Cooper Files Response To DOJ Complaint

Ken AshfordCourts/Law, Local Interest, Sex ScandalsLeave a Comment

News-Observer: Gov. Pat McCrory announced Thursday that his office and four outside attorneys would represent North Carolina in the federal government’s challenge of House Bill 2, hours after making a political issue of a court document filed in the case by his Democratic challenger. An exchange of political volleys Thursday started when the Republican governor portrayed Attorney General Roy Cooper … Read More

Bad News For McCrory And HB2 Lovers

Ken AshfordConstitution, Courts/Law, Local Interest, Sex/Morality/Family ValuesLeave a Comment

After the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a request Tuesday to reconsider a previous ruling affirming the rights of a Virginia transgender student, Gov. Pat McCrory’s defense of HB2 has a hit a major road block. The intermingling of the two cases in question—the pivotal Virginia case (G.G. v. Gloucester County School Board) decided in favor of transgender student Gavin Grimm, and McCrory’s HB2 defense, … Read More

HB2 Cease And Desist Deadline Is Today

Ken AshfordBreaking News, Local Interest, Sex/Morality/Family ValuesLeave a Comment

Today is the deadline the U.S. Department of Justice has given the state of North Carolina to cease and desist its enforcement of the HB2 transgender discrimination law. Gov. Pat McCrory had asked federal officials for an extension of today’s deadline to declare that North Carolina will not comply with its newly enacted law restricting anti-discrimination protections.  McCrory said the U.S. … Read More

Confrontation Looms

Ken AshfordConstitution, Local Interest, Sex/Morality/Family ValuesLeave a Comment

Charlotte Observer: Republican state leaders were in no hurry Thursday to respond to the Obama administration’s determination that North Carolina is discriminating against transgender people – and didn’t even agree on whether to adhere to a Monday deadline. House Speaker Tim Moore said Thursday that legislators won’t meet the Department of Justice’s Monday deadline to declare that House Bill 2 … Read More

Breaking: US Govt to NC — Fix HB 2 Or Else

Ken AshfordBreaking News, Constitution, Local Interest, Sex/Morality/Family ValuesLeave a Comment

This may end sooner than even I thought: RALEIGH — U.S. Justice Department officials Wednesday notified Gov. Pat McCrory that House Bill 2 violates the U.S. Civil Rights Act.  The department gave state officials until Monday to address the situation “by confirming that the State will not comply with or implement HB2.” The letter says HB2, which pre-empted Charlotte’s anti-discrimination ordinance, … Read More

The Science Behind HB2

Ken AshfordLocal Interest, Sex/Morality/Family ValuesLeave a Comment

Well, what do you know. It turns out that there are people who actually know a thing or two about gender determination from a scientific and factual point of view.  They’re called “scientists”.  And they have to educate the Governor and the North Carolina General Assembly, who don’t bother to educate themselves before passing laws. Here’s a letter from twenty … Read More

Breaking: Governor McSmarmy Doubles Down But Also Retreats

Ken AshfordBreaking News, Local Interest, Sex/Morality/Family ValuesLeave a Comment

Feeling the heat: RALEIGH, N.C. – Governor McCrory signed an executive order Tuesday that clarifies existing state law and provides new protection for North Carolina residents. According to the Governor’s Office, Executive Order 93 does the following: Maintains the common sense gender-specific restroom and locker room facilities in government buildings and schools. Affirms the private sector’s right to establish its … Read More

Why Keep An Embarrassing Law On The Books If You Can’t Even Enforce It?

Ken AshfordLocal Interest, Sex/Morality/Family ValuesLeave a Comment

So happy Mother Jones did this: Two days after North Carolina enacted one of the country’s most sweeping anti-LGBT laws, The New Yorker‘s Andy Borowitz imagined the scene at the state capitol in Raleigh: In a “historic ceremony,” he wrote, “North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory swore in a thousand officers charged with enforcing the state’s new public-bathroom regulations.” The new … Read More

For THIS, I Finally Appear In Playbill

Ken AshfordCourts/Law, Local Interest, Sex/Morality/Family Values, TheatreLeave a Comment

Sigh: In a new statement provided to Playbill.com by Schwartz’s team, the composer-lyricist takes a hard line against North Carolina Governor McCrory and encourages citizens of the stage to turn their anger into activism. It can be read in full below: First of all, I think it’s important to remember that this is not just me, this is a collective … Read More

Paypal Pulls The Plug

Ken AshfordLocal Interest, Sex/Morality/Family ValuesLeave a Comment

HB2, the very discriminatory “anti-discrimination bill in North Carolina” (Why do Republicans always name laws the opposite of what they actually do — like the Clean Water Act?  Do they think we are idiots?) wasn’t supposed to result in any job loss to North Carolina.  The opposition to the bill was all “political theater” Governor McCrory said. Nnooope. The Charlotte … Read More

Governor McCrory Keeps Digging Deeper

Ken AshfordConstitution, Local Interest, Sex/Morality/Family ValuesLeave a Comment

The Governor takes to Youtube: Notes as I watch this: He’s talking out of the corner of his mouth and has that fakey politician smile The lip service offered to “respecting each other’s beliefs and values” is unnerving, given what he is defending here. He responds to politicians who have “demonized” North Carolina.  Yeah, they’re the problem — these outside agitators. McCrory: “Frankly … Read More

Governor McCrory Attempts To Clarify HB2 . . . But Obfuscates Even More

Ken AshfordConstitution, Local Interest, Sex/Morality/Family ValuesLeave a Comment

Responding to worldwide disgust at the passage and signing of HB2, which discriminates against transgender people (and does lots of bad stuff in general), NC Governor McCrory put some shit on his website, entitled “Myths vs Facts: What New York Times, Huffington Post and other media outlets aren’t saying about common-sense privacy law” Catchy title. Can we dispense with the … Read More