WataugaWatch
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wataugawatch.bsky.social
WataugaWatch
@wataugawatch.bsky.social
440 followers 150 following 340 posts
Citizen journalist with a mean streak for progressive causes. Was the founding editor of the Appalachian Journal in 1972, retired 2000. Began WataugaWatch blog in 2003. Covers NC politics, with microscopic fascination for Watauga County.
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wataugawatch.bsky.social
Gov. Josh Stein holds the moral high ground in special session standoff.
blog.wataugawatch.net/2025/11/berg...
Berger-Hall to Josh Stein: "Pound Sand"
Photo Galen Bacharier, NC Newsline Reportedly , in its last enacted budget Republican state lawmakers shorted the Medicaid program by arou...
blog.wataugawatch.net
November 14, 2025 at 4:35 PM
wataugawatch.bsky.social
We're pleased that Rep Jason Crow is vetting potential Congressional candidates
blog.wataugawatch.net/2025/11/so-m...
So Much Depends on the Recruiter
He’s a former Catholic who supports abortion rights; he has been a hunter since he was 12 but advocates gun-safety legislation. He’s a dec...
blog.wataugawatch.net
November 13, 2025 at 4:15 PM
wataugawatch.bsky.social
Sometimes primaries against the establishment are the only path forward.
blog.wataugawatch.net/2025/11/indi...
Indivisible's 2026 Primary Plan
I am not a member of any organized political party. I am a Democrat. -- Will Rogers I've always been a "party man," a partisan Democrat out ...
blog.wataugawatch.net
November 12, 2025 at 4:06 PM
wataugawatch.bsky.social
Fucking Republican puritans in the Senate!
blog.wataugawatch.net/2025/11/when...
When They're About To Take Away Your Only Method for Surviving the Trump Years
"Puritanism is the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.” -- H. L. Mencken Effing Republicans in Congress!  [Credit: The Hi...
blog.wataugawatch.net
November 12, 2025 at 2:54 PM
wataugawatch.bsky.social
None so blind as those who can't see.
atrupar.com Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 4d
Sen. Angus King: "Standing up to Donald Trump didn't work"
November 10, 2025 at 3:08 PM
wataugawatch.bsky.social
"Folding" is the Democratic jam. Obviously.
gtconway.bsky.social George Conway 🇺🇸🚫👑🐸 @gtconway.bsky.social · 4d
"If I were in the Senate, I wouldn’t vote for this compromise. Shutdowns are an opportunity to make your arguments, and the country was just starting to pay attention... I worry that Democrats have just taught Trump that they will fold under pressure."

{ gift link } www.nytimes.com/2025/11/10/o...
Opinion | What Were Democrats Thinking?
www.nytimes.com
November 10, 2025 at 2:59 PM
wataugawatch.bsky.social
Why? To prove to those who voted "Democratic" last Tuesday that they misplaced their trust?
50501movement.bsky.social 50501: The People’s Movement ❌👑 @50501movement.bsky.social · 4d
We had a moment of unity in the elections last week, a momentum that Dems could never have dreamed of, and then they turned their backs on all the voters that came out in support—to protect our democracy, our healthcare, and our neighbors. This is a colossal failure of the Democratic leadership.
November 10, 2025 at 2:58 PM
wataugawatch.bsky.social
Then there's this.
yasharali.bsky.social Yashar Ali 🐘 @yasharali.bsky.social · 4d
BREAKING

The Supreme Court has DENIED Kim Davis’s petition to overturn its landmark decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, which legalized same-sex marriage across the United States.
November 10, 2025 at 2:54 PM
wataugawatch.bsky.social
I'm too blind with rage to write anything about Dems in the US Senate. Living up to their billing!
November 10, 2025 at 2:52 PM
wataugawatch.bsky.social
No MAGA left behind
November 10, 2025 at 2:50 PM
wataugawatch.bsky.social
Fuck!
joncooper-us.bsky.social Jon Cooper @joncooper-us.bsky.social · 5d
If Chuck Schumer was a stronger leader, he would have been able to convince most of these senators to hold the line.

I’m terribly disappointed in him.
November 10, 2025 at 3:08 AM
wataugawatch.bsky.social
"Never seen it this ugly!" The Berger-Page slugfest in Rockingham Co.
blog.wataugawatch.net/2025/11/just...
Just a Few Months Distant -- The Most Important Republican Primary Race
Paul Specht just published on the WRAL site a very long and thorough introduction to everything Berger v. Page, the Republican primary ne...
blog.wataugawatch.net
November 9, 2025 at 4:24 PM
wataugawatch.bsky.social
Some political notes from North Carolina. The "Fuck It" edition.
blog.wataugawatch.net/2025/11/poli...
Political Notes -- "Fuck It" Edition
Kate Barr, the "Can't Win but Fuck It!" political influencer who has made a second career out of encouraging Democratic candidates to fil...
blog.wataugawatch.net
November 9, 2025 at 3:18 PM
wataugawatch.bsky.social
A doormat speaks.
atrupar.com Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 8d
Q: What's your response to Gorsuch's expressing concern about Trump usurping congressional authority?

MIKE JOHNSON: I don't find myself in disagreement with Justice Gorsuch too often, but I think he missed the mark on this one
November 6, 2025 at 3:46 PM
wataugawatch.bsky.social
Turns out repulsion can cause an election loss. Will the Trump malignancy still work in 2026?
blog.wataugawatch.net/2025/11/repu...
Repulsion
Trump and his acolytes in Congress can live under a delusion of their massive popularity and stride around like Caesar and his guards, but...
blog.wataugawatch.net
November 6, 2025 at 3:39 PM
wataugawatch.bsky.social
I believe we can justifiably call what happened yesterday "Blue Wave 2025." Here are some highlights.
blog.wataugawatch.net/2025/11/blue...
Blue Wave 2025
Virginia. Led by Abigail Spanberger at the top of the ticket (first woman to break that glass ceiling), Democrats swept the contests for ...
blog.wataugawatch.net
November 5, 2025 at 2:07 PM
wataugawatch.bsky.social
A handy summary of the major revelations in ProPublica's investigation of Paul Newby's corruption.
blog.wataugawatch.net/2025/10/paul...
Paul Newby; Or, Why North Carolina's Judicial System Is So Politically Corrupt
Some amazing and thorough investigative journalism by Doug Bock Clark in ProPublica , who spills all kinds of beans about North Carolina's...
blog.wataugawatch.net
October 31, 2025 at 1:19 PM
wataugawatch.bsky.social
Amazing article! Why the North Carolina judicial system is even more politically compromised that the US system under John Roberts.
caitlinkelly.bsky.social Caitlin Kelly @caitlinkelly.bsky.social · 15d
cool cool cool cool cool
October 30, 2025 at 3:42 PM
wataugawatch.bsky.social
The talk about Michael Whatley. He rues the day that Trump made him "hurricane recovery czar."
blog.wataugawatch.net/2025/10/the-...
The Knock on Michael Whatley
Republican US Senate candidate Michael Whatley, looking to inherit Thom Tillis's seat with the full blessing of Jethro, made the mistake o...
blog.wataugawatch.net
October 29, 2025 at 2:52 PM
wataugawatch.bsky.social
Oliver Kornetzke notices Li'l Marco's face.
blog.wataugawatch.net/2025/10/faci...
Facial Recognition
Oliver Kornetzke, unpacking what he sees in the photograph above : Just take a long, good look at Marco Rubio in this photo—standing there b...
blog.wataugawatch.net
October 28, 2025 at 2:42 PM
wataugawatch.bsky.social
Conservative guru Carter Wrenn gets the Trump vibe in the context of "healing." Huh?

blog.wataugawatch.net/2025/10/gang...
Gangster
I'm blatantly reprinting here Carter Wrenn's October 23rd post on "Talking About Politics." Wrenn, something of a legend as Sen. Jesse He...
blog.wataugawatch.net
October 27, 2025 at 2:43 PM
wataugawatch.bsky.social
The revenge tragedy unfolding in the gerrymandering wars.
blog.wataugawatch.net/2025/10/virg...
Virginia Democrats Clap Back
In May of 2024, Gov. Glenn Youngkin called the Virginia General Assembly into a special legislative session on the budget. The Democrats, ...
blog.wataugawatch.net
October 25, 2025 at 1:18 PM
wataugawatch.bsky.social
The news is that inflation hasn't gone away, is getting worse.
blog.wataugawatch.net/2025/10/so-m...
So Much Winning
Andrew Ackerman, WashPost : New data released Friday showed inflation heated up in September to a pace not seen since January, according t...
blog.wataugawatch.net
October 24, 2025 at 4:32 PM
wataugawatch.bsky.social
This creep is treating the White House like subsidized housing.
blog.wataugawatch.net/2025/10/this...
This Creep Lied, and You Can't Be Surprised
Trump acknowledged on Wednesday that he was having the entire East Wing demolished to make way for his 90,000-square-foot ballroom, a vani...
blog.wataugawatch.net
October 23, 2025 at 1:56 PM
wataugawatch.bsky.social
What Murphy said!
atrupar.com Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 23d
Chris Murphy: "There's a lot of history that has taken place in the East Wing & it was just destroyed without any conversation in the public, without any consent of Congress. It's absolutely illegal. That visual is powerful b/c you're watching destruction of the rule of law as those walls come down"
October 22, 2025 at 7:31 PM