Thursday morning on the Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed Tennessee State Rep. and House Republican Caucus Chairman Jeremy Faison to the studio to discuss his role and take listener calls.
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Thursday morning on the Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed the Republican Caucus Chair in the Tennessee House of Representatives Jeremy Faison in the studio who urged all Tennesseans to communicate with their state legislators.
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In a 10-minute video, Project Veritas exposed Salesforce executives bashing the GOP for the mostly peaceful protests at the Capitol on January 6, just weeks after the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) company unexpectedly severed ties with the journalistic nonprofit.
The footage from virtual meetings held by high-level executives was sent to Project Veritas by a whistleblower inside the company, according to Veritas’ founder James O’Keefe.
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Changes in Mexican asylum laws and modifications to U.S immigration policy combined with exploitation by smugglers are causing an increase in migrants at the southern U.S. border seeking entry, according to reports.
The Biden administration suspended the ‘remain in Mexico’ program allowing some asylum seekers to enter the U.S. and ended a policy preventing unaccompanied minors from coming into the U.S., The Washington Post reported. Mexico implemented laws banning migrant families from returning if facilities are full and smugglers in Guatemala are exploiting people saying the administration is taking a softer approach towards asylum seekers.
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Republicans Sen. Rand Paul and Rep. Joe Wilson reintroduced the National Right to Work Act on Wednesday, which would prohibit unions from coercing private sector employees from paying dues.
The National Right to Work Act is a one-page bill that doesn’t add to existing labor law, but removes language from past legislation, South Carolina Rep. Joe Wilson said Wednesday. The bill was originally introduced in 2019 with widespread Republican support on Capitol Hill, but never received a vote.
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Thursday morning on the Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed Sales Nexus Founder and CEO Craig Klein to the newsmakers line to offer an alternative to censorship-centric Salesforce’s Big Tech program.
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A Memphis-area high school principal has filed suit against Shelby County Schools for violating his First Amendment rights after he was suspended for telling students social media and technology companies pose a threat to free speech.
Cordova High School Principal Barton Thorne was placed on administrative leave by the district in January after expressing concern to students over the way unregulated tech and social media companies have the power to control conversations and shut down discussions online.
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The number of Americans filing new unemployment claims decreased to 730,000 last week as the economy continued to suffer the effects of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, according to the Department of Labor.
The Bureau of Labor and Statistics figure released Thursday represented a decrease in the number of new jobless claims compared to the week ending Feb. 13, in which there were 841,000 new jobless claims reported. That number was revised down from the 861,000 jobless claims initially reported last week.
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The Biden Administration is facing widespread criticism from local authorities and citizens as its open-border immigration policies have led to hundreds of potentially coronavirus-positive illegal aliens being unleashed into American border towns, as reported by Breitbart.
Juan Mendez, the mayor of Brownsville, Texas, told the New York Times that “if it’s several hundred [aliens] overnight, then that’s something that would become overwhelming for us.” Mendez added that “the administration is very well aware of that. We’ve conveyed that on numerous occasions.”
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Republican Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst is introducing a bill that would criminalize any sterilization or abortion procedure performed without informed consent from the patient.
The Iowa Republican’s legislation builds off a September 2020 whistleblower complaint that alleged mass hysterectomies were performed on immigrant women by Dr. Mahendra Amin without their consent while they were being held at Irwin County Detention Center in Georgia. Amin, a rural gynecologist, has denied any wrongdoing.
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Thursday morning on the Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed Tennessee Congressman David Kustoff to the newsmakers line to talk about his career and the differences between Democrats and Republicans in Congress.
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Sacramento
The little-known Oakley Union Elementary School District, in the sprawling suburbs 50 miles east of San Francisco, isn’t accustomed to national attention. The school board’s hot mic moment, however, during a video call earlier this month created widespread and justifiable anger because it captured the arrogance, stupidity, and condescension that’s typical on some school boards — especially as officials drag their feet on reopenings.
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The Virginia Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has released the results of a survey about the effects of COVID-19 lockdowns on children in the state, which it calls “alarming.”
“In the nine months since the issuance of the COVID-19 emergency declaration, our patients have experienced a major disruption in their lives, including disruptions to academic structure, participation in activities, peer interactions, lifestyle, and overall physical and emotional health,” the group explained. “To better identify and address the concerns of our patients and providers in Virginia, the Virginia Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics conducted a survey in December 2020 of 203 pediatric providers in the Commonwealth of Virginia.”
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Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) could be the subject of an investigation regarding her handling of nursing home patients who contracted COVID-19.
“Gov. Whitmer’s regional hub policy placed patients with and without COVID-19 in the same facilities and may have exacerbated the death toll in those facilities,” said state Sen. Jim Runestad (R-White Lake) in a press release. “Questions remain regarding the accuracy of data, compliance with CDC guidelines and compliance with our state’s Freedom of Information Act. There is a critical need for a full investigation into these matters.”
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The Ohio Republican Party (ORP) will select its next leader Friday when the State Central Committee (SCC) members cast their votes for chairman.
SCC members will meet in person at the Nationwide Hotel and Conference Center or join the meeting virtually. The SCC currently has 65 members who are eligible to vote as opposed to their traditional roster of 66 – one seat is vacant. The Ohio GOP leader will be decided by a simple majority vote.
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Only 42% of Minnesota seniors, the group most susceptible to death by COVID-19, have received the first of two COVID-19 vaccination shots.
AARP Minnesota, which represents 640,000 people, sent Gov. Tim Walz a letter detailing problems with the vaccine rollout, saying it left seniors “frustrated and confused.”
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The Senate and the House of Delegates passed HB 2020, a bill that, after it goes into effect in 2024, could effectively ban completely in-person nominating conventions like the one the Republican Party of Virginia is planning to hold this year. On Tuesday, the Senate passed their version of the bill, and on Wednesday, the House approved the Senate’s changes. Sponsor Delegate Dan Helmer (D-Check) said the bill isn’t meant to target any specific process, but rather to ban processes that don’t allow legitimate voters to participate.
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As warmer weather starts to tempt Virginians out of their COVID caves, Governor Ralph Northam announced another round of relaxed restrictions on outdoor activities, effective March 1. On Wednesday, Northam amended Executive Order 72 to allow up to 25 people at outdoor social gatherings, allows outdoor venues to have the lesser of either 1,000 people or 30 percent of their capacity, allows overnight summer camps to begin operations on May 1, and extends alcohol sales curfews until midnight, when restaurants must still close.
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A 1998 Georgia law authorized the state to have mobile voting facilities, but voters in the Peach State’s most recent presidential election who voted at such places acted against that law’s original intent. State Sen. Mike Dugan (R-Carrollton) said this Thursday as he spoke to members of the State Senate’s Ethics Committee. Dugan said this as he discussed a new bill he’s sponsoring to reform the state’s election systems.
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U.S. President Joe Biden has requested the resignation of U.S. Attorney Don Cochran, who oversees the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Tennessee and who was appointed by former U.S. President Donald Trump. This, according to a press release that officials at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Tennessee published this week. Cochran will leave his post at the end of this month, the press release said.
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Once-secret reports show the FBI effort to spy on the Trump campaign was far wider than previously disclosed, as agents directed an undercover informant to make secret recordings, pressed for intelligence on numerous GOP figures, and sought to find “anyone in the Trump campaign” with ties to Russia who could acquire dirt “damaging to Hillary Clinton.”
The now-declassified operational handling reports for FBI confidential human source Stefan Halper — codenamed “Mitch” — provide an unprecedented window both into the tactics used by the bureau to probe the Trump campaign and the wide dragnet that was cast to target numerous high-level officials inside the GOP campaign just weeks before Americans chose their next president in the November 2016 election.
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The Clarksville City Council is considering a Second Amendment sanctuary resolution in a meeting this afternoon.
Councilmember Jason Knight is offering “Resolution 56-2020-21 Declaring the City of Clarksville as a 2nd Amendment Sanctuary City.” The meeting starts at 4:30 p.m.
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Salesforce has shut down the Republican National Committee’s (RNC) ability to send emails through their platform.
Salesforce.com is a Silicon Valley-based giant in the enterprise software space with over $13 billion in revenue. The company was founded by Marc Benioff in 1999, who acquired Time Magazine in 2018.
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During the 2019 shareholder season, Justin Danhof, general counsel for the National Center for Public Policy Research, tabled a shareholder proposal at Amazon’s annual meeting. “Diversity in board composition is best achieved though highly qualified candidates with a wide range of skills, experience, beliefs, and board independence from management,” it read. Uncontroversial, one might think, but Danhof was booed and heckled throughout his presentation. Afterward, a representative for Arjuna Capital (which “works with high net-worth individuals,” its website says) told Danhof that he was simply trying “to protect white males.” A representative of the Nathan Cummings Foundation (with $424 million of cash and investments, on its most recent balance sheet) made clear that Danhof was unwelcome and should hasten, lest he be late for his next Klan meeting or book burning.
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Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has introduced a plan to “reorganize” ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations to the point where it will no longer be about enforcing the nation’s immigration laws, the Washington Times reported.
The Cuba-born Mayorkas floated this plan to essentially “abolish ICE” last week during a telephone conference call with agency personnel in Texas, according to the Times’ sources, who claimed Mayorkas proposed “taking members of the country’s 4,000-strong deportation force off the streets and converting them into criminal investigators.”
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A new facility to hold unaccompanied migrant children was opened in Texas this week because the Biden administration is encouraging illegal immigration, a former border official said Wednesday.
The Carrizo Springs facility was not opened to comply with COVID-19 regulations as the Biden administration has said, according to former Acting Commissioner of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Mark Morgan in an interview with Fox Business.
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Dozens of Republican members of Congress wrote a letter to National Institutes of Health Acting Inspector General Christi Grimm on Tuesday demanding a “prompt and thorough investigation” into the NIH’s relationship with a Chinese lab that studied coronaviruses.
The 28 lawmakers demanded Grimm investigate the total amount of funding the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) has received from the NIH, as well as whether any NIH officials communicated with the lab or its U.S. sponsor at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic to quell debate surrounding the theory that the virus could have accidentally escaped from the lab.
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Johnson & Johnson’s one-dose vaccine is effective in preventing severe and fatal coronavirus cases, and may reduce the virus’s transmission among vaccinated people, the FDA said in new analyses Wednesday.
The drug maker announced in January that its vaccine was 72% effective against the virus in the United States and 64% effective in South Africa, where a mutated, more transmissible strain has become dominant. Its vaccine was 86% effective in preventing severe virus cases in the U.S., meaning that a vaccinated individual is at a far smaller risk of being hospitalized or dying from COVID-19.
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Wednesday morning on the Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed national security expert David Reaboi to the newsmakers line to weigh in on threats both foreign and domestic to America and a little bit of jazz.
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It’s official. Last month, the College Board announced that it would discontinue the essay-writing section of the SAT. It’s the latest in a series of recent decisions to reduce the use of standardized testing in college admissions. Proponents of the decision cited claims of racism and bias against underrepresented groups. But those claims don’t hold water. And ditching the writing portion of the SAT is unlikely to help anyone.
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It’s not every day that the subject of Soviet anti-Semitism—something my family experienced firsthand—is broached in the American media. When it does happen, however, unpleasant comparisons to certain trends in the United States are tough to avoid.
In a fascinating piece for Tablet Magazine, Julia Schulman and Michael Hsieh profiled several prominent Jewish scientists and mathematicians who encountered racial bias in admission to leading institutes in the old USSR. The subjects of their investigation defied the long odds, eventually rising to the top of their fields despite official policies excluding Jews from Soviet universities.
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Tennessee will no longer send the COVID-19 vaccine to the Shelby County Health Department (SCHD) for allocation after a state investigation revealed mismanagement and waste of more than 2,400 vaccine doses this month.
The state instead will send the doses to the city of Memphis and local hospitals.
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U.S. Rep. Mark Green (R-TN-07) this week submitted — but was unsuccessful in adding — key amendments to Democrats Equality Act legislation. As written, the Equality Act makes it impossible for organizations to turn away biological males who identify as women from women’s spaces such as restrooms, showers, locker rooms, homeless shelters, and domestic violence shelters.
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A new frontier in “cancel culture” is looming on the horizon: Banking and financial services firms could ban conservative customers and others from industries targeted by the left, warns North Carolina Republican Rep. Ted Budd, a member of the House Financial Services Committee.
The targets appear to include Republican members of Congress who voted to challenge the 2020 election results (just as some Democrats did in 2017, 2005 and 2001 without facing financial backlash). Additional possible targeted industries range from fossil fuels and firearms to for-profit colleges and payday lenders.
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Wednesday morning on the Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed Tennessee State Rep. Clay Doggett to the newsmakers line to talk about constitutional carry legislation and the importance of getting involved at the local level.
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A young California Republican operative and Coast Guard veteran targeted by California Attorney General Xavier Becerra told the Star News Network Senate Republicans are not doing enough to opposed Becerra nomination to lead Health and Human Services. “Xavier Becerra is by far one of the most ruthless, unethical and corrupt politicians in our country,” said Jordan Tygh, a Coast Guard veteran and former campaign staffer for the California GOP in 2020. “If any one of Biden’s nominee’s can be stopped it needs to be him. The GOP needs to stand strong together with courageous Democrats that are serious about unity to stop this man,” he said. “He played a huge role in destroying my life over a blatant lie – along with Senator Padilla he used his office for partisan political intimidation,” Tygh said. “He used it to legitimize false accusations in order to win cheap political points that resulted in harassment, threats of rape and death, and and a complete tarnishing of my reputation that still affects me to this day.” Then-California Secretary of State Alex Padilla is now serving as the state’s junior senator after Gov. Gavin Newson appointed him to fill out the remainder of Vice…
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At least 160 Confederate symbols including statues were removed from public spaces following the death of George Floyd in 2020, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Of the symbols removed 94 were Confederate monuments, including a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee that was removed from the U.S. Capitol building after 111 years, according to Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) data. The left-leaning SPLC keeps track of around 2,100 public parks, buildings and statues devoted to the Confederacy through a database called “Whose Heritage?”
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Georgia legislators filed a bill this week that, among other things, would limit the ability of the State Election Board and the secretary of state to enter into certain consent agreements. “The State Election Board, the members thereof, the Secretary of State, and any of their attorneys or staff shall not have any authority to enter into any consent agreement with any other person that limits, alters, or interprets any provision of this chapter without obtaining the approval of the General Assembly through a joint resolution,” according to the language of the bill.
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Without evidence, Minnesota’s Democrat Lieutenant Governor suggested that opposition to the appointment of Rep. Deb Haaland (D-NM-01) to be the United States Secretary of the Interior is rooted in anti-Native American bigotry.
“Boozhoo! This is Peggy Flanagan. I’m a member of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe and Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota,” Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan said in a video on Twitter, urging her followers to support Haaland.
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The General Assembly passed a polystyrene (Styrofoam) ban for serving food in restaurants and similar vendors in Virginia. The bill, passed on Wednesday, will first take effect in July 2023 to large vendors with more than 20 locations; in July 2025, it will apply to all vendors, although vendors can apply for temporary exemptions to their localities. Violation can result in a $50 per day fine.
Senator Chap Petersen (D-Fairfax) pushed HB 1902 in the Senate as a compromise to allow the House of Delegates to pass a bill adjusting regulation of new recycling technology. Republicans opposed the polystyrene ban, saying it would harm small businesses, but supported Senator Emmet Hanger’s (R-Augusta) advanced recycling regulation bill.
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In West Chester, a battle is raging after a donut shop called the police on a Republican state congresswoman who was holding an event inside their establishment.
“We didn’t think we’d be a shop that would have to make a post like this, but here we are… Our staff in West Chester were bombarded with a large group of people for a Facebook event ‘Coffee Chat with Rep. Jennifer Gross’. This was NOT approved by us, nor did anyone call to tell us that this was happening,” Holtman’s Donut Shop said on it’s Facebook page.
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Gun, ammo sales, and concealed pistol license (CPL) applicants have skyrocketed in Michigan since 2020.
In January 2021, Michigan added 13,891 net CPL holders to reach 717,281 – the most significant one-month change since 2008, when the Michigan Coalition for Responsible Gun Owners started tracking monthly records.
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Food delivery service DoorDash is giving about 125 small Virginia restaurants $3,500 each in partnership with the Virginia Restaurant Lodging Travel Association (VRLTA) but time is running out — the deadline to apply for the grant is 5 p.m. March 1.
“Virginia’s restaurants have faced unprecedented challenges the past year,” VRLTA President Eric Terry said in a press release. “DoorDash’s donation to the state’s restaurant relief efforts will offer much-needed help to small businesses.”
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A bill before the Ohio House would eliminate the requirement for those carrying a gun to tell law enforcement officers they have it. Instead, they only would need to mention it if asked.
Rep. Scott Wiggam, R-Wayne County, said the state’s current law is unclear and its penalties are too harsh. His bill, House Bill 89, changes that.
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The Georgia Senate approved four measures Tuesday that make changes to the election process as a response to November’s presidential election.
Georgia gained national attention after a close presidential election prompted three recounts and lawsuits and threats from former President Donald Trump’s campaign and supporters. Several questions and allegations arose from Georgia’s absentee-ballot process.
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The Senate Judiciary Committee advanced a resolution Tuesday that would change the way the state’s Attorney General and Reporter for Tennessee is selected.
Senate Joint Resolution 1 would make the current process for nominating the attorney general more transparent and give the Tennessee General Assembly a say in the selection through a change to the Tennessee Constitution.
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The Republican Party of Virginia (RPV) State Central Committee (SCC) voted 37 to 31 to issue a call for an in-person drive-in-style nominating convention to be held at Liberty University (LU) on May 8 at 9 a.m. Before passing that vote, the SCC voted against changing party rules to allow an unassembled convention, and voted against holding a canvass. The nearly four-hour-long Tuesday evening Zoom meeting hit the same notes of exasperation as previous SCC Zoom meetings and again highlighted a sharp divide between the pro-convention faction, led in the meeting by Mike Ginsburg, and the pro-primary faction, led in the meeting by Jeff Ryer.
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Members of the Tennessee Senate State and Local Government Committee on Tuesday voted to advance Senate Bill 29 to allow first responders to live where they choose, allowing the bill to be placed on the calendar Thursday for the Senate.
Sponsored by State Senator Brian Kelsey (R-Germantown), the legislation would ban residency requirements statewide for police officers and firefighters, the Tennessee Senate Republican Caucus said in a statement. Kelsey said the bill is a matter of public safety and will allow police and fire departments to recruit top-tier first responder candidates, regardless of where they live. The lawmaker said, in particular, it will help Tennessee address a deficit of police officers occurring throughout the country.
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For the legacy media, the story of Democrats’ recent wins in Georgia is the story of Stacey Abrams. According to this narrative, after Abrams lost the 2018 gubernatorial race, she launched Fair Fight to stop Republicans from allegedly engaging in voter suppression and to register thousands of new voters.
When Georgia turned blue in 2020, Abrams received much of the credit. The story goes Democrats are now winning because they are making democracy better.
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Tuesday morning on the Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed Tennessee House Majority Whip Johnny Garrett to the newsmakers line to talk about his legislation focus and a little baseball.
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