Tag Archive for: West Virginia

Federal Judge Rejects Bid To Remove Trump From West Virginia Ballot

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A federal judge rejected a bid Thursday to remove former President Donald Trump from the ballot in West Virginia.

Obama-appointed district judge Irene Berger ruled that John Anthony Castro, the little-known presidential candidate who brought the lawsuit to remove Trump, lacked standing to sue. The decision comes days after Colorado’s Supreme Court found Trump was ineligible to appear on the state’s ballot under Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment, likely setting up Supreme Court review of the issue.

“The evidence establishes that [Castro] has no campaign offices, staff, or advertising in West Virginia, does not appear in polling, has little name recognition among West Virginia Republican primary voters, and has extremely minimal campaign funds, vastly insufficient to run an actual campaign,” Berger wrote. “If there were any question as to whether the allegations in the complaint are sufficient to overcome a facial challenge, the evidentiary submissions remove any doubt that Mr. Castro’s purported ‘campaign’ exists as a vehicle for pursuing litigation, not votes.”

Federal judges in Arizona and Rhode Island likewise found Castro lacked standing because he is not seriously running for office. The Supreme Court declined in October to hear the appeal of a case Castro brought in Florida.

“This is a big win for the integrity of our elections,” said Republican West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey in a statement, according to News and Sentinel. “This lawsuit was frivolous to begin with and without merit – it had no basis in either law or fact. Any eligible candidate has the right to be on the ballot unless legally disqualified, and we will defend the laws of West Virginia and the right of voters and candidates to the fullest.”

The Colorado Supreme Court put its ruling against Trump on hold until Jan. 4. If Trump files an appeal before that date, the ruling will remain paused and the Secretary of State will be required to place his name on the ballot on the Jan. 5 certification deadline, as long as the justices do not intervene.

In Colorado, the lawsuit to remove Trump was brought by the left-wing donor backed group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW).

AUTHOR

KATELYNN RICHARDSON

Contributor.

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Sen. Joe Manchin Vows To Block All Biden Nominees To Environmental Protection Agency

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Democratic West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin will block all of President Joe Biden’s nominees to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over the agency’s proposed rule regulating power plants, he announced Wednesday.

“This Administration is determined to advance its radical climate agenda and has made it clear they are hellbent on doing everything in their power to regulate coal and gas-fueled power plants out of existence, no matter the cost to energy security and reliability. Just last week, before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, every FERC Commissioner agreed that we cannot eliminate coal today or in the near future if we want to have a reliable electric grid. If the reports are true, the pending EPA proposal would impact nearly all fossil-fueled power plants in the United States, which generate about 60 percent of our electricity, without an adequate plan to replace the lost baseload generation. This piles on top of a broader regulatory agenda being rolled out designed to kill the fossil industry by a thousand cuts,” Manchin said in a statement.

“Neither the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law nor the IRA gave new authority to regulate power plant emission standards. However, I fear that this Administration’s commitment to their extreme ideology overshadows their responsibility to ensure long-lasting energy and economic security and I will oppose all EPA nominees until they halt their government overreach,” he continued.

EPA administrator Michael Regan is scheduled to announce his agency’s new power plant regulations on Thursday. The new rules will reportedly require gas and coal power plants to employ carbon capture technology, according to The New York Times. Out of the 3,400 currently operational power plants in the U.S., fewer than 20 have the appropriate technology in place to comply with the rule. They would have to do so by 2040.

Republicans have made extensive use of the Congressional Review Act in the 118th Congress in a bid to push back against Biden administration rules and regulations. Manchin has signed on to resolutions that would roll back the COVID-19 pandemic emergency and a Department of Labor environmental, social, and governance investing rule. Congress could move to roll back the EPA regulation, although any passed resolution would be subject to a presidential veto.

Manchin has voted against Biden administration nominees more often than any other Senate Democrat. Most recently, he announced his opposition to a Department of the Interior nominee over concerns she would play “political games” with energy production. Manchin is still considering whether or not to support Labor Secretary nominee Julie Su.

The Senate is currently considering two nominees for EPA posts, and two others remain vacant, according to a Washington Post tracker.

AUTHOR

MICHAEL GINSBERG

Congressional correspondent.

RELATED ARTICLE: Manchin Sinks Biden Federal Reserve Nominee Who Drew Republican Boycott

EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

West Virginia Muslim arrested for threatening to blow up Statue of Liberty

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Jason Paul Smith Abdul Yasin

The [bomb] threat turned out to be a hoax. Abdul Yasin, another convert to Islam who somehow has gotten the crazy idea that his Religion of Peace mandates violence against unbelievers, was apparently trying to “strike terror into the hearts of the enemies of Allah” (Qur’an 8:60).

“Man accused of threatening to blow up Statue of Liberty arrested,” by Ray Sanchez, CNN, August 19, 2015:

New York (CNN) He’s accused of using his iPad and a phone service for the hearing impaired to call in a bomb threat that resulted in the evacuation of more than 3,200 people from Liberty Island in New York Harbor.

On Wednesday, Jason Paul Smith, 42, of Harts, West Virginia, was charged in federal court with a count of conveying false and misleading information and hoaxes, according to the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York….

On April 24, Smith allegedly made a 911 call from his iPad using a service that helps hearing-impaired people make and receive telephone calls, according to federal prosecutors.In the call, Smith identified himself as “Abdul Yasin,” described himself as an “ISI terrorist” and conveyed a threat to “blow up” the Statue of Liberty, Preet Bharara, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, said in a statement.

The Statue of Liberty and Liberty Island were evacuated and closed to the public until the threat was declared unfounded. The New York Police Department bomb squad examined a locker thought to contain a suspicious package and found it was empty, a law enforcement official said at the time.

The statement from prosecutors said the iPad registered to Smith was allegedly used to make other 911 calls, including at least two in May from a user who identified himself as “Isis allah Bomb maker.” The caller threatened to attack Times Square and kill police officers at the Brooklyn Bridge.

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As West Virginia Threatens to Dump Common Core, Teachers Union Fights to Keep It

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On February 28, 2015, the West Virginia House of Representatives voted 74-19 to repeal the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). In West Virginia, CCSS is called Next Generation.

As the March 1, 2015, WV State Journal reports:

Under the proposed measure, the West Virginia Board of Education would undertake a comprehensive review of the standards on or before July 16, 2015 to ensure that the Common Core Standards, as approved by the board in May 2010, are repealed. Also stated in the proposed bill is that “no assessments designed to assess student learning based on the common core standards, including but not limited to the Smarter Balanced Assessment, will be used in West Virginia public schools.” The proposed measure would require the state board to conduct at least four regional, town hall-style meetings to engage in public discussion and would require not more than one statewide assessment per school year.

The State Journal also notes that the bill includes language about stakeholder teams’ developing new WV English and math standards.

The VW House CCSS repeal gained bipartisan support. However, the WV state board of education did not want CCSS repealed.

Apparently, WV governor Earl Ray Tomblin is not publicly offering a position on CCSS.

As of March 3, 2015, the bill has moved forward to a WV Senate subcommittee.

WV Federation of Teachers president Christine Campbell does not support WV’s CCSS repeal, citing, among other issues,  that “it took two years to develop the Next Generation standards.”

Actually, CCSS writing did not take two years. It was two years from the time that Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) president Gene Wilhoit and CCSS “lead architect” David Coleman asked billionaire Bill Gates to bankroll CCSS (summer of 2008) to the official debut of CCSS (June 2010).

As to initially projected writing time, the CCSS memorandum of understanding (MOU) outlined only five months for CCSS writing– from the projected completion of the “anchor” standards in July 2009 to the scheduled completion of the entire CCSS in December 2009. The National Governors Association (NGA) and CCSSO (the CCSS owners) did not keep this schedule; however, the point is that they thought they could and rushed the process. (I examine this in greater detail in my upcoming book on CCSS.)

Add to this rush job the fact that there was no CCSS field testing, including no examination of long-term financial costs to states for CCSS and its consortium assessments.

And yet, the WV Federation of Teachers unswervingly supports CCSS. It seems that when it comes to CCSS, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and its state affiliates are so faithful because they are wed to the National Democratic Party. No other explanation remotely accounts for why AFT would try to reach a compromise with Obama-administration-friendly Center for American Progress on the issue of federally mandated testing.

To date, the Democratic parties in all states except Washington continue to cling to CCSS. Ironic that Washington State Dems were the first to flatly reject CCSS since Washington is the home state of CCSS purchaser Bill Gates.

Also interesting:  The term “Common Core” is notably absent from the education page of the National Democratic Party website. Yet it is no secret Democrats support CCSS, with US Representative Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) authoring an amendment to incorporate CCSS and its assessments into the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). (Note that CCSS was never designed to be separated from the annual testing birthed in No Child Left Behind.)

Furthermore, Senate Ed Committee ranking member, Democratic Senator Patty Murray, has no plans to scale back the number of standardized tests in the Senate’s proposed ESEA reauthorization bill.

In short, influential Democrats want both CCSS and loads of standardized testing.

Let us consider how this is playing out in West Virginia, where “never tested itself” CCSS is threatened.

JebBushArticleOn March 7, 2015, the WV Federation of Teachers is planning a rally to save CCSS. Here is how they are advertising the event:

Our Kids Deserve Better.

State legislators are pushing proposals that are bad for kids and schools.

Some West Virginia lawmakers are devaluing children and public education by pushing legislation that would deprive our schools of resources and break the promise of a great education for West Virginia’s children.

AFT president Randi Weingarten is the keynote speaker.

The notice also includes a detailed busing schedule.

That CCSS is pretty valuable in certain circles, so much so that it is being marketed as a “civil rights issue.”

That tag line sure makes rush-job CCSS sound a lot less Republican. But be careful, faithful, Core-toting Democrat. You’re sure to bump right into the presidential ambitions of CCSS buddy, Jeb Bush.