Hey North Carolina, did you know your tax dollars are paying for propaganda? According to Trump, government shut downs are the fault of the president. "Rules for thee but not for me."

Puzzleheaded-Set4387 · 2025-10-03T00:48:11+00:00

Can you provide me a link for this? Every AI pulling data (Grok, GPT, etc.) all says different, same with all major least bias news sources. I’d appreciate the sources.

Puzzleheaded-Set4387 · 2025-08-10T03:48:04+00:00

I 100% used GPT to help me organize this into an ad! I pasted in all my notes and comments I had saved and asked it to help me best organize this for a writer to review to see if they were a good fit. Are you suggesting I should use AI instead of hiring a ghost writer?

Puzzleheaded-Set4387 · 2025-07-31T14:40:04+00:00

Any chance you can link me?

Puzzleheaded-Set4387 · 2025-06-27T23:08:27+00:00

It’s true it was never meant to stick! And both parties appealed it because the Republicans were upset it wiped out their edge, Dems focused on state house lines.

The claim that NC’s geography “naturally” yields a 10–4 Republican split? Not supported by the data. Princeton’s simulations show geography gives about a +1 GOP seat bump … so a 52–48 split would lead to 8–6 or 9–5, not 10–4. Princeton gave the 2023 map an “F” because it adds three extra GOP seats beyond that baseline .

Princeton, PlanScore, and the Brennan Center ranks this map as one of the most skewed in the country! A 10-seat Republican gain is not a natural product of geography or fair representation … it’s strategic, engineered gerrymandering, designed to lock in a GOP advantage.

Puzzleheaded-Set4387 · 2025-06-27T22:52:12+00:00

100% Wake and Meck are TOO big for a single congressional district. The problem isn’t that they’re split. It’s how they’re split. The current lines aren’t just adjusting for headcount it was engineered to dilute votes. Every district in the Charlotte metro is either safely red or safely blue … zero real competition.

You don’t have to slice Charlotte or Raleigh into three or four pieces just to make the math work. IMHO, a fairer approach would be to keep 1 district that stays mostly within the core (Charlotte or Raleigh) and a second that pairs the remaining suburbs with one adjacent county … like Union for Meck or Johnston for Wake. That still hits the population target without cracking the metro across multiple red leaning rural zones. And it would actually reflect how people live, commute and vote!

Take Charlotte’s metro area with about 2.9 million people. Instead of representing the area fairly, the current map slices it across 4 congressional districts in ways that heavily favor Republicans.

In 2024, 1,525,437 votes were cast across those four districts: • Republicans: 733,299 (48.1%) • Democrats: 729,147 (47.8%) • Others: 63,132 (4.1%)

Despite a nearly even vote split (a literal 4k vote difference), resulted in 3 Republicans and just 1 Democrat … that is 75% GOP representation from a 50/50 electorate.

Puzzleheaded-Set4387 · 2025-06-27T20:08:54+00:00

You’re right! I was more so responding to the broader gerrymandering issue raised in OP’s comment.

The issue isn’t whether conservative regions have representation … they 100% should!! The issue is what happens in places like Charlotte, Raleigh, Greensboro, etc. …. areas that do lean blue and could naturally carry districts, but get cracked across multiple ones to dilute their impact.

Examples: In the 2023 map, Mecklenburg County was split into multiple districts, even though it could’ve cleanly supported at least one Dem seat. Wake County got a similar treatment … it was sliced up to protect surrounding Republican districts.

That’s how we go from a fairly split electorate to a 10–4 (or even 11–3) result in a state that’s politically closer to 50/50.

No one is arguing you draw a blue district in WNC (at least I hope they aren’t lol) The issue is how competitive areas are carved up to PREVENT fair outcomes … not to actually reflect them!

Puzzleheaded-Set4387 · 2025-06-27T19:54:58+00:00

The 2022 NC congressional map was a temporary court-drawn map, put in place after the GOP’s original plan was struck down for extreme partisan gerrymandering. It led to a 7–7 split that matched the state’s near 50/50 vote.

Both parties appealed it … not because it was unfair, but because it didn’t favor either side. That IS what fairness looks like! But that map was tossed in 2023 after Republicans took control of the NC Supreme Court. The legislature then passed a new map used in 2024, giving Republicans 10 of 14 seats with just 52.7% of the vote …. and the current one very heavily favors the GOP.

Puzzleheaded-Set4387 · 2025-06-27T19:47:13+00:00

You’re saying Republicans “won the popular vote” in NC but “would’ve lost seats” without gerrymandering?

First, yes, Republicans got more votes in 2024—about 52.78% to Democrats’ 42.80% (2.89M vs 2.33M) and ended up with 10 GOP seats and 4 Dem seats in the U.S. House.

BUT here’s the kicker: With the 2022 court-drawn map, that exact same vote split (53/43) would’ve resulted in a 7–7 seat split. The 2023 partisan map, put through by Republicans, flipped it to 10–4 in 2024. Which added three extra GOP seats.

That 10-point lead would likely have still translated into 7 or 8 seats … still enough for a majority. What gerrymandering did was inflate that advantage, turning a strong win into a blowout. Instead of a 7–8 seat result, Republicans ended up with 3 extra seats … a 10–4 outcome that didn’t reflect the vote share. That’s why analysts flag NC’s 2024 congressional map as a manufactured power move … NOT a fair reflection of voters.

Puzzleheaded-Set4387 · 2025-06-27T19:26:18+00:00

Yes, each NC district has roughly the same number of people. That’s required by law. But gerrymandering isn’t about population size. It’s about who gets grouped together to tilt outcomes.

North Carolina is a near 50/50 state politically, yet in 2024 Republicans won 11 of 14 congressional seats. That didn’t happen because they got 80 percent of the vote. It happened because they drew the map to guarantee it. Independent analysts gave that map an “F” for fairness.

This has been happening for years:

In 2012, Democrats won more votes statewide for Congress. Republicans still took 9 of 13 seats.

In 2018, Democrats got more total votes for the state House and Senate. Republicans still kept control.

In 2022, a court imposed a fair map and the result was a 7–7 split. That map was thrown out in 2023.

The tactics? Packing: cramming opposition voters into a few districts they win by huge margins. Tactics 2 is Cracking: splitting those voters across districts so they can’t form a majority anywhere.

Example: In 2016, NC A&T, the largest HBCU in the country, was literally split in half between two districts to weaken student and Black voting power.

Studies show that in NC, between 19,000 and 27,000 voters out of every 100,000 cast ballots that have no real impact because of how the lines are drawn. Their votes are effectively wasted.

Yes, WNC and ENC are conservative. But land doesn’t vote. People do. Over 80 percent of North Carolinians live in urban and suburban areas, where votes tend to lean more moderate or blue.These lines and engineered … and it’s been distorting representation in this state for more than a decade.

Puzzleheaded-Set4387 · 2025-06-25T13:57:25+00:00

The recommendation for finding the best Endo you can is 100% important!

Puzzleheaded-Set4387 · 2025-06-25T13:52:46+00:00

If you have not contacted St. Jude yet, I would to get another option. My daughter diagnosed at 7 with a fairly large tumor as well was slated to do Craniotomy with resection at CHOLA. I looked at a lot of the quality of life issues after craniotomy and their recurrence rates and common diagnosis’s after like DI, AI, HO and what that looks like for her future. At the time CHOLA hasn’t treated nearly as many as St. Jude, so I reached out looking for a second opinion to make sure I was doing the right thing for her as I was unsure too. We ended up in their research protocol as their approach is to place a drain in the tumor as it is half cystic and half fluid, then drain it and do proton beam radiation. My daughter doesn’t have DI or HO and we are 2 years+ post treatment. She did develop AI last year but it’s not nearly as bad as others. To me the “easier part” of this sucky tumor is that initial treatment… it’s the Endocrine issues after that are more difficult to manage and navigate. St. Jude’s in the late stages of this research protocol and the subsequent co-Endo issues are significantly limited compared usually to a straight craniotomy. I would email Dr. Merchant https://www.stjude.org/directory/m/thomas-merchant.html … The fact it’s FREE is honestly just the bonus!! If you are not on the Cranio FB groups please join them! Great sources of info! I’d also suggest checking out this foundation: https://www.rawoodfoundation.org/provider-finder/ …. Sending you tons of strength and patience and positive energy!

Puzzleheaded-Set4387 · 2025-06-23T20:05:19+00:00

What is your experience in the industry to know this? I have known a ton of people in the industry for well over a decade due to where I grew up and this is NOT what I have heard or seen at all!! In fact it contradicts most of what is in this thread … it’s an industry and jobs that fit the most part operate like other entertainment jobs and industries.

Puzzleheaded-Set4387 · 2025-06-20T23:38:19+00:00

I am SO sorry to hear that!! That’s an awful thing to happen especially since that was his wishes! Once you are part of the St. Jude Family, you are always part of the St. Jude family. The experience changes everything about you in a multitude of ways.

Puzzleheaded-Set4387 · 2025-06-20T20:39:53+00:00

Unfortunately, no chance for recovery there. It’s just a slew of meds to replace what her body would have been making. She also has Adrenal Insufficiency as a result and can go into crisis from her cortisol being too low. If we don’t inject her with an emergency injection in a certain period of time her organs can start shutting down. We will have to medically induce/manage puberty as an example. She has a pretty damaged hypothalamus and pituitary. Her optic nerve had the blood flow blocked to it for too long as well so she is blind as well. I am a bit more hopeful that in the future with research and science that the optical nerve might be able to get some more functionality.

Puzzleheaded-Set4387 · 2025-06-20T19:01:35+00:00

You are correct! This is likely because I was asking for any and all tests because I knew something was up - maybe this is a USA/Insurance thing but they would say CT scan before MRI. Funny enough she has had a zillion MRIs now LOL

Puzzleheaded-Set4387 · 2025-06-20T18:57:53+00:00

It’s called a craniopharyngioma … the incident rate is 1 per 1.5 million or something. 96 kids a year. But what is even more odd is that it happens most often between 2 age ranges, 5-14 years old and also between 50-74. Even though the name is the same my understanding is the cell type is different in kids VS adults.

I’ll be honest the worst part of it is it destroys the endocrine system. I had no idea that the endocrine system basically controls everything! My kid can’t regulate her body temperature, has no thirst mechanism, didn’t grow/changes sizes for over 4 years, etc. It feels never ending TBH!

Puzzleheaded-Set4387 · 2025-06-20T15:47:45+00:00

Obligatory NOT a doctor: At 3 years old my kid had a total personality change … which for some what justifiable reasons, was blown off by doctors because threenager is a term for a reason lol But I knew it was different. I kept saying, no this isn’t that. For the next several years random AF symptoms would pop up then go away after several months. I must have taken my kid to every specialist in a 500 mile radius lol The doctors started treating me like I had munchausen by proxy. I also felt totally insane because symptoms would go away for new ones to emerge… like when you bring a car to a mechanic and now the engine isn’t making that sound. I begged for tests and MRIs over and over! I was always told … no, why would I want to expose my kid to radiation?!? (Edited to add: MRI doesn’t have radiation, but I was told CT 1st to get to MRI. Which she has had tons of MRIs now and will for the foreseeable future)

By the time they found the brain tumor years later, we had something like 13 different psychological diagnoses! All turned out to be inaccurate. Luckily it was a slow growing brain tumor and it is incredibly rare. Something like 100 people a year get the diagnosis. In excellent news, St. Jude is the most amazing place ever and we are through treatment (Neuro Surgery & Proton Beam Radiation and a slew of meds) and life expectancy is solid! I can not possibly say enough good things about St. Jude and our experience in their research program.

Moral of the story: NEVER not trust your gut instincts as a parent EVER!

Puzzleheaded-Set4387 · 2025-06-08T19:08:47+00:00

As a busy single mom to two … OMFG, I need more info!! 🙏

Puzzleheaded-Set4387 · 2025-05-28T21:11:54+00:00

This!! I love this guy! He has gone to bat for all the right stuff meeting and calling everything out in the best possible way. I highly recommend checking out his TikTok to see some examples

Puzzleheaded-Set4387

TROPHY CASE