billyball.bsky.social - Profile | ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

Hi y'all. Every day, I write a newsletter about North Carolina, putting the news in context. It's free 🤑 , a two-time 1st place winner at the NC Press Association, and you can read it in 2-3 minutes tops and credibly say you know North Carolina. Check it out! 👇 cardinalpine.com/newsletter/?...

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Isaac Villegas is a North Carolina pastor who says it's Christian to stand up for undocumented people. Listen to his story. 👇 www.thelivingsouth.com/audio-nc-pas...

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On "Capitol Tonight," this evening at 7 pm on Spectrum News 1 North Carolina 📺 I got the chance to talk about thelivingsouth.com and my new story on Isaac Villegas, one of several North Carolina ministers who's used their church to shelter undocumented people. Link for the story in the thread below

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Something else we say in the South, "Why are you hitting dogs?"

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For two years, NC pastor Isaac Villegas sheltered Rosa del Carmen Ortez Cruz (pictured on the right, below) in a small room in his church as Trump immigration officials sought to deport her. My new story on the church as immigration sanctuary. Click to read 👇 www.thelivingsouth.com/this-nc-past...

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Isaac Villegas is a North Carolina pastor who, for two years, helped to shelter an undocumented woman after the Trump administration sought to separate her from her family. I really enjoyed telling his story. Link in the thread! Sign-up for The Living South is 100% free.

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Don’t f with Bruce Springsteen

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This weekend at thelivingsouth.com, we'll tell the story of Christian pastor Isaac Villegas, author of "Migrant God," who's used his North Carolina church to provide sanctuary for undocumented people. As immigration raids ramp up, it's a crucial story. 👏 Sign-up is free at thelivingsouth.com.

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My latest rant

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Tune in to the livestream, @cardinalandpine.bsky.social’s “Voices for Veterans.” link.cardinalpine.com/click/399525...

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The day is here. 👏 Time to talk about what's at stake for North Carolina's military personnel, veterans, and military families. Live stream begins at 5:30 pm. cardinalpine.com/2025/05/20/t...

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Cardinal & Pine's 'Voices for Veterans' is TONIGHT! Join us at Studio 215 in Fayetteville, or sign up for the livestream here 👉 www.eventbrite.com/e/voices-for...

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Hi y'all. Last chance to register (for free) for in-person tonight in Fayetteville! I want to see your faces. 😀 Also keep an eye on Cardinal & Pine for the livestream link. www.eventbrite.com/e/voices-for...

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Y'all share please, and let's show up for North Carolina veterans, on-duty military, and military families Tuesday. Register👇 www.eventbrite.com/e/voices-for...

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PLEASE SHARE 👏 Excited to finally do a live, in-person thing for @cardinalandpine.bsky.social. Studio 215 in Fayetteville, beginning at 5:30 pm. We're going to talk about folks in the military, military families, and veterans in NC. Free, but you gotta register!👇 www.eventbrite.com/e/voices-for...

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Officials in President Trump's administration are, in a way, trying to erase civil rights hero Pauli Murray's story. www.thelivingsouth.com/video-erasin...

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North Carolina House and Senate Democrats held a funeral of sorts Tuesday, highlighting the hundreds of bills they introduced this session that were then directed to the Rules Committees of the two houses, the proverbial legislative graveyard. ncnewsline.com/2025/05/14/h... #ncpol #ncga

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Justice Allison Riggs won her NC Supreme Court election in November, but wasn’t sworn in until Tuesday morning. After she took the oath of office, Riggs thanked supporters but also warned that future losing candidates may follow Jefferson Griffin’s playbook.

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Isaac Villegas is the pastor of a NC church that sheltered a woman for two years while the Trump administration tried to deport her. This week for The Living South, I talked to Villegas about the church's history of offering sanctuary during troubled times. Sign-up is free at thelivingsouth.com

submitted 16 days ago • 0 comments

Rhiannon Giddens makes the rare retro music that looks forward because, along with the Carolina Chocolate Drops and its offshoots, Giddens is a missionary for a proper telling, not just of Black folk music, but of Southern American history. Sign-up is free! www.thelivingsouth.com/rhiannon-gid...

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I'll buy a beer for lucky #200. Or a non-alcoholic beverage of your choice. 😂 thelivingsouth.com

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We're watching one big, overdue celebration for Black culture in the South and I'm here for it. 🎉 Read my essay 👇 Sign-up is free! www.thelivingsouth.com/rhiannon-gid...

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Hi y'all, my latest for thelivingsouth.com. Please share 🙏 Taken together, "Cowboy Carter," "Sinners," and Rhiannon Giddens' new festival feel like a kind of trilogy. They represent a well-earned moment — for the Black South, film, and music. www.thelivingsouth.com/rhiannon-gid...

submitted 21 days ago • 1 comment

Republicans fired Karen Brinson Bell, then tried to prevent her from thanking elections staff. When she began to speak anyway, Republican members walked out of the room. Here are her full remarks. Please share cardinalpine.com/2025/05/07/n...

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“On Thurs, we learned that a Republican-controlled state appeals court, without even going through the motions of hearing oral arguments or writing an explanation, threw out a trial court decision and gave their party permission to rewrite the way we conduct elections in NC.” @billyball.bsky.social

submitted 27 days ago • 0 comments

When I was growing up, people would say things like "I may not agree with you but I'll fight like hell for your right to say it." I've come to terms with the fact that a lot of those folks didn't mean it.

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Meet terminal democracy. NC Republicans, who've gerrymandered NC to ensure power, are now grifting a duty that's been held by the governor of NC for 100 years. The intent's to overturn Jefferson Griffin's loss in the 2024 election & keep gerrymandering.

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PLEASE SHARE 👏 Hi friends, I'm really excited to announce @cardinalandpine.bsky.social first live event Tuesday, May 20, and it will center on something near and dear to my heart: North Carolina's veterans. List of speakers to come, but grab a spot now. www.eventbrite.com/e/voices-for...

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Some folks don't want us to know about people like Pauli Murray. Don't let them.

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Bakari Sellers is one of the most polished people you will ever meet. But in May 2020, when the world felt like it was ending in more ways than one, Sellers' cool finally cracked. He was crying on national television. This is his story. 👇 www.thelivingsouth.com/for-some-bak...

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For thelivingsouth.com, I talked to @bakarisellers.bsky.social about optimism, his daughter Sadie's life-saving transplant, growing up in the South, and of course, Trump. I'll publish our convo this week. If you haven't already, now's as good a time as any to sign up. It's free!

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Share this far and wide please. 👏

submitted 52 days ago • 0 comments

This is a must-read thread, North Carolina. If the courts go along with Jefferson Griffin's argument, North Carolina is only a democracy in theory, not in practice.

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If this is what we do in North Carolina, we are not a democracy. It is that simple. andersonalerts.substack.com/p/nc-court-s...

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New feature at "The Living South": On this day in 1917, Woodrow Wilson—the first Southern president since the Civil War—made his case to go war with Germany. Here's how he did it, and how he remade the presidency in the South's image, for better or worse. www.thelivingsouth.com/introducing/

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Representing Cardinal & Pine, I wrote a piece for @msnbc.com's "First 100 Days" of the Trump administration. It's about Trump and Elon Musk's cuts to Veteran Affairs. Here's the gist. www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnb...

submitted 58 days ago • 1 comment

I shouldn't be surprised by anything anymore, but they still surprise me sometimes.

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Must-watch or you’re dumb

submitted 64 days ago • 1 comment

This is a must-read.

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Trump signed an executive order to dismantle the US DoE—a move that could have big consequences for NC public schools. Advocates fear the Republican-led state legislature may not step in to replace lost funding. bit.ly/4c2K9dI

submitted 65 days ago • 1 comment

I loved this interview. America is in desperate need of wildfire fighters, especially as climate change increases the danger of them. So Tennessee public school teacher Bryan Kerns is training wildfire fighters in a high school. 😲 www.thelivingsouth.com/audio-americ...

submitted 66 days ago • 1 comment