Oh Shut Up

 

"[Mitch] McConnell said he hopes Trump will ‘pay a price’ for Jan. 6 role, new book reveals"

--Headline, The Hill, 10/21/24

 

New Hope in Transylvania County

 

My friend Deda Edney in Transylvania County sent me this video featuring seven Democratic candidates running for school board and county commission there -- an unusual approach, as some local candidates resist running as a unified group, a partisan team, but in this Transylvania instance, it's a positive presentation for community building and solidarity.

I've watched the Democrats in Transylvania for years now and feel their pain. Deda's husband Sam Edney ran a great but losing race for House Dist. 113 in both 2018 and 2020. He's now the party chair in Transylvania, and he's not given up rallying Democrats and carrying the flag for progressive change. This year's team of local candidates proves it. Deda and Sam are the type of local leaders that state party Chair Anderson Clayton has called for in every corner of rural North Carolina.

Two years ago, Transylvania elected to its school board a trigger-happy Christian nationalist and a Moms-for-Liberty-adjacent woman. The defeat of reasonable Democratic candidates would depress the energies of any activist, as Deda wrote after the 2022 losses, but the Democrats of Transylvania didn't stop, didn't give up, kept recruiting good people to put their names on the ballot under the banner of Democrat. These folks represent the best of hope, endurance, and a vision for the future that doesn't include hurting other people.

Trump-Appointed Judge Rules Against MAGA

 

Judge Myers, during his UNC Law School days

This was breaking news on Friday, and it's big as legal news goes. Will Doran, for WRAL:

The Republican Party has failed in its attempt to throw nearly a quarter of a million North Carolina voters off the list of registered voters for this year's elections. A federal judge shot down their request Thursday, the same day early voting began.

The lawsuit was based on two legal claims. Judge Richard Myers II, the chief district court judge for the Eastern District of North Carolina and an appointee of former Republican President Donald Trump, ruled against one claim and declined to rule on the other. He said there's no reason to believe that either judges or private citizens, including political party leaders, have any right to throw people off the voter rolls in North Carolina. State law explicitly gives that duty to elections officials — who months ago investigated allegations connected to the lawsuit and found nothing....

Judge Myers was the Henry Brandis Distinguished Professor of Law at Chapel Hill prior to his appointment to the Federal bench by Trump. And he obviously cares more for the Constitution than some people.

Master Class in the Art of Timing

 

That's one of the best put-downs I've ever seen.

How Bad Is Michele Morrow?

 

Nobody pays attention to newspaper endorsements any more. People may have once cared what leading state newspapers all across the nation editorialized about, and whom they endorsed for office, but who cares these days? Sure, the endorsed candidate cares, his team, his family, a few close friends, but nobody else. Nobody reads any more. They look at their phones, and newspaper endorsements don't even register.

But some newspaper evaluations of candidates who didn't win endorsement just beg for memorialization. The NandO today:

For a moment, forget all the worst things you know about Michele Morrow. Forget that she advocated for a pro-Trump military coup on Jan. 6, or that she called for the public execution of former president Barack Obama, or her disturbing video post about seeing people who didn’t look or sound like her in a local retail store. 

Take away all of that — alongside so many other troubling and bizarre comments — and what are you left with? A Republican nominee to lead the North Carolina’s public school system who has no experience working in public schools, no children who were enrolled in public schools, and no experience in leadership or public office. 

Extremism aside, Michele Morrow is wholly unqualified to hold the office she seeks, more so than any major party state superintendent candidate in our state’s history.

Early Voting, Day 1 in NC -- Photographic Evidence

 

Weaverville

West Charlotte

Wake County

Durham

Black Mountain

Unspecified "Small Town NC"

The Early Voting Line at AppState, 1st Day

 

This photo is time-stamped 12:15 p.m. today. The line continued behind the photographer and down a long hallway.

NC's GOP Commissioner of Agriculture Says Trump's Tariffs Will Be Terrible for NC

 

Steve Troxler, right; Sarah Taber, left

Steve Troxler, the popular Republican Commissioner of Agriculture -- who put the "ol" in "good ol boy" -- told Cory Vaillancourt of the Smoky Mountain Times that he knew Trump's plans to slap tariff's -- even 100% tariffs! -- on many products coming into the country, to punish and torment nations he wants to punish and torment -- that those tariffs would end up hurting the markets for North Carolina farmers. Those farmers are some of Trump's most dependable supporters. (Why? Because of God and guns? Abortion? Queer-fear? Whatever. They support Trump, not their own best interests.).

Trump's proposed tariffs "would amount to a 20% tax on American consumers and likely prompt retaliatory tariffs by trading partners." How do we know? Two days after Trump's effing inauguration in January 2017 -- two days later -- Trump withdrew the U.S. from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a free-trade agreement with Pacific Rim producers. And started a trade war with China which soon cost North Carolina farmers (tobacco growers, particularly) collectively $1.8 billion (Carolina Forward). Sarah Taber, Troxler's Democratic opponent, calls that "a bad deal that cannot be recovered from.”

But here's Troxler on Trump's newest bad deal:

“We have the most efficient system for the production of agricultural products anywhere in the world, but tariffs do get in the way, and we went through the trade war and retaliation with China, and that is not beneficial to us. There’s no question,” he said. “But the question becomes, how do you get fair trade? A lot of our products going into these other countries are hit with very high tariff rates to be protected, and so you got to negotiate to the point that is fair on both sides. And in many cases, we’re being slapped with these tariffs, and it kills us.” (Emphasis most assurdedly added)

As Agriculture Commissioner, Sarah Taber will be a more current authority on all kinds of profitable, alternative crops not being grown here, including legal cannabis (if the NCGA ever catches up with the rest of the country and the 21st Century). Taber is an educated and experienced expert in alternative aquaculture and greenhouses, and she's full of the energy it'll take to sell innovations to the most traditional cohort of our very diverse society. 

Taber has interesting things to say about saving North Carolina farmland from disappearance, which even Steve Troxler thinks is our number one problem going forward. Says Taber,

“It is not population growth that’s causing our farmland to go under. That’s what happens to farmland after farms go out of business. When farms go out of business, it’s that they’re not making as much money as they should be,” she said. “Farmers here in North Carolina are often making as little as half as much per acre as their peers in Georgia and Virginia. That’s us not putting our land to work effectively.”

If North Carolina’s farms were more profitable, Taber says, "developers would have fewer tracts available for development."

Rachel Hunt Promises To Clean Out Mark Robinson's Office with Hydrogen Peroxide

 

I'm Trying to Say "No!" To Doomscrolling

 

I left my computer yesterday afternoon, went downstairs, and said to Pam, "I've got to stop the doomscrolling! It's beginning to disarray my equilibrium."

It's not just the New York Times and other national outlets dedicated to making sure Democrats don't feel good about anything. It's Democratic candidates too. I get somewhere in the neighborhood of 300-400 emails a day (no lie!) from panicky Democratic candidates in virtually every state -- Sherrod Brown, running for reelection to the U.S. Senate in Ohio, emails me a dozen times a day -- fundraising emails from campaigns that obviously think poor-mouthing is the best way to get my sympathy and unclasp my purse. "It's All Over!" screamed one this morning. Jon Tester from Montana just told me seconds ago, "The odds against my campaign are stacking up!" 

If it's all over, guys, if the odds are simply impossible, get out of my in-box and stay outta my head!

Here are headlines from this morning, along with their sub-heads, collected in 10 minutes of scrolling:

Harris Has Raised $1 Billion. Can She Get Donors to Give More?

The sheer amount of money Kamala Harris has raised in her run for president has had unintended consequences.

As Black Voters Hesitate on Harris, Democrats Race to Win Them Over
With a frenzy of activity, the vice president and her allies are trying to strengthen her support with Black voters, whose growing alienation the party’s leaders had not confronted directly until now.

A Pro-Trump Ad Looks to Turn Harris’s Record as a Prosecutor Against Her
The spot from one of the biggest super PACs backing Donald Trump portrays Kamala Harris as a radical leftist, especially on crime — channeling a G.O.P. law-and-order message that dates back to Nixon.

‘Pennsylvania is such a mess’: Inside Team Harris’ unusual levels of finger-pointing
Many of the state’s most well-connected Democrats have been worried about the operation for months.

Hurricane fallout threatens to hinder voting

Opinion
Democracy woes: When getting indicted wins votes

Kamala Harris is warning Polish Americans not to vote for Donald Trump. Many will.
Harris’ invocation of a war 5,000 miles away seems to be missing the target in the key swing state of Pennsylvania.

Laundering lies: Glenn Youngkin shows how easily media is manipulated to sanewash Donald Trump

They just beat the hell outta you. Guess I should be more like the MAGA crowd, read nothing, depend on my favorite broadcasters and podcasters and radio yakkers to keep me anesthetized and insulated from any news that questions my private reality, or just go watch Judy Justice all day until this goddamn election is over.

Wesley Harris 30-Sec. Spot

 

Wesley Harris is the Democrat running for NC State Treasurer. He's out with a new ad attacking his Republican opponent. First TV spot I've seen this fall -- and admittedly, I don't watch Network TV -- that uses humor.

The excellently researched PamsPicks makes a point of Republican Brad Briner's stupid parroting of MAGA bullshit, particularly promising to get "woke" awareness out of the state's investments. WTF does that even mean?

The Helene Flood in Watauga County--Video

 

This reality about roadways is true all across the 13 NC counties in the Helene Flood of 2024.

Early Voting Hours Shortened, But Days Are Added

 

Kara Haselton, The Appalachian

Last evening the Watauga County Board of Elections -- given leave by the General Assembly to do so -- shortened early voting hours from the previously mandated 8-7:30 p.m. down to 9-5, classical banker's hours which do working people no favors. Especially in a flood zone

But to make up for that slight to inclusiveness, the Watauga BOE added early voting on two additional Saturdays, 9-5, and two Sundays, 1-5. (After all these centuries, we still genuflect to the Church.)

But that being said, get thee to a polling place! Five early voting sites will be operational: 

The Watauga County Administration Building at 814 W. King Street.

Blowing Rock American Legion Building at 333 Wallingford Street, Blowing Rock.

Deep Gap Fire Department at 6583 Old 421 S, Deep Gap.

Plemmons Student Union at 263 Locust Street.

Western Watauga Community Center at 1081 Old US Highway 421, Sugar Grove.

Jeff Jackson For the Win

 

...against the extremist, "bathroom bill authoring," election-denying Dan Bishop! One of the most important races on your ballot ... for Attorney General of North Carolina.

Even Virginia Foxx Voted for FEMA Funding

 

But who didn't from North Carolina? Dan Bishop, who now wants to be our state's top law enforcement official, and Sen. Ted Budd. Looking for people to blame if there's not enough FEMA money to help all of Western North Carolina? I suggest you start with Bishop and Budd. 

(Foxx is famous for being only one of 11 U.S. House members who refused to vote for Katrina aid in 2005. She was criticized roundly for that vote.)

We've Made a Note

 

Changes Coming Probably to Watauga Voting Plans Because of Helene

 

The State Board of Elections (SBOE) voted unanimously yesterday to allow the 13 counties most impacted by Hurricane Helene to change their early voting plans -- both locations and hours of operation -- because of the devastation. Some polling locations in some counties are so damaged as to be unusable.

The SBOE also empowered local boards to change e-day locations and hours.

Dunno yet what this means for Watauga, as the Watauga BOE is set to meet tonight and make those decisions.

The 13 counties:

Ashe
Avery
Buncombe
Haywood
Henderson
Madison
McDowell
Mitchell
Polk
Rutherford
Transylvania
Watauga
Yancey

 

Signs of the End of the World

 

"I will never get over the fact that MAGA tries to act like they are anti-establishment when they are literally voting for the embodiment of shameless, greedy billionaires who want to pay less in taxes and keep them stupid and angry. Holy shit did these people get swindled."

-- Brett Meiselas 

The billionaires are both determined and weirdly ecstatic at the prospect. Having a backdoor into the White House will be worth more billions.

Meet Darren Staley

 

I've been a fan of Darren Staley, a Democrat running a brave race in what's considered an impossible Republican Senate district in Wilkes. Staley is one of those rare working-class voices that Democrats need. I interviewed him here on WataugaWatch back last December.

Staley has released a biographical video that is well worth watching. If you want to support him, here's his ActBlue site.

The Talented Mr. Ripley

 

You have to hand it to J.D. Vance. He lied with such smooth aplomb. His delivery was so measured, so apparently judicious, that a casual, uninformed, low-info observer would not notice how comprehensively deceptive many of his statements were. For example, I never would have known had not Mr. Vance told us that Trump actually saved Obamacare. Or that Trump peacefully turned over power to President-elect Joe Biden. Apparently, we're supposed to be in awe that Trump didn't stage another coup-attempt on January 20th. (We were actually thankful Trump churlishly refused to attend the actual inauguration ceremony, choosing instead to slink out of town back to Mar-a-Lago. Don't let the door etc.)

MODERATOR: "[Gov. Walz] mentioned that President Trump has called climate change a hoax. Do you agree?"

VANCE: "Look, what the president has said is that if the Democrats, in particular Kamala Harris and her leadership, if they really believe that climate change is serious, what they would be doing is more manufacturing and more energy production in the United States of America, and that's not what they're doing."

That was slick! Trump has repeatedly said climate change is a hoax. Vance's dodge completely misrepresented the record: "Under the Biden-Harris administration, the U.S. produced a record amount of oil last year — averaging 12.9 million barrels per day. That eclipsed the previous record of 12.3 million barrels per day, set under former President Donald Trump in 2019. Last year was also a record year for domestic production of natural gas." (NPR)

VANCE: Speaking about his and Trump's expressed desire to deport millions of brown people: "...I think you [should] make it harder for illegal aliens to undercut the wages of American workers. A lot of people will go home if they can't work for less than minimum wage in our own country, and by the way, that will be really good for our workers who just want to earn a fair wage for doing a good day's work."

Over the last 12 months the foreign-born workforce has grown by nearly 1.5 million people while the native-born workforce has shrunk by 768,000 people — mostly due to retirements, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Were it not for the influx of immigrant workers, the U.S. economy would likely be shrinking.

The share of working-age men who were in the workforce in August was 89.5% — higher than all but one month during the Trump administration. The share of working-age women who were in the workforce last month was the highest ever — 78.4%.

VANCE: "A lot of fentanyl is coming into our country .... Kamala Harris let fentanyl into our communities at record levels."

It's an outrageous lie that Kamala allowed fentanyl into the country. In reality, close to 90% of illicit fentanyl is seized at official border crossings. Immigration authorities say nearly all of that is smuggled by people who are legally authorized to cross the border, and more than half by U.S. citizens. Virtually none is seized from migrants seeking asylum.

VANCE: "If you look at what was so different about Donald Trump's tax cuts, even from previous Republican tax cut plans, is that a lot of those resources went to giving more take-home pay to middle-class and working-class Americans. It was passed in 2017 and you saw an American economic boom unlike we've seen in a generation in this country."

Complete nonsense. According to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, more than half the savings from the 2017 tax cut went to the top 10% of earners, and more than a quarter went to the top 1%. Despite Trump’s frequent claims to the contrary, the 2017 tax cut was not the largest in U.S. history. However, it was big enough to blow a large hole in the federal budget.

VANCE: "I think you can make a really good argument that [Trump] salvaged Obamacare, which was doing disastrously until Donald Trump came about. ... Donald Trump could have destroyed the program — instead, he worked in a bipartisan way to ensure that Americans had access to affordable care."

One of Vance's most grotesque lies. During his presidency, Trump undermined the Affordable Care Act in many ways — for instance, by slashing funding for advertising and free "navigators" who help people sign up for a health insurance plan on HealthCare.gov. And rather than deciding to "save" the ACA, he tried hard to get Congress to repeal it, and failed -- mainly because of the principled vote of Sen. John McCain.

 

NOTE: The title to this post references The Talented Mr. Ripley, a 1955 novel by Patricia Highsmith about a consummate con man Tom Ripley. The novel has been adapted to film three times: Purple Noon (1960), starring Alain Delon; The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), starring Matt Damon; and the 2024 series Ripley, starring Andrew Scott.

Crisis in Asheville -- Intercepted Email

The following cry for help from Asheville was sent on Tuesday. Perhaps the situation is less dire today, though only marginally probably. 

I am writing because Asheville, North Carolina and surrounding towns desperately need news coverage regarding our dire situation. We need drinking water IMMEDIATELY.

Following hurricane Helene, our water system was severely damaged. The city of Asheville reported there is no estimated date for water restoration. Our city has issued a boil water advisory, but we have no water to boil.

Residents, including myself, have not had water, power, or internet service since Friday morning. Many people have resorted to drinking from creeks, small pools, or hot water heaters, but others have no options at all. People without gas stoves are unable to boil water. Neighbors have shared what they can, but everyone is running out.

Asheville is going on the 5th day with no drinking water. No water for flushing toilets. No water for bathing. Sewage is backing up in homes and apartment buildings. Diseases and illness will spread.

This is such a large-scale disaster that there are not enough workers to help. First responders have been working around the clock, tirelessly to rescue people. Our utility workers are working nonstop to restore power. Churches, businesses and nonprofits have organized to provide basic needs. We have heard that rescue workers from around the country and even outside the US have been rushing to help us, and we are so grateful. The water system has sustained catastrophic damage. There is no quick solution, and disaster relief for emergency water delivery is terribly lacking.

I was one of the lucky ones that had enough gas in our vehicle to evacuate today. My husband, 17-year-old son and our dog were able get to South Carolina this afternoon. It was an intense trip that involved siphoning gas from our son’s car, and searching frantically for a gas station (with power, and not cash-only). Since I am no longer in survival mode, I’m able to focus on bringing attention to this water situation in the hopes that Asheville and Western North Carolina will receive help. 

Reaching out for help has been very difficult for Asheville residents as we have had no Internet access or power since Thursday night. In addition, a lack of sleep, minimal food and heightened stress has made life extremely difficult. For many, each day is spent frantically searching for water, food, gas, medication and other supplies like batteries, baby wipes, and candles. We are surrounded by floods, downed trees, power lines, debris and toxic mud. We are constantly hearing the sounds of helicopters, sirens, and chainsaws. Asheville is apocalyptic.

Most of our resources we have received are from each other. Our neighborhood organized daily meetings to connect neighbors to resources and provide emotional support. Sadly, many of our neighbors are living in substandard homes that have trees through them, or water pooled in their basement. Some homes are overcrowded with families taken in after their losing their homes. I briefly had a family of four living with me after their near death experience when four trees destroyed their home.

Many of us feel like we have been forgotten. We have not heard a word from FEMA about food, water or shelter. Why are there hydrating fluids sitting on shelves in closed grocery stores and warehouses? We have many amazing local businesses that have donated food and water. And then there are those who don’t. Why aren’t drinks like boxed milk, soda or juice being released from the many closed grocery stores? Instead, these stores are locked and watched by guards.

Why is our government not distributing pamphlets, or making nonstop radio announcements providing practical advice? Such as… Don’t use the toilet if you can’t flush. Suggest alternatives for disposing of feces. For drinking water, drain your hot water heaters. Collect rainwater in buckets or on trash bags. Say SOMEthing!

Our leaders could send texts or radio announcements and updates, at least hourly. Instead, I heard only occasional vague announcements regarding water restoration. I often tune in and hear local radio shows that have no bearing on our dire situation. A local for-profit radio station 104.3 has provided nonstop news coverage and empathy to locals calling in. Empathy goes a long way.

Where are the adult protective services workers? Our disabled and elderly neighbors cannot get out to find food, or fill up jugs of water from the creeks. Or from donation sites. Our unhoused neighbors have no access to notifications of distribution sites and no transportation. We have no public transportation.

This is not a problem just in my neighborhood. It’s all throughout Asheville and in the surrounding Western NC communities. There are families in hard to reach areas like Barnardsville who are stranded and have no way to come to donation centers.

Today there was a distribution of 1 gallon of water per household member at a handful of city locations. Many neighbors did not have gas to go pick up water. Elderly and disabled people could not go pick up heavy jugs of water. The city gave no concrete plan or date they would deliver water to them.

Please, PLEASE bring attention to this story. My neighbors won’t last much longer without drinking water.

We need an immediate federal, state and local government intervention to deliver water to all of Asheville and the surrounding areas. DELIVER water. Not announce distribution centers. We also need our leaders to encourage grocery stores to have a heart and allow people to gain access to any hydration. If such businesses choose to guard their stores rather than rescue their customers from hunger and thirst, we should boycott them when they reopen and the crisis has passed. We need stores throughout the state and country to make water donations. We’d welcome individuals who could to come to WNC with a truckload of water. (But be sure to arrive with a full tank of gas so that you can get back out!)

Please bring this issue to light. Report on this story ASAP and urge immediate action. Western North Carolina deserves help. My neighbors are a diverse group of wonderful, kind, gentle people that love our mountains and each other. I fear we are about to lose as many people from this water disaster as we tragically lost in the hurricane.

The Democratic Hero of NC Senate Dist. 37

 

Kate Barr (in mauve, seated at head of table),
with some of her campaign volunteers

I wrote about the singular Democrat Kate Barr back in December. She had just signed up to run in the newly gerrymandered Senate Dist. 37, wherein the Republican elves carved the liberal enclave of Davidson off from Mecklenburg and stuck it in a district with Iredell County, making a district that is 62% Republican. Barr's campaign Twitter bio caught my attention and my fancy: "Dem for NC Senate District 37. Gerrymandered out of a chance. F*ck it. I’m running anyway .... let’s raise a little hell and have some fun."

Her campaign motto, printed on T-shirts and pink hoodies -- "Clear Eyes, Full Heart, Can't Win" -- became a pretty brilliant piece of marketing. The Washington Post's Colby Itkowitz has just reported on Kate Barr's improbable (but oh so hopeful) race, and I'm so glad I sent her money back in December (even though she said at the time that she didn't want anybody's money). What had started as an in-your-fat-face defiance of Republican power grabbing has become a genuine campaign with a sparkly website, yard signs, bumper stickers, and many volunteers willing to hit the streets.

They say Kate Barr can't win, but what she is doing is boosting Democratic performance in an impossible district, which increases the likelihood for Democratic successes in statewide races up above her on the ballot. In other words, Kate Barr is a hero.

Here's what I wrote about her in December, and her Republican opponent.

The Western NC September 27th Flood

 

"While most of the images are coming out of Asheville, Boone, and more populated areas, there are hundreds of small communities off narrow, winding roads that are difficult to reach in good times. I fear for those people and wonder how long it will take to reach them."

--Thomas Mills 

Many roads on creeks have simply ceased to exist for long stretches. Big trees are down everywhere, many still across one or more lanes of traffic. Untold numbers of people cut off and without electricity. Some are considered "missing" only in the sense that friends and families can't reach them and haven't heard a word about how they're faring. Cell service, Internet connection, WiFi went dead for thousands, and is still spotty.

I know of people in a rented house on Winkler's Creek who watched a mudslide come down the mountainside from an upslope development that had clear-cut. Big timbers, riding on the cushion of moving mud, slammed into their house, knocked it off the foundation. They had to break a window to get out.

The rescue people and the restore-electricity people and particularly the water department in Boone and the people cutting trees off roads have been saviors, often self-sacrificing and always dedicated to the tasks. Quiet heroism. The volunteer spirit is alive and robust and downright inspiring.

Yesterday, Jon-Dalton George, the 25-year-old Mayor Pro-Tem of Boone, was wading through mud to knock on every door in a flooded-out trailer park, doing wellness checks, and coming back where necessary with water and other supplies. Another young man, a student at AppState, joined many others who showed up at a staging area for volunteers in the recovery and offered his help. He got teamed up with Councilman George, door-knocking trailer parks.

This disaster should occasion an honest assessment of modern development in narrow Appalachian valleys in the context of climate change which brings bigger storms and more sudden water. The historic development all along what is known locally as Kraut Creek in Boone, the whole Blowing Rock Rd. corridor, is historically and morphologically a natural floodway that has been culverted and covered over with asphalt and concrete. In the new reality, we can't keep the lid on that creek without more major damage. It's gonna happen again.

Boone, Friday Sept. 27, 2024

 

Carolina Forward Indicts the NC Judiciary

 

A powerful and necessary reality check on just how partisan and corrupted by power politics the North Carolina judiciary has become, laid bare in this instance by the RFK Jr. legal saga of getting on and then getting off the November ballot. An unsigned posting on Carolina Forward succinctly lays out the indictment of our highest courts:

From beginning to end, the sordid affair of the Kennedy campaign in North Carolina revealed just how weak the rule of law has become in our state, compared to the raw exercise of partisan political power.

Robert Kennedy Jr. was allowed, in multiple instances, to evade, ignore and manipulate North Carolina state law, and was permitted to do so by Republican political actors – specifically judges – seeking to give Donald Trump an electoral boost. The laws of the State of North Carolina had very little impact on what the Kennedy campaign did; only the whims of opinion polling made a difference. That is not a sound system of election administration. While the NC State Board of Elections generally made the correct calls under the law, our state’s politicized judicial system failed to uphold the supremacy of those laws, and opted instead for their own circumstantial partisan interest.

We don’t know yet who will win in November. But at least in this case, the people of North Carolina lost.

 

When the Enemies of Democracy Are Judges

 

"The order didn’t give the legal reasoning to grant the GOP’s requests."

--Gary D. Robertson, reporting for AP 

As I predicted last week (wasn't it?), the Republican-heavy Court of Appeals has reversed the Wake County Superior Court judge who refused to stop the usage of UNC-Chapel Hill's brand new ID system, the "UNC One Card," as the approved NC ID for voting. The One Card meets all the standards of what a valid photo ID must contain, as written in the Republican law -- that was the ruling of the State Board of Elections (SBOE) which the Wake judge was upholding. 

But according to the NCGOP, the very notion of "digital ID" was a red flag, like "digital" identity -- flashed via hand-held phone -- was a new witchcraft for voter fraud. The Republicans actually chose to argue against the One Card that it just wasn't fair to all the other universities, which were forced to use physical, laminated plastic cards containing a photo -- letting Chapel Hill alone get away with this flashing of a cell phone to vote. Especially if the device was in the hands of a young voter. Why, Good Lard, with the UNC system you'll have ineligible voters by the billions casting ballots through electronic manipulation. That was the argument that caused three appellate judges to reverse the Superior Court. 

Oh yes, we're familiar with the Robinson Calculation, that someone nefarious is somehow and somewhere faking things on-line to make conservatives -- Robinson particularly -- look like frauds, because A.I. and gawd-knows-what-else can manipulate a computer to delete whole identities and steal votes and write bad checks, and they're doing it all the time to benefit Democrats. 

The Democratic National Committee and a UNC student group who joined the case defending the use of the One Card said the SBOE rightly determined that the digital ID met the requirements set in state law. The DNC attorneys wrote that preventing its use could confuse or even disenfranchise up to 40,000 people who work or attend the school so close to the election.

The NC Court of Appeals has an 11-4 Republican majority. The ruling discussed here. unanimous among three judges whose names are being kept secret for some reason -- just incidentally also "didn't give the legal reasoning to grant the GOP's requests." Three separate judges, eyeing each other across a conference table in Raleigh, agreed to do a favor for the NCGOP and rule that the Chapel Hill system did not constitute a valid photo ID. Is it not remarkable they won't put their names to this decision? For reasons we can immediately and accurately guess, if I were guessing. 

There's a Silver Lining: Students and permanent employees can still obtain a physical ID card instead -- conveniently at Chapel Hill locations and at no charge for those who received a digital ID but want the physical card for voting. There has got to be a major informational push on that campus to tell students where to go to get the other ID.

Sad News, For All Who Love Their Conspiracies

 

Kyle Ingram, in the News&Observer:

RALEIGH After the North Carolina State Board of Elections announced Thursday that it had removed nearly 750,000 registrations from the voter rolls, misinformation spread on social media regarding the scope and circumstances of this decision. 

“They’re trying to steal this election,” one X user wrote. 

“I’m sure it’s one big, giant, coincidence that NC is doing this a month before Election Day,” another wrote. 

Others fretted that the removal was a ploy by the Republican Party to influence the outcome of the election in a battleground state. The truth, however, is that this was a routine process carried out over the course of nearly two years by a state agency with bipartisan oversight. 

“Eligible voters do not need to worry that they were removed from the system,” Pat Gannon, a spokesperson for the board, said. “However, election officials always encourage voters to check their registration through the state board’s voter search tool.”

Thomas Mills Dismantles Senator Thom Tillis

 

From the title -- "Some Hot Tillis-on-Robinson Action" -- to the last paragraph, which is bitter, the bitter end, this piece of writing makes a master class in Swiftian sarcasm, that form of irony that tears flesh, or seeks to. Political commentator and long-time Democratic operative Thomas Mills takes down Sen. Thom Tillis as a hypocrite in epaulets, a self-described "SERIOUS PERSON" who theatrically sez he upholds Truth and the American Way, but who turns out substantial as cardboard. That "SERIOUS PERSON" mainly shows up, says Mills, "when Republicans are about to do something bad or stupid. He puffs up, issues muscular declarations, and promptly folds like a cheap tent." 

Mills has the receipts on those "folds," times when the senator announced a policy principal he would not breach and then breached it. Like when he wrote an editorial opposing Trump's declaration of emergency at the border -- the better to divert Federal funds to his wall -- and then promptly repented, after a dose of fury from MAGA loyalists who'll crucify anybody who offends Trump. Tillis had to swallow a lot more than his tongue to take it all back. He's abandoned his stated principles on immigration compromise more than once. It's the Tillis straddle: feint to the left with condemnation of a clown like Mark Robinson and then to the right with continued obeisance to El Hefe: 

Tillis doubles down on his support for Donald Trump who is now focused on fleecing his supporters by selling commemorative coins and $100,000 Trump watches. That’s what you call Republican coalition building. The grifter wing of the party is taking advantage of the rube wing and everybody is happy. That is some serious, principled shit.

 Sen. Tillis, according to Mills, is pure show but with muddled intentions: 

While other [Republican] candidates are trying to avoid talking about Nude Africa, Tillis is delivering vague ultimatums that sound tough, just like his op-ed and principled support of the immigration bill he voted against. Just follow his lead. Let reporters and others know about your grave concerns and hint at skepticism about Robinson’s denials.

With "SERIOUS PERSON" (always ALL CAPS) Mills puts a verbal duncecap on Sen. Tillis, mocking his occasional and sudden eruptions of principle even while sticking with a party "full of tinfoil hats, snake oil salesmen, and rubes." 

Sen. Tillis seeks reporters' ears to sound-bite strategically like a maverick in a party that despises mavericks. He suffered a censure by the NCGOP, yet he's become something of a bridge-builder behind the scenes in the Senate. Somehow, he persists, even after his privates hit the top rail of the fence he's been straddling, maybe largely because Trump hasn't sicced his dogs on him. (Remember what Trump did to independent John McCain and to Liz Cheney and to several others.)

Did I say the end of Mills's piece is bitter? He makes a point of speaking directly to Mark Robinson about Sen. Tillis's very recent ultimatum that Robinson either disproves "the CNN lies" or steps down: 

Hang in there, Mark. Don’t let the haters and the RINOs get you down .... Just grit it out, because even if you lose, you can run against Thom Tillis in 2026.

You know what I think? I think Thom Tillis would love to be a Democrat and actually hates being a Republican, especially right now when the Party-under-Trump appears to be sitting in an airless booth pleasuring itself with peculiar fantasies.

She's Always Enjoyed the Shadow of Big Men

 

Virginia Foxx had to request that photo, of course. He didn't have a clue who she was.

The Lawyer Mark Robinson Hired

 

Jesse R. Binnall

Mark Robinson announced on Tuesday that he has hired Jesse R. Binnall, a well known trumpist litigator and a partner in the Binnall Law Group of Alexandria, Va., to find out who in the world who isn't Mark Robinson was posting outrageous comments on porn sites under Robinson's own screen name Minisoldr.

According to The Daily Beast, Binnall represented Trump after the 2020 election in his failed attempt to overturn the electoral vote in Nevada, and he also was "one of several lawyers Trump hired to represent him in his failed racketeering lawsuit against Hillary Clinton. In January 2023, a judge in Florida ordered the case thrown out and fined Trump and another attorney, Alina Habba, $1 million for filing a frivolous lawsuit." Binnall has (so far) escaped any sanctions imposed by judges and bar associations, unlike many of the other lawyers who've worked for Trump. According to the Fund for Investigative Journalism, Binnall has been previously paid at least $4.2 million by the Trump campaign. "Even after the Jan. 6 insurrection, Binnall continued to spread false claims of voter fraud."

Binnall was one of several lawyers who represented retired Gen. Michael Flynn when he withdrew his guilty plea for lying to the FBI, ABC News reported. Flynn was eventually pardoned by then-President Trump that December [of 2020]."

In other words, Binnall may be exactly what Robinson needs, someone adept at pointing the finger elsewhere.

Mo Green Takes the Gloves Off

 

About time. We don't need this pleasant-faced insurrectionist running North Carolina's schools.

BREAKING: Half of Robinson's Lt. Gov. Staff Quits

 

Bryan Anderson is now reporting that half of Mark Robinson's staff assigned to the Lieutenant Governor's office has now quit, including his chief of staff.

A Thumbs-Up That Will Live in Infamy

 

This billboard is going up in some NC locations, two in Mint Hill alone, where Trump is scheduled to make an appearance today at a -- wait for it -- plumbing supply business.

Does It Take a Know-Nothing Party To Invite This Pariah?

 

Mark Robinson has stopped listing events on his website. The invitation below is reportedly being sent out by the Ashe GOP, of which our former House Rep. Jonathan Jordan is an impotent member.

Sometimes, A Double-Negative Is an Escape Hatch Sufficient To The Day

REPORTER: Do you believe Mark Robinson that those were not his posts?

 JD VANCE: I don't not believe him.

--https://x.com/atrupar/status/1837856354779746322

Meanwhile, Vance's fellow Republican Senator Ted Budd told CBS17, “The comments reported in the article are disgusting. Mark Robinson says they are not from him. He needs to prove that to the voters.” 

"He needs to prove it's not him."

After the CNN bombshell last Thursday, WNCN reported that Rep. Virginia Foxx, GOP candidate for Labor Commissioner Luke Farley, and GOP congressional candidate for NC 01 Laurie Buckhout were all busily scrubbing their social media of any pictures of them posing with Mark Robinson, or other vestiges of his actual existence in their individual lives.

When Thom Tillis Looks Like a Statesman, It Can't Be Good for the NCGOP

 

CNN Capitol Hill reporter Manu Raju got Thom Tillis on the record about Mark Robinson, and Tillis went further than he's gone before. Meanwhile, the NCGOP issued a statement (posted earlier) defending Robinson and his "quirks of personality." Here's Raju's tweet:

Thom Tillis, the senior NC GOP senator, told me that Mark Robinson needs to provide evidence by Friday refuting the damaging information about his posts on a porn site — or the party needs to “move on” and focus on Trump and down-ticket races. 

“If Mr. Robinson doesn't put forth facts as part of a lawsuit that would discredit the sources by this week, then we've got to move on. We've got an election that's 40 days away, and we've got to move on,” he said, suggesting endorsements should be rescinded. 

(Trump has yet to rescind endorsement.) 

Asked Tillis if he thinks Robinson can win, and he said: “I supported a primary opponent against Mr. Robinson because I didn't think he could win the race then, and I was working with far less information than I'm in possession of now. And I'm hoping he discredits that information.”

I'm hoping. How forlorn is that? 

NCGOP Takes Another Shot at Stopping the Youth Vote

 

The whole world is going paperless, and only the NCGOP professes in court that they can't possibly believe that the digital world actually works. Instead of a physical card, encased in plastic and featuring a photo, UNC-Chapel Hill has gone wholly digital with student IDs. Any student can present their phone as proof of identity, with a photo and other identifying details that any fool can see is legitimate. (Why, begorra, you have long been able to flash your phone to get on an international flight.) Other universities not to mention businesses and agencies, are bound to follow the trend, and more paperless IDs will become common.

But the GOP sued in Wake Superior Court the week of Sept. 9th to halt the use of the mobile UNC One Card as legal identity. Superior Court Judge Keith Gregory denied the Republicans a temporary restraining order on Thurs., Sept. 19, and for not the first time, the haters of the young got rooked in court.

Unclear whether the GOP intends to appeal, but sure, it will, and its chances of getting judges on the side of disenfranchisement up the ladder remains strong in this tyrannized state.

Mark Robinson Expected at Blue Ridge Diner

Sizable crowd -- judging from the number of cars there -- already gathered at the Blue Ridge Diner about 15 minutes before candidate Mark Robinson's expected arrival time of 2:30. Very full parking lot (which isn't that extensive, but still).

This morning Thomas Mills characterized the cult-like MAGA following that will vote for Robinson no matter what.

Over in Republicanland, the rank and file seems largely ignorant of Mark Robinson’s escapades at the Nude Africa porn site. Those who know about it, believe it’s another media hit piece. An online activist demanded that GOP elected officials issue statements of support for Robinson or else, though none are forthcoming....

North Carolina Republican candidates and elected officials are distancing themselves .... And they are hoping their MAGA base won’t notice. They’re not an inquisitive bunch, easy marks. They’ve been trained to believe lies and readily embrace batshit crazy conspiracy theories. Maybe they’ll believe that Robinson is a victim of an AI smear campaign....

Watching the cult turn out for Robinson is giving new significance to the descriptive term "low information" voters. 

Pouring Gasoline on a Dumpster Fire

 

Jack Burkman, from Wikipedia

Thomas Mills is reporting this morning on his Substack column:

If rumors are true, the Mark Robinson campaign is about to get even more fun. Jack Burkman, who Wikipedia describes as a “conspiracy theorist, fraudster, convicted felon, and conservative lobbyist,” claims he is now Robinson’s campaign manager. Burkman is a disbarred lawyer who was found guilty of intimidating voters. He’s like a low-rent Roger Stone with less scruples and better suits. He’ll bring gasoline to the dumpster fire and squeeze as much money as possible out of the saps still supporting Robinson.

 

Robinson's Entire Campaign Staff Quits

 

As of this morning, Mark Robinson had only two PR people and one bodyguard still working for him. These others had already resigned by Sunday afternoon:

Conrad Pogorzelski III, who was Robinson’s general consultant and senior advisor. He has been known as the main person behind Robinson’s campaign

Chris Rodriguez, Robinson’s campaign manager

Heather Whillier, Robinson’s finance director

Jason Rizk, deputy campaign manager

Patrick Riley, Robinson’s director of operations

John Kontoulas and Jackson Lohrer, political directors