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10:08 PM




  • Voters line up outside a Republican caucus site, Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2016, in Las Vegas. Photo: John Locher, AP / AP








Photo: John Locher, AP


Republican voters in Nevada made their voices known by overwhelmingly supporting billionaire Donald Trump in the GOP’s first-in-the-West presidential caucuses ahead of the party’s national nominating convention in July.


Eleven names were on the statewide ballot, but Trump easily outdistanced the other candidates still in the race, Florida Sen.Marco Rubio, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, Ohio Gov. John Kasich and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson.



Here are snapshot comments from voters who caucused Tuesday:


___


Steve and Irma Eggert cast ballots for Donald Trump at Desert Oasis High School in Las Vegas.


Irma Eggert was born in Mexico and immigrated to the United States.


She said she likes Trump’s immigration stance, and voted in memory of her late father, who brought her legally to the U.S.


“I’m here for him, representing him,” Eggert said of her father. “He would have loved this, just to know someone’s bringing this up.”


Irma Eggert, 59, lost her job in defense procurement after the real estate crash, and now earns a third of what she used to working in a casino legal department.


The couple said they’re in danger of losing their Las Vegas house, and like Trump’s promise to revive the economy.


“America needs to be brought up to a level — we’ve been downgraded,” Irma Eggert said.


___


Jim and Sharon Turner were among hundreds of people who lined up before 6 p.m. to cast their ballots in Nevada’s Republican presidential caucuses at Reed High School in Sparks.


Both support Marco Rubio, and believe he could defeat Hillary Clinton.


“He’s a person who can work with other people,” said Sharon Turner, a retired AT&T worker from Sparks.


Jim Turner, a retired U.S. government worker, called Rubio a negotiator.


“Donald Trump could probably do that as well,” Turner said. “But I like the way Rubio has run a positive campaign.”


___


Retired businessman Roy Leuhsenhop is partially blind and had his daughter drop him off on the curb of a high school caucus site in Las Vegas.


He said he came out Tuesday night to vote for someone who could beat Donald Trump.


“He’s a good businessman. I think he’s a spoiled brat,” Leuhsenhop said as he waited in a line that started in the crowded cafeteria of Durango High School, snaked through a quad and ended at the curb.


Leuhsenhop, 92, said he likes Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, partly because he admires the courage of people who left Cuba and came to the U.S. against long odds.


“I have a fondness for Cubans,” he said. “Only certain people have the guts to do it.”


___


Tiffany Jones, 35, said she’s been supporting Marco Rubio ever since she took a Facebook quiz to find her right candidate several months ago, and scored a 92 percent match with the Florida senator.


“I like his vision,” Jones said as her 3-year-old daughter, Jovi, clung to her at Desert Oasis High School in Las Vegas.


“The biggest appeal is his building a foundation for family.”


Jones owns a bakery in Las Vegas. She said she knew her favorite was an underdog in Nevada.


“I’m trying to keep my hope and faith in humanity,” she quipped. “I just hope that people are level-headed.”


___


Retired government worker and New York City transplant Carol Allen, 79, and her husband were first in line at Palo Verde High School in Las Vegas.


Alllen said she decided on Marco Rubio, but she was more vocal about defeating Donald Trump.


“I don’t want Trump,” she said. “He’s an inexperienced clown.”


She also said Rubio had a good grasp on foreign policy and economy, although his position on immigration was less clear to her. The lifelong Republican said she voted for Mitt Romney in 2012.


___


Tracy Brigida used to be a Scott Walker backer.


But after the Wisconsin governor dropped out last fall, and Brigida’s husband got laid off from his mining job, Brigida shifted her support.


She cast her ballot on Tuesday for Donald Trump.


“He’s gotten laid off for the second time in three years,” Brigida said as she waited in line with her husband, Michael, and their two children at Desert Oasis High School in Las Vegas.


“I want a businessman to run the biggest business in the world.”


___


Jeremy Haight drove straight from his marketing job to caucus for Marco Rubio.


“I kind of live for this,” said the 23-year-old self-described political junkie, who was a Republican political staffer in the heavily Democratic state of Hawaii before moving to Las Vegas.


Haight said he was troubled to see restaurants still open, because Americans fought for the right to vote and those workers wouldn’t get a say in the caucus because they had to work.


Still, he was enthusiastic about his first caucus at Durango High School in Las Vegas, and about Rubio.


“He’s the most level-headed. He hasn’t said anything stupid or crazy or hasn’t pissed too many people off,” Haight said, “which is really what I think the country needs.”


___


Megan Ortega balanced her 4-year-old daughter on her hip and tried to keep her 5-year-old son close while she waited in line at a caucus site in Las Vegas.


The 29-year-old military wife dressed up before casting her ballot. She said she was headed to a Ted Cruz victory party after the Tuesday caucus.


“He’s consistent, he’s bold and he’s a class act,” she said, struggling to hold her daughter as she also signed a petition for a ballot measure to change Nevada’s rooftop solar rates.


Ortega volunteered for Cruz’s campaign and liked that the Texas senator led the charge for a government shutdown in 2013.


“Love it. Love it,” Ortega said. “What’s the point of having a government if all they’re going to do is spend money? Out of control. Love it.”


___


Former Nevada state Sen. Maurice Washington, a Republican who used to represent the district in Sparks, shook hands with Ted Cruz and had his photo taken with the candidate at Reed High School.


He said he hadn’t made up his mind which candidate to choose.


“There are three good candidates,” Washington said. “Any one of them has to be better than Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton.”


___


Lindsey Berg, 25, came to the caucus at Palo Verde High School with her two children — a 2-year-old on her hip and a 1-year-old in a stroller.


She said she’s most concerned about the economy and national budget, and what it means for future generations.


“I don’t want them to pay off all our debt. It’s getting ridiculous,” the stay-at-home mom said of the budget deficit.


She also said she was caucusing for the first time, to defeat Donald Trump.


“Donald Trump has to be stopped,” she said.


She said she was leaning toward John Kasich because of his more moderate record, but wasn’t convinced he could win the nomination.


She voted for Mitt Romney in the 2012 election and considers herself a moderate.


“I’d like us to stop fighting wars, but that’s not very Republican,” she said with a laugh.


___


Greg Gerhardt of Sparks, owner of a construction company with about 30 employees, said he’s backing Ted Cruz


“He’s the best candidate we have that respects the U.S. Constitution. He will make the right choice for the next Supreme Court justice. I believe he will keep America safe, secure the borders and get the economy back on track,” Gerhardt said.


His wife, Sharla Gerhardt, liked Carly Fiorina and Jeb Bush and others, but settled on Cruz too.


“I liked the fact Trump stirred things up, but I don’t trust him,” she said.


____


Associated Press writers Nicholas Riccardi, Sally Ho and Michelle Rindels in Las Vegas, and Scott Sonner in Sparks, Nevada, contributed to this report.








Republican caucus-goers in Nevada make their voices known
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3:48 AM








Should local governments be allowed to decide bathroom policies for their transgender citizens without interference from political higher-ups?


Gov. Pat McCrory’s answer to that question apparently changes depending on which local governments we’re talking about, and whether he agrees with their outlook on the controversial topic.


Back in November, the governor said local schools should decide bathroom rights for transgender students. He spoke out against the Obama administration for joining a legal case aimed at giving boys’ bathroom access to a transgender Virginia student who was born female but identifies as male.


McCrory wrote a letter to his likely gubernatorial opponent, Attorney General Roy Cooper, demanding that the state’s top legal officer fight this “unacceptable and unnecessary” federal overreach.


Now here we are, just three months later, and the governor is engaging in “unacceptable and unnecessary” state overreach into the city of Charlotte’s debate over anti-discrimination protections for gay, lesbian and transgender citizens.


The flashpoint of the debate remains the question about transgender citizens and bathrooms. As the City Council moved Monday toward passing a new ordinance that would give bathroom-of-choice rights to transgender residents, McCrory warned that such action would spark immediate “legislative intervention” by the state.



This is not the first time McCrory has opposed gay rights. He fought expanded protections for gays as a City Council member in the 1990s. He snubbed the Human Rights Campaign in 2005 when the gay rights group sought a mayoral welcome for its fund-raising dinner in Charlotte. He also expressed support for Amendment One, the now-overturned constitutional amendment against gay marriage.



So while it is disappointing to see him oppose the new ordinance, it isn’t surprising. It aligns with his track record, and could help prop up his sagging poll numbers. To wit, the N.C. GOP issued a hyper-dramatic statement Monday hailing him for protecting families and children from Charlotte’s “radical special interest agenda.”


McCrory suggested in an email to two Republican City Council members that he’s wading in now because citizens from across the state and nation will be affected when they visit Charlotte.


That’s flimsy covering indeed, considering all the times when he railed as mayor about Raleigh politicians meddling in Charlotte’s affairs.


Our City Council, in pushing for new anti-bias protections, accurately reflects how most Charlotteans feel. The city’s voters reaffirmed that in last November’s elections by adding more council members who support those provisions.


Charlotte doesn’t need the governor’s input on this. We hope he’ll remember his own past words on local control. He – and the General Assembly – should stay out of the way.



Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/opinion/editorials/article61814002.html#storylink=cpy






McCrory’s hypocrisy in transgender flap
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3:45 AM

After more than three hours of impassioned public comment Monday night, Charlotte City Council approved new legal protections for gay, lesbian and transgender people – a decision that will likely provoke a battle with the General Assembly, which could nullify the city’s historic vote.


Council members approved expanding the city’s existing nondiscrimination ordinance in a 7-4 vote.


The decision elicited cheers and hugs from supporters, many carrying signs that read “Facts Not Fear.” Opponents of the ordinance, many with signs that read, “Don’t Do It Charlotte,” were upset by the decision.


The changes mean businesses in Charlotte can’t discriminate against gay, lesbian or transgender customers, in addition to long-standing protections based on race, age, religion and gender. The ordinance applies to places of public accommodation, such as bars, restaurants and stores. It also applies to taxis.


The most controversial part of the ordinance would allow transgender residents to use either a men’s or women’s bathroom, depending on the gender with which they identify.


The bathroom provision sparked the most opposition, with opponents mostly worried about the safety of women and girls in a public bathroom with people who were born male. Supporters said those fears were overblown, and that transgender people are at risk of violence in the bathroom.


In an email Sunday, Gov. Pat McCrory said the bathroom provision would likely cause “immediate” action by legislators.


In North Carolina, the General Assembly has the ultimate power over municipalities. Legislators could strike down the entire ordinance, or they could eliminate the provision that allows for bathroom flexibility. They also could send the issue to voters to decide in a referendum.


Council members have acknowledged that Raleigh may trump their decision Monday. But supporters said it was important to pass an expanded ordinance.


A year ago, the ordinance failed in a 6-5 vote.


But two new at-large members – Julie Eiselt and James Mitchell – were elected to the council in November, and both supported the ordinance.


Democrat Al Austin voted for the ordinance.


“Are we a city that panders to fear and hate to those who wish to perpetuate fear and injustice?” Austin asked. “I say to you, ‘Not on my watch.’ ”


Democrat Patsy Kinsey, who voted for the ordinance, likened the ordinance’s passage to her efforts more than a decade ago to bring domestic partner benefits to same-sex city employees.


Eiselt criticized the speakers who opposed the ordinance. She said if they were her church, she “wouldn’t return.”


Republican Ed Driggs voted against the ordinance. He said the bathroom provision is troubling.


“Everyone is required to use the bathroom of their gender – you can’t get more equal than that,” Driggs said. “It’s not the back of the bus.”


Driggs was joined by Democrats Claire Fallon and Greg Phipps and Republican Kenny Smith in voting no.


Earlier this year, Fallon said she would vote for the ordinance. She said she couldn’t support the bathroom provision Monday.



The council’s main chamber, which holds 250 people, was closed by the Fire Department because it reached capacity. The city placed people in overflow rooms in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Government Center, and other people filled the outdoor plaza behind the building.


Shortly before 7 p.m., the council began hearing from 140 speakers.


Jeanette Wilson of Charlotte, who opposed the ordinance, shouted at Mayor Jennifer Roberts and council members.


“Real discrimination happened at a lunch counter in Greensboro,” she said.


She added: “Mayor, your community forum was a sham!”


Wilson was referring to a meeting the city held in which supporters and opponents of the ordinance were asked to break into small groups and discuss the issue.


Lara Nazario, who was born a man but who identifies as a woman, said she wants to use the bathroom that corresponds with her gender identity.


“Is it my height or my Adam’s apple that makes me less of a human being?” she said. “I don’t want special treatment. I only want to be treated equally.”


Supporter John Arrowood, an attorney, said: “Discrimination against LGBT people is real. … We’ve seen the opposition focus on fear-mongering which has no basis in fact.”


Another speaker, Pam Burton of Charlotte, urged council to vote no.


“Please don’t discriminate against me and my children,” she said. “I’m not scared of transgenders, but sexual predators will see this as a chance for fresh victims. If one child becomes a victim through this, shame on all of you.”


Earlier, Franklin Graham, head of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, urged Christians to come to Monday’s meeting and speak against the proposed ordinance.


He said the bathroom provision is “wicked and it’s filthy.”


The expanded ordinance would be the first of its kind in North Carolina. Three South Carolina cities have similar ordinances: Columbia, Charleston and Myrtle Beach.


It’s unclear what the Republican-controlled legislature will do, though they will have a number of options. They also will have almost unlimited power, and the ability to nullify all or parts of the city’s nondiscrimination ordinance.



The city’s ordinance will go into effect April 1.


Legislators, who will start a new session in May, could have three options if they wish to overturn the city’s decision.


▪ They could nullify the entire ordinance as it pertains to gay, lesbian and transgender people. That would include the bathroom provision, but also protections in places of public accommodation.


This would be the most controversial path.


Last year, two Charlotte Republicans, state Reps. Dan Bishop and Jacqueline Schaffer, proposed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which could have thwarted LGBT protections.


But the bill split House Republicans, and McCrory expressed reservations about it. A number of large businesses, including American Airlines, also expressed reservations.


The bill died in April.


In an interview Monday before the council vote, Bishop said it was too soon to say what path he might choose if Charlotte passed the full nondiscrimination ordinance.


“I don’t want to go to war with Charlotte,” he said.


But he added he wanted to protect small businesses, and said legislators would likely consider some measure to overturn the ordinance.


▪ The General Assembly could let most of the ordinance stand, through passing legislation that would eliminate the provision allowing transgender residents to use a men’s or women’s bathroom.


In an email to two Republican council members Sunday, McCrory focused on that part of the city proposal.


“It is not only the citizens of Charlotte that will be impacted by changing basic restroom and locker room norms but also citizens from across our state and nation who visit and work in Charlotte,” McCrory wrote in the email. “This shift in policy could also create major public safety issues by putting citizens in possible danger from deviant actions by individuals taking improper advantage of a bad policy.”


▪ Legislators could hand the issue to voters.


In 2007, a citizen-led petition drive led to a new vote on whether to repeal the half-cent sales tax for transit. The effort failed.


For the nondiscrimination ordinance, there is no procedure at the moment for a petition drive to have a new vote on the issue, said City Attorney Bob Hagemann.


But the General Assembly could pass legislation to allow Charlotteans to petition for a referendum. Legislators could also vote to place the issue directly on a citywide ballot.


Bishop said he believed that could happen quickly, possibly as early as the November ballot. That’s when the governor, Senate and president will also be on the ballot.


STAFF WRITER MARK PRICE CONTRIBUTED.





Charlotte City Council approves LGBT protections in 7-4 vote
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3:32 AM

Alexis could never emerge from Messi


The Chilean spent three seasons at Camp Nou, but always appeared to shrink in the presence of the Argentine attacker and was eventually sold to fund a move for Luis Suarez


Had things turned out differently, Alexis Sanchez could be lining up for Barcelona againstArsenal on Tuesday night. As it is, however, he will be featuring for the Gunners against his former club and a player with whom he never truly gelled. In Spain, the Chilean was never able to emerge from the shadow of Lionel Messi.


Alexis arrived at Barca in the same summer as Cesc Fabregas. Big things were expected of both players, but the two ended up leaving three years later and neither can be considered a real success for the Catalan club.


At Arsenal, Sanchez is adored – just as Cesc had been prior to his departure and subsequent move to Chelsea in 2014. “People love him here,” Gunners great Thierry Henry told Barca’s official website in an interview this week. “They can’t understand why Barca let him leave. But if you have [Luis] Suarez, Neymar and Messi, then you can understand it.”


The Chilean, along with Fabregas, was sold to fund a move for the Uruguay striker in the summer of 2014 and Barca’s brilliant trident was formed. The ‘MSN’ moniker was born with Suarez, not Sanchez – and the former Liverpool striker has proved much more successful than his predecessor.



“I never regret my decisions,” Sanchez said this week. “It wasn’t easy to leave Barcelona. I fulfilled a dream when I moved there – to play in Spain and for the champions – but very few players stay in the same club all their life. To leave is normal. I wanted a new project, a new experience. And with so many attacking players at Barca it was a good choice to go.”


And that is perhaps the difference. Whereas the Chilean considered himself one of “so many attacking players at Barca”, Suarez made himself indispensable virtually from day one. While Alexis was in and out of the team all through his three-year stay at Camp Nou, the Uruguayan’s impact was so great that homegrown favourite Pedro left the club the following summer due to a lack of playing time – even when Barca were unable to sign a replacement.


Shy and introverted, Sanchez took time to come to terms with the move to the Blaugrana and did not speak to the media until his second season at the Catalan club. In those early days, he said little in the dressing room too and at one point Messi even asked his agent for help in bringing the player out of his shell.


At Udinese, Alexis attacked the spaces from deep in a counter-attacking style that suited his game. At Barca, however, he was forced to operate much further forward and the change proved difficult, where adapting his game for Messi was a particular struggle.



FULL STORY | No regrets over leaving Barca for Arsenal – Alexis

Alexis is not the first forward to have had problems adapting alongside the world’s finest footballer. Zlatan Ibrahimovic lasted only a season as Pep Guardiola moved Messi into the centre, while David Villa was utilised on the left and endured a tense relationship with the Argentine attacker at times.


With Alexis, however, there was no fallout. Encouraged to work hard in order to create space and goals for Messi, the Chilean did as he was told, but perhaps went too far: he often passed to his team-mate even if he was in a better position himself and always appeared confined with Leo in the team. Indeed, many of his best games were when the Argentine was out.


There were memorable moments, of course, especially in his third and final season. Those included a wonderful winner against Real Madrid in a Clasico clash at Camp Nou and another special strike on the final day of the season that almost saw Barca win the title.


Alexis played his finest football in that campaign under Gerardo Martino and the current Argentina coach gave a unique insight into the Chilean’s character in an interview with Goalrecently.





“We were just about to start an exercise in training,” he said. “He was 50 metres away. I called him: ‘Ale, Ale’. And he started sprinting towards me as if it were a match. I thought: ‘What’s up with him to make him come so fast?’ So I asked him: ‘What’s up? Are you crazy?’ And he said: ‘Well, because we’re fighting…"”


Sanchez had thought the pair were fighting because he had read it in the newspaper. Yet he had not taken the matter up with the coach until the Argentine had asked him what was wrong. It is hard to imagine Suarez staying silent in a similar situation.


It is also difficult to know how Alexis would have fared under Luis Enrique. In 2013-14, he featured alongside a Neymar who was still adjusting to life in Spain and a Messi who was enduring a season interrupted by injuries. In the current set-up, in addition, the Argentine is also much more generous than before, creating chances and assisting for his team-mates increasingly these days.


Alexis may never have benefitted from that, but in three full years at the club he never grabbed his chance like Suarez has done. And he never stepped out of the shadows of the world’s best player. Which is why the two men will be on opposing sides when Arsenal meet Barcelona on Tuesday night.



Alexis could never emerge from Messi"s shadow at Barcelona
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3:24 AM
Arsenal striker sends confident warning shot at Barcelona ahead of Champions League clash

Giroud and Wenger speaking ahead of Tuesday’s clash with Barcelona. (Picture: Getty)


Olivier Giroud is confident that Arsenal can beat Barcelona ahead of their eagerly anticipated Champions League clash.


Tonight’s clash with the La Liga giants is the fourth time in ten years that the two sides have gone head to head in Europe’s elite competition, including a 2-1 Barcelona victory in 2006’s final.


Wenger has only managed to beat his Spanish opposition once in that time after a 2-1 victory at the Emirates first-leg in 2011 but eventually succumbed to an overall defeat after a Messi brace sealed the second fixture.


But for Arsenal striker Giroud, he and his team-mates believe victory over Bayern Munich in October proves the club can beat the world’s best sides but they need to be at their 100 per cent best.


Arsenal striker sends confident warning shot at Barcelona ahead of Champions League clash

Giroud scored the winner against Bayern Munich. (Picture: Getty)

‘We would love to beat them because they look unstoppable. We need to play our best game and being all together and at 100 per cent, of course,’ Giroud told the Mirror. ‘Otherwise we’re not going to play this game to lose it.


‘We are confident, we need to be confident and play the Arsenal way. After, we’ll see. We did well against Munich. We know that we can beat big teams but there is one thing for sure: that we need to be at 100 per cent and determined.


‘I think it will be a different game than against Bayern. We can do very well in the Champions League. We just need to focus and give 100 per cent all together with good team cohesion.


‘We managed that against Bayern and that will help us to win tomorrow.’


 



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3:19 AM

Laudrup: Barcelona will kill sluggish Arsenal


The former Blaugrana superstar believes that the Gunners will be destroyed on the break by Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar if they commit to many men forward.


Former Barcelona superstar Michael Laudrup believes a lack of pace will fatally undermineArsenal’s attempts to cause a major Champions League shock against his old side.


The Gunners will start as underdogs when they take on the reigning European champions at the Emirates Stadium in the first leg of their last-16 tie on Tuesday, despite already having beaten German titleholders Bayern Munich at home earlier in the competition.


Laudrup, who masterminded victory over Arsenal during his time as manager of Swansea City, believes the likes of Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez will fill their boots if Arsene Wenger’s side overcommit to attack.


He told Goal: “I have seen Arsenal quite a few times this season. When they have a good day, they are the best team in the Premier League.



Laudrup: Barcelona will kill sluggish Arsenal
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3:15 AM


The Gunners take on Barcelona at the Emirates in the Champions League on Tuesday, and the former striker has backed Arsene Wenger’s men to come out on top


Thierry Henry has backed Arsenal to beat Barcelona after being pictured with his former Camp Nou team-mates on Monday.


The former striker caught up with Lionel Messi & Co. at the Emirates Stadium as they trained ahead of their clash with the Gunners in the Champions League.


Arsenal fans were not best pleased with the pictures, but Henry has now thrown his weight behind the Gunners as they bid to become the first team since Sevilla in October to beat the Catalan giants.


“It was nice to see the boys from my old club Barcelona yesterday but it’s time to step up and make history tonight Arsenal,” he wrote on Twitter.


Barca are currently top of La Liga and have lost just twice all season, with Luis Enrique’s men sitting eight points clear of second-placed Atletico Madrid.


The Gunners, meanwhile, sit third in the Premier League, level on points with London rivals Tottenham and two behind leaders Leicester City.



"Time to make history, Arsenal!" - Henry responds after being pictured with former Barca team-mates
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