NCGA

Making the gap between the Haves and the Have-Nots even wider:

In addition to taking a hacksaw to higher-education funding last year, the Honorables also cut money for financial aid. Some revenue from the tuition increase will go to financial aid, but as the price of admission rises more students will fall through the cracks.

I think it's safe to say that making the UNC System only available to the privileged few was exactly what the framers of our Constitution didn't want to happen:

That's a really big if, Rob.

If Speaker Tillis and Senate President Pro Tem Berger have any interest in doing the right thing, they should cancel the special legislative session scheduled for next Thursday immediately.

Truth is, none of the Tarheel Taliban has any interest in doing the right thing. They're on a whacked-out power trip ... and it's going to get a lot worse before it gets any better.

Plotting with lobbyists to compound the misery of our unemployed:

Next Thursday, February 16, the General Assembly will renew this problematic pattern when it returns to Raleigh for another “special” session on a yet-to-be-disclosed topic (or topics).

An email obtained by NC Policy Watch, however, indicates that legislative leaders have been secretly negotiating with business lobbyists on at least one topic: unemployment insurance.

Hat-tip to Rob Schofield for exposing this information. Here's the text of the e-mail:

Leaving 43,000 folks out in the cold:

The map leaves 43,000 residents of the new District 6 without representation in county government for the next two years. State Senate leader Phil Berger, who's responsible for creating this mess, still won't acknowledge that a problem exists let alone move to fix it.

That's because he doesn't consider it a "problem". Republicans in the General Assembly have treated municipalities/county governments with nothing but contempt since they took charge. If they could, they would take away all local representation, leaving everybody to depend on (a useless) state government for their needs. In a perfect world (again, we don't live there), that would equate to 43,000 votes against Berger (or whoever) in the next election.

Straightening out those pesky campaign finance reporting issues:

"There's no effort to hide anything. All this will be covered in an amended report. Some information didn't get there quickly enough," said Jordan Shaw, a Tillis spokesman.

In the meantime, here's one of them:

Whining about Liberal bias in the media:

I have concluded that most (but not all) of the mainstream media will not report on a balanced basis. Either through deadline calls, sloppy reporting, and/or momentary memory lapses, many will continue to report with a bias towards a liberal or progressive liberal stance.

You left out "Making them work 20 hour days so they won't miss any of our late-night shenanigans". Here's the rest, including a weird joke about Tillis killing a dog:

Come to Gaston County Community College's Belmont Campus at 4pm on Monday, Jan. 30th, for NC House Speaker Thom Tillis' first Town Hall Meeting since he hijacked democracy with his Midnight Madness and Overnight Veto Overrides. Speak out. Demand answers. Help get our state back on track.

Background: On January 5, 2012, out-of-control lawmakers in Raleigh-- led by NC House Speaker Thom Tillis -- staged a post-midnight last minute secret session of the General Assembly in order to override a veto by Governor Perdue and punish teachers who had spoken out against the GOP's deep cuts to public education.Now Speaker Thom Tillis is holding his first Town Hall meeting since that infamous event.