Month: August 2023

Florida Tells Schools They Can Teach AP Psychology Course Despite Claims It Was ‘Banned’

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The Florida Department of Education (DOE) told schools Wednesday that an Advanced Placement (AP) Psychology course at the center of a controversy meets state law and can be taught, according to a letter obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

On Aug. 3, the College Board, an academic organization that administers and designs high school courses for college credit, claimed its AP Psychology course had been “effectively banned” because they refused to modify the course to comply with the state’s guidance prohibiting age-inappropriate lessons on gender identity and sexual orientation in Pre-K-12 classrooms. In a Wednesday letter to Florida school superintendents, the state DOE noted that the course can be taught under its Parental Rights in Education law and that the AP course will be offered during the 2023-2024 school year.

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Poll: Arizona GOP Has Significant ‘Trump-Only’ Contingent

The Center Square

Arizona Republicans are split on their support for former President Donald Trump, with some saying they only support the president and not the party.

Half of Arizona Republicans consider themselves supporters of the Republican Party, while 25% say their loyalty lies with Trump, according to the latest Arizona Public Opinion Pulse. The July AZPOP asked GOP voters to describe themselves as supporters of the Republican Party, Trump, or both. 

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Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen Promises Legal Action Against Biden’s Land Grab

Hannah Poling

Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen (R-Gilbert) promises to take legal action against President Joe Biden’s “extreme government overreach” of seizing almost a million acres of land from Coconino and Mohave Counties to designate as a new national monument near the Grand Canyon.

According to Petersen, Republicans “Will use all legal options available to protect Arizona from this unacceptable and unconstitutional dictator-style land grab.”

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Judge Tosses Arizona Democrats’ Lawsuit Seeking to Revoke No Labels Party’s Ballot Access

Tom Pappert
Woman Voting

A Maricopa County judge dismissed a lawsuit initiated by the Arizona Democratic Party (AZDP) aiming to revoke the ballot access of the nascent No Labels Party in Arizona prior to the 2024 elections.

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Katherine Cooper threw out the AZDP lawsuit seeking to strike No Labels from the ballot in 2024, declaring Democrats’ claims that No Labels did not gather petitions properly and should be required to publish financial records do not stand up to scrutiny.

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Left-Wing Megadonor Behind ‘Zuckbucks’ Lays Off Dozens in ‘Bloodbath’

Admin

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan’s philanthropic arm laid off dozens of employees Wednesday in an ostensible restructuring.

The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI), which was founded and is led by the couple, laid off 48 employees, a spokesperson told Business Insider. CZI sent hundreds of millions of dollars, dubbed “Zuckbucks,” to an organization called the Center for Tech and Civic Life (CTCL), which used the funds to help administer elections in 2020 in largely Democratic districts in multiple states, which critics argued was an attempt to boost turnout.

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Dollars to Dining: Bank Records Show Proximity of Joe Biden Meetings to Son’s Foreign Payments

Just the News

In the weeks before she dined with Joe Biden at a swanky Washington D.C. restaurant in April 2014, Russian oligarch Yelena Baturina deposited $3.5 million into a bank account tied to Hunter Biden’s businesses and also committed to invest in a New York City real estate project with Biden’s partners, bank records collected by Congress and emails among the younger Biden’s business partners show.

“Any news on this?” Hunter Biden emailed his partner Devon Archer on April 13, 2014, seeking an update on a real estate deal in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City.

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Biden Admin Secretly Encouraged Overthrow of Leader Who Wasn’t Pro-Ukraine Enough, Leaked Cable Reveals

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President Joe Biden’s administration’s diplomats encouraged Pakistani political leaders to remove former Prime Minister Imran Khan from office after he hesitated to criticize Russia for its war against Ukraine, according to a new report on Wednesday.

Imran Khan was removed from office in April 2022 after a controversial vote of no-confidence by the Pakistani National Assembly. On March 7, 2022, officials from the Department of State met with Pakistan’s then-Ambassador to the United States Asad Majeed Khan and encouraged Imran Khan’s removal from office after he visited Russia shortly after it began hostilities in Ukraine, according to a diplomatic cable that was published by The Intercept.

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Brewer’s Winners and Losers: ‘It Almost Looks Like Working for Governor DeSantis Might Be Difficult’

Tennessee Star Staff

Political watcher and recovering journalist Clint Brewer joined host Michael Patrick Leahy in-studio on Thursday’ episode of The Tennessee Star Report to discuss this week’s ‘Winners and Losers.’ Topping the ‘Winners’ list was Metro Councilman Freddie O’Connell while 2024 presidential hopeful Ron DeSantis was tapped for top spot on the ‘Losers’ list.  TRANSCRIPT Michael Patrick Leahy: Well, Clint, who do we have as a winner this week? Clint Brewer: Well, it’s obvious – we’ve already talked about him. Councilman Fred O’Connell. Michael Patrick Leahy: Obvious. Clint Brewer:  Obvious. Michael Patrick Leahy: 27 percent finished – first place. Clint Brewer:  Yeah. Michael Patrick Leahy: Odds-on favorite, probably, to win and become the next man Clint Brewer:  Yeah – based on reliable polling going into the contest with a pretty commanding lead. Michael Patrick Leahy: Although I’ll have to say Alice Rolli ran a very good campaign and look: if she can turn out people that didn’t vote before, she’s got a shot. Clint Brewer: Yeah; Or, she can put this in her back pocket if she loses, and maybe she runs for something else. Michael Patrick Leahy: Maybe. Clint Brewer: Maybe. You never know. Michael Patrick Leahy: You never know.…

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New Poll Shows Trump Continuing to Dominate GOP Presidential Rivals, Ramaswamy Overtaking DeSantis

M.D. Kittle

A new survey by private polling firm Cygnal finds former President Donald Trump still dominating the GOP presidential primary field, and political outsider Vivek Ramaswamy overtaking Florida Governor Ron DeSantis for second place.

Trump leads with 53 percent support, followed by Ramaswamy (11.4%), who has moved ahead of DeSantis (10.4%), according to the poll. The Florida governor has plummeted from 29 percent support in March.

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Socialist Scholar Cornel West Owes $500,000 in Taxes, Says Just Part of Being a ‘Gangster’

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The College Fix Socialist professor and presidential candidate Cornel West wants “massive investments” including “free college tuition” and “Medicare for All” as part of his presidential campaign. Just don’t expect him to chip in on the bill. According to the Daily Beast, and confirmed by West, the Union Theological Seminary professor owes over half a million dollars in taxes. The Green Party candidate has “more than $500,000 in outstanding federal tax liens lodged against him in two states” dating back to 2005, according to the liberal news outlet. READ THE FULL STORY

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Elon Musk Proposes a ‘Noble’ Debate with Mark Zuckerberg Instead of a Cage Fight

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Brietbart News Tech billionaire Elon Musk has shifted from challenging Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to a cage fight to now proposing a “noble” debate instead. Business Insider reports that Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of companies like Tesla, SpaceX, and most recently Twitter (now known as X)  has taken a step back from his earlier challenge to Mark Zuckerberg for a cage fight. Instead, Musk is now floating the idea of a “noble” debate with the Facebook CEO. The change of heart came after Musk revealed on Sunday that he might need to undergo surgery before the proposed cage match. “May require surgery before the fight can happen. Will know this week,” Musk tweeted. READ THE FULL STORY

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Tennessee Education Association Files to Dismiss Its Suit Against Law Banning Dues Deduction from Paychecks

Susan Berry, PhD

A three-judge panel of the Chancery Court for the State of Tennessee Twentieth Judicial District ordered the lawsuit filed by the Tennessee Education Association (TEA) that challenged a new law that prohibits association dues deduction from paychecks “dismissed without prejudice” following the union’s voluntary dismissal.

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Tennessee Groups File Suit Challenging Congressional, State Senate Maps

The Center Square
Elections Day

Several Tennessee groups have filed a lawsuit challenging the state’s congressional and state redistricting maps that went into effect in 2022.

The complaint states the maps are unconstitutional racial gerrymanders that violate the 14th and 15th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution by intentionally diluting the votes of Black voters and voters of other colors by dividing Nashville and Davidson County into three congressional districts.

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Likely U.S. Senate Candidate Gloria Johnson Promotes Gun Control Bus Tour Ahead of Special Session

Peter D'Abrosca

A member of the State House of Representatives and likely U.S. Senate candidate who sources say will use the upcoming special session of the General Assembly as a platform to launch her campaign is promoting events for gun control groups.

State Rep. Gloria Johnson (D-Knoxville) is boosting a pop-up gun control group called “Our Kids Deserve Better,” asking her Twitter followers to promote the group.

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Planned Parenthood Demands Social Media Censorship Despite Past ‘Outrage’ over the Issue

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Although it has decried censorship in the past, Planned Parenthood has recently advocated for social media suppression of “misinformation,” including on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Tuesday.

Planned Parenthood experienced “outrage” over abortion and “sexual health” content censorship less than a decade ago and signed onto a letter calling information access a “human right” in 2022. More recently, however, it has taken action to push social media to censor what it considers to be misinformation, disinformation and hate speech.

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America First Legal Sues Target over Misleading of Shareholders

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On Tuesday, the conservative legal group America First Legal (AFL) announced that it would be suing the retail giant Target, claiming that the company misled its shareholders by issuing false statements about the measures it was taking to avoid social and political risks.

As Just The News reports, AFL declared in its lawsuit that “Target’s management has misled investors, assuring them that the corporation oversees social and political issues and risks to protect shareholders.”

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Fauci, Collins Received 58 Royalty Payments as NIH Collected $325 Million from Companies: Records

Just the News

Francis Collins and Anthony Fauci, the longtime directors of the National Institutes of Health and its National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases respectively, personally received 58 royalty payments from companies to license their inventions developed with taxpayer money, newly disclosed records reveal.

Transparency watchdog OpenTheBooks.com on Wednesday published more than 1,500 pages of unredacted records identifying which companies paid which NIH scientists for which inventions and when, following a mostly successful Freedom of Information Act battle with NIH.

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Gun Control Nonprofit Commends Gov. Lee’s Special Session Announcement

Peter D'Abrosca

A new gun control nonprofit in Tennessee commended Gov. Bill Lee (R), who Tuesday officially issued a proclamation calling for a special session of the General Assembly, which will focus on gun laws.

“We commend Governor Bill Lee for issuing the official call for a special session to begin on Aug. 21, 2023, at 4 p.m.,” said Voices for a Safer Tennessee on its website. “While Tennesseans have voiced support for a broader scope of solutions to be considered during the special session, opening doors to discuss orders of protection, beginning to address background check challenges, and educating the public on the value of secure storage, are first steps in the right direction and mark the beginning of a process that will carry into the 2024 Tennessee General Assembly and beyond.”

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Pence’s Poke at Ramaswamy’s Youth Raises Age Again as a Campaign Issue

M.D. Kittle

Ohio entrepreneur and GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy has taken a lot more flak from his opponents as he rises in the primary polls.

But the political outsider and first millennial to run for the Republican Party presidential nomination is starting to draw fire about his youth — from none other than former Vice President Mike Pence, Ramaswamy’s elder by 26 years.

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Wisconsin Governor Vetoes Bills Aimed at Protecting Consumers Against Climate Change Alarmist Agenda

M.D. Kittle

Governor Tony Evers turned to his veto pen once again last week, this time killing consumer protection bills that interfered with his far-left climate change agenda, according to the state’s largest business lobby.

The Democrat vetoed Assembly Bills 141 and 142, and Senate Bill 49, among 10 Republican-led bills killed by a governor who has used the state’s powerful veto pen more liberally than any governor in Badger State history.

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TFA Commentary: Gov. Lee’s Special Session Proclamation ‘Makes It Clear He Is on Board with Calls from Democrats like Justin Jones and Joe Biden to Enact Gun Control in Tennessee’

Admin

Months ago, while the Legislature was still in its regular session, Governor Lee asked them to enact his Red Flag law which was his immediate, some might say knee-jerk – response to the Covenant School murders. The Legislature rejected that request, deferred almost all remaining 2nd Amendment legislation to 2024 and instead adjourned. Before most of them could get home, Governor Lee announced that he was going to call them back into a special legislative session to consider and pass his Red Flag proposal.

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DeSantis Suspends Florida State Attorney for Abuse of Prosecutorial Discretion

The Center Square

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis suspended a prosecutor on Wednesday for not doing enough to prosecute crimes in her district.

In an executive order issued Wednesday, DeSantis suspended State Attorney Monique Worrell of the 9th Judicial Circuit, which covers Orange and Osceola counties, and replaced her with Andrew Bain, who served as a judge in Orange County.

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Minnesota Gov. Walz Rejects Calls for Special Session to Fix ‘Loopholes’ in New Marijuana Law

Admin

Gov. Tim Walz won’t call a special session to make changes to the new adult-use recreational marijuana law to fix loopholes Republicans allege effectively decriminalize use for minors.

Walz told reporters gathered for a press conference Tuesday that it’s clear to him it’s still illegal for minors to use marijuana products. He said he won’t be calling a special session at the request of House Republicans, but said he expects that legislators may choose to tweak the new laws during the 2024 regular legislative session.

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Ohio Lawmakers React to the Defeat of Ohio State Issue 1

Hannah Poling

Following the defeat of Ohio State Issue 1 on Tuesday, Ohio Lawmakers in the House and Senate voiced their opinions.

Issue 1, if approved by voters, would have mandated 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.

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Michigan School Spending Rises While Enrollment Drops

The Center Square

Per student spending in Michigan is up 24.8% over the past 17 years as Michigan has pumped more money into K-12 education while enrollment has been in a two-decade decline.

Enrollment fell 17.5% between 2003-04 and 2020-21, from 1.71 million students to 1.44 million. Two years later, after a nominal gain, it was down to 1.43 million. There was just one year in the 20 with an increase other than 2021-22’s nominal rise, a year impacted by COVID-19.

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Anti-Life Political Action Committee Launches Campaign to Enshrine Abortion in Arizona Constitution

Susan Berry, PhD

Anti-life groups promoting abortion-on-demand in Arizona announced Tuesday they will seek to amend the state’s constitution to enshrine a right to abortion in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision last year to overturn Roe v. Wade.

A new political action committee (PAC) that calls itself Arizona for Abortion Access filed to collect signatures with the goal of getting the Arizona Abortion Access Act on the ballot in 2024, KTARNews reported.

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Kari Lake Reportedly Plans Arizona Senate Bid for October as Poll Shows Her Ahead 31 Points

Tom Pappert

Former gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake is reportedly planning a campaign for U.S. Senate that will launch in October, with the news breaking after a poll showed her with a 31-point lead over Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb among Arizona Republicans if she should enter the race.

Lake is reportedly “staffing up” for a Senate campaign and will spend much of September conducting interviews and making hires for an October launch, according to a report from Axios. The former news anchor seemed to foreshadow the decision during her time in Ohio with Republican Senate candidate Bernie Moreno, saying she “might have to join” Moreno and Senator J.D. Vance (R-OH) in the Senate.

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Educator Announces Primary Challenge to Maricopa County School Superintendent Accused of Financial Mismanagement

Rachel Alexander

Nickie Kelley, an Arizona schoolteacher, recently announced she is running as a Republican for Maricopa County School Superintendent (MCSS), challenging the Republican incumbent currently in office. The Maricopa County Supervisors (BOS) accused current officeholder Steve Watson of financial mismanagement in May, and voted for a resolution to defund the Maricopa County accommodation school district he oversees next fiscal year. Under Watson, the district has gone $3.4 million in debt. The state Auditor General has been investigating MCSS.

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Arizona University System Ends Use of DEI Statements for Job Applicants Following Exposé

Susan Berry, PhD

The Arizona Board of Regents announced Tuesday the state’s public universities have ended the use of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) statements in job hirings in the wake of an exposé by the Goldwater Institute that showed the taxpayer-funded schools were using unconstitutional political litmus tests to screen out conservative-leaning candidates.

A report Tuesday at Arizona Republic said the state’s public universities “have dropped the use of diversity, equity and inclusion statements in job applications, a move that follows demands by the conservative Goldwater Institute.”

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Steubenville Catholic Trade School Forges Ahead Despite Obstacles in Ohio’s Regulatory Hurdles

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A Catholic trade college plans to enroll students starting in fall of 2024, but said it continues to train people interested in learning craftsmanship while it works through the regulatory process and other hurdles.

The College of St. Joseph the Worker in Steubenville, Ohio is “shifting the start date back so that we can finish the state approval process,” Alex Renn, the school’s communications director, told The College Fix via email.

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Arizona Senate Republicans Condemn President Biden’s ‘Government Overreach’ Designating National Monument Near Grand Canyon

Hannah Poling

Arizona Senate Republicans condemned President Joe Biden’s “blatant government overreach” of seizing almost a million acres of land from Coconino and Mohave Counties to designate as a new national monument near the Grand Canyon.

Majority Leader Sonny Borrelli (R-Lake Havasu) said that Biden’s new monument designation is a dictator-style land grab that will have dire consequences for all Arizonans.

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RNC, Republican Party of Wisconsin Seek to Intervene in Leftist-Led Lawsuit on Illegal Absentee Ballot Drop Boxes

M.D. Kittle

The Republican National Committee and Republican Party of Wisconsin have filed a motion to intervene in Priorities USA v. Wisconsin Elections Commission, an election lawsuit filed in the Badger State by attorney Marc Elias, known as the fixer for the Democratic Party and its politicians.

The original suit, filed in Dane County Circuit Court by the Elias Law Group in July, demands Wisconsin voters be once again allowed to return absentee ballots in drop boxes.

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Commentary: Red China’s Electric Vehicle Invasion of America

Admin

Chinese Communist Party (CCP) electric vehicles (EVs) manufactured in Red China are now for sale in the U.S. They are Buick’s Envision and Sweden’s Polestar 2, with Lincoln Nautilus soon to follow. Many more Red Chinese EV brands are coming. Waiting in the wings to begin export to the U.S. are BYD Co., Li Auto, Xpeng Motors, Nio Inc., and Geely.

And, as the U.S. dismantles its combustion engine industry and all the ancillary industries to make way for EVs that Americans aren’t buying, American workers are losing jobs and suffering wage decreases. People working in repair shops, garages, gas stations, parts manufacturers, and distributors are just a few of those who will suffer.

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College Profs Sue over State Abortion Law, Argue It Criminalizes Classroom Discussion

Admin

Idaho professors and teachers unions are alleging that a state law violates their First Amendment rights by preventing them from teaching pro-abortion viewpoints, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday by the ACLU.

Idaho passed the No Public Funds for Abortion Act in 2021, which prohibits state contracts with abortion providers and bans public employees from promoting abortion, according to Idaho’s legislative website. Public employees who violate the law can be charged with a felony and fired, and professors argue the law has forced them to alter their course modules by taking out entire sections related to abortion due to fear of repercussions, according to the lawsuit.

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Commentary: For Washington Post’s Feared ‘Pinocchio’ Fact Checker, Forthrightness Dies in ‘Updates’ to Biden-Burisma Story

RealClearWire

For the second time in three years, the Washington Post has quietly “updated” one of the most consequential fact checks in the history of American politics – its October 2020 article undercutting reports that Hunter Biden arranged a dinner meeting between one of his foreign business clients and his father, who was then vice president of the United States.

The original article by the Washington Post’s chief fact checker, Glenn Kessler, was published the same day as the New York Post’s pre-election scoop revealing that Joe Biden had attended a 2015 dinner with a top executive of a Ukrainian energy firm, Burisma, which was paying his son $83,000 per month. Kessler’s fact-check involved interviews with a host of Biden aides who vehemently disputed the vice president’s attendance at the dinner and advanced the theory that the source of the information – a laptop Hunter had abandoned at a Delaware repair shop – was untrustworthy and possibly a Russian plant. 

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Trump Leads Biden by Four Points After Indictments: Poll

Just the News

Former President Donald Trump leads President Joe Biden in a hypothetical 2024 rematch, a recent survey has shown.

Trump earned the support of 42% of registered voters in the latest Premise survey, posting a 4-point lead over Joe Biden’s 38% support. Against Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, Biden claimed a modest 2-point lead, edging out the GOP’s second-place candidate by 36% to 34%. 

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Biden Admin to Impose Harsher Restrictions on Chinese Semiconductor Industry

Admin

The Biden administration is planning to ban investments in some Chinese companies that are involved in the technology sector through an executive order on Wednesday, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The U.S. will restrict private-equity and venture capital firms from directly investing in some Chinese companies that operate in the semiconductor, quantum computing and artificial intelligence sectors, according to the WSJ. In October 2022, the Biden administration placed similar restrictions limiting Chinese access to American chip technology by blacklisting multiple Chinese semiconductor manufacturers from working with American companies.

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Foreign Oligarchs Moved Millions to Biden-Tied Firms Before Meeting Joe Biden, Investigators Say

Just the News

Firms tied to the Biden family collected more than $20 million from foreign sources, including big payments from controversial oligarchs who afterwards had private dinners with Joe Biden as vice president, congressional investigators disclosed Wednesday.

In its third memo analyzing bank records, the GOP-led House Oversight and Accountability Committee reported it had found a clear pattern of the Biden family and its partners doing business with Russian, Ukrainian, Kazakh, Chinese and Romanian figures who had legal and other troubles and then collecting money around the times of gaining access to Joe Biden.

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Hundreds of New Yorkers Protest Planned Migrant Tent Shelter

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Hundreds of New Yorkers protested a plan to house migrants in the parking lot of a local psychiatric center, according to NBC 4 New York.

The city already began construction on the tent facility next to the Creedmoor Psychiatric Center for roughly 1,000 migrants, NBC 4 New York reported. The city is caring for more than 57,000 migrants, Democratic New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ office said Monday.

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State Rep. Scott Cepicky on Special Session: ‘I Will Be a Firm No Vote’ on Any Legislation that Restricts Tennesseans’ Constitutional Rights

Tennessee Star Staff

State Representative Scott Cepicky (R-Culleoka) joined host Michael Patrick Leahy on the newsmaker line on Wednesday’s episode of The Tennessee Star Report to discuss the special session Gov. Bill Lee formally called in a proclamation last night. Cepicky broke down the steps ahead and shared his thoughts about the fate of Lee’s “Red Flag” law aspirations. TRANSCRIPT Michael Patrick Leahy: 6:18 a.m. – we are joined on a newsmaker line right now by our very good friend, State Representative Scott Cepicky. Good morning, Scott. How are you today? Scott Cepicky:  Good morning, Michael. How’s everybody doing today? Michael Patrick Leahy: Well, I was doing fine until I saw the governor last night release this proclamation for a special session, which will be held Monday, a week from Monday at 4:00 p.m. in the state Capitol. What’s your reaction to this laundry list of 18 things that he wants you to pass in a special session? Scott Cepicky: Well, Michael, the first thing I wanna say is I swore an oath to uphold the constitution of Tennessee and pass no bill or vote for any bill that is injurious to the citizens of the state. So I take that very seriously and…

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Special Counsel Got a Search Warrant for Trump’s Twitter Account

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Washington Times Special counsel Jack Smith sought and obtained a search warrant for former President Donald Trump’s Twitter account in January, according to court documents released Wednesday. Twitter initially resisted complying with the warrant, resulting in a federal judge fining the company $350,000 for contempt. The prosecutor’s search was secret, and Twitter, since rebranded as X, was barred from telling Mr. Trump about the search warrant. READ THE FULL STORY

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