Month: May 2024

New Study Challenges ‘Myth’ That U.S. Has a Mass Incarceration Problem

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Inmate in prison cell

Prison reform advocates have repeatedly pushed the notion that the U.S. has a mass incarceration problem, but a soon-to-be released Heritage Foundation study casts doubt on that claim.

Left-wing proponents of criminal justice reform claim that masses of individuals, including an unfair rate of minorities, are languishing in America’s country’s prisons, but they do not take into account the vast number of crimes that go unsolved or the number of criminals who avoid jail time, according to the report. The data show that any mass release of the U.S. prison population would result in a high number of individuals convicted of violent crimes being put back into American communities.

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Gov. Lee Signs Abortion Trafficking Bill into Law

Peter D'Abrosca
Bill Lee

Gov. Bill Lee (R) on Tuesday signed a bill into law that will penalize adults who take minors across state lines to obtain abortions or sex change surgeries. 

HB 1895 “creates the criminal offense of abortion trafficking of a minor; provides for a civil action against a person committing the offense of abortion trafficking of a minor for the wrongful death of an unborn child that was aborted.”

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A.G. Kris Mayes Claims She is ‘Fighting So Hard’ for Abortion to Keep Arizona from Becoming Like Texas

Tom Pappert
Kris Mayes

Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes claimed this week that she is “fighting so hard” to preserve abortion access to prevent Arizona from following Texas’ path of banning the practice after the child’s heartbeat is detected, according to an article published Wednesday.

Mayes made the remarks to the Austin American-Statesman while in Texas for a Democratic Attorneys General Association meeting the outlet reported was designed to allow the legal officials “to strategize on abortion access” throughout the country.

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Biden Launches Outreach Effort to Black Voters in Philadelphia Speech Following Trump Rally in South Bronx

Tom Pappert
Joe Biden

President Joe Biden on Wednesday began a campaign tour to reach black voters with an event at Girard College in Philadelphia.

Biden began his minority outreach efforts with remarks alongside Vice President Kamala Harris at Girard College, the Philadelphia-based private, independent boarding school for “academically capable students” who are from “families with limited financial resources.”

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Commentary: China’s Land Purchases in U.S. Spark Outcry for Federal Solution

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Smithfield Foods factory farm

Over the past two years, nearly half the states in America acted to scrutinize purchases of land linked to China and other foreign adversaries. Concerns focus primarily on national security threats from China, and they’re well-founded.

The federal government has no idea how much real estate Chinese entities own in the United States. The U.S. Department of Agriculture legally is required to track foreign ownership of agricultural land, but underestimates Chinese ownership by at least 50 percent.

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Trump and Biden Tied in Virgina: Poll

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Trump Biden

Former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden are tied in Virginia at 42%, according to a new Roanoke College Poll about November’s election.

The poll found for the first time that the candidates were tied, despite the fact that Virginia has not voted for a Republican presidential candidate since former President George W. Bush in 2004.Trump lost Virginia in 2016 and 2020, with Biden winning in 2020 and former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton winning in 2016. 

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State of Oregon Attempts to Force Christian Ministry to Remove Christian Beliefs in Order to Receive Funding

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71Five Ministries

The state government of Oregon enacted a new restriction on a Christian youth ministry group, withholding crucial funding on the condition that the group specifically hire non-Christians or people who otherwise don’t agree with the group’s beliefs.

As reported by Fox News, the group, 71Five Ministries, is struggling with a large budget deficit following the Oregon Department of Education’s decision to revoke its funding due to its Christian beliefs. The ministry filed a lawsuit against the state in March, with the support of the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), declaring the state’s decision to be a violation of their First Amendment right to freedom of religion. Oral arguments in the case ended last week, and both sides are now waiting for the judge’s decision.

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Chinese Companies are Reportedly Camouflaging Themselves as U.S. Brands to Dodge Government Blacklist

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Hesai Headquarters

A number of blacklisted Chinese companies have reportedly disguised themselves as American to operate inside the U.S. and evade penalties, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.

The U.S. government has taken several steps to crack down on Chinese firms that have been linked to the Chinese Communist Party and identified as potential threats to national security. But companies of concern, including Hesai Group, SZ DJI Technologies, BGI Group, Huawaei and ByteDance have operated or worked with American-based companies to sell products and services inside the U.S. without penalty, according to the WSJ.

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Whistleblower Says Fulton DA Misspent Federal Grant

The Center Square
Fani Willis Money

A whistleblower who worked in the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office says she was fired after raising concerns about the misuse of federal grant funds.

Amanda Timpson worked with the office from 2018 until 2022 and served as the director of gang prevention and intervention under previous District Attorney Paul Howard. Timpson told the Senate Special Committee on Investigations she faced retaliation under District Attorney Fani Willis after raising concerns about how the office planned to spend a federal grant.

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Commentary: Despite Warnings, Biden Admin Finalizes Rule That Could Cripple Many Offshore Oil Companies

RealClearWire
Offshore Oil Platform

In June 2023, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management proposed a rule that would require stricter financial assurance standards for oil companies operating in the Outer Continental Shelf. This costly rule became final on April 15, 2024, but in the 10 months since its initial proposal, BOEM did nothing to alleviate concerns for smaller companies that comprise of 76 percent of oil and gas operators in the Gulf. As a result, many of these companies could be forced out of business by extreme and unnecessary costs from this rule. The situation threatens an estimated 36,000 jobs, more than $570 million in federal government royalties, and $9.9 billion from our GDP.

Records obtained via the Freedom of Information Act show private meetings between Interior officials and representatives of the major oil companies as they cooperated on this rule. If you think that’s strange, you’re not alone. President Biden made clear in his campaign that he wanted to end oil and gas production on public lands. It’s baffling that Big Oil – among the administration’s most, if not the most, maligned businesses – would stand on the same side with environmental groups such as the Sierra Club who praised the rule. But needless government intervention makes strange bedfellows. Big Oil must think it won’t miss the small competitors the rule will drive from the market.

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Illinois Senator: ‘We Raised Your Taxes $1 Billion Just to Spend on Migrants’

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Breitbart Illinois has passed its largest tax hikes in state history with nearly one billion in new taxes in a $53 billion budget. But the state has also dispersed nearly as much as the tax hike on migrant spending alone. The tax hike disgusted Republican State Senator Dan McConchie. He noted almost the entirety of the tax hike is going to more spending on Joe Biden’s migrant problem in Illinois, and he told his constituents that the legislature “raised your taxes just to spend on migrants.” After hours of closed-door discussions not open to the public or the media on Sunday, the state’s Democrat-dominated senate hammered out a budget that total in at $53.1 billion for fiscal 2025 that will begin on July 1. READ THE FULL STORY                  

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Louisiana to Become First State Requiring 10 Commandments Be Posted in Schools

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Axios Louisiana will become the first state to require the Ten Commandments be displayed in all schools and colleges that receive public funding, if Gov. Jeff Landry signs a new bill into law. Rep. Dodie Horton (R-Haughton) wrote HB71 to require the text of the Ten Commandments be printed on a poster no smaller than 11 inches by 14 inches. The text must be “the central focus” of the document. READ THE FULL STORY                   

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The GlockStore to Host Fourth Annual Open House Celebrating the Company’s Move to Nashville

Kaitlin Housler
Lenny Magill

Lenny Magill, founder and CEO of the GlockStore, said the store’s fourth annual open house event will be held this Saturday to celebrate the company’s move from San Diego, California, to the Volunteer State.

“Our open house is this Saturday at 10 a.m. This is our fourth year of celebrating the move from California to Nashville. We love Nashville. At the event this weekend, we’ll have two shooting competitions. We’ve got a lot of fun. Excellent prices on guns. Gun prices that you never see again. They’re super low. Of course, all of our parts and pieces that we manufacture here in Nashville are going to be on sale as well. We’ve got free ice cream. We’ve got food trucks. We’ve got the shooting competitions, which I said, which is a low light competition and a speed competition and we are going to be raffling off a full fledged Glock 17 custom gun,” Magill said on Wednesday’s edition of The Michael Patrick Leahy Show.

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China’s Electric Vehicle Giant Claims to Have New Hybrid That Runs American Automakers Off the Road

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BYD Car

China’s largest electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer, BYD, announced Tuesday that two of its new hybrid models have ranges that far exceed those of American competitors, The Wall Street Journal reported.

BYD’s chairman Wang Chuanfu claimed at an event in Xian, China, that the company was launching two new hybrid models that could go 2,100 kilometers, or 1,306 miles, on a single tank of gas and a full charge, according to the WSJ. The range is almost double the range of global hybrid competitors, which is around 1,100 km, or 683 miles, at the upper limit, and far exceeds the 700-mile range achieved by America’s longest-driving hybrid in 2023, the Lexus ES 300h.

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Commentary: America Should Pass Legislation Like Georgia’s ‘Agents of Foreign Influence’ Law

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Ted Cruz

For once, I agree with the Washington Post – widely viewed as the newsletter of the deep state intel “community.”  I agree with their oft-repeated slogan that Democracy Dies in the Dark.  Now, if they could just move to apply that admonishment to countless issues that are now rising across the world.

This point came to me as I read the fear and loathing about a piece of new legislation in the nation of Georgia – not the RINO directed southern state but the country that borders the Black Sea.  Last week their Parliament passed legislation that required any NGO (Non-Governmental Organization) that received more than 20 percent of their funding from outside the country to register as “agents of foreign influence.”  As expected, the United States and its minions at the EU and NATO loudly condemned the legislation and demanded it be blocked.  In what has become the knee-jerk reaction of the “collective west,” there have been threats of retaliation, exclusion, and of course financial harm.

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European States’ Move to Recognize a Palestine Nation Adds to Biden’s Reelection Peace-Deal Efforts

Just the News
Benjamin Netanyahu

More European countries’ recognition of Palestine as a sovereign, independent nation is increasing the challenges President Biden faces in trying to win reelection and broker a long-term peace deal between Israel and Palestinian-backed Hamas.

The developments have the potential to tip the scales in what is expected to be a tight presidential race between Biden and former President Donald Trump, with Biden’s Democratic Party possibly abandoning him for his support of longtime Middle East ally Israel.

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Trump Defense Plants Seeds of ‘Reasonable Doubt’ While Prosecutors Prop Up Cohen

Just the News
Donald Trump

Former President Donald Trump’s defense’s closing arguments in his so-called hush money trial on Tuesday were designed to plant seeds of reasonable doubt with the jury while the prosecution sought to prop up their key witness, Michael Cohen, who continues to be plagued by credibility issues.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg charged the former presidentlast April with 34 counts of falsifying business records in order to conceal other crimes centered on his reimbursement to his lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen for hush money payments to Stormy Daniels and others.

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Trump Speaks as Jury Deliberates: ‘Mother Teresa Could Not Beat These Charges’

Just the News

Former President Trump addressed the media on Wednesday as the jury in his hush money trial deliberates. “Mother Teresa could not beat these charges. These charges are rigged. The whole thing is rigged. The whole country’s a mess between the borders and fake elections and you have a trial like this where the judge is so conflicted he can’t breathe,” Trump said outside of the courtroom in New York. “It’s a disgrace and I mean that. Mother Teresa could not beat those charges but we’ll see how we do.”

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Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan Survives Primary Despite Backlash over Paxton Impeachment

Just the News
Dade Phelan and Ken Paxton

Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan was projected to win his primary on Tuesday night, defeating challenger David Covey in a closely watched runoff primary that centered around the state House’s impeachment of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.

Phelan was projected to win the primary in the state’s 21st district, with 50.7% of the vote to Covey’s 49.3%, according to the Associated Press. Phelan’s victory comes after he was forced into a runoff in March, according to WFAA, where he secured the second highest amount of votes, while Covey finished first. Covey’s popularity partly comes from the backing of former President Donald Trump, and Paxton.

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State Senator Brent Taylor Pushes for State-Contracted Crime Consultants to Fight Memphis Crime

Matthew Giffin
Brent Taylor

State Senator Brent Taylor (R-Memphis) penned an open letter to Governor Bill Lee asking him to consider his administration contracting with a consulting firm to fight Memphis crime.

Taylor requested a meeting with Gov. Lee “to discuss the possibility of your administration contracting with a credible, high-profile, public safety consulting firm to serve as the state’s expert consultant in Memphis to provide a comprehensive plan to reduce crime,” Taylor posted on X.

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Trump Campaign Releases Official Tennessee Delegate Committee Slate for 2024 Republican National Convention

Tom Pappert
Donald Trump RNC 2016

The presidential campaign of former President Donald Trump on Tuesday released its official delegate committee slate for Tennessee delegates to the 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

With the slate, the Trump campaign is encouraging its Tennessee delegates to vote for candidates National Delegate Selection Director John Findlay “extensively vetted” for “very specific roles” on committees at the Republican Party convention in July, according to an email by Findlay reviewed by The Tennessee Star.

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‘Amateur Hour:’ Biden Admin’s Floating Gaza Pier Problems Go from Bad to Worse

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JLTOS Pier in Gaza

New problems are mounting for the Biden administration’s $320 million floating Gaza aid pier which was already facing setbacks, despite becoming operational less than two weeks ago.

The U.S. military was forced to halt aid shipments to Gaza on Tuesday after the floating pier was damaged by bad weather over the weekend. The damage sustained from the bad weather is only the latest in a string of logistical and operational problems that have plagued the pier since it was constructed in mid May.

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Biden Received Sensitive Data, Briefings from Security Advisers via His Private Pseudonym Email

Just the News
Joe Biden

While he was vice president, Joe Biden received sensitive communications via his private email accounts created under a fictitious identity, including foreign policy discussions with his national security adviser, schedules of meetings with Cabinet secretaries and a summary of at least one intelligence briefing to President Barack Obama, according to new emails obtained by Just the News.

The new memos were released by the National Archives over the Memorial Day holiday weekend under a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit brought by the Southeastern Legal Foundation on behalf of Just the News that sought emails that Biden received or transmitted as vice president using his [email protected] account.

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New Documentary Details Female Sexual Assault Survivor’s Story of Being Incarcerated with Trans Inmate

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Female inmate

A sexual assault survivor gave an inside look at living in a female prison with male criminals identifying as transgender in a new documentary by the Independent Women’s Forum (IWF) released Tuesday.

The six-minute documentary, part of IWF’s “Cruel & Unusual Punishment: The Male Takeover of Female Prisons” series, focuses on the story of Evelyn Valiente, a sexual assault survivor and former inmate at the Central California Women’s Facility. Valiente, who is using a pseudonym to protect her identity, was forced to share a housing unit with a male inmate identifying as a woman while serving time for killing someone in a shooting.

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Big Tech Championed Zero Emissions but Now Its Power-Hungry Data Centers are Straining the Grid

Just the News
Data center

For years, tech giants in California and Washington have been leading the charge to eliminate fossil fuels from the grid. Microsoft, Google, Meta and Apple, for example, are members of Climate Group RE100, an organization of major corporations who are dedicated to accelerating “change toward zero-carbon grids at scale by 2040.”

In 2018, Apple proclaimed that it was globally powered entirely by 100 percent renewable energy.

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Jury Convicts Memphis Man of Child Abuse and Murder in Death of Two-Year Old Son

Kaitlin Housler
Antonio First

After just one hour of deliberations, a jury delivered guilty verdicts last week against Memphis father Antonio First for Aggravated Child Abuse, Murder in the Perpetration of Aggravated Child Abuse, Aggravated Child Neglect, and Murder in the Perpetration of Aggravated Child Neglect, the Shelby County District Attorney’s Office announced Monday.

The charges stem from the death of First’s two-year-old son, Brayton Brooks, who was found unresponsive and cold to the touch by paramedics on June 24, 2020.

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Gov. Bill Lee Confirms He’s ‘Engaged’ with Republican Candidates to Determine School Choice Stance Ahead of Primary Elections

Tom Pappert
Bill Lee

Governor Bill Lee confirmed in a Monday press conference that he is “engaged” with Republican candidates to determine their stance on school choice following the defeat of his Education Freedom Scholarship Act, which would have provided 20,000 Education Savings Accounts for Tennessee students.

Lee said he has “met with several candidates, some who are in open seats; some who are incumbents,” with the governor specifically asking the candidates for their stances on “what I’m talking about is education freedom and choice for parents.”

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Commentary: OpenAI and Political Bias in Silicon Valley

RealClearWire
ChatGPT app on a smartphone

AI-powered image generators were back in the news earlier this year, this time for their propensity to create historically inaccurate and ethically questionable imagery. These recent missteps reinforced that, far from being the independent thinking machines of science fiction, AI models merely mimic what they’ve seen on the web, and the heavy hand of their creators artificially steers them toward certain kinds of representations. What can we learn from how OpenAI’s image generator created a series of images about Democratic and Republican causes and voters last December?

OpenAI’s ChatGPT 4 service, with its built-in image generator DALL-E, was asked to create an image representative of the Democratic Party (shown below). Asked to explain the image and its underlying details, ChatGPT explained that the scene is set in a “bustling urban environment [that] symbolizes progress and innovation . . . cities are often seen as hubs of cultural diversity and technological advancement, aligning with the Democratic Party’s focus on forward-thinking policies and modernization.” The image, ChatGPT continued, “features a diverse group of individuals of various ages, ethnicities, and genders. This diversity represents inclusivity and unity, key values of the Democratic Party,” along with the themes of “social justice, civil rights, and addressing climate change.”

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Pennsylvania Bill Would Name Group Opposed to School Choice Vouchers as Sole Agency Capable of Training Directors

Tom Pappert
School with students learning

Legislation that passed the Pennsylvania House of Representatives would name the Pennsylvania School Boards Association (PSBA) the only entity capable of training school directors, even though the organization has seemingly adopted political positions on school choice and charter schools.

While PSBA is currently the only agency approved by Pennsylvania to provide training for school directors, a Broad and Liberty report notes that HB 1743 would codify its monopoly status into law.

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Georgia Senate Committees to Probe Safe Firearm Storage, Artificial Intelligence

The Center Square
Gun Storage

A series of Georgia Senate study committees will probe hot-button issues, ranging from safe firearm storage to preserving Georgia’s farmlands to artificial intelligence.

Lt. Governor Burt Jones appointed members to seven 2024 Senate Study Committees. The committees will make recommendations that could guide lawmakers’ actions during next year’s legislative session.

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Michigan Republicans Fire Back at Attorney General’s Environmental Lawsuit

The Center Square
Michigan Politics

Michigan Senate Republicans universally signed a letter opposing Attorney General Dana Nessel after she threatened to sue the fossil fuel industry.

Nessel issued a statement earlier this month seeking assistant attorneys to litigate on behalf of the state, saying the industry has knowingly caused the state harm. In response, the senate Republicans described the lawsuit as a mistake.

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Florida’s Public Schools Close as School Choice Takes Off

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School with students learning

As Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has pushed school choice initiatives, leading to a spike in charter and private school enrollments, public schools are shutting down.

Across the state, public school enrollment is declining. Duval County Public School District, the sixth-largest school district in Florida and 20th largest in the country, is now considering campus closures due to dramatic dips in their enrollment.

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DNC to Nominate Biden Virtually Before Convention amid Ohio Ballot Drama

Just the News
Joe Biden

The Democratic National Committee plans to nominate President Joe Biden virtually before the party convention amid the Ohio state legislature’s deadlock over a bill that would allow him to appear on the November ballot.

The Democratic National Convention, where the party usually chooses its nominee, is scheduled for Aug. 19-22. However, Ohio’s deadline for political parties to certify their nominee is 90 days before the general election, which is Aug. 7 this year.

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Gov. Katie Hobbs Claims ‘Secure the Border Act’ Would Drive Business to Texas Despite Similar Law

Tom Pappert
Katie Hobbs

Governor Katie Hobbs claimed last week the “Secure the Border Act” proposed by Republicans in the Arizona State Legislature would drive businesses to neighboring California and Texas, though she did not acknowledge the similar law signed by Texas Governor Greg Abbott in December 2023.

Hobbs claimed the effort by Republicans, which would allow Arizona voters to decide whether to pass legislation that would make it a state crime to enter Arizona illegally, increase penalties for submitting false information to E-Verify and help prevent illegal immigrants from receiving Arizona welfare programs, would “demonize communities” and send businesses to Texas during a media appearance reported by KTAR News.

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John Fetterman Campaign Donates to Pennsylvania Treasurer Nominee Despite Apparent Disagreement over Israel

Tom Pappert
John Fetterman PA Treasurer Candidate

The political campaign committee for Senator John Fetterman (D-PA) donated $1,000 to Erin McClelland, the Democratic nominee for Pennsylvania Treasurer who said she would not have invested in Israeli Bonds after the October 7 terrorist attacks by Hamas.

While Republican Pennsylvania Treasurer Stacy Garrity reportedly has more than $700,000 heading into the general election, Spotlight PA reported McClelland only has about $67,000.

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Trump Hints at Holding Fauci Accountable, Says He’ll Consider Pardoning Julian Assange If Reelected

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Anthony Fauci and Donald Trump at a White House press conference in 2020

Former President Donald Trump hinted at holding Dr. Anthony Fauci accountable if elected president, and noted that he’ll consider pardoning Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.

Trump commented on potentially prosecuting Fauci in an interview with Tim Pool moments before his speech at the Libertarian National Convention, telling the podcast host he’ll be “taking a look at that very seriously.” Trump also vowed to commute “Silk Road” founder Ross Ulbricht’s sentence at the conference.

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Commentary: Signs of America’s Declining Power and the Emerging Multipolar World

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President Biden walking in front of a line of international flags

During Bush’s years as president, Democrats frequently criticized his foreign policy, complaining that he acted like a cowboy, pursuing wars unilaterally without the imprimatur of the “international community.” Internationalism was a particular obsession of 2004 Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry, who lambasted the Bush administration for snubbing the United Nations and upsetting France with its Iraq policy.

Obama was mostly a darling of foreign leaders, as he ceded American power and prestige in a bid to right what he considered the historic wrongs of colonialism and western chauvinism. This was evident in his obsession with completing the Iran deal, participating in the Kyoto accords, assisting NATO attacks on Libya and Syria, and in the general tone of public diplomacy during the Arab Spring.

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Home Prices Under Biden Hit Yet Another All-Time High

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Home prices surged in March to another all-time high for the sixth month out of the last twelve, S&P Global announced Tuesday.

The Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index, which measures home prices across the entire country, rose 6.5 percent year-over-year in March, matching the annual gain in February, according to S&P Global. The increase in the price of homes is higher than the general pace of inflation, which increased 3.4 percent year-over-year in April.

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Anti-Narcotics NGO Warns of Fentanyl Addiction Among Migrants Reaching Mexico-U.S. Border

ADN America
US Border Crossing

An organization that helps those with drug addiction on the Mexico-U.S. border warned that fentanyl consumption has reached migrants arriving in Ciudad Juárez, where some already arrive with drug problems from their countries, according to Mexican government statistics and a report published by the EFE Spanish news agency.

Julián Rojas Padilla, coordinator of Harm Reduction in the Compañeros Program (HRCP), a civil association that supports consumers who want to quit substances, told Spanish language media outlets that fentanyl mixed with other drugs in Juárez has become a popular new and dangerous choice of narcotics reaching the migrant population.

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Governors, Lawmakers, and AGs Team Up to Stop WHO from Seizing More Power over U.S. Health Decisions

Just the News
Ken Paxton

Republican governors, attorneys general and lawmakers are working together to create maximum pressure to stop the World Health Organization from seizing new powers to impose decisions on the United States and other member countries during future public health crises.

The political leaders are warning that changes the WHO wants to make to its member agreements, which are generally supported by the Biden administration, would insert foreigners into the doctor-patient relationship here in America.

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