Month: July 2023

Colleges Plot New Ways to Discriminate After Supreme Court Strikes Down Race-Based Admissions

Georgia Star News Staff

Colleges throughout the country are plotting new ways to weigh race in the admissions process after a Supreme Court ruling that blocked the use of affirmative action policies, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The Supreme Court ruled in June that Harvard University and the University of North Carolina’s use of affirmative action admissions policies was unconstitutional, halting the practice across higher education institutions. Colleges and universities are considering the use of essays and different potential student recruiting methods following the Supreme Court ruling, according to the WSJ.

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FBI Hands over Documents Relating to Targeting of Catholics

Georgia Star News Staff

On Tuesday, the FBI handed over requested documents on its efforts to target Catholic Americans after another threat from Congress to hold Director Christopher Wray in contempt.

As reported by the New York Post, Congressman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, had subpoenaed the files in question and threatened to hold Wray in contempt of Congress if the documents were not delivered by the deadline of July 25th.

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Republican Election Clerks Hit with Lawsuits, Recall Votes for Actions in 2020 Presidential Race

Just the News

Republican county election clerks across the country are facing lawsuits and other consequences for their actions during the 2020 presidential elections – including what some clerks contend was their attempt only to preserve election data to prevent or expose fraud.

Stan Grot, a clerk in Michigans’s Shelby Township Clerk was notified Thursday by the state Bureau of Elections that he won’t be allowed to administer elections while facing charges by the state attorney general.

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Anti-Catholic Activists in Maine Target Federalist Society’s Leonard Leo After Latest Supreme Court Decisions

Susan Berry, PhD

Federalist Society Co-Chairman Leonard Leo, who served as an advisor in the selection process of former President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court appointees, has been targeted in his home town in Maine by what a prominent Catholic leader calls “anti-Catholic bigots” in the wake of recent rulings by the High Court.

Activists have been protesting at Leo’s home in Northeast Harbor, tying him to Supreme Court rulings with which they disagree.

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Legal Group Sues Biden Admin for Allegedly Concealing FBI Background Investigation into Mayorkas

Georgia Star News Staff

America First Legal Foundation sued the Biden administration Wednesday for allegedly concealing information regarding an FBI investigation into Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, according to a copy of the complaint first obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

The lawsuit against both the FBI and the Department of Justice (DOJ) asks that the agencies release the documents related to the Mayorkas probe, according to the complaint. The conservative group was previously denied a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for the records regarding the FBI’s investigation into Mayorkas’ background.

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Commentary: Conservatives Fight Secretive Biden Voting Order

RealClearWire

GOP lawmakers and other conservative critics are working to expose and fight a secretive executive order by President Biden to expand voter participation in elections, which they suspect has become a powerful government-wide complement to private left-wing election financing that could tip the 2024 campaign illegally and unfairly in Democrats’ favor.

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Rudy Giuliani Concedes to Making ‘False’ and ‘Defamatory’ Statements About Georgia Election Workers

Just the News

Former Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani concedes that he made “false” and “defamatory” statements about two Georgia election workers who filed a lawsuit against him in an effort to resolve the case and to satisfy a judge who has considered issuing sanctions against the former New York City mayor.

The court document filed late Tuesday evening states that Giuliani “does not contest” four allegations made in a defamation case brought by Georgia election workers Ruby Freeman and her daughter Wandrea “Shaye” Moss against the former Trump attorney and the conservative outlet One America News Network.

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Biden Taps Next General to Lead the Air Force

Georgia Star News Staff

President Joe Biden has chosen the Air Force’s possible next top officer after tapping the current Air Force Chief of Staff to serve in the Joint Chiefs chairman’s role, the Congressional record shows.

The White House notified Congress of its intent to nominate Air Force Vice Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin on Tuesday, the record shows, although Biden has yet to formally announce the nomination. If confirmed, Allvin would replace Gen. Charles Brown as the service’s highest-ranking military officer, but he faces hurdles amid the backlog of senior officers awaiting Senate confirmation due to a hold over a Department of Defense (DOD) abortion policy.

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Report: Pro-trans Activist Threatens to ‘Dismember’ School Board President in Chino Valley, California

Admin

Breitbart News Pro-transgender activists reportedly threatened to “dismember” a California school board president and to kill her children and pets in retaliation for a policy requiring schools to notify parents if children want to change genders. Sonja Shaw, who leads the Chino Valley school board in Riverside County in Southern…

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National Pro-Life Group Sues Vermont for ‘Unconstitutional Attack’ Against Pregnancy Care Centers

Susan Berry, PhD

The National Institute for Family and Life Advocates (NIFLA), in conjunction with two Vermont pregnancy centers and their attorneys at Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), have filed a complaint against the state of Vermont “for the unconstitutional attack launched against pregnancy centers in the state” resulting from a law that “suppresses the free-speech rights of faith-based pregnancy centers,” ADF said in a press release.

ADF attorneys filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday that describes the case as “a challenge by pro-life pregnancy services centers and their membership organization to a state law that unconstitutionally restricts the centers’ speech and provision of services.”

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Report: Botched Plea Deal Would Have Given Hunter Biden Immunity ‘In Perpetuity’

Admin

Breitbart The botched plea deal struck between federal prosecutors and Hunter Biden’s defense team that fell apart in court Wednesday would have given the first son “broad immunity from prosecution in perpetuity,” according to a report from the courtroom. The New York Times‘s Glenn Thrush reported Wednesday that the unusual plea deal had “offered Hunter…

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GOP Bill Lets Americans Sue ‘Malicious’ Federal Workers Who Conspire to Censor Social Media Posts

Admin

Fox News House Republicans are pushing to let U.S. citizens sue individual federal employees who help orchestrate the censorship of free speech on social media. The Censorship Accountability Act, being introduced Tuesday by Rep. Dan Bishop, R-N.C., would authorize lawsuits against executive branch employees when they direct a social media company to…

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Judge Rejects Deal in Hunter Biden Case as First Son Pleads Not Guilty

Just the News

Hunter Biden’s plea deal with the Justice Department on two tax misdemeanor tax charges fell apart Wednesday after the federal judge overseeing the case said she had “concerns” about the constitutionality of a pre-trial diversion agreement that would allow him to avoid prison on felony firearms possession charge.

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Democratic Law Firm Argues Mail Boxes ‘Unsecure’ for Voting, in Wisconsin Suit Pushing for Ballot Drop Boxes

Just the News

In a lawsuit to overturn a Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling that concluded ballot drop boxes are illegal, a Democratic election law firm is now arguing that U.S. Postal Service mailboxes are in fact “unsecured.”

The state’s high court ruled last year, in a 4-3 decision, the Wisconsin Elections Commission was not authorized to allow the use of the such boxes, as alternative balloting, during the 2020 presidential election.

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Judge Blocks Biden Rule Allowing Some Migrants to Be Turned Away

Just the News

A federal judge Tuesday blocked a Biden administration rule that allowed migration officials to turn away asylum seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border if the migrants did not apply online first or seek protection in a country that they traveled through. 

U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar in California’s northern district gave the Biden administration 14 days to appeal his order, which takes away a key migration enforcement tool, according to The Associated Press. 

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GOP Senators’ New Bill Would Crack Down on ‘Marxist’ Race-Based Lessons in K-12 Schools

Georgia Star News Staff

Republican Florida Sen. Marco Rubio led the introduction of a bill Tuesday that would prohibit taxpayer funds from being spent on K-12  American History and civics classes that promote Critical Race Theory (CRT), according to a copy of the bill obtained exclusively by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Under the Protect Equality and Civics Education (PEACE) Act, federal dollars cannot be used to fund curriculum, teaching or counseling in K-12 American History and civics courses that promote tenets of CRT, including that the U.S. is fundamentally racist. Rubio introduced the bill alongside two co-sponsors, Republican Indiana Sen. Mike Braun and Republican North Dakota Sen. Kevin Cramer.

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Club for Growth to Spend $20 Million on McCarthy’s Republican Incumbent Rivals

Peter D'Abrosca

According to an internal memo first obtained by German-owned Politico, the conservative Club for Growth is planning to spend seven figures on Republican U.S. House incumbents who oppose House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA-23) during their 2024 re-election bids.

“Club for Growth Action is prepared to spend $20 million in defense of the Patriot 20, the group of members who fought to advance conservative priorities and establish a more transparent and accountable legislative process in the House during the Speaker negotiations in January,” according to the memo. “As the largest conservative political action committee, we helped elect 17 of these 20 members to Congress and are determined to make sure they have the support necessary to win their primaries and beat Democrat challengers.”

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Biden Admin Opens Federal Investigation into Harvard University over Legacy Admissions

Georgia Star News Staff

Biden’s Department of Education (DOE) officially opened an investigation Monday into Harvard to determine whether or not the university’s use of legacy admissions violate the Civil Rights Act, according to a letter from the DOE.

The DOE’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR) opened the investigation to determine whether or not Harvard discriminates on the basis of race by having donor and legacy admissions preferences after a complaint was filed on behalf of several activist organizations including The Chica Project, the African Community Economic Development of New England and the Greater Boston Latino Network, according to a letter from the DOE to Lawyers for Civil Rights. The complaint follows on the heels of the Supreme Court’s recent decision to strike down race-based affirmative action admissions policies at Harvard and the University of North Carolina.

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Healthcare Watchdog Group Praises Doctors Who Warn ‘No Medical Evidence’ Childhood Gender Transition Prevents Suicide

Susan Berry, PhD

An organization of physicians and others concerned about the politicization of healthcare is praising the “doctors around the world” who are “speaking up” about the “significant” risks associated with childhood medical gender transition and the lack of evidence supporting the claim that transgender hormone drugs reduce suicide risk.

Dr. Stanley Goldfarb, chairman of Do No Harm wrote Monday in an email to subscribers of the recent “game-changing” letter to the editors, published in the Wall Street Journal by 21 clinicians and researchers from South Africa, the UK, Sweden, Norway, Belgium, France, Switzerland, and the United States, that challenges the Endocrine Society’s latest statements on what radical transgender activists call “gender-affirming care.”

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U.S. Attorney’s Office in Georgia Organizes Gang and Violence Prevention Program for SROs in Metro-Atlanta Schools

Kaitlin Housler

The Northern District of Georgia U.S. Attorney’s Office organized an initiative to provide law enforcement training for more than 40 police officers from school systems in the northern district of Georgia to prevent and reduce delinquency, youth violence, and gang membership.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office partnered with the Georgia Alliance for School Resource Officers and Educators, the Georgia Public Safety Training Center, and the Georgia Gang Investigators Association to provide the officers with Gang Resistance Education and Training (G.R.E.A.T.).

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Commentary: Republicans Need a New Approach to Foreign Policy

Georgia Star News Staff

A recent Fareed Zakaria Washington Post op-ed nicely summarized our new reality:

There is a debate within the Republican Party. Some senior figures, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) and former vice president Mike Pence, are vigorously making the case for an active and engaged America. But the party’s base seems to be with the isolationists, as can be seen in the tilting stances of the weather-vane speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy (Calif.). From Donald Trump to his copycat, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, and the party’s most powerful media ideologist, Tucker Carlson, conservatives are increasingly contemptuous of America’s support for Ukraine and its strong alliance with Europe. Sen. Josh Hawley (Mo.) told the New York Times that although some Republicans remain staunchly interventionist, “That’s not where the voters are.”

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Swimming Officials to Trial an ‘Open Category’ for Transgender Athletes

Georgia Star News Staff

World Aquatics, the world swimming governing body, announced Tuesday that it will set up an “open category” that will include transgender athletes, according to The Associated Press.

The governing body banned most male athletes from competing in the female division in 2022 following uproar over Lia Thomas, a transgender swimmer who won a national title in women’s swimming after competing in the men’s collegiate division for three years. The president of World Aquatics, Husain Al-Musallam, said an “open category” swimming event will take place alongside other races, according to the AP.

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Lawmakers: IRS Dodging Oversight After Destroying 30 Million Records

The Center Square

Lawmakers investigating reports that the IRS destroyed tens of millions of taxpayer records say the federal tax agency is not cooperating with the investigation.

Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., and Oversight Subcommittee Chairman David Schweikert, R-Ariz., sent a letter to IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel demanding he comply with the documentation request.

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Commentary: ‘True Believer’ Joint Chiefs Chairman Will Hurt the Military

Georgia Star News Staff

The military’s entry into the culture wars remains an important development. Until recently, the military was officially apolitical, in keeping with the constitutional requirements for a civilian commander-in-chief. In the 1990s, the military became more aligned with the Republican Party, and many commentators expressed legitimate concerns about this development. The pendulum swung-back after George W. Bush’s disastrous performance in Iraq, and things mostly balanced out by the time Obama took the reins.

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Texas Detransitioner Sues Doctors for $1 Million over Botched Surgery

Georgia Star News Staff

Another detransitioner who attempted a gender transition at age 17 is suing the doctors who operated on her, accusing them of ignoring her plethora of mental health conditions and pushing her down a destructive path.

Soren Aldaco, who is now 21 years old, filed her lawsuit Friday in the Tarrant County District Court of Texas. She alleges that her doctors behaved more like “ideologues” than medical professionals and that they did not properly take her autism, depression, anxiety, and other comorbidities into account when they evaluated her for an attempted gender transition.

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Commentary: Defense Survey Reveals Age, Gender, Party Divides

RealClearWire

Although Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine has dominated worldwide headlines for more than a year and refocused the attention of U.S. policymakers on NATO and Eastern Europe, Americans are much more worried about China’s emerging power.

In an open question asked by RealClear Opinion Research, 53% of registered voters named the People’s Republic of China as “the greatest threat to the United States.” Russia was cited by 29% of respondents, while 4% named North Korea – the same percentage who answered that America’s biggest threat was the United States itself.

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Study: Many Hospitals Profited During COVID Pandemic

Georgia Star News Staff

A new study reveals that nearly 75 percent of all U.S. hospitals were able to post positive operating income at the height of the Chinese Coronavirus pandemic, primarily due to relief funds provided by the government.

As Axios reports, the analysis by JAMA Health Forum shows that the average hospital’s operating margins – the difference between revenue and expenses – hit an all-time high in 2020 and 2021, the first two years of the pandemic. Many hospitals continue to post improving operating margins even after 2022 despite the rising inflation, which some have attributed to the massive profits in the first two years of COVID.

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Time for Nation’s Largest Employer to Rethink Office Space, GAO Says

The Center Square

It’s time for the largest employer in the United States to rethink its 511 million square feet of office space, according to a congressional watchdog. 

A report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office found that the federal government spends billions each year on underused office space. It recommended agency officials take another look at how much office space they need. 

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Conservative Activist Rejects Senate Dem Demand for Help in Supreme Court Probe: ‘Political Retaliation’

Admin

Fox News Conservative activist Leonard Leo today told Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee he will “not be part” of their investigation into the travel habits of conservative Supreme Court justices and cited the Bill of Rights and liberal hypocrisy as reasons. “Your investigation of Mr. Leo infringes two provisions of the…

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Five Times August Blasts Sheryl Crow for Smearing Jason Aldean over Pro-America, Anti-Rioting Song

OHStarStaff

Recently, a feud has erupted in the country music community, with singer-songwriter Five Times August taking a stand against Sheryl Crow’s criticism of Jason Aldean’s song “Try That In A Small Town.” While Sheryl Crow accused Aldean of promoting violence in his lyrics, Five Times August, also known as Brad Skistimas, has fired back, calling out her woke hypocrisy.

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Georgia Removes 95,000 Patients as Medicaid Eligibility Returns to Pre-COVID Standards

The Center Square

State officials have removed more than 95,000 from Georgia’s Medicaid rolls, but one Georgia group says the move merely returns the program to how it was administered for its first 50 years.

State officials said that of the 95,578 who lost coverage, 89,168 were removed because of “a lack of information received … to make an eligibility determination.” The state indicated it has information that more than 20,000 of those “procedurally terminated” would not have been eligible for an extension.

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Massachusetts Bill Would Allow Girls of Any Age to Obtain Abortion Without Parental Consent

Susan Berry, PhD

A radical Massachusetts bill that would end nearly all restrictions on abortion in the state would also allow girls of any age to “consent” to an abortion without informing parents or requiring their consent.

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Companies Are Abandoning Massive Offshore Wind Projects as Development Costs Skyrocket

Georgia Star News Staff

Billions of dollars in scheduled offshore wind developments in waters of the U.K. and U.S. have been paused or canceled in recent weeks, according to Bloomberg News.

Three major offshore wind-related contracts have fallen through as rising costs and economic concerns have saddled developments off the American and British coasts, according to Bloomberg. While offshore wind proponents remain confident in the long term viability of offshore wind, the recent cancellations may be a sign of more substantial troubles for offshore wind despite strong support from the Biden administration, according to Bloomberg.

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Yale Law Library Shuts Down Attempt to Investigate Status of Its Clarence Thomas Portrait

Georgia Star News Staff

Yale law library staff denied a reporter access to view the portraits hanging in its building in May and would not confirm whether a Clarence Thomas portrait donated to the library is among them, and this week deferred on numerous media requests asking about the whereabouts of the painting.

College Fix associate editor Maggie Kelly identified herself as a reporter and asked the interior gate attendant several times at the Lillian Goldman Law Library at Yale whether she could access the building to view its portraits. The attendant told her that only Yale law students and their guests are permitted to access the library. He also declined escorting the reporter around the building for a tour.

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Commentary: Trump’s Coyness on Debate Participation All Part of His Grand Strategy

Georgia Star News Staff
Donald Trump

The first Republican primary debate of the 2024 presidential nominating cycle is set for one month from yesterday – on August 23, 2023. On that day, presumably, all major candidates for the GOP presidential nomination will assemble in Wisconsin to present their campaign pitches to the American public.

There isn’t an incumbent president in this year’s extravaganza, so it’s only natural that several hopefuls have expressed interest in a campaign. Deference is usually afforded a party president during his reelection run (as Democrats have announced there will be no debates on their side with senile Joe Biden currently in office), yet this year is different.

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