Day: August 21, 2022

Commentary: Foreign Aid Has Failed People of Afghanistan

Admin

Despite $775 million in humanitarian aid from the U.S. government since President Joe Biden’s disastrous pullout of U.S.  military forces from Afghanistan a year ago, half the population—some 20 million people—remains hungry.

That’s no change from a year ago when we were also told that half the country required emergency food and other lifesaving assistance to avoid a major famine.

Meanwhile, the Taliban that swooped in following our humiliating withdrawal have firmed up their brutal rule and erased all progress the country had made, from educating girls and women to protecting religious minorities.

Read the full story

Catholic Group Unveils Ad Slamming Biden for ‘Failure’ to Protect Churches, Pregnancy Centers from Attacks

Admin

CatholicVote, a Catholic advocacy organization, released a seven-figure ad campaign Wednesday targeting President Joe Biden for failing to protect Catholic churches and pregnancy resource centers from escalating attacks since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

There have been 64 incidents against pro-life organizations and 69 against Catholic churches since the court’s decision to overturn Roe was leaked May 2, according to CatholicVote. The ad shows a clip of Biden, who is Catholic, encouraging pro-abortion protesters alongside a video of John F. Kennedy, America’s only other Catholic president, condemning attacks on churches.

Read the full story

Church Sues Police Department, City for Taking Its Weed and Shrooms

Admin

A religious organization in Oakland, California, that celebrates controlled psychedelic mushrooms and marijuana use is suing the city, the police department and one of its officers for allegedly violating its First- and 14th-Amendment rights in connection with a 2020 raid that seized substances from its building, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

Oakland police raided Zide Door Church of Entheogenic Plants that year, taking cash and roughly $200,000 in mushrooms and cannabis following claims it was running an unpermitted cannabis dispensary, the outlet reported. The church is accusing authorities and one particular officer of discriminating against its religious beliefs.

Read the full story

Truck Manufacturing Company Investing $50 Million in Tennessee Expansion

Peter D'Abrosca

A major truck manufacturing company will spend millions to expand its operations in Murfreesboro, according to the state government. 

“Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee and Department of Economic and Community Development Commissioner Stuart McWhorter announced today that Minnesota-based McNeilus Truck and Manufacturing, Inc., an Oshkosh Corporation [NYSE: OSK] company, will be investing more than $50 million to expand its manufacturing presence in Tennessee,” according to a release from the Tennessee Department of Economic & Community Development. 

Read the full story

Commentary: Green Fascists Are Destroying the World

Admin

Earlier this summer, the CO2 Coalition was banished from LinkedIn. The CO2 Coalition, with only three full-time employees and an annual budget of under $1 million, had committed the unpardonable sin of sharing contrarian perspectives on climate science. Its work, produced by a network of volunteers that includes dozens of distinguished scientists, offers indispensable balance on a topic that requires honest debate now more than ever.

Read the full story

With $3.2 Billion in Excess Cash, Youngkin Setting Aside $397 Million for Tax Relief Proposal in 2023

Eric Burk

RICHMOND, Virginia — Governor Glenn Youngkin is directing $397 million in excess funds to be set aside for unspecified tax relief in 2023, as Virginia has $3.2 billion in excess cash — $2 billion in unplanned revenues plus Fiscal Year 2022 spending that was $1.2 billion less than planned.

“Today I formally report to the General Assembly that Virginia ended the fiscal year with a record general fund balance,” Youngkin said at a Friday morning joint meeting of the House of Delegates Finance and Appropriations Committees and the Senate Finance Committee.

Read the full story

Before Minneapolis, Los Angeles Schools Tried Race-Based Policies

Admin

Following national coverage of the Minneapolis school district’s race-based employment policies, Liz Collin Reports hosted a retired Los Angeles teacher who saw the same thing happen in his district over 15 years ago.

Phil Pearson worked as a special-ed teacher in the Los Angeles Unified School District, the largest district in California and second largest in the country, when a similar rule to move teachers based on race was put into place.

Read the full story

Dispute Arises Within Maricopa County GOP Over Member-at-Large Revealing Who Voted Against Censuring Recorder Stephen Richer

Rachel Alexander

After the Maricopa County Republican Committee (MCRC) censured Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer, a Republican, over election integrity failures including denying there was election fraud in 2020, the author of the censure has found himself in hot water. Member-at-large Brian Ference responded to an inquiry in a Telegram channel for Maricopa County precinct committeemen (PCs) asking who voted against the censure. He provided a list of names in the channel — but also included their email addresses and phone numbers, prompting a stern email from the MCRC’s attorney.

Ference issued an apology for including the contact information, but told The Arizona Sun Times he didn’t regret sharing the names, because it exposed “Entrenched establishment Republicans who have proved again and again they offer little to no opposition to Democrats, but instead fight like hellcats against America First MAGA Republicans.”

Read the full story

Caroline Knight Sworn in as 13th Judicial District Circuit Court Judge

Aaron Gulbransen

Caroline Knight was sworn in as the 13th Judicial District Circuit Court Part II Judge on Wednesday after winning the August 4 election as an unopposed candidate.

“I am ecstatic to officially be District 13’s Circuit Court Judge. I am deeply honored to serve my community in the Upper Cumberland and make certain that the rule of law is always upheld. I am sincerely thankful for each person who has believed in me and supported me along the way here. The days ahead of me will not be easy, but I eagerly look forward to working hard to ensure each and every citizen who appears before me in court is treated fairly, impartially and with respect,” said Knight.

Read the full story

DeSantis Stumps for Vance in Youngstown, Ohio Suburbs

Bradley Vasoli

Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL) came to the Youngstown area this weekend in support of Ohio Republican JD Vance’s U.S. Senate campaign against U.S. Representative Tim Ryan (D-OH-13), whose district includes Youngstown.

“It is important that the people of Ohio send JD Vance to the U.S. Senate this year,” the Florida chief executive, whose mother is from Youngstown, told an audience at the Metroplex Expo Center in Girard. “Yes, Republicans need to take back the majority, and I think we will. But just as important as having the majority, we need people who are willing to go up there and do something with the majority; stop talking and actually get something done. And I think JD is somebody who’s going to be a leader and not just be a follower and we need that in that swamp more than ever.” 

Read the full story

Georgia’s US Senators Vote for Bill Stripping One of State’s Largest Employers of EV Tax Credits

Admin

Georgia’s two senators voted for the Democrats’ recently enacted Inflation Reduction Act, even though it strips South Korean automaker Kia — one of the state’s largest employers — of eligibility for the law’s electric vehicle tax credits.

Kia, which employs thousands in Georgia, is planning to build another automobile factory in the state and hire 8,500 people, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Due to domestic assembly requirements in the new law, however, the automaker’s EV and plug-in fleet will lose their current eligibility for $7,500 tax credits on the purchase of new electric vehicles.

Read the full story

US Senator Ron Johnson Presses Feds for Source of Vaccine at Military Bases after Whistleblower Allegations

Admin

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.) is pressing the Pentagon, Food and Drug Administration, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for answers after multiple whistleblowers raised concerns about the provenance of a Comirnaty-labeled COVID-19 vaccine shipped to military bases.

On Monday, nine military officers from across all the branches sent a whistleblower report to Congress regarding a COVID vaccine appearing at Coast Guard medical clinics. Key GOP senator presses feds for source of vaccine at military bases after whistleblower allegations

Read the full story

Audit: Unauthorized Benefit in Bucks County Pension Adds Cost to Local Taxpayers

The Center Square

In an audit for the Central Bucks Regional Police Pension Plan, the auditor general criticized officials for inconsistent and authorized pension benefits. Pension plans are governed by Act 205 and Act 600 in state law, which sets regulations and guidelines on allowable pension benefits.

However, the latest collective bargaining agreement between police officers and the regional police commission “granted a length of service increment in excess of the plan’s governing document,” the report noted.

Read the full story

Gun Groups Caution against Richmond Gun Buyback Event

The Center Square

Richmond held a gun buyback program Saturday in an attempt to curb gun violence, but some critics have cautioned that such programs would not likely have that effect.

Individuals who seek to get rid of their firearms on a no-questions-asked policy were to do so at Liberation Church in Richmond. The city council approved the gun buyback event and bought the firearms using gift cards.

Read the full story

Commentary: Virginia is Ground Zero for the ‘Latino Realignment’

Admin

The left denies it, but it’s truly happening – a massive realignment is underway in the American electorate as Latinos are leaning in with the GOP. This November, Republicans are running Hispanic nominees in key battleground districts, headlined by rising stars like Myra Flores, Cassy Garcia, and Monica De La Cruz in Texas, Michelle Garcia Holmes and Alexis Martinez Johnson in New Mexico, Lori Chavez-DeRemer in Oregon – and of course, Yesli Vega in Virginia. Over the past two years, the Old Dominion has been ground zero for this shift, providing a glimpse into what the future of the Republican Party might look like on a national scale.

Read the full story

DeSantis: Electing Mastriano an ‘Opportunity to Make Pennsylvania Free’

Bradley Vasoli

Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL) came to Pittsburgh this weekend to argue that his success governing Florida needs to be replicated in Pennsylvania and that state Sen. Doug Mastriano (R-PA-Gettysburg) is the man to do it. 

The Adams County lawmaker is running against Democratic state Attorney General Josh Shapiro, someone who Mastriano and DeSantis believe will intensify the liberal governance the Keystone State has underwent during Tom Wolf’s eight-year administration. 

Read the full story

Biden’s New Spending Bill Supersizes the EPA’s Budget

Admin

The Democrats’ massive climate spending package, which President Joe Biden signed into law on Tuesday, will give over $40 billion to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), just as the bill allocates almost $80 billion to expand the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

The bill, dubbed the Inflation Reduction Act, includes $369 billion in total climate spending, and will give the EPA more than $40 billion in the current fiscal year to combat climate change, enforce environmental standards and secure “environmental justice,” according to a Congressional Research Service report. The EPA’s enacted budget for 2022’s fiscal year was about $9.5 billion, according to the agency figures, meaning the bill will more than quadruple the EPA’s current annual spending.

Read the full story