Good morning. Let’s start by saying out thoughts go out to the family and friends of twenty-four-year-old Akiel Denkins, who was shot by a Raleigh police officer yesterday on Bragg Street in Southeast Raleigh as he was fleeing arrest on a drug charge. The SBI is investigating, and The INDY will keep you updated.

1. It’s Super Tuesday, the day the Drumpfenstein Monster created by the party of Obama Derangement Syndrome will take over several of our U.S. cities, thus destroying its master,

Oh, who are we kidding? Donald Drumpf (okay, okay, Trump) never called anyone master!

This succinct New York Times paragraph says it all:

Know what you usually call a presidential candidate who wins a swath of states ranging from liberal Vermont and Massachusetts to conservative Oklahoma and Alabama, including a centrist bellwether like Virginia? The
nominee.

Oh, no, Republican Party! What will you do if The Donald whups Cruz (in 11 out of 12 states, assuming a win for Ted on his Texas turf — maybe) and Rubio (all wet) decisively?

You’ll freak out. That’s what you’ll do.

More NYT:

Super Tuesday offers Mr. Trump an opportunity to send a resounding message about the depth and breadth of his support. His string of recent victories — in New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada — suggests his
anti-establishment message has wide appeal. And while he might not be able to overtake Senator Ted Cruz in his home state, Texas, were Mr. Trump to sweep the remaining 10 states, winning in nearly every region of the country on a single day, there would be little doubt he is positioned to become the Republican
standard-bearer.

Meanwhile, Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton’s path to the nomination looks clear to many political analysts,

More NYT:

Mrs.Clinton’s strength in the South, particularly among black voters, places a big burden on Mr. Sanders, who needs more than a few narrow, feel-good wins to make up for getting crushed in the nation’s most
populous region.

Based on the makeup of the Democratic electorate, Mr. Sanders needs to outperform Mrs. Clinton among nonblack voters by a significant margin to counter her success in attracting black voters. So far, Mr. Sanders
hasn’t been able to do that anywhere outside western New Hampshire, a liberal, overwhelmingly white region that
borders his home state, Vermont.

2.Pat tells Moore and the kids to hold it `til we get there.

Yes, that was an attempt at bathroom humor. (Sorry).

From WRAL:


Gov. Pat McCrory says lawmakers should wait until their scheduled return on April 25 to address Charlotte’s new ordinance on transgender rights rather than call a special session in the next two months

“My inclination is to support efforts to have a bill introduced as soon as we come into short session,” McCrory said Monday afternoon.

A special session, as many opponents of state GOP attempts to scuttle Charlotte’s new LGBT protections have also pointed out, would be costly to taxpayers, for one thing.

WRAL:


It costs about $42,000 per day to operate the state legislature during a special session

McCrory, a Republican, said he wants the Charlotte ordinance addressed quickly “so we can move on to other priority items.”

Oh, that McCrory — always the dad.

3. Margaret Spellings will not be welcomed as a liberator.

From the Associated Press, via WRAL:


Activists supported by one of the country’s largest labor unions are among the opponents University of North Carolina President Margaret Spellings will face as she becomes the statewide public university system’s leader on Tuesday

Some students are planning a classroom walkout and rally on the flagship Chapel Hill campus Tuesday to protest the arrival of former President George W. Bush’s education secretary. Several groups have held similar demonstrations since her October selection by the 17-campus system’s Board of Governors.

Oh, well, maybe somebody in Spellings’ office will be nice enough to bring in some Rise donuts from Carrboro.


4. Most North Carolinians support Obama nominating Scalia’s replacement.

That. despite GOP senators who, somehow, read an unwritten, unintended provision of the U.S. Constitution that says presidents in their last term should hand that duty over their successors.

From a new Highpoint University poll:

When asked whether President Obama should nominate a replacement, 60 percent of those polled said yes. The poll also asked whether the U.S. Senate should consider President Obama’s nominee – keeping in mind that the U.S. Senate’s Majority Leader had said that the next president rather than President Obama should nominate a replacement for Justice Scalia. Sixty-eight percent of North Carolinians said that the U.S. Senate should consider any nominee.

What do you know? There’s hope for us all yet.

No.. wait.. wait… here comes Drumpfenstein! Run, everybody! RUN!!!