Day: September 10, 2021

National Archives Flags America’s Founding Documents for ‘Harmful Language’

Admin
Magnification of the U.S. Constitution

The National Archives has placed warning labels on its digital display of America’s founding documents, including the U.S. Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, warning they may contain “harmful language” that could offend viewers’ senses.

The labels come amidst a larger battle over political correctness inside the government’s main historical preservation agency, where new documents surfaced this week showing that about 800 National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) employees from across the country attended a town hall meeting of the Archives’ Task Force on Racism on May 11 and discussed deleting the “charters of freedom” descriptors for the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and the Declaration.

The argument made was that the documents did not “not result in freedoms for everyone” initially, the new memos show.

Read the full story

Boxer Hints Time for Fellow California Democrat Feinstein to Retire from Senate

Admin
Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein

Former Sen. Barbara Boxer says “there’s a season for everything,” including walking away from elected office. The 80-year-old did just that in 2017 when she was 76. Now, she’s suggesting Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a fellow California Democrat, think about doing the same.

Boxer and Feinstein were elected together to the Senate in 1992, making California the first state to elect two women to the upper chamber. But while Boxer retired nearly a term ago, Feinstein, now 88, remains in office with her term set to end in 2025.

“If Senator Feinstein were to call me today and asked my advice, I would say only you can decide this. But from my perspective, I want you to know I’ve had very productive years away from the Senate doing good things,” Boxer recently told the Los Angeles Times.

Read the full story

‘Huge Hole’: Congressman Says Feds Aren’t Vetting Social Media Posts of Afghan Refugees

Admin
Tom Tiffany

Acongressman from Wisconsin, where thousands of Afghan evacuees are being temporarily resettled, says the Biden administration is creating a significant security risk by failing to aggressively vet refugees’ social media before allowing then to reach U.S. destinations.

Rep. Tom Tiffany, a Republican, told Just the News that the failure to vet social media posts for possible extremism is just one of several byproducts of a chaotic Biden administration exit strategy that has moved immigrants to U.S. installations in third countries before adequate security checks could be completed.

“They said, get them on the planes, and we’ll sort the immigration status out later,” Tiffany said during a wide-ranging interview on the John Solomon Reports podcast. “And Secretary [of State Antony] Blinken acknowledged that this last weekend, on the Sunday news shows that that’s exactly what they did. That is a terrible way to handle national security.”

Read the full story

Tennessee Agrees to $65 Million Economic Grant for Oracle to Come to Nashville

Cooper Moran

In a unanimous vote, state leaders approved a measure to provide approximately $65 million in economic incentives for Oracle, the cloud technology company that provides computing infrastructure and software, to build a new campus in Nashville.

The grant from the state, meant to offset some of the cost of the $1.2 billion investment, was approved from the “Fast Track Economic Fund.”

Read the full story

Commentary: Justice Department Should Defend Unborn Not Abortion

Admin

Leave it to Attorney General Merrick Garland, once seemingly destined for the Supreme Court. When choosing between America’s most vulnerable members and most determined political lobby, he picked the abortion industry over millions of babies.

He didn’t put it that way, of course. He explained, “The department will provide support from federal law enforcement when an abortion clinic or reproductive health center is under attack.”

Read the full story

Jobless Claims Plummet to 310,000 as Workers Brush Off Delta Concerns

Admin
Photo “Unemployment Insurance Claims Office” by Bytemarks. CC BY 2.0.

The number of Americans filing new unemployment claims decreased to 310,000 last week as the economy continues to slowly recover from the coronavirus pandemic.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics figure released Thursday represents a substantial decrease in the number of new jobless claims compared to the week ending Aug. 28, when 345,000 new jobless claims were reported. That figure was revised up from the 340,000 jobless claims initially reported last week.

Read the full story

President Biden Announces New COVID-19 Vaccine Requirements

Admin

President Joe Biden announced in an address to the nation on Thursday that his administration will implement stricter COVID-19 vaccine requirements.

The new mandate will use the Department of Labor to require all employers with over 100 workers to have them vaccinated or tested weekly for COVID-19, which affects about 80 million Americans, Biden said. Those employers will also be required to provide paid time off to get vaccinated.

Read the full story

Biden Claims Half of American Energy Could Be Solar by 2050

Admin

On Wednesday, the Biden Administration made several unverified claims about the future of “green energy,” including the suggestion that half of all energy in the United States could be driven by solar power by the year 2050, as reported by Politico.

In a statement, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said that a new study commissioned by the Department of Energy showed that solar power “could produce enough electricity to power all of the homes in the U.S. by 2035, and employ as many as 1.5 million people in the process.”

Read the full story

Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar Reveals Previous Breast Cancer Diagnosis, Successful Treatment

Admin

Minnesota Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar revealed Thursday that she was diagnosed with stage 1 breast cancer earlier this year and successfully underwent radiation therapy.

“In May, I completed a course of radiation treatment, and after additional follow-up visits, it was determined in August that the treatment went well,” she wrote in a Medium post. “Of course this has been scary at times, since cancer is the word all of us fear, but at this point my doctors believe that my chances of developing cancer again are no greater than the average person.”

Read the full story

Report: Teachers Unions Bullied the White House, CDC into Changing School Masking Guidelines

Admin

The National Education Association (NEA) teachers union threatened to publicly criticize President Joe Biden’s administration if it did not implement stricter mask guidance, according to internal emails obtained by watchdog group Americans for Public Trust and provided to Fox News.

Following a statement published by the NEA, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) specified that regardless of vaccination status, masks should be worn by everyone in schools, Fox News reported. The NEA originally sent a drafted statement to White House officials criticizing the CDC’s guidance, but ended up publishing a statement with a milder tone, according to the emails.

Read the full story

Commentary: Recall the California Ideology

Admin

California once was run by alternating conservatives and mostly centrist Democrats.

True, paleo-liberal governors like Pat Brown greatly expanded the welfare state. But they also believed in pushing integration, building freeways, dams, aqueducts, and power plants, while preventing forest fires, directing the mentally ill into state hospitals, and ensuring the state enhanced the housing, timber, oil and gas, nuclear, and agricultural industries.

Read the full story

Independent Canvassing Effort in Maricopa County, Arizona Finds 34 Percent of Votes Missing or Lost

Admin

A grassroots canvass of Maricopa County voters in the 2020 election found that over 34 percent of those canvassed said they voted even though the county didn’t have a record of their vote.

Liz Harris, the Arizona resident who organized the independent canvass talked to Steve Bannon about her Voter Integrity Project findings on the Wednesday morning edition of the “War Room.”

Read the full story

Tennessee House Committee Begins Redistricting Process

Bradley Vasoli

The Tennessee House Select Committee on Redistricting held its first of many meetings on Wednesday, starting the process of refitting the Volunteer State’s legislative districts to correspond to population changes. 

“Over the course of the next several months, this committee will work together to develop a fair and constitutional redistricting plan for the state House, Senate and Congress,” committee Chair Curtis Johnson (R-TN-Clarksville) said.

Read the full story

Governor DeSantis Reappoints Arthur Graham, Andrew Fay to the Florida Public Service Commission

Casey Owens

After deciding between six finalists for two spots on the Florida Public Service Commission (PSC), Governor DeSantis decided on Wednesday to reappoint Arthur Graham and Andrew Fay, whose terms were to expire in January 2022.

Graham, of Jacksonville Beach, was first appointed to the PSC in 2010 and has served three terms as Chairman, while Fay, of Tallahassee, has served on the PSC since 2018, according to Wednesday’s announcement from Governor DeSantis Office.

Read the full story

Republican Party of Virginia Chair Rich Anderson Says Biden Could Learn from Virginia’s Non-Partisan Handling of Military Issues

Eric Burk

President Joe Biden has asked several Trump appointees to resign from military advisory boards, triggering anger from conservatives who say the move breaks norms.

“Typically, military advisory boards by tradition have been exempted from undue partisan influence. On non-military boards, it is generally accepted that new presidential administrations do changes, but avoid doing it to any depth for military boards,” Republican Party of Virginia Chair Rich Anderson told The Virginia Star.”This recent development is a continuation of the Biden administration practice of politicizing any and every element of American life, in and out of government.”

Read the full story

Biden Attempts to Kick Trump Appointees Off Service-Academy Boards; Pennsylvania GOP Silent So Far

Bradley Vasoli

President Joe Biden’s decision to fire 18 of his predecessor Donald Trump’s appointees to the advisory boards of U.S. service academies has so far elicited no comment from Pennsylvania’s Republican Party.

On Thursday, The Star News Network contacted the Pennsylvania GOP, the office of Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) and the offices of each Republican member of Congress from Pennsylvania asking for their response to the action the White House took the day before. At this writing, none have provided comment.

Read the full story

Ohio Appeals Biden Administration’s Nixing Work, Training Requirement to Receive Medicaid

Brian Ball
Unemployment line

The State of Ohio has asked the Biden Administration to reconsider its Aug. 10 squelching of an Ohio Medicaid pilot program designed to encourage Medicaid recipients to work or receive job training in order to keep their government-funded healthcare.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services  (CMS)((cq)) on Aug. 10 withdrew its earlier approval for the demonstration program first approved under the administation of President Donald Trump that would have allowe the Ohio Department of Medicaid to require recipients ages 19 to 50 to either find work, join a job-training program, or find other “community engagement such as volunteering for at least 80 hours per month to remain covered.

Read the full story

State Senator Bill Stanley Joins Virginia Redistricting Commission, Commission Discusses Use of Incumbent Addresses, and Barker Proposes Map That Protects His Seat

Eric Burk

Senator Bill Stanley (R-Franklin) is the newest addition to the Virginia Redistricting Commission. His predecessor Senator Stephen Newman (R-Bedford) resigned after the commission’s busy schedule for the next two months was announced.

“I know he put a lot of effort, time, and passion into this commission. He resigned shortly after we released our wonderful meetings. So I don’t know if [Co-Chair Greta Harris (D)] and I scared him away or what,” Co-Chair Mackenzie Babichenko (R) joked.

Read the full story

Arizona Governor Ducey Slams Biden’s ‘Dictatorial’ Vaccine Mandate

Cooper Moran

Arizona Governor Doug Ducey on Thursday slammed President Joe Biden’s announcement of a broad-reaching vaccine mandate.

Biden announced on Thursday that his administration and the Department of Labor plan to require all businesses with more than 100 employees to require COVID-19 vaccinations or weekly testing, potentially affecting approximately 100 million Americans.

Read the full story

Two Arizona Lawmakers Resign in Single Day

Peter D'Abrosca

Two state lawmakers in Arizona, one from each political party, resigned Wednesday.

“To my constituents & colleagues, I’m writing to inform you of my resignation, effective September 30th, from my House seat in Legislative District 11. It has been an honor and a privilege to serve with you, the Republican caucus, and the entire House,” Rep. Bret Roberts (D-AZ-11) announced on Twitter. 

Read the full story

DeSantis Appealing to Reinstate Stay on Florida Mask Mandate Ban

Grant Holcomb

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has filed an appeal to reinstate a stay on Florida’s mask mandate ban. The filing was an emergency order after Leon County Circuit Judge John Cooper lifted a stay after the state’s appeal, permitting school districts to impose mask mandates.

Cooper was the judge who struck down DeSantis’ mask mandate ban last month, siding with parents who have sued to have their districts be permitted to impose a mandate.

Read the full story

Minnesota State Senator Jeremy Miller Elected to Replace Former Senate Majority Leader Gazelka

Hayley Feland

State Senator Jeremy Miller (R-Winona) was elected to replace former Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka on Thursday. In a press conference announcing the decision Miller said, “I’m certainly not the only one that could be standing up here today because of the amount of talent we have but I did it because I know I have the opportunity to unite our caucus and at the same time work together with colleagues on both sides of the aisle in the House and Senate to get things done.”

Read the full story

Gubernatorial Challenger Renacci Gives Passing Grade to Ohio’s Election System, Still Waits for Trump Endorsement

Brian Ball

GOP gubernatorial candidate Jim Renacci expressed confidence in Ohio’s election system during a 25-minute press conference Thursday but pushed for more stringent voter identification rules at the polls.

The former congressman from Medina who represented a north central Ohio district for four terms took on  Governor Michael DeWine on the well-worn topics of  the incumbent’s response to the COVID-19 and the ongoing FirstEnergy Corp. scandal at the Statehouse. But he did come out against Ohio Republican Party endorsements that’s a potential topic at the State Central Committee’s meeting this morning.

Read the full story

Ohio Teachers Union Calls for Masks in All Schools

The Center Square

Growing COVID-19 Delta variant cases and more school closures have led Ohio’s largest teachers union to again call upon school districts around the state impose mask mandates on students, teachers and staff.

The Ohio Education Association said in a news release it wants local school districts to temporarily require all students and staff to wear masks inside school buildings until the current wave of Delta variant cases subsides.

Read the full story

Richmond Sets Sights on A.P. Hill Statue After Tearing Down Robert E. Lee

Peter D'Abrosca
AP Hill

After Wednesday’s removal of General Robert E. Lee’s statue in Richmond, the City Council is setting its sights on the last remaining Confederate statue in town. 

“The Richmond City Council will discuss moving the A.P. Hill monument as well as A.P. Hill’s remains, which are inside the monument,” according to WBBT. “On Sept. 13, the city council will take action to relocate the remains and monument to Fairview Cemetery in Culpeper at the request of A.P. Hill’s descendants.”

Read the full story

State Rep. Smith Filing Suit Against Florida Department of Health and Surgeon General Scott Rivkees

Grant Holcomb

Florida Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith (D-FL-49) filed suit against the Florida Department of Health (DOH) and outgoing Surgeon General Scott Rivkees over a public records request for Orange County pediatric COVID data.

Smith has said the DOH and Rivkees denied him the request and said they “falsely stated they were ‘confidential’ under state law, even after making those same records available for nearly a year on the Department’s daily COVID dashboard.”

Read the full story

Tennessee U.S. Rep. Mark Green Says Joe Biden Fears Oversight That Trump Appointees Would Give Military Advisory Board

Chris Butler

Three prominent members of Tennessee’s Republican Party on Thursday denounced U.S. President Joe Biden for demanding that appointees of former U.S. President Donald Trump resign from the U.S. Military Academy’s advisory board. U.S. Representative Mark Green (R-TN-07), an alumnus of and a member of the United States Military Academy Board of Visitors, addressed the matter in an emailed press release Wednesday.

Read the full story