Month: July 2023

Bipartisan Effort to Reform FISA, End Abuses Could be Iced by GOP Outrage of Durham Report Findings

Just the News

Congressional Democrats have joined in bipartisan effort to reform the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act amid abuses but GOP outrage over the findings in the Durham Report, including recent calls to impeach Attorney General Merrick Garland over such matters, has likely hurt such efforts.

Congressional reauthorization of FISA is due in December, with particular focus on Section 702 of the law, which permits the government to conduct targeted surveillance on foreign people outside the U.S., with the assistance of electronic communication service providers, to acquire foreign intelligence information.

Read More

Commentary: On Independence Day, Remember Why Economic Liberty Matters for America

Admin

I’ve often thought there is something providential about the Declaration of Independence being drafted and promulgated throughout the American Colonies the same year that Adam Smith’s book “The Wealth of Nations” was published.

After all, both texts were revolutionary, and both were fundamentally concerned with protecting and promoting liberty.

Read More

Election Integrity Group Calls on Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to ‘Unplug the Dominion Voting System’ Following Halderman Report

Kaitlin Housler

VoterGA is calling on Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “unplug” the Dominion Voting Systems across Georgia following an expert report evaluating the security of the state’s voting equipment.

Read More

Angel Mom, a Newly Elected State Lawmaker, Joins DeSantis in Fight for Border Security

The Center Square

Angel Mom Kiyan Michael, a Republican state representative from Jacksonville, Florida, has come full circle from running for office, endorsing Gov. Ron DeSantis for governor, getting elected, and now endorsing him for president. She celebrated her bittersweet victory and legislative accomplishments this year, joining DeSantis last week in Eagle Pass, Texas, as he unveiled his plan “to stop the invasion at the southern border.”

Angel parents are those whose children are killed by foreign nationals who’ve illegally entered the country.

Read More

Commentary: The Surprising Origins of the ‘No Taxation Without Representation’ Slogan

Admin

Ask most Americans where the slogan “No taxation without representation!” came from and the likely response will be “American colonists protesting against Britain in the 1760s.” But the spirit, if not the precise letter of the phrase, originated more than a century before. Moreover, we can thank the Brits themselves for it. It started with something called the “ship tax.”

Since the early Middle Ages, English custom allowed the monarch to impose a special levy in times of war upon citizens who lived in coastal settlements. They could meet the requirement by providing ships, shipbuilding materials, or money for the Crown to build ships (hence the name, “ship tax”). Kings and Queens levied the “tax” as a royal prerogative, meaning they skipped the annoyance of securing the consent of Parliament as required in the Magna Carta of 1215.

Read More

TikTok’s CCP-Linked Parent Company Is Trying to Break into a Whole New Industry

Admin

ByteDance, the CCP-linked parent company of popular shortform video platform TikTok, is trying to enter the book publishing industry, The New York Times reported Saturday.

The company filed in late April for a U.S. trademark for a publishing firm, 8th Note Press, and has already begun reaching out to some independent authors for the rights to sell their books, the NYT reported. TikTok has helped some books become bestsellers in the past several years, posts using the #Booktok hashtag have been viewed more than 91 billion times and the combined sales of 100 authors with large BookTok followings eclipsed $760 million in 2022, a 60% surge from the year prior.

Read More

Defiant Harvard Vows to Continue to Use Race in Admissions Decisions

Admin

Harvard University said it plans to continue to use race as a factor in admissions in the wake of the 6-3 Supreme Court decision last week that ruled affirmative action enrollment decisions are unconstitutional.

A June 29 memo to the Harvard community from President Lawrence Bacow and more than a dozen deans and provosts cited a line in the ruling that states colleges and universities may consider in admissions decisions “an applicant’s discussion of how race affected his or her life, be it through discrimination, inspiration, or otherwise.”

Read More

Commentary: The Bidens’ Existential Threats to the American Rule of Law

Admin

President Joe Biden, the Biden grifting conglomerate, the Department of Justice, and the FBI under its fourth consecutive weaponized director, are in danger of subverting the American system of law.

They are in various ways undermining the tradition of self-reported income tax computation and voluntary compliance.

Read More

Independence Day Cookout Spending to Hit Record High Amid Inflation

Admin

Individual spending on Fourth of July food items has risen to $93.34 on average across the U.S., the highest the National Retail Federation (NRF) has recorded since it began collecting this information in 2003.

The cost of one person’s July Fourth foods rose about 10 percent over the past year from $84.12, according to NRF. Inflation remained twice as high as the Federal Reserve’s target in May, according to a Labor Statistics (BLS) report, and the price of energy and food increased 4.0 percent on an annual basis last month.

Read More

Newt Gingrich Commentary: The Woke Left Are the Means for Decentralized Tyranny in Maoist America

Admin

Mao Zedong became one of the last century’s most powerful dictators by completely transforming Chinese society through a systematic use of violence, coercion, and aggressive propaganda. His method was so unique – and ruthlessly effective – it was codified by historians and political scholars as Maoism.

Today, a new kind of Maoism is developing in the American left, and it is a direct threat to the American traditions of individual rights, the rule of law, the Constitution, and personal freedom.

Read More

Constitutional Experts Welcome Supreme Court’s Takedown of Affirmative Action but Warn of Universities’ Attempts at ‘Workarounds’

Susan Berry, PhD

Many of those who are applauding the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision Thursday that struck down affirmative action are also warning that universities that have been steeped for decades in “equity” and “diversity” ideology are not likely to go quietly.

Read More

Republican AGs Push Back Against ‘Reckless’ Plan from Biden’s EPA That Could Further Hobble American Coal

Admin

by Nick Pope   Several state attorneys general are engaging in legal battles against President Joe Biden’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to determine whether or not his administration will be able to impose its costly plan for implementing a regulation designed to further incapacitate the American coal industry. Multiple states…

Read More

With Scandal Revelations, Joe Biden Couldn’t Get a CIA Security Clearance, Intel Experts Say

Just the News

A pressure campaign to get communist China energy executives to pay money. Classified memos improperly stored in an insecure garage, An FBI informant’s allegation of bribery in Ukraine. A false claim of Russian disinformation to sway an election.

The swell of scandalous evidence engulfing Joe Biden’s family right now is raising a tantalizing question: if he weren’t president could he still get a security clearance if he applied for a job at the CIA or FBI?

Read More

Border Patrol Responds to Video of Agent Cutting Razor Wire to Let Migrants Enter: They Had Permission

Just the News

U.S. Customs and Border Protection responded to a video appearing to show a Border Patrol agent cutting through razor wire on private property to allow migrants through.

Fox News correspondent Bill Melguin posted the video Friday and said it is from a source in Eagle Pass, Texas, and shows the federal official cutting the razor wire placed by the state in order to let the migrants enter for processing after they crossed illegally.

Read More

SCOTUS to Take Up Second Amendment Case Next Term

Just the News

After issuing a string of conservative rulings this week to close out the term, the Supreme Court will hear a key Second Amendment case later this year to determine whether a federal ban on gun possession affecting those under domestic violence restraining orders is constitutional.

At issue is a dispute involving Zackey Rahimi, whom Texas placed under a restraining order due to a violent altercation with his girlfriend, The Hill reported. He subsequently faced federal charges of possessing a firearm while under the order. He had challenged the constitutionality of the ban but pleaded guilty after losing the case.

Read More

Commentary: A CIA Agent’s Analysis of the Chaos In Russia and What to Look for Next

Admin

It’s been a wild set of events in Russia over the past week – with mutinous Russian forces marching towards Moscow, President Putin addressing the nation about their treason, and then the rebels announcing they would turn back “according to the plan” – as though nothing had happened.

As these whiplashing events evolve, here are 10 key developments that former CIA Officers like me will be watching for in the near and long term…

Read More

Commentary: SCOTUS’ Decision on Affirmative Action Could Spell Big Trouble for ESG’s ‘Diversity, Equity and Inclusion’ Hiring Quotas

Admin

It’s a simple ruling: “Eliminating racial discrimination means eliminating all of it.”

On June 29, the Supreme Court affirmed Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, 42 U.S. Code § 2000d’s prohibition on racial discrimination in federally funded programs, including higher education, at both public and private universities, in the Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard decision.

Read More

Commentary: Actually, They ARE Coming for Your Children

Admin

From the South Lawn of the White House to the pulsing heartbeats of North America’s bustling metropolises, Democrats are stepping into the 2024 electoral fray armed with a transgender-dominated platform that makes the riots of 2020 look like a block party.

This time, the spotlight is focused on the very future of the country: our children.

Read More

U.S. Supreme Court Again Vacates Judgement Against Oregon Bakers

The Center Square
Aaron and Melissa Klein

For the second time, the U.S. Supreme Court has vacated a lower court decision against a Christian couple in Oregon who were punished for not making a cake for a same-sex wedding.

In an orders list release Friday, the nation’s highest court vacated the decision against Aaron and Melissa Klein in their ongoing litigation with the Oregon Bureau of Labor & Industries.

Read More

‘Conservative’ Koch Political Network Reports $70 Million Raised for Upcoming Races, Takes Aim at Trump

Just the News

The political network backed by conservative billionaire Charles Koch has collected over $70 million for upcoming political races including backing a challenger to former President Trump’s 2024 GOP presidential primary bid.

The money was raised by Americans for Prosperity Action, the Koch network super PAC, and first reported by The New York Times.

Read More

Louisiana Governor Signs Law Restricting Kids’ Access to Sexually Explicit Books

Admin

Democratic Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards signed a bill into law Wednesday that will limit minors’ access to sexually explicit materials in libraries.

Senate Bill 7, authored by Republican Louisiana state Sen. Heather Cloud, will become effective Aug. 1, 2023, according to Louisiana’s legislative website. The act requires public libraries in the state to create a system for classifying what materials are sexually explicit, and then giving parents the final say in whether their children can access those materials.

Read More

New State Department Report Says Biden Didn’t Know Who Was in Charge of Afghanistan Debacle

Admin

The Biden State Department did not have clarity on who was in charge of coordinating the department’s role in the 2021 Afghanistan withdrawal, a report released on Friday found.

A State Department after-action review team found fault with both the Biden and Trump administrations for contributing to the chaos of the August 2021 military withdrawal, which left the Afghan government vulnerable to collapse and contributed to a massive effort to evacuate thousands of Americans and allies afterward, the report shows. While the U.S. military had contingency planning for an evacuation of Kabul in place “for some time” ahead of when the withdrawal was ordered in August in 2021, the State Department’s participation in the operation “was hindered by the fact that it was unclear who in the Department had the lead.”

Read More

The 2024 Election Could Come Down to These Four States

Georgia Star News Staff

The upcoming presidential election could potentially come down to Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and Wisconsin, according to the Sabato’s Crystal Ball 2024 Electoral College predictions released Thursday.

The nonpartisan report, facilitated by the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics, labels the four states as “toss-ups” based on the 2020 election and 2022 midterms. The 2024 landscape slightly favors the Democrats and will likely be another matchup between former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden, according to the report.

Read More

Texas Abortion Ban Leads to Additional 10,000 Births, Paper Concludes

Just the News

An abortion ban in the state of Texas has led to nearly 10,000 additional live births in the state, researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health estimate.

Between April and December of 2022, the researchers conclude that the state witnessed 9,799 additional births that would not have been occurred but for the existence of the state’s abortion ban, the researchers concluded. The state’s previous law allowed abortion up to 22 weeks of gestation, while the current legislation prohibits abortion on detection of embryonic cardiac activity, i.e. the detection of a fetal heartbeat. This can occur as early as 5-6 weeks into pregnancy. 

Read More

Supreme Court Expands Degree to Which Businesses Must Accommodate Religious Workers

The Center Square

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Thursday to expand the degree to which businesses have to accommodate workers for religious purposes.

In the case, Groff v. DeJoy, Postmaster General, the court found that postman Gerald Groff, an evangelical Christian, should not have been disciplined for refusing to work on Sundays for religious reasons. The majority opinion cited Title VII’s requirement to accommodate employees for religious purposes provided it does not cause the employer “undue hardship.”

Read More

Study: Biden Regulations Costing Average American Household $10,000

Georgia Star News Staff

A new study reveals that the average American household has lost at least $10,000 due to various new regulations implemented by the Biden Administration.

As reported by Fox News, the study was conducted by the Committee to Unleash Prosperity, a conservative economics group, and was authored by Casey Mulligan, an economics professor at the University of Chicago. According to the study, the rate of new regulations being enacted by the Biden Administration has already surpassed the pace of new regulations under the Obama Administration.

Read More

Georgia’s Gov. Kemp Transfers Millions for Water Wars Fight, Public Safety

The Center Square

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp has transferred more than $8.9 million from the Governor’s Emergency Fund to several state agencies, including millions for public safety and a decades-long fight over water.

As part of the allocation, Kemp, a Republican, is sending $5.7 million to cover costs — including counsel fees and litigation expenses — stemming from a long-standing dispute over water use in the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River and the Alabama-Coosa-Tallapoosa River basins.

Read More

Commentary: The Case for Impeaching Joe Biden

Georgia Star News Staff

When I defended former President Trump against a Democratic effort to impeach and remove him on grounds that I believe are unconstitutional, I predicted that when the Republicans gained control of the House, they would use that precedent as a justification for trying to impeach the next Democratic president.

Sure enough, Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) has introduced articles of impeachment that replicated what the Democrats had done just three and a half years earlier.

Read More

GOP Rep Introduces Bill to Counter Congolese Child Mines, Chinese Influence in Minerals

Georgia Star News Staff

Republican Rep. Chris Smith of New Jersey introduced legislation Friday which would ban imports containing key minerals extracted by child labor in Congolese mines and counter Chinese control of the global critical minerals supply.

The Countering China’s Exploitation of Strategic Metals and Minerals and Child and Forced Labor in the Democratic Republic of Congo Act would prohibit the importation of all products containing cobalt and lithium extracted by child miners and victims of labor trafficking in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), according to a press release from Smith’s office. The rare minerals are crucial ingredients for the lithium-ion batteries that power electric vehicles (EVs), a key pillar of President Joe Biden’s larger green energy agenda.

Read More

Commentary: Today’s Youth Are Digital, De-Churched, and Depressed

Georgia Star News Staff

The kids aren’t alright, and it’s starting to show. Last week, the New York Post published a front-page story that heralded “The New Great Depression,” tracking the twin rise of social media and juvenile depression. 

Since 1991, the University of Michigan has annually polled thousands of students in middle and high school, asking whether they agree with the following three statements: “I can’t do anything right,” “I do not enjoy life,” and “My life is not useful.”

Read More

Commentary: Dear America, The Intelligence Community Isn’t Your Friend

Georgia Star News Staff

The intelligence agencies have been in the news a lot lately — and not because they deserve praise. Recently, the FBI refused for weeks to provide the House Oversight Committee with a document that alleges a bribery scheme involving President Joe Biden during his time serving as vice president.

To avoid a contempt of Congress hearing, FBI Director Christopher Wray decided, at the last minute, to allow the committee’s members to view the document in question.

Read More

Tucker Carlson Mocks Rachel ‘Rick’ Levine in Latest ‘Tucker on Twitter’ Monologue

Kaitlin Housler

In the eighth episode of his newest production, “Tucker on Twitter,” former Fox News primetime host Tucker Carlson took aim at Admiral Rachel L. Levine, who currently serves as the 17th Assistant Secretary for Health for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Read More

IRS Whistleblower: Hunter Biden Hasn’t Paid Taxes on 2014 Money from Ukrainian Oligarch’s Firm

Just the News

Federal agents secured evidence that Hunter Biden engaged in a “pretty classic tax evasion scheme” that allowed him to avoid paying taxes on millions of dollars in income since at least 2014, and the deal he ultimately got would not have been afforded to other Americans facing such serious charges, an IRS whistleblower who supervised the investigation tells Just the News.

“If these facts were from the local businessman or the neighbor next door, they would have been charged, they would have already probably had their entire sentence,” IRS Supervisor Agent Gary Shapley said during a 45-minute interview aired Thursday on the John Solomon Reports podcast.

Read More

Supreme Court Ban on Affirmative Action Expected to Prompt ‘Workarounds’ to Favor Some Races

Just the News

Two decades ago, the Supreme Court purportedly put limits on racial preferences in college admissions: no stereotyping of minority viewpoints or policies that “unduly harm” non-minorities, plus a 25-year ticking clock to wind them down.

Not only is there “no end in sight” to race-conscious admissions with five years left, but selective colleges can’t even explain how courts would evaluate the constitutionality of their programs under the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment, the Supreme Court ruled Thursday, casting a pall over the use of race in settings far beyond higher education.

Read More

Christian Organizations Celebrate Supreme Court’s Ruling Against Forcing Web Designer to Work for Same-Sex Weddings

Susan Berry, PhD

Christian groups applauded the Supreme Court’s ruling Friday that held “The First Amendment prohibits Colorado from forcing a website designer to create expressive designs speaking messages with which the designer disagrees.”

Organizations, including the Catholic League, Family Research Council, and the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, submitted friend of the court (amici) briefs in support of 303 Creative, the custom website design business owned by Lorie Smith.

Read More

Commentary: Tennessee’s Certificate of Need Laws Stifle Competition and Allow Harmful Healthcare Monopolies

Georgia Star News Staff

In today’s healthcare landscape, access to affordable and high-quality health care services remains a pressing concern for individuals and families. It is especially important during these economically turbulent times that the government spend taxpayer dollars wisely and on programs that actually offer real value to taxpayers. 

Tennessee offers a cautionary tale about wasting taxpayer money on ineffective and harmful bureaucracy. In the Volunteer State, Certificate of Need (CON) laws play a significant factor in preventing free-market competition. In the worst cases, it allows entrenched interests to operate as monopolies. CON laws erodes patient choice by eliminating affordable options in the marketplace and patients suffer the consequences. 

Read More

Commentary: Mainstream Media Has Convinced Even Republicans to Believe Hunter’s Business Is No Big Deal

Georgia Star News Staff

After reading my commentary about my self-inflicted ordeal of listening to NPR for a month, a friend noted this station’s “reports” bear no resemblance to “objective reality.” Can so many Americans, asked my correspondent, believe that the U.S. is full of oppressed transgendered who must take up arms to protect themselves against “anti-trans rhetoric?” Do NPR listeners really think American blacks are suffering from “systemic white racism,” and that only increased government control can protect them from being shot on the streets by white racists?

Read More

Commentary: The International Energy Agency’s Net Zero Roadmap Will Increase Energy Costs

Georgia Star News Staff

Two years ago, efforts by climate activists and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) investors to block investment in oil and gas production by Western companies appeared to have received a seal of approval from no less an authority than the International Energy Agency (IEA), when it published Net Zero by 2050: A Roadmap for the Global Energy Sector. As a result, attempts to achieve net zero carbon emissions (NZE) by 2050 became central to the “E” in ESG and the IEA’s net zero roadmap has come to define the NZE baseline for energy companies.

Read More

Music Spotlight: BoomTown Saints

Bethany Bowman

NASHVILLE, Tennessee- Country duo Chris Ramos and Ben Chism who make up BoomTown Saints are an unlikely pair. Until a few years ago, they didn’t know the other existed. I wanted to find out how they ended up together, especially since being a professional country music artist was never on either of their radars.

Ramos is from southwest Florida but has been in Nashville for 25 years, where he started his career being an IT guy and then became a pharmaceutical representative. Eventually, Ramos became an independent consultant helping pharmaceutical companies commercialize their products.

Read More

Commentary: American Medical Association Compromised by Radical Ideology

Georgia Star News Staff

The American Medical Association recently passed a series of resolutions in the name of diversity, equity and inclusion that highlight how elite, professional organizations have been deeply compromised by ideology.

A report by National Review on Monday noted that the AMA, which accredits medical schools and has enormous power over the medical profession, passed a series of resolutions in mid-June denouncing legislation that would prevent “gender-affirming care” for minors and in support of racial preferences in higher education.

Read More

North Carolina Governor Signs Amendment to 12 Week Abortion Ban into Law

Georgia Star News Staff

Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper of North Carolina signed an amendment to the state’s 12-week abortion ban into law late Thursday evening.

The legislation is currently under review by a federal judge after a lawsuit was filed by Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, who argued that the law was vague and potentially violated women’s constitutional rights, according to CNN. Republicans introduced and passed an amendment Tuesday to the bill to clarify some of the language, which Roy signed before the new abortion law takes effect on July 1.

Read More

Indiana Supreme Court Rules Abortion Ban Is Constitutional

Georgia Star News Staff

The Indiana Supreme Court issued a decision Friday that said the state’s abortion ban was constitutional in a 4-1 ruling, according to the text.

Senate Bill 1 was signed into law in 2022 and prohibited abortion with limited exceptions in the case of preventing “serious health risk of the pregnant woman or to save the pregnant woman’s life,” if the child is diagnosed with a “lethal fetal anomaly” or rape or incest, according to the bill’s text. The law was quickly halted by a lawsuit brought by Planned Parenthood Great Northwest before being vacated by the state Supreme Court, which ruled that the law did not violate the Indiana Constitution.

Read More