a stepping stone to higher political office? Surely you jest! I’m sure John Tedesco is so outraged that he’ll drop his bid to become State Superintendent of Education, too, just so he can stay and set the Wake school board right. I mean, it’s not about him, it’s about the kids, right?

Someone please wake me when all the cheap political grandstanding is over.

via Ousting of Wake schools chief could jeopardize funding :: WRAL.com.

Tata’s culture of fear

Tony Tata


I’ve heard rumors from sources inside the school system that superintendent Tony Tata had created a “culture of fear” among teachers and staff. They say that people were afraid to speak out when something concerned them and those who stuck to their guns when they felt strongly about something were dismissed.

That’s no way to run a school system, or even an army brigade for that matter. I trust that we’ll here more of the reasoning as things progress.

Tata’s supporters and the N&O’s false balance

Does this look nonpartisan to you?

Above is a picture of Donna Williams, a former Republican candidate for Wake County School Board, out demonstrating in support of endangered school superintendent Tony Tata. Williams was one of about 30 demonstrators who attended yesterday’s rally, whom News and Observer reporters Thomas Goldsmith and T. Keung Hui called “self-described” nonpartisans:

At Monday’s meeting, a group of about 30 self-described nonpartisans gathered outside to oppose any move to remove the retired U.S. Army brigadier general.

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