President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s Homeland Security Department warned Americans of the dangers of other Americans pushing false and misleading narratives that could fuel terrorist attacks in its “Summary of Terrorism to the U.S. Homeland” released Monday and in effect until June 7.
Read the full story
Arizona Republican State Rep. Mark Finchem introduced a bill Monday calling to decertify the 2020 election in three counties.
“In the case of Maricopa, Pima and Yuma Counties, the fact that there is evidence showing illegal acts occurred, whether by intent or omission does not matter, the margin of error exceeds the margin of victory,” said Finchem, who has been endorsed by former President Donald Trump for Arizona Secretary of State.
Read the full story
February 7, 2022 marked the official start of Tennessee’s elections season, the day that candidates in Tennessee could pull ballot qualifying petitions paperwork and begin collecting petitions to work towards gaining ballot access.
The Thursday, August 4, 2022 state and federal primary elections will be held for Governor, U.S. House of Representatives, odd-numbered Tennessee State Senate districts and Tennessee State House of Representatives. There will also be general elections held for held for state judicial offices and applicable county offices.
Read the full story
The national average for a gallon of gas has surged to $3.44, the highest average price since 2014, according to the American Automobile Association (AAA). The new average is 14 cents more than it was a month ago and 98 cents more than it was a year ago.
Read the full story
President Joe Biden’s no-border policy has detonated an explosion of illegal-alien apprehensions and got-aways at the southern “frontier.”
Millions of Americans consider this one of Biden’s biggest failures, surpassed only by his utterly calamitous withdrawal from Afghanistan. However, this fiasco is Biden’s finest hour.
After 11 months, Biden’s “border” remains wide open, if not functionally erased. Illegal aliens cascade across. Between Feb. 1 and Dec. 31, 2021, on Biden’s watch, Customs and Border Protection apprehended a record 1,956,596 illegal aliens on the southern “frontier,” versus 511,192 one year earlier, under then-President Donald Trump—up 283%.
Read the full story
Members of the Tennessee Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations (TACIR) on Monday published a report that called for nearly $62 billion in public infrastructure improvements throughout the state. This includes infrastructure for K-12 public school buildings, transportation and utilities, health, safety, and welfare, recreation and culture, general government, and economic development.
Read the full story
Former Brig. Gen. Kurt Winstead has filed federal candidacy forms with the Federal Elections Commission, signaling his entry into the TN-5 race.
General Winstead filed his FEC forms on February 7, 2022. Winstead retired from the Tennessee National Guard on February 6, 2022.
Read the full story
Records show that a recent entrant into the race for Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District seat, businessman Baxter Lee, voted in the 2020 Democrat presidential primary.
The Tennessee Star reached out to Baxter Lee to confirm the authenticity of the voting record supplied by the Williamson County Election Commission. Lee confirmed the records and issued a statement on his vote in the 2020 Democrat presidential primary.
Read the full story
A man has been indicted and charged in a cold case homicide that occurred in McMinn County more than 25 years ago, following an ongoing investigation and the re-testing of evidence according to a press release by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.
Read the full story
The former Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) personal security detail for Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is now head of Freedom Convoy security for the truckers whose anti-mandate protest is growing beyond Ottawa, into more Canadian cities, and across the globe as well.
Corporal Daniel Bulford, who was resigned from the force after refusing to take a mandatory COVID vaccine, said during a press conference Saturday some in the media and on social media platforms have been attempting to smear the truckers, associating them with “agitators” who have been arrested for property damage and an assault.
Read the full story
According to CBS reporter Scott MacFarland, who has been covering sentencing of the defendants stemming from the mostly peaceful January 6, 2021 protest at the U.S. Capitol building, federal prosecutors are seeking nearly two years in prison for an aspiring rapper from Virginia who entered the Capitol that day.
“[Antionne] BRODNAX identified himself by date of birth and social security number, and admitted to the agents that he entered the U.S. Capitol Building on January 6, 2021,” a probable cause statement from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) says. “BRODNAX also provided the following additional information. BRODNAX said he had traveled to Washington, D.C., prior to January 6, 2021, to shoot a music video. On January 6, 2021, BRODNAX saw a rally of which many participants descended on the U.S. Capitol Building. BRODNAX followed the crowd to the United States Capitol Building and entered the building after United States Capitol Police (USCP) moved the gates that blockaded the door.”
Read the full story
Pfizer announced last week the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had asked the drug company, and its partner BioNTech, to submit data on a COVID vaccine series for babies as young as 6 months old.
Albert Bourla, chairman and CEO of Pfizer, said in the statement:
As hospitalizations of children under 5 due to COVID-19 have soared, our mutual goal with the FDA is to prepare for future variant surges and provide parents with an option to help protect their children from this virus. Ultimately, we believe that three doses of the vaccine will be needed for children 6 months through 4 years of age to achieve high levels of protection against current and potential future variants. If two doses are authorized, parents will have the opportunity to begin a COVID-19 vaccination series for their children while awaiting potential authorization of a third dose.
Read the full story
Google’s Chief Legal Officer and President of Global Affairs Kent Walker accused Microsoft on Friday of “carving out” an exception to a bill targeting app stores operated by Google and Apple.
The Open App Markets Act, introduced by Republican Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn and Democratic Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal, passed the Senate Judiciary Committee in a near-unanimous vote Thursday. Microsoft president Brad Smith applauded the passage of the bill in tweet shortly after, writing that the legislation “would promote competition, and ensure fairness and innovation in the app economy.”
Walker responded to Smith’s tweet accusing the software company of “carving out” an exception in the legislation favoring Microsoft’s Xbox gaming console and service.
Read the full story
Amid controversy over podcaster Joe Rogan’s controversial COVID-19 episodes and some past episodes that contained racial slurs, one video streaming platform is lending Rogan their support.
“We stand with you, your guests, and you legion of fans in desire for real conversation,” Rumble CEO Chris Pavlovski said in a letter addressed to Rogan. “So we’d like to offer you 100 million reasons to make the world a better place.”
Read the full story
Despite International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach’s calls for peace at the opening of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, the reality seems disjointed, including official delegation boycotts, all-time low viewership, and Russian President Vladimir Putin appearing to doze off during the Ukrainian team’s entrance during the opening ceremony.
“In this Olympic spirit of peace, I appeal to all political authorities across the world — observe your commitment to this Olympic truth. Give peace a chance,” Bach said, according to People Magazine, after the Olympic Truce was passed by the United Nations General Assembly in December.
The truce, which has been observed by the UN since 1993, according to Vox, calls for “the cessation of hostilities from seven days before until seven days after the Olympic Games.”
Read the full story
Arrests at the U.S./Mexican border reached a new high last year, driven by a surge in attempted crossings into the United States in the first year of the Biden administration.
Border agents recorded just under 2 million arrests in 2021, data released from a lawsuit against the Biden administration showed this week.
Read the full story
Ohio State University encouraged students to “thank abortion providers” as part of its organized “Sex Week,” Fox News reported.
Student Advocates for Sexual Health Awareness is hosting a “Sex Week” funded by the Ohio State University Department of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies and the College of Social Work, Fox News reported. The event is funded through student activity fees from the Council on Student Affairs, according to the “Sex Week” website.
On Feb. 16, an event called “Valentine’s for Abortion Providers” is described as an opportunity “to help thank abortion providers in Ohio and Texas for the valuable work they do for reproductive rights!” according to the Sex Week at the Ohio State University website.
Read the full story
Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul late Thursday signed a new congressional map into law that could eliminate half of the state’s Republicans in the House.
The signing, reported by the Associated Press, comes just days after the state legislature advanced the map on near party lines. The map gives Democrats an advantage in 22 of the state’s 26 seats.
Read the full story
Rep. Lance Gooden, a Texas Republican whose district has been overrun by the surge in illegal immigration, says the border insecurity that Joe Biden unleashed isn’t just impacting border states. It’s spreading to the interior of the country, and with it the temptation to impeach the president if Republicans gain control of Congress next year.
“I really believe that impeachment could be on the table,” Gooden told Just the News in a recent interview. “And I would support that, certainly.”
Read the full story
Thousands of Americans were left in Afghanistan after the Biden Administration’s botched withdrawal last summer, according to a stunning new report released by the ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other Biden administration officials claimed that number of Americans left behind was only 100-150.
According to the report, published by Foreign Relations ranking member Jim Risch (R-Idaho), the Biden Administration “did not hold a senior-level interagency meeting to discuss an evacuation or formally task the State Department (State) to contact at risk populations, including Americans, until August 14, just hours before Kabul fell.”
Read the full story
No, this is not another Qanon or Pizzagate conspiracy theory. It’s a sober recitation of the facts and incidents that can support no other conclusion.
Let’s start with one important stage-setting fact: According to OpenSecrets.org two organizations account for practically all of the contributions made by teachers unions: The National Education Association (about $20 million in 2016) and the American Federation of Teachers (almost $12 million). Both groups — which compete for members, but also collaborate with each other through the NEA-AFT Partnership — are consistently among the organizations that contribute the most money to candidates and political groups. From 2004 to 2016, their donations grew from $4.3 million to more than $32 million — an all-time high.
Even more than most labor unions, they have little use for Republicans, giving Democrats at least 94 percent of the funds they contributed to candidates and parties since as far back as 1990, where the Open Secrets’ data begins. Go here for a detailed breakdown of teachers union political giving.
Read the full story
President Joe Biden loosened tariffs placed on solar panel imports by the Trump administration Friday, paving the way for Chinese companies to produce more panels for American consumers.
Biden issued a proclamation Friday morning, increasing the tariff-rate quota on solar equipment, or the amount of solar panel components Chinese manufacturers can send to the U.S. before receiving a penalty. The action means Chinese solar cell makers may send up to 5 gigawatts (GW) of capacity, double the previous amount of 2.5 GW, to the U.S. before being hit with a levy.
The White House action also exempts bifacial solar panels, or panels that absorb sunlight from both sides. Such panels, which are increasingly common, are often used in industry-scale projects and are believed to be the “future of the industry.”
Read the full story
Monday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Leahy welcomed State Senator Mark Pody to the newsmakers line to discuss the new state budget, his personal agenda, and focusing on patients’ rights.
Read the full story
Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai walked back her allegations of sexual assault against a former top official, calling it an “enormous misunderstanding” during a controlled interview on Monday with French newspaper L’Equipe.
“Sexual assault? I never said that anyone made me submit to a sexual assault,” Peng said in the interview with L’Equipe, delivered in front of a Chinese Olympic official, who translated her comments from Chinese, the AP reported. Interview questions were reportedly submitted in advance, and the format of the interview did not appear to permit follow-up questions.
“This post resulted in an enormous misunderstanding from the outside world,” Peng told L’Equipe, the AP reported. “My wish is that the meaning of this post no longer be skewed.”
Read the full story
Monday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Leahy welcomed the original all-star panelist Crom Carmichael in studio for another edition of Crom’s Crommentary and the disconnect of CNN and its viewers.
Read the full story
American Idol alum and CMT’s Next Women of Country member Laci Kaye Booth combines soulful, smooth vocals with honest, heartfelt lyrics that make the country crooner stand out in the crowded pool of aspiring artists.
Read the full story
In New Brunswick, Canada, a father of three lost custody of his children after a single judge ruled that his unvaccinated status was a danger to his children.
According to USA Today, the concerned father presented evidence to the judge that pointed out possible harmful effects of the Pfizer-BioTech vaccine, as proof that his concerns about taking the vaccine were valid. But Justice Nathalie Godbout, of the Court of Queen’s Bench, ruled against him by simply deferring to “public health officials” as being superior to his own research.
Read the full story
Monday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Leahy welcomed State Representative Scott Cepicky to the newsmakers line to talk about improving Tennessee teachers’ ability to teach the fundamentals and putting Tennessee students back on track.
Read the full story
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is expected to pitch spending $500 million of additional federal taxpayer money on private companies that produce electric vehicles (EV). The governor will discuss her proposal on Wednesday at 11 a.m.
However, it’s unclear if general economic development is an approved use of federal COVID dollars under U.S. Treasury guidelines.
The Detroit News first reported the story.
Read the full story
Florida Rep. Anna Eskamani has been a vocal critic of the the Parental Rights in Education bill, however – when given the opportunity – she refused to answer specific questions about the proposed legislation.
Eskamani told CNN that she “whole-heartedly opposes” the legislation, affirming that “it’s always appropriate to acknowledge that LGBTQ+ people and families exist, and any effort to erase them is rooted in homophobia and transphobia.”
Eskamani and other progressive leaders and organizations have labeled the proposal the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, based on a provision that prohibits a school district from encouraging classroom discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity in primary grade levels.
State Representative Carlos Guillermo-Smith (D-District 49), an openly LGBTQ Latino legislator, said, “We should and we are encouraging these types of conversations in our schools.”
However, the bill address a number of issues related to parental rights.
Read the full story
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine and Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) Director Mary Mertz temporarily renamed three Ohio State Parks to honor current and past players of the Super-Bowl-bound Cincinnati Bengals.
Read the full story
Members of the Pittsburgh City Council met behind closed doors for a special session to give themselves a 6% raise, a reduction from a previously proposed 22% raise that drew blowback from the public.
The nine-member council met in closed session on the last day for budget adjustments Saturday, following a meeting Tuesday in which the council froze its pay pending a review by the city solicitor over whether a proposed $16,000 raise violated the city’s home rule charter, KDKA reported.
Read the full story
The Left has a word for misinformation that turns out to be true. They call it, “misinformation.” Over and over again, the tech giants, cheered on by power-drunk government officials, have censored and deplatformed people who have contradicted the official narrative regarding COVID and heavy-handed public health measures that restrict freedom with dubious health benefits.
Tellingly, the demands to censor Joe Rogan rarely identify the supposed “misinformation” he peddled. Even more tellingly, the censors totally fail to acknowledge that Rogan-promoted “conspiracy theories” have a better track record than many of the articles of faith his critics promoted.
Read the full story
On Monday, the Pennsylvania Senate State Government Committee approved a resolution calling for a “Convention of States” to amend the U.S. Constitution to check congressional power and federal spending.
Senators Cris Dush (R-Wellsboro) and Kristin Phillips-Hill (R-York) authored the measure, which all of the committee’s seven Republicans voted to support and all of the panel’s four Democrats opposed.
Read the full story
The Supreme Court of Virginia dismissed a lawsuit from Chesapeake parents challenging Governor Glenn Youngkin’s school mask mandate opt-out order. The Monday opinion found procedural problems with the lawsuit, which in an unusual move was filed directly with the Supreme Court instead of a lower court. It also found that state law used to support rigid mask mandates allows school boards flexibility, but warned that it was not offering an opinion on the legality of Youngkin’s underlying Executive Order Two.
“By allowing school boards to follow the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s recommended COVID-19 mitigation strategies ‘to the maximum extent practicable,’ SB 1303 necessarily gives the boards a degree of discretion to modify or even forgo those strategies as
they deem appropriate for their individual circumstances,” the court wrote. “With respect to implementing policies on student masking, that discretion persists even if EO 2’s masking exemption provisions are unlawful.”
The House of Delegates passed a bill to fund a group violence intervention program based on the “Operation Ceasefire” projects implemented in Boston. That’s been a goal of now-Speaker Todd Gilbert (R-Shenandoah) since 2019, and Governor Glenn Youngkin promised it during his campaign. Delegate Tony Wilt (R-Rockingham) introduced HB 833; the version that passed out of the House on Monday would create a grant fund managed by the attorney general to fund violent crime reduction strategies, training and equipment for law enforcement, grants to law enforcement and other organizations engaged in group violence intervention.
Read the full story
Members of the Republican Governors Association (RGA) on Monday launched a new digital ad in Georgia that highlights a photo of elementary-aged school children wearing COVID-19 masks behind Stacey Abrams, who was maskless. The five-figure ad will run on multiple social media platforms starting this week, members of the RGA said in a statement.
Read the full story
Senator Butch Miller (R-Gainesville) this month filed a bill that would, if enacted into law, mandate that Georgia’s law enforcement officers check people’s citizenship status as they make arrests. According to the language of the bill, SB 448, available on the Georgia General Assembly’s website, law enforcement officers could perform this task with or without a warrant.
Read the full story
Republican Vernon Jones announced last spring that he would run for governor of Georgia to unseat incumbent and fellow Republican Brian Kemp, but on Monday Jones announced he will depart that race to run for Congress. Jones posted the news on Facebook and Twitter. He then endorsed another Republican for governor.
Read the full story
Approximately 70 members of the Wisconsin National Guard have completed their two-week certified nursing assistant (CNA) training and will be deployed to hospitals in the state.
According to a release from Governor Tony Evers, the individuals conducted their training at Madison College.
Read the full story
Democrats in Florida have a while to go to decide who they’ll vote for during the primary election scheduled for Aug. 23. So far, six candidates are running ahead of the filing deadline of June 17. Three have held public office, three have never run for any public office.
Long-term Florida politician Charlie Crist is running for governor a third time after having lost his bid in 2014. He’s the only candidate in state history to run for governor as both a Republican and a Democrat. Crist was elected as Florida’s 44th governor as a Republican in 2006. He ran for governor as a Democrat in 2014 and lost.
Read the full story
An Ohio man, Grant Rose, has been convicted on 15 different charges relating to his role in a human trafficking scheme with his girlfriend, according to a release from Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost.
Rose and his girlfriend, Susan Walendzik, trafficked a minor and controlled her by getting her addicted to narcotics and fueling her addiction.
Read the full story
The U.S. Department of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is looking into the viability of autonomous robots resembling man’s best friend to traverse the Mexican border.
The department is working with the Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology Directorate to expose the Automated Ground Surveillance Vehicles (AGSVs) to climate and terrain consistent with the southern border. In its Feb. 1 blog post, the department said initial testing in Lorton, Virginia, moved to El Paso, Texas, to give the machines a better taste of its potential work environment.
Read the full story
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) was a featured speaker at the Federalist Society’s convention in Florida late last week. DeSantis participated in a “fireside chat” with former President Donald J. Trump’s White House press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany.
Read the full story
Protesters gathered outside the home of Minneapolis’ interim police chief on Sunday night, following the death of Amir Locke last week. The activists said they were calling for Minneapolis Interim Chief Amelia Huffman, as well as Officer Mark Hanneman, and Mayor Jacob Frey, to resign.
Read the full story
Because Pennsylvania’s Democratic governor and GOP-controlled legislature couldn’t agree on a congressional redistricting plan, a Commonwealth Court judge has stepped in and chosen one favored by the latter.
Judge Patricia A. McCullough (R), who was charged individually with selecting a new congressional map from among several proposed by state officials and nongovernmental actors, issued a 228-page report explaining her decision.
Read the full story
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz signed a new law that aims to help first responders and frontline workers in the state.
The legislation, H.F. 1203, was authored by Senator Jeff Howe (R-Rockville) and passed the legislature with wide, bipartisan support.
Read the full story
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey paused no-knock warrants after a pre-dawn raid led to the killing of 22-year-old Amir Locke.
“No matter what information comes to light, it won’t change the fact that Amir Locke’s life was cut short,” Frey said in a statement. “To ensure safety of both the public and officers until a new policy is crafted, I’m issuing a moratorium on both the request and execution of such warrants in Minneapolis.”
Body camera footage shows a SWAT team using a key to open a downtown Minneapolis apartment at 6:48 a.m. Wednesday. Police entered and shouted: “Police, search warrant! Hands! Get on the ground!” and kicked a couch, where Locke stirred from under a blanket with a gun. Then an officer shot Locke three times. Nine seconds passed from officers entering the apartment to firing. Locke died 13 minutes later.
Read the full story
Two prosecutors who participated in the case against former Brooklyn Center Police officer Kimberly Potter are at odds over her sentencing.
Imran Ali was the original prosecutor in Potter’s case. But he stepped down, citing the politically charged environment around her prosecution, and paved the way for Minnesota Attorney General Kieth Ellison’s office to take over the case.
Read the full story
Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody (R) said on Fox News on Sunday that she, along with the approval of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), will investigate GoFundMe, one of the largest fundraising platforms in the world.
Read the full story