Day: October 8, 2021

Associated Press Reporter Relies on Russian Collusion Fantasist in Noem Hit Piece

Neil W. McCabe

  In his September 27 attack article on South Dakota Gov. Kristi L. Noem, Associated Press reporter Stephen Groves quotes a rampant Russian Collusion hoaxer Professor Richard Painter, who he presents as a credible arbiter on ethics. Groves’s articles nominally focus on the governor’s effort to find out why her daughter Kassidy Peters, who graduated from South Dakota State University with a bachelor’s degree in agriculture and business management and had more than three years of experience working as a junior appraiser, was denied her application to become a state-certified residential appraiser. Peters was denied in late July 2020, but after the governor’s administration inquired into the circumstances around the denial, the governor’s daughter received her certificate in November 2020. Groves going to Painter is troubling because he deceptively fails to mention that the professor is anything other than a partisan opponent of former President Donald J. Trump and his allies. While Peters was applying for the certification, Noem should have recused herself from discussions on the agency, especially any that would apply to her daughter’s application, said Richard Painter, a professor at the University of Minnesota Law School, who was the chief ethics lawyer for former President George W.…

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Commentary: America and the Dying Citizen

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by Victor Davis Hanson   Only a little more than half of the current world’s 7 billion people are citizens of fully consensual governments. That lucky 50 percent alone enjoys constitutionally protected freedoms. Most are also Western. Or at least they reside in nations that have become “Westernized.” Migrants, regardless of their race, religion, or gender, almost always head for a Western nation. And most often their destination remains the United States. The more it is now fashionable for Americans to take for granted or even to ridicule the idea of their own country, the more the non-American global poor risk their lives to crash America’s borders. Constitutional systems easily perish because they ask a lot of their citizens—to vote, to be informed about civic and political issues, and to hold elected officials accountable. That responsibility is perhaps why, of the world’s true republics and democracies, only about 22 have been in existence for a half-century or more. We are seldom told, then, that America is a rare, precious, and perhaps even fragile idea, both in the past and in the present. American citizens are clearly also not the custom of the past. Unlike history’s more common peasants, citizens are…

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Senator Marsha Blackburn Slams Attorney General Merrick Garland for Investigating Parents’ Free Speech

Cooper Moran

Senator Marsha Blackburn and other GOP members of the Senate Judiciary Committee sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland, slamming his decision to open an investigation into alleged “threats” made by parents against school officials.

The letter from the lawmakers expressed concern that the Department of Justice is targeting the opinions of individuals that they do not agree with.

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Report: America’s Top 25 Private Schools Are Pushing Anti-Racism, ‘Equity’ Initiatives

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A website that tracks critical race theory (CRT) in K-12 schools and higher education institutions released a study Monday that shows CRT, “equity” and other initiatives are being pushed at the U.S.’ top 25 elite private schools, according to a database compiled by CriticalRace.org.

Some of the schools “have embraced CRT explicitly, while others have a continuum of programming, such as ‘antiracism,’ ‘equity,’ and ‘Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion’ that does not easily fit into a Yes/No construct,” according to the CriticalRace.org database. The database found that seven of the 25 schools has a mandatory form of anti-racism training, while 20 of the 25 schools had some type of anti-racism, CRT or diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) requirement.

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Biden Administration Downplays Rising Energy Prices, Says ‘Climate Crisis’ Is More Important

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The White House downplayed surging energy prices in the U.S. and worldwide on Wednesday, arguing that the climate crisis was more important.

“Certainly, we all want to keep gasoline prices low, but the threat of the crisis — the climate crisis — certainly can’t wait any longer,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters Wednesday.

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Snapchat Tries to Stop Users from Buying Fentanyl on Its Platform, but It’s ‘Too Little Too Late’ for Some

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Snapchat is putting in place new safety measures to try and stop young users buying and selling fentanyl on its platform, the company announced Thursday.

The company unveiled an in-app education portal called “Heads Up” in a blog post Thursday designed to provide young users with information from substance abuse advocacy groups including Song for Charlie, Shatterproof, and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration on the dangers of fentanyl. Snapchat also said it is planning on adding health information from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention in the coming weeks.

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Music Spotlight: The Woods

Bethany Bowman

Nashville, Tennessee – The Woods comprised of Raquel Cole, Dan O’Rourke, Leland Rooney are all incredible musicians, songwriters, and singers in their own right – and when they come together the sound is truly magical – think Little Big Town meets Midland. After hearing them play together at the Analog Room in the Hutton Hotel, I wanted to find out how this eclectic and diverse trio discovered each other.

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Senate GOP Releases Post-Election Report on Trump-Justice Dept, Contradicting Findings from Dems

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Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday released their review of President Trump’s management of the Justice Department after the 2020 presidential election, concluding the former president’s fears about election fraud were based on “legitimate concerns” – one day after Democrats who lead the chamber said their findings show Trump tried to install a loyalist atop the agency to investigate unfounded fraud claims.

The GOP’s 140-page review, titled, “In their own words: A factual summary of testimony from senior Justice Department officials related to the events from December 14, 2020, to January 3, 2021” offers starkly different conclusions from those reached by chamber Democrats.

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Federal Judge Sides with Biden Admin, Halts Texas Abortion Law

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A federal judge has halted the enforcement of Texas’ Heartbeat Act, which banned abortions in the state after a baby’s heartbeat can be detected.

“It is ordered that the State of Texas, including its officers, officials, agents, employees and any other persons or entities acting on its behalf, are preliminarily enjoined from enforcing Texas Health and Safety Code,” Judge Robert L. Pitman wrote in his 113-page ruling, The New York Times reported.

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Jobless Claims Drop to 326,000

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The number of Americans filing new unemployment claims decreased to 326,000 last week as the economy continues to slowly recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and pandemic-related unemployment benefits wind down.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics figure released Thursday shows a 38,000 claim decrease in the number of new jobless claims compared to the week ending Oct. 2, when 364,000 jobless claims were reported.

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Commentary: The Collectivist Presumption Against Parents

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Like religion, the traditional family poses a rival authority to liberalism’s arrogant conception of the state. Consequently, liberals view religious freedom and parental authority with suspicion and often hostility. Liberals are keenly aware that the fulfillment of their statist goals — pushing propaganda about abortion, transgenderism, critical race theory, socialism, and so on — depends upon isolating children from the influences of religion and family.

It is this view that drives liberalism’s opposition to parental consent and notification laws and its distaste for private education and homeschooling. Last year, a Harvard law professor argued for a ban on homeschooling, saying that it represents a danger to a “democratic society.”

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American Students from California Still Trapped in Afghanistan

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Almost two months after the Taliban seized control of the nation of Afghanistan, dozens of American students and their relatives remain stuck in the nation that is now controlled by enemy forces, and with no more American military forces remaining, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The majority of the students are from the Sacramento area of California. The Times’ Justin Ray says that his investigations have led him to believe that there are still “dozens” of families still trapped in Afghanistan, with 38 students among them. The students are all from the San Juan Unified School District.

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Social Justice Groups Demand Netflix Pull Down Dave Chappelle Special over ‘Anti-Trans’ Content

Peter D'Abrosca

Social justice groups are up in arms Thursday over what they have labeled “anti-transgender” bigotry from comedian Dave Chappelle, who recently released a new Netflix special called “The Closer.” 

In part of his standup routine, he discusses cancel culture, and how author J.K. Rowling was “cancelled” for an essay she wrote defending the idea of biological sex. For that, she was labeled a “Trans-exclusionary Radical Feminist” (TERF).

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Secretary Mayorkas Said Investigation into Border Patrol ‘Whipping’ Migrants Would Be Finished Weeks Ago

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Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said an investigation into the Border Patrol agents seen allegedly “whipping” migrants in Del Rio, Texas, would be completed in “days, not weeks,” and the two-week mark just passed, The Hill reported on Wednesday.

Mayorkas promised to investigate the incident in “a matter of days, not weeks” on Sept. 22, but the agency said the review was ongoing two weeks after his remarks, according to The Hill.

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Prominent Democratic Official in San Luis, Arizona Indicted on Additional Charges of Ballot Harvesting

Rachel Alexander

A Grand Jury has indicted a prominent Democratic official in the border city of San Luis, Arizona again on charges related to ballot harvesting during the 2020 primary election. Guillermina Fuentes, who is a former mayor of San Luis, a Democratic precinct committee person, and a member of the Gadsden Elementary School Board, was first indicted in December on one count of ballot abuse, also known as ballot harvesting, for collecting four ballots from people and turning them in. She was not authorized to do so since she was not a family member, household member, or caregiver of the voters per Arizona law. 

The new charges of conspiracy, forgery, and an additional ballot abuse count relate to a fifth voter, where she signed the voter’s name on the return envelope and marked their ballot. Alma Juarez, another San Luis resident, was also indicted for ballot abuse in December along with Fuentes. Fuentes has pleaded not guilty. The Democrats of Greater Tucson describe Fuentes as “very politically active and has helped gather signatures for candidates.”

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So Far, Ossoff and Warnock Are Voting Farther Left Than Any Other Georgia Senators in Recent Memory

Bradley Vasoli

When Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock sought Georgia’s U.S. Senate seats, both of which they won in special-election runoffs this January, there was little expectation they would match the centrism of fellow Peach State Democrats who held those seats before.

In 2017, when Ossoff initially ran unsuccessfully for Georgia’s 6th congressional district against Republican Karen Handel, Matthew Yglesias, then of the left-wing website Vox, observed that Ossoff’s message—support for abortion, aggressive anti-climate-change legislation and expanded healthcare programs—was “a lot more liberal than what you heard recently in Georgia.”

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Nikki Fried Defends Mask Mandates for Schools, Says DeSantis Is ‘Lying’

Grant Holcomb

Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried said Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is “lying” about mask mandates in Florida’s schools and claims masks have been effective in stopping the spread of COVID.

“Ron DeSantis is lying to you about masks in schools … In every single case, kids were better off in school districts that required masks than school districts that did not,” Fried said.

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U.S. Senate Hopeful J.D. Vance of Ohio Calls for AG Garland’s Resignation Amid Directive Against Protesting Parents

Brian Ball

The campaign of U.S. Senate hopeful J.D. Vance of Ohio has called for U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland to resign after the nation’s top law enforcement official issued a directive targeting hostile  parents nationwide who protest progressive education policies at school board meetings.

Garland issued the directive on Oct. 4 telling the U.S. Attorneys  and Federal Bureau of Investigation offices to coordinate with federal, state and local law enforcement on what he called an increase in harassment, intimidation and threats of violence against school board members, teachers and school staff.

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U.S. Senate Confirms Gwen Graham for Position in U.S. Department of Education

Casey Owens

The U.S. Senate confirmed former Florida Congresswoman and attorney, Gwen Graham, as assistant secretary of legislation and congressional affairs in the U.S. Department of Education on Wednesday.

Representing the Tallahassee area and other parts of north Florida, Graham was part of the Florida House of Representatives from 2015 to 2017, and lost a bid for governor in 2018.

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Recall Effort Against Loudoun School Board Member Beth Barts Clears Initial Hurdles

Eric Burk

Fight for Schools PAC had three minor wins in court this week in the effort to recall Loudoun County School Board Member Beth Barts. In a Tuesday hearing, the circuit court judge denied Barts’ motion to dismiss the recall petition, agreed to appoint a special prosecutor, and granted the PAC’s motion to intervene.

“Today was a very good day in court for Fight For Schools and a bad day for Beth Barts and her efforts to silence and criminalize parents in Loudoun County. Beth Barts tried to get all of the signatures that we have collected thrown out, the judge ruled against her and in our favor. The case will proceed,” Fight for Schools said on Facebook.

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Florida’s New Jobless Claims Edge Down

Grant Holcomb

Florida’s new jobless claims slightly dropped as the U.S. Department of Labor released new data this week. The numbers showed 7,713 new jobless claims were filed as of September 25, however the same metric is down to 6,509 as of October 2.

When the COVID-induced economic slowdown began in March and April 2020, the jobless claims were much higher, but since May 2021, the state has averaged just below 8,000 new jobless claims per week.

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World Renowned Psychiatrist: ‘Global Predators’ Fauci, Gates, Schwab Behind the COVID ‘Reign of Terror’

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People walking in airport

A world renowned psychiatrist says that an evil cabal of powerful elites, including, NIAID Director Anthony Fauci, tech billionaire Bill Gates, and World Economic Forum founder Klaus Schwab, created the COVID pandemic to push the deadly vaccines on an unsuspecting public, and usher in a new world order.

The United States government began its vaccine rollout by enticing people to get the experimental shot using various bribes, then moved on to forcing the injections on unwilling people by threatening their employment, imposing higher health insurance rates, making it more difficult for them to travel, and even denying them health care.

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Georgia U.S. Rep. Andrew Clyde Probes Why Illegal Immigrants Don’t Have to Produce Negative COVID-19 Tests

Chris Butler

Georgia U.S. Representative Andrew Clyde (R-GA-09) this month took U.S. Transportation Secretary David Pekoske to task over illegal immigrants crossing over into the United States without having to produce a negative COVID-19 test. This goes on, Clyde said, while Americans and people with valid visas must produce a negative COVID-19 test to enter the United States.

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Virginia House District 75 Profile: Otto Wachsmann Challenges Senior Delegate Roslyn Tyler

Eric Burk

Virginia House of Delegates District 75 is one of the best chances for Republicans to flip a House seat. Delegate Roslyn Tyler (D-Sussex) is a 15-year incumbent, but she faces a repeat challenge from pharmacist Otto Wachsmann, Jr. who nearly beat her in 2019 with 48.89 percent of the vote. The district has been bleeding population in recent years, and the victory will likely depend on whether Roslyn Tyler can mobilize the significant minority presence and overcome dissatisfaction with the local economy. Republicans need to gain six seats in the House to retake the majority. Without Trump on the ballot, Republicans are hoping moderates are more likely to vote Republican, helping them flip some seats.

“If you had to ask me what is the most likely district in the House to flip to Republicans, I would say that one. I still say it’s a toss-up,” CNalysis Director Chaz Nuttycombe told The Virginia Star.

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Tennessee State Rep. Vincent Dixie Welcomes Federal Investigation into Concerned Parents

Cooper Moran

Tennessee State Representative Vincent Dixie (D-Nashville) on Wednesday announced his support for Attorney General Merrick Garland’s investigation into alleged “threats” made by parents against school officials.

According to a statement from the Department of Justice, Garland has directed “the FBI and U.S. Attorneys’ Offices to meet in the next 30 days with federal, state, Tribal, territorial and local law enforcement leaders to discuss strategies for addressing this disturbing trend.” 

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