Month: June 2022

Elon Musk recently tweeted that environmental-social-governance investing “is a scam,” after Tesla got removed from a major ESG index for a lack of disclosure around key environmental and social issues and allegations of racism on the factory floor.

Internal Capitol Police Review Found Sweeping Intelligence, Security Failures on Pelosi’s Watch

Capitol Police compiled a secret after-action review months after the Jan. 6 riots that identified sweeping blunders by the department ranging from delayed deployment of specialized civil disturbance units to the fateful dismantling of an intelligence unit that monitored social media for threats.

Parents Flee the Public School System as Charter Schools See Surge in Enrollment

Enrollment in New York City schools is dropping while charter schools are seeing a growth in the number of students, according to a report published Wednesday by the Manhattan Institute.

Throughout all New York City schools enrollment declined with 80,707 fewer students enrolled in grades K-12 in the most recent academic year than in the 2019–20 academic year, the report said. The drop has been most pronounced in schools operated by the New York City Department of Education (NYDOE), where enrollment is down by 83,656 students, the largest drop the NYDOE has seen.

FBI Seizes Data of Retired General Related to Qatar Lobbying Effort

Retired four-star Marine Gen. John Allen, is on administrative leave from his role as president of the Brookings Institute D.C. think tank after the FBI seized his electronic data on suspicion of lying to investigators and withholding evidence about his role in secretly lobbying for the government of Qatar.

17 States File Legal Brief in Support of Florida Law Banning Sanctuary Cities

June 9, 2022June 8, 2022 The Center Square

Seventeen Republican attorneys general have filed an amicus brief with the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in support of a Florida law banning sanctuary cities.

The brief was filed by the attorneys general of Alabama and Georgia, Steve Marshall and Christopher Carr. Joining them were the attorneys general of Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Utah and West Virginia.

Commentary: San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin’s Recall Shows How the Criminal Justice Reform Movement Doesn’t Work

June 9, 2022June 8, 2022 RealClearWire

Two and a half years ago, pre-COVID and before surging crime and fentanyl overdoses gripped San Francisco, District Attorney Chesa Boudin’s left-wing lineage seemed a perfect fit for the liberal bastion by the bay.

Likewise, California Rep. Karen Bass was a barometer of Los Angeles’ transformation into a sprawling progressive metropolis. A former Congressional Black Caucus chairwoman, Bass was a top contender to become Joe Biden’s running mate in 2020 and was considered a likely contender for a statewide office.

Far-Left San Francisco District Attorney Recalled in Landslide

With seven states holding their primaries on Tuesday, perhaps the biggest upset came out of San Francisco, California, where incumbent District Attorney Chesa Boudin (D-Calif.) was successfully recalled in a landslide.

As reported by Axios, Boudin’s recall could mark a significant turning point in the rise of progressive prosecutors getting elected to district attorney positions all across the country, often with the backing of far-left billionaire George Soros. Boudin, like other far-left district attorneys, was accused of being soft on crime since he took office in 2020. His tenure was marked by a spike in crime throughout San Francisco, particularly brazen robberies of various convenience stores in broad daylight, as well as assaults, an increase in public drug use, and a rise in homelessness.

Teachers Say Loudoun County Public Schools Didn’t Renew Their Contract After Testifying to Grand Jury and Expressing Concern About Students’ Inappropriate Touching

June 9, 2022June 9, 2022 Eric Burk

Two Loudoun County Public Schools teachers said in a public comment period Tuesday that their contracts weren’t renewed after they were subpoenaed by a grand jury investigating the district and after their complaints about teachers being inappropriately touched.

Erin Brooks said she had a student who was repeatedly touching teachers and students in a sexual way.

Migrant Caravan Traveling to Southern Border Could Become the Largest Ever

June 8, 2022June 8, 2022 Admin

Yet another caravan of illegal aliens is approaching the border between Mexico and the United States, with its numbers rising at such a rate that it could soon become the largest caravan of its kind ever seen.

As reported by Just The News, this caravan started off at a size of between 6,000 and 11,000 illegals when it departed the city of Tapachula, near the border between Mexico and Guatemala, on Monday. This caravan is being organized and led by a radical amnesty advocate named Luis Garcia Villagran, who has previously tried to organize similar caravans in the past that never came to fruition.

Armed California Man Arrested Near Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s Home Allegedly Told Police He Wanted to Kill Kavanaugh

June 8, 2022 Susan Berry, PhD

An armed California man arrested near Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s Maryland home Wednesday allegedly told police officers he wanted to kill Kavanaugh in the wake of the leaked Supreme Court draft opinion in the Mississippi abortion law case that could overturn Roe v. Wade.

Fox News has reported the suspect has been identified as 26-year-old Nicholas John Roske of Simi Valley, California, and had been carrying a gun, knife, and pepper spray when arrested in Montgomery County, Maryland.

Commentary: Team Zuckerberg Masks the Heavily Pro-Democrat Tilt of 2020 Election ‘Zuck Bucks,’ Study Finds

June 8, 2022June 7, 2022 RealClearWire

The $332 million that Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan provided to a progressive group to help run the 2020 elections was distributed on a highly partisan basis that favored Democrats, according to a new analysis by election data experts.

While these “Zuckerbucks” or “Zuck bucks” were touted as a resource meant to help all jurisdictions administer the election during the COVID crisis, tax records filed by the progressive Center for Tech and Civic Life show that the group “awarded all larger grants – on both an absolute and per capita basis to deeply Democratic urban areas,” particularly in swing states, according to the new report. Its authors are William Doyle, research director at the right-leaning Caesar Rodney Election Research Institute, and Alex Oliver, chief data scientist at Evolving Strategies, a nonpartisan research group.

Report: Homeland Security Warns Catholic Churches of ‘Credible Threats’ to Safety If Supreme Court Overturns Roe v. Wade

June 8, 2022June 7, 2022 Susan Berry, PhD

Senior editor at the American Conservative Rod Dreher wrote Friday a “trusted source” informed him the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has notified Catholic bishops there are credible threats to the safety of Catholic clergy and churches should the Supreme Court overturn Roe v. Wade and return issues about abortion to the states.

“Violence has been called for beginning the night such a decision is handed down,” the source reportedly told Dreher.

Raytheon Moving Headquarters to Virginia

June 8, 2022June 7, 2022 Eric Burk

Raytheon Technologies is moving its global headquarters to Arlington, Virginia, the company announced Tuesday.

“The location increases agility in supporting U.S. government and commercial aerospace customers and serves to reinforce partnerships that will progress innovative technologies to advance the industry. Washington, D.C. serves as a convenient travel hub for the company’s global customers and employees,” a press release states.

Republican Senators Considering Voting for Gun Control Measures

In the U.S. Senate, some Republican senators appear open to signing off on Democrat-proposed efforts to increase gun control restrictions in the wake of several recent mass shootings.

Politico reports that the negotiations are being led on the Republican side by Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas). Cornyn has already briefed Republican leadership on what he has discussed with other senators over last week’s recess, and recently held a meeting with Democrats Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) to move talks forward.

Another Pro-Life Facility Is Firebombed; Pro-Abortion Terrorist Group Jane’s Revenge Takes Credit

A pro-life medical office and pregnancy center in Buffalo, New York, was heavily damaged in a terroristic firebombing early Tuesday morning in the latest attack on pro-lifers. There have been dozens of reports of left-wing violence and vandalism targeting churches and pro-life facilities since news broke of a leaked draft ruling indicating that the U.S. Supreme Court will overturn Roe v. Wade.

Windows in the CompassCare reception room and nurses’ office were reportedly broken and fires lit. Jane’s Revenge, the same militant pro-abortion group that firebombed a pro-life office in Wisconsin last month, reportedly took credit for the attack, leaving graffiti reading “Jane Was Here” on the building.

Commentary: Stop Saying ‘LGBT’

Here are two representative recent items on the topic of “LGBT identity.”

First, The Federalist on June 2 ran an article about the “New Gay Left” in which Christopher Bedford lamented that the old gay pride movement, which pleaded, reasonably enough, “for inclusion, acceptance, and self-esteem,” has been replaced by an aggressive, off-putting push centered on “trans kids,” “pregnant men,” and other far-out notions that offend “a lot of people who have no problem with ‘gay rights,’ as they thought they understood them.”

ICE Officially Considers Military Service When Deciding to Deport Non-Citizen Vets and Families

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced Tuesday that it will officially consider migrants’ US military service before deciding whether to enforce civil immigration actions, such as deportation, against them or their family members.

While ICE has previously recognized US military service as a mitigating factor, the Biden administration’s directive makes consideration of US military service an official agency policy. The department will take into account the non-citizen US veteran’s type of discharge, length of service, and other related factors before deciding to take action against an illegal immigrant and their immediate family members.

Alliance Defending Freedom Sues Harrisonburg City Public Schools over Transgender Policy

June 8, 2022June 7, 2022 Eric Burk

A group of parents and teachers are suing the Harrisonburg City Public Schools (HCPS) over policies that require teachers to use students’ preferred pronouns and to keep the students’ preference confidential from their family. The plaintiffs are represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom, which has filed several lawsuits against Virginia school districts over transgender- and equity-related policies.

“Parents—not public schools or government officials—have the fundamental right to direct the upbringing, care, and education of their children,” ADF Senior Counsel Ryan Bangert said in a June 4 press release. “Teachers and staff cannot willfully hide kids’ mental health information from their parents, especially as some of the decisions children are making at school have potentially life-altering ramifications. As the clients we represent believe, a teacher’s role is to support, not supplant, the role of the parent.”

IRS Warns Taxpayers of Potential Scams in New ‘Dirty Dozen’ List

The Internal Revenue Service is warning taxpayers of several tax scams.

The scams cover four transactions involving charitable remainder annuity trusts, Maltese individual retirement arrangements, foreign captive insurance, and monetized installment sales.

Virginia U.S. Rep. Beyer Drafting Legislation for 1,000 Percent Tax on Assault Weapons

June 7, 2022June 7, 2022 Eric Burk

Representative Don Beyer (D-VA-08) has a potential work-around to the Senate filibuster that blocks Democrats from significant gun control reform: he’s drafting legislation to enact a 1,000 percent tax on assault weapons, first reported by Business Insider.

“What it’s intended to do is provide another creative pathway to actually make some sensible gun control happen,” Beyer said, according to Insider.

Michael Bloomberg Blames Teachers’ Unions for Keeping Money Flowing to Traditional Government Schools and Away from Charter Schools

June 7, 2022June 6, 2022 Susan Berry, PhD

Former Democrat New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg says teachers’ unions were responsible for keeping schools locked down during the pandemic, a move that has enabled a mass exodus of students from traditional government schools throughout the country.

Given the generally poor academic achievement of America’s students, the steep drop in enrollment means states are now paying more to educate fewer children, and, “paying more for failure,” he asserts.

Commentary: Gun Violence Is the Penalty for Our Failure to Uphold a Moral, Functioning Society

In the wake of recent mass shootings in New York, Texas, and Oklahoma, Democrats are once again sending Americans up a blind alley. Their “solution” is to punish millions of law-abiding gun owners for the crimes of a few evil maniacs. Undeniably, there is a certain appeal to this response. Gun control is a facile “fix” to a complex problem.

Americans have owned guns since the founding, but it wasn’t until comparatively recently that mass shootings became a concern. Guns are not the problem. Our culture is. Broken cultures produce broken human beings. For every school shooter, there are thousands of other weak, confused, mentally disturbed men who are drifting away from society. They aren’t dating, aren’t working, and they spend most of their time in their bedrooms playing video games, smoking weed, watching pornography, and stewing in social media echo chambers.

Court Rules Goldman Doesn’t Have Standing in Lawsuit to Force 2022 House Elections

June 7, 2022June 6, 2022 Eric Burk

A three-judge U.S. District Court panel has dismissed with prejudice Paul Goldman’s lawsuit to force new House of Delegates elections in 2022. The Office of the Attorney General had argued that Goldman does not have standing, and the court agreed.

2020 U.S. Census data was delayed, delaying redistricting and forcing 2021 House elections to be held on old lines. Before the election in September 2021, Goldman sued, arguing that population shifts meant that some people would be under-represented, and argued for holding House elections again in 2022. Goldman didn’t gain much outside support and faced opposition from both former Attorney General Mark Herring and current Attorney General Jason Miyares.

Seventy Georgia Churches Split from Methodist Church over LGBTQ Stance

Last week, at least 70 churches in the state of Georgia announced their intentions to split from the United Methodist Church (UMC) over the church’s stance on the LGBTQ community.

Fox News reports that the split marks one of the biggest fractures in recent memory for the UMC, which is the third-largest Protestant denomination in the country. Last Thursday, the North Georgia Conference voted to allow the churches in question to disaffiliate from the broader church. The departing churches will be following the disaffiliation process that was first laid out in 2019 by the UMC’s General Conference, rules that are in effect until the next conference in 2023.

Schools See Rise in Students Seeking Mental Health Assistance After COVID

Over three-fourths of American public schools have reported a rise in the number of students seeking mental health assistance in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.

As reported by Fox News, the data was released on Tuesday by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), which operates under the guidance of the Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences (IES). The report shows that 76 percent of public schools saw staff express concerns about the mental health of their students, including depression, anxiety, and trauma since the coronavirus pandemic began in early 2020.

Yellen to Testify on Biden Budget After Admitting She Was Wrong on Inflation

June 7, 2022June 6, 2022 The Center Square

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will testify before the Senate Finance Committee Tuesday, just days after she admitted she was wrong about inflation earlier in President Joe Biden’s term.

The hearing, which is on “the president’s fiscal year 2023 budget” will only feature testimony from Yellen, according to the committee’s website.

Biden’s budget likely will be under extra scrutiny as gas prices continue to hit record highs and inflation rises at the fastest level in decades.

Report: The New Head of Black Lives Matter Has Filed for Bankruptcy Three Times

The new executive for the national Black Lives Matter (BLM) group has reportedly filed for personal bankruptcy on three separate occasions, raising further questions about the charity’s finances under heavy scrutiny, according to the New York Post.

Cicley Gay, 44, was named chair of the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation in April after joining the board of directors and has worked in the nonprofit field for over 20 years, according to her LinkedIn. She filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy as recently as 2016, and also in 2013 and 2005, according to federal court records first reported on by the Post.

Second Amendment Foundation Sues over Washington’s High-Capacity Magazine Ban

June 7, 2022June 6, 2022 The Center Square

The Bellevue-based Second Amendment Foundation on Friday filed a federal lawsuit against Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson and several other officials, challenging the state’s ban on large-capacity magazines for handguns and rifles.

Senate Bill 5078 prohibits the sale of gun magazines with a capacity of more than 10 rounds, along with the manufacturing, distribution or import of such magazines in Washington.

White House Unveils Nancy Reagan Stamp, ‘Important Part of One of the Most Pivotal Presidencies’

Acommemorative postage stamp of former first lady Nancy Reagan was unveiled Monday in a White House ceremony attended by surviving family, historians and first lady Jill Biden who remarked of the portrait-size image on display, “Isn’t this stamp just beautiful.”

When the stamp officially goes on sale next month, Reagan becomes the sixth first lady to have one created in her likeness, following Eleanor Roosevelt, Martha Washington, Abigail Adams, Dolley Madison and Lady Bird Johnson.

State Treasurers in Massachusetts, Nevada Want to Ditch Gun Company Investments

State Treasurers in Massachusetts and Nevada have announced their intentions to divest millions of dollars in state funds from investing in gun manufacturers and other firearms-related businesses.

As reported by Newsweek, the two statewide officials, both Democrats, made their plans clear on Thursday, seeking public support for their decisions. In Nevada, Zach Conine (D-Nev.) released a video statement explained his reasoning for seeking to cut ties between companies that produce “assault-style weapons” and the $47 billion in state funds that his office oversees.

Commentary: Fake Goods Fund Real Crime

June 7, 2022June 6, 2022 RealClearWire

Illicit trade has increased significantly over the last several years, fueled in part by the growth in internet sales and the COVID-19 pandemic. While this criminal activity is happening in communities throughout the United States, the money often flows to dangerous organizations based overseas. Combating this issue is complex, but today we see a growing willingness to combine forces to help fight this danger.

Two years ago, pandemic-related shortages in health care supplies created an ideal environment for counterfeiters and other criminals. Front line health care workers needed personal protective equipment and were too often getting swindled or receiving fraudulent products that could put them at risk. This even extended to medicines and pharmaceuticals.

Attorney Michael Avenatti Sentenced to Four Years in Prison for Swindling Client Stormy Daniels