TRESSIE MCMILLAM COTTOM: CITIZENS NO MORE: I grew up choosing where and how I work because Roe v. Wade gave me many of the same basic rights of personhood as men, for example. Millions of women have, to different degrees, been able to do the same. With Roe v. Wade toppled, we do not have the same rights in all labor markets. In a global market, an empowered worker is one who can migrate. With Dobbs, women cannot assume that we can safely work in Idaho the same way that we can in Oregon or Washington. I cannot negotiate wages or time off with an employer with the same risk profile as those who cannot become pregnant. An employer who offers lower pay in a state with abortion care indirectly benefits from women’s inability to take our labor on the open market across the nation. Thanks to a rogue court, women’s lives are now more determined by the accidents of our birth than they were a week ago. By the same token, if a woman wants to migrate from a Gilead state to an abortion-friendly one, she's going to have to compete with many other women seeking to do the same, like some warped game of musical chairs. Until I read this editorial, I had not considered this economic angle. Which is another reason why elevating women's voices is so important.
https://www.wral.com/citizens-no-more/20351416/

DEAL TO CURB GUN VIOLENCE IS BARELY A TOKEN EFFORT. MUCH MORE NEEDED NOW: It would be generous to describe as even incremental progress, the bipartisan response to the recent spate of mass shootings – including the assault-style rifle enabled slaughter of 21 at the elementary school in Uvalde, Texas and before that 10 dead at a Buffalo, N.Y. grocery store. They don’t even make modest progress toward stopping access to automatic-style weapons. There is some small progress. For that, we should be tepidly thankful? But the problems generated by the easy access to weapons whose only purpose is mass destruction is not going away with this latest action. It will not defuse it as an issue in the fall elections. Banning assault weapons is NOT an attack on the 2nd Amendment. It is about protecting public safety and health. When 57% of American parents and 51% of North Carolinians are worried that there will be a shooting at their child’s school, Congress is doing little to comfort and reassure them. How much power does the NRA have to block any meaningful efforts to control these deadly assault weapons? When North Carolinians cast ballots in the fall, it should be clearly for those who will work to ban assault weapons in Congress or in the state legislature. And they most certainly should not vote for candidates who pose for pictures holding assault rifles, or political parties who make them raffle prizes.
https://www.wral.com/editorial-deal-to-curb-gun-violence-is-barely-token-effort-much-more-needed-now...

BIDEN'S MODEST PROPOSAL PROTECTS LIVES AND GUN RIGHTS: If the members of North Carolina’s congressional delegation want to show they REALLY stand with the American people they have a chance to do it by passing the common-sense agenda President Joe Biden outlined Thursday in his nationally televised speech. Since the start of the year there have been 233 mass shootings nationwide, resulting in 261 deaths and 1,010 injuries – 8 in North Carolina with seven deaths and 28 injured. Isn’t it about time – after Buffalo, Uvalde, and Tulsa for that gratuitous symbolism to be backed up by notions of responsibility. Isn’t it about time our members of congress sided with the overwhelming majority of their constituents? Backing responsible gun purchase and ownership regulation won’t diminish anyone’s 2nd Amendment rights -- though it may cost a politician a few bucks from the NRA. But probably not. What it will do is restore some sanity to the nation’s firearms culture and definitely save some lives. It's long past time. AR-15s are easier to purchase than handguns, and ammunition for them is easier to purchase than cold medicine. Lawmakers have shirked their responsibility for way too long, and that needs to stop.
https://www.wral.com/editorial-biden-s-modest-proposal-protects-lives-and-gun-rights/20315870/

BISHOP AND CAWTHORN'S "AMERICA FIRST" PUTS FREEDOM LAST: If anyone is seeking a credible litmus test to determine if an officeholder truly believes in freedom, justice and civility, they need look no further then how they vote on aid for the Ukrainians’ defense of their homes and nation against the unwarranted and unjust deadly aggression by Russia and its leader Vladimir Putin. Two North Carolinians – Republicans Dan Bishop of Charlotte and Madison Cawthorn of Hendersonville – fail the test miserably and in doing so, demonstrate they lack the humanity and integrity to represent the state or nation. “America First” – Donald Trump’s slogan with roots in the isolationist, anti-immigration anti-Semitic slogan of opponents of U.S. involvement in efforts to oppose the aggression of the German Nazis a century ago – does not mean freedom last. America, Cawthorn and Bishop don’t seem to realize, is the world’s beacon of freedom. Their vote is a rejection of all this nation stands for. They don’t represent the real America. Cawthorn has screwed up so many times in the last several weeks it's hard to tell which controversy sunk him. I'd like to think it was his attack on Zelenskyy and not something stupid like wearing lingerie, but we can't afford to take that for granted.
https://www.wral.com/editorial-bishop-and-cawthorn-s-america-first-puts-freedom-last/20287392/

NC'S OUTER BANKS ARE HAZARDOUS FOR HOMES. IT'S ABOUT TO GET MUCH WORSE: A few days ago, the Cape Hatteras National Seashore announced that a couple more houses collapsed and fell in the ocean near Rodanthe during a moderate storm on the Outer Banks of our state. The unusual aspect of this occurrence was that one of the houses was on high stilts. Often we hear that if you must live near the beach build on stilts and you are not likely to be affected by waves and overwash currents. So much for that generalization. This latest event comes after the Nov. 7, 2021 Nor’easter that halted traffic on N.C. Highway 12 for a couple of days due to flooding and overwash. These events give us a taste of the future, but we ain’t seen nothin’ yet. As everyone knows, climate change is producing warmer seas and the warmer water will produce larger and more frequent storms, all this occurring as the sea level is rising. A higher sea, of course, will increase storm damage. My Geology professor spent several days covering the creation and disposition of the Outer Banks. When you understand that most of NC's Coastal Plain (over 1/3 of the state) was once under water, the consequences of Climate Change become horrifically clear.
https://www.newsobserver.com/opinion/article261382957.html