A Big Tech-aligned group funded through liberal dark money is moving to expand “nationwide,” even though about half the states have banned using private money to run elections. The Center for Tech and Civic Life launched the U.S. Alliance for Election Excellence in partnership with organizations funded by the liberal Arabella Advisors and Democracy Fund, as The Daily Signal previously reported. The tech center is the same group that distributed $350 million in election-administration grants in 2020 from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife.
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Commentary: ‘Restorative Justice’ Endangers Students and Teachers
As millions of children settle into an uninterrupted academic term, widespread classroom disorder is undermining efforts to reintroduce students to in-person learning. This increased disorder corresponds with an increase in district-approved “restorative justice” programs, which address classroom dysfunction through nonpunitive measures. Though these programs have existed for decades, they are gaining momentum nationwide.
Read MoreCensus May Add First New Ethnic Group since 1997
A new proposal from the Biden Administration calls for the census and federal surveys to add a new group labeled “Middle Eastern and North African,” which would mark the first new ethnic group added to federal records since 1997. According to ABC News, the new proposals released Thursday would combine all questions about race and Hispanic ethnicity into a single question, rather than keeping them separate as the 1997 standards do. The proposals were crafted by a group of selected representatives from multiple federal agencies, organized by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB).
Read MoreBiden Administration Playing ‘Shell Game’ to Mask Illegal Immigration, Former CBP Chief Alleges
Even as the illegal immigration crisis along America’s southern border continues to worsen, Biden administration officials are resorting to sleight of hand to downplay the number of migrants crossing into the U.S., alleges former acting Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Commissioner Mark Morgan.
Read MoreRepublicans Bring New Strategy to Wisconsin Reading Readiness Proposal
The latest reading readiness proposal at the Wisconsin capitol, with the backing of the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) in tow, may have a chance at becoming law.
Read MoreCommentary: There Is a Reason Why DEI Is Little More Than a Costly Failure
Earlier this month, amid howls from the “progressive” Left, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis demanded an accounting of “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) expenditures from the state’s public colleges and universities. The results are exactly what you might expect. According to a recent report from Campus Reform, in 2022, Florida institutions spent $28 million on DEI initiatives, more than half of that ($15 million) funded by taxpayers.
Read MoreCommentary: Sunshine Might Be Free but Solar Power Is Not Cheap
Mississippi residents are consistently told that renewable energy sources, like solar panels, are now the lowest-cost ways to generate electricity, but these claims are based on creative accounting gimmicks that only examine a small portion of the expenses incurred to integrate solar onto the grid while excluding many others.
Read MoreBorder Police Dealing with New Smuggling Problem: Eggs
The United States Customs and Border Protection is asking Americans to stop trying to smuggle in raw eggs from Mexico.
Read MoreThe Number of Schools Eligible to Participate Increase in Wisconsin Choice Program
Former Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan of Ohio called the Democratic Party’s brand “toxic” Friday during a discussion on “Real Time with Bill Maher.”
Read MoreEU Approves Use of ‘Cricket Powder’ in Food, Citing ‘Environmental Pressures’
The European Union approved cricket powder as a novel food to be added to bread, pasta, meat substitutes and various other foods, according to a Jan. 3 entry into the EU’s regulation database.
Read MoreDecember Consumer Spending Declines; Recession Concerns Remain
Consumer spending fell 0.2% in December from the previous month, the Commerce Department said Friday.
Read MoreCommentary: New Regulation Handicaps Disabled Gun Owners
The Biden administration’s newly released regulations regarding “pistol-stabilizing braces” will instantly turn tens of thousands of law-abiding Americans into felons and create a national rifle registry.
Read MoreAlliance of Big Tech, Dark Money Groups Partners with Counties in State That Bans ‘Zuckerbucks’ for Elections
The group that distributed most of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s controversial election grants in 2020 has designated at least two Utah counties as part of a new effort, despite a state ban on private money funding election operations. The two local juridictions are Cache County, with a population of 137,00, and Weber County, population 267,000.
Read MoreUtah School Administrators Admit to Deceiving Parents by Using ‘Loopholes’ to Teach Critical Race Theory in Classrooms
Less than a week after an undercover investigation revealed that school administrators in Cincinnati, Ohio have admitted to covertly indoctrinating students with Critical Race Theory (CRT) in the classrooms, they discovered similarly that school officials throughout Utah, are prepared to use “loopholes” in order to promote social justice and CRT to their students. Ohio and Utah are both conservative states, which is why activist instructors have devised more covert methods of presenting divisive subjects.
Read MoreRepublican U.S. Senators File Bill to End China’s Permanent Normal Trade Status
Several Republican senators filed a bill on Friday to end China’s Permanent Normal Trade Status (PNTR), citing concerns over American job losses and human rights abuses overseas. The China Trade Relations Act, which would strip China of its PNTR, was filed by U.S. Sens. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., Rick Scott, R-Fla., Ted Budd, R-N.C., and J.D. Vance, R-Ohio.
Read MoreTop Soros Director Is Frequent Guest at Biden White House
One of the highest-ranking executives with George Soros’ far-left Open Society Foundation (OSF) has been revealed to have close access to the Biden White House, according to newly-released records. As reported by Fox News, the executive director of OSF U.S., Tom Perriello, has made numerous visits to the White House for private meetings and public events over the last two years. Perriello also sits on the board of Governing for Impact, and is part of Soros’ inner circle.
Read MoreWisconsin Budget Surplus to Top $7 Billion by July
Wisconsin’s record budget surplus is growing once again.
The Legislative Fiscal Bureau on Wednesday said the surplus will now hit $7.1 billion by July.
Read MoreCommentary: The Unknown Impact of Inflation on Rural Americans
When the Federal Reserve convenes at the end of January 2023 to set interest rates, it will be guided by one key bit of data: the U.S. inflation rate. The problem is, that stat ignores a sizable chunk of the country – rural America. Currently sitting at 6.5%, the rate of inflation is still high, even though it has fallen back slightly from the end of 2022.
Read MoreCommentary: The Left’s New Scheme That Threatens Free Elections
Like a bad movie sequel, leftwing nonprofits like the Center for Tech and Civil Life (CTCL) are once again pumping millions of dollars in left-wing “dark money” into election offices across the country. Just like they did in 2020, these groups are looking for ways to skew elections and boost liberal turnout in battleground states. But this time, there’s a twist. CTCL and its allies aren’t just doling out eye-popping grants. They are aiming for nothing less than a shadow takeover of election offices. Through their new $80 million program, called the “U.S. Alliance for Election Excellence,” the left is targeting local election offices. The goal: push liberal voting policies and systematically reshape how our elections are run.
Read MoreBuzzFeed Announces Plans to Use AI for Content Creation
BuzzFeed announced Thursday that it would begin using artificial intelligence to help generate its content. The company will partner with OpenAI to start producing “AI inspired content,” according to CNN Business, and plans to make such output an integral part of its regular business.
Read MoreCommentary: The Importance of Reading Difficult Books
In his work The Western Canon, Harold Bloom wrote that a “reader does not read for easy pleasure or to expiate social guilt, but to enlarge a solitary existence.” The apparent message in Bloom’s flourish is that a reader ought to be after something more difficult to attain than mere pleasure. Passive consumption of entertainment will simply not do. Instead, readers are to be fully engaged with the work in front of them, especially when the process is difficult. It’s through this difficulty that a reader inevitably enlarges what Bloom refers to as a “solitary existence,” or, put another way, an existential engagement with the human condition.
Read MoreCommentary: Parents Must Take Charge of Your Children’s Education
Are America’s public schools falling apart? The evidence certainly points in that direction.
Read MoreRadical Muslim Cleric Convicted in New York of Supporting ISIS
Radical Islamic cleric Shaikh Abdullah Faisal was convicted Thursday on several counts of supporting terrorism after working as a recruiter for the Islamic State (ISIS), according to the Manhattan District Attorney’s office. Faisal promoted a radical interpretation of Islam that supported the idea of killing nonbelievers, leading to his incarceration in Britain in 2003 and deportation from Kenya in 2010, according to the New York Times. On Thursday, District Attorney Alvin Bragg announced Faisal had been found guilty several counts of lending support for terrorism after attempting to recruit an undercover officer into ISIS.
Read MoreTrump Unveils Plan to ‘Save’ Education from ‘Radical Left Maniacs’
Former President Donald Trump announced Thursday his plan to “save American education” from “the Radical Left maniacs” as part of his 2024 presidential campaign. The plan, unveiled on Twitter, focuses on tackling cultural issues in education including critical race theory (CRT) and gender ideology. Trump proposed cutting federal funding from schools that promote “[CRT], gender ideology, or other inappropriate racial, sexual, or political content onto our children,” the investigation of schools which engage in “race-based discrimination,” and keeping men out of women’s sports.
Read MoreBiden’s National Security Council Held Meetings with CDC on COVID Disinformation, Emails Show
President Joe Biden’s National Security Council (NSC) meetings with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) about COVID-19 disinformation in 2021, according to documents obtained in an America First Legal (AFL) lawsuit. After the Kaiser Family Foundation published its latest State of Vaccine Confidence Insights Report — a report it routinely produced for the Biden administration — in May 2021, Elisabeth Wilhelm, a “Vaccine Confidence Specialist” at the CDC, shared it with numerous CDC and White House officials, according to emails obtained by AFL. This prompted a meeting between agencies of the federal government, including the CDC and the NSC, about the vaccine disinformation, according to heavily redacted emails.
Read MoreSen. Marco Rubio Cites Project Veritas Undercover Video in Letter to Pfizer CEO on Alleged Gain-of-Function Research
Florida U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R) cited the most recent undercover investigation released by Project Veritas (PV) in a letter to Albert Bourla, CEO of Pfizer, and noted that, according to the PV video, Pfizer may be conducting gain-of-function research to mutate the COVID virus to create additional variants and vaccines to combat them for profit. Rubio’s office noted that, in the PV exposé, Pfizer executive Jordon Trishton Walker claimed the drug company is considering the possibility of mutating the COVID virus itself via “directed evolution” in order to keep profiting off a continued stream of vaccines – which he later said would be a “cash cow” for the company.
Read MoreSPN Poll: Parents Support School Choice
More than six out of every 10 voters with children under 18 would be receptive to the prospect of their child attending a school outside of their locally zoned public district, a new State Policy Network poll finds. Overall, the SPN State Voices opinion poll of roughly 2,000 registered voters conducted in partnership with Morning Consult through online interviews found that 62% of respondents said they would interested in such an option, some 30% of them very much so.
Read MoreAs House GOP Secures First Cooperation in Biden Probe, Pressure Grows for Damage Assessment
As House Republicans secure the first government cooperation for their probe of President Joe Biden’s handling of classified documents, pressure is building in national security circles to conduct a damage assessment that could determine if the storage of national secrets at insecure locations aided foreign powers. On Thursday, two prominent figures — a new member of the House Intelligence Committee and the FBI’s former intelligence chief — became the latest to add their voices to calls for a national security assessment of the five tranches of documents found at Biden’s Wilmington, Del., home and his old think tank office in Washington D.C. since November.
Read MoreFiscal Hawks Warn Biden: No Debt Ceiling Deal Without Fiscal Reforms
The fiscal hawks are sticking to their guns. On Friday, Sens. Ron Johnson (R-WI) and J.D. Vance (R-OH) joined 22 of their fellow Republican senators in a letter warning President Joe Biden that they will not vote for increasing the debt ceiling without structural reforms to the federal government’s budget and debt problems.
Read MoreMilwaukee County Supervisor Resigns amid Misconduct Questions
A Milwaukee County Supervisor has resigned under a cloud of misconduct in office allegations.
Supervisor Dyango Zerpa, who represents the county’s 14th District, is leaving to “pursue other opportunities,” his attorney Michael Maistelman told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Maistelman did not return a call from The Star News Network seeking comment.
Read MoreCommentary: January 6 Was the Worst Incident of Police Brutality Since Civil Rights Era
One might be inclined to apply Hanlon’s razor—never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity—to the actions of law enforcement on January 6, 2021. One might even be inclined to replace “stupidity” with “incompetence” to explain why police behaved the way they did that afternoon. But a growing body of evidence suggests neither stupidity nor incompetence can justify what now appears to be the worst incident of police brutality against political protesters since the civil rights era. After two years of watching cherry-picked video clips produced by the Department of Justice and the news media to depict Trump supporters as the violent aggressors on January 6, the public now has an opportunity to see what really happened thanks to police body camera footage released at trial.
Read MoreCommentary: States Raising Taxes on the Rich Should Expect a Line at the Exit
It’s an old aphorism that if you tax something, you get less of it. Seven states are at risk of finding out exactly how that truism applies to wealth tax legislation introduced in each should their proposed taxes become law.
Read More25 States Sue Biden Administration over Federal ESG Policy
Twenty-five attorneys general and several other plaintiffs have sued the Biden administration asking the court to halt a federal ESG policy that could negatively impact the retirement savings of 152 million Americans. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court Northern District Amarillo Division naming Secretary of Labor Martin Walsh and the U.S. Department of Labor as defendants.
Read MoreGOP Sen. Cotton Vows to Stall Nominations Until Congress Gets Biden, Trump Classified Docs
Arkansas Republican Sen. Tom Cotton vowed that lawmakers would stall Biden government nominations until it handed over the materials the FBI recovered from both former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden. “Until the administration stops stonewalling Congress, there will be pain as a consequence for them,” Cotton said, according to The Hill. “Whether it’s blocking nominees or withholding budgetary funds, Congress will impose pain on the administration until they provide these documents.”
Read MoreAgriculture Economists See Several Concerns for Farmers in 2023
Farmers aren’t likely to enjoy a calm year this year, according to agricultural economists from Purdue University. After a year of dealing with historic inflation rates, farmers must now be prepared for an economic downturn that could spark a recession. However, there’s even more uncertainty across the horizon, said Roman Keeney, an associate professor of economics at Purdue’s College of Agriculture.
Read MorePfizer Executive Heard Claiming Company Considering Mutating COVID Virus Itself to Continue Profiting Off Vaccines, Later Seen Assaulting Project Veritas Founder James O’Keefe
A top-level Pfizer executive revealed to an undercover Project Veritas (PV) journalist that the pharmaceutical giant is considering the possibility of mutating the COVID virus itself via “directed evolution” in order to keep profiting off a continued stream of vaccines. Following the release of the first video, which was published Wednesday, Jordon Trishton Walker, Pfizer director of Research and Development, Strategic Operations – mRNA Scientific Planner, is seen in a second video assaulting PV founder James O’Keefe and his staff in a restaurant, and destroying the iPad showing the undercover video recordings.
Read MoreCourt Releases Body Cam Footage of Attack on Paul Pelosi
A San Francisco court Friday released the video and audio tapes of the attack last year on Paul Pelosi, husband of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Pelosi was attacked Oct. 28, 2022, in his and his wife\’s San Francisco townhouse allegedly by David DePape.
Read MoreRepublican Senators Re-Introduce No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act
In a show of pro-life solidarity, 47 Republican U.S. senators are re-introducing a bill that would establish a permanent prohibition on federal funding for abortion, replacing the current restrictions with a single, government-wide standard.
The No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act, the lawmakers say, attempts to clean up inconsistent and haphazard policies that have regulated federal funding for abortion.
Read MoreU.S. GDP Ticks Up, but Recession Fears Remain
The U.S. economy grew modestly in the fourth quarter of 2022, despite signs of weak domestic demand, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) Thursday. In the fourth quarter, inflation-adjusted gross domestic product (GDP) grew by roughly 2.9%, down slightly from 3.2% in the third quarter, the BEA reported. Recession concerns among economists linger, however, amid fears that the Federal Reserve’s campaign of interest rate hikes — intended to reduce economic demand to slow inflation — will lead to reduced spending and layoffs, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Read MoreSchiff Launches Campaign for Feinstein’s California Senate Seat, Setting Up Epic Democrat Primary
California Rep. Adam Schiff on Thursday launched his 2024 campaign for Senate, possibly setting up a Democratic primary challenge against incumbent Sen. Dianne Feinstein. “When a dangerous demagogue tried to undermine our democracy, I wasn’t about to let him,” Schiff says in a voice-over in his first campaign ad as videos of former President Donald Trump play.
Read MoreGovernment Report: Unemployment Fraud May Top $60 Billion During Pandemic
A U.S. government report released Monday estimates that there could have been more than $60 billion in unemployment insurance fraud during the pandemic. The report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office says that figure is an estimate spread over the entire unemployment system and should be “interpreted with caution.”
Read MoreSens. Ron Johnson, Roger Wicker Introduce Senate ‘No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act’
Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson (R) and Mississippi Senator Roger Wicker (R) led 45 of their Republican colleagues in introducing the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act, a measure that would permanently prohibit federal funding for abortion. Johnson and Wicker introduced the legislation Wednesday, a measure that would establish a “permanent prohibition on federal funding for abortion, replacing the current restrictions with a single, government-wide standard,” said a press release from Johnson’s office.
Read MoreNationally Watched Wisconsin Supreme Court Race Is a Battle Beyond the Badger State
The national left is all in on Wisconsin’s crucial Supreme Court race, a contest that will not only determine whether conservatives or liberals control the high court, but the fate of Gov. Tony Evers’ liberal agenda and, possibly, the 2024 presidential election.
Conservative Supreme Court candidate Daniel Kelly, a former justice on the court, says the race is about the very survival of the constitution and the rule of law.
Read MoreCommentary: The Real Differences Between the Biden and Trump Troves
Donald Trump for now certainly seems to have had more documents labeled classified at Mar-a-Lago in Florida than did Joe Biden at his various homes in Delaware. Yet otherwise, the comparisons between the two cases, contrary to popular punditry, hardly favor Biden.
Read MoreCommentary: Nationwide Rent Control Is a Dangerous Proposition
Some of our nation’s politicians seem to know very little about basic economic principles despite constantly proposing legislative action on economic issues. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D–Mass.) and Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D–N.Y.) now want federal regulators to impose rent control on the entire nation. In their letter to the Biden administration, which was signed by 50 members of Congress, Warren and Bowman request that the administration “pursue all possible strategies” to control high rents. These politicians portray themselves as fighting for the average American, but, if they get their way, the results will be catastrophic.
Read MoreCardinal Says Pope Francis Has No ‘Contact with the Holy Spirit’ in New Book
Cardinal Gerhard Müller, the former prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, is releasing a book that accuses Pope Francis of giving “privileged status” to his friends that are accused of sexual abuse in the church, according to Catholic news website LaCroix International. The Roman Catholic Church has suffered multiple sexual abuse scandals over the years after several reports from the Vatican found that the clergy, particularly in France, had abused thousands of victims. While Müller says that France’s Independent Commission on Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church (CIASE) 2021 report was “inflated and exaggerated,” the cardinal claims in his new book, “In Good Faith: Religion in the 21st Century,” that Francis has helped protect those close to him by granting them a special “status,” citing the case of Argentine Bishop Gustavo Zanchetta, who was convicted in March 2022 of sexual abuse of two victims during seminary, as an example, according to LaCroix International.
Read MoreDeSantis Backs Harmeet Dhillon in RNC Race
Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis endorsed former Trump campaign attorney Harmeet Dhillon in her challenge to Ronna McDaniel for Republican National Committee chair. “I think we need a change. I think we need to get some new blood in the RNC,” DeSantis told Charlie Kirk on Real America’s Voice in an interview aired Thursday, one day before the vote for RNC speaker.
Read MoreFeds Adapting AI Used to Silence ISIS to Combat American Dissent on Vaccines, Elections
The government’s campaign to fight “misinformation” has expanded to adapt military-grade artificial intelligence once used to silence the Islamic State (ISIS) to quickly identify and censor American dissent on issues like vaccine safety and election integrity, according to grant documents and cyber experts.
Read MoreBill Aims to Bring Transparency to Wisconsin’s Parole Commission
Looking to improve transparency and efficiency at the state’s troubled Parole Commission, state Sen. Van Wanggaard (R-Racine) has released the “Parole Transparency Act.” The bill, according to Wanggaard, aims to ensure victims can be involved in and informed about the parole process.
Read MoreAbortion Pill Maker Sues Red States over Bans: ‘Impacts the Company’s Bottom Line’
A company behind the manufacturing of a pill used in chemical abortions filed a lawsuit on Wednesday morning challenging state bans on the abortions, The New York Times reported. GenBioPro, which makes the abortion pill mifepristone, filed the lawsuit in a West Virginia federal court to argue that Federal Food and Drug regulations (FDA) take priority over state laws regulating abortion, according to the NYT. The lawsuit argues that the FDA’s approval of the abortion pill trumps state laws and that abortion bans violate the Commerce Clause of the Constitution, which protects interstate commerce.
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