Month: November 2022

Sen. Mike Lee’s Amendment to Safeguard Religious Liberty for Americans Who Hold to Traditional Marriage Fails By One Vote

Susan Berry, PhD

Senator Mike Lee’s (R-UT) religious liberty amendment to the Democrats’ same-sex marriage bill failed by just one vote, 48-49, an outcome that, if the legislation is signed into law, could give a green light to the federal government’s retaliation against nonprofit faith organizations, such as schools and businesses, whose religious beliefs are incompatible with gay marriage.

Senate Democrats voted Tuesday, 61-36, to codify same-sex marriage into federal law with the help of 12 Republicans, as the Senate Press Gallery noted.

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Thousands of Pedophiles Released from California Prisons After Less than a Year: Report

Michigan Star Staff

More than 7,000 pedophiles convicted of “lewd or lascivious acts with a child under 14 years of age” were released from California prisons the same year they were convicted, according to the Daily Mail.

The crimes included child rape, continuous sexual abuse of a child, sodomy with a child under 16 and kidnapping a child under 14 “with intent to commit lewd or lascivious acts,” according to the Daily Mail. The outlet analyzed data on thousands of convicts in California’s Megan’s Law database and found that individuals convicted of sexually abusing children were serving only months in jail or prison; Megan’s law requires that certain information about convicted sex offenders be made public.

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Maine Fisherman Rips Whole Foods for Ending Purchase of Lobsters: ‘We Have Done Our Due Diligence’

Susan Berry, PhD

Maine fisherman Jason Lorde joined a chorus of others who are denouncing a decision by upscale supermarket chain Whole Foods to stop purchasing Maine lobsters for its stores due to environmentalist pleas for the safety of the rare right whale, a move that affects the livelihood of hundreds of lobstermen.

The decision by Whole Foods has sparked outcry toward what many are describing as an example of environmental extremism.

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Michigan’s Underperforming Public Schools Require State-Mandated ‘Comprehensive Support’

The Center Square

Fifty-four Michigan school districts and 112 schools will receive required state partnership intervention, according to an announcement Tuesday from the Michigan Department of Education.

The department partners with districts with schools scoring in the bottom 5% on the state’s index accountability system, or that possess a four-year graduation rate below 67%, or that meet both criteria.

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Commentary: FTX and the Root of Our Financial Crisis

Michigan Star Staff

Both liberal and conservative commentators, whether talking about the Great Recession, the financial collapse and bailouts of recent vintage, or now the FTX cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme, have neglected the cultural and moral reasons for these repeated episodes of economic mess and criminality. Unless those causes are addressed, all the finger pointing and proposed “solutions” will be about as helpful as putting a bandage on a tumor. 

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Seattle Subjected White City Employee to ‘Racially Hostile Work Environment,’ Lawsuit Alleges

Michigan Star Staff

A former Seattle municipal employee filed a lawsuit against the City of Seattle earlier in November for allegedly creating a “racially hostile” working environment.

The plaintiff, Joshua Diemert, alleges that he was denied opportunities in his career in Seattle’s Human Services Department because of his race, forced to sit through race-based training sessions, urged to join “race-based affinity groups” and accused of benefiting from “white privilege.” Diemert seeks a declaration that Seattle’s policies and practices violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act as well as damages up to $300,000.

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Remote School Districts Saw Larger Enrollment Declines, Report Finds

Michigan Star Staff

School districts that stayed remote as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic saw larger drops in their enrollment compared to in-person school districts, according to a Monday report by the American Enterprise Institute (AEI).

During the 2021-2022 school year, remote learning school districts lost at least half a million more students than school districts that returned to in-person learning, according to a report by AEI. Remote school districts’ enrollment dropped 1.3% more than school districts that were in-person 90% of the year.

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Commentary: The Horrors of the Holodomor Must Not Be Forgotten

Michigan Star Staff

Maria Katchmar was 7 when the troops came to her farm. 

The soldiers entered her home in Cherkasy Oblast — a region of Ukraine along the Dnieper River — and immediately began to break everything. Windows and doors. Paintings and linens. Even pots for cooking. Her father was ordered to drown his livestock. When he refused, he was sent to Siberia — and the Soviet troops confiscated the animals anyway.

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Poll: Most Americans Trust Elections Less If Results Take ‘Days or Weeks’

Michigan Star Staff

Americans are less likely to trust the fairness and accuracy of an election if results take “days or weeks” to be counted, according to a new poll.

When asked if results that took “days or weeks” to tabulated were more or less trustworthy, 33.9% of respondents said that it is “much less likely,” and 20.9% said that it is “somewhat less likely,” according to the Trafalgar Group/Convention of States Action poll. Across party lines, 62.7% of Republicans, 27% of independents, and 10.4% of Democrats said that they were “much less likely” to trust results that took “days or weeks” to tabulate.

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Disney CEO Pledges to Double Down on LGBT ‘Storytelling’ in Animated Kids’ Movies

Michigan Star Staff

Bob Iger, the newly appointed CEO of Disney, pledged to double down on LGBT “storytelling” in the company’s animated kids’ movies during a Monday town hall with employees, according to The New York Times.

Iger served as CEO for 15 years before retiring in late 2020; he was brought back in about a year later after his successor, Bob Chapek, was fired, according to the NYT. Tumbling stock prices marked Chapek’s tenure as CEO, as did public outrage over the company’s political engagement in Florida and its alleged efforts to inject sexual content into children’s shows, particularly through gay and transgender characters.

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Twitter Quietly Stops Enforcing COVID-19 ‘Misleading Information’ Policy

Michigan Star Staff

Twitter has quietly halted enforcement of its COVID-19 misinformation policies, with Twitter users first discovering the change Monday night, according to CNN.

Twitter issued a variety of measures since the pandemic’s onset in 2020, including a policy that allowed users to report misinformation directly to Twitter to another taking action against tweets that alleged vaccinated individuals could still spread COVID-19. The policy, which has suspended more than 11,000 accounts and removed more than 90,000 pieces of content on the social media platform, was praised by U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy as a model for how other companies could combat misinformation, according to CNN.

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Walmart’s Walton Family Funds LGBT Events for Kids in Arkansas

Michigan Star Staff

Second- and third-generation heirs of Walmart founder Sam Walton’s fortune have funneled millions of dollars into LGBTQ-related causes in their home state of Arkansas.

Among other things, these Walton-funded groups and the Walmart Foundation have sponsored local drag shows and story hours for kids; “teens only” events for LGBTQ-identifying youth; and other progressive causes such as diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in public schools and the state university in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

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Senate Passes Respect for Marriage Act

Just the News

The Senate on Tuesday evening passed the Respect for Marriage Act to require that states recognize lawful marriages from other states while providing protections for religious liberty.

The bill passed with crossover support from Republicans, allowing it to clear the Senate’s 60-vote filibuster threshold. It will now move to the House of Representatives, which previously passed a similar package. The final count was 61-36.

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Senator Sounds Alarm for Same-Sex Marriage Bill as It Clears Another Hurdle with GOP Support, ‘Without Sufficient Protections for Religious Liberty’

Susan Berry, PhD

A bill that would enshrine same-sex marriage in federal law progressed further in the Senate Monday evening with significant Republican support, but without sufficient religious liberty protections, and is now headed to a vote on Tuesday.

The Senate voted, 61-35, with four senators not voting, to end debate on the House-passed bill, dubbed the Respect for Marriage Act (RFMA), that would repeal the Defense of Marriage Act which defined marriage in federal law as between one man and one woman.

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Transgender Psychologist: ‘Serious Error in Judgment’ for Schools to Hide Gender Transitions from Parents

Susan Berry, PhD

A transgender psychologist from Berkeley, California, has filed an amicus brief against a Maryland school district that allegedly hid children’s gender transitions from parents.

“It’s well established that one of the most important factors in helping gender-questioning children is family support,” the psychologist, who now uses the name Erica Anderson, Ph.D., told Fox News Digital. “So to deliberately deprive a child of support at a time potentially when they most need it is, I think, a serious error in judgment.”

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Over Half of America’s Top Medical Schools Now Teach Critical Race Theory

Admin

Many of America’s top medical schools have implemented Critical Race Theory (CRT) as a part of their mandatory programs, according to the Critical Race Training in Education database.

Approximately 58 of the top 100 medical schools ranked by the U.S. News & World report include CRT in their courses and student training, according to the Critical Race Training in Education database. Of the top schools, 46 provide students and staff with resources by Robin DiAngelo, the author of “Nice Racism,” a book about how progressive white people perpetuate racial harm, and Ibram X. Kendi, the author of several books on antiracism including “Stamped.”

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Large Number of Criminal Juveniles Entering U.S. Through DACA: Report

Admin

Democrats and immigration activists have long claimed that amnesty for illegal immigrants who came to the U.S. as children wouldn’t include young people with a criminal history, but many of the juvenile beneficiaries of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA) were affiliated with gangs and had arrest records when granted the program’s benefits, according to a new report.

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Mass General Brigham Speech Code Includes Blacklist on Care

Just the News

A wealthy Massachusetts healthcare system that went on a controversial advertising spree to justify its encroachment on cheaper hospitals is now sending patients a different message: Watch your language.

“Words or actions that are disrespectful, racist, discriminatory, hostile, or harassing are not welcome” at Mass General Brigham (MGB), according to a “Patient Code of Conduct” imposed this fall after a year of development.

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Commentary: The House GOP Majority Will Be at Least 221 Seats When All of the Counting is Done

Admin

There are just a few more results coming in from the 2022 Congressional midterms, and with just one more race to call — Republican John Duarte is narrowly leading Democrat Adam Gray by just 593 votes in California’s 13th Congressional District — House Republicans will take the gavel in the U.S. House of Representatives in January with either a 222 to 213 seat majority (nine seats) or a 221 to 214 seat majority (seven seats).

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Commentary: The Administrative State Can Put a Bug in Your Phone

Admin

n the age of cellphones and the internet, consumers often face a simple choice: convenience or privacy? Do we let Big Tech have access to our private communications and free email accounts because it’s so easy?

Once you’ve said yes — and who among us has not? — it’s not a stretch to think that Big Data already has almost all your information, so why get picky at the next juncture?

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National Science Foundation Gives Tens of Millions to Fight COVID ‘Disinformation,’ Populism

Just the News

Government efforts to squelch purported misinformation and disinformation on the most contested subjects in American politics don’t stop with Cabinet-level agencies.

The National Science Foundation has awarded at least $39 million in grants and contracts in fiscal years 2021 and 2022 for projects that target misinformation or disinformation, frequently pertaining to COVID-19 and elections.

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U.S. Bans Chinese Tech That Allegedly Lets China Spy on Military Sites

Admin

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on Friday announced a ban on new imports of Chinese-owned telecommunications equipment, including the equipment suspected of surveilling sensitive U.S. military sites.

The new rules, prohibiting U.S. sales and imports of equipment from companies including Huawei and ZTE, are the first to be implemented on the grounds they pose “unacceptable risk to national security,” FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr said Friday. U.S. authorities have expressed concerns that Beijing could exploit the companies’ telecommunications installations across the country to collect data from U.S. sites, including nuclear and military sites in the U.S.

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Lawsuit Moves Forward from Professor Fired for Gender Ideology Criticism

Admin

A federal lawsuit against the University of Louisville for the demotion and dismissal of a professor who questioned transgenderism moved forward.

Professor Allan Josephson’s attorneys with Alliance Defending Freedom argued his case the first week of November in the United States District Court for the Western District of Kentucky. The university dismissed him in 2019 after several years of controversy stemming from his participation at a Heritage Foundation event on transgenderism.

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Goldman Sachs Issues Stock Market Warning

Admin

U.S. investors are significantly underestimating the risk of a recession, potentially increasing the impact of a recession next year, economists at Goldman Sachs warned in a Monday research note, according to Bloomberg.

Researchers at Goldman estimate a 39 percent chance of a slowdown in U.S. growth, but risk assets only account for an 11 percent chance, Bloomberg reported. By underestimating the chance of a recession, investors are increasing their exposure to the effects of “recession scares” in 2023, the analysts warned.

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U.S. Senate to Vote on ‘Respect for Marriage Act’ as Several Groups Question its Constitutionality

The Center Square

Several groups argue the Respect for Marriage Act (ROMA) currently before the U.S. Senate is unconstitutional, and if enacted, will eventually be struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court.

The bill, HR 8404, was introduced in the House by U.S. Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-NY, on July 18 and passed by a vote of 267-157 the next day. The U.S. Senate took it up on November 14.

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Two Estonian Citizens Arrested for Alleged Involvement in $575 Million Cryptocurrency Fraud

Just the News

The Department of Justice announced on Monday that two Estonian citizens were arrested on Sunday in Tallinn, Estonia on an 18-count indictment for alleged involvement in a $575 million cryptocurrency fraud and money laundering conspiracy. 

The two men, Sergei Potapenko and Ivan Turõgin, both 37 years old, allegedly defrauded hundreds of thousands of people out of money by convincing victims to enter into fraudulent equipment rental contracts with the defendants’ cryptocurrency mining service called HashFlare.

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Report: 41 Percent of Small Businesses Can’t Pay Rent in November

The Center Square

More than 40% of U.S. small business owners say they couldn’t pay rent on time or in full for the month of November, the highest this year.

The small business network group Alignable released the survey, which found that the hardship varies by industry. A notable 57% of beauty salons said they couldn’t make rent as well as 45% of gyms, 44% of retail and 44% of restaurants.

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Labor Department Approves Investing Pensions in ‘Woke’ ESG-Only Funds

Just the News

The U.S. Labor Department announced plans to allow pension fund managers to “consider climate change and other environmental, social and governance factors,” also known as ESG, when choosing investments. 

In an announcement about the final rule last week, the agency criticized the Trump administration, stating, “the department concluded that two rules issued in 2020 … unnecessarily restrained plan fiduciaries’ ability to weigh environmental, social and governance factors when choosing investments, even when those factors would benefit plan participants financially.”

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Commentary: Congress Needs to Investigate Whitmer Kidnapping Hoax

Admin

A federal judge next month is scheduled to sentence two men convicted of conspiring to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer from her lakeside cottage in the fall of 2020. Adam Fox, the alleged ringleader, and Barry Croft, Jr. face years in prison.

During the first trial in April, Fox and Croft received a hung jury while two co-defendants were acquitted on all charges based on extensive evidence of FBI entrapment. A jury found Fox and Croft guilty after a second trial in August thanks to the same judge putting his thumb—body?—on the scale in favor of the government.

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More than a Half-Million Dollars Set for ‘Equity Consulting,’ as well as Vaping and Motion Detectors Removed from Michigan Schools’ COVID Spending

The Center Square

Nineteen vape detectors, $550,000 in equity coaching, motion sensors, and metal detectors are some items deleted from Michigan schools’ initial COVID spending plans.

The Center Square discovered the removed spending by filing more than 100 records requests to school districts statewide in an attempt to learn how schools plan to spend more than $6 billion in recovery pandemic funds. 

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Commentary: Predictably, the Republicans Form Their Circular Firing Squad

Admin

With the disappointing midterms, Republicans have lost a major battle in the fight to restore American greatness. We are now rapidly approaching the final standoff between the flailing Republican Party and the reenergized Democratic Party. The Democrats survived what should have been a political bloodbath in 2022, and the Right seems to be in the most vulnerable position since the 1960s, when Republicans were essentially a permanent minority in Washington.

It could happen again. Whether the GOP returns to minority status in two years will depend on the party determines who will be its nominee in the next presidential election. While many on the Right assume it will be Donald J. Trump, there are other candidates in the offing.

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Commentary: Mob Rule and the Death of Trust

Admin

It’s been clear to millions of Americans for decades that the media was biased, that the Democratic Party and their government employee union allies controlled and corrupted big city elections, and that the “climate crises” and the threat of “white supremacy” were being oversold. These and other annoyances were perennial. But for many skeptics, the level of mistrust remained tolerable. The system itself was resilient. Nothing is perfect. The tide can turn. The good guys could still win. The 2015 arrival of Donald Trump on the national political scene changed the rules. The system not only revealed itself to be even more fraudulent than most people had previously believed, but it became malevolent.

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Farmers Can Expect High Interest Rates and Higher Costs Next Year

The Center Square

Farmers borrow short term money up front every year to pay for inputs and operating expenses. At harvest time when they sell their crops, they pay back their operating notes.

For the first time in 20 years, fast-rising interest rates have doubled the cost of short term operating notes, an impact a lot of farmers have never seen before.

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Chinese Drone Threat Raises Foreign Espionage Concerns Among U.S. Officials

Just the News

Enough Chinese-made recreational drones have been spotted in restricted airspace in the Washington, D.C. area to raise foreign espionage concerns among U.S. government agencies and lawmakers alike.

The drones, which are manufactured by DJI and sold at major retailers, can be altered by users to override the geofencing limitations that prevent the devices from flying over sensitive locations. 

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Commentary: Large Racial Reading and Math Performance Gaps Persist as Children Age

RealClearWire

The dominant response to the recently-released NAEP Report Card on 4th and 8th grade proficiency scores has been to focus on the adverse effects of school closures: declining competencies, particularly for the lowest performing students. What is buried in the report is the continued alarmingly low black student scores on both reading and math sections and their inability to close the racial gap as they move from the 4th to 8th grade.

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Medical Schools Are Offering ‘Incentives’ for Departments That Hit Diversity Targets: Report

Admin

More than a third of medical schools are offering incentives to departments to hit their diversity targets, according to a November report from the American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC).

Of the 101 medical schools surveyed, 35.6% offered performance incentives to reach their diversity, inclusion and equity goals, according to the report. The survey revealed widespread adoption of diversity-oriented initiatives in medical schools nationwide, including mandatory diversity classes, assessment of staff members’ “contributions” to diversity goals and campus-wide climate assessments.

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Agricultural Groups, Lawmakers Want to Pass Bill That Tries to Give Pathway to Citizenship for 1 Million Illegal Farmworkers in U.S.

Michigan Star Staff

Lawmakers and agricultural groups are racing to pass a bill that would alter the number and length of farmworker visas before the newly-elected GOP majority takes control of the House in January, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday. 

The House bill would create 20,000 three-year H-2A visas permitting year-round work, and provide a path to citizenship for approximately one million farmworkers currently living in the U.S. illegally, according to the WSJ. Currently, H-2A visas only allow workers to remain in the country for up to 10 months, which has caused issues for some farms, such as dairy farms, that require workers year-round.

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Michigan Health Officials Update RSV Infections

The Center Square

Respiratory syncytial virus cases in Michigan may have peaked, according to state health experts.

However, they also warn hospitals continue to experience pediatric bed shortages and advise parents to seek initial care for their children at urgent care facilities or primary care doctors before resorting to emergency room visits.

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Newly Elected Catholic Bishops’ Conference President: Link Between Homosexuality and Sexual Abuse Crisis ‘Can’t Be Denied’

Susan Berry, PhD

The newly elected head of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) said last week following his election he maintains the assertion that a relationship exists between the clergy sex abuse scandal and homosexual priests ordained in the Church.

Archbishop Timothy Broglio, the Archbishop of the Military Services, said in a press conference he continues to stand by his 2018 statement in which he stated the issue of homosexual priests is “certainly an aspect of the sexual crisis that can’t be denied,” LifeSiteNews reported.

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Commentary: Governors Conference Shows GOP May Not Have Learned Anything from Midterms

Michigan Star Staff

In terms of sheer numbers, Republicans did the worst in governorships among all the electoral positions up for grabs this year. Republicans did make gains, although modest, in the House. In the Senate, Republicans will either have a net gain of zero or be down one seat, depending on how the Georgia runoff goes in December. But Republicans lost a net of two gubernatorial seats. While former President Donald Trump, the Republican National Committee, Senate Republicans, and House Republicans have faced a lot of scrutiny for their poor showing, the Republican Governors Association has avoided this scrutiny. The lack of humility at the Republican Governors Association’s latest meeting presents an ominous sign on whether Republicans will learn from their mistakes in 2022.

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Analysis: Trump Prevailed over Biden in Security Debate over Chinese Social App

Just the News

Call it the tale of two TikTok presidents. In familiar fashion, Donald Trump was originally ridiculed as president when he suggested the Chinese-owned TikTok social video app was a national security risk, only now to be validated two years later by the intelligence community.

Meanwhile, Joe Biden vowed to always heed the intelligence community, only to stray by promoting TikTok during the midterms as a political strategy and allowing his administration to bring some TikTok workers to the United States on special immigrant visas.

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Biden Admin to Give Chevron Oil Pumping License in Venezuela: Report

Michigan Star Staff

The Biden administration is set to give Chevron Corp. a license to pump oil in Venezuela, according to The Wall Street Journal.

As part of the deal, Chevron would retain partial control of both production and maintenance for a select set of run-down oil fields it previously had stakes in with Petróleos de Venezuela SA, a state-run oil company in Venezuela, according to the WSJ, citing people familiar with the matter. The deal, which is contingent on certain debts being repaid, would also mean President Joe Biden is continuing to move away from sanctioning the socialist regime.

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Border Patrol Sees Surge in Suicides as Morale Plummets

Michigan Star Staff

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has seen four personnel die by suicide in the last two weeks, National Border Patrol Council Vice President At-Large Sergio Moreno, who is part of the agency’s National Suicide Prevention Workforce, revealed to the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Three Border Patrol agents died by suicide in the two week period, the first two in the Rio Grande Valley sector, the third in the El Paso sector on Sunday and the fourth, a CBP officer, also on Sunday, Moreno told the DCNF. The surge in suicides comes as CBP personnel experience low morale amid record illegal migration ushered in by several Biden administration border and immigration policies.

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40 Suspects on FBI’s Terror Watchlist Arrested at the Border in October

Michigan Star Staff

The month of October alone saw the arrest of 40 different suspects on the FBI’s terror watchlist as they attempted to cross the border into the United States.

According to the New York Post, nine individuals were arrested attempting to sneak across the border, while another 31 were stopped by authorities at various ports of entry, and were subsequently arrested upon identification. Of the 31 who attempted to enter legally, 25 tried to come across the Canadian border while six tried to cross the southern border.

The terror watchlist was first established by the FBI after the 9/11 attacks, initially consisting of known terrorists who are not American citizens, but later expanded to include potential threats and associates of known threats. The actual list of names is kept secret for security purposes.

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Commentary: Climate Alarmists Have Set Their Sights on People’s Dogs

Michigan Star Staff

Even man’s best friend is not safe from the climate alarmism.

Not if you believe a recent CNN column opining that dogs, cats and other domestic pets are causing irreparable harm to the climate. President Harry Truman famously said that if you want a friend in Washington, you should get a dog. The eco-left feels differently.

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Democrats Face Tough Odds of Passing Immigration Bill Before 2023

Michigan Star Staff

As the lame-duck session of Congress draws closer to its end, Democrats attempting to pass a mass amnesty bill have come to realize that most Republican senators have no interest in voting in favor of any such bill.

According to Politico, Democrats are intent on passing some form of amnesty for the millions of illegal aliens who were brought into the country as children, colloquially referred to as “Dreamers.” The name stems from a failed amnesty bill passed by the U.S. Senate in 2013 called the “DREAM Act,” which then failed to pass the GOP-controlled House of Representatives. Then-President Barack Obama then decided to circumvent Congress by implementing much of the proposed bill as an executive order, which has since faced numerous legal challenges due to its unconstitutional nature.

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As White House Drains Oil Reserve to Near-40-Year Lows, Biden Asks for $500 Million to Modernize System

Just the News

The Biden administration is asking Congress for hundreds of millions of dollars in an effort to shore up and modernize parts of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve system, a request that comes after the White House has spent months aggressively draining the levels of fuel from the system itself. 

The request, a rider attached to the White House’s $38 billion Ukrainian funding package,  would “provide the Department of Energy, Energy Security and Infrastructure Modernization Fund account $500 million for modernization activities of the four Strategic Petroleum Reserve sites,” the White House said in the letter.

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