Free Republic

Sixty-eight-year-old Joseph Sapienza suspects the men who attempted to break into his Gastonia home Thursday night thought he would be an easy target because he’s disabled and uses a walker. But after scaring away the would-be thieves, Sapienza taped a note to his door, in which he attempted to make it clear that his trigger finger works just fine. “(If) you try to break in my house again, I will be waiting on you,” reads the note, which was still there Friday afternoon. “Enter at your own risk.” Sapienza, a Marine Corps veteran who served four years in Vietnam, was...

We’ve had our issues with a lot of decisions made by this governor. But we do have to give him kudos for his positions on illegal immigration. In 2013, he resisted General Assembly efforts (led by Thom Tillis) to water down e-verify citizenship requirements for the state’s employers. Gov. Pat has made another wise move on the amnesty front by joining a 17-state coalition (led by Texas) challenging Barry’s executive order: […] McCrory’s press office issued a statement Wednesday announcing the legal challenge. “The president has exceeded the balance of power provisions clearly laid out in the U.S. Constitution and...

As the nation awaits a decision from a grand jury Ferguson, Mo. about whether they will charge a police officer for shooting and killing black teenager Michael Brown, the new leader of the Congressional Black Caucus has already publicly stated that anything but indictment will not represent justice. The comments (audio) came as Congressman G.K. Butterfield, a North Carolina Democrat, assumed the chairmanship of the CBC last week. He expressed his concern in an interview with WUNC in Chapel Hill, a NPR affiliate, when asked about the problem of civil unrest in “places like Ferguson” and what he thought...

Sixteen North Carolina judges have either resigned or retired after gay marriage became legal in the state last month when a judge ruled that an amendment to the state's constitution banning same-sex marriage was unconstitutional. In October, U.S. District Judge Max Cogburn of Asheville struck down the ban and ruled the amendment unconstitutional in response to a Charlotte-based lawsuit. Reports from the administrative office of the courts note that "between the ruling on Oct. 10 and the end of the month, 16 magistrates left their jobs, but the state wouldn't release why they left," Time Warner Cable News-Charlotte reports. The...

The state of North Carolina has given Jonathan Gruber the boot, firing the ObamaCare architect after he was caught on camera repeatedly calling American voters “stupid.” Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) went “On The Record” tonight, explaining that Gruber was hired one year ago to help with a health care plan that dealt with Medicaid recipients and the uninsured. Meadows said that Gruber was supposed to be an unbiased individual, but after these reports, the auditor decided that he’s not so unbiased after all. …

DURHAM, N.C. (AP) — Grocery store chain Kroger is getting a push from a group of mothers to ban guns from its stores, including Harris Teeter locations. Moms Demand Action on Thursday delivered more than 72,000 petitions to Harris Teeter's Matthews headquarters. They want the company to ban openly carried guns, even in jurisdictions where "open carry" is legal.

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Two homosexual men in North Carolina have filed a complaint against their United Methodist minister for refusing to “marry” them, stating that he has failed “to perform the work of the ministry.” Scott Chappell and Kenneth Barner, who attend Green Street United Methodist Church in Winson-Salem, filed the complaint with the Western North Carolina Office of the United Methodist Church late last month, charging their leader, Kelly Carpenter (male), with discrimination. “On October 26, 2014, we asked Carpenter to officiate at our wedding and he has refused to do so, citing church rules from the United Methodist...

The Senate narrowly rejected legislation to authorize the Keystone XL pipeline on Tuesday, handing a defeat to the oil industry and dealing a major blow to Louisiana Democrat Mary Landrieu, who staked her political career on the outcome. The Senate voted 59-41 for the legislation, falling one vote shy of the 60 needed for passage under the deal bringing it to the floor. But Keystone supporters insisted the defeat would be short-lived. Republican leaders are vowing to try again after they take over the chamber in January — when they will have more than enough votes to get a measure...

Howeird Dean-- once chair of the DNC, once Governor of Vermont, who grew up at the Maidstone Golf Club in the Hamptons, attended prep school both in the US and in the UK, went to Yale, dodged the draft-- is having a meltdown again.Once famous for melting down on the air after coming in third in the Iowa caucuses, thereby ensuring he won nothing else, Dean is complaining that Obamacare was written by a bunch of elitists who don’t understand Americans.Well, duh: They’re Democrats. “The core problem under this damn law is that it was put together by a bunch...

A gay couple at Green Street United Methodist Church has filed a complaint with their bishop charging that their pastor violated church discipline by refusing to preside at a marriage ceremony for them — despite the denomination’s rules that forbid same-sex marriages. The church made headlines in 2013 when it announced that it would not conduct marriages for heterosexual couples until the denomination allows pastors to conduct same-sex marriages. According to the church, Green Street members Kenny Barner and Scott Chappell, describing themselves as a gay couple who have been together for nine years, filed the complaint against their pastor,...

A mother in Union County, North Carolina, told WJZY-TV that her son, a freshman at Porter Ridge High School, brought home a worksheet on Islam containing some questionable answers. She was upset enough over the assignment that she contacted the school and her local news station after reviewing the material. The sentence that bothered the mom the most stated, “Most Muslims’ faith is stronger than the average Christian.” -snip It should be noted that school officials have yet to provide a completed version of the worksheet to the news outlet. Though it appears that the high school has not disputed...

A Charlotte mother is expressing concern after a class assignment she considers offense was given to high school students, some say it has racial undertones. “I was completely stunned,” the mother said. “This is not appropriate language at all for the children in the school.” The question was from a test on genetics. "LaShamanda has a heterozygous big bootie, the dominant trait. Her man Fontavius has a small bootie which is recessive. They get married and have a baby named LaPrincess," the biology assignment prompts students. The assignment then continues to ask "What is the probability that LaPrincess will inherit...

Tim Moore makes his case for Speaker by Brant Clifton • November 13, 2014 • 3 Comments Snip20141112_4Next weekend, state House Republicans will be huddling to ID their picks for House and caucus leadership positions for the upcoming legislative session. With the departure of Thom Tillis for DC, all eyes are on the race for speaker. A crowd of legislators has big dreams about being the next speaker. But insiders tell me the race for speaker really boils down to two candidates: Leo Daughtry of Johnston County and Tim Moore of Cleveland County. Daughtry – a former Republican caucus leader...

Federal regulators slapped a six-month ban on most cod fishing off New England this week and are threatening to cut next year’s catch by up to 75 percent, in a move some say will destroy the livelihoods of fishermen across the region. ... NOAA announced several measures, including the ban which expands no-fishing zones, on Monday. But fishermen whose livelihoods rely on catching cod, as well as the coastal communities that depend on money coming in from that industry, worry the new regulations will devastate them.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Six years ago, Cristian Fernandez’s world changed when he was shot in the back outside a club on Albemarle Road. After months in the hospital, doctors told Fernandez he would be paralyzed from the chest down for the rest of his life, and he has spent most of the last six years on a bed in his family’s small living room in east Charlotte. Because he came to the United States illegally as a child, his mother could not get the help he would need to pay the mounting medical bills, so in 2013 he applied for...

Naysayers take note: Common Core has had at least one unanticipated positive outcome. “Home schooling has steadily risen in North Carolina since it was legalized in 1985 by the state Supreme Court,” T. Keung Hui reported on News Observer.com on August 13, 2014. “Twenty-five years ago, there were about 2,300 home-schooled students in North Carolina.” “But concerns about school violence, lack of a religious focus and the large size of public schools have helped fuel home-school growth.” “And home-school growth in North Carolina has surged the past two school years. There was a net gain of 7,603 home schools in...

House Republicans will have their largest majority since the 1930s next year, but that doesn't mean Speaker John Boehner's (R-Ohio) job will be easy.The House GOP leadership's struggles in keeping members in line over the past four years have been well documented. Some of the incoming freshmen will likely join the ranks of conservatives who frequently oppose leadership initiatives.Among the new freshmen, for instance, is one congressman-elect who has called Hillary Clinton the "anti-Christ," another who has suggested Muslims don't deserve First Amendment rights, and yet another who has declared himself open to the idea of the United States invading...

**SNIP** While Cannon dodged jail for now, his appearance in court continued a 366-day free-fall for one of the city’s longest-serving officials, who first joined the City Council in 1993. On Nov. 6, 2013, Cannon was elected mayor, jubilantly thanking voters for helping him realize a “life goal.” He was arrested in March, charged with accepting more than $50,000 in bribes from undercover FBI agents. He pleaded guilty in June to a corruption charge and was sentenced by Whitney on Oct. 14. At the time, Cannon’s attorneys asked that their client be admitted to a prison alcohol-treatment program.

Clay Aiken isn’t the only one smarting over his failed attempt to become a congressman in North Carolina. RadarOnline.com has learned that the 35-year-old former American Idol contestant’s baby mama, Jaymes Foster, 50, is also deeply disappointed he lost. According to a source, a win would have meant she could have petitioned for a reduction in the $7,500 child support payment she must give Aiken every month.

With the walloping Republicans gave Democrats in the midterm elections, the GOP stands one Louisiana Senate runoff away from completely controlling Southern politics from the Carolinas to Texas. Only a handful of Democrats hold statewide office in the rest of the Old Confederacy. The results put Southern Republicans at the forefront in Washington—from Senate Majority Leader-in-waiting Mitch McConnell of Kentucky to a host of new committee chairmen. Those leaders and the rank-and-file behind them will set the Capitol Hill agenda and continue molding the GOP’s identity heading into 2016. In statehouses, consolidated Republican power affords the opportunity to advance conservative...