Navy Engineer, Wife Charged with Trying to Pass Nuclear Submarine Secrets to Foreign Power

The U.S. Justice Department unsealed a criminal complaint Sunday alleging that a Navy engineer and his wife repeatedly tried to pass secrets about U.S. nuclear submarines to a foreign power in a plot thwarted by an undercover FBI agent.

Jonathan Toebbe, 42, and his wife Diana, 45, both of Annapolis, Md,. were arrested Saturday in West Virginia by the FBI and Naval Criminal Investigative Service on espionage-related charges of violating the Atomic Energy Act, officials said.

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Trump Lets Loose on Biden Border Policy, Dems’ Socialist Agenda and Spineless Republicans

Donald Trump

Though still undeclared, former President Donald Trump used his latest rally to shape a potential 2024 platform with sharp attacks on Joe Biden’s border policies, congressional Democrats’ socialist spending plans and Republican weakness on the debt ceiling.

In vintage campaign form, Trump electrified a capacity crowd at the Iowa State Fairgrounds on Saturday night, putting on display his continued high popularity in America’s first voting state while imploring Republicans to do more to fight the Biden-Democrat agenda.

“We must declare with one united voice that we cannot allow America to ever become a socialist country,” he said in urging defeat of $4.5 trillion in spending plans pending in Congress.

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Report: A Majority of Border Crossings Occur in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley

Border officials reported that most encounters with migrants illegally entering the U.S. occurred in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley, according to Customs and Border Protection data.

Immigration officials encountered 441,855 migrants in the Rio Grande Valley sector between January and August 2021, according to CBP data. More than 1.3 million migrants have been encountered at the southern border since January, according to CBP.

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For the Third Time, Nashville Man Convicted of Being a Convicted Felon in Possession of a Firearm

A federal jury this week convicted a Nashville man on charges of being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm, and this is not this man’s first experience with this. That man, Davian M. Greenlee, is 40-years-old, according to a press release that the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Tennessee published Thursday.

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Commentary: America’s Universities Are Learning the Legal Costs of Wokeness

As they reel from revenue losses connected to the pandemic, many colleges and universities are racking up other costs not likely to turn up in their glossy brochures or as line items on staggering tuition bills: untold millions of dollars in legal fees and settlements for allegedly violating the rights of students, professors, and applicants on free speech, admissions and other matters as the schools pursue social justice causes.

Harvard University’s legal costs fighting a continuing 2017 challenge to its racial admissions practices have surpassed $25 million, the cap of its primary insurer, and it is now suing a secondary legal insurer, the Zurich American Insurance Company, over its refusal to pick up the tab going forward.

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Florida Mom Calls for ‘Mass Exodus’ from Public Schools to Fight Indoctrination in the Classroom

A Florida mom called for a “mass exodus” from the public school system as the “only thing” left to do to fight indoctrination in public schools during a Family Research Council event Thursday.

The event, titled “Fighting Indoctrination on a National Scale,” from the annual Pray Vote Stand Summit in Leesburg, Virginia, featured remarks from Quisha King, who works for Moms for Liberty and drew national attention in June for comments she made in opposition to Critical Race Theory (CRT).

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Biden’s Vaccine Mandate Depends on Occupational Safety and Health Act Emergency Regulation

woman with a hard hat and safety glasses on

President Joe Biden is using what one court opinion called “the most dramatic weapon in OSHA’s enforcement arsenal” to back up his COVID-19 vaccine mandate for employers with 100 or more workers. 

But relying on this bureaucratic weapon could be a risky strategy in the face of litigation threats, since courts have struck down all or part of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s emergency regulations in four of the six legal challenges so far. 

Biden mentioned OSHA’s role Thursday in a speech promoting the need for Americans to get COVID-19 vaccinations during a trip to Elk Grove Village, Illinois, near Chicago. 

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Biden Continues Vaccine Push Even as Data Shows More Americans Have Died with COVID So Far in 2021 Than Died in 2020

The Biden regime continues to use coercive tactics to get “the vast majority” of Americans vaccinated, even though the data suggests that the vaccines have done more harm than good.

More Americans have died with COVID-19 under Joe Biden’s watch than during the first year of the pandemic under President Donald Trump, data from John Hopkins University show.

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Texas School Shooter Released on Bail One Day After Mass Shooting

A Texas high school student who opened fire on his campus and wounded four people has been released on bail the day after he carried out his shooting, as reported by the New York Post.

Timothy Simpkins, an 18-year-old African-American student of Timberview High School in Arlington, Texas, was on the run for a brief period of time after committing the shooting yesterday, with the story drawing national attention for several hours. He eventually turned himself in, accompanied by his lawyer, after an extensive manhunt.

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Vaccine Mandate Enforcement Threatens to Create a Second Economic Crisis

President Joe Biden announced a vaccine mandate on Sept. 9, causing experts to debate the potential economic impact of the rule.

Biden directed the Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to create a rule requiring businesses with 100 or more employees to require that employees get vaccinated or undergo weekly testing.

The new mandate would affect roughly 100 million Americans, specifically private employees, health care workers and federal contractors who have yet to receive a vaccine, the Daily Caller reported.

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Hunter Biden Makes $375,000 off His Latest Paintings

Hunter Biden

Last month, Hunter Biden sold five prints of his latest artwork for $75,000 a piece, netting him another $375,000, as he plans to debut an art show next year, the New York Post reports.

Biden’s prints were sold out of the Georges Berges Gallery in New York City in September, according to an anonymous source. The unidentified individual said that, although the exact identities of the buyers are unknown, they are most likely “private collectors with the gallery,” and “people that Berges knows personally.”

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U.S. Shift Toward Renewable Energy May Result in Energy Crisis

by Thomas Catenacci   Rapidly increasing energy costs across Europe and Asia have prompted warnings of an impending U.S. crisis and calls for policy makers to scale back the shift from fossil fuels to renewables. “If it gets cold at all, we are in real trouble,” Kyle Bass, the founder and CEO of Conservation Equity Management, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. Both the U.S. and international benchmarks for crude oil briefly touched multi-year highs this week and remain elevated after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its Russian counterpart opted against increasing production. The White House had pleaded in August with OPEC to boost production, noting that higher gas prices were inevitable if the cartel held firm. U.S. natural gas prices have also skyrocketed, reaching levels that haven’t been touched since the Great Recession. Natural gas price volatility hit an all-time high Tuesday, Reuters reported. In the U.K., natural gas prices soared higher, shattering previous record highs, according to Bloomberg. The crisis has led to long lines at gasoline stations, energy shortages, the collapse of three power companies and British soldiers delivering gasoline to pumps. High energy prices, shortages and even blackouts have also reached Europe and Asia, Foreign Policy Magazine reported. Department of Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said Wednesday that “all tools…

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Commentary: Merrick Garland’s Disdain for Middle America

Are you upset that school officials force your kids to mask outdoors and teach them to hate themselves because of their skin color? You might be a terrorist, according to the Department of Justice.

Attorney General Merrick Garland this week issued a memo directing his agency to investigate and counter alleged threats to school board officials and teachers. The memo was prompted by spirited protests happening at school board meetings across the country. Parents are fed up with left-leaning bureaucrats and their insidious ideas for kids. It’s no surprise some parents get very passionate about these issues—it’s their own kids they’re trying to protect.

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Indiana Coal Plant Keeps Getting Money from Ohio Energy Customers

Clifty Creek Power Plant

 An Indiana coal plant continues to receive subsidies from Ohio energy ratepayers despite efforts from lawmakers to whittle away at the scandal-ridden House Bill 6 passed more than two years ago.

Ohio state Reps. Casey Weinstein, D-Hudson, and Jeffrey Crossman, D-Parma, toured the Clifty Creek Coal Plant, owned by Ohio Valley Electric Coop, this week. Clifty Creek is in Madison, Indiana, an hour from the Ohio border.

Ohio Valley Electric receives $232,000 in ratepayer subsidies per day, Crossman and Weinstein said, part of which goes to Clifty Creek.

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Wisconsin Rep. Fitzgerald Sends Letter to Biden Admin Demanding Briefing on Threats Against Parents

Wisconsin Rep. Scott Fitzgerald (R-WI-05) sent a letter, along with the Republican Committee on Education and Labor colleagues, demanding a briefing regarding the Biden Administration threats against parents involved in their children’s education. Fitzgerald said, “Parents who advocate for their children’s education should be applauded not labeled as a threat and intimidated to stay silent as the DOJ and [the U.S. Department of Education] have recently done.”

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Minnesota Lawsuit Forces Company to Accept Blood Donations from Transgender People

The recently announced outcome of a Minnesota lawsuit forces one of the nation’s largest plasma companies to accept blood from transgender donors who were previously considered too high risk.

CSL Plasma is one of three companies that are responsible for collecting over 75% of the total plasma donated in the U.S. For decades, the FDA has recommended caution when collecting blood and plasma from men who have sex with other men, as these individuals pose a higher than average risk of transmitting bloodborne diseases like AIDS. CSL apparently adhered to this guidance by not collecting plasma from biological men who identify as transgender women or nonbinary people, since these individuals are likely to engage in sexual relationships with other men.

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Virginia Awards $7.8M in Local Grants for Flood Preparedness

Group of people who work for Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation observing the waterways

Virginia awarded about $7.8 million in state grants for 19 local projects designed to address flooding, sea-level rise and extreme weather, Gov. Ralph Northam announced Tuesday.

Funding for the Virginia Community Flood Preparedness Fund grants is provided through the sale of carbon emission allowances, which began when the state joined the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative in January.

The initiative requires businesses to purchase a certain number of carbon emission allowances depending on how much carbon they emit. The number of carbon emissions allowed is reduced annually. About 45% of the revenues obtained through these sales goes toward the flood preparedness fund.

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Civil Forfeiture Lawsuit Against Arizona Moving Forward

Arizona State Trooper SUV

A federal appeals court has ruled a Washington state couple’s lawsuit against the state of Arizona over what they say was an unconstitutional seizure of their property can continue.

Terry and Ria Platt loaned their vehicle in 2016 to their son to use on vacation when Arizona state troopers stopped him on Interstate 40 in Navajo County for having tinted windows. A K-9 search discovered a small amount of marijuana in the 2012 Volkswagen Jetta, and police also found $31,000 in cash.

Police seized the car and money, although neither the Platts nor their son was ever charged with a crime.

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Georgia Braces for TV, Film Workers Strike

Georgia’s multibillion-dollar film and television industry may be in jeopardy as TV and film production workers threaten to go on strike.

Contract negotiations between the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) were ongoing Thursday after the union authorized a strike days earlier because of working conditions.

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Trump to Hold Weekend Rally in Key Balloting State Iowa

Donald Trump

Former President Trump is scheduled to host a rally Saturday evening in key presidential balloting state Iowa, a move considered another significant sign that he’ll seek reelection again in 2024.

The Iowa Cause is the first-in-nation balloting in each presidential election cycle, with the Republican and Democratic winner of the balloting getting an early lead on the field of candidates, toward winning the respective party nomination.

The turnout and crowd reaction at the rally is also expected to be a good indication on whether Trump’s support extends beyond loyalists and into the more traditional GOP base.

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Florida Congressional Republicans Support Gun Confiscation Bill

A number of notable Florida congressional Republicans voted in favor of H.R. 4350, the National Defense Authorization Act, but included in the bill is a gun confiscation provision commonly referred to as a “Red Flag law” directed towards military members.

Within the text of the bill, gun confiscation would be permitted under a military court order and the court would be able to prevent a member of the United States armed forces from owning a firearm.

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Florida Board of Education Proposes Further Discipline for School Boards Enforcing Mask Mandates

Eight county school boards in Florida are to be disciplined by the State Board of Education for maintaining mask requirements for students despite DeSantis’ Executive Order 21-175 (EO 21-175) that leaves that decision to their parents.

In a conference call on Thursday, Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran and other board members doubled-down on financial penalties set for county school board members who continue to place mask mandates in their schools.

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Grassroots ‘America Pack’ in Scottsdale Draws Large Crowd to Discuss Election Fraud, More

Woman voting at booth

A new grassroots patriotic organization has sprung up in the Phoenix area, America Pack. Led by founder Valerie Grosso-Turley, it seeks to get involved at the local level in a way many conservative groups fail to — boots on the ground, not just sitting around listening to speakers.

Grosso-Turley urged the crowd, which was composed substantially of precinct committee people, to get involved at the school board level. She cited the Biden administration weaponizing the FBI to squelch dissent by parents. She said this is because parents speaking up is having results, “They wouldn’t be doing it if it didn’t matter.” 

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The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals Backs West Michigan University Athletes Seeking Vaccine Exemption

Two football players who attend Western Michigan University

The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously upheld Federal District Court Judge Paul L. Maloney’s preliminary injunction, which allows 16 Western Michigan University (WMU) athletes to continue playing intercollegiate sports despite refusing a Covid-19 vaccine shot.

Appellate Judges Ralph B. Guy, Jr., David W. McKeague, and Chad A. Readler issued their opinion confirming WMU violated the athletes’ First Amendment rights by denying their requests for a religious exemption from the mandate. This decision is now binding precedent in Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee.

“The University put plaintiffs to the choice: get vaccinated or stop fully participating in intercollegiate sports,” the opinion says. “The University did not dispute that taking the vaccine would violate plaintiffs’ ‘sincerely held Christian beliefs.’ Yet refusing the vaccine prevents plaintiffs from participating in college sports, as they are otherwise qualified (and likely were recruited) to do. By conditioning the privilege of playing sports on plaintiffs’ willingness to abandon their sincere religious beliefs, the University burdened their free exercise rights.”

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Two Executives Plead Guilty in Georgia Court to Large-Scale Visa Fraud Employment Scheme

Two Florida business executives pleaded guilty this week in the Southern District of Georgia to charges related to their roles in a scheme to recruit and hire foreign nationals who were not authorized to work in the United States. The executives did this to fill temporary housekeeping and food service positions and commit various other criminal immigration offenses for profit.

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CNU/Wason Center Poll: Virginia GOP Statewide Candidates Making Gains Among Independents

Glenn Youngkin and Terry McAuliffe

A new Christopher Newport University Wason Center poll released Friday found GOP gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin slightly behind Terry McAuliffe, 49 percent to 45 percent, which is nearly in line with the Real Clear Politics current polling average placing McAuliffe ahead by 3.5 percentage points. Liberation Party candidate Princess Blanding got one percent, with five percent undecided.

The poll also included the lieutenant governor’s race, which hasn’t seen as much polling, and found that Delegate Hala Ayala (D-Prince William) leads GOP candidate Winsome Sears 48 percent to 44 percent.

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Commentary: McAuliffe’s War on Parents

Former Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe thought his run at a second non-consecutive term for Virginia’s executive mansion would be a cake-walk. It would no doubt set him up for a serious run for president in 2024 or 2028. And why not? Virginia Democrats have won 14 statewide races in a row dating back to 2012 by ever increasing margins. VA DEMS won a House of Delegates majority in 2019, just three years after Republicans commanded a super-majority. They also captured the state senate in 2019. 

Republicans nominated an unknown business executive with no political experience, Glenn Youngkin for governor after a very contentious caucus selection process. McAuliffe meanwhile eviscerated several up and coming African-American candidates in a blow-out primary win. 

With all the money he could ever spend in a blue state that now rivals California, what could go wrong? 

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Ohio Northern University Denies College Republicans’ ‘Back the Blue’ Apparel Design

The Ohio Northern University College Republicans chapter was denied approval recently for “Back the Blue” apparel by the university due to other schools having had to “retract and apologize” for similar initiatives.

ONU College Republicans designed shirts with “Back the Blue” printed on the sleeve and a Thin Blue Line flag printed on the back. The shirt design does not include ONU lettering and shows no affiliation with the university.

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