Month: July 2023

Commentary: ‘True Believer’ Joint Chiefs Chairman Will Hurt the Military

Virginia Star Staff

The military’s entry into the culture wars remains an important development. Until recently, the military was officially apolitical, in keeping with the constitutional requirements for a civilian commander-in-chief. In the 1990s, the military became more aligned with the Republican Party, and many commentators expressed legitimate concerns about this development. The pendulum swung-back after George W. Bush’s disastrous performance in Iraq, and things mostly balanced out by the time Obama took the reins.

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Texas Detransitioner Sues Doctors for $1 Million over Botched Surgery

Virginia Star Staff

Another detransitioner who attempted a gender transition at age 17 is suing the doctors who operated on her, accusing them of ignoring her plethora of mental health conditions and pushing her down a destructive path.

Soren Aldaco, who is now 21 years old, filed her lawsuit Friday in the Tarrant County District Court of Texas. She alleges that her doctors behaved more like “ideologues” than medical professionals and that they did not properly take her autism, depression, anxiety, and other comorbidities into account when they evaluated her for an attempted gender transition.

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Commentary: Defense Survey Reveals Age, Gender, Party Divides

RealClearWire

Although Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine has dominated worldwide headlines for more than a year and refocused the attention of U.S. policymakers on NATO and Eastern Europe, Americans are much more worried about China’s emerging power.

In an open question asked by RealClear Opinion Research, 53% of registered voters named the People’s Republic of China as “the greatest threat to the United States.” Russia was cited by 29% of respondents, while 4% named North Korea – the same percentage who answered that America’s biggest threat was the United States itself.

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Study: Many Hospitals Profited During COVID Pandemic

Virginia Star Staff

A new study reveals that nearly 75 percent of all U.S. hospitals were able to post positive operating income at the height of the Chinese Coronavirus pandemic, primarily due to relief funds provided by the government.

As Axios reports, the analysis by JAMA Health Forum shows that the average hospital’s operating margins – the difference between revenue and expenses – hit an all-time high in 2020 and 2021, the first two years of the pandemic. Many hospitals continue to post improving operating margins even after 2022 despite the rising inflation, which some have attributed to the massive profits in the first two years of COVID.

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Time for Nation’s Largest Employer to Rethink Office Space, GAO Says

The Center Square

It’s time for the largest employer in the United States to rethink its 511 million square feet of office space, according to a congressional watchdog. 

A report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office found that the federal government spends billions each year on underused office space. It recommended agency officials take another look at how much office space they need. 

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Conservative Activist Rejects Senate Dem Demand for Help in Supreme Court Probe: ‘Political Retaliation’

Admin

Fox News Conservative activist Leonard Leo today told Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee he will “not be part” of their investigation into the travel habits of conservative Supreme Court justices and cited the Bill of Rights and liberal hypocrisy as reasons. “Your investigation of Mr. Leo infringes two provisions of the…

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Five Times August Blasts Sheryl Crow for Smearing Jason Aldean over Pro-America, Anti-Rioting Song

OHStarStaff

Recently, a feud has erupted in the country music community, with singer-songwriter Five Times August taking a stand against Sheryl Crow’s criticism of Jason Aldean’s song “Try That In A Small Town.” While Sheryl Crow accused Aldean of promoting violence in his lyrics, Five Times August, also known as Brad Skistimas, has fired back, calling out her woke hypocrisy.

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Companies Are Abandoning Massive Offshore Wind Projects as Development Costs Skyrocket

Virginia Star Staff

Billions of dollars in scheduled offshore wind developments in waters of the U.K. and U.S. have been paused or canceled in recent weeks, according to Bloomberg News.

Three major offshore wind-related contracts have fallen through as rising costs and economic concerns have saddled developments off the American and British coasts, according to Bloomberg. While offshore wind proponents remain confident in the long term viability of offshore wind, the recent cancellations may be a sign of more substantial troubles for offshore wind despite strong support from the Biden administration, according to Bloomberg.

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Massachusetts Bill Would Allow Girls of Any Age to Obtain Abortion Without Parental Consent

Susan Berry, PhD

A radical Massachusetts bill that would end nearly all restrictions on abortion in the state would also allow girls of any age to “consent” to an abortion without informing parents or requiring their consent.

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Yale Law Library Shuts Down Attempt to Investigate Status of Its Clarence Thomas Portrait

Virginia Star Staff

Yale law library staff denied a reporter access to view the portraits hanging in its building in May and would not confirm whether a Clarence Thomas portrait donated to the library is among them, and this week deferred on numerous media requests asking about the whereabouts of the painting.

College Fix associate editor Maggie Kelly identified herself as a reporter and asked the interior gate attendant several times at the Lillian Goldman Law Library at Yale whether she could access the building to view its portraits. The attendant told her that only Yale law students and their guests are permitted to access the library. He also declined escorting the reporter around the building for a tour.

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Commentary: Trump’s Coyness on Debate Participation All Part of His Grand Strategy

Virginia Star Staff
Donald Trump

The first Republican primary debate of the 2024 presidential nominating cycle is set for one month from yesterday – on August 23, 2023. On that day, presumably, all major candidates for the GOP presidential nomination will assemble in Wisconsin to present their campaign pitches to the American public.

There isn’t an incumbent president in this year’s extravaganza, so it’s only natural that several hopefuls have expressed interest in a campaign. Deference is usually afforded a party president during his reelection run (as Democrats have announced there will be no debates on their side with senile Joe Biden currently in office), yet this year is different.

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Commentary: Tax Relief Is Coming to Millions of Red-State Residents in Ohio, Connecticut, and More

Virginia Star Staff

July marked the beginning of Fiscal Year 2024 for 46 of the 50 states. It also closes the books on most state legislative sessions in what was an incredible 2023 for hard-working taxpayers.

In recent years, we’ve seen significant income tax relief in the states. Notably, 10 states – Kentucky, West Virginia, Montana, Utah, Arkansas, North Dakota, Indiana, Nebraska, Connecticut, and Ohio – have cut personal income taxes (PIT) in 2023. With the new addition of West Virginia, North Dakota, and Connecticut, 22 states have cut personal income taxes since 2021, with several of these states cutting taxes multiple times during that period.

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After Facing Censorship in Congress, RFK Jr. Plans Roundtable Discussion on Censorship

M.D. Kittle

After Democrats threatened to censor him during last week’s House committee hearing on censorship, Democrat presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. plans to hold a “Roundtable on Censorship” next month.

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Commentary: Montana Leaves Marxist-Led American Library Association

Virginia Star Staff

Local libraries have become a fierce battleground in the cultural revolution sweeping America.

“Drag Queen Story Hour” and the promotion of pornographic materials in children and teens sections have prompted parents around the nation to push back—and some families to withdraw entirely.

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‘See You in Court:’ Texas Gov. Greg Abbott Responds to Biden’s Legal Threats Over Floating Border Barrier

Virginia Star Staff

Republican Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas sent a letter Monday to President Joe Biden, formally responding to threats of legal action from the Department of Justice (DOJ) over his states floating buoy barrier installed in the Rio Grande River.

Abbott defended his authority to have the floating buoy barrier built, accusing Biden of flouting U.S. immigration law with his border policies and violating the constitutional rights of states to protect themselves from an “invasion,” the letter read. The DOJ sent a letter Thursday to Abbott, accusing him of breaking the law, according to CNN.

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Hunter Biden Sold $1.3M in Art – and One Buyer Was a Dem Donor ‘Friend’ Joe Appointed to a Prestigious Commission: Report

Admin

The New York Post First son Hunter Biden’s novice artwork has raked in at least $1.3 million — with buyers including a Democratic donor “friend’’ who his dad named to a prestigious commission, a report said Monday. Elizabeth Hirsh Naftali, a Los Angeles real-estate investor and philanthropist, bought one of…

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Haley Says She Would Support Trump If He is 2024 GOP Nominee

Just the News

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley on Monday said she would support former President Donald Trump if he becomes the GOP nominee for the 2024 presidential election.

However, Haley also said she does not think Trump is capable of winning the general election.

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Commentary: ‘Free Speech Protection Act’ Takes Center Stage in The Fight for the Soul of America

Virginia Star Staff
Tennessee Star - Constitution Series

“If the allegations made by Plaintiffs are true, the present case arguably involves the most massive attack against free speech in United States’ history.” 

That is what federal judge Terry Doughty wrote in his decision ordering a number of Biden administration officials and agencies from communicating censorship requests to social media companies.

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Commentary: Why Is Big Media Pushing to Label ‘Sound of Freedom’ Film a ‘QAnon’ Hoax?

Virginia Star Staff

For good reasons the box office hit movie Sound of Freedom has brought in over $100 million as it tells the true story of undercover federal agent Timothy Ballard and his suspenseful mission to rescue children being sex trafficked in Colombia.

Central to the movie’s plot is the story of a bright-eyed, 11-year-old girl named Rocío, whose childhood innocence is quickly morphed into a nightmare of sexual exploitation when she is recruited into a child sex trafficking ring.

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College Towns Across America See Massive Democratic Shift: Report

Virginia Star Staff

College towns across the United States have come to overwhelmingly support Democrats, which is damaging the Republican Party’s ability to win elections in key swing states, according to a new report.

The American Communities Project (ACP), which has sought to develop a demographic profile of every county in the United States, has cataloged the voting patterns of 171 “college towns,” where major colleges or universities are situated and account for much of their economic activity, according to a report released by the project this year. The towns have seen a dramatic increase in Democratic support since the 2000 presidential election, with over two-thirds now being expressly Democratic, per the report and analysis by Politico.

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Censorship Case Involving State Collusion with Social Media Companies Could Be Heard by the Supreme Court

Virginia Star Staff

The Supreme Court could hear a case questioning a California agency’s coordination with Twitter to censor election-related “misinformation.”

O’Handley v. Weber, which concerns the California Secretary of State’s Office of Election Cybersecurity’s work with Twitter to monitor “false or misleading” election information, was appealed to the Supreme Court on June 8. The case raises questions similar to those posed in the free speech lawsuit Missouri v. Biden, now being appealed in the Fifth Circuit: Can the government lawfully induce private actors to censor protected speech?

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Companies Are Throwing Thousands of Diversity Officers Overboard: Report

Virginia Star Staff

Top companies are laying off thousands of diversity-focused workers, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Major companies that have championed diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, like Netflix, Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery, recently announced the exit of high-profile DEI executives, and thousands of employees working in diversity-related positions have been laid off since last year, according to the WSJ. Employee opinions about the importance of DEI and the funding for related initiatives are changing too, with many workers not seeing it as important.

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The Anti-Defamation League’s ‘No Place for Hate’ Program to Push Inclusion Popular Among Northern Virginia, Maryland Schools

The Center Square

Many schools in the Washington, D.C., region participate in a program called “No Place for Hate” designed to promote inclusion among students.

At least 143, and possibly closer to 200, are in Virginia and Maryland.

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Commentary: Climate Alarmists Are Finally Saying the Quiet Part Out Loud in Their Agenda

Virginia Star Staff

The Los Angeles Times published an op/ed Friday in which it perhaps unintentionally poses the central proposition of the mythical energy transition: “whether our expectations should evolve in the name of preventing climate catastrophe.”

The op/ed is appropriately titled, “Would an Occasional Blackout Help Solve Climate Change?” It is a headline that tacitly admits a truth about the transition that boosters of renewable energy have been careful not to publicize: That the notion that generation sources with extremely low energy density like wind and solar cannot hope to be viable alternatives to generation with extremely high energy density like natural gas, nuclear and coal. It is a notion that defies the laws of thermodynamics and physics, and those are laws, not suggestions that can be discarded as a matter of convenience or, as in this case, in pursuit of a hyper-political agenda.

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Congress Investigating Allegation Border Patrol Official Retaliated Against After Testimony

Admin

Congressional investigating are probing whistleblower allegations that the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency may have retaliated against a top agency official after he testifying before lawmakers.

House Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., and Rep. Mark Green wrote in a letter Friday that they have been told by a whistleblower that El Centro Border Patrol Sector Chief Gregory Bovino was relieved of his command after he finished a transcribed interview with two congressional committees earlier this month.

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Biden Admin Proposes New Rule to Jack Up Prices for Oil and Gas Leases

Virginia Star Staff

The Biden administration unveiled a new oil and gas leasing rule proposal Thursday that would jack up prices at nearly every stage of the public land leasing process.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), a subagency of the Department of the Interior (DOI), issued the rule proposal Thursday in an effort to adopt a “more transparent, inclusive and just approach” to federal oil and gas leasing on public lands and “[provide] a fair return to taxpayers,” Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management Laura Daniel-Davis said, according to a Thursday DOI press release. The rule nominally aims to boost land conservation efforts, but it would do so by massively increasing minimum bid thresholds and required per-acre fees for energy interests and developers to pay.

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GOP Representative Considers Challenging Lindsey Graham in 2026 Senate Primary: Report

Virginia Star Staff

South Carolina GOP Rep. and House Freedom Caucus member Ralph Norman is weighing a 2026 Senate bid to challenge Sen. Lindsey Graham in the Republican primary, according to Politico.

Graham has served in the upper chamber since 2003 and has repeatedly beat out primary challengers, but was booed on July 1 by his own constituents at a rally for former President Donald Trump. Conservatives now see an opportunity for another Republican to emerge in 2026 and have been discussing a potential bid with Norman, a source familiar with the matter told Politico.

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Commentary: Fox News’ ‘Conservative Stance’ Belies Hidden Liberal Agenda

Virginia Star Staff

The longshoreman turned homespun philosopher Eric Hoffer is semi-forgotten today. But his book The True Believer (1951) is full of pertinent aperçus. One that has recurred to me often of late is the observation that “Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket.”

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Secret Service Vet on White House Cocaine: ‘Somebody’s Stopping This from Being Thoroughly Investigated’

Admin

A security expert who worked with the Secret Service for over 20 years says he’s “surprised” the agency is closing the investigation into how cocaine was found at “one of the most secure buildings in the world” without identifying any suspects.

In briefing Congress earlier this month about the July Fourth weekend discovery at the White House, the agency said it did not conduct interviews as part of its internal investigation, citing the roughly 500 potential suspects, and that it planned to close the probe in the coming weeks.

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Despite White House Rhetoric, U.S. Wildfires Are Burning Less Land This Year

Virginia Star Staff

U.S. wildfires have burned nearly 75% less land so far this year compared to the same date in recent years, according to the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC), despite White House rhetoric alleging that wildfires have intensified.

Just 777,732 acres of land have been burned as of Friday, roughly 2.3 million acres less than the average of around 3.1 million acres burned by the same date between 2013-2022, according to the NIFC, which helps coordinate the U.S. government’s response to wildfires. The White House has repeatedly referenced the “growing wildfire threat” driven by climate change in various press releases and other statements issued in the past several months.

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Illegal Alien from Cuba Who Beheaded Girlfriend in Minnesota Conviction Overturned, Found Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity

Admin

Breitbart News An illegal alien from Cuba, released into the U.S. in 2012 from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody, and convicted of murder earlier this year after the public beheading of his girlfriend has now been found not guilty due to his mental illness. As Breitbart News reported, Alexi Saborit-Viltres was…

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Biden Admin Takes Another Step to Diminish Americans’ Standard of Living in the Name of ‘Climate’

Admin

Fox News The Biden administration unveiled a regulatory proposal late Friday targeting water heaters, the latest in a string of energy efficiency actions cracking down on home appliances. The Department of Energy (DOE) said its proposal would ultimately “accelerate deployment” of electric heat pump water heaters, save Americans billions of dollars and…

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