Day: May 26, 2023

CCP-Linked TikTok Is Testing an AI Chatbot

Admin

Popular social media platform TikTok, which is owned by China-based ByteDance, is testing a new artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot that could soon roll out in the United States.

The bot, named “Tako,” can chat with TikTok users about short videos and assist them in finding content by taking into account their interests and preferences, Daniel Buchuk, an analyst for app intelligence firm Watchful, told Bloomberg. TikTok has attracted scrutiny from lawmakers as the platform’s parent company ByteDance is based in China and has ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), while the company has reportedly violated privacy and censored conversations, prompting lawmakers to pursue restrictions.

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Ohio Democrats Oppose State Issue 1 Despite Using a 60 Percent Amendment Threshold in Their Own Party Rules

Hannah Poling

Ohio Democrats have said they are adamantly against Ohio State Issue 1, which tries to change the percentage needed to amend the state Constitution by a statewide ballot initiative to a supermajority of 60 percent from the current 50 percent plus one.

However, their opposition is inconsistent, as their party constitution uses a 60 percent amendment threshold.

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Twitter’s Top Engineer Resigns after DeSantis’ Glitch-Plagued Presidential Announcement on Platform

Just the News

The head of Twitter’s engineering operations has resigned after the platform’s hosting of Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis’ glitch-plagued 2024 presidential campaign launch.

“After almost four incredible years at Twitter, I decided to leave the nest yesterday,” Twitter’s Foad Dabiri tweeted. “The combination of the fantastic community, the impact it has, and its limitless potential sets Twitter apart.”

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Leftist Media Celebrate Teens Traveling to Washington, D.C. for ‘Trans Youth Prom’ on Capitol Lawn

Susan Berry, PhD

The leftist media celebrated a “Trans Youth Prom” on the Capitol lawn this week in Washington, D.C., an event that reportedly drew not only young gender dysphoric teens, but transgender children as young as age five, from 16 states, with the backing of American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) attorney and transgender activist Chase Strangio.

The New Republic described Monday’s “Trans Prom” as an event that “brought around 50 trans youth to Washington, D.C., in a two-for-one party and statement in the face of an unprecedented legislative, political, and cultural attack on young trans folks.”

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Election Integrity Advocates Say Sentences for Voter Fraud Too Lenient to Serve as Deterrence

Admin

Election integrity advocates say those charged with voter fraud across the U.S. are indeed being prosecuted but they warn lenient sentences are resulting in little – if any – deterrence to future crimes. 

“The good news is [prosecutors] seem to be more aggressive about going against these kinds of cases,” Ned Jones, deputy director of the Election Integrity Network, told Just the News on Monday. “But the sentencing is ridiculous – it’s not harsh enough.”

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The Star News Network Seeks Court Ruling That FBI Is Breaking the Law in Its Refusal to Release Covenant Killer Manifesto

M.D. Kittle

The Star News Network asked a federal court on Thursday to issue summary judgment declaring the Federal Bureau of Investigation violated the law and must immediately turn over the Covenant Killer’s manifesto and related records.

Star News and its parent company, Star News Digital Media Inc., earlier this month filed a federal lawsuit against the FBI demanding it release the relevant writings of Audrey Elizabeth Hale, the mass murderer who in late March shot dead three 9-year-olds and three staff members at Nashville’s Covenant Presbyterian School.

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Tennessee School District Sues Big Tech Giants, Claims Social Media Harmful to Children

Peter D'Abrosca

According to multiple Thursday reports, the Clarksville-Montgomery County School System (CMCSs) is filing a lawsuit against several Silicon Valley titans of industry, claiming that social media is having a debilitating effect on its students.

The Frantz Law Group of California, working with the Tennessee law firm Lewis Thomason, filed the lawsuit the week of May 8, according to ClarksvilleNow.com. The defendants in the suit include Facebook, Google, Instagram, Meta, Snapchat, TikTok, WhatsApp and YouTube. 

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Supreme Court Rolls Back Biden EPA’s Expansive Water Regulation

Admin

The Supreme Court rolled back the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) authority to regulate under the Clean Water Act (CWA) in a unanimous decision Thursday.

Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency, brought by a couple prevented by the EPA from building a home on their own land near Priest Lake, Idaho because it contained wetlands, considered the scope of the agency’s “waters of the United States” (WOTUS) rule, which defines what “navigable waters” can be regulated under the CWA. Plaintiffs Chantell and Mike Sackett, who have spent 15 years fighting the agency’s rule in court, allege the EPA has overstepped the authority it was granted when Congress enacted the CWA in 1972—forcing them to stop construction on their land or face fines.

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DeSantis Enters Presidential Race with ‘Skewed’ Narrative He’s Better Positioned to Beat Biden than Trump

M.D. Kittle

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis officially launched his presidential campaign Wednesday, ending months of speculation and ratcheting up what promises to be an intense battle for the Republican Party nomination. 

DeSantis enters the race as a top tier candidate, but still lagging far behind frontrunner Donald Trump, according to just about every poll out there. 

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Target Loses $9 Billion in Market Value in a Week Following Boycott over LGBT Merchandise

Admin

Target’s market value plunged $9 billion in one week after anger erupted over the store’s new “PRIDE” collection, which features clothing for children and babies as well as a chest-binding swim top and a “tuck-friendly” women’s bathing suit.

Social media users and conservative activists began calling for boycotts of Target following the release of their PRIDE line last week. The company was valued at $160.96 per share on May 17, at a market value of $74.3 billion; as of Thursday morning each share was valued at $139.84, the lowest in over a year, at a market value of $64.54 billion, according to MarketWatch data.

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Attorney General Skrmetti Warns Biden Administration to Follow the Law During Debt Ceiling Negotiations

Peter D'Abrosca

After President Joe Biden said he would invoke the 14th Amendment if Congress did not agree to raise the debt ceiling, Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti led other state attorneys general from across the country in telling Biden that such an action would be unlawful.

“We, the undersigned chief legal officers of 19 states, write in response to your recent assertion that you have the authority to ignore federal law and raise the debt ceiling without congressional approval,” Skrmetti wrote in letter signed by 19 other state attorneys general. “You do not. Our constitutional system may be frustrating at times, but it is the fundamental guarantor of American liberty, and we must all abide by the oaths we swore to defend it.”

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Tennessee Has Given Out Six Business Grants Greater than $1 Million in 2023

The Center Square

Tennessee’s Department of Economic and Community Development has awarded six grants of $1 million or more through the first five months of 2023, with the highest being a $9 million grant to SK Food Group in January.

The FastTrack grants are state grants sent to help offset costs of expanding or moving into the state with the goal of increasing the number of full-time jobs and the average wages of jobs available in an area.

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Radical Anti-Life Gender Justice Group Backing Ohio Ballot Initiative Revealed to Be Pushing End to ‘Unethical’ Parental Involvement Laws

Susan Berry, PhD

Tweets by a key leftist organization pushing the Ohio abortion ballot initiative that could end parental involvement in minors’ medical decisions reveal that the goal of Unite for Reproductive and Gender Equity’s (URGE) is to cut parents out of their children’s lives.

Protect Women Ohio (PWO), a self-described “coalition of concerned family and life leaders, parents, health and medical experts, and faith leaders in Ohio,” posted a thread to Twitter Tuesday showing URGE has been “working to abolish parental consent and notification laws for years.”

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Center for Arizona Policy Calls for State Supreme Court to Reinstate Arizona’s Pre-Roe Abortion Limitations

Neil Jones

The Arizona Center for Policy (CAP) shared Wednesday that it has entered the legal battle surrounding Arizona’s territorial-era limitations on abortions with an amicus brief to the state Supreme Court.

“State lawmakers kept the state’s pre-Roe law on the books as they passed dozens of laws protecting life while Roe forbade them from going further,” said CAP President Cathi Herrod. “Allowing the lower court ruling to stand threatens thousands of lives a year, as well as the integrity of the judiciary, and the Legislature’s power to govern.”

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Parents Sue Minnesota Government for Barring Colleges with ‘Faith Statements’ from State Funding Program

Admin

A group of parents in Minnesota filed a lawsuit against Democratic Gov. Tim Walz Wednesday over a new law amending the Post Secondary Enrollment Options (PSEO) program to prohibit granting funds to schools that require a “faith statement.”

Walz signed a $72 billion budget Wednesday that included an amendment to the PSEO program, barring students who wish to attend a school requiring a “faith statement” from using funds from the program, according to the budget. Several parents filed a lawsuit later that day with Becket Law against the governor, state Commissioner Of Education Willie Jett and the state Department of Education (DOE) over the new rule, arguing that it unfairly discriminates against their children who wish to attend Christian colleges.

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Michigan Unemployment Rates Dropped in April

The Center Square

Unemployment in Michigan’s 17 labor markets decreased by a median rate reduction of 0.8 percentage points in April compared to April 2022, according to data released Thursday morning by the Michigan Department of Technology, Management & Budget.

All but one of Michigan’s 83 counties saw a reduction in unemployment rates between March and April. The median decrease was reported by the DTMB as 1.7 percentage points. Year-over-year rate reductions were experienced in 79 counties.

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Virginia Legislation Introduced to Help Navy Sailors Combat Mental Health Issues

The Center Square

A group of Virginia bipartisan congressional leaders are leading the charge with legislation to improve access to mental health services and reduce suicides among Navy sailors.

Reps. Jennifer Kiggans, Rob Wittman, Bobby Scott and Jennifer McClennan are leading efforts to increase access to mental health resources while requiring mental health screenings for sailors on limited duty, entitled the Sailor Standard Care Act.

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Freshman Pennsylvania Lawmaker Wants Pension Changes for Colleagues

Bradley Vasoli

Pennsylvania state Senator Jarrett Coleman (R-Allentown) this week introduced a measure requiring colleagues to take defined-contribution (DC) savings plans rather than traditional pensions.

Coleman, an airline pilot and former Parkland School District director, won his first Senate election last year on a reformist platform and has since briskly worked to effect change regarding education, election integrity, regulation and other issues. Now he’s asking members of his chamber to consider a policy directly affecting their own bottom lines. He believes it’s an important initial step toward more making the commonwealth’s employee retirement programs more solvent. 

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Chinese, Cubans, Ecuadorians, Haitians, Dominicans Continue to Land Off Florida Coast

The Center Square

While much of the focus has been on the southern border ahead of the public health authority Title 42 ending May 11, Title 42 never applied to those interdicted at sea.

And a new policy implemented April 27 makes Cubans and Haitians attempting to enter illegally by sea indefinitely disqualified from a new Department of Homeland Security parole process.

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Connecticut Republicans Seek Public Input on Bail Reform

The Center Square

Connecticut House Republicans are calling for a public hearing on a proposal by the state’s court system that would reduce bail for some criminal defendants, a move they argue could jeopardize public safety.

The judicial branch’s Rules Committee voted earlier this month to approve a plan to lower the percentage of bail a person must post to be released after they are arrested from 10% to 7% and increase the cap on bonds that can be posted through the court clerk’s office to $50,000 from $20,000, among other changes.

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Maricopa County Asks for Sanctions Against Kari Lake for Contesting Election

Rachel Alexander

For the second time, Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell is representing Maricopa County officials asking for sanctions against Kari Lake and her attorneys related to the 2022 election. The first request was over Lake and Mark Finchem’s lawsuit last year which sought to stop the use of electronic voting machine tabulators in the election. The second request was filed on Tuesday after Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Peter Thompson ruled a second time against Lake’s election lawsuit, following a second trial that he conducted after being remanded back from the Arizona Supreme Court. 

Mitchell was not required to represent the county officials in the lawsuit; if she had disagreed with it, she could have asked outside counsel or another county attorney to replace her. Mitchell ran for office last year with a barrage of campaign literature labeling herself the “conservative” candidate. 

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Democratic-Backed Group One Person One Vote Files Lawsuit Against Ohio Ballot Board

Hannah Poling

A Democratic-backed group that opposes Ohio State Issue 1 which aims to alter the process of how initiative petitions can propose constitutional amendments and an August special election to vote on it has filed a lawsuit against the Ohio Ballot Board over the language they adopted to go before voters.

The group One Person One Vote filed the lawsuit with the Ohio Supreme Court in response to the Ohio Ballot Board adopting the summary language of Issue 1, the amendment to mandate a 60 percent approval percentage for any future constitutional amendments, call for signatures from all 88 counties and do away with the opportunity to “cure” petitions by collecting additional signatures if necessary, last week.

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Arizona Border Drug Operations Seize over a Ton of Fentanyl in Two Months

Neil Jones

The Arizona District of the U.S. Attorney’s Office (District) announced Wednesday the results of a multi-agency collaboration under Operations Blue Lotus and Four Horsemen that has resulted in “more than a ton of fentanyl” being confiscated along Arizona’s border between March 6th and May 8th.

“Thanks to the efforts of our partners at the Department of Homeland Security, we prevented substantial amounts of fentanyl and other drugs from reaching Arizona neighborhoods,” said United States Attorney Gary Restaino.

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Ohio to Award $3 Million to Help Law Enforcement Agencies Combat Statewide Illegal Drug Activity

Hannah Poling

Governor Mike DeWine announced on Thursday that Ohio is awarding $3 million in new grant funding to local law enforcement agencies to support their drug task forces’ fight against illegal drug activity and to uphold the state’s drug laws.

According to DeWine, the funding will “support local authorities” as they work to take illegal drugs out of communities across the state.

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Commentary: Send Them Back

Admin

Only a country that has lost the will to survive would tolerate the invasion underway all across America. There is no longer a southern border to speak of. From Arizona to Maine, towns are under siege by a relentless, surging mass of humanity. The lowly citizen has been trampled underfoot to make lebensraum for the hallowed “asylum seeker,” whose conquering steps are greeted with suppliant knee. 

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GOP Lawmakers Demand FBI Briefing on January 6 Pipe Bomb Investigation Following Whistleblower Disclosures Regarding Suspect

Admin

Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee are demanding an FBI briefing on the status of their January 6 Pipe Bomb Investigation following disclosures that the feds have enough information to identify a suspect.

In a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray, Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) and Rep. Bill Posey (R-Fla.) said the slow progression of the Bureau’s investigation into the pipe bombs “raises significant concerns about the FBI’s prioritization of that case in relation to other January 6 investigations.”

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South Carolina Becomes 23rd State to Protect Babies with Heartbeat

Susan Berry, PhD

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster (R) signed the Fetal Heartbeat and Protection from Abortion Act Thursday morning, legislation that protects babies in the state from abortion from the time a heartbeat is detected.

McMaster’s signature on the bill now makes South Carolina the 23rd state to protect babies with a heartbeat, and marks that half of the United States is now protecting babies from abortion at or before 12 weeks.

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