With over 30,000 North Carolina residents left without power, leftists circulate conspiracy theory that conservative vandals are to blame

 Tens of thousands of people have been left in the dark and cold after two power substations in North Carolina were blasted with gunfire over the weekend.

While engineers work to restore power and law enforcement seeks those responsible, leftists are circulating unsubstantiated rumors online, suggesting that right-wing activists seeking to shut down a drag show on Saturday night were responsible.

What are the details?

Around 8 p.m. on Saturday, power outages swept Moore County.

According to PowerOutage.US, over 45,000 residents experienced blackouts. Charlotte-based utility company Duke Energy's outage map indicated that as of early Monday afternoon, over 35,000 people were still without power.

Duke Energy officials suggested that residents could possibly be powerless until Thursday, because the damage is extensive and the repairs needed are complex.

A spokesman for the company said, "Unlike perhaps a storm where you can go in and reroute power somewhere else, that was not an option in this case, so repair has to be complete; in many cases, some of that equipment will have to be replaced."

The county declared a state of emergency, claiming that the electric grid had been "intentionally attacked."

The outages began in the Carthage area and then spread to the southern parts of Moore County.

A 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. nightly curfew has been put into effect. The Triad Business Journal noted that the curfew will remain in effect until power is restored. Schools have also been closed in the county.

With temperatures at times almost down to freezing, county officials announced on Sunday that the Moore County Sports Complex in Carthage had been turned into a shelter.

An intentional attack

The Moore County Sheriff's Office issued a statement, saying that the "mass power outage across the county is being investigated as a criminal occurrence."

Moore County Sheriff Ronnie Fields told reporters on Sunday that while a motivation had not yet been found, it was clear that someone had pulled up and "opened fire on the substation, the same thing with the other one."

The vandals had allegedly breached the gates at both substation sites.

Although Fields would not state whether the outages were resultant of domestic terrorism, he underscored how the incident "was a targeted, intentional attack and was not random."

"I can promise you, to the perpetrators out there, we will find you," said the sheriff.

Gov. Roy Cooper (D) tweeted that an "attack like this on critical infrastructure is a serious, intentional crime and I expect state and federal authorities to thoroughly investigate and bring those responsible to justice."

Cooper also indicated that the state is providing support as needed.

Leftist rumors

When asked whether the shooting may be linked to a Saturday night drag show at the Sunrise Theater in Southern Pines, Sheriff Ronnie Fields said, "We've not been able to tie anything back to the drag show."

Fields' admission did not stop leftists and LGBT activists from advancing their preferred narrative online.

Script-reader Ethan Embry claimed that "group of christofascists has shot at power substations in Moore county to shut down a drag show happening in town. 40,000 residents are without power, people who need power for medical devices, families who need to stay warm, plunging a community into darkness. A terror attack."

Fellow script-reader Melissa Jo Peltier, similarly convinced that critics of drag shows that sexualize children were responsible, demanded, "Arrest them all."

Civil rights attorney Alejandra Caraballo intimated that Libs of Tiktok might be partly responsible.

So-called artist Barbara Malmet expressed certainty not only that the drag show was the reason the substations were hit, but that those responsible also happened to be white.

Journalist Andy Ngo noted that, without any evidence, transsexual activist Erin Reed named specific groups he figured must be responsible.

WRAL reported that the MCSO interviewed former U.S. Army psychological operations officer Emily Grace Rainey regarding a post she made on Facebook concerning the outages, which read, "The power is out in Moore County and I know why."

Rainey noted that the reason why was "that God works in mysterious ways and is responsible for the outage."

Sheriff Fields cast significant doubt on whether Rainey had anything to do with the blackout.

According to the Fayetteville Observer, the drag show in question had been open to children but due to pressure was subsequently made an 18+ event.

Sunrise Theater executive director Kevin Dietzel suggested that changing the age and thereby precluding children from witnessing the highly sexualized performances "adds to the stigma that people in the drag community already feel. ... It adds fuel to the myth that the LGBTQ+ community is something that people need to keep their kids away from."

The drag show took place without incident on Saturday.

Gunfire takes out power substations in Moore Co.; prompts State of emergency, curfew, closed schoolsyoutu.be

Powered by Blogger.