Free Republic

North Carolina primary voters don’t go to the polls until Super Tuesday on March 3rd, but it’s definitely one of the states worth watching. The state offers the third-highest haul of delegates available on that day and it’s seen as another stop where the minority vote will have a large influence. The big problem for the Democrats is that there is no frontrunner in South Carolina at this point. The latest poll from WRAL News shows the race in a three-way tie. And as we’ll discuss shortly, that’s not the only place this is happening. Two weeks out from...

RALEIGH, N.C. — North Carolina State University will be home to a new apprenticeship program in artificial intelligence as part of a federal push to train more workers in emerging fields. U.S. Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia announced nearly $100 million in grants would be awarded to 28 public-private partnerships to help fill the more than 6.4 million job openings in the country. "These grants aim to expand apprenticeships into industries that don’t have large-scale apprenticeship programs, currently industries that are often looking outside the U.S. for skilled workers using the H1B visa program," [NO, THEY'RE JUST LOOKING FOR *CHEAP* WORKERS]...

A North Carolina appeals court on Tuesday blocked the state’s voter identification law from going into effect, finding it was a discriminatory attempt to suppress the black vote, in a victory for Democrats and voting rights advocates. The appeals court reversed a lower court decision that denied a preliminary injunction against a law requiring voters to produce a photo ID at the polls. The ruling puts the voter ID law on hold until the underlying lawsuit challenging it is decided, likely blocking it for the November 2020 general election. The law did include a provision allowing people without proper ID...

Speaking onstage to Peter Feaver, professor of political science at Duke, Bolton, by his own admission, “ducked” questions about his instructions from Trump. He said the administration’s prepublication review meant that he could not discuss details for fear of legal action. “I say things in the manuscript about what he said to me. I hope they become public someday,” he said. “He tweets, but I can’t talk about it. How fair is that?”

As Democratic lawmakers in Virginia chip away at commonwealth residents' firearms rights, one bill in a Southern state seeks to undo the damage and form a pro-Second Amendment bulwark across the south. Mississippi House Bill 753, sponsored by seven Republicans in the state Legislature, was introduced Monday. The bill aims to establish an interstate compact to circumvent certain federal gun laws by establishing a regional power dedicated to the defense of the Second Amendment. Part of the legislation's intended purpose is to exempt certain firearms, accessories and ammunition from overreaching federal regulation. The bill doesn't stop there, promising to "declare...

Parents packed the New Hanover County School Board meeting Tuesday, demanding for superintendent Tim Markley to be removed. Many of those parents and even a 12-year-old girl spoke out about the school sex scandal. This all comes after investigators arrested Roland Grise band teacher, Peter Frank. Frank is charged with a dozen felony sex crimes against female students. It’s the third arrest of a school system employee on these types of charges within the past two years. This was the second time this week the board met and did not mention the sex scandal. The meeting left parents more frustrated...

GASTONIA, N.C. — A QuikTrip gas station clerk was injured early Sunday morning as a 'flash mob' took over the store and caused extensive damage. Video posted to social media, and reviewed by the Gastonia Police Department, shows numerous individuals ransacking the QuikTrip convenience store at 1843 West Franklin Blvd in Gastonia around 2:43 a.m. Investigators have reviewed the video and are working to identify and locate possible suspects. A store clerk in the video can be seen with a facial injury. " A Flashmob entered the store and began to steal and throw items throughout the store," a QuikTrip...

(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced that eight Iowa counties have more voter registrations than their eligible voting-age population. According to Judicial Watch’s analysis of data released by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) in 2019 and the most recent U.S. Census Bureau’s five-year American Community Survey, eight Iowa counties are on the list of 378 counties nationwide that have more voter registrations than citizens living there who are old enough to vote, i.e., counties where registration rates exceed 100%. These 378 counties combined had about 2.5 million registrations over the 100%-registered mark. In Iowa, there are at least...

A group of 88 UNC-Chapel Hill alumni and donors have taken legal action to urge a judge to void UNC’s agreement to pay $2.5 million and give the Silent Sam Confederate monument to the Sons of Confederate Veterans. The group filed an amicus brief in Orange County Superior Court on Wednesday asking the judge to set aside the consent agreement that authorized the deal. The alumni and donors argue the settlement is a “misuse of university funds” that “seriously damages the reputation of the University, which should be committed to historical truth and opposed to modern-day white supremacy.” The 88...

Everytown for Gun Safety announced on Monday its plan to spend at least $60 million in the 2020 election, which is nearly double what the National Rifle Association (NRA) spent in 2016. Billionaire former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg, who is running for the Democratic presidential nomination, is a co-founder of Everytown and is the organization’s largest donor. Bloomberg has put gun control at the forefront of his campaign, but Everytown has said they will treat him like any other candidate in terms of endorsements. “This massive 2020 effort is fueled by a combination of financial resources, unprecedented grassroots...

Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC) released a statement in response to new allegations that involve former National Security Advisor John Bolton's unpublished book about his time at the White House under President Trump. The New York Times reported Bolton's book states Trump tied the Ukraine military aid to the country's officials helping investigate the former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, because he was on the board of gas company Burisma. Multiple Senate Democrats have come out to say Bolton must testify in the ongoing impeachment trial in light of the allegation. Meadows said Democrats are becoming desperate if...

ASHEBORO, N.C. (AP) — A man is accused of keeping a woman “in sexual servitude” for five years, authorities in North Carolina said. Salvador Espinoza Escobar, 48, was expected in court Friday after being charged with one count of felony human trafficking, the Randolph County Sheriff's Office said in a news release. He was taken into custody Wednesday, the same day the investigation began.

FORT BRAGG, N.C. — A salute rained down on the plane carrying Staff Sgt. Ian Paul McLaughlin as it arrived at Fort Bragg. McLaughlin returned home to his family but in the most heartbreaking way. A squad leader assigned to 82nd Airborne Division, McLaughlin was killed in Kandahar, Afghanistan, while conducting combat operations on Jan. 11. Pfc. Miguel Angel Villalon, who was a combat engineer on his first deployment, was also killed.

In a bid to capture one of the most quickly growing segments of American voters, American Latinos United has launched a new political action committee focused on defeating President Donald Trump in the upcoming 2020 presidential election. Led by former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and entrepreneur Fernando Espuelas, the committee will specialize in Latino voter engagement in key swing states in hopes of propelling the Democratic nominee, whoever that turns out to be, to victory. "President Trump captured about 30% of the Hispanic vote in 2016. If he falls under that threshold in 2020, key battleground states will be...

They use it to call it "voting with their feet" or something like that.  Indeed, people are voting with their feet by trading in their old blue shoes for shining red shoes. This is from Merrill Matthews, a resident scholar with the Institute for Policy Innovation in Dallas, Texas: According to an Election Data Services analysis of the Census Bureau report, "The population projections point toward a ten [congressional] seat change over 17 states across the nation by year 2020." Seven states are projected to gain one or more congressional seats after the 2020 election; 10 states are projected lose one...

More than 90% of illegal immigrants arrested by federal agents in the United States last year had criminal convictions or pending criminal charges, including 56,000 assaults and thousands of sex crimes, robberies, homicides and kidnappings. Many had “extensive criminal histories with multiple convictions,” according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) year-end report . The 123,128 illegal aliens arrested by the agency’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) in 2019 had 489,063 criminal convictions and pending charges, representing an average of four crimes per alien, highlighting the “recidivist nature” of the arrested aliens, the agency writes, noting that sanctuary cities nationwide greatly...

President Trump’s order to kill an Iranian commander responsible for hundreds of American deaths has scrambled the politics of impeachment, putting Democrats on the defensive in their bid to remove Trump during a possible escalation into war. Multiple senior congressional Democratic officials predicted that the House in the coming days will transmit to the Senate a pair of charges accusing Trump of abusing his power and obstructing Congress, though Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office says no decision has been made. But some privately worry that the timing will trigger GOP accusations that they’re undercutting the commander in chief during a national...

Judicial Watch Finds 2.5 Million ‘Extra’ Registrants on Voting Rolls – Warns Five States to Clean Up Voting Rolls or Face a Federal Lawsuit A Glance Back As We Move Forward Judicial Watch Finds 2.5 Million ‘Extra’ Registrants on Voting Rolls – Warns Five States to Clean Up Voting Rolls or Face a Federal Lawsuit One of the most important things we can do in this election year is continue to force states and counties across the nation to comply with the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 ( NVRA ). And we are. We have sent notice-of-violation letters...

A federal court announced that next week U.S. District Judge Loretta Biggs will formally block a photo ID requirement scheduled to begin in 2020. Unless the upcoming preliminary injunction is successfully appealed, the requirement will be halted until a lawsuit filed by the state NAACP and others is resolved.

The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI) holds confirmation authority over leaders appointed to the intelligence community. Chairman Burr and Vice-Chairman Warner participated in the IC effort to target and remove President Trump from office. You might remember recently how Burr and Warner would not support Rep. John Ratcliffe for Director of National intelligence under the auspices of Ratcliffe not having enough “experience” within intelligence operations. However, those same “experience” concerns were absent when they approved dirty ICIG nominee Michael Atkinson. Reminding ourselves how ICIG Atkinson manipulated the ‘whistle-blower’ regulations to permit hearsay from CIA operative Eric Ciaramella; and knowing...