Millions of Americans who use AT&T’s phone network are having their phone calls monitored by a surveillance program called Data Analytical Services (DAS), which has had coordination with federal and local law enforcement agencies.
According to a document obtained by WIRED, DAS has been secretly collecting and analyzing over one trillion domestic phone records within the U.S. each year.
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NewsBusters Members of the Free Speech Alliance and pro-free speech allies are calling on Congress to once and for all ensure that the Biden administration is prohibited from unconstitutionally funding Ministry of Truth operations like leftist internet traffic cop NewsGuard. MRC and others signed the four-page letter addressed to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), urging congressional leaders to keep Rep. Richard McCormick (R-GA)’s free speech amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The amendment effectively bars the Department of Defense from contracting and funding infamous leftist tech entities like NewsGuard and the Global Disinformation Index (GDI) which are intent on crushing right-leaning media entities. Signed by 36 pro-free speech advocates, the letter drew attention to disturbing revelations miring both NewsGuard (which received a $750,000 payout from the Department of Defense in 2021) and GDI which is also funded by government entities, including the Department of State. READ THE FULL STORY
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Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) introduced a bill with Senator Katie Britt (R-AL) to combat the alleged recycling of illegal immigrant children at the southern border. The bill would empower U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to fingerprint non-citizens under the age of 14.
With a database of children taken into the country illegally, the senators’ Preventing the Recycling of Immigrants is Necessary for Trafficking Suspension (PRINTS) Act would then require CBP to “publicly report the number of apprehensions in a given month involving child traffickers who falsely claimed that an accompanying child was a relative and submit an annual report to Congress identifying the number of minors who were fingerprinted” due to the legislation.
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Saint Mary’s College in Notre Dame, Indiana, will begin allowing men who identify as women to enroll at the college in the fall of 2024, an email obtained by The Daily Signal shows.
President Katie Conboy told faculty in an email sent Tuesday afternoon that “Saint Mary’s will consider undergraduate applicants whose sex assigned at birth is female or who consistently live and identify as women.” That news was first reported by the Notre Dame student newspaper, The Observer.
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Tennessee Governor Bill Lee and First Lady Maria Lee announced that the state’s annual official Christmas events, including Christmas at the Capitol and “Heaven and Nature Sing” tours of the Tennessee Residence, will begin next week.
As part of the First Lady’s Tennessee Serves initiative, the Lees are inviting guests to bring requested items to the state’s Christmas events in support of five nonprofit organizations including Creative Aging Memphis, Birthright of Memphis, Jonathan’s Path, Dismas House, and Sevier County Food Ministries, according to a press release by Lee’s office.
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A majority of U.S. voters feel that the “American dream” cannot be achieved, according to a poll conducted by the Wall Street Journal and NORC.
Approximately 36% of voters said that the American Dream – as defined by the notion that if an individual works hard, they will get ahead – was attainable, down from 68% who said the same last year, according to the WSJ/NORC poll released on Friday. Roughly two-thirds of voters feel the economy is in poor condition as inflation continues to outpace wages and prices continue to rise.
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The move to expand Tennessee’s Education Savings Account (ESA) program statewide is expected to have a very powerful ally in the General Assembly’s next session, sources told The Tennessee Star.
State Representative Bryan Richey (R-Maryville) said Governor Bill Lee is planning a press conference on Tuesday to discuss a bill to expand ESA beyond Metro Nashville, Memphis, and Hamilton County into all of Tennessee’s 95 counties.
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State bars are coming under criticism for aggressively going after conservative attorneys and disciplining them, while looking the other way when it comes to legal abuses by left-wing attorneys. The Florida State Bar is pursuing disciplinary charges against decorated veteran Chris Crowley over remarks he made about his opponent Amira D. Fox in 2018 when he was campaigning against her for Office of the State Attorney in Florida’s 20th Judicial Circuit. Most state bars have an ethics rule, adopted from the American Bar Association’s model rules, that restricts attorneys from criticizing public officials, candidates for office, and judges.
A Florida attorney familiar with the case, who preferred not to be identified due to fear of retaliation, told The Arizona Sun Times, “The Florida Bar is now a political organization dominated by the progressive left. The Florida Bar picks and chooses which political speech to go after, depending on who is politically connected. This is a disgrace to the legal profession.” The source said Fox is part of the establishment.
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While Minnesota Congressman Dean Phillips continues his longshot campaign to wrest away the Democrat nomination for president from incumbent Joe Biden, the Wayzata millionaire officially announced on Friday that he’ll no longer pursue a fourth term in the U.S. House of Representatives.
“Representing our nation’s most civically engaged community in Congress has been the most joyful experience of my life,” Phillips said in a social media post shortly after noon on Friday. “Now it’s time to pass the torch — with gratitude and optimism.”
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With an early declaration from Democrat Rep. Abigail Spanberger that she will be running for governor in 2025 and Virginia’s one-term policy preventing Gov. Glenn Youngkin from running consecutively, Republicans can only speculate who their candidates will be.
Spanberger has said she declared early due to next year’s congressional races in which her seat will be reelected. She wanted to give interested parties time to prepare a strong campaign to keep District 7 blue.
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Young voters were one of the core coalitions that installed President Biden in the White House, supporting him by a twenty-four-point margin in 2020. Peering deeper into the data, young voters have been slowly drifting away from Democrats in each election since 2012. That drift has rapidly accelerated in the past three years as economic issues have become paramount for young adults. New polling suggests Biden is on track to lose double-digits with voters under thirty compared to the 2020 election, and economic issues are at the center of the problem.
Stagnant wages, crippling inflation, a housing affordability crisis, the importation of cheap foreign labor, and an absurd regulatory environment that stifles small business growth are issues all Americans face, but young people are hit particularly hard in Biden’s economy.
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The state of Ohio’s consultant for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion is facing a state investigation after publishing a Forbes column on “decentering whiteness.”
Ohio Republican Sen. J.D. Vance announced he would pursue an investigation into BWG Business Solutions, which was founded and headed by Janice Gassam Asare, who wrote the Forbes article.
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As the semiconductor industry expands in Arizona, the state continues to work toward developing enough in-state talent.
Gov. Katie Hobbs announced that the state would be investing $4 million into registered semiconductor apprenticeships, which includes a partnership with NXP Semiconductors.
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Is the Line 5 pipeline an essential source of energy or is it an environmental hazard?
Since 2019, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Attorney General Dana Nessel have sought to shut down Line 5, which has been pumping about 540,000 gallons of hydrocarbons daily across the lakebed of Lake Michigan since 1953. Whitmer and Nessel say they fear a spill similar to the 2010 oil spill near the Kalamazoo River – the largest inland oil spill in U.S. history.
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Eliminating licensing requirements for some professions in Georgia could help businesses and bring more people into the workforce.
“We did a national ranking in terms of occupational licensing, and we had Georgia coming in at 32nd with first being the worst,” Edward Timmons, director of the Knee Regulatory Research Center at West Virginia University, which recently rebranded from the Knee Center for the Study of Occupational Regulation, told The Center Square.
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Pennsylvania has grown its state forest land again with the addition of 2,500 acres to Pinchot State Forest in Wyoming County.
The property, called Miller Mountain, is the first forest land in the county follows last year’s creation of Vosburg Neck State Park, the county’s first state park.
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Convenience store chain Quiktrip announced a donation of $3 million to various nonprofit organizations in the Phoenix area, including some supporting local law enforcement.
The relationships between Quiktrip and the Phoenix Police Foundation, Phoenix Law Enforcement Association (PLEA), and Phoenix Police Sergeants and Lieutenants Association (PPSLA) are new, which earned the praise of Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego.
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A U.K. museum says that Roman emperor Elagabalus was a transgender woman and it will refer to the third-century ruler as “she.”
The North Hertfordshire Museum said it wants to be “sensitive” to the reported preferred pronouns of Elagabalus, who ruled from A.D. 218 to A.D. 222 before being assassinated at the age of 18, according to The Telegraph.
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Voters in Argentina have elected a libertarian as president for the first time in their history. On Sunday, Argentina had its second round of voting, and Javier Milei received 55.69% of the vote against the Peronist Sergio Massa’s 44.31%. In a country that suffers 143% annual inflation and a poverty rate hovering around 43%, Milei has a long and difficult road ahead.
Milei’s win marks the first time in 40 years that someone outside Argentina’s two largest parties was elected. La Libertad Avanza, Milei’s 3-year-old political party, finally broke through the entrenched and archaic political apparatus. In a tweet back in June, Milei stated that Argentina was choosing between the old politics and the new ideas. During his presidential campaign, Milei pledged to tackle Argentina’s inflationary unhealthy economy by dollarizing the peso and minimizing government spending.
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Transgender orthodoxy may soon become a litmus test for parenthood, according to the logic of a new policy working its way through the Department of Health and Human Services under President Joe Biden.
A new rule in HHS’ Administration for Children and Families would apply the idea that any lack of “affirmation” constitutes a form of child abuse to foster care placements. Once that idea takes root in foster care, child protective services agencies might start applying it more broadly.
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All traditionalists share a few hallmark traits. Among them are traditional morals, a burning desire for government reform, and a strong distaste for progressive societal values. As with any sect, though, sub-stereotypes exist. In traditionalists circles, there are five types of people. Not a single traditionalist doesn’t fit into one of these boxes. (Or at least, that’s how it seems. Could it be possible that sticking everyone into a box doesn’t capture the whole person?)
What are these types? And how does each stand out as unique?
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The Biden administration is gearing up to finalize a host of emissions rules and regulations in the coming months, E&E News reported Wednesday.
The rules and regulations are all focused on methane, a greenhouse gas that is more potent, but dissipates more quickly, than carbon dioxide, and align with the administration’s commitment to attacking climate change with a “whole-of-government” response. The Biden administration is aiming to finalize the slew of methane regulations in the coming months ahead of the 2024 election, which would make the rules more difficult for a potential Republican administration to scrap should President Joe Biden lose, according to E&E News.
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The New York Post Hundreds of “radicalized” kids rampaged through the halls of a Queens high school this week for nearly two hours after they discovered a teacher had attended a pro-Israel rally — forcing the terrified educator to hide in a locked office after the teen mob tried to push its way into her classroom, The Post has learned. The mayhem at Hillcrest High School in Jamaica unfolded shortly after 11 a.m. Monday in what students called a pre-planned protest over the teacher’s Facebook profile photo showing her at a pro-Israel rally on Queens Oct. 9 holding a poster saying, “I stand with Israel.” “The teacher was seen holding a sign of Israel, like supporting it,” a senior told The Post this week. READ THE FULL STORY
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A biological man who identifies as a transgender woman has been charged with 14 felony counts of Interstate Communication of a Threat to Injure after allegedly threatening to shoot, rape, and infect children in school with HIV.
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A new analysis by the international research think tank Tax Foundation shows which states in the nation collect the least and most taxes per capita as of fiscal year (FY) 2021, the most recent year for which full state-by-state data are available.
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The Supreme Court will consider next week whether the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) use of in-house judges violates the right to a jury trial guaranteed in the Seventh Amendment.
Congress empowered the SEC to use its own in-house administrative law judges (ALJs) to try cases brought by agency enforcement when it passed the Dodd-Frank Act following the 2008 financial crisis. George R. Jarkesy, who has been caught in the SEC’s administrative proceedings since the agency charged him with fraud relating to his investment activities in 2013, challenged that grant of power as unconstitutional.
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The impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden is gaining momentum as more evidence comes out to back allegations that the president himself financially benefited from the overseas business dealings of his son, Hunter.
While Republicans will find it very difficult to get the needed supermajority to impeach Biden, the mounting evidence and media coverage would be another obstacle for Biden to overcome as he campaigns for reelection.
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Illegal marijuana grows run by Chinese nationals have sprung up all across the state of Maine, and residents say law enforcement isn’t doing enough to stop their spread.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) identified 270 suspected Chinese illegal marijuana grow operations in the state that could be making an estimated $4.37 billion in revenue, which are often used for more criminal activities or are sent back to China, the DCNF exclusively reported in August. The DCNF visited dozens of properties identified as suspected Chinese marijuana grows by the DHS memo, as well as other locations reported to be possible Chinese marijuana grows by The Maine Wire.
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The Murfreesboro Police Department (MPD) has released the body cam footage of an officer who shot a man armed with two knives charging at him inside Jason’s Deli at The Oaks Shopping Center on N. Thompson Lane.
On Wednesday, Officer Adam Claiborne, a 5-year veteran of MPD, responded to Jason’s Deli regarding an individual who had just attempted to rob the driver of an armored van at an ATM in the same shopping plaza.
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The U.S. Air Force sent out a letter telling an airman booted from the service over the now-rescinded COVID-19 vaccine mandate of an opportunity to rejoin the service, mirroring similar letters sent to former Army service members, according to a copy of one Air Force letter obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
A former Air Force service member who was separated for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine received the letter Sunday addressed with the recipient’s name, according to a source familiar with the matter. The letter tells former airmen they can request to have their service records amended to show that they received honorable discharges and seek reentry into the service amidst the service’s failure to meet recruiting goals.
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A University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy professor is waving a red flag on the impact that artificial intelligence could have on next year’s elections.
Ethan Bueno de Mesquita has written a white paper which he said provides an overview of the potential impact of generative AI on the electoral process. The paper offers specific recommendations for voters, journalists, civil society, tech leaders and other stakeholders to help manage the risks and capitalize on the promise of AI for electoral democracy in the hope of fostering a more productive public discussion of these issues.
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A pro-Palestine, anti-Israel rally will occur on the University of Tennessee, Knoxville’s (UTK) campus next week, according to the group Students for Justice in Palestine at UTK.
On Instagram, the group announced its plans to hold an art installation and rally for Palestine at the Pedestrian Walkway in the heart of the UT Knoxville campus on December 1 at 11:00 a.m.
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A special meeting of the Arizona Civil Rights Advisory Board (ACRAB) was called on Tuesday to respond to what Attorney General Kris Mayes (D) called a “surge” in “antisemitic crimes” throughout the state.
ACRAB is a “politically balanced volunteer body” of Arizonans appointed by the governor to three year terms. There are currently three Republicans and three Democrats on ACRAB’s board, with one board seat vacant.
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As 2023 is winding down to a close, the U.S. trade in goods deficit with the world is down $101 billion for the first nine months of the year to $802 billion, an 11.2 percent decrease so far, with still three months of data left to collect for the year, according to the latest data from the U.S. Census Bureau.
Simultaneously, existing home sales measured by the National Association of Realtors are down to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.79 million, a 16.7 percent decrease from its Feb. 2023 level of 4.5 million, and are averaging 4.16 million for the past 12 months. Overall, existing home sales are down the past 12 months by almost 32 percent from their 2021 high of 6.12 million. That’s a lot.
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President Joe Biden and major donors to the Democratic Party do not consider Georgia to be a “top tier” priority for the 2024 elections, according to multiple progressive and Democratic activists quoted in a New York Times report published Friday.
Cliff Albright, executive director of the Black Voters Matter Fund, told the publication his impression from “Democratic donors and party leaders” is that Georgia is “not, like, first tier,” adding that “some early indications are that it’s not going to get top-level prioritization.” The left wing group he co-founded spent more than $1 million to oppose former Republican Senators Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue in 2020, and nearly $400,000 to elect Democratic Senators Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff.
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Virginia’s Attorney General Jason Miyares and Sergeant Major Carlos Ruiz, the newest Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps basically changed jobs during recent events in Virginia and on the battlefield in the Middle East.
Known for their fearless service in combat and garrison advising senior officers, political presentations are not part of a Sergeant Major’s job description.
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The Biden Homeland Security Department’s new pronoun rules for illegal immigrants is getting lambasted by the union for border patrol agents as an unnecessary distraction during the nation’s border and fentanyl crises.
A Customs and Border Protection (CBP) memo obtained by the Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project and made public last week imposed new requirements on an already stretched thin team of border patrol agents.
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When I was 14, I wanted to be Kurt Cobain. I wanted to drop out of school, be sad and poetic, and start a rock band. I actually said this to my dad. He took me to a burger joint and heard me out. After listening to my explanations, my father said, “Son, you’re full of s***.” That simple statement was enough for me. I regained perspective and went back to being a normal teenager. My dad had fulfilled his role as the authority in my life. It was a good moment. Authority is necessary. It is an innate part of human nature, but it is in crisis today because it has been rejected. Why?
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Applications for mortgages ticked up to a six-week high for the week ending on Nov. 17 in a sign that the housing market might become more accessible to average Americans following rising prices and high mortgage rates, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA).
The number of mortgage applications increased by 3% compared to a week earlier when seasonally adjusted, according to a press release from the MBA. The increase in volume follows a decline in the average interest rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, which fell to 7.41% from 7.61% in the same time period.
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Thirteen Israeli hostages have reportedly been released and are now with the International Committee of the Red Cross in Egypt.
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Newly released survey data shows that small businesses are pessimistic about their retail sales going into the holiday season.
The Main Street Merchant Report released Tuesday by Alignable, a network of thousands of small businesses, are not optimistic about their sales for small businesses this weekend.
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A new economic analysis of the U.S. economy projects a recession around the corner.
An international nonprofit, The Conference Board, has released its Leading Economic Indicators report, which projects into the next year for the U.S. economy. That analysis, among other things, projects high inflation, high interest rates and declining consumer spending.
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The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) revealed that agents with its Human Trafficking Unit worked with local law enforcement in Williamson County and Spring Hill to arrest 10 men who allegedly solicited minors for sex.
In a press release, TBI explains that on November 16 and November 17, undercover officers placed “several decoy advertisements on websites known to be linked to prostitution and commercial sex.” The portrayed themselves to be minor children, and the agency reported that “ten men were charged with patronizing prostitution of a minor” and were booked into the Williamson County Jail.
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The Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs in Pennsylvania is celebrating a boost in its licensed recovery houses, but the success falls far short of the former administration’s expectations.
After attending a recovery-focused yoga class in Harrisburg hosted by addiction treatment provider Gaudenzia, DDAP Secretary Latika Davis-Jones announced that 312 recovery houses have been licensed by the commonwealth.
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Rep. Rashida Tlaib faces a formal complaint asking the State Bar of Michigan to open an investigation into the Michigan Democrat, an active member of the state bar, over her alleged “repeated false statements, anti-Semitic comments, and spread of foreign terrorist propaganda” following Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel, which resulted in about 1,200 deaths.
“Attorney Tlaib’s public statements have shown a complete disregard for the truth and serve only to enflame anti-Semitic hatred rather than promote the ends of justice,” the Coolidge Reagan Foundation, a free speech nonprofit, wrote in the complaint Monday to the Michigan bar.
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For the first time in a millennium, Europe no longer plays a critical role in promoting Western civilization nor in world history at large.
Ostensibly it should. Some 750 million people live on the European subcontinent.
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A lengthy deliberation Tuesday among 13 Minnesotans tasked with selecting a new state flag and seal at times devolved into argument and confusion among some, with one member of the State Emblems Redesign Commission calling it “a colossal waste of time” for those who submitted the designs.
Others criticized any potential incorporation of the state motto “L’etoile du Nord” or the statehood date of “1858” into a new state seal or flag as “hurtful” to many with indigenous backgrounds.
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No Labels is working to secure ballot access in all 50 states for the 2024 presidential election, including Georgia, even as the party plays coy about nominating a candidate for the nation’s top office.
A party spokesperson confirmed that No Labels is on the ballot in 12 states: Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Mississippi, Nevada, North Carolina, Oregon, South Dakota and Utah. However, the party still needs to be added to the ballot in Georgia.
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Florida lawmakers have filed a new bill to cut red tape for certain aspects of public and charter school assessments, accountability, instruction and education choice.
Senate Bill 7004 was introduced by the Florida Senate Committee on Education Pre-K-12 and builds on the deregulation of public schools provision in House Bill 1, providing additional authority to school districts related to pre kindergarten programs, school improvements, assessments, reporting and instructional materials.
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More than 80 percent of Virginia school divisions have submitted plans to receive funding from the “ALL In” plan unveiled by Governor Glenn Youngkin (R) earlier this year. Youngkin created the funding opportunity with the Virginia General Assembly as schools as students continue to struggle, even years after the pandemic forced schools to go digital.
Superintendent of Public Education Lisa Coons said in a press release on Wednesday that Virginia’s education administrators in 110 school divisions “are making major efforts to find specific and meaningful ways to help their students tackle learning loss.” The agency reported the 110 participating school divisions “cover all regions of the commonwealth,” and include “large divisions such as Fairfax County and Virginia Beach,” and “some of the smallest such as Highland County schools.”
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