February 11, 2022 - The Virginia Star

Virginia House of Delegates Passes Seven Elections Reform Bills

February 11, 2022February 11, 2022 Eric Burk

The House of Delegates passed seven election-reforms bills on Thursday, including a bill to require photo identification to vote, a bill shortening early voting from 45 days to 14 days, and a bill requiring voters to submit absentee ballot requests for each election.

Delegate Phillip Scott (R-Spotsylvania) introduced HB 39 to shorten early voting. He said on the House Floor on Wednesday, “There’s been a lot of information out there about those who participate in early voting, there’s a lot of information about the strain that puts on the localities having to staff these locations, find places to host the early voting.”

Commentary: The Mystery of the Migrant Kids the Feds Are Spiriting into the U.S.

February 11, 2022February 10, 2022 RealClearWire

After months of delay, the Department of Homeland Security replied late last month to a Congressional demand for information about the number of illegal migrants the department has flown from border towns to communities around the country. In 2021, it said, 71,617 were dropped off in nearly 20 cities including locales as far from the Mexican border as Atlanta, Chicago, New York and Philadelphia.

Immigration experts critical of the Biden administration’s permissive immigration policies believe those numbers are incomplete, especially regarding the most vulnerable migrants, those under 18, whom DHS classifies as “unaccompanied children.” The agency says some 40,000 of the total transported are such minors, but that number is only a fraction of the 147,000 “encounters” the agency reports having with unaccompanied migrant children at the southern border between January and October 2021.

School District in Washington State Holding Racially Segregated Superintendent Search Meetings for Parents

February 11, 2022February 10, 2022 Susan Berry, PhD

A Washington school district plans to hold racially segregated meetings for parents and guardians who wish to participate in the search for a new superintendent.

As afternoon radio host Jason Rantz reported at MYNorthwest Wednesday, the Issaquah School District’s (ISD) weekly bulletin for February 7 listed its “upcoming events,” including separate meetings for “Parents/Guardians of Color.”

Dems Pivot on COVID Response, Attempt to Rewrite History

February 11, 2022February 10, 2022 Virginia Star Staff

With the midterm elections in sight, President Biden and fellow Democrats in Congress and governors’ mansions nationwide are completing a 180 on their COVID-19 response, abandoning the president’s promise to “shut down” the virus as Americans say they want to “get on with their lives.”

In the process, Democrats have begun to lift key COVID-19 restrictions and return to normal life — the same approach, long embraced by red states, that they once rebuked as cruel and dangerous. Yet Biden and his Democratic allies are now taking credit for ending the pandemic while adopting these same policies.

Report: Federal Unemployment Benefits Kept Millions from Returning to Work

February 11, 2022February 10, 2022 The Center Square

Increased federal benefits last year perpetuated unemployment and kept millions of Americans from returning to the workforce, a new study released Wednesday reports.

The Texas Public Policy Foundation published the report, which evaluated the impact of federal handouts, particularly the controversial federal unemployment payments of $300 per week. More than two dozen states opted out of the federal program before it was set to expire last year, citing the elevated joblessness, while blue states largely continued to take the federal money.

Commentary: The Department of Homeland Security Is Becoming the American Thought Police

February 11, 2022February 10, 2022 Virginia Star Staff

The Department of Homeland Security, which under the Biden Administration routinely lets watch-listed terrorists cross the southern border unmolested, and which approved entry to the United States for Colleyville Synagogue hostage-taker Malik Faisal Akram despite his being known to British authorities as a terror risk, has taken upon its broad bureaucratic shoulders an even more challenging job.

Stopping the flow of MDM.

ICE Deportations Decrease by 70 Percent Under Biden in 2021

February 11, 2022February 10, 2022 Virginia Star Staff

An annual report by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) reveals that the agency deported fewer illegal aliens in 2021 than in the preceding five years, with a staggering 70 percent drop from the number of deportations in 2020.

According to the Washington Free Beacon, ICE’s report showed that just under 55,600 illegals were deported in 2021. In 2020, by contrast, over 185,000 illegals were deported, while over 267,000 were deported in 2019.

Inflation Surges Far Above Projections

February 11, 2022February 10, 2022 Virginia Star Staff

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased 0.6% in January, bringing the key inflation indicator’s year-over-year increase to 7.5%, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported.

The CPI remained at its near four-decade high throughout January, growing 7.5% on a year-over-year basis, the BLS reported Wednesday. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal projected the index would rise around 7.2%.

Biden’s Average Approval Rating Drops Below 40 Percent

February 11, 2022February 10, 2022 Virginia Star Staff

President Joe Biden’s nationwide average job approval rating fell below 40% for the first time Thursday, multiple sources reported.

Biden’s mean approval rating sunk to 39.8% as of early Thursday, according to the Real Clear Politics average of major nationwide job performance polls. The figure is just 2.7 points above former President Donald Trump’s all-time low approval rating of 37.1% in December 2017, according to the Real Clear Politics average.

Commentary: Understanding Exchange-Traded Funds

February 11, 2022February 10, 2022 Virginia Star Staff

Now that it’s easier than ever to trade stocks and crypto thanks to apps like Robinhood and Etrade, it’s time to think about other options. People were quick to jump on the crypto bandwagon when Doge went to the moon in early to mid-2021, but the crypto crash later that year reminded everyone what an unsafe investment it really is. For those looking to diversify their investment portfolio, there are options beyond the new-school cryptocurrencies, or the traditional stocks and bonds. Keep reading to learn about exchange-traded funds or ETFs.

To put it as simply as possible, an exchange-traded fund is like taking a specific type of investment, say a commodity like gold, and collecting it together in a single group. Instead of buying gold on your own, you can invest in shares of a gold ETF. But why would you want to do that? Well, gold is expensive. To buy a meaningful amount you’d need to invest thousands of dollars. Not to mention you’d now have giant bars of gold lying around your house. You need far less capital to invest in an ETF. (And you don’t have a hoard of gold in your basement like some kind of dragon.)

PJTN’s Laurie Cardoza Moore Talks to John Fredericks and Puts School Board Members on Notice

February 11, 2022February 10, 2022 Julie Carr

Thursday morning on Outside the Beltway with John Fredericks, host Fredricks welcomed Proclaiming Justice to the Nation’s Laurie Cardoza-Moore to the program to discuss how parents can take over local school boards and her Taking Back America’s Children’s Summit this weekend in Orlando, Florida.

Lieutenant Governor Earle-Sears Breaks First Tie of Her Term

February 11, 2022February 10, 2022 Eric Burk

RICHMOND, Virginia – Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears cast her first tie-breaking vote in the Senate on Thursday. Senator Jeremy McPike (D-Prince William) voted with Republicans against SB 137, a bill that would allow defendants in most felony cases to appeal a judge’s discretionary sentence if the judge does not provide a “written explanation that adequately explains the sentence imposed[.]” When the 20-20 vote result was clear, Earle-Sears asked bill patron Senator John Edwards (D-Roanoke) and opponent Senator Mark Obenshain (R-Rockingham) to come to the dais, where they discussed the bill. Then, Earle-Sears voted against the bill.

“What I wanted to do was to give the patron an opportunity to talk to me about the bill in a way that I may not have, you know, heard before. And then I also wanted to hear the opposing view. I always want to give people the opportunity so that they can make their case. And as I was listening to all sides, what appeared to me was that the bill unfortunately is poorly written,”she told The Virginia Star.