Category: Policy

Commentary: Biden’s Big Bet on Military Abortions Falls Flat

Virginia Star Staff
Lloyd Austin

Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022, President Joe Biden has made it a top priority to use any and all administrative actions to promote and pay for abortions with taxpayer money.

No single related action garnered more attention than Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s announcement that the Defense Department would use taxpayer funds to pay for abortion travel. Now, a new Pentagon report finds that the Biden administration’s abortion travel policy for service members and dependents was used only 12 times from June through December.

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Florida Sheriff Touts Giving Squatters a ‘One-Way Ride’ to Jail

Virginia Star Staff
Sheriff Grady Judd

A Florida sheriff on Monday boasted during a Fox News appearance about giving squatters a “one-way ride” to the local jail as concerns about squatting have grown nationwide.

Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida signed legislation to criminalize squatting on Wednesday after a high-profile incident in New York in which a woman who discovered squatters in her late mother’s luxury apartment was allegedly killed by them. Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd told “Fox and Friends” co-host Lawrence Jones that his deputies were already addressing the issue.

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Biden Admin Threw Billions at EV Charging Stations, But Only a Handful Have Been Built

Virginia Star Staff
Electric Vehicle charging station

The Biden administration’s well-funded push to build out a national network of electric vehicle (EV) chargers has so far resulted in only a handful of installations, according to The Washington Post.

The bipartisan infrastructure bill of 2021 allotted $7.5 billion to subsidize thousands of EV chargers to help the administration’s goal of having EVs constitute 50 percent of all new cars sold in 2030, but only seven stations in total have been built in four states to date, according to the Post. The slow rollout of the EV charger funding is unfolding as the Biden administration has recently issued stringent emissions standards for light-, medium- and heavy-duty vehicles that will result in significant increases of EV sales for all three classes of vehicle.

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‘Entirely Unachievable:’ Biden EPA Locks In Stringent Emissions Rule for Heavy-Duty Vehicles to Fight Climate Change

Virginia Star Staff
Joe Biden

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized aggressive emissions standards Friday for heavy-duty vehicles that will effectively require huge increases in the numbers of electric or zero-emission buses and trucks sold over the next decade.

The agency is projecting that the heavy-duty vehicle emissions standards for model years 2027 to 2032 could result in zero-emission or electric vehicles (EVs) making up 25 percent of new long-haul trucks sold and 40 percent of all new medium-sized truck sales by 2032, according to The New York Times. The EPA’s final emissions standards for heavy-duty vehicles complements the agency’s recent release of the final tailpipe emissions standards for light- and medium-duty vehicles that has been characterized as an “EV mandate.”

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‘Almost Orwellian’: Feds Black Out Nearly All Emails about Trucker Surveillance Proposal

Just the News
Semi Truck at checkpoint

A Department of Transportation component slammed the brakes following semi-furious opposition to its proposal for “on demand” law enforcement surveillance of commercial vehicles a year and a half ago.

It took another six months to turn over the records after a FOIA lawsuit to compel their release, a day before they were due in court Thursday, with no indication yet from FMCSA when it would release a final rule.

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Commentary: With ‘Friends’ Like Obrador, Enemies Like Putin, Xi, Kim Jong are Old News

Virginia Star Staff
President AMLO of Mexico

In a recent 60 Minutes interview, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador—who prefers to be known as AMLO for short—issued to the Biden administration blackmail demands that sounded more like existential threats.

AMLO warned the U.S. that the current influx of some 10 million illegal aliens through the southern border will most certainly continue—unless America agrees to his ultimatums.

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Youngkin Vetoes Minimum Wage Hike, Bill to Regulate Marijuana After Virginia Democrats Successfully Kill Potomac Yards Arena

Tom Pappert
Virginia Gov Glenn Youngkin

Governor Glenn Youngkin on Friday vetoed bills to regulate marijuana and raise the minimum wage, which were positioned by Democrats in the Virginia General Assembly as possible bargaining chips in negotiations to build an arena for the Washington Wizards and Capitals in Alexandria, Virginia.

The arena project was officially pronounced dead last week, when Monumental Sports and Entertainment announced a deal with Washington, D.C. to stay in the nation’s capitol for decades on Wednesday.

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Commentary: Supreme Court Takes on California’s Uber-Disclosure Laws Aiming to Crack Down on ‘Dark Money’ Ads

Virginia Star Staff
San Francisco City Hall

When you watch a political ad, often you’ll see a disclaimer of who the ad was paid for by, usually a political action committee, but what about the donors to the committee? Or the donor’s donors?

That’s the bridge that a San Francisco campaign finance law seeks to cross — now being challenged at the U.S. Supreme Court in No on E v. Chiu — and to prohibit an incredibly common practice in campaign finance, which are donations from anonymous sources.

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Johnson Proposes Ukraine Aid ‘Innovations’ Including Loans, Using Seized Russian Oligarch Money

Just the News
House Speaker Mike Johnson

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said he expects the House to move forward with an aid package that would provide support for Ukraine with “some important innovations,” which may include loans for the war-torn Eastern European nation and using seized assets from Russian oligarchs.

On Fox News’ “Sunday Night In America” Johnson appeared receptive to a plan that would offer Ukraine a loan rather than aid, as Congress has already approved $113 billion in response to Russia’s invasion since February 2022, per the Government Accountability Office.

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California Fast Food Workers Face Layoffs as State’s $20 Minimum Wage Goes into Effect

Just the News
Auntie Anne's employees

All fast-food employees, regardless of age, will see a $20 an hour minimum wage in California, while the federal minimum wage is between $4.25 and $7.25, depending on age and length of time working.

California fast-food chains are laying off workers, raising prices and deciding against opening new stores as the state implements a minimum wage that is more than 175 percent higher than that required by the federal government.

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Analysis: Data Shows Most Migrant Flights Landing in Gov. DeSantis’ Sunshine State

Admin

President Joe Biden’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) refuses to publicly identify the dozens of U.S. international airports for which it has approved direct flights from abroad for certain inadmissible aliens. At least 386,000 migrants through February have been allowed to fly to interior U.S. airports as part of a legally dubious admissions program the administration launched in October 2022. The rationale for the program is to “reduce the number of individuals crossing unlawfully” over the southern border — by flying them over it directly into the interior and then releasing them on parole.

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Biden Shifts Positions on Gaza ‘Ceasefire’ as Activist Pressure Mounts, Election Nears

Virginia Star Staff

President Joe Biden is quietly shifting strategy on the Israel-Hamas war amid a looming threat from activist groups and his voters ahead of the 2024 election.

For the first time since the war began on Oct. 7, the U.S. failed to veto a United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolution calling for a six-week “immediate” ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, tied to the release of the hostages in Gaza. The Biden administration’s decision comes after pressure from his voting bloc, outcry from protestors and unrest in the White House.

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Biosafety Committee Found Dozens of Accidents at NIH-Funded Colorado Lab in Three years

Just the News
Science Lab

Bats and hamsters and cats, and mice!

Fort Collins, Colorado, could have become the next Wuhan, China, with dozens of lab accidents just this decade involving outbreak-prone pathogens in animals including coronaviruses, Zika and tuberculosis, according to a group that fights taxpayer-funded animal testing.

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Biden EPA Locks in Stringent Emissions Rule for Heavy-Duty Vehicles to Fight Climate Change

Virginia Star Staff
Garbage Truck

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized aggressive emissions standards Friday for heavy-duty vehicles that will effectively require huge increases in the numbers of electric or zero-emission buses and trucks sold over the next decade.

The agency is projecting that the heavy-duty vehicle emissions standards for model years 2027 to 2032 could result in zero-emission or electric vehicles (EVs) making up 25% of new long-haul trucks sold and 40% of all new medium-sized truck sales by 2032, according to The New York Times. The EPA’s final emissions standards for heavy-duty vehicles complements the agency’s recent release of the final tailpipe emissions standards for light- and medium-duty vehicles that has been characterized as an “EV mandate.”

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Youngkin Vetoes Recreational Marijuana Sales Bill, Citing Threats to ‘Health and Safety’

Just the News
Weed Store

Virginia Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin on Thursday vetoed legislation that would have created a state-regulated market for recreational marijuana sales.

The Old Dominion currently permits qualified patients to secure marijuana for medical purposes and in 2021 legalized its use and cultivation by residents aged 21 and older, though it has not yet approved a framework for legal retail sales, according to The Hill. The measure would have set up the process to permit the market to open in May of 2025 and set up a maximum tax rate of 11.625%, the Associated Press reported.

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Commentary: The Biden EV Plan Needs American Mining

RealClearWire
Mining Work

The Biden administration has just supercharged the electric vehicle (EV) revolution. With its finalized tailpipe emissions rule, the administration expects that by 2032 70% of new U.S. car sales will be electric.

This lightning-fast transformation of the nation’s car fleet faces myriad challenges but perhaps none are greater than sourcing the minerals needed for millions of EVs and addressing the nation’s alarming reliance on Chinese-controlled mineral supply chains.  

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Washington Governor Signs ‘Natural Gas Ban Bill’ into Law

The Center Square
Jay Inslee

Gov. Jay Inslee on Thursday afternoon signed into law a controversial bill meant to allow Puget Sound Energy to start planning how to move away from natural gas.

“This bill creates the roadmap and tools for our state’s largest utility to get out of the fossil fuel business and achieve net zero emissions by 2050,” Inslee said of Engrossed Substitute House Bill 1589 during the bill-signing event from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 46 in Kent.

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Conservative Groups Sue to Stop Virginia Offshore Wind Project, Says Threatens Whales

Just the News
Wind Farm

Wildlife conservationists say that a recent uptick in deaths of these endangered whales corresponds with the development of offshore wind projects that are part of President Joe Biden’s climate agenda.

A coalition of conservative groups has filed a lawsuit against federal agencies and their top officials and the company planning to build what is expected to be the world’s largest offshore wind project.

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Border Crisis Completely Upends Census Bureau’s Population Stats, Report Says

Virginia Star Staff
Illegal Immigrants

Immigration into the U.S. has risen so rapidly that it beat out federal projections by decades, according to a report from the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) released on Thursday.

The total number of immigrants in the U.S. rose to a record high of 51.4 million as of February 2024, representing 15.5 percent of the total population,according to CIS. The U.S. Census Bureau published projections in November which estimated that the share of foreign-born nationals in the U.S. would not reach 15.5 percent until at least 2039, making the projections “obsolete,” CIS authors Steven Camarota and Karen Zeigler wrote.

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Montana Supreme Court Overturns State Voting Reform Laws

Just the News
Voters casting ballots

Following the 2020 presidential election, which faced allegations of mass voter fraud from former President Donald Trump and his supporters, many states moved to restricting mail-in or absentee voting practices.

The Montana Supreme Court struck down multiple voting reform laws on Wednesday, declaring them unconstitutional.

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Commentary: Voters Be Beware That Google Interferes in U.S. Elections

Virginia Star Staff
Person searching Google on their laptop

A brand new investigation has found that Google interfered in American elections at least 41 times over the last 16 years.

Published on March 18, the Media Research Center Special Report traced election interference efforts by the world’s most popular search engine all the way back to the 2008 election of former President Barack Obama.

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Idaho Gov Signs Bill Prohibiting Taxpayer Funding for Sex-Change Surgeries

Virginia Star Staff
Gov. Brad Little in front of Idaho State Capitol building (composite image)

Republican Gov. Brad Little of Idaho signed a bill Wednesday banning the state from using public funding to cover sex-change procedures.

House Bill 668 was introduced in February by Republican Reps. Julianne Young and Bruce Skaug and bars the state from using Medicaid funds to pay for sex-change surgeries or cross-sex hormones, according to the text. The legislation passed the state House of Representatives 58 to 11 and the state Senate 26 to 8, with one abstaining, in March before Little signed the legislation into law, the state legislature website shows.

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States Focus on Squatting as TikToker Encourages Illegal Immigrants to ‘Invade’ Homes

Just the News
Illegal immigrant being arrested

State and local officials are working to prevent property owners from having their residences taken over by squatters as a social media influencer from Venezuela encouraged illegal immigrants to “invade” homes in the U.S.

The issue of squatting has arisen in both Florida and Georgia, states fighting against squatting, while a New York City resident was arrested for trying to prevent a squatter from reentering her home. Squatting has become a concern with the influx of illegal immigrants as a Venezuelan national encouraged others to squat in Americans’ homes.

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Commentary: The Ever-Continuous Villaining of Joe Biden and His Minions

Virginia Star Staff
Joe Biden speaking at podium

I’ve discussed the “hero’s journey of Donald Trump” here in this column multiple times — and it turns out I couldn’t get away from it even if I wanted to. Every day we hear a drumbeat of evidence that the Left — the media-governmental-intelligence Deep State complex that has declared war on the entire world, with the free American people its primary enemy — has gone absolutely off the deep end.

Villains gonna villain, y’all. And these villains are villaining like the clock is running out on them.

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From DACA to Deportation to Murder: Michigan the Latest State Hit by Immigration Enforcement Lapse

Just the News
Brandon Ortiz-Vite in front of other illegal immigrants (composite image)

An illegal immigrant, who once lived in the country as a DACA recipient before he was deported in 2020, was arrested over the weekend as a suspect in the slaying of a 25-year old Michigan woman. The incident is the second shocking murder of a young woman by an illegal immigrant this year, following the killing of Laken Riley in Georgia.

Michigan State Police began investigating the murder of Ruby Garcia, from Grand Rapids, after her body was found on a major highway that cuts through the city’s downtown. The body was discovered at 11:38 pm on Friday evening with apparent gunshot wounds, according to The Midwesterner.

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Commentary: The Plague That Besets Our Schools Is Extensive

Virginia Star Staff
Students in classroom

The year, now a quarter old, reveals that the country’s rapid slide into educational purgatory is moving apace. Leading off the grossness parade is a school in Oklahoma where students lick and suck the armpits and toes of their fellow students in the name of charity. (This may garner a shrug in San Francisco, but Oklahoma?!)

While no district personnel were directly involved, video footage from Deer Creek High School in Edmond, OK, showed mid-teens participating in and watching the disgusting events unfold.

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Three Sue National Park Service for Refusing to Accept Cash for Park Entrance Fees

The Center Square
Wildrose Peat at Death Valley National Park

Three people have filed a lawsuit against the National Park Service for refusing to take cash for park entrance fees alleging its NPS Cashless program violates federal law. 

The complaint, filed in federal court earlier this month, seeks to have a judge declare NPS Cashless unlawful. The suit alleges that three visitors were denied entrance to national parks in Arizona, New York and Georgia. The complaint further alleges that the “National Park Service no longer accepts American money at approximately twenty-nine national parks, national historic sites, national monuments, and national historic parks around the country.”

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Mandatory State Training Steers Judges to Question Fitness of Parents Who Don’t Affirm Gender-Confused Kids

Virginia Star Staff
Trans youth kids at public assembly

Judges who handle child abuse and neglect cases in California are required to take a training on LGBT issues that pushes them to consider whether parents who object to their child’s preferred pronouns should have custody.

The Judicial Council of California’s “LGBTQ+ Considerations” training, offered twice annually for judges working on juvenile dependency cases, instructs judges on how to handle youth gender identities, advising them to “be aware that LGBTQ youth may be at risk of harm at home, school and in other settings due to biased or uninformed attitudes or conduct by peers/adults,” according to a presentation from June 2023 obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation via a public records request. After citing statistics on mental health problems among LGBT youth and warning judges to stay alert about “physical or emotional abuse” by parents that does not have a “clear reason,” the presentation puts forward three hypothetical scenarios for the judges to sort through.

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Gov. Glenn Youngkin Signs Two Gun Control Bills, Amends Six and Vetoes Two

Tom Pappert
Glenn Youngkin Signing Bills

Governor Glenn Youngkin on took action regarding 67 pieces of legislation Tuesday, with a number of gun control bills vetoed, amended or signed by the governor.

Youngkin said in a statement his actions represent a balance between advancing public safety and “protecting the right of law-abiding Virginians to keep and bear arms.”

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FISA Renewal Deadline Fast Approaching amid Bipartisan Call for Ending Warrantless Surveillance

Just the News
Mike Lee and Dick Durban in front of FISA court (composite image)

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) renewal deadline is fast approaching as conservative lawmakers and some Democrats continue their push for ending warrantless surveillance.

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, including conservative and progressive legislators, have called for reforming section 702 of FISA ahead of the April 19 deadline.

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Analysis: Polls Shows Worrying Shift Among Older GOP Voters but Gains with Youth and Minority Conservatives

Virginia Star Staff
Trump at rally

While we have been extensively reporting on former President Donald Trump’s significant increase in support compared to 2020 among working class voters, minorities, and young people, one group of Americans appears to be shifting away from Trump at the margins – seniors. Voters over age 65 have shown a shift away from Trump in recent polls that amounts to as much as ten percentage points compared to 2020.

Trump’s highest level of success in 2020 was among voters over 65, with the former President winning seniors by five points, 52 percent to 47 percent. However, several recent polls show Trump losing seniors to Biden by around ten points. The March New York Times/Siena College poll shows President Joe Biden leading with seniors 51 percent to 42 percent.

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Kansas Lawmakers Pass Bill Banning Chinese Land Purchases Near Military Sites After DCNF Investigation

Virginia Star Staff
Jake LaTurner in front of farm land (composite image)

The Kansas House of Representatives passed a bill Wednesday preventing foreign adversaries from buying up land near sensitive military sites following a Daily Caller News Foundation investigation.

In an 84-39 vote, the Kansas House passed SB172, which prevents firms and entities linked to China and other countries identified as foreign adversaries from purchasing agricultural land within 150 miles of a military installation. The bill’s passage follows on the heels of a DCNF investigation that discovered the parent company of a firm that planned to buy land in Kansas is extensively tied to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The DCNF’s investigation was based on research conducted by The Heritage Foundation Oversight Project and Heritage Action.

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Virginia Offering Assistance with Baltimore Bridge Collapse

The Center Square
Key Bridge collapsed

Following the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse in Baltimore, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin is offering assistance to the state of Maryland.

The bridge spans over the Patapsco River and supports part of I-695, one of the major arteries around Baltimore.

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Chinese-Owned Chemical Giant Expanding Into US Heartland Led by Members of Communist Party, Influence Orgs

Virginia Star Staff
Zhou Dawen and Qin Jiusan

Top executives behind a Chinese chemical manufacturer planning to build two U.S. factories belong to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and affiliated influence outfits, a Daily Caller News Foundation investigation has found.

Capchem Technology USA, the wholly-owned subsidiary of China-based Shenzhen Capchem Technology (Capchem), is slated to build a $120 million factory in Ohio and a $350 million plant in Louisiana. At the same time, Capchem records and social media posts that the DCNF translated show the company employs dozens of CCP members. Executives at Capchem and Capchem USA have also held positions at organizations affiliated with CCP influence operations, a DCNF review of Capchem’s website, Chinese social media account and executives’ social groups found.

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Republicans Take on Ballot Harvesting, Drop Boxes but Legally Using them in 2024 Election Cycle

Just the News
Ballot drop box

As Alabama has banned ballot harvesting and Republican lawmakers in Pennsylvania are fighting ballot drop boxes, GOP campaign efforts are using those same tools where legal.

Democrats have long focused on mail-in and early voting while Republicans have warned of potential insecurities of those methods. Now the GOP is starting to embrace it this election cycle. However, the acceptance of mail-in voting as a tool isn’t preventing Republicans from looking to secure or ban certain aspects of it, such as ballot harvesting and ballot drop boxes.

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Report: Record 10 Million Immigration Cases Completed in Fiscal 2023

The Center Square
Illegal border crosser in handcuffs

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) completed an unprecedented 10 million immigration cases in fiscal 2023, reducing its backlog for the first time in over a decade, according to a newly released end of fiscal year 2023 report.

“We’ve completed a record number of cases, responded to emerging crises around the globe with essential humanitarian relief, and applied innovative solutions to improve customer experience and reduce backlogs,” USCIS Director Ur M. Jaddou said of the milestone.

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More than 100 Sheriffs Express Support for Operation Lone Star

The Center Square
Sheriffs with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott

More than 100 sheriffs in Texas expressed support for Gov. Greg Abbott’s border security effort, Operation Lone Star. They also are calling for the border crisis to be declared a “United States constitutional crisis and crimes against humanity.”

In a letter to the governor, the sheriffs “respectfully request that our Texas border be immediately secured by any lawful means.”

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Virginia Democrat Leaders Declare Themselves ‘Adults in the Room’ on Budget Debate, Youngkin Admin Acting Like ‘Spoiled Brats’

Tom Pappert
Virginia Democrats

Democratic leaders from the Virginia General Assembly held a press conference on Monday to discuss the state of negotiations to pass a budget for the commonwealth, raising claims about the governor’s behavior and aptitude during the negotiations.

Various Democratic leaders declared themselves the “adults in the room” during budget negotiations, claimed Governor Glenn Youngkin lacks political aptitude and accused his administration of acting like “spoiled brats” while refusing to respect the separation of powers.

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Commentary: The Many Ways a Porous Border Means Crime Without Boundaries

RealClearWire
Illegal Immigrants

When President Biden’s supporters attacked him for describing the man who allegedly murdered Georgia co-ed Laken Reilly as an “illegal,” they shined a light on one of the most contested words in American politics.

The progressive push to describe border crossers as undocumented or unauthorized can also serve to downplay and obscure the massive issue of crime perpetrated and spawned by the influx of millions of migrants since Biden was elected – often in ways that leave the migrants themselves as victims.

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House Members of Progressive ‘Squad’ Grab More than $220 Million of Earmarks Since 2023

Just the News
Rep. Rashida Tlaib and Rep. Ilhan Omar standing in front of the US capitol (composite image)

Members of the “Squad” of progressive lawmakers in the House of Representatives, including Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., and Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., wrangled more than $220 million worth of earmarks included in spending bills since the start of fiscal year 2023, according to a watchdog group.

“These eight members, up from 6 last year, have put almost $220 million worth of earmarks into the last two years of congressional spending packages, for causes like environmental justice, diversity, and immigration assistance,” read a new report from OpenTheBooks.com.

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Feds Crack Down on Pernicious Chinese Hacking Group that Targeted U.S. Gov’t, Dissidents

Virginia Star Staff
Hacker mugshots

The U.S. on Monday announced actions aimed at exposing a sweeping Chinese hacking campaign that has targeted U.S. government institutions, critical infrastructure, media and political dissidents for more than a decade.

Wuhan Xiaoruizhi Science and Technology Company, Limited (Wuhan XRZ), served as a front company for China’s Ministry of State Security (MSS), which deals with overseas policing and espionage, allowing Chinese hackers to hide a multitude of malicious cyber operations, the Treasury Department said after sanctioning the organization on Monday in a statement alongside other U.S. agencies and the United Kingdom. In an indictment unsealed separately, the Department of Justice accused Chinese nationals Zhao Guangzong, Ni Gaobin and five others for their role “in furtherance of [China’s] economic espionage and foreign intelligence objectives” over the past 14 years.

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Washington State Violated Court Order by Forcing Foster Parents to ‘Affirm’ Gender ID: Lawsuit

Just the News
Jennifer and Shane DeGross

The Pacific Northwest has a message for foster and adoptive parents: Agree to affirm a child’s self-determined “sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression,” including using their preferred pronouns and taking them to Pride parades, or leave the program.

Washington state adopted new Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity/Expression (SOGIE) regulations after accepting a permanent injunction against the “nearly identical” Policy 6900 to settle a First Amendment lawsuit by would-be foster parents in July 2021, non-renewed foster parents claim in a new lawsuit.

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Mexico Celebrates Second Victory in War Against U.S. Firearm Dealers

ADN America

A U.S. District Court judge ruled on Monday that the Mexican government can proceed with a lawsuit alleging that five Arizona gun dealers were involved in trafficking weapons and ammunition to drug cartels across the U.S.-Mexico border.

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Milwaukee Takes More than $1 Million in ‘Zuckerbucks’ Ahead of Vote to Ban Private Election Funding

Just the News
Milwaulkee Skyline

Milwaukee has accepted more than $1 million in “Zuckerbucks” — the injection of private money into public election administration — just weeks before Wisconsin residents will vote on whether to ban such funds.

The city of Milwaukee, which previously accepted “Zuckerbucks” in 2020, has received a new form of the private funding over two separate grants just weeks prior to Wisconsin voters deciding whether to approve a state constitutional amendment banning “Zuckerbucks.”

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Voters ID Inflation, Immigration as Top Concerns Ahead of Presidential Election

The Center Square
People in grocery checkout line

Likely voters are focused on inflation and price increases, illegal immigration and the economy as incumbent President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump prepared for a rematch of 2020 in November. 

The Center Square Voters’ Voice Poll, conducted in conjunction with Noble Predictive Insights, found that given a range of options to identify their top concerns, likely voters said inflation/price increases (45 percent), illegal immigration (44 percent) and the economy/jobs (24 percent) were the issues that matter most to them. 

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U.S. to Announce Major Shakeup in Military Ties with Japan as China Threat Looms

Virginia Star Staff
Navy Ships

The U.S. and Japan will announce a historic upgrade to security ties, including a collaborative military command, next month as the two former adversaries move closer together in determination to counter China, according to media reports published Monday.

Chief among the changes under consideration involves sending a four-star general, the highest peacetime rank, to head U.S. Forces Japan (USFJ) and jointly oversee a military command with Japan for planning and exercises, Reuters reported, citing two sources familiar with the discussions. Tokyo also hopes to establish a new Japanese Self Defense Forces (SDF) headquarters, whose head will serve as the Japanese counterpart to the American four-star, by March of 2025, the sources said.

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More than 11 Million Have Illegally Entered U.S. Since Fiscal 2021

The Center Square

According to U.S. Customs and Border protection data, 9.4 million foreign nationals illegally entered the U.S. in fiscal years 2021, 2022, 2023 and through the end of February 2024.

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State Financial Officers Urge Treasury to Terminate Internal Revenue Service’s ‘Direct File’ Program

Just the News

A group of 21 state financial officers on Monday urged the Department of the Treasury to terminate the IRS’s Direct File pilot program, contending that its shortcomings were likely to lead to problems for filers, cause needless confusion, and result in lost state revenues.

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