THEY ARE OUR CHILDREN, SIBLINGS, FRIENDS. THEY ARE NOT "FILTH": They are our sisters, our brothers, our parents, our children and our neighbors. But to North Carolina’s Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, they are “filth.” Like other bullies called to account for their actions, he dodges, deflects and doesn’t, as he promised, take responsibility. He doesn’t explain why he said those people are filth. He does exploit the controversy and hate he ignited with a video that includes sexually explicit images on his campaign Facebook website. He used it to send an email fundraising appeal. At best, it is a cynical ploy to find a way to profit, at least politically, from his divisive rhetoric. Is this the kind of behavior that should be coming from a member of the State Board of Education and state Community College Board? Does not fitting Mark Robinson’s criteria for appropriate or correct necessarily make them “filth?” No, it merely makes them different from him. That is no justification for ridicule. Robinson is the quintessential demagogue; the end product of a Christofascist movement that strikingly resembles the Taliban more than any other entity. Whether that will continue to thrive here or not is a true test of our moral resolve.
https://www.wral.com/editorial-they-are-our-children-siblings-friends-they-are-not-filth/19920875/

SOME RALEIGH EMPLOYEES ARE ACTING LIKE LITTLE CHILDREN: More than 100 Raleigh police officers, firefighters and other city employees are threatening legal action over vaccine requirements they say are discriminatory. City of Raleigh Freedom to Choose, a coalition of 53 Raleigh police officers, 48 firefighters and 17 other city employees, has hired attorney James Lawrence to fight the city’s policies, according to a letter sent by Lawrence to Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin on Monday. In the letter, Lawrence cited the weekly testing requirement for non-vaccinated employees, cash bonus and paid leave incentives and a policy limiting promotions to those who are fully vaccinated as examples of a “discriminatory COVID-19 mandate.” Lawrence said the group is not “anti-vax,” and “supports the right of city employees to make their own informed medical treatment choices,” including whether to get vaccinated against COVID-19. Frankly, if their own "informed" opinion tells them not to, they shouldn't be on the payroll, much less toting a firearm in public.
https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/counties/wake-county/article254997277.html#storylink=mainstage

ROBINSON GETS A TONGUE-LASHING FROM RELIGIOUS LEADERS: On Monday night, some liberal religious leaders from around the Triangle gathered outside Robinson’s office to give three demands: They said he needed to apologize, make himself available to the faith and community leaders for a conversation, and, if he didn’t meet the first two requirements, that he needed to resign. “Any person who chooses to be a leader of humankind, by seeking election to public office, knows that their words and their actions have the power to make life better or worse for the people they serve,” said Rev. Vance Haywood, pastor of St. John’s Metropolitan Community Church in Raleigh. “Those words and those actions can even put the lives of people at risk.” Rep. Cynthia Ball, a Raleigh Democrat, said she has asked several fellow N.C. House members in the Republican Party if they’d be willing to talk about Robinson’s comments, but none responded. “For them, I think it’s some kind of party politics,” Dahle said. It always is.
https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/article254944382.html#storylink=mainstage_card

ALLOW THE POST OFFICE TO GET BACK INTO THE BANKING BUSINESS: A robust postal banking system is a development that progressives, and the American Postal Workers Union, have long favored. Many Americans, especially those in lower income and minority communities, don’t trust the financial system or don’t have easy access to it. “One in four American households is unbanked or underbanked, including half of all Black households,” notes the Save the Post Office Coalition. “This leads to costly alternatives that function as a lifetime tax on accessing your own money.” The American Postal Workers Union negotiated a banking pilot program in its 2016 contract, but the previous postmaster general declined to act on it. When DeJoy came in, the union redoubled its efforts and persuaded him to give it a shot. Of course, any significant expansion would require legislation. Which means — all together now! — that Congress needs to make itself useful. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., has been championing postal banking for a few years. As part of its agenda, the Save the Post Office Coalition wanted Congress to include a more expansive test program in the appropriations for the 2022 fiscal year. This is a great idea, and could improve the quality of life for many.
https://www.wral.com/louis-dejoy-is-doing-something-progressives-like/19916706/

GOP EXTREMIST "LAWMAKERS" ARE GOING AFTER DURHAM VOTERS: Conservative Republicans in the North Carolina House said Thursday morning that they plan to investigate voting machines used in the 2020 election in Durham County for modems or other ways they could have been connected to the internet. And they plan to use the legislature’s police to help them do so. “We will do whatever it takes to go about our mission,” said Rep. Jeff McNeely, an Iredell County Republican and member of the freedom caucus, a group of very conservative House Republicans. McNeely and other freedom caucus members pulled Durham County — a Democratic stronghold — out of a hat that they said contained the names of all 100 counties during a press conference at the legislature Thursday morning. Riiight, they just happened to pull Durham out of a hat. Roll up your pantlegs, the shit's gettin' deep.
https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/article254825392.html#storylink=mainstage_card