August 3, 2021 - The Michigan Star

Michigan Representatives Ask Justice Department to Explain Why it Dropped Probe into Nursing Home Deaths

August 3, 2021August 2, 2021 The Center Square

Three members of Congress from Michigan are asking the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Justice to conduct a formal inquiry as to why the department dropped its investigation of nursing home deaths in the state.

The DOJ announced July 22 it would cease an investigation into Michigan nursing home deaths from COVID-19 and whether those deaths were a result of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s policies. The investigation was begun during the administration of former President Donald Trump.

‘Communism Taking Root in America,’ Critical Race Theory Foe Warns

August 3, 2021August 2, 2021 Michigan Star Staff

About 350 concerned residents crowded into a church in Georgetown, Delaware, on Thursday evening to hear from a panel of experts about critical race theory—one of whom likened its spread throughout American culture to Mao Zedong’s communist Cultural Revolution in China.

“Today, communism is taking root in America,” speaker Xi Van Fleet said.

Commentary: Politically Correct Ideology Is Masking and Contributing to the Widespread Failure of Our Institutions

August 3, 2021August 2, 2021 Michigan Star Staff

We know the nature of mass hysterias in history, and how they can overwhelm and paralyze what seem to be stable societies.

We know the roots and origins of the cult of wokeness.

And we know, too, how such insanity—from the Salem witch trials to Jacobinism to McCarthyism—can spread, despite alienating most of the population, through fear and the threat of personal ruin or worse. These are the dark sides of the tulip, hula-hoop, and pet-rock fads, the mass obsessions so suited to past affluent Western societies.

Australia Plans to Deploy the Army to Enforce COVID Lockdown Orders

August 3, 2021August 2, 2021 Michigan Star Staff

The Australian government will deploy several hundred soldiers to Sydney to begin enforcing COVID-19 lockdowns Monday following a rise in delta variant infections.

The troops were requested by New South Wales Police Commissioner Mick Fuller on Thursday to assist in enforcing COVID-19 lockdowns, Fuller announced in a statement. Since June, an outbreak of the delta variant has resulted in almost 3,000 infections, but only nine deaths, the BBC reported.

Commentary: U.S. COVID Deaths Are at Lowest Level Since March 2020, Ivy League Professors Explain

August 3, 2021August 2, 2021 Michigan Star Staff

If you judged the US’s current COVID-19 situation only by the headlines, you’d come away thinking that we’re spiraling back into pandemic disaster. Localities like Los Angeles County and St. Louis have reimposed mask mandates on their citizens, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention just revised its “guidance” to say that, actually, fully vaccinated individuals should still wear masks in certain situations. Meanwhile, mainstream media coverage of the rise of the “Delta variant” is soaked in alarmism.

Yet at the same time that all this alarm is mounting, the actual number of COVID-19 deaths is at a nadir. Harvard Medical School Professor Martin Kulldorff pointed this out on Twitter, writing that “In [the] USA, COVID mortality is now the lowest since the start of the pandemic in March 2020.”

Gov. Abbott, Attorney General Merrick Face off over Feds Handling of COVID-Positive Migrants

August 3, 2021August 2, 2021 The Center Square

A legal battle and war of words between Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and the federal government over COVID-positive migrants being released into Texas communities escalated over the weekend.

The U.S. Department of Justice sued the state of Texas Friday over an executive order Abbott issued restricting the transport of infected immigrants who entered the country illegally being released into the general population.

Pelosi’s Office Silent Regarding Potential Vote on COVID Origin Bill

August 3, 2021August 2, 2021 Michigan Star Staff

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office would not say whether the House planned to take up a bipartisan bill that would declassify any information regarding the origin of COVID-19.

The bill, titled the COVID-19 Origin Act of 2021, passed the Senate through unanimous consent in May. It would require the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to declassify within 90 days “any and all information relating to the potential links between the Wuhan Institute of Virology and the origin of the coronavirus disease.”

Commentary: You Are (Probably) Going to Be Infected With the Coronavirus

August 3, 2021August 2, 2021 RealClearWire

Crowded street market with people wearing masks

It may not be today. It may not be tomorrow. It may not be next week. It may not be this month, when the rapid ascension of the Delta variant in the United States could send confirmed daily case counts spiking to 200,000 or more before settling down again. It may not even be next year. But someday, you will almost certainly be infected with the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.

This uncomfortable fact may come as a surprise to many Americans, particularly to those who have spent hours sanitizing surfaces and groceries, who have dutifully adorned a mask even when not required to do so, and who have made the simple, science-backed decision to get vaccinated. SARS-CoV-2 has already spread around the world, infecting hundreds of millions or more. The genie is out of the bottle, and it is not going back in.

“We will be dealing with this virus forever,” Dr. Michael Osterholm, the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) at the University of Minnesota, said in an interview one year ago.

Evergreen State Professor Who Berated White Colleagues Resigns

August 3, 2021August 2, 2021 Michigan Star Staff

The Evergreen State College professor who was caught on camera screaming at her white colleagues has elected to resign, according to an internal announcement.

“I am writing to let you know that our faculty colleague Naima Lowe has elected to resign her position at the College,” Provost Jennifer Drake wrote Monday in an email to faculty and administrators, praising Lowe for her work teaching “feminist and queer theory, race, and decolonial studies.”

Over 200 Afghan Allies Arrive on First of Many Expected Flights to Bring Thousands to the US

August 3, 2021August 2, 2021 Michigan Star Staff

Over 200 Afghan allies arrived at Fort Lee, in Virginia, on the first of many expected flights bringing thousands of people who assisted the U.S. military to America, Axios reported Friday.

President Joe Biden promised to help Afghan interpreters and other people who aided U.S. forces during the war, according to Axios. Over 700 people and their family members are expected to come to the U.S. on special immigrant visas as American forces withdraw from Afghanistan.

Pelosi, House Democrats Ask Biden to Extend Eviction Moratorium in Violation of Supreme Court Ruling

August 3, 2021August 2, 2021 Michigan Star Staff

House Democratic leaders issued a joint statement calling on the White House to disregard a recent Supreme Court ruling and extend the national eviction moratorium.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the other top House Democratic leaders urged President Joe Biden’s administration to extend the eviction moratorium until Oct. 18, 2021 and said doing so is a “moral imperative,” according to the joint statement released Sunday. The moratorium — first introduced by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) last year to prevent landlords from evicting low-income tenants during the pandemic — expired over the weekend after Congress failed to pass legislation extending it.

“Action is needed, and it must come from the Administration,” the House Democrats said. “That is why House leadership is calling on the Administration to immediately extend the moratorium.”

EU Regulator Hits Amazon with Record-Breaking Fine for How It Uses Customer Data

August 3, 2021August 2, 2021 Michigan Star Staff

An EU privacy regulator hit Amazon with an $887 million fine for violating laws related to the processing of personal data.

The Luxembourg agency National Commission for Data Protection (CNPD) issued the fine, imposed July 16 and revealed Friday, ruling that Amazon’s processing of personal data in relation to its advertising practices was in violation of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), according to Amazon’s 10-Q SEC filing. The fine is the largest ever issued under the GDPR, The Wall Street Journal reported.

D.C. Mayor Denies Breaking Her Own Mask Mandate Despite Photo Evidence

August 3, 2021August 2, 2021 Michigan Star Staff

Democratic Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser denied breaking her own mask mandate at a wedding Saturday night, despite photo evidence showing her seated maskless at a table.

The Washington Examiner first reported late Saturday that the mayor had officiated a wedding attended by “hundreds of unmasked guests” at 5-star Adams Morgan hotel, The Line DC.

The Examiner included a photograph of the mayor seated at a table maskless, noting that she “did not wear a mask despite not actively eating or drinking.” Several other guests in the picture are also not wearing masks.

St. Louis’ Top Prosecutor Accused of Incompetence as Violent Crime Rises

August 3, 2021August 2, 2021 Michigan Star Staff

As violent crime increases in St. Louis, residents’ outrage towards Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner appears to be growing as well.

Gardner, who assumed office at the beginning of 2017 on a progressive platform, is St. Louis’ top prosecutor. But she has taken an extremely lax approach to actually prosecuting violent criminals, angering residents and victims’ family members.

Donors Bash University of North Carolina over ‘Marxism,’ BLM Affiliation During Nikole Hannah-Jones Tenure Debacle

August 3, 2021August 2, 2021 Michigan Star Staff

Donors to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) criticized the university for its perceived sympathy towards “Marxism” and Black Lives Matter during the debate over whether to offer New York Times writer Nikole Hannah-Jones a tenured position, according to emails seen by Fox News.

The emails, sent to various UNC faculty, criticized the university for its perceived affiliation with the Black Lives Matter movement, as well as its tolerance of “Marxism”, its diversity and equity policies, and its promotion of Hannah-Jones, according to Fox News.

Law Professor with Naturally Acquired COVID Immunity Battles George Mason University’s Strict Vaccine Mandate

August 3, 2021August 3, 2021 Michigan Star Staff

A George Mason University law professor with naturally acquired immunity from COVID is fighting against his employer’s strict COVID vaccine mandate.

Antonin Scalia Law School Professor Todd Zywicki, who recovered from a bout with COVID and has blood tests showing antibodies to the virus, said he will not agree to the university’s policy that employees get the vaccine or face numerous sanctions.

“George Mason is forcing me to choose between serving my students on one hand and undergoing an unnecessary and potentially risky medical procedure on the other,” Zywicki said in a statement.

Commentary: Democrats Brace for Inflation Attacks During August Recess

August 3, 2021August 2, 2021 Michigan Star Staff

Iowa Rep. Cindy Axne, one of the most vulnerable Democratic incumbents heading toward the 2022 midterm elections, spent an early July afternoon talking to constituents’ from the cool environs of an ice cream shop in her district when the discussion suddenly heated up.

“I just wanted to ask, are you concerned about the rising gas prices and the rise in the cost of consumer goods here in Iowa and in America?” one constituent asked.

Gov. Whitmer Signs Driver’s License Extensions for Michiganders into Law

August 3, 2021August 2, 2021 The Center Square

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed three bills dealing with the consequences of a 15-months backlog at the Secretary of State’s office extending the validation of state driver’s licenses and ID cards.

“The pandemic was tough on all of us, and these bills put Michigan drivers first by giving Michiganders the flexibility they need to renew their drivers license and IDs,” Whitmer said in a statement. “It is crucial that we continue to offer services at our Secretary of State that fit the needs of all residents as we move forward.”

The three bills add 120 days of validity for the documents expired between March 1, 2020, and March 31, 2021.

Michigan Nonprofit Alleges Gov. Whitmer’s Campaign Has Illegally Exploited Donation-Limit Loophole

August 3, 2021August 2, 2021 Bradley Vasoli

A complaint filed by the nonprofit Michigan Freedom Fund (MFF) last week alleges that that state’s governor, Gretchen Whitmer, has taken illegal advantage of a campaign-finance loophole to raise unlawful amounts of cash.

Individuals may contribute up to $7,150 according to state law, though a 1984 administrative ruling by then Michigan Secretary of State Richard Austin (D) sought to negate that limit for candidates facing recalls. Whitmer has relied on that ruling in surpassing the contribution limit.