Good day and welcome to DKos Asheville. This is the weekly DKos Asheville Open Thread for Saturday, March 12th, 2022.
We offer this space every weekend to share what we're up to in Western North Carolina and to give readers a variety of links to local and regional news of interest.
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Please jump the fold for links to weekly stories I hope you find useful.
Wishing everyone a safe weekend.
Mountain Express, Daniel Walton, 3/9/2022
For the second consecutive year, the Blue Ridge Parkway was the most visited attraction managed by the National Park Service. The scenic roadway saw 15.9 million recreation visits in 2021, up from about 14 million in 2020; the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which also includes land in Western North Carolina, was in second place with over 14.1 million visits.
“While overall parkway visitation has remained relatively stable over the past five to 10 years, some of the park’s most popular destinations are seeing the impacts of heavy visitation,” said Blue Ridge Parkway Superintendent Tracy Swartout in a press release announcing the numbers.
“Overcrowding at popular locations can lead to diminished visitor experience and damage to park resources,” Swartout continued. “These impacts can often be avoided by recreating responsibly. With 469 miles to explore, we encourage you to find new ways to enjoy the parkway this year.”
Camping on the parkway has sharply increased in recent years, nearly 57% from 2014 levels. Since 2019, the last year the NPS considers “high occupancy,” tent camping is up nearly 10%, with recreational vehicle camping up more than 16%.
Mountain Express, Edward Arnaudin, 3/10/2022
Chase Brock, a choreographer for Broadway and London’s West End, got his start as a student and young performer at the Flat Rock Playhouse, and the TV/film actor Jimmi Simpson (Netflix’s “House of Cards”) was once an apprentice as well.
But for Anna Kimmell, director of education for FRP’s education wing, Studio 52, one need not pursue a life in the performing arts to be considered a success.
“A ‘success story’ at Studio 52 is anyone who finds their voice, improves their confidence, builds community or discovers joy through a theatrical experience. In that regard, we witness success stories nearly every day,” Kimmell says. “We believe that no matter what career our students pursue, the arts make them more compassionate, confident and creative members of society.”
That focus on youth development over superstardom is likewise a cornerstone of Asheville’s The Montford Moppets and Burnsville-based Parkway Playhouse, all of which have doubled down on their commitment to educating future generations during these challenging past two years.
Mountain Express, Brooke Randle ,3/11/2022
As the 2022 election season gears up, Asheville residents can expect to see candidates for Asheville City Council and other local positions on their ballots. But city voters may also have the opportunity to weigh in on citizen-led ballot initiatives, which have yet to be finalized for this election cycle.
In the latest installment of our recurring “WTF?” feature — Want The Facts — Xpress looks into the practice of local ballot initiatives to answer some of the biggest questions about the practice.
In this story
What is a ballot initiative? According to the N.C. State Board of Elections ballot initiatives are written petitions signed by citizens that can compel local governments to make new laws.
How do ballot initiatives become law? Ballot initiatives follow a two-step process to become law.
Do other cities have ballot initiatives? Most North Carolina city charters include provisions for some kind of process by which citizens can amend the charter through a petition but Asheville is different in some ways.
Has Asheville had a successful ballot initiative? Not yet. The closest that an initiative has gotten to making it on an Asheville ballot was in 2020 when the Climate Bill of Rights, a proposal by the Asheville-based nonprofit Community Roots, fell just 27 signatures short of reaching its goal of 10,358.
Who’s attempting initiatives this year? Community Roots is again collecting signatures to push the Climate Bill of Rights onto Asheville’s 2022 ballot. So far, the initiative has roughly 3,000 signatures, says Houghton. After learning from 2020’s mistakes, she says her organization is confident it will meet the goal this year.
Has Madison finally gone too far? Don’t bet on it.
This week’s Cawthorn’s Corner is chock full of goodies from Pelosi bashing to Putin Praising. The best part is seeing Tom Tillis and Lindsay Graham telling everyone that good, patriotic, mainstream Republicans aren’t that way. They hate Russia now. Honest.
WRAL, 3/11/2022
RALEIGH, N.C. — U.S. Rep. Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina told supporters he thought Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was a "thug"—a comment that runs counter to the overwhelming share of Republicans with a favorable view of the leader fending off a military invasion from Russia.
"Remember that Zelenskyy is a thug," Cawthorn said in a video obtained by WRAL News. "Remember that the Ukrainian government is incredibly corrupt and is incredibly evil and has been pushing woke ideologies."
It was unclear where the video was taken. Cawthorn had a number of events in the state over the weekend.
WLOS staff, 3/11/2022
ASHEVILLE, N.C. (WLOS) — The Constitutional Accountability Center has filed "a friend of the court" brief intended to keep Congressman Madison Cawthorn from seeking re-election.
Several voters have challenged Cawthorn's candidacy, citing a section of the 14th Amendment and calling him an insurrectionist for his alleged involvement in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.
The amicus brief was filed Friday with the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals and seeks to overturn a ruling from a federal court in eastern North Carolina that tossed out the complaints.
Efforts to reach Cawthorn for a comment were unsuccessful.
Raw Story. Travis Getty, 3/11/2022
Republicans moved swiftly to denounce Rep. Madison Cawthorn's slur against Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy -- who he called a "thug" -- but he's not all that far outside the GOP mainstream.
The North Carolina Republican drew widespread condemnation for comments made last week at a town hall that were reported Thursday, with GOP lawmakers including Liz Cheney, Joni Ernst and Lindsey Graham speaking out against Cawthorn, but The Bulwark columnist Charlie Sykes called out their hypocrisy.
"But Madison Cawthorn is not a complete outlier here," Sykes wrote. "Liz Cheney calls him a member of the Putin wing of the GOP, but it is important to remember that the leader of that wing is Donald J. Trump, the once and perhaps future president."
CNN, Chris Cillizza, 3/11/2022
Cawthorn's comments sounded to Sykes like talking points from the MAGA right, and he said the first-term lawmaker was probably surprised by the negative reaction to his insults.
No one likely is happier to see this week in the rearview mirror – more on that in a second – than North Carolina Republican Rep. Madison Cawthorn, who has had a hellish last few days.
Earlier this week, CNN reported that for the second time in the last five years, Cawthorn was facing charges of driving with a revoked license. And that that charge was one of three pending traffic citations against the congressman. (The other two were for speeding – one for going 89 miles per hour in a 65-mile-per-hour zone, the other for going 87 miles per hour in a 70 mile-per-hour zone.)
Then, on Thursday, a video surfaced of a recent speech Cawthorn gave to supporters in which he described Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as a “thug” and called the Ukrainian government “incredibly evil.” He also insisted, without explanation, that the Ukrainian government was “pushing woke ideologies.” He didn’t specifically explain what misinformation Zelensky was allegedly pushing on America.
Raw Story, Bob Brigham, 3/10/2022
The pushing of Russian propaganda about Ukraine by Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) has opened up a split among Republicans in the first-term congressman's home state and across the country.
"Video surfaced Thursday of the Congressman calling Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky a 'thug.' The video was recorded Sunday at an event in Buncombe County. Cawthorn's comments run counter to what most of his colleagues--both Republican and Democrat--have said about Zelensky," ABC-13 reported. "Republican Senator Thom Tillis from North Carolina specifically called what Cawthorn said part of 'Putin's deranged propaganda.'"-
"Video surfaced Thursday of the Congressman calling Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky a 'thug.' The video was recorded Sunday at an event in Buncombe County. Cawthorn's comments run counter to what most of his colleagues--both Republican and Democrat--have said about Zelensky," ABC-13 reported. "Republican Senator Thom Tillis from North Carolina specifically called what Cawthorn said part of 'Putin's deranged propaganda.'"
Raw Story, Brad reed, 3/10/2022
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) on Thursday dismissed the views of Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) as an "outlier" that didn't reflect the vast majority of the GOP.
In a video posted of a speech Cawthorn gave earlier this year, the first-year North Carolina lawmaker called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a "thug" and said that Ukraine was a "corrupt" country that he implied was not worth defending.
When asked about Cawthorn's comments, Graham emphasized just how much in the minority Cawthorn was.
"I think the average Republican and Democrat in this country would give high marks to Zelenskyy," he said. "What Putin has done is something that we can't do among ourselves. Like, 90 percent of the country is with the Ukrainians, as opposed to Putin. So when you see a member of Congress say things like this, the one thing I want you to know is they are outliers in the largest possible sense on our side."
Raw Story, Brad Reed, 3/9/2022
Controversial Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) is facing the prospect of spending up to twenty days in jail after being charged with driving with a revoked drivers license.
The Asheville Citizen-Times reports that Cawthorn was pulled over by the highway patrol earlier this month in Cleveland County, North Carolina, where he was found to be driving with a revoked license.
Additionally, reports the Citizen-Times, Cawthorn faces two pending violations for speeding: One that occurred last October where he drove 89 miles per hour in a 65-mile-per-hour zone, and another earlier this year where he drove 87 miles per hour in a 70-mile-per-hour zone.
Daily Kos Coverage
novapsyche, 3/12/2020
Walter Einenkel, 3/11/2022
polecat, 3/9/2022
Laura Clawson, 3/11/2022
Lefty Coaster, 3/10/2022
Egberto Willies, 3/10/2022
Thanks for reading and contributing. I hope you stay warm. Got snow?