Monday morning on the Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed all-star panelist Crom Carmichael to the studio to examine the case of Nancy Pelosi looking to unseat (R) Mariannette Miller-Meeks from her House seat.
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On Sunday, Dr. Anthony Fauci warned that the Biden Administration’s prediction that coronavirus vaccines can lead to relative normalcy by July Fourth is “quite reasonable” —assuming states don’t pull back public safety measures, Politico reported.
“If you wait just a bit longer to give the vaccine program the chance to increase the protection in the community, then it makes pulling back much less risky,” said Fauci, on “Fox News Sunday.” “But if you do it prematurely there really is a danger of triggering another surge.”
But Fauci expressed concerns the pandemic is still a danger in the United States, with the number of new cases seeming to plateau at 50,000 or 60,000 daily over the last week.
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The House will vote on two immigration bills this week as the numbers of migrant families and children detained at the southern border surges.
The first bill, dubbed the Dream and Promise Act (DPA) would provide a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers, immigrants who have lived in the U.S. illegally since being brought as young children.
The second, the Farm Modernization Workforce Act (FMWA), would create a certified agricultural worker status and streamline the H-2A visa application process. President Joe Biden has also announced a sweeping immigration reform plan in addition to the two bills, though Republicans have labeled it a non-starter.
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Two men have been arrested and charged with assaulting U.S. Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick during the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol Building. The men allegedly sprayed Sicknick with bear spray, but authorities have not determined whether the assault led to Sicknick’s death.
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Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland assured his residents in a weekly update that they are prioritizing equity for minorities in COVID-19 vaccine distribution efforts. Strickland noted that their goal is to increase African American and people of color vaccinations from 20 percent to 30 percent of total population.
A supplementary press release explained a map of their five vaccination sites. According to city officials, they coordinated the sites around matching the demographics of Shelby County at large. Some of the areas outside each site’s five mile radius include: Arlington, Lakeland, a majority of Millington, and the rural outliers of the county. The demographic makeup of these areas is overwhelmingly White.
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Monday morning on the Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed professor and author of Debunking Howard Zinn Mary Grabar to the newsmakers line to discuss her new book.
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A spring break celebration in Miami Beach, Florida led to over 100 partygoers being arrested over the weekend after a crowd became unruly, with two police officers being injured, as reported by CNN.
The incident took place on Friday night, where a crowd allegedly began surrounding and taunting a group of police officers. The Miami Beach Police Department’s official Twitter account described the crowd as “disorderly,” and said that pepper balls were used to disperse the crowd as dozens were arrested.
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Mississippi Republican Gov. Tate Reeves signed a bill into law Thursday barring transgender athletes in public schools and colleges from competing in women’s sports.
The bill, SB 2536, is the first of such legislation to be signed into law this year, though similar initiatives have appeared in other states across the country. South Dakota’s Senate sent a similar bill to the desk of Republican Gov. Kristi Noem on Monday.
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Monday morning on the Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed National Border Patrol Council President Brandon Judd to discuss the migrant surge at the southern border and what can be done to stop it.
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A Tennessee Republican is concerned that money donated to the Democrat Party via its universal donation portal might be ending up in the hands of foreign terrorists, according to a letter penned to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Attorney General Merrick Garland.
“The pro-BDS movement Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) currently uses ActBlue to solicit donations,” Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN-02) said in his letter. “PACBI is also affiliated with the Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC), an organization known to have ties with foreign terrorist groups such as Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.”
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Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is “not a nice person” who “doesn’t have any friends,” according to the former lieutenant governor of New York.
Former New York Lieutenant Governor Richard Ravitch discussed the governor’s fall from grace in an interview with the New York Times after the majority of the New York Democratic congressional delegation called for Cuomo’s resignation.
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It’s hard to imagine a worse time for public education in America. The COVID-19 pandemic has cost millions of K-12 students a year of education, and Joe Biden has been elected president. At a time when innovation in public education is needed more than ever, Biden has appointed Miguel Cardona to serve as Secretary of Education.
To understand why Cardona, who previously served as Connecticut’s education commissioner, is not going to improve schooling in America, just consider the endorsements he’s received.
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A California-based electric car manufacturer has applied for a payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) incentive to operate a facility in Memphis. Economic Development Growth Engine for Memphis and Shelby County officials are scheduled to vote on the tax break Wednesday, said EDGE spokesman Charles Vance.
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Republican Florida Sen. Marco Rubio threw his weight of support behind the Amazon workers attempting to unionize at a Bessemer, Alabama warehouse.
Rubio endorsed the Bessemer warehouse workers’ effort to unionize in a USA Today editorial Friday morning, in which he sharply criticized Amazon. Rubio said the retail giant, which has fought hard against the unionization campaign, has waged a war against working-class values and has used anticompetitive strategies to harm small businesses.
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Democratic Virginia Delegate David Reid has introduced legislation, passed by the House of Delegates, which would require some public universities to provide reparations to ancestors of slaves who worked at the universities.
The legislation, ”Enslaved Ancestors College Access Scholarship and Memorial Program,” now awaits a vote in the state senate.
It would require a number of universities to provide reparations. Those universities include Longwood University, the University of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University, Virginia Military Institute and the College of William and Mary.
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Ken Paxton (R-Texas), the Attorney General of Texas, has filed a lawsuit against the state’s capital city of Austin on Thursday after the city refused to rescind its mask mandate, as reported by The Hill.
The lawsuit names Mayor Steve Adler (D-Texas), Travis County Judge Andy Brown, and interim Medical Director Mark Escott. The suit comes after Governor Greg Abbott (R-Texas) announced on March 2nd that he would be officially and completely reopening the state of Texas via executive order, rescinding all mask mandates and allowing all businesses to reopen to 100 percent capacity.
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Monday morning on the Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed the original all-star panelist Crom Carmichael in the studio to examine the Democratic policies that take away individual liberties and the co-opting of America by the Chinese.
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The House Elections & Campaign Finance Subcommittee rejected a bill lowering signature requirements for candidates to run under a minor political party. The law requires 2.5 percent of total votes cast in the last governor’s race – or, over 56,000 signatures currently – for an individual who wants to run as a minor party. HB0609 would lower the signature requirement to .5 percent.
Additionally, the bill would only require individuals to obtain 1 percent of the popular vote rather than 5 percent, in order to not have to collect those 56,000 signatures in any future races as a minor party. It also would ensure that a mandatory primary would only occur if the minor party candidate received 25 percent of the vote, rather than 5 percent.
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The union for a Los Angeles trucking company, Teamsters Local 986, was forced out after nearly 80% of workers signed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board to remove it.
The National Labor Relations Act governs private sector workers, unionization and how workers can remove a union from their workplace. In 27 right-to-work states, union payments are voluntary. In California and other non right-to-work states, union payments are mandatory for all unionized and non-union employees.
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Monday morning Cleveland businessman and 2018 U.S. Senate candidate Mike Gibbons announced a statewide tour during which he will listen to what Ohio voters have to say as he considers a run for office in 2022.
“This listening tour will allow me the opportunity to meet directly with the voters who understand that we can’t afford to send another politician or party insider to Washington. We need to send someone with a business background, who will fight for working-class Ohioans, who’s unafraid to stand up to his own party and who will always tell the truth,” said Gibbons.
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“Science, at its core, is a social phenomenon.” This observation, from Alondra Nelson, the newly appointed deputy director of President Biden’s Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), certainly qualifies for a prominent place in the Pantheon of Inane Statements. The core of science, in fact, is the scientific method—posing and testing hypotheses; carefully gathering, examining, and generating experimental evidence; and finally, synthesizing all the available information into logical conclusions.
Dr. Nelson’s assertion is inauspicious, but perhaps we should not be too surprised by a “squishy” statement from someone whose undergraduate degree was in sociology, while her doctorate is in “American Studies.” What, we wonder, qualifies her to be deputy director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy? And how does it comport with President Biden’s commitment to always rely on “science and truth.” We suspect it is an example of how lip service to science has invaded the domain of real science.
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After the family of George Floyd received a $27 million settlement Friday from the city of Minneapolis stemming from his death in police custody, the attorney for the police officer charged in Floyd’s death is asking for a continuance in the jury selection process.
“Defense attorney Eric Nelson expressed deep concern that jurors already chosen and those yet to be chosen will be prejudiced should they learn of the settlement, thereby denying his client his right to a fair trial,” The Star Tribune reported.
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Buckhead residents have formed a new group to study whether their upscale commercial and residential district should formally break off from Atlanta and its soaring crime rate and possibly create their own law enforcement agency. This, according to the members of this group, The Buckhead Exploratory Committee, on their website.
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Broadcast journalist Geraldo Rivera tweeted from Siesta Keys, Florida last week, “Pondering running for retiring @senrobportman seat in United States Senate. #GoBuckeyes.”
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The Minnesota Department of Health admits that its official tally of coronavirus cases associated with schools includes cases where no positive test was recorded and “cases where the exposure setting was not confirmed.”
For one year, as of this week, Gov. Tim Walz has imposed restrictions or closures on Minnesota public schools, claiming that such measures are informed by careful scientific study. However, an examination of the Minnesota Department of Health’s (MDH) weekly coronavirus reports raises some serious questions about the accuracy of the numbers the state has used to justify school closures.
Rather than tabulating the number of COVID-19 cases that have definitely originated in schools, the MDH reports on “cases associated with pre-K through grade 12 school buildings.”
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When Governor Mike DeWine announced March 4 that Ohio’s COVID related restrictions would be lifted based on a specific case rate, it didn’t take long to get people talking.
The announcement came on the same day that Connecticut set a date to lift capacity requirements on most businesses and organizations. Two days prior, Texas and Mississippi had announced an ending plan to mask mandates, as well as opening businesses without capacity restrictions. And the Friday after DeWine’s announcement, West Virginia and Arizona declared they are reopening all businesses.
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Ohio has administered at least the first dose of the coronavirus vaccine to more than 20 percent of its population, crossing the threshold over the weekend, according to data from the Ohio Department of Health.
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Henry County Judge Brian Amero on Monday conditionally granted members of a Georgia-based coalition the right to unseal ballots from last November’s presidential election in Fulton County. Members of that group, VOTER GA, may now inspect those ballots for evidence of voter fraud.
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The General Assembly will probably have another special session in 2021, which is necessary to allow the legislature to allocate federal funds granted to the Commonwealth in the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan (ARP) passed by Congress and signed by President Biden Thursday.
Virginia Secretary of Finance Aubrey Layne said, “It will require another session, but it probably will be sometime in the future weeks or possibly months because the Governor has made no decision. But part of that is because we have not received a specific certification on the actual monies yet from the Feds.”
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In defiance of calls for transparency from state lawmakers, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, is doubling down on the state’s policy of providing secretive severance packages to state officials.
In an executive directive, Whitmer states that agreements and payments can be used for a variety of purposes:
Separation agreements are used for many purposes, including to define the terms of employment during a period of transition; to secure the return of state property; and to mitigate legal exposure and potential costs to taxpayers through a release of claims against the state. (emphasis added)
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A Texas man was sentenced to 46 months in federal jail over brandishing an assault rifle at a George Floyd protest, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Prerak Shah announced in a Wednesday press release.
Emmanuel Quinones, 25, acknowledged “he brought a loaded Smith & Wesson .223 caliber semi-automatic rifle” to the protest protesting Floyd’s death, plea papers said, according to the Department of Justice press release. Quinones also acknowledged he made threatening posts online before the protest.
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As their grande finale for Black History Month, Vanderbilt University promoted an expansive reparations plan and membership in Black Lives Matter (BLM) Nashville.
Both events took place on February 26, the last in a lineup of 30 total events. The reparations event, titled “Reparations: An Issue Whose Time Has Come,” was hosted by Institute of the Black World 21st Century (IBW) President Dr. Ron Daniels. The other event was titled, “Plugging in to Black Lives Matter,” and featured BLM Nashville encouraging students to get involved.
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State and local governments in Tennessee spend on average a little more than $9,600 for each student in public school, according to a report by the Tennessee comptroller’s office, but per-pupil spending varies widely based on the type of school district and the population it serves.
School-level data reporting on per-student spending is available to the public this week for the first time. An interactive map and dashboard displays data from across the state. The comptroller’s Office of Research and Education Accountability created the resources in response to a federal law that requires states to report school-level data on per-student spending.
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A bipartisan group of senators has reintroduced the Sunshine Protection Act, which would extend daylight saving time to year-round, rather than keep it at eight months. One of those lawmakers, Sen. Marco Rubio, says the change would “give our nation’s families more stability throughout the year.”
The Florida Republican and seven colleagues from both sides of the aisle are co-sponsors of the measure, which would eliminate the need to reset clocks an hour ahead near the end of winter and back an hour in the fall.
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The PRO Act, which passed the U.S. House Tuesday on a largely partisan vote, could eliminate most forms of independent contracting, gig work and freelancing – potentially impacting as many as 59 million freelance workers who represent 36 percent of the total U.S. workforce.
In 2020, the freelance community accounted for $1.2 trillion in earnings, according to a report published by UpWork.
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Citing an increase in “bias” and “hate” on campus, the UW-Madison student government recently voted unanimously to double the ethnic studies requirement needed to graduate from three credits to six.
“UW-Madison is responsible for providing students with the knowledge to become more understanding and empathetic individuals,” Associated Students of Madison committee leaders said in a news release following the vote.
“Increasing the Ethnic Studies Requirement is a way to combat current systemic racism and encourage a dialogue around its history,” the group said.
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The University of Pennsylvania’s Carey Law School hosted a panel event called “Decolonizing the Stacks,” which provided examples of eliminating bias and discrimination from its library systems.
The event was part of Penn Carey Law’s thirteenth annual public interest week, dubbed “Reforming the Nation: Working Towards Racial Justice.”
Amanda Runyon — moderator of the panel and Associate Dean and Director of Biddle Law Library — opened the discussion by defining “decolonizing libraries” as “the process of de-centering whiteness and being more inclusive to voices of color and voices representing diverse perspectives.” She encouraged fellow librarians to consider the impact of their “centering of White, Western norms.”
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John Adams, in humility, had “firmness in the right as God [gave] him to see the right,” and he submitted his political future to choosing right.
Even the severely abridged version of history taught in most elementary and high schools generally includes the story of how Adams agreed to lead the legal defense of the British soldiers involved in the Boston Massacre. It’s cited, accurately, as a defining moment in the development of American jurisprudence, establishing the principle that everyone is entitled to adequate representation when standing accused of a crime before a court of law.
Adams made a robust and thorough defense that helped his clients successfully escape the most significant charges against them. It was a victory for the rule of law over popular passions.
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Democratic Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler submitted a request to the Portland City Council on Thursday for a one-time $2 million expenditure for police, months after the council voted to cut nearly $16 million from the police bureau’s budget.
Wheeler, who previously advocated for the Portland Police Bureau’s budget to be cut, cited a dangerous surge in gun violence throughout the city as the primary reason for requesting the funds, according to the Oregonian.
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Eleven states, led by Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich, have filed a motion to intervene in a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals case over challenges to a 2018 public charge rule change that required immigrants coming to the U.S. to prove they could financially support themselves.
The Biden administration removed the rule change, effective March 9. Subsequently, the Department of Homeland Security announced on March 11 it will no longer apply the rule.
In a statement, it said it had “closed the book on the public charge rule and is doing the same with respect to a proposed rule regarding the affidavit of support that would have placed undue burdens on American families wishing to sponsor individuals lawfully immigrating to the U.S.”
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Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos who announced plans to step down as Amazon’s CEO last month to focus on philanthropic and science interests, is set to spend the $10 billion he invested in the Bezos Earth Fund by 2030, the Associated Press reported.
Bezos announced the fund in February 2020, but he offered few details on how exactly the money would be distributed. Andrew Steer, who for eight years has been the head of the environmental nonprofit World Resources Institute (WRI), will be the fund’s CEO.
In a series of tweets, Steer revealed very few details, however he did say Bezos’ “goal is to spend it down between now and 2030.”
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The University of Florida spent $38,000 on a new diversity, equity, and inclusion training for students that is “not a requirement,” but has a due date.
The training is similar to those that students take relating to alcohol, drug usage, and sexual harassment. Within the diversity training, students are prompted to take quizzes, watch videos, and read about different issues relating to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
This new course is part of the university’s wider anti-racism initiative that includes removing its “gator bait” chant, and reviewing name changes for various buildings as well as monuments across campus, according to The Alligator.
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The whole point of the Biden administration’s budget-busting $1.9 trillion stimulus bill is to aid struggling workers after the COVID-19 shutdowns obliterated their earnings. The legislation is also, as CNN described it, “a platform for a generational transformation of the economy to benefit the least well-off Americans and alleviate poverty.”
If the administration wants to boost the prospects of less-well-off Americans, it could loosen the shutdowns so they can get back to work. It could increase opportunities for poor Americans to have alternatives to the public school systems that leave their kids ill prepared for the new economy — or at least encourage its teachers union allies to stop resisting plans to reopen the schools (something that hurts the poor the most). That would be transformative.
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On Tuesday, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) publicly petitioned for the World Health Organization (WHO) to let the Chinese government take charge of a proposed “vaccine passport” system for the entire world in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic that China started, as reported by Breitbart.
The proposal appeared in the Global Times, a Chinese government-run newspaper, which said that China could utilize its connections to Big Tech companies in order to build and sustain an international tracking system for any individuals who either have or have not yet received a coronavirus vaccine.
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In 2011, before serving for the House of Representatives’ 6th Congressional District, U.S. Rep. Tom Emmer (R-MN-06), current chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, was a national spokesperson for the National Popular Vote initiative, legislation that forms a state-to-state compact with other states agreeing to pledge their state’s electors in the Electoral College to the winner of the national popular vote once participating states reach 270 electoral votes.
This would effectively eliminate the current winner-take-all system in the Electoral College, which has been in place since the election of 1824, whereby whoever wins the popular vote in a state wins the state’s electoral votes.
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The Republican Party of Virginia has finally selected a clear nomination process, and the GOP gubernatorial candidates are working to register delegates who will vote for them in the unassembled convention. They’re also attending gun shows, launching new political ads, and attacking the Virginia Parole Board.
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Student activists from a coalition of racial identity groups sent the University of Michigan administration an 18-page list with more than 100 demands.
“We, the Students of Color Liberation Front, unwavering in our commitment to liberate all peoples on campus, call for the University of Michigan to realize our collective demands,” the letter said.
The signers behind the letter include the Black Student Union, the Arab Student Association, La Casa, the United Asian American Organizations and Students Allied for Freedom and Equality.
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Ohio’s professional sports teams want a piece of sports gambling in the state when and if it ever comes.
Testifying this week before The Ohio Senate Select Committee on Gaming, Cincinnati Reds Chief Financial Officer Doug Healy told lawmakers professional sports organizations recognize the potential benefits of sports gaming.
“It is imperative that Ohio’s sports betting market include access to both mobile and retail sportsbooks for Ohio’s professional teams so that, as the content creators, we share in both the risks and the benefits, just like the casinos,” said Healy, who also said he was speaking on behalf of the Cleveland Indians.
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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is leaving Rep. Eric Swalwell on the House Intelligence Committee, she announced on Friday, despite the California Democrat’s close contacts with an alleged Chinese spy.
Swalwell for years maintained contact with Christine Fang, a Chinese national who the FBI determined was working covertly as an intelligence agent for the Chinese Ministry of State Security.
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The University of Minnesota paid a consulting firm headed by a former Obama task force member $25,000 per month for a “comprehensive review” of the school’s police force, according to documents obtained exclusively by Campus Reform.
Cedric Alexander’s consulting firm, CL Alexander Consulting, was hired by the University of Minnesota on August 12, 2020, after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
According to a university spokesperson, the contract was in effect until early February, meaning that the University of Minnesota spent at least $134,000 on the police review.
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