Month: March 2021

Man Arrested with Six Guns in Atlanta Grocery Store

Peter D'Abrosca

A day after a man in Colorado was charged with 10 counts of first-degree murder after opening fire in a grocery store, a man was arrested in Atlanta after bringing six guns and body armor into a Publix. 

“Preliminary investigation indicates the male entered the location openly carrying a rifle and entered the bathroom,” according to the Atlanta Police Department (APD). “A witness observed the male and alerted store management who then notified police. When the male exited the bathroom, arriving units immediately detained the male.”

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Jury Selected in Chauvin Trial, Opening Arguments Set to Begin

Peter D'Abrosca

Opening arguments are set to begin Monday in the trial of former Minneapolis Police officers Derek Chauvin, accused of killing George Floyd, after weeks of jury selection. 

The jury selection process in the high-profile trail was marred with controversy after the city of Minneapolis awarded Floyd’s family $27 million to settle a civil lawsuit during the criminal proceedings. 

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House Passes Bill Mandating Death or Life Imprisonment Without Parole for First Degree Murder of Law Enforcement, First Responders

Corinne Murdock

The Tennessee House passed a bill mandating death or life imprisonment without parole for the first degree murder of law enforcement and first responders. The bill would elevate the intentional targeting and murdering of first responders to an act of terrorism. It passed without opposition, 88 to 0. 

Two amendments moved to strengthen the language of the bill. One amendment noted that defendants who receive life sentence can’t be eligible for parole consideration until they’ve served 51 years. The other amendment added to the definitions of terrorism to offer further protections to law enforcement and first responders. Both amendments were adopted.

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DOJ ‘Unlikely’ to Represent FBI Officials Sued by Carter Page for Misconduct in Russia Case

Admin

The Justice Department has informed current and former FBI officials sued by Russia probe target Carter Page that it is unlikely to represent them in the civil case, signaling they will need to get private lawyers, according to new court filings.

At least two defendants — fired FBI Director James Comey and current FBI intelligence analyst Brian Auten — have already hired private counsel and notified the presiding judge in the case of their representation.

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Music Spotlight: Craig Campbell

Bethany Bowman
Craig Campbell

NASHVILLE, Tennessee-  Even though I often interview up-and-coming artists, Craig Campbell has been on my radar for a while and he has an interesting story as well.

The Georgia boy is a self-taught pianist. He recalled, “I was captivated by the piano and every spare minute I was at it. After church on Sunday, I would go and pick out the melodies to the songs we sang in church that day.”

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Biden Administration Opens Yet Another Facility to Hold Surging Numbers of Immigrant Children

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A second temporary facility will be opened for unaccompanied migrant minors crossing the border in Texas, officials announced Tuesday.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will reopen a temporary facility called “Carizzo Springs II ICF” capable of holding 500 unaccompanied migrant minors in hard-sided structures with the ability to expand to soft-sided structures if needed, a spokesperson for the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) said Tuesday.

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Majority of Black and Hispanic Americans Are in Favor of Voting ID Laws, According to Poll

Admin

A new poll indicates that an overwhelming majority of Americans, including majorities of black Americans and Hispanic Americans, are in favor of stricter voting ID laws and other measures to combat voter fraud, according to Breitbart.

The poll comes from the Honest Elections Project (HEP), and its results were detailed in a memo sent to members of Congress by HEP’s executive director Jason Snead. The memo was sent to Congress in anticipation of Wednesday’s hearing in the Senate Rules Committee over H.R. 1, a bill that has passed the House and now faces the Senate, which proposes numerous radical changes to election laws and procedures on the federal level.

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Biden Team Ignored Warnings from Career Immigration Officials That Their Actions Could Cause a Border Crisis

Admin
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The Biden administration ignored career immigration officials’ warnings of an impending surge in the number of migrants arriving at the southern border, The Washington Post reported.

The administration has repeatedly refused to refer to the situation as a crisis, despite a seeming inability to curb the increasing flow of migrants, the Post reported. The administration’s mixed messaging, which often appeals to liberal activists, has hampered efforts to halt the influx of migrants at the southern border, according to the Post.

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Wuhan ‘Bat Lady’ Denies U.S. Intelligence That Her Lab Secretly Works with Chinese Military

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The Chinese scientist responsible for overseeing research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology said Tuesday that the U.S. government is incorrect in stating that her lab engages in secret projects with the Chinese military.

Dr. Shi Zhengli, known as the “bat lady” in China for her work on bat-based coronaviruses, gave the comments in response to a question from World Health Organization advisory committee member Jamie Metzl during a seminar Tuesday hosted by Rutgers University.

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Bill Allowing Religious Exemptions to Vaccines Regardless of a Public Health Emergency Lives on as Potential Amendment in a Senate Bill

Corinne Murdock

Through amendment, another legislator is seeking to revive a bill affording religious or conscientious exemptions for vaccines during a public health emergency. As The Tennessee Star reported, the original bill seeking to provide those protections was killed by the House Health Subcommittee earlier this month.

The bill carrying this amendment originally only sought to prohibit state or local governments from mandating COVID-19 vaccinations. State Senator Janice Bowling (R-Tullahoma) announced the amendment during the Senate Health and Welfare Committee hearing on Wednesday.

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Commentary: Governor Kristi Noem Strikes Out

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“I’m just worried about our perception, said State Senator Reynold Nesiba, a Sioux Falls Democrat, “because I think, generally, South Dakotans are a welcoming people.” 

Nesiba was speaking to reporters about South Dakota House Bill 1217, a measure intended to limit transgender participation in sports. The measure would be uncontroversial in saner times, or at least those during which most people were still aware of the basic physical differences between the sexes. But we no longer live in sane times. 

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Metro Council Members Reject Candidate for Fairgrounds Commission Seat Because She’s Black, Not Hispanic

Corinne Murdock

Just enough Metro Nashville City Council members voted to prevent an individual from joining the Fair Commissioners Board because she was Black – not Hispanic, as they’d wanted. The motion to appoint Vice Mayor Jim Shulman’s recommended candidate – Sandra Moore – failed by one vote only because of the color of her skin.

The bid to appoint Moore failed during last week’s committee meeting. During their meeting, council members opposed to Moore didn’t discuss the merits of her qualifications. The Rules, Confirmation, and Public Elections Committee had just approved her hours before.

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Georgia Democrats Push for More Gun Control, Hate Crime Laws

Chris Butler

Democrats who represent Georgia in the state’s general assembly as well as the U.S. Congress said this week that recent mass shootings, including the one in Atlanta, necessitate either more gun control or hate crimes laws. State Sen. Michelle Au (D-Johns Creek), for instance, filed SB 309, a bill this week that would, if enacted into law, mandate a five-day waiting period for anyone who wants to purchase or transfer certain firearms.

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Freedom WMLB Radio Station Launch Party Gears Georgia Conservatives Up to Inspire Passion, Win Votes

Chris Butler

  KENNESAW, Georgia — Georgia conservatives will only win hearts and minds if they fight, display passion, and testify how their ideas and policies can and will shape and impact voters’ personal lives — for the better. That was the message that several speakers relayed Wednesday night at a launch party at Kennesaw’s Marietta Country Club for the new Freedom WMLB 1690. The station broadcasts to Atlanta audiences through the John Fredericks Radio Network (JFRN). JFRN is based out of Richmond, Virginia. David Shafer made news and told attendees that former U.S. President Donald Trump endorsed him for another term as chair of the Georgia Republican Party. Trump endorsed Shafer in a statement late Wednesday afternoon. “David Shafer did a phenomenal job as chairman of the Georgia Republican Party, recruiting and training a record number of volunteers,” Trump wrote. “No one in Georgia fought harder for me than David. He NEVER gave up! He has my complete and total endorsement for reelection.” Shafer told The Georgia Star News Wednesday that under his leadership the Georgia GOP recruited and trained 13,000 volunteers and raised millions of dollars. Meanwhile, former U.S. Republican Congressman Doug Collins sidestepped questions about his own political future and…

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Republican Lawmakers Override DeWine Just One Day After SB22 Veto

Jack Windsor

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Just one day following Governor Mike DeWine’s veto of Senate Bill 22 (SB 22) – legislation aimed at rebalancing power by giving the Ohio Legislature oversight of government rules and orders – the Senate and House both took up the bill and both chambers voted to override the veto.

SB22 will become law in 90 days.

The Senate was first and voted 23-10.  Minutes later the House began floor debate and then voted to override 62-37.

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Virginia Wedding Venue Appears in Court to Fight COVID-19 Capacity Limits

Eric Burk

Outdoor wedding venue Belle Garden Estate (BGE) appeared in court Wednesday in a lawsuit against Governor Ralph Northam. BGE’s lawyer Tim Anderson argued that Northam’s executive orders violate the establishment clause of the First Amendment, since religious weddings have no capacity limits, but secular weddings are capped by executive order. Northam’s lawyer argued that the right to have a wedding is not infringed, just the capacity allowed at a wedding. BGE sought an injunction blocking enforcement of executive orders that limit wedding venues differently from other businesses.

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Biden Touts American Rescue Plan, Affordable Care Act at the Ohio State University

The Center Square
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As President Joe Biden made his first visit to Ohio since taking office Tuesday, he was criticized for what one policy group called unnecessary spending. 

Biden, in Columbus to tout his administration’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, along with the recently passed American Rescue Plan, visited the James Cancer Hospital at The Ohio State University late Tuesday afternoon.

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Whitmer’s Job Approval Rating Takes Tumble in Latest Polling of Michigan Residents

The Center Square

Results of a new poll indicate a majority of Michigan residents are unhappy with the direction the country is headed, and an increasing number are displeased with the job performance of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

The Michigan Poll from Lansing-based Marketing Resource Group, released Tuesday, concludes that 52% of respondents believe the country is on the wrong track compared to 36% that said otherwise. Six months ago, the results were 66% wrong track and 25% right direction.

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92-Year-Old Sues Hennepin County After It Kept $25,000 of Home Equity After Foreclosure

The Center Square
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A 92-year-old is fighting in the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals for $25,000 of lost equity in her former Minneapolis condo after Hennepin County seized and sold it to settle a $15,000 tax debt and kept the difference.

Geraldine Tyler moved out of her Minneapolis condo in 2010 because of rising crime but couldn’t pay both her condo’s property taxes and rent on her new apartment.

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Nashville’s Affirmative Action-Style Business Opportunity Program Doled Out $49 Million for Minority and Women-Owned Businesses – Doesn’t Mention Asians

Corinne Murdock

Nashville government reported that it spent $49 million during the first year of its Equal Business Opportunity (EBO) program – but Asians didn’t make the list. $30 million reportedly went to women business enterprises, and $19 million went to minority business enterprises. The report noted that it had a 250 percent participation increase with Black, Brown, and women-owned subcontractors.

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Bill Proposes Mandating Stricter Guidance with State Curriculum Standards, Limits to LGBT Material

Corinne Murdock

The General Assembly is considering a bill to enforce stricter adherence to state curriculum standards, effectively limiting LGBT instructional materials. The bill was introduced by State Representative Bruce Griffey (R-Paris) last month. State Senator Frank Niceley (R-Strawberry Plains) submitted the companion bill shortly after.

Although the House Education Instruction Subcommittee was scheduled to review the bill on Tuesday, it was rolled back to next week. Griffey told The Tennessee Star that changes will be made to the bill to refocus it on stricter adherence to enforcing current state standards – not just LGBT material in classrooms. 

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Commentary: Today’s Real Systemic Injustice with COVID and Our Kids

Admin

Black Lives Matter. Believe All Women. Everybody wants to be on the right side of contentious civil rights issues — that’s why the debate over what that “right side” is becomes so intense. But the most quantifiable systemic injustice in our nation today is not black versus white, or male versus female. It’s old against young.

During the coronavirus pandemic, abandonment of adult responsibility in respected institutions — medical, educational, and parental — is indicative of sweeping moral collapse. Making sacrifices for future generations used to make sense in a grown-up world. But baby boomers, those children of the ’60s who have controlled the country for 30 years, have desensitized our culture with their apathy and entitlement. Why should healthy children be held to the same medical standard as a 70-year-old “boomer” with multiple comorbidities? Why have young people, who beat COVID-19 quicker than the annual flu, been forced to surrender a year of their lives to satisfy the anxieties of a paranoid gerontocracy? The calculated hysteria of our politicians has accelerated institutional fragility, a condition of paralysis in which medical and educational leaders refuse to acknowledge prejudicial restrictions on the young and the healthy.

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More Than $4 Billion to Go to Illegal Immigrants Through Biden Stimulus Checks

The Center Square

The Center for Immigration Studies estimates that 2.65 million illegal immigrants have Social Security numbers and, because of their income threshold and number of children they have, are eligible to receive federal stimulus checks.

In a new report, CIS estimates that illegal immigrants could receive an estimated $4.38 billion from the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 passed by Democrats along party lines.

Two weeks ago, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said that illegal immigrants would be receiving $1,400 checks through the legislation and introduced an amendment to stop it. Democrats rejected the amendment.

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Founder of the Free Range Kid Movement Lenore Skenazy Talks About the Importance of Unstructured Playtime for Children

Julie Carr

  Live from Music Row Tuesday 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 Lenore Skenazy, founder of the Free Range Kids movement to the newsmakers line to talk about her background and what prompted her movement. Leahy: We are delighted to have on our newsmaker line right now. Lenore Skenazy really the founder of the Free Range Kid movement. Welcome to The Tennessee Star Report Lenore. Skenazy: Well, thanks. I guess I am a newsmaker now? That’s great! Leahy: You are on our newsmaker line because this is actually pretty important what you’re doing. What you have in common with a lot of folks here is that you don’t like the way our kids are being treated. You made some news. You’re a Yale graduate. Did you get a journalism degree from Columbia after? Skenazy: I did. Leahy: And then you went to work for the New York Daily News. Skenazy: Forever. Leahy: Very different at the New York Daily News than The Tennessee Star. And the Daily News is kind of left-wing. The Tennessee Star is an…

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Biden Admin Customs and Border Protection Admits to Releasing Illegal Alien Families Without Setting Court Dates

Admin

Under the administration of Joe Biden, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection has begun releasing entire families of illegal aliens back into the U.S. from their custody without setting a date for them to appear before an immigration court, as reported by Breitbart.

Breitbart’s Randy Clark, himself a veteran of the Border Patrol, said that CBP has sent notices to border patrol agents and other immigration enforcement authorities that families are to be released without a formal “Notice to Appear.” Two anonymous officials seemed to confirm Clark’s account.

“This is insane,” one official said. “It is another pull factor that will overwhelm us. We are creating an entirely different class of aliens we will have to deal with years from now. We will never find most of these aliens once they are released.”

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Leaked Photos from Texas Border Facility Show Illegal Immigrants Packed Like Sardines into ‘Pods’

Admin

Thousands of illegal immigrants are living in overcrowded conditions in a Texas border facility, and leaked photos of the shockingly squalid situation have emerged online.

Monday morning, both Axios, and Project Veritas released photographs from a U.S. Customs and Border Protection temporary overflow facility in Donna, Texas, where an average of 3,000 men, women, and children have been packed like sardines into nightmarish “pods” until the government’s longer-term child shelters and family detention facilities are available.

Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) provided photos to Axios of the crowded conditions “to raise awareness about the situation.” According to Cueller, “one pod held more than 400 unaccompanied male minors.”

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Marty Walsh Confirmed as Department of Labor Secretary in Bipartisan Vote

Admin

The Senate confirmed Democratic Boston Mayor Marty Walsh to lead the Department of Labor in a bipartisan vote Monday evening.

The Senate voted 68-29 in favor of confirming Marty Walsh, the current mayor of Boston and former union member and leader. Several Republicans including Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee Ranking Member Richard Burr voted alongside Democrats in favor of confirming Walsh on Monday.

“I am committed to making sure that everyone — including veterans, LGBTQ Americans, immigrants, and people with disabilities — gets full access to economic opportunity and fair treatment in the workplace,” Walsh said during his Senate confirmation hearing last month.

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Free Range Kids Founder Lenore Skenazy Talks About Her Two New Inititiaves, Let Grow Play Club and Let Grow Project

Julie Carr

  Live from Music Row Tuesday 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 President of Let Grow and founder of Free Range Kids Lenore Skenazy to the newsmakers line to talk about her two new initiatives. Leahy: On our newsmaker line, our new friend, Lenore Skenazy, the President of Letgrow.org. And really the founder of the Free Range Kids Movement. So, Lenore, I have a question for you. Are you open to it? Skenazy: I thought you had a great idea for me. Leahy: I do. I have a question for you. So first, before we get to our idea, why don’t you describe some of the K8 projects that Let Grow has currently? Skenazy: Oh, thank you so much. Sure. So we just have two school initiatives. They’re both free. So it’s not like I’m selling something. One is like I was telling you before the Let Grow Play Club. We encourage schools to open before after school for kid-led, no adult. There’s an adult in the corner with an EpiPen. But otherwise, it’s just kids playing.…

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FBI Had Doubts About Russia Informant’s Allegation That Helped Prompt Mike Flynn Probe

Admin

Five days before the FBI formally opened the Michael Flynn probe in summer 2016, a confidential informant alleged to agents that Donald Trump’s national security adviser had left a 2014 foreign meeting alone with a Russian woman. Agents ultimately deemed the account “not plausible” and “not accurate” but proceeded to investigate Flynn anyway, newly declassified documents show.

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House Subcommittee Approves COVID Vaccine Exemption Bill for Students

Corinne Murdock

On Tuesday, the House Education Subcommittee recommended passage of a bill prohibiting mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations for students.

House Bill 1421, introduced by State Senator Rusty Grills (R-Newbern), would prevent schools from mandating that students or their parents receive the COVID-19 vaccine. It would also prohibit schools from requiring the vaccine for attendance, or retaliating against the student in any manner. Schools who violate this proposed law would be subject to civil action, as determined by a court.

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Commentary: The Left’s Hypocrisy on Election Results Denial

Admin

Ever since November 2020, the political Left has been pounding on the political Right for failing to respect the outcomes of elections. This charge they add to a whole litany of criticisms of conservatives as breakers of the norms of democracy and nascent authoritarians.

Former President Donald Trump fed this narrative by, well, denying that he lost, and doing so with flourish and hamfistedness. His supporters did him no favors by feeding him thinly sourced tales about Venezuelan software, German servers, late-night ballot dumps, and mischievous postal workers.

But it is profoundly mistaken to call election results denialism solely a habit of the Right or the hobby horse of Trump. The Left has done it multiple times in the past 15 years.

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Americans Are Starting to Reemerge from Their ‘COVID Bunkers’ as Vaccinations Accelerate

Admin

As coronavirus vaccinations accelerate across the country, more and more Americans are seeing their friends in public, eating at restaurants and shopping in retail stores, according to a Tuesday Axios/Ipsos poll.

Almost 50% of Americans said that they had visited family or friends in the past month, according to the poll, up from just 39% in February. And 45% said that they had gone out to eat, up 12 points from the past month as well.

Additionally, 90% of respondents said they knew someone who had already been vaccinated, and 36% said that they had been vaccinated themselves.

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Travis Hackworth Wins Senate District 38 Special Election

Eric Burk

Republican Travis Hackworth won the 38th Senate District seat in a special election held Tuesday. Hackworth will fill a seat left vacant when Senator Ben Chafin (R-Russell) died of COVID-19 early in 2021.

“We were hoping for a 70-30 victory and to hit 75 percent, it’s just amazing. It just shows how the people in the 38th District are still conservative Republicans that want to elect a senator like Senator Chafin, who will go up there and fight Richmond and just be conservative,” Hackworth told The Virginia Star.

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Using Boulder Tragedy, Klobuchar Promises Action on Gun Control

Peter D'Abrosca

The morning after a mass shooting that left 10 dead in Colorado, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) is using the tragedy to push a left-wing gun control agenda. 

“Since we announced a hearing on gun safety, there have been two mass shootings. That doesn’t include the hundreds affected by gun violence every day. Thoughts & prayers aren’t enough. We need to act & it starts with a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing I’m heading to right now,” Klobuchar said Tuesday morning on Twitter

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Virginia Parole Board Investigator Jennifer Moschetti Fired

Eric Burk

The Office of the State Inspector General (OSIG) fired senior investigator Jennifer Moschetti on Monday. Moschetti had investigated and helped write a report detailing violations committed by the Virginia Parole Board. Moschetti had sought formal recognition as a whistleblower from the General Assembly, but when she was placed on leave from her OSIG job, she sued to keep herself from being fired.

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Minnesota Democrats Respond to ‘Incredibly Harmful’ Voter ID Bill, Call for Permanent Mail-in Voting

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Minnesota Senate Democrats announced a sweeping elections platform Monday and attacked their Republican colleagues for introducing “incredibly harmful” voter ID legislation.

“Over the past year, we watched as Republican leaders across the country and here in Minnesota helped spread the big lie that our elections are not fair,” Senate Minority Leader Susan Kent, DFL-Woodbury, said at a Monday press conference, accusing Republicans of participating in a “voter suppression” campaign.

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Ohio Lawmakers Want Easier Access to Ballot Drop Boxes

The Center Square

Two Democratic Ohio lawmakers want state voters to have more access to voter drop boxes throughout the state, and they say Secretary of State Frank LaRose can make voting more convenient for Ohioans.

Bride Rose Sweeney, D-Cleveland, and Michele Lepore-Hagan, D-Youngstown, want the state to require multiple ballot drop boxes per county based on geography and population. They say current law allows multiple boxes, despite LaRose’s decision to restrict them to one per county.

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