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    Supreme Court Discrimination Ruling Undermines Corporate Wokeness

    By
    Paul Crespo
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    2
    Duncan Lock, Dflock, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

    ANALYSIS – BOOM! – The landmark Supreme Court decision against racial and sex discrimination by schools and universities (under the guise of ‘affirmative action’) will also impact corporate ‘diversity’ programs based on the same flawed, discriminatory ideas. 

    In what has become a major legal development in a growing wave of anti-wokeness, corporations will soon have to reconsider all their – likely illegal – Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) efforts. 

    While pushed by the increasingly leftist establishment, most of these woke programs have been illegal under U.S. state and federal laws, which explicitly prohibit discrimination by race and gender. But until now the courts let them get away with it.

    Now the Supreme Court has made it official. Affirmative action (aka – discriminatory ‘diversity’ efforts) are out.

    The court held by that Harvard and University of North Carolina’s (UNC’s) admissions programs violate the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

    Students for Fair Admissions, a conservative group, sued Harvard and UNC over their ‘race-conscious’ admissions programs, arguing they intentionally discriminated against Asian American applicants.

    In the decision, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote: “Both programs lack sufficiently focused and measurable objectives warranting the use of race, unavoidably employ race in a negative manner, involve racial stereotyping, and lack meaningful end points.”

    He added:  “We have never permitted admissions programs to work in that way, and we will not do so today.”

    Previously, the Supreme Court in the 2003 case of Grutter v. Bollinger, ruled that “the use of an applicant’s race as one factor in an admissions policy of a public educational institution does not violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment if the policy is narrowly tailored to the compelling interest of promoting a diverse student body.”

    This was intended to be a very narrow exception, but soon became far more. And this helped woke corporate America justify its own discriminatory DEI programs.

    A 2022 Harvard Business Review 2022 survey, reported by The Epoch Times, showed that more than 60 percent of U.S. companies had a DEI program, which separates employees according to race and gender. 

    After the 2020 Black Lives Matter (BLM) riots, major corporations announced explicit race-based hiring and promotion policies.

    But now that the 2003 decision has been superseded, they will all need to revisit the legality of their DEI programs. As Kevin Stocklin explains in The Epoch Times: 

    In an amicus brief regarding the Harvard and UNC case, the Hamilton Lincoln Law Institute and attorney Ilya Shapiro argued that “what this Court authorized in Grutter as a temporary, grudging exception to America’s ideals and generally applicable law of Equal Protection … has metastasized into a threat blooming across the legal landscape, the economy, and society as a whole.”

    The exceptions granted by the Grutter case were narrowly tailored to government-funded universities’ admissions policies, and were intended to be a temporary remedy that would include “sunset” provisions. But corporations have applied them as a precedent to race-based policies on staffing and training, and expanded them to include new racial goals.

    “To the extent that corporate America has thought that Grutter provided some kind of fig leaf to the illegal discrimination they’ve been engaging in for the last two decades, this would be a really good time for them to rethink that,” Morenoff said. “It never made sense for corporate America to argue that there was a diversity rationale exception to our civil rights laws,” he said.

    However, if the Supreme Court decision reverses Grutter or the Johnson executive order, even that questionable pretense would be gone. Rather than standing on thin ice, Morenoff said, “they’re standing on no ice at all.”

    This is the next battleground – using this Supreme Court precedent to eliminate discrimination by sex and race from corporate America.

    Opinions expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of Great America News Desk.

    IRS Whistleblower Testimony Could Derail Hunter Biden Plea Deal

    By
    Donny Ferguson
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    4
    President Joe Biden hugs his family during the 59th Presidential Inauguration ceremony in Washington, Jan. 20, 2021. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris took the oath of office on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol. (DOD Photo by Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Carlos M. Vazquez II)

    Stating that judges must take all testimony into account before deciding to accept a plea deal, one congressional leader is calling on U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland to release testimony from two Internal Revenue Service whistleblowers alleging President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden was given preferential treatment by the agency and is being protected from the true consequences of his crimes.

    Biden has pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor tax charges, as well as federal firearms charges, as part of a deal with federal prosecutors.  He awaits a July 26 plea hearing.

    But U.S. House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (R-MO) is now calling on U Garland and U.S. Attorney for the District of Delaware David Weiss to submit to court allegations from Gary Shapley, previously the supervisor of the investigation at the IRS, and a second anonymous whistleblower alleging that investigators were pressured to go easy on Biden, ignore some crimes.

    “Over the course of a single week in June, the existence of a plea agreement in this matter became public, a plea hearing was scheduled, and the Committee submitted whistleblower testimony to the full House,” said Smith in a letter to Garland and Weiss.

    “Given the abruptness of the plea agreement announcement shortly after it became public that whistleblowers made disclosures to Congress, the seriousness of the whistleblower allegations, and the fact that multiple congressional investigations into the matter are ongoing, we ask that you file this letter and the attached information in the docket…,” said Smith.

    “Placing the attached materials into the record is critical because the testimony provided by the two IRS whistleblowers brings new and compelling facts to light, and because it is essential for the Judge in this matter to have relevant information before her when evaluating the plea agreement,” wrote Smith.

    “In his letter, Smith also highlights precedent where judges have rejected plea agreements for a variety of reasons, including situations where the judge finds that such deals were inadequate or deficient given the crimes committed or the motivation of the accused, or the plea deal was not in the best interest of the country,” a statement from the Committee reads.

    Smith points out that plea agreements can be thrown out if it can be shown the plea agreement was reached improperly.

    “In one state court proceeding, a judge rejected a plea agreement because ‘[i]t is contrary to justice. Justice in this society cannot be seen as being able to buy oneself out of a felony conviction.’ The Judge also went on to say, ‘[m]any in our community steal much less and go to prison or to jail…They steal much less and they don’t get a deferred judgment because they don’t have any money,’” wrote Smith.

    Opinions expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of Great America News Desk.

    Biden’s Disgraced ‘Non-Binary’ Nuke Official Led Anti-Christian Hate Group

    By
    Paul Crespo
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    0

    ANALYSIS – Yes, all this transgender stuff is related. First, we have the Los Angeles Dodgers inviting, disinviting, and then re-inviting, the drag-queen, anti-Christian hate group ‘Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence’ (SPI) – to be honored at their June opening game. 

    The Dodgers and Major League Baseball (MLB) caved to the intense pressure to re-invite them by far-left Democrat groups. 

    Second, we have Sam Brinton, a cross-dressing, self-identified “nonbinary” man, with an open bondage ‘pup play,’ fetish, who I have also written about here, here, and here, due to his numerous arrests for airport luggage and designer women’s clothes theft. 

    Brinton served as Joe Biden’s Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Office of Spent Fuel and Waste Disposition before his first couple of arrests made him resign from his sensitive position last year. 

    But this is where it all gets even weirder. Or maybe expected.

    The flamboyant group of gay men who dress garishly as caricatures of Catholic nuns, regularly mocks and ridicules Catholics, and Christianity in general. 

    They often perform lewd semi-nude pornographic shows displaying their anti-Christian hate.

    This includes pole-dancing on a cross with a man on it representing a crucified Jesus. The group’s mission is to attack Christianity and Christians. It has very little to do with LGBT ‘Pride.’

    Yet, the ‘City of Angels’ baseball team will now present this ‘demonic’ hate group with a “Community Hero Award” for LGBT ‘Pride’ month.

    This has created a firestorm of protest. You can go to my earlier article to see how you can show your outrage. 

    Meanwhile, Team Biden initially hailed the pick of Brinton for the sensitive nuke position as a pioneering move for ‘nonbinary gender-fluid’ people (i.e., totally made up, nonexistent, genders).

    Sadly, in this case, ‘gender fluid’ also meant liking to steal women’s clothing.

    Brinton was recently arrested as a fugitive from justice in Maryland following similar larceny in Minneapolis and Las Vegas. A lawyer for a Tanzanian fashion designer said the theft dated back to 2018 and was related to his client’s baggage that contained custom designs.

    But what makes it all come together in an even more concerning manner, is that Brinton was also apparently a leader of the D.C. chapter of the ‘Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.’ He used the nuclear-themed name ‘Sister Ray Dee O’Active.’ 

    This, according to tax filings reviewed by Fox News.

    National Review reports:

    As the head of the D.C. Sisters, Brinton reportedly organized various events, including drag brunches, White House protests, and even a “high heel race.” He was also present at a San Francisco Easter gathering of the Sisters in 2019. As described in a Mission Local report, the event included children among the attendees, raising questions about the appropriateness of exposing them to the group’s provocative activities.

    In 2015 Brinton also wrote an op-ed that defended a ‘Rent boy’ website after it was shut down by federal agents. ‘Rent boy’ refers to young boys who are paired up with older men for sexual services, so the website essentially trafficked young, vulnerable boys as escorts.

    So, yes, this cabal of bizarre, Christian-hating, transgender sexual fetishists who have Easter-themed drag shows for children, and are ok trafficking young boys for sex, are apparently a growing force in Democrat politics now. 

    One big remaining question is – how did this guy pass a background security check?

    Fox News contributor Joe Concha and host Rachel Campos Duffy each asked on a recent show how being the leader of the ‘Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence’ DC chapter could have been ‘overlooked’ when Brinton underwent a background check for the sensitive, and fairly high level, nuclear-waste job.

    Being part of an extremist hate group and being a borderline sex trafficker should disqualify you from a clearance. 

    But apparently under Team Biden only traditional Catholics are considered extremists. Catholic-hating cross-dressers and pedophiles are just fine.

    Opinions expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of Great America News Desk.

    Trump Vows Largest Deportation of Illegal Aliens in American History

    By
    Paul Crespo
    -
    7

    ANALYSIS – HALLELUJAH! – As Joe Biden’s radical open door border policies allow tens of thousands of illegal migrants to flood into the country weekly, former president Donald Trump is vowing to deport many, if not most of them.

    And that is one of the best things I have heard from Trump recently. This is the only way to reverse the massive foreign illegal invasion Biden has created.

    While other GOP presidential candidates have talked tough on the border, so far only Trump has promised massive deportations.

    There should always be exceptions, but in my estimation, most who have come here illegally under Biden must go.

    Trump’s comments come as the numbers of illegal aliens are again skyrocketing at the border. In the past five days alone, there have been over 45,000 migrant encounters both at the ports of entry and between them, including multiple days of over 8,000 illegal immigrant encounters.

    There were reportedly around 230,000 migrant encounters in August, though the Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) have not provided official figures yet.

    This is unprecedented.

    Blasting Biden for the “nation-wrecking catastrophe on our southern border,” during a speech in Dubuque, Iowa Wednesday evening, Trump promised that, if elected, he would carry out “the largest domestic deportation operation in American history.”

    “Following the Eisenhower Model, we will carry out the largest domestic deportation operation in American history,” Trump said, as reported by Fox News.

    Trump also said he would “immediately” invoke the Alien Enemies Act — part of the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798 – a federal law granting the president unilateral power to detain and deport foreign aliens in the United States who are over 14 years old.

    As NBC News reported, the law says a president may order non-citizens “to be apprehended, restrained, secured, and removed as alien enemies” when he or she “makes public proclamation” than an “invasion or predatory incursion is perpetrated, attempted, or threatened against the territory of the United States by any foreign nation.”

    And as I have pointed out repeatedly, this current crisis certainly counts as an “invasion or predatory incursion,” in many ways controlled and directed by Mexican drug cartels.

    Trump said he would use the Act to target suspected gang members, drug dealers and cartel members. 

    “I’ll…invoke immediately the Alien Enemies Act to remove all known or suspected gang members…the drug dealers, the cartel members from the United States, ending the scourge of illegal alien gang violence once and for all,” Trump vowed.

    Trump added: “Under my leadership, we had the most secure border in U.S. history. Now, we have the worst border in the history of the world.” 

    Of course, you can’t solve the problem solely by deporting two million or more illegal migrants, especially criminals and gang members, numerous other Biden policies must also be quickly reversed. 

    And Trump addressed that too, in Iowa, saying that in his second term he would begin by “immediately” terminating “every Open Borders policy of the Biden Administration.”

    At the top of his list, Trump promised to reinstate and “expand” the “travel ban” that he implemented during his first term. 

    The ban, which Joe Biden ended on his first day in office, barred most individuals from seven countries with high terrorism indices — including five Muslim-majority countries — from entering the United States.

    But he didn’t stop there, Trump added that he would expand his travel ban to “deny entry to all communists and Marxists to the United States.”

    “Those who join our country must love our country—and we are going to keep foreign Christian-hating communists, Marxists, and socialists the hell out of America,” Trump declared.

    That might be trickier to do, but I like how he is thinking.

    The former president also said he plans to “shift massive portions of federal law enforcement to immigration enforcement,” including some of the FBI, Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).

    “I will make clear that we must use any and all resources needed to stop the invasion—including moving thousands of troops currently stationed overseas to our OWN southern border,” Trump said, emphasizing that “before we defend the borders of foreign countries, we must secure the border of our country.”

    This is the most clear and comprehensive response proposed to date by anyone, to counter Biden’s illegal immigrant catastrophe.

    Opinions expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of Great America News Desk.

    Amanda Head: Dodgers Host Christian Faith Event!

    By
    Amanda Head
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    0

    We had to see this for ourselves! Los Angeles Dodgers hosted a Christian faith event at the ballpark…

    See how the night went:

    Opinions expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of Great America News Desk.

    Army Special Ops Command Proudly Flies ‘Pride’ Flag

    By
    Paul Crespo
    -
    1
    Marcha del orgullo en Paraná, Entre Ríos, Argentina. Noviembre de 2021 via Wikimedia commons

    ANALYSIS – Please just stop! – Even as the U.S. armed services toned down their politically driven, identity and sexual politics pandering for Pride Month this year, it seems the commanding general of U.S. Army Special Operations Command (also known as ARSOC) didn’t get the memo.

    Please note that ARSOC (or USASOC) includes some of our finest warriors, including the 75th Ranger Regiment, Army Special Forces (Green Berets) and 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta (or Delta Force – the Army’s equivalent of the Navy SEALs).

    In what I consider an obscene post across multiple social media accounts, including Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, the commander of ARSOC, Lt. Gen. Jonathan P. Braga, either knowingly, or unknowingly, allowed his public affairs peons to celebrate Pride Month with the most bizarre leftist flag there is – as of now.

    It’s the “intersex-inclusive Pride Progress” flag.

    I say “as of now” because we have come a long way from a simple rainbow flag to represent gays. As I wrote earlier, the latest Pride flag, along with the leftist ideology that it’s based on, is constantly morphing.

    It first added black and brown stripes to represent the Black Lives Matter (BLM) racial agenda. Then it added pink and baby blue for transgenderism, only to add purple and yellow for those who call themselves nonbinary.

    And it is daily adding more elements and colors as the movement expands to include everything the left now advocates, even if it makes less sense each time.

    The intersex symbol on this flag is the left’s latest add. It is a purple circle on a yellow background in the chevron on the left of the flag.

    And it seems totally redundant.

    Brietbart explains:

    According to an article from Boston University, “intersex” is defined as “those whose bodies do not align with the gender binaries of males or females. This includes those with both genitals or other differences.” The colors yellow and purple are meant to be seen as “nonbinary colors,” the article stated.

    The flag also included light blue, pink, and white, which, according to the article, represent, respectively, boys, girls, and “those who are transitioning, have no gender, or are gender neutral.”

    This latest ‘intersex-inclusive Pride Progress’ flag is not only bizarre and visually hideous, but it also represents an extreme left-wing political and sexual ideology that divides us instead of uniting us.

    The ARSOC post also made the oft-repeated claim that: “Throughout American history, LGBTQ+ members have not only fought for the right to serve openly, but have also fought in every major war and conflict.”

    I tweeted my own reply to that, asking for the names of just a couple of specific LGBT individuals from every conflict and noted that I was especially interested in those that were T.

    I doubt too many intersex transgenders fought at Yorktown or Gettysburg. Or even WWII or Korea.

    Breitbart also posted some comments to the ARSOC post that pointed out we already have one all-inclusive flag:

    A former Green Beret posted in response: “And you jackasses wonder why the military as a whole can’t even meet its recruiting goals? There’s only one flag you should be proud of, the one we fought under and many of our brothers and sisters died under.”

    It continued:

    Sara Carter, Fox News Contributor and host of the Sara Carter Show, blasted the command’s posts, tweeting:

    .@USASOCNews
    My husband was in Special Operations Command for more than 16 years and continued to serve beyond – but he fought for the American flag not the LGBTQ flag

    See, here’s the problem – The American flag represents all Americans and the rights we cherish – we don’t need the bizarre multi-colored flag to appreciate freedom my husband and so many others (gay or not) risked their lives for or lost their lives for – your priorities are so F’ked up

    Indeed, we should only fly one flag – the American flag. It’s the one we fight for, and it includes all of us.

    Opinions expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of Great America News Desk.

    Should the Government Regulate Artificial Intelligence (AI)? Less is Best

    By
    Paul Crespo
    -
    6
    Image via Pixabay free images.

    ANALYSIS – Artificial Intelligence (AI) is basically self-learning software (algorithms) that grows smarter over time using the entire world’s ever-growing library of data as its teacher. It can learn to do myriad complex tasks in a fraction of the time humans could.

    It will revolutionize and upend entire economies, and dominate future warfare. It is also developing at an unprecedented rate. 

    Many are concerned AI will take away entire career fields and tens of millions of American jobs. AI advancements could eliminate up to 300 million jobs globally, according to Goldman Sachs.

    Fox News reported: “Up to 30% of hours currently worked across the U.S. economy could become automated by 2030, creating the possibility of around 12 million occupational transitions in the coming years, according to a McKinsey Global Institute study.”

    Others worry that it will make a few corporations extremely rich and powerful. 

    And then, many worry that Al may supersede human intelligence in just a few years and eventually make humans redundant.

    Few would deny that whoever dominates AI may dominate the world. China certainly believes this and is forging ahead to become the world leader in AI.

    The Pentagon is also looking closely at how it can use AI to more quickly make strategic or battlefield assessments and technologically leapfrog over our enemies.

    But what about our government? Should it regulate AI?

    Democrats tend to favor regulating everything. And they have shown the danger of doing so with social media. I recently wrote on how Joe Biden is already using executive power to weaponize Artificial Intelligence to be woke.

    I noted that: “The American Accountability Foundation (AAF), a government watchdog group, recently warned that Team Biden is actively using the federal government’s vast power to regulate AI to promote a “woke” ideology in the basic architecture of this revolutionary, powerful, and dangerous new technology.”

    “That ‘woke’ ideology promotes affirmative action under the guise of ‘anti-racism,’ and transgenderism as gender ‘equity.’”

    And that is a huge concern.

    Republicans tend to be more skeptical of regulation in general, especially in a dynamic, fast-moving technology that few lawmakers understand.

    “Let a bunch of guys up here that are wearing JCPenney leisure suits that still have 8-track tape players in their ’72 Vegas start talking about technology, then you got some problems,” Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., told Fox News when asked about regulation keeping pace with the AI sector.

    “The problem with AI is that it’s advancing so fast,” Republican Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina said. “It’s very difficult to regulate because you don’t know what the next thing is going to be.”

    Republicans, like Burchett and Mace, also worry government regulation will stifle AI innovation and put the U.S. at a strategic disadvantage, especially vis a vis China.

    “I don’t know that we need regulation,” Burchett said. “You want to stifle growth; you start putting laws on it.”

    “If you overregulate, like the government often does, you stifle innovation,” Mace told Fox News. “And if we just stop AI, nothing is stopping China. We want to make sure that we are No. 1 in AI technology in the world and that it stays that way.”

    But we may be losing that race. As Time reported:

    “The country that is able to most rapidly and effectively integrate new technology into war-fighting wins,” Alexandr Wang, the CEO of Scale AI, told lawmakers on a House Armed Services subcommittee. China is spending three times more than the U.S. on developing AI tools, Wang noted. “The Chinese Communist Party deeply understands the potential for AI to disrupt warfare, and is investing heavily to capitalize,” he said. “AI is China’s Apollo project.”

    But Republicans in Congress aren’t doing anything to take away Biden’s power to regulate AI himself. And time is of the essence.

    As a former Democrat Senator, Kent Conrad, and ex-Republican Senator Saxby Chambliss wrote recently in Fox News:

    This comes at a pivotal moment. We are on the precipice of a new tech revolution—one in which a collection of next-generation capabilities—such as AI, quantum computing, and biotechnology—promise to fundamentally upend every facet of society.

    Opinions expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of Great America News Desk.

    Media and Dems Admit US ‘Border Crisis’ Only ‘Days Away’

    By
    Paul Crespo
    -
    7
    Construction continues on new border wall system project near Yuma, AZ. Recently constructed border wall near Yuma, Arizona on June 3, 2020. CBP photo by Jerry Glaser.

    ANALYSIS – Unfortunately it’s a little late. The Biden border crisis has been ongoing for over two years. It’s only about to get much worse. When Time publishes a piece warning about an impending border crisis, you know it’s a lot more serious than they say.

    And this time it will be impossible for the establishment media to ignore or sweep under the rug.

    Criminal smugglers, and the powerful drug cartels they work for, control parts of the border. They have been telling would-be illegal migrants that the end of Title 42 will allow people to come into the U.S. 

    I have written that there are between 700,000 and one million migrants poised to swarm the border this week when Joe Biden has set Title 42 to expire.

    In preparation for the expected migrant onslaught, Biden ordered 1,500 active-duty U.S. troops to the border to support Customs and Border Patrol (CPB) agents on the ground. Though these troops will be mostly performing administrative duties.

    Of course, Time does its best to ignore Biden’s dramatic reversal of Donald Trump’s effective border and immigration policies as a cause of the current crisis. Instead, it shills for Team Biden by mindlessly repeating the left’s talking points:

    There’s very little a homeland security secretary or an American President can do to reverse human migration patterns predominantly caused by climate change, new storm patterns, rampant violence and economic need. U.S. immigration laws, which could create orderly entry points for migrants to register and work and live in the U.S., are poorly designed to do so, and haven’t been updated in three decades.

    Sorry Time, those are all red herrings and have been minor factors for years. The biggest factor in the crisis that has hit our border over the past two years – and is about to get far worse – is Joe Biden and his homeland security secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas. 

    Republicans have been sharply critical of Mayorkas’ performance as head of DHS and have called for his removal.

    Beyond national security and humanitarian concerns, the consequences of this coming illegal migrant tsunami will also have an impact on the 2024 elections.

    And Biden and the Democrats have reason to be worried.

    Time writes:

    The expected surge in migrants at the border comes weeks after Biden announced his bid for another term in office. A protracted border crisis could become a political liability for Biden going into the 2024 election. A poll in April of swing state voters by Global Strategy Group found that 52% of voters think Biden is ignoring the problem of immigration. But Biden’s new efforts to open up more legal ways to enter the United States, while increasing the consequences for those who cross into the US illegally, may resonate with voters in the key states he needs to win reelection. The April poll found that 76% of swing state voters had positive views of increasing border security, and a similar majority of voters…

    This is probably why a member of Congress from Biden’s own party is demanding that he and Mayorkas join Republicans to find a bipartisan solution on immigration as Biden ends the Trump-era Title 42 expulsion policy.

    Fox News reports:

    Rep. Sharice Davids, D-Kan., warned that the expected onslaught of people trying to cross the border illegally after Title 42 ends could exacerbate the “humanitarian and refugee crisis” if nothing is done to mitigate it.

    “As the President has decided to lift the [Title 42] order this week, we now face a doubling of illegal crossings at our southern border by some estimates, exacerbating the current humanitarian and refugee crisis,” Davids wrote in a letter addressed to Mayorkas.

    Davids adds: 

    As Congress considers immigration reform in the coming weeks, we must make clear to the American people that we are taking this challenge seriously and are ready to find solutions. You [Mayorkas] have had a year to engage prior to the lifting of Title 42, and I hope that you and the President both recommit to working with Congress to achieve real results.

    Opinions expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of Great America News Desk.

    Forget China, You Can Now Take a Balloon to Edge of Space

    By
    Paul Crespo
    -
    0
    Image via Pixabay free images

    ANALYSIS – Until now, only billionaires could afford to enter sub-orbital space. And it needed to be by high-powered rocket (think Jeff Bezos in his Blue Origin, or Richard Branson in his Virgin Galactic). 

    Star Trek actor William Shatner also did a flight on a Blue Origin’s rocket.

    But now you too can see the earth from 20 miles high. It will cost you just over $120,000 and it’s by a high-altitude balloon.

    And, no, it’s not aboard a Chinese spy balloon. These will be private companies running the trips.

    The billionaires in rockets still have one treat we can’t get – they can briefly experience weightlessness. They also go twice as high.

    Space officially starts at the Karman line, 62 miles above the earth’s surface. But for most people there won’t be that much of a difference.

    And at half the price, no training required, and a much softer, smoother ride, these edge-of-space balloons will be far more accessible and may become popular among the slightly less rich.

    And unlike the rockets, these balloons will give you a much longer ride, with luxury amenities, food, and drink.

    There now appears at least two companies on the verge of launching these space balloon trips. One is American and the other is French.

    Both seem to avoid mention of the 1937 Hindenburg hydrogen-filled dirigible disaster.

    The French company Zephalto with its Celeste balloon will provide Michelin-starred fine dining. It is partnered with France’s national space agency.

    These balloons filled with helium or hydrogen will depart from France with two pilots on board and six passengers and rise 15.5 miles into the stratosphere.

    Once at peak altitude, the balloon, carrying a pressurized capsule, will stay aloft for three hours, giving guests a chance to take in views previously seen only by astronauts. While in the air, passengers will be served high-end French food and wines.

    These near-space rides will start at €120,000 ($132,000) per person in 2025, Bloomberg reports.

    The other option will be Florida-based Space Perspective, which is testing its own passenger balloon, designed to reach the edge of space.

    Eight civilians and a pilot will be able to comfortably travel up 100,000 feet (19 miles) to near space in a reusable pressurized capsule carried by a gigantic hydrogen-filled balloon called Spacecraft Neptune – because Neptune’s atmosphere is predominantly hydrogen.

    The company operates out of leased facilities at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, but plans to expand to Alaska and Hawaii, and then possibly to other countries around the world.

    Flight will cost about $125,000 per person. And it plans to launch a year earlier than the Celeste.

    Neptune’s ride will be similar to the Zephalto balloons, ascending at a sedate 12.5 miles per hour. It will give passengers two full hours to observe 360° views of Earth rotating beneath them and space above.

    The overall ride will last six hours – two hours to ascend, two hours to float along the stratosphere, and two hours to descend into the Atlantic Ocean, where a recovery ship will be waiting.

    The capsule comes complete with luxury seating, refreshments, a restroom, and Wi-Fi (so you can post to Instagram or live stream on Facebook as you fly – because – of course). The company plans to offer flights for weddings, corporate events, and scientific excursions.

    Its flights are scheduled to begin in 2024, but the first batch of 600 tickets is already sold out.

    Bon voyage. No smoking aboard.

    Opinions expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of Great America News Desk.

    Amanda Head: THIS IS How We Win!

    By
    Amanda Head
    -
    1
    PBS logo via Wikimedia Commons

    Is it time to cancel PBS? Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt is leading the charge and says it’s time to stop using taxpayer dollars to fund controversial programming to indoctrinate kids.

    Watch Amanda explain the situation below:

    Opinions expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of Great America News Desk.

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