Month: May 2023

House Probe Unveils Fresh Evidence Contradicting Joe Biden Claims About Family’s Foreign Deals

Just the News

The House Oversight and Accountability Committee on Wednesday directly challenged President Joe Biden’s claims about his family’s overseas business deals, providing fresh evidence his son Hunter got money directly from China, was involved in a business deal with a Romanian figure accused of corruption and helped arrange for one of his foreign business associates to meet with his father’s vice presidential office.

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U.S. Braces for Impact of Mass Illegal Immigration as Title 42 Ends

Just the News

As the COVID-19 public health emergency is set to expire on Thursday — and, along with it, emergency authority under Title 42 to speedily expel asylum-seekers as potential public health risks — the U.S. is preparing for an influx of illegal immigrants to cross the southern border.

Title 42 is a public health authority that was invoked in March 2020 under the Trump administration during the COVID-19 pandemic to bar entry to asylum-seekers in an effort to prevent the spread of the communicable disease.

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Americans’ Trust in Economic Authorities Plummets, Poll Finds

Michigan Star Staff

Americans lack faith in their country’s main economic authorities, according to a Gallup poll published Tuesday.

The poll asked participants to state their confidence level that officials will “do or recommend the right thing for the economy.” It found that 34% to 38% of American adults have a “great deal” or “fair amount” of confidence in President Joe Biden, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and congressional leaders.

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Pentagon to Buy $1.2 Billion in Weapons from Defense Contractors for Ukraine Aid

Michigan Star Staff

The Pentagon announced plans Tuesday to buy $1.2 billion in weapons as part of an ongoing program to build up Ukraine’s military over the long term while it continues to provide for immediate battlefield needs.

The weapons, drawn from an authority called the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI) allows the Department of Defense (DOD) to buy weapons and military equipment directly from defense companies and partners rather than drawing from existing U.S. stocks, according to a press release. Tuesday’s package includes air defense systems, ammunition and “support to enable Ukraine to better maintain its on-hand systems and equipment.”

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Catholic Civil Rights Leader: Washington Post Fails to Mention Its Recent Poll Revealed 78 Percent of Transgender Adults Had Serious Mental Health Problems Growing Up

Susan Berry, PhD

Catholic League President Bill Donohue observed Monday that The Washington Post neglected to mention in its news story about its own poll on transgenderism that trans individuals reported a more significant percentage of mental health concerns than all adults surveyed.

Bill Donohue noted that The Post’s “2517-word story, published May 5, covers just about every aspect of the 26-page survey except for the issue of mental health.”

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NIH Renews Grant to Organization That Funded Coronavirus Experiments in Wuhan

Just the News

The National Institutes of Health have renewed a grant to EcoHealth Alliance, an organization that funded experiments in Wuhan at a facility identified as the possible origin point of the COVID-19 pandemic.

EcoHealth announced the renewal on Monday, noting that the grant had been suspended in April of 2020 “due to concerns about continuing collaborative laboratory research with the Wuhan Institute of Virology.” EcoHealth’s experiments involved on-site work at the WIV and involved the study of coronaviruses.

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Ramaswamy Says Carroll Case Verdict Against Trump Another Attempt to Attack Establishment’s ‘Chief Political Virus’

M.D. Kittle

Former President Donald Trump’s political rivals weighed in Tuesday on a Manhattan jury’s finding that Trump is liable for sexually abusing and defaming writer E. Jean Carroll in a civil lawsuit brought decades after the alleged abuse took place. 

Ohio businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, who declared his campaign for president in February, agreed with critics of the lawsuit who believe it’s another politically charged attempt to diminish the GOP presidential frontrunner ahead of the 2024 presidential election.

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Michigan Bill Seeks to Ban Life Without Parole for Those Under 19

The Center Square

Some Michigan lawmakers want to end life sentences without parole for those under the age of 19.

Michigan has more juveniles sentenced to life parole than any other state, said Rep. Amos O’Neal, D-Holt, said in the Criminal Justice Committee on Tuesday morning. Holt said that 26 states ban life-without-parole for juveniles. The recidivism rate for kids leaving the system is less than 1%, O’Neal said.

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Commentary: If Hunter Biden Is Indicted

RealClearWire
Hunter Biden courtroom

What will President Biden do if his son is indicted by the federal prosecutor in Delaware? That’s one of three questions looming over U.S. Attorney David Weiss’ fateful choice. The second is whether the indictment will go after a larger, coordinated family scheme of influence peddling or confine itself to smaller, tightly-confined issues like lying to get a gun permit and not registering as a foreign lobbyist. The third is whether Attorney General Merrick Garland will approve Weiss’ proposed charges. Significant political calculations follow from those decisions.

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Joe and Linda Chambers, Eric Church, and Butch Spyridon Receive Stars on Walk of Fame

Bethany Bowman

NASHVILLE, Tennessee – Three more stars last week were added to The Music City Walk of Fame.

May 4th marked the 25th ceremony where Star 98 was awarded to Joe and Linda Chambers, Star 99 was awarded to Eric Church, and Star 100 was given to Butch Spyridon.

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Pharma Giant Behind Botox, Breast Implants Bankrolled Doctors Pushing Trans Cosmetic Procedures

Michigan Star Staff

Allergan Aesthetics, a pharmaceutical company that produces Botox injections and breast implants, funded doctors who promote cosmetic procedures as particularly beneficial and even medically necessary for transgender people.

Allergan has been quietly funding research that promotes neurotoxin injections and injectable facial fillers, which the company produces under the labels Botox and Juvederm, for transgender people. The company has also paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in consulting and public speaking fees to doctors who are involved in this research, or who offer transgender cosmetic procedures that may involve Allergan products, according to a Daily Caller News Foundation investigation.

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Indiana Expands School Choice to Nearly All K-12 Students as Republican-Led States Continue Momentum

Susan Berry, PhD

Indiana scored the latest school choice victory with nearly all, save for 3.5 percent of families with school-age children, qualifying for the state’s new voucher program, The Wall Street Journal editorial board noted last week.

“The hits keep coming on school choice in Republican-run states,” The Journal editors observed, detailing:

The new law raises the income cap to 400% of the free- and reduced-price lunch income level, which is now about $220,000 for a family of four. The bill also removes the other criteria for eligibility so that any family under the income limit can apply. Tens of thousands of additional students could qualify, and a legislative analysis projects that some 95,000 students might use the program in 2025, up from about 53,000 in 2023.

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Commentary: January 6 Supporters Set Their Focus on Trump

Michigan Star Staff

In 2002, David Frum, chief speechwriter for President George W. Bush, coined the phrase “axis of evil” to describe the despotic regimes of North Korea, Iran, and Iraq during the nascent stages of the global war on terror.

Today, Frum is warning the country about a different axis of evil that he believes similarly threatens the security of America and perhaps even the world: Donald Trump, the Oath Keepers, and the Proud Boys.

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Jury Holds Trump Liable for Battery, Defamation in E. Jean Carroll Case

Just the News

A jury held former President Donald Trump liable for battery and defamation after hearing arguments in a civil trial brought by writer E. Jean Carroll, who said Trump raped her in a department store during the 1990s. Trump’s conduct was specifically determined to have been sexual abuse. The jury awarded roughly $2 million in damages to Carroll for the battery count, according to CNN. Carroll will also receive $3 million for the defamation count.

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Transgender and ‘Queer Theory’ Materials in K-12 Schools in All Continental United States: Map

Admin

Campus Reform surveyed the entire US and found instances of K-12 public school districts carrying children’s books with messaging about “gender identity,” some including sexually explicit material.

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Republicans Take a Page from Democrats, Offer Novel Idea on Medicaid

Just the News

Democrats are trying to paint Republicans as enemies of Medicaid, but Florida GOP Rep. Daniel Webster is gaining support for a bill that would provide a tax deduction to healthcare providers in exchange for pro bono health services for people who rely on Medicaid or CHIP, the Children’s Health Insurance Program.

Webster’s Helping Everyone Access Long Term Healthcare Act, or HEALTH Act, would amend the IRS code to allow medical professionals to take a tax deduction for the value of service performed, which he says will reduce the amount of paperwork associated with the low-income healthcare systems.

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South Carolina Mom Asks School Board ‘Why Are Adult Teachers Allowed to Sponsor a Group Regarding Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity with Minors?’

Susan Berry, PhD

A South Carolina parent challenged the school board of Richland School District Two in Columbia where Blythewood High School (BHS) hosted the Anti-Defamation League’s (ADL) “No Place for Hate” program that invites children to “explore identity,” and “apply this understanding to recognize the relationship between identity, bias and power.”

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As Juvenile Crime Skyrockets to Record Levels, States Seek to Crack Down

Admin

As juvenile crime has skyrocketed across the nation following the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, state lawmakers are looking to pass laws to curb rising youth violence and lawlessness.

Juvenile homicides nationwide increased by 44% from 2019 to 2020 and increased by 83% from 2013 to 2020, according to data from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, as school closures and police reforms have contributed to rising youth crime. Lawmakers in Kentucky, Louisiana, Alabama, Florida and New Jersey have introduced bills to implement measures such as penalty enhancements for juvenile gang members, as well as mandatory holding periods for juveniles charged with violent crimes, to address the rising violence.

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Whitmer Opposes Transparency in Michigan’s Budget Process

The Center Square

Lawmakers are crafting the next budget, but Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s office is trying to hide accountability measures while boosting spending.

In 2018, Whitmer made a transparency pledge while running for office. Now, in her second term, her office is trying to hinder transparency efforts in the next budget process.

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Victor Davis Hanson Commentary: The Impending Thermidor Reaction in Jacobin America

Admin

The decade-long French Revolution that broke out in 1789 soon devolved into far more than removing the monarchy, as it became antithetical to the earlier American precedent. American notions of liberty and freedom were seen as far too narrow, given the state, if only all-powerful and all-wise, could mandate “equality” and force “fraternity” among its subjects.

Each cycle of French revolutionary fervor soon became more radicalized and cannibalistic — until it reached its logical ends of violent absurdity.

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Commentary: Mr. President, the Debt Ceiling and Spending Cuts Were Linked in 2011 and 1996

Admin

“You just can’t. No one’s ever tied them together before.”

That was President Joe Biden on MSNBC on May 6, claiming that Congress has never increased the debt ceiling in exchange for budget, spending and regulatory changes.

There’s only one problem. It’s completely false.

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School District Pays Thousands for Controversial Emotional Survey Program with Ties to Merrick Garland

Admin

A Massachusetts school district has spent more than $30,000 to conduct “social-emotional learning” (SEL) surveys on students and staff led by an educational organization founded by U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland’s son-in-law, according to a public records request by Parents Defending Education (PDE), a parental rights in education group.

From 2018 to 2023, Old Rochester Regional School District spent $30,620.25 to partner with Panorama Education through January 2024 to conduct SEL surveys and trainings, a learning concept that has been accused of laying the foundation for Critical Race Theory (CRT), according to a public records obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation. Panorama Education has previously come under fire by parents for its connections to Garland, who directed the FBI in 2021 to “use its authority” on parents who protested at school board meetings.

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DHS ‘Bystander’ Training Singles out Pro-Lifers, Government Critics as ‘Radicalization’ Suspects

Just the News

Nine days after President Biden’s inauguration, a Department of Homeland Security office proposed creating several “Choose Your Own Adventure” videos to show Americans how to identify and mitigate “radicalization and potential violence.”

Among the Americans that worry the sprawling bureaucracy created in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks: middle-aged pro-life women, white men who question the government, and divorced mothers who suspect “government connections to child abuse and trafficking.”

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U.S. Crude Oil Production Approaches Pre-Pandemic Levels

The Center Square

For the first two months of 2023, production of crude oil in the U.S. neared pre-COVID levels, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

The production of crude oil in the U.S. in January and February was the most since March 2020 when the pandemic hit.

The U.S. produced 12.54 million barrels of crude oil per day in January and 12.48 million barrels per day in February. That represented the highest levels since 12.80 million barrels per day in March 2020.

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U.S. Air Force Abandoned a Social Experiment Designed to Graduate More Minority Pilots: Report

Admin

The U.S. Air Force abandoned an experiment aimed at boosting pilot training graduation rates for women and minority pilots after the 2021 initiative failed to achieve the intended results and officers privately warned it could violate anti-discrimination policies, according to documents obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

As part of the larger military-wide effort to promote diversity in the service’s pilot ranks, the 19th Air Force command near San Antonio, Texas, “clustered” racial minorities and female trainees into one class, dubbed “America’s Class,” to find out if doing so would improve the pilots’ graduation rates. However, not only did the effort fail to boost minority and women candidates’ success rates, but officers involved say they were ordered to engage in potentially unlawful discrimination by excluding white males from the class, documents show.

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Texas DPS: Illegal Alien Apprehensions Reach Rate of 9,000 Per Day

Admin

The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) recently claimed that the ongoing mass migration crisis has led to a daily rate of at least 9,000 apprehensions along the southern border.

Breitbart reports that DPS spokesman Lt. Chris Olivarez confirmed the claims, saying that the previous two days have seen over 9,000 such apprehensions of illegal aliens. These numbers surpass the previous highest daily rate in the month of December, which saw approximately 7,200 arrests per day.

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Commentary: The Biden Admin Doesn’t Care About Creating Jobs – They Even Say So

Admin

Department of Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said the quiet part out loud last week. As the executive of our public lands agency, she does not believe that Americans need jobs because there are already so many jobs available. It’s better to lock up land, and lock down mining because who wants those jobs, when there are so many others?

Before the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Haaland told Sen. Josh Hawley, “Senator, I know that there’s like 1.9 jobs for every American in the country right now. So, I know there’s a lot of jobs,” which was her explanation for canceling cobalt mining permits for Twin Metals Minnesota, an underground mine proposed for the northeastern part of the state. America won’t need those jobs, she was saying.

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Texas Launches Probe into Children’s Medical Center for Potentially ‘Illegal’ Trans Procedures

Just the News

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) is launching a probe into the Dell Children’s Medical Center, a non-profit hospital located in Austin, after a video surfaced showing staff at the facility allegedly saying that they are treating children who are transitioning genders as young as 8 years old.

Paxton issued a Request to Examine to the medical center on Friday to ensure the nonprofit complies with Texas law, which deems most gender transition treatments for minors as child abuse.

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Americans Overwhelmingly Reject Transgender Ideology: Poll

Admin

A majority of Americans reject the idea that a person’s gender can be different from their sex at birth, according to a poll conducted Nov. 10 – Dec. 1 by The Washington Post and the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Among adults, 57% believed gender was determined by sex at birth and 43% believed gender could be different from one’s sex at birth, the poll found. Respondents rejected other talking points promoted by transgender activists, widely opposing hormones for minors, participation in sports based on gender identity and teaching gender identity to young children.

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New Study Identifies Eight Reforms that Took Florida’s Election Day from ‘Worst to First’

Just the News

Florida elections have come a long way since the “hanging chad” debacle of 2000. During the 2022 midterms, the state reported the results of all elections within two hours of polls closing, and a new report examines the election law changes that have been credited for the turnaround.

The 2000 presidential election between then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush and then-Vice President Al Gore was decided by the 25 electoral votes from Florida, which didn’t announce its results until five weeks after Election Day.

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City of Houghton Fights Walmart over ‘Dark Stores’, Lost Michigan Tax Revenue

The Center Square

A Michigan city in the Upper Peninsula is fighting Walmart over tax assessments.

The Center Square reported about the “dark stores” strategy in June 2021, when vacant big box retail stores often seek the property assessed at tax rates sometimes 50 percent lower than previous rates, which often leaves local taxpayers to foot the tab.

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ATF Overstated Job Tasks to Overpay Workers, $20 Million Wasted on Overpayments, U.S. Special Counsel

Just the News

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives intentionally overstated the duties of multiple workers so they could be classified as law enforcement agents and be paid more, according to the U.S. Office of Special Counsel report this week.

Federal investigators say the agency has been making such overpayments since 2003. And over 100 jobs in the agency’s human Resources department and other departments were falsely labeled as criminal investigators, according to the Washington Times. 

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State Voting Laws Banning Student IDs Won’t Tank the Youth Vote, Experts Say

Admin

State laws that prohibit students from using their school-issued IDs to vote are unlikely to suppress youth voter turnout, experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

States including Idaho, Ohio and Georgia have laws on the books that limit what identification students can present to prove they are an eligible voter when at the polls. While critics of these laws argue that preventing student IDs from being used is a barrier to voting, several experts told the DCNF that there are other ways students can vote and that these laws likely will not have an overwhelming impact in preventing young voters from casting a ballot.

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Trump Gaining Support of Minorities, both Trump and DeSantis Likely to Beat Biden in 2024: Poll

Just the News

Former President Donald Trump is gaining support from minorities and both Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis – the top two potential Republican candidates for 2024 –  are poised to beat President Joe Biden, spelling trouble for the president as he runs for reelection, according to a poll released Sunday.

Biden is losing support from black and Hispanic Americans as Trump is gaining, according to a Langer Research Associates poll produced for ABC News.

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FDIC to Slap Banks with New Fees to Cover Bailout Losses: Report

Admin

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) plans to release a proposal to replenish funds spent bailing out depositors of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Signature Bank in March by charging fees to banks with over $10 billion in assets, according to people familiar with the matter who spoke to Bloomberg.

The smallest lenders with under $10 billion in assets would be exempt from these fees, according to the sources who spoke to Bloomberg. There were over 4,000 banks beneath that threshold at the end of 2022; however, there were 145 banks between $10 billion and $250 billion in assets, according to FDIC data.

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Young People Who Use Marijuana Are More Likely to Be Schizophrenic, Study Finds

ADN America

A study published in Psychological Medicine shows that young men with marijuana use disorder are more likely to develop schizophrenia.

The study was conducted by researchers at Copenhagen University Hospital, Denmark, and the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) of the National Institutes of Health.

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Americans’ Banking Fears Worst Since 2008 Financial Crisis

The Center Square

Americans are worried about the safety of their money in the banking system after multiple banks have collapsed in recent weeks, according to a new poll.

Gallup released the survey data, which showed that 19% are “very” worried about the safety of their money in banks and another 29% are “moderately” worried.

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Trump, Tucker Carlson Mull Alternative Republican Primary Debate: Report

Just the News

Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson is reportedly in discussions with former President Donald Trump to moderate an alternative Republican candidate forum, as the the pair move on from the cable news network.

Trump has threatened to boycott the first Republican debate, which Fox News will host, amid increasingly frayed relations between him and the network. Carlson, meanwhile, is reportedly looking to build a media presence for himself in the aftermath of his firing and has approached Trump about the independent forum, the Washington Post reported, citing “people familiar with his thinking.”

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Biden Administration’s Controversial Rule Raising Fees for Those with Good Credit Goes into Effect

The Center Square

The latest in a series of new Biden administration rule changes that charge higher fees to certain home buyers with good credit and lower fees for buyers with worse credit went into effect this week despite pushback from Republicans and many financial experts.

A group of U.S. House and Senate Republicans as well as state officials were unable to stop the rule, which a Biden administration official confirmed went into effect as planned Monday.

A coalition of Senate Republicans recently sent a letter to Sandra Thompson, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the latest in several policy changes from the group. The agency implemented the rule change this week.

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Norwegian Hydrogen Company Chooses Michigan, Says 500 Jobs Coming

The Center Square

Norwegian hydrogen company Nel Hydrogen says it will create a $400 million automated gigawatt electrolyzer manufacturing facility in Michigan expected to create 500 manufacturing jobs.

Nel hasn’t finalized a location for the new gigafactory, which will be the first in the United States to manufacture equipment for the production of liquid alkaline electrolysis.

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TikTok’s Parent Company Allegedly Tracks Conversations About COVID-19 Lab Leak Theory: Report

Michigan Star Staff

Popular social media app TikTok’s Beijing-based parent company ByteDance might be tracking online conversations about the COVID-19 lab leak theory, according to documents obtained by Forbes.

A ByteDance tool controlled by Chinese personnel monitors the use of “sensitive words” across company platforms, according to a Forbes investigation. Forbes accessed hundreds of ByteDance’s word lists and published them; they contain various categories including “science and medicine,” which is largely about China and the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Marine Corps to Deactivate Female-Only Unit amid Pressure from Congress to Speed Up Gender Integration

Michigan Star Staff

The Marine Corps announced plans to deactivate a historic female-only training battalion that for decades served as the only point of entry into the force for female Marines, according to a press release issued Wednesday.

The 4th Recruit Training Battalion at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot, Parris Island, has trained female Marines since 1986, and since 1949 the base itself was the only location female Marines would receive instruction, according to Military.com. On June 15, the unit will be officially deactivated, the Corps said in a press release, as the service seeks to speed up gender integration in training companies amid pressure from Congress.

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Commentary: Christian Popular Culture’s Revival Cast Out the Money Changers

RealClearWire

“Jesus Revolution” and “The Chosen” are not just Christian dramas but the avant garde in a revolution in faith entertainment. The former – a feel-good movie about hippies who returned to Christ during the 1970s, starring former “Cheers” and “Frasier” star Kelsey Grammer – has grossed more than $52 million since its debut just a few weeks ago, making it the most successful film released by studio heavyweight Lionsgate since 2019.

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Commentary: Three Traditional Skills Young Men Should Learn

Michigan Star Staff

It seems that no matter where we turn in modern life we can see how modern conveniences have chipped away at the skills so many used to pride themselves on. Of course, in and of themselves, modern conveniences aren’t bad—I’m grateful for many of them—but when so many of us young people today don’t know the skills of our forefathers, I can’t help but think that we are losing that hardy, independent mindset that early Americans often embodied.

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Commentary: The Long Road to Confronting China’s War on Religion Part Two

RealClearWire

Falun Gong emerged in China in 1992, a time of a spiritual renewal in a land still under Communist rule, but one recovering from the horrors of Mao Zedong’s Cultural Revolution. Drawing on Buddhist traditions, Falun Gong combined meditation and tai chi-style exercises with a moral philosophy centered on the tenets of “zhen,” “shan,” and “ren” (truth, compassion, tolerance.) The word, in both English and Chinese, to describe this contemplative mind and body approach to life is qigong.

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Border Patrol Migrant Processing Centers Are Already over Capacity Days Before Trump-Era Policy Ends

Michigan Star Staff

Border Patrol facilities that are holding migrants are largely over capacity at the southern border days ahead of the end of a Trump-era expulsion order, Title 42, according to an internal document the Daily Caller News Foundation exclusively obtained from a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) official.

As of early Friday, Border Patrol had more than 20,000 migrants in custody, most of which are down south, according to the document. The document showed that seven southern border sectors are over 100% capacity.

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‘Premeditated and Admitted Lie’: Intel Pros Slam Biden Laptop Letter After Bombshell Revelation

Just the News

In a rare and candid email exchange between two former CIA bosses, Michael Morell told John Brennan in October 2020 that he was organizing a letter of 51 intel experts claiming the emergence of the Hunter Biden laptop was a Russian influence operation because he wanted to give Joe Biden’s campaign a “talking point to push back on” Donald Trump during the last presidential debate of the 2020 election, according to documents obtained by Just the News.

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