February 8, 2023 - The Florida Capital Star

Biden’s State of Union Message Gets Counter-Programmed by His Own Administration and Policies

February 8, 2023 Just the News

It’s a time-honored tradition in Washington for a president to deliver his State of the Union address and frame his successes and policy vision before allowing the opposition party to offer its rebuttal. But Joe Biden upended the tradition, somehow delivering the counter-programming to his own message Tuesday with a series of negative headlines generated by his own administration. In the hours before Biden spoke from the U.S. Capitol, his administration announced the nation had suffered its worst trade deficit in history last year at nearly $1 trillion. Shortly thereafter, his Fed chairman warned inflation was not abating as expected and would be sticking around longer because of a tight labor market that produced an unexpected 500,000-plus jobs in January.

New Poll Shows Overwhelming Disapproval of Biden’s Handling of Spy Balloon Affair

February 8, 2023 M.D. Kittle

While he made time to attack Republicans during Tuesday’s State of the Union address, President Joe Biden failed to note his handling of the Chinese spy balloon affair. A new poll might just explain why the Democrat avoided the topic.

Black Lives Matter at School ‘Week of Action’ Gives Leftist Teachers Free Rein to Push Social Justice Activism in K-12 Schools

February 8, 2023 Susan Berry, PhD

Radical Marxist teachers are celebrating Black Lives Matter at School’s (BLM at School) “Week of Action” February 6-10 in thousands of K-12 government schools. The national BLM at School movement spends the first week of February – named as Black History Month – “organizing for racial justice in education,” its website touts.

Border Patrol Presentation Reveals Plan to Release Illegal Crossers En Masse into U.S. Communities

February 8, 2023February 7, 2023 The Center Square

Roughly six weeks before testifying Tuesday before the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, Chief Border Patrol Agent Gloria Chavez held a meeting with local law enforcement in Weslaco, Texas, describing the administration’s plan to release en masse illegal foreign nationals into the U.S. when Title 42 ended.

The Biden administration sought to end Title 42, the public health authority first implemented under the Trump administration during the height of the pandemic, but Texas sued and in December a federal court prevented the administration from ending it.

U.S. Notches Record Trade Deficit in 2022

February 8, 2023 Florida Capital Star Staff

The U.S. trade deficit increased to its highest recorded level in 2022, thanks in part to a surging trade deficit with China.

The U.S. registered a roughly $948.1 billion goods and services deficit for the year, including a $382.9 billion goods deficit to China, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) revealed Tuesday. This 12.2% surge over 2021 marks an all-time U.S. trade deficit record, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Biden Calls for Unity to Tackle Nation’s Issues in State of the Union

February 8, 2023 Just the News

President Joe Biden, during his State of the Union address on Tuesday, called for unity, pointing to the bipartisan successes of the past Congress.

Tennessee Veterinary School Puts Emphasis on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Watchdog Finds

February 8, 2023 Florida Capital Star Staff

A Tennessee veterinary school engaged in programs to bolster commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), according to medical watchdog group Do No Harm.

Faculty at Lincoln Memorial University- Richard A. Gillespie College of Veterinary Medicine (LMU CVM) attended a January workshop titled “Inclusivity” to learn about incorporating diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging (DEIB) in the workplace, according to a tip sent to Do No Harm. Its masters program partnered BLEND, a certification program, to train veterinarians in DEIB.

$20 Million Raised for Florida Marijuana Legalization Initiative Targeting 2024 Ballot

February 8, 2023February 7, 2023 The Center Square

In Florida, a campaign supporting a ballot initiative to legalize marijuana, Smart and Safe Florida, has raised $20 million. Funding is from Trulieve Cannabis Corp., a marijuana business that operates in several states, including Florida. The campaign is collecting signatures to place the initiative on the ballot for Nov. 5, 2024.

The initiative would legalize marijuana for adults 21 years old and older. Individuals would be allowed to possess up to three ounces of marijuana (about 85 grams), with up to five grams in the form of concentrate. Existing Medical Marijuana Treatment Centers would be authorized under the initiative to sell marijuana to adults for personal use. The Florida State Legislature could provide by state law for the licensure of entities other than existing Medical Marijuana Treatment Centers to cultivate and sell marijuana products.

Commentary: DeSantis, Inc. Underestimates Donald Trump

February 8, 2023 Florida Capital Star Staff

The 2024 Republican presidential primary has hardly begun, but a consensus has already formed in conservative media that Donald Trump is toxic and unelectable. This narrative, commonplace but seldom challenged, is being pushed aggressively by pundits who are obviously partial to Florida governor Ron DeSantis. Many of these personalities insist that Trump has an obligation to step aside, and they pretend that Trump is attacking DeSantis unprovoked, despite the governor’s obvious intentions to run.

Georgia Rep. Greene Seeks Probe on Why Trump Not Told About Previous Spy Balloons

February 8, 2023 Just the News

Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene on Monday called for an investigation into former President Donald Trump’s ignorance of prior aerial incursions by Chinese spy balloons that the Biden administration alleges occurred during his time in office.

Greene indicated that the president would have likely been aware of such events had they transpired and suggested his professed ignorance of such balloon activities may indicate that the Pentagon withheld security information from the commander-in-chief.

Fake Meat Industry Implodes After Years of Hype

February 8, 2023 Florida Capital Star Staff

The meat substitute market is collapsing after its meteoric rise, with key players in the industry facing massive layoffs and plummeting sales.

Fake meat products like Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods, which advertise themselves as healthy and environmentally friendly alternatives to meat, soared to national popularity in 2019 when they began selling their products with massive fast food chains. Impossible Foods was moving toward laying off 20% of its staff in late January just months after its competitor, Beyond Meat, announced plans to cut a fifth of its own workforce, according to Bloomberg.

Commentary: Missing Documents and Files in Ongoing January 6 Cover-Ups

February 8, 2023 Florida Capital Star Staff

The public is gradually learning how, despite repeated denials and non-answers, top government officials were well aware of the potential for violence on January 6, 2021.

A chief investigator on the January 6 select committee told NBC News last week that law enforcement was privy to a trove of intelligence indicating problems could arise during the election certification process but, for some unexplained reason, chose to ignore the warning signs. “The Intel in advance was pretty specific, and it was enough in our view for law enforcement to have done a better job operationalizing a secure perimeter.” Tim Heaphy told NBC News reporter Ken Dilanian. “Law enforcement had a very direct role in contributing to surely the failures—the security failures that led to the violence.”

US Tech Giants Funding China’s Race to Supremacy in AI

February 8, 2023 Just the News

A recently leaked memo from Gen. Mike Minihan, the head of the U.S. Air Mobility Command (AMC), suggested that, within the next two years, the U.S. would be at war with China over Taiwan.

“I hope I am wrong,” wrote the four-star general, before adding that his gut feeling is that “we will fight in 2025.” The leaked memo comes at a time when, according to a recent article in The Economist, tensions between the U.S. and China are at an all-time high — a conclusion amply reinforced by recent headlines about the test of wills between the two nations over a Chinese spy balloon the Pentagon believes was overflying sensitive U.S. military sites.

Fatherless Children, Dangerous Cities: Numbers Confirm Deep Roots of Urban Crime Epidemic

February 8, 2023 Just the News

As Just the News recently reported, the U.S. is now home to 11 of the top 50 most dangerous cities in the world. All 11, as the piece noted, are governed by Democratic mayors. All 11 also have Democratic district attorneys.

Permissive criminal justice policies are widely thought to be large factors driving such grim statistics. Dig a little deeper, however, and an even more important cause of the crime epidemic plaguing blue cities comes into sharp focus: Many of these cities are also home to a staggering percentage of single-parent households, the great majority of which are headed by single mothers.