FOIA: PolitiFactNC More Interested In Narrative Than Fact

Posted on April 12, 2016 by A.P. Dillon

040716 Politifact Partner NandOLast Friday evening, PolitiFactNC dropped a ‘fact check’ on a tweet by Lt. Governor Dan Forest written by News and Observer’s Will Doran.

While PolitiFactNC found the statement to be false, a closer examination proved the Lt. Governor’s statement was actually true. PolitiFactNC earned its first Pants On Fire rating.

I followed up and did a Freedom of Information Act request submitted the Lt. Governor’s office for any conversations Doran had with that office for the article.

What I found was narrative pushing on Doran’s part in an email conversation which I have embedded at the bottom of this article. Read the document from the bottom up in order to follow the conversation chronologically.

The conversation references an attachment (a memo), which I have linked here. This memo is from the Charlotte attorneys addressing Rep. Bishop’s concerns.  The memo talks about the “intent” not being to outlaw single sex facilities, yet that is what the ordinance actually did.

The memo also references Title IX, of which the U.S. Department of Education is using a perverted interpretation of in order to force transgender access in schools to access the facility of their choice. It is worth noting the U.S. Department of Education is being sued by multiple states over this interpretation, which has no standing in actual federal law.

Doran asserted in the email conversation that, “So we are doing a fact check on the statement that the “Charlotte ordinance opened all bathrooms to all sexes at all times.” The ordinance itself says it doesn’t apply to private clubs or business establishments, so Forest’s statement isn’t true.”

Yet, the inspection of the Charlotte ordinance showed Mr. Doran’s claim to be about signage only.  This section would be moot since the wording in the section preceding it makes all facilities open to all persons, regardless of it being a private or publicly controlled facility.

Mr. Doran seems to have completely ignored Charlotte’s  accommodations definition in his ‘fact check’, yet acknowledged it in the email conversation with the Lt. Governor’s office.

The definition reads:

“Place of public accommodation means a business, accommodation, refreshment, entertainment, recreation, or transportation facility of any kind, whether licensed or not, whose goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages or accommodations are extended, offered, sold or otherwise made available to the public.”

 

Here is the email conversation:

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), Lt. Gov Dan Forest, Media Bias, NCGA, YWBMTC | Tagged , | Comments Off on FOIA: PolitiFactNC More Interested In Narrative Than Fact

PolitifactNC Gets Its ‘First Pants On Fire’ – #ncpol #hb2

Posted on April 9, 2016 by A.P. Dillon

040716 Politifact Partner NandO

Friday evening, the News and Observer’s Will Doran decided a tweet sent out by Lt. Governor Dan Forest was worth doing a fact check on.  Here’s the tweet:

Now, go read the ‘fair and balanced’ alleged fact check, which includes all kinds of information about the HB2 controversy and nothing to do with the Charlotte Ordinance.

In fact, this ‘fact check’ seems to be less about the ordinance and more of a defense of PayPal. Note that nowhere in the Doran’s fact check is a link to the Charlotte Ordinance.

Doran’s ‘Fact Check’ on the Lt. Governor’s tweet a rating of False, naturally:

Forest, a vocal opponent of Charlotte’s anti-discrimination ordinance, said it would have “opened all bathrooms to all sexes at all times.”

That is wrong. The ordinance would not have applied to private clubs or businesses – including PayPal, despite Forest’s claims to the contrary. The ordinance would have applied only to public accommodations.

And while there’s disagreement on what might have happened with bathrooms in public accommodations, precedent is on Charlotte’s side.

We rate this claim False.

Doran goes on to cite the Charlotte lawyer and appears to take his word as gospel for a poorly written amendment.   Doran then discounts Rep. Dan Bishop’s thorough deconstruction of the ordinance’s problem and who is also a lawyer, yet Doran doesn’t mention that.  Why? 

Here’s the Charlotte attorney’s fantastical claim, to which Doran cleaves, emphasis added:

“City Attorney Robert Hagemann said the right to have separate bathrooms is implied in society and doesn’t need a local ordinance to confirm it. He added that no other city or state with similar anti-discrimination rules has argued that anyone could go into any bathroom, and that Charlotte officials never wanted to argue that, either.”

The last time I checked, ‘implications’ were not written or enforceable laws. Public decency laws are, and the Charlotte ordinance amendments violated them.

It’s worth ‘fact checking ‘ that the News and Observers’ sister paper,  The Charlotte Observer, seemingly defended the Charlotte lawyer when the ordinance first came under attack.

The Charlotte Observer also covered up the fact the individual leading the fight to pass the ordinance was a registered sex offender. That fact, is of course not in Doran’s ‘fact check’.

As further proof the Lt. Governor must be wrong and the Charlotte lawyer right, Doran writes, “Charlotte’s anti-discrimination ordinance specifically said that “this section does not apply to a private club or other establishment not, in fact, open to the public.””

Pants on fireWell, I rate Doran’s claim as ‘Pants on Fire‘.

The text Doran cites is from “Sec. 12-58. – Prohibited Acts section (b)”.  That section is about advertisement and signage:

“unlawful to make, print, circulate, post, mail or otherwise cause to be published a statement, advertisement, or sign”

This line in section (b) moot,  as section (a) has inserted “sex” into the facilities scenario:

“Sec. 12-58. – Prohibited Acts

“(a)     It shall be unlawful to deny any person the full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, and accommodations of a place of public accommodation because of race, color, religion, sex, familial status, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, or national origin.

So, what does this all mean?  The Lt. Governor was correct.  The Charlotte ordinance amendment did remove private exemptions.

One more time on the the ‘why’?

As written, it does outlaw single sex facilities due to the addition of “sex” and “sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression” being places in the same section this means anyone can use any facility, anywhere within the city limits both public and privately held.  It did remove private exemptions.

In fact, the text below is stricken in the ordinance amendment:

Sec. 12-59. – Prohibited sex discrimination.(a)

It shall be unlawful to deny a person, because of sex, the full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, or accommodations of a restaurant, hotel, or motel.

(b) This section shall not apply to the following:(1)

Restrooms, shower rooms, bathhouses and similar facilities which are in their nature distinctly private.(2)

YMCA, YWCA and similar types of dormitory lodging facilities.(3)

A private club or other establishment not, in fact, open to the public.”

And now we know why Mr. Doran perhaps didn’t include a link to the actual ordinance.

Here is a copy of the full Charlotte Ordinance, for the factual record:

 

*Note The 2015 version of the ordinance was originally posted. The 2016  version has replaced it. The two version are nearly identical, save for a signature.

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), Lt. Gov Dan Forest, Media Bias | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Graduation Rates Get Scrutiny At NC State Board of Ed Retreat – #nced

Posted on April 8, 2016 by A.P. Dillon

Over at Education NC, there’s a reporter named Alex Granados. His articles covering the NC State Board of Education have been invaluable and have included great video clips.

Case in point, Granado’s picked up on the questioning of graduation rates in the state. In the first video of the article, it is pointed out there is a gap in minority proficiency rates yet these students are still being graduated.

There is reference early on in the first video about the ACT. I will return to that.

Board member Buddy Collins digs deeper into it at the 8:24 mark, after Superintendent Atkinson sort of dismisses this gap as being due to a ‘change to higher standards’, i.e., Common Core.  Here’s Collins’ remarks as best as I could capture them:

“The elephant in the room is are African-American getting high school degrees in which they are less prepared than their counterparts? And that is the thing this data shows and raises a serious question to me about and I’m trying to get an answer for. 

You cannot have a ethnic group that scores a certain way throughout their entire lives in school and end with a degree at the end of the day — and that degree says something. We want it to say something. We want it to say that child is college and career ready and has an opportunity to go forth …

The numbers that you are showing me raises that question as to whether or not that degree is standard to all of our students as the same meaning of as far as what they are capable of doing when they leave.”

What Collins seems to be getting at here is the graduation rate versus the proficiency rates. In other words, how are we graduating at this rate when the proficiency rates are so low. This is something I’ve questioned this very subject before.

Let’s go back to the ACT now.

North Carolina made it mandatory for all 11th graders to take the ACT after the 2012 testing season. As a result,  the participation rate rose enormously from 18,817 students in 2012 to 95,782 in 2013.

That’s a big leap and such a leap will impact overall percentages and be a bigger picture of which students are struggling and which students are succeeding.

It should be mentioned that in the three years since mandatory participation for the ACT has been imposed, not a single year has our state met the ‘college readiness’ benchmarks in any of the four subjects tested. This window coincides with the implementation of Common Core in North Carolina.

How bad is that ‘college readiness’ level? According to the 2015 ACT Readiness report, we see minorities that were scoring low to begin with, but drop off a proverbial cliff into single digits. ACT by Race 2015 Readiness Report

Now, consider Superintendent Atkinson’s claims that North Carolina’s graduation rate has been steadily increasing and last year was the “highest ever” at 85.4%. How does that graduation rate reconcile with the ‘career and college readiness’ rates seen in the ACT?

To put it another way, what does it say about that 85.4% graduation rate when the NC School Report card says that students were at 47.9% for “career and college ready” and a grade level proficiency at 57.9%?

Putting the question bluntly, what is the true or effective graduation rate when you take into account career and college readiness?

The answer is this:

What a true reading of that 85.4% graduation rate says is that out of every 100 students, roughly 85 graduated. Of that 85 students, only 48% were considered career and college ready. That translates to 41 students out of 85 – less than half.

At this rate, it will take decades for Common Core to make North Carolina’s students career and college ready. And no one has challenged Superintendent Atkinson on this until now.

Posted in Common Core, EDUCATION, June Atkinson, NC Board Of Education | Tagged | 3 Comments

Goodbye @PayPal, I’m Dumping Your Hypocritical Corporate Activist Ass

Posted on April 7, 2016 by A.P. Dillon

I used PayPal for a few years because it was an easy mode for payment from other bloggers for my columns and it allowed readers to drop a tip in the tip jar to keep this site running.

No more.

I just transferred out the last of my payments in there and as soon as they clear, I’m closing my account. I’m done with an activist corporation who reeks of hypocrisy and leverage the livelihood of workers in North Carolina to suit their clearly Leftist political purposes.

I’ve taken down the tip jar. I’ll be looking for another alternative. I hope other bloggers follow suit. We shouldn’t be patronizing a company that clearly wants to silence a portion of society.

The links to the stories in the Tweet below are here and here.

 

 

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), LGBTQ Issues, Social Justice, YWBMTC | Tagged , | 6 Comments

More Social Justice Activism In Our Schools: Day of Silence

Posted on April 6, 2016 by A.P. Dillon

On April 15th, GLSEN will be holding their annual Day of Silence.  This event is supposed to target youth and take place in our schools.

GLSEN is using this video, featuring proponent Linda Harvey of Mission America, to promote the event to take place in our schools.

Again, we see more political and Social Justice activism  being promulgated in our schools whether we like it or not.

You will be made to care. Silently. In a school running on your taxpayer dollars.

Imagine if a Christian group wanted to hold a Day of Rejoicing.

Parents don’t have to put up with with a social justice agenda being shoved down their kids throats. They can participate instead in the Day of Silence Walk Out by keeping their kids home on April 15th.  More details here.

Parents then can have a conversation with their kids that day, instead of them bearing witness to the theatrics of the outrage industry.

An recent Op Ed (below) by Linda Wall, the President of Virginia Mass Resistance, takes on this year’s Day of Silence. While I don’t necessarily go along with the religious tone to it, I most definitely agree with being inappropriate and interrupting instruction in our schools.

The Day of Silence: “We’re Coming After Your Children”

In 1992 the chant coming from those in the Washington Gay Pride Parade was, “We’re queer, we’re here, and we’re coming after your children.” It only took four years for that threat to begin manifesting. In 1996 students at the University of Virginia organized the first Day of Silence and now it takes place annually in the public schools of America. It is coming to a school near you on Friday, April 15th.

Students are urged to refuse to speak all day, including during academic classes, which is disruptive to instructional time. Administrators permit students to refuse to speak in class, and teachers feel compelled to create lesson plans to accommodate student-refusal to speak. Teachers feel that if they don’t accommodate student-refusal to speak, they will be seen as supporting the bullying of self-identified homosexual students.

Think not that the Day of Silence is the only promotion of homosexuality and transgenderism occurring in the schools. It was several years after I was set free from homosexuality that I discovered the pushers of sexual perversion had made it into the public schools under the disguise of “diversity”. Imagine how horrified I was in 2000 to see that AT&T had sent pro-homosexual lesson plans to every middle school of America! These lesson plans presented the politically correct view of homosexuality.

As someone who had been in homosexual behavior for almost ten years and was no longer a part of that sinful behavior, my heart went out to the unsuspecting children who were mentally being raped by this effort to normalize a behavior that the three major religions of the world call abominable.

Let’s look at this through Heaven’s eyes. Jesus made it very clear how He felt about harming the children when He said if one harmed one of the little ones who believed in Him, it would be better for them for a millstone to be tied around their neck and thrown in the river.

What must Jesus think about this Day of Silence occurring in the schools? What must He think about Christian parents who send their children to school on that day? What must He think about Christian school teachers who attend school on that day?

Each year there is a counter event occurring on The Day of Silence called Day of Silence Walkout. Visit www.doswalkout.net for instructions on how to refuse to be a part of the pro-homosexual-transgender day on April 15th.

Each week from now until April 15, I will address The Day of Silence and the pro-homosexual/transgender indoctrination going on in the schools that you and I are funding with our tax dollars and what you can do to save the children.

 

 

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), EDUCATION, LGBTQ Issues, Social Justice, YWBMTC | 2 Comments

2nd Vote Identifies Groups and Businesses Undermining Religious Liberty

Posted on April 5, 2016 by A.P. Dillon

You Will Be Made To CareIf you’re unfamiliar with the 2nd Vote app, it’s time to get familiar.

2nd Vote’s CEO, Lance Wray, put out a statement in which Equality NC has been named as one of the groups continually attempting to undermine religious liberty in North Carolina.

See the statement below.

2nd Vote Identifies Corporations Working to Undermine Religious Liberty in Georgia and North Carolina

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Press@2ndVote.com
April, 4, 2016

As legislative battles in both Georgia and North Carolina have waged in recent weeks, 2nd Vote has found hundreds of companies joining forces with anti-religious liberty advocacy groups in these states.

The two principal business alliances organizing against the legislative efforts to protect religious liberty are Georgia Prospers and Equality NC, respectively.

“Georgia Prospers and Equality NC have enlisted the the influence of a very powerful, big business lobby in coordinated effort to bully these states to give way to a radical, liberal agenda,” said 2nd Vote Executive Director Lance Wray in a statement. “These companies and their allies are promoting an agenda that should be concerning to conservatives and all who value religious liberty.

2nd Vote’s research found that the following companies were listed on websites for both Georgia Prospers and Equality NC:
Accenture
Bank of America
Facebook
Google
IBM
Quotient
Twitter
Wells Fargo
Zynga

Furthermore, 2nd Vote found the following hotel chains and/or their branded hotels associated with both organizations:
Hyatt
Hilton
Marriott
Starwood

“Many of these companies are headquartered outside of Georgia and North Carolina, but have joined forces with liberal advocacy groups to undermine common sense, 1st Amendment protections for people of faith, including small-business owners,” said Wray.

In Georgia, legislation designed to protect pastors and churches from being coerced to participate in same-sex weddings was vetoed last week after several corporations, including the National Football League, threatened economic boycotts of the state.

North Carolina came under fire recently after the state enacted legislation to reverse the so-called “Bathroom Bill” in Charlotte that many critics reasoned would place an undue burden on businesses and create privacy concerns.

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), LGBTQ Issues, THE LEFT, YWBMTC | Tagged , | Comments Off on 2nd Vote Identifies Groups and Businesses Undermining Religious Liberty