Trump Ramps Up Black Male Voter Outreach in Swing States amid Biden’s Declining Support: Report

Trump Meeting

Former President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign is ramping up its efforts to target black male voters in crucial swing states, The Washington Post reported.

The former president has been making gains with black voters as President Joe Biden has been hemorrhaging support, polls have shown. Trump’s campaign will likely focus on black men who own guns and frequently attend church in order to grow his base, advisers told the Post, who were granted anonymity to characterize private conversations.

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Oz Denies Report of Insiders Saying Pennsylvania Senate Candidate Eyeing Return to TV

Dr. Mehmet Oz

Mehmet Oz, the celebrity doctor who’s running for Senate from Pennsylvania, is denying reports that he is in discussions to return to television and suggested opponent David McCormick is behind the rumor.

The entertainment site Radar Online reported Tuesday that inside sources said that while Oz aims to win the May 17 Republican primary and the November 8 election for retiring Sen. Pat Toomey’s (R) seat, he’s working on reviving his broadcast career in case he doesn’t prevail. 

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Ben Carson Tells Williamson County Audience that Critical Race Theory Violates Martin Luther King Jr.’s Core Philosophy

FRANKLIN, Tennessee — Three days before the federal Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, Ben Carson traveled to Williamson County to tell a packed audience that Critical Race Theory (CRT) defies the teachings of the late civil rights activist. Carson, the former U.S. secretary of Housing and Urban Development, spoke at The Factory in Franklin, only a few miles away from the Williamson County School System’s (WCS’s) main office. Several frustrated parents have long said that the WCS continues to teach CRT, against those parents’ wishes.

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Ben Carson, Youngkin, and Sears Criticize Virginia Education Policy at Loudoun County Rally

Secretary Ben Carson

Former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson spoke against mask mandates, Critical Race Theory, and COVID-19 vaccines for children in a Loudoun County appearance alongside GOP candidates Glenn Youngkin and Winsome Sears on Wednesday night. A large, energetic crowd filled a conference room; the event was hosted by Fight for Schools and 1776 Action.

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Oregon Progressives Lower Academic Expectations for Minority Students in Name of ‘Equity’

Oregon’s high school graduation rate is on the rise. But maybe not for the right reasons.

The onset of the coronavirus pandemic prompted state guidelines that essentially mandated a no-fail policy for high school seniors whose course work became remote during the latter half of the 2020 school year. Now, state graduation rates will likely remain artificially inflated, thanks to a new law that will allow Oregon students to get their diplomas without proving proficiency in core academic skills.

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Carson Says Trump ‘Not a Racist’

by Joshua Nelson   While many Democrats are accusing President Donald Trump of “racism” because of a controversial tweet, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson is countering the narrative by touting the president’s policies. “I have an advantage of knowing the president very well, and he’s not a racist, “ Carson said in a Wednesday interview on Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom.” “His comments are not racist, but he loves the country very much,” Carson added. “He has a feeling that those who represent the country should love it as well.” The comments Carson referred to were tweets from the president directed at a group of minority freshman Democratic lawmakers known as “the squad” who have been outspoken in their criticisms of the president and America. In his string of tweets, Trump said the group, made up of Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ilhan Omar or Minnesota, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, and Ayanna Pressley of Illinois, should “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime-infested places from which they came.” All the women are American citizens. Following Trump’s remarks, House Resolution 489 was introduced in the House Judiciary Committee, a measure that “condemns” the president as “racist”…

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‘Take Care of Our Own First:’ Carson Defends Plan to Evict Illegals from Government Housing

by Jason Hopkins   Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Ben Carson pushed back against a bevy of criticism from Democratic lawmakers over a White House proposal that would exclude all illegal immigrants from public housing. Carson testified in the House Financial Services Committee on Tuesday to discuss a range of topics. Numerous Democrats attacked the Republican for his involvement in a plan that, according to a recent HUD study, could potentially kick as many as 55,000 legal children out of their homes. “The Trump Administration’s proposal puts mixed-status families at risk of being evicted, separated, and left homeless,” committee chairwoman Maxine Waters said during the hearing. The California Democrat went on to call the plan a “cruel proposal.” “The ‘D’ in HUD does not stand for ‘deportation,’” said Democratic New York Rep. Carolyn Maloney. “We cannot create affordable housing for Americans by throwing other Americans out in the street with no place to go.” Other Democrats made similar comments throughout the hearing. The criticism follows moves by the Trump administration to restrict who can qualify for housing assistance. While illegal immigrants are already barred from receiving federal housing subsidies, families of mixed-immigration status can score these benefits as long…

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Senate Dems Cite Problems at HUD, but Block Trump’s Nominees for Key Posts

by Fred Lucas   Senate Democrats have stalled nominees to fill key posts in the Department of Housing and Urban Development, even while complaining about the agency’s performance. An NBC News report last week alleged that HUD’s staffing problems were the fault of President Donald Trump and HUD Secretary Ben Carson. HUD’s enforcement office is at its lowest level since 1999 of moving against bad landlords who get federal subsidies, according to NBC. But the network’s story didn’t address the the high-level nominees that Senate Democrats have stalled from taking office through procedural tactics. Four top-level HUD nominees await Senate action more than 22 months into Trump’s four-year term. Chief among these is Robert Hunter Kurtz, who Trump initially nominated to be HUD’s assistant secretary for public and Indian housing on Sept. 15, 2017. As has been the case with many other stalled nominations throughout the federal government, Kurtz isn’t particularly political, but rather has a career with HUD and public housing. Kurtz served at HUD under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. He was deputy director of Detroit’s Department of Housing and Revitalization under Mayor Mike Duggan, a Democrat. The Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee sent…

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Ben Carson’s HUD Revisits Obama Policies of Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing Regulation

Ben Carson

By Robert Romano   “I would incentivize people who really would like to get a nice juicy government grant [to look at their zoning codes].” That was Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Ben Carson in an Aug. 13 interview with the Wall Street Journal, announcing changes to the way the Trump administration would interpret the Obama era Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing regulation. There’s only one problem. This year, under Division L, Title II of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2018, Section 234, Congress passed a provision that states, “None of the funds made available by this Act may be used by the Department of Housing and Urban Development to direct a grantee to undertake specific changes to existing zoning laws as part of carrying out the final rule entitled ‘Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing’ … or the notice entitled ‘Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing Assessment Tool’ …” A similar provision passed the Senate 87 to 9 in 2016. This overturned part of the regulation that conditions receipt of $3 billion of annual community development block grants to more than 1,200 cities and counties to rezone neighborhoods along income and racial criteria. The regulation said, “This final rule, and Assessment Tools and…

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