Month: May 2020

There aren’t enough disparaging epithets in the English language to adequately describe “journalists” such as ABC Nightly News anchorman David Muir, the dashing 40-something actor who pretends to share important national news with America. Five days a week, Muir recites agenda-driven propaganda as if it were truth, while his allies who run the social media monopolies throttle down, demonetize, shadowban, or flat out censor reports that conflict with his narrative.

SCOTUS Grants Trump’s Request, Temporarily Blocks Disclosure of Mueller’s Grand Jury Documents

The Supreme Court temporarily blocked House Democrats on Wednesday from gaining access to a trove of grand jury documents from former special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian intervention in the 2016 election.

The Court granted the Trump administration’s emergency request to keep the materials secret while the president’s legal team works to appeal their release. The House Judiciary Committee went to the Court to gain access to the redacted material from Mueller’s 2019 report after the Department of Justice declined to produce the information upon Democrats’ request.

Trump Admin Indefinitely Extends Authority That Allows Immediate Return of Illegal Aliens

The Trump administration is extending an authority that allows immigration officers to immediately return illegal entrants along the U.S.-Mexico border for as long as it deems fit.

While the White House has chosen to renew an international agreement which blocks all non-essential traffic on its northern and southern borders, it has chosen to allow a specific health order to remain in place until the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) decides the COVID-19 crisis has waned.

US Birth Rates Continue to Fall as Millennials Put off Having Kids

Birth rates in the United States continue to fall as millennials put off having kids, and experts warn that coronavirus could make people less likely to have children.

Federal figures released Wednesday show that women in the U.S. had babies record-low rates in 2019, causing the number of U.S. births to reach the smallest number in 35 years, the Wall Street Journal reports. The data demonstrates that birth rates in the U.S. have not rebounded since the 2007-2009 recession when childbearing began declining.

Commentary: We Were Never Asked About Lockdowns

Police officers dealing with the public have a fairly savvy approach to persuasion: first ask, then tell, then force. It works because it accounts for the dignity and self-respect of others. Uncertain rookie cops and bullies are the ones who forget to ask, adding unnecessary friction to encounters between citizens and the state.

GOP Senators ‘Increasingly Concerned’ Surveillance of Trump Associates Began Earlier Than Previously Known

Two Republican senators dramatically expanded their request for so-called Obama administration unmasking records on Tuesday, saying in a letter to the U.S. government’s top spy chief that they are “increasingly concerned” that surveillance of Trump campaign aides began earlier than the FBI has previously acknowledged.

Lawmakers, Pro-Lifers Condemn Planned Parenthood for Allegedly Getting $80 Million in Coronavirus Funding

Lawmakers and pro-lifers slammed Planned Parenthood following a report from Fox News saying that the nation’s largest abortion provider of applied for and received over $80 million in coronavirus funding.

Fox News’ Tucker Carlson Tonight reported Tuesday evening that 37 Planned Parenthood affiliates applied for and received a total of $80 million in coronavirus funding loans from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).

Music Spotlight: Drew Baldridge

May 21, 2020May 20, 2020 Bethany Bowman

The first time I heard Drew Baldridge was on Sirius XM’s The Highway as one of their iconic Highway Finds. His songs “Dance With Ya” and “Rebound” resonated with their young audience.

The country singer was kind enough to talk with me over the phone about how he got his start.

Seattle Asks for a $100 Million Relief Fund for Illegal Aliens

Seattle leaders called on the Washington state government Monday to establish a coronavirus relief fund that provides millions in cash assistance to illegal aliens.

The Seattle City Council passed a resolution Monday encouraging Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee and state lawmakers to establish a Washington Worker Relief Fund to “provide emergency economic assistance to undocumented Washingtonians,” according to the Seattle Times.

Mayor Calls on Walz to Immediately Reopen Greater Minnesota Businesses

May 21, 2020May 20, 2020 Anthony Gockowski

A mayor in Greater Minnesota called for immediately reopening businesses in his region in a letter sent Monday to Gov. Tim Walz.

Cambridge Mayor James Godfrey pointed to the “significant difference” in the spread of the coronavirus in rural Minnesota compared to the Metro area. Cambridge is located in Isanti County, which had just 20 confirmed cases and zero deaths as of Wednesday.

Minnesota Senate Bill Would Require Governor to Seek Legislative Approval for Extending Future Peacetime Emergencies

May 20, 2020May 19, 2020 Anthony Gockowski

The Minnesota Senate passed a bill last week that would require the governor to obtain legislative approval before extending any future peacetime emergencies.

The bill, authored by Sen. David Osmek (R-Mound), passed Friday in a vote of 36-31, but failed to advance in the DFL-controlled House before the legislative session expired Sunday night.

Commentary: Resolving the Argument Between Lockdown and Liberty

As the debate between those who want an unlimited lockdown and those who want to reopen America as quickly as possible becomes more clangorous every day, months of intensive study and sad experience with the coronavirus enable us to determine the best course and resolve the argument.

The shutdown must end in all but severely afflicted areas. Its original purpose was to “flatten the curve.” In the early stages, the number of coronavirus reported cases and deaths in the United States was doubling every few days. Horrifying projections based on the scanty evidence available and hyped by the anti-Trump media to put as much pressure and blame on the president as possible for his initially somewhat casual treatment of the subject, stirred fears of millions of deaths and of a universal vulnerability to an almost untreatable fatal illness.

Howie Carr on Neil McCabe’s Treasury Dept. Whistleblower Report: ‘You’ve Really Advanced the Story Here’

May 20, 2020May 20, 2020 Julie Carr

Carr: There is an article that is written by Neil McCabe who’ve I’ve known for a long time from Boston who I’ve known for a long time who is now a big national correspondent for Star News Digital Media newspapers and he’s a media fellow at the Gold Institute. I saw this story today that “The Treasury Department Spied on Flynn, Manafort and the Trump Family Says Whistleblower.”

Comey Said He Had ‘No Indication’ Flynn Colluded with Russia According to Declassified ‘By the Book’ Email

A newly declassified document confirms that the Obama administration was spying on Lt. General Michael Flynn even though the FBI had “no indication” that President Trump’s short-lived national security advisor had been colluding with Russia.

According to the document, disgraced former FBI director James Comey told then-President Obama that he had “no indication thus far that Flynn has passed classified information to Kislyak.”

Anti-Homeschool Harvard Professor Thumbs Her Nose at ‘Conservative Christians’

After the school received backlash for Harvard Law professor Elizabeth Bartholet’s call for a ban on homeschooling, she’s doubling down.

The Harvard Gazette gave Bartholet a chance to clarify her statements in an interview published Friday. In the piece, titled “A warning on homeschooling,” Bartholet doubled down on her anti-homeschooling stance, proposing even stricter government regulations on the practice than in her original article.

‘Null and Void:’ Judge Overturns Oregon Gov. Brown’s COVID-19 Executive Orders

A judge granted a preliminary injunction Monday freezing Oregon Gov. Kate Brown’s coronavirus executive orders restricting church services and business.

Brown exceeded her authority when she restricted activities for longer than the 28 days the governor is authorized under a state law, Baker County Circuit Court Judge Matt Shirtcliff said. The judge’s ruling effectively blocks enforcement of the 10 orders Brown gave since early March when she first imposed stay-at-home orders on citizens.

Commentary: To Liberals Disdain, CBS News’ Catherine Herridge Is an Honest Reporter

After CBS national security reporter, who once held the same job at Fox, broke the story that Joe Biden was one of the 39 government officials who “unmasked” General Mike Flynn, Andrew Bates, one of Biden’s top spokesmen sent this tweet:

Andrew Bates (AndrewBatesNC)

SCOOP: Catherine Herridge is a partisan, rightwing hack who is a regular conduit for conservative media manipulation ploys because she agrees to publicize things before contacting the target to ask for comment.

Cotton Bill Blocks Stimulus ‘Handout’ to Illegal Aliens

Arkansas Republican Sen. Tom Cotton announced legislation Tuesday that would prevent state and local governments from using public funds to make coronavirus assistance payments to individuals living in the United States illegally.

Cotton plans to introduce the No Bailouts for Illegal Aliens Act, an amendment to the CARES Act that would restrict any future payments to states or municipalities until they certify they’re not distributing stimulus checks or other payments to illegal aliens.

US Rejects WHO’s Abortion Language in Coronavirus Resolution

Hours after President Donald Trump threatened to quit the World Health Organization, the U.S. rejected abortion language in the World Health Organization’s coronavirus resolution Tuesday.

The U.S. representatives to the World Health Assembly said in a statement that it “dissociates” from the World Health Organization (WHO) language on guaranteeing the rights of poor countries to forgo intellectual property rules during emergencies in order to get medicine and to guarantee reproductive and sexual healthcare during the pandemic.

FBI Arrests Couple Allegedly Involved in Cross-Border Kidnapping Ring of Americans

An American woman and her boyfriend were arrested and charged for allegedly collecting ransom money as part of their involvement in a deadly kidnapping conspiracy of U.S. residents in Tijuana, Mexico.

Leslie Briana Matla, a 20-year-old U.S. citizen who lived in Mexico, and her boyfriend, Juan Carlos Montoya Sanchez, a 25-year-old resident of Tijuana, were arrested by U.S. authorities pursuant to money-laundering conspiracy charges, according to an announcement from the Department of Justice (DOJ).

Bonfire Restaurants Latest COVID Casualty, Announces Permanent Closure of All Locations

May 20, 2020May 19, 2020 Anthony Gockowski

Bonfire Restaurants announced Friday that it will permanently close all five of its Minnesota locations because of the economic damage caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

The company said in a statement that its locations in Blaine, Eagan, Mankato, Savage, and Woodbury will not be reopening.

Jason Lewis Files Lawsuit Against Gov. Walz Over Stay at Home Order

May 20, 2020May 19, 2020 Anthony Gockowski

Republican Senate candidate Jason Lewis announced Tuesday that he has filed a lawsuit against Gov. Tim Walz over his stay-at-home order.

The lawsuit marks at least the third legal challenge to Walz’s stay-at-home order. According to a press release from Lewis’s campaign, the lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District for the District of Minnesota.

Minnesota’s Legislative Deadline Passes with No Agreement on Infrastructure Proposal

May 19, 2020May 19, 2020 Minnesota Sun Staff

The Minnesota legislature failed to reach agreements on a major construction bill, tax relief, or state employee contracts before the midnight Sunday deadline for this session.

The lawmakers could still find a middle ground in a special June session.

Minnesota House Republicans Saturday blocked Democrat’s $2 billion bonding bill. Bonding bills must originate in the House and require a three-fifths majority, or 81 votes, to pass. The final tally fell six votes short.

Commentary: Trump Soars in Approval as America Begins Reopening, Challenging China

May 19, 2020May 18, 2020 Minnesota Sun Staff

President Donald Trump continues to see his highest approval ratings of his first term in office, hitting 49 percent in the most recent Gallup survey (48 percent disapprove) and 51 percent in the Hill/HarrisX poll (49 percent disapprove) as the Trump administration continues its response to the China-originated COVID-19 pandemic and states begin reopening.

‘Pelosi Basically Lost Me:’ White House Says Checks for Illegal Aliens a No-Go for Stimulus Negotiations

White House adviser Peter Navarro swatted down the possibility that the coronavirus stimulus package passed by House Democrats would be acceptable by the Trump administration.

Navarro said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi “lost” him with her party’s stimulus bill during a Sunday morning appearance on ABC’s “This Week” with George Stephanopoulos. The legislation includes cash assistance for eligible illegal aliens, protections for sanctuary cities and other progressive provisions.

Money and Politics Behind Anti-Hydroxychloroquine Bias, New Report Suggests

Remdesivir, an antiviral medication that was developed by the biopharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences, has been widely touted as the most promising drug to treat COVID-19, even though – so far – the new and expensive drug does not seem to be terribly effective at fighting the disease.

The anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine, on the other hand, is cheap, has been used safely for decades, and has shown great promise as a weapon in the fight against the coronavirus – yet after President Trump mentioned it as a promising potential treatment for the disease, the media immediately blasted him for touting an “unproven” and potentially unsafe drug.

Commentary: John Brennan and the Plot to Subvert an American Election

Let’s talk about John Brennan a bit. You remember John Brennan. He was Barack Obama’s director of the CIA. Once upon a time, he was an enthusiast for Gus Hall, the Communist candidate for president, for whom he voted in 1976. I can’t think of any better background for the head of the country’s premier intelligence service under Obama. In 2014, having put childish things behind him as St. Paul advised, Brennan spied on the Senate Intelligence Committee. He denied it indignantly. “Nothing could be further from the truth. We wouldn’t do that. That’s just beyond the scope of reason in terms of what we’d do.”

Illegal Aliens Can Begin Applying for Cash Assistance in California

by Jason Hopkins Illegal aliens can apply for direct cash assistance from the California state government as of Monday, marking the implementation of the first relief program of its kind. California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, announced in April the launch of The Disaster Relief Fund, a $125 million coronavirus relief program…

New Poll Shows Overwhelming Support for Candidates Promising to ‘Make America Self-Sufficient’

A new Arizona opinion poll shows overwhelming public support for a “plan to make America self-sufficient” by producing more food, energy and medicine at home.

In the statewide public opinion poll, conducted by OH Predictive Insights, 75 percent of respondents said that they would be more likely to support a candidate that had a plan to make the United States more self-sufficient in those three areas.

The question had majority support from all demographics, including gender, age and region groups.

President Trump: ‘I Happen to be Taking’ Hydroxychloroquine

May 19, 2020November 9, 2020 Admin

President Donald Trump casually let slip Monday afternoon that he’s been taking hydroxychloroquine, the anti-malarial drug he’s touted as a promising treatment for Covid-19 patients that has become a lightning rod for controversy.

“A couple of weeks ago, I started taking it,” Trump told reporters during a roundtable at the White House with restaurant executives and industry leaders.

“I was just waiting to see your eyes light up when I said this,” Trump added.

Al Qaeda Linked To Deadly Shooting At US Military Base In Florida, Investigators Say

May 19, 2020May 18, 2020 Minnesota Sun Staff

The Saudi national who shot three Americans at a military base in Pensacola, Fl., in December had been in contact with Al Qaeda before the attack, according to law enforcement officials.

Cell phone evidence links Second Lt. Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani, a Saudi Air Force cadet who trained at the Naval Air Station Pensacola alongside American military officials, to the terrorist organization, according to government officials who spoke with the New York Times. The FBI discovered cell phone communication between Alshamrani and an Al Qaeda operative from before the December 2019 shooting spree.

Michigan Gov. Whitmer Refuses to Apologize for Coronavirus Restrictions, Says ‘I’m Not Changing the Way I Run This State’

Democratic Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said Monday that she will not change the way she runs Michigan during the coronavirus pandemic.

The Michigan governor discussed her coronavirus restrictions and the protests that have erupted against her executive orders during an interview with Fox News.

Senator Lindsey Graham Sets Vote to Subpoena Comey, Brennan and Dozens More in Oversight of Crossfire Hurricane

May 19, 2020May 18, 2020 Minnesota Sun Staff

The Senate Judiciary Committee will vote on June 4 whether to authorize subpoenas for documents and testimony from more than 50 current or former government officials, including James Comey and John Brennan, as part of the panel’s investigation into abuse of the surveillance process during Crossfire Hurricane.

The committee will debate and vote June 4 on whether to issue the subpoenas, said Sen. Lindsey Graham, the chairman of the Judiciary panel.

Keith Ellison Sues Minnesota Restaurant Owner Who Planned to Open Early, Threatens $150,000 in Fines

May 19, 2020May 18, 2020 Anthony Gockowski

Attorney General Keith Ellison announced Sunday night that his office has sued a Minnesota restaurant owner who planned to reopen for business Monday.

Kris Schiffler, owner of Shady’s Bar and Grill, planned on reopening his six locations for dine-in business Monday, two weeks earlier than the June 1 reopening date set by the state. He told one local outlet that he received a call from Ellison’s office Friday threatening $25,000 in fines per location, which would amount to $150,000 in total.

Analysis: Minnesota Has Highest Percent of COVID-19 Deaths in Long-Term Care Facilities in the Nation

May 18, 2020May 17, 2020 Minnesota Sun Staff

About 81.7 percent of Minnesota’s COVID-19 deaths were in nursing homes and residential care communities, the highest percentage state in the nation that reports such data.

That’s according to data from The Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity (FREOPP), a Texas-based nonprofit think tank.

EXCLUSIVE: The Treasury Department Spied on Flynn, Manafort, and the Trump Family, Says Whistleblower

May 18, 2020May 18, 2020 Neil W. McCabe

President Barack Obama’s Treasury Department regularly surveilled retired Army Lt. Gen. Michael T. Flynn’s financial records and transactions beginning in December 2015 and well into 2017, before, during and after when he served at the White House as President Donald Trump’s National Security Director, a former senior Treasury Department official, and veteran of the intelligence community, told the Star Newspapers.

“I started seeing things that were not correct, so I did my own little investigation, because I wanted to make sure what I was seeing was correct” she said. “You never want to draw attention to something if there is not anything there.”

Commentary: The Great, Steaming Heart of ‘The Swamp’ Beats in the U.S. Senate

by Rachel Bovard Donald Trump was elected in 2016 on a platform that, broadly, called for draining “the swamp.” The definition of swamp, for the most part, was left to the listener, but generally, it was assumed to represent the established interests that dictated federal policy toward the ends…

Commentary: COVID-19 Proves America Needs Economic Nationalism

by Spencer P. Morrison Reports of a deadly new virus began trickling out of China in December. The infection spread rapidly. By March 12, the World Health Organization deemed COVID-19 a global pandemic. The next day President Trump declared COVID-19 a “national emergency” that would require the “full power…

Scientists, Economists Urge Trump to Bring on Statistician to Avoid Getting Duped by Bad Health Models

Dozens of scientists, economists and medical experts are urging President Donald Trump to add a professional statistician to his coronavirus task team because they worry the models his administration are relying upon could potentially lead his administration astray.

A slate of academics provided the Trump administration with a letter Tuesday listing several ideas the president could use to help boost his team’s pandemic response. They believe adding an expert statistician to the COVID-19 task team could help Trump avoid relying on poor models that don’t reflect the real world.

Chinese Official Confirms China Ordered Labs to Destroy Coronavirus Samples