Another day, another round of HB 2 news. 1. The feds won’t cut off our funding (yet). Even though the Department of Justice is suing the state for violating the Civil Rights Act, the White House has announced that it will not defund North Carolina while the lawsuits are in progress. North Carolina won’t lose […]
Jeffrey C. Billman
Posted inSoapboxer
The GOP Isn’t the Party of Lincoln. Now It’s the Party of Trump
So Donald J. Trump will be the Republican nominee for president. I’ll repeat that; let it sink in. Donald Trump will be the Republican nominee for president. Of the United States. Our voice on the world stage. Custodian of the world’s second-largest nuclear arsenal. Commander-in-chief of the world’s most powerful military. Supervisor of the world’s […]
Posted inNews
The Department of Justice Goes to War with Pat McCrory
On Wednesday, as news broke that the Department of Justice had done what any second-year law student could’ve predictedruling that House Bill 2’s bathroom provision violated the Civil Rights Act and thus put billions of federal dollars at riska haggard-looking Governor McCrory sought to defend himself at the N.C. Chamber’s Annual Government Affairs confab at […]
Posted inNews
The Morning Roundup: Bathroom Segregation Now, Bathroom Segregation Forever!
Greetings and salutations, fellow Friday enthusiasts! Let’s jump right in. 1.Bathroom segregation now, bathroom segregation forever. So House Speaker Tim Moore, who has a long history of hating on the gays, has decided that no, North Carolina will not answer the Department of Justice on HB 2 by the Monday deadline. The department sent state […]
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The Morning Roundup: In Which the NCGOP Ditches #NeverTrump for #OKFineTrump
Good Monday morning, fellow worker bees. As you make your way back to the mine, here are some stories we’ve been watching. But first, if you haven’t already, you really need to check out Mandy Locke’s ongoing series in The News & Observer. Locke, one of the best investigative reporters around, is digging into the […]
Posted inNews
The Morning Roundup: McCrory Can’t Believe We’re Talking About This
Beleaguered by the still-mounting HB 2 backlash, Governor McCrory sought out some friendlier quarters, this time Fox News’s The Kelly File. As has become Republican practice, host Megyn Kelly didn’t talk about all the controversial things HB 2 did—eliminating workplace discrimination lawsuits, overriding living wage ordinances, etc.—instead choosing to focus on the only issue they […]
Posted inSoapboxer
Pat McCrory Deserves All the Hell He’s Catching for HB 2
Pat McCrory never saw this coming. He thought House Bill 2 was an easy win, a way to curry favor with a GOP base that always viewed hima Chamber Republican much more than a social conservativewith suspicion. Trans people, a tiny sliver of the population that is already marginalized and misunderstood, would make an easy […]
Posted inNews, Housing
The Morning Roundup: Here’s Some More HB 2 Stupidity, You’re Welcome
Lots of news to get to on this beautiful Friday morning. But first, a quick reminder: Full Frame is in full swing, and there are lotsandlots of flicks worth checking out. OK, let’s go: 1. Stop fighting, guys! The Democratic presidential primary has gotten ugly—not ugly on the level of Donald Trump’s hands, but ugly […]
Posted inSoapboxer
There Is Little Incentive for Lawmakers to Back Down on HB 2
For the last two weeks, every morning has seemed to bring another blow: another protest, another denunciation or proposed boycott, another city or state travel ban, another business reconsidering its multimillion-dollar investment, another entertainment company abandoning us for more tolerant climes, another sports event mulling pulling out, another news report that the state has put […]
Posted inFilm & Television
Full Frame’s Thematic Program Dives Into the Conniving, Idealistic World of Presidential Campaigns
“You know the New Hampshire primaries are unique in politics,” Lyndon Johnson told a Veterans of Foreign Wars gathering on March 12, 1968. “They are the only races where anybody can run”he pauses”and everybody can win.” LBJ did in fact win the New Hampshire Democratic primary that day, but his was not a joyous victory. […]
