Day: April 22, 2021

Stacey Abrams Spars with Republicans over Whether Georgia’s Elections Law Is Racist During Senate Hearing

Georgia Star News Staff

Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee sparred with Stacey Abrams Tuesday during a hearing on Democrats’ voting rights bill and election reforms that Republicans have introduced in states across the country.

The hearing consisted of testimony from officials on opposite sides of the issue, including Georgia Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock, Utah Republican Rep. Burgess Owens and Jan Jones, the Republican speaker pro tempore of the Georgia House, but most questions from lawmakers on both sides were directed towards Abrams. Democrats largely focused on GOP-led policies that they likened to those from the Jim Crow era, while Republicans blasted the comparison and said that the bills’ goals were to make it harder to cheat, not to vote.

Read More

Commentary: Amazon’s Rejection of Unions in Alabama Is a Big Loss for Big Labor

RealClearWire
Amazon workers

Big labor suffered a significant loss in its attempt to unionize employees at Amazon’s warehouse facility in Bessemer, Alabama. Of the workers eligible to vote, an embarrassingly small 16% voted to join the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union. It was the most recent in a series of high-profile losses for labor including failed attempts to unionize factories for Volkswagen, Nissan Motors, and Boeing. In each case, union leaders bet that they could convince workers it was in their best interests to be enrolled in a union that would stand up to management over wages and working conditions. In each case, they lost.

Read More

Columbus Police Release More Footage and 911 Calls in Shooting Death of 16-year-Old

Jack Windsor

Columbus Division of Police released body camera footage Tuesday night showing the fatal shooting of 16-year-old Ma’Khia Bryant that occurred earlier in the day.  Wednesday afternoon, police released additional body cam recordings and two 911 calls.

Interim Chief of Police Michael Woods said it’s uncommon for information to be provided this soon, but officials understand the public’s need, desire and expectation to have transparency about what happened.

Read More

Children’s Book Used in New York School Faces Backlash over Claims That Police Are Racist

Georgia Star News Staff
Police

A public school district in New York state is facing criticism after it promoted a children’s book that falsely claims that police target black people instead of White people, and that black people are more likely to be shot, as reported by Fox News.

In the city of Binghamton, the Police Benevolent Association (PBA) denounced the city’s school district for their promotion of the book “Something Happened In Our Town.” The book, which was selected by the school as the “Book of the Month” for April for MacArthur Elementary School, was read aloud to students.

Read More

Commentary: A Tale of Two California Recalls

RealClearWire

For better or worse, California often leads the nation’s political discourse. Central to that discourse at the moment is the expected recall of Gov. Gavin Newsom; a recall of Los Angeles County’s district attorney, meanwhile, is building steam. Each reveals something telling about the Golden State and its voters.

First Newsom. The announcement is imminent — insiders expect the recall to qualify for the ballot with an October election.

Read More

Twitter Defends Not Censoring Hacked Content About Donors Who Gave to Kenosha Shooter’s Legal Defense

Georgia Star News Staff
Kyle Rittenhouse

Twitter defended its decision allowing users to share articles that cite hacked information about people who donated to the 18-year-old accused of killing protesters in Wisconsin last summer.

The content did not violate the company’s distribution of hack materials policy because it does not directly link to the hacked information, a Twitter spokesperson told the Daily Caller News Foundation. The content in question would have been removed if hacked materials were shared in a tweet or in an image tweeted, according to Twitter.

Read More

Biden to Increase Number of Immigrants Approved for Refugee, Visa Status

The Center Square

President Joe Biden’s border policy will include an increase in the number of people approved for refugee and visa status, his administration announced Tuesday.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has repeatedly asked the Biden administration to answer questions about who is transporting individuals and families to the Texas-Mexico border and what the administration is doing to prevent crimes and human and drug trafficking. He says he has still received no response. He also called on Biden to label Mexican cartels as terrorists because, Abbott said, they are committing crimes and wreaking havoc in Texas, and has also received no response.

Read More

Corporate America Will Lobby for Progressive Policies — Unless It Costs Them Money

Georgia Star News Staff
Delta Air Lines

Big businesses have been vocal in supporting various progressive political causes, but have consistently stopped short of policies that would cut into profits.

U.S. corporations came out in droves to announce their opposition to recently-passed voting legislation in Georgia, have pulled their advertisements from conservative shows and podcasts, were quick to endorse Black Lives Matter during the 2020 protests and have signed multiple climate change pledges. But while big business has eagerly supported these progressive policies, they refuse to support the policies, like a higher minimum wage or a corporate tax increase to fund infrastructure, that would result in smaller profits.

Read More

New Website Allows Parents, Teachers to Upload What They Consider Evidence of Radical Curriculum

Georgia Star News Staff

A North Carolina education advocacy group has launched a website to help whistleblowers expose what they consider radical curriculum in K-12 schools, including lessons on critical race theory.

The Schoolhouse Shock site was launched Monday by Education First Alliance and allows users to anonymously upload videos, pictures, documents and other material.

Read More

Mark McCloskey, Lawyer Who Brandished His Rifle at Black Lives Matter Protesters, Floats Senate Bid

Georgia Star News Staff

Mark McCloskey, the St. Louis lawyer who brandished his assault rifle at Black Lives Matter protesters as they marched through his neighborhood, floated a bid for Missouri’s open Senate seat.

“I can confirm that it’s a consideration, yes,” McCloskey told Politico Tuesday evening, adding that he had no official timeline for announcing his decision.

Read More

Florida Civil Rights Attorney Ben Crump Falsely Claims Columbus Shooting Victim Was Unarmed

Grant Holcomb

Tallahassee-based civil rights attorney Ben Crump falsely claimed on Twitter yesterday the victim of the police-involved shooting in Columbus, OH was unarmed. As bodycam footage was released, it found the victim, a 16-year-old black female, Ma’Khia Bryant, was wielding a knife and threatening two other females.

Some on social media were outraged at the lethal use of force by the officer, including Crump who said on Twitter, “As we breathed a collective sigh of relief today, a community in Columbus felt the sting of another police shooting as @ColumbusPolice killed an unarmed 15yo Black girl named Makiyah Bryant. Another child lost! Another hashtag. #JusticeForMakiyahBryant.”

Read More

‘Maybe They Need to Feel the Pain:’ Minneapolis Protestor Suggests Killing All White People

Peter D'Abrosca
Ami Horowitz

Reporter and filmmaker Ami Horowitz traveled to Minneapolis to interview residents about the trial of former Minneapolis Police officer, and killing of George Floyd.

He released a two-minute compilation of interviews Tuesday night, after Chauvin’s conviction for second and third degree murder, along with manslaughter. 

Read More

Black Panther and Marvel Studios Director Blasts SB 202, but Films at Georgia Facility That Requires ID to Enter

Chris Butler
Trilith Studios

Marvel Studios director Ryan Coogler will soon arrive at the Fayetteville-based Trilith Studios to film the Black Panther sequel. But if Coogler wants to set foot on the Trilith Studios property then he and everyone else with business there have to present their personal IDs. A sign at the front of the facility says so.

Read More