Month: December 2022

Liberal Students, Academics Seek to Revoke Conservatives’ Honorary Degrees

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Multiple universities across the country have rescinded honorary degrees, which are given to recognize the achievements of individuals who were not students at the university, from prominent members of the Trump administration.

Last month, Syracuse University put wheels in motion to rescind an honorary degree from former New York City mayor and lawyer to former President Donald Trump, Rudy Giuliani, Business Insider reported. The university has not revoked an honorary degree in its 152-year history.

Giuliani argued that there was widespread election fraud during the 2020 election. He faced a criminal probe in Georgia regarding the presidential election results and appeared before a grand jury in August.

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Gallup: Americans Report Mental Health at New Lows with Young Adults Ranking Worst

Just the News

Americans are rating their mental health at an all-time low, including nearly one-in-five young adults who describe their mental health as “poor,” according to a new poll released Wednesday. 

Overall, three-fourths of Americans say their mental health is “good” or “excellent,” which is the lowest number on record for Gallup. The polling outlet has conducted an annual mental health survey since 2001. In 2019, just before the COVID-19 pandemic, 85% of Americans described their mental health as good or excellent.

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Report Examines Tennessee and U.S. Prison Phone Call Charges

The Center Square

A phone call from a local Tennessee jail costs an average of $2.97 per minute for a 15-minue call, 1.8 times more expensive than state prisons, according to a new report from the Prison Policy Initiative.

The report looked at costs of calls across the United States and the causes of the different rates. Tennessee’s rate was within 5 cents per minute of most of its neighboring states outside of Arkansas ($3.15) and Virginia ($2.65).

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Soros-Backed Nonprofits Gave Tens of Millions to Anti-Police Groups in 2021

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Tax forms have revealed that, over the course of 2021, numerous nonprofit groups backed by far-left billionaire George Soros donated tens of millions of dollars to groups and initiatives that actively campaigned against the police.

Fox News reports that nonprofit groups that are members of Soros’ Open Society Foundations network collectively gave at least $55 million to such anti-police movements. This included groups utilized by progressives to actively dismantle law enforcement, as well as databases that track donations to police departments and police unions.

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Though the Military Vaccine Mandate Is Overturned, Unvaccinated Troops Still Risk Reprisal

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While the Biden administration has officially reversed the military COVID-19 vaccination mandate, servicemembers who escaped discharge for refusing the vaccine still risk retaliation and could be booted anyway, experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Ongoing class action lawsuits thwarted the military’s efforts to discharge thousands of troops who objected to the mandate before the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act, which President Joe Biden signed into law Friday, overturned it. However, servicemembers may risk reprisal even after the deadline passes for the Department of Defense (DOD) to implement the repeal, staining the records of thousands of servicemembers for the remainder of their careers, experts explained to the DCNF.

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Christian Organizations Continue to Make Amazon Smile’s ‘Naughty’ List

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Amazon Smile continues to deny admission to Christian organizations that support traditional marriage and religious freedom, opting instead to place them on a proverbial naughty list by recommendation of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC).

Amazon Smile allows customers who sign up to have 0.5% of their purchases donated to their favorite charity. Organizations on SPLC’s “designated hate groups” list, however, are barred from registering, according to Amazon’s website.

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Ohio Lawmakers Approve Over 30 Bills During Culmination of Legislative Session

Hannah Poling

During the legislature’s overnight culminating session, Ohio lawmakers approved over 30 pieces of legislation that now head to Governor Mike DeWine’s desk for approval. If DeWine does nothing the legislation will take effect without his signature. However, he has ten days, with the exception of Sundays, following the acquisition of the bills to approve or veto the legislation if he so chooses.

On December 22nd, DeWine’s office received a raft of 24 bills. The deadline for DeWine to take action on those bills to either sign or veto is January 3rd.

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Miami Sector Border Patrol Reported a 500 Percent Increase in Apprehensions in Fiscal 2022

The Center Square

Border Patrol agents in the Miami Sector have reported a 500% increase in apprehensions in fiscal year 2022.

From September 1, 2021, to October 31, 2022, agents apprehended 2,350 foreign nationals attempting to illegally enter Florida by sea. The majority were Cubans.

They also interdicted 131 maritime smuggling events, a 330% increase from fiscal 2921, Chief Patrol Agent Walter Slosar said.

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Under Proposed New Legislation, Tennessee Students Would Wait Until Age 7 to Start First Grade

TC Weber

Last week on 99.7 WTN, Tennessee House Representative Scott Cepicky R – Culleoka outlined to host Matt Murphy, legislation he intended to file to change the eligibility age for students entering first grade. Under Cepicky’s proposal, students would not be able to enter first grade until age 7, unless they could pass a local assessment showing that they could do grade-level work. The bill would allow younger students to take a “redshirt” year to adequately prepare for the increased academic demands of first grade. 

Cepicky’s legislation is derived from a legislative brief on Kindergarten Readiness and Academic Performance, written by the Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury’s Office of Research and Education Accountability (OREA). This brief shows that Tennessee students who were older at kindergarten enrollment performed better on 3rd-grade literacy tests than their peers. Forty-two percent of students aged 6 to 6.49 (older students) were on or above grade level in 3rd-grade literacy, compared to 33 percent of younger students aged 4.5 to 4.99 years old. The trend of older students outperforming their younger peers was also reflected on 6th-grade literacy tests. 

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Public Service Commission Votes in Favor of Georgia Power Rate Increase

The Center Square

The Georgia Public Service Commission signed off on a deal the Tuesday before Christmas to allow Georgia Power to increase its rates over the next three years.

With the approval, Georgia Power plans to increase rates for its 2.7 million customers by roughly $1.8 billion over three years. The increase is down from an initial request of about $2.9 billion.

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Government Employees in Four States Assist Left By Providing Voter Information, Legal Group Says

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Government employees in four states are violating federal laws and assisting the Left by providing voter information, a conservative legal group argues in suing those states.

The Thomas More Society alleges in its lawsuits against Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin that the Electronic Registration Information Center, also known as ERIC, shares voter information with at least one left-leaning nonprofit.

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Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty: State Government Should Ban TikTok

Bradley Vasoli

A Milwaukee-based think tank is weighing in on the Wisconsin state government’s social media policy, urging Governor Tony Evers (D) to ban the video-sharing application’s use by state agencies. 

In a report called “The Mysterious TikTok-ing Noise,” the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL) notes that numerous other governors earlier this month signed orders instructing all departments under their control to delete the program from their devices. The piece also observed the unanimous vote taken last week by the U.S. Senate to adopt the same policy for all federal computer hardware. 

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Victor Davis Hanson Commentary: Is There Anything the FBI Won’t Do?

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The FBI on Wednesday finally broke its silence and responded to the revelations on Twitter of close ties between the bureau and the social media giant – ties that included efforts to suppress information and censor political speech. 

“The correspondence between the FBI and Twitter show nothing more than examples of our traditional, longstanding and ongoing federal government and private sector engagements, which involve numerous companies over multiple sectors and industries,” the bureau said in a statement. “As evidenced in the correspondence, the FBI provides critical information to the private sector in an effort to allow them to protect themselves and their customers. The men and women of the FBI work every day to protect the American public. It is unfortunate that conspiracy theorists and others are feeding the American public misinformation with the sole purpose of attempting to discredit the agency.” 

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Minnesota, Wisconsin, Connecticut Rank in the Top 10 Most Prosperous States as Michigan and Iowa Lag

The Center Square

Minnesota and Wisconsin placed in the top 10 of a recent nationwide prosperity index while Iowa and Michigan trailed behind, at 12th and 29th, respectively. 

Wisconsin placed third and Minnesota placed eighth in the American Dream Prosperity Index that the Milken Center for Advancing the American Dream produced with Legatum Institute. The index measures prosperity through three domains: Inclusive Societies, Open Economies and Empowered People. The domains contain 11 pillars of prosperity that are built on 49 actionable policy areas and more than 200 indicators.

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Michigan, Minnesota Among States Democrats Move to Rewrite State Voting Laws After Midterm Wins

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Democrats are moving to implement new voting laws at the state level following their midterm wins, according to The New York Times.

Democratic governors and state legislators have expressed plans to push automatic voter registration, voter pre-registration for minors, an expansion of early and absentee voting and criminalization of election misinformation, according to the NYT. The party retained most of its governors in the 2024 election and maintained its hold over several key state legislatures, creating a clear path to instating many of its favored voting policies.

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State Senate Passes Legislation Requiring Reporting and Review of Ohioans’ Property Tax Exemptions

Hannah Poling

A Republican-supported bill that would provide more transparency for local property tax exemptions passed in the Ohio Senate.

House Bill (HB) 66 sponsored by state Representative James Hoops (R-Napoleon) would require the Ohio Tax Commissioner’s biennial tax expenditure report to include information on local property tax exemptions and to require the Tax Expenditure Review Committee to periodically review local property tax exemptions.

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Kari Lake Attorney Response to Motions for Sanctions; Says They will Further Erode Trust in Elections

Neil Jones

Following the dismissal of Kari Lake’s election challenge, Maricopa County, the Secretary of State’s Office (SOSO), and Democrat Governor-Elect Katie Hobbs all filed Motions for Sanctions and Applications for Attorney’s Fees Monday morning. Lake’s team responded, stating that sanctioning them in this trial would further erode trust in election systems.

“Trust in the election process is not furthered by punishing those who bring legitimate claims as Plaintiff did here. In fact, sanctioning Plaintiff would have the opposite effect,” according to a response from one of Lake’s attorneys, Bryan Blehm.

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Attorney General Mark Brnovich Announces Grant Money Going to Combat the Opioid Epidemic in Rural Counties

Neil Jones

Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich (R) announced that over 2 million in grant funding would be going to service organizations in rural counties to combat the effects of the opioid crisis.

“Our office has been leading and is continuing to hold accountable manufacturers, marketers, and distributors who have contributed to the opioid crisis,” said Brnovich. “We are now investing settlement funds to reduce the financial impact to Arizona taxpayers and assist people recovering from addiction and resuming their lives as healthy and productive members of society.”

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Commentary: Sanctuary Idealism Crashes into Reality

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border surge

The late, great Rush Limbaugh frequently opined on his radio show that progressivism’s appeal stems from the fact that its followers are required to do nothing but “care.” Simply vent empathy or outrage—especially on social media—on behalf of an approved left-wing cause, and your otherwise dreary life can seem meaningful in the belief you are both morally superior to your ideological opponents and also saving the world. It’s a seductive pitch that has been all too successful.

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Minnesota’s Domestic Out-Migration Dampens Population Growth

The Center Square

Minnesota’s population grew less than a single percentage point from July 2021 to July 2022, the U.S. Census Bureau reported this month.

Minnesota’s population grew 0.1% in 2022, .03% in 2021 and .06% in 2020. The North Star State is the 22nd most populous state. The estimate for July 2022 was 5,717,184, up from an estimate of 5,711,471 the previous year. The 2020 U.S. Census indicated Minnesota’s population was 5,706,504. 

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Virginia Minimum Wage Set to Increase on January 1

The Center Square

Virginia’s minimum wage is set to increase from $11 to $12 per hour Jan. 1, a rise that comes after an attempt by Republican lawmakers to halt the minimum wage increase failed earlier this year. 

The increase comes as a result of 2020 law that outlined incremental wage increases starting in 2021. The law specified that employers must pay $12 an hour starting Jan. 1 and paves the way for $15 an hour in future years, but that’s dependent on future action by the General Assembly. 

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Ohio Students Closer to Getting Religious Accomodations

The Center Square

Ohio colleges and universities could soon be required to develop a policy that would provide religious accommodations for students following the General Assembly’s passage of bipartisan legislation.

The Testing Your Faith Act, which now heads to Gov. Mike DeWine, also prohibits institutions of higher learning from imposing academic penalties on students due to an absence under the policy.

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Meta Agrees to Record-Breaking Settlement in Data Privacy Lawsuit

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Facebook parent Meta signed on to a $725 million settlement to potentially close out a class-action lawsuit over the sharing of user data with third parties, such as the Trump-aligned campaign consulting firm Cambridge Analytica, according to a Thursday court filing.

The case centers around allegations that the company shared users’ data with third parties without their consent, something the plaintiffs’ lawyers say has been significantly cut back since litigation began, according to the filing. The scandal first broke in 2018, after it was revealed that Facebook had shared roughly 87 million users’ data with Cambridge Analytica via a personality quiz, according to The Verge.

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Nearly Half of America’s Six-Figure Earners Lived Paycheck-to-Paycheck in November: Report

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Just over 47% of Americans earning more than $100,000 were living paycheck to paycheck as of November, spiking 4% from October, according to a survey by financial services firm LendingClub.

Overall, nearly 63% of Americans lived paycheck to paycheck in November,  jumping from just over 60% in October, approaching the yearly high of nearly 64.5% set in March, according to LendingClub. Nearly 66% of those who earned between $50,000 and $100,000 were living paycheck-to-paycheck last month, compared to 76% of those who earned less than $50,000.

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ByteDance Confirms Using TikTok to Monitor Journalists

Just the News

An internal investigation from TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, has confirmed that its employees used the social media app to track the physical locations of several journalists.

The investigation revealed that several employees had worked to uncover the source of internal leaks and in so doing had used the app to obtain the IP addresses and user data of journalists to determine their physical proximity to any ByteDance employees, according to Forbes.

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Twitter Censored Accurate COVID Information that Conflicted with Federal Sentiments, New Files Show

Just the News

Twitter altered the COVID conversation by censoring information that was true but not in line with U.S. government policy, discrediting public health experts who disagreed and suppressing contrarian users, the latest installment of the “Twitter Files” showed Monday.

“[B]oth the Trump and Biden administrations directly pressed Twitter executives to moderate the platform’s pandemic content according to their wishes,” reporter David Zweig said in the 10th Twitter Files release. 

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Local Government’s Christmas Policy Parallels Woke Rules Found on College Campuses

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A memo shared by the free speech watchdog, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), reveals that employees of King County, Washington, are advised not to include “religious symbols” in their workspaces. 

“Before adding any decorations to your workspace (including your virtual workspace), consider the likely effect of such decorations on all of the employees in and outside of your workgroup,” writes Workforce Equity Manager Gloria Ngezaho in the “Guidelines for Holiday Decorations for King County Employees.” 

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Netflix Poised to End Password Sharing, Potentially Affecting 100 Million Users

Just the News

Netflix is reportedly poised to cancel the widespread user practice of “password sharing,” limiting accounts to one single household in a move to shore up its struggling bottom line. 

The streaming company several years ago “identified password sharing as a major problem eating into subscriptions,” the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, but did not move to address it until this year due to significant gains in subscribers during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

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From an Official State Cookie to a New Ohio License Plate Design for ‘Weirdos:’ The Lighter Side of Legislation in 2022

Hannah Poling

Lawmakers have proposed numerous pieces of important legislation that impact individuals throughout Ohio, such as major criminal justice reform, an overhaul of the state education system, and changes in Ohio’s voting laws; however, for every major policy proposal, is an obscure one that tends to go overlooked.

House Bill (HB) 379 sponsored by state Representative Phillip Robinson Jr. (D-Solon) pitched a new “Weirdo Cat Lovers of Cleveland” license plate which supports an organization that helps cat owners and their feline companions.

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Commentary: The Things We Believe In

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Rosa Parks was one of America’s indispensable civil rights icons, Rita Hayworth one of its great actresses, Ronald Reagan one of its most consequential presidents, and Norman Rockwell one of its most beloved artists. They all had something else in common, along with 700,000 Americans who die with Alzheimer’s disease every year. All four of them suffered memory losses so thorough and tragic that they eventually had no knowledge of who they were, how important they had been, and why their lives had mattered to millions.

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RNC Announces 2024 Convention Dates

Just the News

The Republican National Committee on Wednesday announced plans to hold its 2024 convention from July 15-18, 2024, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where the GOP will select its 2024 presidential nominee.

“We look forward to our continued work with the beautiful city of Milwaukee to make this convention week a success. Republicans will stand united in Milwaukee in 2024 to share our message of freedom and opportunity with the world,” RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel said. 

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Ohio Representative Johnson Introduces Bill to Expand Emergency Connectivity

Bradley Vasoli

Representatives Bill Johnson (R-OH-6) and Kim Schrier (D-WA-8) last week introduced legislation directing the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to guarantee more comprehensive emergency-call connectivity in rural areas. 

Both of the bill’s sponsors represent districts with wide rural expanses containing many communities that don’t have reliable service for remote devices, often leading to public-safety contingencies. Johnson’s district extends from northeast Ohio to the state’s south but is situated well outside of major cities. Schrier represents an area that begins just outside of Seattle and Tacoma but stretches well into her state’s sparsely populated center. 

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Pennsylvania Democrats’ Bill Would Give Driver’s Licenses to Illegals

Bradley Vasoli

Three left-wing members of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives announced they intend to introduce a bill to give driver’s licenses to illegal aliens. 

Representatives Danilo Burgos, Joe Hohenstein and Chris Rabb, all Philadelphia Democrats, asserted that unlawful U.S. residents should be able to obtain driving licenses or learners’ permits if they can establish to authorities their real names and dates of birth. They say acceptable documents to prove identity could be passports, consular identification papers, marriage licenses, divorce records or adoption certificates. 

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Arizona’s Population Growth Leads the West in Latest Census Estimate

The Center Square

More than 94,000 people are calling Arizona home than they did amid the waning months of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The U.S. Census released its annual state population estimates Thursday morning. The measure dips into state births, deaths, immigrants from outside the country and those moving into one state from another. The data is from July 1, 2021, to June 30, 2022.

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Oregon Government Student Health Survey Asks 11-Year-Olds If They Are Trans

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The Oregon Department of Education is administering a 2022 student health survey that asks 11-year-olds if they are transgender, according to the Oregon government website.

Oregon’s Student Health Survey is a state-wide test administered on a school-to-school basis to students in classrooms or online to “improve the health and well-being of students,” according to the Oregon government website. The 2022 survey asks sixth grade students if they are transgender and provides seven different gender identity options.

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Review: 10 Books to Understand Our World

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At Intellectual Takeout, we strive to offer not only commentary on current events but also tangible advice for engaging with our increasingly chaotic world. That’s why we’re proud to present this new, biweekly series of literature recommendations.

These works have helped us and many others deepen their understanding of both the state of the world today and how it got there. We hope they prove engaging and informative for you as well.

This week’s recommendations cover current and recent world events.

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‘Twitter Files’ Expose Coordination with CIA, State Department, Pentagon

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The latest installment of the “Twitter Files” revealed that the FBI acted “as a doorman” for the social media giant to other government agencies, including the CIA, the State Department and the Pentagon.

“Twitter had so much contact with so many agencies that executives lost track,” journalist Matt Taibbi wrote as he released the ninth batch of internal Twitter files on Saturday evening. “Is today the DOD, and tomorrow the FBI? Is it the weekly call, or the monthly meeting? It was dizzying.”

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Blue State’s New Climate Curriculum Emphasizes ‘Emotions’ over ‘Rational Thinking’

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The Washington state Department of Health’s climate curriculum instructs teachers to focus on “emotions” over “rational thinking,” according to curriculum lesson plans.

The Washington state Department of Health released a five part curriculum to help students learn the “intersections of biological, societal, and environmental issues.” The second phase of the curriculum, “Climate Change & Pregnancy,” tells educators and students to “pay attention” to their emotions as “for too long” science has caused “rational thinking” to be prioritized.

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Elite Private School’s Math Class Trains Students to Find ‘Systematic Oppression’ in Public Policy

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An elite private school in New Hampshire is offering a math class that teaches students how to uncover factors that lead to “systematic oppression.”

Phillips Exeter Academy provides “Mathematics of Social Justice” which focuses on how public policy can lead to “discrimination, systematic bias and inequity,” according to the school website. Students in the math class will study “inequity in the justice system, healthcare inequity and wealth disparity” using concepts such as mathematical modeling and statistical inference.

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Mass Migration Artificially Increased U.S. Population in 2022

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In the year 2022, the population of the United States of America was artificially boosted by the surge of mass migration across the southern border, with over 1 million people being added to the overall population total.

According to the Associated Press, the American population increased by 1.2 million due to the flood of illegal aliens, with the U.S. Census Bureau declaring on Thursday that the total population had increased to about 333.2 million people.

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Arizona County Was Stumped by Unregistered Voters, Old Addresses, Discrepant Tallies, Emails Reveal

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Following the November 8 midterm elections, officials in Pima County, Arizona, struggled to determine how to handle provisional ballots cast by unregistered voters, discrepant provisional ballot totals, and ballots cast by voters with old addresses — even asking the secretary of state’s office for guidance.

The confusion and uncertainty clouding county election officials’ decision-making are revealed in newly released internal emails obtained through a public records request submitted by America First Legal Foundation.

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