Republicans

Jacksonville’s Fox affiliate reports: The Vice Chair of the Clay Soil and Water Conservation Board, and son of Clay County School Board Member Beth Clark, was arrested Sunday, January 19th in a child sex sting operation conducted by the Nassau County Sheriff’s Office. According to the arrest report, Harrison “Ted” Clark is accused of traveling to meet a child for …

Playbook reports: The House GOP will descend upon Miami later today for a policy retreat which will have seismic implications for Trump’s second term. Republican representatives are this morning boarding flights to Florida for a 48-hour retreat at — where else? — the Trump National Doral Miami. The guest of honor will be Trump himself, who is due to address …

Florida Politics reports: Consistent with Gov. Ron DeSantis’ request for legislation aligning with what President Donald Trump seeks from state efforts to fight illegal immigration, Spring Hill Republican Sen. Blaise Ingoglia filed legislation on Sunday that satisfies a robust range of crackdown targets. Senate Bill 2A offers a version of the “rebuttable presumption” DeSantis wanted, one that assumes detained illegal …

The Texas Tribune reports: Republicans are filing bills which aim to claw back vaccine requirements. There is even a House joint resolution proposing an amendment to the Texas Constitution that would preserve Texans’ right to refuse a vaccination. The proposal is among more than 20 bills endorsed by Texans For Vaccine Choice that have been filed, most of them before …

The New York Post reports: A Republican congresswoman is calling for the new commander in chief to be carved into the historic Mount Rushmore alongside fellow presidents Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Teddy Roosevelt. Florida Freshman Rep. Anna Paulina Luna echoed calls from conservatives and claims she will be introducing legislation to set it in stone. The patriotic …

Axios reports: Vice President Vance said in an interview aired Sunday that the US Conference of Catholic Bishops has “not been a good partner in common sense immigration enforcement” after the assembly condemned several of President Trump’s executive orders. A number of Christian organizations rebuked Trump’s immigration executive orders in the days after his inauguration, noting how they violate core …

“He had the legal authority to do it. But I fear that you will get more violence. Pardoning the people who went into the Capitol and beat up a police officer violently I think was a mistake, because it seems to suggest that’s an okay thing to do. “Biden pardoned half his family going out the door. I think most …

The Hill reports: Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-Fla.) is urging DHS to spare some migrants from Latin America and the Caribbean from being deported under the new administration’s immigration guidelines. She asked the acting DHS Secretary Benjamine Huffman to continue “protecting” Venezuelans, Haitians, Cubans and Nicaraguans who do not have criminal records and were permitted to enter and work in …

USA Today reports: In Arizona, a proposed bill aims to rename State Route 260 as the “Donald J. Trump Highway” as a tribute to his presidency. The bill, introduced by State Sen. Wendy Rogers, R- Flagstaff, cites Trump’s achievements for the designation, including winning the 2024 presidential election popular vote and “becoming the first Republican nominee for president to do …

Politico reports: Speaker Mike Johnson on Saturday extended an invitation for President Donald Trump to address a joint session of Congress on March 4, the first in Trump’s second presidency. In a letter to the president, Johnson invited Trump to “share your America First vision for our legislative future,” thanking him for his “strong leadership and bold action” in the …

The Tallahassee Democrat reports: Florida voters have used the citizens’ initiative process in recent years to usher in medical marijuana, a higher minimum wage and voting rights for those previously convicted of felonies. But their ability to advance future changes wanted by most voters yet opposed or disregarded by state lawmakers could soon be eliminated — if Gov. Ron DeSantis …

“The purpose of the 14th Amendment’s citizenship clause was to overturn the Dred Scott case, not to bestow citizenship on those present in the U.S. against the people’s will as expressed in law. “The executive order will be litigated until the Supreme Court decides the question, which it has never decided, of whether children born to illegal aliens get constitutionally-mandated …

The Associated Press reports: The Senate confirmed Kristi Noem as homeland security secretary on Saturday, putting the South Dakota governor in charge of a sprawling agency that is essential to national security and President Donald Trump’s plans to clamp down on illegal immigration. Noem, a Trump ally who is in her second term as governor, received some support from Democrats …

Boise’s NPR affiliate reports: The House State Affairs Committee overwhelmingly passed a resolution asking the Supreme Court to overturn its 2015 Obergefell vs. Hodges decision, which gave same-sex couples the right to marry nationwide. The resolution was passed 13 to 2 and now goes to the full House for further debate. Rep. Heather Scott [photo above] defended the measure saying …

Via press release from Sen. Mitch McConnell: “Mere desire to be a ‘change agent’ is not enough to fill these shoes. And ‘dust on boots’ fails even to distinguish this nominee from multiple predecessors of the last decade. Nor is it a precondition for success. Secretaries with distinguished combat experience and time in the trenches have failed at the job. …

From my June 2024 report: A Houston doctor has been indicted for obtaining the records of pediatric patients at Texas Children’s Hospital who were not under his care and without authorization, according to U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani. The indictment alleges Ethan Haim, 34, illegally accessed patient names, treatment codes and attending physicians “under false pretenses and with intent to …

Florida Politics reports: In front of a national stage at the March for Life rally, Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has framed himself as a champion for the pro-life movement, was inconsistent on his own history regarding abortion legislation. DeSantis told the crowd he ran for re-election on the Heartbeat Protection Act and was proof that Republicans could get elected after …

The Associated Press reports: The Supreme Court agreed Friday to take on a new culture war dispute: whether the nation’s first publicly funded religious charter school should be allowed to open in Oklahoma. The justices said they would review an Oklahoma Supreme Court decision that invalidated a state board’s approval of an application by the Catholic Church in Oklahoma to …

The Independent reports: The State Department on Friday froze new funding for almost all U.S. foreign assistance, making exceptions to allow humanitarian food programs and military aid to Israel and Egypt to continue. The sweeping order threatened a quick halt to countless projects globally aiding health, education, development, job training and other efforts by the United States, the largest provider …

The Chattanooga Free Press reports: The Tennessee Federation of Republican Women is coming under fire for providing parents a reading list for children that cites Adolf Hitler as an example of leadership. “Hitler and all intelligent leaders throughout history have understood that the way to change a country was through the training of its youth, to get them while they …