Free Republic

The months-long investigation into allegations that Republican Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina engaged in insider trading has been closed by the Justice Department and it will not pursue any charges, the GOP senator announced on Tuesday. "Tonight, the Department of Justice informed me that it has concluded its review of my personal financial transactions conducted early last year. The case is now closed," Burr said in a statement. The FBI launched a probe into Burr's business dealings after the senator, who served as the chairman of the Intelligence Committee, privately warned a group of well-connected constituents in February to...

House Republicans could face investigations and potential removal for their involvement in the Capitol attacks Democratic leaders from North Carolina’s western-most district are calling for the expulsion of freshman Republican Rep. Madison Cawthorn, alleging his "seditious behavior" helped incite the "insurrection" at the U.S. Capitol last week. State Democrats from Cawthorn’s 11th District have written a letter to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi asking for an investigation into the Republican congressman. They claim there was an ethics violation for "violent language" on his Twitter feed leading up to the unrest last week at the Capitol. "Mr. Cawthorn needs to...

The City of Fayetteville, North Carolina, began with the official removal of a Black Lives Matter (BLM) mural Monday. The mural was first placed in the summer 2020 after nationwide BLM protests in the aftermath of the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota. City leaders voted unanimously to allow the mural. It was an attempt to help with the BLM protest and to add more art to the historic district, ABC 11 reported. Because of the history of the Market House, a petition that garnered more than 117,000 signatures for complete removal was obtained in June of 2020. This...

LGBTQ people in North Carolina can no longer be prevented from getting domestic violence protective orders, the N.C. Court of Appeals ruled Thursday. North Carolina had been the only state in the country to withhold emergency protections from people seeking protection from abuse by a same-sex partner, The News & Observer reported in 2019. That kind of protection is offered to couples of the opposite sex, and to married and divorced same-sex couples, but not for same-sex couples who are dating or who used to date. But that ban is unconstitutional, the appeals court ruled in a 2-1 opinion Thursday....

A video recorded in Jacksonville, N.C. appears to show the manager of an AMC movie theater refusing to allow a reportedly disabled child from entering the theater without a mask, and calling the police to escort her distraught family from the scene. The child, who was in a stroller at the time of the incident, is reportedly non-verbal and has a condition that precludes her use of a mask or face shield. The child's family members were all wearing masks. Police officers were ultimately asked to escort the upset family from the theater. The Jacksonville, S.C. Police Department and the...

Rep.-elect Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) said that some Republican senators will join an effort to challenge Electoral College votes when the joint session of Congress meets on Jan. 6. The process must be initiated by requires one senator and one House representative. In addition to Greene, Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) and a number of GOP House lawmakers have pledged to challenge the votes. “We have a very strong case, and our numbers are growing strong,” she said of the effort on Dec. 22 on Newsmax. “We talked to senators, and we’re good to go for this objection.” Greene didn’t say...

Democrat leaders like Governors Gavin Newsom, Andrew CVuomo, Gretchen Whitmer, and J.B. Pritzker, Mayors Lauri Lightfoot and London Breed, and now Mecklenburg (Charlotte), North Carolina County Executive Dena Diorio, have all exposed themselves as outright hypocrites and elitists by telling ordinary people to obey restrictions on their personal freedoms while flaunting those same limitations themselves. It is as if some madness has gripped Democrat elected officials, compelling them to flaunt their contempt for those they are supposed to lead and their belief that they alone are capable of making rational decisions about which risks to take, while the ignorant sheep...

Washington, D.C. -- Today, Rep. Ted Budd introduced the Save Our Servers Act. The bill withholds certain federal funds from states and localities who shut down indoor or outdoor dining at restaurants. These jurisdictions can only have the federal funds restored when they rescind all shutdown orders. Rep. Budd released the following statement: “Given the fact that dining at restaurants accounts for less than 2 percent of COVID-19 infections, the restaurant restrictions we see in cities across our country are completely arbitrary and devastating to the lives of thousands of servers and food service workers. It’s time that we tell...

A same sex-couple say they were shocked when the operator of a local wedding venue told them that same-sex marriage ceremonies are not held there. Kasey Mayfield and Brianna May are looking for a place to hold their wedding in October 2022, they said in an interview. Mayfield said she saw The Warehouse on Ivy, a wedding venue and events center at 1245 Ivy Ave. in Winston-Salem, as she was looking for a site on the website, Wedding Wire. Mayfield then visited the website of The Warehouse on Ivy, and sent an email to Daniel Stanley, a representative of the...

North Carolina Chief Justice Cheri Beasley conceded the election on Saturday. North Carolina Chief Justice Cheri Beasley conceded the election to Justice Paul Newby on Saturday morning. She released a statement sharing her thoughts on the transition. “Today, I called Justice Newby to congratulate him on winning the election for Chief Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court. I offer my very best to him and his family as he moves into that new role." She shared her enduring gratitude for her volunteers, staff and supporters. "Their impact will echo far beyond a single year, campaign, or election. For that,...

Concord city officials said they're aware of a planned protest over North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper's modified stay-at-home order to control the spread of COVID-19. CONCORD, N.C. — Officials in Concord, North Carolina, issued a statement saying they were aware of a "Trash the Mask" event being organized by anti-mask advocates at Concord Mills Mall Friday. The event, which was organized on Facebook by Amy Moore Benjamin and a group called Trump Event Images, is in response to Gov. Roy Cooper's new COVID-19 restrictions, including the statewide nightly curfew that begins Friday. North Carolina is experiencing a major surge in...

I'm no math wiz, but that's a whole lot of zeroes.......... Joe Biden’s “victory” that was manufactured in the early morning hours following Election Day was improbable. We knew that. But when we put the numbers to the test based on known data and reliable prediction models, it turns from improbable to outright impossible according to a professor named in the lawsuit filed with the Supreme Court by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. Rutgers Professor Charles J. Cicchetti, Ph.D., worked out the numbers based on the lead President Trump had before vote counting was suddenly and inexplicably halted in the...

ALL IS GO WILL BE OPEN THREAD TOMORROW FOR FINAL HEADCOUNT; IF YOU ALREADY HAVE REPLIED AND ARE STILL GO, DISREGARD THE LAST CALL WE HAVE A PICNIC SHELTER RESERVED BUT IT IS RUSTIC; THINK ROOF BUT NO SIDES. STRONGLY ADVISE PROPER CLOTHING FOR CONDITIONS AND YOUR OWN CHAIRS RE DIRECTIONS, PRIOR POST REPEATED BELOW HAS ENOUGH DETAIL TO PLAN ROUTE; FINAL POST WILL HAVE LAT/LONG DEPENDING ON YOUR WUFLU CONCERNS, YOU MAY WANT TO BRING YOUR OWN CHOW; BBQ PORK, SAUCES, AND ROLLS PROVIDED REMAINS CURRENT PLAN, SUBJECT TO FINAL POST GIVEN THE HARD TIMES FOR MANY FOLKS, PLEASE...

Noncitizens are embedded in North Carolina jury and voting pools, raising new questions about the integrity of elections, according to an immigration reform group. The Immigration Reform Law Institute on Monday said it had uncovered examples of noncitizens, and likely also illegal immigrants, in the pools in Charlotte, North Carolina, and other key areas dating back to 2012. Working with the Voter Integrity Project, IRLI conceded that the numbers were not enough to overturn election results but point to the lack of “political will” by government officials to clean up their rolls. Voter Integrity Project co-founder Jay Delancy said, “The...

The Wake County school system will stop using the word “grandfathering” because of the term’s “racist origins” in preventing Black people from voting after the Civil War. A Wake County parent challenged the school district this week for continuing to use “grandfathering” to describe how some students can stay at their current school if their neighborhood is reassigned to a different school. North Carolina’s largest school district responded with a tweet promising to stop using the term — next year. “Thank you for your message,” Wake tweeted Wednesday. “We are aware of the racist origins of the term grandfathering, and...

TARBORO, N.C. (WNCN) – Edgecombe County deputies say hate crime charges are possible in a machete attack on Friday. The attack happened Friday around 9 a.m. at a house on Carr Farm Road in Macclesfield. According to deputies, the suspect, identified as Carlos Antonio Washington, was waiting behind the couple’s house and attacked the homeowner once the victim went inside the house. Deputies said the homeowner fought the suspect off momentarily and deflected the machete. The homeowner’s wife came out with a gun and shot at Washington – ending the attack. The suspect ran to his car and started to...

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- After all 100 North Carolina counties completed a statewide recount, Republican Paul Newby led Democrat incumbent Cheri Beasley by 401 votes out of nearly 5.4 million ballots cast in the Supreme Court Justice race, the State Board of Elections announced Wednesday night. But the saga continues. Beasley requested a hand-to-eye recount in a random sample of precincts in the NC Supreme Court Chief Justice contest. State law permits a candidate to request a sample hand-to-eye recount within 24 hours after the initial recount... When the recount was initially requested in mid-November, Newby led by 5 votes....

RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) – Gov. Roy Cooper announced a stricter state-wide mask mandate on Monday that say North Carolinians must wear a mask at home when you have friends or family over to visit as well as wearing a mask at work, at the gym, at the store, and at school.Cooper said his latest executive order makes it “clear that everyone needs to wear a mask whenever you are with someone you don’t live with.”“I have a stark warning for North Carolinians today. We are in danger. This is a pivotal moment in our fight against the coronavirus. Our actions...

Lara Trump addresses rumors about a possible Senate run in 2022.

President Trump’s daughter-in-law Lara Trump is considering a run for Senate in 2022 in her native North Carolina for a seat that will open with the retirement of Republican Sen. Richard Burr. The contest could attract several Republicans because they do not have to challenge an incumbent and because the expectation is that the general election would be easier to win with President-elect Joe Biden in the White House. But if the president continues to carry weight with GOP primary voters in North Carolina in his post-presidency, Lara Trump could enter the Senate race as a top candidate.