Pennsylvania Daily Star Staff, Author at The Pennsylvania Daily Star

Commentary: ATF Rule Change Creates a Trap for the Unwary

April 24, 2024 Pennsylvania Daily Star Staff

A selection of modern firearms on a table

On Friday, the 31st anniversary of the massacre of Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas, the ATF issued new regulations that make it more difficult to comply with federal laws regulating gun dealing and background checks.

Since the 1930s, federal law has required gun dealers to be registered as Federal Firearms Licensees (FFL). The requirements hinged on the meaning of “engaged in the business of” gun dealing. This language has always been ambiguous, and there has never been (even after the announcement of the new rules) a true “bright line” that distinguishes when one graduates from selling a few guns from one’s personal collection into full-fledged gun dealing.

Florida Congresswoman to Propose Bill Banning the Display of Foreign Flags in Congress

April 24, 2024 Pennsylvania Daily Star Staff

A Republican Congresswoman plans to introduce a bill that would forbid the waving of foreign flags inside Congress after a viral video circulated of dozens of members waving Ukrainian flags following a vote to pass another Ukrainian aid package.

As Breitbart reports, Congresswoman Kat Cammack (R-Fla.) announced the planned legislation following the unexpected display of a foreign nation’s flag on the floor of the House, which was widely mocked on social media.

Commentary: Migrant Pain for the Heartland

April 24, 2024 Pennsylvania Daily Star Staff

Although the Badger State is 2000 miles away from Mexico, the fallout of Biden’s open border bleeds into the American heartland, literally so in many cases. In reality, the Biden-Harris open borders agenda transforms every jurisdiction in America into a border town, including small villages like Whitewater, Wisconsin. That previously tranquil small town of 15,000 in southern Wisconsin has been flooded with about 1,000 new migrants during Biden’s term, mostly from Nicaragua and Venezuela.

Such a mass influx places intense strain upon public resources, including schools ill-prepared to handle so many new students, many of whom do not speak English. Whitewater city council member Brienne Brown told Wisconsin PBS that “we are a poor town that has limited resources.”

Ukrainian Aid Costs Each American Household Almost $1,500, Economists Say

April 24, 2024 Pennsylvania Daily Star Staff

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy with United States President Joe Biden

Even as Americans grow increasingly pessimistic and agitated about their personal finances, Congress is about to ask struggling families to cover the cost of more funding for Ukraine.

The $95 billion foreign aid package adopted Saturday by the House and facing near-certain passage in the Senate includes an additional $61 billion for Ukraine. Once added to the money already appropriated for Ukraine since 2022, the United States will have spent approximately $173 billion.

Judge Dismisses Riot Charges for over 100 Migrants Who Rushed Border

April 24, 2024 Pennsylvania Daily Star Staff

A county judge dismissed 140 cases against migrants charged with rioting at the U.S. southern border, finding there was no reason to arrest them.

El Paso County Court at Law 7 Judge Ruben Morales on Monday found no probable cause from Texas Department of Public Safety state troopers to restrain the 140 migrants who were arrested earlier this month for rioting, according to the El Paso Times. The charges stemmed from an incident on April 12 when a group of migrants in El Paso’s Lower Valley cut through concertina wire at the border and then rushed into the U.S.

Military Could Hit Troops with Court-Martials for Refusing to Use Preferred Pronouns, Experts Say

April 23, 2024 Pennsylvania Daily Star Staff

The military could seek to formally punish service members for refusing to use another service member’s preferred pronouns under existing policy, according to military experts.

A 2020 Equal Opportunity law opened the door for commanders to subject someone who refuses to affirm a transgender servicemember’s so-called gender identity to the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) for charges related to harassment, Capt. Thomas Wheatley, an assistant professor at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. Such a move would likely infringe on a servicemember’s constitutional rights to uphold their conscience, but it might not prevent leaders from employing more subtle ways of disciplining service members.

Commentary: Biden Weaponizes the Federal Government for His Own Reelection Campaign

April 23, 2024 Pennsylvania Daily Star Staff

President Joe Biden has taken every part of the federal government and transformed it into his personal reelection machine, creating a hyper-partisan election apparatus out of supposedly neutral federal agencies. And American taxpayers pay for all of it.

Just since the beginning of April, several explosive revelations have surfaced that show the extent to which Joe Biden has weaponized the federal government in election matters. This should come as no surprise, as the administration continues to unfairly weaponize the federal courts against January 6 defendants, and state and federal courts maliciously prosecute Donald Trump, his rival in the presidential election.

MSNBC Legal Analyst Predicts Chance of ‘Mistrial’ in Trump’s Bragg Case

April 23, 2024 Pennsylvania Daily Star Staff

MSNBC legal analyst Danny Cevallos predicted on Monday that there is a possibility for a mistrial in the case Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg brought against former President Donald Trump.

Trump is currently on trial for 34 felony counts pertaining to a $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels for her silence regarding an alleged affair, and all 12 jurors were selected on Thursday. Two jurors were initially excused before the full jury was seated, which Cevallos on “Morning Joe” said indicates the possibility of forthcoming issues that could cause a mistrial.

Commentary: Hold Obama-Biden Foreign Policy Responsible for Iran’s Unprecedented Attack on Israel

April 23, 2024 Pennsylvania Daily Star Staff

Former president Barack Obama, President Joe Biden

The terrorist Iranian regime’s unprecedented recent attack on Israel, which included 185 drones, 36 cruise missiles, and 110 surface-to-surface missiles, is an unambiguous casus belli—an act of war—under international law.

Of course, Iranian proxies spread across the Middle East, such as Lebanon-based Hezbollah, Gaza-based Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and the Yemen-based Houthis, have committed countless previous acts of war against Israel. But last weekend was something different entirely: For the very first time since fanatical Islamists overthrew Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and took power in 1979, Iran launched such attacks directly from its own soil.

Medical Associations Silent After Review Finds Weak Evidence for Recommending Puberty Blockers to Kids

April 22, 2024 Pennsylvania Daily Star Staff

Major medical associations have remained silent after the results of a four-year review commissioned by the National Health Service (NHS) England undermined their recommendations for giving puberty blockers to children with gender dysphoria

The Cass report, conducted by former Royal College of Pediatrics and Child Health Dr. Hilary Cass and released April 10, found that there is “weak evidence” for offering puberty blockers to children. It concluded that its findings “raise questions about the quality of currently available guidelines” offered by associations like the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) and the Endocrine Society, yet neither organization has committed to reviewing their guidelines.

‘Clear Violation of the Law’: Biden’s Multi-Billion Dollar Broadband Plan Defies Congressional Mandate, Experts Say

April 22, 2024 Pennsylvania Daily Star Staff

The Biden administration’s program to expand access to broadband internet may run afoul of the law that created it, experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), part of the Department of Commerce, is responsible for allocating $42.5 billion in funds intended to bolster the United States’ broadband internet infrastructure through the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment Program (BEAD) program. The agency, in a move to expand high-speed internet access to low-income communities, has been attempting to force states to adopt price controls for broadband services provided through the new projects, a strategy experts say could be illegal.

Commentary: The Endurance of an Ideological Paradox

April 22, 2024 Pennsylvania Daily Star Staff

Karl Marx / "How do you do, Fellow Kids" meme

I have written about the death and rebirth of socialism periodically over the years. But as André Gide said in another context, “Toutes choses sont dites déjà, mais comme personne n’écoute, il faut toujours recommencer”: everything has already been said, but since no one was listening, it is necessary to say it again.

Really, the socialist impulse is a hardy perennial. How could something so frequently and thoroughly discredited persist in the hearts of men? Some think it has something to do with the gullibility of the human animal, some (but I repeat myself) with the persistence of the utopian dream. I suspect there are many explanations, of which the raw desire for power plays an unedifying but also underrated role. I also favor the explanatory power of original sin, which has profound psychological as well as theological application to many of the more farcical aspects of human experience and what is more farcical than socialism?

Home Sales Drop in March as Mortgage Rates Surge over 7 Percent

April 22, 2024 Pennsylvania Daily Star Staff

Existing home sales shrank in March as consumers respond to continuing price increases and rising mortgage rates.

Sales for existing homes fell 4.3% in March compared to the previous month and 3.7% year-over-year, to an annual rate of 4.19 million, according to a press release from the National Association of Realtors (NAR). The average for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage reached 7.10% this week, a substantial jump from 6.88% last week, depressing Americans’ desire to switch homes and possibly acquire a higher interest rate, according to a release from real estate giant Freddie Mac.

Commentary: Remembering Nixon’s Legacy 30 Years After His Death

April 22, 2024 Pennsylvania Daily Star Staff

Richard Nixon, the 37th president of the United States, died 30 years ago this week—on April 22, 1994. And while it may be hard to remember a Republican the left despised more than Donald J. Trump—Nixon probably takes the cake.

It was not so much how the former California Congressman and two-term Vice President governed or his introverted personality but rather his adversarial relationship with a hostile media, his sheer determination, intelligence, lawyerly command of the facts, exceptional understanding of both foreign and domestic policy, and his effectiveness as commander in chief that caused the left to view Nixon as persona non grata.

Montana Hit with Lawsuit over Sex-Change Policy for Birth Certificates, Driver’s Licenses

April 21, 2024 Pennsylvania Daily Star Staff

Two transgender people sued Montana on Thursday, challenging a state policy that bars residents from changing the sex designations on their birth certificates unless they meet certain criteria.

Jessica Kalarchik and an individual identified only as “Jane Doe” are listed as plaintiffs in a lawsuit challenging a state policy that, they argue, makes it “impossible” for transgender people born in Montana to change their birth certificates. The policy, which was finalized in 2022, prohibits individuals from changing the gender on their birth certificate, unless their gender was listed incorrectly on the original certificate as a result of data error or misidentification, according to the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services (DPHHS).

Laken Riley’s Illegal Alien Killer Was Released into U.S. Under Mayorkas’ Power of Parole, According to DHS File

April 21, 2024 Pennsylvania Daily Star Staff

The criminal illegal alien accused of killing Laken Riley was released into the U.S. in September of 2022 because the Department of Homeland Security lacked detention space, according to his immigration file.

Jose Ibarra, the Venezuelan national charged with murdering Riley in February, was released under DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas’ power of parole, which is only supposed to be used “when there is an urgent humanitarian need or a significant benefit to the public,” the Washington Times reported.

Commentary: Veteran Teacher Explains What’s Wrong with Traditional Schooling

April 21, 2024 Pennsylvania Daily Star Staff

For 19 years, I was a master of time. Down to the minute, I controlled time for others and used it to meet my and others’ ends, irrespective of the desires of those in front of me. In short, I was a public-school teacher, and controlling time was my talent. Although I and other adults often talked about helping students reach their potential and grow as learners, what we really did each day was control their time and force upon them ideas and subjects in which most of them had little to no interest.

What if there were a better way? A way to help each student learn the way he or she learns best, develop autonomy, explore passions, and take control of his or her own time? Thankfully, that way does exist in the form of alternative schools and learning programs that continue to increase in number each day.

Nonprofit Misused Taxpayer Dollars to Fly Migrants Around U.S., Dem Rep Alleges

April 20, 2024 Pennsylvania Daily Star Staff

A Texas lawmaker alleged Friday that a local nonprofit is misusing taxpayer funds through its purchase of airline tickets for migrants.

Catholic Charities of San Antonio is purchasing airline tickets for asylum-seekers in their care with federal grant money, Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar alleged. The allegation emerges as millions of federal taxpayer dollars continue to be doled out to nonprofit groups that are helping manage the border crisis under President Joe Biden.

Apple Cooperates with Chinese Censorship Demands, Removes Popular Messaging Apps from Store

April 20, 2024 Pennsylvania Daily Star Staff

Tech behemoth Apple complied with an order from the Chinese government to remove popular messaging apps from the company’s app store in the country, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday.

Apple removed messaging platforms WhatsApp, Signal and Telegram, as well as social media app Threads, from its Chinese App Store in compliance with an order from the Cyberspace Administration of China, which cited national security concerns as the reason for the restrictions, according to the WSJ. China’s order follows a heated debate among U.S. lawmakers over whether to place restrictions on the Chinese Communist Party-linked app TikTok, with some parties calling for the app to either be sold to a non-Chinese entity or be banned in the U.S.

Commentary: Biden Losing Support of Young Men Due to Border Crisis

April 20, 2024 Pennsylvania Daily Star Staff

The latest Harvard Youth Poll reveals President Joe Biden has lost significant ground with voters under thirty compared to four years ago, with a 20-point decline among young men. While young Americans give Biden low marks on foreign policy and economic issues including inflation, housing, and the job market, immigration is a leading factor in young people’s departure from Democrats.

Biden currently leads Trump by thirteen percentage points (50 percent to 37 percent) among registered voters under thirty in the Harvard Youth Poll, a slightly higher margin than he has led by in other recent polls that include young people as a subset.

Biden Admin Announces Massive Restrictions on Alaskan Oil Reserve and Hampers Key Mining Project in One Fell Swoop

April 20, 2024 Pennsylvania Daily Star Staff

The Biden administration moved to block oil and gas activity on millions of acres of Alaskan land and effectively rejected a road project needed to mine large reserves of copper in the state on Friday, Bloomberg News reported.

The Department of the Interior (DOI) finalized a plan that will restrict future oil leasing and development on about half of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A), an area in the state’s north approximately the size of Indiana first designated by former President Warren Harding as an emergency source of fuel for the U.S. Navy, according to Bloomberg News. The DOI also moved to all but shoot down the Ambler Access Project, a previously-approved proposal for a mining company to build a 211-mile long road needed to mine copper reserves potentially worth billions of dollars.

U.S. Potentially Facing New Era of High Interest Rates

April 19, 2024April 18, 2024 Pennsylvania Daily Star Staff

The United States could be facing an era of prolonged high interest rates unlike anything seen in recent memory.

According to Axios, a number of major factors indicate that high interest rates could be the new norm in the U.S., including the movement of rates, the rate of inflation, and the recent outlook for the Federal Reserve’s policy in addressing these issues.

Biden Vows to Block Foreign Acquisition of Iconic American Company

April 19, 2024April 18, 2024 Pennsylvania Daily Star Staff

President Joe Biden promised on Wednesday to block the acquisition of U.S. Steel by a Japanese competitor in remarks to a crowd in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, made up of unionized steelworkers.

The Japanese Nippon Steel Corporation, the fourth-largest steel producer, first announced that it would be acquiring U.S. Steel in December for around $14.9 billion after turning down other offers, including from American steel company Cleveland Cliffs. The president, in his remarks, emphasized the importance of the American steel industry and called out China for subsidizing their own steel producers.

Electric Vehicle Maker Launches Another Round of Layoffs as Demand Slows

April 19, 2024 Pennsylvania Daily Star Staff

Electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer Rivian announced its second round of layoffs just this year on Wednesday as consumer demand for EVs stalls.

The layoffs at Rivian will affect around 1 percent of the company’s staff as they continue to look for ways to cut costs to bolster struggling profits due to less-than-expected EV sales, the company confirmed to the Daily Caller News Foundation. Rivian announced in February that it was laying off 10 percent of its workforce after it released its 2024 production forecast, which was well below analyst expectations, according to Reuters.

Kennedy Family to Endorse Biden for 2024 in Blow to RFK Jr.

April 19, 2024 Pennsylvania Daily Star Staff

Members of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s family are set to support President Joe Biden’s 2024 campaign on Thursday rather than endorsing the independent candidate, according to multiple outlets.

The endorsements follow Biden’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) ramping up efforts to combat what they view as the threat Kennedy and other third-party candidates could have on the president’s reelection bid. Kennedy’s siblings — Kerry, Rory, Joseph, Kathleen, Christopher and Maxwell — will throw their support behind Biden at a campaign event in Philadelphia alongside nine of their other family members, multiple outlets reported.

Commentary: The Trans Reckoning Is Not Yet Here — But It’s Coming Soon

April 19, 2024 Pennsylvania Daily Star Staff

Over at Compact magazine on Tuesday, Nina Power wrote “The Trans Reckoning Is Here,” and, as evidence, she cited a report by a British pediatrician named Hilary Cass written for the National Health Service that upturned the faux-scientific basis on which that country has embarked on normalizing “gender-affirming care.”

Scottish Gender Clinic Stops Prescribing Puberty Blockers for Minors

April 19, 2024 Pennsylvania Daily Star Staff

A Scottish gender clinic for minors announced Thursday that they would no longer be prescribing puberty blockers for patients under the age of 18.

The Sandyford Sexual Health Services to Paediatric Endocrinology, which is the only clinic in Scotland that prescribes puberty blockers for minors, said that it would not be accepting new 16 and 17-year-old patients for hormone therapy until they turn 18, according to the announcement. The clinic cited the National Health Service (NHS) of England’s decision in March to ban puberty blockers for minors and the publication of the Cass Review on April 10, which found “weak evidence” for giving puberty blockers to children.

China Lobbying Congress amid TikTok Ban Efforts

April 19, 2024 Pennsylvania Daily Star Staff

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been secretly attempting to lobby members of Congress over recent proposals to ban the Chinese-owned social media app TikTok.

As reported by Breitbart, employees of the Chinese Embassy have been meeting with congressional staffers to try to persuade members to vote against the bill that would force the Chinese company ByteDance to sell TikTok, or else face an indefinite ban on the app’s use in the United States. The bill passed in the U.S. House of Representatives in March with bipartisan support, and is now being reviewed by the Senate.

Biden EPA Giving Millions to ‘Immigrant Justice’ Groups Registering, ‘Mobilizing’ Dem-Leaning Voting Bloc

April 18, 2024April 17, 2024 Pennsylvania Daily Star Staff

New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice public assembly

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is handing out millions of taxpayer dollars to a coalition featuring two immigration-focused activist organizations, one which pushes voter registration for traditionally Democrat-leaning demographics.

As part of a $600 million round of grant funding issued in December 2023 to advance “environmental justice,” the EPA gave out $50 million to a Fordham University-led coalition including the New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC) and the New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice (NJAIJ). The NYIC explicitly engages in “nationally recognized” voter registration and get-out-the-vote efforts and pushed for a New York City law that allows non-citizens to vote, while the NJAIJ has advocated for same-day voter registration and maintains a voter registration portal on its website.

U.S. Wheat Farmers Stare Down Huge Losses as Foreign Goods Flood Market

April 18, 2024 Pennsylvania Daily Star Staff

Many American wheat farmers may face losses in 2024 due to a glut of foreign supply coupled with soaring equipment and labor costs amid high inflation, Reuters reported Wednesday.

Wheat prices are near their lowest point in nearly four years as supply from the Black Sea and Europe has unexpectedly flooded the market after three years of droughts draining reserves, hitting winter wheat farmers in the Great Plains particularly hard, according to Reuters. Costs for transporting and producing American wheat have soared compared to foreign wheat suppliers, with high inflation increasing costs for farm equipment, repairs and labor for farmers.

Commentary: The Teachers’ Unions Are More Political than Ever

April 18, 2024 Pennsylvania Daily Star Staff

In the past, teachers’ unions concentrated on fighting to keep all teachers employed—competent or otherwise—laying off teachers by seniority when necessary and soaking taxpayers every chance they could. While those activities are still part of their mission, they have, over time, increasingly delved into the political/social realm, promoting Black Lives Matter, Critical Race Theory, DEI, class warfare, gender-bending, etc. And their current level of engagement is staggering.

Americans for Fair Treatment, a national nonprofit organization that educates public employees about their rights in a unionized workplace, recently released a report detailing the National Education Association’s (NEA) financial filings from Sept. 1, 2022, through Aug. 31, 2023.

Commentary: The Coup d’Etat Against Candidate Trump

April 18, 2024 Pennsylvania Daily Star Staff

In 1967, I had the privilege of studying criminal law at Yale University. The teacher was a superpower in the field named Joe Goldstein.

After a short time, we got to a series of cases where a prosecutor had empaneled a grand jury and gotten an indictment against some poor soul — almost always poverty-stricken and often black — who had either no evidence against him (and he was almost always male). That poor soul usually was convicted. He went to prison and that was that.

Denver Mayor Cuts Police Budget by $8 Million to Fund Illegal Aliens

April 18, 2024 Pennsylvania Daily Star Staff

Denver Mayor Mike Johnston (D-Colo.) has announced a new spending package that will fund the hordes of illegal aliens flooding into the state, including cutting the city police department’s budget by $8 million in order to support illegals.

As Fox News reports, Johnston’s $45.9 million proposition will go towards funding “newcomers” in the year 2024, on top of the $44 million that has already been spent on illegals in recent years. The city of Denver used to spend a mere $2 million every month on illegals as far back as August; as of December, that amount soared to $15 million a month. The number of illegals living in shelters peaked at 5,000 in January but has since fallen to about 1,000.

Soros PAC Bets Big on White Women to Deliver 2024 Victory for Democrats

April 18, 2024 Pennsylvania Daily Star Staff

A PAC funded by George Soros is bankrolling a political committee that is trying to convince moderate white women to vote for Democrats.

Democracy PAC donated $1 million to the One For All Committee, which produces and runs advertisements aimed at persuading “moderate white women” to vote for Democrats in “key battleground states,” according to a campaign finance disclosure. One For All has, in its past campaigns, supported President Joe Biden, Democratic Senate candidates and Janet Protasiewicz, a Democrat-endorsed Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate.

Johnson Vows Not to Resign, as Second GOP Lawmaker Announces Support for Ouster

April 17, 2024April 17, 2024 Pennsylvania Daily Star Staff

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., announced on social media Tuesday that he’s co-sponsoring a motion to vacate the chair against House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La.

In doing so, Massie joined the motion to vacate push against Johnson launched by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., in March. Massie is the first other Republican to back Greene in the effort.

Illegals Instructed to Vote Biden for Border NGO to ‘Stay Open’

April 17, 2024 Pennsylvania Daily Star Staff

Group photo of Resource Center Matamoros staff

An advocacy group based in Northeastern Mexico that lobbies U.S. lawmakers has distributed and posted flyers encouraging illegal immigrants to vote for President Joe Biden in the 2024 election, according to The Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project.

Translated from Spanish, the Oversight Project notes, the flyers posted by the organization Resource Center Matamoros say: “Reminder to vote for President Biden when you are in the United States. We need another four years of his term to stay open.” (The Daily Signal is Heritage’s news and commentary outlet.)

Most Americans Don’t Think Trump Acted Illegally in Alvin Bragg Case: Poll

April 17, 2024 Pennsylvania Daily Star Staff

Only 35 perdent of Americans believe former President Donald Trump acted illegally in regard to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s case against him, which began on Monday, a Tuesday poll found.

Jury selection is underway in the first of Trump’s four criminal cases, where he faces 34 felony counts over allegations related to falsifying business records when reimbursing a hush money payment to former porn star actress Stormy Daniels leading up to the 2016 election. As Trump sits in the courtroom this week, 31 percent believe Trump’s alleged actions were “unethical, but not illegal,” 14 percent argue he did “nothing wrong” and 19 percent said they “don’t know enough to say,” according to an AP/NORC poll.

Commentary: Lawfare Didn’t Begin with Trump

April 17, 2024 Pennsylvania Daily Star Staff

The newest buzzword in politics is “Lawfare,” the effort to cripple political opponents through legal initiatives, preferably by bringing criminal cases. Today’s favorite target is former President Trump, who has been indicted in various state and federal jurisdictions for some ninety-one felonies.

Amazingly, Wikipedia’s current “Lawfare” entry goes into great detail concerning the term’s origins and current application – defining Lawfare as “the use of legal systems and institutions to damage or delegitimize an opponent, or to deter an individual’s usage of their legal rights” without any mention whatsoever of its current use against Trump.

Soros-Funded DA Faces Recall Vote After Crime Ravages Blue County

April 17, 2024 Pennsylvania Daily Star Staff

An effort to recall a George Soros-funded California district attorney has received enough signatures to advance, according to a county document.

Organizers seeking to oust Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price have collected 74,757 verified signatures in support of their effort to hold a recall election, over 1,000 more than needed, the Alameda County Registrar of Voters announced Monday. Save Alameda for Everyone, one of the primary committees campaigning for Price’s removal, argues that Price has been prioritizing offenders over victims, contributing to an uptick in crime in their community.

Commentary: Inflation Will Stick Around as Long as The Big Spenders Do

April 17, 2024 Pennsylvania Daily Star Staff

August came early to the nation’s capital with last week’s round of March inflation data. The late summer weather in Washington, D.C., is notoriously hot and sticky, two accurate descriptors of the latest price increases facing families and businesses alike. Inflation is stubbornly high, and the Biden administration’s spendthrift public policies are to blame.

In the past 12 months, consumer prices rose 3.5 percent, the second month of accelerating annual inflation. In March alone, prices rose 0.4 percent. That may not sound like much, but it’s actually terrible. If that monthly inflation rate holds steady, prices will double in less than 16 years.

Nikki Haley Announces New Gig After Failed Presidential Campaign

April 16, 2024 Pennsylvania Daily Star Staff

Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley will serve as the next Walter P. Stern Chair of the conservative Hudson Institute following her suspended 2024 presidential run, according to a Monday press release.

Haley was the last remaining challenger to former President Donald Trump in the Republican primary until she dropped out of the race following a slew of Super Tuesday losses. The former ambassador and South Carolina governor, who received a Global Leadership Award from the foreign policy think tank in 2018, said she will seek to “defend the principles that make America the greatest country in the world,” according to the press release.

Left-Wing Outlet Hurtles Toward Bankruptcy Following Megadonor’s Retreat: Report

April 16, 2024 Pennsylvania Daily Star Staff

The Intercept is losing money amid left-wing megadonor Pierre Omidyar’s choice to stop providing funds to the outlet, Semafor reported on Sunday.

The Intercept is hemorrhaging around $300,000 monthly and is on pace to possess less than 1 million dollars in reserves by November, according to internal data distributed inside the outlet in March, Semafor reported. The outlet could potentially deplete its cash reserves entirely by May 2025 after Omidyar’s First Look Media decided to terminate its funding in late 2022.

Media Picks Up Novel Legal Theory Suggesting Big Oil Is Homicidal

April 16, 2024 Pennsylvania Daily Star Staff

A new narrative is making its way through major media outlets about major oil corporations: climate change that they purportedly caused is taking lives, and they could be held liable for homicide.

In recent weeks, numerous outlets have run stories or opinion pieces promoting or otherwise examining the novel legal theory, which is the subject of a new paper published by the Harvard Environmental Law Review, according to a Tuesday E&E News report detailing the architects’ efforts to market their idea to prosecutors. The Boston Globe, The Guardian, Newsweek, Inside Climate News and other outlets have all recently published pieces promoting the idea that leading oil companies could or should be charged with murder for their role in climate change, which the theory’s architects claim has caused thousands of deaths in the U.S.

Commentary: Speaker Mike Johnson’s ‘Personal Conservatism’ Betrays the Conservative Movement

April 16, 2024 Pennsylvania Daily Star Staff

The election of Representative Mike Johnson of Louisiana to Speaker of the House has thrown into stark relief the difference between what one might call “personal conservatives” and those of us who consider ourselves to be part of the conservative movement, or movement conservatives.

There’s no doubt that Speaker Johnson lives his life according to a set of conservative principles: He’s a church-going man known for his personal rectitude; he married his wife in a “covenant marriage;” as a lawyer he advocated a constitutional “textualist” approach to his cases; he spent many years actively involved in advancing the Right-to-Life; he opposes same sex marriages, and in 2015 he took one of his daughters to a purity ball.

Gen Z Returning to Trade and Vocational Schools

April 16, 2024 Pennsylvania Daily Star Staff

Just when it appeared that skilled trades and vocational schools appeared to be on a permanent decline in the United States, members of Generation Z are beginning to embrace such professions in what may mark the beginning of a comeback.

According to Axios, the amount of enrollments in vocational programs has been gradually increasing as members of Gen Z, also known as “Zoomers,” are turning to trade schools as a cheaper alternative to the more expensive four-year universities.

Analysis: New Poll Finds Trump Leads Biden Among Voters Above 30 Years Old Who Say It’s Time for a Change

April 16, 2024 Pennsylvania Daily Star Staff

Former President Donald Trump led among voters above the age of 30 years old in the latest Emerson national poll taken April 2-3 over incumbent President Joe Biden, who only led among younger voters 18 to 29, 50.2 percent to 39.6 percent.

New ‘Athenai Institute’ Pushes Universities to Divest from China

April 16, 2024 Pennsylvania Daily Star Staff

An advocacy group is recruiting students from both major political parties to push for university divestment from Chinese government-controlled entities.

Athenai Institute co-founder Caleb Max told The College Fix the organization is working to build on the victories it has achieved since he and two other George Mason University students founded it in 2020.

Ex-Trump Advisor Purged from Federal Elections Board After Left-Wing Pressure Campaign, Emails Show

April 15, 2024 Pennsylvania Daily Star Staff

A federal agency did not reappoint a former Trump advisor to an elections advisory board after a left-wing activist group threatened to launch a public criticism campaign, according to emails obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Cleta Mitchell, a lawyer who is now the senior legal fellow at the Conservative Partnership Institute, was appointed to the advisory board for the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) in November 2021. After months of badgering United States Commission on Civil Rights (USCCR) officials to oust Mitchell from the EAC board of advisors, Free Speech for People president John Bonifaz threatened to launch a “public campaign” criticizing the agency if it did not drop Mitchell at the end of her two-year term, emails obtained by the DCNF via public records request show.

Commentary: The Battle Begins as Trump’s Trial Tests American Justice

April 15, 2024 Pennsylvania Daily Star Staff

Monday, April 15, 2024, is not only Tax Day in the United States. It is also the day that this country will take another fateful step towards banana republic-like tyranny. For it is the day that New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg—or, to give him his full title, “Soros-funded District Attorney Alvin Bragg”—will begin his 34-count felony trial against Donald Trump.

Exactly what is the presumptive Republican nominee for president charged with by the Biden Department of Justice? Paying Stormy Daniels—or to give her the invariable epithet, “porn star Stormy Daniels” (think “swift-footed Achilles,” “gray-eyed Athena”)—to keep quiet about an alleged sexual encounter in 2006 (which Trump has consistently denied).

Commentary: North Carolina Could Be Ground Zero for the Gen Z Revolt Against Democrats

April 15, 2024 Pennsylvania Daily Star Staff

What began as imprecise theories among a handful of forward-looking political observers and youth organizers is materializing this election year, and poll after poll is now showing young voters deserting Democrats in droves.

Mainstream news outlets have little choice but to acknowledge the vast, double-digit declines in support for Biden among younger voters, a group which supported him by 25 percentage points in 2020. Now we are seeing tentative coverage of the youth shift and warnings to Democrats in Vox, NPR, CNN and other mainstream outlets.