ban | The Arizona Sun Times

State Representative Applauds New Executive Order Banning TikTok on Arizona Agency Devices

April 7, 2023April 6, 2023 Neil Jones

Arizona State Representative Matt Gress (R-Phoenix) released a statement Thursday praising the newest Executive Order from Gov. Katie Hobbs (D) banning the social media app TikTok on state agency devices. Gress has a bill moving through the Legislature to achieve a similar result.

“I applaud the Governor for taking action to address the security and data collection threats posed by TikTok and similar apps. The Legislature still needs to act, and the Governor should sign HB 2416, a comprehensive plan to keep the state’s critical information secure and strengthen public safety. It would expand on the Governor’s order, codifying it permanently into state law, and apply to all government entities, employees, and contractors,” Gress said.

Arizona State Representative Introduces Legislation to Prohibit TikTok from Devices Used by the State

February 15, 2023February 14, 2023 Neil Jones

State Representative Matt Gress (R-Phoenix) is introducing an amendment at the Wednesday House Governance Committee meeting dubbed the “No TikTok on Arizona Government Devices Act.”

“When I was sworn into office, I took an oath to defend my constituents and all Arizonans from enemies both foreign and domestic,” said Gress. “This legislation fulfills this promise as the security risks associated with the use of TikTok – an application owned and operated by the Chinese Communist Party with the capabilities of gathering crucial details about personal, private internet activity – can’t be ignored.”

Arizona Legislature Passes 15-Week Abortion Ban

March 27, 2022March 26, 2022 Arizona Sun Times Staff

On Thursday, the Arizona State Legislature passed a bill that would ban all abortions after 15 weeks.

ABC News reports that the Arizona House of Representatives voted along party lines to approve the bill, which is similar to a law already passed in Mississippi that has sparked perhaps the most influential Supreme Court case on abortion since 1973’s Roe v. Wade. Having already passed the State Senate, the bill now goes to the desk of Governor Doug Ducey (R-Ariz.), who is expected to sign it.

Commentary: Five Facts on the Russian Oil Import Ban

March 14, 2022 RealClearWire

1. Oil and gas proceeds fund more than one-third of the entire Russian federal budget.

Russia produces 12% of the world’s oil. Its economy is strongly dependent on its publicly owned oil and gas sector — which employs about 2.5 million people, and generates an average of $191 million in revenue every day for the Kremlin.

Law Journal Bans ‘Hurtful’ Questioning of Systemic Racism, Prompting Exodus of Contributors

January 11, 2022January 10, 2022 Arizona Sun Times Staff

Emory University’s student-led law review is facing a revolt by contributors for demanding that one drop “insensitive language” from a “hurtful and unnecessarily divisive” critique of the concept of systemic racism.

Two contributors confirmed to Just the News they withdrew their essays from a forthcoming “festschrift” issue honoring the work of Emory’s Michael Perry, in protest of Emory Law Journal’s attempt to censor an essay by the University of San Diego’s Larry Alexander.

Alexander told Just the News that he, USD’s Steve Smith and Northwestern’s Andrew Koppelman are now publishing their essays in the Journal of Contemporary Legal Issues, which he edits.

Oregon School Board Bans Educators from Displaying BLM and Gay Pride Symbols

September 26, 2021September 25, 2021 Arizona Sun Times Staff

A school board in Oregon is receiving backlash following its recent ban on educators displaying Black Lives Matter signs and gay pride symbols.

Newberg, which is situated just outside of Portland, now finds itself the site of the latest skirmish in a pitched struggle between traditional and woke approaches to education being waged in school systems across the country.

North Carolina Senate Votes to Ban Critical Race Theory Concepts in Schools

August 30, 2021August 29, 2021 Arizona Sun Times Staff

The North Carolina Senate has approved legislation that prohibits K-12 schools from promoting more than a dozen concepts about racism and discrimination.

The legislation bans school districts from pushing critical race theory, which is centered around the idea that race is a social construct used to oppress people of color. The theory, developed by legal scholars in the late 1970s and 1980s, concludes racism in America is systemic.

Fifth Circuit Upholds Texas Abortion Ban

August 25, 2021August 24, 2021 The Center Square

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a 2017 Texas law outlawing a second trimester abortion procedure called D&E (dilation and evacuation), or dismemberment.

In 2017, the Texas legislature passed the Texas Dismemberment Abortion Ban with bipartisan support, making D&Es a felony and banning them from being performed except in the case of an emergency. After the law passed and before it went into effect, Whole Women’s Health, several Planned Parenthood groups, several doctors, and others, sued in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas.

The district court ruled in their favor, blocking the law from going into effect. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office appealed, and a three-judge panel on the Fifth Circuit upheld the lower court’s ruling last October.

Twitter Bans Official Arizona Audit Account and Other Audit Accounts

July 29, 2021July 28, 2021 Rachel Alexander

Twitter permanently suspended the account of the official account of the Arizona Legislature’s audit of Maricopa County ballots, along with several other audit accounts on Tuesday. The official account, @ArizonaAudit, is offline, with a message stating it is suspended, as is a second account that appears affiliated with the audit, @AuditWarRoom.

Four more accounts associated with audits taking place in Wisconsin, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Georgia were suspended, along with some accounts that were fundraising for the audit. One was run by One America News Network’s Christina Bobb. Voices & Votes raised $150,000 for the audit. Bobb tweeted, “They are blocking the release of audit information on Twitter.”

Utah Legislature Passes Resolution to Ban Critical Race Theory from Schools

May 25, 2021May 24, 2021 Arizona Sun Times Staff

Republicans in Utah’s state legislature passed a resolution on Wednesday to instruct the state’s schools to ban Critical Race Theory from their curriculum, as reported by Breitbart.

During the vote in the Utah House of Representatives, every single Democrat walked off the floor in protest of the bill, thus allowing the legislation to pass with only Republican votes. The “House Resolution on Critical Race Theory in Public Education” was subsequently passed by the Utah Senate. Because the measure is a resolution rather than a bill, it did not need the signature of Governor Spencer Cox (R-Utah) in order to pass.

House Speaker Brad Wilson (R-Utah) said that with the resolution, the state legislature was “calling on the state school board to look at the curriculum and determine what the right parameters for this discussion to happen.”

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