Davidson County Republican Party Chairman Lonnie Spivak joins The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy in-studio Friday to discuss the nuts-and-bolts of the upcoming elections in Davidson County and Nashville.
Read the full storyDay: July 9, 2023
Davidson County GOP Chair Invites Nashvillians to Attend the Annual GOP Picnic
Davidson County Republican Party Chairman Lonnie Spivak joins The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy in-studio Friday to invite Nashville to the big annual GOP picnic being held at Percy Warner Park.
Read the full storyCDC Admits Not Including Diagnostic Codes Showing COVID Vax as ‘Cause’ on Some Death Certificates
The CDC’s explanation for leaving certain diagnosis codes off Minnesota death certificates that cite COVID-19 vaccines as a cause of death, allegedly hiding vaccine injuries in federal records, shows “intent to deceive,” according to a person who helped analyze the death certificates for the Brownstone Institute, a think tank that challenges the scientific basis for COVID conventional wisdom and policy.
Read the full storyCommentary: Republicans Must Not Surrender to Bernie Sanders on Healthcare
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: the GOP needs an effective healthcare agenda. There are many policies and programs they could be championing to help families deal with rising costs — especially now with control in the House and a slim Democratic majority in the Senate — but unfortunately, they’ve failed to capitalize on this issue so far.
Republicans are missing an important opening; last year 90 percent of voters said a candidate’s plan for reducing the cost of healthcare would be important to them and 39 percent went so far as to say they would likely cross party lines to vote for a candidate who makes reducing healthcare costs their top priority!
Read the full storyTech Mogul Ramaswamy Closing in on DeSantis for Second Place in GOP Primary
Tech mogul Vivek Ramaswamy is closing in on Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in the Republican primary, placing just 6 points behind him in a recent poll.
Ramaswamy claimed the support of 10 percent of likely voters in an Echelon Insights poll conducted June 26-29. DeSantis, meanwhile, claimed 16 percent support to former President Donald Trump’s 49 percent.
Read the full storyGeorgia Mayor Says He Thought House Was Abandoned after Arrested on Trespassing, Burglary Charges
South Fulton, Georgia, Mayor Khalid Kamau was arrested and charged with first-degree burglary and criminal trespass after entering a home that he says he thought was abandoned.
Kamau was booked into the Fulton County Jail on Saturday and released that same day after posting $11,000 in bond, records show.
Read the full storyTucker Carlson Discusses Trump, Racism in America, His Firing from Fox News, and More in First Interview Since Departure
Former Fox News primetime host Tucker Carlson revealed he still doesn’t know the reason why he was fired from the network during a recent sit-down interview with actor Russell Brand.
Read the full storyKnoxville Launches Program to Help Individuals Achieve a Higher Credit Score
The City of Knoxville announced a new program that “aims at raising awareness and providing assistance to individuals striving for credit scores that promote financial stability.”
Read the full storyTennessee Faith and Freedom Coalition Responds to the Rolling Stone’s Attack Piece on ‘Sound of Freedom’ Movie
The Tennessee Faith & Freedom Coalition (TNFFC) released a statement Saturday responding to a piece published by Rolling Stone magazine reviewing the newly-released movie Sound of Freedom.
The magazine’s piece, titled, “‘Sound Of Freedom’ Is a Superhero Movie for Dads With Brainworms,” describes the film as a “QAnon-tinged thriller about child-trafficking..designed to appeal to the conscience of a conspiracy-addled boomer.”
Read the full storyGOP Lawmakers Introduce Bills to Disarm Federal Bureaucrats
Several Republican lawmakers have introduced legislation which would disarm enforcement agents from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Department of Labor (DOL) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
Republican Rep. Clay Higgins of Louisiana introduced the No Funds for Armed Regulators Act of 2023 on June 30, joined by seven co-sponsors. The bill would disallow the use of taxpayer dollars to hire or retain armed regulatory enforcement agents in the EPA, DOL and IRS if it becomes law.
Read the full story2022 National Food Stamp Payment Error Rates Hit Nearly 12 Percent
For the first time since the COVID pandemic, the U.S. Department of Agriculture released the fiscal year 2022 national payment error rate for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
The PER measures how accurately SNAP agencies determine benefit amounts and eligibility. A payment error means the agency either underpaid or overpaid the recipient, which can result from an error by the agency or a recipient or fraud.
Read the full storySouthern States Are Booming as Wealth Flees Democrat-Run Northeast
Six states in the south are seeing rapid growth in the share of national gross domestic product (GDP) as people flock to the region, while states in the northeast are faltering, Bloomberg reported.
Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, Georgia and Tennessee are in the middle of a $100 billion wealth migration that started during the COVID-19 pandemic as businesses and people moved south, according to Bloomberg. States in the northeast lost approximately $60 billion in 2020 and 2021, falling behind the six southern states in collective GDP for the first time.
Read the full storyTennessee Saw Record Number of New Business Filings in First Quarter
Tennessee had a record number of business formations and renewals in the first quarter of 2023.
There were 21,516 new business filings and 199,309 businesses firms renewed their active status by filing annual reports, the largest totals in the 25-year history of the Quarterly Business and Economic Indicators report from the Secretary of State’s Office and University of Tennessee’s Boyd Center.
Read the full storyArizona Senator Calls Out Governor over ‘Harmful’ Veto of Sex Offender Registry Bill
An Arizona Republican state senator called out Governor Katie Hobbs for her “harmful” veto of a bill mandating those found guilty of dangerous crimes against children to register on the state’s sex offender website.
Senate Bill (SB) 1583, sponsored by State Senator Sine Kerr (R-Buckeye), aimed to close a gap in state legislation that now only compels those offenders found guilty of committing sex crimes against children to list their names on the website for sex offenders if they pose a significant danger of doing so again. Level one offenders, who are the least likely to re-offend, may not have to list their names on this website.
Read the full storyCommentary: Societies That Surrender Moral Foundation Historically Self-Destruct
Despite its origins in the historic Stonewall Riots of 1969, “Pride Month,” which concluded last week, has devolved into a manifestation of moral decay in 2023.
The proliferation of the transgenderism movement, fueled by Marxist ideologies, within our public education system is concerning enough. However, the decision to dedicate an entire month to celebrate moral degradation is a step too far. While I am not advanced in years, I never envisioned a day where transvestites would lecture us on human biology, or sterilizers would pose as health professionals advocating for human rights. It seems that our nation has descended into a state of utter madness, where men can now claim pregnancy and the number of genders rivals the alphabet.
Read the full storyOhio Lawmakers Introduce Legislation to Increase Drug and Human Trafficking Penalties
Two Republican Ohio Lawmakers have introduced a bill into the Ohio House of Representatives that aims to increase the penalties for drug and human trafficking in Ohio.
House Bill (HB) 230, known as the Saving Ohio Communities Act, sponsored by State Representatives Cindy Abrams (R-Harrison) and D.J. Swearingen (R-Huron) looks to address the staggering increase in drug overdoses, specifically fentanyl poisoning in the state.
Read the full storyVirginia National Guard Units Being Sent to the Border Announced
Three of Virginia’s National Guard units will lead Joint Task Force Cardinal as part of Operation Lone Star to help secure the southern border.
Troops will be deployed from the Guard’s Portsmouth-based 2nd Squadron, 183rd Cavalry Regiment and the 116th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, with assistance from Army and Air National Guard units from Lynchburg, Winchester, Fredericksburg, Danville, Staunton and Hampton.
Read the full storyJudge Rules Against Fulton County GOP in Dispute About Elections Board Nominee
A Georgia judge has ruled against the Fulton County Republican Party in its effort to gets a nominee onto the county election board.
The group filed a request for a temporary restraining to keep the county’s Board of Commissioners from rejecting the group’s nominee to the election board and keeping the existing one.
Read the full storyDeSantis Campaign Raises $20 Million in Six Weeks
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis posted the best first fundraising quarter of any non-incumbent Republican candidate in over a decade, according to campaign finance data.
The DeSantis for President campaign raised $20 million in six weeks, surpassing the amount the Trump campaign raised during its first two fundraising quarters combined.
Read the full storyMichigan Gov. Whitmer’s Growth Council Features One Person Under 40
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s Growing Michigan Together Council includes one person under 40 and no one from the Upper Peninsula.
The Council will advise Whitmer on policies to reach a population goal for 2050 and prepare Michigan’s workforce for in-demand jobs and emerging industries. The council will develop long-term, sustainable transportation, and water infrastructure funding solutions.
Read the full storyArizona Governor Katie Hobbs Finalizes Expansion of Birth Control Access
Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs announced increased access to contraceptives Thursday.
According to the governor’s office, the “standing order” will allow adults to pick up contraceptives at a pharmacy without a doctor’s prescription. However, those wanting to obtain them will need to get a “screening and blood pressure test” as safeguards.
Read the full storyConnecticut Truckers Tax Revenue Below Expectations
Connecticut is coming up short on revenue from a controversial highway tax on truckers, with the state bringing in less money than expected during the first few months of the new levy.
Figures from the state Department of Revenue Services show the Highway Use Tax generated only $18.6 million from January through April, roughly half of what state budget writers had anticipated.
Read the full storyReport: Analysis of Minnesota Death Certificate Data Shows CDC Repeatedly Removed COVID Vax as a Cause of Death
An analysis of death certificates in Minnesota has found that the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) repeatedly omitted the COVID vaccine as a potential cause of death in its classification data. A source provided the Brownstone Institute with the death certificates for all deaths that occurred in Minnesota from 2015 to the present.
Read the full storyMadison Public Health Managers Drop Fines Against Dance Studio over COVID-Era Performance
Dane County’s public health managers have agreed to drop the COVID-era tickets against a local dance studio over its Nutcracker production.
Public Health Madison & Dane County fined A Leap Above dance studio in Oregon, Wisc., $24,000 for 119 counts of violating local pandemic protocols for its 2020 Christmas time performance.
Read the full storyPennsylvania Hydropower Project Beset by Permitting Delays
A state-backed hydroelectric plant is on track to come to the former steel town of Braddock, but permitting delays have slowed the project and driven up costs.
The Thursday meeting of the Pennsylvania Energy Development Authority, an independent public financing entity that funds “clean, advanced energy projects,” featured upbeat officials on the success of their funded projects, but also noted the slow pace of bureaucracy can slow down a project.
Read the full storyNew Politico Mag Poll Skews the Numbers to Come Up with Another Anti-Trump Narrative, Trump Pollster Says
A poll published last week by German-owned Politico Magazine insists that “most Americans — including a large number of Republicans … “ agree that the former President Donald Trump’s trial on federal charges he mishandled classified documents should take place before the Republican Party primary.
And nearly half, according to the Ipsos poll of more than 1,000 “adults,” believe Trump is guilty.
Read the full storyFormer Arizona Election Attorney Starts Process to Sue Kris Mayes for Defamation, Demands $2 Million
Jennifer Wright, who served as the Election Integrity Unit (EIU) civil attorney under Attorney General Mark Brnovich, started the process this past week to sue current Attorney General Kris Mayes for defamation by filing a Notice of Claim. Someone from Mayes’ office told the media that Wright was fired or forced to resign, but Wright has produced evidence showing she resigned voluntarily. It is common when a new administration from a different political party takes over an office to fire high-level appointees from the previous administration.
“Over the past few years, I’ve become jaded by people in positions of power abusing that power for partisan gain & further subjugation of the American people,” Wright tweeted. “On 1/5/23 I was shocked when an outright lie was propagated by Arizona’s Chief Legal Officer, @krismayes, about me.”
Read the full storyCommentary: To Gain Power, the Left Seeks to Destroy the Supreme Court
Always remember: Any institution the Left doesn’t control, it will seek to destroy.
The Supreme Court dealt a series of serious blows to the Left’s agenda this summer, and leftists aren’t taking it well.
Read the full storyOPEC Seeks New Members
OPEC, the world’s largest oil cartel, is looking for new members, the group’s secretary general told reporters Wednesday, according to CNBC.
Secretary General Haitham al-Ghais told reporters at a Vienna conference that he is actively working to grow OPEC — currently comprised of 13 members based primarily in the Middle East, Africa and South America — noting that he had recently visited several oil-producing countries including Malaysia, Brunei, Azerbaijan and Mexico, although he stressed that he was not suggesting those countries in particular had been invited to join OPEC, according to CNBC. The cartel has been working alongside Russia and other nonmember nations in the larger OPEC+ alliance to prop up oil prices via a string of production cuts, to mixed results.
Read the full storyPoll: Number of Americans Who Fear They Will Not Reach the American Dream Is on the Rise
In a recent survey, a rising number of Americans say that they do not think they will ever achieve the American Dream.
As reported by the New York Post, the poll by NORC – University of Chicago saw 75 percent of overall respondents say that they felt they had either achieved the Dream or were on their way to achieving it. However, 24 percent said that they feel the Dream is out of their reach, and that America is no longer the “land of opportunity.” In the previous year’s poll, only 18 percent shared this sentiment.
Read the full storyCommentary: Poland and Hungary Are What Healthy Democracies Look Like
“Even by today’s low standards, this is shockingly delusional,” I thought after reading Kati Marton’s diatribe against the current Polish and Hungarian governments in the Los Angeles Times last week.
Most such pieces are relatively standard and don’t warrant a response. This one, it seemed to me, mutilated the charred corpse of the truth. As a Polish citizen and Polish speaker who has lived in Hungary, I concluded it was too much to overlook. Allow me to share some of my experiences from these two countries, which most often bear no resemblance to the ones Marton describes.
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