thetennesseestar--2020-12-08--Survey: Mental Health Continues to Plummet Amid Pandemic, Hits 20-Year Low

Americans ’ mental health has plummeted during the coronavirus pandemic as lockdown restrictions and social distancing measures remain in effect across the country , according to a survey published Monday .
Mental health is worse than any other point in the last two decades , Gallup reported on Monday .
A survey conducted by Gallup showed 76 % of Americans reported their mental health as either excellent or good , a decline from past surveys in which more than 80 % of Americans reported positive mental health .
“ Each year since 2001 , Gallup has asked Americans as part @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to say whether their own mental or emotional wellbeing is excellent , good , only fair or poor , ” Gallup reported .
“ The reading for those rating their mental health as excellent or good ranged from 81 % to 89 % until this year ’ s 76 % .
” While the vast majority of Americans said their mental health was positive , the number of respondents who said their mental health was “ excellent ” dropped eight percentage points lower than Gallup has reported in any previous year , according @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in positive ratings … are undoubtedly influenced by the coronavirus pandemic , which continues to profoundly disrupt people ’ s lives , ” Gallup wrote in the report .
Most Americans ’ way of life was disrupted in the spring as the novel coronavirus spread rapidly around the world .
In March , President Donald Trump declared a national emergency and local governments implemented a variety of restrictions limiting how people could interact , exercise , work and shop .
The American Psychological Association ( APA ) released its annual “ Stress in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ found that the pandemic has contributed to a “ national mental health crisis.
” “ Our 2020 survey is different , ” the report said .
“ It reveals that Americans have been profoundly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic , and that the external factors Americans have listed in previous years as significant sources of stress remain present and problematic.
” “ The unusual combination of these factors and the persistent drumbeat of a crisis that shows no sign of abating that is leading APA to sound the alarm : We are facing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ yield serious health and social consequences for years to come , ” the report continued .
Gallup randomly sampled 1,000 Americans for the survey , which was conducted between Nov. 5 and Nov. 19 .
The survey had a sampling error margin of 4 % .

by Thomas Catenacci
Americans’ mental health has plummeted during the coronavirus pandemic as lockdown restrictions and social distancing measures remain in effect across the country, according to a survey published Monday.
Mental health is worse than any other point in the last two decades, Gallup reported on Monday. A survey conducted by Gallup showed 76% of Americans reported their mental health as either excellent or good, a decline from past surveys in which more than 80% of Americans reported positive mental health.
“Each year since 2001, Gallup has asked Americans as part of its November Health and Healthcare survey to say whether their own mental or emotional wellbeing is excellent, good, only fair or poor,” Gallup reported. “The reading for those rating their mental health as excellent or good ranged from 81% to 89% until this year’s 76%.”
While the vast majority of Americans said their mental health was positive, the number of respondents who said their mental health was “excellent” dropped eight percentage points lower than Gallup has reported in any previous year, according to Gallup.
“The latest weakening in positive ratings … are undoubtedly influenced by the coronavirus pandemic, which continues to profoundly disrupt people’s lives,” Gallup wrote in the report.
Most Americans’ way of life was disrupted in the spring as the novel coronavirus spread rapidly around the world. In March, President Donald Trump declared a national emergency and local governments implemented a variety of restrictions limiting how people could interact, exercise, work and shop.
The American Psychological Association (APA) released its annual “Stress in America” report in October, which found that the pandemic has contributed to a “national mental health crisis.”
“Our 2020 survey is different,” the report said. “It reveals that Americans have been profoundly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, and that the external factors Americans have listed in previous years as significant sources of stress remain present and problematic.”
“The unusual combination of these factors and the persistent drumbeat of a crisis that shows no sign of abating that is leading APA to sound the alarm: We are facing a national mental health crisis that could yield serious health and social consequences for years to come,” the report continued.
Gallup randomly sampled 1,000 Americans for the survey, which was conducted between Nov. 5 and Nov. 19. The survey had a sampling error margin of 4%.
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Thomas Catenacci is a reporter at Daily Caller News Foundation.


thetennesseestar--2020-12-08--Sr. Political Editor of The Epoch Times Roger Simon Reacts to Georgia and the Civil Disobedience Com

Sr. Political Editor of The Epoch Times Roger Simon Reacts to Georgia and the Civil Disobedience Coming to America

Live from Music Row Monday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville ’ s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Leahy welcomed Senior Political Editor for The Epoch Times , Roger Simon to the studio .
During the third hour , Simon discussed the energy on the ground in Georgia last week during the large Lin Wood and Sidney Powell event noting how visibly upset people were .
He later described how Trump supporters would have to express their outrage for change by cutting @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Big Tech and elites or deciding not to pay taxes .
Leahy : We are in the studio with the original all-star panelist Crom Carmichael and my good friend , former boss of PJTV .
The founder of Pajamas Media .
He is now the Senior Political Editor at The Epoch Times which is growing online and in newspaper print .
Roger , good morning .
Simon : Good morning to you .
I ’ m never up as early as you are but I ’ m here .
Leahy : You were @ @ @ @ @ @ @ what your reaction was to what ’ s going on in Georgia .
Simon : You know , if you read the piece , I have of The Epoch Times this morning about the coming civil disobedience in America , I think it ’ ll give you an idea of the atmosphere .
I met a lot of people who are seriously upset .
I also went to that event with Lin Wood and Sidney Powell in Alpharetta .
Leahy : Now that even with Lin Wood and Sydney Powell , Crom was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it a press conference or was it a rally ?
Simon : I would give it about 10 percent press conference and a 90 percent rally with thousands of people .
And these people are not going to go home quietly if the election is taken from them .
It ’ s just not going to happen .
So we ’ re looking at strange events in 2021 , depending on what happens this morning .
The Epoch Times has a whole thing about the Amistad Project .
Leahy : Yes .
We @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Before I got up .
It ’ s interesting because they believe the real deadline is later for deciding is January 20th and not December 8th as were being told .
so so if they ’ re correct then we ’ ll little bit more time to get this thing sorted out .
But if they ’ re not it ’ s not going to be sorted out .
And not just the citizens of Georgia , but people everywhere .
There are just a lot of people who are not believing what @ @ @ @ @ @ @ going to stop figuring out what happened .
So the news is going to be coming out for God knows how long about all the shifty things that were done .
Carmichael : We know how the left reacts when they don ’ t get their way .
We know what they do .
They mostly peacefully protest by burning down buildings and destroying property .
And burning any police car within five miles of where they are .
And then they occupy entire city blocks .
That ’ s what they do @ @ @ @ @ @ @ apart right Roger ?
( Laughter ) Carmichael : Now when the Tea Party Movement started there was a huge rally or protest whatever you want to call it in Washington D.C. there were hundreds of thousands of people who came .
And they all picked up their garbage and put it away so that when they left , the city was just as pristine as it was before .
Leahy : Actually cleaner than it was before .
Simon : I wasn ’ t at that demonstration but I read about what @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it out to me .
She said you should be picking up things at work .
( Laughter ) Carmichael : So my question is if the people who are angry with having an election stolen respond as the Tea Party people did and that is to protest but that ’ s all they do .
How does their expression of outrage gets get translated into a change ?
Simon : Well , I think I don ’ t know .
I wrote this long piece that got a lot of traffic a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with me .
The usual .
And I said there are going to be three phases to this thing .
Okay phase one is was just what you described , you know , peaceful protests growing .
The second thing may be a tax protest which can be done in a variety of ways .
Of course , we ’ re talking about people who generally pay their taxes and go to work right ?
So it ’ s not so simple for them .
But there are different ways that it can @ @ @ @ @ @ @ most scarily is the as a kind of John Gaultism from Atlas Shrugged meaning that a lot of people , if they start to check out of society , can bring society to a halt .
Because the people that we ’ re talking about , the good people of America , the Patriots are America the people who are your plumbers and electricians and everything that make society run .
They can bring it to a halt that will even destroy the giants of Big Tech .
They depend on it .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ to do it still within the law .
And peacefully it would be it would just simply be I ’ m sorry , I ’ m not going come .
I ’ m too busy .
I can ’ t come to fix your toilet .
I can ’ t come to fix your place .
It would be that type of thing .
And Atlas Shrugged by the way was a fabulous book .
By the way , as a tip for those who decide to read it , just recognize that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fast .
The middle 400 pages are quite good and the last 400 pages are spectacular .
So you ’ ll have a hard time putting the book down once you get two thirds into it , but the first third is tough .
Carmichael : But that ’ s interesting .
It ’ s interesting because the left is much more direct in what they do .
And what ’ s also interesting is that they ’ re directly in the cities where they control the mayor ’ s office .
And @ @ @ @ @ @ @ controls the police .
So for example with this protest that happened where this bar owner I think in New Jersey .
Carmichael : New York .
Okay , pretty much the same in terms of control .
And so he opened and then the police go and reluctantly , I ’ m sure , and then shut him down .
And then 1,000 people come and protest to support him .
But they won ’ t do anything other than wave American flags and stand outside of this bar to support him @ @ @ @ @ @ @ terms of changing the behavior of the public official that shut that bar owner down ?
Simon : Well , it has to grow into something much bigger than that and obviously has to affect what we ’ re talking about .
Secondly , if the Antifa ’ s and BLM ’ s of the world plus plus plus start to act violently there ’ s no question that we ’ re going to be into a civil war type of situation .
Carmichael : But Antifa and BLM are adjuncts of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Party has the power they ’ re not going to be protesting if they do .
Simon : I ’ m not saying that they ’ re protesting .
I ’ m saying if they go against .
If they start to attack and be violent that ’ s when things could really explode in both directions into civil war .
Of course , I agree with you though that too totally on the other side .
Carmichael : But you were in Washington when the Trump supporters went to Washington and many @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Washington got beaten up by Black lives matter and Antifa .
But none of them got beat up .
Simon : Oh yes they did .
I saw it !
Carmichael : The Black Lives Matter people got beat up ?
Simon : The Antifa guys .
And I was there witnessing it as close as I am to you right now .
What happened was in front of the Renaissance Hotel where I was staying I was walking back to the hotel and the Antifa guys were whizzing by on skateboards , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ know , and they were taunting the crowd .
And they were saying things that I can ’ t say on this show .
And finally , one of the Trump supporters wearing Trump gear but was sort of the size of a power forward right stepped up and threw the guy off his office skateboard into the ground .
He was terrified .
( Leahy chuckles ) And all the Trump supporters were cheering .
So I ’ m telling you human beings are human beings and there ’ s only so @ @ @ @ @ @ @ remember that the side of the Patriots is probably in better physical shape .
And better armed and know how to use it .
At a certain point , this thing could flip .
Leahy : That would not be a good thing for the country but it does seem to move inexorably in that direction .
Carmichael : We ’ ll see .
To me the example that you just gave I would imagine that the kid that got thrown on the ground was terrified and he got up and walked away @ @ @ @ @ @ @ what it was very interesting because they were kind of psychotic these kids .
You can see it in their eyes and they must have been on methamphetamines or whatever it was with their eyes bugging out .
This kid was backing up terrified but at the same time , he was yelling the same expletives to show his buddies that he wasn ’ t scared .
But boy , he ran up the block .
Carmichael : All I ’ m all I ’ m saying is is that when the Antifa @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Trump person and a lot of times that Trump person ends up completely on the ground unconscious .
That ’ s not what happened to this kid .
And you gave me one instance whereas we can see dozens or hundreds of instances of intimidation by the other side .
And all I ’ m saying is that the rules have to end up being equal for there to be a civil society .
Whatever the rules are .
Listen to the third hour here : Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510 .
Listen online at iHeart Radio .

Live from Music Row Monday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Leahy welcomed Senior Political Editor for The Epoch Times, Roger Simon to the studio.
During the third hour, Simon discussed the energy on the ground in Georgia last week during the large Lin Wood and Sidney Powell event noting how visibly upset people were. He later described how Trump supporters would have to express their outrage for change by cutting off many of their trade services to Big Tech and elites or deciding not to pay taxes.
Leahy: We are in the studio with the original all-star panelist Crom Carmichael and my good friend, former boss of PJTV. The founder of Pajamas Media. He is now the Senior Political Editor at The Epoch Times which is growing online and in newspaper print. Roger, good morning.
Simon: Good morning to you. I’m never up as early as you are but I’m here.
Leahy: You were in Georgia last week. Tell us what your reaction was to what’s going on in Georgia.
Simon: You know, if you read the piece, I have of The Epoch Times this morning about the coming civil disobedience in America, I think it’ll give you an idea of the atmosphere. I met a lot of people who are seriously upset. I also went to that event with Lin Wood and Sidney Powell in Alpharetta.
Leahy: Now that even with Lin Wood and Sydney Powell, Crom was billed as a press conference. Was it a press conference or was it a rally?
Simon: I would give it about 10 percent press conference and a 90 percent rally with thousands of people. And these people are not going to go home quietly if the election is taken from them. It’s just not going to happen. So we’re looking at strange events in 2021, depending on what happens this morning. The Epoch Times has a whole thing about the Amistad Project.
Leahy: Yes. We were talking about it.
Simon: Before I got up. It’s interesting because they believe the real deadline is later for deciding is January 20th and not December 8th as were being told. so so if they’re correct then we’ll little bit more time to get this thing sorted out. But if they’re not it’s not going to be sorted out. And not just the citizens of Georgia, but people everywhere. There are just a lot of people who are not believing what happened. And then people are not going to stop figuring out what happened. So the news is going to be coming out for God knows how long about all the shifty things that were done.
Carmichael: We know how the left reacts when they don’t get their way. We know what they do. They mostly peacefully protest by burning down buildings and destroying property. And burning any police car within five miles of where they are. And then they occupy entire city blocks. That’s what they do.
Simon: Like Mahatma Gandhi.
Leahy: Hard to tell them apart right Roger? (Laughter)
Carmichael: Now when the Tea Party Movement started there was a huge rally or protest whatever you want to call it in Washington D.C. there were hundreds of thousands of people who came. And they all picked up their garbage and put it away so that when they left, the city was just as pristine as it was before.
Leahy: Actually cleaner than it was before.
Simon: I wasn’t at that demonstration but I read about what you said. And my wife pointed it out to me. She said you should be picking up things at work. (Laughter)
Carmichael: So my question is if the people who are angry with having an election stolen respond as the Tea Party people did and that is to protest but that’s all they do. How does their expression of outrage gets get translated into a change?
Simon: Well, I think I don’t know. I wrote this long piece that got a lot of traffic a lot and a lot of people debating with me. The usual. And I said there are going to be three phases to this thing. Okay phase one is was just what you described, you know, peaceful protests growing. The second thing may be a tax protest which can be done in a variety of ways.
Of course, we’re talking about people who generally pay their taxes and go to work right? So it’s not so simple for them. But there are different ways that it can happen with tax protests. Thirdly and most scarily is the as a kind of John Gaultism from Atlas Shrugged meaning that a lot of people, if they start to check out of society, can bring society to a halt. Because the people that we’re talking about, the good people of America, the Patriots are America the people who are your plumbers and electricians and everything that make society run. They can bring it to a halt that will even destroy the giants of Big Tech. They depend on it.
Carmichael: That would be the way to do it still within the law. And peacefully it would be it would just simply be I’m sorry, I’m not going come. I’m too busy. I can’t come to fix your toilet. I can’t come to fix your place. It would be that type of thing. And Atlas Shrugged by the way was a fabulous book. By the way, as a tip for those who decide to read it, just recognize that the first 400 pages are not very fast. The middle 400 pages are quite good and the last 400 pages are spectacular. So you’ll have a hard time putting the book down once you get two thirds into it, but the first third is tough.
Simon: Block out some time. (Leahy chuckles)
Carmichael: But that’s interesting. It’s interesting because the left is much more direct in what they do. And what’s also interesting is that they’re directly in the cities where they control the mayor’s office. And then the mayor’s office then controls the police. So for example with this protest that happened where this bar owner I think in New Jersey.
Simon: It was Staten Island.
Carmichael: New York. Okay, pretty much the same in terms of control. And so he opened and then the police go and reluctantly, I’m sure, and then shut him down. And then 1,000 people come and protest to support him. But they won’t do anything other than wave American flags and stand outside of this bar to support him. But what does that accomplish in terms of changing the behavior of the public official that shut that bar owner down?
Simon: Well, it has to grow into something much bigger than that and obviously has to affect what we’re talking about. Secondly, if the Antifa’s and BLM’s of the world plus plus plus start to act violently there’s no question that we’re going to be into a civil war type of situation.
Carmichael: But Antifa and BLM are adjuncts of the Democrat Party. So if the Democrat Party has the power they’re not going to be protesting if they do.
Simon: I’m not saying that they’re protesting. I’m saying if they go against. If they start to attack and be violent that’s when things could really explode in both directions into civil war. Of course, I agree with you though that too totally on the other side.
Carmichael: But you were in Washington when the Trump supporters went to Washington and many of the Trump supporters who went to Washington got beaten up by Black lives matter and Antifa. But none of them got beat up.
Simon: Oh yes they did. I saw it!
Carmichael: The Black Lives Matter people got beat up?
Simon: The Antifa guys. And I was there witnessing it as close as I am to you right now. What happened was in front of the Renaissance Hotel where I was staying I was walking back to the hotel and the Antifa guys were whizzing by on skateboards, which is their style as you probably know, and they were taunting the crowd. And they were saying things that I can’t say on this show.
And finally, one of the Trump supporters wearing Trump gear but was sort of the size of a power forward right stepped up and threw the guy off his office skateboard into the ground. He was terrified. (Leahy chuckles) And all the Trump supporters were cheering. So I’m telling you human beings are human beings and there’s only so much you can take. And you remember that the side of the Patriots is probably in better physical shape. And better armed and know how to use it. At a certain point, this thing could flip.
Leahy: That would not be a good thing for the country but it does seem to move inexorably in that direction.
Simon: Well, we’ll see.
Carmichael: We’ll see. To me the example that you just gave I would imagine that the kid that got thrown on the ground was terrified and he got up and walked away?
Simon: Well, you know what it was very interesting because they were kind of psychotic these kids. You can see it in their eyes and they must have been on methamphetamines or whatever it was with their eyes bugging out. This kid was backing up terrified but at the same time, he was yelling the same expletives to show his buddies that he wasn’t scared. But boy, he ran up the block.
Carmichael: All I’m all I’m saying is is that when the Antifa and Black lives matter people attack a Trump person and a lot of times that Trump person ends up completely on the ground unconscious. That’s not what happened to this kid. And you gave me one instance whereas we can see dozens or hundreds of instances of intimidation by the other side. And all I’m saying is that the rules have to end up being equal for there to be a civil society. Whatever the rules are.
Listen to the third hour here:
– – –
Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 a.m. to the Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.


thetennesseestar--2020-12-08--Crom Carmichael Outlines the Unconstitutionality of Pennsylvania’s Election Law Changes Signed by Go

Crom Carmichael Outlines the Unconstitutionality of Pennsylvania’s Election Law Changes Signed by Governor Wolf

Live from Music Row Monday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville ’ s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Leahy welcomed the original all-star panelist Crom Carmichael to the studio .
During the second hour , Carmichael discussed the election laws that were passed by legislation and the Governor of Pennsylvania citing that the only way they would be brought into law was through a change in the state ’ s constitution .
He later discussed the significance of the safe harbor federal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ related to such election law changes .
Leahy : We are joined by the original all-star panelist Crom Carmichael .
Good morning Crom .
Carmichael : Good morning Michael .
How are you , sir ?
Leahy : Well , you stay up a little bit later than I do on Sunday nights .
I would like to watch Mark Levin .
He ’ s on Fox I think at what seven o ’ clock central .
Carmichael : ( Chuckles ) Something like that .
Leahy : I go to bed early @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Well Mark Levin covered in great detail and I want to give a shout-out to our caller last week .
I believe he was from Fairview , but he said that the fight should continue because I have more or less than I think Biden is going to be our next president , even though I believe he stole the election .
And one of our callers took exception to that and said that the fight should continue .
And so Mark Levin explained what ’ s going on in Pennsylvania .
And @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I had heard .
And so I had some facts .
I ’ m not going to say that my facts were incorrect .
But they weren ’ t complete .
There ’ s a better way of saying it .
And so here ’ s what here ’ s what ’ s happened in Pennsylvania .
In October of 2019 , the legislature passed a bill that changed the voting laws in Pennsylvania to allow this mail-in voting or mail-out voting as I call it .
The governor signed it .
But @ @ @ @ @ @ @ only way the election law can be changed is to change the constitution .
So the legislature itself acted unconstitutionally .
And and the governor in signing an unconstitutional… Carmichael : Democratic governor .
Now the state court and the state supreme court has ruled that what they did was constitutional .
Leahy : The partisan hack Democrats in the Pennsylvania state supreme court .
Carmichael : Yes .
Yes .
And I ’ m just going to call them partisan hacks because ( Leahy laughs ) anyone who just takes a the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ then just ignores what it says…And by the way , we never had a chance here in Tennessee back in the 80s and 90s to test once again at the state supreme court level here in Tennessee , whether or not a state income tax was constitutional .
But if you ’ ll recall there were a whole bunch of writings and what not claiming that even though the constitution had not been amended here in Tennessee it was constitutional .
But I go backward but let me continue forward here .
A @ @ @ @ @ @ @ now sued claiming that the legislature had no right to change the constitution .
Carmichael : Mike Kelly has standing and that was key because then the state supreme court said no , you ’ re too late .
Leahy : Hold it .
If he had a standing how can you be too late ?
Carmichael : Well that that that ’ s what political hacks do .
They just come up with an excuse .
Now the if he had sued prior to and he hadn ’ t lost yet , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ t have standing because he hadn ’ t been damaged .
Carmichael : Now he ’ s been damaged and now he ’ s too late .
And by the way , I skipped a part .
There was a judge at a lower level than the state supreme court who put an injunction or a stay and said you can ’ t until this court case is resolved because Mark Kelly is likely to win .
So put a stay on Mike Kelly .
Put a stay on where they accredited @ @ @ @ @ @ @ said because he ’ s the Supreme Court Justice over Pennsylvania , and so he has said you have until tomorrow morning .
Leahy : It ’ s an important date because it ’ s the ‘ safe harbor ’ date according to federal law .
Carmichael : Yes , because before I came in you explained very well that in fact the safe harbor date is not a constitutional date and it was the legislative date passed in the year I was born .
1948 .
Carmichael : It ’ s very @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Laughter ) What you have is you have a congressional seat which is a federal who is now suing and so now it becomes a federal case .
And so I think it ’ s going to be very very interesting to see if this case goes to the Supreme Court of the United States because the difference for me in all of this is , first of all , I claimed that the Secretary of State when outside of his or her rights in Pennsylvania by not keeping faith with the legislation @ @ @ @ @ @ @ It turns out the legislation itself that was passed was unconstitutional because it ’ s the States Supreme Court that has very specific language on how you go about changing election laws .
And they didn ’ t follow that procedure .
And so so Pennsylvania is very much in doubt .
Now based on what you said about the December eighth deadline being more of a… Carmichael : Yes , that there ’ ll be other states now that might very well come into play .
Because there was also a gentleman @ @ @ @ @ @ @ escapes me right now….Patrick Basham .
Leahy : Patrick Basham .
I know Patrick Basham .
He is the pollster for the Democracy Institute , which does polling .
They are based in D.C .
They are an English , UK , and American think tank .
I ’ ve written several stories about his polls at Breitbart .
Carmichael : Okay .
Well , he was on and he pointed out that Biden ’ s victory is due to very specific spikes in voting patterns in very specific precincts .
Leahy : @ @ @ @ @ @ @ money from Mark Zuckerberg ’ s Center for Technology and Civic life to get the vote out and to build these drop boxes .
Carmichael : Yes .
And so so when you say to get the vote out , I ’ m going to push back on that .
This was stuffing ballot boxes with illegal votes .
That ’ s what this was .
And because you don ’ t get the vote out in these seven very specific cities that were all crucial cities for Biden to win .
And @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he kind of spilled the beans one day when he ’ s giving a press conference .
And he said that the Democrat Party had the most inclusive and diverse voter fraud operation in history .
Leahy : He said that .
Carmichael : He actually said that .
Leahy : He said that .
It is an inclusive and diverse voter fraud .
Carmichael : It is all those things .
And that ’ s exactly what he said .
Leahy : We need to get that clip and playing it again @ @ @ @ @ @ @ there wasn ’ t any pushback from anybody .
Carmichael : And people in the media , they are not stupid .
And they have to know the media the organism , the institution of the media , this is frightening .
Frightening that the institution of the media has become so partisan that it is also dishonest .
That is also willing to throw in with it as Biden expressed it the most diverse and inclusive voter fraud operation in history .
Leahy : Well , they want to praise their excellence @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Carmichael : That ’ s it .
It ’ s not over yet .
But regardless of the outcome , there will be books written that give details of these specific spikes and these specific spikes .
And these specific spikes were not just in voter so-called voter turnout .
If Trump won the Black vote for example nationally .
If he 112 percent of the Black vote nationally in these very specific places he only won six percent .
Leahy : How did that happen ?
Carmichael : And so what I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ people are having their votes suppressed through voter fraud .
And voter fraud by the way is the most egregious form of voter suppression .
It ’ s worse than any other form other than just saying because of the color of your skin , you don ’ t have the right to vote at all .
So in this case what you have is you have people who went out whose votes are being suppressed just by having 100s of 1,000s of ballots that were not voted at all just stuffed into @ @ @ @ @ @ @ about the chain of custody issue now .
Leahy : We ’ ve proven in Cobb County that at least 1,800 ballots put in drop boxes were picked up on one day and not delivered to the registrar of the votes until the following day .
What happened that night with those votes ?
Carmichael : Right .
Exactly .
Exactly .
Leahy : We will see .
Listen to the full second hour here : Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 a.m. to the Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Listen online at iHeart Radio .

Live from Music Row Monday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Leahy welcomed the original all-star panelist Crom Carmichael to the studio.
During the second hour, Carmichael discussed the election laws that were passed by legislation and the Governor of Pennsylvania citing that the only way they would be brought into law was through a change in the state’s constitution. He later discussed the significance of the safe harbor federal law and the concept of voter suppression related to such election law changes.
Leahy: We are joined by the original all-star panelist Crom Carmichael. Good morning Crom.
Carmichael: Good morning Michael. How are you, sir?
Leahy: Well, you stay up a little bit later than I do on Sunday nights. I would like to watch Mark Levin. He’s on Fox I think at what seven o’clock central.
Carmichael: (Chuckles) Something like that.
Leahy: I go to bed early I try to okay.
Carmichael: Well Mark Levin covered in great detail and I want to give a shout-out to our caller last week. I believe he was from Fairview, but he said that the fight should continue because I have more or less than I think Biden is going to be our next president, even though I believe he stole the election. And one of our callers took exception to that and said that the fight should continue. And so Mark Levin explained what’s going on in Pennsylvania. And he explained it in a way that I had heard. And so I had some facts.
I’m not going to say that my facts were incorrect. But they weren’t complete. There’s a better way of saying it. And so here’s what here’s what’s happened in Pennsylvania. In October of 2019, the legislature passed a bill that changed the voting laws in Pennsylvania to allow this mail-in voting or mail-out voting as I call it. The governor signed it. But under the constitution of Pennsylvania, the only way the election law can be changed is to change the constitution. So the legislature itself acted unconstitutionally. And and the governor in signing an unconstitutional…
Leahy: Democratic Governor.
Carmichael: Democratic governor. Now the state court and the state supreme court has ruled that what they did was constitutional.
Leahy: The partisan hack Democrats in the Pennsylvania state supreme court.
Carmichael: Yes. Yes. And I’m just going to call them partisan hacks because (Leahy laughs) anyone who just takes a the constitution of any state or federal and then just ignores what it says…And by the way, we never had a chance here in Tennessee back in the 80s and 90s to test once again at the state supreme court level here in Tennessee, whether or not a state income tax was constitutional.
But if you’ll recall there were a whole bunch of writings and what not claiming that even though the constitution had not been amended here in Tennessee it was constitutional. But I go backward but let me continue forward here. A person who lost a congressional race has now sued claiming that the legislature had no right to change the constitution.
Leahy: He has standing. Mike Kelly.
Carmichael: Mike Kelly has standing and that was key because then the state supreme court said no, you’re too late.
Leahy: Hold it. If he had a standing how can you be too late?
Carmichael: Well that that that’s what political hacks do. They just come up with an excuse. Now the if he had sued prior to and he hadn’t lost yet, then they would have claimed he didn’t have standing because he hadn’t been damaged.
Leahy: Exactly.
Carmichael: Now he’s been damaged and now he’s too late. And by the way, I skipped a part. There was a judge at a lower level than the state supreme court who put an injunction or a stay and said you can’t until this court case is resolved because Mark Kelly is likely to win. So put a stay on Mike Kelly. Put a stay on where they accredited the election certification. Now Alito has said because he’s the Supreme Court Justice over Pennsylvania, and so he has said you have until tomorrow morning.
Leahy: That’s Tuesday, December eighth.
Carmichael: Yes.
Leahy: It’s an important date because it’s the ‘safe harbor’ date according to federal law.
Carmichael: Yes, because before I came in you explained very well that in fact the safe harbor date is not a constitutional date and it was the legislative date passed in the year I was born. 1948.
Leahy: It’s old. (Laughter)
Carmichael: It’s very old. It needs to take (Laughter) What you have is you have a congressional seat which is a federal who is now suing and so now it becomes a federal case. And so I think it’s going to be very very interesting to see if this case goes to the Supreme Court of the United States because the difference for me in all of this is, first of all, I claimed that the Secretary of State when outside of his or her rights in Pennsylvania by not keeping faith with the legislation that had been passed in October.
It turns out the legislation itself that was passed was unconstitutional because it’s the States Supreme Court that has very specific language on how you go about changing election laws. And they didn’t follow that procedure. And so so Pennsylvania is very much in doubt. Now based on what you said about the December eighth deadline being more of a…
Leahy: Guideline.
Carmichael: Yes, that there’ll be other states now that might very well come into play. Because there was also a gentleman on Mark Levin last night whose name escapes me right now….Patrick Basham.
Leahy: Patrick Basham. I know Patrick Basham. He is the pollster for the Democracy Institute, which does polling. They are based in D.C. They are an English, UK, and American think tank. I’ve written several stories about his polls at Breitbart.
Carmichael: Okay. Well, he was on and he pointed out that Biden’s victory is due to very specific spikes in voting patterns in very specific precincts.
Leahy: All of which by the way got money from Mark Zuckerberg’s Center for Technology and Civic life to get the vote out and to build these drop boxes.
Carmichael: Yes. And so so when you say to get the vote out, I’m going to push back on that. This was stuffing ballot boxes with illegal votes. That’s what this was. And because you don’t get the vote out in these seven very specific cities that were all crucial cities for Biden to win. And so Biden himself, you know, he kind of spilled the beans one day when he’s giving a press conference. And he said that the Democrat Party had the most inclusive and diverse voter fraud operation in history.
Leahy: He said that.
Carmichael: He actually said that.
Leahy: He said that. It is an inclusive and diverse voter fraud.
Carmichael: It is all those things. And that’s exactly what he said.
Leahy: We need to get that clip and playing it again.
Carmichael: It was. And there wasn’t any pushback from anybody.
Leahy: A very inclusive voter fraud operation Mr. President-Elect.
Carmichael: And people in the media, they are not stupid. And they have to know the media the organism, the institution of the media, this is frightening. Frightening that the institution of the media has become so partisan that it is also dishonest. That is also willing to throw in with it as Biden expressed it the most diverse and inclusive voter fraud operation in history.
Leahy: Well, they want to praise their excellence at voter fraud. (Laughs)
Carmichael: That’s it. It’s not over yet. But regardless of the outcome, there will be books written that give details of these specific spikes and these specific spikes. And these specific spikes were not just in voter so-called voter turnout. If Trump won the Black vote for example nationally. If he 112 percent of the Black vote nationally in these very specific places he only won six percent.
Leahy: How did that happen?
Carmichael: And so what I’m saying is that now Black people are having their votes suppressed through voter fraud. And voter fraud by the way is the most egregious form of voter suppression. It’s worse than any other form other than just saying because of the color of your skin, you don’t have the right to vote at all. So in this case what you have is you have people who went out whose votes are being suppressed just by having 100s of 1,000s of ballots that were not voted at all just stuffed into these drop boxes. And you talked about the chain of custody issue now.
Leahy: We’ve proven in Cobb County that at least 1,800 ballots put in drop boxes were picked up on one day and not delivered to the registrar of the votes until the following day. What happened that night with those votes?
Carmichael: Right. Exactly. Exactly.
Leahy: We will see.
Listen to the full second hour here:

– – –
Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 a.m. to the Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.


thetennesseestar--2020-12-08--Victor Davis Hansom Commentary: The Scars of 2020

Amid plague , national lockdown , riot and arson , iconoclasm , recession , and the most contested voting in history , the country leaves 2020 with some scars that won ’ t heal .
Mail-in Voting : Election Day as we once knew it no longer really exists .
It has been warped , trimmed , and made nearly irrelevant in the panic of the times .
The prior , but now accelerating , changes and the “ never let a good crisis go to waste ” efforts during the COVID-19 lockdown rammed through vast changes in previous voting @ @ @ @ @ @ @ two U.S. Senate runoffs in Georgia , new federal voting mandates designed to supersede state laws will institutionalize the chaos .
During the slow-motion November election “ process , ” the last presidential debate that Donald Trump won mattered little .
Some 50 million people had already voted—and 100 million would before Election Day .
The Hunter Biden scandal ?
Even had the media covered it , the result of such new laws would have made it a late October sparkler rather than a fiery bombshell .
When some precincts reported over 90 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ impossible to verify the authenticity of such a massive influx of votes , and when the tallying went on for days and weeks in some jurisdictions , gone entirely was the idea that Americans showed up on Election Day—with only a minority of elderly , sick , or at work voting by absentee ballots .
Under the old system voters showed their IDs as if they were cashing a check , signed in , had their names checked against voting rolls , and then were directed to a booth , with the election @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , a tradition that did not always yield the correct results .
Mail-in voting now joins open borders and promises to pack the Supreme Court , and junk the Electoral College , as systematic efforts to change the system when the system can not guarantee the Left the retention of power .
It will be impossible to return to a mostly Election Day vote , and so another American tradition of more than two centuries has been jettisoned cavalierly .
Legal Looting : America had seen violent protests throughout its history .
Many @ @ @ @ @ @ @ looting , killing , and arson that often overwhelmed police , the state guard , and even the insertion of federal troops .
And in the mid- to late-20th century , the result in cities from Los Angeles and Detroit to Baltimore were areas of unrest that for brief periods were effectively no-go zones where the only law in the arena was the rule of stronger and more brutal .
But what was new about the recent destructive rioting in Seattle , Portland , Washington , and New York during the summer of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Floyd in Minneapolis police custody , were three strange developments .
First , local and state authorities did not regularly try to suppress the violence .
They either sympathized with the complaints of lawless Antifa and Black Lives Matter rioters or found the general chaos and sense of unrest during the Trump Administration conducive for Joe Biden ’ s candidacy in the November presidential election .
In the past , on rare occasions , authorities and police had sided with the rioters and let their terror and destruction and lawlessness continue without restraint—as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that saw blacks gunned down and their property burned with impunity by white vigilantes while civic authorities looked the other way .
Birmingham , Alabama public safety commissioner Bull Connor in 1961 on occasion more or less let the Klan crack heads as it pleased .
But rarely in modern times have authorities abdicated and let a Lord of the Flies mentality take over their downtowns , as Seattle officials did with the “ Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone ” over the summer .
Second , when violent demonstrators , arsonists , and looters @ @ @ @ @ @ @ most cases they were released by local and state public prosecutors , many of whom clearly sympathized with their use of violence .
The result was a crash in police morale .
To arrest a violent offender was simply deemed a waste of time and money , given his near-instant release and likelihood that he would never face any consequences for his actions .
In other words , as is the case in former Third World countries , America ’ s criminal justice system became warped .
Now there was good and bad @ @ @ @ @ @ @ correct and incorrect resisting of arrest , and quarantine-violating mass rallying and mass rallying that is exempt from lockdowns .
Carving out a swath of autonomy for rioters and looters in downtown Seattle proved legal ; had a row of restaurants and bars done the same to be allowed to serve the people , they would have been fined , closed , and likely jailed .
Third , Democratic mayors are now avowed revolutionaries , at war with their own police departments—or at least those other than their security details that protect their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they empowered .
In the old days , Democrats ran the cities , but a Richard Daley in Chicago , Jerome Cavanagh in Detroit , Sam Yorty in Los Angeles , or Frank Rizzo in Philadelphia at least assured the public that there would be consequences for law breaking and often begged for more federal support to quell unrest .
If one believes some of these prior mayors were racist , illiberal , or corrupt , then that indictment reflects the inherently racist traditions of the Democratic Party and its long history of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ price of exempting their city machines from civil rights and racketeering investigations by mostly Democratic state and federal attorneys .
The common denominator with all of the above ?
There is no longer the rule of law as we once knew it .
Erasing Our Past : Coups , revolutions , and civil wars often witness the toppling of statues , usually of those identified as “ tyrants ” by self-described liberationists , reformers , and democratic activists .
But in times of peace in general , and , in particular , in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Taliban-like destruction of statuary , and the Trotskyization of the past—whose luminaires are suddenly deemed enemies of the people—was mostly unknown .
Not now .
By summer 2020 , the Left was well beyond defacing , toppling , and destroying en masse statues of Confederate generals .
The mob of Antifa , BLM , and renegade students had gone on to “ dead white males ” in general , whether it was Miguel de Cervantes , Father Junipero Serra , or Abraham Lincoln .
What was new in American history was that mobs @ @ @ @ @ @ @ deface any statue or icon they wished—with impunity .
For the foreseeable future , no civic organization or municipality will erect a statue , without first informally consulting the local Antifa thugocracy .
Antifa and BLM so terrified authorities that the latter often preemptively retired their once revered statutes , usually by night and without a vote of a local council or plebiscite .
Hundreds are now hidden away in sheds and storage , apparently on the chance that a saner generation in a century or so may one day resurrect them as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reverse of statue toppling was also true , as the work of destructive creation was sanctified .
BLM could simply declare plazas or sections of streets its own , brand them with its trademark BLM signature , and rightly assume mayors in Washington and New York would protect their sloganeering with the force of law—in the fashion of the Old West in which cowboys were given free rein in saloons to shoot and destroy .
Defacing had now been redefined as the good ruining of public property .
What is illegal is the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ original condition before it was illegally painted over with BLM slogans .
From now on , mobs know that destroying art , statues , and monuments is their birthright—at least if they are professed revolutionaries .
Class War Is OK : Well before Trump , the country was bifurcating into two nations , two globalized bicoastal , wealthy internationalized ribbons within 50 miles of the Atlantic and Pacific , with a vast red interior in between .
The distinctions were subtle and often hard to stereotype .
But the former America was mostly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the college educated and pseudo-credentialed , but more also without practical ability .
They were mostly in control of the nation ’ s culture and politics—as defined by the administrative state , bureaucracies , media , academia , foundations , corporate boardrooms , Wall Street , Silicon Valley , Hollywood , the elite echelon of the military , professional sports , and entertainment in general .
Yet the latter in-between the oceans was what still fed , built , and fueled America .
That is , the interior is where the food @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , timber is cut , cement , steel , and building materials are fashioned , and things get built—from cars to tractors to plastics to shingles .
Globalization gave the coastal elite a new market of 7 billion—and to the interior , outsourcing , offshoring , and stagnant incomes .
During COVID-19 , the abyss widened between Zoomers and Muscles .
The one often stayed home and made about the same or more than the pre-quarantine days .
They enriched Amazon and various delivery services that brought food , meals , and “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The world outside their walls terrified many of the Zoomers as if America was Camus ’ La Peste , or amid the great plague at Athens .
The others kept driving trucks , spent their savings and borrowed to save their small businesses by following the orders of the ensconced—buy more air filters , refit your business , empty out three-quarters of your restaurant , shut down your florist shop .
Had California Governor Gavin Newsom , mostly enriched by others , ever been subject to his own executive orders , he never @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lost their jobs , while millions made more than ever .
And the rationale ?
The elite Left apparently shrugged that the deplorables who dropped off their Amazon goods , or trucked in their new Pelosi-style refrigerator , or delivered the daily produce to the French Laundry , never quite got with the plan .
In our brave new world , Oprah was a victim , the guy on a forklift in Modesto was her oppressor .
Mark Zuckerberg was a leftist ; a Latino small business owner , a sell-out .
Like @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is run by billionaires , albeit at times masquerading in “ cool ” flip-flops , nose rings , and hip T-shirts .
Barack Obama is the master of the script , now and then emerging from one of his three mansions to lecture the nation on the revolutionary logic of adding new states , or the false-consciousness of black males , or the voting pathologies of counter-revolutionary Latinos .
The Left ’ s officer corps is the wealthy professional of the upper middle class , its legions of highly paid and well pensioned @ @ @ @ @ @ @ apparatus , all united by the fierce protection of their privileges under the pretense of protecting “ the poor , ” “ the children , ” “ the nonwhite , ” all from the ravages of the supposed lower white middle class without privilege .
White Americans who are branded with degrees and certifications defend their own “ unearned ” privilege by assuring minorities that they are the vanguard of the woke and know best how to spot “ white privilege ” among those who have none of it .
The result has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the white elite give written and five-minute oral confessions of their “ unearned ” status to save their jobs and lifestyles—usually at the expense of those distant Americans , who have less status , money , and power than the beneficiaries of their virtue-signaling .
Rarely has illiberality and bias been so redefined as social justice .
So the Left weaponized an entire culture .
Everything from lifestyle magazines and NBA games to Netflix and fashion are now aimed at squaring the circle of hard-Left megaphoning and disguising privilege with “ taste ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the party once of the Bushes and Romneys is now the party of the working-class deplorables—earning the everlasting hatred of the NeverTrump elite , whose interest in conservatism was mostly its bicoastal cultural cachet , not in any concern with bettering the plight of millions of the working lower middle classes .
The losers of a sustained class war are now felt by the winners to deserve it as proper recompense for their alleged illiberality .
The summer of COVID-19 , quarantines , riot and arson , and an absence of confidence in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lot of scars—and we will always bear them from now on .
Victor Davis Hanson is an American military historian , columnist , former classics professor , and scholar of ancient warfare .
He was a professor of classics at California State University , Fresno , and is currently the Martin and Illie Anderson Senior Fellow at Stanford University ’ s Hoover Institution .
He has been a visiting professor at Hillsdale College since 2004 .
Photo “ Riots and Fire ” by Laurie Schaull CC2.0 .

by Victor Davis Hanson
Amid plague, national lockdown, riot and arson, iconoclasm, recession, and the most contested voting in history, the country leaves 2020 with some scars that won’t heal.
Mail-in Voting: Election Day as we once knew it no longer really exists. It has been warped, trimmed, and made nearly irrelevant in the panic of the times. The prior, but now accelerating, changes and the “never let a good crisis go to waste” efforts during the COVID-19 lockdown rammed through vast changes in previous voting norms. If the Democrats win the two U.S. Senate runoffs in Georgia, new federal voting mandates designed to supersede state laws will institutionalize the chaos.
During the slow-motion November election “process,” the last presidential debate that Donald Trump won mattered little. Some 50 million people had already voted—and 100 million would before Election Day. The Hunter Biden scandal? Even had the media covered it, the result of such new laws would have made it a late October sparkler rather than a fiery bombshell.
When some precincts reported over 90 percent turnout, and when it was impossible to verify the authenticity of such a massive influx of votes, and when the tallying went on for days and weeks in some jurisdictions, gone entirely was the idea that Americans showed up on Election Day—with only a minority of elderly, sick, or at work voting by absentee ballots. Under the old system voters showed their IDs as if they were cashing a check, signed in, had their names checked against voting rolls, and then were directed to a booth, with the election decided in a few hours—in other words, a tradition that did not always yield the correct results.
Mail-in voting now joins open borders and promises to pack the Supreme Court, and junk the Electoral College, as systematic efforts to change the system when the system cannot guarantee the Left the retention of power. It will be impossible to return to a mostly Election Day vote, and so another American tradition of more than two centuries has been jettisoned cavalierly.
Legal Looting: America had seen violent protests throughout its history. Many had been marked by opportunistic rioting, looting, killing, and arson that often overwhelmed police, the state guard, and even the insertion of federal troops. And in the mid- to late-20th century, the result in cities from Los Angeles and Detroit to Baltimore were areas of unrest that for brief periods were effectively no-go zones where the only law in the arena was the rule of stronger and more brutal.
But what was new about the recent destructive rioting in Seattle, Portland, Washington, and New York during the summer of 2020, following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody, were three strange developments.
First, local and state authorities did not regularly try to suppress the violence. They either sympathized with the complaints of lawless Antifa and Black Lives Matter rioters or found the general chaos and sense of unrest during the Trump Administration conducive for Joe Biden’s candidacy in the November presidential election.
In the past, on rare occasions, authorities and police had sided with the rioters and let their terror and destruction and lawlessness continue without restraint—as during the Tulsa Race Riots of 1921 that saw blacks gunned down and their property burned with impunity by white vigilantes while civic authorities looked the other way. Birmingham, Alabama public safety commissioner Bull Connor in 1961 on occasion more or less let the Klan crack heads as it pleased. But rarely in modern times have authorities abdicated and let a Lord of the Flies mentality take over their downtowns, as Seattle officials did with the “Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone” over the summer.
Second, when violent demonstrators, arsonists, and looters were on rare occasions arrested, in most cases they were released by local and state public prosecutors, many of whom clearly sympathized with their use of violence. The result was a crash in police morale. To arrest a violent offender was simply deemed a waste of time and money, given his near-instant release and likelihood that he would never face any consequences for his actions.
In other words, as is the case in former Third World countries, America’s criminal justice system became warped. Now there was good and bad looting, permissible and outlawed arson, correct and incorrect resisting of arrest, and quarantine-violating mass rallying and mass rallying that is exempt from lockdowns. Carving out a swath of autonomy for rioters and looters in downtown Seattle proved legal; had a row of restaurants and bars done the same to be allowed to serve the people, they would have been fined, closed, and likely jailed.
Third, Democratic mayors are now avowed revolutionaries, at war with their own police departments—or at least those other than their security details that protect their families and property from the very Jacobins they empowered. In the old days, Democrats ran the cities, but a Richard Daley in Chicago, Jerome Cavanagh in Detroit, Sam Yorty in Los Angeles, or Frank Rizzo in Philadelphia at least assured the public that there would be consequences for law breaking and often begged for more federal support to quell unrest.
If one believes some of these prior mayors were racist, illiberal, or corrupt, then that indictment reflects the inherently racist traditions of the Democratic Party and its long history of delivering votes to Democratic candidates as the price of exempting their city machines from civil rights and racketeering investigations by mostly Democratic state and federal attorneys.
The common denominator with all of the above? There is no longer the rule of law as we once knew it.
Erasing Our Past: Coups, revolutions, and civil wars often witness the toppling of statues, usually of those identified as “tyrants” by self-described liberationists, reformers, and democratic activists. But in times of peace in general, and, in particular, in a constitutional United States, iconoclasm, Taliban-like destruction of statuary, and the Trotskyization of the past—whose luminaires are suddenly deemed enemies of the people—was mostly unknown.
Not now. By summer 2020, the Left was well beyond defacing, toppling, and destroying en masse statues of Confederate generals. The mob of Antifa, BLM, and renegade students had gone on to “dead white males” in general, whether it was Miguel de Cervantes, Father Junipero Serra, or Abraham Lincoln. What was new in American history was that mobs could assemble on spec and destroy or deface any statue or icon they wished—with impunity. For the foreseeable future, no civic organization or municipality will erect a statue, without first informally consulting the local Antifa thugocracy.
Antifa and BLM so terrified authorities that the latter often preemptively retired their once revered statutes, usually by night and without a vote of a local council or plebiscite. Hundreds are now hidden away in sheds and storage, apparently on the chance that a saner generation in a century or so may one day resurrect them as reminders of 21st-century mass insanity.
The reverse of statue toppling was also true, as the work of destructive creation was sanctified. BLM could simply declare plazas or sections of streets its own, brand them with its trademark BLM signature, and rightly assume mayors in Washington and New York would protect their sloganeering with the force of law—in the fashion of the Old West in which cowboys were given free rein in saloons to shoot and destroy. Defacing had now been redefined as the good ruining of public property. What is illegal is the attempt to restore a street to its original condition before it was illegally painted over with BLM slogans. From now on, mobs know that destroying art, statues, and monuments is their birthright—at least if they are professed revolutionaries.
Class War Is OK: Well before Trump, the country was bifurcating into two nations, two globalized bicoastal, wealthy internationalized ribbons within 50 miles of the Atlantic and Pacific, with a vast red interior in between. The distinctions were subtle and often hard to stereotype. But the former America was mostly left-wing. The corridors had higher percentages of the college educated and pseudo-credentialed, but more also without practical ability. They were mostly in control of the nation’s culture and politics—as defined by the administrative state, bureaucracies, media, academia, foundations, corporate boardrooms, Wall Street, Silicon Valley, Hollywood, the elite echelon of the military, professional sports, and entertainment in general.
Yet the latter in-between the oceans was what still fed, built, and fueled America. That is, the interior is where the food grows, oil and gas gets pumped, timber is cut, cement, steel, and building materials are fashioned, and things get built—from cars to tractors to plastics to shingles. Globalization gave the coastal elite a new market of 7 billion—and to the interior, outsourcing, offshoring, and stagnant incomes.
During COVID-19, the abyss widened between Zoomers and Muscles. The one often stayed home and made about the same or more than the pre-quarantine days. They enriched Amazon and various delivery services that brought food, meals, and “stuff” to their front doors. The world outside their walls terrified many of the Zoomers as if America was Camus’ La Peste, or amid the great plague at Athens.
The others kept driving trucks, spent their savings and borrowed to save their small businesses by following the orders of the ensconced—buy more air filters, refit your business, empty out three-quarters of your restaurant, shut down your florist shop. Had California Governor Gavin Newsom, mostly enriched by others, ever been subject to his own executive orders, he never would have been Gavin Newsom. Millions lost their jobs, while millions made more than ever. And the rationale? The elite Left apparently shrugged that the deplorables who dropped off their Amazon goods, or trucked in their new Pelosi-style refrigerator, or delivered the daily produce to the French Laundry, never quite got with the plan. In our brave new world, Oprah was a victim, the guy on a forklift in Modesto was her oppressor. Mark Zuckerberg was a leftist; a Latino small business owner, a sell-out.
Like it or not, the Democratic Party is run by billionaires, albeit at times masquerading in “cool” flip-flops, nose rings, and hip T-shirts. Barack Obama is the master of the script, now and then emerging from one of his three mansions to lecture the nation on the revolutionary logic of adding new states, or the false-consciousness of black males, or the voting pathologies of counter-revolutionary Latinos.
The Left’s officer corps is the wealthy professional of the upper middle class, its legions of highly paid and well pensioned government employees, and the elite woke apparatus, all united by the fierce protection of their privileges under the pretense of protecting “the poor,” “the children,” “the nonwhite,” all from the ravages of the supposed lower white middle class without privilege.
White Americans who are branded with degrees and certifications defend their own “unearned” privilege by assuring minorities that they are the vanguard of the woke and know best how to spot “white privilege” among those who have none of it. The result has been a charade of confessionals, as the white elite give written and five-minute oral confessions of their “unearned” status to save their jobs and lifestyles—usually at the expense of those distant Americans, who have less status, money, and power than the beneficiaries of their virtue-signaling.
Rarely has illiberality and bias been so redefined as social justice.
So the Left weaponized an entire culture. Everything from lifestyle magazines and NBA games to Netflix and fashion are now aimed at squaring the circle of hard-Left megaphoning and disguising privilege with “taste” and “discretion.”
How weird that the party once of the Bushes and Romneys is now the party of the working-class deplorables—earning the everlasting hatred of the NeverTrump elite, whose interest in conservatism was mostly its bicoastal cultural cachet, not in any concern with bettering the plight of millions of the working lower middle classes. The losers of a sustained class war are now felt by the winners to deserve it as proper recompense for their alleged illiberality.
The summer of COVID-19, quarantines, riot and arson, and an absence of confidence in the sanctity of voting ended with a lot of scars—and we will always bear them from now on.
– – –
Victor Davis Hanson is an American military historian, columnist, former classics professor, and scholar of ancient warfare. He was a professor of classics at California State University, Fresno, and is currently the Martin and Illie Anderson Senior Fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution. He has been a visiting professor at Hillsdale College since 2004.
Photo “Riots and Fire” by Laurie Schaull CC2.0.


thetennesseestar--2020-12-08--Blacksburg Council Considering Ordinance to Ban Carrying of Firearms in Certain Locations

The Blacksburg Town Council will consider passing a proposed ordinance that bans the carrying of firearms on town property as well as in public spaces when being used for or next to a permitted event .
Localities in the Commonwealth are now allowed to take such action after the General Assembly passed legislation during the 2020 regular session last spring and took effect in July .
Specifically , Blacksburg ’ s proposed ordinance would prohibit the possession , carrying or transportation of firearms in any town-owned buildings , parks and community centers as well as any public street , right-of-way @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the public , and is being used as part of or adjacent to a permitted event , according to the document .
The ordinance does not apply to military personnel , law enforcement officers , armed security officers with specific licenses or college reserve officer training corps ( ROTC ) programs , and would be punishable as a Class One misdemeanor , according to the document .
“ I think [ the ordinance ] is the right thing for our town , ” Blacksburg Town Council member John Bush said in an interview @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I do think that from my general understanding of the people that live here and the feedback and communication that I have received our town citizens will support this.
” “ For me , I ’ m going to side with the folks that don ’ t want to be with people who are carrying weapons , they ’ re not comfortable with that , ” Bush added .
“ We want people to come to our council meetings and our planning commission hearings and all this , but we don ’ t @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have guns .
It ’ s the same way with our street fares.
” Bush also said the Blacksburg police chief and his force supports the ordinance , and , in response to emails from people against the changes , mentioned that not bringing a gun into a public building would be the exact same as going into a courthouse , school or other places where firearms are prohibited .
Nevertheless , Bush did say that he was willing to consider and speak with other councilmembers about making one change to the ordinance @ @ @ @ @ @ @ permit holders to do so during street fares and other local events .
Several gun rights groups in Virginia are not too happy with Blacksburg ’ s ordinance , however .
“ At the National Association of Gun Rights , we are opposed to all local level gun bans , ” Chris Stone , director of communications for the National Association of Gun Rights , told The Star .
“ When local counties and cities create a patchwork of gun control , it jeopardizes law-abiding citizens ’ ability to protect themselves while they @ @ @ @ @ @ @ certainly oppose bans on law-abiding citizens carrying firearms.
” John Crump , Virginia state director of Gun Owners of America , and Philip Van Cleave , president of the Virginia Citizens Defense League , both argued that the ordinance makes it harder for gun owners to know when they are allowed to legally carry or not and does not make communities safer .
“ We have a right to keep and bear arms , we have a right to protect ourselves and anytime the government or anybody else steps in and denies that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
That is a problem , ” Van Cleave said .
“ We reject [ the ordinance ] , we reject the whole thing.
” The town council is expected to make a decision at its January 12th meeting , according to Bush .
If passed , Blacksburg would join seven other localities in Virginia that have already enacted similar ordinances .
Those localities include : Arlington and Fairfax counties as well as the cities of Alexandria , Falls Church , Charlottesville , Newport News and Richmond .
Jacob Taylor is a reporter @ @ @ @ @ @ @ News Digital Network .
Follow Jacob on Twitter .
Email tips to [ email protected ] .
Photo “ Blacksburg Town Council ” by Blacksburg Town Council .

The Blacksburg Town Council will consider passing a proposed ordinance that bans the carrying of firearms on town property as well as in public spaces when being used for or next to a permitted event.
Localities in the Commonwealth are now allowed to take such action after the General Assembly passed legislation during the 2020 regular session last spring and took effect in July.
Specifically, Blacksburg’s proposed ordinance would prohibit the possession, carrying or transportation of firearms in any town-owned buildings, parks and community centers as well as any public street, right-of-way or other space that is open to the public, and is being used as part of or adjacent to a permitted event, according to the document.
The ordinance does not apply to military personnel, law enforcement officers, armed security officers with specific licenses or college reserve officer training corps (ROTC) programs, and would be punishable as a Class One misdemeanor, according to the document.
“I think [the ordinance] is the right thing for our town,” Blacksburg Town Council member John Bush said in an interview with The Virginia Star. “And I do think that from my general understanding of the people that live here and the feedback and communication that I have received our town citizens will support this.”
“For me, I’m going to side with the folks that don’t want to be with people who are carrying weapons, they’re not comfortable with that,” Bush added. “We want people to come to our council meetings and our planning commission hearings and all this, but we don’t want to be intimidated by people that have guns. It’s the same way with our street fares.”
Bush also said the Blacksburg police chief and his force supports the ordinance, and, in response to emails from people against the changes, mentioned that not bringing a gun into a public building would be the exact same as going into a courthouse, school or other places where firearms are prohibited.
Nevertheless, Bush did say that he was willing to consider and speak with other councilmembers about making one change to the ordinance, which would allow legal concealed carry permit holders to do so during street fares and other local events.
Several gun rights groups in Virginia are not too happy with Blacksburg’s ordinance, however.
“At the National Association of Gun Rights, we are opposed to all local level gun bans,” Chris Stone, director of communications for the National Association of Gun Rights, told The Star. “When local counties and cities create a patchwork of gun control, it jeopardizes law-abiding citizens’ ability to protect themselves while they are out in public, so we certainly oppose bans on law-abiding citizens carrying firearms.”
John Crump, Virginia state director of Gun Owners of America, and Philip Van Cleave, president of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, both argued that the ordinance makes it harder for gun owners to know when they are allowed to legally carry or not and does not make communities safer.
“We have a right to keep and bear arms, we have a right to protect ourselves and anytime the government or anybody else steps in and denies that, that is a basic civil right. That is a problem,” Van Cleave said. “We reject [the ordinance], we reject the whole thing.”
The town council is expected to make a decision at its January 12th meeting, according to Bush.
If passed, Blacksburg would join seven other localities in Virginia that have already enacted similar ordinances. Those localities include: Arlington and Fairfax counties as well as the cities of Alexandria, Falls Church, Charlottesville, Newport News and Richmond.
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Jacob Taylor is a reporter at The Virginia Star and the Star News Digital Network. Follow Jacob on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Blacksburg Town Council” by Blacksburg Town Council.


thetennesseestar--2020-12-08--Georgia’s Fulton County Says It Will Provide Chain of Custody Records for Absentee Ballots from Drop

Georgia’s Fulton County Says It Will Provide Chain of Custody Records for Absentee Ballots from Drop Boxes by January 19, 2021 – One Day Before Presidential Inauguration

The Georgia Star News filed an open records request on Tuesday , December 1 , for all “ ballot transfer forms ” from the Nov. 3 General Election in Fulton County .
Fulton County stated : “ We believe we can have responsive records to you by January 19 , 2021 .
That said , should responsive materials come available sooner , we will provide them to you.
” January 19 is two weeks after the Georgia January 5 runoff will take place – one day before Presidential Inauguration Day .
There has been no response from Fulton County in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
According to the Georgia Open Records Act : Any citizen of the state can request public records and requesters do not have to state a purpose .
Once they have been obtained , there is no restriction on how records can be used , and agencies have three days to supply a response .
As previously reported by The Georgia Star News : Throughout the state , approximately 300 drop boxes were used to collect absentee ballots in the November 2020 general election , authorized under Georgia Election Code Emergency Rule 183-1-14-0.8-.14 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ every absentee ballot drop box collection team “ shall complete and sign a ballot transfer form upon removing the ballots from the drop box , which shall include the date , time , location and number of ballots .
The “ ballot transfer forms ” are a part of the new rule and were created in order to document the chain of custody of ballots collected from drop boxes .
The code also requires that “ the ballots from the drop box shall be immediately transported to the county registrar and processed and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ballots returned by mail are processed and stored .
The county registrar or a designee thereof shall sign the ballot transfer form upon receipt of the ballots from the collection team.
” Additionally , Gwinnett County advises they are working on locating the forms but has not produced them yet , and Fulton County has not even responded to The Star ’ s requests .
An open records request was filed with DeKalb County as well , requesting the same documents .
The Georgia Star News previously reported that they were received from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Q .
Bond , Jr. , stated , “ it has not yet been determined if responsive records to your request exist.
” The 2016 election results in Fulton County , Hillary Clinton received 281,875 votes , Donald Trump received 110,372 and other candidates received 14,926 for a total of 407,173 votes cast .
Unofficially , the 2020 election votes cast in Fulton County have Donald Trump with 137,240 votes and Biden with 381,144 votes .
Tiffany Morgan is a reporter at The Georgia Star News and the Star News Network .
Email @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ Atlanta ” by Fulton County Clerk .

The Georgia Star News filed an open records request on Tuesday, December 1, for all “ballot transfer forms” from the Nov. 3 General Election in Fulton County.
Fulton County stated: “We believe we can have responsive records to you by January 19, 2021. That said, should responsive materials come available sooner, we will provide them to you.”
January 19 is two weeks after the Georgia January 5 runoff will take place – one day before Presidential Inauguration Day.
There has been no response from Fulton County in regard to the open records request filed. According to the Georgia Open Records Act:
Any citizen of the state can request public records and requesters do not have to state a purpose. Once they have been obtained, there is no restriction on how records can be used, and agencies have three days to supply a response. Open Records Act O.C.G.A. §50-18-70 et seq.
As previously reported by The Georgia Star News:
Throughout the state, approximately 300 drop boxes were used to collect absentee ballots in the November 2020 general election, authorized under Georgia Election Code Emergency Rule 183-1-14-0.8-.14 passed in July 2020 which states that every absentee ballot drop box collection team “shall complete and sign a ballot transfer form upon removing the ballots from the drop box, which shall include the date, time, location and number of ballots. The “ballot transfer forms” are a part of the new rule and were created in order to document the chain of custody of ballots collected from drop boxes. The code also requires that “the ballots from the drop box shall be immediately transported to the county registrar and processed and stored in the same manner as absentee ballots returned by mail are processed and stored. The county registrar or a designee thereof shall sign the ballot transfer form upon receipt of the ballots from the collection team.”
Additionally, Gwinnett County advises they are working on locating the forms but has not produced them yet, and Fulton County has not even responded to The Star News’ requests.
An open records request was filed with DeKalb County as well, requesting the same documents. The Georgia Star News previously reported that they were received from Assistant County Attorney at DeKalb County Dexter Q. Bond, Jr., stated, “it has not yet been determined if responsive records to your request exist.”
The 2016 election results in Fulton County, Hillary Clinton received 281,875 votes, Donald Trump received 110,372 and other candidates received 14,926 for a total of 407,173 votes cast.
Unofficially, the 2020 election votes cast in Fulton County have Donald Trump with 137,240 votes and Biden with 381,144 votes.
– – –
Tiffany Morgan is a reporter at The Georgia Star News and the Star News Network. Email tips to [email protected]
Photo “Atlanta” by Fulton County Clerk.


thetennesseestar--2020-12-08--Nancy Pelosi Raises Money for Her Preferred Georgia U.S. Senate Candidates Jon Ossoff and Raphael Wa

Nancy Pelosi Raises Money for Her Preferred Georgia U.S. Senate Candidates Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock

U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi ( D-CA-12 ) was scheduled to hold a virtual fundraiser Monday for Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock , who both want to represent Georgia in the U.S. Senate .
Representatives from both Ossoff ’ s and Warnock ’ s campaigns did not return The Georgia Star News ’ requests for comment Monday .
Neither Ossoff nor Warnock mentioned Pelosi or her reported fundraiser on either of their Facebook pages Monday .
As reported , U.S. Sen. David Perdue ( R-GA ) and U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler ( R-GA ) , are on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the U.S. Senate against Ossoff and Warnock , respectively .
Perdue , in an emailed press release , said “ the radical left knows that the Ossoff-Warnock ticket is their pathway to total control of Congress.
” “ That ’ s why Nancy Pelosi will now begin raising money for the two Democrats .
The Baltimore Sun reports that Pelosi will host a virtual fundraiser for out-of-state donors on behalf of Ossoff and Warnock , who have both reportedly raised over 80 percent of their donations from outside of Georgia , ” Perdue @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Pelosi and her super PAC were some of Ossoff ’ s top sources of support in his failed 2017 Congressional run .
This comes after Pelosi ’ s Senate counterpart Chuck Schumer was caught on video claiming , ‘ now we take Georgia , then we change America !
’ Ossoff has embraced their support , along with self-described socialists Bernie Sanders and AOC , who have become some of Ossoff ’ s most active surrogates since the runoff began.
” Georgia Republican Party spokeswoman Abigail Sigler , meanwhile , said in a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ should keep her San Francisco values out of Georgia.
” As The Georgia Star News reported Sunday , U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders ( I-VT ) endorsed Ossoff and Warnock to represent Georgia in the U.S. Senate .
“ We ’ re all working as hard as we can to make sure that the two Democratic candidates win in Georgia , ” Sanders , a socialist , said on MSNBC .
“ Those two elections will clearly have a profound impact on everybody in our country.
” “ Again , look , I think @ @ @ @ @ @ @ care is a human right in this country is welcome , is necessary , is appreciated .
And so is his support.
” As The Georgia Star News reported last month , members of a left-leaning environmental group said Georgia ’ s two U.S. Senate races are the key to them and their political allies in Washington , D.C. enacting the Green New Deal into law .
According to an emailed Sunrise Movement newsletter , members think they can use the Georgia U.S. Senate elections “ to transform this country.
” The newsletter @ @ @ @ @ @ @ primary U.S. Senate candidates would help them achieve their goals .
The Green New Deal , however , is a Democratic Party initiative .
Chris Butler is an investigative journalist at The Tennessee Star .
Follow Chris on Facebook .
Email tips to [ email protected ]

U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA-12) was scheduled to hold a virtual fundraiser Monday for Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, who both want to represent Georgia in the U.S. Senate.
This, according to an article that The Baltimore Sun published Monday.
Representatives from both Ossoff’s and Warnock’s campaigns did not return The Georgia Star News’ requests for comment Monday. Neither Ossoff nor Warnock mentioned Pelosi or her reported fundraiser on either of their Facebook pages Monday.
As reported, U.S. Sen. David Perdue (R-GA) and U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA), are on the January 5, 2021 ballot for the U.S. Senate against Ossoff and Warnock, respectively.
Perdue, in an emailed press release, said “the radical left knows that the Ossoff-Warnock ticket is their pathway to total control of Congress.”
“That’s why Nancy Pelosi will now begin raising money for the two Democrats. The Baltimore Sun reports that Pelosi will host a virtual fundraiser for out-of-state donors on behalf of Ossoff and Warnock, who have both reportedly raised over 80 percent of their donations from outside of Georgia,” Perdue said in the press release.
“Pelosi and her super PAC were some of Ossoff’s top sources of support in his failed 2017 Congressional run. This comes after Pelosi’s Senate counterpart Chuck Schumer was caught on video claiming, ‘now we take Georgia, then we change America!’ Ossoff has embraced their support, along with self-described socialists Bernie Sanders and AOC, who have become some of Ossoff’s most active surrogates since the runoff began.”
Georgia Republican Party spokeswoman Abigail Sigler, meanwhile, said in a separate press release that “Nancy Pelosi should keep her San Francisco values out of Georgia.”
As The Georgia Star News reported Sunday, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) endorsed Ossoff and Warnock to represent Georgia in the U.S. Senate.
“We’re all working as hard as we can to make sure that the two Democratic candidates win in Georgia,” Sanders, a socialist, said on MSNBC.
“Those two elections will clearly have a profound impact on everybody in our country.”
On CNN last week, Ossoff embraced Sanders.
“I welcome his support,” Ossoff said.
“Again, look, I think that his advocacy for ensuring that health care is a human right in this country is welcome, is necessary, is appreciated. And so is his support.”
As The Georgia Star News reported last month, members of a left-leaning environmental group said Georgia’s two U.S. Senate races are the key to them and their political allies in Washington, D.C. enacting the Green New Deal into law.
Members of this group, the Sunrise Movement, announced their intentions late last month.
According to an emailed Sunrise Movement newsletter, members think they can use the Georgia U.S. Senate elections “to transform this country.” The newsletter did not identify which of the four primary U.S. Senate candidates would help them achieve their goals. The Green New Deal, however, is a Democratic Party initiative.
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Chris Butler is an investigative journalist at The Tennessee Star. Follow Chris on Facebook. Email tips to [email protected]


thetennesseestar--2020-12-08--Mike Pence Will Return to Georgia, Scheduled to Hold Rally in Augusta on Thursday

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence is scheduled to return to Georgia on Thursday , and this time he ’ s traveling to Augusta .
“ On Thursday , December 10th , Vice President Mike Pence will return to Georgia for a Defend the Majority Rally in Augusta , ” according to the press release .
“ The Vice President will deliver remarks on the historic accomplishments of the Trump Administration and the Republican Senate Majority.
” Pence is scheduled to speak at this Defend the Majority Rally Thursday at 2 p.m. at 1501 Aviation Way in Augusta .
Doors open @ @ @ @ @ @ @ said .
“ During President Trump and Vice President Pence ’ s Administration , they have worked with the Republican Senate Majority to enact pro-growth policies , which led to a record unemployment rate of 3.1 percent in Georgia and created over 239,000 Georgia jobs , including 11,600 manufacturing jobs , since Election Day 2016 , ” the press release said .
As The Georgia Star News reported last month , Pence , looking and sounding very much like an election winner , told thousands of supporters in Canton that they must pray @ @ @ @ @ @ @ vote for U.S. Sen. David Perdue ( R-GA ) and U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler ( R-GA ) in January .
To motivate the crowd , Pence said the GOP ’ s agenda for America “ is one of greatness ” while Democrats ’ agenda “ is American decline.
” As reported , Perdue and Loeffler , both Republicans , are on the January 5 , 2021 ballot for the U.S. Senate against two Democrats , Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock , respectively .
At that same event , Perdue said the consequences of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ We are the last line of defense against this country making a change to the left that we won ’ t get to undo for maybe two , three , four , or five generations , ” Perdue said .
Chris Butler is an investigative journalist at The Tennessee Star .
Follow Chris on Facebook .
Email tips to [ email protected ]

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence is scheduled to return to Georgia on Thursday, and this time he’s traveling to Augusta.
This, according to a press release that Georgia Republican Party officials emailed Monday.
“On Thursday, December 10th, Vice President Mike Pence will return to Georgia for a Defend the Majority Rally in Augusta,” according to the press release.
“The Vice President will deliver remarks on the historic accomplishments of the Trump Administration and the Republican Senate Majority.”
Pence is scheduled to speak at this Defend the Majority Rally Thursday at 2 p.m. at 1501 Aviation Way in Augusta. Doors open at 12:30 p.m., the press release said.
“During President Trump and Vice President Pence’s Administration, they have worked with the Republican Senate Majority to enact pro-growth policies, which led to a record unemployment rate of 3.1 percent in Georgia and created over 239,000 Georgia jobs, including 11,600 manufacturing jobs, since Election Day 2016,” the press release said.
“Later that evening, the Vice President will return to Washington, D.C.”
As The Georgia Star News reported last month, Pence, looking and sounding very much like an election winner, told thousands of supporters in Canton that they must pray for America and that they also must vote for U.S. Sen. David Perdue (R-GA) and U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) in January.
To motivate the crowd, Pence said the GOP’s agenda for America “is one of greatness” while Democrats’ agenda “is American decline.”
As reported, Perdue and Loeffler, both Republicans, are on the January 5, 2021 ballot for the U.S. Senate against two Democrats, Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, respectively.
At that same event, Perdue said the consequences of not voting are too high.
“We are the last line of defense against this country making a change to the left that we won’t get to undo for maybe two, three, four, or five generations,” Perdue said.
“We cannot let that happen.”
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Chris Butler is an investigative journalist at The Tennessee Star. Follow Chris on Facebook. Email tips to [email protected]


thetennesseestar--2020-12-08--Federal Judge in Georgia Dismisses Sidney Powell Case: ‘You Should’ve Filed Months Earlier’

A federal judge in Georgia dismissed attorney Sidney Powell ’ s case on Monday , citing lack of standing and timeliness in filing the suit .
Judge Timothy Batten presided over Pearson , et al .
v. Kemp , et al – ultimately , he asserted that he lacked the authority to grant the relief sought by Powell .
Batten stated that the plaintiffs lacked standing to challenge the consent decree established by Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger .
Powell disagreed , arguing that the electors are part of the constitutional clause entitling voters to standing .
“ The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ You know , we ’ re not the federal courts .
We ’ re courts of limited jurisdiction , and we ’ re not open 24/7 to remedy every legal and constitutional issue that comes up , ' ” responded Batten .
“ They want state courts handling state elections disputes , even regarding federal elections .
The federal government has nothing to do with the state election , [ and ] how it ’ s conducted .
It ’ s the Secretary of State who is the chief election officer who decides @ @ @ @ @ @ @ state of Georgia investigate this ?
Why should a federal judge ?
” Powell argued that Batten had the jurisdiction to review the election under the United States Constitution , citing the Equal Protection Clause as one example .
“ There were numerous departures from the state statute , including the early processing of votes , and the de-facto obligation of signature matches that give rise to federal equal protection claims.
” Powell asserted that they ’ d present more than enough evidence to meet prima facie .
“ We need to have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to the American people .
Particularly an infringement that is built on the rule of law to know that their election system is fair and honest.
” Ultimately , Batten dismissed Powell ’ s requests for a decertification of the results .
The judge stated that Powell should ’ ve filed the lawsuit months earlier .
“ This suit could have been filed months ago at the time these machines were adopted .
Instead , the plaintiffs waited until over three weeks after the election to file the suit .
There ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I were to deny the motion to dismiss , the matter would be brought before the 11th Circuit , and the 11th Circuit would reverse me.
” A previous court case in Georgia from August challenged the security of the Dominion voting machines .
The judge opined that the plaintiffs accurately proved the machines ’ vulnerability to hacking and fraud .
However , the decision was reached only a month before the election .
As a result , the judge stated that she had no choice but to allow use of the machines @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is no longer available , and any links to those recordings may not be shared according to state law .
Corinne Murdock is a reporter at The Georgia Star News and the Star News Network .
Follow her latest on Twitter , or email tips to [ email protected ] .
Photo “ Judge Timothy Batten ” by University of Georgia School of Law .

A federal judge in Georgia dismissed attorney Sidney Powell’s case on Monday, citing lack of standing and timeliness in filing the suit. Judge Timothy Batten presided over Pearson, et al. v. Kemp, et al – ultimately, he asserted that he lacked the authority to grant the relief sought by Powell.
Batten stated that the plaintiffs lacked standing to challenge the consent decree established by Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. Powell disagreed, arguing that the electors are part of the constitutional clause entitling voters to standing.
“The Eleventh Circuit has basically said, ‘You know, we’re not the federal courts. We’re courts of limited jurisdiction, and we’re not open 24/7 to remedy every legal and constitutional issue that comes up,'” responded Batten. “They want state courts handling state elections disputes, even regarding federal elections. The federal government has nothing to do with the state election, [and] how it’s conducted. It’s the Secretary of State who is the chief election officer who decides it. Why shouldn’t the state of Georgia investigate this? Why should a federal judge?”
Powell argued that Batten had the jurisdiction to review the election under the United States Constitution, citing the Equal Protection Clause as one example.
“There were numerous departures from the state statute, including the early processing of votes, and the de-facto obligation of signature matches that give rise to federal equal protection claims.”
Powell asserted that they’d present more than enough evidence to meet prima facie.
“We need to have discovery. It’s so important to the American people. Particularly an infringement that is built on the rule of law to know that their election system is fair and honest.”
Ultimately, Batten dismissed Powell’s requests for a decertification of the results. The judge stated that Powell should’ve filed the lawsuit months earlier.
“This suit could have been filed months ago at the time these machines were adopted. Instead, the plaintiffs waited until over three weeks after the election to file the suit. There’s no question in my mind that if I were to deny the motion to dismiss, the matter would be brought before the 11th Circuit, and the 11th Circuit would reverse me.”
A previous court case in Georgia from August challenged the security of the Dominion voting machines. The judge opined that the plaintiffs accurately proved the machines’ vulnerability to hacking and fraud. However, the decision was reached only a month before the election. As a result, the judge stated that she had no choice but to allow use of the machines.
The audio recording of the hearing is no longer available, and any links to those recordings may not be shared according to state law.
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Corinne Murdock is a reporter at The Georgia Star News and the Star News Network. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Judge Timothy Batten” by University of Georgia School of Law.