NORTH CAROLINA POWER OUTAGE

 

Shared from a friend of mine in NC: Sharing from several reliable sources:

“Good morning North Carolina.

As you wake up to the news of a coordinated attack on the power grid in Moore County, North Carolina, here are some things you should know.

- Proud Boys, small extremist fundamental churches, and other far-right groups (including neo-nazis) have been protesting drag shows and LGBTQ events across the state all year.

- Anti-gay protests and events have occurred in New Hanover County, Lee County, Cumberland County, Wake County, Stanly County, etc. According to GLAAD, North Carolina has the most attacks in the country this year.

- These events have been largely fueled by Proud Boys. Many of the same individuals show up at the events across the state. Some of the people showing up in Proud Boy colors also ran for office in this years elections as a way for them to try to gain power and normalize their extremist agendas.

- Last night, at least three substations were attacked and sabotaged in Moore County NC, while a drag event was taking place. 40,000 people in Moore are without power.

- A former pysops officer, Emily Grace Rainey, who lost her job at Fort Bragg after January 6th and who has been showing up with Proud Boys and others at these drag protests over the last few months, has been visited by law enforcement and posting about the power outages as if she is connected. She posted pictures of the theater hosting the drag show without power.

- Rainey has been on the radar of antifascists for years because of her activities and rhetoric and connections with extremist groups. She was a part of the "re-open" movement, ran for local office, organized buses to J6, etc.

- There are MANY "conservative" groups and people connected to Rainey who try to position themselves as mainstream while pushing extremist agendas. She is on the board of Education First NC run by Sloan Rachmuth. She has been a central part of pushing for "conservative" candidates, especially on school boards, across the state.

- The Moore County GOP posted last night about good versus evil being fought last night as extremist protestors gathered outside the drag show. Amped up rhetoric paves a road on which extremism can easily drive.

This has never been about "protecting children." Extremists have been looking for ways to attack our communities-- and by "our communities" I don't just mean LGBTQIA communities, but our entire big, broad communities that include all of us, all of you. They want to destabilize our hometowns, disrupt and take over local elected positions, damage our schools and institutions and create fear and chaos so they can seize power.

From disrupting school board meetings to protesting LGBTQIA events, they are claiming to want to "protect children" but events like what happened in Moore County prove that is not their endgame. They don't give a shit about your children.

Don't fall for it. With what is unfolding today in Moore County you should now know that if you go to one of these "Christian" events, attend an anti-queer protest, if you campaign for a candidate supporting anti-gay legislation, or put a check mark next to the name of a school board member running on anti-SEL or anti- CRT talking points, you are rubbing elbows and aligning yourself with a movement of terrorists.”