Free Republic

Raleigh, N.C. — Friday is supposed to be the day when counties across North Carolina certify their vote totals from last week's elections, but that is becoming increasingly unlikely to occur.

Formal protests are now being filed in 11 additional counties to challenge potentially fraudulent absentee ballots cast for Roy Cooper and other Democrats, according to Governor Pat McCrory's campaign.A formal protest was filed with the Bladen County Board of Elections to challenge several hundred absentee ballots, alleged to be fraudulent on Tuesday. The initial evidence laid out in the protest suggests a "massive scheme to run an absentee ballot mill involving hundreds of ballots, perpetrated by and through the Bladen County Improvement Association PAC," a political-action committee funded by the N.C. Democrat Party and other prominent statewide Democrats.  In addition to...

Cortney wrote earlier today that there could be some funny business with the vote counts in Durham and Bladen counties. Now, McCrory’s campaign site said they’ve filed election protests in 11 more counties:

Raleigh, N.C. — In a formal complaint to the Durham County Board of Elections, Thomas Stark, the attorney for the North Carolina Republican Party on Saturday demanded a recount of votes cast on and before Election Day, citing a counting error involving 90,000 ballots. Thomas Stark, general counsel for the GOP and a Durham County voter, filed the protest with the Durham County Board of Elections, alleging malfeasance in regard to the accuracy of the count. In the complaint, Stark says the county used data from potentially corrupt tabulation machines from five early voting sites and one general election precinct....

RALEIGH, N.C. — The Trump train that carried Republicans to victory all over the South may have left one car behind in North Carolina — Gov. Pat McCrory, who trailed by a few thousand votes Thursday in a still too-close-to-call race that played out amid anger over the state's transgender bathroom law. The law limiting LGBT rights appeared to have a substantial role in the Election Day contest between McCrory, who signed the measure and vigorously defended it against boycotts and other protests, and Democratic Attorney General Roy Cooper, who called for its repeal.

Wilmington, N.C. — Melania Trump is campaigning once again for her husband, this time during a Saturday afternoon rally at the Wilmington International Airport. "I have known this man for 18 years. Donald is a wonderful husband, father and grandfather. He's strong, determined, bold and decisive," she said, reiterating the campaign slogan by telling voters her husband would make America great again. When Donald Trump began speaking, he quickly pulled Gov. Pat McCrory on stage, saying he has been "loyal to Trump from day one." "I want to thank your incredible governor. Get out and vote for him. He's a...

SPARTANBURG, SC (WSPA) – The Atlantic Coast Conderence (ACC) has announced they will be moving championship games out of North Carolina, because of House Bill 2. All 15 university will continue to host ACC Championships at campus sites. Clemson University President James Clements says, “The decision to move the neutral site championships out of North Carolina while HB 2 remains the law was not an easy one but it is consistent with the shared values of inclusion and non-discrimination at all of our institutions.” They say the locations will be announced in the future. The NCAA said on Monday that...

WILMINGTON, N.C. (WNCN/WBTV) – Gov. Pat McCrory said he will ask the Supreme Court to weigh in on the voter ID law Wednesday. McCrory made the announcement during Donald Trump’s rally in Wilmington Tuesday afternoon. “There are thirty other states in the United States…over thirty other states…that know common sense shows you show an ID when you vote,” McCrory told the crowd. “Right? One person, one vote. That should be our rules.” The request comes after an appeals court decided it won’t delay enforcement of its ruling striking down the state’s photo identification requirement and other election restrictions, including reducing...

Conspiracy theories about the birth of Charlotte’s so-called “bathroom law” have ranged from tales of political payoffs to a viral internet rumor of a gay sexual predator who duped the council into passing the law. Some even accused the City Council of being in league with Satan. But the idea for the law actually first took root quietly during July 2014 as two Charlotteans sat at Nova’s Bakery on Central Avenue, considering what more Charlotte might do to protect lesbians, gays and bisexual and transgender people from discrimination. It lasted less than 30 minutes, and the two men – City...

Monday, July 25, 2016: Live streaming coverage of the Donald J. Trump and Mike Pence Town hall event in Roanoke, VA at the Hotel Roanoke & Convention Center. Live coverage begins at 3:00 PM ET. Roanoke, VA Watch the LIVE stream of the event below beginning at 3:00 PM ET Hotel Roanoke Convention Center Monday, July 25, 2016: Live streaming coverage of the Donald J. Trump for President rally in Winston-Salem, NC at the Winston Salem Fairground Annex. Live coverage begins at 8:00 PM ET. Winston-Salem, NC Watch the LIVE stream of the event below beginning at 4:30 PM ET...

By adding to an already challenging legal environment in North Carolina, HB2 could cost the state almost $5 billion a year, according to a new report by the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law. "The repeal of HB2 would not only reverse the threat to over $5 billion in economic activity for the state, but would also begin to bring North Carolina some of the economic advantages that come when a state embraces diversity and its LGBT citizens," said Christy Mallory, Senior Counsel at the Williams Institute and co-author of the new report. While prior reports have focused on...

The latest salvos in the struggle over whether a law passed during March in North Carolina forces transgender people to use public restrooms that don't correspond with their “gender identity” came on Monday, when Dan Savage tweeted that those who disagree with House Bill 2 should leave jars filled with their urine at Republican Governor Pat McCrory's office. The strategy promoted by the gay activist and columnist drew the immediate attention of Noah Michelson, an editorial director on the liberal Huffington Post website, who called Savage's idea a “brilliantly gross” method of protesting the state's “Anti-LGBT Law.” “If Dan Savage...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: The North Carolina governor is turning right around and suing the DOJ on this bathroom law that they passed. The DOJ, the Obama Justice Department, gave Colorado three days, essentially, to throw that bill out. What people don't know is it's not just North Carolina they gave three days, they gave everybody three days. If the DOJ gets their way, every business 15 employees or more, is gonna have to have unisex bathrooms and anybody can go into whatever bathroom they want depending how they want to identify or want to present that day. The solution here...

Gov. Pat McCrory of North Carolina on Monday escalated the nation’s clash over transgender rights by suing the Justice Department, which said last week that the state had violated the Civil Rights Act of 1964 when it passed a law prohibiting people from using public restrooms that do not correspond with the gender listed on their birth certificates. In the suit, the governor accused the Justice Department of a “radical reinterpretation” of the law. “The department contends that North Carolina’s common sense privacy policy constitutes a pattern or practice of discriminating against transgender employees in the terms and conditions of...

A "law enforcement action". Will be live-streamed. 3:30 Eastern. https://www.justice.gov/live-stream

North Carolina has filed a lawsuit today against the Department of Justice in an effort to push back against a warning that House Bill 2, a controversial law that critics have called "anti-LGBT," violates the Civil Rights Act. Gov. Pat McCrory is expected to respond publicly at 5 p.m. today after an agreement to postpone his reply could not be reached. ~snip~ McCrory, speaking to Fox News Sunday, spoke in discordant terms about the DOJ's warning, calling the federal government "a bully".

GREENSBORO, N.C. — Remember when tickets for Bruce Springsteen's latest tour went on sale in December, and all tri-state area dates were sold out within minutes? North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory claims that was not the case for The Boss's scheduled Greensboro concert — the April 10 gig he canceled in opposition to HB2 or the Public Facilities Privacy and Security Act. McCrory implied on the John Boy and Billy Big radio show Tuesday that Springsteen actually nixed the show not in support of transgender and progressive ideals, but in protection of his own ego — McCrory said only 8,000...

A poll released Friday afternoon by the conservative group North Carolina Civitas showed Gov. Pat McCrory has the lowest approval ratings of his administration and trailing Attorney General Roy Cooper in the race for governor. The poll of 600 likely voters was done April 23-25 and has a margin of error of 4 percent. The poll shows 49 percent of North Carolinians have an unfavorable view of McCrory, the highest percentage since he has been governor. Only 39 percent have a favorable opinion, the lowest number of his time in office. In an October poll, by comparison, McCrory had a...

Today, Governor Pat McCrory rejected the Obama administration’s request for North Carolina to reverse its state-imposed ban on investments in Iran “Under President Obama’s questionable Iran deal, billions have already been paid or released to Iran’s regime with little to show for it,” said Governor McCrory. “So long as I am governor, North Carolina will not subsidize a regime which remains the world’s lead sponsor of terrorism. It’s time for Washington, D.C. to put the safety, security and best interests of North Carolinians and Americans first Last year, Governor McCrory signed the bipartisan Iran Divestment Act of 2015, which prohibited...

On Tuesday, North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory (shown) caved to pressure from big businesses and the LGBT community and signed an executive order to change the state’s recently passed LGBT law that barred local governments from extending protections to gay and transgender individuals and mandated that individuals use bathrooms based on the biological sex that appears on their birth certificates. Unfortunately for the governor, the order failed to appease the law's critics and has provoked criticism from the law's supporters.