More Than 3.8 million New Unemployment Claims Filed – 6 Week Total Exceeds 30 Million

The six-week surge in new unemployment claims continued last week as businesses deemed nonessential by state and local governments reduce staffing in response to COVID-19.

More than 3.8 million Americans filed unemployment claims for the week ending April 25, the U.S. Department of Labor reported Thursday. The 3.839 million claims is down 603,000 from the week prior, when 4.42 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits.

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Vice President Pence Addresses Criticism for Not Wearing Mask at Mayo

Vice President Mike Pence visited the world-renowned Mayo Clinic Tuesday to discuss its fight against the coronavirus, but the media obsessed over the fact that he wasn’t wearing a mask.

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Commentary: Political Ideology Is Pushing Religion Out of Religious Studies

Many academic disciplines have gotten “woke” in recent years, especially in the humanities and social sciences. For the most part, this transformation has occurred in plain view as colleges created departments for (and offered degrees in) “Women’s and Gender Studies,” “Black Studies,” “LGBTQ Studies,” “Latino Studies,” and the rest of the intersectionality parade.

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‘Appalling’ FBI Documents Show Flynn Was Targeted with Perjury Trap

U.S. District Court Judge Emmet G. Sullivan on Wednesday unsealed eleven pages of FBI emails and handwritten notes that provide further evidence that retired general Michael Flynn was set up for a perjury trap by the senior members of the Bureau.

The new documents are “even more appalling than the Friday production,” said Flynn’s lead  attorney Sidney Powell.

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Commentary: The Changes to Come

The Democrats are taking their stand on the coronavirus crisis in an untenable position. It is like building a defensive redoubt in a valley surrounded by hills in the hands of the enemy (like the French at Dien Bien Phu in 1955, as President Eisenhower warned them). Whether this is tactical stupidity by the president’s enemies or strategic genius by the president or—more likely—a bit of both, is not clear except to insiders.

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Commentary: Globalism Is Not Slowing Down Anytime Soon

Nothing, not even a pandemic, will dissuade the people who brought us globalization to modify, halt, or roll back the decisions they have made for us. As I was scrolling through Twitter, I came across these gems. First, there was this tweet from the George W. Bush Presidential Center. It links to an article which tells us that calling for Americans to start to “Make it here at home” has a nice ring to it, but we must have no illusions: “Restricting trade and using taxes, tariffs and subsidies to manipulate the market can only be done by dramatically reducing freedom. That path leads to poverty.”

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Detroit Democrat Jonathan Kinloch Pushing Censure of State Lawmaker Says Elected Dems ‘Do Not Belong to Themselves’

Michigan Democrats plan to censure the state lawmaker who “broke protocol” by thanking President Trump for recommending hydroxychloroquine.  State Rep. Karen Whitsett (pictured right) earlier this month credited the controversial drug for saving her life after she had battled the deadly coronavirus for weeks.

Elected Democrats “do not belong to themselves,” explained Jonathan Kinloch, the chairman of the 13th Congressional District Democratic Party Organization (pictured left).

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Commentary: Anti-Lockdown Protests and the Defiant Protestant Heart of America

by George Rasley   In his 1904 masterwork, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. German social researcher Max Weber argued that Western capitalism and the Protestant Reformation were inextricably linked. Weber made the case that the Protestant theology of John Calvin and the idea of work and economic activity…

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Sen. Sherrod Brown Calls for Investigation into Reports Paycheck Protection Program Prioritized ‘Wealthier Clients’

U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, joined two other Democrats in calling for an investigation into reports some Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) lenders are prioritizing “larger and wealthier clients.”

In a letter to Small Business Administration (SBA) Inspector General Mike Ware, the senators allege some lenders “have prioritized the applications of their larger and wealthier clients to the detriment of smaller [businesses] adversely impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.”

U.S. Sens. Chuck Schumer, D-New York, and Ben Cardin, D-Maryland, joined Brown, the ranking member of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, in sending the letter.

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Analysis: Interest Rates Indicate Unemployment Will Grow as Trump Administration Eyes Phase Four Relief Spending

by Robert Romano   The unemployment rate will likely continue rising as the spread between the 10-year treasury on one side, and the 2-year and 3-month treasuries on the other, continue rising over the next weeks and months, an analysis of interest rates over the past four recession shows, according to…

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Audacious: Chinese Government Claims to be Victim of Coronavirus Disinformation, Accuses US of ‘Hiding Something’

The Chinese government’s foreign ministry portrayed China as the victim of coronavirus disinformation on Monday, before suggesting minutes later that the U.S. government is “hiding something” regarding the pandemic.

“China always stands against disinformation campaign. We are victim rather than producer of disinformation,” the Chinese foreign ministry wrote from its Twitter account.

The account then suggested without evidence that the U.S. government has lied about the extent of the coronavirus pandemic here.

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Democrat Pelosi Praised Kavanaugh Accuser Christine Ford’s ‘Courage,’ But Ignores Biden Accuser Tara Reade

Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi supported and praised Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s accuser Christine Blasey Ford, but has maintained silence on 2020 presidential candidate Joe Biden’s accuser Tara Reade.

Ford leveled accusations of sexual assault against Kavanaugh in September 2018, launching a media onslaught and a series of congressional hearings into the allegations against the now-Supreme Court justice. Throughout these events, Pelosi expressed support for Ford.

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Commentary: The Sour Revolution of Bernie Sanders

Truly transformative social movements usually complete cycles. They start with a crisis, build momentum, organize, gain power, and then institutionalize. The French Revolution combined intellectuals, peasants, and convicts into a force that the mighty King Louis XVI and his professional army could not stop. Their effort culminated with the king’s execution on the guillotine in 1793.

After this, the various revolutionaries had to face the question of which vision of that revolution would be imposed. Many of them did not survive that stage of their revolution. Like their former king, many of them were guillotined and, eventually, all of the elements they detested about the monarchy were restored under Napoleon Bonaparte.

This cycle isn’t unique to the history of France and, indeed, it’s the template for most “revolutions.”

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Mexico Deports Nearly All of Its Illegal Migrants Amid Coronavirus Fears, Government Reveals

Mexico has almost completely cleared out all of its migrant centers as a precaution against the coronavirus outbreak, its government announced.

The National Migration Institute (INM), the agency in Mexico that manages immigration, said that it has been deporting immigrants from the country’s 65 migrant facilities since March 21, according to Reuters. The actions are being made in order to comply with safety and health guidelines amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Mexico’s government migrant centers housed a total of 3,759 people in March. In recent weeks, authorities have repatriated 3,653 migrants back to Guatemala, El Salvador, and Guatemala by air and road.

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Jesse Ventura ‘Testing the Waters’ for Green Party Presidential Bid

Former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura said Monday that he has decided to “test the waters” on a third-party presidential bid.

“If I were going to run for president, the Green Party would be my first choice. I’ve endorsed the party and I’m testing the waters,” the former professional wrestler said on Twitter.

Ventura said he hasn’t filed for candidacy but simply authorized a letter of interest sent to the Green Party on his behalf.

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Michigan to Face More Budget Cuts as Tax Revenues Plummet

A storm of skyrocketing unemployment paired with plummeting tax revenue have plunged the state budget into a multi-billion dollar deficit.

State Budget Office Communications Director Kurt Weiss told The Center Square in an email that tax revenues for this fiscal year are projected to drop between $1 billion and $3 billion.

There’s another $1 billion to $4 billion projected for Michigan’s next fiscal year, Weiss said.

Over 1 million people have filed for unemployment benefits, more than a quarter of the state’s workforce.

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Royal Oak Commission to Request Censure, Resignation from Commissioner Who Protested Lockdown

The Royal Oak City Commission is voting on Monday night whether to censure City Commissioner Kim Gibbs and ask for her resignation for attending a rally in Lansing to protest Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s lockdown order.

Gibbs attended a rally on April 15 in Lansing, where she walked on the sidewalk in front of the Capitol building, according to the agenda from the Royal Oak City Commission. During this rally, Gibbs walked near other Michigan residents without wearing a mask.

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Climate Activists Want Michael Moore’s Doc Panning Green Energy Banned, Say It’s Chock Full of ‘Misinformation’

Anti-fossil fuel activists unsuccessfully attempted to browbeat the film producer behind a new Michael Moore documentary panning green energy into permanently removing the movie over claims that it contains pro-oil industry misinformation.

Activist Josh Fox, climate scientist Michael Mann, and other environmentalists signed onto a petition Friday asking the  producer to take down Planet of Humans, claiming Moore’s film relies on old data to claim solar and wind energy is dependent on fossil fuels. Films for Action initially nixed the film before putting it back online, saying the move was meant to engage in debate.

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Commentary: If You’re Going to Dance on Someone’s Constitutional Rights, You’d Better Have a Good Reason

Curves are flattening worldwide thanks to stringent lockdown efforts.” That bulletin from one of my favorite magazines made me sit up. “Really?” I thought, “Is it because of the stringent lockdown that the ‘curves’ are flattening?”

For that is what “thanks to” means here, right? Because, “propter” in Latin.

No one needs to ask what sort of curves we are talking about here. There is only one subject that is being discussed now towards the end of April 2020: coronavirus, the insidious cold bug brought to the world by the Chinese Communist Party.

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Amid Rumors of Demise, Photos Show Train at Kim Jong-Un’s Compound in Resort Town

New photos obtained via satellite show North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s train at his “vacation compound” in a resort town on the eastern coast of North Korea.

38 North – a foreign affairs news and information website that focuses on North Korea – released the photos, reporting the images were captured between Tuesday, April 21 and Thursday April 23.

The news comes amid a flood of rumors recently that the reclusive leader has suffered a catastrophic injury during a heart procedure.

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Missouri and Mississippi File Lawsuits Against China for Unleashing COVID-19 on the World

The attorneys general of Missouri and Mississippi announced this week that they are filing lawsuits against the Chinese government over its handling of the coronavirus, which first appeared in Wuhan late last year and was allowed to spread to the rest of the world.

Missouri AG Eric Schmitt says that China’s “campaign of deceit” has led to great human suffering across the globe.

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Commentary: Big Tech, Privacy, and Power

The ground is shifting quickly beneath our feet when it comes to tech, privacy, and power. And, although tech companies, their advocates, and even some policymakers, would like us to imagine these issues are cut and dried, they are not.

In their book The Sovereign Individual, published on the eve of the year 2000, James Dale Davidson and William Rees-Mogg attempt to grapple with the forthcoming technological changes that the new millennium inevitably would bring. “As technology revolutionizes the tools we use,” they wrote, “it also antiquates our laws, reshapes our morals, and alters our perceptions.”

This is the dynamic that has been unfolding slowly over the last 20 years, as Google, Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms have transformed how we engage with communications, culture, commerce, and one another.

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Gov. Whitmer on Bankruptcy Comments: ‘It’s Outrageous for Senator McConnell to Even Suggest That’

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said Sunday that bankruptcy is not an option for Michigan in response to comments last week from U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Whitmer appeared on ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” on Sunday. Stephanopoulos asked her if default was on the table for Michigan.

“No, and it’s outrageous for Senator McConnell to even suggest that,” Whitmer said. “But that’s what the matter is. Our general fund budget when adjusted for the inflation is the same size it was during – when Richard Nixon was our president. We have been incredibly smart stewards and we have not made some of the investments I think we should have as a state because of this artificially low number that we’ve been working with.”

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Commentary: Reopening Georgia and Colorado Is a Study in Double Standards

When President Trump first unveiled his three-phase strategy for lifting the job-killing stay-at-home orders imposed by most states in an effort to “flatten the coronavirus curve,” among the first to embrace the guidelines were Govs. Brian Kemp of Georgia and Jared Polis of Colorado. Moreover, their reopening plans were quite similar. Both, for example, will permit hair salons, tattoo parlors, and other personal services to resume operation. Yet the reception by the legacy media and various “experts” has been dramatically different. While the Polis plan has excited little comment, Kemp’s program has been denounced by the press and President Trump’s public health advisors have quite literally disowned it.

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Commentary: Harvard Magazine Is Wrong When it Called for a ‘Presumptive Ban’ on Homeschooling

As a Harvard alum, longtime donor, education researcher, and homeschooling mother of four children in Cambridge, Massachusetts, I was shocked to read the article, “The Risks of Homeschooling,” by Erin O’Donnell in Harvard Magazine’s new May-June 2020 issue. Aside from its biting, one-sided portrayal of homeschooling families that mischaracterizes the vast majority of today’s homeschoolers, it is filled with misinformation and incorrect data. Here are five key points that challenge the article’s primary claim that the alleged “risks for children—and society—in homeschooling” necessitate a “presumptive ban on the practice”:

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