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Latest Stories

Route 340 Closure Begins Early In The Morning On September 12

Route 340 Closure Will Affect Traffic For Three Months

Route 340 Closure Traffic Will Hit Jefferson County And Surrounding Region

Childcare Options Needed In Jefferson County

Appalachian Heritage Festival At Shepherd University To Highlight Family And Community

School Attendance Matters For Academic Skills

State Legislature Meets For Special Session In August

West Virginia Legislature’s Meeting Schedule

Hammerhead Worm Has Odd Habits

Shepherdstown Battlefield Preservation Association Receives $2.5 Million In Funding

Moulton Family Transfers 82 Acres To Expand Local Park

Grandparents Day Has West Virginia Roots

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In Print

Observer 2023-08 cover

Dr. Ray Smock

Dr. Ray Smock served as the Historian for the U.S. House of Representatives from 1983-1995 and is the (recently retired) former director of the Robert C. Byrd Center for Congressional History and Education at Shepherd University. He has published two books: Trump Tsunami: A Historian’s Diary of the Trump Campaign and His First Year in Office and American Demagogue: Critical Essays on the Trump Presidency.

Bearing Witness to the Trump Presidency

April, 2020 Tagged With: book review, Donald Trump

black and white photo of Richard smock in a somber military uniform next to his smiling young son ray smock.

I do not hate Trump. I am appalled by him. There is a difference. I see Trump as a massive and dangerous symptom of a political disease that has been festering and growing in this country for most of my adult life. Ideological extreme partisanship, now fueled by social media, is as bad for our political well-being as the forest fires in Australia were bad for the entire ecology. Read the Full Story >>

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