Month: June 2023

Maine House Democrats Pass Gov. Janet Mills’ Radical Late-Term Abortion Bill

Susan Berry, PhD

Democrat lawmakers in the Maine House narrowly voted Thursday night to approve Gov. Janet Mills’ (D) radical late-term abortion bill, one that Planned Parenthood spent heavily in Mills’ and other Democrats’ 2022 campaigns to bring to fruition.

LD 1619, dubbed “An Act to Improve Maine’s Reproductive Privacy Laws,” passed by a vote of 74-72 in the state House, but the Senate, which had been expected to vote to approve the measure on Friday and send it to Mills’ desk for signature, adjourned without doing so.

Read the full story

Alan Dershowitz Commentary: Trump’s Prosecutors Shouldn’t Get to Use the Word ‘Espionage’

Admin

Former President Donald Trump has been charged with a variety of crimes, including violation of the misnamed Espionage Act.

That 1917 statute is misnamed because it covers a great many offenses that don’t involve spying or giving secrets to the enemy. In fact, over the years it has been used extensively against patriotic Americans who have opposed wars and dissented from other government actions.

Read the full story

New Hampshire Transgender Democrat Arrested for Alleged Distribution of Child Sexual Abuse Images

Susan Berry, PhD

A former New Hampshire Democrat lawmaker who became the first openly transgender state House representative was arrested Thursday in Nashua on charges he allegedly distributed child sexual abuse images.

The Derry Democrat, who goes by the name Stacie Marie Laughton, 39, was also charged with three additional counts of distribution of child sexual abuse images, according to a press statement from the Nashua Police Department.

Read the full story

Odds of MLB Expansion to Nashville Keep Increasing

The Center Square

If Major League Baseball expands to 32 teams, Nashville continues to be a favorite to land one of two new teams.

While there is no timeline for expansion, Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred has continued to hint it is coming after stadium deals for the Tampa Bay Rays and Oakland Athletics are finalized. Last week, the Las Vegas Legislature passed a deal in special session to give $380 million in public funds to the team if it moves to nine acres of what is now the Tropicana Casino. Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo later signed the deal.

Read the full story

National Parks Sponsor Pride Marches, Create LGBTQ ‘Teaching’ Resources with Taxpayer Dollars

Admin

Instead of spending time preserving natural history, some federally funded parks are sponsoring Pride month events and teaching LGBTQ history to the public.

Earlier this month, Yosemite National Park in California held a weeklong Pride celebration sponsored by Yosemite’s LGBTQ+ Employee Resource Group. The events included a speaker series as well as a Pride march and Pride festival co-hosted by drag queen Wyn Wiley, whose stage name is Pattie Gonia. 

Read the full story

Pentagon Nominees Blocked by GOP Senator Are Pushing Left-Wing Initiatives to Reshape Military

Admin

Several of the military officers whose promotions are held up due to a senator’s fight with the Pentagon have supported left-wing cultural stances and diversity initiatives, according to a Daily Caller News Foundation review of social media posts, Pentagon materials and public footage.

Republican Alabama U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville has single-handedly blocked numerous officers’ confirmations in protest of Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin’s directive that the military fund out-of-state travel for female troops seeking abortions, initiating a game of chicken between Tuberville and the Pentagon that shows no sign of stopping. Yet several of the candidates in line for promotion have a history of making political statements and backed or spearheaded internal Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives related to race and sexuality, according to a Daily Caller News Foundation review of publicly available information.

Read the full story

Commentary: A Deep Dive into the Century of Conservatives’ Failure to Contain the Administrative State

Admin

by Theo Wold   James Landis is widely credited with crafting the theoretical architecture supporting President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s radical reconstruction — and expansion — of the federal government. Landis shrewdly both established and legitimized the regulatory state, including Roosevelt’s creation of new federal administrative agencies, by offering the regulatory state as the solution to the problem of modern governance: the administrative state “is, in essence, our generation’s answer to the inadequacy of the judicial and legislative process.” The Landis premise took concrete shape through Roosevelt’s expansion of the regulatory state, and in doing so, it brought to fruition Woodrow Wilson’s progressive intellectual project: rule by experts, insulated from the popular will Landis (pictured above) believed the “the administrative process” for which he advocated would “spring from the inadequacy of a simply tripartite form of government to deal with modern problems” because modern problems were simply too large and complex to be entrusted to the system based on the separation of powers instituted by our nation’s founders. Landis framed this innovation as consistent with separation of powers principles because he believed the separation of powers called both for separation but also coordination among the branches, and he saw the administrative state as essential to creating that…

Read the full story

Professor: Ron DeSantis Is a Racist for His ‘Freaks of Nature’ Basketball Comments

Admin

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis noted in an interview that he preferred baseball over basketball partly because the latter is played by guys who are “just freaks of nature.”

Speaking to the Christian Broadcasting Network, the 2024 GOP presidential candidate said baseball is a “thinking man’s game” that requires special skill sets, Newsweek reports.

Read the full story

Several Candidates Submit Their Names to Replace State Sen. Steve Kaiser Who Resigned From the Arizona Legislature

Rachel Alexander

State Senator Steve Kaiser (R-Phoenix) resigned earlier this month from the Arizona Legislature, leaving a void that must be filled by a Republican from that district per state law. The precinct committeemen in Legislative District 2, which is based in north Phoenix, will select three names at a meeting on June 26 to send to the Maricopa County Supervisors, who will have the final pick. 

The Arizona Sun Times has learned of three Republicans who have submitted their names for consideration to LD 2. Shawnna Bolick, who previously served in the Arizona Legislature as a representative for the district from 2019 to 2022, sent a letter to LD 2 PCs laying out her qualifications and reasons for desiring to return to the legislature. She cited her work as a PC, including canvassing, her position as the chair for the House Ways and Means Committee where she killed numerous tax increases, and her high ratings from various conservative organizations. 

Read the full story

Pennsylvania Lawmaker Proposes Bill to Inform Parents of Sexual Content in Schools

Bradley Vasoli

A lawmaker is urging his colleagues to back a bill he is sponsoring to ensure Pennsylvania parents get notified when sexually explicit content is distributed in their children’s K-12 schools. 

State Representative Russ Diamond (R-Jonestown) announced he will introduce a companion bill to a Senate measure authored by Senator Ryan Aument (R-Lititz). The legislation would mandate that schools note sexually explicit texts and other media assigned or displayed as part of students’ coursework. The bill would further instruct schools to tell parents when a book their child accesses from their school library features sexually frank content. 

Read the full story

Commentary: Taxation Without Representation Meets the 21st Century

Admin

Who is authorized to tax the income of a commuter who doesn’t commute? This question—born of the pandemic and currently pending before the Supreme Court of Ohio—could be coming to a tax bill near you, and soon.

Following the outbreak of Covid-19 in 2020, government orders forced millions of employees to work from home instead of at their usual offices. These orders accelerated a trend which had already begun toward remote and hybrid work and—three years later—is all but entrenched.

Read the full story

Groups Oppose ‘High Hazard’ Hiring Requirements at Ohio Oil Refineries

The Center Square

Opposition surrounds a proposal in the Ohio House that would increase hiring requirements at oil refineries in the state, including a mandate that employees demonstrate fluency in English.

The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) and Americans for Prosperity-Ohio (AFP-Ohio) turn their arguments against House Bill 205 – dubbed the “High Hazard Training Certification Act” – to the Senate after it passed the lower chamber earlier this week. It has not been assigned to a committee in the Senate.

Read the full story

Music Spotlight: Kyle Petty

Bethany Bowman

Kyle Petty is a former NASCAR driver turned racing analyst who has become one of the most popular personalities in all of sports. As a member of one of NASCAR’s pioneer families, Kyle is as much a product of racing as he is of his famous father, Richard Petty “The King,” and grandfather, Lee Petty. His son Adam Petty also raced before a tragic racing accident in 2020. While his name will forever connect him to NASCAR, Kyle Petty made significant strides outside of racing in music and philanthropy.

Read the full story

Energy Corporation Says Up to 30 Percent of Its Wind Turbines Could Be Malfunctioning

Admin

Siemens Energy announced Thursday that it will be undergoing a technical review after it was found that up to 30% of its wind turbines could have faulty components, according to statements made by the company.

Siemens Energy, an international energy company that seeks to “decarbonize global energy systems,” announced that it is withdrawing its profit guidance for the year after subsidiary Siemens Gamesa found that there was a “substantial increase in failure rates of wind turbine components.” The company believes that between 15% and 30% of its installed fleets are suffering from component failures, Jochen Eickholt, CEO of Siemens Gamesa, said during a Friday morning analyst call.

Read the full story

Commentary: The Democrat-Funded ProPublica ‘Investigations’ into Conservative SCOTUS Justices Is Retribution for Overturning Roe

Admin

ProPublica launched a partisan “investigation,” this time targeting another conservative U.S. Supreme Court member.

As if on cue, mainstream media outlets jumped on the bandwagon, relishing in the prospect of free content for their publications — content that undermines conservative jurists, and conservative lawmakers by association. This is purely political payback for the Dobbs decision of 2022.

Read the full story

Federal Trade Commission Sues Amazon for ‘Deceptive’ Tactics

The Center Square

The Federal Trade Commission sued Amazon on Wednesday alleging the online retailer used “manipulative, coercive, or deceptive” practices to get customers to enroll in Prime subscriptions.

The Federal Trade Commission’s partially-redacted complaint alleges the company tricked millions of people into enrolling in Amazon Prime. Amazon Prime, a $139 annual subscription service that has fueled the company’s growth and made it part of many Americans daily routines.

Read the full story

Canada’s Transportation Safety Board Launches Probe into Fatal Loss of Submersible Exploring Titanic

Admin

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada is launching an investigation into the implosion of OceanGate’s Titan submersible and the Canadian-flagged ship that dropped the vessel in the ocean for its doomed journey to explore the Titanic wreckage.

Officials announced the investigation Friday but said they are still assessing whether the fatal event was an accident or not.

Read the full story

Trump Says Liberals Are ‘Waging War on Faith and Freedom’ as 2024 Hopefuls Woo Evangelicals

Just the News

The annual Faith and Freedom forum – considered the country’s largest public policy gathering of Christian conservative activists – concluded Saturday evening with a keynote speech from front-running GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump in which he spoke passionately to a key part of a coalition he must rebuild to win the GOP nomination.

But Trump, like the other top-tier 2024 GOP presidential candidates who spoke during the three-day event in Washington, D.C., faces a long road to Election Day in which the nominee will also have to win over independents, the undecideds and other voters for Republicans to retake the White House.

Read the full story

First Week of Disbarment Trial of Trump Attorney John Eastman by Judge Who Contributes to Democrats Concludes

Rachel Alexander

The first week of the disbarment hearing of Trump attorney John Eastman concluded on Friday, with State Bar of California (SBC) attorneys putting Eastman on the witness stand again along with Nevada Deputy Secretary of State for Elections Mark Waschin. The SBC continued to try and show that Eastman provided bad advice to President Donald Trump by telling him that one option for handling election fraud in the 2020 election would be to have Vice President Mike Pence reject certification of electoral votes from the disputed states.

Read the full story

‘Gone with the Wind’ Features Trigger Warning About ‘Harmful Phrases’ and Racism in New Edition

Just the News

The publisher of “Gone with the Wind” added a warning in the front of a new edition to advise readers that author Margaret Mitchell’s Civil War epic contains “racist” elements and “hurtful or indeed harmful phrases.”

“Gone with the Wind is a novel which includes problematic elements including the romanticisation of a shocking era in our history and the horrors of slavery,” the book’s publisher, Pan Macmillian, wrote in the opening page of the 2022 edition, The Telegraph reported Saturday.

Read the full story

Commentary: Religious Conviction in Woke Sports

RealClearWire

When the University of Oklahoma softball team showed up for the College World Series last week, reporters expected to hear pride and camaraderie from a squad on the way to winning its third consecutive national championship.  

But several star Sooners players startled the press and went viral online by declaring that their joy in Christianity trumped their considerable athletic accomplishments.  

Read the full story

$114 Million Knoxville Baseball Stadium, to Open in 2025, Relies on Tax Capture Funding

The Center Square

Starting in 2025, the Tennessee Smokies Minor League Baseball Team will have a new $114 million home in East Knoxville.

After a $65 million publicly backed bond sale in late May, the team held a ceremonial groundbreaking at the site last week to discuss the 7,000-seat stadium, touting numbers from Convention, Sports and Leisure International, which claim the stadium will have a positive economic impact for Knoxville residents.

Read the full story

Feds Built Case Hunter Biden Evaded $2.2 Million in Taxes Dating to 2014 Before Being Thwarted

Just the News

If Hunter Biden pleads guilty next month as expected to two misdemeanor tax evasion charges, he’ll be admitting he shorted the U.S. government of about $100,000 in taxes he owed in 2017-18.

But it’s a far cry from the evidence the IRS and FBI developed showing a pattern of tax evasion and avoidance that stretched back to his father’s term as vice president a decade ago, according to newly released documents and testimony.

Read the full story

3M Settles Water Contamination Lawsuits with $10.3 Billion Payout

Just the News

Chemical manufacturing company 3M agreed to settle multiple lawsuits with a $10.3 billion payout over the U.S. water supply being allegedly contaminated with “forever chemicals” contained in firefighting foam and other products, the company announced in a press release on Thursday. 

Under the settlement, 3M will provide the payout over a 13-year period to both public water suppliers that have found traces of Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and other suppliers that “may detect PFAS at any level in the future.” The company did not admit liability in the settlement. 

Read the full story

Judge Blocks Wyoming Abortion Pill Ban, Pending Lawsuit

Just the News

A Wyoming judge has temporarily blocked the state’s ban on abortion pills, pending legal arguments.

The state is the only one to have specifically banned abortion pills, though numerous others have effectively done so by banning abortion almost entirely, the Associated Press reported. Wyoming law generally bans the procedure, though that law is also the subject of a judicial block from the same judge.

Read the full story

Disney’s First Movie with a Non-Binary Character Becomes Pixar’s Worst-Ever Opening Weekend

Just the News

Disney’s film “Elemental,” which features Pixar’s first “non-binary character,” had the worst box office opening weekend in the studio’s history, bringing in just $29.5 million in domestic ticket sales over the three-day Juneteenth weekend.

With a $200 million budget, “Elemental” is set in a fictional town known as Element City, where fire, water, land and air live and work together. The younger sibling of the water element is known as Lake, who is non-binary and voiced by Kai Ava Hauser, who is also non-binary.

Read the full story

Tennessee Department of Education Announces New State Chief Academic Officer

TC Weber

The Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) announced Jackson County Superintendent Kristy Brown as the state’s new chief academic officer. Brown replaces former Deputy Secretary Eve Carney. who recently tendered her resignation effective July 1.

The announcement comes just a week before Lizzette Gonzales Reynolds is slated to assume the role of Tennessee’s new Commissioner of Education at the beginning of July. Reynolds replaces Penny Schwinn, who resigned on June 1.

Read the full story

Connecticut Attorney General Probes Theft-Prone Vehicles

The Center Square

Connecticut Attorney General William Tong has launched a consumer protection investigation into automakers Hyundai and Kia after hundreds of the vehicles have been stolen across the country.

As part of the investigation, announced on Wednesday, Tong seeks records and information on certain Hyundai and Kia vehicles sold in Connecticut, including complaints, internal reports on the company’s decision-making, and anti-theft software and internal communications.

Read the full story

Ohio Lawmakers Introduce Legislation Increasing Penalties for Reckless Driving

Hannah Poling

Two Republican Ohio lawmakers have introduced a bill into the Ohio House of Representatives that aims to increase penalties for reckless driving.

House Bill (HB) 56 sponsored by State Representatives Andrea White (R-Kettering) and Phil Plummer (R-Dayton) aims to stop reckless driving also known as “hooning” from creating dangerous conditions on Ohio roads.

Read the full story

Minnesota AG Hints at Using His AG Powers to Ensure Target Keeps Pride Merch on Shelves

Admin

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison has co-authored a letter to the CEO of Target that suggests he would use the powers of his office to ensure that Target is not intimidated into “pulling some Pride merchandise from stores.”

In a June 20 letter Ellison and Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell wrote to Brian Cornell, chairman and CEO the Minneapolis-based retail titan, they expressed concern over Target’s “choice to pull Pride merchandise,” which Ellison and Campbell said “demonstrates that intentional violence and intimidation can set back the march for social progress and LGBTQIA+ equality which as we have noted is already under intense attack nationwide.”

Read the full story

Michigan House Approves Tax Changes for Prepared Foods

The Center Square

The Democrat-dominated Michigan House passed two sales and use tax bills critics say are unnecessary and will confuse business owners.

House Bills 4377 and 4378 passed on votes of 56-53. The bills cover prepared food either sold in a heated state or heated by the seller or that is two or more food ingredients that are mixed or combined by the seller for sale as a single item.

Read the full story

Virginia Looking to Spend COVID Relief Child Care Funds

The Center Square

Virginia has received more than $1 billion in COVID-19 relief funding for its child care sector since the beginning of the pandemic, and it continues to appropriate those funds as the deadline to disburse more than $763 million approaches.

The federal government apportioned $52.5 billion to the child care industry in three pandemic relief packages, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office.

Read the full story

New Florida Law Will Prohibit Direct-to-Consumer Auto Sales

The Center Square

Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill last week that will expand prohibitions on direct-to-consumer auto sales in Florida while exempting electric car manufacturers such as Tesla.

House Bill 637, sponsored by state Rep. Jason Shoaf, R-Port St. Joe, prohibits legacy automakers from offering online sales or direct-to-consumer options if the licensee has existing dealerships that sell its vehicles in the Sunshine State.

Read the full story

Pennsylvania Lawmakers Question If the State Should Be a Sanctuary State

The Center Square

by Lauren Jessop   To be, or not to be, a sanctuary state – that is the question Pennsylvania lawmakers will attempt to answer as they seek support for two diametrically opposed House bills. A Democrat-sponsored version would limit local police assistance with immigration enforcement. A Republican-sponsored bill, in contrast, wants to prevent local governments from designating themselves as “sanctuary.” The common thread between the two is safer communities; one side claims sanctuary policies make them safer, and the other says they threaten the safety of legal citizens. Rep. Jose Giral, D-Philadelphia, is reintroducing legislation from a previous session that would prohibit police from spending resources on immigration enforcement and state postsecondary educational institutions from “enacting or enforcing discriminatory immigration enforcement policies.” In a memo, Giral (pictured above, left) said, “forcing local police agencies to devote resources to immigration enforcement simultaneously makes it harder for them to investigate crimes and wastes taxpayer money.” Giral’s office did not respond to The Center Square’s request for comment. Rep. Ryan Warner, R-Connellsville, wants to prevent local governments from enacting sanctuary polices. Warner (pictured above, right) told The Center Square he believes encouraging illegal immigration is dangerous, irresponsible, and insulting to those who entered the country legally. “It…

Read the full story