Day: April 12, 2024

Amendment in GOP-House’s FISA Renewal Bill for Warrant Requirement Fails in Tie Vote, 212-212

Just the News

A bipartisan warrant requirement amendment to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act section 702 renewal bill failed to pass in a tie vote of 212-212 on the House floor on Friday. The amendment would have prohibited “warrantless searches of U.S. person communications in the FISA 702 database, with exceptions for imminent threats to life or bodily harm, consent searches, or known cybersecurity threat signatures.”

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Feds Borrowed $6 Billion Per Day So Far This Fiscal Year

The Center Square
Maya Macguineas

The U.S. federal government has borrowed about $6 billion per day so far this fiscal year with little indication of slowing down.

The U.S. Treasury Department released its figures for the month of March showing it borrowed $236 billion in March alone, bringing the total to $1.1 trillion for this fiscal year, which runs from October to September.

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Investors Scramble to Adjust Their Portfolios After Inflation Surge

Virginia Star Staff
New York Stock Exchange trading floor

Many investors are diversifying their portfolios from standard stocks and bonds as March’s inflation surge casts doubt on economy-boosting rate cuts from the Federal Reserve happening this year, according to Reuters.

The consumer price index increased to 3.5 percent year-over-year in March, up from 3.2 percent in February and far from the Fed’s 2 percent target. Markets prior to March’s inflation report anticipated a few rate cuts this year, leading investors to buy up stock in anticipation that markets would rise when cuts materialize, but the increasing possibility that the Fed will not cut rates this year has led investors to switch up their market strategy, according to Reuters.

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Harvard Reverses Course, Brings Back Standardized Testing

Virginia Star Staff

Harvard announced Thursday that it will bring back standardized testing requirements for the admission process.

The Ivy League school first dropped the testing policy in June 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and later announced in 2021 that it would extend the test-optional policy for four additional years, according to the Harvard Crimson. Hopi Hoekstra, Edgerley Family dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, announced that the requirement would return “starting with next year’s admissions cycle” and claimed that the reinstatement would bring “important information back into the admissions process.”

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Youngkin Confirms He Removed Tax Cuts from Virginia Budget as Olive Branch to Democrats

Tom Pappert
Glenn Youngkin Budget

Governor Glenn Youngkin confirmed in comments made Wednesday that he dropped his request for tax cuts as an olive branch to Virginia’s Democratic lawmakers, who the governor hopes will similarly drop their requests for tax hikes.

Youngkin maintained that Virginia does not “need to raise taxes” and has “plenty of money in the system” during an interview with WTOP News. He told the outlet that Virginia lawmakers should “press forward with an agreement that we won’t raise taxes, and I will stop advocating to reduce them.”

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Commentary: DEI Cronyism and Woke Grifters

Virginia Star Staff
Fani Willis

When ideology replaces meritocracy or provides immunity from the consequences of illegal behavior, systemic mediocrity follows.

Under toxic National Socialism, Stalinism, and Maoism, millions of cronies and grifters mouthed party lines in hopes that their approved ideology would allow them to advance their careers and excuse their lawbreaking.

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Music Spotlight: Cody Webb

Bethany Bowman

In September of 2023, my brother sent me a video of a country song called “If Daddy Didn’t Have a Truck” by Cody Webb. At the time, TikTok wouldn’t play it because of “sensitive religious content.” That naturally made me want to listen and find out what about the song was so offensive.

For inexplicable reasons, the lyrics I’da never known Jesus loves me/ Fell in love with kicking up dirt/ I’da never known how forgiveness or a carburetor works/ Only the good Lord knows how a good ol’ boy like me mighta wound up/ If Mama didn’t have a Bible/ And Daddy didn’t have a truck were not permissible to the general public.

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Chicago Facing 57 Cases of Measles in Illegal Alien Shelters

Virginia Star Staff
Chicago migrant Shelter

The city of Chicago has become overrun with third-world diseases such as measles and tuberculosis due to the surge of illegal aliens flooding into the city, with the number of measles cases in the city rivaling nationwide totals.

As reported by Breitbart, health officials in Chicago report 57 “confirmed cases” of measles, with the vast majority being found in the shelters that have been set up for illegals. Of those cases, 33 are children under the age of 4, while 7 cases are children between the ages of 5 and 17, 16 cases are among those between the ages of 18 and 24, and a single case was found in an adult over the age of 50.

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Majority of Colleges Tie Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion to Graduation Requirements: Report

Virginia Star Staff
Graduation Ceremony

A majority of colleges and universities require students to take courses related to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in order to graduate, according to a new report.

Speech First, a pro-free expression organization, examined the policies of 248 colleges across the country and found that 67 percent of them required DEI coursework to “satisfy general education requirements.” Students enrolled in these courses are “subjected to courses advocating far-left ideological perspectives and pushing far-left political advocacy,” the report notes.

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Commentary: Migrants Feel the Pain of Biden’s Virtue

RealClearWire
President Biden in front of a border gate (composite image)

For women and children, the road to hell is paved with Democrats’ good intentions.

The party’s beliefs about the right thing to do regarding the border are the main contributors to an explosion of rape, human trafficking, prostitution, and child labor.

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Biden Suggests It’s Risky for Him to Secure Border by Executive Orders

Virginia Star Staff

President Joe Biden indicated in a new interview that he is considering taking executive action to secure the southern border.

“Have you made a final decision on taking executive order in terms of what you want to do at the border? That includes the power to shut down the border, as it was suggested,” Univision’s Enrique Acevedo asked Biden in an interview that aired late Tuesday night.

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