June Jobs Report: 4.8 Million Jobs Added, Unemployment at 11.1 Percent

The U.S. added 4.8 million jobs in June, while the unemployment declined to 11.1%, according to Department of Labor data released Thursday.

Total non-farm payroll employment rose by 4.8 million in June, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics report, and the number of unemployed persons fell by 3.2 million to 17.8 million. These numbers mark the second month of both increasing jobs and dropping unemployment since the country lost a record 20.5 million jobs due to the coronavirus pandemic closures.

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Stocks Rise on Jobs Data, S&P 500 Ends Week with Solid Gain

Stocks are closing higher Thursday after a report showed the U.S. job market continues to climb out of the crater created by the coronavirus pandemic in the spring. The S&P 500 rose 0.45% and finished the holiday-shortened week with a gain of 4%. Stocks also rose across Europe and Asia, while oil prices strengthened on hopes that a recovering economy will mean more demand. Worries about the virus are still weighing on investors, however. Florida reported another sharp increase in confirmed cases, helping to cut the S&P 500′s earlier gains by more than half. The bond market was also showing continued caution.

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Carol Swain’s Prager University Video: Black Lives Matter Is a Marxist Movement

  Dr. Carol M. Swain sat down with Prager University’s Will Witt to discuss Black Lives Matter, their philosophy, and goals.   TRANSCRIPT Swain: I am a former professor of political science and law at Vanderbilt University. Before that, I was a tenured professor at Princeton University. I am a conservative. I have a podcast. I write articles and books. I am educating the world. The world is my classroom. Welcome to my classroom. Will Witt: I want to thank you so much for being here. I really appreciate it. in your intro you talked about how you are a conservative and people will look at you and say a black conservative? I didn’t know those people existed. How did you get to the point of where you are at now? Swain: I was born and raised in the country of rural Virginia. A southerner. And with that comes common sense. Now common sense is in short supply these days. I had common sense so even when I was a Democrat and I was not a conservative I was not necessarily seeing the world as everyone else did. So I can always say that my perspective on the world was…

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Nashville-Based Beacon Center Ranks La Vergne the Freest City in Tennessee

The City of La Vergne is the “Freest City” in all of Tennessee.

This, according to a study that Beacon Center of Tennessee staff call the City Freedom Index. Beacon staff published the study Wednesday.  Beacon, based in Nashville, is a right-of-center think tank.

“The Beacon Center says the reason La Vergne ranked in the number one spot is credit to its strong showing Free Enterprise (ranked 1 out of 30) and Cost of Government (ranked 3 out of 30),” La Vergne officials said in a press release.

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Commentary: What a Great Time to Be President

Those who seek the presidency have many reasons for doing so, but anyone who seeks the nation’s highest office hopes to make his mark as a leader of our free republic. For some presidents, the times provide less difficult challenges to surmount, and history little notes their tenure; for other unfortunate souls, events overwhelm them, and their failures are duly and ruefully recorded.

The most fortunate of presidents, however, are faced with tremendous challenges and yet are still able to lead our nation in ways that transcend these trials. 

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Study: Unemployment Pays Better Than Work for 68 Percent of U.S. Workers

The federal unemployment insurance emergency payments of an additional $600 per week to those laid off because of COVID-19 restrictions discourages work and slows down economic recovery, several reports indicate. Several congressmen have introduced proposals to address the issue.

A report published by the Foundation for Government Ability (FGA) found that by nearly tripling average unemployment benefits through the CARES Act, “Congress has created a situation where unemployment now pays better than work” for roughly 68 percent of U.S. workers.

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Crom Carmichael Breaks Down the History of Violence Promoted by the Democratic Party

Live from Music Row Monday morning on The 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. –  host Leahy welcomed the original all-star panelist Crom Carmichael to the studio.

During the second hour, Carmichael described the historically violent Democratic Party through their affiliations with the KKK, Occupy Wall Street, Black Lives Matter and Antifa. He went on to compare these organizations to the mafioso in their tactics of bullying and threatening violence against anyone who did not fall in line with their agendas.

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Stonewall Jackson Removed from Richmond’s Monument Avenue

Work crews wielding a giant crane, harnesses and power tools wrested an imposing statue of Gen. Stonewall Jackson from its concrete pedestal along Richmond, Virginia’s famed Monument Avenue on Wednesday, just hours after the mayor ordered the removal of all Confederate statues from city land.

Mayor Levar Stoney’s decree came weeks after Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam ordered the removal of the most prominent and imposing statue along the avenue: that of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, which sits on state land. The removal of the Lee statue has been stalled pending the resolution of several lawsuits.

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Seattle Police Dismantle ‘Occupied’ Zone, Arrest More Than 30

Seattle police turned out in force early Wednesday at the city’s “occupied” protest zone, tore down demonstrators’ encampments and used bicycles to herd the protesters after the mayor ordered the area cleared following two fatal shootings in less than two weeks.

Television images showed police, many in riot gear, confronting dozens of protesters at the “Capitol Hill Occupied Protest” zone that was set up near downtown following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

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‘An Amazing Deal’: U.S. Secures Most of Global Remdesivir Supply

The United States has secured nearly the entire global supply of remdesivir, a drug that has been effective in fighting coronavirus.

Remdesivir, which is manufactured by American pharmaceutical giant Gilead, has proven to help patients with coronavirus recover faster, according to The Guardian. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) secured more than 500,000 doses of the drug, accounting for the vast majority of Gilead’s July, August and September supply, according to a Monday press release.

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Boston Arts Commission Votes to Remove Abraham Lincoln Statue

The Boston Arts Commission unanimously voted Tuesday to take down the city’s historic Emancipation Memorial after activists demanded the statue’s removal.

The memorial depicts Abraham Lincoln standing with one arm raised over a freed slave crouched on his knees. Broken chains are depicted around the black man’s wrists and the word “emancipation” is written at the statue’s base.

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Neil McCabe Discusses Complacent Republicans and Trump’s Lack of a Second Term Agenda

Live from Music Row Wednesday morning on The 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. –  host Leahy welcomed Tennessee Star National Correspondent Neil McCabe to the newsmakers line.

During the third hour, McCabe weighed in on Republicans’ complacent behavior to mail-in voting but noted that they might have a good chance of retaking the House with only 18 votes needed. He somberly admitted that a Biden presidency would result in a restructuring of police departments and that the Democrats would continue to go after former Trump administration officials.

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Gun-Toting Restaurateur Upsets 5-Term Colorado Congressman

A pistol-packing restaurant owner who has expressed support for a far-right conspiracy theory has upset five-term U.S. Rep. Scott Tipton in Colorado’s primary elections.

Tipton became the fourth House member to lose renomination bids this year. Republican Reps. Steve King of Iowa and Denver Riggleman of Virginia, and Democrat Daniel Lipinski of Illinois, have already been ousted by challengers.

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Background Checks, a Metric for Gun Sales, Hit All-Time High

Historic numbers of background checks to purchase or possess a firearm were done in June, a trend in a year marked by uncertainty over the coronavirus pandemic, a subsequent economic recession, protests over racial injustice and calls to reduce police funding.

FBI numbers released Wednesday show that 3.9 million background checks were conducted last month, the most since the system was created in November 1998 to ensure felons and other prohibited people could not buy or possess a firearm. The previous monthly record came in March, when 3.7 million checks were done. Each week in June is now in the top 10 weeks for background checks.

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Citing Racial Bias, San Francisco Will End Mug Shots Release

San Francisco police will stop releasing the mug shots of people who have been arrested unless they pose a threat to the public, as part of an effort to stop perpetuating racial stereotypes, the city’s police chief announced Wednesday.

San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott said the policy, which goes into effect immediately, means the department will no longer release booking photos of suspects to the media or allow officers to post them online.

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Bill Hagerty Issues Statement After Iran Issues Arrest Warrant for Donald Trump

U.S. Senate candidate Bill Hagerty this week released a statement after Iran issued an arrest warrant for U.S. President Donald Trump for taking out the top Iranian general and known terrorist Qasem Soleimani.

“Soleimani was a terrorist with the blood of Americans on his hands. Thanks to President Trump’s decisive leadership, the world is a much safer place because Soleimani is dead,” Hagerty said in the press release.

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Crom Carmichael: Thugs and the Terrorists Now Rule Our Cities at the Behest of Democrats

Live from Music Row Wednesday morning on The 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. –  host Leahy welcomed the original all-star panelist Crom Carmichael to the studio.

At the end of the third hour, Carmichael continued to describe the Democratic Party as the party of violence pointing out its history within the KKK and now with Black Lives Matter as it’s current militant wing.

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Hennepin County Board Passes Resolution Declaring Racism a ‘Public Health Crisis’

The Hennepin County Board of Commissioners passed a resolution Tuesday declaring racism a “public health crisis.”

Commissioners Angela Conley and Irene Fernando introduced the resolution, which passed in a vote of 6-1.

“Ultimately this resolution is about the health and well-being of Hennepin County residents who have borne the brunt of racial discrimination and racial inequity through various different systems,” Conley said in a press release after the resolution passed.

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Commentary: Beware of Mark Cuban

Michael Bloomberg wasn’t able to buy the Democratic nomination. Maybe another billionaire leftist—Mark Cuban—will have better luck buying the Democratic nominee.

Cuban certainly has been carrying water for Joe Biden—or at least, for Biden’s policies, which amounts to the same thing. He hasn’t taken a knee—yet—in support of the rioters who are so upset about the death of George Floyd that they’ve been torching the businesses of people who had nothing to do with it.

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Michigan Judge Allows Restart of Disputed Oil Pipeline

A Michigan judge Wednesday allowed Enbridge to resume pumping oil through a Midwestern pipeline, nearly a week after shutting it down because of damage to a structure that anchors a section of the line running through a Great Lakes channel.

Enbridge’s Line 5 moves crude oil and liquids used in propane from Superior, Wisconsin, to Sarnia, Ontario, passing through parts of Michigan’s upper and lower peninsulas. A four-mile-long (6.4-kilometers-long) segment divides into two pipes that cross the bottom of the Straits of Mackinac, which connects Lakes Huron and Michigan.

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Michigan Bars Closed for Indoor Service, Restaurants Now Allowed to Deliver Alcohol

Michigan restaurants and bars will now be allowed to sell to-go alcoholic beverages, thanks to a new package of bills signed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Wednesday.

Bars and restaurants will now be able to sell drinks to-go, as well as deliver them, until December 31, 2025. Whitmer’s office said the bills are aimed at providing relief for restaurants and bars impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, according WXYZ.

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AG Yost Submits Brief Asking GM to Give Back Its $60 Million State Tax Credits After Breaking Agreement by Closing Lordstown Plant

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost submitted a brief to the Ohio Tax Credit Authority that demanded General Motors (GM) repay $60 million the company received in state tax credits after breaking its promise to Ohio and the Mahoning Valley.

Eleven years ago, GM started collecting tax credits for its Lordstown plant. In exchange for its tax credits, the auto giant said it would maintain Lordstown plant operations till 2028 and retain 3,700 jobs through 2040, according to Yost’s press release.

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