Month: July 2023

Constitutional Law Center Urges over 150 Medical Schools to End Race-Based Admissions Following Supreme Court Decision

Susan Berry, PhD

A nonprofit law center whose mission is to defend the constitutional rights of Americans has sent a letter to more than 150 medical schools throughout the country, calling upon them to end their race-based admissions policies in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling that struck down affirmative action.

Liberty Justice Center, which won a major victory for First Amendment rights in June 2018 after the Supreme Court ruled in Janus v. AFSCME that non-union government workers cannot be required to pay union fees as a condition of working in public service, has now announced efforts to inform the schools of their “legal obligation to end race-based admissions policies” in response to the Court’s recent ruling in Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College. 

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Judge Orders Attorneys in Trump Documents Case to Get Security Clearance

The Center Square

A federal judge ordered all the attorneys involved in former President Donald Trump’s classified documents case to move forward with the process to get security clearance. 

U.S. District Court Judge Aileen Cannon told all the attorneys to “complete all outstanding applicant tasks required to obtain the requisite security clearances in this matter” by July 13. 

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Former Minnesota Police Chief Claims City Fired Him Because He’s White

Minnesota Sun Staff

Former interim Golden Valley Police Chief Scott Nadeau, a white male, claims in a federal lawsuit filed last week that he was effectively fired because of his race.

The lawsuit, which seeks at least $75,000 in damages, accuses city leaders of violating the Civil Rights Act by discriminating against Nadeau based on race. It also accuses Mayor Shep Harris of defamation because of comments he made during a March 2022 City Council meeting.

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Commentary: SCOTUS Affirmative Action Decision Ignores Elephant in the Room

Minnesota Sun Staff
U.S. Supreme Court

Growing up in the Jim Crow South, my parents grew up dreaming of a world where they didn’t have to use “colored-only” restrooms, sit in the back of the bus, attend segregated schools, and could sit in restaurants together with other Americans – regardless of their race, creed, or nationality.

They dreamed of equality for all. Yet, almost 70 years after the Supreme Court struck down “separate but equal,” the recent decision to strike down affirmative action makes it clear that many black progressives like Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson – who benefited from the Brown v. Board of Education decision – still view the issues of race and equality through rose-colored glasses.

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Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson Calls on Biden to Urge NATO Allies to Meet Their Defense Spending Commitments

M.D. Kittle

As President Joe Biden prepares for this weekend’s North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit, U.S. Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) is asking the president to hold NATO accountable.

Johnson joined 34 of his Republican colleagues in sending Biden a letter asking that he remind NATO allies to honor their commitment to spend at least 2 percent of gross domestic product on defense.

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Interior Department Included Wuhan Lab Funder on Early COVID Pandemic Research Team

Just the News
Wuhan Institute of Virology

Officials at the U.S. nonprofit that passed taxpayer money to the Wuhan Institute of Virology – whose coronavirus bat research is now suspected by the FBI to be the source of the pandemic – helped the Interior Department research possible transmission of COVID-19 between humans and North American bats, according to newly released government memos.

Lightly redacted documents provided to government watchdog Protect the Public’s Trust in response to a Freedom of Information Act request show the “fingerprints” of the EcoHealth Alliance “at key points” of the resulting U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) paper in June 2020, the group said Wednesday. 

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Commentary: As Hiring Slows Down, So Does the Economy

Minnesota Sun Staff

The U.S. economy added 209,000 jobs in June, according to the latest establishment survey by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, less than expected as 306,000 were added in May, as hiring slowed down nationwide. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate remained about the same at 3.6 percent.

Historically, when hiring slows down by establishments, that usually coincides with economic slowdowns and recessions. In the recent cycle, the 2020 and 2021 recovery from Covid notwithstanding, hiring peaked at about 5.2 percent annualized increase in Feb. 2022. Now, it’s down to 2.5 percent.

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Twitter Threatens Legal Action over Meta’s Threads App

Just the News

Social media platform Twitter warned rival Meta that intended to protect its intellectual property rights following the latter’s debut of a Threads, a Twitter competitor that is linked to Meta’s other platforms.

Twitter has raised concerns that Meta may have improperly used its intellectual property and issued the firm a cease-and-desist letter on Thursday.

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Marjorie Taylor Greene Removed from Freedom Caucus, Member Says

Just the News

Conservative firebrand Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., has been ousted from the conservative Freedom Caucus, a member of its board has said.

Maryland GOP Rep. Andy Harris told Politico on Thursday that “[a] vote was taken to remove Marjorie Taylor Greene from the House Freedom Caucus for some of the things she’s done.”

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Lawmakers: FDA Delaying Investigation, Accountability over Baby Formula Shortage

The Center Square

U.S. House oversight lawmakers reviewing the FDA’s role in the baby formula shortage say the federal agency is dodging oversight and delaying providing answers.

Subcommittee on Health Care and Financial Services Chairwoman Lisa McClain, R-Mich., sent a letter to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration this week asking for interviews with FDA officials to get to the bottom of the baby formula crisis that rocked the U.S. last year.

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Influential Conservative Think Tank Calls on Congress to Reform College Accreditation

Minnesota Sun Staff

A new report from an influential conservative think tank calls on Congress to fix the college accreditation process and end accreditors’ stranglehold on higher education.

With the stated aim of returning “accreditation to its original function as a mechanism for quality assurance and improvement,” the report asks lawmakers to adopt several changes to the Higher Education Act as they work through its first reauthorization since 2008.

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Angel Studios’ ‘Sound of Freedom’ Child Trafficking Exposé Becomes America’s Top Movie on July 4 Opening Day

Susan Berry, PhD

Fans of Sound of Freedom, the true-life thriller that exposes the sinister world of child trafficking, have propelled the film to the top spot at the box office on its July 4 opening in America.

The film, distributed by Angel Studios (The Chosen), is based on the true story of former government agent Tim Ballard, played by The Passion of the Christ’s Jim Caviezel, who quit his job to rescue a little girl from sex traffickers in the jungles of Colombia, and ended up saving many more children and adults.

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Pence Says Trump and DeSantis Are Wrong on Ukraine and America’s Role as Arsenal of Democracy

M.D. Kittle

Former Vice President Mike Pence says his “former running mate,” among others in the Republican Party presidential nomination chase, are missing the significance of the U.S. coming to the aid of Ukraine.

Pence said he recently paid a call on the war-torn European nation and its president to see firsthand “the results of the extraordinary, unprovoked invasion by Russia” as well as the “tenacity and toughness” of the Ukrainian military.

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RFK Jr. Hauls in Millions in Campaign Cash, but Lags Far Behind Biden’s Billion-Dollar Campaign

M.D. Kittle

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. may be a long-shot candidate for the Democratic Party presidential nomination, but he appears to be hauling in the kind of campaign cash that could give President Joe Biden and his re-election efforts some heartburn.

The Kennedy Jr. campaign last Friday announced its first million-dollar day just hours before the close of the critical July quarterly reporting period.

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Some Illegal Immigrants Will Get Free College Tuition in Minnesota

Minnesota Sun Staff

by Benjamin Rothove   Illegal immigrants in Minnesota will soon get free college tuition if their families are below a certain household income level. The “North Star Promise” program “will create a tuition and fee-free pathway to higher education for eligible Minnesota residents at eligible institutions as a ‘last-dollar’ program…

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Missouri U.S. Senator Eric Schmitt Calls on Biden’s Cybersecurity Chief to Resign over Censorship Campaign

Minnesota Sun Staff

Republican Missouri Sen. Eric Schmitt called on a top cybersecurity official to resign Wednesday following a preliminary injunction preventing government coordination with social media platforms to censor protected speech.

Schmitt urged the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) Jennifer Easterly to step down in an interview with journalist Michael Shellenberger on Wednesday. A federal judge had issued an injunction Tuesday preventing the Biden administration from coordinating with social media companies to censor content after finding that officials likely violated the First Amendment.

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Commentary: Biden Begins Shadow Loan Forgiveness Plan

Minnesota Sun Staff

Last week, the Supreme Court ruled against the Biden administration’s student loan forgiveness proposal which would have forgiven $10,000-$20,000 of student loans per borrower. But the fight for student loan forgiveness isn’t going anywhere.

In a previous article for FEE, I highlighted how student loan forgiveness has already been happening and started under president Trump due to the freeze on interest accumulation. Although this may not be as visible as a $10,000 lower balance, frozen interest means the real cost of taking a loan out became smaller than the initial terms suggested.

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Mark Levin: Target Refuses to Sell Book Critical of Democrats

Minnesota Sun Staff

Mark Levin, author and host of “Life, Liberty & Levin” on Fox News, claimed in a Wednesday tweet that Target told him it will not carry his new book because customers may be offended by the title.

Target reportedly informed Levin’s publisher, Simon & Schuster, that the retail giant will not carry his new book, “The Democrat Party Hates America,” which is set to be released on Sept. 19, because the title may offend customers, Levin said on Twitter. Target has been the center of several recent controversies that include selling LGBTQ merchandise for children during Pride Month and funding an anti-militarization group.

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Commentary: Two Americas Collide at the Supreme Court

Minnesota Sun Staff

When President Biden fumed that the Supreme Court’s affirmative action ruling is “not normal,” he spoke more truth than he may have intended. It is certainly not normal nowadays to acknowledge, even implicitly, that discrimination against whites is possible, or even wrong. The Supreme Court blasted the vaporous pretexts that elites have used to justify this invidious scheme, which has carried on indefinitely, feasting on countless dreams without satisfying a bottomless hunger of unquantifiable grievance. The sentimental and, arguably, self-serving wailing of the dissenters, particularly Justice Jackson, draws from that same source.

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Law Enforcement Experts Warn of ‘Another 9-11’ After Bungled Release of Migrant Tied to Terrorism

Just the News

Former law enforcement officials are warning of potential terrorist attacks and a repeat of 9/11 following a Homeland Security Department watchdog report that exposed government bungling that allowed an illegal immigrant on the terrorist watchlist to be released into the U.S. and roam free for two weeks before he was apprehended.

According to a report released by the DHS’s Office of Inspector General, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) released an illegal immigrant on the terrorist watchlist last year, and due to a lack of coordination, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) took more than two weeks to arrest the individual.

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Ex-CBP Head: ‘Literally Should Take’ About 30 Minutes to ID Who Brought Cocaine into White House

Just the News

Mark Morgan, a former FBI agent and acting commissioner of the Customs and Border Protection Agency, told Just the News that it should take the U.S. Secret Service about 30 minutes to figure out how cocaine came into the White House and who brought it there.

“I was there countless times, I put my cell phone in that exact box that they’re talking about. I know it well. Oftentimes, there is a marine that’s standing there. This literally should take them about 30 minutes to solve,” Morgan said on Wednesday.

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FDA Blasted for ‘Misleading’ mRNA COVID Vaccine Labels as ‘Sudden Death’ Research Mounts

Just the News

Researchers around the world continue documenting potentially severe side effects from COVID-19 mRNA vaccines in certain demographics, but the Food and Drug Administration refuses to label them or even tell recipients the shots can’t stop transmission of an increasingly immune-evasive virus.

Autopsies and reviews of medical records revealed a much higher incidence of Pfizer and Moderna vaccine-associated heart deaths than officially categorized in South Korean, Japanese and Qatari government registries, particularly in younger people at lower risk from COVID. That echoes a German autopsy study of healthy people who died within 20 days of jabs.

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Google Erodes User Privacy to ‘Train AI Models’ in Quiet Policy Update: Report

Just the News

Google quietly updated its privacy policy over the long July 4 holiday weekend to expand what it can do with user data, namely improve its artificial-intelligence abilities, according to tech blog Gizmodo.

The new policy replaced the word “language” with “AI” in a section referring to the “publicly available information” that Google uses to train its “models” for the benefit of users, Gizmodo says, citing the publicly recorded change log.

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Minnesota Senator Takes Action to Assist the Nation’s 12 Million Military Spouses

The Center Square

U.S. military spouses, one of the highest unemployed demographics, could receive new support to start and operate small businesses under legislation pending in the Senate.

U.S. Sens. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., and Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., recently introduced the Military Spouse Entrepreneurship Act of 2023 to develop a training program at the Small Business Administration to help military spouses launch small businesses.

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Connecticut Baby Born at 22 Weeks Is ‘Story of Hope’ as She Survives Odds and Is Discharged Home

Susan Berry, PhD

The smallest baby ever born at St. Francis Hospital in Hartford, Connecticut, was celebrated by staff across the hospital as she was discharged last week following four months in the neonatal intensive care unit.

“Born at just 22 weeks, Baby Zahraliz Francis Angueira, the smallest baby ever born at Saint Francis Hospital, graduated from our Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) after four months and headed home today!” the hospital posted to Instagram. “Our colleagues from across the hospital gathered to provide well wishes to the family and celebrate their story of hope.”

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Commentary: America Needs to Update Its Labor Union Laws

Minnesota Sun Staff

For years, labor unions have been exempt from the consequences of destroying private property. Would you like a higher wage or salary? Sounds good! So, how would you go about persuading your employer to give you a raise? Why not vandalize some of your employer’s property with your labor union, or at least threaten to do so unless the boss gives you the raise you want?

Let’s say you want to get hired for a certain job, but you are worried that another applicant might get the job you want. Should you slash the tires on the other person’s car and threaten to pound him with a baseball bat if he doesn’t disappear?

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Louisiana Governor Vetoes Bill Protecting Minors from Transgender Hormone Drugs and Surgeries

Susan Berry, PhD

Gov. John Bel Edwards (D-LA) has vetoed the Stop Harming Our Kids Act, legislation that would have protected children and teens from transgender hormone drugs and surgeries, claiming “there was never any evidence or testimony” that gender transition surgeries on minors have been occurring in Louisiana.

In a six-page letter, dated June 29, to Louisiana House Speaker Clay Schexnayder (R-Ascension), Edwards wrote HB 648 is “punitive,“ discriminatory,” “part of a targeted assault on children,” and “denies healthcare to a very small, unique, and vulnerable group of children.”

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Commentary: Randi Weingarten Is the Last Person to Give Advice on School Safety

Minnesota Sun Staff

Straight from the “No matter how cynical I get, I just can’t keep up” file, it was recently announced that American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten has been appointed to the Homeland Security Academic Partnership Council. According to the Homeland Security website, the HSAPC will “provide strategic and actionable recommendations to the Secretary on campus safety and security, improved coordination, research priorities, hiring, and more.”

Senator Rick Scott (R-FL) vented his frustration with the appointment, tweeting that Weingarten “is the last person who should be advising anyone on school safety.”

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Secret Service Confirms Cocaine Found in White House

Minnesota Sun Staff

The U.S. Secret Service has confirmed that cocaine was found at the White House on the eve of Fourth of July, the discovery of which prompted a West Wing evacuation, according to ABC News.

Secret Service agents discovered the substance in the West Wing on Sunday, two days after President Joe Biden’s son Hunter was seen leaving the building, as part of a routine security sweep of the building, and initially suspected it was anthrax, prompting an evacuation of the building. The agency confirmed that the substance was cocaine Wednesday after conducting a drug test, according to ABC News.

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Pro-Life Groups Demand Congress Halt Pentagon’s Abortion Travel Funding Policy

Just the News

A group of pro-life groups have called on House Republicans to stop the Department of Defense policy allowing military servicemembers time off and reimbursement for travel to obtain abortions.

The Pentagon adopted the plan in the wake of the 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson decision that overturned the constitutional right to an abortion and led to numerous states banning the procedure entirely or at least imposing restrictions.

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Watchdog Group: Biden Administration Pushing to Make A.I. Inherently Left-Wing

Minnesota Sun Staff

As artificial intelligence (A.I.) technology takes off, the Biden Administration is allegedly pursuing efforts to make sure that such new technology adopts a left-wing worldview by default.

According to Fox News, the report comes from the watchdog group American Accountability Foundation (AAF), which said in a new memo that top officials in the Biden White House are attempting to program “dangerous ideologies” into new A.I. systems.

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Harvard Facing New Civil Rights Complaints After Affirmative Action Ruling

Minnesota Sun Staff

Following a landmark ruling from the Supreme Court effectively ending the practice of race-based preferences in college admissions, Harvard University is facing new civil rights challenges over its practice of legacy admissions.

As reported by The Hill, the Ivy League university is now facing complaints from the Lawyers for Civil Rights (LCR), a left-wing group representing black and Hispanic groups based in the New England area. LCR’s complaint claims that “each year, Harvard College grants special preference in its admissions process to hundreds of mostly White students — not because of anything they have accomplished, but rather solely because of who their relatives are.”

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Drag Queen ‘Peaches Christ’ Blames ‘Bigoted Christians’ at Google for Tech Company’s Removal of Performance from ‘Pride’ Events

Susan Berry, PhD

A drag queen who uses the name “Peaches Christ” lashed out against ‘bigoted Christians” in a social media post after Google removed its affiliation from his previously scheduled performance during the company’s “pride” events.

As CNBC reported, Google appeared to distance itself from its original plans to sponsor drag queen Joshua Grannell’s performance at a San Francisco LGBTQ bar as part of its “pride” month events after a petition circulating among the tech giant’s employees expressed opposition to its anti-Christian theme.

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Minnesota Abortions Increased Significantly in 2022, Report Says

Admin

Abortions in Minnesota experienced a significant increase of 20% in 2022, as revealed in a report released by the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH).

This sharp rise comes on the heels of new abortion laws passed by lawmakers during the 2023 session, removing restrictions on abortion throughout pregnancy and repealing long-standing abortion laws, including portions of the reporting law that governs the release of the MDH data.

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Commentary: Social Conservatism Is Rebounding

Minnesota Sun Staff

It was just a matter of time. Decent Americans have had radical race and LGBTQ+ agendas shoved in their face for too long, and now they are fighting back. Too bad not all conservatives are on board.

Former House Speaker Paul Ryan recently said that he was not a “cultural war guy,” contending that he is more concerned about the debt crisis. This is what we would expect from someone who is at home sitting on the board of directors of Fox News’ parent company, Fox Corporation. 

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10 States to Sue EPA for Not Updating Wood Stove Emission Standards

Just the News

Ten states and a regional government clean air agency plan on suing the Environmental Protection Agency for allegedly failing to update emission standards for wood-burning stoves, allowing high-emission stoves to still be sold.

The mostly Democratic state attorneys general filed a notice of intent to sue the EPA last week.

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More than a Dozen States Pursuing Rail Safety Measures

The Center Square

Representatives from more than a dozen states are pursuing local measures to help ensure railroad safety.

The actions in Arizona, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and West Virginia are mostly in response to the train derailment along the Ohio-Pennsylvania border on Feb. 3.

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Judge Orders Biden Administration to Limit Contact with Social Media Platforms

Just the News

A Louisiana federal judge on Tuesday ordered the Biden administration to limit its contact with social media platforms, determining that the government likely violated the First Amendment by working to censor disfavored political viewpoints online. Judge Terry Doughty, a Trump appointed U.S. District Court judge, issued a preliminary injunction barring federal officials and agencies from contacting social media firms to seek the removal of protected speech, Politico reported.

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‘Nothing But Retaliation:’ IRS Agent Details Adverse Career Impact After Blowing Whistle on Biden

Just the News

After helping to recover billions in taxpayer funds from tax cheats, IRS agent Gary Shapley was rising in stature and responsibility. He was in line for a big promotion and his plans for a new project to pursue tax evasion around the globe were on the fast tracks.

But all that, he says, came crashing down after he and a fellow agent blew the whistle last October on what they saw as political tampering from the DOJ in a tax evasion case against first son Hunter Biden.

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Independence Day Cookout Spending to Hit Record High Amid Inflation

Admin

Individual spending on Fourth of July food items has risen to $93.34 on average across the U.S., the highest the National Retail Federation (NRF) has recorded since it began collecting this information in 2003.

The cost of one person’s July Fourth foods rose about 10 percent over the past year from $84.12, according to NRF. Inflation remained twice as high as the Federal Reserve’s target in May, according to a Labor Statistics (BLS) report, and the price of energy and food increased 4.0 percent on an annual basis last month.

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Study Finds Use of Contraceptive Pill from Young Age Increases Risk of Depression in Women by up to 130 Percent

Susan Berry, PhD

A study from the UK finds women who began using the combined contraceptive pill as teenagers increased their risk of depression by 130 percent, while those who began to use the contraceptive in their 20s or older showed a 92 percent increased risk of depressive symptoms.

The population-based cohort study that utilized data from more than 250,000 UK Biobank women was published in Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences and online by Cambridge University Press.

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China Implements Export Controls on Key Metals Used for Chips

Admin

by Jason Cohen   China has implemented export limits on two metals utilized in the manufacturing of computer chips and other valuable technological devices, according to an announcement by the country’s Ministry of Commerce on Monday. The export restrictions on gallium, germanium and their corresponding chemical compounds will officially take…

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Bipartisan Effort to Reform FISA, End Abuses Could be Iced by GOP Outrage of Durham Report Findings

Just the News

Congressional Democrats have joined in bipartisan effort to reform the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act amid abuses but GOP outrage over the findings in the Durham Report, including recent calls to impeach Attorney General Merrick Garland over such matters, has likely hurt such efforts.

Congressional reauthorization of FISA is due in December, with particular focus on Section 702 of the law, which permits the government to conduct targeted surveillance on foreign people outside the U.S., with the assistance of electronic communication service providers, to acquire foreign intelligence information.

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