The driver in the Waukesha mass murder event Sunday has a long criminal history spanning nearly two decades. Darrell Edward Brooks, the man taken into custody after he drove through a Christmas parade in Waukesha, Wisconsin, killed 5 and wounded 48 others in the mass killing.
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Five are dead and dozens more injured after a Black Lives Matter activist and two others allegedly plowed through a crowd of Christmas paraders in Waukesha Sunday evening.
Some say it’s “karma” for the acquittal of Kyle Rittenhouse, who walked after a jury decided last week that he acted in self-defense in the killing of two rioters, and the injuring of a third.
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The flag at the Wisconsin Capitol – as well as flags across the rest of the state – will be lowered to remember the people killed in the tragedy at Waukesha’s Christmas Parade.
Gov. Tony Evers issued an order to lower the flags after five people were killed and dozens more were hurt Sunday afternoon. The official count is 40-plus injured, including 12 children.
The governor on Sunday said his thoughts and prayers are with everyone impacted.
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Nashville Metro Police reported that more than 70 percent of guns stolen are from vehicle thefts. In a media release, the Metro Police said that so far from this year, there have been 1,084 guns stolen from cars. The media release also said that from last week alone, 32 guns were reported stolen from cars and trucks in Nashville.
The media release continued, it said that vehicle burglaries typically go hand in hand with vehicle theft. And, that of 62 vehicles stolen last week, 74 percent were considered easy targets due to “the keys were left inside or made available to thieves. One of the 62 vehicles stolen was left running without the driver present.”
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In early November, the Chinese (PRC) tennis star Peng Shuai wrote on her blog that she had been aggressed in 2018 by a Communist Party boss and vice-premier, Zhang Gaoli, who made her his concubine. The blog post, on the Chinese social media platform Weibo, was removed in less time than it takes to play a set, 20 minutes.
Peng’s glory days as an athlete were in the mid-teens, when she was the first Chinese tennis player to reach a no. 1 ranking; hers was in doubles. In that format she won Wimbledon 2013 and Roland-Garros 2014, partnering with the Taiwan (Free China) player Hsieh Su-wei (at a time when the Chicoms were offering Hsieh big bucks to defect to their side); Peng was also strong in singles, ranked no. 14.
Peng has not been seen in public or heard from since her blog was censured.
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The United States Department of Justice awarded three cities in Tennessee a total of $785,370 out of a total of $139 million in the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office) COPS Hiring Program (CHP). The program, which was designed to provide funding directly to law enforcement agencies to hire and/or rehire additional career law enforcement officers in an effort to increase their community policing capacity and crime prevention efforts.
The three Tennessee cities were Lenoir, Ripley, and Gordonsville. Lenoir was awarded $375,000, Ripley $316,620, and Gordonsville $93,750. Both Lenoir and Ripley will be able to hire three new officers with the money, and Gordonsville will be able to hire one.
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The Biden administration asked China, Japan, South Korea and India to tap into their emergency oil reserves as the president continues to grapple with rising gasoline prices, Reuters reported.
The effort to simultaneously release oil reserves represents a rebuke of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), the cartel that controls oil production throughout the Middle East, several anonymous sources familiar with the request told Reuters on Wednesday. OPEC has repeatedly rejected requests from President Joe Biden and other top administration officials to increase oil production amid rising gasoline prices.
The four Asian nations the president appealed to represent some of the largest energy consumers and greenhouse gas emitters, according to a University of Oxford database.
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The parents of one of the two men shot and killed by Kyle Rittenhouse during three nights of rioting in Kenosha, Wisconsin, last year vowed to continue their fight for justice for their slain son.
A jury found Rittenhouse not guilty Friday of all five charges in the case including first degree intentional homicide in the death of Anthony Huber.
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Hotly contested Senate seats in Georgia, Arizona and Nevada are now well within the realm of a “toss-up” in next year’s races, a notable political forecaster is predicting.
The Cook Political Report, a longtime newsletter that specializes in U.S. election predictions, this week moved those races to its toss-up column for the 2022 elections.
In Georgia, Democrat Sen. Raphael Warnock faces re-election after narrowly winning a special election this year. His victory helped tip the Senate in favor of Democrats.
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The Better Business Bureau (BBB) posted a list of 12 scams to watch out for this year. The BBB, known for helping customers find credible businesses, brands, and charities, was founded in 1912 as a small nonprofit focused on advancing marketplace trust.
While the BBB said that most scams are sent through email, it added that customers should “Exercise caution when coming across social media ads about discounted items, event promotions, job opportunities, and donation requests, as well as direct messages from strangers.”
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A North Idaho College instructor has been charged with Misdemeanor Battery for allegedly assaulting a person holding a sign in support of the college’s Board of Trustees decision to repeal the university-wide mask mandate.
Rachelle Ottosen stood at the September North Idaho College Board of Trustees meeting holding a sign picturing a red circle with the words “Medical Fascism” inside and a slash through it. Ottosen told Campus Reform that she brought the sign to show her support for the Board’s August decision to repeal its mask mandate.
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A Manhattan school plans to separate students by race during discussions scheduled for next week related to identity and social justice topics, the New York Post reported.
The Lower Manhattan Community School plans to divide students into affinity groups, based on skin color to “undo the legacy of racism and oppression in this country that impacts our school community,” according to an email sent to parents, the NYP reported.
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Facebook is remaining silent as to whether it will change its content policy regarding Kenosha shooter Kyle Rittenhouse, who was found not guilty of several charges Friday.
During riots in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in August 2020 after the shooting of Jacob Blake, Rittenhouse, then seventeen years old, shot three men in self-defense during an altercation, killing two of them. Rittenhouse was later arrested and charged with intentional homicide before being acquitted on all charges Friday afternoon.
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United Auto Worker (UAW) John Deere production and maintenance members struck an agreement and went back to work Thursday after five weeks of striking. The strike was the first at the company since 1986.
The majority (61%) of the members approved a six-year contract with the billion-dollar manufacturer headquartered in Moline, IL, the union said in a news release. The workers had rejected two earlier offers from the company.
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In 2015, the University of Chicago issued a statement, referred to as the “Chicago Statement,” in response to “recent events nationwide that have tested institutional commitments to free and open discourse.” Through the statement, the University reaffirmed its steadfast commitment to free speech and expression, including its “overarching commitment to free, robust, and uninhibited debate and deliberation among all members of the University’s community.”
The statement emphasized that:
“[E]ducation should not be intended to make people comfortable, it is meant to make them think. Universities should be expected to provide the conditions within which hard thought, and therefore strong disagreement, independent judgment, and the questioning of stubborn assumptions, can flourish in an environment of the greatest freedom.”
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The Marriott hotel in Prague refused to host a conference on its premises for activists and leaders fighting for the rights of Uyghurs in China, Axios reported.
In an email sent to the World Uyghur Congress, which has attempted to shine a spotlight on the genocide of Uyghur Muslims in the Xinjiang region of China, the hotel cited the need for “political neutrality” as the reason the conference was denied the venue, Axios reported.
“Unfortunately, I have to inform you that we are not able to offer the premises,” the email read, Axios reported. “We consulted the whole matter with our corporate management. For reasons of political neutrality, we cannot offer events of this type with a political theme. Thank you once again for your time and understanding.”
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Sen. Rand Paul sharply criticized the “politicized” FBI and the Department of Justice, calling for more whistleblowers to expose government trampling of American liberties.
“I think anytime someone is breaking the law in government, it’s a good idea to hear about it,” the Kentucky Republican said in a Thursday interview with The Daily Signal. “And so, frankly, yes, I think it is a good idea for people to reveal when the government’s breaking the rules.”
Paul’s remarks follow news that the head of the FBI’s Criminal and Counterterrorism divisions reportedly ordered agents Oct. 20 to identify threats against school board members and teachers with a “threat tag”—although Attorney General Merrick Garland told lawmakers the next day that the FBI was not using counterintelligence tools to target parents.
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The College Democrats of America (CDA) has been rocked by public accusations of bigotry against its leadership and calls for members to step down.
Nourhan Mesbah, the group’s vice president, is undergoing impeachment proceedings after a tweet she posted at age 13 was shared by the CDA Jewish Caucus, Politico reported. “I blame this debate on the yahood,” Mesbah tweeted during a 2016 presidential debate. “Yahood” is an Arabic word used as a slur against Jews, Politico wrote.
Mesbah apologized for the tweet, reportedly saying “my comment was in no way rooted in malice or anti-semitism, especially as a 13-year old, relatively new immigrant from North Africa, with a different regional dialectic linguist comprehension … while I take responsibility for my actions, I am hurt by the Islamophobia and xenophobia that continues to unfold.”
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Republican Florida Sen. Marco Rubio blasted President Joe Biden’s nominee to lead the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, saying she supports communist policies on Friday.
“Saule Omarova supports abolishing private bank accounts, using govt to bankrupt energy companies & creating a Soviet style ‘National Investment Authority,’” Rubio wrote on Twitter.
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Legislation authored by Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Pat Browne, R-Lehigh, to bring transparency and efficiency to Pennsylvania’s campaign finance reporting system was approved by the state Senate.
Under Senate Bill 140, all candidates for office and political action committees will be required to file with the secretary of the commonwealth by utilizing the Pennsylvania Department of State’s online filing system to provide campaign finance reports.
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Epic clown show.” “The best cancel culture grift yet.” “A Bible college for libertarians.”
And perhaps most damning: a “conservative university.”
A newly created university is facing an onslaught of accusations, assumptions and jeers from the higher education and media establishments for its self-described mission to build an institution “dedicated to the fearless pursuit of truth.”
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YouTube prevented a video about a missing Chinese tennis star from receiving advertising revenue on Friday.
The video, titled “Chinese Star VANISHES After Rape Accusation I Breaking Points with Krystal and Saagar” and appearing on the Breaking Points channel, was demonetized early Friday, according to a tweet from the channel’s host Saagar Enjeti.
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Before Virginia agencies offer permits that could affect environmental, historical and cultural resource protection, they must now consult the commonwealth’s Tribal Nations.
Gov. Ralph Northam signed Executive Order 82, which puts this policy in place. The order is meant to provide the tribes with formal input in these permit decisions to ensure their cultural and environmental concerns are considered before the approval of proposed development projects, according to the governor’s office.
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A statewide investigation that made its way into an alleged scheme by Republican state Senator Frank Artile to influence a Miami-Dade County election in 2020, revealed that a dark-money organization was used by Florida Democrats to pay for “sham candidate mailers.”
In an attempt to make gains against a Republican-controlled Florida Senate, Josh Weierbach, the executive director of a progressive group called Florida Watch Inc., had $115,000 on hand leading up to the 2020 election that he wanted to use in support for Senate Democratic candidates, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
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In an 11-page order released on Saturday, U.S District Judge M. Casey Rodgers rejected Florida’s motion to block a Biden administration rule that requires workers at hospitals and other health-care related facilities be vaccinated against COVID.
The decision was is response to a motion filed by Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody seeking a preliminary injunction against the federal rule which takes effect Dec. 6.
Moody’s argument contended that the requirement would increase health-care staffing shortages. However, Judge Rodgers concluded that Florida had shown “irreparable harm” to justify an injunction.
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A bill passed in the Ohio House would help the state prepare for a future with electric vehicles.
House Bill 292, which was passed in the House on Thursday, establishes the Electric Vehicle Commission, consisting of elected officials and industry leaders, to study electric vehicle production and the steps needed to take to adapt to potential growth in the industry.
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Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has admitted that declaring another state of emergency in the face of rising COVID cases would lead to negative political repercussions.
In a Wednesday call with reporters — from Finland, no less — the governor said he won’t invoke emergency powers while Minnesota’s COVID cases spiked to the highest 7-day average in the United States.
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California’s largest teacher’s union instructed members at a meeting in October about the best ways to undermine parents and conservative communities regarding gender identity and sexual orientation issues, according to leaked documents and audio obtained by Abigail Shrier.
The California Teachers Association (CTA) held a conference on Oct. 29-31 in Palm Springs, California. During workshops, teachers said they surveilled students’ Google searches, online chats and hallway conversations to identify and personally invite sixth grade students to join LGBTQ school clubs, according to the leaked documents and audio reviewed by Abigail Shrier, which were authenticated by three conference attendees.
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Voters in Arizona will have the chance to strike down the largest personal income tax cut in state history.
Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs notified Gov. Doug Ducey’s office Friday that her office certified a ballot initiative to appear on the November 2022 general election ballot. Designated as Proposition 307, the initiative needs a simple majority to vote “no” to strike down Senate Bill 1828. The law gradually flattens Arizona’s progressive income tax to 2.5%.
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A new advocacy group, Moms for Liberty (MFL), was founded by two former Florida school board members who sought a new organization to unite parents against what they see as destructive policies being perpetuated in the public school system.
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Faculty members are pushing back against Arizona State University for charging Code of Conduct violations against the female students who attempted to kick out two White men from the school’s Multicultural Community of Excellence Center earlier this year.
Campus Reform obtained a copy of the email asking faculty and staff to sign an “internal letter requesting that the University Administration revoke Code of Conduct violation charges against” the students behind the now viral video from September.
Leah Sarat, an associate professor of Religious Studies, sent the mass email, which was co-signed by 11 other individuals, on Nov. 2.
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A taxpayer subsidy program intended to help vulnerable people afford medicine isn’t working as intended, according to a new study from the California-based, free-market Pacific Research Institute.
The 340B program, named for section 340B of the Veterans Health Care Act of 1992, is administered by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). The 340B program aims to provide discounted drugs to boost vulnerable populations’ access to medicine. Participating manufacturers provide qualifying clinics and hospitals discount up to 50% or more of the costs for outpatient drugs, otherwise, their drugs will not be covered by Medicaid.
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Virginia’s Dominion Energy customers will get $330 million in refunds due to a settlement. On Thursday, the Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC) approved the settlement put forward in October, closing the agency’s triennial financial review of the utility. SCC staff found that the company may have overcharged customers as much as $1.1 billion, according to a September report. Dominion Energy can deduct some items from that before issuing refunds, including a $309 million Customer Credit Reinvestment Offset (CCRO) that allows reinvestment in offshore wind, solar, and grid transformation projects.
The settlement also includes a rate reduction that will reduce customers’ bills.
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The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) will be issuing a face mask advisory effective until further notice. The agency is also offering guidance for the holidays, citing an increase in COVID-19 and flu cases.
MDHHS will issue a Public Health Advisory that recommends everyone over the age of two should wear a face mask at indoor gatherings regardless of vaccination status. The agency recommends establishments implement a mask policy.
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U.S. Representative Jody Hice (R-GA-10) and U.S. Representative Austin Scott (R-GA-08) told their respective constituents this month that Thanksgiving this year will likely cost them more than any other.
Scott, in an email to constituents, said the following:
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Ohio State University (OSU) and President Kristina Johnson announced a new program that will help students obtain a degree without going into debt.
The initiative, entitled the “Scarlet and Gray Advantage,” was announced during a program honoring Johnson, who was recently hired by the university.
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The City of Madison on Wednesday announced that all individuals who serve as poll workers will be mandated to receive the coronavirus vaccine.
Earlier this year, city officials detailed the vaccine requirement or testing for all city employees. A recent memo certified that the requirements would be extended to poll workers.
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The U.S. Senate on Friday unanimously confirmed Gary M. Restaino, President Joe Biden’s nominee for U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona.
Restaino has served as a federal prosecutor in the state since 2003 and previously worked for a Phoenix legal aid service, representing migrant and seasonal farmworkers. He also worked as a trial attorney for the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section, according to a release from the White House.
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The Illinois Association of School Boards voted Thursday to end its membership with the National School Boards Association after the national group sent a letter to President Joe Biden asking for federal intervention to investigate unruly parents who protest at local meetings.
“The decision follows previous attempts by IASB to initiate changes to the governance structure, transparency, and financial oversight of the national association,” a news release from IASB says. “IASB suspended payment of dues to NSBA for 2021-2022 but continued to work to try to bring about needed changes.”
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Ohio has joined a federal lawsuit challenging the Biden administration’s new federal immigration policy, which Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said stops nearly all deportations and handcuffs U.S. immigration officers.
Yost and attorneys general in Arizona and Montana want to stop the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Guidelines for the Enforcement of Civil Immigration Law, which is scheduled to take effect Nov. 29. The lawsuit called the guidelines irrational and said they likely will increase a border crisis.
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Could Kyle Rittenhouse face another trial? Does Rittenhouse have grounds to sue media outlets for defamation? What about the behavior of the prosecutors during the trial? The Heritage Foundation’s Zack Smith, a former prosecutor, joins Tim Doescher of “Heritage Explains” to answer these questions and more. Watch the full interview here or read, below, an edited and abridged transcript.
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Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) Chief John Drake last week announced a new Violent Crimes Division to investigate car jackings, armed robberies, and other violent incidents of an apparent serial nature.
According to an MNPD press release, this new division becomes effective December 1.
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