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Cash
GOP-LED HOUSE PASSES
NEW MASK BILL CRITICS
SAY STILL LACKS PROTECTION
By Cash Michaels
Contributing writer
The Republican majority state House on Tuesday passed House Bill 237, the “Unmasking Mobs and Criminals Act,” 69 to 43, despite protests that it offered little protections for medical patients who are required to were medical masks to protect themselves from contracting contagious diseases.
The bill was also inexplicably mixed with a provision allowing so-called “dark money” from unnamed sources into political campaigns.
House Democrats debating the bill opined that one issue had nothing to do with the other, yet were joined for the sake of election year politics.
Senate Republicans passed a compromise version of HB 237 last week after House Republicans initially rejected a Senate version that removed the COID pandemic public mask wearing exemption. Both houses conferred on the new version which passed Tuesday, despite there being new problems with the bill.
The new HB 237 mandates that only a medical or surgical grade mask for the purpose of “preventing the spread of contagious disease.” But what if a patient needs to wear a medical mask for the specific purpose of protecting themselves from catching a contagious disease, many House Democrats asked?
The new language doesn’t say.
The new compromise also says a person wearing a medical mask “…shall remove the mask upon request by a law enforcement officer or temporarily remove the mask upon request by the owner or occupant of public or private property where the wearer is present to allow for identification of the wearer.”
So beyond a police officer, anyone can legally request of a medical patient to remove their medical mask for the purpose of identification.
House Democrats warned that that provision will cause constitution issues going forward.
In terms of punishment, the new compromise HB237 states, “If a person is convicted of a misdemeanor or felony and it is found as provided in this section that the person wore a mask or other clothing or device that concealed or attempted to conceal the person's identity at the time of the offense, then the person is guilty of a misdemeanor or felony that is one class higher than the underlying misdemeanor or felony for which the person was convicted. Notwithstanding any provision of this Article to the contrary, the court shall impose a sentence of imprisonment for a person convicted of an offense enhanced under this section if, after enhancement, the class of offense and prior record level permit active punishment as a sentence disposition.”
Observers, like the News and Observer editorial section, noted, “ It appears to be — at least in part — a crackdown on protesters who often wear masks or other face coverings to protect their identity at demonstrations. The bill also increases penalties for those who wear a mask while committing a crime, which means a protester arrested for vandalism or trespassing could potentially receive a harsher sentence simply because they were wearing a mask. The original bill was uncomfortably ambiguous, despite the fact that Republicans claimed it was not intended to punish anyone who wears a mask for the sake of their health. This new version is still far too vague. Besides, do they really think that this change will prevent someone from wearing a mask while committing crimes? If someone is already breaking the law, it seems unreasonable to think that they wouldn’t just break another one, too.”
The new mask law now goes to Gov. Cooper either for his signature or veto.
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IS BLACK VOTER SUPPORT FOR
BIDEN-HARRIS SLIPPING? NC
BLACK MAYORS HOPE NOT
By Cash Michaels
Contributing writer
Amid reports that the Biden-Harris campaign is “hemorrhaging” Black voter support nationally, African-American mayors from across North Carolina came together last Saturday in Durham to counter those reports.
Meanwhile, Republican Party operatives are reportedly helping independent presidential candidate Dr. Cornel West get on the North Carolina ballot, according to NBC News, in hopes of syphoning off black and youth support from President Biden’s reelection campaign.
In addition to that, South Carolina U.S. Senator Tim Scott, purportedly on the short list of potential vice presidential running mates for presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, has announced a $14.3 million Black voter outreach program for battleground states, including North Carolina, for the Trump campaign.
Fellow South Carolinian Rep. James Clyburn (D), however, says that he discounts reports of Black voters, especially Black males, being drawn to voting for Trump in any appreciable numbers.
There is little question that the Pres. Joe Biden-Vice Pres. Kamala Harris reelection campaign is taking reports of the Trump campaign making considerable inroads with African-American voters seriously.
National polls conducted in May by The New York Times, Siena College and the Philadelphia Inquirer show that former President Trump is now leading in five of the six battleground states Biden won back in 2020.
Especially concerning for the Biden-Harris campaign in those polls is a dramatic drop in Pres. Biden’s standing with Black voters 63% to Trump's 23%, with Trump now garnering over 20% of African-American support.
In 2020, Trump earned 12% of the Black vote, which was deemed high at that time. If Trump maintains, or increases his over 20% standing with Black voter support, it would be the highest that any Republican presidential candidate has received in decades.
Black Republican Congressman Wesley Hunt (R-TX), who is traveling with Florida Black Republican Congressman Byron Donalds (R-FLA) on tour to key cities in battleground states, which will include Charlotte in a few weeks, told Fox News recently that “…if President Trump is able to attain between 25 and 30% of the Black male vote, then Joe Biden cannot win.”
To assist that cause, on June 6th, Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) announced that the Great Opportunity Political Action Committee has committed to Black voter outreach for Trump, involving advertising and digital marketing campaigns, as well as research and analytics targeting African-Americans.
"If the Black voters do two things, some stay home and some come to the right, there is no way to fill that hole," Scott told United Press International. "So the coalition that is necessary for the Democrats to have success, period, it's not just Black and Hispanic. It's specifically Black in the battleground states where they have to be successful."
Now comes evidence that Republican operatives, in order to give progressive Black Democrats at least one other candidate to consider besides Biden, are in North Carolina, getting petition signatures at GOP events to have independent presidential candidate Dr. Cornel West, placed on the November ballot.
NBC News reported last week that “tens of thousands have been gathered on behalf of the famed left-wing academic in key states thanks to self-organized grassroots volunteers — and some help from outside operatives tied to a Republican consulting firm.”
The NBC report continue, “In North Carolina, for example, a prominent Republican activist was spotted in April outside a Trump rally gathering signatures for West, telling rallygoers it "helps take away votes from Joe Biden."
Based on internal emails, apparently neither Dr. West nor anyone with his campaign knew anything about the effort, let alone approved of it. One Democratic strategist called the scheme “ “beyond fishy.”
African-American mayors of cities from across North Carolina came together Saturday to insist that any talk of the Biden Administration ignoring the African-American community was without foundation, and that it deserved the Black vote.
Led by Durham Mayor Leonardo Williams, six African-American mayors, along with two African-American mayor pro terms, gathered in Durham to say Biden policies and list of accomplishments have greatly benefited the Black community in their cities and towns.
“There’s too much on the line to sit this out, Durham Mayor William’s cautioned.
Even the Black mayor of Savannah, Georgia, Van Johnson, was present, to remind reporters of some of Pres. Biden and Vice Pres. Kamala Harris’s policy accomplishments for the African-American community, which include
investing over $7 billion in funding for HBCUs (historically Black Colleges and Universities) - more than any other president; Biden’s economy adding 14.8 million jobs over the first three years of his term, again, more than any president in U.S. history, meaning that Black unemployment is currently 5.3%, after hitting 4.7% last year, the lowest in American history; wages having kept pace with inflation, which is now leveling off; and violent crime having fallen across the country by 11.8%.
Biden-Harris is also helping Black businesses secure the investment capital they need for the fastest rate of Black small business startups in thirty years; has cut the number of Black children living in poverty; and has created 2.6 million jobs for Black workers.
Other Black NC mayors, like Fayettville’s Mitch Colvin and Ahoskie’s Weyling White, talked about how getting what they need for their cities from the Biden White House versus the Trump White House was like night and day.
Mayor Colvin said dealing with the Trump people was always “political” rather than based on need or merit.
Colvin warned that the Black community would not fare well under a second Trump administration.
Many of the North Carolina Black mayors agreed that Trump, now a convicted felon, had a “racist agenda” planned for his second term if elected.
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