Pennsylvania GOP State Lawmaker Proposes Freight-Train Length Limit

A Republican Pennsylvania lawmaker is urging colleagues to cosponsor state-level legislation to limit a freight train’s length to no greater than 8,500 feet.

State Representative Louis Schmitt, Jr. (R-Altoona) reasoned in a memorandum describing his proposal that the February 3 derailment in East Palestine, less than half a mile from Pennsylvania’s western border, shows current rail-safety requirements are inadequate. 

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Americans for Limited Government Urge Veto of Tennessee Campaign Finance Reform Bill If Passed by Legislature

Americans for Limited Government, an organization that supports reducing the size and scope of government, sent a letter to Governor Bill Lee to urge him to veto a new campaign finance reform bill, if it passes the state legislature.

SB 1005, which was passed on a bipartisan vote in the Senate, would enact multiple changes to disclosure rules for political action committees (PAC), certain nonprofits, and candidates.

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Commentary: Defund Police Movement to Blame for Record 30 Percent Surge in Murders Across America

Police advocates say the Defund the Police movement is responsible for the nearly 30 percent increase in murders in 2020, the largest single-year jump since the FBI began recording crime statistics six decades ago.

The change in murder was widespread — a national phenomenon and not a regional one. Murder rose over 35 percent in cities with populations over 250,000 that reported full data.

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Glenn Youngkin Creates Virginia Wins PAC to Fund Republican Candidates Across the Ballot

Gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin announced Tuesday he is creating a Virginia Wins PAC to fund Republican political candidates across the ballot in Virginia.

“Youngkin’s investment and fundraising will build a team of local and statewide Republican leaders to restore the Commonwealth, and counter the liberal agenda driven in Virginia by George Soros, who in recent years funded left-wing candidates and efforts aimed at transforming school boards and prosecutor offices,” a campaign press release states.

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Virginia Democrats Introduce Bill to Select Presidential Electors by Popular Vote

Democrats in the Virginia House of Delegates have introduced a bill that would allow presidential electors to be chosen based on the national popular vote, as part of a broader push among left-leaning activists to end states’ rights to choose their own electors. 

“Every American citizen is created equal,” Del. Mark Levine (D-Arlington), who introduced HB 1933 told The Virginia Star. “We should all have an equal right to elect the President of the United States.”

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Georgia Approves Carter Center Founded by Democratic Ex-President to Monitor Recount But Rejects Trump’s Request to Do the Same

The State of Georgia approved a center founded by Democratic ex-president Jimmy Carter to monitor the recount, but will not allow President Donald Trump to do the same.

The Carter Center on Friday said Republican Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s office accredited it to “monitor the risk-limiting audit taking place in the state of Georgia.”

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Commentary: A Case for Continued American Economic Growth

by Rick Manning   The office discussions at Americans for Limited Government are lively with voices often raised over various interpretations of what the news of the day means. While none of us are economists and we don’t even belong to the Holiday Inn Rewards Program, we still have extended and sometimes loud discussions on the meaning of different economic events. Last week, a future recession signal was hit when the interest rate paid by a three-month Treasury bond went higher than the interest rate paid for a 10-year Treasury bond. Wait, don’t go away, this is really easy. It is logical that the interest rate investors would seek for a short term debt would be low, while investors would seek a higher return for parking their money in a ten-year investment. After all, the three-month bond goes away rapidly so if interest rates rise higher than what you are earning on your investment, you are not stuck with a loser for long (in this case a maximum of 3 months.) But if you buy a 10-year bond which only pays 2.4 percent interest as was the case on March 29, when the three-month bond is paying 2.4 percent, it…

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Commentary: It Is Time to Fire the Swamp!

The Swamp

By Natalia Castro   Americans were ignited to head to the polls when President Donald Trump traveled the country in 2016 promising to “drain the swamp,” but the only group that can truly do this is the swamp itself in Congress.  Civil service reform rarely gets the media attention that health care, immigration, or other issues receive; Washington D.C. politicians know that and use it to prevent real change from coming. To fix our broken bureaucracy, the American people must demand a more efficient and effective federal workforce. During the Obama administration, news broke of poor performing Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) employees placing veterans on extensive waiting lists, causing hundreds to die without receiving care. The story continued to turn heads when after two years several senior VA officials identified as causing the veteran deaths were still on the job. Americans rallied behind the news in support of our veterans and, as a result, Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fl.) led the passage of the VA Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act through Congress to increase management’s ability to remove poor performing employees. According to data retrieved from the Office of Personnel Management’s FedScope, the VA has maintained a firing rate of less than 1 percent…

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