Free Republic

On June 16, North Carolina’s GOP-controlled house sided with Gabby Giffords and voted 78-37 to keep handgun purchasing restrictions in place for law-abiding North Carolinians. As recently as June 7—just four days after New Jersey’s Carol Bowne was stabbed to death while waiting for state permission to own a gun for self-defense—Breitbart News reported that Giffords & Co. were pushing to make sure North Carolinians had to continue seeking state permission for handgun purchases via a permit-to-purchase requirement which is very similar to the one in New Jersey.

Applause and cheers greeted 2016 presidential candidate Senator Ted Cruz as he took the stage at the North Carolina Republican Convention.Opting to move around instead of speaking from behind a podium, Cruz sounded Reaganesque as he spoke on three main points of economic growth, defending our Constitutional rights and restoring America’s position in the world.Cruz’s speech was fluid, fast-moving, had the crowd laughing and on their feet applauding multiple times. The speech lasted just over 40 minutes — and he did it all without a teleprompter.  We’re seeing tremendous enthusiasm here in NC, and it’s a privilege to join y’all...

HOUSTON, Texas — U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, today announced co-chairs of his North Carolina Leadership Team, a diverse group of longtime grassroots influencers including Tea Party and evangelical leaders, civil rights and 2nd Amendment activists, a veteran and military affairs expert, and Republican Women and party leaders all across the Tarheel state.“Our North Carolina Leadership Team will ensure we are competitive and have the resources we need to be successful,” said Cruz. “The talent and energy these leaders generate continue to add to the grassroots momentum we are experiencing across the country. I am deeply honored to have their...

The Supreme Court Monday let stand a lower court ruling that struck down North Carolina’s requirement that doctors must take and describe an ultrasound image before performing an abortion. The court without comment declined to review a decision by a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit that the requirement violated the First Amendment rights of the doctor performing the procedure. “The requirement is quintessential compelled speech. It forces physicians to say things they otherwise would not say,” wrote Circuit Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson.

OAK ISLAND, N.C. (AP) -- Two young people vacationing in the beach town of Oak Island were swimming in waist-deep water when they lost limbs in separate life-threatening shark attacks, town officials said Monday. A 12-year-old girl from Asheboro lost part of her arm and suffered a leg injury, and a 16-year-old boy from Winston-Salem lost his left arm less than 90 minutes later and about 2 miles away late Sunday afternoon, officials said. The victims were each about 20 yards offshore. The emergency call about the girl came in about 4:40 p.m., and the one about the boy at...

Dear Governor McCrory, With all due respect to your office and your many years of service to the people of North Carolina, I must say that I read your response to the congressional override of your veto to Senate Bill 2 with real disappointment. Are you the same man who stood so strongly against gay activism when you were the mayor of Charlotte? I remember, sir, sitting next to you at a luncheon at First Baptist Church in Charlotte in 2006 when Pastor Mark Harris commended to you my statement to the local gay and lesbian community, one in which...

A measure allowing some court officials to refuse to perform gay marriage responsibilities because of their religious beliefs became law in North Carolina on Thursday, with the state House voting to override the governor's veto of the bill. The Senate had voted to do the same with Republican Gov. Pat McCrory's veto a week ago. Thursday's House vote of 69-41 was just over the three-fifths majority needed. Ten House members were absent and didn't vote. The law, taking effect immediately, means some register of deeds workers who assemble licenses and magistrates to solemnize civil marriages can decide to stop performing...

U.S. Rep. David Rouzer has introduced a bill he knows will never pass. Dubbed the States’ Education Reclamation Act of 2015, the legislation would dismantle the U.S. Department of Education and return its nearly $65.7 billion in annual funding to the states. That money would remain earmarked for education, he said, and could go to fund teacher raises or build new schools, among other uses. [snip] “The Democrats would never go along with eliminating the federal Department of Education. That’s well known,” Rouzer said. “And there may be some much-more liberal Republicans who have a difficult time with that as...

While seven GOP presidential contenders were in Boone, Iowa for Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) Roast and Ride over the weekend, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) was in North Carolina organizing his campaign in the state and meeting with party leaders. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) wasn’t in Iowa either, as he had events in New Hampshire. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush also skipped the Roast and Ride. According to the Raleigh News and Observer, Cruz needled Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) from afar, saying they “don’t fit naturally into any bracket.” “Either or both could choose to...

In a broad and deep rejection of the sort of top-down leadership the Republican National Committee and congressional leaders are trying to impose on grassroots Republican activists at the national level, delegates to the North Carolina Republican State Republican Convention elected their first African – American state chairman – outsider Hasan Harnett. In electing Harnett, the delegates to the NC GOP Convention rejected Craig Collins, the candidate backed by Governor Pat McCrory, U.S. Sens. Richard Burr and Thom Tillis and the top leaders at the General Assembly: Senate leader Phil Berger and House Speaker Tim Moore. Writing for the Associated...

In an interview at the governor’s mansion, Gov. Pat McCrory tells me that when he took office in January 2013 he looked at the data and knew “we couldn’t stay on the course we were on. We had the highest unemployment benefits and yet at the same time businesses were routinely complaining they couldn’t find workers until benefits ran out. We heard a lot of stories of workers waiting until benefits ran out before going back to work.” In sum, the state was paying people not to work. While these measures were passing the legislature, the state capital boiled over...

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) -- Gov. Pat McCrory says he has signed legislation that makes North Carolina one of several states with 72-hour waiting periods for an abortion. McCrory's office sent an email Friday evening which announced that he had signed pardons for two brothers wrongfully imprisoned for three decades in the killing of an 11-year-old girl. At the bottom of the email, it was noted that McCrory had also signed nine bills, listing each bill by their number without referring to their specific title.

William Penn once said, "A true friend freely, advises justly, assists readily, adventures boldly, takes all patiently, defends courageously, and continues a friend unchangeably." People of faith that have sincere religious objections to same-sex marriage have every reason to question whether they have a friend in the Governor's office, and, perhaps in certain lawmakers. Recently, North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory vetoed SB 2 – Magistrates Recusal for Civil Ceremonies. The bill simply establishes procedures that magistrates may recuse themselves from performing all lawful marriages, based upon a sincerely held religious objection. The same accommodation would be made for assistant register...

The New York Times has revealed what some of us already knew: billionaire convicted felon George Soros is bankrolling attacks on election integrity laws in advance of the 2016 election. He is funding efforts to attack laws designed to aid election integrity in Wisconsin, North Carolina, Ohio and perhaps elsewhere, according to the New York Times. Mr. Soros is prepared to spend $5 million or more on the effort, Mr. Vachon said. Two suits that he is supporting were filed in Ohio and in Wisconsin last month, and he is also funding a case Mr. Elias is involved with in...

ast October, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill released findings from an internal investigation that revealed approximately 3,000 students — mostly student athletes — had their grades inflated through sham courses in the school's African and Afro-American studies department over a span of almost 20 years. Now the NCAA has hit the school with five "Level 1" violations, or "severe breaches of contract" because of that grade-inflation. The NCAA says UNC faculty and staff did the following

<p>RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina's governor says he'll sign a bill that would make the state one of several with a 72-hour waiting period for abortions.</p> <p>The state House gave final approval to the bill Wednesday, sending it to Republican Gov. Pat McCrory's desk.</p>

Parents at a North Carolina middle school want an explanation after learning school officials launched an investigation into a sex video made by students at school, and didn’t inform parents.“I don’t know why is should be a secret,” an unidentified parent told WCNC. “I’d rather hear the truth than a rumor.”The truth is police responded to Carmel Middle School in Charlotte Tuesday afternoon over allegations that two 14-year-old students were recorded on video performing a sex act at school, during school hours, on May 22, WBTV reports.One of the teens involved allegedly distributed the video, as did another person that...

It looks like one of the North Carolina GOP Congressmen who voted against reelecting Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) as Speaker this year may get a primary challenge from the GOP establishment. (SNIP) Even after appointment as Secretary of Transportation in the administration of Republican Governor Pat McCrory, Tata has remained registered as an Unaffiliated voter. (SNIP) Wrenn is the same consultant who quarterbacked the election of Rep. Renee Ellmers (R-NC) , the most liberal Republican in the NC delegation, to Congress. (SNIP) Another area where Jones and Tata do not see eye to eye is immigration. Jones is the NC...

The Republican establishment is ready to take another crack at unseating Rep. Walter Jones—and it might have found a new candidate to lead the charge. Anthony Tata, the Republican secretary of transportation in North Carolina and a veteran with nearly three decades of military experience, is preparing to run in a primary against the longtime GOP House member, according to a half-dozen sources with knowledge of the planned campaign. One source close to Tata, granted anonymity to speak candidly, said the secretary is "seriously looking" at a campaign but cautioned there was not yet a timetable for his decision.

Saudi Arabia’s unwillingness to follow its longstanding policy of propping up oil prices means North Carolina might have to wait for offshore energy exploration. That’s the assessment of Daniel Fine, associate director of the New Mexico Center for Energy Policy and project leader of a group developing New Mexico’s state energy policy. Fine described a Saudi-led oil “price war” during a presentation to the John Locke Foundation’s Shaftesbury Society. In the video clip below, Fine explained how falling oil prices tied to Saudi Arabia’s new policy affect North Carolina’s energy options.