2022 Archives - The Minnesota Sun

Communist China Cracked Down on Christians in 2022, Report Says

February 19, 2023 Minnesota Sun Staff

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) censored, fined, politically indoctrinated and forcibly disappeared Chinese Christians in 2022, according to a new report from the nonprofit ChinaAid Tuesday.

The People’s Republic of China (PRC) reportedly employed a range of new methods to persecute Chinese Christians in 2022 including fabricating charges of fraud as well as criminalizing the legal international travel of church leaders, the report states. China’s crackdown on Christianity reportedly intensified in the run-up to the CCP’s 20th Party Congress in October 2022, during which time General Secretary Xi Jinping secured a third term as the communist nation’s supreme leader, according to ChinaAid.

Poll: Small Businesses See Signs of Hope After Brutal 2022

December 31, 2022December 30, 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.

Oxford Dictionary Adds 18 New LGBTQ Words in 2022

December 31, 2022December 30, 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.

Conservatives Scored Massive Victories in the Battle over Education in 2022

December 31, 2022December 30, 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.

Commentary: 2022 Is the Year ESG Fell to Earth

December 29, 2022December 28, 2022 RealClearWire

The year 2022 brings an end to an era of illusions: a year that saw the end of the post–Cold War era and the return of geopolitics; the first energy crisis of the enforced energy transition to net zero; and the year that brought environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing down to earth with a thump—for the year to date, BlackRock’s ESG Screened S&P 500 ETF lost 22.2% of its value, and the S&P 500 Energy Sector Index rose 54.0%. The three are linked. By restricting investment in production of oil and gas by Western producers, ESG increases the market power of non-Western producers, thereby enabling Putin’s weaponization of energy supplies. Net zero—the holy grail of ESG—has turned out to be Russia’s most potent ally.

Almost 20,000 Residents Left Minnesota to Live in Other States in 2022

December 28, 2022December 27, 2022 Admin

Minnesota lost nearly 20,000 residents to other states in 2022.

According to data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the state of Minnesota lost 19,400 residents to domestic migration from July 2021 to July 2022.

Trump Reserved as Results Came In to Mar-a-Lago Election Night Event

November 10, 2022 Laura Baigert

PALM BEACH, Florida – As the November 8, 2022, election night results rolled in to Mar-a-Lago, the resort membership club and primary residence of 45th U.S. President Donald J. Trump, he was uncharacteristically reserved in his comments and interactions with those in attendance.

With some polls closing as early as 7 p.m. Eastern time, including the swing state of Georgia, it became evident early on in the evening that the forecasted “red tsunami” was going to fall well short of predictions.

GOP Won Legal Curbs on 2020 Election Issues, but Slow to Answer Plan to Tilt 2022 Playing Field

October 10, 2022October 9, 2022 Just the News

In response to Republican legal challenges, courts have curbed some of the worst usurpations of state legislative authority over elections in 2020, says conservative election watchdog Phill Kline, but the right, he cautions, has failed to anticipate and counter a reconfigured alliance of the federal government, Big Tech and Democrat-friendly nonprofits to microtarget and turn out Democrat voters in 2022.

Number of U.S. Millionaires Increased by 41 Percent in 2022

October 3, 2022October 2, 2022 Admin

New figures from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) show that the number of American citizens who report more than $1 million in income have jumped by a staggering 41 percent this year alone.

As reported by Politico, the IRS claims to have processed up to 387,840 returns reporting seven-figure incomes by mid-July; at the same time last year, the agency only found 274,879. The increase has been attributed to a strong performance on Wall Street last year, before the inflation crisis hit; in 2022 thus far, millionaires reported a collective total of $252.5 billion in capital gains, 80 percent higher compared to the previous year. In addition, millionaires’ salaries and wages rose by 45 percent.

Commentary: The 2022 House Midterm by the Numbers

July 6, 2022July 5, 2022 RealClearWire

Midterm elections involve high stakes, a great deal of groundless guessing, and lots of numbers – oddly similar to lotteries. Unlike lotteries, though, the many numbers associated with midterm elections are meaningful. The six meaningful midterm “lotto” numbers below should help historically ground your anticipation of what is likely or unlikely to happen in this year’s House elections, as well as set the eventual outcome in its historical perspective. You will have to use your imagination about the numbered ping-pong balls and the machine mixing them up. On to the all-important numbers.

Six Major Cities to Surpass 2021 Totals of Violent Crime Halfway Through 2022

June 23, 2022June 22, 2022 Minnesota Sun Staff

In six of America’s largest cities, the rate of violent crime is already well on track to surpass previous record highs reached in 2021, with six months still left to go in the year 2022.

As reported by Fox News, the cities of Atlanta, Baltimore, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, and Washington D.C. are all seeing even greater numbers of violent crime than last year. The largest increase is in New York, the largest city in America, with a 25.8 percent spike in crime compared to the same time in 2021. Violent crime is generally described as including the acts of homicide, assault, robbery, and rape; homicides in particular have been on the rise, with a 30 percent increase from 2019 to 2020, followed by an additional 5 percent increase from 2020 to 2021.

At Least 135 Educators Charged with Child Sex Crimes in 2022 Alone

May 23, 2022May 22, 2022 Admin

In less than five months, at least 135 teachers, teachers’ aides, and other school employees across the country have been arrested and charged with various child sex crimes.

As reported by Fox News, the total of 135 does not account for arrests that haven’t been publicized, meaning the final total for the year 2022 thus far may be even higher. The 135 arrests have taken place across 41 states between January 1st and May 13th, averaging to about one arrest per day. Most of the suspects are men.

Commentary: 2022 Won’t Be More of the Same

January 2, 2022January 1, 2022 Minnesota Sun Staff

End of the year reviews, along with predictions for the coming year, are a staple around this time. But, as Yogi Berra wisely said, “It’s tough to make predictions, especially about the future.”

I took a look at what I wrote last year, and a lot of it held up reasonably well (You can be the judge). I argued that the system and its managers are not doing a great job, the coronavirus crisis exposed their incompetence and malevolence, and that bad economics and crime would be major factors in marring the year ahead. Specifically, “a crisis of authority and legitimacy is emerging from failures in the most fundamental tasks of a society: the provision for basic needs, physical security, and a fair and accepted means of making decisions and picking leaders.”

Commentary: Will Republicans Run as American First in 2022?

April 30, 2021April 29, 2021 Minnesota Sun Staff

Republican leaders are salivating over their prospects for retaking Congress in 2022. Populists need to be even more fired up about the primaries. Getting involved now is the only way to ensure an America-first victory. Some quality candidates are already in the fight.

There’s a reason Democrats in Congress and even Joe Biden immediately glommed onto hyperpartisan issues from the get-go. They saw the red wave in down-ballot races in 2020, and they know another tide is coming in 2022.