Author: Star News Network Staff

Poll: Small Businesses See Signs of Hope After Brutal 2022

Star News Network Staff

Despite a historically tight labor market, small business owners reported that hiring difficulties had eased in December, markedly improving compared to November, according to a poll conducted by Vistage Worldwide for the Wall Street Journal published Friday.

Of the roughly 650 small business owners polled, almost 25% reported that hiring was easier in December than at the start of the year, while just 20% said it was harder, according to the WSJ. In November, those numbers were 18% and 25% respectively, and some small business owners reported success thanks to pay raises and hiring freezes or layoffs at larger firms.

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Colleges Offered Classes on Topics Like Porn, Queer Dance, and Whiteness in 2022

Star News Network Staff

Colleges offered students the opportunity to enroll in unique courses during the 2022 semesters, the Daily Caller News Foundation found.

These courses tackled a variety of topics including “whiteness” and queerness, while others focused on subjects such as pornography and pop culture. Some of the courses sparked national backlash, forcing the schools to either defend or reconsider what they teach students in the classroom.

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Commentary: Rachel Levine Targets Transgender Heresy for Big Tech Suppression

Star News Network Staff

Dr. Rachel Levine, a man who identifies as a woman, urged doctors at state medical boards to pressure Big Tech to stifle “medical misinformation” right after he declared that there is no “scientific or medical dispute” about the benefits of using experimental drugs and surgeries to force male bodies to resemble female bodies or vice versa.

Levine, the assistant secretary of health at the federal Department of Health and Human Services, presented an extremely dubious worldview as the established position of science, and acted as though no rational person would dare dissent.

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Oxford Dictionary Adds 18 New LGBTQ Words in 2022

Star News Network Staff

The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) added 18 new LGBTQ+ entries in 2022, including words like gender-affirming, multisexual, top and bottom.

The OED added nearly 2,000 words in the past year, according to announcements from March, June and September, with 18 of those words updated or added to specifically define ever-evolving LGBTQ+ terms. In March, OED added anti-gay and anti-homosexual, with the former receiving a specific definition while anti-homosexual was listed only as a subcategory.

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Conservatives Scored Massive Victories in the Battle over Education in 2022

Star News Network Staff

In 2022, conservatives flipped dozens of school boards across the county, enacting conservative priorities and amending school policies to increase transparency in the classroom.

Moms for Liberty, an organization of conservative parents and school board candidates working towards parental rights in education, and the 1776 Project PAC, a political group that helps school board members against Critical Race Theory (CRT) get elected, endorsed candidates that won many of their races to flip school boards in 2022. School boards throughout the country also banned CRT, adopted new gender identity policies to involve parents and ousted administration in favor of mask mandates.

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Biden Admin to Expand Trump-Era Border Policy to Expel More Illegal Immigrants: Report

Star News Network Staff
Border surge

The Biden administration is considering expanding the Trump-era illegal immigrant expulsion policy known as Title 42, Reuters reported Wednesday.

The plan includes adding Cubans, Nicaraguans and Haitians to the list of nationalities expelled under the policy, according to Reuters. The change in policy will also add a humanitarian pathway for migrants of those countries to enter the U.S. if they have sponsors and are vetted at ports of entry.

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CDC Pressures Teachers to Increase ‘LGBTQ Inclusivity’ in Classroom Instruction

Star News Network Staff

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has been forcing teachers across the country to follow certain guidelines demonstrating their commitment to “LGBTQ inclusivity” in their classroom instructions.

As reported by Breitbart, the CDC-issued “assessment tool” asks teachers numerous questions about school employees and their loyalty to the concept of “queer theory,” and forcing sexual education teachers to use gender-neutral language, forbidding them from using terms such as “boy” and “girl.”

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Biden’s ATF Continues Its Crackdown on ‘Ghost Guns’

Star News Network Staff

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) specified Tuesday that Gun Control Act (GCA) regulations cover types of incomplete pistol frames used in “ghost guns.”

The bureau argued in its open letter to federal firearms licensees that partially complete Polymer80, Lone Wolf and similar striker-fired semi-automatic pistol frames “may readily be completed, assembled, restored, or otherwise converted” to a functional frame and thus fall under GCA jurisdiction based on the Justice Department’s (DOJ) “Frame or Receiver” rule. The rule, which became effective in August, says regulations for completed firearms also apply to gun parts kits that can be readily converted into them.

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Commentary: Congress Should Investigate ‘Gain-of-Function’ Research

Star News Network Staff

I fear that the investigations Republicans have promised in the House next year will be little more than another round of toxic partisan gamesmanship. But there is one investigation Congress should undertake, and that is into so-called “gain-of-function” research.

Before the pandemic, I suspect that most of you, like me, had never heard of gain-of-function research. What we learned during the pandemic is that scientists around the world routinely tinker with the genome of viruses to see how the induced changes will affect replication of the virus (contagiousness) and the effects it has on its host (lethality). Such research has apparently been going on for decades and is routinely funded by governments, including ours.

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Universities Have Ban TikTok from School-Owned Devices

Star News Network Staff

Several universities across the country have banned TikTok from campus-owned devices or wifi after their prospective states approved similar bans throughout the month.

Sixteen states have banned TikTok, a Chinese-owned company and alleged national security threat, from being used on state-owned devices, according to Government Technology. Four states have banned the app on “some” state-owned devices, while Republican Attorney General Todd Rokita of Indiana filed a lawsuit against the company for allegedly making false claims about its content.

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Trump Says He Told Ivanka, Jared Kushner, to Not Help with 2024 Campaign

Star News Network Staff

Former President Donald Trump said he asked his daughter, Ivanka, and her husband, Jared Kushner, to not be involved in his 2024 reelection campaign. 

“Contrary to Fake News reporting, I never asked Jared or Ivanka to be part of the 2024 Campaign for President and, in fact, specifically asked them not to do it – too mean and nasty with the Fake & Corrupt News and having to deal with some absolutely horrendous SleazeBags in the world of politics, and beyond,” Trump wrote Tuesday on Truth Social.

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Asylum Backlog Reaches New Record Under Biden

Star News Network Staff

There are a record number of asylum cases backlogging U.S. immigration courts under President Joe Biden, according to Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC).

There are roughly 1.6 million asylum cases, a record number, backlogging the system, according to TRAC, which analyzes and compiles government data. The wait times for court appearances have increased to an average of 4.3 years nationwide, TRAC reported.

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Commentary: The ‘Reparations’ Scam

Star News Network Staff

California is considering paying “reparations” to black Californians who are directly descended from enslaved people, which may surprise most Californians. After all, slavery was never legal in the Golden State. 

Governor Gavin Newsom, heedless of the fiasco he’s inviting, formed a “Reparations Task Force,” no doubt with his future presidential aspirations in mind. The task force issued an interim report in June, detailing California’s “history of slavery and racism and recommending ways the Legislature might begin a process of redress for Black Californians, including proposals to offer housing grants, free tuition, and to raise the minimum wage.”

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Liberal Students, Academics Seek to Revoke Conservatives’ Honorary Degrees

Star News Network Staff

Multiple universities across the country have rescinded honorary degrees, which are given to recognize the achievements of individuals who were not students at the university, from prominent members of the Trump administration.

Last month, Syracuse University put wheels in motion to rescind an honorary degree from former New York City mayor and lawyer to former President Donald Trump, Rudy Giuliani, Business Insider reported. The university has not revoked an honorary degree in its 152-year history.

Giuliani argued that there was widespread election fraud during the 2020 election. He faced a criminal probe in Georgia regarding the presidential election results and appeared before a grand jury in August.

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Soros-Backed Nonprofits Gave Tens of Millions to Anti-Police Groups in 2021

Star News Network Staff

Tax forms have revealed that, over the course of 2021, numerous nonprofit groups backed by far-left billionaire George Soros donated tens of millions of dollars to groups and initiatives that actively campaigned against the police.

Fox News reports that nonprofit groups that are members of Soros’ Open Society Foundations network collectively gave at least $55 million to such anti-police movements. This included groups utilized by progressives to actively dismantle law enforcement, as well as databases that track donations to police departments and police unions.

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Christian Organizations Continue to Make Amazon Smile’s ‘Naughty’ List

Star News Network Staff

Amazon Smile continues to deny admission to Christian organizations that support traditional marriage and religious freedom, opting instead to place them on a proverbial naughty list by recommendation of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC).

Amazon Smile allows customers who sign up to have 0.5% of their purchases donated to their favorite charity. Organizations on SPLC’s “designated hate groups” list, however, are barred from registering, according to Amazon’s website.

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Government Employees in Four States Assist Left By Providing Voter Information, Legal Group Says

Star News Network Staff

Government employees in four states are violating federal laws and assisting the Left by providing voter information, a conservative legal group argues in suing those states.

The Thomas More Society alleges in its lawsuits against Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin that the Electronic Registration Information Center, also known as ERIC, shares voter information with at least one left-leaning nonprofit.

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Victor Davis Hanson Commentary: Is There Anything the FBI Won’t Do?

Star News Network Staff

The FBI on Wednesday finally broke its silence and responded to the revelations on Twitter of close ties between the bureau and the social media giant – ties that included efforts to suppress information and censor political speech. 

“The correspondence between the FBI and Twitter show nothing more than examples of our traditional, longstanding and ongoing federal government and private sector engagements, which involve numerous companies over multiple sectors and industries,” the bureau said in a statement. “As evidenced in the correspondence, the FBI provides critical information to the private sector in an effort to allow them to protect themselves and their customers. The men and women of the FBI work every day to protect the American public. It is unfortunate that conspiracy theorists and others are feeding the American public misinformation with the sole purpose of attempting to discredit the agency.” 

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Michigan, Minnesota Among States Democrats Move to Rewrite State Voting Laws After Midterm Wins

Star News Network Staff

Democrats are moving to implement new voting laws at the state level following their midterm wins, according to The New York Times.

Democratic governors and state legislators have expressed plans to push automatic voter registration, voter pre-registration for minors, an expansion of early and absentee voting and criminalization of election misinformation, according to the NYT. The party retained most of its governors in the 2024 election and maintained its hold over several key state legislatures, creating a clear path to instating many of its favored voting policies.

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Commentary: Sanctuary Idealism Crashes into Reality

Star News Network Staff
border surge

The late, great Rush Limbaugh frequently opined on his radio show that progressivism’s appeal stems from the fact that its followers are required to do nothing but “care.” Simply vent empathy or outrage—especially on social media—on behalf of an approved left-wing cause, and your otherwise dreary life can seem meaningful in the belief you are both morally superior to your ideological opponents and also saving the world. It’s a seductive pitch that has been all too successful.

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Nearly Half of America’s Six-Figure Earners Lived Paycheck-to-Paycheck in November: Report

Star News Network Staff

Just over 47% of Americans earning more than $100,000 were living paycheck to paycheck as of November, spiking 4% from October, according to a survey by financial services firm LendingClub.

Overall, nearly 63% of Americans lived paycheck to paycheck in November,  jumping from just over 60% in October, approaching the yearly high of nearly 64.5% set in March, according to LendingClub. Nearly 66% of those who earned between $50,000 and $100,000 were living paycheck-to-paycheck last month, compared to 76% of those who earned less than $50,000.

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Meta Agrees to Record-Breaking Settlement in Data Privacy Lawsuit

Star News Network Staff

Facebook parent Meta signed on to a $725 million settlement to potentially close out a class-action lawsuit over the sharing of user data with third parties, such as the Trump-aligned campaign consulting firm Cambridge Analytica, according to a Thursday court filing.

The case centers around allegations that the company shared users’ data with third parties without their consent, something the plaintiffs’ lawyers say has been significantly cut back since litigation began, according to the filing. The scandal first broke in 2018, after it was revealed that Facebook had shared roughly 87 million users’ data with Cambridge Analytica via a personality quiz, according to The Verge.

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Biden Signs Defense Bill into Law, Overturning Military COVID Vaccine Mandate

Star News Network Staff

President Joe Biden signed Congress’ annual defense bill for 2023 into law Friday, giving his approval to a bill that overturns his own administration’s mandate that servicemembers must be fully vaccinated for COVID-19.

The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for 2023 authorizes $858 billion in spending on energy programs, the military and procurement, $45 billion more than the Biden administration’s initial request. Biden expressed concerns over several provisions of the act in a statement Friday but made no mention of a GOP-sponsored item overturning the Department of Defense’s service-wide vaccine mandate, despite the administration’s robust opposition to the provision.

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Commentary: Frank Pavone and the Fading Power of Pope Francis

Star News Network Staff

There’s been a flurry of commentary in Catholic circles since Pope Francis decided to defrock pro-life advocate and priest Frank Pavone. One suggestion I’ve seen from many Catholic writers is that Francis is punishing Pavone because he believes clergymen should not be involved in politics. It’s a laughable argument. Francis is very frequently involved in politics and regularly encourages (leftist) priests in their activism.

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Commentary: No, Zelenskyy Is Not Churchill

Star News Network Staff

Fox News’ Bret Baier, who, like Bill O’Reilly before him, has used his perch as a television personality to become a writer of history books (and, like O’Reilly, co-writes these history books with a “collaborator,” formerly known as a ghostwriter), writes on the Fox News website about the “parallels” between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the late U.K. Prime Minister Winston Churchill. Baier notes the parallels — both addressed a joint session of Congress during Christmastime even as their nation’s capitals were being bombed; both showed courage in leading their people against an aggressor nation; both were named Time’s Man of the Year; and both took defiant stands against more powerful enemies that were besieging their countries. But these parallels are all superficial. The stakes are far different. Churchill saved Western civilization. Zelenskyy is attempting to save Ukraine’s independence.

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Biden’s Christmas Address Fails to Mention Jesus, Instead Turns Political

Star News Network Staff

On Thursday, Joe Biden’s Christmas address to the nation did not once mention Jesus Christ, the namesake of the holiday and the main reason a majority of Americans celebrate the Christmas season.

Breitbart reports that, while Biden made half-hearted references to the Birth of Jesus, he did not mention Jesus by name, and also described it as “the birth of a child, a child that Christians believe to be the Son of God.”

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Nearly 30 Pro-Abortion Attacks Against Churches Have Occurred Since SCOTUS Overturned Roe v. Wade, Report Shows

Star News Network Staff

Dozens of U.S. churches have been targets of pro-abortion “hostility” since the Supreme Court overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, a Family Research Council (FRC) report found.

On June 24, the Supreme Court overturned the ruling, causing an uproar among pro-abortion supporters. Nearly 30 attacks on churches were reported after the Dobbs decision that had explicit pro-abortion rhetoric, according to the report.

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U.S. Media Outlet Has Extensive Partnerships, Financial Dealings with Orgs Tied to Chinese Communist Party Influence Operations

Star News Network Staff

The China Project (TCP), a New York-based media outlet renowned for its China reporting, has had professional and financial ties with organizations that may have been headed by members of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) or members of alleged Chinese influence operations, a Daily Caller News Foundation investigation found.

Over 20 organizations that may have been led by such individuals have apparently partnered with or financially sponsored TCP, including the China-United States Exchange Foundation (CUSEF) and the Confucius Institute, the DCNF found. Both groups apparently began professional relationships with TCP after the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) identified them as CCP influence operations in 2018. Furthermore, the DCNF found that TCP’s “board director,” Clarence Kwan, may have been simultaneously serving as a director of an alleged CCP front group at the time he joined TCP’s board and provided initial equity in the company.

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Republicans Poised to Approve Massive FBI Funding Boost in Wake of Twitter Files Revelations

Star News Network Staff

Republicans are set to approve a massive spending bill which includes billions of dollars in funding for the FBI despite recently leaked information which found the federal agency colluded with Twitter to censor users.

The bill designated $11.33 billion for the FBI “to investigate extremist violence and domestic terrorism,” according to a summary of the bill by the House Appropriations Committee. The total is reportedly $569.6 million more than the enacted levels for the 2022 fiscal year and $524 million more than the president requested.

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Blue State School Districts Are Mandating Masks for Christmas

Star News Network Staff
Girl with mask on and braids

Ahead of the holiday break, several schools in blue states are implementing mask mandates in light of the “tripledemic.”

Schools in states such as Pennsylvania, Washington and New Jersey are fearing a “tripledemic” of the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), influenza (flu) and coronavirus. To combat the “tripledemic” some schools are considering mask mandates while other states have already asked their students to mask up.

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BREAKING: Top Politics Reporter Neil W. McCabe Joins The Star News Network as National Political Editor

Star News Network Staff

The Star News Network, the constellation of nine state-focused news sites hired veteran Washington reporter and editor Neil W. McCabe as the network’s national political editor, in its next step in the 50-state buildout.

“I met Neil when he was at Breitbart News covering Capitol Hill and the two of us ran the Breitbart-Gravis polling project during the 2016 presidential election,” said The Star News Network’s CEO and Editor-in-Chief Michael Patrick Leahy.

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