Thursday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed all-star panelist Roger Simon in studio to discuss America’s values, a growing disdain for God, and the social creation of transgenderism.
Read the full storyDay: March 30, 2023
Clint Brewer Considers What Name the Public Will Remember the Covenant School Shooter By
Thursday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed recovering journalist Clint Brewer in studio to comment upon the national media’s questioning of the Covenant school shooter’s pronouns.
Read the full storyRoger Simon Details Congressman Ogles’ Statement Asking DOJ to Investigate Covenant Shooting as Hate Crime
Thursday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed all-star panelist Roger Simon in studio to discuss Congressman Andy Ogles (R-TN-05) statement asking the DOJ to investigate The Covenant School shooting as a hate crime.
Read the full storyGOP Presidential Challenger Vivek Ramaswamy Calls ‘Politically Motivated’ Indictment of Trump ‘Dark Moment in American History’
Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy is strongly condemning a New York Grand Jury’s indictment of former President Donald Trump, calling it a “dark moment in American history.”
Thursday’s indictment follows a years-long investigation of Trump in connection with a $130,000 hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels who claims to have had an affair with Trump years ago.
Read the full storyGrand Jury Votes to Indict Trump in Stormy Daniels Hush Money Case
A Manhattan grand jury has reportedly voted to indict former President Donald Trump over his alleged role in a payment to Stormy Daniels in 2016, making him the first former president to face criminal charges.
The felony indictment is under seal but the exact charges are likely to be announced soon. A source with direct knowledge of the matter confirmed the indictment to Just the News.
Read the full storyAmericans Continue to Flee Crime-Ridden Blue Cities for the Burbs and Red States, New Census Data Shows
Americans once again fled large cities for suburbs and Republican-led states in massive numbers from June 2021 to June 2022, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of U.S. Census data.
More than 800,000 people in total left the country’s large metropolitan areas, compared to 1.2 million the year before, in an ongoing trend sparked by the pandemic, according to the WSJ. Ten of the nation’s 25 largest metropolitan areas saw population loss, and most of the top cities that saw population gains were located in red states.
Read the full storyMajority of Voters Say They’re Willing to Stop Buying Products from China to Counter CCP: Poll
More than three-out-of-four American voters say they would be willing to stop buying products made in China in order to help counter the Chinese Communist Party and lessen the United States’ dependence on Chinese manufacturing, according to a poll released Thursday.
Read the full story‘Unacceptable Incompetence’: CDC Made Dozens of Basic Data Errors on COVID, Epidemiologists Find
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found itself hoist with its own petard by making 25 basic statistical and numerical errors related to COVID-19, particularly with regard to children, while purporting to expose COVID vaccine misinformation, according to an analysis led by University of California San Francisco epidemiologists.
The preprint, which has not yet been peer-reviewed, documented 20 errors that “exaggerated the severity of the COVID-19 situation” and three that “simultaneously exaggerated and downplayed” severity, while one each was neutral or exaggerated vaccine risks.
Read the full storyAG Merrick Garland Refuses to Investigate Nashville Shooting as Hate Crime
On Tuesday, Attorney General Merrick Garland refused to commit to using federal resources to investigate Monday’s shooting in Nashville as a hate crime, despite the perpetrator’s clear motivations against the Christian victims.
The Daily Caller reports that the Nashville Police Department discovered “writings” in Audrey Elizabeth Hale’s home after the shooting, which suggested a “calculated and planned” attack. Addressing these reports, Senator John Kennedy (R-La.) noted during a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing that the 28-year-old Hale “could have had collaborators.”
Read the full story‘Don’t Want to Get in the Way’: Pete Buttigieg Declines to Visit Site of Minnesota Fiery Train Derailment
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said on Thursday that he will not visit a small Minnesota town that was evacuated after a Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) train derailed and caught fire earlier that morning.
Raymond, Minnesota, residents who live within a half mile from the derailment site were evacuated after approximately 22 cars derailed and four caught on fire around 1:00 a.m. CST. The train was carrying mixed freight including ethanol and corn syrup.
Read the full storyNational Archives Admits over 1,100 Biden Records Pages at Penn Office, Lacks Custody of Others
The National Archives has admitted that approximately 1,170 pages of records from President Joe Biden’s time as vice president were found at the Penn Biden Center in November 2022, and the agency said it does not have custody of any records discovered at Biden’s homes in Delaware.
The America First Legal Foundation highlighted the revelation Thursday by publishing a letter that the National Archives sent to the conservative legal group in response to a Freedom of Information Act request.
Read the full storySchool Safety Expert Says Ballistic Glass Could Have Prevented Nashville School Shooting
On the heels of The Tennessee Star’s report in which a security expert recommended that schools implement ballistic glass film to deter and prevent school shooters, another security expert has recommended the same.
“So even if you shoot it 100 times, you’ve still not gained access,” said Wayne Gregory of Ever Safe, as reported by FOX17. “You’ve only put holes in the glass. And then beat it out of the frame of the hammer is the only way to get in.”
Read the full storyState Troopers Foil Riot of Left-Wing Mob at Tennessee Capitol
A riot at the Tennessee State Capitol was stopped by state troopers Thursday as State Rep. Justin Jones (D-Nashville) and at least two other far-left Democrat state representatives encouraged a crowd of more than a thousand protesters to breach the Tennessee House of Representatives chamber floor during a gun control demonstration.
Tennessee State Troopers foiled the breach, as protesters attempted to enter the chamber from the gallery above and the ground floor.
Read the full storyFirst Lady Jill Biden Travels to Nashville to Attend Candlelight Vigil to Mourn the Six Victims of The Covenant School Shooting
First Lady Jill Biden traveled to Nashville on Wednesday to attend the citywide candlelight vigil at One Public Square Park to mourn the six victims gunned down on Monday at The Covenant School.
Read the full storyKari Lake Calls Trump Indictment ‘Relentless Assault’ on the U.S. Constitution
Former Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake has released a statement in response to a Manhattan grand jury voting to indict former President Donald Trump over his alleged role in a payment to Stormy Daniels in 2016.
Read the full storyRepublican States Weigh Rejecting Federal Education Funds to Block Federal Interference
Republican states are beginning to consider rejecting federal funding for K-12 education in order to keep out federal interference in the form of the strings attached to the monies.
In February, Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton said he had introduced a bill to create a task force to weigh the idea of the state rejecting the roughly $1.8 billion of federal monies it receives for K-12 education.
Read the full storyTennessee Legislature Delays Gun Bills Following Nashville School Shooting
A day after shootings at a Nashville school left three students, three teachers and the shooter dead, Tennessee’s Senate Judiciary Committee delayed all of its gun-related bills one week.
The committee was set to consider Senate Bill 1325, which would allow a teacher to carry a concealed handgun on school property with a permit. The Legislature is also considering a bill to lower the age for a concealed carry permit to 18 along with competing versions of the bill in the House and Senate regarding whether loaded long guns will be allowed to be carried in public.
Read the full storyBiden’s World Bank Pick Calls for ‘Trillions’ in Climate Spending
Ajay Banga, the former CEO of Mastercard that President Joe Biden has nominated to head the World Bank, told Axios Wednesday that both the bank and the private sector needed to spend “trillions” to combat both climate change and poverty.
Banga has been aggressively campaigning for the job, meeting with officials from 37 different governments in the past three weeks, Axios reported. The World Bank faces competing pressure from wealthy and developing countries over whether to focus on combatting climate change or poverty mitigation, but Banga said he does not view the two goals as inherently opposed to one another.
Read the full storyGOP, Dems Have Entered the AI Arms Race Ahead of the 2024 Election
by Mary Lou Masters Republicans and Democrats are entering an arms race to use Artificial Intelligence (AI) in upcoming 2024 campaigns to complete simple, daily tasks previously accomplished by droves of interns, according to The New York Times. Both parties are racing to develop AI technology to carry out basic functions like advertising, writing and sending out personalized campaign statements, predicting public opinion and analyzing voter behavior, the NYT reported. The use of AI in political campaigns comes with worry of disinformation as deep fakes continue to mount across the internet. “A.I. is about to make a significant change in the 2024 election because of machine learning’s predictive ability,” former President Donald Trump’s 2020 campaign manager and founder of a digital company that utilizes AI technology, Brad Parscale, told the NYT. Recent deep fake images of Trump being arrested in connection to the Manhattan District Attorney’s investigation into the former president’s alleged hush money payments to porn star actress Stormy Daniels have gone viral on social media. Deep fake photos of Pope Francis wearing a puffy white jacket have also made headwinds across the internet. “Unfortunately, I think people are going to figure out how to use this for evil faster than for improving civic life,” chief strategist…
Read the full storyGovernor Bill Lee Reveals Two Adults Killed in The Covenant School Shooting Were Longtime Friends of First Lady Maria Lee
Tennessee Governor Bill Lee addressed the state on Tuesday in a video posted to social media just one day after six victims, including three children, were gunned down by 28-year-old Audrey Elizabeth Hale at The Covenant School in Nashville.
The governor revealed that two of the victims – Cynthia Peak, age 61, and Katherine Koonce, age 60 – were longtime family friends of First Lady Maria Lee.
In a video posted to social media Tuesday evening, Bill Lee said, “All of Tennessee was hurt yesterday, but some parents woke up without children. Children woke up without parents, without teachers. And spouses woke up without their loved ones.”
Read the full storyCommentary: Tennessee’s Private Schools Have Authority to Establish ‘Firearms Friendly’ Policies
In 2016 Tennessee passed two new statutes with bi-partisan support that addressed the issue of whether Tennessee’s private schools, both K-12 and “higher education,” could establish their own policies with respect to whether and to what extent civilian possession of firearms would be prohibited on their campuses. These laws are codified at Tennessee Code Annotated Sections 49-50-803 and 49-7-161.
Read the full storyKatie Hobbs’ Press Secretary Resigns After Tweet Threatening Violence Against Those Critical of Promoting Transgenderism
Democratic Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs’ press secretary Josselyn Berry resigned Tuesday evening after outrage over a now-deleted tweet threatening to use violence against those who disagree with promoting transgenderism. Coming less than 12 hours after a transgender fatally shot students and staff at a Christian elementary school she used to attend in Tennessee, the Arizona Freedom Caucus led the call for her to resign.
Berry, who has a history of partisan offensive tweets, tweeted, “Us when we see transphobes,” captioning a photo of a woman with a determined look pointing two guns. The photo is from the movie “Gloria,” featuring the late actress Gena Rowlands. In the 1980 movie, the character Gloria shoots and kills gangsters.
Read the full storyDNA from Trashed Burrito Leads to Arrest of Man in Connection with Firebombing of Wisconsin Pro-Life Center
A half-eaten burrito led to the arrest of a Madison man in connection with the Mother’s Day 2022 firebombing of the Wisconsin Family Action headquarters building.
Hridindu Sankar Roychowdhury, 29, has been charged with one count of attempting to cause damage by means of fire or an explosive, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Madison.
Read the full storyMinnesota Governor Walz to Temporarily Relocate to Taxpayer-Funded $17,000 a Month Lakeside Mansion
Gov. Tim Walz and his family will temporarily relocate to a $17,000-a-month lakeside mansion later this year during renovations to the St. Paul governor’s residence.
The Minnesota Department of Administration entered into an 18-month lease agreement with MFM Properties II, LLC for a five-bedroom, 7,900-square foot home in Sunfish Lake.
Read the full storyArizona State Senate Passes More Election Integrity Bills Relating to Primaries and Ballot Images
The Arizona State Senate passed more legislation Tuesday aimed at strengthening Arizona’s elections, starting with House Concurrent Resolution (HCR) 2033, sponsored by State Representative Austin Smith (R-Suprise).
“Thank you to the @AZSenateGOP for voting out HCR2033. A bigger thank you to all the grassroots activists who worked so hard to make this happen. Very grateful for you all,” Smith tweeted. “This constitutional referral to protect our party primaries and girding us against radical experimental election systems that disenfranchise voters such as ‘ranked choice voting.'”
Read the full storyCommentary: Careful, The RESTRICT Act Could be Used to Censor Any Website in America, Not Just TikTok
S.686, the Restricting the Emergence of Security Threats that Risk Information and Communications Technology Act or the appropriately titled “RESTRICT Act” could be used to censor any website in America, not just TikTok.
Read the full storyAdvanced Materials Manufacturer Plans Cartersville, Georgia Facility
A manufacturer of lightweight advanced materials for sustainable technology plans to open a manufacturing facility in Cartersville.
Hanwha Advanced Materials Georgia, a subsidiary of South Korea’s Hanwha Group, plans to spend roughly $147 million on the facility, which will supply a Qcells facility in the Bartow County community. The company plans to create 160 jobs.
Read the full storyGOP Presidential Candidate Vivek Ramaswamy Launches Multi-Million Dollar Ad Campaign in Iowa, New Hampshire
Ohio entrepreneur and anti-woke crusader Vivek Ramaswamy is launching a multi-million dollar ad campaign in Iowa and New Hampshire in his bid for the Republican presidential nomination, according to his campaign.
The spot, titled “Identity Crisis”, is about to roll out in the opening caucus and primary states.
Read the full storyLiberal Pennsylvania Senators Want Solitary Confinement Abolished for LGBTQ People but Not for Straight People
Two leftist Pennsylvania state senators are reintroducing legislation that would ban the use of solitary confinement for gay and transgender prisoners but allow its limited use on others.
Senators John Kane (D-Chester) and Katie Muth (D-Royersford) sent colleagues a memorandum describing their proposal and bemoaning the effects of isolation on prisoners’ mental health. Their bill would limit to 15 days a period of solitary confinement for any of Pennsylvania’s 37,000 state-facility inmates. LGBTQ individuals as well as pregnant women, minors and those 70 or older would be shielded from any isolated imprisonment.
Read the full storyFlorida House Committee Passes Bill to Increase State Pension Benefits
Critics say a bill that would increase retirement benefits for beneficiaries of the state’s defined-benefit pension system could put the system’s financials in future jeopardy.
House Bill 239, which passed favorably through the House Appropriations Committee meeting on Tuesday, will increase retirement benefits for the 629,073 members of the Florida Retirement System and 151,913 current retirees.
Read the full storyConnecticut’s Health Care Costs Jumped Past Benchmarks
Connecticut’s health care expenses increased by 6% to $34 billion in 2021, according to a new report, exceeding a goal set by Gov. Ned Lamont to limit the state’s cost growth.
The first annual Connecticut Healthcare Cost Growth Benchmark report said the state spent $34 billion on health care and insurance costs in 2021, up from $31.9 billion in 2019 and $30.9 billion in 2020. That’s higher than the 3.4% growth benchmark set by the Lamont administration three years ago.
Read the full storyArizona Superintendent of Public Instruction: More Money to Classrooms Means Better Results
Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne released a study Tuesday demonstrating that school districts that put a higher percentage of their budget into the classroom and teacher salaries perform better academically.
“No school can be better than the quality of the teachers in the classroom,” Horne stated. “The surrounding states pay more, and we lose good teachers to those states. We cannot afford to let this go on.”
Read the full storyScottsdale to Replace Two Driving Lanes in Old Town Entertainment District with Bike Lanes
The Scottsdale City Council voted 4-3 last week to convert two driving lanes in Scottsdale’s Old Town entertainment district to bicycle lanes. Along 68th Street from Indian School Road south to Thomas Road, one lane each way will become bicycle lanes, leaving only one lane each way on the busy street available for vehicles.
Scottsdale City Councilmember Barry Graham, who lives in South Scottsdale near Old Town and opposed the March 21 vote, tweeted, “On Tuesday, Scottsdale City Council voted (4-3) to eliminate 2 lanes from one of your major streets in south Scottsdale. I tried to find a compromise that preserved the car lanes. Unfortunately, councilmembers made the issue about what they want — not what you want.”
Read the full storyCounty Attorney Rachel Mitchell Announces Sentencing for Perpetrators of 2022 Armed Robbery
Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell (R) announced Monday that four individuals responsible for the 2022 armed robbery of an Arizona jewelry store had been sentenced to prison.
“The victims in this case lived through terrifying moments as they feared for their lives at the hands of criminals,” said Mitchell. “Our office was relentless in the pursuit of justice for those nine individuals inside the store; the money and jewelry taken were recovered.”
Read the full storyCommentary: In the Mind of the Fervent Left, ‘Aiden’ Hale Was Driven by … Pronouns
Audrey Hale attended the Covenant School in Nashville as a child before returning Monday morning as Aiden Hale to murder three 9-year-olds, the principal, a substitute teacher, and a custodian.
In some dark but loud corners of the internet, it’s not about the children, the teachers, or the janitor. It’s about them — they/thems to be precise. More significantly, this multiple-victim public shooting, like all multiple-victim public shootings, becomes about blaming them. Who are they? Not us, not our side, not our tribe.
Read the full storyUniversity Reimburses Students After Professor Forced Class to Purchase Woke Subscription
Michigan State University (MSU) will reimburse students in a business course who were forced to purchase a subscription to the professor’s website which allegedly donated to Planned Parenthood, the New Guard reported.
Amy Wisner, a fixed-term faculty member at the MSU Broad College of Business who no longer appears on the university directory, required students in her Marketing Communication course to purchase a $99 subscription to her website, Patriarchy Rebellion. The university launched an investigation into the incident and confirmed in an email to the students, obtained by the New Guard, that a new professor will be teaching the course and that students will be reimbursed.
Read the full storyOhio State Legislature Revives Cincinnati City Rail Line Sale to Norfolk Southern
The State Legislature revived Cincinnati city officials’ attempt to sell a city-owned rail line to Norfolk Southern, the same company that caused the toxic disaster in East Palestine, which stalled last month,
City leaders announced a plan to sell the rail line that runs to Chattanooga, Tennessee, to Norfolk Southern at the end of last year for $1.6 billion. However, that deal could not be done without changes to state law.
Read the full storyGOP Presidential Candidate Ramaswamy: Department of Education’s Radical Gender Ideology Creates Psychopaths
Republican Presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy blasted the U.S. Department of Education for creating “psychopaths” through gender ideology agendas while the nation’s schools are left unprotected from mass shooters like the one that terrorized a Nashville elementary school this week.
“The real question is why this psychopath in Nashville was able to get into the school in the first place,” the Ohio entrepreneur and anti-woke crusader wrote in a tweet. “We protect green pieces of paper in a bank with more armed guards than we do our kids in schools … There’s more security at a random mall than in a public school.”
Read the full storyOhio Secretary of State LaRose Supports Prospective August Election to Protect State Constitution
Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose on Tuesday supported a prospective August election as a way to change the process of how initiative petitions can propose constitutional amendments.
Republicans in both the House and Senate have introduced resolutions to raise the initiative petition voting threshold to 60 percent to amend the state Constitution.
Read the full storyOhio Supreme Court Sets Schedule for Abortion Amendment Lawsuit
The Ohio Supreme Court set a schedule on Tuesday for briefs and evidence in a lawsuit claiming that the Ohio Ballot Board erred by approving a proposed abortion constitutional amendment as one issue.
Earlier this month, the Ohio Ballot Board unanimously certified that the proposed constitutional amendment by the Ohioans for Reproductive Freedom, a coalition of radical pro-abortion activists that includes Planned Parenthood, Pro-Choice Ohio, the Abortion Fund of Ohio, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Ohio, along with the Ohio Physicians for Reproductive Rights that would legalize abortion throughout the state called “The Right to Reproductive Freedom with Protections for Health and Safety,” incorporated only one constitutional amendment and therefore advanced to the signature gathering stage.
Read the full storyD.C. Prosecutors Refused to Prosecute Two Out of Every Three Cases
Federal prosecutors in the Washington, D.C. U.S. attorney’s office declined to prosecute 67 percent of those arrested by the police in cases that would have been tried in the D.C. Superior Court in 2022, according to The Washington Post.
Matthew Graves, the District’s Biden-appointed U.S. attorney, said the office is prosecuting most violent felonies and that the cases most frequently dropped are gun possession, drug possession and burglaries, according to the Post. The local police chief has said officers aren’t to blame, and that every person they arrest needs to be taken off the city’s streets.
Read the full storyHospitals See 25 Percent Increase in Youth Admissions for Attempted Suicide, Self-Harm: Report
The number of children admitted to hospitals for suicidal behavior has soared, according to a new report by the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).
An analysis of over 4 million hospitalizations found that pediatric stays for mental health issues increased by more than 25 percent from 2009 to 2019 for children aged 3 to 17, according to the analysis. Hospitalizations for self-harm and suicide saw a 30 percentage point increase, from 31 percent in 2009 to 64 percent in 2019.
Read the full storyCommentary: BlackRock’s Larry Fink and the New Post-ESG Realism
As regular as the turn of the seasons, each January sees Larry Fink, founder and CEO of BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, publish a lengthy letter on the state of the world and its implications for finance and investors. This year, January turned to February, and still no letter. Instead, February saw Tim Buckley, CEO of Vanguard, global number-two asset manager, give a groundbreaking interview explaining Vanguard’s decision late last year to quit the Net Zero Asset Managers (NZAM) initiative, which had been formed ahead of the 2021 Glasgow climate conference to reallocate capital in line with net zero emissions targets.
Read the full storyDHS Heavily Redacted Disinformation Board Emails Despite Claiming Agency Had Nothing to Hide
When the existence of the Disinformation Governance Board burst into public view, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said there was nothing sinister to hide and claimed the office was rooted in “best practices.”
A year later, Mayorkas’ department is refusing to let Americans see most of the legal justifications and talking points it created to defend the now-disbanded board from “blowback,” FOIA documents showed.
Read the full storyParental Rights in Education Bill Becomes Law After Dem Governor Declines to Veto
Democratic Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear let a bill that allows parents to challenge sexually explicit school materials become law without his signature on Tuesday.
Senate Bill 5, sponsored by Republican state Rep. Josh Calloway, lets parents file complaints over school materials that depict sexual acts “in an obscene manner” or are “patently offensive to prevailing standards.” The legislation passed the state Senate in February and then the state House on March 15 before Beshear allowed the bill to become law.
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