Triad Conservative

Trump's Endorsement of Thom Tillis

It was not entirely unexpected that President Trump would endorse moderate-to-liberal Republican Senator Thom Tillis in his upcoming primary. 

Trump has done this type of thing previously. For instance, he endorsed Mitt Romney in Utah; and Romney proceeded to talk trash about him and undermine his agenda.

A few considerations likely led to Trump's decision. First, he is acceding to conventional, establishment GOP wisdom regarding who is most likely to retain the seat. He more than likely shares that perspective.

Second, Trump is effectively employed by Mitch McConnell, who has the power to remove him from office if the socialists vote to impeach in the House. McConnell obviously wants Tillis because the North Carolina Senator is quite compatible with him, both ideologically and strategically. Tillis effortlessly had become part of the Washington mess.

Third, on most political matters-- excluding trade and immigration-- Trump is more compatible with the establishment GOP than with conservatives.

Most will recall that Tillis recently did a complete about-face with regard to supporting the President's immigration-and-borders agenda. He had previously done everything he could to undermine Trump; but when he was faced with imploding poll numbers recently, he turned on a dime. It was arresting to watch.

In spite of that history, Trump showered Tillis with favorable endorsement language:

"Thom is tough on Crime, Strong on the Border and fights hard against Illegal Immigration."

Of course, none of this is true. Tillis supported the jailbreak bill that passed the Senate. And his record on the border is indisputably atrocious. Even the president's most ardent supporters must admit that Trump is prone to, er, overstatement.

Unfortunately, this endorsement might carry significant weight in the GOP primary.

Gen IV Nuclear Energy

"Woe to Those Who Call Evil Good"

NC GOP to Grant In-State Tuition to Illegals?

The Daily Haymaker had reported recently about a bill that is working its way through the North Carolina General Assembly. The bill would grant state residency to non-citizens who graduate from the public schools in North Carolina. This is very significant because it would qualify the children of illegal aliens for in-state tuition at state colleges and universities.

The bill has already passed the North Carolina Senate. There was absolutely no opposition. It passed its first reading in the House and is in committee right now.

Let's think about this. More specifically, let's think about high school graduates from Virginia and South Carolina and Tennessee and Georgia-- all of which border on our state. Let's imagine that many of these graduates are from families that had been in the United States for one hundred years or more. These students would have to pay full out-of-state tuition if they attended one of our state colleges or universities in North Carolina.

But under the Republicans' bill, the children of illegal aliens would get in-state tuition. Again, the graduates with longstanding roots in Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee would be left out in the cold. And the children of illegals would pay the same tuition as families that had been in North Carolina for hundreds of years.

Let's hope this bill dies quietly. Passing it would be precisely the wrong thing to do. It would be a major injustice. And it would grant the illegal population in our state prerogatives they ought not have.

Greensboro Taxes, Fees Skyrocket

The news is grim (HT: Greensboro 101):

• Property taxes are going up 5%;
• Water and sewer rates are hiked by 4%; and
• A $2.50 per month recycling fee also is being added.

Remain mindful that water and sewer rates have been increased seemingly every year; and property taxes were effectively increased because of revaluations within the last several years.

We have a 100% democratic socialist city council. When they changed their terms of office to four years, they became less accountable to the public. They fervently believe in a robust, bloated public sector locally that engages in many activities not considered to be core functions of municipal government.

The socialists at the Greater Greensboro Politics Facebook page are undoubtedly sitting up, clapping like seals, and chanting, "Goody, goody!"

Justin Outling, who apparently will be running for mayor during the next cycle, is positioning himself as the sole fiscal conservative on the council. John Hammer reports at the Rhino Times:

Councilmember Justin Outling asked if he could speak and started an explanation about why he was not supporting the budget.  He commended City Manager David Parrish on crafting a budget that would pass, and added, “I regret I cannot support the budget as proposed.  It includes a material tax increase, and fee increases without first even attempting to trim all the fat in city operations.”  He also noted that with the budget the City Council was increasing its own compensation and he couldn’t vote for that.

The city of Greensboro is nearly a lost cause politically. The city is majority-minority territory; and it is largely up to the donor class to lay down the law with council members, and keep things in line. That has not worked for a long time.

Be prepared to have ever increasing amounts of your tax monies squandered. And the performing arts center, with its annual operating deficits, is not even open yet.

Closing of Local Elite Jewish Academy-- conceived in financial fraud-- a Net Positive

The news last week that the American Hebrew Academy was closing was quite a shock. There is enormous, unspeakable wealth in the American Jewish community; and if there is a will to keep this institution alive, it will happen.

It must be recognized that this institution's founding legacy was marked by financial fraud. A very wealthy local Jewish man, Chico Sabbah, had started up and run a reinsurance company. This is a type of insurance company that protects other insurers against catastrophic financial losses. After 9/11, Sabbah's company was subject to enormous claims; but the company was unable to meet its obligations to its clients, in part because money had been taken from its reserves and directed toward this school. It had insufficient reserves when the claims rolled in. EZ Greensboro has the details.

Getting started on the basis of financial fraud is not a good omen. Sure enough, last week we learned that there had been insufficient demand for a progressive Jewish boarding school, even though it was theoretically drawing from afar. And its donor base had collapsed.

It is a beautiful, expansive property. One merely needs to drive along the periphery to understand the resources that were required to develop it.

I do not take joy in the closing of this institution because lives will be disrupted-- both staff and students. I hope they all land on their feet.

But it is a net positive for this school to close. We have written here previously about the worldview of contemporary Judaism, the core values of which are cultural relativism, secularism, radical feminism, socialism and sexual liberationism. It really is best if these values are not transmitted and disseminated; and from that standpoint, closing the institution is really the best possible outcome.

But interestingly, other core values of contemporary Judaism include diversity and multiculturalism. This school, however, was not founded to promote diversity within. The founders were extremely interested in transmitting and reinforcing Jewish culture and tradition to the students. In fact, that is why the school was started up in the first place.

Their goal was not to represent other cultures and traditions and worldviews equitably within their own institution. It was an ethnocentric exercise.

Of course, that community has tended to regard white Christians in the United States as pathological if they are interested in perpetuating their own culture and identity. But it was apparently acceptable within their own community.

It will be interesting to see whether the school is resuscitated by wealthy Jewish donors. Perhaps they will see the handwriting on the wall that the demand simply does not exist.

NC Progressives Threaten, Shout Down 13 Year Old Girl While Speaking About Evils Of Abortion

Guilford Legislator/ Pastor Draws National Attention for Anti-Life Vote

An interesting blog post at the Family Research Council website states that four pastors serving in the North Carolina General Assembly voted against the recent Infant Born Alive veto override attempt.

One of these four legislator/pastors is Guilford County's Amos Quick. His web page on the General Assembly website indicates he serves as pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in High Point. He had previously been an attendee at the church known for the hyperpoliticized ministry of Rev. Cardes Brown.

Quick's former service on the Guilford County School Board was marked by his opposition to school discipline measures and expressed concern over School Resource Officers, or police stationed at schools.

His affiliation with the democratic socialist party made it much more likely that he would vote against human life. His past dabbling with racial identity politics is unsurprising; but this particularly indefensible recent vote highlights the evil that prevails in wide swaths of the politically active black church.

We cannot assume that the black church is monolithic, but it is certainly possible to see patterns.

Recall how we had been told in the past that Martin Luther King, Jr.'s putative moral vision and authority required that we respond in a certain manner. Recently, it was revealed that King had participated in orgies with female church members when on the road, some of whom might not have been terribly willing to acquiesce.

Against such a backdrop, it is fairly unsurprising that Quick voted against life. This is, after all, the politically active black church.

Civic Literacy (or Illiteracy)

Greensboro Gearing Up Surveillance State

Isn't technology wonderful?

A couple of weeks ago we had written about the city of Greensboro's plans to re-institute its despised red light camera program. Now, we learn that the city is also considering an automated program that would use electronic monitors to ticket drivers for speeding. 

Imagine driving down the road, and later finding a summons in your mailbox because you had been electronically monitored and found to be driving five miles per hour over the limit at a strategic location. Because technology is getting cheaper, the monitors perhaps can be nearly ubiquitous.

Imagine receiving these summonses repeatedly; and being forced to pay tribute to the local statists, and appear regularly before the courts to retain your driver's license. Imagine what that would do to your quality of life living in this city; and the shackles associated with being forced to adhere to artificially low speed limits on many local roads. It would change the experience of driving dramatically.

A recent N&R article by Richard Barron shares the details:

... (T)he city might have another traffic monitor to keep you on your toes: Fischer said speeding cameras may be next.

"It depends on how serious the public is going to take Vision Zero and whether they would support speed enforcement,", he said...

In the meantime, Fischer will begin having informal discussions with council members to gauge their reaction and bring the issue to a vote within the next few months.

Adam Fischer is a pointy-headed bureaucrat who is extraordinarily eager to sting Greensboro drivers. He is apparently a big fan of George Orwell, and seeks to replicate what the author was describing many years ago.

Fischer speaks the language of safety, but there is much more at work here. This initiative he is pushing is part of the modern progressive/socialist project that absolutely detests automobiles and drivers; and that seeks to penalize and disincentivize them as much as possible. But in any case, the proposals are an expression of contempt for the people of this city. While they claim to want to reduce traffic fatalities, they do absolutely nothing to support and intensify policing in east Greensboro where homicides are a dime a dozen.

We are experiencing yet another delightful reflection of Nancy Vaughan's leadership.

Barron's article cites a survey that purportedly demonstrates that Greensboro residents support all of this awfulness. One can only imagine how that survey was tilted.

Residents need to give their council members a piece of their mind.

Perhaps the only thing that might save us from this mess is the fact that local African-American drivers might receive just as many summons, and will presumably be quite unhappy about it also. But of course, that depends in part on where the monitors will be placed.