New Survey: Biden’s Approval Rating Sits at 45 Percent

President Biden’s job approval rating has increased to 45%, compared to its low of 36% in July, but concerns about his handling of the economy persist, according to a new survey.

The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research survey released Thursday shows Biden’s increase appears due in large part to a rebound in support from fellow Democrats – less than two months before the November midterm elections.

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Richmond Judge Dismisses Lawsuit Alleging That Virginia Violates Constitution by Permitting Fossil Fuel Production

A Richmond City Circuit Court judge dismissed a lawsuit against the Commonwealth of Virginia from an environmental activism legal organization on Friday. In a lawsuit on behalf of 13 Virginia youth, Our Children’s Trust (OCT) argued that Virginia’s policies permitting fossil fuel production and use harmed the plaintiffs’ rights, but the judge agreed with the Office of the Attorney General’s argument that Virginia can’t be sued due to sovereign immunity doctrine, according to the AP.

“For decades, Defendants have implemented a policy and practice of approving permits for fossil fuel infrastructure in the Commonwealth of Virginia, including permits for the production, transport, and burning of fossil fuels. Defendants’ historic and ongoing permitting of fossil fuel infrastructure has, and continues to, cause dangerous levels of greenhouse gas pollution, including carbon dioxide,” the lawsuit complaint filed in February states.

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Planned Parenthood 2021 Annual Report: 383,460 Abortions – Highest Number Yet Reported

Planned Parenthood released its 2020-2021 annual report that showed, despite the COVID pandemic, the organization performed 383,460 abortions – the highest number of abortions it has yet reported – and received an increase of $15.3 million in taxpayer funding from the previous year.

“Planned Parenthood health centers are proud to provide abortion,” the organization declared in its latest annual report

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National Groups Backing Local School Board Candidates Against Radical Gender, Race Teachings

The American Principles Project (APP), a national pro-parents rights organization that directly engages in campaigns and elections, has entered the Polk County, Florida school board election by providing four local candidates with $40,000 for ad campaigns.

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Commentary: (Not) Sorry Democrats, Abortion Won’t Save You

The desperate attempts by the White House, congressional Democrats, and the corporate media to refocus voter attention on abortion rather than inflation are failing. Most reputable polls show that the electorate is far more concerned about mismanagement of the economy by President Biden and his collaborators in Congress than about threats to reproductive rights posed by “MAGA Republicans.” Contrary to Democratic hopes, November won’t be about abortion vs. inflation. The midterms will be a referendum on Biden’s performance, particularly as it affects inflation.

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Regulator Approves Rate Increase for Dominion Energy Consumers to Compensate for Increased Fuel Costs

The State Corporation Commission approved a Dominion Energy request to increase the fuel factor charged to consumers, leading to $14.93 increase on an average monthly bill. In May, the utility requested the increase citing increased fuel costs.

In its order, the SCC said, “[T]he Commission notes its awareness of the ongoing rise in gas prices, inflation, and other economic pressures that are impacting all utility customers. We are sensitive to the effects of rate increases, especially in times such as these. The Commission, however, must follow the laws applicable to this case, as well as the findings of fact supported by the evidence in the record. This is what we have done herein.”

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Victor Davis Hanson Commentary: In Today’s America, Some Really Are More Equal than Others

That once distinguished the United States from illiberal regimes following the Orwellian mantra “some are more equal than others” was the hallowed American idea of “equal justice under the law.”

The phrase is engraved above the entrance to the United States Supreme Court – an ideal that took centuries to achieve. Yet it is an ancient concept – what the Greeks called isonomia that distinguished classical democratic Athens from its anti-democratic rivals. Isonomia later became enshrined as the central criterion of all Western consensual governments.

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Biden Says COVID Pandemic Is ‘Over’ in the United States

President Joe Biden said the COVID-19 pandemic is “over” in the United States.

“The pandemic is over. We still have a problem with COVID. We’re still doing a lotta work on it. It’s– But the pandemic is over,” Biden said during a pre-recorded CBS “60 Minutes” interview aired Sunday.

“As you notice, no one’s wearing masks. Everybody seems to be in pretty good shape, and so I think it’s changing,” he said.

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Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin to Travel to Arizona to Endorse Kari Lake

Virginia Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin is planning to campaign on behalf of Arizona Republican gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake.

Youngkin plans to travel to multiple states to endorse the Republican gubernatorial nominees such as Brian Kemp in Georgia and Tudor Dixon in Michigan.

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Biden Admin Spends Millions to Create a ‘Diverse Educator Workforce’

The Department of Education (DOE) is giving about $25 million in grants to several universities to help them hire and train a “diverse educator workforce,” according to a Sept. 12 press release.

The DOE partnered with Teacher Quality Partnership (TQP), a group that works on preparing higher education faculty, to provide 22 new five-year grants to several universities, including three historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs), according to the press release. The institutions receiving grants will work with TQP to “recruit highly qualified individuals, including individuals of color” for educator positions.

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Commentary: School Start Times and Late Screen Time Hurt Teenagers’ Sleep

With the school year underway around the U.S., parents and caregivers are once again faced with the age-old struggle of wrangling groggy kids out of bed in the morning. For parents of preteens and teenagers, it can be particularly challenging.

Sometimes this gets chalked up to laziness in teens. But the main reason why a healthy person is unable to naturally wake up without an alarm is that they are not getting the sleep their brain and body need.

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Virginia’s Miyares Among the GOP Attorneys General Pressing NAAG to Return $280 Million

A dozen Republican state attorneys general are fed up with what they view as the leftward drift and self-dealing of their nonpartisan national association and are asking the organization to change its ways and return roughly $280 million in assets to the states.

The National Association of Attorneys General was created in 1907 as a bipartisan forum for all state and territory attorneys general. Over the last year, several of the group’s Republican members have asserted that NAAG has become a partisan litigation machine that improperly benefits from the many tort settlements it helps to engineer.

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Senate Delays Vote on National Same-Sex Marriage Bill Until After Midterms

A highly contentious vote on a bill that would legalize same-sex marriage at the federal level has been put on hold until after the November midterms, as the legislation struggles to garner 60 votes in support.

Politico reports that the bipartisan group of senators working on the bill, known as the Respect for Marriage Act, made their announcement on Thursday. They had previously been considering a vote on the legislation as soon as Monday of next week, but determined that they could not garner enough Republican support to overcome a possible filibuster that would kill the legislation.

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Commentary: Don’t Tolerate People Who Hate You

When is the last time you went to an independent coffee shop? Not a coffee shop run by a church or a charity that does positive things for a community – I mean, a grungy, hipster coffee shop run by Gen Z-ers who dress like they rolled out of a bed in the late ’70s and who believe their knowledge of roasting beans has greater value than rocket science.

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Pentagon Watchdog Flags Potentially Illegal Blanket Denials of COVID Vax Religious Exemptions

The Defense Department’s inspector general has alerted the secretary of defense to apparent blanket denials of religious accommodation requests (RAR) for exemptions from the military COVID-19 vaccine mandate, which would be a violation of federal law.

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NBC Deletes Tweet with Immigration Activist’s Quote Comparing Illegal Migrants to ‘Trash’

NBC News was criticized after tweeting a quote from an immigration activist who compared the illegal migrants sent by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) to Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, to “trash.”

The since-deleted tweet included a link to a story titled, “DeSantis sending asylum-seekers to Martha’s Vineyard divides Venezuelan Americans.” The post stated: “Florida Gov. DeSantis sending asylum-seekers to Martha’s Vineyard is like ‘me taking my trash out and just driving to different areas where I live and just throwing my trash there,’ a founding member of a foundation which helps refugees says.”

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New Poll Shows Americans Trust Republicans More than Democrats with the Economy

Voters overwhelmingly trust Republicans to manage the economy, a new poll ahead of this year’s midterm elections suggests, while also viewing the economy as the most important issue.

Roughly 52% of voters said that they trust Republicans to manage the economy, compared to 38% for Democrats, while only 1% of respondents said they agreed with the proposals of both parties to manage it, according to a poll conducted by the Times and Siena College, which measured the relative strength of both parties in advance of the election scheduled on Nov. 8. The economy has been the most important issue to voters heading into the polls; in a July edition of the same NYT/Siena poll, 20% called it the “most important problem facing the country today,” while roughly 76% said that it would be “extremely important” to them as they vote.

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Unpacking the Apparent Trump-Hillary Double Standard: For Her, the FBI Helped Obstruct Its Own Investigation

Former Attorney General Loretta Lynch obtained evidence that a computer contractor working under the direction of Hillary Clinton’s legal team destroyed subpoenaed records that the former secretary of state stored on a private email server she originally kept at her New York home, and then lied to investigators about it. Yet no charges were brought against Clinton, her lawyers, or her paid consultant.

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China Sanctions U.S. Defense Industry Tycoons

China announced sanctions against CEOs of two major U.S. defense contractors Friday for their role in an arms package the State Department approved for Taiwan on Sept. 2.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said the sanctions against Raytheon CEO Gregory J. Hayes and Boeing Defense CEO Ted Colbert will “defend China’s sovereignty and security interests” against U.S. “military contact” with Taiwan. The Biden administration notified Congress of its intent to transfer $1.1 billion worth of military equipment to Taiwan earlier this month, including 60 anti-ship missiles Boeing Defense agreed to produce and 100 air-to-air missilescontracted with Raytheon.

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Report: Transit Agencies May Turn to Taxpayers for More Money When COVID-19 Funds Dry Up

Transit agencies could turn to taxpayers for more money when federal COVID-19 money runs out.

With federal money dwindling, some mass transit agencies are preparing to seek more tax dollars at a time when fewer people are riding, according to a report from a credit rating agency.

Some workers never plan to return to the office, creating uncertainties for mass transit agencies and the taxpayers who fund them, especially those more dependent on riders for fare revenue. A new report from S&P Global Ratings said transit systems could seek additional tax dollars when federal COVID-19 money runs dry in 2025.

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Lutron to Expand Presence in Virginia

Industrial and residential lighting controls manufacturer Lutron Electronics will invest $28.3 million to expand its presence in Hanover County, according to a Thursday announcement of a plan to build a 145,000 square foot manufacturing facility.

“Lutron has been a fixture here in Hanover County, Virginia for many years. It is exciting to see them invest in a manufacturing facility in our industrial park along Lakeridge Parkway and to have quality jobs created for the citizens of Hanover County and the Greater Richmond Region,” Hanover County Supervisor Faye Prichard said in a press release from the governor’s office.

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Biden: Republican Officials Shouldn’t Interfere with His Immigration Policies

President Joe Biden doesn’t want Republican officials interfering with his immigration policies, saying their initiative to send people north from the border is “playing politics” and “un-American.”

Speaking at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute gala in Washington, D.C., Thursday night, he said, “Instead of working with us on solutions, Republicans are playing politics with human beings using them as props. What they are doing is simply wrong. It’s un-American. It’s reckless.”

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Trump Accuses Biden of Waging Unprecedented ‘Political Repression’ That Will Backfire in Election

Former President Donald Trump leveled a blistering attack Saturday night against the man who succeeded him in the White House, telling a rally in Ohio that Joe Biden’s Justice Department was waging unprecedented “political repression” against MAGA supporters while his inflationary economic policies were “incinerating trillions of dollars of middle-class wealth.”

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Youngkin Still Wants Commanders in Virginia, Path Unclear

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin wants the Washington Commanders to relocate to Virginia, but after funding plans fell apart during the last legislative session, the path forward is not yet clear.

“If the Commanders are going to relocate they should relocate to Virginia,” Youngkin recently said while visiting Annandale for a rally geared toward parents, according to ABC 7.

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The 82 Democrats Who Called GOP Election Wins Questionable, Illegitimate or Stolen

Democrats and their media allies have sought to stigmatize Republicans concerned about 2020 voting irregularities as “election deniers,” yet scores of leading Democrats have themselves raised concerns about elections won by Republicans since 2000, including claiming elections were stolen and attempting to change the outcome of presidential elections by objecting to the certification of state electoral college votes.

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Virginia Department of Education Publishes New Draft of Model Policies to Replace Transgender Model Policies

The Virginia Department of Education posted a new draft of model policies to replace the Model Policies for the Treatment of Transgender Students. The draft policies published Friday include an emphasis on parental rights as a major shift away from a current emphasis on protecting students’ gender identity from people, including family, who may not be understanding.

The first point under the Guiding Principles section of the draft states, “Parents have the right to make decisions with respect to their children: Policies shall be drafted to safeguard parents’ rights with respect to their child, and to facilitate the exercise of those rights.”

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Little Kids Rock Rebrands as ‘Music Will’

NASHVILLE, Tennessee- As part of a five-city tour to promote their new branded non-profit Music Will (formerly known as Little Kids Rock) founder Dave Wish spoke to me about their latest adaptation.

The former first-grade teacher started Little Kids Rock because his students didn’t like their current music program. He asked them what they wanted to play and at the time, they said, “Ricky Martin” and “Selena.” He began to teach the kids to play the music they wanted to hear and eventually it led to teaching other teachers to do the same.

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Christian School Sued for Allegedly Refusing to Hire LGBTQ Teachers

A Christian university is being sued over its policy prohibiting the hiring of LGBTQ teachers.

Students and educators filed a lawsuit against Seattle Pacific University in Seattle, Washington, alleging that the university violated its fiduciary duty and engaged in fraud by enacting a religious-based hiring policy which hinders educators in same-sex relationships from getting hired. The lawsuit targets the leaders of the board of trustees, calling them the “rogue board” and asking for their removal from their positions, as well as demanding a jury trial.

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Report: NYC Wants to Relocate Migrants Bused in from Texas to Florida

New York City officials are thinking about flying illegal immigrants out of the Big Apple to Florida after officials in Texas bussed 11,000 border crossers to the sanctuary city, the Daily Mail reported on Friday.

Manuel Castro, NYC’s Commissioner of Immigration Affairs, said that most of the migrants are from Venezuela, and they want to go to the Sunshine State because it has a large community of Venezuelans.

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Commentary: Green Globalism Is Modern-Day Imperialism

There has been broad recognition of late that the American Left projects their own flawed proclivities onto their political opponents. They accuse the Right of not caring about the American worker, but the functional consequence of every policy they devise has been destructive to American workers. They accuse the Right of being corporate puppets, when every major corporate special interest caters to the Left. They accuse the Right of having no respect for the Constitution or the rule of law, while they attempt to pack the Supreme Court, abolish the Electoral College, ignore the First and Second Amendments, and refuse to prosecute criminals. They accuse the Right of being fascist, yet their allies in Antifa and Black Lives Matter have cells operating in every major city.

Maybe the biggest projection of all is the common leftist accusation that the Right is dominated by white supremacists. The first thing to observe here is that the American Left – its leadership, its donors, and its corporate partners—“diversity, equity and inclusion” notwithstanding—is itself dominated by whites. And apart from their rhetoric, they certainly aren’t doing anything to help nonwhites. From welfare to affirmative action to avoidable cost-of-living increases, every policy the Left implements has the effect of disproportionately marginalizing and impoverishing nonwhites.

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Commentary: Religious Liberty Beyond Red and Blue Divides

Many American voters head into midterm elections wearied by political polarization. Subjects that might have merely led to an uncomfortable dinner table conversation yesterday are more likely to be relationship-ending today. 

It’s often assumed that political positions come with a Democrat or Republican party label. But beneath many of the most divisive issues of our time – think the COVID-19 pandemic response, the 2020 election, and the overturning of Roe v. Wade – lies an issue that is neither red nor blue. Would you believe me if I said religious liberty is not actually a partisan issue? 

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Republican U.S. Reps Urge Defense Department to End Military Vaccine Mandate

A group of 47 members of Congress are urging the Secretary of the Department of Defense to “immediately revoke” the COVID-19 vaccine mandate he issued last August for all service members, civilian personnel, and contractors. They’ve also asked him to re-instate those who’ve already been discharged for noncompliance.

In a Sept. 15 letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, they wrote “to express our grave concern over the effect of the Department of Defense’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate on the readiness of our Armed Forces, particularly the U.S. Army.

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Army Qualification Test Scores Plummets Further in 2022

Army leaders have seen a 13% drop in qualification test scores from the most recent high school graduating class compared to pre-pandemic performances, Defense News reported.

Disqualification rates for potential recruits also shot up from between 30% and 40% to about 70% because of obesity, drug use and failing to meet academic standards, Lt. Gen. Maria Gervais, second in command for Army training, said at a conference Thursday, according to Defense News. The Army is projected to fall short of its recruiting goal for the year ending Sept. 30 by 25%.

Gervais, deputy commanding general of Army Training and Doctrine Command, said the Army has been in a “nosedive” since July 2021, but that the service may be seeing a steady revival, according to Defense News.

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My Pillow CEO Lindell Announces Lawsuit Against U.S. Government After FBI Seizes His Phone

My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell, a close ally of former President Donald Trump, announced Thursday that he is suing the U.S. government and the FBI after he said agents seized his phone earlier this week. 

Lindell said the lawsuit “isn’t just to get the phone back,” but he filed it because his “First, Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights were broken.”

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New Department of Defense Equity Chief Has History of Anti-White Statements

A new diversity hire at the Biden Administration’s Department of Defense (DOD) has a long and documented history of racist statements against White people on her social media.

As reported by the New York Post, Kelisa Wing is an Army veteran and the new chief of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) at the DOD’s Education Activity. Her Twitter account in particular contains numerous anti-White statements, including her declaration in June of 2020 that she was “exhausted with these white folx in these [professional development] sessions.”

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Poll: Most Voters Support Abortion Restrictions in Graham’s New Bill

Most voters support banning abortions at 15 weeks or earlier, a poll from WPA Intelligence found.

The poll comes after Republican South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham introduced federal legislation that would ban abortions after 15 weeks with exceptions for for rape, incest and the life of the mother. A combined 62% of registered voters, including 48% of Democrats, believed abortion should only be allowed up to 15 weeks or earlier, the WPA Intelligence poll found.

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