Author: Kaitlin Housler

Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti Sends Letter to Meta Demanding Instagram Stop Monetizing Child Exploitation

Kaitlin Housler
Kids on Phone

Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti has joined a coalition of 26 other state attorneys general in sending a letter to Meta, the parent company of social media giants Facebook and Instagram, demanding that Instagram stop monetizing child exploitation content.

Citing reporting from The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, the coalition of attorneys general expressed concern over news that Instagram has “actively promoted” to “likely pedophiles” content created by “adults seeking to profit from exploiting their own children.”

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Sen. JD Vance Says East Palestine Ohio ‘May Have Been Poisoned to Facilitate the Rapid Movement of Freight’ After NTSB Chair Confirms 2023 Controlled Chemical Explosion Was ‘Unnecessary’

Kaitlin Housler
JD Vance

U.S. Senator JD Vance (R-OH) questioned National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Chair Jennifer Homendy on the Norfolk Southern train derailment in East Palestine last year during a Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee hearing entitled, “National Transportation Safety Board Investigations Report” on Wednesday.

On February 3, 2023, 50 train carriages, 10 of which were carrying hazardous materials, derailed in East Palestine. Hundreds of residents evacuated as a result of a controlled burn of noxious vinyl chloride that Norfolk Southern carried out on February 6 to stop an explosion.

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Steven Crowder Releases Tennessee Office of Homeland Security Bulletin Warning Agencies of Bomb Threat Targeting Trump Supporters

Kaitlin Housler
Steven Crowder

Conservative commentator Steven Crowder released an Officer Safety Bulletin issued by the Tennessee Office of Homeland Security in response to a bomb threat targeting supporters of former President Donald Trump.

The document was issued in response to a Guardian Incident Report received by the Memphis Office of the FBI on February 29, regarding a threat made by a man named Benjamin Matthew Dayton via text message to his mother.

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Davidson County Republican Party Applauds Trump’s Primary Win in Tennessee

Kaitlin Housler
Lonnie Spivak

The Davidson County Republican Party (DCRP) congratulated former President Donald Trump’s victory in the Tennessee presidential primary election on Tuesday.

“We congratulate President Trump on his strong victory yesterday as we look forward to seeing the completion of the primary process and move toward a decisive November election victory – all toward a stronger, more prosperous America,” DCRP Chairman Lonnie Spivak said in a statement. “During President Trump’s first term, America’s economy grew, our border was secure, we projected strength abroad in support of our global allies, and good leaders were appointed to key positions while the swamp was draining. In the years since, the Biden regime has reversed what they can of that good work and made our country weaker. It is time for America to continue doing what is right for all under a steady hand and sound leadership.”

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Todd Bensman with the Center for Immigration Studies: ‘The Biden Administration has Industrialized Parole Authority’

Kaitlin Housler
Illegal Immigrants

Todd Bensman, senior national security fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies, said the Biden administration has “industrialized parole authority” through its program that has flown 320,000 inadmissible aliens into 43 American airports over the past year.

“[The migrants] are coming in on an authority called parole. That’s supposed to be for two or three immigrants a year on a case by case basis, like an emergency medical treatment or, they need somebody to testify in an important case, and then they turn them right back,” Bensman explained on Monday’s edition of The Michael Patrick Leahy Show. “The Biden administration has industrialized parole authority. Now they’re just letting hundreds of thousands in all at once instead of two or three as the law says on a case by case basis.”

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Michael Patrick Leahy: Phil Williams’ ‘Nothing Burger’ School Choice Story is Built on Secretly Recorded 2016 Strategy Session of Choice Advocates

Kaitlin Housler

JC Bowman, founder and president of Professional Educators of Tennessee, and Michael Patrick Leahy, editor-in-chief and CEO of The Tennessee Star, debated an audio recording slated to be released by News Channel 5’s Phil Williams supposedly addressing the “origin of school vouchers” in Tennessee.

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Former Assistant Attorney General Jeff Clark Explains How SCOTUS Colorado Ruling Will Protect Potential Trump Administration

Kaitlin Housler
Trump President

Jeff Clark, former acting assistant attorney general during the Trump administration, said the Supreme Court’s ruling in Trump v. Anderson, which restores former President Donald Trump’s name on the Colorado ballot, will also protect a future Trump administration from a “whole bunch of Section 3 litigation in 2025.”

Clark said in addition to the unanimous 9-0 decision in the case, five of the Supreme Court justices went on to “decide another set of issues” in regards to states’ enforcement of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to regulate federal candidates.

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Williamson County Sheriff Candidate Jeff Hughes Addresses Opposition to Permitless Carry Bill in 2022

Kaitlin Housler
Williamson County Sheriff candidate Jeff Hughes

Former chief of Brentwood Police Jeff Hughes, who is running for Williamson County Sheriff, addressed controversy surrounding his stance in 2022 against a bill in the Tennessee General Assembly allowing for the permitless carry of firearms.

Hughes said his stance against the bill was coming from a matter of “public safety and officer safety,” specifically regarding the bill’s lack of training requirement for gun owners.

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Coalition for Jewish Values Defends Tennessee U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles’ ‘Death to Hamas’ Comment

Kaitlin Housler
Ogles Hamas

The Coalition for Jewish Values (CJV) came to U.S. Representative Andy Ogles’ (R-TN-05) defense over comments he issued last month in response to an activist who pressed him on the situation unfolding in the Middle East, specifically between Israeli and Hamas forces in Gaza.

“Given that Rep. Ogles stated unequivocally that he was speaking about Hamas, a terror organization that has both declared and evidenced its intent to massacre all Jews, his is the only morally correct position,” CJV Midwestern Regional President Rabbi Ze’ev Smason said in a statement. “It is deplorable that organizations and even left-wing media outlets have deliberately falsified his words in order to malign and slander him.”

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Aaron Gulbransen, Michael Patrick Leahy Slam State Rep. Todd Warner’s Vote Against School Choice Bill

Kaitlin Housler
Todd Warner

Aaron Gulbransen, executive director of the Tennessee Faith and Freedom Coalition, and Michael Patrick Leahy, editor-in-chief and CEO of The Tennessee Star, condemned Tennessee State Representative Todd Warner’s (R-Chapel Hill) vote against Governor Bill Lee’s proposed school voucher program.

On Tuesday, state lawmakers on the K-12 Subcommittee voted 6-2 to pass the House version of the governor’s school voucher program, which would make Education Freedom Scholarships worth $7,000 available to students in every county of the state.

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Corey DeAngelis Explains How School Choice Vouchers May Motivate Schools to Respect Parents’ Input as Competition Arises

Kaitlin Housler
Learning

Corey DeAngelis, a school choice activist and senior fellow at the American Federation for Children, detailed how implementing a universal school choice program in Tennessee could motivate public schools to respect and strive to meet parents’ expectations in order to compete with schools attracting families with vouchers.

On Tuesday, state lawmakers on the K-12 Subcommittee voted 6-2 to pass the House version of Governor Bill Lee’s proposed school voucher program, which would make Education Freedom Scholarships worth $7,000 available to students in every county of the state.

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Joe Allen Details ‘Nightmarish Visions’ in the Making with AI, Transhumanism

Kaitlin Housler
AI

Joe Allen, author of Dark Aeon: Transhumanism and the War Against Humanity, said transhumanism in artificial intelligence, commonly known as AI, is a war against the “very concept of the human.”

Allen, on Friday’s edition of The Tennessee Star Report, described transhumanism as a “quest to go beyond our current human state by way of science and technology – to transform the some portion of the human species and some versions of it or to transform the entire human species using everything from genetic engineering to artificial intelligence, a kind of symbiosis with artificial intelligence, a partnership, and, of course, using whatever means are available to connect the brain to artificial intelligence.”

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Pollster John McLaughlin: ‘If the Election Was Held Today, Trump Would Win in a Landslide’

Kaitlin Housler
Donald Trump

Long-time pollster John McLaughlin said if the 2024 presidential general election was held today, former President Donald Trump would win over incumbent President Joe Biden “in a landslide.”

McLaughlin, citing Trump’s lead in national polling, said the former president would win both an electoral and popular vote landslide if the election were held now, however, noted how the Left is actively “trying to put him in jail.”

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Tom Pappert: ‘Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion’ Must Have Played a Role in Fani Willis, Nathan Wade, and Terrance Bradley’s Careers

Kaitlin Housler
Fani Willis

Tom Pappert, reporter for The Georgia Star News and lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, said he believes diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies were part of the explanation as to how Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, special prosecutor Nathan Wade, and attorney Terrance Bradley were hired into positions of influence.

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Congressman Mark Green Will Run for Re-Election at Urging of Former President Trump

Kaitlin Housler
Tennessee U.S. Rep. Mark Green

Congressman Mark Green (R-TN-07) announced on Thursday that he has reconsidered his decision to retire from Congress and will now run for re-election to the U.S. House of Representatives in the 2024 election.

“While my strong desire was to leave Congress at the end of this year, since my announcement, I have received countless calls from constituents, colleagues, and President Trump urging me to reconsider,” Green said in a statement released by his office to The Tennessee Star.

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Former Trump Campaign Spokesman Steve Cortes Says Murder of Georgia Nursing Student Was ‘100 Percent Preventable’

Kaitlin Housler
Laken Riley

Steve Cortes, former senior spokesman and strategist for the 2016 and 2020 Trump campaigns and current head of the League of American Workers, said the murder of 22-year-old Georgia nursing student Laken Riley was “100 percent preventable” if it weren’t for the “radical open borders agenda” of President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

Jose Ibarra, a 26-year-old illegal alien from Venezuela, was arrested and charged last week for his alleged murder of Riley, who died from blunt-force trauma to her head.

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Williamson County Will Comply with Mass Deportation Order Under Potential Trump Presidency, Interim Sheriff Mark Elrod Says

Kaitlin Housler
Illegal Immigrants

Mark Elrod, who is currently serving as interim sheriff of Williamson County amid former Sheriff Dusty Rhoades’ retirement, said his department would assist Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in carrying out deportations of illegal immigrants under a potential Trump presidency beginning in 2025.

If elected, former President Donald Trump has said he would immediately mobilize ICE to deport illegal immigrants as part of his goal to carry out the “largest deportation operation” in the nation’s history.

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Immigration Experts Say Both Legal and Illegal Immigration Must Be Reduced to Balance U.S. ‘Social Experiment’ Migration Crisis

Kaitlin Housler
CBP Illegal Immigrants

Executive Director Mark Krikorian, Senior National Security Fellow Todd Bensman, and Director of Policy Studies Jessica Vaughan with the Center for Immigration Studies explained how immigration – both legal and illegal – into the U.S. must be reduced in order to balance out the nation’s rapidly rising foreign-born population.

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Williamson County Interim Sheriff Mark Elrod Says Narcotics, Fentanyl ‘Biggest Issue’ in County

Kaitlin Housler

Mark Elrod, who is currently serving as interim sheriff of Williamson County amid former Sheriff Dusty Rhoades’ retirement, said the biggest issues affecting the county in regards to crime are drugs and fentanyl.

“I would say that probably one of our biggest issues is drugs, narcotics, fentanyl. We’ve had an uptick in that as well as heroin over the last several years. With Williamson County, we’re a transient community where a lot of the drugs and other crimes come in from other areas into Williamson County. It’s not so much your next door neighbor or the people down the street, although there is some of that, but most of it is coming from other places…Davidson County, out of Nashville, out of the city of Columbia. We have four interstates that come through the county, so it could be, you know, really coming from anywhere, everywhere,” Elrod said on Tuesday’s edition of The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy.

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House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green Sends Letter to DHS Demanding Information Related to Murder of Georgia Medical Student

Kaitlin Housler
Mark Green DHS

Tennessee U.S. Representative Mark Green (R-TN-07), who chairs the House Homeland Security Committee, sent a letter to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas demanding information to assist the committee in its investigation into the murder of 22-year old nursing student Laken Riley.

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Immigration Expert: ‘There Is Mass Immigration Asylum Fraud Underway Here’

Kaitlin Housler
Illegal Immigrants

Senior National Security Fellow Todd Bensman with the Center for Immigration Studies warned there is “mass immigration asylum fraud” taking place in the U.S.

Bensman, who has interviewed thousands of migrants over the years, explained on Thursday’s edition of The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy how migrants, specifically from Venezuela and Haiti, often live in other more stable countries – including Brazil, Colombia, and Ecuador – for years before making their way to the United States to work and live a prosperous life.

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Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti Details Consumer Protection Lawsuit Against BlackRock’s ESG Investing

Kaitlin Housler
TN AG Courtroom

Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti said his consumer protection lawsuit against BlackRock’s Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG) investing will force the company to disclose if it is mixing ESG factors when making investment decisions instead of focusing on financial factors relative to the rate of return.

Skrmetti filed his lawsuit against BlackRock in December 2023, alleging that the hedge fund has misled consumers in Tennessee about the scale and impacts of its ESG initiatives for several years.

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Immigration Experts Outline Steps Congress Could Immediately Take to Ease Border Crisis

Kaitlin Housler
Illegal Immigrants

Executive Director Mark Krikorian, Senior National Security Fellow Todd Bensman, and Director of Policy Studies Jessica Vaughan with the Center for Immigration Studies said Republican lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives could immediately use their slim-margin majority to help correct the nation’s border crisis by cutting funding for programs and entities that fuel illegal immigration.

One idea the trio discussed during Thursday’s episode of The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – other than impeaching and convicting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas – was lawmakers’ ability to cut funding for the United Nations (UN), which has been providing illegal immigrants with cash cards as they make their journey to North America.

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