Tennessee U.S. Rep. Tim Burchett to Serve on Three House Committees in the 118th Congress

Tennessee Representative Tim Burchett (R-TN-02) announced that he was selected to serve on three House committees in the 118th Congress.

Burchett will be returning to serve on both the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee and House Foreign Affairs Committee. Burchett was also chosen to serve as a new member on the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability.

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Emails: Fauci Was Part of Group Aiming to ‘Disprove’ Lab Leak Theory

Anthony Fauci

Newly unearthed emails reveal that former head of the National Institute of Allergy Infectious Disease (NIAID), Dr. Anthony Fauci, was part of a group of scientists assembled for the sole purpose of “disproving” the COVID-19 origin theory claiming that the virus originated from a lab in Wuhan, China.

According to the Daily Caller, others in the group besides Fauci included Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH); Jeremy Farrar, director of Wellcome Trust; Kristian Andersen of Scripps Research; and Dutch virologist Ron Fouchier, among others. The emails revealing the collaborative effort were uncovered by journalist Jimmy Tobias after a prolonged legal battle with the NIH.

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Susan B. Anthony List Applauds 22 Pro-Life Attorneys General, Including Tennessee’s Skrmetti, in Urging the FDA to Reverse New Policy on Abortion Drug

Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America recently thanked a coalition of 22 attorneys general, including Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti, for sending a letter to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on the agency’s “illegal and dangerous” policy on mifepristone, a chemical abortion drug.

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‘THE CHOSEN’ Star Jonathan Roumie Warns March for Life Activists: ‘God Is Real, Satan Is Also Real’

Catholic actor Jonathan Roumie, who plays the role of Jesus in the fan-supported television series THE CHOSEN, warned thousands of young pro-life activists Friday that while “God is real,” so “Satan is also real.”

“And I’m not talking about the simplistic cartoon of some dude with horns and a tail,” Roumie said during his address at the March for Life rally. “I’m talking about the father of lies, the Great Deceiver, the diabolical slanderer, who pushes you to doubt when you know in your heart the right thing to do.”

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Union Membership Plummets to Record Low Despite Biden’s Promises to Increase It

Rates of union membership fell to an all time low of 10.1% in 2022, according to a Thursday report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), despite President Joe Biden’s promise to bolster American unions.

Biden pledged to “be the most pro-union president you’ve ever seen” to a group of supporters the night before the 2020 election, according to the Associated Press, and signed an executive order in April 2021 creating a task force to investigate how the federal government could increase union membership. Despite these efforts, union membership continued its long decline in 2021 and 2022 as new non-union jobs outpaced union jobs, according to the BLS.

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House Judiciary Committee to Investigate Dobbs Leak: Report

The House Judiciary Committee intends to continue investigating the Supreme Court draft opinion leak that surrounded Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, an anonymous source close to the committee told Fox News.

The Supreme Court announced Thursday that its investigation into the Dobbs leak had failed to find the person responsible. The House Judiciary Committee is looking to pick up where the investigation left off, an anonymous source told Fox.

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Biden’s Approval Rating Remains Near All-Time Low

Amidst multiple claims that President Joe Biden mishandled classified documents, his approval rating dropped to one of its lowest points since he first took office, according to a recent poll.

Of 1,035 respondents, only 40% approved of Biden’s performance as president, according to the Reuters/Ipsos poll released Thursday. Over the last month, multiple classified documents have been found in various places occupied by Biden, and on Jan. 12 five additional pages of classified documents were discovered in Biden’s Wilmington, Delaware, home.

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Judge Denies the City of Phoenix’s Motion to Dismiss Residents’ Lawsuit Over Homeless Encampment ‘The Zone’

A lawsuit filed last August challenging “the largest homeless encampment in Arizona” is going ahead after a judge denied the City of Phoenix’s motion to dismiss. Residents who live near “the Zone,” which has grown to over 1,500 people, allege that the city has failed or refused to enforce criminal, health, or quality of life statutes to improve the Zone.

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Stephen Tully said in his January 16 ruling that dismissal wasn’t warranted because the city didn’t meet the standard where “as a matter of law plaintiffs would not be entitled to relief under any interpretation of the facts susceptible of proof.” He found that the plaintiffs properly pleaded their case and supported a private cause of action for public nuisance.

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University of Michigan Medical School’s Anesthesiology Department Hosts Critical Race Theory Seminar to Mark MLK Day

The University of Michigan Department of Anesthesiology hosted Monday a screening of the video “Critical Race Theory: American Law and Racism” as part of the university’s annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day symposium.

Kimberly Ward, the department’s DEI administrative specialist, joined Kristen Howard, senior director of the Office for Health Equity and Inclusion, to screen the pre-recorded video, in which Columbia law professor and coiner of the term “intersectionality” Kimberlé Crenshaw gave a rundown of critical race theory history and significance.

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Florida Legislative Committee Wants Accountability from Audited Entities

Florida State Capitol

The Joint Legislative Auditing Committee met in Tallahassee Thursday to discuss issues that have been found in some school districts, municipalities and private entities that have repeatedly not been addressed and also discussed ways to ensure more compliance.

According to Auditor General Sherrill Norman, who was in attendance during the most recent committee meeting, she and her staff were asked to produce “a list of things that would help address the barriers we had in completing our work.”

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Connecticut Pro-Life Democrat Lawmaker Calls Out ‘Systemically Racist Abortion Industry’ at March for Life Rally

Connecticut State Representative Treneé McGee (D-West Haven) told the thousands of pro-life activists at the March for Life rally Friday that black women of the pro-life movement are actively exposing the “systemically racist abortion industry.”

McGee, who was one of 14 state House Democrats – among them 10 people of color – who voted against a bill to expand abortion rights further in Connecticut, fired up the crowd in an address that bluntly accused the abortion industry and Margaret Sanger, founder of Planned Parenthood, of racism.

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Youngkin Supports Expanding Virginia Literacy Act to Fifth Grade

RICHMOND, Virginia — Governor Glenn Youngkin is asking legislators to expand the 2022 Virginia Literacy Act to fifth grade; the program currently provides literacy curriculum, materials, testing, and intervention for kindergarten through third grades.

“We know that K through third graders, if they’re behind in reading, it’s really hard to catch back up,” Youngkin said at a Thursday press conference at George W. Carver Elementary School. “And that’s why we’re working to extend the Virginia Literacy Act support into fourth and fifth grade. It’s such an important effort for us. And the great thing is this is all being done on a bipartisan basis.”

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Commentary: President Biden’s Tech Vision Will Hamstring Innovation

President Biden rang in the new year with an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal entitled, “Republicans and Democrats, Unite Against Big Tech Abuses.” In it, the President spells out the supposed abuses of the tech industry and the consequences they have for society. He then outlines a political agenda to regulate the American tech industry and rightly recognizing the limits of executive power in this area.  He concludes calling for bipartisan movement in Congress to achieve that vision. However, the President’s vision is immensely short-sighted and would do far more harm than good.

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FBI Offers $25,000 Reward for Information on Pro-Abortion Terrorists Behind Pro-Life Center Attacks

More than eight months after Wisconsin Family Council/Action’s Madison headquarters was firebombed by pro-abortion extremists, the FBI is now offering a $25,000 reward for information leading to the “identification, arrest, and conviction” of the individuals involved in the attack. “It’s about time,” said Julaine Appling, president of Wisconsin Family Council/Action, a pro-life organization that advocates for religious liberty and traditional family values.

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Mentor Leaders Call for Lake County Commissioners to Rescind Sales Tax Increase

In Lake County, a discussion about raising the sales tax is ongoing. The county’s 7.75 percent sales tax rate, which is now the third-highest in the state, was approved earlier this month by the county Board of Commissioners after a 0.5 percent hike.

On January 12th, the commissioners passed the sales tax increase by a vote of 2 to 1, with John R. Hamercheck and Richard J. Regovich voting in favor and John Plecnik opposed.

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Goldwater Institute Calls on Tucson School District to Cease Unlawful Union Practices

The Arizona-based Goldwater Institute (GI) demanded Thursday that the Tucson Unified School District (TUSD) stop an unlawful practice of making it difficult for employees to leave a union.

“We think it is critically important for government employers to respect public employees’ constitutional rights. Under the U.S. and Arizona constitutions, no one can be forced to remain a member of — or make payments to — any private organization, particularly if it engages in speech or political activity the person disagrees with. Unions are no exception and should not be making deals with government entities to trap public employees into being union members or paying union dues,” said GI Staff Attorney Parker Jackson in a statement emailed to The Arizona Sun Times.

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Bill to Repay Loans of Mental Health Professionals Clears Virginia House Committee

A bill to create a loan repayment program for Virginia mental health professionals sailed through a House of Delegates subcommittee Thursday, receiving bipartisan approval from a panel of lawmakers. 

House Bill 1534, authored by Del. Nadarius Clark, D-Portsmouth, and supported by other Democratic lawmakers, proposes the creation of a Mental Health Professional Loan Repayment Program for professionals who have worked in the mental health field in Virginia for at least five years. 

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Hamilton County Republican Party Names Melissa Powers as Next County Prosecutor

Melissa Powers, a former juvenile court judge, has been chosen by the Hamilton County Republican Party to serve as the county’s next prosecutor.

The Hamilton County Republican Party’s central committee met late Thursday afternoon at Clovernook Country Club in North College Hill to choose Joe Deters’ successor after his appointment to the Ohio Supreme Court. Powers, who did not seek re-election to the juvenile court bench last year, received a resounding majority of the vote.

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Catholic Universities Continue to Endorse Pro-Abortion Agenda

Wednesday marked the start of this year’s National March for Life, the first since the right to an abortion was federally overruled in June of last year in the case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. 

In light of the impending Dobbs decision, Alcindor stated in May of last year that she was worried about “women who are poor, women of color [being] forced to have pregnancies that they cannot afford to terminate, and pregnancies that will then turn into children” if states ban abortion.

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Commentary: Read Something Other than Current Politics

by Anthony Esolen   American professors who call themselves liberals almost always do one of three things when it comes to reading old books. They ditch them, they disparage them, or they wrench them out of joint so that they can be made to do obeisance to what all correct-thinking people are supposed to believe and speak today. Not all of them do so; I have known some who have not. But in the preponderant majority, they do, and they are proud of it. And thus do they foreclose one of the most readily available means of educating themselves and others; and it should go without saying that when professors who call themselves conservatives do the like, they too are in the wrong. It is not just that reading the old books gives you an opening toward truths that your own society has overlooked. That is certainly true, but it is not the point I wish to make here. It is that when you get away from the fury of your own political issues, you have a chance, born of leisure and human sympathy, to think about complex matters in a mature, even-handed, and impartial way. Let me give an…

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Commentary: Miss Universe Is Just the Latest Organization Erasing Women

Another day, another biological male stealing the spotlight from biological females in the name of feminism and equality. A new Miss Universe was crowned on Saturday and the transgender owner of the organization, Anne Jakrajutatip, took to the stage claiming to “celebrate women” and the supposed female-led future the beauty pageant. 

Jakrajutatip took over ownership of the Miss Universe Organization last year from IMG Worldwide LLC, which previously bought the pageant from former President Donald Trump. Jakrajutatip is the first transgender owner of the organization in its 71 years of existence—or, as Jakrajutatip now claims, the “first woman owner.” 

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ICE Releases Thousands of Illegal Immigrants Affected by Data Leak

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) released nearly 3,000 illegal immigrants from custody after they were affected by a data leak, an agency spokesperson told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

The late November accidental data breach involved the leaking of names, birth dates, nationalities and detention locations of approximately 6,000 illegal immigrants, according to ICE. The information was on ICE’s website for five hours before it was taken down.

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