Day: December 23, 2020

Statement of The Star News Network Editorial Policy on Stories About Calls for Martial Law in the United States of America

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It is the policy of The Star News Network that we will publish no stories about calls for martial law in the United States by public figures or private individuals at any of our online news websites, which currently consist of The Tennessee Star, The Ohio Star, The Michigan Star, The Minnesota Sun, The Georgia Star News, and The Virginia Star.

At the federal level, the imposition of martial law is exceedingly rare. It has only ever been imposed once by a sitting President, by Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War, and even in that instance martial law was only applicable to Confederate soldiers. 

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Georgia Voters Sue Fulton County, Allege Illegal Ballot Scanning Corresponding with Vote Spike

Corinne Murdock

A group of Georgia voters filed a lawsuit in Fulton County Superior Court earlier this week against the individual members of the Fulton County Board of Elections and individually against Richard Barron, Fulton County Elections Director. The lawsuit focused on the security footage presented by Trump’s legal team during the Georgia Senate hearing, popularized as the “suitcase ballots” video.

The plaintiffs alleged that the group of workers seen on video illegally scanned thousands of mail-in ballots hidden underneath skirted tables. They also claimed that those ballots may be fraudulent. Voters Organized for Trusted Election Results in Georgia (VOTERGA), a nonpartisan and non-profit election integrity coalition, organized the aggrieved voters into a group of plaintiffs.

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Emails Obtained by FBI Detail How Hunter Biden Landed Ukrainian Gas Gig in 2014

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In the weeks before he landed a deal with a Ukrainian gas company in 2014, Hunter Biden strategized with his business partner on how to leverage an upcoming official trip to Kiev by his father, then-Vice President Joe Biden, to clinch the lucrative arrangement, according to emails obtained a year ago by the FBI.

The communications reviewed by Just the News show that the younger Biden referred to his father as “my guy” and took credit for “adding value” because the vice president made comments to Ukrainian leaders about natural gas production that might benefit his new client.

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New York Times Bungles Attempted Hit Piece on The Star News Network and The Georgia Star News

Peter D'Abrosca

The New York Times bungled an attempted hit piece on The Star News Network and the Georgia Star News, and was forced to make several corrections within hours of the story’s publication on Tuesday.

The Times, however, failed to make all the factual corrections requested by Star News Digital Media, which owns and operates the Georgia Star News, part of its Star News Network.

“Misinformation ‘Superspreaders’ Target Georgia Senate Races,” said a hyperbolic headline in the once-serious “paper of record.”

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Tech Billionaire Who Bankrolled Numerous Disinformation Projects Linked to $620,000 Donation to Fusion GPS’s Legal Fund

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An anti-Trump group funded heavily by Reid Hoffman, a liberal billionaire tech titan who’s bankrolled political disinformation peddlers, contributed $620,000 to a legal fund for Fusion GPS, the opposition research firm behind the controversial Steele dossier, financial filings show.

According to IRS filings, The group Integrity First for America (IFA) made the contribution in 2018 for the legal defense fund of Bean LLC, the holding company for Fusion GPS.

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BioNTech CEO ‘Confident’ That Coronavirus Vaccine Is Effective Against New European Strain

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The CEO of BioNTech, the German drug maker who partnered with Pfizer in developing the world’s first approved coronavirus vaccine, said that he was “confident” it will be effective against a mutated strain of the virus found in the United Kingdom.

“The likelihood that our vaccine works… is relatively high,” Uğur Şahin told reporters during a Tuesday press conference, explaining that the mutated strain still shares approximately 99% of the original strain’s spike protein.

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Giuliani: Arizona GOP Will Attempt to Certify Trump the Winner of 2020 Election on Wednesday

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President Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani said Tuesday morning that the Arizona legislature will attempt to pass a resolution this week demanding a joint session to certify President Trump as the winner of the 2020 election.

During an interview on Steve Bannon’s “War Room: Pandemic” podcast, Giuliani noted that Arizona lawmakers did not have the votes to declare Trump the winner on Monday, but was hopeful that they would be able to do it on Wednesday.

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Stacey Abrams Staffer Helping Biden Pick Justice Department Team

Admin

After winning the vote in the Electoral College last week, former Vice President Joe Biden said the election process “should be celebrated, not attacked.” 

Biden derided what he called “baseless claims about the legitimacy of the results” of the presidential election and said, “Respecting the will of the people is at the heart of our democracy, even if we find those results hard to accept.”

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Joe Biden Expected to Name Current Connecticut Education Commissioner to Lead Education Department

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President-elect Joe Biden is poised to select Miguel Cardona, the current Connecticut education commissioner, to lead the Department of Education in his administration, CNN reported.

Miguel Cardona, who has served as head of the Connecticut State Department of Education (CSDE) since August 2019, will be President-elect Joe Biden’s choice to lead the federal government’s education department, multiple sources told CNN. Cardona would be the latest Latino to receive a high-ranking position in the incoming Biden administration.

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Knox County Commission Votes to Strip Its Board of Health’s Powers Over Policy

Corinne Murdock

Knox County Commission voted to strip the county’s board of health of its powers to issue mandates on Tuesday. Instead of having the power to impose regulations, the Knox County Board of Health will be limited to serving as an advisory group. After a heated, divided exchange lasting eight hours, the commission voted 6-4 in favor of diminishing the board’s authority, with one commissioner abstaining their vote.

The decision followed the board’s latest regulations limiting social gatherings and in-person dining. At the beginning of this month, the board imposed a social gathering limit of 10 people within 360 square feet, with limited exceptions including nursing homes.  Two weeks later, the board elected to limit restaurants and bars to 50 percent capacity, and impose a curfew limiting in-person services lasting from 10 pm to 5 am.

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Harvard-Affiliated Researcher Admits He Tried to Smuggle U.S. Cancer Research to China

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Zaosong Zheng, who worked in research at Harvard-affiliated Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, pleaded guilty to lying to customs officials about his attempt to take biomaterial to China.

According to a Department of Justice press release, Zheng was arrested in December 2019 at Boston’s Logan International Airport, where he had attempted to board a flight to China. Federal officers found 21 vials of biological research material stuffed into a sock in one of his bags.

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Maury County Mayor Andy Ogles Forms ‘Andy’s Army TN’ Facebook Group to Promote Liberty

Jason M. Reynolds

Maury County Mayor Andy Ogles formed a Facebook group called “Andy’s Army TN” for “patriots and Fans of Andy Ogles who believe in taking a stand for our Constitution and Liberties.”

The private group’s page is here. Since it is a private group, people have to request to join. Facebook showed the membership to be approximately 1,800 as of Monday.

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Planned Parenthood Bid to Kill Hyde Amendment to Face Pro-Life Pushback

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Planned Parenthood is preparing its wish list for former Vice President Joe Biden’s prospective administration, but pro-life forces are gearing up for a fight. 

In a Roll Call interview, Planned Parenthood Action Fund President and CEO Alexis McGill Johnson said her organization’s top goal in 2021 is abolishing the Hyde Amendment, which for 40 years has prohibited federal funding for most abortions.

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Virginia Senate Democrats’ Top Agendas for Upcoming Legislative Session

Jacob Taylor

The Virginia General Assembly 2021 regular session is right around the corner on January 13 and the Democrats will again be calling all the shots for the legislature thanks to their majority in both the Senate and the House of Delegates.

This means that the agendas and priorities of Democrats in the Senate – as well as their counterparts in the House – have quite a good chance of passing through each chamber if broadly supported. Yet, what exactly are Senate Democrats focusing on?

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St. Olaf Prof Echoes Call for School to ‘Repent’ of Systemic Racism

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The director of St. Olaf College’s Lutheran Center for Faith, Values, and Community echoed a call for the school to “repent” of systemic racism.

Deanna Thompson wrote an article for the Minnesota school’s blog entitled “Uncomfortable Grace: Drawing on St. Olaf’s Lutheran Identity to Guide Our Path to Anti-Racism,” in which she argued that “racism is embedded deep within institutions across the United States, including St. Olaf College.”

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Virginia Police Increasing Sobriety Checkpoints and Patrols During the Holidays

Eric Burk

Virginia is again ramping up its Checkpoint Strikeforce campaign, a program aimed at reducing drunk driving through increased police activity and sobriety checkpoints. Through December 8, 2020, there were 253 alcohol-related traffic fatalities in Virginia, up from 249 in the same period in 2019, according to a press release from Governor Ralph Northam’s office.

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Nearly 50K Votes Cast by Voters in Runoff Election Who Didn’t Vote in General Election

Corinne Murdock

Reports from independent data analysts state that nearly 50,000 voters who didn’t vote in the general election have voted in the runoff election. The data culled from the Georgia Secretary of State’s office issued a stark contrast to the total number of votes cast in the runoff, which are currently lower overall than in the general election.

According to Georgia Votes, the 50,000 voters make up nearly 3 percent of the registered voters who didn’t vote in the presidential election. There are 21 percent less mail-in ballots than the general election, and a 5 percent increase of early votes. The site reflected that Monday marked five consecutive days of lower in-person voting turnout than the general election. Additionally, Democratic-leaning districts had stronger turnouts this past weekend than their Republican-leaning counterparts.

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Fairfax, Virginia Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano Says His Office Will Not Seek Cash Bail

Eric Burk

  Fairfax Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano (D) announced Monday that he would not be seeking cash bail for non-violent offenders, formalizing a policy he and his prosecutors have been practicing since Descano took office in January 2020. “I’ve long said that the laws on the books should match the values in our hearts. Cash bail is unjust, racially biased, and doesn’t make our community safer,” Descano said in a Twitter announcement. “That’s why my office won’t request it and why I call on the legislature to end it.” In a Washington Post op-ed Descano said, “Simply put, cash bail creates a two-tiered justice system: one for rich people and one for everyone else. People who sit in jail risk losing their jobs for nonattendance, which, in short order, could lead to the loss of their housing, and in some cases the loss of custody of their children. Facing these rippling consequences, many people simply opt to plead guilty in exchange for their immediate release, often plunging them into a cycle of increased contact with the criminal justice system.” Descano is part of a growing list of Virginia prosecutors who are moving away from cash bail. Norfolk Commonwealth’s Attorney Greg Underwood…

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Arlington, Virginia Students Receiving More Failing Grades During Pandemic Than Before

Jacob Taylor

Secondary students attending Arlington Public Schools (APS) are earning more failing grades during the coronavirus pandemic than in previous years, new data shows, further highlighting the negative impact virtual learning can have on certain students.

The data was presented in an internal report released online on Thursday that compared APS middle school and high school student’s quarter one grades from 2020-21 to quarter one grades from 2018-19 and 2019-20.

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