March 29, 2021 - The Virginia Star

Virginia Businesses Will Benefit from Paycheck Protection Program Extension, Groups Say

March 29, 2021March 28, 2021 The Center Square

Virginia businesses will benefit from the federal government extending the deadline to apply for Paycheck Protection Program forgivable loans, according to associations representing industries.

With bipartisan support, federal lawmakers passed legislation to extend the loan application from March 31 to May 31 and give the Small Business Administration an additional 30 days to process the applications. The legislation is expected to be signed by President Joe Biden.

The loans allow businesses economically harmed by the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent economic restrictions to borrow money from the federal government. If businesses use the money in accordance with federal guidelines, the loans will be forgiven, meaning that the businesses will not have to pay the money back.

RPV Announces 17 Qualifying Candidates for Nomination for Virginia’s Top Three Seats

March 29, 2021March 28, 2021 Eric Burk

Seven gubernatorial candidates successfully filed for the Republican Party of Virginia (RPV) nomination convention to be held May 8, the RPV announced Friday. Six candidates filed to run for lieutenant governor, and four candidates filed for the attorney general race.

Former Trump Press Secretary and Arkansas Gubernatorial Hopeful Sarah Sanders Endorses Pete Snyder for Virginia Governor

March 29, 2021March 28, 2021 Eric Burk

Former White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders has endorsed Virginia gubernatorial candidate Pete Snyder. On Thursday, the Snyder campaign posted a video call between Snyder and Sanders on YouTube.

In the video, Sanders said Snyder was a strong Trump supporter who would fight for schools and businesses to be open.

Commentary: Biden’s Fake Climate Apocalypse Has Real Consequences

March 29, 2021March 28, 2021 Admin

With the wave of executive orders and legislation coming from the Biden administration, and the cultural antics of his woke supporters, Biden’s war on fossil fuels has received insufficient attention. Yet energy is the lifeblood of our economy, and making traditional energy sources vastly more expensive is the single most destructive aspect of Biden’s policies. If this country does not successfully mobilize against these policies, the vast majority will experience a dramatic drop in their standard of living.

Supposedly the assault on fossil fuels — via regulation; cancellation of pipelines; concocting a huge, wholly imaginary “social cost of carbon”; taxes; and solar and wind mandates — is necessary to save the planet from imminent catastrophe produced by man-made global warming.

Arkansas Governor Signs Bill Banning ‘Transgender’ Athletes from Competing in Women’s Sports

March 29, 2021March 28, 2021 Virginia Star Staff

Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson (R-Ark.) signed a bill into law on Thursday that banned so-called “transgender” athletes from competing in sports for women and girls, as reported by ABC News.

Hutchinson’s office released a statement addressing the new law, declaring that “this law simply says that female athletes should not have to compete in a sport against a student of the male sex when the sport is designed for women’s competition…I agree with the intention of this law. This will help promote and maintain fairness in women’s sporting events.”

Secret Service Denied it was Involved in Hunter Biden Gun Case, but Purported Texts Suggest Otherwise

March 29, 2021March 28, 2021 Virginia Star Staff

Texts allegedly linking the U.S. Secret Service to Hunter Biden’s 2018 gun case were uncovered by the New York Post on Friday.

In a Jan. 29, 2019 text message, Biden reportedly wrote that his former sister-in-law turned girlfriend Hallie Biden stole the gun from the trunk of his car and told law enforcement authorities, including the Secret Service, that she disposed of it over fears Biden would use the gun to harm himself, the Post reported. The purported texts appear to contradict the Secret Service’s denial of involvement in the incident.

Former Speaker John Boehner Backs House Republican Under Threat from Pro-Trump Primary Challenger

March 29, 2021March 28, 2021 Virginia Star Staff

One of the scant few House Republicans who voted to impeach President Donald Trump last year is receiving backing from former Speaker of the House John Boehner ahead of a primary challenge from a pro-Trump candidate.

Boehner next week will appear at a Zoom fundraiser for Ohio Rep. Anthony Gonzalez, according to Politico. Gonzalez, who is up for reelection in 2022, was among the 10 Republicans in the House to vote to impeach Trump on charges of having “incited” the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.

Commerce Department Report: Red States Leading U.S. Economic Growth

March 29, 2021March 28, 2021 The Center Square

Inside a business with several customers.

Red states are leading economic growth in the U.S., a new report by the U. S. Commerce Department shows, with South Dakota, Texas and Utah reporting the highest growth.

The report is based on 2020 fourth quarter gross domestic product (GDP) data and February 2021 unemployment rates.

Real GDP increased in all 50 states and the District of Columbia in the fourth quarter of 2020. Real GDP for the U.S. as a whole increased at an annual rate of 4.3%. The percent change in real GDP in the fourth quarter ranged from 9.9% in South Dakota to 1.2% in the District of Columbia.

Pentagon Says it Isn’t Biased on Political Violence Despite Rank and File Concerns, Spokesman Says

March 29, 2021March 28, 2021 Virginia Star Staff

The Pentagon’s views on political violence following the Black Lives Matter (BLM) and Capitol riots are not biased despite rank and file concerns, a Department of Defense (DoD) spokesman said.

Service members have expressed concerns regarding DoD’s different responses to the political turmoil in the summer of 2020 and the Capitol riot, believing that the Pentagon should take a balanced view on violence in both cases, according to McClatchy. A DoD spokesman said judgements are not based on the causes of political violence when providing military assistance to states and the federal government.

“If a request for assistance is received from state or federal authorities, the Department of Defense reviews it, and considers what support it can provide that would meet the requirements of the request,” Lieutenant Colonel (LTC) Chris Mitchell at DoD, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “In doing so, the Department does not make distinctions or judgements about the events that led to the request.”

Intellectual Magazine Removes Professor’s Column Critiquing Critical Race Theory

March 29, 2021March 28, 2021 Virginia Star Staff

A lengthy column by a professor that critiques critical race theory and the concept of “whiteness” and “blackness” was removed by an online intellectual magazine after it generated controversy.

Alaric Naudé, a linguistics professor at Suwon Science College in South Korea and head professor of its English Department, said his essay “Blackness, Whiteness and Other Mythological Creatures” was removed by the UK-based online magazine Res Publica.

The publication bills itself as providing “an academic platform where ideas and concepts can be praised and challenged.” It did not respond to requests from The College Fix seeking comment on the matter.

Disney to Launch a New ‘National Treasure’ TV Series Starring an Illegal Immigrant

March 29, 2021March 28, 2021 Virginia Star Staff

Disney has announced that the beloved “National Treasure” film franchise will be rebooted into a TV series that will feature a young female DREAMer as its main character, as reported by Breitbart.

The new series will premiere on Disney’s exclusive streaming platform Disney+, with the show’s description declaring that the story will be told “from the point of view of Jess Morales, a twenty-year-old DREAMer who, with her diverse group of friends, sets off on the adventure of a lifetime to uncover her mysterious family history and recover lost treasure.”

“DREAMer” refers to the failed amnesty bill known as the DREAM Act, which Barack Obama tried to get passed through Congress while he was in office. When the bill could not garner bipartisan support to pass, he took the highly unconstitutional action of implementing most of the DREAM Act via executive order, which came to be known as the “Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals,” or DACA order. This order pledged to give blanket amnesty to illegal aliens who arrived in the United States as minors, and since the signing of the executive order, has become a legal and political football that has bounced from one court to another trying to determine its legality.

WHO Delays Report on COVID’s Origins as China ‘Fights Tooth & Nail Over Each Sentence,’ WHO Advisor Says

March 29, 2021March 28, 2021 Virginia Star Staff

China has delayed the release of a World Health Organization report on the origins of the coronavirus pandemic as it reviews the document, according to a World Health Organization advisor.

A team of scientists led by the WHO was expected to release the report this week, after an investigation in Wuhan, the Chinese city where the first known cases of COVID-19 were found.

“Just received confirmation that release of the @WHO-organized int’l committee/Chinese gov’t report on #COVID19 origins has again been delayed, apparently as the Chinese side fights tooth & nail over each sentence. Anyone believe this compromise report can possibly be credible?” World Health Organization advisory committee member Jamie Metzl said Friday in a tweet.

Minnesota Theater Cancels Cinderella Production Because Cast Was ‘Too White’

March 29, 2021March 28, 2021 Virginia Star Staff

A suburban Minneapolis theater company has cancelled a production of “Cinderella” because its cast was “too white.”

Chanhassen Dinner Theatres was scheduled to stage Roger & Hammerstein’s classic play later this year before its artistic director stepped in to criticise its lack of racial diversity, twincities.com reported.

“It was 98 percent white,” Michael Brindisi, the theater’s artistic director, told the Twin Cities Pioneer Press on Wednesday after looking at the actors who had been cast. “That doesn’t work with what we’re saying we’re going to do.”

Tom Cotton Introduces Bill to Ban Critical Race Theory from U.S. Armed Forces

March 29, 2021March 28, 2021 Virginia Star Staff

Senator Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) introduced a bill on Thursday seeking to ban critical race theory from being taught in the United States military, referring to such a practice as “anti-American,” as reported by the Washington Free Beacon.

Senator Cotton said that such teachings, which essentially claim that America is an “inherently racist” country and that White people are automatically racist and “privileged,” would only “demoralize and divide” members of the armed forces. In his statement announcing the bill, Cotton declared that “our military’s strength depends on the unity of our troops and the knowledge that America is a noble nation worth fighting for.”

Gallup CEO Warns Biden: 42 Million Migrants Want Entry to U.S.

March 29, 2021March 28, 2021 Virginia Star Staff

The CEO of Gallup has publicly warned President Joe Biden that approximately 42 million people south of Texas want to migrate into the United States.

In a blog post published on Wednesday, Jim Clifton, the chairman and CEO of the Gallup polling company, warned Biden as he and his administration struggle to deal with the surge of migration at the border:

Here are questions every leader should be able to answer regardless of their politics: How many more people are coming to the southern border? And what is the plan?

Commentary: A River of Doubt Runs Through Mail Voting in Montana

March 29, 2021March 28, 2021 RealClearWire

MISSOULA COUNTY, Mont. — A mountainous, 2,600-square-mile region with a population of approximately 119,600 does not seem like your prototypical setting for machine politics. Yet a recent audit of mail-in ballots cast there found irregularities characteristic of larger urban centers — on a level that could have easily swung local elections in 2020, and statewide elections in cycles past.

The Biden administration, the Democrat-controlled Congress, and the Democratic National Committee are collectively pressing to both nationalize, and make permanent, many of the extraordinary pandemic-driven voting measures implemented during the 2020 election —particularly mass mail-in voting.

Virginia GOP Gubernatorial Candidates in Mad Scramble for Delegates in Wide Open Race

March 29, 2021March 28, 2021 Matthew Hall

The Republican Party of Virginia announced Friday that the filing deadline had passed for the 2021 Republican Party of Virginia unassembled convention, creating a scramble for the wide open Governor’s race. The unassembled convention is scheduled for Saturday, May 8th, with over 30 polling locations across the Commonwealth of Virginia. According to the Republican Party of Virginia, all but two announced candidates for Governor filed for and paid their filing fee.

The following candidates have properly filed with the Republican Party of Virginia and will appear on the Republican Party of Virginia 2021 Statewide unassembled convention ballot.