Senate Republicans to Block Border Deal, Putting Ukraine in Limbo

Crowd of immigrants

Senate Republicans will block a procedural motion this week to start debating a bipartisan border security deal following intense opposition to the legislation from the House GOP and former President Donald Trump. 

The bill includes more than $60 billion in security assistance for Ukraine, and the move leaves funding for the war-torn nation in limbo, according to The Hill. 

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Protesting Farmers Successfully Bully EU into Scrapping New Environmental Regulations

EU Farmers

The European Union (EU) is withdrawing a pesticide proposal amid protests by farmers against environmental regulations, The Associated Press reported.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced the decision Tuesday to suspend a regulation that aimed to cut pesticide and similar chemical use in half by 2030, according to The Guardian. The move is the latest concession by the EU to farmers who have staged sweeping protests across the member nations against environmental regulations they feel are hurting their livelihoods.

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J6 Defendant Stewart Parks Imprisoned After Judge Amit Mehta Rejected Request for Freedom Pending Appeal; Mehta Claimed Parks Lied in Court but Cited No Evidence to That Effect

Stewart Parks FBI

In an order refusing his request to remain free while appealing his conviction, D.C. Circuit Court Judge Amit P. Mehta accused Stewart Parks, a Tennessee entrepreneur and former congressional candidate who was convicted in a January 6 trial, of lying in court and spreading “falsehoods” about the events of that day.

Parks (pictured above in the moments prior to his incarceration) complied with Mehta’s order and self-reported for incarceration at the Federal Correctional Institution, Memphis, Tennessee, on Tuesday, February 6 at 2:00 pm Central Time and is currently serving the eight-month prison term to which Judge Mehta sentenced him.

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Tennessee State Senator Brent Taylor Urges TBI to Investigate, Arrest Pro-Palestine Protesters Who Blocked Traffic on I-40 in Memphis

Brent Taylor

Tennessee State Senator Brent Taylor (R-Memphis) joined Monday’s edition of The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy to discuss a letter he sent to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) regarding its response to a group of pro-Palestine protesters that blocked traffic in both directions on I-40 in Memphis over the weekend.

On Saturday, a group of pro-Palestine protesters commandeered the Mississippi River Bridge on I-40 in Memphis, shutting down traffic in both directions for nearly two hours and leaving motorists with no way to cross the Mississippi River as the I-55 river bridge was under construction.

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Tennessee Rep. Andy Ogles Previews Upcoming Vote on Mayorkas Impeachment, Senate Border Deal Discussions

Rep. Andy Ogles

U.S. Representative Andy Ogles (R-TN-05) joined Monday’s edition of The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy to discuss the Senate’s so-called “border deal” and the House of Representatives’ upcoming vote on two articles of impeachment against Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

On the upcoming impeachment vote against Mayorkas, Ogles said the votes in the House “should be there” to impeach the secretary, adding, “We have an obligation to move forward and hold him accountable and put on the record that you can’t just ignore our laws in this country.”

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Former Trump Campaign Spokesman Steve Cortes Calls Senate Border Deal a ‘Monstrosity’

Steve Cortes

Steve Cortes, former senior spokesman and strategist for the 2016 and 2020 Trump campaigns and current head of the League of American Workers, joined Monday’s edition of The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy to discuss the Senate’s recently unveiled border deal.

On Sunday, the Senate Appropriations Committee announced the details of the $118.3 billion emergency spending package that would fund U.S. national security efforts in Ukraine, Israel, and at the U.S.-Mexico border.

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Tennessee State Sen. Raumesh Akbari Files Bill to Allow House Arrest for Prisoners After Age 60, Including Murderers

Tennessee State Senator Raumesh Akbari (D-Memphis) filed SB 2757 on Thursday, called the Restoration of Dignity for the Elderly Act, which would allow criminals who have served more than half of their sentence and are at least 60 to serve the remainder of their sentence under house arrest.

A summary for SB 2757 would require the Tennessee Department of Correction “to create a five-year pilot program for the release” of inmates who are defined as elderly, which the bill defines as over the age of 60, and have “served a minimum of 65 percent of the sentence imposed,” to be released under house arrest.

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Southern Poverty Law Center Added Immigration Group to ‘Hate Map’ After It Reported SPLC ‘Charity’s’ Attacks on Trump to IRS

by Tyler O’Neil   A recent interview with the leader of an immigration reform organization that the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has branded a “hate group” potentially shines new light on how the SPLC allegedly uses its “hate” accusations as a tactical political weapon. Throughout the 2016 presidential election, the Southern Poverty Law Center, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit entity, condemned candidate Donald Trump for his supposed ties to “far-right extremists.” The following year, an immigration group helped report this to the IRS, claiming the SPLC had violated its tax-exempt status by engaging in political activity against Trump, and the SPLC appears to have responded by adding that group to its “hate map” in what the immigration group calls an act of retaliation. “It was direct retaliation,” Dan Stein, president of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, or FAIR, and chairman of the board of directors of its affiliated legal organization, the Immigration Reform Law Institute, told The Daily Signal in an interview this week. In November 2016, the Immigration Reform Law Institute announced that it would represent FAIR in an official complaint to the IRS that claimed the SPLC had violated its tax-exempt status. FAIR, founded in 1979 by self-declared liberals, conservatives, and moderates as…

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Tennessee Lawmakers Blast Border Bill

Tennessee’s elected Republicans are taking to the airwaves to oppose a 370 page spending bill that claims to address the crisis at the U.S. southern border with Mexico. 

“It is against the law for an individual to illegally cross into our country — it’s incredible that still needs to be said. We are a nation of law and order, yet the Biden administration has allowed over 8.8 million illegal immigrants to flood our border,” said Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) on X. 

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NCAA President Asks for College ‘Proposition Bets’ Ban in Ohio

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine and the NCAA want to stop gamblers from placing bets on individual performances in college games – called “proposition bets” (prop bets) – hoping it will stop online threats and harassment.

In a letter to the Ohio Casino Control Commission, NCAA President Charlie Baker asked for collegiate prop bets to be removed from the legal bets that can be placed in the state. That move triggered a public comment period for operators to comment on rule changes before a change can occur.

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Border Czar Banks: Texas’ Successful Efforts Push Illegal Entry West

Texas State 'Border Czar' Mike Banks

by Bethany Blankley   One year in as Texas’ “border czar,” Mike Banks says the state has been so successful at blocking illegal entry that cartel activity has been pushed west into Democratic-led states that aren’t implementing similar tactics that Texas has. Banks spoke with The Center Square in an exclusive interview after reaching the one-year mark in his new role on Jan. 30. Gov. Greg Abbott tapped him for the role within 24 hours of his retirement from U.S. Border Patrol, creating his position to oversee and augment border security efforts already underway through Abbott’s border security mission, Operation Lone Star. Abbott created the state “border czar” role after President Joe Biden declared Vice President Kamala Harris “border czar,” saying she’d be overseeing border security operations. Harris has been absent from the border, even denying there is a crisis. Abbott has argued Banks has done more in one day than Harris did in the years she’s held the title. Banks was “the perfect choice” to be Texas’ first-ever border czar, Abbott argues, because of his 23 years of Border Patrol experience serving in three states and Washington, D.C., under four presidents. He’s “seen firsthand the struggles of ranchers and…

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Arizona U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego Offers Tepid Support for Schumer-Sinema Border Bill Called ‘Slap in the Face’ by Kari Lake

U.S. Representative Ruben Gallego (D-AZ-03) appeared to offer his tepid support for the bipartisan border bill that Senator Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) helped craft and unveiled Sunday. His support is contrasted by Republican U.S. Senate candidate Kari Lake, who may face a three-way race with Gallego and Sinema in November, called the legislation a “slap in the face.”

Shortly after the announcement of the border bill, created in a joint effort that included Senators Sinema, Chuck Schumer (D-NY) James Lankford (R-OK) and Chris Murphy (D-CT), Gallego wrote in a post to X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, that the bill should be taken seriously.

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Virginia Democrats Seek to Allow ‘Anti Rent Gouging’ Ordinances, Spend $100 Million in ‘Long-Term Direct Rental Assistance’

House for Rent

Democrats in the Virginia General Assembly seek to allow local cities and towns to enact “anti rent gouging” ordinances that would regulate what property owners can charge renters and when rent can be raised, and additionally seek to add $100 million to the budget to fund “long-term direct rental assistance” for 5,000 families via vouchers.

Delegate Nadarius Clark (D-Suffolk) introduced HB 721 in early January to allow “any locality” to adopt an “anti-rent gouging” ordinance that would force landlords to provide two months of written notice in the event of a rent increase, prevent landlords from raising rent more than once within a 12-month period, cap how much rent can be increased and allow communities “to establish an anti-rent gouging board” to create regulations “by which landlords may apply for and be granted exemptions” from the legislation.

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Georgia Senate Passes Bill Tightening Bail Rules, Limiting Non-Profits That Pay Bail for Alleged Criminals

Georgia State Senator Randy Robertson

The Georgia State Senate passed a bill that would increase the number of criminal offenses for which a criminal must pay bail before release and limit the ability of individuals and non profits to post bail repeatedly.

Introduced by Senator Randy Robertson (R-Cataula), SB 63 would require those judges to set bail for defendants accused of committing 30 additional crimes and remove the ability of any individual, business, nonprofit, or other group from posting “more than three cash bonds” per year.

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Report: College Free Speech Codes Mostly ‘Yellow Lights’

College Students

Although public colleges and universities operate under First Amendment guidelines and many private schools pledge to uphold the principles of free speech, a new report says most still enforce policies that restrict it in some way.

After reviewing the policies of 489 of America’s top colleges and universities, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, or FIRE, has released its Spotlight on Speech Codes 2024. The schools earned red, yellow, or green light ratings based on the extent to which their written regulations threaten free speech.

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Indiana Republican Reverses Course, Will Seek Another Term in Congress

Rep. Victoria Spartz

Republican Rep. Victoria Spartz of Indiana announced she will seek reelection in 2024 on Monday after previously deciding to retire.

Spartz announced just months after being reelected that she would not run for a third term in the lower chamber to spend more time at home with her family. Following a wave of GOP retirements in late 2023 and early 2024, Spartz reversed her decision and intends on filing for reelection, according to a statement from the congresswoman.

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Commentary: To Rebuild Trust, U.S. Banks Have a Lot of Work to Do

Trust in banks has plummeted.  From 2019-2022, the percentage of people who believe banks and financial institutions have a positive effect on the country fell among Republicans (from 63 to 38 percent) and Independents (by nine points). The problem grows every time a right-of-center group is debanked. Recognizing the problem, “rebuilding trust” is the theme of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. The path to rebuild trust in finance is simple—keep politics out of banking.

In spite of an alleged priority of building trust, the largest banks are aligning themselves with radical United Nations (UN) climate initiatives linked to radical efforts to reduce Africa’s population and destroy Sri Lankan agriculture.

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Commentary: Labor Department’s New Rule Is Bad News for Independent Contractors

Contract Worker

In what is sure to have significant implications for millions of American workers, specifically gig economy workers and contractors, the Department of Labor (DOL) issued its long-awaited final worker classification rule in January.

The new rule revises the process to determine whether a worker is an employee or independent contractor under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The government argues the rule is necessary to ensure that all workers are provided fair wages and overtime since independent contractors (people who work for themselves or a business on a contractual basis) are not given the same benefits, such as tax withholdings and paid time off, as traditional employees. However, this argument appears designed to mask the government’s true intention, which is to reduce the number of independent contractors in the country.

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