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18 Absurdly False Claims North Carolina Just Made to Defend HB2

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North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory’s Newest Brief Filed in Federal Court Is as Abhorrent as You’d Expect

North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory and his band of merry men submitted a brief in opposition to the United States’ motion for preliminary injunction against his state’s discriminatory and anti-trans law, HB2, and it’s even more disgusting and abhorrent than you’d think it would be. 

Opening up with a tired statement about safety that’s been proven false time and time again, the argument begins, “As the Act’s text and legislative history make clear, the General Assembly was focused—not on disparaging transgender individuals—but rather on a commonsense concern for preserving everyone’s privacy and safety.” Ironically, while the brief opens up with a promise that the argument isn’t against transgender people, the authors spend the next 80-something pages denying the mere existence of trans folks and the United States’ desire to treat them with respect. 

The brief spends a surprisingly large amount of time trying to push the incorrect notion that “biological sex” is a concrete concept and can be defined solely on the basis of external genitalia, even going so far as to call on Congress to define the concept of “biological sex” while also saying that the testimony of scientific experts (who disagree with them) is useless and inadmissible.  

If you can stomach it, McCrory’s men spend nearly ten pages outlining bogus “medical” theories as to why transgender people are mentally ill, hormone therapy is dangerous, and adults who choose to have some form of surgical intervention are never, ever happy. None of this is true, of course, and though the State goes to great lengths to portray legitimacy, though their sources cited aren’t exactly experts. (The American College of Pediatricians is a hate group designed to look like a medical association, for example.)

The brief contains more than a few absurd statements. Here are some highlights of the most abhorrent. It’s worth noting that none of these are true:

  • “Intersex” isn’t a real thing. (p9)
  • Pretty much every man everywhere is just dying to dress like a woman and sneak into bathrooms to molest your daughters. (p22)
  • Law enforcement officials won’t be able to arrest anyone for doing anything wrong because of non-discrimination laws. (p23)
  • The NCAA has a standard of acceptance for trans people in sports teams, which justifies NC’s discrimination. (p26)
  • People who have different types of genitalia are scary. (p28)
  • Gender identity is nothing more than a “feeling” that people use to trick others. (p30)
  • An injunction would prohibit the people of NC from governing themselves (even though HB2 prohibits local municipalities from governing themselves). (p31)
  • The reality of verbal and physical attacks trans people suffer isn’t worth writing a law against because it’s abuse from citizens, not the State. (p34)
  • Because trans people don’t go to the police to report safety concerns, their concerns aren’t valid. (p34)
  • Non-discrimination laws would mean “any male” could use a women’s restroom legally. (p34)
  • Trans people claim they won’t use the bathroom because of safety concerns but that’s not true nor a good reason for a safety law. (p35) (Yes, it’s true that trans folks avoid the bathroom for safety, here’s a study.)
  • Treating trans people with respect and letting them use the proper bathroom isn’t a good treatment for gender dysphoria. (p35)
  • Gender dysphoria goes away once puberty starts. (p36)
  • Any harms to trans people are outweighed by harms to non-trans people. (p37)
  • Even if a trans person is harmed by anti-trans policies, just being trans is harm enough and they’re already suffering, so harming them more is ok. (p37)
  • Since “gender identity” isn’t real and only “biological sex” is, HB2 doesn’t discriminate against transgender people. (p44)
  • Since non-discrimination laws that mention gender identity have never passed Congress, we don’t need to worry about it. (p46)
  • None of this applies to Title IX since external genitalia is the only thing that matters in determining sex. (everywhere)

North Carolina’s brief goes from bad to worse to absolutely disgusting and can be summed up in one sentence: The idea of transgender people messes with what we think our world is and that scares the crap out of us, so it’s bad and wrong.

If you’ve got the energy and are looking for a good way to make yourself blindingly angry, you can read the entire brief here courtesy of the fabulous folks at Equality Case Files.

 

Image by DonkeyHotey via Flickr and a CC license

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News

‘He Was the Only One’: Trump Mocked for Declaring Iran’s Moves ‘Shocked’ Him

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13 hours ago

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March 16, 2026

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President Donald Trump is facing criticism and mockery after admitting he was “shocked” that Iran fought back against Operation Epic Fury.

“Trump just admitted publicly that his administration underestimated the Iranian response to his attack,” The Washington Post’s Josh Rogin reported.

During a meeting of the board governing the Kennedy Center, Trump said, “look what happened. In the last two weeks, they weren’t supposed to go after all these other countries in the Middle East. Those missiles were set to go after them. So they hit Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait. Nobody expected that. We were shocked.”

Focusing on Trump’s “shocked” remark, some critics blasted the president, once again, for what many have previously said is a Commander-in-Chief who was unprepared to go to war against Iran.

The New Yorker’s Susan Glasser called Trump’s comments a “Remarkable admission.”

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Former Republican U.S. Rep. Justin Amash declared, “We are governed by complete morons.”

Podcaster Clint Russell noted, “Just FYI, this is the EXACT reason our generals have consistently advised against a war with Iran. Even Charlie Kirk had laid this all out on his show a couple years ago. Iran was no threat to America but they were fully capable of destroying the global economy by striking oil facilities and transit throughout the region.”

Robert Manning, a Distinguished Fellow in Global Foresight at the nonpartisan Stimson Center, wrote: “If so, he was the only one surprised. Strategic planners have war games this for 40 years. Hard to believe JCS [Joint Chiefs of Staff] didn’t advise Trump this was likely.”

“I’m pretty confident every war plan US has ever done in last 30 years gaming out this conflict was based on expectation that Iran could in fact [and] would in fact do this,” noted The Nation’s Jeet Heer.

“Every institution built to prevent exactly this outcome existed, was bypassed, and we are now watching the president express shock at conclusions that were already written in the classified assessments he didn’t read,” observed Christine Villaverde, the chairwoman of Anchoring Democracy.

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‘Lazy and Unstrategic’: GOP Senator Slams ‘Republican on Republican Violence’

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15 hours ago

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March 16, 2026

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A prominent Republican senator is denouncing his own party while lamenting the lack of an official presidential endorsement in the highly contentious Texas Republican Senate runoff election.

Agreeing that it is a mistake for President Donald Trump to withhold his endorsement of either Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton or U.S. Senator John Cornyn, U.S. Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) warned, “I think the more time we spend millions of dollars with Republican-on-Republican violence, Democrats are in the marketing department, loving the idea of a competitive runoff.”

“I get tired of Republicans being lazy and unstrategic,” he told CNN’s Manu Raju, appearing to suggest there are other ways for one of the candidates to pull ahead.

“People on my side of the aisle, and people at the far right of the political spectrum, are trying to swing for the fences, and they’re not gonna succeed,” he warned.

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A runoff election between Cornyn and Paxton will take place on May 26, and the president has yet to endorse either contender.

Reports suggest a Cornyn endorsement is more likely, although Paxton has been a reliable MAGA supporter. Trump has even suggested that whichever candidate does not get his backing should quit the race entirely, clearing the way for the presumptive nominee to battle the Democratic nominee, James Talarico.

“The Republican Primary Race for the United States Senate in the Great State of Texas,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, on March 4, “cannot, for the good of the Party, and our Country, itself, be allowed to go on any longer. IT MUST STOP NOW! We have an easy to beat, Radical Left Opponent, and we have to TOTALLY FOCUS on putting him away, quickly and decisively!”

He vowed to make his endorsement “soon,” but has yet to do so.

Each passing day gives Talarico more time to campaign and build his war chest as the two GOP contenders spend their time and money battling each other.

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Gas Prices Near $4 in These Five States

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18 hours ago

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March 16, 2026

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Gas prices are continuing to substantially increase, with five states now hovering near $4 a gallon and several others seeing sharp increases as President Donald Trump’s war in Iran enters its 17th day.

“Big gas price hikes just now starting to happen in Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Illinois, Missouri today, which will likely push the national average to $3.75-$3.80 by mid-week,” reports Patrick De Haan, the head of Petroleum Analysis at GasBuddy.

But, he also notes that Michigan and the Chicago area are already seeing $3.99 per gallon as of Monday. Indiana drivers are seeing $3.89, and Ohio and Kentucky are seeing $3.79 per gallon.

De Haan directly attributes the increases to the summer gasoline changeover and the ongoing Iran situation.

“The national average is up 80.0 cents from a month ago and is 66.1 cents per gallon higher than a year ago,” WANE reports, citing GasBuddy’s data.

Drivers should not expect to see prices come down significantly anytime soon.

“Until we see a meaningful resumption of oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz, upward pressure on fuel prices is likely to persist,” De Haan said. “At the same time, seasonal forces are beginning to intensify as several regions complete the transition to summer gasoline, creating a double headwind that could continue driving pump prices higher in the weeks ahead.”

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