Month: February 2022

Commentary: The Reasons the Night Sky Isn’t White

RealClearWire
night sky reflecting on a lake

The night sky, in all its astral beauty, has ever been a source of wonder for the human race. But over a century ago, some astronomers looked up and saw a paradox.

Why, they wondered, if the Universe is infinite, with an infinite number of stars, is the night sky not white? Every direction we look, there should be a star whose light has traveled all the way to Earth. So the night sky should be a sea of sunlight!

This conundrum is commonly called Olbers’ paradox, named after the German astronomer Heinrich Wilhelm Olbers, who wrote about it in the early 1800s, though he was not the first, nor the only, thinker to ponder it.

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Virginia Expects About $530 Million in Opioid Crisis Settlement from Drug Distributors and Johnson & Johnson

Eric Burk

Virginia expects about $530 million in a settlement over the opioid crisis with Johnson & Johnson along with pharmaceutical distributors Cardinal Health, McKesson, and AmerisourceBergen, according to a press release from the Office of the Attorney General. The companies announced Friday that there is enough participation by states, territories, and localities who were suing the drug companies to move forward with a national settlement, first announced in July 2021.

In his release, Attorney General Jason Miyares said, “The opioid crisis has devastated many Virginia communities, families, and lives. The Office of the Attorney General is dedicated to this fight and is proud to have played a role in this historic settlement, which every city and county in Virginia joined. Because of this, the Commonwealth expects to receive approximately $530 million dollars to fight back against the opioid epidemic and support efforts to reduce, prevent and treat opioid addiction.”

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Virginia State Senator Dunnavant Protests Plexiglass Shields in Floor Speech

Eric Burk
Siobhan Dunnavant

Senator Siobhan Dunnavant (R-Henrico) protested the plexiglass shields that surround senators’ desks on the senate floor.

“The first week we were here together, I shared with the body through Madam Clerk the data that shows that devices like these do not help mitigate the risk of COVID, and that they may indeed increase risk of COVID,” Dunnavant said in a floor speech. “There is no emergency order in place.”

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Lawmakers Call for Investigation, Criticize Federally Funded Critical Race Theory Program

The Center Square
Gus Bilirakis

Republican lawmakers blasted a federally funded education program that trains researchers and teachers in critical race theory after The Center Square’s investigation broke news of the program. Now, one Florida U.S. Congressman is calling for an investigation into whether the program violates state law.

Newly uncovered Department of Education grant documents show that the department awarded $1,020,800 in a 2017 grant and $1,498,620 in a 2021 grant to a Florida-based program called Partners United for Research Pathways Oriented to Social Justice in Education (PURPOSE).

The taxpayer-funded program – led by Florida State University, which has partnered with Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University – offers participants one-year fellowships. Participants receive training in a range of issues, including critical race theory, during the fellowships.

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Texas District Attorneys Fighting Governor’s Order to Treat Sex Change Surgeries for Children as Abuse

Admin

District attorneys for five of the largest counties in Texas are defying Republican Gov. Greg Abbott’s executive order to treat sex change surgeries for children as child abuse.

Abbott ordered the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (TDFPS) Tuesday to investigate instances of children undergoing sex change procedures, including “reassignment surgeries that can cause sterilization, mastectomies, removals of otherwise healthy body parts, and administration of puberty-blocking drugs or supraphysiologic doses of testosterone or estrogen.”

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DOJ Kills the China Initiative, Kowtowing to a Chinese-American Group with Documented Chinese Communist Party Ties

Admin
Matt Olsen

The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced the termination of the China Initiative Wednesday citing agreement with Asian-American groups critical of the anti-espionage strategy.

While announcing the termination of the China Initiative Wednesday, Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen launched the Strategy for Countering Nation-State Threats, a program aimed to counter espionage stemming from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

In addition to the high-profile December 2021 conviction of Harvard nanotechnology professor Charles Lieber, the Department of Justice website lists eight examples of successful 2021 China Initiative cases, which include crimes such as the theft of GE trade secrets, misleading global financial institutions, lying on government grant applications, illegally exporting $100,000 of U.S. goods to a Chinese military university, economic espionage against Coca-Cola, two cases involving the theft of trade secrets related to pediatric medical conditions and the illegal exportation of cesium atomic clocks.

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Biden Officials Repeatedly Pleaded with Chinese Communist Party Counterparts to Talk Sense into Putin; Were Rebuffed: Report

Admin

Over the past several months, senior Biden administration officials held six “urgent meetings” with Communist Chinese officials pleading with them to convince Russian  President Vladimir Putin not to invade, according to the New York Times.

The Americans presented the CCP officials—which included the foreign minister and the ambassador to the United States—intelligence showing Russia’s troop buildup around Ukraine’s borders, U.S. officials told the Times.

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Commentary: An Etude on Time, Chance, and Charters

Admin

The words “in the course of human events” open the Declaration of Independence. These words were delivered in a specific context, overturning a form of government, based on a principle of the divine right of kings. Divine right of kings would be displaced in favor of government republican in form and rooted in notions of consent which had made appearances in the colonies of America, in documents such as the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, even before these ideas were whispered among and penned by the high intellects of Enlightenment Europe. Today, a course of human events has brought us to a place of discord, or crisis, if you will. In one direction lies a path that is increasingly compulsory. In another lies a kind of restructuring grounded in reflection and choice. 

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New Jobless Claims Dip to 232,000

Admin

The number of Americans who filed new unemployment claims decreased to 232,000 in the week ending Feb. 19, the Labor Department announced Thursday.

The Labor Department’s figure showed a decrease of 17,000 compared to the week ending Feb. 12, when claims increased to 249,000. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones estimated that new claims reported Thursday would total 235,000.

Last week’s jobless claim figure marked the first increase after three straight weeks of decline as the Omicron coronavirus variant caused workers to call in sick and businesses to temporarily close.

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Biden SCOTUS Nominee Went Beyond Call of Duty to Defend Terror Suspects

Admin
Ketanji Brown Jackson

President Biden’s nominee for the Supreme Court represented suspected terrorists when she was a federal public defender, going well beyond a bare-bones defense to lambaste the U.S. government for some if its counterterrorism policies and broader approach to the War on Terror.

Biden on Friday nominated Ketanji Brown Jackson, currently a federal judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, to replace retiring Justice Stephen Breyer on the Supreme Court.

Jackson’s record will no doubt be heavily scrutinized in the coming days as the Senate prepares for its confirmation hearings. Perhaps no aspect of her past legal work will come under more scrutiny than her advocacy on behalf of prisoners detained at the Guantanamo Bay military prison as enemy combatants for their alleged role in terrorist activities.

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Challenges Filed to Eligibility of TN-5 Candidates Morgan Ortagus and Robby Starbuck to Be on GOP Primary Ballot

Aaron Gulbransen

Sources have told The Tennessee Star that the Republican bona fide statuses of Republican primary candidates for Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District seat, carpetbaggers Morgan Ortagus and Robby Starbuck, have been challenged.

The Star reached out to Tennessee GOP Chair Scott Golden to confirm that challenges have been filed against Ortagus and Starbuck. Golden confirmed that challenges have been made to Republicans in the race but he did not specify which candidates had been challenged. He also did not deny that Ortagus and Starbuck have been challenged.

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In Presenting Bill for Interstate Compact with Arkansas and Tennessee, Mississippi Senator Omits Unelected Quasi-Governmental Entity’s Broad Powers Including Eminent Domain, Passes Senate Unanimously

Laura Baigert

During his presentations of a bill that would enter the state of Mississippi into an interstate compact with Arkansas and Tennessee, the Senate sponsor completely omitted that, if passed, the law would create an unelected quasi-governmental entity with very broad powers, including eminent domain. The bill went on to pass the state Senate unanimously on February 3.

SB2716, sponsored by Republican Senator David Parker (R-DeSoto), is a 17-page document that creates the RegionSmart Development District (District) and the RegionSmart Development Agency of the Greater Memphis Region (RegionSmart Development).

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Commentary: Russian’s Invasion of Ukraine Has the Potential to Embolden China

Admin

With a reconnaissance plane in tow Thursday, a small fleet of eight fighters deliberately probed disputed airspace before scrambled jets scared them away, an air-to-air episode that may be part of the larger international epoch which President Biden frequently describes as one of “democracy versus autocracy.” But these weren’t Russian fighters. They were Chinese.

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Veteran Phoenix School Teachers Protest Pay Cuts to Oust Them for New Critical Race Theory-Supportive Teachers

Rachel Alexander

Phoenix Elementary School District 1 is cutting the merit-based pay of veteran school teachers, which accounts for 15% of their salaries, while offering $1,500 bonuses to new teachers who join the district. Some of the teachers believe it is in part due to the fact more experienced teachers are less likely to support CRT and other radical curriculum. Teachers at one of the district’s schools, Shaw Montessori, held a protest in front of the district’s administration building Wednesday night while its leadership was meeting.

The teachers found out in early February about the pay cuts. Administrators, principals and other staff are getting pay raises, veteran teacher Vanessa Stricker told the Arizona Sun Times. And Phoenix Elementary School District 1 School Superintendent Larry Weeks got a 12% pay raise last year, just in time to substantially increase his retirement pay when he retires in May. 

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Mom Arrested Again at Gwinnett County School Board Meeting

Peter D'Abrosca

A mother who was previously arrested at a Gwinnett County Public Schools (GCPS) Board meeting was again arrested Thursday night, according to a mother who attended the meeting.

“Last night Karen Pirkle was once again arrested at a school board meeting,” Brenda Stewart told The Georgia Star News. “She requested to secure a speaking slot and received written confirmation that she secured a spot.  She was arrested upon arriving and banned for life.”

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U.S. Senate to Vote on Extreme Abortion Bill Pennsylvania ‘Pro-Life’ Democrat Says He Will Vote to Debate

Susan Berry, PhD

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has scheduled a vote on legislation that would embed abortion on demand, at any time during pregnancy, into federal law, making invalid many individual state pro-life laws.

The Senate will vote February 28 on the abortion lobby’s Women’s Health Protection Act (S. 1975), sponsored by Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), and self-described “pro-life” Senator Bob Casey, Jr., (D-PA) has said he will vote for debate on the bill.

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Superintendent of Public Education Balow Publishes Report on VDOE Material Removed for ‘Inherently Divisive Concepts’

Eric Burk

Virginia’s new education administration has removed many of the equity training materials that used to be on the Virginia Department of Education website, according to a report from Superintendent of Public Education Jillian Balow. The removals and the report were ordered by Governor Glenn Youngkin in his first executive order, aimed at removing “inherently divisive concepts” from public education. That was a measure to fulfill a campaign promise to ban Critical Race Theory (CRT), but the order and subsequent actions go beyond material that explicitly references CRT.

“This interim report rescinds certain policies, programs, and resources that promote discriminatory and divisive concepts as directed by Executive Order One. It also contains a sampling of critical race theory-based materials,” Balow wrote in a letter accompanying the report.

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DeSantis, Ladapo Announce New COVID Guidelines for Floridians

Grant Holcomb
Dr. Joseph Lapado and Ron DeSantis

In an effort to “Buck the CDC” Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and recently appointed Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo announced new COVID guidelines for Floridians. They are entitling the effort “Buck the CDC.”

In a flyer pushed out by the governor’s office, the new guidance includes four proposals: end corporate masking, right to try treatments, keep kids in school, and reduce isolation.

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Georgia Republican Candidate Rich McCormick’s Name No Longer Appears on List of RINO-Endorsed Candidates

Chris Butler

An organization tagged as catering to Republicans-In-Name-Only (RINOS) has apparently endorsed Republican Rich McCormick, who is running for Georgia’s 6th Congressional District — but reports say that they are keeping that endorsement under the radar. Members of McCormick’s campaign staff did not return The Georgia Star News’ repeated requests for comment this week.

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National Pro-Life Leaders React to Biden Supreme Court Nominee Who Worked to Defend Partial Birth Abortion

Susan Berry, PhD

National pro-life leaders say President Joe Biden’s choice of Ketanji Brown Jackson to fulfill his promise to nominate a black woman to the U.S. Supreme Court also fits his administration’s aggressive pro-abortion stance since Jackson has shown her support for “radical” and “extreme” abortion measures.

“Joe Biden is fulfilling his promise to only appoint justices who support the Roe v. Wade regime of abortion on demand up to birth – a policy so extreme only a handful of countries in the world hold it, including North Korea and China,” said Susan B. Anthony List (SBA List) President Marjorie Dannenfelser in a statement.

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Another Voter Fraud Investigation in Florida

Steve Stewart

The Gadsden County Supervisor of Elections and the Florida Department of State have initiated an investigation into possible voter fraud related to 23 voters. The investigation is reviewing the votes casts by  four sexual predators and 19 sex offenders in the 2020 Gadsden County General Election.

Voting records indicate 19 of the 23 voters under investigation were registered as Democrats. Three were registered with no party affiliation, and one was registered as a Republican. Also, public records reveal that 10 voted via absentee ballots, seven early-voted, and six voted in person.

The allegations are similar to other situations across the state. For example, The Florida Capital Star recently reported about felons voting in Leon County, which borders Gadsden County to the west.

Leon County Supervisor of Elections Mark Earley told The Florida Capital Star that he started the process of removing seven felons from the Leon County voter registration system. Earley noted that all seven voted in the 2020 general election.

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Ohio Redistricting Commission Passes Third Set of State Legislative Maps

The Center Square
Robert Cupp and Vernon Sykes

The GOP-dominated Ohio Redistricting Commission has passed its third set of state legislative maps, a week after a court-ordered deadline and with one Republican objection.

The 4-3 commission vote means if the maps are approved by the Ohio Supreme Court, they last only four years rather than the traditional 10 that would have happened with bipartisan support on the commission.

Commission Co-Chair and House Speaker Bob Cupp, R-Lima, said the new maps, which were passed late Thursday, met all the constitutional requirements established when voters created the commission and twice when the court ruled previous maps were unfairly gerrymandered to benefit Republicans.

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Biden Announces ‘Devastating’ Sanctions and Deployment of 7,000 Additional Troops to Europe

Admin

Joe Biden announced on Thursday that an additional 7,000 U.S. troops will be deployed to Germany, bringing the total of U.S. troops sent to Europe this month to 12,000. On February 2, 1,700 troops were ordered to Poland, and 300 to Germany. Another 3,000 troops were added to Poland on Feb. 11, as the crisis loomed.

The U.S. forces are being deployed to bolster NATO’s defenses as Russia continues its military incursion into Ukraine.

Speaking from the East Room of the White House, Biden stressed that U.S. soldiers will not be going to Ukraine and will not be fighting Russian troops.

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Commentary: The Undeniable Common Sense of Border Walls

Admin

Although it sometimes may seem as though we live in a complex world and our country is beset with crises on all fronts, it is important to recognize that some of the most effective remedies are elegantly simple. They have worked for centuries and would work again today. We only lack the will as a people to implement them with conviction, and to shun the cacophony of malcontents who would seek to complicate sensible solutions. 

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Ohio Gov. DeWine and Minnesota Gov. Walz Issue Bipartisan Response to Russian Invasion of Ukraine

Peter D'Abrosca
Mike DeWine and Tim Walz

Two governors who serve as co-chairs of the bipartisan, presidentially-appointed Council of Governors – meant to give advice and opinions to the United States President’s Office along with heads of executive branch agencies like the Department of Defense (DOD) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) – Friday denounced Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and condemned Russian President Vladimir Putin. Governor Mike DeWine (R-OH) said the United States must stand with Ukraine because the two countries share the same values. “At the direction of President Vladimir Putin, Russian forces have invaded Ukraine in violation of international law. This is unacceptable, and all freedom-loving people should stand against this unprovoked invasion,” DeWine said in the release. “Ukraine has been a sovereign and independent state since the collapse of the former Soviet Union in the 1990s.  The United States and Ukraine share common values including freedom, democracy, and the rule of law. Our thoughts are with the Ukrainian people.” Governor Tim Walz (D-MN) appeared to be more worried that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was somehow a threat to America’s national security. “We stand with Ukraine and condemn Russia for these unprovoked and unlawful attacks,” he said in the release. “We stand ready to…

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Arizona House Votes to Cap Emergency Declarations at Two Weeks

The Center Square

Arizona House Republicans unanimously support ending an emergency declaration that has not received their consent to continue beyond a couple weeks.

Gov. Doug Ducey, a Republican, continually has renewed his emergency declaration, which initially was ordered in March 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic had just begun. It has allowed his expanded powers of executive orders to remain for nearly two years.

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Minnesota Nonprofit to Dissolve Following FBI Raid

Admin

A Minnesota nonprofit that was raided by the FBI last month announced Friday that it is dissolving, blaming “negative media reports.”

The FBI raided over a dozen properties connected to Feeding our Future Jan. 20. An FBI search warrant accused the “conspirators” of stealing “millions of dollars in federal funds” from child nutrition programs, but the nonprofit has denied any wrongdoing and nobody has been charged with a crime to date.

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Another Key Inflation Indicator Surged to Highest Level Since 1983

Admin
woman in a grocery aisle with a mask and backpack on

A key inflation indicator increased to its highest level in 38 years while consumer demand remained strong despite soaring prices, the Commerce Department announced Friday.

The Commerce Department’s personal consumption expenditure (PCE) index grew 5.2% in January, exceeding the 5.1% Dow Jones estimate, the Commerce Department reported. The PCE is the Federal Reserve’s preferred measure of inflation, and January’s figure marks monthly the largest year-over-year increase since April 1983.

The PCE increased 0.5% on a monthly basis in January, the same pace as the previous three months, according to the Commerce Department. Including food and energy prices, overall PCE surged 6.1% since January 2021, marking the most annual growth since February 1982.

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Biden’s Supreme Court Nominee a Slam Dunk for Democrats

Admin
Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson

President Biden announced Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson as his nominee to replace retiring Justice Stephen Breyer on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Jackson, who donated to and worked with former President Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, has a record of rulings that seemingly favor Democrats.

In a 2015 ruling, for example, she declined to force former Hillary Clinton aide Philipe Reines to explain why he used a private account for work-related emails, according to Politico.

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CDC Set to Announce Easing of Mask Guidelines

Admin

On Friday, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is allegedly set to announce an easing of mask restrictions on the national level.

Fox News reports that the updated guidelines will focus less on the overall number of cases, and will instead emphasize a community’s general risk of spreading the coronavirus. As such, current guidelines apply to individuals who live in communities with allegedly “substantial or high transmission.” The CDC claims, without evidence, that 95 percent of all counties in the United States qualify as “high transmission.”

The new guidelines will apparently not apply to most Americans, as the new criteria will factor in hospitalizations with the overall capacity of local medical facilities. CDC Director Rochelle Walensky has said that the new guidelines will focus more on “enhanced prevention efforts.”

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Historic Opioid Settlement Receives Final Approval, Tennessee Attorney General Announces

Cooper Moran

Tennessee Attorney General Herbert Slatery on Friday announced a final agreement between large opioid distributors, Johnson & Johnson, and attorneys general throughout the country.

According to the final details, Tennessee will receive approximately $600 million over 18 years to help combat the opioid crisis. The three distributors, Cardinal Health, McKesson, and AmerisourceBergen, along with Johnson & Johnson, will begin to make payments on April 2, 2022.

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Tennessee Democrats File Lawsuit Challenging New State House and State Senate Districts

Aaron Gulbransen

A lawsuit has been filed on behalf of Tennessee Democrats challenging the new state House and state Senate districts. A challenge to the new Congressional district lines has not yet been filed.

The lawsuit was filed in the Chancery Court of Tennessee for the 20th Judicial district. Akilah Moore, Telise Turner, and Gary Wygant are listed as the filing parties in the case. Governor Lee, Secretary of State Tre Hargett, and Tennessee Coordinator of Elections Mark Goins are being sued in their official capacities only.

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Iron Galaxy Studios, LLC Locating to Nashville to Build New Video Game Development Studio

Kaitlin Housler

Tennessee Governor Bill Lee and Department of Economic and Community Development (TNECD) Commissioner Bob Rolfe announced Wednesday that Iron Galaxy Studios, LLC will invest $950,000 to establish a new video game development studio in Nashville. As part of the company’s expansion to Davidson County, Iron Galaxy will create 108 new tech jobs over the next five years, according to a press release by TNECD.

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Tennessee House Passes Brian Kelsey Bill to Hire Police and Fire Outside County Lines

Chris Butler

Members of the Tennessee State House of Representatives on Thursday voted to approve Senate Bill 29, which would allow first responders to live where they choose. State Senator Brian Kelsey (R-Germantown) sponsored the legislation. The bill would ban residency requirements for police officers, firefighters, and emergency medical services workers.

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