Triad Today

Flip Wilson was arguably one of the most popular comedians of the 1960’s and ‘70’s, and his signature routine was about how most Christians never take responsibility for their sins. Their excuse, he would say, is, “The Devil made me do it.” The fact is, none of us likes to own up to our mistakes. In 2006 when actor Mel Gibson was pulled over for drunk driving, he leveled an anti-semitic rant against the police officer. Gibson’s defenders said it was the alcohol talking, but his image in Hollywood was irreparably damaged. Two years ago, Roseanne Barr posted a late-night racist tweet in which she compared Obama aide Valerie Jarrett to an ape. Barr blamed her behavior on Ambien. Nonetheless, her hit TV show was cancelled immediately. Earlier this month, while competing in an iRacing event, 27-year-old racing star Kyle Larson called his white spotter the “N” word. Not surprisingly his sponsors pulled their funding, he was subsequently fired from his team, and he was suspended indefinitely by NASCAR. In Larson’s case, there was no alcohol or Ambien to blame, so when he posted a brief video apology, the question arose, “What exactly is he sorry for?” Is he sorry for offending an entire race of people, or is he sorry for losing his job?

I can’t know what was in Larson’s heart when he publicly used the “N” word, but I can tell you that, generally speaking, racist words don’t just slip out accidentally, nor have the feelings behind those words just suddenly surfaced for the first time. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. said of the incident, “If you don’t have that word in your vocabulary, you don’t have to be careful. If it’s not something you use, you never have to be concerned.” Darrell “Bubba” Wallace, NASCAR’s only African American driver, echoed that sentiment. According to The Charlotte Observer’s Scott Fowler, Wallace spoke with Larson via Facetime and told the suspended driver that it was “too easy” for him to use the “N” word, and that he has to “get it out of his vocabulary.”

Wallace also issued a public statement in which he said that the “N” word “brings many terrible memories for people and families, and brings them back to a time that WE as a community and human race have tried our hardest to get away from.” Wallace went on to praise NASCAR for its diversity program, and its efforts to shed its image as a “racist and redneck sport”. Obviously, though, NASCAR has a long way to go, not only in educating its drivers about culturally sensitive issues, but also in leaning on teams to hire more drivers and crew chiefs of color.

One team owner who didn’t need prompting to hire minorities is the King himself, Richard Petty. In 2017 Petty brought “Bubba” in to sub for his injured starter, Arik Almirola. Almirola then left the team, and Petty put Wallace behind the wheel of his legendary #43 car on a full-time basis.

It’s a shame that other teams haven’t followed Petty’s lead. It’s a shame that there are no black team owners. It’s a shame that more sponsors don’t demand that teams hire African American drivers. And it’s a shame that some people associated with racing still think it’s OK to use racist language. Perhaps these shortcomings are indicators that NASCAR hasn’t really changed at all when it comes to diversity. If so, perhaps it’s not fair to blame these folks for acting with prejudice. Perhaps the Devil makes them do it.

I have, on many occasions, used this column to excoriate Donald Trump for the irrational things he says and does, but last week he out did himself. He suggested that a person infected with COVID-19 could kill the virus by injecting disinfectant.  But even a stopped clock is correct twice a day. For example, Trump warned that when it comes to dealing with our current healthcare crisis, the cure must not be worse than the disease (Lysol injection notwithstanding). He’s not alone in that thinking.

Last month, noted health professional Dr. David Katz wrote an op-ed for The New York Times, in which he challenged the logic of keeping an entire population of people locked in their homes as a way of defeating COVID-19. Said Katz, “I am deeply concerned that the social, economic, and public health consequences of …schools and businesses closed and gatherings banned, will be long-lasting and calamitous, possibly graver than the direct toll of the virus itself.” Katz refers to extended “stay-at-home” orders as, “horizontal interdiction”, which requires “containment policies applied to the entire population without consideration of their risk for severe infection.” And that brings me to Governor Roy Cooper, and the damage he is doing to our state.

Last Thursday, Cooper held a virtual press conference to tell us that he is extending his stay at home order from April 29 to May 8. Then he unveiled a confusing, three phase plan for re-opening the economy which was even more virtual than the press conference. During Phase One, we’ll be allowed to get out more and buy a broader variety of goods. But wait a minute. He also said the stay-at-home order would continue in effect. So what happened to May 8? How can an order be extended to an end date, and then not end? Cooper also said that no more than 10 people will be allowed to gather. But what constitutes a gathering? Scores of shoppers now gather in the grocery store, and any number of people are currently allowed to wander through public gardens. Yet the Governor implies that, in Phase One, more stores will open and only 10 people can be in a park at the same time. If you think this is confusing, wait till we get to Phase Two, which is supposed to go into effect “2 to 3 weeks” after Phase One.

Surprise! The stay-at-home order that was supposed to end on May 8, and then was extended (in advance) through Phase One, is STILL in effect during Phase Two. Among other things, Cooper says houses of worship can re-open so long as they reduce capacity. But how exactly are pastors going to determine who to admit, and if one extra person is allowed inside, will local sheriffs shutter the church? Clearly, Cooper is the one with the diminished capacity. Meanwhile, restaurants and bars can re-open in Phase Two so long as they reduce their capacity. But there are two problems with that. First, many restaurants will go under by the time we get to Phase Two, and second, the ones who are still just barely surviving, won’t be able to stay afloat by cutting their number of patrons in half.

Phase Three is supposed to begin “at least 4 to 6 weeks” after Phase Two.

Congratulations restaurant and bar owners! If you are still in business after being shut down for four to five months, you can now increase your capacity. It appears that salons can also re-open at this point, providing the owner hasn’t already filed for bankruptcy. And, the Governor says he will increase the number of people who can ”gather”, but doesn’t specify what that number will be.

Now to the timeline. If you think that Phase One will begin on May 9, you are sadly mistaken. It might not start until May 20 or June 1, and that delay might push back the start of Phase Three to September 1. Why? Because Roy Cooper’s plan is moot and disingenuous, because he can change the rules and guidelines at any given moment, or, as he kept saying, “If we don’t meet the benchmarks”. But we’ll NEVER meet the benchmarks until Roy wants us to, because the health data he relies on can be interpreted forty ways to Sunday. For example, HHS Secretary Mandy Cohen says that the number of COVID-19 cases is still rising slightly. But the number of hospitalizations are on the decline. Translation? Nearly all of the people who contract the virus stay at home and get better. In fact, Dr. Katz says that 98% of people infected with COVID-19 do not require medical treatment, and that the small percentage of cases that do require such services are concentrated among the elderly who already have chronic illnesses. Logic would dictate, then, that those infected persons who stay isolated at home are no threat to anyone else. But if that’s the case, and if everyone else practices social distancing, then why keep putting restrictions on the ENTIRE population of North Carolina? Lt. Gov. Dan Forest, who is running against Cooper this fall, said his “one-size-fits-all approach for re-opening is not necessary for a state as large as North Carolina. This decision will needlessly crush businesses and destroy livelihoods.”

Don’t get me wrong. As a senior citizen, I’m acutely aware that COVID-19 is dangerous, and we need to keep practicing social distancing. We also need tight restrictions in place for nursing homes, and we can’t afford to fill coliseums and stadiums just yet. But economists predict that the national unemployment rate could be as high as 15% by September, and that would put us dangerously close to a depression. There are ways that small businesses CAN operate safely right now, and Roy Cooper knows it, but he’s going to keep stoking fear and moving the benchmarks until time to get re-elected, at which time his base will be grateful to him for keeping them safe through a crisis. Speaking for small business owners, I’m all for a phase-in plan, so long as it includes a plan for phasing out Roy Cooper on November 3.

If you put any credence in the Mueller report and its resulting prosecutions, then you know that Russians interfered with and influenced our 2016 elections. They did it largely by posting bogus news stories on social media in an effort to spread divisive misinformation. But you don’t have to be a foreign hacker to impact the way people vote. In fact, it may very well be that in this Fall’s elections, fake news and fake ads will take a back seat to a much more subtle and dangerous form of manipulation. It’s something I call “leveraged news”, and President Trump is benefitting from it right before our very eyes, and it’s all quite legal.

In 1934, the FCC created the Communications Act, a section of which included the so-called, “Equal Time Rule”, which required broadcasters to give the same amount of air time to opposing candidates. Refusal to comply with the rule could lead to a loss of license. Adherence to the rule would guarantee that a Radio or TV station couldn’t try and influence the outcome of an election by giving exposure to only one candidate. There are, of course, exceptions to the “Equal Time Rule”, those being if a candidate appears in: a legitimate news interview, a documentary, a scheduled newscast, or a live news event. And that brings me to Donald Trump and “leveraged news”.

After spending most of January decrying the Coronavirus as a hoax, and most of February down playing its seriousness, Trump decided to create a pandemic task force just like the one he had dismantled after taking office. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar was supposed to lead the task force, but was replaced on February 26 by Vice President Pence. Why? Probably because a few days earlier, Azar had warned the President about the serious threat of COVID-19 and that the nation needed to lock down, but Trump told Azar he was being an “alarmist”. Writing for the New York Times, correspondent Maggie Haberman opined, “With Mr. Pence in charge, the focus was clear: No more alarmist messages.”

And so, Pence began to hold daily briefings, accompanied by Drs. Birx and Fauci. Their updates were strictly clinical and strategically on point, with no hint of politics. There was no need for Trump to even show up, until, that is, two things got under his skin. First, Dr. Fauci became a media darling and was grabbing all of the attention. Second, with his rallies cancelled, COVID-19 spreading, and Biden’s lead growing, Trump knew he needed more visibility during the crisis. Say what you will about Donald, but the guy has a nose for news, and he stuck it squarely into the daily briefings.

Now, each afternoon, the President comes to the podium and struggles through prepared remarks, then goes on a disjointed rant in which he gives incorrect medical advice, lies about the distribution of PPEs and ventilators, lashes out at Governors and the CDC, and blames everyone from Obama to the World Health Organization for everything. He also brags on himself at every opportunity, and last week even showed a campaign-style video to try and make us believe he had handled the pandemic perfectly. The Wall Street Journal, a paper owned by Trump supporter Rupert Murdoch, said of The President’s daily TV show, “Mr. Trump seems to have concluded that the briefings could be a showcase for him. Perhaps they substitute in his mind for the campaign rallies he can no longer hold.”

And while Trump has been commanding a couple of hours of free airtime every day, Joe Biden is relegated to posting messages from his home, and hoping that the networks will carry them. That begs the question: Aren’t TV stations and networks violating the “Equal Time Rule”? Technically not, because Trump has turned the daily COVID-19 briefings into a “news event”, which is an exception to the rule. That means CNN and MSNBC are not required to give Joe Biden two hours of free air time every day, but it also means they are not required to keep carrying Trump’s daily political “rallies”. So I implore my colleagues to stop airing the briefings live, and, instead, edit together clips of just the crucial medical information, then run those sound bites on a delay basis. Refusal to do so means you are allowing the President to leverage the news in a way that is clearly unfair to his chief political opponent, and to any other down-ballot candidate with a “D” before their name. It also begs the question: Who needs Russia to interfere in secret, when Trump is doing it in plain sight?

Dudley High School and Wake Forest University each lost a good friend recently, and their loss was felt throughout the Triad, and far beyond. Harlem Globetrotter legend Freddie “Curly” Neal passed away on March 26, at the age of 77, and legendary basketball coach Carl Tacy lost his battle with leukemia on April 2. He was 87. Personality-wise, the two men couldn’t have been more different. Curly was a showman on the court. He revolutionized the art of dribbling and always had a smile on his face while he was baffling his clueless opponents. Carl, meanwhile, was quiet and rarely had a smile on his face, even when he was beating Carolina for the millionth time.

Carl Tacy was born in Huttonsville, West Virginia, and played basketball for Elkin and Davis College. The first 10 years of his coaching career was spent on the high school and junior college level, but then he broke into the Division I ranks in a big way, leading Marshall University to a 23-4 record, and an NCAA bid in his first year as head coach. But Tacy is best known for his thirteen seasons at Wake Forest, where he led the Demon Deacons to three NCAA appearances, two NIT bids, four “Big 4” championships, and a 222-149 record.

I first met Carl when he and his wife Donnie were in attendance at a Wake basketball game. I introduced myself and said, “Coach, the thing I’ll always remember about your career at Wake Forest is that you were the only man who could consistently beat Dean Smith’s Four Corners offense. How did you do it?” Tacy answered by relating a story to me. “One time right before a game, this young man came up to me and wanted to know how I always beat Dean’s Four Corners,” Carl said. “Well, what did you tell him,” I asked. “Nothing,” Carl said. “He was from Carolina.” It was the only time I ever saw Tacy smile. Some weeks later, I called him to see if he would appear on my Triad Today show, but he declined the offer. He didn’t want to be in the spotlight. That was Carl Tacy in a nutshell.

Curly Neal was born in Greensboro and was a stand-out on the Dudley High School basketball team. After graduating, he took his considerable talents to Johnson C. Smith, where he averaged 23 points per game. The Harlem Globetrotters came calling soon afterward, and Curly (an ironic nickname for a man with a shaved head) spent the next 22 years entertaining millions of fans throughout the world. He retired from the Trotters in 1985 after having played in over 6,000 games in 97 countries (USA Today). In addition to his induction into the Johnson C. Smith Hall of Fame, Curly was also inducted into the NBA Hall and had his jersey number retired by the Globetrotters.

I met Curly in 1976 when I was working at WFMY-TV. Neal, Meadowlark Lemon, and the gang had come to Greensboro for another of their lop-sided matches against the hapless Washington Generals. Prior to the game, I filmed a NewsReel 2 comedy feature in which Curly let me try-out for the Globetrotters. Needless to say, the audition didn’t go well. My ball handling was so inferior that, at the end of the segment, Curly and his teammates walked away on cue and left me standing alone on the Coliseum floor. It was one of those moments you never forget, and never want to.

Basketball fans will remember Carl Tacy and Curly Neal for their respective contributions to the world of sports. I, on the other hand, will remember the former for flashing a rare grin in my direction, and the latter for keeping me from being the first white Globetrotter.

I may not be good at very many things, but I’ve always been pretty good with words, so it is particularly frustrating to me that I can’t find just the right word to describe Senator Richard Burr. “Congenial” comes to mind because that’s what he is whenever you meet him in person. “Humble” is another word that might describe Burr because not once have I ever known him to brag about himself, not even when the opportunity to do so presented itself, like when he appeared on my Triad Today television show. But something happened to Richard when he went to Washington. Instead of taking his place at the table of public service, he took his turn at the feeding trough, and enriched himself in ways that were unavailable to his constituents. In doing so repeatedly, Burr has forced me at times to use less flattering words to describe him. Words like “greedy”, and “corrupt”. But his latest transgression makes even those words seem inadequate when describing his arrogance and abuse of power.

In December of last year an animal virus jumped into a human host in Wuhan, capital of the Hubei province of China. The Trump administration was aware of the fast-spreading coronavirus, and would have had time to prevent its spread into America had not our Idiot-in-Chief dismantled Obama’s Pandemic Task Force, and then implied the disease was a hoax. Nevertheless, On January 15, an American man returned from China, landed at the Seattle airport, and brought the pandemic with him. On January 24, Richard Burr and other senators were briefed about the spreading virus by Dr. Anthony Fauci. Three days later, according to Reuters, Burr, as chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, began receiving daily updates on COVID-19. Then, just coincidentally, Burr began to liquidate his stocks, including all of those in the hotel and hospitality industry. On three separate days, January 31, February 4, and February 13, he made a total of 33 stock trades worth an estimated $1.7 million dollars! And while trading on insider information is a crime, what makes these transactions so odious is the fact that several days before Burr’s stock dump, he wrote an Op-Ed for FOX news in which he assured the public that America was, “better prepared than ever before to face emerging public health threats.” Burr knew that was a lie, but he needed to protect the value of his investments until he could unload them. After he did, Burr came clean when speaking to the Tar Heel Circle, a private group of high-rollers. Said Burr of the coronavirus, “It is much more aggressive in its transmission than anything we have seen in recent history.” He would know, because, in addition to his privileged briefings, Burr also wrote the Federal Pandemic All-Hazards Preparedness Act of 2006.

When news of Burr’s insider stock trades broke, critics from both sides of the aisle began calling for him to resign. Those included Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, North Carolina Democratic Party chief Wayne Goodwin, and conservative FOX News host Tucker Carlson who said, “There is no greater moral crime than betraying your country in a time of crisis, and that appears to be what happened.” Meanwhile, Scott Huffman, a candidate for Congress in the 13^th district, was angry with Burr for only warning big donors of the impending pandemic. Speaking with the Winston-Salem Journal, Huffman said, “Shame on you [Richard] for not stepping up and sounding the alarm so we could have started preparing then.”

I’m really glad to see that so many people are finally getting “woke” to Burr’s long standing proclivity for profiteering, but some of us have been calling for Richard to resign for over a decade. That’s because, among other things, he has consistently voted with the interests of industries who he should have been regulating. For example, he sat on committees to oversee the FDA, Medicare and Medicaid, while (according to STATNews.com) companies that manufacture drugs and medical devices donated a million dollars to his last campaign. Burr also voted against every gun reform measure. Why? Because the NRA gave his campaign $7 million dollars. He also voted time and again to keep low-cost prescription drugs out of the US market, while accepting over $400,000 from Big Pharma. And, not surprisingly, he was one of only three senators to vote against the Stock Act, which prohibits members of Congress from trading on and profiting from inside knowledge of the stock markets.

According to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, Burr’s net worth in 1994 was $189,000, but by 2004 it had soared to over $2.6 million. That’s an increase in net worth of 500% during a period when, according to Ballotpedia, the average American household net worth increased by less than one percent. Get the picture?

Burr’s latest money grab was the most blatant of his political career because it comes at a time when Americans are being laid off and locked in, as thousands of their neighbors die from a horrible virus. So, here I am still searching for the one word that best describes Richard Burr, and the word I’ve settled on is “predator”, which is derived from the Latin for “plunderer”. These days we put predators in jail. I’m just saying.
 
 

The year was 1928 and Philo Farnsworth was in a celebratory mood as he and his wife Penn took a leisurely drive back home to Los Angeles from San Francisco, where he had just secured financial backing for his new invention. Though it would be another twenty years before the masses could appreciate Philo’s gift to them, he had a vision for how television would impact their lives. Turning to Penn, Philo predicted that TV would become the world’s greatest teaching tool, and that people would be able to watch news as it happened. Farnsworth would be proud to know that his invention is coming through in a crisis.

Each day as the COVID-19 outbreak continues to grow and claim lives, our local television stations keep us abreast of the latest developments, including ever- changing guidelines and closings, as well as ways to protect ourselves. It is a daunting task because those who gather and report the news must do so without putting themselves at risk. I wondered how Triad-area television stations were operating under such pressure, and how this health crisis is affecting the way they do business in general. For answers, I reached out to three general managers, Michelle Butt (WXII), Jim Himes (WGHP) and Larry Audas (WFMY).

Longworth: What precautions have you taken to protect your employees against the spread of the Coronavirus, and have those measures affected the way you do business?

Audas: We value the well-being of our WFMY News 2 family, and took a number of cautionary steps early on. We have taken further steps since, and now, most station duties including news and sales, are being done remotely, away from the station. All sales work, for example, is carried out by staffers in their respective homes. Reporters, photographers, some producers and anchors are also working away from the building. Whether in the field or among a limited number of staff, we are maintaining strict social distancing guidelines on who and what we contact, and we are not entertaining guests inside the station. All of this has prompted a series of technological changes for a business that is part of the electronic media, but our technical folks have helped us achieve a working model aimed to carry WFMY News 2 through the days ahead.

Butt: We have full departments working remotely including sales, marketing, business, and programming. Our reporters and photographers also no longer come into the station for work. We have isolated other employees in the building by re-configuring work spaces or access to certain areas of the building, and have shrunk our footprint personnel-wise by producing newscasts differently.

Himes: As with all local businesses we’re working to minimize the risk to our employees and the public. We are working remotely whenever possible and reinforcing proper hygiene to all employees, and including those messages on air and on line. We’re also using technology to practice social distancing in our news gathering, as well as for internal meetings at the station.

Longworth: Have area lock-downs, closings, and cancellations affected your bottom line and viewership?

Audas: Viewership is up as the crisis has brought most of the community together, seeking more and detailed information on local and national developments. Traffic to our website and our social sites has never been more robust. As such, some advertisers, like home repair, and carry out restaurants, have found customers seeking their services. Others are not open, and their advertising has been delayed until they reopen.

Butt: Viewing is up, both locally and nationally. People are hungry for information. It’s why we carry all of our federal, State, and local news conferences, and have expanded our local late news product Monday through Friday.

Himes: Our news viewership is up by 15% to 40%, and online page views in the 50% to 70% range. In all matters of great importance, viewers turn to their local broadcasters for news that impacts their lives. Just as during the September 11^th attacks, the 2008 recession, tornadoes and floods, FOX8 is here to serve and inform. Those events also reshaped the landscape for our local businesses, so we are working diligently to help our partners as they work through difficult times.

Longworth: What role should local TV stations and news operations play during a crisis of this nature?

Audas: WFMY News 2 is working to connect our community. That’s our mission on any given day, but now more than ever. Everything we do is about our viewers, digital users, customers and friends in the community. Information is at a premium, and we are working to make sure we deliver for the Piedmont Triad each and every day.

Himes: It is our mission to be there with accurate and up to date information in order to keep communities informed and safe. As such, part of our coverage has included broadcasting and streaming daily briefings from federal, State, and local officials.

Butt: It is our job as local broadcasters to offer resources, like how your family can access food, or how you can receive help as a small business person. And when this ends, we will be on the front lines of the recovery effort. From helping businesses reestablish their footprint, to helping our non-profits fill the gaps that lost income brings about. Our job is to serve in the best interest of our community, and that’s something all of us here at WXII and WCWG are proud to be a part of.

Philo Farnsworth envisioned television as a resource for helping people and keeping them informed. Now, over ninety years later, our local TV news stations are staying true to that vision in the most difficult of times.

Not long ago I found myself needing to get in touch with the campaign director for a United States senator who was running for president. Rather than go through various state, local, and national party headquarters and spending 20 minutes on the phone being put on hold and transferred from one person to another, I chose to call the senator’s office in Washington DC. I identified myself to the senator’s media relations person and asked, “I’m trying to get in touch with the senator’s campaign director. Can you give me his phone number?” “I’m sorry,” replied the staffer, “But we’re not allowed to give out any information regarding a political campaign.”

It seemed like a rather odd response given the benign nature of my question, so I called the offices of several other senators and congressmen who also happened to be running for president, just to see if my first encounter was a fluke. It wasn’t. Every D.C. staffer I spoke with gave the exact same reply.

I suppose I should be grateful that our elected officials adhere to such a high standard when it comes to the separation of politics and serving the public interest, except that everything they do is about politics, and everything about their adherence to that standard is hypocritical. Take for example, the so-called Senate impeachment trial of Donald Trump. Prior to the start of that trial, all 100 senators had to stand and swear an oath that they, as jurors, would be impartial. They then walked to the well of the chamber and signed their names to a document which memorialized the oath they had just sworn to. The problem is that nearly every one of those senators had previously gone on record as having either supported or opposed removing the President from office. That means those senators deliberately lied and violated the oath they swore to. Those who had previously announced how they intended to vote on impeachment, should have been immediately recused from serving as jurors. But, as we well know, there are two different standards of behavior in America. One for the 535 men and women who serve in Congress, and one for the rest of us. Imagine for a moment that you’ve been called for jury duty in a trial about domestic violence. During voir dire, you are asked your opinion of men who beat their wives, and you say, “They should all be executed.” In the real world, you would be admonished by the judge and excused from jury duty. Why? Because you have publicly admitted to a prejudice about the case. Not so with our highly moral senators. They all got to bring their prejudices into the impeachment trial, and no one was reprimanded or removed for their hypocrisy.

I guess we’re living in a new era where an elected official can’t be held accountable, or, to paraphrase attorney Alan Dershowitz, “the election of anyone is in the public interest.” Translation? You can do anything you want to do to get re-elected, because your victory is in the public interest. That convoluted theory played out successfully as the Senate voted to acquit the President even though he had withheld military aid to Ukraine unless that country’s president launched an investigation into Trump’s likely opponent in the 2020 election. They also gave Trump a pass on obstructing Congress, giving him and future presidents the right to quash subpoenas for witnesses and documents.

And so, nearly 100 senators, Republicans and Democrats alike, made up their minds before swearing an oath to be impartial, and now our system of checks and balances is broken, perhaps permanently. It’s all so sad and so hypocritical. But hey, we can at least take comfort in the fact that Senate staffers won’t give you the phone number to their campaign office, because that would be partisan, and we can’t have that, can we? It wouldn’t be in the public interest.

Ronald Reagan used to say that the difference between a recession and a depression is that a recession is when your neighbor loses his job, and a depression is when you lose yours. That analogy also applies when a global health crisis occurs. Back in January when Americans first heard about the Coronavirus outbreak in China, most of us wrote it off as just a “Chinese Flu”. It wasn’t real to us. It didn’t affect us. But then, when COVID-19 invaded the United States, and later caused our favorite events to be cancelled, we admitted it was a pandemic. Suddenly the virus was real to us, and was directly affecting our lives. No ACC tournament. No High Point Furniture Market. No Tanger or RiverRun, no school and no proms. Even churches started cancelling Sunday services. Perhaps it’s just human nature to only care about something when it lands in your back yard, but it’s also true that our fears and frustrations about the coronavirus have been exacerbated by mixed messages, mismanagement, and incompetence from a federal government that should have seen this coming, and should have been better prepared.

The previous administration was prepared. That’s because President Obama created a Pandemic Response Team under his National Security Council, a team which dealt effectively and proactively with the Ebola virus. But guess what? After taking office, Donald Trump dismantled the Pandemic Response Team, and has also proposed major funding cuts to the CDC. And so, instead of having a team in place to get out in front of COVID-19 back in early January, the Trump administration had to start from scratch. To make matters worse, there were unnecessary delays in responding to the crisis because we had a president at the helm who can’t seem to grasp facts or tell the truth. At first he said the coronavirus was “a hoax” perpetrated by the Democrats and the liberal media (Donald Jr. even chimed in by saying that Democrats wanted millions of people to die in order to deny his father a second term in office). Once Trump realized the virus was not a hoax, he announced that it had been contained (it hadn’t). Then he said it would die out in warm weather, and, “Like a miracle it will disappear.” Our commander-in-chief then advised anyone who had the virus to go on into work as per normal. Oh yes, and he assured us that everyone who needed to be tested could be tested, even though tests weren’t readily available. He also said that we would have a vaccine within a few months, even though experts said it would take more than a year to develop. And with typical Trump bluster he told us, “This virus will not have a chance against us.”

Beth Cameron, who once led Obama’s Pandemic Response Team, told CNN that if Trump hadn’t disbanded her group, our government would have gotten ahead of the coronavirus crisis early on. For example, we knew early in January that Wuhan China was the epicenter of a potential pandemic, and a response team already in place could have stopped all flights from China. Instead on January 15, a Washington state man arrived at the Seattle airport from Wuhan, and he became the first person to bring COVID-19 to our shores. From there we now have nearly 3,000 cases reported (including 23 here in North Carolina) and 60 deaths resulting. The obvious conclusion from which we can draw is that early, decisive action could have prevented the virus from getting here in the first place. Instead we are now trying to mitigate the spread of the virus with unprecedented closures and cancellations.

Trump isn’t responsible for creating COVID-19, but he is responsible for the delays that allowed infected individuals to enter our country. As such, voters will decide this fall if Trump’s handling of the crisis warrants his removal or renewal, but this is no time for political speculation. The main thing now is for everyone to exercise common sense. Wash your hands often with soap and warm water, stay away from crowds, and stay home if you’re feeling sick. And if you want accurate information about the virus, including updates on testing, visit the special CDC website Coronavirus.gov. Stay vigilant, and one day, “like a miracle, the virus will disappear.”

Last week, Yes! Weekly paid tribute to “Wonder Women of the Triad”, of which there are many. In fact, our area is not only replete with female leaders of various businesses and organizations, but we also have a pretty good track record of electing women to public office. Greensboro has a female mayor, and several Triad counties regularly vote for women to represent them in the state legislature. We keep returning Virginia Foxx to Congress and, this fall, it’s likely we’ll send Kathy Manning to join her. Up until six years ago, Triad voters helped to elect back-to-back female United States senators, and in 2016, the Triad voted overwhelmingly for Hillary Clinton. But surrounding counties and the rest of our state went for Trump, and that brings me to last week’s press conference by Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, in which she suspended her campaign for president.

A few short months ago, Warren was considered a favorite for snagging the Democratic nomination. A few months prior to that, California Senator Kamala Harris enjoyed that same status, and for a while, the Democratic field included six women. And yet, just days after Super Tuesday (or as Joe Biden called it, “Super Thursday”), the Democratic party is left with two old white men, one of whom will face off against another old white man this fall.

Those of us in Guilford and Forsyth counties can feel proud that we keep an open mind when it comes to gender politics, but what the hell is wrong with the rest of our state? After all, women in North Carolina outnumber men by 4.8 million to 4.6 million, and 51% of voters are women. Meanwhile, North Carolina now ranks 7^th in the nation for number of businesses owned by women. Yet, political pundits blame sexism for why we never elect a woman president. My wife Pam says it’s not about sexist men, but rather, women who are prejudiced against their own gender. “Most women won’t vote for a woman,” she said. Perhaps that’s why Bernie Sanders is right when he allegedly told Warren that, “A woman cannot get elected president.”

Now, apparently, there is proof that Pam and Bernie are correct, because last week the United Nations released a global study that said 90% of women hold some form of bias against other women. Referred to as the Gender Social Norms Index (GSNI), the UN report found that over 50% of women believe that men make better political leaders. Pedro Conceicao, who heads up the UN’s Human Development office, told CNN, “…Gender gaps are obvious, particularly those that challenge power relations.”

Perhaps if Bernie can moderate his views and exude some modicum of warmth, or if Uncle Joe can get through the next few months without misidentifying the days of the week, then one of them will be the Democratic nominee, and he will defeat Trump this fall. If that happens, we’ll most assuredly have a female vice president who will stand a good chance of occupying the Oval Office four years from now. If so, then Elizabeth Warren will be vindicated in the pinky promise she made to thousands of daughters across the country. “I’m running for president,” she would tell them, “because that’s what girls do.” Maybe so, but only if those girls vote for other girls.

As I noted in last year’s “Wonder Women of the Triad” edition, I owe everything to the first two women I ever met. The first was Dr. Mary Griffith. In the 1950’s, Dr. Griffith supervised medical students at Baptist Hospital in Winston-Salem, and was one of the first women to be named to the medical school faculty. She also brought me into the world, with help of course, from the very next Wonder Woman I was introduced to…my Mom, Charlotte. Of those two women, the former spanked me once, and the latter spanked me as needed. Born Martha Charlotte Lee Arnold, Mom graduated Gray High School in 1941 where she was a stand-out basketball player, and had a flair for creative writing. After marrying my Dad, Mom was a tireless volunteer for the cancer society, and long-time Sunday school teacher. Since meeting Mary and Mom in March of 1954, I have crossed paths with thousands of Wonder Women, many of whom I interviewed on my Triad Today television program. Here are just a few of those remarkable women that I met over the past year.

Kathy Manning, Rhonda Foxx, and Laura Pichardo comprised an elite group of Wonder Women who threw their hats into the ring to run for Congress in the newly formed 6^th district. Foxx, a Democrat, and Pichardo, a Republican, were underdogs in their respective primaries, yet they had the conviction of their beliefs and the courage to subject themselves to scrutiny, just for the opportunity to go to Washington and fight for the folks back home. Foxx, a former Congressional Chief of Staff, is passionate about reforming the criminal justice system and making it work equally for everyone. Pichardo, an accounts analyst and the daughter of Mexican immigrants, wants to reduce the federal deficit, and move the nation toward renewable energy. Unlike political newcomers Foxx and Pichardo, Manning has been to the Congressional rodeo once before when she tried to unseat Ted Budd two years ago. This time around, Kathy began her 2020 campaign as the odds-on-favorite to win the Democratic nomination. Yes, she had the money to buy lots of TV ads, but over the past 30 years, she has mainly spent her time and money in helping to bring jobs to the area and create school readiness programs for disadvantaged kids. Most recently she spearheaded the effort to build the new Tanger Center for the Performing Arts. If elected to Congress, Kathy will fight for all Americans to have access to healthcare, and the ability to buy prescription medicines without going broke in the process. Regardless of their political ambitions, the future is bright for Foxx, Manning, and Pichardo, and we are all better off for having them make their mark here in the Triad.

Sharon Joyner-Payne is Vice President of Corporate Communications for Inmar, and a tireless advocate for encouraging girls and young women to learn about and pursue a career in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math. As a STEM mentor, Sharon is involved with Inmar’s all girl’s robotics team, oversees Inmar’s robotics summer camp for girls, and hosts an annual “Empowering Girls Day” in which area high school girls shadow women executives.

As president of the Winston-Salem based Action4Equity, Kellie Easton is an advocate for equal educational opportunities, especially for minorities and disadvantaged kids. In order to advance her cause, Kellie and her team work to identify areas for improvement in the public school system, then makes recommendations that can facilitate those improvements. Kellie also monitors civil rights violations in local schools and academies.

As executive director of Girl Scouts Carolinas Peaks to Piedmont, Lane Cook oversees programs and activities in a 40 county area, serving over 12,000 girls throughout Central and Western North Carolina, and enlisting the help of over 6,000 volunteers At a time when the beleaguered Boy Scouts of America have tried to shore up their numbers and improve public relations by recruiting girls into their fold, Cook has been steadfast in reminding parents that their daughters are best served by the empowering leadership skills they obtain through a girl-centric environment.

In the two and a half years since being named Winston-Salem Police Chief, Catrina Thompson has worked with residents, businesses, and local agencies to improve public safety, and strengthen relationships among and between various groups in the community. Before ascending to the top spot, Thompson served for 26 years in the department, including as assistant chief in charge of detectives and school resource officers. She now leads a department of 570 officers, 173 support staff, and oversees an annual budget of $ 75 million dollars.

For NFL fans outside of North Carolina, Kelly Proehl may be best known as the wife of Super Bowl champion receiver Ricky Proehl, but around the Triad she is increasingly becoming known for her work with the P.O.W.E.R. of Play Foundation, which she co-founded with her husband. Last summer Kelly presided over the opening of Guilford County’s first all-inclusive playground which will accommodate all kids including those with physical and mental disabilities.

Finally, a shout out to my favorite Wonder Woman, Pam Cook, my wife of sixteen years, who, as president of her own public relations firm, helps area non profits and others promote and advance their vital missions. I love and admire her dearly, even though she says that Dr. Griffith didn’t slap me hard enough 66 years ago.

Throughout much of our history, Triad area residents have been represented by at least two Congressmen. But now, thanks to various court rulings and legislative maneuverings, Greensboro, High Point, and Winston-Salem will all fall into the newly formed 6^th District, as well as all of Guilford County and much of Forsyth. The new alignment favors a Democrat, so Republican incumbent Mark Walker declined to seek another term. As a result, two Republicans and five Democrats filed for the open seat, and they will seek their party’s nomination in the March 3rd primary.

While still a senior at Winston-Salem State University, Democrat Derwin Montgomery became the youngest person ever elected to Winston-Salem City Council, where he served three terms. He is now completing his first term representing the 72^nd district in the North Carolina House. Derwin is also director of Bethesda Center for the homeless in Forsyth County. Montgomery appeared on Triad Today this past weekend. Here are highlights of our conversation:

JL: Why are you running for Congress?

DM: I am in this race because with all we see happening in Washington, D.C., we’ve got to have a voice in the 6^th district fighting for everyday folks. That’s who I am, that’s who I have been. And once you get to Washington, if you don’t have an understanding of everyday people before you go there, you’re not going to learn it when you get there.

JL: Once elected, what will be your priority issues?

DM: Folks are very concerned about healthcare, and I’m one who supports us moving toward universal healthcare. I think the Affordable Care Act was a good step in the right direction, but the fact is, at the time, President Obama put universal healthcare on the table, but Democrats took it off the table because they couldn’t agree on moving forward.

JL: I understand that you’re a big proponent of universal Pre-K. Why?

DM: Yeah because the data is clear that we have to start earlier. One of my first jobs out of college was working in Head Start, and I saw first hand what happens when you invest in early education, and you prepare folks to move into the public school system. We’ve failed so may of our young people because we don’t provide universal Pre-K that prepares everyone on an equitable footing when they start off.

JL: The plight of the homeless is also important to you.

DM: The work I do every day is working with the homeless in our community, and it really shapes my political understanding, and how I approach policy, through the lens of equality and justice. I came across a veteran who was dishonorably discharged from the military for behavioral health issues which were never addressed. I engaged with a senior who had no family support and was solely dependent on his social security check, and because of that he lost everything. I have contact with families, like the mom and dad who work everyday , but because they are only making $7.25 an hour, they’ve been evicted from their home. They show up at our place with everything they own in black trash bags.

JL: Can you help correct those issues as a Congressman, or is it something that can only be addressed locally or at the State level?

DM: The fact is I love the work that I do, but it’s a band aid because we’re serving as an emergency service to help folks, and we don’t deal with the core structural issues, like insuring that we have pay equity for folks. $7.25 is not enough. We need to move the minim wage up to at least $15 an hour. We need to look at social security benefits for our seniors and insure that the system is stable. Those kinds of actions get taken up at the federal level.

JL: What is it about your background and experience that will make you an effective Congressman?

DM: I’m the only candidate who has served at both the local and State level. I understand how policy impacts folks on the ground, and how it impacts folks at the State level. I’m the only person in this race who has that experience.

For more information, visit DerwinMontgomery.com.

Throughout much of our history, Triad area residents have been represented by at least two Congressmen. But now, thanks to various court rulings and legislative maneuverings, Greensboro, High Point, and Winston-Salem will all fall into the newly formed 6^th District, as well as all of Guilford County and much of Forsyth. The new alignment favors a Democrat, so Republican incumbent Mark Walker declined to seek another term. As a result, two Republicans and five Democrats filed for the open seat, and they will seek their party’s nomination in the March 3rd primary.

Democrat Kathy Manning is a graduate of Harvard University and the University of Michigan Law School. She was a partner in a Greensboro law firm for fifteen years before starting her own business, and she has been a tireless community servant for the past 30 years, working on bringing jobs to the area, and school readiness programs for disadvantaged kids. Most recently she helped spearhead the effort to build the new Tanger Center for the Performing Arts. This is Kathy’s second run for Congress, having been defeated by Ted Budd two years ago in what was then the 13^th district. Manning appeared on Triad Today this past weekend. Here are highlights of our conversation:

JL: Why are you running for Congress?

KM: Well I took on a tough race in 2018 because I was so deeply worried about the future of this country, and I wish I could say all of the issues I was worried about, from healthcare, prescription drug prices, to the environment, to gun violence, to women’s reproductive rights, to jobs, and high quality education for all of our kids, I wish all of those things had been solved, but they haven’t. Things have actually gotten worse.

JL: Trump’s proposed budget contains cuts in Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, and Food Stamps. Your thoughts?

KM: I think it’s ironic that he gave a State of the Union address that was so misleading, and made it seem like he was really good for the country, but his budget shows what he is really all about, and it’s going to be devastating for people all across this district, and all across the country.

JL: I know access to healthcare is a personal thing for you and your family. Does this mean you are in favor of Medicare for All?

KM: You’re right. This issue is personal to me because of the fight I had getting the medication that my daughter needed when she was diagnosed with a chronic illness. Everywhere I go and tell that story, I have people lining up to tell me about the struggles they have paying for their medication. I met a woman in Winston-Salem last week who told me she had just been diagnosed with an illness that required special medication. She’s on Medicare and yet this medication cost her $2,100 dollars a month. I see this problem day after day. We worked so hard to get the Affordable Care Act in place and it protects people like my daughter with pre-existing conditions. I think what we need to be doing is building on that, building on the ACA, and I think we need a robust public option. I would start by allowing people to buy into Medicare at a younger age.

JL: What is it about your background and experience that will make you an effective Congresswoman?

KM: I have lived in this district for more than 30 years. I’ve raised my children here. I have worked as an immigration attorney, and I’ve worked on all kinds of projects to make our community better. I have a proven track record of leadership and of being able to bring people together to get tough things done. Those are the leadership qualities I want to take to Washington, so that I can get things done for the people of this district.

For more information, visit KathyManningForNC.com.