This week’s Golden Horseshoe is awarded to the Department of Labor for a $10 million grant to promote “gender equity” in the workplace in Mexico.
In its grant notice, the DOL’s Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB) announces that the goal of the project is to “improve gender equity in the Mexican workplace by supporting actions to increase the number of women in union leadership, strengthen protections, address harassment at work and augment wages for women.”
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The North Carolina Senate has approved legislation that prohibits K-12 schools from promoting more than a dozen concepts about racism and discrimination.
The legislation bans school districts from pushing critical race theory, which is centered around the idea that race is a social construct used to oppress people of color. The theory, developed by legal scholars in the late 1970s and 1980s, concludes racism in America is systemic.
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A little more than a week ago, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill announced that Susan King, dean of the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media, would be resigning from her position.
King, who took over the dean position in 2012, announced she would be keeping the position until a replacement is named.
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A Marine commander was relieved of his duties after he demanded accountability from top military brass in a video posted on social media after the deadly terrorist attack in Kabul Afghanistan. On Thursday, a suicide bomber detonated at Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport, killing 170 Afghans, and 13 American service members, most of whom were Marines.
Lieutenant Colonel Stuart Scheller, an advanced Infantry Training Battalion commander at Camp LeJeune in Jacksonville, N.C., announced that he had been let go on his LinkedIn page.
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What is the deal with today’s K-12 teachers? They’re all over the place when it comes to Critical Race Theory, or CRT. On the one hand they vehemently deny even teaching it; on the other they defend its use in curricula.
Many of those in the latter group claim they just want to teach a “real” and “inclusive” history. They also assert that in these “real” and “inclusive” lessons, white people aren’t shamed and demonized.
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New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham drives a car with an average fuel economy of less than 13 mpg, according to records obtained by Power the Future and first reported by The Federalist.
At the same time, Lujan Grisham committed the state in 2019 to new energy efficiency standards that included requiring new cars sold in the state beginning this year to reach an average 52 mpg, a goal that hasn’t been achieved.
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During the first six months of 2021, more than 6,250 “unaccompanied alien minors” were transported to Florida by the federal government and released to sponsors with little oversight, Gov. Ron DeSantis said.
Other than that, the governor says there’s little information provided by the federal government about where people detained for attempting to illegally cross the U.S.-Mexico border are being housed and how many are now in Florida.
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Rep. Ilhan Omar has joined a group of Democrats in urging President Joe Biden to increase the refugee admissions cap to 200,000 for the next fiscal year to meet the “massive humanitarian need” in Afghanistan.
With the Taliban now in control of the country, the U.S. Department of Defense could house as many as 30,000 Afghan refugees at military bases across America, including Fort McCoy in Wisconsin. That figure alone is nearly three times the number of refugees who were admitted to the U.S. last year under President Donald Trump.
President Biden revised the annual refugee admissions cap in May to 62,500 for the 2021 fiscal year, up from the “historically low number” of 15,000 set by the Trump administration. Biden said his goal is to increase that figure again to 125,000 for the next fiscal year.
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A Cuyahoga County probation officer wants union dues taken out of her paycheck returned because she was never part of the Fraternal Order of Police Ohio Labor Council union.
The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation has filed a federal lawsuit in the Northern District of Ohio on behalf of Kimberlee Warren against the Fraternal Order of Police Ohio Labor Council, claiming union officials violated her First Amendment rights as a public employee by continuing to collect union dues without her consent.
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U.S. Representative Nikema Williams (D-GA-05) reportedly said this week that the Federal Reserve must deliver “equity, diversity, and inclusion” to the banking and housing industries while also eliminating what she said was a “racial wealth disparity.” Williams serves on the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services.
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Florida Sen. Marco Rubio (R) criticized President Joe Biden for the alleged list the United States gave to Taliban leaders containing names of Americans and allied personnel still on the ground in Afghanistan seeking to evacuate.
Rubio’s comments were contained in a letter sent to the White House.
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Republican lawmakers are talking about suing the University of Wisconsin over mask mandates and test requirements for those who haven’t received a coronavirus vaccine.
State Senator Steve Nass (R-WI) said he will ask permission to begin legal proceedings if the UW System doesn’t change its mind about coronavirus restrictions by next week.
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Hurricane Ida made landfall Sunday afternoon near Port Fourchon in Louisiana. The hurricane had intensified overnight and went from a Category 2 to a Category 4 storm with sustained winds of 150 mph.
The National Hurricane Center said “to expect ‘extremely life-threatening’ storm surge inundation imminently within the area between Burns Point, Louisiana, to Ocean Springs, Mississippi.”
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Last week the Miami Herald published a story with a headline which garnered national attention, mainly from critics of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. The headline read “Florida COVID update: 901 added deaths, largest single-day increase in pandemic history.”
The story was picked up by many predominantly left-leaning pundits and news sites to blast DeSantis for their claims of his poor effort in handling of the COVID pandemic.
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Minneapolis is “run by gangs,” an owner of a Minneapolis restaurant and bar remarked in a recent interview, saying he has stopped trying to contact the city about it.
“I don’t talk to the city. I don’t talk to the politicians. I’ve given up. There’s no point,” Ken Sherman, owner of Seven Steakhouse, told WCCO last week.
Seven is a rooftop restaurant, bar, and nightclub located on Seventh and Hennepin in downtown Minneapolis. Sherman, who has owned the business since 2017, now operates his own security team nightly, according to a story in the August/September 2021 issue of Twin Cities Business.
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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration banned 55,000 e-cigarette products on Thursday for their failure to prove they didn’t pose a threat to public health.
The FDA announced that thousands of products from three vape companies, JD Nova Group LLC, Great American Vapes, and Vapor Salon, didn’t prove the benefit to adult smokers negated the “well-documented, alarming levels of youth use of such products.”
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U.S. Representative Andy Biggs (R-AZ-05) on Friday introduced legislation aimed at limiting the ability of companies to require their employees to receive a coronavirus vaccine.
The new bill would prohibit businesses that received federal COVID-19 relief funds from mandating vaccination of their employees.
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The Wayne County Public Health Department issued a new order mandating school districts and daycare providers require students, faculty, staff, and visitors to wear a face mask while in school and during school-sponsored indoor events.
The order takes effect immediately directing public, private, and parochial schools and daycare providers to:
Require indoor wearing of face masks for all pre-kindergarten through grade 12 students, regardless of their vaccine status; and,
Require face masks to be worn indoors by all teachers, administrative staff, other employees, parent and guardians, attendees, and volunteers.
The order remains in effect until the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention categorize COVID-19 community transmission for Wayne County as “moderate” for at least 14 consecutive days or further notice by Wayne County officials.
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The Newport News School Board reconsidered its vote against a transgender policy. After frustration from transgender advocates and politicians including Congressman Bobby Scott (D-VA-03) and Delegate Mike Mullin (D-Newport News), the board voted four to three in favor of the policy, flipping its previous vote of five to one with one abstention.
In the Thursday special meeting Member John Eley explained why he changed his vote: “As school board members we must uphold the law and follow the law. If we’re not in compliance with the law, we’re breaking the rules.”
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The Michigan Democratic Party deleted a tweet pointing out Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) “declined” to issue a statewide school mask mandate.
As coronavirus cases rise, Whitmer has refused to exercise the powers she used months ago, despite repeatedly claiming she is “following the science,” leaving some to speculate she is now following polling and “political science.”
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Too many Nashvillians are losing the personal belongings that they keep in their vehicles, and they are also losing their own automobiles because they aren’t taking one simple precaution, according to the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD). MNPD officials said several Nashvillians continue to keep their keys in their vehicles.
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Arne Duncan, the Secretary of Education under former President Barack Obama, compared individuals who choose not to wear a mask to the deadly terrorists who killed 13 American service members earlier this week.
In a tweet, Duncan claimed that people who do not wear a mask have a “strikingly similar” mindset to the terrorists who killed and injured dozens of American and Afghan citizens.
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Hamilton County Schools says it is struggling struggling to control COVID-19 as the delta variant continues to drive cases. This has prompted the public school district that operates 41 elementary schools, 21 middle schools, and 22 high schools in the city of Chattanooga and Hamilton County School to ask all students to wear a mask. Some schools in the district have been closed altogether.
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Among last year’s other lessons, none may be more important than this: Our taxpayer-funded education establishment cares more about adults than children.
Consider the evidence: public school union bosses pressured officials to close schools and keep them shuttered beyond what medical authorities recommended. In spite of the obvious harm to children of school closures, unions throughout the country lobbed threats and issued demands. In Chicago, the union went so far as to sue the Mayor to keep schools closed; in San Francisco, the city had to sue its school board.
A public education system that failed to do right by our children has kept union bosses empowered and politicians cowed. Thankfully, our country offers an alternative—one that proved its mettle this past year. In a recent survey of public school and Christian school parents, the Herzog Foundation found that parents of children who attended a Christian school were vastly more satisfied with their school experience.
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MCALLEN, Texas — Customs and Border Protection agents are so overwhelmed with the number of migrants arriving at the southern border they’re having a hard time verifying whether some illegal migrants are minors or adults, agents told the Daily Caller News Foundation on Tuesday.
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials are supposed to conduct extensive interviews with migrants they suspect of lying about their age, a senior agent told the DCNF. The agents spoke to the DCNF on the condition of anonymity since they were not authorized to speak on the matter.
“In the past, our intelligence would interview these subjects until eventually getting them to admit they had falsely claimed to be minors. But now with the sheer volume of people coming in and people that we have to process and move, that part of the equation is just a hindrance and would create a bottleneck,” the senior CBP agent told the DCNF. “In other words, our processing machine has now switched gears to quantity over quality. Sad.”
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Having met a number of global traveler-types, I was surprised some years ago when I heard American citizenship described in very unromantic, mercantile terms. The most common expression was, “It’s a good passport to have.”
For blood and soil Americans, citizenship is something entirely different. After all, two-thirds of Americans do not even have a passport. Rather, this nation is who we are. It is mom, apple pie, Main Street, the English language, our ancestors, our only political loyalty, and our destiny. Unlike globe-trotting “citizens of the world,” we are not just passing through.
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The House committee probing the Jan. 6 riots is demanding over a dozen social media companies hand over extensive records related to the events at the Capitol.
The Select Committee investigating the Capitol riot sent letters dated Aug. 26 to Facebook, Google, Twitter, YouTube and Reddit, along with Parler, TikTok, 4chan and seven other social media platforms asking them to provide all documents, data and other information related to the Capitol riot since April 2020.
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A Marine who was killed in Thursday’s terrorist attacks in Kabul has been identified as a 20-year-old man from St. Louis, his father told local affiliate KMOX.
Lance Cpl. Jared Schmitz is one of 13 marines who lost their lives in Thursday’s ISIS-K terror attacks at Kabul airport, his father Mark confirmed to St. Louis’ KMOX Friday. Schmitz was notified early Friday morning that his son had died.
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Wisconsin lost track of more than 82,000 mail-in ballots cast in the state in the November 2020 elections—more than four times the margin of difference separating the two presidential candidates in the state, according to a report by the nonprofit Public Interest Legal Foundation.
The legal foundation, an election integrity watchdog group, released a research brief Friday looking at one of the most closely contested states in the 2020 presidential election.
However, the Wisconsin Elections Commission disputes those findings, as the commission spokesman said the report “mischaracterizes election systems and cherry-picks data,” adding, it is “unreliable and frankly, it’s sloppy work.”
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Thales Academy officials have announced they will open a private and low cost K-12 school in Greenville, South Carolina at an unspecified time. Thales Academy is an independent and private school.
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The Department of Education announced it would stop enforcing a Trump administration rule designed to protect those accused of sexual assault on college campuses.
A district court in Massachusetts upheld most of the Title IX 2020 amendments in a July ruling, maintaining new regulations related to public institutions managing allegations of harassment, assault, violence, and more. Although, the court struck down one procedural regulation related to what evidence a “Decision-Maker,” or the employee who is designated to adjudicate the case, may consider in making rulings.
Following the court ruling and a letter from the Department of Education on Tuesday, the chosen adjudicator can now consider emails and texts between the parties and witnesses, police reports and medical reports, regardless of cross-examination status at the live hearing.
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Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer remains undecided about retirement plans, saying in an interview published Friday that there are “many considerations” playing a part in his eventual decision.
Breyer, 83, is the oldest member of the court, and he has yet to decide when to retire, despite increasing pressure from activists to retire immediately.
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Medical professionals are suing President Joe Biden’s administration over a mandate requiring doctors to perform transgender surgeries in violation of their religious beliefs or medical judgement.
Represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom, the American College of Pediatricians, the Catholic Medical Association and an OB-GYN doctor specializing in adolescent care filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee at Chattanooga Thursday against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
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Harvard University has selected a man who does not believe in God to be the school’s chief chaplain.
Chief Chaplain Greg Epstein is the author of “Good Without God: What a Billion Nonreligious People Do Believe.” He also serves as Harvard’s Humanist Chaplain, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) humanist chaplain, and as Convener for Ethical Life at the MIT Office of Religious, Spiritual, and Ethical Life.
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Since Oct. 1, 2020, San Diego Sector Border Patrol agents have apprehended more than 7,300 Brazilian nationals, an increase of more than 2,200% from the prior fiscal year. In all of fiscal 2020, 330 Brazilian nationals were apprehended, the sector reports.
Every month since April 2021, San Diego Border Patrol has encountered more than 1,000 Brazilian nationals who enter the U.S. illegally. In fiscal 2020, the sector apprehended six, the agency states.
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Tennessee Governor Bill Lee commented Saturday evening on the death of Ryan Knauss, an East Tennessean who was one of the 13 American service members killed in a deadly terrorist attack in Kabul, Afghanistan last week “Maria and I are heartbroken and mourning the loss of U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Ryan Knauss, a Tennessean who was killed in the tragic terrorist attack on Kabul. On behalf of all Tennesseans, we offer our full support in the difficult days ahead,” Lee tweeted Saturday.
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ST. PAUL, Minnesota – Around 150 Stop Line 3 protesters unlawfully gathered outside of the Governor’s Mansion on Saturday afternoon. The protesters blocked Summit Avenue in St. Paul where the Governor’s Mansion is located and hung signs on the surrounding fences. Other protesters blocked entrances and exits to the house, sitting with their arms linked.
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The Florida Department of Corrections (FDC) announced the temporary closure of three prisons in North Florida on Friday, Cross City Correctional Institution (CCCI), Baker Correctional Institution (BCI), and New River Correctional Institution (NRCI).
CCCI has been closed since August 7th when it was evacuated due to flooding, while BCI and NRCI have experienced significant staffing shortages and will be closed in the coming weeks.
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The Minnesota House DFL modified its announcement of a women’s equality event after originally promoting an anti-pipeline activist with a history of allegedly covering up and defending accused sexual predators.
An event for Women’s Equality Day hosted by Speaker of the House Melissa Hortman was promoted with graphics displaying various levels of “sponsorship” named after prominent women in history, like Maya Angelou and Shirley Chisholm.
One of the women promoted in the original graphic was Winona LaDuke, a leading anti-Line 3 pipeline activist who has defended child abusers.
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Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) secured a $13 million grant from the federal government to support COVID-19 testing and mitigation in 51 small, rural hospitals.
“Our top priority is supporting the brave professionals on the frontlines of our health care industry in every corner of our state to ensure that they have what they need to protect themselves, their family, and their neighbors,” Whitmer said in a statement. “This funding will help rural hospitals continue serving their communities by expanding their COVID-19 testing capacity and mitigation efforts. I want to thank the nurses, doctors, and all medical professionals who continue to go above and beyond to keep people safe each and every day.”
Rural hospitals with fewer than 50 staff will be able to use the funds from the federal Health Resources and Services Administration for testing equipment, personnel, temporary structures, or education. Mitigation strategies must follow the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) community mitigation framework, including education, contact tracing, communication, and outreach. Each hospital will receive about $257,000 that must be spent within 18 months of receipt.
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Florida State Rep. Jay Trumbull (R-6), House Appropriations Chair, is calling on the Florida Ports industry to lobby for more infrastructure cash while still waiting on federal COVID stimulus money.
Trumbull said he wishes he wishes “we could have done more” for the ports industry, but he is concerned Florida’s ports could lose out on commerce and industry to nearby Alabama and Georgia.
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In Jacksonville and Ocala, Regeneron’s monoclonal antibody treatment sites are seeing hundreds of people receive the therapy, and it is proving successful in its early treatment phase.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has been pushing for the use of the treatment for COVID patients early in their infection. The design is to receive the monoclonal treatment before serious symptoms kick in.
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The King William School Board voted four to one to send a letter to Governor Ralph Northam and other top Virginia officials criticizing a mask mandate in schools.
“We believe that Senate Bill 1303 passed by the Virginia General Assembly and signed into law by Governor Northam is unconstitutional. In its current form, this law oversteps the authority of both the General Assembly and the governor by encroaching on the authority granted to school boards by the Constitution of Virginia. This law is just one of many recent examples of government overreach that infringes upon our ability to fulfill our duties and make local decisions for our community,” the letter states.
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When a principal at an Atlanta public elementary school segregated students in classes based on their race, some parents supported it, says Kila Posey, mother of a student at the school.
Sharyn Briscoe, the principal of Mary Lin Elementary, who is black, segregated second-grade classes based on race in the 2020-2021 academic year, limiting black students to two classrooms to choose from while white students could choose between six different classrooms.
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Two Ohio lawmakers want to close a loophole in state law that allows teachers who are under investigation for misconduct to retire and school districts to not file a report with the Ohio Department of Education.
The legislation, filed this week by Reps. Adam Miller, D-Columbus, and Sarah Fowler-Arthur, R-Geneva-on-the-Lake, was proposed after five Rocky River School District teachers resigned and one retired in the spring as the district investigated alleged inappropriate contact.
“Closing the Background Check Retirement Loophole protects students and parents,” Miller said. “It also protects school districts. A teacher who retires while under investigation would still have all their rights under law, but other districts would have a clearer picture of the circumstances and could make the best, most informed decision on hiring that teacher. Right now, a district can be left in the dark.”
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ST. PAUL, Minnesota – Thousands gathered at a medical freedom rally on the steps of the Minnesota state capitol on Saturday. Estimates ranged from 3,000 to 5,000 participants.
Many protesters held signs saying things like “Stop the mandate” and “My body, my choice.” Others wore shirts that had phrases that stated “Health is not mandated” and “Medical freedom.”
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Arizona taxpayers who received unemployment benefits in 2020 and filed their state tax return before the American Rescue Plan Act (ARP) was enacted on March 11 can receive a new income tax refund.
That’s according to a Thursday announcement from the Arizona Department of Revenue.
Congress passed the ARP to give communities money to address public health and economic recovery issues which resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic.
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A crowd of about 50 people gathered at the Capital Lawn in Nashville on Saturday to rally for vaccine choice on Saturday.
The issue, the group said via a Facebook post leading up to Saturday’s rally, is “pretty simple.”
“There are plenty of other things we can talk about,” the one graphic reads, “but the core is MEDICAL TYRANNY vs MEDICAL FREEDOM.”
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Shelby County has announced a lawsuit against Tennessee Governor Bill Lee (R) over his executive order allowing parents to opt their children out of mask mandates. The county says that the order puts children at risk of contracting COVID and even dying.
The complaint, filed Tuesday, says that “Governor Lee’s executive order makes the maintenance and support of a system of free public schools impossible.” The lawsuit opens by stating that Shelby County is in the middle of a “global pandemic, the likes of which the world has not seen in over a century.”
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Earlier this week, as covered in a previous column in the American Spectator, the Democrat National Committee bragged about the “achievement” of this alleged president in his “best-run evacuation” of Kabul. Chief among the DNC’s arguments for such ludicrous praise was the lack of American casualties.
The press flacks at the DNC, every one of whom would be fired if that organization had the slightest honor (its chairman, the failed U.S. Senate candidate Jaime Harrison, should similarly resign in disgrace before the weekend), were merely parroting statements the alleged president made about the absence of dead Americans at the time.
Every single credible person with either operational military experience or a knowledge of Afghanistan was warning that casualties were already inevitable by that point. Even the alleged president, in a fit of congratulatory onanism, qualified the alleged safety of the “best-run evacuation” with the proverbial knock on wood.
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