United Auto Workers’ Push for Unionization in Tennessee Sets Up Industry Disruption, Expert Says

Volkswagen Plant Chattanooga

After recent wins, the United Auto Workers (UAW) looks poised to take on the non-unionized automakers and, if successful, could disrupt the whole industry.

The UAW recently filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to hold a vote at a Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, which employs around 4,000 autoworkers, as it looks to expand its reach to other automakers. A successful union vote in Chattanooga could be a key stepping stone in the UAW’s effort to break into the currently non-unionized auto plants, especially in the south, which has historically been less receptive to unions, all the while the UAW is being emboldened by labor-friendly regulators from the Biden administration, experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

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Never Trumpers Blake Harris and Kim Kaegi Push ‘Moderate’ Council Member Courtney Johnston to Challenge Andy Ogles in TN-5 GOP Primary

Courtney Johnston, Blake Harris, Kim Kaegi

Tennessee Never Trump political operators Blake Harris and Kim Kaegi are pushing Metro Nashville Councilwoman Courtney Johnston to challenge Representative Andy Ogles (R-TN-05) for his seat in the  U.S. House, multiple sources familiar with the Metro Council and Tennessee Republican politics confirmed to The Tennessee Star.

Johnston recently confirmed reports she is considering a challenge to Ogles, stating to the media, “The people of Middle Tennessee deserve better than Andy Ogles.” The councilwoman confirmed, “I am taking a very close look at the district and am talking to voters. If I run, I intend to win.”

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Possible Bankruptcy for EV Maker Fisker as Industry Hit with Declining Consumer Interest

Fisker electric vehicle on beach with people playing

Electric-vehicle startup Fisker may file for bankruptcy as the declining pace of consumer demand weighs upon the struggling company.

In a March 15 8-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company warned investors that “Fisker did not make a required interest payment of approximately $8.4 million payable in cash on March 15, 2024 (the “Interest Payment”) with respect to Fisker’s unsecured 2.50% convertible notes” and that “the Company has a 30-day grace period to make the Interest Payment.”

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Biden EPA Projects Americans Wasting Billions of Dollars’ Worth of Time Charging Up EVs

EVs Charging

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is projecting that Americans could waste billions of dollars’ worth of time juicing up their electric vehicles (EVs).

As part of the Biden administration’s broader EV agenda, the EPA finalized aggressive tailpipe emissions standards on Wednesday that are designed to force manufacturers to massively increase the proportion of EVs they produce and sell. The regulatory impact analysis for that rule features estimates for costs of time spent refueling EVs over the coming decades, and the EPA is expecting that Americans will have wasted approximately $1.7 billion worth of time charging their EVs by 2055.

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DOJ Creates New Center to Help Local Officials Apply ‘Red Flag’ Laws Against Certain Gun Owners

Merrick Garland

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on Saturday the creation of a new entity to train state and local officials on procedures to apply “red flag” laws that temporarily prevent certain individuals from owning a firearm.

The National Extreme Risk Protection Order (ERPO) Resource Center is an entity created under the DOJ’s Office of Justice Programs (OJP) that will both educate and assist local officials when they initiate legal proceedings to obtain “red flag” orders that rescind an individual’s right to bear arms based on the belief that they pose a risk of harm to themselves or others, according to the DOJ’s press release. The individuals to be trained are “law enforcement officials, prosecutors, attorneys, judges, clinicians, victim service and social service providers, community organizations, and behavioral health professionals.”

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Over 256,000 Illegal Border Crossers in February, Highest for the Month in History

Illegal border crossers apprehended

The number of illegal border crossers has increased significantly since Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas implemented a range of policies he said were designed to reduce “irregular migration” and create a “legal pathway” for foreign nationals to come to the U.S.

February of this year broke a record of 256,094 total illegal border crossings nationwide, the highest for the month in U.S. history.

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College Republican Accused of ‘Bigotry’ for Asking University of Arizona Student Gov Candidate About ‘F*** ICE’Post

Jasmine Tafolla

It is “bigotry” to ask a student candidate why she posted “F*** ICE” on her Instagram account, according to one campus leader.

Current University of Arizona student body president Alyssa Sanchez told College Republicans President Ricky Guthridge it was inappropriate for him to question a vice presidential candidate about her immigration views. ICE stands for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

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Illegal Alien, Alleged Child Rapist Charged with Federal Crimes

Camilo Hurtado Campos

A former Franklin youth soccer coach has been indicted on child sex crimes and immigration crimes, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ).

“The indictment, returned yesterday by a federal grand jury, charges Camilo Campos-Hurtado, 63, with four counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, one count of receiving visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct, one count of using or possessing fraudulent immigration documents, and one count of possessing an identification document or authentication feature which was stolen or produced without lawful authority,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Tennessee said in a March 21 press release. 

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Fani Willis Claims She’s ‘Not Embarrassed’ by Disqualification Proceedings in Georgia Trump Case, Denies Damage to Reputation

Fulton County D.A. Fani Willis

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis denied she is “embarrassed” by the disqualification proceedings against her and claimed her reputation was undamaged by the public questioning of her decision to appoint her former lover, Nathan Wade, as the special prosecutor overseeing her case against former President Donald Trump.

The district attorney delivered the remarks to CNN on Saturday while attending an Easter giveaway in Fulton County.

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Ohio Legislation Would Close State Primaries in ‘Great Step Forward’ for Election Integrity

Ohio State Rep. Beth Lear

Ohio State Representatives Beth Lear (R-Galena) and Brian Lorenz (R-Powell) are championing legislation that would close primary elections in the Buckeye State, requiring voters to cast ballots to nominate candidates corresponding to their registered political party.

Lear and Lorenz filed HB 437 in early March to require voters be registered as a member of a political party for 90 days in order to cast primary election ballots to select that party’s candidates. The legislation would prevent voters registered to the Democratic and Republican parties from casting primary election ballots in the other party’s contests.

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Virginia Democrats Launch ‘Hail Mary’ Plan to Fund Arena with Casino Revenue Despite Objections by Youngkin, Capitals and Wizards

State Senator Scott Surovell

Democrats in the Virginia General Assembly are reportedly working on plans to build a new facility for the Washington Capitals and Wizards in Fairfax County after the defeat of proposed legislation to build the arena in Alexandria.

Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell (D-Fairfax) pitched a plan to use the money from a new casino in Fairfax County to build an arena, according to The Washington Post. Surovell’s plan reportedly has the support of the company seeking to build the casino, as well as political consultant Ben Tribbett, who the outlet reported also works for Senator L. Louise Lucas (D-Portsmouth).

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Federal Budget Includes Money for Groups Accused of Aiding Illegal Immigrants in Arizona

Catholic Community Services

The new federal budget signed by President Joe Biden on Saturday includes funding to continue providing shelter to illegal immigrants in Arizona, even as many were reducing operations or preparing to close after Republicans defeated a controversial immigration and foreign aid bill.

Lawmakers approved a $1.2 trillion budget to avoid a government shutdown despite opposition in the U.S. House, where the funding bill proposed by Speaker Mike Johnson received the support of 101 Republicans. A total of 112 Republicans and 22 Democrats voted against the spending bill in the House.

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Commentary: With RNC Shakeup, MAGA Brings Accountability to the Republican Party

Michael Whatley and Lara Trump (composite image)

An insidious institutional rot has long afflicted the Republican Party and the broader conservative movement. Historically, this has presented a vexing problem for grassroots activists desperate to change the status quo. Now, after Herculean efforts by players big and small, it appears that the rabble-rousing of the MAGA faithful is finally paying off.

New Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Michael Whatley and Vice Chairwoman Lara Trump have brought immediate change to the institution, working with senior Trump campaign advisor Chris LaCivita to streamline this leviathan. Whereas former RNC Chairwoman Ronna Romney-McDaniel did not make the systemic changes needed to support a modern campaign infrastructure, the new team has wasted no time taking a hatchet to overpriced, underworked, and misaligned elements of the organization.

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Kari Lake and Mark Finchem Add Cybersecurity Experts’ Testimony About Newly Discovered ‘Artificial Control’ over the Tabulation of Ballots Using Electronic Voting Machines to their SCOTUS Appeal

Attorneys for Kari Lake and Mark Finchem filed additional pleadings last week with their Petition for Certiorari at the U.S. Supreme Court, providing new evidence to their plea to the court to reconsider the lower courts’ rulings against their lawsuit to stop the use of voting machine tabulators. The new filings include a Motion to Expedite and declarations from top cybersecurity experts, who provided evidence that “overwhelmingly demonstrates” that the election results in 2020 and 2022 from Maricopa County contained “artificial control over the tabulation of ballots and the election results for the November 2020 election.” Additionally, they asserted that the county thwarted efforts to obtain the new data, which is a crime punishable by up to a year of incarceration.

The appendix to the Petitioners’ Motion to Expedite included 176 pages of new affidavits from Clay Parikh, Benjamin Cotton, and Walter Daugherity. Daugherity, who taught computer science and engineering at both the undergraduate and graduate levels for 37 years and served as a computer consultant to major firms and government agencies, including classified work, said this was his second declaration filed in the case, based on the new information from Maricopa County. That information included system log files from Maricopa County’s electronic voting tabulators in the 2020 election, and according to Parikh, “a copy of Maricopa County’s election systems database and the forensic images of the vote center tabulator memory cards used in the 2020 General Election.” 

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Just Four of 17 Ohio’s Congressional Delegation Say ‘No’ to $1.2 Trillion Spending Plan

Rep. Jim Jordan, Sen. JD Vance; Rep. Troy Balderson, and Rep. Warren Davidson, US Capitol

Just four of 17 members in Congress from Ohio opposed the $1.2 trillion spending bill given to taxpayers as law early Saturday.

Republican Sen. J.D. Vance and Republican Reps. Troy Balderson, Warren Davidson and Jim Jordan all said no in votes cast over Friday and early Saturday morning. Six House Republicans from Ohio cast a vote for the legislation.

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Commentary: Unraveling Allegations of Biden Family Influence Peddling Through Tony Bobulinski’s Testimony

Tony Bobulinski

The entertainment committee never sleeps.  Hunter Biden’s former business partner Tony Bobulinski came to Congress a few days ago to testify before the House Oversight Committee about Hunter, his uncle Jim Biden, and the “Big Guy,” Mr. 10 percent, Joseph R. Biden himself.  It was an extraordinary performance. Calm. Deliberate. Detailed. Deadly. Mr. Bobulinski’s written statement shows what care he took in marshaling facts and evidence.

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Thousands of Pounds of Meth Smuggled Across Border in Vegetable Shipments

Meth confiscated by law enforcement

Mexican cartels for decades have devised creative ways to smuggle narcotics and other contraband across the southern U.S., including using produce, law enforcement officials say. This month, in one week, thousands of pounds of meth were seized hidden in shipments of peppers, tomatillos and carrots.

At the Otay Mesa, California, cargo facility this month, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers seized large quantities of methamphetamine (meth) hidden under packages of the vegetables.

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Congress Probing Whether IRS Plyng AI to Invade Americans’ Financial Privacy

Jim Jordan and Harriet Hageman

The House Judiciary Committee has opened an inquiry to whether the IRS is using artificial intelligence to invade Americans’ financial privacy after an agency employee was captured in an undercover tape suggesting there was a widespread surveillance operation underway that might not be constitutional.

Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and Rep. Harriet Hageman, R-Wyo., sent a letter last week to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen demanding documents, and answers as to how the agency is currently employing artificial intelligence to comb through bank records to look for possible tax cheats. 

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Commentary: DOD Must Strengthen Support for Veterans

Military Veterans

Veterans have positively impacted the success of our nation since its inception. Our nation’s service members make up every aspect of our society and represent every ethnic group at some level. Military service is highly regarded by the vast majority of our nation. For many, it provides a chance to grow, transform and serve something greater than themselves. Countless veterans continue their service to their country as leaders in business, government, and their communities. Their inherent leadership skills coupled with a time-honored ethos make them first-round draft choices for any organization.

Although many veterans find the path to the next chapter of their life a rewarding and exciting time, too many struggle, often because civilian and government organizations have little to no real understanding of military service’s attributes. Some of our nation’s most successful businesses have active recruitment of veterans and veteran resource groups in their companies. This isn’t sentimental – they have benefitted from that investment. Many more could benefit from a more in-depth understanding of what veterans truly offer.

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Survey Finds Nearly 70 Percent of Small Businesses View Gen Z Employees as ‘Least Reliable’

Office Work

America’s newest entrants into the workforce aren’t making an early favorable impression: 68% of small business owners believe that Generation Z employees are the “least reliable” of their workforce, according to a new Freedom Economy Index survey.

The survey, a product of the Red Balloon job site and the Public Square shopping site, was released Thursday and also found that less than 4% of businesses found that Gen. Z “most aligns with their workplace culture.”

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