September 20, 2021 - The Virginia Star

U.S. to Begin Expelling Thousands of Migrants in Del Rio, Texas, Effort to Include Flights to Haiti

September 20, 2021September 20, 2021 Virginia Star Staff

The Biden administration is expected to begin the large-scale expulsion Sunday of thousands of migrants encamped in the Texas border city of Del Rio, using several flights a day to return them to their home country.

The effort is expected to involve two to eight flights daily, sources told the Associated Press.

Migrants began arriving in Del Rio, a frequent destination for illegal immigrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, several days ago, huddling under a bridge while they wait to be processed by U.S. Border Patrol agents. Many of them are from Haiti.

Dow Plummets More Than 500 Points at Monday Open, Following Three Straight Weeks of Losses

September 20, 2021September 20, 2021 Virginia Star Staff

U.S. stocks shed more than 500 points as the markets opened Monday morning as emerging risks continue to become the September story for Wall Street.

The Dow Jones Industrial average fell 570 points – its biggest single day drop since mid-July. The S&P 500 lost 1.4%, while the tech-oriented Nasdaq Composite dropped 1.6%.

The sell-off comes as a the result of a number of investor concerns. On Tuesday, the Federal Reserve will begin a two-day meeting, which investors are worried will result in a decision that will pull stimulus funds as inflation continues to surge.

Small Business Group to Sue Biden over Vaccine Mandate

September 20, 2021September 19, 2021 Virginia Star Staff

The Job Creators Network announced plans to sue the Biden administration over its mandate requiring private sector workers to receive a COVID-19 vaccination.

The advocacy group said it would soon file a lawsuit alongside several of its small business members, according to a Thursday announcement. The Job Creators Network (JCN) argued the mandate would make hiring more difficult, harming small businesses that are already struggling to find workers amid a slowing economic recovery.

Commentary: Virginia, Not California, Will Provide Lessons for 2022

September 20, 2021September 19, 2021 Virginia Star Staff

In the wake of a big statewide campaign win of any kind, political pundits rev into overdrive with broad pronouncements about the takeaways and what the result reveals about the mood of the nation. Often, the results are more prosaic — simply the political status quo for that particular state or district in that specific slice of time.

Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom’s smackdown of the recall was no different this week. Few longtime state politicos were surprised by his ability to win big in solidly blue California.

Thousands of Migrants, Mostly From Haiti, Overwhelm Border Officials in Texas

September 20, 2021September 19, 2021 Virginia Star Staff

Thousands of Haitian migrants overwhelmed border officials in Del Rio, Texas, The New York Times reported on Thursday.

Border officials reportedly said that over 9,000 migrants, mostly from Haiti, were waiting to be processed under the Del Rio International Bridge, according to the Times. A few hundred migrants crossed the shallow section of the Rio Grande River to the temporary site earlier this week, and officials reportedly expect thousands more to show up over the next few days.

More Border Patrol agents will be deployed to the area “to immediately address the current level of migrant encounters and to facilitate a safe, humane and orderly process,” the agency said, the Times reported. Migrants are told to wait under the bridge to get out of the hot Texas sun in an effort to stem heat-related illness before they’re taken into custody.

Commentary: The Tedious Work of Politics

September 20, 2021September 19, 2021 Virginia Star Staff

In his crystalline column about the California recall and, by extension, the center-right populist movement in general, American Greatness Managing Editor Ben Boychuk singled out what must be done, namely “the tedious work of politics”:

That means laboring and building at the local level—beginning in our own neighborhoods. That means not only attending school board and city planning meetings but also running for those seemingly low-level posts because that’s how real candidates for higher office are made . . . [I]t is an argument for seeing the state as it is and changing course accordingly . . . Nobody was ever coming to save us. We can only save ourselves.

Arizona Attorney General Condemns Biden Administration’s Warning Label on Constitution, Declaration

September 20, 2021September 19, 2021 Virginia Star Staff

Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich condemned the National Archives Records Association’s (NARA) decision to label documents with a “harmful language” alert.

Brnovich demanded that NARA immediately remove the warning labels from documents including the Constitution, Declaration of Independence and Bill of Rights, in a Sept. 10 letter to the agency first obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation. The warning labels only serve to further divide Americans, the attorney general said.

“This is shameful action from the National Archives, and the misguided ‘alerts’ should be taken down immediately,” Brnovich wrote to U.S. Archivist David Ferriero. “There is nothing ‘harmful’ about our founding documents. These inspired writings governed the formation of our new country in the late 18th Century and provided the roadmap for it to grow into the greatest nation in history.”

FDA Says It Does Not Buy Fetal Tissue – Any More

September 20, 2021September 19, 2021 Virginia Star Staff

The Food and Drug Administration assured the Daily Caller News Foundation Friday that it has not entered into any contracts “for the purchase of human fetal tissue” since 2018.

The agency’s response follows the release of documentation obtained by Judicial Watch showing that the FDA procured fetal organs, tissue, and heads for research that involved “humanized mice.” Previous documents uncovered by Judicial Watch found that the FDA requested “fresh and never frozen” fetal organs.

“I’ve been doing this for 23 years. These documents we’ve gotten from the FDA and our other lawsuit…they are the worst things I’ve ever seen,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton told the Daily Caller News Foundation Friday. “The most troubling documents I’ve ever seen.”

Texas Tech to End ‘Anti-Racism’ Seminar that Separated Students by Skin Color

September 20, 2021September 19, 2021 Virginia Star Staff

Texas Tech University has cancelled an anti-racism seminar where students were segregated by race, the school told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Faculty and students were broken up into two groups within the “Allyship and Co-Conspirator” session of the “Deeply Rooted Conversations” training, Young America’s Foundation (YAF) reported based on documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request. YAF filed the requests for information in May 2021 after a student told the group about the “anti-racism” training.

“Upon reviewing materials from the ‘Deeply Rooted Conversations’ discussion series, we learned that some of the content does not align with our university values, and we have discontinued this program,” Matt Dewey, a spokesman for Texas Tech University, told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

‘The Numbers Are Skewed’: Colorado Officials Warn of Inflated COVID Death Statistics

September 20, 2021September 19, 2021 Virginia Star Staff

Multiple public officials in Colorado are warning that the state’s official COVID-19 death count is skewed due to the practice of conflating patients who have died directly due to the disease with those who have merely tested positive for it prior to death.

Data experts and health officials have long struggled to separate out those two key data points in government tallies of COVID deaths, leading to accusations that the death rate for the disease is being inflated modestly or even significantly.

Multiple public officials in Colorado, meanwhile, told “Full Measure” host Sharyl Attkisson that they had personally observed death tallies that erred on the side of COVID, leading to death counts that were effectively misleading to the public.

Internet Watchdog Says Ex-Intelligence Community Officials Are Echoing Big Tech Talking Points

September 20, 2021September 19, 2021 Virginia Star Staff

A warning by former national security officials about the dangers of regulating technology companies is in lockstep with arguments made by Big Tech chief executives, according to a report from an internet watchdog group.

A group of former intelligence community officials sent a letter Wednesday to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy arguing against the passage of a series of antitrust bills advanced in the House Judiciary Committee in June. The warnings echo talking points made by groups lobbying for the tech industry and major tech firms themselves, according to a report by the Internet Accountability Project, a nonprofit conservative advocacy group focused on issues related to Big Tech.

The intelligence community officials argued the bills would make the U.S. less competitive with China and could even compromise America’s national security.

Blinken Replaces ‘Controversial’ Pro-Hong Kong Tweet with Milder Statement

September 20, 2021September 19, 2021 Virginia Star Staff

Secretary of State Antony Blinken took down a tweet he posted Thursday saying the U.S. would “stand with the people of Hong Kong,” the South China Morning Post reported.

“Beijing should let the voices of all Hong Kongers be heard. The PRC’s disqualification of district councillors only weakens Hong Kong’s long-term political and social stability,” Blinken said in the tweet, as shown in screenshots from the South China Morning Post.

“We stand with the people of Hong Kong & continue to support their human rights & fundamental freedoms,” he added. Blinken took down his tweet on Friday, later replacing it with a milder message, South China Morning Post reported.

Commentary: Like His Hero, FDR, Joe Biden Shambles His Way Through History, Leaving the World to Wonder Who is Captaining this Ship of State

September 20, 2021September 19, 2021 Virginia Star Staff

The distant eyes and slack mouth, the befuddled shuffle off the walkway, recurrent unexplained schedule gaps and public disappearances, and off-the-wall comments finally make Joe Biden a pale copy of his hero, Franklin D. Roosevelt.

In wrapping up a war and realigning the world order, the first eight months of Biden as president resemble the last years of Roosevelt—except that FDR was on the cusp of victory against an avowed enemy.

CDC: Childhood Obesity Increased Dramatically During COVID Pandemic

September 20, 2021September 19, 2021 Virginia Star Staff

According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), childhood obesity rates skyrocketed during the COVID-19 pandemic to “substantial and alarming” levels, as reported by Fox News.

The CDC’s findings, released on Thursday, determined that increases in obesity were most prevalent among children who were already overweight before the pandemic started, but found a “profound increase in weight gain for kids” across the board. Overall, the study determined that 22 percent of American children and teenagers were obese in August of 2020, which marked an increase of 3 percent from August of 2019.

Faculty in Universities Unwilling to Sponsor of Conservative Student Clubs

September 20, 2021September 19, 2021 Virginia Star Staff

Conservative students across the country are facing difficulty when they attempt to start a right-leaning student organization on campus due to a lack of faculty members willing to serve as the advisor.

Most universities require prospective student organizations to obtain a faculty advisor before the school will consider recognizing the organization as an official on-campus club.

Music Spotlight: Creed Fisher

September 20, 2021September 20, 2021 Bethany Bowman

With over 22 million combined streams on Spotify and over 17 million views on YouTube with past releases like “Life of A Workin’ Man,” “The Way That I Am,” and “Old School” Texas-born and bred southern rock artist Creed Fisher is one of the most streamed and popular artists I have ever featured.

Fisher hails from Odessa, Texas, where his family’s roots trace back to his granddad, who was highly involved in the oil game back in the fifties. He started writing songs/poems at age nine. He states that “it wasn’t very good” but it was the beginning of his fruitful songwriting career.

Report: Law Enforcement Regularly Uses Google Data to Identify Suspects in Criminal Investigations

September 20, 2021September 19, 2021 Virginia Star Staff

Police are reportedly increasingly using Google data to identify suspects in criminal investigations, a trend that has experts warning about possible privacy and civil liberty concerns.

“Geofence location warrants and reverse search warrants” are “increasingly becoming the tool of choice for law enforcement,” according to The Guardian.

Arizona Senate Candidate Blake Masters’ Plans to Tackle Big Tech’s ‘Predatory’ Business Practices

September 20, 2021September 19, 2021 Virginia Star Staff

Arizona Senate candidate Blake Masters wants to break up Big Tech and ban their business practices he believes are harmful.

“I think Republicans need to reacquaint themselves with their history of antitrust enforcement, and realize huge concentrations of power in private hands can violate people’s liberties just as much as government,” Masters said in an interview with the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Masters, who announced his candidacy in July, serves as chief operating officer at investment firm Thiel Capital and runs the Thiel Foundation, a philanthropic organization founded by billionaire investor and PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel. He competes in a crowded Republican primary with fellow candidate and current Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich for the chance to unseat incumbent Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly in 2022.

Commentary: Joe Biden’s Political Prisoners

September 20, 2021September 19, 2021 Virginia Star Staff

The latest “conspiracy theory” consuming the political Right, our media betters warn, is the idea that the Biden regime is creating a class of political prisoners stemming from the January 6 protest on Capitol Hill. Scoffing at accusations that January 6 protesters are treated differently from other protesters, columnists and talking heads insist it’s nothing more than right-wing media spin.

A rally scheduled this weekend for January 6 defendants has official Washington apoplectic. Dozens of Americans remain locked up in a D.C. jail and at facilities across the country as they await trials that won’t begin until at least mid-2022.

Voting Reform Bill Reintroduced after Pennsylvania Governor’s Veto

September 20, 2021September 19, 2021 The Center Square

The prime sponsor of a vetoed voting reform bill said Friday he reintroduced the measure after Gov. Tom Wolf shifted his public opinion on some components of the legislation over the summer.

Rep. Seth Grove, R-York, said House Bill 1800 would bolster voting rights “through three broad concepts of increased access, increased security and modernization.”

“We know access and security are not mutually exclusive,” he said.

Memo Shows Border Patrol Is Experiencing ‘Critical Shortages’ of Frontline Personnel

September 20, 2021September 19, 2021 Virginia Star Staff

An internal memo within U.S. Customs and Border Protection shows that agency leaders are warning of a major shortage of personnel amid a surge of immigration activity at the country’s southern border.

The memo, dispatched on Sept. 17 and obtained by Just the News via a source, warns that Border Patrol “continues to experience critical shortages of frontline personnel due to the rising encounters of individuals attempting to enter the United States without proper authorization along the Southwest Border.”

Fairfax, Arlington, and Alexandria Approve Plastic Bag Taxes

September 20, 2021September 19, 2021 Eric Burk

Five-cent taxes on single-use plastic bags are spreading across Virginia’s more urban localities. On Saturday, Arlington County and the City of Alexandria adopted the local tax ordinances, while Fairfax County adopted a similar ordinance on September 14. The taxes take effect on January 1, 2022.

“Arlington is proud to take this step to reduce plastic bag waste in our community and to do so with our regional partners,” Arlington County Board Chair Matt de Ferranti said in a press release. “We have long sought the legal authority for this small fee as a way to protect our environment and become a more sustainable community. We look forward to working with residents and neighbors on implementation.”

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