The current state of our US Senate race kind of reminds me of the last minutes of a sporting event that has turned into a massacre.  One team tends to let up and go a little easier – maybe, clear the bench or take a snap then a knee — so it doesn’t end up looking as much like the vicious beatdown it was. 

The Republican campaign for US Senate has been shut out in every public poll released since their man got into the race in July.  By this time in the 2024 governor race, there were five polls that found Mark Robinson leading Josh Stein.  (Two showed a tie.)

Mike Whatley, by comparison, had one tie when he got into the race in July.  (There was also one poll showing him losing by 3 with an MOE of 4.2.)

One of the interesting trends I’ve noticed in the 2026 race is that polls done by liberal groups have been the most gentle with Whatley.  Carolina Journal /John Locke has been releasing polls with Whatley down by double-digits.

But look at Public Policy Polling AND Carolina Forward. PPP’s March poll was the one showing a Cooper lead that was within the margin of error.  

Carolina Forward released a poll earlier this month giving Cooper a 49-42 lead. In January, they released a poll showing Cooper leading 47-42.  Last September, they had Cooper 48-41.

In 2024, Stein didn’t show a double-digit lead against Robinson until August. In 2026, Cooper had his first double-digit leads IN JANUARY.

Just think — the real campaign spending hasn’t even gotten started.

We’re approaching the summer vacation months where the average voter is really not paying attention to politics.  It’s said that campaigns really get started at the end of Labor Day weekend.

That gives the campaigns two solid months – September and October – to make their cases.  If Team Whatley can’t get these margins a little closer, things are going to be a lot easier than expected for Team Cooper.

For what it’s worth, keep an eye on the Emerson poll. They have been pretty doggone close in North Carolina’s big races in 2020 and 2024.  They last polled the 2026 Senate race in NC in July 2025:  Cooper 47-41. 

Super-sleuth Dan Kane did a good job unveiling former legislator Jason Saine‘s discreet disappearance from mega-lobbying firm The Southern Group.

We think we’ve found some more interesting pieces to this eyebrow-raising story.

Followers of this site know that Jason Saine has been a source / subject  of a lot of good copy for us.  He rose from unemployment to become one of the most powerful politicians in Raleigh. He got to be chairman of appropriations and finance committees — in spite of the fact that he had nightmarish problems with managing his own finances.  From his $19K+ purchase of clothes with campaign funds to apparently funding his entire existence with campaign funds — Saine has inspired a lot of head-shaking moments of sheer disbelief in and around Raleigh.

There were the various and sundry ethics complaints filed against him.  His colleagues apparently talked him out of trying to manage his own campaign finances himself.  Got him a consultant for that. 

Saine resigned from the House to take a nice job with the prestigious and up-and-coming lobbying firm The Southern Group. Things looked like  they were all turning up roses for Saine — until something called Greater Carolina and a Kentucky distillery tour became public knowledge.  It began to appear Saine was tied to the organization of both entities.  It also began to appear that state and federal authorities were wanting a closer look at the group and the tour. 

Word broke today via Mr. Kane that Jason Saine‘s name was suddenly nowhere to be seen on The Southern Group’s website:

Former state Rep. Jason Saine is no longer shown on the website of a prominent lobbying firm that hired him after he took part in a controversial distillery tour in 2024 that is now under investigation.

The Southern Group’s website for the Raleigh office lists four other lobbyists, including Kevin Wilkinson, who opened that office in April 2024, two weeks before the distillery tour in the Louisville, Kentucky, area, attended by lawmakers and lobbyists, became public.

Saine, a Lincolnton Republican who at the time was the House’s chief budget writer, initially wouldn’t comment on the trip, but then confirmed it and said he went on it. He left the House three months later and joined The Southern Group in November of that year.

As of Monday, more than 30 businesses, nonprofits or local governments have registered Saine as their lobbyist, the N.C. Secretary of State’s lobbying division shows.

Saine did not return a phone call or text on Friday, nor did Wilkinson. Southern Group founder Paul Bradshaw, who works out of the Tallahassee, Florida, office, declined to comment on Saine’s status Monday morning. […]

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Now, let’s follow up a little on this story.  We browsed to Saine’s LinkedIn profile, which he has updated to include an apparent departure in April from The Southern Group.

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The Rogue Squadron Tech, Inc. thing threw us for a loop. we checked it out to learn that it was formed as a NC state corporation in August 2013.  His wife Kathryn Saine was listed as the president and sole registered agent.  Its official address was a Lincolnton residence NOT the Saine family’s current residence.

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An interesting footnote — seven months prior to the formation of this technology consulting firm, Saine was named chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, Information Technology.

There appears to be no actual website for Rogue Squadron.  The phone number for the business appears to be Saine’s personal phone. To make things more interesting:  Rogue Squadron got administratively dissolved as a corporation in North Carolina by the sta...]]> Wed, 20 May 2026 03:35:19 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/gFRQvyAcY0NgDhQ8A_VSXy8uCzcBC_y3?utm_source=follow.it https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/gFRQvyAcY0Op7WAGFcCqVIfoP8GGySvr?utm_source=follow.it

We’ve already laid out the explosive details of the audit of The Town of Robbins money management nightmare.

We’re hearing from sources within Robbins that the town manager and mayor Cameron Dockery are claiming that – on advice of counsel – they cannot comment publicly on the audit.  That sounds like they expect future litigation or prosecution.

Here’s a recap of the audit’s findings:

Dockery has remained publicly silent on the audit as have the three political heavy-hitters who all greatly assisted Dockery’s victory in the March primary for the county commissioner district 2 seat: state Rep. Neal Jackson, county commissioner Tom Adams, and Sandhills Community College board of trustees chairman Larry Caddell.

But the Southern Pines paper – which has little to no readership in Robbins – did manage to get some commentary out of the Robbins town manager:

[…] Town Manager Clint Mack, in a short phone interview, confirmed that most of the details found in the report have been previously identified and addressed. But because the town is two years behind on its audits, the town’s work to address previous discrepancies has not been officially noted.

“We are the closest we have ever been to compliance,” Mack said. “Ever.”

Mack called the several findings minor issues that happened over five years as the town struggled to retain a financial officer. Some also relate to the town’s procedures, which have been updated to comply with state law.

“No fraud, waste or abuse was found,” Mack said of the report. “That shows that everyone here is working for the public.

On Thursday, Robbins Mayor Cameron Dockery provided a full copy of the audit report, the town’s official response and additional materials detailing the town’s efforts toward transparency. He said the town cooperated fully with auditors and seeks to be open with the community about how it is amending its policies and procedures.[…]

Okay, where to begin?

What choice did Dockery have but to “provide” it?  The audit was already public record on the state Auditor’s website.

First, how do you know there was no waste, fraud and abuse?  (There was at least ONE forged check. All kinds of duplicate payments. You still have two years worth of unreconciled checks.)

Here’s an excerpt from the audit:

I take that to mean this whole thing required a ‘snitch’ in order to bring it into the light.  The town wasn’t on top of it.  They got interested in fixing the situation when the Auditor’...]]> Sat, 16 May 2026 06:06:10 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/gFRQvyAcY0Op7WAGFcCqVIfoP8GGySvr?utm_source=follow.it noWe’ve already laid out the explosive details of the audit of The Town of Robbins money management nightmare. We’re hearing from sources within Robbins that the town manager and mayor Cameron Dockery are claiming that – on advice of counsel – they cannot comment publicly on the audit.  That sounds like they expect future litigation or prosecution. Here’s a recap of the audit’s findings: Dockery has remained publicly silent on the audit as have the three political heavy-hitters who all greatly assisted Dockery’s victory in the March primary for the county commissioner district 2 seat: state Rep. Neal Jackson, county commissioner Tom Adams, and Sandhills Community College board of trustees chairman Larry Caddell. But the Southern Pines paper – which has little to no readership in Robbins – did manage to get some commentary out of the Robbins town manager: […] Town Manager Clint Mack, in a short phone interview, confirmed that most of the details found in the report have been previously identified and addressed. But because the town is two years behind on its audits, the town’s work to address previous discrepancies has not been officially noted. “We are the closest we have ever been to compliance,” Mack said. “Ever.” Mack called the several findings minor issues that happened over five years as the town struggled to retain a financial officer. Some also relate to the town’s procedures, which have been updated to comply with state law. “No fraud, waste or abuse was found,” Mack said of the report. “That shows that everyone here is working for the public. On Thursday, Robbins Mayor Cameron Dockery provided a full copy of the audit report, the town’s official response and additional materials detailing the town’s efforts toward transparency. He said the town cooperated fully with auditors and seeks to be open with the community about how it is amending its policies and procedures.[…] Okay, where to begin? What choice did Dockery have but to “provide” it?  The audit was already public record on the state Auditor’s website. First, how do you know there was no waste, fraud and abuse?  (There was at least ONE forged check. All kinds of duplicate payments. You still have two years worth of unreconciled checks.) Here’s an excerpt from the audit: I take that to mean this whole thing required a ‘snitch’ in order to bring it into the light.  The town wasn’t on top of it.  They got interested in fixing the situation when the Auditor’...We’ve already laid out the explosive details of the audit of The Town of Robbins money management nightmare. We’re hearing from sources within Robbins that the town manager and mayor Cameron Dockery are claiming that – on advice of counsel – they cannot comment publicly on the audit.  That sounds like they expect future litigation or prosecution. Here’s a recap of the audit’s findings: Dockery has remained publicly silent on the audit as have the three political heavy-hitters who all greatly assisted Dockery’s victory in the March primary for the county commissioner district 2 seat: state Rep. Neal Jackson, county commissioner Tom Adams, and Sandhills Community College board of trustees chairman Larry Caddell. But the Southern Pines paper – which has little to no readership in Robbins – did manage to get some commentary out of the Robbins town manager: […] Town Manager Clint Mack, in a short phone interview, confirmed that most of the details found in the report have been previously identified and addressed. But because the town is two years behind on its audits, the town’s work to address previous discrepancies has not been officially noted. “We are the closest we have ever been to compliance,” Mack said. “Ever.” Mack called the several findings minor issues that happened over five years as the town struggled to retain a financial officer. Some also relate to the town’s procedures, which have been updated to comply with state law. “No fraud, waste or abuse was found,” Mack said of the report. “That shows that everyone here is working for the public. On Thursday, Robbins Mayor Cameron Dockery provided a full copy of the audit report, the town’s official response and additional materials detailing the town’s efforts toward transparency. He said the town cooperated fully with auditors and seeks to be open with the community about how it is amending its policies and procedures.[…] Okay, where to begin? What choice did Dockery have but to “provide” it?  The audit was already public record on the state Auditor’s website. First, how do you know there was no waste, fraud and abuse?  (There was at least ONE forged check. All kinds of duplicate payments. You still have two years worth of unreconciled checks.) Here’s an excerpt from the audit: I take that to mean this whole thing required a ‘snitch’ in order to bring it into the light.  The town wasn’t on top of it.  They got interested in fixing the situation when the Auditor’... https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/gFRQvyAcY0NMFgFxJvqG0jliLstpT1dl?utm_source=follow.it

We already told you about the latest poll by Carolina Journal and Harper Polling.  It’s another ugly one for Mike Whatley.  And Carolina Journal absolutely DIGS Whatley !!!

If you read deeper down into the poll findings, you’ll see a deeper long-term problem for Whatley.  Political pros will tell you time and again how important Likability and Name ID are to electoral success. This graphic here illustrates what the poll found on those two factors for each candidate:

A total of 52.7 percent of respondents have either Never Heard Of Michael Whatley or have No Opinion of him.   Whatley has been out there since July campaigning. That leaves a lot of room for Team Cooper to define him.

Whatley has been the North Carolina Republican Party chairman AND the Republican National Committee chairman.   But think about it: How many of you out there can name the current NCGOP state chairman, the current RNC chairman, the current NC Democrat Party chairman, and the current DNC Chairman?  Or even your county GOP or Democrat chairmen, for that matter? 

I’m sure there are some political animals out there who can rattle off all of those names on command.  But that’s a small sliver of the overall electorate.  The overwhelming majority of voters would look at you really funny if you asked them to name any of those people. That kind of stuff is just not on the radar of the average voter.

Let’s look at Whatley’s Favorable vs. Unfavorable numbers.  A total of 25.3 percent find him Very favorable or Somewhat favorable.

Over on the other side of that equation, we find 21.9 percent that see him as Very Unfavorable or Somewhat Unfavorable.

That’s waaaaaaaaaaaaay too close for comfort and not nearly enough to win an election.

Let’s move over to Roy Cooper.   (Remember, this is from a poll paid for by some big fans of the Raleigh GOP establishment.)

Only 11.7 percent of respondents had either Never Heard Of Roy Cooper or had No Opinion of him.

Let’s look at Cooper’s Favorable vs. Unfavorable numbers.  A total of 49.9 percent find him Very favorable or Somewhat favorable.

Over on the other side of that equation, we find 38.5 percent that see him as Very Unfavorable or Somewhat Unfavorable.

The Very Favorable respondents for each side are going to be really hard to pull away from their respective candidate choices.  You might have some luck with attack ads on the Somewhat Favorable group.

Right now, the folks that have never heard of either candidate are not likely to show up at the polls. Though, a well-executed media strategy and GOTV effort might pull some in that group to one side or another.

The 38.5 percent unfavorable number for Cooper is where the Whatley team has to train their fire.  Make it bigger.  Unfortunately, Team Whatley has to first eat into that 52.7 percent that either don’t know or have no opinion of their man. Get that number down quick. (This poll was done May 10-11.) 

Time is growing short in this campaign season.  We’re getting into the summer vacation months where few people are really paying attention to elections.  It’s long been said that campaign season really starts at the end of Labor Day weekend. That leaves us September and October.

With numbers like what we  see here with this poll — and the large deficit for Whatley we see here and in other polls – is there enough time to turn this around and produce a Mike Whatley victory?

I am even more convinced that the Raleigh GOP establishment has some kind of non-aggression pact with Roy Cooper.

Cooper is a target-rich environment. But the party’s campaigns against him have ranged from just bad to outlandishly incompetent.  If we’re not careful, the GOPe will allow ol’ Roy to extend his decades-long election winning streak. 

Harper Polling – working with Carolina Journal – has another poll out showing Cooper with 50 percent of the vote to Mike Whatley’s 39 percent.   (600 likely voters, MOE 4 percent)

This extends a losing streak for Whatley going back to July 2025. I think there was a tie in one poll back them.

Carolina Journal is sooooo in the tank for the GOPe and NCGOPe.  If they can’t put lipstick on this pig, NOBODY CAN.  You know you’re in real trouble.   Remember – Mark Robinson lost to Josh Stein by fourteen.  Here in May, Whatley is down by eleven.  

Political pros often tell you the real fight doesn’t start until after Labor Day. That gives Whatley and the GOP most of September, all of October, and a wee bit of November to try and dig out of this hole.

Some may say it’s too early to get worried.  I say Whatley has one hell of a hole to climb out of.  Cooper would have to have a NudeAfrica-scale mega-scandal. He’s been around a long time.  No one has found it yet.

I swear this feels like watching my favorite team throw a game.  You know we can do better — with both personnel and strategy. Off the top of my head, I can name at least three candidates who are more conservative and could do better against Cooper than Whatley.  But – here – we – are. 

Sit back and relax while we regale you with the story of Cameron Dockery.

Dockery finds himself a Moore County commissioner-elect thanks to the hard work of county commissioner Tom Adams and state representative Neal Jackson.  He prevailed in the March 2026 primary in no small part to the political campaign work of those two.

In Moore County, the commissioners run county-wide, but they only serve a specific district within the county.  Dockery, the mayor of Robbins in northern Moore County, barely won his own town and an adjacent precinct.  The key to his victory over opponent Curtis Self came in the precincts closest to Southern Pines and Pinehurst — where Jackson and Adams are strongest in the county.

(The last time Cameron Dockery ran for mayor of Robbins a grand total of 47 people voted.  Dockery got 39 of those votes.)

Adams and Jackson sold Dockery to their supporters – many of whom were unaware of Dockery and /or the existence of Robbins — as a strong leader and a strong manager with lots of good government oversight experience.

Meanwhile, his then-opponent, Self, has an MBA and works in farming and retail management. 

Well, the Adams-Jackson spin fell apart spectacularly this month with the release of an explosive audit -by state auditor Dave Boliek – of the town of Robbins financial practices while Dockery has been mayor:

Soooooo — it seems a lot of this was known way back in 2025.  It would have been nice to know this prior to the March 2026 vote for county commissioner.  Next time you see Tom Adams or Neal Jackson — thank them for helping to make Robbins’ problem MOORE COUNTY’S PROBLEM.

Dockery presided over all this stuff Boliek’s team found in Robbins.  It doesn’t provide much comfort for me that he will now be in an oversight role for Moore County government. (I’m told Dockery – since the March primary election – has done little to nothing to try and get up-to-speed on county government issues.)

This case is a prime example of why it’s bad to forego your own research and rely on pre-filled sample ballots at election time. Quite often, yo...]]> Thu, 14 May 2026 19:46:46 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/gFRQvyAcY0NANc7kDi7TRCH8mOs-Nq4Y?utm_source=follow.it noSit back and relax while we regale you with the story of Cameron Dockery. Dockery finds himself a Moore County commissioner-elect thanks to the hard work of county commissioner Tom Adams and state representative Neal Jackson.  He prevailed in the March 2026 primary in no small part to the political campaign work of those two. In Moore County, the commissioners run county-wide, but they only serve a specific district within the county.  Dockery, the mayor of Robbins in northern Moore County, barely won his own town and an adjacent precinct.  The key to his victory over opponent Curtis Self came in the precincts closest to Southern Pines and Pinehurst — where Jackson and Adams are strongest in the county. (The last time Cameron Dockery ran for mayor of Robbins a grand total of 47 people voted.  Dockery got 39 of those votes.) Adams and Jackson sold Dockery to their supporters – many of whom were unaware of Dockery and /or the existence of Robbins — as a strong leader and a strong manager with lots of good government oversight experience. Meanwhile, his then-opponent, Self, has an MBA and works in farming and retail management.  Well, the Adams-Jackson spin fell apart spectacularly this month with the release of an explosive audit -by state auditor Dave Boliek – of the town of Robbins financial practices while Dockery has been mayor: Soooooo — it seems a lot of this was known way back in 2025.  It would have been nice to know this prior to the March 2026 vote for county commissioner.  Next time you see Tom Adams or Neal Jackson — thank them for helping to make Robbins’ problem MOORE COUNTY’S PROBLEM. Dockery presided over all this stuff Boliek’s team found in Robbins.  It doesn’t provide much comfort for me that he will now be in an oversight role for Moore County government. (I’m told Dockery – since the March primary election – has done little to nothing to try and get up-to-speed on county government issues.) This case is a prime example of why it’s bad to forego your own research and rely on pre-filled sample ballots at election time. Quite often, yo...Sit back and relax while we regale you with the story of Cameron Dockery. Dockery finds himself a Moore County commissioner-elect thanks to the hard work of county commissioner Tom Adams and state representative Neal Jackson.  He prevailed in the March 2026 primary in no small part to the political campaign work of those two. In Moore County, the commissioners run county-wide, but they only serve a specific district within the county.  Dockery, the mayor of Robbins in northern Moore County, barely won his own town and an adjacent precinct.  The key to his victory over opponent Curtis Self came in the precincts closest to Southern Pines and Pinehurst — where Jackson and Adams are strongest in the county. (The last time Cameron Dockery ran for mayor of Robbins a grand total of 47 people voted.  Dockery got 39 of those votes.) Adams and Jackson sold Dockery to their supporters – many of whom were unaware of Dockery and /or the existence of Robbins — as a strong leader and a strong manager with lots of good government oversight experience. Meanwhile, his then-opponent, Self, has an MBA and works in farming and retail management.  Well, the Adams-Jackson spin fell apart spectacularly this month with the release of an explosive audit -by state auditor Dave Boliek – of the town of Robbins financial practices while Dockery has been mayor: Soooooo — it seems a lot of this was known way back in 2025.  It would have been nice to know this prior to the March 2026 vote for county commissioner.  Next time you see Tom Adams or Neal Jackson — thank them for helping to make Robbins’ problem MOORE COUNTY’S PROBLEM. Dockery presided over all this stuff Boliek’s team found in Robbins.  It doesn’t provide much comfort for me that he will now be in an oversight role for Moore County government. (I’m told Dockery – since the March primary election – has done little to nothing to try and get up-to-speed on county government issues.) This case is a prime example of why it’s bad to forego your own research and rely on pre-filled sample ballots at election time. Quite often, yo... https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/gFRQvyAcY0MJtV4X6WgTg_hBwoJEp7KJ?utm_source=follow.it

President Trump is pushing the idea of a temporary suspension of the federal gas tax to provide some consumer relief during this tough time.  (Anyone seen gas prices lately ???). Of course, the Marxist media hates the idea of sacrificing any potential government money to the “little people.”

‘It’s not enough to make a difference to people,” they sniff at us, while holding a glass of chablis with one pinkie in the air.

Let’s give you the lede they are trying so hard to bury.   The current federal gas tax is 18.4 cents per gallon.

Now, let’s look at the state tax that gets added to that.  North Carolina has the ELEVENTH HIGHEST gas tax rate in the nation. That’s right. 

North Carolina’s gas tax currently sits at 40.55 cents per gallon.  (Add the fed tax on top of that, and you find yourself paying almost 59 cents per gallon in taxes per every fill-up.)

We have the highest gas tax in the Old South.  Unless you want to count Virginia (now at 9th highest in the nation) which has pretty much been conquered by the Yankee hordes. And they’re just barely higher than us.

For the last few years, we’ve been hearing about this mystical, wonderful “surplus” in Raleigh.  To me, that means they have more money than they need to cover the state’s obligations.   WHY NOT follow Trump’s lead and give us –at least — a six month suspension on the state gas tax? 

Those who poo-poo the alleged insignificance of a tax suspension fail to consider the wide-ranging impact the cost of fuel has on our economy.  Costs go up for businesses that have fleets of vehicles.  It’s more expensive to transport food from the farm to the grocery store.  It’s more expensive to ship raw materials to factories for manufacturing.  It’s also more expensive to ship that package you ordered from Amazon to your house.  Yessirree, the cost of fuel ricochets off almost every significant aspect of our lives and our economy.  

A gas tax suspension could and should trigger price drops throughout the economy — giving many of us some much-needed breathing room on this cost-of-living thing. 

You have to take a Brinks truck with you to every visit to the gas station or grocery store. For once, stop putting your well-paying lobbyist friends FIRST.  People are hurting out here.

(Wow.  I need to be careful talking about free market economics. I might trigger that “helicopter” mom in Greensboro.)

It’s good to see the crybabies going bi-partisan, or some might say multi-partisan. Until now, all we’ve seen from this bunch has been Phil Berger fans on and around Raleigh’s Jones Street.

We’re not big Foxx fans around here. It’s disappointing how she’s abandoned the conservatism she honed so well in Raleigh for the mushy RINO-ism of US House leadership. But we’ve found an instance where she’s getting a raw deal from the comrades in the drive-by media:

A Greensboro mother is calling out Republican U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx over a letter she said her son received from the congresswoman after a school assignment.

Emily Mango said her 10-year-old son was assigned to write a persuasive essay and send it to a changemaker. Her son decided to write to Foxx, urging the government to consider giving drivers a rebate for electric vehicle purchases. Mango said the topic was her son’s choice. […]

Her kid is in the fourth grade.  Are we seriously supposed to believe a fourth grader came up with this topic all by himself without any coaching from his woke teacher or mother? 

What did Foxx write back to her kid that was so ‘horrific’ and ‘shocking’?

Stuff like THIS:

*Shocking*, huh?  As a college professor, I’ve dealt with the mischief of K-12 *educators* before.  I remember – in one business class I taught – asking students to define capitalism for me.  One student raised his hands and said: “The rich getting richer, and the poor getting poorer.”

Karl Marx and Barack Obama could not be prouder, I’m sure.  There are plenty of good teachers out there who try really hard to deliver a good education. But, unfortunately, the loudest mouths in that profession are radical ideologues who felt right at home at the big “Trump is Hitler” rally in Raleigh on May 1.  Something HAS to be done to thwart this vicious assault on our culture and the character of this country by the public school mafia.

MORE:

[…] In her letter, Foxx cited numerous articles from news organizations and criticized the boy’s teacher, writing, “Please ask your teacher to explain propaganda to you. My guess is that your teachers will not give you a good educational experience and help you learn to think as they are too interested in indoctrinating you.” 

Mango called the letter “horrific” and addressed Foxx on Facebook, writing, “Reprehensible response. You crossed a line when you attacked a child and attacked teachers. You don’t deserve to be on a Committee for Education when you talk to children like this and think so lowly of teachers.”[…]

The Foxx letter, in its entirety, is posted below.  Nowhere in there is an attack on the kid. Nowhere. (*So, apparently, you can’t criticize a public school teacher — even when they are blowing off work to march down the street with a “Trump is Hitler” sign.*)

This letter from Foxx is a great educational opportunity. In all honesty, Foxx – or, rather, the staffer who wrote this — is right on the money.

MORE:

[…] Fox8 in Greensboro reported that Mango’s son was upset that his teacher was criticized, because his teacher did not pick the topic or write the letter.

Although the typed letter was signed “Virginia Foxx,” Fox8 reached out to the congresswoman’s office to ask if she wrote the letter or if it was a member of her staff. The news outlet also asked if Foxx plans to apologize for her letter. […]

The folks at WRAL and all other drive-by outlets know full well that Members of Congress do not personally respond to every letter sent to their office. And what is there to apologize for?  Trying to give the kid a lesson on free market economics that the public schools are clearly denying him?

This, right here, is shameful. But it’s long been clear the remnants of our state’s dying drive-by media have no shame whatsoever. https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/gFRQvyAcY0OlbulKu7TXrUSSDNs-XzyJ?utm_source=follow.it https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/gFRQvyAcY0NSvzTSzyPIqd0T_ociwS8j?utm_source=follow.it

A bit of a tizzy has arisen over state auditor Dave Boliek’s recent speech to an auditor’s conference:

As fraud concerns ramp up across the country, particularly involving Medicaid, North Carolina State Auditor Dave Boliek told Fox News Digital the problem is very real in his state, especially when it comes to autism therapy, an area that has been highly scrutinized in Minnesota.

Boliek is sounding the alarm on potential waste, fraud and abuse within the state’s Medicaid program, specifically noting in an interview with Fox News Digital a 47,000% explosion in autism therapy billings he has flagged since taking office last year. 

“Those are vital services to folks and individuals that need that therapy,” Boliek said. “But when you have, like in North Carolina, a system that went from $1.4 million or so in total billings for autism therapy to more than $660 million a year in billings on autism therapy within a five-year range, that begs an audit from the state auditor, who in North Carolina, we are the top watchdog agency for taxpayer waste, fraud and abuse prevention. So, we’ve dug down into that and are in the middle of that.“

Boliek, who was speaking to Fox News Digital at the annual State Financial Officers Foundation conference in Orlando, says his office is “hand in hand” with Vice President JD Vance’s focus on eliminating waste, fraud and abuse to “make sure that the people who need the services and deserve those services get the services” without “wasting money.”

One of the core problems, Boliek explained, is the system is oftentimes designed in a way that fails to properly safeguard against waste and abuse.

“What we’ve got is we’ve seen examples where there might be three different clinical providers billing during the same tranche of time on an autism therapy client, and that is because of poor rulemaking,” Boliek explained. “Some of it is possibly illegal and probably illegal, and we’re going to point that out, and we’re going to try to put people in cuffs because of it.

“But some of it might be technically legal because of the lax oversight from a Democrat-led Department of Health and Human Services,” Boliek said, referencing the top state health agency in North Carolina.

In a March 10, 2026, hearing of the Joint Legislative Oversight Committee on Medicaid, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services presented data that matches Boliek’s narrative of exponential growth in autism therapy.

[…]

Shocking stuff, eh?

Actually, no.  We’ve heard all this before and seen little actually being done about it.

Before you print up those “Boliek for Governor” campaign signs and buttons, consider the fact that then-Gov. Pat McCrory (R) and then-auditor Beth Wood (D) sounded a very similar alarm WAY BACK in 2013:

Gov. Pat McCrory is getting kudos among the general populace for his tough comments on the state Medicaid program at a Thursday press conference.  Auditor Beth Wood is also getting a tip of the hat for a tough audit that found tons and tons of waste fraud and abuse.  But there were a few things that came up during their joint presser on Thursday that got my spidey-sense tingling. First:

[…] In one example of bad budgeting, the state Medicaid office withheld $131 million that was owed to the federal government, though the legislature disallowed the practice and the Office of State Budget and Management warned the Medicaid office not to hold onto the money. The audit says the Medicaid chief business operations officer told auditors that “legislative leadership” knew the Medicaid office withheld the money, so department officials thought it was OK. The audit did not refer to the business officer, Steve Owen, by name, and did not identify the legislative leaders who knew. […]

SCREEEEEEEEECCCCCCHHHH !!!!   So, we have an insinuation in the audit that “legislative leadership” may have violated the law.  Names?  If we’re going through with this transparent, good government thing, we need to lay all of the cards on the table.  Surely, it couldn’t have been US Senator-in-waiting Thom Tillis.   Somebody in authority needs to get to the bottom of THIS.  

And, the second item:

[…]“This audit should be a concern for every North Carolinian,” said Governor McCrory. “Every dollar that is mismanaged at the Department of Health and Human Services for Medicaid is one dollar less that is available for medical services, education or road and bridge repair.”  […]

Medicaid – with all of these alleged fraud and mismanagement allegations –  got expanded TWICE since then with a lot of GOP help. (Roy Cooper is more than happy to tell you all about that.) 

So, at least two times in thirteen years, we’ve had a tough-talking audit of the Medicaid program and  a lot of outrage over allegations of fraud and mismanagement.  But what, if anything, got done to fix the problem?  What, if anything, is being done to address what Boliek is talking about today? 

I’ve given up hope for some sanity and truthfulness out of these guys.

Exhibit  One:  I’m old enough to remember Mitch Kokai as a newsreader syndicated out to AM radio stations across North Carolina. Apparently – NOW – he is a respected credible expert-on-everything political analyst.

Check out this headline on his latest:

Example of WHAT, exactly? 

Wait. There’s more:

Weeks before North Carolina’s primary election, pundits were murmuring about Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger’s future.

Could the Rockingham County Republican actually lose an election to the local sheriff? […]

Wow.  Could *we* be a bit more snide and arrogant ???

As I’ve said before, sheriffs are typically the most popular leaders in a county.  It’s usually a good thing to make friends with the sheriff.  Sam Page had – after all – won six, count ’em, SIX countywide elections.

Most of these clowns on Jones Street don’t realize how close they are to meeting a fate similar to that of Phil Berger.  All of you guys have your jobs because NO ONE ELSE wants them.  NO ONE.  (Who would want to hang with those people and deal with that crap every day – so far away from home, for so little pay?)

If someone credible were to step forward, quite a few incumbents in our General Assembly would be what the kids on the playground call *finito.*

Just because the kids at John Locke and WRAL find you glamorous and important, it doesn’t mean you really are. 

Phil Berger, his family, and his cronies thumbed their noses at the taxpayers and the folks back home just a little too often.  They F.A.ed and F.O.ed.

MORE:

[…] If so, would he fight the result? Would he leave his leadership post? Resign from the Senate? If he stuck around, how would he approach his final year in office?

All questions but the last one have been answered by now. And signs point toward Berger operating much as he has during his previous 15 years at the Senate’s helm. […]

Finding government employment for family members and cronies.  Applying kid-gloves treatment to legislation pushed by well-paying lobbyists.  Killing off bills with no (or not enough) cash tied to them.  That kind of thing.

MORE:

[…] To recap, Berger lost by 23 votes last month to Rockingham Sheriff Sam Page. He asked for recounts available under state law. He also filed a handful of election protests but abandoned them when the recounts confirmed Page’s win.

Berger chose not to fight the result in court. “While this was a close race, the voters have spoken,” he acknowledged in a March 24 concession. He confirmed plans to return to Raleigh “to ensure North Carolina continues to be the best state in the nation in which to live, work, raise a family, and retire.”[…]

That’s right.  *Saint Phillip.*

MORE:

[…] The Senate leader no doubt recalls the circumstances surrounding his own rise to power.

Berger and fellow Republicans shocked observers across the state when they took control of the General Assembly in 2011. Berger replaced Democrat Marc Basnight, who had led the Senate for a record-setting 18 years.

Contemporary reports suggested that Basnight was gracious and ordered his staff to cooperate with new Republican leaders during the transition. In contrast, the outgoing Democratic state House speaker blocked transition efforts. He haggled with his successor for a major increase in the minority party’s staffing budget.

Berger is unlikely to focus on dropping political bombs on his way out. […]

Really?  Why do you say that?  The Berger Warroom is STILL firing away at Sam Page more than two months after the vote.  Berger supporters – and Berger himself – are still out there claiming Sam Page was a Trojan Horse put up by the Democrats.   Anyone familiar with Page will recognize what a joke that assertion is.  Democrats are more likely to get something out of Berger than from Page.  They got Medicaid expansion (TWICE) , The Green New Deal, and dudes in the ladies restroom. 

They ran an ad in the primary alleging Page impregnated an inmate at the county jail.  (There’s been no apology.  Defamation suit  is likely soon to follow.)  Berger’s son Kevin -chairman of the county commissioners – has been attacking Page, the county sheriff, non-stop since he announced his intentions to primary Daddy. Requests for SBI probe after SBI probe.  There’s not one bit of evidence suggesting gracious losing and helping his successor continue to help the people of Rockingham and Guilford counties. 

The Berger crowd likes to insinuate Page is a tool of the Democrats.  But look who’s out there praising Berger on his way out the door:

[…] “Phil Berger is an institutionalist,” former state Sen. Mike Woodard told the Raleigh News and Observer this month. A Democrat from Durham, Woodard opposed many of Berger’s priorities for more than a decade in...]]> Tue, 12 May 2026 05:34:38 +0200 https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/gFRQvyAcY0NFlJbJTFvd_ZqTjJgfb5qG?utm_source=follow.it https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/gFRQvyAcY0NWPH5PCWxF9m9_Fm5zcskI?utm_source=follow.it

In recent years, we’ve documented the flaming hot mess that Appalachian State University has become. There’s cronyism, racial intimidation, a spike in student deaths, assorted DEI lunacy, and solar and wind kookiness. 

Now, we’re hearing the school — funded by the tax dollars confiscated from North Carolinians and other Americans — is barring Americans from applying for certain jobs.  In fact, here’s one right now:

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I don’t know what makes me angrier: (a) the fact that such a B-S class is being peddled as part of the school curriculum or (b) the teaching post is being restricted to only foreign guest workers. 

Silly me.  I thought the GOP takeover in Raleigh — SIXTEEN years ago — was going to take care of crap like this.  You would figure that AppState alum Ted Budd might take notice (and a have a little heartburn) of this nonsense. 

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*Talk about a reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeach.*

Here’s the dependably Marxist N&O taking dictation for their comrades on the state board of education:

North Carolina education leaders are warning that the state’s high school graduation rate could drop this year amid the ongoing federal immigration enforcement actions.

North Carolina saw a record 87.7% high school graduation rate last school year. But on Wednesday, state leaders discussed the possibility that the numbers could drop this year due to fewer Hispanic students attending school. […]

So, we’re going with quantity over quality, eh?  Are these people trying to tell us our public school system is being propped up by illegal aliens with poor English skills?

MORE:

[…] “Many of us have heard from many of our counties that there has been some difficulty with some of our particularly Latino students that attend schools this year as a result of various other activities that have occurred,” said Alan Duncan, vice chair of the State Board of Education. “So there is some expectation, some fronts, that the graduation rate could be affected by that.”

State Superintendent Mo Green replied that they’ve had discussions about how to report the graduation rate if it drops. For now, he said they’re waiting to see what the data shows.

The state is expected to report the latest high school graduation rate this summer when state test results for this school year are released. […] 

Okay. So families who are in the country illegally and not paying taxes are the key to getting even more tax money poured down North Carolina’s public education rat-hole?  Graduation rates are one of the benchmarks used to determine the level of government cash that gets awarded.

MORE:

[…] Attendance dropped during immigration actions

The Trump administration has increased federal immigration enforcement actions since taking office in January 2025. The nation has seen a drop in foreign-born migration since then.

Attendance dropped sharply in several North Carolina school districts last fall when federal immigration agents began an operation in Charlotte that moved to the Triangle. At one point, Durham Public Schools saw attendance drop by 30% during the enforcement surge.

School districts tried to reassure families that schools would be a safe space for their students. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1982 that public schools can’t deny admission to students based on their immigration status.

But the Wake County school system attributes part of its enrollment drop this school year to federal immigration policies.

This school year, Wake County’s English Language Learner population dropped by 3,000 students to 18,476 — the first significant decline in a decade. The statewide ELL headcount dropped by 15,513 students

NC could put asterisk by graduation rate numbers

Earlier this year, Maryland reported a drop in that state’s graduation rate. The biggest drops were among multilingual students and Hispanic students.

On Wednesday, North Carolina education leaders discussed the state’s progress toward its goal of raising the graduation rate to 92% by 2030. In the short-term at least, the graduation rate could drop this year.

Green told the state board they’ve had talks within the state Department of Public Instruction and with local school superintendents about the graduation rate potentially dropping this year.

“We have decided at this moment to see what the results actually are before we go one way or the other,” Green said. “We’ve talked about things like putting an asterisk next to information if there’s a dramatic change. So there’s things that we’ve talked about. But until we actually see the data, we don’t want to make any move at this point.”

I’ve seen some horrid examples of what gets graduated from our public schools. I’ve taught college courses to kids who have recently graduated high school.  I’ve encountered way too many who struggle to read the textbooks.  I’ve seen way too many who can’t write a coherent, grammatically-correct two-page essay.  But they got a diploma.

The national media is full of horror stories about what is making it out of our public schools.

It seems public education has become way too much of a money-grab when it should be about preparing the next generation for leading our nation.

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Many of you out there may remember the 2002 election where voters gave Republicans a 61-59 majority in the NC House.  Out of the blue, a Republican member from Forsyth County switched parties and left us with a 60-60 tie in the House. 

Rep. Richard Morgan, a Republican from Moore County,  proposed an unprecedented  power-sharing agreement with House Democrats.  Morgan and a handful of his friends in the GOP caucus, would vote for a Democrat speaker in exchange for Morgan being named the unprecedented “co-speaker” and his friends getting a few perks.  Despite an election that gave the GOP a slim edge in the House, Democrats — thanks to Morgan’s deal — retained de facto control of the lower chamber on Jones Street.

Morgan used his co-speaker role to help Speaker Jim Black and the Democrats advance their agenda, while targeting Republicans who protested the aisle-crossing betrayal.   The state GOP voted to censure and excommunicate Morgan in 2004 for “party disloyalty.”

I was proud to be part of efforts in 2004 and 2006 to rid Moore County and North Carolina of the stink of Richard Morgan. We came close to knocking him off in the 2004 primary.  We — with lots of outside help — finally got him in 2006.  

In 2007, federal lawmen finally busted House co-speaker Jim Black (D) for his role in a bribery scheme,

Morgan – with his consultant Paul Shumaker — waged war on conservative Republicans.  They worked overtime to primary conservatives and replace them with lefties.  Thom Tillis‘ rise to the NC House was part of this effort.

One would think the traitorous legacy of Richard Morgan would be something most Republicans would run away from.  But Jim Blaine product Brad Briner is not ‘most Republicans.”

Briner rose through the GOP ranks in 2024.  His generous deposits of money into GOP campaign coffers caught the eye of Phil Berger‘s team and earned him a spot on UNC’s big board.  Incumbent treasurer Dale Folwell was leaving his post to run for governor.  A serious replacement was needed and Briner – who could self fund his campaign — was an attractive choice to the unipartiers who call the shots for the GOP in Raleigh.  Not principle or ideology.

Briner – a Chapel Hill Republican – spent much of his campaign trashing the Folwell years at the treasury.  Briner boasted of his professional ties to two major Obama fans — Michael Bloomberg and Steven Rattner.  During the first half of his rookie term as treasurer, Briner has worked hard to restore Blue Cross and Wall Street influence at the treasurer’s office —  two entities Folwell had worked hard to reduce or eliminate. 

Briner has shown he isn’t shy about stepping outside the GOP to hire aides.  His chief investment officer was a former top aide to a former Democrat treasurer. 

Now we learn that Briner has hired – as his officer’s general counsel – a former “special assistant” to the traitorous Richard Morgan:

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Richard Morgan got to be co-speaker with a Democrat-dominated majority because his fellow Republicans would not agree to elect him speaker.  Voters elected more Republicans than Democrats in 2002, but the Raleigh political class thumbed their nose and concocted a way to keep Democrats in  control for eight more years. Morgan and his consultant went to war against fellow Republicans who didn’t like this sleazy deal.

Picking someone as a top aide who gleefully worked for Morgan during this time speaks volumes. And it doesn’t say much for those of us who have worked so hard for some kind of conservative reform in Raleigh.

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(Believe it or not: This report does not even touch on Tim Moore. )

It’s rare that members of our US House delegation. make national news.  We’re usually stocked with boring folks who don’t do much but jump when leadership says jump.

This time, things are different.  Democrat Alma Adams – whose counting troubles and hatred of cops were first exposed here on this site – was probed by the House Ethics Committee for an alleged ‘inappropriate relationship’ with a female staffer. 

Over on the Republican side, we have congressman (and Thom Tillis protégè) Chuck Edwards also getting probed by that bunch for an ‘inappropriate relationship’. (Ironically, Edwards made it to DC by battering incumbent GOPer and primary opponent Madison Cawthorn over alleged ‘inappropriate behavior.’) :

A congressional ethics inquiry is examining allegations involving a North Carolina lawmaker and a former staff member, adding to a series of recent investigations and resignations tied to misconduct claims on Capitol Hill.

A May 1 NOTUS report says Rep. Chuck Edwards (R-NC) is under investigation by the House Ethics Committee due to allegations of sexual misconduct involving a former aide. Three sources told the outlet the panel is examining claims that Edwards had an affair with a staffer who left his office earlier this year. The report further describes the alleged relationship as a long-term involvement with his former deputy chief of staff, who was first hired as a legislative assistant during his time as a state senator in 2021.

NOTUS indicates that multiple sources said the relationship was not discreet and became widely known among staff and members of the North Carolina delegation. It further noted that the alleged relationship created internal tensions and contributed to staff departures from Edwards’ Washington office. House rules prohibit members from engaging in romantic relationships with their staff.

A source cited by NOTUS said a complaint alleging sexual misconduct was filed with the Ethics Committee. Axios first reported the investigation, and CNN reported the panel is examining sexual harassment allegations.

Edwards responded to the allegations and the ethics investigation in a statement saying, “I welcome any investigation, given the professionalism my staff has demonstrated and my commitment to serving the people of Western NC.” He added that “given the current political environment we are facing in our nation, it comes as no surprise that others with their own political agendas will attempt to raise false accusations in order to create news stories.”

[…]

Edwards will face Democrat Jamie Ager in November.  Ager is the grandson of a former Democrat congressman who represented the district back in the 1980s.  His father and brother have served inn the North Carolina House.

National Democrats have been viewing the 11th as a potential upset pickup for some time.

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I swear.  Some people will do just about anything to get CNN to pay attention to them. 

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*Sigh*.  You can ask ANY of the loons who display or trumpet the slogan “86-47.”  They’ll tell you exactly what they mean.  (And it has nothing to do with food orders in a restaurant kitchen. )

We get it.  Doofus is angry that he didn’t get as much attention from Trump as he wanted.  Though, Trump – with his endorsement — DID save Thommy from certain defeat in 2020.

Here’s the acting US attorney general offering his two cents on the Comey indictment:

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At some point, you’d expect NCGOP leaders to step forward and condemn Tillis for embarrassing the party and endangering the party’s ticket for the November election.  Thommy’s antics sure don’t seem to be the recipe for rallying the base in a key mid-term election.

Mike Whatley owes his political career to Thom Tillis.  His senatorial campaign stinks to high heaven right now.  These antics from his political rabbi can’t possibly be helping.  What does Whatley have to say? (STFU, perhaps?)

(*Anyone else thinking “STFU, Thom”? Anyone? Bueller?*)

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It’s hard to find anyone willing to go out on a limb and argue that teachers don’t need to be paid more.  Most proponents of that concept are well aware of the crap that teachers have to put up with these days — red tape, insolent parents, bratty kids, violence.

It always seems that – no matter what gets appropriated to public education — it’s never enough.  The political activists and unions keep screaming for more. Much of that anger tends to be directed at elected Republicans at the state and federal level.  Never mind that most of those folks appropriate lump sums that are later earmarked by local leaders (county commissioners, school boards) for specific end-uses.

Quite a few times, money will be allocated to local authorities for specific uses but will be redirected somewhere else.  Here in Moore County, we had the county commissioners supplying the school board with money to re-do athletic fields at two schools.  Some time later, those schools asked about plans for redoing their fields, and were told there was no money for the project(s).  The cash made it to the central office, but vanished like a yacht passing through the Bermuda Triangle.

I am sure there are stories like that in each of the state’s 100 counties.

Quite often, teachers are forced to pay out of their pockets for classroom supplies. (All while six-figure salaried central office PhDs are mutliplying like rabbits.) 

Check out what one of the good guys in Raleigh found out about the financing of classroom supplies:

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And here is another one of the good guys in Raleigh asking about a butt-load of COVID money that got directed to the state’s public schools:

Teacher pay has been much in the news lately. Thousands of North Carolina teachers are supposed to descend on Raleigh next Friday to protest no state budget and lobby for higher salaries and more funding for public education. In addition, Gov. Stein made news recently when he proposed an 11 percent pay increase for teachers as part of his new 2026–27 budget. Legislative proposals have been less generous with the House proposing teacher salary increases of 8.7 percent over two years and the Senate, 3.3 percent over two years along with bonuses. Still, both branches have been unable to come to a budget agreement and those numbers remain largely starting points. In the meantime, educators are angry and have not received a statewide raise since July 2024.

Do teachers need higher salaries? Yes. But before we begin a full-scale discussion, let’s remember, while teachers have not received statewide raises in almost two years, teachers and educators have received bonuses, salary supplements and additional pay as part of federal Covid-relief efforts.

People forget that North Carolina public schools received $6.2 billion between 2020 and 2025 to aid schools and educators with the Covid-19 pandemic. Figures published by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction reveal 51.5 percent of all Covid-relief dollars in North Carolina were spent on salaries and benefits. Accordingly, school districts spent $2,642,859,231 on salaries, bonuses and stipends during the period 2020 to 2025.

 Although the overall amounts are clear, our understanding of how the money was spent is not. That’s because when school districts received Covid funding, they were only required to state what the money was spent on.

For example, if the money funded a tutoring program, there was no requirement to demonstrate what impact the program had on student learning or test scores. So, we have boxes with lots of big numbers but little understanding of how the money was distributed.

The chart below lists the 12 largest expenditures from the “salaries” category for total Covid spending for North Carolina public schools from 2020 to 2025. North Carolina public schools spent over $2.6 billion dollars on “salaries” and other pay categories.

Some of the largest categories include $990.3 million was spent on “bonus pay”, another $101.1 million for “Supplement/Supplementary Pay and $133.7 for “Instructional Support.” The largest pay category is, by far, “Bonus Pay (Not Subject to Retirement)” with $990.3 million in expenditures. A review of the spreadsheet, reveals all but $22.7 million of those funds were distributed between 2022 and 2024

For the sake of argument, let’s say bonus pay was divided equally among all education employees. Over the time period 2022 to 2024, on average there were 174,218 employees. That means school employees in North Carolina received a total of $5,684 over those three years. Again, more than likely funds are not distributed equally among all employees. Still, the figure gives you some sense of how much money was distributed.

A few categories are more specific in where the money is going, these include Teacher and Instructional Support I. Over $273.8 million was awarded in teacher salaries. What does that mean? Again about $250 million was awarded during the period 2022–2024. If evenly distributed among all teachers, teachers would have received about $2,668 over that three-year period.

The numbers listed here are totals and school districts spend money differently. For example, Wake County received $434.2 million in Covid-relief funds. Of that amount, WCPSS spent approximately 76 percent of all funds on salaries and benefits, including $49.7 million on teacher pay and $120.5 million for bonus pay (With No Retirement). If money is distributed equally to all teachers, teachers would have received $4,664 over two years (10,700 teachers). Likewise, regarding bonus pay all WCPSS employees would have received approximately $6,178 in bonus pay over two years.

The point: North Carolina educators received significant federal Covid-relief funding. However, important information about how that money was specifically distributed and spent is missing.

Do North Carolina teachers need a pay raise? Yes. However, before we begin a discussion on teacher pay wouldn’t it be worthwhile to know how our school districts spent $2.6 billion in salaries?

There is a lot of tax money flowing through the state’s public school bureaucracy. As responsible citizens, we have to ask:  Are we providing adequate oversight on these bureaucrats who are receiving and distributing this money?  Are we doing enough to ensure money is going where it is supposed to go?

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Being gracious losers and offering to unify the party for November sure doesn’t look like it’s  in the cards. I can imagine it’s tough to let go and move on after you’ve spent years on the state payroll, pulling in a bloated, undeserved salary, and lording over / terrorizing everyone in our fair state. 

Let’s not forget, Dave Boliek‘s payroll is only so big. Surely, he can’t afford to take on every Berger crony in Raleigh at the salary they are currently making. 

Sam Page knocked off capo di tutti Phil Berger fair and square in the March primary.  Despite being outspent 12-to-1 and being slandered so ferociously that it would have destroyed a lesser man. Page beat Berger 2-to-1 in Rockingham County – a place each man calls home.  Voters also soundly rejected state Rep. Reece  Pyrtle- a top Berger lieutenant – and voted out Kevin Berger‘s controlling majority on the Rockingham County board of commissioners. In both cases, weak Republican incumbents were replaced by much more conservative MAGA-leaners.   The March primary was a clear rejection of the Berger cartel by fellow Republicans.  Yet, Berger cronies are bending over backwards to paint Page’s win as some kind of Democrat victory. 

Marching with leftists? Two propaganda organs for the state Republican establishment – North State Journal and Carolina Plotthound – are disseminating the spin that Page ‘marched with leftists’ on Friday in Raleigh. (They love Phil Berger and are apparently still butt-hurt over Sugar Daddy being dismissed. )

Given what I know about Page and his background, I had serious doubts about the veracity of these claims.  I reached out to a few folks I know who are very familiar with Page and his thinking.

Page, I was told, is not the kind of guy to sit around and wait for ‘leadership’ to tell him how to vote.  He does a deep-dive into an issue or situation to ensure he understands all of the important aspects.  Talking to somebody or reading something in particular should never be assumed as him buying into an argument.  He’s a researcher, I’m told.  Drawing on a lot of the skill set he’s honed as a veteran investigator and lawman. 

That sounds similar to something I learned long ago from the late Tim Russert of NBC News.  I became acquainted with him during the earliest stages of my media career.  I was in a meeting with him one time when someone asked what he does to prepare each day for the news chase.  Russert told us he reads three sources he agrees with wholeheartedly, and also reads three he’s skeptical about.  Understanding where everyone is coming from in a debate makes you a better and well-rounded person, we were told.

Folks close to Page told me he did go over to where the teachers were hanging out on the Halifax Mall.  He admitted as much in a Facebook post. Page said he and other lawmakers spent time there talking – and listening – to teachers in town for the march.

Sheriff Page is quite a celebrity and several people on the Mall wanted photos with him.  My source told me about one instance where Page agreed to pose for a pic — IF the marcher agreed first to remove their shirt which had a partisan slogan printed on it.  My source said the marcher agreed and did so.

I’ve observed plenty of rallies and marches I did not support. I’ve also been photographed with people who don’t exactly thrill me. I am sure there are a lot of politicians out there who could say the same thing.  Walking around the outskirts of a rally conversing with participants is hardly “protesting with” or “marching with.”

Democrats and Roy Cooper got more out of Phil Berger than they can ever hope to get out of Sam Page.

Phil Berger was front-and-center for at least TWO of Cooper’s top achievements — repeal of HB2 and the expansion of Medicaid. Cooper campaigned for office in 2016 demanding that trannies be allowed back into ladies locker rooms and restrooms.  And Berger and the Republicans gave that to him.  

Berger was also central to the expansion of Medicaid — a fraud laden program bound to put the state’s taxpayers in fiscal turmoil if expanded.  It got expanded and – yes – it did put us in financial peril.  So, Phil and the boys got together with Democrat Josh Stein to throw even more tax money at the Medicaid boondoggle. It’s as though politicians in DC and in Raleigh are locked in a battle to see who can break the bank FIRST. https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/gFRQvyAcY0PVP6KTaipyprJXeTvhTWzl?utm_source=follow.it https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/gFRQvyAcY0NlgQ5iCHITzQci-pKuS9mN?utm_source=follow.it

We told you earlier about a conservative activist seeking office here in Moore County being the victim of a ‘swatting’ attack.  ‘Swatting’ involves making a false call to 9-1-1 alleging ongoing or potential violence at a target’s home.  (Hostage situation, ongoing assault and battery, murder in progress, etc.)

Most of the time, police show up with guns drawn ready for action, thinking they are intervening in a violent situation — only to interrupt a peaceful family dinner or a good night’s sleep. 

These ‘swatting’ episodes provide a real good opportunity for someone to be hurt or killed.  They are not funny. They waste law enforcement time and resources.  And this kind of crap needs to be clamped down on and appropriately punished. 

In the ‘swatting’ of Jim Pedersen, sources tell us two patrol cars – each with one officer — were dispatched to the Pedersen home.  We’re told that – as the officers were preparing to leave the Pedersen property – another false report against Pedersen alleging ongoing criminal activity came in.

Well, in the Pedersen matter, a temporary restraining order and three criminal charges have been filed against Pinehurst resident Justin David Bradford:

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This is one of the worst broken records I’ve ever listened to.  (*The best fundraiser and best candidate to beat Cooper, eh?*) 

Top off your beverage of choice before proceeding with this:

Democrat Roy Cooper continues to lead Republican Michael Whatley in the race for North Carolina’s open U.S. Senate seat in new polls that indicate broader support for Democrats in other races across the state as economic sentiment sours.  

Cooper led Whatley 50.4% to 41.4%, with 8.2% undecided, in a head-to-head poll released Wednesday by Opinion Diagnostics, a Boston-based polling company run by political advisors to Republican politicians in Massachusetts and North Carolina. The group surveyed about 830 North Carolina voters between April 21 and 24. The margin of error was about 3.5 percentage points. […]

Add this to a long list of bad polls and a big fundraising lead for the former governor.  It’s going to be a long hard road to November.

I’ve long been convinced that the Raleigh establishment has some kind of non-aggression pact with Roy Cooper. They never seriously challenged Cooper as attorney general.  Even when he was running the state crime lab into the ground.  Pat McCrory didn’t want to talk about the crime lab in 2016 and ended up losing a close one to ol’ Coop.  Dan Forest just disappeared for a key stretch of the 2020 campaign.  Seriously.  It’s like those stories about point-shaving in sports.  Holding back in order to ensure a desired outcome.

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Took the words right out of my mouth …,.

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Many of you may remember Ed Martin as President Trump’s former nominee for US attorney for DC.  As a private attorney, Martin defended some folks arrested for January 6 and has passionately called for a credible, full investigation of that episode.  Thom Tillis and a few other RINOs helped kill Martin’s nomination.  Martin now serves in the DOJ as the administration’s ‘Pardon Attorney.’

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It’s hard to get the images of Ashli Babbit‘s murder out of your head.  On video, she can be seen climbing through a broken window inside The Capitol.  I’ve seen video from witnesses who claim she was seeking to go forward and calm some of the crowd down. Babbit can be seen getting shot while standing in the frame of the broken window. She does not appear to be armed. Her hands are visible – holding onto the door frame for balance. Video shows uniformed Capitol cops about five feet behind her. You can also see an armed officer – standing about ten feet to Babbit’s left — fire his weapon at her while she’s standing in the window frame.

Anywhere else that cop gets prosecuted and sued.  On Capitol Hill, he gets a promotion and praise from both parties.  There has yet to be an honest, credible investigation of the January 6 incident at The Capitol. But that doesn’t stop maggots like Tillis running their mouths about stuff clearly contradicted by existing video. 

I tried to tell you people about this dirtbag Tillis as early as 2011-2012.  I feel vindicated.  But I hate the mess he’s helped make and the embarrassment he’s caused to this state.

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