Comments by Steven P. Rader | Eastern NC Now

The respected Cook Political Report just rated the Virginia Governor's race a dead heat.

Commented: Friday, September 24th, 2021 @ 6:39 pm By: Steven P. Rader

Looking at the polls and the dynamics of the German election, it appears that the CDU will end up the kingmaker, as to whether a rightward coalition is formed or one to the left, even with a reduced delegation in the Bundestag. As it did after the last election, their Bavarian sister party, the CSU, which is considerably more conservative is likely to operate on its own in coalition making and will side the the parties of the right. A FDP, AfD, CSU combination is likely to fall short of a majority, but the CDU would put them over the line. Similarly a SDP, Green, Left coalition would be short of a majority but the CDU would put them over the line. Being the odd sister in a SDP led coalition that includes the ex-communists is not likely to appeal to the CDU rank and file and could destroy the party. Merkel's strong opposition to working with the populist / nationalist anti-immigration AfD may well not be a factor with Merkel out of leadership. Her dogmatism on that issue made it impossible to form coalitions of the right while she was chancellor. After the election in one east German state, the local CDU joined a coalition with the FDP and AfD that was led by the FDP, but that coaltion lasted only a few days as Merkel put heavy pressure on the local party to withdraw its support. Merkel had no problem working with the Greens, who are farther to the left than the AfD is to the right. The departure of Merkel will be a breath of fresh air for German politics.

Commented: Saturday, September 11th, 2021 @ 3:16 am By: Steven P. Rader

It has now gotten worse on the "independent" redistricting commission in Michigan. Another self identified "independent" redistricting commissioner, the second out of five, has been revealed as really a far left Democrat who has a record of political contributions to the left wing of the Democrat Party and as a speaker to left wing Democrat organizations. The Democrats have thrown in ringers, just as they did on the sole "independent" tie-breaker on the Arizona redistricting commission ten years ago. That should have been expected. The organization that ran the initiative and referendum campaign to set up this redistricting commission was heavily funded by national Democrats.
freebeacon.com

Commented: Wednesday, September 8th, 2021 @ 1:23 pm By: Steven P. Rader

Based on current polling, the Canadian election is likely to produce a dynamic that shifts power from the central government to the provincial governments. If the numbers in this poll continue through election day, it will produce a parliament with the Conservatives as the largest party, but without a majority. If the trend line continues, then Conservatives may have a small majority. They are going to need allies, and the place to get them are the separatist parties, both of which have fortunately mellowed and now prefer staying in Canada but with a lot of national power devolved down to the provinces. The current generation of Quebec nationalist leaders no longer push independence but instead more provincial autonomy within Canada, and they have moved to the right on quite a few issues, talking like conservatives on taxes, spending, and immigration, as well as some social issues. Moreover, their main rivals within Quebec just happen to be the Liberals. At the same time the Wexit (western exit) party has mellowed in becoming the Maverick Party, with their first choice being the same as the Quebecois, greater provincial autonomy within Canada. The Maverick Party draws from the same voter base as the Conservatives which makes things a bit more tricky. However, the Conservative Prime Minister of Alberta, the Maverick Party's strongest turf, has been an extremely outspoken proponent of much greater provincial autonomy since the very early days of the Wexit movement, so there is a good policy fit between the parties. A Conservative government could make important friends and allies by championing transfer of power from the federal to the provincial level.

Commented: Tuesday, August 31st, 2021 @ 6:06 pm By: Steven P. Rader

Here is another of Morrison's anti-lockdown protest songs, "Born to be Free"
www.youtube.com

Commented: Monday, August 30th, 2021 @ 6:57 am By: Steven P. Rader

Van Morrison, formerly of The Doors, has released 3 anti-lockdown songs individually, and one in collaboration with Eric Clapton. His best one is "No more lockdowns", which can be found here: www.youtube.com

Commented: Saturday, August 28th, 2021 @ 6:53 pm By: Steven P. Rader

What Mitch McConnell did in the Alabama special election for US Senate in 2017 is more evidence of why he needs to be put out to pasture as GOP leader. There were three major GOP primary candidates, Luther Strange, who had been Attorney General, who was appointed Senator by the scandal tainted Gov. Robert Bentley; conservative Congressman Mo Brooks, a member of the House Freedom Caucus; and Christian conservative former State Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore. Strange was the establishment candidate and Mitch McConnell's choice. Strange's appointment was tainted by scandal because as AG, he had backed off on an investigation of Bentley's scandals, and Bentley rewarded him with the Senate appointment. In the polling, Brooks started in third place, but as he got better known in other congressional districts his numbers kept rising while those of Moore, and especially Strange kept going down. It was clear that the trendlines showed that the runoff would be between Moore and Brooks, with the Strange voters heavily favoring Brooks over Moore in a runoff, which should have made Brooks the nominee. McConnell had other plans. He deployed millions of dollars of national GOP money in an ad campaign viciously attacking Mo Brooks, stalling Brooks in third place. In the runoff, angry Brooks voters swarmed to support Moore who won the runoff. Thanks to poor handling of a media driven smear campaign and McConnell's refusal to support Moore, Democrat Doug Jones narrowly won the seat. Mo Brooks, on the other hand would have been a slam dunk to win the seat for the GOP. McConnell's meddling was what was responsible for Moore being the nominee, and he got in a snit and helped the Democrats win the seat over Moore when his guy lost the primary. What did McConnell expect Brooks voters to do after McConnell's meddling with attack ads against Brooks? They were highly motivated to oppose McConnell's guy in the runoff, and that is exactly what they did.

Commented: Tuesday, August 10th, 2021 @ 6:23 pm By: Steven P. Rader

I have an article published today at First in Freedom Daily debunking McCrory's claim of electability. It is at firstinfreedomdaily.com

Commented: Friday, July 30th, 2021 @ 1:18 pm By: Steven P. Rader

I have read H 951, and it is indeed bad. I understand that some conservative House members believe it can be fixed in the Senate, but I wonder if that will happen. Prematurely closing functional coal fired power plants for political "virtue signaling" to the left makes no sense and will only cost ratepayers and probably taxpayers money they should not have to be paying. Gas fired plants are a reasonable replacement when those coal plants reach the end of their useful life, but not before. The "energy storage" nonsense is a pipe dream that has never worked anywhere, and North Carolina is supposed to depend on THAT to replace working coal fired plants? Even globalist oligarch Bill Gates has openly admitted that energy storage simply does not work. There is nothing in the bill to guard against the hazardous substances involved with both solar and wind energy production or to require bonds for site cleanup afterward. This is a special interest bill concocted by special interest lobbyists that is very much against the interests of the citizens of the state. This bill even leaves intact the outrageous exemption from county property taxes for the wealthy big corporations that own wind and solar facilities. Why should the average Joe county taxpayer subsidize these wealthy corporations?

Commented: Saturday, July 24th, 2021 @ 7:51 am By: Steven P. Rader

Alaskan GOP contributors are flocking to conservative challenger Kelly Tshibaka over incumbent Lisa Murkowski, too. In the just filed quarterly campaign reports, Tshibaka raised $266,000 from Alaskans compared to $63,000 for Murkowski. Among small donors, it was $244,000 for Tshibaka and $29,000 for Murkowski. Of course, the special interests in Washington, DC are the ones backing Murkowski, not the folks back home in Alaska.

Commented: Saturday, July 17th, 2021 @ 10:47 am By: Steven P. Rader

The Cubans are true refugees fleeing a brutal dictatorship that not only denied them freedoms but is even shooting some of the protesters. Yet the Biden regime does not want to let them into the US. Why? Cubans tend to vote Republican as they have had a bellyfull of communism. It is all about politics. They would rather take economic migrants from democratic countries whom they think will vote Democrat. Those they encourage.

Commented: Wednesday, July 14th, 2021 @ 8:56 pm By: Steven P. Rader

It gets worse. Falkenbery outs Catherine Truitt for promoting CRT in one of the emails attached to that complaint. Beaufort County's Ray Leary found that nugget in reading through the emails attached to the complaint and posted it as the first comment on the Haymaker. Here is what one of Falkenbury's email says: 2. “Superintendent Truitt is asking the State School Board for $325K in taxpayer funds to pay for Critical Race Theory teacher training and lays out plans to spend $400K in federal
funds for the same purpose.” Truitt told the Beaufort County Reagan Day that she opposes CRT. Something does not add up. Falkenburg apparently still has a job, which speaks volumes. As Ray says in the Haymaker, Truitt "has some 'splain' to do".

Commented: Friday, July 2nd, 2021 @ 10:33 am By: Steven P. Rader

As Mark Twain wrote, "Those who do not read the newspapers are uninformed but those who do read the newspapers are misinformed". That seems to apply across all major media today.

Commented: Monday, June 28th, 2021 @ 9:42 pm By: Steven P. Rader

Kelly Tshibaka has a new TV ad out trumpeting the Trump endorsement of her challenge to Lisa Murkowski. Here it is: www.youtube.com

Commented: Tuesday, June 22nd, 2021 @ 1:38 pm By: Steven P. Rader

THis is fast becoming a two man race between Budd, on the right, and McCrory on the left. There is another huge issue out there in addition to ideology, and that is electability. McCrory has run three races statewide where he was either favored or in a dead heat, and managed to bungle his way to losing two of them. That raises very serious questions about McCrory's electability. Budd on the other hand, has never lost an election, even when targeted nationally by the Democrats. In his first election, Budd was an unknown political newcomer who defeated several well established Republican politicians to win his Congressional seat. Budd is a winner and McCrory too often a loser. We do not need a loser as our nominee in 2022.

Commented: Saturday, June 19th, 2021 @ 9:22 am By: Steven P. Rader

Ted Budd was always the clear conservative choice, but it is great to have President Trump out in front leading the charge. Mark Walker tries to talk conservative, but he showed his hand when he accepted the endorsement of major Trump nemesis and establishment kingpin Paul Ryan. As to Pat McCrory, throughout his political career, he has never seemed to know if he was coming or going.

Commented: Sunday, June 6th, 2021 @ 8:07 am By: Steven P. Rader

Gun Owners of America is a much more dependable gun rights group than the NRA. The NRA's mission is sound, but its executive vice president Wayne LaPierre had ammassed way too much power within the organization. Not only has he been using the NRA as his personal piggy bank, but his policies on endorsing candidates have often sold out the best gun rights candidates. LaPierre was responsible for the NRA policy of prostituting itself to incumbents. A very weakly pro-gun incumbent invariably got the NRA endorsement over a strongly pro-gun challenger. Even in open seats, LaPierre often steered the NRA endorsement the wrong way. A classic was when a West Virginia Senate seat was open, and LaPierre steered the NRA endorsement to the only nominally pro-gun Manchin over a staunchly pro-gun Republican who was running even with Manchin in the polls. The NRA endorsement played a big role in Manchin eaking out a victory. Gun Owners of America does not play those games with its endorsements. It backs the strongest pro-gun candidate in the race. GOA was founded by a former NRA board member who finally got a belly full of LaPierre and his wacky endorsement policies.

Commented: Wednesday, May 19th, 2021 @ 9:08 pm By: Steven P. Rader