Arizona Supreme Court May Accept Kari Lake’s Appeal, Bypassing Appeals Court

After Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Peter Thompson dismissed Kari Lake’s lawsuit challenging her loss in the anomaly-plagued Maricopa County midterm election, Lake filed a notice of appeal. She also requested that the Arizona Supreme Court immediately take her case, bypassing the Arizona Court of Appeals for several reasons.

“We’re going to appeal this,” Lake told Steve Bannon’s War Room podcast Tuesday. “We think we have absolute merit with this lawsuit, and we’re going to appeal it and take it even higher.”

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Pro-Life Leaders Push Back on Trump’s ‘No Exceptions’ Blame for Midterm Losses

Former President Donald Trump accepted no blame for Republicans’ failure to achieve the anticipated “red wave” results in the midterm elections, but, instead, pointed a finger at pro-life candidates who insisted on “No Exceptions” to abortion as the reason for the party’s losses.

“It wasn’t my fault that the Republicans didn’t live up to expectations in the MidTerms,” Trump posted to Truth Social on Sunday. “I was 233-20! It was the ‘abortion issue,’ poorly handled by many Republicans, especially those that firmly insisted on No Exceptions, even in the case of Rape, Incest, or Life of the Mother, that lost large numbers of Voters.”

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The Number of Medicaid Recipients Will Soon Top 100 Million U.S Residents: Report

The United States will have 100 million residents on Medicaid in the next 72 days, according to the Foundation for Government Accountability, meaning that nearly one-third of all Americans will be on the program for health care.

Over the past three years, states have been prevented from removing recipients from the program through a federal COVID-19 emergency. Now, the date when states can begin to re-registering recipients when that emergency ends on April 1.

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Big Banks Predict Significant Economic Downturn in 2023: POLL

Of the 23 major financial institutions that work directly with the Federal Reserve, 16 anticipate a recession within the next 12 months, with two anticipating one the year after, according to a survey published by The Wall Street Journal Monday.

These institutions, which range from Bank of America to UBS, note that Americans are spending their savings, banks are heightening lending standards and the housing market is in a decline, all classic warning signs that a recession is impending, the WSJ reported. All of this is being exacerbated, the banks say, by the Fed’s historically aggressive pace of interest rate hikes, designed to blunt stubbornly persistent inflation.

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Half of the US No Longer Requires a Permit for Concealed Carry

Half of the states in the U.S. no longer require residents to hold a concealed carry permit to carry firearms in public after Alabama, Indiana, Georgia and Ohio passed laws in 2022 removing permit requirements.

On Monday, Alabama began enforcing its permitless carry law, becoming the 25th state to do so, while Indiana, Georgia and Ohio also passed laws this year allowing residents to concealed carry firearms without a permit. Over the last two years 10 states have moved to permitless carry, including Utah, Montana, Iowa, Tennessee, Arkansas and Texas.

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Drug Interdiction Task Force Confiscates Millions in Narcotics During 2022

In 2022 alone, the law enforcement task forces established under the Ohio Organized Crime Investigations Commission (OOCIC) seized illicit substances worth more than $64 million. Attorney General Dave Yost claims that eliminating Ohio’s drug trafficking industry will inevitably save lives.

Outside of narcotics, Ohio task forces also seized 437 firearms and $7.7 million in currency last year. With the 2022 figures, the total amount of contraband seized by the task force during Yost’s first term is $239.9 million in drugs, 1,374 guns, and $56 million in cash.

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Arizona Center for Policy President Says Court of Appeals Ruling on Abortion Not the End for Arizona’s Territorial-era Ban

Arizona Center for Policy President Cathi Herrod, Esq., stated that the Friday ruling from the Arizona Court of Appeals “harmonizing” Arizona’s abortion laws to allow physicians to perform abortions up to 15 weeks in pregnancy is not the end for Arizona’s territorial-era ban on the practice.

“The fight to protect unborn life and women from the harms of abortion does not end with an Arizona Court of Appeals ruling. The three-judge panel’s decision today only temporarily blocks Arizona’s abortion law, which was in place in 1973 when Roe was wrongly decided,” said Herrod. “I am confident Arizona’s pre-Roe law limiting abortion to cases where the mother’s life is at risk will be upheld by Arizona’s Supreme Court.”

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American Catholic Leaders Celebrate Life of Pope Benedict, ‘Defender of Truth’ Who Taught Above All Else ‘God Is Love’

American Catholic leaders are acclaiming the life and work of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, whose scholarly writings emphasized the unity of faith and reason and, most fundamentally, the primary truth of the Catholic faith, which teaches God is Love.

Benedict, who was born Joseph Ratzinger, died Saturday at the age of 95. He became pope in April 2005, following the death of Pope John Paul II, and served until his resignation in February 2013.

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Georgia High School Students Demand Right to Use ‘N-Word,’ Want White Teacher Fired for Saying It

Black students at a Georgia high school claim they should be able to say the “n-word” if they wish, but want a white teacher sanctioned for using it in a disciplinary context.

According to Atlanta News First, after two (black) Decatur High students allegedly were saying the epithet to each other, physics teacher John Chesnut told the duo to stop using the term — while saying it himself.

This led to student and community outrage, including a forum with the Beacon Hill Black Alliance for Human Rights on December 21.

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Katie Hobbs Laughs at Constitutional Oath, Leads Democrats’ Takeover of Arizona

On Monday, Democrat Katie Hobbs was sworn in to serve as the 24th Governor of Arizona at a ceremony closed off from the public and media, barring a news photographer. Joining her were other newly elected or re-elected officials, including Kris Mayes (D) for Attorney General, Adrian Fontes (D) for Secretary of State, Kimberly Yee (R) for State Treasurer, and Tom Horne (R) for Superintendent of Public Instruction.

The 2022 General Election results show that Hobbs won her race by 17,117 votes. However, her Republican opponent Kari Lake has refused to concede. Lake’s campaign called the system “screwed up” because Arizonans were allegedly disenfranchised in this election, but Hobbs was sworn into office anyway.

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HD7 Special Election Pits Republican Radio Host Against Late State House Speaker Ralston’s Widow

House District 7 voters will choose between five Republicans in Tuesday’s special election to fill the seat left vacant by late Speaker David Ralston; the leading candidates include Ralston’s widow, Kemp-endorsed Sheree Ralston, and radio host Brian Pritchard, who is running further to the right.

Ralston has also announced endorsements from the Chamber of Commerce, and has emphasized her work on mental health, while Pritchard is emphasizing his grassroots appeal and resistance to Kemp and establishment Republicans.

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Commentary: Teachers Don’t Want to Tell Parents What’s Going on in Classrooms

Do parents have the right to know what their children are being taught in public school?

Parents say yes; teachers say no.

Of course, it’s not quite that simple. The description of the latter party can be tweaked to “teachers unions” — although you don’t hear many individual teachers bucking the union line — but the dichotomy remains: parents want to know what’s going on in their kids’ classrooms, and teachers, administrators, and their union bosses would rather not tell them.

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Republicans Want to Untie Virginia’s Vehicle Emissions Laws From California

Virginia Republicans have introduced several bills to repeal legislation that ties Virginia’s vehicle emissions rules to California’s standards. Republican efforts to repeal Democrat-passed pro-environment legislation failed in the Senate in 2022 and are likely to face the same fate this year, but Republicans are drawing new urgency from a summer 2022 move by California regulators to ban the sale of new gasoline-powered cars by 2035.

“This law, adopted during the two years when Democrats had total control of Virginia’s government, puts unelected bureaucrats from California in charge of our emission standards,” Delegate Kathy Byron (R-Bedford) wrote in a Sunday op-ed in The Richmond Times-Dispatch. “That’s not the worst thing about the new rules. The worst thing is that they just won’t work.”

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Florida Achieved Economic Milestones in 2022

Florida’s economy reached many milestones in 2022, including recording it’s second lowest unemployment rate in state history and reaching record levels of job creation and budget reserves. It also closed 2022 with nearly $22 billion in surplus, the highest in state history, and decreased its debt by $1.3 billion.

“By keeping Florida free and open, we have created a positive economic environment and invested in our state’s workforce and communities,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said of the state’s economic progress. He’s touted Florida leading the U.S. “in net migration and talent attraction” while “other states continue to struggle at the hands of poor leadership; people and businesses are flocking to Florida.”

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Yale Academic Departments Have Websites, Statements Dedicated to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Yale University academic departments have implemented efforts in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).

Academic departments including anesthesiology, history, and mathematics have diversity statements or dedicated pages for diversity on their websites. The Yale Math Statement on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) says that “the department has convened a standing Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) committee that meets regularly.”

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Minnesota’s ‘Let Them Play’ Founder and Mother of Five Heads to Legislature

On the latest episode of “Liz Collin Reports,” Liz sat down with incoming Minnesota state representative Dawn Gillman to discuss Republican priorities for the new legislative session, advice for Minnesota parents trying to navigate left-wing ideology in their children’s schools, and more.

Gillman was the founder of Let Them Play Minnesota, a grassroots movement that successfully pressured Gov. Tim Walz into reopening schools and their athletic programs in the fall of 2020. She said the movement grew to a whopping 25,000 members and raised over $500,000 in under a year.

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Part of Wisconsin Opioid Settlement to Fund Housing Program

Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers (D) is preparing to allocate a large fraction of opioid settlement money toward a new housing program for those in recovery.

In February 2021, an assemblage of 47 states including Wisconsin announced an agreement with the consulting firm McKinsey & Company would yield a total of $573 million for the jurisdictions in recompense for the corporation’s alleged role in the opioid epidemic. Prior to the settlement, state Attorney General Josh Kaul (D) and prosecutors across the country undertook an investigation that led to allegations that McKinsey devised promotions for high-strength pain medications resulting in widespread, improper use. 

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Governor Whitmer Teases Second Term Agenda

In her second inaugural address on Sunday, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer indicated her administration’s priorities for her upcoming four-year term.

Although she said she would provide more details in her upcoming State of the State and budget addresses, Whitmer hinted Sunday she would work on “common sense” gun control measures, advocate for abortion rights and same-sex marriage, and promote climate change measures.

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Census Bureau Estimates Virginia Saw Only Slight Population Growth in 2022

Virginia gained more than 26,000 residents between July 1, 2021, and June 30, 2022, according to 2022 population estimates released by the U.S. Census Bureau. 

As of July 2022, the U.S. Census Bureau estimates Virginia’s population sat at 8,683,619 – an increase of 26,254 residents compared to July 2021 estimates. The figure represents a 0.3% change from 2021 to 2022. 

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Commentary: Republicans Struggle with Young Voters

Now that the 2022 midterm elections are in the book, the post-election blame game for Republicans is underway. And there are plenty of explanations being suggested.

First is the group who say they never expected a “red wave.” Clearly their prognostication button had been on mute until now. Another group is blaming Republican opposition to early and mail-in voting. This may have had some effect, but a moderate one in comparison to 2020. For this, Republicans have no one to blame but themselves.

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Activists Push States for Free School Meals

At least a dozen states are considering implementing or already have free student meal programs to continue the federal government’s COVID-19 giveaways, while some activists are demanding for more things to be made free.

Congress allowed a pandemic-era free student meal waiver to expire on Sept. 30, returning to the pre-COVID posture where only students at some schools or those whose families met specific income requirements were given free or reduced-price meals.

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