Day: September 17, 2022

Republican U.S. Reps Urge Defense Department to End Military Vaccine Mandate

The Center Square

A group of 47 members of Congress are urging the Secretary of the Department of Defense to “immediately revoke” the COVID-19 vaccine mandate he issued last August for all service members, civilian personnel, and contractors. They’ve also asked him to re-instate those who’ve already been discharged for noncompliance.

In a Sept. 15 letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, they wrote “to express our grave concern over the effect of the Department of Defense’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate on the readiness of our Armed Forces, particularly the U.S. Army.

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Army Qualification Test Scores Plummets Further in 2022

Admin

Army leaders have seen a 13% drop in qualification test scores from the most recent high school graduating class compared to pre-pandemic performances, Defense News reported.

Disqualification rates for potential recruits also shot up from between 30% and 40% to about 70% because of obesity, drug use and failing to meet academic standards, Lt. Gen. Maria Gervais, second in command for Army training, said at a conference Thursday, according to Defense News. The Army is projected to fall short of its recruiting goal for the year ending Sept. 30 by 25%.

Gervais, deputy commanding general of Army Training and Doctrine Command, said the Army has been in a “nosedive” since July 2021, but that the service may be seeing a steady revival, according to Defense News.

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My Pillow CEO Lindell Announces Lawsuit Against U.S. Government After FBI Seizes His Phone

Just the News

My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell, a close ally of former President Donald Trump, announced Thursday that he is suing the U.S. government and the FBI after he said agents seized his phone earlier this week. 

Lindell said the lawsuit “isn’t just to get the phone back,” but he filed it because his “First, Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights were broken.”

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New Department of Defense Equity Chief Has History of Anti-White Statements

Admin

A new diversity hire at the Biden Administration’s Department of Defense (DOD) has a long and documented history of racist statements against White people on her social media.

As reported by the New York Post, Kelisa Wing is an Army veteran and the new chief of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) at the DOD’s Education Activity. Her Twitter account in particular contains numerous anti-White statements, including her declaration in June of 2020 that she was “exhausted with these white folx in these [professional development] sessions.”

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Poll: Most Voters Support Abortion Restrictions in Graham’s New Bill

Admin

Most voters support banning abortions at 15 weeks or earlier, a poll from WPA Intelligence found.

The poll comes after Republican South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham introduced federal legislation that would ban abortions after 15 weeks with exceptions for for rape, incest and the life of the mother. A combined 62% of registered voters, including 48% of Democrats, believed abortion should only be allowed up to 15 weeks or earlier, the WPA Intelligence poll found.

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Commentary: The Unidentified and Uncharged Instigator in the Oath Keepers Case

Admin

The long-awaited trial of the most high-profile January 6 case will begin later this month. Five members of the Oath Keepers, an alleged “militia” group involved in the Capitol protest, face charges of seditious conspiracy and other serious felonies. It is the first trial in a multi-defendant prosecution that has dominated the attention of the Department of Justice, the January 6 select committee, and the national news media.

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Commentary: Send All of the Illegals to Martha’s Vineyard

Admin

In an extremely imaginative problem-solving (or problem-highlighting) move, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on Wednesday flew two planeloads of illegal immigrants to Martha’s Vineyard. A Martha’s Vineyard lawmaker tweeted that “our island jumped into action,” and that “these immigrants were met with compassion, not chaos.” In another tweet, however, he accused Republicans of using human lives as “political pawns,” calling it “evil and inhumane.”

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CDC: Administrative Federal Agency Charged with Americans’ Health and Safety Flooded With Credibility Problems

Susan Berry, PhD

While the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is only one example of an administrative federal agency run by unelected bureaucrats, it is one charged with ensuring Americans receive truthful health and safety information, a daunting role for an organization now engulfed with concerns about its credibility.

CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky wrote in a letter made public this week her agency did not conduct a type of analysis on reports made to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) regarding COVID shots during 2021. Her agency, however, indicated otherwise in its documents and through some of its other representatives.

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Report: Facebook Spies on Private Messages of Users Skeptical of 2020 Election Results

Admin

One of the biggest social media platforms in the world has allegedly been spying on the private messages and personal data of users who believe that voter fraud took place in the 2020 election, and has subsequently been handing this information over to the FBI.

According to the New York Post, the alleged surveillance operation by Facebook and its coordination with the government was confirmed by several anonymous sources in the Department of Justice (DOJ). The sources allege that employees at Facebook have been red-flagging any suspicious private messages over the last 19 months, sending the information directly to the FBI’s domestic terrorism operational unit in Washington, D.C. These actions have been carried out without the use of an official subpoena.

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Biden Administration Awards over $7 Million to ‘Elevate Parent Voices in Education’ After Smearing Vocal Parents as Potential ‘Domestic Terrorists’

Susan Berry, PhD

The Biden education department announced Thursday it was awarding more than $7 million in competitive grants to eight organizations that have worked to achieve what the department calls “the Biden-Harris Administration’s ongoing efforts to enhance and increase parent and family engagement in local education.”

Grants from the Statewide Family Engagement Centers (SFEC) program, the announcement states, “provide financial support to organizations that offer technical assistance and training to state educational agencies and school districts that effectively engage families over policies, programs, and activities that lead to improvements in student development and academic achievement.”

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Packed House Shows for Renacci’s Kick Off to Pro-MAGA Forum Series in Medina

Hannah Poling

Former Ohio Republican congressman and current Chairman of American Greatness PAC Jim Renacci held his first in a series of pro-MAGA (Make America Great Again) forums at the Thirsty Cowboy in Medina, Ohio.

“Last night, 11 conservatives from different niches talked about uniting the conservative base and forwarding MAGA policies. I think it’s the start of something great. American Greatness can be achieved,” Renacci posted on Facebook following the meeting.

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Kari Lake and Mark Finchem Appeal Judge’s Decision to Dismiss Their Electronic Voting Machines Lawsuit

Rachel Alexander

Although the deadline for printing ballots for Arizona’s midterm election on Nov. 8 has passed, ending the time for litigation regarding items that must appear on the ballot, one lawsuit regarding the election continues to wind its way through the courts. After their lawsuit requesting the halting of electronic voting machines in the election was thrown out by an Obama-appointed trial court judge, U.S. District Judge John Tuchi, the attorneys for Trump-endorsed gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake and Trump-endorsed State Rep. Mark Finchem (R-Oro Valley), who is running for Arizona Secretary of State, filed a notice of appeal with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Tuchi stated in his order dismissing the case that “speculative allegations that voting machines may be hackable are insufficient to establish an injury in fact,” it was too close to the election to file, and the lawsuit should have been filed in state court, not federal court. 

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Michigan Snags $105 Million to Update I-375 to Boulevard

The Center Square

Michigan won a $105 million federal grant to replace the I-375 freeway in Detroit with an accessible boulevard. Work is expected to start in 2025.

Almost 60 years ago, government officials approved a plan that bulldozed through the mostly minority-populated neighborhoods Black Bottom and Paradise Valley in order to build I-375, displacing more than 130,000 people. The new project will replace it with a boulevard to reconnect the split communities.

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Ohio Companies Can Get Reimbursed for Apprenticeships

The Center Square

Ohio businesses can get up to $25,000 from the state to cover the costs of apprenticeship training dating back to 2020, according to the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.

The money comes from a federal grant the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services received in 2020 to expand apprenticeships, Gov. Mike DeWine announced recently as part of National Workforce Development month.

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Report: Large Economic Incentives Like Those in Tennessee Increasing Exponentially

The Center Square

Billion-dollar economic incentives, including the one that Tennessee gave to Ford for its plan to build a $5.6 billion electric truck plant outside Memphis, are increasing across the country, according to a new report from The Center for Economic Accountability.

And while fewer economic incentives have been awarded during the past two years, the average amounts of those incentives have increased significantly even in inflation-adjusted funds.

While the Tennessee Legislature approved $884 million in incentives toward Ford’s Blue Oval City in a special session last fall, the overall incentive package for the project is expected to exceed $1 billion.

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Virginia Board of Education Certifies Spotsylvania Superintendent Candidate

Eric Burk

The Virginia Board of Education (BOE) voted six to two to certify Mark Taylor, allowing him to be appointed by the Spotsylvania School Board as superintendent.

Taylor’s opponents criticized his close ties to new board Chair Kirk Twigg, racial Facebook posts allegedly made by Taylor, and his application for licensure which didn’t include relevant experience as an educator, instead seeking to qualify under an option for candidates with a master’s degree, three years of experience in a senior leadership position, and a recommendation from a school board.

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Walker, Warnock to Debate October 14 in Tight Georgia Senate Race

Just the News
Raphael Warnock and Herschel Walker

Georgia incumbent Senate Democrat Raphael Warnock and Republican challenger Herschel Walker have agreed to one debate before their Nov. 8 general election showdown.

“I’m looking forward to it,” Walker said Tuesday in a Twitter video. “I will see you there. Now you get a chance to tell us why you voted with [President] Joe Biden 96% of the time. And God bless.”

The televised debate was reportedly set after Warnock agreed to terms set forth by Walker, the former NFL star who played college football for the University of Georgia.

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Kari Lake Says She Will Be the Governor to Back the Police

Neil Jones

Arizona Republican gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake spoke at a press conference Thursday in support of Arizona police.

“I want these men and women behind me to know that on your darkest day, on your toughest day, when you’re in the middle of that storm, I will be standing right there by you as your governor,” Lake said. “I will not step away. I will not waiver. I will support you until you have due process. That’s what these men and women deserve.”

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More than 100,000 Veterans Hired Through Virginia Program

The Center Square

More than 100,000 veterans have been hired through a Virginia program that educates and trains veterans and helps connect them with employers, Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced.

Virginia Values Veterans, which is run by the Virginia Department of Veteran Services, started in 2012. According to a news release, the program works with employers to develop long-term strategies and best practices to recruit, hire and retain veterans. The department also works with more than 2,100 businesses, educational institutions and state and local government agencies.

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Calls Grow Among Prominent Figures to Create a New ‘Church Committee’ to Probe FBI Abuses

Just the News

A half century ago, Americans held grave concerns that J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI and other U.S. intelligence agencies had abused civil rights, improperly targeted enemies and illegally gathered evidence, so Congress set out on a great cleansing mission. It formed a special committee chaired by Idaho Sen. Frank Church that laid bare the wrongdoing, overhauled the bureau and created new guardrails to protect civil liberties.

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Learning Loss Greater in School Districts That Stayed Remote Longer, Study Shows

Admin

School districts that resorted to remote learning during the pandemic took a large learning loss hit, according to Thursday study by a Brown University economist.

K-12 school districts who stayed with remote learning the longest during the pandemic saw a 13% sharper drop in learning losses than schools that returned to in-person learning sooner, according to study by a Brown University economist Emily Oster. The study notes that while there were other factors that resulted in learning losses, remote learning was a “significant contributing factor.”

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Florida and Connecticut Attorneys General Lead Bipartisan Effort to Classify Illicit Fentanyl as Weapon of Mass Destruction

The Center Square
fentanyl pills on the hood of a vehicle

Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody and Connecticut Attorney General William Tong are leading a multistate, bipartisan effort urging President Joe Biden to classify illicit fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction (WMD).

“I first called for President Biden to take swift action in July and call fentanyl what it is – a weapon of mass destruction,” Moody said. “Now, I am leading a bipartisan coalition of 18 attorneys general demanding the president take action now, declare fentanyl a WMD and join us in our fight to prevent the death and destruction caused by this highly-lethal substance from getting even worse.”

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