September 26, 2022 - The Michigan Star

Report: Fraudsters Stole $45 Billion in Unemployment Benefits Using Dead People, Prisoners

September 26, 2022September 25, 2022 Admin

The Department of Labor announced Thursday that 1,000 people have been charged for receiving $45.6 billion of fraudulent unemployment insurance (UI) payments since March 2020.

The pandemic overwhelmed state offices responsible for distributing benefits, with 57 million people filing initial UI claims within five months of March 2020, the DOL-OIG reported. Fraudsters were successfully able to take advantage of the chaos, filing for claims in multiple states, using fraudulent emails and using the Social Security Numbers (SSN) of dead people and federal prisoners.

Goldman Sachs Warns Investors High Rates Are Here to Stay

September 26, 2022September 25, 2022 Admin

Even in the best case scenario where the Federal Reserve is able to combat inflation without causing a recession, it is unlikely to cut interest rates, Goldman Sachs analysts warned in a note, according to Business Insider.

The Federal Reserve has raised rates three times in the past four months, with Wednesday’s 0.75% increase bringing primary credit rates to 3.25%, one of the most aggressive increases since the 1980s. However, even in a so-called “soft landing” where a recession and layoffs are avoided, the Fed is unlikely to cut interest rates until “something goes wrong,” according to a Goldman Sachs note reported by Business Insider.

Report: Latinos’ GDP Increased in U.S. from Eighth to Fifth in 2020 – Bigger than Those of France, UK

September 26, 2022September 25, 2022 Just the News

If Latinos in the U.S. were their own independent country, then they would have the fifth-largest GDP in the world, up from the eighth-largest at the beginning of 2020, according to a new report.

The Latino Donor Collaborative, in conjunction with Wells Fargo, released a report Thursday that found Hispanic Americans had an economic output of $2.8 trillion in 2020, up from $2.1 trillion in 2015 and $1.7 trillion in 2010.

Democrats Pivot on Law and Order as Soft-on-Crime Liberals Assaulted, Burglarized

September 26, 2022September 25, 2022 Admin

Democrats’ virtual 180 on the issue of crime — a journey from supporting the “defund the police” movement to espousing tougher law enforcement — has been accentuated by a striking pattern in recent months: prominent liberals being mugged, sometimes quite literally, by the harsh reality of rising crime as victims themselves.

The latest liberal to embody this shift is Bill Walton, the 69-year-old basketball legend-turned-garrulous broadcaster, who has a history of stirring controversy and advocating a range of progressive causes over the years.

Top Trans Medical Org Recommends Castration for Those with ‘Eunuch’ Identity

September 26, 2022September 25, 2022 Admin

The World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), which sets medical standards for transgender-related procedures, recognized eunuchs as a gender identity group in its newest guidelines, recommending castration as a treatment option.

Eunuchs are males who wish to remove all male genitals, genital functioning or other masculine attributes, according to WPATH. Eunuchs are listed alongside gender identities and sexual conditions like “nonbinary” and “intersex” in the eighth edition of WPATH’s standards of care, which states that eunuchs need “gender-affirming care” that can include physical and chemical castration in order to live out their identities.

Commentary: Democrats’ November Nightmare Could Finally Be Coming True

September 26, 2022September 25, 2022 Admin

Despite what you may have read or heard, the Republicans running in this cycle have an advantage that may, at this point, be dispositive.

A recent batch of polling has made it clear that the issues voters consider most important are the same issues on which they most trust Republicans.

Commentary: Can’t Forget the Motor City

September 26, 2022September 25, 2022 Michigan Star Staff

“In the 1950s,” writes J. Eric Wise in “The French Exit: A Detroit Love Story,” Detroit was “outwardly living well, a very healthy city, technologically advanced, with economic diversity, prosperity, peace, and civil life supporting the arts and sciences.” That is no exaggeration, as this writer can testify.

As Wise explains, Detroit prospered enormously from World War II and attracted workers from far and wide. My father, a mechanical engineer, was among them. In 1952, he moved our family from Alliance, Ohio, to Detroit, Michigan. The Big Three automakers gave him all the work he could handle.

Liz Cheney Says She Will Leave GOP if Donald Trump is 2024 Nominee

September 26, 2022September 25, 2022 Just the News

Rejected by her own voters in Wyoming, Rep. Liz Cheney says she won’t remain a Republican if Donald Trump is the GOP presidential nominee in 2024.

“I’m going to make sure Donald Trump, I’m going to do everything I can to make sure he is not the nominee. And if he is the nominee, I won’t be a Republican,” Cheney told the Texas Tribune festival on Saturday.

Military Subsidizes Service Members’ Grocery Bills amid Higher Prices

September 26, 2022September 25, 2022 Admin

The U.S. Department of Defense is taking new measures to help U.S. service members deal with rising costs as inflation continues to put the pressure on Americans.

Air Force Brigadier General Pat Ryder laid out a series of changes from Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to help families deal with the recent rise in costs, particularly in food, housing and childcare.

FBI Whistleblower: ‘Nobody I Know Signed Up’ to Investigate Parents Who Vented at School Board Meetings

September 26, 2022September 25, 2022 Admin

An FBI whistleblower who was recently suspended said in an interview this week that he became a whistleblower last November because of Attorney General Merrick Garland’s email ordering the FBI to use Patriot Act counterterrorism tools to target parents at school board meetings.

Special Agent Kyle Seraphin, who was indefinitely suspended on June 1 after nearly six years with the Bureau, said that he was so disturbed by the directive, he went to his congresswoman’s office in New Mexico, and made a “protected disclosure.”

Commentary: Powell Won’t Admit How America Got into Such Dire Economic Straits in the First Place

September 26, 2022September 25, 2022 Admin

The Federal Reserve’s decision to raise target interest rates by 75 basis points for the third time this year following a Wednesday meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee all but ensures American families’ financial pain will continue and our current recession will likely drag on.

Julie Kelly Commentary: Fair Trials Are Impossible for January 6 Defendants

September 26, 2022September 25, 2022 Admin

Odds are jurors in Douglas Austin Jensen’s trial took longer to fill out the verdict forms than they took to decide his fate.

After only a few hours of deliberations on Friday, 12 residents of the nation’s capital found Jensen guilty on seven counts related to his involvement in the Capitol protest on January 6, 2021. Jensen, an alleged QAnon follower, infamously confronted Capitol police officer Eugene Goodman inside the building that afternoon; he potentially faces decades in prison for convictions on impeding law enforcement officers and obstruction of an official proceeding, a dubious nonviolent felony punishable by up to 20 years in jail.

Stores Implementing New Ideas to Keep Up with Inflation

September 26, 2022September 25, 2022 Admin

Financial executives across the retail industry have been forced to adjust strategies to account for customer expectations as inflation puts pressure on outlets, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday.

Major retailers, including Macy’s and Target, who used discounts to clear excess inventory after overestimating demand for their products following a wave of pandemic-era retail spending, are being forced to develop strategies, such as reducing the size of bundles or subtly cutting down on discounts, to entice customers while protecting profit margins, the WSJ reported. Dollar stores have gained popularity as consumers struggle with inflation and — in tandem with the more aggressive discounting campaign by retailers — customers’ heightened demand for value has left some retailers concerned that customers might start to expect discounts that damage profits.

Nation’s Second-Largest School District Stocks Overdose Reversal Drugs After Student Deaths

September 26, 2022September 25, 2022 Admin

The second-largest school district in the country is stocking its schools with naloxone, an opioid overdose reversal drug, following student deaths, according to a Thursday news release.

In the recent weeks, nine students have died from overdoses in the Los Angeles Unified School District, with one student overdosing in the bathroom after obtaining a pill containing fentanyl from a peer, according to the Los Angeles Times. Every school in the district, beginning with elementary schools, will be stocked with the nasal spray version of naloxone, or Narcan, according to news release by the school.

Most Americans Believe Migrants Should Be Sent to Sanctuary Cities, Poll Finds

September 26, 2022September 25, 2022 Admin

The majority of Americans believe illegal immigrants should be sent to sanctuary cities, a new poll from Scott Rasmussen and RMG Research Inc found.

Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis sent 50 migrants last week to Martha’s Vineyard, which advertises itself as a sanctuary city for illegal immigrants, last week, sparking widespread backlash. The new poll suggests that ordinary Americans are actually supportive of the decision despite the media’s negative response.

Group Files Voter Roll Complaint About SOS Benson

September 26, 2022September 25, 2022 The Center Square

A complaint filed to the Michigan Board of Elections claims Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson violated the federal Help America Vote Act by outsourcing the managing of voter rolls to the Electronic Registration Information Center.

The conservative Thomas More Society filed the complaint on behalf of nonprofit Pure Integrity Michigan Elections.