Month: November 2021

Commentary: Terror in the Capitol Tunnel

Admin

In 2018, after a local news crew filmed Ryan Nichols rescuing dogs abandoned by their owners after Hurricane Florence, the former Marine appeared on the “Ellen DeGeneres Show.” Not only did DeGeneres commend Nichols’ longtime work as a search-and-rescue volunteer, she donated $25,000 to the Humane Society in his name and gave Ryan and his wife, Bonnie, a $10,000 check to pay for the honeymoon they had missed the year before so Ryan could assist rescue efforts in the wake of Hurricane Harvey.

But instead of heading to Hawaii, the Nicholses used the generous donation to buy a rescue boat. With his Marine buddy and best friend, Alex Harkrider, at his side, the pair has participated in “dozens of hurricane rescues and disaster relief efforts,” according to Joseph McBride, Nichols’ attorney.

Three years after his appearance on the DeGeneres show, Nichols was featured on another program, but this time, Nichols spoke from the fetid confines of a political prison in the nation’s capital. And instead of telling a heroic story of saving dogs drowning in rising flood waters, Nichols told Newsmax host Greg Kelly a harrowing tale of what he saw at the U.S. Capitol on January 6.

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House Passes Democrats’ Social Spending Bill After Congressional Budget Office Score

The Center Square
Kevin McCarthy and Nancy Pelosi

Congressional Democrats passed a $1.75 trillion social spending plan Friday, putting the bill’s fate in the hands of a deeply divided Senate.

The bill funds universal pre-kindergarten, climate change spending, Obamacare subsidies, an extension of the monthly child tax credit payment and more wide ranging spending items. House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy spoke more than eight hours on the House floor overnight to delay the vote until Friday morning, but afterward it passed 220-213 along party lines with one Democrat opposed.

“We are very excited for what it does for the children, for the families,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said in a press conference after the bill’s passage.

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Federal Indictment Alleging Iranian Hack Further Erodes Narrative of Perfect 2020 Election

Admin

During the dizzying days after the November 2020 election, the Homeland Security cyber-security chief was fired by a frustrated President Donald Trump, then went on national TV to insist the election was fully secure.

“There was no indication or evidence that there was any sort of hacking or compromise of election systems on, before or after November 3,” ex-Cyber-Security and Infrastructure Agency Chief Chris Krebs declared on “60 Minutes.”

On Thursday, nearly a year later, federal prosecutors in New York unsealed a dramatic indictment that conflicts with that clean bill of health.

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Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas Can’t Answer Sen. Cruz’s Questions on Illegal Immigration

The Center Square

DHS Secretary Mayorkas couldn’t answer Sen. Cruz’s questions on illegal immigration, kept replying, “I’ll have to circle back with you”

At a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing this week on illegal immigration, Republican U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas grilled Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on policies he’s implemented that have enabled an ongoing humanitarian crisis at the southern border.

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Michigan Spending $2.5 Million of Taxpayer Money on Private Businesses, Government Groups

The Center Square

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity (LEO) awarded $2.5 million in Michigan Industry Cluster Approach 3.0 (MICA 3.0) grants to business groups statewide to address labor shortages.

“These grants are putting Michiganders first by helping innovative employers in high-demand industries address talent shortages across Michigan,” Whitmer said in a statement. “Together, we can continue leading the future of agriculture, construction, IT, manufacturing, mobility, and so much more as we usher in a new era of prosperity for our families, communities, and small businesses.”

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Ohio Chamber Pressures Michigan to Keep Pipeline Open

The Center Square

The Ohio Chamber of Commerce recently joined the General Assembly and other groups in Ohio and Michigan in urging the Biden administration to keep open a Michigan pipeline that supplies crude oil to nearly half the region’s refineries.

White House Deputy Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said last week the administration is studying the impact of shutting down Enbridge’s Line 5, an oil pipeline that rests on the bottom of the Straits of Mackinac and carries light crude oil, light synthetic crude and natural gas liquids. 

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Commentary: Parent and School Board Tensions Could Be Eased by School Choice

Michigan Star Staff
Young girl in pink long sleeve writing

Public education has been under the microscope lately, especially since many states shut down in-person learning last year during the COVID-19 pandemic. With children learning from home via technology, many parents had the chance to hear what their children’s teachers were saying—and they didn’t always like it. In fact, many were downright disturbed by what public schools were teaching their children.

Parents should not be forced to sit by and watch as their children get indoctrinated with progressive ideas they don’t agree with. Assuming it is legitimate for the government—that is, the taxpayers—to fund education, the government should distribute those funds directly to parents in the form of vouchers and allow them to choose where to educate their children. Not only would this allow for more choice in schools, but it would also reduce much of the conflict we are seeing today between parents and school boards across the country.

A common response to voucher proposals is that they would allow parents to use taxpayer dollars to send their children to private religious schools, thus violating separation of church and state. In other words, atheists and progressives argue that they should not have to financially support schools that teach students religious worldviews.

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FDA Approves Moderna and Pfizer Boosters for Adults

Michigan Star Staff

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Moderna and Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccines for booster shot use for adults in the U.S., the agency announced Friday,

The announcement was made just two months after the FDA first rejected the White House’s plan to administer booster shots to all adults the week of Sept. 20. FDA Acting Commissioner Janet Woodcock approved the booster without holding the usual public meeting to review the data, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will meet Friday afternoon to discuss the authorization, according to the FDA press release.

“Throughout the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, the FDA has worked to make timely public health decisions as the pandemic evolves. COVID-19 vaccines have proven to be the best and highly effective defense against COVID-19,” Woodcock said in the press release.

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Commentary: Alzheimer’s Research Pipeline Is Poised to Conquer Alzheimer’s with Combination Drug Treatments

RealClearWire

The recent approval of Aduhelm, a drug that removes amyloid plaques from the brains of people with Alzheimer’s, is a reason for cautious celebration. Not just because it is the first new treatment approved in 17 years, but because it is the first piece of a complex puzzle that researchers are hot on the trail of solving.

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October Southern Border Encounters See 129 Percent Increase over Last Year

The Center Square
Crowd of immigrants

Border Patrol agents encountered 129.7% more people at the southern border this year than last, according to new data published by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

The greatest number of encounters was in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas and the greatest percentage increase was in Yuma, Arizona.

Illegal border crossings have skyrocketed since President Joe Biden took office in January.

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Kamala Harris Meets with Mexican President to Talk About Everything But the Border

Michigan Star Staff
Andres Manuel López Obrador and Kamala Harris meeting about policy

Vice President Kamala Harris met with Mexican President Andres Manuel López Obrador to discuss everything but the border, according to a Thursday press release.

Harris and Obrador didn’t appear to discuss the Biden administration’s pending implementation of former President Donald Trump’s Remain in Mexico program or other issues overwhelming U.S. border officials, such as increased migration to the country, according to the statement.

“Vice President Harris and President López Obrador agreed to continue working together to address the root causes of migration from Central America and the need for a regional approach to migration in the Western Hemisphere,” according to the press release.

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Migrants Are Setting Up Camps Across Mexico, Hoping to be Allowed into the U.S.

Michigan Star Staff
Group of tents on a sidewalk; homeless people

New migrant campsites have sprung up around Mexico throughout 2021 as migrants have grown uncertain of whether they’ll be able to remain in the U.S., the Associated Press reported Thursday.

Camps are full of migrants, including many children and those who can’t apply for asylum in the U.S. because of Title 42 restrictions, who have to wait in Mexico as their cases proceed through U.S. immigration courts, according to the AP. Title 42 is a Trump-era public health order implemented in response to the COVID-19 pandemic that prevents some migrants from remaining in the U.S. while seeking asylum and allows border officials to rapidly expel most migrants from the country.

Hundreds of Mexican law enforcement officials raided an encampment in Tijuana and required migrants to register for credentials or evacuate the area on Oct. 28, the AP reported. The migrants who registered and stayed were soon surrounded by a mile of chain-link fence.

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Former Nashville Mayoral Candidate Carol Swain, Other Black Panelists, Describe Their Unexpected Path to Conservative Politics at Event in Franklin

Chris Butler

FRANKLIN — Quisha King, a former regional engagement coordinator for Black Voices for Trump, said she was once liberal, but the writings of conservative black economists Thomas Sowell and Walter Williams helped steer her on a different path. King said she her community had no prior access to Sowell or Williams.

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Michigan Legislative Committees to Investigate Unemployment Agency Following Auditor General’s Report

Cooper Moran

Michigan State Senator Ed McBroom (R-Waucedah Township) on Friday pledged to utilize the state legislature’s Oversight committees to investigate the mistakes of the Unemployment Insurance Agency (UIA).

McBroom, who serves as the chair of the Senate Oversight Committee, promised a joint hearing with his counterparts in the Michigan House.

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Georgia Governor Orders Probe into ‘Sloppy’ November 2020 Vote Counts in Fulton County

Admin

In a rare act for a state chief executive, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp has referred the audited November 2020 election results in the state’s largest voting metropolis to the State Election Board after multiple reviews found significant problems with absentee ballot counting that included duplicate tallies, math errors and transposed data.

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Rittenhouse Found Not Guilty on All Charges

Peter D'Abrosca

Friday, a jury in Kenosha County, Wisconsin, found Kyle Rittenhouse not guilty on all charges. 

The jury deliberated on five charges against Rittenhouse, all related to Rittenhouse’s activity in Kenosha on Aug. 25, 2020. He killed two and wounded a third during riots over the death of Jacob Blake at the hands of police.

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Kamala Harris Acting President As Biden Has Medical Procedure

Peter D'Abrosca

Friday, Vice President Kamala Harris will become the acting President of the United States while President Joe Biden has a colonoscopy at Walter Reed Hospital in Bethesda, Maryland. 

That medical procedure requires Biden to take anesthesia, and warrants the brief transfer of power. 

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Republicans See Education, Critical Race Theory as a Way to Win Big with Suburban Voters

Michigan Star Staff

Senate Republicans see education and the concern around Critical Race Theory (CRT) as critical issues in the 2022 midterm elections, according to research from the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) and Chairman Rick Scott.

CRT in education is a winning message for Republicans going into the 2022 midterms, according to a survey of 1,200 likely suburban voters that the NRSC polled from 192 suburban counties in 37 states.

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Commentary: The FBI Has Lost All Credibility

Michigan Star Staff

The Washington, D.C.-based Federal Bureau of Investigation has lost all credibility as a disinterested investigatory agency. Now we learn from a whistleblower that the agency was allegedly investigating moms and dads worried about the teaching of critical race theory in their kids’ schools.

In truth, since 2015, the FBI has been constantly in the news—and mostly in a negative and constitutionally disturbing light.

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Biden Admin Won’t Push Border Policies in Meetings with Mexican Officials

Michigan Star Staff

Biden administration officials said President Joe Biden won’t push border policies in meetings with Mexican officials during the North American Leaders’ Summit, CBS News reported Thursday.

The Biden administration, which has relied on Mexican officials to help stop migrants from reaching the U.S. southern border, will soon decide whether to bring back former President Donald Trump’s Remain in Mexico policies, according to CBS News.

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International Olympic Committee Says Biological Male Trans Athletes Should Not Have to Lower Testosterone to Compete in Women’s Events

Michigan Star Staff

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) recommended that sports organizations allow biologically male, transgender athletes to compete in women’s sports without lowering their testosterone levels.

The IOC stated that no athlete should be excluded from competition based on unverified, alleged or perceived unfair competitive advantage due to biological sex in a Tuesday report. The report says athletes should compete in sports based on their self-determined gender identity and should not be subject to “targeted testing” to determine biological sex.

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Audit Shows Michigan Agency Mishandled COVID Unemployment Payments

Cooper Moran

Michigan’s Office of the Auditor General on Thursday released a report on the shortcomings of the state’s Unemployment Insurance Agency (UIA).

During the coronavirus pandemic, the state agency dished out $3.9 billion in overpayments of federal dollars to residents who did not qualify for the funds.

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Two Iranians Charged with Cyber Intimidation Campaign Targeting Voters, Republicans in 2020

Michigan Star Staff

Federal prosecutors unsealed an indictment Thursday in New York accusing two Iranian hackers of successfully hacking into a state computer election system, stealing voter registration data and using it to carry out a cyber-intimidation campaign that targeted GOP members of Congress, Trump campaign officials and Democrat voters in the November 2020 election.

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‘It’s a Felony:’ A New Lawsuit, with Video Evidence, Alleges Delaware County, Pennsylvania Election Officials Destroyed Voting Records

Bradley Vasoli

A lawsuit alleging multiple violations of federal and state election laws as well as Pennsylvania’s “Right to Know” statute was filed in Pennsylvania Wednesday night, according to sources familiar with the litigation.

In early 2021, a whistleblower working for the Delaware County Bureau of Elections began inquiring why it was apparent to her that multiple documents pertaining to the Nov. 3, 2020 elections were being destroyed in the southeastern Pennsylvania county, the sources said. The name of the whistleblower has not yet been made public.

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After Courts Block Michigan University’s COVID Vaccine Mandate, School Grants Religious Exemptions

Michigan Star Staff

Western Michigan University has granted religious exemption requests to student athletes who sued the taxpayer-funded school after it vowed to kicked them off their teams for refusing to get vaccinated against COVID-19.

A trial judge previously issued an injunction, later upheld by a federal appeals court, prohibiting the student athletes’ removal from the football, baseball, women’s basketball, women’s soccer, dance team, and cross-country programs.

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Commentary: Conservatives Will Embrace Free Market Populism

RealClearWire

It would be an understatement to say that former President Donald Trump changed the Republican Party. Whatever one’s view of Trump, most observers can agree that Trump forced a break-up between the GOP and big business. Within conservative circles, debate persists over whether this is a good thing. On one side, writers like Oren Cass urge conservatives to embrace an essentially anti-free market approach. Even some Republican politicians, like Senator Josh Hawley, have expressed support for this path. On the other side, publications like the Washington Times and The Federalist call for conservatives to continue to support the free market. Others view the GOP as only selectively anti-big business, or using the idea for rhetorical purposes only.

Populism, Conservatism, and Trump

It is important to reflect on what has fueled this “anti-business” view in some conservative circles. To sum it up in one word: populism. It’s no secret that Trump’s political identity is centered around populism – but does populism always mean being anti-free market? Trump’s conservatism has been about more than just pro-tariff and anti-immigration policies. Under Trump, both inside and outside his administration, conservatives have pursued further privatizing education. The Trump administration made it easier for big business to classify workers as independent contractors, and conservative blogs attacked California for passing a law that did the opposite. The Trump administration pursued several policies that sought to reign in the Affordable Care Act.

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Biden Administration Says It Doesn’t Release Migrants Without Court Dates … Anymore

Michigan Star Staff

The Biden administration said it’s no longer releasing migrants into the U.S. without court dates, CNN Politics reported Tuesday.

Migrants will be issued formal notices to appear in an immigration court when released from federal custody instead of notices to report, which direct them to check in with an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office within 60 days, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said, according to CNN.

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Commentary: False Incentives for Vaccination

Michigan Star Staff

Last week, New York Governor Kathy Hochul launched a new program: an incentive to get children ages 5 through 11 to take COVID shots, now that they are available. The program in question has that usual bureaucratic and humorless advertising campaign: “Vaccinate, Educate, Graduate.”

According to the New York State website, “Parents and guardians of children ages 5 through 11 who receive their first vaccine dose by December 19th can enter the State’s incentive program for a chance for their child to win a full scholarship to any two- or four-year SUNY or CUNY college or university; the scholarship includes tuition, room, and board. Ten winners will be announced each week beginning November 24th, with a total of 50 winners being selected over the five-week period.”

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Navajo Nation Slams Biden Oil Drilling Ban, Says White House Violated ‘Tribal Sovereignty’

Michigan Star Staff

The Navajo Nation criticized the Biden administration for banning oil and gas leasing on a large swath of New Mexico land that supported much of its community.

The tribe argued that President Joe Biden failed to properly consult it before issuing the sweeping order earlier this week. Biden and Interior Secretary Deb Haaland announced Monday that the federal government would review a new rule prohibiting oil and gas leasing within the 10-mile radius around the Chaco Culture National Historical Park in northwest New Mexico for 20 years.

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Democratic Dark Money Juggernaut Called Security on Watchdog Instead of Releasing Their Tax Information

Michigan Star Staff

The leader of a conservative watchdog group said Arabella Advisors, a Democratic dark money juggernaut, had security remove her from their office on Monday morning after she made an in-person request for nonprofit tax documents Arabella is legally required to provide.

Arabella has been called the “mothership” behind a network of Democratic dark money nonprofit groups that have raised a combined $3 billion from mostly anonymous donors as of 2019. Arabella’s dark money network includes the Sixteen Thirty Fund, which funneled millions into a left-wing effort to stop Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation in 2018, and the New Venture Fund, which helped bankroll a group that launched a local news network in 2019 that, according to Bloomberg, functions as “political instruments designed to get them [readers] to vote for Democrats.”

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Pentagon Didn’t Delay Sending Guardsmen to Capitol on January 6th, Report Conflicts with Pelosi Narrative

Michigan Star Staff

The Pentagon responded appropriately and in a timely fashion to urgent requests for National Guard assistance on the day of the Jan. 6 Capitol breach, according to a Defense Department inspector general report released Wednesday.

“We also determined that DoD officials did not delay or obstruct the DoD’s response,” reads the report.

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National School Boards Association Removes Letter Comparing Parents to Domestic Terrorists from Its Website

Michigan Star Staff

The National School Boards Association scrubbed its letter, which compared the actions of concerned parents at school board meetings to those of domestic terrorists, from its website.

The deleted National School Boards Association (NSBA) letter, addressed to President Joe Biden’s administration, sparked outrage and backlash from parents across the country for requesting federal government intervention. The letter suggested the use of statutes, such as the USA PATRIOT Act, to stop threats or violence directed toward school board members over actions that it said could be “the equivalent to a form of domestic terrorism and hate crimes,” according to the Sept. 29. letter.

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Michigan State Senator Tom Barrett Launches Congressional Campaign

Cooper Moran

Michigan State Senator Tom Barrett (R-Charlotte) on Monday officially launched a campaign for Congress in an expected competition against incumbent Democrat Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI-08).

Barrett, who has served in the Armed Services, pledged to stand up to President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate for service members. The mandate served as a factor for Barrett to leave the Army after 21 years.

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Welcome Packet Reveals Concierge Travel Service for Biden Illegals, Courtesy of Nonprofits

Michigan Star Staff
Acting Executive Officer of the RGV U.S. Border Patrol Sector Oscar Escamilla, left, fields questions from tour participants as Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas, right, leads a delegation of Congressional representatives on a tour of U.S. Customs and Border Protection Donna Processing Facility in Donna, Texas, May 7, 2021. Secretary Mayorkas updated the delegation on unaccompanied children arriving at our Southern Border as they viewed conditions at the facility. CBP Photo by Michael Battise

Like travel agents preparing customers for a cruise, nonprofits working with the Biden administration have created detailed itineraries and information packets to help illegal aliens travel to wherever they want to go in the U.S., according to documents obtained by a Texas congressman.

Often courtesy of American taxpayers struggling to pay their bills during surging inflation, illegals are given free quality hotel rooms, plane tickets and transportation to the airport, travel maps, and instructions to TSA to bypass photo ID requirements, according to the documents shared with Just the News.

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OSHA Suspends Vaccine Mandate After Emergency Temporary Standard Struck Down by Court

Peter D'Abrosca

After The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Friday to keep its stay of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) emergency rule that would require employers of more than 100 employees to mandate COVID-19 vaccines in place, the federal agency says that it will no longer pursue private sector vaccine mandates at this time. 

“On November 12, 2021, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit granted a motion to stay OSHA’s COVID-19 Vaccination and Testing Emergency Temporary Standard, published on November 5, 2021 (86 Fed. Reg. 61402) (“ETS”),” OSHA said in a statement. “The court ordered that OSHA ‘take no steps to implement or enforce’ the ETS ‘until further court order.’ While OSHA remains confident in its authority to protect workers in emergencies, OSHA has suspended activities related to the implementation and enforcement of the ETS pending future developments in the litigation.”

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20 Months into Pandemic, over 20,000 Michigan State Workers Remote

The Center Square
Woman working in the evening on her laptop

Twenty months after the COVID-19 pandemic struck Michigan, downtown Lansing hasn’t recovered fully. Half of the state’s roughly 48,000 employees are still working remotely.

The disappearance of daily consumption habits of more than 22,000 state workers have hurt local businesses, whether that’s grabbing a bagel from The New Daily Bagel, rolls from AnQi Sushi Express or a shake from Soul Nutrition. Some businesses have adjusted accordingly, cutting hours, closing locations, and reducing menus.

The Michigan Department of Technology, Management, and Budget (DTMB) Spokesman Caleb Buhs said about half of state workers are working remotely on a daily basis.

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Commentary: Prosecution of Project Veritas Sounds Warning About Two-Tier Justice and Big State Corruption

Michigan Star Staff
James O'Keefe

Whatever else can be said about the FBI’s vendetta against James O’Keefe and Project Veritas, his investigative journalism enterprise, it is a useful reminder of two things: 1) that we increasingly live in a two-tier society in which the lower tier can expect the arbitrary intrusion of all the coercive elements of the state, and 2) that the fundamental legitimacy of many important American institutions is draining away rapidly like a full bathtub that is suddenly unplugged.

Scott Johnson at Powerline has an excellent summary of the case thus far.

Last Thursday, the FBI conducted a raid against two former employees of Project Veritas.

A few days later, they conducted a dawn raid against O’Keefe himself. It was the full monty.

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Wyoming GOP Votes to No Longer Recognize Liz Cheney as a Republican

Michigan Star Staff

On Saturday, a meeting of the Wyoming Republican Party led to the passage of a resolution expelling Congresswoman Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) from the party and no longer recognizing her as a member, as reported by CNN.

The resolution was passed by the Wyoming GOP Central Committee, by a vote of 31 to 29. Although the measure does not actually wield any direct power over Cheney, it marks the latest symbolic blow to the incumbent representative as a result of her frequent anti-Trump statements, which have all but eroded her popular support in her own state.

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Commentary: Trump Is Necessary to Restore Two-Party Rule

Michigan Star Staff
Donald Trump waving

In his most recent column, George Will, dean of serious American political commentators and high priest of Trump-hate, broke new ground in the reconciliation of buyer’s remorse over last year’s election and visceral aversion to Donald Trump. Will counseled Joe Biden’s entourage to tighten the cocoon that protects him from journalistic scrutiny or any form of spontaneity in public, lest Trump be reelected in 2024.

I have agreed with Will on almost everything between the 1964 and 2016 elections, and we have been cordial acquaintances for 40 years, although among its other regrettable side effects, the Trump phenomenon seems to have paused contact between us. George Will now purports to believe that the disappearance of Trump, which he had assured himself and his readers was inevitable if it were only possible to evict him from office last year, is necessary for the restoration of two-party rule.

With respect, I offer an alternative view. Trump is instrumental in the restoration of two-party rule.

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Commentary: Illegal Immigrants Would Get $10.5 Billion From Reconciliation Bill

RealClearWire
U.S. Customs and Border Protection operations following the implementation of Title 42 USC 265 at the northern and southern land borders. U.S. Border Patrol agents use personal protective equipment as they prepare to process a group of individuals encountered near Sasabe, Ariz. on March 22, 2020. CBP Photo by Jerry Glaser

The budget reconciliation package pushed by Democrats creates a new expanded child tax credit (CTC) that would pay illegal immigrants some $10.5 billion next year. All immigrants with children are eligible, regardless of how they got here and whether their children are U.S.-born. This includes the roughly 600,000 unaccompanied minors and persons in family units stopped at the border in FY2021 and released into the country pending a hearing. Cash welfare to illegal immigrants is not just costly; it also encourages more illegal immigration. 

Although it is referred to as a “refundable credit,” the new CTC, like the old additional child tax credit (ACTC) it replaces, pays cash to low-income families who do not pay any federal income tax. The new program significantly increases the maximum cash payment from $1,400 per child to $3,600 for children under 6, and to $3,000 for children ages 6 to 17. After 2022, the maximum payment would be $2,000 per child, but advocates hope the much larger payments will be extended. 

In an analysis conducted in October, my colleague Karen Zeigler and I estimated that illegal immigrants with U.S.-born children would receive $8.2 billion from the new CTC. However, we had assumed that the new program, like the old ACTC, would require children claimed as dependents to have Social Security numbers (SSNs).  But reconciliation (page 1452, line 14) would permanently repeal this requirement. 

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Poll: Biden Approval Rating Hits New Low

The Center Square

President Joe Biden’s approval rating has dropped to its lowest level since taking office.

A new Washington Post-ABC News poll found that Biden’s approval rating has plummeted in recent months among steadily rising inflation, a difficult withdrawal from Afghanistan, and other economic issues.

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Missouri Sues Large School District for Breaking Open Record Laws on Critical Race Theory Materials

Michigan Star Staff

Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt on Tuesday sued one of the state’s largest school districts, alleging it has violated open records laws in an effort to thwart public disclosure of critical race theory training materials for teachers and curriculum for students.

Schmitt’s lawsuit charges the Springfield Public Schools with 13 counts of violating the state Sunshine Law that include charging exorbitant fees for records. The move comes a day after Just the News reported that the school district’s training materials suggested teachers could be engaged in white supremacist behavior just by insisting on English language in classes, calling police on a black suspect or using the term “All lives matter.”

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JP Morgan Sues Tesla, Says Company Owes It $162 Million

Michigan Star Staff

Investment bank JP Morgan filed a complaint against Tesla late Monday alleging the electric car company owes the firm over $162 million.

The complaint centers on stock warrants, financial instruments allowing a buyer to purchase shares at a set price within a certain length of time, that JP Morgan bought from Tesla in 2014. The two firms agreed to a “strike price” at the time of purchase, and they agreed that if Tesla’s share price exceeded the strike price within the agreed-upon length of time, the electric car company would have to give JP Morgan stock or cash equivalent to the difference in prices, JP Morgan said in the complaint.

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Biden Loses Legal Battle, COVID Confidence as Vaccine Mandate Stalls

The Center Square

President Joe Biden is struggling to win in court as well as the court of public opinion when it comes to his response to COVID-19.

Biden’s approval rating on his handling of the pandemic has steadily dropped as he has issued more vaccine mandates, with one of those mandates seemingly dead in the water.

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Commentary: Thinking Critically About ‘Critical Thinking’

Michigan Star Staff

“We must never,” Bismarck is said to have warned, “look into the origins of laws or sausages.” Sage advice, I’ve always thought (and no pun intended with that “sage”)—but how much at odds it is with the dominant current of modern thought, which is to say Enlightenment thought.

Immanuel Kant, a great hero of the Enlightenment, summed up the alternative to Bismarck’s counsel when, in an essay called “What is Enlightenment?,” he offered Sapere Aude, Dare to know!, as a motto for the movement. Enlightened man, Kant thought, was the first real adult: the first to realize his potential as an autonomous being—a being, as the etymology of the word implies, who “gives the law to himself.” As Kant stressed, this was a moral as well as an intellectual achievement, since it involved courage as much as insight: courage to put aside convention, tradition, and superstition (how the three tended to coalesce for Enlightened thinkers!) in order to rely for guidance on the dictates of reason alone.

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Democrat-Led House Planning to Vote on Biden’s $2 Trillion Social Spending Bill by Friday: Hoyer

Michigan Star Staff
Steny Hoyer

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer told reporters on Tuesday that House leadership plans to hold a vote on final passage of President Biden’s $2 trillion Build Back Better Act by Friday at the latest.

Biden’s social spending bill contains new federal benefit programs and about $550 billion for climate change initiatives.

“I expect to consider most of the debate, perhaps not all, but most of the debate on Build Back Better on Tuesday, excuse me, on Wednesday, today’s Tuesday, on Wednesday, tomorrow,” Hoyer said during a news conference.

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