Twitter has put up billboards in cities across the country featuring tweets from Black Lives Matter activists, including one billboard in downtown Minneapolis.
“Protesters aren’t trying to start a race war – we’re trying to end one,” states the Minneapolis billboard.
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U.S. Rep. Mark Green (R-TN-07) recently introduced a bill to require annual reporting on federal funds spent in China.
The bill, called the Our Money in China Transparency Act, would require detailed annual reporting on any federal funds spent on activities conducted in collaboration with China’s entities and institutions, Green explained in a press release.
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Two Ohio Democrats introduced a bill Friday to criminalize the use of chokeholds by law enforcement officers in Ohio.
“Chokeholds can cause serious injury or even death. The NYPD ban on chokeholds didn’t prevent the death of Eric Garner. We cannot leave this up to cities and individual departments any more. The state must act. We need greater law enforcement accountability in Ohio,” said Rep. Michele Lepore-Hagan (D-Youngstown), who introduced the bill with Rep. Tavia Galonski (D-Akron).
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The Minnesota Legislature’s recent special session ended with no major accomplishments, but the eight-day session will still cost taxpayers an estimated $108,000.
The special session concluded on June 20 after Republicans in the Senate and Democrats in the House failed to reach an agreement on police reform legislation, the allocation of federal coronavirus relief funds, and other leftover business from the regular session, such as a borrowing package for public infrastructure projects.
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Minneapolis has spent $63,000 on private security for three council members who want to abolish the city’s police department.
Council Member Phillipe Cunningham confirmed the report in a statement released on Twitter Friday night.
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Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN-09) called for the impeachment of U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr during a House Judiciary Committee hearing last week.
In a statement released before the hearing, Cohen claimed the Department of Justice “has clearly been corrupted” under Barr’s leadership. He pointed to the recent removal of Geoffrey Berman, former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, and the Justice Department’s request to dismiss its criminal case against Michael Flynn as evidence of corruption.
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Steve Bannon, a former White House chief strategist, urged President Donald Trump to forget the rallies and instead emphasize “action” during the final four months of the presidential campaign.
“He is trying to get conservative commentators to go negative on the campaign so that they wake up and realize they are in bad shape before it is too late to do anything,” a former White House official told The Washington Examiner in regards to Bannon’s recent appearance on “The John Fredericks Show.”
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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said during her weekly press briefing Friday that the Democrat-led police reform bill is “worthy of George Kirby’s name.”
The bill, however, is named for George Floyd, who died one month ago while in the custody of the Minneapolis police.
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Thales Academy, a college preparatory network of Pre-K-12 independent schools, announced that it will hold a grand opening for its new Franklin campus on July 20.
The grand opening will mark the first day of the school’s year-round calendar for the 2020-2021 academic year, Thales Academy said in a press release.
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President Donald Trump will kick off Independence Day weekend with an event at Mount Rushmore, which has prompted some local leaders to call for the removal of one of the nation’s most iconic monuments.
Several groups led by Native American activists are planning protests for Trump’s July 3 visit. The event is slated to include fighter jets thundering over the 79-year-old stone monument in South Dakota’s Black Hills and the first fireworks display at the site since 2009.
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The U.S. Department of the Interior released new footage this week of violent riots outside the White House in Lafayette Square.
President Donald Trump has faced criticism for his decision to clear protesters out of the square on June 1 before he took photos with members of his administration in front of St. John’s Episcopal Church.
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Three Republican state senators called on U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr and the Department of Justice to investigate the Minneapolis Police Department and its response to recent unrest in the city.
Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka (R-East Gull Lake) announced plans to hold a series of legislative oversight hearings beginning July 1 on state and local responses to the riots.
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Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), whom The Wall Street Journal recently described as the “heir to Trumpism,” has launched a new ad attacking Joe Biden for his failure to stand up to the “liberal mob.”
Cotton is running unopposed in his reelection bid and is considered a likely future presidential candidate for the Republicans.
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It’s been two weeks since a Christopher Columbus statue was toppled outside the Minnesota Capitol, but the Minnesota Department of Public Safety said the investigation remains ongoing.
A spokesperson for the agency told KSTP chief political reporter Tom Hauser that the “investigation continues as the [Bureau of Criminal Apprehension] works to identify other participants in the incident, beyond the leader.”
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The owner of a Sauk Rapids bar and restaurant has sued a local activist group for defamation after it boasted about getting the business removed from a tourism website.
Rollie Hogrefe, owner of Rollie’s Rednecks and Longnecks, filed a defamation and tortious interference lawsuit Wednesday against the “radical agitators” of UniteCloud and its executive director Natalie Ringsmuth.
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An 18-year-old from Heiskell, Tennessee was charged Monday with inciting a riot and civil disorder for his involvement in a May 30 riot in downtown Knoxville.
According to WVLT, a group of 50 to 100 people gathered in Market Square around 11:30 p.m. on May 30 to commit acts of vandalism as unrest spread across the nation in response to the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
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A shocking new undercover video from Project Veritas exposes the rampant anti-conservative bias of Facebook’s content moderators, the employees who are responsible for deciding what posts are censored.
Zach McElroy, a former Facebook employee who worked as a content moderator in Tampa, Florida, told Project Veritas that he’s willing to testify before Congress about Facebook’s bias against Trump supporters and conservative causes.
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Minnesota DFL Party Chairman Ken Martin falsely claimed that Republican Senate candidate Jason Lewis is “denouncing the need for police reform.”
Lewis, a former congressman who’s running against Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN), hosted a press conference Monday outside the Minneapolis Police Department’s Third Precinct to express his support for the “good men and women of law enforcement,” and condemn Democratic efforts to abolish the police.
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Rep. Pete Stauber (R-MN-08), a former law enforcement officer of more than 20 years, announced last week that he will carry police reform legislation in the U.S. House.
Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) introduced on Wednesday the Just and Unifying Solutions to Invigorate Communities Everywhere (JUSTICE) Act, a Republican-backed police reform bill that was set in motion after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
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Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) said Google and its parent company, Alphabet, pose a “threat to a free and fair press in America” in a letter sent Sunday to U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr.
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Republican congressional candidate Kendall Qualls said the “chief barrier to the advancement of the African-American community is the rise of single-parent households,” not “racism, police brutality or white privilege.”
Qualls is running against Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN-03), a first-term Democrat who unseated former Republican Congressman Erik Paulsen in 2018.
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An Ohio Democrat claimed last week that current House Speaker Larry Householder (R-Glenford) and his two predecessors “ignored requests dating back several years” to address “a hostile work environment in the Ohio House.”
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Tennessee was immediately sued by a cohort of liberal organizations Friday after the General Assembly passed its pro-life heartbeat bill.
The bill passed the Tennessee House in a vote of 69-17 and was then approved by the Tennessee Senate 23-5.
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Bishop Aubrey Shines, chairman of Conservative Clergy of Color, called Black Lives Matter activist Shaun King “asinine” and “disgusting” for suggesting that “white European” statues of Jesus should be torn down.
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Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine signed the Student Religious Liberties Act into law Friday, a bill that protects prayer and religious expression in public schools.
“No student should have to hide their faith just because they enter a public school. The Student Religious Liberties Act is carefully crafted to ensure school administrators can’t unfairly penalize students of all faiths, or no faith,” said Aaron Baer, president of Citizens for Community Values, one of twelve groups that testified in support of the bill.
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President Donald Trump described Minneapolis officials as “stone-cold crazy” during his return to the campaign trail Saturday night in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
The lawlessness of the “radical left” was a recurring theme of the president’s speech, and Minneapolis was a prime target.
“Our incredible success in rebuilding America stands in stark contrast to the extremism and destruction and violence of the radical left,” the president said early in his 90-minute address.
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Neil McCabe, the national correspondent for The Tennessee Star and Star News network, was interviewed by Politico last week for a front-page story on the nation’s division.
The article focused on Seattle’s Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone, called CHAZ for short, which Politico described as a “microcosm of the culture wars.” The CHAZ was established by protesters earlier this month after law enforcement officers withdrew from the scene.
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Two Hennepin County commissioners plan to introduce a resolution this week that would declare racism a “public health crisis.”
Commissioner Angela Conley announced Friday that she will introduce the resolution with Commissioner Irene Fernando during Tuesday’s Board meeting.
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Republican lawmakers who sued Gov. Tim Walz said Friday that he has failed to provide legal justification for his response to the coronavirus pandemic.
“We are winning on this issue, and Gov. Walz knows it,” said Rep. Jeremy Munson (R-Lake Crystal), one of 13 Republican lawmakers who joined a lawsuit against Walz over his use of emergency powers during the pandemic.
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Gov. Bill Lee announced a new “TN Strong Mask Movement” Thursday with the goal of making face masks more “fun.”
According to a press release from the governor’s office, the Economic Recovery Group developed the new program along with more than 30 “flagship brands” across the state, including Amazon, Bridgestone, Bristol Motor Speedway, Graceland, Jack Daniel’s, several professional sports teams and universities, and many others.
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Mayor Emily Larson said she wants the Duluth City Council to approve an ordinance that would remove the word “chief” from a city government job title.
“We are dropping the name chief with intention and with purpose so that we have more inclusive leadership and less language that is rooted in hurt,” said Larson, who called the title “offensive” and intentionally marginalizing.
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Under a resolution passed this week, Minneapolis leaders said they will allow the city’s homeless population to seek “refuge” in public parks.
The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board (MPRB) approved the resolution during a Wednesday meeting. According to a press release, the resolution “allows those currently experiencing homelessness to seek refuge on Minneapolis parkland,” and requests assistance from federal and state agencies in finding a permanent housing solution.
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Both Target and Best Buy have announced plans to make Juneteenth a company-wide holiday, an idea that Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) wants to institute on the federal level.
“One of the most defining days in our nation’s history was when President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, finally freeing all slaves in Confederate territory. But slaves in Texas wouldn’t learn this life-altering news for two and a half years,” Cornyn said during a Senate floor speech Thursday.
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Facebook has removed ads for President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign because they featured an upside-down red triangle.
The tech giant said the ads were removed because the symbol was once used by Nazis to designate political prisoners, but Trump’s campaign has noted that the symbol is widely used by Antifa, which is why it was included in the ad.
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At least three more Minnesotans were charged this week for their involvement in the destruction of Minneapolis.
On Monday, U.S. Attorney Erica MacDonald announced that 25-year-old Montez Terrill Lee of Rochester was charged with arson for starting a pawn shop on fire. According to a criminal complaint, surveillance video showed a masked man, later identified as Lee, pouring liquid from a metal container throughout the pawn shop on the night of May 28.
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Mayor John Cooper said this week that he has asked the Metro Nashville Police Department to strengthen its policies to “explicitly prohibit the use of chokeholds and to further clarify officers’ duty to intervene.”
However, as the statement from Cooper’s office notes, chokeholds are already prohibited under Tennessee law in most circumstances. Additionally, since the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) doesn’t train officers on the technique, chokeholds are “not allowed per Nashville police policy and have not been allowed for decades,” said the statement.
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The University of Memphis in partnership with Shelby County Schools recently announced the creation of a George Floyd Memorial Scholarship.
According to a press release, the goal of the scholarship is to provide support to “as many African American Male Academy members as possible.”
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Several schools across the nation have launched memorial scholarships in honor of George Floyd, including the University of Minnesota and its law school.
The University of Minnesota Law School announced the creation of a George Floyd Memorial Scholarship in Law on Monday.
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Nine more Republican lawmakers have joined a lawsuit against Gov. Tim Walz regarding his use of emergency powers during the coronavirus pandemic.
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A new group called Conservative Clergy of Color believes the only “systemic racism” that exists in America today is found in the Democratic Party itself.
“Democrats and their foot soldiers on the left insist there is a rot in our country, but the only rot I see is the rot that has festered in the very foundations of the Democratic Party, a party that was built from the ground up on the backs of oppressed blacks,” said Bishop Aubrey Shines, one of four founding members of the group.
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An illegal alien who evaded capture for nearly three years was sentenced to 60 months in federal prison last week for possession of cocaine with intent to distribute and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.
According to a Monday statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Tennessee, a federal jury in February found Carlos Landeros-Salcedo guilty after a three-day trial and just 40 minutes of deliberation among the jurors. U.S. District Court Judge Sheryl H. Lipman sentenced him to 60 months in federal prison on June 10.
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The St. Paul Saints announced Friday that the team will be participating in a 60-game season beginning July 3, but all games will be played in Sioux Falls, South Dakota until “capacity restrictions for outdoor events have relaxed.”
The American Association of Independent Professional Baseball said the shortened season will run from July 3 to September 10, concluding with a championship series between the top two teams. The league will consist of six teams based in three separate hubs.
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An Eden Prairie School Board member broke his silence Monday after learning that the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) won’t be releasing state guidance on the upcoming academic year until July 27.
Three scenarios are possible for the 2020-21 school year, including continued distance learning, the resumption of in-person instruction, or a mix of the two.
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Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN-05) was unable to provide details on who will respond to violent crimes in her city without a police force, but said the Minneapolis Police Department is “rotten to the root” during a Sunday interview.
“What takes its place?” CNN host Jake Tapper asked the congresswoman. “Who investigates crimes? Who arrests criminals? What happens?”
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Ohio Democrats asked Gov. Mike DeWine to indefinitely ban the use of tear gas by all county, municipal, and township police departments in a letter sent last week.
According to the letter, law enforcement agencies across Ohio used tear gas, pepper spray, and mace on peaceful protesters during recent demonstrations.
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As Minneapolis prepares to “abolish” its police force, a recent survey found that most truck drivers won’t deliver to cities with defunded or disbanded police departments.
According to a survey from CDLLife, a resource site for the trucking industry, 79 percent of truck drivers said they will refuse to deliver freight to cities with defunded police departments.
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Ohio House Democrats unsuccessfully attempted last week to ban the sale, display, possession, or distribution of Confederate flags at county and independent fairs.
During a Thursday night debate on House Bill 665, a bill related to agricultural societies and public safety, Democrats introduced two amendments in an effort to crack down on Confederate memorabilia.
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Law enforcement officers were able to prevent demonstrators from camping out in Legislative Plaza for a second night Saturday.
Gov. Bill Lee failed to enforce state law Friday night and allowed left-wing protesters to occupy the plaza throughout the night and into Saturday morning, The Tennessee Star reported. More than 100 protesters claimed Friday that they had taken control of Nashville’s Legislative Plaza and refused to leave until speaking with Lee.
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Taylor Swift called on Tennessee leaders Friday to remove monuments “that celebrate racist historical figures who did evil things.”
“Edward Carmack and Nathan Bedford Forrest were despicable figures in our state history and should be treated as such,” Swift said in a statement posted on Twitter Friday.
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MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell said he won’t join other major companies in boycotting Tucker Carlson’s prime-time show on Fox News.
“MyPillow is not changing its advertising. I make all my advertising decisions based on what is best for my customers and my employees,” Lindell said in a statement provided to Newsweek. “MyPillow believes all lives matter and values all our employees and customers, treating them like family.”
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