Day: October 13, 2022

‘Guns Pointed at Me’: FBI Arrests Father of 11 in Front of His Children for Pro-Life Work

Michigan Star Staff

The Federal Bureau of Investigation this week arrested a pro-life father of 11 children, charging him with “conspiracy against rights secured by the FACE Act, and committing FACE Act violations.”

Paul Vaughn of Centerville, Tennessee, told The Daily Signal in a Friday phone interview that FBI came to the door of his home, “guns pointed at the door, banging on the house, yelling and screaming, ‘Open up. FBI,’ that kind of thing. When I opened the door and saw the guns pointed at me, I asked them what they wanted, who they were looking for, and they said they wanted me.”

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Commentary: California Is Evading Fiscal Transparency

RealClearWire

California may have one of the largest economies in the world, but when it comes to keeping tabs on its own spending it’s dead last among the states. For years, all 49 other states have been able to answer a single public records request and show us where they spent taxpayer money – every check to every company, nonprofit, union or other entity.

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FBI to Investigate ‘Hate Speech’ Attack on School That Banned Girls from Their Own Locker Room

Michigan Star Staff

The FBI is helping investigate an anti-LGBTQ hate speech attack that occurred on a Vermont school district’s website, according to a Tuesday statement by the superintendent.

The Orange Southwest School District’s website is currently disabled following an Oct. 1 attack to its website which included “hate speech, symbols, and photographs targeting transgender individuals,” according to the VT Digger. The FBI is working to investigate the attack, according to a statement by the superintendent Layne Millington.

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Obama’s ‘Democracy Forum’ Promotes Director of ‘Zuckerbucks’ Organization That Poured Millions into 2020 Election

Michigan Star Staff

Former President Barack Obama’s foundation is set to host a forum in November on dangers to democratic institutions that promotes the executive director of a non-profit that spent millions in “Zuckerbucks” funding election offices in the 2020 election.

Obama on Monday announced the Obama Foundation would host the “Democracy Forum,” an event focused on safeguarding democracy from various challenges set to include “pro-democracy thinkers, leaders, and activists,” in November. The forum, held in partnership with Columbia University and the University of Chicago, names as a “leader” Tiana Epps-Johnson, founder and executive director of the Center for Technology and Civic Life (CTCL), which distributed nearly $350 million in grants to election offices in the 2020 election thanks in large part to donations from an initiative backed by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

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Pfizer Executive Admits COVID Vaccine Was Never Tested for Blocking Transmission of Virus

Susan Berry, PhD

A top Pfizer international executive admitted to a European Parliament committee Tuesday that the pharmaceutical giant did not test its COVID mRNA shot for whether it could prevent transmission of the virus before it was placed on the market and then mandated in many parts of society throughout the world.

Rob Roos, a member of the European Parliament from the Netherlands, tweeted a video of his exchange with Janine Small, president of international developed markets at Pfizer.

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Teachers’ Union Boss Backs GOP Sen. John Cornyn’s Controversial ‘Civics’ Bill

Susan Berry, PhD

American Federation of Teachers (AFT) President Randi Weingarten announced her endorsement of a federal “civics education” bill sponsored by Senator John Cornyn (R-TX), one that the National Association of Scholars (NAS) observed “is more an attempt to smuggle activist training into American K-12 classrooms than it is a good-faith effort to improve civic literacy.”

Weingarten began her column at Newsweek last week with a call for renewed civics education that is all entangled with her view that Donald Trump “and his cronies ran roughshod over the principles most of us learned in grade school.”

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Michigan Governor, Health Department Silent on $50 Million Request, Abortion

The Center Square

A request for $50 million in Michigan taxpayer funding of family planning services is as notable for what it does not say as what it does.

Abortion services were not included by name, and an emailed request for clarification from The Center Square to those making the announcement – Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services Director Elizabeth Hertel – was unsuccessful.

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Duke Spirits Launches The Masters Music Series

Bethany Bowman

NASHVILLE, Tennessee — Launched on October 7, Duke Spirits teamed with a talented group of artists for its latest project, The Masters Music Series.  Hosted by Runaway June’s Jennifer Wayne, The Masters Music Series is a live performance video series that unites an accomplished group of musicians and writers, showcasing and supporting both emerging and established artists through various programs and initiatives. The series will release two videos each week on Duke Spirits’ YouTube channel.

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Rail Workers Reject New Contracts, Reviving Strike Fears After Biden Took Credit for Ending Dispute

Just the News

A major rail-worker union having rejected a Biden administration-backed labor contract has reignited concerns about a strike that could worsen the county’s ongoing supply chain issues and fuel inflation that has already reached record highs, in part over a scarcity of goods. 

The Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees Division of the Teamsters on Monday rejected the tentative contract in large part over a lack of paid sick days, union President Tony Cardell said.

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Commentary: Republicans Can Earn National Supermajority Status

Michigan Star Staff

If you want to reduce crime, bring back affordable energy, get America’s southern border under control, and once again teach children academic fundamentals in the public schools instead of brainwashing them with politicized garbage, you might support Republicans merely because they aren’t Democrats.

This isn’t a bad argument, but it isn’t enough to turn the tide.

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Durham Shows Jurors Emails to Prove Danchencko Concealed, Lied to FBI About Steele Dossier Sources

Michigan Star Staff

In the opening of the second day of Special Counsel John Durham’s case against Russia intelligence expert Igor Danchencko, Durham walked jurors through a series of emails to bolster his case that Danchenko lied to the FBI about gathering information in the agency’s 2016 Russia collusion probe.

Danchenko faces five counts for allegedly lying to the FBI about his role in gathering information about then-GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump during his 2016 White House bid, as part of a federal investigation into alleged collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign.

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Biden’s Labor Department Is Planning to Shake Up a Key Rule for Gig Workers

Michigan Star Staff

The Department of Labor on Tuesday announced a proposed change to rules governing independent contractors that could re-classify millions of gig workers as full employees, dramatically increasing their chances to obtain certain benefits.

The Labor Department repeatedly characterized the move as a way to reduce “misclassification” of workers who deserved to be counted as employees in a document explaining the rule change. If the new rule is approved, millions of workers that do not currently qualify for minimum wage, overtime, Social Security contributions and other benefits, could see their standing reconsidered, according to The New York Times.

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Key Inflation Metric Doubles Expectations with Core Prices Still High

Michigan Star Staff

Wholesale inflation exceeded economists’ expectations year-over-year in September, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) Producer Price Index (PPI), with core prices staying high despite efforts from the Federal Reserve to rein in inflation.

The index increased 0.4% for the month, while the Dow Jones had only estimated a 0.2% gain; prices rose 8.5% year-on-year for final demand goods and services, down from 8.7% in August but higher than expectations of an 8.4% increase, according to the BLS. Final demand prices not including food and energy, or “core” prices, rose 7.2% year-on-year in September.

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