Montana Governor Defends Removal of 14-Year-Old from Parents Who Opposed Gender Identity

The National Desk Republican Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte told The National Desk (TND) Monday state officials acted within their legal limitations by removing a child from parents who objected to their transitioning gender identity. Montana Child and Family Services (CFS) officials took custody of the 14-year-old from parents Krista and Todd Kolstad this month, according to Reduxx. The teenager is reportedly a biological female and recently began to express suicidal thoughts. While being treated at a hospital in August, doctors began using the child’s preferred name and pronouns, which do not correspond with the child’s biological sex, according to Reduxx. The parents reportedly opposed and noted allowing their child to undergo any form of gender transition, socially or medically, was a violation of their “values, morals, and … religious beliefs.” READ THE FULL STORY                   

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Cops Allegedly Beaten by Rowdy Migrant Mob near Times Square — with Suspects Later Freed without bail: Horrifying Video

The New York Post   Shocking video captured the moment a migrant mob pounded a pair of cops near Times Square over the weekend — but the busted cowardly suspects were still released back on the street without bail, sources say. The footage shows an NYPD officer and lieutenant initially telling the migrants to move along around 8:30 p.m. Saturday on West 42nd Street in Manhattan — before things quickly get rowdy as a scuffle breaks out between the cops and a suspect who is wrestled to the ground. That’s when the rest of the punks converge on the officers, raining kicks to the head and body of the pair of New York’s Finest as the cops rumble with their pal, whose yellow sweatshirt is completely torn off in the melee. READ THE FULL STORY        

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Trump Admin Official Shot In DC, In Critical Condition After Carjacking Rampage

The Daily Wire    An accomplished Republican professional who served as chief operating officer of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) during the Donald Trump administration was among those shot in a vicious carjacking spree in Washington, D.C., on Monday night, one that ended in police killing the perpetrator in Maryland early Tuesday morning. Mike Gill is in a hospital in critical condition after being shot while picking up his wife, an education lawyer, blocks from the White House on K Street in downtown D.C. at 5:45pm. “We can confirm that Mike Gill was the victim of the shooting at the 900 block of K Street Northwest on Monday evening and is in critical condition. Out of respect for the family, we have nothing additional to add at this time,” Erica Richardson, a spokesperson for the Gill family, said in a statement to The Daily Wire. READ THE FULL STORY        

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Tom Pappert Details How ESG Standards Being Pushed by Banks Would ‘Bankrupt’ American Farmers

Tom Pappert, lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, joined Tuesday’s edition of The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy to discuss his recent article on the Tennessee Agriculture Commissioner’s omission on a letter concerning Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) policies being pushed on American farmers.

On Tuesday, Pappert reported that Tennessee Agriculture Commissioner Dr. Charlie Hatcher did not sign a letter sent by 12 states to the heads of six elite banks warning that their “Net-Zero Banking Alliance” (NZBA) will force ESG policies that would have a “catastrophic impact” on farmers.

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European Farmers Continue Revolt Against Environmental Regulation by Blockading Port

Farmer Working

Farmers in Belgium plan to block road access to the second-largest port in the country in protest of the European Union’s environmental regulations and cheap food imports, Reuters reported.

Farmers are planning to block access to Belgium’s North Sea port for at least 36 hours beginning on Tuesday, according to Reuters. The General Farmers Syndicate, the union representing the farmers, says they are targeting the port because they believe it is receiving financial support at the expense of domestic farmers.

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Illinois Election Board Allows Trump to Remain on Ballot, Appeal Expected

Trump Voting Booths

Former President Donald Trump will remain on the Illinois Republican primary ballot, per a state election board decision Tuesday, although the matter is likely to be appealed. 

In a unanimous bipartisan vote, the Illinois State Board of Elections dismissed the challenge to Trump’s eligibility. The state panel determined that it did not have the jurisdiction to make a decision on the 14th Amendment argument invoked against Trump’s candidacy. 

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Tennessee Ag Commissioner Charlie Hatcher Did Not Sign Letter by Officials in 12 States Accusing Banks of Pushing ESG on Farmers

The Tennessee Agriculture Commissioner, Dr. Charlie Hatcher, was not among the top agriculture officials from 12 different states who signed a letter on Monday that warned the heads of six elite banks that their “Net-Zero Banking Alliance” (NZBA) will force economically destructive Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) policies on American farmers.

The Tennessee Star contacted Hatcher’s office by phone and email to ask why he was not among the agriculture officials behind the letter, and to ascertain whether he is concerned by the claim that banks are foisting ESG policies on farmers, but did not receive an immediate response.

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Idris Elba and Electric Buses: EPA Chief Lived Large While East Palestine Burned

Washington Free Beacon East Palestine was the last thing on Environmental Protection Agency administrator Michael Regan’s mind in the weeks following the Feb. 3, 2023, train derailment that flooded the Ohio town with toxic chemicals. Ten days after the spill, as residents questioned whether it was safe to even touch their water, Regan finalized plans for an African climate change summit on a video call with British actor Idris Elba, according to calendar records obtained by the Functional Government Initiative and shared with the Washington Free Beacon. Just over an hour later, Regan hopped on the phone with MSNBC contributor April Ryan to discuss the upcoming trip and pat himself on the back for accepting Elba’s “challenge” to be more inclusive of African nations. Ryan discussed the call in an exclusive story for The Grio shortly afterward. As East Palestine grappled with the chemical fallout, Regan was jet-setting across the country advertising electric school buses and touring water treatment plants, his calendar records show. Regan finally visited the devastated Ohio town 13 days after the derailment, amid public outrage at the Biden administration’s perceived disinterest in the unfolding disaster. READ THE FULL STORY    

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Tennessee House Speaker Sexton Provides New Details on Constitutional Amendment to Refuse Bail for More Violent Criminals

A spokesman for Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton (R-Crossville) on Monday provided The Tennessee Star with new details about the constitutional amendment proposed last week in Memphis to allow Tennessee judges to refuse to grant bail to more violent criminals.

Sexton was joined by Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson (R-Franklin) and Memphis Mayor Paul Young in a Friday press event with other lawmakers and community leaders to call for the constitutional amendment, which would need to be approved by Tennessee voters in a public referendum.

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The New York Times Fails to Report Accurately on Election of New AZGOP Chair Gina Swoboda, an Election Integrity Champion

Election integrity champion Gina Swoboda was elected chair of the Arizona Republican Party on Saturday, prompting negative coverage from the mainstream media. Endorsed by both Donald Trump and Kari Lake, she won the election in a landslide over another MAGA conservative, Arizona Corporation Commissioner Jim O’Connor, but The New York Times portrayed the election as chaotic and evidence of the party’s “yawning ideological divide.” 

The article said Swoboda “runs a nonprofit group that has falsely claimed to have found huge discrepancies in voting records in a number of states.” The article linked to a piece by ProPublica which reported on the work of Swoboda’s Voter Reference Foundation (VoteRef). VoteRef discovered discrepancies between the number of voters and the number of ballots cast in numerous states. ProPublica cited objections to the report from several election officials as evidence the work was invalid. 

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Multi-State Coalition of Attorneys General Sides with Texas in Battle Against Biden in New Push to Secure the Border

A coalition of state attorneys general sent a letter Monday to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas backing Texas in its border battle with the Biden administration.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott defied the Biden administration last week, making clear he would continue to put up concertina wire fencing at the southern border to help stop the flow of illegal immigration, which has soared since Biden took office.

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Lone Democrat to Oppose Anti-Human Trafficking Bill Proposes Measure to Hang Human Trafficking Hotline Posters in ‘Adult Establishments’

Tennessee Rep. Antonio Parkinson, D-Memphis, filed a bill that would require all adult-oriented businesses to display human trafficking hotline information that would be overseen by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. The democrat what the only vote against the anti-trafficking bill passed during the special session last fall.

“This isn’t a bad bill but we are very confused as to why Rep. Parkinson has decided to file a bill that addresses human trafficking, albeit in a miniscule manner, given that he was literally the only member of the State House to vote against our special session anti-trafficking bill that became law,” a statement from the Tennessee Faith and Freedom Coalition board said.

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Draft Bill for Expansion of Tennessee School Choice Shows Scholarships Will be Available to All Students

The Tennessee Star obtained on Monday a draft of the forthcoming Education Freedom Scholarship Act previously announced by Governor Bill Lee in November.

Lee announced in November that he would champion new school choice legislation in 2024 that will ultimately allow all Tennessee families to choose where their children are educated.

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Kari Lake Praises New Arizona Republican Party Chair Gina Swoboda as ‘Election Integrity Hero,’ Confirms She Released AZGOP Audio

Arizona U.S. Senate candidate Kari Lake expressed full confidence in newly-elected Arizona Republican Party (AZGOP) Chair Gina Swoboda during a Sunday interview. She also offered new insight about the alleged bribe that was relayed by former AZGOP Chair Jeff DeWit.

Speaking to “Sunday Morning Futures” host Maria Bartiromo, Lake called Swoboda “an incredible woman who is an election integrity hero and will make prioritizing securing our elections a top priority” before the November elections.

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Commentary: After Sweeping Iowa and New Hampshire, Trump Faces the Supreme Court Primary

After sweeping the Iowa caucus and New Hampshire primary — the first Republican in a competitive presidential nomination race to do so since the GOP started using the Iowa caucus in 1976 — former President Donald Trump will run unopposed in the Nevada caucus on Feb. 8 and appears to be safely ahead in polls in the South Carolina primary on Feb. 24.

The Republican National Committee even briefly considered naming Trump the “presumptive” GOP nominee before the plan was scrapped.

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Virginia State Senator Louise Lucas Suggests Democrats Will Stop Cooperating with Youngkin if He Vetoes $15 Minimum Wage Bill

Virginia State Senator L. Louise Lucas (D-Portsmouth) indicated on Friday that Governor Glenn Youngkin (R) could see Democrats, who narrowly control the Virginia General Assembly, end their cooperation if he vetoes her bill to raise the commonwealth’s minimum wage to $15 per hour.

In a post to X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, the senator predicted that Youngkin “will quickly find the cooperative tone from Democrats changing” should the governor veto her minimum wage bill.

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Georgia State House Candidate C.J. Pearson Blasts ‘Rogue Operation’ to Smear Him by ‘Atlanta Political Establishment’

C.J. Pearson, who is running in the February 13 special election to fill the seat in the Georgia State House vacated when former Representative Barry Fleming accepted an appointment to a judgeship by Governor Brian Kemp, told The Georgia Star News the political attacks about him are due to his strident conservatism.

Political operatives and organizations connected to Kemp are reportedly “taking aim” at Pearson with political advertisements claiming his previous work for Prager University and prior support for Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) in 2016, when Pearson was himself just 13-years-old, are proof he does not share Georgia’s values.

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Ohio Democrats Continue to Push Anti-Corruption Legislation

Nearly five years after House Bill 6 became law and six months after former House Speaker Larry Householder was sent to prison, Ohio Democrats plan to introduce legislation again to stop corruption at the Statehouse.

State Reps. Daniel Troy (pictured above), D-Willowick, and Rachel Baker, D-Cincinnati, plan a news conference Tuesday to announce the Ohio Anti-Corruption Act requiring dark money groups to identify contributors and disclose spending.

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GOP Lawmakers Eye Tax on ‘Woke’ Private Universities’ Massive Endowments

High-profile Republicans are pushing a new strategy to tax universities’ endowments, arguing the institutions don’t deserve their tax-exempt statuses because they use their vast amounts of money to push “woke” biases.

While initial efforts in Congress appear to have stalled for now, watchdogs warn higher education leaders that this strategy has only just begun.

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Democrat Supporting Super PAC Pours Millions into Montana and Nevada U.S. Senate Races

A super PAC committed to electing Senate Democrats is dropping tens of millions in ad reservations into Montana and Nevada’s key 2024 races, Politico reported Monday.

The Senate Majority PAC will spend an initial $27 million and $36 million in Montana and Nevada, respectively, in its first round of ad buys for the fall ahead of the Nov. 5 general election, according to  Politico. The ad reservations will begin airing in the summer to help the contested reelection bids of Democratic Sens. Jon Tester of Montana and Jacky Rosen of Nevada.

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Analysis: Residents from Other States Defend Texas as They Did Nearly 200 Years Ago

by Bethany Blankley   As the battle between Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and President Joe Biden continues over state sovereignty and Texas’ constitutional right to defend its border, the leaders and residents of 25 states have come to Texas’ aid, as others did from 22 states nearly 190 years ago. Answering Abbott’s call to join forces to secure the Texas-Mexico border last May, 24 Republican governors pledged support, sending National Guard troops and law enforcement officers from their states to Texas. After the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against Texas allowing Border Patrol agents to destroy concertina wire barriers in Eagle Pass, Texas, erected through Abbott’s border security mission, Operation Lone Star, a coalition of now 25 governors expressed even greater resolve to “stand with Texas.” Within the past few days, at least 10 governors have sent more troops to Texas, and South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem visited to rally support for Texas troops. As calls have grown for Biden to federalize the Texas National Guard to pull them out of the chain of command of Abbott, a constitutional law expert and former active-duty Navy JAG told The Center Square that Congress should determine if such a move would constitute an impeachable offense. If the president…

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