June 3, 2018

Augusta Commissioner-elect John Clarke: Racist or Public Servant?

His voice shaking and tears in his eyes as he read from a prepared statement, Augusta Super District 10 Commissioner-elect John Clarke asked for forgiveness regarding racist posts recently discovered on Facebook, as his supporters stood behind him and listened during a recent press conference.

“Those angry postings are not who I am,” Clarke said on Friday, May 25. “I ask the citizens of Augusta to give me the opportunity to serve through my service on the Augusta-Richmond County Commission over the next four years. Again, I sincerely offer my apology, and I hope and I pray and I am asking for your forgiveness. Let’s please move forward together.”

The posts, which were made in 2014, dealt with the protests in Ferguson, Mo., after the killing of Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager by a white police officer.

In one particular post by Clarke, which since has been removed from Facebook, the N-word was used several times along with many other obscenities and racially charged statements.

Read more: http://metrospirit.com/racist-public-servant/


Related article:
John Clarke: Repentant Racist, Unrepentant Liar and Fool

Supporters of Augusta City Commissioner-Elect John Clarke held a press conference last week to tell the world they accept his apology for outlandish and racially offensive remarks made some years ago on his Facebook page.

Dilly-dilly for him and them.

What Clarke and his gathered supporters remained silent on are the myriad lies and countless refusals to remove those offensive posts, that have come in the past four months.

We can start with the lying, first. While I do not have a list of everyone who got this one particular whopper laid at their feet, I can tell you one person who did, and that would be me.

“I was hacked… there is no way I typed those words.”

Read more: http://metrospirit.com/john-clarke-repentant-racist-unrepentant-liar-fool/

June 3, 2018

Fact-checking South Carolina Democratic governor candidates in debate

Note: This article is from over one week ago, but due to its importance I believe that it is worthy of a post.
A second debate will be on Monday, June 4 at 7 p.m.


CLEMSON — As the three Democratic candidates for South Carolina governor debated a host of major policy issues Thursday night, they dove into the details of their opponents' records and previous statements.

Here's a look at the validity behind some of their key disputes:

NRA

As he has repeatedly done during the campaign, Charleston businessman Phil Noble criticized state Rep. James Smith of Columbia for his previously positive ratings from the National Rifle Association.

Noble accurately said Smith received positive ratings and endorsements from the NRA several times.

Read more: https://www.postandcourier.com/politics/fact-checking-south-carolina-democratic-governor-candidates-in-debate/article_5be1d6fc-5faf-11e8-80e1-fbd2d3fd1fa7.html

June 3, 2018

Out of luck: S.C. lottery won't pay $34 million for glitchy winning Christmas tickets

COLUMBIA — Thousands of lottery players who mistakenly won on Christmas Day because of a computer glitch are getting empty stockings.

Lottery commissioners decided Wednesday not to pay anything on the potential $34 million worth of outstanding tickets that have been in limbo since the game was shut down five months ago.

Instead of getting the maximum $500 to $2,500 possible for a winning ticket, players can get a refund for the $1 to $5 they bet.

Paying for tickets printed in error would violate state law, commissioners said before voting unanimously against payouts.

Read more: https://www.postandcourier.com/politics/out-of-luck-s-c-lottery-won-t-pay-million/article_e5a58d46-640c-11e8-b890-db2d733be061.html

June 3, 2018

Family of student killed when SUV axle broke has been awarded $12 million by Anderson jury

An Anderson County jury has awarded $12 million to the family of a 17-year-old high school senior killed in 2012 after an axle fractured on her vehicle, causing her to be trapped for two hours.

The jury award came after five years of litigation, brought by Donald L. Dial as personal representative of Lacee Dial, who died in the accident, against Toyota Motor Corporation, Toyota Motor Sales USA and A&P Automotive Inc., the used car dealership where the vehicle was purchased.

Toyota initially denied many of the lawsuit's allegations, and the plaintiffs eventually dropped claims of negligence and recklessness, court records show

“This verdict reminds companies that they will be held responsible for defective products that kill people,” Chris Glover, Beasley Allen Atlanta managing attorney and plaintiffs’ counsel, said in a statement. “The defendants knew the vehicle that killed our clients’ daughter was unreasonably dangerous, yet they refused to take responsibility for Lacee’s needless death. This family faced one of the largest corporations in the world in a tough case. Toyota told them they would never take responsibility. This is why the jury system is so important. It’s the only place this family could get justice for their daughter.”

Read more: https://www.greenvilleonline.com/story/news/local/south-carolina/2018/06/02/family-student-killed-2012-suv-accident-awarded-12-million/663501002/

June 3, 2018

Google apologizes for labeling NC state senator as a 'bigot' in search results

Google has apologized to Republican North Carolina state Sen. Trudy Wade for an old photo of her with the superimposed word ‘bigot’ in capital red letters that appeared on the search engine’s results related to the senator’s name.

https://twitter.com/RaleighReporter/status/1002303811623546886

A story published by Vice about the photo, which was then distributed by media aggregator Drudge, prompted the apology from Google on Friday.

“We apologize to Senator Wade that this image appeared in the Knowledge Panel in Search,” Google said in a tweet.

“Images that appear in the Knowledge Panel are either selected by verified users or are automatically sourced from sites across the web.”

Read more: http://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/article212403734.html

June 3, 2018

Some NC colleges and universities fare well in budget proposal. Others lose out.

RALEIGH -- The Republican budget would provide a 1.9 percent increase in operating money for the UNC system, including several big-ticket items for UNC-Chapel Hill's medical programs and an environmental policy arm.

The N.C. Community College System budget would result in a 3.8 percent spending increase, including almost $15 million in short-term workforce training. Though the system's enrollment has fallen, community colleges would receive $1.8 million in one-time funding to offset student declines related to Hurricane Matthew.

The budget plan was approved by the Senate in an initial vote Wednesday.

Both systems would receive pots of money to use for employee raises, along with the flexibility to award them on a merit basis and not across-the-board. The UNC system would get $20 million for pay increases, and the community colleges would get $24 million.

Read more: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/latest-news/article212205989.html

June 3, 2018

Democrat compares budget process to rape, North Carolina to North Korea

RALEIGH -- On Tuesday, he compared Republican tactics for passing the state budget to rape.

On Thursday, he defended the comparison — even as a female lawmaker asked for an apology.

Democratic state Rep. Mickey Michaux of Durham is declining to apologize for comments he made during a press conference on Tuesday, when he expressed his anger over how the state budget is being crafted.

Republicans hold a supermajority in the state House and state Senate, and they've mostly written their budget proposal without the input of Democrats. If their budget is adopted without amendments, it would be the first time that has happened in modern North Carolina history.

Read more: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/latest-news/article212183849.html

June 3, 2018

Proposed settlement in Rick Siskey Ponzi case would bring first payments to victims

Investors in a Ponzi scheme operated by the late Charlotte businessman Rick Siskey would receive nearly $15 million in interim payments under a proposed settlement with his widow, according to documents outlining the deal.

Those payments would account for about 39 percent of each investor's "base claim" and could be paid out as early as July, according to a summary of the agreement among a court-appointed trustee, the administrator of Siskey's estate and lawyers for Diane Siskey.

The proposal contemplates making additional points and aims to avoid lawsuits with Diane Siskey and others. Most of the money would come from nearly $40 million in life insurance proceeds Diane Siskey received after her husband's death.

The plan, filed Friday in bankruptcy court, still needs court approval and requires the conversion of the bankruptcy court case to Chapter 11 from Chapter 7. As part of the Chapter 11 plan, Diane Siskey would receive a "broad release" from any liability, said Joe Grier, the trustee handling the bankruptcy case.

Read more: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/business/article212250714.html

June 2, 2018

Affirmative Action for Conservatives, or Rigging the University System

Joe Knott, a member of the UNC Board of Governors, penned an op-ed whining about the lack of conservative professors at UNC. He cites an article by another conservative whiner, UNC business school professor Michael Jacobs, as evidence that we lack intellectual debate at UNC-CH. His solution is to set up an affirmative action program for conservatives to attract them to the university. What a bunch of snowflakes.

According Jacobs, “there are 23 registered Democrats for every Republican in the departments that address political and social issues.” He doesn’t mention how many are independents who may have conservative leanings. Among faculty in the UNC Department of Economics, about 60% are registered unaffiliated or not registered in North Carolina at all, so some conservatives probably aren’t Republicans. Still, part of the disparity reflects a Republican Party that has embraced a know-nothing, anti-intellectual political philosophy, rejecting science-based solutions and holding firm to supply-side economics that have clearly benefited the wealthiest Americans at the expense of the working class.

The GOP isn’t attracting many non-white voters with college degrees and it has been losing an increasing number of white college educated voters for a while now. In 2016, Trump won less than 40% of them.That doesn’t reflect indoctrination at colleges. That reflects economic self-defense and the GOP’s transition from a moderate conservative movement to one dominated by angry populists. Today, the GOP coalition is made up primarily of wealthy free-marketeers, white evangelical Christians and white grievance voters who have little use for academia. The modern Republican Party bears little resemblance to the one envisioned by William F. Buckley, Jr.

Republican intellectuals and industry-paid scientists have spent the past twenty years denying that manmade activity had an impact on climate change instead of offering market-oriented solutions. They defended free market extremism and unfettered free trade policies while wages stagnated and the lion’s share of income shifted from the poor and working class to the very wealthy. They argue that economic growth is more important than shared prosperity even as upward economic mobility for the poorest 50% of the country became increasingly difficult.

Read more: https://www.politicsnc.com/affirmative-action-for-conservatives-or-rigging-the-university-system/

June 2, 2018

N.C. House approves $23.9 billion budget, despite Democrats' objections

In the end, after hours of back and forth between miffed Democrats and Republicans, the GOP had the votes to push through their $23.9 billion budget Friday morning.

Members of the state House of Representatives gave their final approval of the spending plan Friday, ushering the budget onto Gov. Roy Cooper’s desk. The Senate approved the privately-negotiated budget Thursday morning. And even if the Democratic governor vetoes the spending package, Republicans have the votes to override Cooper in both chambers.

“Pay raises for law enforcement and correctional officers, tens of millions of dollars for classroom protections and prison security, lead state budget investments in public safety passed by the North Carolina House of Representatives today,” House Speaker Tim Moore said on Twitter, shortly after Friday’s 66-44 vote to approve.

Republicans touted raises for state employees and teachers, school safety investments, tax cuts and more on the House floor Thursday and Friday, even as feisty Democrats chided the majority party for an unprecedented budget process that controversially cut off all amendments.

Read more: http://pulse.ncpolicywatch.org/2018/06/01/n-c-house-approves-23-9-billion-budget-despite-democrats-objections/