Day: January 28, 2021

Tennessee Legislator Proposes Bill Preventing Businesses from Denying Service to Maskless or Unvaccinated Customers

Corinne Murdock

State Senator Joey Hensley (R-Hohenwald) filed a bill for introduction that would amend certain aspects of the Tennessee Code relative to discrimination. Senate Bill 320 would expand the Code’s provisions to prevent businesses from denying services to individuals who don’t wear or use a certain medical device, or if they haven’t received a certain medical treatment. It would also prevent local government entities from enforcing individual compliance with those medical devices or treatments.

Medical devices covered by the bill are instruments; apparatuses; implements; machines; appliances; implants; reagents for in vitro use; softwares; and materials such as face masks, shields, or cloth coverings. Medical treatments are procedures or medications such as immunizations. 

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Newt Gingrich Commentary: President Biden’s Flimsy Coalition and the Left’s Piñata Party

Admin

There seems to be a continued, deep split between the message of unity the President Joe Biden administration would like us to hear – and what its actions are communicating.

Again, President Biden’s inaugural address was great. It hit the right themes of bringing people together as Americans. But but he promptly walked up to the White House and created dissonance with his first volley of clearly partisan left-wing executive orders.

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EPA Approves Tennessee’s Use of Technology That Kills Over 98 Percent of Airborne COVID-19 Particles

Corinne Murdock

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will allow Tennessee to use technology that reportedly kills over 98 percent of airborne COVID-19 particles. The emergency exemption request was approved under Section 18 of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA).

The antiviral air treatment, Grignard Pure, is composed of Triethylene Glycol (TEG) vapor and nanoparticles that permeate and kill the COVID-19 virus particles by disrupting the protein and membrane structures. The EPA confirmed prior independent lab reports that the treatment kills over 98 percent of COVID-19 particles.

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Commentary: The Dark Side of Global ‘Gender Equality’

Admin

Dr. Anthony Fauci just announced the Biden administration’s commitment to “advance gender equality at home and around the world.” This is underscored by President Joe Biden’s executive order allowing biological males to compete in girls and women’s sports and removing justification for female spaces in schools.

We are watching the deliberate deconstruction of biological distinctions before our eyes. But there is much more at stake here than women’s privacy or women’s sports, though those concerns remain vital.

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Biden’s Asia Policy Czar Was an Executive of Group with Chinese Communist Party Ties: Report

Admin

President Joe Biden’s Asia policy czar pick was a top executive at a non-profit foundation that had direct ties to the Chinese Communist Party, The Washington Free Beacon fist reported Wednesday.

President Joe Biden’s choice to head Asia policy Kurt Campbell served on the board of the U.S.-China Strong Foundation as vice chairman until August 2020, The Washington Free Beacon reported. The group is funded by Chinese-American philanthropist Florence Fang, a leader of the National Association for China’s Peaceful Unification (NACPU), which is controlled by China’s international propaganda agency the United Front Work Department (UFWD).

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Federal Judge in Texas Blocks Biden’s Deportation Moratorium

Admin

A federal judge in Texas has sided with the state’s Attorney General against the Biden Administration, temporarily halting Biden’s planned pause on deporting illegal aliens, as reported by The Daily Wire.

Biden originally announced the 100-day halt on all deportations shortly after taking office, directing his Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to focus its resources elsewhere. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton subsequently sued the administration, pointing out that such a moratorium would force the state of Texas to face “irreparable education and healthcare costs,” and also violated a prior agreement between the state government and the DHS, where the DHS was obligated to inform the state of any significant changes in its immigration policy beforehand.

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Google Suspends Ads for Bipartisan Supreme Court Advocacy Group

Peter D'Abrosca

A bipartisan group that advocates for an independent Supreme Court is crying foul after Google allegedly refused to place their online advertisements. 

“Keep Nine, a bipartisan organization that advocates for an independent Supreme Court,has had its Google ads suspended in an arbitrary move by the website,” ValueWalk reported. “According to Google, the ad was disapproved because of a ‘Sensitive Event’ surrounding the election, that event being Joe Biden’s inauguration as president Wednesday.”

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U.S. Senate Escapes Gridlock After Two Democrats Promise to Protect Filibuster

The Center Square

After receiving commitments from two Democratic colleagues that they wouldn’t abolish the filibuster, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell says he’ll hand over the chamber’s legislative gavels to Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. 

The U.S. Senate is actually split 50-50 between Republicans and Democrats, but Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris holds the tie-breaking vote.

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Tennessee’s Estimated Infrastructure Costs Balloon to $58 Billion

Corinne Murdock

The state’s necessary costs for infrastructure have ballooned to $58 billion for projects from 2019 to 2024. The Tennessee Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations (TACIR) issued the annual report on Monday. TACIR noted that the $3.8 billion difference from last year’s report marked a nearly 7 percent increase.

According to TACIR, the bulk of the increase – nearly $3 billion – came from transportation and utility needs, mainly for new road and sidewalk projects. Needs of the “general government” accounted for a majority of the remainder at $608 million.

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Biden State Department Sounds off on Chinese Technology Abuses, but Refuses to Say if it Will Continue Trump’s Fight Against Chinese Telecoms

Admin

The State Department refused to say whether President Joe Biden will continue a bipartisan Trump administration initiative that commits American allies to keep Chinese telecoms out of their networks.

Some 60 countries, including 27 of the 30 NATO countries, as well as Japan, Israel, Australia, Singapore, Taiwan, Vietnam and India, had signed onto the Clean Network program by the time former President Donald Trump left office. Participants of the program have agreed to prohibit high-risk Chinese vendors such as Huawei from being a part of their 5G mobile infrastructure.

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Biden’s Energy Nominee Divvied Millions in Taxpayer Funds to Alternative Energy Startups That Went Bankrupt

Admin

President Joe Biden’s nominee to head the Department of Energy, Jennifer Granholm, divvied out millions in taxpayer funds during her two terms as Michigan governor to alternative energy companies that eventually went bankrupt.

In one instance, Granholm’s administration provided a $9.1 million refundable tax credit to a renewable energy company registered to the address of a single-wide trailer and run by a convicted embezzler named Richard Short. Short was found to be in violation of his parole and sent back to prison after appearing on stage with Granholm in 2010 to accept assistance from the Michigan Economic Growth Authority, according to Michigan Capitol Confidential.

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Running Out of Options, Virginia GOP State Central Committee Might Choose 2021 Party Nominees

Eric Burk

  The Republican Party of Virginia (RPV) is headed towards the State Central Committee (SCC) selecting the GOP 2021 nominees for governor, lieutenant governor, and attorney general. A majority of the party has voted repeatedly for an in-person convention, which is illegal under current COVID-19 executive orders. A minority of the party hoping for a primary has blocked attempts to pass an amendment to party rules allowing an unassembled convention. “That’s the danger of this game of chicken that’s being played, and it’s what concerns me,” RPV Chair Rich Anderson said on The John Fredericks Show on Wednesday. “It appears that those votes are not going to be there [to approve the amendment].” Without those votes, the party could be stuck with 72 SCC members choosing the 2021 nominees even though 1.96 million Virginians voted Republican in the 2020 presidential election. Anderson said, “Right now on this day, standing in front of my telephone with you, I don’t see a pathway forward.” In a Monday letter to the SCC, Anderson said the next SCC meeting would occur on February 27, after the deadline to opt for a state-run primary has passed, effectively ending discussion of a primary. The SCC could…

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Bill to Recognize Some Out-of-State Cccupational Therapist Licenses Asses Virginia Senate

The Center Square

Legislation that would allow the state to recognize additional out-of-state occupational therapist licenses unanimously passed the Virginia Senate on Tuesday.

Senate Bill 1189, sponsored by Sen. Ghazala Hashmi, D-Richmond, would enter Virginia into the Occupational Therapy Interjurisdictional Licensure Compact. All states in the compact would recognize licenses granted by other states in the compact after 10 states enter the agreement. The bill has a delayed effective date of Jan. 1, 2022.

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Ohio Moves to 11 p.m. Curfew for Two Weeks

Jack Windsor

Ohio’s statewide curfew will be extended after COVID-related hospitalizations dipped below 3,500 for the seventh consecutive day on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, Ohio Governor Michael DeWine (R) announced that the Ohio Department of Health (ODH) recommended altering the statewide curfew to 11:00 p.m. – 5:00 a.m. when COVID-related hospitalizations fall below 3,500 for seven consecutive days. Tuesday was the sixth consecutive day, Wednesday the seventh.

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Republicans, Business Industry Express Dismay with Minnesota Gov. Walz’s Proposed Spending and Tax Increases

The Center Square

While Minnesota is recovering from a 2020 budget deficit and public health hangover, Gov. Tim Walz proposed a $52.4 billion budget – a $4 billion spending increase from the prior biennium budget and the largest proposed spending plan in state history.

“As a result of rising costs and inflation, it is expected that budgets will increase biennium to biennium,” Minnesota Management and Budget (MMB) spokesman Chris Kelly told The Center Square in an email.

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Georgia State Rep Removed from Chamber for Refusing COVID Test

Peter D'Abrosca

A member of the Georgia State House was removed from the Chamber Tuesday for refusing to take the state lawmakers’ mandated twice-weekly COVID-19 test. 

“House Speaker David Ralston interrupted Tuesday morning’s session to call out an unnamed house member for refusing to get the required twice a week COVID-19 test,” according to WSBTV. “While he didn’t mention the Gwinnett County lawmaker by name, Ralston ordered Rep. David Clark (R-Buford) out of the chamber.”

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House Passes Legislation to Help Virginia Administer Vaccinations, Senate Version Waiting to be Heard

Jacob Taylor

The Virginia House of Delegates on Tuesday passed emergency legislation to speed up the state’s slow vaccination campaign by expanding which health care workers can administer shots to citizens and locations serving as inoculation sites.

House Bill 2333, introduced by Del. Lamont Bagby (D-Henrico), passed the House with bipartisan support from committee to a final floor vote in just one day, a process that normally takes multiple meetings of the body.

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Ohio Gives Tax Assistance to Six Projects, Including One for the Cleveland Clinic Which Has $11.8B in Reserve

Jack Windsor

The day after Ohio Governor Richard Michael DeWine (R) ordered hundreds of millions in spending cuts  to state government, he and Lt. Governor Jon Husted announced six projects set to receive tax assistance approved by the Ohio Tax Credit Authority (OTCA).

The six businesses are Jo-Ann Stores LLC, Kalera Inc., Cross Country Mortgage LLC, The Cleveland Clinic Foundation, CBTS Technology Solutions, LLC and High Road Holdings LLC.

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EPA Approves Georgia’s Use of Technology That Kills Over 98 Percent of Airborne COVID-19 Particles

Corinne Murdock

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will allow Georgia to use technology that reportedly kills over 98 percent of airborne COVID-19 particles. The emergency exemption request was approved under Section 18 of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA).

The antiviral air treatment, Grignard Pure, is composed of Triethylene Glycol (TEG) vapor and nanoparticles that permeate and kill the COVID-19 virus particles by disrupting the protein and membrane structures. The EPA confirmed prior independent lab reports that the treatment kills over 98 percent of COVID-19 particles.

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Georgia GOP Adopts Resolution Opposing Trump Impeachment

Peter D'Abrosca

The Georgia GOP adopted a resolution Wednesday opposing the impeachment of former President Donald Trump, and noting the hypocrisy of the Democratic Party. 

“NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Georgia Republican Party, deploring senseless violence and destruction of all kinds, urges the United States Senate to end the impeachment proceeding as a provocative, unenforceable, and hypocritical miscarriage of justice,” a press release said. 

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Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan Suggests Statewide Grand Jury Look Out for Election Fraud

Chris Butler

Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan (R-Cumming) said this week he wants legislators to discuss “serious, meaningful election reform” during the current legislative session, and he suggested state officials require a photo ID if people vote absentee. Duncan, during a press conference at the Georgia State Capital in Atlanta, also pitched the idea of a statewide grand jury to monitor possible election fraud.

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Michigan Republicans Counter Gov. Whitmer with $3.5 Billion COVID-19 Recovery Plan

The Center Square

A week after Gov. Gretchen Whitmer pitched a $5.6 billion COVID-19 recovery plan, House Republicans countered with their own plan — with a significantly smaller price tag. 

House Appropriations Chair Thomas Albert, R-Lowell, announced the $3.5 billion plan that would use federal and state funds to help struggling job providers and families, return kids to school and sports, and boost the vaccine distribution program.

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Virginia Republican Gubernatorial Candidates Welcome Snyder into Race

Eric Burk

Republican gubernatorial candidates Delegate Kirk Cox (R-Colonial Heights) and Senator Amanda Chase welcomed Pete Snyder into the nomination race Tuesday.

“Look forward to working with you again Pete. Welcome to the race,” Chase tweeted, posting a picture of Snyder working in her 2019 campaign office.

Cox tweeted, “I’d like to welcome Pete Snyder to the 2021 gubernatorial race. It’s my firm belief that competition is a good thing — and I look forward to a robust discussion in which Virginia Republicans can choose the proven candidate that can best unify the party and lead Virginia forward.”

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Virginia House Subcommittee Votes to Change Bill to Automatically Restore Felon Voting Rights After Release from Prison

Eric Burk

Delegate Jay Jones (D-Norfolk) and House Majority Leader Charniele Herring (D-Alexandria) both pre-filed bills that would automatically restore felon voting rights after the felons complete their sentences including probation. After discussion in a subcommittee Monday, the two bills will be combined under HJ555, and subcommittee members unanimously voted to change the bills to automatically restore voting rights after the felon has been released from prison, before completion of probation or other elements of the sentence.

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