Day: March 22, 2023

House Administration Chair Warns Hyperpolitical DAs: Weaponize the Law, Lose Federal Funding

Just the News

Amid the Manhattan district attorney’s reported planning to arrest former President Trump next week under a novel legal interpretation of a state law against falsifying business records, Chairman of the House Administration Committee Bryan Steil (R-Wisc.) issued a blunt warning Monday to hyperpolitical big city district attorneys: Any federal funding their offices receive may be at risk if they are abusing their prosecutorial power to settle political scores rather than fight violent crime.

“Often the federal government is funding and providing resources to prosecutors across the United States,” Steil told the “Just the News, No Noise” TV show. “The purpose of that is to make our cities safer. If we find out through this investigation that instead those are being used to weaponize DAs across the country with a purpose of grinding a political ax rather than making our communities safer, we’re gonna have to go back into the funding model.”

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Trump Grand Jury Hearing Canceled Ahead of Possible Indictment: Reports

Just the News

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office reportedly canceled the grand jury meeting scheduled for Wednesday in the case against former President Donald Trump, who faces a possible indictment in connection to alleged hush money payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels.

The jurors are on standby for Thursday, according to multiple media reports.

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Memos from 2018-19 Shake Up Trump Case: Cohen Denied Having Incriminating Evidence on Hush Money

Just the News

An attorney who advised disgraced Trump organization lawyer Michael Cohen provided Manhattan prosecutors with voluminous documentation, including contemporaneous emails and memos, purporting to show that in 2018 Cohen wanted Donald Trump to help cover his legal bills and repeatedly claimed he had no evidence incriminating the former president in a hush money deal with porn actress Stormy Daniels.

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Janet Yellen Says More Bank Bailouts Could Be on the Horizon

Minnesota Sun Staff

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in remarks Tuesday that regulators may ensure all deposits at more banks following the Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Signature Bank depositor bailouts.

Yellen said the bailouts were essential to safeguard the U.S. banking system in prepared remarks at the American Bankers Association Tuesday, referencing the Federal Reserve’s actions in insuring the deposits of SVB’s customers.

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Parent Groups ‘Fed Up’ with Striking Los Angeles Unions ‘Using Kids as Pawns’

Susan Berry, PhD

Parent groups in California and those specifically in Los Angeles are enraged that tens of thousands of staff and teachers of the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) went out on strike Tuesday, demanding higher pay and increased staffing in district schools.

“Parents are fed up with LAUSD unions using kids as pawns in contract negotiations,” tweeted Parent Union (CPC), a coalition of parents, parent groups, education reform advocates and community leaders dedicated to advancing meaningful education policies, accountability and choice in California’s K-12 education system.” 

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TikTok Tracking Code Has Infected Many State Government Websites: Report

Minnesota Sun Staff

Tracking code created by TikTok’s parent company ByteDance Ltd. has been discovered in 30 state government websites, Feroot Security says, according to the Wall Street Journal.

This type tracking code, or “pixel” is commonly placed by website administrators to track the results of advertising on TikTok, the outlet reported. Using data gathered in January and February, Feroot Security revealed such pixels in 30 websites maintained by 27 states, some of which have banned TikTok from their government networks and devices.

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Sex Abuse Allegations Surrounding Nonprofit Are ‘Irrelevant,’ Says Minnesota Dem Looking to Fund Their Work

Admin

A Democratic state representative called the past alleged sexual assault of a minor at the hands of a nonprofit employee “irrelevant” during a Minnesota committee meeting to consider funding to display artifacts from Honor the Earth, an indigenous group that brings awareness to environmental issues.

HB 2091 would allocate $200,000 to Honor the Earth and other organizations that would be used to curate and display their collections in a Minnesota museum over two years, according to the bill. Michael Dahl, a central community organizer for Honor the Earth, was accused in 2015 of assaulting a teenage boy during the 1990s, according to a lawsuitfiled by former employee Margaret Campbell, but one legislator said those allegations were “irrelevant” to the current legislation.

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Commentary: A Trump Arrest Imperils the American Idea

Minnesota Sun Staff

Peril awaits the America I love if the 45th president of the United States is arrested or even “just” arraigned. When a former American president is targeted by the politically despicable woke, we all face disaster.

We have rules in the American game. Most of those rules are set forth explicitly in our Constitution, its amendments, and two centuries of binding judicial opinions interpreting, adding to, or deleting rules. One might call those rules “America’s Written Law.” And then there are unwritten rules one might call “America’s Oral Law,” the traditions that have been handed down from generation to generation. How can we know what these Oral Laws of America are if they are not written anywhere? We just do.

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Wyoming Passes Bill to Ban Men from Women’s Sports, Becoming 19th State Overall to Do So

Minnesota Sun Staff

A new bill has passed in the Wyoming state legislature forbidding biological men from competing in women’s sports, thus making Wyoming the 19th state in the country to pass such legislation.

Breitbart reports that the bill will become law without the signature of Governor Mark Gordon (R-Wyo.), who refused to veto it but also would not sign it. In a letter to Secretary of State Chuck Gray (R-Wyo.), Gordon described the legislation as “discriminatory” and “overly draconian.” Gordon also claimed that the bill “pays little attention to fundamental principles of equality.”

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U.S. Bishops Warn Against Catholic Doctors Performing ‘Gender Transition Procedures’

Minnesota Sun Staff

U.S. Catholic bishops urged medical professionals to not perform gender transition surgeries, warning that they are not a “not morally justified” practice, according to a Monday statement.

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) released its statement titled “Doctrinal Note On The Moral Limits To Technological Manipulation Of The Human Body” Monday to address the recent controversy surrounding transgender ideology within the church. The bishops acknowledged the benefits of modern technology in the medical field, but also said that some of the results of technological advancement can inhibit the “true flourishing of the human person.”

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Commentary: The Things Students Are Learning After They Left Public Schools During Pandemic

Minnesota Sun Staff

The education disruption caused by mass school closures and prolonged remote instruction beginning three years ago this month led many families to seek other learning options beyond an assigned district school. Emerging research reveals just how significant and sustained that shift was.

In a new report, “Where the Kids Went: Nonpublic Schooling and Demographic Change during the Pandemic Exodus from Public Schools,” Stanford economist Thomas Dee reveals that more than 1.2 million students left district schools during the pandemic response. That exodus endured throughout the 2021/2022 academic year, as families continued to opt for private schools and homeschooling even though most district schools reopened. 

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