CASH IN THE APPLE FOR
11-03-16
By Cash Michaels
NAILBITER –
With less than a week to go, our long, national nightmare will soon be over.
Even though
Democrat Hillary Clinton is leading in most polls (though an ABC
News/Washington Post poll had her trailing Republican Donald Trump by one on
Tuesday), it is safe to assume that Nov. 8th Election Day will be
filled with surprises, one way or another.
For
instance, here in North Carolina, while the latest Elon University poll out
Tuesday sees the presidential race as a virtual dead-heat at 42 percent, a
WRAL-TV Survey USA poll has Trump with a substantial 51 to 44 percent lead.
The fact is
the polls are all over the place. That means we can all only count on the poll
that really matters, and that’s how we all really vote. Trust me, there is a
huge difference between someone interrupting your dinner to ask you how you’re
going to vote, versus you making the effort to take yourself (and significant
other) down to the REAL polls, and casting a REAL ballot for whomever you
choose.
That leads
me to how the news media have covered this presidential election.
It really
hasn’t been easy to be a reporter covering the ridiculousness of what is
supposed to be a dignified exercise in our republic’s democracy. For more than
the past year, Trump has turned the political world on its head with beyond
borderline pronouncements about Mexicans, muslims, and of course, women.
And then,
of course, controversy just seems to follow the name “Clinton,” and Lord knows,
whether it be about her private email server at home, or alleged double deals
at the Clinton Foundation, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has always
seemed to be facing new questions about her honesty and integrity that have
turned a number of people off, despite her undeniable intellect and political
acumen.
So
reporters have had to cover two partisan nominees who are intensely disliked,
and do so in the most fair and balanced way possible.
The problem
has been while Trump romanced the press to the point where cable stations were
just throwing free TV time at the billionaire because more Trump meant higher
ratings, we failed to really look into his business and personal dealings until
he was well on his way to the White House. And when something disturbing did
crop up, Trump proved to be like Teflon for a while, ducking and weaving earth
shaking controversies with ease.
How many
times have you counted Trump out, and he wasn’t?
One can say
the same for Hillary. The Wikileaks revelations and the FBI reinvestigation
into her private server to determine if she ever mishandled classified
information have gnawed at her campaign relentlessly, but she too, kept
standing strong. The press was faced with how much to hit her with, and when.
It wasn’t
easy.
If all of
you found yourselves beyond disgusted by all of this, that’s completely
understandable. The question is, who will be our next president, and will that
person be so badly wounded by this controversy-ridden campaign that he/or she
will be unable to effectively lead?
That’s why
if you haven’t voted already, make it happen. Because even after the election,
there will be a lot we’ll have to sort through as a nation.
-30-
SHAPE STRONG PREFERENCE FOR HILLARY CLINTON AMONG BLACK AMERICAN VOTERS
(WASHINGTON, DC.) With the election only days away, a new
national poll shows that Black American voters overwhelmingly plan to vote for
Hillary Clinton as their choice for President of the United States. Their
choice is influenced by concerns about high quality, affordable education,
income inequality, jobs, the economy, race relations and racial justice.
The National Black Voter Poll found a high degree of
engagement by registered black voters in the election, with 96% of respondents
saying they will cast ballots. The same
number said their friends also intend to vote. Nearly all respondents in the
survey said they voted in both the 2008 and 2012 elections.
Taken together, the data predict a high voter turnout among
Black American voters in the November 8, 2016 election and a strong preference
for Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump.
A substantial majority (89%) indicated they will vote for
Clinton, and two-thirds (67%) said they strongly favor Clinton. Another 23% declared “moderate support” for
her. A slightly higher percent (74%)
said they have “overall favorable feelings” for Clinton, compared to 2% who
said they had favorable feelings for Trump.
When asked “Do you think
Donald Trump is a racist?” 84% responded, “Yes.”
In contrast to feelings
toward the current election year’s candidates, 90% of respondents said they
have “overall favorable feelings” toward President Barak Obama.
Findings are based on a national random sample of more than
900 voters from 22,000 telephone calls made between October 21 and 30, 2016 by
researchers in a joint National Newspaper Publishers Association - Howard
University poll. This was the first
national-level scientific study focused exclusively on voters who identify as
African American, Afro-Hispanic or other black identity.
The goal of the research was to develop a profile of Black American
voters in a year when race is believed to be a defining factor in the outcome
of presidential and congressional races.
The vast majority of respondents in the survey identified as
Democrats. To the question “In general,
do you think of yourself as Democrat, Republican, or something else?” 82% of
respondents said “Democrat” and only 2% said Republican. Another 16% said they are either
“Independent” or “Other” (9% and 7%, respectively).
A large majority of respondents (87%) identified high
quality education as an influence in their decisions, and a nearly equal
percent (84%) pointed to concerns about college affordability as a factor.
Other concerns shaping decisions were the economy and jobs
(85%), race relations and racial justice (84%), and income inequality
(82%).
When asked about where they obtain their information about
political candidates, nearly half (46%) said from local TV news, and another
fourth (24%) said from cable stations.
Approximately a fifth (18%) said they rely on black newspapers for
information about elections.
Revelations of new FBI probes into Hillary Clinton’s emails
occurred in the midst of the research, prompting researchers to compare
participant responses to candidates before and after this news. They found that
favorable feelings toward Clinton rose slightly and those toward Trump were cut
in half.
The sample of more than 900 registered black voters was 70%
female and 30% male. When considered
alongside the 96% who said they voted in the previous two elections and also
plan to vote on Nov. 8, black women show they are at the forefront of social
change and political history in the United States, by voting to elect the
nation’s first black and now its first female president.
A majority of respondents said they had attended college
(73%), and were 56 years of age or older.
Millennials between the ages of 18-35 accounted for 11% of the sample.
Those surveyed were nearly equally split between employed
and not-employed (53% and 47%, respectively).
Of those employed, 30% said they were federal employees, and 18% said
they were union members. Of those not
employed, 78% were retired and 22% were unemployed. Nearly half (48%) of respondents said they
are married and most (84%) have a religious affiliation (a strong majority of
those Christian).
The research was conducted using social science survey
methods at Howard University. Research
findings, however, do not necessarily reflect the personal views of the
researchers, the faculty or administration of Howard University, or the members
of the National Newspaper Publishers Association.
Principal investigators on the interdisciplinary Howard
research team included Dr. William Spriggs, Department of Economics; Dr. Terri
Adams and Dr. Rubin Patterson, Department of Sociology and Criminology; Dr.
Lorenzo Morris, Department of Political Science; and Dr. Carolyn Byerly,
Department of Communication, Culture and Media Studies. Principal liaisons from the NNPA included
President and CEO Dr. Benjamin Chavis, and Chairman of the Board Denise Rolark
Barnes.
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WHY MANY BELIEVE
WHOMEVER WINS NC,
WINS THE PRESIDENCY
By Cash Michaels
An analysis
No matter
which newspaper you read, or news cable channel you listen to, the consensus
seems to be the same – whomever wins North Carolina in next Tuesday’s hotly contested
presidential election, wins the presidency.
The Tar
Heel state is considered such a crucial battleground because it has rewarded
both Democrats and Republicans each a presidential victory since 2008, and the
most recent statewide polls between Republican Donald Trump and Democrat
Hillary Clinton are so tight going into the November 8th general
election, that it is considered a bellwether for the rest of the nation.
"North Carolina is a
very purple state,” NC Congresswoman Renee Ellmers (R-NC-2) told CNN. “I know
sometimes it gets lumped into the category of 'red state' but it really isn't.
It's very diverse and the population and the demographics are changing."
The state is home to forty percent
registered Democrats, 30 percent registered Republicans and 30 percent
registered unaffiliated voters. It is home to hot controversies like the House
Bill 2 law, which many see as denying transgender citizens their civil rights, controversial
police shootings, and the overturning of the state’s voter suppression law,
which the US Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals recently dismantled, saying that
the Republican-led law targeted African-American voters with “surgical
precision.”
Indeed, the Tar Heel state is home too
much of the liberal versus conservative public policy battles that seem to
embody the larger controversies in the nation today.
There’s no
question the Clinton and Trump campaigns see North Carolina as a much
sought-after 15-electoral-vote jewel on the road to 270. Hardly a week has gone
by since September when there hasn’t been either a Clinton or Trump surrogate,
if not the candidates themselves, campaigning from one end of the state to the
other. Just Wednesday of this week, President Obama made his third campaign
visit to stump for his former secretary of state. Last week, his wife, First
Lady Michelle Obama made an electrifying joint appearance with Clinton in
Winston-Salem.
“It’s a
must-win,” Eric Trump, the GOP candidate’s son, told a Charlotte television
station in August. “It's
a place we're going to spend a tremendous amount of time.”
Meanwhile
both Trump, and his vice presidential running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence,
have made multiple visits to North Carolina over the past two weeks alone, and
with good reason. The Republican Party is strong in North Carolina, and
throughout presidential electoral history, it has been reliably conservative in
electing the top of the ticket by wide margins from Richard Nixon in 1968 to
George W. Bush in 2004, the only detour being in 1976 when peanut farmer and
Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter, a Democrat, temporarily broke the North Carolina
mold.
Barack Obama’s
14,777- vote squeaker over John McCain in 2008 created shockwaves, showing that
a progressive Democrat could win in the South again with the right coalition of
African-Americans, young people, and women. In 2012, President Obama lost North
Carolina to Republican Mitt Romney by just 100,000 votes statewide, though he
won re-election overall. While the black vote turned in strong numbers, a dip
in Obama’s white voter support created the North Carolina deficit.
But
observers noticed subtle changes to the state’s voting population, even though
the Republicans were in command of the governorship and the state legislature.
North Carolina’s urban centers of Charlotte, Greensboro and Raleigh were
growing with more moderate and progressive out-of-state residents, while the state’s
mostly rural enclaves were shrinking in population. Democratic strategists saw
the population shift as something they could exploit, while Republicans
surmised that rural and small town voters, who tend to be older and more
conservative, in eastern North Carolina particularly, were dependable enough to
stay in the fold.
Thus, we’ve
seen the Trump campaign focus on areas like Kinston, Wilmington and Greenville,
while Hillary Clinton has focused on cities like Charlotte, Raleigh and
Winston-Salem to draw college students, African-Americans, and of course,
women. Each campaign vying to cultivate where it thinks North Carolina strength
is.
The result –
polls in the last several months that have shifted back and forth between Trump
and Clinton, illustrating a phenomenon analysts believe is still happening.
North Carolina is becoming more of a mid-Atlantic state like Maryland, and less
of a Southern state like South Carolina. Thus the tension that many analysts
suggest makes North Carolina a must-watch state on election night.
“North Carolina could be
the state where the presidential contest has the biggest effect on down-ballot
elections, influencing key races from U.S. Senate to governor and other
critical races that could dramatically change the political direction of the
state,” states the online magazine Facing
South. “What makes North Carolina unique in 2016 is the number of close
races where coattails from the presidential election could tip the balance. For
example, North Carolina is the only state in which races for president, U.S.
Senate and governor are all rated "toss-ups" by the Cook Political Report”
Add to that
the fact that so far, North Carolina’s early voting numbers since Oct. 20th
show Democrats turning out in larger numbers than Republicans (black female Democrats lead all other Democratic groups), but Republicans are expected to dominate on Nov. 8th, and its anybody’s guess who will
win the state. The latest Elon University poll issued Tuesday shows the race
too close to call between Clinton and Trump in North Carolina at 42 percent
each. If there is one bit of encouraging news for Democrat Clinton, however,
it’s that according to the polls, her support among African-Americans was
solid, with 100 percent saying that she has their vote over Trump.
Blacks are
2 of ten voters in North Carolina, while whites are 7 of 10, according to the
most recent US Census figures.
Pres. Obama comes back to North Carolina again on Friday to campaign for Hillary Clinton in Fayetteville and Charlotte. Civil rights hero Congressman John Lewis [D- GA] campaigns for Clinton in Charlotte today.
Pres. Obama comes back to North Carolina again on Friday to campaign for Hillary Clinton in Fayetteville and Charlotte. Civil rights hero Congressman John Lewis [D- GA] campaigns for Clinton in Charlotte today.
-30-
NCNAACP SUES THREE COUNTIES
ALLEGING VOTER
SUPPRESSION
By Cash Michaels
Contributing writer
The NCNAACP
is suing three counties in federal court alleging that they are illegally
cancelling voter registrations because of alleged changes in addresses, in
violation of the federal National Voters Registration Act (NVRA). With less
than a week before the Nov. 8th general election, and with early
voting ending on Nov. 5, voting rights advocates are calling the alleged
practice yet another attempt at black voter suppression.
The civil
rights organization filed both a lawsuit and an application for a temporary
restraining in the US District Court for the Middle District for North Carolina
against the state Board of Elections on Monday.
At press time, a hearing was scheduled for federal court in
Winston-Salem Wednesday.
According
to the application for a restraining order put forth by the NCNAACP’s
attorneys, the NVRA “…protects
Americans’ fundamental right to vote by…requiring that states meet certain
requirements before cancelling a voter’s registration on the basis of a change
in residence. Specifically, states must either (1) receive written confirmation
from the voter that he or she has moved to a different residence outside the
county, or (2) send a prescribed notice to which the voter fails to respond,
and then wait for two federal election cycles in which the voter does not vote.
Only after written confirmation, or notice, no response, and the two-cycle
waiting period, may a state proceed with removal from the voter registration
rolls.”
The application continued, “The NVRA also
protects access to the franchise by prohibiting any systematic program to
remove voters from the rolls within 90 days of a federal election.”
The NCNAACP alleges that the boards
of Elections (BOEs) in Moore County, Beaufort County and Cumberland County “…have
cancelled thousands of voters’ registrations on the basis of an alleged change
in residence. Those purges of voter rolls resulted from proceedings that were
triggered by challenges filed by private individuals, based on a single mailing
returned as undeliverable. In most cases, these cancellations of registrations
were supported by no other evidence—and none were supported by written
confirmation from the voters of any alleged change in residence or compliant
with the NVRA’s notice and waiting-period provisions. In many cases, the North
Carolinians purged from voting rolls through these proceedings still reside at
the addresses where they are registered, or have moved within the same county
and remain eligible to vote there. Nonetheless, single items of returned mail
have resulted in cancellation of their registrations,” the complaint states.
And it has been determined that the
majority of voters being removed from the county election rolls are
African-Americans. At least 4500 voters have been purged, 3900 of them in
Cumberland County alone.
The state Board of Elections counters that those local boards are
following state statutes that authorize private citizens to challenge voter
registrations on the basis of returned mailings. The state BOE confirms that “…thousands
of voters have been challenged in the past three months on the basis of
returned mail…” The
NCNAACP is not only asking for a temporary restraining order to immediately stop
the local BOEs from purging black voters before the Nov. 8th general
election, but also a permanent injunction to restore the voting registrations
of all of those purged.
-30-
STATE NEWS BRIEFS FOR 11-03-16
SEN. BURR APOLOGIZES
FOR “BULLSEYE” QUIP ABOUT CLINTON
[MOORESVILLE]
Republican Sen. Richard Burr over has
now apologized for telling a group in Mooresville recently that he was
surprised that a magazine about guns didn’t put a bullseye over Hillary
Clinton’s face. Burr, who is running for re-election in a tight race against Democratic challenger Deborah Ross,
issued an apology only after a recording of his remarks were sent to CNN and
broadcast. “The
comment I made was inappropriate, and I apologize for it, Burr said in a
statement.
GOV. MCCRORY
RELENTS, SAYS HE WILL CALL A SPECIAL SESSION FOR MATTHEW NEEDS
[RALEIGH] Amid
weeks of cajoling from leading Democrats that a special session of the state
legislature has to be called to deal with the mounting costs of Hurricane
recovery in the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew, Gov. Pat McCrory is finally on
the same page with his critics that the $12-18 million currently in the state
disaster relief fund is hardly enough to help citizens who’ve suffered through
flooding, high winds and loss of their homes and businesses in over 40
counties. McCrory says he’ll call the special session next month, and will also
ask the federal government and Congress to providing relief funding.
OVER THREE
WEEKS SINCE HURRICANE MATTHEW, 250 STILL IN SHELTERS
[GOLDSBORO]
Almost a month after Hurricane Matthew ravaged much of eastern North Carolina with
high winds and destructive floods, at least 250 people are still living in
shelters, state officials say. FEMA [the Federal Emergency Management Agency]
admits that it has had trouble finding housing for the displaced. FEMA has been
able to give some families money to rent places to live, and it might end up
bringing in mobile homes to help others.
-30-
JUDGE MARGARET EAGLES
JUDGES EAGLES ANND
STEPHENS VIE
FOR THE NC COURT OF
APPEALS
By Cash Michaels
Contributing writer
Two veteran jurists are vying for the NC Court of
Appeals, promising to vigorously, but fairly, uphold the law if elected.
Wake County District Court Judge Margaret Eagles has
presided over civil, criminal and family court cases, in addition to serving as
one of two judges in the Abuse, Neglect and Dependence Courtroom. She is also
the lead Domestic Violence judge in Wake County.
The daughter of former NC Appellate Court Chief Judge
Sidney Eagles, Margaret Eagles, analum of Needham Broughton High School, Wake
Forest University and Campbell University School of Law, didn’t intend
originally to study law. “I
enjoyed doing volunteer work and helping those who were less fortunate. Then,
after working as a loan officer at the State Employee’s Credit Union, I knew
that the best way I could continue to serve the hard working people of North
Carolina was through the practice of law. “
Eagles
started her legal career as a judicial clerk for Justice George Wainwright on
the NC Supreme Court, working on appeals in criminal and civil cases. As an
Assistant Attorney General, she represented the state in environmental
enforcement litigation and in criminal appeals in the NC Court of Appeals. In
private practice, Eagles was a civil litigator, handling numerous jury trials
in District and Superior Courts.
Among the
many judges Judge Eagles admires most are former NC Supreme Court Justice Patricia Timmons-Goodson “for her
consistent judgment and consummate professionalism,” former Judge Martha Geer,
and of course, her dad former Chief Judge Sidney Eagles, “…not only because he
is my father and I love him, but because I respect his work on the Court, his
true belief in the system and the grace and courtesy he shows to everyone he
encounters. “
Judge Margaret Eagles takes pride in
the work she’s done.
“I worked alongside the
Administrative Office of the Courts and multiple stakeholders to implement
remote electronic filing of complaints for emergency domestic violence
protective orders from Interact, our local rape crisis and domestic violence
agency. I am the co-chair of the Wake County Domestic Violence Task
Force and a member of the Wake County Domestic Violence Fatality Review Team.”
“I
am dedicated to the rule of law,” Judge Eagles
says, “am steadfast in my respect to the public trust and committed to
impartiality for all who appear before me as a district court judge, and would
continue to do so if elected to the NC Court of Appeals. If elected, I would
continue to treat all parties in the same manner, regardless of who they are or
who represents them.”
Judge Linda Stephens is running for
re-election to NC Court of Appeals. The first in her family to graduate high
school, she is an alum from the University of South Carolina, and earned her
law degree from UNC-Chapel Hill.
“I see the law as a great equalizer in
society,” Judge Stephens says. “The law should treat everyone equally and never
discriminate based on some portion of one’s identity. In practical life, we all know that there is
implicit bias in the law and the way it is applied, but I have always aimed
higher than that. I have always worked
toward fairness and equality, as promised by our Constitution.”
In her
long career, Judge Stephens was named one of the top 50 female attorneys in
North Carolina by Super Lawyers Magazine, and listed among the Best Lawyers in
America during the last eleven years she was in private practice. She has won
numerous awards for her hard work ethic, and ha served on the state appellate
court for over ten years.
“First,
I believe in adhering to my oath of office,” she says, “ in other words: to
uphold the Constitutions of my Country and my State; to uphold the laws of my
State when they are consistent with the Constitutions; to follow the law in
every case to reach the result the law requires even when that result is different
from my personal beliefs. My record
indicates I have faithfully adhered to that oath.”
Second, over the past 10 years,
I have worked collaboratively and cohesively with my colleagues who are from a
different political party. Political
ideology has never affected my interest in or ability to work with another colleague
on the Court of Appeals.,” Judge Stephens says.
- 30-
