Tag: Biden Administration

Justice Alito Temporarily Lifts Ban on Biden Admin Contact with Social Media

Just the News

Supreme Court Associate Justice Samuel Alito on Thursday temporarily blocked an order limiting the Biden administration’s contact with social media firms as litigation proceeds.

Alito’s stay will last until 11:59 p.m. on Sept. 22, the Washington Examiner reported. The Department of Justice has asked the Supreme Court to lift the order from the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in Missouri v. Biden. That decision largely upheld a lower court order barring the government from working with social media companies to censor disfavored viewpoints online. Litigants have until Sept. 20 to file responses to the DOJ.

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Arizona GOP Signals They’ll Sue Biden Administration over Grand Canyon Monument

The Center Square

The Arizona Senate is inching closer to a lawsuit with the federal government after a national monument was declared in northern Arizona last month to limit mining in the area.

President Joe Biden visited the state in August to speak about the Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni – Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument, which is nearly 1 million acres.

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Commentary: The Biden Administration Misleads the Public on the Vast Expanses of Land Needed for ‘Net Zero’

RealClearWire

The Biden administration is misleading the country about the amount of land that will be required to meet its ambitious renewable energy goals, RealClearInvestigations has found.  

The Department of Energy’s official line – echoed by many environmental activists and academics – is that the vast array of solar panels and wind turbines required to meet Biden’s goal of “100% clean electricity” by 2035 will require “less than one-half of one percent of the contiguous U.S. land area.” This topline number translates into 15,000 of the lower 48’s roughly 3 million square miles. 

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Commentary: Save America’s Military

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A stunning, if absurd, indicator of the depths to which the Biden administration is taking the U.S. military was lit up on September 8th by Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas. The Army veteran and senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee wrote Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin a letter dripping with well-deserved ridicule over a “recent decision to incorporate ‘gender neutral’ language into decoration and award citations.”

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IRS Set to Use AI to Target Tax Cheats, Say They Will Limit to ‘High Income Earners’ and ‘Large Corporations’

The Center Square

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced new enforcement initiatives Friday to crack down on 1,600 millionaires and 75 large companies it said owe hundreds of millions in unpaid taxes.  

IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel said the agency will use Inflation Reduction Act funding to focus on high-income earners, partnerships, large corporations and promoters. He said the IRS won’t increase audit rates for those earning less than $400,000 a year.

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Commentary: Joe Biden’s 9/11 Alaska Trip Is a Slap in the Face to the Nation

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The Biden Administration has been flying cabinet and subcabinet members to and from Alaska all summer. From Transportation Sec. Pete Buttigieg to Interior Sec. Deb Haaland, EPA Administrator Michael Regan, and Health Assistant Sec. Rachel Levine, it’s been an impressive parade of diversity, equity, and inclusion sock puppets who regurgitate the party line.

The Big Guy himself arrives in state on Monday to – oddly enough – commemorate the anniversary of the 9-11 terrorist attacks on the United States.

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Meet The Biden ICE Official Who Previously Worked for Group Working to Shield Illegal Migrant Kids from Deportation

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A senior Biden Administration Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) official previously worked for an organization that seeks to shield illegal immigrant children from deportation that is funded by left-wing groups, according to a Daily Caller News Foundation review of the group’s public statements and financials.

ICE Assistant Director for the Office of Immigration Program Evaluation Claire Trickler-Mcnulty worked for Kids in Need of Defense (KIND), which helps illegal migrant children fight deportation, according to her ICE bio. She “served as a Regional Director for Legal Services at Kids in Need of Defense where she oversaw the provision of direct legal services to unaccompanied children,” says the bio.

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Family Units Trying to Enter U.S. Illegally Spiking Due to Biden Rule, Experts Say

Just the News

The record number of “family units” attempting to cross into the U.S. at the border hit a record high at 91,000 in August, which immigration policy experts say was entirely predictable due to a Biden administration rule change.

August is now the highest month this year for overall U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) migrant encounters, based on a report of preliminary agency data.

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Commentary: What Unions Don’t Want You to Know This Labor Day

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A male doing electrical work with a ball cap and safety glasses on

This Labor Day, the Biden administration and Big Labor will no doubt tout the alleged successes of President Joe Biden’s “whole of government” push to increase unionization in the workplace and unions’ modest successes in breaking into a few big corporations. But those stories will also leave a lot out. They’ll leave out the side of the story that unions don’t want workers to know.

That side of the story includes the fact that unionization reached an all-time low of 10.1 percent in 2022 (and only 6.0 percent among private sector workers) as worker satisfaction reached an all-time high of 62.3 percent (according to The Conference Board’s measure, which began in 1987). It also includes the fact that while non-union wages increased by 24 percent over the past five years, union wages rose by less than 17 percent.

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Trump Vows to Crush Federal Censorship with New Appointees, Executive Order if Elected in 2024

Just the News

Former President Donald Trump is vowing to dismantle the federal machinery built by the Biden administration to censor political speech in America, saying he will appoint new leaders of agencies that have engaged in silencing free speech. He also said he would sign an Executive Order banning government employees from participating in projects that infringe the First Amendment.

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Illegal Immigration Surges Once Again as Biden Admin Says It’s ‘Stopping the Flow at the Border’

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Illegal migrant encounters at the southern border increased in August, despite the Biden administration’s claims that it is controlling the situation, according to The Washington Post.

Illegal migrant encounters increased to more than 177,000 in August at the southern border after surging to roughly 132,000 in July, the Post reported. Meanwhile, the Biden administration has repeatedly asserted that the situation is improving, and that the flow of migrants into the country is being stopped.

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Biden Admin Deported Fewer than 100 Illegal Migrants in Key Program After Promising to Increase Removals at Border

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The Biden administration deported fewer than 100 illegal migrant family members after promising to increase penalties at the southern border, CBS News reported Thursday.

The Biden administration announced the program, which is known as Family Expedited Removal Management (FERM), the day before the Trump-era public health order used to expel migrants expired on May 11, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). More than 2,600 migrants have been enrolled in the program, including 1,500 heads of household, while only 80 parents and children have been removed as of last week, according to CBS News, which cited DHS data and a U.S. official who requested anonymity.

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Biden Admin Seeks Long-Term Ukraine Aid Plan to Prevent Next President from Scaling Back Funding

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The Biden administration is seeking to hammer out a long-term Ukraine aid agreement with European allies in hopes of both preventing Russia from gaining an edge on the battlefield and hamstringing a future president’s ability to scale back U.S. commitments, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.

The scheme emerged during sideline talks among Group of Seven leaders at a NATO summit in July, and so far involves negotiations between the U.S. and Ukraine, and between the United Kingdom (U.K.) and Ukraine, according to the WSJ. It’s an attempt, in part, to convince Russian President Vladimir Putin he can simply wait until a new American administration, as several top GOP political contenders have expressed intention to reduce or eliminate U.S. aid that makes up the brunt of Western support.

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Commentary: Woke U.S. Diplomacy Is Not Popular Around the Globe, nor at Home

RealClearWire

The Biden administration is fraying relations with some allies and generating pushback from Congress by spending millions of taxpayer dollars to promote the woke ideology abroad that has stirred controversy at home since President Biden took office.  

In a “national security memorandum” shortly after his swearing-in, Biden ordered all federal agencies with dealings abroad not only to protect LGBT rights in the face of discrimination and violence but to actively advance them. His State Department has said one of its goals is to “embed intersectional equity principles into diversifying public diplomacy and communications strategies” in relations with other nations. 

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‘Total Lack of Critical Thinking’: Experts Question COVID Vax, Mask Mandates amid ‘Surge’

Just the News

by Greg Piper   Governments and private entities are using a small rise in COVID-19 hospitalizations and new viral variants to juice interest in bivalent boosters that only 1 in 6 Americans have taken and to urge a return to routine masking, if not outright mandating new jabs and face coverings. What they aren’t providing is robust evidence for the effectiveness of the interventions against infection by a virus that has already provided natural immunity to an estimated 19 in 20 Americans as of November 2022, according to Harvard research published in this month’s journal Clinical Infectious Diseases. “If a tiny bump in the rate of new weekly Covid hospital admissions—that still is among the lowest rates over the last three years—relates to a surge, then what is an actual large rise called?” science journalist David Zweig wrote in an essay Thursday questioning explanations by public-health pundits for the increase. “The use of this hyperbolic language by so many media outlets that over-dramatizes risk skirts very close to misinformation,” said Zweig, known for his reporting on the Twitter Files and scrutiny of the evidence behind school mask mandates and the six-foot rule. Even President Biden acknowledged current COVID vaccines, which include original and Omicron variant strains, are not performing as hoped.…

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Biden Energy Chief Claims Wiping Out 60 Percent of Oil Imports Will Help, Not Harm, Energy Security

Just the News

In a speech to a Seattle crowd Wednesday, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm made the claim that lower oil imports improves U.S. energy security. 

Praising Biden’s historic green energy funding and 100 percent clean electricity goal by 2035, Granholm said “With all this electrification, we could slash our net crude oil imports by almost 60 percent, and that strengthens energy security.”

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‘Choke Point 2.0’: Bank Regulators Cut Porn Industry off from Banks, States Pass Age Limits to Porn

Just the News

As Republicans lead state efforts to prevent minors from accessing pornography, the porn industry is fighting a renewed legal battle against the federal government after the Biden administration halted a rule ensuring “fair access to banking services.”

The battle is starting what critics call “Operation Choke Point 2.0,” using its authority over the banking sector.

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Biden Admin Reduces Oil Lease Area to Protect Whales

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The Biden administration issued a final notice Wednesday for the lease of 67 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico for offshore energy activity, a figure which represents a 6.4 million acre reduction from the initial proposal, Bloomberg News reported.

The 6.4 million acre reduction amounts to 9% of the initially proposed lease area from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), according to Bloomberg. The reduction follows the Department of the Interior’s (DOI) July decision to settle with environmentalist groups and move to introduce protections for the Rice’s whale species in a nearly 11 million acre swath of the Gulf.

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Biden Admin to Green Light Another Massive Offshore Wind Farm amid Industry Troubles, Mounting Whale Deaths

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The Biden administration is expected to officially approve a massive new offshore wind farm development off of the Rhode Island coast on Tuesday, despite reported economic troubles for other developers and mounting suspicion that East Coast offshore wind developments may be responsible for a surge in whale deaths, The Washington Post reported.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is set to approve the project, which will feature 65 turbines and be 15 nautical miles off the coast of Point Judith, Rhode Island, to become the fourth commercial wind development approved by the Biden administration off of the East Coast, according to the Post. Although government agencies have not identified any causal link between offshore wind construction and harm to whales, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has declared “unusual mortality events” for humpback whales and North Atlantic right whales since 2016 and 2017, respectively, a timeline which generally coincides with the beginning of offshore wind development off of the East Coast, according to NOAA’s website.

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Biden Admin Quietly ‘Disposing’ of Trump Border Wall Materials to Be Auctioned Off

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For months, the Biden administration has been “disposing” of portions of the Trump border wall to be auctioned off, a local official at the southern border and the Department of Defense (DOD) told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

The auction house GovPlanet has been selling off the “thick wall tubes” and other wall materials since April, according to listings on its website, and has already sold hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of wall materials. The Pentagon confirmed that the Biden administration is “disposing” of portions of the border wall construction materials in a statement to the DCNF.

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Biden Admin to Spend $1.2 Billion on Carbon Removal Tech That Might Not Work

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The Biden administration announced Friday that it will spend up to $1.2 billion to fund two direct air capture (DAC) carbon removal projects, according to the Department of Energy (DOE), a technology which some reports have suggested may be an ineffective tool to counter climate change.

These projects in Louisiana and Texas will essentially be large vacuums that suck up carbon dioxide from the air, separate it with chemical processing and then condense the carbon dioxide for burial underground or for use in industrial products like cement, according to a DOE press release. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm has promoted this particular form of carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) technology, but DAC emits more carbon dioxide than it captures while relying on toxic chemicals, according to a January report from Food and Water Watch, a climate-focused nonprofit group that advocates for green policies.

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Biden Admin to Impose Harsher Restrictions on Chinese Semiconductor Industry

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The Biden administration is planning to ban investments in some Chinese companies that are involved in the technology sector through an executive order on Wednesday, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The U.S. will restrict private-equity and venture capital firms from directly investing in some Chinese companies that operate in the semiconductor, quantum computing and artificial intelligence sectors, according to the WSJ. In October 2022, the Biden administration placed similar restrictions limiting Chinese access to American chip technology by blacklisting multiple Chinese semiconductor manufacturers from working with American companies.

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Biden’s Burdensome Regulations Are Contributing to Lackluster Economic Productivity, Experts Say

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Labor productivity remains below COVID-19 pandemic levels after its first increase year-over-year was announced Thursday since 2021, with experts citing Biden administration regulations as one of the causes for the lackluster results.

Nonfarm business labor productivity reached 1.3% growth year-over-year for the second quarter of 2023 after declining for five straight quarters starting with the first quarter of 2022, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The Biden administration has imposed a large amount of regulations that have hindered productivity, and the recent return to modest growth is in spite of these costly regulations , experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

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Commentary: The Biden Admin Has a Bad Regulation for Every Room in Your House

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2023 began with federal regulators targeting gas stoves, but we have since seen a host of other proposals going after washing machines, refrigerators, dishwashers, ceiling fans, water heaters, and others. They are all part of the Biden administration’s prioritization of the climate change agenda over the interests of consumers. Each runs the risk of boosting appliance prices, limiting choice, and compromising performance. And cumulatively, they add up to substantial headaches for homeowners that will only grow in the years ahead.

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Appeals Court Lets Biden Admin Enforce Asylum Restrictions

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An appeals court let the Biden administration enforce asylum restrictions used to mitigate the flow of illegal migrants for the time being, according to a Thursday evening court filing.

The Ninth Circuit court panel of judges paused a previous ruling to end the Biden administration’s program that turned away illegal migrants seeking asylum if they passed through a safe country and didn’t seek protections there before, according to the filing. U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California Judge Jon S. Tigar, who was appointed by former President Barack Obama, ruled on July 25 that the policy was “contrary to law” because it violates Congress’ intent.

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Chip Manufacturer Announces Layoffs Despite Biden Admin Subsidies to the Industry

The Center Square

Top semiconductor manufacturer Qualcomm announced a new round of layoffs on Wednesday, even after the industry received huge subsidies from the Biden administration, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Qualcomm, a major American producer of semiconductors, announced a new round of layoffs after seeing a 25% decline in its mobile-phone chip business compared to the previous year, according to the WSJ. The semiconductor industry has received huge subsidies from the Biden administration through the CHIPS and Science Act, which was signed into law in August 2022 and included $52 billion in subsidies for domestic semiconductor manufacturers.

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Biden Administration Refuses to Refill Strategic Oil Reserve

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On Tuesday, the Biden Administration deliberately chose to not refill the strategic petroleum reserve (SPR) after depleting it to combat a surge in gas prices last year.

According to the Daily Caller, the report from Bloomberg said that the administration considered it to be “too expensive” to refill the vital reserve supply, as the current price of a barrel of oil is roughly $80. The SPR is still at a record low level after Biden released at least 180 million barrels in 2022, in an effort to reduce historically high gas prices prior to the 2022 midterm elections.

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Wisconsin Congressman Mike Gallagher to Lead House Committee on China Roundtable on CCP Ag Theft

M.D. Kittle

A headline-grabbing congressional committee will take its investigative work on Communist China to the Heartland this week.

On Thursday afternoon, U.S. Representatives Mike Gallagher (R-WI-08) and Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL), chair and Ranking member of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, respectively, will lead a roundtable discussion in the eastern Iowa farm community of Dysart.

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One U.S. Solar Company Poised to Rake in $11 Billion in Subsidies

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U.S.-based solar panel manufacturer First Solar may receive up to $11 billion in subsidies from the government thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), according to The Wall Street Journal.

The company expects to receive up to $710 million in subsidies this year alone, which is an amount equivalent to nearly 90% of its predicted operating profit for this year, according to the WSJ. Philip Shen, managing partner at investment bank Roth Capital Partners, estimates that the IRA may end up giving First Solar up to $11 billion in subsidies over the course of the next decade.

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Iowa Congressman Zach Nunn Introduces Bill Aimed at Protecting Retirement Investments from Woke Politics

M.D. Kittle

Amid rising concerns about the liberal political agenda driving environmental, social and governance (ESG) investment decisions at the expense of retirement income, U.S. Representative Zach Nunn (R-IA-03) has introduced the “Protecting Retirees’ Savings Act.”

The bill, according to proponents, will help eliminate conflicts of interest for financial managers that cost investors by lowering investment returns.

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Commentary: Thanks to Hacks and Henchmen, ‘Misinformation’ Is Now Code for Doing Government Dirty Work

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Louisiana federal Judge Terry A. Doughty shocked Americans with his July 4th restraining order against Biden’s digital team which was supposed to be fighting “disinformation” but was in reality just banning views online it didn’t like.

Doughty’s opinion is a jaw dropping expose of how White House staff bullied Facebook, Twitter and other platforms to remove content about election fraud, COVID concerns and other matters of public interest in blatant violation of the First Amendment.  Governmental actors cannot demand that others do what they cannot under the Constitution, just as you can’t have proxies break the law for you. Yet that’s exactly what Biden officials did and that’s exactly what Judge Doughty stopped.

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Legal Group Sues Biden Admin for Allegedly Concealing FBI Background Investigation into Mayorkas

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America First Legal Foundation sued the Biden administration Wednesday for allegedly concealing information regarding an FBI investigation into Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, according to a copy of the complaint first obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

The lawsuit against both the FBI and the Department of Justice (DOJ) asks that the agencies release the documents related to the Mayorkas probe, according to the complaint. The conservative group was previously denied a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for the records regarding the FBI’s investigation into Mayorkas’ background.

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Judge Blocks Biden Rule Allowing Some Migrants to Be Turned Away

Just the News
Illegal alien Processing center

A federal judge Tuesday blocked a Biden administration rule that allowed migration officials to turn away asylum seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border if the migrants did not apply online first or seek protection in a country that they traveled through. 

U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar in California’s northern district gave the Biden administration 14 days to appeal his order, which takes away a key migration enforcement tool, according to The Associated Press. 

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Biden Admin Proposes New Rule to Jack Up Prices for Oil and Gas Leases

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The Biden administration unveiled a new oil and gas leasing rule proposal Thursday that would jack up prices at nearly every stage of the public land leasing process.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), a subagency of the Department of the Interior (DOI), issued the rule proposal Thursday in an effort to adopt a “more transparent, inclusive and just approach” to federal oil and gas leasing on public lands and “[provide] a fair return to taxpayers,” Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management Laura Daniel-Davis said, according to a Thursday DOI press release. The rule nominally aims to boost land conservation efforts, but it would do so by massively increasing minimum bid thresholds and required per-acre fees for energy interests and developers to pay.

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Secret Service Vet on White House Cocaine: ‘Somebody’s Stopping This from Being Thoroughly Investigated’

Just the News

A security expert who worked with the Secret Service for over 20 years says he’s “surprised” the agency is closing the investigation into how cocaine was found at “one of the most secure buildings in the world” without identifying any suspects.

In briefing Congress earlier this month about the July Fourth weekend discovery at the White House, the agency said it did not conduct interviews as part of its internal investigation, citing the roughly 500 potential suspects, and that it planned to close the probe in the coming weeks.

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Biden Administration Shuts Down Government Funding for Wuhan Lab

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After years of scrutiny and controversy, the Biden Administration announced on Tuesday that it had severed all federal funding to the controversial Wuhan laboratory that many have said was the origin of the COVID-19 virus.

As reported by Daily Caller, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced its proposal to halt any further government funding to the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) by barring it from participating in any government-funded programs.

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Commentary: Loan Forgiveness Hurts Taxpayers

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A few weeks ago, I argued the Biden Administration would use the new SAVE plan to enact student loan forgiveness with or without the approval of the Supreme Court. Since then, the administration has announced details which highlight the SAVE plan offers even more generous forgiveness terms.

This talk about student loans has brought about a question for Ask an Economist this week. Garrett from Ohio says,“One of the most prominent arguments against student loan forgiveness is that the borrowers are forcing the greater population to pay off their debts for them.

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Biden Admin Has Allowed ‘Unprecedented’ 500,000 Migrants to Come to America Through Expanded Entry Programs: Report

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The Biden administration has allowed an unprecedented roughly 500,000 migrants to come to the U.S. via the expansion of entry programs, CBS News reported Tuesday.

At least 541,000 migrants lacking visas have been granted entry into the country in less than two years through the use of what’s known as parole, according to CBS News, which cited internal government statistics, court records and public reports. The use of parole authority has been part of the Biden administration’s plan to address the surge of illegal immigration at the southern border.

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Gulbransen: Remember Come Election Day Who the Real ‘Enemy’ Is

Tennessee Star Staff

Aaron Gulbransen – executive director of the Tennessee Faith and Freedom Coalition and Official Guest Host of The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – was in-studio Tuesday to deliver this week’s “Aaron’s Analysis.” Today’s edition discussed the rapidly developing 2024 election cycle and the importance of unity against the Marxist Left come Election Day.

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Arizona Reps Pitch Bill to Stop Biden Drilling Ban That ‘Ignored Navajo Nation’

Tom Pappert

Arizona U.S. Representatives Eli Crane (R-AZ-02) and Paul Gosar (R-AZ-04) introduced a bill recently that would nullify the Biden administration’s block on oil and gas drilling on federal land surrounding New Mexico’s Chaco Canyon National Historical Park near the Navajo Nation. 

Crane and Gosar introduced the bill in response to a new, 20-year ban the Biden administration placed on oil and grass drilling for what PBS reports is “hundreds of square miles” in the area immediately surrounding the Chaco Canyon National Historical Park.

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Tennessee U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles Updates from Inside the ‘Raucous Chamber’: ‘What’s the Pathway to Peace’ in Ukraine?

Tennessee Star Staff

Tennessee U.S. Rep Andy Ogles (R-TN-05) joined The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on the newsmaker line Friday for a broad-ranging interview covering everything from FBI Director Chris Wray’s “tap dancing” to the prospects of our Tennessee Army reservists being sent to the Ukraine.

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Physicians Criticize CDC ‘Guidance’ on Biological Men ‘Chestfeeding’ Babies

Susan Berry, PhD

Doctors are reacting with shock and horror at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) “guidance” on how biological men who identify as women can “chestfeed” their babies.

Internationally-known physician Peter McCullough, M.D., wrote at his Substack column Courageous Discourse Tuesday that CDC has become a “laughing stock” over its “chestfeeding” guidance, “plunging to new lows” with its “ridiculous” statement.

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