Month: July 2025

Fort Bliss Army Base to House 5,000-Bed ICE Detention Facility

The Center Square
Illegal Immigrants

Fort Bliss Army Base in El Paso will be housing a 5,000-bed detention facility to support U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement deportation efforts.

The Department of Defense announced that it had awarded nearly $232 million to Virginia-based Acquisition Logistics LLC “to establish and operate a 5,000 capacity, single adult, short-term detention facility” for ICE deportation efforts to support a Jan. 29 executive order issued by President Donald Trump. The order declared an invasion at the southwest border and directed federal agencies, including the Department of Defense, to take a series of actions.

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Judge Blocks ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ Provision Barring Medicaid Payments to Planned Parenthood

Just the News
Judge Indira Talwani

A federal judge on Monday blocked a provision in the Republicans’ “One Big Beautiful Bill” that barred Medicaid reimbursements from going to Planned Parenthood.

U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston, an Obama appointee, issued a preliminary injunction, saying it was likely unconstitutional to specifically target Planned Parenthood’s health centers for punishment for providing abortions, Reuters reported.

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DOJ Pressed to Investigate Election Problems Exposed by Iranian Hackers in 2020

Just the News
Seyyed Kazemi

During the 2020 election, Iranian nationals demonstrated vulnerabilities in states’ voter registration systems by hacking Alaska’s. Those vulnerabilities, particularly regarding overseas voters and their ballots, must be investigated by the Department of Justice and fixed across the U.S., election integrity groups warn.

While Alaska admitted to its voter registration system being breached in 2020, the federal government said it was aware of “at least one state” that had been hacked by Iranians. The DOJ later said that “approximately eleven state voter websites” were attacked at the time.

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State Rep. Gino Bulso Launches Campaign for TN-7 U.S. House Seat, Wants to Focus on National Debt

Kaitlin Housler
Gino Bulso

State Representative Gino Bulso (R-Brentwood), after officially announcing his candidacy in the Republican primary for Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District, told The Tennessee Star’s CEO and Editor-in-Chief Michael Patrick Leahy in an exclusive interview that if elected to Congress, he would focus on addressing the nation’s $37 trillion national debt.

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TN-7 Candidate Lee Reeves Applauds President Trump’s Policies on Crime, Immigration

Kaitlin Housler
ICE arrest

State Representative Lee Reeves (R-Franklin), who is seeking the Republican nomination in the special election for Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District, praised President Donald Trump’s policies on crime and immigration Monday following the release of a report that showed crime levels across 42 major U.S. cities have largely declined in the first half of 2025.

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Reporter’s Inquiry Leads Democratic Congressional Candidate Aftyn Behn to Push Back on ‘Potty Parity’ in Tennessee General Assembly

Tom Pappert
Aftyn Behn

State Representative Aftyn Behn (D-Nashville) on Sunday confirmed her commitment to “potty parity” for female lawmakers, with The Associated Press reporting that a journalist’s request for comment to the lawmaker prompted Behn to reconsider the bathroom arrangements at the Tennessee State Capitol, which she deemed biased in favor of men. 

The outlet noted that the Capitol contains “a female bathroom located between the Senate and House chambers,” but that it is “in a cramped hall under a staircase,” and boasts just two stalls despite a nearby men’s room containing three stalls, plus two urinals. 

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ACLU Sues City of Bartlett After Officials Deny Permit for Construction of a Mosque

Kaitlin Housler
Bartlett

The American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee (ACLU-TN) sued the City of Bartlett last week, following the city’s February vote to deny a Special Use Permit application submitted by the Bartlett Muslim Society for the construction of a mosque.

The Bartlett Muslim Society proposed to build the mosque on an 8.244-acre parcel it owns in a Residential Estate zoning district on Broadway Road.

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Tennessee Selected for New AI Data Center by Trump Administration’s Department of Energy

Tom Pappert
Oak Ridge Lab

The U.S. Department of Energy announced last week that Oak Ridge, Tennessee, will be the location of one of four sites selected to host new, “cutting edge AI data center and energy generation projects,” which will establish the United States’ dominance in the growing field of artificial intelligence (AI).

According to a press release from the federal agency, the Oak Ridge Reservation in Tennessee was selected alongside other sites in Idaho, Kentucky, and South Carolina, “to develop cutting edge AI data center and energy generation projects,” with support from the private sector, to achieve President Donald Trump’s goal of using federal land to bolster the country’s economic standing.

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HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Praises Tennessee During Event Moderated by Gov. Bill Lee

Tom Pappert
Lee and Kennedy at event

U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. offered high praise to Tennessee last week, when he spoke at a National Governors Association event moderated by Governor Bill Lee.

“The only way, for years, Republicans and Democrats have been talking about how to reorganize the healthcare system, whether it should be private insurance, single-payer, or public-private hybrid. But all of those ideas are like moving deck chairs around on the Titanic,” said Kennedy during the discussion with governors. “The ship is going down, the only way that we solve this problem is by ending the chronic disease epidemic.”

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Commentary: The ‘Naked’ Truth Why Christ Chose to Die for Us

RealClearWire
Jesus Christ

A reflection by Melito of Sardis — a 2nd century bishop and early Church father — on Jesus Christ’s crucifixion offers a shocking revelation Christians often forget: that our Lord, on Good Friday, was “made unrecognizable by his naked body” and “not even allowed a garment to keep him from view.”

As unappealing and undignified as this may sound to our sensibilities, Christ was crucified naked, fully exposed to the elements and onlookers. But his nakedness on the cross not only reflects historical reality, but has intrinsic Biblical roots in the Old Testament and profound spiritual significance for the faithful confronted by modern hedonism. 

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Arizona Ranked No. 2 State in the Country for Parental Control over Education

Rachel Alexander
students learning

The Parent Power Index from the Center for Education Reform (CER) ranked Arizona as the second-best state in the country for parental control over education. Florida beat Arizona out for the top spot, and both states were the only two states to receive “A” grades.

CER said, “Arizona, holding strong at 2nd with an A-, continues to blaze trails in education freedom. Universal ESAs and a thriving charter sector make the Grand Canyon State a beacon for personalized learning nationwide.”

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DeSantis: DHS Started Flying Illegal Immigrants Out of Florida’s ‘Alligator Alcatraz’

Just the News
Governor Ron DeSantis

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) said Friday that the Department of Homeland Security has started flying illegal immigrants out of his state’s “Alligator Alcatraz” detention facility.

“I’m pleased to report that those flights out of Alligator Alcatraz by DHS have begun,” DeSantis said, Fox News reported. “The cadence is increasing. We’ve already had a number of flights, in the last few days, we’ve had hundreds of illegals [that] have been removed from here.”

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Trump Judge Appointee Moves to Final Confirmation Vote Despite ‘Whistleblower’ Complaint over Abrego Garcia Case

Tom Pappert
Emil Bove

The U.S. Senate on Thursday voted 50-48 to advance President Donald Trump’s nomination of Emil Bove to a full vote before the U.S. Senate, despite the efforts of Erez Reuveni, the attorney who was fired by the U.S. Department of Justice, and later filed a whistleblower complaint claiming Bove and the Trump administration planned to defy court orders.

Trump’s nomination of Bove was previously advanced by the Senate Judiciary Committee on July 17, and the Senate voted along partisan lines on Thursday to end debate over his nomination, which will be the final vote before Bove’s confirmation is complete.

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District Attorney Ray Whitley Announces Retirement after Record 45 Years of Service

Kaitlin Housler
Ray Whitley

Tennessee’s longest-serving district attorney general, Ray Whitley, said he will retire from the role later this year, the Tennessee District Attorneys General Conference announced Friday.

Whitley, the 18th Judicial District Attorney General, said it has “truly been the honor of a lifetime to serve the people as District Attorney General all these years.”

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Vanderbilt University Launches Internal Investigation After Video Appears to Show Staff Member Describe DEI Defiance

Tom Pappert
Vanderbilt University

Vanderbilt University on Friday confirmed it is investigating the video published by Townhall, which appears to show a staff member describing an intentional effort to conceal its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs and events in a bid to avoid federal scrutiny under the Trump administration, while simultaneously disparaging U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN).

Asked by The Tennessee Star to comment on the video on Friday, the university directed The Star to a public statement published Thursday, revealing the independent law firm, Baker Donelson, was retained by the university to “conduct an independent review” of the incident.

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Washington and Lee Professor Publishes Research Paper Questioning Whether Tennessee Engaged in ‘Trans Genocide’

Tom Pappert
Shannon Fyfe

Washington and Lee University Professor of Law Shannon Fyfe on Friday published an article in the Tennessee Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice, which questioned whether Republican state governments, including the Republican majority in the Tennessee General Assembly, are participating in a “trans genocide” through legislation aimed at curtailing transgender treatments for children.

The academic noted that more than 250 laws targeting transgender treatments have been passed by various state governments, including in Tennessee, where the U.S. Supreme Court recently upheld its law banning such treatments for children at the U.S. Supreme Court. 

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Commentary: Five Crucial Facts from the House Intel Report on 2016 Russian Interference

American Greatness
Obama and Brennan

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard did an excellent service to our nation this week when she released a declassified version of a critical September 2020 House Intelligence Committee staff report on a major January 2017 intelligence report, known as an Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA), titled “Russia’s Influence Campaign Targeting the 2016 US Presidential Election.”

Gabbard’s decision came after a years-long tug-of-war over the release of this report between Republican members of Congress who believe it provides critical information about the Russia collusion hoax and the involvement of Obama officials and the U.S. Intelligence Community versus Democratic congressmen and deep state intelligence officials who have desperately tried to hide this report from the American public.

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Ricky Skaggs Closes Out Bluegrass Nights at the Ryman

Bethany Bowman
Ricky Skaggs

The first time I saw Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky at the Ryman many years ago, I was blown away. Growing up, I had heard about bluegrass music but had never had the opportunity to experience it live. It was and is truly a magical genre.

Since I became an entertainment writer, I have had the opportunity to feature several bluegrass bands, and I have never ceased to be amazed. Bluegrass instrumentalists are the very best on the planet. Their technical prowess is unparalleled.

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Karen Bass Raked In Cash from Chinese Intel-Tied Bankers Before Hiring Them

Daily Caller News Foundation
Karen Bass

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass’ transition advisory team enlisted two Chinese intelligence-tied bankers who have fundraised for her and a nonprofit she helps lead, a Daily Caller News Foundation investigation discovered.

Bass appointed Dominic Ng, CEO of East West Bank, and Simon Pang, co-founder of Royal Business Bank, to her mayoral transition advisory team in December 2022, according to the City of Los Angeles. In total, Ng, East West Bank and Pang have donated upwards of $1 million to Bass’ mayoral campaign and the Mayor’s Fund For Los Angeles, where Bass serves as an advisor to the board of directors, according to the nonprofit.

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U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee Bans Transgender Athletes from Women’s Sports

The Center Square

The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee is changing its “athlete safety policy,” pledging to follow President Donald Trump’s executive order protecting “opportunities for women and girls to compete in safe and fair sports.”

The new policy, announced on Monday, did not come with fanfare, but with a quiet change on the USOPC’s website and a letter sent to national sport governing bodies.

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Hoaxes About ICE ‘Disappearing’ Illegals Are Widespread, as Disinformation Seeps into the News

Just the News
HSI Officer

After another instance of misinformation or flat-out falsehoods regarding an illegal alien surfaced from The Morning Call, a disturbing pattern has emerged that misleads Americans and causes undue fear for immigrants, both legal and illegal, across the country.  

The article last week reported falsely that Luis Leon, an 82-year-old Chilean national living in Allentown, Pennsylvania, “disappeared” after visiting a Philadelphia immigration office in June to replace his lost green card, where he was allegedly handcuffed and taken away without explanation, officials said.

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FDA Head to ‘Listen to Concerns’ Regarding Coerced Use of Abortion Pill Widely Available Online

Daily Caller News Foundation
Mifepristone

Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Marty Makary said in an interview with Politico’s Dasha Burns that the FDA will “look at the data” surrounding the abortion drug, mifepristone, including concerns” that pregnant women are suffering coercion to take the pill “outside the prescribing authority of a physician.”

The commissioner told Burns that the FDA is conducting “an ongoing review of safety data on mifepristone,” which he noted “is a requirement from the prior administrations,” in a video clip of the interview released Friday. Makary also said that the FDA is looking into circumstances where women taking this abortion pill are influenced by “an abusive, power imbalance from the male in the relationship.”

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Group Founded by RFK Jr. Sponsors Lawsuit Against Him for Not Creating Vaccine Safety Task Force

Just the News
Vaccine

Children’s Health Defense unmasked itself this week as the sponsor of a lawsuit filed two months ago against its founder Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the health and human services secretary, for failure to create a vaccine safety task force under the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986.

Nevada attorney Ray Flores, representing himself as the plaintiff, accuses Kennedy of neglecting his “ongoing, non-discretionary mandate to establish an agency task force comprised of the heads of” the National Institutes of Health, Food and Drug Administration, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention “to ameliorate the risk of deadly and debilitating vaccine side effects” given that their manufacturers are legally immune.

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Five Schools Investigated for Preferencing Illegal Aliens with Scholarships, Programs

The Center Square
University of Louisville

Five universities across the nation face investigations from the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights for potentially discriminating on the basis of national origin in the DACA-only scholarships and programs they offer.

The University of Louisville, the University of Nebraska Omaha, the University of Miami, the University of Michigan, and Western Michigan University are those facing the national origin discrimination investigations, according to the Department of Education.

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Trump Administration to Release Billions in Frozen Education Funds

Admin

Axios   The Trump administration will release more than $5 billion in frozen funding for schools, the Department of Education announced Friday. The administration has been facing bipartisan pressure to release the funds, with GOP senators issuing a public plea. The delay exacerbated uncertainty over educational initiatives, including after-school and summer programs, leaving schools and families in limbo. READ THE FULL STORY 

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Ghislaine Maxwell’s Lawyer Says DOJ Asked Her About Roughly “100 Different People” on Second Day of Interview

Admin

CBS News   Ghislaine Maxwell’s lawyer said the former partner of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein answered “every single question” during the two days she met with Todd Blanche, a top Justice Department official.  “She was asked maybe about 100 different people. She answered questions about everybody, and she didn’t hold anything back,” Maxwell’s attorney David Oscar Markus said Friday.  “They asked about every single, every possible thing you could imagine — everything,” he said. READ THE FULL STORY 

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Former Rep. George Santos Reports to Prison for Seven Year Sentence

Admin

Breitbart   Former New York Rep. George Santos reported to federal prison on Friday to begin his 87-month prison sentence after he plead guilty to felony fraud charges in August 2024 and was expelled from Congress in December 2023. A spokesperson for the Federal Bureau of Prisons confirmed to the Hill that Santos had surrendered at the Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) Fairton, located in New Jersey. This comes after Santos previously entered a guilty plea on charges of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. Breitbart News previously reported that in April, U.S. District Judge Joanna Seybert sentenced the disgrace former Republican congressman to serve more than seven years in prison, along with paying more than $373,000 in restitution and serving two years of supervised release. READ THE FULL STORY                 

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Commentary: We May Love Them, but AI Chatbots Like ChatGPT and Grok Rely on Sources with Clear Biases

RealClearWire
Overwhelmed businessman

AI chatbots like ChatGPT and Grok can be a big help in writing essays, conducting research, and exploring complex issues. But these tools bring risks, especially when they filter facts through a political lens. And the Trump administration is now stepping into the debate. “We believe AI systems should operate free of ideological bias and avoid pushing socially engineered agendas,” said David Sacks, the administration’s AI and crypto czar, in a statement today. “We’ve introduced several proposals to ensure AI stays truth-seeking and trustworthy.”

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Showdown: Trump Administration Pushing Back Against Lawfare and Rogue Judges is Unprecedented

Rachel Alexander
President Donald Trump

The Trump administration continues to confront judges this year in a showdown of rivalry between the executive branch and the judiciary, fresh off its victory in the Supreme Court stopping U.S. District Court judges from issuing nationwide injunctions. A Washington Post analysis found that President Donald Trump’s officials have defied one out of three judges that have ruled against the administration in over 160 cases this year. 

Despite the adverse rulings, higher courts have been siding with Trump on many of these battles. The New York Times speculated that Trump is deliberately setting up these showdowns for the Supreme Court, which has tended to side with him against the district court judges. The newspaper noted that Trump’s defiance is unprecedented, stating that “there are no definitive instances of presidents disobeying court orders.”

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Senator Marsha Blackburn Urges Congress to Restrict Nationwide Court Orders, Slams ‘Activist’ Judge Blocking Arrest of Abrego Garcia

Tom Pappert
Sen Marsha Blackburn, Judge Paula Xinis

After U.S. District Court Judge Paula Xinis issued a ruling that will block U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from arresting Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the citizen of El Salvador facing federal human trafficking charges in Tennessee, U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn called on her colleagues to pass the Judicial Relief Clarification Act (JCRA) of 2025.

“An Obama-appointed activist judge issued an order to block ICE from apprehending Kilmar Abrego Garcia upon his release on bail,” wrote Blackburn in a post to the social media platform X. “You can’t make this up. We must pass the Judicial Relief Clarification Act and end this insanity.

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Ex-DOJ Lawyer Fired over Abrego Garcia Case Claims Actions Motivated by Desire to ‘Make Sure Justice is Done’ in New Podcast

Tom Pappert
Rachel Adams, Erez Reuveni

Erez Reuveni, the former U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) attorney who was fired for failing to vigorously represent his client, and has since claimed to be a whistleblower by asserting that Trump administration officials planned to defy court orders, including related to the civil lawsuit brought against the Trump administration by Kilmar Abrego Garcia, told the New York Times in a new podcast appearance on Wednesday that he viewed it as his job to “make sure justice is done,” even if that means losing a court case.

Speaking to Rachel Abrams for The Times’ podcast, “The Daily,” Reuveni explained that he considers the role for DOJ lawyers to be defined from a 1935 court case.

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