As DHS Extends Reach into County Elections Offices, Republicans Urge Continued Local Control

As the federal government extends its reach into county elections offices by funding cybersecurity services through the Department of Homeland Security, Republicans, state and local officials are arguing that election administration should stay local.

County elections offices across the U.S. are receiving ambiguous “cybersecurity services” free of charge from the nonprofit Center for Internet Security (CIS), which has played a key role in flagging purported election “misinformation” for Big Tech censorship and collaborates with other left-wing nonprofits and the Democrat-connected cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike.

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Texas Announces State Takeover of Houston Independent School District

The state of Texas intends to take control of the Houston Independent School District, citing poor academic accountability, violations of the law and the expiration of an injunction that had previously prevented the state from acting, state officials said Wednesday.

The Texas Education Agency said it would name a new district superintendent and suspend the district’s board of trustees. This is the latest in a yearslong fight between the state and the district of about 200,000 students over poor academic performance and the behavior of trustees.

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Minnesota State Senator Calls for Abolishing Met Council

Minnesota Sen. Mark Koran called for abolishing the Metropolitan Council, whose members are entirely unelected, in response to a damning new report issued Wednesday by the legislative auditor.

The report into the Met Council’s mismanagement of the Southwest light rail project found that the council was not transparent with the public, committed itself to spending more money than it had available, and knew that its initial estimates were incomplete.

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Commentary: America’s Byzantine Trajectory

When Constantinople finally fell to the Ottomans on Tuesday, May 29, 1453, the Byzantine Empire and its capital had survived for 1,000 years beyond the fall of the Western Empire at Rome.

Always outnumbered in a sea of enemies, the Byzantines’ survival had depended on its realist diplomacy of dividing its enemies, avoiding military quagmires, and ensuring constant deterrence.

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From Prisoner to Saint: The Unexpected Path of Ireland’s Best-Known Missionary

Saint Patrick’s Day is here, and so it goes we join millions across the globe to don our best green garb and imbibe in a panoply beverages from the unnaturally verdant Shamrock Shake to the local pub’s green draft – all in a joyous tradition to cheer one another in the name of a spiritual hero of Ireland.

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China Enters Artificial Intelligence Arms Race, Flops Disastrously

by Jason Cohen   China released its main Chat GPT competitor, developed by search engine giant Baidu, Thursday in Beijing, but its debut of the bot was a failure and led to the company’s shares falling, according to CNBC. During the unveiling, the bot named Ernie “summarized a science fiction novel…

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