i’m not a good person. i shoot for better than average and i think i hit it more times than not. it’s fine. https://t.co/y73vwrWTOk
— World Famous Art Thief (@CalmSporting) September 20, 2021
‘Better than average’ is a good target. If only because once you get into the habit of thinking of yourself as A Good Person, you end up justifying all your most ignorant, horrific impulses…
the fascination with kid-gloving trump supporters like they’re some sort of alien species journalists are on safari to see continues and meanwhile nobody wants to ask biden voters about their perspectives because it’s boring tv https://t.co/lVvxRkMDTW
— kilgore trout, ron desantis spokesperson (@KT_So_It_Goes) September 20, 2021
(Reminder for the youngs: Ted Koppel first came to public attention intoning AMERICA HELD HOSTAGE, gleefully kneecapping President Carter in support of the GOP Death Cult. I am convinced he remains among us because, to use the old proverb, Hell doesn’t want him and Heaven won’t have him.)
these are not stupid people. they know enough to be too ashamed to say what it is they really feel. they’re highly functional and aware of what they can and cannot say. and the media goes on supplying the cover of “look at these cute simpletons isn’t it something!”
— kilgore trout, ron desantis spokesperson (@KT_So_It_Goes) September 20, 2021
there are hundreds of great journalists who could’ve gotten on this train and asked real questions. cbs picked the guy they knew would just gently poke at the subjects, like some sort of tranquilized and casually bemused guidance counselor
— kilgore trout, ron desantis spokesperson (@KT_So_It_Goes) September 20, 2021
the takeaway from that ted koppel interview is that it’s okay for people to say the most horrific and xenophobic shit about immigrants but we’re all supposed to nod and respectfully ponder the feelings of a bunch of dumb fucking crackers. no thanks. https://t.co/QNPZjiDEdN
— World Famous Art Thief (@CalmSporting) September 20, 2021
Ergo:
california democrats are not good at governance but they have so demoralized the republicans in the state that most of them have just given up. just do that everywhere.
— World Famous Art Thief (@CalmSporting) September 20, 2021
Dig Out Your Pussy Hats, Women Are Marching Again
Another Scott
In case you have been wondering how the brainiacs would have installed TFG as Emperor, here’s a 6-step plan.
Of course, it didn’t and wouldn’t work (there weren’t multiple slates of electors from any state). The GQP is still hoping for some One Weird Trick in future elections. We have to turn out no matter what obstacles they put up.
via –
Cheers,
Scott.
(“Who is sure that Laurence Tribe is flattered.”)
Miss Bianca
Wondering what that last tweet is about: “California Dems are not good at governing”? Does the Twitterer offer any evidence for this assertion, or is this one of those “even when we win, we’re losing among the Smart Set” situations?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I’d almost completely forgotten about Ted Koppel. Is he with CBS now?
I’ve been saying for years, to most of our mostly white press corps, especially in the management offices, people like these are noble savages. “We know these good doughty heartlanders aren’t racist. So why does this patriotic American– just look at his T shirt!– think BLM did 1/6?”
PsiFighter37
I didn’t even realize that Ted Koppel was still alive.
UncleEbeneezer
Damnit, you just HAD to post this while my wife is considering applying for a job that would move us to North Carolina! ?
Seriously though, fuck these people and anyone who coddles them. They downright admit that they ignore/avoid any news sources that disagree with what they feel is the truth. Ugh…
hells littlest angel
Uh … you’d better sit down …
Baud
@UncleEbeneezer:
We could use your vote there.
Baud
Somewhere out there there is a disappointed Biden voter who has a date with the media.
Baud
@Miss Bianca:
I thought the same thing.
WaterGirl
@Another Scott: Holy fuck.
Anne Laurie
@Miss Bianca: The person tweeting lives in California, and has written in the past about volunteering on voter registration. But he doesn’t have a high opinion of some CA Democratic officials’ skills — I believe the phrase ‘own goals’ has been used…
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Koppel thinks these people are dumb goobers, trump thinks these people are dumb goobers, Josh Hawley thinks these people are dumb goobers, I think these people are dumb goobers…. but I’ll say it out loud.
I wonder how many of them were vaccinated on that enclosed trolley
UncleEbeneezer
@Baud: I know, and I’m actually kinda hoping we can move there, but man is it going to be a serious culture shock if we do. We are in a pretty deep blue part of Los Angeles and would be moving to the hill country only a short drive from the Tennessee border. Going from a very diverse place to one that is VERY white.
Baud
@Another Scott:
That could mean anything!
John S.
@UncleEbeneezer:
I spent a month in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina this past summer. Absolutely gorgeous country, and I thoroughly enjoyed my visit. But no way in hell I would ever move there.
Outside of a few bluish metro areas, the people are fucking nuts.
ETA: I literally spent time where you are talking about. It’s about as lily white as you can get, and there’s a Baptist church every 1000 feet. Seriously.
RSA
Anne, I don’t mean to be critical, because you do yeoman’s work on this blog to keep conversations running. But it’s harder to read your work these days, when it’s mostly interstitial comments between tweets to form a story. I appreciate your voice too, with the external bits maybe just as highlights.
Old Man Shadow
I grew up Baptist imagining that I was bad enough as a five year-old to deserve being set on fire forever by a good God, so my self-esteem is pretty fucking shot.
Hell, whenever things get good and I start feeling happy, I immediately wonder when god/karma/the universe is going to drop the boot and stomp on me until I’m as miserable as I deserve. Haha…. ah… religious trauma.
MagdaInBlack
@Another Scott: That just made me a wee bit ill.
Of course they did.
Baud
@Anne Laurie:
It distracts from his point IMHO.
Old Man Shadow
Well, also because the media is guilty of perpetuating the racist lie that white Christian rural men and their submissive wives are REAL America and everyone else is not. So our voices don’t count because of our location, skin color, religion, ethnicity, or gender.
Baud
@MagdaInBlack:
Yeah, it’s disgusting. I don’t think it would have worked because Nancy Pelosi would never had held the vote of the states if Pence reneged on his duty. But things would have gotten a lot uglier than they did.
CaseyL
@John S.: You can only admire the gorgeous scenery for so long; at some point you have to deal with the humans who also live there.
Whenever I think about moving somewhere GOP dominated – most of the affordable areas in the country are in Red regions/states – that always stops me. You live near the mountains, but you live amid the humans. And the humans mostly suck.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Another Scott: written by the guy who tried to birther Kamala Harris
Major Major Major Major
@Miss Bianca: California is very badly run! It’s a mess. Even when they have a supermajority and try to do the right thing it usually ends up a mess—that gig worker bill was badly written, the privacy bill is mostly a paperwork and lawsuit factory, prop 13 remains on the books.
Old Man Shadow
@Major Major Major Major: Meh. We have issues. But compared to most of the other states, we’re doing pretty good.
Ruckus
World Famous Art Thief
CA democrats may not be good at governance, but they are far, far better at it than any republican. Which is why Newsom kicked their ass in the recall. OK that and the leading republican figuratively shot himself in the groin. Every time he opened his mouth. Most of us in CA have seen what a today’s republican is like and it isn’t good in any way. We’ve had our fill of useless fucks that couldn’t operate a coin washing machine with a bag of quarters, an instruction sign in 14 languages, a how to video and their mom standing there showing them.
Mike in NC
I can’t remember which year it was, but somebody interviewed the then-mayor of that town (Mt Airy) they used as a basis for creating Mayberry. He was 70-something and said he and his neighbors were basically unhappy living in the modern 21st century.
Paging the GOP!
Major Major Major Major
@Old Man Shadow: it’s not even in the top ten blue states when it comes to competent governance.
germy
@PsiFighter37:
He always had spectacular hair. TV reporters of his generation always favored the puffy swoop, often achieved by combing it against the way it naturally grew. His major contribution to TV journalism.
HeleninEire
I’m in Boston. Spent the day with my lovely niece. Tomorrow I will meet a Balloon Juice commenter IRL for the first time. This commenter asked me 4 years ago if I would welcome her IRL friend in Dublin. Of course I did. And I am not joking….it was one of the best dinners I’ve ever had. So I will meet the Balloon Juice commenter for the first time tomorrow after knowing her IRL friend IRL.
debbie
@Another Scott:
They all need to be tossed in prison for sedition, the bastards.
(Do you really think Tribe is flattered?)
Scout211
@Major Major Major Major:
The Gig worker law was not a bill. It was a proposition, passed by the voters. Now, if you want to complain that we have low information and gullible voters who believe distorted and biased TV ads for propositions, okay, I totally agree.
debbie
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Ted’s the Walter Cronkite for the pocket Constitutionalists. //
John S.
@CaseyL:
This is very true. After living most of our lives in South Florida, my wife and I are looking to relocate someplace near the mountains. But many beautiful places we have visited are filled with assholes.
We are going back to Washington in a few months to look at neighborhoods outside Seattle. So far, it’s one of very few places on our short list.
Just One More Canuck
The CBC did the Canadian equivalent of a Cletus safari in my riding (district) today, sending a crew all of 50 minutes from CBC headquarters to a Tim Horton’s in Stouffville to interview a bunch of dumbasses. At least up here, they managed to find supporters of each party, even the PPC, which is where the antivaxxers, Nazis and other assorted numbnuts too crazy for the Conservatives end up. I’m actually hoping they have siphoned off enough votes from the Conservatives to help the Liberals
Baud
@Scout211:
I thought the proposition overturned the gig worker law.
germy
@Mike in NC:
People always use Mayberry as shorthand for “unrealistically perfect small town life” but we recently watched the first two seasons of the Andy Griffith Show (thanks, MeTV) and whew! The town was not portrayed romantically at all. There were always gossiping ladies causing trouble, fights and quarrels in the town square, feuds, jealousies, the town drunk, moonshiners, homeless encampments… the works.
Baud
@germy:
But everyone was white!
Major Major Major Major
@Scout211: the gig worker law was a bill which had many drafting errors such as making a freelance writer who sells twelve stories a year into an ‘employee’. The proposition, which is much worse, has modified it—as an amendment to the constitution, which you can do with a bare majority plebiscite, which is INSANE.
California is famously ungovernable, the tweeter wasn’t pulling it out of his ass.
Scout211
@Baud:
No it was a law passed by proposition. A recent Court ruling found it unconstitutional. It’s still on the books but this court ruling is going through the appeal process.
Another Scott
@debbie: No, I assume he is horrified, and wonders how that guy ever came up with the deranged idea that he was the Democrats legal god-head.
Tribe says Imperio!!
Cheers,
Scott.
germy
@Baud:
In one of the crowd scenes, when the townsfolk angrily surrounded Barney Fife over some law enforcement he was attempting, we actually saw a middle aged Black woman. We were surprised, but she was there.
Sheriff Andy’s personality is completely different in the first season. He’s very pushy and comical. In later seasons he toned it down and became the straight man for the other characters’ comedy.
Scout211
@Major Major Major Major:
Okay, I stand corrected on the law, then the proposition then the court ruling. Thanks!
@Baud:
Chris T.
Dateline: January 2121
At the inauguration for President Patel, Republicans claimed that only Dead Trump can be President. Meanwhile in the one part of Florida that isn’t underwater, the last unvaccinated people died of Covid’s Upsilon-24 variant. This leaves the entire Florida government unmanned since by state law, only Republicans may hold office, and all Republicans in Florida are now dead.
President Patel continues to reject the request from Mexico that the US take Texas back. Although most of the Republicans there are dead too, she notes that Texas, like Florida, requires Republican rule, that there are 6000 machine guns per resident, and that the only parts of the state not on fire and/or loaded with toxic chemicals are those that are now under the encroaching Gulf of Mexico…
debbie
@Another Scott:
If nothing else, maybe he’ll learn to just keep his thoughts to himself.
UncleEbeneezer
@John S.: We would be about an hour from Asheville, which is 10-11% Black, and even closer to Marion which is 12%. So at least we’d be not too far from some relative safe havens. But still very different than our current home which is 47% White, 30% Black, 20% Latinx, 5% Asian.
bbleh
Yes. And meanwhile, ratfk the sh!t out of their candidates, eg by supporting the wingiest wingnut primary challengers, spreading hopelessness and misinformation among their voters, and volunteering for their campaigns and then dumping the materials in a landfill.
“War is hell, boys.” — Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman
Betsy
Mt. Airy has extreme problems in real life. Here’s an extract of what a couple of friends there have mentioned:
Miss Bianca
@John S.:
Hey, welcome to my world!
Seriously, I am so sick of living among mouth-breathers right now. Particularly because of COVID. I like my work, I like my neighbors, I like the house where I’m living (scary driveway, God’s own views)…I just can’t stand the mouth-breathers any longer.
I think it was Kent who said the other day, “Basically you can learn all you really need to know about someone by gauging their reaction to either Covid or Donald Trump,” and by that measurement I have learned way, way more than I ever wanted to know about the people of this county.
Old Man Shadow
@Mike in NC: Yeah, that’s basically it.
These folks want to live in a time when you could live in a small town, surrounded by (white) folks like yourself, earn a living with a high school diploma, and die in your fifties of easily preventable diseases.
Not that they’ll do anything politically to make the earn a living with a H.S. diploma bit possible because then Those Other people would benefit and they just don’t wanna work as hard as us Mayberry folks do.
Ruckus
@Old Man Shadow:
Agreed.
How many states can be named that have a population/density like CA and still manage to be a good place to live? Well none actually. No one can please everyone and in a state this populated some things are going to just not work, after all, humans are involved. I’ve lived in two states, traveled to 46 of the 50, many numerous times, and I’d like someone to name a state that currently comes close to CA on really, any issue. I’d bet there are some issues of course but how many do as good a job overall?
John S.
@UncleEbeneezer:
I got to know that area well. Spent time in Burnsville, Linville, Banner Elk, Boone, Cherokee and a bunch of other places about an hour from Asheville.
Barbara
@UncleEbeneezer: I lived in North Carolina for four years, and my daughter lived there for the past three years before moving again. What you hear about NC was also true of Virginia not too long ago. NC voted for Obama in 2008 but has been successfully gerrymandered. NC is not Mississippi or Louisiana or Alabama or Arkansas. Sure, it’s bluer in the Research Triangle and Charlotte, but there are places like Wilmington and Asheville too, and anywhere UNC has a campus. You don’t need to write it off.
AM in NC
@UncleEbeneezer: Come on Down! We need all the blue voters we can get, and there are a number of progressive areas in the state (the Triangle – Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill; Asheville; Charlotte – basically any city or place with a University). Plus we have mountains, forests and beaches and barbecue to die for. Seriously, we are a purple state with a blue governor suffering under a terrible gerrymander. So please move here and bring 10,000 of your blue-voting friends!
Full Metal Wingnut
Re the last tweet, yeah but let’s also work on the getting better at governance. I’m glad we elect a fair number of Democrats here in New York, but many of them are of shockingly low caliber. The D next to the name isn’t the end of it, we need to demand better. Even if we achieve the dream of republicans being nonviable nationwide we’re still gonna have to contend with the fuckholes like Andy Cuomo. And Sinema, Raimondo, etc. Don’t tell me Rhode Island is a model of good governance.
By all means, purge republicans from government, but that is merely the beginning. Not the end.
VeniceRiley
This was Koppel’s schtick since the Timothy McVeigh era.
Full Metal Wingnut
Koppel’s still alive? Yeesh. The only work he should be getting is cryptkeeper in a Tales from the Crypt reboot.
AM in NC
@UncleEbeneezer: Ok, after reading your comment about where in the state you’re moving, I too would be worried if I were you. That is Eric Rudolph (abortion clinic bomber), Madison Cawthorn territory. Shudder.
Full Metal Wingnut
@hells littlest angel: *act like a bunch of dumb hicks*
Gee, I hope we don’t look like a bunch of dumb hicks.
Ken
“So… if we destroy the UNC system, we will win more elections…” — NC GQP leadership
Kay
Just amazing stuff. They were really going to steal it and install Trump.
We need some guardrails before 2024.
UncleEbeneezer
@AM in NC: Yeah I know all of that. One of my fave podcasts is a Black couple in Charlotte so they talk all the time about the frustration of being SO CLOSE to being a real Blue State if not for the bullshit gerrymandering.
Like I said above, as long as we can be not too far from diversity we’ll manage. Fingers crossed. As much as we love CA, we’d really love to have seasons again.
Mike in NC
@John S.: Our friends who lived in Fairfax, VA moved to Tampa for work opportunities. They plan to retire next year and find a place in or near Asheville, NC. Haven’t been there in 10 years but it was nice.
Full Metal Wingnut
@John S.: Of all the southern states I visited when I was younger (including MS, LA, SC, AL, AR, GA, TN, KY) North Carolina seemed like the least bugfuck insane. I mean, Atlanta is cool and all, but outside of there no thanks on GA. Seemed pretty tolerable to live in, although the competition was…you know. But still, I remember thinking it was the least stereotypically “southern” state in the south I had visited
forgot Virginia. You know, easy to overlook since it’s solidly blue these days, but man time was that outside NoVA it was pretty spooky.
Delk
I don’t know a single Biden voter that would be boring TV. Quite the opposite really.
Geminid
@UncleEbeneezer:I’ve lived in 60% Republican counties for 30 years. My neighbors haven’t been that obnoxious. Most country people are not that political anyway.
The fact that Virginia has gone from red to purple to blue has helped my morale. North Carolina seems like it’s halfway through that progression.
SiubhanDuinne
@HeleninEire:
I love how IRL stands for both “In Real Life” and “(the Republic of) Ireland.” Beautifully done!
WaterGirl
@Ruckus: @Major Major Major Major:
I see a lot of leadership and good governance coming out of CA. Do they suck at some things? Sure? But it’s wrong to say that the Dems in CA are not good at governance.
Omnes Omnibus
@Delk:
I have an aunt and uncle who would be.
Omnes Omnibus
@SiubhanDuinne:
Don’t encourage her; she’ll get an attitude
Chief Oshkosh
@germy: The difference between reality and what you observed?
True community-engaged peace officers.
JWR
Sorry, lady, but that boat sailed a long time ago. And the woman who said “We get our truth from other sources”, sources she refuses to disclose is just friggin’ sad. It’s like a FB post about guns, where the pro-gun poster wrote, “this is just my opinion and I don’t want to read anyone else’s”.
John S.
@Full Metal Wingnut:
You may still be right in your assessment. TN, KY, SC and most other southern states are definitely WAY less desirable than NC. But still, if I’m going to relocate from Florida, I’m not going to settle for “least bugfuck crazy”.
Hoodie
@UncleEbeneezer: I wouldn’t call Marion much of a safe haven. The wingnut density decreases closer to Boone (college town) or Asheville, but you get very far out of either you’ll be in Trump/Cawthon country, lots of Trump flags and shrines to the Orange One. Buncombe County (Asheville) is the only reliable blue county in that part of the state. Watauga County (Boone and nearby resort areas) is purple. Everywhere else is solid red. One problem with western NC is that it attracts a lot of Fox News retirees who are fleeing what they view as urban hellholes.
moops
Oh, if they interview some of us now you can damn well bet it will get pretty loud and angry. We are pissed off now and that would make for some excellent TV if any reporter thought they could get it past their editors.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
This seems like corruption….
Betsy
@Old Man Shadow: same, and yet I only barely absorbed it indirectly because my family was reasonably mainstream — but I got plenty of hellfire messaging from the fundies around town. It’s child abuse and emotional abuse.
Danielx
@Miss Bianca:
Got that right. I’ve purged most people like that from my life and never – but never – talk to neighbors about politics. But my wife’s best friend lives in downstate NY and refuses to get vaccinated and it’s driving her nuts.
Side effects, my ass – I’m more worried about the side effects of COVID, including a miserable death or permanent disability.
laura
@Major Major Major Major: My Assembly Member has been on a tear on police reform and early childhood education, but term limits is going to limit his political power and that shit makes me furious because it denies the will of the voter to select the candidate of their choice and it increases the power of monied interests. Repealing term limits would be a worthy goal in improving the State’s governance. Also, the recall provisions that almost ushered Larry Elders into office could stand some fixing.
Hoodie
@John S.: NC is very location dependent, as the state has a big urban/rural divide, except for rural African-Americans. It’s somewhat similar to Georgia in that respect. In the Raleigh-Durham area, generally pretty liberal and not that much different than, say, Northern VA. Charlotte is a divided between solidly Dem urban areas and more middle of the road suburbs. Asheville is pretty liberal, but it’s also pretty small.
Geminid
@WaterGirl: I thought Jerry Brown was one of the country’s best Governors his second time around. I remember how conservative radio hosts constantly harped on how “California is a basket case!” Then Brown straightened out the state’s finances and the talk show hosts changed the subject.
HeleninEire
@SiubhanDuinne:
@Omnes Omnibus:
It’s in real life!!! You people are the best. OO I haven’t congratulated you on the new granddaughter. Good on ya.
Betsy
@Barbara: Here’s the other thing about North Carolina that I want people from outside to know:
A lot of reactionary Republicans from New Jersey and the Midwest and northern-tier states have moved here because they think they can be racist here without consequences. They tried to re-segregate our schools, and that failed. Many, many of our right-wing legislators and legislative leaders are originally Republicans from up north. A lot of them were really taken aback when they found that our schools were deeply integrated, in contrast to the lily white districts that they knew in New Jersey where entire towns have virtually no black people because of Balkanized local school districts and town limits.
Some of the best Tar Heel progressives in our legislature, and in Congress from here, were redistricted out of their seats by mainly northern right-wing transplants in the legislature.
I’m not making excuses for the dipshirts that are from here, but truly, a lot of the recent high-level right-wing machinations have been engineered and led by Northerners — “refugees” seeking to roll back the decades by moving south.
They’re so much worse than regular North Carolinians in terms of racism, attitude, incivility, arrogance, — all kinds of ways.
The North Carolina and I grew up with, and this was not in a major metro area, were characterized mostly by basic every day civility, relatively last racism and then the rest of the south, sometimes deep progressivism, and above all a modesty about one’s self, and a conscientiousness that really was good to live among. It’s heart rending to see that personality type, which was so prevalent, even dominant, just a couple of decades ago, being replaced *wholesale* by the likes of Madison Cawthornes and other sick fucks.
WaterGirl
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
“This seems like corruption….”
I’ll see your ‘seems like’ and raise you with ‘Reeks of’ corruption.
Omnes Omnibus
@HeleninEire: I have no children, so….
ETA: Wait, do you know something about my life that I don’t?
WaterGirl
@Geminid: I know! These CA peeps are ungrateful. :-)
Seems like the CA glass should be at least 3/4 full, not half empty.
WaterGirl
@Omnes Omnibus: I think Helen may be confusing you with Ozark Hillbilly.
Betsy
@Full Metal Wingnut: We never had much of a plantation economy. For a variety of historical reasons and partly because of geography, North Carolina was always called “a vale of humility between two mountains of conceit.”
Meaning Virginia and South Carolina.
(Even the motto on the state seal was intended as a deliberate poke in the eye of those two notoriously stuck-up states to our north and south: ESSE QUAM VIDERI — which means “To be, rather than to seem.”)
NotMax
@Omnes Omnibus
In uisce beatha veritas?
:)
laura
Ted Koppel, the guy who ushered in the 24/7 news cycle and ratings bonanza America Held Hostage later shared how he got the uh-oh feeling in the no-no spot over fresh young conservative voice Laura Ingrham’s cheetah print mini skirt as Fox News established a beachhead in America’s living room and Rush moved away from his literally falling down house in Sacramento to rule the am dial from Florida and taking a shit in the skulls of listeners until he recently achieved room temperature. Ted Koppel, the guy that CBS has selected to normalize the guys and gals who just love that trump and his brand of fascism but would prefer that the rest of us not be so divisive. I am waiting with baited breath for CBS to trot out Ted Koppel to normalize the overturning of Roe and the just folks on the Supreme Court who would prefer that the rest of us not be so quick to judge the actions of the justices as political partisanship. After that, I expect that CBS will trot out Ted Koppel to normalize the overturning of Times v Sullivan and the reasonableness of limiting what can and cannot be said about the powers that be.
Ted Koppel can take a running jump up his own ass.
Danielx
@Full Metal Wingnut:
Lived in VA for six months or thereabouts thirty years ago, corporate relocation horror story. Lived in Prince William County, Manassas area, right on the edge of NoVA…which was very cosmopolitan – people from everywhere, ethnic restaurants of every description, etc. Then you’d get into the rest of Virginia and it was a different world – didn’t like Yankees, POC or much of anything else from what I could tell. Then the road names, historical markers, etc – seemed like everything was named Lee, Jackson or both.
hueyplong
@Betsy: I agree with Betsy’s post and will add western NY to NJ as parts of the north that dumped Trumpers into NC.
Charlotte seems full of Buffalo transplants. (When the Hurricanes played game 7 of the conference final against the Buffalo Sabres in Raleigh in ’06, it was difficult to tell which was the home team.)
Geoduck
@Baud: Griffith reportedly wanted to include (more) black people in the show, in a reflection of reality, but was shut down by network executives, because the show wouldn’t be allowed to air at southern affiliates.
And yeah, he became the straight man after he saw how funny Don Knotts was as the goofball.
Betsy
@Hoodie:
To your last point — yes!! See my comment 48 above.
UncleEbeneezer
@Hoodie: She’s looking at a job at Penland College in Spruce Pine so we were thinking Marion might be the best option for not being too far away.
surfk9
@laura: Are you in Jim Cooper’s district?
HeleninEire
@Omnes Omnibus: lol. My bad. I got you confused with Ozark Hillbilly. All those O’s.
John S.
@Geoduck:
Andy Griffith was a lifelong Democrat, and far more liberal than many folks realize — especially for his time.
billcinsd
@UncleEbeneezer:47% White, 30% Black, 20% Latinx, 5% Asian
102%, no wonder Trump thinks Dems cheat
Omnes Omnibus
@WaterGirl: I think OH and I are both insulted.
Danielx
@Betsy:
I noticed that – Virginia seemed to be obsessed with being more southern aristocratic than anywhere else in the south.
I was happy to return home, even with my fair state’s well earned rep as the northernmost southern state.
HeleninEire
@WaterGirl: Yes. My bad.
UncleEbeneezer
@billcinsd: CA Corruption!!
John S.
@UncleEbeneezer:
I remember driving past that college more than a few times. Spruce Pine is a pretty small town, but I did enjoy the drive through it on 19E on my way to and from Burnsville and Linville Falls, and around the surrounding area. The drive up the Blue Ridge Parkway to Mt. Mitchell was a favorite.
Betsy
@John S.: Yes. Though, to be fair, nearly every white person was a lifelong Democrat at that time.
And there were white Republicans in the mountains, (the political descendants of Union loyalists during the civil war) who were a source of possibly the state’s most progressive politics! Holshouser was one of those.
Danielx
@Omnes Omnibus:
As well you should be.
laura
@surfk9: Nope, Kevin McCarty, 7th district. When spouse and I bought a house in 2002, he and his wife were door to door knocking, delivering pot holders with the telephone numbers for city services, non-emergency pd, solid waste, and the city counsel. We’ve voted for him for City Council and for the Assembly. He’s still our neighbor. His priorities and effort have earned my support and my respect.
Betsy
@UncleEbeneezer: Burnsville and Black Mountain are both very nice, and artsy.
UncleEbeneezer
@Betsy: Very interesting. We are trying to figure out how bad the rural area of NC would be compared to say North Texas, which we visit every year and usually can’t wait to get the F out of, asap. Especially since we are both pretty vocal Dems, supporters of BLM and Planned Parenthood etc.
surfk9
@laura: Cool! I am in Cooper’s district on the Southern end. I know he was into police reform and is termed out as well.
WaterGirl
@Omnes Omnibus: I was gonna say that you could both do a lot worse than being mistaken for one other!
Betsy
@Danielx: I did a lot of consulting work for communities and always charged a Virginia premium. Virginians can be smug know-it-alls who really aren’t that much more sophisticated than the rest of the south
WaterGirl
@HeleninEire: There are two people here that I had conflated without realizing it… until they both showed up in the same thread at around the same time and I was like, huh? what?
John S.
@Betsy:
I really enjoyed my time near Burnsville. And their grocery store (Ingles) is pretty fucking fantastic.
Betsy
@UncleEbeneezer: NC varies greatly by community. The trick is to find the town that has a personality and setting that’s right for you. I can practically guarantee you that any decent town you choose that has a good quality of life will be way better than anywhere in rural Texas.
Run your selections by me anytime. I have worked or traveled extensively across the state and don’t mind saying I know damn near everything about North Carolina. Right down to the cultures and economies of many individual towns.
Anotherlurker
@CaseyL: Bingo! I tried to live in Fla., I couldn’t do it. I’m an avid fisherman, SCUBA diver and nature enthusiast . In spite of good offerings in these activities, the low quality, high grade assholes I met on fishing and dive boats ruined me. I found myself withdrawing from fellow Boomers because their attitudes and bigotry repelled and angered me. When someone asks to fish next to you at a party boat’s rail because there are “too many (n-words) fishing in the stern” it was my first hint that Fla. was not for me.
I now live in California. We have our assholes, but they are outnumbered by non-assholes.
Geminid
@UncleEbeneezer: You would find plenty of like-minded people in and around Spruce Pine. They would be glad to make your acquaintance.
Betsy
@UncleEbeneezer: PS – the mountains vary even within regions of the mountains – the south mountains are quite different from Boone and Sparta; the piedmont has its own sub-regions and cultures; which are vastly different from the northeastern coast and from the Cape Fear Valley and the southern coast.
One drawback of the area around Boone and Asheville is that it’s heavily infested with Floridians. They’re a mixed bag but often well-heeled and obnoxious.
As for those rural North Carolinians — Never underestimate how good and decent and intelligent the local people *can be.* Keep an open mind and be amazed.
Betsy
@John S.: Burnsville has it going on. Don’t tell anyone, for the love of Mike.
Hoodie
@Betsy: This is true to some extent, but I would say that the “native” population has been radicalized by things like FoxNews, so it’s not all racist carpetbaggers. I grew up in N. Ga., and the racism there was always present but not so out and proud. People knew it was not viewed positively, e.g., guys like Lester Maddox were generally an embarrassment and an impediment to southern progress. Most didn’t want to talk about it and kept it under wraps. The whole talk radio/FoxNews ecosystem brought it out of the closet because it normalized it on a national level. It should have stayed in the closet. Sometimes there are good reasons to be repressed.
Chris
@Betsy:
Gov James B Hunt is the personification of your speech. not perfect but damn….DECENT..,
Betsy
@UncleEbeneezer: Hey, check this out. You could be voting for this guy next year! https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wJXYt12oaKE&feature=emb_title
Chacal Charles Caltrop
@John S.: try Vashon Island. Famously welcoming to LGBTQ, regular ferry to Seattle. Of course if you have $$$ feel free to move into Seattle proper.
UncleEbeneezer
@Betsy: Thanks for all the great info (and to everyone else doing so here). I’m sure you’re right about just finding the right spot/pocket, but I do get leery at the thought of towns that are 80-90% white and 70% Trump voters. Mainly because I’m very vocal and blunt about social justice, and probably won’t be toning that down any time soon.
geg6
@RSA:
Personally, I appreciate her posting this way. I don’t use or often venture onto Twitter because I hate the culture of it and I find it very hard to read. AL curates the best tweets and then gives context. I truly appreciate her ability to do that.
senyordave
@PsiFighter37: I didn’t even realize that Ted Koppel was still alive.
He isn’t
NotMax
@UncleEbeneezer
Have idly wondered (although there is a ferry) what if any dispensation has been made concerning COVID era border crossing for the part of Washington state attached by a quirk of cartography only to Canada.
Aki
@Mike in NC: This should help to see why Mount Airy was chosen for this piece.
http://www.ncpolicywatch.com/2021/06/03/national-reckoning-on-race-runs-into-resistance-from-nc-conservatives/
UncleEbeneezer
@NotMax: I think you meant to reply to another comment?
NotMax
@UncleEbeneezer
The one right above yours, it would appear.
Mea culpa.
Darkrose
@laura: CA is exhibit A for why so many allegedly progressive reforms are bad: recalls, ballot initiatives, and term limits at the top of that list.
Chris T.
@NotMax:
None, and it’s been a disaster for them. They’re not far from where I live, except for all that water in the way. And, unfortunately, there isn’t a ferry. Well, there is one from the Canadian side, to other points on the Canadian side, but that’s no help to the residents of Point Roberts.
UncleEbeneezer
@NotMax: No worries. We visited Port Townsend a few years ago and found that area lovely/fascinating.
NotMax
@Chris T.
Thanks for that info.
Full Metal Wingnut
@John S.:
Ha! Of course. I am a Florida survivor myself, and I get it.
Full Metal Wingnut
@Hoodie:
I think these days we have more of a rural/urban divide. Which is not to say that every southern city is all peaches and cream. But even here in New York, you drive out of the city, out of the suburbs and far exurban counties you get a lot of hair raising rural areas.
Rural anywhere is not somewhere I’d like to be. Mainly because of the kind of people, I do enjoy the scenery and solitude. Exception might be a place like Massachussetts. There are yokels everywhere but western MA might be even more blue in some places than Boston thanks to the influence of all those damn college towns.
Ksmiami
@Full Metal Wingnut: just avoid Longmeadow, MA… ugh
Roger Moore
@WaterGirl:
The big issue is that California has a ton of obstacles to good governance strewn around, like Prop 13 and our crazy initiative system more generally. They make it very difficult to get anything done. That we manage to have decently competent government in spite of those obstacles is evidence that our leaders are really good at their jobs; if they were only pretty good they couldn’t get anything done at all.
Betsy
@Chris: Good example.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
Again, Newsom wasn’t very popular in SF and who did the GOP run against him; That old crank with his pet bear. Any functional political party would have seen that was their moment and ran someone who could at lest pretend to be serious, instead it was Mr Grandpa forgot his pants was their choice. The Cal GOP when fruit loop city in the early 90s and that not coming back and now even the non crazy Conservatives vote against them.The Cal GOP woes are self inflicted.
Miss Bianca
@Betsy: Late to the thread, but I found myself very taken with New Bern and the coastal areas of NC.