Month: December 2023

Biden Energy Efficiency Crackdown Leaves No Appliance in American Home Untouched

Just the News

New York City’s effort in the 1990s to regulate toilets and shower heads to cut down water usage ignited consumer outrage, even inspiring a 1996 Seinfeld television episode in which the character Kramer was so fed up with his apartment’s low-flow shower head that he purchased a high-flow head on the black market.

Three decades later, the Biden administration is leaving few appliances in the home untouched in its quest to regulate the amount of water and energy Americans use for their household chores.

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Julie Kelly Commentary: Lower Courts Dare SCOTUS to Act with Lawless Rulings, But Will They?

Just the News

Throughout 2020, both Republicans and Democrats warned that the U.S. Supreme Court would ultimately determine the winner of the presidential election — albeit for different reasons.

Democrats feared a conservative majority would uphold what they called “voter suppression” laws to tighten voting requirements that might benefit President Trump. Republicans worried how the court would handle cases related to lax absentee voting measures enacted as a result of the coronavirus pandemic that gave Joe Biden a big advantage.

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Commentary: Verses for the New Year’s Poetry

Georgia Star News Staff
Woman Reading

Christmas brings us a feast of words and music: songs played 24/7 on some radio stations, classic literature like A Christmas Carol and “A Visit From St. Nicholas,” a stocking full of new children’s books every year along with the classics like How the Grinch Stole Christmas, films enough to watch every day from Advent throughout Christmastide. And that’s not to mention the ubiquitous Nutcracker performances, kids’ plays at churches and schools, and carolers strolling the corridors of nursing homes and assisted living facilities.

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Religious Liberty Had Major Court, Legislative Wins in 2023

Georgia Star News Staff

Advocates for faith won several major victories this year through the legislature and the court, despite a growing hostility toward religious communities.

There were several examples of anti-religious sentiment over the past year, some of which included an FBI-drafted memo targeting traditional Catholics as “potential domestic terrorists” and the University of West Virginia’s transgender training labeling Christians as oppressors. However, 2023 also boasted several victories for religious Americans in schools, the workplace and the pro-life movement.

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U.S. Public Pensions Invest over $68 Billion in China

Georgia Star News Staff
NYSE Money

American public pension funds have invested tens of billions into Chinese companies over the last three years, according to a new study.

As reported by Axios, the study from the trade advocacy group Future Union shows that a total of $68 billion has been invested in various private Chinese entities in the last three years as of June 30th. There has been at least one public pension fund with investments in China in 42 different states.

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Honduran Nationals Accused of Running Fentanyl Trafficking Rings in Major U.S. Cities

Georgia Star News Staff
Fentanyl

Honduran nationals are running fentanyl trafficking rings in cities across the western part of the U.S., according to Willamette Week.

Law enforcement agencies have been investigating a cartel using “Honduran nationals to distribute bulk amounts of fentanyl…in the western United States,” according to Willamette Week, citing a criminal complaint filed Dec. 12 in U.S. District Court in Portland. The trafficking operations have been identified in Portland, Seattle, Oakland, Denver and Salt Lake City.

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Commentary: DEI Resistance Is Advancing

Georgia Star News Staff

While it certainly hasn’t been done away with, the anti-quality, anti-fairness, and anti-American “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” hustle is taking some hits. This ugly form of tribalism pits men, whites, and the rich (oppressors) against women, blacks, and the poor (the oppressed.) With a language all their own, DEI-ists have wormed into just about every facet of American life. The government, its schools, the military, and corporations have all embraced the sect.

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Commentary: Conservative Methodist Exit Nears End Point

Georgia Star News Staff
People Praying

The window that opened in 2019 to allow United Methodist churches to depart their embattled denomination closes in a week or so, at the end of the year, and at this late hour, approximately one-fourth of the member churches that constitute Protestantism’s second-largest denomination have climbed through that window.

In the largest U.S. church schism since Civil War times, nearly 7,700 churches of the roughly 30,000 in the United Methodist Church (UMC) have voted to take their property and go elsewhere.

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California’s Free Medi-Cal to Cover Illegal Immigrants amid Healthcare Shortage

The Center Square
Doctor and Patient

Beginning January 1, illegal immigrants will be able to qualify for and use Medi-Cal, California’s taxpayer-funded free and low-cost healthcare plan for low-income residents. Experts warn that the state is already facing a healthcare shortage as a new $25 healthcare minimum wage threatens to reduce staffing levels — and doctors who accept Medi-Cal’s low reimbursement rate — even further. 

By expanding Medi-Cal eligibility to illegal immigrants between the ages of 26 and 49 under SB 184, an omnibus spending bill, California will add an estimated 700,000 users to the Medi-Cal system at a cost of $2.7 billion per year. 

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Market Share for Green Bonds Slumped for Another Year Following Backlash

Georgia Star News Staff
New York Stock Exchange

Bonds that consider environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors for their investors made up just 2% of all bond issuance in the U.S., the lowest point in terms of market share since 2020 after also declining in 2022, according to Bloomberg.

ESG bond issuance as a percentage of the market reached an all-time high in 2021 and is not expected by analysts to reach that same high in 2024 as interest rates make the bond market pricier and backlash to the ESG label inhibits sales, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. ESG has come under fire by conservatives who see it as a left-wing initiative infecting the financial world, most recently leading Ohio Republican Rep. Jim Jordan, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, to send subpoenas to financial firms Vanguard, Arjuna Capital, BlackRock and State Street Global Advisors over alleged ESG collusion, arguing it violates antitrust law.

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American Medical Association Restricts Two Scholarships on the Basis of Race

Georgia Star News Staff
Science Lab

The American Medical Association (AMA) Foundation is offering students at least two scholarships on the basis of race, according to its website.

One of the scholarships is for black, Hispanic, Native Hawaiian and native Alaskan medical students, and the other is for black students only, according to its website. Similar scholarships have come under fire from conservative legal organizations, and one legal scholar said that scholarships selective on the basis of race may violate the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

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Bidenomics: Unemployment Insurance Claims Leap as over 1.8 Million Americans Receive Benefits

Just the News

State unemployment insurance claims rose last week by 12,000 while the number of people who are receiving benefits reached 1.875 million for the week ending Dec. 16, according to seasonally adjusted data released Thursday by the Labor Department. 

Seasonally adjusted initial claims hit 218,000 for the week ending Dec. 23 after rising by 12,000, according to the latest data. 

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ICE Report Unmasks Staggering Toll of Biden Border Crisis: Illegal Alien Cases Hit 6 Million

Just the News

The Homeland Security Department agency entrusted with removing illegal immigrants is providing a staggering portrait of America’s border crisis, revealing the backlog of aliens inside the United States awaiting decisions has nearly doubled under President Joe Biden to more than 6 million while arrests of suspected terrorists and violent offenders have also exploded.

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Journalists, Medical Groups, Big Business Emerge as Biden Allies in Social Media Censorship Case

Just the News
Journalists Press

President Joe Biden’s administration is getting some big-name allies as it defends against a landmark free speech infringement lawsuit. Their argument: protecting Americans from indirect censorship by government officials undermines the First Amendment, national security, and public health.

Advocacy groups for journalists, academics, doctors, technologists, and big business, and a powerful senator, made various forms of these arguments in friend-of-the-court briefs to the Supreme Court in the days before and after Christmas. 

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Ken Chesebro Will ‘Poison’ Case Against Trump If He Testifies in Georgia Election Trial, Anti-Trump Lawyer Warns

Tom Pappert

A lawyer and author known for his critiques of the Trump administration told CNN on Friday that lawyer Ken Chesebro, who signed a plea agreement with Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, would likely help former President Donald Trump if called to testify in Georgia.

Elie Honig, a former U.S. Assistant Attorney for the Southern District of New York, called Chesebro a “mixed bag” who may not help Willis prove her case.

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Commentary: Trump Is Correct About Presidential Immunity

Georgia Star News Staff
Trump Mount Rushmore

The media has driven itself into a tizzy in recent days, claiming that despite serving as president of the United States (and being poised to reclaim that office in less than a year’s time), Donald Trump should not be granted the same kinds of immunity and executive privilege that every other chief magistrate enjoyed before him. Showcasing their ignorance of both the Constitution and history, the mainstream media has framed the concept as something of a novel innovation for President Trump’s lawyers, who are advocating for “broad immunity,” implying that no other presidential officeholder has ever made that claim. Nothing could be further from the truth.

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Commentary: Biden’s Sliding Poll Numbers

RealClearWire
Joe Biden Miguel Cardona

President Biden’s sliding poll numbers have set off alarm signals among Democrats who are beginning to see that he might lose the 2024 election to Donald Trump. Those polls have also gotten the attention of pundits who have confidently said for three years now that Trump could never again win a national election. The polling results published over the past few months suggest otherwise: Trump is currently the favorite to win next year’s election.

The most recent RealClearPolitics Average has Trump leading Biden by 2.6 percentage points, a switch of about four points since late summer when Biden led 45%-43%, and in a long-running decline of seven points for Biden since he won the 2020 election with 51% percent of the popular vote.

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Commentary: 50 Years Later, ‘The Exorcist’ Continues to Possess Hollywood’s Imagination, Reflecting Our Obsession with Evil

Georgia Star News Staff
The Exorcist

When the “The Exorcist” premiered 50 years ago, in December 1973, some theatergoers fainted or broke down in tears. A few even vomited.

The film, which cast a young Linda Blair as a girl claiming to be possessed by the devil, was an almost instant success, with moviegoers waiting in line for hours to secure tickets. It went on to gross over US$440 million worldwide.

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Commentary: The Battle for Higher Education

RealClearWire
College Student

Higher education is making news these days.  In Congressional testimony, the Presidents of Harvard, MIT, and Penn couldn’t tell whether calling for the genocide of the Jews constituted harassment without knowing the context.  The effects of their testimony reverberate.

Days later, the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) issued a lengthy report condemning “Political Interference and Academic Freedom in Florida’s Public Higher Education System.”  Prominently featured was a detailed complaint about New College of Florida, where I serve as admissions director.

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Mayors of Democratic Cities Demand Biden Give Them More Money for Illegal Aliens

Georgia Star News Staff
Blue City Mayors

Several far-left mayors of major cities in the United States have formed a coalition to demand that the Biden Administration provide them with even more federal funding to deal with the flood of third-world illegal aliens pouring into their cities.

As reported by Breitbart, the mayors of New York City, Chicago, and Denver – Eric Adams (D-N.Y.), Brandon Johnson (D-Ill.), and Mike Johnston (D-Colo.) – held a meeting and released a joint statement calling for Biden to give more resources to the city governments, as all three cities and other so-called “sanctuary cities” continue to deal with the illegal influx.

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Oregon Mother Appeals Court Ruling Denying Her Ability to Adopt Children After Not Accepting ‘Gender Ideology’

Georgia Star News Staff

A mother of five in Oregon appealed a ruling on Dec 13. prohibiting her from adopting children due to her refusal to adopt the tenets of “gender ideology” because of her Christian beliefs, according to a press release.

Jessica Bates wanted to adopt a sibling pair in 2022, but after going through the application process, she was told by Oregon’s Department of Human Services (ODHS) that she would need to support her adopted child’s desire to change his or her sex and to “affirm” their “gender identity.” Bates filed a lawsuit against the state on religious grounds challenging the gender identity policy in Oregon, which an Oregon district court ruled against in November, and Bates appealed to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

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California Secretary of State Keeps Trump on Ballot as Dems Call for His Removal

Georgia Star News Staff
CA Secretary of State

California’s Secretary of State has decided to keep former President Donald Trump on the state’s presidential primary ballot as other states are disqualifying him based on the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment.

For his actions in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 6, 2021, Trump has been disqualified by two states, Colorado and Maine, with the former temporarily reversing its decision pending a ruling from the Supreme Court on the matter. On Thursday, California’s Democratic Secretary of State, Shirley Weber, announced the state’s presidential primary ballot with Trump included.

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Commentary: The Anti-Capitalist Attack on Therapy

Georgia Star News Staff
Therapy session

There is a common criticism that therapy has become too mainstream and commercialized, feeding into snowflake culture. From influencers receiving sponsorships to promote mental health apps to the prominence of online therapy advertisements on social media, it seems like there’s a movement to push therapy on young people who arguably might not need it.

As the substack writer Freya India writes on the matter: “Maybe you’re struggling because [therapy] companies are taking your human need for connection, your normal feelings of stress and sadness, and using all this to sell solutions that leave you more anxious and alone. Because again: what could be more profitable?”

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Colorado GOP Appeals Removal of Trump from Ballot to U.S. Supreme Court

The Center Square
Trump SCOTUS

The Colorado Republican Party is appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court in a case where the state Supreme Court ruled to remove Donald Trump from the 2024 Republican presidential primary ballot.

The appeal automatically places the former president on the March 5, 2024, primary ballot when certification takes place on Jan. 5, 2024, due to a stipulation in the Colorado Supreme Court ruling, according to a news release from Democratic Secretary of State Jena Griswold. However, if the U.S. Supreme Court declines to hear the case or if it affirms the Colorado Supreme Court, Trump would not appear on the ballot.

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Biden Admin Targets Largest Christian University in U.S.

Georgia Star News Staff
Grand Canyon University campus

The Biden administration’s Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is taking aim at the largest Christian university in the U.S. in a new lawsuit.

Grand Canyon University (GCU) is the largest Christian university in the U.S. with over 100,000 students enrolled and over 85,000 online students as of fall 2022, according to their website. The FTC alleges that GCU engaged in deceptive business practices with its doctoral programs and that it also engaged in illegal telemarketing practices, according to the federal complaint filed in the District of Arizona.

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Man Who Allegedly Stabbed Tourists While Shouting He Wanted ‘White People’ Dead Was Released by Judge Just Weeks Prior

Georgia Star News Staff
Steve Hutcherson

A man who allegedly stabbed two tourists at New York City’s Grand Central Terminal on Christmas Day was released by a judge weeks prior to the incident, according to a report by The New York Post.

Steven Hutcherson, an African-American man aged 36, was arrested by city law enforcement authorities for allegedly assaulting a civilian in the Bronx in November, according to the Post. Even as prosecutors sought to have him committed to a psychiatric institution, he was conditionally released on Dec. 12 by Judge Matthew V. Grecio, an appointee of Democratic Mayor Eric Adams to the New York City Criminal Court.

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U.S. Consumers Face Higher Prices for Goods as Houthis Continue Attacks Against Commercial Vessels

Georgia Star News Staff
Couple Shopping

The Houthi attacks against commercial vessels in the Red Sea are threatening to disrupt U.S. and global markets with delayed shipping times and increased good prices, The Washington Post reported.

The Yemen-based Houthis have launched several attacks since Oct. 7 against vessels in the Red Sea as part of retaliation efforts against Israel and its allies. In an effort to avoid the Houthis, commercial vessels are now taking longer routes to reach their destinations, resulting in delays and higher shipping costs, and ultimately increased prices for consumer goods in the U.S. and across the world, according to the Post.

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Despite Backlog of Veterans’ Claims, VA Using Resources to Help Illegal Immigrants

Just the News

With hundreds of thousands of veterans’ healthcare claims on backlog at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), top Republicans in the House and Senate are hoping to prevent VA resources from being used to process claims for medical care of illegal immigrants.

According to a July report from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the agency contracts with the VA to process medical claims reimbursements involving illegal immigrants even though they did not serve in the U.S. military. Medical professionals treat illegal immigrants detained by ICE on site, but when specialized or emergency care is required, they are transported to private providers, according to Fox News. The arrangement between ICE and the VA was outlined in a 2020 memo during the Trump administration, Fox News reported.

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Georgia State Representative Who Drafted Voting Law Appointed Superior Court Judge, Setting Stage for Special Election

Tom Pappert
Barry Fleming

Governor Brian Kemp appointed Georgia State Representative Barry Fleming (R-Harlem) to become a Superior Judge in the the Columbia Judicial Circuit. Fleming drafted Georgia’s 2021 voting law, and reportedly faced reprisal from government officials because of the legislation.

Kemp revealed his judicial appointments in a Thursday press release that he appointed Fleming to the judgeship vacated with the retirement of Judge James Blanchard.

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Commentary: Our Razor’s Edge

Georgia Star News Staff

At the end of the year, we are on the razor’s edge of many things that soon may blow up.

Americans are far beyond President Joe Biden’s serial untruths of some eight years that he never discussed Hunter Biden’s various get-rich-quick schemes.

All were predicated on the perception of foreign interests purchasing from the Biden family the influence of then-senator, vice president, and possibly soon-to-be President Joe Biden.

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Commentary: Illegal Immigration’s Impact on Public Health

RealClearWire
Illegal Immigrants

Successful public health campaigns and medical advances have enabled the United States to conquer a range of disfiguring and damaging diseases. Polio, which paralyzed thousands of Americans annually, was wiped out by widespread vaccinations. In 1999 the nation’s last hospital for lepers closed its doors in Louisiana. A global campaign eradicated smallpox, while lethal tuberculosis, the “consumption” that stalked characters in decades of literature, seemed beaten by antibiotics. Measles outbreaks still occur from time to time, but they are small, local, and easily contained.

Recently, however, some of these forgotten but still formidable infectious diseases have begun to reappear in the U.S. For two years running, polio has been detected in some New York water samples, and this fall, leprosy re-emerged in Florida, where cases of malaria have also been recorded.

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Despite Backlog of Claims, Department of Veterans Affairs Using Resources to Help Illegal Immigrants

Georgia Star News Staff

At a press conference on immigration reform earlier this month, Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., criticized President Biden for putting the needs of illegal immigrants over those of America’s veterans. “Veterans have a hard enough time getting the care that they need and now they have to compete with illegal immigrants? This will not fix the border crisis. Biden’s border crisis puts illegal immigrants first, it puts our veterans last,” Daines said.

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Academic Groups Wary of UC San Diego’s Climate Change Grad Requirement

Just the News
UCSD Campus

The University of California San Diego does not require students to take courses in literature, foreign language, economics or U.S. government and history, receiving a “C” rating from the American Council of Trustees and Alumni for its general education requirements.

Students haven’t been able to graduate for 10 years now without a diversity, equity and inclusion course, however, and next fall’s incoming class will have another arguably ideological obligation to fulfill: climate change.

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Georgia Sees Its Population Increase by 1.1 Percent in 2023

The Center Square

Georgia saw its population increase by 1.1% from 2022 to 2023, though new numbers show the rate of its increase trailed that of several neighboring states.

According to the latest estimate from the U.S. Census Bureau, Georgia’s population stood at more than 11 million people in 2023, up from 10.9 million in 2022. Census numbers show that the state’s population has grown more than 2.9% since 2020.

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Air Force Academy Privately Fretted the End of Race-Based Admissions Would Hamstring ‘Diversity’ Goals

Georgia Star News Staff

The Air Force Academy’s top official worried the Supreme Court’s decision that race-based admissions were unconstitutional would set back the service’s “warfighting imperative” of building a racially diverse military, according to emails obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

On June 30, 2023, Lt. Gen. Richard Clark, the Air Force Academy’s superintendent, wrote a preview of the consequences that the Supreme Court’s decision striking down affirmative action could have for service academies’ abilities to judge candidates on the basis of race, according to emails the DCNF obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request. Although the justices did not overtly apply the decision to military schools, the records show how the Air Force Academy scrambled to minimize the impact of the June 29 decision on racial diversity goals.

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China’s Funding of U.S. Climate Initiatives Mirrors the Russian Funding of Anti-Fracking Groups

Just the News
Windmills

A nonprofit with operations in Beijing reportedly funded a number of nonprofits in the United States fighting climate change and pushing for sustainable or “green” energy.

Tax filings obtained by Fox News showed funding from the Energy Foundation China, which is headquartered in San Francisco and has a majority of its operations in China. The group, which refers to itself in tax filings as “Energy Foundation China” contributed $3.8 million to initiatives to phase out coal use and expand the use of electric vehicles, according to Fox News.

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Georgia Election Board Chairman Will Be Replaced Weeks After Vote Against Investigating Brad Raffensperger

Tom Pappert

The Georgia State Senate is reportedly planning to replace the acting chairman of the State Election Board just weeks after he voted against investigating how Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) managed the 2020 presidential election. Raffensperger’s political adversary, Lt. Governor Burt Jones (R), will reportedly play a role in determining the new chairman.

Acting chairman Matt Mashburn will be replaced with another Republican by the Georgia State Senate, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, which cited two sources familiar with the plan. Mashburn most recently received a two-year appointment by former Lt. Governor Geoff Duncan (R), and was confirmed by the Georgia Senate in 2021. His term expired earlier this year.

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Top Business Schools Push CRT and Other Progressive Ideas: Report

Georgia Star News Staff

America’s prestigious business schools regularly push leftist ideologies, including critical race theory and environmental, social, and governance standards, according to a new report.

The Legal Insurrection Foundation launched the project through its CriticalRace.org database. It details the CRT and environmental, social, and governance initiatives at the top 10 business schools in the country, including minority scholarship programs, discriminatory admissions practices, and “anti-racism” trainings required for faculty members.

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Commentary: CDC’s Latest Abortion Numbers Is a Sobering Reminder of Monumental Task Ahead

Georgia Star News Staff

The most recent report on abortion from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is out and, as usual, it’s grim.

The number of abortions rose from 620,327 in 2020 to 625,978 in 2021. The key drivers in this depressing increase are a greater use of dangerous chemical abortion pills and weakened safety protocols governing the use of such pills.

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