Billionaire CEO Announces Plagiarism Probe Targeting MIT, and Beyond

Hedge fund founder Bill Ackman announced on Friday he would launch an AI plagiarism review of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s faculty and leaders with possible plans to extend the probe to other elite universities.

Read More

Commentary: America’s Last Stand Is the Most Important Book in America

Thomas Paine

Nearly two and a half centuries ago, the 18th-century American colonists were confronted with a choice: whether or not to continue living their lives as British subjects and supporting the crown or to sever their ties with Great Britain and declare their independence. The choice may seem obvious and easy today, but at the time—circa 1776—a great many colonists were hesitant to choose freedom, and others even supported the crown. They needed persuading.

Fortunately, a virtually unknown immigrant named Thomas Paine felt compelled to persuade the American colonists to choose freedom. His pamphlet, Common Sense, was published on January 10, 1776, and its influence cannot be overstated. It was read by the modern equivalent of 15 million people at the time and provided the fuel the colonists needed to choose independence.

Read More

Internal Secret Service Records Undercut Another Key J6 Committee Democrat Narrative

It has become one of the enduring messages of the House Democrats’ final report on the Jan. 6 riot: Donald Trump had a plan and an intention to go directly to the U.S. Capitol to join those disrupting the certification of the 2020 election results.

Read More

House Freedom Caucus Calls Speaker Johnson’s Proposed Spending Deal with Schumer ‘Total Failure’

The conservative House Freedom Caucus slammed House Speaker Mike Johnson’s proposed top-line spending deal with Senate Democrats as a “total failure,” arguing the potential agreement costs about $68 billion more than the Louisiana Republican said it would.

Read More

Pope Calls for Global Ban on Surrogacy, Calls Process ‘Deplorable,’ Equates to Human Trafficking

Pope Francis on Monday slammed surrogacy as a “deplorable” practice comparable to human trafficking, and he called for a global ban on it. 

“The path to peace calls for respect for life, for every human life, starting with the life of the unborn child in the mother’s womb, which cannot be suppressed or turned into an object of trafficking,” Francis told members of the Vatican Diplomatic Corps in an annual address Monday.

Read More

Commentary: As DOJ Threatens to Charge ‘Thousands’ over J6 Trespassing, Judges Signal Skepticism

In a brazen act of political theater worthy of an ethics investigation, U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Matthew Graves gave an hourlong rehash of the events of January 6 to a handful of reporters last week. Graves, a Biden 2020 campaign advisor who was appointed by Biden in November 2021, is overseeing the Department of Justice’s unprecedented and ongoing criminal investigation into the four-hour disturbance that has so far resulted in the arrest of more than 1,200 Americans.

Read More

Park Service to Remove William Penn Statue in Philadelphia, in Inclusivity Push

The National Parks Service says it is rehabilitating Philadelphia’s Welcome Park to ensure it is “more welcoming, accurate, and inclusive” for visitors, and part of that plan includes removing a statue of the city’s founder, William Penn.

In addition to removing the statue, the National Parks Service said in an announcement last week that it will also remove the model of Penn’s home known as the Slate Roof House, which was built at the current location of Welcome Park, which was named for the ship Welcome which Penn took to America in 1682.

Read More

Abortion, Trump, and Censorship Headline Supreme Court’s Docket in the New Year

Issues involving the chemical abortion pill, former President Donald Trump and the Biden administration’s encouragement of censorship online top the Supreme Court’s docket in the New Year.

Though only one decision has been released so far this term, the justices have already heard arguments on gun restrictions for subjects of domestic violence restraining orders, government officials blocking constituents on social media and Purdue Pharma’s bankruptcy settlement. Other pending cases will require the Supreme Court to grapple with multiple hot-button issues in the lead up to the 2024 election.

Read More

Three More Texas Counties Declare Invasion, Bringing Total to 50

Three years into the border crisis, 50 Texas counties have now declared an invasion.

The latest to do so are the judges and commissioners of Bandera, Schleicher and Uvalde counties. Officials in Bandera and Schleicher counties signed nearly identical resolutions in November as Crockett County’s. Crockett County declared an invasion after its county judge’s family members were killed by an alleged human smuggler. Uvalde County officials signed their invasion resolution in July, when they also joined a coalition led by Atascosa County Judge Weston Cude.

Read More

Blue States Saw Highest Homeless Rates in 2023

Homeless Person

Blue states and the District of Columbia dominated the top spots for homeless residents per capita, according to a December report from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

New York and Vermont came in second and third with an estimated 103,200, or 52.4 for every 10,000, and roughly 3,295, or 50.9 per 10,000, respectively, according to rates calculated by Axios from the report. Washington, D.C., had a higher rate of homelessness than all 50 states at 73.3 per 10,000 residents, or an estimated 4,922 people.

Read More