Month: September 2020

Poll: Support for School Choice Increases by 10 Percentage Points in Four Months

Minnesota Sun Staff

A RealClear Opinion Research poll of 2,020 registered voters in August saw a 10-point increase in support of school choice policies since its last poll in April, from 67 percent to 77 percent.

The American Federation for Children describes school choice as the right for parents to use the tax dollars designated for their child’s education in a school of their choice. The tax dollars would follow the child, not be tied to a nearby school system. Funding could be used for public, private, charter, or homeschool education, whichever method the parents believes provides the best learning environment for their child.

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Commentary: Pelosi Holds Millions of Small Businesses Hostage While Working Families Struggle

Minnesota Sun Staff

At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when a lot less was known about the virus and how to counter it, and while the nation was still ramping up production of testing and hospital resources including ventilators needed, 25 million jobs were lost across the country, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data.

Since labor markets bottomed in April, 13.8 million jobs have been recovered, as states have begun steadily reopening in the months since.

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Outbreak in the NFL: Three Tennessee Titans Players, Five Personnel Test Positive for COVID-19

The Associated Press

The Tennessee Titans suspended in-person activities through Friday after the NFL says three Titans players and five personnel tested positive for the coronavirus, becoming the first COVID-19 outbreak of the NFL season in Week 4.

The outbreak threatened to jeopardize the Titans’ game this weekend against the Pittsburgh Steelers and posed the first significant in-season test to the league’s coronavirus protocols.

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U.S. Intel Flagged Alleged Clinton Campaign Plan to Link Trump to Russian Hacking, Intel Chief Says

Minnesota Sun Staff

U.S. intelligence officials submitted an investigative referral to the FBI in September 2016 regarding an alleged plan by Hillary Clinton to link Donald Trump to Russia’s election interference efforts, according to John Ratcliffe, the director of national intelligence.

Ratcliffe noted in the letter, which he sent to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, that U.S. intelligence is not certain whether the allegation underlying the referral was based on fabrications from Russian intelligence agencies.

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Commentary: Implicit Bias Training Is a Total Waste of Taxpayer Dollars

Minnesota Sun Staff

Police officers in a majority of states are now mandated to receive “implicit bias training,” where they are informed they are subconsciously racist and must admit to and deliberately overcome their racism.

The trainings, which exploded in popularity following the Ferguson riots in 2014, directly respond to accusations that racist police officers are shooting unarmed African Americans. Following the death of George Floyd, multiple states, including Michigan, New Jersey, and Texas, joined the list of states mandating the training for all their officers.

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FBI Source’s Claim About Michael Flynn Was Inaccurate, Special Agent Said

Minnesota Sun Staff

The FBI’s lead agent on its investigation of Michael Flynn told prosecutors that a confidential source’s allegation about an incident involving the former national security adviser in 2014 was likely false, according to a government document.

Special Agent William Barnett said in an interview with a federal prosecutor on Sept. 17 that the Crossfire Hurricane team obtained the information about Flynn from a confidential human source (CHS) who provided information regarding Carter Page.

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Christian Group Raises $500K+ for Kenosha Shooter Kyle Rittenhouse

Minnesota Sun Staff

A Christian crowdfunding site has raised over half a million dollars to help 17 year-old Kenosha, Wisconsin, shooter Kyle Rittenhouse with legal fees, New York Post reports.

The GiveSendGo site, created shortly after Rittenhouse shot three Black Lives Matter protesters, and left two dead during a violent night of unrest in Kenosha on Aug. 25. Sponsored by a group called “Friends of the Rittenhouse family,” based in Atlanta, Georgia, set an initial goal of $500,00 but had surpassed that by Monday, with nearly $523,000 in contributions.

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Court Pick Barrett Visits Senate Ahead of Confirmation Fight

The Associated Press

President Donald Trump’s nominee for the Supreme Court, Amy Coney Barrett, was on Capitol Hill on Tuesday for a day of meetings with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and other pivotal Republican senators in preparation for her fast-track confirmation before the Nov. 3 election.

Joined by Vice President Mike Pence, McConnell said he was glad to welcome Barrett and “get the process started” on her confirmation. But the Republican leader declined to answer questions about whether the judge should recuse herself if legal challenges to the election between Trump and Democrat Joe Biden land at the high court.

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Debate Takeaways: Pugilist Trump Runs Rings Around Debate Opponents Biden and Wallace

The Associated Press

After more than a year of circling each other, Republican President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden met on the debate stage Tuesday night in Ohio.

The 74-year-old president and the 77-year-old former vice president are similar in age, and they share a mutual dislike. But they differ starkly in style and substance. All of that was evident from the outset on the Cleveland stage.

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Joe Biden Staffer Suggests Orthodox Catholics, Jews and Muslims Shouldn’t Be on Supreme Court

Minnesota Sun Staff

One of Joe Biden’s staffers suggested Monday that Orthodox Catholics, Jews, and Muslims should be disqualified from serving on the Supreme Court due to their “intolerant” views.

Biden campaign Deputy Data Director Nikitha Rai criticized Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett’s religious views in a Twitter conversation Monday night with Brookings Institute Senior Fellow Shadi Hamid.

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Kuwait Ruler, Longtime Diplomat Sheikh Sabah, Dies at Age 91

The Associated Press

Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah, the ruler of Kuwait who drew on his decades as the oil-rich nation’s top diplomat to push for closer ties to Iraq after the 1990 Gulf War and solutions to other regional crises, died Tuesday. He was 91.

In a Middle East replete with elderly rulers, Sheikh Sabah stood out for his efforts at pushing for diplomacy to resolve a bitter dispute between Qatar and other Arab nations that continues to this day.

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Biden’s Texas Political Director Implicated in Massive Mail-In Ballot Harvesting Scheme in Harris County

Minnesota Sun Staff

A Biden Campaign operative in Texas is attempting to rig the 2020 election with the help of others in a massive ballot harvesting scheme, according to two private investigators who testified under oath that they have “video evidence, documentation and witnesses” to prove it. With the help of mass mail-in ballots, the illegal ballot harvesting operation could harvest 700,000 ballots, one Harris County Democrat operative allegedly bragged.

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Biden Doesn’t Name Single Law Enforcement Group That Supports Him

Minnesota Sun Staff

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden didn’t name a single law enforcement group or agency that has endorsed him during the presidential debate Tuesday night.

Biden chose not to respond to the question posed by President Donald Trump during a discussion on law and order. Trump noted that several law enforcement groups have endorsed his reelection campaign.

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House Leader Calls for ‘Full and Robust Investigation’ of Minneapolis Voter Fraud Allegations

Minnesota Sun Staff

In a letter sent Monday, House Minority Leader Kurt Daudt called on Secretary of State Steve Simon to conduct a “full and robust investigation” following allegations of systemic voter fraud in Minneapolis.

The letter was issued in response to a Project Veritas video released Sunday night that accused Rep. Ilhan Omar’s campaign of running a ballot-harvesting scheme out of two Minneapolis high-rises. A source quoted in the video claimed that one of Omar’s staffers is central to the operation and even pays voters for their ballots.

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Free Speech Group Warns University After it Allowed Black Lives Matter Protest but Banned Other Gatherings

Minnesota Sun Staff

A free speech advocacy group has sent two letters to East Carolina University after the public college banned gatherings of more than 50 students, but allowed a Black Lives Matter protest on campus.

Southeastern Legal Foundation sent a letter to the North Carolina public university on September 16 seeking information on its enforcement of its coronavirus policies. After receiving no response, the public interest law group sent a follow-up letter on September 24.

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Commentary: The Hard Left Believes Its Mission is so Critical That Its Noble Ends Can Justify All Means

Minnesota Sun Staff

There was once a tradition of Democratic liberalism. But that wing of the Democratic Party no longer exists and died sometime in the 1990s. Old-style liberalism has been absorbed by Progressivism at best and unapologetic socialism at worst—in a journey on the supposedly predetermined arc of history that bends toward 1984.

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Trump Campaign Sues to Block Mail-in Expansions in North Carolina

Minnesota Sun Staff

President Donald Trump’s campaign and the Republican National Committee on Saturday filed suit to prevent North Carolina officials from adopting measures that would allow a greater number of absentee ballots to be counted in November.

The State Board of Elections said Tuesday that it would allow November ballots with incomplete information to be fixed without requiring the voter to redo their ballot, leading Republicans to file suit arguing that the system would lead to “fraud, coercion, theft, and otherwise illegitimate voting,” the Associated Press reported.

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Amazon to Kick Off Holiday Shopping with October Prime Day

The Associated Press

Amazon is aiming to kickstart the holiday shopping season early this year.

The company is holding its annual Prime Day over two days in October this year, after the pandemic forced it to postpone the sales event from July. It’s the first time Prime Day is being held in the fall, and Amazon is positioning it as a way to get people to start their holiday shopping.

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Trump, Biden Prepare to Debate Tuesday as National Tensions Rise

The Associated Press

In an election year like no other, the first debate between President Donald Trump and his Democratic challenger, Joe Biden, could be a pivotal moment in a race that has remained stubbornly unchanged in the face of historic tumult.

The Tuesday night debate will offer a massive platform for Trump and Biden to outline their starkly different visions for a country facing multiple crises, including racial justice protests and a pandemic that has killed more than 200,000 Americans and cost millions of jobs.

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Federal Judge Blocks TikTok Ban, Giving Chinese App an Opening to Settle Deal with Oracle

Minnesota Sun Staff

A federal judge blocked the Trump administration’s attempt to block TikTok Sunday, giving the Chinese social media platform an opportunity to forge a deal with Oracle.

The decision gives TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, more time to approve a deal with Oracle and Walmart, media reports show. Judge Carl Nichols’s decision came hours before President Donald Trump’s ban of the video-streaming app was expected to take place.

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Commentary: The Renewable Fuel Standard is not ‘Pro-Farmer’

Minnesota Sun Staff

With the election around the corner, the D.C. swamp is hard at work.  Various special interests are trying to make their pet issue look like an election asset or liability.  One interest group working overtime is the biofuel lobby.  The federal Renewable Fuel Standard – or RFS – is often falsely labeled as a “pro-farmer” energy policy that helps the Heartland.

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Rep. Ilhan Omar Linked to Cash-for-Ballots Voter Fraud Scheme in Minneapolis

Minnesota Sun Staff

U.S. Representative Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) has been linked to a massive illegal vote-buying scheme in an elderly community in her heavily Somali district in Minneapolis. The illegal ballot harvesting operation is just the latest in a growing list of federal crimes the self-avowed democratic socialist is alleged to have committed in recent years, including marrying her brother to commit immigration fraud and student loan fraud.

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Engineering Professor Under Investigation for Referring to COVID as the ‘Chinese Virus’

Admin

by Matt Lamb   The University of Cincinnati placed an engineering professor on administrative leave and launched an investigation into him after he referred to coronavirus as the Chinese virus. The public university told Professor John Ucker that he is on administrative leave with pay as of September 18 after…

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Carol Swain Commentary: Critical Race Theory and the Decline of American Justice

Minnesota Sun Staff

Is racism in the DNA of white people, and is it a permanent part of American society? Critical race theorists argue that American society is structured to give white people undeserved advantages over people of color. They say people who look like me (Black) are victims. We are supposedly powerless to free ourselves from systemic racism, institutional structures, and cultural stereotypes that keep us in bondage. Systemic racism permeates every facet of our lives, including institutions and laws. The only hope is for whites to become “woke,” or conscious, of their racism and commit themselves to becoming antiracist. So, where did we get these ideas that now undergird the diversity, equity, and inclusion industry that rests on top of existing affirmative action programs that have been around since the mid-1960s?

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The New York Times Claims It Has Obtained President Trump’s Tax Returns, Trump Organization Attorney Says ‘The Facts Appear to be Inaccurate’

Christina Botteri

The New York Times published a lengthy report over the weekend based, they say, documents they obtained from “sources.”

Speaking at a news conference Sunday at the White House, Trump dismissed the report as “fake news” and said he has paid taxes, though he gave no specifics. He also vowed that information about his taxes “will all be revealed,” but he offered no timeline for the disclosure.

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Commentary: Breaking the Administrative State Key to a Successful Second Term

Minnesota Sun Staff

President Trump, the great red pill for American society, has finally brought to the surface what has been simmering beneath for over a century.

Lost in the shuffle of this week’s breaking news is something Attorney General Bill Barr said last week in a speech calling out the dangers of the bureaucracy, even within his own department.

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More Than 300 People from 29 States Arrested for Crimes During ‘Mostly Peaceful’ Protests

Minnesota Sun Staff

The Daily Caller reports more than 300 people in 29 states and Washington D.C. have been charged with crimes  including civil disorder, damaging federal property and attempted murder in connection with the nationwide demonstrations, the Justice Department said in a Thursday statement.

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Berkeley to Become First City in the Country to Ban Unhealthy Food in Supermarket Check-Out Lanes

Minnesota Sun Staff

Berkeley, California next year will implement a first-in-the-nation ban on junk food in supermarket checkout aisles, per a regulation passed this week by the city council. 

The Healthy Checkout Ordinance seeks to “eliminate the encouragement of unplanned purchases of unhealthy foods and beverages” that proliferate at supermarket checkouts.

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Senator Lindsey Graham Teases Bombshell Regarding FBI’s Trump Probe

Minnesota Sun Staff

Republican South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham provided a slew of updates about the Senate Judiciary Committee’s investigation into Crossfire Hurricane on Sunday and teased “damning” revelations that he said will soon be made public.

“There’s a day of reckoning,” Graham said in an interview on Fox News “Sunday Morning Futures.”

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Commentary: The Case for ‘Jefferson’ and ‘Greater Idaho’

Minnesota Sun Staff

The U.S. House of Representatives in June passed a bill in favor of statehood for the District of Columbia. In response, historian Nicole Hemmer wrote, “should Joe Biden win the presidency and bring with him majorities in the House and Senate, he should make statehood for D.C.—and for Puerto Rico—a priority for his first 100 days in office.” Also in June, The New Republic published an opinion column stating “D.C. Statehood Is a Test of Biden’s Political Courage.”

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Commentary: While Trump Surges, Biden Hides

Admin

Former Vice President Joe Biden must believe he is safely in the lead against President Donald Trump in the 2020 election, as his campaign took the day off on Sept. 24 with no appearances by either Biden or his running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) — the ninth such break this month alone.

Does Biden think he can win without aggressively campaigning?

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Commentary: Barrett Will Sail Through Confirmation

Minnesota Sun Staff

As I write, President Trump has just confirmed what the rumor mill has been disgorging with increasing confidence over the last few days: Judge Amy Coney Barrett is his pick to replace the feminist icon Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died at 87 a little over a week ago, as a justice on the U.S. Supreme Court.

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Trump Campaign Senior Advisor Brad Parscale Hospitalized

Minnesota Sun Staff

Police were called to the Florida home of Brad Parscale Sunday after the well-known Trump campaign operative allegedly threatened to harm himself.

Fort Lauderdale Police Chief Karen Dietrich told The Sun Sentinel that the “encounter” was brief and without additional incident.

“We went out and it was very short. We went and got him help,” the police chief said.

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Trump to Return to Minnesota for Duluth Rally on Wednesday

The Associated Press

President Donald Trump will campaign in Duluth on Wednesday, his campaign announced Friday, marking his third visit to the key swing state of Minnesota in recent weeks.

The campaign said Trump will speak at a Make America Great Again rally at the Duluth International Airport at 5 p.m. Wednesday. Doors will open at 2 p.m.

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Commentary: ‘Never Trump’ Now Means ‘Never Constitution’

Minnesota Sun Staff

We went from Never Trump to Never Constitution in a nanosecond, it seems.

Entrenched foes of the president base their opposition on the unproven allegation Donald Trump is staining our democracy and defiling the Constitution. That arc now has reached almost full circle as the president’s enemies, desperate to deprive him of any victory, are concocting harebrained compromises outside the clear boundaries of the Constitution related to the next Supreme Court justice.

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New York City Says Outdoor Dining Will Become ‘Permanent and Year-Round’

Minnesota Sun Staff

New York City plans to make its flourishing outdoor dining economy a permanent fixture of the city’s landscape going forward, municipal officials said in a press release on Friday. 

The city’s “Open Restaurants” program, which has enrolled thousands of establishments since it debuted in June, “will be extended year-round and made permanent,” the city announced in the press release.

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Swing State Democrats Worry Biden’s Low-Key Campaigning Could Backfire

Minnesota Sun Staff

Some Democrats in critical battlegrounds worry that Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden is not campaigning vigorously enough in their states.

While Biden has taken a low-key approach to campaign across the country amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, Democratic figures in Texas and North Carolina remarked that his method may not be enough to get him 270 electoral votes.

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San Francisco Sees Rise in Home Burglaries, Homicides

Minnesota Sun Staff

San Francisco, California, has seen increases in burglary and homicide for the first nine months of 2020 amid nationwide unrest compared to 2019, according to police data.

The city, which boasts nearly double the U.S. household median income, has seen a nearly 42% increase in burglary, around a 33% increase in homicide and 31% uptick in vehicle thefts, statistical comparisons to 2019 from the San Francisco Police Department show.

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California Braces for Power Shutoffs and Warm, Windy Weekend

The Associated Press

Firefighters and officials at California’s largest utility company braced for hot, dry and windy weather in northern and central areas of the state this weekend that may fan the flames of several major wildfires or ignite new ones.

Pacific Gas & Electric warned Friday it may cut power from Sunday morning to Monday, potentially affecting 97,000 customers in 16 counties, during which forecasters said a ridge of high pressure will raise temperatures and generate gusts flowing from the interior to the coast.

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Absentee Ballots Found in Wisconsin Ditch

Minnesota Sun Staff

Three trays of mail, including absentee ballots were found in a Wisconsin ditch Tuesday, according to Police. Police are now investigating how the mail ended up there.

The Outagamie County Sheriff’s Office said the mail was found around 8 a.m. Tuesday morning near the intersection of highways 96 and CB, and was immediately returned to the U.S. Postal Service, Fox News reported.

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Two Massachusetts Doctors Charged with Criminal Neglect for 76 Coronavirus Deaths at Veterans’ Home

Minnesota Sun Staff

The Massachusetts Attorney General has indicted two doctors on charges of criminal neglect in connection to the deaths of at least 76 veterans’ home residents who died of the novel coronavirus. 

Bennett Walsh, 50, and David Clinton, 71, were indicted by a state grand jury on Thursday in connection to their work at the Holyoke Soldiers’ home in Massachusetts. Each man was indicted on five counts, specifically for charges including “wantonly or recklessly” permitting or causing bodily harm and mistreatment of an older or disabled individual.

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Judge Rules Against Trump Administration, Says Census Counting Must Continue Through October

Minnesota Sun Staff

A judge ruled Thursday night that 2020 Census counting can continue through October 31.

The ruling was issued by California district judge Lucy H. Koh against the Trump administration, which sought to stop counting after Sept. 30, a month before its previously scheduled completion.

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Oregon Governor Sends State Police to Portland for Protests

The Associated Press

Oregon Gov. Kate Brown declared a state of emergency Friday as she announced that state troopers and sheriff’s deputies would be sent to Portland through the weekend to help police, in the state’s largest city, monitor a weekend rally by the right-wing group Proud Boys and counter protests by liberal groups

Portland has been roiled by often violent protests for more than three months following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

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Minnesota Department of Health No Longer Reporting Current COVID-19 Hospitalizations

Minnesota Sun Staff

The Minnesota Department of Health abruptly stopped reporting the current number of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 or in an intensive care unit in its daily situation update Thursday.

The Department of Health (MDH) publishes a situation update every morning at 11 a.m., but Thursday’s update was lacking one standard piece of information: current hospitalizations and ICU patients.

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Trump Picks Conservative Amy Coney Barrett for Supreme Court

The Associated Press

President Donald Trump nominated Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court on Saturday, capping a dramatic reshaping of the federal judiciary that will resonate for a generation and that he hopes will provide a needed boost to his reelection effort.

Republican senators are already lining up for a swift confirmation of Barrett ahead of the Nov. 3 election, as they aim to lock in conservative gains in the federal judiciary before a potential transition of power. Trump, meanwhile, is hoping the nomination will serve to galvanize his supporters as he looks to fend off Democrat Joe Biden.

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Woman Who Assaulted Alpha News Journalist Charged with Rioting, Assault and Disorderly Conduct

Minnesota Sun Staff

The woman who assaulted an Alpha News journalist last month has been identified as 37-year-old Lauren Patricia Peterson and was charged this week in Hennepin County District Court.

According to a criminal complaint obtained by Alpha News, Peterson faces charges of third-degree rioting, disorderly conduct, and two counts of fifth-degree assault.

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Commentary: Black Lives Matter’s Goal to ‘Disrupt’ the Nuclear Family Fits a Marxist Aim That Goes Back a Century and a Half

Minnesota Sun Staff

The organization Black Lives Matter has removed from its website a page that included language condemning America’s “Western-prescribed nuclear family structure.”

The page, titled “What We Believe,” included various public policy positions unrelated to police brutality and police reform. The Washington Examiner discovered on Monday the page had been removed.

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