The Daily Beast The MAGA-friendly federal judge who keeps siding with Donald Trump in his Mar-a-Lago classified records case has forced prosecutors to make a stark choice: allow jurors to see a huge trove of national secrets or let him go. U.S. District Judge Aileen M. Cannon’s ultimatum Monday night came as a surprise twist in what could have been a simple order; one merely asking federal prosecutors and Trump’s lawyers for proposed jury instructions at the upcoming trial. But as she has done repeatedly, Cannon used this otherwise innocuous legal step as yet another way to swing the case wildly in favor of the man who appointed her while he was president. READ THE FULL STORY
Read the full storyDay: March 18, 2024
Supreme Court Rejects Peter Navarro’s Bid to Stay Out of Prison While He Appeals Conviction
The Supreme Court on Monday rejected an emergency request from former Trump advisor Peter Navarro to remain out of prison while he appeals his conviction for contempt of Congress.
Chief Justice John Roberts denied the request, Politico reported.
Read the full storySenate Intel Chair: ‘There May Need to be Certain Changes Made’ to House-Passed TikTok Bill
Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, expects the House-passed bill that could lead to a ban on TikTok in the U.S. might need to be amended in the Senate
Warner told reporters last week the changes could involve the timeline that it requires Bytedance to divest in the popular smartphone app.
Read the full storyRetailer Joann Fabrics Files for Bankruptcy as Americans Cut Back on Creature Comforts
Major fabric and craft retailer Joann announced Monday that it was filing for bankruptcy as consumers pull back on spending due to harsh economic conditions.
The retailer recently reached an agreement with a majority of its financial stakeholders as well as other financing parties, giving the company around $132 million in new financing while also reducing the debt on the company’s balance sheet by around $505 million, according to an announcement from Joann. Retail sales across the U.S. economy have continued to slump in recent months, growing just 0.6 percent month-to-month in February, not including inflation, and declining 1.1 percent in January as consumers pull back on non-essentials as prices rise.
Read the full storyFormer U.S. Special Envoy for Haiti Dan Foote: Victoria Nuland and the U.S. Ambassador to Haiti Cut the 2021 Deal with Now Deposed Haiti Strongman Ariel Henry to Repatriate Del Rio Camp Migrants in Return for Scuttled Elections
Former U.S. Special Envoy for Haiti Dan Foote said Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland and former U.S. Ambassador to Haiti Michele Sison “teed up” the deal with unelected leader of Haiti Ariel Henry to delay elections in the country.
Read the full storyTrump Unable to Secure $454 Million Appeal Bond in New York Civil Fraud Case, his Attorneys Say
Former President Donald Trump has been unable to secure the $454 million bond, the full amount of the civil fraud judgment against him, which he must post in order to appeal, his attorneys said in a filing Monday.
Trump offered last month to post a $100 million appeal bond rather than the full amount as the process plays out in court, but the judge denied the proposal.
Read the full storyUnderage Porn Access Could be Felony in Tennessee for Website
A Tennessee bill would make it a felony for an adult content website allows access to a minor without age verification.
The offense would become a class C felony and the entity would be liable for damages, including attorney’s costs and court fees.
Read the full storyExclusive: Two Individuals Arrested in Connection with ‘Multinational’ Human Trafficking Ring Are Illegal Aliens
Two men arrested in connection with a “multinational criminal organization linked to human trafficking” are illegal aliens, The Tennessee Star has learned.
In the fall of 2023, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) Human Trafficking Unit arrested Yilibeth Rivero De Caldera on nine counts of Trafficking for a Commercial Sex Act. His victims, the agency said, were Central and South American female migrants who were forced into sex slavery to pay off debts owed to Rivero De Caldera in exchange for Rivero De Caldera smuggling them into the United States.
Read the full storySwing State Democrats Receive Money from America’s Largest Lobbying Firms
Vulnerable Senate Democrats, who often try to distance themselves from Washington, D.C., have emerged as favorites among employees at the nation’s largest lobbying firms.
Sens. Jon Tester of Montana, Jacky Rosen of Nevada, Bob Casey Jr. of Pennsylvania and Sherrod Brown of Ohio were among the top recipients of donations from people working at the ten firms with the highest lobbying income, a Daily Caller News Foundation review of public records has found. Tester received the second most money of any candidate from America’s top lobbying firms, Rosen was third, Casey was fourth and Brown was fifth, Federal Election Commission (FEC) records show.
Read the full storyNashville Police Created Lactation Rooms, Changed Physical Requirements in Effort to Recruit Female Officers for 2030 Deadline
Metro Nashville Police Department on Tuesday announced the department made new changes in a bid to recruit more female officers, including lactation rooms for nursing police officers, flexible schedules to better accommodate families and new physical requirements for officers that are more accommodating to women.
The department is driving up its recruitment of women in a bid to comply with the 30×30 initiative joined by Police Chief John Drake in 2021. The effort, which is tied to Hungarian-American financier George Soros, seeks to compel police departments to ensure 30 percent of officers are female by 2030.
Read the full storyWorld-Renowned Epidemiologist Fired from Harvard After Refusing COVID Vaccine
World-renowned infectious-disease epidemiologist and biostatistician Martin Kulldorff is no longer a professor at Harvard Medical School after refusing the COVID vaccine because he had infection-acquired immunity.
Refusing the vaccine is a decision that lost him his appointment at a Harvard-affiliated hospital at the time several years ago — and this month led to his termination from the Ivy League school.
Read the full storyBiden Admin Sending Tribes $120 Million to Fight Climate Change
The Biden administration announced Thursday that it is giving Native American tribes across the country a total of $120 million to fight climate change.
The Department of the Interior (DOI) is disseminating the money, which will be split into 146 different awards to support projects that enhance “climate resilience” in tribal communities. The funding is inspired in part by the administration’s view that Native American populations are among the least able to prepare or recover from climate change’s impacts.
Read the full storyNorth Carolina College Forces Athletes to Watch ‘Only Whites are Racist’ Video
Davidson College alumni are calling for change after student athletes recently were required to watch the video “I’m Not Racist … Am I?” which labels all white people as racists.
The Davidsonians for Freedom of Thought and Discourse, an alumni-run free speech organization, exposed and denounced the video after learning the North Carolina institution forced student athletes to watch it this semester.
Read the full storyJeff Bezos’ Charity Spending Millions to Fund Development of Fake Meat
The charitable foundation of Amazon founder and billionaire Jeff Bezos is pouring tens of millions of dollars into efforts to advance synthetic meat.
The Bezos Earth Fund (BEF) will be spending an initial $60 million to fund research and development of “alternative proteins,” which the University of Melbourne defines as “plant-based and food-technology alternatives to animal protein,” the BEF announced Tuesday. The $60 million commitment is part of the BEF’s $1 billion campaign to transform food systems to fight climate change.
Read the full storyTennessee Bill Would Allow Murder Charges for Drug Dealers in Overdose Deaths
A new bill that originated in the Tennessee Senate would require drug dealers who contribute to the overdose of drug users to be charged with murder.
SB 1754 was introduced in January and is now making its way through Tennessee Senate committees.
Read the full storyAnalysts: Policymakers Must Confront Weaponized Migration to Address Border Crisis
Unless Congress and policymakers understand how weaponized migration is being used against the U.S., they won’t be able to solve the problem, foreign policy analysts warn.
More than 11 million foreign nationals, including gotaways, illegally entering the U.S. from all over the world is not an accident, military and foreign policy experts have warned. It’s called migrant warfare, The Center Square first reported. The European Commission, United Nations, NATO, and foreign policy institutes have identified hybrid warfare being used in Europe, including migrant warfare, to shape national and international policies.
Read the full storyKari Lake, Mark Finchem Appeal Their Case Seeking to Ban Electronic Voting Machine Tabulators to the U.S. Supreme Court, Add New Evidence Including ‘False Statements’ by Defendants
Kari Lake and Mark Finchem filed a Petition for Certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday, appealing the dismissal of their lawsuit against Arizona officials to stop the use of electronic voting machine tabulators. The 210-page petition added new allegations stating that the defendants lied to the court and that new evidence had surfaced exposing the vulnerabilities of the machines to bad actors.
“New evidence from other litigation and public-record requests shows defendants made false statements to the district court regarding the safeguards allegedly followed to ensure the accuracy of the vote, on which the district court relied,” the petition asserted.
Read the full storyCommentary: Crafting a New Image for Justice in America
Were I of a more entrepreneurial bent, I might go into the statuary business. I would specialize in those statues of “Justice” one sees, or used to see, decorating the façades of courthouses. The old-fashioned, now deprecated models featured a berobed and blindfolded female figure holding aloft a pair of scales. The symbology, now on its way to the graveyard of discarded ideas, was simple but noble. Justice was blindfolded because she was no respecter of persons. Neither rank nor party nor sex nor ethnic origin would figure into her calculation of guilt or innocence. She held scales to emphasize her devotion to impartiality.
Since those ideals have long since been superseded, my thought was to go into business producing new statues of Justice. The figure could still be female, or at least identify as female, but it should probably be obese and sport dreadlocks. She—or “she”—should not be wearing a robe but rather a T-shirt and dungarees. Instead of a blindfold, this new figure of justice would sport a pride-flag pin and a WinBlue membership card. She would still brandish scales, but one side would be loaded down with affidavits, subpoenas, and indictments.
Read the full storyGeorgia Lt. Gov. Burt Jones Celebrates ‘Courage’ of Riley Gaines, Female Athletes Challenging NCAA and Georgia Schools over Trans Competitors
Georgia Lt. Governor Burt Jones on Friday issued a statement celebrating the “courage” of Riley Gaines and the other plaintiffs in the lawsuit against the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and a number of Georgia universities.
Jones commended the athletes “for their courage” and demanded the NCAA apologize and reverse course in a statement.
Read the full storyInflation in Phoenix Area Slows Down
Inflation in the Phoenix metropolitan area appears to be calming down, according to new Consumer Price Index data from February.
The CPI saw an uptick of 2.2% year-over-year from last February, and a 0.7% increase between December 2023 and this February. That’s lower than the nationwide year-over-year rate of 3.2%.
Read the full storyRichmond Prosecutor Encourages Voters to Return Mail-in Ballots in Person amid Postal Service Failures
Richmond Commonwealth’s Attorney Colette McEachin reportedly encouraged voters on Wednesday to consider delivering their 2024 mail-in ballots directly to a post office as the United States Postal Service (USPS) continues to suffer unexplained delays and disappearances of mail.
McEachin made the remarks to 6 News Richmond when discussing a new investigation into the USPS issues in Richmond. She was asked about the mail-in ballots after suggesting the problems with mail delivery could be placed highly within the postal service.
Read the full storyArizona Election Official Who Fought Against Hand Counting Ballots Hired as State’s Elections Director
An Arizona election official who resigned from her former position in Cochise County over her refusal to hand count ballots in the 2022 elections is now the statewide election director after a promotion from Secretary of State Adrian Fontes.
Lisa Marra was appointed by Fontes to become the Arizona Elections Director and will oversee equipment testing, candidate filings, election night reporting and canvassing during the 2024 elections.
Read the full storyMayes Issues Consumer Alert on Crisis Pregnancy Centers; Republicans Want Retraction
Arizona Republican lawmakers are asking Attorney General Kris Mayes to retract a consumer alert on crisis pregnancy centers.
A news release from Mayes’ office on Wednesday said that the centers, which are meant to assist pregnant women as an alternative to Planned Parenthood or other abortion facilities, are masked as “legitimate healthcare clinics” but have the intent of encouraging women not to have abortions.
Read the full storyGeorgia Senate Passes Certificate of Need Reform Measure
The Georgia Senate has passed a measure to reform Georgia’s certificate of need laws.
Lawmakers passed House Bill 1339 by a 43-11 margin. The House overwhelmingly passed the measure last month, and the amended version returns to the House for consideration.
Read the full storyCommentary: Electric Transmission Buildout Could Cost Americans Trillions of Dollars
Though windmills and solar panels get the headlines, the big energy topic in Washington is electric transmission. Whether it is Congress’s newfound interest in permitting reform, the U.S. Department of Energy’s new Grid Deployment Office, or the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) upcoming final rule on transmission planning and cost allocation, how to build and pay for long-range transmission to connect generators to customers is considered the final piece in the quest to meet net-zero goals.
Like so many issues in Washington, the need for more transmission lines is accepted without question and the costs are not considered. But for American consumers, especially low-income and elderly, as well as small businesses and energy intense manufacturers, building new transmission lines could result in much higher monthly bills and leave them on the hook for stranded assets.
Read the full storyCommentary: Eight Resources to Get People Started in Homeschool
If you’re feeling unqualified to homeschool, you’re not alone. The question of what and how to teach stressed me out early on in my homeschooling journey.
I found that having a good curriculum did a great deal to reduce my fears of not being qualified to teach. I wanted to strike a balance between bookwork, memorization, and fun interactive activities. I wanted to make sure to impart to my kids the basic body of knowledge necessary for a good education, yet I didn’t want to burn them out with endless worksheets.
Read the full storyBiden Admin Funding Theatrical Productions to Teach Africans About LGBTQ Rights
The Biden administration is spending taxpayer dollars to stage plays in an effort to teach Africans about “LGBTQ rights.”
A State Department grant allocates money to “improve communication at the level of the local community on the social issue of LGBTQ rights and domestic violence via participatory theater” in the African nation of Chad, according to a federal grant description. The Biden administration has paid out several grants to use theater to educate foreigners about environmentalism, racism, immigration and the war in Ukraine.
Read the full storyTaxpayers Supply $1 Billion Annually, and AmeriCorps Is Seven Years Without Clean Audit
Taxpayers provide it $1 billion annually, and for seven years running, AmeriCorps has failed to get a clean audit. A North Carolina congresswoman says that’s enough.
Identifying fraud risks, assessing inherent fraud risks, setting risk tolerance and consideration of existing controls were all cited in a scathing report of the Corporation for National and Community Service – aka AmeriCorps – from the U.S. Government Accountability Office.
Read the full storyStudy: Most Partial Automation Driving Systems Need Work
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety says automakers should incorporate new rating programs into their partial driving automation systems to reduce traffic deaths.
The new IIHS ratings aim to encourage safeguards that can help reduce intentional misuse and prolonged attention lapses.
Read the full story