The Tea Party Republicans inNoryh Carolina who gerrymandered their districts in 2010 do not like the fact that Democrats won the governorship and attorney general a month ago. So they called a special session to strip the governor of many of his traditional powers.
This is as close to a coup as we have seen in recent American history and politics. They don’t accept the results of the election, so they are taking steps to nullify it and make incoming Governor Roy Cooper powerless. A major focus of their anti-democratic coup is education, which the Tea Party is determined to control and continue to privatize.
The new legislation, rushed through before Cooper takes office, includes the following:
“In a last-last-minute special session, Republicans introduced a series of bills late Wednesday that would:
— Require the governor’s Cabinet appointments to be approved by the state Senate.
— Limit the number of members the governor can appoint to powerful board of trustees at the University of North Carolina school system and the state Board of Education.
— Significantly cut the number of positions who work directly for the governor, from 1,500 (a number Republicans approved when they had a Republican governor) to 300.
— Divide members of the Board of Elections, typically appointed by the governor, between parties in a way that gives Republicans control during election years.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
They also did this with Glenda Ritz in Indiana and, correct me if I’m wrong, succeeded. Mike Pence, the VP elect, is the governor that did it.
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Any doubts left that Republicans care more about power and influence than governing?
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That is why most of them are salivating over Trump’s far right cabinet choices. Trump and Ryan are now allied to pick the bones of democracy. Ryan quickly got over his fake indignation about Trump. Ryan knows a good puppet when he sees one, and he is preparing to pull the strings.
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The common denominator if many of these creeps is love of Ayn Rand.
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So rather than protecting Democracy these guys undermine it. It’s not about the ideals of a democratic society, it’s about the acquisition and maintenance of power, which our government was designed to protect against. I wonder how that design will holding up.
Isn’t this a lot like the Supreme Court justice that was stolen from the democrats.
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Republicans play dirty. Democrats are too nice.
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I understand
WHAT do you recommend we do about it?
or is there anything we can do about it?
Any semblance of a free democracy is fast disappearing.
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Fight. Attend protests. Write letters. Make calls. Put a sign in your front yard. Publicize. Tell your neighbors who never imbibe good information. It’s far from hopeless at this point. Hopeless is what the rebels in Aleppo are facing today.
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Time for Moral Mondays demonstrations to focus on the homes of Republican law makers making lives miserable. Remembering that North Carolina is an open carry state. Would they then change the open Carry laws as tens of thousands surrounded peacefully the homes of republican law makers carrying AK 47s . Not quite what the Reverend Barber had in mind. When he called for possible civil disobedience .
I can see it now the legislature passes a bill that only registered republicans can possess a gun. But of course the Democratic governor could veto it. The attorney General could see that nobody was prosecuted for it and the State Supreme court will now be 4-3 Democratic in NC
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/03/11/open-carry-gun-protesters-will-greet-obama-in-texas/?utm_term=.c164c36c6c13
Not for nothing if there was ever a justification for the Second Amendment, it was to fight against tyranny. If there is a clear example of tyranny, it is what is happening in North Carolina. Now I have never been a fan of the second amendment . Perhaps till now.
If this sounds radical perhaps its time to review the history of gun control in this country.
.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/black-panthers-california-1967_us_568accfce4b014efe0db2f40
Am I beginning to sound like Lloyd or Duane
On second thought it would probably go down like Hay Market Square which was also about thwarting the will of the people.
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Are you suggesting what is good for the goose is good for the gander, Joel? If so, I concur.
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Guys, if it comes to fighting the Left is done. We’re the nerds; they’re the bullies. Let’s try not to go there.
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I was agreeing with Joel.
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You bet I am and you will appreciate this link that talks on a broader
subject. The language I would like to use to describe the Democrats passivity is more fitting for a construction site. So I will leave it unsaid.
I understand that Obama is putting Thomas Perez up for DNC chair.
He can go fly a kite with Obama. They never learn, no Tom the Unemployment rate is not 4.7 % . it is a full 2 points higher when you factor in the low workforce participation rate . No Barrack 5.6 million workers, a record high are involuntarily working part time instead of full time. Which is why the Federal reserve has been very reluctant to raise rates . At this point November online and in store sales are weak.
Sorry your legacy will be handing the country over to Trump so pack your bags and get out of Dodge. Take your labor secretary with you. .
Dismal Democrats empower Republicans. Time for a whole new team. And for me to go vomit some more.
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/why_do_gop_presidents_get_to_go_hard_right_democrats_gop_lite_20161215
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Ponderosa
The left should be that white working Class abandoned by the Democrats. As well as the minorities and the NERDS.
Perhaps its time for Democrats to start representing them again . Or go jump in the Ocean. They have pinned their hopes on identity politics and the country is as red as a tomato. The mid west is gone the North East will follow. If they keep this up.
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YEP!
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I absolutely agree that the Dems need to grab back the role of working class champion from Trump, even if many of the same whites continue to spew hate at the Dems. The resurgence of Nazism is the flip side of identity politics: we need to quit it.
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planned
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In NC, I hope they keep the safety on with an empty chamber. Some of those Democratic Party protestors might stumble and have an accident that caused a few hundreds rounds to go off and accidentally hit the houses of elected Republicans turning the house and everything inside into holy Swiss cheese.
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Llyod
You never leave things up to the imagination of the reader do you.
I have a few trips planed after a long career working six and seven days a week. .
I would like to still be able get on a plane.
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As long as you don’t end up on a no fly list, you should be okay. Meanwhile, all we are doing is exercising our 1st Amendment rights. I’m not plotting to do anything violent in nature to that narcissist psycho with the pink cotton candy for hair.
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planned
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Orange hair, similar to an Orangutan. Another Californian was brought to court by “f—face vonclownstick” for pointing out that he could only be a mongrel. Of course like most cases he brings to court, the case against Maher was thrown out.
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Oh please, don’t insult the orangutans.
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While I tend to be a bit on the conservative side, wrong is still wrong. I don’t live in North Carolina, but tell me where I can send a check or a letter. Someone needs to stand up for the working people, and that includes we teachers.
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Diane, I hate to sound like a one trick pony, but please consider using what I believe is the correct designation: the so-called tea party. When you use caps, it implies an organizational legitimacy that just doesn’t exist. There is no formal “Tea Party” but there are a number of so-called tea parties. As I wrote earlier, Lincoln never rhetorically legitimized the rebels, he always referred to them as the “so-called confederacy.” I think that is a valuable and relevant precedent.
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And it denigrates the Boston Tea Party.
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