NORTH CAROLINA OPEN THREAD for Sunday, June 20, 2021
318th Weekly Edition
This is a weekly feature of North Carolina Blue. We hope this weekly platform gives readers interested in North Carolina politics a place to share their knowledge, insight and inspiration as we work on taking back our state from some of the most extreme Republicans in the nation. Please join us every week. You can also join the discussion in four other weekly State Open Threads.
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6/20/2021 1:00pm EDT
Click here for Covid-19 data from Worldometer Real Time World Statistics.
USA NC Total Cases New Cases Total Deaths New Deaths Total Recovered Active Cases
1,010,113 13,340 989,649 7,124
Lately I’ve been including “Cawthorn’s Corner” in this weekly. I usually pick up a story or two through the week and save them for today at the end of the diary. This week though, Madison stole the show by calling for armed rebellion against the government that writes his pay check, so I’m moving him to the top. Click the story titles for more.
Please jump the fold, the floor is yours...
REPUBLICAN CONGRESSMAN MADISON CAWTHORN CASUALLY SUGGESTS ARMED CITIZENS SHOULD OVERTHROW THE GOVERNMENT
Vanity Fair BESS LEVIN JUNE 17, 2021
The GOP lawmaker insisted assault weapons should be legal so people can stop “tyrannical government[s],” like the one he’s employed by.
he modern Republican Party talks a big game about being the party of “law and order,” yet strangely it’s they—and not Democrats—who’ve been involved in all the coups and insurrections of late. In January, for instance, you might recall that then Republican president Donald Trump sicced a fascist mob of supporters on the Capitol in an attempt to overturn the results of a free and fair election, an incident that the GOP curiously refuses to investigate. Meanwhile, on Wednesday, Republican representative Madison Cawthorn suggested that assault rifles must stay legal so that civilians can overthrow the U.S. government, i.e. his current employer.
Appearing on Newsmax to discuss AR-15s and military weapons, the North Carolina lawmaker told host Chris Salcedo that “The Second Amendment is not written for sporting. The Second Amendment is so that if a tyrannical government ever wants to rise up, we can stop them.” Then he made a…rather strange historical reference! “If anybody ever wants to say, ‘Oh, well you know what? Citizens with a few small firearms would never be able to stop the federal government,’ I absolutely disagree, he said. “Ask the Viet Cong how they handled the Marines and the Army in Vietnam.”
The Viet Cong, of course, was an armed communist revolutionary group whose military force, the Liberation Army of South Vietnam, fought against the U.S. and South Vietnamese governments during the Vietnam War. The U.S., quite famously, did not fare well there; nearly 60,000 American soldiers were killed. So it’s a bit odd to hear a U.S. representative seemingly brag about how well the Viet Cong performed, and suggest that armed civilians could and should do similar damage on American soil. Cawthorn’s comments follow remarks from Rep. Matt Gaetz wherein the Florida lawmaker lashed out at tech companies for harboring alleged conservative biases, telling supporters: “The internet’s hall monitors out in Silicon Valley, they think they can suppress us, discourage us. Maybe if you’re just a little less patriotic, maybe if you just conform to their way of thinking a little more, then you’ll be allowed to participate in the digital world. Well, you know what? Silicon Valley can’t cancel this movement, or this rally, or this congressman. We have a Second Amendment in this country, and I think we have an obligation to use it.” (Harlan Hill, a spokesman for Gaetz, has insisted that suggestions that the congressman was encouraging people to take up arms against Silicon Valley are “willful lies,” telling The Washington Post: “The wildly irresponsible mis-framing of the Congressman’s comments is designed to divide America and we demand it stops.” Gaetz has also said he was taken out of context.)
Madison Cawthorn Ripped for Praising the 'Viet Cong' in Bizarre Second Amendment Defense
Second Nexus Evan Brechtel Jun 17, 2021
Like most Republicans, far-right freshman Congressman Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina insists that any measure for common sense gun-law reform is an infringement on the Second Amendment, which he believes is for the purpose of ensuring citizens can rebel against the government.
Cawthorn is also convinced that American citizens with guns could overpower the U.S. Military, which was allocated a $714 billion budget last year. As evidence to support this belief, Cawthorn pointed to the Viet Cong, the communist guerilla militia that fought against the United States during the Vietnam War.
Cawthorn was attempting to argue that assault weapons, which are designed for the express purpose of killing the maximum amount of people in as little time as possible, are necessary to defend against the United States Government—the same government that signs Cawthorn's paychecks.
In an interview on right-wing disinformation outlet Newsmax, Cawthorn said:
"The Second Amendment is not written for sporting. The Second Amendment is so that if the tyrannical government ever wants to rise up, we can stop them. If anybody ever wants to say, 'oh, well you know what, citizens with a few small arms fire would never be able to stop the federal government'—I absolutely disagree. Ask the Viet Cong how they handled the Marines and the Army in Vietnam."
Long considered one of the United States' most shameful wars, the Vietnam War saw mass casualties on both sides. Though the U.S. ultimately lost the war, its effects devastated Vietnam and its people for decades to come.
'Highway robbery': Madison Cawthorn raises suspicions by paying inexperienced buddy $127,111 as top staffer
Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) appears to be overpaying an underqualified friend to serve on his congressional staff.
Quarterly disbursement statements show Cawthorn's chief of staff William "Blake" Harp made $31,777.77 in the first quarter of the year, the equivalent of $127,111 annually, despite having no background in government and not much other work experience besides running fireworks stands, reported the Citizen Times.
"One hundred twenty-seven thousand dollars is not exorbitant for a chief," said another Republican legislative staff member. "It's highway robbery for anyone for whom it's their first real job and they bring no discernible skills."
Harp and Cawthorn have known each other since at least 2016, when they were both around 20 years old, and neither has any experience in government until Cawthorn became the youngest member of Congress with his election in November.
Former linebacker Gash looks to sack Cawthorn
Right now, life seems to be about full-circle moments for Henderson County native Eric Gash, who describes himself as “a son of the soil.” A married father of three, Gash has been a pastor for 15 years, is a volunteer chaplain at the Hendersonville Police Department, a rescue scuba diver and recently became the principal of the elementary school he once attended.
“Yeah, it’s almost like a dream come true. I remember, very vaguely, walking the halls of Bruce Drysdale Elementary,” Gash said. “Of course, things have changed. It’s been remodeled and certain facilities have been added, but yeah, it’s kinda surreal walking through those halls, knowing that 45 years ago I was walking the same halls, only a little bit shorter.”
The June 1 entry of Gash into the 2022 Democratic Primary Election as a candidate for the 11th Congressional District seat currently held by Republican Rep. Madison Cawthorn presents the possibility of another full-circle moment for Gash — from following in the leadership of his coaches, his teachers and his mother to potentially representing them in the U.S. House.
“I’m trying to do the best I can to be a blessing to the community that was so great and gracious to me and my family growing up,” Gash said.
Pastor, principal, former football coach Eric Gash running for Madison Cawthorn's seat
Pastor and Principal Eric Gash to Challenge Cawthorn for 11th District Congressional Seat
North Carolina GOP blasted for 'cheating voters out of their vote' with suppression bills
Republicans in North Carolina were blasted for attempting to cheat in elections in a hard-hitting new editorial by the Winston-Salem Journal.
"A little context is in order. Over the years, Republican legislators in North Carolina have invested a considerable amount of time, money and energy in suppressing votes to retain power," the newspaper noted. "And they've accompanied these efforts with constant fairy tales of unsubstantiated 'voter fraud' intended to weaken the public's confidence in election results. That strategy, applied nationwide, contributed largely to the Jan. 6 insurrection."
"And they've not quit yet. Mimicking the nationwide effort to pass new voter-suppression laws — at least 389 bills with restrictive voting provisions have been introduced in 48 states this year, according to the Brennan Center for Justice — N.C. Senate Republicans passed a trio of election measures Wednesday, sending them to the N.C. House, that on the surface may seem benign, but are intended, once more, to suppress votes," the newspaper explained. "Again, these bills may seem harmless, even justifiable, but their intent is clear: to reduce the number of legitimate votes that are accepted and counted."
Once on the fast track, super-secret energy bill derailed over costs, nukes, and unproven claims
Rep. John Szoka says House Bill 951 “is not perfect.” That, opponents say, is an understatement.
For the past five months, the workings of a top secret energy group was so hush-hush that if someone was caught leaking information they would be expelled as an outcast and a pariah.
Lawmakers in the group, otherwise largely composed of business trade associations and Duke Energy, raised the curtain yesterday on their 47-page opus magnum, House Bill 951, at a meeting of the House Energy and Public Utilities Committee.
So publicly confident were they in the bill, that primary sponsors Reps. John Szoka (R-Cumberland) and Dean Arp, (R-Union) had planned to fast-track it, with a rush to the House floor before the end of the month. “We’re minimizing environmental impacts and lowering our carbon footprint,” Arp said, at the House Energy Committee. “We’re not picking winners or losers. We’re here for the people of North Carolina.” The measure, Szoka proclaimed, “would transform North Carolina’s energy future.”
The response from fellow lawmakers of both parties: suspicion. Most of the major trade associations, including manufactures and textiles: skepticism, even outright opposition. Environmental advocates: contempt.
Editorial: Expanding Medicaid can actually cut state-funded spending
WRAL June 17, 2021
New federal laws mean North Carolina taxpayers will save $500 million by expanding Medicaid. Is there a reason to be against that?
Expanding access to health care to more than a half-million North Carolinians is the right thing to do. Not having to spend a half-billion dollars in state funds to do it makes it even more urgent. It is because of some key incentives provided in federal COVID-19 relief legislation, North Carolina is able to spend LESS and make health care available to MORE people.
While the federal government, since the Great Recession, has offered to pay 90% of the costs of expanding Medicaid, that deal was sweetened earlier this year with a new law that increases federal support to the state’s current Medicaid program. Now, the federal government picks up 67.3% of the state’s $16.8 billion Medicaid program. Expand Medicaid, and that federal share increases to 72.3%. As a result, the state’s costs get reduced by $900 million.
Even with added spending of about $400 million needed for Medicaid expansion (which the state’s hospitals and other healthcare providers have offered to help shoulder) North Carolina would still be ahead of the game by as much as $500 million.
A letter to Rep. Madison Cauthorn, North Carolina.
Sir,
I find it rather difficult to find a starting place for this letter. I was brought up to respect this country.
You see, I was born in spring of 1939. I grew up through the formative years during WWII. Most of us were quite concerned with young men in harm’s way. That was doubly so the winter of 1944 and ’45. You see, my mother’s younger brother was transported to Belgium Dec. 19th with the 84th ID; 5 days later, on Christmas Day, he lost his entire company. But he came through, he came out of it alive. He was a tenor, sang like a bird at church singing conventions. He passed away in the late ‘60’s of a heart attack. You see, sir, you made a reference a while back about how a militia could conquer our country. These men fought that winter in waist deep snow, fighting Fascism.
You see, sir, the children of those men went to Viet Nam, and they may not have all been as passionate about their foe there as my uncle was. That foe wasn’t trying to take over America, like the Axis forces were trying to do. I will give you a thumbs up about the fact that a small guerilla force like the Viet Cong can inflict a lot of damage and frustration. I met some of those gentlemen, and ladies too, yes their ladies went into battle too, and they would shoot you dead in a New York Minute. And also remember, sir, these people were fighting in their back yards, in their environment, in the middle of their supply line.
Now, sir, I will give you just a little leeway on perhaps missing some of the history about Viet Nam, seeing as how when you were born. Most of our soldiers fighting there had been home about 20 years then, and by the time you would have been at the age to question them about their service, probably 30 years. They would have been old men to you, and you probably would thought “that old man rattling on about his war stories”, and just drive on by. Yeah, it happened to me – lots. I would try to tell some youngster about a jungle 15,000 miles from home and the horrible things you saw there, and they would just look at you, expressionless, and drive on by. So, sir, I don’t question your knowledge of the subject, or the lack of it, as the case may be. I just rather blame it on experience, and hey, we all need to learn.
Thanks for reading and contributing, have a safe week.