la liberté avant tout
Imagine you’re prepping a dinner party for 10 friends. You pull out your smartphone and fill your Amazon shopping cart with the best meats, vegetables and delectable cheeses. Then, a bottle of Californian Cabernet Sauvignon pops up as a recommendation. You read the reviews, scope out pictures of the winery, and add to cart. Finally,…
In Springfield, Missouri in August, President Donald Trump laid out the core motivation of his comprehensive tax plan: fairness. If Congress and the administration are serious about making America’s tax structure fairer, their first action should be to end the free ride enjoyed by large credit unions at the expense of banks and taxpayers. While…
North Carolina can no longer afford its Temperance-era alcohol laws. Across the state, a new generation of beer entrepreneurs are giving the Tar Heel State some much needed pride. Worth over $1.2 billion, our craft beer industry is boosting North Carolina’s position as the fastest-growing economy in the Southeast. But if we want to expand…
Without so much as a care, my family moved to North Carolina from the French-speaking Canadian province of Québec when I was a 5-year-old lad. The reason for our move was purely economic, and it has affected our lives for the better in innumerable ways. We learned all about the quirks of southern living and…
By Yaël Ossowski | Watchdog.org CHARLOTTE — The whole point of a Democratic Convention in North Carolina was to support President Barack Obama‘s effort to capture the state’s critical 15 electoral votes. But a funny thing happened on the way to Charlotte: the popular local Democrats who might show up at the president’s side — lending him their credibility…
Military access, incentives drive N.C. film industry By Yaël Ossowski | Gaston Gazette The cities of Belmont and Gastonia can boast of their role in an award-winning television series. Broadcast on the cable network Showtime, the series “Homeland” won two awards at this year’s Golden Globe Awards, one for best actress and another for best…
Does military’s relationship with NASCAR cost taxpayers? It is a sport which has never been ashamed to cater to nationalism. Sundays at a NASCAR race are awash with American flags donned on T-shirts, race cars and beer koozies. Thousands of fans camped out at the racetrack proudly fly the stars and stripes from the flagpoles…
It is a new battle for civil rights, say opponents of the gay-marriage ban slated for a popular referendum. Proponents, however, view it as the last defense in the fight to protect traditional marriage against the whims of a future Legislature or activist judge. Two months away from the vote on Amendment One, the opposing…
Gaston County Police officers were ecstatic when they unveiled the department’s shiny drone aircraft to the public in 2006. Equipped with low-light and infrared cameras, the unmanned aerial vehicle known as the “CyberBug” was promised to deliver sweeping surveillance, tactical operational support during raids, extensive crime scene photography and a bird’s eye view of hidden…
If the skies fail to yield any frozen precipitation in the next six to eight weeks, the greater Charlotte region could experience its first-ever winter without any snow. This is a stark contrast to last year’s abnormally snowy season, which left children celebrating multiple school closings and parents fretting dangerous and icy road conditions. According…