Congresswoman Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., announced Wednesday that she would be switching districts in 2024 for the upcoming congressional race.
Read the full storyColorado U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert Switching Districts for Upcoming 2024 Race
Day: December 27, 2023
Haley Declines to Say Slavery Was Cause of Civil War
Politico Nikki Haley declined to say that slavery was a cause of the Civil War on Wednesday evening, placing the blame, instead, on the role of government. The former UN Ambassador and South Carolina governor, who has seen her star rise in the first-in-the-nation primary state, was appearing at a town hall event in Berlin, New Hampshire, when a voter asked her to identify the cause of the war. “I think the cause of the Civil War was basically how government was going to run,” she responded. “The freedoms and what people could and couldn’t do. What do you think the cause of the Civil War was or argument?” READ THE FULL STORY
Read the full storyCommentary: 2024 Is the Year of Our Reckoning
We should remember the now modern proverb of Nixon-era economic advisor Herb Stein to the effect that what cannot go on (without destroying the nation), simply will not go on.
Read the full storyStudy: Just 3.4 Percent of American Journalists Are Republicans
Newsbusters Shocker! Isaac Schorr at Mediaite reported a new study from Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Public Communications found that just 3.4 percent of American journalists are Republicans. In the last ten years, the proportion of Democrats has increased to 36.4 percent and proportion of Independents has ticked upwards to 51.7 percent, while the already low Republican share has been cut in half. The last study in 2013 pegged the proportion of Republican journalists in America at 7.1 percent, Democrats at 28.1 percent, and Independents at 50.2 percent. It’s fair to guess that journalists who choose “independent” are attempting to look nonpartisan, but we can safely guess a large share of them are Biden-Harris voters. READ THE FULL STORY
Read the full storyCommentary: 11 More Examples of Defensive Gun Use to Fend Off Criminals
As cities across the country reel from explosive crime rates, many politicians at the local, state, and federal levels are too preoccupied with disarming peaceable American gun owners to identify, arrest, and prosecute actual criminals adequately.
Two masked attackers met their match last month when they attacked Los Angeles resident Vince Ricci as he walked toward the front door of his house. The pair brandished a firearm at Ricci, who pulled out his own gun and shot at the thugs, who ran away.
Read the full storyCatholic All-Girls College Reverses Trans Policy After Backlash
Saint Mary’s College in Notre Dame, Indiana, is backtracking on its decision to allow men who identify as transgender women to enroll in the formerly all-female, Catholic institution.
The Daily Signal reported in November that Saint Mary’s College would allow men who identify as women to enroll at the college in the fall of 2024. That news was first reported by the Notre Dame student newspaper, The Observer.
Read the full storyPlagued by Plagiarism Scandal, Harvard’s Political Donations Flood to Democrats
As Harvard faces increasing pressure to fire its embattled president, the university’s insular culture and one-sided politics are under the microscope.
Read the full storyBiden Signs Order Finalizing 5.2 Percent Pay Raise for Feds in 2024
Government Executive President Biden on Thursday issued an executive order implementing his plan to provide civilian federal workers with an average 5.2 percent pay raise next month. As first proposed in his fiscal 2024 budget plan last March, the increase amounts to a 4.7 percent across-the-board boost to basic pay, alongside an average 0.5 percent increase in locality pay. As authorized in the fiscal 2024 National Defense Authorization Act, which Biden is expected to sign this week, military service personnel also will see an average 5.2 percent pay raise next year. An average 5.2 percent pay increase marks the largest authorized for federal workers since the Carter administration adopted a 9.1 percent average raise in 1980, as well as a 0.6 percent increase over last year’s raise, which itself marked a 20-year high. READ THE FULL STORY
Read the full storyTennessee Financial Report Shows $4.8 Billion Increased Annual Financial Position
Tennessee’s financial position improved again over the past year, as the state’s combined ending fund balance was $23.9 billion, up $4.8 billion from the year before in the recently released Annual Comprehensive Financial Report.
That’s after the state’s balances increased by $5.4 billion in the year that ended June 30, 2022.
Read the full storyAmericans Are Turning to Even More Financing Options as Savings Run Dry
An increasing number of Americans are turning to buy now and pay later (BNPL) services like layaway as they continue to drain their savings and interest rates on credit cards grow, according to Reuters.
Credit card debt, with its high interest rates, in aggregate exceeded $1 trillion for Americans in 2023 for the first time ever, leading many Americans to use BNPL services that charge a far lower 2% to 8% fee instead, masking a considerable source of debt, according to Reuters. The search for cheaper financing follows declining savings for Americans as they spend through their reserves, holding only $768.6 billion in October, down from over $1 trillion held in May and even further from the all-time high of almost $6 trillion held in April 2020.
Read the full storyHome Prices Hit New High In Nine Month Climb as Affordability Tumbles
U.S. home prices climbed to their highest point ever in October alongside nearly 8 percent mortgage rates, fueling home unaffordability for average Americans, according to data released Tuesday by S&P Global.
The Case-Shiller home price index, which measures home prices in 20 major metro markets, rose by 0.6 percent for the month of October when seasonally adjusted, or 4.8 percent year-over-year, higher than the 4 percent seen in the previous month, according to a release from S&P Global. The month-to-month growth resulted in the highest level of home prices in U.S. history, following nine months of consecutive increases.
Read the full storyThese 15 States That Received the Most Unaccompanied Minors from the Border
Of the 50 states, Washington, D.C., and U.S. territories that received unaccompanied alien children (UAC) primarily from the southern border, 15 received more than 10,000 since 2015.
Since 2015, the most UACs have been sent to Texas (82,391), California (68,249), and Florida (60,192). Rounding out the top ten were New York (47,982), Maryland (32,324), Virginia (31,391), New Jersey (31,323), Georgia (23,160), North Carolina (21,772), and Tennessee (20,715). Rounding out the top 15 were Louisiana (14,588), Massachusetts (13,877), Alabama (10,760), Illinois (10,755), and Pennsylvania (10,412).
Read the full storyTennessee Graduation Rate at Nearly 90 Percent for 2021-22 School Year
Tennessee reported an 89.8% graduation rate and an 8.6% dropout rate in a new report with updated numbers from the 2021-22 school year from the Tennessee Comptroller’s Office.
The Comptroller’s Office of Research and Education Accountability is required to produce the graduation rate numbers annually.
Read the full storySafe Bar Program to Be Held During Nashville’s Live New Year’s Eve Event
The Safe Bar program, an initiative by the Sexual Assault Center (SAC), will be held for the first time in Tennessee during next week’s New Year’s Eve event in Nashville.
Read the full storyState Senator John Kavanaugh to Pitch Law for Harsher Penalties on Protesters Who Block Arizona Highways
State Senator John Kavanaugh (R-Maricopa) is reportedly preparing to pitch legislation that will increase penalties for protesters who block Arizona’s highways and public thoroughfare, with the lawmaker highlighting a recent pro-Palestine protest in California that saw roads blocked for hours.
Kavanaugh said he intends to file a bill that would raise criminal penalties for those who block Arizona’s highways, he told The Arizona Daily Star, explaining his legislation will make protesters who “block a highway, bridge, or tunnel for more than 15 minutes after they’ve been told to leave” guilty of a Class 6 felony. If found guilty, those convicted face a recommended sentence of one year in a state prison.
Read the full storyCommentary: The Left Is Smashing Cultural Third Rails in Pursuit of Their Brave New World Agenda
Readers are familiar with the moniker “third rail.” In political discourse, it refers to those preciously few issues that are so untouchable that the mere talk of change, alteration or revision carries with it what amounts to a political death penalty.
There is general agreement in Washington, D.C., that reform of federal entitlements leads the brief list. The most recent example being the 2011 temporary coalition of former Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan and Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon intended to secure a more sustainable Medicare program. Here, all was good and fine for a fast minute before the Democratic Party realized its number one nuclear weapon was in the process of being compromised. And that was that. Suffice to say that that now twelve-year-old effort was the last semi-serious, bipartisan attempt to control entitlement spending we will see for the foreseeable future.
Read the full storyPennsylvania Senators Earmark $1 Million for LGBT Center Hosting ‘Anti-Capitalist’ Financial Planner
Pennsylvania Democratic Sens. John Fetterman and Bob Casey sponsored an earmark in the next year’s fiscal budget for a community center that plans to host an “anti-capitalist” financial planning class.
The senators sponsored the inclusion of $1,00,000 in funding for the William Way LGBT Community Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for the purpose of renovations and expansions into the Senate Appropriations Committee fiscal budget for 2024, according to a report from the committee. The center provides a number of services to the community, like peer counseling and resources for transgender individuals, and will host a series of anti-capitalist financial workshops starting on Feb. 22, according to the center’s website.
Read the full storyYoungkinWatch: Governor Sunsets Federally Funded Tutoring Program After Virginia Schools Submit Plans for State Money
A federally funded program in Virginia to provide coaching and academic recovery to the commonwealth’s students is set to conclude this year, with state officials pointing toward Governor Glenn Youngkin’s ALL in VA plan as a possible way to bridge the gap in resources as pandemic-era federal funding runs dry.
The Engage Virginia program unveiled the the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) in February is set to conclude on December 31, reported the Richmond Times-Dispatch on Tuesday, explaining that Youngkin’s administration said “the one-time federal funding for the program has been exhausted, and the program is wrapping up.” However, the outlet noted the governor’s office suggested “school divisions could individually engage with the program by using their allocations from the governor’s ALL in VA plan.”
Read the full storySecond Georgia Republican Victim to Christmas Day Swatting Following Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene
Georgia State Senator Clint Dixon (R-Gwinnett) is the second Georgia Republican to report being swatted on Christmas Day, with U.S. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA-14) posted about her own experience on social media.
The Gwinnett Police Department (GPD) confirmed to The Georgia Star News on Tuesday the department is investigating after Dixon was swatted on December 25, but a spokesman said the department could not comment about possible suspects or the status of the investigation.
Read the full storyOhio Secretary of State Denounces New ‘Assault on the Integrity of Our Voting Process’
Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose has denounced a proposed constitutional amendment recently filed with the state’s Attorney General’s Office that would amend Ohio’s constitution by rewriting election rules.
Read the full storyMichigan Law to Register Prisoners So They Can Vote Upon Release
A new law in Michigan means that inmates leaving prison will be registered automatically to vote, among other election-related measures signed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat.
Michigan is one of 23 states that already allow those with felony convictions to reclaim their voting rights, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
However, under the new law inmates will be preregistered while still incarcerated, so that they will be on the state’s voter registration rolls upon release.
Read the full storyThree Ohio Teens Arrested, Charged with Murder Following Altercation Outside Kroger That Left One Dead
Three men have been arrested and charged with murder following an altercation at a south Columbus Kroger earlier this month, according to the Columbus Police Department (CPD).
Read the full storyOhio Makes $750 Million Available for Economic Development Sites
Ohio plans to give $750 million in taxpayer funds to communities around the state to grow the number of project-ready economic development sites.
The money, included in the state budget signed in July, can be used for one-time local infrastructure costs necessary to prepare sites for future projects.
Read the full storyAtlanta Ranks One of the Most Unsafe Cities During the Holidays, Study Finds
A recent study conducted by Vivint, a smart-home security company, shows Atlanta, Georgia as one of the top ten most “unsafe” U.S. cities during the holidays.
Read the full storyCommentary: The Need for Federal Legislation Requiring Age Verification for Porn Websites
Nearly 80% of children between the ages of 12 and 17 have unintentionally come across pornography, and over 50% of them actively seek it out. Even among younger children—those between 9 and 11—37% have seen porn.
Frequent exposure to pornography at a young age cultivates unhealthy views of sexuality and an inclination toward violent behavior. Children may develop a poor understanding of what constitutes a healthy relationship, what behavior is appropriate or inappropriate, how to establish and maintain boundaries, and the importance of respecting other people’s boundaries.
Read the full storyOnly Three Percent of Soldiers Who Refused COVID Vaccine Rejoin Army
More and more Army soldiers are reenlisting after being discharged for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine, according to information shared exclusively with The Daily Signal.
The increase comes after Congress repealed the Pentagon’s vaccine mandate and conservative lawmakers applied pressure to Defense Department leaders to be more welcoming of 8,400 service members who were “fired” for their refusal to get the COVID-19 shot.
Read the full storyAmericans Turn on TikTok: 54 Percent Support Banning Social Media App
TikTok might be popular among America’s youth, but a majority of voters view it as a threat to the United States. An even higher percentage favor a federal ban of the social media platform.
RMG Research, a polling firm led by Scott Rasmussen, shared its latest survey data exclusively with The Daily Signal. The poll was conducted Dec. 18-19 among 1,000 registered U.S. voters.
Read the full storyCommentary: Teacher Union Power Is Still in Full Bloom
As a result of the Janus decision in 2018, no teacher or any public employee has to pay a penny to a union as a condition of employment. The good news is that since then, 20% of workers in non-right-to-work states have dropped out of their unions, according to a report from the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. The not-so-good news is that 70% of teachers nationwide are still willingly paying union dues, a great deal of which goes to politics, specifically to progressive candidates and causes.
The California Teachers Association has the honor of being the biggest political-spending teachers’ union in the country. A recent report reveals that between 1999 and 2020, the 300,000+ member union spent an astonishing $222,940,629 on politics – about $6 million was spent on the federal level, while almost $217 million stayed in the state – with 98.2% of all spending going to Democrats. The top advocacy issues for CTA include regulating charter schools, immigration reform, social justice, and a slew of almost exclusively left-wing causes.
Read the full storyMale Might Get Volleyball Scholarship Meant for Female Athletes at University of Washington
A California transgender volleyball player may become the first biological male recipient of a collegiate Division 1 athletic scholarship designated for women.
Tate Drageset, 17, verbally committed to the University of Washington, where Drageset is poised to claim one of 12 Division 1 volleyball scholarships designated for female players, Reduxx first reported on Dec. 13.
Read the full story