Day: January 24, 2019

Gov. Lee’s First Executive Order Directs Departments to Lay Out Plans to Better Serve Rural Counties

Jason M. Reynolds

Bill Lee on Wednesday announced his first executive order as Tennessee’s 50th governor, aimed at improving the state government’s “impact” on rural areas. He tweeted, “I’ve said that rural TN is one of my top priorities. Today I’m pleased to announce Executive Order No. 1, which begins to address improving the outlook in those areas by calling on our departments to assess their impact on the rural parts of our state.” I’ve said that rural TN is one of my top priorities. Today I’m pleased to announce Executive Order No. 1, which begins to address improving the outlook in those areas by calling on our departments to assess their impact on the rural parts of our state. https://t.co/j6ohRmZ1dA — Bill Lee (@BillLeeTN) January 23, 2019 Lee’s executive order directs all 22 executive departments to “issue a statement of rural impact and provide recommendations for better serving rural Tennessee,” the governor’s office said in a press release. “My administration will place a high emphasis on the development and success of our rural areas,” Lee said in the press release. “Our first executive order sends a clear message that rural areas will be prioritized across all departments as we work to improve…

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Todd Starnes: LIAR! NBC Says Phillips Never Claimed to be Vietnam Vet

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by Todd Starnes   The Mainstream Media will do whatever is necessary to protect Native American and professional agitator Nathan Phillips. Phillips, who was filmed harassing a group of Catholic school students, was a guest on NBC’s Today with Savannah Guthrie. On Wednesday Guthrie grilled 16-year-old Nick Sandmann, the young man who bore the brunt of Phillip’s abuse. She asked the boy if he saw his “own fault” in the incident. However, she lobbed softballs during her interview with Phillips — going so far as to dismiss reports that he lied about serving in Vietnam. “There has also been some question about the nature of your military service… What exactly is the nature of your service?” @savannahguthrie asks Nathan Phillips pic.twitter.com/PSeS1oTYGh — TODAY (@TODAYshow) January 24, 2019 “There has also been some question about the nature of your military service and this is a good chance to clear it up,” Guthrie said. “Some have said you were a Vietnam veteran, I don’t believe you have said that, what exactly is the nature of your service?” That’s a flat-out lie — and we have the video evidence. Here’s what Phillips said in a Twitter posting: “I’m a Vietnam Vet. I served…

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Commentary: Understanding the Democrats and Their ‘Vote Alchemy’

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by Spencer P. Morrison   Legend says a humble French scribe named Nicolas Flamel discovered the philosopher’s stone – the alchemical secret to physical transmutation. To immortality itself. After turning a half-pound of mercury into gold, fear consumed Flamel: what man could resist the temptations of unlimited wealth and immortality? In a show of Christian humility, Flamel hid his manuscripts and dedicated his life to philanthropy. What remained of his synthetic treasure built several schools, seven churches, and 14 hospitals. He died a lifetime later, in 1418. The Democrats appear to have rediscovered Flamel’s alchemical texts and have used their knowledge of the philosopher’s stone to transform immigrants and blue-collar conservatives into reliable voters. This has made the once-dying Democratic Party all but immortal. Family Ties It is no secret that by 1965 the Democratic Party’s future looked bleak. The exploitation of black-white tensions – the Democrats’ bread-and-butter – no longer looked like a “growth industry.” To stave off their political decline the Democrats needed a new strategy. They needed new voters. Enter the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965. This legislation (and the political zeitgeist animating its passage) had two primary effects. First, it opened the floodgates and ushered in the…

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North Carolina School Choice Week Speaker: ‘School Choice is the Civil Rights Movement of Our Time’

A.P. Dillon

“School choice is the civil rights movement of our time,” Mike Long, the President of Parents for Educational Freedom in North Carolina (PEFNC) told the attendees of a School Choice event in North Carolina this week. Long was speaking to a group at an event held by the John Locke Foundation, a conservative non-profit policy center located in Raleigh. Dr. Terry Stoops, Vice President for Research and Director of Education Studies at the John Locke Foundation kicked off the event. “It is fitting that the first day of National School Choice week falls on Martin Luther King day,” said Dr. Stoops. Stoops went on to cite a quote about school choice from Alveda King, the niece of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: “Is it moral to tax families, compel their children’s attendance at schools and then give them no choice between teaching methods, religious or secular education, and in other matters? “Is it consistent to proclaim that meanwhile, America is a nation that prides itself on competition, consumer choice, freedom of religion, and parental responsibility? I can’t presume to know what my uncle would say about the current debate over school vouchers and choice, but I know what principles he…

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Vietnam-Era Vet Tells The Tennessee Star Report Nathan Phillips’ Claim Not Credible

Julie Carr

On Wednesday’s Tennessee Star Report with Steve Gill and Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 am to 8:00 am – the duo took a call from a Vietnam era veteran named Ben, who clarified the statement made by Nathan Phillips regarding his service as “Vietnam veteran times” was technically incorrect statement due to the fact that, as Ben clarifies, the country was downsizing at that time. Gill: Why aren’t we seeing Marines step up and say “Oh yeah I went to boot camp with this guy. I served with this guy.”  Why aren’t we seeing anyone in the media actually dig deeper into who this guy is and how his story is as false as his claim that the kids approached him. Let’s go next to Ben. Ben you’re on the Tennessee Star Report good morning. Ben: Good morning, I really appreciate you guys so it couldn’t be a better breathe of fresh air. Gill: Thank you. Ben: Ok, there was a difference between a combat Veteran which I am not, I’m a Vietnam-era veteran. Gill: Ok. Ben: I served during the period of Vietnam and conjoined American Legion but…

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South Carolina Foster Care Agencies Win Fight to Practice Faith Without Endangering Their Funding

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by Joshua Gill   The Administration for Children and Families, within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, granted an exemption to faith-based foster care agencies in South Carolina, allowing them to choose potential parents in accordance with their religious beliefs without being denied government funding. The exemption comes in response to a request from South Carolina Republican Governor Henry McMaster on behalf of Miracle Hill Ministries, which is the largest provider of foster care in South Carolina. The ACF ruled that faith-based foster care agencies have a legally protected right to operate in accordance with their religious beliefs. South Carolina child welfare agencies won an exemption to an Obama-era regulation Wednesday, allowing them to approve or deny parents based on religion. The Administration for Children and Families granted South Carolina an exception to the December 2016 grants regulation on the grounds that faith-based foster care agencies have a legally protected right to practice their religious beliefs through good works. The regulation stipulated that foster care agencies who discriminated against potential parents on the basis of religion would not be eligible to receive government funds, meaning Christian, Jewish and other faith-based agencies could not choose to place foster children…

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Republicans Aim to Jump-Start Judicial Confirmation Push After Recent Lag

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by Kevin Daley   President Donald Trump resubmitted 51 judicial nominations that expired at the end of the last Congress Tuesday night, as Senate Republicans prepare to restart a years-long effort to fill the federal courts with conservative jurists. That work has slowed significantly in recent months, prompting conservative anxieties about the pace of judicial confirmations. Two GOP Senate aides told The Daily Caller News Foundation that Republican lawmakers drafted a letter urging the White House to quickly resubmit lapsed judicial nominations, particularly those candidates the Senate Judiciary Committee advanced to the floor for a final vote in the last Congress. Those nominees will not need to reappear for confirmation hearings, though they will need to be voted out of the Judiciary Committee for a second time. The letter never issued, however, since the president returned the nominations to Congress in short order. The signatories to the letter are eager for the Republican caucus to spend more time on judicial confirmations since little progress was made on judgeships in the waning days of 2018. Former GOP Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona, who sat on the Judiciary Committee, refused to confirm judicial nominees from November 2018 until he left office in…

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Trump Plans Alternative State of the Union Speech

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by Steve Herman   U.S. President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he would make an alternative speech after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told him there would be no State of the Union address in Congress next week—an action that he termed “a disgrace.” “She doesn’t want to hear the truth,” Trump told reporters. “She doesn’t want the American public to hear what’s going on.” The president said that Pelosi’s decision not to allow the address to Congress until the government shutdown ends is “a great blotch on the incredible country that we all love,” and her action would be remembered as “a very, very negative part of history.” He then went on to declare that the Democrats have “become a very, very dangerous party for this country.” Trump did not reveal where and when he would make his alternative address. Pelosi sent a letter to Trump on Wednesday saying the Democratically controlled House “will not consider a concurrent resolution” authorizing him to give the speech in the House chamber until the entire federal government reopens. She wrote that when she extended an invitation on Jan.3, she had “no thought that the government will still be shut down” on Jan.29, the…

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Judge Allows Defamation Lawsuit Against Greenpeace to Proceed

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by Michael Bastasch   A U.S. District Court judge allowed a forestry company’s defamation lawsuit against Greenpeace and affiliated groups to proceed on Tuesday, but dismissed racketeering claims leveled against the environmentalists. It’s the latest development in a multi-year legal battle between Resolute Forest Products and Greenpeace. “Although the Judge did not allow all of Resolute’s claims to proceed, we are pleased the proceedings will now move forward on our defamation and unfair competition claims against Greenpeace,” Seth Kursman, spokesman for Resolute, told The Daily Caller News Foundation. Resolute filed a $225 million suit against Greenpeace, affiliated groups and individual activists in May 2016 under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO). Resolute also made defamation and unfair competition claims against environmentalists. Resolute’s U.S. lawsuit came after years-long campaigns by Greenpeace and allies against the company’s logging and forestry operations, including challenging the company’s sustainable-certified woodlands. The company said Greenpeace and its allies orchestrated a campaign to intimidate the company and cost it millions of dollars. Greenpeace called Resolute “forest destroyers” causing a “caribou death spiral and extinction” as part of their campaign against the forestry company. Greenpeace also had a webpage that gave Resolute a list of demands,…

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Commentary: School Choice Is Breaking Down Barriers in Puerto Rico

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by Jude Schwalbach   The new year is bringing exciting developments to Puerto Rico’s education reforms. Not only will the U.S. territory open new charter schools, it will also launch a new pilot private school voucher program in the fall. The need for education reform is most clearly illustrated by Puerto Rico’s National Assessment of Educational Progress results, where students scored multiple grade levels below students in underperforming school districts, such as the District of Columbia and Detroit. Incredibly, zero percent of Puerto Rican fourth- and eighth-graders scored at the “proficient level” in mathematics. However, the island took action last year when it opened its first charter school, Proyecto Vimenti, which modeled its curriculum after Puerto Rico’s most prestigious private school. In a community where more than 40 percent of the population lives below the federal poverty line, the school’s mission to free children from generational cycles of poverty and improve student health resonated deeply with local families. Proyecto Vimenti’s emphasis on health screenings identified student struggles that might have been overlooked in traditional public schools. For instance, the school’s initial health screening quickly showed why some children struggled in the classroom: More than half of them suffered from visual…

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Supreme Court Takes Up First Gun Rights Case in a Decade

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by Kevin Daley   The Supreme Court agreed Tuesday to hear its first gun rights case in almost a decade. The justices will decide whether a New York City ordinance which strictly regulates the possession and transportation of handguns outside the home is constitutional. Tuesday’s grant marks the first time that the Supreme Court has engaged with the Second Amendment since it issued a pair of landmark decisions in 2008 and 2010 which affirmed the constitutional right to keep guns in the home for self-defense. Since those two decisions, however, the federal courts have upheld a range of gun control measures against constitutional challenges, to the consternation of Second Amendment activists. The high court’s continued silence on gun rights in view of those rulings baffled many observers and periodically drew fierce dissents from the conservative justices. “For those of us who work in marbled halls, guarded constantly by a vigilant and dedicated police force, the guarantees of the Second Amendment might seem antiquated and superfluous,” Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in a June 2017 opinion. “But the framers made a clear choice: They reserved to all Americans the right to bear arms for self-defense. I do not think we should stand…

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Kamala Harris Raises $1.5 Million in First 24 Hours of Campaign

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by Molly Prince   Democratic California Sen. Kamala Harris raised approximately $1.5 million in one day following her announcement that she will be seeking the Democratic nomination for the presidency in 2020. In the 24 hours after Harris announced her presidential bid, she received an influx of primarily small donations from more than 37,000 individuals, Harris’s campaign told The Wall Street Journal. During the first 12 hours, the California senator had fundraised $1 million, with an average contribution of more than $35 per donor. Comparatively, Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders raised the $1.5 million over the same time period after he launched his presidential campaign in 2016, reported WSJ. He ultimately raised $238 million by the end of his campaign, primarily from donations of $200 or less. Leading up to her presidential announcement, the first-term senator had been actively elevating her national profile. Harris spent more money on Facebook ads during the summer than any other senator despite not being up for re-election in November 2018, according to The San Francisco Chronicle. Harris, a high-profile member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, faced both massive backlash and praise for her combative line of questioning of Justice Brett Kavanaugh during his Supreme Court…

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BUILD A WALL & CRIME WILL FALL: Trump Unveils New Slogan in Push for Border Wall

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by Michael Bowman and Steve Herman   As the U.S. Senate prepares for votes Thursday on separate Republican and Democratic proposals to end a partial government shutdown, President Donald Trump has resorted to rhyming and prayer to advance his case for a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. BUILD A WALL & CRIME WILL FALL! This is the new theme, for two years until the Wall is finished (under construction now), of the Republican Party. Use it and pray! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 23, 2019 “BUILD A WALL & CRIME WILL FALL,” Trump said in a Wednesday morning tweet. “This is the new theme, for two years until the Wall is finished … Use it and pray!” Trump’s latest remarks on his proposed wall came after the Democrat-led House of Representatives passed a bill that would provide stopgap funding through February 8, allowing the shuttered agencies to reopen while the two sides debate border security. It does not contain money for Trump’s desired wall at the U.S.-Mexico border. The Republican plan is based on a Trump proposal to spend $5.7 billion on the wall and provide temporary protections for some immigrants. The White House said Trump is scheduled to…

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House Votes Overwhelmingly to Prohibit Exit From NATO

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The House of Representatives has overwhelmingly passed a bill affirming congressional support for NATO, amid renewed concerns over President Donald Trump’s commitment to the 29-member alliance. The bipartisan NATO Support Act, which forbids the use of funds to withdraw from the alliance and states that it is U.S. policy to remain part of the alliance, passed by a 357-22 vote. Beside asserting Congress’s control over the money, the bill reaffirms U.S. backing of NATO and its mutual defense clause. It also voices support for Montenegro, its newest member, and for “robust” U.S. funding for the European Deterrence Initiative, and for the goal that each alliance member spend at least 2 percent of its gross domestic product on defense by 2024. Just hours before the vote, Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Wess Mitchell, the top U.S. diplomat to Europe and an outspoken NATO supporter, tendered his resignation amid strained ties in trans-Atlantic relations. The House vote and Mitchell’s resignation come amid tensions with European leaders over Washington’s commitment to NATO and transatlantic ties in general. The New York Times, citing federal government sources, recently reported that Trump put forward the idea of withdrawing the United States from…

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Seventh Generation Rancher Explains Why America Needs a Border Wall

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by Nick Givas   Seventh generation rancher Ruperto Escobar of Texas explained why America needs a southern border wall and said he’d give up his land to help start construction. “The problem there right now is primarily drug trafficking,” he said Wednesday on “Fox & Friends.” “I’ve lived there 75 years and let me tell you, I’ve seen everything happen there. Right now I must access the river because I have a pumping site. And I have good, workable road to the river. And you ought to see the amount of traffic that happens primarily going back towards the river. People that get caught with their vehicles full of drugs and then they speed back toward the river at very high velocity, past my house. A whole slew of police after them.” Co-host Steve Doocy asked Escobar what he would say to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi about her claim that the wall is immoral and Escobar said he’d draw on life experience and tell her to start building. “I’d say ma’am, I don’t know where you get your facts but from what we have endured, my lifetime, which is about 75 years now, of seeing the number of…

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DFL Senators Author Bill to Make Minnesota ‘First State in the Nation to Use Only Renewable Energy’

Anthony Gockowski

Three DFL state senators have co-authored a bill that aims to “make Minnesota the first state in the nation to use only renewable energy.” Senate File (SF) 425, set to be introduced Thursday and referred to the Energy and Utilities Finance and Policy Committee, was co-authored by Sens. John Marty (D-Roseville), Nick Frentz (D-Mankato), and Chris Eaton (D-Brooklyn Center). “The Department of Commerce Division of Energy Resources, in consultation with other state agencies and the Legislative Energy Commission, must develop a framework for the state of Minnesota to transition to a renewable energy economy that ends Minnesota’s contribution to greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels within the next few decades,” SF 425 states. In creating a renewable-energy framework, the Division of Energy Resources would be asked to consider a number of various factors, including the “economic and environmental costs of continued reliance on fossil fuels,” and the “creation of jobs and industry in the state that result from moving ahead of other states in transitioning to a sustainable energy economy.” Additionally, it must account for “the appropriate energy efficiency and renewable energy investments in Minnesota to reduce the economic losses to the Minnesota economy from importation of fossil fuels.” “The…

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Three Michigan Residents Arrested After Pledging Their Support to ISIS

Anthony Gockowski

Three Michigan residents were arrested Monday afternoon for conspiring to provide material support to ISIS and pledging their allegiance to the terrorist organization, the Department of Justice announced this week. According to a DOJ press release, Muse Abdikadir Muse, Mohamud Abdikadir Muse, and Mohamed Salat Haji were arrested Monday by members of the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force. Muse Abdikadir Muse was taken into custody at the Gerald R. Ford Airport in Grand Rapids where he was attempting to board a flight to Mogadishu, Somalia with intention of joining ISIS. His two coconspirators drove him to the airport and were arrested shortly after. MLive reports that undercover investigators began monitoring the three in April 2016 in response to questionable Facebook posts they had made, and began communicating with the ISIS aspirants via social media. One of the agents posed as an ISIS recruiter, and was told by Muse Abdikadir Muse that he “wanted to join ISIS in Raqqa, Syria,” and that “he planned to die with a gun in his hand fighting for ISIS,” according to a criminal complaint filed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Michigan. The complaint reveals that the three men exchanged numerous Facebook…

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North Carolina Legislature Files Motion to Dismiss Voter ID Complaint

A.P. Dillon

The attorneys representing the North Carolina General Assembly have filed a motion to dismiss a complaint filed against a law tied to the state’s recently passed Constitutional Amendment regarding Voter ID. The people of North Carolina chose to add voter ID to their state constitution and the court should dismiss lawsuits attempting to suppress their voice in the democratic process and silence their decision to join 34 other states with voter ID. https://t.co/BDewTcyyoA #ncga #ncpol — Speaker Tim Moore (@NCHouseSpeaker) January 22, 2019 “Voter identification proposals often get caught up in the false conclusion that an ID requirement necessarily suppresses votes, particularly for African-American citizens like myself,” Former state Senator Joel Ford said in a statement released by North Carolina Speaker of the House Tim Moore. Ford, who represented Mecklenburg County, was one of the primary sponsors along with Speaker Moore of the legislation at the center of the suit. “The people of North Carolina chose to add voter ID to their state constitution and we will not allow Governor Cooper or these plaintiffs to suppress their voice in the democratic process,” Speaker Moore said. North Carolina’s Voter ID Constitutional Amendment was voted on along with 5 other amendments in…

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Ohio Tea Party Group Invites President Trump to Give State of the Union Address in Columbus

Jason M. Reynolds

An Ohio Tea Party organization has invited President Donald Trump to visit the state Tuesday and deliver his State of the Union address to residents and the rest of America in response to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi canceling the event during the government shutdown. We the People Convention Inc. sent the letter to Trump to invite him to the “excellent facility” of the Celeste Center of the Ohio State Fair Grounds in Columbus, where he would receive “a very warm welcome,” the group’s president, Thomas R. Zawistowski, said in the letter, which is available here. We the People’s invitation joins that of other invitations. Speaker of the North Carolina House Tim Moore last week invited President Trump to deliver his State of the Union (SOTU) remarks in Raleigh. Also last week, Michigan’s GOP House Speaker Rep. Lee Chatfield (R-MI-107) invited President Donald Trump to deliver his State of the Union address in the state legislature. The president may have other ideas, however, as he said, “I look forward to seeing you on the evening on January 29th,” he wrote, according to Breitbart. “It would be so very sad for our country if the State of the Union were not delivered…

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Metro Nashville Public Schools May Reportedly Add Study of Kurdish Language to High School Curriculum

Chris Butler

The Metro Nashville Public School Board was scheduled to decide Tuesday night whether to arrange for high school students to learn Kurdish, according to Nashville Public Radio. According to the station, schools would add this to its list of world language curriculum for high school credit. Metro officials want to do this because of Nashville’s sizable Kurdish community. Nashville Public Radio did not say precisely how many Kurdish people live in Nashville. But the station did say there are more than 1,100 students from that community attending Nashville’s public schools and that many live in South Nashville. Educators are on board with the proposed plan because “they believe it will boost students’ academic performance.” “Research has shown that when a student is literate in his or her own native language, it helps them become literate in a new language faster, such as English,” the station quoted Jill Petty as saying. Petty manages literacy and world languages for Metro schools, Nashville Public Radio reported. “That would actually help them in the long run,” Petty reportedly told the station. Nashville Public Radio then quoted Nawzad Hawrami, who directs the Salahadeen Center, which caters to the growing number of Kurds in the area,…

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