CASH IN THE APPLE FOR
10-19-17
By Cash Michaels
AFTERMATH
– In the aftermath of the horrific alleged sexual harassment/abuse stories
about Hollywood movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, it has been simply amazing how
many women on social media – both on Facebook and Twitter – have adopted the
hashtag moniker “#me too.”
Suddenly,
women from all over, young and old, black, white and others, are coming forward
in their own way, admitting that at least once in their lives, they too were
the victims of some man’s craven sexual abuse.
On
Monday on my Facebook page, I felt compelled to write the following to these
women, whoever they were, wherever they were:
I am simply overwhelmed by the
sheer number of women here on FB who have adopted the "me too"
moniker when it comes to being a victim of sexual harassment of ANY sort.
Yes, it was, and IS wrong, and should not have happened.
As the father of two talented and gifted young ladies, I certainly don't want
to see ANY female demeaned in ANY way, for ANY reason. As a father I don't
tolerate it, as a Christian I won't tolerate it, and as a man, I CAN'T tolerate
it. The most important human beings in my life in formulating who I am and have
come to be, have been women, starting with my late mother, some of the best
teachers I've ever had, close friends, and finally the two outstanding young
women who pruodly know me as "Dad."
So I proudly stand with you, Sistahs of every color and
creed, on this. You'll recall when the Bill Cosby controversy was raging, I
didn't hesitate to hold him accountable, because as much as I loved the man, I
knew, deep down, that the allegations against him were true.
The Weinstein controversy is shameful, but I believe it
is just the tip of the iceberg. We have the same kind of degenerates in every facet
of life, including, unfortunately, the church.
As men, we need to stand with our women in demanding a
change in our culture. You see who is president....and we know his history.
That tells ALL of us that we have a lot of work to do to
make this nation a place that our children - female and male - can proudly and
safely grow up in.
The chickens ALWAYS come home to roost, brothers and
sisters.
Always!
I mean, just think about it…to
treat ANY human being, let alone a female, as if she were just a possession
ripe for the picking, regardless of her basic human rights, is sick, AND
sickening. That kind of depraved behavior is certainly the product of a rotting
culture. No man would approve of their mother being treated like a piece of
meat by anybody. No man would tolerate their female child to be violated or
used solely for the pleasure or exploitation of others.
So why do so many men…so many
powerful men in particular, engage in this type of crass behavior? Because our
culture, by and large, has allowed men to get away with it. Indeed, our
American culture has openly promoted this gutter behavior.
To expect a woman, ANY woman,
to sell herself to you for any reason, is wrong and ungodly. If a woman
willingly gives herself to a man, that is her right. She should never be
forced, pressured or blackmailed to do it.
American men, we’ve got to get
ourselves together on this, and promote the dignity of our women.
Our children…ALL OF OUR
CHILDREN….are watching!
Especially the females!
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DEMOCRATS, NCNAACP
LEADERS
DECRY GOP JUDICIAL
REDISTRICTING PLAN
By Cash Michaels
Contributing writer
North
Carolina Republicans say the state’s judicial districts have not been fine-
tuned in 60 years, and as a result, some districts have too many judges, while
others have too few. It’s time to correct that imbalance so that all North
Carolinians are treated “fairly and equitably,” Republicans say.
“This
gets them back closer to similar size districts,” says Rep. Donny Lambeth
(R-Forsyth).
Indeed,
there is general consensus that new district lines need to be redrawn, and the
process of judges being elected or appointed deserves a long overdue look, with
judicial input.
But
what state House Republican lawmakers have done per judicial redistricting in their
third Special Session of the year goes beyond any “fine tuning,” Democrats,
NCNAACP leadership and others insist. They see a plot by the GOP to
systematically take over North Carolina’s court system so that more Republican
judges and prosecutors can be elected, and Republicans ultimately have a better
chance of winning cases involving legislative policy disputes, like voting
rights and redistricting.
“They’re
bullies…,” declared Bob Hall, executive director of the nonpartisan Democracy:
NC, a Durham-based issues-advocacy group that’s been monitoring what GOP
legislative leaders have been up to.
“They’ve
gone after the executive branch, now they’re going after the courts, very
deliberately and systematically.”
It
has been a burr in the side of Republican legislative leaders that they’ve
spent over $10 million in litigation fees over the past decade, only to have
their laws either overturned as being unconstitutional, or their power grabs
struck down by both state and federal courts.
A
scheme to maintain a Republican majority on the state Supreme Court failed
miserably last year, resulting in the election of Democrat Judge Mike Morgan,
an African-American, and with that, a Democratic majority.
Republicans
still hold the majority on the NC Court of Appeals, but that isn’t enough. The
GOP majority in both the House and Senate have put party labels back on local
judicial races, and there are plans to add more seats to the state Supreme
Court so that Republicans can return to the majority there.
With a new judicial redistricting
plan that has even members of the judiciary up in arms, the GOP has laid out a
scheme that many district and superior court judges, a good number of whom are
both Democrat and African-American, in counties like Durham, Forsyth, Mecklenburg
and Guilford, will be “double-bunked” in newly drawn districts, meaning they
will have to face one another in elections in order to remain in office.
“They’re going to eliminate a lot
of African-American judges, “ Hall with Democracy: NC insists. He added that a
lot of the programs that counties shared that were alternatives for
incarceration for many people,
would now be ended where there are large urban centers.
“It’s a conspiracy on a number of
levels,” Hall continued. “They’re trying to find a way to elect more Republican
judges; a conspiracy against African-American judges who have gained more
stature and seniority; and it’s a conspiracy against the people who are served
by the courts.”
Observers say it is no accident
that the GOP judicial redistricting plan was concocted by Rep. Justin Burr
(R-Stanly), a bail bondsman who stands to benefit from changing the court
system. Burr, however, counters that the judicial redistricting is needed.
“This thing is a mess,” opined Sen.
Paul Lowe (D-Forsyth), one of the counties where black judges would be affected
by the judicial redistricting if it passes when the legislature reconvenes next
January.
“It sounds like the real goal is to
shift things in the urban areas, pretty much guaranteeing that the number of
African-American judges will go down dramatically – whether they’re intending
that or not.”
The
hue and cry from Democratic and NCNAACP leaders is almost deafening.
“Based on what we have seen produced from the House plan on
judicial redistricting, I am gravely concerned over the rejection of insight
and input from the courts.,” Senate Minority Leader Dan Blue (D-Wake) said
Monday, noting that members of the state’s judiciary had no say in the
Republican judicial redistricting maps.
“It is critical for the health of the
judicial system to support and encourage diversity on the bench and to promote
the peoples’ right to a fair and speedy trial,” Sen. Blue continued. “The plan pushed forward in the House
erodes that diversity and obstructs justice.”
Published reports
indicate that Republicans in the state Senate have a different idea on how
judges should elevated to the bench, suggesting that they prefer the merit
selection of judges by lawmakers, thus eliminating judicial elections. To give
themselves more time to flesh out the details, the Senate passed SB656 last
week, cancelling the 2018 judicial primaries. Gov. Cooper vetoed the law, but
the GOP House and Senate overrode his veto with their supermajorities this week
before going home.
“While some of the provisions of S.B. 656 were good steps
toward reforming our judicial elections, the elimination of primaries is an
unnecessary and chaotic step that will only hurt the public’s ability to choose
justices,” said Rep. Cecil Brockman (D-Guilford).
Attorney Irving
Joyner, chair of the NCNAACP Legal Redress Committee, was scathing in his
assessment of what the Republicans are up to.
“Present efforts by the N.C. General Assembly to reconfigure
judicial districts are, once again, designed by right wing ideologues to
destroy democracy in North Carolina and further diminish the participation of
African Americans, racial minorities and women in the State's justice process,”
Joyner, who is also a professor at North Carolina Central University’s School
of Law in Durham, continued. “The redistricting proposals have the goal of
stacking the District and Superior Courts with people who are loyal to an ultra
conservative political point of view and who will undermine constitutional
protections that all people are supposed to enjoy in North Carolina.”
“As proposed, the projected district
lines will eliminate the judicial position in which African Americans have been
elected and deliberately create districts which will force some African
American judges to run against each other,” Joyner, who also called the Senate’s
merit selection plan, “…just a further attempt to strip citizens of the right
to vote and place the power to elect Judges in the hands of a few right wing
legislators…”, said.
“What the General
Assembly seeks to do now in the judicial realm is exactly what they
unsuccessfully sought to do with legislative and congressional districts. The
NC NAACP is preparing to challenge these unconstitutional districts in federal
court as soon as they are enacted,” Prof. Joyner concluded.
The newly elected
president of the NCNAACP, Rev. Dr. T. Anthony Spearman of Greensboro, echoed
Joyner’s concern.
“No matter which type of judicial
selection process is used--Appointment, Merit Selection, or Election--a
judiciary truly “Of, By, and For the People…” must be selected by a process as
blind as possible to race, gender, or political affiliation. We advocate for a
process that--in intent and effect--removes judicial selection from the control
of anyone who would use the justice system for political advantage or racial
discrimination,” Rev. Spearman added.
Rep. Pricey Harrison (D-Guilford),
joined the chorus.
“The GOP clearly has designs on remaking
our judiciary to elect more Republican judges, at a time when North Carolinians
want less partisanship in our judiciary,” she said in a statement Tuesday.
“They had already eliminated our exemplary
judicial public financing program. This year they added legislation making us
the first state in a century to move to partisan judicial races. They
have reduced the size of the very busy Court of Appeals and then shifted some
of the workload to the Supreme Court, presumably to justify packing that with
Republican appointments (to undo the shift in balance caused by Mike Morgan's
2016 win).”
“This latest effort to redraw the local
races by carving up blue (Democratic) counties while leaving similarly sized
Republican counties alone is clearly an attempt to elect more Republican judges
at the local level. It has been done hastily and without proper deliberation.
And today's vote to eliminate the judicial primary (in anticipation of
legislative selection) is a further assault on our judicial system and will
likely lead to chaos,” Rep. Harrison concluded.
“Republicans are saying…] ‘We’ll
make sure we remain in power,’ Sen. Lowe remarked, feigning what the ultimate
GOP goal is. “And they want to make sure that they’ve got the right folks in
place.”
Sen. Lowe added that people must
take what’s happening seriously, and commit themselves to voting for a change
in 2018.
House Republicans went home
Tuesday after voting Monday night to override Gov. Cooper’s veto of SB 626,
which canceled the 2018 judicial primaries. The Senate also ended its Special
Session this week, scheduled to return Jan. 10th to decide ballot
amendments on voter ID, and the appointment of judges by lawmakers for 2018.
“It’s a serious crime against
democracy,” Bob Hall of Democracy: NC insists. “It’s a serious crime that
[Republicans] are committing.”
-30-
AS PARTISAN
GERRYMANDER CASE BEGINS,
SPECIAL MASTER
CONSIDER FOR ANOTHER
By Cash Michaels
Contributing writer
As
a federal hearing in North Carolina’s own partisan gerrymandering case
involving congressional districts commenced this week in Greensboro, a
three-judge panel still reviewing redrawn legislative redistricting maps seemed
to hint that they aren’t pleased with what Republican lawmakers came up with,
especially with race not being considered in the equation, and have asked both
the state and plaintiffs to recommend possible special masters who would
ultimately redrawn fairer voting districts in time for the 2018 midterm
elections.
Day
One of the partisan gerrymandering hearing saw expert witnesses taking the
stand, testifying how much of an “extreme statistical outlier” the 2016
congressional maps dawn by Republican voting district mapmaker Tom Hofeller
are.
Hofeller
also drew the 2011 NC legislative maps that were found to be unconstitutional
by the US Supreme Court because they “stacked-and-packed’ NC black voters into
28 out of 170 voting districts, thus lessening their influence in elections.
In
the case of the 2016 congressional elections, out of 13 NC congressional
districts, Republicans were elected to 10 of them. Blacks were drawn into the
First Congressional District, currently represented by Congressman G. K.
Butterfield; the Fourth with Rep. David Price; and the Twelfth District with
Congresswoman Alma Adams, all three Democrats.
Expert
witnesses testified that based on their studies, a 10-3 Republican majority
congressional map had to be deliberate, given that, using the same information
and calculations, they were able to come up with many more maps that allowed
7-6 Republican to Democrats, or 7-6 Democrat to Republican congressional
combinations.
Partisan
gerrymandering is legal, unlike racial gerrymandering, but that could change
per upcoming rulings.
The
North Carolina Leaguc of Women Voters and the nonpartisan group, Common Cause,
are the plaintiffs suing the state
of North Carolina, claiming, similar to the partisan gerrymandering case in
Wisconsin that the US Supreme Court s considering, that allowing Republican
legislatures to draw partisan majorities deprives citizens of fair and equal
representation in government, resulting in severely lop-sided electoral
results.
Observers
say it should be impossible for a state like North Carolina, which is evenly
divided politically, to still lave anything like a 10-3 Republican-leaning
congressional delegation.
The
US Middle Court hearing in the 2016 partisan gerrymandering should hear final
testimony today.
Also
in Greensboro last week, the federal three-judge panel currently deciding
whether the redrawn 2011 NC legislative maps in the Covington v. State of North
Carolina case submitted by the Republican-led NC General Assembly in late
August pass legal muster, have signaled, as plaintiffs have charged, that the
legislative effort has fallen short, and an independent “special master” designated by the court may have to be
brought in to redraw the redrawn maps.
Nineteen
state House districts and nine state Senate districts in the original 2011
redistrict maps were found to be racially gerrymandered by the federal courts.
When Republican lawmakers finally redrew the maps this summer, they removed
race as a consideration in the criteria, but plaintiffs suing the state
countered that the new maps were just as bad.
After
a hearing and a barrage of questions for both sides, the court seemed to side
with the plaintiffs that the state could not be trusted to correct their maps,
and asked both sides to submit the names of three experts they all agreed could
serve as special masters to redraw the maps.
That
list of names was due to the court Wednesday.
Regardless
of this court’s decision, observers say expect it to be appealed to the US
Supreme Court, possibly eating up more time before the February filing deadline
for legislative candidates for the 2018 midterm elections.
-30-
STATE NEWS BRIEFS FOR
10-19-17
CFPUA SUES CHEMOURS
IN FEDERAL COURT OVER GENX DISCHARGE
[WILMINGTON]
Cape Fear Public Utility Authority (CFPUA) filed suit in US District Court
Monday against the chemical companies Chemours, and it’s parent, DuPont, alleging that they knew the
chemical discharge of GenX into the Cape Fear River since 1980 would be
hazardous to human health. Until recently, GenX has been released into the Cape
Fear, the New Hanover County region drinking supply. CFPUA further alleges that
Chemours and Dupont are in violation of several federal environmental laws as a
result of the GenX discharge. CFPUA is suing for damages in excess of $75,000,
the final amount to be determined when the lawsuit is heard at trial. Neither
Chemours nor Dupont had an immediate response after the suit was filed.
DELAYED COUNCIL VOTE
ON POLICE RIOT WEAPONS
{WILMINGTON]
The Wilmington City Council delayed a scheduled vote this week on purchasing
$42,000 worth of riot batons, canister grenades and other riot equipment for
the Wilmington Police Dept’s Mobile Field Force Team D (MFF-D). Official say the riot equipment would
help the force to disperse demonstrations. Approximately 30 current officers will be assigned to the
MFF-D. The council vote was delayed, however, to allow for more public comment
on the purchase. Officials say the MFF-D would be paid for through funding of
the N.C. Drug Tax. The next council meeting is scheduled for Nov. 8th.
INFANT CHILD VICTIM
OF RANSOM STRAY BULLET
[CLINTON]
Sampson County authorities are investigating the shooting of an infant girl who
fell victim to a random bullet which hit the child in the torso. Authorities
say shots were fired at 25 Bumpy
Lane Tuesday night when two armed men approached a man attending a birthday
party, and an argument commenced. As the man ran away, the two apparently fired
shots, with one of the bullets striking the home, and hitting the child. The
infant was eventually airlifted to UNC Hospital in Chapel Hill for treatment.
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