Knoxville Man Sentenced to Federal Prison for ‘Heave-Ho’ on January 6

A Knoxville man who was sentenced to four months in prison and two years of supervised release, including, the first four months in the form of home detention, “heave-ho’d’ his way to prison, according to the United State’s District Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia (USADC). 

The sentence was levied against Michael Asbury, 44, of Knoxville, after he pleaded guilty to one felony count of obstruction of justice during a civil disorder, an obscure federal charge that has been levied against many people who attended the riot at the Capitol on January 6, 2021. 

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Pushback on VP Kamala Harris’ Tax Proposal Plan Grows as Costs Are Counted

Kamala Harris

Vice President Kamala Harris’s tax proposal plan is getting significant pushback from Congress members and others as the costs of tax hikes on the American people across the political spectrum are being examined.

Upon a closer look at Harris’s tax proposals, an economist, a New York Times reporter, a small business owner advocate, and members of Congress all voiced their concerns over what the plan entails. Most of them note how the economy will be negatively impacted by her plan and the real-world implications for everyday Americans.

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Cell Phone Bans, Restrictions Are on the Rise in School Districts as Mental Health Concerns Arise

Kid on Cell Phone

Mental health has been widely discussed in the public sphere over the past few years, specifically how technology may play a role in it particularly for young people.

Recently, districts in different states have been implementing restrictions and bans on cell phones in schools in order to tackle the mental health crisis rising among teenagers and young adults. 

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Robert F. Kennedy’s Endorsement of Trump Had Little Effect on Voters: Poll

RFK and Trump

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s withdrawal and subsequent endorsement of former President Donald Trump doesn’t seem to have changed voter’s feelings about the Republican nominee, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released Thursday.

After the former independent candidate dropped out of the race and endorsed the Trump on Aug. 23, some experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation that he could get a boost from Kennedy. However, 64% of voters say that Kennedy’s endorsement has had no effect on their view of Trump, while 19% it makes them think more favorably of the Republican frontrunner and 15% say it makes them think less favorably, according to the poll conducted from Aug. 23 to Aug. 27.

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Judge Declines to Dismiss Elon Musk’s Lawsuit Against Leftist Group Media Matters

Elon Musk

A federal judge declined Thursday to dismiss a defamation lawsuit against Media Matters by Elon Musk’s X.

District Court Judge Reed O’Connor, a George W. Bush appointee, wrote in an order that Musk’s X had “properly pled its claim,” rejecting Media Matter’s effort to have the case tossed. The platform filed its lawsuit in November, alleging that the left-wing watchdog group “knowingly and maliciously manufactured side-by-side images depicting advertisers’ posts” beside content made by white nationalists and neo-Nazis.

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Book Publishers Sue Florida over Law Banning Sexually Explicit Books from Schools

Kids reading at the library

A coalition of book publishers and individual authors have filed a lawsuit against the state of Florida over its law banning sexually explicit books from school libraries in the state.

As the Daily Caller reports, the lawsuit was filed in the Orlando Federal Court on Thursday by a group of over a dozen publishers and authors, claiming that the bill signed into law in May of 2023 by Governor Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) is a violation of both the First and 14th Amendments. The law, the plaintiffs claim, “interferes” with their ability to produce and distribute “constitutionally protected” books, insisting that the law is too vague in its description of “sexual conduct.”

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GOP Letter: Pennsylvania Democrats Illegally Recruiting Poll Watchers

Election Day

A new letter from the Republican National Committee (RNC) alleges that the state Democratic Party in the largest swing state in the country has been illegally recruiting people from out-of-state to be poll watchers in November.

According to the Daily Caller, the call from the Pennsylvania Democratic Party’s website states that anyone who wants to be a poll watcher simply has to be physically present in the state of Pennsylvania in order to do so; however, the Democrats claim, any such workers “do not necessarily have to be PA voters.”

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Minnesota School Board Member Questions If People Will Survive Climate Change, White Supremacy

Jen Westmoreland

At a recent school board workshop meeting, Hopkins School Board member Jen Westmoreland questioned whether people will survive climate change and white supremacy.

“If we look at climate grief, if we look at the impacts of white supremacy, if we look at all of these systems of oppression that are bearing down—I mean, there’s like a survival element that we’re talking about, right?” Westmoreland said. “So it’s not like, are you going to go out and get [inaudible] job? It’s like, are you going to survive?”

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Virginia Leaders Come Together to Sign Anti-Bigotry Legislation

Gov. Glenn Youngkin signs a bill

Gov. Glenn Youngkin held a ceremonial signing for legislation adding ethnicity to the protected classes under the Virginia Human Rights Act and ratcheting up penalties for people committing crimes motivated by bigotry.

The bipartisan House and Senate legislation was inspired by the Oct. 7 Hamas attack in Gaza, which led to the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas, sparking anti-Israeli protests around the globe, including Virginia. 

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Arizona Migrant Busing Continues as Feds Send Nearly $50 Million More in Aid

Border Patrol agents in front of a migrant bus

Over $47 million in federal taxpayer dollars is going toward service programs in Arizona as the state continues to facilitate migrant requests for transportation to other parts of the country, albeit fewer than before. 

The funds are part of $380 million in supplemental funds for the Federal Emergency Management Agency and United States Customs and Border Protection for the Shelter and Services program, which a news release states is used for “food, shelter, clothing, acute medical care, and transportation to noncitizens” that are waiting for their immigration court date in the U.S. 

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Grand Rapids, Other Cities Granted $275 Million for Development Projects

Workers laying concrete

As part of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s “Make it in Michigan” plan, a state board has approved millions in subsidies for development projects in Grand Rapids, Northville and Greenville. 

The Michigan Strategic Fund board authorized a $252.3 million Transformational Brownfield Plan incentive package for mixed-use development projects in Grand Rapids that include construction of the 12,000-seat Acrisure Amphitheater, an 8,500-seat soccer stadium, a riverwalk, and a 21-story mixed-use building with 475 rental apartments, 3,660 square feet of retail and 475 parking garage spaces. 

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Georgia Lawmakers Could Set Transgender Athlete Policy

Georgia Softball

Georgia lawmakers could take control of the power to set policy for transgender athletes competing in women’s sports at Georgia high schools, removing the authority from a statewide association.

The revelation, which could potentially extend to publicly funded colleges and universities, came during the first hearing of the Senate Special Committee on Protecting Women’s Sports.

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Commentary: Amid School Sex-Abuse Impunity, a Suspect Ensnared by an Alleged Victim

Brent McGee

Brent and Donna McGee were the “First Couple” of Wetumka, Oklahoma. He was athletic director and football coach at the high school who had once served as mayor; she was superintendent of the school system. 

And as if all those levers of local power weren’t enough, they also owned the Dairy Queen, the prime hangout in this small rural town and a key source of high school jobs.

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Top Kamala Campaign Staffers Aided Biden-Harris Admin’s Social Media Censorship Efforts

Teenager on Computer

Two campaign staffers for Vice President Kamala Harris were previously involved in efforts to censor Americans for spreading purported “disinformation” about COVID-19 while working in the Biden-Harris White House.

Then-administration officials Rob Flaherty and Aisha Shah are named as having been involved in the government’s efforts to censor Americans in legal filings related to the Murthy v. Missouri lawsuit, which alleged that the federal government violated the First Amendment by pressuring social media companies to censor content related to the pandemic and other hot-button topics. On the Harris campaign team, Flaherty is now a deputy campaign manager and Shah is the director of digital partnerships, according to their respective LinkedIn profiles.

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