Month: December 2022

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem’s Health Department Fires Transgender Group Ahead of ‘Gender Summit’

Admin

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, a Republican, directed her state Department of Health to terminate a contract with The Transformation Project, a transgender activist group that is hosting a “Gender Identity Summit” next month, after The Daily Signal drew the governor’s attention to the summit and the group.

“Gov. Kristi Noem is reviewing all Department of Health contracts and immediately terminated a contract with The Transformation Project,” Ian Fury, Noem’s chief of communications, told The Daily Signal on Friday. “The contract was signed without Gov. Noem’s prior knowledge or approval.”

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Auburn Bans TikTok from University Devices, WiFi

Admin

Days after Gov. Kay Ivey issued a memo banning TikTok from government devices, Auburn University announced its plans to prohibit the app as well.

On Wednesday, Auburn’s IT department sent out a notice saying the popular video-sharing app would be banned on campus WiFi and devices, according to AL.com. The IT department on Thursday tweeted a link to the new policy. However, that tweet has since been removed, and the school’s IT page posted an update Saturday saying, “Auburn is monitoring the developments related to accessing TikTok and will provide information as we receive it. Check back later for more information.”

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‘Take Aim:’ Adam Schiff Threatens Big Tech Unless They Censor More Content

Admin

Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff of California said Sunday that Section 230 protections should be repealed if tech companies do not do more to combat “hate and loathing” on their platforms.

“I’m particularly concerned about the practice some of the large tech companies have of, whenever there is a budding, promising new entrant into the market, they buy them out because they don’t necessarily want to develop that product line themself, but they don’t want the competition,” Schiff told CNN host Jake Tapper on State of the Union. “We should absolutely take aim at that and other anti-competitive actions of Big Tech, and I think we’ve got a big problem right now with social media companies and their failure to moderate content and the explosion of hate on Twitter, the banning of journalists on Twitter.”

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‘Laicized’ Pro-Life Priest Father Frank Pavone: Pope Francis ‘Definitely Signed Off on This’

Susan Berry, PhD

Prominent international pro-life leader Father Frank Pavone said Monday Pope Francis “definitely signed off” on a letter that reportedly states the Vatican has laicized Pavone, for “blasphemous communications on social media” and “persistent disobedience of the lawful instructions of his diocesan bishop.”

“I have received nothing,” Pavone, the national director of Priests for Life, told The Star News Network during a telephone interview Monday. “And what’s worse, that has been the pattern for the last 20 years of abuse by church authorities.”

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New York Appeals Court Rules Yeshiva University Must Recognize LGBTQ Student Group

Admin

A New York Appeals Court ruled on Thursday that Yeshiva University must recognize the LGBTQ student group, YU Pride Alliance.

The Supreme Court ruled in September that it did not have jurisdiction to issue a decision regarding the case without it first going through the state courts. The appeals court’s most recent decision upheld an earlier ruling in June that required the Jewish university to immediately recognize the YU Pride Alliance.

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Four Republican Senators Who Voted Against Reinstating Troops Who Refused the Vaccine

Michigan Star Staff

Four Republican senators joined Democrats in shooting down an amendment to a massive defense authorization package that would have reinstated troops discharged for refusing to take the COVID-19 vaccine.

The 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) passed the Senate 83-11 Thursday night, and along with it a provision overturning the Biden administration’s service-wide vaccine requirement. Republican Senators Mitt Romney of Utah, Susan Collins of Maine, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and Mike Rounds of South Dakota voted no on a last-minute amendment to the bill re-enlisting thousands of troops separated for refusing the vaccine mandate, collapsing the proposal 54 to 40.

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The Biden Admin Overestimated Recent Job Growth by over 10,000 Percent: Report

Michigan Star Staff

The Bureau of Labor Statistics overestimated the number of jobs added nationwide from March through June by roughly 10,600%, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia reported Tuesday.

The U.S. added just 10,500 net new jobs in the second quarter of 2022, a far cry from the 1,121,500 estimated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) monthly report on state-level data known as the Current Employment Situation (CES), according to the Philadelphia Fed. By using more comprehensive data from the BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW), which samples roughly 11 million businesses compared to the 670,000 measured by the monthly CES, the Philadelphia Fed is able to make revisions to initial employment estimates, the regional bank reported.

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Michigan Senator Received $55,600 from FTX Employees Before Leading Crypto Bill

The Center Square

U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-MI, received at least $55,600 in donations this year from employees of FTX, a cryptocurrency exchange platform that declared bankruptcy after allegedly misusing client funds.

Then, Stabenow, who as Agriculture Committee Chairwoman oversees the Commodities Future Trading Commission, a cryptocurrency regulator, sponsored legislation to regulate cryptocurrency.

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Commentary: The Bad Faith Arguments Against Marriage Defenders

Michigan Star Staff

It would be an interesting investigation to reverse the names of every major bill passed by Congress and signed into law by the president, and then see whether that does not better describe the result of the law, if not the intent of the lawmakers. Names, in our day, are advertisements, and advertisements, as we well know, appeal very rarely and only glancingly to reason, but mainly to passions, and among those usually to the most powerful prompts to hasty action, such as lust, fear, avarice, and vanity.

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Mortgage Rates Drop for Fifth Straight Week, Still More than Double from Year Ago

Just the News

Mortgage rates continued a slow but steady decline over the past week, suggesting a small but notable reversal from the meteoric rise they underwent over the past year. 

Thirty-year fixed mortgage rates “averaged 6.31 percent as of December 15, 2022, down from last week when it averaged 6.33 percent,” Freddie Mac said in its weekly rate update on Thursday.

Fifteen-year rates, meanwhile, averaged 5.54%, down from 5.67% last week.

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Baker to Transition from Massachusetts Governor to NCAA President

The Center Square

Outgoing Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker has already found a landing spot for his post-political career.

The second-term Republican governor has been named as the next president of the National Collegiate Athletics Association, the organization said. Baker, who played basketball at Harvard University, will take the reins in March from Dr. Mark Emmert. Emmert will serve as a consultant to the organization through June.

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Commentary: Nicaragua’s Brutal Catholic Crackdown

RealClearWire

For millions of Christians around the world, the official religious Christmas season kicked off this week with a renewed sense of normalcy – an abundance of colorful lights, parades and processions, family and church gatherings, and even fireworks in some areas.

Many believers in countries where Christians are religious minorities such as China and India are embracing the festivities with new enthusiasm. Early December marks the first time annual public and private advent gatherings have been allowed since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Texas Nurse Sues Veteran Affairs over New Federally Funded Abortion Policy

The Center Square

A health care worker has filed suit against the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs saying the federal agency has not allowed her a religious accommodation to avoid participating in the agency’s new federally funded abortion plan.

First Liberty Institute filed a lawsuit on behalf of Stephanie Carter, a nurse practitioner at the Olin E. Teague Veterans’ Center in Temple, Texas. She’s worked for the VA for 23 years.

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Judge Blocks Biden Admin’s Push to Scrap Trump-Era Border Policy

Michigan Star Staff

A federal judge in Texas blocked the Biden administration from scrapping the Trump-era “Remain in Mexico” policy Thursday.

U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk issued a pause on the Biden administration’s decision to end the program, according to the judge’s order. The policy forces certain illegal immigrants to return to Mexico as they await court proceedings.

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Baylor Pediatrics Professor Who Is a Fauci Disciple Rips Medical Freedom Movement as ‘Anti-Science Aggression’ and ‘Major Killing Force’

Susan Berry, PhD

A fervid follower of retiring Dr. Anthony Fauci said the global medical freedom movement should be called “anti-science aggression” because it has become a “major killing force … linked to far extremism on the far right” and has led to the deaths of 200,000 Americans “who needlessly lost their lives because they refused a COVID vaccine.”

In a political rant against those who have exposed the collusion between the federal government, and the giants of technology and the pharmaceutical industry in promoting the mRNA COVID shots, Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine and Professor of Pediatrics and Molecular Virology at Baylor College of Medicine, posted a video message to Twitter that was retweeted by the World Health Organization (WHO).

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Kentucky Supreme Court’s Ruling Dismantles State’s School Choice Program

Michigan Star Staff

The Kentucky Supreme Court unanimously ruled on Thursday against the state’s school choice program created in 2021.

The Education Opportunity Accounts (EOA) Act created a privately funded needs-based assistance program for those seeking a private education. Those who donated to the program received a nearly “dollar-for-dollar” tax credit which the court ruled violated Kentucky’s Constitution which prohibits the collecting of a “sum” for “education other than in common schools.”

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FBI Sued for Suspending Analyst, Military Vet for Espousing ‘Conspiratorial’ January 6 Views

Just the News

The government watchdog group Judicial Watch has filed a lawsuit against the FBI for having put on administrative leave an analyst for espousing “conspiratorial views” that suggest support for the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

The suit was filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina on behalf of FBI analyst Marcus Allen. 

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Worldwide Coal Use Set to Hit an All-Time High Due to Energy Crisis

Michigan Star Staff

Global coal consumption will reach an all-time record by the end of 2022 as shortages of natural gas have driven up energy prices, forcing countries to burn more coal, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).

The international community is set to use over 8 billion tons of coal in 2022, representing a 1.2% increase in coal consumption compared to 2021, as countries began using coal as a cheaper alternative to natural gas after prices spikedfollowing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to the IEA’s annual coal report which was released Friday. The agency predicts that coal consumption will hover around such levels until 2025 as although coal demand could fall in the West, it remains high in developing Asian nations like China and India.

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Michigan Businesses Worry About Dropping Labor Force

The Center Square

The lifeblood of Michigan’s economy – workers – fell to a record low as COVID-19 continued to disrupt the workforce.

Michigan’s labor force participation rate – the proportion of working-age people working or actively looking for work – fell to a record low rate in 2020 and has slightly rebounded, according to St. Louis Federal Reserve data.

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Commentary: Biden-Created Border Crisis About to Get Whole Lot Worse

Michigan Star Staff

One of the last serious border enforcement policies left under the Biden administration is just days away from being removed. 

If it can be believed, things look to become much worse at the southern border, where tens of thousands of illegal immigrants and asylum-seekers are currently gathering.

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Anti-Abortion Group Seeks Total Ban in 2023 Alabama Legislative Session

Michigan Star Staff

Abortion may seem like an issue of the past for many in the state, but some are making its complete abolition a priority in the 2023 legislative session. 

End Abortion Alabama (EAA) is an abortion abolitionist organization that seeks an uncompromising end to abortion, a distinction they believe sets them apart from the majority of pro-life organizations.

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Small Businesses Report Hardship Due to Inflation This Christmas Season

The Center Square

Small businesses around the country still see inflation as a top concern this Christmas season.

Goldman Sachs released survey data that found that 52% of surveyed small business owners say that their profitability “has not met expectations. Even while an overwhelming 79% have increased prices compared to last year.”

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U.S. House Passes Bill Calling for Referendum on Puerto Rico’s Political Status

ADN America

The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday passed a bill allowing a referendum in Puerto Rico to decide the future of the territory. 

The referendum would allow Puerto Rican voters to choose between three options: becoming an independent nation, becoming a state, or becoming a sovereignty with a formal U.S. association. The options do not include Puerto Rico’s current status as a territory. 

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Newest ‘Twitter Files’ Release Reveals Platform’s ‘Constant and Pervasive’ Dealings with FBI

Just the News

The latest “Twitter Files” release, on Friday evening, details the social media platform’s relationship with the FBI and outlined communications between the federal agency seeking takedowns of select posts.

The most recent release is from independent journalist Matt Taibbi, one of several individuals to whom new Twitter CEO Elon Musk has granted access to the company’s internal communications in a bid to highlight the prior management’s efforts to stifle posts that didn’t agree with their world view.

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Pete Buttigieg Vacationed in Europe amid Rail Strike Crisis

Michigan Star Staff

While the country was facing a possible supply chain crisis due to the looming threat of a massive rail strike earlier this year, Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg was vacationing in Portugal.

According to the Washington Free Beacon, Buttigieg was in Porto, Portugal in September, a tourist destination over 3,500 miles away from Washington, D.C., that is best known for its wineries. He began his vacation on August 29th, just one week before Amtrak started canceling long-distance trips ahead of a likely strike due to failed attempts to negotiate a deal that satisfied the rail workers’ unions.

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House Republicans Launch Investigation into COVID-19 Origins, Demand Answers from 40 Officials

Michigan Star Staff

The soon-to-be chairmen of the House Oversight and Reform and Judiciary committees announced on Wednesday that they are launching an investigation into the origins of  COVID-19, and will be requesting transcribed interviews with 40 individuals.

Oversight and Reform Ranking Member James Comer (R-Ky.) and Judiciary Ranking Member Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) said they will be pressing senior Biden administration officials; Dr. Peter Daszak, the president of EcoHealth Alliance; and several virologists for information pertinent to their investigation.

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Zuckerbucks-Backed Group Back in Wisconsin

Michigan Star Staff

The liberal voting activist group that dumped $350 million of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s money on local election offices during the 2020 presidential election is back again with another $80 million to give over the next five years.

And Wisconsin once again will be front and center in the Center for Tech and Civic Life’s “generosity.”

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Three Men Sentenced to Prison for Gov. Whitmer Kidnapping Plot

Just the News

Three people, including a man and his son-in-law, were sentenced to prison Thursday for assisting the leader of a plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in 2020. 

Pete Musico received a minimum sentence of 12 years in prison while his son-in-law Joe Morrison was sentenced to 10 years, The Associated Press reported. A third person, Paul Bellar, received seven years behind bars during the sentencing hearing for all three men in Jackson County, Michigan.

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Commentary: Changing the Language of Immigration Matters

Michigan Star Staff

In the last few years, federal, state, and local governments have labored to remove the term “illegal alien” from official documents and replace it with “undocumented noncitizen.” At a time of great instability in our nation, this may seem to rational people like fiddling while Rome burns. It is actually a strategic move to further diminish our border security and bring even more chaos to America.

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Commentary: All State GOPs Should Call for Ronna McDaniel to Withdraw

Michigan Star Staff

The accounts I have read about the race for Republican National Committee chair make it sound as if Ronna McDaniel is sure to win another term as leader of the GOP. These articles imply that her flunkies at the RNC will round up the votes necessary to guarantee her victory. I have no reason to question that assumption. But I wonder if state GOPs across the country, following the lead of their brethren in Arizona and Texas, could force McDaniel out of the race before that vote. After all, can she really lead the party if Republicans across the country have repudiated her leadership?

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Twitter Changes Rule on Location Sharing After Musk Says Car Carrying His Child Was Followed

Just the News

Twitter CEO Elon Musk changed the social media platform’s rules on live location tracking after what he described as a “crazy stalker” followed a car carrying his child and “climbed” onto the vehicle.

In making the change, Musk also said Wednesday that “legal action is being taken” against Jack Sweeney, the man behind the account using publicly available data to track the location of the Tesla CEO’s private jet, following the attack on his 2-year-old child, X Æ A-Xii Musk.

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Commentary: ESG and the Clash of Values

RealClearWire
New York Stock Exchange

In the third of his four part review of Terrence Keeley’s Sustainable, Rupert Darwall writes that ESG rests on a vision of the free-market economy that says capitalism needs to be led by people with the right values, which raises the question: Whose values? This makes ESG inherently divisive, explaining the pushback ESG is now generating in red states. Keeley proposes a solution in keeping with the pluralism and diversity of modern America.

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Commentary: ESG and the Perpetually Just-Over the Horizon Climate Apocalypse

RealClearWire

Concern about catastrophic climate change has been the biggest factor driving ESG, yet the likelihood of climate change being catastrophic and the attainment of net zero are not open to debate or challenge by participants in financial markets. In the last of his four part review of Terrence Keeley’s Sustainable, Rupert Darwall argues that this undermines the function of financial markets as efficient, unsentimental allocators of people’s savings in a way that maximizes growth and economic well-being.

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CDC Quietly Scrubbed Key Firearm Stats After Pressure from Gun Control Activists, Emails Show

Michigan Star Staff

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) quietly removed a range of gun statistics from its website after gun control advocates complained that the statistics made gun control laws harder to pass, according to emails between CDC officials and gun control activists.

Over a three-month period, gun control advocates met with CDC officials about its estimate of defensive gun uses per year, which ranged from 60,000 to 2.5 million based on a review of various studies, according to the emails. The advocates argued that the 2.5 million statistic, found in a study by criminologist Gary Kleck, was misleading, incorrect and made it harder to pass gun control laws, spurring the CDC’s decision to remove the statistics from its website.

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Trump Reveals ‘Digital Trading Card Collection’ Featuring Art from His Life, Career

Just the News

Former President Donald Trump on Thursday announced the rollout of a digital trading card line featuring fantastical artwork depicting his “life and career,” a collection the Republican president predicted would sell out “very quickly.”

Trump had earlier in the week teased the announcement, which he rolled out on Thursday morning via his social networking site Truth Social. 

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Federal Reserve Raises Rates by Half Percentage Point, Signaling Slowing of Rate Hikes

Just the News

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday announced a reduced but still notable hike in U.S. interest rates, with the central bank moving to hike rates by half a percentage point as part of its ongoing efforts to tamp down inflation.

The hike, which comprises 50 basis points, is less than the three-quarter-point hikes the bank has enacted every month for the last several months, though it still represents a significant raise at a time when the economy remains fragile after years of turmoil and unertainty.

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Religious Liberty Christian Group: Same-Sex Marriage Bill Will ‘Create Perfect Scenario’ for Supreme Court to Overturn Obergefell Ruling

Susan Berry, PhD

President Joe Biden signed the Democrats’ same-sex marriage bill amid fanfare and celebration, but an attorney-led Christian ministry that says it won nearly 50 cases defending marriage as between one man and one woman before the Obergefell decision asserts the passage of the legislation can now “actually create the perfect scenario to overturn” the Supreme Court’s 2015 5-4 ruling.

Biden signed the Respect for Marriage Act (RFMA) Tuesday.

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Biden Admin Weighs Asylum Ban in Preparation for Flood of Illegal Immigrants: Report

Michigan Star Staff
Migrants detained by CBP

The Biden administration is considering imposing a roughly five-month asylum ban to curb illegal immigration ahead of an expected surge in migrants crossing the border, Axios reported Tuesday.

The proposal, which applies to families and single adults, would only grant asylum eligibility to those who applied for legal entry into the US, first sought protection in a country on the way to the U.S., scheduled a meeting with border authorities at a port of entry or have dire circumstances, according to Axios. The Biden administration is considering the plan amid a record influx of illegal immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border, where federal authorities encountered more than 2.3 million migrants in fiscal year 2022, and ahead of the expected end of Title 42, a major border expulsion policy.

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Report: Largest Illegal Alien Caravan Yet Crosses the Border into El Paso

Michigan Star Staff

On Sunday, a new caravan of illegal aliens that might be the largest in modern history crossed the Rio Grande River from Mexico into El Paso, Texas.

According to the Washington Free Beacon, the caravan of over 1,000 illegals crossed the river into the United states with the assistance of Mexican police; images from the scene showed Mexican authorities “escorting nearly 20 buses filled with migrants into Ciudad Juarez,” which is directly across the border from the city of El Paso.

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Hispanic Media Cover Elon Musk Negatively and Remain Silent About Twitter Files and Freedom of Expression

Michigan Star Staff

America’s increasingly powerful Spanish-language media outlets have largely ignored coverage of critical free speech issues, such as Twitter’s censorship of the New York Post  ‘s investigation into Hunter Biden’s laptop, and in instead they have focused on stories that negatively expose Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter, according to an analysis of ADN America.

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Michigan Governor Signs $575 Million Bill Aiming to Address Teacher Shortage

The Center Square

Michigan taxpayers are on the hook for another $575 million after Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced new programs on Tuesday aimed at boosting the number of teachers in the state’s traditional public schools.

The fiscal year 2023 budget was approved by the state Legislature and signed by the governor.

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Commentary: The Wasteland of Leftist Compassion

Michigan Star Staff

Compassion is one of the greatest of human virtues. But effective compassion comes with an obligation to do more than what merely feels and sounds good. Public policies motivated by compassion must also consider the full complexity of the challenge—the unintended consequences and the reality of human nature—and strike a balance between what is desired and what is possible. Often the most beneficial expressions of compassion appear harsh and punitive, yet in offering more lasting and comprehensive solutions, do more to alleviate human suffering.

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Wisconsin’s Gallagher and Illinois’s Krishnamoorthi File Bipartisan TikTok Ban Legislation

Bradley Vasoli

A bipartisan group of federal lawmakers this week filed legislation in the House of Representatives to ban the TikTok video-sharing application nationwide. 

Congressmen Mike Gallagher (R-WI-8) and Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL-8) submitted their bill in the House of Representatives while Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) introduced companion legislation in his chamber. They call their measure the Averting the National Threat of Internet Surveillance, Oppressive Censorship and Influence, and Algorithmic Learning by the Chinese Communist Party Act (ANTI-SOCIAL CCP Act). It is written broadly enough to possibly prohibit use of other platforms operating under the influence of “a country of concern” such as China or Russia. 

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Biden’s DOJ Tried to Seize Pennsylvania GOP Lawmaker’s Texts: Report

Michigan Star Staff

The Justice Department (DOJ) has sought to access text messages on Republican Pennsylvania Rep. Scott Perry’s cell phone as part of a 2020 election interference probe, having confiscated it in August, CNN reported

FBI agents seized Perry’s phone Aug. 9, he confirmed to the Daily Caller News Foundation that day, ostensibly as part of a federal criminal investigation into the Jan. 6 Capitol riots and efforts to hinder the transfer of power to President Joe Biden, CNN reported. The DOJ’s approach to Perry’s phone seizure involved using one warrant to image the phone and pursuing a data access warrant in confidential proceedings, sources familiar with the investigation and public filings indicated, according to CNN.

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Nearly 200 North Alabama Churches Leave United Methodist Church over Disputes Between Traditional Christians, Progressives

Michigan Star Staff

Nearly 200 Alabama churches officially seceded from the United Methodist Church (UMC) last weekend following years of conflict over social and theological issues.

Members of the UMC’s North Alabama Conference (NAC) approved the decision to leave at their meeting on Saturday at the Birmingham Jefferson Convention Center (BJCC). 

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Commentary: With Passenger Mask Mandate Gone, Flight Turbulence Stats Improve Markedly

RealClearWire

The friendly skies too often resembled “season’s beatings” shopping brawls during the pandemic, as the number of arguments and even fistfights surged on-board. Viral videos of the flight-and-fight mayhem frequently had a common denominator – the federal government’s mask requirement. 

So it may come as little surprise that disruptions on commercial domestic flights have plummeted by 74% since the Biden administration’s mask mandate was  overturned by a federal judge in April. The current rate is 1.7 unruly passengers per 10,000 flights, down from 6.4 per 10,000 in February.  

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