Twitter Censors ‘Groomer’ Term After Left-Wing Pressure Campaign

Tennessee Star

Twitter began censoring the word “groomer” after left-wing media watchdog group Media Matters for America pressured the site to crack down on the term, which they claim is anti-LGBT.

Commentator James Lindsay was locked out of his Twitter account Thursday for calling a Media Matters employee a groomer, according to screenshots Lindsay shared with the Daily Caller News Foundation. He had to delete his tweet and wait an additional 12 hours to regain full access to his account.

Read More

Researchers Claim Students Will Need Three Years to Fully Recover from Pandemic

Researchers from a nonprofit group released a report claiming that elementary school students will need at least three years to fully recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and return to their pre-pandemic learning skills.

As reported by the New York Post, the report was released on Tuesday by the nonprofit group Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA), which focuses on educational standards in K-12 grades.

Read More

Del. Anderson Revives Political Battle over Menhaden Reduction Fishing in the Chesapeake Bay

After dead menhaden fish washed ashore on Silver Beach in Northampton County on July 5, Delegate Tim Anderson (R-Virginia Beach) is reviving an old political battle over banning reduction fishing in the Chesapeake Bay.

“The menhaden issue predates our terms by decades, but the reality of the Chesapeake Bay is that we have one company in Virginia that is harvesting 100,000,000 pounds of menhaden fish from Virginia waters annually,” Anderson wrote in a Wednesday letter to Governor Glenn Youngkin.

Read More

Report: At Least 181 K-12 Educators Arrested on Child-Related Sex Crimes in First Half of 2022

A Fox News Digital analysis of child sex crime data in school districts around the nation has found a minimum of 181 K-12 educators have been arrested on child-related sex crimes in the first half of 2022.

Among those educators arrested were four principals, 153 teachers, 12 substitute teachers, and 12 teachers’ aides. The crimes ranged from child pornography to rape of students.

Read More

SCOTUS Blocks Biden Admin’s Attempt to Limit Immigration Enforcement

The Supreme Court blocked a Biden administration effort to limit Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrests in a decision Thursday.

The 5-4 decision placed a national freeze on a September 2021 Biden administration memo that sought to tighten the scope of civil immigration arrests to threats to national security, border security and public safety. A judge in the Southern District of Texas vacated the guidelines in June.

Read More

Commentary: Historical Recession Signals Are Flashing Red

Unemployment insurance continuing claims increased by 122,000 on a non-seasonally adjusted basis from July 2 to July 9 to 1.45 million, the latest U.S. Department of Labor data shows, as multiple historical recession signals are flashing red.

The number comes as initial unemployment claims have continued ticking upward on both on a seasonally adjusted basis. Since mid-March, when weekly claims hit a low of 166,000, now they are up over 251,000.

Read More

OB/GYN Dr. Christina Francis: ‘Abortion Supporters Have No Scientific Evidence’ to Back Up Their Position

Since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last month, the abortion industry and its allies in the media and the medical field “are having to defend their actual position” regarding their claim that women are in danger as a result of the ruling, but “have no scientific evidence to back it up,” leaving them to “rely on spreading” lies, OB/GYN Dr. Christina Francis told The Star News Network in an interview Thursday.

Francis, a board member and CEO-elect of the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists (AAPLOG), testified Tuesday before the House Committee on Energy & Commerce in a Democrat-led hearing titled “Roe Reversal: The Impacts of Taking Away the Constitutional Right to an Abortion.”

Read More

Commentary: The Bullish Meaning of Hyundai and Kia Cars Everywhere You Look

The next time you’re in traffic, stop and look at the cars surrounding you. If on a city street, also look at the cars passing you as they go in the opposite direction. In a sense it’s fascinating.

Doing this the other day on the Key Bridge (it connects Washington, D.C. and Arlington, VA), the variety of cars was really something. Mostly foreign cars. Lots of Mercedes and BMWs, numerous Toyota, Honda and Nissan vehicles, and somewhat surprisingly, countless Kia and Hyundai models. About the surprise expressed, it’s remarkable how quickly the twin Korean brands have built enormous market share in the world’s greatest car market.

Read More

Miyares Leads Letter Warning Google Against Removing Crisis Pregnancy Centers from Results for Abortion Services

Attorney General Jason Miyares and Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron sent a letter to Google warning the search engine not to remove crisis pregnancy centers from search results for abortion services.

“Google has two options – protect the freedom of the marketplace of ideas or face legal consequences. American consumers expect diversity of opinion and thought,” Miyares said in a Thursday press release.

Read More

Russia, Ukraine Reach Grain Export Deal as Food Crisis Worsens

Russia and Ukraine reached an agreement Friday to resume safe passage of grain as fears of global food insecurity spread.

Turkey and the United Nations (UN) mediated negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, hostile after months of brutal fighting, to reopen black sea ports from the Russian blockade, The Wall Street Journal reported. Disruption of Ukrainian grain exports has exacerbated a worldwide food shortage, and UN leaders have warned that soaring fertilizer and food prices will reach crisis levels in the next two years.

Read More

U.S. State Department Funded Film Fest Depicting Incest and Pedophilic Content

The State Department spent $10,000 taxpayer dollars to fund an international LGBTQ+ film festival featuring incest and pedophilic content, according to the Washington Free Beacon.

The film festival in Portugal, Queer Lisboa showed films featuring incest and a minor having sex with an adult as apart of the Biden administration’s “support LGBTQ+ and Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Accessibility efforts,” according to the Washington Free Beacon. The State Department sent $10,000 as apart of the international initiative.

Read More

Thousands of Virginian Servicemembers Eligible for Restitution, Debt Forgiveness After Alleged Fraud by Harris Jewelry

Some Virginian servicemembers are set to get restitution and debt forgiveness after Harris Jewelry allegedly targeted the military community with deceptive and fraudulent practices. Attorney General Jason Miyares announced a multi-state settlement that will provide up to about $1 million for 3,828 Virginians who received protection plans, and $1.7 million in debt forgiveness for 1,011 Virginians.

“Harris Jewelry targeted our military community, misleading, deceiving, and defrauding thousands of active duty servicemembers through their financing program. Our servicemembers are critical to the American experiment, dedicating their lives to the protection of our freedoms and way of life. I’m grateful we were able to reach an agreement and provide relief to thousands of Virginians,” Miyares said in a Wednesday press release.

Read More

Wall Street Is Freaking Out About One Major Recession Indicator

Wall Street investors and economists are sounding the alarm over a yield curve inversion, one of the most reliable indicators that a recession is coming, according to The New York Times.

The yield curve inversion, or when two-year bonds have a higher return than ten-year bonds, hit its largest spread yet on Wednesday, sending investors into a panic, according to the NYT. Economists and investors see this kind of inversion as a negative omen for the economy, and every recession in the U.S. in the last 50 years has been preceded by a yield curve inversion.

Read More

Joe Biden Hits New Low of 31 Percent Approval in New Quinnipiac Poll, Only 19 Percent of Hispanics Approve

Joe Biden has hit a new low in the latest Quinnipiac University National Poll, with a mere 31 percent of Americans approving of the job he’s doing, and 60 percent disapproving.

The new poll, released today, shows Biden with only 29 percent approval among white voters, and with an even lower approval rating of 19 percent among Hispanics. Most black voters approved of Biden’s job performance, giving him a 61 percent approval rating.

Read More

Commentary: Senior Biden Officials Are Entangled in Durham’s Criminal Russiagate Probe

Several individuals connected to a 2016 Hillary Clinton campaign plot to cast Donald Trump as a covert Kremlin collaborator are working in high-level jobs within the Biden administration – including at least two senior Biden appointees cited by Special Counsel John Durham in his “active (and) ongoing” criminal investigation of the scheme, according to recently filed court documents.

Read More

Most Companies Quiet on Abortion After Roe Overturned

Most U.S. companies aren’t making public statements about the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade June 24 in its decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, a Conference Board survey found.

Only 8% of U.S. companies have made public statements about the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe, and another 2% plan to make a statement, according to the survey. Most companies in the survey had made public statements about social issues since 2020, with 61% addressing racial equality, 44% addressing LGBT issues, 40% addressing COVID-19 and vaccines and 30% addressing gender equality.

Read More

Virginia Finished Fiscal Year 2022 with $1.94 Billion Surplus

Virginia’s Fiscal Year 2022 General Fund revenues finished with a $1.94 billion surplus, after finishing Fiscal Year 2021 with a $2.6 billion surplus, the largest in Virginia’s history.

“While I am pleased that our additional revenue can be reinvested in Virginia, the Commonwealth’s general fund revenue surplus confirms that Virginians have been overtaxed for way too long,” Governor Glenn Youngkin said in a Thursday evening announcement of the 2022 surplus.

Read More

House Passes ‘Right to Contraception’ Bill Republicans Say Violates Religious Freedom

The Democrat-led House passed a bill Thursday, with the support of eight Republicans, that would create a federal right to access contraception, a measure that most Republicans say violates religious freedom.

The legislation (HR 8373), dubbed the Right to Contraception Act and sponsored by Rep. Kathy Manning (D- NC), passed by a vote of 228-195. The measure would guarantee a right to all contraceptive drugs and devices, as well as sterilization procedures, approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Read More

Police Arrests Have Plummeted Across the Country but Little Agreement on Why

Cities across the country have reported a significant drop in police arrests in a trend that started as far back as 2014.

Los Angeles, St. Louis, San Antonio, Atlanta, Philadelphia and Ann Arbor, Michigan, are just some of the cities that have reported significant drops in police enforcement without an accompanying drop in serious crime.

Read More

Virginia Barber Board Votes to Reduce Training Hours for Cosmetology License

The Virginia Board for Barbers and Cosmetology has voted to reduce the training hours required for a cosmetology license from 1,500 to 1,000, although steps including a public hearing remain in the process to change the regulation. Governor Glenn Youngkin highlighted the July 11 vote in a Tuesday press release.

“Reducing regulatory obstacles that get in the way of both businesses and talented Virginians from entering the workforce has been a priority of mine since day one. Not only will this allow individuals to get to work sooner and help businesses find skilled workers, but it even reduces the amount of student loans a graduate will have to take on,” Youngkin said.

Read More

‘Non-Binary’ Teacher Boasts First-Grader ‘Came Out as Trans’ After Reading Book About Pronouns to Class

An alleged teacher claiming to be “non-binary” gushed in a video posted to the Twitter account of Libs of TikTok that two of her students, including one first-grader, “came out as trans” to her after she read a book to her class that pushes gender ideology and pronoun usage to very young children.

“[I]t was such beautiful proof that kids of any age are absolutely capable of accepting anything that they are taught with love,” the teacher touted.

Read More

Commentary: Rights Abuser China Emerging as Dubious Linchpin of Biden’s Lithium-Battery Supply Chain

A Chinese-dominated mining company has procured millions of dollars in American subsidies to extract lithium in the United States – but, given a dearth of U.S. processing capacity, the mineral is likely to be sent to China with no guarantee that the end product would return as batteries to power President Biden’s envisioned green economy.

Read More

Empower AI Expands Richmond Presence with Data Center on Site

RICHMOND, Virginia — Empower AI, a provider of artificial intelligence technology for Medicare and Medicaid, held a grand opening at its new office outside Richmond. Governor Glenn Youngkin and Secretary of Health and Human Resources John Littel toured the office with company officials.

“We think about the role that Medicaid and Medicare plays in the lives of so many Americans and Virginians, and to have the kind of trust in analytics that can detect errors at the kinds of rates that you all do, and make sure that we’re having an efficient execution of this most important of services — it is really exciting,” Youngkin said in remarks to employees. “So I just hope all of you feel the weight and the gravity of what you’re doing in order to deliver one of, if not the, most essential services to so many Americans and Virginians.”

Read More

World Health Organization Trashes Science of Biology: ‘Sex Not Limited to Male or Female’

The World Health Organization (WHO) has updated its 2011 manual titled Gender Mainstreaming for Health Managers: A Practical Approach, to include new guidance that now claims “sex is not limited to male or female.”

In a press release two weeks ago, the global health agency of the United Nations (UN) said it would now be recognizing “that gender inequality is a cross-cutting determinant of health that operates in conjunction with other forms of discrimination based on factors such as age, socioeconomic status, ethnicity or place of origin and sexual orientation.”

Read More

‘Friends’ Creator Donates $4 Million to Atone for Her Non-Woke Series

Marta Kauffman, creator of the popular 1990s sitcom Friends, has donated $4 million to her alma mater, Brandeis University, to establish an endowed professorship in the university’s Department of African and African American Studies.

The endowment, which will “support a distinguished scholar with a concentration in the study of the peoples and cultures of Africa and the African diaspora”, was given by Kauffman, who has publicly expressed guilt for only casting White actors in the sitcom’s lead roles. 

Read More

Commentary: ‘Woke’ Corporate Support of Black Lives Matter Has Deadly Consequences

You’ve heard the chants in the streets of America: “Pigs in a blanket, fry ‘em like bacon.”

You’ve seen the graffiti scrawled on walls and monuments and broken windows in the wake of “peaceful protests”: ACAB, which stands for “All Cops Are Bastards.”

Read More

Same-Sex Marriage Bill Faces Uncertain Future in the Senate

The U.S. House passed a bill to codify same-sex marriage late Tuesday, but whether it will pass the Senate remains up in the air.

The “Respect for Marriage Act” passed the House 267-157 with 47 Republicans voting in favor. The legislation would overturn the Defense of Marriage Act, signed into law by former President Bill Clinton in 1996, which defined marriage as a union between one man and one woman. That law has been largely gutted by the Supreme Court but still remains on the books.

Read More

Poll: Three Out of Four Middle Class Families Are Falling Behind as Prices Rise

Three out of 4 middle class households report falling behind the rising cost of living as inflation continues to soar., according to a new poll.

Primerica released the report, which found that 75% of middle-income families “say their income is falling behind the cost of living,” an eight-point rise since March. The poll found only 16% of those surveyed think they will be better off financially in a year.

Read More

DOJ Secretly Thwarted Release of Russia Documents Declassified by Trump

In the final hours of the Trump presidency, the U.S. Justice Department raised privacy concerns to thwart the release of hundreds of pages of documents that Donald Trump had declassified to expose FBI abuses during the Russia collusion probe, and the agency then defied a subsequent order to release the materials after redactions were made, according to interviews and documents.

Read More

Report: White House Considers Declaring National Emergency over Abortion Pills

President Joe Biden’s White House is considering executive action to make abortion pills accessible nationwide despite state laws restricting the drug, according to Politico.

The administration may use executive power granted under the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness (PREP) Act to declare a public health emergency to allow abortion providers and pharmacists to distribute chemical abortion pills, even in states where abortion is heavily restricted, according to Politico.

Read More

DOJ, Envigo Settlement Ends Beagle-Breeding-for-Testing at Cumberland Facility; ‘Huge Win for Humanity,’ Says Sen. Boysko

Envigo and DOJ officials announced a settlement in the government’s lawsuit against the Cumberland beagle-breeder-for-medical-testing; 4,000 beagles will be relinquished to the Humane Society of the United States and Envigo will be permanently prohibited from engaging in activity at the facility requiring an Animal Welfare Act license.

“This settlement brings to an end the needless suffering caused by Envigo’s blatant violations of animal welfare laws at this facility,”  Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division (ENRD) said in a Monday press release. “We will continue to vigorously enforce animal welfare laws to ensure that animals are provided the humane care that they are legally owed and deserve.”

Read More

Commentary: Joe Biden’s War on Fossil Fuels

Try as they might to mitigate the severe energy crisis plaguing the U.S., the Biden administration’s attempt to shore up supply is a few wellheads short of an oil rig.

With gasoline prices averaging over $4.60 per gallon and several electric grid operators warning of rolling blackouts, increasing the supply of America’s most critical energy sources is vital. Fossil fuels account for 80% of America’s energy usage, yet the administration is intent on curbing oil and gas supply, cutting gasoline refining capacity, and making it more challenging to meet rising electric demands.

Read More

Commentary: Government Is the Biggest Obstacle to Educational Freedom

In Massachusetts where I live, average private school tuition hovers around $23,000. For secular private schools, the cost is typically much higher, with Boston-area private school tuition often exceeding $40,000. This price tag is way too high for most families to afford, but emerging microschools are typically a fraction of the cost of other private education options. 

For example, the Wilder School is a new Acton Academy-affiliated microschool that costs about $12,000 a year, while Life Rediscovered, a new homeschool resource center offering up to five days a week of full-day, drop-off learning, costs about $10,000. Even established local microschools, such as Bay State Learning Center that was founded in 2014 and that I wrote about in Unschooled, have similar tuition costs and frequently offer financial aid or sliding scale tuition.

Read More

Former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos Now Says Department Should Not Exist

Betsy DeVos, who led the U.S. Department of Education under former President Donald Trump, now says the department should no longer exist, an assertion many Trump voters urged him to work to make a reality during his 2016 campaign.

“I personally think the Department of Education should not exist,” DeVos said Saturday during a Moms for Liberty education summit in Tampa, Florida.

Read More

Economist: 30 Percent Chance That U.S. Enters a Recession Within a Year’s Time

A Goldman Sachs economist says there is a 30% probability of the U.S. entering a recession within one year and 48% within two years. 

Goldman Sachs Chief U.S. economist David Mericle outlined the probability of a recession at an event Tuesday and said that the likelihood of a recession would decrease if the U.S. had not entered one within two years.

Read More

Left-Wing Activists Urge Big Tech to Censor Anti-Pedophile ‘Smear’

by Laurel Duggan   Media Matters, a left-wing activist organization, is urging Twitter to censor the word “groomer,” which it characterizes as anti-LGBT. The term “groomer,” which describes an adult who befriends a child without proper boundaries in order to prime them for for sexual abuse, has been used by…

Read More

Democrat Reps. Omar, Ocasio-Cortez Arrested During Supreme Court Abortion Protest

Several congressional Democrats, including Reps. Ilhan Omar and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, were arrested Tuesday outside of the U.S. Supreme Court during an abortion-rights protest for allegedly blocking traffic.

In total, U.S. Capitol Police arrested 34 people, including 16 members of Congress.

Read More

Instructor Terminated for Harassing Conservative Student Loses Lawsuit

Former University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) graduate student and instructor Courtney Lawton recently lost her lawsuit against the Board of Regents, UNL Chancellor Ronnie Green, and then-NU President Hank Bounds.

She had sued the university after being removed from her teaching position for verbally harassing a student holding a Turning Point USA (TPUSA) sign in 2017.

Read More

Commentary: Justice Department Designates Obstruction as an Act of Terror

To hear federal prosecutors tell it, Guy Wesley Reffitt almost single-handedly organized and led a bloodthirsty mob to overtake Congress on January 6, 2021.

One of the first protesters arrested in the Justice Department’s “shock and awe” dragnet of Donald Trump supporters, Reffitt was immediately indicted on numerous offenses. He spent more than a year in the D.C. gulag set aside for Americans who protested Joe Biden’s election under pretrial detention orders sought by the Justice Department—and he was the first January 6 defendant to stand trial in a city that voted nearly 93 percent for Biden in 2020.

Read More

California School Board Plans to Open New Planned Parenthood on High School Campus

In California, the Norwalk-La Mirada Unified School District (NLMUSD) is drawing up plans to install a new Planned Parenthood clinic on a high school campus within the district.

Breitbart reports that the district is eyeing the John Glen High School, which is located in a district that’s 90 percent minority, with 80 percent of that percentage being Latino.

Read More

Three Virginia Congressmen Among 18 Votes Against Supporting Addition of Sweden, Finland to NATO

Virginia had the most representatives voting ‘Nay’ on Monday against a resolution supporting adding Sweden and Finland to NATO. The resolution passed with 394 votes in favor, just 18 votes against, all Republican, and 19 members not voting. Three of Virginia’s four Republican congressmen voted against the measure: Congressmen Morgan Griffith (R-VA-09), Bob Good (R-VA-05), and Ben Cline (R-VA-06), while Congressman Rob Wittman (R-VA-01) voted in favor.

In a press release, Griffith said that the Senate has the constitutional power to ratify adding the two countries to NATO, but not the House. He said that the resolution also calls for other NATO countries to support adding the two countries.

“I think that goes well beyond the House’s jurisdiction,” Griffith said.

Read More

Virginia Unfunded Pension Liabilities Could Triple This Year

If investment returns for Virginia’s pension system come in around negative 6%, the commonwealth’s unfunded liabilities could nearly triple for Fiscal Year 2022, according to a report from the Reason Foundation.

Virginia’s unfunded liabilities for FY2021 were slightly less than $6 billion, but early indicators estimate an average negative 6% return on investments for FY2022. If the commonwealth’s returns are at that rate, its unfunded liabilities would increase to slightly more than $17 billion.

Read More