Former President Donald Trump’s lawyers moved quickly Monday night to take advantage of the Supreme Court ruling that he enjoyed immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts, sending a letter notifying the judge in his New York hush money case that they intend to ask to set aside the verdict reached by a jury last month, according to multiple sources.
Read the full storyDay: July 1, 2024
Covenant School Killer Audrey Hale Avoided Commitment Three Times During Mental Health Crises
Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale avoided commitment on three separate occasions, her parents told Metro Nashville Police Department investigators in a June 12, 2023 interview, according to a transcript obtained by The Tennessee Star from a source familiar with the investigation.
The transcript reveals Ronald and Norma Hale told investigators doctors wanted to commit her daughter for inpatient treatment over an eating disorder, and that Audrey Hale was twice considered for inpatient commitment after she expressed suicidal ideation to mental health professionals.
Read the full storyCovenant School Killer Audrey Hale Diagnosed with Anxiety Disorder Around 2011, Parents Told Police
Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale was diagnosed with an anxiety disorder around 2011, her parents told Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) investigators in a June 12, 2023 interview, according to a transcript obtained by The Tennessee Star from a source familiar with the investigation.
The Star previously reported that police documents revealed Audrey Hale to be a 22-year mental health patient at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, and The Star reported on Sunday that Hale’s parents, Ronald and Norma Hale, first learned of their daughter’s purported autism diagnosis from a speech pathologist in the summer of 2001.
Read the full storyState Senator Brent Taylor Defends Intent to File Ouster Resolution Against Shelby County DA Steve Mulroy
Tennessee State Senator Brent Taylor (R-Memphis) is defending his intent to file a Senate Joint Resolution requiring the removal of Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy during next year’s legislative session of the Tennessee General Assembly despite critics calling the move “an attempt to overturn an election.”
Read the full storyBannon Arrives at Federal Prison for Four Month Sentence: ‘I’m a Political Prisoner’
Former White House strategist Steve Bannon reported to a federal prison on Monday in Connecticut to start his four-month sentence on contempt of Congress charges, calling himself a “political prisoner” of Democrats.
Bannon ignored subpoenas from the House Jan. 6 Select Committee.
Read the full storyTennessee GOP Chairman Scott Golden: Biden’s Disastrous Debate Performance ‘Puts Pressure’ on NY Judge Merchan to Jail Trump
Tennessee Republican Party Chairman Scott Golden said President Joe Biden’s performance during Thursday’s CNN debate against former President Donald Trump “puts pressure” on New York Judge Juan Merchan to sentence Trump to prison on July 11.
Read the full storyCommissioner with the U.S. Election Assistance Commission Confirms States are Moving Towards Conducting Elections Via Paper Ballots
Don Palmer, a U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) Commissioner who was nominated by then-President Donald Trump and confirmed by unanimous consent of the U.S. Senate in 2019, said the U.S. is moving towards conducting its elections via paper ballots as opposed to paperless voting machines.
Read the full storySupreme Court Rules Trump Has Absolute Immunity for Some Official Acts, But Not Unofficial Ones
The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that former President Donald Trump is immune from federal prosecution for official acts he took while in office in split 6-3 ruling. However, the court ruled that there is no immunity for unofficial acts.
Read the full storyStudy: ‘Vast DEI Bureaucracy’ Negatively Impacting U.S. Armed Forces
A new Arizona State University study suggests that Diversity, Equity and Inclusion efforts in the United States military are ineffective.
The study done by the university’s Center for American Institutions argued that there is a emphasis on training new soldiers about social issues like “unconscious bias” and “intersectionality” in a way the center says runs contrary to typical American ideals. The study examined DEI plan’s in different sector of the military, including DEI office staffing and education at academies like West Point.
Read the full storyU.S. Drivers Killed Fewer Pedestrians in 2023, Except in Pennsylvania
Pedestrian deaths are finally starting to drop across America to pre-pandemic levels.
Pennsylvania, however, bucked the national trend. Drivers killed 192 pedestrians in 2023, eight more than in 2022, and 25 percent more than in 2019, according to an analysis from the Governors Highway Safety Administration.
Read the full storyPending Home Sales Fell 2.1 Percent in May and Median Price to Hit $405,300
Pending home sales fell 2.1 percent in May, according to the National Association of Realtors.
NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said home prices could dip in the coming months.
Read the full storyTennessee to Receive Nearly $31.7 Million in New Defense Outlay
Tennessee could receive nearly $31.7 million to fund construction projects in the new defense appropriation that recently passed the U.S. House of Representatives.
The biggest outlays for the Volunteer State would be for Arnold Air Force Base near Tullahoma. The base is the home of the Arnold Engineering Complex, which has 58 wind tunnels and other test facilities. The base would receive $21.4 million for a new testing bay and $5.5 million for a new cooling system.
Read the full storyHarvard Law’s Dershowitz Compares Lawfare Against Trump to McCarthyism, Says the Future is Dark
Harvard Law School Professor Emeritus Alan Dershowitz say the political lawfare against former President Donald Trump is a return to the McCarthyism of the 1950s.
“I know lawyers who have been asked to defend Donald Trump on First Amendment grounds,” Dershowitz said on the Wednesday edition of the “Just the News, No Noise” TV show. “They would normally take the case, but they say, ‘we can’t afford it for our family because they’re coming after our bar license.’ It’s exactly what happened during McCarthyism.”
Read the full storyDave McCormick Slams Bob Casey for ‘Lying to Pennsylvanians’ About Joe Biden’s Fitness, Drops Ad Highlighting Senator’s Friendship with President
Following the poor debate performance by President Joe Biden last Thursday, Pennsylvania U.S. Senate nominee Dave McCormick accused Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) of “lying to Pennsylvanians” about the mental and physical fitness of President Joe Biden on Friday and released a new advertisement highlighting their purported friendship on Sunday.
“Bob Casey has been protecting Joe Biden for years and lying to Pennsylvanians about his ability to serve as Commander-in-Chief,” wrote McCormick in a Friday post to the social media platform X.
Read the full storyOhio Jewish Caucus Celebrates Passage CAMPUS Act
While waiting for Gov. Mike DeWine’s signature, Jewish leaders in the Ohio Legislature are praising passes of a bill that gives Ohio colleges and universities tools to promote student safety and inclusive environments.
Read the full storyCommentary: SCOTUS Rulings, Biden-Trump Debate Shake Up Political Landscape
What a week it’s been! We started off with Justice Amy Souter Barrett writing the SCOTUS ruling in Murthy v. Missouri. At issue was whether it was okay for the federal government (the FBI and related elements of the American Stasi) to pressure social media and data-hoovering companies (Facebook, Twitter, Google, etc.) to suppress opinions they didn’t like about things like COVID, the 2020 election, and the Jan 6 jamboree at the Capitol.
Read the full storyFetterman Argues Biden Can Recover from Poor Debate Performance, Notes Pennsylvania Voters Forgave Performance Against Dr. Oz
U.S. Senator John Fetterman (D-PA) argued on Sunday that President Joe Biden can recover from his debate performance that has Democrats questioning his candidacy, with the Pennsylvania Democrat noting his own 2022 victory followed a difficult debate against former Republican U.S. Senate nominee Dr. Mehmet Oz.
Fetterman argued on “Fox News Sunday” that Biden will recover from his poor debate performance, which left some Democrats questioning whether he should be replaced as the party’s nominee.
Read the full story‘Social Justice Lawyers’ Told WPATH to Avoid ‘Evidence-Based Review’ of Sex-Change Guidelines for Minors, Docs Reveal
The World Professional Association of Transgender Health (WPATH) avoided “evidence-based” reviews of child sex-change procedures on the advice of “social justice lawyers,” a court filing states.
Republican Attorney General Steve Marshall of Alabama filed a motion for summary judgment in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama Wednesday, seeking to beat back a challenge to Alabama’s law restricting the procedures. The Alabama attorney general’s office accused WPATH of placing “advocacy concerns” at the forefront of the creation of the organization’s “Standards of Care for the Health of Transgender and Gender Diverse People, Version 8” (SOC-8), which was based in part on the advice of the “social justice” attorneys who advised the organization to avoid seeking evidence-based recommendations.
Read the full storyMean Speech Not Protected at Public Universities, Appeals Courts Rule
Faculty at public universities in nine states may have fewer speech protections than they assume following federal appeals court rulings against professors on the political right and left who were punished for perceived lack of collegiality – strong words short of harassment.
But a private university has egg on its face after taking seven months to allegedly clear a professor of wrongdoing for telling anti-Israel campus protesters they are “ignorant” and “Hamas are murderers,” despite having immediate access to both viral video and its own surveillance.
Read the full storyOverpayments Account for Nearly 75 Percent of Federal Improper Payments
The federal government reported $236 billion in improper payments in fiscal year 2023, with the vast majority coming from overpayments, according to a new watchdog report.
A U.S. Government Accountability Office report found 74% of improper payments – payments that shouldn’t have been made or were made in the wrong amount – were overpayments. Overpayments accounted for $175.1 billion of the total amount of improper payments in 2023. Overpayments are payments “in excess of what is due, and for which the excess amount, in theory, should or could be recovered,” according to the report.
Read the full story‘Very Unrealistic’: Replacing Biden Will Likely Land Dems in A Political and Legal Quagmire
Any effort to replace President Joe Biden with another Democratic candidate would likely be an uphill battle against practical, political and even legal obstacles.
Following Biden’s debate performance Thursday night, where he struggled to put together coherent sentences and often stared blankly away from the camera, Democrats began raising the possibility of replacing him as the party’s nominee. Biden, who has not indicated any intention to step down, would likely not be easy to replace due to internal party politics, state laws and numerous uncertainties.
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