Day: October 14, 2022

Commentary: The Monopoly Hiding in Plain Sight

RealClearWire

With persistent inflation and growing concerns over a recession, pundits, policymakers, and the president have expressed concern about an alleged lack of competition lurking in the dark corners of the U.S. economy. As President Biden himself said, “capitalism without competition isn’t capitalism, it’s exploitation.” From Big Tech to baby food, both sides of the aisle are on the lookout for monopoly power. But sometimes the best place to hide is in plain sight.

Read More

Biden Admin to Expel Illegal Migrants from Venezuela, Provide Thousands of Others a Legal Pathway

Florida Capital Star Staff

The Biden administration will begin expelling some illegal migrants from Venezuela to Mexico, while giving 24,000 others a legal pathway to enter the country, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced Wednesday.

U.S. border authorities will return Venezuelan migrants who cross illegally to Mexico; however, if they cross the border at a U.S. port of entry and meet certain requirements, including having a U.S. sponsor, they will be allowed to enter and apply for work authorization, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

Read More

Commentary: The Evidence Is Real — Dead People Are Voting

Florida Capital Star Staff

The 2020 election was full of chaos and irregularities. States like Georgia and Pennsylvania took days to finalize election results. Mail ballots were found on floors of apartment floor lobbies. Dead people were even voting in states across the country!

Unfortunately, people have been voting from beyond the grave since well before 2020.

Read More

Social Security Cost-of-Living Adjustment Gets Biggest Bump in Decades to Keep Up with Inflation

Florida Capital Star Staff

The Social Security Administration (SSA) announced the largest increase to the Social Security cost-of-living adjustment in over three decades due to high inflation.

The SSA announced that supplemental income benefits, which are paid to beneficiaries in addition to their regular benefits to offset inflation and other unexpected costs, would increase by 8.7%. This would, on average, increase benefits by $140 per month for most beneficiaries, beginning in January of 2023.

Read More

Biden Admin to Bar Chinese Telecom Giants from U.S. Market

Florida Capital Star Staff

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) plans to ban telecommunication devices and video surveillance equipment from five Chinese companies in a recent move to address national security concerns, according to Axios.

The proposed FCC ban blocks Huawei,  ZTE, Hytera Communications Corporation, Hikvision and Dahua Technology Company on national security grounds, marking the first time the FCC has attempted to implement an electronics ban on that basis, Axios reported. The proposed ban follows an Oct. 5 draft order circulated by FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel that, if approved through a vote, will effectively block all equipment sales by firms that pose a threat to the U.S., according to Axios.

Read More

Biden FDA Approves COVID Booster Shot for Children 5-11 Years Old Without Testing

Susan Berry, PhD

Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech announced Wednesday the Biden Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for their “bivalent” mRNA COVID-19 booster shot for children aged 5-11 years without having completed clinical trials.

“As families across the country take part in fall festivities and plan for the upcoming holiday season, we aim to provide school-aged children with additional protection against the Omicron BA.4/BA.5 subvariants, which continue to account for more than 80% of cases in the U.S.,” said Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla. “Anticipating this need, we manufactured millions of booster doses, which will be made available, pending CDC recommendation, to help families stay up to date with COVID-19 vaccinations.”

Read More

Commentary: The Danchenko Trial Is a Window on the Corrupt Ruling Class

Florida Capital Star Staff

The Igor Danchenko trial, which started this week, has already yielded embarrassing revelations about the “Steele dossier” fiasco. The FBI, it turns out, offered Christopher Steele, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s opposition researcher, $1 million to prove his claims about Trump–Russia collusion. He couldn’t do it. But that didn’t stop the FBI from using his tissue of lies to obtain a search warrant against Carter Page, a hapless Trump campaign volunteer.

Read More

Biden Treasury Department Investigating Ron DeSantis over Migrant Flights

Florida Capital Star Staff

The Biden Administration’s Department of the Treasury recently confirmed to Democratic members of Congress that it is currently investigating Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) over his chartering of aircraft to fly illegal aliens into Martha’s Vineyard.

According to Politico, Deputy Inspector General Richard Delmar sent a letter on October 7th to the congressional delegation of Massachusetts, which consists entirely of Democrats, declaring that it would “get this work underway as soon as possible.” The probe aims to determine whether or not DeSantis used federal COVID-19 funding to pay for the flights.

Read More

Marco Rubio Commentary: The Things Florida Needs to Recover from Hurricane Ian

RealClearWire

A few years ago, while visiting the National Hurricane Center, I asked the staff to describe a worst-case weather scenario for Florida. They described a high-category hurricane stalling off the coast and pummeling the western side of the state with storm surge. In other words, they described Hurricane Ian.

Read More

Saudi Arabia Confirms That Biden Pressured OPEC to Delay Oil Production Cuts Until November

Florida Capital Star Staff

Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry issued a rare statement Wednesday confirming that the Biden administration pressured OPEC+ to delay oil production cuts until November.

The OPEC+ oil cartel, which includes Russia, slashed production by two million barrels per day (bpd) on Oct. 5 prompting the White House to threaten consequences for Saudi Arabia due to the ensuing jump in gas prices. The Saudi Foreign ministry responded on Oct. 12 with a lengthy defense of the decision, resisting pressure amid discussions with the U.S. to delay a decision until November, when it might be too late for the price hike to affect midterm election prospects, according to The Associated Press.

Read More

Michigan’s Prop 3 Allows Children to Obtain Trans Hormones and Surgeries Without Parental Consent

Susan Berry, PhD

Democrat Governor Gretchen Whitmer and her allies at Planned Parenthood have been marketing Michigan’s Proposal (Prop) 3 as an abortion amendment that would codify Roe v. Wade, but the measure would also allow children to obtain “gender affirming” hormones and surgeries without parental consent under the banner of “reproductive care.”

“Michigan is hiding a children’s constitutional right to genital amputation in its abortion amendment,” Margot Cleveland, senior legal correspondent at the Federalist, warned Wednesday.

Read More

Facebook ‘Whistleblower’ Teams Up with Ex-Feds, Left-Wing Billionaire to Police Social Media

Florida Capital Star Staff

Former Facebook employee and whistleblower Frances Haugen is heading a new initiative, featuring a slew of former intelligence officials and bankrolled by a left-wing billionaire, that aims to influence how social media companies moderate speech and content.

Haugen will co-chair the Council for Responsible Social Media, according to a Wednesday press release from Issue One, a non-profit sponsoring the initiative. The council’s members includes Leon Panetta, former CIA Director and secretary of Defense under Barack Obama, Chris Krebs, director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency under Donald Trump, and Bush administration CIA Director Porter Goss; members also include the Biden administration’s former Director for Legislative Affairs at the National Security Council Nicole Tisdale and Obama administration Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel.

Read More