Free Republic

It’s only a small matter of time until the Obama administration finally, rapturously releases what its hopes will be the crown jewel of its rise-of-the-oceans-slowing climate-change agenda: Regulations capping the emissions from existing power plants, a.k.a., stamping out coal plants across the country. This set of regs is going to be even more complicated and controversial than the regulations for only new power plants the administration released last year, and as the AP obliquely explains, we’re likely to start seeing those “necessarily skyrocketing” energy prices Obama once mentioned pretty quickly here: Electricity prices are probably on their way up...

Gun free zones in action. http://gunsnfreedom.com/nc-restaurant-posts-no-guns-sign-and-then-gets-robbed-at-gunpoint/

Recently, there have been two shootings at Jack in the Box restaurant less than 10 days after they decided to ask law abiding gun owners to leave their guns at home. Now we have yet another “gun free” restaurant who has been the victim of criminals with… you guessed it, guns. According to local media reports, The Pit in Durham, NC was robbed at gunpoint after just recently opening up the restaurant. According to ABC11, Authorities said just before 9 p.m. Sunday, three men wearing hoodies entered the restaurant through the back doors with pistols, and forced several staff members to...

Thieves in NC are Targeting Cars With Gun Related Stickers and Cars Parked near Gun Free Zones May 19 2014 by Dan Cannon Share This Post looks like gun thieves in North Carolina are getting smart in their search to illegally acquire guns. According to a local report today, police have managed to bust several thieves they say are targeting cars that have gun related stickers on the bumper or windows. They are also targeting cars that are parked near gun free zones. These areas force law abiding concealed carriers to leave their firearms in their vehicles where they are...

Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg's pro-amnesty organization FWD.us bought deceptive advertisements to help Rep. Renee Ellmers (R-NC) defeat underfunded primary challenger Frank Roche in Tuesday's North Carolina primary. The group promptly celebrated Ellmers' win. FWD.us's Joe Green said that Ellmers' victory "makes clear" that "the time is now for House Republicans to bring" amnesty legislation to the floor. Lobbying groups like FWD.us want high-tech visas that will lower the wages of American workers, even though no evidence suggests there is a shortage of American high-tech workers.

Gun control supporters appear poised to force New Jersey's Republican governor, Chris Christie, often discussed as a potential presidential candidate in 2016, to show where he stands on the Second Amendment. On Monday, the state's Senate passed A2006, legislation to lower the state's magazine-capacity limit from 15 rounds to 10 rounds, by a vote of 22-17, mostly along party lines. The bill will be sent to Christie for signature or veto after the Assembly, which previously approved it by a vote of 46-31, approves technical changes made to the bill by the Senate. Once the bill reaches Christie's desk, he...

A deep sea lancetfish washed up alive on a Nags Head, North Carolina beach on Monday. The species have long, high dorsal fins and can grow over six feet long. Their jaws contain several long fang-like teeth as well as several smaller teeth. The station notes that very little is known about the biology of the fish, except that they live in all oceans....

Since I’m a public finance economist, I realize I’m supposed to focus on big-picture issues such as tax reform and entitlement reform. And I do beat those issues to death, so I obviously care about controlling the size and power of government. But I like to think I’m also a decent human being. And this is why I get even more agitated when politicians and bureaucrats engage in thuggish behavior against comparatively powerless citizens. Some of the worst examples of government thuggery are the result of “asset forfeiture,” which happens when governments confiscate the property of people who haven’t been...

Armed Thug Taken Down by Homeowner with AR-15 Jonathan Haith says he was sleeping in his Henderson, North Carolina, home on Monday morning when heard a light knock on his backdoor. He ignored the noise at first — but a second louder noise coming from the "laundry room area" got his attention in a hurry. The loud bang was the sound of an armed thug kicking in his door. Haith quickly grabbed his AR-15 semi-automatic rifle from under his bed and prepared to confront the unwelcome intruder.

A Gastonia woman, upset about the way Subway employees made her flatbread pizza, called 911 Thursday night to report that the restaurant wouldn’t refund the money she paid for a “flatizza.”

“American Idol” runner-up Clay Aiken was declared the winner of his tight House Democratic primary in North Carolina on Tuesday, a day after his opponent suddenly died. Aiken and Keith Crisco had been vying for the Democratic nomination to take on Rep. Renee Ellmers (R-N.C.) She is favored to keep the seat. Aiken was leading Crisco by fewer than 400 votes, and both candidates had been hovering around the 40-percent mark needed to avoid a runoff. The 71-year-old Crisco died Monday after suffering from injuries from a fall. Aiken’s team said they’d received word he’d been planning to concede Tuesday.

Keith Crisco died suddenly on MondayBy Craig Jarvis Keith Crisco, former state Commerce secretary and a Democratic candidate for the 2nd Congressional District, died on Monday. Details were not immediately available, but the Courier-Tribune in Asheboro reported that he died suddenly at his home from a fall. . . . Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2014/05/12/3856392/keith-crisco-dead-at-71.html#storylink=cpy Aiken has won by default.

Clay Aiken’s opponent in the Democratic primary for North Carolina’s Second Congressional District seat, Keith Crisco, died today, according to the company he owned, Asheboro Elastics Corporation. The textile entrepreneur and former state commerce secretary died at his home around 1:30 p.m., the company said. He had fallen, a spokesperson for the company told ABC News, but no other information was immediately available. At the time of his death, the race was still too close to call. Aiken was leading Crisco by just 369 votes

CHARLOTTE, NC, May 9, 2014 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A North Carolina abortionist who was caught on video saying he aborts “ugly black babies” has been arrested for allegedly raping and imprisoning a woman inside his Charlotte home. A local woman told police that Dr. Artush “Ron” Virmani lured her to his home on Charlestowne Manor Drive on Wednesday afternoon so they could discuss a business deal, but then raped her and refused to let her leave.

The Republican civil war, as the press refers to it, will come to a head in Nebraska in just over one week. Three candidates are in the running: Shane Osborn, Ben Sasse and Sid Dinsdale. My pick, Ben Sasse, leads the race presently, but Washington money is pouring in to stop him. Conservative momentum could come to a halt in the cornhusker state if Sasse loses. Sasse is a college president who had previously spent time working in Washington for the Bush Administration doing health care policy. An outspoken critic of Obamacare, his opponents have painted him, with out-of-context...

An analytic chemistry professor at public, taxpayer-funded East Carolina University (ECU) has failed miserably in his bizarre effort to prevent students from thanking God in personal statements, which will be read during a departmental graduation ceremony on Friday. The professor, Eli Hvastkovs, explicitly banned students from giving any credit to God in an email obtained by Campus Reform. He ordered students to “provide me something written in the third person” in a personal statement that discusses future plans or “thanks someone.” However, Hvastkovs wrote: You can’t thank God. I’m sorry about this — and I don’t want to have to outline the reasons...

After a big promotional push by ABC and NBC, Democratic House candidate Clay Aiken leads his primary opponent by 372 votes out of 28,000 cast on Tuesday. According to Good Morning America on Wednesday, the "American Idol congressional candidate" may pull out a razor thin victory. Co-host Lara Spencer enthused, "Clay Aiken in the public eye for almost a decade, making headlines for his songs, his personal life and now a run at the United States Congress."

ay Aiken won millions of votes more than a decade ago as a contestant on “American Idol." Now he’s singing a different tune after a career shift into politics, fighting instead for support in Tuesday’s North Carolina primary. ‪Aiken, 35, is running for Congress in his home state, asking Tar Heels to support him once again. With a difficult race against fellow Democrat Keith Crisco, he also risks ending up in the same place that he earned from "American Idol" viewers: runner up. ‪“I've had an entertainment career that's lasted 11 years, longer than I ever dreamed it would," Aiken...

Jenny Beth Martin of Tea Party Patriots Citizens Fund just emailed out defeat (“Tough Night”) in the North Carolina Republican Primary for U.S. Senate. But a strange situation is developing: Only 14.37% of ballots have been counted, even though 90.53% of precincts reporting. http://enr.ncsbe.gov/ElectionResults/?election_dt=05/06/2014 Those who are not looking at the official results from the State of North Carolina, may misunderstand. Anyone seeing that 90.53% of precincts have reported will assume that the results are reasonably final. But in fact, only 936,123 out of 6,516,126 ballots have been counted. That means the biggest precincts have not reported. It appears likely...