Triad Conservative

Another Former GPD Victim Makes the Headlines

This is getting really fascinating.

Only several weeks ago, James Hinson resigned his deputy chief position in the wake of revelations about a group home he co-owned with another gentleman who also had been a Greensboro Police Department officer.

Today, we learned that Stacey Morton, another GPD officer, is on administrative leave because he is allegedly affiliated with a "black nationalist, hate group" as categorized by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Stacey Morton was one of the minor stars of the "Cops in Black and White" series in the old Rhinoceros Times written by Jerry Bledsoe. The fact that he was disciplined because of striking another gentleman being arrested became a matter of contention. 

Morton ultimately became one of the many black GPD officers who jointly filed an EEOC complaint against former Chief David Wray and the city of Greensboro. I do not know whether he received any settlement monies.

Fifteen years ago when the GPD fiasco was unfolding, the local media/left complex-- and the local political culture-- assumed that folks like Hinson and Morton were unjustly persecuted victims; and that Wray and his men had been caught red-handed willfully discriminating against this large group of black officers.

Wray and his men were the bad guys. The black officers were the good guys.

It might seem odd that the Southern Poverty Law Center would target this black group of which Morton allegedly has been part. But the News and Record article states that the group harbors a less than complimentary perspective regarding two key demographics-- the Jewish community and the LGBT community.

Kevin MacDonald points out that the Southern Poverty Law Center has been largely Jewish-funded, and states the following:

(T)he SPLC is a de facto Jewish activist organization promoting Jewish ethnic interests...

And in fact, that explains nearly everything about the activities of that organization, the matters it emphasizes and the targets it tries to bring down. That the mainstream media repeatedly relies upon it, despite the group's heavily-documented corrupt activities and motives, continues to be a source of wonderment.

We are supposed to believe that, fifteen years ago, there were bad reasons for preventing Stacey Morton from working as a GPD officer; but now there are good reasons. You were profoundly evil if you stood in his way fifteen years ago. But now, we are to believe that it is time to hold him accountable.

Do you think, perhaps, that it is time to understand all of these folks according to what the Bible teaches about sinful, fallen human nature-- all of them?

Update: The Rhino Times has more.

When Law Loses Its Legitimacy

State-Sponsored Advocacy of Taking Away Free Speech Rights-- at a "Venerable" Greensboro Institution

Conservatives and constitutionists have grown acutely aware that the contemporary left wants to revoke the First and Second Amendments of the U.S. Constitution.

The decades-long battle against the right to bear arms is well known. The intentional maneuvering to take away the religious liberty of orthodox Christians had been percolating expectantly for many years, but more recently rose to the surface.

The battle against free speech first arose as political correctness. That happened many years ago. But now it becomes manifest as efforts to have social media and technology companies suppress speech-- and they have gleefully obliged. 

In Europe and Canada, certain types of political and cultural speech leads to serious legal consequences; and the left in the United States, left to its own devices, would implement that here also.

Of course, since the emergence of Donald Trump, the left has repeatedly, incessantly incited violence against the President, his supporters and against conservatives who engage in political speech in public places. The incitement of violence against their political opponents is apparently a form of speech that is acceptable to the left. They have also engaged in speech encouraging the defacement and destruction of public monuments.

The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG) is an institution with longstanding roots in this community. As its name suggests, it is a branch of the state university system and is therefore an instrument of the state.

Last week, UNCG hosted a conference that was designed to explore and advocate the taking away of free speech rights. The James G. Martin Center reported the details. The overall direction of the many discussions and presentations given by the lefty academicians present was that free speech is a huge problem, and that we need to figure out a way to limit it. (Of course, they were not speaking about the aforementioned incitement of violence by the left.)

Our state tax dollars were used to present this conference. This was the state of North Carolina advocating for limiting free speech rights and undermining the Constitution. And it happened even though Republicans have controlled the legislature and the UNC Board of Governors for nearly a decade. They ought to defund the department that sponsored this conference at their earliest opportunity.

One interesting twist to this free speech issue is that our esteemed mayor-- dear Nancy Vaughan-- recently restricted the free speech rights of those appearing before our City Council. This particular policy was aimed at a subset of the local left. 

It was one branch of the local left versus another one.

Of course, the folks on the left who were being shut down by dear Nancy did not like it one bit. They squealed like stuck pigs.

Apparently, the desired policy is... free speech for me, but not for thee.

Leftist City of Greensboro Unleashes Plastic Straw Nazi's on Unsuspecting Businesses

Most of those who have studied political systems understand that fascism is an ideology that sits on the left side of the political spectrum because it is a form of socialism.

Sam Hieb at the Locker Room reports that the city of Greensboro is encouraging citizens to pressure restaurants and other establishments that serve food and drink to eliminate the use of plastic straws. The city announced to citizens that it had designated this month as No Straw November, and encouraged the completion of certain forms: 

Let business owners know that you are interested in seeing fewer straws.

Print out these to give to staff and management.

There are undoubtedly many lefties in Greensboro who would be delighted to act as Plastic Straw Nazi's, descending on commercial establishments to squeeze them to eliminate the use of plastic straws. The totalitarians are at work once again, making environmentalism their religion, and giving it devotion that ought to be redirected toward more eternal matters.

I have experienced two local restaurants over the last several months refusing to provide plastic straws-- Tacqueria al Azteca at Quaker Village near Guilford College; and the Elm St. Grill in north Greensboro. There are doubtless others. The solution, of course, is to avoid patronizing such establishments. Let the free market work.

Good choices will remain-- unless, of course, the totalitarians are ultimately successful, and we no longer have such choices.

Update 11/07: It turns out that our eliminating plastic straws will represent a drop in the bucket, because the problems affecting the world's oceans mostly come from other parts of the globe. This is a bit reminiscent of the climate change crusade.(HT: BG)

Will Guilford County Schools Disciplinary Changes Create a Mass Killer?

Last week, we had posted here about an effort to water down the disciplinary policy within the Guilford County Schools system. Opposition was beginning to develop. The leaders of the system since then have posted an explanatory document that seeks to make the changes seem harmless.

While the situation appears to be a bit different than opponents had feared, it is quite apparent that the system is putting lipstick on a pig. It hides behind a decades-old federal court decision to justify its new policy. And it creates a burden for principals to demonstrate and defend affirmatively that keeping misbehaving students in the classroom will likely lead to issues with safety and disorder.

Over the last couple of weeks, a fellow named Andrew Pollack has been making the rounds. His daughter was killed in the Parkland mass shooting in Florida. It has been demonstrated that very weak disciplinary measures and negligent law enforcement led to that situation:

It is quite clear what the implications are. When progressive/socialist local jurisdictions fail to maintain order and discipline in the school setting to satisfy the demands of identity politics, mass violence can erupt. Mass killers can be emboldened.

The Guilford County Schools system ought to take note. And parents ought to quickly search for alternatives to the public school system.

Pollack also visited with Tucker Carlson. Click the link to hear that conversation.

How to Think About Syria

The Demise of Greensboro's Own Senator Kay Hagan

The news of the death of Kay Hagan this afternoon was a bit surprising. But it requires that we recount her most consequential stands as a public figure.

She notably cast the deciding vote that allowed the passage of Obamacare. This directly led to perhaps millions of Americans losing health plans that worked well for them; and many others losing their doctors. It also led to the skyrocketing of health insurance premiums, and also the destruction of the market for individual insurance policies. Does anyone remember how we were told the effects would be precisely the opposite?

Of course, she had little choice in practical terms. Within the democratic socialist universe-- in which she gleefully resided-- she would have been persona non grata if she had voted against Obamacare. This does not exculpate her vote by any means, however.

Her militant pro-abortion stance was her other major legacy. This stance directly and willfully facilitates the unjustifable taking of tens of millions of unborn human lives.

The Greensboro News and Record absolutely loved Kay Hagan. It repeatedly referred to her as "Greensboro's own Senator Kay Hagan". And she was, in fact, an apt illustration of the socialistic, culturally Marxist, spiritually dark political ethos that characterizes our fair city.

I hope and pray that, during the last several years of her life, she repented and accepted Jesus Christ as her personal savior.

Her replacement, of course, was Thom Tillis. He was part of an establishment GOP leadership team in the Senate that refused to repeal Obamacare. After several decades of Republicans posturing that they would nominate and confirm good judges, we still have Roe v. Wade, in part because there is no determination to reverse liberal precedent. And of course, some of the "good" GOP judges turn out to be liberal judicial activists. We therefore get from men like Tillis outcomes that are not terribly different than those we got from Kay Hagan.

And thus, Ms. Hagan's political legacy seems secure at the moment. RIP.

Guilford County Schools to Squeeze Out Short-Term Suspensions?

I am hearing through the grapevine about an effort that seems to be afoot within the Guilford County Schools system.

If we are to believe the text of this petition, our esteemed school board and superintendent are trying to tighten dramatically the circumstances under which a student can be suspended on a short-term basis. The school would be forced to allow the student to remain in the classroom until an appeal has been considered. The student would also be able to appeal all the way to the superintendent's office.

The petition also alleges that this new policy would violate state law. That raises the question as to whether those pursuing this change are counting on the state's lopsided democratic socialist Supreme Court majority to allow them to proceed. They likely know they have nothing to fear from the county sheriff, the district attorney or the state attorney general.

I would leave it to the reader to decide whether it is wise to entrust your kids' (or grandkids') education to this crowd. Violence and disorder interfere with the process of learning and teaching; and it is often the most disadvantaged students whose educations are adversely impacted.

Addendum: This piece substantiates the situation further.

Walker, Budd Support Highly Problematic USMCA

Taft Wireback, News and Record:

Both congressmen said they hope that approving the United States-Mexico-Canada trade agreement is among things Congress can accomplish in the last half of this term, thereby creating a new trading relationship with those two bordering countries.

The New American published last week an article that provides details regarding the USMCA. The agreement includes the following:

• The United States would be forced to promote and implement policies regarding gender identity; and eliminate discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. This would require that our country adopt policies that oppose God's natural order; and that threaten the religious liberty of orthodox Christians.
• It would create a structure similar to the European Union. For instance, a Free Trade Commission under the agreement would be empowered to make future changes to the agreement. Congress would be ignored, or would become a mere rubber stamp, as in the EU. While British patriots fight to leave the EU under Brexit, we are about to enter a similar structure. The USMCA seeks the economic integration of North America. This necessarily erodes the sovereignty of each of the three countries, including the United States.
• It would open the floodgates of migration by forbidding that the United States limit the number of foreign workers from Mexico and Canada. It would also require that we protect illegals in the workplace, and surrender control over such matters to a special panel under the trade agreement. While Trump is fighting mass migration, this agreement would solidify it.
• The USMCA establishes a Commission for Environmental Cooperation, which is a form of regional government, and an Environmental Cooperation Agreement. It seeks to promote sustainable development, fisheries and biodiversity. It would relinquish control over environmental regulation to this Commission.  Overall, the stated goals are very similar to Agenda 21 and Agenda 2030 under the United Nations.
• It would establish regional energy policies, and a regional form of energy authority, to be governed by common rules and regulations. 
• It would require that all three countries enforce a national right to collective bargaining, which would potentially erode right-to-work laws at the state level. 
• It would subject the United States to the Law of the Sea Treaty requiring that we manage territorial U.S. waters according to the dictates of the United Nations. Disputes under the agreement would be settled according to international law, making us subject to foreign dictates.

President Trump has legitimate reasons to criticize NAFTA. But the USMCA is the wrong fix. It weakens substantially the ability of United States citizens to govern themselves through the democratic processes within our system of government. It surrenders our control, or sovereignty, over our own affairs. It erodes the expectation under the Constitution that power ultimately resides with the people through their elected representatives at the state and federal level. Instead we are subject to various bodies created under the agreement, and other international bodies.

It also subjects us to the ridiculous but dangerous LGBTQ agenda; and hamstrings our already-limited ability to fix the problems associated with migration and immigration. It subjects us to environmental extremism embraced by other countries; and potentially affects our development of energy resources.

The people working for Trump who negotiated this agreement are globalists. We would be wrong to support it. The fact that Nancy Pelosi is warming to the agreement ought to ring all kinds of alarm bells. She doubtless sees what it contains; and we ought to be very concerned about any agreement that she might ultimately find acceptable. Let's hope that she finds a reason to prevent it from being advanced.

Meanwhile, it appears that many Republicans-- including Trump himself-- do not know what is in the agreement, what it would do, and why it is problematic. It is not just Budd and Walker. More than likely, nearly every Republican member of the congressional delegation from North Carolina supports this agreement. We ought to be very concerned if they understand it, and yet still support it.

The Lengths Some Will Go to Prevent Climate Change