Day: February 10, 2023

Davidson County GOP Chair Candidate Lonnie Spivak Highlights Endorsements, Encourages All Republicans to Attend Saturday’s Meeting

Julie Carr

Live from Music Row, Friday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Leahy welcomed the candidate for the Davidson County Republican Party Chair, Lonnie Spivak in studio to discuss his endorsements and how to register for the election on Saturday.

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National Security Expert Bill Gertz: Biden’s Weak Response to China Spy Balloon Yet Another Example of America’s Current ‘Woefully Inadequate’ Leadership

Julie Carr

Live from Music Row, Friday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Leahy welcomed Washington Times reporter and national security expert Bill Gertz to the newsmaker line to comment on the Chinese spy balloon and the intentions of current U.S. leadership.

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Nashville DA’s Office Installs Listening Devices In What Seems a Troubling Secret Recording Trend

M.D. Kittle

Listening devices have been installed in areas around the Nashville District Attorney’s office, according to news reports. The revelations come as similar recording devices are popping up in other government buildings across the country in what privacy experts say is a troubling trend of citizen monitoring. 

District Attorney Glenn Funk’s team did not dispute the findings of a NewsChannel 5 investigation, the news outlet reported.

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Records: Former Memphis Police Officers Lied About Details of Tyre Nichols Traffic Stop

M.D. Kittle

Documents from Tennessee’s law enforcement regulatory and training agency are shining more light on the concerning conduct of the former Memphis Police officers involved in the Jan. 7 traffic stop that body cam video shows ended in the brutal beating of Tyre Nichols. 

A report filed with the Tennessee Peace Officers Standards and Training (P.O.S.T.) Commission that sought the officers’ decertification includes a statement from Officer Justin Smith, who insists he used departmental training during Nichols’ arrest.

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Biden Administration to End Title 42 in May

Admin

On Tuesday, the Biden Administration told the Supreme Court that it still fully intends to end the Title 42 public health rule that heavily limited immigration during the presidency of Donald Trump.

According to the Washington Free Beacon, U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar revealed in a filing to the court that the administration will formally allow Title 42 to expire in May, around the same time the White House will let the nationwide public health emergency status over COVID-19 end as well.

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Poll: Americans Haven’t Been This Down on Their Personal Finances Since the Great Recession

Admin

Half of Americans say they are financially worse off now than a year ago, one of the few times 50% of Americans have reported being in a worse position since the great recession in 2008, according to a recent poll.

Of 1,011 respondents, 50% said they are worse off when reflecting on their personal financial situations, and only 35% reported being better off now than they were a year ago, according to the Gallup poll released Wednesday. In 2021 and 2022, Americans were evenly divided between 41% to 41% for being better off versus worse off, and in 2020, Americans were three times more likely to say they were better off, 59% to 20%.

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East Palestine, Ohio Police Silent When Asked Why They Arrested NewsNation Reporter at DeWine Press Conference

Hannah Poling

On Wednesday, police in Ohio arrested a NewsNation correspondent as state Governor Mike DeWine spoke at a press conference to announce the lifting of an evacuation order due to last week’s railway incident in East Palestine.

Last Friday, a 50-car freight train near Pennsylvania crashed while transporting hazardous goods.

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Commentary: Boosting Manufacturing in North America

RealClearWire

The world paid little attention when the leaders of North America met in a summit in Mexico City last month, but what they decided was momentous. President Biden, Mexican President Lopez-Obrador and Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau agreed to build on  President Trump’s 2020 trade agreement to find new ways to integrate their economies, boosting manufacturing and significantly reducing reliance on Asia.

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Red Flags Rise over UW-Madison Get-Out-the-Vote Initiative with ‘Zuckerbucks’ Feel

M.D. Kittle

The BadgersVote initiative “strives to provide University of Wisconsin–Madison students with everything they need to know in order to participate in their elections,” according to organizers. But is the campus-wide “public service” campaign really just a Democratic Party Get-Out-the-Vote effort underwritten by a taxpayer-funded university, a nonprofit research center, and liberal activist groups? 

For some, the university-nonprofit partnership feels a lot like the Zuckerbucks scandal of 2020.

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Wisconsin Governor Evers Proposes Expanding Veterans’ Programs

Bradley Vasoli

Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers (D) on Thursday announced several budget items for Fiscal Years 2023-25 that would expand aid to Badger State veterans. 

Priorities Evers mentioned included programs to assist ex-military personnel with employment, education, mental health and housing security. He said the proposal builds on earlier expenditures the governor and legislature made last year, spurred by recommendations of his Blue Ribbon Commission on Veteran Opportunity. 

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DeSantis Administration Further Investigates AP African American Studies Revision After College Board Reveals CRT Authors ‘Going to Be Freely Available to Students and Teachers’

Susan Berry, PhD

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s administration has requested the College Board release all of its materials regarding its revised Advanced Placement African American Studies (APAAS) curriculum following an NPR interview in which the College Board president touted radical leftist material would still be very much available to high school students taking the course.

With Florida’s Stop WOKE Act banning the promotion of the tenets of Critical Race Theory (CRT) in grades K-12, the DeSantis administration rejected the initial APAAS course because it included writings such as those by radical Marxist and former Communist Party member Angela Davis, and others associated with portions of the course called the “Movement for Black Lives,” and “Black Queer Studies.”

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Abortion Fund of Ohio Launches Program to Help Minors Get Abortions Without Parental Consent

Hannah Poling

The Abortion Fund of Ohio (AFO) launched the “Legal Access Program” on February 3rd that will undermine parental rights in Ohio. This program aims to help minors get abortions without parental consent in addition to provide free legal guidance, case management, and link patients with pro bono attorneys.

An unemancipated minor in Ohio under 18 years old may not obtain an abortion unless one of her parents or her guardian has given written consent or she obtains a court order known as a judicial bypass, in which case the judge authorizes the procedure. The Legal Access Program is Ohio’s first judicial bypass program.

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Gov. Youngkin Condemns Black Lives Matter at School Push in Virginia Ed Union: ‘This Will Not Be Tolerated’

Admin

Virginia Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s office said the Black Lives Matter at School toolkit released by a Virginia teacher’s union “will not be tolerated.”  

The Virginia Education Association’s Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action toolkit champions BLM’s 13 principles in the classroom. It uses kindergarten through 12th grade lesson plans made by the education branch of the Southern Poverty Law Center to teach students principles including “transgender affirming,” “queer affirming,” “restorative justice,” and “globalism.”  

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Whitmer’s 2024 Budget Eyes $318 Million in Subsidies for Electric Vehicles

The Center Square

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s proposed $79 billion budget for fiscal year 2024 aims to require taxpayers subsidize electric vehicles and chargers with $318 million.

Whitmer’s mobility budget includes $160 million for capital investments in rail, bus, and marine transit service expansions, $65 million for EV charging stations, and $48 million over two years for an EV sales and use tax exemption.

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House Speaker Ben Toma’s Ballot Image Bill Passes Through Elections Committee

Neil Jones

A new bill from Arizona State House Speaker Ben Toma (R-Peoria), which involves the publication of election ballot images, passed through the House Municipal Oversight & Elections Committee Wednesday. State Sen. Ken Bennett (R-Prescott), a former Arizona Secretary of State, has a mirror bill in the State Senate and spoke in favor of Toma’s bill during the meeting.

“I don’t think this is a partisan issue. We have got to come together somehow as Republicans and Democrats in Arizona to make our elections transparent, trackable, and publicly verifiable,” Bennett said.

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Wisconsin Representatives Introduce Victims’ Rights Measure

Bradley Vasoli

Two state legislators from Wisconsin are urging colleagues to back their bill to strengthen crime victims’ rights to restitution in their state. 

The bill authored by State Representatives Shae Sortwell (R-Gibson) and Duey Stroebel (R-Saukville) would halt the restoration of felons’ voting rights until after the perpetrators pay all fines, court fees, and victim restitution. In the Badger State, a convict loses his or her right to vote until he or she serves all prison time and completes any parole or probation that a court imposes. But that person may again vote before meeting his or her legal monetary obligations. 

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Abe Hamadeh’s Team Allegedly Delayed in Inspecting Maricopa County Adjudication Logs, Warns More Legal Action May Come

Neil Jones

Republican Abe Hamadeh shared Thursday that Maricopa County had allegedly delayed his team’s efforts to inspect the County’s adjudication log from the 2022 election following a public records request.

“Maricopa County told my team that they were available for inspections this week. After we arrived yesterday morning the County kicked us out after just one hour. Maricopa County continues to obstruct and conceal – my team is prepared for litigation,” tweeted Hamadeh.

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Former State Legislator Paul Boyer Announces Candidacy for Glendale Mayor

Rachel Alexander

Former Arizona state legislator Paul Boyer announced this week that he is running for mayor of Glendale. The current mayor, Republican Jerry Weiers, assumed that office in 2013 after serving eight years in the Arizona House.

Boyer submitted an op-ed to the Daily Independent on Monday explaining his decision. He criticized the legislature for attempting to pass laws that would stop cities and towns from taking certain actions.

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Commentary: Young Men Hold More Conservative Views than Young Women

Admin

A favorite argument the left propagates is that demographics are destiny, and that a tidal wave of young left-wing voters will erode GOP margins beyond repair. The argument that demographics are destiny is of course inescapable, but the argument that these demographics favor the left exclusively is misleading.       

What the data shows is there have been small but discernible shifts away from the Democrat Party over the past few years. The bulk of the research on younger voters also shows a widening gender gap. Younger women are becoming increasingly liberal and younger men are not. Recent research shows that younger men hold more conservative views than older men on gender issues, including the transgender question.  

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