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Judd Legum Profile picture
@JuddLegum
Oct 2 • 9 tweets • 2 min read Twitter logo Read on Twitter
1. Buried in North Carolina's 600+ page budget is a little-noticed provision that creates a secret police force, controlled by Republicans, with extraordinary powers

🧵
2. The budget grants the Gov Ops Committee the right to seize “any document or system of record” from anyone who works in or w/state & local government

This includes contractors or any entity that directly or indirectly receives state funds, including charities and colleges
3. It gets worse. Gov Ops staff will be authorized to enter “any building or facility” owned or leased by a state or non-state entity without a judicial warrant.

This includes private homes, if it includes a home office of a contractor

popular.info/p/north-caroli…
4. Alarmingly, public employees under investigation will be required to keep all communication and requests “confidential.” They cannot alert their supervisor of the investigation nor consult with legal counsel.

Those who refuse to cooperate face jail time and fines of up to 1K
5. Gov Ops is dominated by Republicans and pursues partisan investigations. It is co-chaired by Senate Leader Phil Berger (R) and House Speaker Tim Moore (R).

Gov Ops launched an inquiry into diversity training programs at the University of North Carolina earlier this year.
6. Berger and Moore claim this is all about oversight and transparency. But a separate provision of the budget allows them to reject any public records requests concerning the operation of Gov Ops.

popular.info/p/north-caroli…
7. This is part of a broader effort to restrict public access to public records. The budget also repeals a law that required “communications regarding redistricting” be made publicly available when new legislative maps were adopted.
8. North Carolina is one of the most gerrymandered states in the country. In 2022, a gerrymandering trial exposed a top Republican redistricting official for using “secret maps to help draft the state’s redistricting plan.”

popular.info/p/north-caroli…
9. For more independent reporting that exposes abuses of power, subscribe to Popular Information.

It's free to sign up.

popular.info/subscribe

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More from @JuddLegum

Judd Legum Profile picture
Sep 27
1. On Tuesday, Popular Information reported that librarians in Charlotte County, Florida, were instructed by the school district superintendent to remove all books with LGBTQ characters.

The story spread widely on social media.

Then things got interesting.

🧵 Image
2. A spox for Charlotte schools contacted me and said that although books with LGBTQ characters were banned in K-8 libraries, they remained available in high school libraries

This directly contradicted the guidance document produced by the district

popular.info/p/update-unrav…
3. I asked for the revised guidance that was provided to librarians. I was told it didn't exist but "further guidance to educators" was provided as part of a "discussion" of the original policy.

🤔
Read 6 tweets
Judd Legum Profile picture
Sep 26
1. Librarians in public schools in public schools in Charlotte County, Florida were instructed by the school district superintendent to remove ALL BOOKS WITH LGBTQ CHARACTERS from school and classroom libraries. Image
2. "Are we removing books from any school or media center, Prek-12 if a character has, for example, two mothers or because there is a gay best friend?" the librarians asked.

Charlotte County Superintendent Mark Vianello answered, "Yes."

popular.info/p/florida-scho…
3. The guidance by Vianello was obtained by @FLFreedomRead via public records request & shared with Popular Information

The guidance made clear that all books with LGBTQ characters are to be removed even if the book contained no sexually explicit content
Read 10 tweets
Judd Legum Profile picture
Sep 21
1. A new report by @ALALibrary reveals that book bans, previously concentrated in schools libraries, have dramatically expanded in public libraries

Nearly half of all bans recorded by the org so far in 2023 have occurred in public libraries

🧵
2. The number of books challenged "has increased by 20 percent from the same reporting period in 2022." Last year was the highest number of challenges recorded since @ALALibrary began collecting data two decades ago.

popular.info/p/book-banners…
@ALALibrary 3. And the @ALALibrary report only includes permanent removals from formal challenges. A separate report released this morning from @PENamerica, which includes all books taken off the shelves, shows the problem is even more widespread.

pen.org/report/book-ba…
Image
Read 6 tweets
Judd Legum Profile picture
Sep 20
1. Yesterday, @Citi sent an email touting @Citi's commitment to ending child hunger

The email doesn't mention that @Citi and its CEO were part of a successful multi-million dollar lobbying campaign to kill the expanded Child Tax Credit, sending millions of kids into poverty

🧵 Image
2. Yesterday's email says @Citi will donate up to $1 million to combat child hunger if customers use their credit cards a bit more

But, as part of the @USChamber, the company helped kill the expanded child tax credit -- a $100 billion annual investment

popular.info/p/corporations…
@Citi @USChamber 3. The expanded Child Tax Credit, which was in place in 2021, was remarkably successful, driving child poverty down to a historic low of 5.2%

But because of successful lobbying financed by companies like @Citi, the CTC ended in 2022. The child poverty rate soared to 12.4%
Read 8 tweets
Judd Legum Profile picture
Sep 19
1. Trump appeared on @MeetThePress on Sunday & @NBCNews didn't attempt to fact check many of his lies during the broadcast

Instead, they relegated much of the fact-checking to a post online

But even the online fact-check IGNORED at least 10 significant lies

🧵
2. Why did @NBCNews downplay or ignore so many of Trump's lies?

The priority, it seems, is to make things seem NORMAL.

If you fact-checked all of Trump's lies during the broadcast, it would take up a lot of time and disrupt the normal rhythms of MTP

popular.info/p/a-real-fact-…
@NBCNews 3. An "abnormal" interview with anger Trump and threaten @NBCNews' access to Trump moving forward. So NBC offloaded much of the fact-checking to the web, and ignored a lot of other misinformation.

A few examples of lies that @NBCNews completely ignored 👇
Read 8 tweets
Judd Legum Profile picture
Sep 18
1. The @okcthunder are worth $1.7B and generate $150M in income each year but its ownership & Mayor @davidfholt want the city to pay for $850M of a new $900M stadium

The money would be diverted from a tax now used to combat homelessness & support victims of sexual assault

🧵
2. Ultimately, every household in OKC would pay 3.2K to subsidize the new arena for multi-millionaire owner Clayton Bennett.

Taxpayers already approved $215 million in improvements to the existing arena, Paycom Center, which opened in 2002.

popular.info/p/the-oklahoma…
3. Mayor @davidfholt says the arena would not require a tax increase but that is misleading at best. To pay for the arena, OKC would extend a sales tax scheduled to expire in 2028 for six years.

The tax currently pays for a variety of initiatives that benefit everyone in OKC Image
Read 7 tweets

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