The political tug of war over North Carolina's notorious "bathroom bill" heated up Wednesday with efforts to overturn the nine-month-old law stalemated by ongoing partisan bickering.
The law, which dictates which bathroom transgender people must use, has damaged the state's economy and national reputation.
In a special session called by GOP Gov. Pat McCrory, legislators returned to the capitol in Raleigh to vote on a repeal of House Bill 2, which has been blasted by gay-rights groups and sparked job losses and sporting event cancellations.

The repeal vote was expected after the Charlotte City Council eliminated a local antidiscrimination ordinance that expanded protections to include sexual orientation and gender identity in public accommodations. Statehouse Republicans had offered months ago to repeal the state law if Charlotte rescinded the local ordinance, which the council voted to eliminate earlier Wednesday.

A 1995 federal court ruling out of Pennsylvania may offer some clues to Clinton supporters as to possible legal authority for removing an elected official from office and replacing them with their erstwhile opponent.
In light of late-breaking reports Friday evening that Russians interfered with the 2016 presidential election to assist Donald Trump’s victory, Clinton supporters are furiously in pursuit of remedies.

At 10:45 p.m. Friday evening, the Washington Post broke an explosive story alleging that Russians had interfered with the 2016 presidential election in order to assist Donald Trump in a victory over democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. The story reveals that a CIA assessment detailing this conclusion had been presented to President Obama and top congressional leaders last week.

The development has Clinton supporters and other concerned Americans confused and hot in pursuit of potential remedies. No clear constitutional remedy exists to halt the certification of the outcome. Article II of the U.S. Constitution vests Congress with the power to determine the date by which the Electoral College will cast their votes, presently set for December 19. In recent weeks, a massive online movement asking members of the Electoral College to become “faithless” or “conscientious” electors and to vote for Clinton instead of Trump has garnered national attention.

The electors would be well within their constitutional authority to do so, say groups like Hamilton’s Electors, which claims that the purpose of the Electoral College is to prevent demagogues like Mr. Trump from assuming the nation’s highest office. A petition urging the Electoral College to make Hillary Clinton president has gained nearly 5 million signatures.

When President Barack Obama won, conservatives stocked up on guns and ammunition which were never taken away. Now, with big-time popular-vote loser Donald Trump headed to the White House thanks to our bullshit undemocratic system, people are stocking up on different things, such as health care, and … communication encryption tools.

By the time you finish reading this column, you would be foolish not to download the messaging app Signal onto your smartphone and computer.

The free encrypted messaging service has won the acclaim of security researchers and privacy advocates, including Edward J. Snowden. All have said that Signal goes above and beyond other chat tools in keeping electronic communications private [...]

Some people have already cottoned on to this. Signal experienced a 400 percent jump in daily downloads since Mr. Trump won the election, according to Moxie Marlinspike, who founded Open Whisper Systems, the nonprofit that developed Signal. To Mr. Marlinspike, the surge in downloads reflects anxiety among Americans about the implications of Mr. Trump’s presidency for personal privacy.

This is consumer-friendly encryption, working like any other messenger apps. So if you know how to message, you can use this app without worrying about complicated tech. In fact, the Signal tech is open source, and has been incorporated into several apps like WhatsApp and Google Messenger. But none are as secure as Signal itself.

My biggest gripe about it is the lack of a Mac desktop app, since I actually do most of my chatting on my computer. There is an extension for Chrome, but I prefer Safari, so that doesn’t work so great for me. Also, I can’t install it on both my phone and iPad, though support for multiple devices is coming soon (supposedly). On the other hand, you can even make secure encrypted voice calls on Signal, which is pretty awesome.

The security ramifications of our incoming neo-fascist president (not to mention Russian hackers, malicious Wikileaks, etc.) are severe enough that I’ll definitely be conducting my chatting and voice calls on Signal. You can download the app, which is free, here.

Even as he was reassuring anxious immigrants and reaffirming Chicago’s status as a sanctuary city, Mayor Rahm Emanuel was counseling President-elect Donald Trump about White House transitions after participating in two of them.

The mayor acknowledged that Monday, disclosing that Trump called him some time over the last two weeks to get Emanuel’s sage advice about the transition of power from one president to another.

“We talked about a host of things, a host of issues. I’m also not a shrinking violet. I think we can say that,” Emanuel told reporters after groundbreaking ceremonies for the revamped Theater-on-the-Lake in Lincoln Park.

“I’ve been very clear about what is important for the city and what our values are–not just as a city, but as a country. Not only am I not a shrinking violet. I’m familiar with being able to speak honestly and frankly with presidents…I was up-front and direct.”

Emanuel was asked whether he would characterize the conversation with Trump as “cordial.” He was reluctant to answer the question directly on grounds that private phone conversations with U.S. Presidents should remain private, “unless they want to talk about it.”

“It could also be, if you do it wrong, the last phone call you have,” Emanuel said.

“That said, I was up-front, honest. We talked about a range of issues. But, I think it’s fair for me at least to characterize that he is obviously quite familiar with my background working in two prior administrations in different roles and also on the transitions…While that was the impetus, we talked about a number of [other] things. I was also clear about what I think is important, what I care about and what I’m willing to speak up about when it comes to our values.”

The longest, loudest standing ovation of the Kennedy Center Honors gala wasn't reserved for Al Pacino, Mavis Staples or the Eagles. Instead, it went to the man sitting to their left, attending his eighth and most likely his last honors presentation: President Barack Obama.

While politics were absent from the tributes to the performers who were recognized for influencing American culture Sunday night, the arts community's affection for Obama — and its nervousness about President-elect Donald Trump — was palpable in the Kennedy Center Opera House.

The president and first lady Michelle Obama were introduced last, after Pacino and his fellow honorees: gospel singer Staples; pianist Martha Argerich; singer-songwriter James Taylor; and Don Henley, Timothy B. Schmidt and Joe Walsh, the surviving members of the Eagles.

After a sustained ovation, host Stephen Colbert greeted the crowd of Washington insiders as "endangered swamp-dwellers," referencing Trump's "drain the swamp" campaign pledge. He joked that Obama would need to receive the honor to attend again and that "unlike the Nobel Peace Prize, they don't just give these away."

The Kennedy Center Honors are in their 39th year, a period that has included six presidents — three Republicans, three Democrats — and all have taken time to welcome the recipients. But the 2016 election was noteworthy for the way A-list performers lined up behind Obama and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, while Trump had relatively few celebrity endorsements.

Although the president has no say in who receives the awards, Colbert joked that next year's honorees would include Scott Baio, Gary Busey and Meat Loaf.

"For the past eight years, the White House has given us a leader who's passionate, intelligent and dignified," Colbert said, and the crowd rose for another prolonged ovation, prompting Obama to stand and wave.

"Sir, I don't even know why you stood up. I was talking about Michelle," Colbert said....