Day: August 13, 2022

Arizona Republicans Call for FBI, DOJ Accountability

Peter D'Abrosca

Republican members of Arizona’s congressional delegation are calling for accountability after the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) raided former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home Monday. 

“There are good, hardworking people at the Department of Justice and FBI who keep our nation safe and uphold our nation’s laws. Unfortunately, bad actors in these agencies have weaponized the Department of Justice to attack political opponents on the right and have declined to investigate political allies such as Hunter Biden,” Rep. Debbie Lesko (R-AZ-08) told The Arizona Sun Times. “If Republicans win back the Majority in the U.S. House, we will be investigating those who have abused our system of justice for political purposes, and we will hold them accountable to the fullest extent of the law.”

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‘Make My Day,’ Abbott Says to Adams in Response to Threats

The Center Square

The war of words between New York City Mayor Eric Adams and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott escalated this week as buses of foreign nationals who’ve entered the U.S. illegally arrive in Adams’ city. The buses arriving at the Port Authority generally carry between 50 and 100 people. Abbott says that’s compared to the more than 5,000 apprehended a day in the five Border Patrol sectors in Texas at the southern border.

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North Dakota School Board Drops Pledge of Allegiance

Arizona Sun Times Staff

On Tuesday, a school board in North Dakota voted overwhelmingly to abandon the sacred tradition of reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, claiming that the Pledge doesn’t align with the district’s values.

As reported by the New York Post, the Fargo School Board voted 7-2 to cancel the Pledge at all of its future bi-weekly board meetings. Those who voted in favor of the ban claimed that the Pledge of Allegiance wasn’t inclusive enough, primarily due to the use of the phrase “under God.”

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Analysis: 10 Actions to Reduce Energy Prices That Won’t Cost Taxpayers $740 Billion

The Center Square

Rather than impose higher taxes and more restrictions on domestic production of oil and natural gas, as Senate Democrats voted to do by passing the Inflation Reduction Act, those in the industry proposed 10 actions policy makers can take right now to reduce costs. The industry says its solutions won’t cost taxpayers $740 billion, as the Inflation Reduction Act does, or increase the national debt or inflation, as 230 economists have warned the act will do.

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Commentary: Monkeypox Predominantly Affects Gay Men

Arizona Sun Times Staff

Monkeypox has America’s public health establishment in a bit of an awkward spot. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra last Thursday labeled monkeypox a public health emergency. “We’re prepared to take our response to the next level in addressing this virus, and we urge every American to take monkeypox seriously and to take responsibility to help us tackle this virus,” he said. 

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Commentary: Teachers’ Unions Politicized U.S. Schools, Not Parents

Arizona Sun Times Staff

When voters were asked by Pew Research, prior to the 2020 election, what issues were most important to them, education wasn’t even among the top dozen.

But things have changed dramatically since then. Outlets ranging from The Washington Post, to ABC News, have identified education as a potentially significant factor in the 2022 midterms. Additionally, after education emerged as a defining issue in Virginia’s gubernatorial election last year — ranking as a top two or three issue — school choice became a litmus test issue for Republicans.

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West Virginia’s Republican Senator Saves Its Coal Industry

Arizona Sun Times Staff

Republican Sen. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia may be saving her state’s coal industry after the Senate Democrats’ climate bill, backed by Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, threatened to place new regulations on coal.

Manchin’s agreement included a provision that explicitly authorized the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to further regulate coal production under a variety of legal provisions that could have rendered the recent Supreme Court rulings, which stated that Congress must clearly authorize the agency’s actions, irrelevant. However, Capito asserted that the authorization did not comply with budget reconciliation rules on the Senate floor on Sunday, leading the Senate parliamentarian to eliminate the provision, according to a press release.

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Music Spotlight: Donny Van Slee

Bethany Bowman

Donny Van Slee is a Florida boy from the rural town of Weeki Wachee Springs, home of the famous live mermaids. Growing up, Van Slee was shy and his dad bought him a guitar to help him. Later, influenced by the bands he loved – Led Zeppelin and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers – he took lessons, but his main focus in school was soccer.

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Gov. Doug Ducey Issues Executive Order to Fill Gaps in Southern Border Wall

Neil Jones

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey (R) issued an executive order Friday to fill a 1,000-foot gap in the Yuma sector of the southern border wall.

“Arizona has had enough,” Ducey said. “We can’t wait any longer. The Biden administration’s lack of urgency on border security is a dereliction of duty. For the last two years, Arizona has made every attempt to work with Washington to address the crisis on our border. Time and time again we’ve stepped in to clean up their mess. Arizonans can’t wait any longer for the federal government to deliver on their delayed promises.”

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Trump Describes Process of How He Declassified Documents Found at Mar-a-Lago

Arizona Sun Times Staff

Donald Trump’s office told Just the News on Friday that the classified materials the FBI seized from his Mar-a-Lago estate were declassified under a “standing order” while he was president that allowed him to take sensitive materials to the White House residence at night to keep working.

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IRS Job Posting for Criminal Investigation Agent: ‘Be Willing to Use Deadly Force, If Necessary’

Arizona Sun Times Staff

Amid spreading alarm about the Internal Revenue Service stockpiling ammunition and Senate Democrats’ passge on Sunday of a spending bill that would fund the hiring of 87,000 new IRS agents, the tax collection agency is listing a job opening for a Criminal Investigation Special Agent who must must “be willing to use deadly force, if necessary.”

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Kari Lake Says Federal Government Has Turned on People

Peter D'Abrosca

Arizona’s Republican nominee for governor earlier this week said that America’s federal government has turned on its people.

“All I will say is that [the raid on former President Donald Trump’s home] shows that our federal government is corrupt to the core,” Lake said in an interview on Newsmax. “This is the kind of stuff you see in a banana republic. I mean, I think the El Salvador president had a great quote … when he said ‘What would the United States have done if we did this in El Salvador? They probably would have invaded.'”

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