AG Merrick Garland Faces Republicans on Senate Judiciary Committee Over Weaponization of DOJ Against Parents, Catholics, and Pro-Life Activists

Biden Attorney General Merrick Garland is expected to face tough questions from Republican senators Wednesday regarding what many in the nation say has been the purposeful weaponization of the Department of Justice against parents of schoolchildren, Catholics who live their faith in the public square, and activists who fight for the vulnerable unborn.

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Democrats Request Independent Audit of Ohio Voter Database ‘Purges’

Ohio House Democrats are requesting an independent audit of the recent update to the state’s voter registration database, which they claim initially disqualified 16,000 individuals from casting ballots.

State Representatives Juanita Brent (D-Cleveland) and Bride Rose Sweeney (D-Westlake) criticized the state’s voter “purges” in a letter to Secretary of State Frank LaRose and demanded transparency.

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Columbus City Council Tightens Gun Control on Gun Owners

The Columbus City Council approved legislation on Monday giving owners of gun magazines with 30 rounds or more until July 1st to move them out of the city, sell them to a licensed arms dealer outside of Columbus, or turn them over to the city Division of Police.

Although new legislation, Monday’s ordinance amends the gun control legislation passed by City Council on December 5th despite a judge’s order to cease any such action.

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The Wellness Company Pledges Free Medical Care for Victims of East Palestine Train Derailment

A new virtual healthcare system that embraces both medical freedom and affordable services has announced its pledge to provide free medical care for the victims of the East Palestine, Ohio train derailment.

“It is clear at this point that the government is absolutely unwilling or unable to assist the men, women, and children of East Palestine, Ohio” said Foster Coulson, founder and chairman of The Wellness Company (TWC), in a press statement Monday.

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GOP Rep Introduces Legislation to Make China Pay for America’s COVID Costs

Republican Florida Rep. Brian Mast introduced legislation to hold the Chinese Communist Party accountable for the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a copy of the bill obtained exclusively by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

The bill seeks to allow the U.S. government to withhold debt payments to China equal to the cost incurred by the U.S. in response to the pandemic. The bill’s introduction comes days after the Department of Energy (DOE) found that the virus likely originated from a lab leak in China.

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Ohio Senators Ask Federal Agencies to Monitor Health of East Palestine Residents over Long Term

U.S. Senators J.D. Vance (R-OH) and Sherrod Brown (D-OH) this week sent a letter to heads of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention  (CDC) urging long-term health monitoring of East Palestine, Ohio residents. 

Vance and Brown asked EPA Administrator Michael Regan and CDC Director Rochelle Walensky to guarantee baseline medical testing for those living near the site of the February 3 train derailment. The rail company Norfolk Southern followed the incident with what the company termed a “controlled burn” of five cars containing vinyl chloride. 

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Supreme Court Justices Raise Concerns About Biden’s Ability to Forgive Student Debt

 The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments Tuesday in a legal challenge to President Joe Biden’s plan to cancel hundreds of billions of dollars in student loan debt.

Biden announced in August of last year that his administration would “forgive” $10,000 in federal student loan debt for those making less than $125,000 per year or $250,000 for married couples. Debtors who borrowed money before July 1 can qualify. 

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Army Secretary Predicts China Will Attack U.S. Homeland If ‘Major War’ Breaks Out

U.S. Army Secretary Christine Wormuth predicted that if China got into a “major war” with the U.S. the Communist-led country would attack the American homeland.

“The United States homeland would be at risk as well with both kinetic attacks and non-kinetic attacks – whether it’s cyberattacks on the power grid or on pipelines,” Wormuth said Monday at the American Enterprise Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank.

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Ohio Coalition Seeks to End Qualified Immunity for Government Employees

A group of Ohioans wants to try again to change the state’s Constitution to permit lawsuits against government employees.

By placing the proposed amendment on the general election ballot for 2024, the Ohio Coalition to Eliminate Qualified Immunity (OCEQI) aims to close what it refers to as a legal loophole – qualified immunity. Similar measures have been rejected twice before for various reasons.

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‘I Don’t Believe in Popes’: Nicaraguan President Reportedly Bans Easter Public Processions

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega reportedly banned public church processions for Easter after comparing the Catholic church to the “mafia,” according to the Catholic News Agency (CNA).

Tensions between the government and the church have been rising due to Ortega orchestrating multiple investigations into church leaders and exiling others, according to CNA. Ortega has reportedly placed a ban on public religious demonstrations during Lent, Good Friday and Easter after he attacked the church during a speech memorializing the 89th anniversary of Nicaraguan national hero Augusto Sandino’s death, calling the Catholic church a “mafia organization” committing “grave crimes and horrors.”

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East Palestine Area Residents Living Under Cloud of Uncertainty Since Train Derailment

Don Hauenstein is a Purple Heart Vietnam Veteran who spent a dozen years in the U.S. Marine Corps. He told The Ohio Star he’s never seen anything like the cloud of hazardous materials that hit his hometown nearly a month ago after a Norfolk Southern train carrying hazardous chemicals derailed. 

Worse, the retired East Palestine, Ohio, resident said he and many of his fellow community members believe their government isn’t telling the truth about the dangers that exist.

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Commentary: The World Bank Takes a Wrong Turn

President Biden’s nomination of Ajay Banga, the former CEO of Mastercard, to succeed David Malpass as World Bank president suggests that the Biden administration is prioritizing climate change over the World Bank’s founding mission of poverty eradication and economic development. This was made clear in the president’s statement singling out climate change as the most urgent challenge of our time. 

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U.S. Household Debt Rises Sharply

Household debt across the country is sharply on the rise, with U.S. households now collectively on the hook for about $17 trillion in total. The average family holds about $142,680 in debt, according to a new WalletHub report.

All told, the personal finance website concludes that 2022 ended with Americans roughly $320 billion more in total debt than they were at the start of the year. During the fourth quarter alone, consumers added at least $398 million in new debt, the fourth highest build-up for a fourth quarter over the past two decades and more than four times larger than Q4 2021.

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Supreme Court to Decide Fate of Controversial Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

The Supreme Court announced Monday it would take up a case challenging the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) funding mechanism on constitutional grounds.

On Oct. 19, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit ruled that funding the CFPB through the Federal Reserve violates the Constitution’s Appropriations Clause, which gives Congress the “power of the purse” in appropriating government funds. The CFPB filed a petition for a writ of certiorari on Nov. 14, 2022, which the Supreme Court granted Monday morning.

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U.S. Weapons Aid for Ukraine Could Extend Years Beyond the War, Top Pentagon Official Says

The Biden administration plans to provide lethal assistance to Ukraine for years after the war to end Russia’s invasion reaches a conclusion, the Pentagon’s top official for policy and planning testified before Congress Tuesday.

The U.S. has provided more than $30 billion worth of weapons and equipment since the war in Ukraine began one year ago, including millions of artillery rounds and high-end equipment that requires years to produce and months during which to train Ukrainian troops. Regardless of how the war ends, the U.S. will need to continue providing Kyiv with weapons and military support for years to discourage Russia from making a subsequent attempt at conquering Kyiv, Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Dr. Colin Kahl told the House Armed Services Committee at a hearing Tuesday.

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Commentary: Making Fast Food Faster Is a Big Mistake

Just when it seemed things were returning to normal, some habits changed for the worse. The instability of COVID times took countless people out of contact with the outside world. Things became more informal, faster, and less social.

One area of change was the fast-food franchises. People embraced no-touch food service during COVID. Now, the instant-meal world is working hard to keep up the momentum by making fast food faster and less social. The idea is to minimize personal contact and maximize profits.

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Federal Agencies Must Ban Chinese-Owned TikTok, White House Memo Says

Government agencies have less than a month to ban the popular Chinese-owned app TikTok from federal devices, according to an Office of Management and Budget memorandum issued Monday.

OMB Director Shalanda Young issued the memorandum for executive departments and agency heads about implementation guidance for banning TikTok on government-issued devices, Reuters first reported.

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Biden Administration Reverses Course on Efforts to Regulate U.S. Investments in China

The Biden Administration is planning to scale back planned regulations that would have cracked down on American investments in China, even despite rising tensions between the two nations.

According to Politico, at least five anonymous sources “with knowledge of the White House discussions” said that Biden will not sign the executive order as originally planned; instead of outright restricting such investments, the new order will instead simply attempt to increase the transparency of such deals.

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