The Bastards in Raleigh

 

The elections which Republicans did not win in North Carolina -- governor, lieutenant gov, attorney gen'l, superintendent of public instruction -- have hardly been settled, including the one that broke the Republican veto-override super majority in the NC House, when Phil Berger & Co. realized they only had a month to pass a new law limiting what newly elected Democrats can do in office. They cleverly called the bill "Hurricane Relief," but those provisions aimed at recovering Western NC amount to less than 20 pages, while the bulk of the 130-page bill is blatant and unashamed power-grabs.

The most egregious of the power grabs applies to the governor's power to appoint the State Board of Elections, the agency which the GOP has been trying to take full control of for years. The new law, which passed the House last night and now goes to the Senate today -- fast-tracked, you betcha! -- takes the appointment power away from Governor Josh Stein and gives it to the newly elected Republican Auditor Dave Boliek, who's all too eager to carry partisan water for the bosses.

The new law also makes a project of dismantling the independence of our new Attorney General Jeff Jackson:

Republican lawmakers want to prevent the attorney general, an office that the GOP hasn’t won in an election for more than a century, from taking positions on state laws being challenged in court that are different from the position maintained by GOP legislative leaders. 

The bill also specifies that the attorney general can’t take positions in court that would lead to a state law being struck down. 

This proposal comes as outgoing Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein, who voters chose to serve as the state’s next governor in this month’s election, has recused himself or refused to defend the state against a number of high-profile political lawsuits involving abortion, elections, gerrymandering and other issues. 

Stein, who has served two terms as attorney general, has defended his decisions to refuse to defend laws passed by the Republican-controlled legislature that he believes are unconstitutional. 

GOP leaders have criticized Stein in those instances, and accused him of refusing “to do his job.” They have frequently intervened in lawsuits challenging the laws they’ve passed, and defended them in court. 

Liz Barber, the director of policy and advocacy at the ACLU of North Carolina, said in an interview Tuesday morning that the changes were an “unconstitutional, undemocratic power grab.” [NewsObserver]

In what crazy universe is it all right for the Republicans to be doing this? Reducing the dimensions of a public office only after they fail to win an election to that office?

Let the lawsuits fly.

GOP Attempts Again To Grab All the Access to Voting

 

Hilarious. No matter how much power you've got, you can always choke down some more. Kyle Ingram, reporting Tuesday morning, November 19

RALEIGH Draft legislation from North Carolina lawmakers proposes stripping incoming Democratic Gov. Josh Stein of all appointments to the State Board of Elections and giving them to a newly elected Republican official.

If I were cynical enough to make this up, I would have.

Till Us Do Part

 

North Carolina's senior senator Thom Tillis has been listed as one of six Republicans "who could sink Trump's nominations" for cabinet secretaries. Watching that play out will provide us with some tawdry entertainment and an index of just how big -- or puny -- are Tillis's balls.

After Trump nominated Matt Gaetz, Tillis told reporters, ominously, "The president deserves to put forth a nominee. [But!...] The president has an obligation to make sure that that nominee is gonna pass vetting and have the votes on the floor." He also said that the public "should not be shocked" if Gaetz is not confirmed.

"I will consider Matt Gaetz like I will anyone else, but if they don't do the homework, don't be surprised if they fail. Maybe they've already done that work," he added. "Nothing surprises me in politics, nothing. And I'm okay with this. But at the end of the day we have a process, and we'll just have to run through it."

Tillis added that he cares about "a defensible résumé, and a really clean vetting. Produce that, he's got a chance. Don't, and he doesn't."

We've seen those odd moments when Tillis has disappointed MAGA, but we believe that he, along with the other five senators who might vote against Trump's wishes, are weak reeds that will bend to the breaking point. After all, Susan Collins is a part of this doubtful cohort, and we certainly know how strongly committed to virtue she is!

Laughing Between Clinched Teeth

A friend said about the election, "I can't afford to cry. If I start, I'll never stop." 

Then the teenaged son of another friend, grinning big and slapping his knee, said, "Don't you see how funny Trump is? He's the drunken fist. Gotta love how he keeps everything unpredictable and totally superlative! Sick!"

The drunken fist. A bunch of 1970s movies explored the Kung-Fu fighter who uses a style of footwork and surprise strikes developed out of the stumbling gait of a drunken fool to confuse and trick his opponents into thinking he is incapacitated, insignificant, and unworthy of attention. Yep. I get it. Trump is the master of that. Whether it's a deliberate ploy of his or not is another question altogether.

Why can't I be like a teenaged boy and just enjoy the show?

No one is more flummoxed by Trump's drunken fist than Republican senators. Their cowardice, inanity, and fecklessness do yield abundant, albeit dark comedy, especially when they make throat-clearing sounds about the dignity and power of the U.S. Senate as a coequal branch of government. Ha.

The Resistance Lawyers Up

 

Lisa Lerer, in the NYTimes:

Democracy Forward, a liberal-leaning legal organization that frequently battled the first Trump administration in court, on Thursday unveiled a large-scale new effort aimed at thwarting President-elect Donald J. Trump’s second-term agenda from his first day in office.

More than 800 lawyers at 280 organizations have begun developing cases and workshopping specific challenges to what the group has identified as 600 “priority legal threats” — potential regulations, laws and other administrative actions that could require a legal response, its leaders said. The project, called Democracy 2025, aims to be a hub of opposition to the new Trump administration.

Unlike in 2017, when Democratic lawyers were unprepared for the onslaught of conservative policies, the intent is to be ready to unleash a flurry of lawsuits immediately.

“We’re leveling up and lawyering up,” Skye Perryman, the chief executive of the organization, said. “This wasn’t something that just everybody woke up the day after the election and started to plan.”

 

Trump 2.0 Beginning To Pupate

Humiliation is the price of admission to Trump’s GOP. It’s still a bit shocking to see how low once-proud Americans will stoop. Incompetent and unethical people are about to take over our government. Republicans like Thom Tillis [made] it possible.

--Thomas Mills, "Hey, Thom Tillis, joke's on you!"

Matt Gaetz for attorney general

Pete Hegseth for secretary of defense

Tulsi Gabbard for Director for National Intelligence

Elon Musk for Captain Moonbeam

Vivek Ramaswamy for Moonbeam's Deputy

Robert F. Kennedy Jr for ... Omigod

What he's not preparing to loot for himself, or hand over to his rich cronies, Trump's paving the way for Russia to bear it away, and for the law to look elsewhere, perhaps search for "the enemy within," and leave the thieves and frauds to their necessary work.

But this is clearly what people want in their government. And welcome to it!

Young Men Lost This Election

 

By Jack Yordy, guest-posting:

Given what women lost in this election, what queer and trans people are likely to lose, among many other groups, and given the urgency of the impacts of these losses, young men should be at the bottom of our list for sympathy. In an election post-mortem meeting, I razed young white men’s propensity for bigotry and betrayal of their peers. But after giving it some thought and remembering one of my biggest hopes about the effect of a Harris presidency, I think young men have lost much as well. 

If you’re a young man with any hobbies or interests and a connection to the internet, much of your life is spent being exposed to right-wing content. A sizable portion of this content is radical and incredibly bigoted toward queer people, black and brown people, and women. Many of these men have been lied to -- that their prospects are dwindling, DEI has taken their job opportunities, feminism has taken their dating options, LGBTQ+ people are trying to take their masculinity. These myths have formed young men’s bigotry, but they have also had an impact on their view of themselves. Ironically enough, young men have been indoctrinated with what conservative influencers would call a “Victim Mentality.” 

Once this mentality has supplanted the self esteem of these young men, no longer believing they can be successful or happy, the influencers swoop in with advice: Go to the gym and buy my multivitamins to get big, learn how to hustle and grind with my online course, isolate yourself  -- swear off women -- and read my self-help book. These recommended behaviors actually do instill in some young men a sense of purpose through effort. But that trajectory also comes with a vindication of hatred. They begin to believe the only way to be happy is to follow the advice of wise right-wingers and practice the same ideological rituals of bigotry. The influencers never take credit for "helping" these young men, which allows the young men to believe that the reason they began to feel better about themselves is because they did it themselves, without help from anyone else. They can believe that they did all that alone while hating women and other marginalized groups. So why would they ever stop being hateful? 

Consider what Doug Emhoff and Tim Walz as role models could have done for these young men. We had a chance to show them, by example, that they could be happy and successful without being bigoted and angry. They might have asked themselves, “If the vice president of the United States can be happy without being hateful, can I?” They might have asked, “If a man can be happy taking a back seat to his powerful wife, can I?” Instead, they are alienated, isolated, and strangely vindicated. They look up and see the most powerful person in the world is a man who hates women, a man who rapes women, a man who gleefully oppresses and bullies people with less power. They will see him and want to be like him. Many of them will live unhappily, chasing validation from grifters, finding enjoyment in hurting others. They don’t know it yet and maybe some never will, but young straight men, like the rest of us, lost everything in this election.

Will Josh Stein Join the Resistance?

Reid J. Epstein, in the NYTimes:

In the first of what is likely to be several groups that sprout to resist the next Trump administration, two Democratic governors announced on Wednesday that they were forming a group to help protect state-level institutions of democracy.

The group, Governors Safeguarding Democracy, is meant to serve as a mechanism for Democratic states to coordinate efforts to oppose the right-wing policies of President-elect Donald J. Trump.

Its leaders, Govs. JB Pritzker of Illinois and Jared Polis of Colorado, are among a group of ambitious Democrats likely to try to fill a party-wide leadership void once President Biden leaves office.

“Donald Trump is going to bring people into his administration who are absolute loyalists to his cult of personality and not necessarily to the law,” Mr. Pritzker said. “Last time, he didn’t really know where the levers of government were. I think he probably does now. And so I think that the threat remains great.” ...

...the group’s top staff member, did not say how many governors had agreed to join the organization.

I'm Optimistic

 

Pam and I have been working political campaigns full-time since 1990 -- the first Harvey Gantt insurgency against Sen. Jesse Helms. I was a political fetus in 1990, so I believed Harvey was going to win because of what was happening in Watauga. (Our winning margin for Harvey turned out that year to be 1,000+ votes.) But Gantt still lost statewide, and I was caught completely unprepared for loss. I hibernated in a dark place for days and thought I'd never get involved in a political campaign again.

But the bite of the political bug is deep and fairly incurable. We were back in 1991, working municipal races, and then we continued every year afterward, often at a fever pitch that never let up. County commission campaigns, Sheriff campaigns, Congressional campaigns, everything campaigns.

There've been plenty of losses since 1990, both in this county and in statewide races we worked on. So, duh! I certainly learned the foolishness of predicting victory prematurely, though after 30+ years in political organizing, I've come to appreciate the "feel" of an election contest as E-Day approaches.

Right now, and at the most crucial moment, things feel right. Things feel aligned. God's in his Heaven... (I'm not going to finish that famous line from Robert Browning*, because I'm not actually insane.)

I saw numbers this morning from Buncombe County, probably the most devastated real estate in North Carolina from the Helene floods, but yet Democratic performance is UP there over 2020, while Republican performance is down by over 7%. It's a different story in Watauga, granted, with Republicans currently outpolling Democrats by some 545 votes, but the Unaffiliated vote has both parties beat by over 11,000. That makes me feel good, because the vast majority of those Unaffiliated are under the age of 25, and women are out-voting men in Watauga by 2,720.

Then comes the Iowa poll (and I know, I know -- I don't like polls, especially when they make me nervous in a bad way) which shows Kamala Harris leading Donald J. Trump by 3 points, a shift from 2020 of some 11 points. Trump took Iowa in 2020 by +8. That's a huge shift. Mind-blowing in fact. The Economist applied some math, and because of the famed accuracy of Selzer Polling, they (just for giggles) applied that shift of attitude to other states and came up with a possible Harris/Walz landslide of 416 electoral votes. (Selzer Polling is the outfit behind the final Des Moines Register/Mediacom poll of Iowa. Selzer is "a high-quality pollster. It is rated as one of the best in the country by FiveThirtyEight, which tracks polling accuracy. The Selzer Poll is recognised for its success projecting the Iowa caucus.")

Maybe my clincher for optimism is the spirit of the volunteer corps that has arisen against the prospect of another Trump presidency, an absolute and honest-to-gawd coalition of some unlikely allies and the most dedicated, persistent cohort of enthusiastic volunteers we've seen since 2008. It's real, this surge of psychic energy, this will to act, to do something, to stop a real and dangerous wrong.

*The year's at the spring,

And day's at the morn;

Morning's at seven;

The hill-side's dew-pearl'd;

The lark's on the wing;

The snail's on the thorn;

God's in His heaven,

All's right with the world!

Who Dan Bishop Looks Up To

 

On multiple occasions, Bishop has invoked the name of Ken Paxton, the Trump-allied Republican attorney general from Texas, as someone he might ally himself with if elected.

--Paige Masten, NandO

“I’m going to be in the attorney general’s office in North Carolina and join the fight with Ken Paxton and other great state attorneys general around the country to protect people’s rights and get the job done.”

--Dan Bishop, on Steve Bannon's "War Room" podcast

Who is Ken Paxton, and why would Dan Bishop want to emulate him? Indebted to Paige Masten for these particulars on Paxton:

Since taking office in 2015, Paxton has sued the federal government dozens of times, spending millions of dollars in lawsuits that have only occasionally yielded results for the people of Texas. Some of those lawsuits include suing the Biden administration over noncitizen voting allegations, a rule protecting privacy for women who get abortions in other states, guidance requiring doctors to provide abortions in emergency situations and for declaring a Texas lizard an endangered species.

Paxton used the full strength of his office to prevent a Texas woman named Kate Cox from receiving an emergency abortion when it was medically necessary, which launched Cox into the national spotlight. Perhaps most notably, Paxton filed a lawsuit in 2020 that attempted to overturn election results in four key battleground states, baselessly claiming that the results were tainted by fraud. Bishop was one of many congressional Republicans to sign onto that lawsuit [which went nowhere].

Paxton was impeached (and acquitted) by the Texas legislature last year, and he remains under federal investigation for corruption amid allegations of bribery and misuse of office."

A culture warrior with slippery morals. That's the man Dan Bishop aspires to be.

Bishop appeared on a panel at the Conservative Political Action Conference alongside Paxton and former Donald Trump adviser Stephen Miller, where the trio discussed how to combat liberal “lawfare.” “We have to fight back,” Bishop said during the panel. “That’s what Ken Paxton’s example has been in Texas … we need more soldiers on the field who can make a difference like Ken has done in Texas.”

A disaster itching to happen to North Carolina.

 

 

Speaker Johnson Steps On His Johnson: "We're Gonna Take Away the Healthcare of Millions"

 

The Guardian,Wed 30 Oct 2024 09.40 EDT:

Vice-President Kamala Harris may have received another last-minute helping hand from Republicans after the House speaker, Mike Johnson, said there would be “massive” healthcare changes if Donald Trump wins next Tuesday, including abolishing Obamacare.

Numbers

 

Partisan turnout numbers, statewide North Carolina, 2024 (Oct. 29):

Partisan turnout numbers, Watauga County, 2024 (Oct. 29)

Dark Matter

 

"...the dark energy animating the MAGA movement"

--NYTimes

The above characterization of MAGA world appeared in an article about the remarkable hatefest staged by Trump at Madison Square Garden on Sunday.

We're very aware of that "energy." It hates us, it stalks us, for we are part of "the enemy within." Crouching, always crouching. The fanatics infested with that dark energy fantasize about the novel ways to catch and torture us. Being fingered by the Big Man is all it takes -- appear as a problem to him and his plans. Progressives, liberals, lib-tards, Demon-rats, especially the ones who share their opinions publicly -- you think we don't feel those bloody eyes? And see the mojo behind it quite clearly in plain sight in foamy comments on websites and social media and on our own blog and on every blog in the universe? That energy hates with burning intensity, and it loves to brag about what it'll do to the enemy within when Trump's back in power, and there are no limits, no consequences, because the Supreme Court granted him immunity from prosecution for "his official acts." (It was in all the papers.)

Trump himself has made sure the energy he inspires is aimed and super-hot. He wants retribution, and he's honed his followers to a spearpoint. Trump is practically demanding violence should he lose the vote. He's demonized the press so that none of his ardent fans will believe its "lies" about him, and he's already declared there's great fraud being engineered against him for the counting of votes, so a loss will always be labeled a criminal fraud perpetrated on a God-blessed victim of the Deep State, a clear miscarriage of honesty and justice. If he sat munching fries, watching the January 6th riot and marveling at the passions expressed for hisownself -- why, it was "a day of love!" -- think how flattered he'll be by riots and attacks on voting administrators on November 6th.

So, yes, the atmosphere going into E-Day is menacing. Apparently menacing for both sides. The MAGA cult justifies its belief that Trump's enemies are just evil, simply evil, bringing some terrifying hellscape of forced atheism and abortion. Them what love Jesus got to gird themselves for holy battle. The rest of us prepare to flinch. What Trump can accomplish in a second term is truly unnerving. 

Cowering isn't the answer. Dogged survival is the only path. The readiness is all.

Monday Headspace

 

Wrath of Khan: Are Jeff Bezos and That Other Billionaire Really Afraid?

 

"Oligarchs controlling the newsroom to curry favor with a fascist"

--@NickyFrank30 

That comment was made on Twitter after the owners of the WashPost and the L.A. Times (Jeff Bezos and Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong) refused the recommendations of their editors to endorse Kamala Harris for president. For practically zillions of observers it looks like cowardice in the face of a feared dictator. If Trump wins.

I've been under some pressure to cancel my own subscription to the WashPost, like apparently a bunch of others have done, but I'm not going to cancel my subscription. I get solid, verified news about politics and politicians from the WashPost. I can ignore the editorials, harden my heart to a rightward tilt, if the news remains the news. Besides, hurting the billionaire owner of a news org only hurts his underpaid and harassed journalists and support staff, if he decides to lay people off because the backlash against him has cut into profits.

Kowtowing to a fascist by the owners of the news is the story here, and the reason to worry.

When Terror Inspires Action

 

The Stress in America poll, conducted by the American Psychological Association (APA), found that 77% of adults are stressed about the future of the nation, and 69% are worried about the upcoming election.

--Health News, 10/23/24

You don't say.

Additional intel: About 72% said they are worried the election results could lead to violence. More than half (56%) believe the election could be the end of democracy in the United States.

Them stakes high enough for you? The loss of hope hangs in the balance. But this poll found the upside:

Most Americans aren't giving into their despair, however. More than three-quarters (77%) intend to vote in the presidential election, and half (51%) said they feel compelled to volunteer or support causes they value.

That's been the good thing, the utter blessing, of this campaign year. The level and dedication of volunteerism. 

The Madam Disposes

 

Late on Wednesday afternoon, this post came across my Facebook feed, and I knew instantly that it was about Congresswoman Virginia Foxx:

so here’s a funny sort of story…yesterday while holding my nose to vote, i was so intent on casting my vote for the WOMEN on the ballot…that i circled the evil narcissist who at present is refusing a family to cross her land for access to their vehicles & property when their driveway was totally blown out in the storm…you know who!

How did I know who?

Week or more ago -- Oct. 11th, to be precise -- I got my hands on a message to the Watauga County Democratic Party that had been posted on its website. I've masked the names and personal info:

Name: Xxxx Xxxxxxxxx

Message: I would like you to know how the current Congresswoman Virginia Foxx is treating her neighbors in Banner Elk. Please Read!!!

I am Xxxx Xxxxxxx wife of Xxxxx Xxxxxxx, a N&O sportswriter for over 45 years and I am a former high school teacher for 40 years. I want to let you know what is happening to my sister and her family who live in Banner Elk and on the same mountain as the Foxxes.

My sister and family and also the Foxx residence did not have power, water, or access to the highway for 10 days after the hurricane. Their access road to highway105 was washed away. They can walk out, but not drive out. They have to walk out on a treacherous, skinny piece of pavement left by the washout that is barely supported by any earth. Late Monday afternoon the power company was able to clear a road behind the Foxx property and were able to restore power to the homes on Rime Frost Road. This also opened up a way to drive out for the first time.

The Foxxes drove out Wednesday, did not tell my sister's family, locked all gates and then blocked the road with heavy machinery so that my sister, brother-in-law, their son, his wife, and three little girls could not get out.

Somebody needs to tell the truth about how the Foxxes have treated their neighbors after this horrendous disaster. This was done purposefully to block access.

On Thursday the power company came back to do some work and needed to get through the locked access. Congresswoman Foxx's daughter, Teresa Foxx, accompanied by two Watauga Sheriff's Deputies, let the power company in, then locked the gates back and put the tractor on the road. The Deputies told my brother-in--law that they could not let the family out because it was private Foxx property. It is very ironic that the Congresswoman can use the neighbor's property on the other side for her personal access to the highway, but my family. which is on the same mountain as the Foxxes, cannot access the neighbor's property which is no more than 50 feet across Foxx property.

I cannot believe a member of the Congress of the United States can purposefully treat anyone this way, especially after such a federal disaster. I can only imagine one of my great nieces, ages 2 to 7, or any member of my family, getting hurt having to constantly walk on a very dangerous strip of pavement at the washout to go to get food. This should be illegal and is most certainly inhumane. Congresswoman Virginia Foxx and husband Tom Foxx are unbelievably hateful people to say the least.

Being an accomplished opportunist, I immediately wrote the author of this complaint against Foxx (there was an email address), and I asked permission to reprint the comment on WataugaWatch. I never heard a word back. So the moment passed. Until Wednesday afternoon -- yesterday -- when I saw that post on Facebook. And then I found this separate posting and discovered I've been waaay behind on this story. Everyone's been talking about it.

Today, Sunday October 13th is the end of a really stressful week for us. However, with that being said, there are so many people with far worse problems than us. I am so thankful for all the support that people have given us, as well as all the people who have helped their neighbors and complete strangers, as it is the human thing to do. 

My family still does not have access to get our cars out, as our neighbors, Tom and Rep. Virginia Foxx and their daughter will not allow us to go across their property to get our two cars out and to the top of our road. It is beyond me as to how they can do this to us when we have three young children now living with us, ages 2 to 7. Why would they feel good about this decision, when we have 4 adults and 3 children in our home without our own cars at the top of the road. I ask what would happen if there were an emergency at our home with any of us, our horses, our dogs and we needed immediate care by 911. Would the Foxx's let the emergency people through their property to come care for us? Or, do they not care at all?? I honestly do not understand how anyone can be so heartless! I am praying that maybe this week will be different.

So since it's massively public now, WatWatch joins the exposition. Virginia Foxx and Tom Foxx are dicks.

P.S. The saga of accidentally voting for Foxx had a denouement: "at least if you mess up, you can ask for another ballot!!"

"Keep Clear of People Like That"

 

Video produced by Evangelicals for Harris. Not all evangelical Christians have been fooled and corrupted.

Foxx Voted Recently for FEMA Funding; People Need More

 

[Avery countian Paul] Laws said he can’t understand why North Carolina’s members of Congress aren’t rushing to increase funding for FEMA, which has provided $129 million in assistance to North Carolinians as of Monday. He reached out to Rep. Virginia Foxx, who grew up in Avery County and lives in Banner Elk, more than a week ago, he said, but never heard back. “I don’t understand it, and why our representatives and legislators haven’t said a word about more FEMA funding is beyond me,” he said.

--Lexi Solomon, NandO, 21 Oct. 2024

Foxx did recently vote for the FEMA stopgap funding bill after spending years playing miser with most strands of the social safety net. In her heart, she is not charitable. Rather, she is judgmental about others, sharply acquisitive for herself. 

So it's no particular surprise that she declared in 2005 that all the proposed Katrina money that was wanted for mainly Black New Orleans was a colossal waste and she wouldn't vote for it. But on the recent FEMA funding bill, which passed before Helene arrived, all North Carolina Republicans voted yea except for that carbuncle on the ass Dan Bishop. And Sen. Ted Budd. He also voted nay.

Thom Tillis Opposes Mike Lee's Plans for Senate "Power-Sharing"

What follows is so inside-DeeCee that it will likely be excruciating. So you're forewarned.

Fox News
Sen. Mike Lee on left, Thom Tillis, right

Mitch McConnell, Republican Majority Leader for eons in the U.S. Senate, and now Minority Leader, is retiring in the nick of time. He won't have to deal with poor blood flow or President Donald J. Trump (again) -- should he squeak in -- or the Freedom Caucus (if Trump goes down like a fizzled Roman candle, because the purity-of-MAGA caucus will still exist in Congress). 

So goodbye, Mitch McConnell! Republican senators in a few scant months will be picking (they hope) their next Majority Leader. Three gentlemen think they deserve it: Senate Minority Whip John Thune, R-S.D., Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla. Scott seems most likely to draw the Freedom Caucus vote, but getting a majority? Not likely. Scott's a long shot (even if he survives his current reelection challenge from Democrat Debbie Mucarsel-Powell). So some of the ultra conservative senators, led by Mike Lee of Utah, want to pass new rules for their majority, a sort of anticipatory "democratizing" of the conference so that a handful of hard-liners can stop dead any new leader’s authority in backing “Democrat priorities.” Like Mitch McConnell very occasionally did. McConnell to Mike Lee had shown signs of a dangerous moderation. In a second Trump presidency, Lee warned in a public letter a few days ago, the McConnell old establishment type Republican (of which John Thune is a prime example) “will be tempted to join Democrats to pass funding bills that tie Trump’s hands.” 

Lee and his conservative allies therefore and thereby want power sharing to make sure a moderate majority, led by a Leader willing to cut deals with Chuck Shumer, will never sell out conservatives' wildest dreams.

Thom Tillis Speaks Up

In opposition to Sen. Lee's push to "democratize" Senate leadership, arose this past week Sen. Thom Tillis of NC, who wrote his own public letter taking apart with astrounding logic the Mike Lee argument. Why make a future Leader deliberately and unnecessarily weak? Tillis wanted to know. In a war of ideas, strong, no backbiting, united action is required. Sniping from within the tribe looks weak. Is weak:

“The debate among members really boils down to whether you favor a weak or strong leader model. Mike has laid out proposals that would substantially weaken the Republican leader and further empower Schumer, and I believe it would be unwise to go down that path,” Tillis wrote.

“I suspect many Americans would be shocked to know that any one member can [bring action to a grinding halt] while attempting to advance an amendment that a supermajority of our conference is against.”

These appearances of Contrary Thom are becoming more frequent. They're fascinating grist for any mill processing his future in a Party defined by obeisance to a dictator. And I see the irony of praising Tillis for standing up to Mike Lee's brand of rump tyranny, whilst simultanously advocating for Leadership tyranny. One man's tyrant is another man's bunkmate.

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