Free Republic

A panel of three federal judges in South Carolina ruled Friday the state’s 1st District was an unconstitutional racial gerrymander and ordered state lawmakers to redraw the congressional map before any more elections can be held. The decision gave lawmakers until March to draw new lines for the district, which runs along the state’s southern coast and is currently represented by Republican Nancy Mace. The ruling is the latest in suits over this decade’s congressional redistricting based on the 2020 census results, including in states such as Florida and Texas. An individual voter and the state’s NAACP filed the lawsuit...

Governor McMaster has condemned the anti-life decision as an overreach of the state Supreme Court’s authority, and has pledged to work to help 'correct this error.'COLUMBIA, South Carolina (LifeSiteNews) – The South Carolina Supreme Court struck down the state’s abortion-restricting Fetal Heartbeat Act on Thursday, declaring that the law infringed upon the “right to privacy.” The act, which banned abortions when a fetal heartbeat can be detected, at about six weeks gestation, was signed into law by Governor Henry McMaster in 2021, but did not take effect until the overturning of Roe v. Wade in June 2022. The law was...

Jill Hartle might seem an unlikely advocate for abortion rights, but after a devastating pregnancy loss, she’s raising her voice. A conservative Christian and former Ms. South Carolina, Jill was a Republican until last summer, when in the wake of new abortion restrictions in her state, she endured the “excruciating” experience of terminating a pregnancy with a baby who had a severe heart defect. Because of South Carolina’s abortion laws, Jill and her husband, Matt, had to spend weeks waiting for availability at a clinic out of state, fly there, endure wrenching time away from their family and support system,...

The owner of an exotic animal breeding business in Florida has been sentenced to five years' probation for illegally selling a capuchin monkey to singer Chris Brown. A federal indictment doesn't name Brown, only identifying the buyer as a celebrity in California, but key details match an Associated Press report that wildlife agents seized the singer's pet monkey after serving a search warrant on his Los Angeles home in early January 2018. Brown also was identified in court Wednesday at the sentencing hearing in Florida for the monkey breeder, Jimmy Hammonds. Wildlife agents moved in after Brown shared a picture...

A Florida man was bitten in the arm by an alligator Thursday while washing his hands in a pond, according to the City of Sanibel. Fortunately, the man was able to break free from the alligator and call 911. People on the scene of the attack applied a tourniquet until EMS workers arrived, officials said in a statement. He sustained a serious injury on his right arm and was transported to the hospital for treatment, according to officials. Florida Fish and Wildlife along with the Florida State trapper are actively attempting to capture the alligator at the pond. There have...

Mayor Eric Adams said he was thrilled that the Democratic Party is “prioritizing Black voters” as it moved to have its first presidential primary shifted to South Carolina, calling the plan a “tectonic change in how Democrats are messaging their priorities as a party,” in a CNN-published op-ed this week. The Democratic National Committee’s rule-making arm voted earlier this month to make South Carolina, not Iowa, the site of the first presidential nominating contest in 2024 after President Biden called on the party to cater to a more diverse electorate as Democrats have been losing black voters in recent years....

(South Carolina) A York police officer died suddenly at the age of 32, the police chief announced. In a Facebook post, the chief said Brian Trail II died Monday “unexpectedly.” He did not share what Trail’s cause of death was. Trail, who the chief and his family affectionately called “Little Brian,” was the chief’s son. He is from the town of Smyrna in South Carolina. “Little Brian lived a full and inspiring life, one that my family and I will try to emulate as long as we live,” the chief said. He asked for prayers for his family and Trail’s,...

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre embarrassed herself again this week when she accidentally read the wrong scripted response to a question during Monday’s White House press briefing. A reporter pointed out that Sen. Jean Shaheen (D-N.H.) is upset with Joe Biden for supporting a proposal that would put South Carolina ahead of New Hampshire in the primary schedule, and that Shaheen believes that New Hampshire “is now vulnerable for her party” because of that. “Does the president have a response to that?” the reporter asked. “So, look, we honor — we honor the Hatch Act, as I mentioned many...

The Democrats on Friday voted to remove Iowa as its first voting state and will replace it with South Carolina. Apparently Iowa is too white. This move was championed by Joe Biden to ‘reflect the party’s diverse electorate.’ AP reported: Democrats voted Friday to remove Iowa as the leadoff state on the presidential nominating calendar and replace it with South Carolina starting in 2024, a dramatic shakeup championed by President Joe Biden to better reflect the party’s deeply diverse electorate. The Democratic National Committee’s rule-making arm made the move to strip Iowa from the position it has held for five...

President Joe Biden asked Democrats on Friday to make South Carolina the first primary state for the Democrat presidential nomination, displacing Iowa. The president sent a letter to party leaders detailing his preference for South Carolina to be first, citing the racial diversity of the state. “As I said in February 2020, you cannot be the Democratic nominee and win a general election unless you have overwhelming support from voters of color — and that includes Black, Brown and Asian American & Pacific Islander voters,” Biden’s letter to Democrats read, insisting that “voters of color have a voice” earlier in...

The House has a narrow (currently a 220-213 Republican majority that should be finalized at 222-213), and this slim majority has given the Republicans a unique opportunity to beclown themselves and sow doubt as to their ability to organize something as simple as a two-car funeral. The problem facing the new House majority is the same one that confronted Nancy Pelosi in the outgoing Congress. It takes 218 votes to pass a bill. If five Republicans defect, the bill goes nowhere unless the GOP starts corralling Democrat votes. Passing a bill with opposing party votes because you can’t get your...

The anybody but Trump Fox News Network gave former S. Carolina Republican US Congressman Trey Gowdy, who talked a good game, but didn’t accomplish much of anything in his eight years in Congress, six and a half minutes of air time to push Republican Senator Tim Scott (SC) for President on Sunday.While Senator Tim Scott is a good man who came from humble beginnings, he, like Trey Gowdy, has been somewhat unremarkable during his 9 years in office. What the out-of-touch former lawmaker doesn’t understand is that no amount of praise by the former US Congressman, who walked away from...

Two South Carolina parents have been arrested this week after they allegedly left their toddler home alone while they were on a trip to New York, authorities said. Donald Gekonge and Darline Aldrich, both 24, were booked in the Sheriff Al Cannon Detention Center on Monday on suspicion of unlawful conduct toward a child, WCIV reported Police said they received a report on Nov. 17 that a toddler was alone in a Charleston apartment complex after Gekonge, the child’s father, had sent a text saying he was away in New York, WCBD reported.

The Biden administration has been hesitant to send the drone to Ukraine amid fears that sensitive technologies may end up in Russian hands. What's happening: A group of 16 bipartisan senators, led by Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) and Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), is urging Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to answer a series of questions on transferring the MQ-1C Gray Eagle, since the armed drone is Ukraine’s “highest priority” military transfer request. The Biden administration considered transferring the MQ-1C for the last several months across 24 assistance packages. During that time, Russia has started using Iranian TB-2 drones, and the technology is threatening...

The Battle of Camden (August 16, 1780), also known as the Battle of Camden Court House, was a major victory for the British in the Southern theatre of the American Revolutionary War.British forces under Lieutenant General Charles, Lord Cornwallis routed the numerically superior U.S. forces led by Major General Horatio Gates outside of Camden, South Carolina, strengthening the British hold on the Carolinas following the capture of Charleston.Archaeologists, acting on behalf of the Historic Camden Foundation, have unearthed the skeletal remains and accompanying artefacts of 14 Revolutionary War soldiers on the site where the Battle of Camden was fought...Based on...

The Berkeley County, South Carolina, school board made several big moves in its first meeting after the election. The board’s former chair said it was a “political witch hunt.” On Tuesday evening, the Berkeley County School District in South Carolina swore in the board members who were elected last week, including six who received endorsements from the conservative activist group Moms for Liberty. Within two hours, the school board had voted to fire the district’s first Black superintendent, terminate the district’s lawyer, ban critical race theory and set up a new committee to decide whether certain books and materials should...

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) on Monday slammed Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) for “abandoning” GOP nominee Blake Masters in the Arizona Senate race, accusing him of putting personal politics over the needs of the party. Cruz is among a handful of GOP senators who have called to postpone the Senate Republican leadership elections scheduled for Wednesday. “Abandoning Blake Masters was indefensible,” Cruz said on his podcast, “Verdict,” referring to a decision by the Senate Leadership Fund, a super PAC affiliated with McConnell, to pull out of the Arizona Senate race. Asked why the McConnell-allied group pulled out of the...

Monday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-SC) doubled down on his support for President Joe Biden, who he supported in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary. The South Carolina Democrat also pledged his support for Biden as a presidential candidate in the 2024 campaign cycle. “They were saying to me, ‘I like Joe Biden’s agenda, but I think his approach needs to be beefed up a bit, needs to be a little more in your face,’” he said. “Joe Biden’s approach and agenda were exactly the things that we needed in this country, and that’s what people...

Suspect Christopher Darnell Jones, was considered "armed and dangerous," in connection with the deadly shooting and was taken into custody Monday. The student suspected in a shooting at the University of Virginia that left three members of the football team dead and two others injured is in custody, officials announced Monday. The University of Virginia Police Department identified as Christopher Darnell Jones as the suspect in the shooting. In the middle of a press briefing at 11 a.m., UVA Chief of Police Timothy Longo announced he was taken into custody. He said that the police department secured an arrest warrant...

Democratic anger and desperation have reached the boiling point as polling shows Republicans appear poised to take control of Congress on Tuesday. House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn embodied those feelings by lashing out against Republican candidates running on election integrity on Sunday. Clyburn told Fox News Sunday host Shannon Bream that these candidates are causing “a deterioration of democracy” and creating an environment akin to 1930s Germany and Italy. “I taught history and I’m telling you what I see here are parallels to what the history was in Germany, in Italy.” Advertisement - story continues below Bream then asked Clyburn...