Suppressing Repression

The NCGOP’s attempt to block a college student from the ballot didn’t quite work out the way they intended:

The board members unanimously agreed that an Elizabeth City State University student can run for local office, reversing a decision by the Republican-controlled Pasquotank County elections board.

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(Montravias) King, the Elizabeth City State student, registered to run for the Elizabeth City board on July 19 when he was a student at the historically black college in the Pasquotank County seat.A senior who has been active in the local NAACP and other civic activities in his college community, King used his on-campus address when he filed to run for office.

Richard “Pete” Gilbert, chairman of the Pasquotank County Republican party, challenged King’s bid, arguing that a dorm address was a temporary residence that disqualified King from seeking a seat in the Elizabeth City ward where his campus home was.

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Josh Howard, the Republican who leads the state elections board, said that “while this is a student challenge” it was not “dissimilar” from challenging any of the military base residents in North Carolina who sought office in their communities. He argued that trying to abridge a military base member’s bid for office would not sit well with him.

Maja Kricker, a Democrat on the state board, praised King for being active in his community as she voted to reverse the Pasquotank board decision that would have barred him from running for local office..

“How much more skin in the game can you have,” Kricker asked. “I wish all people were involved in their local community.”

This would appear to be a sign of a break between the NeoConfederate cabal and those Republicans that haven’t yet completely lost their minds.  And there is more work to be done in the matter of blocking voter suppression by means of closing polling places, but this is a start, and a good one at that.

(h/t Kay @ Balloon Juice)

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Be Careful What You Wish For

Small business owners are shocked, SHOCKED I TELL YOU, to discover the “business-friendly” GOP policies don’t include them:

Like many Charlotte-area small business owners, Doug Jones doesn’t know how to digest the N.C. General Assembly’s recent tax policy overhaul.

Even before he and his wife, Sophie, opened Pour Olive, a specialty oil and vinegar shop on East Boulevard, he believed the state’s tax code needed revisions that would make the state more attractive to corporations.

But he worries one of the legislature’s many policy changes – eliminating a $50,000 tax deduction that small business owners can take on their personal income tax returns – could negatively impact some small businesses.

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State Sen. Bob Rucho cites cutting red tape and the legislature’s reducing the state’s progressive personal income tax to a flat 5.8 percent.

“We’ve been working diligently to help small businesses function more efficiently,” Rucho says.

As Reagan suckered the unions, so has the NCGOP suckered the small businessman.  And as a result, the race to the bottom continues unabated.

A Letter To The NeoConfederates

Dear NeoConfederates,

2014 is coming – and SO ARE WE.  Not in the way you claim to fear.

No marauding gangs, no riots, no Birth Of A Nation-induced fantasies.

Those two New Black Panthers (the SAME two, at that!) you guys drag out every time you want to make each other wet yourselves?  Non-factor.

No, we’re coming brandishing the one thing that actually scares you – our VOTES.

You and ALEC can try all your tricks – we’re coming.

You can end early voting – we’re coming.

You can close polling places – we’re coming.

You can “accidentally” delete names from voting rolls – we’re coming.

You can gin up as much outrage as you wish – a Brooks Brothers riot won’t help you this time.

The FerengiMedia™ may be your allies, but they won’t be enough.

Are you willing to use fire hoses?  Dogs?  Guns?

Because that’s what you are going to have to do.  And even that won’t be enough.

You see, we’ve had more than enough of your crap.

You’ve been on the longest temper tantrum in recent history. Running at full speed since November 4, 2008.

We are now fully aware that there is no common cause with you.

There can be no compromise because you do not wish it.  You want us dead, gone, marginalized, or in servitude to you.

NOT. GOING. TO. HAPPEN.

It didn’t have to be this way. YOU forced this.

Remember that when your electoral gains are dust, and you have gone the way of the Whigs.

Your hatred of us will be your undoing.

And you will only have yourselves to blame.

Lying Liar Gets His Due

Protip: If you’re going to scam the government out of disability status, you’d better not wind up in front of a committee with a disabled veteran on it:

Awesome!

On The New Ship Of Fools

This is by far and away the best thing to come out of the whole Snowjob fiasco:

Since Snowden’s purported arrival in Moscow yesterday, scores of journalists have been staking out Sheremetyevo Airport, hoping to catch the 29 30-year-old (happy birthday Ed!) ex-contractor as he left Russia, possibly with an eventual destination in Ecuador, where he’s reportedly seeking asylum. When Russian media reported that he’d booked a ticket on Aeroflot Flight 180 to Havana, Cuba, a number of them did the journalistic thing and booked tickets as well.

Only: Snowden never showed.

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And now, in a national-security version of the Rihanna plane, journalists from AP, AFP, BBC and NBC News, among others, are trapped on a 12-hour flight from Moscow to Cuba. It gets worse:

Starting from Feb 10, 2010, the sale of alcohol is suspended on flights to/from Havana, Bangkok, Shanghai, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Yuzhno-Sahalinsk, and Khabarovsk.

And worse (or, really, better?): Thanks to travel regulations in Cuba, they’ll have to stay there three days before they’ll be allowed to fly back.

What a bunch of clowns.