Month: November 2023

House Freedom Caucus Comes Out Against Johnson’s Continuing Resolution

Virginia Star Staff

The House Freedom Caucus (HFC) came out against Republican Speaker Mike Johnson’s continuing resolution (CR) to temporarily fund the government ahead of the vote on Tuesday, according to a press release.

Johnson’s two-part plan, the “Further Continuing Appropriations and Other Extensions Act of 2024,” would avert a Nov. 17 government shutdown by issuing both a Jan. 19 and Feb. 2 funding deadline when certain spending legislation would expire, according to the bill’s text. The HFC is opposing the “clean” CR because it doesn’t provide any spending cuts or other conservative provisions, the press release reads.

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After a Decade of Deliberation, Federal Government Chooses Maryland over Virginia as New FBI HQ

The Center Square

The federal government has selected Greenbelt, Maryland, as the location for its new FBI headquarters concluding a search process that began more than 10 years ago.

Congress authorized the General Services Administration to start looking for a new site for the FBI headquarters in 2012 after a decade of complaints about the security, technological capabilities, “deteriorating infrastructure” and other issues with the current facility, located in Washington, D.C. The GSA narrowed its search to Greenbelt and Landover, Maryland, and Springfield, Virginia, in 2014, and state lawmakers and officials from both states have actively pursued the selection of their state throughout. 

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Billionaire-Funded SuperPAC ‘Forward Majority Action’ Will Target State Legislatures in 2024

Virginia Star Staff

A super PAC funded by liberal megadonors and foundations announced a multi-million dollar push to register voters likely to support Democrats in 2024 state legislature elections.

Forward Majority Action on Monday announced the launch of its $25 million Battleground Voter Project, an initiative that aims to get people likely to support the Democratic Party registered to vote in the key states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Texas. Forward Majority Action is funded by a who’s who of liberal megadonors and political organizations, including the Soros family, left-wing groups like the Sixteen Thirty Fund and Bridge to Democracy and liberal megadonors like Reid Hoffman and Karla Jurvetson.

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Analysis: Trump Leads Biden 47 – 41 Percent in Swing States; Wins Georgia, Arizona, North Carolina Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Nevada

Virginia Star Staff

Former President Donald Trump continues to lead incumbent President Joe Biden in the most important battleground states in the latest Morning Consult-Bloomberg poll taken Oct. 30 to Nov. 3 with an overall 47 percent to 41 percent margin.

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Victor Davis Hanson Commentary: The Lasting Damage of the ‘White Privilege’ Smear

Virginia Star Staff

One of the many satanic paradoxes of the Third Reich’s architecture of the Final Solution was the requirement — mandated after the 1939 outbreak of the war — that Jews anywhere under German rule or occupation had to wear a yellow badge or armband with the Star or David.

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YoungkinWatch: Democrat Speaker Nominee Wants Relationship ‘Reset’ as Governor Promises Bipartisan Legislation

Tom Pappert

Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin (R) appeared to receive an olive branch from Delegate Don Scott Jr. (D-Portsmouth), who the Virginia Democrats elected as their Speaker-designee for the Virginia House of Delegates following Republican losses in last week’s elections, after Scott stated he wants “a reset” between the men during a Friday interview.

In Friday remarks to The Washington Post, the Speaker-designee described himself as a “pragmatic progressive” who is ready for “a reset” with Youngkin. The outlet reported Scott believes Democrats and Youngkin “can find common ground on areas such as education, mental health funding and creating good jobs,” and the publication noted Youngkin made similar promises in a press conference shortly after the electoral defeats of November 7.

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Biden’s General Services Administration Set Register Voters and ‘Get out the Vote’ in 2024

Virginia Star Staff

The Biden administration continues to shield from the public its plans for federal agencies to turn out the vote, citing “presidential communications and deliberative process privilege.” 

Newly released emails, however, demonstrate the focus of the White House and various government departments on registering voters and getting them out.  

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The Biden Admin Is Pursuing Total Domination of Americans’ Digital Lives

Virginia Star Staff

President Joe Biden’s administration has recently taken unprecedented action to exert influence over Americans’ digital lives, including broadband internet, net neutrality, social media and artificial intelligence (AI).

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Taxpayer-Funded Insurance Group Funneled Cash into Liberal Advocacy Groups

Virginia Star Staff

A taxpayer-funded health insurance exchange made donations to a number of liberal interest groups, drawing scrutiny from lawmakers, CBS News reported.

Connect for Health made donations to left-of-center groups like the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition, the Southern Colorado Equality Alliance, ProgressNow, Young Invincibles and The Steady, according to CBS. Two state lawmakers raised concerns about Connect for Health’s donations after a CBS News Colorado investigation exposed that the state-established nonprofit insurance exchange had been funding liberal political groups, the outlet reported.

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Child Psychiatrist Sentenced to 40 Years for Using AI to Create Child Porn

Just the News

A North Carolina child psychiatrist was sentenced to 40 years in prison followed by 30 years of supervised release after he was convicted of producing, transporting and possessing child pornography, at least some of which he generated through the use of artificial intelligence (AI).

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University of North Dakota Hit with Civil Rights Complaints Alleging Tuition Programs Illegally Discriminate Based on Race

Virginia Star Staff

Two North Dakota higher education institutions were hit this week with civil rights complaints over tuition reduction programs open only to specific racial groups.

The Equal Protection Project (EPP) filed civil rights complaints against the University of North Dakota (UND) and UND School of Law for tuition reduction programs that are “only available to non-white applicants,” according to complaints obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation. UND’s website cites the authority of North Dakota State Board of Higher Education (SBHE) policy that encourages institutions to use tuition waivers to “promote enrollment of a culturally diverse student body.”

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Luxury EV Manufacturer Loses $227,000 on Each Car It Sells

Virginia Star Staff

A manufacturer of luxury electric vehicles (EVs) lost more than $227,000 on each car it sold in the third quarter.

Lucid Motors, headquartered in California, sells four EV models, ranging in price from $74,900 to $249,000, according to its website. The company reported a net loss of $630.9 million in the third quarter, excluding its overhead costs, which comes out to a loss of more than $227,000 on each car it sold, according to its financial filings and The Wall Street Journal’s calculations.

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Pentagon Makes Plans for Nuclear Gravity Bomb with Bigger Bang

The Center Square
aerial view of The Pentagon

The Pentagon wants to build a bigger nuclear gravity bomb to provide the military with “more flexibility” in the nation’s nuclear stockpile. 

The U.S. Department of Defense has announced plans to pursue a modern variant of the B61 nuclear gravity bomb, designated the B61-13. The move will require Congressional authorization and appropriation.

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Poll: Americans Say Schools Should Focus on Math, Reading, and Writing

The Center Square

A large majority of voters say that public schools should focus on the basics – math, reading, writing, science and social studies – to improve the quality of public education in the country.

That’s according to the latest The Center Square’s Voters’ Voice poll conducted in late October in conjunction with Noble Predictive Insights. The poll of 2,605 likely voters includes 1,035 Republicans, 1,074 Democrats, and 496 true Independents, and is among the most comprehensive in the country.

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Higher Rates of Cancer Found Among Those Who Drank Contaminated Water at U.S. Military Base: Report

Virginia Star Staff

Military and civilian personnel who lived and worked at a contaminated military base developed cancer at an unusual rate, Reuters reported, citing an epidemiologist familiar with recent research by a U.S. health agency.

The study shows people stationed at the Marine Corps’ Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, came down with cancer at a higher rate than was previously known, Kenneth Cantor, a former National Cancer Institute epidemiologist who has read the study, told Reuters. It also showed that the base’s drinking water likely caused the cancers as the government already owes billions in compensation for former residents’ claims they were harmed from consuming poisoned water.

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Experts Warn China’s Foray into the Middle East Could Isolate Taiwan from U.S. Forces

Virginia Star Staff

China is expanding its military presence in the Middle East, which could obstruct American forces in the region from mobilizing if Beijing decides to invade Taiwan, leaving the island with reduced defenses, according to foreign policy experts.

President Joe Biden was briefed Tuesday by his advisors on a Chinese plan to build a new military facility in Oman bordering the Arabian Sea, which would advance Beijing’s goal of increasing its Middle East and overseas presence, according to Bloomberg. By establishing military strong points in the Middle East, China can hinder and disrupt American forces in the region from mobilizing effectively and redirecting toward Taiwan if Beijing invades, which could leave the island with lesser defense capabilities, according to foreign policy experts.

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YoungkinWatch: Virginia Republicans Reportedly Sought to Punish Governor’s House Ally over GOP Losses

Tom Pappert

Republicans in the Virginia House of Delegates reportedly sought to strip the leadership position of Speaker Todd Gilbert (R-Shenandowoah) on Sunday for his failure to caution Governor Glenn Youngkin against fiercely campaigning on abortion, and for demanding Virginia legislators appear at political events they reportedly said were part of a last minute presidential bid for the governor.

At least three Republican delegates anonymously told The Washington Post they planned to punish Gilbert, who was described as a “key ally” of Youngkin in 2022, for pushing legislators to comply with Youngkin’s demands”to appear at Youngkin-led rallies and other events,” which the legislators told the Post “were primarily meant to promote his last-minute bid for president.”

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Commentary: Mail Ballot Security Is Under Nationwide Assault

Virginia Star Staff
ballot drop box

The Left loves to tout universal mail-in voting. Liberal enclaves like California, Hawaii, and Oregon have implemented it, while activists push aggressively to impose mail-in voting on Americans. But even as they push it, despite repeated instances of fraud, the Left simultaneously attacks any efforts to make vulnerable mail voting more secure. Indeed, the Left holds outright disdain for even minimal safeguards for mail ballots.

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Report: Mountain States Among ‘Most Free’ in North America

The Center Square

Mountain states rank among the “most free” in North America, according to a new report from the Fraser Institute.

The Canadian think tank employs 10 variables for its Economic Freedom of North America 2023 reports and scores states based on categories such as government spending, taxes, labor market freedom, legal system and property rights, sound money, and freedom to trade internationally.

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EU Moves Forward with Digital ID Despite Security Concerns and Potential for Abuse

Virginia Star Staff

The European Parliament and the Council of the European Union reached a final agreement this week on the establishment of “European Digital Identity Wallets,” the first central and fully digital identification system for all Europeans.

“Under the new law, the EU will offer its citizens so-called ‘digital wallets’—on a voluntary basis, at first—which will contain digital versions of their ID cards, driving licenses, diplomas, medical records, and bank account information,” the European Conservative reported.

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Commentary: Masculine Men Are Women’s Unsung Heroes

Virginia Star Staff

Contemporary America is hounded by terms like “toxic masculinity,” “the patriarchy,” and “the male gaze.” Men all over the nation—indeed, the world—are lambasted daily by derogatory, angry media seeking to devalue and wipe out their nature.

I have a message for you: Don’t listen to it. Masculine men are the very thing we need—now more than ever in the battle of traditionalism versus progressivism. Though the media has attacked the vital value of gender itself, we know they’re wrong. We know male and female is how we’re made. Even now, traditional femininity is making a huge comeback across the internet. And what do we as traditional women most need?

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Appeals Court Strikes Down ATF’s ‘Ghost Gun’ Restrictions

Just the News

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday unanimously struck down the Biden administration’s restrictions on “ghost guns,” or firearms without serial numbers, determining that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) lacked authority to enact them.

The decision upholds a lower court decision that held the ATF exceeded its authority. The U.S. Supreme Court had allowed the restrictions to take effect while the case made its way through the appeals process.

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Vatican Approves Allowing Transgender People to Receive Baptism and Become Godparents

Virginia Star Staff

On Wednesday, the Vatican released a document declaring that people who believe themselves to be “transgender” will now be allowed to be baptized and be named as godparents, with certain limitations.

As reported by Fox News, the document in question was an official response to a dubia seeking guidance on how to deal with the issue, submitted by Brazilian Bishop Giuseppe Negri of Santo Amaro. The document was signed by Pope Francis himself and promoted by the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.

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Commentary: As Education Decentralizes, Those Who Like Control Are Nervous

Virginia Star Staff

As more parents gain the opportunity to abandon a compulsory schooling assignment for other options, including homeschooling and microschooling, it’s no surprise that those who favor top-down control of education feel anxious about this bottom-up education transformation. This nervousness is occurring on both ends of the political spectrum.

On the political left, The Washington Post did some pearl-clutching last week around the possibility that “no government official will ever check on what, or how well, [homeschoolers] are being taught.” On the political right, the Fordham Institute expressed similar concerns about hybrid homeschoolers and microschoolers: “To ensure that those children receive the education they deserve, it will require policymakers to craft smart laws to govern these new institutions….”

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Poll: Voters Satisfied with Local Schools but Not Public Schools in General

The Center Square

A new poll shows a large disparity between how voters think of their local public school system and the nation’s school system as a whole, signaling frustration with larger education issues as opposed to more area-specific ones.

Respondents’ approval of their local schools held constant in the most recent The Center Square Voters’ Voice Poll, which was conducted by Noble Predictive Insights.

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CDC: School Vaccination Exemptions Highest Ever Among Kindergartners

The Center Square

A record high number of kindergartners started last school year with an exemption from one of the vaccines U.S. health authorities require.

The overall percentage of children with an exemption increased from 2.6% during the 2021-22 school year to 3% during the 2022-23 school year, the highest exemption rate ever reported in the U.S., according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report published Thursday.

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Librarians Claim Civil Rights Violations over Book Bannings and Firings

Virginia Star Staff

Several left-wing librarians, teachers, and other school employees are trying to claim that the removal of inappropriate books from school libraries is a violation of their civil rights.

As reported by ABC News, three librarians who were recently fired have filed workplace discrimination claims with U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). They all claim that they were discriminated against when they were fired for promoting controversial, far-left material to students, including Critical Race Theory and the LGBTQ agenda.

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Commentary: ‘American Refugees’ Is a New Book That Offers Some Surprises About Those Fleeing Blue States

Virginia Star Staff

By now, most readers are aware of the ongoing exodus from blue states to red states, from places like California and New York to the Carolinas, Texas, and Florida. Some of these migrants are retirees in search of warmer weather. Some are millennials in U-Haul vans looking to lower the cost of living or in search of better jobs.

And some are just men and women fed up with high taxes, bad schools, street crime, crumbling cities, and left-wing policies.

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Prosecutor Says Burisma Tax Evasion Charges Expired, but Hunter Biden Still Faces Legal Jeopardy

RealClearWire
Hunter Biden courtroom

In an interview with Congress, Special Counsel David Weiss corroborated key parts of the IRS whistleblowers’ story, including that the statute of limitations had expired on charges that Hunter Biden evaded taxes a decade ago on some of his Burisma Holdings income in Ukraine.

But the prosecutor also strongly signaled the first son still faces serious legal jeopardy beyond the gun charges he already is fighting.

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Far from Border, Americans Victims of Violent Crimes Committed by Illegal Immigrants

The Center Square

Thousands of miles from the southern border, Americans find themselves victims of violent crimes committed by repeat offenders illegally entering the U.S.

While numerous examples exist, in five examples identified by The Center Square, all of the alleged perpetrators illegally entered the U.S. “on an unknown date at an unknown location,” according to U.S. Customs & Immigration Enforcement.

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DeSantis, Haley Bring in Big Money After Third GOP Primary Debate

Virginia Star Staff

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley both brought in over $1 million in the first 24 hours following the Republican National Committee’s (RNC) third GOP primary debate on Wednesday, the Daily Caller News Foundation confirmed Friday.

Haley’s fundraising haul marks the campaign’s best single day of small-dollar donations after she and DeSantis sparred over foreign policy, energy and other issues on stage in Miami, Florida, according to the former ambassador’s team. DeSantis and Haley maintain either the second- or third-place lane in most national and key early state surveys as they vie to take on former President Donald Trump, who’s leading the crowded field of GOP hopefuls by roughly 44 points.

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Tech Giant Pays Millions to Settle Claims It Discriminated Against American Citizens

Virginia Star Staff

Apple will pay $25 million to settle claims that it unlawfully discriminated against U.S. citizens and some non-U.S. citizens in its hiring process, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on Thursday.

The DOJ alleged that Apple breached the Immigration and Nationality act (INA) in its hiring efforts for roles covered by the permanent labor certification program (PERM), according to the announcement. PERM enables employers to “sponsor” employees for “lawful permanent resident status” in the U.S. and bars employers from engaging in unlawful hiring discrimination due to citizenship or immigration status.

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Virginia Senator Calls for IG Probe of FBI Headquarters Selection: ‘Clear Political Interference’

Just the News

Virginia Democratic Sen. Mark Warner on Thursday blasted the Biden administration’s handling of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) headquarters selection process and called for an General Services Administration (GSA) Inspector General probe of the matter.

FBI Director Chris Wray also said on Thursday that he has “concerns about fairness and transparency in the process and GSA’s failure to adhere to its own site selection plan.”

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