October 26, 2021 - The Michigan Star

Facebook Employees Actively Censored Conservative Websites, Even in Defiance of Managers

October 26, 2021October 25, 2021 Michigan Star Staff

A series of new leaks from Big Tech giant Facebook has revealed even more bias against conservatives from the company’s employees, even to the point of causing internal debates between employees and upper management, according to the New York Post.

The latest leaks come from message board conversations reviewed by the Post, which showed back-and-forth discussions within Facebook about how to deal with conservative news outlets during last year’s race riots by far-left domestic terrorist organizations such as Black Lives Matter and Antifa.

Some employees expressed their desire to completely remove sites such as Breitbart from Facebook’s “News Tab” feature. When one such employee asked a manager about doing so, the manager responded by pointing out that “we saw drops in trust in CNN 2 years ago,” before rhetorically asking “would we take the same approach for them too?”

Commentary: The Unemployment Rate Does Not Offer Guidance Now

October 26, 2021October 25, 2021 RealClearWire

The Labor Department’s official unemployment rate—the most well-known gauge of the labor market’s health—counts as unemployed only those who aren’t working but are actively seeking a job.

Yet there is very little that we can infer from the jobless rate about the health of the economy. The unavoidable conclusion is that the only reason investors follow the calculation is because both Washington’s politicians and the Federal Reserve are expected to react to it.

Border Patrol Reports 192,000 Border Encounters in September, Says 26 Percent Immigrants Making Multiple Tries

October 26, 2021October 25, 2021 Michigan Star Staff

On June 17, 2020, Tucson Sector Border Patrol Agents conduct operations at the Highway 86 checkpoint near Tucson, Ariz. (U.S. Customs and Border Protection photo by Jerry Glaser)

The United States recorded 192,001 encounters with immigrants last month along the country’s southwest border with Mexico, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

The agency on Friday reported 1.7 million apprehensions along the entire U.S. southern border in fiscal 2021, which ended Sept. 30.

The agency reported 26% percent of the encounters in September involved individuals who had at least one prior encounter in the previous 12 months. Last month’s overall number marked a 9% decrease compared to August.

Nurses in Illinois Win Temporary Restraining Order Against Vaccine Mandate

October 26, 2021October 25, 2021 Michigan Star Staff

An Illinois judge granted a temporary restraining order to nurses who sued Riverside Healthcare over the hospital system’s vaccine mandate.

Kankakee County Judge Nancy Nicholson granted a temporary restraining order until Nov. 19. She will then hold a hearing on a motion for a preliminary injunction requested by the nurses.

Tea Party Patriots Action Calls on National School Boards Association Leadership to Resign

October 26, 2021October 25, 2021 Cooper Moran

Tea Party Patriots Action (TPPA) on Monday called on the leadership of the National School Boards Association (NSBA) to resign.

The organization apologized on Friday for a letter sent to the Biden administration, which called on the federal government to investigate concerned parents who spoke out against recent trends in school curriculum.

Biden’s Approval Hits New Low in FiveThirtyEight Tracker

October 26, 2021October 25, 2021 Admin

President Joe Biden’s approval rating hit a new low of just over 43% in FiveThirtyEight’s polling tracker as he confronts multiple economic and legislative headwinds.

Biden’s approval stood at 43.5%, and has steadily declined since July. His disapproval stood at 50.6%, the highest of his presidency.

Biden’s slide has coincided with another spike in coronavirus cases, a messy Afghanistan withdrawal and economic challenges ranging from supply chain issues to inflation. He has also pinned much of his domestic agenda on the bipartisan infrastructure bill and his sweeping budget, but left-wing and moderate Democrats have yet to agree on a compromise that would give both the votes needed to pass the House, where they hold just a three-vote margin, and the 50-50 Senate.

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey Stokes ‘Hyperinflation’ Fears

October 26, 2021October 25, 2021 The Center Square

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey stirred up more fears around inflation with his comments over the weekend saying that hyperinflation is “happening.”

“Hyperinflation is going to change everything,” the tech leader posted on Twitter. “It’s happening.”

The post sparked a flurry of responses. Replying to comments on his post, Dorsey added, “It will happen in the US soon, and so the world.”

Hyperinflation is defined by Investopedia as “rapid, excessive, and out-of-control general price increases in an economy.”

Legislation Would Allow Pennsylvanians to Sue Big Tech Companies for Censorship

October 26, 2021October 25, 2021 Michigan Star Staff

Two Pennsylvania state senators said recently they want to hold social media companies accountable for religious or political censorship.

Sens. Doug Mastriano, R-Gettysburg, and Scott Hutchinson, R-Oil City, said their Senate Bill 604, also called the Social Media Accountability Act, would create a private right of action to allow residents to sue social media companies like Facebook, Youtube and Twitter for banning or censoring their account due to sharing religious or political beliefs on the platform.

Commentary: Targeting Citizens for Expressing Traditional Values is a Hallmark of Tyranny

October 26, 2021October 25, 2021 Michigan Star Staff

All my life I’ve felt a bond with places and with people.

Growing up in Boonville, North Carolina, population then about 600, I went to elementary school and the Methodist church, knew many of the merchants in town—Harvey Smith, grocer and mayor for many years, Donald the barber, Mr. Weatherwax who owned the pharmacy and was kind enough to let me read comic books on the premises, and a dozen more adults—and relished my friends and their families. Boonville’s red clay and rolling hills are as much a part of me as any genetic code.

Music Spotlight: Jacob Bryant

October 26, 2021October 25, 2021 Bethany Bowman

Jacob Bryant readies the forthcoming album Bar Stool Preachers with his latest release “Devil & An Old Six String.”

Commentary: $28 Per Day Triggers IRS Surveillance Program

October 26, 2021October 25, 2021 Michigan Star Staff

The entire Democrat multi-trillion dollar socialist spending scam is bad for Americans, and bad for our economy. One particular provision that is especially terrible is their “IRS Surveillance” program, which would grant the government access to spy on nearly every Americans’ bank accounts. Their bill wants to use $80 billion of taxpayer funds to hire 85,000 more bureaucrats, nearly doubling the size of the IRS, to go through individuals’ personal banking information.

President Biden, and his colleagues in Congress, must have realized how unpopular this policy was with the American people, so they decided to make some “changes.” They created the impression they were raising the threshold in transactions individuals would need to hit before triggering the IRS to spy on their personal banking accounts.

‘Way Off Track’: Emissions Levels Hit New Record in 2020 Despite Pandemic, Paris Accords

October 26, 2021October 25, 2021 Michigan Star Staff

Person filling up red car with petrol/gasoline

Total global greenhouse gas emission levels hit a new record last year despite the pandemic-induced economic shutdowns and previous commitments from world leaders, the United Nations said.

“The abundance of heat-trapping greenhouse gases in the atmosphere once again reached a new record last year,” the UN’s World Meteorological Organization (WMO) stated Monday morning after releasing its Greenhouse Gas Bulletin report.

While total emissions unsurprisingly hit a new record, however, the year-over-year increase between 2019-2020 was lower than the 2018-2019 increase, according to the report. Fossil fuel carbon dioxide emissions, the largest contributor to greenhouse gas warming, dropped 5.6% last year compared to the year prior.

Commentary: Tennessee Legislature Must Pass Big COVID Test in ‘Special Session’

October 26, 2021October 26, 2021 The Epoch Times

The red state/blue state dichotomy is not simple.

Nowhere is that more apparent than Tennessee where—despite having one of the most conservative electorates in the country—the leadership has been passive at best in responding to the wishes of their supporters during these days of great crisis.

Pro-LGBTQ Chalk Displays Go Undisturbed as Conservative Sidewalk Messages Get Defaced

October 26, 2021October 25, 2021 Michigan Star Staff

Chalk displays are common tools for spreading messages on college campuses, but they can also be examples of the different treatment that conservative and liberal students experience.

This semester, a College Republicans’ chapter had their chalk messages defaced while another group of liberal students were able to celebrate National Coming Out Day without harm to their chalk display.

Commentary: Newly Uncovered Documents Show Senior Virginia Officials Smearing a Whistleblower to Avoid Congressional Oversight

October 26, 2021October 25, 2021 Michigan Star Staff

Whistleblowers—and the truths they tell—far too often become the first casualties in the clash of bigger forces with other agendas. People tend to oversimplify complex stories to fit their preferred political narrative or to protect their own interests.

If the facts do not fit neatly into a convenient set of preconceptions, too often they are ignored, dismissed, or twisted to cater to well-known biases. This tactic is common among those who are the subject of whistleblower disclosures. They often attempt to change the subject to avoid accountability by pointing a finger at the whistleblower, even if they don’t know who it is.

It’s probably just a “disgruntled employee” who has “an axe to grind.” The implication is that there is no need to look into it. Nothing to see here. Move along.

Nearly 300 Venues in Michigan Awarded $280M in Grants

October 26, 2021October 26, 2021 The Center Square

When the COVID-19 pandemic struck Michigan, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer shuttered much economic activity in Michigan without compensation for lost revenue. While groceries stores stayed open, venues designed for packing people into spaces like theaters, museums, and zoos to enjoy art shuttered for longer than five months.

So the U.S. Small Business Administration administered over $16 billion nationwide through the Shuttered Venue Operators Grantees (SVOG) nationwide. In Michigan, 279 businesses ranging from museums to art centers to theaters have been promised a total of $280 million, with amounts from $3,500 to up to $10 million.