May 16, 2021 - The Virginia Star

Federal Government Awards Virginia Money for Damage from February Winter Storms

May 16, 2021May 15, 2021 The Center Square

Sidewalk covered in snow and parked vehicles

The federal government will award the Commonwealth of Virginia and local governments money related to the costs of damages from winter storms in mid-February, President Joe Biden announced.

Biden declared a major disaster for severe weather storms that happened between Feb. 11 and Feb. 13. Federal assistance will be available for the state, tribal and local recovery efforts related to the storms.

Funding is also available to some private nonprofits for the cost of emergency work and repair or replacement of facilities.

Commentary: House Republicans Defy the January 6 Narrative

May 16, 2021May 15, 2021 Virginia Star Staff

January 6 riot at the capitol with large crowd of people.

It’s about time.

U.S. Representative Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.) prompted outrage this week following his remarks during a congressional hearing on the events of January 6, 2021.

Clyde, along with several Republican House members, is finally pushing back on the Democrats’ allegedly unassailable narrative about what happened that day. The roughly four-hour disturbance at the Capitol, as I’ve covered for months, is being weaponized not only against Donald Trump but also hundreds of nonviolent Americans who traveled to their nation’s capital to protest the final certification of a fraudulent presidential election.

Big Tech used the so-called “attack” on the Capitol as an excuse to achieve its long-sought-after goal to deplatform the former president; NeverTrumpers such as Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) insist the chaos of the day was fueled by the “Big Lie”—in other words, the belief held by tens of millions of Republicans—and a good share of independents—that Joe Biden didn’t legitimately earn enough votes to win the White House. The Biden regime vows to use the “whole of government” to purge the country of “domestic violent extremists,” which is code for Trump supporters.

Over a Year into the Pandemic, Politicians Are Still Getting Caught Ignoring Their Own COVID Restrictions

May 16, 2021May 15, 2021 Virginia Star Staff

Mask with smartphone that reads "COVID-19"

Many lawmakers who have ordered or urged citizens not to leave their homes due to the coronavirus pandemic have not followed their own advice.

The Daily Caller News Foundation has kept track of those politicians or local lawmakers who spurned their own COVID-19 rules to attend President Joe Biden’s inauguration and the lawmakers who flouted their own advice and then excused their behavior as essential, compiling lists of the biggest offenders such as Democrats New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, New York City Mayor Bill DeBlasio, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and many more.

The DCNF searched for, but did not find, examples of prominent Republicans who urged citizens to stay home due to COVID-19 and then did not follow their own advice. Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, for example, sparked a backlash when he traveled to Cancun in February as Texans struggled without power under heavy ice storms.

Science Magazine Publishes Letter Pushing for Better Investigation of COVID-19’s Origins

May 16, 2021May 15, 2021 Virginia Star Staff

A group of scientists called for a more objective investigation into the source of COVID-19 in an open letter in Science magazine on Thursday.

“A proper investigation should be transparent, objective, data-driven, inclusive of broad expertise, subject to independent oversight, and responsibly managed to minimize the impact of conflicts of interest,” the 18 scientists wrote, many of whom have conducted extensive research in microbiology and are from top U.S. universities.

A World Health Organization-led team released a report on COVID-19’s origins in March, and the WHO’s director general, the White House, the U.S. State Department and 13 other countries expressed concern that the report was compromised, particularly as China blocked the team’s access to key data.

Public health agencies and research laboratories need to open their records for investigation, the scientists say in their open letter.

Commentary: ‘No Evidence’ That Gun Buyback Programs Reduce Gun Violence, New Economic Study Finds

May 16, 2021May 15, 2021 Virginia Star Staff

Shortly before Christmas in 2018, a woman named Darlene voluntarily turned in a 9mm pistol to the Baltimore Police Department. It was just one of about 500 firearms the department collected that day as part of the city’s gun buyback program, which paid citizens somewhere between $25 and $500 in exchange for their firearms and high-capacity magazines.

Darlene, however, had a confession. She was turning in her 9mm, she told a local news reporter, so she could “upgrade to a better weapon.”

Like what? the reporter asked.

“I don’t know,” Darlene said. “I haven’t quite decided.”

Pope Francis Decries Plunging Birth Rates: ‘No Future’ Without the Family

May 16, 2021May 15, 2021 Virginia Star Staff

Pope Francis lamented news of plunging birth rates worldwide in a Friday address, warning that there is “no future” without the family.

“If the family is not at the center of the present, there will be no future; but if the family takes off again, everything will take again,” the pope tweeted Friday.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data released in early May found that the provisional number of births in the United States in 2020 is down 4% from 2019. Women in the U.S. gave birth to approximately 3.61 million babies in 2020, compared to about 3.75 million births in 2019, and the United States total fertility rate fell to 1.64, the lowest rate since the government began tracking such data in the 1930s.

More Than 120 Retired U.S. Generals and Admirals Post Open Letter Blasting Biden Regime’s Marxist Assault Constitutional Rights

May 16, 2021May 15, 2021 Virginia Star Staff

More than 120 retired military generals and admirals have posted an open letter questioning the legitimacy of the 2020 election, Joe Biden’s mental health, and warning that the United States is in deep peril under Biden’s divisive leadership. The former high-ranking military officers blasted the “Commander-in-Chief,” accusing him of launching “a full-blown assault on our Constitutional rights in a dictatorial manner, and summed up the situation as a “conflict is between supporters of Socialism and Marxism vs. supporters of Constitutional freedom and liberty.”

“Without fair and honest elections that accurately reflect the ‘will of the people’ our Constitutional Republic is lost,” the 124 former officers stated in the letter, which was released by the group “Flag Officers 4 America.”

“Election integrity demands insuring there is one legal vote cast and counted per citizen. Legal votes are identified by State Legislature’s approved controls using government IDs, verified signatures, etc. Today, many are calling such commonsense controls ‘racist’ in an attempt to avoid having fair and honest elections,” the letter continued. “The FBI and Supreme Court must act swiftly when election irregularities are surfaced and not ignore them as was done in 2020.”

Court Dismisses Chase’s Lawsuit over Censure by the Virginia Senate

May 16, 2021May 15, 2021 Eric Burk

The Eastern District Court of Virginia dismissed Senator Amanda Chase’s (R-Chesterfield) lawsuit over her censure by the Senate. On Wednesday, Judge Robert Payne granted a motion to dismiss filed by Attorney General Mark Herring on behalf of the Senate and the Clerk of the Senate. In April, Herring argued that the Senate and the Clerk have sovereign immunity and that the Senate’s decision to censure is a “non-justiciable” political question.