Tag: Biden Administration

Biden Admin to Spend $1.2 Billion on Carbon Removal Tech That Might Not Work

Virginia Star Staff

The Biden administration announced Friday that it will spend up to $1.2 billion to fund two direct air capture (DAC) carbon removal projects, according to the Department of Energy (DOE), a technology which some reports have suggested may be an ineffective tool to counter climate change.

These projects in Louisiana and Texas will essentially be large vacuums that suck up carbon dioxide from the air, separate it with chemical processing and then condense the carbon dioxide for burial underground or for use in industrial products like cement, according to a DOE press release. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm has promoted this particular form of carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) technology, but DAC emits more carbon dioxide than it captures while relying on toxic chemicals, according to a January report from Food and Water Watch, a climate-focused nonprofit group that advocates for green policies.

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Biden Admin to Impose Harsher Restrictions on Chinese Semiconductor Industry

Virginia Star Staff

The Biden administration is planning to ban investments in some Chinese companies that are involved in the technology sector through an executive order on Wednesday, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The U.S. will restrict private-equity and venture capital firms from directly investing in some Chinese companies that operate in the semiconductor, quantum computing and artificial intelligence sectors, according to the WSJ. In October 2022, the Biden administration placed similar restrictions limiting Chinese access to American chip technology by blacklisting multiple Chinese semiconductor manufacturers from working with American companies.

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Biden’s Burdensome Regulations Are Contributing to Lackluster Economic Productivity, Experts Say

Virginia Star Staff

Labor productivity remains below COVID-19 pandemic levels after its first increase year-over-year was announced Thursday since 2021, with experts citing Biden administration regulations as one of the causes for the lackluster results.

Nonfarm business labor productivity reached 1.3% growth year-over-year for the second quarter of 2023 after declining for five straight quarters starting with the first quarter of 2022, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The Biden administration has imposed a large amount of regulations that have hindered productivity, and the recent return to modest growth is in spite of these costly regulations , experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

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Commentary: The Biden Admin Has a Bad Regulation for Every Room in Your House

Admin

This year began with federal regulators targeting gas stoves, but we have since seen a host of other proposals going after washing machines, refrigerators, dishwashers, ceiling fans, water heaters, and others. They are all part of the Biden administration’s prioritization of the climate change agenda over the interests of consumers. Each runs the risk of boosting appliance prices, limiting choice, and compromising performance. And cumulatively, they add up to substantial headaches for homeowners that will only grow in the years ahead.

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Appeals Court Lets Biden Admin Enforce Asylum Restrictions

Virginia Star Staff

An appeals court let the Biden administration enforce asylum restrictions used to mitigate the flow of illegal migrants for the time being, according to a Thursday evening court filing.

The Ninth Circuit court panel of judges paused a previous ruling to end the Biden administration’s program that turned away illegal migrants seeking asylum if they passed through a safe country and didn’t seek protections there before, according to the filing. U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California Judge Jon S. Tigar, who was appointed by former President Barack Obama, ruled on July 25 that the policy was “contrary to law” because it violates Congress’ intent.

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Chip Manufacturer Announces Layoffs Despite Biden Admin Subsidies to the Industry

The Center Square

Top semiconductor manufacturer Qualcomm announced a new round of layoffs on Wednesday, even after the industry received huge subsidies from the Biden administration, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Qualcomm, a major American producer of semiconductors, announced a new round of layoffs after seeing a 25% decline in its mobile-phone chip business compared to the previous year, according to the WSJ. The semiconductor industry has received huge subsidies from the Biden administration through the CHIPS and Science Act, which was signed into law in August 2022 and included $52 billion in subsidies for domestic semiconductor manufacturers.

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Biden Administration Refuses to Refill Strategic Oil Reserve

Virginia Star Staff

On Tuesday, the Biden Administration deliberately chose to not refill the strategic petroleum reserve (SPR) after depleting it to combat a surge in gas prices last year.

According to the Daily Caller, the report from Bloomberg said that the administration considered it to be “too expensive” to refill the vital reserve supply, as the current price of a barrel of oil is roughly $80. The SPR is still at a record low level after Biden released at least 180 million barrels in 2022, in an effort to reduce historically high gas prices prior to the 2022 midterm elections.

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One U.S. Solar Company Poised to Rake in $11 Billion in Subsidies

Virginia Star Staff

U.S.-based solar panel manufacturer First Solar may receive up to $11 billion in subsidies from the government thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), according to The Wall Street Journal.

The company expects to receive up to $710 million in subsidies this year alone, which is an amount equivalent to nearly 90% of its predicted operating profit for this year, according to the WSJ. Philip Shen, managing partner at investment bank Roth Capital Partners, estimates that the IRA may end up giving First Solar up to $11 billion in subsidies over the course of the next decade.

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Commentary: Thanks to Hacks and Henchmen, ‘Misinformation’ Is Now Code for Doing Government Dirty Work

Virginia Star Staff

Louisiana federal Judge Terry A. Doughty shocked Americans with his July 4th restraining order against Biden’s digital team which was supposed to be fighting “disinformation” but was in reality just banning views online it didn’t like.

Doughty’s opinion is a jaw dropping expose of how White House staff bullied Facebook, Twitter and other platforms to remove content about election fraud, COVID concerns and other matters of public interest in blatant violation of the First Amendment.  Governmental actors cannot demand that others do what they cannot under the Constitution, just as you can’t have proxies break the law for you. Yet that’s exactly what Biden officials did and that’s exactly what Judge Doughty stopped.

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Legal Group Sues Biden Admin for Allegedly Concealing FBI Background Investigation into Mayorkas

Virginia Star Staff

America First Legal Foundation sued the Biden administration Wednesday for allegedly concealing information regarding an FBI investigation into Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, according to a copy of the complaint first obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

The lawsuit against both the FBI and the Department of Justice (DOJ) asks that the agencies release the documents related to the Mayorkas probe, according to the complaint. The conservative group was previously denied a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for the records regarding the FBI’s investigation into Mayorkas’ background.

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Judge Blocks Biden Rule Allowing Some Migrants to Be Turned Away

Just the News

A federal judge Tuesday blocked a Biden administration rule that allowed migration officials to turn away asylum seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border if the migrants did not apply online first or seek protection in a country that they traveled through. 

U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar in California’s northern district gave the Biden administration 14 days to appeal his order, which takes away a key migration enforcement tool, according to The Associated Press. 

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

Virginia Star Staff

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

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

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

Admin

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

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

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Biden Administration Shuts Down Government Funding for Wuhan Lab

Virginia Star Staff

After years of scrutiny and controversy, the Biden Administration announced on Tuesday that it had severed all federal funding to the controversial Wuhan laboratory that many have said was the origin of the COVID-19 virus.

As reported by Daily Caller, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced its proposal to halt any further government funding to the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) by barring it from participating in any government-funded programs.

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Commentary: Loan Forgiveness Hurts Taxpayers

Virginia Star Staff

A few weeks ago, I argued the Biden Administration would use the new SAVE plan to enact student loan forgiveness with or without the approval of the Supreme Court. Since then, the administration has announced details which highlight the SAVE plan offers even more generous forgiveness terms.

This talk about student loans has brought about a question for Ask an Economist this week. Garrett from Ohio says,“One of the most prominent arguments against student loan forgiveness is that the borrowers are forcing the greater population to pay off their debts for them.

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Biden Admin Has Allowed ‘Unprecedented’ 500,000 Migrants to Come to America Through Expanded Entry Programs: Report

Virginia Star Staff

The Biden administration has allowed an unprecedented roughly 500,000 migrants to come to the U.S. via the expansion of entry programs, CBS News reported Tuesday.

At least 541,000 migrants lacking visas have been granted entry into the country in less than two years through the use of what’s known as parole, according to CBS News, which cited internal government statistics, court records and public reports. The use of parole authority has been part of the Biden administration’s plan to address the surge of illegal immigration at the southern border.

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Physicians Criticize CDC ‘Guidance’ on Biological Men ‘Chestfeeding’ Babies

Susan Berry, PhD

Doctors are reacting with shock and horror at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) “guidance” on how biological men who identify as women can “chestfeed” their babies.

Internationally-known physician Peter McCullough, M.D., wrote at his Substack column Courageous Discourse Tuesday that CDC has become a “laughing stock” over its “chestfeeding” guidance, “plunging to new lows” with its “ridiculous” statement.

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Biden Administration Opposes Merit-Based Military Promotions in Favor of Race Quotas

Virginia Star Staff

The Biden Administration has publicly voiced its opposition to a measure in the annual defense spending bill that would mandate promotions based on merit and forbid promotions based on race.

As the New York Post reports, the provision in question is one of eight measures in the overall proposal that was officially opposed by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), as it would essentially undo many of the pro-DEIA (diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility) initiatives that the Biden Administration has been pushing for since first taking power.

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Pro-Life Law Firm Urges Federal Appeals Court to Uphold Right of Unborn Children to Emergency Medical Care

Susan Berry, PhD

A leading national pro-life law firm has filed an amicus brief with the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, arguing the Biden administration’s “guidance” to hospitals that “reminds” them of their “obligation” to provide abortions in states where the procedure is illegal is an incorrect interpretation of the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA).

In a press statement Friday, Life Legal explained that after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022, “Democrats were determined to find ways to prevent pro-life states from protecting babies in the womb.”

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Federal Judge Denies Biden Admin’s Request to Keep Coordinating with Big Tech to Censor Americans

Virginia Star Staff

A federal judge denied the Biden administration’s attempt to pause an injunction that bars federal officials from communicating with social media companies for the purposes of censoring protected speech on Monday.

The Biden administration appealed Western District of Louisiana Judge Terry A. Doughty’s July 4 injunction on Wednesday, also requesting an emergency order to pause the injunction while the appeal is pending on Thursday night. Doughty denied the administration’s emergency order Monday, finding that plaintiffs would likely succeed in proving the government colluded with social media companies “to engage in viewpoint-based suppression of protected free speech.”

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Commentary: Censorship Is More Dangerous Than Disinformation

Virginia Star Staff

The First Amendment is under assault by the very people entrusted to protect it. The Biden administration and the corporate media removed any doubt about this after a July 4 ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Terry A. Doughty. Evidence revealed during the discovery process in Missouri v. Biden convinced the judge that administration officials illegally pressured social media platforms to censor disfavored views. Doughty issued a 155-page opinion and an injunction prohibiting federal officials from “pressuring or coercing social-media companies in any manner to remove, delete, suppress, or reduce posted content of postings containing protected free speech.”

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Biden Administration Considers $20,000 Fine, Prison for Boaters Who Exceed 11.5 mph in Florida Gulf

Just the News

President Joe Biden’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is moving a step closer to imposing a 10-knot speed limit for large boats in the Florida waters of the Gulf of Mexico, with violations potentially resulting in a felony charge punishable by a $20,000 fine and up to one year in prison. The agency closed a public comment period Thursday on a petition seeking to impose the limit.

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Biden Admin Asks for Emergency Order Stopping Ban on Big Tech Censorship Coordination

Virginia Star Staff

The Biden administration requested an emergency order Thursday night to pause the preliminary injunction issued by a federal judge to prevent officials from communicating with social media platforms to censor protected speech.

The administration asked to immediately halt the injunction, issued by Western District of Louisiana Judge Terry A. Doughty on Tuesday, or to issue a seven day administrative stay while their appeal to the Fifth Circuit, which was filed on Wednesday, is pending. Doughty’s injunction bars federal officials in the Department of Health and Human Services, FBI and other agencies from communicating with social media platforms for “the purpose of urging, encouraging, pressuring, or inducing in any manner the removal, deletion, suppression, or reduction of content containing protected free speech.”

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Commentary: Biden Begins Shadow Loan Forgiveness Plan

Virginia Star Staff

Last week, the Supreme Court ruled against the Biden administration’s student loan forgiveness proposal which would have forgiven $10,000-$20,000 of student loans per borrower. But the fight for student loan forgiveness isn’t going anywhere.

In a previous article for FEE, I highlighted how student loan forgiveness has already been happening and started under president Trump due to the freeze on interest accumulation. Although this may not be as visible as a $10,000 lower balance, frozen interest means the real cost of taking a loan out became smaller than the initial terms suggested.

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Watchdog Group: Biden Administration Pushing to Make A.I. Inherently Left-Wing

Virginia Star Staff

As artificial intelligence (A.I.) technology takes off, the Biden Administration is allegedly pursuing efforts to make sure that such new technology adopts a left-wing worldview by default.

According to Fox News, the report comes from the watchdog group American Accountability Foundation (AAF), which said in a new memo that top officials in the Biden White House are attempting to program “dangerous ideologies” into new A.I. systems.

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Vivek Ramaswamy Reacts to SCOTUS Ruling on Biden Administration’s Student Loan Forgiveness Program

Kaitlin Housler

GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy released a video statement Friday after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the Biden administration’s proposal to unilaterally cancel hundreds of billions in student loan debt.

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Supreme Court Strikes Down Biden’s Multibillion Dollar Student Loan Forgiveness Plan

Just the News

In a landmark ruling with implications for the 2024 election, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 on Friday that the Biden administration does not have the authority to unilaterally cancel hundreds of billions in student loan debt. The ruling was a major rebuke of President Joe Biden’s political efforts to court young voters with large college debts, and sets a fresh battle ahead of the next presidential election. It also was the latest of several major court rulings that chided the administration for trying to impose regulatory powers that Congress did not give the executive branch.

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Commentary: Radical Green Groups Are Attacking American Energy Independence at the Source

Virginia Star Staff

by Daniel Turner   Although America’s energy producers are already under daily attack from the Biden administration, the eco-left is not content to limit their crusade to Washington DC. They are funding local groups in energy producing states to put in place endless hurdles to responsibly extracting energy. While the…

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Florida Republicans Probe Whether Biden Admin Is Using Southern Poverty Law Center to Target Parents

Just the News

Florida congressional Republicans demanded that the Biden administration answers whether it partnered with the Southern Poverty Law Center to label Moms for Liberty and other parental rights groups as “extremists.”

The designation comes after National Security Council counterterrorism director John Picarelli met with SPLC Intelligence Project Director Susan Corke earlier this year, the Florida Republicans, led by Sen. Marco Rubio, wrote in a letter Wednesday to Biden. 

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Biden Admin Uses Ukraine Aid Funds to Scope Out Cobalt Mining in Idaho

Virginia Star Staff

The Biden administration has begun using funds from a $40 billion Ukraine aid package Congress passed in 2022 to rebuild American manufacturing capacity and restock weapons and scope out critical mineral mining possibilities in Idaho, according to Defense News.

Pentagon planners hope the contracts awarded through Defense Production Act (DPA) authority will help break the U.S. industrial base’s dependence on China and Russia for critical minerals and expand production capabilities, the outlet reported. The Department of Defense (DOD) handed out the first contract from the $600 million fund Congress included the May 2022 package set aside for arming Ukraine in April, and in June used the funds to authorize cobalt exploration in Idaho.

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Top Biden Immigration Adviser Has Numerous Ties to Groups That Want to ‘Abolish’ ICE

Virginia Star Staff

A senior Biden administration immigration policy adviser has a history of working with organizations that have advocated to “abolish” U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), according to documents from activist groups reviewed by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Ramzi Kassem, who joined the White House in 2022 as the senior policy advisor for immigration at the Domestic Policy Council, helped produce research reports with anti-ICE groups for the City University of New York’s Creating Law Enforcement Accountability & Responsibility (CLEAR), a group he founded in 2009. He and his organization directly collaborated with, and still list as partners, several groups that have pushed to scrap ICE altogether as well as defund police departments.

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Homeland Security Secretary Appoints AFT President Randi Weingarten to Security Council to Advise on Keeping Schools Safe from ‘Terrorism’

Susan Berry, PhD

U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro N. Mayorkas announced Wednesday that American Federation of Teachers (AFT) President Randi Weingarten is among 20 new members appointed to his Homeland Security Academic Partnership Council (HSAPC), which seeks to advise the DHS secretary on “campus safety and security, improved coordination, research priorities, hiring, and more.”

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Biden Administration Backs Down from Forcing Religious Hospitals to Perform Gender Transition Procedures

Susan Berry, PhD

The Biden administration declined to appeal a federal court ruling that blocks the government from forcing religious doctors and faith-based hospitals to perform gender-transition procedures against their conscience and professional medical judgment. The administration’s decision not to appeal the federal court ruling in Sisters of Mercy v. Becerra to the U.S. Supreme Court by a June 20 deadline means its mandate will be laid to rest.

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Biden Admin to Spend Nearly $1 Billion on Green Upgrades for Fed Buildings

Virginia Star Staff

The Biden administration will spend nearly $1 billion upgrading more than 100 federal buildings with green technology like heat pumps and solar panels, using funds from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), The Washington Post reported on Tuesday.

The General Services Administration (GSA) — which manages the U.S. government’s properties —  is planning to make 100 federal facilities all-electric and 28 net-zero emissions, on a budget of $975 million,  according to The Washington Post. The GSA is hoping that will attract roughly another $925 million in private sector investment, bringing total funding to roughly $1.9 billion, in an effort to revamp 40 million square feet of federal property, which is roughly 20% of all buildings managed by the GSA.

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Another Top Official to Leave Biden’s DHS: Report

Virginia Star Staff

Another top Biden administration will soon leave the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), ABC News reported Tuesday.

Deputy DHS Secretary John Tien will retire from the agency July 20, according to ABC News, which cited an internal memo from the the deputy secretary. Tien joins several other agency officials leaving the administration in the coming weeks, which include Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) chief Tae Johnson, Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz and Acting Deputy Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Commissioner Benjamine “Carry” Huffman.

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Commentary: Almost Two-Thirds of Federal Arrests Involve Noncitizens

Virginia Star Staff

Customs and Border Protection encountered over 275,000 illegal aliens crossing our borders nationwide in April alone, setting a distressing precedent for increased illegal entries under the Biden administration. While the majority of illegal aliens seek a better life, the undeniable link between increasing illegal immigration and crime poses a significant threat to American communities.

President Joe Biden’s decision to grant mass parole for millions of aliens, allowing them to remain illegally in the United States, only amplifies the devastating effects of increased illegal immigration on our society.

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Texas Sends First Bus of Illegal Border Crossers to Los Angeles

The Center Square

A bus of foreign nationals who illegally entered Texas and were apprehended and released by the Biden administration were taken to Los Angeles for the first time, Gov. Greg Abbott said. They were dropped off at the Los Angeles Union Station Wednesday evening.

“Texas’ small border towns remain overwhelmed and overrun by the thousands of people illegally crossing into Texas from Mexico because of President Biden’s refusal to secure the border,” Abbott said. “Los Angeles is a major city that migrants seek to go to, particularly now that its city leaders approved its self-declared sanctuary city status. Our border communities are on the frontlines of President Biden’s border crisis, and Texas will continue providing this much-needed relief until he steps up to do his job and secure the border.”

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Biden to Extend Stay for More than 300,000 Immigrants: Report

Virginia Star Staff

The Biden administration will extend the temporary legal status of roughly 337,000 immigrants from El Salvador, Nicaragua, Nepal and Honduras, CBS News reported Tuesday.

Immigrants from El Salvador, Nicaragua, Nepal and Honduras will be allowed to stay and work in the country for an additional 18 months under Temporary Protected Status (TPS), according to CBS News, which cited two current and former U.S. officials. TPS is granted due to either armed conflict, environmental disaster, an epidemic or other “extraordinary” conditions, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

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Scandal-Plagued Civil Rights Group Launches Attack on Parental Rights Groups

Just the News

The Alabama-based civil rights organization that made its name suing the Ku Klux Klan has put parental rights groups in its sights and for the first time has started tracking the “antigovernment movement” ideology in its annual “Year in Hate & Extremism” reports.

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) added “reactionary anti-student inclusion groups” to a list of 702 “antigovernment extremism” groups it tracked in 2022, separate from 523 “hate” groups. The organization focused almost exclusively on just one in its annual report published this week: Florida-based Moms for Liberty, far and away the leader in chapters nationwide.

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China Has Operated Spy Facilities in Cuba Since at Least 2019, White House Says

Admin

The White House clarified Saturday that China has operated a spy base in Cuba since at least 2019, according to The Wall Street Journal, following reporting that Beijing reached a tentative agreement to set up a new operation somewhere on the island country.

The White House on Friday had characterized as “inaccurate” the WSJ’s first report of a planned Chinese surveillance outpost in Cuba focused on intercepting electronic communications, including emails and radio transmissions, in the southeast U.S. However, White House officials told the outlet Saturday that the Biden administration has worked to tamp down on China’s repeated attempts to spy on the U.S. since Biden took office, and said China has had a surveillance operation in Cuba since at least 2019.

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Commentary: Unmasking the CDC’s In-House Intelligence Service

Admin

CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky is departing at the end of June and Joe Biden has tapped former North Carolina health boss Dr. Mandy Cohen to replace her. More important than the identity of the CDC director is what goes on behind the scenes, and hints have been emerging.

In April of 2021, the CDC reassigned Dr. Nancy Messonnier, longtime director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases (NCIRD). In a May 7, 2021 White House briefing, Walensky suddenly announced that Messonnier was stepping down.

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Commentary: Breaking Down the Biden Administration’s Political Weaponization Higher Education

Admin

The Media Research Center (MRC) has revealed that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is using the “Targeted Violence and Terrorism Prevention (TVTP) Grant Program” to single out and vilify political opposition- effectively criminalizing freedom of thought and free association. This is the same DHS that has classified the American people’s personal “thoughts, ideas, and beliefs” as “critical infrastructure” and “cognitive assets.”

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Biden Admin Taps New Border Chief

Virginia Star Staff

The Biden administration has tapped Jason Owens to lead Border Patrol next, according to an internal agency email sent by Acting U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Commissioner Troy Miller obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Owens has served in the agency for 25 years and is currently chief of the Border Patrol’s Del Rio sector in Texas. Outgoing Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz announced his retirement on May 30 after overseeing the agency during a time of record migration at the southern border, where CBP recorded more than 2.3 million migrant encounters in fiscal year 2022 alone.

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Biden Administration Launches New Policies to Keep LGBTQ Individuals ‘Safe’ and Ensure Children Are ‘Affirmed’ in Their Gender Identity

Susan Berry, PhD

The Biden administration announced new “actions” Thursday centered on ensuring LGBTQ individuals are protected from perceived “attacks on their rights and safety,” including state laws that protect children and teens from a predatory transgender medical industry.

The announcement of the “new actions,” the Biden administration said, is made “in celebration of Pride Month.”

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White House Quietly Prepares Back Up Plan If SCOTUS Strikes Down Student Loan Giveaway: Report

Virginia Star Staff

The Biden administration is quietly preparing for the possibility that the Supreme Court will strike down its controversial student loan forgiveness plan later in June, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

The White House’s public position is that it expects the court to uphold the debt cancellation package, but several administration officials have conveyed private doubts about its prospects of survival upon review, according to the report. Behind the scenes, administration officials are exploring various legal and communications strategies to pursue in the event that the Supreme Court eventually overturns the signature Biden policy, according to the report.

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Biden Energy Official Under Scrutiny for Family Ties to Environmental Lobby

The Center Square

Republican lawmakers are raising concerns about a Biden administration official’s questionable family ties to far-left groups lobbying lawmakers.

U.S. Rep. Bruce Westerman, R-Ark., chair of the Committee on Natural Resources, sent a letter to U.S. Department of Interior Secretary Deb Haaland this week demanding records, communications, documents and more related to allegations that Haaland’s family members may be unethically connected to anti-fossil fuel groups.

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