Tag: Americans

Commentary: The Great American Con

Minnesota Sun Staff

Gabriel: “Do you know the difference between a hustler and a good con man?”

Fitz: “No.”

Gabriel: “A hustler has to get out of town as quick as he can, but a good con man—he doesn’t have to leave

—Steven McKay, Diggstown

 The Kansas City Shuffle: Winston-Salem, NC, 1985

I was a 16-year-old kid out with my girlfriend on a Friday night. We were at the county fair, where we wandered a lane crowded by brightly lit booths advertising competitions of chance and skill. Carnies invited us to toss baseballs into milk jugs, shoot basketballs through hoops, and pop balloons with darts. They made the games seem easy, but I’d never had much luck at them. I couldn’t throw a ball fast enough at the pitching booth, or swing a mallet hard enough to ring the bell at the strongman game. Still, I really wanted to win a prize for my girlfriend.

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Jobless Claims Rise from a 52-Year Low

Minnesota Sun Staff
Unemployment sign

The number of Americans who filed new unemployment claims totaled 206,000 in the week ending Dec. 11 as the tight labor market continues to recover, though it remains far from pre-pandemic levels.

The Labor Department figure shows an 18,000 claim increase compared to the week ending Dec. 4 when jobless claims reached 184,000. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal projected claims to increase to just 195,000 from the previous week’s figure.

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Jobless Claims Decrease to a 52-Year Low

Minnesota Sun Staff
Photo “Unemployment Insurance Claims Office” by Bytemarks. CC BY 2.0.

The number of Americans who filed new unemployment claims totaled 184,000 in the week ending on Dec. 4 as employers fight to retain workers during the busy holiday season, the Department of Labor reported.

The Labor Department figure shows a 43,000 claim decrease compared to the week ending Nov 27, when jobless claims increased to 220,000. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal projected claims to decrease to 211,000 for the week ending Dec. 4. This latest report brings the number of weekly jobless claims to a 52-year low, the fewest since September 1969, CNBC reported.

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Jobless Claims Increase as Employers Fight to Keep Workers

Minnesota Sun Staff
Photo “Unemployment Insurance Claims Office” by Bytemarks. CC BY 2.0.

The number of Americans who filed new unemployment claims totaled 220,000 in the week ending on Nov. 27 as employers fight to retain workers heading into the holiday season, the Department of Labor reported.

The Labor Department figure shows a 28,000 claim increase compared to the number from the week ending on Nov. 20, when jobless claims dropped to a 52 year low of 199,000.

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Jobless Claims Drop by 71,000, Far Exceeding Experts’ Projections

Admin

The number of Americans who filed new unemployment claims decreased to 199,000 in the week ending on Nov. 20, reaching its lowest level in over 52 years.

The Labor Department figure shows a 71,000 claim decrease compared to the number of new claims filed in the week ending on Nov. 13, when jobless claims dropped to a revised 270,000. Wednesday’s report crushed the Dow Jones estimate of 260,000, CNBC reported.

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Poll: Americans Overwhelmingly Support Religious Rights and Freedoms This Thanksgiving

The Center Square
People putting wine glasses together for a toast

The majority of Americans, 73%, say their rights come from God, not government, and say government can’t force Americans to violate their religious beliefs, according to a poll conducted by Summit.org and McLaughlin and Associates.

“There’s a widening gap between the dominant media narrative and what the American people actually believe,” Dr. Jeff Myers of Summit.org said in a statement accompanying the poll results. “We’re seeing that in these numbers. As we approach a holiday established to thank God for His blessings on our nation, the American people still believe that our rights come from God, not from government, and that the right to believe and practice our religion must be respected.

“Despite everything, it is encouraging to see that Americans still acknowledge the freedoms that made this nation great.”

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Weekly Jobless Claims Drop to New Pandemic Low

Admin

The number of Americans who filed new unemployment claims decreased to 267,000 in the week ending Nov. 6 as the labor market continues to improve, the Department of Labor reported Wednesday.

The Labor Department figure shows a 4,000 claim decrease compared to the week ending on Oct. 30, when jobless claims dropped to a revised 271,000. Wednesday’s release marks the lowest number of initial claims since March 14, 2020, when new jobless claims were 256,000.

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Cotton, Klobuchar Plan to Rein in Big Tech’s ‘Monopolistic’ Practices with New Bipartisan Bill

Minnesota Sun Staff
Amy Klobuchar and Tom Cotton

Republican Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton and Democratic Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar unveiled a bipartisan bill Friday intended to restrict how major tech companies acquire and merge with smaller firms.

The bill, titled the Platform Competition and Opportunity Act, is a companion to antitrust legislation advanced out of the House Judiciary Committee in June. If enacted, the law would shift the burden in antitrust cases to the acquiring party for mergers greater than $50 million, meaning that the acquiring firm would have to prove that its acquisition of another company was not anti-competitive.

The bill explicitly targets Big Tech companies, and it applies to firms with market capitalizations over $600 billion, at least 50,000,000 U.S.-based monthly active users or 100,000 monthly active business users. This would include Amazon, Google, Facebook and Apple.

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Jobless Claims Drop to 269,000, a Post COVID-19 Low

Minnesota Sun Staff

The number of Americans who filed for new unemployment claims decreased to 269,000 in the week ending Oct. 30 as the labor market continues to improve and the economy recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics figure released Thursday shows a 14,000 claim decrease compared to the week ending Oct. 23, when jobless claims dropped to 283,000. Thursday’s release marks the lowest number of initial claims since March 14, 2020, when the number of new jobless claims was 256,000.

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Commentary: Americans Pay for Biden’s Immigration Agenda with Blood and Trauma

Minnesota Sun Staff
Crowd of immigrants

Throughout Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign for president and his nightmarish first year in the White House, he and his acolytes have extolled the virtues of near-limitless immigration. His campaign talked about immigration as an “irrefutable source of our strength” and how it is “essential to who we are as a nation, our core values and our aspirations for the future.” Anyone who suggests that we bring immigration to safe, manageable levels is shamed with a retort of “that’s not who we are.”

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Jobless Claims Drop to 281,000 Holding Near Last Weeks Lower Levels

Minnesota Sun Staff

The number of Americans who filed new unemployment claims decreased to 281,000 last week as employers compete for workers in a tight labor market where inflation and supply chain disruptions plague the country.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics figure released Thursday shows a 10,000 claim decrease in the number of new jobless claims compared to the week ending Oct. 23 when jobless claims dropped to 290,000. This is the lowest level for initial claims since March 14, when jobless claims dropped to 256,000.

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Pentagon Says Almost 450 Americans Are Still in Afghanistan

Minnesota Sun Staff

Nearly 450 American citizens are estimated to remain in Afghanistan almost two months after U.S. troops withdrew from the country, according to the Pentagon.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken originally said the Biden administration believed there to be “under 200, and likely closer to 100, who remain in Afghanistan and want to leave,” on Aug. 30, the day before the last Anerican troops left Afghanistan.

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Wall Street Journal Editorial Board: Democratic Proposal Will Let the IRS Snoop on Your Bank Account

Minnesota Sun Staff
Woman holding credit card, laptop open in front of her

The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board said that a Democratic effort to crack down on tax cheating would give the Treasury Department access to almost every American’s bank account.

The Thursday op-ed focused on a proposal that would require financial institutions to report individual accounts containing at least $10,000 to the IRS. That effort, the board wrote, would affect the vast majority of Americans who did not exclusively use cash to make purchases and pay bills.

“The details are murky, but most Americans could still get ensnared in this dragnet unless they pay bills and buy goods in cash,” the editorial board wrote. “Democrats say banks will only have to report total annual inflows and outflows, not discrete transactions. But nearly all Americans spend more than $10,000 a year.”

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Weekly Jobless Claims Drop to 290,000

Minnesota Sun Staff

The number of Americans who filed new unemployment claims decreased to 290,000 last week as employers attempt to hold onto workers amid struggles with inflation, supply chain disruptions and labor shortages.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics figure released Thursday shows a 6,000 claim decrease in the number of new jobless claims compared to the week ending on Oct. 9, when jobless claims dipped below 300,000 for the first time since March 2020.

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Commentary: If Polls Are Right, Democrats Are Doomed But If They’re Wrong, It’s Worse

RealClearWire

In less than three months, President Biden’s approval rating has tumbled from a remarkable position in a polarized nation to the lowest of all but two presidents since 1945. Democrats are panicked though refusing to course-correct, hoping the pandemic will retreat, the economy will rebound, and their agenda will pass through Congress and turn out to be popular down the line.

The standing of the party with voters, at this time, isn’t in doubt. It’s awful. Biden’s average job approval rating on July 20 was 52.4% in the RealClearPolitics average before tanking precipitously and taking the party’s fortunes with him as the delta variant surged and American troops withdrew from Afghanistan in a deadly and tragic exit. RCP currently has him at 43.3%. His approval in Gallup has dropped 13 points since June, six points in this last month. The latest Quinnipiac University poll had Biden’s approval/disapproval at 38/53, down four points in three weeks. Specific findings on leadership questions were dreadful, with Biden’s numbers falling since April by nine points on the question of whether he cares about average Americans, seven points on whether he is honest, and nine points on whether he has good leadership skills.

The latest Morning Consult/Politico findings from last week showed Biden’s approval underwater across the board, at 45% approval overall, at 40% on the economy, 44% on health care, 40% on national security, 33% on immigration and 36% on foreign policy. The only number not underwater was Biden’s COVID approval of 49%-46%, 30 points lower than it was last spring. Across all polling Biden’s approval on the questions of competence and accomplishment have suffered. And that Morning Consult/Politico survey stated, “The shares of independent and Democratic voters who say Biden has underperformed expectations have doubled over the past three months.”

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Commentary: Epitaph for the ‘War on Terror’

Minnesota Sun Staff

Twenty years after the U.S. government declared war on terrorism, it consummated its own defeat in Kabul and Washington, in a manner foreseeable, foreseen, and foreshadowed in 9/11’s immediate aftermath. Fixation on itself and unseriousness about war are the twin habits of heart and mind that disposed the ruling class to defeat. The practical explanation for why and how it accepted defeat is found in the overriding interest each part of the ruling class has in doing what it wants to do. 

On the night of September 11, 2001, Muslim governments strictly forbade public celebrations of the carnage. The Palestinian Authority, anticipating that outraged Americans would destroy them to avenge the day’s events, even called the attacks al nachba—“the disaster.” But as the U.S. ruling class made clear that it was accepting defeat, the Muslim world’s media and streets celebrated.

Two decades later, after that defeat’s logic had worked its way through and transformed American life, and as the government’s self-humiliating exit from Afghanistan consummated it, much of mankind followed Muslim crowds in celebrating—including prominent Americans. 

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Americans Support Governors’ Revolt Against Federal Vaccine Mandate, Poll Shows

The Center Square

New polling shows that the majority of Americans do not approve of President Joe Biden’s new vaccine mandate.

Biden announced the mandate last week, which includes requirements that any business with more than 100 employees ensure they are vaccinated or be tested weekly. Biden’s announcement included a range of other federal rules that are estimated to affect 100 million Americans.

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Commentary: Joe Biden’s Poor Leadership During the COVID Era

Minnesota Sun Staff

“Get vaccinated,” whispered the doddering, white-haired failure of a president before beating a hasty retreat from the podium. Reporters barked questions at him which neither he nor his handlers had interest in answering, because they have no answers.

Joe Biden has no answers for COVID-19. What Joe Biden has is blame and Otherization for Americans not invested in the tired narratives of his handlers and the managerial elite he represents so badly.

That’s clear. It’s the only true takeaway from the disgraceful, alarming speech Biden gave Thursday.

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Lawmakers Sound Alarm over Americans Stranded in Afghanistan

Minnesota Sun Staff

The State Department is endangering the lives of Americans and others still in Afghanistan, lawmakers and others allege, even as the State Department claims it has accomplished an unprecedented, global evacuation effort.

Military veteran Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) who has called on President Biden to resign over Afghanistan, is calling on Americans to demand that Secretary of State Antony Blinken get stranded Americans out of Afghanistan immediately.

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Americans Remain Hard Workers Even Through the Pandemic, Especially in Red States

Minnesota Sun Staff
Blue Collar Worker

With Labor Day upon us, it’s time to take a look at which are the hardest-working states in America, and why. It has been a year that daily and weekly work routines have dramatically changed for tens of millions of Americans.

Researchers for WalletHub, a personal finance website, have once again set out to determine which states are home to the hardest working Americans in their annual report. They compare the 50 states based on both direct and indirect work factors, and then apply 10 different metrics to reach an overall score to rank each state.

The direct work factors, according to WalletHub, include “average workweek hours, employment rate, the share of households where no adults work, the share of workers leaving vacation time unused, share of engaged workers, and idle youth.”

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Gingrich Commentary: Celebrating Labor Day

Minnesota Sun Staff

As Americans gather today to relax and enjoy Labor Day with their family and friends, it is a good time to reflect on what this traditional holiday means to working Americans in the 21st century.

The legislation which made Labor Day a national holiday was signed into law by President Grover Cleveland in 1894. It was created during a time of rapid industrialization and economic growth, as much of the United States shifted from an agricultural to industrial economy. This period of change created many challenges for working Americans as they had to learn new skills and work long hours. 

The past year-and-a-half has also presented many challenges and changes for working Americans. The threat of a global pandemic reshaped work in ways we could not have imagined even a few years ago.

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Race Relations Hit New Low, Poll Finds

Minnesota Sun Staff

Race relations have hit a new low, with the majority of black and whites calling it “somewhat” or “very” bad,  according to a Wednesday Gallup poll.

The poll said 57% of blacks and whites felt race relations are “somewhat” or “very” bad, while 42% called them “very” or “somewhat” good. In comparison, 55% of respondents said relations were “somewhat” or “very” bad in 2020, and 44% said they were “very” or “somewhat” good.

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Jobless Claims Decrease to 360,000, Hit Pandemic Low

Minnesota Sun Staff

The number of Americans filing new unemployment claims decreased to 360,000 last week as the economy continues to recover from the coronavirus pandemic, according to the Department of Labor.

The Bureau of Labor and Statistics figure released Thursday represented a slight increase in the number of new jobless claims compared to the week ending July 3, when 386,000 new jobless claims were reported. That number was revised up from the 373,000 jobless claims initially reported last week.

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Commentary: ‘The Truth’ vs. Objectivity in American Journalism Today

RealClearWire

Lately, the local ABC News affiliate in Washington, D.C., has been running promotional spots with the well-worn tagline “speaking truth to power.” That is an odd slogan for a media outlet that can certainly be counted among the powerful in the region. It also raises a question as to whether this local news department has truly discovered “the truth” and is devoting its broadcasts to sharing it with its viewers.  

At least implicit in the use of the slogan is a recognition by the station that truth does indeed exist. Sadly, many in American journalism are increasingly denying the existence of objective truth and calling for an end of objectivity in journalism. As Stanford University communications professor emeritus Ted Glasser said recently, “Journalists need to be overt and candid advocates for social justice, and it’s hard to do that under the constraints of objectivity.”  In other words, the task of a journalist is to push the progressive narrative forward, truth and objectivity be damned. 

Glasser isn’t alone. Recently, in a speech at Washington State University, “NBC Nightly News” anchor Lester Holt also questioned the value of objectivity. “I think it’s become clearer that fairness is overrated,” he said. “The idea that we should always give two sides equal weight and merit does not reflect the world we find ourselves in.”  

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Jobless Claims Increase to 412,000, Above Economists’ Projections

Minnesota Sun Staff
Photo “Unemployment Insurance Claims Office” by Bytemarks. CC BY 2.0.

The number of Americans filing new unemployment claims increased to 412,000 last week as the economy continues to recover from the coronavirus pandemic, according to the Department of Labor.

The Bureau of Labor and Statistics figure released Thursday represented an increase in the number of new jobless claims compared to the week ending June 5, when 375,000 new jobless claims were reported. That number was revised down from the 376,000 jobless claims initially reported last week.

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Jobless Claims Drop to 376,000, Hit Another Pandemic Low

Minnesota Sun Staff
Photo “Unemployment Insurance Claims Office” by Bytemarks. CC BY 2.0.

The number of Americans filing new unemployment claims dropped to 376,000 last week as the economy continues to recover from the coronavirus pandemic, according to the Department of Labor.

The Bureau of Labor and Statistics figure released Thursday represented a decrease in the number of new jobless claims compared to the week ending May 29, when 385,000 new jobless claims were reported. That number was unrevised from the figure initially reported last week.

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Record Number of Americans Find Abortion ‘Morally Acceptable,’ Poll Finds

Minnesota Sun Staff

A record number of Americans find abortion “morally acceptable” though American sentiment on the matter is sharply divided, a Gallup poll released Wednesday found.

Forty-seven percent of Americans find abortion acceptable, while 46% think abortion is wrong from a moral perspective, the poll found. The percentage of Americans who find abortion acceptable increased two points, the highest level of support Gallup has found since it began tracking the matter two decades ago.

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Jobless Claims Drop Below 400,000, Hit Another Pandemic Low

Minnesota Sun Staff

The number of Americans filing new unemployment claims dropped to 385,000 last week as the economy continues to recover from the coronavirus pandemic, according to the Department of Labor.

The Bureau of Labor and Statistics figure released Thursday represented a decrease in the number of new jobless claims compared to the week ending May 22, when 405,000 new jobless claims were reported. That number was revised down from the 406,000 jobless claims initially reported last week.

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Commentary: Conservatives and Republicans Must Reclaim Memorial Day

Minnesota Sun Staff
Veteran cemetery with table set for lives lost who served America

In the face of the Far Left’s attempts to rewrite American history through the now-discredited 1619 Project and Critical Race Theory, Republicans and conservatives must reclaim the key dates and events in American history and there is no better place to start than Memorial Day 2021.

Memorial Day was created not as a “holiday” or an excuse for corporate merchants to advertise sales, but as a solemn commemoration of the dead of both sides in the American Civil War.

In that context Memorial Day commemorates a number of constitutional conservative values, not the least of which is the inviolability of the Constitution itself.

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Jobless Claims Drop to 406,000, Yet Another Pandemic Low

Minnesota Sun Staff

The number of Americans filing new unemployment claims dropped to 406,000 last week as the economy continues to recover from the coronavirus pandemic, according to the Department of Labor.

The Bureau of Labor and Statistics figure released Thursday represented a decrease in the number of new jobless claims compared to the week ending May 15, when 444,000 new jobless claims were reported. Economists expected Thursday’s jobless claims number to come in at 425,000, The Wall Street Journal reported.

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Commentary: Remote Work’s Impending Transformation of Middle America

Minnesota Sun Staff
Computer with video chat on screen and mug next to laptop

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed a great deal about America and Americans. Most have acquiesced to anything and everything government bureaucrats asked for in the name of public safety. Masks have been donned, churches have been shuttered, and many of us stayed at home for months, working remotely.

This last item may end up being the largest and most permanent transformation of the United States. The mobility that comes with remote work may end up transforming middle America as left-coast technologists migrate inward. Freed from the work-based ties that bind them to Silicon Valley and New York City, they can now easily take their jobs and their left-wing politics to the heartland, ushering in a transformative moment in American politics.

Thomas Edsall, writing for The New York Times, discusses how many from densely populated urban areas on the coasts are finding that remote work enables them to have big city paychecks while living in suburban or rural areas with lower costs of living. 

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Commentary: Fentanyl Is Spreading Like Wildfire

Minnesota Sun Staff
Fentanyl

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) seized 6,494 pounds of fentanyl in the first four months of 2021. This is much higher than the 4,776 pounds seized in all of 2020. While it is impressive that CBP has removed this much of the deadly drug from the market, the majority of the fentanyl brought into the U.S. is not seized, and increasing amounts of fentanyl are reaching Americans. The drug, a synthetic opioid, was invented in 1960 for medical applications and is 50 to 100 times stronger than morphine. In recent years, Mexico-based criminal organizations have been manufacturing the highly addictive drug, often mixed with other substances, and distributing it throughout the United States.

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Poll: Majority of Voters Blame Biden for Border ‘Crisis’

The Center Square
Border Patrol arrest illegal aliens

As the Biden administration continues to wrestle with an influx of people illegally crossing the southern border, new polling shows Americans are unhappy with the president’s handling of the issue.

Polling released Tuesday from Rasmussen reports that roughly two-thirds of Americans think “the current situation with migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border is a crisis.”

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Jobless Claims Fall to 498,000, Hit New Pandemic Low Once Again

Minnesota Sun Staff

The number of Americans filing new unemployment claims dropped sharply to 498,000 last week as the economy continues to recover from the coronavirus pandemic, according to the Department of Labor.

The Bureau of Labor and Statistics figure released Thursday represented a large decrease in the number of new jobless claims compared to the week ending April 24, when 590,000 new jobless claims were reported. That number was revised up from the 553,000 jobless claims initially reported last week.

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Jobless Claims Hit New Pandemic Low as Americans Return to Work

Minnesota Sun Staff

The number of Americans filing new unemployment claims dropped to 547,000 last week as the economy continues to recover from the coronavirus pandemic, according to the Department of Labor.

The Bureau of Labor and Statistics figure released Thursday represented a decrease in the number of new jobless claims compared to the week ending April 10, when 586,000 new jobless claims were reported. That number was revised up from the 576,000 jobless claims initially reported last week.

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Jobless Claims Increase to 744,000 as Economy Continues Slow Recovery

Minnesota Sun Staff
Unemployment sign

The number of Americans filing new unemployment claims increased to 744,000 last week as the economy continues to slowly recover from the coronavirus pandemic, according to the Department of Labor.

The Bureau of Labor and Statistics figure released Thursday represented an increase in the number of new jobless claims compared to the week ending March 27, when 728,000 new jobless claims were reported. That number was revised up from the 719,000 jobless claims initially reported last week.

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Commentary: Joe Biden Clearly Isn’t Running the Show

Minnesota Sun Staff

This past Thursday, President Joe Biden held the first press conference of his young presidency. There was a good deal of anticipation surrounding the presser since he had waited longer than any of his predecessors who held the office during the past 100 years to hold a formal, solo news conference. While I’m not always a fan of these events, I stopped my day to see what he would say and how he would say it.

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Americans Are Starting to Reemerge from Their COVID Bunkers as Vaccinations Accelerate

Minnesota Sun Staff

As coronavirus vaccinations accelerate across the country, more and more Americans are seeing their friends in public, eating at restaurants and shopping in retail stores, according to a Tuesday Axios/Ipsos poll.

Almost 50% of Americans said that they had visited family or friends in the past month, according to the poll, up from just 39% in February. And 45% said that they had gone out to eat, up 12 points from the past month as well.

Additionally, 90% of respondents said they knew someone who had already been vaccinated, and 36% said that they had been vaccinated themselves.

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New Jobless Claims Increase to 861,000, Economists Expected 773,000

Minnesota Sun Staff

The number of Americans filing new unemployment claims increased to 861,000 last week as the economy continued to suffer the effects of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, according to the Department of Labor.

The Bureau of Labor and Statistics figure released Thursday represented an increase in the number of new jobless claims compared to the week ending Feb. 6, in which there were 848,000 new jobless claims reported. That number was revised up from the 793,000 jobless claims initially reported last week.

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New Jobless Claims Increase to 793,000, Economists Expected 760,000

Minnesota Sun Staff

The number of Americans filing new unemployment claims decreased to 793,000 last week as the economy continued to suffer the effects of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, according to the Department of Labor.

The Bureau of Labor and Statistics figure released Thursday represented a decrease in the number of new jobless claims compared to the week ending Jan. 30, in which there were 812,000 new jobless claims reported. The number was revised up from the 779,000 jobless claims initially reported last week.

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Safety Concerns Make a Third of Americans Hesitant to Receive the Coronavirus Vaccine, Poll Shows

Minnesota Sun Staff

Approximately a third of Americans say that they are unlikely to receive the coronavirus vaccine due to perceived safety concerns, according to an Associated Press poll released Wednesday.

While 67% of Americans said that they either planned to receive the vaccine or had already done so, 17% said that they were unlikely to receive it and 15% said that they were definitely not going to receive it, the poll showed. Among those who expressed vaccine hesitancy, the majority cited concerns over possible side effects and doubts over whether it was really safe, and nearly 40% said that they did not believe that they needed a vaccine.

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75 Percent of Voters Say Stimulus Check Is ‘Too Little’: Poll

Minnesota Sun Staff

A Hill-Harris X poll found 75% of voters said the $600 stimulus checks were “too little,” the Hill reported Monday.

The poll was done from Dec. 30 until Jan. 3 and 15% said the checks were the right amount while eight percent said the amount was excessive, according to The Hill. Most from political parties were in agreement that the $600 wasn’t enough, with 77% of Democrats and independents and 71% of Republicans in agreement.

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More Americans Willing to Take Coronavirus Vaccine After Promising Announcements, Poll Shows

Minnesota Sun Staff

More Americans said that they would receive a coronavirus vaccine when available than they did a month ago, according to a new Gallup poll released Tuesday.

Fifty-eight percent of Americans indicated their willingness to take a vaccine in the poll, which surveyed Americans in late October. That number is up eight percent from Gallup’s previous September poll.

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Rasmussen Poll: Black Lives Matter Riots Turning People in Riot Zones into Trump Voters

Minnesota Sun Staff

The violent Black Lives Matter riots that rocked multiple American cities this summer have turned voters who live in those riot zones into Trump supporters, a new Rasmussen poll finds.

The latest Rasmussen Reports Survey found that 63 percent of voters who have seen violent protests in their community “strongly approve” of the president while only 35 percent don’t.

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US Citizens Likely to be Left Out as Europe Reopens Borders

The Associated Press

Americans are unlikely to be allowed into more than 30 European countries for business or tourism when the continent begins next week to open its borders to the world, due to the spread of the coronavirus and President Donald Trump’s ban on European visitors.

More than 15 million Americans are estimated to travel to Europe each year, and such a decision would underscore flaws in the Trump administration’s handling of the pandemic, which has seen the United States record the highest number of infections and virus-related deaths in the world by far.

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Joe Biden Has His Deplorable Moment: ’10 to 15 Percent’ of Americans Are ‘Just Not Very Good People’

Zachery Schmidt

Democratic Presidential Candidate Joe Biden put his foot in his mouth again on Thursday when he said that “10 to 15 percent” of Americans are “just not very good people.”

The former vice president made these comments while holding a town hall on Thursday night with black supporters, according to Fox News.

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Commentary: Borders and Taking Care of Our Own

Minnesota Sun Staff

One of my favorite short stories is “The Lame Shall Enter First” by Flannery O’Connor. The plot centers on a young, atheist widower who takes in a violent teenage orphan and attempts to reform him. Neglecting his own young and motherless son, the widower focuses all his love and attention on the delinquent teen, even blinding himself to certain crimes the teen commits.

As is common in O’Connor’s work, the ending is gut-wrenching, with the father realizing his neglectful behavior too late as his son commits suicide.

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