Court Vacates Contempt Order Against Catherine Englebrecht and Gregg Phillips

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled in favor of Texas-based True the Votes’ Catherine Engelbrecht and Gregg Phillips by vacating a contempt order filed against them by a district court.

“Catherine and Gregg offer their profound gratitude to the Fifth Circuit’s vindication and are committed more strongly than ever to defending the integrity of American elections,” according to a statement from True the Vote.

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Arizona GOP Nominee Sues Election Officials Alleging Incompetence Impacted Outcome of Midterms

Arizona’s Republican Attorney General nominee Abe Hamadeh on Tuesday evening sued election officials across the state, alleging that “incompetence and mismanagement” had caused “pervasive errors” in the midterm elections.

In a statement, Hamadeh said the Republican National Committee had joined him in filing the 25-page complaint in Maricopa County Superior Court.

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Rejected, Spoiled Ballots at Maricopa County Vote Centers Mishandled, Election Observers Allege

As many vote centers in Maricopa County experienced issues with election equipment on Election Day 2022, many ballots were rejected by tabulators and spoiled, but not always properly, according to a report filed with the Arizona attorney general’s office.

The affidavit was compiled by Mark Sonnenklar, a roving attorney with the Republican National Committee’s Election Integrity program in Arizona, from observations he and 10 other roving attorneys made as GOP election observers at Maricopa County vote centers. The 11 observers visited a combined 115 of the 223 vote centers in Maricopa County on Election Day.

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East Bank Stadium Committee Holds First Public Comment Session

NASHVILLE, Tennessee – The East Bank Stadium Committee (EBSC) held its first of five public comment sessions Monday night at the East Nashville Magnet High School.

The EBSC was formed in June by Vice Mayor Jim Shulman to lead the efforts related to any potential legislation and to serve as a central place to gather information for the Council and the public, but will not be taking any votes.  

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Chattanooga Chamber of Commerce Hires Consulting Firm to Find Replacement for ‘Woke’ Outgoing CEO

Chattanooga’s Chamber of Commerce is searching for a replacement for its “woke” CEO and has hired a consulting firm to assist it.

“The executive committee of the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce board of directors has selected the consulting firm Waverly Partners to help in the search for a new chamber chief executive to succeed Christy Gillenwater, who announced last month she is leaving the Chattanooga chamber after five years to head the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce,” the Times Free Press reported. 

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LG Chem Announces $3.2 Billion Investment in Tennessee

A cathode manufacturer is set to make the largest foreign investment in Tennessee in the Volunteer State’s history, according to the Department of Economic and Community Development (TDECD).

“LG Chem’s anticipated investment of approximately $3.2 billion represents the single largest announced foreign direct investment in Tennessee’s history. The project is expected to create 860 new jobs in Montgomery County,” according to a TDECD press release. “The Clarksville facility will be the largest of its kind in the U.S. and is expected to produce roughly 120,000 tons of cathode material annually by 2027, which is enough to power batteries in 1.2 million electric vehicles with a range of 310 miles per charge.”

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Ohio Senators Propose Increasing Penalties for Disrupting Religious Services

State lawmakers are proposing stiffer penalties in cases where an individual disrupts a religious service. The measure passed the Ohio House in April and is now progressing through the Senate.

In a hearing of the Judiciary Committee last week. Mike Rodgers, director of policy and legislation from the Attorney General’s office put forward the concept behind the “Sacred Spaces Act.”

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Obama to Campaign with Warnock Urging Georgians to Cast Early Ballots in Runoff

Former President Barack Obama will rally with Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock (D) on December 1, and urge Georgians to cast early ballots for Warnock in his runoff U.S. Senate race against Republican Herschel Walker.

According to a report at NBC News, Obama’s team said, following the former president’s rally for Warnock at the end of October, attendees “signed up to complete hundreds of door knocking shifts.”

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Pennsylvania Congressional Candidate Bognet Sues Luzerne County over Election Problems

Pennsylvania Republican congressional candidate Jim Bognet sued the Luzerne County Board of Elections in the county’s Court of Common Pleas this week over problems with administration of the 2022 election. 

This year, Bognet challenged incumbent Democrat Matt Cartwright to represent the Eighth Congressional District which includes Scranton, Wilks-Barre, Hazleton, Mount Pocono and neighboring communities extending northeastward to the New York and New Jersey borders. While many observers considered Cartwright’s reelection effort vulnerable, he ultimately received 51.3 percent of the 283,580 votes cast for Congress in the district while Bognet got 48.7 percent.

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Arizona GOP Chair Kelli Ward Sends Letter to Maricopa County Demanding Answers to Election Shortcomings

Arizona Republican Party (AZGOP) Chairwoman Dr. Kelli Ward sent a letter to Maricopa County Tuesday demanding answers to several issues and shortcomings seen on Election Day.

“Given the systemic election failures experienced by voters in Maricopa County on Election Day, it is of paramount that a full accounting of every reconciled ballot and checked-in voter be done to assure the public that every vote was properly counted,” wrote Ward.

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Commentary: It’s Trump vs. The Establishment All Over Again

Since the “red wave” fizzled out, a consensus has quickly emerged in the media that Donald Trump is no longer a viable political force. The newly anointed prince of the Right, according to the tastemakers, is Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, Trump’s more palatable, less chaotic protégé. But DeSantis and Trump offer two very different things. DeSantis is a conventional politician with Trump-like qualities, who can, at least according to his fan base, build a popular majority that is beyond Trump’s reach. Trump is a radical outsider to a rigged, illegitimate political system with which he has been at war for seven years, and which his supporters see as an existential threat to their way of life.

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Ohio Republican Senator Changes Course on Red Flag Proposal, Adds New Restraints

Ohio State Senator Matt Dolan (R-Chagrin Falls) has taken a step back from his initial plan to establish a red flag law in Ohio. He instead proposed, during legislative committee, a restriction on future gun purchases after a judge deems a person is a threat to themselves or others despite opposition from gun rights activists.

Senate Bill (SB) 357 originally aimed to add extreme risk laws, commonly known as red flag laws, to supposedly “protect the public and the gun owner” by temporarily removing a firearm from someone deemed by a judge to be suffering from a severe mental health condition.

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Miyares Launches ‘One Pill Can Kill’ Campaign Warning of Dangers of Counterfeit Drugs

Attorney General Jason Miyares announced a “One Pill Can Kill” awareness campaign over the risks of fentanyl and counterfeit drugs to try to launch conversations among families ahead of the holidays.

The opioid epidemic has had a devastating effect on our Commonwealth. There isn’t a corner of our state that hasn’t been touched by its pain and destruction. Tragically, overdose deaths are now not limited to addiction, but to counterfeit pills laced with a highly potent, deadly substance – fentanyl,” Miyares said in a press release Tuesday. “Unfortunately, we’ve seen too many young people overdose and die after experimenting with these powerful drugs. As a father, this new threat terrifies me. That’s why I launched ‘One Pill Can Kill,’ a public awareness initiative aimed at generating conversations around the dangers of counterfeit drugs and fentanyl.”

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University of Minnesota to Host Author of ‘The 1619 Project’

The University of Minnesota has announced an event with Nikole Hannah-Jones, creator of the The 1619 Project, a journalistic endeavor that “aims to reframe the country’s history by placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of black Americans at the very center of our national narrative.”

On the evening of Tuesday, Dec. 6, Jones will be participating in a “moderated discussion” with Kyndell Harkness, a photographer and assistant managing editor of diversity and community at the Star Tribune. The event, free and open to the public, is hosted by U of M’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs.

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Automatic Recount Coming for Arizona Attorney General and Other Races

Counties across Arizona have finished counting votes for the 2022 General Election, but several races remain too close to call and are within range of an automatic recount, including the highly contested race for Arizona Attorney General.

“We’re not done fighting and we are optimistic the recount will further expose the gross incompetence and mismanagement by Maricopa County officials that disenfranchised and silenced the voices of so many Arizona voters,” tweeted Abe Hamadeh, the Republican nominee for the position.

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Commentary: A New Age of American Politics

After sifting through the rubble from election night, and having done some soul searching on my basic knowledge of politics, I’ve come to a few conclusions: American politics has entered a new age. All that has gone before—polls, historical trends, message, issues, candidate quality, traditional get-out-the-vote efforts, candidate debates, voter persuasion—means almost nothing and is extremely insignificant. 

The thing—the only thing—that truly matters now is a “ballots out, ballots in” machine.

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Biden Admin Extends Student Loan Payment Pause Again

The Biden administration extended the student loan repayment pause to until the end of June 2023 while the administration’s student loan forgiveness plan is tied up in court, according to a Tuesday press release from the U.S. Department of Education (DOE).

Under the extension, loans do not need to be paid until 60 days after June 30, 2023, or whenever “litigation is resolved,” according to the DOE press release. The extension of the repayment pause comes as the Department of Justice (DOJ) urges the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a lower court’s ruling which blocked the student loan forgiveness plan.

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Trump Special Counsel’s Wife Was a Co-Producer for Michelle Obama’s Netflix Documentary

The wife of Jack Smith, the special counsel appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland to investigate former President Donald Trump, was a producer of a documentary on Michelle Obama in 2020 and has an extensive record of producing left-wing films.

Katy Chevigny, 42, is a filmmaker who married Smith in 2011, and who produced “Becoming,” a Netflix documentary based on the memoir published by Michelle Obama in 2020. As one of the four top producers on the project, Chevigny led the documentary’s creation and worked closely with the Obamas and their company, Higher Ground Productions, on the project.

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H&R Block, Other Tax Prep Services Sending ‘Sensitive Financial Information’ to Facebook: Report

Major tax preparation services have reportedly been sending sensitive personal financial information to Facebook as part of a potential advertising scheme, according to a report released Tuesday. 

Companies such as H&R Block, TaxAct, and TaxSlayer have allegedly been sending Facebook “not only information like names and email addresses but often even more detailed information, including data on users’ income, filing status, refund amounts, and dependents’ college scholarship amounts,” a report from the Verge said on Tuesday.

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Kevin McCarthy Vows to Form Select Committee on China as Speaker

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), in his bid to become the next Speaker of the House of Representatives, said on Sunday that if elected, he would form a select committee to investigate China.

As reported by the Washington Free Beacon, McCarthy declared that the Biden Administration is not doing enough to stand up to the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its leader, newly-reelected President Xi Jingping.

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Herschel Walker Rips Biological Men Competing Against Women in Sports: ‘Unfair and Wrong’

Georgia Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate Herschel Walker blasts allowing biological men to compete against women in sports in a new runoff election campaign ad that features former University of Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines.

Gaines tied with transgender athlete Lia Thomas for fifth place in the women’s 200-yard freestyle finals during this year’s NCAA championships, but was not awarded the fifth-place trophy.

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More than 1,000 Professors Sign on to ‘Stanford Academic Freedom Declaration’

More than 1,000 professors across the country have signed the “Stanford Academic Freedom Declaration” that calls on universities to restore free speech, academic freedom and institutional neutrality.

The open letter calls on universities and professors to adopt and implement the “Chicago Trifecta” — the Chicago Principles on unilateral free speech, the Kalven report that requires institutional neutrality on political and social topics, and the Shils report, making “academic contribution the sole basis for hiring and promotion.”

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Fauci Claims Unvaccinated Americans Are the ‘Real Danger’ in Final Briefing

Dr. Anthony Fauci claimed during his final briefing Tuesday that the “real danger” from COVID-19 would come from Americans who did not get vaccinated.

“The real danger is in the people who have not been vaccinated,” Fauci, who is director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), said. “If we’re going to see a problem this winter, it’s going to be among those people.”

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