Day: May 12, 2025

State Democratic Party Chair Accuses Democratic Senators Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego of Threatening and Intimidating Him, Cites Racism

Rachel Alexander
Robert E. Branscomb, II

The new chair of the Democratic Party, Robert E. Branscomb II, sent a scathing letter to the Arizona Democratic State Committee recently accusing Arizona’s two Democratic senators, Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego, of threatening and intimidating him over his selection of an executive director. Branscomb, who became the new party chair in January, chose Michael Ruff, the party’s previous political director, for the position, sparking opposition from the state’s top Democratic leaders.

Branscomb, who owns an insurance agency, accused Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ) of ordering him around, telling him he should not make staff changes without consulting him. “He emphasized his role in raising funds for the party and implied that I should be grateful, even beholden, to him for the party’s financial resources,” Branscom said.

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California Governor Directs Local Governments to Clean Out Homeless Encampments

Just the News
Gavin Newsom

Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday ordered cities across the Golden state to start cleaning up its homeless encampments, stating that the “time for inaction is over” and that the state has a lot of federal funding to help with the efforts.

California has become known for having the highest homeless rate in the country with 187,000 homeless people as of 2024, who largely occupy cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco. Los Angeles has the second highest homeless population in the country, behind New York City.

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Nonprofit Received Nearly $3 Million in Government Grants Before Donating to Nashville Fund for Illegal Immigrants

Tom Pappert
TIRCC event

Prior to its recent donation to the “Belonging Fund,” a new initiative established by Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell to support illegal immigrants following a joint law enforcement operation between the Tennessee Highway Patrol (THP) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC) received nearly $3 million in government grants since 2020.

TIRRC has condemned the recent immigration enforcement in Nashville that has seen more than 100 arrests, claiming law enforcement was “kidnapping our people off the street based on nothing but the color of their skin.”

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Tennessee Adopts Law Shielding Teachers from Legal Liability for Refusing to Use Preferred Pronouns

Tom Pappert
Teacher and student

Governor Bill Lee signed a bill into law last week that protects teachers and other school officials from lawsuits over refusing to use a student’s preferred gender. Such pronoun requests are now only required to be honored if they do not correspond to a person’s biological sex. The new law also allows for lawsuits against employers and schools that implement policies requiring teachers to use names that are not legally recognized for students.

Senate Bill (SB) 937, introduced by State Senator Paul Rose (R-District 32) in February, went into effect immediately.

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Nashville Mayor Aiding and Abetting Illegal Aliens with Executive Order, Reporter Says

Kaitlin Housler
MPL and Tom Pappert

Tom Pappert, lead reporter at The Tennessee Star, said Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell is aiding and abetting illegal aliens through the issuing of an executive order to establish protocols for various Metro departments to provide the his office with any information deemed “immigration communications” which might reflect forthcoming federal immigration enforcement in the city.

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House GOP Targets ‘Big Abortion,’ Child Sex Change Procedures in Sweeping Reform to Medicaid

Daily Caller News Foundation
Defund Planned Parenthood

House Republicans unveiled sweeping changes to Medicaid on Sunday evening, including provisions to defund Planned Parenthood and bar taxpayer dollars from being used to fund child sex change procedures.

The proposal from the House Energy and Commerce (E&C) committee comes as House Republicans are racing to pass President Donald Trump’s “one big, beautiful bill” by the end of next week ahead of the Memorial Day recess. House E&C Republicans are proposing to prevent organizations that provide abortions, such as Planned Parenthood, from receiving Medicaid reimbursements for the non-abortion services they offer despite opposition from several moderate GOP lawmakers.

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Bill Would Help Third-Party App Developers Access Apple’s App Store

The Center Square
App store

A Florida congresswoman has filed legislation she hopes will make it easier for smaller third-party app developers to make their products available on Apple’s App Store.

U.S. Rep. Kat Cammack, R-Florida, introduced the App Store Freedom Act. One of the measure’s biggest components would prevent Apple from forcing third-party app developers to use Apple’s in-app payment system. Additionally, the Coalition for a Competitive Mobile Experience (CCME) says the bill would make it easier for these app developers to interoperate with Apple’s software.

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Anti-Trump Governors Scheduled Briefings on National Guard ‘Protections,’ ‘Deployments’

The Daily Signal
Illinois National Guard

A coalition of Democrat governors resisting the Trump administration scheduled at least two Zoom discussions focused on how to avoid assisting National Guard “protections” and “deployments,” according to email correspondence obtained by The Daily Signal.

Executive order templates created for Democrat governors say the states “shall provide no time, money, facilities,” for any National Guard deployments if the governor doesn’t approve.

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New Pope, Leo XIV, in Early Days a Papacy, Appears to Be Winning over Church’s Wary Traditionalists

Just the News
Vatican

When the new pope appeared last week for the first time on the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica, the historic moment looked like a worst-case scenario for Catholic traditionalists.

A close adviser to predecessor Pope Francis, Cardinal Robert Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV, was seen as the “least American of the American cardinals – a figure deeply rooted in the Francis era. He was a critic of Vice-President JDVance and to the extent he was known, he was seen as a progressive, raising fears his papacy would continue the previous papacy’s trajectory.

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White South Africans Arrive in U.S. After Trump Administration Grants Refugee Status

Admin

CBS News   A plane carrying dozens of White South Africans arrived at Dulles International Airport on Monday, a State Department official said, after the Trump administration granted them refugee status in the United States. The group — which includes families with children — was greeted at the D.C.-area airport by U.S. officials, including Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau and Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Troy Edgar. Landau told reporters the group has faced “egregious discrimination” in South Africa — which the country’s government has denied. Landau said the new arrivals were “carefully vetted” in South Africa prior to their arrival. They departed Johannesburg via a charter plane on Sunday. READ THE FULL STORY                 

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Trump Administration Halts Cattle Imports from Mexico Due to Flesh-Eating Pest

Admin

Breitbart   The Trump administration is halting live cattle, horse, and bison imports due to the spread of a flesh-eating pest that is threatening to cross the southern border. U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Brooke Rollins announced Sunday the suspension of those imports through the nation’s ports of entry along the southern border as the New World Screwworm (NWS) spreads northward through Mexico. The agency said the suspension is taking immediate effect because the pest has been detected approximately 700 miles from the U.S. border. READ THE FULL STORY                 

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Hamas Releases Edan Alexander, Last Living American Hostage in Gaza

Admin

Axios   Hamas released Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander on Monday after holding him for 584 days. Hamas released Alexander as a “good faith” gesture towards President Trump ahead of his trip to the Middle East this week, U.S., Palestinian and Israeli officials say. It was a result of secret backchannel talks between White House envoy Steve Witkoff and Hamas chief negotiator Khalil al-Haia, handled through a mediator. READ THE FULL STORY               

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ICE Arrests MS-13 Gang Member in Maryland City Where Kilmar Abrego Garcia Claimed to be Transporting 9 People in 2022

Tom Pappert
Joel Armando Mejia-Benitez

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Friday announced the arrest of a citizen of El Salvador and confirmed gang member on Silver Spring, Maryland, the same state where Kilmar Abrego Garcia lived prior to his deportation in March, and the Maryland city where Abrego Garcia claimed to be transporting nine individuals during a 2022 traffic stop in Tennessee.

According to ICE, Joel Armanda Mejia-Benitez is a “validated” member of the Central American gang, Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), and was arrested last Monday in Silver Spring, after he was ordered to leave the country more than a decade ago.

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Attorneys File Petition for Certiorari with the Supreme Court in Long Running Lawsuit to End Mandatory Nature of State Bars

Rachel Alexander
American Bar Association

Oregon attorneys represented by the Goldwater Institute filed a petition for certiorari with the Supreme Court last week requesting consideration of their lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of mandatory bar associations for attorneys. Crowe v. Oregon State Bar originated after the Supreme Court ruled in 2018 in Janus v. AFSCME that public-sector unions cannot require non-members to pay fees to support union activities. Attorneys Daniel Crowe, Lawrence Peterson, and the Oregon Civil Liberties Attorneys filed the lawsuit in 2018, asserting violations of free speech and freedom of association.

The lawsuit has wound its way twice up the courts through appeals. The case arose after the bar published a statement in its magazine claiming that President Donald Trump promoted white nationalism. The plaintiffs argued that the statement was non-germane to the bar’s regulatory purpose, constituted compelled political speech, and infringed on their freedom of association by forcing them to be members of an organization engaging in ideological activities they disagreed with.

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Nashville Mayor Signs Executive Order to Create Early Warning System for Immigration Enforcement Operations

Tom Pappert
Nashville Mayor Freddie O'Connell

Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell on Friday reportedly signed an executive order to establish protocols for various Metro Nashville departments to provide the mayor’s office with any information deemed “immigration communications,” which might reflect forthcoming federal immigration enforcement in the city. 

O’Connell appears to have actually amended his Executive Order 30, which is titled Communications Between Federal Immigration Authorities and the Metropolitan Government. The order mandates any communication to Nashville police, fire, emergency management, or emergency communications personnel by federal immigration law enforcement, or their federal agencies, be reported to the Mayor’s Office of New Americans.

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