@bhorner3.bsky.social
N.C. journalist, former publisher & editor (Sanford Herald, Chatham News + Record), reader, traveler, e-cyclist, Jayhawk, word collector. PopPop to Char & Henry. Projects: collaborating on memoir; writing about rural N.C.; N.C. Local News Workshop.
Remembering Claude Street's imperturbable pressroom leadership at The Sanford Herald
open.substack.com/pub/billhorn...
Perspective from my fellow Jayhawk, Bill Kurtis: On the streets of Minneapolis, protesters call out ICE forces. Cellphone videos are a powerful ally. kansasreflector.com/2026/02/11/o...
Kansas has its own free speech hero worthy of honor. Have we forgotten about William Allen White? kansasreflector.com/2026/02/09/k...
Cartoon by Pulitzer winning cartoonist @andertoon.bsky.social
#MLK
"Trump’s middle finger is the exclamation point punctuating his inability to tolerate any dissent, receive any criticism, shrug off any insult. Coupled with that defensiveness is an insatiable need for affirmation and adulation."
Donald Trump’s Middle Finger www.nytimes.com/2026/01/19/o...
Marion County agrees to pay out $3M for newspaper raid, expresses regret kansasreflector.com/2025/11/11/m...
‘Kismet’ brought Molly Griggs to Fayetteville. Acting talent is taking her everywhere else. Here's my profile of Molly for CityView. www.cityviewnc.com/stories/moll...
1) Democracy does not defend itself
2) An attack on one person/entity or one tactic never stops there
3) If you stand up to bullies, who often are unprepared or unqualified to defend their position, your chances of winning are high.
Undaunted: The Associated Press open.substack.com/pub/contrari...
I'm immensely proud of Maydha and thankful to have had the chance to work w/her at both the Chatham News + Record & in Fayetteville. Massive congrats to her for officially (finally!!!) getting the EIC position @ City View!
A note from CityView’s Editor-in-Chief www.cityviewnc.com/stories/a-no...
If you're in a newsroom, you need this. From E&P: Mastering editing: The key to stronger media writing www.editorandpublisher.com/stories/mast...
Attending the #ncruralsummit, and I asked a keynote speaker after a presentation about whether they've studied the potential impact of DOGE cuts on rural N.C. The response: In conversations w/Republican lawmakers, the word basically is: We're alarmed, too, but we're afraid to speak out against Elon.
I was recently talking to someone about this administration, and said it's a clear case of a scarcity mentality vs. an abundance mentality. Trump HAS to win, and that means someone else HAS to lose — the U.S. be damned.
For JD Vance, Europe Really Is the Enemy open.substack.com/pub/yaschamo...
On the Trump administration's dispute with the AP: "It's about hassling the press and showing who's boss and pushing around the ‘lame stream media...' It's just asserting who's the big dog, and ‘you all take orders from me,’ and you know that's the Trump model. It's also the authoritarian model..."
A sneak peek at my March "Rural Route" column for BusinessNC magazine...
In a flood the zone world, WaPo is doing its own version of flood control. (And it's customizable.) A nice accompaniment to the "trump dump" browser folders I've created to keep up. @washingtonpost.com
When our president says, “I’m the only one who can do this,” he’s absolutely right. An insightful listen.
A cartoon cabinet and a Congress of louts. And this guy…
Raskin: "Yesterday, Donald Trump banned the Associated Press, a 179-year-old newspaper organization, from the White House because it declines to call the Gulf of Mexico the "Gulf of America." This is straight up press censorship based on retaliatory viewpoint discrimination."
This is how a democracy collapses: "A senior official at the Federal Emergency Management Agency instructed subordinates to freeze funding for a wide array of grant programs Monday, just hours after a federal judge ordered the Trump administration — for the second time — to stop such pauses."
Exactly. Except that maybe it’s vengeance first, dominate second.
That this is happening in my state, and that Republicans continue to endorse Jefferson Griffin's ridiculous ploys, is hard to fathom. It's like when bad satirical theater becomes real life. || The Courts Must Stop This Judge From Stealing an Election www.nytimes.com/2025/02/06/o...
I'll be a part of this conversation on Feb. 21 through the University of Nebraska, along with my friend Buck Ryan and a couple of fellow Jayhawks. Register here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
An important listen about Trump and journalism.
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/f...
The problem I’m struggling with isn’t just that so many Republicans are low-information voters. It’s that even when confronted with the truth, and proof of the truth, they refuse to believe it. How do journalists mitigate that - and to help change the narrative that feeds their collective mistrust?
There's a reason democracies don't let people who tried coups back into power.
