Day: October 22, 2021

Michigan Parents Sue Attorney General Garland over Plan to Target Anti-School Board Protests

Michigan Star Staff

On Tuesday, a lawsuit was filed against Attorney General Merrick Garland by a group of parents in Michigan, with the intention of blocking his plans to use the Department of Justice (DOJ) to target them for protesting school board meetings, as reported by the New York Post.

The parents are from Saline, Michigan, and are represented by the American Freedom Law Center. The civil suit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, and seeks to protect the parents’ “fundamental right to freedom of speech, to direct the education of their children, and to be free from unlawful discrimination based upon their political and religious beliefs and views.”

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Biden Ditches Alaska Oil Drilling Project That Would’ve Created Thousands of Jobs

Michigan Star Staff

The Biden administration abandoned an oil and gas drilling project in Alaska approved by former President Donald Trump, which it had previously defended.

The Department of the Interior failed to file an appeal to a federal judge’s August decision blocking the multi-billion dollar Willow Project being developed by the Texas-based oil and gas firm ConocoPhillips. Judge Sharon Gleason of the U.S. District Court of the District of Alaska ruled that the federal government hadn’t adequately reviewed the emissions profile of the project, which she said would ultimately harm the environment and wildlife.

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DOJ Ends Case Quota for Immigration Judges Set by Trump Admin

Michigan Star Staff

The Department of Justice ended a Trump-era case quota for immigration judges, CNN Politics reported on Wednesday.

Judges said the Trump administration’s quota policy prioritized moving through cases quickly rather than due process for all immigrants and wasn’t fair, according to documents obtained by CNN. Immigration judges are tasked with moving through a 1.5 million case backlog, and case quotas didn’t necessarily make a difference in how quickly cases were processed, CNN reported.

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‘Not Acceptable’: Facebook’s Oversight Board Says Company Hid Details on How It Privileges Popular Accounts

Michigan Star Staff

Facebook’s Oversight Board issued a transparency report Thursday scolding the tech giant for concealing details of its content review process and demanding more transparency.

The report criticized Facebook for failing to disclose the existence of its “cross-check” content review system, the details of which were leaked to The Wall Street Journal by Frances Haugen and published in September. The cross-check system applies different moderation standards to accounts belonging to celebrities or other popular accounts, which Facebook did not disclose when asked.

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GETTR CEO Jason Miller Welcomes Trump to Social Media World

Peter D'Abrosca

Despite former President Donald J. Trump’s Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG) announcing plans to become a rival of newly-launched social media site GETTR, the CEO of the latter firm welcomed Trump into the social media space.

“Congratulations to President Trump for re-entering the social media fray! Now Facebook and Twitter will lose even more market share. President Trump has always been a great deal-maker, but we just couldn’t come to terms on a deal,” Miller said in a Wednesday statement. “And get ready for the new platform features GETTR has on the way: live-streaming, GVision short videos and our GETTR Pay payments system capabilities. Exciting new additions that will provide our global customer base an even better user experience. Let the downloads begin!”

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House Holds Steve Bannon in Criminal Contempt, Refers Matter to Justice Department

Michigan Star Staff

The House of Representatives voted Thursday to hold former Trump White House advisor Steve Bannon in criminal contempt of Congress following his refusal to cooperate with the House’s investigation of the Jan. 6 Capitol breach.

The resolution passed largely along party lines in a vote of 229-202, with nine Republicans voting in favor of the bill.

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Weekly Jobless Claims Drop to 290,000

Michigan Star Staff

The number of Americans who filed new unemployment claims decreased to 290,000 last week as employers attempt to hold onto workers amid struggles with inflation, supply chain disruptions and labor shortages.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics figure released Thursday shows a 6,000 claim decrease in the number of new jobless claims compared to the week ending on Oct. 9, when jobless claims dipped below 300,000 for the first time since March 2020.

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Newt Gingrich Commentary: The Afghanistan Withdrawal Disaster Would Not Have Happened Under President Trump

Michigan Star Staff

On Feb. 29, 2020, the U.S. and the Taliban signed the Doha Agreement, which set conditions for an American military withdrawal from Afghanistan. A few days later, then-President Donald Trump picked up the phone to call Taliban leader Abdul Ghani Baradar. On that call, Trump explained to Baradar in no uncertain terms that, if he and his men didn’t fulfill the agreement, which included a pledge not to attack U.S. forces, the Taliban would suffer dearly. Not a single U.S. soldier was killed in combat in Afghanistan for the rest of Trump’s presidency.

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CDC Says Five-Year-Olds Will Still Need to Wear Masks After Vaccine Is Approved for Kids

Michigan Star Staff
Blonde child wearing hair up, holding journal and wearing a mask

Students as young as five years old may still need to wear masks in school after the COVID-19 vaccine is approved for children ages 5-11, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Rochelle Walensky said in a White House briefing Wednesday. Walensky did not discuss if or when children would not be required to wear masks in school.

“After we have authorization from (the Food and Drug Administration) and recommendations from the CDC, we will be working to scale up pediatric vaccination. That said, it will take some time … as we head into these winter months, we know we cannot be complacent,” Walensky stated.

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Amazon Warehouse Workers in New York Set to File for Union Vote

Michigan Star Staff

Amazon warehouse workers in Staten Island, New York City, announced plans Thursday to file for a union election before the National Labor Relations Board next week.

Amazon Labor Union, which represents 2,000 Amazon workers, signed union authorization cards and announced plans to petition for an election, according to Vice. If the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) approves this request and the unionization vote succeeds, the workers would be the first Amazon employees to successfully unionize.

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Agitators Tamper with High Pressure Gas Pipeline Following Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s Public Calls to Shut It Down

Cooper Moran

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) was silent after agitators tampered with an Enbridge pipeline following her public calls to shut it down.

Anti-energy activists appeared to trespass on Enbridge property in Tuscola County to use a pipe wrench on an emergency shutoff valve Tuesday:

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