Wednesday morning on the Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton to the newsmakers line to discuss the items that will be on the next special session call.
Read the full story
Following a catastrophic U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan, the highest inflation since 2008,pushing unpopular COVID vaccine mandates, rationing COVID treatments to red states and finally, watching his domestic legislative agenda falter in Congress, President Joe Biden is already upside down on his job approval ratings, according to the latest average of polls compiled by RealClearPolitics.com.
Reuters/Ipsos on Sept. 29-30 had Biden’s approval at 46 percent and disapproval at 50 percent.
Read the full story
Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson said that COVID vaccine mandates are “unconstitutional.” In the Fox News interview, he went on to say that mandates are “divisive” and will “destroy our economy.”
Read the full story
The State of Minnesota is going to sell the COVID morgue that it purchased in 2020 after a lack of use. State Rep. Jeremy Munson (R-Lake Crystal) called out the state’s political leaders on Facebook, saying that leaders in both parties are responsible.
Read the full story
Religious, athletic and medical professionals in North America are facing increasing pressure to not only get vaccinated against COVID-19, but also censor their concerns to keep getting paid.
The U.S. Coast Guard developed an accusatory script for chaplains to use when quizzing service members on their requests for religious exemptions from vaccines.
Read the full story
Americans’ trust in President Joe Biden to offer accurate information on COVID-19 is at its lowest point ever, according to a new poll.
Just 45% of Americans say they trust Biden to give them correct information on the coronavirus, while 53% say they don’t trust him very much or not at all, according to the results of the Axios/Ipsos Coronavirus Index, conducted between Sept. 24-27. Trust in Biden has dropped substantially since the president took office, with 58% saying they trusted Biden in an Axios/Ipsos poll conducted between Jan. 22-25.
Similarly, only 49% of Americans say they trust the federal government to provide accurate COVID-19 information, down from 54% two weeks ago.
Read the full story
The Federal Bureau of Investigation released crime data Monday showing a sharp spike in homicides in 2020.
While some crimes diminished in the unusual, COVID-shutdown year, homicides rose nearly 30% and aggravated assaults rose more than 12% in one year, the first time in four years that violent crime increased from the previous year.
Read the full story
A St. Cloud allergy and asthma doctor is allegedly refusing to see unvaccinated patients, screenshots appear to show. Messages between a patient and the doctor’s Facebook page, posted by State Representative Erik Mortenson, show that the doctor is fearful of those not vaccinated against COVID.
Read the full story
Thousands gathered at the Minnesota capitol building on Sunday afternoon for what some are saying was the biggest Minnesota medical freedom rally yet. The rally featured Del Bigtree, the founder of the Informed Consent Action Network (ICAN). Bigtree said he was encouraged by the level of turnout, saying that it is important for Minnesotans to show up and speak out against mandates.
Read the full story
A “Physicians’ Declaration” produced by an international alliance of physicians and medical scientists strongly condemns the global strategy to treat COVID, accusing policy-makers of potential “crimes against humanity” for preventing physicians from providing life-saving treatments for their patients and suppressing open scientific discussion.
The document states that “one size fits all” treatment recommendations have resulted in needless illness and death.
Read the full story
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced the appointment of Dr. Joseph Ladapo as Florida’s new Surgeon General earlier this week and made waves in his first few days as Florida’s top doctor.
Ladapo announced Florida is “done with fear” and signed off on new health department COVID rules for students in Florida’s public schools. Among the new rules is allowing parents to decide of their child should stay home from school if exposed to COVID and show no symptoms.
Read the full story
According to data from the Tennessee Department of Education, the number of Tennessee school-aged children testing positive for COVID-19 the last 14 days has seen a significant drop in just 4 days.
Read the full story
In January, 2001, America had a balanced budget, low debt, and was at peace. Here, briefly, is what lay ahead: war, financial crisis, civil unrest, massive growth of the federal government, and now severe inflation.
Never in the history of America has our government in its ineptitude created such a false economy, risking hundreds of years of hard work on unsound and unworkable economic policies. The Founders wisely relied on dispersion of power. They knew there would be dishonest and incompetent politicians but, in this case, the entire government is infected with deceptive leaders.
Read the full story
Wednesday morning on the Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed all-star panelist Crom Carmichael in studio to discuss
Tennessee’s Department of Health’s decision to not offer monoclonal antibodies to COVID-19 vaccinated persons.
The Board of Education in Williamson County, Tennessee voted overwhelmingly Monday evening to extend its mask mandate for COVID-19 prevention until January.
At the urging of Superintendent Jason Golden, school directors initially voted on Aug. 10 to impose the requirement on elementary-school students. On Aug. 26, the board enjoined that mandate on middle-schoolers and high-schoolers as well. The rule would have expired this Tuesday but for the prior evening’s vote.
Read the full story
The United States should be at its pinnacle of strength. It still produces more goods and services than any other nation—China included, which has a population over four times as large. Its fuel and food industries are globally preeminent, as are its graduate science, computer, engineering, medical, and technology university programs. Its constitution is the oldest of current free nations. And the U.S. military is by far the best funded in the world. And yet something has gone terribly wrong within America, from the southern border to Afghanistan.
The inexplicable in Afghanistan—surrendering Bagram Air Base in the middle of the night, abandoning tens of billions of dollars of military equipment to the Taliban, and forsaking both trapped Americans and loyalist Afghans—has now become the new Biden model of inattention and incompetence.
Read the full story
On Monday, administrators at Brown University informed students that the school had confirmed eighty-two “positive COVID-19 asymptomatic tests in the past seven days” arising largely from asymptomatic undergraduate students.
Brown then introduced several temporary restrictions. But rather than providing a specific end date, the university told students that restrictions will be removed “after achieving a decrease in positive tests.”
Read the full story
Major stock market indices plummeted Monday in a continuing sell-off tied to China’s declining property value, increasing COVID-19 cases and lack of progress in Congress on increasing the debt limit.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), an index measuring 30 major U.S. corporations, dropped 1.78% on Monday. The S&P index, which measures 500 of the largest publicly traded companies, fell 1.7%, while the NASDAQ, an index composed largely of technology firms, declined 2.19%.
Read the full story
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost called President Joe Biden’s requirement that private sector employees be vaccinated against COVID-19 unlawful and divisive, and he warned of legal action if it moves forward.
Yost joined a group of attorneys general from around the country in a letter that warned of a lawsuit over the mandate, which has yet to be put in place but Biden said would be carried out through the Occupational Safety Health Act emergency temporary standard.
Read the full story
A federal judge granted a preliminary injunction Friday that will allow Shelby County Schools to continue to mandate all students wear masks as a way to mitigate COVID-19.
The order blocks Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee’s executive order that allowed parents to opt children out of school mask mandates. U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee Judge Sheryl Lipman previously issued a temporary restraining order in the case, which prevented the enforcement of Lee’s executive order through Friday.
Read the full story
The White Bear Area School Board closed their public forum on Monday night after parents showed up to the meeting maskless. One parent called out the hypocrisy, posting a photo of White Bear Lake area school employees maskless at an event.
Read the full story
Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI), wrote a letter to Dr. Anthony Fauci demanding answers regarding natural immunity from COVID. The letter was also addressed to Dr. Rochelle Walensky, Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and Dr. Janet Woodcock, Acting Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Johnson wrote, “As President Biden revealingly declared, the vaccine mandate ‘is not about freedom or personal choice.’ This administration’s decision to disregard the effectiveness of natural immunity and demand vaccination ignores current data and is an assault on all Americans’ civil liberties.”
Read the full story
Wisconsin Representative Mike Gallagher (R-WI-08) introduced a bill that would limit gain-of-function research for five years by pausing taxpayer funding. Rep. Mike Gallagher, Rep. Buddy Carter (R-GA-01) and Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX-28) introduced bipartisan legislation that would “put a five-year freeze on taxpayer funding for gain-of-function research.”
Read the full story
According to an internal email, the Hudson school district is incentivizing teachers to get vaccinated. The email, shared by local medical freedom activist Jessica Klatt, outlines how those who get vaccinated will automatically receive five sick days to use if they contract a breakthrough infection or need to quarantine.
Read the full story
Back to school stories this year will focus, naturally, on the Covid-19 pandemic’s toll on students and families and on remedying these difficulties.
But another story is being shortchanged: it’s about how parents sought new options for their children like homeschooling, small learning pods, and micro-schools, with civic entrepreneurs and their partners creating new organizations or expanding existing ones to meet this demand.
Read the full story
New polling shows that the majority of Americans do not approve of President Joe Biden’s new vaccine mandate.
Biden announced the mandate last week, which includes requirements that any business with more than 100 employees ensure they are vaccinated or be tested weekly. Biden’s announcement included a range of other federal rules that are estimated to affect 100 million Americans.
Read the full story
A rally to protest vaccine passports will be taking place at the Minnesota state capitol on September 26 from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. The rally features speaker Del Bigtree, the founder of Informed Consent Action Network (ICAN).
Read the full story
It’s a bright, cloudless morning in this heavily Latino, working-class exurb of San Diego. A “We’re Hiring” sign hangs in the window of a run-down McDonald’s on the corner of a major thoroughfare, Civic Center Drive. One side of the restaurant exterior serves as a homeless encampment, strewn with debris, while just down the street, construction has ramped up again in a trendy revitalized area with new storefronts and restaurants mixed in with the old.
Conservative talk show host Larry Elder, who shot to the top of the GOP pack of candidates vying to replace California Gov. Gavin Newsom since entering the recall race in July, is furiously trying to make his closing arguments to voters at the first of three stops Friday in Southern California.
Read the full story
Monday morning on the Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed All-Star Panelist Crom Carmichael in studio who compared the militarization of the U.S. government in response to COVID19 vaccine mandates to that of Nazi Germany.
Read the full story
Wisconsin congressional delegates responded to the Biden Administration’s COVID vaccine mandates. Three Representatives, Gallagher (R-08-WI), Fitzgerald (R-05-WI), and Steil (R-01-WI), expressed disagreement with Biden’s order, requiring businesses that employ over 100 people to mandate vaccinations or weekly COVID testing. Biden’s order also mandated that any healthcare facility that accepts Medicare or Medicaid to have all of their employees vaccinated.
Read the full story
A new federal policy, which would require many private businesses to enforce COVID-19 vaccine mandates or weekly testing, has come under criticism from Virginia manufacturers.
President Joe Biden announced a new rule Thursday, which will require private businesses that employ 100 or more people to require every worker be vaccinated against COVID-19 or receive weekly tests. The rule, which will be promulgated through OSHA, is expected to face legal challenges from Republican states. It will affect about 100 million people nationwide.
Read the full story
Students in Arizona’s public schools failed reading and math assessments at higher rates this spring than before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Test results from the AzM2 and MSAA – Arizona’s two statewide assessments conducted annually – show around oner-third of students who took the tests passed them, though the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) warns not to read too deeply into the low scores.
Read the full story
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) is leading the charge among Republican officials to litigate against President Joe Biden’s order that all employers with 100 or more staffers ensure that their workers are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or that they show a negative test weekly.
“Just ended a call with my fellow Republican governors,” Kemp tweeted Friday. “We are fighting back against @POTUS’ outrageous overreach and attack on individual freedom.”
Read the full story
A statement from the Minnesota Nurses Association (MNA) condemns the COVID vaccination mandates that have been rolling out in many Minnesota hospitals. The statement said that they believe that “voluntary vaccination programs” along with putting measures in place to keep staff and patients healthy are the most “optimal.”
Read the full story
Wisconsin Representative Mike Gallagher (R-08-WI) called for Dr. Anthony Fauci, the Chief Medical Adviser, to resign in an interview with Fox News. Gallagher said, “At a minimum he should step down and we should have a full investigation to untangle the complex web of US taxpayer dollars funding this type of research.”
Read the full story
The Metropolitan Council of Nashville and Davidson County, Tennessee voted on Tuesday evening to urge the Metropolitan Public Health Department’s (MPHD) Chief Medical Director Gill Wright to reinstate a citywide mask mandate for public indoor spaces.
Councilpersons Joy Styles (District 32), Burkley Allen (At-Large), Jennifer Gamble (District 3), Sharon Hurt (At-Large) and Sandra Sepulveda (District 30) sponsored the resolution, which passed with 21 councilpersons in favor, nine opposed and five abstaining.
Read the full story
A new category of professional has joined the legal challenges to university vaccine mandates: doctors.
University of California Irvine (UCI) School of Medicine psychiatrist and medical ethicist Aaron Kheriaty is suing the university system to recognize his natural immunity from COVID-19 recovery, and he’s getting help from fellow UC medical professors.
Read the full story
About 442,196 unemployment claimants saw their pandemic unemployment assistance benefits end on Sept. 4, but it’s unclear if that will ease Michigan’s labor shortage.
The federal Pandemic Unemployment plus regular unemployment benefits let recipients receive up to $662 weekly.
Read the full story
Comedians like Lenny Bruce once risked jail time to slam the status quo. Rockers routinely mock authority, like Green Day’s Grammy-winning screed against President George W. Bush, “American Idiot.”
Now, as vaccine mandates spring up across the country those rebellious groups are mostly silent about rules insisting citizens get the jab before resuming normal life.
A few, like Dee Snider, are cheering on the regulations.
Read the full story
Are you vaccinated against COVID-19? The answer to that question may determine how the American legal system treats you, whether an inmate, party or even lawyer.
From custody fights and bail conditions to courthouse access and grooming privileges, vaccination status is playing an outsized role in courts and jails nationwide.
An Illinois judge provoked outrage a month ago by revoking a divorced mother’s visitation rights to her 11-year-old son after Rebecca Firlit told him she couldn’t get vaccinated because of adverse reactions.
Read the full story
New research published by Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) Bangladesh, which tracked mask-wearing among 340,000 Bangladeshi adults, indicates mask usage can considerably reduce the spread of symptomatic COVID-19.
Some medical professionals, however, remain uneasy about mask mandates in schools because of their possible impact on children’s learning and social health.
Read the full story
Some Minnesota parents have launched a lawsuit seeking Governor Tim Walz (D) to instate another peacetime emergency. The suit argues that another peacetime emergency is necessary so that a mask mandate can be issued to protect the rights of children in schools.
Read the full story
Police and firefighters are suing Oregon Gov. Kate Brown, arguing her vaccine mandate for state workers conflicts with the U.S. and state constitutions.
The lawsuit filed in Jefferson County by the Oregon Fraternal Order of Police and the Kinglsey Firefighters Association asks the judge seeks to block the state from enforcing Brown’s executive order requiring COVID-19 inoculations fir all executive branch employees.
Read the full story
Georgia’s rural leaders said communities continue to face a lack of support from the state as the COVID-19 pandemic deteriorates the qualify of life in rural areas.
David Bridges, interim director of the Center for Rural Prosperity and Innovation, said the pandemic has exacerbated hurdles in educational attainment and health care access and shortages in the workforce in rural Georgia. Bridges stressed the need for aid in smaller towns and cities this week to the Georgia Legislature’s House Rural Development Council.
Read the full story
A COVID vaccine declination form from a Wisconsin health provider, Hudson Physicians, says that the employee must understand that by declining they are “endangering” others. The form also states that by signing the form, the employee is acknowledging that “COVID-19 is a serious virus.”
Read the full story
A nurse at Minnesota Regions Hospital, a part of the Healthpartners care network, revealed an internal memo from Healthpartners president that tells clinicians not to offer medical exemptions for the COVID vaccine for their patients. The letter also specifically says that they should not offer exemptions for those that are pregnant.
Read the full story
State Senators Kim LaSata (R-MI-Coloma) and Jim Runestad (R-MI-White Lake) introduced legislation on Wednesday that would allow students in Michigan’s colleges and universities the right to opt out of vaccine mandates imposed by those institutions.
The bill would create a range of medical and non-medical exceptions to requirements for students at any higher-education institution in Michigan to get any kind of vaccine.
Read the full story
An informal meeting of the Genesee County, Michigan Board of Commissioners on Monday saw residents turn out heavily against a school-mask mandate for students in grades K-6.
County Medical Health Officer Pamela Hackert told attendees she imposed the requirement only on those lower grades because she wanted to provide protection to students who do not yet have the option of receiving a COVID-19 vaccine.
Read the full story
Roughly one-third of the U.S. population had been infected by the coronavirus by the end of 2020, according to a new study that appears to show how widespread but underreported the virus was.
The study was conducted by Columbia University researchers and published Thursday in the science journal Nature.
Read the full story
Republican lawmakers are talking about suing the University of Wisconsin over mask mandates and test requirements for those who haven’t received a coronavirus vaccine.
State Senator Steve Nass (R-WI) said he will ask permission to begin legal proceedings if the UW System doesn’t change its mind about coronavirus restrictions by next week.
Read the full story