Month: April 2021

Congressional Democrats have introduced legislation that would add four more justices to the U.S. Supreme Court, boosting the number of justices on the bench from nine to 13, as Democrat congressional leaders are going all-in on packing the Supreme Court.

This is just more evidence that the very slender, far-left Democrat majority intends to seize and maintain power using any tactic available, even if it means destroying the independence of the judicial branch of government.

Given that court packing is now actively in play, every GOP Senator and House Member along with any rational Democrat members of Congress must push back by cosponsoring the Keep Nine constitutional amendment by Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas), S.J. Res. 9, and Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.), H.J. Res. 11.

BLM Blocks Stillwater Man from Getting Home, Police Intervene and Detain Him

April 19, 2021April 18, 2021 Admin

When Black Lives Matter (BLM) blocked a Minnesota man from his home, police intervened — arresting the man.

BLM protested Saturday outside the home of a county attorney responsible for bringing charges against former Brooklyn Center police officer Kim Potter, who recently shot Daunte Wright, apparently by accident. The protest was designed to pressure the attorney into upgrading Potter’s existing second-degree manslaughter charge to a murder charge.

Trump’s Post-D.C. Plan Takes Shape with Rollout of America First Funding, Policy, Messaging Arms

Nearly three months after Donald Trump’s departure from the White House, his plans for a politically active post-presidential role are coming into public focus

After a comparatively quiet first five weeks in Palm Beach, Fla., following a final five in Washington plagued by all sorts of chaos, Trump stirred up excitement in late February at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), where he addressed an enthusiastic crowd for 90 minutes about moving forward with the America First agenda. That plan is now moving into its operational stages, with the launch of a network of political funding vehicles and public messaging platforms.

Fauci Admits Biden Administration is Flouting CDC Guidance in Border Facilities

White House chief medical adviser Anthony Fauci on Thursday conceded in a tense exchange with Louisiana Republican Rep. Steve Scalise that the Biden administration is violating major Centers for Disease Control and Prevention coronavirus guidelines by packing countless illegal immigrants into relatively small facilities without enforcing social distancing or masking measures.

The CDC has aggressively pushed those guidelines over the past year, directing that Americans should work to remain six feet apart from each other in public spaces and wear face coverings when away from the home.

Images from U.S. border facilities over the past several weeks, however, have shown little enforcement of those guidelines among illegal immigrants detained amid the current surge of unlawful migration at the southern border.

Biden’s Court Packing Committee Contains an Army of Professors Open to Altering Supreme Court

Joe Biden walking with his administration, wearing masks

President Joe Biden unveiled a new commission to explore the possibility of packing the Supreme Court. Although the commission does contain some constitutional originalists, it is heavily staffed by legal professors with revisionist views on the nation’s top judicial body.

The Biden administration unveiled a “Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States,” which will “provide an analysis of the principal arguments in the contemporary public debate for and against Supreme Court reform” — including “the length of service and turnover of justices on the Court” and “the membership and size of the Court.”

Although the White House insists that the commission is meant to be “bipartisan,” several of its members — both right-leaning and left-leaning — appear to hold some degree of revisionist views on the Supreme Court.

Medical Journal Forces Out Editor Who Questioned ‘Structural Racism,’ Professors Rejoice

A leading medical journal terminated an editor who questioned the existence of structural racism. His fellow medical professors expressed approval of the firing.

The American Medical Association wrote in a statement that it was “deeply disturbed” and “angered” by a recent Journal of the American Medical Association podcast that “questioned the existence of structural racism.” Though the organization claimed that “JAMA has editorial independence from AMA,” the statement added that “this tweet and podcast are inconsistent with the policies and views of AMA.”

West Virginia Governor Will Not Veto Bill Banning Biological Males from Women’s Sports

The governor of West Virginia signaled that he will not veto a bill banning biological males from women’s sports.

Republican West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice discussed HB 3293 during a coronavirus briefing Wednesday saying that he would either “let it become law or sign it,” according to The Hill. The governor also said that he would “absolutely not” veto the bill, the publication reported.

“From the standpoint of how I feel about it personally… I just can’t possibly get through my head that it is the right thing for us at a middle school level or a high school level in our state for me not to support the bill,” Justice said, according to the Hill. “So, I do support the bill.”

Commentary: Biden Intelligence Community Breaches Authority to Target the Right

The freshly reelected Republican senator from Nebraska had kind words this week for Joe Biden’s intelligence chiefs. “The American people are blessed to have an [intelligence community] as serious as ours,” Senator Ben Sasse said during Wednesday’s Senate Intelligence Committee hearing. He called the group, which included FBI Director Christopher Wray and CIA Director William Burns, “heroes” and wanted a chance to “say thank you” in front of the American people.

Sasse, who is supposed to act as a fierce skeptic not a fawning cheerleader of the world’s most powerful intelligence apparatus, singled out Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines for praise. “Your opening statement . . . was incredibly strong,” Sasse swooned.

Haines, the top deputy to former CIA Director John Brennan during the Obama Administration, undoubtedly marveled at winning such a groveling endorsement from a sitting Republican senator—or perhaps she internally laughed at winning over yet another reliable GOP dupe. (In fairness, most Republicans on the committee joined in Sasse’s praise for Haines.)

Abbott Calls for Biden to Label Mexican Cartels as Terrorist Organizations as Texas Ranchers Fend off Criminals

April 19, 2021April 18, 2021 The Center Square

Gov. Greg Abbott on Thursday sent a letter to President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris asking them to designate Mexican drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations.

The cartels are bringing terror into Texas communities, Abbott said in his fourth letter to the administration about the border crisis.

The cartels “smuggle narcotics and weapons into the United States to fund their illegal enterprises,” Abbott writes. “They force women and children into human and sex trafficking – enriching themselves on the misery and enslavement of immigrants. They murder innocent people, including women and children. These Mexican drug cartels are foreign terrorist organizations, and it is time for the federal government to designate them as such.”

Andrew Yang Has Commanding Lead in NYC Mayoral Race, Poll Shows

Former presidential candidate Andrew Yang holds a commanding lead over his Democratic opponents in New York City’s mayoral race, according to a Thursday Data for Progress poll.

The poll found Yang with 26%, double the support of Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams. City Comptroller Scott Stringer was third with 11% and MSNBC analyst Maya Wiley was fourth with 10%, while every other candidate had single-digit support.

Yang leads among virtually every demographic, according to the poll: black, Asian, Hispanic and white voters as well as men, women and voters with and without college degrees.

Music Spotlight: Exit 216

April 19, 2021April 18, 2021 Bethany Bowman

New Nashville Country Soul Duo EXIT 216 find harmony in their debut song, “Brothers.” Also listen to their newest song, “Robbery” and learn what they have planned for the future.

Defund the Police Movement Contributed to Rise in Violence, Experts Say

April 19, 2021April 18, 2021 The Center Square

Calls to defund the police have once again been thrust into the national spotlight after a string of high profile police shootings, but data show the rallying cry for police reformers may not hold water.

After the death of Daunte Wright at the hands of police in Minnesota, U.S. Rep. Rashida Talib, D-Mich., made headlines this week for posting on Twitter: “No more policing, incarceration, and militarization. It can’t be reformed.”

Later in the week, Senate lawmakers blasted President Joe Biden’s Justice Department Civil Rights Division nominee Kristen Clarke after reports that she wrote an op-ed calling for defunding the police. Clarke pushed back, arguing that was not the point of her writing.

Maxine Waters Shows up in Brooklyn Center, Tells Protesters to Get ‘More Confrontational’

U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters made a brief appearance Saturday night outside a police station in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, where crowds have gathered for seven consecutive nights to protest the shooting of Daunte Wright.

Wright was killed last Sunday by former Brooklyn Center police officer Kim Potter, who has since been charged with manslaughter. Meanwhile, the murder trial of former Minneapolis officer Derek Chauvin in the death of George Floyd is scheduled to hold closing arguments Monday.

If Chauvin isn’t convicted, then “we know we’ve got to not only stay in the street, but we’ve got to fight for justice,” Waters said.

Loudoun Parents Group Forms Fight for Schools PAC to Recall Most of the Loudoun School Board

April 19, 2021April 18, 2021 Eric Burk

Loudoun Parents for Education (LPE) is launching a recall effort targeting six out of nine school board members as the latest in a conflict between parents and school leadership. On Tuesday, LPE launched the Fight for Schools PAC to engage in campaign-style efforts to change the school district, according to Fox News.

Warner, Kaine Introduce Red-Flag, Other Federal Gun Control Changes to Mirror Virginia Law

April 18, 2021April 17, 2021 The Center Square

U.S. Sens. Tim Kaine and Mark Warner introduced federal gun control legislation Thursday to mirror some of the laws that recently passed their home state of Virginia.

The policies include expanding background checks, limiting handgun purchases and enacting red flag laws at a national level. The senators are calling the legislation the Virginia Plan to Reduce Gun Violence Act.

“Virginia knows all too well the heartbreaking consequences of gun violence,” Warner and Kaine said in a joint statement. “We’ve seen it in the tragedies of Virginia Tech and Virginia Beach and the countless drive-by shootings, domestic violence, and suicides by firearm across the country. We’re proud of the Commonwealth for leading the way to advance gun reform; now it’s time for Congress to save lives.”

Commentary: The Washington Post Fact-Checker and Holding Biden Accountable

April 18, 2021April 17, 2021 RealClearWire

After four years of relentless fact checks of statements by President Trump, many wondered whether fact-checkers would apply similar scrutiny to President Biden.

Responding to right-leaning critics who “have been urging fact checks of ‘Biden lies,’” Glenn Kessler, editor and chief writer of the Washington Post’s Fact Checker, tweeted, “We have no plans to start a Biden false or misleading claims tracker, just as we had no plans at this point to start a Trump tracker. The constant tweeting of falsehoods forced our hand. But we have an open mind and if the need arises we will consider one.”

Some remained skeptical. “We have no plans to hold Biden accountable the way we did the previous administration,” tweeted journalist Stephen Miller, mockingly interpreting Kessler’s statement. “Glenn, I for one thank you for this refreshing bit of honesty.”

Report: Three-Fourths of All 2019 Property Insurance Suits in U.S. Were Filed in Florida

April 18, 2021April 17, 2021 The Center Square

In 2019, Florida homeowners accounted for 8.16 percent of the nation’s property insurance claims, but more than 76 percent of property insurance lawsuits lodged against insurers.

Pointing to this “disparity,” Florida Insurance Commissioner David Altmaier in a five-page April 2 letter to House Commerce Committee Chair Rep. Blaise Ingoglia, R-Spring Hill, outlined four proposals to reduce property insurance litigation.

Insurers cite rampant litigation, ballooning reinsurance costs, “loss creep” from 2017-18 hurricanes and coastal flooding as a “perform storm” of coalescing factors leading to double-digit property insurance rate hikes that Florida businesses and 6.2 million homeowners are seeing or will see when renewing policies.

Arkansas Legislature Passes Bills Tightening Signature Verification, Absentee Ballot Requests

Arkansas became the latest state to pass a series of voting reforms this week, sending multiple bills to Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s desk.

The bills, overwhelmingly passed by the state’s Republican legislature, focus on in-person and absentee voting, while a third transfers additional authority to county election commissioners instead of local clerks. Hutchinson has not publicly said whether he plans to sign them.

The Arkansas Senate passed HB 1715 Tuesday, which prohibits clerks from sending unsolicited absentee ballots to voters and requires them to report how many absentee ballot applications they receive each day. It also requires a voter’s signature to match their signature from when they first registered to vote, and forbids county clerks from providing a ballot if they do not match.

‘God Loves Me’: 10-Year-Old Trans Child Quotes Bible to Tell TX Legislators Why They Shouldn’t Ban Trans Surgeries, Procedures for Minors

A 10-year-old transgender child quoted the Bible testifying before Texas lawmakers on bills banning transgender procedures and surgeries for minors.

Kai Shappley spoke to lawmakers Monday regarding Texas Senate Bill 1646, legislation that classifies it as child abuse for anyone to administer puberty suppression drugs, hormone replacement therapy, transgender surgeries or medical procedures to minors.

Video footage posted by the American Civil Liberties Union shows the 10-year-old child reading remarks from an iPhone, criticizing legislators for “attacking me since pre-K” and explaining, “I’ve been having to explain myself since I was three or four years old.”

Hunter Biden’s Book ‘Beautiful Things’ Sells Less Than 11k Copies in First Week, Despite PR Rush

unter Biden’s memoir sold less than 11,000 copies in its debut week, despite a massive promotional campaign that included appearances by the author and presidential son on CNN, CBS News and ABC’s late-night talk show “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”

As of Friday, first-week sales of “Beautiful Things: A Memoir” were 10,638 copies, according to Publishers Weekly.

The book by President Biden’s son came in 12th, just behind “The Calcium Connection: The Little-Known Enzyme at the Root of Your Cellular Health,” by Brunde Broady, a book about teeth health.

Commentary: Ballot Equality and Who Really Defends the Votes of Black Americans

Buried in the liberal lie that vote security somehow “suppresses” votes of black Americans is the truth: it protects their vote security, as well. Even in minority communities, ballots themselves are color blind.

Deep in the cynical assertion that protecting votes is “racist” is the inference that black votes aren’t important enough to be protected. Liberals and their Democrat allies face two stumbling blocks in demonstrating legitimate concern about minority voting — the past and the present. They own the history of voting discrimination based on race, and they still practice it today.

To assert that vote security is “racist,” it must first be established that minorities are separate and unequal from other voters, and less competent at meeting voting requirements. But all Americans must show ID for driving, banking, voting in union elections, going to post-secondary school, and purchasing certain products. The Left’s anti–vote security influencers are currently focused on Georgia’s new voting laws, which require voter identity verification with photo ID. Democrats claim this discriminates against black voters in particular.

Poll Finds That Most Americans Oppose Left-Wing Corporations Influencing Politics

A new poll found that well over half of Americans are against large and left-wing corporations attempting to influence government and everyday politics, as reported by Breitbart.

The poll of registered voters, conducted by NPR and PBS, asked if they are for or against corporations using their size, wealth, and influence to have a role in political, cultural, or societal change; 58 percent of respondents were against it, while only 35 percent were in favor, and 7 percent were unsure. When the question turned to professional sports organizations, such as the MLB, 56 percent voiced their opposition to such influence, with 39 percent in favor and just 5 percent unsure.

In recent months, the attempts by major corporations to influence politics have gone beyond the usual large donations to political campaigns or individual candidates. Following Georgia’s passing of an election integrity law aimed at cracking down on voter fraud after widespread irregularities altered the result of the 2020 election, multiple companies came out against the law and even suggested boycotting the state of Georgia. Among these were Coca-Cola, Delta Airlines, and Major League Baseball (MLB).

Trump Critics in Congress Have Spent Tens of Thousands on Private Security Since the Capitol Riot

Prominent lawmakers have spent tens of thousands of dollars in private security following the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, according to first-quarter Federal Election Commission reports obtained by Punchbowl News.

Security expenditures were especially common among high-profile Democrats and Republicans who voted to impeach or convict former President Donald Trump for his role in inciting the riot.

Republican Reps. Liz Cheney of Wyoming and John Katko of New York paid $50,400 and $19,874 in private security, according to Punchbowl. Ohio Republican Rep. Anthony Gonzalez paid $1,540, according to the report.

Chincoteague Church Tries Again with Lawsuit Against Northam for 2020 Capacity Limits

April 18, 2021April 17, 2021 Eric Burk

Chincoteague-Island-based Lighthouse Fellowship Church (LFC) has filed a second opening brief in a lawsuit against Governor Ralph Northam over 10-person capacity limits instituted in Spring 2020. Although Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Arenda Wright Allen ruled that the church couldn’t sue the governor and that the case was moot since Northam had ended the capacity restriction, Liberty Counsel argues on behalf of the church that Wright was mistaken.

Middle Resolution PAC Announces Which Republican Candidates It Is Supporting

April 17, 2021April 17, 2021 Zachery Schmidt

The Middle Resolution PAC announced Friday that it is supporting Glenn Youngkin for governor, Winsome Sears for lieutenant governor, and Jason Miyares for attorney general in the Virginia elections in November. “Republicans in Virginia have excellent choices for statewide office this year. As Virginians, we can be proud of…

Commentary: Why We Black Leaders Support Voter ID Laws

April 17, 2021April 16, 2021 RealClearWire

America is a country of over 300 million people. We are comprised of every shape, size, nationality, and opinion. This diversity has proven to be one of our greatest strengths.

However, if you listened to largely white liberal media personalities and elite CEOs, you wouldn’t know this. According to liberal orthodoxy, all Blacks think alike, and all Blacks support Black Lives Matter, and all Blacks oppose the recently enacted Georgia Election Integrity Act.

To the contrary, a recent Rasmussen Reports poll found that 69% of Blacks and 82% of nonwhite minorities support voter ID. Another poll taken even more recently by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution found that a full two-thirds of Blacks in Georgia support voter ID. The data seems clear: A majority of Black Americans support voter ID laws.

Commentary: India’s Anti-Religious Freedom Laws

Three state governments in India have recently passed new “freedom of religion” laws, also known as anti-conversion laws. The new laws are an attempt to suppress the alleged “love jihad” – an attempt by Muslim men to marry Hindu women with the intention of converting their wives to Islam.

Historically, India’s anti-conversion laws differ slightly by state, but as the U.S. Library of Congress noted, “All of the laws seek to prevent any person from converting or attempting to convert, either directly or otherwise, another person through ‘forcible’ or ‘fraudulent’ means, or by ‘allurement’ or ‘inducement.’”

James O’Keefe Vows to Sue Twitter After He’s Permanently Banned from Platform

James O’Keefe, president and founder of Project Veritas, was permanently banned from Twitter after he posted a series of embarrassing and damning videos exposing the left-wing activism of CNN.

Facebook Bans Story About BLM Co-Founder Buying Expensive Real Estate

April 17, 2021April 17, 2021 Peter D'Abrosca

In the latest example of Silicon Valley censorship, Facebook has banned the sharing of a story about a high-profile Black Lives Matter member purchasing expensive real estate.

“Patrisse Khan-Cullors, the leader of Black Lives Matter and a self-described Marxist, recently purchased a $1.4 million home in an exclusive Los Angeles neighborhood where the vast majority of residents are white, according to reports,” The New York Post originally reported last weekend.

Border Agents Report Being Overworked, Understaffed and Exposed to COVID-19 During Migrant Surge

April 17, 2021April 17, 2021 Virginia Star Staff

Border officials in south Texas consistently face exposure to COVID-19, don’t have the resources to do their job and are regularly called in for overtime shifts, two active agents told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Many Customs and Border Protection (CBP) field agents work 50-hour weeks and now are required to report for 10-hour long overtime shifts even after they are exposed to migrants who test positive for COVID-19, an active CBP agent told the DCNF. The agents spoke on the condition of anonymity since they were not authorized to speak with members of the media.

“CBP gives us a job, but they seem more concerned with getting the job done than with the actual agents,” an active agent told the DCNF. “They want the mission to succeed. We don’t have the resources we need to do our jobs but we make do with what we have. We don’t have enough agents, transport, technology, or aircraft to help us out.”

Analysis: Scientific Survey Shows Voters Across the Political Spectrum Are Ideologically Deluded

During the late 1800s when the renowned scientist Louis Pasteur was trying to overturn the medical community’s deadly belief that germs are not communicable, he wrote: “The greatest aberration of the mind is to believe a thing to be, because we desire it.” The results of a scientific survey conducted just after the 2020 presidential election show that voters from across the political spectrum have failed to heed that warning.

The survey, commissioned by Just Facts, reveals that the vast bulk of voters have embraced false and harmful dogmas that accord with their political views. This is a typical consequence of confirmation bias, the human tendency to reflexively accept anything that accords with one’s preexisting beliefs and ignore or twist everything that defies them.

While most polls measure public opinion, this annual scientific survey measures voters’ perceptions of issues that can have major impacts on their lives. This year’s survey used an entirely new set of questions that addressed the topics of Covid-19, income, poverty, racial disparities, global warming, drug overdoses, life expectancy, pollution, and the national debt.

Schiff and Swalwell Went All in on the Dubious Russia Bounty Story

Reps. Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell, two Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee, hyped reports last year that the Russian government paid bounties to kill American soldiers, an allegation that the Biden administration now says is based on inconclusive intelligence.

Schiff and Swalwell, along with other Democrats, used reports of the alleged bounty payments to accuse President Donald Trump of turning a blind eye to Russian aggression against the U.S.

Schiff, the chairman of the House Intelligence panel, accused Trump and other Republicans of refusing to confront Russian President Vladimir Putin over the alleged bounties. In a tweet on Aug. 27, Schiff said that their silence put U.S. troops “in danger.”

CNN Tech Director Admits Black-on-Asian Violence Is a Problem, But Network Focuses on White Criminals to ‘Help BLM’

A CNN employee tacitly admitted on tape that the network is a propaganda arm of the Black Lives Matter movement, and won’t pursue any stories that undermine its racial grievance narrative.

CNN Technical Director Charlie Chester told an undercover journalist for Project Veritas that he knows black-on-Asian crime rates are high, but doesn’t dwell on it because “the optics” are not good for the Black Lives Matter agitators the network is trying to help.

Chester discussed the network’s unwillingness to cover racial issues fairly in Project Veritas’ third installment of its #ExposeCNN series. In Part Two, the liberal employee proudly declared that CNN practices the “art of manipulation” to “change the world.”

Commentary: Big Business Joins the Other Crumbling Pillars of Society

What a pitiful trajectory the woke leaders of large American corporations have traced as American business, once a pillar of American society and political science, has crumbled along with other pillars as if in a choreographed sequence.

The senior levels of national intelligence and the Justice Department were tainted in the nonsense about collusion between Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russia in 2016. Academia, apparently down to kindergarten, largely has been transformed into a massive brainwashing operation to convince the country’s youth that the United States is hateful and racist. The national political media have failed catastrophically and all surveys show that over 80 percent of Americans don’t believe a word they read or hear from that source. Any sector of American society which has done such savage violence to its own franchise will pay dearly for it commercially.

Owners of major sports franchises roll over like poodles in perfect conformity with the league commissioners, as players prostrate themselves before the totalitarian authorities of China, denigrating the flag and national anthem. Team revenues have suffered, but the insolent players have not—yet.

Florida Transgender Sports Ban Advances Despite Potential Backlash

April 17, 2021April 17, 2021 The Center Square

Florida Republicans are advancing bills banning transgender athletes from women’s and girls’ sports despite – perhaps, in spite of – potential corporate criticism and likely sanctions by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).

“I certainly couldn’t care less,” House Speaker Chris Sprowls, R-Palm Harbor, said Wednesday after the House approved the Fairness in Women’s Sports Act in a 77-40 vote after a four-hour debate in which 18 amendments were rejected.

The Fairness in Women’s Sports Act, House Bill 1475, filed by Rep. Kaylee Tuck, R-Lake Placid, would enact a blanket ban on transgender athletes competing as women in Florida. Transgender athletes could still compete in men’s sports.

Hospitals Saw 10 Percent Decrease in Inpatient Volumes in 2020, Driving Lower Revenue

April 17, 2021April 16, 2021 Eric Burk

Virginia hospitals saw a 10 percent decrease in inpatient volumes in 2020 and a 30 percent decrease in emergency department visits, according to the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association (VHHA). On Wednesday, VHHA staff held a virtual press conference presenting an update on hospitalization and emergency department visit trends. Hospitalization data does not show a COVID-19-lockdown baby boom, but rather a decrease in usage of hospital pregnancy services when compares to previous years. On the other hand, inpatient discharge data shows an increase in treatment of alcohol, drug use, and related mental disorders, a trend that began before COVID-19.

Virginia NFIB: Business Is Improving, but Employers Are Having Trouble Filling Positions

April 16, 2021April 15, 2021 Eric Burk

As the country emerges from COVID-19 restrictions, small businesses are doing better, according to a March report from the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB). However, uncertainty about the next few months for business owners is still high, and businesses are having trouble finding qualified workers to fill positions.

“Virginia’s small businesses are working hard on their recovery but are struggling to find the right workers to fill open positions,” NFIB Virginia State Director Nicole Riley said in a Wednesday press release

Commentary: Who Funds the Riotous American Left and Why?

April 16, 2021April 16, 2021 Virginia Star Staff

Why do giant corporations and billionaires fund Black Lives Matter and Antifa, both avowed socialist groups? And why do the leftists accept their aid? They both want a kind of socialism, but only one of them could get their way.

If you’re at all familiar with the corporate and billionaire funding sources behind Black Lives Matter and Antifa and the socialist commitments of these groups and their leaders, you’ve probably wondered why the ‘capitalist class’ would support a movement whose doctrine is apparently antithetical to their own interests. Aren’t these funders capitalists after all, and don’t capitalists naturally oppose socialism?

‘Return to Learn’ Tracker: 42 Percent of U.S. School Districts Are Providing Full In-Person Instruction

April 16, 2021April 15, 2021 The Center Square

About 42% of more than 8,500 public school districts in the country have returned to full in-person instruction, according to a “Return to Learn” tracker developed by the American Enterprise Institute and the College Crisis Initiative of Davidson College.

Iowa and Florida, which are fully reopened, are the only two states in which 100% of their school districts are providing in-person educational instruction, the analysis found. While Texas is also fully reopened, only 73% of its districts are providing full in-person instruction. Districts in states still under lockdown restrictions, like the District of Columbia and Hawaii, have no schools providing full in-person instruction, the analysis found.

Jobless Claims Drop to 576,000, Lowest Level Since March 2020

The number of Americans filing new unemployment claims dropped to 576,000 last week as the economy continues to recover from the coronavirus pandemic, according to the Department of Labor.

The Bureau of Labor and Statistics figure released Thursday represented a large decrease in the number of new jobless claims compared to the week ending April 3, when 769,000 new jobless claims were reported. That number was revised up from the 744,000 jobless claims initially reported last week.

Commentary: Joe Biden’s Uncertain Foreign Policy

Wars often arise from uncertainty. When strong powers appear weak, truly weaker ones take risks they otherwise would not.

Sloppy braggadocio and serial promises of restraint alternatively trigger wars, too. Empty tough talk can needlessly egg on aggressors. But mouthing utopian bromides convinces bullies that their targets are too sophisticated to counter aggression.

Small Number of Vaccinated Adults Later Tested Positive for Coronavirus, CDC Says

About 5,800 individuals tested positive for coronavirus after receiving a complete dosage of the vaccine, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

The number of people who have reportedly contracted coronavirus after vaccination represent a tiny sliver of the nearly 77 million fully-vaccinated Americans, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday. The CDC said that 396 people have required hospitalization and 74 people have died from the virus after they received a full coronavirus vaccine dosage, according to CNN.

Emails Show Involvement of Multiple Private Groups in Key Swing-State Cities During 2020 Election

Newly revealed emails show what appears to be an intensive effort by multiple private advocacy groups to manage numerous aspects of the 2020 election in several swing-state cities key to Biden’s 2020 election victory, shedding further light on the role private initiatives and private funding played in potentially influencing the outcome of that race.

The emails, obtained by the election integrity group the Amistad Project, show exchanges between city officials in several Wisconsin cities and members of the Center for Tech and Civil Life, a left-leaning election advocacy organization based out of Chicago.

U.S. Capitol Police Officer Who Fatally Shot Ashli Babbitt Will Not Face Charges

The U.S. Capitol Police officer who fatally shot 35-year-old Air Force veteran Ashli Babbitt on January 6 will not face federal charges, the Department of Justice announced Wednesday.

An investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia’s Public Corruption and Civil Rights Section and the Civil Rights Division, along with the Metropolitan Police Department’s Internal Affairs Division (IAD) “determined that there is insufficient evidence to support a criminal prosecution.”

Commentary: Latinos Increasingly Leaning Conservative

According to a new study conducted by the Democratically aligned research firm Equis Labs, former President Donald Trump succeeded in peeling away significant amounts of Latino support, and not just in conservative-leaning geographic areas.

The post-election analysis by Equis found that certain demographics within the Latino electorate had proved increasingly willing to embrace Mr. Trump as the 2020 campaign went on, including conservative Latinas and those with a relatively low level of political engagement.

U.S. Intel Chief: ‘Indications’ That China Is Attempting to Influence World Health Organization