Category: Washington Free Beacon

The largest teachers’ union in Los Angeles is working to prove that the battle lines in the fight to reopen schools are defined by race, going as far as contacting parents who speak out in support of opening schools to ascertain their race.

Miryam Qudrat, a Los Angeles parent of a middle schooler, says a “research specialist” for United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) emailed her to ask how she racially identifies. The inquiry came, the union researcher said, because she was quoted twice in the Los Angeles Times, both times to discuss dissatisfaction with the school closures.

Less than a month after former White House press aide T.J. Ducklo was ousted for threatening to “destroy” a female reporter, Ducklo’s girlfriend has landed a plum new gig as editor of Teen Vogue.

“Still pinching myself!” wrote Alexi McCammond, the Axios reporter whose controversial relationship with Ducklo came to light in February. She will take the helm of the Condé Nast publication beginning March 24. “I’m looking forward to working with the team to build a unique community of ambitious, curious, and fashion-forward young leaders,” the journalist said in a statement.

In a press conference on Friday, Texas governor Greg Abbott (R.) announced S.B. 12, a bill that would prohibit social media companies from “censoring Texans.”

“Conservative speech will not be canceled in the state of Texas,” said the governor.

The bill’s language is similar to that of legislation proposed by Republicans in several states, including Arizona, Minnesota, and Florida, where it was backed

The American Civil Liberties Union and other prominent left-wing groups filed a brief supporting a Supreme Court challenge to California’s donor disclosure rules, breaking with Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D., R.I.) and other Democratic lawmakers who oppose “dark money” political activity. 

The controversial rule requires any charity that raises money in California to disclose its donors to the state attorney general. Critics say the rule deters would-be donors and members, chilling First Amendment activities.

Iowa Democratic congresswoman Cindy Axne supports raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour, even though it would have a crippling impact on small businesses in her district, she said in a Thursday interview.

Axne, reelected for a second term in the House last November, said in an interview with KMA Land that her party’s proposal to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2025 will carry significant costs for the rural Iowans she represents. “In particular in rural Iowa, this will cause harm,” Axne said in the interview.

President Joe Biden’s pick for the top law enforcement post in America told the Senate that he is uninformed about important gun issues, as he faces what could be a close confirmation vote.

Merrick Garland told Sen. Tom Cotton (R., Ark.) he was unfamiliar with key gun policy areas in written answers made public Wednesday night. He said he did not know enough about the topic to say whether Biden could unilaterally deny gun sales by permanently delaying background checks. He used the same explanation when asked if Biden could ban the sale of popular rifles like the AR-15—something Biden

The Biden administration is blocking the exits for construction workers who unanimously voted to cut ties with their union.

The National Labor Relations Board refused to allow a group of Indiana workers to hold a vote that would decertify their representation with the local carpenters’ union despite the group’s unanimous support for cutting ties. The group of workers submitted the request to the regional NLRB, which blocked the attempt to decertify.

Republicans on the Senate Armed Services Committee hammered President Joe Biden’s nominee for a top Pentagon post over his support for the Iranian nuclear deal, his criticism of the U.S. embassy’s move to Jerusalem, and his history of “inflammatory” comments against Republicans and members of Congress on Twitter.

Republican members on Thursday cited numerous heated public statements by Colin Kahl, a former Obama State Department official whom Biden tapped for undersecretary of defense for policy, including some of his Twitter posts reported by the Washington Free Beacon on Thursday.

The CEO of CNN’s parent company said on Thursday that the coronavirus pandemic will continue to dominate the news network’s coverage because it’s “really good for ratings.”

“It turns out the pandemic is a pretty big part of the news cycle and that’s not going away anytime soon,” WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar said, speaking about CNN’s coverage at a media conference. “It turns out it’s really good for ratings.” The comments drew a comparison by Wall Street Journal‘s Joe Flint to disgraced media executive Les Moonves’s remark during the 2016 election that Donald Trump’s then-candidacy “may not be good