Day: January 15, 2022

Trump at Arizona Rally: U.S. Becoming ‘Large-Scale Version of Venezuela’ Under Biden

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At a “Save America” rally in Arizona Saturday night, Former President Donald Trump treated a raucous crowd of followers stretching “as far as the eye can see” to a blistering indictment of President Biden, who, he said, has caused “more destruction than five presidents in the last year.”

Trump, who has fueled speculation that he may mount another run for the White House in 2024, told a crowd in Arizona Saturday night that “our country is going to hell” and “the American people must take their lives and future back.”

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Tennessee Senators Blackburn and Hagerty React to Supreme Court Ruling on President Biden’s Vaccine Mandate

Kaitlin Housler

The Supreme Court on Thursday blocked the Biden administration’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate that would apply to large U.S. businesses. The mandate, which would have been enacted by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), could have forced businesses with 100 or more employees to mandate the vaccine or weekly testing.

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Commentary: We Are All ‘Domestic Terrorists’ Now

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Paul Hodgkins, according to Joe Biden’s Justice Department, is a domestic terrorist.

A working-class man from Tampa, Hodgkins committed what Democrats and the media consider a murderous crime comparable to flying a packed jetliner into a skyscraper or detonating a truck filled with explosives under a crowded federal building.

Paul Hodgkins entered the Capitol building on January 6, 2021.

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Star News Network Reports from Michigan CRT Protest at School Board

Peter D'Abrosca

Farmington Hills – The Star News Network’s Neil W. McCabe reported from a Farmington Hills high school, where parents protested the town’s school board over a Critical Race Theory (CRT) initiative. 

“Dozens of parents came to the school board meeting held here at the North Farmington High School to protest the schools 21-day equity challenge, which is a Critical Race Theory challenge which includes having the students attend and participate in an event with Black Lives Matter.”

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Law Filed to Make the Assault of a Sports Official a Class E Felony

Morgan Nicole Veysey
Brandon Ogles

A new bill was filed this week that would make assaulting a sports official while they’re officiating a Class E Felony. Sponsored by Representative Brandon Ogles (R-Franklin), the bill would also make the assault a Class A Misdemeanor, depending on the nature of the assault. 

The bill stated:

A person commits assault against a sports official who: (1) Intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly causes bodily injury to a sports official while the official is officiating a sporting event; (2) Intentionally or knowingly causes a sports official, while the official is officiating a sporting event, to reasonably fear imminent bodily injury; or (3) Intentionally or knowingly causes physical contact with a sports official while the official is officiating a sporting event and a reasonable person would regard the contact as extremely offensive or provocative.

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Nashville Metro Councilman Incurs $360,000 Fine for Campaign Finance Violations

Aaron Gulbransen
Jonathan Hall

The Tennessee Registry of Election Finance fined Nashville Metro Councilmember Jonathan Hall to the tune of $360,000 at their meeting on Thursday.

The Registry found Councilmember Jonathan Hall guilty of campaign finance law violations related to his run for Council in 2018 and 2019. Councilmember Hall represents District One on the Metro Council which covers Bordeaux, parts of North Nashville, Whites Creek and Joelton.

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Analysis: Democrats in D.C. Brace for Two Winter Storms as Voting Bills Near Certain Failure

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The U.S. Capitol on a snowy day

As Washington, D.C., prepares for its second winter storm in as many weeks, Democrats in Congress are all-in on their bid to pass their voting legislation and, if it fails, to abolish the Senate filibuster to advance it.

Their strategy has almost zero chance of success. Though Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has brought his party’s voting bills to the floor throughout 2021, they have faced insurmountable opposition from Senate Republicans every time, who have relied on the filibuster to tank the legislation that they describe as a federal takeover of elections that could invite voter fraud.

In response, Schumer and most Senate Democrats have endorsed scrapping the 60-vote threshold, but in their way stand Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema. The two centrist Democrats have said time and time again that they will not support abolishing the filibuster, denying Democrats the unanimous support they need to adopt the change even though they support their party’s voting legislation.

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Top Democrat Supports Localized Election Regulation While Party Pushes Federalized Elections

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California Democratic Rep. Pete Aguilar, vice chair of the House Democratic Caucus and member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, said localities have the “authority” to allow non-citizens to vote in certain elections.

Aguilar’s comments come as Democrats move to pass the Freedom to Vote Act, which includes federal rules that localities and states would have to follow such as not requiring a photo ID or Social Security number to cast a ballot.

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IRS Blasted by Watchdog for ‘Horrendous’ Customer Service

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Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS), an independent watchdog within the Internal Revenue Service, released a 2021 report to Congress stating that tens of millions of taxpayers had a “horrendous” experience with customer service, including the worst phone service “ever” and long delays for refunds.

“Calendar year 2021 was surely the most challenging year taxpayers and tax professionals have ever experienced – long processing and refund delays, difficulty reaching the IRS by phone, correspondence that went unprocessed for many months, collection notices issued while taxpayer correspondence was awaiting processing, limited or no information on the Where’s My Refund? tool for delayed returns, and – for full disclosure – difficulty obtaining timely assistance from TAS,” the report stated.

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Biden Administration to Review 30 Million Acres of Ocean for Potential Wind Farms

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The Biden administration advanced a federal review of the impact of leasing public waters for offshore wind farms in the Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday.

The review is part of President Joe Biden’s goal to permit at least 30 gigawatts of offshore wind production by 2030, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) announced. BOEM will study the environmental impacts of wind farm leases across a 30-million-acre swath of ocean that stretches from the Mississippi River to the U.S.-Mexico border off the coast of Texas.

“The Gulf of Mexico is well-positioned to support a transition to a renewable energy future, as much of the infrastructure already exists to support offshore wind development in the region,” said BOEM Director Amanda Lefton.

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Democratic U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna Calls out Twitter for Trying to Hide Hunter Biden Laptop Story

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Ro Khanna

Democratic California Rep. Ro Khanna criticized Twitter and Facebook for censoring the New York Post’s story on Hunter Biden, saying the story should not have been blocked.

“I thought it was a mistake for Twitter to take down some of this stuff about Hunter Biden, or Facebook to do that,” Khanna said during an interview with Joe Lonsdale on the American Optimist podcast while promoting his book “Dignity in a Digital Age: Making Tech Work for All of Us.”

The New York Post published a story in October 2020 detailing a meeting between Hunter Biden, then-Vice President Joe Biden and a top executive at Ukrainian gas company Burisma in 2015, relying on data recovered from a laptop reportedly belonging to Hunter. Shortly after the story was published, Twitter blocked users from sharing the link and suspended accounts that attempted to tweet it out.

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Texas School District Tells Teachers Not to ‘Out’ Their Trans, Non-Binary Students to Parents

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Group of people in a conference room

A teacher training at a Texas middle school reportedly instructed teachers to not tell parents if a student tells them they identify as transgender or non-binary, according to documents reviewed by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

“DO NOT contact their parents and out them to their families,” a teacher professional development training at Walsh Middle School (WMS) in Round Rock Independent School District (RRISD), told teachers, according to documents.

The training also provided teachers with advice if they “misgender someone,” advising them to “correct students” if they use the wrong pronouns, the documents show.

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Climate Activists Oppose Major Solar Projects over Deforestation Concerns

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A group of environmentalists voiced opposition to potential Massachusetts solar projects that could generate at least 250 kilowatts of electricity.

The majority of those who attended a public hearing hosted by the Amherst, Massachusetts, Community Resources Committee said they supported a moratorium on such projects that would expire in May 2023, the Daily Hampshire Gazette reported. The proposed moratorium would prohibit surrounding municipalities from green lighting any solar project that exceeds the 250-kilowatt-capacity threshold.

The moratorium was proposed by three town councilors after an 11-megawatt solar farm was proposed in the area, the Gazette reported. A solar field that produces 250 kilowatts of electricity would power 71 households while one that produces 11 megawatts would power more than 3,000 homes, according to a federal estimate.

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Chinese Spy Suspected to Have Infiltrated UK Parliament

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The U.K.’s domestic spy service, MI5, informed the House of Commons speaker that a woman is suspected to have been used by China to exert influence over British lawmakers, Agence France Presse (AFP) reported.

The suspect, Christine Lee, is a London-based solicitor who “knowingly engaged in political interference activities on behalf of the United Front Work Department of the Chinese Communist Party,” authorities said Thursday, AFP reported.

House of Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle confirmed to AFP he had informed lawmakers of the incident through an email, AFP reported. “The Speaker takes the security of members and the democratic process very seriously, which is why he issued this notice in consultation with the security services,” a spokesperson for Hoyle told the outlet.

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Commentary: All Hail Joe Biden, King of the Elites

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Jim Gaffigan said on Joe Rogan’s program, “I’d still take Biden’s corpse over Donald Trump.” Congratulations, elites! You’re now being governed by a political corpse. Elites will be fine with a dead president governing a zombified American economy and society. Working and middle-class Americans? Not so much.

How dead is Joe Biden’s political life? Joe Biden is so toxic politically that Stacey Abrams, governor of the Georgia of her mind, refused to stand with him in the state she ostensibly governs about the legislation that is her signature issue: codifying the ability to commit election fraud at the federal level. Abrams was absent while a bunch of masked black people stood stoically behind the bellicose president. The optics were bad in every aspect. The content was worse.

Did Biden address the distress of the 1982-ish 7 percent inflation numbers crushing the lower and middle class? No. Did the president encourage people in the face of year three enduring the out-of-control omicron variant? No. Did the president discuss job innovation? No.

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Florida House Committee Approves Two Bills Involving Lobbying Restrictions

Casey Owens

Two bills (HB 7001 and HB 7003) that further restrict public officials from lobbying after leaving office were unanimously voted yes upon by the Florida House State Affairs Committee on Thursday.

Both bills, backed by Representative Traci Koster of Tampa, were filed to implement Amendment 12 from 2018 that prohibits lobbying by certain public officers during public service and for a six-year period following vacation of public office – instead of a two-year period as the law previously stated.

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Florida Will Not Enforce CMS Vaccine Mandate Upheld by SCOTUS

Grant Holcomb

Earlier this week, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) issued two decisions impacting vaccine mandates in the United States. SCOTUS issued a stay on the Biden Administration’s OSHA-based vaccine mandate for businesses with over 100 employees, striking a blow to Biden. However, the high court upheld the vaccine mandate put into place by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) for healthcare providers.

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In Wisconsin, Questions About ‘Equity,’ and Race Eligibility for New Coronavirus Pills Remain Unanswered

The Center Square

There are no real explanations as to how race and “equity” will come into play in deciding who gets the new coronavirus antiviral pills.

Wisconsin’s Department of Health Services earlier this month said “equity” would be at the heart of the state’s strategy to distribute the new pills from Pfizer and Merck.

“We are committed to distributing these pills equitably across the state, and access will increase as Wisconsin receives more allocations from the federal government,” DHS said in a statement.

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Exclusive: Blystone Whistleblower’s Attorney Ridicules Blystone’s Suit to Have Court Dismiss Complaint

Neil W. McCabe

The attorney for Sarah Chambers, the whistleblower, and former co-campaign manager for Joseph K. Blystone’s gubernatorial campaign, told The Ohio Star Blystone’s lawsuit filed Tuesday asking the court to order the Ohio Elections Commission to dismiss Chambers’ Oct. 28 51-page complaint against him is a futile and desperate exercise.

“The old saying is, if the facts are on your side, you pound the facts. If the law’s on your side, you pound the law. If neither the facts nor the law is on your side, you pound the table,” said Scott A. Pullins, the Mount Vernon lawyer, who has for many years represented candidates, campaigns and political action committees.

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Dominion Energy Seeks to Halt Virginia Rate Increase, Citing Youngkin Energy Plan

The Center Square

Dominion Energy, which is the largest energy company in Virginia, is asking the state to halt the next scheduled rate increase because Governor-elect Glenn Youngkin’s energy plan would make the hike unnecessary.

On Jan. 1, Dominion began implementing the state-approved rate increase to recover costs associated with purchasing allowances through the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, which is a carbon-trading initiative designed to gradually reduce carbon emissions. The initial increase for 2022 cost a residential customer nearly $30 over the year, but those costs would continue to go up if Virginia stays in the compact. According to the State Corporations Commission (SCC), RGGI would cost about $5.9 billion between 2019 and 2043 and would lead to a rate increase between $84 and $144 annually.

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Delegate McGuire Introduces Repeals of Democratic Criminal Justice Reforms

Eric Burk

Delegate John McGuire (R-Henrico) has introduced several bills that would repeal Democratic criminal justice reforms. McGuire’s proposals include bills to lower thresholds for felony larceny, make it easier to execute search warrants, and end local governmental authority to establish law enforcement civilian oversight bodies. Chief on the list is HB 59, which requires school principals to report misdemeanors to law enforcement and to the victim’s parents.

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Democrats Applaud Court Decision to Throw Out Ohio Legislative Maps

The Center Square

Ohio Democrats believe an Ohio Supreme Court decision that tossed out the state’s new Senate and House legislative district maps is an opportunity to create fairer districts, while Gov. Mike DeWine said court challenges were not unexpected.

The court gave the Ohio Redistricting Commission 10 days to redraw maps it said did not comply with a 2015 constitutional amendment that requires an attempt to avoid party favoritism. The League of Women Voters, along with other groups, sued and claimed the maps heavily favored state Republicans.

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Federal Government Threatens to Cut Arizona’s Relief Funds Following Ducey’s Support For In-Person Learning

Cooper Moran

The Biden administration on Friday threatened to cut Arizona’s coronavirus relief funding because of Governor Doug Ducey’s policies to continue in-person learning in the state.

According to the letter from the U.S. Treasury Department, Ducey’s programs, which award funds to parents who are seeking to remove their children from schools that shut down or implement a mask mandate, are not a permitted use of the money.

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Parents Sue North Allegheny School District for Lifting Mask Mandate

The Center Square

Parents are suing the North Allegheny School District over its decision to lift the district’s mandatory mask mandate beginning next week, a move they claim could be “a death sentence” for severely immunocompromised students.

Attorney and district parent Kenneth Behrend filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania on behalf of about 1,500 students covered by protections in the American Disabilities Act in an effort to halt the Sunday expiration of the district’s mask mandate.

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Ben Carson Tells Williamson County Audience that Critical Race Theory Violates Martin Luther King Jr.’s Core Philosophy

Chris Butler

FRANKLIN, Tennessee — Three days before the federal Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, Ben Carson traveled to Williamson County to tell a packed audience that Critical Race Theory (CRT) defies the teachings of the late civil rights activist. Carson, the former U.S. secretary of Housing and Urban Development, spoke at The Factory in Franklin, only a few miles away from the Williamson County School System’s (WCS’s) main office. Several frustrated parents have long said that the WCS continues to teach CRT, against those parents’ wishes.

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