Quick! Throw This Drowning Man an Anchor!

NC House member
Chris Malone

Poor, pitiful Republican! Chris Malone, who represents a Wake County house district well outside the urban core and who proudly voted for HB2, has just had an eleventh-hour conversion. He sent out a mailer saying this:

“HB2 is costing Wake County and North Carolina too much. I call for a full repeal of HB2 now. I also support adding anti-discrimination language to state laws. I call upon law enforcement to enforce existing laws banning inappropriate behavior in public facilities.”

The bill that discriminates against transgender citizens was supposed to rally the Christian right to the Republican banner in North Carolina this year. Hasn't worked out that way, as even the blindest of the brethren can recognize the bleeding of economic development as a result.

Even more interesting: the anti-HB2 mailer was paid for by the NCGOP. Whaaaa? The main cheerleaders for HB2 have visibly cracked under the pressure? When asked about it, the NCGOP Executive Director Dallas Woodhouse wrapped himself around the trailer hitch trying to explain the flip-flop but still managed to blame Roy Cooper for HB2. BWAhahahaha!

“It is my understanding that Malone has adopted the same position as many of our elected officials, both Democrats and Republicans, that both the Charlotte ordinance and HB2 should be repealed,” Woodhouse said in an email Wednesday. “Malone and Republicans believe that would have happened already if Roy Cooper had not leaned on legislative Democrats supporting compromise, telling them that turmoil was better for Democrats than solutions.”

"Turmoil"? You got it, Mr. Woodhouse. You wrote it, you passed it, you defended it, you go down with it!

Okay: Here's the Anchor We're Throwing Mr. Malone

While serving on the Wake County School Board back in 2012, Chris Malone got himself implicated in a scandal with the notorious Debra Goldman, a fellow Wake County School Board member at the time. Goldman herself, after losing a state-wide race for NC Auditor, went on to an even bigger, more baroque scandal, while Chris Malone got himself elected to the NC House where he has now proved himself rudderless.

BREAKING NEWS: Another 730 Jobs Lost Because of HB2

CoStar Group, a real estate research firm, announced Monday that it had chosen Richmond over Charlotte for its research operations center. Say buh-bye to 730 jobs, Mecklenburg County, and an estimated $250 million in local investment.

CoStar officials had earlier focused their search on a new office tower under construction at 615 S. College Street in uptown Charlotte, where it would have been an anchor tenant, said the sources, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. But the company’s board rejected the location because of HB2, which limits protections for LGBT individuals, the sources said. [Charlotte Observer]

Less than two weeks left before that man who signed that law and who continues to defend it is gone for good!

Skvarla Shakes His Pom-Poms

This is either John Skvarla
or Charles Nelson Reilly

Next to Governor Squishy Hisownself, the dumbest member of the McCrory administration in Raleigh is John Skvarla, who used to be McCrory's appointee to head the Department of Environmental Quality, until he did a face plant into coal ash, at which point McCrory appointed him to head the Commerce Department, where he mainly leads cheers for Squishy's "Carolina Comeback."

According to Skvarla, speaking yesterday in Matthews, HB2 has had zero effect on North Carolina's economic well-being. “It hasn’t moved the needle one iota,” Skvarla said, holding an unmelted pat of Country Crock on his tongue the whole time.

Let's consult the dictionary, shall we? Iota -- noun, 1: the 9th letter of the Greek alphabet; 2: an infinitesimal amount.

Skvarla's statement is in the negative: HB2 has not "moved the needle" even an infinitesimal amount. Has not!

Not the loss of 400 new PayPal jobs in Charlotte? Not the loss of athletic tournaments and championship games, with meals sold in restaurants and beds rented in hotels? Not the loss of tickets sold at concert venues of canceled entertainment? Not the cooling of interest by out-of-state investors unwilling to relocate business to the "bathroom state"?

Then, in a truly Trumpian moment, Skvarla contradicted his whole "not one iota" claim by admitting that he had lashed out at PayPal for jilting the state, because, you know, one lashes out when one isn't affected at all by another's actions.

PayPal has our bowl!

"We want our stuff back," Skvarla apparently snarled at PayPal, referring to a carved oak ceremonial bowl that had been presented to PayPal by Governor Squishy back when the company announced its expansion into North Carolina.

Not one iota, but clearly one bowl's worth!

If I were casting the movie version of this historic time, I would cast Charlie Nelson Reilly as John Skvarla.

Let's Show Judge Bob Edmunds the Way To Go Home

The dark shaded area in that map is North Carolina House District 48, which a panel of three federal judges last August singled out for special comment: "one of the most bizarre and sprawling districts" enacted by the NC General Assembly as part of their racial gerrymandering, now ruled unconstitutional. (In a bizarre twist, the three-judge panel left these gerrymandered districts in effect for the 2016 elections.)

Anyway, NC Supreme Court Justice Bob Edmunds is catching flak because he had ruled, in advance of the three-judge federal panel, that districts like this one were perfectly all right with him. The three-judge federal panel overturned him, and thereby hangs Judge Edmunds' reelection prospects.

He's being attacked in a 30-second TV ad for approving of racial gerrymandering, and Republican big-wigs in the state (GOP Exec. Dir. Dallas Woodhouse, NCGOP Chair Robin Hayes) are screaming bloody murder, that their Supreme Court Justice Edmunds is being unfairly "race-baited."

The TV ad spotlights US House District 12, not NC House District 48, but the point the ad is making seems amply justified in respect to any of the heavily gerrymandered districts enacted by the Republican General Assembly and which Republican justices on the NC Supremes find no fault with.

Edmunds needs to go. Just remember how the Republican overlords in the General Assembly attempted to jury-rig Edmunds' reelection with the "retention election" scheme, also ruled unconstitutional.

What's Going On in Caldwell County?

Franklin Graham

News arriving from next door in Caldwell: Republican volunteers were apparently handing out sample ballots at Early Voting marked "Christian candidates" and some were overheard claiming that Democrats "support imposing Sharia law in North Carolina."

Deanna Ballard, Franklin Graham's assistant, was appointed to the NC Senate seat (Dist. 45) after Dan Soucek quit -- another Franklin Graham assistant. Deanna Ballard is now listed prominently on that slate of "Christian candidates." Ballard is running for reelection.

Her opponent, Caldwell County Democrat Art Sherwood, issued a statement: "I know the GOP does not hold exclusive ownership of Christianity, because it is my Christian faith that led to me to seek office – proudly as a Democrat .... Since when did lying become acceptable in the Bible?  With the vulgar Donald Trump at the top of the GOP ticket, claims by Republican poll workers that the GOP represents Christian values is laughable.”

Throwing Us a Line

4-hour wait time to vote reported at this
Mecklenburg Co. site yesterday. Very
hot in the sun!

Some people saw the long lines yesterday on the first day of Early Voting as a celebration of democracy. I get that. But I also see those long wait times as the last gasp of voter suppression.

Fact: We have fewer Early Voting sites open right now in North Carolina than were open in 2012. High Point Enterprise reporter Paul Johnson noted that Guilford County voted 11,000 people on the first day of Early Voting in 2012, with numerous polling sites open. This year, the Guilford BOE Republicans opted to open only one site this week. Consequently, early voting on the 1st day in Guilford was down from 11,000 to under 2,000.

The worst reports we've seen are from Mecklenburg County, whose two Republican BOE members are well-documented enemies (scroll down!) of Early Voting. Four hours in line is unconscionable.

It's been the plan all along, IMO. When the Fourth Circuit threw out NC's election law, the ruling left the Republican Boards of Election with fewer arrows in their quiver. Without the suppressive mechanisms of a photo ID, with voting out of precinct restored, and with same-day registration revived, the Republicans were left with the singular tactic of long lines to discourage voting. Long lines because there are fewer early voting sites and reduced hours.

So far, the people look as though they intend to tough it out. Republicans claim that those long lines prove their innocence: "See, we haven't suppressed the vote." I look at those long lines and see an electorate energized against a ruthless power structure.

Yesterday in Raleigh: Shaw Univ. students
waiting to vote early

Notes on Profiling Voters
Not that all those people in line are voting Democratic!

I suspect we all do it: looking at the line of people waiting to vote and wondering who they'll be voting for. Yesterday morning in line I saw some angry faces, set jaws, pissed-off expressions. "Ah," I thought, "Trump voters!" I have noted over the years that conservatives arrive at the polls with a head of steam. You can tell from their faces that they're fuming.

In my experience, Democrats arrive at their civic duty with happier expressions, more open and jovial faces ... except, of course, for the Democrats intending to write in a name not on the ballot.

Liveblog: The Third Presidential Debate

How bad can it get?

Here we go.

Chris Wallace: Supreme Court ... next prez will have appointments to make. Where do you want to see the court take the country, and how should Constitution be interpreted?

Clinton: What kind of country are we going to be? What opportunities, what rights? Court needs to stand on side of people, not on side of powerful corporations. Court needs to stand up for women's rights, minority rights, stand up against Citizen's United. No reversal of Roe v. Wade, no reversal of marriage rights. Senate should do its job and confirm nominee that Obama sent them.

Trump: Supreme Court--it's what it's all about. Justice Ginsberg made inappropriate comments against me, and she was forced to apologize. Uphold the 2nd Amendment. I've named 20 justices that I'd draw my nominees from. They will protect the 2nd Amendment. They will interpret the document the way the Founders wanted it interpreted. The Constitution the way it's meant to be. [Duh.]

Wallace: Quotes Clinton: "The Supreme Court is wrong on 2nd Amendment."

Clinton: I support the 2nd Amendment, understand and respect gun ownership, but also believe there can be reasonable regulations. We lose 33,000 people a year from guns. Close loop-holes that allow people who shouldn't have guns to have guns.

Wallace: How will you insure that the 2nd Amendment is protected?

Trump: Doesn't answer, talks about how "extremely upset" Hillary was over Heller decision.

Wallace: Why do you support a National Right to Carry Law?

Trump: New York has tough gun laws and is one of the most violent cities. We are going to appoint justices that feel very strongly about the 2nd Amendment.

Wallace: Abortion ... Mr. Trump, you're pro-life. Do you want the Court to overturn Roe v. Wade.

Trump: Roe v. Wade will be overturned if I put two or three justices on the Court.

Clinton: I strongly support Roe v. Wade. Many states are putting stringent restrictions on abortion, defunding Planned Parenthood. I support Planned Parenthood. Donald has said that women should be punished for abortions. Roe says there can be restrictions on abortion so long as the life of the mother is protected. You can regulate if you're doing so with the life and health of the mother in mind.

Trump: Late-term abortion, not okay with me.

Clinton: You wouldn't talk like that if you knew some of the women I've known who've faced those decisions.

9:20
Immigration ... Mr. Trump, you want to build a wall, and Mrs. Clinton, you've offered no specific plan for immigration.

Trump: She wants amnesty. Open borders. ICE has endorsed me. Heroin is pouring across our borders. [The snot-nose has returned!] I want to build the wall.

Wallace: Why are you right and Mr. Trump wrong?

Clinton: [She personalizes the issue] ... young woman she knows whose parents are not legal. Donald has said that every undocumented person will have to be deported. Rounding up people and putting them on trains, buses, to ship them out of the country -- think about that. We need to get rid of any violent persons, of course. We are both a nation of immigrants and a nation of laws. I'll introduce legislation first 100 days with a path to citizenship.

Trump: Clinton wanted a wall in 2006, or thereabouts.

Clinton: Bringing immigrants out of the shadows will be good, so that employers can't exploit them.

Trump: Under Obama, millions of people have been deported. Nobody talks about it. [So he admires Obama?] "Bigly" makes an appearance.

Clinton: We will not have open borders. That is a gross mischaracterization of my plan.

Wallace: Quotes from Wikileaks about a dream of open borders.

Clinton: I was talking about energy, an electrical grid that crosses borders. The Russian government has engaged in espionage against American citizens, given stolen emails to Wikileaks to influence our election. Finally, will Donald Trump admit and condemn the Russian government for their espionage?

Trump: That was a great pivot away from open borders! People are going to pour in from Syria. We are going to stop radical Islamic terrorism. I don't know Putin. He says nice things about me. It would be a good thing if we got along well. We're in very serious trouble. Nuclear warheads, and she's playing chicken. Putin has no respect for our government. No respect for her.

Clinton: That's because Putin wants a puppet for president.

Trump: No puppet! No puppet!

Clinton: [Drills in on Russian espionage.]

Trump: She has no idea who's doing that. No idea!

[Wallace losing control]

Wallace: Mr. Trump, America's top security experts say Russia is behind these attacks. Do you condemn Russia for that?

Trump: Of course I condemn Russia! Putin has outsmarted her every step of the way! Nuclear weapons!

Clinton: Ironic he brings up nuclear weapons, since he's been very cavalier about giving bombs to other countries. He's said, "What's the point of having nuclear weapons if we can't use them?"

Trump: All I said was we have to renegotiate nuclear treaties.

Clinton: Donald wants to tear up our treaties.

9:36
Economy. You both have different ideas about getting the economy on track. Mrs. Clinton, you see a bigger role for government. Mr. Trump, you want to give big tax breaks to the rich.

Clinton: Alternative energy ... new sources, new jobs. Small businesses. An education system that prepares our kids. College should be debt-free. We're going to have the wealthy pay their fair share, more contribution from wealthy corporations. Donald's whole plan is to cut taxes, adding $20 trillion to our debt. Trickle-down economics on steroids.

Trump: Her plan is going to raise taxes. It's a disaster. [He goes back to Japan, Saudi Arabia, Korea, Germany]: "They've got to pay up!" They've got to help us out. Trade deals will be renegotiated. Jobs have fled. Cut taxes massively.

Clinton: Let me translate that if I can. He advocates for the largest tax cuts we've ever seen. He'll add $20 trillion to the debt. When my husband was president, we went from a huge debt to a huge surplus. One of the ways we go after the debt is to invest in people, skills, infrastructure. Cutting taxes on the wealthy -- we've tried that. It doesn't work.

Wallace: Mrs. Clinton, is your plan even more of the "Obama stimulus"? [Trump smiling very smugly at that question.]

Clinton: We have to stimulate the economy from the bottom up, not the top down.

Wallace: Mr. Trump, even very conservative economists who've looked at your plan say it doesn't add up.

Trump: The last jobs report was dismal -- I should win easily if that's the last jobs report! NAFTA the worst thing that ever happened to our country.

Clinton: Only one person on this stage has shipped jobs to Mexico. In fact, he's shipped jobs to a lot of other countries.

Trump: If you become president, this country is going to be in some mess!

Clinton: [Does a litany of her last 30 years of advocacy, compared to Donald's being sued for racial discrimination, taking $14 million from his daddy, insulting Miss Universe ... she pushed all his buttons. But he manages to hold it in the road.]

9:52
Fitness to be President of the United States. Mr. Trump, you denied that you ever did what you bragged about doing to women. Yet many women have come forward since saying that you did exactly that.

Trump: Those stories have been largely debunked. I don't know those women. It was Clinton who brought all this up. She and Obama have paid people at my rallies to cause violence. I didn't know any of those women. Her campaign did it. She got those people to step forward and she paid people at my rallies $1,500 apiece to cause violence.

Clinton: He's said that he could not possibly have sexually harassed those women because they weren't attractive enough.

Trump: I did not say that.

Clinton: He thinks that belittling women makes him a bigger man. We know who Donald is. It's up to all of us to demonstrate who we are and who this country is. America is great because America is good.

Trump: Nobody has more respect for women than I do, nobody. Those stories have been largely debunked. All of this was started by her and her sleazy campaign. What isn't fiction are the 30,000 emails that she destroyed. That's really what you should be talking about.

Clinton: Every time Donald is pushed on something, he immediately goes to denying responsibility. He never apologizes or says he's sorry for anything. [She runs down the list.] It's not one thing: it's a pattern of divisiveness. That is not who America is.

Trump: She caused the violence at my rallies. I'd love to talk about other things [rather than sexual assault].

Wallace: Mrs. Clinton, you promised to avoid even an appearance of a conflict of interest in dealing with the Clinton Foundation. Can you really say you kept your pledge? Why isn't it "pay to play."

Clinton: I'm thrilled to talk about the Clinton Foundation. It made it possible for 11 million people around the world to get AIDS treatment.

Trump: It's a criminal enterprise. Why don't you give back the money you've gotten from countries that have treated people horribly?

Clinton: Clinton Foundation spends 90% of the money that's donated, giving it to people around the world. I'm happy to compare our work to the Trump Foundation. Who spends big money for a six-foot portrait of himself? Who does that?

Trump: 100% of money in Trump Foundation goes to charity.

Wallace: Didn't some of that money go to settle a lawsuit?

Clinton: There's no way to know anything about his charity because he won't release his tax returns. He hasn't paid a penny in income tax. We have undocumented immigrants who pay more in taxes than this billionaire.

Trump: We're entitled to take all the deductions. If you don't like what I did, you should have changed the law [because a single U.S. Senator can single-handedly change laws!].

Wallace: Will you accept the results of this election.

Trump: I'll look at it at the time. Media has poisoned the minds of the voters. If you look at the voter rolls, you'll see millions of people who are registered to vote who shouldn't be registered to vote. [WTF is he talking about?] She should never have been allowed to run for president because of all the things she's done.

Wallace: It's a tradition in this country that the loser concedes to the winner. Are you saying that you're not prepared to do that?

Trump: I'll keep you in suspense. I'll decide at the time.

Clinton: Every time things aren't going his way, he claims things are rigged against him. Trump University gets sued for fraud, and he claims the courts are rigged. He didn't get an Emmy for The Apprentice, and he claims the Emmys are rigged.

Trump: I hould have won it!

Clinton: He's talking down our democracy, he's denigrating the very foundations of our democracy.

10:10
Foreign hot-spots. Ah, ISIS! Something Trump has been totally incoherent about.

Clinton: I'm encouraged that there is an effort, led by Iraqi Army and aided by the Kurds, to take back Mosul. I'm not for using American ground troops. I'm hopeful that the hard work that American military advisors have done will pay off. I'll push for a no-fly zone and safe havens in Syria.

Wallace: Mr. Trump, if we're able to push ISIS out of Mosul, would you be for putting ground troops in there?

Trump: Stupidity of our country. No element of surprise. Only reason they're doing it [Mosul?] is because she's running for president. [WTF?] Iran should write us a letter, "Thank you very much." Iran is taking over Iraq. We shouldn't have been in Iraq. But once we were there, we never should have left.

Clinton: I'm amazed that he thinks the Iraqi government and our allies started this military operation to help me run for president.

Wallace: You were asked about Aleppo in the last debate. You said several things that weren't true. You said it's fallen. [Trump snarls: "Have you seen Aleppo?"] Russia has admitted that they have been bombing and shelling Aleppo. You said they weren't.

Trump: [Wanders down several rabbit holes at once. What is he talking about? Apparently, it's Hillary's fault that so many Syrians are migrating.]

Wallace: You're in favor of a no-fly zone, but Obama has refused to impose one. The generals say we'll be drawn into a war.

Clinton: I'm not going to let anyone into this country who is not vetted.

Trump: Our country is so out-played by Assad, Putin, Iran.

10:25
National debt. Both of you are ignoring the problem. Why?

Trump: Because I'm going to create so many jobs! A tremendous economic machine.

Clinton: When did Donald think America was great before? He's been running down this country for decades. He took out a full-page ad when Reagan was president and criticized what Reagan was doing in the same terms he uses against Obama and my husband. He's never thought that anyone was as smart as he thinks he is.

Trump: I disagreed with Reagan very strongly on trade.

Wallace: Biggest driver of our debt is entitlements. Neither of you has a serious plan for dealing with that. Would President Trump make a deal to save Social Security and Medicare by raising taxes and cutting benefits?

Trump: Repeal Obamacare!

Clinton: My plan to raise taxes on the wealthy should replenish Social Security. The Affordable Care Act extended the life of the Social Security Trust Fund.

Clinton closing: I'm reaching out to all Americans. We need everyone to make things work for everyone. I've been privileged to see the presidency up close, and I know the awesome responsibility. I will stand up for families against powerful interests, corporations. I will make sure your kids have good educations.

Trump: She's raising the money from the people she wants to control. [Huh?] We're going to make America great again. [Slogan time!] Police are disrespected. You get shot walking to the store in our cities. All she's done is talk. We're going to make America strong again and we're going to make American great again. We can't take another four years of Obama, and that's what you get with her.

Buck Newton v. Josh Stein for NC Attorney General

PamsPicks.net, guest blogging:

NC ATTORNEY GENERAL

Buck Newton (Tea Party/Republican): http://www.bucknewton.com and Buck Newton NC on Facebook

Newton graduated from Appalachian State University (sorry about that) with a political science degree and went immediately to work for Jesse Helms. Newton got his seat in the NC Senate during the 2010 Tea Party wave and has held onto it until announcing in late 2015 that he'd be leaving to run for Attorney General.

He made headlines in 2016 by loudly proclaiming his support ("keep our state straight!" he shouted to a rally in Raleigh) for HB2, the "bathroom bill" which has so tarnished the state in more ways than one, and for helping get it passed in a special session of the NC General Assembly.

His support for HB2 prompted this post on a Facebook thread:

I knew Buck Newton when he was in college. He was always very opinionated, angry, looked down on others, always saw things in simple terms, always quick to jump to conclusions, always claimed things were "common sense". He was always very judgmental and used bully tactics on others to make his opinion appear correct. He was always full of confidence based on simple, black and white views of the world. Several of us thought he was an idiot because of his lack of ability to see and understand what was beneath the surface of issues. This bill/law [HB2] sounds exactly like something college-kid Buck would do. Apparently, he has not grown much. There are many smart and wise people in North Carolina who see God's creation as it truly is - a very complicated marvel, so it is absolutely shocking that such a person of low understanding could rise to such power based on such a superficial foundation. Shocking. At one point in time, the earth being flat was "common sense", blacks being inferior was "common sense"... And, here we are... again.

Not for nothing did Buck Newton receive his perfect score from the American Conservative Union. He has voted to prohibit wind farms, to repeal the state's recycling program, to increase sales taxes on working families, and he has a 100% rating from the NRA (among many other things).

Josh Stein (Democrat): www.joshstein.org and Josh Stein for NC Attorney General on Facebook

Following the Tea Party takeover of the NC General Assembly in 2010, I had a hero in the NC Senate, and it was Senator Josh Stein.

Stein graduated from Chapel Hill High School and lives in Raleigh. He earned his undergraduate degree at Dartmouth College and went on to Harvard Law School and the Kennedy School of Government. He has worked for the Self-Help Credit Union in Durham and the United States Senate. Prior to serving in the General Assembly, Stein spent eight years as North Carolina's Deputy Attorney General for Consumer Protection.

He was elected to the NC Senate in 2008 and has been reelected three more times. When Roy Cooper, his former boss in the Attorney General's office, announced he would be running for governor in 2016, Stein announced for the Attorney General's job. He's immensely qualified, in both character and training.

Stein became my hero in 2013 when he stood up in the NC Senate and denounced the Republican budget proposal which was robbing from public education to pay tax-cut dividends to the one percent. He's also been a champion of abortion rights, and he argued forcefully against the monster election law rewrite that has now been overturned by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals as unconstitutional.

While the North Carolina General Assembly was descending into Tea Party darkness, Josh Stein's light for justice and fair play shone bright on YouTube and gave many of us out here in the world hope that we could turn it all around eventually. Stein is still very much a part of that hope.

Who's the Coolest, Freedom-of-Speech Dude on the Planet? Not Jerry Falwell Jr.

Jerry Falwell Jr.

So this happened in Lynchburg, Virginia, at Jerry Falwell Jr.'s Liberty University.

Falwell became by last summer one of the holiest of Donald Trump's holy choir of evangelical supporters. He spoke on the Donald's behalf at the Republican National Convention.

Then he leaped to Donald's defense after the "grab her by the pussy" videotape. "We've all sinned, blah blah Praise God blah," Falwell said, which didn't in any way impress the actually strait-laced students at his own university.

The strait-laced students began circulating a letter condemning Falwell as a … well, ginormous hypocrite. So Falwell took the opportunity to get all self-righteously self-congratulatory, saying, "It is a testament to the fact that Liberty University promotes the free expression of ideas unlike many major universities where political correctness prevents conservative students from speaking out.”

Yeah, right. Today, news broke that a sports writer for the Liberty University school newspaper had his column spiked -- it won't see print at Liberty University -- by none other than that self-congratulatory prophet of free expression, one Jerry Falwell Jr., because said column by said sports writer expressed the earned experience that he had never in his several years of hearing sexual braggadocio in lockerrooms heard a fellow athlete brag about sexually assaulting women.

That student's revealing piece of prose may not have made it into the Liberty University newspaper, but The Daily Beast has printed the entire text.