Triad Conservative

Greensboro Among Worst Cities Nationwide for Healthcare Monopoly

A fascinating article over at Carolina Journal links to a report that studies and describes health care monopoly conditions nationwide. The report indicates that Greensboro ranks #4 in the country from the standpoint of hospital market concentration. 

The study explains that highly concentrated markets lack competitiveness. This is, of course, a key characteristic of a monopoly.

It should never have been permitted to develop in this direction, to this degree. Private markets cannot function properly when monopoly conditions exist.

The Hinson/ Chandler Partnership

The fellow who worked in the group home owned by former Greensboro Deputy Chief James Hinson and former Sgt. Kevin Chandler is now in jail facing multiple sex offense charges.

We had described here previously Hinson's history.

It turns out that Chandler was among the 39 officers who filed an EEOC action against the city of Greensboro and its taxpayers.

Billy Jones reported several years ago that Hinson had been awarded nearly $140,000 of taxpayers' money with his lawsuit. I don't know how much Chandler got; or if Hinson received any further monies.

It would be interesting to know whether they used their payouts from these actions against Greensboro taxpayers to purchase and/or start up their group home.

The fact that Hinson will not be the new police chief is a blessing. Apparently the local left had turned against him because he was most recently a police officer who held a position of authority. During the height of the GPD fiasco nearly fifteen years ago, he was their hero.

But Hinson's fading off into the sunset does not mean the city will make a good choice selecting its new chief. It seems most likely to be an identity politics pick tailored to pacify the many anti-police activists in Greensboro.

Worthless Tillis' Greatest Hits

A lot has happened since he was sworn in during early 2015. However, Thom Tillis has reliably disappointed conservatives and constitutionists throughout North Carolina.

Now that he faces a substantial primary challenge, he is changing his tune and pretending to support the president's agenda on borders and immigration.

I was plowing through a pile of articles in my home office and found several oldies-but-goodies:

1. When he supported amnesty for illegals and sought to cut a deal with the socialists;
2. When he called for an ethics probe of Judge Roy Moore (contrast this with how the establishment handled the allegations against Brett Kavanaugh); and
3. When he gave an interview with the left-wing BuzzFeed-- apparently enjoying their approval, and expressing a desire to "silence the extreme right" on immigration matters.

The title of this post suggests that these instances represent Tillis' "greatest hits". That might not be entirely true, because he likely has many other instances of moving left-of-center.

You can't, after all, enjoy a 38% Conservative Review lifetime rating, or a 50% New American Freedom Index score, without dropping the ball on many issues.

But these three articles I linked above seem entirely representative of what he was during the first 4.5 years of his senate term.

His primary against a well-funded conservative, Garland Tucker, should be interesting. You can count on the fact that the regional mainstream media will line up behind Tillis during primary season. He, after all, will be regarded as the Right Kind of Republican. If he survives the primary, the media will then try to bury him during the general election. These are not difficult predictions.

And it is entirely possible that he might survive the primary. The GOP primary electorate, after all, is not terribly conservative; and will oft tend to grant automatic advantages to incumbents.

Students Need to Overcome Chilling Academic Atmosphere

Greensboro Pride Festival Seeks to Corrupt Children

Yes!Weekly has an article on its website celebrating the fact that the Greensboro Pride Festival will be seeking to provide "family fun" at its festival this weekend. It will have a "Kid Zone" specifically appealing to children. Check this out:

The KidZone will be open during that time between February 1 Place and East Market Street.

Greensboro singer, guitarist and ukulele player Finn Phoneix will headline the KidZone. The nine-year-old enjoys writing his own songs and singing popular covers, particularly from the 1960s and 1970s. Other performers will also take the KidZone stage throughout the day.

The KidZone will also include crafts and games with the Greensboro Children’s Museum, a bouncy obstacle course, drag queen story time, and a dance zone. A fire truck will be on hand from 1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. and the Greensboro ECO Bus will bring plants and live animals for families to explore.

This is very interesting. The Greensboro Children's Museum is involved. There will be a drag queen story time.

There are significant numbers of people involved in this effort who seek to corrupt the morals of children; lead them astray; and alter their concept of what is normal and desirable. I fear they will be facing some fairly significant accountability in the hereafter.

This announcement comes on the heels of a major news story reported in the mainstream media that admits what religious conservatives have been saying all along-- that homosexual behavior is not exclusively caused by a person's genes.

The media/left complex for many years sought to mislead the public into believing otherwise. In fact, Governor Cooper had made this assertion during mid-summer to justify his decision to ban taxpayer funding of conversion therapy.

But since they have achieved their agenda for the most part, having used artifice and deception, they can apparently now admit the truth.

But that does not preclude them from attempting to corrupt the morals and perceptions of children.

The Political Response to the Redistricting Court Decision

This outcome was not unexpected. Last week, a three-judge panel in North Carolina unanimously decided that the Republicans' gerrymandered district lines in the state are illegal. It was an openly activist decision that feigned a constitutional basis never previously recognized or discovered during the many decades the Democrats controlled the state.

It was creative jurisprudence-- and one of the offending judicial activists was a Republican!

Nonetheless, the General Assembly Republicans are stuck with it. Various articles have suggested the impact might be limited. But a horrible stench remains.

The Wall Street Journal correctly observed, according to the Carolina Plott Hound, that "liberals assail partisan gerrymanders as undemocratic except when they do the rigging". And, in fact, when the courts make decisions such as these, it is profoundly undemocratic because it takes prerogatives away from the people's elected representatives.

And today, First in Freedom reports that state Senator Dan Blue, a black democratic socialist, has already asserted that his side is still free to gerrymander in the event they were to regain power.

The Republicans are severely disadvantaged on these matters for several reasons.

First, they unnecessarily reauthorized the Voting Rights Act during 2006-- two years before the country elected a black president. The Voting Rights Act has since been used against them repeatedly in redistricting lawsuits-- and especially here in North Carolina.

Second, they have refused to deal definitively with the scourge of judicial activism. We are going to see increasingly brazen activism in North Carolina courts now that the socialists have overwhelming control of the state Supreme Court.

Third, they still seem unequal to the socialists' power politics. The other side plays ruthlessly to win; whereas the Republicans are, at best, cagey and often strain to appear virtuous.

The Republican legislative leadership today hurried to point out they would be extremely satisfied with the maps drawn up by Dr. Jowei Chen. Chen was the expert witness hired by the democratic socialist party.

I recall last month when Dan Forest announced during his campaign kick-off in Winston-Salem that he would forsake negative campaigning. Of course, that is tantamount to unilateral disarmament. The socialists will not gleefully reciprocate. Does Forest truly want to refrain from pointing out his opponent's record, and making comparisons; and allow them to pummel him unopposed?

That the socialists and their compatriots in the media have been extraordinarily dishonest and dishonorable on the matter of gerrymandering is quite obvious. But you can't hope to prevail over them if you don't fight intelligently, and play to win.

Greg Holt is the Only Choice in the NC-03 Congressional Race

The choices in North Carolina's 3rd district congressional election in eastern North Carolina on Tuesday include a moderate, establishment Republican; a democratic socialist; a libertarian; and a strong, consistent constitutional conservative. Greg Holt is the preferred candidate.

The moderate establishment Republican in this race is Greg Murphy, a current state representative with a checkered voting record. We have written about this here before, which includes; 

• support of the repeal of HB 2, the law that was supposed to protect the religious liberty (and privacy) of Christians against far left municipalities' granting the LGBT crowds special rights;
• support for a massive, wasteful bond package at the state level that will cost taxpayers plenty;
• opposition to state treasurer Dale Folwell's attempt to save taxpayers money on the State Health Plan;
• support and sponsorship of a massive new charity healthcare entitlement program-- a quasi-Medicaid expansion; and
• support of green energy taxpayer subsidies.

This is an atrocious record. But in spite of this, some Republicans feel this man must still be supported. With that kind of attitude, we will never rid ourselves of these worthless, mushy, moderate establishment types. When the attacks from the media/left complex came on HB 2, Greg Murphy waved the white flag and surrendered. He also has shown that he is highly prone to jam wide open the spigots spending taxpayers' money; and jump on every establishment GOP bandwagon of policy compromise.

In fact, this is apparently why someone who was highly active with the county GOP in Onslow County, Lauren Laboy, decided to support Greg Holt, the Constitution Party candidate.

Greg Holt is a strong man of God who will not compromise on matters of principle-- unlike Greg Murphy. He is a solid limited-government, constitutional conservative who will not spend the taxpayers' money like a drunken sailor-- unlike Greg Murphy.

Greg Holt is the right choice on Tuesday.

The Importance of Churches/Denominations Drawing Certain Lines on the LGBTQ Agenda

Joshua Steely, Touchstone: 

(Compromise) is especially justified when dealing with matters that are not of great significance. In such cases, compromise is generally a good thing.

But when it comes to important, foundational matters, such as those concerning doctrine and morals, compromise is not so good. In fact, it can be downright bad. If you compromise on something when you shouldn't, you yourself become compromised. You will then have to compromise more and more, and in the end you'll find that you've been compromised all the way over to the other side (or very nearly).

This happens, in part, because a compromise involves some degree of moral equivocation. When you compromise on something, you implicitly concede that the other position is justified, at least to some extent. That's why we compromise on things that are inconsequential, or unclear, or where both sides have a valid claim, and why we don't compromise on murder or theft. If we started compromising on the latter, our whole justice system would become compromised.

Observations in this area are relevant to the various efforts being made by churches, denominations, and other Christian bodies to compromise with the sexual revolution...

By supporting the addition of "sexual orientation" and "gender identity" (SOGI) to anti-discrimination laws, Christians would be implying that these are legitimate categories, that they are valid markers of human identity in the same way that race and sex are. But that is precisely what orthodox Christianity disputes, and it is precisely why we refuse to uphold such categories in our churches, schools, and other organizations.

In other words, orthodox Christianity denies the charge of bigotry in, for example, the refusal of a Christian school to hire homosexual teachers. Such a refusal is not bigotry because "sexual orientation" is not a valid category of human identity. It is a moral category, not an anthropological category. Refusing to hire someone based on SOGI is not analogous to refusing to hire someone based on race or sex; it is analogous to refusing to hire someone based on some other kind of sexually immoral behavior, such as polygamy or promiscuity...

American law is not written in stone, and the events of recent years have made it abundantly clear that LGBT advocates are not content simply to win the freedom to do as they please and let Christians (and others) opt out of participating...

There is an alternative, a less pragmatic and more courageous option. American law may not be written in stone, but God's law is—the Ten Commandments quite literally. The first of these calls us to have no other gods but God alone. We may say to an increasingly pagan culture, "No; God is God, and he has told us what is right about humanity and right for humanity. We will not sign on to these new categories of humanity you have created, which simply codify sexual immorality."

We may suffer for saying that. We may miss the window of compromise, and find ourselves facing an implacable foe. That foe may defeat us and take away our religious freedom. But at least we will not have given it away.

Group Home Revelation Coincides with the Arrival of Hinson's Coveted Opportunity

Five weeks ago, I wrote here about Mark Walker's decision to invite Greensboro Police Department Deputy Chief James Hinson to testify before a House subcommittee in Washington. I wrote at that time:

Many of us recall Hinson well because he was one of the starring characters in Jerry Bledsoe's Cops in Black and White series in the old Rhinoceros Times. Hinson had led a successful racial insurrection against the police chief; and made a series of allegations and complaints of racial discrimination. But he was demonstrated in the series to have participated in a number of real and suspected instances of very serious wrongdoing. Hinson was a lightning rod.

But he also happens to be perhaps the most politically protected cop in the history of the Greensboro Police Department. In spite of all the real and alleged wrongful activities in which he had participated, he moved up the ladder all the way to deputy chief.

Then, a couple of things happened. First, the Greensboro police chief resigned; and it was widely presumed that Hinson would be a candidate to replace him. In fact, the Bledsoe series had reported that, many years ago, Hinson was acutely interested in who would lead the department; and had very strong beliefs about the kind of person that should be.

But then, a bombshell story was reported over the last week or so. Triad City Beat-- of all publications!-- reported that Hinson was the object of an investigation because a group home he owns has been accused of sexual abuse of its clients. This was highly ironic because some of the most high-profile journalists at Triad City Beat likely were highly supportive of Hinson's efforts during the David Wray saga nearly 15 years ago.

Hinson's very ownership of this group home was a matter of controversy a number of years ago. He was likely eager to take advantage of the largesse offered by the welfare state. But it was a clear conflict of interest because he was part of the command structure within a police department that regularly would have to respond to calls at that facility. In fact, he had direct supervisory responsibility over the officers covering that part of the city. The fact that he was operating such a facility undoubtedly would require his involvement and attention when he owed Greensboro citizens all of his best efforts

But nothing was done about it, of course. Greensboro's leadership was quite aware of the situation, and swept it under the rug.

The Rhino Times just reported that the Greensboro Police Officers Association has spoken out. The group correctly points out that Hinson is being treated differently than other police officers:

(W)hat is as troubling as the failure to report the incident is that the investigative unit of the Greensboro Police Department that investigates such allegations is under the direction of Hinson. So allegations made by a client, if reported, according to the police procedure, would be investigated by officers who work under the direction of Hinson, the owner and operator of the group home.

The Greensboro Police Officers Association press release expresses concern about another issue.

“It has been the long-standing policy and practice of the Greensboro Police Department that employees who are the subject of any criminal investigation, whether stemming from an on-duty incident or an off-duty incident, be placed on administrative duty pending the outcome of the investigation. As such, numerous rank and file officers of the Greensboro Police Department have been subjected to this practice.

“One of the main purposes of the Greensboro Police Officers Association is to ensure the fair and equitable treatment of our members. Every employee of the Greensboro Police Department should be subject to the same treatment regarding administrative duty. The Triad City Beat reported on September 3, 2019 that a Deputy Chief of the Greensboro Police Department is currently the subject of a criminal investigation being conducted by the Guilford County Sheriff’s Department, as well as the Guilford County District Attorney’s Office.”

“The policies applicable and uniformly applied to the rank and file officers of the Greensboro Police Department should be applicable and uniformly applied to all Greensboro Police Department employees, regardless of their rank.”

In fact, Hinson has been politically protected and treated according to a different set of ground rules for many years.

Would it not be astonishing if he were elevated to the position of police chief? But that would not even remotely be out of character for Greensboro's leadership.

The Sexual Jungle

From "Feral Sexuality" by Anthony Esolen, Touchstone:

People have rightly noted the breathtaking illogic of it all. We are to believe at once that there are no differences between a man and a woman, and that somebody can really be a woman trapped in a man's body, or vice-versa. It seems inexplicable...

First, only people who are almost numb to the wonderful differences between the sexes can ever suppose that you can make a transition from one to the other. It is like imagining that you could leap over the Grand Canyon if only you had a running start. And we are taught this numbness. We have the numbness drummed into our souls. If I were to say, at a typical university, "How fine a thing it is that women have those hips that can cradle a child," or "A good woman will think of more things to do for other people in a day than a good man will in a month, and she will actually do some of them," I would be accused of misogyny. That accusation can only make sense if it is understood that I am implying that men likewise must bear some wondrous things about them, for which women should be grateful. Thus it is that we must disdain women in order to promote the interests of females who wish to deny a great part of their womanhood, not to mention the manhood of men.

For the relations between the sexes are not now marked by gratitude. They are marked by suspicion, resentment, and recrimination. And these things, I suggest, help to explain why someone would fall into delusions of gender. It is not so much that the boy wants desperately to be a girl, about which he knows nothing, as that he wants desperately not to be a boy, because he has been taught that it is bad to be a boy. Boys do terrible things. Most of all, they grow up to be men, and men do terrible things; men are what is wrong with everything in the world. The girl who wants to be a boy, likewise, really wants desperately not to be a girl, because to be a girl is to be physically weak and vulnerable, and the object of innumerable offenses committed by men.

I am not saying that these feelings are mad. We are living in a jungle. That is the sexual revolution. It is not a tulip garden, as its early and relatively innocent promoters promised. It is a jungle. And in a jungle, you have beasts of prey. The worst of the sexes comes forth: aggressive and obnoxious men, sly and treacherous women, each sex hurting the other, and neither sex taking any responsibility for the general wickedness. If you are 25 years old and you have taken part in the jungle, you have been hurt badly and you have done your share of hurting others, too. The jungle makes good people dubious, dubious people bad, and bad people monsters. That should not surprise us.

I do not think there can be a bottom to the trouble. If we say that it will come to a stop because logic, biology, and human experience are all against it, I reply that we have already repudiated all of those things. We are standing on a crater whose floor continually collapses beneath us...

What is in the offing? Children by incest, confusing the categories of sibling and spouse; children by manufacture, confusing the categories of nature and artifice; the trans-human, in large part already among us as we replace face-to-face encounters with those mediated by machine, confusing the categories of animate and inanimate; "breaking the binary," confusing the categories of being and not-being; and subjecting all things to the dictates of individual wills molded by the machinery of mass phenomena: ants in an anthill, thinking themselves to be gods, and repudiating the Word by whom all things were made...

I am not, however, asking for perfection. Only for humanity, ordinary fallen humanity, sinful but not mad, often ungrateful but not essentially so, daft sometimes but still capable of loving man for being man and woman for being woman, with a heart for beauty, and for the innocence of children...

Not even diamond is as hard as the heart of man when he has consigned his mind and soul over to sin. In this state only the merciful hand of God will do: to soften that heart in the corrosive bath of his grace. Let it be soon, O Lord. Smite us and save us all.