Day: May 22, 2024

Federal Judge Issues Blow to ICE over ‘Knock and Talks’ with Illegal Immigrants

Just the News
ICE Officers

California-based federal judge ruled that the way Immigration and Customs Enforcement executes “knock and talks” – by walking up to the door of a home to speak with an occupant and carry out civil immigration arrests – is unconstitutional.

California Central District Judge Otis D. Wright II, an appointee of President George W. Bush, ruled last week that the practice of entering the area around a home for the purpose of arresting an occupant without a specific warrant or express consent through “knock and talks” violates the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

Read More

Courts Finally Scrutinize COVID Vaccine Mandates as Religious Infringement

Admin
COVID Vaccine Protest

Three years after COVID-19 vaccines became widely available to adults – at which point the CDC already knew they couldn’t stop transmission – courts are finally starting to put their foot down on the most basic legal question: Are mandates at least applied fairly, if not scientifically?

The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals not only knocked down the University of Colorado medical school’s original and revised 2021 mandates for discriminating against employees seeking religious exemptions, but knocked the trial judge for “abuse of discretion” by reversing the burden of proof to moot the case.

Read More

Former GOP Republican Presidential Candidate Buys Activist Stake in Left-Wing Outlet

Connecticut Star Staff
Vivek Ramaswamy

Former Republican presidential candidate and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy purchased an activist stake in BuzzFeed, according to a May Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

Ramaswamy purchased a 7.7% stake consisting of 2.7 million shares between March 14 and May 21 at costs ranging from $1.47 to $2.51 per share, according to the filing. The businessman asserted in the filing that he feels the company’s shares are “undervalued and represent an attractive investment opportunity.”

Read More

Lawmakers Press Investigation into DEI Agenda at the Pentagon

The Center Square
Rep. Glenn Grotham with Rep Jim Banks (composite image)

A coalition of lawmakers is pushing forward the ongoing investigation into just how much taxpayer money Pentagon officials are taking away from national defense and putting toward diversity, equity and inclusivity initiatives.

The Pentagon has been under increasing scrutiny for its focus on DEI, even as the Ukraine-Russia and Israel-Hamas wars continue.

Read More

Federal Scholarship Program Under Fire for Alleged Bias Against Conservatives

The Center Square
College Students

Lawmakers have threatened to revoke the appropriations for a federally-funded scholarship program that an audit found favors liberally leaning students over conservatives by a ratio of 10 to 1.

The Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation was established in the 1970s to award scholarships to students who “demonstrate outstanding potential for and who plan to pursue a career in public service.”

Read More

Northwestern University May Have Broken Federal Law by Failing to Report Crimes During Anti-Israel Protests

Connecticut Star Staff
Northwestern University student protesters

Northwestern University may have violated a federal law by failing to report crimes on campus at least five times during recent anti-Israel protests.

Northwestern appears to have violated a U.S. law called the Clery Act by not taking and publishing police reports from students who say they were assaulted, battered, stolen from, or witnessed crimes committed by anti-Israel protesters on campus. Failure to do so would allow the university to report lower crime numbers and portray a false picture of campus safety.

Read More

Maricopa County and Arizona Sec. of State Censored 2020 Election Audit Hearing, Elected Officials

Just the News

The Arizona secretary of state’s office and Maricopa County worked together to censor information about the state’s 2020 election audit of the county and reported elected officials’ posts to social media companies.

Read More

Commentary: A Corrupt Establishment Demands a Loyalty Oath

Connecticut Star Staff

A memo must have gone out. Because in several prominent newspapers, the same propaganda appeared at nearly the same time.

The Washington Post said, “Top Republicans, led by Trump, refuse to commit to accept 2024 election results.” The New York Times similarly intoned, “Leading Republicans have refused to say flatly that they will accept the outcome of the presidential election if Donald Trump loses.” Rolling Stone chastised a former presidential candidate: “Tim Scott Embraces Trump’s Election Denialism, Won’t Commit to Accept Results.”

Read More

Connecticut Released Illegal Immigrant Convicted of Killing Two Children Despite ICE Detainer

Connecticut Star Staff

Connecticut law enforcement officials released an illegal immigrant convicted of killing two young children in a drunk driving accident, despite a detainer request lodged against him, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

ICE agents apprehended Israel Alejandro Gonzalez-Arcinega, a 40-year-old Mexican national convicted of two counts of manslaughter, illegal operation of a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol and other crimes in Connecticut, the agency announced in a press release on Monday. ICE is blasting local officials in the state for releasing the noncitizen back into the community despite an immigration detainer placed on him.

Read More

Biden Admin Expresses ‘Official Condolences’ for Death of Iranian President Who Was Dubbed the ‘Butcher Of Tehran’

Connecticut Star Staff
Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi

The Biden administration on Monday expressed condolences for the death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi.

Raisi and several Iranian regime officials were killed in a helicopter crash in northern Iran over the weekend. Raisi, known as the “Butcher of Tehran,” oversaw aggressive foreign policies that increased tensions with the West and authoritarian domestic policies to repress and abuse the Iranian population, whom he was deeply unpopular with.

Read More

Commentary: FBI Authorized Use of Deadly Force During Mar-a-Lago Raid

Julie Kelly
Merrick Garland

An exhibit filed today by Donald Trump in a motion to suppress evidence seized during the FBI’s August 2022 raid of Mar-a-Lago revealed shocking new details about the bureau’s plans to use deadly force and even engage the former president and his security detail that day if necessary. The document is just one of many court filings recently ordered unsealed by Judge Aileen Cannon, who is presiding over the matter in southern Florida.

In an August 3, 2022 operations order for “Plasmic Echo,” the FBI’s code name for the government’s investigation into Trump’s alleged mishandling of national defense material, FBI officials furnished instructions on to proceed with the unprecedented raid. “FBI [Washington Field Office] and FBI [Miami] agents and [Evidence Response Team] will effect a search of designated locations within Mar-a-Lago (MAL) to locate and seize classified information, NDI, and US Government records as described in captioned search warrant,” the document read.

Read More

Celebrated Transgender Inmate Charged with Raping Female Months Before Judge Tossed Related Suit

Just the News
U.S. District Judge Jennifer Thurston

Three days after a federal judge dismissed a challenge to a California law that lets inmates with intact male genitalia and hormone levels choose women’s prisons based on gender identity, prosecutors laid out their evidence for rape charges against an incarcerated male transferred under that law, whom the judge also allowed to intervene in defense of SB 132.

U.S. District Judge Jennifer Thurston “clearly didn’t know about this rape case coming through the state court system” going back to March, Executive Director Sharon Byrne of the Women’s Liberation Front, which sponsored the lawsuit by female inmates Janine Chandler, Krystal Gonzalez, Tomiekia Johnson and Nadia Romero, told Just the News on Monday.

Read More

Commentary: Big Tech Wants to Crush Your Entire World and Trap You in Virtual Hell

Connecticut Star Staff
Woman wearing Apple Vision Pro goggles

Apple’s recent ad for a new, thinner iPad featured a hydraulic press smashing everything the new gadget could supposedly replace: paints, musical instruments, a clay bust, arcade cabinets, record players, books.

The new iPad promises a future in which humanity has forgotten the whisper of the brush over the canvas, the vibration of a guitar string, the joy of finding a note tucked into an old used book, and the easy camaraderie of children cheering each other on as they take turns at a challenging arcade game. The craftsmanship that went into these objects is now obsolete. You don’t have to go anywhere, touch anything.

Read More

Music Spotlight: Matt Oakley

Bethany Bowman

Matt Oakley grew up around all kinds of music. His dad was a DJ in the military in Germany.

He recalled, “We always had those little boomboxes going and those old CD players that were like small oval-shaped. We have our home videos. And almost everyone, whether it was on a desk or a kitchen table, or me and my sisters dancing around, we were always around music. And in car rides, when we would go on road trips, we would play music trivia or play the song. The first person to get what the song is and who it’s by gets a point.”

Read More