College Volleyball Player Says She Was Kicked Off Team for Conservative Views

A former volleyball player at the University of Oklahoma, Kylee McLaughlin, is suing the school and her coaches because she claims they excluded her from the team after McLaughlin voiced conservative viewpoints. 

The lawsuit filed in Oklahoma City federal court alleges that the former high school volleyball player of the year was forced by coaches to redshirt and undergo “diversity” training.

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King George County Evaluating Moving Confederate Monument to Cemetery

King George VA courthouse

King George County is evaluating a plan to move a Confederate memorial from the lawn in front of the courthouse to a cemetery. On Tuesday evening, the Board of Supervisors went into a closed meeting with the county attorney and county administrator for about an hour. When they came out of the closed meeting, Chairman Ann Cupka read a brief statement before the meeting adjourned.

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Ayala Takes $100,000 from Dominion Energy After Taking Funds from Clean Virginia

Dominion Energy gave lieutenant governor candidate Delegate Hala Ayala (D-Prince William) $100,000 at the end of May, according to new campaign finance reports published by The Virginia Public Access Project. That angered anti-utility activist group Clean Virginia which had contributed $25,000 to Ayala’s campaign; Ayala had committed to not accept money from the utility.

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Commentary: Never Let a Plague Go to Waste

During America’s first-ever national lockdown, thousands of unelected bureaucrats, as well as federal and state governments, assumed enormous powers not usually accorded them. 

They picked and chose which businesses could stay open without much rationale. They sent the infected into rest homes occupied by the weak and vulnerable. 
They picked and chose which businesses could stay open without much rationale. They sent the infected into rest homes occupied by the weak and vulnerable. 

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Jobless Claims Drop Below 400,000, Hit Another Pandemic Low

The number of Americans filing new unemployment claims dropped to 385,000 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 decrease in the number of new jobless claims compared to the week ending May 22, when 405,000 new jobless claims were reported. That number was revised down from the 406,000 jobless claims initially reported last week.

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Commentary: America’s Civics and History Class Failures

Six former U.S. education secretaries, who served under both Democratic and Republican presidents, are sounding the alarm about the grave danger our constitutional democracy faces. Years of political polarization have culminated in riots in our cities spanning months, along with the storming of the U.S. Capitol. These events point to a root cause of our plight: our failure to provide sound civics and history teaching in America’s K-12 schools.

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Music Spotlight: Rhonda Vincent

NASHVILLE, Tennessee-  Playing music is as natural to Rhonda Vincent as breathing air. She was born into a musical family from Kirksville, Missouri. The Sally Mountain Show, then later the Bluegrass Festival was hosted by her mom and dad and grandparents and aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends. She picked up the mandolin at eight and the fiddle at twelve and was performing with the family band at festivals on weekends. They also had a TV and radio show that she sang in as a child.

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New Report Says Biden Energy Policy Is Misleading and Unattainable

Recent experiences in three states provide an insight into how problematic President Joe Biden’s push for renewable energy could be for electric customers nationwide, according to a new report from Power the Future.

The report, titled “Lights Out: How Green Mandates are Undermining the Affordability and Reliability of Electricity,” was written by Larry Behrens, western states director for Power the Future, a nonprofit trade group that speaks for oil and gas workers.

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Daily COVID-19 Cases Are the Lowest They’ve Been Since the Pandemic Began

Daily coronavirus cases are at their lowest point since the pandemic began in March 2020.

The United States averaged approximately 16,500 daily cases this past week, according to data from Johns Hopkins University, a 30% decline from the week prior. Daily cases declined in 48 states, while Arizona and Washington state both recorded increases of less than 5%.

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Arizona AG Tells Hotel Not to Let ICE House 1,200 Migrants

Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich sent a letter to a local hotel in Scottsdale, Arizona to urge them not to allow the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to convert the location to a detention center for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

The hotel is considering a proposed contract from DHS that would allow for the establishment of a facility to hold up to 1,200 migrant adults and children.

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Joe Morrissey Commentary: This Democrat Will Not Be Voting for Mark Herring on June 8

I am a proud Democrat who has had the honor of serving the Commonwealth in three different offices including Commonwealth’s Attorney, House of Delegates and, currently, the Virginia State Senate. However, on Tuesday June 8th, I will not be voting for Democrat Mark Herring. There are three (3) primary reasons why Mark Herring has lost the trust of the Electorate and does not deserve re-election. Please consider the following and decide for yourself whether or not Attorney General Herring deserves a third (3rd) term in office.

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Mueller to Help Teach UVA Law Class on Russia Investigation

Russia investigation Special Counsel Robert Mueller will help teach a class on that investigation and the role of a special investigator at the University of Virginia (UVA) School of Law, UVA announced Wednesday. Deputy Special Counsel Aaron Zebley and two other senior members of the team will teach the six-session in-person class next fall, with Mueller leading at least one class.

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Commentary: Critical Race Theory Has Radically Transformed America’s Corporations and Public Schools

People in the streets protesting

Just four weeks ago, I wrote about the rising resistance to the woke craze and critical race theory, and much has transpired since then.

Here in California, even Disneyland has not been spared the wrath of the crazies. On May 7, the incomparable Christopher Rufo reported that “The Wokest Place on Earth” now includes employee trainings on systemic racism, white privilege, white fragility, and white saviors, and also launched racially segregated “affinity groups” at the company’s headquarters.

But just five days later, Rufo disclosed that Disney “has removed its entire antiracism program from the company’s internal portal, effectively scrubbing it out of existence.” Rufo added, “This is a major victory in the war against ‘woke capital,’” and noted that a “significant backlash from the public” was responsible for the shift. While some skeptics suggested that the policy was being “tweaked or rebranded, not scrubbed,” Rufo responded, “Possibly, but small victories start to add up. We’ve set the precedent—and forced a $329 billion company to back down.”

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Infectious Disease Expert Told Fauci in January 2020 That COVID-19 Looked Potentially ‘Engineered’

An infectious disease expert emailed Dr. Anthony Fauci in late January 2020 informing him that a small part of COVID-19 “potentially” looked engineered.

“The unusual features of the virus make up a really small part of the genome (<0.1%) so one has to look really closely at all the sequences to see that some of the features (potentially) look engineered,” the expert, Kristian Andersen, wrote Fauci on Jan. 31, 2020, according to an email obtained by BuzzFeed News as part of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit.

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Denver School Board Director and Black Lives Matter Activist Accused of Molesting over 60 Undocumented Teens

Tay Anderson

A Democrat Denver School Board director and Black Lives Matter organizer has been accused of sexually assaulting over 60 undocumented students—some as young as 14-years-old.

The alleged predator, Tay Anderson, denied the accusations over the weekend, while announcing that he will step back from everyday board duties during the investigation.

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Embattled Arizona Secretary of State Announces a Run for Governor

Embattled Secretary of State Katie Hobbs (D) announced Wednesday that she will launch a campaign for Governor of Arizona. 

The theme of her campaign focuses on “getting things done,” according to the video announcing her candidacy. In reference to the November 2020 election, Hobbs said, “We did our job.”

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Higher Inflation Has Arrived, But Economy Unlikely to Reach 1970s Levels, Report Says

While rapidly increasing consumer prices have triggered fears that the U.S. economy may enter into a period of stagflation, it is unlikely to hit 1970s levels, an economic report concluded.

The current condition of the U.S. economy has created some fear that prices may precipitously and uncontrollably rise while unemployment stays elevated, according to the report authored by Heritage Foundation Center for Data Analysis Director Norbert Michel. But an analysis of inflation and employment data suggests Americans don’t need to overreact.

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Commentary: The New Secession Crisis

It was appropriate that news of the Democrats’ plans to pack the Supreme Court broke in April, just a couple days after the 160th anniversary of the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter, the shots that began the Civil War. 

Unlike President James Buchanan, who dithered in responding to obvious Confederate aggression, the newly inaugurated Abraham Lincoln acted decisively upon taking office. He informed South Carolina Governor Francis Pickens that he would be resupplying the fort, forcing South Carolina’s hand. Lincoln’s actions did not start the war—they made it clear that war was already underway. From that point on, Americans, even those who had previously wished to ignore what was staring them in the face, were awakened to the reality of their situation. 

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Texas Gov. Abbott Issues Disaster Declaration in Response to Border Crisis

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Tuesday issued a disaster declaration in response to several hundred thousand immigrants illegally entering the U.S. through Texas since President Joe Biden’s border policies began in January.

The five-page order comes roughly two months after Abbott initiated Operation Lonestar on March 6, directing the Texas Department of Public Safety to protect Texans from increased crime being committed by immigrants.

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Commentary: Be Very Skeptical About Sen. Warren Throwing More Money at the IRS

Elizabeth Warren

Closing the “tax gap,” or revenue owed to the federal government that goes uncollected, has long been a favorite deus ex machina for lawmakers who want more revenue without having to raise rates. But Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Commissioner Chuck Rettig really put dollar signs in lawmakers’ eyes when he claimed the tax gap could be as large as $1 trillion. Always eager to appear knowledgeable on policy issues, Sen. Elizabeth Warren is putting forward a plan to collect extra revenue that only gets worse the deeper you dig into it.

First and foremost, it’s important to understand how far off on an island Rettig is with his estimate. The IRS’s last official estimate of the size of the tax gap placed it at a far, far lower $381 billion. Even considering that this estimate may not have factored in underpayment from cryptocurrencies, offshore holdings, and pass-through businesses, the tax gap still remains far closer to $500 billion than to $1 trillion.

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Lawsuits Pile Up in Loudoun County Battle Between School and Activists

The Loudoun County School Board is being sued over its Equity Ambassador program. Scott Mineo, founder of activist organization Parents Against Critical Theory (PACT), has said the program is discriminatory since last fall. Now, Mineo, Loudoun County Republican Women’s Club President Patti Menders, and several anonymous plaintiffs are suing the school board.

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Trump Criticizes Ducey for Veto of Critical Race Theory and Election Security Bills

Former President Donald Trump slammed Arizona Governor Doug Ducey on Wednesday for vetoing bills that would have outlawed Critical Race Theory (CRT) training for state employees and another that would prevent mailing ballots to individuals who did not request them. 

“Incredible to see that RINO Governor Doug Ducey of Arizona just vetoed a bill that would have outlawed Critical Race Theory training for State employees, and another that would have banned the mailing of ballots to citizens who never requested them,” Trump said in his statement. 

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Third Virginia Sheriff Switches from Democrat to Republican over Policing Reforms

Police lights on top of car

In response to legislative Democrats enacting a series of police reforms, three Southwest Virginia sheriffs elected as Democrats have changed their party to become Republicans.

Sheriff Chip Shuler of Smyth County, who was elected as a Democrat in 2015, was the most recent addition to the Republican Party. In a news release, Shuler said law enforcement has faced relentless attacks from Democrats in Washington and Richmond.

In 2015, Shuler was elected with slightly more than 59% of the vote and was re-elected in 2019 with slightly more than 60% of the vote. Smyth County is a mostly Republican district in which more than three-fourths of votes backed former President Donald Trump in the 2020 election.

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Commentary: BLM Founder Patrisse Cullors, Marxist Abolitionist

Patrisse Cullors

Black Lives Matter founder Patrisse Cullors has been in the news a lot lately because of controversy over her income and financial dealings, including recent purchases of several new homes. Cullors lashed out at these criticisms by protesting, “The fact that the right-wing media is trying to create hysteria around my spending is, frankly, racist and sexist.”

The fact is that Cullors’ own organization has demanded answers. Hawk Newsome, head of Black Lives Matter Greater New York City, called for “an independent investigation” of Cullors. “If you go around calling yourself a socialist, you have to ask how much of her own personal money is going to charitable causes,” says Newsome. “It’s really sad because it makes people doubt the validity of the movement and overlook the fact that it’s the people that carry this movement.… We need black firms and black accountants to go in there and find out where the money is going.”

But another particularly striking Cullors revelation of late has gotten almost no publicity. It was flagged for me by Mike Gonzalez, author of an upcoming major new book on BLM. It’s a video by Cullors titled, “What Is Abolition And Am I An Abolitionist?” Posted on her personal YouTube channel, it needs to be widely watched.

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Commentary: Voter Photo IDs Are the Rule in Europe and Elsewhere

Democrats and much of the media are pushing to make permanent the extraordinary, pandemic-driven measures to relax voting rules during the 2020 elections – warning anew of racist voter “suppression” otherwise. Yet democracies in Europe and elsewhere tell a different story – of the benefits of stricter voter ID requirements after hard lessons learned. 

A database on voting rules worldwide compiled by the Crime Prevention Research Center, which I run, shows that election integrity measures are widely accepted globally, and have often been adopted by countries after they’ve experienced fraud under looser voting regimes.

Britain is Europe’s outlier in generally not requiring voter IDs, but Prime Minister Boris Johnson aims to change that. He went to the polls in May with wife-to-be Carrie Symonds.

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Greg Abbott Says He’ll Suspend Lawmakers’ Pay After Democrats Walk Out on Election Bill

Greg Abbott

Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott said Monday that he would veto funding for his state’s legislature after Democrats delayed the passage of an expansive elections bill.

Democrats in the state House quietly left the floor late Sunday with just hours to spare in the legislative session, preventing the bill from coming up for a vote. If signed into law, Senate Bill 7 would enhance voter ID provisions, empower partisan poll watchers and ban ballot drop boxes and drive-thru voting centers, which were used disproportionately in Texas’ biggest counties.

It would also make it easier to overturn an election in the state, allowing courts to throw out the results of an entire election if the amount of illegally cast votes exceeds the margin between two candidates, regardless of which candidate received more fraudulent votes. In 2020, there were just 43 documented cases of voter fraud, according to the Houston Chronicle.

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‘Operation Warp Speed for Jobs’: Worker Shortage Is Getting Worse, U.S. Chamber Says

Construction workers

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce characterized the worker shortage as a crisis that is hurting businesses of all sizes and slowing the nation’s economic recovery.

The biggest challenge U.S. businesses currently face is the lack of qualified workers to fill open jobs, according to the Chamber of Commerce’s America Works Report released Tuesday morning. The national Worker Availability Ratio (WAR) — or ratio of number of available workers to number of available jobs — has dropped over the last several months, the report found.

The current WAR is 1.4, meaning for every job opening there are one or two workers available, according to the America Works Report. The historical WAR average over the last 20 years is 2.8.

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Commentary: Article Pulled from Campus Newspaper after Quoting Students Who Defended a Conservative Professor

Person holding newspaper inside of cafe

As a student journalist, I have been taught to try to get multiple perspectives on an issue and ensure that the subjects of our articles are treated fairly.

I’ve written 13 articles in the past three years for the campus paper, but The Oracle spiked my last one because, I believe, it included quotes that defended Andrew Donadio, a conservative nursing professor.

Donadio has faced a targeted campaign from two of his fellow professors over his support for Tennessee Tech’s Turning Point USA chapter as well as his opposition, as a Putnam County Commissioner, to renaming a local middle school sports team.

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Florida Bans Biological Men from Competing in Women’s Sports

Women's volleyball game

Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill Tuesday banning biological males from women’s sports.

The Fairness in Women’s Sports Act prohibits biological males from participating in athletic teams or sports designated for female students and requires that a student’s school or institution “request a certain health examination and consent form or other statement from the student’s health care provider to verify the student’s biological sex under certain circumstances.”

“The Fairness in Women’s Sports Act will empower Florida women & girls to be able to compete on a level playing field,” DeSantis tweeted Tuesday. “This will help ensure that opportunities for things like college scholarships will be protected for female athletes for years to come.”

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Advocacy Groups Ask Biden Admin to Stop Surveilling Approximately 100,000 Immigrants

Close the camps protest, dated 2019

Immigration advocacy groups asked the Biden administration to end an Immigration and Customs Enforcement digital program surveilling approximately 100,000 immigrants, The Guardian reported Tuesday.

Latino social justice movement Mijente and immigrant rights group Just Futures Law released “Ice Digital Prisons,” a report explaining how Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) monitors immigrants using ankle monitors, facial recognition and digital applications, according to The Guardian.

The report asserts that the strategies currently in use “do more harm and inhibit any true progress in providing the social and economic tools for immigrants to thrive in their communities,” The Guardian reported.

The technology used by ICE criminalizes immigrants and can negatively impact their quality of life, the report claims.

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BLM Cofounder Patrisse Cullors Called for End to Israel in Newly-Unearthed Video

Patrisse Cullors

Patrisse Cullors, one of the three original founders of the national Black Lives Matter organization, is revealed to have called for the total destruction of the state of Israel in a recently unearthed video from 2015, as reported by Fox News.

The video is from a panel at Harvard Law School seven years ago, featuring Cullors and other far-left activists. The panel was titled “Globalizing Ferguson: Radicalized Policing and International Resistance,” and was hosted by Harvard’s Human Rights Program. During the panel, Cullors recounted her experience visiting Gaza and the West Bank, and described alleged “violence” and “terror” carried out against Palestinians by the Israeli government, despite offering no evidence to back up any of these assertions.

She then went on to describe Palestine as “our generation’s South Africa,” and said that “if we don’t step up boldly and courageously to end the imperialist project that’s called Israel, we’re doomed.” To this end, she voiced her support for the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, a far-left and jihadi-sympathizing movement that seeks to force American companies and government entities to condemn and boycott Israel.

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Red States Top Those with Lowest Unemployment Rates

"Come in, we're hiring!"

Republican-led states and Vermont reported the lowest unemployment rates in April, according to a new report by the U.S. Commerce Department. States led by Democratic governors recorded the highest jobless rates, according to the report.

Unemployment rates were lower in April in 12 states and the District of Columbia and stable in 38 states, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

States with the highest unemployment rates in April were Hawaii (8.5%), California (8.3%), New Mexico and New York (both at 8.2%), and Connecticut (8.1%). All five states with the highest unemployment are run by Democratic trifectas, meaning Democrats control the governor’s office and both houses of the state legislature.

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Nevada Bill Would Knock Iowa from Being the First Presidential Primary State

Nevada Legislature Building, Carson City, Nevada

The Nevada legislature passed a bill Monday seeking to make the state the first in the country to hold its presidential primary.

If adopted, it would upend a decades-long political tradition that saw Iowa and New Hampshire go first and second during primary season respectively. The change would likely result in pushback from Iowa and New Hampshire in order to keep their coveted spots.

The bill passed the state Assembly Wednesday 30-11 and the state Senate Monday 15-6, and awaits the signature of Nevada Democratic Gov. Steve Sisolak. However, the bill would need the approval of both the Republican and Democratic parties to actually take shape ahead of 2024.

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Virginia Gubernatorial Candidates Discuss Direction and Values of Democratic Party in Final Debate

The final day of voting in the Democratic primary is June 8, less than a week away. On Tuesday evening, the gubernatorial candidates met for a final debate where they discussed issues including criminal justice, educational policy, and health care. One moment during the debate was sparked when moderators directed a question to Terry McAuliffe, and several of his opponents used rebuttal opportunities to weigh in on the post-Trump future of the Democratic Party of Virginia.

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The University of Virginia Lets Illegal Immigrant Students Skip Out on Enrollment Deposit

University of Virginia

The University of Virginia is permitting “undocumented” students to waive their $400 enrollment deposits.

On April 27, undocUVA — a student activist group — called on the university to “do better” in extending financial aid to classmates illegally present in the United States.

“Matriculating marginalized students without providing adequate resources for them is a strategy of exclusion,” said an undocUVA statement.

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Glenn Youngkin Calls for Reinstatement of Loudoun Teacher Placed on Leave for Opposing Use of Preferred Pronouns in School

GOP gubernatorial nominee Glenn Youngkin has called for Loudoun County Public Schools to reinstate a teacher who was placed on leave after opposing a potential policy requiring staff to use students’ preferred pronouns.

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Ralph Northam Signs Bill Forcing Some Virginia Universities to Start Reparations Scholarships

Ralph Northam

Virginia Governor Ralph Northam signed a bill requiring several universities to start programs benefiting descendants of slave laborers.

The “Enslaved Ancestors College Access Scholarship and Memorial Program” was established “for the purpose of reckoning with the history of the Commonwealth” and “acknowledging that the foundational success of several public institutions of higher education was based on the labor of enslaved individuals.”

The bill — signed by Gov. Ralph Northam (D-VA) on May 5 — forces Longwood University, the University of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University, the Virginia Military Institute, and the College of William and Mary to implement the program “with any source of funds other than state funds or tuition or fee increases.”

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Victor Davis Hanson Commentary: The New Regressive Dark Ages

Once upon a time long ago, we agreed there were certain immutable laws of human nature. These laws were based on facts, reality, and data. 

In other words, we accepted common sense about the way the world worked according to logical and even “scientific” principles. That assumption defined us as “enlightened” rather than Dark Age reductionists and ideological- or myth-driven zealots. 

Not now. “Progressives,” especially the media, are most often regressive, anti-Enlightenment, and intolerant people, who start with a deductive premise and then make the evidence conform to it—or else. 

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Apparent Break-In Occurred at Georgia Warehouse Housing Ballots at Center of Pending Election Audit

Downtown Atlanta

An apparent break-in occurred at the ballot-holding warehouse where the ballots for the pending Fulton County, Georgia audit were housed. According to reports, security guards hired by Fulton County left the facility. About 20 minutes later, the facility’s alarm was set off. A security detail hired by the plaintiffs’ attorney, Bob Cheeley, relayed to reporters that the facility door was wide open.

The audit concerns over 145,000 ballots from the presidential election. President Joe Biden won Georgia with just over 12,600 votes.

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Analysis: Deficit Will Top $3.6 Trillion in Fiscal Year 2021 as $7.27 Trillion of the National Debt Comes Due in the 2022

United States currency

The annual budget deficit has already hit $1.9 trillion and counting for the fiscal year that will end in September, according to the U.S. Treasury’s April statement, and it will reach as high as $3.6 trillion this year, says the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Comparatively, in 2020, the deficit totaled about $3.1 trillion for the entire year.

This comes amid the massive government spending in response to the Covid pandemic, including the $2.2 trillion CARES Act in March 2020, the $900 billion phase four legislation in Dec. 2020 and then President Joe Biden’s additional $1.9 trillion Covid stimulus bill in March 2020. Another $2.1 trillion infrastructure plan is in the works. And now, Biden is offering his $6 trillion budget, which will blow another $1.8 trillion hole in the deficit in 2022.

As a result, 33 percent of marketable national debt, or about $7.27 trillion of the $22 trillion of publicly held debt, will be coming due within the next year, according to the latest data by the U.S. Treasury. For perspective, that’s more debt than existed as recently as 2003.

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Madison Becomes Last of Wisconsin’s Five Largest Cities to Face Election Complaint

Absentee ballot form

This capital city has become the fifth and last of Wisconsin’s so-called WI-5 cities to face a formal complaint alleging violations of election law in the November presidential contest in which Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump.

Saying they are concerned about liberal groups entrenched in administration of Wisconsin elections, a crowd of about nearly 140 turned out for a “Standing Up for Voter Integrity” rally at the State Capitol.

The sponsor of the rally, the Wisconsin Voter Alliance, has led legal challenges to the third-party groups accused of infiltrating the elections in Madison and the Badger State’s four other largest, most heavily Democrat cities.

“As I talk to citizens around Wisconsin, there still are a lot of questions about CTCL [the Center for Tech and Civic Life] and their involvement in the 2020 election,” state Rep. Janel Brandtjen, R-Menomonee Falls, said. “The lack of oversight of these [outside] groups should concern everyone in the state of Wisconsin as we work toward transparent elections.”

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“CTCL and the other 12 nonprofits in Wisconsin cast a shadow of doubt over voting integrity for all elections moving forward,” Brandtjen said.

Few red flags appear more concerning to her and other observers than the Chicago-based Center for Tech and Civic Life’s network of liberal voting activists, who, according to emails obtained by Wisconsin Spotlight, became deeply involved in administering the November election in Milwaukee, Madison, Green Bay, Kenosha, and Racine.

In final official results in Wisconsin, Biden defeated Trump by 49.6% of the vote to 48.9%, flipping a state with 10 electoral votes that Trump won in 2016.

Brandtjen is chairwoman of the Wisconsin Assembly’s Committee on Campaigns and Elections, the panel charged with investigating last year’s elections. She was joined at the rally Tuesday by state Rep. Shae Sortwell, R-Two Rivers; state Rep. Dave Murphy, R-Greenville; and state Sen. Andre Jacque, R-De Pere.

As the new complaint filed Monday against Madison lays out, the Center for Tech and Civic Life showered the WI-5 cities with more than $8 million in grant funding, with Madison receiving more than $1.27 million of the cut. The complaint, filed Tuesday, names Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway, a Democrat, and City Clerk Maribeth Witzel-Behl.

In total, CTCL received $400 million from Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, ostensibly to promote “safe and secure” elections during the COVID-19 pandemic. At the same time, critics say, Zuckerberg’s mammoth social network was silencing many conservatives and conservative viewpoints.

Emails show liberal activists and election officials sharing raw voter data and discussing how best to maximize turnout of traditionally Democratic voters in “areas with predominantly minorities.”

The Center for Tech and Civic Life’s partners literally got the keys to absentee ballots as one long-time Democratic operative offered to “cure” ballots. The complaints allege CTCL, its partners, and city officials usurped authority solely granted to local and state elections officials under state law and the U.S. Constitution.

Mary Baldwin, one of five Madison citizens who made the latest complaint, said it’s time for Wisconsin voters to stand up and be counted.

A grandmother of five, Baldwin said she has seen a lot in her life, but what she saw at the polls in November was deeply concerning.

“I want my country to be OK for my children and grandchildren,” Baldwin said. “I don’t think it was a fair election. Five states were targeted. Wisconsin was one of them.”

Although the Center for Tech and Civic Life and its defenders argue that the left-leaning group handed out election administration grants to communities across the country, that funding was skewed heavily to liberal strongholds, particularly in battleground states such as Wisconsin.

Ron Heuer, president of the Wisconsin Voter Alliance, said he is relieved to have complaints filed against all five Wisconsin cities. But the fight is far from over, Heuer said.

“We will continue to litigate,” Heuer said. “We’re now going to see more personal litigation, going after individuals.”

Wisconsin Elections Commission spokesman Reid Magney said the commission had not received the complaint as of Tuesday afternoon, but would have no comment.

As with the other complaints, the allegations in Madison will be reviewed by outside counsel, which has asked the cities and state Election Administrator Meagan Wolfe to respond by June 15. Wolfe is named as a respondent in the complaint.

Emails show that Wolfe attempted to connect election officials in four Wisconsin cities with one of CTCL’s partners. Wolfe, the complaint alleges, publicly signaled her approval of the funding plan in defiance of state law.

A spokeswoman for Rhodes-Conway, Madison’s mayor, did not respond to a request for comment. The city clerk’s office directed all questions to Madison City Attorney Mike Haas.

“If the WEC requires a response we will submit a response,” Haas said in a curt email.

Baldwin, who refers to herself as “the right Baldwin” in a city that’ is home to U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., said she wants to do her part to make sure every legal vote is counted.

“It’s critical that we all vote. We have to take that first step,” she said. “But I want my vote to count for the party I voted for, the individuals I voted for.”

In the end, Wisconsin’s five largest cities saw massive turnout, with Biden substantially benefiting from it.

The Democratic nominee won Milwaukee with nearly 79% of the vote to Trump’s 19.6%. In Milwaukee County, Biden claimed more than 69% of the vote.

In Dane County, home to far-left Madison, the state’s capital, Biden beat Trump 76% to 23%.

Biden won by more than 6,000 votes in the city of Kenosha, but lost Kenosha County to Trump, 50.8% to 47.7%.

Biden won Green Bay by about 4,000 votes, but lost surrounding Brown County to Trump, 52.8% to 45.6%. Trump also won Racine County with 51.3%, although Biden picked up more votes in the city of Racine.

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Montana Attorney General Bans Critical Race Theory

"End Racism Now" sign and "Black Lives Matter" in a crowd

The highest-ranking prosecutor in the state of Montana has declared Critical Race Theory to be a violation of state and federal law, and has banned the far-left theory in Montana’s schools, as reported by ABC News.

Attorney General Austin Knudsen (R-Mont.) made his announcement on Thursday, after he was asked for his opinion by the state’s Superintendent of Public Instruction Erise Arntzen (R-Mont.). His declaration bans the concept not only from Montana’s schools, but from employee training as well.

The far-left American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) released a statement criticizing Knudsen’s decision, falsely accusing him of attempting to “impose an alternate version of American history – one that erases the legacy of discrimination and lived experiences of black and brown people.”

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California Offering Awards Totaling $116.5M to Get Vaxxed

COVID Vaccine sticker

Governor Newsom announced Thursday a $116.5 million vaccine incentive program including $1.5 million in cash prizes to encourage Californians to get the COVID-19 vaccine.

California follows other states in offering big vaccine incentive payouts, New York is giving out scratch-off tickets for the chance to win up to $5 million, according to Politico.

“California has already made incredible progress in the fight against COVID-19, with the lowest case rates in the country while administering millions more vaccines than any other state,” Newsom said in a release. “But we aren’t stopping there, we’re doing everything it takes to get Californians vaccinated as we approach June 15 to help us fully reopen safely.”

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Commentary: Florida Governor DeSantis Strikes Back Against Big Tech Censorship

Person holding phone up in Times Square.

After months of aggressively censoring what it called “COVID-19 misinformation,” Facebook recently announced that it would no longer block user posts claiming that the coronavirus was “man-made” or “manufactured.” That’s because those posts, which typically referenced the work of scientists who supported the idea of a possible coronavirus “lab leak” from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, now appear to have been credible.

This entire episode should be extremely embarrassing for Facebook, a company so confident it has cornered the market on “truth” that it has made it their prerogative to “fact-check” individual user posts, banning anything that fails to comport with Silicon Valley’s extreme left-wing view of reality. Last year, Facebook banned an ad from the American Principles Project PAC claiming Joe Biden and the Democrats would destroy girls’ sports by supporting policies that allowed boys who identify as transgender to compete against girls.

Facebook said the ad was “missing context,” and so our PAC wasn’t allowed to communicate with voters. On Joe Biden’s first day as president, he signed an executive order specifically allowing these boys to compete in girls’ sports.

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Commentary: New York and New Jersey Are Among the Top 10 States Where Residents Pay the Highest Lifetime Taxes

Tax withholding forms

In the mood for a depressing statistic? A new report from the financial services firm Self concludes that the average American will pay an astounding $525,037 in taxes over their lifetime—roughly 34 percent of their lifetime earnings. 

But the numbers aren’t uniform across the country; they vary wildly from state to state. Based on taxes on earnings, spending, property, and cars, here are the 10 states where residents pay the highest taxes over a lifetime.

1. New Jersey

Topping the list is New Jersey, where residents will, on average, owe an astounding $932,000 in taxes over their lifetime. That’s nearly 50 percent of their typical lifetime earnings!

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Senators Propose $1 Billion to Aid DHS in Addressing Future Migrant Surges

Members of Galveston County S.W.A.T. work with with Customs and Border Protection Agents during Maritime Tactical Operations Group vessel boarding training in the Houston Ship Channel, Aug. 23, 2016.

Senators introduced legislation that would require federal agencies tasked with managing migration at the border to make strategic plans and allow access to $1 billion in contingency funding, lawmakers announced Friday.

Republican Ohio Sen. Rob Portman and Democratic Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly introduced the Border Response Resilience Act that would establish a $1 billion “Irregular Migration Border Response Fund” for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to provide food, clothing, blankets, and transportation for unaccompanied migrant minors and family members without having to transfer funding allocated to border security, according to the lawmakers. The act would require federal officials to make plans and “conduct exercises to improve the federal response to increased migration at the border.”

“DHS has been unprepared for unlawful migrant surges at our southern border in 2014, 2019, and again during the current crisis. This is unacceptable. DHS and other federal agencies must be able to respond immediately to the need for shelter for migrants as well as additional personnel to handle surging numbers of unlawful migrants at our border,” Portman said in a statement.

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