I may love this red clay land, but it doesn't always love me.
December 16, 2016 3:47 PM   Subscribe

North Carolina governor Pat McCrory has signed the first bill limiting the power of governor elect Roy Cooper, the state's current Attorney General.

McCrory, after spending weeks contesting the vote before finally conceding. He then called an "emergency" session of the state legislature, reminiscent of the one in March that passed HB2 - the country's most virulent "bathroom bill" (and which likely cost McCrory the election). Concerns were that McCrory wanted to pass a court-packing bill in light of the election of a progressive judge to the State Supreme Court in November, but it quickly became apparent that the governor and state legislature were up to much more.

In the meantime, it's estimated that HB2 has cost North Carolina millions of dollars, and we get to do this all again next year, when we have to hold a special election in the wake of a federal court finding that newly redrawn districts were, unsurprisingly, still gerrymandered.

[I know we have an election thread, including some of the material here in the 2900 (!) comments, but I think the breaking news about this ridiculous end run around democracy was worth its own post.]
posted by joycehealy (68 comments total) 43 users marked this as a favorite
 
I'm not from the United States, but this just seems crazy, and a symptom of the times in the United States. Isn't what McCrory is doing unconstitutional?
posted by My Dad at 3:52 PM on December 16, 2016 [1 favorite]


Isn't what McCrory is doing unconstitutional?

Difficult to say at this point. I think McCrory has a strong case for a court battle, but my (relatively limited) understanding of the situation is that this is mostly or entirely technically legal within NC law.

This type of thing is precisely why I voted for Prop 54 in CA -- it will be longer possible to ramrod this type of legislation through in CA, with the rule requiring publication online of the bill text for 72 hours before a vote.
posted by tclark at 3:56 PM on December 16, 2016 [20 favorites]


The NC GOP are craven scum with no respect for the concept of democracy, and every single one of them can go straight to hell.
posted by showbiz_liz at 3:57 PM on December 16, 2016 [153 favorites]


I swear I proofread that paragraph, y'all.
posted by joycehealy at 4:00 PM on December 16, 2016 [3 favorites]


I know we have an election thread...

Some of us haven't had the heart.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 4:04 PM on December 16, 2016 [47 favorites]


What showbiz_liz said. I can't even - this on top of all the federal shenanigans and I can no longer form an actual sentence: I just start ranting incoherently. I got an email today from NC Democracy Now or some such group and they were all blithely "well, we got a lot to address in the 2017 elections" (that only exist because the US Supreme Court forced it on the state) and I'm like fuck future elections, why the FUCK aren't they all going to JAIL right now this is completely batshit what the hell has happened please return me to my regularly scheduled America that I have known these 50 years where we don't act like this shit is NORMAL how can you send this chipper fundraising letter?

Do you know 5 years ago this was the most progressive state in the South and I was proud of having done my little part to make it that way - which admittedly was just voting and founding and enthusiastically attending the Asheville Drinking Liberally chapter - and now I am afraid in the small hours of the night that those two activities mean I will end my life in a work camp for Trumpacabra enemies.
posted by mygothlaundry at 4:19 PM on December 16, 2016 [61 favorites]


It's just one What-The-Fuck after another.
posted by theora55 at 4:25 PM on December 16, 2016 [12 favorites]


If anyone has any fucking clue if there is anything non-North Carolinians can do here, please post.

Donate money to the NAACP if you can. They'll likely be leading and funding a good deal of the legal fight against it.

Keep your guard up locally if the Republicans have control of the legislature. This is likely to be their playbook for the future. Demand better leadership of the Democratic party at a national level.
posted by Candleman at 4:26 PM on December 16, 2016 [27 favorites]


GOP legislators’ argument for power shift: Democrats did it first

Except it's really not.
Legislators repeatedly made speeches this week that mentioned what they referred to as the “Christmas massacre” of 1976. That December, Democratic Gov.-elect Jim Hunt was preparing to take over the governor’s office from Republican Gov. Jim Holshouser. Hunt demanded the resignations of 169 state employees, although he ultimately ousted about 75 workers from the Republican administration.
This is entirely fucked up.
posted by Talez at 4:29 PM on December 16, 2016 [3 favorites]


I've never said this here before, but: Christ, what an asshole
posted by supermedusa at 4:33 PM on December 16, 2016 [6 favorites]


The NC NAACP is tweeting about the release of the protestors from jail right now.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 4:34 PM on December 16, 2016 [9 favorites]


does this have something to do with who is in charge of certifying the 2020 congressional redistricting in NC?
posted by any major dude at 4:37 PM on December 16, 2016 [1 favorite]


I swear I proofread that paragraph, y'all

McCrory, when the votes failed.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 4:41 PM on December 16, 2016 [14 favorites]


does this have something to do with who is in charge of certifying the 2020 congressional redistricting in NC?

No. That's the legislature. Boards of Elections usually choose things like EV locations, EV hours, EV dates. Republicans in charge usually strip EV locations, take away sunday EV, make EV hours shorter, and shorten the number of days people can vote early. This usually depresses black turnout because they work long hours and have limited free time and poor transport options. Thus they can guarantee the white vote.
posted by Talez at 4:43 PM on December 16, 2016 [15 favorites]


Other question for NC residents:

1. How likely is this maneuver to protect the GOP's intention to engineer long lines in black precincts in the 2017 elections?
posted by ocschwar at 4:43 PM on December 16, 2016 [2 favorites]


2. Wht does this do to the redistricting case?
posted by ocschwar at 4:44 PM on December 16, 2016


1. How likely is this maneuver to protect the GOP's intention to engineer long lines in black precincts in the 2017 elections?

It is exactly for this purpose.

2. Wht does this do to the redistricting case?

It makes it harder for the GOP for sure.
posted by Talez at 4:45 PM on December 16, 2016 [3 favorites]


yeah but we sure showed them by giving them a bunch of money right

that definitely made them better people didn't it
posted by poffin boffin at 4:58 PM on December 16, 2016 [33 favorites]


.

(I'm going to really miss democracy in America.)
posted by twsf at 4:58 PM on December 16, 2016 [15 favorites]


So half of America thinks that the other half is Literally The Antichrist, and thus is positively enthusiastic for scorched-earth tactics against them, at all costs. The Obama-era government shutdown, voter suppression, Putin having installed his kleptocrat in the Whitehouse fair and square, and now tactics like this. And the Reddit trumpkins are now SWATting DIY venues and art spaces to attack “leftists”

Polarisation is a bitch. If one defines the Rwandan civil war and civilians being hacked to death with machetes because of which group they belong to as midnight on the polarisation clock, America must be fairly late in the evening.
posted by acb at 5:22 PM on December 16, 2016 [30 favorites]


This is one of the nuttier things to happen this year.
posted by rhizome at 5:27 PM on December 16, 2016 [1 favorite]


What concerns me is that the party that doesn't feel the need to abide by social or legal norms is inherently at an advantage. It's like we keep showing up for a gentlemanly boxing match and they just show up with a gun, and use it. We're the only ones who think there are still rules.

How the fuck do you play political Calvinball when only one player gets to make up rules?

Not to mention differences in funding, demographics, and political resources.
posted by schadenfrau at 5:27 PM on December 16, 2016 [50 favorites]


Republicans have stopped even trying to pretend there's a democracy.
posted by Thorzdad at 5:30 PM on December 16, 2016 [26 favorites]


I made this comment in the election thread about NC stuff, but will repeat it here because it remains germane:

In the (beta) reading list put together by Brown Poly Sci / International & Public affairs professor Jeff Colgan, he writes: “If you only read one thing, you could do worse than this very short piece [on voting in Nicaragua in 2011]: Jay Ulfelder, ‘Dismantling a democracy in the 21st century’
posted by Going To Maine at 5:32 PM on December 16, 2016 [15 favorites]


I cry for my state.
posted by Stewriffic at 5:37 PM on December 16, 2016 [6 favorites]


What concerns me is that the party that doesn't feel the need to abide by social or legal norms is inherently at an advantage. It's like we keep showing up for a gentlemanly boxing match and they just show up with a gun, and use it. We're the only ones who think there are still rules.

How the fuck do you play political Calvinball when only one player gets to make up rules?

Not to mention differences in funding, demographics, and political resources.


Having ethics is a real motherfuck, yeah.

It's a weakness on two fronts, is the thing, and that makes it kind of insurmountable. Look at federal government shutdowns over budgets as an example. You have a disagreement over budget essentials, so one side stonewalls and shuts down the entire government as a tactic. The other side can't and won't do the same. Why?

Well, first, because it's a horrible thing to do. Because it directly kills people, and ruins many that it lets live. Because it's the definition of bad faith negotiation - burning the whole thing down if you don't get your way. It's an unconscionable act. That's why they won't.

And, second, because it's an act counter to their purposes. The side that wants to help people can't set them on fire to threaten the people whose goal it is to burn them up, because it doesn't do anything to persuade them. That's not a threat, that's a concession. It's a fuckin' briar patch. That's why they can't.

It's an inherently uneven playing field. Fighting evil is an uphill battle.
posted by kafziel at 5:40 PM on December 16, 2016 [50 favorites]


I'm just waiting till the Republican trifectas in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Ohio ram through legislation apportioning their electoral votes by (heavily gerrymandered) congressional districts. Current GOP advantages there: 5-3 Wisconsin, 9-5 Michigan, and 12-4 (!) Ohio.
posted by Rhaomi at 5:46 PM on December 16, 2016 [3 favorites]


Having ethics is a real motherfuck, yeah.

It’s a weakness on two fronts, is the thing, and that makes it kind of insurmountable. Look at federal government shutdowns over budgets as an example. You have a disagreement over budget essentials, so one side stonewalls and shuts down the entire government as a tactic. The other side can't and won't do the same. Why?

Well, first, because it's a horrible thing to do. Because it directly kills people, and ruins many that it lets live. Because it's the definition of bad faith negotiation - burning the whole thing down if you don't get your way. It's an unconscionable act. That's why they won't.

The Left’s apparent inability of being able to communicate the consequences of ineffective government isn’t a result of a failure of ethics - it’s a failure to break through to that entrenched Republican base. The totality of the reasons for that failure are beyond me (though everyone seems to have their own list of causes and solutions) - but we do ourselves a disservice if we assume that it’s our ethics that make winning arguments impossible. We might as well give up now, or else resolve to have the convictions of a Mitch McConnell.
posted by Going To Maine at 5:58 PM on December 16, 2016 [15 favorites]


They aren't winning by making and winning arguments, though. They're winning by using media tricks to make people lose faith in democracy, vote suppression strategies, Gerrymandering and every other dirty trick in the book. They're not succeeding by winning the debates on any substance.
posted by saulgoodman at 6:09 PM on December 16, 2016 [17 favorites]


(Also, if you live in NC right now please call your state reps and yell at them for being motherfuckers. Oh, and the current governor.)
posted by Going To Maine at 6:09 PM on December 16, 2016 [9 favorites]


The NC GOP is among the worst in the country, so my home state gets to be the guinea pig for seeing what kind of tin pot dictator shit they can get away with. Fuck every last one of them.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 6:14 PM on December 16, 2016 [16 favorites]


There's a third aspect I forgot to mention, because the point I was trying to make kind of twisted away from me there. The other thing is that base ratfuckery only gets you so far. You can't operate the way Republicans are operating with lofty goals of bettering society through skilled governance. Stolen elections and me-first strategies oriented around winning at any cost only really work if all you're after is destroying the apparatus of the state and stealing everything that's not nailed down. Then you don't need to worry about what you're leaving in your wake. Actually doing something good requires that you maintain functioning systems, faith in working government, actually doing all the work properly, so you can't use the destructive tactics the Republicans keep trotting out.
posted by kafziel at 6:27 PM on December 16, 2016 [28 favorites]


Stolen elections and me-first strategies oriented around winning at any cost only really work if all you’re after is destroying the apparatus of the state and stealing everything that's not nailed down.

“Stealing everything that’s not nailed down” doesn’t seem like it has to be part of that equation, honestly. It’s easy to accept as given that the government will be an unprecedented kleptocracy because Trump is at the head of it, but the Republican gerrymandering project has been going on since long before that and is presumably quite separate from it. A party’s desire to protect itself may simply be motivated by the desire to maintain power, not to necessarily “abuse” that power (beyond the inherent abuse of being non-representative of the desires of the governed).
posted by Going To Maine at 6:39 PM on December 16, 2016


Look at the post-government careers of successful Republican representatives, and the industries they worked closely with. Who they helped get paid, and who ends up paying them. A theoretical ratfuck right-wing party might just want to maintain power for the sake of it, but in practice, the one we have has been using it to enrich themselves for decades.
posted by kafziel at 6:45 PM on December 16, 2016 [7 favorites]




Here is the tactic and strategy guide for "consistent, coordinated, grassroots action that focuses on nitty-gritty policy specifics and individual elected officials"

Showing up is half the battle. The other half is making a loud noise.
posted by ohshenandoah at 8:46 PM on December 16, 2016 [12 favorites]


The Left’s apparent inability of being able to communicate the consequences of ineffective government isn’t a result of a failure of ethics - it’s a failure to break through to that entrenched Republican base. The totality of the reasons for that failure are beyond me (though everyone seems to have their own list of causes and solutions) - but we do ourselves a disservice if we assume that it’s our ethics that make winning arguments impossible.

Well, and this is the case because, for the most part, white Democrats, who are still the bulk of the leadership of the party despite the fact that Barack Obama has been its figurehead for the past eight years, don't have all that much to lose by just shrugging and then rolling over. To them, elections are more of a game of status than anything else. Having Trump in office isn't dangerous to them, it's just embarrassing. Hence all the performative apologies to the world when some clown like GWB or Trump gets elected.

Really, truly fighting back against this bullshit requires aggressive, consistent presence at the local level, which white Democrats by and large couldn't give less of a fuck about. The BLM model is the only one that has any chance of results against a hostile system, but the white half of the Democratic party is too busy convincing themselves that "identity politics" was the real reason they lost to take notes about what BLM are doing.
posted by tobascodagama at 9:08 PM on December 16, 2016 [20 favorites]


Thank you for making this post, joycehealy. I live in NC and I am so furious at what is happening in the legislature right now.
posted by aka burlap at 9:38 PM on December 16, 2016 [7 favorites]


The BLM model is the only one that has any chance of results against a hostile system,

What is the BLM model, exactly, and how is it different? Speaking as an outsider, it seems to be about holding protests. This seems to have been very successful at ginning up media coverage and having some impact on the democratic platform, but I'm not sure why protests are "new". Are there concrete metrics for success here beyond media saturation?
posted by Going To Maine at 10:10 PM on December 16, 2016 [2 favorites]


(this isn't my area. I don't know what success looks like beyond the 2010 midterms, which were a success by the tea party.)
posted by Going To Maine at 10:13 PM on December 16, 2016


The BLM model is the only one that has any chance of results against a hostile system

I actually disagree -- I think decentralized movements like BLM and Occupy are risky because anyone can do anything under the group's banner. So you get some incredible and effective examples of individual activism like Bree Newsome's, but you could get anything on any topic, at any time, and it's hard to stay coherent. (Look how Occupy ended up dissipating.)

Whereas with the Moral Mondays movement you have a leader like Rev. Dr. Barber who can focus efforts and form long term strategies and devise tactics to support those strategies. And who has the charisma to keep people engaged, so that they keep showing up to fight. I think leadership like that is going to be key in the next four years.
posted by Blue Jello Elf at 10:20 PM on December 16, 2016 [13 favorites]


I haven't been able to even read any of the post election "election threads", because I'm just all out of evens. This horrible shit is just more of the same, and I just can't even. Fuck these people. Still, beyond speechless at what is happening...
posted by Windopaene at 11:21 PM on December 16, 2016 [3 favorites]


It's just one What-The-Fuck after another.
posted by theora55 at 4:25 PM on December 16


It's What-The-Fuckery all the way down.
posted by janey47 at 12:28 AM on December 17, 2016 [3 favorites]


I haven’t been able to even read any of the post election "election threads", because I'm just all out of evens. This horrible shit is just more of the same, and I just can't even. Fuck these people. Still, beyond speechless at what is happening...

Instead of reading election threads, I vote for reading history and go to the gym.
posted by Going To Maine at 12:53 AM on December 17, 2016 [1 favorite]


Mod note: As a quick note, let's please try to keep this specific to actual news and developments re the North Carolina situation rather than jumping off into another general "democrats suck / democrats can never win" thing or similar. Thanks.
posted by taz (staff) at 1:18 AM on December 17, 2016 [6 favorites]


As an NC resident, I'd like to echo what was said upthread: even if you're not in-state, you can write to our state legislators, and *definitely* donate to the NC NAACP - they've been on the forefront of this for the last 4 years and are the organizing force for protest (and doing an amazing job!).

I'd also like to respond to "how do you fight without becoming what you fight against": philosophically I have no idea, but in this case I agree with the one comment above that said *you get loud.* Democratic and/or leftist failures have been many, sure, but this election (to my mind) proves that messaging doesn't only work, it wins. Democrats in the past have been too reticent, too hesitant. Not too nice, just too quiet. I believe that's what was being suggested above when saying BLM is an example of how to move forward: get your message out, in ways that can't be ignored, over and over and over.

So if we're not going to be nasty or unethical, what do we do? We gather, and we shout (literally and metaphorically). The other side shouts false messages of fear and hate; we shout facts, and consequences. Our road is harder, because we can't just make shit up, but it's more powerful because it's real. But it has to be LOUD. And incessant. We can't give up, we can't let up.
posted by Kelrichen at 5:08 AM on December 17, 2016 [17 favorites]


I left my home state of NC for GA in 2011. When I first got to GA, I really missed the progressive side of NC. Then the 2012 election happened, and I've watched from a distance as the Republicans have assaulted my home. But I've also watched as Rev Barber and the Moral Monday movement started. I've watched my friends show up at the state house week after week, and many of them go to jail week after week. I watched them fight back against the state's power grab over local control of Charlotte Douglas Airport and the Asheville Watershed and Durham's local zoning. I watched them fight back with all their might against Amendment 1 (the anti-marriage equality constitutional amendment) and HB2. I watched them get Roy Cooper elected governor! I watched them stand behind him as McCrory nonsensically contested the election. And now I will watch and cheer as they find a way to fight back against this as well.

NC is a story of the vile amorality of the modern Republican party, but it is also a story of truly progressive grass roots that will not give up and ultimately, I still believe, will not be defeated. I am proud to be a North Carolinian when I look at my people and their persistence in fighting for what is right. Despite the set back now, I hope that more states will listen to Rev Barber and follow the Moral Mondays model.
posted by hydropsyche at 5:34 AM on December 17, 2016 [31 favorites]


I'm with what everybody is saying about how heinous this is and what shitnozzles the NC GOP are. But in a year when the GOP basically swept NC, we did kick McCrory's ass out of the Governor's mansion. I believe our local national treasure Rev. Barber did help provide a blueprint for resisting Trump and his ilk. The Moral Monday protests were part of a steady, sustained effort that kept the egregious actions of McCrory in the news and helped lead to his defeat. It wasn't enough to overcome the gerrymandering and Trump though.

Right now the best I'm hoping for, outside of court action, is that we can pick up enough seats in the 2017 special election to sustain Cooper's veto (surprised the let him keep that power). I hope someone at the NC Dem party can point me to which races are actually competitive and I'm going to direct my volunteer time and money there. There may be a chance to tip the balance in the General Assembly if the backlash against Trump is bad enough. Even the newly drawn districts will be gerrymandered, hopefully not as blatantly racist.

I dealt with some of McCrory's staff in a previous job, they were arrogant shits. I did piss off one of his deputy PR people, that was a proud moment.
posted by marxchivist at 6:31 AM on December 17, 2016 [12 favorites]


Isn't what McCrory is doing unconstitutional?

It might violate procedural aspects of the NC constitution, but that's about it. The stuff about the election boards likely violates the Voting Rights Act, but that'll take court cases to decide, double-but here too the NC government does not have a strong track record.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 7:13 AM on December 17, 2016 [2 favorites]


I believe that's what was being suggested above when saying BLM is an example of how to move forward: get your message out, in ways that can't be ignored, over and over and over.

This, yes, but also that the BLM folks in my neck of the woods have representatives attending city council meetings, regularly. Politics goes beyond filling out a ballot every four years.
posted by tobascodagama at 7:59 AM on December 17, 2016 [9 favorites]


Frankly I'm wondering if a good rhetorical strategy might be to just harp on the state's history with slavery and the Confederacy and exactly how the NC GOP is just trying to cover up for their historical humiliation. Just come right out and say "you're just saying that because you can't own slaves anymore." Shame and belittlement.

Easy to suggest from outside the state, I guess.
posted by rhizome at 9:48 AM on December 17, 2016 [1 favorite]


Russia's intelligence services have explicitly set their objectives on triggering a race war in the U.S. They've been subtly working that angle since the 50s. We've got to be careful here not to let ourselves get baited into ethnic and sectarian division, to the extent it's not too late already. They expressly want us to get so caught up in fighting each other we're useless for standing up to Putin's plans to restore the USSR.
posted by saulgoodman at 10:28 AM on December 17, 2016 [2 favorites]


Can we try to meme the story of the Southern Strategy?

I think it would have to be more incisive, but you're getting to where I'm thinking.
posted by rhizome at 10:48 AM on December 17, 2016


The people of NC voted in Cooper as governor, and now the NC GOP want to remove powers from the office of governor. The governor held those powers at the time of the election, so the people voting for Cooper voted for him to have that power. Seems to me the incisive meme is NC GOP is defying the will of the people.

It's like a kid promising to give "the whole box" of candy to his sister, and handing her an empty box with his mouth stuffed to overflowing.
posted by RobotHero at 11:20 AM on December 17, 2016 [8 favorites]


Rev. Dr. Barber on AM Joy this morning: Backlash against North Carolina GOP power grab

Seeing the unyielding resolve of Rev. Barber the other NC protestors makes me feel a tiny tinge of optimism at a time when there's very little cause for hope to be found anywhere. Clinton came close to winning NC, and despite this fuckery going on at the state level, the demographics are trending in the right direction, so maybe this is the sort of fight can be good for progressive change in the state in the long term.

Of course, with lying jackasses like the NC GOP executive directory who hollered his way through this segment from later in the same show around, it's going to be tough to push back on all of the lies. Fortunately, Joy Reid was armed with citations knocking down a vast majority of his BS.
posted by tonycpsu at 11:30 AM on December 17, 2016 [13 favorites]


When are American interviewers going to start using the mute button? FFS
posted by Yowser at 11:45 AM on December 17, 2016 [1 favorite]


Republicans have stopped even trying to pretend there's a democracy.

Did not the Founding Prophets declare,
The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, [...]
posted by XMLicious at 9:16 PM on December 18, 2016


Once again, I'd like to remind everyone that after 2008, the national GOP and Koch brothers specifically targeted NC to make it a red state, and all these motherfuckers are bought and paid for.

My local NC senator (Meredith) was a landscaping contractor who appeared out of nowhere and blanketed the district with full color glossy ads. At one point, I was getting 3 per week - heavy stock, odd sized, clearly expensive stuff. The Dem opponent got slandered, rumors spread around - it was amazing.

A couple of years later, US Senator Thom Tillis got $7 MILLION from the NRA. This year, Sen. Burr was in actual danger*, and out of state money flooded in at the 11th hour to save him.

So it's not surprising that these shills don't care about the voters, but are working hard to answer to their actual employers.
posted by corvikate at 7:47 AM on December 19, 2016 [7 favorites]


In other news, the LGBT law is set to be repealed before the end of the year.
posted by Melismata at 9:31 AM on December 19, 2016 [1 favorite]


In other news, the LGBT law is set to be repealed before the end of the year.

… but apparently the Charlotte anti-discrimination ordinance will be repealed now.
Hooray…
posted by Going To Maine at 10:16 AM on December 19, 2016 [1 favorite]


Jim Morrill and Steve Harrison at The Charlotte News & Observer: “Gov. Pat McCrory calls for special legislative session to repeal HB2”
posted by Going To Maine at 10:20 AM on December 19, 2016 [1 favorite]


… but apparently the Charlotte anti-discrimination ordinance will be repealed now.

It looks like the Charlotte repeal is contingent upon the NC legislature repealing HB2 before 12/31. If HB2 is repealed though, couldn't Charlotte just go back and re-enact their anti-discrimination ordinance once Cooper takes office? Or is the Leg able to override the governor's veto to re-pass HB2?

This looks like it could be a face-saving measure for the Republicans to repeal HB2 while looking like they got something in exchange.
posted by indubitable at 10:53 AM on December 19, 2016 [1 favorite]






Yesterday was super disappointing, but on the silver lining side, Charlotte's repeal was explicitly dependent on an HB2 repeal, so unless there is another special session in the next 9 days neither law will be repealed at all, and we'll just be where we were a week ago.
posted by jermsplan at 8:46 AM on December 22, 2016 [3 favorites]


Nice. Progressives are finally learning the Prime Directive: Never Trust A Fucking Republican.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 9:15 AM on December 22, 2016 [3 favorites]


and on the other hand: ugh. I mean, HB2 already overrode the Charlotte law, but I really feel like this is giving in and saying "you beat us". Is there no hope that some day HB2 will get struck down and at that point it would be good to have the Charlotte law on the books?
posted by jermsplan at 6:25 AM on December 23, 2016


Barber called for a national boycott from the NAACP yesterday.
posted by CBrachyrhynchos at 1:26 PM on December 23, 2016 [2 favorites]


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