Day: February 3, 2022

Robby Starbuck Admits He Never Voted in Tennessee 2020 GOP Primaries: ‘I Wasn’t a Full-Time Resident . . . I Was Still Closing Down My Business in California’

Aaron Gulbransen

Candidate for U.S. Representative for Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District Robby Starbuck admits that he’s never voted in Tennessee Republican primaries.

Starbuck also acknowledges that he’ll need to be vouched for as a bona fide Republican as part of the Tennessee GOP’s candidate qualification process.

The political newcomer appeared on Nashville’s Morning News with Dan Mandis on 99.7WTN Thursday morning to discuss, among other things, the controversy surrounding his voter history. Starbuck had previously claimed more than once to have voted in two 2020 GOP primaries in Tennessee, but he recently started backing off that claim in a Facebook comment.

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Child Psychiatrist: Toll on Children’s Mental Health During Government Response to Pandemic Is ‘Utterly Devastating’

Susan Berry, PhD

Though children are least likely to experience severe illness from COVID-19, the level of mental health distress many are exhibiting during the government’s response to the pandemic is “utterly devastating,” child psychiatrist Dr. Mark McDonald said in a recent interview.

The Los Angeles-based clinician expressed his concern during a late November podcast for the Unity Project, an organization working to end COVID-19 vaccine mandates for healthy children in grades K-12.

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Brian Kelsey and John Gillespie File Bill to Allow Police in Tennessee to Chase Criminals

Chris Butler

Tennessee State Senator Brian Kelsey and State Representative John Gillespie on Wednesday filed legislation that they said would, if enacted into law, protect police officers’ bests interests. Specifically, Kelsey and Gillespie said the bill would protect police officers from liability for injuries to a third party caused during a police pursuit. This is provided that the police officers’ conduct is not grossly negligent.

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Three Tobacco Regulation Bills Filed by Tennessee Legislators

Aaron Gulbransen

A trio of bills have recently been filed for consideration by the Tennessee General Assembly dealing with tobacco products.

One deals with smokeless nicotine products and age restrictions, one deal authorizes local governments to regulate smoke and use of vapor products in certain venues, and another increases the civil penalty for a second violation of unlawful sale, purchase or distribution.

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Robby Starbuck Claims He Never Said That He Voted in Tennessee GOP Primaries, Says He Misunderstood Question

Aaron Gulbransen

Candidate for Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District Robby Starbuck appears to be backing off his claims about his voter history, writing on social media that he never said he voted in 2020 and that he misunderstood the question.

More than once, Robby Starbuck claimed to have voted in the August 2020 primary as well as the March presidential primary in 2020. Voting in Republican primaries is a component of the process for qualifying for the 2022 August primary ballot.

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22 Charged with Drug Distribution Crimes in Maury and Lewis Counties

Kaitlin Housler
man in handcuffs

A lengthy investigation by federal and local law enforcement has resulted in the indictment of 22 individuals for illegally distributing substantial amounts of controlled substances in and around the areas of Maury County and Lewis County, Tennessee. According to a press release by the Middle District of Tennessee U.S. Attorney’s Office, the last of three federal indictments returned last month was unsealed Tuesday, and all but one charged defendant have been taken into custody.

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Schweizer: Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s Husband Co-Owned Chinese Computer Company That Sent Bugged Laptops to U.S. Military

Neil W. McCabe

The author of “Red-Handed How American Elites Get Rich Helping China Win” told The Star News Network that Sen. Dianne Feinstein, and her investor husband Richard C. Blum, have financially benefited from their ties to senior leaders in the Chinese Communist Party.

“Dianne Feinstein’s ties to Chinese Communist Party officials goes way back to when she was the mayor of San Francisco in the late 1970s,” said investigative journalist Peter Schweizer, the host of “The Drill Down” podcast and the founder and president of The Government Accountability Institute.

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Commentary: Keep on Truckin’

Admin

Very odd things are happening in Canada, not the least of which is Prime Minister Justin Trudeau fleeing the capital city for security reasons, or so officials say. Canadians are a notoriously compliant, unquestioning, deferential lot. But this hasn’t stopped thousands of them from gathering near the parliament buildings in Ottawa to effectively shut down the central part of the city.

The trigger for this unprecedented protest is a vaccine mandate for long-haul truckers, whose big rigs now line the streets, horns blaring between a variety of protest chants, some of which are more printable than others (“Truck Trudeau,” and variations thereof, has been a common refrain). Last week, as the convoys moved toward and converged on the capital from the east, west, and south—numbers are disputed, but it seems certain they formed the longest convoys in history—it became clear that the list of grievances had grown to include just about everything associated with some of the most enduring, draconian, and nonsensical COVID restrictions in the world.

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FBI Director Says China Is Bigger Threat to U.S. Than Any Other Nation

Admin

On Monday, FBI Director Christopher Wray declared that the greatest foreign threat to the United States is the country of China, adding that the nation’s recent escalation of tensions regarding the country of Taiwan are “more brazen” and “more damaging” than anything seen in recent history.

The New York Post reports that Wray made his remarks at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in Simi Valley, California. Just days before the start of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, Wray said that China poses a threat “to our economic security and to our freedoms: Our freedom of speech, of conscience, our freedom to elect and be served by our representatives without foreign meddling, our freedom to prosper when we toil and invent.”

“I’ve spoken a lot about this threat since I became FBI director,” Wray continued. “But I want to focus on it here tonight because in many ways it’s reached a new level — more brazen, more damaging than ever before, and it’s vital, vital, that all of us focus on that threat together.”

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Attorney General Schmidt: Kansas Sees Large Spikes in Fentanyl Seizures, Drug Overdoses

The Center Square

Record amounts of fentanyl and other drugs are being seized in Kansas after they’ve made their way north from Mexico and the state’s attorney general, Derek Schmidt, said he is trying to stop it. He joined a coalition of other Republican attorneys general at the Texas-Mexico border to see first-hand how the Biden administration’s open border policies are contributing to crime in Kansas.

In one briefing with the Texas Department of Public Safety, the AGs learned that Texas state troopers alone had seized enough fentanyl last year to kill over 200 million people. They also arrested more than 10,000 illegal immigrants for committing state crimes, including for child trafficking and drug smuggling, seized over five tons of methamphetamine, and over $17 million in cash as part of Operation Lone Star, Texas’ border security initiative.

While it’s “good news that they’re seizing more, there’s no reason to think that there’s less of it eluding seizure at the border because the border’s wide open in large swaths,” Schmidt told The Center Square. “I don’t think it’s a good news number. I think it’s an indication of the increased volume coming across the border, not an indication of increased success in stopping it at the border.”

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Tom Cotton Freezes Confirmation of DOJ Nominees over Failure to Address Antifa Riots

Admin

At least eight of Joe Biden’s nominations for the Department of Justice have been placed on hold by Senator Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), due to the Department’s failure to answer Cotton’s questions about its inaction over the Antifa and Black Lives Matter riots of 2020.

As reported by Fox News, Cotton’s criticisms have focused specifically on the DOJ’s failure to properly defend a federal courthouse in Portland, Oregon, which ended up under siege by far-left domestic terrorists on a daily basis throughout 2020 and even into 2021. Cotton has already sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland pointing out that, on top of letting the courthouse itself be attacked, the DOJ has not offered any legal assistance to several U.S. Marshals who have been sued for defending the courthouse against rioters.

“These courageous officers were attacked by left-wing street militants with weapons such as mortar fire, ball bearings, and blinding lasers,” Cotton’s letter reads in part. “A refusal to represent these Deputy Marshals would violate the Department’s long-standing practice — not to mention its moral duty — to defend law-enforcement officers when they’re sued for actions in the line of duty.”

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Russia Cuts Off Key Gas Pipeline to Europe Amid Rising Tensions

Admin

The flow of natural gas through a key Russian-controlled pipeline suddenly stopped Wednesday as tensions continue to increase between Russia and the West.

The Yamal-Europe pipeline’s liquified natural gas (LNG) flows, which are operated by Russian state-run firm Gazprom and have usually been pumped westward from Russia to Germany through Poland, were halted early Wednesday, European data showed, according to Reuters. The sudden stoppage reportedly represented a setback after leaders expected the pipeline to return to its normal flow pattern.

In December 2021, Gazprom slowed the pipeline’s gas flows, which represent 10% of the region’s supply, and the company reversed the flow direction from westward to eastward. The sudden reversal sent natural gas prices, which had already spiked amid a European energy crisis, even higher.

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U.S. to Send 3,000 Additional Troops to Europe Amid Tension at Ukraine Border

The Center Square

President Joe Biden plans to send another 3,000 troops to Europe amid continued tensions between Russia and Ukraine.

Biden is sending about 2,000 troops from Fort Bragg, North Carolina, to Poland and Germany this week. The president is also moving about 1,000 soldiers based in Germany to Romania, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing administration officials.

“They are trained and equipped for a variety of missions during this period of elevated risk,” a senior defense official told the Wall Street Journal.

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Commentary: Feds Spent over $550 Million to Add Cost-of-Living Adjustments—Even When They Weren’t Necessary

RealClearWire

The federal government, like many private companies that have offices in different locations, has provisions to adjust employees’ pay based on their location. It’s called locality pay.

For example, an employee in San Francisco, Calif. has a significantly higher cost of living than an employee in Casper, Wyo. San Francisco’s locality adjustment is an additional 41.44% of base pay.

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Postal Police Officers Association Chief: Government Defunded Postal Officers While Mail Crimes Soared

Peter D'Abrosca

“The Postal Inspection Service data revealed that mail theft reports soared by 600% over three years, from about 25,000 in 2017 to roughly 177,000 through August of 2020,” Frank Albergo said. “But when asked to explain the apparent explosion in mail theft, the Inspection Service backtracked and said the figures might be inaccurate.”

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Wisconsin Governor Evers Updates Process to Spend $4.5 Billion from Federal Government

Cooper Moran
Tony Evers

Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers updated residents of the state on his latest efforts to spend more than $4 billion given to the state from coronavirus relief funds.

According to the governor, $1.3 billion has been directed to economic initiatives, roughly $1 billion for “community building,” and more than $500 million for education and child care.

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Pennsylvania State Rep. Diamond Working on Ending No-Excuse Mail-In Voting Whether or Not It Survives the Courts

Bradley Vasoli

As Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf (D) appeals a court ruling against no-excuse absentee voting, a state representative hopes to amend the Pennsylvania Constitution to decisively end the practice.

A bill authored by Rep. Russ Diamond (R-Lebanon), who is also running for lieutenant governor, would explicitly limit mail-in voting to those who are sick, injured or traveling. This status quo existed before Wolf signed Act 77 in October 2019. 

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Vernon Jones’ Most Recent Social Media Remarks Suggest He’s Uncertain If He’ll Remain in Georgia Governor’s Race

Chris Butler

Republican Vernon Jones commented Wednesday about his status as a Republican gubernatorial candidate for Georgia, but the messages he sent seemed unclear and came across as mixed. This, after media outlets speculated that Jones might suspend his campaign and seek another office, per the supposed wishes of former President Donald Trump. Trump, in December, endorsed Republican David Perdue’s campaign to unseat incumbent GOP Governor Brian Kemp.

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New Iowa Bill Would Allow Parents to Watch Kids’ Classrooms

The Center Square

An Iowa representative introduced Tuesday a bill that would allow parents to watch live footage of their children in public school classrooms.

“I think we need to showcase the great work our teachers do,” Rep. Norlin Mommsen, R-DeWitt, a farmer, told The Center Square in a phone interview Tuesday.

He said that through the COVID-19 pandemic, parents learned they wanted to be more involved, and this is a mechanism of facilitating parental involvement.

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U.S. Senate Candidate Blake Masters Outpaces Brnovich, Other Republicans in Fundraising from Supporters

Cooper Moran

U.S. Senate candidate Blake Masters raised more money directly from supporters than other Republican challengers in the final quarter of 2021, according to financial disclosures filed to the Federal Elections Commission (FEC).

Masters, who has not self-funded to the degree of other candidates, took in approximately $1.3 million from donors, the only GOP candidate to haul in at least $1 million from outside sources.

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Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to Deliver Keynote Address at Center for Christian Virtue Galas in Ohio

Cooper Moran
Mike Pompeo

Mike Pompeo, a former Secretary of State and Director of the Central Intelligence Agency under former President Donald Trump, will be the keynote speaker at events for the Center for Christian Virtue.

According to a release from the group, Pompeo will address the crowd at two separate gatherings: the Spring Celebration Galas in Columbus and Cincinnati.

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Connecticut Slow in Job Growth, Won’t Reach Pre-Pandemic Levels Until 2023

The Center Square

Although Connecticut will add 60,000 jobs this year, the state won’t be back to pre-pandemic levels of employment until 2023, industry groups say.

“The inability to grow jobs at the national average or even at the top of the Northeast means that Connecticut’s economy is going to continue to grow slower than the rest of the country and the Northeast,” Chris DiPentima, president and CEO of the Connecticut Business and Industry Association, told The Center Square. “The slow job growth means that businesses are not meeting the customer demand that they have. Connecticut, in turn, is not realizing the state’s total economic growth potential. Most businesses are hopeful that the state will put some policies in place to fuel growth and the jobs added each month will increase. This will help recover the jobs that we’ve lost before the end of this year.”

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Prosecutors Plan to Argue Defendants Used Encrypted Chat in Whitmer Case

Peter D'Abrosca
Gretchen Whitmer

In the high profile case against alleged plotters of a kidnapping of Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D), the state plans to introduce evidence that defendants use encrypted chat applications in the planning stages of their scheme. 

“The government disagrees, saying the defendants did more than talk, but took actions to carry out their plan: they cased Whitmer’s house twice; drew maps; bought night vision goggles; secretly communicated in encrypted chat rooms so as not to get caught; and held training exercises,” according to The Detroit Free Press.

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State Rep. Fillmore Introduces Sweeping Election Integrity Bill That Would Substantially Change How Elections Are Done in Arizona

Rachel Alexander

Arizona legislators are busy dropping bills to address election fraud this session, due to concerns there was massive fraud in the 2020 presidential election. Rep. John Fillmore (R-Apache Junction) is sponsoring one of the most sweeping bills, HB 2596, which makes substantial changes to elections including giving the Arizona Legislature the final say on approving elections, eliminating most voting by mail, and requiring hand counting of ballots.

Fillmore explained the need for the significant reform during a committee hearing. “I don’t care what the press says,” he said. “I don’t trust ABC, CBS, NBC or Fox or anybody out there. Everybody’s lying to me and I feel like I have a couple hundred ex-wives hanging around me. This is not a President Biden thing. This is not a the other red-headed guy thing. We should have voting in my opinion in person, one day, on paper, with no electronic means and hand counting that day. We need to get back to 1958-style voting.”

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Gibbons’ Ohio Senate Campaign Airs Rand Paul Endorsement in $2 Million Ad Buy

Neil W. McCabe

  The Ohio investment banker endorsed Monday by Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul in his campaign for U.S. Senate just launched a new commercial with Paul in a $2 million ad buy across the state. In the ad, which is part of a $10 million ad push, the senator said that he believes that Mike Gibbons will be an ally in the fight against President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s Chief Medical Advisor Dr. Anthony S. Fauci. “I’ve stood strong against the mandates of Dr. Fauci, but I need help. That’s why I’m endorsing Mike Gibbons for Senate,” the senator said. “I’m Rand Paul. I know Mike Gibbons will join me in demanding that Fauci is immediately fired and removed from office. Mike’s a tough businessman, not a politician. Mike Gibbons has the courage to stand with me to defeat the Washington machine.” A conservative operative familiar with the Gibbons campaign and its strategy told The Star News Network, while President Donald J. Trump hasn’t gotten involved in Ohio’s GOP Senate primary, Gibbons scored the next best thing. “What makes this such an effective ad is that Paul is the second-most popular politician in Ohio, behind President Trump,” he said. “Mike…

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After Miyares Legal Opinion, Virginia’s Largest Universities End Student Vaccine Mandates

Peter D'Abrosca

After Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares (R) wrote a legal opinion last week saying that vaccine mandates for public university students are illegal, several of the state’s largest schools have backed off their COVID-19 vaccine requirements. 

“Absent specific authority conferred by the General Assembly, public institutions of higher education in Virginia may not require vaccination against COVID-19 as a general condition of students’ enrollment or in-person attendance,” Attorney General Jason Miyares said in his opinion.

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Senate Committee Blocks Confirmation of Trump EPA Chief to Serve as Youngkin’s Secretary of Natural Resources; Republicans Planning Consequences

Eric Burk

RICHMOND, Virginia – The Senate Privileges and Elections Committee blocked Governor Glenn Youngkin’s nominee for Secretary of Natural Resources, former Trump EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler. On Tuesday afternoon, Senator Creigh Deeds (D-Bath) moved to remove Wheeler’s name from a Senate resolution to confirm the nominees.

“We received a letter from 150 former EPA employees, who suggested that Mr. Wheeler had undermined the work of the EPA and worked against the environmental interests in this country. We think that members of the governor’s cabinet ought to be able to unite us as Virginians, and certainly the secretary of natural resources ought to be one that we have confidence in, in terms of working for the preservation and conservation of our natural resources,” Deeds said.

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Erika Donalds, Former Florida School Board Member, Starts Virtual Charter School

Steve Stewart
girl with VR headset on

Erika Donalds, a former school board member and the wife of Florida U.S. Congressman Byron Donalds, recently launched a virtual charter school called Optima Classical Academy.

Erika and her husband have been active in the fight to expand the reach of charter schools. Byron Donalds, while serving in the Florida House was an enthusiastic supporter of Governor DeSantis school choice proposals.

Erika Donalds, who served as the vice chair of the Collier County School Board, is described as a “relentless advocate for charter schools and non-public education.” During her time as an elected school official she led the  conservative Florida Coalition of School Board Members and pressed for school board term limits. More recently, she started School Choice Movement, an organization aimed at paving the path for more school options for parents.

“My time on the School Board really led me to conclude that the best prescription for school reform is the free market,” said Donalds.

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Michigan Secretary of State Benson Accused of Campaign Finance Violations

The Center Square

Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson allegedly accepted a donation in excess of $10,000 over the state’s legal campaign finance limits.

The purported discrepancy is the basis for a lawsuit filed with Attorney General Dana Nessel Tuesday by Michigan Rising Action. According to an MRA news release, Benson accepted four separate contributions from the Michigan Regional Council of Carpenters and Millwrights totaling $81,500. The state-imposed limit is $71,500.

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Commentary: Ilhan Omar Heads Down the Road to Islamofascism

Admin

I had a junior high social studies teacher who was fond of saying that if it reached its logical conclusion, liberalism would eventually become fascism. He was long dead before Ilhan Omar hit the scene, but he would be gratified to see his prediction in action.

Omar’s Combating International Islamophobia Act passed the House of Representatives on a narrow party line vote recently. If it becomes law, it will mandate a new State Department bureaucracy to report on anti-Islamic activity as a human rights violation. English is Omar’s second language, and the wording of the bill shows it. Its definition of Islamophobia is not precise. An example of the text includes “acts of physical violence against, or harassment of, Muslim people, and acts of violence against, or vandalism of, Muslim community institutions, including schools, mosques, and cemeteries, and instances of propaganda in government and nongovernment media that attempt to justify or promote racial hatred or incite acts of violence against Muslim people.”

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Tennessee Senate Expels Democrat Senator Convicted of Wire Fraud

Aaron Gulbransen

The Tennessee State Senate voted on Wednesday to remove Democrat Senator Katrina Robinson. The vote was 27-5 to expel her from office.

Senator Robinson was convicted of wire fraud charges. The Tennessee Star previously reported that Robinson was convicted by jurors of four of five counts of wire fraud and that federal officials accused her of using federal grant money awarded to a health care school, The Healthcare Institute (THI), which Robinson operates. She was accused of using $600,000 from the school to pay for her wedding, a political campaign event, and other personal expenses.

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