Month: March 2022

Analysis: Biden’s Green Transition May Usher In More Energy Insecurity

Admin

The Biden administration has pushed green energy in the wake of the Ukraine crisis — saying it would ensure U.S. energy independence — but has failed to address foreign mining and refining dominance, the key to renewable energy security, according to industry leaders.

The administration has argued that renewable energy technologies, like solar, wind and electric vehicles, aren’t dependent on fossil fuels and would lead to lower costs for consumers over the long term, a line of argument that Democratic lawmakers have also parroted in recent days. On Wednesday, the average price of gasoline nationwide reached $4.25 per gallon as of March 9, the highest level in history and more than 52% higher than a year ago, according to AAA data.

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Inflation Expected to Get Worse This Year

The Center Square

Gas prices and inflation hit yet another high this week, raising more concerns about the impact on regular Americans and the future of the U.S. economy.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics Thursday reported that the Consumer Price index, a major marker of inflation, rose 7.9% in the previous 12 months.

“The 12-month increase has been steadily rising and is now the largest since the period ending January 1982,” BLS said. “The all items less food and energy index rose 6.4 percent, the largest 12-month change since the period ending August 1982. The energy index rose 25.6 percent over the last year, and the food index increased 7.9 percent, the largest 12-month increase since the period ending July 1981.”

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Jussie Smollett Sentenced to Jail for Hate Crime Hoax

Admin

Jussie Smollett received a sentence of 150 days in jail and 30 months of probation while the judge slammed the actor as “profoundly arrogant, selfish and narcissistic” for faking a hate crime in Chicago in 2019.

The former Empire actor will also be forced to pay $120,000 in restitution and a $25,000 fine, Fox News’ Matt Finn reports.

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Virginia Senate Blocks Confirmation of Youngkin Parole Board Appointees as Retaliation for House Blocking Northam-era Appointees

Eric Burk

RICHMOND, Virginia – The Democrat-controlled Senate voted against confirming five Youngkin nominees, including the whole parole board and one Safety and Health Codes Board member. In February, Senate Democrats blocked confirmation of former Trump EPA chief Andrew Wheeler to serve as Youngkin’s Secretary of Natural Resources. In response, on February 12 the Republican-controlled House of Delegates blocked confirmation of 11 Northam-era appointments, including the Board of Education.

Senate Privileges and Elections Committee Chair Adam Ebbin (D-Alexandria) said the move was necessary to send a message to the House.

“I really don’t understand why this is so shocking. […] Where was the outrage when the House crossed off the Teacher of the Year from a resolution, and the former Hanover superintendent of schools,” Ebbin said in the Senate. “We talk about deescalation. We started trying to deescalate this on Friday, February 11 with a visit to the Speaker. I spoke to him that weekend, he suggested getting together around a table, but I’ve not heard from him since on that topic or others.”

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As Budget Negotiations Continue, Gov. Youngkin and Virginia Legislators Make Last-Minute Pitch for Pet Proposals

Eric Burk

As legislators work towards a budget compromise balancing increased spending with revenue losses from tax cuts, Governor Glenn Youngkin and legislators are continuing to argue for their positions.

“The idea that we have to choose between tax relief and our shared priorities is a false choice. It is critical that we do our part to reduce the tax burden on our citizens, particularly at a time when present receipts continue to be as robust as they are,” Youngkin wrote in a Wednesday Richmond Times-Dispatch column.

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Child ‘Grooming’ Summer Camp Teaches 3rd-5th Graders Gender ‘Spectrum,’ Sexual Kinks

Susan Berry, PhD

A “sexuality educator” is hosting what is advertised as a summer “sex ed camp” in Indianapolis for children in grades three to five, who will be instructed in the gender “spectrum,” sexual kinks, and condom usage, according to reports of the camp’s events page, which has now been taken down after much negative publicity.

“An entire summer camp devoted to Sex Education for 10-12 year olds,” Chalkboard Review Executive Director Tony Kinnett noted Monday on Twitter, and provided the camp’s Eventbrite ad, which, however, is no longer online.

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Commentary: Ukraine Worked with Democrats Against Trump in 2016 to Stop Putin and the Bet Backfired Badly

RealClearWire
Joe Biden and Petro Poroshenko

Six years ago, before Russia’s full-scale invasion of their country, the Ukrainians bet that a Hillary Clinton presidency would offer better protection from Russian President Vladimir Putin, even though he had invaded Crimea during the Obama-Biden administration, whose Russian policies Clinton vowed to continue.

Working with both the Obama administration and the Clinton campaign, Ukrainian government officials intervened in the 2016 race to help Clinton and hurt Trump in a sweeping and systematic foreign influence operation that’s been largely ignored by the press. The improper, if not illegal, operation was run chiefly out of the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington, where officials worked hand-in-glove with a Ukrainian-American activist and Clinton campaign operative to attack the Trump campaign. The Obama White House was also deeply involved in an effort to groom their own favored leader in Ukraine and then work with his government to dig up dirt on – and even investigate — their political rival.

Ukrainian and Democratic operatives also huddled with American journalists to spread damaging information on Trump and his advisers – including allegations of illicit Russian-tied payments that, though later proved false, forced the resignation of his campaign manager Paul Manafort. The embassy actually weighed a plan to get Congress to investigate Manafort and Trump and stage hearings in the run-up to the election.

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The Star News Network Interviews Author Peter Schweizer About Mitch McConnell’s Links to China

Julie Carr

  TRANSCRIPT: McCabe: In his new book Red-Handed, investigative journalist Peter Schweizer documents how the senate’s top republican, Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell, is tied through his wife to the top leadership of the Chinese Communist Party. He also told The Star News Network that his wife, Elaine Chao, as transportation…

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Schweizer: The Titans of Wall Street Are Among China’s Closest American Allies

Julie Carr

TRANSCRIPT: McCabe: One of the great ironies in investigative journalist Peter Schweizer’s new book Red-Handed is the degree to which the Chinese Communist Party has infiltrated the very heart of American capitalism on Wall Street. Schweizer told The Star News Network that the titans of Wall Street are among China’s…

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Commentary: The Green Immoralists

Virginia Star Staff
President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry participate in a virtual meeting of the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate, Thursday, September 17, 2021, in the South Court Auditorium of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building at the White House. (Official White House Photo by Adam Schultz)

Thousands are dying from Russian missiles and bombs in the suburbs of Ukraine.

In response, the Biden Administration’s climate-change envoy, multimillionaire and private-jet owning John Kerry, laments that Russian president Vladimir Putin might no longer remain his partner in reducing global warming.

“You’re going to lose people’s focus,” Kerry frets. “You’re going to lose big-country attention because they will be diverted, and I think it could have a damaging impact”

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Alexis Martinez Johnson Is Effectively the Republican Nominee for New Mexico’s 3rd Congressional District

Aaron Gulbransen
Alexis Martinez Johnson

Engineer and mom Alexis Martinez Johnson is effectively the Republican nominee for New Mexico’s 3rd Congressional District.

Martinez Johnson achieved over 87 percent of the vote in the recent 3rd-district GOP pre-primary convention. While Martinez Johnson still technically has to run in primary, because of her strong showing at the pre-primary convention, no other candidate is on the ballot.

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Ballot Bombshells: 20 Episodes Exposing Fraud, Illegalities and Irregularities in 2020 Election

Virginia Star Staff

After the 2020 election ended with Joe Biden declared the winner, the federal cybersecurity agency declared it was a perfectly secure vote. Months later, federal prosecutors admitted two Iranian nationals hacked into a state’s database and stole the identities of 100,000 voters in an effort to influence the election.

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Inflation Soars to Another Four-Decade High

Virginia Star Staff

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased 0.8% in February, bringing the key inflation indicator’s year-over-year increase to 7.9%, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported.

The core price index, which measures inflation of goods less food and energy, increased 0.5% in February, the BLS reported. Food prices reportedly grew 7.9% on a year-over-year basis as of February, the BLS reported, and energy prices soared 25.6%.

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Democrats Block GOP Bill That Would Restart Keystone XL, Federal Oil Lease Program

Virginia Star Staff

Democrats voted down a motion to consider GOP legislation that would reverse several Biden administration energy policies, according to Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s office.

During the vote Wednesday evening, 219 Democrats voted against consideration of the American Energy Independence from Russia Act offered by Republican Texas Rep. Dan Crenshaw, McCarthy’s office said. The legislation was introduced by Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Cathy McMorris Rodgers and Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Bruce Westerman on Feb. 28.

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New U.S. Solar Panel Installations Set to Crater Thanks to Inflation, Supply Chain Issues

Virginia Star Staff

Solar panel installations are set to decrease in 2022 off of major supply chain issues and rising prices caused by inflation, according to an industry report.

New utility or large-scale industrial solar installations are expected to experience a decline of 14% year-over-year in 2022, the report published Thursday by the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and Wood Mackenzie showed. Utility-scale solar projects saw an average price increase of 18% over the last year.

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Virginia’s Entire Congressional Delegation Votes for Ban on Russian Energy Imports

Eric Burk

Virginia’s entire congressional delegation, Republicans and Democrats, voted Wednesday in favor of a ban on Russian energy imports. The bill passed 414 to 17, with two progressive representatives and several America-First Republicans voting against the bill.

“Tonight, I voted to send a unified message to Vladimir Putin that we do not wish to enrich Russia as it continues its unjustified invasion into Ukraine. Unfortunately, this legislation and President Biden’s ban will have little practical effect on Russia’s energy profits without a unified effort from our friends in Europe. I call on the Biden Administration to do more to rally the alliance he claims to have built to this cause and impose real economic sanctions on Russia,” Congressman Bob Good (R-VA-05) said in a press release.

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Virginia Prohibition on School Mask Mandates to Be Determined by Courts

The Center Square

A new Virginia law prohibits school divisions from enforcing face mask mandates, but at least one school district and some parents are suing the commonwealth to overturn the legislation.

Senate Bill 739, which Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed into law in February, allows parents to opt their children out of any school-imposed mask rules. Under the legislation, which school districts were required to comply with beginning March 1, school officials are prohibited from using any disciplinary or academic punishments to enforce mask rules if a parent opted a student out.

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The Star News Network Interviews Author Peter Schweizer About Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s Ties to China

Julie Carr

McCabe: Investigative journalist Peter Schweizer in his new book ‘Red-Handed,’ reveals how California Democratic senator Dianne Feinstein and her husband Richard Blum are politically and financially committed to the success of the communist party in China.

Schweizer told The Star News Network that Feinstein literally danced with one of the men responsible for the crackdown at Tiananmen Square.

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Schweizer: U.S. Institutions of Higher Learning Fail to Report Millions of Dollars from China

Julie Carr

TRANSCRIPT: McCabe: Investigative journalist Peter Schweizer, in his new book Red-Handed, reports how the Chinese Communist Party has targeted American institutions of higher learning. Schweizer told The Star News Network how these institutions, after receiving funds from communist China, have worked to suppress criticism of the communist regime there and…

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Commentary: Sanctions Are an Act of War

Virginia Star Staff

The United States is at war with Russia. Without a vote in Congress, a specific announcement by the president, or even meaningful awareness on the part of the bulk of the populace, the United States has stumbled into conflict with another nuclear power. 

True enough, American “boots on the ground” are not yet (openly) engaged in combat in Ukraine. But the devastating sanctions put in place unilaterally by Joe Biden on Russian property constitute an act of war nonetheless. On Tuesday morning, Biden announced he was unilaterally banning the importation of Russian fuel and oil products into the United States. This decision is a direct attack on the Russian economy. It is designed to dictate a certain political outcome to the Russian government. 

Such a dramatic act, therefore, constitutes participation in armed conflict against the Russian regime. It is an act of war. 

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Prominent Critical Race Theory Activist Admits Anti-CRT Parents Winning the ‘Language War’

Susan Berry, PhD

Video has surfaced from late August of prominent Critical Race Theory (CRT) activist and Columbia University law professor Kimberlé Crenshaw, who said she fears the left is losing the “language war” against anti-CRT parents and their advocates, and that the radical left-wing ideology will ultimately go the way of ACORN.

“I think that when we’re caught in a ‘Is it CRT or not CRT [debate],’ they win,” Crenshaw said as she headlined an event at Oak Bluffs Union Chapel in Martha’s Vineyard, American Wire News reported. “That’s the whole point of throwing this in.”

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Democrats Currently Lead in National Redistricting Efforts with Four States Still Completing Process

Aaron Gulbransen

Democrats currently have the lead in redistricting efforts with four states still working on new maps.

Forty states, 46 if the states that have one congressional district are included, have finished the process of drawing new maps for U.S. House of Representatives districts. Only Florida, Missouri, Louisiana, and New Hampshire have yet to finish their redistricting process.

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Commentary: We Have to Be Strategic About Strategic Material Production

Virginia Star Staff

The most important duty of government is to provide for the security of its citizens. Providing that security is a complex enterprise. Its most obvious feature is military power: providing the surface naval, air, and space forces necessary to protect national interests. Of course, military power depends on economic power. In today’s security environment, that means maintaining the capability to provide for both the prosperity of American citizens as well the high tech weaponry necessary for modern warfare.

While the world’s attention is focused on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, we need to keep in mind that the People’s Republic of China is America’s foremost adversary. While the United States dominated the “third industrial revolution” based on computation and communications, China seeks to lead the “fourth industrial revolution” based on metadata and artificial intelligence. China’s grand strategy is focused on achieving that goal. For example, Beijing has employed its Belt and Road Initiative in combination with digital technology in order to integrate billions of people into China’s economic sphere.

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Undersecretary of State Victoria Nuland Admits There Are U.S.-Funded Bio Research Labs in Ukraine

Virginia Star Staff

Undersecretary of State Victoria Nuland admitted during a Senate hearing on Tuesday that there are biological research facilities in Ukraine that are under the control of the United States government.

In response to a question from Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Nuland said that any chemical or biological weapons release in Ukraine, would be the fault of the Russian invaders.

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Congress Requests DOJ Investigate Amazon for Alleged ‘Criminal Conduct’

Virginia Star Staff

Bipartisan members of the House Judiciary Committee sent a letter to the Department of Justice (DOJ) on Wednesday requesting an investigation into Amazon for alleged criminal obstruction of the committee’s probe into the tech giant.

The letter, sent to Attorney General Merrick Garland, alleged Amazon misled committee members and engaged in “potentially criminal conduct” during a 15-month investigation into competition in digital markets. The letter was signed by House Judiciary Committee Chair Democratic New York Rep. Jerry Nadler, Democratic Rhode Island Rep. David Cicilline, Republican Colorado Rep. Ken Buck, Democratic Washington Rep. Pramila Jayapal and Republican Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz.

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Job Openings Remain Near Record High

Virginia Star Staff

Job openings in the U.S. remained near their record high while the number of Americans who quit their jobs remained relatively unchanged.

The U.S saw 11.3 million job openings in January, down slightly from December’s revised 11.4 million, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Data provided by FactSet estimated job openings would dip to 10.9 million, according to CNBC.

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Report: Biden Requests for Oil Negotiations Ignored by Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates

Virginia Star Staff

The governments of both Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) allegedly refused to answer phone calls from Joe Biden when he attempted to start up negotiations on the purchase of oil from the two energy-rich nations.

According to the New York Post, an anonymous Biden Administration official said that Biden’s attempts to reach Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and the UAE’s Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al Nahyan were deliberately ignored by both leaders.

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Hidden Video Reportedly Captures New York Times Reporter Calling January 6 Coverage an ‘Overreaction’

Virginia Star Staff

A national security correspondent for The New York Times said the media’s coverage of the Capitol Riot was “overblown” and that the events of Jan. 6, 2021 were “no big deal,” according to undercover video released Tuesday by Project Veritas.

NYT correspondent Matthew Rosenberg and his colleagues have described the reported presence of FBI plants among the rioters outside of the U.S. Capitol a year earlier as a “reimagining” of the “attack.” But in the Project Veritas video, which appears to have been recorded without his knowledge, Rosenberg paints a different picture and claims that “there were a ton of FBI informants amongst the people who attacked the capitol.”

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Commentary: Even with ‘Defund the Police’ Discredited, Some Schools May Still Shun the Police

RealClearWire
Des Moines Police standing at a crime scene

Des Moines this week suffered its first fatal school shooting – reigniting a controversy in the city after the district removed police officers from its schools last year.

Police say a group of teenagers in vehicles outside Des Moines’ East High School fired multiple rounds onto school property on Monday, killing a 15-year-old boy and critically wounding two female students who were bystanders. Six teenagers, some of them current Des Moines students, have been charged with first-degree murder.

The deadly drive-by shooting now hovers over the decision by Des Moines officials, along with about 30 districts across the country, to exile cops from schools. These moves were part of the “defund the police” movement that erupted after the murder of George Floyd in 2020. It’s a movement now reeling in the face of violent crime surging nationwide, punctuated by President Biden’s State of the Union vow last week to “fund the police.”

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Virginia Senate Passes Gutted Race-Blind Governor’s School Admissions Bill

Eric Burk

RICHMOND, Virginia – In a bipartisan 26-13 vote, the Senate passed a stripped-down version of a House of Delegates bill to require race-blind admissions procedures in Virginia’s Governor’s schools; that version will have to go back to the House for approval.

Senator Chap Petersen (D-Fairfax City) advocated for HB 127 on the Senate floor on Tuesday; he noted that about 90 percent of the House bill had been removed.

“We really are only left with two paragraphs,” Petersen said. “Everything else frankly we did away with. And the two paragraphs, one has to do with no discrimination based on race or ethnicity, which is the current Title IX standard, and the second would just simply say that  all school divisions should make sure that each middle school has a program in place to prepare children to apply for Governor’s schools.”

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General Assembly Passes Dog-Breeder-for-Testing Oversight Bills; Sen. Stanley Celebrates with Puns

Eric Burk

Both the House of Delegates and the Senate unanimously passed several of Senator Bill Stanley’s (R-Franklin) bills on Monday and Tuesday to regulate dog breeders, the result of bipartisan work spurred by dramatic reports at a Virginia beagle-breeder-for-medical-testing Envigo. The bills are now headed to Governor Glenn Youngkin’s desk. An outright ban on the practice sponsored by Senator Jennifer Boysko (D-Fairfax) is set to die in the House Agriculture, Chesapeake, and Natural Resources Committee after being passed by the Senate. Oversight bills from Bosyko and Senator David Marsden (D-Fairfax) are also doomed in the same committee.

“I want to thank all of you for the hard work that y’all did. We had the Envigo incident and Senator Boysko, Senator Marsden, Senator [Barbara Favola (D-Arlington)], Senator [Travis Hackworth (R-Tazewell)], Delegates [Rob Bell (R-Albemarle)] and [Bobby Orrock (R-Carolina)] worked very hard to make sure that we’re going to hold those people that breed dogs, especially beagles, for scientific purposes, accountable,” Stanley said.

In one of his floor-speech comedy routines, on Monday, Stanley exhorted senators to adopt beagles rescued from the facility. Stanley said that there were 480 beagles that were overbred during the pandemic and that Envigo was allowing them to be adopted instead of euthanized. Half of those have already been adopted.

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Exclusive: Former Teen Sex Educator Schools Parents on Sound Strategy to Deal with Pornographic Books

Susan Berry, PhD
Monica Cline

A former Title X family planning instructor who was trained by Planned Parenthood and then taught at sex ed conferences for teens told The Star News Network parents who are outraged to hear about sexualized curricula in schools should plan an organized grassroots effort that involves sound research and documentation.

In an extensive interview with The Star News Network, Monica Cline stressed parents with concerns about sexualized books available to their children in school should join with other like-minded parents and approach the situation with logic and sufficient research to make sound arguments to school boards.

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Commentary: Reject Liz Cheney’s War

Virginia Star Staff
Liz Cheney

After nearly two weeks, the conflict between Russia and Ukraine continues with the Russian military steadily gaining ground and methodically taking control of key assets such as highways, bridges, airports, and power plants. As the Russians advance, they are also encircling and cutting off the main concentrations of the Ukrainian military. If those encirclements are completed, it could get ugly.

It’s into that cauldron that U.S. Representative Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) would plunge the United States. On “Face the Nation” last week Cheney was nothing short of bellicose calling for escalation across the board.

Cheney wants Biden to expand already sweeping sanctions and seize the Russian Central Bank’s foreign reserves. Weaponizing the dollar and the banking system in this way, she apparently fails to realize, carries with it risks to dollar-supremacy and the global dominance of American financial institutions. As other nations watch America use the dollar and important elements of the international banking infrastructure such as the SWIFT system as weapons, they will realize their own vulnerability and take steps to protect themselves from U.S.-dominated financial systems. China already offers alternatives and Biden’s actions are the best advertising for those systems they could ask for.

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Commentary: The FBI Goes on Trial in the Whitmer Case

Virginia Star Staff
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer

Jury selection begins in a Grand Rapids courtroom Tuesday morning in the federal trial of four men accused of conspiring to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer in 2020.

The long-awaited trial centers on the question of whether a loose band of misfits angry at pandemic lockdowns hatched a sinister plot to abduct Whitmer from her vacation cottage and possibly kill her—or if the foiled caper was yet another successful attempt by the Federal Bureau of Investigation to interfere in a election and sabotage Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.

Timing of the trial could not be worse for the scandal-plagued agency quickly losing the trust of the American people. Top FBI officials refuse to account for its role in the events of January 6, 2021, raising concerns even among some in Congress that FBI assets acted improperly before and during that day. The first trials of January 6 defendants start this month but the Justice Department has yet to make hundreds of thousands of FBI files available to defense attorneys.

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One Year After Refusing to Negotiate with ‘Dictator’ Maduro, Biden Changes Course over Oil

Virginia Star Staff

Just one year after refusing to negotiate with Venezuelan “dictator” Nicolas Maduro, President Biden appears to have changed course.

Democrats and Republicans have put pressure on Biden to cut off Russian oil imports over Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s escalating invasion of Ukraine. Russia and Venezuela are partners in several areas including oil. Putin and Maduro recently discussed increasing a “strategic partnership,” according to Reuters.

Reports of the negotiations preceded an expected announcement Tuesday morning by President Biden that the U.S. will ban oil imports from Russia.

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Over 2 Million Refugees Have Fled from Ukraine amid Invasion, United Nations Says

Virginia Star Staff

More than two million refugees have fled Ukraine since Russia invaded the country, according to data from the United Nations refugee agency released Monday.

The agency said as many as four million people might leave Ukraine as a result of the crisis, with more than one million fleeing in the first week of the attack.

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Analysis: White House Keeps Misleading Public on Oil, Gas Leasing

Virginia Star Staff
Oil rig at sunset/sunrise

The White House has repeatedly suggested the private sector can boost oil supply amid surging gas prices, but industry groups have countered that the administration has placed hurdles for new drilling.

“There are 9,000 unused, approved drilling permits,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters Monday. “So I would suggest you ask the oil companies why they’re not using those if there’s a desire to drill more.”

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Federal Judge Orders Biden Administration to Halt Release of Illegal Alien Minors

Virginia Star Staff

On Friday, a federal judge in Texas ordered the Biden Administration to stop its mass releasing of illegal alien minors into the country after they come across the southern border.

Breitbart reports that the ruling came from Judge Mark Pittman of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, who was appointed by President Donald Trump in 2019. Pittman’s order forbids the Biden Administration from releasing any more illegals by declaring them exempt from Title 42, an immigration policy first enacted by President Trump which allowed immigration authorities to immediately deport illegals after apprehending them. The policy was one of several strict immigration measures implemented shortly after the coronavirus outbreak, citing health concerns with regards to the high number of unhealthy people crossing the border and potentially spreading the disease even further.

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U.S. Trade Deficit Hit a Record High in January

Virginia Star Staff
Several cargo boxes on a ship in the ocean

The U.S. trade deficit continued to grow in January as the import-export gap widened to a record high, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The trade deficit reached $89.7 billion in January, up $7.7 billion from December 2021’s $82 billion figure, the Census Bureau announced Tuesday. Economists surveyed by the WSJ predicted a January trade deficit figure of just $87.2 billion.

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Biden Expected to Sign First Executive Order Regulating Cryptocurrency

Virginia Star Staff

Joe Biden is set to sign an executive order that will begin the process of regulating the trading of cryptocurrency, as crypto becomes a viable alternative for Russians seeking to avoid the impact of economic sanctions.

According to ABC News, at least two anonymous Biden Administration officials said that the order will be issued this week, and has allegedly been in the planning stage since before the Russian invasion of Ukraine in late February. The order will outline the various steps that government agencies, including the Treasury Department, are to take to begin the process of imposing regulations on the buying and selling of digital currencies.

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With Tight Schedule, Virginia Budget Compromise May Not Be Ready for Weekend Vote, Which Would Force General Assembly Session Extension

Eric Burk

RICHMOND, Virginia – Legislators are meeting in behind-the-scenes meetings to try to finalize a budget compromise before the General Assembly is set to adjourn on Saturday, but are divided by a House of Delegates desire for substantial tax cuts and a Senate desire for higher state employee salaries plus a desire to preserve more future tax revenues. House Appropriations Chair Barry Knight (R-Virginia Beach) said that negotiations may take too long to have a compromise ready for a weekend vote, although he emphasized that his Senate counterparts including Finance Chair Janet Howell (D-Fairfax) are cooperating in good faith.

“I think with the time constraints that we have, with the two bodies doing our business, I’m not sure we’re going to make it,” Knight told reporters on Tuesday.

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As Gas Prices Reach Record Highs, Biden Bans Russian Oil Imports

The Center Square

President Joe Biden announced a ban on the importation of Russian oil, coal and gas as a response to the nation’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine just as gas prices in the U.S. reached a record high Tuesday.

Biden said Tuesday that the decision was intended to “inflict further pain” on Russian President Vladimir Putin and defund his war in Ukraine. He also acknowledged it would further raise the price of gasoline for Americans.

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Menthol Cigarettes Ban Could Cost Virginia More Than $121 Million in First Year

The Center Square

A recent report found a nationwide ban on the sale of menthol cigarettes could cost Virginia hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue.

If the proposed Food and Drug Administration ban on menthols was to go into effect, the commonwealth would lose more than $121.6 million in its first full year of implementation, according to a report from the Tax Foundation. The losses would be caused by lower excise tax revenue, lower sales tax revenue and lower Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) payments.

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Commentary: ‘Wokeness’ on Energy Is Weakness

Admin

As Joe Biden’s approval numbers sink further into the sewer, the only thing he’s building back better is 1970s-style inflation. Up until Biden, most polls usually named Jimmy Carter as one of the weakest and most inept presidents we’ve ever had. That was until Biden showed up and said, “Hold my beer!” Which you have to know has brought so much joy to Carter. Heck, he probably has a set of “Let’s go Brandon!” PJs that he wears every night as he thanks God for the gift of Biden. 

Fact is, this country is now being “led” by a man who absolutely will go down as one of the worst presidents in our history. In just over a year, Biden has brought inflation roaring back to levels not seen in 40 years, has destroyed our southern border as millions of illegal aliens, along with Chinese fentanyl, flood the country, and now we have been involved in two major international debacles with Afghanistan and Ukraine. The list could go on, but perhaps that’s too depressing. 

Rest assured, however, it’s not going to get better. Biden is like the anti-Midas, turning everything he touches into crap.

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Commentary: Trump Was Right Again About the U.S. Subsidizing Europeans’ Healthcare and Defense

Admin

It took Russia’s naked aggression against Ukraine for Germany to admit that Donald Trump was right all along: Europe needs to stop relying on U.S. subsidies and spend more on its own defense. 

In a stunning policy reversal, Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced that Germany would do what Trump was long urging and commit at least two percent of GDP to defense spending. 

That the United States has been subsidizing Europe’s defense is well known, thanks mainly to Trump’s harping on it. Another thing Trump thundered about, correctly, is that the United States also subsidizes Europe’s socialized healthcare. Pharmaceutical companies rely upon sky-high U.S. drug prices to render economically viable their ability to sell drugs in other countries. The United States thereby subsidizes socialized healthcare in the rest of the world, especially in the wealthiest European countries. 

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Commentary: Debunking the Myth That Minimum Wage Laws Are ‘Progressive’

Admin

The minimum wage is a sort of litmus test. And not only for economists. For social justice advocates, too.

Forget, for a moment, the economics of it. In essence, minimum wage legislation imposes compulsory unemployment on the poor, the unskilled, racial minorities, the young, the physically and even more so the mentally handicapped—the very people all men of good will most want to help. Before the advent of this law, the unemployment rate for white middle-aged people and black teens was just about the same. Now, the latter are unemployed at quadruple the rate of the former.

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Governor Youngkin Renews Calls for a Gas Tax Exemption to Combat Rising Fuel Prices in Virginia

Kaitlin Housler

Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin announced his plan to combat rising gas prices in his state Monday while delivering a speech to ChamberRVA.

During his speech, the Governor blamed the current energy price hikes as results of bad energy policies at the federal level. Youngkin also admitted that inflation could not be fixed through the actions of one state’s governor alone, however, continued his push to suspend Virginia’s gas tax increase for one year.

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Stock Market Sinks, Oil Tops $130 as West Considers Russian Energy Sanctions

Admin
oil fields

The stock market dropped during early trading Monday after the U.S. benchmark oil index briefly touched its highest level since the Great Recession.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average, an index measuring 30 major U.S. corporations, dropped 0.94% as of early Monday. The S&P index, which measures 500 of the largest publicly-traded companies, fell more than 0.93% while the NASDAQ, an index largely comprised of technology firms, declined 0.98%.

Late Sunday, the benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures hit more than $130 per barrel for the first time since July 2008. The index remained high on Monday, hovering above $118 per barrel, up more than 3%.

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