Free Republic

Yessica Ochoa made headlines in 2014 when her 9-year-old daughter, Ligsdenis, became the first child to show up in Charlotte as part of a surge of unaccompanied Central American children who walked by the thousands across the nation’s southern border. Nearly 70,000 made the trek that year, seeking asylum from gang and cartel violence, and hoping for reunification with parents who had left them behind to establish better lives in the U.S. Ligsdenis Ochoa photographed shortly she arrived in the U.S. from Honduras in 2014. T. Ortega Gaines ogaines@charlotteobserver.com Ligsdenis is now a fourth grader at Merry Oaks Academy and...

Manipulated Conservatives: Transgendered Bathrooms are Trivial As I watch people get involved with dramas over this issue, I think: What is it that we are not supposed to pay attention to? What is it that the elites, the media and the government don't want us to notice? Is it the loss of our history and culture with the change with monies, another knife in the gut by the Obama administration? Is it the subtlest of this election? Is it the lousy depression like statistics in some areas of the country? Is it the invasion of western Civ and our country...

Since the debate over what he said yesterday is still raging, it’s only fair that you get to hear his latest comment about it. Skip to 8:35 of the clip below from last night’s interview on Trump TV.His response to Hannity’s question about North Carolina is a dodge but it’s a dodge with a conservative pedigree. If you’re a Republican who’s been put on the spot about a hot-button social issue, you can’t go wrong saying, “Leave it to the states.” Even righties who disagree with you on the merits will tip their caps at your nod to federalism....

Mississippi and North Carolina ought to rethink their laws affecting the rights of its LGBT citizens, President Barack Obama said Friday, while inviting all Britons to visit the states nonetheless. Before ending a news conference with British Prime Minister David Cameron, Obama fielded a question about the United Kingdom issuing travel advice to its citizens on Friday about the new laws in Mississippi and North Carolina that affect the rights of British LGBT travelers. Attempting to assuage concerns and not offend the citizens of those states, Obama told the British people that they should come visit North Carolina and Mississippi,...

North Carolina is set to host the 2017 NBA All-Star game, but in a meeting with reporters today, commissioner Adam Silver said that the game will have to be moved if recently enacted anti-LGBT laws are not changed. Silver was much more vague when asked about when specifically such a decision would be made, but this is still as clear a rebuke of the North Carolina laws as we’ve seen from him.

From bathrooms to abortions, John Heilemann believes that in his heart, Donald Trump is a social liberal. Heilemann made his assertion on today's With All Due Respect in the context of discussing Trump's comments on a Today town hall this morning in which he was critical of the North Carolina transgender bathroom law, and said he'd have no problem letting Caitlyn Jenner choose any bathroom. Heilemann: "Trump is probably, I think in his gut, a social liberal. I think his position on abortion, for instance, the ["very pro-choice"] position he held for most of his life, is the real position...

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A Virginia high school discriminated against a transgender teen by forbidding him from using the boys' restroom, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday in a case that could have implications for a North Carolina law that critics say discriminates against LGBT people. The case of Gavin Grimm has been especially closely watched since North Carolina enacted a law last month that bans transgender people from using public restrooms that correspond to their gender identity. That law also bans cities from passing anti-discrimination ordinances, a response to an ordinance recently passed in Charlotte. In the Virginia case,...

Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum is clarifying — but not stepping back from — surprising comments this weekend in support of former Olympian Bruce Jenner's decision to come out as a transgender woman. "If he says he's a woman, then he's a woman," Santorum told BuzzFeed during a roundtable discussion in South Carolina on Saturday. Santorum continued: "My responsibility as a human being is to love and accept everybody. Not to criticize people for who they are."

NBA commissioner Adam Silver hinted Thursday that the league will move its 2017 All-Star Game out of Charlotte if North Carolina does not change a recent anti-transgender law.

Sens. Richard Burr (R) of North Carolina and Dianne Feinstein (D) of California should be stripped of their positions for introducing a bill that would endanger American digital security and privacy. The Burr-Feinstein antiencryption bill isn't just bad, it's evidence of a dangerous incompetence in congressional leadership that is undermining America’s security. In fact, the draft bill, leaked two weeks ago and now officially released, is compelling evidence that Senate leadership should strip – or at least not reappoint – Senators Burr and Feinstein of their positions on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.... To say this most recent Burr-Feinstein...

Donald Trump says transgender people should be able to "use the bathroom that they feel is appropriate." On NBC's Today show Thursday morning, the GOP front-runner said he opposes North Carolina's "very strong" bathroom bill, which allows businesses to prohibit transgender people from doing just that. "North Carolina did something that was very strong and they're paying a big price. And there's a lot of problems." Trump said.

Curt Schilling, a former All-Star pitcher and one of the highest-profile baseball analysts on ESPN, was fired from the network Wednesday, a day after he drew intense criticism for promoting offensive commentary on social media. Schilling, who had worked for the network since 2010 and most recently offered analysis on "Monday Night Baseball," was dismissed after sharing a Facebook post this week that appeared to respond to the North Carolina law that bars transgender people from using bathrooms and locker rooms that do not correspond with their birth genders. The post showed an overweight man wearing a wig and women's...

The British government is advising lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender citizens to pay special attention when traveling to North Carolina and Mississippi. […] The British advisory says new laws in North Carolina and Mississippi may affect LGBT travelers and directs those seeking more detail to the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest LGBT civil rights organization. The advisory adds that attitudes toward LGBT people differ widely across the United States. …

A high school in Smithfield, NC now offers another lane of study for some students: Members of the Army Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps program are able to study their aim on campus. The JROTC built a 1,200-square-foot, six-lane, indoor shooting range at the Smithfield-Selma High School and students began using the facility last week. The $10,000 in costs for the range was donated by the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission and the National Shooting Sports Foundation.

On Tuesday, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) Center for State Fiscal Reform released the ninth edition of the Rich States, Poor States ALEC-Laffer State Economic Competitiveness Index rankings. The study ranks all 50 states based on their economic outlook, calculated by weighing 15 variables in critical economic policy areas. Therefore, it is no surprise that of the states in the top 10 for economic outlook, six (Wisconsin, Florida, Indiana, Arizona, North Dakota and North Carolina) also qualified for the most recent State Tax Cut Roundup as states that substantially reduced taxes... Wisconsin earned an all-time best ranking of nine,...

Morrisville, N.C. — The president of the North Carolina NAACP was escorted off an American Airlines flight Friday night. Rev. William Barber was returning to Raleigh from Washington, D.C., when, he says, he was removed from the flight. [snip]Barber said a passenger in a seat nearby was talking loudly as the plane filled up and asked the stewardess to request the passenger lower his voice. After requesting assistance from the flight attendant, Barber said he overheard the nearby passenger making "distasteful" and "disparaging" comments about him. According to Barber's statement, the passenger said he had problems with "those people" and...

Cirque du Soleil said on Friday it was canceling shows in North Carolina over a new state law that it called discriminatory, the performance group said on Friday, becoming the latest entertainment act to take a stance against the measure. "The new HB2 legislation passed in North Carolina is an important regression to ensuring human rights for all ... Cirque du Soleil believes in equality for all," the group said in an online statement. North Carolina last month became the first state to enact a measure requiring transgender people to use restrooms and locker rooms in schools and other public...

Truncated title. Full title: Cirque du Solei Cancels North Carolina Shows Over Public Facilities Act — Plans Shows In Dubai, Where Gays Are Put to Death. Canada-based circus and theater entertainment company Cirque du Soleil has canceled its upcoming shows in Greensboro, Charlotte, and Raleigh in North Carolina to protest the state’s Public Facilities Privacy and Security Act. “Cirque du Soleil strongly believes in diversity and equality for every individual and is opposed to discrimination in any form,” the group announced Friday in a press release. “The new HB2 legislation passed in North Carolina is an important regression to ensuring...

In a victory rare to U.S. military aviation, two widows of Marine Corps pilots have won a 16-year fight to lift blame from their husbands’ shoulders for a 2000 Osprey crash that killed 19 people, including 15 Marines from San Diego County. Test pilots Lt. Col. John Brow and Maj. Brooks Gruber were at the controls of the MV-22 aircraft when it crashed in the Arizona desert during an exercise. The revolutionary aircraft -- which travels like an airplane but lands vertically like a helicopter -- was still in the operational evaluation stage. The Marine Corps had a lot of...

The NBA said Friday it is not currently planning to move the 2017 All-Star Game out of Charlotte, North Carolina, despite the state's anti-LGBT "bathroom law." . . . The law, which took effect in March, prevents cities in North Carolina from creating non-discrimination policies based on gender identity. (The law was enacted after Charlotte passed such an ordinance.) It also mandates that students in state schools use the bathroom that corresponds with the gender on their birth certificate. . . . The announcement comes after six U.S. senators wrote an open letter to Silver asking him to move the...