The Virginia Star

March 20, 2023

Inflation Continues to Outpace Wages, Data Shows

Inflation has outpaced wages for nearly two years, recently released federal data shows. A closer look at federal wage and pricing data shows workers are making less overall as the price for all kinds of goods and services rise faster...

March 20, 2023

Biden Issues First Veto of Presidency, Allowing Labor Deptartment to Use ESG Factors in Investments

President Biden on Monday issued the first veto of his presidency, blocking a measure passed last week by Congress to overturn a Labor Department rule allowing retirement plans to consider environmental, social and governance factors when making investment decisions. The GOP-led...

March 20, 2023

Nikki Haley Still Silent on Possible Trump Indictment

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley has remained silent on the potential indictment of former President Donald Trump, while several of her 2024 opponents – and potential opponents – have weighed in. Conservative businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis...

March 20, 2023

Texas, U.S. Officials Warn Americans Not to Travel to Mexico as Cartel Violence Escalates

The U.S. State Department and Texas Department of Public Safety have warned Americans not to travel to Mexico because of escalating cartel violence. While some news reports have suggested the warnings were for spring break, the warnings have been issued...

March 20, 2023

Commentary: The Universities I Knew in Soviet Russia Valued Merit More than Some American Schools Do Today

Walking near Temple University, I noticed a flyer advocating for “socialism in our lifetime.” The message from an outside group reads in full, “Socialist Revolution: Join the fight for socialism in our lifetime.” Having grown up in Soviet-era Ukraine and...

March 20, 2023

Commentary: Connecting Dots from COVID to SVB and Beyond

A collection of seemingly random crises can spell out a sinister “conspiracy theory” when you consider their connections and where they are leading. An overplayed plot? Perhaps, but how many so-called conspiracy theories have proven to be reality recently? First,...

March 20, 2023

In New Record, Biden Requests Billions to Advance Gender Agenda Worldwide

President Joe Biden’s 2024 budget proposal requests billions of dollars to advance his gender and sexuality agenda around the world, allocating far more taxpayer dollars to that than dozens of other spending priorities, such as stopping fentanyl from being smuggled...

March 20, 2023

Meta Launches Paid Verification Service

Meta on Friday launched a paid verification service for Facebook and Instagram that offers a profile badge and identity monitoring services in exchange for subscription fee. While the company will not charge fees to existing verified accounts, others seeking verification must...

March 20, 2023

Pfizer Recalls Millions of Pills over Risk of Child Poisoning

Pfizer recalled more than four million packages of Nurtec ODT Thursday due to the risk of child poisoning, according to the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). Pfizer is recalling the migraine medicine because it is currently in a blister packet,...

March 20, 2023

Mexican Leaders Mount ‘Deception Campaign’ to Deny Fentanyl Involvement as GOP Seeks Cartel Crackdown

Mexico is running a “deception campaign” to deflect blame for America’s fentanyl epidemic as Republican lawmakers ramp up calls to target cartels, former Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Special Operations Division chief Derek Maltz told the Daily Caller News Foundation. Top...

March 19, 2023

Manhattan DA’s Trump Case Rests on Shaky Legal, Ethical Ground, Experts Say

Former President Donald Trump on Saturday shocked the world with an announcement that he expects to be arrested Tuesday in connection with an ongoing investigation by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a case legal scholars have suggested has a questionable...

March 19, 2023

Over 1.6 Million Border Apprehensions, Gotaways to Date This Fiscal Year

More than 1.6 million foreign nationals have been apprehended or reported evading law enforcement officers after illegally entering the U.S. in fiscal 2023 through February, according to Customs and Border Protection apprehension data and gotaway data obtained by The Center...

March 19, 2023

Notre Dame Invites Gay Priest for ‘Queer Holiness’ Event

The University of Notre Dame is hosting a “Queer Holiness” event next week to discuss “Experiential Christian Anthropology,” according to the event page. On March 23, the university’s John J. Reilly Center is hosting a “Queer Holiness” event with Rev. Dr. Charlie...

March 19, 2023

Congress, States Are Trying to Rein in Election-Funding ‘Zuckerbucks’ 2.0

As the Georgia General Assembly advances a bill to further restrict private money from bankrolling elections—as occurred with Facebook billionaire Mark Zuckerberg’s grants in the 2020 elections—congressional Republicans are reintroducing a similar measure. Idaho Gov. Brad Little signed a measure on March...

March 19, 2023

Report: Virginia Revenue Collections $111 Million Above Projections

Virginia revenue collections are running hundreds of millions of dollars above budget projections by state finance officials, according to a new revenue report published Friday. It's a sign Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin says confirms the state is correct in its...

March 19, 2023

Commentary: The Right Is Still Afraid to Fight the Culture War

Republican culture warriors have devoted considerable energy to subjects like “drag queen story hour” and “protecting women’s sports.” While these battles must be fought, they are oblique ways of addressing the real problem. Drag shows are low-hanging fruit. It doesn’t...

March 19, 2023

Commentary: Biden Turns Christianity on Its Head

Gender ideology preys upon the young, convincing girls and boys that they were “born in the wrong body” and rushing them onto experimental drugs, hormones, and surgeries that will leave them stunted, scarred, and infertile. Yet the ostensible Catholic who currently...

March 19, 2023

Commentary: The Thing Exercise and Economics Have in Common

With a background in both studying economics and working in the fitness industry, I can see how the two fields complement each other and together provide a valuable learning opportunity. I’ve found that the lessons I taught my fitness clients...

March 19, 2023

Medical School Under Federal Investigation over Its Allegedly Racist Scholarship Program

The U.S. Department of Education (DOE) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) launched a federal investigation March 6 into St. Louis University (SLU) after a complaint was filed accusing the school of offering a racially discriminatory scholarship, medical watchdog group Do...

March 18, 2023

Pence Tells Iowans U.S. Must Continue to be ‘Arsenal of Democracy’ in Ukraine

WEST DES MOINES, Iowa — Taking a different position than his old boss on a key foreign policy issue, former Vice President Mike Pence told a gathering of Iowans Saturday that the U.S. must continue to help provision Ukraine in...

March 18, 2023

Janet Yellen’s Policy Would Destroy Small U.S. Banks While Bailing Out Chinese Depositors, Experts Say

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen stated during her testimony at a Senate Finance Committee hearing on March 16 that she, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation board, the Fed board, and President Joe Biden would only safeguard uninsured deposits at banks whose...

March 18, 2023

GOP Presidential Candidate Vivek Ramaswamy Calls Potential Indictment of Trump a Politically-Driven ‘Dark Moment’ in U.S. History

Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy says an indictment against fellow candidate and former President Donald Trump would be a “national disaster.”

March 18, 2023

Trump Says He Expects to be Arrested Tuesday, Urges Nation to Protest

Former President Donald Trump said Saturday he expects to be arrested Tuesday by New York prosecutors in a case over hush money to a porn star and called for Americans to protest and "take back our nation."

March 18, 2023

FBI, DOJ Investigating TikTok Parent over Surveillance of Americans: Report

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) are investigating Chinese company ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, for surveilling Americans, according to Forbes. The DOJ Fraud Section and the Office of the U.S. Attorney for...

March 18, 2023

Republican Lawmakers Unveil New Plan to Spike Biden’s Student Loan Bailout

Several Republican lawmakers announced on Friday that they will introduce a Congressional Review Act (CRA) to reverse President Joe Biden’s attempt to cancel student loan debt, according to a press release sent to the Daily Caller News Foundation. Republican Sens....

March 18, 2023

Rachel Levine Promises Idea of Transgender Children Will Soon Be Normalized, Has ‘Highest Support’ of Biden Administration

Transgender Assistant Secretary for Health for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Rachel Levine recently praised the work of children’s hospitals, such as Connecticut Children’s Medical Center (CCMC) in Hartford, for their “gender-affirming care” clinics that provide children...

March 18, 2023

Dem-Linked Nonprofit Sues DeSantis Admin for Records on Decision to Reject AP History Class

A left-wing watchdog organization sued Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration on Thursday for allegedly withholding records relating to the decision to reject the AP African American Studies course. American Oversight filed a lawsuit against the Florida Department of Education claiming the government...

March 18, 2023

Virginia Bill Would Expand Tax Credit for Farmers Donating Crops

As thousands of Virginia families grapple with food insecurity, the state could soon renew and expand tax credits for farmers who donate surplus crops to nonprofit food banks under a bill sent to Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s desk this session. Before...

March 18, 2023

Commentary: Legacy Media Ignored Voting Irregularities in 2020 Election

The lawsuit filed against Fox News by Dominion Voting Services, set to go to trial on April 17, may turn out to be a seminal case in First Amendment jurisprudence, with effects that reach well beyond Fox. In a nutshell,...

March 18, 2023

Commentary: The Way Government Lost 15 Million Acres of Public Land in the United States

Leave it to the United States Government to lose track of almost three states worth of public land. Only an institution with so little incentive and ability to allocate resources for the betterment of human wellbeing could instantiate such a...

March 18, 2023

Over Two Tons of ‘Missing’ Uranium Found in Libya

On Thursday, more than two tons of radioactive uranium that had previously thought to have been missing was discovered in a Libyan warehouse, easing concerns about the possible nuclear threat of the missing materials. As the New York Post reports, Khaled Mahjoub,...

March 17, 2023

‘I’m Back!’: Trump Breaks His Facebook Silence

Former President Donald Trump made his first post on Facebook Friday since being banned in 2021 following the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the Capitol building. “I’M BACK!,” the former President posted, including a video clip from his 2016 election-night victory over...

March 17, 2023

As DHS Extends Reach into County Elections Offices, Republicans Urge Continued Local Control

As the federal government extends its reach into county elections offices by funding cybersecurity services through the Department of Homeland Security, Republicans, state and local officials are arguing that election administration should stay local. County elections offices across the U.S....

March 17, 2023

Texas Announces State Takeover of Houston Independent School District

The state of Texas intends to take control of the Houston Independent School District, citing poor academic accountability, violations of the law and the expiration of an injunction that had previously prevented the state from acting, state officials said Wednesday....

March 17, 2023

Ron DeSantis to Lead 18 States in Alliance Against Woke Investing

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is leading an 18-state alliance to combat “woke” environmental, social and governance (ESG) investment policies. The alliance, formally announced Thursday, comes after President Joe Biden vowed to veto an anti-ESG bill that intended to roll back a Department of Labor...

March 17, 2023

Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s Administration Directs Top School to Break Ties with Chinese Communist Party

Virginia Secretary of Education Aimee Rogstad Guidera directed a top public high school in the United States to stop accepting financial contributions from entities with ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Grassroots parental advocacy organization Parents Defending Education (PDE)...

March 17, 2023

Commentary: America’s Byzantine Trajectory

When Constantinople finally fell to the Ottomans on Tuesday, May 29, 1453, the Byzantine Empire and its capital had survived for 1,000 years beyond the fall of the Western Empire at Rome. Always outnumbered in a sea of enemies, the Byzantines’ survival...

March 17, 2023

From Prisoner to Saint: The Unexpected Path of Ireland’s Best-Known Missionary

Saint Patrick's Day is here, and so it goes we join millions across the globe to don our best green garb and imbibe in a panoply beverages from the unnaturally verdant Shamrock Shake to the local pub's green draft -...

March 17, 2023

China Enters Artificial Intelligence Arms Race, Flops Disastrously

by Jason Cohen China released its main Chat GPT competitor, developed by search engine giant Baidu, Thursday in Beijing, but its debut of the bot was a failure and led to the company’s shares falling, according to CNBC. During the...

March 17, 2023

Commentary: SVB, ESG, and Biden’s ERISA Rule

The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) occurred just days after Congress passed the Braun-Barr resolution, which overturns the Biden administration’s “Prudence and Loyalty” rule and its encouragement of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing by pension managers under the Employee...

March 16, 2023

‘That’s a Lie’: GOP Senator Presses Janet Yellen on Plan to Pay for Social Security

Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana accused the Biden administration of lying about its commitment to working with Congress to protect seniors’ social security benefits at a hearing of the Senate Finance Committee Thursday. Cassidy asked Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who was...

March 16, 2023

BlackRock CEO Scales Back Emphasis on Climate Investing: Not the Environmental Police

CEO Larry Fink of investing titan BlackRock put reduced emphasis on climate and other environmental, social and governance (ESG) goals in an annual letter to the company’s investors and stakeholders Wednesday, amid Republican criticism of his firm’s investing strategy. BlackRock...

March 16, 2023

Investigators Release Details on Bank Record Trail Leading from China to Biden Family

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky) on Thursday released a summary of the first bank records showing how a $3 million payment from a Chinese company came into the United States, was broken up and eventually infused $1.3 million...

March 16, 2023

‘Getting Very Close to Joe Biden’: Congress Probes Dozen Bank Accounts that Enriched First Family

Congressional investigators have identified a labyrinth of at least a dozen bank accounts that were used to funnel money from foreign sources to Joe Biden's family and uncovered the first evidence that some funds went to benefit the future president,...

March 16, 2023

Feds’ ‘Foreign Corruption’ Double Standard: They Protected Bidens as They Bore Down on Trump

At the same time that Department of Justice officials were using spying and corruption statutes to aggressively pursue Donald Trump’s allies based on what turned out to be rumor and innuendo, they declined to use those same laws to investigate...