Portions of the Nashville school shooter Audrey Hale manifesto were leaked Monday after months of debate regarding its release.
Steven Crowder, host of the Louder with Crowder talk show, shared images from the manifesto. The documents released by Crowder reveal the intentions behind Hale’s deadly attack.
“Wanna kill all you little crackers”
“Bunch of little faggots w/ your white privlages fuck you fAggots”
“I Hope I have a high death count.”
“Time 2 Die XXX”
On March 27, Hale, 28, who was a woman who identified as transgender, broke into the private elementary school and opened fire, taking the lives of three children and three school employees.
Hale, who also went by the name “Aiden,” was previously a student at the school.
The documents obtained by the Metro Nashville Police Department, which were left behind by Hale, have been the source of legal and public debate over questioning if they should be released to the public.
The Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty has filed a lawsuit against the FBI for the release of the manifesto.
A group of Covenant parents have argued the documents should not be released to the public to avoid potential copycats and to allow for closure to the parents who lost children.
Steve Crowder tweeted that a video he created when he released the documents was taken down by YouTube. YouTube told him the video violated their “violent criminal oranizations policy.”
Investigative journalism is now considered a “criminal organization” according to @YouTube
Wait until you see what we have in store for tomorrow.
Metro Nashville Police Department Chief John Drake Responds
In a press release, Metro Nashville Police Department Chief John Drake appears to confirm the authenticity of the leaked documents when he said,
“I am greatly disturbed by today’s unauthorized release of three pages of writings from the Covenant shooter. This police department is extremely serious about the investigation to identify the person responsible. This action showed a total disregard for Covenant families, as well as the court system, which has control of the shooter’s journals at the present time due to litigation filed earlier this year. It is now pending in Davidson County Chancery Court and the Tennessee Court of Appeals. We are not at liberty to release the journals until the courts rule. Our police department looks forward to the ultimate resolution of the litigation concerning the journals.”
(The Center Square) – Some Wisconsin lawmakers are trying to calm fears about illegal immigrants getting IDs and voting in the state.
The Assembly Committee on Campaigns and Elections and the Senate Committee on Shared Revenue, Elections and Consumer Protection held a hearing Thursday with the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, some local election clerks and Fond du Lac County’s district attorney.
“We're not trying to get anybody into a bad spot here, or in a corner, or make accusations on that level,” Sen. Dan Knodl, R-Germantown, said. “We want our clerks, who are already stressed enough, to know that we are here to be there as an assist to them.”
Rep. Scott Krug, R-Nekoosa, said he wants to make sure voters have faith in Wisconsin’s electoral process.
“This is one of the topics that hit our inboxes quite a bit the last three months or so,” Krug added. “We thought it’s pretty important just to vet it out, to get all the information out to the public.”
The Wisconsin Elections Commission was invited to Thursday’s meeting but didn’t attend because commissioners were having a meeting of their own. But that left lawmakers’ questions unanswered.
Wis-DOT Deputy Secretary Kristina Boardman said Wisconsin is known as a strict voter ID state.
“I want to make very clear that Wis-DOT is required to provide free identification cards for U.S. citizens that request them for the purposes of voting, and that to be eligible for that free identification card one must be a U.S. citizen and at least 17 years of age,” Boardman said. “Wis-DOT staff do not determine voter eligibility or register anyone to vote. Someone who has a Wisconsin ID or a driver's license is eligible to register to vote online, and that information will be confirmed with Wisconsin DMV systems to ensure that the information entered for voter registration is consistent with the DMV's records
Boardman said in Wisconsin, less than a fraction of one percent of ID requests are fraudulent.
“We put together [a] case activity report, assemble all of the documentation that we have, we have the investigator that had the case pull that together, and we do refer that to law enforcement so that they can take whatever action is appropriate,” Boardman added. “We note what statutes we believe may have been violated. And then it's up to law enforcement to take action.”
(The Center Square) – On Tuesday, the Republican-controlled Wisconsin Senate voted to override nine vetoes from Gov. Tony Evers, including the vetoes that scuttled PFAS clean-up money, millions of dollars that were earmarked for hospitals in Eau Claire and Chippewa Falls and a plan that would allow advanced practice registered nurses to work more independently.
“The legislature has passed hundreds of bills to solve problems facing Wisconsin businesses and families. Most of these bills were signed into law, but many were vetoed by a governor more focused on politics than policies that help everyday Wisconsinites,” Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu said Tuesday. “Overriding the governor’s obstructive vetoes is the last, best way to address these critical issues.”
The override votes came one day after Evers sued the legislature over nearly $200 million that is attached to some of his vetoes.
Most of that money is the $125 million that’s supposed to go toward PFAS clean up in Wisconsin.
“For the fifth time this legislative session, I voted to provide Wisconsin families with the largest investment in clean drinking water in state history – five more times than every Democrat legislator in this state combined. The bill that Gov. Evers vetoed (SB 312) would have created a grant program that targets this critical funding to areas of the state most heavily impacted by PFAS contamination while protecting innocent landowners from financial ruin,” Sen Duey Stroebel, R-Cedarburg, said.
Evers has accused the legislature’s budget-writing Joint Finance Committee of obstructing his plans to clean up Wisconsin’s drinking water, and of delaying his other actions across the state.
LeMahieu said Evers is simply playing the game.
“While Gov. Evers plays politics, the legislature will continue to do the right thing on behalf of the people of our state,” LeMahieu added.
Senate Democrats responded with game-playing accusations of their own.
“Coming in to do all these veto overrides was clearly a stunt to try to appeal to voters ahead of the fall election,” Den. Mark Spreitzer, D-Beloit, said. “Clearly Republicans were hearing from things in their district and wanted political cover. I don't think they got political cover today. I think what they got was people realizing just how afraid they are.”
But Tuesday’s veto overrides are largely symbolic.
While Republicans in the Wisconsin Senate have a veto-proof majority, Republicans in the Wisconsin Assembly do not.
With less than half a year until the 2024 presidential election, former President Donald Trump holds a sizable lead over incumbent President Joe Biden in several swing states.
While the overall national polling varies and shows a tighter race, Trump holds significant leads in several swing states.
According to Real Clear Politics, Trump leads in a slew of key battleground states like Arizona (+5.2), Georgia (+4.6), Michigan (+0.8), Nevada (+6.2), North Carolina (+5.4), Pennsylvania (+2.0), and Wisconsin (+0.6).
Other polling has shown Trump with a dominant lead in the Sun Belt while performing less well against Biden in some rust belt swing states.
“As the old saying goes, good gets better and bad gets worse, and it’s clear President Biden is in bad shape right now,” Colin Reed, a Republican strategist, former campaign manager for U.S. Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., and co-founder of South and Hill Strategies, told The Center Square. “Five and a half months is an eternity in politics, and there’s theoretically still time to right the ship, but it’s getting late early for the president, especially when Father Time remains undefeated and doubts about his age continue to grow. “
According to the Real Clear Politics’ national polling average, Trump leads Biden 46.1% to 44.9%.
A New York Times poll released this week showed leads for Trump in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada and Pennsylvania but slightly trailing Biden in Wisconsin, raising concerns among supporters.
Trump’s lead has been in large part fueled by minority voters flocking to his side.
Meanwhile, Biden’s approval rating has plummeted since taking office. While that is not unusual for incumbents, Biden’s approval is lower than recent presidents.
Gallup recently released polling data showing that in the 13th quarter of Biden’s presidency, he averaged a 38.7% approval rating, worse than Trump at the same time in his term.
“None of the other nine presidents elected to their first term since Dwight Eisenhower had a lower 13th-quarter average than Biden,” Gallup said.
Axios reported this week that Biden and his team think the polls don’t represent Americans’ actual feelings and that the president’s position is strong.
“They're still 50% (well 45%) to win, per betting markets,” pollster Nate Silver wrote on X. “But Biden has been behind Trump in polls for a year now. His approval is in the tank, and voters have been clear they think he's too old. If Trump wins, history will not remember Biden kindly.”
Meanwhile, Trump spends valuable campaign time in a series of court appearances for his myriad of federal prosecution court dates.
“I’m under a gag order,” Trump told reporters after a court appearance Tuesday. “Nobody has actually seen anything like it ... I'm beating him in every poll and I have a gag order, so I think it's totally unconstitutional."
Republicans have blasted Biden for Trump’s prosecution, accusing Biden of using the Justice Department against his political opponent.
“Despite Far Left Democrats’ illegal election interference, President Trump is beating Joe Biden in the polls!” Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., wrote on X Tuesday. “Voters see right through the sham Biden Trials and know President Trump is the best choice for president.”
