Day: May 4, 2021

Small Businesses Say Big Labor’s PRO Act Would Put Them Under

The Center Square
Rally goer holds up a "Small Business fighting for survival" sign

The Biden Administration sent some stock prices tumbling and left small businesses worried after taking sides on a hotly contested labor issue that critics say could threaten the jobs of millions of independent workers and thousands of small businesses.

In his address to the nation Wednesday evening, President Joe Biden called on Congress to pass legislation that would ban the use of freelance workers in most instances.

A report from the freelance site UpWork found that about 59 million gig workers make up $1.2 trillion of the U.S. economy.

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Commentary: No Background Checks for Federal Contractors – What Could Go Wrong?

Michigan Star Staff
David Trone and Maxine Waters

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) and Rep. David Trone (D-MD) have introduced a bill that would block certain federal grants from going to federal contractors who conduct criminal background checks, or even “inquire” about the criminal history of an applicant. This outrageous proposal reveals the woke left’s dangerous agenda. These radicals who want to defund the police and strip them of legal protections now want to give criminals access to government sensitive information, even our national mint.

Under this measure, every defense contractor who conducts background checks could have their contracts stripped. As a side note, if there are any federal contractors who aren’t currently conducting background checks on applicants, then they should have their government contracts taken away for incompetence.

What could go wrong?  A few things come to mind. We could have defense secrets stolen, money syphoned from the U.S. mint, and Drug Enforcement Agency contractors moonlighting for drug cartels.

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Documents Reveal Twitter Failed to Properly Register in Florida Before Doing Business There

Michigan Star Staff

Government documents from Florida show that social media giant Twitter failed to properly file to do business in the state, incurring a fine for transacting business there without the official permission of state officials.

The documents, available on the website of the Florida Department of State’s Division of Corporations, show that in March the department received from Twitter an “application by foreign corporation for authorization to transact business in Florida.”

The application reveals that Twitter “first transacted business in Florida” in June 2015, apparently well before it registered to do business there. A letter sent back to Twitter by the department indicates that the social media company failed to properly register with the state, potentially for many years.

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Anti-Woke Faction Opposed to Critical Race Theory Wins Bitter Texas School Board Election

Michigan Star Staff
Black Lives Matter flag hanging on porch

Aso-called “anti-woke” candidate won a bitter race for a school board seat in Southlake, Texas, a suburb of Dallas.

Saturday, Hannah Smith, a Southlake lawyer and former clerk for Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, won a race for a seat on the Carroll Independent School District board, nine months after the district introduced a controversial critical race theory curriculum in classrooms, according to NBC News.

“The voters have come together in record-breaking numbers to restore unity,” Smith said Saturday after being declared the winner. “By a landslide vote, they don’t want racially divisive critical race theory taught to their children or forced on their teachers. Voters agreed with my positive vision of our community and its future.”

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Hundreds of Millions in Paycheck Protection Program Loans Went to CCP-Backed Firms, as U.S. Small Businesses Went Under

Michigan Star Staff
U.S Small Business Administration

The Golden Horseshoe is a weekly designation from Just the News intended to highlight egregious examples of wasteful taxpayer spending by the government. The award is named for the horseshoe-shaped toilet seats for military airplanes that cost the Pentagon a whopping $640 each back in the 1980s.

This week, our award is going to the United States Small Business Administration and Treasury Department for awarding at least $200 million, but as much as $420 million, to Chinese Communist Party-linked businesses by way of the Paycheck Protection Program, intended to assist U.S. small businesses that were devastated by the coronavirus pandemic, widely believed to have originated in China.

A report from the Horizon Advisory strategic consulting group illustrates how negligible congressional oversight allowed at least 125 Chinese firms to “take advantage of the international disaster” by benefitting “directly from U.S. investment and relief measures.”

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Iranian Foreign Minister Said He Had No Knowledge of Israeli Airstrikes Until Kerry Tipped Him Off

Michigan Star Staff
John Kerry with Sarah Rosen Wartell in background

Iranian foreign minister Javad Zarif claimed he did not know that Israel was behind 200 military airstrikes in Iran until secretary of state John Kerry tipped him off, a new translation of a leaked audiotape reveals.

The New York Times buried the revelation of Kerry’s treasonous behavior deep in a story about the leaked audiotape last week.

Kerry is now the Biden administration’s United States Special Presidential Envoy for Climate.

Amid calls for him to resign or be fired, the corporate media and State Department officials stepped up to the plate to defend Kerry, saying Zarif had already heard about Israel’s actions from the media before Kerry blabbed about it. At the same time, Kerry claimed (unconvincingly) that none of it was true.

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American Medical Association CEO Calls Laws Banning Kids Trans Surgeries ‘Dangerous Governmental Intrusion’

Michigan Star Staff
Doctors performing surgery

The American Medical Association urged governors Monday to take a stand against laws banning transgender surgeries and procedures for minors.

American Medical Association (AMA) CEO James Madara sent an open letter to the National Governors Association Monday calling laws banning transgender surgeries for minors “a dangerous governmental intrusion into the practice of medicine,” noting that transgender and nonbinary gender identities “are normal variations of human identity and expression,” according to NBC News.

“As with all medical interventions, physicians are guided by their ethical duty to act in the best interest of their patients and must tailor recommendations about specific interventions and the timing of those interventions to each patient’s unique circumstances,” Madara wrote, the publication reported.

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Commentary: Amateurish FBI Raid on Innocent Trump Supporter’s Home Ought to Chill Every American

Michigan Star Staff
Jan. 6 Capitol riot

Last week the FBI raided the home of an Alaska couple who had attended former President Donald Trump’s Jan. 6 peaceful rally near the White House.

According to the Alaska Watchman:

Paul and Marilyn Hueper, owners of Homer Inn & Spa, woke with a start at 9 a.m. April 28 when a dozen armed FBI agents kicked down their front door in an investigation associated with Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s stolen laptop, which was taken during the Jan. 6 siege of the nation’s Capitol.

Homer resident Marilyn Heuper (left), posted this photo on Facebook to show the physical differences between her and the woman who FBI agents were looking for when they raided her home on April 28.

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WHO Team Investigating Pandemic’s Origins Must Have Better Access, Officials and Scientists Say

Michigan Star Staff
Francis Collins

The next phase of the World Health Organization (WHO) investigation into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic must be more scientific and data-driven, a group of scientists wrote in an open letter to the WHO on Friday.

China should not be permitted to veto the team members chosen for the next WHO-led investigation and the team should be granted full access to related data such as medical records and biological samples, signers of the letter wrote.

The letter is authored by various international scientists and academics and co-organized by Jamie Metzl, a WHO advisor and senior fellow at the Atlantic Council think tank.

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GOP Senator Demands Watchdog Investigate Energy Secretary’s Involvement with Electric Car Company

Michigan Star Staff
Senator John Barrasso

Republican Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso asked the Department of Energy’s watchdog to investigate Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm’s continued involvement with an electric car company.

Sen. John Barrasso, the ranking member of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, wrote a letter of concern to Department of Energy Inspector General Teri Donaldson Tuesday, warning of the potential conflict of interest. Barrasso said Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm continues to own millions of dollars worth of stock in Proterra, a company that has a direct stake in her department’s work.

“Proterra, Inc. is a leading manufacturer of electric buses, batteries, and charging stations — and has been described as such by officials within the Biden Administration,” Barrasso wrote.

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Lumber Prices Reach Record Heights Causing Home Prices to Surge

Michigan Star Staff
Man standing in front of miter saw

The price of lumber has skyrocketed to a record high and four times its usual price at this time of year, causing a spike in homebuilding costs, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Lumber futures, or the market price for wood, reached a record $1,500.50 per thousand board feet on Friday, according to The Wall Street Journal. A board foot, the unit used to measure lumber, equals one square foot of wood with one inch of thickness.

“Absent a significant increase in mortgage rates or a Covid resurgence, it is hard to imagine what could cause lumber demand to drop and prices to moderate in the foreseeable future,” Eric Cremers, the CEO of major lumber producer PotlatchDeltic, told the WSJ.

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Ron DeSantis Signs Bill Scrapping All of Florida’s Covid Restrictions

Michigan Star Staff
Gov. DeSantis discussing COVID-19 bill.

Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed an executive order Wednesday scrapping all COVID-19 restrictions throughout the state and an accompanying bill that limits localities’ ability to enforce emergency precautions.

“I think that’s the evidence-based thing to do,” DeSantis said during a press conference Tuesday announcing the executive order. “I think folks are saying they need to be policing people at this point, if you’re saying that, then you’re really saying you don’t believe in the vaccines.”

DeSantis signed SB 2006, which says that any emergency orders can last no longer than six weeks. It gives him the authority to overrule cities that adopt restrictions deemed too harsh or unnecessary, and gives city and county commissions the power to overrule mayors.

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A Total of Seven Harvard Professors Identify as Conservative, Survey Finds

Michigan Star Staff
The statue of John Harvard, seen at Harvard Yard

Two years ago, student leaders at the Harvard Crimson campus newspaper called on faculty to hire more conservatives in the wake of a survey that found only 1.6 percent of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences identify as conservative or very conservative.

It’s 2021, and nothing much has changed.

The Crimson’s latest survey of faculty found just seven professors identify as “somewhat” or “very conservative,” roughly 3 percent of survey respondents.

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Michigan’s ‘Vacc to Normal’ Challenge Promises COVID Rules Despite Vaccinations

Peter D'Abrosca
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer

Michigan Gov. Gretchen. Whitmer (D) announced here “Vacc to Normal” initiative last week, which is conspicuously missing a return to normal. 

She said the plan will help Michigan “gradually get back to normal as we hit our vaccination targets,” and attached an images of the incentives for Michiganders to get vaccinated. 

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