Tuesday morning on the Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed Maury County Mayor Andy Ogles in studio to revisit mask mandates imposed by the Biden administration and the lack of data to support it.
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Oregon’s high school graduation rate is on the rise. But maybe not for the right reasons.
The onset of the coronavirus pandemic prompted state guidelines that essentially mandated a no-fail policy for high school seniors whose course work became remote during the latter half of the 2020 school year. Now, state graduation rates will likely remain artificially inflated, thanks to a new law that will allow Oregon students to get their diplomas without proving proficiency in core academic skills.
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Democratic Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden will delay President Joe Biden’s Customs and Border Protection (CBP) head confirmation until the federal government answers about how officials responded to civil unrest in Portland, Oregon, last year, CNN Politics reported Thursday.
Wyden said he would not advance Tucson, Arizona, Police Chief Chris Magnus‘ confirmation to CBP commissioner, according to CNN. Wyden won’t move forward with Magnus’ nomination “until DHS and DOJ give Oregonians some straight answers about what they were up to in Portland last year, and who was responsible,” the senator said in a statement.
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Between 96% and 98% of all political donations made by faculty members at Oregon’s three largest public universities went to Democrats, according to a new study by the Oregon Association of Scholars.
The report’s author, Portland State political science professor Bruce Gilley, told The College Fix that between 60% and 80% of college faculty donations nationwide go to Democrats, so “Oregon is way above normal.”
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Tuesday morning on the Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed liberal feminist and renowned author Dr. Naomi Wolf to the newsmakers line to weigh in on her recent permanent Twitter ban after questioning the COVID vaccines.
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Former Democratic Oregon House Speaker Dave Hunt is facing charges after being arrested in an April sex trafficking sting, the Portland Tribune reported.
Dave Hunt and seven other men were arrested after clicking on decoy advertisements, which Portland police posted on popular human trafficking websites, the Portland Tribune reported. The men were charged with commercial sexual solicitation after contacting undercover police officers to pay for sexual acts.
Hunt voted in favor of legislation that made commercial sexual solicitation illegal in 2011, according to the Portland Tribune. He sponsored a separate bill that was designed to combat sex trafficking in 2007.
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Texas and Florida are slated to gain congressional seats during the decennial redistricting process, while California and New York are set to each lose one, the U.S. Census Bureau announced Monday.
The U.S. Census Bureau released the decennial state population and congressional apportionment totals Monday, outlining how many districts each state will have for the next decade. The data also determines how many Electoral College votes each state will have through 2032, and allocates how federal money is distributed to each state for schools, roads and other public projects.
The release was originally scheduled for December, but faced delays due to the coronavirus pandemic and the Trump administration’s unsuccessful effort to exclude non-citizens from the count.
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Crime is skyrocketing in cities where police departments have been defunded, crime statistics show.
Since career criminal George Floyd died in police custody in Minneapolis, last summer, many liberal city councils have voted to “defund” their police departments, allocating or redirecting municipal funds away from their police bureaus to other government agencies that serve “the community.”
More than 20 major cities have slashed their police budgets in some form, though the circumstances vary, according to Fox News.
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Dr. Carol M. Swain appeared on Fox News Channel’s Fox and Friends Weekend Edition with host Pete Hegseth Sunday morning to discuss the lunacy of the Oregon Department of Education’s new teacher training claiming mathematics is racist and supports white supremacy.
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Riots broke out in Seattle and Portland, Oregon on Wednesday night after demonstrators clashed with police and vandalized a Democratic Party office.
People dressed in all black shattered windows and the glass door to the Oregon Democratic Party’s office in Portland, according to The New York Times, vandalizing it with spray paint and posting a video to social media, saying that their actions were in response to the inauguration of President Joe Biden. In Seattle, police said that several buildings were vandalized.
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Oregon residents on Tuesday voted to decriminalize certain possession amounts of hard drugs.
Roughly 60% of Oregonian voters favored making it no longer a crime to possess a “non-commercial” amount of methamphetamine, heroin and cocaine, among others, according to The Hill. Those caught with the specified amount of narcotics face a $100 fine, but the penalty can be avoided by undergoing a health assessment, the Hill reported.
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Protesters in Portland late Thursday set fire to plywood attached to the front door of a police union building in Oregon’s largest city and clashed with officers, who made 14 arrests, police said in a statement.
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Justin Silvera came off the fire lines in Northern California after a grueling 36 straight days battling wildfires and evacuating residents ahead of the flames. Before that, he and his crew had worked for 20 days, followed by a three-day break.
Silvera, a 43-year-old battalion chief with Cal Fire, California’s state firefighting agency, said he’s lost track of the blazes he’s fought this year. He and his crew have sometimes been on duty for 64 hours at a stretch, their only rest coming in 20-minute catnaps.
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Bands of armed Oregonians blocked roads and demanded identification from motorists after a small fire was ignited intentionally on Saturday, police said.
Multnomah County Sheriff Mike Reese said the blaze was started by an illegal firework and was put out quickly, according to a Saturday tweet from the department. Oregon has been plagued by wildfires in recent days, as 22 people on the West Coast have lost their lives and large portions of the state were covered by an orange hue.
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Hundreds of firefighters battled two large wildfires Friday that threatened to merge near the most populated part of Oregon, including the suburbs of Portland, and the governor said dozens of people are missing in other parts of the state.
The state’s emergency management director, Andrew Phelps, said officials are “preparing for a mass fatality event” and that thousands of structures have been destroyed.
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by Andrew Selsky PORTLAND, Oregon (AP) — Hundreds of people gathered for rallies and marches against police violence and racial injustice Saturday night in Portland, Oregon, as often violent nightly protests that have happened for 100 days since George Floyd was killed showed no signs of ceasing. Molotov cocktails thrown in the street during a march sparked a large fire and prompted police to declare a riot. Video posted online appeared to show tear gas being deployed to clear protesters from what police said was an unpermitted demonstration. Police confirmed that tear gas was deployed to defend themselves and said 59 people were arrested, ranging in age from 15 to 50. At least one community member was injured, authorities said. A person’s shoes caught fire after flames broke out in the street, video showed. People were “engaging in tumultuous and violent conduct thereby intentionally or recklessly creating a grave risk of causing public alarm,” the department tweeted. “Fire bombs were thrown at officers.” A sergeant was struck by a commercial grade firework, which burned through his glove and injured his hand, and several officers and state troopers were hit by rocks, police said. Protesters, most wearing black, had gathered…
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A COVID-19 relief fund for African-Americans operated out of Portland, Ore., with federal tax dollars may run afoul of both the Constitution and 1964 Civil Rights Act if it excludes non-black applicants, legal experts warn.
The Oregon Cares Fund for Black Relief + Resiliency said it seeks to offer “economic relief for the Black community, who are among Oregon’s most vulnerable groups due to systemic divestment and disparities widened and exacerbated by COVID-19.” The program is administered by two local nonprofits, the Contingent and the Black United Fund of Oregon.
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One person was shot and killed late Saturday in Portland, Oregon, as a large caravan of President Donald Trump supporters and Black Lives Matter protesters clashed in the streets, police said.
It wasn’t clear if the shooting was linked to fights that broke out as a caravan of about 600 vehicles was confronted by protesters in the city’s downtown.
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Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler of New York said antifa violence in Portland is a myth in a YouTube video published Monday.
Nadler made the comment during an interview with Austen Fletcher. Fletcher hosts Fleccas Talks, a political channel, according to the Dartmouth Review.
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A judge granted a preliminary injunction Monday freezing Oregon Gov. Kate Brown’s coronavirus executive orders restricting church services and business.
Brown exceeded her authority when she restricted activities for longer than the 28 days the governor is authorized under a state law, Baker County Circuit Court Judge Matt Shirtcliff said. The judge’s ruling effectively blocks enforcement of the 10 orders Brown gave since early March when she first imposed stay-at-home orders on citizens.
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An Oregon man who was arrested this week in Minnesota was apparently on his way to the White House to kill President Donald Trump.
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Abortion is considered an essential service during the coronavirus pandemic, the World Health Organization said in a statement Saturday.
The WHO said in its statement to the Daily Caller News Foundation that “services related to reproductive health are considered to be part of essential services during the COVID-19 outbreak.”
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Gov. Bill Lee said Thursday he hasn’t decided if he’ll accept President Donald Trump’s offer to let states refuse to accept refugees, U.S. News reported. The governor added he has not spoken to his team about how he will respond to this executive order.
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Democratic New Mexico Rep. Deb Haaland described Antifa as “peaceful protesters” Saturday, the same day members of the violent group clashed with the right-wing Proud Boys in Portland.
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by Chris White Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang expressed support Monday for conservative journalist Andy Ngo, who was brutally attacked while covering an Antifa rally in Oregon on Saturday. “I hope @MrAndyNgo is okay. Journalists should be safe to report on a protest without being targeted,” wrote Yang, who is the only Democratic presidential candidate to weigh in on the assault so far. I hope @MrAndyNgo is okay. Journalists should be safe to report on a protest without being targeted. — Andrew Yang (@AndrewYang) July 1, 2019 Video from the attack on Ngo in Portland shows a swarm of masked individuals punching the journalist and pelting him with milkshakes. Ngo’s attackers are heard on video shouting “Fuck you, Andy!” and “Go home, Andy Ngo!” Ngo, who lives in Portland, frequently covers Antifa activities in the city. He has also reported extensively on fake hate crime allegations. Ngo, who is an editor at Quilette, said after the assault his camera equipment was stolen. He went to the emergency room, where his attorney said he was treated for a brain bleed. Portland police arrested three people following Saturday’s rally, but a spokesperson told the Daily Caller News Foundation the arrests were not related to the Ngo…
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by Shelby Talcott Journalist Andy Ngo, who covers Antifa activity, was attacked at a Portland rally Saturday and has reportedly been admitted to the hospital. Masked individuals attacked Ngo at a rally in Oregon, throwing what appeared to be milkshakes at him and punching him, according to footage of the attack. Ngo is an editor for Quillette who describes himself as “hated by [A]ntifa” on his Twitter profile. He recorded the aftermath of the day’s events on social media. The video showed Ngo with scars on his face in addition to what appeared to be swelling. https://t.co/B8Gh4KQxFS — Andy Ngo (@MrAndyNgo) June 29, 2019 Ngo is being “admitted to the hospital overnight as a result of a brain bleed,” Harmeet Dhillon, a legal representative, tweeted hours after the protest. Thank you @michellemalkin for supporting our client @MrAndyNgo after organized felony assault on him while the impotent @PortlandPolice stood by & let it happen. Andy is a gay journalist with tremendous integrity and courage, in the ER right now. This is un-American — must stop. https://t.co/W9QAPmq0Av — Harmeet K. Dhillon (@pnjaban) June 29, 2019 Suspects in the case have not publicly been identified, and the Portland Police Department did not immediately respond to…
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by Todd Starnes An elderly man was brutally beaten by Antifa terrorists wielding baseball bats in downtown Portland. Another man who came to his defense was cracked in the skull and suffered serious injuries. Portland Antifa beats an elderly man bloody with a crowbar. As another man attempts to help, he is hit in head with crowbar then sprayed in face with mace. This is #AntifaTerrorists Slowed video down slightly for better visual. Twitter now hiding the hashtag pic.twitter.com/QgbhWTWR8d — Priscilla ♀⭐️⭐️⭐️ (@Lucet_Veritas) June 30, 2019 This happened during the same protest that left journalist Andy Ngo with serious head injuries after he was set upon by the leftist savages. Serious questions need to be asked about the Portland Police Department. Why were there no officers on the scene? Were the police ordered to stand down? And if so, by whom? John was sprayed with mace and blinded. He was led away as blood dripped down his face, then dragged to a sidewalk. Another observer notes that one of Adam's attackers appears to wield something like a sock and padlock. See https://t.co/UuzciPLbkL /d pic.twitter.com/J1bPELs5Fy — Michelle Malkin (@michellemalkin) July 1, 2019 The Justice Department should launch an immediate investigation.…
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by Michael S. Kochin If you thought, or hoped, that the brave (or nobly self-interested) Democratic Governor of Nevada, Steve Sisolak had thwarted the push for a National Popular Vote by vetoing the bill, think again. On June 12, 2019, Oregon Democratic Governor Kate Brown signed it into law for her state. As of this writing 15 states and the District of Columbia, each with 196 electoral votes, purport to have ratified it. According to its terms as few as three more states (say Texas, Michigan, and Pennsylvania) with 74 electoral votes need to enact the bill for it to go into effect. Should it go into effect, the compacting states, together accumulating a majority of the Electoral College, will cast their electoral votes for whomever is the plurality winner of what the scheme’s backers call “the national popular vote:” whichever presidential and vice-presidential slate gets a plurality of votes when the total votes of all the states (compacting and non-compacting) are aggregated. The scheme, of course, is an effort to change the Constitution without the bother of securing the consent of three-fourths of the states that the Article V Amendment procedure requires. It is also of questionable validity without the consent of Congress.…
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by Tim Pearce Three environmental groups sued the federal government on Monday to block the renewal of a 10-year grazing permit for Oregon ranchers Dwight and Steven Hammond, The Oregonian reports. Western Watersheds Project, the Center for Biological Diversity and WildEarth Guardians filed suit against the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), arguing that renewing the Hammonds’ grazing permits violated federal regulations. The BLM and Interior secretary did not consider the Hammonds’ poor record, the environmental groups said according to The Oregonian. Dwight and his son Steven lost the grazing permit for their ranch in 2014. The Bureau of Land Management denied their application after the pair was convicted of arson in 2012, for which both served stints in prison and paid a fine of $400,000. President Donald Trump issued a full pardon of the Hammonds in July 2018, springing them from a prison sentence many saw as unfair for the crime. The ranchers were convicted under an anti-terrorism law that carried a minimum sentence of five years in prison. The fires the Hammonds set burned 140 acres of federal land. Federal Judge Michael Hogan cut their sentences shorter, ruling that forcing the Hammonds to serve out the five-year minimum qualified as “cruel and unusual.” After the Hammonds…
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by Neetu Chandak Student resident advisers at an Oregon college were informed about examples of white supremacy at a recent training session. Examples included President Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan. The training session tried to address diversity issues by showing a pyramid that listed examples of “covert” (socially acceptable) and “overt” (socially unacceptable) white supremacy, The College Fix reported Monday. The graphic was downloaded, not created, by Reed College officials and was used for three minutes out of the hour-long session in January. “Colorblindness,” “English-only Initiatives” and saying “It is just a joke!” along with MAGA were examples of acceptable white supremacy. “The N-Word,” “Racial Slurs” and “Cross Burning” were socially unacceptable examples of white supremacy. One source, who wished to remain anonymous out of fear of retaliation, believed the use of the pyramid was meant to target those wearing MAGA gear. “They’re actually training new RAs to identify and stereotype anyone wearing MAGA hats or t-shirts as ‘covert white supremacists,’” the source said, according to The Fix. Reed College spokesperson Kevin Myers said the illustration was “provocative” and meant to start a discussion about implicit and explicit biases, The Fix reported. “This is a way to provoke discussion about what people…
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Oregon Gov. Kate Brown signed the nation’s first statewide mandatory rent control measure on Thursday, giving a victory to housing advocates who say spiraling rent costs in the economically booming state have fueled widespread homelessness and housing insecurity. Brown, a Democrat, said the legislation will provide “some immediate relief to Oregonians struggling to keep up with rising rents and a tight rental market.” Landlords are now limited to increases once per year that cannot exceed 7 percent plus the change in the consumer price index, which is used to calculate inflation. The law prohibits them from serving no-cause evictions after a tenant’s first year of occupancy, a provision designed to protect those who are living paycheck to paycheck and who affordable housing advocates say are often most vulnerable to sudden rent hikes and abrupt lease terminations. New York has a statewide rent control law, but cities can choose whether to participate. California restricts the ability of cities to impose rent control. Last November, voters defeated a ballot initiative that would have overturned that law. Emergency measure The Oregon law takes effect immediately. Democrats who control the Legislature say the state’s housing crisis justified passing the bill as an emergency measure.…
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by Fred Lucas President Donald Trump is moving to make over the liberal 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which has delivered some of the most stinging judicial setbacks to his agenda. Trump announced three nominations this week to the San Francisco-based appeals court, which covers California, Arizona, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, and the eastern part of Washington state. Earlier this month, the president renominated two other judges for the 9th Circuit. “We’re very happy to have these extraordinary nominees,” Carrie Severino, chief counsel for the Judicial Crisis Network, told The Daily Signal. “It doesn’t change the [9th Circuit] majority to Republican nominees. But when we are talking about future three-judge panels, the odds are a lot better.” Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., will oversee the confirmation process for the nominees and said he hopes for bipartisanship. [ The liberal Left continue to push their radical agenda against American values. The good news is there is a solution. Find out more ] “I’m very supportive of the nominees submitted by President Trump to serve on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals,” Graham said in a prepared statement. “These are highly qualified nominees and I am hopeful they will receive wide bipartisan…
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by Jason Hopkins An illegal immigrant arrested for allegedly shooting and killing a co-worker in Oregon is discovered to have been deported at least eight times. Deciderio Vargas-Ortiz, 52, was arrested for the alleged murder of Renee Luis-Antonio. The two worked together at a creamery in Milton-Freewater, Oregon — a town in the northeastern part of the state — and reportedly had a long-running dispute. Investigators believe Luis-Antonio was shot on Nov. 26 while riding a tractor. Officer were able to locate and arrest Vargas-Ortiz a day after the alleged shooting. The suspect had fled to Washington state, where a SWAT team apprehended him in a local hotel. As it turns out, not only was Vargas-Ortiz residing it the U.S. illegally, but he had already been deported back to his home country of Mexico at least eight times, according to a statement from an immigration spokeswoman. The suspect had also been operating under an alias — his real name being Antonio Vasquez Vargas. “ICE lodged a detainer with the Benton County Jail on Antonio Vasquez Vargas, aka Deciderio Vargas Ortiz, a citizen of Mexico illegally present in the U.S., after he was arrested on local charges,” Tanya Roman, a public…
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by Chris White Oregon voters are on the cusp of putting a Republican in the state governor’s mansion for the first time in nearly 40 years. Such a move would break convention and shift a reliably blue state into a win for the GOP. Many Oregonians and some conservative critics believe Democratic Gov. Kate Brown has not moved forcefully enough to close a yawning $22 billion public pension deficit. So, they’re looking at Brown’s opponent Knute Buehler, a two-term representative in the state who has criticized President Donald Trump in the past. His moderate tone is gaining some steam. This is the first candidate I’m crossing party lines for in 20 years, Danielle Miller, a mortgage loan officer who voted for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2016, told The Wall Street Journal Sunday. Oregon is so behind in so many ways … under our current leadership. Oregon would join the handful of states Clinton won in 2016 that have Republican governors. The race is still tight, with recent polls showing Brown ahead by less than 5 percentage points. RealClearPolitics, Cook Political Report, and other polling outfits are rating the race a toss up. Brown, meanwhile, was appointed in 2015 after…
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by Molly Prince The mayor of Portland defended the city’s response, or lack thereof, to members of Antifa who blocked traffic and harassed bystanders after a video of the incident went viral. “I was appalled by what I saw in that clip and I support the decisions of the [Portland Police]. I trust them,” Mayor Ted Wheeler tweeted Friday. “I believe them as the law enforcement professionals who have to weigh complex legal and safety issues, not only for the people on the streets but also for themselves.” I was appalled by what I saw in that clip and I support the decisions of the @PortlandPolice. I trust them. I believe them as the law enforcement professionals who have to weigh complex legal and safety issues, not only for the people on the streets but also for themselves. -TW — Mayor Ted Wheeler (@tedwheeler) October 12, 2018 The video was captured by journalist Andy C. Ngo and shows an older gentleman in a Lexus turning at an intersection occupied by a host of Antifa protesters. After making the turn against the orders of the protesters, a mob chases the Lexus down the street banging on the car, even going so far as to…
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In Oregon, a state known for its avid bicycling culture, the state legislature’s approval of the first bike tax in the nation has fallen flat with riders. Democratic Gov. Kate Brown is expected to sign the sweeping $5.3 billion transportation package, which includes a $15 excise tax on the sale of bicycles costing more than $200…
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