The Wages of #HB2 Appeasement

Posted on July 1, 2016 by A.P. Dillon

Apparently, the NBA is an official elected body in the state of North Carolina.  Or at least that is how they are being treated by ‘NCGA leadership’ and Governor McCrory who have been in ‘private’ and closed-door discussions with the NBA over changes to HB2.

The ‘changes’ to HB 2 were leaked to WBTV news earlier this week. The biggest change was the inclusion of paperwork that would recognize if a person had a sex change or not. This inclusion is due to some states not allowing for birth certificates to be altered in the case of sex reassignment.

The initial changes also monkeyed with the facilities access language, citing Title II of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 but restored the right to sue at the state level for workplace discrimination.

Michael Jordan is apparently involved:

Apparently, Jordan doesn’t just sell Nissan’s in NC anymore. Now he’s interested in making sure men can pee and shower alongside women.

Someone should ask him how many young girls and women have access to the locker rooms in the NBA and if women who identify as men are allowed to play in the NBA?  None?  Then how does he feel about men having access to showering alongside his daughters in a locker room?

Unelected, Taxpayer Subsidized Body Makes Demands
All of this is about an All Star game in 2017, by the way folks. A single basketball game. That’s what’s being weighed as equal to the daily safety and privacy of North Carolina citizens.

“What the league is looking for is for anyone to be able to use, at any All Star venue, the bathroom associated with their gender identity,” the person said, adding that that goal extends to all venues used by NBA teams. (WBTV)

Pete Kaliner’s response took the words right out of my mouth:

Rainbow Backboard $In fact, just two years ago the Charlotte Hornets demanded that their locker rooms at the Charlotte Arena be upgraded to the tune of $600,000.

Who owns the Charlotte Arena? The city does to the tune of $265 million.

And who owns the Charlotte Hornets? Why, Michael Jordan does.

Both parties should be asked, did the refurbishment to the locker rooms make them gender neutral? No?  My aren’t we a collection of hypocrites?

 

The Wages of HB2 Appeasement
Yesterday, allegedly Democrat senators were herded into the Governor’s mansion for more private meetings on HB2 where ‘nothing really happened‘:

Appeasement of any group who has the objective of defeating you by any means necessary will always have negative results. You cannot appease anyone or anything whose primary goal is your complete destruction. This is true of the HB 2 appeasement that is unfolding right now.

So, Governor McCrory and ‘leadership’ how’s that appeasement working out for you?

The NBA rejected the changes to HB 2 and pretty much said full repeal was what they wanted. It would be a good bet that the NBA’s leadership is being pressured and directed by the Human Rights Campaign.

According to the Charlotte Observer, “Democratic Sens. Jeff Jackson of Charlotte and Terry Van Duyn of Buncombe County stood with gay rights advocates at a morning news conference to call for full repeal. But Sen. Joel Ford of Charlotte said he would support a compromise.”

Both the Human Rights Campaign and Equality NC immediately dismissed the proposed changes, called again for full repeal and are now calling HB2, “HB 2.0”.

More Changes, ‘Blue Ribbon Commission’
Now we learn a second draft with additional changes to HB2 in in play that includes a ‘ blue ribbon commission’. Read the latest version of the HB2 changes draft.

The updated bill also changes the anti-discrimination task force called for in the earlier version of the bill to a blue ribbon commission. The task force contemplated in the first draft would have been comprised of members appointed by legislative leaders while the blue ribbon commission would be created by the governor. (WBTV)

I feel so much better now that a ‘blue ribbon commission’ will be selling NC citizens out, don’t you?

The Triad Conservative appears to be on the right track with their theory.

I also hope that the Governor and ‘leadership’ understand that the one thing rallying their base right now is HB2.  In fact, when the Governor stood up and pushed back, that’s right about when his numbers against Cooper began to rebound.  These latest activities are a finger poke in the eye of those who have been supporting our state leaders on HB2.  Lost votes will be the wages of appeasement here.

Meanwhile On The National Level
President Obama and his administration are wasting no time making every sector of society care.

This is not about locker rooms and bathrooms anymore, folks.

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), ELECTIONS, LGBTQ Issues, NCGA, Pat McCrory | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Lt. Governor Forest Does NC Media’s Job AGAIN, Reports NC Economic Status

Posted on June 30, 2016 by A.P. Dillon

The Lt. Governor has been putting out videos on topics the North Carolina media has either covered inaccurately or not covered at all.

Here is yet another one:

Published on Jun 27, 2016
The latest economic figures for North Carolina are in. Lt. Governor Dan Forest shares the great news with you since the media neglects to report the positive numbers.

Highlights:

The unemployment rate has dropped to an 8 year low from 9.2% in 2012 to 5.4% in 2016. The unemployment rate also dropped in all 100 counties.

280,000 new jobs since 2013; 78,000 in 2016 alone.

NC is tied with Texas for business competitiveness based on 10 economic factors.

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), GOP, Lt. Gov Dan Forest, Media Bias, Video | Tagged | Comments Off on Lt. Governor Forest Does NC Media’s Job AGAIN, Reports NC Economic Status

NCDP African-American Caucus: Keever Disenfranchised Us; Files Suit In Wake Cty

Posted on June 30, 2016 by A.P. Dillon

Earlier in June, I wrote about a petition filed by various members of the NC Democrat African-American Caucus  to remove the Party Chair, Patsy Keever.

The very lengthy list of charges against Keever include holding unconstitutional conventions, violating the Voting Rights Act and disenfranchising North Carolina African-American Voters.

No media covered the story then and no media is covering it now, except this one as noted in a press release from the Director of BlacVotesCount. This media blackout continues despite members of the NCDP African-American Caucus contacting multiple media outlets in the state.

Sources tell me that the News and Observer was contacted recently and that reporter Colin Campbell was assigned to look into the matter. Campbell apparently told his editor there was “no story there”.

In a new press release, the  original charges are repeated but highlighted is the ‘destruction’ of the Judicial Committee known as the Council of Review (COR).  This ‘destruction’  of their has resulted in internal grievances being stifled.

A number of the listed complaints in the press release accuses Keever of disenfranchising African-American Democrat voters and using a “divide and conquer” strategy against the  African-American Caucus:

NCDP Chairperson Patsy Keever-Aycock’s deceit, manipulation with deliberate fraudulent intent to interfered with implementing the State AAC-Auxiliary Voter Education program, to include disenfranchising 53 NC Counties (with 49% to 84% Democratic African American voters) to operate without equal protection and opportunity to exercise their right to elect, vote and control their local county, precinct and Auxiliary administration.

[…]

The NCDP Chairperson Patsy Keever (Aycock) unauthorized intrusion into the AAC-NCDP Auxiliary Caucus Administration and Operation to encourage and install a divisive “divide and conquer” tactic causing discord and damages to the State African-American Auxiliary Caucus communities. Such deceitful, intrusion and manipulation in the NC Counties denies African Americans the opportunity to be a candidate or be elected as a delegate and in public office positions fairly.

The final section (number 6) of the press release charges Keever with “knowingly and deliberately ignoring” 13 newly redrawn Congressional Districts. The section goes on to say that Keever “held illegitimate delegate and Council of Review member elections in the 13 unconstitutional Congressional District Conventions.”.

Keever’s reaction to the petition was to send a letter to one of the petitioners, Jannet Barnes, President of the AAC-NCDP Auxillary. Keever’s letter was dated June 20, 2016.   Keever’s letter to Barnes included demanding Barnes cease using the title of President of the AAC and stop using official letter head.

Barnes fired back a response letter and addressed Keever’s claims point by point.  In one section, Barnes slams Keever, stating that “during my 20 plus years of service I gave to and worked for the NCDP, I have not ever witnessed and experience first hand, such cavalier attitude and disrespect for the African American Caucus Auxiliary, and minority community voters.”

Prior to Keever’s letter to Barnes, Keever’s husband, James Ayock fired off an email to some of the petitioners. In the letter, Aycock states that the claims contained in the petition are ‘libelous’ and demands the petition be recalled.  This letter was sent June 11th.

On June 19th, a joint response  penned by Norm Smith was sent back to Aycock refusing to recall the petition. The letter refutes Aycock’s libel claim in ten points that include noting Aycock is not mentioned once in the petition. The rebuttal letter also  included a  challenge to James Aycock to ‘prove false’ that “Charles B. Adcock participating in the Wilmington, NC massacre”; see points 7 and 8 of the letter.   Read the Aycock -Plaintiffs email exchange.

On June 28th, the some of the original petitioners filed suit in Wake county court.  The suit’s purpose seems to be to “determine the rightful composition of the Council of Review (the judicial hearing body) of the North Carolina Democratic Party.”

Will the NC media continue to contend that the disenfranchisement of Democrat African-American voters by their own party Chair and the filing of a legal challenge is not newsworthy?

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), EXCLUSIVE, Media Bias, NC Dems | Tagged | 4 Comments

NCGA Bill Refines Language For Charter School Renewal, Closures

Posted on June 30, 2016 by A.P. Dillon

A bill making quite a few changes to how Charter schools operate in North Carolina will be sent to the Governor for signature.

House Bill 242 changes some language and criteria  regarding the renewal of charter schools. The old language was stricken and new sections were added that clarify the process.  Much of the language is the same, but appears to be reorganized.

A new section was added to the state statutes which involves identifying low-performing charter schools annually:

“§ 115C‑218.94.  Identification of low‑performing and continually low‑performing charter schools.

(a)        Identification of Low‑Performing Charter Schools. – The State Board of Education shall identify low‑performing charter schools on an annual basis. Low‑performing charter schools are those that receive a school performance grade of D or F and a school growth score of “met expected growth” or “not met expected growth” as defined by G.S. 115C‑83.15.

(b)        Identification of Continually Low‑Performing Charter Schools. – The State Board of Education shall identify continually low‑performing charter schools on an annual basis. A continually low‑performing charter school is a charter school that has been designated by the State Board as low‑performing for at least two of three consecutive years.”

The bill also notes what happens to low-performing charters and the criterion for closing them:

  If a charter school is continually low‑performing, the State Board is authorized to terminate, not renew, or seek applicants to assume the charter through a competitive bid process established by the State Board. However, the State Board shall not terminate or not renew the charter of a continually low‑performing charter school solely for its continually low‑performing status if the charter school has met growth in each of the immediately preceding three school years or if the charter school has implemented a strategic improvement plan approved by the State Board and is making measurable progress toward student performance goals. The State Board shall develop rules on the assumption of a charter by a new entity that includes all aspects of the operations of the charter school, including the status of the employees. Public assets shall transfer to the new entity and shall not revert to the local school administrative unit in which the charter school is located pursuant to G.S. 115C‑218.100(b).

View more education bills via the NC Dept. of Public Instruction’s Legislative Update newsletter dated 6/24/16.

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), Charter Schools, EDUCATION, NCGA | Comments Off on NCGA Bill Refines Language For Charter School Renewal, Closures

Sick of Monika Johnson-Hostler on the #WCPSS Board? Here’s Your Option.

Posted on June 29, 2016 by A.P. Dillon

More folks are getting into the Wake County Public School’s Board race.

Gil Pagan (pronounce pah-gahn) has jumped in to challenge Jim Martin. Now former teachers Sheila Ellis has entered the race to challenge Monika Johnson-Hostler.

Before you get excited, read a little.

News and Observer:

Former teacher Sheila W. Ellis is hoping to be elected to the District 1 seat on the Wake County school board that includes parts of seven municipalities, stretching from northwest Raleigh to eastern Wake and into Garner

Ellis, 44, taught for 20 years, including at East Wake Middle School where she was known by the last name of Mazzeo. Ellis, now an independent insurance agent, said she thinks her experience as both a teacher and a parent would benefit the school board.

Ellis is a registered Republican and the officially non-partisan school board has a Democratic majority. But Ellis said she’s not running as a vocal critic of the school board.

“I think the school board is headed in the right direction in terms of its growth,” Ellis said. “I think they’re going to take their responsibility of trying to to keep teachers in the workforce. I think they’re moving in the right direction.”

Sigh.  Time for a reality check.

Ms. Ellis,

This board’s ‘growth’ has been in all the wrong places. Everything from mis-estimating actual student growth to being incapable of working within a nearly $1.5 billion dollar budget.

Their ‘growth’ has been in social justice manipulations and not an actual academic emphasis.  Their student assignment plans have given parents whiplash. This board couldn’t get busing schedules under control until 4 months into the 2015-16 school year.

This board is more concerned with the desires of Far Left groups than they are with actual parent concerns. They were so worried about appearances, they didn’t bother to do an actual inquiry after a collection of these groups sued them. Instead, they hired a “Director of Diversity Affairs”, likely as an appeasement tactic.

Don’t even get me started on the flaming bag of poo they’ve left for you to deal with should you win or how they can’t give a straight answer on shower and bathroom access.

The WCPSS board’s various  cases of mismanagement, their love of Common Core, focus on social justice and their continual condescension towards parents has arguably been driving force behind Wake county becoming the number one district for homeschooling.

Your opponent had been cited twice on this blog.

First, Johnson-Hostler is dangerously clueless, like the rest of the board, on Common Core.

Second, she also can’t manage her own finances, yet is sitting on a board with budget of around $1.5 billion dollars.

And for an added bonus, Johnson-Hostler was and still is backed by Greater Schools In Wake — which is basically a left leaning political outfit masquerading as a ‘education non-profit’.

Take notes, please. Having an “R” next to your name means nothing these days.

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), EDUCATION, ELECTIONS, Wake County School Board | Tagged | Comments Off on Sick of Monika Johnson-Hostler on the #WCPSS Board? Here’s Your Option.

Leaked Bill Changes Up Language to #HB2

Posted on June 28, 2016 by A.P. Dillon

A proposed bill was leaked to WBTV news today that would significantly change HB 2.

The reporter on the story is Nick Oschner. One may recall his ambush video of Speaker Tim Moore over his unitemized credit card charges. It was a bizarre story with weird twists and turns. House leadership were told to avoid him. Apparently they didn’t listen.

The WBTV article cites a ‘anonymous source’ handing over the bill and that ‘General Assembly leadership’ have apparently been meeting with the NBA with regards to this bill.

Wait, what? The NBA is dictating legislation in our state? Legislators should know by now that lying down with dogs will likely land you with fleas.

How is this any better than the Human Rights Campaign directing the Charlotte Council on their illegal ordinance?

The first reaction to the story was in Oschner’s Twitter Timeline — it was of course Rep. Chris Sgro. Or was that Executive Director of Equality NC Chris Sgro? Who can tell anymore, so flip a coin to decide. He has ALREADY sent out an email complaining.

Of course, Sgro called it a ‘non-fix’ because he will not be happy until HB2 is rescind.

I ask if Sgro was the anonymous source and the answers I received can be viewed in the conversation here.

I spoke to the McCrory campaign and to the Lt. Governor’s office. The Governor’s office would only say they were ‘aware of the bill’. Sources in the Lt. Governor’s office said they only found out about it earlier today.

The bulk of the bill is aimed at allowing individuals to sue for employment discrimination. One of the additions made in this area includes the introduction of a new document that recognizes sex reassignment.

Via WBTV:

Among the draft bill’s biggest changes is the creation of an official document that would recognize a person’s gender reassignment. The new document, which is treated as the equivalent as a birth certificate in the draft legislation, is referred to as a certificate of sex reassignment.

“An individual who (i) was born in another state or territory of the United States that does not provide a mechanism for amending a current certificate of birth or issuing a new certificate of birth to change the sex of an individual following sex reassignment surgery and (ii) resides in this State at the time of the written application may request a certificate of sex reassignment from the State Registrar,” the legislation reads. “The State Registrar shall issue a certificate of sex reassignment upon a written application from an individual accompanied by a notarized statement from the physician who performed the sex reassignment surgery or from a physician licensed to practice medicine who has examined the individual and can certify that the person has undergone sex reassignment surgery.”

This is good. I’ve personally maintained that HB2 should have been two bills – one for facilities and one for employment considerations.

However, the six page long bill has one section which re-writes HB 2’s facilities access restrictions of biological sex.

Here is the section:

062816 Section3A HB2 changes
The section restricting access to biological sex has been stricken and replaced with language deferring to Title II of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Section 3 (A) refers to the Title II of the Civil Rights Act, which says in part that “All persons shall be entitled to the full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, and accommodations of any place of public accommodation, as defined in this section, without discrimination on the ground of race, color, religion, or national origin.”

Here’s the problem. It’s a matter of time until Title II is re-written via Executive Order.

President Obama’s Executive Order 13672 signed July 21, 2014 orders the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission to add gender orientation and gender identity in place of ‘sexual orientation’ for all documentation pertaining to workplace discrimination for federal employees.

EO 13967 blocked discrimination in the civilian federal workforce on the basis of gender identity but it also blocked it and in hiring by federal contractors, almost all of which are private entities. Read the Dept. of Labor document on implementation of EO 13967.

All government entities from OPM to the EEOC to  OSHA  have since issued guidelines replacing sexual orientation with gender identity or gender orientation. These entities are using Executive Order 13672 as the basis for extended rule-making that is now being treated as law.

Most recently, the Office of Special Counsel added a ‘gender transition coordinator’ and adopted the ‘pronoun’ language.

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), LGBTQ Issues, NCGA | Tagged , | 3 Comments