Day: September 27, 2021

Homeland Security Secretary Moves to Protect DACA after Texas Court Ruling Halted the Program

Admin
Alejandro Mayorkas

The Biden administration Monday announced a plan to create a rule to reestablish the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy, following the decision by a Texas court that found the Obama-era program unlawful and halted the ability of “Dreamers” to apply for immigration protections.

The Homeland Security Department announced that the new rule aims to “preserve and fortify” DACA by addressing some of the court’s concerns over the way the policy was implemented.

In July, a federal district judge in Texas ruled that DACA violated the Administrative Procedures Act. The decision prevents future applications to the program, but leaves standing the program’s benefits that have already been afforded to close to 600,000 people.

Read More

‘Fauci’ Earnings Mystery: No Info on Box Office Take for Gushing Documentary About COVID Czar

Admin

Documentaries often earn a fraction of what their fictional counterparts generate, at least those without the names “Moore” or “D’Souza” attached.

“Fauci,” a film detailing the scientific life of the nation’s preeminent infectious disease expert, appeared to be an exception.

Dr. Anthony Fauci has his detractors, particularly on the political right, but he’s still the biggest name in medical science thanks to his leadership on the COVID-19 pandemic and near-constant media presence.

The timing of the film’s Sept. 10 limited release, in cities including New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, D.C. and New Orleans, seemed fortuitous given the aggressive Delta variant.

Except we’re still waiting on the box office tally.

Read More

Businesses Push Back Against Biden Plan to Track All Bank Transactions over $600 Through the IRS

The Center Square
Joe Biden outside

A major component of President Joe Biden’s plan to raise revenue to pay for his trillions of dollars in new federal spending is now under fire from trade associations across the country.

The Biden administration has made clear its plan to beef up IRS auditing by expanding the agency’s funding and power. Biden’s latest proposal would require banks to turn over to the Internal Revenue Service bank account information for all accounts holding more than $600.

In a sharp pushback against the proposal, more than 40 trade associations, some of which represent entire industries or economic sectors, signed a letter to U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., raising the alarm about the plan.

Read More

Commentary: Democrat Elites Can’t Have It Both Ways on the ‘Great Replacement’

Michigan Star Staff
A rubber-banded newspaper with Joe Biden on the front

Tucker Carlson sent the Left into a predictable frenzy of self-righteous rage this week by making a true, but politically incorrect, observation. 

The invasion that is unfolding at the southern border, Carlson said, is purposeful. Joe Biden and his Democratic allies have embraced open borders because they want to change America’s racial demographics. They see their political destiny in replacing white conservatives with poor, non-white dependents from the Third World who will remain loyal to Democrats. By doing this, Democrats hope to secure permanent control of our political system. 

Carlson, of course, was immediately denounced by the usual media hall monitors for promoting the “Great Replacement Theory.” Except Carlson was not saying anything that prominent Democrats do not already discuss, very publicly, and with unabashed enthusiasm. His only sin was suggesting that the Great Replacement might not be a good thing.

Read More

Web Designer Forced to Publish Messages Countering Her Religious Faith Asks Supreme Court to Hear Case

Michigan Star Staff
Person coding a website

A Colorado web designer asked the Supreme Court to take up her case challenging a state law forcing her to publish websites with messages counter to her religious beliefs.

Lorie Smith filed the petition with the Supreme Court on Friday, arguing a lower court ruling that upheld the Colorado law was wrongly decided, Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), the firm representing her, announced. The law compelled Smith’s speech in violation of her First Amendment rights by forcing her business 303 Creative to produce content against her beliefs, she said.

“The government shouldn’t weaponize the law to force a web designer to speak messages that violate her belief,” ADF General Counsel Kristen Waggoner said during a press call before filing the petition. “This case involves quintessential free speech and artistic freedom, which the 10th circuit astonishingly and dangerously cast aside here.”

Read More

Commentary: Three Proposed Solutions for Regaining Our Digital Liberty

Michigan Star Staff

It is inarguable that by financially crippling, socially segregating, and digitally banishing politically irksome people and enterprises, the big tech cartel is flouting the spirit, if not the strict letter, of the Civil Rights Act.

For how do you make a living if your banking options increasingly are curtailed and constantly threatened, and your ability to electronically communicate with clients is likewise circumscribed?

Read More

Washington University Segregates Student Housing Based on Skin Color

Michigan Star Staff

Western Washington University has introduced a designated housing area meant specifically for Black students.

The university’s housing webpage announced that “Black Affinity Housing” will be available on the fourth floor of Alma Clark Glass Hall, which was named for the first Black student to attend the school.

Read More

Republican Lawmakers Say China’s Cryptocurrency Crackdown Is an Opportunity for America

Michigan Star Staff
Person holding phone with cryptocurrency info on screen

Republican lawmakers say China’s recent crackdown on financial technologies could offer an opportunity for the U.S. to press its advantage in innovation.

China’s central bank issued a statement Friday morning declaring all cryptocurrency transactions and services illegal, banning coin mining operations and vowing to crack down on its citizens’ use of foreign crypto exchanges.

Several Republicans say China’s loss could be the United States’ gain.

Read More

Around 12,400 Migrants Are Waiting to See Whether They’ll Be Allowed to Remain in U.S.

Michigan Star Staff
U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas visits with a group of Border Patrol agents and CBP employees as he tours the Del Rio Port of Entry in Del Rio, Texas, September 20, 2021. DHS photo by Benjamin Applebaum

Around 12,400 migrants could be allowed to remain in the U.S., Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said during a White House press conference on Friday.

Border officials relied on Title 42, a Trump-era public health order implemented in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, to expel most migrants from the U.S., according to Mayorkas. Migrants who needed immediate medical attention or who feared torture if they were returned to their home country weren’t subject to removal.

“Approximately 12,400 will have cases heard by an immigration judge to make a determination on whether they’ll be removed or permitted to remain in the United States,” Mayorkas said. If someone is not subject to title 42 expulsion for the three reasons that I explained, acute vulnerability, operational capacity limitations, or a convention against torture exception, then the individual is placed in immigration proceedings.

Read More

Over 3,000 Doctors and Scientists Sign Declaration Accusing COVID Policy-Makers of ‘Crimes Against Humanity’

Michigan Star Staff

A “Physicians’ Declaration” produced by an international alliance of physicians and medical scientists strongly condemns the global strategy to treat COVID, accusing policy-makers of potential “crimes against humanity” for preventing physicians from providing life-saving treatments for their patients and suppressing open scientific discussion.

The document states that “one size fits all” treatment recommendations have resulted in needless illness and death.

Read More

Iowa State University Student Turns Himself In after Allegedly Assaulting Pro-Life Classmate as a ‘Form of Protest’

Michigan Star Staff

The Iowa State University Police’s event report detailing a leftist’s documented attack on a Young America’s Foundation student member confirms that on September 3, the “suspect vandalized the [pro-life] sign and part of the sign hit the victim in the shoulder.” 

Campus Reformed obtained the report via a public records request following YAF’s report on the incident earlier this month, which ended with the suspect turning himself into police after “trying to break it before disposing of it into a waste bin.” 

Read More

Overwhelming Majority Of Voters ‘Very Nervous’ About Social Media’s Impact on Kids, Poll Shows

Michigan Star Staff

Almost nine in ten voters are very concerned about the impact social media is having on children, according to a new poll.

When asked whether they were “very nervous about the effects social media is having on kids today,” 84% of registered voters said they at least somewhat agreed, according to the results of a poll conducted by Benenson Strategy Group and released Thursday by the Future of Tech Commission. Roughly 6 out of 10 parents polled agreed that they felt like they had no control over what their children see online, while 85% of voters overall supported special online privacy measures for children.

Read More

Botched Drone Strikes Will Continue Without a Ground Presence In Afghanistan, Former Defense Official Says

Michigan Star Staff

Mistakes like the ones that led to the deaths of 10 civilians by a U.S. drone strike in Afghanistan will continue without a ground presence, experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

“Now that we don’t have an on-the-ground presence, it’s going to be harder to target people and know they’re the right people,” Mick Mulroy, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense (DASD) for the Middle East and veteran of Afghanistan, told the DCNF.

Mulroy said the diminished U.S. human intelligence network in the country would severely impact the ability of the military to monitor terrorism. “We had an intelligence service. We had bases all over the country. We had the ability to move about, to meet with people. Now, we don’t have any of that,” he said.

Read More

Defense Bill Sails Through the House with $24 Billion Increase

Michigan Star Staff
Supreme Court and Capitol building

The House late Thursday passed the National Defense Authorization Act after a marathon day of voting on hundreds of amendments as Congress continues work toward a government funding bill with a potential shutdown one week away.

The $768 billion defense bill passed with overwhelming bipartisan support, with 316 lawmakers voting in favor. It now heads to the Senate, where it is expected to pass and soon after become law as it has yearly for nearly six decades.

It provides an additional $24 billion for the defense department compared to last year’s legislation, an amount touted by both Washington Democratic Rep. Adam Smith and Alabama Republican Rep. Mike Rogers, the House Armed Services Committee’s chair and ranking member.

Read More

New Study Sounds the Alarm on Students’ ‘Self-Reported Cognitive Distortions,’ Support of ‘Trigger Warnings,’ and ‘Safetyism’

Michigan Star Staff
College student studying

A recent study examined the association between college students’ “self-reported prevalence of cognitive distortions and their endorsement of safetyism-inspired beliefs, the belief that words can harm, and the broad use of trigger warnings.”

Published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences, the article utilizes the definition of “safetyism” found in the book The Coddling of the American Mind, intending the term to mean a “culture that treats safety – including emotional safety – as a sacred value, which results in adherents diminished willingness to sacrifice safety for other moral or practical considerations.”

The four-person research team included three members from the University of California, Irvine, including the lead author, and one investigator from St. Edward’s University in Texas. 

Read More

University of Pennsylvania Removes Suffragette’s Name from ‘Feminist’ Research Center to Prioritize ‘Inclusiveness’

Michigan Star Staff

The University of Pennsylvania named its women’s studies center the “Center for Research in Feminist, Queer, and Transgender Studies” — removing a tribute to a prominent suffragette in the process.

According to Melissa Sanchez, an English and comparative literature professor who will lead the center, Penn decided to rename the Alice Paul Center — home to the Ivy League university’s gender studies department — in order to signal “commitment” to LGBTQ “intellectual and political movements.”

Read More

China Outlaws All Cryptocurrency Transactions, Mining Activities

Michigan Star Staff

China’s central bank announced Friday that all cryptocurrency transactions and mining activities are illegal, banning financial institutions from providing digital asset services.

“Financial institutions and non-bank payment institutions cannot offer services to activities and operations related to virtual currencies,” the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) said in a statement Friday, according to a translation by CNBC. These services include derivatives trading, order matching and token issuance.

Read More

Michigan Independent Redistricting Committee Says Some Media Analysis is ‘Concerning’

The Center Square

While the Michigan Independent Citizen Redistricting Committee (MICRC) draws political boundaries for the next decade, its spokesman complained that some members of the media are unfairly criticizing them.

Bridge reporter Sergio Martínez-Beltrán tweeted:

“The spokesman of the commission said that “the way we’ve been picked apart and analyzed is concerning” and continued: “The commission is a public body. We are watching. We are reporting. The public is watching. Seems like there’s not a real understanding on what’s the role of the press here.”

Read More