Photo of the day

Jupiter!  Via Wired.

Jupiter made its nearest approach to earth on April 3, just 415 million miles from Earth. Hubble seized the opportunity to snap this incredible close-up. The famous Great Red Spot is a swirling storm roughly the diameter of Earth.  NASA.

More thoughts on the HB2 Compromise

During a recent conversation with colleagues, I expressed my strong support for the HB2 Compromise.  I was told, easy for me to say as a cisgendered, heterosexual white male.  Ugh.  I guess I’m not allowed to have opinions on women’s rights or Blacks’ rights at all?  Would I support compromises on their rights?  Yep, if it was an improvement over the status quo.  Save the purity tests for the Freedom Caucus.

Anyway, Thomas Mills with some final HB2 compromise thoughts, which I agree with 100%

Every Democrat who supported the measure would have also voted for full repeal had it been an option. But it wasn’t and it isn’t going to be until Democrats control the legislature again.

Contrary to a narrative pushed by some progressives, Republicans didn’t need HB2 repealed. In fact, opposition to any repeal was increasing according to the Republicans with whom I spoke. Lt. Governor Dan Forest and Tami Fitzgerald, Executive Director of the North Carolina Values Coalition, were pressuring legislators to stand firm against any compromise. Forest was using the issue to grab the mantle of leader of the GOP and solidify his position as the front-runner to oppose Roy Cooper in 2020…

Democratic and Republican leaders believed the window of opportunity to repeal the bill was closing. Once the NCAA deadline passed, no high-profile event could keep the issue in the public eye and put pressure on members of the legislature to act. A year from now, the boycott would still be in effect but the headlines of companies not coming to the state would be gone. Activists might still be protesting but much of the general public would have moved on. The deal they got was not what Phil Berger or Tim Moore would accept; it was what Republican rank-and-file members would give…

Democrats need a wave election to take back the legislature in one election cycle. If that happens in 2018, it will be because of a failing presidency, not because of HB2 or any other state legislation. And if that wave comes, the rest of HB2 will be repealed on the first day of the legislative session in January 2019. That’s as soon as it will ever happen.

Democrats could have certainly stood on principle and resisted the compromise. They probably wouldn’t have gotten any better deal…

The legislators who took those votes for the partial repeal did so hoping to move the ball forward and to restore protections that were taken away. They didn’t sellout the LGBT community. They did what they thought was best, even if it they knew it wasn’t enough. If they do find themselves in primaries, I’ll stand by them.

Indeed.  Let’s home opposition to Trump brings that wave in 2018.  But absent that, lets not pretend Democrats were somehow going to get a better deal.