Day: December 20, 2023

Breitbart Editor-at-Large Joel Pollak: ‘Harvard is Lost’

Tennessee Star Staff
Joel Pollak

Breitbart News Editor-at-Large Joel Pollak joined the newsmaker line on Wednesday’s edition of The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy to share insights into the troubling state of his alma mater, Harvard University.

The veteran journalist and Harvard Law School graduate highlighted the rise of antisemitism on campus and traced the university’s decline, noting that it was former President Drew Faust who emphasized a thin record of slavery over Harvard’s significant contributions to the abolitionist cause and civil rights movement.

The 387-year-old institution’s rapid shift to prioritize social justice and the erosion of free speech, Pollak suggested, has indelibly marred Harvard’s reputation as a symbol of excellence.

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Arizona State Representative Kolodin, Pima County Supervisor Ally Miller File Bar Complaint Against Cochise County Attorney Brian McIntyre

Tom Pappert

Arizona State Representative Alexander Kolodin (R-Scottsdale) and Pima County Supervisor Ally Miller filed an election-related bar complaint on Monday against Cochise County Attorney Brian McIntyre, alleging that he violated attorney client privilege when informing opposing attorneys of the county’s intention to hand-count some of its 2022 election ballots.

In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Kolodin said McIntyre committed “apparent violations” of attorney client privilege, calling it “his most sacred duty.” Kolodin added, “It is time for equal justice under the law.”

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Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy Promises ‘Aggressive’ Crime Strategy Begins in 2024

Tom Pappert
Steve Mulroy

Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy gave details about a an “aggressive prosecution” strategy to Memphis media on Tuesday, promising to target violent offenses with a new strategy beginning in 2024.

Mulroy said he will modify his office’s practices regarding bail, court deadlines, and investigations for those accused of committing a number of violent and property crimes beginning on January 1, according to News Channel 3.

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Director of Internet Free Speech Nonprofit Says EU is Angling to Make X Purchase ‘Middleware’

Peter D'Abrosca
Elon Musk X EU

Mike Benz, the director of a nonprofit that advocates for free speech, is sounding the alarm on the European Union’s investigation into X, formerly known as Twitter, for what it claims are breakages of the multinational conglomerate’s hate speech laws. 

Benz, an attorney and the executive director of the Foundation for Freedom Online (FFO), says that the EU’s plan is to force X into implementing a mandatory “disinformation compliance” service like NewsGuard. Such products have been termed “middleware.” 

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Nashville Electric Service Releases Update on Progress Made in Restoring Power Due to Last Weekend’s Severe Storms

Kaitlin Housler
NES Work

Nashville Electric Service (NES) released a statement on Monday updating the public about its work in restoring power for approximately 48,000 customers affected by severe storms.

Severe thunderstorms and tornadoes ripped through Middle Tennessee on December 9, causing six fatalities – three in Montgomery County and three in Davidson County – and dozens of injuries. The storms produced significant damage to nearly 1,900 homes and destroyed over 500 homes, according to initial reports.

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Planned Parenthood’s Trans Hormone Business Is Booming, Creating Thousands of New Patients ‘For Life’

Admin

The number of transgender services performed at Planned Parenthood clinics exploded over the past few years as the transgender medical industry became increasingly lucrative, according to data published by the organization’s regional branches.

Planned Parenthood first began providing hormone treatments for transgender patients in 2005, and since then 41 out of 49 regional branches have provided transgender services as of 2022. However, in just the last three years, Planned Parenthood has become dramatically more involved in the gender hormone industry.

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General Assembly Bill Permits Flying Only U.S., Tennessee Flag in Classrooms

Peter D'Abrosca
US-TN Flags

A bill introduced in the Tennessee General Assembly in November would prevent teachers from allow teachers only to hang the Tennessee and United States flags in their classrooms. 

HB 1605 “prohibits [Local Education Associations] and public charter schools from displaying in public schools flags other than the official United States flag and the official Tennessee state flag,” according to the summary of the bill’s text. 

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Audit Finds Tennessee Prisons Remain Understaffed, Face High Attrition

Tom Pappert

A 206-page audit of public and private prisons in Tennessee was released last week, revealing both state and private facilities in the state remain understaffed and face high employee attrition rates while struggling to offer sufficient beds and services for inmates.

The audit, conducted by the Tennessee Comptroller’s Office, found that the Tennessee Department of Corrections (TDOC) “has taken action to address critical staffing shortages,” but warned both TDOC and CoreCivic, which manages private prisons in Tennessee, “are facing an ongoing and deeply rooted challenge of attrition within their ranks.”

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Biden Approval Hits New All-Time Low

Admin
Biden Speaking

Another mainstream pollster shows that Joe Biden’s job approval rating has plunged yet again, as voters increasingly turn against him due to numerous crises on his watch.

As reported by Fox News, the Monmouth University poll saw a mere 34% of respondents say that they approve of his performance as president thus far, with a staggering 61% disapproving. The issues on which Biden scored the lowest were inflation, with just 28% approving of his handling of it, and immigration, with 26%.

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Nuclear Power Plant Approved for Construction in Tennessee

Kaitlin Housler
Kairos Power

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) issued a construction permit to Kairos Power for its Hermes low-power demonstration reactor to be built at the Heritage Center Industrial Park site in Oak Ridge.

Kairos Power, according to its website, is a “nuclear technology, engineering and manufacturing company whose mission is to enable the world’s transition to clean energy with the ultimate goal of dramatically improving people’s quality of life while protecting the environment.”

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Immigration Courts Add 1 Million Cases to Backlog as Border Crisis Worsens

Admin

The immigration court backlog increased by a whopping one million cases in a single year as the surge at the southern border continues, according to a new report from Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC).

The number of pending cases in U.S. immigration courts reached three million in November, marking a new record, TRAC, which analyzes data provided by the Executive Office of Immigration Review (EOIR), reported Monday. The backlog is expected to only worsen with the continued record flow of illegal immigration at the southern border.

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Judge Reportedly ‘Skeptical’ of Lawsuit to Remove Georgia Lt. Gov. Burt Jones from Office over 2020 Election Contest

Tom Pappert
Burt Jones

Georgia Superior Court Judge Thomas Wilson reportedly expressed skepticism at an attempt to remove Lt. Governor Burt Jones (R) from office on Monday. A group of Democratic voters in Georgia filed the lawsuit claiming Jones’ role as one of the alternate electors who sought to preserve former President Donald Trump’s legal challenge to the 2020 election in Georgia should make him ineligible to hold office.

Wilson “appeared skeptical of the plaintiffs’ longshot arguments,” according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, which reported that plaintiffs argued Jones “is an insurrectionist against the Constitution of the United States of America” because he participated in the 2020 election contest, and thus should be prohibited from holding office due to a post-Civil War law that was also cited in a bid to prevent Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene from seeking reelection in 2022.

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Florida Man Pleads Guilty for Threatening to Kill Chief Justice

Admin
Chief Justice John Roberts

A Florida man pleaded guilty Monday to threatening to kill a Supreme Court justice, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ).

Neal Brij Sidhwaney, 43, placed a call in July to the Supreme Court, leaving an “expletive-laden, threatening voicemail message” where he “repeatedly threatened to kill a specific Supreme Court Justice,” according to the DOJ. Sidhwaney revealed the justice he had threatened was Chief Justice John Roberts during a court-ordered psychological evaluation, Politico reported.

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Oil and Gas Workers’ Association Endorses Arizona’s Kari Lake Following Endorsements of Donald Trump, Abe Hamadeh

Tom Pappert
Kari Lake Arizona

Kari Lake secured the endorsement of the Oil and Gas Workers Association (OGWA) for her U.S. Senate bid on Tuesday, with the group highlighting her commitment to “American energy dominance” in a statement.

Lake revealed the endorsement in a post on X, formerly Twitter, writing that she was “honored” to receive the endorsement from the nonprofit trade association operated by oil and gas workers.

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Commentary: Biden Is Not the Democrats’ Biggest Problem

Admin
Biden Bidenomics

President Joe Biden is not the Democrats’ biggest problem; they are. The greatest misperception in the 2024 presidential race is that Biden is causing Democrats’ poor performance. On the contrary, Biden is an effect. The real cause is that Democrats are wildly out of touch with America.

Biden’s bad polling numbers are well known. According to Real Clear Politics’ Dec. 18 average of national polling, Biden’s job approval rating is 40.8–56.0 percent; he trails former President Donald Trump in a head-to-head rematch 43.7 to 47.2 percent, and his favorability rating is 39.4–56.0 percent.

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Michigan City to Pay $825K for Violating Farmer’s Free Speech

The Center Square

When the city of East Lansing excluded someone from a farmer’s market because of his religious beliefs, they violated his right to free speech and freedom of religion.

The exclusion of Country Mill Farms owner Stephen Tennes from the farmers market because he refused to play host to same-sex wedding ceremonies at his farm, detailed in a 2017 lawsuit, will cost East Lansing $825,000 in damages and attorney fees.

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Minnesota Woman Denied Unemployment After Refusing Vaccine Asks SCOTUS to Review Case

Admin
Tine Goede

A Minnesota woman who was fired for refusing to take the COVID-19 vaccine and then denied unemployment benefits has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear her case, arguing that her First Amendment rights were violated.

“Religious belief is intimate and differs substantially among Americans. The promise of religious liberty in the First Amendment is that such differences may persist without punishment from the state. That promise is being broken in Minnesota,” James Dickey, senior counsel for the Upper Midwest Law Center, said in a petition filed with the court Monday.

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Report: Ohio Homelessness Rising

The Center Square
Homeless Person

Higher rents and a reduction in pandemic assistance caused a spike in homelessness in Ohio over the past year, according to a group advocating for more affordable housing around the state.

The Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio pointed to U.S. Department of House and Urban Development data that showed more than 11,000 Ohioans homeless on one January night in 2023. That number was a 6.9% increase from the previous year’s count.

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Pennsylvania Transgender Activist Touted by State Democrats Charged with Rape of a Minor

Admin
Kendall Stephens

LGBTQ activist Kendall Stephens, who identifies as a transgender woman and has worked with members of Pennsylvania’s Democratic Party, was charged with the rape of a minor, according to court documents filed Monday in the Philadelphia Municipal Court.

Stephens, 37, was arrested by the Philadelphia Police Department and appeared before a judge on Monday, according to the documents. The department charged Stephens with one count of rape forcible compulsion, unlawful sexual contact with a minor and indecent assault of a person under 13, among other charges.

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Connecticut Non-Disclosure Agreement Advocates Enlist Former FOX News Anchors

The Center Square
Gretchen Carlson

A push to ban non-disclosure agreements in Connecticut is getting a boost from former Fox News anchors turned women’s rights advocates pushing for its approval.

Connecticut lawmakers are expected to revisit a proposal that would ban employers from imposing contracts that prevent employees from talking about their claims of workplace sexual harassment or assault. Democrats back in the proposal say they expect to file the bill in early 2024 when the new legislative session begins.

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YoungkinWatch: All Virginia School Divisions Submit ‘ALL In’ Plans Two Months After Target Date

Tom Pappert
Glenn Youngkin

Governor Glenn Youngkin (R) celebrated on Monday as all 131 Virginia school divisions finalized and submitted their “ALL in VA” plans with the governor’s office. Youngkin originally challenged Virginia’s schools to finish their plans by October 16.

In a statement, Youngkin said he is “pleased all of Virginia’s school divisions have heeded my call to urgently and aggressively take action to help our students recover” from the learning loss suffered as a result of pandemic-era restrictions. Youngkin said the submissions mean Virginia schools “embraced that challenge and are committed to getting our students back on track academically.”

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Native American Nation Will Not Allow National Guard Troops Along Their Part of Border

The Center Square
Arizona National Guard

Even though Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs ordered National Guard troops to the southern border on Friday, not everyone in the region is on board.

The Tohono Oʼodham Nation, which is a Native American nation that touches parts of the southern border in the Tucson Sector, wrote in a letter that they do not want troops along their portion of the border.

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Commentary: The Vatican Offering Blessings to Same-Sex Couples Is Not What You Think

Admin
Pope Francis Waving

When Bishop Karl-Heinz Wiesemann asked priests, deacons, and lay pastoral workers in the German Diocese of Speyer to offer blessings for same-sex unions and remarried couples early last month, his letter made international news — and it should have. That’s because the Catholic Church believes same-sex unions are sinful and contrary to both the law of God and the laws of nature.

That teaching — that the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah is, in fact, a sin — has repeatedly put a Church hierarchy dedicated to “inclusion” and “solidarity” in a tight spot. Progressives both inside (men like Wiesemann and Fr. James Martin) and outside of the Church have repeatedly pressured Catholic leadership to offer some kind of legitimization to homosexual unions.

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More than 175 of Jeffrey Epstein’s Associates to Be Revealed in Court Documents in 2024

Just the News

A federal judge ordered the names of 177 associates of the late convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein to be made public in 2024 with the unsealing of court documents.

The judge on Monday ordered the names to be unsealed in connection to a defamation case brought by Prince Andrew accuser Virginia Roberts Giuffre against Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s former girlfriend who was sentenced to 20 years in prison for sex crimes.

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Electric Vehicle Start-Ups Are Running Out Funds

Admin
Rivian Truck

The trendy electric vehicle (EV) market could be in trouble as at least 18 EV and battery start-ups that went public in the last few years are running out of funds to operate, according to an analysis by The Wall Street Journal.

The trouble in the industry follows rising costs and manufacturing issues as the companies fail to compete with top EV maker Tesla and traditional automakers, with the median stock of the 43 companies reviewed dropping 80% from its peak, losing tens of billions in collective value since the companies relatively recent inception, according to the WSJ. Of those 43 EV start-ups reviewed, five have already gone bankrupt or been acquired, including Lordstown Motors, Proterra and Electric Last Mile Solutions.

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Commentary: COVID Redux

Admin
Masks People

Life is hard if you do not learn from your mistakes. With Covid, political leaders and public health authorities engaged in a series of missteps, miscalculations, and manias that amounted to an extreme overreaction to the disease.

First, statistical models overstated the risk of the disease by an order of magnitude. Then, even after these miscalculations became apparent, other extreme measures like lockdowns, mandatory masking, coercive vaccine mandates, and a million other indignities ensued. In the end, almost everyone got Covid, almost everyone survived, and, while the economic countermeasures increased our national debt by 30%, the economy soon recovered too.

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