Day: June 11, 2024

In Shocking Litmus Test, Memos Show FBI Security Inquiry Tried to Unmask Employee’s Trump Support

Just the News
Tristan Levitt and Michael Horowitz

FBI officials conducting a top-secret security clearance review for a longtime employee asked witnesses whether that employee was known to support former President Donald Trump, if he had expressed concerns about the COVID-19 vaccine or had attended a Second Amendment rally, according to internal memos that prompted a complaint to the Justice Department’s internal watchdog alleging political bias inside the bureau.

The employee’s security clearance was revoked months after the interviews, which confirmed his support for Trump and gun rights and his concerns about the COVID vaccine, according to the documents obtained by Just the News.

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Garland Says Attacks on DOJ ‘Dangerous for Our Democracy’ as House Prepares to Hold Him in Contempt

Just the News
Merrick Garland

Attorney General Merrick Garland says the Justice Department and agency employees have now become the target of “dangerous” and “unfound attacks,” as the GOP-led House attempt to hold him in contempt of Congress.

“Continued unfounded attacks against the Justice Department’s employees are dangerous for people’s safety. They are dangerous for our democracy. This must stop,” Garland wrote in a Washington Post op-ed.

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Covenant Killer Audrey Hale Wrote of Desire to ‘Inflict Pain’ to Share ‘Same Fate’ with Former Friend Who Became Local Celebrity

Tom Pappert
Averianna Patton

Before Audrey Elizabeth Hale claimed the lives of three 9-year-old children and three adults in her devastating March 27, 2023 attack at the Covenant School, she wrote in a journal recovered by police of her desire to “inflict pain” and share the “same fate” with a former friend and middle school classmate who is now a Nashville radio personality.

The Tennessee Star confirmed last Wednesday it obtained photographic images showing 80 pages written by Hale in a journal recovered from her vehicle from a source familiar with the Covenant investigation.

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Gender Dysphoria and Eating Disorders Have Skyrocketed Since Pandemic: Report

Admin

Fox News Mental health diagnoses in children have skyrocketed since the COVID pandemic — led by gender dysphoria and eating disorders, according to a new report. LexisNexis Risk Solutions analyzed medical claims data submitted between 2019 and 2023 for patients under age 18. Overall, mental health claims rose 83% among young people in that time frame.   READ THE FULL STORY                 

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U.S. Soldiers Nine Times More Likely to Die by Suicide than in Action: Pentagon

Admin

Washington Examiner U.S. soldiers are overwhelmingly more likely to die by suicide than in combat, according to data from the Pentagon. A five-year study from the Defense Health Agency, from 2014 to 2019, found suicide as the leading cause of death among active-duty soldiers. Compared to 96 combat deaths over the period, 883 soldiers died by suicide — nine times more. The second leading cause of death was accidents, with 814 deaths. According to figures obtained by USA Today, the suicide rate among active-duty soldiers has climbed significantly since the end of the study in 2019, when the suicide rate was 28.8 per 100,000 soldiers. It rose to a record high in 2023, with 36.6 deaths per 100,000. The rate for 2024 is 31.8 per 100,000 through May, according to the outlet. So far, 55 soldiers have died by suicide this year. READ THE FULL STORY                   

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Biden Administration to Bar Medical Debt from Credit Reports

Admin

CBS News Medical debt will be stricken from credit reports in a change proposed by the White House that could help millions of Americans land a job, rent a home or obtain a car loan. Vice President Kamala Harris and Rohit Chopra, director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, formally announced the proposal to take unpaid medical bills off the table in determining one’s credit worthiness in a news conference on Tuesday. The idea is to no longer “unjustly punish people for getting sick,” Chopra said. He noted the potential financial damage caused by one trip to a hospital emergency room, a debt “taken on unexpectedly and in a time of crisis.” READ THE FULL STORY 

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Covenant Killer Audrey Hale Wrote Journal Entries Blaming Her Brain for Planning Covenant School Attack

Tom Pappert
Audrey Hale

Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale expressed frustrations in her journal with her brain in entries that appeared to reference her purported autism diagnosis and struggles with gender identity.

The Tennessee Star reported last Wednesday it obtained 80 pages of Hale’s writings, in the form of 40 photographic images of her journal captured by law enforcement.

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Reporter Tom Pappert Offers Thoughts on Why Vanderbilt University Medical Center Refuses to Answer Press Inquiries Surrounding Covenant Killer Case

Kaitlin Housler

Tom Pappert, lead reporter at The Tennessee Star who has reported extensively on The Star’s obtaining of more than 80 documents related to the case of Audrey Elizabeth Hale, the Covenant School killer, said Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) has refused to respond to any of his press inquiries surrounding its involvement in the case of Hale, who reportedly had been receiving treatment from the hospital since 2001.

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FBI Asking for Help Identifying More Victims of Alleged Tennessee Child Exploiter

Peter D'Abrosca
James C. Thompson

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) says it needs help locating other potential victims of a serial child exploiter from east Tennessee. 

Last week, a federal grand jury in Knoxville returned a three-count indictment against James Thompson, 71, of Lookout Mountain. The indictment alleges that Thompson transported minors across state lines with the intent of engaging in sexual activity back in 2000. 

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Unsubstantiated Allegation by WSMV Reporter Prompts Judge to Order Show Cause Hearing over The Tennessee Star’s Reporting on Covenant Killer Investigation

Tom Pappert
WSMV Stacey Cameron

Michael Patrick Leahy, the editor-in-chief of The Tennessee Star, could face contempt charges or other punitive action on June 17 over his publication’s reporting of the writings left by Covenant School killer Audrey Hale after her devastating attack on the Covenant School on March 27, 2023 that claimed the lives of three 9-year-old children and three adults.

The court date was set following an unsubstantiated allegation from WSMV 4 reporter Stacey Cameron to Tennessee Chancery Court Judge I’Ashea L. Myles.

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Right-Leaning Parties Big Winners in EU Elections but Centrist Leaders Still Standing

Just the News
European Parliament

The dramatic gains by right-wing and nationalist parties in this past weekend’s voting across Europe for a new European Parliament has left leaders of the region most powerful countries reeling while emboldening Italian leader Giorgia Meloni.

However, whether the results are a harbinger for the November elections in the United States remains uncertain.

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Cotija Mayor Assassinated on Election Night the Latest Casualty amid Growing Cartel Dominance in Mexico

ADN America
Cotija Mayor Yolanda Sánchez

Monday night, Cotija Mayor Yolanda Sánchez left a gym on a public street, and walked alongside her bodyguard when men armed with assault rifles suddenly shot at them from a moving car.

The pair were seriously injured and transported to a nearby hospital where doctors learned the local town leader had been shot 19 times. She was pronounced dead by 9:30 p.m. local time, according to the EFE Spanish news agency.

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Biden Administration is Mandating Heat Pump Water Heaters, but Contractors Report Big Problems

Just the News
Rheem Heat Pump Water Heater being installed by workmen

In April, the Biden administration finalized efficiency standards for residential water heaters, as part of a broader climate goal of electrifying the American household.

The Department of Energy estimates that, under the new rules, 50 percent of newly manufactured electric storage water heaters will utilize heat pump technology to be in compliance. The standards go into effect beginning in 2029.

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University of California Workers Must End Strike Over Handling of Anti-Israel Protests, Judge Rules

Just the News
United Auto Workers Local 4811 strike

UAW Local 4811 President Rafael Jaime had said that UC has “used and condoned violence against workers and students peacefully protesting on campus for peace and freedom in Palestine” for the last month.

University of California academic workers must end their strike over the university system’s response to anti-Israel protests on campuses in the university system, according to a California judge order.

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Arizona A.G. Mayes Warns Against ‘Parallel Investigations’ in Hobbs Group Home Debacle

The Center Square
Arizona A.G. Kris Mayes, Gov. Katie Hobbs

Attorney General Kris Mayes is asking Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell to take a step back from possibly investigating an alleged “pay for play” scheme involving Gov. Katie Hobbs and Sunshine Residential Homes.

Mayes’ criminal division has an investigation open, but the Auditor General’s Office and Mitchell are also coordinating a possible investigation after the auditor general reached out to Mitchell’s office. 

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Commentary: The Left Knows Leftism Doesn’t Work

Admin
Joe Biden in front of a burning building (composite image)

Do not expect the radical left to survey the wreckage of socialism and communism in history and accept that statism impoverishes people and erodes their freedoms. There will never be admissions by our elite that progressivism exists mainly for the acquisition of power by the utopian and virtue-signaling few, who ensure that they are never subject to the baleful implementation of their ideological agendas on the rest of us.

Still, leftists look around at what they have done to America in the last four years and implicitly know that the plan did not work, the people detested it, or both.

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Former Atlanta Assistant City Attorney Sentenced to Prison for PPP Fraud

The Center Square
Shelitha Robertson

A federal judge has sentenced a former assistant Atlanta city attorney to prison following her conviction on charges she fraudulently applied for and received Paycheck Protection Program loans.

In December, a jury convicted Shelitha Robertson, 62, of Atlanta, of one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, one count of money laundering and three counts of wire fraud. U.S. District Judge Steven D. Grimberg sentenced Robertson to seven years and three months in prison followed by three years of supervised release.

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Florida University Civic Center Aims to Become ‘Premier Think Tank’ on Economic Freedom

Admin
Carlos Diaz-Rosillo

Florida International University’s civics center has made an international impact in its first four years of existence by bringing together politicians and private sector leaders to promote individual and economic freedom.

The Adam Smith Center for Economic Freedom at the Miami university came about through efforts by Gov. Ron DeSantis and the state legislature to bolster Western democratic thought in higher education. In 2023, DeSantis signed additional legislation to boost civic education centers in the state’s public universities.

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Commentary: The CFPB Attacks the Credit Card Rewards Programs Consumers Want

RealClearWire
Consumer using a credit card

Unsurprisingly, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s recent report on Credit Card Rewards is dismissive of programs that are popular with tens of millions of American households. However, its objections manifest the same sort of deceptive advertising and hiding of details that it complains are characteristic of credit card rewards, and the data in its report does not match the conclusions its director, Rohit Chopra, has made in his statement about the report as well as his testimony before Congress on the issue.

The CFPB’s press release announcing the Credit Cards Rewards: Issue Spotlight report denigrated rewards programs, alleging that “Consumers tell the CFPB that rewards are often devalued or denied even after program terms are met;” that “Consumers who carry revolving balances often pay far more in interest and fees than they get back on rewards;” and that “Credit card companies often use rewards programs as a ‘bait and switch’ by burying terms in vague language or fine print.”

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Analysis: RCM/TIPP Economic Index Slumps Again

RealClearWire

The RealClearMarkets/TIPP Economic Optimism Index, a leading gauge of consumer sentiment, dropped sharply 3.1 percent in June to 40.5. Since September 2021, the index has remained in negative territory for 34 consecutive months. June’s reading of 40.5 is 17.6 percent lower than the historic average of 49.2.

Optimism among investors edged up 0.4 percent from 46.3 in May to 46.5 in June, while it slumped by 6.0 percent among non-investors, from 40.1 in May to 37.7 in June.

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Pelosi Declared in Video Shot by Daughter ‘I Take Responsibility’ for Jan. 6 Security Failures

Just the News
Nancy Pelosi in front of January 6 protesters (composite image)

Moments after being whisked away from the U.S. Capitol after it was breached on Jan. 6, 2021, then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was captured on videotape declaring “I take responsibility” for failing to have a better security plan for the complex that fateful day, according to footage released Monday by House GOP investigators.

“We have responsibility, Terri,” Pelosi is heard saying on the videotape to her chief of staff, Terri McCullough. “We did not have any accountability for what was going on there, and we should have. This is ridiculous.”

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Democrat Lawfare Failed to Derail Trump Campaign So Far, While Triggering Financial Avalanche

Just the News
Donald Trump

Four indictments and one set of convictions later, a Democrat-led lawfare strategy has failed so far to derail Donald Trump’s bid to return to the White House, but it has triggered an avalanche of financial support as the former president hold leads in most battleground states that will decide the 2024 election.

No where was Trump’s resilience more obvious than his travels across the West Coast this weekend, where he collected $12 million at a Silicon Valley fund-raiser at the home of a Big Tech executive who used to support Hillary Clinton, scored millions more at events in blue southern California and then jetted off to Las Vegas for a boisterous rally in Nevada where a post-conviction poll showed him leading that once-Biden-friendly state by five points.

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