House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Friday vowed to remove funding for Ukraine from a Pentagon spending package amid a conservative rebellion.
Read the full storyMcCarthy Pledges to Remove Ukraine Funding from Pentagon Spending Package
Day: September 23, 2023
McCarthy Pledges to Remove Ukraine Funding from Pentagon Spending Package
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Friday vowed to remove funding for Ukraine from a Pentagon spending package amid a conservative rebellion.
The package, which has twice failed to clear a procedural vote due to internal Republican opposition, includes $300 million in funds for Kyiv to continue its fight against the Russian military.
Read the full storySupreme Court Extends Pause on Appeals Court Ruling on Biden Admin Censorship Efforts
The Supreme Court on Friday extended its stay on an injunction blocking the Biden administration from coercing or significantly encouraging social media companies to censor speech.
Justice Samuel Alito temporarily froze the injunction until Sept. 22 last week after the Biden administration requested a stay. On Friday, the justices extended the stay to Sept. 27.
Read the full storyTennessee Governor Bill Lee Announces MTSU Aerospace Expansion to Shelbyville
Tennessee Governor Bill Lee (R) along with Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) President Sidney McPhee announced on Thursday that MTSU’s growing aerospace department will be moving from its current location at Murfreesboro Airport to a new state-of-the-art campus in Shelbyville.
Due to the rapidly expanding Aerospace industry, preparations for the new MTSU Aerospace-Shelbyville campus has been in the works since April. The press release says that the institution and the state have contributed a total of $62.2 million for the move.
Read the full storyNumber of Migrant Encounters at Southern Border on Pace to Surpass Previous Record Year
Migrant encounters for fiscal year 2023 so far are on pace to surpass the record of more than 2.3 million that were recorded crossing in fiscal year 2022, according to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data updated Friday.
Encounters of migrants between October 2022 and August hit 2,206,039, compared to 2,378,944 in all of fiscal year 2022, according to the data, which includes illegal crossings between ports of entry and legal crossings at ports. In August alone, Border Patrol encountered roughly 181,000 migrants that crossed illegally.
Read the full storyCongress to Release New Evidence, Testimony in Biden Case to Back Up IRS Whistleblowers
The chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee tells Just the News he plans to soon make public new testimony that corroborates IRS whistleblowers’ accounts of interference in the Hunter Biden probe and new evidence to support the nascent impeachment inquiry against President Joe Biden.
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (R-Mo.) said Thursday his panel will hold a vote to make the new information available, including testimonies from two IRS agents who back the accounts of whistleblowers Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler about slow-walking and interference in the Hunter Biden tax case.
Read the full storyTennessee Unemployment Rate Remains at Record Low
According to the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development (TDLWD), the Volunteer State’s unemployment level remains historically low.
In August, the state hit an all-time low seasonally adjusted unemployment rate of 3.1 percent, according to a release from the department.
Read the full storyTeachers Fired for Challenging Gender Ideology Get Legal Support from Doctors, Lawyers, Feminists
First Amendment experts, radical feminists and doctors are pushing back against a court ruling that held two educators responsible for their own firing because their opposition to a proposed gender identity policy sparked student protests and community complaints to Oregon’s Grants Pass School District.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark Clarke botched Supreme Court precedents on the speech rights of public employees and qualified immunity from personal liability, upheld restrictions that disproportionately target women and adopted pseudoscientific language, according to ideologically diverse friend-of-the-court briefs filed with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Read the full storyOutgoing Nashville Mayor John Cooper Issues Farewell Message
Outgoing Nashville Mayor John Cooper posted a farewell message to his constituents Friday on social media to wrap up the last few hours of his term.
Read the full storyFlorida House Examines Implementation of ‘Responsible Fatherhood’ Law
A Florida House subcommittee met this week to discuss implementing some of the elements of a bill that passed during the 2022 session designed to promote responsible fatherhood.
House Bill 7065 was signed into law by Gov. Ron DeSantis in April of 2022 and was designed to “aid in creating and sustaining safe, stable, nurturing relationships and environments for children and families that allow children to grow up to their full potential,” and also focuses on responsible fatherhood.
Read the full storyFar-Left Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice’s Campaign Accused of ‘Smurfing’, or Money Laundering Donations
The Wisconsin Ethics Commission launched an investigation into newly installed Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Janet Protasiewicz’s campaign on allegations of money laundering and fraud.
The investigation, first reported by conservative talk show host Dan O’Donnell of NewsTalk 1130 WISN in Milwaukee, claims the far left justice’s campaign engaged in “smurfing,” using unwitting small-dollar donors to launder substantial cash donations.
Read the full storyInvestigator at Fani Willis’s Office Accidentally Shot Herself in Fulton County Courthouse
An investigator working for the Fulton County District Attorney’s office shot herself on Friday while at the Fulton County Courthouse. The investigator, who works in the office of District Attorney Fani Willis, was not critically injured in the accidental discharge.
News first broke on Friday morning that a shooting incident occurred at the Fulton County Courthouse, with the sheriff’s office reporting there was “no active threat” at the time. Within an hour, the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office confirmed “an accidental discharge” by an “investigator who wounded herself” but was not critically injured.
Read the full storyHaley Lays Out Economic ‘Freedom Plan,’ Packed with Promises of Tax Cuts, Entitlement Reform and Regulatory Relief
Declaring that it’s time for Washington to start working for Americans and not the other way around, GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley laid out her economic “Freedom Plan in a speech Friday in New Hampshire.
The former South Carolina governor and United Nations ambassador is proposing a litany of middle-class tax cuts, regulatory relief and “third rail” entitlement reforms in a proposal she asserts will check communist China aggression through American prosperity.
Read the full storyVirginia Representative Proposes Defunding Colleges with Vax Mandates
The COVID-19 pandemic is over, but vaccine mandates imposed by colleges and universities are not. Now a Virginia congressman has introduced a bill to withhold federal funds from institutions of higher education that require vaccinations against the disease.
President Joe Biden declared the pandemic over in ending the public health emergency May 11. Despite this, nearly 100 colleges and universities currently require students to be vaccinated against COVID-19 for the 2023-2024 school year.
Read the full storyCommentary: The Justice System Is Now a Weapon in Progressives’ Arsenal Against Political Enemies
Attorney General Merrick Garland gave his best Captain Renault impression on Capitol Hill in denying a double standard in how the Justice Department investigated (or didn’t) Hunter Biden (and his father) versus how they pursue his political rival. Shocked, shocked, indeed.
Those experiencing the less pleasant side of judicial double standards see rather clearly the woke hall pass.
Read the full storyLawyer Indicted in Georgia Trump Case Warns Fani Willis Violated Attorney-Client Privilege, Wants Evidence Stricken
Attorney Kenneth Chesebro argued that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis may have violated his privileged communications with clients during her blanket search of his email account, according to legal filing made by his lawyers on Thursday.
Chesebro, who is among those indicted by Willis in her racketeering case against former President Donald Trump and those who helped him contest the 2020 election, alleged that Willis and her office violated Georgia law when it gained blanket access to Chesebro’s email account in July, according to his lawyers’ filing. Chesebro is asking Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee to suppress any evidence gathered from those emails.
Read the full storyWe the People AZ’s Lawsuit Against Runbeck for Video Surveillance Compares Runbeck to Cyber Ninjas Being Held Subject to Public Records Requests
Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Brad Astrowsky conducted a hearing Wednesday regarding Maricopa County and Runbeck Election Systems’ motions to dismiss a lawsuit filed by We the People AZ Alliance (WPAA). WPAA requested video surveillance from Runbeck showing ballots being transferred to and from Runbeck on Election Day and the day after the 2022 general election. Runbeck refused to turn them over, claiming it was not subject to public records requests as a private entity, so WPAA sued the company.
Read the full storyEllison: Minnesota SROs Can Intervene Before Injury
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison issued a supplemented legal opinion regarding school discipline laws after dozens of police departments pulled school resource officers.
Ellison said the new opinion addresses “good-faith” concerns about the law.
Read the full storyWhitmer Signs Bill Package Protecting Against Child Marriages in Michigan
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed into law three bills that effectively bans marriage of those under 18.
Previously, Michigan residents could get married as young as 16 with parental consent, and someone under 16 could with court approval.
Read the full storyPennsylvania Issues $1.6 Million Food Insecurity Grants
State grants issued this week will help counties feed some of the 1.5 million residents facing food insecurity every day.
On Tuesday, Gov. Josh Shapiro announced that $1.6 million will go to 40 food banks, pantries, shelters, and soup kitchens to make emergency meals easier to get in 26 counties.
Read the full storyMayes Determines Phoenix’s Ukraine Firearm Transfer Is Unlawful
Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes determined that a Phoenix city ordinance allowing the transfer of guns to Ukraine is unlawful.
Republican state Reps. Quang Nguyen and Selina Bliss filed a complaint in July, asking the office to look at the legality of the ordinance.
Read the full storyJudge Blocks Ohio’s Attempt to Strip Power from Board of Education
An Ohio judge issued a temporary restraining order Thursday to block a proposed law that would change who gets to write statewide education standards, according to The Columbus Dispatch.
Republican Ohio Sen. Andrew Brenner and other Republicans want powers transferred from the state school board to a single cabinet appointee because of ideological fights over culture war issues and bureaucratic gridlock in the Ohio school board, according to The Columbus Dispatch. The Ohio school board filed a lawsuit Tuesday arguing the proposed plan to give control over statewide school standards to the governor’s office is unconstitutional, which prompted Democratic Judge Karen Held Phipps to block the proposed law as it moves through the courts.
Read the full storyCommentary: Fact-Checking Merrick Garland’s ‘Fair’ DOJ
It might go down as the whopper of the year.
During his opening statement to the House Judiciary committee on Wednesday morning, Attorney General Merrick Garland attempted to head off expected criticism from Republicans by insisting his Department of Justice is blind to politics. “[We] apply the same laws to everyone. There is not one set of laws for the powerful and one for the powerless. One for the rich and another for the poor. One for Democrats and another one for Republicans. The law will treat each of us alike.”
Read the full storyCommentary: American Pandemic ‘Samizdat’
On May 15, 1970, the New York Times published an article by esteemed Russia scholar Albert Parry detailing how Soviet dissident intellectuals were covertly passing forbidden ideas around to each other on handcrafted, typewritten documents called samizdat.
Read the full storyCommentary: More Evidence That U.S. Intelligence Analysis Is Broken and Politicized
Last week, American Greatness reporter Debra Heine reported a bombshell story that a “highly credible” CIA whistleblower has told the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence that the CIA “bribed” six of its analysts with significant financial incentives to change their initial conclusion that the COVID-19 pandemic originated from a biolab leak in Wuhan, China and to instead conclude that the virus emerged naturally.
Read the full storyWest Point Sued over Race-Based Admissions Process
On Tuesday, an anti-affirmative action group filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Military Academy at West Point over its race-based admissions process in the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s decision overturning such practices.
As reported by Axios, the lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York by Students for Fair Admissions (SFA), the same advocacy group that ultimately ended affirmative action through two cases it had filed before the Supreme Court, Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard and Students for Fair Admissions v. University of North Carolina. In both cases, SFA successfully argued that affirmative action unfairly benefits black and Hispanic students, while disproportionately discriminating against White and Asian students.
Read the full storySan Francisco Homeless Camps Hit Highest Number in Three Years
The number of homeless camps that have sprouted up all across San Francisco is now at the highest point since 2020.
The Daily Caller reports that more people moved into homeless shelters in just the first six months of 2023 than during any other six-month period since 2021, according to information compiled by the San Francisco Standard. There are 523 homeless camps in the city as of July of this year, the highest total since 530 camps in October of 2020. Across these 523 camps, there are over 4,000 homeless people in San Francisco.
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