Tillis Comes Out for the Business of Marijuana

 

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) told the Green Market Report, a pro-marijuana publication, that he supports creating a “comprehensive regulatory framework that treats marijuana just like tobacco,” arguing that “the federal government needs to figure out a safe way to allow this market to occur.”

That's actually solid conservative philosophy -- let the market govern.

But it again puts Tillis, who's already been censored by the NCGOP for suspiciously moderate views, waaay out there compared to his North Carolina brethren, who won't even enact a very strict joke of a medical marijuana law.

Sometimes Tillis just surprises us.

The Case Against Mark Robinson

Social conservatives swooned over [Mark] Robinson because he is adamant about gun rights, opposed to abortion rights, critical of gay and transgender people, skeptical about the Civil Rights Movement and willing to say that public school teachers are indoctrinating children with liberal ideology.

--NewsAndObserver Editorial Board, 30 July 2024 

While they were swooning, they certainly had their eyes closed to the sketchiness of Robinson's past brushes with the authorities. He has been evicted for nonpayment of rent, declared bankruptcy three times, and failed to file federal income taxes for the taxable years 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, and 2002. "Robinson and his wife ran a Greensboro child care center in the early 2000s that was cited for a raft of violations. Those violations included claims that the center presented falsified documents showing that staff had passed training requirements and criminal background checks. DHHS took no further action after Robinson and his wife gave up the business in 2007."

The more recent revelations about Robinson and his wife Yolanda Hill's nonprofit, Balanced Nutrition, documented that the couple "collected roughly $7 million in government funding since 2017, while paying out at least $830,000 in salaries to Hill, Robinson and other members of their family." Some of that "employment" looks like it was essentially under the table. The state Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) announced that Balanced Nutrition (Yolanda is CEO on the paperwork) must repay $132,000 for disallowed expenses submitted to a federally funded child care meal program. "The causes of the overcharges are suspicious. In one case, Balanced Nutrition billed the government for more than $10,000 for food and related items it purchased for Gingerbread Learning Academy in Fuquay-Varina, but the child care center says it did not receive any resources from Balanced Nutrition."

When Balanced Nutrition came up for audit a couple of months back, Yolanda Hill abruptly closed the business, mouthing what has become the company line -- that Balanced Nutrition is being targeted for political reasons and only because Yolanda is married to Mark. Mark, of course, has echoed that red herring -- apparently, North Carolina has its own Deep State that is targeting Robinson. Robinson, for his part, added pathos: "Robinson says shirking his obligations is some sort of everyman trait, just the financial bumps and bruises endured by all people of limited means. He says in a recent campaign ad, 'I’m running for governor because we deserve to be represented by someone who’s actually lived like us.' ”

The Editorial Board of the News and Observer responded:

[No!] Most people don’t live like Robinson. They pay their rent. They pay their debts. They pay their taxes. And when they are questioned, they come forward. They don’t stonewall or repeatedly walk away from what they owe.

Chronicles of Cat Ladies

 

The State of NC Women's Health Options, Post Dobbs

 

The latest action in Federal Court last Friday:

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A federal judge ruled Friday that a provision in North Carolina's abortion laws requiring doctors to document the location of a pregnancy before prescribing abortion pills should be blocked permanently, affirming that it was too vague to be enforced reasonably.

The implementation of that requirement was already halted last year by U.S. District Judge Catherine Eagles until a lawsuit challenging portions of the abortion law enacted by the Republican-dominated General Assembly in 2023 was litigated further. Eagles now says a permanent injunction would be issued at some point.

But Eagles on Friday restored enforcement of another provision that she had previously blocked that required abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy to be performed in hospitals. In light of the 2022 U.S. Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe v. Wade, she wrote, the lawmakers “need only offer rational speculation for its legislative decisions regulating abortion.”Unlike challenges in other states like South Carolina and Florida that sought to fully strike down abortion laws, Eagles' decisions still mean most of North Carolina's abortion laws updated since the end of Roe v. Wade are in place. GOP state lawmakers overrode Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto and enacted the law in May 2023 . It narrowed abortion access significantly from the previous state ban on most abortions from after 20 weeks to now after 12 weeks. The hospital requirement would apply to exceptions to the ban after 12 weeks, such as in cases of rape or incest or “life-limiting” fetal anomalies.

But here's the bottomline according to the AP:

Unlike challenges in other states like South Carolina and Florida that sought to fully strike down abortion laws, Eagles' decisions still mean most of North Carolina's abortion laws updated since the end of Roe v. Wade are in place. GOP state lawmakers overrode Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto and enacted the law in May 2023 . It narrowed abortion access significantly from the previous state ban on most abortions from after 20 weeks to now after 12 weeks. The hospital requirement would apply to exceptions to the ban after 12 weeks, such as in cases of rape or incest or “life-limiting” fetal anomalies.

 That's an issue for the ballot box this November.

Alas, Don Davis

NC Congressional District 1, newly gerrymandered, used to be a safe Democratic seat, and had belonged to venerable G.K. Butterfield since 2004. A first attempt to gerrymander what had been a majority Black constituency caused Butterfield to announce in late 2021 that he would not run again because his old district had become unwinnable. But ... oops. The courts got involved, and the district was redrawn by a special master and became the Democratically leaning district that Don Davis won with 52% of the vote in 2022. We could have guessed what was coming. The Republicans map-drawers got unleashed again by the very partisan NC Supreme Court and redrew CD1 again in 2024 so that now the district is considered the only true "swing district" in North Carolina, which some commentators say leans slightly R but Dave's scores it at 50.9% D to 47.7% R.

Don Davis, Democrat

Young Don Davis is one of seven Democratic congressmen from North Carolina, and he looks to be in some trouble with a rising Republican star (recently designated a new Republican "Young Gun") running against him. To complicate his life, Don Davis may have alienated some Black women in District 1 (which is 40.5% Black) by siding with Congressional Republicans to denounce Kamala Harris. Oy.

Davis was one of only five Democrats who voted last Thursday for the Republican resolution that condemned Vice President Kamala Harris for her work on immigration policy. Then within 24 hours on Friday, Davis publicly endorsed Harris, the last North Carolina Democratic Congressperson to do so. Denounced her on Thursday. Endorsed her on Friday. Did something happen?

Davis's rise in Democratic politics has been impressive. He was the youngest mayor ever in the little town of Snow Hill. He served in the Air Force and rose to the rank of captain. Well educated at the Air Force Academy and at Central Michigan University and East Carolina University, he went on to teach Aerospace Studies at East Carolina. Altogether, he spent 20 years teaching at various levels. His interest in politics became pronounced in 2004 when he actually filed to run for the CD1 seat -- which was open at the time -- in the Democratic primary, but he dropped out before the vote, which G.K. Butterfield won in a landslide. Davis came back in 2008 to win a seat in the NC Senate (Dist. 5, Pitt, Wayne, and Greene), lost it in the Tea Party wave of 2010, but came back in 2012 to run again in a newly redrawn district, won and went on to serve in the Senate through 2022 as a conservative Dem. He decided to try again for Congress when Butterfield retired, and he won against conservative firebrand Sandy Smith. This year marks his first reelection bid. 

Davis is a senior lay-minister in the same Presbyterian church he grew up in. Which perhaps explains his religiously motivated vote for S359, the anti-abortion bill "that would criminalize doctors, shame patients, and disproportionately impact black women." Gov. Cooper vetoed it. Davis then committed the sin that is greater, he helped the Republicans override the governor's veto. The House at that time couldn't override, so that veto of that abortion bill held until 2023, when Tricia Cotham jumped the carousel and provided the vote in the House to make abortions more restrictive and to subsequently override the governor's veto.

Don Davis also broke ranks to vote for the Republican budget in 2019, allegedly because the Republican oligarchy earmarked dollops of over $400 million for several mainly Black districts. Political bribery. But painful as it sometimes is, I certainly prefer a Democrat in CD1 to the Republican alternative.

Laurie Buckhout, Republican

Buckhout is one of 26 Republican candidates nationwide recently designated a Republican "young gun" by the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC). Being a "Young Gun" gives Buckhout access to mentors, support, and tools from the NRCC. "Buckhout, 62, of Edenton, is a retired Army colonel who created Corvus Consulting, a business specializing in electronic warfare and cyberspace operations. She sold the business for $43 million only seven years after launching it." (NandO)

In keeping with the whole vibe of The He-Man Woman Haters Club, or at least the virus of trumpism that has become the sum and substance of the NCGOP, Buckhout is "A Conservative Who Will FIGHT." Fighting, promising to fight, itching for a fight. That's the prevailing meme, and Buckhout fits right in with the boys, relying heavily on her experience commanding 800 men in combat in Iraq (according to her introduction video). She's genuinely earned her warrior status through family genes: 

[Buckhout] follows a long line of combat veterans, including her Infantry Colonel father, her Army Air Corps Flight Nurse mother, her grandfather, her uncles and multiple other relatives. Laurie’s husband Paul, a West Point graduate and Army Infantry Airborne Ranger, is also a retired officer from a family of combat veterans stretching back to the French and Indian Wars of 1754-1763. (website)

She's formidable, and she's apparently had Democratic oddsmakers in DeeCee spooked since before the March primary, which Buckhout won over the more wingnut crazy Sandy Smith by a comfortable margin, despite the best efforts of at least one ill-advised Democratic PAC who ran ads saying Donald Trump had endorsed Smith in the primary. He had not, though he endorsed her for the same seat when Don Davis won in 2022. The Rolling Sea Action Fund was forced to take down the ad, though they continued to try to help Smith, who lost anyway. Buckhout crowed that she had "owned the Libs," a phrase that belongs usually to the cliched fringe of that party.

She's Trump all the way and will be bad news for never resisting the overtures of the strong man.

Cool Cat

 

Looks Like Fraud, But Let's Call It Messy Paperwork

 

Gary D. Robertson reporting:

RALEIGH. N.C. (AP) — North Carolina state regulators now declare a nonprofit run by the wife of North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson must repay over $132,000 for what they call disallowed expenses while carrying out a federally funded child care meal program.

The state Department of Health and Human Services revealed a larger amount in a Friday letter to Yolanda Hill following a compliance review of Balanced Nutrition Inc., for which Hill is listed as owner and chief financial officer. Robinson, who is also the Republican nominee for governor this fall, worked in the nonprofit years ago before running for elected office, according to his memoir.

Hill previously announced she was shutting down the nonprofit's enterprise and withdrawing from the Child and Adult Care Food Program on April 30. But state officials had already announced in March that the fiscal year's review of Balanced Nutrition would begin April 15.

The review's findings, released Wednesday, cited new and repeat problems, including lax paperwork and the failure to file valid claims on behalf of child care operators or to report expenses accurately. The program told Hill and other leaders to soon take corrective action on the “serious deficiencies” or regulators would propose they be disqualified from future program participation.

The state health department said on Thursday that the Greensboro nonprofit also owed the state $24,400 in unverified expenses reimbursed to several child care providers or homes examined by regulators in the review.

But Friday's letter counted another $107,719 in ineligible claims or expenses that the state said was generated while Balanced Nutrition performed administrative and operating activities as a program sponsor during the first three months of the year. Forms signed by regulators attributed over $80,000 of these disallowed costs to "administrative labor" or “operating labor.” The records don't provide details about the labor costs.... [Hill's daughter was working for the nonprofit]

Balanced Nutrition, funded by taxpayers, has collected roughly $7 million in government funding since 2017, while paying out at least $830,000 in salaries to Hill, Robinson and other members of their family, tax filings and state documents show.

 

Grudge Juice

Vance, who at the time had not yet officially launched his 2022 Senate campaign, suggested that the country needed to "reward the things that we think are good" and "punish the things that we think are bad" -- before suggesting that individuals without children should be taxed at a higher rate than those with children. (ABC News)

“You want me to pay more taxes to take care of other people’s kids?” asked Dave Portnoy, the founder of Barstool Sports, who has become the personification of the male-dominated “bro culture” that populates much of the Trump movement. “We sure this dude is a Republican? Sounds like a moron.” (NYTimes)

J.D. Vance as a child

I've had a grudge against J.D. Vance since 2016 when I first heard his name lifted up as the author of something called Hillbilly Elegy, which was getting praise all over the media but great condemnation among my friends and associates in the "Appalachian studies" movement, who had themselves unearthed and advanced (exponentially since the '60s and '70s) the real history of America's easternmost mountain range. Historians especially, the true elite of the academic world, were merciless in their dismantling of Vance's argument that -- bottomline -- the destitute poor of Appalachia are responsible for their own pain.

So I never read the book. I trusted the reviews of my friends, the way I'll decide which movie I might never go out of my way to see, because the reviewers I most respect said it stank. I was out of AppStudies, doing politics instead, retired already 16 years from editing The Appalachian Journal, and I had no particular business getting myself involved. I refused to watch the subsequent Ron Howard movie based on the book, which got an ever more vicious working over by many national critics. I had written a whole book on Hollywood's treatment of mountain people and actually find it easy to avoid the topic altogether when it comes to bad movies.

So J.D. Vance is having his day. But his history has found him, and I'm marveling at the extent of his weirdness. And hypocrisy.

J.D. Vance in 2016

This is just nuts:

Vance aides had no response to a proposal floated by Mr. Vance in 2021 to give parents more weight and a louder voice in American democracy by granting children the right to vote, with their votes controlled by their parents.

Vance's own reproductive performance -- he has three children -- has altered his brain chemistry, possibly, to explain his weird notions about fertility and performance. Every woman, apparently, has no choice but to produce children or suffer opprobrium:

His past comments deriding “childless cat ladies,” supporting a “federal response” to stop abortion in Democratic states and promoting a higher tax burden for childless Americans have yielded a chorus of criticism from Democrats. Mr. Vance’s fresh efforts to explain them have provided Democrats more material, with the Harris campaign promoting one short clip in which he seems to suggest that when he spoke of childless cat ladies, he meant no insult to cats — “I’ve got nothing against cats,” he said.

The weird twists to his clearly honest, spontaneous pronouncements ought to be a signal that maybe the "world" Vance saw in Hillbilly Elegy ain't the real world, nor certainly the total world of any contemporary culture.

One of the Most Endangered Democrats in the NC House

 

I wrote about NC House District 73 (Cabarrus Co.) the day after the fall elections of 2022, when Democrat Diamond Staton-Williams won an open seat and flipped the district blue:

Democrat Diamond Staton-Williams has apparently edged out Republican Brian Echevarria by 425 votes. I gotta eat crow on this one. I didn't give Staton-Williams much credit. For sure, I thought Echevarria would win easily in a red wave, and I sure am glad there was no wave and hope that Staton-Williams' slim margin holds.

An edge of 425 votes now seems like a luxury. Staton-Williams' district has been gerrymandered into an R+3 situation. The Rs forced more of Rev. Larry Pittman's old turf in Cabarrus on Staton-Williams, so that Dave's scores her jiggered district now at only 44.6% D to 53% R. A very difficult piece of math.

[NOTE: Every foreshadowing of how this 2024 election will go has to start with the possibility of a genuine Blue Wave in 100 days, when 6-point advantages suddenly disappear, when new or infrequent voters come out of their bubbles and fight their way to the polls, and when more Rs than anyone predicted, especially suburban Republican women, abandon their party.

Diamond Staton-Williams, Democrat, incumbent

Before her election in 2022, Staton-Williams had been a member of the Harrisburg Town Council and a nurse. Harrisburg (pop. 20,000) is essentially a suburb now of Charlotte, very near Charlotte Motor Speedway and 13 miles to the center of Charlotte. 

Staton-Williams has always been a working mom, with three kids (only 1 still at home). but look at her deeds (info from her business site, DSW Consulting):

...received her ADN from Presbyterian Hospital School of Nursing in Charlotte, NC in 2003 where she served as the President of the Student Nurses Association. She went on to receive her BSN in 2006 from UNC Greensboro. In 2010, Diamond completed her Master’s in Healthcare Administration from Pfeiffer University. She is currently employed as a Director for the Outpatient and Community Care Management Department for Atrium Health and is Certified as an American Case Manager and Board Certified Nurse Executive....

....volunteer with the Cabarrus County Ombudsman program for Adult Care Homes, Cabarrus County Schools, NCNA Awards Committee, ANA Awards Committee, and the YMCA as a Camp Nurse for Camp Thunderbird. Diamond is also a Board Member of Daymark Services in Cabarrus County, the NC Nurses Foundation, and Communities in Schools Charlotte – Mecklenburg. She has been a member of the NCNA/ANA and ACHE.

DSW Consulting advertises "Nurse Leadership Consulting: Delivering comprehensive services to individuals and organizations encompassing leadership development, performance enhancement, succession planning, mentorship and coaching, and policy and advocacy initiatives." Looks professional.

Mr. Mean Eyes

Staton-Williams endured the verbal slurs of Rep. Keith Kidwell (of the mean eyes) during debate on the abortion bill veto override. When Staton-Williams grew tearful, confessing her own story as illustration of difficult decisions -- she'd grown up in the church, she said. From the sidelines Kidwell quipped, "She means the Church of Satan," loud enough for nearby staffers and House pages to hear him. Will Doran, the reporter for the News and Observer, also heard him.

She seems pretty competent to me, strong enough to stand up to the Keith Kidwells of the Republican caucus. She's a soldier and well networked through the community. She can make up for the new Republican lean of her district with aggressive voter registration (new and young voters especially) and targeted canvassing.

Jonathan Almond, Republican

Almond brags about his real world management skills, which appear considerable: "Jonathan has been the Controller of a management group operating 11 franchise restaurants [Smithfield’s Chicken N’ Bar-B-Q] since 2016. He successfully managed the business during times of prosperity and [through] difficult COVID-era shutdowns and recovery."

Also, incidentally, an anti-vaxxer. Anti-abortion, check. His adorable twin boys have "learning disabilities," so Almond pledges to maintain funding for special ed programs. Quotes Mark Robinson approvingly on how corrupted school curriculum has turned normal children into DEI and CRT robots. On his website, he's very prominently photographed with an AK WTF cradled in his arms.

His Twitter feed is his real index: It's all Trump or Trump branded shit, with some Mark Robinson thrown in. Say no more.