Month: December 2022

Meta’s ‘Unequal’ Moderation Policy Protects Elites on Facebook and Instagram: Report

Minnesota Sun Staff

Meta’s Oversight Board criticized the social media giant for unfairly favoring certain elite users of Facebook and Instagram, granting them amnesty from certain rules, and failing to publicly disclose the program’s extent.

Meta’s “cross-check” program is supposed to minimize the number of posts Facebook and Instagram incorrectly take down, by having a human review posts by certain “powerful” users when they are found to be violating the rules, according to the Oversight Board. The Board found that, in practice, cross-check protected these accounts, allowing their content to remain up even when it was in violation of the sites’ rules and helping favored accounts receive reduced punishments for infractions, all the while repeatedly failing to detail to the public and the Board which accounts and posts were subject to this policy.

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Commentary: The ‘Crazy, Right-Wing Shooter’ Myth

RealClearWire

If you only read the New York Times editorials, you’d believe that political violence in America is a “right-wing” problem. The Times has been warning of violence from the right for years, but on Nov. 19 and 26, they wrote two long editorials making these claims. The violence stems from the lies “enthusiastically spread” by Republican politicians. Democrats’ only complicity was their $53 million in spending on “far-right fringe candidates in the primaries.” The fringe candidates, it was hoped, would be easier to beat in the general election. 

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Biden Administration Extends Temporary Protected Status for Haiti

ADN America

The Biden Administration announced on Monday that it would be extending special protections granted to Haitians, allowing them to live and work in the United States. 

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said in a statement that Haitians who currently have Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and whose status was close to expiring will have an additional 18 months to live and work in the country. 

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Senators Draft Bipartisan Framework to Legalize DACA Recipients and Extend Title 42

ADN America

Republican Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Democratic Senator Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona have drafted a framework that seeks to grant DACA recipients citizenship and bolster security at the U.S.-Mexico border. 

The two senators are seeking to take advantage of the lame-duck session—the period between the midterm elections and the new Congress—to pass legislation, including several immigration reforms. 

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Biden Says He Has More Important Things to Do than Visit the U.S.-Mexico Border

The Center Square

President Joe Biden visited Arizona on Tuesday but did not visit the U.S.-Mexico border. He visited the state to tour a Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. facility in the process of being constructed in Phoenix, Arizona. 

When a reporter asked Biden why he would come to Arizona and not visit the border, the president said visiting the border is not a priority. 

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Hillary Clinton Compares America to Taliban in Afghanistan After Overturning Roe v. Wade

Susan Berry, PhD

Failed 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said Friday America is now comparable to the Taliban in Afghanistan and Sudan after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, returning abortion decisions to the states.

“It’s so shocking to think that in any way we’re related to poor Afghanistan and Sudan,” Clinton said, according to Fox News, regarding abortion rights during the Women’s Voices Summit at the Clinton Presidential Center in Little Rock, Arkansas. “But as an advanced economy as we allegedly are, on this measure, we unfortunately are rightly put with them.”

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Democrats’ Top Election Lawyer Litigating Nearly 50 Cases Against Republicans

Admin

The Democratic Party’s top elections attorney and his firm are litigating nearly 50 different post-election cases in 19 states to affect their results, he announced on Sunday night.

Marc Elias, the founder of Elias Law Group, which bills itself as “committed to helping Democrats win, citizens vote, and progressives make change,” announced that it was representing clients in 19 states, for a total of 48 cases. The cases have involved either legal defenses to challenges brought by GOP candidates regarding election issues, or efforts to change election laws in favor of Democratic candidates.

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Biden Education Department Abruptly Disbands Parent Council Under Threat of Lawsuit Arguing Its Membership Consisted of Leftist Activists

Susan Berry, PhD

The Biden education department has abruptly scrapped its National Parents and Families Engagement Council following a lawsuit against Education Secretary Miguel Cardona by parental rights organizations who argued the council’s membership consisted of leftist activists and Democrat donors.

A statement reported by The74 said the education department “has decided to not move forward with the National Parents and Families Engagement Council.”

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Minnesota Republicans Reelect Hann and Bergstrom to Leadership Roles

Admin

The Minnesota GOP State Central Committee reelected Chairman David Hann and Deputy Chair Donna Bergstrom Saturday. The committee also elected Jenna Dicks to serve as secretary.

Hann was initially elected in October 2021 after Jennifer Carnahan resigned following a sex-trafficking indictment against a major donor. He appointed Bergstrom deputy chair.

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Commentary: On Her Way Out, Pelosi Threatens Year-Long Continuing Resolution of ‘Last Resort’

Admin

“[A]s an appropriator myself, left to their own devices, the Republicans and Democrats in a bipartisan way on the Appropriations Committee can reach a solution. But sadly we have no choice if they can’t that we would have to have a year-long [continuing resolution].”

Outgoing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has issued an ultimatum to House and Senate negotiators of the year-end omnibus bill that either they “reach a solution” or else the House will “have no choice” but to just pass the same omnibus bill they passed last year via a year-long continuing resolution until Sept. 30, 2023, effectively freezing federal spending.

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Commentary: The Legacy Media Is Ossified by Their Corruption and Blinded by Their Progressive Agenda

Admin
CNN logo outside of Atlanta, Ga., headquarters

by Victor Davis Hanson   The current “media” – loosely defined as the old major newspapers like the New York Times and Washington Post, the network news channels, MSNBC and CNN, PBS and NPR, the online news aggregators like Google, Apple, and Yahoo, and the social media giants like the old Twitter and…

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China-Linked Hackers Stole Millions in COVID-19 Relief Funds, Secret Service Says

Admin

Foreign hackers linked to the Chinese government allegedly stole at least $20 million in COVID-19 relief funds, according to the U.S. Secret Service.

The China-linked hackers, known as APT41, are “a notable player” among the 1,000-plus investigations into criminals defrauding public benefits programs, according to an NBC News report confirmed by the Secret Service to the Daily Caller News Foundation. It is unknown whether the Chinese government directed APT41 to steal taxpayer funds or simply looked the other way, but the threat is  “dangerous” and has serious national security implications, an anonymous senior Department of Justice (DOJ) official told NBC News.

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FBI Met with Twitter ‘Weekly’ Ahead of 2020, Warned of ‘Hack-and-Leak’ Operations

Admin

In the weeks leading up to the 2020 presidential election, FBI agents would hold “weekly” meetings with Big Tech company Twitter to discuss content moderation, eventually leading to the agency warning the platform of so-called “hack-and-leak operations” by foreign “state actors” shortly before the company censored the Hunter Biden laptop story on these grounds.

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Stanford Under Investigation for Allegedly Discriminating Against Men

Admin

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR) is investigating Stanford University after it received complaints that the school allegedly discriminates against men by offering organizations exclusively for women, Forbes reported.

Kursat Pekgoz, CEO of the Turkish real estate company Doruk, and James Moore, a Stanford alumnus and emeritus professor at the University of Southern California, filed the complaint alleging that the university does not offer groups exclusively available to men like it does for women, according to Forbes. The pair argue that the discrepancy violates Title IX, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex.

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Propagandist for CCP Increases Spending in Time Magazine

Admin

A propaganda outlet that is run by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has increased its spending in Time magazine, one of the most iconic and widely-read magazines in the United States.

According to the Washington Free Beacon, Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) records reveal that the outlet China Daily had already spent approximately $656,885 between May 1st and October 31st to have pro-China propaganda published in Time. In the preceding six months, the outlet had paid Time $649,603. Some of the propaganda published as a result of these deals include articles promoting Chinese culture, discussing the country’s so-called “climate change initiatives,” and Chinese technology.

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Special Report: Latino Youth Vote Comes into Focus after Democrats Sweep Gen Z

ADN America

by Gelet Martínez Fragela   As Republicans continue to grapple with a devastating loss among young adults from the 2022 midterm elections, some statistics suggest the GOP has an opportunity to pick up some traction with the Latino youth vote as their concerns could grow with age about crime, inflation…

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Chinese Operatives Ran a Massive TikTok Campaign to Help Dems in the Midterm Elections: Report

Admin

TikTok accounts operating as voices of Chinese state media promoted messages that appeared to denigrate Republican candidates and favor Democratic ones ahead of the 2022 midterm elections, according to a Forbes investigation.

While the Chinese-owned social media app has verbally affirmed the need to crack down on election disinformation and foreign interference, several news-oriented accounts failed to disclose their affiliation with Chinese Communist Party (CCP) state-owned media on the platform, Forbes found. The accounts racked up tens of millions views on posts that covered divisive topics, such as abortion and race, as well as critical clips that mostly targeted Republican candidates ahead of the 2022 midterms.

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Chinese Solar Giants Snuck Around U.S. Trade Barriers, Investigation Finds

Admin

The Commerce Department found on Friday that four large Chinese solar panel manufacturers are avoiding longstanding U.S. tariffs by assembling their products in Southeast Asia before importing them to the country.

BYD Co., Canadian Solar International, Trina Solar Science & Technology and Vina Solar Technology violated U.S. trade laws by finishing their products in Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia and Malaysia, according to a department press release. The probe was launched in March after California-based solar company Auxin Solar alleged that some solar firms were circumventing tariffs on China by completing manufacturing in Southeast Asia.

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EPA Quietly Quadruples Regulatory Cost of Carbon Emissions in New War on Fossil Fuels

Just the News

With the price of everything from gasoline to food soaring in America, nobody is surprised by inflated price tags these days. But even by Washington standards, an action taken earlier this month by the Environmental Protection Agency is creating sticker shock: a nearly fourfold increase in the government calculation of damages from carbon emissions.

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Utah to Emphasize LGBTQ and Minority Communities in Middle School Social Studies Classes

Admin

The Utah Board of Education passed social studies standards on Thursday for middle schoolers, emphasizing LGBTQ and minority communities, according to Fox 13 News.

The standards for fifth and sixth graders reflect an emphasis on diversity with a focus on minority and LGBTQ communities, John Arthur, a Utah middle school teacher who helped craft the standards said, according to Fox 13 News. The revisions, the first in more than a decade, faced backlash from parental rights in education groups such as Utah Parents United, who said the standards are “indoctrinating” students and promoting “social justice.”

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The City of Minneapolis Reaches $600,000 Settlement with BLM Protesters Who Sustained Injuries During the 2020 George Floyd Riots

Admin

The city of Minneapolis has agreed to a settlement involving a dozen people who were allegedly injured during the protests and riots after the death of George Floyd in 2020.

In a Wednesday press release, the Minnesota chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) announced that Minneapolis will pay $600,000 to be split among the 12 plaintiffs, meaning they each will get $50,000. ACLU was one of three firms who banded together in a class action lawsuit on behalf of the demonstrators. The case stems from two separate lawsuits that were consolidated.

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Commentary: The New England Journal of Medicine Joins the Ranks of Science-Deniers to Promote Transgender Ideology

Admin
Gender Pride demonstration

The New England Journal of Medicine has published an article called “Protecting Transgender Health and Challenging Science Denialism in Policy.” It is the latest example of using denialism to denigrate any opinion contrary to that of the latest set of experts to claim sovereignty over a controversial subject. The technique is to stifle debate and force discussion from the subject to defense of an unrelated issue. This is what the NEJM paper does to perfection.

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Commentary: Don’t Give an Inch on the Debt Ceiling

Admin

The dust has barely settled from the contentious midterms, and the battle lines are already being drawn for the next legislative fight in Washington: the debt ceiling. With the nation at unprecedented levels of indebtedness, the choice in this fight is a stark one: a path toward stability or fiscal Armageddon.

If that sounds hyperbolic, consider the following facts about America’s finances.

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Commentary: ‘Reasonable’ Concessions to Climate Hysteria Lack Any Reason at All

Admin

First, there is no climate emergency. Claims to the contrary are based on exaggerations of carbon dioxide’s warming effect and computer models that have proven unreliable.

As Republicans settle into the leadership of the new House of Representatives, we are hoping for clearer congressional thinking about the climate issue. However, there is work to do on the Conservative Climate Caucus.

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Credit Rating Agency Warns Recession Could Trigger Property Tax Hikes

The Center Square

Fitch Ratings said Friday that the outlook for state and local governments was “deteriorating” and an expected recession could put pressure on state and local governments to raise property taxes.

“Local governments may face slowed growth or possibly contraction in tax revenues associated with real property valuations, which may trigger expenditure controls or revenue-raising measures to preserve budgetary stability,” Fitch Ratings Senior Director Michael Rinaldi said.

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Vermont Backs Down on Religion-Free School Choice after SCOTUS Knocks Down Maine Policy

Just the News

Vermont families that want to send their children to religious schools will no longer be excluded from the state’s tuition benefit program, as a result of legal settlements in two cases brought by the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF).

The plaintiffs who were denied funding under the Town Tuition Program, which provides tuition for students who live in areas without local public schools, will get reimbursement for money spent out of pocket on tuition. Other families denied funding can apply as well.

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Commentary: The Promise of Habit-Based Learning

RealClearWire

Something has gone awry in American education. For example, over the past decades, the U.S. has dropped to the bottom of international rankings for developed countries in math. This decline has coincided with education reform, a shift that has emphasized understanding and downplayed practice. Could something that sounds so sensible have possibly been responsible for the drop?

The brain has two major learning systems. One is based on practice, and leads to fast, automatic behavior. This system is not accessible by conscious thought and is the source of intuition. The second system is based on deliberate thought—it is slow but flexible. You are consciously aware and can verbalize what you have learned. These two systems are roughly analogous to Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman’s “thinking, fast and slow.”

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Trump Calls for ‘Termination’ of Election rules in Constitution after Release of the Twitter Files

Just the News

Former President Donald Trump called for the termination of the Constitution’s rules regarding elections after the release of information about the suppression of the Hunter Biden laptop story in 2020.

“So, with the revelation of MASSIVE & WIDESPREAD FRAUD & DECEPTION in working closely with Big Tech Companies, the DNC, & the Democrat Party, do you throw the Presidential Election Results of 2020 OUT and declare the RIGHTFUL WINNER, or do you have a NEW ELECTION?” Trump wrote on TRUTH Social.

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FBI Official Admits Agency Colluded Weekly with Facebook to Flag, Take Down Posts

Minnesota Sun Staff

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) met weekly with large social media platforms to collaborate on moderating content, according to a deposition this week from FBI Supervisory Special Agent Elvis Chan.

Chan, who was one of the two FBI agents who contacted Facebook ahead of its censoring of the Hunter Biden laptop warning of potential Russian disinformation operations, said that the FBI’s Foreign Influence Task Force (FITF) and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) officials met weekly with social media companies to remove specific accounts ahead of the 2020 presidential election, according to his deposition cited by Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt. The deposition was part of a lawsuit filed against the Biden administration for allegedly censoring Americans’ speech in the name of “misinformation” led by Schmitt and Republican Attorney General Jeff Landry of Louisiana.

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House GOP Working on Bill to Ban TikTok Across Federal Government

Minnesota Sun Staff

The House Republican Conference is currently working on legislation that may ban the use of TikTok by federal government employees, the Daily Caller News Foundation has learned.

“We’re working on something right now,” said a Republican aide familiar with the matter. The proposal is said to be proceeding through the Judiciary Committee, which is set to be led by Republican Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio in the next Congress when the GOP gains a majority.

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Minneapolis Public Schools to Face ‘Impending Fiscal Crisis’ in Five Years

The Center Square

Minneapolis Public Schools is headed for an “impending fiscal crisis” within five years because of continued dropping enrollment, despite the federal government giving it $261 million in COVID relief.

Senior Financial Officer Ibrahima Diop said in a Nov. 29 memo to Interim Superintendent Rochelle Cox that the school “anticipates fully depleting the general fund balance during the 2024-25 school year, and quickly descending into statutory operating debt.”

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Commentary: Musk’s ‘Twitter Files’ Confirm Everything We Already Knew

Minnesota Sun Staff

Late Friday, Matt Taibbi used the Twitter platform to publish numerous tweets devoted to the site’s internal deliberations regarding the Hunter Biden laptop story that most major media suppressed during the 2020 election.

The story, which is what it was, is based on documents obtained from the platform’s new owner and is a marketing coup that will drive traffic to the site. It confirms just how savvy Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, is.

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Commentary: A Republic if You Can Teach It

RealClearWire

President Biden has a civics lesson that he is fond of and regularly repeats. It is about how the United States is unique in the world because of the founding ideals enshrined in the Declaration of Independence.

“Unlike every other nation on Earth, we were founded based on an idea,” he notes before adding that “while we’ve never fully lived up” to those principles, “we have never given up on them.”

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Commentary: Getting Young People Back in the Pews

Minnesota Sun Staff

Only 54 percent of Christians aged 18–35 attend church once a month or more. Meanwhile, Christianity is rapidly declining in the American population, especially in the younger generations.

The secularization of society is evident wherever we turn, and it will only worsen as young people continue to turn away from Christianity. To survive, the church needs to continue through the generations and get young people back in the pews.

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Music Spotlight: Ashley Cooke

Bethany Bowman

NASHVILLE, Tennessee- After hearing her on Sirius XM the Highway and seeing her fun and vibrant social media posts, I was instantly drawn to Ashley Cooke. I was excited to feature her in my column.

After winning the coveted Country Showcase at Belmont College, the communications major was just starting her new career path when the pandemic hit and forced the recent college graduate to temporarily move back home.

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Wyoming Governor Sues Biden Administration over Oil and Gas Contract Cancellations

The Center Square

Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon is again taking the Department of Interior to court. The governor has filed a second federal lawsuit against the department relating to a Bureau of Land Management decision to pause oil and gas lease sales. In a statement, the governor called the litigation timely and vital to the interests of people living in his state. 

“Wyoming’s energy resources can help power the nation and bring down costs at the pump,” said the governor. “BLM’s decision to cancel lease sales sure seems to be a violation of both the letter and the spirit of the law, (and) I firmly believe the pause in lease sales was politically driven and not based in law or fact.”

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Elise Stefanik Alleges USPS Workers Stole Her Campaign Mail, up to $20,000 in Donations

Just the News

New York Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik on Friday alleged that United States Postal Service workers stole up to $20,000 in campaign contributions and illegally opened her mail to do so.

“On four separate occasions between June 2022 and November 2022, packages sent by Elise for Congress containing campaign contributions were ripped open and the contents stolen while in the custody of USPS or its contractors,” her lawyers wrote to Postmaster General Louis Dejoy in a letter the Daily Wire obtained. “Three of these incidents occurred in a single week.”

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Rigorous International Study of N95 Masks Upends Federal COVID Narrative

Just the News

The CDC took nearly two years to formally recognize distinctions between masks for mitigating COVID-19 spread, finally saying in January that cloth masks offer “the least” protection and N95 respirators, which meet strict federal standards, “the highest.”

The agency’s slight nod to the largely symbolic value of cloth masks, predominantly worn in school settings, followed months of calls by onetime White House COVID advisers, among others, to promote masks actually designed to stop aerosolized transmission. It also spurred a run on N95s, sending prices skyward.

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DNC Committee Approves Making South Carolina First State in Its Primary Calendar

Just the News

A panel of the Democratic National Committee on Friday backed a proposal that would make South Carolina the first state to hold a primary contest in the party’s primary nominating process.

Under the Rules and Bylaws Committee proposal, Nevada, New Hampshire, Georgia, and Michigan, would follow soon after South Carolina and precede Super Tuesday, according to CNN. The changes still require confirmation at a full DNC meeting, set to take place next year.

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ICE Is Underreporting Illegals It Releases into the Country Without Tracking Equipment by over 18,000 Percent

Minnesota Sun Staff

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is underreporting the number of illegal aliens released into the country without any tracking technology by more than 18,000%, according to an internal document exclusively obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

ICE disseminated the document to participants, including ICE Director Tae Johnson and other top agency officials as well as leaders from nonprofit organizations, of a Thursday event about ICE’s “Alternatives to Detention” program, which the agency put in place in 2004 to monitor illegal aliens released into the U.S. interior with ankle bracelets and cell phones. ICE disclosed to the attendees that there are 49,459 illegal aliens that aren’t monitored with any tracking equipment as of Nov. 14, while its own website says there are 266 as of Nov. 19.

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Teacher Posts That Confusing Students About Gender Identity Is Enjoyable

Susan Berry, PhD

A Louisiana elementary music teacher posted to social media that confusing young students about gender identity and “ignoring” their questions is enjoyable.

Blaine Banghart, a teacher at University Elementary School in Shreveport, part of the Caddo Parish Public Schools, explained in a Facebook post that it has been enjoyable to purposefully confuse young students about gender identity, Fox News reported.

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Biden Signs Rail Deal to Avert ‘Catastrophe’

The Center Square

President Joe Biden signed a bill forcing a deal between several rail companies and a dozen rail unions to avert a Dec. 9 strike.

“With the signing of the Railway Labor Agreement, we not only spared this country a catastrophe,” Biden said after the signing. “We ensured rail workers will get a historic 24% wage increase, better conditions, and a cap on health care costs. And I won’t stop fighting for paid sick leave for all workers.”

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Minneapolis to Award $600,000 to Rioters Who Sustained Injuries During 2020 Riots

Minnesota Sun Staff

On Wednesday, a federal court gave approval to a plan by the city of Minneapolis, Minnesota to reward 12 Black Lives Matter rioters with a collective total of $600,000 over injuries they sustained during said riots.

The Daily Caller reports that the court’s decision settled a lawsuit originally filed by the far-left American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota (ACLU-MN) on behalf of the rioters, and subsequently forbids the city of Minneapolis from using force to suppress violent riots. The injunction by the Minnesota U.S. District Court also forces all Minneapolis police officers who are deployed to riots to wear body-cameras, and limits the police force’s use of chemical agents for dispelling riots.

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VoterGA Reports Proof of Herschel Walker’s 20,000 Vote Loss in the General Election

Susan Berry, PhD

VoterGA reported further evidence Friday that the organization said substantiates the more than 20,000-vote decline in Herschel Walker’s U.S. Senate election vote count at 10 p.m. on the night of Election Day last month.

According to a press release from the nonprofit coalition of citizens working to restore election integrity in Georgia, “before and after” screenshots of interim election results reported by Georgia Public Broadcasting (GPB) for the 2022 General Election “show the inexplicable decrease for Herschel Walker.”

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Commentary: Biden Burns Taxpayer Dollars While American Wages Continue to Plummet

Minnesota Sun Staff

Today’s jobs report shows that Americans’ real wages declined for the 20th consecutive month, and labor force participation fell for the third straight month. The numbers indicate Americans continue to suffer from falling living standards under the Biden administration.

Boosting real wages and restoring the labor force is the job of the new Congress. Unfortunately, the old Congress wants to make this task as hard as possible by doing damage on its way out.

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Commentary: Oath Keepers Verdict Is a Dangerous Escalation in Criminalizing Dissent

Minnesota Sun Staff

One year after the events of January 6—despite their best efforts—federal prosecutors still hadn’t filed a single criminal charge that came anything close to resembling “insurrection” or domestic terrorism. Democrats and regime media were agitated: How could they continue promoting the four-hour disturbance as an attempted coup if the most prevalent offense charged by the Department of Justice a year later was the petty misdemeanor of “parading” in the Capitol? Even the chief judge for the D.C. district court overseeing each January 6 case had publicly expressed her frustration that the government wasn’t producing harsher indictments against Trump supporters.

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