Day: November 27, 2022

Agricultural Groups, Lawmakers Want to Pass Bill That Tries to Give Pathway to Citizenship for 1 Million Illegal Farmworkers in U.S.

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Lawmakers and agricultural groups are racing to pass a bill that would alter the number and length of farmworker visas before the newly-elected GOP majority takes control of the House in January, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday. 

The House bill would create 20,000 three-year H-2A visas permitting year-round work, and provide a path to citizenship for approximately one million farmworkers currently living in the U.S. illegally, according to the WSJ. Currently, H-2A visas only allow workers to remain in the country for up to 10 months, which has caused issues for some farms, such as dairy farms, that require workers year-round.

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Biden Admin to Give Chevron Oil Pumping License in Venezuela: Report

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The Biden administration is set to give Chevron Corp. a license to pump oil in Venezuela, according to The Wall Street Journal.

As part of the deal, Chevron would retain partial control of both production and maintenance for a select set of run-down oil fields it previously had stakes in with Petróleos de Venezuela SA, a state-run oil company in Venezuela, according to the WSJ, citing people familiar with the matter. The deal, which is contingent on certain debts being repaid, would also mean President Joe Biden is continuing to move away from sanctioning the socialist regime.

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Border Patrol Sees Surge in Suicides as Morale Plummets

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U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has seen four personnel die by suicide in the last two weeks, National Border Patrol Council Vice President At-Large Sergio Moreno, who is part of the agency’s National Suicide Prevention Workforce, revealed to the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Three Border Patrol agents died by suicide in the two week period, the first two in the Rio Grande Valley sector, the third in the El Paso sector on Sunday and the fourth, a CBP officer, also on Sunday, Moreno told the DCNF. The surge in suicides comes as CBP personnel experience low morale amid record illegal migration ushered in by several Biden administration border and immigration policies.

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As White House Drains Oil Reserve to Near-40-Year Lows, Biden Asks for $500 Million to Modernize System

Just the News

The Biden administration is asking Congress for hundreds of millions of dollars in an effort to shore up and modernize parts of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve system, a request that comes after the White House has spent months aggressively draining the levels of fuel from the system itself. 

The request, a rider attached to the White House’s $38 billion Ukrainian funding package,  would “provide the Department of Energy, Energy Security and Infrastructure Modernization Fund account $500 million for modernization activities of the four Strategic Petroleum Reserve sites,” the White House said in the letter.

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Number of Tennessee Residents on Food Stamps Hits 19-Year Low

The Center Square

The number of individuals receiving food stamps in Tennessee has dropped to the lowest levels since November 2003, according to data released by the federal government.

There were 786,502 people receiving food assistance in Tennessee in August 2022, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which recently updated its data on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

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Commentary: Governors Conference Shows GOP May Not Have Learned Anything from Midterms

Admin

In terms of sheer numbers, Republicans did the worst in governorships among all the electoral positions up for grabs this year. Republicans did make gains, although modest, in the House. In the Senate, Republicans will either have a net gain of zero or be down one seat, depending on how the Georgia runoff goes in December. But Republicans lost a net of two gubernatorial seats. While former President Donald Trump, the Republican National Committee, Senate Republicans, and House Republicans have faced a lot of scrutiny for their poor showing, the Republican Governors Association has avoided this scrutiny. The lack of humility at the Republican Governors Association’s latest meeting presents an ominous sign on whether Republicans will learn from their mistakes in 2022.

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Newly Elected Catholic Bishops’ Conference President: Link Between Homosexuality and Sexual Abuse Crisis ‘Can’t Be Denied’

Susan Berry, PhD

The newly elected head of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) said last week following his election he maintains the assertion that a relationship exists between the clergy sex abuse scandal and homosexual priests ordained in the Church.

Archbishop Timothy Broglio, the Archbishop of the Military Services, said in a press conference he continues to stand by his 2018 statement in which he stated the issue of homosexual priests is “certainly an aspect of the sexual crisis that can’t be denied,” LifeSiteNews reported.

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No Financial Data Reported for Maricopa County Recorder Richer’s PAC Since October 22, Two Weeks Prior to Election

Laura Baigert

While Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer is coming under increased scrutiny for his founding and operation of a political action committee (PAC), the next required opportunity for the public’s visibility on his PAC’s activity is mid-January nearly two months after he sought to influence the November 8 general election.

According to the Arizona Secretary of State website regarding campaign finance reporting dates, filings for the post-general election period of October 23 to December 31, 2022, are not due until the earliest date of January 1 and not later than January 17, 2023.

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Pittsburgh School District Unanimously Passes Resolution Against Bill Barring Critical Race Theory

Just the News

The Pittsburgh School District unanimously passed a resolution against legislation that would bar teaching Critical Race Theory or any other concepts that regard one race as superior to another. 

The resolution, which passed on Tuesday, states that the board will defy “harmful legislation,” including HB 1532, formally referred to as the Teaching Racial and Universal Equality Act. The bill was proposed by Republican State Rep. Russ Diamond.

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Minnesota’s Limited Restrictions on Abortion Could Lead to Increased Taxes

The Center Square

Minnesota is more friendly to abortion than some of its neighbors, and that might impact Minnesota taxpayers.

Some abortion clinics are moving from states that are banning or limiting abortions to states such as Minnesota with fewer abortion restrictions. For example, Red River Women’s Clinic moved from Fargo, N.D., to Moorhead, Minn., to continue performing abortions, and says on its website that it offers abortion care and family planning services to all of North Dakota, northwestern Minnesota and South Dakota.

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Ohio School Sued over Transgender Bathroom Policy as Students to Wait Hours for Toilet

Hannah Poling

An Ohio school district faces a lawsuit from Muslim and Christian parents after permitting students to use bathrooms according to their stated gender identity rather than their biological sex.

America First Legal filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday on behalf of the parents against Bethel Local School District, located in Tipp City north of Dayton. The lawsuit accuses the district of violating Title IX protections for students and violating parental rights.

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Virginia’s Outdoor Recreation Economy Grew Almost 21 Percent in 2021

Eric Burk

Virginia’s outdoor recreation economy grew 20.9 percent in 2021, adding $9.4 billion and making up 1.6 percent of Virginia’s gross domestic product (GDP), according to a November report from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA).

“I’m thrilled to see this level of economic growth of Virginia’s outdoor recreation. I’m looking forward to continuing my work in Washington to ensure that our outdoorsmen and women have the opportunities and resources they need to continue enjoying their time in our great outdoors for generations to come,” Representative Rob Wittman (R-VA-01) said in a newsletter Friday.

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Ohio Governor Announces $5 Million in Security Grants for Higher Education

Bradley Vasoli

Thirty-three higher-education institutions across the Buckeye State will get $5 million in total for safety related enhancements, Governor Mike DeWine (R-OH) announced this week. 

The allocations from the state’s 2022 Campus Safety Program will largely fund equipment such as metal detectors, alarms, loudspeakers, security cameras and lock technology. Schools getting the largest amounts include the University of Akron ($422,630), Kent State University ($387,567), Terra State Community College ($338,598), Bowling Green State University ($278.075.63) and Washington State Community College ($226,345.90). 

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Analysis: Trump Prevailed over Biden in Security Debate over Chinese Social App

Just the News

Call it the tale of two TikTok presidents. In familiar fashion, Donald Trump was originally ridiculed as president when he suggested the Chinese-owned TikTok social video app was a national security risk, only now to be validated two years later by the intelligence community.

Meanwhile, Joe Biden vowed to always heed the intelligence community, only to stray by promoting TikTok during the midterms as a political strategy and allowing his administration to bring some TikTok workers to the United States on special immigrant visas.

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40 Suspects on FBI’s Terror Watchlist Arrested at the Border in October

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The month of October alone saw the arrest of 40 different suspects on the FBI’s terror watchlist as they attempted to cross the border into the United States.

According to the New York Post, nine individuals were arrested attempting to sneak across the border, while another 31 were stopped by authorities at various ports of entry, and were subsequently arrested upon identification. Of the 31 who attempted to enter legally, 25 tried to come across the Canadian border while six tried to cross the southern border.

The terror watchlist was first established by the FBI after the 9/11 attacks, initially consisting of known terrorists who are not American citizens, but later expanded to include potential threats and associates of known threats. The actual list of names is kept secret for security purposes.

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Democrats Face Tough Odds of Passing Immigration Bill Before 2023

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As the lame-duck session of Congress draws closer to its end, Democrats attempting to pass a mass amnesty bill have come to realize that most Republican senators have no interest in voting in favor of any such bill.

According to Politico, Democrats are intent on passing some form of amnesty for the millions of illegal aliens who were brought into the country as children, colloquially referred to as “Dreamers.” The name stems from a failed amnesty bill passed by the U.S. Senate in 2013 called the “DREAM Act,” which then failed to pass the GOP-controlled House of Representatives. Then-President Barack Obama then decided to circumvent Congress by implementing much of the proposed bill as an executive order, which has since faced numerous legal challenges due to its unconstitutional nature.

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Commentary: An American Tradition Is Chronic Anti-Poverty Waste via the Federal-to-Local Distribution Pipeline

RealClearWire

For six years, beginning in 2014, the accounting firm for the Southeast Alabama Community Action Partnership warned administrators that the organization was doing a poor job of managing the millions of dollars in taxpayer money it received annually for its poverty-reduction work, including home energy assistance and foster grandparenting.  

In 2018, a longtime employee filed a federal complaint alleging that the group spent public money profligately on extravagant travel and for other unauthorized purposes, and that it retaliated against employees who questioned its financial practices. 

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