Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI) issued an executive directive Tuesday aimed at closing the “gender wage-gap” within state government agencies. Executive Directive 2019-10 prohibits state agencies from inquiring “about a job applicant’s current or previous salaries unless and until the department or agency first makes a conditional offer of employment,” and…
Read MoreMonth: January 2019
Commentary: Establishment Republicans Want the Pro-Life Movement Dead
by Deion A. Kathawa Just a few days before Christmas, departing Ohio Governor John Kasich decided to play a disappointing Santa and put a massive lump of coal in the pro-life movement’s stocking. He vetoed a bill that would have made it a felony for a doctor to perform…
Read MoreReport Highlights the Crazy Lengths Hackers Took to Hack US Utilities
by Chris White Russian hackers went to shocking and elaborate lengths to wriggle their way into the United States’ electrical grid, according to a Wall Street Journal report Friday that detailed a slew of hacking techniques. Hackers targeted government contractors connected to a public utility company in Oregon to…
Read MoreRepublican Senators Introduce Legislation That Would ‘Permanently Prevent’ Government Shutdowns
by Henry Rodgers A group of Republican Senators introduced legislation Friday that would permanently prevent the federal government from ever shutting down. Ohio Republican Sen. Rob Portman, Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley, Montana Sen. Steve Daines, Georgia Sen. Johnny Isakson, Wyoming Sen. Mike Enzi, Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso, Idaho…
Read MoreUS Granted Over 5,000 Requests to Bring in Child Brides From Foreign Nationals
by Joshua Gill The U.S. approved more than 5,000 requests by men to bring child or adolescent brides into the country over the past decade, enabling forced child marriages. U.S. immigration authorities approved 5,556 requests from older men to bring child or adolescent wives to the U.S., and approved…
Read MoreCommentary: Better Ways to Fight Extremism in Syria Than Endless War
by Austin Mulka Yesterday I posted a status in unequivocal support of President Trump’s recent decision to pull out of Syria. The post elicited the abhorrent wails of the president’s purported supporters, one of whom denounced me as a supporter of “child killers.” As baseless as the claim was,…
Read MoreGroup Behind Ocasio-Cortez’s ‘Green New Deal’ Wields Influence in Washington
by Jason Hopkins A recent profile identified several progressive institutions funding the Sunrise Movement, a nascent environmentalist organization that is quickly wielding influence in Washington, D.C. Founded in April 2017, the Sunrise Movement is a newcomer among the many green organizations that have already been established for generations. However,…
Read MoreFlorida’s DeSantis Suspends Sheriff After Poor Response to Parkland Shooting
by Neetu Chandak Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis officially suspended Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel on Friday after his poor response to the Parkland high school shooting Feb. 14, 2018. Effective immediately, I am officially suspending Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel for his repeated failures, incompetence and neglect of…
Read MoreFBI Moved ‘Quickly’ to Spy on Carter Page For ‘Operational Reasons,’ FBI Lawyer Testified
by Chuck Ross FBI officials were frustrated with the Justice Department in the run-up to the 2016 election over the slow pace in granting a secret surveillance warrant against former Trump campaign aide Carter Page, a former FBI lawyer told Congress in 2018. Lisa Page, who served as general…
Read MoreIlhan Omar Declares Trump Presidency a ‘National Emergency’ in Twitter Tirade Against the Wall
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN-05) fired off dozens of tweets this week in response to President Donald Trump’s Tuesday address to the nation, nearly outpacing the president himself in tweets about the southern border wall. Before Trump’s Oval Office address even began, Omar was exasperated with the fact that Trump would…
Read MoreCatholic Dem Congresswoman From Minnesota Has 100% NARAL Score
Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN-04), a Catholic, has a rating of 100 percent from the pro-choice organization NARAL, and a corresponding zero percent from National Right to Life. According to the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Liberty, McCollum has voted with pro-choice causes 100 percent of the time. Between 2015…
Read MoreCommentary: Cultural Marxism Is Real
by Allen Mendenhall Samuel Moyn, a Yale law professor, recently asked, “What is ‘cultural Marxism?’” His answer: “Nothing of the kind actually exists.” Moyn attributes the term cultural Marxism to the “runaway alt-right imagination,” claiming that it implicates zany conspiracy theories and has been “percolating for years through global…
Read MoreCommentary: Time to Put a Stop to Impeachment Talk
by Stephen B. Presser A push is underway for the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives to hold a vote on whether to impeach the Republican President Donald Trump. Of course, we have been through this before, but with a majority of Republicans voting to impeach President Bill Clinton, a Democrat.…
Read More13-Year-Old Jayme Closs Found Alive 87 Days After Being Abducted from Her Wisconsin Home
by Evie Fordham A 13-year-old girl who was missing for 87 days was found alive in Gordon, Wisconsin, after escaping from her alleged abductor, authorities announced at a press conference Friday. Jayme Closs was allegedly kidnapped and held in a home in a “remote” area by 21-year-old Jake Thomas…
Read More‘Justice Democrats’ Set Its Sights on First Primary Target: Democrat Rep Henry Cuellar
by Jason Hopkins A progressive political action committee announced its first primary target for the 2020 elections: Texas Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar. Cuellar, a seven-term congressman representing Texas’s 28th Congressional District, stands out as one of the few remaining pro-life Democrats left on Capitol Hill. However, the committee Justice…
Read MoreDaines Introduces Bill Withholding Pay from Congressmen During Government Shutdowns, Others Join
by Henry Rodgers Republican Montana Sen. Steve Daines introduced a bill on the Senate floor Thursday that would withhold the pay of members of Congress during future government shutdowns. Daines’s introduction of the bill, sponsored by Republican Texas Sen. John Cornyn, comes hours after Daines announced he sent a…
Read MoreTrump Shares An Image Of ‘Strong And Beautiful’ Wall Design
by Evie Fordham President Donald Trump shared an image of a “very high, strong and beautiful” portion of wall on the U.S. border with Mexico via Twitter Friday. “The Fake News Media keeps saying we haven’t built any NEW WALL,” Trump wrote on Twitter. “Below is a section just…
Read MoreAgriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue Pushes Back on ‘Sensational Reporting’ of Food Inspections Being Stopped
by Michael Bastasch Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue pushed back on what he called “sensational reporting” that the government shutdown had put a halt to food inspections. “Want to calm some fears because of somewhat sensational reporting on the shutdown,” Perdue said in a tweet Friday in response to alarming…
Read MoreWest Virginia Supreme Court Impeachment Crisis Reaches US High Court
by Kevin Daley The West Virginia state legislature is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a decision halting impeachment of several state Supreme Court justices. The West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals was roiled by a public corruption scandal resulting in a slew of resignations and indictments. The…
Read MoreKirsten Gillibrand Heads to Iowa as She Makes a Major Move for 2020 Presidential Run
by Henry Rodgers New York Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand is planning on heading to Iowa this month as she makes a major move for a potential 2020 presidential run. Gillibrand, who was reportedly calling New York financiers in order to evaluate their willingness to back her potential presidential campaign…
Read MoreSenate DFL Introduces Slate of Identity Politics Bills, Seeks to Loosen Prevention of HIV in Blood Donations
The Minnesota State Senate plans to introduce 92 new pieces of legislation Monday, several of which are backed by the DFL, and focus on LGBT or race issues. Senate File (SF) 95, for instance, urges President Donald Trump and Congress to direct the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to “revise…
Read MoreTwin Cities Met Council Wants to Spend $2 Billion on an 11-Mile Streetcar
An amendment to the Twin Cities Met Council’s 2040 Transportation Policy Plan includes $2 billion in funding for a modern streetcar route that would be just 11 miles in length. The Met Council hosted a public hearing Wednesday for its Riverview Modern Streetcar project, which would stretch from Union Depot…
Read MoreCommentary: America’s Southern Border Isn’t Just a Crisis, It’s a Disgrace
by Chris Buskirk Why have Democrats shut down—or at least partially shut down—the federal government rather than approve partial funding for a wall along the southern border? President Trump’s $5.7 billion request is a trivial sum, amounting to a bit more than one-tenth of 1 percent of the federal…
Read MoreDOD IG Reveals the Pentagon Let $27.7 Billion ‘Expire’ as Trump Seeks $5.7 Billion in Border Wall Funding
by Andrew Kerr The Defense Department has relinquished over $27 billion to the U.S. Treasury since 2013 simply because it couldn’t spend the money quick enough, according to a DOD Inspector General report released Tuesday. The DOD was required to fork over the “expired funds” because the Pentagon failed…
Read MoreTwitter Meets with Conservatives for Input on Social Media Practices
by Evie Fordham Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey hosted dinners to pick the brains of conservative leaders, including Grover Norquist, about criticism over content policing or lack thereof, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday. Norquist, founder and president of Americans for Tax Reform, told TheWSJ he asked for help for…
Read MoreSupreme Court Could Take up Case in Indiana’s Ban on Disease-Based Abortions
by Kevin Daley The Supreme Court may soon take up its first significant abortion controversy under the newly solidified conservative majority. The case at issue is a challenge to an Indiana law forbidding abortions on the basis of an unborn baby’s sex, race or disability and requires doctors to…
Read MoreTrump Visits Southern Border as Shutdown Hits 20th Day
U.S. President Donald Trump headed Thursday to the U.S.-Mexico border for a firsthand look at efforts to thwart illegal immigration, a day after declaring that talks with opposition Democratic leaders on border security and the partial government shutdown were a “total waste of time.” Before leaving for McAllen, Texas, Trump…
Read MoreCommentary: Visa Overstays Don’t, in Fact, Negate the Benefits of Border Barriers
by James D. Agresti Opponents of President Trump’s plan to build a wall along much of the Southwest border often argue that it won’t be effective because many illegal immigrants enter the U.S. by using visas. Visas allow people to temporarily visit or live in the U.S., but every…
Read MorePragerU Brings New Suit Against Google in California State Court
by Peter Hasson Conservative nonprofit PragerU filed suit against Google in California court on Tuesday for allegedly violating state law in restricting access to Prager’s educational videos on YouTube, according to a copy of the complaint obtained by The Daily Caller News Foundation. The suit claims that YouTube’s restrictions…
Read MoreMinnesota’s Republican-Controlled Senate Introduces 91 Bills, Seeks to Punish Sanctuary Cities
Minnesota’s Republican-controlled Senate hit the ground running Thursday by introducing 91 pieces of legislation. Many of the items correspond with the top five priorities Republicans outlined at a Tuesday press conference, though there were several noteworthy outliers. Senate File (SF) 80, for instance, would impose “aid reductions” on sanctuary cities…
Read MoreMultimillionaire Dean Phillips Won’t Take Pay During Shutdown, 0.2 Percent of His Net Worth
Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN-03) announced Wednesday that he will forego his congressional salary during the government shutdown “in solidarity with hard-working federal employees who are working without pay or on furlough.” “I have officially requested that my salary be withheld until the shutdown ends. I’ll divide my shutdown pay equally,…
Read MoreMinnesota Democrats Go All in on Gun Control
The Minnesota House Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL) Party unveiled its first ten bills Wednesday, two of which deal with gun control, while DFLers in Congress are signing their names to a national gun-control measure. At a Wednesday morning press conference, the state House DFL released House Files (HF) one through 10, which…
Read MoreCommentary: Anti-Semitism Just Gained a New Foothold in Congress
by Joel Griffith In 1948, the Jewish people secured sovereignty over their ancestral homeland for the first time in nearly 2,000 years. Once again, they could thrive—religiously, economically, culturally—in the home their ancestors were forced to flee. But more than 70 years after the rebirth of the Jewish nation,…
Read MoreDemocratic Operatives Used Misleading Facebook Pages to Suppress GOP Turnout in Midterms
by Peter Hasson Democratic operatives funded by left-wing tech billionaire Reid Hoffman ran a widespread campaign using misleading Facebook pages in the run-up to the 2018 midterm elections, The Daily Caller News Foundation has found. American Engagement Technologies (AET), which was founded by former Obama administration official Mikey Dickerson,…
Read MoreHouse Democrats Dump Trash From National Park Service at the White House
by Molly Prince A duo of House Democrats brought garbage to the White House as a means of protesting the ongoing government shutdown that has hampered the National Park Service’s (NPS) ability to maintain its land. California Democratic Reps. Jared Huffman and Jackie Speier delivered bins of trash to…
Read MoreDemocratic Responses to Trump’s Speech Highlight a Divided Party
by Joe Simonson While the media has focused on the official Democratic Party response to President Donald Trump’s Oval Office remarks given by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, two other prominent lawmakers on the left shared their thoughts in what further emphasized a party…
Read MoreThe Climate Paper Most Widely Covered by the Media in 2018 was Actually a Call for Global Socialism
by Michael Bastasch The most popular climate paper of 2018 called for “collective human action” to keep global warming from turning Earth into a “hothouse,” according to media tracking data. The so-called “Hothouse Earth” paper, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in August, sparked a…
Read MoreCommentary: Market Fundamentalism or Love of Country?
by Henry Olsen Tucker Carlson’s much-discussed monologue last week leaves much to be desired. But factual errors or rhetorical excesses are not why it attracted vociferous criticism on the American Right. What really set the critics off is Tucker’s underlying moral premise: American republicanism sometimes requires public restraint of…
Read MoreStudents Stunned to Find Out Dems Actually Once Supported Building a Wall
by Neetu Chandak Campus Reform asked American University students for their thoughts on President Donald Trump’s statements on immigration and building the wall in midst of the partial government shutdown. The only catch being that the quotes were actually said by Democratic politicians. Students were given the following quotes:…
Read MoreTim Walz’s First Executive Order Establishes ‘Diversity and Inclusion’ As ‘Top Priorities’
Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) issued his first executive order Wednesday morning and established a “One Minnesota Council on Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity,” which he will oversee. “In an effort to include voices from all different backgrounds, the order builds on a council formed by Gov. Mark Dayton, expanding its scope…
Read MoreMinnesota GOP Unveils Top Priorities As Legislative Session Kicks Off, Vows to Fight Child Care Fraud
Minnesota Senate Republicans unveiled their top five priorities Tuesday as the new legislative session kicked off, promising a platform of “equity, fairness, and common sense.” “It’s a new opportunity. We have a new governor. We have new House leadership, but we’re still the same. You know what we’re going to…
Read MoreCarol Swain Commentary: Race-Baiting Democrats Losing Respect
by Carol M. Swain Two senior Democratic Party leaders have separately offered advice that Democratic activists would do well to heed. Outgoing California Gov. Jerry Brown and defeated Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) have warned of impending dangers to a political party that seems a bit too cocky and way…
Read MoreTrump Asks Dems ‘How Much More American Blood’ They’re Willing to Shed in Oval Office Address
In a highly anticipated prime-time event, President Donald Trump delivered his first Oval Office address Tuesday night to discuss the continued battle over funding for his border wall. “This is just common sense. The border wall would very quickly pay for itself. The cost of illegal drugs exceeds $500 billion…
Read MoreTrump Team Holds China’s Feet to the Fire on Trade Negotiations
by Jason Hopkins As the Trump administration continues trade negotiations with China, the U.S. delegation is taking additional steps to make sure the Communist country follows through on its pledges. U.S. and Chinese officials met Monday in the Commerce Ministry in Beijing to begin their two-day trade negotiations. The…
Read MoreParents File Suit Against School District That Wants to Allow Teachers to Carry Guns
by Neetu Chandak Parents and a grandparent filed a lawsuit against a Pennsylvania school district on Thursday over a policy allowing teachers to carry guns in school. Tamaqua Area School District in Tamaqua, Pennsylvania, approved the policy in September 2018, according The Associated Press reported Friday. The policy allows…
Read MoreCommentary: Now That School Security is a Multi-Billion Dollar Industry, is There a Better Way to Protect Children?
by Kerry McDonald U.S. taxpayers spend nearly $700 billion each year on K-12 public schooling and that eye-popping sum shows no sign of slowing. In fact, as more non-academic programs get adopted in schools across the country, the price-tag for mass schooling continues to swell even as achievement lags.…
Read MoreChicago Police Chief Making Officers Read Nearly 500-Page Report on Florida’s Stoneman Douglas High School Shooting
By Neetu Chandak A Chicago suburb police chief is making his officers read the nearly 500-page Marjory Stoneman Douglas shooting report to prevent the same mistakes made in Florida. The Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission released the initial report, which made recommendations like arming teachers and…
Read MoreJudge Says Christian Baker Jack Phillips’ Lawsuit Against Civil Rights Officials Can Proceed
by Kevin Daley A federal judge in Denver rejected Colorado’s bid to dismiss a lawsuit alleging that state civil rights officials are waging a campaign of harassment against Jack Phillips, the Christian baker at issue in the landmark Masterpiece Cakeshop case. Three weeks after Phillips prevailed at the Supreme…
Read MoreEPA Climate Model Shows ‘Green New Deal’ Would Avert a ‘Barely Detectable’ Amount of Global Warming
by Michael Bastasch Democrats are increasingly lining up behind New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s call for a “Green New Deal,” but few, if any, have talked about its actual impact on global warming. Even if all the Green New Deal’s goals were achieved, it would have a negligible, and…
Read MoreWalz Confronted by Pipeline Protesters at Capitol Hours After Inauguration
Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) faced his first test Monday just hours after being sworn in when protesters opposed to the Enbridge Line 3 Pipeline project disrupted his reception at the State Capitol. This isn’t the first time anti-pipeline activists have caused a public disruption. In November, they shut down a…
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