Teachers Union Worked with Feds to Neutralize Parents with Concerns About CRT

American Federation of Teachers

Republican nominee Glenn Youngkin’s gubernatorial victory in Virginia in November 2021, widely credited to his promise to restore parental rights in public schools in the Democratic-leaning state, set off panic in the national education establishment.

Newly disclosed records reveal the American Federation of Teachers hired a prominent Democratic pollster the following month to survey parents and devise messaging to shore up AFT’s weaknesses – particularly by tarring dissenting parents as racists – and shared it with a senior Department of Education official.

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Commentary: Poll After Poll Shows Joe Biden Trails Donald Trump Thanks to Albatross Inflation and Lagging Incomes

President Joe Biden

Panic mode is setting in for President Joe Biden and his struggling 2024 reelection bid as poll after poll shows Biden consistently trailing in swing states and nationally as albatross consumer inflation continues to outpace incomes for millions of Americans.

A nationwide Financial Times-Michigan Ross poll taken May 2 to May 6 found a whopping 58 percent of registered voters disapproved of Biden’s handling of the economy. Only 28 percent approved.

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Analysis Finds That George Mason University Has Nearly 100 DEI Staffers

Gregory Washington

George Mason University has at least 87 staffers working on diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, according to an analysis by The College Fix. To put that in perspective, there are 59 full-time history and art history professors employed at the school.

Of the 87 DEI posts, it’s a mix of employees and students with full-time or part-time positions working to advance DEI in some capacity, and most of those positions appear to be paid and full-time, the analysis found.

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Former Admin Officials and Experts Lay Out Trump’s America First Foreign Policy Expectations

Fred Fleitz

An “America First” foreign policy includes focusing on deterrence and building up U.S. military strength while developing a new approach to the Russia-Ukraine war and learning from mistakes made by President Joe Biden, according to foreign policy experts and former Trump administration officials.

In the new book “An America First Approach to U.S. National Security,” more than a dozen experts and former officials describe their foreign policy recommendations that may be implemented if former President Donald Trump is re-elected this fall.

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Pro-Palestinian Student Group Shared Docs Explaining How to Assault Police

Protest

“Popular University 4 Gaza” is a Telegram channel with over 8,000 subscribers and is run by members of NSJP, Palestinian Youth Movement and Writers Against the War on Gaza, according to a post on X, formerly Twitter. The channel’s admins distributed a document called the “De-Arrest Primer” on April 26 that provides tactics for resisting arrest, sometimes through violent means.

One tactic for obstructing arrests laid out in the document requires “pulling/pushing an officer off an arrestee and/or breaking their grip.” The document warns readers that the tactic can be “risky as it requires physical contact with an officer which could lead to assault on an officer charges.”

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RFK Jr. to Hold Campaign Event with Comedians in Nashville

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the Independent running for president, will hold a campaign event with big-name comedians on Wednesday night in Nashville.

“Laughter is the best medicine. Get a heaping dose and help heal America with humor at a ‘Night of Comedy’ with future President Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and future Vice President Nicole Shanahan,” said a flyer for the event.

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Ben Cunningham Says Nashville’s Proposed Transit Plan Is an ‘Absolute Ripoff of the Taxpayer’

Freddie O'Connell

Ben Cunningham, founder of the Nashville Tea Party, said the Nashville Mayor’s $3.1 billion transit referendum is a “ripoff” of the taxpayers who are not given a proper voice in the media to express opposition to the transportation plan.

Mayor Freddie O’Connell unveiled his $3.1 billion transit plan, “Choose How You Move: An All-Access Pass to Sidewalks, Signals, Service, and Safety,” last month.

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Legal Counsel for Sponsors of Israel Summit Raises Questions on Sonesta Hotel’s Reasoning to Cancel Event

Sonesta Nashville Airport

First Liberty Institute, the legal counsel for the organizing groups of the 2024 Israel Summit, raised questions to the Sonesta Nashville Airport Hotel’s reasoning behind its decision to break its contractual obligation to host the event next week.

The Israel Summit was expected to be hosted next week at the Sonesta Hotel until hotel leadership contacted one of the summit’s sponsors, notifying the group that it was dropping its contract to host the event, citing “threatening” calls and messages.

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Sonesta Hotel Management Silent After Pulling Venue Booked for 2024 Israel Summit in Nashville

Israel Flag

The Massachusetts-based asset management company which owns the Sonesta Nashville Airport hotel currently under threat of legal action over its decision to cancel the use of its venue for the 2024 Israel Summit did not respond to a Wednesday press inquiry by The Tennessee Star.

The hotel company’s silence comes amid conflicting claims by the Sonesta Nashville Airport hotel’s general manager, Troy Carver, and the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD).

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Tennessee U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn Urges Lawmakers to ‘Defund Colleges That Peddle Antisemitism’ After Convicted Killer Arrested at Encampment

Marsha Blackburn

Tennessee U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) on Tuesday argued Syracuse University should lose its federal funding after a man convicted of manslaughter was arrested at an anti-Israel encampment constructed on the university campus.

Eural Warren was arrested by the Syracuse University of Public Safety on Friday, according to The National Desk, after the outlet previously confirmed the convicted killer was staying at the anti-Israel encampment constructed at the university despite officials declaring only students would be allowed access to the protest. 

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‘Democracy In Name Only’: RFK Jr. Sues Mark Zuckerberg for Allegedly Censoring Election Video

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. sued Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Monday, alleging the social media platform censored an election video on May 3.

The Kennedy-supporting super PAC, American Values 2024, posted a 30-minute video titled, “Who Is Bobby Kennedy?,” which the independent charges Instagram and Facebook users were restricted from sharing. Kennedy and American Values 2024 filed a First Amendment lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California against Meta, Zuckerberg and other entities seeking compensatory and punitive damages, as well as an injunction barring the platform from continued alleged censorship.

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Producer Inflation Makes Biggest Jump in a Year in Potential Warning Sign for Future Economy

Factory worker

A measure of wholesale inflation that tracks prices before they reach consumers surged to its fastest annual rate since April 2023, according to new data released Tuesday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

The producer price index (PPI) rose 0.5 percent in April, totaling a 2.2 percent annual rate, far higher than estimates that the index would rise 0.3 percent in the month, according to the BLS. The report adds to fears that inflation is once again surging following the consumer price index jumping to 3.5 percent in March, up from 3.2 percent in February and far from the Federal Reserve’s 2 percent target.

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Behind-the-Scenes Recordings Reveal What Top Gender Doctors Really Think About Sex Change Procedures

The World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) is the leading authority in the field of gender medicine. Its guidance is routinely used by top medical associations in the U.S. and abroad, while its standards of care inform insurance companies’ approach to coverage policies.

But behind closed doors, top WPATH doctors discussed, and at times seemed to challenge, the organization’s own published guidelines for sex change procedures and acknowledged pushing experimental medical interventions that can have devastating and irreversible complications, according to exclusive footage obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

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Biden Jacks Up Tariffs on Chinese Electric Vehicles, Critical Minerals

BYD Chinese electric car

The Biden administration on Tuesday formally announced significant increases in tariffs targeting imports of electric vehicles (EVs) and other green energy technology from China.

The strengthened tariffs are designed to make it harder for cheaper Chinese green products, like electric vehicles, to flood the U.S. market and displace American companies, the White House said in its official announcement. Beyond EVs and critical minerals, the administration is also increasing tariffs on Chinese steel, computer chips, EV batteries and certain solar components.

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Minnesota Mother Says Daughter was Attacked at School Because ‘She Wasn’t Muslim’

Shawna Larson

A Minnesota mom is demanding answers after she says her nine-year-old daughter was jumped on the school playground by a group of girls who she was told targeted her daughter because “she wasn’t Muslim.”

Shawna Larson told Liz Collin Reports about the disturbing details of the attack that she says took place on Monday, April 29 at Hidden Valley Elementary in Savage.

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Arizona Local Governments, Charities Receive over $54 Million from Biden Administration to Care for Illegal Immigrants

Illegal Immigrants

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) announced over $54 million in awards last month for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Shelter and Services program to Arizona entities to offset “costs incurred” due to the influx of illegal immigrants into the country.

According to funding awards posted publicly by FEMA last month, two Arizona-based charitable entities, Pima County and Maricopa County will collectively receive $54,573,093 to support illegal immigrants in the 2024 fiscal year.

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State Officials Appoint Committee to Probe Georgia Licensing Issues

Burns Raffensperger

A new “blue ribbon” committee will probe reported issues with the Secretary of State’s Professional Licensing Boards Division, with backers saying the office is failing Georgians and the agency’s head saying it needs more of the money it takes in for the state.

House Speaker Jon Burns, R-Newington, and Republican Lt. Governor Burt Jones announced the committee and sent a letter to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.

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Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro Bans ‘Scandalous’ Conduct amid Israel-Hamas Debate, Months After Admin’s Sexual Harassment Settlement

Josh Shapiro

Governor Josh Shapiro introduced updates on May 8 to his administration’s code of conduct that prohibits “scandalous or disgraceful” acts from state employees, a Tuesday Spotlight PA report revealed.

The report noted that Shapiro quietly signed an executive order that changed his administration’s code of conduct for all state employees amid intense public debate over the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

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The City of Maricopa Approves $650,000 House for City Manager, Sparking Ethics Complaint and Community Tensions in Arizona

Benjamin Bitter

Ben Bitter was appointed on April 1st as Maricopa’s new city manager with a compensation package that has sparked controversy. His annual salary stands at $242,000 – $20,000 above that of his predecessor. The package also includes a $400 monthly stipend for personal vehicle use and a $100 monthly cell phone allowance. On April 16th, the city council approved the purchase of a house for Bitter valued up to $650,000, which he will repay at a half-percent interest rate over 30 years, significantly below current market rates. Passed through a consent agenda without public input, this arrangement has infuriated many residents over the use of taxpayer money.

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Over Half of Illegal Aliens in U.S. are Unemployed: Report

Illegal aliens

A new report reveals that over half of the population of illegal aliens that have come into the United States under Joe Biden’s watch are unemployed, thus creating an even greater strain on the country.

As reported by Breitbart, the report from the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) released on Monday revealed that only 46 percent of illegals who came to the U.S. “in 2022 or later” were employed at the start of 2024.

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Commentary: Don’t Let the Left Demoralize You into Staying on the Sidelines

When former Soviet KGB agent Yuri Bezmenov defected to the West from Russia, he set about exposing the strategies used within the KGB to spread propaganda and keep the Soviet people in line with the agenda of their political overlords. There were myriad tactics employed in this campaign of what today has been labeled mis- or dis-information.

One of the most effective tools for subjugation in the former Soviet Union was known as “demoralization,” which Bezmenov explained this way:

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Commentary: Milgram in the Modern Day and the Psychology of Antisemitism in Higher Ed

Palestinian Protesters

Mere days after Columbia’s president testified the university was doing “everything it can” against antisemitism, extremist protestors took over the campus, threatening and attacking Jewish students, encouraging others to become “martyrs” like the Hamas terrorists who committed the Oct. 7 massacre, and calling for Oct. 7 to become “every day” for Jews worldwide. After Jewish community leaders called for Jewish students to leave Columbia, President Shafik moved all classes online.

Now, similar antisemitic extremism is spreading to other campuses, including Harvard, the University of Southern California, Yale, and Princeton. The police are getting involved. The protests are being praised by Iran’s Ayatollah and even Hamas.

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Music Spotlight: Zach Top

Zach Top

Anybody who follows me or my column knows that I have a type. Traditional country music stirs my soul. When I find someone young who can do the same thing, I do my best to track them down.

Zach Top is such an artist. His name kept showing up all over my feeds. When I heard the popular “Sounds Like the Radio,” I was thrilled and couldn’t stop smiling. I relentlessly pursued his people until I got an interview.

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Study Finds Up to a Third of All Non-Citizens in the United States are Illegally Registered to Vote

Illegal migrants at border

Based on the latest available data and an enhanced version of a stress-tested methodology from a scholarly journal, a new study by Just Facts has found that about 10 percent to 27 percent of non-citizen adults in the U.S. are now illegally registered to vote.

The U.S. Census recorded more than 19 million adult non-citizens living in the U.S. during 2022. Given their voter registration rates, this means that about two million to five million of them are illegally registered to vote. These figures are potentially high enough to overturn the will of the American people in major elections, including congressional seats and the presidency.

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Former DEA Official Warns China is Bringing Its Own Pesticides into U.S. and has Moved Past Fentanyl

Derek Maltz Sr

Former DEA Special Operations Director Derek Maltz highlighted how strategic China is when it comes to attacking other countries, and claimed that the opioid crisis facing the U.S. is largely because of China and its connections with Mexican drug cartels that sneak it across the U.S. border.

A former Drug Enforcement Administration official warned about the dangers of China on Monday, claiming the foreign country is bringing its own pesticides into the United States, and that it has expanded past the fentanyl, to a new opioid called “nitazenes.”

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New York Court Strikes Down Order Banning Transgender Athletes

Long Island Roller Rebels

A judge has struck down a New York county’s ban on transgender athletes from participating in female sports, saying the county executive exceeded his authority by issuing the directive.

The ruling by state Supreme Court Judge Francis Ricigliano overturns an executive order signed by Nassau County Chief Executive Bruce Blakeman in February that requires any sports team seeking to use a county facility to provide information on “the biological sex at birth of the team members/participants.”

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Commentary: Justice and Equity in Modern Education

Protest

A few days ago, in examining Harvard’s problems and the ghost of its deposed and disgraced former president Claudine Gay, this column wrote: “Education is supposed to be about reading, writing, and arithmetic—even at the college level. Once upon a time, and not that long ago, students at college read the classics to gain knowledge, learned to write stylish prose, and, for those scientifically minded, studied mathematics and became scientists.”

A critic wrote in—as readers are encouraged to do:

This is a window onto a big topic. It’s true that education is about the three Rs. But it is also true that there must be a purpose to learning those Rs. There’s actually nothing formally, and technically, wrong with “Educating students who will create . . . a more just and equitable world.” The real question is, What are justice & equity? They would like it to mean taking our stuff and giving it to other people, after keeping their share. But, to paraphrase the Grinch, Justice, perhaps, means a little bit more . . . . In any case, without a sense of purpose, or with a misdirected sense of purpose, the University will never right itself. And as this is the largest questing of Meaning, it is really a religious question that, having turned their backs on religion, they are utterly incapable of engaging, let alone answering.

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Reporter Tom Pappert Discusses Latest Developments in Case Involving Transgender Arrested on Stalking Charges

McKenzie McClure

Tom Pappert, lead reporter at The Tennessee Star, pointed out that McKenzie McClure, the biological female and former Christ Presbyterian Academy (CPA) student arrested by federal authorities on cyberstalking charges, may have been subject to a 30-day mental hold as she awaits a detention hearing scheduled for June 3.

McClure, who identifies as a transgender man and prefers the name “Kalvin,” was arrested on cyberstalking charges on April 29 after making a public threat against Governor Bill Lee and leaving a concerning voicemail to CPA in March, which caused two schools to shut down the following day.

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Trump Pollster: ‘Political Persecution of Donald Trump is Backfiring’

Breitbart The political persecution of former President Donald Trump is “backfiring,” Trump pollster John McLaughlin, CEO and partner of McLaughlin & Associates, said during an appearance on Breitbart News Daily. McLaughlin discussed some of the changes that are being seen in the polls, as things certainly seem to be moving in former President Donald Trump’s direction. He cited an Emerson College Poll of New Jersey that showed Trump within five points. What is more, that survey was taken before Trump’s massive rally in the Garden State, which attracted an estimated 100,000 people. READ THE FULL STORY                  

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U.S. Spending on Interest Tops National Defense, Medicare

US Capitol building

Congress has spent more money on interest so far this year than it has spent on both national defense and Medicare. 

Spending on net interest hit $514 billion in the first seven months of fiscal year 2024. That’s more than spending on both national defense ($498 billion) and Medicare ($465 billion). Medicare is the federal health insurance program for those 65 and older and younger people with disabilities. During the same time period, the U.S. spent $873 billion on Social Security, the federal program that provides retirement, disability, survivor, and family benefits to more than 67 million Americans. 

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Disbarred Michael Cohen’s Testimony Did Little to Help Bragg’s Case, Credibility Still a Problem

Michael Cohen

Michael Cohen’s opening day of testimony—much like other witnesses—appeared to do little to bolster Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s case against former President Donald Trump, which at least one legal expert assesses is weak.

Michael Cohen, a disbarred lawyer, convicted perjurer and critic of Donald Trump, took the stand on Monday to deliver his long-awaited testimony in the so-called “hush money” trial of his former boss but while questions about his own credibility continue to swirl.

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Ramsey Event Center in Franklin to Host Israel Summit

Ramsey Event Center

The Ramsey Event Center in Franklin will hold the 2024 Israel Summit next week after the event’s original venue, the Sonesta Nashville Airport Hotel, broke its contractual obligation to host the summit.

“God is doing amazing things in Tennessee, and we are even more excited about the upcoming Israel Summit,” two of the summit’s sponsors, HaYovel and The Israel Guys, announced Tuesday. “Dave Ramsey stepped in TODAY and offered his state-of-the-art event center for the Israel Summit!”

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South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem is Banned from Entering 20 Percent of Her Own State

Washington Times In a significant escalation of tensions between state leadership and tribal authorities, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem has been prohibited from entering territories belonging to several tribes, constituting nearly 20% of the state’s land area.  The recent prohibitions were enacted by the Yankton Sioux Tribe and the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate Tribe, following similar actions from the Oglala, Rosebud, Cheyenne River and Standing Rock Sioux tribes. The measures spotlight the growing rift between the Republican governor’s office and tribal nations in South Dakota, exacerbated by Ms. Noem‘s comments suggesting that tribal leaders were complicit with drug cartels to the detriment of their communities’ welfare. READ THE FULL STORY                     

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