My friend, and Chief Executive Optimist at local brewery powerhouse Fullsteam in Durham, NC published this earlier today:
"Until this legislation is overturned, reversed, or modified to shed its malicious intent, I do not want Fullsteam Brewery associated with North Carolina government. While we will, of course, pay our taxes and abide by federal, state, and local regulations, I respectfully ask that you no longer showcase Fullsteam Brewery in any state promotional effort. This includes, but is not limited to, the following:
⢠Please take down the feature of Fullsteam on the āNothing Comparesā section on the North Carolina Commerce website (https://www.nccommerce.com/nothing-ā¦).
⢠We are withdrawing our participation from the Got To Be NC Festival.
⢠We will not participate in the State Fair.
⢠Please withdraw my name from consideration for future Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina (EDPNC) media missions. I have been very fortunate to be a part of this mission for the past seven years, serving as an advocate for North Carolina craft beer in New York City, Atlanta, Greenville S.C., and Charlotte. While I am very thankful for the opportunity and truly appreciate the good people of the EDP, I cannot in good conscience associate myself or my company with the recent actions of the State of North Carolina.
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In local circles, this is actually a very big deal. Seanās influence in the local beer and local food movements is incalculable. I expect to see a lot more of the farm-to-table people standing up and making a difference within the state.
Did you actually watch the 2012 election in NC? The Democratic Party imploded under decades of corruption, culminating in the incumbentās decision not to seek re-election so late in the cycle it was almost impossible to develop a campaign, and it was still a relatively close election.
Even with McCrory setting himself on fire once a month, itās debatable whether NCDP has the chops to win statewide this year. Weāre gonna need some very long coattails to win back the governorās mansion.
They donāt have any problem with the mixture of money and sex, unless of course it involves a D or an LGBT.
As long as it is hetero, no matter how lurid (can we ever forget Diaper David Vitter?) they get a thumbs up. Actually, for Rethugs, if you have an R in front of your name, same sex is ok. The tried and true Wide Stance defense, which is on par with the Twinkie Defense of the douchebag that slaughtered Harvey Milk and Mayor Mosconeā¦
BUT . . . BUT . . . Let Elliot Spitzer wear socks while paying for a quick bang, and he loses his job and reputation.
What are you talking about? Crazytalk. Why olā Rick, heās a just a harmless techie ānerd.ā A moderate moderate whose moderate moderation is known far and wide. Totally not like those crazy right wingers in the Michigan Legislature whose bills he keeps signing and defending. Moderate, sez I.
The sadistic side of me almost hopes that this law remains in place, so I can have the pleasure of watching enjoying one business after another follow through and leave the state or isolate the state. Watch the sniveling, pandering, ersatz-governor squirm.
Love a quote I heard many years ago: (in this case) Gov. McCrory is a model governor - understanding, of course, that a model is merely an imitation of the real thing
What I really want to see is a full, comprehensive explanation of why the governor and his cronies in the legislature believed that the taxpayers of North Carolina should have had to pay the extra expense of having this law passed on an emergency basisāstarting with exactly what emergency they thought they were addressing.
What I suspect is that these guys are so effing stupid that they actually figured that if they passed this law really fast, nobody would notice.
They probably also think that if they close their eyes, they become invisible.
The democratic implosion came after Perdue chose not to run. In addition, Gov. Perdue was not the least bit corrupt. She happened to get elected at the height of the Great Recession and when the economy didnāt turn around right away, the folks who didnāt support her savaged her as incompetent.
She also had to deal with a GOP legislature for two years. They did everything they could to thwart her. Her veto pen was out of ink by the time she left office.
Walter Dalton was a terrible candidate and only got the nomination because he had been lt. governor.
That said, I think you greatly overestimate the difficulty Roy Cooper will have getting elected. He has been the most popular statewide elected official for years and even Republicans have had enough of McCrory. He is seen as weak, incompetent and in the pocket of big business.
I know a lot of Charlotte liberals who voted for McCrory because they believed heād be good for Charlotte and would govern moderately. They canāt wait to vote against him in November.
They are now demanding that the City of Charlotte pay for this special session because, if we hadnāt passed that pinko, commie non-discrimination in the first place, they wouldnāt have had to come back to stop it!