Biden Gives Himself Final Say on All Drone Strikes Outside War Zones

President Joe Biden tightened rules on conducting drone strikes outside of war zones, requiring that he sign off on the list of eligible targets, The New York Times reported Friday.

The policy Biden signed Friday, which remains classified, says that both Biden and the State Department’s top official in the country of operation must approve targets, signaling that the White House intends to pare down the number of drone strikes, the NYT reported, citing a senior administration official. Previous policy for eliminating terrorist threats using unmanned aerial vehicles afforded greater latitude to field commanders in determining who to target.

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Biden Praises DeSantis for His Leadership Overseeing Recovery Efforts

President Joe Biden praised Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for his leadership in overseeing recovery efforts after the devastation created by Hurricane Ian.

After surveying areas damaged by the hurricane, Biden met with the governor and state and local officials. At a news conference, he praised DeSantis’ management of recovery efforts, saying, “What the governor has done is pretty remarkable.”

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Biden to Pardon All Federal Offenses of Marijuana Possession

With the midterm elections fast approaching, President Joe Biden is planning to issue a mass pardon to everyone previously convicted on federal charges of simple marijuana possession.

“Sending people to prison for possessing marijuana has upended too many lives and incarcerated people for conduct that many states no longer prohibit,” he said, per CNN. “Criminal records for marijuana possession have also imposed needless barriers to employment, housing, and educational opportunities. And while White and Black and brown people use marijuana at similar rates, Black and brown people have been arrested, prosecuted, and convicted at disproportionate rates.”

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Gas Prices Rise for Two Straight Weeks, OPEC Expected to Drive Them Higher

Gas prices have continued to rise over the past two weeks, and now OPEC has announced a major decision that will likely drive those prices higher.

OPEC said Wednesday that it would reduce oil production beginning in November by 2 million barrels per day. OPEC, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries largely based in the Mideast, said in a statement it made the decision “in light of the uncertainty that surrounds the global economic and oil market outlooks, and the need to enhance the long-term guidance for the oil market, and in line with the successful approach of being proactive, and preemptive…”

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Commentary: Stop the Attacks Against Peaceful, Pro-Life Americans

In the five months since someone leaked a draft majority opinion by the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade—which the high court officially did June 24—pro-life Americans have faced a wave of violent attacks.

Pro-abortion politicians from President Joe Biden on down haven’t just been silent about the attacks on pro-life organizations. They’ve helped fan the flames.

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Biden ‘Intends’ to Run Again in 2024, White House Says

President Joe Biden plans to seek reelection in 2024, the White House confirmed on Tuesday.

“The president has said this himself he intends to run in 2024,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters. Rev. Al Sharpton prompted discussion of the subject after claiming Biden told him, “I’m going to do it again,” in reference to his pursuit of a 2024 presidential run, according to The Hill.

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Commentary: Six Important Issues at Stake in Appropriations Bills

The government’s fiscal year begins Oct. 1, but as per usual, Congress has failed to complete the annual appropriations process to provide spending authority for federal agencies.

Congress will enact a continuing resolution to maintain current spending and policy, and to prevent a partial government shutdown of nonessential programs, but Americans concerned about inflation should hope that resolution extends into the new year and the new Congress.

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Commentary: Despite Rising Consumer Confidence, Biden’s Economy Is Nothing Like Trump’s

Consumer confidence is still far below the record highs set under the Trump administration, and a new report by the Conference Board warns ongoing consumer doldrums about the future could spell future recession.

The latest report released Tuesday by the Conference Board, a non-profit research organization funded by more than 1,000 corporations, found consumer confidence improved slightly in September for the second consecutive month due to jobs, wages and declining gas prices, but that “recession risks nonetheless persist” due to a sluggish uptick in the Expectations Index.

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Youngkin Administration’s New School Transgender Model Policies Draw 20,000 Public Comments, Student Walkouts, and White House Response

The Virginia Department of Education’s new draft transgender policies received over 20,000 comments on Monday and Tuesday, the first two days of the 30-day public comment period.

Comments on the Model Policies on the Privacy Dignity and Respect for All Students and Parents in Virginia’s Public Schools include both support and opposition, and often show strong feeling about the policies.

“We support this policy! God bless Governor Youngkin,” commenter Heather West wrote. “As a parent of six school aged children, I am grateful that Gov Youngkin has chosen to go to bat for us. It is brave to stand up against the tyranny of the rainbow crowd. Onward with more policies that promote REAL education and not social indoctrination. God bless us all as we work to restore truth to our educational institutions.”

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Republican Leadership Pledges to ‘Repeal’ IRS Auditor Expansion if GOP Wins Majority

President Joe Biden sparked controversy for pushing through Congress increased federal funding for 87,000 new IRS employees to audit Americans, but Republican leadership has pledged to overturn that expansion if they win the majority.

House Republican Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., pledged at a Pennsylvania event to “repeal” the IRS expansion.

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At Texas Festival, Youngkin Counts Trump’s Wins, Explains Virginia’s ‘Ground Zero’ Role in Parents’ Rights Issues

In an interview before a live audience at the Texas Tribune Festival Friday, Governor Glenn Youngkin answered questions about a potential 2024 presidential run, Donald Trump, campaigning for Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, pro-life policy, and education policy. Most of Youngkin’s answers sounded similar to other speeches he’s made in Virginia, although there was more criticism of the U.S.’ border policy and of President Joe Biden’s leadership.

As part of a series of questions sounding Youngkin out about national political ambitions, Washington Examiner Senior Correspondent David Drucker asked Youngkin what Trump did right, and what he did wrong. Youngkin said that the former president successfully addressed kitchen-table economic concerns, supported law enforcement, and focuses on parents and high expectations in education.

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Victor Davis Hanson Commentary: In Today’s America, Some Really Are More Equal than Others

That once distinguished the United States from illiberal regimes following the Orwellian mantra “some are more equal than others” was the hallowed American idea of “equal justice under the law.”

The phrase is engraved above the entrance to the United States Supreme Court – an ideal that took centuries to achieve. Yet it is an ancient concept – what the Greeks called isonomia that distinguished classical democratic Athens from its anti-democratic rivals. Isonomia later became enshrined as the central criterion of all Western consensual governments.

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Biden: Republican Officials Shouldn’t Interfere with His Immigration Policies

President Joe Biden doesn’t want Republican officials interfering with his immigration policies, saying their initiative to send people north from the border is “playing politics” and “un-American.”

Speaking at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute gala in Washington, D.C., Thursday night, he said, “Instead of working with us on solutions, Republicans are playing politics with human beings using them as props. What they are doing is simply wrong. It’s un-American. It’s reckless.”

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Trump Accuses Biden of Waging Unprecedented ‘Political Repression’ That Will Backfire in Election

Former President Donald Trump leveled a blistering attack Saturday night against the man who succeeded him in the White House, telling a rally in Ohio that Joe Biden’s Justice Department was waging unprecedented “political repression” against MAGA supporters while his inflationary economic policies were “incinerating trillions of dollars of middle-class wealth.”

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GOP Governors to Biden: Student Loan Plan Will Be Costly for American Taxpayers

President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan will be costly for American taxpayers, a coalition of GOP governors said in a letter sent Monday to the White House.

The letter, signed by 22 GOP governors, tells Biden to “withdraw” the plan, citing cost estimates of up to $600 billion, or $2,000 per American taxpayer.

“As governors, we support making higher education more affordable and accessible for students in our states, but we fundamentally oppose your plan to force American taxpayers to pay off the student loan debt of an elite few,” the coalition wrote.

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Commentary: No Bump for Biden from His Dark ‘MAGA Republican’ Speech as Race for Congress Comes into Focus

President Joe Biden received no bounce in polls from his dark Sept. 1 speech in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania outlining the supposed “threat” to “the very foundations of our republic” posed by former President Donald Trump and the so-called Make America Great Again (MAGA) Republicans.

58 percent disapproved of his handling of his job before the speech, and 57 percent afterward, the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll showed.

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Virginians Set to Get Student Loan Forgiveness, but Analysts Say the Policy Could Have Consequences

About 12.5% of Virginia residents owe some amount of student debt that could be reduced through President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan, but some scholars are warning that the plan could have some negative consequences.

More than 1.08 million residents in the commonwealth owe money on their student loans and the average amount of debt per borrower is one of the highest in the country. According to the Education Data Initiative, the average borrower owes more than $39,000, which is the fourth highest rate in the country. In total, Virginians owe about $42.4 billion in student debt.

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The Border Crisis Is Overwhelming the U.S. Asylum System

Crowd of immigrants

The record number of illegal migrants that have entered the United States since President Joe Biden took office are burdening the country’s immigration system, The New York Times reported.

Since the start of the Biden administration, migrants have flowed into the U.S. in record numbers, with 3,463,430 migrants encountered at the southern border between January 2021 and August 2022, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).  The high number of migrants entering the country are taxing the U.S. asylum system by increasing wait times and forcing cities and states to take on the burden of supporting them.

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Independent Voters Say Biden’s Attacks on ‘MAGA Republicans’ Went Too Far

President Joe Biden has turned up the rhetoric against Trump supporters and what he calls the “ultra MAGA” wing of the Republican party, but new polling shows most Americans fear his comments are too divisive.

Biden’s rhetoric, and the concern that he has gone too far, ratcheted up when the president gave a primetime speech last week blasting the “ MAGA Republicans” as a “threat to Democracy” and “an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic.”

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Biden Faces More Heckling as He Refines Attack on ‘MAGA Republicans’ as ‘Threat to Democracy’

President Biden faced his second heckling in a public speech in less than a week as he continues to hammer “MAGA Republicans” as an existential threat to America.

“God love ya,” the president responded to the heckler at his Labor Day speech in Milwaukee. “Let him go,” Biden told supporters who were booing the heckler. “Look, everybody’s entitled to be an idiot,” he said, drawing cheers from the crowd.

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Report: Vanderbilt University Professor Jon Meacham Helped Write Biden’s Anti-MAGA Speech

According to a weekend story in German-owned Politico, one of the men behind President Joe Biden’s divisive Thursday night speech is a Vanderbilt professor who has long been mired in controversy for his far-left political leanings.

“The actual writing of the speech started about three weeks ago, with Jon Meacham, the historian who has had a hand in a number of Biden’s most sweeping speeches, helping the framing,” according to Politico.

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‘Massive Abuse of Power’: Intel Committee Rep Mike Gallagher Vows to Use ‘Power of the Purse’ to Get Transparency from Biden, DOJ

Republican Rep. Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, denounced a “massive abuse of power” and vowed to use congressional funding powers to get transparency from the Biden administration about the Aug. 8 raid on Mar-a-Lago during a Sunday appearance on Fox Business.

“For something of this magnitude, something unprecedented, you would expect the FBI and the DOJ to go to great lengths to insure they are conducting themselves with the highest level of professionalism, but they never notified our committee — which you would expect them to do if, indeed, there was a danger posed by the classified material that was in Donald Trump’s possession,” Gallagher told former Republican Rep. Sean Duffy of Wisconsin, who guest-hosted the show, adding that many committee members found out details of the raid from news reports based on leaks from the Justice Department.

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White House Official Claims Biden’s Speech Attacking Trump Supporters Was About ‘Optimism’

A White House official claimed that President Joe Biden’s Thursday speech that labeled former President Donald Trump’s supporters as a “threat to democracy” was optimistic and had “words of encouragement” during a Sunday appearance on ABC’s “This Week.”

“Go to the White House website, WhiteHouse.gov, read the speech for yourself, I’ve read it multiple times,” former Democratic Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms of Atlanta told guest host Martha Raddatz in response to a question about criticism of the speech. “I see words of encouragement, I see optimism, a commander in chief who’s calling out to all of us no matter our political affiliation.”

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Blackburn Says Biden’s Speech a Distraction from His Failures While Speech Draws Negative Response

A U.S. Senator from Tennessee says President Joe Biden’s Thursday night speech, wherein he labeled his political opponents as “extremists” who are a threat to the United States is simply a distraction tactic. 

“Don’t allow Joe Biden to distract from the real problem: inflation is at a 40-year high, there is a crisis at our southern border, and our adversaries don’t fear us,” Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) said. 

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‘Full Monty Mussolini’: Biden’s Primetime Speech Mocked, Slammed on Social Media

President Joe Biden’s Thursday evening speech targeting supporters of former President Donald Trump was mocked on social media, with many users poking fun at the stage.

The speech, held in Philadelphia, marked continued attacks on supporters of Trump, reiterating earlier attacks in which he claimed Republicans embraced “semi-fascism” at an Aug. 25 fundraiser for the Democratic National Committee in Maryland, and also attacked “MAGA Republicans” during a Tuesday speech in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. Biden called “MAGA Republicans” a threat to democracy and doubled down on his rhetoric calling supporters of former President Donald trump “extremists.”

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Tea Party Patriots Slam Biden for ‘Dehumanizing’ Anti-Republican Speech

A Tea Party group slammed President Joe Biden for his Thursday night primetime address, in which he labeled Republican supporters for former President Joe Biden “a threat,” and accused them of extremism. 

“Tonight, President Biden continued his tirade of dishonest rhetoric against those he fears. He repeated his lies that ‘MAGA Republicans’ are dangerous, doubling down on his errant claims that they’re extremist,” the Tea Party Patriots said in a press release. “As a point of fact, the only person in this one-sided back and forth who is dangerous is Joe Biden himself. For centuries oppressive governments have used derogatory labels and incendiary language to target and debase their political opponents, inevitably leading to violence against them from the masses. What Biden is doing is no different.”

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Blackburn: ‘Appalling’ for Biden Admin to Label Trump Supporters ‘Threat to Democracy’

Hours before President Joe Biden was set to address the nation on the state of U.S. democracy, a U.S. Senator from Tennessee blasted the Biden administration for claiming that supporters of former President Donald Trump are somehow a threat to American freedom. 

“While the press secretary’s comments are appalling, they aren’t surprising. Democrats and their friends in the liberal media are no strangers to using these over the top accusations to silence conservatives,” U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) told The Tennessee Star Thursday. “The fact of the matter is that the Biden White House is terrified to have a debate over how their disastrous policies have caused inflation to hit a 40-year high and created a crisis at our southern border, so they’re resorting to scare tactics. Unfortunately for them, it’s not going to work.” 

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Masters, Lake Blast Biden for Latest ‘F-15’ Comments

After President Joe Biden again tacitly threatened to use military grade weapons against gun-owning civilians, Republican U.S. Senate candidate from Arizona Blake Masters and Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake are firing back.

“This is the logic of an authoritarian. ‘We have bombs and missiles, you wouldn’t stand a chance. Therefore surrender your puny guns.’ No,” said Masters in a Tweet.

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Youngkin’s Job Approval, Favorability Ratings Positive in New Poll

Governor Glenn Youngkin has a 55 percent job approval rating according to a new poll from Roanoke College, up from 53 percent in May. Opinions about President Joe Biden, former Governor Ralph Northam, and former President Donald Trump have all increased as well.

“The main ‘good news’ in this poll is that sentiment toward government officials and their job approval is up,” Institute for Policy and Opinion Research Director Dr. David Taylor said in a press release accompanying the poll results. “The country may now be moving in a more positive direction based on what respondents say even though people are still not happy.”

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Florida GOP Office Vandalized After Biden Refers to Republicans as Fascists

A Seminole County GOP office in Florida was vandalized after President Joe Biden referred to voters who support President Donald Trump as “fascists” and after Democratic gubernatorial candidate U.S. Rep. Charlie Crist called DeSantis supporters “hateful.”

Republican Party chairwoman Ronna McDaniel posted an image of the office that was vandalized, which shows the outside window spray-painted with graffiti stating, “Eat [expletive] fascists” with an A symbol referring to the violent fascist organization, Antifa.

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Forgiven Federal Student Loan Debt Is Not Virginia Taxable Income

Virginians won’t have to pay income tax on forgiven federal student debt recently announced by the White House, thanks to efforts in previous years to make sure Virginians weren’t taxed on COVID-19 relief.

“[T]he amount of student loan debt that was forgiven will be left out of federal adjusted gross income, and, by extension, Virginia taxable income, without any further action by the General Assembly,” Virginia Division of Legislative Services Stephen Kindermann said in an email Delegate Vivian Watts (D-Fairfax) shared with The Virginia Star.

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Massive Challenge to 2020 Election Results Filed in Gwinnett County

A group of Georgians still fighting for election integrity after President Joe Biden was declared the winner by a tiny margin in the Peach State Monday filed a massive challenge to the Gwinnett County Board of Elections.

“A stunning total of 37,500 affidavits are delivered to the Gwinnett County Board of Elections office in challenge of the voter rolls and handling of the 2020 Election,” said a press release from what is described as a group “team of patriotic Georgia residents.” “These affidavits include 20,000 challenges to actual votes that were certified just after the 2020 election. The submitted affidavits only include Gwinnett County vote challenges. Still, the number far exceeds the Presidential spread for the entire state of Georgia and confirms the 2020 election should not have been certified!

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Peek: Georgia’s Record-High Natural Gas Prices Tied to Biden’s ‘War on American Energy’

President Joe Biden and his administration recently passed legislation that prioritizes clean and renewable energy instead of fossil fuels and older forms of energy. 

Liz Peek, an opinion contributor at TheHill.com, said the country’s record-setting natural gas prices can be traced to the Biden administration’s push for alternative energy and efficiency and what many conservatives call a “war on American energy.”

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After Zuckerberg Revelation, FBI Says It Routinely Warns Social Media About ‘Malign Influence’

The FBI said it “routinely notifies” private companies, including social media platforms, of potential threats after Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Facebook “decreased” the distribution of the Hunter Biden laptop story right before the 2020 election because of a warning from the FBI.

The FBI’s defense comes after Zuckerberg appeared Thursday on the “The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast. Host Joe Rogan asked Zuckerberg about how Facebook handled the story first broken by The New York Post involving the questionable contents on the laptop of President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter.

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Michiganders React to Biden Canceling Some Student Loan Debt

The reactions of Michiganders to President Joe Biden’s effort to forgive some student loan debt range from predicting an economic boom to even higher inflation.

Michiganders earning less than $125,000 will have $10,000 in student loan debt cancelled. Married couples earning less than $250,000 will have $20,000 of student-loan debt cancelled. Pell Grant recipients will have $20,000 in student debt forgiven. The pause on payments for all borrowers has been extended through the end of the year.

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Taxpayers to Pay Billions After Biden ‘Forgives’ $10K to $20K in Student Loan Debt per Borrower

President Joe Biden announced Wednesday his administration would “forgive” $10,000 in federal student loan debt for those making less than $125,000 per year. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget said the plan could cost taxpayers more than $200 billion.

The total income cap is expected to be higher for married couples, likely around double the $125,000 mark, though that has not been confirmed.

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Taxpayers Protection Alliance’s David Williams: Dems’ Attempt to Buy Votes with Student Loan Forgiveness Will Cost Lower-Income Americans

Wednesday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Leahy welcomed David Williams, head of Taxpayer Protection Alliance to the newsmaker line to discuss the ramifications of the cancellation of federal student loan debt in a desperate attempt for Democrats to buy votes while lower-income folks suffer.

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Biden White House Facilitated DOJ’s Criminal Probe Against Trump, Scuttled Privilege Claims: Memos

Long before it professed no prior knowledge of the raid on Donald Trump’s estate, the Biden White House worked directly with the Justice Department and National Archives to instigate the criminal probe into alleged mishandling of documents, allowing the FBI to review evidence retrieved from Mar-o-Lago this spring and eliminating the 45th president’s claims to executive privilege, according to contemporaneous government documents reviewed by Just the News.

The memos show then-White House Deputy Counsel Jonathan Su was engaged in conversations with the FBI, DOJ and National Archives as early as April, shortly after 15 boxes of classified and other materials were voluntarily returned to the federal historical agency from Trump’s Florida home.

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Citizens United Sues Biden Admin for Records on Election Executive Order

Citizens United filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the State Department and the Interior Department for records relating to President Joe Biden’s “Executive Order on Promoting Access to Voting.”

The conservative nonprofit submitted a FOIA request to the agencies on June 16 but did not receive a response within 20 working days as required, Citizens United stated.

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