MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — A Tennessee library board voted Monday evening to remove all books promoting transgenderism to children from its system, facing down protesters who called them &#8220;Nazis&#8221; for taking the stand. 
The Rutherford County Library board voted 5-3 in favor of a resolution to take books encouraging children to adopt radical gender ideology off their shelves. The vote came after a tense 2-hour meeting attended by over 100 community members who showed up at the Historic Rutherford County Courthouse in Murfreesboro, about 34 miles from Nashville, to hear debate on the resolution.
The resolution directed the library to “remove material that promotes, encourages, advocates for or normalizes transgenderism or ‘gender confusion’ in minors.”
After the vote was taken, a group of supporters of the resolution, who showed up wearing white shirts, erupted with cheers and clapping. Opponents, who heckled the board throughout the meeting, shouted things like “Nazis!” at the library board. During debate on the resolution, audience members would break out in cheers after a board member spoke in favor of their position.
Cody York, who introduced the measure, said that he did so because the board had an obligation to protect children.
“The library board is expending money to keep books on the shelf. By just keeping a book we are making a decision to expend funds, taxpayer dollars, to keep those books there,” York said. “Books that promote transgender ideology are harmful to children.”
York referenced detransitioners across the country who have sued their doctors for performing transgender medical procedures on them.
“The state and federal government have determined that these are harmful practices,” York said, pointing to President Donald Trump’s executive order that the federal government would not promote transgender procedures on kids. “The fact that some children in our community struggle with gender confusion means that we should be equipping them to successfully deal with the dangers of, and root cause of, that danger.”
Before the votes, 10 community members were given 3 minutes each to speak.
“If we cause children to go down this road, they can make decisions they will regret for the rest of their lives. When we expose them to things that they don’t have a level to understand, it’s really sexualizing them,” a woman named Michelle said, urging the board to take away books promoting transgender ideology. “Children, they don’t have a capacity for this. If we say we love them, if we say that ‘you are loved,&#8217; ‘we loved you,’ we should want to tell that person the truth. Love is truth.”
Under the new policy, staff at libraries across the county would have to flag books promoting transgender ideology to kids and turn them over to the board for evaluation.
Board members who voted in favor included York, Marzee Woodard, Dina Piazza, Susan Quesenberry, and Shaun Wright. Those who voted against included Benjamin Groce, Kory Wells, and Rollie Holden.
Previously, in the meeting the board voted to remove a book called “Me &amp; My Dysphoria Monster,” a children&#8217;s illustrated book that tells the story of a boy who believes that he is a girl who meets a “trans man” who teaches him about gender dysphoria.
That vote was 5-2 along almost the same lines as the other vote, except with an abstention from Holden.
Tennessee state lawmakers have already moved to get sexually explicit books out of school libraries, and this new Rutherford County resolution would enact a similar policy at the county level for transgender ideology.

Transgender flag

Tennessee Town Faces Down Liberal Protests, Votes To Remove Books Promoting Transgenderism To Kids

gender ideology

Library

Social Issues

Tennessee

Transgender

U.S.

Federal authorities charged a previously deported illegal alien on Tuesday after he allegedly shot a man in front of his seven-year-old daughter in Nashville, Tennessee, authorities say.
Jose Guadalupe Vazquez-Delgado, a 36-year-old Mexican national, was <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-mdtn/pr/illegal-alien-charged-immigration-and-firearm-offenses-shooting-man-front-his-daughter">allegedly</a> drinking heavily at a house in Nashville&#8217;s Antioch neighborhood when he began arguing with the victim. The two men and the victim’s young daughter went outside, where Vazquez-Delgado allegedly shot the victim several times before fleeing the home.
Authorities say that Vazquez-Delgado left behind his Mexican passport, 14 shell casings, and his truck at the site of the crime. The victim was transported to the emergency room and received life-saving medical care.
The illegal alien, who federal authorities say has been deported from the United States twice, has now been charged with possession of ammunition by an illegal alien and unlawful reentry into the U.S. Vazquez-Delgado could face up to 15 years in federal prison for the firearm charge and another two years for the illegal reentry charge.
“Operations like this underscore the FBI’s commitment to working with our partners to keep dangerous people and weapons from infecting our communities,” said Joseph E. Carrico, the Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Nashville Field Office. “The FBI in Tennessee is committed to actively investigating and apprehending individuals wanted for federal violations and those unlawfully present in the United States and remains steadfast in its mission to uphold the Constitution.”
Federal authorities have recently charged illegal aliens with various crimes in Nashville. Just last month, eight Venezuelan illegal aliens were <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-mdtn/pr/eight-venezuelan-nationals-charged-offenses-related-their-roles-transnational">busted</a> for allegedly running a sex trafficking ring out of motels throughout the city.
Authorities say that three of those illegal aliens leveraged their connections to the violent Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, which President Donald Trump officially designated as a foreign terror organization, in order to coerce women into engaging in commercial sex acts. The operation was brought to a halt following a joint investigation from the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Agency, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, Homeland Security Investigations, and the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department.

ICE Agents

Previously Deported Illegal Alien Charged With Shooting A Man In Front Of His 7-Year-Old Daughter

Border

Crime

illegal alien

Illegal Immigration

Immigration

Nashville

County music legend Dolly Parton shared the heartbreaking news on Monday that her husband of nearly 60 years, Carl Dean, had died. He was 82.
In a message posted on the 79-year-old singer’s <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/DGwdXPoPvoj/">Instagram</a> account, Parton said that Dean passed away in Nashville and will be laid to rest in a private ceremony.
“Carl and I spent many wonderful years together. Words can’t do justice to the love we shared for over 60 years,” the country singer shared in a statement.  “Thank you for your prayers and sympathy.”
At the time of this publication, the cause of death has not been announced.
The Tennessee businessman and Parton met the day she moved to Nashville; she was 18, and he was 21. It was outside the Wishy Washy Laundromat, the <a href="https://apnews.com/article/dolly-parton-husband-carl-dean-dies-2b17ba0e44bcb864a3800bc17afdedeb?taid=67c648700119c30001f804d4&amp;utm_campaign=TrueAnthem&amp;utm_medium=AP&amp;utm_source=Twitter">Associated Press</a> reported.
“I was surprised and delighted that while he talked to me, he looked at my face (a rare thing for me),” Parton described of their meeting. “He seemed to be genuinely interested in finding out who I was and what I was about.”
Two years later, the two tied the knot at a small wedding in Ringgold, Georgia, on Memorial Day, May 30, 1966.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Some sad news…
Carl Dean, Dolly Parton’s husband of 58 years, has died.
He was 82.
“Carl and I spent many wonderful years together. Words can&#8217;t do justice to the love we shared for over 60 years. Thank you for your prayers and sympathy.&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/8D4kpXswbK">pic.twitter.com/8D4kpXswbK</a>
— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) <a href="https://twitter.com/yashar/status/1896720415973572624?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 4, 2025</a></blockquote>
While Parton’s career took off, Dean remained mostly out of the spotlight, supporting her behind the scenes, even being the inspiration to one of her biggest hits ever, “Jolene,” per <a href="https://www.npr.org/2008/10/09/95520570/dolly-partons-jolene-still-haunts-singers">NPR</a>.
“She got this terrible crush on my husband,” Parton said of a bank teller who seemed interested in Dean. “And he just loved going to the bank because she paid him so much attention.”
“It was kinda like a running joke between us — when I was saying, ‘Hell, you’re spending a lot of time at the bank. I don’t believe we’ve got that kind of money,’” she added. “So it’s really an innocent song all around, but sounds like a dreadful one.”
During a recent interview with Parton about the couple’s marriage, she opened up about their relationship and said it was just “meant to be.”
“I like it when people say, ‘How did it last so long?’ I say, ‘I stay going,&#8217;” Parton explained during an interview with <a href="https://etcanada.com/news/952554/dolly-parton-says-warped-sense-of-humour-is-key-to-56-year-marriage-with-carl-dean/">ET Canada</a>.
“You know, there’s a lot to be said about that. So, we’re not in each other’s face all the time. He’s not in the business, so we have different interests, but yet we have the things we love to do together,” she added. “So it was meant to be, I think. He was the one I was supposed to have and vice versa.”
After Parton was nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, she said Dean inspired her to make a rock album, something she accomplished in 2023, the <a href="https://apnews.com/article/dolly-parton-new-album-rockstar-15f6efbfe89e9370eee4bf71e0ea26de">AP</a> noted.
&#8220;I did it because I’m in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame,” Parton <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/06/entertainment/dolly-parton-husband-carl-dean/index.html">said</a>. It was Dean, she said, who “really made me make that final decision to think, ‘You know what? I’ve got this great opportunity to do this, and I’m just gonna do it.’&#8221;
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/dolly-parton-achieves-career-milestone-with-new-album-at-77" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dolly Parton Achieves Career Milestone With New Album At 77</a>

Dolly Parton

Dolly Parton Shares Heartbreaking News About Husband Of Nearly 60 Years

Celebrities

Country Music

Country singer

Death

Entertainment

LENOIR CITY, Tenn.—Nearly a year after a Nashville jury convicted them on federal conspiracy charges over a peaceful pro-life protest, a group of pro-life Christians reunited to celebrate their pardons from President Donald Trump, recount their time in prison, and encourage each other in the fight against abortion. 
In the year since they had last all been together, two had gone to prison, one was slated to go to prison, and the rest were restricted from traveling, owning guns, and voting. But thanks to Trump’s <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/they-should-not-have-been-prosecuted-trump-pardons-23-pro-lifers-targeted-by-biden-doj">January 23 pardons</a> of the nearly two dozen pro-lifers targeted by the Biden administration, 10 of the pardoned traveled last week for a reunion at the Patriot Church, just outside of Knoxville. 
Those pardoned who made the trek to East Tennessee included Paul Vaughn, Coleman Boyd, Dennis Green, Chet Gallagher, Heather Idoni, and Cal Zastrow, all of whom were <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/pro-life-demonstrators-found-guilty-face-up-to-11-years-in-federal-prison">convicted</a> on felony conspiracy charges in January 2024 over a sit-in at a now-closed Mt. Juliet, Tennessee abortion facility. Each of them had faced over a decade in prison, with Zastrow getting six months, Gallagaher 16 months, and Idoni eight months to run concurrently with her two year sentence over a similar protest in Washington, D.C. 
Other pardoned pro-lifers in attendance at the reunion were Paul Place, Eva Edl, and Eva Zastrow, who were convicted on a lesser Freedom of Access To Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act charge in Nashville; and Justin Phillips, who was convicted in August on conspiracy charges over a pro-life protest at a Michigan abortion facility.
Steven Lefemine, who spent 60 days in prison after sitting in front of the door to a South Carolina abortion facility, also was in attendance. He did not apply for a pardon because he wanted to continue to fight the FACE Act, which he says is unconstitutional. 
This reunion featured a potluck dinner, Christian worship songs, and testimonies from the pardoned pro-lifers.  
“I was in prison. I’m out of prison. Just like that. By one man’s signature. By a declaration that way. I was pardoned from prison by the president of the United States,” Zastrow said on Wednesday as he spoke to a cheering crowd at the Patriot Church while holding up a copy of his pardon.
Zastrow, who was imprisoned in Thomson Federal Correctional Institute in Illinois, said that he didn’t expect to be pardoned based on his experience with previous politicians. 
“I’ve helped other guys run for office and I just quit believing that when people promise what they’re going do when they’re elected,” Zastrow said. “So I don’t have real high expectations when somebody says they’re going to do something when they’re running for office.” 
He thanked the crowd for their letters and phone calls to his wife, saying that “God used your lobbying for a pardon.”
He added that he wasn’t afraid of prison because of his faith. 
“It&#8217;s because I just get so close to Jesus, I press in so close to Jesus and I just receive and accept his love for me and I just channel that out to other people,” he said. 
He recounted several stories from prison, including one involving a prison guard whom he said used to swear at the prisoners when they were in line for food. Zastrow said that one day the guard took God’s name in vain, and he responded by saying “praise your name oh Jesus,” after which the prisoners standing around him backed away from him because, he said, no one ever talked while they were in line for food. Everyone stopped for a moment before Zastrow said that the prison guard responded by saying, “Amen.”
“That was the last time he ever swore at us and took the Lord&#8217;s name in vain,” he said. 
Heather Idoni, another one of those who was freed from prison, also spoke about how prison gave her an opportunity to share her faith, joking that she had a “captive audience for the Gospel.” 
“Prison is the best federally-funded mission trip you can go on. Everywhere I went, there were women hungry for the Lord,” she said. “They didn’t, some didn’t know it yet. Do you know what I got to tell them? I got to say, ‘I’ve been praying for you for two years now and I didn’t even know who you were yet.&#8217;”
Idoni, who was convicted on FACE Act and felony conspiracy charges in Nashville, Detroit, and D.C., had been imprisoned since the summer of 2023, before she was freed in January. She previously spoke about how she was shuttled from prison to prison, exacerbating some of her health challenges. 
“God was keeping me every day, his peace, his presence, not one day without it,” she said. 
Both Idoni and Zastrow met new grandchildren for the first time when they were released from prison. 
The final pardoned pro-lifer to speak was 89-year-old Eva Edl, who spoke about her experience surviving a communist prison camp in Yugoslavia as a young girl. Edl said that witnessing Nazis targeting Jews and the communists targeting her people group because of their ethnic heritage motivated her to fight the dehumanization of the unborn.
Both of her parents were taken prisoner during World War II, and she was sent to a prison camp at the age of nine.
“The Nazis had taken my daddy. The Russians had taken my mother and my grandfather to dig trenches on the Russian side,” she said. 
She was shipped in a cattle car to the camp and nearly died of starvation while she was mistreated horrifically by the prison guards, saying that “people were eating rats and rats were eating people.”
During her time in prison, she said that she got her hands on a Christian prayer book, which was “more important to me than the food itself that I was craving.”  
“When you have that closeness and that peace, you lose the fear of anything else,” she said. 
Edl, her mother, brother, and sister eventually escaped to Austria before immigrating to America in the 1950s. Witnessing the horrific way that people were demonized motivated Edl to become outspokenly pro-life, and she began engaging in sit-ins at abortion facilities around the country. 
When pardoned, she was facing sentencing for a felony conspiracy charge after she sat outside an abortion facility in Sterling Heights, Michigan in 2020. She could have been sentenced to over a decade in federal prison before receiving a pardon from Trump.
Edl closed her testimony by urging churches to encourage adoption and support women in crisis pregnancies. She said she always wished that someone had stood up for her back when she was thrown into the prison camp, and that people should stand up for the unborn today. 
She turns 90 in May and is determined as ever to fight for the unborn. 
While they’ve been pardoned, the shakeout of the Biden pro-life prosecutions are still being played out in court, as lawyers for the defendants are attempting to present arguments that the FACE Act should be ruled unconstitutional and voided.

Screen Shot 2025-03-03 at 11.51.24 AM

‘By One Man’s Signature’: Pro-Life Defendants Reunite A Year After Conviction To Celebrate Pardons

Abortion

Department of Justice

FACE Act

Joe Biden

Pro-Life Movement

Secretary of Energy Chris Wright will travel to Oak Ridge, Tennessee, on Friday to tour nuclear facilities and take part in a summit on the future of artificial intelligence development in the United States.
Wright’s visit to Oak Ridge, one of the original sites of the Manhattan Project, comes after he spent Monday at New Mexico’s Los Alamos National Lab touring its highly secure supercomputing and plutonium facilities. At Oak Ridge, Wright will tour the site’s supercomputer and Y-12, a facility that produces and stores enriched uranium.
GOP Rep. Chuck Fleischmann of Tennessee, the chairman of the Energy and Water Appropriations subcommittee, will be one of several lawmakers hosting Wright.
“Oak Ridge and East Tennessee are at the forefront of developing groundbreaking new technologies such as AI, revitalizing our defense industrial base, and working to deliver on President Trump’s and Secretary Wright’s agenda to unleash American-made energy by expanding new nuclear power and technologies,” Fleischmann told The Daily Wire, adding that such advancements “are essential to our national security, economic prosperity, and powering our nation through the 21st Century.”
Wright’s visit to the Tennessee nuclear site comes as the administration prioritizes AI research and development to outperform U.S. adversaries like China. Wright will meet with OpenAI’s president and co-founder, Greg Brockman, on Friday and take part in a virtual summit described as a “1,000 Scientist AI Jam Session,” according to an Oak Ridge spokesman.
The summit is a “first-of-its-kind event being co-hosted by OpenAI and nine of the U.S. Department of Energy’s national labs to explore how AI can accelerate scientific discovery,” the spokesman told The Daily Wire. “Participants will have access to leading frontier AI models to test research applications, evaluate model responses, and help improve future AI systems. Secretary Wright and Mr. Brockman will give remarks and visit with participating Oak Ridge scientists.”
The participating national labs are Argonne, Berkeley, Brookhaven, Idaho, Livermore, Los Alamos, Oak Ridge, Pacific Northwest, and Princeton Plasma Physics.
Wright’s visits to Oak Ridge and Los Alamos emphasize the administration’s view of the importance of nuclear power. In an order signed on his first day as Energy Secretary, Wright said that the Trump administration aims to spark an “American nuclear renaissance” and that the United States should lead the “commercialization of affordable and abundant nuclear energy.”
That energy will be needed to power the U.S. development of energy-intensive AI models. In a video of his tour of Los Alamos, the secretary described the AI race as the “next Manhattan Project,” a reference to the U.S. research program that developed the atomic bomb during the Second World War.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
More than 70 years ago, the Manhattan Project brought together the world’s greatest scientists and engineers here in Los Alamos for a patriotic effort that changed the world.
The next Manhattan Project has arrived and with <a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@POTUS</a> leadership, we will win this critical race. <a href="https://t.co/E40rNzKgJJ">pic.twitter.com/E40rNzKgJJ</a>
&mdash; Secretary Chris Wright (@SecretaryWright) <a href="https://twitter.com/SecretaryWright/status/1894545339899641936?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 26, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Chris Wright

EXCLUSIVE: Trump Energy Sec To Visit Tennessee Nuclear Facility, Take Part In AI Summit

EXCLUSIVE: Trump Energy Sec To Visit TN Nuclear Facility, Take Part In AI Summit

Artificial Intelligence

Department of Energy

Energy

Politics

Trump Administration

The Supreme Court declined to hear a challenge to a Tennessee law that protects children from viewing sexually explicit performances.
The court on Monday denied a petition from Friends of George’s, a Memphis-based theater group, that claimed a law banning sexually explicit performances in front of children violated the First Amendment. In July, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 that the law could take effect, overturning a federal judge’s decision to block the law.
“Another big win for Tennessee! Today, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear Friends of George’s v. Mulroy,” Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti said. “Free speech is a sacred American value, but the First Amendment does not require Tennessee to allow sexually explicit performances in front of children,” said AG Skrmetti. “We will continue to defend TN’s law and children.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Another big win for Tennessee! Today, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear Friends of George’s v. Mulroy.
“Free speech is a sacred American value, but the First Amendment does not require Tennessee to allow sexually explicit performances in front of children,” said AG… <a href="https://t.co/Tqiyi3aXwz">pic.twitter.com/Tqiyi3aXwz</a>
— TN Attorney General (@AGTennessee) <a href="https://twitter.com/AGTennessee/status/1894126239918477600?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 24, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Tennessee Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson, who authored the legislation, also celebrated the news from the court.
“This court decision makes it clear that sexually explicit performances belong in spaces for adults, not in front of kids,&#8221; Johnson <a href="https://www.thecentersquare.com/tennessee/article_fd7e722e-f38a-11ef-b6b9-9faac744f0a2.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>. &#8220;Just because an event is labeled ‘family-friendly’ doesn’t mean it’s appropriate for children or reflects Tennessee’s values. This law establishes a necessary legal standard, ensuring that what is truly family friendly is clearly defined.&#8221;
The law was passed by the Republican-controlled state legislature in 2023 and signed by GOP Governor Bill Lee. In June of 2023, a federal judge blocked the law from going into effect, saying that it was “unconstitutionally vague and substantially overbroad.”
According to a <a href="https://wapp.capitol.tn.gov/apps/BillInfo/Default.aspx?BillNumber=SB0003&amp;ga=113" target="_blank" rel="noopener">summary</a> of the law, it “creates an offense for a person who engages in an adult cabaret performance on public property or in a location where the adult cabaret performance could be viewed by a person who is not an adult.”
The law passed after a series of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/taxpayer-funded-tennessee-performing-arts-center-hosted-all-ages-drag-christmas-show-as-republicans-propose-banning-similar-events" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reports</a> of drag performances across the state that were billed as “family friendly,” but were explicit in content.
The Supreme Court is currently considering another Tennessee law meant to protect children.
In December, the court heard arguments over Tennessee’s law that bans procedures like giving minors puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones, and performing surgeries like removing the breasts of girls who identify as boys. The law was temporarily blocked by a federal judge after it was passed in 2023 before the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals allowed the law to take effect.
After oral arguments on the case in December, the Supreme Court <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/supreme-court-appears-poised-to-uphold-tennessee-law-protecting-kids-from-trans-procedures" target="_blank" rel="noopener">appears poised</a> to rule in Tennessee’s favor. Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Brett Kavanaugh, John Roberts, and Amy Coney Barrett all seemed skeptical of the claims made by the ACLU and the previous Biden administration.

Multiple Storms Dump Snow From Midwest To East Coast This Week

Supreme Court Won’t Hear Challenge To Tennessee Law Protecting Kids From Explicit Performances

Bill Lee

Drag show

General

Memphis

Supreme Court

A man who lives in Ashland City, Tennessee, was arrested last week for allegedly saying he wanted to &#8220;burn down&#8221; the xAI supercomputer facility in Memphis because he &#8220;was very upset with Elon Musk and Donald Trump,&#8221; according to authorities.
Last Thursday, Ashland City police were contacted after friends and co-workers of 25-year-old Ethan Early, a Nashville EMT, expressed concern &#8220;about some things that he was saying regarding the politics,&#8221; Ashland City Police Department Sergeant Alexis Duncan said, according to <a href="https://www.wkrn.com/news/local-news/ashland-city-arrest-memphis-xai-facility/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WKRN</a>. Early was placed in the Cheatham County Jail and charged with an act of terrorism.
According to the arrest affidavit, Early told a friend that “he was going to burn down one of Elon Musk&#8217;s data centers using Thermite,” WKRN reported. The 25-year-old had also allegedly purchased components to make thermite, a pyrotechnic mixture of metal powder and metal oxide that can be used to make incendiary bombs.
The xAI facility in Memphis holds the largest artificial intelligence (AI) supercomputer in the world, according to <a href="https://venturebeat.com/ai/building-colossus-supermicros-groundbreaking-ai-supercomputer-built-for-elon-musks-xai/#:~:text=Building%20Colossus:%20Supermicro's%20groundbreaking%20AI%20supercomputer%20built%20for%20Elon%20Musk's%20xAI,-VB%20Staff&amp;text=The%20team%20at%20xAI%2C%20partnering,Supermicro%2C%20and%20produced%20by%20ServeTheHome.&amp;text=Here%20is%20a%20run%2Ddown,highlights%20for%20this%20massive%20undertaking." target="_blank" rel="noopener">VentureBeat</a>. The supercomputer, named Colossus, is mostly powered by Nvidia processing chips and used for storage and networking to train and power Musk&#8217;s AI chatbot, Grok.
Early allegedly told police that he had become &#8220;too wrapped up in politics&#8221; and that his friends ultimately talked him out of going through with the act of terrorism. He added that he was ashamed he had gotten &#8220;so carried away,&#8221; according to the affidavit. Ashland City authorities said that the components to make thermite were thrown into a dumpster last week, adding that they pose no risk since the chemicals were never combined.
Musk, Trump&#8217;s most powerful and public adviser, has been criticized by Democrats and the legacy media over his influence on the Trump administration and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) team seeking to drastically slash government spending. Trump <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114047677181856301" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> last week that Musk &#8220;is doing a great job&#8221; but added that he wants to see the SpaceX and Tesla CEO &#8220;get more aggressive.&#8221;
RELATED: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/musk-gives-federal-workers-another-chance-to-justify-employment-or-be-fired">Musk Gives Federal Workers &#8216;Another Chance&#8217; To Justify Employment Or Be Fired</a>

Elon Musk’s xAI to Develop New Supercomputer in Memphis

Tennessee Man Arrested For Alleged Plot To ‘Burn Down’ Elon Musk’s Memphis Supercomputer Facility

Donald Trump

Elon Musk

Police

The Justice Department told the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/supreme-court" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Supreme Court</a> on Friday that it was dropping its challenge to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/tennessee" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tennessee</a>’s law shielding children from transgender medical procedures.
In a <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/23/23-477/342223/20250207133625781_Letter%2023-477.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">letter</a> to the clerk of the Supreme Court, Deputy Solicitor General Curtis Gannon said that the DOJ no longer took the position that Tennessee’s SB 1, which banned transgender medical procedures on minors, violated the Fourteenth Amendment. The court <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/proponents-of-transgender-procedures-make-shocking-admissions-before-scotus" target="_blank" rel="noopener">heard a challenge</a> to the law in December from both the Biden administration and the ACLU. 
“Following the change in Administration, the Department of Justice has reconsidered the United States’ position in this case,” Gannon wrote. “The purpose of this letter is to notify the Court that the government’s previously stated views no longer represent the United States’ position.”
Tennessee’s law bans procedures like giving minors puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones and performing surgeries like removing the breasts of girls who identify as boys. 
The law was temporarily blocked by a federal judge after it was passed in 2023 before the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals allowed the law to take effect. 
“The Department has now determined that SB1 does not deny equal protection on account of sex or any other characteristic. Accordingly, the new Administration would not have intervened to challenge SB1 — let alone sought this Court’s review of the court of appeals’ decision reversing the preliminary injunction against SB1,” Gannon wrote. 
While the DOJ&#8217;s challenge to the law may now be moot, the ACLU’s suit against it still stands. Additionally, the DOJ said that it is not seeking to dismiss the case, saying that a “prompt resolution of the question presented will bear on many cases pending in the lower courts.”
After oral arguments on the case in December, the Supreme Court <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/supreme-court-appears-poised-to-uphold-tennessee-law-protecting-kids-from-trans-procedures" target="_blank" rel="noopener">appears poised</a> to rule in Tennessee’s favor. Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Brett Kavanaugh, John Roberts, and Amy Coney Barrett all seemed skeptical of the claims made by the ACLU and the previous Biden administration. 
Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti <a href="https://x.com/AGTennessee/status/1887999361633894663/photo/1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">praised</a> the DOJ for dropping its opposition and noted that the state also welcomed a decision from the court. 
“We commend President Trump for abandoning the previous administration&#8217;s effort to enshrine gender ideology into the Constitution and prevent the people&#8217;s elected officials from resolving these important and contentious issues,” Skrmetti said. “We look forward to receiving much-needed clarity when the Court issues its decision.”

Supreme Court Considers Tennessee’s Ban On Treatments For Transgender Minors

DOJ Ends Challenge To Tennessee’s Law Shielding Kids From Transgender Procedures

ACLU

Biden Administration

Courts

Fourteenth Amendment

transgender surgery

Transgenders

Tennessee Attorney General Johnathan Skrmetti filed a legal brief in support of President <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/donald-trump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Donald Trump’s</a> executive order ending birthright citizenship for the children of illegal aliens.
The executive order, which Trump signed on his first day in office, was swiftly challenged in the courts and has been <a href="https://wearecasa.org/federal-judge-issues-nationwide-injunction-on-birthright-citizenship-executive-order/">blocked</a> from going into effect by a second federal judge in response to a lawsuit from CASA and other left-wing organizations.
Skrmetti outlined his opinion in favor of the executive order’s legality in a “friend-of-the-court” <a href="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/CASA-Inc.-v.-Trump-Doc.-50-Tennessee-Amicus-Brief.pdf">brief</a> filed earlier this week, asserting that the Constitution does not guarantee birthright citizenship for those whose parents are present in the United States illegally.
“Contemporaneous sources instead support what common sense suggests: Conferring United States citizenship requires a more meaningful connection than mere presence by happenstance or illegality,” the 18-page brief states. “That connection, evidence repeatedly instructs, was parental domicile. Supreme Court precedent likewise cuts against a mere-presence rule and for a domicile-based rule.”
It goes on to reference previous Supreme Court cases, arguing that birthright citizenship does not apply to those who are subject to the laws of foreign countries. “In 1872, the Court’s decision in the Slaughter-House Cases stated that the Citizenship Clause ‘was intended to exclude from its operation children of ministers, consuls, and citizens or subjects of foreign States born within the United States,’” the brief explains.
Skrmetti also argued that the District Court of Maryland, the federal court handling the case, is not within its rights to prevent the entirety of Trump’s executive order from being implemented.
The cases against Trump’s executive order could potentially reach the Supreme Court, which would then be tasked with clarifying the Constitution’s stance on the controversial issue.
There’s also an effort in Congress to curtail birthright citizenship. Texas Congressman Brian Babin, a Republican from the state’s 36th district, has also <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/texas-congressman-to-introduce-bill-limiting-birthright-citizenship-bolster-trump-executive-order">proposed legislation</a> that seeks to end birthright citizenship for the children of illegal aliens.
“It’s going to have a huge impact on our immigration system because it’s going to close loopholes that exploit birthright citizenship, and discourage illegal immigration and end the misuse of this really, this completely misinterpreted privilege,” Babin <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-house-gop-allies-birthright-citizenship-bill-after-progressive-fury-presidential-order">explained</a>. “We cannot continue to have this abuse.&#8221;

Illegal aliens

Tennessee Attorney General Files Brief In Support Of Trump’s Order Limiting Birthright Citizenship

birthright citizenship

Deportations

Nearly 3,000 illegal immigrants were arrested in <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/tennessee" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tennessee</a> for crimes ranging from murder to rape during the last three months of 2024, according to a report compiled by the state’s district attorneys.
The <a href="https://www.tndagc.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/PC998-Immigration-Report-2025-FINAL.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> released last week by the Tennessee District Attorneys General Conference found that around 2,719 illegal immigrants from over 92 different countries were arrested from October to December 2024. Sent to GOP Governor Bill Lee and House Speaker Cameron Sexton, the report sheds light on how the border crisis has led to increased crime in the Volunteer State.
Compiled as a result of a new state law requiring law enforcement to report on the arrests of illegal immigrants, the report found that 447 of the estimated total 3,854 charges were violent offenses. The data only included 73 counties since the other 22 did not submit their statistics.
There were a total of 11 homicides reported across the state, including three cases of first degree murder, one case of second degree murder, and seven instances of vehicular homicide.
Other violent offenses reported include rape of a child (3), aggravated rape (6), continuous sexual abuse of a child (2), aggravated kidnapping (3), especially aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor (1), statutory rape (9), aggravated sexual battery (6), aggravated robbery (6), aggravated domestic assault (27), sexual exploitation of a minor (8), robbery (2), and assault on a law enforcement officer (4).
The most common offenses illegal immigrants were arrested on were driving under the influence (654), driving without a license 549, traffic violations (533), domestic assault (154), public intoxication (147), failure to appear (150), probation violation (91), open container (83), and aggravated assault (80).
<div id="attachment_872131" style="width: 1949px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-872131" class="size-full wp-image-872131" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/Screen-Shot-2025-02-05-at-2.36.24-PM.png" alt="" width="1939" height="872" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/Screen-Shot-2025-02-05-at-2.36.24-PM.png 1939w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/Screen-Shot-2025-02-05-at-2.36.24-PM-300x135.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/Screen-Shot-2025-02-05-at-2.36.24-PM-1024x461.png 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/Screen-Shot-2025-02-05-at-2.36.24-PM-768x345.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/02/Screen-Shot-2025-02-05-at-2.36.24-PM-1536x691.png 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 1939px) 100vw, 1939px" />TN District Attorneys report.</div>
Results of the charges were reported as a mixed bag with 136 cases still open, 37 dropped by prosecutors, 85 cases dismissed, 128 found guilty, and 198 with no record indicating the outcome.
Most of the arrests were made in the cities of Nashville, Knoxville, and Chattanooga, and the counties surrounding those cities. Surprisingly, Shelby County, home to Memphis, reported just 59 arrests of illegal immigrants.
The greatest number of illegal immigrants came from Mexico (892), though a significant number came from Guatemala (564), Honduras (332), Venezuela (130), and El Salvador (86).
Over the past few years, illegal immigrants have been arrested in Tennessee for a number of high-profile crimes, including the murder of popular Nashville restaurant owner Matt Carney. Carney died from injuries after police say an illegal immigrant struck him with his truck in the parking lot of his restaurant. Carney’s death <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-decries-vicious-illegal-immigrant-suspected-of-murdering-nashville-restaurant-owner" target="_blank" rel="noopener">drew the attention</a> of then-candidate Donald Trump, who has warned of an illegal immigrant crime wave stemming from lax border policies implemented by the Biden administration.
Last week, Tennessee <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/tennessee-passes-bill-to-assist-trumps-illegal-immigration-crackdown" target="_blank" rel="noopener">passed</a> sweeping legislation during a special session intended to help carry out Trump’s mass deportation plans.

Federal Agents Target Immigrant Gangs On Long Island

New Data Show How Much Crime Illegal Immigrants Committed In Red State

Illegal Immigation

Violent Crime

A couple&#8217;s raucous fight at a Nashville Chili&#8217;s caused such a commotion that the entire mall where the restaurant is located was evacuated and the adjacent highway was closed in both directions.
Police were called to the Opry Mills Mall on Saturday due to reports of gunshots fired, and eventually had the entire place cleared out while they investigated. The Tennessee Department of Transportation closed down the highway exits to the mall for the next several hours, even after police said there was no evidence that any shots were fired.
Witnesses say there was panic as people sprinted out of the mall, reporting gunshots.
&#8220;We were sitting on the little swings over there, right past the food court, and everybody started running and I’m like, ‘What’s going on?,’&#8221; a witness named Ladonte <a href="https://www.wkrn.com/news/local-news/nashville/fight-leads-to-rushed-mass-exodus-at-opry-mills-mall-police-say/amp/">described to a local news station</a>. &#8220;And I see them on their walkie and he’s like, ‘Oh, they’re shooting! You need to get out! Run, run!&#8217; So we just start running this way, and the people that were coming in, I just told them, ‘Come on out because they’re shooting up in there!&#8217;”
Another woman said she was checking out at the Bass Pro Shop when people came running through yelling, &#8220;Code Red, Code Red, everybody&#8217;s gotta go.&#8221;
A man named Andrew Margerison was at a restaurant near the Chili&#8217;s and told a local news station he was convinced he heard seven gunshots.
&#8220;We were in like the first row of tables by O’Charley’s, which was right by the entry between TGI Friday’s and Applebee’s, so the first thing that was weird is there was kind of a small group of people that kind of hurried out from, we think, Applebee’s, but definitely down that corridor that leads out from in between the restaurants, and then, all of a sudden, we heard a distinctive seven pops,&#8221; he told the local station.
Nashville police say it was really just an angry girlfriend whose boyfriend worked at Chili&#8217;s. The public interest officer Kris Mumford says he believes people mistook plates crashing to the ground in the casual dining chain restaurant as gunshots.
&#8220;A female reportedly came into the restaurant and assaulted her boyfriend who was working there, the fight spilled outside, and that led to the calls of shots fired as people started to flee the mall or shelter in place,&#8221; the local news reported. &#8220;Mumford said the victim of the fight at Chili’s is safe, but detectives are still looking into the initial assault and whether or not weapons were involved.&#8221;
This is the second time in recent years that a false alarm of a shooting caused a mass exodus at the mall, which is attached to the famed Grand Ole Opry music hall. In <a href="https://www.wsmv.com/2023/12/28/no-shooting-opry-mills-teen-fight-mistaken-gunfire-police-say/">December 2023</a>, a fallen chair during a fight between two teenagers was mistaken for a gunshot, and the mall was cleared by law enforcement.
&nbsp;

Florida, Orlando, Chili’s Grill & Bar, restaurant entrance

Couple’s Fight At Chili’s Causes Mall Evacuation, Highway Closure

Fight

During a legislative special session on Thursday, the Tennessee Senate passed the <a href="https://tneducationfreedom.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Education Freedom Act of 2025</a> by a vote of <a href="https://www.wbir.com/article/news/education/tennessee-senate-on-universal-school-voucher-program-propsal/51-a16d86f9-3499-41d8-9a7b-f2f06a9bc4a3" target="_blank" rel="noopener">20 to 13</a>. The bill had passed the House <a href="https://www.wbir.com/article/news/local/tennessee-house-passes-amended-universal-school-voucher-bill/51-10d2cbf2-c8bc-4dae-a1f0-cca50d5ab8bc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">54 to 44</a> earlier in the day. It now heads to the governor’s desk for his signature. With the stroke of Gov. Bill Lee’s pen, Tennessee will become the 13th state in the nation to enact universal (or near-universal) school choice.
While it’s not official yet, there is no question regarding whether Gov. Lee will sign the bill into law. He has been an enthusiastic education freedom champion and called the Tennessee General Assembly for a <a href="https://www.tn.gov/governor/news/2025/1/15/gov--lee-announces-special-session-to-begin-january-27.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">special session</a> with the purpose of passing the Education Freedom Act. Last month, Gov. Lee <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GmEmon6DcE" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>, “When it comes to education, more freedom is what our children need to succeed. That means empowering parents with school choice…. that’s why we need to pass the Education Freedom Act in Tennessee.”
<a href="https://tneducationfreedom.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">According to Gov. Lee</a>, “Education has the power to change the trajectory of a child’s life, and every Tennessee child deserves to attend the school that fits their unique needs — regardless of income or zip code.”
The Tennessee Education Freedom website <a href="https://tneducationfreedom.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">explains</a>, “The Education Freedom Act will extend school choice to every family across rural and urban Tennessee, putting parents at the forefront of their child’s education so that students find the best school for their needs to succeed in the classroom and beyond.”
The education scholarship amount will <a href="https://www.capitol.tn.gov/Bills/114/Bill/HB0001.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">equal the state base funding</a> amount per student, which is around $7,000. The <a href="https://www.capitol.tn.gov/Bills/114/Bill/HB0001.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">funds can be used toward</a> private school tuition and fees. If funds remain, they can be allocated toward required school textbooks, curricula, instructional materials, uniforms, tutoring services, school transportation fees, educational technology, test fees, early postsecondary courses, and educational therapies for qualifying students. Under this act, students must be enrolled in a private school to participate.
The universal school choice program will be implemented in two steps. During the <a href="https://tneducationfreedom.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2025-2026 school year</a>, 20,000 scholarships will be available for students, with half of those directed toward students from households at or below 300% of the income for free or reduced-price lunch, students with a disability, or those already eligible for an existing Tennessee education savings account program. All students statewide are eligible to participate starting in the <a href="https://tneducationfreedom.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2026-2027 school year</a>.
Beyond the private school scholarships, the Education Freedom Act also includes a <a href="https://tneducationfreedom.com/#list-with-large-icons-6" target="_blank" rel="noopener">$2,000 bonus</a> for all 86,000 public school teachers in the state.
Despite cries from the opposition, the school choice program will not harm public school finances. According to Representative William Lamberth (R-Portland) on the House floor on Thursday, Tennessee will continue to spend <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woqswb_O7p8" target="_blank" rel="noopener">$7 billion annually</a> on K-12 public education.
Thanks to Gov. Lee’s steadfast commitment to education freedom for Tennesseans, the parents of <a href="https://www.tn.gov/education/about-the-tdoe.html#:~:text=The%20Tennessee%20Department%20of%20Education%20serves%20over,to%20provide%20the%20best%20for%20all%20students." target="_blank" rel="noopener">more than 900,000 K-12 public school children</a> and <a href="https://www.privateschoolreview.com/tennessee" target="_blank" rel="noopener">over 115,000 private school students</a> will soon be empowered with school choice.
Tennessee will join the universal school choice ranks with Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Utah, and West Virginia.
Now, eyes turn to Texas as well as Georgia, Idaho, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Carolina, South Dakota, and Wyoming. With a <a href="https://ballotpedia.org/State_government_trifectas" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Republican trifecta</a> in each of these states, it’s time for their lawmakers to advance universal education freedom. 
As education freedom states reap the far-reaching academic, workforce development, economic, and societal benefits of a free market K-12 education environment, other states will be forced to take notice. Lawmakers in those states will have to decide if they will double down with the teacher unions in trapping children in failing schools — to the detriment of their state’s future — or empower the parents. By advancing laws that allow education funding to follow students, lawmakers will support parents and the general public, who, <a href="https://www.edchoice.org/engage/support-for-school-choice-policies-remains-high/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">by majority, support school choice</a>.
With each state to pass universal school choice, the tide is turning toward a better and brighter future for America because nothing will impact the future of our country more than the education of the next generation.
So, which state will be number 14? Republican governors, it’s time to rally your lawmakers toward education freedom victory.
* * *
Dr. Keri D. Ingraham is a Senior Fellow at Discovery Institute, Director of the American Center for Transforming Education, and a Senior Fellow at Independent Women’s Forum.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

US-REPUBLICAN-CONVENTION-PARTIES-ELECTION-POLITICS-VOTE

With Gov. Lee’s Signature, Tennessee Will Become 13th State To Enact Universal School Choice