Military’s Top Catholic Prelate Rebukes Catholic SecDef Austin’s COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate

  The Archbishop of the Archdiocese for Military Services wrote an October 12 pastoral letter to Catholic military personnel supporting their right of conscience to refuse the COVID-19 vaccines produced or tested with cells derived from aborted children, setting up a confrontation with a Pentagon led by a practicing Catholic. “No one should be forced to receive a COVID-19 vaccine if it would violate the sanctity of his or her conscience,” wrote Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio, who has led the military archdiocese since his January 25, 2008, installation. The prelate’s pastoral letter sets up a confrontation between the military’s top Catholic cleric and the military’s top leader, practicing Catholic Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III. Austin ordered all military personnel to be vaccinated in his August 24 memorandum. “To defend this Nation, we need a healthy and ready force. After careful consultation with medical experts and military leadership, and with the support of the president, I have determined that mandatory vaccination against coronavirus disease 2019, COVID-19, is necessary to protect the Force and defend the American people,” Austin in his memo, addressed to senior Pentagon leadership, commanders of combatant commands, Defense agency and DOD field activity directors. “Mandatory vaccinations are…

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Dr. Shiva Ayyadurai to Hold Forum on Arizona Audit Findings

Dr. Shiva Ayyadurai, who wrote the portion of the Maricopa County ballot audit addressing the signatures on the return envelopes of mail-in ballots, is holding a forum on Thursday to discuss findings of the Arizona election audit.

When addressing the findings, Ayyadurai invited members of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors to answer any concerns over the procedures.

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Dr. Shiva Ayyadurai Defends His Maricopa County Ballot Audit Findings After Media Attack

Dr. Shiva Ayyadurai, who authored the portion of the Maricopa County ballot audit addressing the signatures on the return envelopes of mail-in ballots, is furious with an article by an Arizona journalist in a left-leaning publication. Ayyadurai believes the Maricopa County Supervisors got Arizona Mirror reporter Jeremy Duda to write a “hit job” on him. He wrote a 67-page letter to Arizona Senate President Karen Fann and Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich about the article, asking them to conduct an investigation, and to allow him to hold a public meeting where he can address his concerns with the supervisors. Brnovich is currently investigating the results of the audit, and has instructed Maricopa County to freeze all 2020 election materials in a litigation hold.

Specifically, Ayyadurai wants to “Expose how the Arizona Mirror has nothing to do with ‘Independent Journalism,’ but is part of an organized network of local and decentralized media funded by Arabella Advisors, what the The New York Times and Politico term as ‘dark money’ aimed to manufacture narratives to meet partisan objectives.”

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Commentary: Biden Reinstates Catch and Release with More Than 227,000 Illegal Aliens Released Since January 2021

President Joe Biden has reinstated “catch and release,” a policy allowing illegal aliens to be released into the United States pending an immigration hearing — which had been discontinued under former President Donald Trump — resulting in more than 227,000 illegal aliens being released on their own recognizance through Aug. 2021.

That is out of 535,000 aliens apprehended in Fiscal Year 2021 by the U.S. Border Patrol, a porous 42 percent catch-and-release rate by Biden.

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Vanderbilt University and Tennessee Department of Transportation Leading to Build ‘Smartest Roadway in the World’

Vanderbilt University and the Tennessee Department of Traffic (TDOT) are beginning development of what is being called ‘the smartest roadway in the world.’ While the development only spans about six miles of Nashville’s Interstate 24, leader Dan Work of Vanderbilt University said that,

This research will help make the world’s roadways smarter and safer, with the initial research conducted right here in Tennessee. Beyond the thrill of participating in this never-before-attempted project, we are confident that this work will attract the attention of automakers and contribute to the region’s economy

This project, called the I-24 Mobility Technology Interstate Observation Network — or, I-24 MOTION — consists of 300 ultra HD cameras to anonymously capture details of drivers on the road. Part of the cameras instillation had already begun this summer, and the I-24 MOTION team hopes to have the remaining cameras installed and running by summer 2022.

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Report: Vast Majority of Top Fossil Fuel Companies Don’t Plan on Abandoning Oil and Gas Anytime Soon

The majority of oil and gas companies said that they don’t have plans to shift away from fossil fuels at any point in the future, according to an industry report released Tuesday.

Oil and gas company executives said hydrocarbons would be their long-term business and that fossil fuel demand would remain at current levels for at least another decade, according to Deloitte Insights. Of the 100 executives polled, 77% said fossil fuels would continue to serve as their main source of revenue for the foreseeable future.

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Commentary: The FDA’s Power over Food and Drug Approval

Competition tends to bring about a better product or service, at a lower price, than does monopoly. This is a basic premise held by virtually all economists, disputed by pretty much no one in the profession. The entire antitrust edifice of the American system is built upon this foundational aspect of the dismal science.

And yet when push comes to shove, our society jettisons this insight, at least when it comes to assuring the quality of our food and drugs.

The Food and Drug Administration is a monopoly agency entrusted with this task. Its word is final concerning such matters. No competition is allowed. If a private agency set itself up as an alternative, it would first be subjected to raucous laughter, and then its creators jailed.

The FDA is a licensing agency. If it does not approve of a food or drug, it is illegal to offer it for sale. What is the non-monopolistic alternative to this sad state of affairs? This is called certification. How, pray tell, does this work? It is simple. Different firms set themselves up as evaluators of the quality of food and drugs, and each of them subjects these products to their examinations. They certify some as approved, and list others as not approved.

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North Carolina Chick-Fil-A Offering $19 an Hour for Full Time Employees is Still Struggling for Applicants

The Hendersonville, North Carolina Chick-fil-A is having a hard time finding employees, despite offering $19 an hour as a pay rate for full time positions. Along with the high wage pay, Chick-fil-A also offers other incentives as well.

In response to an Its Scoop Nashville Tweet about the restaurant’s struggle to find workers, one user replied, “say it with me, HENDERSONVILLE.” Implying that the location was what has been causing the lack of applicants.

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Havana Syndrome Reported in Colombia Right Before Blinken’s Scheduled Visit

Havana Syndrome, a mysterious condition that has affected numerous U.S. officials while serving abroad, has been reported in Colombia, ahead of Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s scheduled visit.

U.S. embassy officials in Bogotá, Colombia, have been experiencing “unexplained health incidents,” a term used to describe Havana Syndrome, since mid-September, according to emails sent by Ambassador Philip Goldberg and others and reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. At least five American families have been afflicted.

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Conservative Politicians in Spain Attack Biden After Indigenous Peoples’ Day Proclamation

Right-wing politicians in Spain criticized President Joe Biden’s proclamation of Indigenous Peoples’ Day on Monday and refused to apologize for the atrocities committed when the country colonized the Americas, BBC News reported.

Spain’s colonial expansion into the Americas was described as “the most important event in history after the Roman empire,” by Pablo Casado, leader of the conservative People’s Party, on the eve of the country’s holiday honoring Christopher Columbus, BBC News reported Tuesday.

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Pelosi: ‘Yes,’ IRS ‘Tracking’ of Bank Accounts over $600 Still on Table as Opposition Grows

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi

U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., doubled down on the inclusion in a spending bill of a Democratic provision that would require banks to report to the IRS transactions for accounts holding over $600.

When asked Tuesday if the IRS monitoring would remain in Democrats’ proposed $3.5 trillion reconciliation legislation, Pelosi emphatically said “yes.”

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Federal Judge Rules That New York Healthcare Workers Can Apply for Religious Exemption from Vaccine

An a significant blow to one of the nation’s strictest vaccine mandates, a federal judge ruled that healthcare workers in New York can apply for religious exemptions from the statewide mandate, according to CNN.

The ruling was made on Tuesday by U.S. District Court Judge David Hurd, with Hurd declaring that the New York State Department of Health is “barred from interfering in any way with the granting of religious exemptions from Covid-19 vaccination going forward, or with the operation of exemptions already granted.”

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Jen Psaki: Biden Wants to Use Pandemic to ‘Make Fundamental Change in Our Economy’

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki proudly declared on Tuesday that Joe Biden is using the pandemic to inflict “fundamental change” on the American economy.

When asked during the White House press briefing whether some programs in Biden’s $4.5 trillion budget proposal should get cut, Psaki rejected the notion, asserting that the pandemic was the perfect opportunity for Democrats to exploit the pandemic.

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Over $100 Million Worth of Border Wall Equipment Wasted, Sitting Unused in Texas

Ever since the Biden Administration halted all construction of the border wall, over $100 million worth of construction equipment intended to be used in finishing the wall has been sitting unused along the border in Texas, as reported by the New York Post.

After Biden ordered a halt to all construction and illegally cancelled numerous construction contracts with various companies, the material has been slowly rusting along the border, often right next to portions of the wall that were already completed.

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Record 4.3 Million People Quit Their Jobs in August as Workers See Opportunity in Chaotic Labor Market

A record 4.3 million Americans quit their job in August as retail and bar and restaurant industries saw the largest surge in employees who left their positions, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics report released Tuesday.

Roughly 2.9% of the workforce left their jobs in August, a jump of 242,000 from July’s figure, according to a Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) report. Experts believe the jump from July’s record-setting number is partly due to workers wanting jobs with more convenient hours, better pay, or working conditions, The Washington Post reported.

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Commentary: Critical Race Theory Is Being Taught in Public Schools

Group of young students at table, reading and wearing masks

The National School Boards Association (NSBA), which according to its website serves about 51 million public school students nationwide, made headlines recently when it requested that President Biden use federal terrorism statutes and issue other “extraordinary measures” against those pushing back against school boards that are indoctrinating children in critical race theory (CRT) and gender ideology. Much has already been written about this, and for good reason. In our Constitutional Republic, the federal government has no authority over education. As James Madison famously stated in Federalist 45, “The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite.” A quick scan of the Constitution reveals that the people and states have delegated no educational power to the federal government. Because all power originates in the people and the states, all powers not delegated to the federal government remain in the states and the people. The Tenth Amendment states this principle explicitly.

Instead of leaving educational policy (and challenges to it) to state and local governments, however, President Biden is using the power of federal law enforcement to quell debate and intimidate parents from exercising their First Amendment rights. Using federal law enforcement to chill debate on what is and should be a truly local issue is totalitarianism at its zenith. All totalitarian states centralize educational control in the federal government for the purpose of indoctrinating children in their preferred ideology.  The Nazis, Soviets, and Communist Chinese all did (or still do) it, and now, following in their footsteps, the Biden administration is giving it a try, albeit in an indirect, more nuanced manner.

But this piece is actually about a second, more subtle point. A key presupposition underlying the NSBA’s request — and the Biden DOJ’s response — is that parental protests against school boards are completely unfounded. As the NSBA letter notes, “many public school officials are [] facing physical threats because of propaganda purporting the false inclusion of critical race theory within classroom instruction and curricula.” The letter then states that “[t]his propaganda continues despite the fact that critical race theory is not taught in public schools and remains a complex law school and graduate school subject well beyond the scope of a K-12 class” (emphasis added).

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Inflation Rises Again as COVID Recovery Slows and Supply Chains Remain in Chaos

The Consumer Price Index increased 0.4% in September, bringing the key inflation indicator’s year-over-year increase to 5.4%, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics announced Wednesday.

The year-over-year 5.4% inflation figure is an increase from August’s 5.3%, and September’s figure represents the highest year-over-year inflation increase since January 1991, according to CNBC. The 5.4% increase in the CPI is slightly above the 5.3% economists estimated.

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White House Plans to Reopen Borders with Canada and Mexico to Vaccinated Travelers

The Biden administration plans to reopen the land borders with Canada and Mexico to vaccinated travelers, The Washington Post reported on Tuesday.

People who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 will be able to enter the U.S. for non-essential purposes including visiting family or tourism starting in November, according to The Washington Post. Anyone planning to cross the border for non-essential or essential travel is required to be vaccinated in January.

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Commentary: California’s New Ethnic Studies High School Graduation Requirement Is Another Example of Why Parents Should Homeschool Their Kids

California Governor Gavin Newsom has signed Assembly Bill 101, authored by Riverside Democrat Jose Medina and cosponsored by the California Teachers Association (CTA), which mandates one “ethnic studies” course for graduation from high school beginning in 2030. Newsom had previously rejected AB 331, a similar bill by Medina, because it was “insufficiently balanced and inclusive.” For Katy Grimes of the California Globe, the revamped AB 101 “is not any of those things,” and ethnic studies is not an academic discipline.

Those who opposed AB 331 note that “ethnic studies” divides the people into “us and them.” Jewish organizations protested the anti-Semitic content. The authors of the Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum (ESMC) removed their names and founded the Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum Institute, and their curriculum “is expected to be even more anti-Semitic than the original ESMC.” As Grimes shows, this is hardly the only problem.

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Commentary: New Group Equips Parents with Seven Tools to Combat Wokeness in K-12 Education

Captured in a metropolitan Atlanta, Georgia primary school, seated amongst his classmates, this photograph depicts a young Asian-American school boy, who was in the process of creating a drawing, and was choosing from a box of crayons, the colors he’d use in order to bring his ideas to life. It is important to know that these objects are known as fomites, and can act as transmitters of illnesses.

It’s no secret that the far left has infiltrated higher education with its radical ideas. But now, woke ideology has come for K-12 classrooms across the country. 

“As parents, we send our kids to school to learn to think critically, to figure out how to solve problems, and to respectfully discuss and resolve differences of opinion,” Ashley Jacobs, executive director of Parents Unite, said Friday during the new organization’s first conference. 

“But,” Jacobs said, “our educational systems are not enabling these skills, and in some cases, [they are] stifling them.” 

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Ohio GOP Cites Justice Brunner Statements, Affiliations in Call to Recuse Herself in Redistricting Cases

The Ohio Republican Party has asked Ohio Justice Jennifer Brunner to step aside in hearing cases tied to redistricting Ohio’s state legislative district boundaries because of public stands she and her political supporters have taken on the issue.

Ohio GOP Chairman Bob Paduchik cited several instances where Brunner, who is now running for chief justice of the Ohio Supreme Court, acknowledged the potential for redistricting litigation and role the state’s high court might play during her campaign.

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Former President Trump Calls In to Bannon-Headlined ‘Take Back Virginia’ Rally

Steve Bannon headlined a get-out-the-vote rally for the MAGA base in Henrico on Wednesday evening, where speakers included Senator Amanda Chase (R-Chesterfield) and Arizona State House Representative Mark Finchem, who is using 2020 election audits in that state in his campaign for Arizona Secretary of State. But the biggest reaction from the crowd came when former President Donald Trump called in for about five minutes.

“Glenn Youngkin is a great gentleman,” Trump said. “You have a chance to get one of the most successful businessmen in the country, and he did it in a quiet professional way, in Glenn Youngkin. I hope — he and others by the way — but I hope Glenn gets in there  and he’ll straighten out Virginia, and he’ll lower taxes, all of the things that we want a governor to do, and I really believe that Virginia is very, very, winnable.”

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Commentary: Stanford Epidemiologist Says COVID Vaccination Is Primarily a Matter of Personal Health, Not Public Health

As one-size-fits-all COVID vaccine mandates sweep government, academia, and corporate America, new data are emerging that undermine the public health justifications for these policies. Studies from multiple countries now indicate that vaccination alone is less effective than the acquired immunity many already possess and unable to prevent transmission in the medium-to-long term.

Since the pandemic began, more than 100 million Americans have recovered from the virus. Many are workers deemed “essential” just last year. While the government paid others to sit at home, essential workers were required to continue working, exposing themselves to the coronavirus in a pre-vaccine world.

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Virginia Teacher Fired for Refusing to Wear Mask

The Chesterfield County School Board agreed to fire government and history teacher Stephen Roszell for insubordination after he declined to comply with a state-wide mask mandate for teachers. Roszell told The Virginia Star that he would have complied with a local mask mandate from his employer since Virginia is a right-to-work state. However, he sees Governor Ralph Northam’s public health order as an overreach of executive power. He’s also concerned about federal stimulus funds sent to school districts influencing their policy.

“I teach about federalism in history and government, and this is a direct payment essentially from the federal government through the Virginia Department of Education to [Local Education Agencies (LEA)],” Roszell said. “This money is coming directly from the federal government, and localities must follow all the CDC guidelines through 2023.”

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Ohio Law Banning Mandatory Vaccination in Schools Now in Effect

An Ohio law banning schools from forcing students to take vaccinations that haven’t been fully approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) took effect Wednesday. 

HB 244 says that primary and secondary schools, along with public universities, may not “Discriminate against an individual who has not received a [non-fully approved vaccine], including by requiring the individual to engage in or refrain from engaging in activities or precautions that differ from the activities or precautions of an individual who has received such a vaccine.” 

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Former Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake Donates $150,000 to Foundation Run by Tyler Montague

  UPDATE: On January 28 2022, Tyler Montague informed The Star News Network that the lawsuit pertaining to illegal campaign signs, which he described as a “frivolous complaint,” was dismissed in July of 2021.  According to a new report, former Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ), a vehement critic of former President Donald J. Trump has provided $150,000 in seed money for a new election-centered nonprofit based in Arizona. That group is called the Public Integrity Foundation, and Flake’s six-figure donation came from his U.S. Senate campaign committee, which remains open despite the fact that he is not currently running for office. Tyler Montague is the chairman of the newly founded Public Integrity Foundation, and a friend of Flake’s. “Jeff Flake is a long time friend, and he’s also interested in one of the charter purposes of the foundation, which is to do research and education around alternative forms of voting,” Montague told Axios. The group will be studying ranked-choice voting, and though Montague says it was not founded specifically to combat battles over election integrity like the one playing out right now in Arizona, he believes what the voters want is not adequately represented by our current system of voting. “It’s…

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Judge Rules Against Arizona in Minimum Wage Lawsuit

A county judge says Arizona cannot extract the additional cost of doing state business in a city that increased its minimum wage, making it more expensive to operate there.

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge James Smith sided with the city of Flagstaff about whether a provision in the 2019 Arizona budget allowed the state to fine the city for the difference in doing state business at a higher minimum wage compared with the state minimum hourly rate.

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Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s Claim About No Counterfeit Election Ballots is Not Credible, Garland Favorito Says

Henry County Superior Court Chief Judge Brian Amero has reportedly done away with a lawsuit that alleged election fraud in Fulton County, Georgia during last year’s presidential election. Members of the nonprofit VoterGA wanted to inspect Fulton County’s mail-in ballots. This, after four senior poll managers signed sworn affidavits indicating they handled counterfeit ballots during the Fulton County hand count audit.

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Georgia Students’ Average ACT Score Rises, Beating National Average and Bucking National Trend

Nationwide, American College Test (ACT) scores are down, but Georgia high-school students are defying the trend and scoring higher than the national average, according to new data.

Peach-State students’ average composite score on all components of the college-entrance examination in 2021 is 22.6, compared with a 20.3-point average U.S. score—the lowest national mean in more than a decade. (The highest score someone can achieve on the ACT is 36.) This is the fifth year in a row when Georgians exceeded the national average ACT score.

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Mollie Hemingway’s New Book, ‘Rigged,’ Reveals Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger Enabled Asbentee Voting, Known to Favor Democrats

In a revealing look at the November 2020 election, “Rigged:  How the Media, Big Tech and the Democrats Seized Our Elections” number one best-selling author Mollie Hemingway’s new book released Tuesday explains how Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger through a number of actions enabled absentee voting that is known to favor Democrats.

With the number of questionable votes and election irregularities in the state, there is not only reason but evidence to question whether Joe Biden’s victory over Donald Trump in the November 2020 election by an audit-lowered 11,779 vote margin is legitimate.

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Tennessee State Rep. Bruce Griffey Blasts Threats from ‘Medical Nazis’ and Financial Elite over COVID-19 Mandates

Tennessee State Representative Bruce Griffey (R-Paris) said this week that “history (and Tennessee voters) will not be kind (and will have harsh ridicule) for those in favor of [COVID-19] vaccine mandates.” Griffey, in an emailed statement to the press, said, in his opinion, COVID-19 vaccines do not stop the spread of the virus. But also said state officials must give Tennesseans a choice and educate them about the vaccine’s effectiveness.

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