Day: August 17, 2021

Ohio U.S. Senate Hopeful Timken Joins Calls for Biden to Resign, Adds Sacking of Secretaries of State, Defense and Joint Chiefs Chair

Brian Ball

U.S. Senate candidate Jane Timken joined several Republicans calling for President Joe Biden to resign in the aftermath of the chaotic withdrawal of American troops and diplomatic personnel from Afghanistan.

U.S. Representative Jeff Van Drew, (R-NJ-2) began the call for Biden’s resignation Sunday evening as video streaming from broadcast news outlets showed Afghanis crowding U.S military air transports, desperate to leave with the fall of the Afghani capital of Kabul as well as provincial capitals to the extreme Islamists known as the Taliban.

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Commentary: Biden Is Out of Touch, Out of Town, and Soon He May Be Out of Time

Admin

In a hastily called news conference Monday afternoon President Joe Biden and his advisors tried to control the damage of this past weekend. But it may be too late. Biden not only lost Afghanistan, he lost credibility, and with that, the American people.

A defiant Biden said he did not regret his decision to withdraw American forces from Afghanistan, while acknowledging that the country’s collapse to the Taliban came much sooner than U.S. officials had anticipated.

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Former Tennessee Health Official Michelle Fiscus Allegedly Bought Dog Muzzle She Says Someone Else Sent to Intimidate Her

Chris Butler

Former Tennessee Department of Health (TDOH) official Michelle Fiscus said someone mailed her a dog muzzle to intimidate her to stop talking about COVID-19 vaccinations, but Axios reported Monday that she allegedly purchased that muzzle herself. “The Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security found through a subpoena that the Amazon package containing the muzzle traced back to a credit card in Fiscus’ name,” Axios reported.

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Democrat Firebrand Senator Sheldon Whitehouse Compares Fall of Kabul to Saigon as Biden Admin Denies Connection

Admin

A Democratic senator compared the scene in Kabul as the U.S. rushed to evacuate embassy personnel and Afghan allies to the fall of Saigon in 1975 on Monday.

“Sad. My father was our next-to-last ambassador in Saigon, and our ambassador when ‘peace deal’ was negotiated in Laos,” tweeted Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island. “How that all ended deserved more attention.”

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Commentary: The Great Parent Revolt

RealClearWire

As overreach in classrooms by progressive school administrators, nonprofits and the federal government has reached new heights, parents are stepping up to fight back.

Moms for Liberty, Informed Parents of California, EdFirstNC, NJ Parental Rights, No Left Turn in Education and Parents Against Critical Theory are just a few of the hundreds of new parent groups that have emerged across the country in recent months. Many parents have become education activists because of schools’ failure to bring children back into the classroom or their continued imposition of mask mandates.

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Memphis Border Patrol Seizing Thousands of Fake COVID-19 Vaccination Cards

Peter D'Abrosca

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in Memphis is battling a new form of contraband: fake COVID-19 vaccination cards. 

“U.S. Customs and Border Protection Officers (CBPOs) working at the port of Memphis flagged a suspicious shipment coming from Shenzhen, China en route to the central business district of New Orleans,” a CPB press release said. “It was described in the manifest as ‘PAPER CARD, PAPER’ and CBPOs already knew what it was. It was the 15th such shipment of the night, though all to different cities. Inside were 51 low quality, counterfeit COVID-19 vaccination cards.”

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College Students Giving Up on Their Degrees in Significant Numbers: Report

Admin
Tennessee Star

American colleges continue to face the consequences of COVID, as data show they experienced a significant decrease in returning students this past school year.

Many post-secondary education plans to take classes were canceled in 2020. In August of last year, the US Census Bureau conducted a survey which showed 29.4 percent of households with at least one prospective student had canceled their plans to take classes in the fall of 2020 due to the impact of the pandemic.

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Nashville Area’s Population Approaches Two Million People

The Center Square

The Nashville metropolitan area was the 20th-fastest growing statistical area in the country since 2010, according to data released by the U.S. Census Bureau.

With a growth rate of 20.9% from 2010 to 2020, the Nashville area now is the 36th-largest metropolitan area in the country with nearly 2 million residents. The census numbers showed the metro Nashville population increased by 343,319 people to 1,989,519.

Tennessee’s population grew by 8.9% between 2010 and 2020; lower than the 11.5% and 16.7% increases during the previous two census counts. Four of the past six census counts have shown double-digit increases in Tennessee’s population growth.

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Pelosi Floats Passing Infrastructure and Budget Simultaneously as Moderates and Progressives Feud

Admin

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Sunday floated the idea of passing the bipartisan infrastructure bill and Democrats’ $3.5 trillion budget simultaneously in an attempt to balance moderates and progressives’ mutually exclusive demands.

Pelosi asked the House Rules Committee to look into the possibility after nine centrist Democrats vowed to block the budget if it came up for consideration before the infrastructure bill passed.

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Ohio GOP Senate Candidate Mike Gibbons Calls for Resignation of President Biden After Fall of Afghanistan

Brian Ball

The rapid collapse of Afghanistan to the Taliban and miscalculations during the disorderly withdrawal of American Troops has led U.S. Senate candidate Mike Gibbons to call for the resignation of President Biden.

Congressional Republicans from Ohio also joined the widespread condemnation of the Biden administration’s poor handling of the withdrawal of American troops nearly 20 years after President George W. Bush directed the invasion of the west Asian country in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2011 terror attacks by Islamic extremists trained in that west-central Asian country.

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Virginia Congressional Leaders React to Ongoing Afghanistan Crisis

Matthew Hall

President Biden addressed the nation late Monday afternoon to discuss the ongoing national security and humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan. Some congressional leaders were furious at the Biden Administration’s lack of leadership on the issue. Congressman Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ-02), a former Democrat who switched parties in 2020, lashed out and called for the resignation of President Biden, Vice President Harris, and Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Senator Rick Scott (R-FL) hinted Monday that the Cabinet should consider invoking the 25th Amendment to remove President Biden.

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Rep. Andy Biggs Joins Former President Trump and Rep. Van Drew’s Calls for Biden to Resign Over Afghanistan Debacle

Rachel Alexander

After listening to President Joe Biden’s speech on Monday defending his decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan, Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ-05) joined former President Donald Trump and Democrat-turned-Republican Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ-02) in calling on Biden to resign due to Afghanistan falling to the Taliban. Biden pulled out most of the U.S. troops from the country after 20 years of fighting the Taliban, a move that Trump had said would only be feasible if the Taliban stuck to the conditional peace agreement he negotiated a year and a half ago. 

Biggs told Newsmax host Chris Saucedo that Trump had a plan to withdraw the troops in a manner that would have worked without leaving the country to the Taliban. “Most Americans didn’t want us to withdraw from Afghanistan, we just wanted to withdraw with honor and with a peaceful process to go ahead to save lives there and to save American lives and have a more secure future for this country after all that we have sacrificed.” He said Biden has been “absolutely incompetent in every way on every policy front whether domestic or foreign.” 

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Debate Continues Over Need for COVID State of Emergency Order in Florida

Grant Holcomb

With the increase in cases and hospitalizations, many are calling on Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to re-enact Florida’s COVID state of emergency.
DeSantis initially issued the state of emergency declaration on March 9, 2020 and extended it for over one year. DeSantis opted to not renew it in June, making June 26, 2021, the end of the declaration. The 476-day state of emergency was the longest in Florida’s history.

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Kentucky GOP Lawmakers Ask Governor Beshear to Reconsider Mask Mandate

The Center Square

Four Republican members of the Kentucky General Assembly sent a letter to Gov. Andy Beshear asking him to revise the order he issued this week requiring masks in all schools and daycare facilities.

State Reps. Myron Dossett (R-Pembrok), Walker Thomas (R-Hopkinsville), Lynn Bechler (R-Marion), and state Sen. Whitney Westerfield (R-Crofton), asked the governor to amend the order to include children 4 and older. The governor’s order calls for everyone 2 and older to wear masks in those facilities.

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More Than 150 Minnesota Principals Sign Pledge to ‘De-center Whiteness’ from Education

Peter D'Abrosca

A large number of school principals in Minnesota have formed a coalition pledging to “de-center Whiteness” in education.

The 162 principals call themselves the “Good Trouble Principals,” a nod to the late civil rights icon and congressman John Lewis, and say they are “a loose collection of local principals bound together by a commitment to changing our nation’s future by engaging in better, more equitable education practices.”

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Former Rep. Paul Mitchell, Republican Turned Independent from Michigan, Dead at 64

Admin

by Andrew Trunsky   Former Michigan Rep. Paul Mitchell died Sunday of cancer, his wife announced. Mitchell, 64, served the majority of his career as a Republican, but left the party and became an Independent weeks before retiring over former President Donald Trump’s refusal to concede and claims that the 2020 election was rigged. “He wanted no part of a state funeral but insisted on the Star Spangled Banner upon his passing,” his wife, Sherry, said. “His biggest regret was that he never served in the military, he felt that he didn’t fulfill his responsibility for the gift of our freedom.” “I am immensely proud of him and never more so than when he was the lone voice in a sea of politicians who cared more about power than the true definition of the office,” she added. “Paul stood up for what matters most, it had nothing to do with political ideology and everything to do with keeping our humanity.” RIP former Rep. Paul Mitchell of Michigan, a Republican turned independent who died yesterday from cancer. Statement from wife Sherry below, along with photo of the couple, and the former congressman with son Luke. pic.twitter.com/JxWedQL3HP — Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) August 16, 2021…

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Trump Ally Keys in on Voter Fraud as He Launches Campaign for Lieutenant Governor

Peter D'Abrosca

A State Senator from Georgia who is running to replace notoriously anti-Trump Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan (R) has vowed to “expose all voter fraud,” making the issue of election integrity the cornerstone of his campaign. 

“Let me ask you a simple question – if there wasn’t any cheating or fraud in the 2020 election, why every time we call for a full investigation, the Stacey Abrams and the Democrats respond like this,” State Sen. Burt Jones (R-District 25) said in a campaign launch video.

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Senate Bill Would Make Concealed Weapon Permit in Ohio Optional

The Center Square
Terry Johnson

A bill in the Ohio House that would make a concealed weapons permit optional and end the responsibility to promptly notify police officers a person is carrying a concealed weapon now has companion legislation in the Ohio Senate.

Sen. Terry Johnson, R-Scioto County, filed the bill earlier this month that goes along with House Bill 89, which made it out of committee earlier this year but has not been passed by the House. The same legislation passed the House last year but did not receive a vote in the Senate.

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Michigan Congressional Delegation Mum on Van Drew’s Call for Biden, Harris, and Pelosi to Resign

Bradley Vasoli

Members of neither party in Michigan’s congressional delegation are yet weighing in on Rep. Jeff Van Drew’s (R-NJ) call for President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA-12) to resign in response to the Taliban’s retaking of Afghanistan.

Appearing on Fox News Sunday night, Van Drew castigated the White House in stark terms.

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Minnesota Congressional Delegates Respond to Afghanistan Crisis, Calls for Biden Resignation

Hayley Feland

Congressman Jeff Van Drew issued a statement, calling for President Biden, Vice-President Harris, and Speaker Pelosi to resign following the fall of Afghanistan. Van Drew is a former Democrat who switched parties in 2018. Congressman Van Drew’s official statement reads, “President Biden’s decision to simply hand Afghanistan back to the Taliban after almost twenty years to the day since the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001, will go down as one of the most shocking and embarrassing failures of leadership in American history.”

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Former Detroit, Michigan Police Chief and Gubernatorial Hopeful Craig Appoints Team to Generate Anti-Crime Solutions

Bradley Vasoli

Former Detroit, Michigan Police Chief James Craig, a Republican who is exploring a run for governor, announced Monday the formation of his Law Enforcement Action Team (LEAT), an advisory panel to craft legislation to strengthen public safety.

The group is made up of lawmakers and law-enforcement officials, including two Democrats: Macomb County Sheriff Anthony Wickersham and Gladwin County Sheriff Mike Shea.

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Federal Corruption Trial Reveals Details About Medical Marijuana Dispensary Trulieve’s Beginnings

Grant Holcomb

During the trial of Tallahassee businessman J.T. Burnette, who has been found guilty of five public corruption charges, a secret audio file was played for jurors where Burnette bragged about how a political relationship led to his then-girlfriend, Kim Rivers, acquired a vertically integrated license to operate Trulieve in Florida.

Trulieve was one of the first medical cannabis dispensaries in Florida growing to now 85 stores, and a total of 90 stores nationally. On their website, they claim to have 48 percent of Florida’s “seed-to-sale” operation.

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Judge Rules Phoenix School District Mask Mandate Does Not Violate State Law

The Center Square

A judge ruled that the Phoenix Union High School District (PUHSD) did not violate state law by issuing a mask mandate because the law does not take effect until 45 days after the end of the last legislative session on Sept. 29. 

Science teacher Douglas Hester, represented by Alexander Kolodin, filed a lawsuit against the Phoenix Union High School District (PUHSD) for its decision to institute a mask mandate despite the provision of the Fiscal Year 2022 state budget, which prohibited schools from requiring face coverings. 

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Virginia Redistricting Commissioners Debate Timing, Procedure, in First Meeting Since Census Data Published

Eric Burk

The U.S. Census Bureau released 2020 census data on Friday, but on Monday, the Virginia Redistricting Commission voted 14-1 with one abstention to consider August 26 the date of receipt of census bureau data. That’s due to Census Bureau delays that led to the data being released in an older format that will take vendors two weeks to process.

“This situation is very different from, I think, probably any other redistricting effort that has been done since long before World War II,” Senator George Barker (D-Fairfax) said, noting that law requires delivery of census data within a year of the census date.

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Tennessee Governor Bill Lee’s New Executive Order Grants Students the Right to Opt Out of COVID-19 Mask Mandate

Chris Butler

Tennessee Governor Bill Lee on Monday issued an executive order that grants parents the right to opt their children out of a school’s COVID-19 mask mandate if a school board or a health board enacts one over a district. Tennessee Speaker of the House Cameron Sexton (R-Crossville) had requestedthat Lee convene a special session of the state’s General Assembly to address school districts who impose mask mandates upon students. Lee said Monday he would not call for such a session.

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