As the Tennessee General Assembly prepares to gavel back into session next week, State Representative Jody Barrett appeared on Tuesday’s edition of The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy to reflect on the lessons learned during his first term in the Tennessee General Assembly and discuss his key legislative matters including red lag laws and school choice reform.
Read the full storyDay: January 2, 2024
Rep. Burchett Says He Expects Epstein Client List Coverup to Continue
Representative Tim Burchett (R-TN-02) continued his crusade for the release of dead pedophile Jeffrey Epstein’s client list Tuesday morning, noting that he said he believes that the coverup will continue.
“What I want is the client list,” Burchett told Rob Finnerty on NewsMax’s “Wake Up America.” “You know, you’ve got these skeevy old dudes that everybody says, ‘Well, they’ve gone and had sex on this island, what’s the big deal?’ No they haven’t. They’ve done an act of violence against a child. They need to be burned on that. That’s the list we need.”
Read the full storyChinese Energy Exec Tied to Hunter Biden Participated in Patrick Ho Bribery Scheme, Court Files Say
Court documents from the New York trial of Patrick Ho continue to shed light on who Hunter Biden was dealing with when he entered into business with CEFC, a Chinese energy conglomerate founded by Ye Jianming that would give millions to Hunter Biden and the Biden family.
Transcripts from Ho’s trial show that Zang Jianjun, the person Ho described as the number two executive at CEFC China Energy was present when the company offered bribes to African officials in pursuit of special oil privileges. Ho was sentenced to three years in federal prison after his conviction, yet, Zang was not charged in the case brought against Ho in the United States.
Read the full storyStephen K. Bannon and John Fredericks Call for Ronna Romney McDaniel to Resign as RNC Chair
WarRoom host Stephen K. Bannon made an appearance on The John Fredericks Show Tuesday morning, where he joined Fredericks in calling on former President Donald Trump to demand the immediate resignation of Republican National Committee Chair Ronna Romney McDaniel.
Bannon criticized the current state of the RNC, citing a substantial list of failures, including financial issues, lack of focus, and questionable priorities such as organizing debates that foment anti-Trump sentiment.
Read the full storyConfirmed: Harvard President Claudine Gay Resigns, Blames Racism
X.com Education expert and Manhattan Institute senior fellow Christopher Rufo posted a copy of Harvard President Claudine Gay’s letter of resignation. The letter was emailed to alumni. This is Claudine Gay's resignation letter. Rather than take responsibility for minimizing antisemitism, committing serial plagiarism, intimidating the free press, and damaging the institution, she calls her critics racist. This is the poison of DEI ideology. Glad she's gone. pic.twitter.com/WlqMKLn6pA — Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️ (@realchrisrufo) January 2, 2024 The lengthy letter points to racism as a reason for her separation from the 650-year-old institution. “Amid all of this,” she wrote, “it has been distressing to have doubt cast on my commitments to confronting hate and to upholding scholarly rigor – two bedrock values that are fundamental to who I am – and frightening to be subjected to personal attacks and threats fueled by racial animus.” READ THE FULL LETTER
Read the full storyHarvard Crimson Reports Claudine Gay as Resigned
Harvard Crimson Harvard President Claudine Gay will resign Tuesday afternoon, bringing an end to the shortest presidency in the University’s history, according to a person with knowledge of the decision. It is not clear who will be appointed to serve as interim president. University spokesperson Jonathan L. Swain declined to comment on Gay’s decision to step down. READ THE FULL STORY
Read the full storyBiden Admin Watered Down Vetting Process for Chinese Illegal Immigrants, Email Shows
The Biden administration drastically simplified the vetting process for Chinese illegal immigrants in April 2023, according to an internal U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) email obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation. The April 2023 email, which was sent by a CBP supervisor to a “master list” of about 500 Border Patrol agents, instructs CBP officials to radically reduce the number of interview questions for Chinese migrants apprehended after illegally crossing into the country from roughly 40 to just five. The “headquarters guidance” came as border agents were overwhelmed with near-record numbers of illegal crossings.
Read the full storyTennessee Law Increasing the Penalties for Distracted Drivers Now in Effect
A law increasing the number of points charged to a person’s driving record for violations of driving while using a cell phone went into effect on Monday.
Read the full storyAnalysis: The GOP’s 2024 Blueprint to a Majority in the U.S. Senate
Republicans appear to be in a strong position to take back control of the Senate in 2024, where they only need to flip two seats, with numerous vulnerable Democrats set to appear on the ballot amid a contentious presidential election.
Read the full storyBallot Battles, Impeachment Inquiry, Indictments Disrupt Election Cycle
The Republican primary’s Iowa caucuses are scheduled for January 15, the first chance for voters to determine who they want to represent their party in November’s presidential election.
Iowa’s January caucuses are a regular tradition for a presidential primary season that – this time around – has been unusually enshrouded in indictments, impeachment inquiries and lawsuits heading into election year.
Read the full storyTennessee Black Lives Matter Activist Pamela Moses, Who Faced Prison in 2022, Plans Independent Run for U.S. Senate
Tennessee Black Lives Matter activist and former Memphis mayoral candidate Pamela Moses is running for U.S. Senate as an independent candidate. She will seek to challenge Senator Marsha Blackburn (R) and the Democratic Party nominee.
A Facebook page for Moses’ campaign has been active since November 20, and on December 30 she appeared in a live stream to confirm her candidacy. Federal filings reveal she filed paperwork for her Senate run in 2023.
Read the full storyCommentary: Despite the Insistence of the Left, Electric Vehicles are Doomed
In a story that seems to be becoming increasingly common as time goes on, The Western Journal reported this week about a Canadian EV owner experiencing some massive sticker shock over the cost of replacing the damaged battery in his electric vehicle.
Read the full storyEight New Bills Become Georgia Law, State Income Tax Rates Fall in 2024
Eight new bills became law in Georgia on Monday, with the most significant allowing Georgians with health insurance coverage to see medical specialists even if they’re referred by a physician not covered by the insurance network. Last year, Georgia lawmakers also passed significant legislation that provided income tax refunds to every Georgia taxpayer, created a commission to oversee elected attorneys, and created three new district judgeships, one of which will be filled by a state legislator.
Georgia’s CATCH Act, SB 20, requires insurance providers with network plans to maintain a sufficient number of doctors, physicians, pharmacies, clinical laboratories, and other medical treatment facilities, and empowers the Georgia Insurance Commissioner to determine the adequacy of such plans. The law also prohibits health insurance companies from denying preauthorization for healthcare services if a referral came from a physician outside of the patient’s network, such as an emergency room doctor.
Read the full storyMore Than $63 Million in Illegal Drugs Seized in Ohio Last Year
Drug task forces organized under the Ohio Organized Crime Investigations Commission (OOCIC) across the state confiscated more than $63 million in illegal drugs in 2023, according to Attorney General Dave Yost’s office.
Read the full storyVirginia Democrats Pitch Bill to Tighten Campaign Finance Rules
Democrats in the Virginia General Assembly are reportedly backing the campaign finance bill to ban politicians from using money donated to a political campaign for personal expenses after it introduced by State Delegate Marcus Simon (D-Fairfax) on December 20.
As introduced, HB 40 would amend existing law to limit those running for state offices in Virginia to using campaign funds strictly for campaign expenses, costs incurred as a state official, contributions to sanctioned groups or campaigns, or childcare expenses caused by the campaign.
Read the full storySporting Associations Start to Crack Down on Men In Women’s Sports
Sporting associations have tightened rules regarding transgender athletes competing in women’s sports in 2023, drawing complaints from LGBT activists.
The issue of men competing in women’s sports has received considerable scrutiny amid instances such as Laurel Hubbard, a biological male, competing against women in the weightlifting events during the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, as well as University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas’s participation in the 2022 NCAA championships, where the biological male won the 500-yard women’s final and placed highly in other events. The international governing bodies for cricket, fishing and track and field barred biological males from competing in women’s events in 2023, following a similar decision by the international governing body for competitive swimming in 2022.
Read the full storyForeign Policy Problems Promise to Plague Biden Admin in 2024
The Biden administration faced several major problems on the international stage throughout 2023, some of which will bleed into the new year.
President Joe Biden and his administration have tried to manage major threats and circumvent obstacles from several foreign nations in 2023, including from those in East Asia, Eastern Europe, the Middle East and South America. Many international problems the Biden administration dealt with in 2023 have not been solved and have continued to metastasize going into 2024.
Read the full storyBiden’s Electric School Bus Program Faces the Daunting Challenge of Inadequate Utility Power
President Joe Biden’s signature $5 billion program to convert the nation’s school buses to an electric fleet has collided with a formidable challenge: a lack of charging infrastructure and power generation from local utilities.
The Environmental Protection Agency’s internal watchdog issued a report just before the New Year’s holiday that offered the latest evidence of a cart-before-horse dynamic in the Democratic push for green energy.
Read the full storyCommentary: As Europe Falls into a Woke Dark Ages, One Nation Shines
You hear a lot about Hungary these days. To be fair, Prime Minister Viktor Orban does upset the delicate sensibilities of the progressive liberals. It is only natural then for Americans to wonder about this distant land that has become a prickling thorn in the side of the globalist Left.
An “age of discovery in reverse” has started, as intellectuals from Tucker Carlson through Jordan Peterson to Micheal Knowles explore for themselves the Hungarian conservative landscape in search of lessons to learn about politics and winning at the polls.
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