The Dictatorship

Lost Cause ideology factors into this North Carolina judge’s refusal to admit defeat

Published

1 year ago

April 8, 2025

Lost Cause ideology factors into this North Carolina judge’s refusal to admit defeat

Judge Jefferson Griffina Republican who lost his November race for the North Carolina Supreme Court, has created a scene by refusing to concede the race for five months, and recently a 2001 photo has surfaced of him wearing a Confederate uniform at a fraternity party when he was a student at the University of North Carolina. Griffin insists that the photo “does not represent the person I am today.” If it’s true that he no longer supports the Lost Cause, a mythology that glorifies the Confederates that attacked the Union, then he should also give up the lost cause of election subversion.

If it’s true that he no longer supports the Lost Cause, then he should also give up the lost cause of election subversion.

Incumbent Justice Allison Riggs, the Democrat in the race, won the election by 734 votes, but by challenging 65,000 ballots that were cast in November, Griffin continues to try to whittle down the electorate after the fact to tip the race in his favor. A Friday ruling by a three-judge panel on the Republican-controlled appeals court — on which Griffin, who recused himself, sits — ruled in Griffin’s favor. The panel decided 2-1 that the 65,000 voters whose eligibility Griffin challenges should have 15 business days to prove they were eligible to vote.

But the North Carolina Supreme Court intervened Monday with a stay against the appeals court ruling. We hope it’s more than a temporary pause and that the Republican majority on the state’s highest court agrees with the judge who dissented from Friday’s appeals court ruling. That dissenting judge argued that Friday’s ruling amounts to “changing the rules by which these lawful voters took part in our electoral process after the election to discard their otherwise valid votes,” and he rightly said that “an attempt to alter the outcome of only one race among many on the ballot is directly counter to law, equity, and the Constitution.”

If the appeals court ruling is allowed to stand, then some percentage of 65,000 North Carolina voters will have seen their vote erased.

Confederates lost the Civil War, but as many historians of Reconstruction have noted, the South won the culture war. Consider that Griffin, then a college student, was proudly posing in Confederate grays 136 years after that side surrendered at Appomattox.

While the particular myths of the Lost Cause have varied over the years, the motivation stays the same: Lies about the past are told to help people in power hold on to it in the present. Historic voter turnout in North Carolina in 2008 helped send Barack Obama to the White Houseand since then the party that lost that race has been pushing the myth of “voter fraud.”

With the NC NAACP, a coalition of North Carolinians sued then-Gov. Pat McCrory to block the monster voter suppression law he signed in 2013. In federal court, we asked Republicans who claimed they were concerned about widespread voter fraud to produce evidence it existed. They could not then, and they cannot now. Voter fraud is the bogeyman they warn about to keep the Lost Cause alive today.

I do not question Griffin’s sincerity when he says he regrets wearing a Confederate uniform nearly a quarter century ago. He may also regret the Confederate flag his fraternity used to fly at its “Old South” ball. They’re symbols of another era. But they are symbols of a story that says Black Americans having political equality hurts white people. This is the story of the Lost Cause. It’s a lie.

Griffin lost. He may not like that result, but that doesn’t mean something nefarious happened.

When all the votes legally cast in North Carolina were counted last November, Griffin lost. He may not like that result, but that doesn’t mean something nefarious happened. His ongoing challenge to North Carolinians’ choice has become its own lost cause, deeply rooted in the tradition of myths that have kept some people re-enacting the Civil War for 160 years. For a court to rule in support of this challenge is to establish a precedent as dangerous as the Plessy v. Ferguson decision that propped up Jim Crow for almost 60 years.

It’s past time to hang up (literally and figuratively) the Confederate uniform and give up the belief system that drives Lost Cause thinking. North Carolina does better when more people vote. Any politician who doesn’t acknowledge that can’t be trusted to represent the will of the voters. Any judge who doesn’t believe that cannot faithfully interpret our state or federal constitution. The moral foundations of “we the people” are at stake in this attempt at election subversion. Each of us has a responsibility to stand against the lies that have kept the Lost Cause alive this long.

The Rev. Dr. William Barber

The Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II is founding director of the Center for Public Theology and Public Policy at Yale Divinity School. With Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, an Assistant Director at the Center, he is the author of “White Poverty: How Exposing Myths About Race and Class Can Reconstruct American Democracy.”

The Dictatorship

In pursuit of a Jim Crow gerrymander, Georgia’s governor calls another special session

Published

4 hours ago

May 15, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

In pursuit of a Jim Crow gerrymander, Georgia’s governor calls another special session

May. 14, 2026, 6:03 PM EDT

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp is officially joining the GOP’s push to reinstitute Jim Crow governance after conservative Supreme Court justices opened the door to racist gerrymandering with their decision in the Callais v. Louisiana case.

On Wednesday, Kemp — who has signed multiple voter suppression laws in recent years — called for a special legislative session in an effort to gerrymander his state’s congressional districts ahead of the 2028 elections. The map would take effect after this year’s midterms.

Kemp, notably, has been floated as a potential presidential candidate in 2028. His announcement comes as other Republican governors have eagerly pressed conservatives in their states to rig their congressional maps in their favor, now that the Supreme Court has effectively allowed them to draw majority-Black districts out of existence.

Next month’s special session will mark the third time in five years that Georgia Republicans will attempt to gerrymander their map, a remarkable data point underscoring the GOP’s illiberalism in the state.

These repeated returns to the well were rebuked by the Georgia state Senate’s minority leader, Harold Jones II. In a statement on Xhe said in part:

If Republicans ever used their power to help Georgians, they wouldn’t have to waste time and money redrawing the maps every few years to keep their majorities.

June will be our third redistricting since 2021. Republicans need to undo their last gerrymander because it wasn’t good enough to keep their waffling political party in power. Most parties would try out some new ideas. Republicans choose to strip political power from Black people and undo the progress the South made in the last 60 years.

Jones also noted that Black people make up Georgia’s largest bloc of middle-class and working-class voters, adding: “When Republicans strip Black people’s political power away, it doesn’t just strip one community of power. It strips political power from every single middle and working class person and hands it over to billionaires and big corporations.”

🚨Senate Minority Leader Harold Jones II released the following statement today on Governor’s Kemp’s call for special session:

“If Republicans ever used their power to help Georgians, they wouldn’t have to waste time and money redrawing the maps every few years to keep their… pic.twitter.com/85Sv2ChNSC

— Georgia Senate Democrats (@GASenateDems) May 13, 2026

As the Southern Poverty Law Center explained in JanuaryGeorgia Republicans forced through a map in 2021 that voting rights activists said discriminated against Black voters. After a federal court struck down that map, Georgia Republicans replaced it with a different map in 2023 that has been similarly criticized.

And now — amid what some people fear could be the largest purge of Black lawmakers from Congress since the Jim Crow era — Kemp is planning yet another assault on Black political power.

And he’s not stopping there. Just a day prior to calling the special session, Kemp signed a law to make elections for district attorneys and other offices nonpartisan in five Atlanta counties where Democratic DAs are in charge, all of whom are Black women.

As writers Jeff Singer and David Nir explained in The Downballotthis change, which is being challenged by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, could make it easier for Republicans to flip these five offices.

Ja’han Jones is an MS NOW opinion blogger. He previously wrote The ReidOut Blog.

The Dictatorship

House Ethics panel confirms misconduct investigation against Rep. Chuck Edwards

Published

5 hours ago

May 15, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

House Ethics panel confirms misconduct investigation against Rep. Chuck Edwards

May. 14, 2026, 9:48 PM EDT

The House Ethics Committee announced Thursday that they are investigating whether Republican Rep. Chuck Edwards engaged in sexual misconduct or helped create a hostile workplace environment.

The bipartisan committee said in a statement that it is reviewing allegations that Edwards, 65, “may have created or fostered a hostile work environment and engaged in sexual harassment in violation of the Code of Official Conduct or any other applicable standard of conduct.”

The committee noted that opening and publicly acknowledging the investigation “does not itself indicate that any violation has occurred,” and said no further comments would be made, except as allowed under committee rules.

The investigation comes weeks after Axios first reportedon April 30 that the House Ethics Committee was investigating Edwards, though the outlet did not initially provide details about the allegations. CNN later reported the investigation involves allegations of sexual harassment. NOTUS also reporterd Edwards allegedly maintained a long-term affair with a former aide who is said to have left the office earlier this year.

Days later, Axios reportedthat they reviewed a handwritten letter Edwards gave to a departing female aide that expressed unusually personal and emotional language. Axios also cited sources who allege Edwards gave the aide personal gifts, including jewelry, and later spent time with her after she left his office, including a trip to Las Vegas.

House rules prohibit members of Congress from having sexual relationships with staffers under their supervision.

Edwards has represented North Carolina’s 11th Congressional District since 2023 and is currently seeking reelection. He has been married since 1980.

He said in a statement that he plans to comply with the investigation and “is confident the investigation will expose the facts, not politically motivated fiction.”

During an interview with BLN on Tuesday, Edwards denied any wrongdoing.

“I think you’re gonna find that when Ethics completes their investigation that the facts will have caught up with all the gossip and the rumor,” he said.

Scrutiny over workplace conduct on Capitol Hill has intensified in recent months following the resignations of three lawmakers facing ethics investigations.

Democrat Eric Swalwell of California resignedfrom the House in April after facing multiple allegations of sexual misconduct, including claims from several women, though he denied wrongdoing. Tony Gonzales, a Republican from Texas, also resigned from the House the same week after admitting to an affair with a staff member — conduct that prompted a House Ethics probe and potential expulsion proceedings. Days later, Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick stepped down just before an expected expulsion vote following findings by the House Ethics Committee that she committed numerous violations tied to the misuse of federal funds.

Cases involving alleged misconduct by lawmakers have also increased pressure on congressional leadership to respond swiftly and transparently.

In April, the ethics panel urgedstaff and members to come forward with more reports of workplace misconduct, emphasizing that stronger enforcement depends on greater transparency and accountability.

Ebony Davis is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW based in Washington, D.C. She previously worked at BLN as a campaign reporter covering elections and politics.

The Dictatorship

Trump insists U.S.-China relations are in a good place as he wraps up Beijing trip

Published

5 hours ago

May 15, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Trump insists U.S.-China relations are in a good place as he wraps up Beijing trip

BEIJING (AP) — As President Donald Trumpwraps up his whirlwind visit to Chinaon Friday, he’s insistent that relations between the world’s two biggest powers are good and getting better despite deep differences on Iran, Taiwan and more.

Trump started his last day in Beijing by insisting in a social media post that Chinese leader Xi Jinping had “congratulated me on so many tremendous successes” and had been referring only to his predecessor, former U.S. President Joe Biden, when he “very elegantly referred to the United States as perhaps being a declining nation.”

But Trump’s rosy outlook on the U.S.-China relationship collides with some difficult truths about the thorniest issues between the two superpowers.

Beijing has shown little public interest in U.S. entreaties to get more involved in solving the conflict in Iraneven though Trump said in an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity that Xi had in their conversations offered to help. And the White House believes China can still do more to stem the flow of Chinese-made precursor chemicalsinto Mexico used to make illicit fentanyl that has wreaked havoc on many U.S. communities.

Xi, meanwhile, warned Trump during private talks that their differences on the self-ruled island of Taiwan, if handled poorly, could hurtle the world’s dominant powerstoward “clashes and even conflicts,” according to Chinese government officials.

Trump and Xi are set to have more time together at Xi’s official residence in Beijing on Friday before the U.S. leader makes the long journey back to Washington.

Taiwan remains the most important issue for China

Xi’s sharp language on Taiwan loomed large over Thursday’s talks, even as Trump sought to play up the notion that the U.S. and China share a “special relationship.”

But Secretary of State Marco Rubio told NBC News that U.S. policy toward Taiwan was “unchanged” and cautioned that it would be “a terrible mistake” for China to try to take Taiwan by force. He also framed Xi’s comments as standard practice.

“They always raise it on their side. We always make clear our position, and we move on to the other topics,” said Rubio, who was among senior aides to join Trump for the talks.

China in recent weeks has sought to put more focus on its view that Taiwan sits at the “core” of its interests and is key to ensuring a stable relationship with the U.S.

Trump has demanded Taiwan increase defense spending, and in December, the White House announced an $11 billion weapons package for Taiwanthe largest ever to the island democracy.

But the U.S. has yet to begin fulfilling the arms sales, and Trump had said he expected to discuss the matter with Xi in Beijing. He’s also groused that Taiwan “stole” America’s semiconductor business and called on Taiwan to paythe U.S. for protection.

All the while, Trump has, with the threat of hefty tariffs and Biden-era incentives, prodded Taipei to agree to massive investmentsin U.S. semiconductor manufacturing and to purchase billions of dollars’ worthof U.S. liquefied natural gas and crude oil. The attitude toward Taiwan has raised questions about whether Trump might be open to dialing back support for the island democracy.

Ma Chun-wei, an expert in China-Taiwan relations at Taiwan’s Tamkang University, said the elevated defense relationship between Washington and Taipei has caused China to toughen its rhetoric over Taiwan.

“For Xi Jinping, he must show that the Taiwan issue is in China’s hands. He must demonstrate this image, or else he would be criticized,” Ma said.

China wants the Strait of Hormuz opened

Iran was on the agenda when Trump sat down with Xi on Thursday for their two-hour meeting in the Great Hall of the People.

The leaders agreed that the Strait of Hormuz— effectively closed since the start of the Iran conflict — needs to be reopened to support global energy demands, Trump told Fox News in an interview. About 20% of the world’s oil flowed through the strait before the war started on Feb. 28.

Trump said in the interview that Xi privately offered assistance on resolving the war, though it was unclear what that would mean, given China’s strategic partnership with Iran.

“He’d like to see the Hormuz Strait open,” Trump said. “He said if I can be of any help whatsoever, I would like to help.”

The president also said Xi was also opposed to any implementation of tolls on vessels crossing the strait and expressed interest in China potentially purchasing more U.S. oil to reduce Chinese dependence on Gulf oil in the future.

Trump earlier this week had downplayedthe importance of talks with Xi on the 11-week-old Iran war that has led to surging energy prices and threatens to plunge the global economy into recession if the conflict does not conclude soon.

“We have a lot of things to discuss. I wouldn’t say Iran is one of them, to be honest with you, because we have Iran very much under control,” Trump told reporters Tuesday shortly before flying to Beijing.

But before Air Force One could land in Beijing, Rubio said administration officials would make the case to the Chinese officials about why they should be invested in prodding Iran to come to terms to end the war.

“Economies are melting down because of this crisis,” Rubio offered aboard the presidential plane as he flew with Trump to Beijing. That dynamic, the secretary added in an interview Wednesday with Fox News’ Sean Hannity, will result in consumers “buying less Chinese product.”

“So it’s in their interest to resolve this,” Rubio said.

Indeed, the Chinese, who have been critical of the U.S. and Israeli bombardment of Iran, hold unique leverage as Iran’s biggest trading partner. The Chinese government has managed to weather the economic damage caused by the war with the help of its strategic oil reserves, but that backstop is not limitless. Economists say the Iran conflict could still have a big impact on China’s export-driven economy.

Will Trump announce any major business deals?

The White House, ahead of the visit, insisted that Trump wouldn’t be making the trip without an eye toward securing results before he leaves, suggesting there could be announcements coming on trade.

Those could still come, with the U.S. side hoping to nail down Chinese commitments to buy U.S. soybeans and beef. Trump told Fox News that Xi had indicated a commitment for China to buy 200 Boeing jets from the U.S.

The leaders on Thursday discussed increasing U.S. agricultural purchases by the Chinese and opportunities for both sides to expand investment into each other’s markets, according to the White House. Trump administration officials also want to work toward establishing a Board of Trade with China to address commercial differences between the countries.

Chinese Premier Li Qiang stressed the need for friendship and cooperation in U.S.-China ties as he spoke with U.S. business titans, including Tesla’s Elon MuskApple’s Tim Cook and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huangwho were part of Trump’s delegation in Beijing.

“China and the United States have been able to maintain frank and smooth dialogue and communication and actively safeguard a stable and healthy bilateral relationship” despite international turbulence, Li said.