California Church Sues Government over Alleged ‘Spying’ on Worshippers

On Tuesday, a California church that had previously been ordered to pay over $1.2 million in fines to the state government filed a lawsuit in federal court, claiming that the local government spied on its worshippers.

Fox News reports that the Calvary Chapel San Jose, led by Pastor Mike McClure, alleges that officials in Santa Clara County utilized the Colorado-based company SafeGraph to engage in “an invasive and warrantless geofencing operation to track residents” without their knowledge. The lawsuit was filed on the church’s behalf by the advocacy group Advocates for Faith & Freedom.

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Commentary: The Monetary Mistakes Behind the Downfall of Cleopatra and the Last Dynasty of Ancient Egypt

When we think of ancient Egypt, most of us recall first its most famous and distinctive features: pyramids, pharaohs, and the Nile. As an economic historian, I hoped at the start of recent research that a sound currency might be another distinction of the Egyptians I would discover.

Alas, their story is pretty much the same one we find throughout history and all over the world: Money is monopolized by government officials, who then cheat the people by debasing it—which means diluting the precious metal content in it’s coinage, printing too much of it if it’s paper, or both. Egypt is no exception, though its experience is rich in colorful perpetrators, from fifteen pharaohs named Ptolemy to the Cleopatra of both Shakespeare and Hollywood fame.

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Vivek Ramaswamy Calls Rep. Ayanna Pressley, Author Ibram Kendi Part of ‘Modern KKK’

NBC News Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy on Friday called Democratic Rep. Ayanna Pressley and author Ibram Kendi “modern grand wizards of the modern KKK” at a campaign appearance in Iowa. It came in response to a voter question asking Ramaswamy, whose parents immigrated to the U.S. from India, if critics would blame him for white supremacy or call him part of white supremacy. Ramaswamy responded by saying, “Ayanna Pressley, she’s in the Congress today. She’s a member of ‘the squad.’ Her words, not mine: ‘We don’t want any more black faces that don’t want to be a black voice. We don’t want any more brown faces that don’t want to be a brown voice.’” READ THE FULL STORY  

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Proposed Federal Regulation Could Force Employers to Pay for Time Off for Abortions

A new proposal from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) could require paid time off for women to get abortions and may even require employers to pay for travel related to the procedure, experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

The EEOC proposed new guidelines in August to enforce the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) that was signed into law in December 2022, with the new guidelines classifying abortion as a related medical condition, according to the proposal from the EEOC. While the rule can’t require employers to pay directly for an abortion, the classification could open the door for employers to be required to give paid time off for an abortion and possibly even for employers to pay for travel expenses if the woman’s state does not permit an abortion, experts told the DCNF.

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Arizona State Senator Says Governor Hobbs and Attorney General Mayes Should Stay Out of Kroger and Albertson Merger

An Arizona Republican senator said this week that Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs and Attorney General Kris Mayes should stay out of a proposed merger of the state’s two largest grocery chains as they “know very little” about the grocery industry.

Hobbs said on Wednesday that the proposed merger of Kroger Co., the parent company of Smith’s and Fry’s Foods, and Albertsons Companies, which not only runs stores under its name but also acquired Safeway and all of the stores that the company owned in 2015, may have some negative effects on Arizona.

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Republican Candidates Need Not Apply: Media Tracker’s New Study Shows Just How Politically Biased Google’s Search Results Are

Google has long been accused of suppressing conservative speech, but a new study shows the internet search engine giant is playing favorites with Democrats in the 2024 presidential race.

By typing in just one query, “Presidential campaign websites,” Google returned only Democratic Party candidates — some of whom are not even running in 2024, according to Media Research Center, the media watchdog and parent of conservative news site NewsBusters, which is “committed to exposing and combating liberal media bias.”

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Commentary: Combating Adult and Child Sex Trafficking in Tennessee

Known for its warm hospitality, cultural heritage, and mountainous landscapes, Tennessee is confronted with the nationwide crisis that challenges the very essence of our values. It’s time to strip away the veneer of normalcy and address the stark truth: individuals, including children, are being subjected to unspeakable horrors. Their lives are manipulated and controlled, their dignity shattered, and their futures stolen. The reality of sex-trafficking is not confined to a single corner of our state; it is an issue that transcends geographical boundaries, urban and rural areas alike.

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Montana AG Asks SCOTUS to Take Up Case Challenging State Agency That Encouraged Social Media Censorship

Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen asked the Supreme Court Friday to hear a case that challenges a state agency’s efforts to police election-related “misinformation” on Twitter.

A group of nine attorneys general led by Knudsen filed an amicus brief Friday urging the Supreme Court to hear O’Handley v. Weber, a lawsuit challenging the California Secretary of State’s Office of Election Cybersecurity’s practice of flagging “false or misleading” election information for removal by Twitter. The states call the agency’s actions an “anathema” to the First Amendment and argue they reflect similar conduct occurring at the federal level.

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Student Pilot Suffers Cardiac Arrest While Flying, Other Pilots Have Become Incapacitated or Had Cardiac Arrests This Year

Since the rollout of the COVID-19 injections, hundreds of U.S. pilots have reported adverse side effects, most often chest pains, myocarditis, and pericarditis. Since the beginning of this year, dozens of pilots have reportedly become incapacitated and, in many cases died before, during or after their flights. In at least ten of the cases, the pilots reportedly suffered cardiac arrests.

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Study: Transgender Surgeries Tripled over Three Years Due to Obama Policies

A new study shows that during the period between 2016 and 2019, the number of “transgender surgeries” in the United States nearly tripled, due in large part to policies enacted by the Obama Administration.

As reported by the New York Post, the number of Americans who pursued surgical operations to “transition” to the opposite gender was around 4,500 in 2016. In 2019, that number rose dramatically to over 13,000. The study revealing these statistics was published on Wednesday by the Journal of the American Medical Association’s (JAMA) Network Open.

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Georgia Officials Able to Hire HEROs for Atlanta Area Highway Patrols

The Georgia Department of Transportation has found a few HEROs to help patrol metro Atlanta’s highways.

In May, GDOT officials said the agency lacked the personnel to maintain 24-hour Highway Emergency Response Operator patrols, a common sight along metro Atlanta’s busy interstates. At the time, the agency said HERO units would continue to patrol when traffic volumes are the highest — during daytime and evening hours seven days a week — and when roughly 91% of mishaps happen.

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Storm: Nearly 400,000 Michiganders Put in Dark; Damage in Millions

Torrential rain, powerful winds, and tornadoes near Canton, Michigan, flooded streets, shutting down parts of Interstate 275 and the Detroit Metro Airport, and knocked out power for nearly 400,000 Michiganders.

Whether Metro Detroit residents were trying to go across town, pick up a visitor from the airport, or go to work, they likely were met by feet of water standing in the road.

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Commentary: With Fewer than 1,500 Catholics in Mongolia, Pope Francis’ Upcoming Visit Brings Attention to the Long and Complex History of the Minority Religious Group

Pope Francis is set to make the first-ever visit to Mongolia, a country with fewer than 1,500 Catholics, all of whom have come to the faith since 1992. But the pope’s visit is a reminder that the country has a long and complex history with Christianity, among many other faiths.

Mongolia has only 3.4 million people, and at least 87.4% are Buddhists. The small Catholic community came into existence after this landlocked country, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south, began to abandon its communist ideology and embraced different religions. At that time, it also restored diplomatic relations with the Vatican and welcomed Catholic missionaries.

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Virginia Natural Gas Pipeline Continues Construction Through Opposition

After a ruling in its favor from the Supreme Court at the end of July, it appeared that construction on the 303-mile natural gas Mountain Valley Pipeline could continue unhindered in Virginia. Not so.

The Supreme Court decision settled objections to a provision congressional Republicans had slipped into the debt ceiling bill passed in June. The provision directed government agencies to grant the needed permits for the pipeline’s completion. It moved jurisdiction over the pipeline from the Fourth Circuit Court – which had ruled against it in several cases – to the D.C. federal court.

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Ohio Lawmakers Introduce Legislation Creating Oversight for Unlicensed Massage Businesses to Combat Human Trafficking

Two Republican Ohio lawmakers introduced a bill into the Ohio House of Representatives to combat human trafficking by providing oversight for unlicensed massage businesses.

House Bill (HB) 255, sponsored by State Representatives Kevin Miller (R-Newark) and Haraz Ghanbari (R-Perrysburg), aims to establish a Non-Therapeutic Massage Registry in Ohio through the Department of Public Safety (DPS) to provide “needed oversight” for unlicensed non-therapeutic-massage-establishments.

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Commentary: The Economic Benefits of School Choice

It’s back to school for Florida students and many others across the country this week. The first days and weeks of a new school year are always filled with anticipation, adjustments, transitions and growth for parents and students. Yet, this school year’s “firsts” for an expanding pool of families also includes the first time that their children will have the resources and freedom to enroll in the school of their choice. The short and long-term consequences of these new opportunities aren’t just experienced within the four walls of a home or school building, or by the families now empowered to pursue them – the impact of education choice stretches across communities and economies, helping to unleash prosperity and growth that benefits everyone.

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Arizona Supreme Court to Review Abortion Laws

The Arizona Supreme Court will review the state’s abortion laws, which puts both the currently enforced 15-week ban and a more restrictive 1864 territorial ban back in play.

A state appeals court previously ruled in December in the case of Planned Parenthood v. Mayes that the 15-week ban that was signed into law by Gov. Doug Ducey would take over state law, and Mayes said it’s preferable to the alternative.

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Ohio State University Medical Students Required to Read ‘Antiracism’ Docs

Medical Students

Ohio State University College of Medicine (OSUCOM) students are required to read a slew of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and antiracism literature, including an opinion piece that recommends a White colleague not ask a Black colleague how they are doing.  

“This opinion piece … informs the reader of ‘things to be mindful of with not only Black friends but also Black Colleagues in the workplace.’ One recommendation is to stop asking, ‘How are you doing?’ Its reason is that the situation ‘for Black People (and all People of Color)’ is to ‘experience racism every day,’” the July 2023 report published by Do No Harm, a medical nonprofit, states.

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Christian Mother Fights for Right to Adopt After Refusing to Affirm Gender Transitions for Minors

Christian single mother Jessica Bates was “shocked” when Oregon denied her adoption application because she did not support medically transitioning children, she told the Daily Caller News Foundation in an interview.

Bates, a mother of five, was looking to adopt a “sibling pair” in 2022 six years after her husband died in a car accident, saying to the DCNF that she felt it was a “calling from God,” but after going through the application process, state officials with the Department of Human Services explained that she would need to agree to support any adopted child’s desire to have a gender transition. As a Christian, Bates told the DCNF that she knew this requirement was “denying reality” as well as her faith, and filed a lawsuit with Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) against the state in April after they reportedly prevented her from moving forward in the process.

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Report from the Southern Border: Interview with Todd Bensman

Working as a reporter and now as a Fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies, you have done a lot of “shoe leather” reporting at the U.S. southern border — covering the Mexican drug wars and, in the last years, immigration. Unlike so many immigration reporters who rely on second hand reports, you have personally interviewed at least 1,000 immigrants. Why do you do this and how does what you learn differ from the prevailing narrative?

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