Commentary: Trump’s Top 10 Accomplishments of 2020

This year has been dominated by the pain and suffering thrust upon the globe by the criminal acts of the Chinese Communist Party. Even amid these harsh challenges, President Trump persevered to reach historic achievements. Therefore, as the year draws to its conclusion, it is worth detailing his 2020 accomplishments, as I have previously cataloged for each of the last three years.

Read More

Commentary: Nine Wasteful Programs from Massive Spending Bill That Can, and Should, Be Reversed

President Donald Trump is right: There’s a lot of ridiculous gimmicks and wasteful projects in the new massive spending bill.

And the good news is there’s something that Trump can do about it, even though he recently signed the huge COVID-19 stimulus and omnibus spending bill into law. 

Read More

At Princeton, a Racial Reckoning and a Free Speech Battle

In 2015, Princeton University became the second higher-education institution to sign the University of Chicago Statement supporting campus free speech. Yet, five years later, Princeton professor Keith E. Whittington wrote that the university stood “on the front lines” of the battle over speech. Those battle lines were drawn this summer by students and faculty demanding the adoption of “anti-racist” policies, which some on campus say run counter to free speech and open inquiry.

Read More

These Companies Are Linked to Forced Uighur Slave Labor

A number of companies and brands have been linked to labor forced on Uighur Muslims by the Chinese government, according to multiple reports.

The Washington Post reported Tuesday that Apple supplier Lens Technology uses Uighur workers in its factories, according to documents obtained by the Tech Transparency Project. These workers were transferred from labor camps in the Xinjiang region of western China, WaPo reported.

Read More

Immigration Expert Says Biden’s Immigration Plans Could Provide Amnesty for Millions of People

Todd Bensman, a senior national security fellow at the immigration-skeptical Center for Immigration Studies, spoke with the Daily Caller News Foundation’s Samantha Renck about the implications of the Biden administration’s immigration policies, a possible influx of migrants at the southern border and more.

Read More

New Jobless Claims Decrease to 787,000, Economists Expected 828,000

The number of Americans filing new unemployment claims decreased to 787,000 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 (BLS) figure released Thursday represented a decrease of new jobless claims compared to the week ending Dec. 26, in which there were 803,000 new jobless claims reported. Roughly 19.6 million Americans continue to collect unemployment benefits, according to the BLS report Thursday.

Read More

Commentary: 2020’s Never Before (and Never Again?) Milestones

We’ve all been deluged with lists of 2020 winners, losers, and reasons why everyone is saying good riddance to this challenging, tragic, chaotic, and unusual year.

This one has a different slant: Five “never before and never again” phenomena unique to 2020. (Yes, I know that one must “never say never,” but the following qualify as two-headed freaks of politics and economics.)

Read More

Slots-Style Gaming Coming to Northern Virginia in January

The Colonial Downs Group is opening a new Rosie’s Gaming Emporium in Dumfries on January 8. The new location will offer simulcast horse racing and betting, as well as 150 historical horse racing machines. The machines use historical horse race data to offer a slots-style gaming experience to patrons.

Read More

Delegate Cox Still Calling for Cash for Virginia Families Affected by Virtual Learning

President Trump issued an executive order on Monday allowing states to use COVID-19 funds to be provided as emergency learning scholarships for students who don’t have access to in-person learning. The funds are directed at families, not schools, and can also be used by homeschooling students. Gubernatorial candidate Delegate Kirk Cox’s staff (R-Colonial Heights) said the program is similar to one that he introduced in the General Assembly.

Read More

Falls Church City Public Schools Plans to Have All Students Back In-Person by End of January

Falls Church City Public Schools plans to have all students back to in-person classes by the end of January, according to a notice from Superintendent Peter Noonan.

“ALL students are slated to return in the month of January,” Noonan said on Monday. “We plan to return students in phases beginning on January 5, 2021, consistent with employee capacity to clean our buildings. We will open, starting with the smallest cohort and lead up to the largest cohort.”

Read More

New Virginia Law Bars Debt Collectors and Creditors from Taking or Garnishing Emergency Relief Payments

Thanks to a recently implemented law from the Virginia General Assembly, emergency relief payments from the federal government to Virginians will be protected from being seized or garnished by debt collectors and creditors.

The new law, stemming from House Bill 5068, comes as Virginians and Americans from across the country are starting to receive a second round of relief payments relating to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Read More

Vaccinations in Virginia Are Lagging Behind Distributed Doses

Coronavirus vaccination efforts by the Virginia Department of Health (VDH) have been ongoing since December 15, but the number of administered doses is significantly less than the amount distributed throughout the Commonwealth.

According to the COVID-19 vaccine dashboard, as of Thursday, Virginia has distributed 388,100 doses, but only 64,882 have actually been administered so far.

Read More