Free Republic

United Methodist delegates repealed their church’s longstanding ban on LGBTQ clergy with no debate on Wednesday, removing a rule forbidding “self-avowed practicing homosexuals” from being ordained or appointed as ministers. Delegates voted 692-51 at their General Conference — the first such legislative gathering in five years. That overwhelming margin contrasts sharply with the decades of controversy around the issue. Past General Conferences of the United Methodist Church had steadily reinforced the ban and related penalties amid debate and protests, but many of the conservatives who had previously upheld the ban have left the denomination in recent years, and this General...

A group of self-declared undecided women voters in North Carolina had some harsh words for former President Donald Trump during a roundtable discussion aired by liberal outlet CNN. While President Joe Biden's re-election bid against Trump remains vulnerable, his campaign has stated they believe one of their best pathways to victories is to allude to Trump's alleged cruelty to women. However, a January poll showed that Biden's lead on Trump with young women, like in many demographics, had slipped. CNN hosted a focus group centered around women voters in North Carolina, a state Trump won in both 2020 and 2016...

A chaotic scene at UNC-Chapel Hill continued Tuesday afternoon, hours after police began detaining pro-Palestinian protesters on campus. University police said 30 people were taken into custody Tuesday morning because they refused to leave. On Tuesday afternoon, already tense situation escalated after the American flag was lowered and replaced with a Palestinian flag on the main quad. Dozens of police officers entered the main quad along with UNC Interim Chancellor Lee Roberts. Classes were canceled for the rest of the day and non-mandatory operations were suspended. According to university police, protesters attempted to block UNC police vehicles by standing in...

The North Carolina man who shot and killed three U.S Marshal Task Force officers and one Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department (CMPD) officer was a felon barred from firearm possession. One of the three deceased task force officers was a Deputy U.S. Marshal, according to CNN. Breitbart News reported the incident unfolded Monday around 1:30 p.m. when the task force and the CMPD officer attempted to serve a warrant for a felon in possession of a firearm. The US Marshals Task Force, which is comprised of officers from multiple agencies, was conducting an investigation in the area of the 5000 block of...

New Emerson College Polling/The Hill swing state polls find President Biden trailing former President Trump in the states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin; the differences are within each survey’s margin of error.

Terry Clark Hughes Jr. is the 39-year-old suspect who opened fire at the scene where four law enforcement officers in Charlotte, North Carolina, were shot and killed on April 29, according to Charlotte-Mecklenburg police. Hughes was not the only shooter, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Johnny Jennings said in a news conference. “When they approached Hughes,” officers “were met by gunfire and returned the gunfire, striking” Hughes, who was found deceased in a yard, Jennings said. Officers then received “additional gunfire from inside of the residence,” he said. It was not immediately clear whose bullets struck which officers. Police have not...

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Four law enforcement officers, including a deputy U.S. marshal, were killed Monday afternoon while serving a warrant in North Carolina. A total of eight officers were shot after the U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force attempted to serve a warrant in east Charlotte. According to Charlotte-Mecklenburg police Chief Johnny Jennings, three of the slain officers were part of the task force. One was the deputy marshal. North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said Monday evening that the other two officers killed at the scene were with North Carolina’s Department of Adult Correction. A fourth officer, Charlotte-Mecklenburg police Officer Joshua...

Video footage showed the dramatic moment a SWAT team rammed its way into a North Carolina house after three officers on a U.S. Marshals Task Force serving a warrant were killed. The officers were serving a felon wanted for possessing a firearm Monday at the home, police said. The officers were first shot at by the wanted suspect as they approached the suburban home in Charlotte. Three officers were killed and five more were hurt. The cops were able to shoot dead the felon in the front yard, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Johnny Jennings said. A second person then fired on...

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Numerous law enforcement officers carrying out a task force operation were shot Monday afternoon as they came under fire in Charlotte, North Carolina, police said. Officers from several agencies in the U.S. Marshals Task Force were carrying out the investigation in a suburban neighborhood when “a subject” began firing at them, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

At least one US Marshal is dead and “numerous” other law enforcement officials have been wounded after gunfire erupted Monday in a suburban neighborhood outside of Charlotte, North Carolina, according to reports. The shooting broke out just before 2 p.m. when the US Marshals Task Force was working an investigation in the area and one of the subjects opened fire on them, according to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department (CMPD). “Multiple” officers were hit and taken to the hospital in unknown conditions, CMPD said.

With six and a half months before Election Day, the latest Meredith College poll shows Democrat Josh Stein gaining a bit more ground over Republican Mark Robinson in North Carolina’s gubernatorial contest. Stein now leads Robinson 45%-36% — up from a five percentage point advantage in February. a chart describing polling in the governor's race Source: Meredith Poll Poll director and political scientist David McLennan says while Robinson gets a lot of support from conservatives in the state, Stein is growing his base among unaffiliated voters and those who say they are politically moderate. “Robinson continues to get negative media...

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) took a shot at Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) on Tuesday, saying she is “dragging our brand down.” “She is a horrible leader,” Tillis said of Greene, according to audio played on CNN’s “Erin Burnett OutFront.” “She is dragging our brand down. She — not the Democrats — are the biggest risk to us getting back to a majority.” He added that the Georgia Republican is “uninformed” and “a total waste of time,” per the clip, highlighted my Mediaite. Greene has been in the spotlight over her motion to vacate threat against Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.)...

Two jurors in the Donald Trump hush money trial were excused Thursday, one after telling the court she was too scared and intimidated to serve, as prosecutors renewed their request to hold Trump in criminal contempt over alleged gag order violations. The first juror, one of seven initially chosen to serve on the case, told Merchan that she was too scared to proceed after her friends, family, and colleagues guessed that she had been chosen. Merchan has ruled that the panel will be anonymous to protect their safety and privacy. The second juror was excused after prosecutors raised questions about...

From N.C. Bar & Tavern Ass'n v. Cooper, decided yesterday by the N.C. Court of Appeals, in an opinion by Judge April Wood, joined by Judges Donna Stroud and Jefferson Griffin: Plaintiffs appeal from the trial court's order granting summary judgment for Defendant and dismissing all their claims arising out of Defendant's Executive Order No. 141 issued in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. On 17 March 2020, Defendant issued Executive Order No. 118 closing all bars including those in restaurants. On 20 May 2020, Defendant issued Executive Order No. 141 letting some types of bars reopen with specific safety precautions...

Republican candidates in North Carolina are seeing a squeeze this month, as the party’s leads are narrowing ...

March 11-14; N=1197. TWO-WAY: Trump 51, Biden 48. THREE-WAY: 46, Biden 43, RFK Jr 11.

Davidson College — a private institution in North Carolina — required its athletes to watch a video that teaches that all white people are racist and that racial minorities can't be racist, the College Fix reported. The Davidsonians for Freedom of Thought and Discourse — an alumni-run free-speech organization — exposed and denounced the “I’m Not Racist … Am I?” video, the outlet said. "In one clip of the film that we uncovered is the unequivocal repetition that all white people are racist, and people of color cannot be racist,” the group said, according to the College Fix. Here's one...

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Highway signs welcome drivers entering North Carolina to “the nation’s most military friendly state,” and veterans here know they’re being courted. But in a state where camouflage-colored appeals have become commonplace, recent efforts by progressive groups to cut into what has long been a reliably red constituency face an election-year test. Tar Heel State veterans interviewed earlier this month, ahead of Super Tuesday primary voting in some of the most active-duty and veteran-populous states, varied in their politics, even if they agreed that their military service had informed their opinions. Ryan Rogers, who fought in Afghanistan...

f North Carolina voters were casting their ballots for president and governor today, the Republican candidates would handily win...

Likely Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump leads Democratic President Joe Biden in a North Carolina race ...