And here's the cure: Gail Young for HD 83

Jerry Wayne Williamson has all the deets:

Incumbent Republican House member Larry Pittman decided to emulate Trump by saying yet another outrageous thing (he has a history) -- that Black Lives Matter protestors are "vermin" and need to be shot down in the street if they don't obey -- which prompts me to highlight this a.m. his Democratic opponent on the November ballot, Gail Young. I've been following her since she ran the first time in 2018 (in both a Democratic primary and in the General), and she earned a very respectable 47.22% of the vote against Rev. Pittman (yes, he's a preacher of the Gospel, though it's a version I don't recognize).

Lillian's List of North Carolina made her a featured candidate. Now or Never NC, an independent political action committee that backs "top challengers who strongly support public education, redistricting reform, voter access, and who have an appreciation for local governance," has promoted her. The NC League of Conservation Voters, the NC Sierra Club, Equality NC, Moms Demand Action, and Planned Parenthood have all endorsed her.

Learn more about Gail and contribute to her campaign right here.

Wednesday News: Where is the Censure?

LARRY PITTMAN TELLS LAW ENFORCEMENT TO SHOOT BLM ACTIVISTS: “This is war,” he wrote on Facebook Monday. “Our people have a right to expect our leaders to be on our side, not surrender to the lawless, godless mob.” Pittman, a pastor, declined to comment Tuesday. “Sorry, I don’t do interviews,” he said in an email. On Facebook, he said if he were in charge he would order police to take back their cities, arrest “these domestic terrorists,” and “If they resist and attack you, shoot them.” “Law and order must be restored,” he wrote. “Innocent citizens have a right to expect elected officials and law enforcement officers to protect them and their property. They also have a right to defend themselves with deadly force if they are able.”
https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article243568942.html

Day 90

It's been three months since I started counting quarantine days, but who's counting?

From the outset, I was certain we'd be in this for the long haul. But little did I know that a small army of ignorant American greeders would make matters worse by disregarding advice from public health professionals. Topping the list of self-obsessed cult members is Lt. Governor Dan Forest, who debases himself with conspiracy collusion day after day after day. When he's not whining about Governor Cooper, he's hooked up with "Reopen NC," a group of fetishists who want to burn masks to protest government and business policies requiring the face coverings.

Tuesday News: Just retire, already

CRANKY OLD WINDBAG WHINES ABOUT EDUCATION FUNDING: “There’s been no evaluation of how $30 billion in hardworking taxpayer money has been spent,” said North Carolina Republican Rep. Virginia Foxx, the ranking member of the House Education and Labor Committee. “Yet here we are with Democrats pushing those same taxpayers to dole out more of their hard earned money at a time when many Americans are being forced to tighten their belts.” Foxx, of Banner Elk, repeatedly cautioned against federal spending, even pointing to the Constitution to suggest education was not a responsibility of the federal government. “I’m a student of the Constitution, and I’ve read it many times,” she said. “And I’ve failed to find the word ‘education’ in there.” But people who testified before the committee talked at length of the additional aid they felt was needed, even with CARES Act funding.
https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/article243556052.html

Tuesday Twitter roundup

This is a serious problem:

One-third of N.C. childcare programs still closed as parents need to return to work | The Progressive Pulse https://t.co/2v7qc166XQ #ncpol #ncga #ncgov #covid19 #childcare

— NC Policy Watch (@NCPolicyWatch) June 16, 2020

Not sure how many of these operations were able to secure government loans to stay afloat, but just from anecdotal evidence I've seen on social media, probably not many.

Historic SCOTUS ruling: LGBT employment discrimination illegal

The Supreme Court has ruled this morning that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation violates the Civil Rights Act.

The decision said Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which makes it illegal for employers to discriminate because of a person’s sex, among other factors, also covers sexual orientation. It upheld rulings from lower courts that said sexual orientation discrimination was a form of sex discrimination.

Parsing the changes to Absentee voting by mail in NC

It's been made easier, but it's still complex:

You can now request an absentee ballot via e-mail or fax with an electronic signature. And starting in June, you only need one witness to fill out a ballot.

"Making sure elections are safe and secure is more important than ever during this pandemic, and this funding is crucial to that effort," Cooper said in a press release Friday. The state will receive over $10 million in funding from the federal government to prepare for the effects of coronavirus on the 2020 election; $424,000 of that will be spent creating a ballot request website.

You need to e-mail or fax that request to your county board of election (as opposed to state website), and you still have to use the proper request form, and it doesn't appear that you can fill it out electronically (save document and make changes). So you'll need to print it out, fill it out, and then scan it (or fax it) as an image. That is until the above-mentioned "ballot request website" becomes operational. But I wouldn't hold your breath and wait for that this year; NC is notorious for taking a long time in developing new platforms such as this. And now to dispel the rumor of Roy Cooper signing Voter ID back into law:

BlueNC