Category: Policy

Commentary: Unredactions Reveal Early White House Involvement in Trump Documents Case

RealClearWire
Stern Su Trump

Top Biden administration officials worked with the National Archives to develop Special Counsel Jack Smith’s case against Donald Trump involving the former president’s alleged mishandling of classified material, according to recently unsealed court documents in the case pending in southern Florida.

More than 300 pages of newly unredacted exhibits, containing emails and other correspondence related to the early stages of the hunt for presidential papers, challenge public statements by Joe Biden about what he knew and when he knew it regarding the case against his political rival.

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Congressional Republicans’ Bill Seeks to Crack Down on DEI in Med Schools

Virginia Star Staff
Congressman Greg Murphy

Bills that seeks to block med schools from receiving federal funds if they maintain diversity equity and inclusion mandates are winding their way through Congress.

“Embracing anti-Discrimination, Unbiased Curricula, and Advancing Truth in Education,” or the EDUCATE Act, would limit the availability of funds for medical schools that “adopt certain policies and requirements relating to” DEI, it states.

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Records Show Archives Official Met With Biden White House Counsel Day of Indictment Against Trump

Just the News
Richard Sauber

On June 8, 2023, Gary Stern, the General Counsel of the National Archives arrived at the White House for a meeting with Special Counsel to President Biden Richard Sauber. The meeting reportedly took place in the Navy Mess, a “nautical” themed dining room run by the seafaring military branch, according to White House records.

It is not known what Stern and Sauber discussed, but the very same day, the Justice Department filed its indictment against former President Donald Trump alleging he “unlawfully” retained classified documents.

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Commentary: Biden FCC Threatens Free Speech by Restoring Internet Regulations

Virginia Star Staff
Jessica Rosenworcel Net Neutrality

The Federal Communications Commission has revived regulations for “net neutrality.” According to FCC chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, “the action we take here is good for consumers, public safety, national security and network investment.” The people have room for doubt and the “neutrality” concept requires some explanation.

The internet developed in fine style long before any such regulation appeared, but in 2015, the FCC reclassified Internet Service Providers (ISPs) from “information services,” to “common carrier services.” The government treated an innovative new technology like a public utility monopoly, in effect turning back the clock to the Communications Act of 1934.

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Tennessee U.S. Rep. Mark Green Introduces Bill to Prohibit New Firearm Export Rule from Being Implemented

Kaitlin Housler

Tennessee U.S. Representative Mark Green (R-TN-07) introduced a bill this week that would prohibit federal funds from being used to finalize, implement, or enforce the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) interim final rule amending the Export Administration Regulations.

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Flight Docs Reveal Which Cities are Receiving Migrants Under Biden’s Parole Program

Virginia Star Staff
Passengers on a flight

Nearly 200,000 migrants from four countries have flown into America’s biggest airports under a Biden administration parole program, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) documents reveal.

The House Homeland Security Committee on Tuesday publicized documents, obtained through a subpoena to DHS, that identifies over 50 airport locations used by the federal government to process hundreds of thousands of foreign nationals via a parole program between January-August 2023. About 200,000 foreign nationals were processed under the program — known as the Humanitarian Parole for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans, or CHNV — which was initially launched in October 2022 and grants a two-year parole period as well as work authorization eligibility.

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Wind Energy Industry Produced Less Power in 2023, Despite Having Increased Total Generation Capacity

Just the News
Wind Farm

The wind industry produce 2.1 percent less electricity in 2023 compared to the previous year. Total wind capacity in the U.S. has tripled from 47 gigawatts in 2010 to 147.5 gigawatts by the end of 2023.

The wind energy industry managed to increase total generation capacity by 6.2 gigawatts in 2023, but the actual electricity generation decreased.

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Companies are Slashing Away at Debt as Surging Inflation Casts Shadow over Interest Rate Cuts

Virginia Star Staff
Business meeting

Many companies are looking to cut down on their debts as recent high inflation reports have made borrowing more expensive as the prospect of interest rate cuts by central banks diminishes, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.

Even companies with already high credit outlooks are deleveraging to boost their rating with top agencies and reduce debt costs that have increased along with interest rates, while firms with lower ratings are needing to cut debt to maintain profitable operations, according to the WSJ. Investors have had to adjust their view about when interest rates might decline in recent weeks as persistently high levels of inflation have made it less likely that central banks around the world, including in the U.S., will cut interest rates, reducing the cost of holding debt.

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Oklahoma Just Became the Latest State to Take Immigration Enforcement Into Its Own Hands

Virginia Star Staff
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt

Oklahoma’s Republican governor signed a sweeping immigration enforcement bill into law, making the Sooner State the latest to confront the border crisis through legislative action.

Gov. Kevin Stitt signed House Bill 4156 into law on Tuesday, one week after the Republican-controlled legislature sent it to his desk. The law, which is set to take effect on July 1, makes it illegal to reside in Oklahoma without legal authorization to be in the U.S.

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Commentary: Republicans Should Stop Complaining About Their Opportunities and Take Advantage of Biden’s Failures

Virginia Star Staff
Joe Biden

After I offered a perfectly accurate negative summation of current market/industry conditions when speaking on a business venture I can’t yet discuss (but that will be quite relevant indeed to the interests of our readers), I received an admonishment from my business partner: “Stop complaining about your opportunities!” It’s an even more accurate response than mine.

All too often we spend our time grousing about the state of the world, and yet, the worse things get, the greater the opportunity grows to take control and make them better.

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Commentary: Abortion Once Again at Forefront of Election

RealClearWire

The prevailing belief in the Democratic Party is that abortion will again be a potent issue against Republicans in this year’s election cycle just as it was in 2022 – and that this time it will not just cost the GOP gaining the majority in the U.S. Senate, but also give Democrats the upper hand in retaining the presidency and winning back the House.

Abortion rights put the brakes on the Republicans’ chances in 2022 when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, eliminating the constitutional right to abortion after almost 50 years; a decision that transformed American politics that year, benefiting Democrats who were on their way to a bruising midterm election defeat.

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‘Would Be Unacceptable’: Blinken and Netanyahu Meeting Hits Crossroads as Israeli Invasion of Rafah Looms

Virginia Star Staff
Secretary of State Antony Blinken with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Israeli Prime Minister met in Tel Aviv on Wednesday to discuss the ongoing Israel-Hamas war — and disagreements over the next phase of conflict.

The Biden administration is backing an effort to reach a deal between Israel and Hamas for a temporary ceasefire and the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza in exchange for the release of hostages. During their meeting on Wednesday, Blinken discussed the ceasefire deal with Netanyahu and “the need to avoid further expansion of the conflict,” underscoring the Biden administration’s “clear position” on opposing an Israeli invasion of Rafah, the southernmost region of Gaza, according to a readout of the meeting.

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House Probe into January 6 to Expand, Seek Interviews with Pentagon Officials and Democrat Staff

Just the News
Rep. Barry Loudermilk

House Republicans are expanding their investigation into the January 6 Committee and the security failures that led to the Capitol breach, planning to add staff and pursue new lines of inquiry, the Chairman of the subcommittee leading the investigation told Just the News.

Rep. Barry Loudermilk, Chairman of the House Administration Subcommittee on Oversight, told the “Just the News, No Noise” TV show on Tuesday that he aims to publish a final report by this summer after seeking interviews with top Pentagon officials and any former January 6 committee staff willing to come forward.

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Congressional Probe Opened on ‘Mealy-Mouthed, Spineless College Leaders’

The Center Square
US Rep Virginia Foxx

For “mealy-mouthed, spineless college leaders,” actions will have consequences, the North Carolina congresswoman leading a key U.S. House of Representatives committee said Tuesday amid ongoing college campus disruptions.

The war between Israel and Hamas has led to significant demonstrations or encampments on at least four dozen campuses nationwide, a national observer of such activity reports. U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., with support of House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said the Committee on Education and the Workforce she chairs has opened a congressional probe and on May 23 will hear from presidents of Yale and Michigan and the chancellor of UCLA.

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Feds Warn Employers Can Be Punished for Failing to Use Preferred Transgender Pronouns, Restrooms

Just the News
Gender Neutral Restroom

In landmark guidance, the federal commission created to fight racial and sexual discrimination declared Monday that employers that fail to use a worker’s preferred pronoun or refuse them the chance to use the restroom of their choice will be engaging in prohibited harassment.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission published the new harassment guidelines Monday after voting along partisan lines on Friday to approve them, even in the face of opposition from nearly two dozen red states. Three Democratic appointees approved the rules while two Republicans opposed them.

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Top Democratic Leaders Say They Will Save Speaker Johnson from MTG-Led Ouster

Just the News
Congressman Hakeem Jefferies with Speaker Mike Johnson (composite image)

Democratic leaders in the House indicated Tuesday that if Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., attempted to oust House Speaker Mike Johnson, they would work against such a move.

“We will vote to table Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s Motion to Vacate the Chair,” House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Democratic Whip Katherine Clark, and Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar said in a statement, according to CBS News. “If she invokes the motion, it will not succeed.”

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Pentagon Says It Can’t Calculate Diversity Training Costs Because Congress Defunded DEI Offices

Virginia Star Staff
Soldiers

The Pentagon told Congress it could not provide a required accounting of diversity training to Congress because it didn’t have enough people working in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) positions, the Daily Caller News Foundation has learned.

Congress mandated the Pentagon compile a report detailing how much the entire military spent on diversity training, salaries for DEI administrators and any impacts on recruiting and retention across the force that was due March 1, according to last year’s National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which sets defense policy for the next fiscal year. But the Pentagon is nearly two months behind the due date for the report after the same defense authorization act for fiscal year 2024 slashed the salaries of DEI personnel, effectively gutting the departments, the DCNF learned.

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Several GOP-Led States Ban DOJ Election Monitors From Polling Sites in 2024 Presidential Election

Just the News
Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft

Several Republican-led states said that they are banning U.S. Department of Justice election monitors from entering polling sites in the November general election after the agency sent observers to various states in the 2022 midterms.

When the DOJ announced that it was sending election monitors to polling sites in multiple states for the 2022 midterm elections, Florida and Missouri said that the department employees would not be permitted to observe the polls. Now, eight other states have said that they will also not allow DOJ election monitors to enter polling sites during the election this November, with some saying that banning them prevents federal interference in elections.

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Virginia Rep Introduces New Bill Asking Department of Labor to Back Off Apprenticeship Programs

The Center Square
Apprenticeship Program

A new bill would push back on the U.S. Department of Labor’s ability to regulate apprenticeships.

The “Apprenticeship Freedom Act” from House Freedom Caucus Chair Rep. Bob Good, R-Va., was obtained exclusively by The Center Square.

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Congress Seeks to Unmask Funding for Students for Justice in Palestine and Its Anti-Israel Protests

Just the News
National Students for Justice in Palestine

The National Students for Justice in Palestine is a driving force in the anti-Israel protests sweeping across the country at college campuses. The national group says it supports 350 “Palestine solidarity organizations” throughout North America, primarily SJP chapters across America.

The funding of the student chapters largely come from U.S. universities, however, National SJP is funded through intermediaries and it is not required to disclose its own finances. This dark money arrangement has obscured funding sources and donations to the group and has spurred congressional interest.

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‘Economic Suicide’: Biden Admin Justifies Tax Hike Based on Racial Criteria

Virginia Star Staff
President Joe Biden

The Biden administration’s analysis of its revenue proposals for fiscal year 2025 argues targeted tax hikes that disproportionately affect white people would ease racial wealth inequality.

Increasing taxes on capital gains and income-based wealth would reduce racial wealth inequality for black and Hispanic families, the Treasury Department outlined in the analysis published in mid-March. The Treasury points out that white families disproportionately hold assets subject to capital gains tax or are in a higher tax bracket, meaning a hike in those taxes would benefit black and Hispanic families.

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Bipartisan Opposition: Governors from 48 States, 5 Territories Reject Biden’s Plan to Take Over National Guard

Kaitlin Housler

The governors of 48 U.S. states and five territories have sent a letter to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin expressing a “strong opposition” to the Department of Defense’s (DOD) proposed legislation to the Senate Armed Services Committee that would permanently federalize portions of the state Air National Guard troops into the U.S. Space Force.

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Congress’ Inaction on Debt ‘Irresponsible’ Says Former Comptroller

The Center Square
David Walker

The former U.S. Comptroller General said Congress’ failure to address the federal debt burden was “irresponsible.”

David Walker, former Comptroller General of the United States and a member of the Main Street Economics Advisory Board, said recent economic data should prompt lawmakers to take action before the debt problem gets worse. 

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Dem Rep Says Biden Admin Has No ‘Operational Control’ Over Border, Demands Reinstatement of Trump-Era Policies

Virginia Star Staff
Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-WA-03)

Washington Democrat Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez said Monday that the federal government has lost “operational control” of the southern border and called for Trump-era enforcement policies to be brought back.

Gluesenkamp Perez, a centrist House Democrat, reiterated her calls for President Joe Biden to bring back Remain in Mexico and Title 42, two policies that were utilized widely under the Trump administration, but were both phased out after Biden assumed office. Illegal immigration has surged at the southern border under the Biden administration, with millions of migrant encounters at the southern border since Biden took office.

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Commentary: The Travesties of the Trump Trials

Virginia Star Staff

Do not believe the White House/mainstream media-concocted narrative that the four criminal court cases—prosecuted by Alvin Bragg, Letitia James, Jack Smith, and Fani Willis—were not in part coordinated, synchronized, and timed to reach their courtroom psychodramatic finales right during the 2024 campaign season.

These local, state, and federal Lilliputian agendas were designed to tie down, gag, confine, bankrupt, and destroy Trump psychologically and physically. They are the final lawfare denouement to years of extra-legal efforts to emasculate him.

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Airlines Launch Effort Backing Green Jet Fuel Tax Credit that Could Raise Food Prices for Americans

Virginia Star Staff
Plane at gate

A coalition of major airlines has formed a group supporting a tax credit pushed by President Joe Biden that experts say could jack up food prices.

More than 40 companies, including Boeing, American Airlines, JetBlue and United as well as ethanol trade groups, are pushing the federal government to “expand” existing tax credits for “sustainable aviation fuel” (SAF) and to pass legislation to increase the fuel’s availability, Axios reported. Corn-based ethanol is a common component in SAF and experts previously told the Daily Caller News Foundation that increasing the demand for corn by incentivizing its use in jet fuel could indirectly raise food costs for Americans.

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Commentary: Trump Must Reform the Pentagon’s Acquisition Process

Virginia Star Staff
The Pentagon

Forget the $500 hammer. The newest report from the Government Accountability Office puts the cost of America’s ailing Lightning II F-35 joint strike fighter at an estimated $2 trillion.

Have all those zeros bought the American taxpayer an invincible flying machine?

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Elevated Inflation, Poor GDP Growth Raise Concerns

The Center Square
Grocery store prices

Federal data released Friday showed that inflation remains elevated. The figures came out on the heels of other data showing the U.S. Gross Domestic Product underperformed in the first quarter of this year.

Both the inflation and GDP data points raised concerns among economists and renewed criticism of President Joe Biden among Republicans.

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Virginia Board of Education Progressing with ‘Accreditation and Accountability Redesign’

The Center Square
Virginia Board of Education

The Virginia Board of Education recently reviewed takeaways from 15 listening sessions it hosted as part of its “Accreditation and Accountability Redesign.”

“Virginia is one of the few states that continues to combine an accreditation and accountability system,” said Todd Reid, assistant superintendent of strategic communications for the state’s Department of Education. “Combining these systems into one measurement makes it virtually impossible to really determine how the students are academically performing at that school and how the school is shaping educational outcomes.”

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New EPA Rules Will Require Carbon Capture Technology on All Existing Coal and New Gas Plants

Just the News
Coal fired power plant

The administration’s announcement refers to carbon capture as “proven and cost-effective control technologies,” but critics have argued that the technology is expensive to scale up to a degree it can have any impact on carbon dioxide emissions and will drive up energy costs.

The Biden administration finalized four rules regarding power plants Thursday. One of the Environmental Protection Agency’s rules will require all existing coal plants and new natural gas-fired power plants to implement carbon capture technology.

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Mounting Evidence Is Pointing to a Nightmare Scenario for the U.S. Economy

Virginia Star Staff
Evicted

U.S. annual economic growth measured just 1.6 percent in the first quarter of 2024, following a report of persistently high inflation in March of 3.5 percent year-over-year. The combination of both low growth and high inflation, in conjunction with continuously high amounts of government spending and debt, has led to signs of stagflation in the U.S. economy, which wreaked havoc on U.S. consumers throughout the 1970’s, according to experts who spoke to the DCNF.

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Parents Question Why Virginia High School Staging Drag Musical, Brunch

Virginia Star Staff
West Potomac High School Principle Jessica Statz

A high school theater troupe is staging the risque musical “Kinky Boots” just outside the nation’s capital “in collaboration” with a leading Virginia school syste’’s “Pride” programs, prompting concern and questions from some parents.

The Beyond the Page Theatre Company at West Potomac High School in Alexandria, Virginia, will perform “Kinky Boots” eight times between Thursday and May 4, according to emails obtained by The Daily Signal.

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Air Force Slapped with Lawsuit After Claiming It Has No Records on Officer Diversity Quotas

Virginia Star Staff
Gen. Charles Q Brown Jr.

A watchdog group filed a lawsuit against the Air Force on Wednesday for allegedly withholding records shedding light on the service’s efforts to set racial diversity quotas when taking on new officers, the Daily Caller News Foundation has learned.

Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., then Air Force’s top officer, updated demographic goals for applicants to become officers in the Air Force in an August 2022 memo, calling the effort “aspirational.” The Center to Advance Security in America (CASA), a watchdog group focused on security and civil liberties, requested communications related to the memo using a federal transparency law the following year, and when the Air Force said it couldn’t find anything, CASA decided to sue, according to a copy of the filing obtained by the DCNF in advance.

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Illegal Alien Sex Offender Released Despite Detainer Request, ICE Says

Virginia Star Staff
Illegal alien sex offender in police custody

Connecticut law enforcement officials released an illegal alien convicted of sex crimes against a minor while ignoring a detainer request, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

ICE agents apprehended a 27-year-old Ecuadorian national convicted of indecent assault and second degree assault of a Connecticut child earlier this month, the agency announced in a press release on Wednesday. The agency is faulting local officials for releasing the alien, despite an immigration detainer placed on him.

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Biden Admin Wants to Force Companies to Hire Criminals in the Name of Equity

Virginia Star Staff
President Biden in front of a Sheetz store (composite image)

Federal regulators recently launched a lawsuit against popular convenience chain Sheetz that could have implications for whether businesses will be able to screen applicants for criminal convictions.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Employment Commission (EEOC) suit, announced April 18, alleged that Sheetz discriminated against minority applicants by screening all job seekers for criminal convictions, arguing that doing so disproportionally targets black, Native American and multiracial applicants. Many businesses have already stopped screening employees based on earlier guidance and pressure from regulators, experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

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SCOTUS Shocked by Biden Administration’s View of Federal Power over States in ER Abortion Challenge

Just the News
Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar

To convince the Supreme Court that the Biden administration could use federal Medicare funding to force hospitals to perform abortions in violation of Idaho law, Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar conceived and gave birth to some unusual arguments Wednesday.

She reached for a 129-year-old precedent that crippled the labor movement for decades, neutered legal obligations to the “unborn child” in the federal law that allegedly requires abortions in certain situations, and didn’t deny a Republican administration could use her rationale to functionally ban abortion and even transgender care nationwide.

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GOP Secretaries of State, Legislators Fight Against ‘Bidenbucks,’ Federalization of GOTV Efforts

Just the News
West Virginia Secretary of State Mac Warner with Mississippi Secretary of State Michael Watson (composite image)

Republican secretaries of state and state legislators are pushing back against “Bidenbucks,” what call the federalization of voter registration and get-out-the-vote efforts, claiming that the executive order is unlawful.

West Virginia Secretary of State Mac Warner and Mississippi Secretary of State Michael Watson, along with Republicans in the Pennsylvania legislature, are fighting President Biden’s Executive Order 14019 from March 2021, which turns federal agencies into “Get Out The Vote” (GOTV) centers across all states.

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Youngkin Travels to Europe for ‘International Trade Mission’ Ahead of May Special Session for Virginia Budget

Tom Pappert
Glenn Youngkin

Governor Glenn Youngkin announced on Wednesday he will embark on a week-long “international trade mission” to Europe as lawmakers continue work on the biennial Virginia budget ahead of the May special legislative session.

The governor’s office confirmed Youngkin’s “third international trade mission” will include stops in Germany, Denmark, Finland and Swizterland between April 28 to May 3. He plans to meet with business leaders, public officials and Finnish President Alexander Stubb.

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Commentary: Secret Service Scuffle Prompts DEI, Vetting Scrutiny

RealClearWire
Secret Service Agent standing in front of The White House

An incident involving a physical attack by a female Secret Service agent tasked with protecting Vice President Kamala Harris is raising questions about whether the agency had thoroughly vetted her during her hiring and whether an ongoing push to increase the numbers of women in the service and boost overall workforce staff played a role in her selection.

The Secret Service agent assigned to Vice President Kamala Harris was removed from her duties Wednesday after physically attacking the commanding agent in charge and other agents trying to subdue her, according to an agency spokesman and knowledgeable Secret Service sources.

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Biden Campaign Says It Will Stay on TikTok Despite Foreign Aid Package That Could Ban It

Just the News
President Biden in front of TikTok logo (composite image)

Supporters of the legislation claim that the app poses a national security risk because it is owned by a Chinese company, and thereby could expose sensitive U.S. data to the Chinese government.

President Joe Biden’s presidential campaign said on Wednesday that it still plans to stay on the controversial app TikTok, despite the president’s signing a foreign aid package that could eventually ban it in the United States.

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Biden Regulator Passes Rule with Massive Implications for Millions of Workers

Virginia Star Staff
FTC Chair Lina Khan

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a final rule Tuesday banning noncompete agreements nationwide, affecting millions of Americans.

Regulators argue that banning noncompetes will promote competition by giving workers greater ability to switch jobs, increasing innovation and leading to more businesses being created, according to an announcement from the FTC. The FTC estimates that around 18 percent of U.S. workers, or 30 million people, are covered under a noncompete, with the new rule applying to anyone not in a senior executive role, which is defined as someone who is making more than $151,164 and in a policy-making position.

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Biden Signs $95 Billion Foreign Aid Bill for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan

The Center Square
Joe Biden

President Joe Biden signed a $95 billion foreign aid bill Wednesday, ending a months-long trudge through Congress.

“It’s a good day for America, it’s a good day for Europe, and it’s a good day for world peace,” Biden said to kick off his remarks after the signing.

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Unsealed Docs Expose Early Collaboration Between Archives, Biden White House in Trump Prosecution

Just the News
President Joe Biden in front of the National Archives Museum (composite image)

Just weeks after learning Joe Biden had improperly retained government documents, his administration began working with federal bureaucrats in spring and fall 2021 to increase pressure on Donald Trump for similar issues and eventually prompt a criminal prosecution of the 45th president, according to government memos newly unsealed by a federal judge.

The correspondence, released this week by U.S. District Judge Eileen Cannon in Florida, provide the the most extensive accounting so far of how the Biden White House worked with federal bureaucrats to escalate pressure on Trump to return documents to the National Archives even as it slow-walked similar issues involving its own boss.

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Biden Admin Used Border Wall Funds on ‘Environmental Planning,’ Government Watchdog Says

Virginia Star Staff
Joe Biden with CBP agents

The Biden administration spent taxpayer dollars meant to fund a border wall to pay for “environmental planning,” according to a new report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO).

At the request of Republican Reps. Jack Bergman of Michigan and Jodey Arrington of Texas, the GAO investigated whether the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) broke the law when it effectively blocked the use of taxpayer dollars to build a wall along the southern border. While GAO’s final report clears the DHS of breaking the law, it confirmed that DHS used congressionally-appropriated funds meant for the wall to pay for “environmental planning” and efforts “to remediate or mitigate environmental damage from past border wall construction.”

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Commentary: Biden’s Title IX Revisions Aren’t Good News for Women

Virginia Star Staff
Girls Sports

Locker rooms and bathrooms at schools that accept public funding are about to become dangerous places for women — even in states that have the kind of commonsense legislation intended to keep women’s private spaces private.

Last week, the Biden administration released a host of changes to Title IX, the federal legislation that is best known for dictating equal treatment of men and women in sports and for governing the way schools handle sexual assault charges. While the administration hasn’t yet decided whether biological men who identify as female should be allowed to compete in women’s sports, it redefined “sex” as “gender identity” in almost every other context while simultaneously allowing schools to violate the due process rights of students accused of sexual assault.

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Commentary: The Case for an Inclusive Energy Strategy

Virginia Star Staff
Solar Farm

The justification for rapidly transitioning the global energy economy to renewables is to avert a catastrophic environmental crisis. It is based on the premise that anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, primarily from the combustion of coal, natural gas, and oil, are altering our atmosphere, which in turn is leading to a host of negative consequences too numerous to mention.

It is possible nowadays to find almost anything, from crime and disease and mental health to species extinctions, deforestation and disappearing coral reefs, being attributed to climate change. And if you research almost anything involving the design of civilization, not just the production and consumption of energy but housing, mining, ranching, farming, shipping, transportation, waste management, water treatment, etc., the data most prominently reported are always carbon and CO2. The actual units of energy or water, or tonnage of product, or any other practical data necessary to inform management and logistics, has now become secondary. It’s all about carbon.

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Meadows, Giuliani and Other Former Trump Aides Indicted in Arizona 2020 Election Probe

The Center Square

An Arizona grand jury on Wednesday indicted former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, Rudy Giuliani, and five other former aides to former President Donald Trump on felony charges related to alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

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Democratic Governors Veto GOP Election Integrity Bills Despite Provable Election Fraud Issues

Just the News
Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs

Democratic governors are vetoing election integrity legislation passed by Republican-led state legislatures, despite allegations, investigations, and convictions of election fraud occurring across the U.S. Those convictions require proof “beyond a reasonable doubt” that the crime, in fact, occurred.

Over the last few months, Democratic governors in Arizona, North Carolina, and Wisconsin have vetoed legislation that Republican-led state legislatures passed to help secure elections, arguing that their concerns are unfounded or their solutions unnecessary. However, there has been recent election fraud investigations and convictions in those states that led to the passing of the legislation.

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Commentary: ATF Rule Change Creates a Trap for the Unwary

Virginia Star Staff
A selection of modern firearms on a table

On Friday, the 31st anniversary of the massacre of Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas, the ATF issued new regulations that make it more difficult to comply with federal laws regulating gun dealing and background checks.

Since the 1930s, federal law has required gun dealers to be registered as Federal Firearms Licensees (FFL). The requirements hinged on the meaning of “engaged in the business of” gun dealing. This language has always been ambiguous, and there has never been (even after the announcement of the new rules) a true “bright line” that distinguishes when one graduates from selling a few guns from one’s personal collection into full-fledged gun dealing.

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