The Virginia Star - Leading the Way in News and Education

March 6, 2021

Virginia House of Delegates Kills Senator Kiggans’ Bill Requiring Weekly List of Decedents Sent to Department of Elections

Senator Jen Kiggans' (R-Virginia Beach) election reform bill passed the Senate with broad bipartisan support 34 to five. But when the bill was sent to the House of Delegates, the Privileges and Elections Committee voted to table the bill, effectively...

March 6, 2021

Commentary: The Theory That the Trump Era Is over Is Wrong

The effect of President Trump’s address to the Conservative Political Action Committee on Sunday has become clearer this week. The key sentence was, “A Republican president will be returning to the White House.” Since the only other living Republican president, George W....

March 6, 2021

Dreaded QAnon March 4 Uprising Fails to Materialize in the Capitol

A right-wing plot to storm the Capitol and remove lawmakers did not materialize on Thursday, after the FBI, DHS, and Capitol Police issued bulletins warning that they had intelligence identifying “credible threats” to that effect. In dozens of reports, the corporate media...

March 6, 2021

California Gubernatorial Recall Petition Reaches 1.9 Million Signatures

The statewide effort to recall California Governor Gavin Newsom (D-Calif.) has reached yet another milestone as of Wednesday, with the formal petition reaching 1.9 million signatures, according to Fox News. One of the petition’s organizers, Orrin Heatlie, released a statement on...

March 6, 2021

Commentary: Why Is the Gut So ‘Emotional’?

You don't get a 'sinking' feeling in your feet, nor butterflies in your fingers, nor elation in your shoulders. You feel these sensations in your stomach. But why? As RCS originally reported nine years ago, the gut is home to at least...

March 6, 2021

Pentagon Reportedly Reviewing Request for National Guard to Remain at U.S. Capitol for 60 Additional Days

The Pentagon is reviewing a Capitol Police request for the National Guard to remain stationed at the US Capitol for an additional two months, citing concerns about security and potential violence, defense officials told the Associated Press. The National Guard...

March 6, 2021

FBI Confirms No Firearms Were Found During January 6 Capitol Protests

A leading counterterrorism official at the Federal Bureau of Investigation confirmed on Wednesday that, despite frequent and baseless claims that the protests at the U.S. Capitol on January 6th was supposedly an “armed insurrection,” no firearms were recovered in the...

March 6, 2021

U.S. Added 379,000 Jobs in February, Unemployment Rate Fell to 6.2 Percent

The U.S. economy reported an increase of 379,000 jobs in February while the unemployment rate fell to 6.2%, according to Department of Labor data released Friday. Total non-farm payroll employment increased by 379,000 in February, according to the Bureau of...

March 6, 2021

Interior Nominee Discloses Belated Tax Filing, Provides Fourth Account of Her 2018 Income

Congresswoman Deb Haaland, President Biden’s pick for Interior Secretary, belatedly filed a tax return last December for calendar year 2018 without getting an extension and has now given senators reviewing her nomination a fourth different account of how much money...

March 6, 2021

Chief of World-Renowned Medical Journal Has Repeatedly Bashed U.S., Praised China for Coronavirus Response

One of China Global Television Network’s most recent ads on Facebook is of an interview that the state-controlled propaganda network conducted about the coronavirus pandemic with the editor of The Lancet, one of the world’s top medical journals. The editor,...

March 6, 2021

Psaki Defends Biden’s Neanderthal Comment

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki on Thursday defended President Joe Biden’s comment that governors who stopped their state’s mask mandates were thinking like Neanderthals. Biden was talking about “the behavior of a Neanderthal, just to be very clear,” Psaki...

March 6, 2021

Despite Last Week’s Vote, Republican Party of Virginia Still Doesn’t Have a Clear Path to Nominate Candidates

The Republican Party of Virginia (RPV) still doesn't have a finalized option for how to nominate its candidates, despite the final-sounding words of party officials last week. The RPV State Central Committee (SCC) has decided to hold a drive-in convention...

March 5, 2021

‘Ghost Gun’ Ban Fails in Virginia General Assembly

The Virginia House of Delegates and Senate failed to come to a compromise over a ban on "ghost guns" - a nickname for firearms that are handmade, improvised, or otherwise assembled from unserialized parts. As a result, the bill died...

March 5, 2021

Commentary: Trumpism—Without Trump?

Six weeks ago, Americans were assured that Donald Trump had left the presidency on January 20, 2021 disgraced and forever ruined politically. Trump was the first president to be impeached twice, and first to be tried as a private citizen...

March 5, 2021

Child Migration Quickly Overwhelming Biden Administration’s Resources, Internal Documents Show

The number of child migrants crossing the United States’ southern border is quickly exceeding the federal government’s ability to hold them, internal documents from the Department of Health and Human Services show. In the final week of February, Border Patrol...

March 5, 2021

House Passes Partisan Election Bill with Zero Republican Votes

The House of Representatives late Wednesday passed HR 1, an expansive government ethics and voting rights bill that would implement a series of anti-corruption reforms and require states to adopt various voting reforms, such as no-excuse absentee voting and automatic voter...

March 5, 2021

Commentary: Promoting Myths About Police Won’t Make Us Safer

The House of Representatives passed the “George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2021” this week, the bill’s proponents rightly decry pernicious stereotyping and generalizing based on race. Yet many of those who rightly condemn such dangerous biases, and the...

March 5, 2021

New Jobless Claims Increase Slightly to 745,000

The number of Americans filing new unemployment claims increased slightly to 745,000 last week as the economy continued to suffer the effects of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, according to the Department of Labor. The Bureau of Labor and Statistics figure released Thursday...

March 5, 2021

Alabama Senate Passes Bill Criminalizing Trans Surgeries, Puberty Blockers for Minors

The Alabama state Senate voted Tuesday to criminalize performing gender transition surgeries or hormone therapy on minors who identify as transgender. Under the Vulnerable Child Compassion and Protection Act, doctors would be prohibited from treating Alabama minors with hormone therapy, surgery,...

March 5, 2021

Virginia General Assembly Approves Moving Local Elections from May to November

The General Assembly has passed legislation to move local elections for city, town council, and school board from May to November, starting in 2022. Proponents say the bill will boost voter turnout, especially among working-class voters, while many city officials...

March 5, 2021

Durham File: A Documentary Roadmap to Special Counsel Probe of Rogue FBI Pursuit of Trump

Freed from his double duty as Connecticut's chief federal prosecutor, Special Counsel John Durham is zeroing in on the final phase of his far-reaching investigation into whether FBI officials or others committed crimes while conducting the Russia collusion probe, such...

March 5, 2021

New Mission PAC Hosts GOP Gubernatorial Forum

GOP gubernatorial candidates Delegate Kirk Cox (R-Colonial Heights), Peter Doran, Sergio de la Peña, and Glenn Youngkin met on Zoom on Thursday evening to answer policy questions about school reform, fixing Virginia's tax code, improving broadband access, and making Virginia...

March 4, 2021

Exclusive: Gold Institute Founder Says Biden’s Foreign Policy Rejects Trump’s Successful Style, Substance

The founder and president of the Washington-based Gold Institute for International Strategies told the Star News Network that President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s foreign policy is doomed to fail, because unlike President Donald J. Trump, Biden treats the world as...

March 4, 2021

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...

March 4, 2021

Commentary: Job Creation, Not a $15 Minimum Wage, Will Reduce Poverty

Though the Senate parliamentarian rejected their efforts to include a $15-an-hour minimum wage in President Biden’s so-called COVID-19 relief bill, Senate Democrats are scrambling for a way to include it. Their efforts demonstrate the importance of this issue for the...

March 4, 2021

WHO Defends Appointing U.S. Scientist Mired in Alleged Conflicts of Interest to Coronavirus Origins Investigation

The World Health Organization is defending its appointment of a U.S. doctor with prior financial ties to the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) to be a part of its investigative team that probed the origins of COVID-19 in China in...

March 4, 2021

‘Vial of Death’: Louis Farrakhan Pushes Vaccine Conspiracy Theories in Videos Posted on Facebook, Twitter

Louis Farrakhan, the influential leader of the Nation of Islam, continued his crusade against the coronavirus vaccines over the weekend, calling the vaccine a “vial of death” during remarks at the extremist group’s convention, where other speakers falsely claimed that...

March 4, 2021

At Least 10 Rockets Hit Iraqi Military Base Hosting U.S. Troops

At least 10 rockets were fired at an Iraqi military base hosting U.S. coalition troops in the Anbar province of western Iraq on Wednesday morning, the Associated Press reported. It was unclear if anyone on the base was injured and...

March 4, 2021

Newt Gingrich Commentary: The Three Winners at CPAC 2021

Matt Schlapp’s decision to move the Conservative Political Action Conference from Washington, D.C. to Orlando, Fla. was brilliant. No one knew how good this decision would ultimately be for the conservative movement. Washington is the heart of the swamp. Its...

March 4, 2021

Over 100 Illegal Immigrants Released by Border Patrol in Texas Have Tested Positive for COVID-19 Since January 25

Since January 25, 108 illegal immigrants released into Texas by Border Patrol have reportedly tested positive for Covid-19. According to a spokesperson for Brownsville, a town on the Texas border, that number represents 6.3 percent of those who have taken the test. ...

March 4, 2021

Commentary: Unions Take a Cut from Firefighters’ Annual ‘Fill the Boot’ Fundraiser

Thousands of “panhandlers” in oversized suspenders camp outside of town squares and churches and major intersections every Labor Day. Instead of fast food cups, they plead with passersby to donate what they can into large rubber galoshes, exhorting them to...

March 4, 2021

Biden: Enough COVID-19 Vaccine Doses Available for All American Adults by End of May

Enough COVID-19 doses will be available by the end of May that every American adult who wants one can receive it, President Joe Biden said Tuesday, though it might take more time to administer all of the doses. The news...

March 4, 2021

Michigan National Guard Whistleblowers Say Troops Are Being Fed Undercooked Meals That Make Them Sick

Whistleblowers stationed with the Michigan National Guard at the U.S. Capitol say troops are feeling demoralized after being fed disgusting meals that have made more than a dozen soldiers sick, sending some to the hospital.

March 4, 2021

Four Months After 2020 Presidential Election in Georgia No Chain of Custody Documents Produced for 404,000 Absentee Ballots Deposited in Drop Boxes; Fulton County One of 35 Scofflaw Counties

Four months after the November 3, 2020 presidential election, state and county officials in Georgia have failed to produce chain of custody documents for an estimated 404,691 vote by mail absentee ballots deposited in drop boxes and subsequently delivered to...

March 4, 2021

Virginia General Assembly Postpones Marijuana Legalization Until 2024

The Virginia General Assembly passed marijuana legalization bills on Saturday, a move that had been expected to make Virginia the first southern state to legalize marijuana. However, legislators from the House of Delegates and the Senate passed a compromise that...

March 3, 2021

Blackout: White House Curbs Press, Public Access as Biden Struggles with Public Demands of Job

Throughout his presidential campaign and continuing since taking the White House, Joe Biden has promised a transparent approach to press and public relations. Yet in recent weeks, his administration has closed off — at least for now — several key...

March 3, 2021

Civil Rights Icon Calls White Wokeness ‘Insulting’ to Black Americans

Bob Woodson prefers old-fashioned bigots to "guilty white people" who patronize him by saying they're "sorry for being white." The founder of the Woodson Center told the John Solomon Reports podcast his view on white guilt: "It's insulting. In fact,...

March 3, 2021

Delegates Receive $8,651 Average in Per Diems from 2021 Sessions

Members of the Virginia House of Delegates earn $17,640 per year and a per diem of $211 while in session, including days off during the session. The per diem is meant to help legislators pay for housing costs ($145/day) and...

March 3, 2021

Commentary: Becerra as HHS Chief Would Undo Conscience Protections

Medical professionals on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic desperately need reinforcements. That’s why President Biden, in his “American Rescue Plan,” proposes enough funding to triple the number of community health care workers. But if the administration doesn’t...

March 3, 2021

California Reopening Plan ‘Propagates Racism,’ LA Teachers Union Says

The Los Angeles teachers union said Monday California’s school reopening plan is a “recipe” for propagating racism and will unfairly punish minority communities. United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) representatives argued that teachers are being asked to make up for the leadership failings of elected officials...

March 3, 2021

YouTube Suspends Rudy Giuliani for False Election Claims

YouTube suspended former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani again for spreading false information related to the 2020 presidential election, claiming the election was stolen. Rudy Giuliani was suspended for repeatedly claiming the election was stolen from former President Donald Trump, who President...

March 3, 2021

FBI Director Wray Refuses to Disclose Brian Sicknick’s Cause of Death

FBI Director Christopher Wray on Tuesday refused to disclose the cause of death of police officer Brian Sicknick during the riots at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, citing an ongoing investigation. “There is an ongoing investigation into his death. I...

March 3, 2021

Report: Nursing Homes See Sharp Drop in COVID Cases Since Vaccines Started

Nursing homes in the U.S. are seeing the lowest number of new COVID cases since the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) began tracking the data in May 2020,according to a new report from the American Health Care Association...

March 3, 2021

Commentary: Thirty Percent of Young Liberals Now Identify as LGBT

Gallup survey published last week reveals that LGBT identification among Americans has grown, increasing to 5.6 percent of the population from 4.5 percent in Gallup’s previous update in 2017. But LGBT identification across groups is not constant, with liberals, young people, and...

March 3, 2021

Supreme Court to Hear First of Many Election-Related Lawsuits After 2020 Election

In the aftermath of the 2020 election, numerous bills introduced in state legislatures across the country are most likely heading for the same place: The Supreme Court, where they will be scrutinized under the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The...