Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti recently joined a group of attorneys general in sending a letter to Congress to pass legislation that would give states the authority to jam contraband cell phones in prisons.
Read MoreDay: January 29, 2023
Teens Against Gender Mutilation Rally in Murfreesboro Met with Counter Protesters
Turning Point USA (TPUSA) Faith Middle Tennessee & Rutherford County Chapter hosted a ‘Teens Against Gender Mutilation Rally’ outside Murfreesboro City Hall on Saturday which was met with counter protesters.
Read MoreUtah School Administrators Admit to Deceiving Parents by Using ‘Loopholes’ to Teach Critical Race Theory in Classrooms
Less than a week after an undercover investigation revealed that school administrators in Cincinnati, Ohio have admitted to covertly indoctrinating students with Critical Race Theory (CRT) in the classrooms, they discovered similarly that school officials throughout Utah, are prepared to use “loopholes” in order to promote social justice and CRT to their students.
Ohio and Utah are both conservative states, which is why activist instructors have devised more covert methods of presenting divisive subjects.
Read MoreAlliance of Big Tech, Dark Money Groups Partners with Counties in State That Bans ‘Zuckerbucks’ for Elections
The group that distributed most of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s controversial election grants in 2020 has designated at least two Utah counties as part of a new effort, despite a state ban on private money funding election operations.
The two local juridictions are Cache County, with a population of 137,00, and Weber County, population 267,000.
Read MoreRepublican U.S. Senators File Bill to End China’s Permanent Normal Trade Status
Several Republican senators filed a bill on Friday to end China’s Permanent Normal Trade Status (PNTR), citing concerns over American job losses and human rights abuses overseas.
The China Trade Relations Act, which would strip China of its PNTR, was filed by U.S. Sens. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., Rick Scott, R-Fla., Ted Budd, R-N.C., and J.D. Vance, R-Ohio.
Read MoreTop Soros Director Is Frequent Guest at Biden White House
One of the highest-ranking executives with George Soros’ far-left Open Society Foundation (OSF) has been revealed to have close access to the Biden White House, according to newly-released records.
As reported by Fox News, the executive director of OSF U.S., Tom Perriello, has made numerous visits to the White House for private meetings and public events over the last two years. Perriello also sits on the board of Governing for Impact, and is part of Soros’ inner circle.
Read MoreLake County Commissioners Rescind Sales Tax Increase
The three-member Lake County Board of Commissioners unanimously decided on Thursday to repeal the 0.5 percent sales tax hike they had just approved for the entire county two weeks earlier.
Following concerns from county citizens and even city governments, the all-Republican board made the decision to abandon the tax increase before it even took effect. After numerous public meetings, officials arrived at the conclusion that “the current and projected revenues in of Lake County will be insufficient by a substantial amount to fund the current budgets and statutory responsibilities.”
Read MoreSemiconductor Convention Moving to Phoenix from San Francisco in 2025
Recognizing Arizona’s growing semiconductor sector, North America’s “premier microelectronics exhibition and conference” is coming to town.
SEMI, an industry association with members across the electronics manufacturing and design supply chain, announced Tuesday it would hold SEMICON West 2025 in Phoenix after holding the conference in San Francisco for the last five decades.
Read MoreMichigan Legislature OKs $1 Billion in Tax Changes
The Michigan Legislature late Thursday approved about $1 billion in tax changes highlighted in Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s State of the State address.
The two changes include boosting the earned income tax credit and repealing the retirement tax.
Read MorePennsylvania Takes Steps to Ease Volunteer Firefighter Crisis
by Lauren Jessop As Pennsylvania’s volunteer firefighters dwindle, lawmakers hope to reverse the trend. States nationwide struggle to recruit and retain volunteers, while simultaneously investing time and money into training required to keep up with stringent regulations. According to the U.S. Fire Administration, volunteers account for 96.8% of firefighters in…
Read MoreWisconsin Budget Surplus to Top $7 Billion by July
Wisconsin’s record budget surplus is growing once again.
The Legislative Fiscal Bureau on Wednesday said the surplus will now hit $7.1 billion by July.
Read MoreVirginia Senate Committee Rejects ‘Education Savings Accounts’
The Senate Committee on Education and Health voted to “pass by indefinitely” on three school choice bills by Republican lawmakers Thursday – a signal other school choice bills in the Virginia House of Delegates could face obstacles moving forward.
One of the measures defeated Thursday sought to create a “Parental Choice Education Savings Account” program, which parents could apply for and use toward certain expenses, including private school tuition.
Read MoreCommentary: The Unknown Impact of Inflation on Rural Americans
When the Federal Reserve convenes at the end of January 2023 to set interest rates, it will be guided by one key bit of data: the U.S. inflation rate. The problem is, that stat ignores a sizable chunk of the country – rural America.
Currently sitting at 6.5%, the rate of inflation is still high, even though it has fallen back slightly from the end of 2022.
Read MoreBattery Company Plans New Georgia IT Hub, but Incentives Unknown
A battery company plans to spend $19 million on a new regional IT hub facility in north Fulton County, but it’s unclear whether Georgia taxpayers are on the hook for any incentives.
SK Battery America expects to create 200 high-tech jobs at an integrated IT management center on Sanctuary Parkway in Roswell. It will serve the company’s battery manufacturing facilities in Georgia and the country.
Read MoreMinnesota House Passes 100 Percent Clean Energy Bill
The Minnesota House passed legislation after seven hours of debate late Thursday night that would require the state’s electricity grid to be 100% carbon-free in 17 years.
This is an unrealistic timeline that could endanger the lives of Minnesotans if it fails while causing their electricity bills to skyrocket, Republicans argued throughout the night.
Read MoreDeSantis Pledges Mandatory Life Sentence for Targeting Children with Fentanyl Resembling Candy
Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis promised Thursday that his state would deem possessing fentanyl or other drugs made to resemble candy a first-degree felony, and send those targeting children with such fentanyl to prison for life.
DeSantis said during a “Preserving Law & Order in Florida” press conference that the state’s government would “make it a first-degree felony to possess, sell or manufacture fentanyl or other controlled substances to look like candy” and punish targeting that type of fentanyl to children with a mandatory life sentence and $1 million fine. He also pledged to add $20 million of local support funding for law enforcement to stop fentanyl’s illicit spread in his upcoming budget proposals.
Read MoreCommentary: The Left’s New Scheme That Threatens Free Elections
Like a bad movie sequel, leftwing nonprofits like the Center for Tech and Civil Life (CTCL) are once again pumping millions of dollars in left-wing “dark money” into election offices across the country. Just like they did in 2020, these groups are looking for ways to skew elections and boost liberal turnout in battleground states.
But this time, there’s a twist. CTCL and its allies aren’t just doling out eye-popping grants. They are aiming for nothing less than a shadow takeover of election offices. Through their new $80 million program, called the “U.S. Alliance for Election Excellence,” the left is targeting local election offices. The goal: push liberal voting policies and systematically reshape how our elections are run.
Read MoreBuzzFeed Announces Plans to Use AI for Content Creation
BuzzFeed announced Thursday that it would begin using artificial intelligence to help generate its content.
The company will partner with OpenAI to start producing “AI inspired content,” according to CNN Business, and plans to make such output an integral part of its regular business.
Read MoreCommentary: The Importance of Reading Difficult Books
In his work The Western Canon, Harold Bloom wrote that a “reader does not read for easy pleasure or to expiate social guilt, but to enlarge a solitary existence.”
The apparent message in Bloom’s flourish is that a reader ought to be after something more difficult to attain than mere pleasure. Passive consumption of entertainment will simply not do. Instead, readers are to be fully engaged with the work in front of them, especially when the process is difficult. It’s through this difficulty that a reader inevitably enlarges what Bloom refers to as a “solitary existence,” or, put another way, an existential engagement with the human condition.
Read MoreCommentary: Parents Must Take Charge of Your Children’s Education
Are America’s public schools falling apart?
The evidence certainly points in that direction.
Read MoreRadical Muslim Cleric Convicted in New York of Supporting ISIS
Radical Islamic cleric Shaikh Abdullah Faisal was convicted Thursday on several counts of supporting terrorism after working as a recruiter for the Islamic State (ISIS), according to the Manhattan District Attorney’s office.
Faisal promoted a radical interpretation of Islam that supported the idea of killing nonbelievers, leading to his incarceration in Britain in 2003 and deportation from Kenya in 2010, according to the New York Times. On Thursday, District Attorney Alvin Bragg announced Faisal had been found guilty several counts of lending support for terrorism after attempting to recruit an undercover officer into ISIS.
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