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Today, HRC released the following statement on Ted Cruz’s despicable new campaign ad attacking transgender people. “Ted Cruz’s transphobic smear campaign peddles a dangerous brand of hate and ignorance,” said HRC Communications Director Jay Brown. “At a time when transgender women are at a disproportionately high risk for violence and assault, Ted Cruz’s reckless ad puts them at even greater risk. Moreover, what message does Ted Cruz think this sends to transgender youth across this country? We deserve a president who’ll fight to protect the rights and dignity of everyone -- not a reckless, feckless politician who’ll do or say...

On Friday's regular "Shields and Brooks" segment on the PBS NewsHour, pretend conservative New York Times columnist David Brooks slammed the North Carolina bathroom law -- which tries to protect women and girls from men intruding into women's restrooms in state buildings -- as he declared that the law is "so bad now I have to praise Donald Trump" for the GOP candidate's criticism of the law on NBC's Today show. He went on to complain that the Republican party "should have moved on" from "1980s socially conservative culture war politics," and concluded by lauding "moderate" Trump as "not stuck...

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. – A North Carolina judge sent a retired Special Forces sergeant to jail for violating probation — then spent the night in the cell with him. News media outlets report Joe Serna, 41, who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder after three tours in Afghanistan, was diverted to Cumberland County Veterans Court after being charged with driving under the influence and other traffic offenses. The court is designed to help troubled veterans avoid jail time and get the help they need. Serna was told to stay sober and return to the court every two weeks. But when he appeared...

Since the debate over what he said yesterday is still raging, it’s only fair that you get to hear his latest comment about it. Skip to 8:35 of the clip below from last night’s interview on Trump TV.His response to Hannity’s question about North Carolina is a dodge but it’s a dodge with a conservative pedigree. If you’re a Republican who’s been put on the spot about a hot-button social issue, you can’t go wrong saying, “Leave it to the states.” Even righties who disagree with you on the merits will tip their caps at your nod to federalism....

North Carolina is set to host the 2017 NBA All-Star game, but in a meeting with reporters today, commissioner Adam Silver said that the game will have to be moved if recently enacted anti-LGBT laws are not changed. Silver was much more vague when asked about when specifically such a decision would be made, but this is still as clear a rebuke of the North Carolina laws as we’ve seen from him.

KINSTON, N.C. (WNCT) – An unprecedented surge in gun sales is boosting the economy in the East and across the country. The gun industry is booming and last year, the FBI conducted a record-breaking 23.1 million firearm background checks. The National Shooting Sports Foundation says the gun industry added nearly 25,000 jobs last year for a nationwide total of nearly 288,000 jobs. Since 2008, gun industry jobs have increased 73-percent. North Carolina is one of the top-7 states for this growth. That’s something Neuse Sport Shop in Kinston can attest to. Gun sales there have doubled just since last year.

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A Virginia high school discriminated against a transgender teen by forbidding him from using the boys' restroom, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday in a case that could have implications for a North Carolina law that critics say discriminates against LGBT people. The case of Gavin Grimm has been especially closely watched since North Carolina enacted a law last month that bans transgender people from using public restrooms that correspond to their gender identity. That law also bans cities from passing anti-discrimination ordinances, a response to an ordinance recently passed in Charlotte. In the Virginia case,...

Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum is clarifying — but not stepping back from — surprising comments this weekend in support of former Olympian Bruce Jenner's decision to come out as a transgender woman. "If he says he's a woman, then he's a woman," Santorum told BuzzFeed during a roundtable discussion in South Carolina on Saturday. Santorum continued: "My responsibility as a human being is to love and accept everybody. Not to criticize people for who they are."

Republican Donald Trump says he'd be fine with Caitlyn Jenner using the bathroom of her choice at Trump Tower. (AP File Photo) (CNSNews.com) - Republican Donald Trump, appearing on Thursday's "Today" show, said transgenders should be allowed to "use the bathroom that they feel is appropriate." "So if Caitlyn Jenner were to walk into Trump Tower and want to use the bathroom, you would be fine with her using any bathroom she chooses?" host Matt Lauer asked Trump. "That is correct," Trump said. Asked for his view on the North Carolina bathroom controversy, Trump said the state has "paid a...

Donald Trump had waded into one of the most bizarre controversies to have roiled American politics, that being whether or not transgendered people should be allowed to use the public bathroom according to the gender they identify with rather the one that biology has assigned them. North Carolina recently passed a law that mandates that people use the bathroom according to which gender is recorded on their birth certificate. The law has caused an uproar in the LBGT community. Some businesses and performance artists have decided to boycott the state, even those who do business and perform in countries that...

Curt Schilling, a former All-Star pitcher and one of the highest-profile baseball analysts on ESPN, was fired from the network Wednesday, a day after he drew intense criticism for promoting offensive commentary on social media. Schilling, who had worked for the network since 2010 and most recently offered analysis on "Monday Night Baseball," was dismissed after sharing a Facebook post this week that appeared to respond to the North Carolina law that bars transgender people from using bathrooms and locker rooms that do not correspond with their birth genders. The post showed an overweight man wearing a wig and women's...

A high school in Smithfield, NC now offers another lane of study for some students: Members of the Army Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps program are able to study their aim on campus. The JROTC built a 1,200-square-foot, six-lane, indoor shooting range at the Smithfield-Selma High School and students began using the facility last week. The $10,000 in costs for the range was donated by the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission and the National Shooting Sports Foundation.

The British government is advising lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender citizens to pay special attention when traveling to North Carolina and Mississippi. […] The British advisory says new laws in North Carolina and Mississippi may affect LGBT travelers and directs those seeking more detail to the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest LGBT civil rights organization. The advisory adds that attitudes toward LGBT people differ widely across the United States. …

On Tuesday, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) Center for State Fiscal Reform released the ninth edition of the Rich States, Poor States ALEC-Laffer State Economic Competitiveness Index rankings. The study ranks all 50 states based on their economic outlook, calculated by weighing 15 variables in critical economic policy areas. Therefore, it is no surprise that of the states in the top 10 for economic outlook, six (Wisconsin, Florida, Indiana, Arizona, North Dakota and North Carolina) also qualified for the most recent State Tax Cut Roundup as states that substantially reduced taxes... Wisconsin earned an all-time best ranking of nine,...

PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi said Monday the company is reshaping its product lineup to better reflect the growing interest in healthy eating and noted it has reduced its reliance on colas for sales. The maker of Frito-Lay snacks, Mountain Dew, Naked juices and Quaker Oats now gets less than 25 percent of its global sales from soda, Nooyi said. And she said just 12 percent of global sales comes from its namesake soda. Representatives for PepsiCo were unable to provide how those figures have changed in recent the years.The remarks underscore PepsiCo’s recent shift in tone as the world’s biggest...

Duran Duran, an English band out of Birmingham, UK, considered canceling their Charlotte show over House Bill 2. Band member Simon Le Bon took to twitter Thursday to share the band's viewpoint on playing in North Carolina. Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/entertainment/music-news-reviews/article72009507.html#storylink=cpy

Famed filmmaker and gelatinous force of raging hypocrisy Michael Moore has threatened to eat North Carolina unless it agrees to allow men into women’s restrooms by high noon on Monday. “The way that North Carolina is imposing its morality upon others is just disgusting,” raged the multi-multi-millionaire who has made many fortunes by crafting and selling movies on the evils of capitalism. “And if North Carolina doesn’t cave completely to my demands to obliterate gender distinctions and let men into women’s restrooms, I’m literally gonna eat the whole sorry state for lunch!” The threat to eat the entire state was...

Truncated title. Full title: Cirque du Solei Cancels North Carolina Shows Over Public Facilities Act — Plans Shows In Dubai, Where Gays Are Put to Death. Canada-based circus and theater entertainment company Cirque du Soleil has canceled its upcoming shows in Greensboro, Charlotte, and Raleigh in North Carolina to protest the state’s Public Facilities Privacy and Security Act. “Cirque du Soleil strongly believes in diversity and equality for every individual and is opposed to discrimination in any form,” the group announced Friday in a press release. “The new HB2 legislation passed in North Carolina is an important regression to ensuring...

A bipartisan group of senators has asked NBA Commissioner Adam Silver to pull the league's 2017 All-Star game from North Carolina because of a law in that state that many say discriminates against gay and transgender people. . . . Sens. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., Pat Leahy, D-Vt., Cory Booker, D-N.J., Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Mark Kirk, R-Ill., all signed onto the letter sent Tuesday. Kirk is the only Republican signed onto the letter and is running for reelection this year.

A major porn website has announced that it is blocking North Carolina users in protest of HB2, the Public Facilities Privacy and Security Act.So, North Carolina decides to keep its bathrooms and locker rooms safe from sexual predators and a porn company gets morally indignant.Oh, the irony. (For the bathroom side of the bill, see my questions to Bruce Springsteen; for the religious protections side, see the points made by Ryan Anderson; for Gov. McCrory’s partial compromise, while standing strong on other key points, see here.)An internet porn company, by definition, is not only immoral but literally traffics in immorality,...