Day: October 11, 2023

BLM Chicago Deletes Paraglider Tweet, But Doubles Down on Support of Hamas, Palestine

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The Chicago chapter of Black Lives Matter (BLM) issued a statement Wednesday reaffirming their support for Palestine despite deleting a Tuesday tweet with a paraglider that symbolized a mass terrorist attack in Israel.

Chicago BLM posted a picture to Twitter on Tuesday that read “I Stand With Palestine” and included an image of a paraglider, which were used by terrorists to invade a music festival in Israel and kill more than 250 people. BLM Chicago took down the post and said they “aren’t proud” of the messages they sent out, but posted a different statement Wednesday saying “the people will do what they must to live free.”

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Black Lives Matter Grassroots Issues Statement of ‘Solidarity with the Palestinian People’ After Brutal Hamas Attack on Israel

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A Black Lives Matter group issued a statement in “solidarity with the Palestinian people” on social media Monday after Hamas terrorists invaded Israel, slaughtering at least 900 people, including eleven Americans, and wounding more than 2,100. The Palestinian terrorists reportedly took more than 130 civilians hostage, and have threatened to murder them live online.

Hamas, an Islamic political and military organization that governs the Gaza Strip, does not recognize the right of Israel to exist. Since its inception in December of 1987, Hamas has waged what it calls a war of resistance against the Jewish State.

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Tennessee ACLU Files Lawsuit Against ‘Unconstitutional’ Murfreesboro LGBT Policies

Peter D'Abrosca

The American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee (ACLU) filed a lawsuit in federal court on behalf of LGBT activists who say Murfreesboro discriminates against them.

Tennessee Equality Project (TEP), founder and host of the annual BoroPride Festival, is the plaintiff in the case, which says that a city ordinance designed to keep drag shows out of public places violates the First and 14th Amendments.

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McCabe Predicts the Next Speaker of the House Will be a ‘Placeholder’

Tennessee Star Staff

Historian and national political analyst Neil W. McCabe joined The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Wednesday to share his insights and predictions into why he says Steve Scalise will be the next Speaker of the House. McCabe details the coming twists and turns, and lays out the history of the players and the game underway today in Foggy Bottom.

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Biden Admin Considers Tying Ukraine Funding to Israel Aid Request: Report

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The White House is considering tying more Ukraine funding to a request for a crucial aid package to Israel, in a bid to get Congress back on board with support for Ukraine, The Washington Post reported Monday.

The Biden administration is expected to announce a military aid package for Israel after Hamas and Palestinian militants carried out terrorist attacks against the country that killed over 1,000 Israelis and at least nine Americans. But whether the aid package is approved could depend on Congress approving further funding for Ukraine in tandem, even as support in both chambers for Ukraine aid has dropped dramatically in recent months, according to the Post.

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Tennessee Department of Education Presents Updates on School A-F Grades to State Board of Education Ahead of November Rollout

TC Weber

The Tennessee State Department of Education(TDOE) updated the State Board of Education(SBE) last week on progress toward implementing the state’s A-F school grading system.

Lawmakers passed legislation in 2016 requiring the TDOE to release school letter grades annually. Grades were intended to be implemented during the 2017/18 school year, but state testing issues and COVID-19 prevented the release of those scores until this year. In anticipation of releasing individual school grades, the Department of Education is revising the grading formula to give parents greater clarity. 

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TBI Investigating Officer-Involved Shooting in Nashville

Peter D'Abrosca

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) is investigating another officer-involved shooting this week, this time in Nashville. 

“At the request of 20th Judicial District Attorney General Glenn Funk, TBI special agents are investigating the circumstances leading to a fatal officer-involved shooting that occurred Monday evening in Davidson County,” TBI said in a press release. 

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Oklahoma Approves Contract for America’s First Religious Charter School

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The Oklahoma Statewide Virtual Charter School Board approved a contract Monday for the country’s first religious charter school, according to The Washington Post.

The charter for the St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School was approved by the board in June, but a lawsuit was filed in July in an attempt to block the state from allowing religious groups to use taxpayer funding for schools. The board, however, went ahead with approving a contract this week in a 3 to 2 vote, putting the school one step closer to opening enrollment for the fall of 2024, according to the Post.

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Greater Pandemic Learning Losses Reported in School Districts with DEI Officers

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On Wednesday, a new report was released showing that school districts with chief diversity officers (CDOs) and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) officers saw greater losses in learning capabilities during the Chinese Coronavirus pandemic than schools that do not have such positions.

According to Fox News, the report from The Heritage Foundation reveals that 48% of all school districts with 15,000 students or more had a CDO or DEI officer on campus. Despite such positions ostensibly being created in order to increase the performance of minority students, schools with these employees saw bigger losses in academic performance among black and Hispanic students than schools without them.

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Court: Michigan Dam Owner Responsible for May 2020 Flooding

The Center Square

A federal judge has found the owner of the Edenville Dam responsible for widespread flooding in May 2020, that together with heavy rain, forced the evacuation of more than 10,000 people from 3,500 homes in mid-Michigan. 

U.S. District Court Judge Paul Maloney granted Attorney General Dana Nessel a summary judgment against Boyce Hydro. Nessel had filed the motion on behalf of the Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy and the Department of Natural Resources.

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Commentary: Rumors of ESG’s Demise Are Greatly Exaggerated

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Consumer and Republican backlash against Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) investments has increased dramatically in the past year as states, Congress and presidential candidates have taken on the issue, promising to rein in the largely green-conscious movement of capital amid spiraling energy and food costs since 2021.

Boycotts of brands such as Bud Light, Disney and Target, coupled with statements by Blackrock CEO Larry Fink that he no longer wanted to call these so-called sustainable investments ESG— at Aspen Ideas Festival on June 25 Fink said “I’m not going to use the word ESG because it’s been misused by the far left and the far right… we talk a lot about decarbonization, we talk a lot about governance … or social issues, if that’s something we need to address…”—and reported outflows from ESG funds in 2023 have painted a gloomy picture for green and socially conscious investing.

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Ilhan Omar Implores Americans to ‘Oppose Israeli Military Response’ to Hamas Attacks

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U.S. Rep Ilhan Omar took to social media on Monday imploring Americans to “oppose the Israeli military response” to the surprise attack that Hamas orchestrated on Israeli civilians over the weekend that is estimated to have killed more than 900.

“As the world is condemning Hamas’s attacks, we must also oppose an Israeli military response that has already taken the lives of hundreds of Palestinians, including nearly two dozen children,” Omar said as part of a 12-tweet thread she unfurled on Monday mid-afternoon.

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Fani Willis Argues Attorney-Client Privilege Invalid for Lawyer Who Wrote Memos for Trump Campaign in Georgia

Tom Pappert

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis argued in a legal filing on Tuesday that attorney-client privilege should not be extended to legal memos and emails written by pro-Trump lawyer Kenneth Chesebro, who she indicted in August for the legal strategies he gave former President Donald Trump and his campaign in support of their 2020 election contest in Georgia.

In response to Chesebro’s request to have a handful of memos and emails stricken, citing his attorney-client privilege with the Trump campaign, Willis and Fulton County argued the “documents formed the bases for a criminal conspiracy” to “unlawfully overturn” the 2020 election results, and thus “cannot receive the protections afforded to lawful attorney communications or documents.”

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Florida Attorney General Asks State Supreme Court to Intervene in Proposed Abortion Amendment

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Republican Attorney General Ashley Moody of Florida asked the state Supreme Court Monday to review language for a proposed abortion amendment that would enshrine the practice up to viability, according to The National Desk.

The amendment was submitted by Floridians Protecting Freedom (FPF) and has amassed 0ver 400,000 of the 891,523 signatures needed by Feb. 1 to get the amendment on the November 2024 ballot, according to The National Desk. Moody has been vocal in her opposition to the amendment and told the court Monday that she felt FPF’s proposed language did not “satisfy the legal requirements” for a spot on the ballot.

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Miyares and 26 Other State AGs Request Federal Government End Catch-and-Release Policies

The Center Square

Twenty-seven attorneys general, led by Florida’s Ashley Moody, are demanding Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas “fix the problem you created” and close the catch-and-release loophole DHS is “currently exploiting to implement its mass release policy at the Southwest Border.”

The coalition filed a Petition for Rulemaking demanding that Mayorkas amend DHS’s catch-and-release policies. In their 6-page letter, they point to how “DHS is releasing aliens at a rate of over one million per year, and that does not include the aliens being released on parole under § 1182(d)(5).”

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Connecticut Attorney General Pledges to Scrutinize Gas Rate Hike

The Center Square

Connecticut’s consumer advocates are pushing back against natural gas rate increases sought by one of the state’s largest utilities, which comes as the company fights state regulators’ rejection of an electric rate hike in court.

In filings to the state Public Utilities Regulatory Authority, Southern Connecticut Natural Gas and Connecticut Natural Gas request approval to increase their average gas distribution rates by 5-9% during the winter season.

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Kari Lake to Enter Arizona Senate Race with Slight Lead over Gallego, Sinema: Poll

Tom Pappert

Former gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake officially announced her campaign for Arizona Senate on Tuesday, having previously filed paperwork to run in early October. Though she has yet to secure the Republican Party’s nomination, polling released this week suggests she enters the race as the front runner against both Democratic Representative Ruben Gallego (D-AZ-03) and incumbent Senator Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ).

In a three-way race, pollsters at Republican-leaning National Research Inc. reported on Tuesday that 37 percent of Arizonans will back Lake. Gallego polled in second, with 33 percent of support, while Sinema was supported by just 19 percent of respondents. Pollsters say 10 percent remained undecided.

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Fani Willis’ Office Failed to Meet Deadlines, Allowing Potentially Dangerous Defendants to Post Bail

Tom Pappert

A new report published Tuesday reveals Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ office has repeatedly failed to charge alleged criminals within a 90-day window from their arrest, forcing judges who previously denied them bail to renege and grant it, with at least 20 separate instances identified by 11 Alive.

Georgia law requires those who are arrested and refused bail to be formally indicted within 90 days, or else given bail, and 11 Alive claims court documents prove the county has failed to do this nearly two dozen times.

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Wisconsin Democrats, Groups Applaud Protasiewicz Decision to Stay on Election Map Cases

The Center Square

The showdown over Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Janet Protasiewicz and the state’s redistricting process continues after Protasiewicz announced she would not recuse herself from two challenges to Wisconsin’s electoral maps.

“I will set aside my opinions and decide cases based on the law. There will surely be many cases in which I reach results that I personally dislike. That is what it means to be a judge,” she said in a statement.

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California Bar Disciplinary Judge Declines to Discipline Attorney Who Tweeted About Shooting Looters, Ruled it Was Free Speech

Rachel Alexander

State bars have become notorious for bringing charges against conservative attorneys like Donald Trump’s former attorney and constitutional legal scholar John Eastman, but last week a California disciplinary court judge dismissed such politically motivated charges. California Bar Disciplinary Court Judge Dennis G. Saab ruled on October 3 that attorney Marla Anne Brown did not engage in professional misconduct by tweeting that looters should be shot, since it was protected free speech in her personal capacity. 

“The highest priority of the State Bar of California is public protection,” said Brown’s attorney Jesse D. Franklin-Murdock. “The State Bar Court lived up to that promise by reaffirming that Ms. Brown has the same First Amendment rights that all lawyers have.” 

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China’s Real Estate Crisis Worsens as Companies Risk Default

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Two of China’s top real estate developers both show signs that they may not be able to pay off their international debts as the country’s property sector continues to suffer, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Country Garden, which just one year ago appeared to be withstanding China’s tumultuous real estate crisis, failed to make a payment to international bondholders Monday after it reported disappointing September sales, according to the WSJ. China Evergrande, another major Chinese developer, abandoned a debt restructuring deal after regulators barred it from issuing new securities that it needed to fulfill its obligations due to its subsidiary being under investigation, which could now lead to the collapse of the company.

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Music Spotlight: Annie Bosko

Bethany Bowman

A California farmer’s daughter, Annie Bosko’s soulful, honey-soaked vocals and neo-traditional country sound has been perfected throughout her 10,000 + hours in the music industry. And while she doesn’t quite have that southern twang, her voice is exquisite. Even more importantly, she was raised on traditional country music.

She recalled, “My dad was a farmer. We would drive around in his truck and go look at the crops and he would play me country music. The first person I remember hearing is Patsy Cline. I remember this voice jumping at me through the speakers of his truck and I was like, ‘Oh, my God, what is this?’”

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Alaska High School Sports Association Bars Boys from Competing on Girls’ Teams

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The Alaska School Activities Association (ASAA) board of directors voted to adopt a rule Monday that bans boys from competing on girl’s teams in public schools, according to Anchorage Daily News.

Legislation to ban boys from girls’ sports failed to pass the Alaska legislature in recent legislative sessions, and the Alaska Board of Education, whose members were appointed by Alaska Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy, voted for a measure doing so in August, according to Anchorage Daily News. The ASAA board of directors proposed to amend association bylaws at its meeting to adopt the measure, and voted on Oct. 9 to ban boys from participating in girls’ sports.

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Commentary: The Left Would Grab Your Guns in a Minute If Patriots Stopped Defending the Constitution

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The Left constantly reassures Americans that they do not want to take away firearms, but actions speak louder than words.

In September, New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) used an emergency public health order to suspend the Second Amendment for 30 days in Albuquerque and the surrounding Bernalillo County. Grisham knew fully well that she was violating the Constitution (in fact, she happily admitted so). A handful of gun control advocates quickly condemned her unprecedented decision, but not because they respect the Constitution.

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