Month: December 2023

An official rule permitting congregations to part ways with the United Methodist Church (UMC) while retaining church property is about to expire, but the effects of the split are far from over.

Churches in Alabama continue to face divisions even after failing to leave the denomination under the rule. Some congregants who were members of UMC churches left to form their own independent churches or joined other Methodist denominations like the Global Methodist Church (GMC).

Tesla Issues Recall for Almost All U.S. Vehicles After Government Probe

Electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla filed a safety recall for over 2 million vehicles with federal regulators following a two-year investigation into the company’s autopilot feature, according to an announcement from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) on Wednesday.

The Tesla recall covers 2.03 million vehicles, including the Model 3, Model Y, Model X and Model S, made between Oct. 5, 2012 and Dec. 7, 2023, over concerns with their autopilot feature enabling driver misuse through a lack of engagement while operating the vehicle, according to a document from the NHTSA. The recall covers nearly all Tesla vehicles in the U.S. and is one of many actions taken by the NHTSA around Tesla’s autopilot feature, with the agency contending that the feature’s name is misleading as drivers still have to be engaged during its use, according to The Associated Press.

Senate Rejects Bill Stripping Section 230 Protections for AI in Landmark Vote

The Senate shot down a bipartisan bill Wednesday aimed at stripping legal liability protections for artificial intelligence (AI) technology.

Republican Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley and Democratic Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal first introduced their No Section 230 Immunity for AI Act in June and Hawley put it up for an unanimous consent vote on Wednesday. The bill would have eliminated Section 230 protections that currently grant tech platforms immunity from liability for the text and visual content their AI produces, enabling Americans to file lawsuits against them.

Commentary: American Globalists’ Motivation

It is too easy, and dangerously misleading, to examine the most controversial globalist policies combined with America’s most obvious weaknesses and conclude that American power, and the future of globalism is in jeopardy. In both there is nuance and hidden strength. Understanding this ambiguity offers both hope for the future and a clearer sense of what choices face Americans today.

It is important to recognize that while other Western Nations from New Zealand to Sweden are participants in globalist policies, and that globalist theories may have originated from Europe, the influencers and institutions turning them into policy and pushing them onto the rest of the world are almost all American.

GOP-led House Passes Biden Impeachment Inquiry Resolution

December 13, 2023 Just the News

The GOP-led House passed an impeachment inquiry resolution against President Biden Wednesday on the House floor.

Supreme Court Takes Case with Major Implications for Trump, Jan. 6 Defendants

The Supreme Court agreed Wednesday to hear a case with major implications for hundreds of Jan. 6 defendants, as well as former President Donald Trump’s indictment on charges stemming from alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

In a brief order, the justices agreed to hear a case stemming from Jan. 6 defendant Joseph Fischer’s request to dismiss a charge against him for obstructing an official proceeding. His case provides the Supreme Court an opportunity to rule on the scope of a statute, Section 1512(c)(2), which he argues has been used to charge hundreds of other defendants in an “unprecedented extension of the statute’s reach.”

Defiant Hunter Biden on Capitol Hill: ‘My father Was Not Financially Involved in My Business’

December 13, 2023 Just the News

Hunter Biden appeared on Capitol Hill when he was scheduled to testify before Congress on Wednesday, saying that he is there to publicly show how his “father was not financially involved in my business,” but he ultimately skipped the closed-door deposition, opting for a public hearing.

Top Story: Abortion Groups ‘Siphoned’ Billions from Taxpayers over Three Years, Report Shows

December 13, 2023 Admin

Abortion Groups ‘Siphoned’ Billions from Taxpayers over Three Years, Report Shows

December 13, 2023December 12, 2023 Florida Capital Star Staff

Abortion advocacy groups received close to $2 billion in federal taxpayer funding from 2019 to 2021, according to a report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released on Tuesday.

The GAO report was first requested in early 2022 by 142 congressional members led by Republican Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn and New Jersey Rep. Chris Smith, who underscored their concerns that taxpayer dollars are being used to fund abortion services. The report revealed that Planned Parenthood received approximately $1.78 billion in taxpayer funding from 2019 to 2021 and is receiving increased federal support under the current Biden administration.

Top Commentary: Tax-Exempt Nonprofits Skirt U.S. Law to Turn Out the Democrat Base in Elections

December 13, 2023 Admin

TSNN Featured: Former DHS Advisor Warns Local Politicians ‘Petrified’ to Call Out Biden Border Crisis, Gov. Hobbs Doing Too Little, Too Late

December 13, 2023 Admin

House CCP Committee Proposes Dramatic Shift in U.S. Trade Relationship with China

The House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party released a report Tuesday proposing the U.S. revoke China’s permanent normal trade status.

The new report supports three overarching policy objectives: resetting the terms of U.S.-China economic engagement, stemming the flow of U.S. capital and technology to China’s military and building U.S. economic might with allies. Toward that end, the report outlines approximately 150 policy recommendations including new tariffs, disclosure requirements for American companies with ties to China, and strengthening U.S. research security.

Jury Rules Google Has Illegal Monopoly, Dealing Blow to Tech Giant

Google lost an antitrust case against popular video game maker Epic Games on Monday, with a jury ruling that the tech giant has an illegal monopoly in its app store.

Epic, which makes Fortnite, alleged that Google stifles competition and imposes excessively costly charges on app makers using its Google Play Store. Epic also alleged that Google illegally connected its app store to its billing service, compelling developers to use both.

Another Poll Shows Biden Struggling with Crucial Voting Bloc Ahead of 2024

President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign faces headwinds ahead of 2024 among a crucial voting bloc that typically backs Democrats by huge margins, a new poll found.

Biden garnered only 63% support from black voters in a GenForward survey from the University of Chicago, while former President Donald Trump received 17% of the share and 20% said they wouldn’t back either candidate, Politico reported Tuesday. Several other recent surveys have also found Biden struggling among the black electorate, with support for the former president surging.

Florida School Punished for Allowing Boy in Girls’ Sports

December 13, 2023December 12, 2023 Florida Capital Star Staff

A Florida high school has been fined and placed on administrative probation for violating the state’s bylaws by allowing a biologically male student to participate on a female sports team, The Daily Signal has learned.

The move appears to be the first time that a public school has been punished for violating state laws protecting fairness in women’s sports.

Commentary: Tax-Exempt Nonprofits Skirt U.S. Law to Turn Out the Democrat Base in Elections

December 13, 2023 RealClearWire

Even as Democrats such as Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse warn of “right-wing dark-money network seeking to undermine the future of democratic elections in the United States,” progressives have far-outstripped Republicans in harnessing the power of putatively non-partisan, nonprofit organizations that push the boundaries to win elections.

More than 150 progressive nonprofits spent $1.35 billion on political activities in 2021 and 2022, according to data compiled by Restoration of America, a conservative political action committee. Although there are no readily available estimates of comparable conservative efforts, observers say they are overmatched.

National Archives to Grant Comer Access to 1,700 Biden Emails

The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is set to provide House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) with access to over 1,700 emails from Joe Biden’s vice presidency, in the midst of an ongoing impeachment inquiry against him.

According to the Daily Caller, NARA will provide Comer and the committee with 62,610 total pages of records, which includes 1,799 emails and attachments. The emails are all from Biden’s tenure as Vice President, and are all relevant to Hunter Biden and his business relationship with Burisma Holdings, the Ukrainian energy firm at the heart of the corruption accusations against the Bidens. The agency announced its intentions to hand over the documents in a letter to Comer on Monday.

Former Army Medical Officer Files Complaint Against Commanding General for Unlawful Retaliation over Vaccine Whistleblowing

A former Army medical officer has filed a criminal complaint against his commanding officer, alleging that the major general unlawfully retaliated against him after he made protected whistleblower disclosures about the COVID-19 shots.

After the COVID-19 vaccine mandate was imposed on the military, First Lieutenant Mark Charles Bashaw sent communications up the chain of command alleging violations of military regulations and federal law, and warned of the health risks associated with the shots, the Epoch Times reported.

Big Pharma is Giving Away Americans’ Medical Info to Law Enforcement with No Warrant, Lawmakers Say

Big pharmacies are distributing Americans’ private medical information to law enforcement agencies without a warrant, lawmakers said in a Tuesday letter to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Law enforcement agencies discreetly get a hold of thousands of Americans’ prescription records per year with no warrant, and often with no legal review, according to Democratic Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden, Democratic Washington Rep. Pramila Jayapal and Democratic California Rep. Sara Jacobs. The lawmakers are pushing HHS to increase its regulations to protect Americans’ data and require a warrant to obtain it.

Commentary: Birthright Citizenship Puts America in Jeopardy

Today’s challenge, game show Jeopardy-style: “They have a particular status in common: Anwar al-Awlaki, Yaser Esam Hamdi, the twin daughters of El Chapo, Chinese children born to US surrogates, and children born in the US to illegal immigrants.”

After seeing the first two names, a contestant would probably be preparing to hit the button to answer something like “What is Islamic terrorism?” – until they finished reading the entire list. The last item would clinch it, and then the fastest button-pusher would confidently offer the politically-correct answer: “What is birthright citizenship?”

Inflation Refuses to Go Away as Prices Stay Elevated

Inflation ticked slightly down year-over-year in November but continued to remain well above the Federal Reserve’s target, according to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) release on Tuesday.

The consumer price index (CPI), a broad measure of the prices of everyday goods, increased 3.1% on an annual basis in November, compared to 3.2% in October, according to the BLS. Core CPI, which excludes the volatile categories of energy and food, remained high, rising 4.0% year-over-year in October, compared to 4.0% in October.

House GOP Leadership Pulls Both FISA Bills Following Backlash

December 12, 2023 Just the News

House Republican leadership pulled two bills reforming the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act from the floor, as Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., faced backlash for allowing two bills to be introduced on the surveillance law.

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., a member of the House Rules Committee, confirmed to the Washington Examiner late Monday evening that neither of the bills reforming Section 702 would come to the floor for a vote this week.

Harvard Covered Up a Secret Plagiarism Probe into President Claudine Gay During Antisemitism Storm — Threatened The New York Post

December 12, 2023 Admin

The New York Post Harvard University covered up a high-level investigation into whether its controversial president was a plagiarist — and used an expensive law firm to threaten The Post over our own probe. The college announced Tuesday morning that it had investigated Claudine Gay over whether some of her…

Pro Golfer John Daly Says Former President Trump Is ‘One of the Greatest Human Beings’ He’s ‘Ever Met’

December 12, 2023 Kaitlin Housler

In episode 50 of his newest production, “The Tucker Carlson Encounter,” host Tucker Carlson interviewed professional golfer on the PGA Tour and PGA Tour Champion John Daly.

Harvard Board Says President Claudine Gay Will Remain Despite Calls for Her Ouster

December 12, 2023 Just the News

The Harvard board on Tuesday said Claudine Gay would remain as president of the university despite calls for her ousting following her answers about antisemitism before Congress last week as well as allegations she plagiarized parts of her Ph.D. thesis. “As members of the Harvard Corporation, we today reaffirm our support for President Gay’s continued leadership of Harvard University,” the board, known as the Harvard Corporation, said in a statement signed by all members except for Gay. “Our extensive deliberations affirm our confidence that President Gay is the right leader to help our community heal and to address the very serious societal issues we are facing.”

Med Schools Redo ‘Diversity’ Programs After Federal Complaints

Several medical schools across the nation have recently amended or scaled back diversity, equity and inclusion programs and policies after they were flagged by Do No Harm, a medical advocacy group that seeks to push back against declining meritocratic standards and DEI encroachments in med school curricula.

The watchdog organization has filed more than 140 complaints with the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights within the last two years, and nearly 40 investigations have been opened so far, with 30 still active, according to a spokesperson.

Commentary: The Alternate Universe of Antisemitism

Dear Mom and Dad, My first semester of college is almost over. Exams start this week with organic chemistry. Can you believe it? Your daughter’s dreams of one day becoming a doctor are underway! I promised I would not waste this opportunity, and I haven’t.

Commentary: Farmers are Turning to an Ancient Practice to Improve Agriculture

December 12, 2023 RealClearWire

From ancient Egypt to medieval England, cultivating one or more crops in the same field was common practice among many farmers for thousands of years. However, in the last century, food producers largely stopped ‘intercropping’ and moved towards an industrial type of agriculture – a shift that contributed to 34% of the world’s farmland being degraded today.

“Interest is growing in intercropping [again] because farmers increasingly understand it improves their soil health,” said Jerry Allford, an organic farmer and advisor from the Soil Association, a UK charity promoting sustainable agriculture. Jerry thinks this renewed focus can “open up a whole new way of farming” because it can bridge profitability with regenerative agriculture practices.

Commentary: Biden Administration Moves to Empower Government to Take Intellectual Property, Inventions, and Medicines

Inventors figure out how to create something that is better than what existed before, and then protect their rights to the idea/creation with a patent. This is a fundamental principle of private property, one which our nation’s entire economic system is based.

The U.S. Constitution enshrines this basic idea into the DNA of our nation as Article 1, Section 8, Clause 8 known as the Patent and Copyright Clause plainly states, “To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.”

New Legislation Would Revoke Tax-Exempt Status of Nonprofits Funding Hamas, Other Terrorists

December 11, 2023 The Center Square

Proposed new legislation would revoke the tax-exempt status of any nonprofit organization that is providing material support for terrorist groups.

The bipartisan bill, introduced by U.S. Rep. David Kustoff, R-Tenn., and U.S. Rep. Brad Schneider, D-Ill., comes out of the House Ways and Means Committee, which unanimously approved the legislation last week.

Texas, Florida Troopers Apprehend More Human Smugglers in Border Communities

December 11, 2023 The Center Square

Texas and Florida state troopers, as well as sheriff’s deputies, continue to apprehend human smugglers in the small border community of Brackettville, in Kinney County, Texas.

A Texas DPS trooper, assisted by a Florida Highway Patrol trooper, recently conducted a traffic stop in Brackettville, which led to a human smuggling bust.

The stop occurred at night in a residential neighborhood when a Texas Department of Public Safety trooper and FHP trooper pulled over the driver of a Chevrolet Camaro.

Sen. Joni Ernst Releases List of Federal Agencies with High Employee No-Show Rates Post-COVID

December 11, 2023 Just the News

With Christmas fast-approaching, Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa put out a “naughty list” of government agencies that have high no-show rates of employees who have not returned to the office after the COVID-19 pandemic ended.

According to Ernst’s list, the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Social Security Administration top the list with just 7 percent office occupancy rates.

Commentary: Stop The Marxist Makeover of America’s Military

Senator Dick Durbin said the quiet part out loud on the Senate floor yesterday in opposing Republican efforts to do something about Joe Biden’s wide open borders. He noted that the U.S. military – which Team Biden has also been wrecking with its purges of patriots, forced jabs with illegal, unsafe vaccines and Marxist policies and leaders – needs to tap what he described as “undocumented” persons who “want to serve and risk their lives for this country.”

In other words, the senior Senator from Illinois believes that we should encourage enlistment by not only U.S. citizens and those immigrants who have come here legally. He wants the ranks to be open to those whose first act in this country has been criminally trespassing to get here.

Meet the Leaders in Congress Who Helped Amass a Staggering $34 Trillion in National Debt

December 11, 2023 Just the News

The national debt continues to rise sharply to record levels during the ongoing debate in Congress over the next federal spending bill.

The federal government has already piled another $383 billion onto the debt so far into the 2024 fiscal year, which began on October 1.

Analysis: The Clock Is Ticking for Vivek Ramaswamy’s Campaign to Make a Move

Vivek Ramaswamy is currently polling fourth among Republican presidential candidates and, with the Iowa caucus fast approaching, will need to rapidly make up ground for a strong early showing. Yet in early primary contests where candidates are spending big on political advertising, his campaign is so far keeping its powder dry.

The businessman has spent significantly less on political advertisements than his chief political rivals, and has only reserved just over $100,000 on future ad buys, a figure dwarfed by the campaigns of Trump, DeSantis and Haley. While his campaign has instead opted for local engagement in the key early nominating states, Republican operatives in Iowa and New Hampshire warn that time is running out for a major push.

Over 500 Harvard Faculty Sign Letter Defending Claudine Gay After Refusal to Condemn Students’ Anti-Jewish Chants

December 11, 2023 Admin

Over 500 Harvard University faculty members signed a letter Sunday following a scheduled meeting of the Harvard Corporation, calling on the board not to remove Harvard President Claudine Gay from her position, according to The Harvard Crimson.

Poll Shows Trump with Enormous Lead Over Biden in Crucial Battleground State

December 11, 2023 Admin

Former President Donald Trump is leading President Joe Biden by a whopping 10 points in Michigan, a state Biden won in 2020, according to a Monday poll. Trump leads Biden by 10 points among registered voters in Michigan and by 5 points in Georgia, according to a CNN/SSRS poll. Majorities of registered voters in both the swing states hold negative views of Biden’s job performance, policies and mental acuity ahead of a potential 2024 rematch with Trump.

NASA Says Its Working on Schedule for Next Moon Mission After Watchdog Report

December 11, 2023 The Center Square

NASA said it is working on a timeline for its next crewed mission to the moon after a Congressional watchdog reported that the space agency’s planned 2025 date was “unrealistic.”

The U.S. Government Accountability Office reported in late November that NASA’s timeline for the Artemis III mission was “unrealistic.”

Judges Skeptical that HHS Won’t Punish Religious Doctors for Refusing ‘Gender Affirming Care’

December 11, 2023 Just the News

If the Biden administration doesn’t intend to punish medical professionals for refusing to participate in so-called gender affirming care, from using patients’ preferred pronouns to referring them for castration, it’s certainly not acting like it.

That was the impression of at least two of three judges on a 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel hearing a pre-enforcement challenge to the feds’ reinterpretation of the Affordable Care Act’s prohibition on sex discrimination in Section 1557 as covering gender identity as well.

Harvard University President Accused of Plagiarizing Ph.D. Thesis with Material Written by Dr. Carol Swain

December 11, 2023 Kaitlin Housler

Dr. Carol M. Swain has responded to alleged documentation obtained by writer and political activist Christopher Rufo accusing Harvard University President Claudine Gay of plagiarizing “multiple sections” of her Ph.D. thesis from 1997.

Proposed Banking Regulations Won’t Save Sector But Will Hurt Your Wallet, Experts Warn

The Senate Banking Oversight Committee met with top U.S. bank CEOs on Wednesday about the possible effects of new regulations, proposed in July, that would raise capital requirements, titled Basel III endgame, according to CNBC. The new restrictions would not tackle problems that caused the most recent banking crisis earlier this year and would disproportionately affect smaller borrowers, like average Americans, by tightening credit conditions and restricting access to affordable debt in the form of mortgages, credit cards and more, experts told the DCNF.

The Senate’s ‘No Section 230 Immunity for AI Act’ Would Exclude Artificial Intelligence Developers’ Liability Under Section 230

The Senate could soon take up a bipartisan bill defining the liability protections enjoyed by artificial intelligence-generated content, which could lead to considerable impacts on online speech and the development of AI technology.

Republican Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley and Democratic Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal in June introduced the No Section 230 Immunity for AI Act, which would clarify that liability protections under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act do not apply to text and visual content created by artificial intelligence. Hawley may attempt to hold a vote on the bill in the coming weeks, his office told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Commentary: The Big Guy Must Be Getting Nervous as First Son Hunter Could Turn to Save Himself

So we finally have a serious indictment of Hunter Biden. Well, half-serious. After having been stiffed by lawyers for Biden fils, special counsel David Weiss removed one glove, checked the statute of limitations clock and the north-by-northwest breezes of public sentiment, and decided that he had better slip in a valid indictment or two, ones with some semblance of teeth or at least dentures, before time ran out on all of them.

Commentary: Overturning ‘Roe v. Wade’ Has Already Saved 32,000 Babies

You know there’s something to celebrate when The New York Times is forced to report in its headline: “The first estimate of births since Dobbs found that almost a quarter of women who would have gotten abortions carried their pregnancies to term.”

The number of infant lives saved by last year’s landmark Supreme Court decision is estimated at 32,000, according to a report by researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology, Middlebury College, and the German Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

San Francisco Facing Deadliest Year Ever for Overdoses

The far-left city of San Francisco is set to have its deadliest year on record in terms of drug overdoses, further emphasizing the coastal city’s struggles with rising crime, homelessness, and drug abuse.

According to the Washington Free Beacon, the California city recorded 692 accidental overdose deaths from January to October of 2023, as reported by the San Francisco Office of the Chief Medical Examiner last month. By the end of the year, that total is expected to top 800, surpassing the previous record of 720 deaths in 2020.

Commentary: The Dyslexia Epidemic