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McCrory Dodges DOJ Deadline, Sues Feds in Defense of Anti-LGBT HB2

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Governor’s Complaint Alleges Trans People Aren’t Protected Under Civil Rights Act

Accusing the Obama administration of “a baseless and blatant overreach,” Republican North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory filed a federal lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Justice on Monday, seeking a court’s declaration about whether House Bill 2 illegally discriminates against transgender people. 

After the DOJ gave McCrory until 6 p.m. Monday to respond to its claim that HB 2 violates federal civil rights laws, the governor requested more time, but officials refused unless he admitted the bill is discriminatory — which he would not do. 

Instead, McCrory and Frank Perry, secretary of the North Carolina Department of Public Safety, filed a complaint against the DOJ, Attorney General Loretta Lynch and one of her assistants, alleging that trans people aren’t protected under Title XII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination based on sex. 

“The Obama administration is bypassing Congress by attempting to rewrite the law and set restroom policies for public and private employers across the country, not just North Carolina,” McCrory said in a statement. “This is now a national issue that applies to every state and it needs to be resolved at the federal level. They are now telling every government agency and every company that employs more than 15 people that men should be allowed to use a women’s locker room, restroom or shower facility.

In addition to the Civil Rights Act, the Justice Department found that HB 2 violates Title IX of the U.S. Education Amendments of 1972, jeopardizing billions of dollars annually in federal funding for the Tarheel State.  

The ACLU of North Carolina and Lambda Legal, which are challenging HB 2 in federal court, responded to McCrory’s lawsuit by accusing him of doubling down on discrimination while trans people in the remain in the “perilous position” of avoiding public restrooms or breaking the law. 

“The federal government made clear that HB 2’s mandate of discrimination against transgender people violates federal civil rights laws but McCrory and other political leaders in the state have decided to risk federal funding to maintain that discrimination,” the groups said in a statement. “Transgender people work for the state of North Carolina, attend school in North Carolina, and are a part of every community across the state. It is unconscionable that the government is placing a target on their backs to advance this discriminatory political agenda. Lawsuits are normally filed to stop discrimination—not to continue it.” 

McCrory plans a press conference at 1 p.m. Eastern today to further discuss his lawsuit, which alleges that the DOJ’s “radical reinterpretation” of the Civil Rights Act “would prevent plaintiffs from protecting the bodily privacy rights of state employees while accommodating the needs of transgendered state employees.” 

“North Carolina does not treat transgender employees differently from non-transgender employees,” the complaint states. “All state employees are required to use the bathroom and changing facilities assigned to persons of their same biological sex, regardless of gender identity, or transgender status.” 

Meanwhile, Lynch plans her own press conference at 3:30 p.m. to announce the DOJ’s next steps. 

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Carville Predicts Trump Will Get a Complete and Total ‘Whipping’

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Prominent political strategist James Carville served up some strong language and colorful remarks about President Donald Trump on Super Bowl Sunday.

On his Politicon streaming show, Carville predicted that Trump would get a complete and total “whipping,” and will be “disgraced.”

“You can knock down the East Wing. You can s — — all over the Kennedy Center. It is not gonna do any good, because the country hates you,” he declared. “They literally cannot stand you.”

“My recommendation for everybody that loves the United States, every patriotic American, and every person that is disgusted by a putrid behavior of the United States government, join the party,” Carville continued. “Because it’s coming to an end.”

READ MORE: ‘Interests of Justice’: Pirro Signs DOJ Motion to Toss Bannon Indictment

“We’re not just gonna win, people. We’re gonna win in ways that you can’t imagine,” the political consultant, author, and a Democratic pundit added. “And not only are we gonna win, we’re gonna watch these sorry, slimy people in an effort to try to save themselves — disgrace themselves, disgrace their families, disgrace their children, their grandchildren, their great grandchildren and everything else.”

Carville also denounced “spineless jellyfish” U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA), while praising “these courageous athletes in Italy” at the Olympic Games.

“You see courageous people in the streets of Minneapolis. You’re gonna see courageous people, about a million, show up at the next No Kings rally.”

Carville said he doesn’t “live in an ivory tower,” but rather, walks around and talks to people: “I see the disappointment on faces of people that, for all I know, may have voted for Trump.”

“I’m looking at election results,” he added. “And what I’m watching, entire people that have had an accomplished life, that have had a life of some pride, become Lindsay Graham, the most pliable, malleable person in the history, maybe of U.S. politics.”

READ MORE: Fascism Expert Warns Trump Could Invoke Emergency Powers to Cancel the Election

“We’re gonna beat these people,” Carville vowed. “Like, you can’t even believe what is getting ready to happen to them. And then they’re gonna all be disgraced by history.”

“But you know what you can’t steal?” Carville asked. “You cannot steal the heart of the American people. You can’t steal our traditions. You can’t steal our love of progress — and we may make a mistake, but we’re gonna correct it, and you’re gonna get corrected with the mistake.”

He also vowed that “we’re gonna enjoy ourselves in November” when Trump is “disgraced, and all of the acolytes around him will be disgraced even more.”

READ MORE: ‘Toast’: Latino GOP Strategist Warns ‘Republicans Are Gonna Lose So Big in November’

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‘Interests of Justice’: Pirro Signs DOJ Motion to Toss Bannon Indictment

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Longtime Trump ally and former White House senior counselor to the president, Steve Bannon, is trying to get his 2022 conviction on two counts of contempt of Congress overturned — and now he has the support of Trump’s Department of Justice to back him up.

“DOJ is trying to help Steve Bannon erase his conviction for defying a subpoena from the Jan. 6 committee,” reports Politico’s Kyle Cheney.

Cheney noted that the DOJ’s motion “has no career prosecutor” listed, only U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro. He also reported that the case had been headed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

“The government has determined in its prosecutorial discretion that dismissal of this criminal case is in the interests of justice,” the motion reads.

Bannon served four months in prison and was released in October 2024. He was found guilty by a jury on two counts of contempt of Congress, the Associated Press reported, “one for refusing to sit for a deposition with the Jan. 6 House Committee and a second for refusing to provide documents related to his involvement Trump’s efforts to overturn his loss to Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential race.”

He referred to himself as a “political prisoner” when he began serving his sentence.

READ MORE: Fascism Expert Warns Trump Could Invoke Emergency Powers to Cancel the Election

 

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Dems Ignoring ‘Biggest Political Issue’ of 2028 Race: Strategist

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Democrats are ignoring the “biggest political issue” that will define the 2028 elections — an issue with long-range consequences — a prominent political strategist warns.

Artificial intelligence — and its effects on the workforce and the economy — is a phenomenon about which some Republicans have started to sound the alarm, says Kamala Harris’s 2024 deputy campaign manager, Rob Flaherty. But the Democratic Party needs to be better prepared, he writes in a New York Times op-ed.

“Being told you have no agency over a force that will reshape your job prospects, your community and your family’s future is a recipe for backlash,” writes Flaherty. “Democrats shouldn’t dismiss that anger. We should be the party that channels it and does something about it.”

“The coming A.I. revolution threatens the urban professional class that constitutes a central pillar of its political coalition — which already seems too small to win a national election,” he warns. “Democrats have a chance to unite the unemployed 25-year-old software engineer in Tucson, Ariz., and the underemployed middle-age autoworker in Detroit in a coalition big enough to win nationally and locally.”

READ MORE: ‘Toast’: Latino GOP Strategist Warns ‘Republicans Are Gonna Lose So Big in November’

Flaherty points to the chief executive of Anthropic, Dario Amodei, who “has predicted that artificial intelligence could displace half of all entry-level white collar jobs within five years. Already, layoffs are on the rise. Recent college grads are struggling to find work. And even for those of us fortunate enough to be employed, our retirement savings are increasingly dependent on the fortunes of a small handful of high-growth tech companies.”

Democrats have an opening with A.I., he says. “Americans feel pessimistic about A.I. Polling indicates that they are much more concerned than excited about the increasing use of A.I. in their lives.”

The 2028 elections, “set against the backdrop of discontent with A.I., will provide an opportunity to campaign against Big Tech’s excesses and a Republican Party that has enabled them.”

Flaherty sees A.I. as an opportunity to reimagine America’s “social bargain.” Who’s in charge? Who benefits? Who are we as a nation? He says these are the questions Democrats should be asking — and “letting voters know how we answer them.”

Democrats, he adds, need to “monopolize” the issue of artificial intelligence, “lest we risk losing voters we take for granted.”

READ MORE: Fascism Expert Warns Trump Could Invoke Emergency Powers to Cancel the Election

 

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