Madison Cawthorn concedes

Last week the North Carolina General Assembly came back to town for the short session. I wouldn’t predict that much will happen since it’s an election year. Last fall, they did pass a budget for the first time in several years.

It also was the week of the primaries that were delayed because of the various courts’ actions about gerrymandering. Some people tried to read a lot into them. I would say the significant factor was the large amount of money from outside the state that was poured into TV advertising.

We’ve got 5 months until November 8th so I would say it’s too early even to speculate. Naysayers claim that Biden’s poor poll ratings will carry onto downstream state elections. The shifting sands of the economy, inflation, stock market dive, possible recession, probable new wave in the Covid-19 pandemic, abortion as a motivating factor in generating turn-out, book burnings/bans, and more mass shootings vie for public attention on the political scene. There also is the possibility of a big surprise this fall.

The North Carolina General Assembly is deep up to its eyeballs on two court cases: The gerrymandering case, which they lost on appeal, and the Leandro Case, that they’ve dragged on for 28 years. Redrawing Congressional Districts occurs after every Census each decade, and again the Republicans were caught red-handed with their hands on the process. Don’t worry, the Democrats did it in the Blue States. It’s an archaic process that fits right in with the Electoral Districts rule that overrides the popular vote.

The NC Constitution states that poor counties require a comparable education standard to rich counties, that can subsidize the state’s inadequate education funding even with a large budget surplus. Their legal argument is that the NCGLA is the only entity that can allocate state budgets, so the courts must stay out of the process. It is a “show-down” between two parts of the state’s three parts. Basically, the Republicans want to destroy public education because it enables the lower classes, people of color, and others who don’t vote for them. They favor vouchers to Charter Schools that don’t have to play by the same rules, even though many of them have had their charters lifted because of malfeasance.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenkiy visits positions of armed forces near the front line with Russian-backed separatists in Donbas region, Ukraine, April 9, 2021

This news has been dominating the headlines for weeks. The question that no one has asked, is why now? What brought him out of hibernation during the pandemic to instigate such as rash decision? Putin didn’t seem to be under a particular threat in domestic politics, and his goal of restoring the Soviet Union has been simmering for decades. Some have commented that he already got everything he wanted from Trump, so he had no need to go adventuring.