Which also happens to be a classic defense mechanism of a serial harasser:

In a late Sunday night phone conversation with WUNC Hall again denied the allegations laid out in the original story, and said he believes it stems from a personal relationship.

“The father of my ex-girlfriend is the executive director of NC Policy Watch,” Hall said, referring to Megan Glazier, the daughter of Rick Glazier. “They worked on the story for months and released on the last day of primary filing, with unnamed sources. They have a journalistic obligation to disclose those personal conflicts, but did not. There is a big difference between reporting a story, and creating a story.” “This was a personal vendetta.”

To say I find this "very unlikely" is an understatement. The first hurdle of disbelief to hop over is the idea that Rick Glazier would use his position at the NC Justice Center to do such a thing, to carry out a personal vendetta. But let's say we make it over that jump in one piece, and can keep running. Now we have to leap over the idea that Rob Schofield would play along. A man who has dedicated 12 years to building the structure and integrity of NC Policy Watch. Not gonna happen. But since we're already in fantasy-land, let's assume that record-breaking jump was successful. Now we've got to convince Billy Ball to be a co-conspirator, a man who has been neck-deep in journalistic reporting since before he even graduated from UNC. That's fifteen years of building a reputation of credibility and accuracy. The idea that any of these guys, much less all three, would even want to engage in a fraudulent smear campaign, much less jeopardize their integrity and careers over it, ranks up there somewhere near chem-trails on the crazy conspiracy chart. Three strikes, you're out Duane.

Because the death toll is staggering:

Two million dogs are euthanized in shelters across the United States each year. The Humane Society of the United States says it’s a disturbingly high statistic that most people are unaware of. Now, consider the flip side: about two million dogs are brought into existence each year and sold by commercial breeders, competing against otherwise adoptable, existing animals waiting in shelters but unable to find homes.

“There is a direct correlation, a very obvious correlation, that this industry is directly participating in the pet overpopulation problem,” Erica Geppi, the North Carolina Director for the US Humane Society, explained to WECT of puppy mills. She says there are some reputable breeders, but far too many are breeding litter after litter in inhumane conditions, putting profit over animal welfare.

Normally I don't do fluffy bunny stories here, because we try to remain laser-focused on politics and policy. But it is glaringly obvious the free market cares nothing about animal cruelty, and their only hope lies in sound and humane policy decisions. And it is also obvious that North Carolina is one of the worst states when it comes to the euthanization of unwanted domestic pets:

The revelation came to him as he was throwing darts at a Cooper poster:

A challenge filed Tuesday against Governor Roy Cooper’s Department of Environmental Quality alleges that the four permits issued by the state for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline “did not meet proper procedure resulting in harm to water quality.”

The petition was filed by Francis DeLuca, former head of the conservative Civitas Institute, and contests permits and approvals recently issued by DEQ to the ACP project, including the federal Clean Water Act Section 401 Certification which is the primary approval required for the project to move forward. The petition also challenges the sedimentation control permit and storm water permits in Nash and Cumberland counties.

You know, when the GOP took over the General Assembly back in 2011, one of the first things they did was go on a "listening tour" to determine just how dissatisfied developers and industry people were over DENR's permitting process. And of course, they were able to find numerous complainers, who told "horror" stories about having to wait 12-18 months to get their permits approved. Ironically, the GOP's "solution" was to cut funding for DENR (later DEQ) by 40%, and bury the remaining regulators in paperwork like economic impact assessments. But setting that aside for the moment, my point is that Civitas and JLF have been moaning about over-regulation by environmental officials for years, complaining about how those delays stifle growth and prosperity and such. But now Fran de Luca is upset because the permits were granted too quickly? There's a word for that, it's called "Hypocrisy." Here are excerpts of a letter JLF signed off on just a few years ago:

This is what's known as a "net gain" on the candidate front:

In face of national @DNC rallying behind @NCDemParty challenger Kathy Manning of @GuilfordCounty another Democrat who originally was going to run in 13th Congressional District switches to #NCGA race in #PiedmontTriad #NC #ncpol https://t.co/KxTejpRib4

— Paul Johnson (@HPEpaul) February 27, 2018

Regardless how you feel about the DCCC throwing its support behind a Primary candidate, it makes no sense to have five Democrats running for one hard-to-win Congressional seat while Legislative seats in the same area go uncontested.

Which ironically is just 11 days before the postponed Judicial filing period begins:

A trial over the legality of a North Carolina law canceling primary elections this year for state appellate court judgeships is scheduled for late spring.

During a hearing Thursday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Joi Peake set a June 7 trial date and other filing and evidence deadlines.

Nine days ago I penned an Op-Ed for submission to a regional newspaper, but recent (unfortunate) developments at that publication have made that submission moot. But these words need to be published, and I encourage you to take an extra few minutes to consider the following: