Month: January 2021

Apple CEO’s Pay Increased by Nearly 30 Percent During Pandemic

Michigan Star Staff

Apple Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook’s annual compensation increased by 28% in 2020 even as the coronavirus pandemic sparked a recession, according to filings.

Tim Cook’s 2020 compensation totaled $14.7 million, which was mainly comprised of performance-based pay, according to Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings released Tuesday, Business Insider reported. While the coronavirus pandemic sparked a recession in the spring, Apple consistently reported positive financial figures including increased revenue and growth throughout 2020.

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Commentary: Is Biden’s Team Rooting for Red China?

RealClearWire

What if the real winner of November’s presidential election was Red China?

China apparently sees it that way. Its Global Times mouthpiece rejoiced that Joe Biden had selected “a group of ‘elites’” who would be “very ‘predictable’ in foreign policy with a multilateral mind-set.” A prominent Chinese professor, in a now-purged speech, lamented China’s loss of influence during Donald Trump’s presidency – but enthused, “now we’re seeing Biden was elected, the traditional elite, the political elite, the establishment, they’re very close to Wall Street,” and noted that “Biden’s son has some sort of global foundation. . . . There are a lot of deals inside all these.”

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Biden to Pick Merrick Garland for Attorney General

Michigan Star Staff

Joe Biden will nominate federal appeals court judge Merrick Garland to serve as attorney general, according to Politico.

Biden’s decision comes after Democrats appear in striking distance of taking control of the Senate following runoff elections in Georgia on Tuesday. Raphael Warnock is projected to defeat Republican incumbent Kelly Loeffler. Democratic candidate Jon Ossoff is currently leading David Perdue, a Republican incumbent who holds the other seat in Georgia.

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U.S. Representative Mark Green Repeats Intent to Object to Electoral College Results

Jason M. Reynolds

Not long before the tallying of and objections to the Electoral College results were disrupted by the violent protest at the Capitol, U.S. Representative Mark Green (R-TN-07) had repeated his intention to contest the election results.

Green on Wednesday announced his intention to object to the slates of electors in “certain states.”

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Tennessee Republican Party Chairman Scott Golden Denounces Violence in Washington

Jason M. Reynolds

Scott Golden, chairman of the Tennessee Republican Party, condemned the violence in Washington, D.C., and said the GOP is the party of law and order, a sentiment expressed by several state leaders.

Golden made the statement Wednesday in an email as well as on Facebook, which is available here.

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Democratic Senate Candidates Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff Declared Victory as Counting Continued

Corinne Murdock

Democratic candidates Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff claimed victory in their respective U.S. Senate runoff elections as vote counting continued. Warnock declared that he’d won late Tuesday evening, while Ossoff waited until Wednesday morning to declare his win.

At the time of press with over 98 percent reporting in for both races, Warnock led Republican incumbent Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) by over 55,600 votes, or just over 1 point. Ossoff led Republican incumbent David Perdue (R-GA) by over 18,400 votes, or just over half a point.

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REPORT: Georgia Secretary of State’s Spokesman Gabriel Sterling Negotiated Pay Raise to Work as Independent Contractor from November 2019 to December 2020

Corinne Murdock

Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer Gabriel Sterling negotiated a $200,000 annual contract for himself last year to oversee the new voting technology from Dominion Voting Systems. Under that position, it’s reported that he worked as an independent contractor rather than as a government employee. However, he identified himself in that position as a full-time employee.

Sterling’s stint last year as an independent contractor aligned with the state’s decision in 2019 to award Dominion a $107 million contract for its voting systems. Prior to working as an independent contractor for the state, Sterling worked under one of his current positions: Chief Operating Officer. He earned much less under that government position – around $114,000 annually. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution obtained the information on Sterling’s contracts through an open records request.

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Trump Decries Vote Counting Process in Georgia

Peter D'Abrosca

President Donald J. Trump is closely monitoring the election results in Georgia’s U.S. Senate runoff from Tuesday night, and decried several instances of possible malfeasance in the vote counting process. 

“Looks like they are setting up a big ‘voter dump’ against the Republican candidates. Waiting to see how many votes they need?” he tweeted at 10:28pm. 

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Trump Supporters Storm U.S. Capitol, Halting Ratification of Electoral College Vote by Congress

The Center Square

Supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol Building Wednesday afternoon, interrupting the congressional session that was meeting to confirm the Electoral College votes.

Hundreds of protesters were shown on television news coverage walking through Statuary Hall without having gone through any security checkpoints. Debate was halted, and lawmakers were ordered to return to their offices and shelter in place. Legislators were told they may need to hide under their chairs and to be quiet and not draw attention to themselves.

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BOMBSHELL: Vatican Whistleblower Archbishop Viganò Tells Bannon Why Trump’s Leadership Key to Defeated Deep State, Deep Church & Pope Francis’ Alliance with Red China

Neil W. McCabe

The former papal nuncio to the United States, now a retired archbishop, told Stephen K. Bannon that if Joseph R. Biden Jr., becomes the president Jan. 20, it is one more step in the linkage of the so-called Deep State, the Deep Church and the ultimate primacy of the Chinese Communist Party.

“It would be an irreparable disaster if Joe Biden, who is heavily suspected of being complicit with the Chinese dictatorship, would be designated as President of the United States,” said Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, who from 2011 to 2016 served at the Holy See’s ambassador to the Washington, a role that also made him the principal liaison between the American bishops and the pope and the Vatican bureaucracy.

The archbishop said he was troubled by the power of the mainstream media to overwhelm legitimate questions about the 2020 presidential election.

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In Past 20 Years, Democrats Objected Three Times to Electoral College Certifications

Michigan Star Staff

Recent precedents for challenging Electoral College certification in Congress have come not from Republican lawmakers, but from Democrats. 

Over the past 20 years, Democrats have on three separate occasions objected to the validity of electoral votes on the floor of Congress. Wednesday, Jan. 6, will mark the first time Republicans choose do so in the past two decades. 

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Commentary: An Electoral College Challenge Is Imperative

Michigan Star Staff

Predictably, after Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and ten GOP Senators announced their intention to reject electors “not lawfully certified” but nonetheless included in the Electoral College results, many Democrats accused them of “sedition.” In reality, these Senators and their House counterparts are duty bound to object. The cowardice of Republican legislatures in disputed states, dereliction of duty by the courts and the dishonesty of the “news” media has forced them to take action. Congress has the final word on who won the presidential election when they convene Wednesday to certify the Electoral College results. That certification vote is the last opportunity for our elected representatives to resolve allegations of illegal election activity in November.

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Three Keys to Understanding Senators’ Proposal to Audit Presidential Election

Michigan Star Staff

In a move that isn’t without precedent, 11 Senate Republicans are pushing for a special panel to investigate questions of fraud arising from the presidential election. 

Some conservatives oppose such objections to the election outcome, in which former Vice President Joe Biden, the Democratic nominee, claimed an Electoral College victory of 306 votes to the 232 garnered by President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee. 

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Mystery Chinese Firm Approached Hunter Biden with an Offer of Charity, and a More Lucrative Pitch

Michigan Star Staff

In October 2015, a consultant working on behalf of the Chinese energy conglomerate CEFC made an intriguing pitch to Hunter Biden, the son of the then-vice president.

The consultant said that CEFC, one of China’s largest private energy firms, wanted to make a contribution to a nonprofit organization that Biden chaired, according to emails obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation. What’s more, CEFC also wanted to explore investing up to $100 million with an asset management firm with links to Biden.

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‘Antifa Scumbags’ Show Up at Sen. Josh Hawley’s House to Threaten His Wife, New Born Daughter

Michigan Star Staff

Republican Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley said on Twitter that “Antifa scumbags” threatened, vandalized, and pounded on his door while his wife and newborn daughter were inside Monday night – just days after he announced that he would try to block President-elect Joe Biden’s win.

Hawley said the group showed up at his house near Washington D.C. where his family was while he was in Missouri, as they cannot travel.

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Commentary: Five Big Ways the Chinese Communist Party Infiltrates America

Michigan Star Staff

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is seeking to dominate America, not only militarily and economically, but by undermining our cultural institutions.  The CCP meddling has gone undetected, in many cases, for years. But a new digital news site is aggressively shining a spotlight on the CCP’s infiltration campaign in the United States. Since relaunching in 2020, the National Pulse  has been dishing up a steady stream of exclusive stories exposing China’s nefarious infiltration program.

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75 Percent of Voters Say Stimulus Check Is ‘Too Little’: Poll

Michigan Star Staff

A Hill-Harris X poll found 75% of voters said the $600 stimulus checks were “too little,” the Hill reported Monday.

The poll was done from Dec. 30 until Jan. 3 and 15% said the checks were the right amount while eight percent said the amount was excessive, according to The Hill. Most from political parties were in agreement that the $600 wasn’t enough, with 77% of Democrats and independents and 71% of Republicans in agreement.

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Michigan Republicans Angry Over Whitmer’s Pocket Veto of First-Time DUI Expungement Bill

The Center Square

Three Republican lawmakers are angry after Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Monday exercised a “pocket veto” on a bill seeking to allow some first-time driving under the influence (DUI) or operating while intoxicated (OWI) charges expunged.

Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee Rep. Graham Filler, R-DeWitt, tweeted Monday that Whitmer would allow Senate Bill 1254 to die via “pocket veto,” meaning she won’t sign or veto it within the required 14-day window.

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Fulton County Voter Reports Dominion Voting Scanners Ran Out of Battery Power in His Precinct

Corinne Murdock

Georgia voter Richard Hendrix reported that the Dominion Voting Systems (Dominion) scanners ran out of battery power at his Fulton County voting location at Heards Ferry Elementary School on Tuesday morning.

Hendrix stated that he filed a complaint with the Secretary of State’s office, and sent copies to Senator Burt Jones, Republican Party of Georgia Chairman David Ralston, and Governor Brian Kemp.

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Twitter, Media Prepping Public for Georgia Election Uncertainty

Peter D'Abrosca

Twitter paired up with far-left news outlet Reuters Tuesday to prepare the public for a drawn-out runoff election process in Georgia.

“Why the winners in Georgia runoffs might not be known for days,” a Twitter “moment” said. 

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Georgia Voter: Spalding County Precinct Voting Machines Broken, No Paper Ballots Offered

Corinne Murdock

A Spalding County voter told The Georgia Star News early Tuesday that voting machines broke at a Griffin-area polling place, and instead of receiving paper ballots, workers sent the voters waiting in line away.

In an interview with The Star News, the voter stated that she’d arrived at her polling place at Union Baptist church early because she works several jobs and wanted to ensure she could cast her vote.

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Georgia Secretary of State Raffensperger on the Defense as Trump Presses on Difficult Questions About Drop Boxes, Signature Matching in Leaked Call

Corinne Murdock

A private call between President Donald Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger was leaked by The Washington Post on Sunday afternoon. The call reportedly took place almost exactly a day prior to the time that the audio was leaked.

Others on the call included White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, Trump’s attorneys Cleta Mitchell and Kurt Hilbert, Georgia’s Secretary of State General Counsel Ryan Germany, and Georgia’s Deputy Secretary of State Jordan Fuchs.

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Commentary: Those Who Should Be the Defenders of Civilization Are Determined to End It

Michigan Star Staff

The year 2020 witnessed a long series of writs lodged against an America beset with plague, quarantine, recessions, riot and arson, and the most contested election since 1876.

What was strange was not so much the anarchist Left’s efforts in the present to wipe away the past to recalibrate our Animal Farm future. What was odder were both the absurdities of the complaints against American civilization, and the unwillingness or inability of Americans to rebut them and defend their own culture.

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Major Chinese Telecom Companies Kicked Off New York Stock Exchange Following Trump Executive Order

Admin

Three major Chinese telecom companies will be removed from the U.S. stock market after President Donald Trump banned investing in companies that aid China’s military.

On Jan. 11, China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom will be removed from the New York Stock Exchange, CNN reported. The telecom companies are all major state-owned firms that the U.S. suspects are tied to the Chinese military.

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Raphael Warnock Hit with Multiple Tax Liens After Failing to Pay His Trash Bills

Admin

Democratic Georgia Senate candidate Raphael Warnock received four tax liens for failing to pay for trash collection services at a property he owns in Atlanta, Fulton County records show.

The records, which were first reported by National Review, show that the county imposed tax liens against Warnock totaling $2,595 for unpaid waste disposal services in 2010, 2012, 2015 and 2016.

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Firearms Prohibited in DC During Pro-Trump Protests, Police Say

Admin

Firearms will be prohibited within 1,000 feet of demonstration activity in Washington, D.C. this week, according to notices posted by the Metropolitan Police Department.

All firearms are banned within 1,000 feet of where the signs are posted ahead of pro-President Donald Trump demonstrations against certifying the electoral college votes for the 2020 presidential election, Fox 5 reported. Protests are expected at Freedom Plaza, near the capitol building and at the National Mall.

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Republican Party Treasurer Ron Kaufman Worked with Democrat Howard Dean, Their Firm Helped Major Bernie Backing PAC

Admin

As the Republican National Committee’s annual winter meeting approaches, GOP insiders are voicing concern over a top RNC establishment figure who is up for reelection.

The RNC will meet for three-days on Amelia Island, Florida, starting on January 6, the same day Congress convenes for what is shaping up to be a contentious session for the certification of the Electoral College vote for Joe Biden.

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President Trump Rallies for Republicans on the Eve of Georgia’s Senate Runoff Elections

Admin

President Trump headed to Dalton, Georgia on Monday to give a boost to Republicans David Perdue and Sen. Kelly Loeffler ahead of their critical runoff elections that will decide the balance of power in the U.S. Senate.

“Your vote tomorrow will decide which party controls the United States Senate,” Trump said. “The radical Democrats are trying to capture Georgia’s Senate seats so they can wield unchecked, unrestrained, absolute power over every aspect of your lives.”

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Democrats Beclowned as Rep. Emanuel Cleaver Ends Prayer Opening The 117th Congress with ‘Amen and Awoman’

Admin

Conservatives mocked a Democratic representative’s Sunday prayer opening the 117th Congress that concluded with “amen and awoman.”

“We ask it in the name of the monotheistic God, [unintelligible], and God known by many names and by many different faiths, amen, and awoman,” Democratic Missouri Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, an ordained United Methodist pastor, said during the prayer to open the 117th Congress.

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New House Rules Carve-Out for ‘Climate Change’ Bills Exempted from Requiring Projected Price Tag

Admin

House Democrats blocked a Republican attempt on Monday to require any proposed climate change legislation to also include its projected cost.

Under the Pay As You Go (PAYGO) rule, any additional government spending proposed must be accompanied by tax increases or separate cuts. After a push from several lawmakers in the Democratic Party’s progressive wing, however, the rules package for the 117th Congress states PAYGO will not apply to legislation relating to the necessary economic recovery or U.S. efforts to combat climate change.

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Commentary: The Most Important Week of the Century

Michigan Star Staff

Three big things are happening this week that could decide America’s fate. First, a run-off election in Georgia on Tuesday for two U.S. Senate seats that will determine the balance of power in the Senate. Second, Congress meets for a joint session on Wednesday to formally count the votes of the electoral college. And third, Americans from across the country will rally in support of election integrity on Wednesday on the lawn of the U.S. Capitol. Here’s a quick look at all these moving parts and ways you can make a difference in the saving America from a Marxist-Socialist takeover.

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In New Project Veritas Video, Raphael Warnock Staffers Reveal Candidate Wants to Defund Police

Chris Butler

U.S. Senate candidate Raphael Warnock wants to defund the police, even though he hides his beliefs from Georgia voters, according to a video that members of Project Veritas released Monday. Two Warnock campaign staff members shared what they said were Warnock’s true thoughts and feelings with an undercover Project Veritas reporter.

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Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer Signes Criminal Justice Reform Bills

The Center Square

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer Monday signed a package of 20 criminal justice reform bills into law.

The bills, championed by the bipartisan Michigan Joint Task Force on Jail and Pretrial Incarceration, are intended to prioritize incarceration alternatives and grant law enforcement officers more discretion when issuing appearance tickets rather than making arrests; and restructure penalties for traffic offenses. 

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CNN Fumbles Georgia Absentee Ballot Chain of Custody ‘Fact Check,’ Fails to Correct Multiple Errors

Peter D'Abrosca

CNN fumbled a “fact check” published Friday about the lack of chain of custody documents from absentee ballots placed in drop boxes in Georgia during the November 3 presidential election.

The left wing mainstream media outlet has also failed to respond to a request from The Georgia Star News to correct the factual inaccuracies in that story.

The article, written by Tara Subramaniam and published at CNN on December 31 titled, “Fact-checking Trump campaign ad implying fraud in Georgia,” made a number of factually inaccurate claims about reporting by The Star News.

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Commentary: The Constitutional Politics of President Trump’s Impoundment Move

Michigan Star Staff

To understand President Trump’s signing of the latest so-called COVID-19 “stimulus” bill after days of veto threats, we need to understand the critical constitutional history of the Watergate era. 

Citing the Impoundment Control Act of 1974, Trump declared, “I will sign the Omnibus and COVID package with a strong message that makes clear to Congress that wasteful items need to be removed. I will send back to Congress a redlined version, item by item, accompanied by the formal rescission request to Congress insisting that those funds be removed from the bill.” 

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More Than 1.5B COVID Face Masks Will Pollute the Oceans: Study

Michigan Star Staff

An estimated 1.5 billion disposable face masks will end up in the oceans this year according to a Hong Kong-based conservation organization.

OceansAsia based its estimate on 52 billion masks being manufactured in 2020 to meet the demand caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Their report also says that a “conservative” calculation means at least 3 percent of them will be washed out to sea.

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Nashville Bomber Anthony Warner Reportedly Wrote to Acquaintances About Lizard People

Jason M. Reynolds

Nashville bomber Anthony Warner reportedly mailed packages to people he knew before the attack with pages containing nonsensical rambling statements about lizard people and UFOs.

NewsChannel 5 reported on the development in the Christmas Day bombing case.

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New House Rules to Eliminate Gendered Terms Like ‘Father, Mother, Son, Daughter’

The Center Square

Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Rules Committee Chairman James P. McGovern announced new rules for the 117th Congress, which will be introduced and voted on after the new Congress convenes.

The rules include “sweeping ethics reforms, increases accountability for the American people, and makes this House of Representatives the most inclusive in history” – including eliminating the words, “father, mother, son, and daughter,” from federal code.

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Bill to Ban Biological Men from Women’s Sports Gains Bipartisan Support in Congress

Michigan Star Staff

Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) introduced legislation to ban biological males from participating in women’s sports.

Gabbard, a Democrat who ran for the 2020 presidential nomination for her party, is the sponsor of H.R. 8932, the “Protect Women’s Sports Act,” alongside Reps. Markwayne Mullin, (R-Okla.), Bill Flores (R-Texas), Bill Johnson (R-Ohio), Rep. Alexander Mooney (R-W.V.), and Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-S.C.).

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Almost 100 Million Americans Plan to Make Finances a New Year’s Resolution in 2021

The Center Square
business meeting

About 97 million Americans say they plan to make a New Year’s resolution for 2021 that involves their financial situation, compared to 66 million who said they’ve done so in the past, according to a new survey by WalletHub.

Of those who responded to the survey, more than a third say their top financial resolution will be to save more money. With that in mind, WalletHub came up with suggestions that can help you save more and spend less.

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Top Chinese Official Sees ‘New Window Of Hope’ with a Biden Administration

Michigan Star Staff

The Chinese government sees “a new window of hope” for improved relations with the Biden administration, China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, said in an interview with a state-controlled media outlet.

“China-U.S. relations have come to a new crossroads, and a new window of hope is opening,” Wang said in an interview with CGTN.

“We hope that the next US administration will return to a sensible approach, resume dialogue with China, restore normalcy to the bilateral relations and restart cooperation,” added Wang, who accused the Trump administration of trying to start “a new Cold War” with Beijing.

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Commentary: Dooming Lincoln

Michigan Star Staff

It’s one of the ironic facts of history that Lincoln was fond of the tune “Dixie.” Following the capture of Richmond in 1865, he instructed the Union band to play it in celebration of the South’s surrender. “I have always thought ‘Dixie’ one of the best tunes I have ever heard. Our adversaries over the way attempted to appropriate it, but I insisted yesterday that we fairly captured it,” he said. “I now request the band to favor me with its performance.”’

Lincoln’s feelings aren’t hard to understand. “Dixie” is as good as any song that belongs to America. But what was to Lincoln a beautiful melody that had been “fairly captured” has today been marked down by polite society as an anthem of white supremacy and a relic of “Lost Cause” mythology. Indeed, amidst what they’re calling the “reckoning,” a passionate urgency to expunge the Confederacy from history has perhaps never been stronger. 

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Congresswoman-Elect Spearheads Effort to Keep Ability to Carry Guns in Capitol, Says DC Is Unsafe

Michigan Star Staff

Colorado Congresswoman-elect Lauren Boebert, alongside 83 other Representatives, have countered an effort by Democratic legislators to disallow politicians from carrying firearms in the Capitol.

Boebert, a vocal supporter of gun rights, rallied the group of lawmakers to oppose a measure by Democratic California Rep. Jared Huffman to prohibit gun carry throughout Capitol grounds. Huffman garnered support from 19 other House members and said the “current regulations,” which allow concealed firearms for politicians, “create needless risk” in a mid-December letter.

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Still No Chain of Custody Documents Produced in Georgia for 76 Percent of Absentee Ballots Cast in Drop Boxes Two Months Ago in Presidential Election

Tiffany Morgan

Two months after the November 3 presidential election, the Georgia Secretary of State’s office and county officials in the state have failed to produce chain of custody documents known as ballot transfer forms that tracked the movement of 76 percent of the estimated 600,000 absentee ballots deposited in 300 drop boxes around the state and subsequently delivered to county registrars responsible for accurately and honestly counting those votes in that election.

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Commentary: End Court Packing Threat

Michigan Star Staff

Congressional Democrats have promised to pack the Supreme Court if they take control and Joe Biden’s fraud-ridden election stands. Senate stalwarts like Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga), and David Perdue (R-Ga.) are leading the charge to end this threat by amending the United States Constitution to specify that the number of Supreme Court Justices will be nine, ending the court packing threat once and for all. 

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Treasury Sending Out $600 Stimulus Checks This Week

The Center Square

A second round of stimulus checks, this time in the amount of $600, is being sent out this week, the U.S. Treasury Department said Wednesday.

Referred to as economic impact payments, the $600 check individuals will receive is part of the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2021, a bill President Donald Trump signed Sunday.

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L.A. Sheriff: 235 Arrests Enforcing COVID-19 Restrictions

Michigan Star Staff

As of Wednesday, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department had made 235 arrests over this month in an effort to enforce coronavirus restrictions as the region continues to see a surge in COVID-19 cases, officials said Wednesday.

Sheriff Alex Villanueva said his agency has patrolled and targeted underground parties.

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