Month: May 2022

Former Acting U.S. Attorney General Matthew Whitaker Endorses GA-6 Candidate Jake Evans

Addison Basurto

Former Acting United States Attorney General Matthew Whitaker recently announced his full endorsement of Jake Evans, a candidate for Georgia’s 6th Congressional District.

The Trump-appointed former acting attorney general stated on Monday, “Jake shares my passion for backing the men and women in law enforcement who put their own safety on the line, make life-and-death decisions and face contempt and hate from the Left at every turn. If I was a 6th District voter … Jake Evans would be my choice for Congress.”

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Deployment of Absentee Ballot Drop Boxes in Georgia Looks Significantly Different in First Statewide Election Since January 2021

Laura Baigert

With the Georgia General Assembly’s passage of the Election Integrity Act of 2021, otherwise known as SB202, the application of absentee ballot drop boxes looks significant different in the first statewide elections since the January 5, 2021, federal runoff and special election for Georgia’s two U.S. Senate seats.

The use of drop boxes in the November 2020 presidential and January 2021 elections were enabled by an emergency rule promulgated by the State Election Board in June of 2020. During the November 2020 election, more than 300 absentee ballot drop boxes were deployed throughout the state, funded with $45 million in “Zuck Bucks” that flowed through the Center for Technology and Civic Life (CTCL) into Georgia, according to analysis conducted by Capital Research Center.

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Georgia Department of Public Health Touts New Legislation That Protects Children from Lead

Aaron Gulbransen

On Monday, the Georgia Department of Public Health touted newly passed legislation that, in the view of the agency, helps protect children from the dangers of lead.

In a statement, Kathleen E. Toomey, M.D., M.P.H., commissioner, Georgia Department of Public Health (DPH) said, “DPH is extremely grateful to the members of the General Assembly and the Governor for their decisive action which allows for a more robust program for identifying and preventing cases of lead poisoning, and protecting the children of Georgia.”

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Virginia Atty Gen Miyares Offers No Comment on Group of Republican Attorneys General Withdrawing from National Association

Eric Burk

A small group of Republican attorneys general have announced that they’re withdrawing from the National Association of Attorneys General(NAAG), but Virginia AG Jason Miyares’ office hasn’t responded to questions asking if he is also planning to withdraw from the NAAG.

“While we have been a driving force for NAAG’s success – both financially and on key issues – the Associations leftward shift over the past half decade has become intolerable,” states a letter signed last week by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt, and Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen.

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Arizona Enacts Biomarker Testing Expansion

Admin

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey has signed legislation to ensure that more insurance plans, including Medicaid, cover biomarker testing.

Ducey signed House Bill 2144 into law. The bill’s goal is to increase the chances of cancer patients surviving, improve their quality of life, and provide lower healthcare costs to them, according to a press release from Ducey’s office.

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Florida at Center of Bid to Slow Musk’s Purchase of Twitter

The Center Square

Florida is once again at the center of a Twitter war, this time by an Orlando pension fund attempting to slow its purchase after Gov. Ron DeSantis said the state was looking into ways it can potentially “hold accountable” Twitter’s board of directors.

The city of Orlando’s Police Pension Fund filed a class action lawsuit May 6 in an attempt to block or slow the sale of Twitter. It argues Delaware law prevents billionaire Elon Musk from immediately purchasing Twitter because it alleges he’s “an invested stockholder.”

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Biden Copies Trump Proposal to Refill Oil Reserves – and Spends Way More Doing It

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The Biden administration announced plans Thursday to refill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) two years after Democrats blocked the Trump administration’s similar, but cheaper proposal.

The Department of Energy (DOE) said it would initiate a long-term SPR replenishment plan involving a purchase of 60 million barrels of oil that would likely occur in 2023, according to the announcement. President Joe Biden has ordered a 50-million-barrel SPR release in November, a 30-million-barrel release on March 1 and a 180-million-barrel release on March 31 to combat rising gasoline prices.

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University Students Hosted ‘White Student Accountability Group’ to ‘Dismantle Racism’: Report

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The University of South Carolina is facing backlash over a “White Student Accountability Group” meeting that instructed students how to “recognize their contribution” to racism, according to a conservative student organization.

Students at the University of South Carolina (USC) College of Social Work were invited to attend a “White Student Accountability Group” meeting on April 26, according to emails obtained by conservative student organization Turning Point USA (TPUSA).

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Stanford Professor Single-Handedly Debunks California’s Woke Math Standards

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A Stanford University professor slammed California’s proposed Math Framework for being “false” and “misleading.”

Brian Conrad, Stanford University mathematics professor and director of Undergraduate Studies in Math, did a deep dive into the California Math Framework (CMF), which he laid out on his website. The proposal frequently contradicts the findings of academic studies its writers cite, according to Conrad’s analysis.

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States That Legalized Marijuana Are Bringing in More Tax Revenue on Marijuana Sales than Alcohol

The Center Square

A majority of the states that legalized recreational marijuana for recreational use are collecting more tax revenue from pot sales than alcohol sales.

The first two states to legalize pot are profiting the most, Colorado and Washington. Across the country, the total revenue for taxes on weed amounted to nearly $3 billion, according to a report on “sin taxes” by The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP).

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AP Urges Media to Hold Off on ‘Pregnant People’ in the Wake of Roe Leak

Admin

The Associated Press updated its style guide on pregnancy and abortion Wednesday to discourage journalists from using gender-neutral phrases when writing about abortion despite having previously encouraged the terms.

Corporate media outlets use phrases like “pregnant people” to replace “pregnant women” in order to be more inclusive of transgender people. As the abortion debate has heated up after a leaked draft opinion revealed the Supreme Court would likely overturn Roe v. Wade, the AP told journalists to only use these gender-neutral phrases when specifically discussing transgender and nonbinary individuals.

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Democrats’ Dreams Turn to Dust as Adjudicated Redistricting Maps Set the Stage for Large Republican Gains in 2022

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The Democratic Party’s hopes of gaining seats from redistricting have been crushed as court decisions and an increasingly aggressive GOP produced more Republican-friendly maps.

Democrats were initially optimistic that they could mitigate projected midterm losses in the House when it appeared they were poised to score wins in the redistricting process. However, the party’s hopes have been dashed after key losses in major states erased their redistricting advantage.

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Lake Powell Operators to Withhold Water to Protect Hydroelectric Power

The Center Square

The Bureau of Reclamation will reduce the amount of water released from Lake Powell in response to a drought situation threatening the water supply of millions of residents in several western states and hydropower generation.

The federal agency said Tuesday Lake Powell’s water surface elevation is currently at 3,522 feet, the lowest since it was first filled 60 years ago. The critical elevation is 3,490 feet and would be the lowest point where Glen Canyon Dam can generate hydropower, according to the bureau.

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In Georgia Governor’s Race, Perdue Hits Kemp for $1.5 Billion to Soros-Linked Company

Admin

A scandal is brewing in Georgia’s Republican gubernatorial primary, with candidate and former Sen. David Perdue accusing incumbent Gov. Brian Kemp of engaging in shady backroom deals and lining the pockets of liberal megadonor George Soros as part of a massive new economic development project in the Peach State.

“This may be the worst deal I’ve seen in my business career, honestly,” Perdue told the “Just the News, Not Noise” television program on Friday. “This was just done the wrong way. And I’ve called the governor out on that, and we’ve had no response.”

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Commentary: America’s Schools Face Mounting Threats from Cyberattacks

RealClearWire

The U.S. education sector is in the midst of a cyber crisis. The shift to cloud-based virtual learning during COVID-19 created the perfect storm for threat actors to capitalize on: education IT departments, already weathering a shortage of physical resources, funding, and staffing, unexpectedly faced an even greater challenge. Without the human resources and advanced solutions to secure vulnerabilities in their networks, K-12 school districts and higher-ed institutions became easy targets.

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Behind the Scenes of Christopher Rufo’s ‘Drop Disney’ Campaign

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Disney is known as the “happiest place on Earth.” Manhattan Institute senior fellow Christopher Rufo could not disagree more.

Rufo, who has done extensive reporting on Critical Race Theory (CRT), launched the “Drop Disney” campaign against the company earlier this month over the company’s opposition to Florida’s Parental Rights in Education law, as well as its CRT trainings and promotion of gender ideology in children’s programming. Rufo’s goal is to instruct conservatives to “stop giving money to people who hate you,” and involves boycotting the company’s services and products.

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Gov Bill Lee Awaits Late-Session Bills from the Tennessee Legislature

The Center Square

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee didn’t waste time signing a new public school funding formula bill just four days after it was passed on the floor of the Tennessee Legislature.

But the process for other bills passed in the waning days of session has taken longer. Several key late-session bills have not been sent to Lee yet for his signature.

After bills are passed by the Legislature, they are enrolled and then signed by the speakers of the House and Senate before heading to the governor’s desk. Lee can then sign the bill, allow it to pass without signing or veto the bill. He also can reduce or veto an appropriation in a bill, but vetoes can be overridden by a majority vote in the Legislature.

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Department of Justice, Local Leaders Announce Agreement to Combat Violent Crime in West Tennessee

Cooper Moran

The Department of Justice (DOJ) and local leaders in West Tennessee are working together in order to reduce violent crime, according to a release from the DOJ.

United States Attorney Joseph C. Murphy Jr., joined by non-profit organizations, clergy leaders, and other community leaders, announced a new “Better Community Summit” effort to tackle the crimes.

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Commentary: Inflation Can’t Be Censored

Admin

An increasingly disturbing feature of American politics is the routine suppression of major news stories that reflect poorly on candidates favored by the Fourth Estate. The most egregious example in recent years occurred in October of 2020 when corporate news outlets and social media platforms colluded to bury a New York Post article on Hunter Biden. Fortunately, some stories just aren’t susceptible to such censorship. Inflation is a case in point. It can’t be hidden from the voters because soaring prices shout the bad news from every grocery store shelf and gas pump in the nation.

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U.S. Election Assistance Commission Identifies Pierce County, Washington, for Best Practices in Chain of Custody for Vote-by-Mail Ballots Deposited in Drop Boxes

Laura Baigert

The U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) recognized Pierce County, Washington for its practices related to the chain of custody that helps track pick-up and chain of custody of vote-by-mail election ballots deposited in drop boxes.

Pierce County was an EAC “Clearie” Award winner in 2021 for outstanding innovations in elections for large jurisdictions. Having over 550,000 registered voters, Pierce County is Washington state’s second largest jurisdiction.

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Tennessee Comptroller Audit Finds Providers Paid with Taxpayer Funds for Meals They Didn’t Serve

The Center Square

For the second consecutive year, an audit of Tennessee’s federally funded food programs showed a pair of programs requested reimbursements for meals the groups did not serve.

In the most recent report, the Tennessee Comptroller’s Office found that Nashville’s New Beginnings International Ministry and Shelby County’s Giving Youth a Chance requested reimbursements for meals that were not served.

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Mike Lindell Calls Kemp, Raffensperger, and Carr the ‘Triple Crown of Crime’

Addison Basurto

Minnesotan entrepreneur, conservative politico, and CEO of My Pillow, Mike Lindell, spoke to The Georgia Star News on Saturday at the Atlanta Motor Speedway, where he criticized the three most infamous election integrity antagonists in the Peach State when he declared, “you guys have the Triple Crown of Crime down here with Kemp, Raffensperger and Carr and all of them need to go.”

Lindell continued, “I mean, this is our country. Of all the stuff I’ve been out there fighting for with the election crimes. And then you have Republicans, the Republicans have turned on, not just Georgia, but on our country. I mean, you’ve got to get new people and we got to get people that have the people’s back.”

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DeSantis: Florida Prepared If U.S. Heads into Recession

The Center Square

Gov. Ron DeSantis, when suggesting President Joe Biden’s economic policies will “plunge the United States into a recession,” says Florida will be prepared.

At a news conference this week announcing funding for flood control and water management projects in Lee County, he said that while inflation continues to worsen, Florida’s economy is strong, with revenue exceeding expectations.

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Rep. Grove Rebukes Pennsylvania Secretary of State’s ‘Voter Intimidation’ Claims

Bradley Vasoli

Pennsylvania Rep. Seth Grove (R-York) castigated the state’s Democratic acting secretary of the commonwealth on Saturday for suggesting that stationing Lehigh County detectives at ballot drop boxes will amount to “voter intimidation.”

Acting Secretary of State Leigh Chapman last week said that tactics to intimidate voters have “a long history in this country” and that “the mere presence of police at a ballot drop box can deter voters from casting their ballot.” She also mentioned that she has been in conversation with her staff about attempting to dissuade Lehigh County from assigning law-enforcement professionals to watch drop boxes into which absentee voters may place their ballots.

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Michigan Police Seize Voting Machine

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Michigan State Police seized a voting machine as part of an investigation into possible unauthorized access to election equipment.

Law enforcement and officials at Democratic Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel’s office had a warrant and took a voting machine from Irving Township into custody, officials told CNN and The Epoch Times.

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Gubernatorial Candidate Kari Lake Calls Arizona 2020 Election Audit ‘Death by a Thousand Knife Wounds’

Addison Basurto

When asked what big takeaway there was in the Maricopa County election audit, Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake told The Georgia Star News, “There were so many. It’s like death by a thousand paper cuts. I call it death by a thousand knife wounds because these are so much bigger than paper cuts.”

“We had 34,000 votes that were counted two, three or four times, 740,000 ballots with no chain-of-custody. They shouldn’t have even been counted, and it goes on and on. The wrong paper stock was used,” she added. 

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In Regent University Commencement, Youngkin Criticizes Higher-Ed Conformity; Earle-Sears Named Alumna of the Year

Eric Burk

In a commencement speech at Regent University, Governor Glenn Youngkin told graduates to follow two guides: mentors and a “compass that points us in the direction of core values that define us.” He told them that they were not called to comfort, and criticized conformity in academia.

“Sometimes we are called to speak up, to say unpopular things, to invite ridicule and scorn. If I could offer one critique of higher education today, and I mean this in the most global sense, it’s that there’s too much group-think, too much conformity to modern doctrine, too much intolerance that rears itself in the form of a canceled culture,” Youngkin said.

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Commentary: Americans Are Sounding the Alarm over Big Tech Monopolies

Admin

Elon Musk’s Twitter acquisition — which can be summed up as the world’s wealthiest person buying one of the most powerful social media and news platforms — underscores one of the big problems with Big Tech.

In the absence of modernized anti-trust and anti-monopoly laws, Big Tech companies in the U.S. have amassed far too much economic and political control over society, and especially over the news and publishing industries.

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Klarides Gets GOP Endorsement for Senator from Connecticut; Primary Still Likely

Bradley Vasoli

Themis Klarides received the endorsement of the Connecticut Republican Party last week for nomination to unseat Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal but fellow Republicans Leora Levy and Peter Lumaj got sufficient backing at the nominating convention to pursue primary campaigns.

Both Levy, a businesswoman, and Lumaj, a former secretary of state hopeful and former gubernatorial candidate, are running to the right of Klarides, a former minority leader of the state House of Representatives who has voted for gun-control legislation and favors abortion rights. Levy and Lumaj oppose both. Insofar as this year’s election will be decided amidst the expected overturning of the 1973 Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade which legalized abortion, Klarides could find her position on abortion a liability in the primary, though possibly an asset in a blue-state general election.

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Julie Kelly Commentary: Justice Department Threatens Oath-Keepers with Life in Prison

Admin

In a letter obtained by American Greatness, the U.S. Department of Justice is threatening defendants charged with seditious conspiracy in the sprawling Oath Keepers case to accept plea deals or face life in prison.

Matthew Graves, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia handling every prosecution related to the events of January 6, 2021, imposed a May 6 deadline for the remaining defendants to accept plea deals. Three men have pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy; nine others, including Oath Keepers’ founder Stewart Rhodes, have rejected government attempts to reach a plea.

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Arizona GOP Gubernatorial Primary Leader Kari Lake Denounces Georgia RINOs, Lauds Dinesh D’Souza’s 2020 Election Ballot-Trafficking Film 2000 Mules

Addison Basurto

Former Phoenix news anchor and mother of two, Kari Lake, gave high praise to filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza’s documentary film, “2000 Mules”, which highlights the ballot-stuffing operations that occurred across multiples states during the 2020 presidential election.

“We just saw Dinesh D’Souza’s movie. It’s outrageous. It’s called 2000 Mules. I think every man and woman in this country should see it,” Lake declared Friday at a campaign stop to support David Perdue’s run against Georgia Governor Brian Kemp at the Appalachian Gun & Range.

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Diversity and Inclusion, Anti-Racism Featured Prominently in the MBA Programs Training America’s Future Corporate Leaders

Admin

MBA programs at universities across the country have added diversity, inclusion, and equity (DEI) initiatives into their program curriculum, orientations, leadership, events, and student groups.

Below is a list of how some universities across this country are training the future woke leaders of American businesses.

The list includes Michigan State University, where Disney CEO Bob Chapek received his MBA degree.

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Abbott Considers Reviving Case Challenging Requirement to Have Illegal Immigrants in Public Schools

Admin

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott says he may challenge a longstanding Supreme Court decision that states U.S. states cannot prohibit illegal immigrant children from attending public schools.

The Republican governor said during a recent radio interview on a San Antonio talk show that he was mulling the action and agreed with the host of the program that the price of educating an expanding group of illegal immigrant children in many languages is “extraordinary.”

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Biden’s Department of Justice Announces New ‘Office of Environmental Justice’

Admin

On Thursday, two of Joe Biden’s Cabinet members announced plans to create a new division within the Department of Justice that will focus on fighting for “environmental justice.”

As reported by Fox News, the joint announcement was made by Attorney General Merrick Garland and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Michael Regan. The new Office of Environmental Justice (OEJ) will serve as a “central hub” for a “comprehensive environmental justice enforcement strategy,” and will soon lay out a “series of actions” that will be taken in order to ostensibly “secure environmental justice for all Americans.”

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One Year from Full Implementation, Nearly 7 Million Pennsylvanians Without REAL ID

The Center Square

With a year before the federal government enforces its REAL ID requirements, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation is encouraging state residents to update their driver’s licenses and photo ID.

When federal enforcement starts on May 3, 2023, only REAL ID-compliant documents will be accepted at airports, federal buildings, and for other federal purposes. If someone doesn’t update their driver’s license, they would need to use a passport, for example, to take a domestic flight.

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Democratic State Attorneys General Ask Biden to Fully Forgive All Student Loan Debt

The Center Square
Joe Biden

Seven state attorneys general, and an eighth from Puerto Rico, have called upon President Joe Biden to fully cancel federal student debt estimated at more than $1.6 trillion.

The U.S. Education Department reports more than 43 million borrowers on average owe $37,000 in student loan debt. The USED already has forgiven $17 billion in student loan debt held by 725,000 borrowers since the beginning of the Biden administration.

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Georgia Lottery Amasses $367.2 Million in Profits for Last Quarter

The Center Square

The Georgia Lottery brought in more than $367.2 million in profits during the third quarter of fiscal 2022, state officials said.

For the first three quarters of fiscal 2022, between July 1, 2021, and March 31, the lottery transferred more than $1.1 billion to the state’s Lottery for Education Account. Since its inception, the lottery has transferred more than $24.6 billion to the state.

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Post-Leak Poll: Enthusiastic Voters Support Overturning Roe by Huge Margin

Admin

Voters who support the overturning of Roe v. Wade are almost twice as likely to say they are extremely enthusiastic about voting in the fall than those who want it to stay, according to a CNN poll released Friday.

The poll, taken after the leak of a Supreme Court draft decision that indicates the court could overturn the case, showed that 38% of those “happy” Roe could be overturned are “extremely enthusiastic” about voting, while only 20% of those “angry” said they had the same level of enthusiasm, CNN reported.

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Attorney General Ellison Sues Solar Companies for Allegedly Lying to Minnesotans About Benefits

Admin

Attorney General Keith Ellison is suing several solar panel companies for lying about the benefits of solar panels in their sales to Minnesotans.

Ellison’s office last week sued four solar panel companies based in Utah for selling expensive solar panels to Minnesota citizens through “deceptive and fraudulent practices,” according to a press release from Ellison’s office.

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D.C. School Gives ‘Anti-Racism’ ‘Fistbook’ to 4-Year-Olds, Asks Them to Out ‘Racist’ Family Members

Admin

At a public elementary school in Washington D.C., teachers and other staff members forced “anti-racism” curriculum on students as young as four years old, and even went so far as to ask the children to out allegedly racist family members.

As reported by Fox News, a letter signed by Danielle Singh, principal of Janney Elementary School, and dated from November 30th confirms that students were forced to participate in an “Anti-Racism Fight Club.” The event was hosted by a speaker named Doyin Richards.

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Gov. Kemp Signs Betsy’s Law, Expanding Access to Maternity Support Services

The Center Square

Gov. Brian Kemp has signed a bill to allow nonprofits to offer “maternity supportive housing residences” and resources at no cost for pregnant and postpartum women.

Under Senate Bill 116, known as Betsy’s Law, local governments cannot constrain or place occupancy requirements on these residences unless those same restrictions apply to a residence with a single-family living there, according to a news release.

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