U.S. Relies on Russia for Key Materials in Defense Production

The U.S. depends on Russia to supply key minerals used in technology and defense industries, but the Russia-Ukraine war and Western economic punishment of Russia have suppressed supply lines, according to a report from Defense News.

Russia and Ukraine supply a large percentage of minerals like neon and aluminum that the U.S. uses in civilian and military applications, Deborah Rosenblum, a Pentagon acting spokesperson who works on industrial base policy, told Defense News. Sanctions levied on Russian companies and a war-related drop in mineral production have put these supply chains in jeopardy, she said.

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Commentary: Justice for J16

An already overworked grand jury in Washington, D.C., presumably will be very busy in the days to come.

For nearly 18 months, at the behest of Joe Biden’s Justice Department, grand juries in the nation’s capital have issued a nonstop flood of criminal indictments against Americans who protested Joe Biden’s election on January 6, 2021; hundreds of people who peacefully entered the building as police stood by face serious felony charges punishable by decades in prison. Even those accused of low-level misdemeanors such as “parading” in the Capitol have been sentenced to months in jail.

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Peer-Reviewed Paper Shows Significant Fertility Risks for Men Who Get the Pfizer COVID Vaccine

A peer-reviewed paper released on Friday shows large decreases in sperm counts among men after the second dose of Pfizer’s mRNA COVID vaccine, with the decline continuing for over five months in many cases.

The study, published in the medical journal Andrology, confirms that the mRNA shots have significant fertility risks for men, independent journalist Alex Berenson reported on his Unreported Truths Substack.

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Biden Is Still Trying to Ban Federal Oil, Gas Leasing

The Biden administration asked a federal court this week to uphold its ban on new federal oil and gas leasing, according to Department of Justice (DOJ) court filings.

The administration argued the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana should toss an April 29 motion from more than a dozen states asking the presiding judge to permanently nix the leasing ban, according to the Monday filings. The Louisiana court placed an injunction on the ban in June 2021, forcing the federal government to hold oil and gas lease sales until a final ruling was issued in the case.

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Survey: Nearly 25 Percent of American Expatriates Have Considered Renouncing Citizenship Due to Tax Burden

Close to one in four American expatriates living abroad have considered renouncing their U.S. citizenship, with a large plurality of those citing the burdensome U.S. tax system as their primary justification.

The survey, conducted by Greenback Expat Tax Services, found that, of Americans living in other countries, 20 percent were “seriously considering” renouncing their citizenship, while six percent were “planning” to do so.

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Civil Rights Commissioner to University of South Carolina: ‘Diversity’ Program Excluding White Students Violates Civil Rights Act and Constitution

A University of South Carolina (USC) business school “diversity” program that appears to have accepted students of all races, except white, received the attention of one of the U.S. Civil Rights Commissioners, who wrote to inform the school’s interim president such racially exclusionary policies violate both the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the U.S. Constitution.

Speaking for himself, and not the entire U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Peter Kirsanow wrote Thursday to Harris Pastides, USC interim president, about the Business Success Academy at the school’s Darla Moore School of Business.

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Cruz Stumps for Vega the Day Before VA-07 Primary

Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) was scheduled to appear twice on Monday with Prince William County Supervisor Yesli Vega, who is running for the GOP nomination for VA-07 in Tuesday’s primary. Vega is facing five other candidates including Senator Bryce Reeves (R-Spotsylvania), who raised the most cash and has the edge in name recognition, Special Forces veteran Derrick Anderson who has out-raised all but Reeves, and Stafford County Supervisor Crystal Vanuch whose fundraising never got off the ground despite her own $400,000 loan to her campaign.

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Former RPV Chair Representing Loudoun Teacher in Suit Against School Board

Former Republican Party of Virginia Chairman John Whitbeck, Jr. is representing Loudoun teacher Erin Brooks in a lawsuit against the school board and Principal Diane Mackey. Brooks, a special needs teacher, alleges that a student repeatedly touched her in inappropriate ways, that the school failed to respond adequately, and that Mackey retaliated after Brooks spoke out.

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Commentary: The Democrats’ Trump Obsession Will Do Them In

In 2020, despite gaining control of the White House and the Senate, the Democrats suffered a net loss of 13 seats in the House and a comprehensive down ballot drubbing. This was hardly a mandate for radical change. Yet, upon taking office, President Biden immediately reversed former President Trump’s successful energy policies and incentivized illegal immigrants to invade our southern border. Meanwhile, congressional Democrats collaborated with Biden to pass inflationary spending bills and embarked upon an unconstitutional crusade to convict Trump of fictitious crimes against the state.

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Youngkin and Kaine Speak on Juneteenth at Separate Events

Two Virginia governors gave Juneteenth speeches over the weekend: Governor Glenn Youngkin spoke at Fort Monroe on Sunday, and former governor, current U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) gave the keynote speech at a Loudoun NAACP Juneteenth event Monday. Both men highlighted the role of Virginia as the site where African slaves first arrived in 1619. Youngkin focused more on the contrast between those actions and the U.S.’ ideals, which the country is still striving for, while Kaine focused on the history of slavery and emancipation in America while referring to Governor Glenn Youngkin’s educational policy without directly naming the governor.

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Massachusetts Bishop Revokes ‘Catholic’ Status of Jesuit School Flying LGBTQ and Black Lives Matter Flags

A bishop has revoked the “Catholic” status of a Jesuit middle school in Worcester, Massachusetts, for defying his order to stop flying flags supporting the LGBTQ “pride” and Black Lives Matter (BLM) movements.

“The Nativity School of Worcester is prohibited from this time forward from identifying itself as a ‘Catholic’ school and may no longer use the title ‘Catholic’ to describe itself,” Bishop Robert McManus of Worcester announced in a decree Thursday.

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Father Frank Pavone of Priests for Life on Post-Roe World and Pelosi Communion Denial

NASHVILLE, Tennessee – Father Frank Pavone of Priests for Life spoke with The Tennessee Star about what the landscape is going to look like in a post-Roe world and addressed the denial of communion to Speaker Nancy Pelosi because of her pro-abortion views and actions in government.

“We’re going to have to work with lawmakers, first of all, in those states that have either trigger laws or pre-existing pro-life laws that have been blocked by the courts – do whatever is necessary quickly to get those laws activated,” he said. “In some cases it’ll take some legislative action, not to the same extent as starting from scratch, but the steps that need to be taken,” Father Pavone said.

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Music Spotlight: Sweet Tea Trio

When I interviewed Sweet Tea Trio earlier this year, I knew they had a new EP in the works, but they were unsure of the release date. So I waited until Sugar Rush was released to share their story.

Alabama natives Victoria Camp, Kate Falcon, and Charity Bowden make up an all-female harmony group called Sweet Tea Trio. They met through a mutual vocal coach in Alabama.

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Environmental Groups Sue Biden to Vacate Oil and Gas Permits as Gas Climbs over $5 per Gallon

Amid an ongoing energy crisis nationwide, two environmental law groups are suing the Biden administration to block over 3,500 oil and gas leases that were previously greenlit in Wyoming and New Mexico.

Represented by the Western Environmental Law Center, the Center for Biological Diversity and WildEarth Guardians are suing the Department of the Interior (DOI) and its Secretary Deb Haaland, as well as the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and its Director Tracy Stone-Manning. The government is violating the Endangered Species Act and others, the groups alleged Wednesday.

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Texas GOP Adopts New Platform: Biden ‘Was Not Legitimately Elected’

The Texas Republican Party has adopted a new platform, rejecting the certification of the 2020 presidential election results and declaring “that acting President Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. was not legitimately elected by the people of the United States.”

The 40-page platform was adopted by the state GOP in Houston over the weekend for its biennial convention, The Hill reported.

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Rumors Swirl at the Vatican That Pope Francis May Soon Retire

In the past year, rumors have swirled in Rome that Pope Francis may soon retire, and in the past few days, those rumors have accelerated. The 85-year-old’s frail health is one reason for the speculation.  In recent weeks, he has been confined to a wheelchair due to debilitating knee pain.

He also reportedly struggles to stand due to his sciatica.  The “Woke Pope” recently cancelled a trip to Africa scheduled for next month due to his knee ailment, “raising questions about his ability to walk during the rest of his papacy,” according to Reuters.

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New Jersey Parent Sues School for Curriculum That Allegedly Discriminates Against White Students

A parent is suing their child’s school district and its individual administrators in Mountain Lakes, New Jersey, for teaching an educational curriculum that allegedly promotes “anti-racism” and discriminates against white students, according to legal documents.

The parent, listed as B.L. for privacy, is suing Mountain Lakes School District for certain parts of its curriculum put in place since the murder of George Floyd in 2020 which allegedly teach “racial political ideology” and create a “hostile educational environment” for white students, according to the lawsuit filed on June 6. White students, and particularly one student listed as J.L. for privacy, have been allegedly discriminated against because of race, the lawsuit says.

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George Washington University Dumps ‘Colonials’ Nickname

George Washington University, located in the heart of the nation’s capital, is ditching the moniker “Colonials” in favor of a campus-wide nickname that will better “unite” the campus community.

The decision was announced Wednesday by the Office of the President after the Board of Trustees voted to toss the name, a move that came at the recommendation of The Board and Special Committee on the Colonials Moniker.

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Commentary: White House Border Policy Racks Up Losses in Court

Joe Biden in 2020 promised he would return “normalcy” to the White House, that the adults would be back in charge, and that America would enter a new era of prosperity. In other news, the Titanic is an unsinkable ship and Enron stock is the foundation of a solid investment portfolio.

It is becoming difficult for even the most partisan Biden supporter to put a positive spin on the current administration’s growing list of failures. The centerpiece of the White House’s calamity is its immigration policy, which is deeply unpopular with a majority of Americans. It is even less popular in America’s courts, where judges continue to reject Biden’s attempt to impose a unilateral vision of a borderless country and all the suffering that comes with it.

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Virginia Attorney General Offers Help in Prosecution After Judge Kicks Local Prosecutor off Case

Commonwealth Attorney Buta Biberaj

Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares is offering to help prosecute a criminal case in northern Virginia after a judge removed the local prosecutor from the case.

The court removed Loudoun County Commonwealth’s Attorney Buta Biberaj from prosecuting a case after alleging she misrepresented the facts so the judge would grant the defendant a lighter sentence.

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Tech Company Slack Bans Conservative Group from Using Its Platform

On Wednesday, the tech company Slack announced that it had banned a conservative immigration restrictionist group from using its services, allegedly for violations of the platform’s “terms of service.”

The Washington Free Beacon reports that Slack, a messaging app designed specifically for professional and workplace use, did not offer any specific reasoning for their ban, nor an explanation of which terms of service were violated, when they banned the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR).

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Commentary: What The Washington Post Knew About Watergate and When They Knew It Was the Real Coverup

On the 50th anniversary of the still-fascinating Watergate scandal, the media continues to portray it untruthfully, albeit often unwittingly so, with the focus as always on the unattractive persona of Richard Nixon. But was Nixon—who, to be sure, did commit two relatively minor acts of obstruction—the person most responsible for withholding the true story from our country? 

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Gordon Chang Commentary: The Chinese Economy Is Collapsing

Chinese ruler Xi Jinping has staked his rule on making China larger, by annexing neighbors. Taiwan is not his only target. He needs success to assure a precedent-breaking third term as the Communist Party’s general secretary, but the Chinese people, preoccupied by a failing economy, are in no mood for their leader’s aggression.

We start with the Party’s storyline that the relaxation of COVID-19 lockdowns is leading to an economic revival.

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Thousands of Californians Moving to Mexico to Escape High Taxes, Costs of Living

Of the 360,000 Californians who have fled the deep-blue state in the last year alone, a significant portion are moving to a rather surprising destination to find cheaper costs of living: Across the border in Mexico.

According to the Washington Examiner, California remains one of the most expensive states to live in, with a median housing price of $787,470. In most cities, the yearly property tax is at least $14,000. As a result, many households have failed to pay their property taxes, with at least 2 million delinquent homes in Los Angeles County alone.

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Commentary: College Enrollment Drops as Students Seek Alternatives

The past two years have been marked by major education disruption at the K-12 level, as more families questioned the schooling status quo during prolonged school closures and remote learning. They left district schools in droves, choosing instead to become independent homeschoolers, join learning pods and microschools, or find high-quality virtual learning platforms. 

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Iowa Supreme Court Rules State Constitution Doesn’t Guarantee Fundamental Right to Abortion

The Iowa Supreme Court ruled Friday the Iowa Constitution does not guarantee a fundamental right to abortion.

The Court’s decision overruled its 2018 determination in Planned Parenthood of the Heartland v Reynolds, which an Iowa Supreme Court judge had cited in striking down a law that required women to wait 24 hours before getting an abortion.

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Microsoft Retires Internet Explorer After 30 Years of Service

Internet Explorer, the longtime web browser that led countless users onto the early Internet on Microsoft operating systems, is officially no longer compatible with Windows, the company announced this week.

In a blog post on Microsoft’s website, Sean Lyndersay—the general manager to the Windows web browser Microsoft Edge Enterprise—explained the decision by nothing that “the web has evolved and so have browsers.”

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Hillary Clinton Bows Out of 2024 Rematch with Trump

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says she will not run for president in 2024, ending speculation for a possible rematch with Donald Trump eight years later.

In an interview with the Financial Times, Clinton said she expects President Joe Biden to run for reelection and does not want to get in the way of that.

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Over 2,000 Cattle Die from Heat, Humidity in Kansas

The already struggling meat industry suffered another blow after extreme temperatures in Kansas killed at least 2,000 cattle across the state.

As reported by The Daily Caller, the estimated total of dead cattle comes from facilities that reached out to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (DHE) for help in disposing of the carcasses. The Kansas Livestock Association said that the cause of death was heat stress as a result of extremely high temperatures and humidity.

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Republicans Introduce Bill to Defund John Kerry, Other Biden ‘Climate Tyrants’

Eight Republican House members have introduced legislation to defund climate czar John Kerry and other “climate tyrants“ inside the Biden administration, blaming them for an energy crisis that has sent gasoline soaring to $5 a gallon.

The group, led by Rep. Chip Roy of Texas, introduced the No Taxpayer Funding for CZARS Act that would ban federal funding for any activity of the special presidential envoy for climate, including salary and both administrative and travel expenses.

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Report: World’s First Trillionaires Could Be from Texas

The world’s first trillionaires could be from Texas, according to a new analysis of the 30 richest people in the world.

A new report published by the software company Tipalti Approve estimates that newly relocated Texas resident, Tesla CEO and billionaire Elon Musk, could become the world’s first trillionaire by 2024. Houston native and Dell Technologies CEO Michael Dell could become a trillionaire by 2033.

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Lawmakers Say Documents Show DHS Head Misled Congress About Disinformation Board, Demand Hearing

Several Republican senators are demanding a hearing saying they received documents from a Department of Homeland Security whistleblower about the agency’s new disinformation governance board that allegedly show DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas misled a Senate committee when he testified about the board last month.

The lawmakers sent a letter this week to Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee asking for a hearing on the issue where Mayorkas could come back for questioning.

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More Teachers, Fewer Students Nationwide Despite Claims of Teacher Shortage

The number of teachers in the U.S. has increased from 2013 to 2020 while the number of students has decreased, according to data from the National Education Association, the nation’s largest public-school union.

While total enrollment has dropped 1.4% over those seven years, there has been a 2.3% increase in the number of public-school teachers.

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Commentary: As Great as a Mom May Be, Kids Still Need Their Dads

by Christopher Becker   “Smokin’ Joe,” a biography of late heavyweight boxing champion and 3-time Muhammad Ali foil Joe Frazier, was recently reviewed by Gordon Marion in The Wall Street Journal. Among the notable details is the fact that five different women gave birth to Frazier’s eleven kids. This occurrence…

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Court Allows Envigo to Complete Contracts for Dogs Amid Ongoing Federal Lawsuit

U.S. District Court Judge Norman K. Moon granted beagle-breeder-for-testing Envigo a partial win on Friday, allowing the facility to complete contracts for more than 500 dogs while a Department of Justice lawsuit against the Cumberland facility proceeds.

“Those dogs have been abused, and the right thing to do would be to let them be adopted and have a loving home like those who have been adopted,” Senator Jennifer Boysko (D-Fairfax) told The Virginia Star.

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Commentary: ACLU Features Man Who Says the Words ‘Girl,’ ‘Woman,’ and ‘Wife’ Were Historically Used to Demean Women as ‘Sluts’

The American Civil Liberties Union hosted a podcast earlier this month in which a man who identifies as non-binary, Alok Vaid-Menon, argued that society should discard the “gender binary.” People who do not affirm transgender and non-binary identity, the mixed-media artist and activist argued, are acting out of grief over being forced by society to be either masculine or feminine.

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‘Sexualization of Children’: Feminists Join Christian Conservatives to Stop Biden LGBTQ Order

President Biden has strengthened the growing coalition between social conservatives and gender-critical feminists against transgender ideology by issuing an executive order on “advancing equality” for people who are not heterosexual or don’t identify with their sex.

While they disagree on abortion rights and same-sex attraction, this ideological odd couple shares common ground on the primacy of sex-based rights, the harm of pornography and even the “sexualization of children” through exposure to adult themes such as drag.

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New Security Breach: Capitol Police Arrest Seven People Tied to Comedian Colbert for ‘Unlawful Entry’

In a major security breach in the shadows of the Jan. 6 hearings, Capitol Police alerted Congress on Friday that at least seven individuals tied to comedian Stephen Colbert’s TV show were arrested for “unlawful entry” to the Capitol Police, according to authorities and lawmakers.

Rep. Rodney Davis, R-Ill., the top Republican on the House Administration Committee that oversees Capitol security, confirmed the arrests Friday evening after his staff received a briefing from police. “The only people arrested by Capitol Police for touring the House office buildings are the people that work for Stephen Colbert,” he said.

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New Study, Experts Debunk Trans Activists’ Child Suicide Claims in Puberty Blocker Debate

“Would you rather have a dead daughter or a living son?”

That’s the question that transgender activists and “gender-affirming” therapists and physicians often hold over parents’ heads when they refuse to allow their gender-dysphoric child to take experimental puberty blockers and long-term cross-sex hormones.

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California Pet Store Bans Second Amendment Supporters from Adopting Pets

A pet store in California is facing intense backlash after announcing it would not allow any supporters of the Second Amendment to adopt animals from their shop.

Fox News reports that Shelter Hope Pet Shop, in Thousand Oaks, released a statement on their website declaring that “we do not support those who believe that the 2nd Amendment gives them the right to buy assault weapons.”

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Supreme Court Dismisses GOP Lawsuit to Make It Harder for Migrants to Stay in the U.S.

The Supreme Court dismissed a lawsuit Wednesday that sought to increase restrictions on illegal aliens entering or seeking to stay in the U.S.

The lawsuit argued that Republican Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich and 12 other states suing had the right to defend the rule, which was reversed by the Biden administration. The Supreme Court’s dismissal means the high court is not willing to weigh in on whether the states can fight to reinstate the Trump-era rule, leaving in place a lower court ruling that favored the Biden administration.

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Internal LEGO FAQ Accidentally Shared with Press Include Responses on Youngkin Policy, Critical Race Theory

As part of the press materials announcing the LEGO Group’s plans to build a factory in Virginia, the company accidentally released an internal document with guidance for public relations staff about questions including some related to Governor Glenn Youngkin’s conservative politics and Critical Race Theory.

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FDA Quickly Authorizes COVID Shots for Infants and Young Children

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) quickly authorized the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech COVID vaccine shots for infants and young children Friday, paving the way for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advisory committee to vote on authorization over the weekend to allow the youngest children to get the shots as early as next week.

Per the press announcement by the FDA, the Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for the Moderna COVID vaccine for older children and adults has been “amended” to “include use of the vaccine in individuals 6 months through 17 years of age,” while the EUA for the Pfizer COVID shot will now include use of the vaccine for babies as young as “6 months through 4 years of age.”

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Blackburn Blasts ‘Woke’ Military During Pride Month

A U.S. senator Friday spoke out against the “woke” policies implemented by the military, which has become especially apparent during LGBT Pride Month of June.

“The United States military should be focused on one objective – creating the most lethal fighting force on planet Earth,” Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) told The Tennessee Star. “Instead, Joe Biden’s military leaders are secretly attempting to turn our brave warfighters into social justice warriors. Communist China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea do not care how woke our military is or what our soldiers’ pronouns are.“

She echoed a similar sentiment on Twitter.

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Commentary: Democrats’ Radical Green Policies Don’t Help, They Hurt

Joe Biden

Last week, Michigan Democrat Sen. Debbie Stabenow bragged that on her way to Washington, D.C. she drove past “every single gas station” in her brand-new electric vehicle “and it didn’t matter how high [gas] was.” Apparently, Stabenow’s message to Americans struggling to afford their commute to work and school is to buy an expensive electric vehicle. For Americans – and especially Michiganders like me – Stabenow’s comment is as unhelpful as it is condescending. But Stabenow isn’t the only Democrat embracing a “let them eat cake” attitude. Climate activists are hurting Americans with their green agenda.

The Biden administration has made EVs a pillar of its anti-U.S. energy agenda. Last year, Joe Biden set a goal that by 2030, half of the vehicles sold in the country would be EVs. More recently, Biden pledged to use taxpayer dollars to build EV charging stations across America. And just a few weeks ago, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg suggested that families anxious about rising gas prices should just buy an EV, which have an average price tag of more than $60,000. Meanwhile, in more than a dozen states and the District of Columbia, drivers are paying more than $5 for a gallon of gas. Painfully high fuel prices aren’t an accident. They’re the momentum driving Biden’s energy “transition.”

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Anthony Fauci: Vaccine Committee Members Receiving Royalties from Drug Companies ‘Not Required to Divulge Them’

During a Senate health committee hearing Thursday that focused on the U.S. response to the COVID pandemic, White House Chief Medical Advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci admitted to Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) that members of vaccine committees who ultimately decide on whether vaccines should be approved for use “are not required to divulge” whether they receive royalties from the drug companies who manufacture them.

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