Raleigh journo pleads guilty to J6 charges | Wake election board illegally counts dead voters' ballots | Education performance data
No. 98 — Nov. 10- Nov. 16, 2024
NC journalist pleads guilty to J6 charges - expecting pardon
Steve Baker pleads guilty to 4 January 6 charges to avoid the ‘shaming exercise’ of a trial - The Blaze
Writer pleads guilty to Capitol riot charges - AP
Expecting pardon from Trump, libertarian writer pleads guilty in Capitol riot case - WUSA9
On Tuesday, Raleigh journalist Steve Baker pleaded guilty to four misdemeanors which the Department of Justice had charged him with for covering the Capitol Riot on January 6th, 2021:
18 U.S.C. § 1752(a)(1) - Knowingly Entering or Remaining in any Restricted Building or Grounds Without Lawful Authority
18 U.S.C. § 1752(a)(2) - Disorderly and Disruptive Conduct in a Restricted Building or Grounds
40 U.S.C. § 5104(e)(2)(D) - Disorderly Conduct in a Capitol Building
40 U.S.C. § 5104(e)(2)(G) - Parading, Demonstrating, or Picketing in a Capitol Building
Baker, who has covered the trials of a number of other January 6th defendants, told media that he made this decision to avoid the "shaming exercise" of a trial before a DC judge, and that he expects to be "at the top of the list" if President Trump fulfils his campaign promise to pardon "innocent" J6 defendants.
Although Baker admitted in his plea that the government's evidence of his presence was sufficient to convince the court that he was guilty of the charges, he maintained that he was no more culpable than the dozens of mainstream media journalists who also crossed into the "restricted area" and entered the Capitol Building during the riot.
Baker was an independent journalist and writer during the coverage in question, but he has since joined The Blaze where he has continued his investigative reporting related to January 6th, as well as subjects like the Butler assassination attempt on Trump, and the Helene recovery efforts in Western part of the state.
Previous coverage, with more details:
I was intending to head up to DC to cover Baker's hearing and press conference, but my probation officer denied my request to leave the Eastern District of North Carolina for this purpose. Thankfully, the 12 months of probation I was sentenced to in my own J6 case will be up in January, and I will no longer have to worry about such impediments to my journalistic coverage.
The American education system and the inequitable distribution of academic prowess
After his electoral victory last week, Trump released a video promising to close the federal Department of Education, while claiming that America is "absolutely at the bottom" and "one of the worst" in terms of our education system.
So, I thought it would be a great time to share some education facts and statistics I've come across which show that America, in fact, may have the best education system in the entire world, and how that relates to understanding the quality of education here in the Greater Triangle area.
The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), which tests the scholastic performance of 15-year-old students in 79 nations across the globe on mathematics, science, and reading, provides a basis with which to make cross-national comparisons.
According to the latest PISA scores, American students perform above the global average, falling approximately in the middle of the pack of European participant nations.
However, given the inequitable distribution of academic performance across racial subgroups in America, this chart by
providing a breakdown of the American PISA results is perhaps more revealing, showing that Asian American students took the top spot internationally, outperforming every participating Asian country; white American students outperformed every participating European county; and Hispanic American students outperformed every participating Latin American country.
Given the size of the this "inequity" in academic performance, I believe it is a critical factor to take into consideration for anyone comparing or complaining about the performance in our local school districts.
For instance, in Wake County Public School System (2023-2024 school year), 88.3% of Asian students were Grade Level Proficient according to the NC standardized testing, compared to 80.0% of white students, 41.4% of Hispanic students, and 41.2% of black students.
Between the 2018-2019 and 2023-2024 school years, the population of white students in the WCPSS dropped from 45.8% to 41.8%, black students decreased from 22.7% to 21.40%, while Hispanic students increased from 18.0% to 19.8% and Asian students increased from 9.3% to 12.5%.
In light of changing demographics, if a district or a school has more Asian students and fewer Black students year-over-year and the average test score increases, does that mean the school is in fact getting better at educating students? For your consideration, I'll leave the following 2023-2024 GLP scores across the Triangle:
Wake County Board of Elections flouts state law/guidance in counting ballots of dead voters
Wake County Board of Elections counts 3 ballots of voters who died before Election Day - ABC11
With the county canvass of the election on Friday, the Wake County Board of Elections voted to count the ballots of three out of forty five voters who died between casting their ballot and election day.
However, the North Carolina law is clear in establishing that the qualifications for early and absentee voters is still based on the voter's status on election day, not on the day the voter cast the ballot: "As a reminder, the qualifications for all voters, including early and absentee voters, are judged as of Election Day. G.S. 163-55, -59." (NC State Board of Elections Numbered Memo 2022-05)
County election board members do not have discretion in deciding which state election laws to enforce; in 2023, the state board removed two Republicans on the Surry County Board of Elections for declining to certify the 2022 general election over election integrity concerns.
In this case, quotes by all three of the Democrat board members who voted to accept these ballots make it clear that they based their decision on what they would prefer the law to be, as opposed to what it currently is:
"It's evidence that they voted, that that was their ballot, and that the law, which is meant to defend against other people voting a dead person's ballot, is out of date," said Flynn, explaining why he personally voted to count the three ballots, but not the other 42.
Porter acknowledged that the decision to allow the three votes could open the Board of Elections to lawsuits, as she stressed her desire for the State Legislature to take up the issue.
"It's something I feel passionate about, and I'll be there the whole way if needed," said Porter.
Board Member Gerry Cohen, widely regarded as an expert in North Carolina elections law, shared that a prior legislative effort to address the matter moved forward in the House, but stalled in the Senate.
"One way to get the law changed I think perhaps is to make some noise about it," Cohen said.
Republican board member Keith Weatherly objected to the counting of the ballots, telling ABC11 that "we've got to obey the law and the law now as it stands...we have no discretion in this matter."
County canvass tips Senate District 18 result to Democrat
With the the final count of absentee and provisional ballots reported in the Wake County Board of Elections canvass, Terence Everitt is surpassed Ashlee Bryan Adams with a lead of 134 votes in the Senate District 18 race (Granville/Northern Wake County), with declaring victory with a statement on Twitter/X.
On election night, Adams was leading Everitt by 38 votes.