NIH, Agency Scientists Received Estimated $350 Million in Royalty Payments over Last Decade: Report

The National Institutes of Health and its scientists received an estimated $350 million in royalties from third-party payers between 2010 and 2020, according to an investigation by government transparency watchdog Open the Books.

The third-party payers are, according to the report, mostly pharmaceutical companies that credit NIH scientists as coinventors on various patents.

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Music Spotlight: Ainsley Costello

NASHVILLE, Tennessee- Ainsley Costello comes from a musical background. When her dad, James Costello, was young, he moved to Los Angeles to “do the whole music thing” in much the same way that Costello has moved to Nashville. At one point he was in a touring band and toured the world. And even though he now has a day job, he was always in revolving bands, playing shows and playing music in the house.

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Psaki Tells Americans That If You Don’t Support Roe v. Wade, You’re ‘Ultra MAGA’

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said opposing the Supreme Court precedent set in Roe v. Wade was an example of an “ultra MAGA” position in a Tuesday press conference.

Psaki said President Joe Biden used the phrase “ultra MAGA” to refer to Republicans with extreme or unpopular positions who, in his view, played too large of a role in the GOP. She added that people who support Republican Florida Sen. Rick Scott’s plan to have all Americans pay income taxes and “sunset” Medicare and Social Security are also “ultra MAGA.”

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Virginia Attorney General Encourages Law Enforcement to Act Against SCOTUS Protestors

As Democrat extremists continue to encourage protests outside the homes of United States Supreme Court Justices, Virginia’s attorney general is urging localities to take action.

“Section 18.2-419 of the Code of Virginia states that protesting in front of an individual’s private residence is a class 3 misdemeanor. Under Virginia law, local Commonwealth’s Attorneys are responsible for prosecuting violations of this statute. Attorney General Miyares urges every Commonwealth’s Attorney to put their personal politics aside and enforce the law,” Victoria LaCivita, spokeswoman for Attorney General Jason Miyares (R) told The Virginia Star Tuesday. 

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Virginia Atty Gen Miyares Offers No Comment on Group of Republican Attorneys General Withdrawing from National Association

A small group of Republican attorneys general have announced that they’re withdrawing from the National Association of Attorneys General(NAAG), but Virginia AG Jason Miyares’ office hasn’t responded to questions asking if he is also planning to withdraw from the NAAG.

“While we have been a driving force for NAAG’s success – both financially and on key issues – the Associations leftward shift over the past half decade has become intolerable,” states a letter signed last week by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt, and Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen.

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Polls Show Majority of Americans Agree with Overturning Roe v. Wade

Despite the narrative of the abortion industry and its political and media allies, several recent polls show the majority of Americans agree the Supreme Court should overturn Roe v. Wade and return decisions about abortion to the states.

Tim Carney at the Washington Examiner observed a YouGov poll published last week found 64% of Americans believe the Mississippi law that is at the center of the Supreme Court case – one that bans abortions past 15 weeks of pregnancy – is either acceptable, as is, or not restrictive enough.

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Abortion Activist Rants Outside Catholic Church: ‘I’m Killing the Motherf***ing Babies!’

A woman dressed in a white bathing suit, stuffed in the front to make her appear pregnant, and with dolls hanging from it, ranted outside Old St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City Saturday, shouting, “I’m killiing the motherf***ing babies!” and “God killed his kid, why can’t I kill mine?”

The woman danced around outside the church in the rain, then complained, “My babies are all wet,” Kathryn Jean Lopez wrote at National Review, referring to this scene as “the most disturbing” of the pro-abortion protest that followed a leaked Supreme Court draft opinion on a case that could overturn Roe v. Wade.

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Victor Davis Hanson Commentary: The Exasperated American

A large majority of Americans now have no confidence in Joe Biden and his administration, which often polls below 40 percent, with negatives nearing 60 percent.

Despite the 15-month catastrophe of his regime, the level of his own unpopularity remains understandable but still remarkable. After all, in 2020 voters already knew well of his cognitive deficits and the radicalism of his agenda. They saw both clearly starting in 2019 and during the 2020 Democratic primaries, the primary debates, and the general election.

So what did Biden’s voters imagine would happen when a cognitively challenged president, controlled by hard-Left subordinates, entered office — other than what he has done?

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Commentary: Federal Student Loans Create College Rankings Scandals

A whistleblower lawsuit filed last month alleges that Rutgers University’s business school artificially boosted its rankings by using a temp agency to hire MBA graduates and place them into “sham positions at the university itself,” according to NJ.com, which first reported the news. Though shocking, the scandal is the natural result of the incentives the federal government has set up for schools through uncapped student loan subsidies for graduate programs.

Rutgers has denied the charges. But the allegations are credible when considering the source: the lawsuit was filed by Deidre White, the human resources manager at Rutgers’ business school. Days later, a separate class-action lawsuit was filed by one of Rutgers’ MBA students.

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Biden Tells Alito He Can Ignore Stare Decisis, Overturn Roe in 2006 Exchange – If He Has the Votes

Neil W. McCabe, the national political editor of The Star News Network, reports on how during the 2006 confirmation hearings for then-Judge Samuel Alito, then-Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr., suggested to Alito that he would be in his rights to engineer the overturn of the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, regardless of concerns for precedence–if he had the votes.

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Biden Copies Trump Proposal to Refill Oil Reserves – and Spends Way More Doing It

The Biden administration announced plans Thursday to refill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) two years after Democrats blocked the Trump administration’s similar, but cheaper proposal.

The Department of Energy (DOE) said it would initiate a long-term SPR replenishment plan involving a purchase of 60 million barrels of oil that would likely occur in 2023, according to the announcement. President Joe Biden has ordered a 50-million-barrel SPR release in November, a 30-million-barrel release on March 1 and a 180-million-barrel release on March 31 to combat rising gasoline prices.

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University Students Hosted ‘White Student Accountability Group’ to ‘Dismantle Racism’: Report

The University of South Carolina is facing backlash over a “White Student Accountability Group” meeting that instructed students how to “recognize their contribution” to racism, according to a conservative student organization.

Students at the University of South Carolina (USC) College of Social Work were invited to attend a “White Student Accountability Group” meeting on April 26, according to emails obtained by conservative student organization Turning Point USA (TPUSA).

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Stanford Professor Single-Handedly Debunks California’s Woke Math Standards

A Stanford University professor slammed California’s proposed Math Framework for being “false” and “misleading.”

Brian Conrad, Stanford University mathematics professor and director of Undergraduate Studies in Math, did a deep dive into the California Math Framework (CMF), which he laid out on his website. The proposal frequently contradicts the findings of academic studies its writers cite, according to Conrad’s analysis.

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States That Legalized Marijuana Are Bringing in More Tax Revenue on Marijuana Sales than Alcohol

A majority of the states that legalized recreational marijuana for recreational use are collecting more tax revenue from pot sales than alcohol sales.

The first two states to legalize pot are profiting the most, Colorado and Washington. Across the country, the total revenue for taxes on weed amounted to nearly $3 billion, according to a report on “sin taxes” by The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP).

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AP Urges Media to Hold Off on ‘Pregnant People’ in the Wake of Roe Leak

The Associated Press updated its style guide on pregnancy and abortion Wednesday to discourage journalists from using gender-neutral phrases when writing about abortion despite having previously encouraged the terms.

Corporate media outlets use phrases like “pregnant people” to replace “pregnant women” in order to be more inclusive of transgender people. As the abortion debate has heated up after a leaked draft opinion revealed the Supreme Court would likely overturn Roe v. Wade, the AP told journalists to only use these gender-neutral phrases when specifically discussing transgender and nonbinary individuals.

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Democrats’ Dreams Turn to Dust as Adjudicated Redistricting Maps Set the Stage for Large Republican Gains in 2022

The Democratic Party’s hopes of gaining seats from redistricting have been crushed as court decisions and an increasingly aggressive GOP produced more Republican-friendly maps.

Democrats were initially optimistic that they could mitigate projected midterm losses in the House when it appeared they were poised to score wins in the redistricting process. However, the party’s hopes have been dashed after key losses in major states erased their redistricting advantage.

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Commentary: America’s Schools Face Mounting Threats from Cyberattacks

The U.S. education sector is in the midst of a cyber crisis. The shift to cloud-based virtual learning during COVID-19 created the perfect storm for threat actors to capitalize on: education IT departments, already weathering a shortage of physical resources, funding, and staffing, unexpectedly faced an even greater challenge. Without the human resources and advanced solutions to secure vulnerabilities in their networks, K-12 school districts and higher-ed institutions became easy targets.

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Behind the Scenes of Christopher Rufo’s ‘Drop Disney’ Campaign

Disney is known as the “happiest place on Earth.” Manhattan Institute senior fellow Christopher Rufo could not disagree more.

Rufo, who has done extensive reporting on Critical Race Theory (CRT), launched the “Drop Disney” campaign against the company earlier this month over the company’s opposition to Florida’s Parental Rights in Education law, as well as its CRT trainings and promotion of gender ideology in children’s programming. Rufo’s goal is to instruct conservatives to “stop giving money to people who hate you,” and involves boycotting the company’s services and products.

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Virginia Gas Prices Nearing Record High Set in March

Just two months after Virginia’s gas prices hit an all-time high, the average price per gallon of gasoline is set to eclipse that record again. 

According to the American Automobile Association (AAA), the average price for a gallon of gas in Virginia was $4.22 on Monday, just three cents shy of the state’s March 11 record of $4.25. 

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Diversity and Inclusion, Anti-Racism Featured Prominently in the MBA Programs Training America’s Future Corporate Leaders

MBA programs at universities across the country have added diversity, inclusion, and equity (DEI) initiatives into their program curriculum, orientations, leadership, events, and student groups.

Below is a list of how some universities across this country are training the future woke leaders of American businesses.

The list includes Michigan State University, where Disney CEO Bob Chapek received his MBA degree.

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Commentary: Inflation Can’t Be Censored

An increasingly disturbing feature of American politics is the routine suppression of major news stories that reflect poorly on candidates favored by the Fourth Estate. The most egregious example in recent years occurred in October of 2020 when corporate news outlets and social media platforms colluded to bury a New York Post article on Hunter Biden. Fortunately, some stories just aren’t susceptible to such censorship. Inflation is a case in point. It can’t be hidden from the voters because soaring prices shout the bad news from every grocery store shelf and gas pump in the nation.

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U.S. Election Assistance Commission Identifies Pierce County, Washington, for Best Practices in Chain of Custody for Vote-by-Mail Ballots Deposited in Drop Boxes

The U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) recognized Pierce County, Washington for its practices related to the chain of custody that helps track pick-up and chain of custody of vote-by-mail election ballots deposited in drop boxes.

Pierce County was an EAC “Clearie” Award winner in 2021 for outstanding innovations in elections for large jurisdictions. Having over 550,000 registered voters, Pierce County is Washington state’s second largest jurisdiction.

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Commentary: Americans Are Sounding the Alarm over Big Tech Monopolies

Elon Musk’s Twitter acquisition — which can be summed up as the world’s wealthiest person buying one of the most powerful social media and news platforms — underscores one of the big problems with Big Tech.

In the absence of modernized anti-trust and anti-monopoly laws, Big Tech companies in the U.S. have amassed far too much economic and political control over society, and especially over the news and publishing industries.

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Kamala Harris Delivers Democrat Talking Points in TSU Commencement Speech

Aaron Gulbransen, a Political Reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network, reported from the Tennessee State University undergraduate commencement in Nashville, Tennessee where Vice President Kamala Harris was the featured speaker.

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Julie Kelly Commentary: Justice Department Threatens Oath-Keepers with Life in Prison

In a letter obtained by American Greatness, the U.S. Department of Justice is threatening defendants charged with seditious conspiracy in the sprawling Oath Keepers case to accept plea deals or face life in prison.

Matthew Graves, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia handling every prosecution related to the events of January 6, 2021, imposed a May 6 deadline for the remaining defendants to accept plea deals. Three men have pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy; nine others, including Oath Keepers’ founder Stewart Rhodes, have rejected government attempts to reach a plea.

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Abbott Considers Reviving Case Challenging Requirement to Have Illegal Immigrants in Public Schools

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott says he may challenge a longstanding Supreme Court decision that states U.S. states cannot prohibit illegal immigrant children from attending public schools.

The Republican governor said during a recent radio interview on a San Antonio talk show that he was mulling the action and agreed with the host of the program that the price of educating an expanding group of illegal immigrant children in many languages is “extraordinary.”

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Biden’s Department of Justice Announces New ‘Office of Environmental Justice’

On Thursday, two of Joe Biden’s Cabinet members announced plans to create a new division within the Department of Justice that will focus on fighting for “environmental justice.”

As reported by Fox News, the joint announcement was made by Attorney General Merrick Garland and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Michael Regan. The new Office of Environmental Justice (OEJ) will serve as a “central hub” for a “comprehensive environmental justice enforcement strategy,” and will soon lay out a “series of actions” that will be taken in order to ostensibly “secure environmental justice for all Americans.”

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Democratic State Attorneys General Ask Biden to Fully Forgive All Student Loan Debt

Joe Biden

Seven state attorneys general, and an eighth from Puerto Rico, have called upon President Joe Biden to fully cancel federal student debt estimated at more than $1.6 trillion.

The U.S. Education Department reports more than 43 million borrowers on average owe $37,000 in student loan debt. The USED already has forgiven $17 billion in student loan debt held by 725,000 borrowers since the beginning of the Biden administration.

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Post-Leak Poll: Enthusiastic Voters Support Overturning Roe by Huge Margin

Voters who support the overturning of Roe v. Wade are almost twice as likely to say they are extremely enthusiastic about voting in the fall than those who want it to stay, according to a CNN poll released Friday.

The poll, taken after the leak of a Supreme Court draft decision that indicates the court could overturn the case, showed that 38% of those “happy” Roe could be overturned are “extremely enthusiastic” about voting, while only 20% of those “angry” said they had the same level of enthusiasm, CNN reported.

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D.C. School Gives ‘Anti-Racism’ ‘Fistbook’ to 4-Year-Olds, Asks Them to Out ‘Racist’ Family Members

At a public elementary school in Washington D.C., teachers and other staff members forced “anti-racism” curriculum on students as young as four years old, and even went so far as to ask the children to out allegedly racist family members.

As reported by Fox News, a letter signed by Danielle Singh, principal of Janney Elementary School, and dated from November 30th confirms that students were forced to participate in an “Anti-Racism Fight Club.” The event was hosted by a speaker named Doyin Richards.

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Commentary: Will the Great Betrayal of American Democracy Go Unchallenged This November?

Upon taking office, Biden swiftly implemented these promises, escalating the crisis. He reinstituted the Obama-era policy of releasing migrants apprehended at the border into the interior of the country, pending hearings they often skip. His Department of Homeland Security secretly transported migrants across the country in the dead of night to avoid public scrutiny. Confronted with a court order to reinstate the “Remain in Mexico” policy, Biden passively refused to comply.

In March, monthly border encounters hit a new record of 221,303, beating the previous record (also set by Biden) of 213,953 in July. Biden has funneled 1 million illegal aliens into the United States in just over a year.

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In Regent University Commencement, Youngkin Criticizes Higher-Ed Conformity; Earle-Sears Named Alumna of the Year

In a commencement speech at Regent University, Governor Glenn Youngkin told graduates to follow two guides: mentors and a “compass that points us in the direction of core values that define us.” He told them that they were not called to comfort, and criticized conformity in academia.

“Sometimes we are called to speak up, to say unpopular things, to invite ridicule and scorn. If I could offer one critique of higher education today, and I mean this in the most global sense, it’s that there’s too much group-think, too much conformity to modern doctrine, too much intolerance that rears itself in the form of a canceled culture,” Youngkin said.

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Corporations Stay Quiet on Abortion After Disney’s Disastrous Tangle with DeSantis

Ron DeSantis

Corporations previously outspoken about hot-button social issues have stayed quiet on the likely overturning of Roe v. Wade after a dramatic fight between Disney and Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis over the company’s political activism.

Following the leak of a draft opinion indicating the Supreme Court is likely to overturn Roe v. Wade, Democrats are trying to ram through a bill legalizing third trimester abortions; however, corporations are largely staying out of the fray, following Disney’s disastrous battle with Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis that ended with the company losing its special tax privileges.

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GOP Message to Faith Voters After Roe Leak: Thank God for President Trump, Elections Matter

Neil W. McCabe, the national political editor of The Star News Network, interviewed Paris Dennard, the national spokesman for the Republican National Committee, about the political aftermath after the German media outlet ‘Politico’ leaked the draft of Justice Samuel Alito’s majority opinion in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health case, which would overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision.

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Democrats Quietly Scrub Abortion Bill Language Saying Men Can Get Pregnant

The latest version of the Women’s Health Protection Act (WHPA), which would effectively make abortion a statutory right, scrubbed references to transgender and nonbinary people’s pregnancies as well as language related to “reproductive justice.”

Earlier versions of the bill used language tying race and transgenderism to the issue of abortion in its non-binding “Findings” section. Democratic Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal, the bill’s sponsor, told Politico the language had been removed from the bill due to objections from some Democrats.

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Math Professor Convicted of Hiding China Ties to Get Taxpayer Funding

A federal grand jury found a professor at a public university guilty on espionage charges Wednesday, according to court records.

The jury found Mingqing Xiao, a math professor at Southern Illinois University Carbondale (SIUC), guilty on four counts related to filing false tax statements, according to records from The Southern District of Illinois United States District Court.

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Commentary: Unemployment Benefits Are Causing America’s Worker Shortage

These days, storefronts are adorned with “Now Hiring” and “Help Wanted” signs. Local family-owned businesses and restaurants are announcing reduced business hours and even closures, often citing a lack of employees. And many post signs imploring customers to be patient as fewer workers mean longer wait times.

A new jobs report released this week shows there are now more than 11 million unfilled jobs in the U.S. Where have the workers gone? Thanks to the Biden administration, millions are staying at home, where they’re given financial incentives not to return to the workforce. What started off as temporary measures to alleviate the pains of the pandemic have instead become a nearly two-year economic reality.

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Democratic Governor’s Group Pledges $75 Million to Reelect Seven Governors

The Democratic Governors Association on Wednesday pledged $75 million for ad buys on behalf of reelection efforts for seven Democrat incumbent governors.

Tony Evers’ reelection campaign gained $21 million in Wisconsin. The group is also promising to spend $2.5 million to reelect New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham; $4.5 million to reelect Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz; $5 million to reelect Colorado Gov. Jared Polis; $5 million to reelect Maine Gov. Janet Mills; $10 million to reelect Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak; and $23 million to reelect Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

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Democrats in 19 States Want to Offer Legal Refuge to ‘Trans’ Youths

In 19 states across the country, Democratic legislators are trying to pass laws that will provide legal refuge for so-called “transgender” youth, in the wake of multiple states passing laws that crack down on the transgender agenda.

As reported by Fox News, the movement started in California, with a bill first written by California State Senator Scott Wiener (D-Calif.). Wiener, who is notorious in the state for authoring numerous bills promoting sexuality and softening punishments for sexual crimes, tweeted on Tuesday that “up to 19 states…are introducing legislation granting refuge to trans kids & their families threatened with criminalization/separation.”

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After Bad Fiscal Year 2022 First Quarter Report Boeing Announces Plan to Move Headquarters to Arlington

Boeing is moving its global headquarters to its campus in Arlington, and plans to develop a research and technology center to focus on areas including cyber security, autonomous operations, and software and systems engineering.

“We are excited to build on our foundation here in Northern Virginia. The region makes strategic sense for our global headquarters given its proximity to our customers and stakeholders, and its access to world-class engineering and technical talent,” Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun said in the Thursday announcement.

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Miyares Leads 19 Other AGs in Criticism of Disinformation Governance Board

Attorney General Jason Miyares is leading 19 other attorneys general in opposition to the newly announced federal Disinformation Governance Board launched by the Department of Homeland Security. The recently unveiled board has earned criticism from conservatives this week; in a fact sheet, the DHS explains that its role of protecting the U.S.’ security extends to “threats exacerbated by disinformation.”

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Commentary: I Had an Abortion When I Was Young, Now I Want Roe Reversed

The recent leak of a draft opinion from the Supreme Court potentially striking down Roe v. Wade is as shocking as it is gratifying.

Shocking because, if adopted by the court, the opinion would reverse a horrendous decision America has been suffering under for nearly 50 years. And gratifying because, even though I myself had an abortion when I was very young, I grew to deeply regret it and have done all I can in the years since to end this horrible injustice in our land.

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‘Clueless’ Republicans Allowing Biden’s Education ‘Equity’ Plan to Usher in Even More Critical Race Theory in Government Schools

The Biden administration’s education “equity” initiative is doubling down on ramming Critical Race Theory down the throats of K-12 government school students – all with the help of “clueless” establishment Republicans, wrote Jane Robbins Wednesday at Townhall.

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Brett Kissel and 98° Team Up for New Single, ‘Ain’t the Same’

When I heard that the Canadian Country Music multi-award winner, Brett Kissel was releasing a song with 98°, I was excited and curious at the same time. The group’s song, “Ain’t the Same” isn’t exactly country, pop, or R & B, but it is fantastic. Once I heard it, it went straight to my Beach playlist.

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Commentary: The Pragmatic American

“I would rather be governed by the first 2,000 people in the telephone directory than by the Harvard University faculty.” —William F. Buckley, Jr.

While American partisans have altered their policy opinions to match the ideologies of the political class, regular Americans have ignored that marching order. Partisans no longer agree with the Other Side on anything, but average Americans don’t let team allegiance dominate their views. Even most Americans who are registered as Democrats or Republicans still favor some policies desired by majorities in the other party. Average citizens demonstrate greater independence of thought than the ideological conformists so revered by political scientists.

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