Day: November 27, 2023

Biden Energy Department Ill-Prepared to Combat Fraud as it Spends Billions on Infrastructure

Just the News

The U.S. Energy Department faces major management challenges ranging from hacking vulnerabilities to foreign espionage and could create “massive new risks to the taxpayer” as it spends tens of billions of dollars in new spending from President Joe Biden’s signature infrastructure initiative, the agency’s internal watchdog warns.

The Office of Inspector General offered a stark assessment of the department under Secretary Jennifer Granholm, pointedly warning losses from fraud in the current infrastructure spending could mirror that seen during the COVID pandemic, where taxpayers now lost an estimated $200 billion government wide.

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Treasury Fines Binance $3.4 Billion for Failure to Report Suspicious Activity by Terrorists

The Center Square

The U.S. Department of Treasury on Tuesday levied a $3.4 billion fine against Binance Holdings, Ltd. in a settlement with the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange for failure to prevent and report suspicious transactions with terrorist organizations.

Binance was accused by the Treasury of failing to implement programs to prevent and report suspicious transactions involving terrorist groups such as Hamas’ Al-Qassam Brigades, Al Qaeda and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

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Analysis: States Are Gearing Up for a School Choice Showdown in 2024

Connecticut Star Staff

School choice is going to be a hot-button issue next year as several states are set to propose legislation expanding education options, while others are gearing up to defend against lawsuits claiming voucher programs are unconstitutional and an “existential threat” to public schools.

School choice advocates passed legislation in Nebraska, Florida, Ohio and other states in 2023, with a major victory in Oklahoma as well after the Statewide Virtual Charter School Board approved an application for a Catholic online school in June, the first religious charter school in the country. Several states are looking to follow their lead in 2024 and expand education options for parents, while others have become the target of lawsuits by public education advocates, who argue that voucher programs are unconstitutional.

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28 States Didn’t Have Enough Money to Cover Their Bills in Fiscal 2022: Report

The Center Square

In fiscal 2022, 28 states didn’t have enough revenue to pay all of their bills, according to the 14th annual Financial State of the States report, published by the Chicago-based nonprofit Truth in Accounting.

The report provides a comprehensive analysis of the fiscal health of all 50 states based on the latest available data from states’ fiscal year 2022 annual comprehensive financial reports.

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Commentary: The ‘Complexity’ of Idiocy

Connecticut Star Staff

Often, yours truly has expounded (okay, ranted) upon the term “narrative,” which is just an artful euphemism for “lie.” A device drawn from fiction, as opposed to non-fiction, it facilitates lying by eliding the need for providing the facts and proving the truth of one’s assertions. Consequently, it is a boon to propagandists, who can harp on a “narrative” ad nauseum to provoke and persuade the public to do as the purveyor of the lie seeks.

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Blue State Residents Are Paying Much More for Energy than Red States, New Report Shows

Connecticut Star Staff

Residents of blue states with aggressive climate policies are paying significantly more for electricity and fuel than red states, according to a new report by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).

California, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Vermont, New York and New Jersey are seven of the top eight continental states in terms of highest average retail electricity prices in 2023, according to ALEC’s report. Each of these states have some sort of green energy mandate, which the ALEC report refers to as a Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS), or participates in a greenhouse gas cap-and-trade program, or both.

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Dem Presidential Candidate Dean Phillips: ‘It’s Delusional’ to Think Biden Can Beat Trump

Connecticut Star Staff

Democratic Rep. Dean Phillips of Minnesota said in a tweet Saturday that claims that President Joe Biden could defeat former President Donald Trump were “delusional.”

Phillips cited Biden’s declining poll numbers, sharing a report by Politico in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, Saturday morning. Trump led Biden in polls by NBC News, Quinnipiac, Fox News and Morning Consult.

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Commentary: Mitt Romney and Joe Manchin Are Wrong About Ranked-Choice Voting

Connecticut Star Staff

U.S. Sens. Joe Manchin and Mitt Romney recently praised Ranked-Choice Voting (RCV), lauding it respectively as “mesmerizing…we should do it” and “a superior way to proceed.” But the two lawmakers are wrong.

Their statements might ring true if they understood they are endorsing a system that encourages fringe candidates and skews election outcomes.

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Millions of Americans’ Phone Records Secretly Surveilled by Shadowy ‘Data Analytical Services’ Program: Report

Just the News
Man using a cell phone

Millions of Americans who use AT&T’s phone network are having their phone calls monitored by a surveillance program called Data Analytical Services (DAS), which has had coordination with federal and local law enforcement agencies.

According to a document obtained by WIRED, DAS has been secretly collecting and analyzing over one trillion domestic phone records within the U.S. each year.

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