Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Tuesday issued a fiery defense against the impeachment articles he faces, calling the allegations “false” and urging Congress to fix the U.S. immigration system through legislation.
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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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A new study released by the Center for Individual Freedom (CFIF) shows a majority of Republican voters in Tennessee oppose Certificate of Need (CON) laws.
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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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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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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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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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A conservative think tank will continue its annual “training academy” for judicial clerks this spring.
The Heritage Foundation’s Judicial Clerkship Training Academy will run from March 20-22. Attendees, often law students or recent graduates, will have an opportunity to hear from federal judges, law professors, and former clerks.
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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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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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The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Ohio announced Monday it will file a lawsuit challenging the Saving Ohio Adolescents from Experimentation (SAFE) Act, which is included in House Bill 68.
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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 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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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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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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A veterans home under construction in Flagstaff is laying off existing staff.
The Arizona Department of Veterans’ Services told The Center Square on Friday about the personnel decision.
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Newly-elected chair of the Arizona Republican Party (AZGOP) Gina Swoboda joined Steve Bannon’s War Room on Monday where she discussed her plan to litigate and protect the party from lawfare ahead of the November election.
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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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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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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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Tennessee State Senator Mark Pody (R-Lebanon) joined Monday’s edition of The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy to discuss the latest developments surrounding his efforts to make new school-specific security technology eligible for the school safety grants approved by the General Assembly last year.
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Texas sheriffs and some residents have a message for a trucker convoy scheduled to come to the Texas border on Feb. 3: “Don’t come.” Organizer of the “Take Our Border Back Southern Border Convoy & 3-state Rally” are calling on “all active and retired law enforcement and military, veterans, mama bears, elected officials, business owners, ranchers, truckers, bikers, media and law abiding, freedom-loving Americans” to travel to rural, hard-to -reach areas near Eagle Pass, Texas, Yuma, Arizona, and San Ysirdo, California.
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A proposed rule from the Biden administration would require federal contractors to delegate “quasi-regulatory” authority to two environmental activist groups, the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) and Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) collecting annual climate disclosures and target data for reduction in greenhouse gases from federal contractors. If the rule is implemented, federal contractors would be required to pay fees to these groups to comply with the regulation.
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Former IRS contractor Charles Littlejohn was sentenced to five years in prison on Monday after leaking former President Donald Trump’s tax records, according to NBC News.
Littlejohn, 38, was charged in September 2023 with one count of disclosing information from a tax return for a government official, and he pleaded guilty in October to leaking 10 years of Trump’s tax records to The New York Times. U.S. District Judge Ana C. Reyes sentenced Littlejohn to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine, according to NBC News.
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As part of making their case to impeach U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, House Committee on Homeland Security Republicans identified more than a dozen parole programs they argue Mayorkas illegally created to circumvent laws established by Congress.
Texas, Florida and other states have sued over many of the programs that have allowed illegal border crossers to remain in the U.S., agreeing with the committee’s chairman, U.S. Rep. Mark Green, R-Tenn., who is leading the charge for impeachment.
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A hearing in the public records lawsuit against the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County related to release of records from The Covenant School shooting took place before Chancery Court Judge I’Ashea Myles on Monday.
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Tennessee State Representative Jody Barrett (R-Dickson) filed a bill last week that will allow Tennessee gun owners with an enhanced handgun carry permit to bring their firearm into buildings that otherwise prohibit or restrict carrying weapons.
A second bill filed by Barrett, which would prevent individuals, businesses, or governments in Tennessee from prohibiting firearms, is scheduled to be heard this week.
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The Young Democratic Socialists of America chapter at East Tennessee State University (ETSU) has demanded the school makes a specific policy prohibiting “hate speech.” The call comes as the right-of-center ETSU chapter of Turning Point USA prepares to host Kyle Rittenhouse for a February 8 event they’re calling “The Rittenhouse Recap.”
ETSU’s Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA) said Rittenhouse’s visit to campus is “in clear violation of ETSU’s supposed hate speech policy” in a Friday Instagram post. YDSA also demanded that ETSU’s president and student government issue a statement condemning the event.
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The number of Chinese nationals who crossed the southern border illegally in December surpassed totals for previous entire years, according to federal data updated Friday.
There were 5,951 encounters of Chinese migrants crossing illegally at the U.S.-Mexico border in December alone, which is more than fiscal years 2021 and 2022 combined, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Federal authorities recorded 302,034 encounters at both ports of entry and between ports of entry at the U.S.-Mexico border in December, marking the highest month on record.
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Tennessee Representatives who were part of a joint committee examining the state rejecting K-12 federal education funding submitted a report on their findings without the signature of one member.
The report said Tennessee schools will accept $1.3 billion in federal funding this fiscal year, 9.9% of the funding for those schools. The state contributes $6.9 billion and local governments spend $4.8 billion.
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The Tennessee Board of Judicial Conduct (TBJC) has sent a letter to Lieutenant Governor Randy McNally (R-Oak Ridge) and House Speaker Cameron Sexton (R-Crossville) recommending Shelby County Criminal Court Judge Melissa Boyd be removed from office.
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A majority of Democratic voters would support candidates who want “open” borders, according to a new poll conducted by CRC Research for The 85 Fund that was first obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
The survey asked respondents whether they “would be more or less likely to support a candidate who…Says that immigration is healthy for the U.S. and we should keep our borders open to fill jobs many Americans do not want to do.” Fifty-five percent of Democratic voters said they would be more likely to support such a candidate, while 36 percent said they would be less likely.
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Former Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards made public this weekend that has been diagnosed with glioblastoma, an incurable brain cancer.
After receiving the diagnosis six months ago, Richards first publicly disclosed her illness Sunday to New York Magazine’s The Cut.
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Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares confirmed on Thursday a $2.8 million media campaign to support Operation Ceasefire, the campaign he began in 2022 to lower gun violence throughout the commonwealth.
A trailer for the attorney general’s campaign, posted to YouTube last month, reveals an upcoming “public awareness and media campaign” titled Ceasefire Virginia. Miyares intends to reach “young people who may be considering gang or violent criminal activity” by targeting them on social media.
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Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes and Senate President Warren Petersen are asking the Internal Revenue Service not to tax a rebate that went out last year to roughly 700,000 Arizona families.
Some Arizona families received a state tax rebate in the fall, which maxed out at $750 per family. Families got $250 for each dependent under 17 and $100 each for dependent adults. The Center Square reported on Monday that the IRS has decided to tax it as miscellaneous income.
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A second attempt to significantly overhaul Ohio’s voter laws by putting a constitutional amendment on the ballot failed.
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost again called the proposed amendment to expand early voting and voter registration and stop required voter roll purges misleading.
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Reading Matt Taibbi’s summary how the Democrats weaponized the government against Donald Trump, starting before the election of 2016 and proceeding right up to the present moment, I am reminded once again that the issue is not democracy but “Our Democracy™.”
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A total of 10 Republicans in the Georgia State Senate are now sponsors of SB 359, originally filed by State Senator John Albers (R-Alpharetta), which would expand Georgia’s Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act to allow misdemeanor crimes to be included in RICO cases.
The bill would also allow enhanced sentences to be considered in RICO cases based on a defendant’s political affiliations or beliefs.
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More and more Ohio teenagers wait until their 18th birthday to get their driver’s license, and the state plans to spend $4.5 million in taxpayer funds to try and change that.
Gov. Mike DeWine announced 34 grants through the Creating Opportunities for Driver Education program to increase driver training capacity at nearly 100 locations around the state.
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Arizona State Rep. Jennifer Longdon, D-Phoenix, resigned from the House effective on Friday.
“I take pride in the collaborative efforts that transcended party lines, resulting in meaningful bipartisan accomplishments,” Longdon wrote in her resignation letter. “I remain humbled by the trust placed in me by the Office of the Speaker in naming me as Chair of the Ad Hoc Committee on Abuse and Neglect of Vulnerable Adults. I am proud of the accomplishments we have been able to achieve thus far.”
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The Biden administration reportedly waived fees for an offshore wind project that are in place to ensure that the infrastructure is removed and the site reclaimed at the end of the project’s life.
President Joe Biden, as part of his climate agenda, is pushing an aggressive buildout of offshore wind projects along the East Coast. With the offshore wind industry struggling financially, the waiving of these fees raises concerns about what would happen if these companies go bankrupt and leave behind wind farms they can’t afford to remove.
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A small handful of veterans who claim to be “transgender” are filing a lawsuit against the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), claiming that the agency is delaying their so-called “gender transition” surgeries and other procedures.
As reported by Fox News, the lawsuit is being filed on behalf of the veterans by the Transgender American Veterans Association (TAVA). TAVA President Bekky Eshler released a statement claiming, with no evidence, that “my transgender veterans…are trying to commit suicide because they can’t see themselves in their body.”
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From Boston to Los Angeles, teachers’ unions and their progressive counterparts have quietly devised an unprecedented method to bypass the legislative process by embedding unrelated policy issues deep within the intricate terms of teacher contracts.
This new, covert strategy, hidden in plain sight, allows state and municipal officials to create sweeping policy changes that evade the scrutiny typically associated with customary legislative procedures, which include publicly available draft legislation, committee hearings, amendments and comprehensive floor debates.
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Newly released federal inflation data shows prices rose in December.
The Bureau of Economic Analysis released its Producer Consumption Expenditure, a key marker of inflation, which showed a 0.2% increase last month. That is an increase of 2.9% in the last year.
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Border Patrol agents apprehended 50 illegal aliens on the terror watchlist between October and December, according to federal data updated Friday.
The total number of migrant crossings at the southern border between October and December surpassed 785,000, more than 629,000 of them being illegal entries, according to the data. Federal authorities warned Border Patrol after the Oct. 7 terrorist attack on Israel to keep watch for Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah terrorists possibly crossing into the U.S. via the southern border, according to an internal memo exclusively obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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Illegal migrant crossings at the U.S.-Canadian border in the last three months exceeded the total number of crossings in both fiscal years 2021 and 2022 combined, according to federal data updated Friday.
Border Patrol recorded 3,846 encounters of migrants crossing into the U.S. illegally from Canada between October and December, according to the data. There were a total of 3,154 encounters of illegal migrants at the northern border in both fiscal years 2021 and 2022.
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The Tennessee Republican Party State Executive Committee voted in a specially called meeting on Saturday to tighten the standards for candidate eligibility in GOP primaries in the state, effective immediately.
Article IX, Section 1, Paragraph B of the Tennessee Republican Party (TRP) bylaws had been previously amended in a September 7, 2023 meeting of the SEC to state that “Beginning in 2026, notwithstanding anything to the contrary in Article IX, Section 1A, an individual who has voted in any of the most recent four (4) statewide primary elections held by a party other than the applicable Republican Party will be ineligible to seek the Republican nomination for any public office in Tennessee.” (emphasis added)
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House Republicans on Sunday released their articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. The first article alleges Mayorkas participated in a “willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law,” while the second article says he breached the public’s trust for his handling of the southern border amid record illegal immigration numbers.
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Cities across the country are counting their homeless in an effort to get a handle on how big the problem is.
In the city of Detroit, 25 teams of volunteers will count the number of homeless throughout the city on Jan. 31.
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A self-declared “abortion doula” spoke this week to Catholic University of America students about her experiences coaching women through delivering or aborting babies, as well as coaching “pregnant men” to deliver in what she called a “seahorse birth,” according to audio of the class lecture obtained by The Daily Signal.
A Catholic University nursing student described Tuesday’s lecture to The Daily Signal, saying the guest speaker said she also practices Reiki, a controversial Japanese method of spiritual healing and self-improvement.
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