Was North Carolina Terrorism Another Deranged Attack on Drag Queens?

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

This past Saturday evening about 7:00 p.m. much of the electrical power suddenly went out in Moore County, North Carolina, leaving about 45,000 rural North Carolina electric customers (homes and businesses) in the cold and dark.  One thing the sudden power outage did not do, however, was to stop a scheduled drag show event in the town of Southern Pines.  When the lights went out, the three-hundred-and-fifty people who had showed up to see the show in defiance of spirted community protests against it, pulled out their cell phones, hit the flashlight mode, and let their little lights shine on the stage - and the show went on!

While the big show was going on as scheduled, local authorities were racing about trying to find the cause of the sudden massive blackout.  They soon ascertained that two local electrical substations had been "shot up" by gunfire.    State investigators and representatives of the FBI have been brought in to investigate this criminal act that has left so many in the dark and cold.  So far all that has been revealed about the on-going investigation is a general belief that the attackers "knew what they were doing," indicating that they had a level of familiarity with the operations of the unmanned substations, and a general sense that the attacks were conducted by multiple individuals - as gleaned from investigators' regular usage of plural pronouns in describing those responsible.

As of today power has been restored to about a third of the customers, and the remainder could take several more days to be brought back on-line.   Duke Energy, the owner of the substations, is saying that the repair and replacement costs for the damaged and destroyed equipment will run into the millions of dollars.

One line of inquiry that police have apparently been following is that the attacks might have been a result of the drag show that evening in Southern Pines.  The upcoming drag event had been a contentious community issue for days, and on Saturday during the day a large group of people opposed to the show gathered across street from the venue where it was to be held to protest what one local religious school labeled as an attack on children. 

(The new Republican fear-mantra, now that Critical Race Theory has faded from view, focuses on drag queens - referring to them as "pedophiles" who are "grooming" children.  Texas is about to pass a law banning children from drag shows, and Florida - of course - is threatening to follow Texas down that rabbit hole - all the while ignoring things like funding education, making adequate health care available to all children, or protecting children from school shooters.    Many connect the recent gay nightclub shooting in Colorado Springs - where a drag show was part of the evening's entertainment - with the uptick in right-wing fear-mongering over drag queens.)

A local woman in Moore County who had recently been a psychological operations officer in the US Army until she  got in hot water with the military for leading a group to the US Capitol on January 6th, 2021, and who had been active in community protests against the upcoming drag show, posted the following on social media after the power went out:

"The power is out in Moore County and I know why."

Needless to say she was soon visited by deputies from the local sheriff's office where she apparently said the "why" was God's opposition to drag shows.  She said in a later post that she told them "God works in mysterious ways, and that she had then used the opportunity to tell the deputies about "immoral drag shows " and the "blasphemies screamed by its supporters."

The local sheriff indicated that his department's interview with the local activist failed to turn up any connection with the damage to the electric substations.

But it remains an interesting coincidence:  the local power supply was attacked and put off-line just as the curtain was about to go up on a highly contentious community event.  It is a coincidence that seems likely to draw further scrutiny as the investigation continues.

It's good to know that the FBI is on the case.