Tennessee General Assembly Moves on Bill Protecting Girls in Sports, Challenging Biden’s Executive Order

Once again, Tennessee’s General Assembly has taken up a bill ensuring biological sex is a factor in youth sports. Although the bill would apply to both genders, its preamble identified girls as the motivator for drafting the legislation. It referenced the general biological differences between the genders in competition, as well as noted the impact on female athletes when it comes to college recruiting and scholarship opportunities.

“[I]t is unfortunate for some girls that those dreams, goals, and opportunities for participation, recruitment, and scholarships can be directly and negatively affected by new school policies permitting boys who are male in every biological respect to compete in girls’ athletic competitions if they claim a female gender identity,” stated the bill. 

Read the full story

Pennsylvania Lieutenant Governor John Fetterman Launches Senate Bid

Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman will launch his bid for his state’s open Senate seat on Monday, becoming the first major candidate to vie for what will likely be one of the most competitive races in the country.

Fetterman previously served as the mayor of Braddock, Pennsylvania, a small steel town outside of Pittsburgh, but has found grassroots support across the country. He announced that he raised over $1.1 million in the weeks before his campaign, and his strong support in western Pennsylvania could make him an early frontrunner among the multiple Democrats expected to run for the seat.

Read the full story

Seattle Can’t Keep Up with All People They’re Charging, Criminals Being Left on the Streets

Increasing crime and COVID-19 restrictions have added to court backlogs in Seattle, allowing criminals to be released back on the streets as they await trial, Komo News reported Friday.

Law enforcement has continued to make arrests for minor and major crimes, even as arraignment has halted, which leaves the courts and prosecutors to decide who is jailed for safety reasons and who is released, Komo News reported. Over 500 out-of-custody cases have not been arraigned since the court stopped holding them in person due to COVID-19 restrictions in November, and several defendants were booked into jail and released on promises to appear in court.

Read the full story

Biden Quietly Nixes Trump-era Rule Combating Chinese Communist-Funded ‘Propaganda’ Centers

The Trump administration attempted to enact a policy that would force American universities to reveal cooperation with chapters of the Confucius Institute. President Joe Biden quietly revoked the policy a few days after his inauguration.

Axios reported that in the final days of his presidency, Trump enacted a policy that would compel primary, secondary, and postsecondary institutions to disclose all contracts and transactions with the Confucius Institute. Under the policy, schools that do not report information would lose certification for the Student and Exchange Visitor Program.

Read the full story

President’s Son Hunter Biden to Release Memoir ‘Beautiful Things’ in April

Hunter Biden

Hunter Biden, son of President Joe Biden, will release a memoir on April 6 titled “Beautiful Things.” The book will focus on the younger Biden’s well-documented and ongoing struggles with substance abuse.

The book is being published by Gallery Books, a subsidiary of Simon & Schuster. The book has received advanced praise from authors including Stephen King, Dave Eggers and Anne Lamott.

Read the full story

Life Will Return to Normal in Seven Years, Vaccine Database Shows

It will take seven years for life to return to normal and for coronavirus to subside, a Bloomberg database tracking worldwide coronavirus vaccinations found.

Although countries like the U.S. and Israel have administered coronavirus at a rate that will ensure herd immunity by 2022, most countries have fallen behind that pace and will not catch up for seven years, according to Bloomberg. More than 119 million vaccines have been administered in 67 countries and the most recent rate of vaccination was 4.54 million doses per day, the vaccine database showed.

Read the full story

SBA Hid Communications with Planned Parenthood Amid GOP Criticism Over PPP Loans

The Small Business Administration hid communications with Planned Parenthood regarding COVID-19 loans that Republicans say were illegal, emails obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation show.

The SBA released heavily redacted emails between the agency, lenders and Planned Parenthood affiliates in response to a Freedom of Information Act request the DCNF filed in May 2020. GOP lawmakers had previously demanded an investigation into $80 million in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans, saying they were obtained illegally.

Read the full story

National Mental Health Crisis Emerges Among Youth During Pandemic Lockdowns: Reports

Children and young adults are experiencing increased mental health issues, and suicide also is on the rise within the age group at least in part because of ongoing state shutdowns, according to several reports.

Within months of governors and local authorities shuttering schools, children were increasingly brought to emergency room doctors and specialists, according to a by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Read the full story

Zach Wamp Says Time Magazine Grossly Distorted His Role in Outcome of 2020 Presidential Election

Former Tennessee Congressman Zach Wamp said Time Magazine mischaracterized him and his role with a coalition of well-known political figures and what they did in the months leading up to the November 2020 presidential election. The Time article seemed to brag that various groups collaborated “behind the scenes” to defeat former U.S. President Donald Trump. The article has attracted nationwide attention.

Read the full story

Commentary: Tribalism Turns Toxic in the Social Media Age

Man is by nature a tribal creature. For many thousands of years, human existence was defined by family connections, with ties of blood and marriage providing the social network that ensured cooperation and support necessary to sustaining life. Loyalty to one’s kinship group — the tribe or clan — was vital to this system of cooperation, and from the deeply rooted tribal nature of human life emerges the sense of national identity that inspires what we call patriotism.

Read the full story

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin Issues 60-Day ‘Stand Down’ Order to Address ‘Extremism’ in the Military

Joe Biden’s Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has issued an unprecedented “stand down” order for the entirety of the United States military over the course of the next 60 days, for the purpose of addressing alleged “extremism” in the military’s ranks, as reported by Breitbart.

Austin announced the decision in a Tweet on Wednesday, saying that he “met with senior leaders to discuss extremism in the military. As a first step, I’m ordering a stand down to occur over the next 60 days so each service, each command, and each unit can have a deeper conversation about this issue.”

Read the full story

Pharmacy Student Sues University of Tennessee for Alleged Free Speech Violations

The University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) initially expelled a student for content on her personal social media accounts. Officials claimed that the nuclear pharmacy student, Kimberly Diei (’23), used speech that violated the university’s conduct policies, though Diei has claimed they never informed her of which specific policies she’d violated. Neither of her profiles or any of her content identified Diei as a UT student or mentioned the school in any capacity. Only after Diei obtained legal help did the university reverse her expulsion.

Diei was investigated by the school’s Professional Conduct Committee on two separate occasions based on anonymous complaints. The first investigation occurred during Diei’s first month on campus in September 2019 regarding her Instagram and Twitter accounts in general. Following its review, the committee required Diei to write an apology letter. About a year later, Diei came under investigation again and was expelled for posting several explicit tweets referencing pop culture.
Diei was investigated by the school’s Professional Conduct Committee on two separate occasions, instigated by anonymous complaints from other program students. The first investigation occurred during Diei’s first month on campus, September 2019, regarding her Instagram and Twitter accounts in general; the committee required her to write an apology letter. About a year later, Diei came under investigation again and was expelled for posting several explicit tweets referencing pop culture.

Read the full story

McConnell, Schumer Strike Deal on Impeachment Trial Rules

Senate leaders said on Monday that a deal has been agreed upon regarding the framework for former President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial slated to begin on Tuesday.

“For the information of the Senate, the Republican leader and I, in consultation with both the House managers and former President Trump’s lawyers, have agreed to a bipartisan resolution to govern the structure and timing of the impending trial,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Monday on the Senate floor. “All parties have agreed to a structure that will ensure a fair and honest Senate impeachment trial of the former president,” the New York Democrat said.

Read the full story

Commentary: The Left’s 1960s ‘Animal Farm’ Dream is America’s 2021 Nightmare

George Orwell published Animal Farm in August 1945, in the closing weeks of the Pacific War. Even then, most naïve supporters of the wartime Soviet-British-American alliance were no longer in denial about the contours of Moscow’s impending postwar communist aggression. 

The short, allegorical novel’s human-like farm animals replay the transition of supposedly 1917 revolutionary Bolsheviks into cynical 1930s Stalinists. Thereby, they remind us that leftist totalitarianism inevitably becomes far worse than the supposed parasitical capitalists they once toppled.

Read the full story

Minnesota Senate Unanimously Passes Bill Allowing Dentists to Distribute COVID Vaccines

In a 67-0 vote Monday, the Minnesota Senate passed legislation that will allow dentists to administer the COVID-19 vaccine.

SF 475 is a bill “amending Minnesota Statutes 2020, section 150A.055,” which gives dentists the ability to distribute influenza vaccines. The amendment broadens the original bill, extending to cover COVID-19 vaccinations, too. 

Read the full story

Councilmember Cancels Meetings with Community Amid Attempt to Gut MPD

Minneapolis City Councilmember Phillipe Cunningham once claimed that “community engagement” is key to defunding the police. Now, Cunningham has canceled his “Community Office Hours” after facing backlash due to the council’s efforts to defund law enforcement.

Cunningham has served on the council since 2017, when he became the second female-to-male transgender person elected to public office in the U.S. Cunningham also took a key role in the push to amend the City Charter to defund the police in June, and presently heads up the continued action towards this goal.

Read the full story

Ohio Statewide Curfew and Service Industry Revenue May Lift Thursday

During a COVID briefing last week Ohio Governor Mike DeWine (R) announced the statewide curfew could be lifted as early as this week if COVID hospitalizations stayed below 2,500 for seven consecutive days.

Over the last week, inpatient beds filled with COVID confirmed and probable patients numbered as follows:

February 2:         2,486

February 3:         2,380

February 4:         2,251

February 5:         2,172

February 6:         2,026

February 7:         1,969

February 8:         2,012

Read the full story

Senate Approves Adding Six Judges to Virginia’s Appeals Court

A bill to add six judges to the Virginia Court of Appeals passed the Senate 21 to 18 on Friday. The bill would also create a right to appeal, something that every other state already has, but that advocates say is currently impossible due to the court’s manpower shortage. The court has just 11 judges, while states with similar populations often have more. However, Republicans oppose the bill because judges would be elected in the Democrat-controlled General Assembly.

SB 1261 sponsor State Senator John Edwards (D-Roanoke) said in committee on January 25 that Virginia’s current system gives no automatic right of appeal in any Virginia court.

Read the full story

From Same-Sex Marriage to Equal Education Opportunities, Seven Constitutional Amendments Are Moving Through Virginia Legislature

The Virginia General Assembly considered over a dozen constitutional amendments in its two chambers this session; seven of them have been passed in either the House or the Senate. Last week, Senate Minority Leader Thomas Norment (R-James City) criticized the high number.

“I recognize that times change,” he said on the Senate floor. “I recognize that Virginia has changed and I recognize that there is a new cadre of legislators who have a different perspective on what the policies of the commonwealth should be.”

Read the full story

Governor Lee’s State of the State Address: a ‘Roaring’ Economy, Growth, and Investments in Local Communities

Despite the past year’s events, Governor Bill Lee had plenty of good news for Tennesseans in his State of the State Address. The General Assembly appeared to agree with the governor’s assessments – at many points throughout the address, their socially-distanced, masked audience rose to applaud Lee.

“Scripture has a lot to say about those crossroads and what to do on the heels of suffering. Where do we find promise in this season?” opened Lee. “The promise is found in perseverance which produces character that leads to hope. Tennesseans will know tonight that tragedy has no hold on who we are or where we are headed. Tragedy won’t define us, it won’t rob us of the opportunity that 2021 holds.”

Read the full story

Tennessee Democrats Call for $1B Investment in a ‘Path to Recovery’

Tennessee Senate Democrats are calling for a $1 billion investment in public health clinics, school renovation, clean energy jobs and broadband internet expansion ahead of Gov. Bill Lee’s State of the State address Monday.

In a statewide address Friday aired virtually from her home in Memphis, Senate Democratic Caucus Chairwoman Raumesh Akbari proposed a plan dubbed the “Tennessee Path to Recovery” and called on Republican colleagues to work together to address issues facing Tennessee’s working-class families.

Read the full story

Commentary: Does Anyone Really Think Impeachment Take Two is About Upholding the Constitution?

How precious it is to witness the same party that rejects the United States Constitution on a daily basis, now genuflects to and contorts the Constitution when it is convenient for their Democrat agenda.  The truth is the second impeachment trial of President Donald Trump has nothing to do with upholding the Constitution.

President Trump’s attorneys have clearly responded to the absurd Article of Impeachment.  Their answer on Trump’s behalf is clear and straightforward.

Read the full story

Biden Ends Trump-Era Deals with Central American Countries to Reduce Asylum Claims at US Border

Arrangements made between the U.S. and three Central American countries to curb the number of asylum claims at the U.S. border were suspended Saturday, the Biden administration announced.

The Asylum Cooperative Agreements that limited some asylum seekers from making claims in the U.S. and required them to instead seek asylum in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras were suspended and scheduled to be terminated with an executive order signed Tuesday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced.

Read the full story

Unity: Professor Who Made Barron Trump Joke at 2019 Impeachment Hearing Is Joining the Biden DOJ

President Joe Biden, who called for unity with Republicans during his inaugural address, has appointed Pamela Karlan, a Trump impeachment witness, to serve in a top position at the Justice Department.

Karlan, a law professor at Stanford University, came under fire during her December 2019 impeachment testimony for invoking Barron Trump, the teenage son of President Donald Trump.

Read the full story

Bill Prohibiting Halloween Activities, Imposing Curfew for Registered Sex Offenders Moves Through House

A bill prohibiting Halloween activities and mandating a curfew for registered sex offenders has moved steadily through the State House. The legislation was introduced by Representative Lowell Russell (R-Vonore), a retired member of law enforcement himself. 

The bill would align with similar rules previously imposed on offenders by law enforcement around the holiday. Since 2015, Tennessee Department of Corrections (TDOC) has implemented “Operation Blackout,” a coordinated effort to conduct compliance checks on sex offenders that were on probation or parole come Halloween night. The offenders were required to abide by a 12-hour curfew and no-costume policy, as well as keep their porch lights off, doors closed to trick-or-treaters, and homes free of all fall decorations.

Read the full story

Eleven Iranian Migrants Caught Illegally Crossing the Border

Eleven Iranian migrants were arrested on Monday after crossing the border illegally from Mexico into Arizona, as reported by Breitbart.

The group of illegals, confirmed to consist of six men and five women, was stopped in Yuma County, Arizona by the Yuma Sector Border Patrol. After being confirmed as Iranian citizens, they were taken to the Yuma Station for processing and questioning. The group included five adult women, two young boys, and four adult men.

Read the full story

Commentary: When Senate Tries Trump, Senate Republicans Are Also on Trial

When the Senate opens the second impeachment trial of President Donald J. Trump Tuesday there will be two defendants: Trump and the Senate Republicans.

Trump is charged with one count of inciting an insurrection against the United States, in connection with the Jan. 6 mob that surged the Capitol, while Congress was in a joint session to certify the results of the Electoral College: “Incited by President Trump, a mob unlawfully breached the Capitol, injured law enforcement personnel, menaced Members of Congress and the Vice President, interfered with the Joint Session’s solemn constitutional duty to certify the election results, and engaged in violent, deadly, destructive, and seditious acts.”

Read the full story

Gavin Newsom Less Than 100k Signatures Away from Facing Recall Election

Democratic California Governor Gavin Newsom is less than 100,000 signatures away as of Thursday from being forced into a recall special election.

California state law stipulates that a sitting governor must face a recall special election if 12% of voters from the previous gubernatorial election, in this case 1.5 million California residents, sign a petition to recall the governor. At the time of publication, 1.4 million Californians have signed a petition to recall Newsom.

Read the full story

Border Patrol Seized 470,000 Pounds of Drugs in 2020 Using New Screening Tech

Customs and Border Protection seized nearly half a million pounds of illegal narcotics at the border in 2020 using new screening technology, agency officials announced Thursday.

Over half of the narcotics found last year, or around 470,000 pounds, were discovered through so-called non-intrusive inspection technology, according to Customs and Border Protection (CBP). The agency seized a total of 808,522 pounds of illegal narcotics in 2020.

Read the full story

Nebraska County GOP Votes to Censure Ben Sasse; State Party to Hold Meeting on His Anti-Trump Votes and Comments

The Republican Party in one Nebraska county has chosen to censure GOP Senator Ben Sasse for supporting the impeachment trial of former President Trump in the Senate, and a number of other committee delegates throughout the state are reportedly thinking about doing the same. The Nebraska Republican Party will be holding a meeting later this month to discuss “possible action” related to Sasse’ votes in the Senate and his continual anti-Trump remarks.

The Scotts Bluff County Republican Party chair told the local Star-Herald newspaper regretfully that state law prevents them from recalling the senator.

Read the full story

White House Waffles on CDC Guidance for School Reopenings

The White House walked back comments from CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky, suggesting that schools might be able to reopen before all teachers have received a vaccine to prevent Covid-19.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Thursday claimed that Walensky was speaking in her “personal capacity.” Psaki explained, “obviously she’s the head of the CDC, but we’re going to wait for final guidance to come out.”

Read the full story

Two Senators Flip-Flop on Keystone XL Pipeline, Thwarting GOP Bid to Save It

Two Democratic senators—Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Jon Tester of Montana—who initially voted in favor of a Republican amendment reversing President Joe Biden’s cancellation of the Keystone XL pipeline later reversed themselves and voted with other Democrats to kill the amendment. 

Both Tester and Manchin voted late Thursday night for the amendment from Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., that would have reversed Biden’s Jan. 20 executive order ending further construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline, but changed their votes before dawn on Friday morning. 

Read the full story

Omar: Minneapolis Law Enforcement Officers Are ‘Unwilling to Work’

Rep. Ilhan Omar said the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) is low on officers because cops are “unwilling to work.”

MPD just began 2021 with about 200 fewer officers than it had at the start of 2020 after losing 105 cops during a year filled with riots and anti-police sentiment. During a usual year, the department would expect to lose just over 40 officers. The city now has just 638 active officers.

Read the full story

Georgia Legislator Pushes Bill to Remove Large Confederate Memorial at Stone Mountain Park

Georgia State Rep. Billy Mitchell (D-Stone Mountain) is sponsoring legislation that seeks to remove Stone Mountain Park’s 90-foot tall Confederate memorial. This memorial, carved into the mountain, depicts Confederate President Jefferson Davis and Confederate Generals Robert E. Lee and Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson, according to the park’s website. Members of the Stone Mountain Memorial Association manage the park, which is state-owned, according to their website.

Read the full story

Same-Sex Marriage Prohibition Repeal Moves Through Virginia House and Senate With Bi-Partisan Support

Bills to repeal Virginia’s same-sex marriage prohibition have passed in both legislative chambers with bi-partisan support this week. HJ 582, introduced by Delegate Mark Sickles (D-Franconia) and SJ 270, introduced by Senator Adam Ebbin (D-Alexandria) seek to amend language in the state constitution passed in 2006 saying that marriage is between one man and one woman.

“For several years now, I have introduced this resolution because I know millions of people want to either take back their vote that they made in 2006 or they weren’t old enough to vote in 2006 and want to weigh in on this,” Sickles said in subcommittee.

Read the full story

Ohio Lawmakers Again Try to Tackle New School Funding Framework

After spending years developing a new school funding plan and failing to get it through the General Assembly last year, Ohio lawmakers have put it back on the table in the new legislative session.

State Reps. Jamie Callender, R-Concord, and Bride Rose Sweeney, D-Cleveland, introduced the Fair School Funding Plan, legislation they said modernizes K-12 school funding across the state. It is nearly identical to the proposal that passed the House a year ago but stalled in the Senate as the session expired.

Read the full story

Amy Acton Quits Columbus Foundation, Possible Move to Gear Up for U.S. Senate Run

Late last week, several media outlets reported Dr. Amy Acton resigned as Director of Human:Kind – a Columbus Foundation project – a move that feeds speculation she is preparing to run for US Senate in 2022. 

This is the third resignation by Acton in less than a year.

The first was when she left the post of Director at the Ohio Department of Health in June in the middle of the COVID pandemic and amidst rising opposition to the state’s COVID policies – mandates one judge called “arbitrary, unreasonable and oppressive.”

Read the full story

Virginia Court Denies Chincoteague Church Lawsuit Over Northam’s Executive Orders

A U.S. District Court has dismissed a lawsuit by Chincoteague Lighthouse Fellowship Church against Governor Ralph Northam. In April 2020, the church sued over Northam’s Executive Orders 53 and 55, which limited gathering sizes to 10 and issued a stay-at-home order. But in a January 27 decision, Judge Arenda Wright Allen dismissed the suit, saying that the complaint was moot since those executive orders no longer stand.

Read the full story