Tag: Marsha Blackburn

Blackburn Blasts ‘Woke’ Military During Pride Month

Peter D'Abrosca

A U.S. senator Friday spoke out against the “woke” policies implemented by the military, which has become especially apparent during LGBT Pride Month of June.

“The United States military should be focused on one objective – creating the most lethal fighting force on planet Earth,” Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) told The Tennessee Star. “Instead, Joe Biden’s military leaders are secretly attempting to turn our brave warfighters into social justice warriors. Communist China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea do not care how woke our military is or what our soldiers’ pronouns are.“

She echoed a similar sentiment on Twitter.

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Marsha Blackburn Responds to MSNBC Criticism of Her Take on Higher Gas Prices

Aaron Gulbransen

U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) responded to MSNBC’s criticism of her June 10 comments where she noted that Democrats have pushed higher gas prices in pursuit of the Green New Deal and transition away from fossil fuels.

Blackburn tweeted on Tuesday in response to their article, “Joe Biden’s policies have caused gas to reach over $5 a gallon. Now Biden is using his energy crisis as an excuse to implement his radical Green New Deal. This is not a coincidence. It’s intentional.”

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Tennessee Politicians Blast Biden, Democrats for Surge in Inflation

Peter D'Abrosca

Republican politicians in Tennessee are blasting President Joe Biden and Democrats after inflation numbers from May showed prices rising 8.6 percent year over year, a 40-year high. 

“I hope come November when folks head to the polls, they remember Democrats decided to put politics first instead of focusing on the real-life issues we all face today,” Rep. John Rose (R-TN-06) said Friday. 

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TN-5 Candidate Andy Ogles on $40 Billion Ukrainian Aid Package: ‘It’s America First, Not Ukraine First’

Aaron Gulbransen

Maury County Mayor Andy Ogles praised Tennessee U.S. Senators Bill Hagerty and Marsha Blackburn for their votes against H.R. 7691, known as the $40 billion Additional Ukraine Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2022.

In a statement, Ogles said, “It’s time we follow the words of President Trump and put America First.  At a time when mothers cannot find baby formula, we are facing runaway inflation and a disgraceful collapse of our southern border this inept Biden administration seems hellbent in destroying our economy and the middle class with it.”

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Senator Blackburn Joins GOP Colleagues in Introducing Ukraine Security Assistance and Russia Sanctions Legislation

Kaitlin Housler

Tennessee Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) joined 33 Republican colleagues in introducing the Never Yielding Europe’s Territory (NYET) Act to provide the “critical support Ukraine needs to defend itself and deter Russian aggression, while imposing real costs on the Kremlin for its ongoing and potential future aggression against Ukraine.”

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Google Accuses Microsoft of ‘Carving Out’ Exception in Anti-Big Tech Bill

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Google’s Chief Legal Officer and President of Global Affairs Kent Walker accused Microsoft on Friday of “carving out” an exception to a bill targeting app stores operated by Google and Apple.

The Open App Markets Act, introduced by Republican Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn and Democratic Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal, passed the Senate Judiciary Committee in a near-unanimous vote Thursday. Microsoft president Brad Smith applauded the passage of the bill in tweet shortly after, writing that the legislation “would promote competition, and ensure fairness and innovation in the app economy.”

Walker responded to Smith’s tweet accusing the software company of “carving out” an exception in the legislation favoring Microsoft’s Xbox gaming console and service.

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Tennessee Senators Blackburn and Hagerty React to Supreme Court Ruling on President Biden’s Vaccine Mandate

Kaitlin Housler

The Supreme Court on Thursday blocked the Biden administration’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate that would apply to large U.S. businesses. The mandate, which would have been enacted by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), could have forced businesses with 100 or more employees to mandate the vaccine or weekly testing.

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Senator Blackburn Joins Fellow Republican Senators in Calling on Attorney General Garland to Testify on School Board Memo

Kaitlin Housler

On Tuesday, Tennessee Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse (R-NE), and members of the Senate Judiciary Committee wrote to Attorney General Merrick Garland, requesting that he return to the committee to provide additional testimony regarding his school board memo, according to a press release.

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Senator Marsha Blackburn Pens Letter to YouTube Slamming the Social Media Giant for Aiding the Chinese Communist Party by Demonetizing News Video

Kaitlin Housler

On Monday, Tennessee Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) penned a letter to YouTube after it was revealed the social media giant demonetized a news video discussing a story how former Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli allegedly sexually assaulted Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai.

An episode of Breaking Points, a popular YouTube show hosted by Saagar Enjeti and Krystal Ball, was demonetized after it ran a segment discussing the disappearance of the tennis star, the Federalist reports.

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Blackburn Legislation Addresses Supply Chains in Tennessee

Bradley Vasoli

Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Roger Wicker (R-MS) introduced a bill this week to engage public-private partnerships toward strengthening supply chains in Tennessee and the region.

Current bottlenecks in shipping have translated to fewer goods on store shelves and higher prices for American consumers. Their causes are multifaceted and include high labor costs, cumbersome union work rules and the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Senators Bill Hagerty and Marsha Blackburn File Challenge to President Biden’s Vaccine Mandate

Morgan Nicole Veysey

Tennessee Senators Bill Hagerty (R-TN) and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) have joined other Republicans to challenge President Biden’s COVID vaccine mandate. Both Hagerty and Blackburn are utilizing the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to block the order and protect Americans from losing their jobs because of it.

The CRA is a tool that congress is able to use to overturn rules issued by federal agencies.

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Tennessee U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn Introduces Bipartisan Legislation for Survivors of Child Sex Abuse

Kaitlin Housler

Tennessee Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Illinois Senator Dick Durbin (D-TN) introduced bipartisan legislation Friday that “ensures that survivors of child sex abuse are able to seek justice under the federal civil remedy statute, 18 U.S.C. § 2255, without being barred by statutes of limitation,” according to a press release.

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Tennessee Sen. Blackburn Blasts YouTube, TikTok and Snapchat Execs for Allowing Dangerous Content

Bradley Vasoli

A U.S. Senate committee investigating the promotion of material harmful to young people on social media expanded beyond Facebook and Instagram Tuesday to include the video-sharing sites YouTube and TikTok as well as the Snapchat messaging application.

Therein, Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) deplored the health-threatening viral challenges (e.g. binge drinking, the infamous “cinnamon challenge”), enticements toward illegal drugs, encouragements to engage in drastic dieting and presentations of child-sex abuse that she said have been purveyed to children and teens via these websites. She raised particular alarm regarding minors she said have been led into illicit sexual relationships on Snapchat.

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65 Percent of Voters Agree with Sen. Blackburn: Buttigieg Should ‘Get Back to Work or Leave

Admin

According to a Rasmussen Reports poll, 65% of voters agree with Sen. Marsha Blackburn’s comment that Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg should either “get back to work or leave” after taking off work for two months of paternity leave.

The Tennessee Republican made the comment to Breitbart after Politico reported that the Transportation Secretary had been on paternity leave since August. “We’re in the middle of a transportation crisis, and Pete Buttigieg is sitting at home,” Blackburn said. “Meanwhile, cargo boats are unable to dock, and shelves are sitting empty. Pete needs to either get back to work or leave the Department of Transportation. It’s time to put American families first.”

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Tennessee Sen. Blackburn and Kansas Sen. Marshall Introduce Bill to Pause Gain-of-Function Research Funding

Bradley Vasoli

Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) is sponsoring legislation with Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS) to place a moratorium on gain-of-function (GOF) research, problems with which many believe played a role in the outbreak of COVID-19.

GOF experiments enhance the severity or transmissibility of a virus or other biological agent. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) have condoned such research “to help us understand the fundamental nature of human-pathogen interactions, assess the pandemic potential of emerging infectious agents and inform public health and preparedness efforts.” The NIH have however acknowledged major “biosafety and biosecurity risks” that warrant meticulous oversight.

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Tennessee U.S. Senators Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty Urge Joe Biden to Fire Kamala Harris as Border Czar

Chris Butler

U.S. Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN) and U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) have joined nine other U.S. senators and formally asked that U.S. President Joe Biden replace Vice President Kamala Harris with a new border czar. This, considering Harris’s failure to stem the flow of illegal migrants to the United States and her failure to work with our neighbors to secure the border, Hagerty said in an emailed press release Thursday.

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Tennessee Attorney General Slatery Credited with National Role in Anti-Social Media Effort

Bradley Vasoli

The National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) has credited Tennessee’s top prosecutor with a major role in leading NAAG’s support for the U.S. Senate’s inquiry into social media’s impacts on mental health and safety. 

The association announced Tuesday it sent a letter to the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation’s Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Data Security backing that subcommittee’s efforts to probe Facebook and other companies regarding their effects on children and teens.

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Tennessee Senator Blackburn Grills Facebook Head of Safety on Teen Health and Safety Impacts

Bradley Vasoli

Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R) and Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D) led a bipartisan grilling of Facebook’s Antigone Davis Thursday about apparent troubles the company’s photo-sharing platform causes for teenagers.

Davis, Facebook’s global head of safety, testified before the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety and Data Security, of which Blumenthal and Blackburn are respectively chair and ranking member. The meeting focused largely on the psychological hazards that Facebook has quietly acknowledged its photo-album application Instagram has posed to children and teens.

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‘You Broke the Military’: Milley, Austin Set for Second Congressional Grilling on Afghanistan

Admin

Top American military leaders are set for another round of intense congressional grilling on Wednesday, following a day-long Tuesday session that at times featured blistering criticism of their part in the U.S. exit from Afghanistan.

The Tuesday hearing placed on the griddle Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin; U.S. Central Command Chief Gen. Frank McKenzie; and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley.

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Facebook Suspends ‘Instagram Kids’ Following Investigation Into Platform’s Effect on Teens

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Facebook has paused development of a version of its image-sharing platform Instagram specifically geared towards children, the company announced Monday.

The tech giant decided to suspend work on the project in order to “work with parents, experts, policymakers and regulators,” and “demonstrate the value and importance of this project for younger teens online today,” Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, wrote in a statement Monday.

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Arizona U.S. Senate Candidate Blake Masters’ Plans to Tackle Big Tech’s ‘Predatory’ Business Practices

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Woman in a red suit on Smartphone

Arizona Senate candidate Blake Masters wants to break up Big Tech and ban their business practices he believes are harmful.

“I think Republicans need to reacquaint themselves with their history of antitrust enforcement, and realize huge concentrations of power in private hands can violate people’s liberties just as much as government,” Masters said in an interview with the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Masters, who announced his candidacy in July, serves as chief operating officer at investment firm Thiel Capital and runs the Thiel Foundation, a philanthropic organization founded by billionaire investor and PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel. He competes in a crowded Republican primary with fellow candidate and current Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich for the chance to unseat incumbent Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly in 2022.

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Tennessee Sen. Blackburn Spearheading Bipartisan Probe with Connecticut Sen. Blumenthal of Facebook’s Impact on Youngsters

Bradley Vasoli

Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R) and her Connecticut colleague Richard Blumenthal (D) announced this week they’re launching an inquiry into revelations, reported that morning in The Wall Street Journal, about Facebook’s knowledge of harms its products may pose to their young users.

Blumenthal chairs the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Data Security, through which the investigation of the social network will proceed. Blackburn serves as the subcommittee’s ranking member.

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