On Tuesday’s Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – Leahy was joined live on the newsmakers line by longtime friend and ambassador to the Iowa Democratic presidential field, Jim Larew.
Read the full storyMonth: January 2020
State Rep. Bo Mitchell Gears Up to Gut Last Year’s School Choice Bill
State Rep. Bo Mitchell, D-Nashville, is gearing up to defend proposed legislation he filed last year that, if enacted into law, would take away the Education Savings Account bill that passed last year.
Read the full story13-Year-Old American Teen Killed By Gunmen In Mexico
A 13-year-old Oklahoma teen was shot dead while traveling south of the U.S.-Mexico border, becoming the latest American to die at the hands of cartel gunmen in the country.
Read the full storyCommentary: America Needs Heroes Like Jack Wilson
Unmixed admiration is the only appropriate response to Jack Wilson’s heroic intervention to stop the deadly shooting last month at West Freeway Church of Christ in White Settlement, Texas. With a single bullet, Wilson saved countless lives in his congregation. While Wilson has been humble, Americans across the country have been inspired by his heroic actions.
Read the full storyNew Hampshire Bill Would Require News Outlets to Retract Crime Stories if Defendant Fount ‘Not Guilty’
A new bill scheduled to go before the New Hampshire Legislature this year would compel news outlets to retract stories if a defendant is found not guilty of a crime.
Read the full storyGolden Globes Host Ricky Gervais Roasts Hollywood ‘Perverts’: ‘Let’s All Have a Laugh at Your Expense’
British comedian and actor Ricky Gervais, in his fifth time hosting the annual Golden Globe Awards, used his opening speech to roast many of the most famous actors and filmmakers in the room and criticize the elitist mindset of Hollywood.
Read the full storyDuped Again: Former CIA Spook Says People Are Sharing Babylon Bee’s Satirical Take on Democrats’ Reaction To Soleimani’s Death ‘Like It’s Legit’
A former CIA analyst and cyber disinformation researcher said people are sharing satirical content suggesting Democrats are calling for the American flag to be at half-mast for Gen. Qasem Soleimani “like it’s legit.”
Read the full storyPelosi: Slotkin to Lead Bid to Restrict Trump’s Power in Iran
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said on Monday that U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) will be leading the bid to restrict President Trump’s power in Iran, several days after an airstrike killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani.
Read the full storyBloomberg Campaign Focuses on Super Tuesday States, Plans 12 Field Offices in Ohio
Democratic presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg currently has 800 organizers and staffers on his payroll, with more than 500 of them spread out among more than 30 states.
Read the full storyVirginia Amendment Would Allow Inmates To Vote, Potentially Roiling Politics In Counties With Prisons
Democratic lawmakers in Virginia, who recently won control of the state’s legislature, proposed altering the state’s constitution to allow prisoners and mentally handicapped individuals to vote.
Read the full storyMinnesota Supreme Court to Hear Ballot Lawsuit Plaintiffs Claim Block Republicans from the 2020 Primary Ballot
The Minnesota Supreme Court plans to hear oral arguments Jan. 9 in a lawsuit challenging as unconstitutional state ballot laws that plaintiffs say shut out Republican candidates from the March 3, 2020, presidential primary.
Read the full storyColumbus Dispatch Wants More Refugees in Ohio
The Columbus Dispatch wants Ohio to open the doors to more refugees.
Read the full storyMichigan A.G. Nessel Joined Two Legal Actions Against Trump Immigration Rules in December
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel joined legal actions against two immigration-related rules from President Donald Trump’s administration in December. According to a statement from Nessel’s office, Michigan’s chief law enforcement officer has joined Democratic attorneys general from around the country in challenging Trump’s effort to revoke Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitian nationals and a rule that will divert asylum-seekers to different countries. In regards to the latter, Nessel said the rule will send asylum-seekers to South American countries that have signed asylum cooperative agreements with the U.S., such as Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras. “This interim final rule ignores the vital economic contributions of immigrants throughout our state and this country and blatantly disregards the fact that asylum-seekers are already seeking protection from dangerous circumstances,” Attorney General Nessel said in a statement. “Forcing them into countries with some of the highest homicide rates in the world and providing no safeguards against family separation is not only counterproductive but pushes asylum-seekers further into the danger they’ve fought so hard to flee.” Her office joined 19 other state attorneys general in submitting a comment letter to the Department of Homeland Security to oppose the new rule. She also expressed concern…
Read the full storyRep. Ilhan Omar Introduces War Powers Resolution in Response to Trump’s ‘Act of War’
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN-05) introduced a War Powers Resolution Sunday to prevent the use of U.S. military force against Iran without congressional approval.
Read the full storyCharges Shed New Light on Vicious New Year’s Eve Murder of Minneapolis Woman
The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office announced charges Monday against Cedric Lamont Berry, a 41-year-old drug dealer who murdered Monique Baugh on New Year’s Eve.
Read the full storyGov. Bill Lee Doubles Down on His Unpopular Decision to Bring More Refugees into Tennessee
Gov. Bill Lee doubled down on his controversial — and unpopular — decision to say yes, rather than no, to more refugees in Tennessee during an interview with Michael DelGiorno on his radio program Monday morning, heard on Nashville’s 99.7 WTN.
Read the full storyTennessee Should Use $700 Million Surplus to End Poverty, State Rep. Bo Mitchell Says
At least one member of the Tennessee General Assembly reportedly wants to spend the state’s $700 million surplus on government social programs because he thinks it will help end poverty.
Read the full storyJim Larew Commentary: Making the Iowa Caucuses What They Are Not
There is a time-tested method to gain disproportionate national press attention by a presidential candidate whose Iowa caucus campaign is on the ropes. To create an impression of uncommon political bravery, that candidate need only make a series of frontal assaults while in Iowa on the Iowa caucuses themselves.
Read the full storyWilliamson Lays Off Campaign Staff; Nevada Dems Reveal Official Candidate List
Less than a month before the Iowa caucuses, the field of Democratic hopefuls pursing their party’s presidential nomination could shrink yet again.
Read the full storyLetter to the Editor: A Warning from Maine About the Taxpayers’ Role in Refugee Resettlement Programs
My home state has been ground zero for America’s failed, taxpayer abusive resettlement schemes for decades. Thousands of welfare dependent refugees, migrants, and illegal immigrants have been forced on our overburdened taxpayers in economically deprived cities, and the results have been disastrous. If Tennessee citizens fail to act, you will endure the same fate.
Read the full storyReport: Minorities Making Historic Economic Gains
Minorities have made historic economic gains under President Donald Trump, an analysis of data from the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) reveals.
Read the full storyFlorida House to Investigate Infiltration and Meddling by China in State-Funded Cancer Research Center
The Florida House will investigate “Chinese meddling in taxpayer-funded research” following a series of resignations at the Moffitt Cancer Center, a research nonprofit created by the Legislature in 1981 at the University of South Florida in Tampa.
Read the full storyCalifornia Democratic Party Pays Over $1 Million to Settle Sexual Harassment Claims Against Former Chair: Report
The California Democratic Party will reportedly pay more than $1 million to settle three lawsuits from former staffers alleging sexual misconduct and racial discrimination against the party’s former chair, Eric Bauman.
Read the full storySpeaker at Christian University Compares Illegal Immigrants to Biblical Israelites Going to ‘Promised Land’
In commemoration of Hispanic Heritage Month, a speaker at a semi-required university chapel event at Andrews University made calls for faith-based political activism in favor of looser immigration policies like DACA. He also compared Latin Americans coming to the U.S. to the children of Israel in the Bible who crossed the Jordan River into the Promised Land of Canaan.
Read the full storyCommentary: Trump Going Into 2020 Election Has Kept Promises and Achieved Results
The Washington Examiner’s Paul Bedard explained in an exclusive New Year’s Eve article how one month shy of completing three years in office, President Trump has fulfilled or is making significant progress on most of his 2016 campaign promises, which aides said give him a strong reelection argument to counter his impeachment by a bitterly partisan House last week.
Read the full storyGreta Thunberg’s Dad Worries About ‘All the Hate’ Aimed at Her
Speaking to a BBC Radio Programme, of which his daughter Greta is guest-editor today, Svante Thunberg said the 16-year-old had become “very happy” as a result of her climate activist work despite facing regular abuse from people who “don’t want to change” their lifestyles and he worries about all the “hate” she faces. Ironically the BBC flew presenter Mishal Husain to Stockholm to interview the teenager and her dad, New York Post reports.
Read the full storyOhio Projected to Lose Another U.S. House Seat After Census
The state of Ohio likely will be losing one U.S. House seat based on the population numbers released in recent U.S. Census Bureau estimates.
Read the full storyCommentary: There Is No Clever Democratic Impeachment Strategy
We are now approaching three weeks since the House of Representatives voted to impeach President Trump on December 18. After passing the articles of impeachment that identified no actual crimes, congressional Democrats scattered all over D.C., celebrating in posh restaurants and ritzy bars.
Read the full storyPompeo Staunchly Defends Drone Attack on Iranian General Soleimani
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Sunday staunchly defended the drone attack that killed top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani, but refused to publicly offer any evidence supporting the American claim that he posed an imminent threat to U.S. forces and officials in the Mideast.
Read the full story‘Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Is Funding an Effort to Secretly Embed an Army of Anti-Trump Attorneys Inside State Offices
Republican attorneys general are arguing that billionaire Michael Bloomberg is using his vast wealth to embed an army of lawyers into state offices for the purpose of taking on oil companies and President Donald Trump.
Read the full storyLeftwing ISAIAH and Media Calling Illegal Immigrant With Multiple DUI Offenses a ‘Faith Leader’
A leftwing religious Minnesota group called ISAIAH has long been touting the story of Carlos Urrutia. Urratia, according to ISAIAH, is a “faith leader” who “was forcibly and abruptly taken by ICE in July of 2018 while his family and other ISAIAH leaders watched in horror.” The ISAIAH story goes on to make it sound like Urratia was randomly picked up, despite being a longtime U.S. resident with children in the country, simply for the crime of being undocumented.
Read the full storyPresident Trump Calls Omar and Tlaib Anti-Semites During Evangelical Rally
President Donald Trump condemned the progressive “squad” Friday for their anti-Semitism and support of the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement.
Read the full storyMinnesota Senate GOP Announces Plan for ‘Clean Energy First’ Legislation
Minnesota Senate Republicans said they plan to introduce a “Clean Energy First” bill during the upcoming legislative session that will “prioritize clean energy” and “modernize Minnesota’s energy resources.” According to the Associated Press, several different versions of the “Clean Energy First” legislation were introduced during the last session, but all were intended to change how the state’s Public Utilities Commission (PUC) analyzed the long-term plans of utility companies. Senate Republicans say their bill will require Minnesota utility companies to “prioritize carbon-free technology” and will direct the PUC to “consider whether utilities’ new energy projects are in the public interest.” The legislation will include nuclear, solar, wind, hydropower, carbon sequestration, and municipal solid waste as clean energy sources. “In the next two decades, most fossil fueled power plants will likely be retired and replaced – representing more than 40 percent of our current capacity. As we plan for our state’s future energy needs, we have the opportunity to do so in a way that prioritizes efficiency and carbon-free energy,” Sen. David Osmek (R-Mound) (pictured above), chair of the Senate Energy and Utilities Committee, said in a statement. “‘Clean Energy First’ addresses our long-term energy needs in an affordable and reliable…
Read the full storyMichigan Supreme Court Declines to Restore Ban on Flavored Nicotine Vaping Products
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s motion to reinstate a ban on flavored vaping nicotine products has been denied by the Michigan Supreme Court.
Read the full storyMinnesota Teachers Union Plans to ‘Defeat Trumpism,’ Get Out ‘100 Percent’ of Teacher Vote in 2020
Minnesota’s largest teachers union has named “defeating Trumpism” and getting out 100 percent of the educator vote as some of its goals for the 2020 election cycle.
Read the full storyGov. DeWine Tells Trump Administration to Bring on the Refugees, Despite Foreign-Born Residents in the State Having High Rate of TB
Gov. Mike DeWine’s Christmas gift to Ohio residents was a letter to the U.S. Department of State inviting refugees to keep on coming in, including from countries with “high burdens” of tuberculosis.
Read the full storyEnvironmental Group with Ties to Nashville Has Plan to Defeat Donald Trump in 2020
Members of a left-leaning group who advocate for the Green New Deal who already have a presence in Tennessee have announced a three-part strategy to defeat U.S. Republican President Donald Trump this year.
Read the full storyMarsha Blackburn Fights for Pro-Life Law Out of Louisiana
U.S. Republican Senators Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee and John Kennedy of Louisiana, along with U.S. House Republicans Steve Scalise (R-LA-01) and Mike Johnson (R-LA-04), are fighting on behalf of a pro-life law out of the Bayou State.
Read the full storyCommentary: War With Iran?
Does the U.S. armed forces’ killing of Qassem Soleimani, leader of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ foreign wing, and his subordinate, Abu Mahdi al-Mohandes, outside Baghdad’s airport increase or decrease the chances of war with Iran? Does it mean a continuation of our disastrous endless wars?
Read the full storyCory Booker’s Campaign Struggles to Keep Up With Opponents’ Fundraising Efforts
New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker’s presidential campaign raked in just $6.6 million in the fourth quarter of 2019, the Booker campaign reported Friday.
Read the full storyTop Democratic Candidates End 2019 With Big Money Push
Several of the top-tier Democrats vying for their party’s presidential nomination released information this week about their fundraising efforts in the fourth quarter of 2019.
Read the full storyGolden Globes to Serve Vegan Cuisine for 2020 Awards Show
The 2020 Golden Globes are going vegan.
Read the full storyUS-led Coalition Denies Airstrike Near Baghdad Saturday
BAGHDAD – The U.S.-led coalition fighting Islamic State said Saturday it did not conduct any airstrikes near Camp Taji north of Baghdad.
Read the full storyICE Catches Illegal Alien Allegedly Behind Deadly Hit-and-Run and Released by Local Authorities
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was able to apprehend an illegal alien who, after getting arrested for a deadly hit-and-run accident, was immediately released by local authorities.
Read the full storyBernie Sanders Won’t Reveal Cost of Medicare-for-All Because ‘It’s Such a Huge Number’
Democratic 2020 candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders said Thursday that he won’t put a price tag on his government takeover of the health care system because the figure is “such a huge number.”
Read the full storyHow Crisco Toppled Lard and Made Americans Believers In Industrial Food
Perhaps you’ll unearth a can of Crisco for the holiday baking season. If so, you’ll be one of millions of Americans who have, for generations, used it to make cookies, cakes, pie crusts and more.
Read the full storyKeith Ellison Asks Supreme Court to Review ‘Illogical And Chaotic’ ACA Decision
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison has joined a coalition of 19 states in asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review a recent decision that found the individual mandate of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to be unconstitutional. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held in a December ruling that Obamacare’s individual mandate is unconstitutional, but ordered a lower court to decide whether the rest of the law can remain intact. “The individual mandate is unconstitutional because it can no longer be read as a tax, and there is no other constitutional provision that justifies this exercise of congressional power,” said the court. “On the severability question, we remand to the district court to provide additional analysis of the provisions of the ACA as they currently exist.” In the 2-1 decision, the court said that it may be that some, none, or all of the ACA is “severable from the individual mandate.” Ellison has now joined 19 other states in filing a petition that asks the Supreme Court to review the lower court’s decision. “Affordable, high-quality health care is a human right. It’s essential to being able to afford your life and live with dignity and respect,”…
Read the full storyMinnesota Senator Suggests Using Budget Surplus to Give Rebates to Taxpayers
A Republican state senator recently suggested using Minnesota’s estimated budget surplus of $1.3 billion to give a rebate “directly to taxpayers.”
Read the full storyOhio Governor’s Office of Workforce Transformation Seeks Businesses Who Want Up to $2K to Help Train Workers in Credentialed Technical Skills
A state program that helps businesses find and train employees with the skills they need is accepting applications from employers interested in joining the effort.
Read the full storyMichigan GOP Chair Calls Slotkin ‘Poster Child for Failed Foreign Policy Decisions’ in Response to Soleimani Statement
Michigan Republican Party Chairwoman Laura Cox singled out Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI-08) for her response to the death of Qasem Soleimani.
Read the full story