The Faith and Freedom Coalition (FFC) released a statement Wednesday congratulating Louisiana U.S. Representative Mike Johnson (R-LA-04) after he was elected the 56th Speaker of the House.
Read the full story
Fox News At least 22 people are dead following a deadly shooting in a Maine city that spanned three locations on Wednesday night, Fox News has confirmed. Fox News has confirmed that the active shooter incident occurred at three locations— Schemengees Bar and Grille Restaurant, a Walmart store and Sparetime Recreation. Maine State Police said, in a Facebook post, that there is an active shooting situation in Lewiston, a city of 36,000, 35 miles north of Portland. DEVELOPING… READ THE FULL STORY
Read the full story
The United Auto Workers union and Ford Motor Company have reached a tentative deal to end the ongoing strike, pending approval from union leaders.
The ongoing strike has thus far lasted nearly six weeks. Exact terms of the agreement remain unclear, though the final deal could be announced as early as Wednesday evening, CNBC reported, citing sources familiar with the talks.
Read the full story
Israel agreed to delay an invasion of Gaza until the Department of Defense completes plans to boost air defenses around U.S. troops in the Middle East, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.
The Pentagon is sending nearly a dozen air defense systems to the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) region, Iraq, Syria, Kuwait, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, to protect American service members from credible threats of attacks by Iran-backed militias. U.S. officials had asked Israel to create time to emplace the air defenses before launching operations that promise to trigger more bombardments on U.S. military positions, the WSJ reported, citing U.S. and Israeli officials.
Read the full story
The FBI received information about possible criminal activity involving the Biden family from more than 40 informants over an extended period of time, but most avenues of investigation were thwarted, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, revealed in a bombshell letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland, released Wednesday.
Read the full story
A rally in support of Israel is set to be held this week at Legislative Plaza in Nashville.
The rally, hosted by the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem (ICEJ), will be held from 1:00 p.m.-3:00 p.m. on Friday. The rally will feature special guest speakers including state representatives, senators, pastors, rabbis, music artists, and community leaders.
Read the full story
The GOP-led House voted Wednesday to elect Rep. Mike Johnson speaker after 3 weeks without a chamber leader, according to the final vote tally.
Read the full story
Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., won the House speaker nomination on Tuesday night, becoming the fourth candidate to do so after the ousting of former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy three weeks ago.
Johnson, vice chair of the House GOP conference, lost to House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., earlier on Tuesday but Emmer eventually dropped out due to opposition from enough Republicans to sink his ascension to the speakership on the House floor.
Read the full story
Tennessee’s Department of Children’s Services (DCS) is highlighting a new anti-human trafficking team, which was formed as part of the state’s ongoing effort to combat the practice.
“We’ve had over 500 reports since the beginning of the year,” Kate Greer, the Director of the Human Trafficking Response Team, which is part of DCS, reportedly said.
Read the full story
The Biden administration is readying plans for mass evacuations of American citizens from Middle East hotspots amid fears of significant escalation of violence in the region, The Washington Post reported.
Hundreds of thousands of U.S. citizens could require rescue from Israel and Lebanon if the war between Israel and Gaza spills over into neighboring states, raising the prospect of the largest noncombat evacuation in recent memory, the Post reported, citing four U.S. officials familiar with the government’s contingency planning. Hezbollah in Lebanon and other Iran-backed militant groups throughout the Middle East have stepped up violence since the war’s onset and threatened to escalate further once Israel commences its planned ground operation in Gaza.
Read the full story
The Department of Homeland Security has been using a migrant processing app to release hundreds of thousands of otherwise inadmissible foreign nationals into the U.S. interior, according to documents obtained by the House Homeland Security Committee.
CBP One is an app through which would-be entrants to the United States may schedule appointments to appear at U.S. ports of entry. Ostensibly, its users must be in northern Mexico to schedule an appointment, though reporting from the Washington Examiner has suggested that users have turned to virtual private networks (VPN) to evade the geographic requirements. Moreover, the app has come under fire due to its alleged use by cartels in human trafficking operations.
Read the full story
Several current and former congressional oversight staff have been recently informed that the U.S. Justice Department seized their phone and email records back in 2017 as part of leak investigations, belated revelations that have touched off an inquiry by DOJ’s internal watchdog and raised serious concerns about the separation of powers between the executive and legislative branches.
Over the last week, several current and former Senate and House staff from both political parties have alerted Congress that they received belated notifications from Apple, Google or other Big Tech firms that their email or phone records were obtained from their personal devices via a grand jury subpoena.
Read the full story
Government-funded news outlet Voice of America (VOA) management has ordered its employees not to refer to Hamas as “terrorists” unless they are quoting statements, National Review reported.
VOA’s guidance originally distributed on Oct. 10 suggests that reporters and editors are allowed to refer to Hamas’ Oct. 7 assault on Israel as terrorist attacks or acts of terror but informed staff they should “avoid calling Hamas and its members terrorists, except in quotes,” according to emails National Review obtained. VOA’s associate editor responsible for news standards conveyed the publication’s guidelines regarding reporting on the initial attacks and the subsequent Israeli retaliation in an email to employees on Friday.
Read the full story
Tennessee’s Attorney General is leading a bipartisan coalition of 42 states in suing Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, alleging that Instagram causes mental health harms to its young users.
“Meta has known for years that Instagram causes psychological harm to young users,” said General Skrmetti in a Tuesday press release. “Rather than take steps to reduce or disclose the harm, Meta leaned further in to its profit-maximizing approach that hurts kids. Targeting kids with a harmful product and lying about its safety violates the Tennessee Consumer Protection Act. Meta knows every last design decision that made Instagram addictive to kids and that means it knows exactly how to fix the problem. We’re suing to make the company fix the problem.”
Read the full story
The 1990s and early 2000s weren’t particularly kind to Southside Virginia’s Pittsylvania County, but some sustained, concerted efforts to turn things around may be paying off.
For much of those decades, the county’s unemployment rate exceeded the nation and Virginia. But in recent years, that has changed. Now, Pittsylvania County’s unemployment rate of 3.1% is significantly better than the national average, though it still lags the state (Virginia has the eighth-lowest rate in the country).
Read the full story
As housing costs rise in many parts of the commonwealth, Pennsylvania policymakers want to boost supply to meet demand.
“If we don’t continue to increase the inventory at all levels, we’re never going to get to where we need to be,” Rep. Mike Sturla, D-Lancaster, said during a House Housing and Community Development meeting on Monday. “We can’t build our way out by just building subsidized housing.”
Read the full story
According to the latest figures from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Florida has a seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate of 2.8% and ranks 14th overall, sharing a spot with Kansas and Hawaii.
Of the five largest states by population — California, Texas, Florida, New York and Pennsylvania — Florida has the lowest unemployment rate. At the same time, New York, Texas and California all sit above the national average of 3.8%.
Read the full story
Ohio U.S. Senator JD Vance (R-OH) criticized President Joe Biden’s request for Congress to fund a lump aid package intended for efforts in Ukraine, Israel, at the U.S.-Mexico border, and more.
Read the full story
Wisconsin’s top economist says the state’s economy is in a great place to grow, as long as the state doesn’t lose what makes it great.
John Koskinen, the chief economist for the state of Wisconsin, told the Wisconsin Economic Summit on Monday that Wisconsin has a strong workforce that wants to work, a large and solid manufacturing base and the potential to grow.
Read the full story
With less than two weeks before Virginia’s November 7 legislative elections, Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin continues to get high marks from commonwealth voters, as the voters are split evenly between Republicans and Democrats on a generic legislative ballot.
Respondents were asked: “Do you approve or disapprove of Governor Glenn Youngkin’s job performance?” Fifty-seven percent approve of the commonwealth’s helmsman, with 43 percent disapproving, according to a poll conducted by Founders Insight with 969 likely voters October 14 through October 17. The poll carries a 3.91 percentage point margin of error.
Read the full story
The Michigan Court of Claims ruled Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson’s office must either rescind or revise a May 2022 Manual for election poll challengers.
The 15-page ruling analyzed four restrictions on poll challengers, including the credential form requirement, the requirement that communication only is with the “Challenger Liaison”, the prohibition on recording “impermissible challenges,” and the prohibition on electronic devices in the Absent Voter Counting Board.
Read the full story
Drops in inflation-adjusted compensation and wages preceded the losses of Harry Truman in 1952, who opted not to run, Gerald Ford in 1976, Jimmy Carter in 1980, George H.W. Bush in 1992 and Donald Trump in 2020, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics and Bureau of Economic Analysis data.
They also preceded the historic wipeouts of Republicans in 2008 by Barack Obama and Senate Democrats in the 1958 midterms, and the Republican House wins of the 2010 and 2022 midterms.
Read the full story
Some time after Hamas launched its devastating surprise attack against Israel on October 7, Representative Ruben Gallego (D-AZ-03) quietly deleted a 2021 press release from his official House website that expressed human rights concerns about Israel’s tactics during the conflict with Hamas.
The press release from Gallego, who is now running for U.S. Senate in Arizona, came in response to violence a period of violence in Israel and Palestine in May of 2021. Protesters were initially upset by an Israeli court’s intention to evict six Palestinian families from contested territory, and some ultimately threw stones at Israeli police. This provoked an Israeli police response that included the use of tear gas, rubber bullets, and stun grenades during a raid at the Al-Aqsa mosque.
Read the full story
An independent, Columbus-based analysis group believes approving recreational marijuana would mean hundreds of millions of tax dollars for the state.
But a state senator thinks it’s not worth it.
Read the full story
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) bills itself as a leading advocate for justice and mutual understanding, with a mission to “enhance understanding of Islam, protect civil rights, promote justice, and empower American Muslims.”
CAIR is a wolf in sheep’s clothing, say Jewish groups that have watched the council vilify Israel and stand silent on the unholy warriors of Hamas.
Read the full story
Jenna Ellis became the fourth defendant indicted in the Georgia racketeering case against former President Donald Trump to accept a plea deal on Tuesday. Her plea was abruptly announced in a live-streamed court appearance, during which Ellis expressed contrition for her actions to contest the 2020 election results.
Ellis pleaded guilty to an updated indictment from Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, admitting to one count of aiding and abetting false statements and writings. She is specifically charged with making false statements to the Georgia Senate at a Senate Judiciary Subcommittee meeting. Willis claimed she “aided and abetted” former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
Read the full story
Jeffrey Clark, an attorney who served at high levels of the Department of Justice under President Donald Trump, including briefly as acting Attorney General, has been indicted by Fulton County District Attorney Fanni Willis along with Trump in the racketeering case over the 2020 election challenges, and charged with dishonesty and attempting to interfere with the administration of justice by the District of Columbia Bar. The charges in both relate to a memo Clark drafted about 2020 election irregularities in Georgia addressed to Georgia officials that was never sent. His bar disciplinary trial is scheduled for January, but he has been attempting to postpone it until after the criminal proceedings are finished.
On Thursday, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals Board on Professional Responsibility held a hearing to consider his deferral request. The court is expected to issue a ruling shortly.
Read the full story
I’ll admit that I don’t watch music competition shows like I did when I was younger. When I watch TV, it’s usually a mind-numbing procedural or mystery.
But thankfully, a lot of the people I interview got their start on a show and if they are country, they often find their way into my email inbox. Because the competition is so fierce, most of the artists pitched to me are outstanding performers. Orlando Mendez is one such artist and I feel privileged to tell his story.
Read the full story
The Georgia Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that the state’s six-week abortion ban should remain in place, refuting a lower court’s argument that the law was unconstitutional, according to court documents.
A group of pro-abortion organizations, including the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia, filed a lawsuit in July 2022 and a trial court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, saying that the 2019 law was signed prior to the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Center and was, ultimately, unconstitutional, according to NPR. The state’s Supreme Court, however, dismissed the lower court’s decision and said that the previous ruling “rests on a faulty premise” that the Dobbs decision changed the meaning of the Constitution, itself, according to WABE, a local media outlet.
Read the full story
In the state of Oregon, high school students will no longer need to display basic comprehension of reading, math, or writing in order to graduate, with state officials claiming that such a change is necessary to guarantee higher graduation rates for minority students.
As reported by Fox News, the pause on such basic graduation requirements had first been implemented during the Chinese Coronavirus pandemic. But last week, the Oregon State Board of Education voted unanimously to extend the requirement suspension at least until the end of the 2027-2028 school year.
Read the full story
The reason you have not heard of a gag order on par with the one imposed on former President Trump is that it is highly unusual. Normally, in a criminal proceeding, there are no gag orders. To the extent they exist, they typically only bind the lawyers, who are admonished to adhere to the rules of professional conduct. Rarely—as in almost never—are criminal defendants forced into a gag order on such spurious grounds as they might “vilify and implicitly encourage violence against public servants who are simply doing their jobs.”
Read the full story
In all my years of existence, the Second Amendment of our Constitution has always been considered controversial. Opponents claim it is the cause of gun violence. Proponents assert that it helps guarantee freedom and safety.
Read the full story
Praise for the “common man” is all too common in the world. It’s the “uncommon” man (or woman) for whom we ought to be most grateful.
Who in their right mind tells their children to aspire to nothing more than common or average? Good parenting is nothing less than encouraging children to become better than simply “run of the mill.” Since when is it a virtue to blend in with the mob, indistinguishable from the mediocre? Who itches to see a movie if the reviews suggest it’s just ordinary and unexceptional?
Read the full story
A battery firm with considerable ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could pose significant espionage and national security risks to the U.S. as policymakers move to electrify American life, according to a new report by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), a non-partisan research institute focused on issues of national security and foreign affairs.
CATL, a battery manufacturing firm headquartered in Fujian, China, is a major player in the global battery market, as it already holds a dominant position in the global electric vehicle (EV) battery market and is poised to supply crucial large-scale energy storage systems to American utility companies to help them provide the decarbonized power grids of the future, according to the FDD report. CATL, which has subsidiaries based in the U.S. and several European countries, has already had equipment installed within a U.S. military base, and the burgeoning dependence on the Chinese company’s products may leave essential American infrastructure vulnerable to espionage and malware attacks, according to the FDD report.
Read the full story