Harvard Orders Students to Use Correct Pronouns, Says Wrong Pronouns Constitute ‘Abuse’

One of the nation’s most prestigious universities is ordering students to attend mandatory training on using “correct” pronouns for their fellow students, warning that using their real pronouns may constitute “abuse” and could lead to disciplinary action.

According to the Washington Free Beacon, the Ivy League school Harvard University now requires all students to attend mandatory Title IX training sessions. At these sessions, they are told, among other things, that “using the wrong pronouns” for students who believe they are a different gender constitutes “abuse,” and that “any words used to lower a person’s self-worth” are “verbal abuse.”

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Tennessee Adjusts Online Sportsbook Accounting Requirements, Leading to Increase in Taxes Collected on Earnings

After Executive Director Mary Beth Thomas and the Tennessee Sports Wagering Council took over the management of online sports betting in the state to start 2022, Thomas vowed to review how sportsbooks were reporting their earnings and therefore paying taxes.

That accounting review led to changes, starting July 1, in how those earnings are reported and how the taxes are calculated. And, while the changes are subtle, they already are making a difference in Tennessee’s bottom line.

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Clinton, Obama Economist Says U.S. ‘Has a Serious Inflation Problem’

Two top economists from Democratic presidential administrations are raising the alarm about inflation this week even as the Biden administration touts its progress on the issue.

Lawrence Summers, who served as Secretary of the Treasury for President Bill Clinton and Director of National Economic Council for President Obama, pointed to the latest consumer price inflation data, saying the U.S. “has a serious inflation problem.”

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New Survey: Biden’s Approval Rating Sits at 45 Percent

President Biden’s job approval rating has increased to 45%, compared to its low of 36% in July, but concerns about his handling of the economy persist, according to a new survey.

The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research survey released Thursday shows Biden’s increase appears due in large part to a rebound in support from fellow Democrats – less than two months before the November midterm elections.

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Planned Parenthood 2021 Annual Report: 383,460 Abortions – Highest Number Yet Reported

Planned Parenthood released its 2020-2021 annual report that showed, despite the COVID pandemic, the organization performed 383,460 abortions – the highest number of abortions it has yet reported – and received an increase of $15.3 million in taxpayer funding from the previous year.

“Planned Parenthood health centers are proud to provide abortion,” the organization declared in its latest annual report

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Commentary: (Not) Sorry Democrats, Abortion Won’t Save You

The desperate attempts by the White House, congressional Democrats, and the corporate media to refocus voter attention on abortion rather than inflation are failing. Most reputable polls show that the electorate is far more concerned about mismanagement of the economy by President Biden and his collaborators in Congress than about threats to reproductive rights posed by “MAGA Republicans.” Contrary to Democratic hopes, November won’t be about abortion vs. inflation. The midterms will be a referendum on Biden’s performance, particularly as it affects inflation.

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Rubio Decries California’s Ban on Fossil-Fueled Car Sales

Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio excoriated California’s recent move to ban the sale of fossil-fueled cars by 2035.

The state’s Air Resources Board approved in late August rules that would require the state to transition to selling only electric vehicles by the deadline and set interim targets for EV sales quotas ahead of the final ban. At present, just 1% of cars on the state’s roads are emissions-free vehicles. The ban does not apply to any pre-existing fossil-fueled vehicles.

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Wisconsin Law Enforcement Opposes Proposed Madison Tear Gas Ban

Nearly every single sheriff in the state of Wisconsin, along with the state’s police officers’ association, and the chiefs of police in Dane County are united in their opposition to a plan that would all but ban tear gas and pepper spray in the city of Madison.

Madison’s city council is set to vote on a proposed ordinance that would limit the use of tear gas, pepper spray, or other crowd control to only “circumstances in which urgent and imminent physical harm to the public or law enforcement officers is threatened or when significant property damage exists and escalation of property damage is threatened.”

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Hagerty, Blackburn Introduce ‘Restoring Law and Order Act’

Tennessee’s two U.S. Senators have introduced legislation that would speed up the process of analyzing sexual assault kits after Memphis teacher Eliza Fletcher was abducted and killed by a habitual offender two weeks ago. 

“United States Senators Bill Hagerty (R-TN) and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) introduced the Restoring Law and Order Act in response to the violence plaguing communities across America,” according to a joint press release. “Compared to mid-2019, America’s largest cities have seen a 50% increase in homicides and a 36% increase in aggravated assaults. In Tennessee, Memphis has experienced a series of shockingly violent crimes.”

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Legal Group Looks to Pressure Schools into Enforcing Trans Agenda

A pro-LGBT legal group based in St. Paul has released a “public education toolkit” to pressure schools into promoting transgender ideology.

In a September 12 news release, Gender Justice announced its “Cool 4 School” initiative to “inform students, their families, and their schools about legal protections for transgender, non-binary, two-spirit and other gender non-conforming students returning to Minnesota classrooms.”

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Some Michigan Schools Keep Mum on COVID Relief Spending

Theoretically, taxpayers should be able to see how Michigan schools are spending $5.7 billion of taxpayer money to recover from COVID-19-related learning loss.

But an investigation by The Center Square through more than 80 records requests to schools statewide shows how difficult it can be to obtain itemized COVID spending records. Many schools never responded to an initial Freedom of Information Act request.

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Left Compares Republicans to Nazis in Wake of Trump Ohio Appearance

In the two days following former President Donald Trump’s appearance in Youngstown, Ohio on Saturday in support of Republican Senate candidate J.D. Vance, numerous high-profile leftist commentators suggested attendees gave Trump the Nazi salute when they pointed their index fingers outward in solidarity during his speech.

The gesture doesn’t very closely resemble the Sieg Heil gesture that German fascists made to signal adherence to Adolph Hitler in the 1930s and 40s, in which saluters held all their right-hand fingers side-by-side. Progressive pundits nonetheless exclaimed, with varied degrees of self-assurance, that Trump supporters were adverting to either Naziism or the conspiracy-trafficking QAnon movement or both.

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Stacey Abrams Repeats Already-Debunked Claim That Women Seek Late-Term Abortions Due to ‘Traumatic Experience’

Georgia Democrat gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams defended abortion through all nine months of pregnancy using an already debunked claim by the abortion industry and its allies that women seek late-term abortions due to some “traumatic experience.”

“There is no example of a woman — you’ve gone through the trouble of buying a crib and naming that child — there is no one who wakes up and says at eight months, never mind,” Abrams said last week on ABC’s The View.

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Connecticut Residents Push Back Against Move to Expand ‘Section 8’ Affordable Housing

As Connecticut has the sixth-highest median monthly housing costs, some residents and lawmakers are fiercely pursuing measures to prevent developers from building affordable housing units in their towns.

Renee Dobos, chief executive officer of Connecticut Housing Partners, told The Center Square that more than 30 years ago the General Assembly recognized steps should be taken to lead towns to recognize they have a responsibility to make housing affordable to essential workers, senior citizens, and a wide variety of others with diverse incomes.

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Blake Masters Campaign Celebrates Momentum in ‘Dead Heat’ Race Following New Poll Results

A new poll from the Trafalgar Group shows Trumped-endorsed Republican Senate nominee Blake Masters making momentum against his opponent, incumbent Mark Kelly (D-AZ).

“This race is a dead heat despite Mark Kelly spending $60 million to paint himself as some type of moderate, when he’s been nothing more than a rubber stamp for Joe Biden’s failed agenda. Blake Masters is gaining momentum every day as voters learn about Kelly’s extreme voting record and reject him,” said Blake Masters’s press contact Zachery Henry to the Arizona Sun Times.

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Arizona Democrats Condemn Fellow Democrat State Rep for ‘Misogyny,’ ‘Sexism’

Two Democrat state representatives from Arizona have found themselves in a spat over one’s alleged “misogyny” and “sexism.”

Misogyny and sexism have no place in the Arizona Legislature. What [Rep. Brian Fernandez (D-District 4) did is wrong and not representative of our Democratic Party. We are a party where women are respected,” said Rep. Alma Hernandez (D-District 3), attaching an open letter dated September 16 in which she aired her grievances with Fernandez. 

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Regulator Approves Rate Increase for Dominion Energy Consumers to Compensate for Increased Fuel Costs

The State Corporation Commission approved a Dominion Energy request to increase the fuel factor charged to consumers, leading to $14.93 increase on an average monthly bill. In May, the utility requested the increase citing increased fuel costs.

In its order, the SCC said, “[T]he Commission notes its awareness of the ongoing rise in gas prices, inflation, and other economic pressures that are impacting all utility customers. We are sensitive to the effects of rate increases, especially in times such as these. The Commission, however, must follow the laws applicable to this case, as well as the findings of fact supported by the evidence in the record. This is what we have done herein.”

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‘Arizona Sun Times Sunday’ Debuts on AZTV 7

On Sunday evening, “Arizona Sun Times Sunday,” a half-hour news show produced by The Star News Network, debuted on AZTV 7, the state’s largest independent broadcast entity. 

Michael Patrick Leahy, editor-in-chief at Star News and its Arizona Sun Times newspaper, hosts the new Phoenix-based program at 10 p.m. on Sundays. Episodes can also be seen on demand at The Sun Times’s website. 

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Richmond Judge Dismisses Lawsuit Alleging That Virginia Violates Constitution by Permitting Fossil Fuel Production

A Richmond City Circuit Court judge dismissed a lawsuit against the Commonwealth of Virginia from an environmental activism legal organization on Friday. In a lawsuit on behalf of 13 Virginia youth, Our Children’s Trust (OCT) argued that Virginia’s policies permitting fossil fuel production and use harmed the plaintiffs’ rights, but the judge agreed with the Office of the Attorney General’s argument that Virginia can’t be sued due to sovereign immunity doctrine, according to the AP.

“For decades, Defendants have implemented a policy and practice of approving permits for fossil fuel infrastructure in the Commonwealth of Virginia, including permits for the production, transport, and burning of fossil fuels. Defendants’ historic and ongoing permitting of fossil fuel infrastructure has, and continues to, cause dangerous levels of greenhouse gas pollution, including carbon dioxide,” the lawsuit complaint filed in February states.

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Georgia Taxpayers to Help Agribusiness Technology Manufacturer Build $35 Million Facility

A global agriscience technology manufacturer plans to invest nearly $35 million to launch a campus in Jasper County.

Profile Products, based in Buffalo Grove, Illinois, plans to produce wood-based erosion control technologies and horticulture substrates at the new plant. The company, which employs more than 500 globally, plans to create 80 new jobs as part of the project.

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Miyares, 50 Other Attorneys General Ask FCC to Expand Caller ID Authentication Requirement

Attorney General Jason Miyares signed a letter along with 50 other attorneys general requesting the Federal Commissions Communications to do more to address illegal robocalls. The attorneys general say robocalls often come from foreign actors who spoof Caller ID to show U.S.- based numbers, and ask the FCC to expand which call network providers are required to authenticate Caller ID.

“Robocalls aren’t just annoying – they are illegal tools used to take advantage of the most vulnerable in our communities. We have to do more to protect Virginians from these scammers, which is why I’m encouraging the FCC to require more robocall protection technology,” Miyares said in a release.

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Victor Davis Hanson Commentary: In Today’s America, Some Really Are More Equal than Others

That once distinguished the United States from illiberal regimes following the Orwellian mantra “some are more equal than others” was the hallowed American idea of “equal justice under the law.”

The phrase is engraved above the entrance to the United States Supreme Court – an ideal that took centuries to achieve. Yet it is an ancient concept – what the Greeks called isonomia that distinguished classical democratic Athens from its anti-democratic rivals. Isonomia later became enshrined as the central criterion of all Western consensual governments.

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Parent-Teacher Tensions Run High over Lack of Mental Health Transparency from Mentor School Educators

Mentor Schools is withholding mental health information about transgender or transitioning students from parents.

An Ohio school board meeting on Tuesday, September 13th raised concern in parents over an e-mail which went out to teachers in the district informing them that they are not required to inform parents if a student, 11 years old or older, who is transgender or transitioning asks to use a different name or pronoun.

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Maricopa County Indicts Two Women Transporting over 850,000 Fentanyl Pills

The Maricopa County Grand Jury indicted two women Monday for possessing over 850,000 counterfeit pills laced with fentanyl, enough to cause potentially millions of overdoses.

“Two out of five counterfeit pills that come across our border are laced with lethal doses of fentanyl. These drugs are being marketed to our youth in the most proliferous ways and are being produced in candy-like colors. We must hold those who bring these lethal pills into our community accountable,” said County Attorney Rachel Mitchell.

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House, Senate Panels Start This Week Considering Changes to 135-Year-Old Electoral Count Act

House and Senate committees starting this week will begin work on measures to change how U.S. presidential election votes are counted and certified – including possibly amending the 135-year-old Electoral Count Act and clarifying the vice president’s role in the process.

The House Rules Committee will take up a still-unseen, bipartisan bill Tuesday titled the Presidential Election Reform Act with a floor vote as early as Thursday, according to Roll Call.

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Biden Says COVID Pandemic Is ‘Over’ in the United States

President Joe Biden said the COVID-19 pandemic is “over” in the United States.

“The pandemic is over. We still have a problem with COVID. We’re still doing a lotta work on it. It’s– But the pandemic is over,” Biden said during a pre-recorded CBS “60 Minutes” interview aired Sunday.

“As you notice, no one’s wearing masks. Everybody seems to be in pretty good shape, and so I think it’s changing,” he said.

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