Month: March 2023

Homeless Shelter Sues State Officials Preventing It from Hiring Christian Employees

Minnesota Sun Staff

A Christian homeless shelter filed a lawsuit against Washington state officials Thursday alleging that the state’s anti-discrimination law prevents the shelter from only hiring employees that agree with their faith-based worldview.

Yakima Union Gospel Mission (YUGM) in Yakima, Washington, describes its mission as “helping people move from homelessness to wholeness” on its website and has been working in the community for 35 years, according to a press release by Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), the world’s largest law firm representing faith and free speech issues. The shelter explains in the lawsuit that the defendants, Attorney General Robert Ferguson and Executive Director of the Washington State Human Rights Commission Andreta Armstrong, have been using Washington’s anti-discrimination law to prevent the organization from hiring in line with their faith, according to the lawsuit.

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Minnesota Bill Would Make It Easier for Political Candidates to Conceal Their Home Address

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Political candidates may soon be allowed to conceal their home address from the public on their election filing statements without having to file a police report or order for protection, according to a bill that’s receiving bipartisan support and set to hit the House floor.

Rep. Jamie Becker-Finn, DFL-Roseville, said she has colleagues in the legislature this session who receive threats to their personal safety regularly. She also said that in the recent past there have been incidents where “armed crowds of people (were) showing up unannounced at personal homes of some people we serve with.”

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Commentary: The Population Crash

Minnesota Sun Staff

In 1968,  Stanford biologist Paul Ehrlich published The Population Bomb, a book extrapolating global population growth data to predict a catastrophe as humanity’s demand for resources outstripped supply. The book became a bestseller and catapulted Ehrlich to worldwide fame. But today, just over a half-century later, humanity faces a different challenge. We are in the early stages of a population crash.

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Liz Cheney to Teach Politics at the University of Virginia After Losing Re-Election

Just the News

Former Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., will take up a post as a professor at the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics.

“I am delighted to be joining the UVA Center for Politics as a Professor of Practice,” Cheney stated in university press release. “Preserving our constitutional republic is the most important work of our time, and our nation’s young people will play a crucial role in this effort. I look forward to working with students and colleagues at the Center to advance the important work they and others at the University of Virginia are doing to improve the health of democracy here and around the world.”

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Bill in Oregon Would Give $1,000 Per Month to Homeless People

Minnesota Sun Staff

In the state of Oregon, a newly-proposed bill would see the state government hand out $1,000 to the state’s homeless residents, with no limits on how the money could be spent.

As the New York Post reports, the bill was introduced by State Senator Winsvey Campos (D-Ore.) and State Representative Khanh Pham (D-Ore.), and would establish a “People’s Housing Assistance Fund Demonstration Program.” The program would give 12 monthly payments of $1,000 to Oregon residents who are either homeless or about to become homeless. The handouts are also available to those who either spend half or more than half of their monthly income on rent, as well as those who earn 60 percent or less of their area’s median income.

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Commentary: Woke Norwegians Try to Replace Christian Holidays with Liberal Festivities

Minnesota Sun Staff

When I moved to Norway from the U.S. in 1999, one of the new pieces of information that most surprised me had to do with its national holidays.

In the U.S., all but one of our 11 federal holidays could be described as secular or civic commemorations: New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Presidents’ Day, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Veterans’ Day, and Thanksgiving. Even though America is probably the most churchgoing country in the developed world, only one of our federal holidays, Christmas, is a religious festival.

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Commentary: FBI Agents in Catholic Churches

Minnesota Sun Staff

It never stops getting worse, does it? Just when you think the progressive Left has torpedoed our culture and country to rock bottom, a new hitherto-inconceivable outrage explodes.

Until the Trump years, the law-abiding universally loved the FBI. They protected our country and us, we thought. They investigated domestic threats to America, we thought. They were politically nonpartisan, like the military, we thought. Respect for them was so universal that ABC had a show titled The F.B.I., starring Efrem Zimbalist Jr., which depicted FBI heroism week after week.

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Republican National Committee Criticizes President’s Biden Weekend Trip to Delaware amid East Palestine Train Derailment Disaster

Kaitlin Housler

President Joe Biden departed the White House Friday en route to Delaware for the 66th time since taking office this weekend, which drew criticism from the Republican National Committee (RNC). According to the RNC, Biden has spent approximately 40 percent of his presidency “on vacation,” with this weekend marking his 306th, 307th, and 308th total vacation days. Of that 40 percent, the RNC noted that Biden has spent 55 of 110 weekends in Delaware.

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Number of Illegal Migrants Evading Arrest Exploded by 900 Percent Along Northern Border Region

Minnesota Sun Staff

The number of illegal migrants that are known to have evaded arrest in a busy sector of the northern border is surging, according to Sean Walsh, National Border Patrol Council President for the Swanton sector, who spoke with the Daily Caller News Foundation.

The sector saw approximately 100 known gotaways in the entirety of fiscal year 2022, but has seen roughly 900% more gotaways already between October 2022 and February 2023, Walsh, whose region covers parts of New York and Vermont, told the DCNF. Border agents in the sector have seen an 845% surge in migrant apprehensions, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data.

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FBI Moved to Target Pro-Lifers Under New ‘Threat Tag,’ Agent Says

Minnesota Sun Staff

The FBI created a threat tag to target pro-life activists after the overturn of Roe v. Wade, according to whistleblower testimony obtained by Fox News.

Following the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization last June, the FBI created a threat tag label “THREATSTOSCOTUS2022,” FBI Special Agent Garret O’Boyle told the the House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government during a Feb. 10 interview. O’Boyle said the tag initially seemed “legitimate” but later “shifted and began focusing in on pro-life adherence,” Fox reported.

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Minnesota State Democrat Condemned for ‘Racist Rant’ Against ‘White Christians’

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Minnesota GOP Chairman David Hann condemned Rep. Heather Keeler’s comments about “white Christians” adopting Native American children, calling it a “racist rant”.

“I’m sick of white Christians adopting our babies and rejoicing. It’s a really sad day when that happens. It means the genocide continues,” Keeler, a Democrat from Moorhead, said in a recent Facebook post.

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Commentary: America’s Breaking Point on Sanctuary Policies

Minnesota Sun Staff

As modern society races forward to embrace digital technology and global connectivity, some time-worn principles remain unchanged. The truth matters. Results matter. Some ideas can be made fashionable with ubiquitous propaganda, media campaigns, and focus group-tested language. But, if those ideas do not deliver on their promises and serve the public, then the public will eventually sour on them. 

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Biden DOJ Says President Trump Can Be Sued over January 6th Protests

Minnesota Sun Staff

On Thursday, government lawyers with the Department of Justice (DOJ) declared that former President Donald J. Trump can face civil lawsuits over the peaceful protests that took place at the U.S. Capitol on January 6th, 2021.

The New York Post reports that the attorneys from the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division made this statement in a filing with a D.C. appeals court, claiming that President Trump cannot use legal immunity to shield himself from the lawsuits that have already been filed against him by two Capitol Police officers and 11 Democratic members of the House of Representatives. The determination by the DOJ would also leave him susceptible to further lawsuits of a similar nature.

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Music Spotlight: SACHA

Bethany Bowman

One thing I have learned while writing my blog is that there is a lot more to Canadian country music than Shania Twain. The Canadians love their country music and have given us Tenille Arts and Tenille Towns, Lindsey Ell, Terri Clark, Brett Kissel, Manny Blu, Kimberly Dawn, Tebey, and country rocker, Cory Marks to name a few.

Therefore, When I heard Sacha sing at a writers’ round recently, I was not a bit surprised to find out that she was from Ontario, Canada. Now living in Nashville, I met up with her at CMT’s Next Women of Country and scheduled an interview.

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Walgreens Won’t Dispense Abortion Pills in Many States—Including Some Where They Are Legal

Minnesota Sun Staff

Walgreens decided on Thursday not to distribute abortion-inducing drugs in some states where they are legal following pushback on multiple fronts, according to Politico.

With continuously changing policies, warnings from state attorneys general and pressure from anti-abortion activists, this decision reflects an abundance of caution, according to Politico. Nearly two dozen state attorneys general signed onto a letter threatening legal action against Walgreens if they go forward with dispensing the drugs, which are now America’s most popular method to terminate pregnancies.

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Commentary: Amtrak Joe Fails on Rail Issues

Minnesota Sun Staff

The ongoing health and environmental disaster unfolding in East Palestine, OH is another example of abdicated leadership by the Biden Administration on critical issues facing America’s railways. Fumbled labor negotiations precipitating the near miss of a nationwide rail strike that would have brought the transport of 19.3 billion tons of annual goods to a standstill, on top of ongoing supply chain snarls which contribute to the freight rates spiking as much as 37% year over year are two such examples. All Americans are suffering the consequences of their failing choices. Leadership is desperately needed.

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Commentary: Monumental Disappointments in Our Public Spaces

Minnesota Sun Staff

Monuments and memorials by nature long have stood, quite literally, in the public square. But within a few short years, radicalized Americans have turned on these taciturn forebears like Moses on the golden calf.

The year 2020 witnessed great anguish on this subject among part of the U.S. population. Realizing that our nation was dotted with monuments commemorating sinful men rather than angels, it was imperative for these iconoclasts that the likenesses of bronze and marble be cast down from their pedestals.

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House GOP Proposes Parents’ Rights Legislation to Allow More Say in Curriculum

Minnesota Sun Staff

House Republicans under the leadership of Speaker Kevin McCarthy of California are reintroducing legislation to promote parental rights in their children’s education, giving them more of a say in school curriculum, according to The Associated Press.

The Parents’ Bill of Rights Act will be the first piece of legislation McCarthy has introduced as speaker, the AP reported, and will ensure that parents are aware of their rights and that schools understand them. School systems will be required to publish the curriculum and budget spending, and must ask permission of parents before any medical examination takes place, such as mental health counseling.

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Probe Confirms Capitol Police, Feds Had Intel on January 6 Threat but Failed to Adapt Security

Just the News

The Capitol Police, FBI and eight other federal agencies gathered intelligence that extremists were planning to commit violence at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 but failed to adequately adapt security or get threat assessments to key decision-makers and frontline officers, the non-partisan investigative arm of Congress concludes in a stinging report that confirmed months of reporting by Just the News. 

“Some agencies did not fully process information or share it, preventing critical information from reaching key federal entities responsible for securing the National Capital Region against threats,” the Government Accountability Office concluded in a report this week that immediately renewed questions inside Congress about whether the riot was a preventable attack and why the leadership under then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Leader Chuck Schumer did not accept the Trump Pentagon’s offer of National Guard troops for reinforcements.

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Teachers’ Union Boss Randi Weingarten’s Rant About Student Loan Forgiveness at SCOTUS Draws Fire

Susan Berry, PhD

American Federation of Teachers (AFT) President Randi Weingarten, who was unhinged as she ranted and raved on the steps of the Supreme Court over the prospect that Joe Biden’s student loan handout could be declared unconstitutional, is drawing rebukes for being the height of hypocrisy.

Weingarten, joined by other far-left proponents of student debt relief, screamed on the steps of the Supreme Court Tuesday as oral arguments were heard in challenges to Joe Biden’s plan to cancel student loan payments, claiming the move is essential to “make good with the students of America.”

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Nearly Half of Democrats See Biden Unfit for a Second Term Due to Age: Poll

Minnesota Sun Staff

Nearly half of likely Democratic voters and the majority of Republican voters consider President Joe Biden not fit to run for a second term due to his age, as reported by a Yahoo/YouGov poll.

The polls reveal that one out of seven likely voters, 68% believe that Joe Biden is “too old for another term as a president,” according to a Yahoo News/YouGov poll. Roughly 48% of Democrats and 60% of Republicans agreed that Biden’s age of 80 is an issue for re-election while 23% of Democrats said they were unsure.

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Not One Student Proficient in Math in 10 Minneapolis, St. Paul Public Schools: Report

Minnesota Sun Staff

At least 10 elementary and high schools in the Minneapolis Public School District and St. Paul Public School District in Minnesota, did not have a single student meet grade level expectations in math during the 2021-2022 school year, according to a Wednesday report by the Center of the American Experiment, an organization focused on state public policy.

State wide, 19 school districts did not have one student test proficient in math on the 2022 Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment, a standardized test used to determine what students have learned, according to a Center of the American Experiment report. Of elementary schools in the Minneapolis and St. Paul school districts, seven did not have a single student meeting grade level expectations in math.

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Commentary: Thomas Jefferson’s Meaning of ‘The Pursuit of Happiness’

Minnesota Sun Staff

The idea of the “pursuit of happiness” is in our societal DNA. Yet, this “unalienable right,” immortalized in the Declaration of Independence, has often puzzled people. What exactly did Jefferson mean?

Most people think of happiness as feeling good, but that is not what Jefferson meant. Pleasure and happiness are not the same. Our happiness does not depend upon everything going right in our life or getting what we want.

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AG Merrick Garland’s Reason Why DOJ Has Prosecuted Few Pro-Life Pregnancy Center Firebombers: They Are Bombing at Night

Susan Berry, PhD

Biden Attorney General Merrick Garland told Republican senators Wednesday that his Department of Justice (DOJ) has prosecuted more pro-life Americans for peaceful protests at abortion clinics than enraged anti-life terrorists firebombing pregnancy care centers and vandalizing churches because pro-life people conduct their activities during the day while the domestic terrorists are doing their bombing at night.

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FBI Confirms COVID-19 Likely Came from Wuhan Lab

The Center Square

The FBI has confirmed initial reports that the Biden administration is now saying the most likely source of COVID-19 is the virology lab in Wuhan, China.

The news comes after the Wall Street Journal reported that the Department of Energy gave classified briefings to key lawmakers and the White House saying the most likely origin of the virus was the lab in China.

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New Polls Show Trump Widening Lead over DeSantis with GOP Voters

Just the News

Former President Donald Trump is gaining support from Republican voters and widening his lead over potential 2024 candidate Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, according to four new polls.

Trump received 55% of the hypothetical 2024 GOP primary vote, more than twice that of DeSantis, who received 25%, according to an Emerson College poll released Tuesday. A poll from Emerson last month showed that Trump led DeSantis 55%-29%.

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FDA Sued for Withholding Information About Children’s Use of Hormone Treatments

Minnesota Sun Staff

On Monday, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was sued for allegedly withholding records detailing the off-label use of hormone treatments, such as puberty blockers, by underaged children.

Fox News reports that the lawsuit was filed by Stephen Miller’s America First Legal (AFL) group, which had previously made a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request back in September regarding the use of such hormone drugs on children under the Biden Administration. After the FDA refused to respond to the request, AFL filed their lawsuit.

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‘White Christians’ Adopting Native American Children Is ‘Genocide,’ Minnesota State Rep Says

Minnesota Sun Staff

A Democratic Minnesota legislator said it is a form of “genocide” for “white Christians” to adopt Native American children.

“I’m sick of white Christians adopting our babies and rejoicing. It’s a really sad day when that happens. It means the genocide continues,” Rep. Heather Keeler, DFL-Moorhead, said on Facebook.

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Commentary: Schools Are Pushing Gender Pronouns and Hiding It from Parents

RealClearWire

A new report reveals students in the nation’s largest school districts are encouraged to change their names and pronouns without parental knowledge, even though those same schools require parental approval for over-the-counter medicine.

The report, released by The Defense of Freedom Institute for Policy Studies (DFI), found that “eight of the nation’s 20 largest school districts allow students to use names and pronouns at school aligned with their gender identity without parental knowledge and consent,” said DFI.

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Catholic University Drops Theology Degree, Nine Others

Minnesota Sun Staff

The Board of Marymount University unanimously voted on Friday to eliminate ten degree programs in the humanities and social sciences, including English, History, and Theology and Religious Studies.

Founded as the first Catholic college in Virginia in 1950, Marymount is affiliated with the Sacred Heart of Mary and serves approximately 3,500 students in its undergraduate and graduate programs.

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GOP Representative Questions Biden Admin over Alleged ‘Fraud’ in Sponsorship Program for Illegal Migrant Kids

Minnesota Sun Staff

Republican Texas Rep. Lance Gooden sent a letter to Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra Tuesday asking him to address alleged mishandling of illegal alien children released into the U.S. amid concerns over improper vetting of sponsors caring for them.

Gooden asked Becerra to answer to alleged improper vetting of sponsors caring for unaccompanied alien children, according to the letter. The letter comes after the Biden administration began probing factories allegedly employing illegal alien children in inhumane conditions, some of which were released to sponsors they didn’t know well or at all.

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AG Merrick Garland Faces Republicans on Senate Judiciary Committee Over Weaponization of DOJ Against Parents, Catholics, and Pro-Life Activists

Susan Berry, PhD

Biden Attorney General Merrick Garland is expected to face tough questions from Republican senators Wednesday regarding what many in the nation say has been the purposeful weaponization of the Department of Justice against parents of schoolchildren, Catholics who live their faith in the public square, and activists who fight for the vulnerable unborn.

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Supreme Court Justices Raise Concerns About Biden’s Ability to Forgive Student Debt

The Center Square

 The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments Tuesday in a legal challenge to President Joe Biden’s plan to cancel hundreds of billions of dollars in student loan debt.

Biden announced in August of last year that his administration would “forgive” $10,000 in federal student loan debt for those making less than $125,000 per year or $250,000 for married couples. Debtors who borrowed money before July 1 can qualify. 

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GOP Rep Introduces Legislation to Make China Pay for America’s COVID Costs

Minnesota Sun Staff

Republican Florida Rep. Brian Mast introduced legislation to hold the Chinese Communist Party accountable for the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a copy of the bill obtained exclusively by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

The bill seeks to allow the U.S. government to withhold debt payments to China equal to the cost incurred by the U.S. in response to the pandemic. The bill’s introduction comes days after the Department of Energy (DOE) found that the virus likely originated from a lab leak in China.

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Army Secretary Predicts China Will Attack U.S. Homeland If ‘Major War’ Breaks Out

Just the News

U.S. Army Secretary Christine Wormuth predicted that if China got into a “major war” with the U.S. the Communist-led country would attack the American homeland.

“The United States homeland would be at risk as well with both kinetic attacks and non-kinetic attacks – whether it’s cyberattacks on the power grid or on pipelines,” Wormuth said Monday at the American Enterprise Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank.

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‘I Don’t Believe in Popes’: Nicaraguan President Reportedly Bans Easter Public Processions

Minnesota Sun Staff

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega reportedly banned public church processions for Easter after comparing the Catholic church to the “mafia,” according to the Catholic News Agency (CNA).

Tensions between the government and the church have been rising due to Ortega orchestrating multiple investigations into church leaders and exiling others, according to CNA. Ortega has reportedly placed a ban on public religious demonstrations during Lent, Good Friday and Easter after he attacked the church during a speech memorializing the 89th anniversary of Nicaraguan national hero Augusto Sandino’s death, calling the Catholic church a “mafia organization” committing “grave crimes and horrors.”

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Bill Would Require All Minnesota Public School Grads to Complete Ethnic Studies Course

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A bill making its way through the Minnesota Legislature with broad Democratic support would require all public school graduates to complete an ethnic studies course.

Authored by Rep. Samantha Sencer-Mura, DFL-Minneapolis, the bill defines ethnic studies as “the critical and interdisciplinary study of race, ethnicity, and indigeneity with a focus on the experiences and perspectives of people of color within and beyond the United States.”

“Ethnic studies analyzes the ways in which race and racism have been and continue to be powerful social, cultural, and political forces, and the connection of race to other groups of stratification, including gender, class, sexuality, religion, and legal status,” it says.

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Commentary: The World Bank Takes a Wrong Turn

RealClearWire

President Biden’s nomination of Ajay Banga, the former CEO of Mastercard, to succeed David Malpass as World Bank president suggests that the Biden administration is prioritizing climate change over the World Bank’s founding mission of poverty eradication and economic development. This was made clear in the president’s statement singling out climate change as the most urgent challenge of our time. 

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U.S. Household Debt Rises Sharply

The Center Square

Household debt across the country is sharply on the rise, with U.S. households now collectively on the hook for about $17 trillion in total. The average family holds about $142,680 in debt, according to a new WalletHub report.

All told, the personal finance website concludes that 2022 ended with Americans roughly $320 billion more in total debt than they were at the start of the year. During the fourth quarter alone, consumers added at least $398 million in new debt, the fourth highest build-up for a fourth quarter over the past two decades and more than four times larger than Q4 2021.

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Supreme Court to Decide Fate of Controversial Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

Minnesota Sun Staff

The Supreme Court announced Monday it would take up a case challenging the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) funding mechanism on constitutional grounds.

On Oct. 19, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit ruled that funding the CFPB through the Federal Reserve violates the Constitution’s Appropriations Clause, which gives Congress the “power of the purse” in appropriating government funds. The CFPB filed a petition for a writ of certiorari on Nov. 14, 2022, which the Supreme Court granted Monday morning.

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U.S. Weapons Aid for Ukraine Could Extend Years Beyond the War, Top Pentagon Official Says

Minnesota Sun Staff

The Biden administration plans to provide lethal assistance to Ukraine for years after the war to end Russia’s invasion reaches a conclusion, the Pentagon’s top official for policy and planning testified before Congress Tuesday.

The U.S. has provided more than $30 billion worth of weapons and equipment since the war in Ukraine began one year ago, including millions of artillery rounds and high-end equipment that requires years to produce and months during which to train Ukrainian troops. Regardless of how the war ends, the U.S. will need to continue providing Kyiv with weapons and military support for years to discourage Russia from making a subsequent attempt at conquering Kyiv, Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Dr. Colin Kahl told the House Armed Services Committee at a hearing Tuesday.

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Kasey Tyndall Releases New Music

Bethany Bowman

NASHVILLE, Tennessee- After seeing Kasey Tyndall at the Listening Room with the Song Suffragettes in 2019, I immediately set up an interview with the energetic songstress and featured her in my Music Spotlight column at the beginning of 2020.

When I ran into Tyndall again at the Next Women of Country event in January of 2023, I knew we were long overdue for a follow-up interview.

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Commentary: Making Fast Food Faster Is a Big Mistake

Minnesota Sun Staff

Just when it seemed things were returning to normal, some habits changed for the worse. The instability of COVID times took countless people out of contact with the outside world. Things became more informal, faster, and less social.

One area of change was the fast-food franchises. People embraced no-touch food service during COVID. Now, the instant-meal world is working hard to keep up the momentum by making fast food faster and less social. The idea is to minimize personal contact and maximize profits.

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Federal Agencies Must Ban Chinese-Owned TikTok, White House Memo Says

Minnesota Sun Staff

Government agencies have less than a month to ban the popular Chinese-owned app TikTok from federal devices, according to an Office of Management and Budget memorandum issued Monday.

OMB Director Shalanda Young issued the memorandum for executive departments and agency heads about implementation guidance for banning TikTok on government-issued devices, Reuters first reported.

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Biden Administration Reverses Course on Efforts to Regulate U.S. Investments in China

Minnesota Sun Staff

The Biden Administration is planning to scale back planned regulations that would have cracked down on American investments in China, even despite rising tensions between the two nations.

According to Politico, at least five anonymous sources “with knowledge of the White House discussions” said that Biden will not sign the executive order as originally planned; instead of outright restricting such investments, the new order will instead simply attempt to increase the transparency of such deals.

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