Paul Newby; Or, Why North Carolina's Judicial System Is So Politically Corrupt

 

Some amazing and thorough investigative journalism by Doug Bock Clark in ProPublica, who spills all kinds of beans about North Carolina's Chief Justice Paul Newby. Did I say thorough! Clark and his team interviewed over 70 people who know Newby professionally or personally, including former North Carolina justices and judges, lawmakers, longtime friends and family members. "Many requested anonymity, saying they feared that he or his proxies would retaliate against them through the courts’ oversight system, the state bar association or the influence he wields more broadly. We reviewed court documents, ethics disclosure forms, Newby’s calendars, Supreme Court minutes, and a portion of his emails obtained via public records requests. We also drew on Newby’s own words from dozens of hours of recordings of speeches he’s made on the campaign trail and to conservative political groups, as well as interviews he’s given to right-wing and Christian media outlets."

The ProPublica reporters attempted numerous times to interview Newby and others in the judiciary, and what they got in one notable case is a promise of trumpian retribution if they didn't stop their digging. "When ProPublica emailed questions to Newby’s daughter, head of finance for the NCGOP, the North Carolina Republican Party’s communications director, Matt Mercer, responded, writing that ProPublica was waging a 'jihad' against 'NC Republicans,' which would 'not be met with dignifying any comments whatsoever .... I’m sure you’re aware of our connections with the Trump Administration and I’m sure they would be interested in this matter,” Mercer said in his email. “I would strongly suggest dropping this story.”

Day-um!

1. Beware a Judge "On a Mission From God." Newby has said repeatedly that he believes God has called him to lead the court and once described his mission as delivering “biblical justice, equal justice, for all.” (We remember "biblical justice." It involved a good deal of stoning and summary executions.) Newby told the modest little story that back in 2004, when he made his first run for a seat on the Supremes, “I had a sense in my heart that God was saying maybe I should run.” He's got a rigid and uncompromising fundy streak. He speaks openly about how faith has shaped his administration of the courts, which included squashing diversity efforts and purging LGBTQ aides and assistants. "He’s packed higher and lower courts with former clerks and mentees whom he’s cultivated at his Bible study, prayer breakfasts and similar events." Before Newby squeaked out his win over Cheri Beasley in 2020 (by a margin of 401 votes), his wife Macon, a pretty accomplished conservative political activist in her own right, wrote to friends, asking for their prayers: “Paul, as a believer in Christ Jesus, is clothed in the righteousness of Christ alone,” her note said. “Because of that, he has direct access to Almighty God to cry out for wisdom in seeking for the Court to render justice.”

"His tendency to see people as either with him or against God has at times led to conflicts with political allies, associates and even relatives. That includes two of his four [adopted] children, from whom he’s distanced over issues of politics and sexuality."

2. Little Ruthless Dictator. In February 2023, with the newly installed 5-2 Republican majority on the Supreme Court barely sworn in (Republican judge candidates had swept the Nov. 2022 elections), Justice Phil Berger Jr., Newby’s right-hand man and "presumed heir on the court," circulated a draft of a special order Newby was engineering. He fully intended to do something unprecedented and highly controversial, rehear and reverse a case that had been decided just weeks before -- the outlawing of partisan gerrymandering that the previous Supreme Court, dominated by Democrats, had just ruled (giving North Carolina an independent redistricting plan that led to a 7-7 split in its Congressional delegation). Newby intended to overturn that, which he did, because he rules absolutely the other Republicans on the Court. He made the decision to rehear the case and then demanded that the other judges agree without debate and via email their assent to him in 24 hours. By email. No in-person judicial conference to consider such a momentous and clearly partisan move to invalidate the previous court's finding. Within the hour, the court’s Republicans all caved. "Its two liberal justices, consigned to irrelevance, worked through the night with their clerks to complete a dissent by the deadline." Newby then wrote a majority opinion declaring that partisan gerrymandering was legal and that the Democrat-led court had unconstitutionally infringed on the legislature’s prerogative to create electoral maps.

3. Newby's"Climate of Fear." What puts the "petty" in "petty little dictator"? Vindictiveness. Newby's power as chief justice allows him to promote or demote judges on lower courts. He decides who serves as their chiefs and who holds prestigious committee posts. Newby demoted or forced into retirement as many as nine senior judges with little public explanation; all were Democrats or moderate Republicans, and had clashed personally with Newby or his allies. Among the most notable was Donna Stroud, the Republican chief judge of the Court of Appeals, whom Newby removed after she was reported to have hired a clerk favored by Democrats over one favored by a fellow Republican justice. Newby replaced Stroud with a close ally, Chris Dillon. In 2022, after the Judicial Standards Commission’s longtime director clashed with Dillon about limiting judges’ political activity, she was ousted. Her replacement, Brittany Pinkham, swiftly led two investigations into alleged misconduct by Democratic Supreme Court Justice Anita Earls, who had spoken publicly about Newby’s actions to end initiatives to address a lack of diversity in the court system. Newby had personally encouraged at least one of the investigations into Earls. 

Neither investigation resulted in sanctions, but judges said that, in combination with the firings and demotions, the probes conveyed a chilling message that Newby would punish those who crossed him. Several judges said they were intimidated to the point that it shaped how they did their jobs. Some said they or others had felt pressured to participate in prayers that Newby conducted at courthouses or conferences.

Judges and court staffers “are afraid of speaking out,” said Mary Ann Tally, a judge who retired near the beginning of Newby’s tenure as chief justice when she hit the statutory retirement age. Tally, a Democrat, said other judges had told her they were “afraid of Newby retaliating against them or that they would end up in front of the Judicial Standards Commission.” ProPublica spoke to more than 20 current or former judges who expressed fear that Newby or his allies might seek to harm their judicial or legal careers.

4. The Adoption Business. When Newby and his wife went looking for a fourth child to adopt, they found a pregnant teenager willing to have her baby and give it to the Newbys for adoption. "The child’s birth mother, Melodie Barnes, had split from her boyfriend after getting pregnant and, with the help of a Christian anti-abortion network, moved to Oregon, which then allowed mothers to put babies up for adoption without their fathers’ consent. Barnes’ ex disputed the adoption, obtaining a restraining order to halt the process. According to news reports, the Newbys and their lawyer were notified of this before the birth, but went forward anyway. They took custody just after the baby was born. Two weeks later, when a court ordered the Newbys to return the child to her father, they instead sought to give the baby to Barnes, someone who shared their evangelical beliefs. Soon after that attempt, a court order compelled Barnes to give the baby to her father." Eventually, the Newby's successfully adopted another baby girl.

The Newbys went on to start two adoption agencies, including Amazing Grace Adoptions, whose mission was to place children in Christian homes and save babies from abortion. In late 2021, Newby wrote an opinion in an adoption case involving Amazing Grace Adoptions. After he and his wife founded that agency, he had gone on to serve on the agency’s board of directors and touted his connection to it during his 2004 Supreme Court campaign. Yet he did not recuse himself from this case nor admit he had what looked like a potential conflict of interest. He did, however, rule in Amazing Grace's favor.

5. The Dark Money Nexus.  In his first reelection campaign in 2012, he was running against a Democrat with legendary connections, Sam J. Ervin IV. Ervin was said to be leading in the polls. He was relying on the $240,000 granted by NC's pioneering public financing system (long ago killed by the Republican General Assembly), while in the closing days of the campaign Newby's bank account grew $2 million from dark money contributions. "The cash funded waves of ads supporting Newby and blasting Ervin. TVs across the state blared what became known as the 'banjo ad,' in which a country singer twanged that Newby would bring 'justice tough but fair.' ”

6. Stealth Political Lobbying.  After the Red Wave of 2010 (the Tea Party election), Newby became a constant influence on Republican legislation coming out of the General Assembly. "His backchannel conversations with General Assembly members were 'openly known' among court and legislative insiders, one former lawmaker said." At Newby's behest, in 2013 the legislature did away with public financing for judicial candidates, making them reliant on private contributions and dark money groups. Legislators also passed another measure Newby favored, making investigations by the courts’ internal watchdog, the Judicial Standards Commission, secret and giving Newby himself veto power on sanctions and on whether cases became public. For Newby, it was revenge, for he himself had drawn the commission’s scrutiny for engaging in activities that undermined his impartiality, including attending a rally against same-sex marriage in his first year on the bench. With his new powers, Newby quashed disciplinary actions against two Republican judges who had admitted to egregious breaches of the state’s judicial code. The decisions to quash the discipline remained secret until ProPublica reported them. In 2016, Republican lawmakers handed Newby a third victory when they began phasing out nonpartisan judicial elections, making them all partisan contests.

7. When You're On a Mission From God, The Rules Don't Apply To You.  George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School spent about $14,000 to cover expenses for Newby and three of his Republican colleagues (Phil Berger Jr. was among them) to fly to Honolulu for a weeklong judicial conference held at The Royal Hawaiian Resort, a pricey beachfront hotel known as the “Pink Palace of the Pacific.” "The four NC judges went to lectures on conservative legal principles in the mornings, then enjoyed local attractions, from hot-tubbing to hiking, the rest of the day, according to a ProPublica reporter who was at the event. On the final evening, they attended an outdoor banquet lit by tiki torches that featured a whole roasted luau pig. Only one of the four — Berger — disclosed the trip in their annual judicial ethics forms, though the form directs judges to report gifts of over $500. Newby didn’t respond to questions from ProPublica about the trip or why he didn’t report it. The rules for judicial behavior also state that judges “may not personally make financial contributions” to candidates seeking elected office, but campaign finance data shows that Newby is among more than a dozen judges and judicial candidates who have ignored this prohibition. He’s made four such donations since 2008, including one in 2022, when he was chief justice." According to the Center for Public Integrity, he ruled at least six times in cases involving Duke Energy or its subsidiaries while he and his wife held stock in the company, always siding with it.

The Knock on Michael Whatley

 

Republican US Senate candidate Michael Whatley, looking to inherit Thom Tillis's seat with the full blessing of Jethro, made the mistake of getting himself designated Trump's czar for Hurricane Helene recovery, because that role has devolved sharply. Whatley has been largely missing in action since that momentous day last January 24th in Asheville when Trump named him "recovery czar." 

So feckless has Whatley been, and so absent from the recovery zone, that some in the mountains -- and not just Democrats, mind you! -- have publicly beat the drum for his resignation. According to the Smoky Mountain News, more than 120 people from 17 counties across the Helene-impacted region signed a letter demanding Whatley be removed from his position. “Michael Whatley has failed us and forgotten about us,” the letter states. “We have spoken out for months, because we simply cannot stay silent and let his failure continue to hurt our communities. Both Democrats and Republicans have called out the sluggish response. It’s clear that Whatley just isn’t up to the task.” 

Margaret Ackiss, a member of the North Carolina Republican Party’s 11th Congressional District executive committee, quipped to reporter Cory Vaillancourt,  “It’s kind of funny to say ‘step down,’ because I never saw him step up." Ackiss said that "Helene recovery should be a non-partisan issue and that Whatley’s attempt to blame Democrats isn’t reflective of Appalachian values."

"This is a human issue. I have friends on both sides of the aisle, although I’m a Republican. When catastrophes happen, I don’t care what party you’re in — we help the people on the ground,” said Ackiss, who claims 10 generations of roots in the region. “To me, it was completely disappointing to see Michael Whatley and many others who espouse themselves to be Republicans not step up and help the people....”

Whatley's attitude is that the Trump government has done all right, has done enough, and he doesn't hesitate to deflect criticism onto his boss -- “What [my critics] are trying to say is that the president has not done a good job in terms of recovery, and therefore I’ve not done a good job. The fact is, $6.5 billion in relief [is what] we’ve brought into North Carolina since President Trump was sworn in” -- which is an actual drop in the bucket against the $60 billion in estimated damage and loss.

$20 billion to bail out Argentina cattle barons, but Kristi Noem's mandate at FEMA is to squeeze the American beet until it bleeds. In the case of the Appalachians, it's Trump's own voters hurt the most. Go figure.

Facial Recognition

Oliver Kornetzke, unpacking what he sees in the photograph above:

Just take a long, good look at Marco Rubio in this photo—standing there beside Trump like a dumb wax figurine someone forgot to unplug, smiling with the stupid, flat, haunted expression of a man whose soul’s been in escrow since 2016. You can see it in his eyes—those vacant, fogged-over little marbles that once held ambition but now just reflect fluorescent lighting and regret. There’s no pulse, no conviction—just the faint little hum of pathetic servitude, the sound a hollowed-out man makes when he’s realized he’s sold his soul not to the devil for power, but for the privilege of being the Devil’s bitch....

Rubio’s face in that photo is what I’d call a masterclass in moral decomposition. He’s not really alive—he’s just a taxidermied prop wearing a government title. You can really see it in his eyes that have that sad embalmed glaze unique to men who’ve traded all their integrity for proximity to power and then forgot why they ever wanted either.

 

Gangster

 

I'm blatantly reprinting here Carter Wrenn's October 23rd post on "Talking About Politics." Wrenn, something of a legend as Sen. Jesse Helms's political guru, gets Donald Jethro Trump right. Wrenn is not the first commentator to notice Trump's resemblance to crime lords, but he kind of proves the point in that economical way he has with words:

During Prohibition, Al Capone was the most notorious New York tough guy. He didn’t grasp fame until after he moved to Chicago. But in those days no one matched him.

In the 1950’s, during the Army–McCarthy hearings, another New York tough guy, a lawyer, Roy Cohn, sitting beside Fightin’ Joe McCarthy pilloried witnesses. McCarthy fumbled. Collapsed. Back in New York, Cohn went to work as a fixer for mafia kingpins like John Gotti.

In 1973 in a New York night club Cohn met Donald Trump. Became Trump’s fixer. Mentor.

Today, Trump’s the modern version of a New York tough guy. And no one matches him. He’s got an iron grip on the Republican Party like no other president. In Tennessee in a primary eleven Republicans just ran for Congress – four days before the primary Trump’s own pollster showed Matt Van Epps losing. Trump endorsed Epps. Epps won by 26 points.

A message rolled across Washington, tremors rattling Republican congressmen: Don’t cross Trump – you’ll pay a price.

That’s a lynchpin of New York tough guys’ power: Fear. But fear doesn’t end in healing.

That last sentence startles me. It's something a liberal with a crystal fetish might say, and I don't understand why it's tacked on here. Wrenn even titled this little piece "Healing," embracing that word as the thesis of his essay. But trumpism is not about healing, and never will be. Gangster-rule is a cancer in the Republic. Heal it? No, kill it before it kills you.

Virginia Democrats Clap Back

 

In May of 2024, Gov. Glenn Youngkin called the Virginia General Assembly into a special legislative session on the budget. The Democrats, who control both houses, slyly left that special session "open." In Virginia, if a special session is left "open," not officially closed by the General Assembly, then technically, the authority to reconvene that session -- just incidentally on the new pressing issue of redistricting -- goes to the state House speaker and the chair of the state Senate’s Rules Committee, both of whom have already admitted their intention to redraw the Congressional map of Virginia to add Democratic seats to make up for the recent NC Republican steal. And they will do that over the objections of Gov. Youngkin, who knows what's up.

But in Virginia, the law for redrawing the map is cumbersome, takes a constitutional amendment, which itself requires enabling legislation passed by both houses of the General Assembly -- not once but twice. The process has to start with a special session, which Gov. Youngkin would never call, but the Democrats did. The special session on a proposed constitutional amendment is now scheduled for next Monday. Theoretically, that gives the Democratic majority in the General Assembly just enough time. They have to vote the proposed constitutional amendment through both houses very quickly. Then after the election next month (Virginia votes in off-years), the next session of the General Assembly must also approve it -- a foregone conclusion, evidently, as the Democrats are polling well. Then put it to the voters in a referendum, who have to vote "yes" in time for a new map to be used in 2026. 

My head spins. So many hoops, so little time. But good on them if they can pull it off.

Now we can discuss the political brutality that gerrymandering brings to a state. Right now, because the spotlight is on their corruption, Republican loyalists love to parry the criticism by saying, "The Democrats did it worse to us when they were in charge." I don't know about "worse," but of course Democrats have pulled off their own outrageous and patently unfair map tinkerings. Which is precisely why the most progressive elements in the Democratic Party have pushed in recent years for independent redistricting for North Carolina. I myself worked on a resolution calling for an end to gerrymandering and the creation of an independent agency to draw fair maps. That resolution passed locally, passed at the district level, then went to the state Democratic convention. 

Admittedly, that was a quaint time when we thought the Republicans should join us in our high-minded opposition to the evils of gerrymandering, because Republican leaders had been calling for independent redistricting for years, obviously under the burden of Democratic gerrymanders that kept them down. But instead of helping to end gerrymandering, Republican leaders were just lying in wait, full of the same spirit of retribution that defines Trump. And they're getting their revenge. 

We're trapped in a revenge tragedy. What's a player to do but unsheath our own swords and start swinging? That's just survival. We can be reform-minded later when -- and if -- saneness reasserts itself.

So Much Winning

 

Andrew Ackerman, WashPost:

New data released Friday showed inflation heated up in September to a pace not seen since January, according to the first dataset to be released during the government shutdown.

The September consumer price index showed prices rising at a 3 percent annual rate — up slightly from 2.9 percent in August and above April’s post-pandemic low of 2.3 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Gasoline prices, which edged down over the past year — providing some relief to consumers — nonetheless jumped 4.1 percent in September and were the largest factor in a 0.3 percent monthly increase....

Though the 3 percent pace was slightly below economists’ expectations, Friday’s report is the latest to demonstrate that inflation hasn’t gone away and remains stubbornly above fed norms. The long stretch of above-average increases has left the cost of everyday goods and services about 25 percent higher than before the pandemic.

This Creep Lied, and You Can't Be Surprised

 

Trump acknowledged on Wednesday that he was having the entire East Wing demolished to make way for his 90,000-square-foot ballroom, a vanity project to polish his turd ego and a signal he never intends to leave.

Trump initially said the ballroom construction would not dismantle parts of the White House. “My new ballroom won’t interfere with the current building. It’ll be near it but not touching it,” he said in July. “And pays total respect to the existing building, which I’m the biggest fan of.” The planned size of the ballroom would transform the footprint of the White House. At 90,000 square feet, the ballroom would be nearly double the size of the White House residence, which is 55,000 square feet.

The East Wing was built in 1902 during Theodore Roosevelt’s presidency as an extension to the White House, but was overhauled in the 1940s at the request of President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

The president also said on Wednesday that the ballroom would cost $300 million, $100 million more than initially estimated. Trump has said that he is shaking down billionaires and corporations seeking government favors to fund the project.

The ballroom is only the latest White House renovation that Trump has undertaken. The Oval Office now features many gilded flourishes for a man who said he doesn't think of himself as a king. He also paved over the Rose Garden and is planning to build an arch in front of Arlington National Cemetery in the style of the Arc de Triomphe.

Sara C. Bronin, a law professor at George Washington University who led the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, said that Mr. Trump’s decision to tear down the East Wing appeared to run afoul of the National Historic Preservation Act, which requires federal agencies to take into account the effects of their actions on historic places.

We Didn't Need This Metaphor for Trump 2.0, But There It Is

 

Why is Virginia Foxx letting him do this? Why is the Congress silent? Who the hell is this human wrecking ball, that he has so easily and thoroughly buffaloed so many otherwise sentient people.

It's a sickness. It's a plague. It is the demolishment of more than just plaster and wood.

 

No Kings

 

Boone, N.C.

Capital Blvd., Raleigh

Durham, NC

Lenoir, NC

Charlotte

Corruption in Plain Sight

 

You may compare Phil Berger's newly drawn and carefully gerrymandered Congressional map for North Carolina with the current map. Only CD 1 (in purple) and CD 3 (beige) have changed. CD 1 changed drastically to satisfy Trump with another guaranteed Republican seat. (Berger's supposed to get something out of the deal, mainly a Trump endorsement for reelection against that pesky Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page.) CD 1 is represented by Democrat Don Davis. Phil Berger's new gerrymander takes Davis from the 1% margin by which he won in 2024 to an almost 12% disadvantage for 2026 (based on how those counties voted when Trump was on the ballot). Don Davis beat the odds twice before, against twisted conservatives who should have won an R+2 district. Berger's new map adds insult by drawing Don Davis completely out of his own district.

Berger and the Boys swapped some relatively diverse and politically competitive counties that Davis represents, including Wilson and Wayne, for some more heavily conservative counties currently represented by Rep. Greg Murphy in CD 3, a Greenville Republican. Murphy's district would still favor Republican candidates but would be more competitive in the future.

Irredeemable

 

In the Age of Trump:

No Americans can be considered unredeemable, not even the sadistic mask-wearers and arrogant ICEmen that Trump throws at American cities without even having to train them in brutality.

Doug Krugman served for 24 years in the United States Marine Corps. He wrote this:

On Sept. 30, at an unprecedented gathering of senior military leadership, President Donald Trump said, “If you don’t like what I’m saying, you can leave the room — of course, there goes your rank, there goes your future.” I wasn’t invited to be in the room that day, and I had decided months earlier that I had to leave. By coincidence, Sept. 30 was my last day as a colonel in the United States Marine Corps. I gave up my career out of concern for our country’s future.

Pete Hegseth's new restrictions on news gathering at the Pentagon bars reporters from soliciting information that the government hasn’t authorized for them. Turning the U.S. military into Trump's personal strong-arms takes considerable secrecy, and he doesn't want any leaks, any investigations, any accountability.

The spectacle of Trump's sleaziness, his corruption, his truly monstrous ego is flat-out exhausting. But we can't surrender to exhaustion right now.

The Supremes Ain't As Supreme As We the People

 

Eventually, the Supreme Court will have to face this question squarely: If Trump can selectively go after his enemies without sufficient evidence and against the recommendations of his U.S. Attorney on the case, and can cite old or even fake facts to justify his actions with respect to federal troops, then there are no real limitations on his power.

--Jay Quo, The Status Quo (Substack)

Epic corruption in plain sight,
along with the arrogance

Jay Quo thinks "our chances are iffy at best" that the conservative majority on the Supreme Court will ever act to stop Trump. I think he's right. The justice system has been compromised and corrupted at every level:

If the majority of justices greenlight Trump to pursue his revenge prosecutions and troop deployments with no meaningful judicial checks upon his power, the only guardrail that will remain will be the people themselves, who will need to rise up together peacefully to oppose in the streets what cannot be stopped in the courts.

My only concern is that protests don't turn violent and give Donald Jethro Trump Stephen Miller the pretext he wants to push through enactment of the Insurrection Act and the imposition of martial law, which is their wet dream. All Miller needs is an opposition that can be depended on to do the wrong thing -- which historically (let's face it) has been the Left's particular talent forever.

Trump already gaslights his fans with fantasies of Portland burning, of Chicago imploding, of Memphis more dangerous than unrefrigerated meat, and Fox News does its best to underline fear and loathing of the rebellion. But the rebellion only grows. 

See you on October 18th!

Sci-Fi in the Age of Trump

 

The Star Wars spinoff Andor arrived on streaming platforms in 2022, during the interregnum between Trump 1.0 and Trump 2.0. Andor is considered the best show of all the junior Star Wars. Some say it's better than the original movies.

I doubt the writers of Andor season 1 had Trump in mind as a model for Emperor Palpatine -- since we had not seen Jethro's full blossoming as a would-be dictator by the end of his first term -- nevertheless the political philosophy the rebel character Karis Nemik expresses about tyranny seems more than apt. It looks prophetic. Prophetically hopeful for prevailing against the odds (though Nemik did not survive the payroll heist on Aldhani).

Nemik’s manifesto:

There will be times when the struggle seems impossible. I know this already. Alone, unsure, dwarfed by the scale of the enemy. Remember this: Freedom is a pure idea. It occurs spontaneously and without instruction.

Random acts of insurrection are occurring constantly throughout the galaxy. There are whole armies, battalions that have no idea that they’ve already enlisted in the cause. Remember that the frontier of the Rebellion is everywhere. And even the smallest act of insurrection pushes our lines forward.

And then remember this: The Imperial need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear.

 

Whatever Happened To This Guy?

 

Former NC-11 Congressman Madison Cawthorn now lives in Florida. He achieved his personal best in defying the law on September 25 when he got himself arrested for failure to show up in court to face 2024 charges of driving with a suspended or revoked license.

Just incidentally, he had already announced that he will be running for the open US House seat in Florida being vacated by Byron Donalds, who's running for governor. It's a safe Republican district (natch!) but already has a crowded Republican primary field including candidates with no arrest record.

And Reese Gorman just reported in The Assembly that Cawthorn has become persona non grata even in the Trump White House:

Once a MAGA poster child, Cawthorn is attempting a political comeback, but he shouldn’t expect any help from those in President Donald Trump’s orbit.

“No way,” one source close to Trump told NOTUS when asked whether Cawthorn would get the backing of the president and his circle.

Well, guess there's not always an Act 2 in politics. 

 

Chapel Hill Professor Reinstated

 

Last Wednesday, I wrote about a Chapel Hill professor of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies getting himself placed on administrative leave for supposed Antifa-adjacent advocacy of political violence against the Trump oppression.

Prof. Dwayne Dixon has been reinstated. From NC Newsline:

The reinstatement comes after the ACLU of North Carolina, representing Dixon, threatened legal action over the university’s decision to place him on leave, writing in an Oct. 2 demand letter that it was a “textbook violation of the First Amendment.” They issued a deadline of 5 p.m. Friday before legal action would follow....

Dean Stoyer, UNC’s vice chancellor for communications and marketing, said ... “We have found no basis to conclude that Dwayne Dixon poses a threat to University students, staff, and faculty, or has engaged in conduct that violates University policy. As a result, the University is reinstating Professor Dixon to his faculty responsibilities, effective immediately.”

 

Wormwood*

 

We get why Dallas Woodhouse has been installed as the czar of "election integrity," and you should understand it too, because it means nothing good for the opposition to the Raleigh junta. Woodhouse's projected role is spelled out in this chilling sentence contained in the 3rd paragraph of Auditor Dave Boliek's memo to members of county boards of election:

As we have many new chairs, Mr. Woodhouse will soon coordinate a series of training events to assist you in your new role.

(The full text of Boliek's memo has not been readily available. Parts of it have been widely quoted, though not that sentence, and I couldn't find the full memo anywhere on the state Auditor's website. Anderson Alerts published the full text, which I'm indebted to here.)

What will a Dallas Woodhouse "training" of new BOE chairs look like? Keep in mind that those newly appointed and highly partisan Republican chairs are new because Phil Berger and his pals in the General Assembly were desperate to take over the administration of voting in this state, which they did by completely changing the law to take appointment power away from the governor, giving it instead to the newly elected state Auditor Dave Boliek.

I can forecast the not-so-subtle marching orders in those Woodhouse trainings: "You're Republicans, and you've been put in charge of early voting and everything else related to ballot access for a reason. We expect you to be loyal Republicans. We expect you to do what you can to limit the access of people who'll likely vote against us. Do you understand me?" 

Woodhouse must be salivating at the opportunity.

If the current State Board of Elections with its 3-2 Republican majority allows these Woodhouse trainings to go forward, then they are as craven cowards as the US Congress. No one should be in charge of that training other than the board members and their legal counsel. I'm looking squarely at you, Four Eggers. Do something!

Those Woodhouse trainings had better by GAWD be advertised and open to the public, not to mention the press.

*In the Bible, wormwood refers to the bitter Artemisia plant, symbolizing extreme bitterness, poison, sorrow, and suffering. It is used to depict God's judgment and warnings of divine wrath against sin and injustice, as seen in the Old Testament prophecies of Jeremiah and Amos, and in the New Testament Book of Revelations. In Revelations, a star called Wormwood falls, turning waters bitter and poisonous, illustrating widespread calamity and death.

Apparently, Dallas Woodhouse Gives Stacy "Four" Eggers the Heebie-Jeebies

 

Woodhouse

I asked the question recently: How does State Board of Elections (SBOE) member Four Eggers feel about the appointment of Dallas Woodhouse as the "election integrity czar," seemingly above and over the heads of the duly designated SBOE board.

I believe we got at least a partial answer in the heated yelling match that broke out during a discussion of Woodhouse's appointment at a SBOE meeting last Tuesday. (I tried to tune in via WebEx, but problems with over-talking and the sound system made listening not only a challenge but a sheer pain. So I have to go with what's reported by Lynn Bonner on NCNewsline.)

After Democratic member Siobhan Millen began the discussion of Woodhouse's appointment -- “It’s difficult to imagine a person who would be less suited to bringing election integrity…” -- SBOE Chair Francis DeLuca "began to shout over Millen as she criticized Woodhouse’s hiring."

Once the shouting died down, Eggers spoke and appeared to side with the two Democrats, though gingerly, like a cowboy trying to gentle a wild horse: “Our county board members should take direction from this board,” Eggers said. "It’s clear that the board retains legal, technical, and supervisory oversight over elections."

But maybe, Eggers added, "Woodhouse might be helpful in securing funding from the legislature."

Hahahahaha

Oh, Woodhouse is going to be useful all right, but not for more funding.

What Did Whatley-the-Feckless NOT Do?

 

Hurricane Recovery Czar Michael Whatley

Trump designated former NC GOP Chair Michael Whatley as Hurricane Helene "recovery czar" back on January 24th, when Trump was in Western North Carolina trying to act like he cared about the devastation from the flooding while also suggesting that we just get rid of FEMA. Whatley is now running for Thom Tillis's Senate seat. He has been noticeably absent -- not to mention totally feckless -- in any management or coordination of hurricane relief. To date only $5 billion in Federal aid has arrived to recover some of the $60 billion in damage to roads and bridges, businesses, and private residences.

Cory Vaillancourt reports that Whatley essentially sneaked into Western North Carolina on Sept. 22 at a closed-door FEMA Review Council meeting in Fletcher, where a leaked agenda listed him as a subcommittee co-chair and former National GOP chair — "not as the recovery czar Trump tapped to head up widely-panned recovery efforts."

Vaillancourt reports that the FEMA review council meeting in Fletcher was not open to the press or the public, and The Smoky Mountain News received no notice of Whatley’s visit. Whatley "seems to be backing away from responsibility as he ramps up his Senate campaign against former North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper."

The frustration with Whatley is evident in a petition circulated by WNC residents demanding Whatley’s removal from the FEMA Review Council.

The petition says, “We need a fresh set of eyes to galvanize the recovery and the flow of funding. Whatley’s absence and lack of accountability have become an obstacle rather than a solution.” ...

Whatley’s visit to Fletcher seemed carefully calibrated to minimize political exposure. No public town halls were scheduled, and requests for comment by Smoky Mountain News have gone unanswered for weeks.

The leaked agenda that identified Whatley only as a former party chair reflects his shifting political priorities. As recovery czar, he has not been the face of the recovery, nor has he taken ownership of the slow pace of reimbursements. As a Senate candidate, however, he has every incentive to avoid being tied to unmet promises.

 

What Would Be the Remedy for Sen. Hise's Unconstitutional Gerrymander of Watauga?

 

If you're wondering what sort of earthquake it'll be if the Watauga Voting Rights Taskforce wins the lawsuit outlined in the last post below (an admittedly huge if, given the effects of Trump's brow-beating of the Federal judiciary), here is the bottomline (and the last two pages of the suit):

PRAYER FOR RELIEF

WHEREFORE, Plaintiffs respectfully request that this Court:

1. Award preliminary and permanent injunctive relief enjoining Defendants and their agents, officers, and employees from enforcing, implementing, or giving any effect to the reapportionment plans described in Senate Bill 759, Sec. 1 and Senate Bill 912, Sec. 1 in their entirety;

2. Award preliminary and permanent injunctive relief enjoining Defendants and their agents, officers, and employees from enforcing, implementing, or giving any effect to the referendum ban described in Senate Bill 912, Sec. 2 in its entirety;

3. Declare that the reapportionment plans described in Senate Bill 759, Sec. 1 and Senate Bill 912, Sec. 1 are unconstitutional because each violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments;

4. Declare that Senate Bill 912, Sec. 2 is unconstitutional because it violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments;

5. Restore, for purposes of holding elections for the Watauga County Commission , the reapportionment plans approved by Watauga County voters in 2024;

6. Make all further orders as are just, necessary, and proper to preserve Citizen Plaintiffs’ rights to participate equally in elections for the Watauga County Commission and School Board and to be equally represented by members of the County Commission and School Board;

7. Award Plaintiffs their costs, disbursement, and reasonable attorneys’ fees incurred in bringing this action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1988;

8. Tax the costs of this action against Defendants; and

9. Grant such other or further relief the Court deems appropriate.

Watauga County Voting Rights Taskforce (et al.) Challenges Sen. Hise's Unconstitutional Gerrymander of Watauga

 

Brandon Kingdollar, reporting for NC Newsline:

Sen. Ralph Hise

A federal lawsuit brought by voters Wednesday [Oct. 1, 2025] accuses the North Carolina legislature of forcing unconstitutional voting maps on Watauga County to help more Republican candidates win local elections.

The challenge, filed in the Western District of North Carolina by seven Watauga County voters and joined by voting rights advocacy groups, argues that Senate Bill 759, passed in 2023, imposes “unconstitutional, malapportioned electoral districts with large population deviations,” violating the legal principle of one person, one vote.

“The Plan dilutes the votes of Democratic voters by systematically overpopulating the districts in which Democrats have the opportunity to elect their candidates of choice and systematically underpopulating the districts in which Republicans have the opportunity to elect their candidates of choice,” the complaint states.

Watauga Board of Elections Director Matthew Snyder declined to comment on pending litigation. A spokesperson for Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger (R-Rockingham) did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The lawsuit names the Watauga County Board of Elections and its members as defendants. Advocacy organizations Common Cause North Carolina and the Watauga County Voting Rights Task Force are also plaintiffs in the suit.

Under the previous election system, county commissioners were elected to five residential districts — meaning candidates must live in the district they represent, but the county’s residents vote in all five elections — yielding three Democratic commissioners and two Republicans.

After the new map, made up of electoral districts — where only residents of the district vote on that district’s commissioner — the board is made up of five Republicans. Two districts encompassing most of Boone will not elect commissioners until 2026 under S.B. 759, leaving the majority of the town’s residents with no representation, according to the lawsuit.

Following the election, the three Republicans elected to the commission appointed two Republicans to the remaining vacancies, seats held by Republicans that were vacated to run in the new election.

While the initial law applied the districts only to the Watauga Board of Commissioners, a subsequent bill passed in 2024, Senate Bill 912, extended them to the Watauga Board of Education. The lawsuit also challenges that piece of legislation.

The U.S. Supreme Court decided in a 2019 ruling on North Carolina maps that “partisan gerrymandering claims present political questions beyond the reach of the federal courts.” The North Carolina Supreme Court also views such claims as “nonjusticiable under the North Carolina Constitution,” upholding Republican-leaning maps in 2023.

The Watauga complaint centers its legal claims on nonpartisan classes of voters instead, including location and perceived duration of residence. The complaint alleges that Sen. Ralph Hise (R-Mitchell) sought to dilute the votes of urban students to boost the voting power of rural residents of the county. 

Hise, a Republican whose district includes Watauga, was the lone sponsor of both bills. He said on the state Senate floor in 2023 that he was motivated to counteract “the predominance of [Appalachian State University] and others in the electoral process.” The complaint quotes him pointing to “a longtime standing conflict between the influence of the university and others within the county.”

These remarks, the plaintiffs argue, are an admission of two unconstitutional criteria for the maps: geographic favoritism and discrimination against perceived temporary residents.

Hise did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

[The Fate of Last Year's Local Referendum]

When the Watauga Board of Commissioners voted to hold a local referendum proposing new maps without those discrepancies, the General Assembly added to S.B. 912 a provision barring any referendum enacted by Watauga County voters impacting the county commission from taking effect until after the 2032 elections.

Despite the referendum’s passage by a 71% to 29% margin in 2024, it will not take effect for nearly a decade. This violates the Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection, the complaint alleges.

“The voters of Watauga County will be stuck with unconstitutional districts for their County Commission and Board of Education, unless this Court intervenes,” the lawsuit states. “Fundamentally, the people of Watauga County have no choice but to petition this Court for urgently needed relief from Defendants’ ongoing violations of their First and Fourteenth Amendment rights.”

The individual plaintiffs include six Democratic voters and one unaffiliated voter. Three are former members of the Watauga County Board of Commissioners, including Larry Turnbow and Charlie Wallin, who served as chair and vice-chair prior to the 2024 election.

“Watauga County residents voted to adopt fair districts while rejecting the gerrymandered maps imposed on us by the legislature,” said Ray Russell, the other former commissioner joining the lawsuit. “We’re filing this lawsuit to protect our mountain community against the unconstitutional overreach by politicians in Raleigh.”

The Enemy Within

The people most in charge of the military -- Trump and Hegseth -- laid out their long-range plans yesterday in front of hundreds of military brass. You can connect the dots, right? 

"We should use some of these dangerous cities as training grounds for our military National Guard," said Trump, who claimed "We're under invasion from within .... Last month, I signed an executive order to provide training for a quick reaction force that can help quell civil disturbances. This is gonna be a big thing for the people in this room, because it's the enemy from within and we have to handle it before it gets out of control. It won't get out of control."

Hegseth called for troops to ignore “stupid rules of engagement ....We unleash overwhelming and punishing violence on the enemy. We also don’t fight with stupid rules of engagement. We untie the hands of our war fighters to intimidate, demoralize, hunt and kill the enemies of our country. No more politically correct and overbearing rules of engagement.”

I believe any fair interpretation of Hegseth's words, following Trump's lead, means they're okay with war crimes, and the people worthy of demoralizing violence are Trump's political opponents. They're pretty explicit that we'll soon (?) be seeing beat-downs of peaceful American citizen protesters. And who knows what other trumpian bullying will come for the accredited reporters and social media influencers who continue to document Trump's lawless, corrupt presidency.

Mr. President, I'm your enemy, shure nuff. And I'm within. What are you gonna do about it?

I'm not forgetting the cowed institutions which preemptively punish free speech. They seem to fear the wrath of Trump and intend to please him. An example just this week at UNC-Chapel Hill, which acted unilaterally based on pure speculation, rumor, and unverified accusations and placed on "administrative leave" (often the first step toward firing) a professor of Asian and Middle Eastern studies, Dwayne Dixon:

The move to place Dixon on leave came after Turning Point USA spokesperson Andrew Kolvet posted a photo on X of a flyer at Georgetown that read: “Hey, fascist! Catch!” The same phrase was printed on a bullet recovered by police after the fatal shooting of Turning Point founder and conservative activist Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University last month. 

The flyer, according to Kolvet’s post, included a QR code linked to “the John Brown Club” and also read: “The only political group that celebrates when Nazis die.” ... It’s unclear whether Dixon had ever been a member of a John Brown Gun Club.

On Saturday, Fox News reported that Dixon is a member of Redneck Revolt, a group founded in 2016 that describes itself as “an aboveground militant formation” that “stands for organized defense of our communities.” The group is against white supremacy, capitalism and patriarchy, according to its principles.

Dixon ... told The Daily Tar Heel that he has not been a member of Redneck Revolt since 2018. The organization itself disbanded in 2019, according to a pop-up message displayed on its website Wednesday. And there does not appear to be any evidence Dixon was involved with an incident at Georgetown University — hundreds of miles from Chapel Hill — that spurred concerns over the group among conservative activists and media.

The North Carolina chapter of the American Association of University Professors on Wednesday criticized UNC’s actions against Dixon, writing in a statement: “Right-wing activists are attacking Dixon for prior membership in a group that has been inactive since 2019, and are baselessly connecting him to flyers allegedly posted by a different group on a different campus outside of North Carolina.”