President-elect Donald Trump said on Monday that he would consider a pardon for New York City Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat, who was indicted in September.
Read the full storyTrump Says He Would Consider Pardon for New York City Mayor Eric Adams
Category: News
House GOP Vows to Refer ActBlue Fundraising Probe to Incoming Trump Justice Department
House Administration Committee Chairman Brian Steil said he will refer findings from his ongoing probe into the progressive fundraising platform ActBlue to the incoming Trump Justice Department.
Steil believes the new Attorney General Pam Bondi, if confirmed, will be more than willing to probe the Democratic fundraising powerhouse over allegations it failed to implement sufficient security measures on its platform to prevent illegal foreign monies from flowing into U.S. political campaigns.
Read the full storyCalifornia County Board Members Fight Election Certification After Raising Election Integrity Issues
County board members in California and Colorado are still fighting the certification of the presidential election after election integrity issues occurred.
In one California county, supervisors declared the election results “under duress,” while county canvass board members in seven Colorado counties rejected election certification. In both instances, election irregularities had occurred during the November election cycle that resulted in the county board members’ hesitation to certify election results.
Read the full storyCoffee Prices Hit Record High amid Brazilian Drought
An ongoing drought in Brazil coupled with bad weather in Vietnam has contributed to a significant spike in the price for Arabica and Robusta coffee beans, according to reports.
Arabica beans, now selling for more than $3.44 a pound have increased more than 80% this year, and Robusta beans also hit a high in September, marking a record high for international commodity markets.
Read the full storyPublic Charter School in Nashville Files Lawsuit Against Metro Schools for Rezoning Plan
LEAD Public Schools filed a lawsuit against Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) on Monday, challenging a rezoning plan previously approved by the MNPS board concerning LEAD Cameron Middle School.
LEAD Cameron is a zone-enrolled public charter middle school operating south of Nashville in the Glencliff cluster. The middle school was founded in 2011 and serves grades 5-8.
Read the full storyReport: 3 Dead, 7 Injured at Wisconsin Christian School Shooting
A shooting at the Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, Wisconsin reportedly led to the deaths of three people, with another five injured, according to a police press conference held at a nearby gas station by Madison Police Department (MPD) Chief Shon Barnes.
Barnes confirmed the latest information during his 12:15 p.m. press conference indicated there were five individuals killed at the Abundant Life Christian School, but law enforcement later clarified this was incorrect. They confirmed three died in the attack, including the shooter.
Read the full storyDetransition Activist Says Blackburn’s Kids Online Safety Act Could ‘Inspire Parents’ to Monitor Internet Use
Detransition activist Elle Palmer, a biological woman who identified as a transgender man through most of her teens, told The Tennessee Star she was optimistic legislation like the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), proposed by Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), would “inspire parents” to keep a closer watch on their children’s use of the internet.
Palmer, who recently traveled to Washington, D.C. to support Tennessee’s law banning transgender treatments for minors, told The Star last week that she became enraptured with online discussions related to feminism, gender theory, and ultimately transgenderism during her teen years, when she described herself as anxious and inverted.
Read the full storyCommentary: With the DOGE Acts, Republicans Have a Plan to Eliminate Government Waste
More than 248 years ago, our Founding Fathers established our nation on the principle that government should be accountable to We the People.
Under the Biden-Harris administration, though, we have seen that principle erode as the government becomes increasingly unaccountable with wasteful spending and a growing bureaucracy.
Read the full storyVet Says Veterans Affairs Hospital in Texas Ignored Complaint over Alleged Sex at Facility Despite Video Evidence
The Tennessee Star on Friday obtained a video a veteran says shows two staff members at the Amarillo Veterans Affairs (VA) Health Care System engaged in a sexual activity inside a clean supplies closet, just feet away where he was being treated for a hand injury.
According to data retrieved from the video, it was recorded on August 17, 2022, when the veteran told The Star he was at the Thomas E. Creek VA Medical Center to seek treatment for an injury he sustained while working on a dirt bike.
Read the full storyTennessee AG Jonathan Skrmetti: State Law Banning Gender Transitioning Treatments for Minors Based on ‘Evidence’
Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti said Tennessee’s SB1 law that bans irreversible gender transitioning treatments for minors was crafted and implemented based on “evidence” and is being challenged by parties who collectively believe in a “consensus” that is simply not based on evidence.
Read the full storyCatholic Health Care System Partners with Pro-Abortion Virtual Women’s Health Clinic
The Catholic health care system CommonSpirit partners with an online women’s health clinic that offers abortion pills and referrals for surgical abortions.
CommonSpirit Health announced in 2021 it would partner with Ask Tia to create “a new front door to health care for women.” The partnership, uncovered by the pro-life organization Save the Storks, “enables the two health care leaders to launch Tia-branded women’s health clinics together that will provide comprehensive, blended virtual and in-person care.”
Read the full storyTexas Lt Gov Patrick Wants to Buy Construction Materials Auctioned by DHS, Donate Them to Trump
Texas GOP Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick says he want to buy border-construction material being auctioned by the Department of Homeland and give it to President-elect Donald Trump.
“Joe Biden is now hauling off the border wall that’s been lying down for years and he wants to auction it off starting at five dollars a piece,” Patrick told Fox News opinion-show host Laura Ingraham on Thursday. “Message to the White House right now: I will bid on all of that wall and we will buy it in Texas and we will give it to Donald Trump.”
Read the full storyWisconsin Rep. Says Loopholes That Allow Foreign Billionaires to Influence Elections Have to End
Congressman Bryan Steil, R-Wis., said Thursday that loopholes that allow foreign billionaires to influence U.S. elections need to be shut down.
“In particular, we’ve identified a loophole that allows foreign billionaires to transfer money into United States charities, 501C 3’s,” Steil said on the “Just the News, No Noise” TV show. “Forty percent of those funds can … under current law, be transferred into a super PAC to run political ads.”
Read the full story‘Suspicious’ Drone Sightings Reported in Virginia
Law enforcement officials in Virginia have reported “suspicious” drone sightings appearing over counties containing sensitive military bases and national security facilities.
The Stafford County Sheriff’s Office reports the sightings of “suspicious drones flying over” Stafford, King George and Spotsylvania counties.
Read the full storyMichigan State Legislature Considers Election Bills Undermining Election Integrity, Critics Warn
The Michigan state legislature is considering several election bills which would undermine election integrity if enacted, according to election integrity proponents.
The election bills that are being considered for passage by the lame-duck session of the state legislature are the Michigan Voting Rights Act, National Popular Vote legislation, and restrictions on voter roll transparency and election challengers. Election integrity advocates are concerned about the negative impact these bills will have on elections, from creating a “lawfare state” to changing how the state will allocate its electoral votes.
Read the full storyMinnesota Attorney General Sues Glock over Criminals Illegally Modifying Guns
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison announced on Thursday that he’s suing Glock, Inc., an Austrian firearms manufacturer, for “knowingly manufacturing and selling handguns that can easily be converted into machine guns,” he said in a livestream press conference and subsequent press release.
Although Glock does not manufacture the aftermarket add-on devices called auto sears or “switches,” which can convert Glock handguns to fire automatically and are generally illegal to possess in the United States, the attorney general accused Glock of “refus[ing] to make design changes to discourage this conversion and promotes ‘fun’ of machine guns.”
Read the full storyCommentary: America Must Stay Out of the Crisis in Syria
After the sudden overthrow of Syria’s brutal dictator Bashar al-Assad, there has been plenty of media commentary expressing optimism about the likely new Syrian government led by the rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). Although this group is a former al Qaeda offshoot, it claims to have reformed, intends to establish a moderate and tolerant government, and plans to hold elections.
The Biden administration appears ready to give a new HTS government the benefit of the doubt. Biden officials have said they will recognize and support a new government in Syria if it makes certain commitments to the U.S., including renouncing terrorism and destroying chemical weapons in the country. The Biden administration also is considering lifting U.S. terrorist designations from the HTS and its leader, Abu Mohammed al-Golani.
Read the full storyVirginia Immigrant Group Opposing Youngkin’s Sanctuary City Proposal Lost $1.5 Million over Lip Balm, Fidget Toy Purchases
The immigrant group that opposes the proposal by Governor Glenn Youngkin to strip funding from so-called sanctuary cities that refuse to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), was denied federal funding by the Prince William County commission in February after it reportedly filed nearly $200,000 in expenses that are unfit for federal dollars distributed by the county.
Youngkin on Thursday unveiled a budget plan that includes a “No Sanctuary Cities” proposal that would require local law enforcement agencies to coordinate with ICE or lose funding.
Read the full storyBorder Patrol: Tren de Aragua Member Arrested in Florida for Assault with a Deadly Weapon
The Miami Sector of Custom Border Protection reported that agents arrested a Venezuelan citizen “who was identified as a member of the Tren de Aragua gang” in Palm Beach.
Chief Border Patrol Agent Jeffrey Dinise said on his X account that the suspect “has a criminal record for assault with a deadly weapon.”
Read the full storyBiden Lifts Sentence for Former Ohio Dem Official Convicted of Taking Bribes, Corruption
President Joe Biden granted clemency Thursday to a former Ohio Democratic official who was convicted on charges related to taking bribes for nearly a decade.
Former Cuyahoga County Commissioner Jimmy Dimora took over $166,000 worth of bribes, which included “cash, home improvements, lavish meals at high-end restaurants, services from prostitutes, gambling trips to Las Vegas and Canada, and other items,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Ohio.
Read the full storyArizonans Could Decide Fate of Death Penalty in 2026
An Arizona Democratic lawmaker is seeking to let voters decide if the death penalty could be legal in 2026.
Rep. Patty Contreras, D-Phoenix, filed House Concurrent Resolution 2001 for the upcoming legislative session, which would ask voters if a ban on capital punishment be placed in the state constitution. The resolution would need to pass both chambers of the Republican-majority legislature in order to make it onto the ballot.
Read the full storyMore Details Emerging About the City of Tucson’s ‘Shocking’ Criminal Speeding Charges Against Conservative State Senator
State Senator Justine Wadsack (R-Tucson) is suing the City of Tucson for charging her with criminal speeding months after she was pulled over by a police officer and not given a ticket. Wadsack and her attorney Brad Miller, who is the incoming Pinal County Attorney, spoke to radio host Garrett Lewis last week during an interview about some new developments in the situation. Lewis asked Miller and Wadsack a series of questions about the “mythical speeding ticket that never existed.”
The City of Tucson has been unable to provide any proof that Wadsack was speeding, neither from a radar gun nor the officer’s pacing, Miller said. A city attorney admitted they had no evidence. Miller conducted an interview with the Tucson Police officer who pulled Wadsack over and discovered that the officers “don’t provide any type of printout or scientific way to show that the radar guns are, first of all, working, and second, they cannot provide those to any alleged defendants at all.” Additionally, officers do not include everything they do in their reports, “so he purposely kept out pieces of information.”
Read the full storyBusinesses Report Inflation Is Taking Wrench to Their Cash-Strapped Customers
Dollar stores are reporting softened demand and increased financial stress among their lower-income consumers, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Some businesses say their customers are spending less money toward the end of the month and more focused on purchasing from cheap store brands, according to the WSJ. Dollar General said in a December earnings call that its best-performing category in its last quarter was its “value valley” aisle, which offers $1 products, the WSJ reported.
Read the full storyRequest for Alleged Manifesto of Luigi Mangione Denied by Police amid Refusal to Release Bodycam Video, Arrest Inventory
The City of Altoona, Pennsylvania on Friday denied the Right-to-Know request filed by The Pennsylvania Daily Star for copies of the documents found during the arrest of Luigi Mangione, who stands accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in New York.
Altoona denied the Right-to-Know request filed by The Daily Star on Monday, which specifically sought copies of any written documents found with Mangione at the time of his arrest, including his purported manifesto, as well as any documents, journals, or diaries, citing an exception to public information requests for ongoing investigations.
Read the full storyNumber of Immigrants with Temporary Protected Status Under Biden Jumped 240 Percent Since 2021, Data Shows
The Biden administration’s liberal use of a Temporary Protected Status (TPS) led to a 240% surge of foreign nationals protected from deportation and granted interim legal status in the United States, according to the most recent data from the research arm of Congress.
The data, which showed consistent increases in immigrants granted “TPS” status since President Joe Biden took office in early 2021, make up just part of the largest illegal and legal immigration surge in American history.
Read the full storyTexas DA Seeks Death Penalty for Illegal Immigrants Charged with Capital Murder
Following through on a pledge she made months ago, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg on Friday announced her office was seeking the death penalty in the prosecution of two illegal foreign nationals from Venezuela now charged with the capital murder of a 12-year-old Houston girl.
On June 17, 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray’s body was found in a bayou under a bridge in north Houston. The cause of death was strangulation but her body was found bound, without clothing from the waist down. Forensic evidence was collected to ascertain if she was sexually assaulted. According to the assistant district attorney prosecuting the case, the perpetrators threw her body into the bayou to get rid of DNA evidence, The Center Square reported.
Read the full storyReport: Biden’s Department of Education Spent over $1 Billion on DEI Grants
A new report claims that the Biden Administration’s Department of Education has spent over $1 billion on grants that force the diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) agenda in hiring practices, programming, and mental health training in public schools.
According to Fox News, the report from the watchdog group Parents Defending Education (PDE) claims that this DEI spending has been ongoing since 2021. PDE researchers found a total of 229 such grants across 42 states, plus Washington D.C., during the roughly four-year time period.
Read the full storyStripper Who Falsely Accused Duke Lacrosse Team of Vicious Gang Rape Finally Admits She Lied
The stripper who falsely claimed that members of the Duke University men’s lacrosse team savagely raped her in 2006 finally admitted Thursday that she made up the allegations.
Crystal Mangum, the exotic dancer behind the allegations, admitted that she “testified falsely” that she was raped by David Evans, Collin Finnerty and Reade Seligmann in a Thursday interview with an independent podcast called “Let’s Talk with Kat.” The Duke lacrosse rape hoax gripped the country as news outlets and prominent figures effectively treated the allegations as credible, with the three falsely accused men ultimately going to trial before being declared innocent by the state of North Carolina when the prosecution’s case against them fell apart.
Read the full storyCommentary: Reject KOSA to Protect Kids, Freedom of Speech
Between the presidential election, foreign conflicts across the globe, and major pocketbook issues like inflation and healthcare prices, it is safe to say that Washington, D.C. and the rest of the country have a lot to keep up with these days. Unfortunately, that means that a horribly flawed piece of legislation that will impact how all Americans interact with the internet is making its way through Congress with little attention from anyone but political insiders.
Read the full storyBiden Clemency Spree Began Secretly Last Month with Chinese Nationals in Espionage, Child Porn Cases
Joe Biden’s clemency spree began secretly in late November when he commuted the prison sentences of three Chinese nationals convicted in espionage, child pornography, and fraud case just a few days before issuing a controversial pardon to his son Hunter.
The commutations for Yanjun Xu, Ji Chaoqun, and Jin Shanlin were dated Nov. 22 but escaped much public notice until Thursday when the 46th president issued the largest single-day batch of pardons and commutations in modern American history — more than 1,500 in all that stirred controversy on social media and puzzlement inside Congress.
Read the full storyExclusive: Tennessee AG Jonathan Skrmetti Reflects on Oral Arguments in United States v. Skrmetti
Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti sat down for an exclusive interview with The Tennessee Star’s CEO and Editor-in-Chief Michael Patrick Leahy on Friday to detail last week’s oral arguments in front of the U.S. Supreme Court in the case United States v. Skrmetti and how the nation is perceiving the case in the days after.
Last Wednesday, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in United States v. Skrmetti, a case challenging Tennessee’s law that bans irreversible gender transitioning treatments for minors.
Read the full storyLegal Expert Mark Pulliam: California Lawsuit Against Trans Doctor Has the Ability to ‘Collapse’ Entire Gender Transitioning Industry for Minors
Mark Pulliam, a retired attorney and Misrule of Law blogger, said a lawsuit filed in California against a doctor who specializes in “youth gender medicine” for medical negligence has the ability to “collapse” the entire “enterprise” of gender transitioning treatments for minors.
Read the full storyBiden’s Border Crisis: ICE Reports Record Number of Deportations as Non-Detention Docket Swells to 6.2 Million
The greatest number of illegal foreign nationals on the docket for deportation by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Non-Detention Docket (NDD) was reported under the Biden administration.
The greatest number was 6.2 million in fiscal 2023, followed by 4.7 million in fiscal 2022 and 3.6 million in fiscal 2021, according to an ICE 2023 annual report.
Read the full storyCAIR Claims ‘Police Brutality’ After Sonny Perdue Credits Georgia’s Stance on Anti-Israel Protests for ‘Huge Influx’ in Student Applications
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) in Georgia suggested Sonny Perdue, the Chancellor of the Georgia University System, showed support for “police brutality” after he said the stance of Georgia universities against anti-Israel protests led to a “huge influx” of new students applying to receive a higher education in the Peach State.
Perdue reportedly said the decision by Georgia’s higher education system to disallow extended student-led protests over the war between Israel and Hamas “created a huge influx in out-of-state applications to our schools here in Georgia,” according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, during a conference with lawmakers held by the Biennial Institute in Athens.
Read the full storyArizona Republicans Introduce Florida-Style Election Reforms to Speed Results
Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen is seeking election administration reforms similar to what exists in Florida in the upcoming legislative session in hopes of delivering faster results.
Senate Bill 1011 would end the drop off of mail-in ballots at 7 p.m. on the Friday prior to Election Day, which would be a major change from the drop-offs that are available until polls close on Election Day currently.
Read the full storyBoard Votes to Give Indicted Democratic Former Apache County, Arizona Attorney a $5,700 Monthly Pension
Arizona’s Public Safety Personnel Retirement System voted to give Democratic former Apache County Attorney Michael Whiting a $5,700 monthly pension last month. Whiting was removed from office after a grand jury indicted him on multiple public corruption charges, centered around the misuse of public funds.
The grand jury also indicted Whiting’s wife Joyclynn, who served as the county school superintendent, and Daryl Greer, the county attorney’s lead investigator, last August. Four of his key employees, including his Chief Deputy Celeste Robertson, obtained restraining orders against Whiting. On September 30, Whiting agreed to an interim suspension of his law license. As a result of the suspension, Attorney General Kris Mayes took over control of the office on November 1.
Read the full storyCommentary: The Evaporation of the Obama Mystique
Barack Obama had long been rumored as the catalyst for the 2020 Biden nomination — and thereafter played the whispering puppeteer behind the subsequent lost Biden administration years.
As such he and his coterie proved the virtual architects of the Biden administration, one of the most unpopular and failed presidencies in American history.
Read the full storyHouse Panel Subpoenas Biden-Harris Official Accused of ‘Stonewalling’ Probe into Tim Walz’s China Ties
The House Oversight Committee subpoenaed a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) official on Wednesday for allegedly failing to comply with an investigation into Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), according to a letter exclusively obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Read the full storyReport: $100 Goes Further in Tennessee
A one-hundred dollar bill goes further in Tennessee’s metropolitan areas than in others across the United States, according to a report from the Tax Foundation.
The report measures the purchasing power of $100 based on data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
Read the full storyYoungkin to Propose Statewide Ban on ‘Sanctuary Cities’ in Virginia
Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin is expected to introduce a budget proposal on Thursday that would include a ban on “sanctuary cities,” and state funding for cities that do not comply with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Mayors of self-proclaimed “sanctuary cities” across the United States have already teased that they will not comply with the incoming Trump administration’s efforts to deport massive amounts of illegal immigrants.
Read the full storyTennessee State Rep. Gillespie Files Bills to Restrict Bail for Gun Crimes, Require Judges to Consider Juvenile Records
Tennessee State Representative John Gillespie (R-Memphis) two bills this week that would tighten Tennessee’s bail laws, requiring judges to consider juvenile records and pretrial reports when considering whether a minor defendant is eligible for release, and changing the standards for bail to automatically preclude those accused of crimes involving firearms, serious injury, or death.
Gillespie filed HB 33 on Wednesday, would change Tennessee law to establish “a presumption that a defendant should not be released” from jail should the circumstances of their charges include, “the use or display of a firearm,” or if their alleged crimes “resulted in the serious bodily injury or death of the victim.”
Read the full storyAntisemitism Bill Moves Ahead in Ohio Legislature
In the wake of summer protests on college campuses, the Ohio Senate moved forward with a bill that defines antisemitism and expands the crime of ethnic intimidation.
The legislation now moves to the House, which has only one scheduled session day remaining and a second if needed.
Read the full storyZuckerberg’s Meta Gave $1 Million To Trump’s Inaugural Fund
Meta donated $1 million to President-elect Donald Trump’s inaugural fund, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.
The donation comes amid a thaw in relations between Trump and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, with Zuckerberg paying a visit to Trump’s private Mar-a-Lago club in Florida two weeks ago, according to The WSJ. Zuckerberg and Meta did not donate to Trump’s inaugural fund in 2017 or to President Biden’s fund in 2021.
Read the full storyWoman Who Detransitioned Says Covenant School Killer’s Extensive Mental Health Treatment a ‘Risk Factor for Transition’
Elle Palmer, who identified as a transgender man through most of her teen years before detransitioning to her biological, female gender, that early experiences with mental health treatments are “absolutely” a “risk factor” for a desire to transition genders later in life.
In an interview conducted after Palmer traveled to Washington, D.C. to support Tennessee’s law banning transgender treatments for minors, she told The Star that she had a psychiatrist by time she was 11, and said, “I absolutely think it’s a risk factor for transition.”
Read the full storyTrump Could Start Pardons for January 6 Protesters in ‘First Nine Minutes’ in Office
President-elect Donald Trump said he could start pardons for “most” convicted Jan. 6 protesters during his first minutes in the White House.
Trump pledged throughout his campaign that he would pardon some people convicted of crimes during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Read the full storyFBI Had Over a Dozen Confidential Informants at Capitol on Jan. 6, I.G. Report Confirms
More than a dozen FBI informants entered restricted areas in and around the Capitol on Jan. 6 ,2021, according to a Department of Justice investigator general (IG) report published on Thursday.
The DOJ’s oversight report that examined the FBI’s intelligence collection efforts preceding January 6th found that the FBI had 26 informants in Washington, D.C., to report on “domestic terrorism subjects” to the Bureau.
Read the full storyIn ‘Person of the Year’ Interview Trump Told Time Magazine his Campaign ‘Hit the Nerve of the Country’
Time magazine’s most recent edition in which President-elect Donald Trump is name Person of the Year also includes a lengthy interview with Trump in which he further outlines the early priorities of his second administration including pardoning some Jan. 6 defendants and enacting mass deportations.
Read the full storyOver 50 Lawmakers Victims of ‘Swatting’ Attacks Within Past Month: U.S. Capitol Police Chief
U.S. Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger says over 50 members of Congress just the past month have faced ‘swatting’ attacks, resulting in 700 investigations.
Read the full storyBiden Pardons 39, Commutes Nearly 1,500 Sentences in Largest Clemency Act in Modern U.S. History
Just days after pardoning his son Hunter in a widely unpopular move, President Joe Biden on Thursday issued the most sweeping one-day clemency in modern U.S. history by pardoning 39 Americans and commuting the sentences of nearly 1,500 others.
Read the full storyTennessee U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn Introduces DOGE Acts to Cut Wasteful Government Spending
Tennessee U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) introduced a package of seven bills called the DOGE Acts to help root out and cut unnecessary spending within the federal government on Wednesday.
Read the full story