Day: November 10, 2021

Federal Appeals Court to Hear Democrats’ Challenge over Order of Candidates on Arizona Ballots

Rachel Alexander

Democrats may be getting somewhere with their lawsuit changing the order of candidates listed on ballots in Arizona, which happens to favor Republicans. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has agreed to hear a lawsuit from multiple Democratic groups challenging an Arizona law which requires candidates from the party which won the last gubernatorial election to be placed first on ballots. Since Republicans win more Arizona gubernatorial races, their candidates end up at the top of the ballot more often.

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which is behind the lawsuits, pointed out how the law worked out in Arizona’s 2020 election, since Republican Doug Ducey won the previous gubernatorial election. “In Arizona, the Republican candidate will be listed first in 11 of the state’s 15 counties, where that 80 percent of the state’s population lives.”

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State Representative Mike Sparks First to Sign ‘Education Freedom Pledge’

Morgan Nicole Veysey

State Representative Mike Sparks (R-Smyrna) was the first to sign the American Federation for Children (AFC) “Education Freedom Pledge” this week. The pledge seeks to unite lawmakers, candidates for office, and voters around the important issue of education freedom.

In a statement shared with The Tennessee Star, Representative Sparks said that “Parents should be in control of their child’s education, and they have the right to not only make their voices heard, but choose the best educational option that fits their child’s needs. I was proud to sign the pledge, and lend my support to this important cause.”

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Commentary: Virginia Paves the Way for Trump’s Return

Admin

There has been a great deal of discussion of the widespread Republican victories last week, many of them belaboring the obvious. Fundamentally, the United States is a political society based on personal freedom, a free market, and on democratically legislated and responsibly enforced laws. The current administration’s belief in virtually unrestricted immigration, higher taxes, authoritarian regulation—including COVID vaccine mandates, and a heavy redistribution of wealth from those who have earned it to those who have not—are all antagonistic to the ethos that the United States has had for all of its history. In the circumstances, some sort of reversal was almost inevitable and is the off-year American electoral custom. 

Those who were surprised by the Republican victory in Virginia and the near-dead heat in New Jersey had not recognized the extent of the affront to traditional democratic voters of the Sanders-woke-leftward lurch.

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Anti-Second Amendment Professor Speaks About His New ‘Weaponized Whiteness’ Book

Admin
Fran Shor

The Literati Bookstore, an independent book shop in Ann Arbor, Michigan, invited progressive author and Wayne State University professor emeritus Fran Shor to discuss his book Weaponized Whiteness: The Constructions and Deconstructions of White Identity Politics. 

Literati Bookstore advertised the Oct. 12 event as a discussion on “the meanings and implications of white supremacy and, more specifically, white identity politics from historical and sociological perspectives.

But Shor’s presentation, “Weaponizing whiteness: past terrors, present predicaments,” also criticized a range of conservative policy including gun rights, policing, voter ID laws, the large defense budget, and the pro-life movement.

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Analysis: Five Controversial Policies Tucked Inside $1.2 Trillion Infrastructure Bill Passed by Congress

Admin

The final $1.2 trillion INVEST in America Act passed the Democrat-led House in a late night vote on Friday. Tucked away inside the infrastructure bill are some controversial policies, including these five:

1. The cryptocurrency tax provision in the Senate version of the bill was the subject of scrutiny from Democrats and Republicans. The language was not amended in the final bill that passed the House. The legislation includes an IRS reporting requirement for brokers of cryptocurrency transactions.

2. Under the “national motor vehicle per-mile user fee pilot” section of the bill, there is a pilot program to create a vehicle miles traveled system for taxing drivers based on their annual vehicle mileage. During his confirmation process, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg floated the idea of taxing motorists based on the number of miles they travel each year as a way to partly fund the legislation. The Biden administration backed off of full-scale development of the controversial proposal, settling instead for a pilot program.

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California Gov. Newsom’s Office Denies Adverse Effect from Booster, Cops to Attending Oil Heiress’s Wedding

Peter D'Abrosca

The Star News Network, acting on a tip from a source who attended Ivy Getty’s Saturday wedding in San Francisco, spoke to California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office about his recent disappearance from public life, rumored to be connected to an adverse effect of his COVID-19 booster shot.

According to The Star’s tipster, Newsom, who confirmed that he was in attendance at Getty’s wedding, told another wedding attendee that he had a negative health reaction to his booster shot.

Tuesday, Newsom’s office denied that the governor experienced any problems from his booster shot.

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Federal Workers with Natural Immunity to COVID-19 Sue Biden Administration over Vaccine Mandate

The Center Square
President Joe Biden talks to Veterans and VA staff members during a briefing on the vaccine process Monday, March 8, 2021, at the Washington DC Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Washington, D.C.

Federal workers with naturally acquired immunity to COVID-19 filed a class-action lawsuit Monday against the federal government over the Biden administration’s mandate that all federal workers be vaccinated against it as a condition of employment. The mandate doesn’t allow for exemptions for religious or other reasons, including having natural immunity.

The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas by the New Civil Liberties Alliance, a nonpartisan, nonprofit civil liberties group, and the Texas Public Policy Foundation on behalf of 11 individuals.

Those named in the lawsuit include Dr. Anthony Fauci, Chief COVID Response Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and over 20 officials including cabinet heads, as well as several task forces and several federal agencies. They include the U.S. surgeon general, director of CDC and OPM, the secretaries of the departments of Veteran’s Affairs, FEMA, FPS, OMB, Secret Service, USGA, among others.

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Biden Administration Collecting Information on Millions of American Gun Owners

Admin
Guy shooting hand gun at gun range

In just one year, the Biden Administration has collected records of over 54 million legal gun-owners in the United States, for the purpose of increased surveillance of such citizens by the federal government, according to the Washington Free Beacon.

As shown in internal documents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF), the ATF processed approximately 54.7 million records in fiscal year 2021. These documents were obtained by the gun rights advocacy group Gun Owners of America (GOA). The records in question are “out-of-business” documents, which consist of all firearms-related transactions made by a particular gun store after the store has gone out of business, at which point those records become property of the ATF.

In the year 2021, the ATF used this method to collect 53.8 million paper records, and roughly 887,000 electronic records. Gun stores are currently allowed to destroy records that are 20 years old or older; the Biden Administration is actively pursuing avenues to ensure that such records are made permanent and cannot be destroyed.

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Inflation Increases at Record Rate for Second Month in a Row

Admin
Woman shopping

The Producer Price Index (PPI), which measures inflation at the wholesale level, rose 8.6% year-over-year as of October, growing at a record rate for a second straight month, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) announced Thursday.

BLS reported Thursday that the PPI, which measures inflation before it hits consumers, grew 0.6% in October, in line with Dow Jones estimates, highlighting that inflationary pressure is still strong.

Over 60% of the month-over-month increase in producer prices resulted from a 1.2% spike in the price of goods rather than services, BLS reported. Goods prices rose 1.2% in October compared to a 0.2% increase in the cost of services.

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Commentary: Using the Financial System to Become ‘Net Zero’ Will Threaten Global Financial Stability

RealClearWire

So far, the big message from the Glasgow climate conference is the role of finance in decarbonizing the global economy. It’s a dangerous development. In his speech to the twenty-sixth Conference of the Parties (COP26) last week, Britain’s Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, pledged action to “rewire the entire financial system for Net Zero.” Finance has taken center stage in large part because of inadequate government policies. According to the United Nations Environment Programme, around two-thirds of global emissions are linked to private household activity. Reducing them requires major changes in people’s lifestyles, UNEP says.

Rather than imposing carbon taxes that really hurt – the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimates a minimum of $135 a ton, rising up to $14,300 a ton in order to hit net zero in 2050 – governments prefer to outsource the heavy lifting to the world of finance in the hope that it will provide a pain-free path to the net zero goal. Up until now, central banks and financial regulators – particularly the Fed and the SEC in the U.S. – have been maintaining the pretence that their involvement in climate policy is motivated by concern about climate financial risk. As I show in my new report for the RealClearFoundation, “Climate-Risk Disclosure: A Flimsy Pretext for a Green Power Grab,” climate financial risk is a smoke screen for a green power grab. Now, Sunak has done the world a favor and exposed it for what it is.

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Commentary: The New Nuclear Arms Race

Admin
President Joe Biden and Personal Aide Stephen Goepfert walk through the Colonnade, Friday, August 6, 2021, on the way to the Oval Office of the White House. (Official White House Photo by Adam Schultz)

The Defense Department just released its annual report on China’s military power, and the report undermines those in the Biden administration who are promoting nuclear arms reductions with Russia and the adoption of a policy of “no first use” of nuclear weapons — a policy that is opposed by most of America’s allies.

The Pentagon’s report could not be clearer: “Over the next decade, the PRC aims to modernize, diversify, and expand its nuclear forces.” It is “expanding the number of its land-, sea-, and air-based nuclear delivery platforms and constructing the infrastructure necessary to support this major expansion of its nuclear forces.” This includes the construction of “fast breeder reactors and reprocessing facilities” that will enable China to “produce and separate plutonium.”

The report projects that the PRC will have up to 700 deliverable nuclear warheads by 2027, and perhaps 1,000 by 2030, significantly more than the Pentagon projected in last year’s report. China has what the report calls a “nascent ‘nuclear triad,’” with the capability to launch nuclear missiles from land, sea, and air platforms. It has expanded its silo-based force and moved to a “launch-on-warning” posture. Last year, the PLA “launched more than 250 ballistic missiles for testing and training,” a number greater then the rest of the world combined. It is growing its inventory of DF-26 intermediate range ballistic missiles (IRBMs) and intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), and those missiles are capable of launching multiple independent warheads — known as MIRV capabilities. The CCP has ordered the construction of “hundreds of new ICBM silos” and is “doubling the number of launchers in some ICBM units.” China’s CSS-10 Mod 2 ICBM has a range of 11,000 kilometers, which makes it capable or reaching most targets within the continental United States. China is also investing in space and counterspace capabilities, including kinetic-kill missiles, orbiting space robots, and ground-based lasers.

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MSNBC Article Suggests Republicans Are Worse Than Nazis

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Group of people at a Trump rally, man in a "Keep America Great" hat

A Tuesday article in MSNBC suggested that Republicans’ use of the phrase “Let’s go Brandon” is worse than the Nazi ‘Sieg Heil’ salute.

The author noted a recent comparison of “Let’s go Brandon” to the Nazi salute. “To this I say: Calm the hell down; that’s an insult to Nazis. And furthermore, Biden doesn’t have the gall to steamroll these would-be Nazis like Joseph Stalin’s army did in Berlin.”

The article also called “Let’s go Brandon” a “significant downgrade from the glory days of the far right,” and said the phrase is “inoffensive and very vanilla” when compared to “Lock her up” and “Build the wall.”

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Commentary: Very Fine People

Admin
Large group of people storming Washington D.C. in protest on January 6.

Jacob Anthony Chansley, who also goes by the name Jake Angeli, was one of the people who made their way into the chamber of the U.S. Senate in the Capitol on January 6, 2021, to protest the Senate’s impending certification of state electors who would install Joe Biden as the 46th president of the United States. His name may not register, but his image will: he was the fellow bizarrely attired in a coyote-fur hat sprouting black buffalo horns; shirtless, showing his muscular but heavily tattooed torso; sporting black gloves and a red knapsack; face painted in vertical red, white, and blue stripes; and carrying an American flag on a spear.

The disorderly intrusion of several hundred protesters into the Capitol was quickly characterized by the media, and by many politicians, as an “insurrection.” Moreover, the accusation of insurrection was applied to the many thousands of Trump supporters in Washington that day who had nothing to do with the intrusion into the Capitol. And that characterization became the basis for the House of Representatives to impeach President Trump for supposedly inciting the “insurrection” and the impetus for Joe Biden to order 26,000 National Guard troops to defend Washington during his inauguration on January 20.

As it happened, there was no insurrection.

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More Than 70 Georgia Counties Can’t Produce Original 2020 Election Ballot Images, Says Election Integrity Group

Chris Butler

Exactly 74 Georgia counties are unable to produce all the original ballot images from the November 2020 election.

VoterGA co-founder Garland Favorito said this at a press conference Tuesday in Roswell. The group, according to its website, is a nonprofit whose members said it wants to restore election integrity to the Peach State.

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Partisan Battles Continue as Virginia Supreme Court Prepares for Redistricting

Eric Burk

The Virginia Redistricting Commission ended with a whimper two weeks ago, when the commission adjourned without formally ending the process. On Monday, a final deadline to complete congressional maps passed without any updates from the commission. According to the constitutional amendment passed by voters, that sends the process to the Virginia Supreme Court. The Court will vote on special masters who will work together to create redistricting plans for both congressional and legislative maps. Each General Assembly caucus proposed three nominees, and the Court will pick one from each party.

On Monday, Senate Majority Leader Richard Saslaw (D-Fairfax) sent a letter to the Court saying that the Republican nominees have “disqualifying conflicts of interest.”

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Student Visa Recipient Charged with Rape, Burglary at Grand Canyon University

Peter D'Abrosca
Grand Canyon University campus

A student at Grand Canyon University (GCU), allowed into the United States on a student visa, has been charged with sexual assault and burglary stemming from a Saturday evening encounter with a female student in her dorm room.

“Police said Gabriel Teixeria Lima Ara, 21, was hanging out with a small group of people inside a dorm room at GCU on Saturday evening,” according to KNXV.

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Moms for Liberty Files Lawsuit Against Brevard County School Board

Casey Owens

A chapter in Brevard County of a conservative group titled, Moms for Liberty, has filed a lawsuit against the county’s school board for implementing a public participation policy that they feel is being used to limit free speech and discriminate against speakers with opposing views.

The public participation policy is said to prohibit speakers from making comments that are “personally directed,” “abusive,” or “obscene;” while the Board Chair, Misty Belford, enforces the policy so that speakers can only address her or the Board as a whole, rather than letting speakers talk directly to or about a specific board member.

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Ohio Supreme Court Accepts Appeal of DeWine Move to Cut Off $300 Unemployment Bonus Early

Brian Ball

The Ohio Supreme Court has agreed to take up the appeal of Governor Michael DeWine’s decision to cut off the $300 bonus unemployment checks funded by the federal government.

The court announced it will take up the case from the 10 District Court of Appeals but has yet to schedule a hearing date or indicate if the appeal warrants oral arguments.

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Recounts Possible in Apparent Republican Flips of Two Virginia House Seats

Eric Burk

Local electoral boards certified Republican wins in House Districts 85 and 91 on Tuesday, according to House Minority Leader Todd Gilbert (R-Shenandoah.) The two seats were the most narrow victories for House Republicans, who appear set to hold a 52-48 majority in 2022 according to preliminary results. But with less than a one percent margin of victory in both seats, the campaigns may ask for recounts.

“Today’s certifications by the local electoral boards make it official: Karen Greenhalgh and A.C. Cordoza have prevailed in House Districts 85 and 91. I again congratulate the Delegates-elect on their win, and look forward to working with them as members of our 52-member Republican House majority,” Gilbert said in a press release.

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Bill to Require Post-Election Audits in Pennsylvania Advances with Support of Philadelphia Democrat

Bradley Vasoli

State Rep. Regina Young (D-PA-Philadelphia) voted with all Republican House State Government Committee members this week in favor of a bill to require post-election audits. 

The legislation to verify the accuracy of election outcomes will thus go before the full Pennsylvania House with at least a modicum of bipartisanship, making it more difficult for Democrats to call the bill merely “a reactionary thing being done because of the last election,” as Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta (D-Philadelphia) did at the committee meeting.

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Florida Legislation Might Not Completely Ban Vaccine Mandates

Grant Holcomb

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has called for a special session in order to ban vaccine mandates and mask mandates, but the legislation being proposed are not going as far as DeSantis initially called for.

One of the bills would require employers to provide alternatives to vaccination, and another bill would allow parents to sue school boards or districts over mask mandates. DeSantis has touted the slate of bills in next week’s special session as some of the “strongest protections for both private and public sector employees anywhere in the country.”

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Michigan Businesses Brace for Biden’s Vaccine Mandate

The Center Square

Michigan businesses are scrambling to handle President Joe Biden’s Jan. 4 national vaccine mandate for private businesses exceeding 100 workers.

Michigan Occupational Safety Health Administration (MIOSHA) Director Bart Pickelman told The Center Square in an email that starting Nov. 5, federal OSHA issued an emergency temporary standard (ETS) to minimize the risk of COVID-19 transmission in the workplace. An ETS summary is here.

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Minnesota Reports 111 New Breakthrough Deaths, Cases Surpass 64,000

Admin

Breakthrough COVID-19 cases have surpassed 64,000 in Minnesota as more than 483 fully-vaccinated Minnesotans have died from the virus, the Department of Health reported Monday.

As of Nov. 1, there were 372 breakthrough deaths. Now, as of Nov. 8, there are 483. This means that 111 of the 168 reported deaths in the last week have been in the vaccinated, according to Healthy Skeptic.

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