Comments by Steven P. Rader | Eastern NC Now

What this woman needs is an attorney rather than talking to commisioners, the Social Services board or the school board.

That said, to give an idea of the sort of things I have seen with DSS Child Protective Services, the circumstances of the first such case I handled back in the late 1970a is a good example. The parents were relious folk and fairly strict with their two daughters. The older daughter started to rebel a little and her parents made the mistake of seeking counseling through DSS. The first counsellor was actually helpful and made some progress working through the issues, however she went out on maternity leave and her replacement started filling the child's head with things like her parents being backward and things shouldn't be done the way they wanted any more, and such. The result was the child ran away from home. DSS then took both daughters away from the family and put them in a foster home. The older daughter was put on birth control. While in DSS care, the older daughter was seen on several occaisions at Whichards Beach so drunk she could barely walk. In spite of the birth control, the older daughter got pregnant under DSS care. That is the point when their church hired me to get into the case. I filed a motion for a new hearing in court and DSS folded and gave the kids back, but meanwhile they had done a lot of damage to this family and to the two young girls.

I have seen too many more cases like it where the children were placed in a worse position because of DSS involvment. I found DSS workers to be a mixed bag, some pretty straightforward and some busybodies.

Commented: Thursday, May 9th, 2024 @ 4:27 pm By: Steven P. Rader

The Biden Democrats are trying to do the very same thing here in the US to thwart our First Amendment right of free speech. They tried to set up a government run "Ministry of Truth" when Biden set up a "disinformation board" but a public outcry forced them to back down. The Biden Democrats have connived with Big Tech to censor the free speech of Americans and that issue is now before the Supreme Court in a lawsuit filed by the Attorneys General of Missouri and Louisiana. One of Biden's SCOTUS appointees in that case stated she was worried about the First Amendment hamstringing the government, but apparently did not comprehend that is exactly what it was intended to do.

The problem is not just at the federal level, as there are attempts in some heavily Democrat states to crush free speech with "hate speech" laws. This always comes from the Democrats, not the Republicans.

The Trump administration had a very good record on free speech, and the Biden administration a bad one.

Commented: Tuesday, May 7th, 2024 @ 3:57 pm By: Steven P. Rader

The two tier justice system is not an "excuse". It is a mortal danger to our democratic basis of our Constitutinal republic. Having practiced criminal law myself for decades, it appalls me to watch the shameful abuse of our justice system for political purposes.

Commented: Monday, May 6th, 2024 @ 9:51 am By: Steven P. Rader

Having myself practiced criminal law for decades, a number of oddities have struck me about this trial.

First was the gag order. Gag orders in trials are quite rare in the first place, but every other one I have ever seen or heard of applied to both sides of a case. In this case, Judge Merchan hit Trump with a gag order but did nothing to prevent the other side from any contact with the media or the public. As a result, there were witnesses for Bragg that were almost doing media tours while Trump was unable to respond. That double standard stuck out like a sore thumb and does not reflect favorably on the judge's objectivity or neutrality.

The other was what seemed to be a very rushed jury selection. I have been in much less high profile trials where jury selection took a couple of weeks. The higher the profile of a case, the longer the jury selection normally takes. I remember one capital murder trial in Martin County where I was lead counsel, where it took us two weeks to select only seven jurors, and at that point, the trial judge after hearing the prospective jurors answers for two weeks, on his own motion declared a mistrial and changed venue to a different county.

Commented: Saturday, April 27th, 2024 @ 10:45 am By: Steven P. Rader

That video in the original post from famous retired Constitutional Law Professor Alan Dershowitz clearly describes how this is a thrown together nothingburger of a case, but given the biased judge and the slanted jury pool still carries a real danger of a conviction. That is the real danger to our Constitutional republic.

As someone who spent decades practicing criminal law, the refusal of Judge Merchan to recuse himself appalls me as his conflict of interest is evident. Trump's lawyers followed up their motion to recuse with a motion for change of venue, which also would have taken Merchan off the case in addition to getting it moved to somewhere that a fair jury pool would have been possible. I did not see them follow that with a motion for a special venire, which would have kept the case in Manhattan but brought in jurors from elsewhere. Jurors from, say, Staten Island would have given a much fairer jury pool.

ONe thing that was a big red flag on jury bias was the answers reported on where jurors got their news. New York City has three high circulation newspapers, the very liberal New York Tiimes, right-leaning New York Post, and the not too political New York Daily News. Not a single one was reported as using the New York Post or New York Daily News as their news source, but most of them reported getting their news from the Trump hating New York Times.

I also have never seen a case where jurors names were kept secret. That gives a shady appearance to our judicial system.

Commented: Saturday, April 20th, 2024 @ 7:04 pm By: Steven P. Rader

Having been certified as an International Election Observer is eight foreign elections, one of the big red flags that election fraud is happening is one side kicking out the election observers of opponents. With no valid reason to do that, it is usually a very strong signal that fraud is going on and this is an effort to try to cover it up.

In the 2020 election in the US, there were multiple swing states where Republican election obervers were either kicked out of the vote counting rooms or as in Fulton County, Georgia, tricked out of them, while vote counting continued. This happened in multiple places about the same time, always in major urban counties in swing states. Some may believe in coincidence theories, but as an experienced election observer, that was a huge red flag that fraud was occuring and a very thorough examination needs to be done in those places. If I were an election observer of the 2020 US election, there is no way in hell I would have certified it as free and fair until such a thorough examination of what happened in those counties was conducted. Of course, no such examintations occurred. In one major urban county, not only were the Republican election observers kicked out, but the election officials then taped paper over the windows so no one could look in.

Commented: Monday, April 15th, 2024 @ 12:21 pm By: Steven P. Rader

The real problem is the "administrative state" and its abuse by this administration. Congress delegates way too much rulemaking authority to bureaucrats, and when big government types like the Biden crowd get in power, they stretch it far beyond what was intended. The executive branch in a Constitutional republic was never intended to make laws, just carry them out, but don't tell that to Biden and the Democrats. A Constitutional republic is not their model of governance. An all powerful centralized state is what they are after.

Once we get Republicans in control of the House, the Senate, and the Presidency, a key issue will be cutting the administrative state down to size by putting significant restrictions on rulemaking powers. Economic impact studies should be required for all rulemaking and those studies should have to be approved by the Congressional Budget Office. Actions that have an economic impact over a set level should require Congressional concurrence before it takes effect. There should also be an easy method for Congress to step in and take charge on any rulemaking. For example, statutes could provide that on a petition of one third of the members of the House or Senate, a rule would be paused until voted on and passed by both House and Senate.

The bureaucratic deep state in government needs to be neutered and power returned to our elected legislative branch where it belongs in a Constitutional republic.

Commented: Friday, April 12th, 2024 @ 6:16 pm By: Steven P. Rader

Wrapping this referendum in the "sustainability" mantra of the globalists and the environmentalists is a very clever political touch. There are clearly some smart strategists at the swiss Peoples Party.

Commented: Sunday, April 7th, 2024 @ 1:08 pm By: Steven P. Rader

In a true Constitutional republic, decisions like this should be made by an elected legislative body like Congress, not by unelected, politically appointed bureaucrats like EPA. The process here is undemocratic in the extreme. At the very minimum, there should be an easy process for Congress to freeze such far reaching policies until they can at least review them and approve or disapprove them.

One has to remember how Hitler built his dictatorship, by having the Reichstag vote to confer upon him the power to make laws by decree. We are seeing the same thing happen in slow motion here in the US, rather than all at once like Germany. Biden seems to be hellbent on expanding this rule by decree process. It is time to slam on the brakes on this undemocratic process and throw it into reverse if we want to preserve democracy.

If Biden stays in office, democracy is probably done in America forever.

Commented: Friday, April 5th, 2024 @ 11:18 am By: Steven P. Rader

For those who are a threat to themselves or others, every state has long had civil commitment laws, which have the due process that the red flag laws deny. The judge and take away guns, cars, etc. but there is notice, an opportunity to be heard, and the ability to confront those who make allegations against you. The judge in those cases can do even more like commit a person involuntarily to a mental institution. Red flag laws are simply not necessary to deal with such people, as there is already a process.

Given the spike in crime under Biden, it becomes more important for law abiding citizens to be able to defend themselves.

Commented: Sunday, March 31st, 2024 @ 3:20 pm By: Steven P. Rader

LImited voting is, indeed, a rigged system, which is why federal appellate courts have ruled that judges cannot impose it as a "remedy" in a voting rights case unless all parties agree to it. We got stuck with this undemocratic system thanks to some self-seeking Democrat Party Commissioners who were defendants in a voting rights case they probably could have won if they had just fought it out. Instead, plaintiff David Moore proposed a district plan as a settlement, and that district plan put Democrat County Commission chairman Frank Bonner into a district he probably could not win, and the Democrat commissioners decided to offer an alternative settlement instead of fighting. They wanted an alternative that would save Frank Bonnner politically. The liberal surrender monkey Chapel Hill lawyer they hired is who suggested limited voting, and it was our own all-Democrat county commission who sent us down this rabbit hole. They cared nothing about the voters of the county, as the whole game plan was for the purpose of saving Frank Bonner's political hide. When word got out on what they were up to, citizen outrage was so extensive, the commissioners tried to withdraw their limited voting proposal, but the court ruled they had already made a binding settlement and could not back out of it.

David Moore showed me his district plan, and it would have worked fine for the county and for Republicans. We have limited voting instead because of self serving Democrat commissioners trying to save Frank Bonner.

Commented: Wednesday, March 27th, 2024 @ 10:25 am By: Steven P. Rader

Joe Biden reminds me of the only actual Communist president I ever lived under, as both arranged bogus criminal charges against their political opponents. My first two years living in Moldova when I was advising pro-western political parties there, the country was ruled by the Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova and the PCRM President of the country Vladimir Voronin.

When I arrived in 2007, there were bogus criminal charges pending against every leader of a major non-communist political party except the Democratic Party. The Democratic Party chairman, Dumitru Diacov made the unfortunate comment during parliamentary debate of the fairness of news coverage on the government television channel that the only times that non-communist parties got coverage was when their leaders were charged with crimes, and then demanded that he be charged with a bogus crime do his party could get coverage. A few weeks, later, the communist prosecutors granted his wish and filed bogus criminal charges against him.

Like the charges against Trump, all of the charges against the Communists' political oppoents were bogus. The charges against the leader of the largest non-communist party, Our Moldova Alliance, Seraphim Urechan, claimed he had corruptly purchased a fleet of ambulances when he was mayor of the capital city of CHisinau, but the facts were that not only was there no evidence of any kickbacks or the like, but the city got an exceptionally good deal on the purchase. The prosecutors decided there must be something fishy about such a good deal. When the Supreme Court finally dismissed the charges, communist President Voronin ordered the prosecutors to ignore the court and keep prosecuting.

Even the small Social Democratic Party, which did not even have any seats in parliament, got this treatment. Its leader, Eduard Musuic, was arrested and jailed with no bond, and had his businesses seized. His father fled the country. Fortunately, Moldova had joined the European Court of Human Rights, and Musuc was able to get his case heard there. The European Court of Human Rights ordered the charges dismissed, the businesses returned, and a large sum in damages against the government for the imprisonment of the party leader.

Biden is doing the very same thing to American democracy that Voronin did in Moldova. There is not a dimes worth of difference.

Commented: Monday, March 25th, 2024 @ 10:02 am By: Steven P. Rader

One of many reasons it is better to drive a classic car with none of this crap on it.

Commented: Tuesday, March 12th, 2024 @ 11:15 am By: Steven P. Rader

You hit the nail on the head, Buzz. We need legislators who are OUR representatives to Raleigh, like the way Keith Kidwell serves, NOT Raleigh's representatives to us, which is the mentality of Brinson. And by "Raleigh" both Brinson talking to you, and my comment here means the smoke filled room power brokers in Raleigh. Those power brokers don't like representatives of the people like Kidwell and Speciale standing up for the folks back home. They would rather have go along / get along pushovers like Brinson. When I spent five years working the legislature as a political appointee in the Martin administration, I saw Brinson's type in that body but they were not as numerous then as they are today. And Berger is indeed Basnight 2.0 with a little Liston Ramsey thrown in.

What is really sad is what they have done to Mark Robinson, who IMHO was sincere when he went to Raleigh, but has been so cowed by the Bergerites, he now seems afraid of his own shadow in addressing major issues, including cowering in the corner and keeping his mouth shut when Berger announced he was killing Conatitutional Carry. Mark made his reputation on gun rights, so why is he even afraid to stand up to Berger on that? Sad.

Commented: Wednesday, March 6th, 2024 @ 7:02 pm By: Steven P. Rader

One has to understand the dynamics of the legislature to see why this race is viewed as so critical. There is a lot more at stake than just one seat out of fifty. That is because Mike Speciale is an experienced legislative strategist who has natural allies in the Senate while Brinson, even if he dared stand up to Berger, which is unlikely, would be an inexperienced freshman with no natural allies, so that even if inclined to do something, would not have the background to be effective.

Right now the "leadership" in both House and Senate - Tim Moore and Phil Berger - focus more on pleasing the special interests than on the wishes of Republican voters, and this all too often leads to them pushing through liberal legislation that the special interests want, which happen to also be key agenda items for Roy Cooper.

Speciale organized the Freedom Caucus in the House which put the brakes on the level of control that the Speaker could exert. By standing together under Speciale's leadership, they forced Speaker Moore to back down on a number of key issues, once saving taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars in the state budget. Keith Kidwell took over as chairman and has also worked the same way to block bad legislation, most recently Berger's push for casinos.

The situation for conservatives in the Senate is bad. Berger has iron fisted control and individual conservatives have been beaten down so badly that nobody wants to put their head up to lead. The election of Speciale provides that leader, someone who knows the ropes and how to fight and also is already known and respected by serving conservative senators, some of whom worked in the House with the Freedom Caucus under Speciale.

Speciale's election to the Senate would create a whole new ball game to level the playing field with the special interest oriented establishment. That is what state and national conservatives want to see and what Berger is fearful of. That is why everyone is so interested in this race, and why all conservatives should rally around Speciale. Grassroots North Carolina specifically cited being willing to stand up to "leadership" as one of the reasons they have endorsed Speciale.

We know Speciale's record and what he is capable of. Brinson is a big question mark, but clearly without the legislative experience or contacts to be a real factor in Raleigh. Berger also has his hooks into Brinson very deeply with all the support provided, and would not let Brinson ever be able to forget that.

THere are times that one man (or woman) can make a big difference, and this election that one man is Mike Speciale.

Commented: Tuesday, February 27th, 2024 @ 1:47 pm By: Steven P. Rader

Winning statewide in New York is tough but not impossible. I remember when Jim Buckley won a US Senate seat there running as the nominee of the New York Conservative Party back in 1970. These days many New Yorkers are furious about illegal immigration. Indeed, even in her liberal district, AOC was recently heckleed on illegal immigration by many of the attendees at a forum she conducted that was supposed to be on climate issues

Commented: Sunday, February 25th, 2024 @ 12:44 pm By: Steven P. Rader

When it comes to the governor's primary on the GOP side, the three candidates reflect the three Republican governors NC has had in the last half century wth each reflecting a different governor. Having been active in politics during each of those administrations, and serving in one GOP governor's administration (conservative Jim Martin), I will explain which 2024 candidate matches up with which former GOP governor.

Bill Graham is similar to Gov. Jim Holshouser (1973-1977)

Dale Folwell is similar to Gov. Jim Martin (1985-1993). Governor Martin has even endorsed Folwell in this primary.

Mark Robinson is similar to Gov. Pat McCrory (2013-2017)

Jim Holshouser was a lawyer who talked conservative but had a much less conservative background and did not govern as a conservative. He had enough administrative ability to run a reasonably competent administration but did little to push a conservative agenda. He relied heavily on a political operative named Gene Anderson who was mean and power-driven and permanently left the state the day after the administration ended. Graham, a wealthy trial lawyer, largely fills the bill right down to his political operative he shares with Tillis, Paul Shumaker.

Jim Martin was a staunch conservative who was more focused on actually achieving conservative policy objectives than in railing about them in speeches. He was a superb administrator who staffed his administration with politically savvy conservatives who could get the job done, and he delivered. He breezed to an easy second term, the only Republican governor ever to serve two terms. State Treasurer Folwell matches Marin's style and abilities as well as his political philosophy. It is no surprise that Martin has endorsed Folwell in the upcoming primary.

Pat McCrory could give a decent speech, although not as fiery as Mark Robinson, but he talked a good game. He did an awful job of staffing his administration, however, ignoring policy-oriented conservatives and often putting in people who lacked loyalty to the administration and even basic competence. Bungling staff cost him reelection. McCrory was also completely adrift on policy his entire term. Mark Robinson shares McCrory's failings. He has been incompetent in organizing a functioning lieutenant governors office, which is tiny compared to a gubenatorial administration, and he talks a real good game on issues, but hasn't done a thing to impact issues in the General Assembly where he is presiding officer of the state senate. He represents all of the things that made McCrory an unsuccessful governor.

Dale Folwell is the one candidate with the skill set, philosophy, and principles to be a successful governor.
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Commented: Friday, February 23rd, 2024 @ 2:50 pm By: Steven P. Rader