Right, but you can only do so much gerrymandering in states like NC before it can easily be construed as racially motivated. I'll let the lawyers fight it out on the motivations of the actual map drawers, but effectively, if these maps produce a bigger partisan advantage I don't see how they won't have the same problems the previous maps had. Black folks, I think, are like ~15% of the dem vote. The vast majority of that vote can be grouped into like 10 counties across the state. You can't produce a +12% advantage in this state without grouping and diluting black people into districts.

8/23/2017 7:06:30 AM

the amount doesn't really matter, the reason they got in trouble with the last round was because they were blatant about their intention to specifically target black voters. You can't do that, but giving a certain party an advantage is okay.

8/23/2017 9:19:48 AM

And what I'm suggesting is that it's not possible to produce maps that increase partisan advantage over the previous three iterations, without targeting black people in the exact same way that the previous maps were struck down for.

8/23/2017 9:45:53 AM

targeting and having the same result as targeting are not the same though when it comes to the court, i doubt they will be dumb enough again to target

8/23/2017 11:29:50 AM

Uh, correct me if I'm wrong here, but didn't the NC GOP's lawyers stand in front of the judges the previous three times and claim that exact thing? That their districts were drawn using only partisan demographic data, and that racial demographics were only used to ensure compliance with the VRA? That explanation didn't fly then, so I'm not sure why it would now.

8/23/2017 1:07:47 PM

Red herring perhaps? Make them worse then "compromise" to something comparable to what is currently there...

Or more likely throw something together for this Sept. 1 deadline that will likely get struck down but give them enough time to work on something actually sinister that would pass muster.

Either case I have zero faith in the NC legislature right now - and never will have faith in any legislature when they themselves are the ones drawing voting maps.

8/24/2017 8:58:57 AM

Couldn't they just keep drawing up unacceptable new maps until it's too late for a new map to go into effect before the election? Delay Delay Delay. Then we're still operating off of the original unlawful gerrymandered maps on another election cycle.

8/24/2017 9:21:47 AM

^possibly, but I'm pretty sure judges have already threatened to either appoint someone non-partisan to redraw them or just require the state to resort back to the last districts we had that actually passed muster. I don't think there is any official line here, it is basically up to the judge to decide if the GOP is acting in good faith and trying to comply with the law or are they just playing games.

8/24/2017 10:12:16 AM

Quote :

"Uh, correct me if I'm wrong here, but didn't the NC GOP's lawyers stand in front of the judges the previous three times and claim that exact thing? That their districts were drawn using only partisan demographic data, and that racial demographics were only used to ensure compliance with the VRA? That explanation didn't fly then, so I'm not sure why it would now."

they lost because there were emails and other things asking explicitly for information on black voters, had that not existed they wouldn't have lost

8/24/2017 10:17:32 AM

[but_her_emails.jpg]

I did not know that. I guess we might be legitimately screwed then.

8/24/2017 10:30:21 AM

http://www.wral.com/questions-abound-for-state-financed-aquarium-planned-in-private-pender-county-development/16999571/

Special session bill, released only hours before it comes to a vote, gets loaded up with GOP pork. No one even wants to claim this study for an aquarium in some private development.

10/8/2017 5:39:54 PM

https://m.indyweek.com/news/archives/2017/10/19/thom-tillis-trump-has-shown-more-respect-for-our-troops-in-nine-months-than-obama-ever-did

pathetic

10/19/2017 10:24:46 AM

What do NFL protests have to do with Obama respecting the troops?

10/19/2017 10:41:59 AM

https://www.indyweek.com/news/archives/2017/10/24/brace-yourself-thom-tillis-wants-dc-politics-to-look-more-like-north-carolina

10/24/2017 11:01:35 AM

http://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article181063706.html

They're incapable of producing districts that pass legal scrutiny.

10/31/2017 10:09:26 AM

Some more criticism on the aquarium boondoggle from a conservative site. Just depressing to think how much of this stuff passed without notice before the internet.

http://dailyhaymaker.com/?p=18892

11/3/2017 7:43:48 AM

^agreed on the internet, this is especially true for state and local government, which all too often just don't get enough scrutiny.

Although, if Berger and Moore would just use normal order to produce bills rather than writing stuff behind closed doors and then passing it within hours of releasing the bill to the public, I'd argue garbage like this would never even make it into bills that received proper scrutiny. The only way garbage like this works is if no one notices its in the bill.

11/3/2017 8:06:10 AM

https://www.scribd.com/document/364343467/NC-Special-Master-Draft-Plan

Scroll through this and check how the gerrymander has progressed from 2011 to the "Special Master's" new districts from throughout the state.

[Edited on November 14, 2017 at 10:05 PM. Reason : Starts on pg 6]

11/14/2017 10:03:11 PM

http://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article185423903.html

This districting stuff is so hopelessly fucked up. The judges haven't officially struck down the old districts while they simultaneously review their special master's districts. They have 2 months to figure it all out before candidate filing in February.

We are gonna have another election with illegal districts in 2018. As if "Your vote doesn't matter" folks needed another talking point.

11/20/2017 8:05:14 AM

NC named #1 place to do business by Forbes. There are many things to rightly criticize about our state government, but one thing they know how to do well is foster a good environment for businesses.

https://www.forbes.com/best-states-for-business/list/#tab:overall

11/28/2017 1:11:43 PM

http://wraltechwire.com/forbes-north-carolina-is-best-state-for-business-/17146561/

Quote :

"One factor helping North Carolina's rise: Repeal of House Bill 2, also known as the "bathroom bill." Forbes, noting that protection for LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual) people is one of the 41 metrics used to rank states, pointed out that North Carolina's ranking by the Movement Advancement Project, which "tracks whether states are adequately protecting people from employment discrimination based on sexual and/or gender identity," ranked North Carolina much higher than in 2016 when the bill cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars in business."

11/28/2017 1:34:48 PM

^^so that means Amazon is coming or nah?

11/28/2017 1:58:59 PM

http://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/politics/elections/2017/12/14/debate-over-how-select-nc-judges-gets-uglier/951868001/

STOP. TAMPERING. WITH. HOW. WE. ELECT. OFFICIALS. *handclap emoji*

Their arguments on why judicial election changes are needed are so astonishingly empty. Surely no one could fall for this shit.....

12/15/2017 8:06:49 AM

USACE crushes NCGOP Jordan lake pipe dreams:

http://www.wral.com/corps-of-engineers-rejects-chemical-based-cleanup-at-jordan-lake/17204031/

Yet the NCGOP still doggedly rejects the nearly 2 decades of science and stakeholder input that created the Jordan Lake rules, promising that their next magic bullet solution will be the one that fixes everything!!!

12/24/2017 12:22:41 PM

http://www.newsobserver.com/opinion/op-ed/article122593759.html

You've probably read these points before, "NC is no longer a democracy," but this op-ed quantifies our standing in the world, and it ain't pretty:

Quote :

"Indeed, North Carolina does so poorly on the measures of legal framework and voter registration, that on those indicators we rank alongside Iran and Venezuela. When it comes to the integrity of the voting district boundaries no country has ever received as low a score as the 7/100 North Carolina received. North Carolina is not only the worst state in the USA for unfair districting but the worst entity in the world ever analyzed by the Electoral Integrity Project."

1/1/2018 10:43:12 AM

^^^ It's not just R's pushing for a change in how we elect judges in NC. Dr. Ed Lopez at WCU had a recent column on this issue as well and he's no Republican.

http://www.citizen-times.com/story/opinion/2017/10/02/guest-columnist-appointed-judges-serve-nc-better/106228474/

1/2/2018 9:26:36 PM

Yea, I'm sure the BB&T distinguished professor of capitalism and current head of the Koch-funded Center for the Study of Free-enterprise is a flaming, liberal democrat.

In better news, NC's congressional districts were struck down today, again. Surely, SURELY, the judges won't give the GOP another shot at drawing these right?

1/9/2018 6:14:25 PM

yet another L for these awful, awful people

1/9/2018 6:22:52 PM

From my reading (nonlegal mind) and twitter skimming the opinion requires them to submit a new plan ("remedial plan") for review by sometime in early February? If it doesn't meet constitutional muster then a plan crafted by the court will be used?





Also Josh Stein using "unconstitutional PARTISAN gerrymander" in his tweet.

[Edited on January 9, 2018 at 6:56 PM. Reason : Is that significant?]

1/9/2018 6:50:51 PM

yes, because previously partisan gerrymandering was fine as long as you weren't targeting protected classes (the last maps got thrown out because republicans were too obvious about wanting to target black voters)

1/9/2018 7:34:25 PM

http://www.wral.com/supreme-court-sides-with-cooper-in-fight-over-nc-elections-board/17292316/

ANOTHER strong arm move gets slapped down by the courts.



At some point, when this much of your legislation is ruled unconstitutional, its more than just a party probing the limits on some particular issue, it's a trend of trying to consolidate power across government. Its creeping authoritarianism.

1/26/2018 10:03:24 PM

This is the same POS that compared Lincoln to Hitler (Larry Pittman)

NC Republican wants to arm teachers in response to Florida shooting
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/politics-columns-blogs/under-the-dome/article200294174.html



[Edited on February 16, 2018 at 4:09 PM. Reason : ]

2/16/2018 4:09:15 PM

I think I might have been fooled and that's a fake Larry Pittman facebook page (but the statements in the article are his)

2/16/2018 5:04:41 PM

NC doesn't even provide enough funding for teachers to have basic supplies in the classroom for their students. They are also among the worst paid in the nation. With that in mind, are they going to fund the cost of the training and the purchase of weapons for teachers?

2/17/2018 10:52:52 AM

This may not be all that significant, but worth posting, at least.

http://www.wral.com/tillis-if-we-were-misled-that-would-be-disturbing/17429865/

Quote :

"[U.S. Senator Thom] Tillis, whose 2014 Senate campaign spent $30,000 with [Cambridge Analytica] since accused of stealing data from Facebook users to build psychological profiles, described the company as a fairly minor player in his 2014 win over Democratic U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan... The state Republican Party also engaged Cambridge Analytica in 2014, spending $150,000 with the group and making the N.C. GOP the company's fourt-largest client that year. The party party paid the firm another $65,000 in 2015... Cambridge Analytica says on its website that its telecanvassing program in this race contacted 123,138 individuals, resulting in an increase in turnout of 12.57 percent, or 15,478 voters. Tillis won that race by about 45,600 votes."

3/20/2018 1:18:12 PM

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/wylie-foreigners-worked-cambridge-analytica-nc-senate-campaign-n859526

3/23/2018 8:51:51 PM

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/evqebk/gop-authoritarianism-is-spreading-from-north-carolina-to-the-rest-of-the-us

5/3/2018 2:11:27 PM

https://www.wral.com/gop-seeks-to-prohibit-amendments-to-proposed-state-budget/17572652/

hey guyz, lets modify our budget behind closed doors, then insert it into a totally unrelated bill as a conference report so that no one can debate or offer amendments.

lol democracy

5/24/2018 10:52:03 AM

when do we bring out the guillotine?

5/24/2018 10:54:23 AM

I feel like I’ve been sharpening the blade on mine for 10 years.



*sigh* but here we are

5/24/2018 5:41:56 PM

Wood Chipper

5/25/2018 10:50:57 AM

https://www.wral.com/editorial-is-n-c-in-the-hands-of-dictators-latest-budget-ploy-suggests-so/17587949/

Quote :

" In their scheming they’ve concocted a way to present a $23 billion budget without any public hearings, committee discussion and deliberation, or ability to amend. They released the 758 pages of budget bill and documents just 13 hours before they’ll start voting on it."

Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

5/29/2018 10:40:33 AM

scary

5/29/2018 12:49:25 PM

^^ The other legislators should vote it down on principle. Too bad they're spineless.

5/29/2018 2:57:48 PM

SURPRISE!!!

Top Secret budget is full of pork:
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article212097339.html

5/29/2018 7:03:43 PM

Admitting ignorance, how is it ok for the government to give taxpayer dollars to a religious organization for the purpose of it to influence people with it's religious beliefs?

5/29/2018 10:50:42 PM

We are stuck with them or the foreseeable future as the meaningless exercise of getting arrested in a pre-planned fashion at the NCGA building continues each Monday.

5/30/2018 9:41:09 AM

i stopped doing these protests because they are so dumb, it's pointless until people are ready to be non-compliant when the police try to arrest them

5/30/2018 9:52:47 AM

https://www.wral.com/state-budget-heads-to-cooper/17596460/

6/1/2018 1:18:51 PM

http://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article212589549.html

Quote :

" If a drink doesn't come from an animal with hooves, North Carolina legislators don't want you to call it "milk." Part of the General Assembly's 2018 Farm Bill would ban the marketing of milks made from plants, including almond, coconut and soy, from being labeled "milk" in North Carolina after Jan. 1. The products could still be sold, they just couldn't legally be labeled "milk" under the proposed law. That distinction would be reserved for dairy products like milk from animals, including cows and goats."

6/7/2018 9:13:06 AM