Free Republic

As head of the Republican Party, Trump has an obligation to his voters to ensure the candidates he’s backing in primaries will advance conservative priorities.Donald Trump has often branded himself as an outsider candidate whose “America First” agenda runs counter to the will of the entrenched political establishment. And yet, the former president endorses a significant number of candidates who embody it.In the latest example of his penchant to back the establishment GOP, Trump waded into South Carolina politics to endorse House Speaker G. Murrell Smith and other members of the state’s GOP legislative leadership for reelection.“South Carolina Speaker of...

Sen. JD Vance’s (R-Ohio) surprise appearance at a Manhattan courthouse to support former President Trump, and his qualified answer about supporting the results of the 2024 election, show he’s challenging Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) as the Senate front-runner to be Trump’s running mate in the fall. GOP senators and strategists say it’s hard to predict whom Trump will choose, but they say Scott and Vance are viewed as the two most likely choices within the Senate GOP conference. Vance and Scott are stepping up their efforts to grab Trump’s attention by staying close to his orbit and showing off their...

* Keante Harris, an assistant principal at McAdory Middle, was cuffed Wednesday * His arrest stemmed from the January 2013 murders of two men and a woman * The three were lured to a home and tortured by Harris and others, cops said ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ An Alabama middle school principal has been arrested and charged in the cold-case deaths of three people that occurred more than a decade ago. Keante Harris, an assistant principal at McAdory Middle School, surrendered to the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office Wednesday, on a fugitive of justice warrant. His arrest stemmed from the January 2013 murders of...

Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said Sunday on NBC’s Meet the Press” that Israel needed to do whatever it takes to survive knowing that U.S. military officials are “full of crap.” Host Kristen Welker said, “I guess the question is, why does Israel need the most massive bombs that can potentially level an entire block in order to wage this war?Why can’t it be more precise?” Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said Sunday on NBC’s Meet the Press” that Israel needed to do whatever it takes to survive knowing that U.S. military officials are “full of crap.” Host Kristen Welker said, “I...

Planned Parenthood South Atlantic and the state of South Carolina were in court last week arguing a lawsuit over the state’s Fetal Heartbeat and Protection from Abortion Act and its definition of a “fetal heartbeat.” The lawsuit, filed by Planned Parenthood and Taylor Shelton, a South Carolina woman, is asking Circuit Judge Daniel Coble to interpret the law’s definition of “fetal heartbeat” to mean the formation status of the heart at nine weeks post-fertilization, rather than six, and to block the law until a ruling is issued. The South Carolina law states that “fetal heartbeat means cardiac activity, or the...

As South Carolina law enforcement investigates allegations a state agency is handing out voter registration forms to foreign nationals, an agency official tells The Federalist that federal law has tied the state’s hands. Jeff Leieritz, a spokesman for the state’s Department of Health and Human Services, says the department, as the state’s Medicaid agency, is mandated to provide voter registration information under Section 7 of the National Voter Registration Act Of 1993. The information apparently goes out to everyone applying for the benefits, including foreign nationals. Section 7 requires each state to designate voter registration agencies, including all state offices...

WALTERBORO, S.C. (WCSC) - The Walterboro Police Department says they are investigating a missing person case that has become a death investigation. Police say a body discovered Wednesday has been confirmed to be that of 32-year-old Victoria Jean Beach of Walterboro, who had been reported missing that same day. Police spokesperson Tavara Edwards said investigators began interviewing people known to be in Beach’s company and the investigation led them to the 200 block of Moore Street. While canvassing the area, officers detected a foul odor of possible decomposition from an abandoned building, she said. Edwards said officers found Beach’s body...

Will Georgitis was attacked in South Carolina on April 15 while going for a dive in the Cooper River to look for fossils. A South Carolina diver is recovering after he miraculously survived a vicious alligator attack that left him pinned underwater. According to the Associated Press, Will Georgitis was attacked in South Carolina on April 15 after going for a scuba dive to look for fossils. He told The Post and Courier that after surfacing from his dive due to limited air, he spotted the alligator nearby in the Cooper River. "It made a beeline right at me," he...

April 24 (UPI) -- A wildlife rescuer in South Carolina came to the rescue of an alligator found to have been trapped in a drainage pipe for nearly six months. Matt Kraycar of K&K Wildlife Services said he was summoned by Port Royal Plantation security in Hilton Head when the gator was spotted trapped underneath a grate. Kraycar said the alligator apparently became stuck while swimming through the pipe in October and had been trapped ever since. "Well they can go into brumation, which is basically like hibernation for reptiles," Kraycar told WTOC-TV. "So as it gets cooler, they're going...

Megyn Kelly went after a sports columnist whom she referred to as a “national disgrace” during her SiriusXM show on Monday over the writer’s support for a women’s college basketball coach who came out in support of biological men playing in the league. Kelly singled out Nancy Armour after the columnist called South Carolina Gamecocks coach Dawn Staley a “goddamn national treasure” for supporting transgender basketball players. “If you consider yourself a woman and you want to play sports or vice versa, you should be able to play,” Staley said in a pause-filled response to a question about whether she...

She then decided to cite the Ten Commandments, and the lack of a specific reference to abortion, to defend it “It’s not mentioned in the Big Ten, I’m just gonna say. In the Big Ten, it is not mentioned… Cause I figure, God was pretty clear. Here’s the stuff that will make your life better on earth. Don’t lie, cause you don’t want people lying to you. Don’t mess with somebody’s wife, cause you’re going to be made if they’re messing with yours. Just, you know, common sense stuff

WASHINGTON — Twenty years after George W. Bush won re-election with the help of ballot initiatives that rallied voters around a popular cultural issue, Democrats are dusting off his playbook and attempting a similar strategy to keep Donald Trump out of office. In 2004, Bush’s team seized on popular opposition to same-sex marriage, with strategist Karl Rove encouraging allies to put initiatives to ban it on ballots in key swing states, hoping to stir up voters and enable the president to ride the measures’ coattails to re-election. It worked. Now, President Joe Biden’s allies are seizing on fury over the...

Former President Donald Trump officially announced his position on abortion on Monday, ending months-long speculation about how he would handle the issue should he be elected in November. In a video posted to Truth Social, Trump said the issue of abortion is about “the will of the people” and should be left up to states to decide. The 45th president touted his role in nominating the Supreme Court justices who ultimately overturned Roe v. Wade in their Dobbs decision — ending 50 years of an invented constitutional right to abortion and sending the issue back to individual states and their...

Former President Donald Trump on Monday announced his position on whether abortion should be banned, following months of not taking a stance on the combustible and crucial issue in his 2024 rematch with President Biden. The presumptive Republican presidential nominee took to his social media platform on Sunday night to say that he would issue a statement on "abortion and abortion rights." In video posted Monday morning, Trump explicitly affirmed his support for in vitro fertilization (IVF) and he emphasized his support for states determining their own laws for abortion so long as there are exceptions for rape, incest and...

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) broke with former President Trump on Monday over Trump’s decision to back away from endorsing a national 15-week abortion ban, declaring that leaving the issue entirely to the states “runs contrary to an American consensus that would limit late-term abortions.” “I respectfully disagree with President Trump’s statement that abortion is a states’ rights issue,” he said in a statement responding to Trump. Trump on Monday reversed course on his plan to support a 15-week or 16-week national abortion ban amid pushback from top Republicans, who warned it would put the issue of abortion rights at the...

Former Vice President Mike Pence blasted former President Trump on Monday for embracing the position that abortion policy should be determined by states and avoiding taking a stance on whether the federal government should enforce a national ban at a certain cutoff point. In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Pence — who was Trump’s running mate in 2016 and 2020 —said Trump’s newly announced position on abortion was a “slap in the face” to opponents of abortion rights who voted for their ticket. “President Trump’s retreat on the Right to Life is a slap in the face to the...

Conservative groups backing former president Donald Trump in his re-election bid say they are "deeply disappointed" with his official position on abortion unveiled Monday, but it won't deter their support in November. The former president and presumptive GOP nominee in a video posted on Truth Social Monday morning said he cemented his position on the controversial issue, saying that abortion access should be a states’ issue and didn’t endorse a national, federal limitation – like a 15-week ban. Pro-life interest groups who have endorsed Trump expressed disappointment at his announcement, but it appears unlikely to sway their support in consideration...

On a spring night in 2022, Ross Hill was trying to get several of his children—he has eight—tucked into bed for the night. *** “They were in tears because they didn’t want to go to school the next day,” said Mr. Hill, a 38-year-old teacher from Florence, South Carolina (pop: 39,958). Whether he knew it at the time or not, Mr. Hill’s family was part of a trend in the United States. A surprising number of children are miserable at school, research shows, and it’s a trend that began before the pandemic. For example, a 2020 Yale study that surveyed...

YORK COUNTY, S.C. — A York County man who was convicted of charges tied to the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol is running for the House of Representatives. State records show Elias Irizarry is running to represent South Carolina’s 43rd District in the House. The district covers parts of Chester and York counties. Irizarry, a Republican candidate, filed on Wednesday, records show. Rep. Thomas R. “Randy” Ligon currently holds the seat and is running for reelection. Channel 9 previously reported Irizarry was charged in March 2021 in connection with the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. Irizarry, who was...

South Carolina has collected about $1.8 billion in a bank account over the past decade and state and private accountants are still trying to figure out where the cash came from and where it was supposed to go. “It's like going into your bank and the bank president tells you we have a lot of money in our vault but we just don't know who it belongs to,” said Republican Sen. Larry Grooms, who is leading a Senate panel investigating the problem. It's the latest trouble with the state's books and the two agencies, typically led by elected officials, that...