Jeffrey C. Billman
Detroit Metro Times
Durham, NC, United States
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Past articles by Jeffrey:
Short-term populism has long-term consequences
If you’re not familiar with Mark Robinson, you will be soon. → Read More
Democrats need to do more than fundraise and say ‘see you in November’
No sooner had five Supreme Court justices — four men, four appointed by presidents who lost the popular vote, three confirmed by a Senate that represented a minority of the country, two credibly accused of sexual assault, one occupying a stolen seat — declared that women were no longer in charge of their own health care choices, the texts and emails began pouring in. → Read More
The myth of violent, liberal cities
It’s become an article of faith on the right that liberal cities are debauched and violent — a myth that is too often repeated by mainstream sources → Read More
Fox News is gaslighting America
What I most clearly recall from the media ethics class I took as an undergrad — yes, there was such a thing, and yes, this was two decades ago — was the idea that the media can’t tell you what to think, but it can tell you what to think about. → Read More
Last week proved just how illegitimate the Supreme Court is — and how much damage it can do
Amid the racist spectacle of Ketanji Brown Jackson’s confirmation hearing and Ginni Thomas’ wackadoodle insurrectionist text messages, the Supreme Court’s alarming decision in a Wisconsin redistricting case didn’t get the attention it deserved last week. → Read More
Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson defended some bad people. Republicans think that should keep her off the Supreme Court.
According to Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson — President Joe Biden’s nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court — has a soft spot for pedophiles. → Read More
After the Virginia loss, Dems are almost certain to take a bad situation and make it worse
The worst thing about Terry McAuliffe’s loss wasn’t the fusillade of journalists churning out pre-writes of Democrats’ midterm obituaries, or the schizophrenic New York Times... → Read More
Why no one’s happy with Biden’s historic first year
By the end of the week — if the House and Senate can get the infrastructure and reconciliation packages across the finish line — the Biden White House will have pushed through more than $4 trillion in pandemic stimulus and social, climate, and infrastructure spending in less than 10 months. → Read More
The problem with avoiding the culture war
With apologies for starting consecutive columns in North Carolina, let me tell you a story about the state’s first Black lieutenant governor, Mark Robinson. → Read More
The most radical Supreme Court in American history just announced its intentions. Get ready.
In May, when the Supreme Court agreed to hear Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, it was clear Roe v. Wade’s days were numbered. Mississippi... → Read More
Ron DeSantis has not reconsidered
On paper, George McClellan was as good a commander as the U.S. had available in 1861. → Read More
The White House is pressuring Facebook to crack down on vaccine misinformation. That’s a bad precedent.
Though Voltaire never said, “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it” — the quote originated with a 20th-century historian summarizing the 18th-century French philosopher’s beliefs — the sentiment behind the maxim has always been a bedrock upon which liberal democracy stands. → Read More
The 2024 primary is going to be a race to the bottom of hell
On June 10, the Florida Board of Education banned the teaching of critical race theory from its classrooms, with Gov. Ron DeSantis accusing educators of “trying to indoctrinate with ideology.” The 1619 Project was, of course, banned. → Read More
What to do with a problem like Joe Manchin?
On Saturday, The New York Times reported that Donald Trump's chief of staff, former North Carolina congressman Mark Meadows, spent the waning weeks of the administration pushing the Justice Department to investigate the Trump campaign's election conspiracy theories. → Read More
The First Amendment is losing
This hasn't been a great month for the First Amendment. It hasn't been a great year or decade either, to be honest. → Read More
The end of Roe
From the second news of Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death broke, this was the play. This was the reason Republicans muscled through Brett Kavanaugh despite the... → Read More
Being canceled is its own reward
By dint of personality and profession, I’m pretty close to a free speech absolutist. I imagine most writers are. Restraints on artistic or literary expression... → Read More
The Republican Party believes that too many of the wrong people are voting
Imagine thinking like Joe Manchin. After losing an election, a Republican president invents baseless allegation of fraud — conspicuously pointing the finger at heavily African... → Read More
You can’t fight a war on voting rights by compromising
By the end of the 19th century, Wilmington was North Carolina's most populous city, and as a shipping hub, among its most prosperous, too. It was an unusual place: majority Black, with a thriving Black middle class and — most important — a multiracial government. → Read More
The Republicans are not a serious party
There's a harsh truth underlying this political moment, one we do immense harm to continue pretending doesn't exist. Unfortunately, it's not the kind of thing our institutions — in particular our media — are designed to reckon with, conditioned as they've been by the fetishization of bipartisanship as a virtue unto itself. → Read More