Just a few thoughts

A lot has been happening lately, so I figured instead of just picking one subject to wear out my welcome with, I’d pick a couple for this column. Hope you don’t mind.

EARLY VOTING IN NC - If what I’ve been reading is true, North Carolinians, even in the hard-hit Hurricane Helene-struck west, have been lining up strong and deep to cast their ballots ever since early voting started Oct. 17th.. So far, we’re seeing impressive numbers, and that’s a good thing. Apparently North Carolina voters have something to say back to the candidates, after having to listen to them endlessly bable for months on end. It’s time that we be heard.

My wife and I braved the lines on Oct. 18th, the second day of early voting. We had to vote curbside because of my health condition.

Two things that struck me beyond the long line of devoted citizenry lined up to cast they ballots. One, the tireless dedication and devotion of the selfless poll workers. These tremendous people put in long hours doing the important work of caretaking our election process, and they just don’t get the thanks they so richly deserve from all of us for their hard work. Plus, they are some of the nicest people you’ll ever want to meet.

So hats off, and GOD Bless to our election poll workers. We truly couldn’t run a democracy without you!

Secondly, I knew long before anyone handed me a ballot that I was voting straight ticket. Simply put, one of this nation’s major political parties has absolutely NOTHING to offer me, and I suspect, the way it’s going, never will. And yet, I, and I’m certain plenty of other folks were forced to go through each name and each race on the ballot, one-by-one, to choose a candidate for whom to vote for. Talk about tedious.

What bothers me immensely about this is that years ago, North Carolina’s ballot allowed you to indeed vote straight party ticket. One box to check at the top allowed you to vote for all of the candidates running for office from your political party in that election, and that was it. You didn’t have to waste time going down the ballot reading each contest, making sure you didn’t accidentally make a mistake where you shouldn’t.

But the Republican majority in our state legislature, in an effort to slow the process down in order to frustrate folks who wouldn’t vote for them if their mothers were tied to the train tracks, did away with straight ticket voting, saying that each race deserved individual consideration.

The frustration part comes when you don’t know every candidate on the ballot, and can only go by which political party you lean towards, assuming you go past the top of the ticket choices. For some voters, that means not voting at all for down ballot candidates they have no idea about, and that’s not good for democracy.

But ultimately, the prolonged time it takes now to fill out a ballot here in North Carolina is unnecessary and just plain dumb. Voting should be made easier, not harder, and as long as folks do it legally, they should have the option, again in a democracy, to make their choices any way they choose - straight ticket, or split ticket.

Can’t wait for the people to vote out the bad actors in our legislature so we can get some common sense back in there and fix stuff like this.

ROBINSON’S LAWSUIT - The smoke hasn’t all cleared from Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson’s headline-grabbing $50 million lawsuit against CNN, and another defendant, filed last week in Wake Superior Court. The suit charges that the Cable News Network is “a politically left-wing media outlet” that engaged in “disgusting lies” in a “coordinated attack” aimed at “derailing his campaign for governor” by reporting on his alleged social media presence years ago on a porn site called “Nude Africa.com,” where he called himself “Black Nazi,” expressed adoration of Adolf Hitler, and advocated for the return of chattel slavery.

The CNN Report, Robinson’s suit contends “…has already inflicted immeasurable harm to his family, his reputation and his good name.”

Robinson, of course, vigorously denies CNN’s reporting, and thus, his lawsuit to make the news organization pay.

Or is that really the lawsuit’s purpose?

At press time came word that Robinson’s attorneys amended the stated lawsuit damages from a headline-grabbing $50 million to a piddling "in excess of  $25,000," with a November 18th opening court date. Gee, sounds like Sir Mouth-a-Lot and his attorneys finally figured out that North Carolina law demands that his actual damages be determined by a jury, NOT a PR firm.

        Why didn't his Virginia-based attorneys figure that out to start with? Because Robinson wanted the headline!

I mean, put yourself in Mark Robinson’s place right now. Your Democratic opponent, Josh Stein is leading in the polls. You’re already in trouble because of past ill-advised comments you allegedly made on social media about women, Muslims, Jews, LGTBQ+, and Black people. You’re too close to Donald Trump, who has called you “Martin Luther King on steroids” - an idiot statement that should also tick off a fair about folks. And your polls were headed toward the basement, no matter what you did, because folks were lining up to throw rocks at you over your stance on abortion.

Then the CNN “Black Nazi” report drops, seemingly burying you under a mountain of bad news no political candidate should survive. Half your campaign and executive office staffs desert you. Fellow Republicans turn their backs on you. Even Donald Trump won’t take your calls anymore. And the money faucet from the Republican Governors Association has been turned off, effectively taking your message off TV.

So what do you do if you feel cornered and refuse to go out like that? You at least try to look like you’re fighting back, and one way to do that is through a lawsuit, taking on the big, bad, evil, “left-wing’ media machine, CNN. You accuse them of defamation (which in legalese means their reporting was false and malicious, intended to hurt you and your campaign).

Whether you win or not isn’t the issue. The fact that you’re seen fighting back in fine classical MAGA tradition is the whole point now. The folks who hate CNN more than any concerns they may have about allegations about your moral character will definitely vote for you.

And in the end, if Mark Robinson loses, as he’s expected to, at least he will go down looking like a fighter, a warrior, someone who will be remembered admirably among the MAGA faithful for holding true to the cause. He’ll have a place in leadership, long after Trump steps off the stage.

And just how do I know all of this? Simple, his lawsuit. Full of allegations, but not a stitch of proof. Now I know that Robinson’s MAGA attorney has promised more proof in discovery, but my thinking tells me CNN, being the news organization that it is, isn’t that sloppy.

And Robinson doesn’t have the time, nor money to prove that they are.

Plus no one has started  a ‘Robinson Legal Offense Fund” yet.

This isn’t the first time CNN has nailed Mark Robinson to the wall with revelations about his alleged past shameful social media posts. It’s at least the second time. But Robinson never complained about the first reports where he allegedly said “So many [right-wing] freedoms were lost during the Civil Rights Movement,” and “Re: Parkland shooting survivors: “spoiled, angry, know it all CHILDREN,” “spoiled little bastards” Those tropes hang well with the conservative crowd, so as far as he was concerned, CNN did him a favor that first time. He wasn’t ashamed of anything.

But this second report, involving pornography, loving Hitler, and all kinds of salacious stuff…those dogs don’t hunt. Robinson has to answer the bell for those, if for no reason but to salvage what movement he has left for a  future after the election.

Don’t you know that CNN had their libel attorneys climbing all over that report before it was released, including the methodology of backtracking the consistency of Robinson’s social media footprint? And he knows that. But again, the fight - win or lose - is the goal here.

How is all of this going to ultimately end, I don’t know. But I do know that Mark Robinson, at this point, feels that he has nothing to lose by aiming high and wide. It would be real funny if a jury only awards him $1.00 in damages. Let’s all get some popcorn and see if he wins anything, shall we?

WHAT WILL THE ELECTION DECIDE? I left this one for last, because it scares me the most. As much as I want this presidential election to be over and done with, I truly shudder to think about the aftermath, especially if Trump wins.

If he loses, at least that would reaffirm my faith in my fellow countrymen and women that there are enough of us left to strive for decency, and want the best for America.

But if  Trump wins, he promises that the gates of Hell will open for those he considers his enemies. And the problem is, he’s have the entire power structure of the United States government to back him up, a la Project 2025.

If he loses, Trump could still cause problems, but at least that same US governmental power structure will be ready, willing and able to take him on.

After all, I have the funny feeling that the new president of the United States, won’t soon forget Trump repeatedly calling her “dumb” and “retarded.”

A Black woman scorned! He wants no part of that, trust me.

Most of all, if Trump wins, I will feel deeply for all of those folks - a cross section of diverse Americans - who poured their hearts into supporting Kamala Harris, truly believing that she was the fresh way forward to a hopeful future.

My heaviest fear is that if Trump wins, those good people will never allow themselves to care about another decent presidential candidate again.

If that happens, then we all truly lose!